#☼ ) about&headcanons ( ☼

[breezypunk]

happy first takemura tuesday of 2024! ♥︎

[feuerwizard]

do you have any unpopular opinions about caleb?

to clarify: no one in the rpc is guilty of what i am about to explain, more of the general c/ritical r/ole fandom as a whole!

i wouldn't say this is an unpopular opinion necessarily as much as i do find it a bit frustrating that the c/ritical r/ole fandom as a whole sometimes tends to overlook or ignore what a bad person early campaign caleb really was. they sort of just simplify him to sad quirky boy who likes cats and by the end, he's less sad quirky boy who likes cats.

a bit of caleb meta under the cut because i am obsessed with him.

this is not exclusive to the critical role fandom of course, but fandom, in general, can sometimes ignore a character arc starting from a less-than-ideal place if they have deemed that particular character as a favorite boy who can do no wrong. this absolutely happens in discussions surrounding caleb and his character arc because he ends up in such a positive (or positive for him) place by the end of the campaign. it's very easy to ignore the low if you can choose instead to focus on the high.

as a writer, this is something i feel very passionate about not doing. caleb is such an interesting character to me because of where he came from and the growth he overcomes throughout his character arc. is caleb as bad as trent? absolutely not, but he was still a pretty shitty person and extremely single-minded in his pursuits. even if his motivations were noble (saving his parents from himself) i think we have seen from a lot of popular media that even the best of villains start from noble pursuits. not saying caleb is a villain, not at all, but you get my point. he was clearly struggling with his worst instincts and it's his friends that caused him to start looking inwards.

don't believe me? ask liam o'brien!

i've been watching a lot of old liam interviews where he talks about early campaign caleb and this one stood out to me as the most direct example of the demons caleb was fighting with every day and how he sometimes allowed them to win. when asked why caleb chose to do the blood pact with fjord, this is what he said.

“…he saw fjord become tempted by power and in that moment, he’s very much like trent, the man who molded him, saw a split second in time where he [fjord] had hunger in his eyes and thought that it could be molded or bent for caleb’s use. and thought, I could take a risk here….and use him and pull a favor out of this.” 

this is very crappy and manipulative behavior towards a friend! liam then follows it up by expressing how guilty caleb felt over it due to his increasing care of the nein.

"caleb was disgusted with himself at that moment...i think that he was a product of his schooling in that moment. and part of him was like 'yes' but most of him went you fucking piece of filth. look at you."

was caleb, as a child, a victim of abuse grooming? absolutely. did this mold caleb into someone not super great? also yes. both things can be true and it doesn't minimize the abuse that caleb suffered. he's a product of his environment and that's what makes his growth so powerful. love saves people. he is genuinely changed by the friends in his life who chose to look past his mistakes and the man that trent molded him into and instead saw him for the person he could choose to be now. caleb is extremely kind and painstakingly earnest. he just needed the right people in his life to allow that to come out again. to allow the softness.

when caleb is talking to essek in the infamous forehead kiss scene, he is not talking just talking about the mistakes he made as a young teenager in killing his family, but he is also referring to the person he was when he met the nein. that is the fool in caleb's mind. not a manipulated child bren. he sees a lot of himself in essek because i think he sees how easily he could have become essek if not for the nein. and also why essek's redemption is so meaningful to him. if essek can do it, maybe he can too.

trauma doesn't define either of them.

i feel so passionate about this because i think caleb's character arc is genuinely one of the most powerful explorations of trauma and healing i've ever seen in a fictional property and overlooking the person he was at the beginning is a disservice to how far he comes by the end. the genuinely good person he grows into becoming.

"pain doesn’t make people. it’s love that makes people. the pain is inconsequential. it’s love that saves them."

[fauxfinale]

Cheerleaders in Derry

This is going to be a long post where I go on about uniform design for a needlessly loooong time, so here is a complimentary spacer <3

Me waiting for Welcome to Derry to see if they have any cheerleader characters so I can draw inspiration from the uniform. Above the spacer has the one from Chapter 2, but uniforms change throughout the years so neither of them would be 1:1 how Marilyn's looks. So I'm glad I get SOME creative liberty. But I know Welcome to Derry will likely have something given this is in their set production:

I'll probably keep the simple DHS logo for whatever uniform I end up with her. The mascot shows that the primary team IS baseball ( to the surprise of no one who knows the novel haha. )

Cheerleading isn't as common for baseball; but it's not unheard of. So let me sip that delulu juice some more. With the girls field hockey team also, you can't tell me there aren't more sporting events at DHS. Cheerleaders simply make sense lol.

red polos for the girl's field hockey team, and me wishing I could see the costume design up close for the emblem but oh well! (I'm not going to comment on the skirt, I hate it despite being a plaid skirt girly.)

