#Also i would like to have Zim as the antagonist

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

I had a long argument with someone on whether or not stomping Belos before he dies was better than letting him die pathetically, and I asked myself if that is what fans really believe in... or if they would hail any Belos' death as the perfect one if Dana choose a different one?

They also justify the stomping as being part of horror-comedy genre and that Belos should not have any dignity what so ever because apparently letting him die in despair with no stomping is running the risk of making the audience feel "sorry" for him.

Honestly, these justifications make The Owl House feel more shallow. Like, why shouldn't the audience be allowed to feel sorry for Belos? What is the danger? That people would agree with Belos' views?

Or are we supposed to develop a black and white view of the world akin to a conservative view but inverted? And then hide behind the horror comedy genre to justify less drama? I hate to say it, but Nostalgia Critic is right about Belos being this strange outlier. The show seems to be afraid of actually doing a complex, tragic and yet irredeemable villain.

It doesn't make any sense to argue that Belos' death fits because of toh's genre as a horror comedy because the scene was neither played for horror nor laughs. At best, you have the image of Philip slowly being dissolved by the rain and then Raine's smug "that was satisfying" line. The overall tone of the scene is one of contempt as Philip tries one last plea to Luz only to be snuffed out (and weirdly validated) by the heroes. Its intent is to be cathartic for both audience (though as you know doubt know, YMMV) and the characters.

Frankly, despite its marketing, I don't see toh as either a horror or a comedy because it spends more time on slice of life stuff and high school teen drama and romance. And even when it does go for the horror and comedy, both are rather tepid. You want a real example of a horror-comedy for kids, then go watch Courage the Cowardly Dog or Invader Zim.

The reason why I argue the heroes validated Belos is because in the moment of his death, he clings to the idea that as humans, "we're better than this!" It's a moment of pathetic delusion that is appropriately met with silence but then it's ruined with Eda and Co. barging in with "Well, we ain't!" only to then prove his point by mercilessly stomping an already dying man to death. There's a reason why kid shows usually end with either the villain being imprisoned or not outright being murdered by the heroes. Evil has to die by its own hubris, not get killed by the heroes after the Big Battle when they're no longer a threat. I made a post about the importance of defeating a major antagonist twice.

Belos' death also doesn't work with a "Kill your oppressors" theme because the show isn't about that. The show barely spends any time showing why the EC is bad for the Boiling Isles and Eda is the only named wild witch we see getting harassed by them and even then, it's mostly played for laughs given how inept the coven scouts are (seriously, they're able to quit without fear of repercussions).

I think a reason fans are split on Belos' death is because of differing expectations; the fans who paid attention to Belos and the implication of his backstory and waited for every lie to come crashing down on him since that's what the show seemed to be building up to only to be unceremoniously ignored in the end were no doubt disappointed. Then you have the other fans who hated the character to the point that any gruesome death will do, regardless whether it made narrative or thematic sense or not.

Ultimately, I think the biggest reason his death doesn't work is because Belos fails as a villain.

Belos' status as a colonial puritan only works on a meta-level; it serves a cathartic release for marginialized people to see a representative of real world oppression beaten by queer characters as it fulfills the fantasy of finally overthrowing an oppressive system. The fatal flaw though is that none of this works on a narrative level because the coven system is either treated as a joke or simply a career path one must choose and we never see the disenfranchisement of wild witches. People largely get off scot-free opposing Belos, which undermines his credibility as both a dictator and a villain because no one cares about him until the plot needs them to. Luz doesn't even care about proving he's evil until Hollow Mind, which is halfway through season 2.

Belos as a villain only works if you project your own feelings and desires in wanting to see the Evil Christian/Evil Parent destroyed. While this is extremely satisfying emotionally, it does not make a sound story.

All the reasons why people like his death ("it's great the evil colonizer died so pathetically!" "omg, the white christian colonizer was killed by two queer people and their adopted son!" etc) are all meta reasons. And to be clear, it's totally fine if you thought his death was satisfying. But for many people, it did not work for a variety of reasons, including narrative ones. And that differing opinion should be respected instead of arguing some nonsense like "we have to make our villain as stupid/evil as possible or run the risk of people liking/sympathizing with him."

Belos should have died in a manner that connected back to his original sin: the murder of his brother. All of his lies and delusions and fear of being wrong should have played a part in the finale. He should have not died thinking he was right. He should have died realizing that all he did was for nothing. And that he is to blame. And that there is no one waiting for him back home.

[inbarfink]

Okay, here’s a Thought I had just recently…

So, Iggins. Everyone hates Iggins. He’s designed to be one of the most instantly hateable characters ever featured on a show that’s already famously misanthropic. And this is done by just… making him just an intensely concentrated version of every Obnoxious Gamer Stereotype (and way before they were widespread in mainstream media. ‘Invader Zim’ truly WAS ahead of its time). Simple enough, right?

But there’s actually another dimension to the whole thing.

Because what is it exactly about Iggins that Gaz finds so annoying and loathsome?

Well, it is the fact that he starts long rambling ‘conversations’ despite her obvious lack of interest which are just him talking at her

Is incredibly self-aggrandizing and self-centered

He LITERALLY went 'and then everyone clapped!', this show was a head of it's time, I tell you!

And his delusion of grandeur is his justification for overriding Gaz's desires and taking what is rightfully hers.

And, like.... leaving outside the literal taking of the physical Game Slave.... these are also the primary reasons why she gets angry at Dib.

Iggins is just a more annoying Gamer Dib. He has all of Dib’s negative traits and especially the ones that tend to affect Gaz; the inattentiveness, the self-centeredness, the self-aggrandizing, the assumption that his needs' triumph everybody else. But with Iggins they farther exaggerated, and instead of the Paranormal, Iggins is obsessed with Gaz’s Special Interest.

That kinda makes him the perfect antagonist for Gaz. And also maybe demonstrate that Gaz’s problems with her brother, unlike the Rest of the World, don’t always stem from just him having Weird Interests. If Dib had more normative interests (or at least as normative as Gaz's) but he was still just as much of a self-centered blowhard at her as he usually is - she would still be just as pissed-off at him as usual.

[emeraldspiral]

Comment on this 4 second video of Dib being incensed that leadership roles in Irken society are decided by something as stupid as height;

"Honestly my main beef with the movie is that it still paints Zim as the antagonist when in reality he's a legitimate victim of an expansionist military regime. Even worse, one that doesn't want him and does its best to belittle him. People also like to conveniently forget if it wasn't for him the Earth would have been destroyed MULTIPLE times. From the moment he was born the Irken armada decided his life. It's one of the themes I really hoped they were going to run with. Zim coming to realize he has agency in his own life and doesn't need the approval of the Tallest. But instead Dib chooses to try and expose him at the keynote not even for the protection of the Earth. Just to prove he's right. Dib has a spaceship in his garage because of his involvement with Zim and it still isn't enough to be right. He needs everyone to acknowledge he's right. On the whole its a very good depiction of pride and how A LOT of characters in the series suffer from it. Zim is prideful, Tak is prideful, Dib is prideful, The Tallest/Professor Membrane, and even Gaz to an extent. "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."

I feel like Dib being consistently portrayed as able to see through BS and point out obvious social problems that no one else notices or cares about makes him the perfect person to help Zim realize he's as much of a victim of the Irken Empire's agenda as a perpetrator of it if they were willing to go there.

In the comics, he is aware that Zim has had the ability to feel love or friendship (mostly) bred out of him, but he hasn't yet moved beyond the idea of "he can't feel love, that makes him a monster" to realizing "they took away his ability to feel love, that's really fucked up".

I like the idea that maybe once Dib reaches that conclusion he'd try to help Zim, but Zim would reject him because he doesn't want to admit to being a victim. Dib would get upset and whine to his dad about how he tries so hard to save people and doesn't know what he's doing wrong or what he can do if they refuse to listen. Membrane tells him that no one can ever really save anyone. The best you can do is give them the tools they need to save themselves. Membrane gives the world solutions to hunger, climate change, and pollution, but the world has to choose to implement them, and often times they don't, which is why the world is still a dystopia despite his best efforts. So Dib figures out that the way to help Zim isn't like, trying to assassinate the Tallest and start a revolution on Irk to liberate him and his people like in an escapist power fantasy. The way to save Zim is to give him what he needs to save himself.

