#I know nothing about the lore but I think they're neat!

[wayfinderships]

🍋 🍋!! (@eid0lons)

Hey Haze! Since you answered mine with FF characters, I'll answer mine with Genshin characters!! :D

The first one being Itto! I just thought his design was cool and was so happy to see a slightly more buff guy in the game-afnsndns I've heard really nice things about him! He seems really neat!

The second is Dainsleif. This one is absolutely 100% because the first time I saw him I went "DIMITRI FIRE EMBLEM???" and that was it. I know nothing about the lore of these games (I just play to hit things and let my partner drop by my world to steal materials) so both of these are more of a crush based purely on aesthetic!

[bells-of-black-sunday]

Something innately tragic about the darkin is that ultimately their existence is aa never ending body horror filled suffering and an eternal hunger rivaling the things that fractured their minds in the first place. Tarhos is no exception to this though he is given space by Haru to heal and try to come to terms with what he used to be vs what he is now. This makes him appreciate a lot of smaller things in life that most would ignore or not notice in the firstplace.

Tarhos is four-thousand years old and who even really knows how long he's been trapped in his own fragmented blade for and most of that was spent underwater after being tossed off a merchant ship by someone who knew what he was. He couldn't see much of anything, felt like he was drowning, couldn't feel anything and all he was left with was his thoughts that desperately clung to the idea of the Shuriman empire instead of how he and the other god warriors were actually treated after the void war.

So when Haru picks him up and he can't fully make him his vessel, he's rightfully pissed, but he does calm over time by just having someone to talk to. He honestly can't stand the sound of his own voice alone still, he hates listening to his own thoughts. Still at least out of the water he could feel the warmth of the sunlight and the pressure of fingers dancing across his blade. His senses were very dulled though they existed and he was just happy to finally feel something. Though as his feelings grew so did his longing.

And when he was finally allowed to touch the vastayan's skin he weeped. Just being able to feel the grass, hear the birds, see clearly. It was overwhelming, but also held a joy he can never fully describe. He loves the sun on his scales, digging his claws into the Earth, smelling everything nature has to give, even just how pretty things as simple as rocks can be and he'd probably look foolish rambling about it especially to his kin, but it's just how he is. It's why usually when Haru's around he's close by or putting his claws on him, it's something so simple he was deprived of and longed for for so long he doesn't want to lose it again.

And due to being in the blade: he doesn't remember being human at all. He knows he was a slave who was celebrated and worshipped for his bravery which earned him his freedom and ascension, but... He doesn't remember any of it. His mind clung so hard to how he was when he was a giant bull God he's completely forgotten what it's like to be human which combined with how due to how hemomancy corrupted the darkin, makes him not value human life at all. He sees their struggles as pointless, they'll all die in a blink of his eye in his life time, they don't matter. Tarhos of course still enjoys being around humans, but he will trivialize their struggles unintentionally.

He just... doesn't see the point in what most people do at all. He doesn't get the worry or strife. And that's eventually going to be a big lesson for him in humility.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Fútbot

Debut: Mario Strikers: Battle League

Today we will be talking about famous bad game Mario Strikers: Battle League! I do not care about sports games even if they do contain Shy Guy, but geez, I'm sorry to those of you who do. You just can't catch a break.

But maybe there's hope? Maybe a brand new character, unique to this game, could spark some intrigue? Surely a one-off robot in a Mario game would at least appeal to ME, right? RIGHT?

Wrong! I think Fútbot is stupendously mid. Note that I called it a "robot". Not even a "funny robot". That's how you know I'm serious! As a design, Fútbot has some interesting things going on, I suppose. A propeller for a lower body, a puppety mouth, and a glowing sphere of a "tongue". But it just doesn't do it for me! My favorite part of this character is the cute name.

Fútbot simply feels like a mascot and nothing else. This could be the mascot for anything. An antivirus software. A local TV channel that shows both football and The Big Bang Theory reruns. A week-long STEM summer camp for 8-12 year olds. Fútbot could be anything, and so it feels like nothing.

Fútbot is here to help you and give advice, and I suppose I do like that they made a new character for the role! I have been hard on Fútbot, but I would have NOTHING to say about this game without its presence. I would rather it be here! I also think it's neat that Fútbot is a representative of the Galactic Strikers Federation, implying a bit of new Outer Lore to Mario's universe. I COULD say that it makes sense it wouldn't look like a Mario character, since it's from a galactic organization, not limited to Mario's planet... but we know very well that there are Mario enemies all throughout Mario's galaxy and beyond! No excuse!