I feel like it's safe to say Red is going to be the primary colour of the uniform. Gold will likely be present as well, I don't THINK the uniforms in ch.2 are for Derry High so the Red/Black scheme likely wouldn't be as accurate but who knows. Red/Black and Red/White are both really easy to work with and can absolutely be changed up.

Here are some inspirations I plan to pull from!

the varsity jacket is simple enough, probably with the DHS emblem somewhere on the chest. Not given to the cheerleaders; but likely given TO them by whichever guy happens to fancy them lol.

I also like the idea of sleeveless for hot weather, but the simple white sleeves for cooler days!

[lancelot-sharpkeen]

[ anyway tier list of the killers lance could totally beat up or who could wipe the floor with him ]

[avrorean]

new tags while I get pages updated et all with Nanna's New Developments

[fatedefyd]

   the more i look at the clips where azure talks about wukong, the less i’m inclined to see it as a romantic point of view  --  this is just a me thing, looking at this beyond the rose-tinted shipping glasses !  this isn’t me bashing on the ship or the potential romantic threads attached to these two. 

   that being said, with the way that the big guy shows mk his memories of the Brotherhood through his point of view, it gives me stronger vibes that teeter more into the direction of how nezha talks about the Jade Emperor.  

   azure talks about how those in Heaven took their positions for granted, that they don’t truly care for the same mortals that worship them unless it directly affects Heaven.  he saw himself as unable to make a change due to having been in his position for so long, he didn’t see a point in trying to challenge JE when, from what he could tell, no one felt the same besides a select few... until wukong shows up. 

   then it’s like a cloudy glass window is shattered, and an entirely new world is revealed to him.  the lion was aware of the beauty that the Mortal Realm had to offer, though with the aid of wukong he is able to truly savor and appreciate it ; sure, the flow of time is much faster, and lives down there go by quicker than that of even the lowest-ranking immortals, but that was part of what made it amazing :  that there were people who KNEW they didn’t have a long lifespan and still lived them to the fullest !  and that fact makes azure’s fury reach a breaking point. 

   he leaves to join wukong’s Brotherhood.  he helps in finalizing a plan that will ensure that the Mortal Realm is given the respect it deserves.  he finally feels that he has a place of belonging, away from the glitz and glamor of heaven and down in the dirt and humble living of the mortals.  his idealized and heavily romanticized perspective of the mortal world and his simmering rage for the Heavens are the main driving motivators for helping wukong overthrow the Jade Emperor. 

   azure genuinely believes that he’s doing the right thing in getting JE out of the picture, regardless of who’s in charge. 

[iilahalzili]

Marik's Shadows are different than what are described as the shadows in the show. His shadows are a mix of his own power that had been festering for thousands of years, the shadows we hear of in the show, and the remnant power of Apophis. It is what thrives in the area Marik refers to as the Shadow Realm ( a branch off of what is used in the show ). With these shadows, it can be used to infect others. Nobody else can become a Shadow Creature without thousands of years going through the same molding process Marik went through--and it would take an extremely powerful soul to be able to survive the process. However, people can be infected with these, which means they: 1) act as a conduit for Marik, meaning that if he remains in their vicinity, he will be strengthened and they will be strengthened to a lesser degree around him, 2) allow the person to use shadow magic ( meld into shadows with side effects, use it to discover people's fears, small bits of infecting others // marking them for Marik to find ), 3) Marik can know where they are at all times and travel quickly to their position, 4) an unknown side effect is that Marik can have the shadows tear out the person's soul if they are deeply infected by it. High ranking followers of the God of Shadows will be shadow infused, which will also give them an advantage to blend in but be able to sense the shadows in others.

[serialreporter]

christmas is nothing but a commercial holiday to him, but he does enjoy the overall aesthetic of white blanketed streets, colorful lights strung everywhere, and the peppermint hotcoco.

[argentnaivety]

floating silver is here to tell you a couple hcs about Soleanna!

Ah yes, the city of water. We all know the occurrences of Sonic 06' were erased and re-written. However, that did not change the fact Silver was still born and raised here. "Crisis city" was New Soleanna. Here's a couple little tidbit hcs I've accumulated around this:

☼ Silver has non-political ties to the Royal Family. The origin of this connection is unknown, but yet Princess Elise fondly remembers a kind hedgehog helping her learn to ice skate as a young girl. He gave her a lesson about persistence and determination. Along with a gift, Silver gave her a promise that she would see him again.