[theautumnaldemon]

Do you think Tallest Neev would be so obsessed with perfection and the almighty empire that she would hunt down defective irkens? And I don't just mean program-wise, like Zim, but people who defected from irken society, disobeying orders? That includes Tak and all of the Tumblr invaders, doesn't it? Also any irkens who might have joined the Resisty. (If any)

(it would also include malfunctioning bots, such as Gir, and Sticky+its siblings)

:0

i Sense an antagonist

[thinkerspace]

On Rights, Part One: Positive and Negative Rights

Since moving to America a few years ago, I was quite struck by how flippantly my peers used the term right to describe things I would have never considered rights. Among others, I found the right to not be offended, the right to healthcare, and the right to abortion particularly interesting, though not particularly compelling.

I initially planned to make this subject one article, but I kept vacillating on whether it would better fit a series format or not (hence the gross delay for this post). Because rights are a complex subject, they probably deserve more attention than a single article. In this post, I’m going to start with a problem I’ve come across when writing about rights, which is conflict between positive and negative rights.

There are different ways of thinking about rights, but one of the more basic ways we can categorize rights is on a positive-negative axis. Positive rights concern things given you (like healthcare), whereas negative rights concern things not taken from you (like life). More specifically, positive rights are rights to opportunities and services; negative rights are rights of the person against inhibitory powers of others (like antagonistic persons or government). 

This is somewhat similar to the distinction between claim rights (involving obligations or duties from someone else regarding the right-holding person) and liberty rights (involving freedom and permission for the right-holder). Other political theorists and philosophers, like Maurice Cranston, have suggested classifying negative rights (or “natural rights”) and positive rights instead as “moral rights” and “legal rights”, respectively, where moral rights need to be justified and legal rights need to be established (Hayden, 2001, p.167). This is also somewhat on par with the standard libertarian view of rights, which is that negative / moral / natural rights are valid, but positive / legal rights are not until they are set up via contract. Not every philosopher or social theorist agrees with the distinction between positive and negative rights — some think rights should be classified differently or more holistically. But for the sake of argument, I’ll suppose that they do, for now, so we can see a potential problem in how they would interact if they did exist.

As far as I can tell, negative or natural rights involve something more agentic on the part of the self — almost as though the things it concerns, you would do on your own if no one was stopping you. This includes things like self-defense, freedom of assembly, pursuit of happiness, life, and so on. Conversely, positive rights seem to involve something agentic on the part of someone else — the thing it concerns, you simply wouldn’t have without their intervention. This would include healthcare, universal basic income (UBI), representation in government, and so on.

Others have observed, though, and perhaps rightfully, that the lines between such distinctions can become blurry rather quickly. Suppose someone has the right to self-identification, which would be a negative right, and as an extension of that they identify using self-described pronouns (like zim/zer). Does their negative right to self-identification necessitate a positive right of others’ willingness to address them as they see fit? If a right to self-identification stopped with mere self-identification and had no bearing on one’s expression or treatment of self in the world, perhaps not. But in reality, this is not how people view self-identification. If we have a right to it, we often expect others to accommodate it — just like we expect others to accommodate, for example, a right to life by taking the necessary precautions to avoid putting our lives in danger. If someone had a peanut allergy, they would expect their dinner host to accommodate their right to life by making something without peanuts. The person doesn’t necessarily have a positive right to food without peanuts — but to them, their negative right to life implies that some accommodation on the part of the other party is necessary, supposing the other party doesn’t want to impede upon the right of the first.

This is where the line starts to get blurry. In cases where action X would threaten another party’s negative right Y, some other positive action is required in order to preserve that right. So a negative right to self-identification, at least in implementation, requires accommodation on the part of the other person. But suppose the other person also has a negative right to free speech and didn’t want to use specific pronouns — whose right would trump the other?

Just by combinations, we basically have four options:

Both rights are met.

The negative, but not the positive, right is met.

The positive, but not the negative, right is met.

Neither right is met. 

By the law of noncontradiction, we can be pretty sure the first one isn’t going to happen. If your right to self-identification expects verbal accommodation from me, but my right to free speech won’t comply with that accommodation, the accommodation will or won’t happen — and one right will or won’t bend. 

We can also be pretty sure the fourth one isn’t going to happen for the same reason. Accommodation either will or won’t happen, but there isn’t a nebulous third option where both rights aren’t met. I either will or won’t say what you want. You either will or won’t be called what you want. But if I don’t call you what you want, you won’t get it; if I do, you will get it. My choices are dichotomous; so are the results. So I’ll exercise my right and disregard yours, or I’ll submit to yours and disregard mine. But if I disregard mine, I’m necessarily submitting to yours, because there are only two options — disregard my own right or enforce it — and only one possible consequence for each.

So the question now comes down to either the triumph of the negative right or the triumph of the positive right. If both people dug their heels in and demanded accommodation for their rights, the negative right would probably win, because positive rights require action, whereas negative rights just require you to keep doing what you were doing. For example, if I demand the right to an abortion (positive right) but you’re a pro-life medical worker and you have the right to make practice decisions based on your religion (negative right), for your right to win, you just have to do nothing. For my right to win, I have to convince you to do something.

My instinctive opinion here is that it is less than compellingly reasonable to say someone must do something without their consent. Requiring me to not kill someone I’m angry with (accommodating negative right) and requiring me to give a percentage of my daily income to a UBI fund (accommodating positive right) are pretty different things at least in practice, if not in theory. 

I actually think this is partially why the libertarians take a more contractual perspective on positive rights, because positive rights require someone else to do something for you, and it intuitively seems like a denial of agency to say they have todo something for you “just because”. Negative rights make intuitive sense because they’re agentic on your part, you take the responsibility and initiative for them, you manage the problems if things go wrong, and you don’t demand that people do thingsfor you. If they refuse to do something you need to preserve your negative right (like make peanut-free food), you just don’t interact with them to the extent that the refusal would impact your right. You watch out for your own protection, rather than demanding accommodation. 

(As a side note, this also seems to be partially why the topic of abortion, as well as other forms of abusive injustice, enrages so many people on the pro-life side of the political spectrum — for functional, grown humans, defending their own negative rights aren’t typically a problem. Unborn children, kids abused by their parents, or victims of human trafficking, though, are unable to defend their own negative rights, becoming completely helpless.)

Going back to the face-off between positive and negative rights, it seems pretty clear that if I’m holding up my own negative right or you’re demanding a positive right of me, my negative right will probably win most times. The natural follow-up question to this, though, is is that how it should be?

Asking this question differently may help with some analysis. We could rephrase it as, “if you want me to do something I don’t want to do, is my refusing to do it better or worse than my doing something I don’t agree with?” To say that it is better is to say that your own personal conviction supersedes another person’s right, but to say it is worse is to subordinate what is perhaps the most valuable trademark of humanity — personal thought and volition — to the entitlement of others’. 

Intuitively, I think most of us would say it is better to preserve the negative right to preserve the agency of the self, but that’s also hard to isolate, because we’re quite apt to think that we would be in the right in that situation. Would it be better, ultimately, to sacrifice your own agency for someone else’s right? Who decides what a right is, anyway? From my limited purview on the topic, I’m inclined to conclude that the preservation of personal agency trumps accommodating someone else’s entitlement. I can think of many situations where sacrificing a negative right in a given circumstance out of courtesy for someone else (think: not swearing around small children) would certainly be honorable, but would it actually be better to require it? If we require a mitigation of negative rights for the sake of some potential positive ones, is that an attack on negative rights — and is an attack on negative rights more harmful than an attack on positive rights?

Those questions fall more under the scope of submission versus agency, which will be the topic of the next On Rights post, so I’ll save those for now. As we examine the positive-negative rights axis as a starting point for the discussion on rights, though, we would do well to bear in mind that positive and negative rights have some considerable overlap that leads to conflict. Whether that conflict is good or bad — and how it should be treated — has yet to be defined. 

Reference

Hayden, P. (2001). The Philosophy of Human Rights. Paragon House: Paragon Issues in Philosophy, p.163-173.

[refriedrambles]

I neeeeeeeed to focus on the antagonists of each part a bit more and non drama plot poooooooints. Good opportunity for more blood.

Not really Hero or Fired or maybe even Villain (iffy there cause it still needs to be fleshed out more in general) since they either pit everyone against each or don't have major antagonists. Same goes for a few other parts, but I've written so little in them anything is significant progress.

Also kicking around more ideas for The Producers. Need to figure out how much I want to reveal in that one.

Maybe they should be in the background for Vort too... Would that highlight them more in Lying? Would it be an irken? Do they get wiped out in Diverging Points/ Villain or Okay?

