sepublic - Tumblr blog

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Reminder that Suko is 1.5x the size Kong was in Skull Island.

You know those jokes about kids that look like miniature adults? I guess that’s Kong.

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You can already guess that Jurassic World’s Giganotosaurus is an inaccurate movie monster, even before you check what the actual Giga would’ve looked like (speaking from personal experience). But I think it bears a pretty decent resemblance to Gorosaurus!

The triangular skulls and ridged spines that curve back… In toys, Giganotosaurus even shares an olive green complexion. So unless we get a Monsterverse Gorosaurus, JW’s Giganotosaurus, which looks nothing like its real life counterpart anyhow, is my go-to HC for how Goro would look on the big screen.

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Sora: So Arin and I were watching this movie about time travel-

Kai: Time travel? Oh yeah I’ve done that before.

Nya: Same here.

Kai: Yeah but I’m the only one who’s done it twice.

Nya: Doesn’t Zane also count?

Zane: I try not to think about the second incident.

Lloyd: I didn’t even get to time travel at all…

Sora:

Sora: Arin did you know about this????

Arin: I only know about one of those times and I’m not sure if it’s the one Nya’s talking about.

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I just realized the perfect nickname for Trexdis: T-Rex.

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Did anyone else have multi-purpose OCs, who you’d use for different stories at once? Sometimes original, sometimes as part of some pre-existing media, with minor differences between incarnations. I recall Midas and Lynkos doubling as both Ninjago and Ghostbusters OCs.

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Looking through my old writing, it’s funny how I kept trying to portray the Escapees as sympathetic villains with a heart of gold deep down, while also trying to frame their motives to kill Lloyd as somehow. Understandable???? Like Lloyd secretly did something to warrant all this???? Because it just sounded like I was saying

“Trust me guys he’s not an asshole he just needs to get this asshole move out of his system and then he’ll be fine.”

Anyhow tag your OC for whom this image applies.

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So Jay had the Chinese character for sheep. It’s probably a case of the designers injecting Asian symbols into Ninjago without bothering to understand their meaning. But I like to think of how it can pay homage to clouds, because sheep are white and fluffy like them. Clouds are where lightning spawns from, a crackling cloud is Jay’s original symbol… And I can imagine wool generating static electricity.

In other words, Jay must have a Mareep in a Pokemon AU.

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So Jay was a pirate at one point and Skybound leaned into Pirates of the Caribbean references, plus Jaya being a pivotal plot point for that season. And Nya literally became the sea.

Imagine some PotC-adjacent AU where Jaya is like Davy Jones and Calypso; Nya became the sea, Jay grieved and became a pirate to be closer to her. Maybe seized command of the Sky Pirates so he would be in his element as well, the stormy skies intertwined with the ocean below through rain. He figured out a way to restore Nya's human form, at the cost of her powers, so he could see her again; But Nya was unhappy because as the ocean, she was so free and released from all burdens. She hoped Jay would love her as the sea and not just her human form. Maybe Jay already saw Nya's decision to become one with the sea as a betrayal.

They split apart, both broken-hearted. Jay and his crew roamed the skies, watching the sea from afar but not quite making contact. Being surrounded by his element also caused his body to change; A storm cloud with lightning bolts resembling an octopus' tentacles, a familiar image to some...

Nya resigned herself to a new life, living as a witch dabbling in potions and magic. Always yearning for the sea and to return to it, but never quite able to achieve that freedom. Mourning her love. Yet she cannot help but be appalled by the monster her lover has become. She has become more estranged from her true self than she has ever been, and it has been agony for Nya in many ways.

Or maybe they’re gods of the sky and sea who can never touch one another, save for when the sea sends water up to come back down as rain. The water cycle is their little gift to one another… The lighthouse in middle of the ocean is the one place they can sometimes meet, or have met.

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Y'know, I actually liked gray as the color for Nya, as introduced by TLNM. We all know the real, Doylist reason she wasn't blue until Dragons Rising (it was already assigned to Jay, because the creators didn't realize they'd have a Water ninja until years later). But I think gray is interesting because it evokes stormy clouds, the kind that thunder, tumultuous waves, etc.

This brings Nya closer to Jay because again, storm clouds, lightning. It also connects her to Morro and Wojira, because Water and Wind are specifically associated with chaos through her. IDK I think there's a lot of fun to be had characterizing Water through this lens, and applying it to Nya's already established characterization to do a different take on the Water girl teammate.

