dinosquad-central

[dinosquad-central]

Caruso is so... diagnoseable

You sure as hell got that right!

[dinosquad-central]

your thoughts on a poly ship of the entire squad? is that something that exists already? what would it even be called? polysquad?

Yeah, polysquad works as a name... personally I must admit, I just don't see it. A large portion of the conflict in the show stems from the fact that the squad was kind of forced together and they often do not get along very well. They can tolerate being friends with each other... most of the time... but throwing romance into the mix.....

A relationship with all five of them would be a vaguely comical nightmare polyam situationship with a staggering quantity of breakups and makeups. Two months in, they will have completely lost track of who's dating whom anymore.

Rodger would make a spreadsheet and share it with them to help keep the polycule updated on who's mad at whom and who's off and who's on at any given moment.

Max has the lowest overall number of breakups by far, but Fiona and Buzz are the only pair that have never had a falling out between the two of them. Caruso gets voted out of the polycule at least twice a week, with his record being three times in one day, but he always manages to worm his way back into their hearts again alarmingly fast.

Rodger sometimes forgets he's actually part of the polycule because he gets distracted documenting the drama.

The entire thing falls apart when Max leaves for college on a football scholarship because he was the glue holding this mess together.

[dinosquad-central]

okay i know this is the more boring option compared to transfem caruso but. your thoughts on transmasc caruso?

Not boring at all! All trans headcanons are fresh and funky <3

When I think about it, transmasc Caruso would have kind of the same development as my younger brother (who is trans). He was the "girl" who wore button up and tie to school in middle school and now he's the guy who wears a button-up and tie in high school.

Caruso is a very self-confident person. He figured out who he was as a person (not necessarily gender-wise but personality-wise) at an early age and his parents encouraged him to be that person because they wanted nothing more than for him to be happy (this is canon, although he sometimes has his own notions of what his parents want for him).

And then around puberty he realized something was not quite right. His outward presentation didn't change, but internally his body didn't line up with his perception of himself. He probably figured out he was trans and gay before the end of middle school, and started transitioning socially right away, and medically (at least via puberty blockers) very early on. From what we see of his home-life, his family is pretty well off, so he'd probably have the privilege to start early that a lot of trans kids don't get.

He also seems like the type who'd respond to transphobic comments from guys with flirting—weaponize their homophobia against their transphobia. Like if a guy tried to bully him out of the men's bathroom I can only imagine he'd say something along the lines of, "Why? Afraid you won't be able to keep your hands off me if we're all alone in here?" and then bat his eyelashes. This probably got him beat up at least a couple of times, but I doubt that would deter him because it also probably worked a lot.

[dinosquad-central]

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

[dinosquad-central]

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

[dinosquad-central]

In honor of Pride Month, what are your sexuality headcanons for the Dino Squad characters? I think Rump is ace :)

Rump the dog??? I mean I guess? Why not?

I am personally a big fan of aro/ace Fiona, gay Caruso (obviously), demi/pan Buzz (and transmasc Buzz), and lesbian Ms. M.

The rest of the characters I'm a little more flexible with my interpretations. Max and Rodger I can see as straight, but depending on the context I can also see Max as bi or gay, or Rodger as bi or ace (when I feel like shipping them together, they're bi4bi definitely).

As for Veloci... is misanthrope a sexuality? He hates all humans, but has occasionally gone gay cruising when he's in the mood. Aromantic tho, at least since the extinction of the dinos. Except sometimes when I'm shipping him with Peter (who is gay, just look at that mustache), but not all the time.

I also headcanon Liam as demi/bi and demi-boy nonbinary : )

[dinosquad-central]

Your thoughts and ideas for the Monster Squad AU 🤲 I want to hear them

TBF my main thoughts are just vibing with everything you've posted so far, I won't lie. Some highlights that I absolutely love include (but are not limited to):

The Buzz&Caruso dynamic being a metaphor for unabashed queer liberation versus respectability/assimilation politics.

Fish monster FIONAAAA LET'S GOOOOO (I love it when the one female character of the group gets to be just as weird and gross as the guys instead of having to be pretty)

You're adaptation of my idea of Rump being able to shapeshift/match the kids' monster forms being a side-effect of swimming through the ooze with them! Inspired!