Probably in Okay... No reason for Roxvin to take it at the end of Points or show up later on if they don't. But also he could just not have control over showing up there??? Still little reason to take it. But he's a pretty odd dude. Mighta seen something in the short stack.

That's another problem I gotta work out. Does Zim accept him as he is ignoring he's not Zim's? Or does something happen and Roxvin hand it over? Or even more fucked up does he just hand over to Zim after little pressure to see what he does with it? Is he bitter? Is he tired? The man's usually a shit stirrer.

God that's messy. Guess it's the last option then, but would Zim do it? Would it be sneakily if he did? Would he try to use it on himself? Would he ask and put the decision on him instead? Not really laying out how far he's going to in either direction. A good mix of all the options there. Where he says no, Zim's just alrighty I get it and then tries to use it on himself without an ounce of hesitation. He tries to stop him and it goes bad. Roxvin's just watching off on the side lines like wow glad my Zim's dead so he can't see this shit, he'd be appalled, while eating popcorn.

Hit more on hints in Isn't as well. It's pretty divorced but important things are happening in the background. And I need to get those on paper and fleshed out a bit.

[hostnamexception]

♡

Detailed Pre-Established Relationship MemeSend me a ♡ and I’ll bold what I want to see with our muses and italicize things I may be open to! (send “heart!” if the symbol is unavailable)

I want our muses to be: friends | ex-friends | rivals | rivals with sexual/romantic tension | enemies | enemies to friends | enemies with sexual/romantic tension | enemies to lovers | lovers | ex-lovers | partners/coworkers | family | found family | pen pals/internet friends | friends with benefits | soulmates

Our muses met: as children | as teenagers | as adults | just recently

(for romance) Our muses’ relationship is: still exciting and lively | stable | starting to feel awkward | in jeopardy | romantic, but the sexual attraction is fading | sexual, but the romantic attraction is fading | toxic and self-destructive | unrequited, with my muse pining after yours | unrequited, with your muse pining after mine | determined by fate

(for rivals) Our muses’ relationship is: awkward | fiery | friendly | hot and cold | petty | mostly for show | losing its spark | starting to develop into something more | one-sided, with my muse considering yours a rival | one-sided, with your muse considering mine a rival | determined by fate

(for enemies) Our muses’ relationship is: dangerous to themselves | dangerous to others | based on family matters | based on professional matters | based on lies/misunderstandings | unpredictable | passionate | nothing personal at first, but changes with time | determined by fate | one-sided, with my muse considering yours an enemy | one-sided, with your muse considering mine an enemy

(for friends) Our muses’ relationship is: stable | unstable | reluctant | sickeningly sweet | the kind of close friendship that makes others jealous | falling apart | based on shared interests | based on circumstance (like school or work) | based on family ties | developing into something more (romantic/sexual) | developing into something more (antagonistic) | determined by fate | one-sided, with your muse considering mine a friend | one-sided, with my muse considering yours a friend

[maxwellatoms]

They don't seem to make darkly satirical kids cartoons like yours or Jhonen V's "Invader Zim" anymore these days - it's either happy happy, shouty post-Season 3 Spongebob or weepy, melodramatic Steven Universe clones (hamfisted therapy as story, sporadic lore, ripping off shonen or shoujo anime). Why is this, do you think?

Networks tell me that parents just want to put their kids down in front of a TV for X hours and not have the kid come away with any ideas. They don't want kids repeatedly shouting a funny phrase or asking a bunch of annoying questions. They just want some goddamn peace and quiet and maybe a bottle of chardonnay.

Networks also don't want controversy or lawsuits. I literally could not make Billy & Mandy today because it involves satire and parody, and network legal departments don't even fux with that shizz anymore. If made today, Billy & Mandy would have zero Star Wars or Dune jokes, Nigel Planter would not exist, and (of course) the Grim Reaper himself would be a step too far.

Finally, the entire industry has adopted the Disney ideal that "no one is bad". Shows are expected to have antagonists, but those antagonists must also, somehow, be aspirational. At worst an anti-hero. See literally any Disney property.

In the end, there can be no tangible conflict. So plots either become silly nonsense (and I love me some gag cartoons) or light melodrama. That's where we're at.

[commenter2]

Helluva Boss season 2 ideas

I posted my thoughts on what I think will happen in season 2 of Helluva Boss based on what was seen in the 2022 trailer so I thought I post my ideas for what I would personally like to see in season 2.

A Millie episode- We haven’t gotten an episode where Millie is the main focus, so I hope season 2 gives us one. It is confirmed that her sister Sallie May will be in season 2 so I could see there being an episode where she visits Millie and Moxxie in the city and Millie reluctantly has to show her around all the while she gets annoyed by her in various ways, like how Sallie is getting use to the city faster than Millie did when she moved there and see Sallie flirt with Moxxie to mess with her.

How the main characters met/prequel episodes- the trailer does seem to show that we will see how people like Blitzo and Stolas met, so I would like to see how the other characters met like Moxxie and Millie and how they feel in love and got married and the day Blitzo adopted Loona and how maybe she did have chance to go back to the orphanage but declined it as Blitzo wasn’t as bad as she first thought.

Goetia family interaction and info- It would be cool to see the Goetia family interact more, seeing how they feel about one another and what happened that led them to where they are today. It would also be nice to learn more about them in general like what Stolas does with the book on full moons and explain their royalty when Hell already has an obvious king, queen, and princess.

Andy Berman voicing a character- Since Richard Horvitz is a part of the HB crew, it would be awesome if the writers could get Andy Berman, the voice of Dib, to voice a character on the show. I could see him voicing a character that is not only a good weapons expert but also Moxxie’s ex-boyfriend, I bet Invader Zim fans would love that XD.

Start of Stella’s redemption- Its confirmed that Stella will have more screen time in season 2, and though it will be as a more antagonistic role I’m hoping later in the season we see her change into a nicer person. It could be possible as things like interacting with characters like Stolas and maybe Millie along with going through plots like finding out Octavia ran away because of her and Stolas’s fighting, discovering Striker is killing higher up demons with the weapon she gave him, or seeing a video of herself being rude to someone that has also tarnished her family name a bit could make her realize how selfish and rude she has been, even if some things were understandable.

More Hazbin Hotel references and maybe some info ?- I’ve said it before but I love how Helluva Boss is giving us details on things about the show’s universe which is great for when Hazbin Hotel airs as they won’t have to waste much time explaining things. Now some people think that something related to Hazbin Hotel will come out in 2022 and if this is true, maybe we could start getting some info related to Hazbin Hotel through Helluva Boss before then, like learning the name of an Overlord or seeing a quote from Lilith that gives us a hint at her personality.

I also have a few plot ideas for possible episodes.

Loona’s first job with I.M.P.- Something I mentioned this in my review on episode 6. The concept is interesting as her being on the team could mix up the mission dynamic, especially if it’s because she needs to replace someone who is sick or injured.

Millie family reunion- This is an idea I’ve talked about before and after seeing Millie’s family in episode 5 it would be cool to see a follow up to that. Might post another thing about this in the future.

I.M.P heist on Agents One and Two- A fun little episode where after finding out the agents have info that could reveal Hell and get everyone in trouble, the characters have to sneak into D.H.O.R.K.S.  headquarters and delete the info before it’s too late.

Octavia joins I.M.P.- Something fans have been think about for a while now. Because of various factors like wanting to earn money for a change, Loona has become a close friend of hers, and to spite her parents, Octavia decides to work with I.M.P. This could be an interesting plot point as like I said in a previous post she could eventually start to see them like more of a family then her own parents and/or maybe through them works outs some problems with her parents as the series progresses.

I can’t think of what to call this idea so I’m just going to describe it. After a job the imps discover they brought something back with them (like an animal or child) and have to return it to Earth but sadly Blitzo has already given Stolas back the book. Now Blitzo and Millie have to go get the book while Moxxie and Loona stay behind and watch over the thing. If that’s not bad enough Moxxie and Loona have to hide the thing from a new antagonist that I’ve had for a while as the character is part of Hell’s government and after hearing things about I.M.P. going to Earth without permission said character is tasked with seeing if they are breaking the law or not. Along with getting interactions between Loona and Moxxie and possible Stella and Mille as the latter has to distract Stella, we could learn a bit about Stolas and the book here like what else it could do and what Stolas uses it for.

What do you hope to see happen in Helluva Boss season 2 ?