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IT WHAT-

Lloyd: All life is sacred, Arin. Which means I’m obligated as a ninja to risk my own life to save even an enemy like Rapton!

Cole, fifteen seasons ago:

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In hindsight, I wonder if the Mucoids’ intended execution for Rapton wasn’t actually going to hurt him. Like what if they planned to douse him in salt because they assume humans share the same weakness as them. What happens then if Rapton lives does he find a way to escape or do the Mucoids just grab a Glock.

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Lloyd: All life is sacred, Arin. Which means I’m obligated as a ninja to risk my own life to save even an enemy like Rapton!

Cole, fifteen seasons ago:

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🐉 Kid Icarus Uprising - The Hewdraw 🐉

“Hello there.” “It’s snack time.” “Mmm, what a tender little morsel!”

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Jordana… There is literally no Jordana without Ana…

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Anyways, calling shoplifting “urban foraging” is very funny, a useful euphemism, should be done more often.

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Made this in celebration of the eclipse and the owl house’s death :)

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I think Luz's trauma due to being an abuse victim gets ignored a lot in favor of other characters. Luz has an odd role in the fandom as this character who other characters rely on, or who isn't an abuse victim but is supportive of her friends who are, and I think that ends up missing a huge part of her story.

Belos compliments her a lot, which is partially because he wants to reach out to her and mostly because he thinks he can manipulate her. He does some backhanded compliments, telling her she's improved but she still has work to do to catch up to him. He also thanks her quite a few times. The way he thanks her intentionally triggers her guilt, especially when he thanks her for helping him with Hunter. He also compliments her to put other people down, like when he tells her she's "better than this" (implying their race makes them morally superior).

He also uses the same manipulation tactic on Luz that he does on Hunter, although it doesn't work as well on her. He tries to remove his own agency for his physical violence by blaming the Curse. The biggest example is in King's Tide, when he pretends he can't hear her as he's racing after her to try and kill her. He ends up cutting her face while pretending to be out of control and then in the same sequence has full control and clarity to talk to Hunter and the Collector. He gaslights Luz by trying to make it seem like it was The Curse causing him to act in the way he did.

He refers to Luz as "crazy" to invalidate her emotions and harming Hunter in front of her also is a form of abuse. He's obviously aware that hurting Hunter traumatizes Luz (and everyone else) but as his focus transfers from Hunter to Luz in Hollow Mind, he starts targeting her specifically by harming Hunter to hurt her (especially in TTT). Belos shifts the blame for events from himself to Luz and also attempts to make her feel guilty. Hunter seems to understand that Luz is also being abused and tries to reassure her that Belos is an abuser and she shouldn't take what he says at face value. Luz ends up taking that advice to heart after she's able to forgive herself and face Belos. She doesn't speak to him but is able to hear his manipulation tactics and just. stare at him bc he's full of bullshit.

Just because he 'only' hits her a few times and isn't her guardian doesn't mean he can't abuse her or that he didn't. It's not really a protagonist-antagonist relationship as much as it is "adult man nuking 14 year old repeatedly until she becomes god and kills him". The idea that child abuse can only come from parents and not role models or other adults in your life is odd, because he distinctly holds a position of power over her (literally an Emperor and an adult who intentionally isolates her and the other kids alone to abuse them) and uses it to emotionally and physically harm her.

Papa Titan has to reassure her that she's okay to kill Belos because he's literally a serial killer who's lying about his intentions. Luz still slightly falls for Belos's sympathetic line until that moment because he very intentionally tried to get her to feel bad for him and also feel guilt about herself.

This is also why I really detest any fandom takes where Belos canonically is supposed to care about her, or Luz owes him anything. Manipulation is not sympathetic. Belos committed premeditated murder and then used the remains of his murder victim to try to make a "Better Version" of his murder victim which was actually just a way to punish him repeatedly and keep taking out revenge on kids who had nothing to do with the original conflict. Belos is Luz's abuser also, and Luz doesn't owe him any sort of kindness or consideration and her anger is valid.

Luz is an abuse victim of Belos's in addition to Hunter and the Collector (and Vee/Lilith by extension), and she should be considered as such rather than her trauma being invalidated in favor of other characters.