Through her life, the two believed their connection boiled down to Silver's job as a hero of the future, and the hero of the future Soleanna. However the reason why the two have a vague familiarity to one another is unknown to both of them.

☼ Because he grew up here, Silver had to learn to swim, and does so well.

☼ Silver works part time in the past to earn rings as energy for time travel ( as well as other expenses ). He's a self-employed Delivery boy, often seen zipping about Soleanna with various packages for citizens.

☼ Coinciding with the inspiration that Soleanna is based off of Venice, Italy, Silver speaks the native language-equivalent to Italian. However most people still speak "common"/English, so he has very little accent.

☼ Since his friends are usually far elsewhere, it does get lonely here- so he usually only stays in Soleanna to earn rings. He's only in the past to be with said friends and fight bad-guys, after all!

☼ Contrary to popular belief, Silver has friends in the future, too! One of them is a former G.U.N. Synth by the name of Aaven. They protect the city together.

[resolvebound]

even with tag replacer, this is tedious......

[cami1a]

one thing I really enjoyed about the shows interpretation of camila is they showed a passion of hers outside of the band. she isn’t just the rockstars gf and the book didn’t give us enough of that insight, seeing her film and photography hobby adds so much more depth to her.

[lorebled-a]

rhaeyar and phyrros have dragons in their hot.d/pre-got verse. rhaeyar’s dragon is called vēzerys, which translates to “sunfyre” in the common tongue. sunfyre is a she-dragon with purple belly and orange wings. phyrros’ is named lēkia, meaning “older brother”.  lēkia is a huge, albino dragon with red eyes. both dragons have a friendly demeanour towards strangers, but are known to be savagely fierce in battles.

[lancelot-sharpkeen]

[ hi ]

[thingamagique]

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[fatedefyd]

   i would like to believe that it was pure adrenaline that kept him together.  at least, at first. 

   let’s be real :  as much as we all love to hate the Jade Emperor  --  and for good reason !!  --  he is a  ‘ necessary evil ‘  in order for there to be... order.  

   so when we see our favorite big cat take his place ?  and in such a BALLER FASHION ??  there was definitely a divide in the Azure enablers and Azure haters  [ affectionate ] .  he seemed so sure and so in-control of himself when the season ended before the special began, i was almost tricked into thinking he would make for a pretty good emperor  --  at least in comparison to the last one, which i think probably isn’t too difficult. 

   and then we remember that this is a show about the protagonist defeating all odds with the Power of Friendship or the Power of Potential ; because if MK wasn’t able to beat Azure, then how else will the story keep moving forwards ?  sure, we could keep it that way, but given the fact the JTTW has MULTIPLE obstacles and enemies to overcome, Azure is bound to lose regardless of how powerful MK is on his own or with his friends by his side.

   this is because of one very important thing :  the plot NEEDS Azure to be defeatable in order to progress the story.  LMK is a fanfiction / adaptation of a failed JTTW with all flavors of each enemy with different amounts of screen time.  however, the char. designers ALWAYS make each enemy a joy to see on screen, regardless of how much time we get to see them !  so to see Azure not be able to fully control his Emperor Powers to defeat MK at the end of the season isn’t too surprising, but the manner in which he leaves is an unexpected one  --  intriguing and opening a lot of doors as to whether or he is truly gone, and absolutely gorgeous in the most heart-wrenching way.

   TLDR ;  rest in pieces emperor kitten-whiskers, you will be dearly missed.

[iilahalzili]

. . . thinking about more stuff with the merfolk AU, that there are two sacred locations for both main Kingdoms: the Auroras for the Sunlight Kingdom and the Abyss for the Deep Sea Kingdom. These areas are where certain individuals are allowed to go to become "mystics" ( aka the ones who are magicians, seers or healers ). Both are off limits to those who are not one of the three classes of mystics, for they are extremely dangerous to get to and are equally dangerous if somebody spends too much time there. The only other people who are allowed near these locations are the royal families, since it is rumored the first of the linage for both came from the Auroras // Abyss. Marik, being the descendent of the Deep-Sea royal, went there after his banishment and dabbled in the darkest magic. Also, there are two main kingdoms, but smaller providences with Lords are present--those who live closer to the sunlight are under the Sunlight Zone Kingdom while those where the sun does not touch is under the Deep Sea Kingdom. Despite the differences, both are kind and friendly to each other, but most Deep Sea merfolk are having a small war with the humans for the hunting of their species. Most Sunlight Zone merfolk are neutral with humans, but can have their qualms if humans overstep their boundaries.