[irkenheretic]

Go off about control brains :0

listen. come closer. i am speaking directly into your ear. are you listening . her e goes:

i fuckin hate it when people think their whatever is #deep and its clear that the control brains only exist to be a Bad Force for whoever the protagonists are to fight against

like, its. possible to do this and still have it actually have a smidge of nuance but most times when the control brains appear in things its just "one dimensional baddie that opposes whatever the protagonists want because theyre evil and i need an antaognist" and like, if youre not writing a Big Ol Thing, thats.... fine? sometimes the "we cant do x" conflict isnt the main point of the fic and you just need a reason to fill the plothole of "well, why wont the characters just do x?" when the real answer is "well, because we wouldnt have a story!!"

but when its the only way these characters are portrayed it gets tiring soooo fuck in . fast.

the tallest also get this One Dimensional Baddie treatment where its clear the writer of whatever theyre in only thought "i need an antagonist thats just bad for badness' sake..... here are the tallest! i'll use them" but thats a rant for another day

but yeah its a special kind of irksome (no pun intended) when someone acts like theyre doing something Fresh And New but then u check it out and its just the same old same old portrayal like- making the tallest the good guys but the control brains the bad guys isnt nuanced its just Making Someone Else The One-Dimensional Antagonist, and yes im roasting myself because this was the case for my au for an embarrassingly long time

like. u can use!! the control brains!! as antagonists!! id be surprised if someone used them in another way! but theres a difference btwn using them as an antagonist because it serves the story and theres some kind of motivation there for the choice and using them as an antagonist because You Need One I Guess and in the same breath acting like youve created the next great american invader zim fanfiction

also the control brains are a lot like computer in that they're sassy and even banter with each other in the trial, and purple feels comfortable enough with them to dispute their rulings like a child going "BUT I WANT. MCDONALDS!!" and i just think there could be a really fun potential banter relationship btwn the tallest and the control brains and i need someone else to see this too like. cmon please theyre canonically a lil sassy please utilize this it would be so fun. pleaese i am begging

[im-the-punk-who]

20 Questions - Writer’s Edition

Tagged by @myrmidryad​ <3 <3 <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

40, which seems...low. lmao. but mostly because i never end up posting things i write LMAO

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

     96,197! which....is hilarious considering one of my eternal WIPS also jut hit 90k last week woops.

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

On AO3:

Black Sails (20)

Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019) (11)

Captain America (Movies) (5)

Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling (2)

Kingdom Hearts (Video Games) (1)

The Umbrella Academy (TV) (1)

Marvel Cinematic Universe (1)

On ff.net/LJ i had more Harry Potter stuff and i know there is still some Zim fanfic on my DA....

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Memories, Like Water, Can Be Tainted or Distilled; Sometimes Will Evaporate

is unfortunately always going to be first because it was written at the height of Stucky fandom and you just don’t recover from those sort of numbers xD

The Trouble With Jersey (Working title) - same deal. CapFam/Stucky fic at the height of CapFandom whoops

Between Breath and Love, I Choose Him - Okay I’m actually pretty happy this is number three because Black Sails fans are sluts and I love that journey for them <3 Also choking kink my beloved. <3

The Corner Booth - Drarry fic (antagonistic). what else is there to say.

Play, Boys - oh, abandoned WIP, my beloved. You deserved better but alas the hyperfixation wants what she wants.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Ohhhhh god i don’t know. I know the angstiest ending I ever *planned* was for I Couldn't Get The Boy To Kill Me but I never posted the rest of that. Hmm, otherwise maybe the On Purpose series, which is a Black Sails post London series about Miranda and James so like. Angst angst angst angst.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Bold of you to assume I’ve written an ending to any of my fics. Okay well, Tying Rockets To Shoe Strings  is going to have a happy ending if it kills me. Most of my one shots end ...fairly happily....? I think....?

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I don’t only because if I don’t hyperfixate on something the brain simply Turns Off.

8. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA almost exclusively. BUT I am very very into kink smut and D/s, A/B/O fic(although I don’t think I’ve ever posted any...) ot so much into the more vanilla smut - most of my explicit fics will have some level of light kink even if it’s just a little bit of choking play or like. Brat Michael.

9. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Oh god. You know how you go ‘I will do this when the Brain Returns From War’ ? Yeah. I do try to respond to comments but I’m....so bad at it. If I didn’t respond to your comment it’s not because I don’t appreciate it, it is that The Brain Turned That Function Off.

10. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

You know what I actually don’t think so which is weird but maybe I’m just not popular enough to receive that kind of attention. xD Although I have gotten plenty of hate on meta I’ve written so maybe that balances it out?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

God Bless if I have.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope <3

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I had co-written or started co-writing a couple things but they never got published for one reason or another. I would really love to, though!

14. What’s your all time favourite ship to write for?

I don’t think i could ever pick a favorite but honestly Axel/Roxas will always get me. But Malex is right now the favorite child.

15. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Did You Mean, All Of Them? I am notoriously so bad at long fics that I feel like this is All Of Them but the one I absolutely know I will never finish is Play, Boys (Umbrella Academy) and I Couldn't Get The Boy To Kill Me (Captain America)

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, I think? Also I think I’m pretty good at writing smut.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Finishing my goddamn fics, honestly. I also tend to be not great at keeping a consistent verb tense and...if I let myself go on an internal character monologue I *will* ramble for one thousand words without any physical indicators.

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I LOVE it, i love it i love it i love it, although same as Gin, because I’m not *reaaaally* fluent in anything but french and english i haven’t written much actual dialogue. Although in Doubting Thomas I play around with how the language barrier affects the communication and such by using other indicators other than typing out hte dialogue, which has been a really fun process. (Although none of that part is posted because.....see ‘weaknesses’ LMAO

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Neopets. I said what I said. (actually it was probably Sailor Moon or Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small series.)

20. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

God okay listen I love all my children equally but honestly Doubting Thomas   and Tying Rockets To Shoe Strings, the parts i’m working on right now are just REALLY GOOD okay i know i’m never probably going to post them but they’re SO GOOD. Posted, I am actually REALLY please with how Sound Garden turned out, and Sometimes A Family and Into The Blinding Sun both just HIT that found family vibe that sets me off. Special shoutout to Hand In Unloveable Hand   and Some Boys Do for being my own personal comfort fics <3

UHHH TAGGING???? YOU WANT ME TO TAG???? PEOPLE???? lmao @queer-crusader, @angrycowboy, @ladynox, @bydayornight, UHHHHH literally anyone in the black sails discord please i know none of your tumblr handles but I know you’re all fantastic writers. @haloud IDK EVERYONE?????

[saintheartwing]

I've decided to put this up for reference and to help not only myself remember who's who, but clear a few things up for you, dear reader. All part of my “Breaking Dawn” Invader Zim story! From left to right, starting at the top...

