"how many mouthguards does matthew tkachuk chew through every season?" "3 maybe? 2 or 3 a season?...but in playoffs i actually switch each and every round"
CBS News Miami | 6.28.24 (x)
THATS A 1 ROUND MOUTHGUARD???? THAT WHAT HIS MOUTHGUARD LOOKS LIKE AFTER A SINGULAR SERIES????? (x)
the more matthew denies it not being about "chewing through" his mouthguard the more it makes it seems like its because he chewed through his mouthguard like that is a maintenance issue THERE IS A HOLE IN THERE???? HELP???
also him mentioning that he likes his equipment fresh for playoffs and changes it every round which is so prevalent because THIS is what he had to say about the mere notion of new skates when asked on media day before the 2324 season started...
survey says that all cats who were asked (and shown) agreed they could not stand the idea of never getting new skates and went for "never be able to get a new pair of gloves"...matthew being the only one to go for "never be able to get a new pair of skates" (x)
youre telling me despite how much he obviously hates the physical discomfort of the cinch of new skates he still elects to change them because playoff superstitions (its not about about superstitions! he says...as if he also hasnt said on camera that the oldest piece of equipment he has is his jock and will in fact NEVER change it like that doesnt reek of sibney-isms...the way this man has influenced a whole generation of children...)
more Ruju doodles because I lost control of my hands, oops
this time, featuring a later snapshot from Ruju's Commander timeline: set around the time of Secrets of the Obscure and Janthir Wilds, he's now even farther off model than he already was!!
and now some obligatory (non-spoiler) ratmander lore-dumping under the cut:
characterization notes as The Commander™
slowly comes into his own over the years, with his softer side finally showing itself mainly when Aurene chooses him
this rat was the softest little guy wherever she was concerned
no seriously he was almost as clingy with her as she was
Caithe was the serious parent he was the fun uncle/big bro
he used to race her up the jumping puzzle in the egg room
largely wanted her to get to have the childhood he never did
he still play-wrestled with her even once she was 1000x his size
his bond to Aurene helps stabilize his magic significantly
there is an inverted bell-curve of 'respect for the Commander' based on how much experience one has with him
step 1: celebrity hero. step 2: violently insane. step 3: ok yes he's insane but also thank every divinity he's on OUR side
actually did NOT get along with Gorrik at first. he is a grade A projector and also distrusts anyone Inquest immediately
Gorrik being enamored by the murderous beetles did not help.
(that entomologist almost wound up in the sea. oops)
after multiple interventions and a few sincere heart-to-hearts though he's become EXTREMELY protective of the guy
similarly protective of Taimi, though he teases her back too
genuinely struggles to keep track of things. he writes out the canon story journal in a small notebook to help with that
miscellaneous other details you didn't ask for
consistently chooses ferocity-aligned dialogue options even and especially when he has absolutely no good reason to do so
do not pick him up. do not pick him up. do not pick him up.
if he allows you to carry him either he really really likes you or he's pretty sure he'd serve a prison sentence for biting you
acts very big and tough but is a total softie deep down
no seriously if you hug him he might actually cry
(he'll claim it's just something in his eye though)
had some crushes in college and fumbled every single one
50/50 shot of whether the rats he picked on were just easy targets or if he liked them and was trying really hard to cover it up
(if he ever met them again he might actually burst into flames)
incapable of sleeping in normal positions. also snores LOUDLY
puts bloodstone dust on ALL his food. Oxbone would be proud
also makes his own food EXTREMELY spicy when he can
dw he won't put that on yours though. he's not THAT mean
originally got into cooking as a method of training his fire magic
LOVES to put on a big show with it if he has guests, too, complete with all sorts of fancy knife tricks. you get The Works
his ADHD hyperfixation is knives/cutlery. he has told no one this
constant motion/fidgeting, can't keep still. foot tapping, scratching, claw biting, pacing, etc are all very common
captain price gives me such dad energy but I know the way that man is always on the job means he has hella trauma and zero time to be at home which i suggest: price is your ex-husband who despite it all you still love, but you both are adult enough to know that it doesn’t make up for the absence he has had in your and your children’s lives nor does it excuse his shitty actions due to him bottling up his emotions but it does mean when he visits and says “you look nice” after you got a haircut and he sits down on the porch swing with you he installed back when ya’ll were newly weds brings up a tidal wave of emotions neither of you are willing to speak about
Okay, I need to know more about Gideon and Valen. I (now) know they're OCs, but from what fandom? What are they like? How did they meet? (Of course, pace yourself if this volley of questions is too much, lmao)
HIIII omg thank you so much for your ask hehe I totally don’t wait for people to ask about them or anything djdjskskjdjd 💗💗💗💗💗💗
They’re my ocs yes! Not from any fandom just my brain lol they exist in a fantasy verse (and also a modern au that I’m very obsessed with)
Their moms are very close besties!! and when they had kids they also became besties fjdkdkdjd (so basically they’ve been besties since birth yes, besties since the womb even)
Valen is royalty and lowkey the black sheep of his family he’s loud, chaotic, charming and unhinged, Gideon is the same but emo kdjsjdjdksk (and shy sometimes) and later becomes the general of his armies
They basically go through their entire lives together and they’re very dependable on each other which is a huge part of their story. Valen has a magical disability that can be very dangerous to him and others and gideon is a victim of DV so they take turns taking care of each other and for a long time they were each other’s only friend
They grew really close which created feelings, they had their first kiss -which valen rejects and runs away from 💀- when they were teens for which gideon apologizes and responds to by building impenetrable emotional walls that lasts a lifetime all while valen is trying to gaslight him into believing Nothing happened fhdjskdj.