It was a lot of back and forth but I absolutely love what we landed on for Rodger's monster form being a two-in-one, and I feel like that creates a lot of potential with the Smart One of the group being half brain with no body and half body with no brain, having to learn how to make his two halves cooperate in order to get things done and using that to draw comparisons with scientific collaborations and how sometimes very different people with very different skill sets have to find ways to work together for the greater good, but in this case those people are one guy. It could also create a lot of great existential horror of the "I'm not in control of myself" kind without the animalistic instinct angle that usually gets thrown into those kind of stories.

Your description of Buzz's transformation in your longer monster squad post makes me thing of a moth or butterfly coming out of its cocoon with I think is particularly apt for a character who loves bugs!

Werewolf Max, my beloved! (I have loved the idea of werewolf Max since long before we started making this AU, which is why that was literally my first suggestion when it started lol)

I also have a few additional thoughts.

The idea of all Veloci's employees being his coven/thralls, but I imagine only the higher-ups in the company, like Peter and Agent Alpha, are actually vampires themselves, and the rest are just working for Veloci on the promise that he will eventually turn them into vampires. Of course, he sees them mostly as a convenient blood supply and an obedient workforce.

Moynihan being a witch before she became a vampire (which is why she gets an animal familiar and Veloci doesn't), and I also like the idea that she would have been turned against her will, perhaps by a vampire who wanted revenge on her.

Veloci, on the other hand, really really really wanted to be a vampire. He probably went through SO many manipulation tactics, biding his time as he coerced her into thinking turning him was her idea, and as soon as she did, he immediately betrayed her. It's probably Moynihan's biggest regret, or at least up there.

The squad aren't the first of Veloci's test subjects Moynihan took in—though in the past they've all been animals. It was those past test subjects that she used to develop her cure. The Squad are the first subjects she hasn't been able to rehabilitate and return to their natural forms. And to her, they're a sign that Veloci is getting dangerously closer to his goal.

In general, I like the idea of Moynihan having a much greater sense of foreboding in the Monster Squad AU than she has in canon. She feels responsible, she feels afraid, she feels inadequate, but she has to suppress these feelings for the good of the kids.

And then I think one of the kids should discover empathic abilities and learn all these emotions she's been hiding from them, in the process realizing that the situation is actually a lot worse than they even knew.

[dinosquad-central]

"caruso is pretty" there is not a single good-looking frame of him in the show

A classic example of the writers telling when they should be showing smh

[dinosquad-central]

Okay, I got my drafts down from 67 to 50. I'm gonna try to gradually whittle that down, but it's solid progress for one day. Time for a break 😮‍💨

Okay all my asks are either posted or in my queue (except the ones that are about specific songs because I need to listen to those songs first)

🎉

[dinosquad-central]

what if monster squad moynihan was a history or social studies teacher, since she has magic to cure veloci's curse? and it'd fit her being a knowledgeable mentor to teach a subject where ethics would come up

You know, in the context of the Monster Squad AU, that actually makes much more sense than a science teacher. With few exceptions (notably Frankenstein) monsters fall into the category of folklore and/or supernatural fantasy, rather than sci-fi, so to have mentor figure be a scientist makes little sense. Taking into account that conceptually, most monsters were established a very long time ago (tbh the only exclusively contemporary monster I can think of is Ghouls but specifically the version from Tokyo Ghoul, and even that derives its name from a much older concept), I would definitely lean more toward making Moynihan a History teacher in this AU.

The ethics angle is also important—although ethics is important in science as well—considering the issues of bodily autonomy and the right to exist that comes up in many monster narratives. (Eg: vampires are just trying to survive, but does that give them the right to harm others?)

[dinosquad-central]

Okay all my asks are either posted or in my queue (except the ones that are about specific songs because I need to listen to those songs first)

🎉

[dinosquad-central]

"it's not better high" can we have anything nice in this world

apparently not smh 😔

[dinosquad-central]

watching the show high (it's... it's not better high) and i just had a Realization: if the mutant ants hadn't eaten that powerbox when they did, the elevator wouldn't have failed and veloci would have made it to the hangar that caruso was running wild in. so caruso coulld have had veloci to worry about while rescuing his friends. if only the ants hadn't eaten the voltage so fast....