DIB Occupation: Student Power: Willpower Further Notes: Dilbert Membrane, little "Dibbun". He's both antagonist and protagonist like Zim in the television series "Invader Zim", and grew up with both a strong interest in the paranormal and the strange, and with a deep desire to protect the people of Earth. Even as a toddler he seemed to have a calling within him to protect the planet and those within it. He is capable of overcoming great fear, and with his strong resolution and imagination, he makes for an excellent green lantern. This brave-hearted youth grew up on "IZ-Prime", the "Base" planet of the Invader Zim youth, the Earth where all other Invader Zim universes are born from. His primary job is usually keeping Zim from experimenting on other people or unleashing some highly strange, oddly stupid and yet fiendishly clever doomsday weapon on the populace. Eventually Dib hit on an idea: Zim had managed to make himself a "friend" in Keef, who had done everything with him...and where was Batman without a Robin? He took in a charge, and recruited that slightly slow, but friendly and impressionable kid Nick whom Zim had stuck a probe in some time back. The two became an excellent team for a time until "The Incident" in which Zim crossed the line...and did something to Nick Dib would never forget...and possibly never forgive. Eventually the years went on and Zim slightly mellowed out, meaning that Dib could relax somewhat...until, that is, all of reality began to fall apart... GAZ Occupation: Student Power: Rage Further Notes: Gazeline Membrane blamed almost everybody when her mother Peggy died in a tragic lab accident. All of it was unfair blame, but she didn't care. She shut herself up in selfish desires and caprice, her rage slowly boiling underneath her like a volcano set to blow at the slightest notice. Interestingly, she began to warm up to Zim. The two had a surprising amount of things in common...the two even went to the dance together. She admits in private he "cleaned up alright". She was blushing heavily as she said this. She didn't, however, approve of what Zim did to Nick, because whilst she doesn't mind the exploitation of the stupid, the outright abuse he leveled was horrifying even to her. She tried to be nice to Nick in the hospital, giving him something of a crush on her. Being a being of revenge, private loss and fury, it's not surprising she bonded with the power of Rage, which had, at one point, been the might of Passion. Heck, she's ALL passion! ZIM Occupation: "Invader", Service Drone/Student Power: Avarice Further Notes: Zerinim, Zimmy-Wimmy, Zimri, etc, etc. You all know him. He's that short, tiny little thing who's determined to take over and/or destroy the Earth. You have to give him points for persistence, he keeps a-tryin', but his level of commitment and competence is "Team Rocket" level. Since he was little, he's been pretty much destroying everything he touches, but this isn't totally his fault. His PAK is defective, his mental processes aren't right. He's slow in some areas of development, but very bright in others, similar to that of an autistic child...obsessive and slightly anti-social behavior included. He's also never admit his deep concern for his beloved companions, mostly because he desperately clings to the inane idea that an Invader needs no one, even though he often relies on others for the "final touch" in his plan. The "incident" that happened with Nick actually struck him with so much guilt...it almost struck as hard as Dib did with that lead pipe after he snuck inside Zim's house and put Zim in a body cast for half a year. Zim's plans became less lethal and more annoying, and he began to appreciate his "friends" a bit more. He views Dib as something of an equal, and in a way, perhaps...more than that. And then...there's Gaz... GIR Occupation: Robot Power: Fear Further Notes: GIR. He's a GARBAGE-INFESTED-ROBOT! Useless as far as most robotic companions go because he's not usually taking things seriously, his head always in the clouds. And the few times he DOES focus don't last long at all. However, with the power of "Fear" flowing through him, the potential to inspire terror and impose HIS kind of order on the world brings out the dark, foul and pitiless cruelty he holds within. GIR has the potential to be even worse than Zim, and the ring focuses his inner psychopathic tendencies. GIR is very childlike...he doesn't always 'get' what he's supposed to do, or understand why things are the way they are. Yet he is also more intelligent and wise than people give him credit for, having access to fundamental truths about the universe he lives in. He understands what kind of world he's in, and has accepted that, and his role as the on-again off-again goofy sociopath. If your really are worried about him, give him something shiny. Or a lollipop. SKOODGE Occupation: Invader Power: Hope Further Notes: Invader Skoodge. No matter what terrible things happened in his life, he's always faced the future. He's remained cheery, helpful, friendly and optimistic, and therefore, it befits him to wear the robes of the Blue, wielder of the light that Hope brings. Skoodge and Zim go way back, and Skoodge considers Zim a dear friend, one of the few people who didn't treat him like a fat, useless lump. As such, he's willing to do almost anything for him, or anybody who treats him with respect and decency. He treats the revelation about the world he lives in with stoic acceptance, and doesn't raise a stink about it. Skoodge is too cool for school, baby. NOTHIN' rattles him. Plus I like this outfit the most. It's so stylish! GRETCHEN Occupation: Student Power: Love Further Notes: Gretchen has always had a huuuuge crush on Dib, admiring him and his work from afar. She eventually figured out the truth about Zim, which helped make Dib open up to her, but nobody really listened to HER either. Mostly because her braces weren't fixed yet...kids can be so cruel. But when wielding the light of Love, she's able to bring out her strongest potential, and become the brave defender that she always was inside, the sort of take-charge, admirable alien-busting girl that Dib would find his ideal. Plus, more importantly, the outfit she's wearing does NOT make her look half-naked. You're welcome. TAK Occupation: Former Invader/Current Patron of Emotion Power: Willpower Further Notes: Tessirak, or Tak, was at one point, a promising Irken training to be an Invader. She rose quickly through the ranks, impressing all of her superior officers (Red especially, he "loves that girl!")...and tragically getting trapped on her training planet when Zim caused a huge power outage in his desire to get a snack. Typical Zim. Tak got a LITTLE bit insane from that and from being forced to be a janitor for several years. She went to Earth to get her revenge and actually befriended Dib somewhat, but ultimately she lost against Zim and his "friends", and was sent out into space. Her old comrade who still had a great gentlemanly (and slightly romantic) concern for her, Darth, had a fellow comrade go pick her up upon hearing of her plight, and she was almost dead...if not for the fact that her Will was keeping her alive, beyond even her PAK, beyond anything else. This strong Will was what transformed her into the Patron of Willpower, and she bonded to Jayd when he arrived to aid her. Tak is very resolute and intelligent, and always follows through on her plans. She's clever as can be, and over time, developed a dear fondness for Dib and her host, Jayd, who views himself as a Knight, with her as his queen to protect. I like the way her design came out quite a lot, truth be told. She's so streamlined and stylish! I was tempted to give her a cape, truth be told. But like the movie "The Incredibles" said...no capes! JAYD Occupation: Medic Power: Willpower Patron: Tak Further Notes: Jayd was and always has been a lucky, lucky guy. He, like the others in Senior's care, found something fascinating about Earth Culture. Unlike the others though, this fascination came from comics. Ideals like justice and morality hit home with him, and he became fascinated by the tales in comics like "Superman", "X-Men" and, his personal favorite...Green Lantern. It could be the result of his programming: after all, he WAS encoded as a medic, helping the sick and injured and helpless is in his "blood". So was it the entity of Willpower, heroism and courage embodied, that he picked..or did it pick HIM? Either explanation makes sense, and that's what I'm leaving it at. Jayd is the heroic Irken that strives to be courageous and noble, the honorable warrior, a flame of chivalry that can't be blown out. The power of Will requires a living being to manifest, and it's representative is always changing based around who has the mightiest will in its presence. It was Tak that gained it, having the ability to overcome great fear, and she, in turn, bonded to Jayd after he was sent to rescue her courtesy of her dear old comrade, Darithil. With her indomitable will and his deep moral code, the two are a good fit. And I really like the wreathe he wears atop his head. It's a nice touch. MAHT Occupation: Service Drone Power: Compassion Patron: Fiyvr Further Notes: Maht's always been used all his life. Be he a tool of a general, being forced to sweep floors at a diner or being stuck bussing drinks, he's never had his own will. But he doesn't totally care. What he DOES care about is being able to be of some help or use to others. He accepts his lot in life because, for the most part, he feels he can do the most good in whatever position he happens to be in. Gaining the sympathetic light of Compassion and becoming wielder of the Indigo Light enabled him to be of even greater assistance to others. Maht, like the others, found a deep liking of Earthling ways. He finds the different races and cultures fascinating, and has a deep personal enjoyment of food from the small blue planet, especially if it's deep fried or contains cheese. Fiyvr, his patron, is from the world of Wahshyd Dawhn, and was a renowned prophet and seer. He's always happy to lend a hand in solving somebody's problems, and to be a shoulder to cry on...even if he's physically short on both accounts. Curse his lack of opposable thumbs! Still, Maht might be pretty much a rug for others to walk all over on, but he's a very HELPFUL rug, and a reliable type...and he'll still try and give the best hug he can when somebody's feelin' down. DITE Occupation: Elite Invader Power: Passion/Rage Patron: Chulainn Further Notes: Dite likes to be seen as strong. She handles fights like a man, handles anger like a man, and fights dirty like a man. All of her inner anger though, stems from personal loss. She loved someone once, many, many years ago, and gave her all for him. But the Empire let him rot. For that...she would never forgive them. And she adopted a gung-ho attitude similar to her beloved's personality. It is grief that fuels the greatest rage, and so Chulainn, who endured great pain in HIS life, naturally bonded to her and others who felt great suffering. He originated on Earth like Psyche and Jourmungdr, and his appearance changed to better fit his new nature. Dite has a deep love of the kind of "gritty and dark" action stories that Earth has. I'm talkin' "Bloodgun" or "Punisher" type stories. She really, REALLY likes making sure people get what they deserve. And get. And get some more. So yeah...she's a bloodthirsty vigilante with a tragic past. Never seen THOSE before! :roll" MIYUKI Occupation: Former Tallest, Current Resisty Leader and Television Personality Power: Hope Patron: Psyche Further Notes: Psyche comes from Earth like Chulainn and Joumungdr, and when Chulainn stood for passion, the two were very close. If one has hope and faith in the future, one should live passionately, living life to its fullest, unafraid. Furthermore, she likes poetry. His poetry. Yeah, weird relationship. Miyuki has had several weird relationships in HER life too. Darithil considers her a mother figure, to Senior, she was the "big sister" type boss, as dear as family, and to Spork she was an annoying wife that he felt he always had to drag around, like she was a nagging ball and chain and he was a prisoner on a chain gang. Of course, his biggest concern was usually whether the camera was getting his good side, whilst she cared more about, y'know, food shortages, the fate of physical defectives and whether or not the Meekrob would nuke her people. She lost almost all hope when Zim's creation, the Infinite Energy Absorbing Blob ate her, and was forced to maintain her consciousness and what little was left of her body by consuming living beings along with Spork. However, she held onto the idea that one day she could return, and bring her people out of darkness. She represents living hope...the hope that one day, the Irken people could be good and noble, if only they had the right person to show them the way...and she sure knows how to dress, woo! Her outfit is my favorite out of all the girls. It's so regal and dignified! FEYR Occupation: Consular (Interrogator) Power: Love Patron: Jourmungdr Further Notes: Most would be surprised that the power of Love is exemplified by a patron that's a giant snake which used to be a Norse monster, and represented by cannibalistic Irkens dressed in vaguely transsexual armor. Well the thing is, their love almost borders on obsession. Love is deep and complicated, and though usually innocent in intent, it has a bad tendency of not realizing that it's lost sight of the rest of the world...and lost its grip on logic. Consulars are all psychics, and their power has been manipulating Irk for generations. They seek to save Irk from "itself", feeling that the idea that "invaders need no one" is inane. If they didn't need anybody or anything, the Tallest wouldn't give them SIRs. Wouldn't give them PAKs. They love their planet and love other alien races, and not merely for dinner, either. They just have a tendency to get...carried away. Feyr is no exception. He wines and dines all he interrogates, and views shrinking and swallowing them as a high honor, keeping them safe forever, embedded in the crystals he generates with his power, safe until the day Irk is ready to accept love, and by extension, the right of other races to live freely. He's charming and sweet, but also very manipulative and cold-hearted when he wants to be. But what else could you expect from a slightly sociopathic cannibal? XEIL Occupation: Communications Officer Power: Intelligence/Fear Patron: Nollij (aka Panyck), co-bonded with Spork Further Notes: Xeil's problem isn't that she's an egotistical, proud, narcissistic bitch. The problem is that it's a front. The problem is that she could be better, and WAS better. She had a personality her own, which befits her station. Most communication officers are good at listening, can "hear beyond". She was no exception... But Xeil lost herself in her job too easily, and forgot how to feel. She was hearing what others said...but she stopped listening. She lost the zest she had for her job. Panyck is much the same. At one point, he was Knowledge made manifest, the pride and joy of his home planet, but he lost himself in HIS job, and became a fascist, a dictator who worshipped fear. He views it as the best way to establish real order, and that not knowing fear is utter insanity. Admittedly, he might have a point. SOME fear is necessary, some caution is always needed in life...but inflicting fear on others needlessly is something he began to enjoy, when once before he sought to instruct others on what was to be feared rather than being the thing feared. However a piece of his true self remains, brought out by Spork, who has had a long time to think about his own rule, and Xeil, who will, with time, remember HER true self...and why she chose to be a communications officer in the first place. PEECH Occupation: Guard Power: Diligence/Avarice Patron: Pyrsist Further Notes: Pyrsist didn't take a new name, but she focused more on getting stuff than getting stuff DONE. Peech's love of Earth culture is centered around things that can best be summed up in a single word...shiny. Shiny shiny shiny! A brand new shiny thing, that's her favorite object in all the world! She keeps most hidden in her backpack/jetpack, but usually you can hear it all jingling. She likes stealing things out of people's pockets and purses and the like, being something of a kleptomaniac. Peech believes in looking regal and elegant and beautiful, and that more jewels equal more happiness. In short, she's a petty, selfish little brat...she and Pyrsist deserve each other. At one point, Pyrsist was a hard-working citizen of Avianos, but that went out the window when she became Mistress of the Orange Light. Peech is also a huge fan of Earth fashion and likes imitating what's "in" on the planet. Were she a guy, she'd have no problem wearing things like dark biker jackets or cowboy hats. She believes full-heartedly in the right to choice, she sees nothing wrong with letting Irkens be free to dress how they want, and is witty enough to debate her point of view well. To Peech, Wiyn was more than a friend growing up. But when Peech tried to give her the love she felt...Wiyn couldn't give it back. Wouldn't give it back. So she sought to fill the void with junk. She went from being a deep, poem-writing romantic to a shallow valley girl. She didn't have to be that way... NICK. E. ODEON Occupation: Student Power: Death Patron: Himself Further Notes: He's a tragedy. He was eager-to-please. He wanted to satisfy the people who showed him attention and support. He wanted to make others happy and bonded instantly to somebody who he felt was "in need of a friend". But then Zim did the unspeakable, and he went from being childlike in heart to being childlike in mind and interests as well. He has problem getting dressed...tying his shoes. That's not his real hair. It's actually a wig. His old hair kinda...rotted off after... ...erm...well, at one point, he was Dib's comrade and friend. His solider. But Dib couldn't help him...and Dib didn't avenge him. He put Zim in a body cast for six months...but "Nick" never was the same. Ultimately, it's sort of unsurpriisng that he ended up being the Black Entity. He doesn't just blame Invader Zim for his pain. He blames the universe he's in for creating Invader Zim the way he is. He blames the people that made Zim ZIM. And he's gonna make them pay for making so flawed a universe. He views Zim and the universe of Invader Zim irredeemably flawed and better off dead because of all the immorality, cruelty and terrible tragedies that it and its alternate universes spawn. The problem is that he fails to see the good that can be found within, because he refuses to see any other part of IZ. In choosing to focus on one part, albeit a large one, of the realm, he ignores all the rest of it and doesn't get a clear enough view. He doesn't fully"get" Zim, even though he says he does. And yes. He is every bit as representative of you-know-what as you think he is. But it's not his fault. He just doesn't know any better. He's just trying to do what he thinks is best. WIYN Occupation: Elite Grunt Power: None, unless you count being a bitch. Patron: None, unless maybe Satan is her secret benefactor... Further Notes: Wiyn is every horrible, cruel, sadistic, by-the-book bitchy jackass that we've met. She will always stick to the rules but only if she thinks they fit her standards. She forces everyone to fit her standards and will blast anybody that doesn't, and instead of reasonable discussion, she prefers cruel words and violence. Wiyn was, at one point, a dearly beloved comrade of Xeil, and then some. But Wiyn refused to open her heart. Instead, it shriveled up. Don't set her up with a boyfriend. She's married to her work! She's proud, narcissistic, vain, ignorant of others feelings and apathetic to the suffering of innocents. In a word, she's evil. She's a constant whiner about what is or isn't "right" for an Irken to do because she looked into the Untempered Schism, seeing all the truths of her universe. As such, she considers herself a "true Irken" and anybody remotely different from her mold, even if they just have an unusual eye color or like wearing, say, a striped outfit, MUST DIE! She's a good representative of the part of the fandom that I hate...the ones that obsess over what's truly "canon" and what's not, and who have no tolerance or compassion for anybody or anything that stretches outside their boundaries. They've got little tolerance for the fandom and refuse to recognize what it brings to Invader Zim. I have no respect for Wiyn or what she represents. I yearn for the day when she will be turned into an AVOCADO. For those of you who get this inside joke...you know who you are. You rock. SENIOR, aka Nick Grey