Several years of pining and clawing their way out of the depths of repression hell they Finally kiss for real and their happiness and planning for their future is definitely not cut short by a devastating incident or anything 👍
while we’re still waiting for the next q!Roier tape i have a question regarding our cubito:
do you think q!Roier’s consciousness was actually put into a rat? or has it all been just a drug-induced dream?
regardless of whether or not it’s actually consciousness-inserted-into-rat, that cubito is definitely getting experimented on one way or another. but i’m curious to hear other people’s thoughts O_o
Similarly to Raph, Draxum struggles quite a bit at first with adjusting to Mikey's nigh-on ridiculous learning speed. However, Mikey's main 'barrier', so to speak, is that scheduling specific times for lessons as Draxum prefers to do doesn't work well for him. Sometimes it works out, and Mikey progresses in leaps and bounds, but other times when his focus is exhausted? Sure, he can kind of force himself to pay attention during their lessons, but that only works so well and for so long. It is not, by any means, an effective way to learn.
The real issue isn't Mikey's ability or potential to learn, but that he's never really had to learn how to consistently engage with something even when he doesn't feel like it. He's never really had to force himself to keep working on something when he isn't really feeling it. Which isn't inherently a negative trait, but it makes it harder for Draxum to teach him, as Draxum has most definitely learned how to force himself to do things and doesn't immediately realize that that's not a universal thing.
The problem Draxum has here isn't so much about getting Mikey to focus, but rather not only figuring out how to create an environment that is continually engaging enough that Mikey can focus, but also knowing when to just call it quits. Some days are fantastic, others just don't work out for training, and there's nothing wrong with that. He might end up kinda just showing Mikey a wide range of the ways that mystic powers can be used and hoping that some of it sticks.
Draxum and Leo:
This might seem a be counter intuitive, but Leo is actually the one who Draxum can train most effectively (at least, given the specific context of Minor Interference). See, based on the point in time that this story diverges from canon, Leo is still struggling to figure out how his powers work and, although he doesn't want to admit it, deeply insecure about his place on the team because of that.
That, combined with his tendency to latch onto paternal figures (see: Jupiter Jim and Tim Dunkman) means that Leo actually really does want to learn from Draxum and sort of starts looking up to him. "Sort of" being the key phrase here, as Leo doesn't want to admit to himself that he craves the approval Draxum happens to be offering. So Leo wants to learn from Draxum, but at the same time, he doesn't want to get too close, if that makes sense.
On Draxum's end, Leo's training is the easiest (at least in terms of technique) because Draxum is teaching him a skill set that he himself actively uses: portals. Draxum knows from first hand experience how tricky portals can be to use and how hard they are to learn, so he actually has more reasonable expectations for Leo than Leo himself does.
However, what makes training Leo difficult is that Leo continually ignores the safety rules Draxum tries to teach him. This is partly because Leo's already broken most of those rules with little to no consequences and doesn't see why it's such a big deal, but also because he can tell it's extremely frustrating for Draxum when he breaks those rules.
What Leo doesn't really realize is that Draxum's frustration comes from a place of concern about his wellbeing, because portals can be very, very dangerous, especially when you're as reckless with them as Leo is. You can get lost somewhere, you can get portal-jacked, you could portal chop yourself, etc. Portals are not a form of magic to be taken lightly, and Leo's a bit too cavalier about how he uses them.
Thank you for asking, Anon! Yes I do have headcanons >:)
(prepare for me looking way too deep into things)
I'm a very big fan of the theory/headcanon that Marcus' eyebrow raise is him turning off the safety on his heat vision
I really like how it changes the context of his eyebrow moments from
"haha I'm so smug and evil >:)"
to
"This situation is escalating, so I'm getting ready to attack you if you become aggressive + haha I'm so smug and evil >:)""
it kind of gives off the idea it might be out of anxiety
because him raising his eyebrows is a survival reflex.
okay next one
I think Marcus' body is made of aluminum
because
Marcus is waterproof in canon and aluminum is resistant to corrosion
Marcus' body uses hydraulics to move and aluminum is used often in hydraulics and robotics because it's lightweight
he has heat vision and fireballs/energy spheres that come from his hands and aluminum can withstand extreme temperatures
NOT ONLY THAT, but Metal detectors need to have certain settings changed to detect aluminum over other metals, so that's why Leo's metal detector didn't detect Marcus
on that note, I like to think he's like a terminator and that he's got "living tissue over a metal endoskeleton" so his outside is flesh and blood, and the inside is all robotic
because I would honestly HATE to think he has plastic skin and artificial hair. That really bothers me fhdjfjk
The living parts of Marcus are Douglas' DNA for sure
Which goes really well with my headcanon that Marcus was designed to look like young Donald
Douglas just, casually reverse engineering his genetic code in order to make his surrogate robot son look like his brother
I also think that Marcus' bionic intelligence is what gives him his sentience. Like, a lot of himself comes from his programming, but I think the bionic intelligence gives him the ability to learn and adapt, and have negative emotions.
There's no way Douglas would design one of his creations to defy him, but he can't really control how Marcus uses his bionics. So that's kind of my reasoning for that plot-fix
I have more headcanons, but these are the ones I was thinking of off the top of my head since it's been a while since I thought about Lab Rats lore. Let me know if y'all want another of these! Or headcanons of other characters!