👀👀👀

Ooooh I love this kind of angst bait! Thank you so much for this ask I will be thinking about it all day (again. I thought about it all day when you sent it too, lol).

[dinosquad-central]

Your thoughts and ideas for the Monster Squad AU 🤲 I want to hear them

TBF my main thoughts are just vibing with everything you've posted so far, I won't lie. Some highlights that I absolutely love include (but are not limited to):

The Buzz&Caruso dynamic being a metaphor for unabashed queer liberation versus respectability/assimilation politics.

Fish monster FIONAAAA LET'S GOOOOO (I love it when the one female character of the group gets to be just as weird and gross as the guys instead of having to be pretty)

You're adaptation of my idea of Rump being able to shapeshift/match the kids' monster forms being a side-effect of swimming through the ooze with them! Inspired!

It was a lot of back and forth but I absolutely love what we landed on for Rodger's monster form being a two-in-one, and I feel like that creates a lot of potential with the Smart One of the group being half brain with no body and half body with no brain, having to learn how to make his two halves cooperate in order to get things done and using that to draw comparisons with scientific collaborations and how sometimes very different people with very different skill sets have to find ways to work together for the greater good, but in this case those people are one guy. It could also create a lot of great existential horror of the "I'm not in control of myself" kind without the animalistic instinct angle that usually gets thrown into those kind of stories.

Your description of Buzz's transformation in your longer monster squad post makes me thing of a moth or butterfly coming out of its cocoon with I think is particularly apt for a character who loves bugs!

Werewolf Max, my beloved! (I have loved the idea of werewolf Max since long before we started making this AU, which is why that was literally my first suggestion when it started lol)

I also have a few additional thoughts.

The idea of all Veloci's employees being his coven/thralls, but I imagine only the higher-ups in the company, like Peter and Agent Alpha, are actually vampires themselves, and the rest are just working for Veloci on the promise that he will eventually turn them into vampires. Of course, he sees them mostly as a convenient blood supply and an obedient workforce.

Moynihan being a witch before she became a vampire (which is why she gets an animal familiar and Veloci doesn't), and I also like the idea that she would have been turned against her will, perhaps by a vampire who wanted revenge on her.

Veloci, on the other hand, really really really wanted to be a vampire. He probably went through SO many manipulation tactics, biding his time as he coerced her into thinking turning him was her idea, and as soon as she did, he immediately betrayed her. It's probably Moynihan's biggest regret, or at least up there.

The squad aren't the first of Veloci's test subjects Moynihan took in—though in the past they've all been animals. It was those past test subjects that she used to develop her cure. The Squad are the first subjects she hasn't been able to rehabilitate and return to their natural forms. And to her, they're a sign that Veloci is getting dangerously closer to his goal.

In general, I like the idea of Moynihan having a much greater sense of foreboding in the Monster Squad AU than she has in canon. She feels responsible, she feels afraid, she feels inadequate, but she has to suppress these feelings for the good of the kids.

And then I think one of the kids should discover empathic abilities and learn all these emotions she's been hiding from them, in the process realizing that the situation is actually a lot worse than they even knew.

[dinosquad-central]

in the demon caruso au or whatever, is he in the dino squad because they summoned him on a field trip or was he like. already there for unrelated reasons. or is he not in the dino squad at all he's just a demon they summon on occasion

The demon Caruso asks were in reference to the Monster Squad AU which is an Alternate Universe where, instead of dinosaurs, Veloci is a vampire who used magic to transform the squad into different types of monsters as part of his plan to turn Earth into a monster world.

However, an AU where the rest of the squad is normal and Caruso just happens to be a demon they got stuck with for one reason or another would be hilarious! XD

[dinosquad-central]

This is more like a confession rather than an ask so...anyway! Hi, I just found this blog and oh my gosh I got so happy to see that the Dino Squad fandom is actually a real thing! I remember this show being one of my first hyperfixations and I spent HOURS on the website as a kid! Thank you all five people for keeping this technically niche fandom alive! Seeing Dino Squad thrive brings back so many memories so I might get back to drawing fan art as well 😊

Yay! This is the kind of stuff I love to hear! I'm so glad you're enjoying spending time with us <3