Occupation: Senior Communications Officer Power: Life Patron: Sude Further Notes: Nick's Irken Form, now given a true name, "Senior". He's the oldest and most experienced communications officer on the Massive, and considers himself the "Safety Net" to those on the ship. He's there for its crew, to lend a helping hand, a pair of arms to lift them up, a shoulder to cry on. He's always been kind-hearted and harmonious, with a deep love of Earth music. It's no surprise the Entity of Life, Sude of the Planet Allforce, bonded to him. Sude's story is much like Senior's. He was happy with his life. He was upstandingly moral, kindhearted and believed in doing good...and he loved, LOVED music, always having a song in his heart. But in refusing to listen to the Force of Fate, he learned that whilst such forces might not dictate what it is we are destined to do, it's not a good idea to not just disregard the words of a force of nature. Sude's devoted to protecting and supporting life, and will spend the rest of his existence forever making up for his failure. Just like Senior, Sude will always be fighting. But Senior is less of an "immortal". He's been saving the many universes in the I-Z realm for years now, and he feels he was never truly given a choice, given an unfair deal. Ultimately though, his desire to do the right thing made him chose to keep up the fight, realizing that one should never put selfish desires above doing good, no matter how seemingly innocent those desires might be. Senior's come a long way, but at last, his true form is revealed. He is a superhero, meant to embody an ideal, an ideal of humanity brought to Irk, a blessed gift that other Irkens can learn from. I guess he was always going to become a superhero one way or another...he was just such a perfect fit. Plus, I really, REALLY like the new outfit he's got now. It looks damn good on him. Now he'll be fighting injustice and cruelty through the IZ-Realm and in style! White goes well with EVERYTHING.

[takrat]

I hope its okay that ive stolen snazzy-suit's name for this... I wanna go ahead and share my take on the District 9 AU. Oh yeah spoilers for the movie

Irken/child shippers DNI (yes dib is older in this au but z*drs do not fucking interact)

District Doom AU notes under cut:

So its not a perfect parallel of the movie but roughly here are the character parallels: Dib is Wikus (son of Prof. Membrane the founder of PEG labs--"MNU" who's primary goal is researching the aliens for SCIENCE! and Dib desperately wants to be a part of it), Zim is Christopher (former Irken Scientist and lead Invader of his squad in Impending Doom I who were aboard the Massive before catastrophe hit), Gir is Oliver 😊, Skoodge is Paul aka the alien that gets shot early on in the movie but don't worry he's okay now, Gaz is here but idk she's just vibing on her own, oh that assistant guy to Wikus? Uhmm probably gonna be Dwicky or something

After an encounter with a Florpus Hole, the Massive is seriously messed up and finds its way to Earth, hovering over a miserable city, miserably out of fuel with dozens of miserable Irkens aboard. Its systems are horribly damaged so there is no contacting Irk for help.

At the very oldest Dib is 19 and the Irkens have been there for around 20 years, possibly only 15 or so?

Because the Massive's systems are all offline, theres no online PAK charging stations--after about ~20 years, the Irkens with standard issue PAKs are growing weak and dying off (Zim has an Invader's PAK--his charge can last much longer)

The Tallests are there basically in hiding. Purple hates earth donuts.

Dib is put in charge of Operation Eviction, moving the Irkens to a new district further away from the city because they are just so fucking ANNOYING nobody can stand them--while this isn't what he wants, he still goes with it because he hopes to study the aliens up close. It'll be the first time he's been allowed in District D--not just snuck in as a kid and either got kicked out by security or almost blown up

Zim and Skoodge have been collecting fluid from scattered Irken technology for many years, fuel for the Massive so that they may return to Irk and send aid (and also come back and destroy Earth)

Commence chaos and commotion--Dib finds himself with a dead Irken's PAK attached to his chest that is slowly turning him into an Irken. and also he confiscated the fuel which was taken to high security PEG labs

I cant believe they fucking killed skoodge

PEG doesn't have a large focus on alien weaponry like in the movie (they do have some, but studying the aliens and their tech in the name SCIENCE! is their whole deal)

Dib and Zim clash and have to end up working together. Dib is able to get them into PEG labs to get the fuel, Zim can get the PAK safely detached from Dib without killing him and reverse the side effects once they get aboard the Massive. There's a lot more character development and friendship that i just don't have the brain power to work out right now

Unfortunately Prof. Membrane is a bit less redeemable in this au.. hes more antagonistic but I really don't want to fuck my man up too bad cus I really like this guy. Hes not horrible, but he does see whats happening to Dib and wants to study him, reasonably though I think that comes across as very scary to Dib and he freaks out. So not entirely sure why Dib has to run away and seek refuge in District D, but I think he's just scared? Miscommunications with him and Prof. I'll flesh it out later whatever

They go to the Tallests' little hideout and Zim tells them his plan for saving them all.. they think he's crazy but send him and Dib off with some cool gear (probably hoping he'll end up killed or captured by PEG labs).

Zim is outcasted among the stranded Irkens because he's generally assumed to have caused the Florpus hole (yea it was him), but he's been desperately trying to prove himself and make up for it (and hes really the only one with any initiative to save them and return to Irk--everyone else is too stupid, hopeless, or cowardly).

They break in whatever. end up running into Skoodge who's kind of just been chilling in the labs and going through some boring experiments

"Skoodge? I thought the humans killed you" "Yeeeaahh but im okay now"

However, Skoodge exempt(?), there's been some Fucked up tests going on to captured Irkens and Zim is really angry and distraught. Dibs also freaked out--like yea he assumed the scientists were doing scary tests and in fact wanted to perform them, but actually seeing the results and how it effects Zim, and getting to know Zim and the Irkens as people, really snaps him to reality and how messed up what PEG labs is doing

Now this would be the end where Zim takes off in the Massive back to Irk and Dib ends up retreating to District D and ultimately transforming fully into an Irken.. but the au definitely doesn't end here. But I dont have the brain power to think any further. Let's see if District 10 ever really does come out like the directors promised

They get the fluid, escape, Zim gets the control module up and running God DAMMIT who is supposed to be that stupid bald military guy in this. That guy in the movie. Okay there's some guy ill figure it out later.

Zim was gonna just fix Dib up, leave him, and take off for Irk, but after finding out about what PEG labs has been doing with experimenting on his people, he has to use all of the fuel and get help as fast as he can, so Dib is left behind.

Anyway if anybody has any ideas im begging dont hesitate to share 🥺 ive also got a bunch of doodles for this? So if you think I should post them sometime let me know. I need to stop typing because my hands hurt now

[goldeaglefire1]

So - I’ve gotten my hands on a copy of Poker Night at the Inventory 2 lately and have been enjoying myself

and thus, inspiration struck

this here is my pick of characters for a hypothetical Poker Night at the Inventory 3. Admittedly, if there’s ever a Poker Night 3, it probably won’t be these guys, but it works

The Players

Dell Conagher/The Engineer

First up is the Engineer of the RED mercenary team! Heavy did say that Engie’s the one who introduced him to the Inventory in the first place, so why not?

Playstyle: The Engineer’s playstyle is a lot like Sam’s - he’s honest, tends to be cautious, and is generally rather consistent with his plays. However, Engie does get more aggressive as the players are eliminated, so be wary - he’s especially hard to deal with if he’s the final player.

Bounty Item: Blueprints for a supped-up set of turrets he’s been working on. When won, acts as a skin for the default turrets.

Eliza

Second is Eliza - or, as she’s known by a scant few, Neferu, the Crimson Scourge. A diva who’s secretly several millennia-years old, retaining her beauty through the absorption of blood, Eliza saw the poker tournaments at the Inventory as an opportunity to forget about her public image for a few hours and be a bit more true to herself...which may not be a good thing if you’re on the other end of the poker table.

Playstyle: Eliza’s main goal is less “win” and more “fuck with the other players” - the chance to walk away with $80,000 more dollars than she came in with is just a bonus. As a result, she tends to play mind games, such as deliberately folding for several turns in a row - even on good cards - to convince the others that she’s having a streak of bad luck, or placing more medium bets on a really good hand to goad her competition into betting more money. Not helping is that several of her tells can be signals for both good and bad things. Also scarily good at bluffing when she puts her mind to it.

Bounty item: The Staff of Ra, which is normally disguised as her microphone stand. When won, you get a reskinned default bat that looks like the Staff.

Deadpool

Third is Deadpool, the infamous fourth-wall breaking Merc with a Mouth. When he heard about the Inventory, he saw it as an easy opportunity to make off with some quick bucks...up until he was informed that he couldn’t use his meta awareness to cheat and look at the other players’ cards. Didn’t deter him, though - sure, he may have to put in a bit more effort now, but still! Easy money!

Playstyle: Deadpool is aggressive, reckless, and prone to bluffing...but he does know what he’s doing. Sort of. He’s more similar to Strong Bad or Ash Williams than Max or Claptrap is what I’m saying. He can occasionally put in more money than he really should, or bet on rarer, less likely combinations, but there is some semblance of strategy to what he’s doing.

Bounty item: The Infinity Gauntlet. Don’t ask how Deadpool managed to get his hands on it; it’s a long story involving stealing Ant-Man’s suit and going into unmentionable spaces. When won, it gives a reskinned version of Heavy’s default fists, but with one being purple and the other having the Infinity Gauntlet.

Invader Zim

Last is the short, Irken invader secretly planning to take over the Earth, Invader Zim! Zim was actually invited to the Inventory rather than hearing about it from unknown sources. Despite having no idea what poker is, Zim accepted, because accepting mysterious invitations would be the normal, human thing to do, and he is most certainly a normal human child...although, once he learned that they knew he was an alien and that what happened in the Inventory was confidential, he dropped the human disguise rather quickly.

Playstyle: Zim’s only experience with Poker before playing in the tournament is a five-minute Youtube video he watched on the basics of Texas Hold ’Em as research. That’s it. So, naturally, Zim is the one who plays like a maniac and clearly has no idea what he’s doing. He has a preference for bluffing, but not by much. He does have the occasional flash of brilliance, though, so be wary when he gets serious.

Bounty item: Mini-Moose. When won, unlocks a cosmetic item that is - what else - Mini-Moose, which is available to all classes.

The Staff

The Narrator

The mysterious, unseen Narrator from the Stanley Parable would act as the dealer here. Less antagonistic than the likes of GLaDOS, but just as snarky towards the players, if not more so.

Bounty item: A signed physical copy of the Stanley Parable. When won, gives a cosmetic item in the form of a large button engraved with the number 8.

Doc Scratch

Doc Scratch would be the bartender. Initially, he was considered as a new dealer, but when he ended up causing several fights in the Inventory through a combination of his smugness and spoiling the winner of the tournament several times, he was delegated to bartending duty where he could cause less damage. Does occasionally chime in on the conversation, being more likely to do so when the player buys his opponents drinks.

Example conversation:

Engineer: You know, I’d bet the doc would love to be here tonight - between the three of you, he’d be up to his neck in biological mysteries.

Deadpool: Uh, good for him and all, but personally? I am so glad I don’t have to deal with that! I’ve heard what he’s done to you and your team to get that Uber thing to work, and you know, I would really like to not have a monkey heart, thank you very much. Although it would be pretty cool...

Zim: Ha! A simple human could never hope to learn my secrets! The machinations of my body are an enigma! Even to me!

Eliza: Well, I’M interested.

Engineer: Really?

Eliza: It depends. How much blood is he willing to give in return?

Engineer: ...I’ll get back to you on that one.

[bamsara]

Hey ive really enjoyed your comics and want to read your fic but I know I’m a bit squeamish about things so before I check it out I wanted to know like? How violent would you describe it? Also how bad is the minor character death? (That one is for trauma reasons, don’t want to set myself off by accident ^^”) hope you have a good day!

Sure thing! I’m gonna put all the points under the cut for tw and spoiler reasons,  and try to answer to the best of my ability. There are little notes at the beginning of each chapter as well.

Under the cut is a little desc of what the chapters contain so be warned.

Chapter 1: 

- There is no real heavy violence until the cliff hanger at the end, which is just one sudden injury and description of blood. Dib and Zim get into a scuffle with a slug, but it’s canon typical so if you can read the comics/watch the shows, you should be okay to read it.

Chapter 2: (this is the chapter to be careful about)

- There are descriptions of Dib being in a lot of pain, and how agonizing it is. There is blood, puncture wounds and broken bones described but not too incredibly in detail, most of their presence is written in how painful they are, not how they look. There is no organs-out of the body or whatever that’s called.

-The non-human antagonist, the ghoul, is the one that receives the most damage in the end. It is set on fire at one point, it’s limbs are torn from it’s body and burned from the inside, stabbed multiple times and has it’s skull pierced. This is also the one that warrants the ‘minor character death’ though I wasn’t sure whether to call it a character or a creature because it’s unnamed with no spoken lines, but also the main ‘villain’ of the story.

-Zim’s eye is torn out. He feels pain but it’s more cybernetic ‘gore’ than biological (?) as he can canonically pop out his eyes in the show. There is no blood from his this, just wires.

Chapter 3:

-More descriptions of injury but in a healing fashion. They’re all bandaged up. Most of this chapter is a process of going from injured to pretty much healthy again.

-Mental anguish and a breakdown over believing a character is dead. (They are not) This is only for a short time.

-Zim’s eye is a thing for half of this chapter. He gets it back eventually, him and Dib have a moment, and then he’s (mostly) able to pop it back it without a hitch, all without pain. Cyborg bugs hell yeah.

[opalai-pixel-witch]

Merry christmas pal! ^^

“the idea of War with a kitty companion is sooooo cute ;;u;;”

War usually works outside, so if she sees a kitty, she will pet it, it´s a very cute and weird image: a skeleton with weapons that was killing someone a few seconds ago, stops short and walks towards a kitty to pet it X3

“I don’t feel bad for him at all, he killed Ramsey and tortured Balder and tried to hurt my son so he gets no sympathy from me >:|”

He wanted us to dislike him, how dare you hurt our bois?! >:,v

“Aha, that makes sense >.> So maybe people are giving them to him less because he’s Death and more because he sucks at being Death? :P”

I wouldn´t say he sucks being Death, he doesn´t matter directly, you know, the working conditions are very bad, that is, no motivation to work, also that his work is boring, if Death would do his job well, almost never he would come out of hell since he only has to guide the lost souls in the Hell

“Oddly enough, I don’t think he has a scythe at all in MS…I wonder why :o”

I guess they wanted to get out of the stereotype of Death, Idk

“Once again, your drawings are absolutely amazing!!!! I looove the one with Balder and Ramsey, sooo cute >u> And it’s interesting to see Famine off-duty too o.o”

Thanks a lot! Your drawings are great too! I saw the one with Milky replacing Sam in the robotic suit and Death looks very cute, it makes me want to touch his face, but he has no face XD So I better hug him, he looks so cute! X3 I love this boi! I don’t think I show it XD

I really liked the Bjorn and Pesto dolls, and I loved the comic where Pesto rips off Bjorn’s arm and she doesn’t understand what happened and Bjorn is there like: “Not again… :T ”

And I love Pesto and Bjorn Halloween Hustle/Holiday Hustle drawing X3 ♥ ♥ ♥

And speaking about drawings (I noticed that you like Milky a lot (by the way, how many fictional boyfriends do you have? XD), and there is a drawing where I put him as the bad guy in the story, but it’s not that I don’t like him, but I see him wanting to avoid the apocalypse, and the only way to avoid the apocalypse is to eliminate the horsemen, and well, there came that scene that appears in Helluva Boss and it seemed perfect, weird things, I don’t know XD):

https://sta.sh/22aj2xyaqwj3?edit=1

“Sometimes I wish that Helheim Hassle had a more popular fandom

But then I think about all the absolutely cursed shit that could happen

And then I think “yeah, this is okay” ”

I also think it would be fun to see more Perfectly Paranormal fans and then I remember fandoms like Villainous, Invader Zim, Eddsworld, where there are so many people, that it´s extremely toxic and uncomfortable to be there, it’s like the most important thing there is the sexual orientation of the character and not its personality or its role in the story, I like what you do, which is more based on friendship and you respect the personality of the characters, I remember that once I found an user who said he had drawings +18 from HH, I’m glad he respected the rules and didn’t post them, I want to continue seeing my bois like cute little characters :3

--------

Helloooo! Thank you so much!! Same to you, my friend! ^___^ May today be a fantastic one for you!

Ahh, I see o: I kinda wanna draw War with a bunch of cats now, but I’m afraid I’m not too good with drawing animals ;;o;;

So not cool of him >A>

Ah yeah, that’s true, my apologies o.o That also makes sense, it probably didn’t go with the feel they were trying to achieve either?

I’m glad you liked them!! Yeah, I’m not sure what compelled me to make that one :P Death is to you what Bjørn is to me, it would seem |D

Thank you!! I was a bit worried that a PP/LBP crossover would be weird…LBP fans coming across those pics in the tags must be so confused at the whole arm-being-ripped-off thing >o>

Ahahahaha! I’ve made it quite obvious >///> (To answer your question…4 or 5 o///o)

That’s an interesting concept! A heroic antagonist Milky sounds super cool :o Honestly I’m really curious about what Milky’s deal is and I hope we’ll get more info on him in the next game!! And it would be cool if he discovered how the system in Hell really worked and maybe realized that the horsemen really aren’t inherently evil and are just trying to do their jobs (except maybe Famine, his intentions are…debatable >_>)

Big fandoms seem to be a blessing and a curse, it would seem o.o I’m more worried about the type of content that might come up if it became more popular, I don’t wanna find any fetishy NSFW fanfiction about it >A> But I’m really happy to hear that you like what I do! To be honest there are times where I feel like I don’t really fit in well with the fandom (like I don’t “belawng” if you will :P) so I’m glad that that’s probably not the case! I enjoy seeing what you make too, as well as talking and sharing headcannons and stuff with you ^_^