There is one great thing about Fútbot. Something I've been saving for the very end. Let's look closely.

These eyes. Bright, glowing cyan, with concentric rings within. They're not an exact match, but they absolutely bring to mind...

URBAN STINGBY LARVA! My beloved! Yeah! Woohoo! Who cares about foot bort or whatever its name is! This has become an Urban Stingby Larva post now!

Wiggle wiggle squirm and squiggle

Funny larva makes me giggle

Instantaneous pupation

Urban Stingby Larva Nation!

[lionheartedmusings]

some thoughts about the cursed team, my meta opinions as to why i want it to be blue narratively (or not at all) and why i think it being red would personally bum me out. nothing i'd say is neg but it's a bit of a vent so <3 read with caution

but yeah the thing with the cursed team is that narratively it kind of... has to be blue team to be satisfying for me personally? or for the cursed team to be a complete and total misdirect.

i say this mostly bc a) on a meta level if red are cursed it's gonna launch even more twitter discourse and no one wants that, but also bc red just has the group of people that have ultimately been favoured by the lore overloads over and over again (not all of them!!!!) and it'd just be fudhdhhd so unsatisfying for it to just. happen again.

like i've talked at length about the fact that the amount of lore and server-side content cellbit gets is fucking insane, and that it (in my opinion) creates this really shitty situation as a viewer where everyone else just seems like they're background characters or side characters to help aid his puzzle solving. it's kind of exhausting bc like i truly enjoy cellbit and q!cellbit (second one is on thin ice rn) but like... it's every time? like you know cellbit is gonna get the lore. it's always him.

you also just have a team heavy with server related lore (vs for example aypierre who HAS his server lore but it feels mostly personal or bad who has INSANE amounts of lore but they're just his) and like... it'd feel cheap and disappointing if the big lore of purgatory aka who is the cursed team ended up being them.

i also think that like narratively and from a storytelling perspective i think bolas would BENEFIT from not being cursed, just as this like interesting contrast between mindset and reality when they go back to the island. it's poetic, it's neat.

bc if blue *isn't* cursed you know what we get? nothing. all the times that they were excluded from like the videos or the art or whatever? that was just... not lore related, and just an oversight, and that fucking sucks so bad.

if there's no cursed team i personally think it'd be a shitty red herring but at least it'd be preferable to a red cursed team yeno?

anyway just my two cents and very biased opinion as a bad / soulfire main

[thewertsearch]

Asks Comp 4/8

The thing is, Davesprite's situation is more complicated than an unfulfilled time loop. His timeline isn't an irrelevant offshoot - in fact, it's integral to the existence of the Alpha Timeline, and presumably always was. Davesprite forms part of a weird, fully intact time loop which spans multiple timelines.

And since this is a future Dave, you have to assume he knows about Bro. The two clearly had a complicated relationship, but he's surely shaken by his death - if nothing else, it's a sign of how serious things have become.

That'll be a fun thing to check out when I've finished the comic! It reminds me of those Hunger Games simulators that were doing the rounds a couple of years ago.

That's true. Dave knows how strong the Underlings have become - and yet, he's still confident that Jade can stand up to them. Presumably she finds some sort of workaround for their First Guardian powers?

Sunslammer is so good! A standout song, even in a comic with as many bangers as this one.

Honestly, part of why I'm dragging my feet on the album reviews is because I want to hear these songs for the first time in context. If I'd heard Descend before watching Descend, I feel like it would have robbed the song of some of its dramatic weight.

I assumed it was just because witches are associated with frogs.

That would have explained why they're part of her Land, but I'm pretty sure that Kanaya's glitched planet was also a frog Land, and she's not a Witch, so...?

*The rest of Sal's response has been redacted, lest we fall once more into the Frog Theory Black Hole.*

I'm pretty sure that's a statue of Echidna, the mother of monsters and Jade's Denizen. Dave's probably close to LOFAF's Palace!

The Seer sees all - and sometimes, she understands the implications before we do.

It'd certainly be interesting. I just reread that conversation, and the biggest takeaway would have been that the kids were going to befriend the trolls, and get involved in their personal drama. This would certainly be consistent with the tone established by an Act 1 Hivebent!

Yup. Vriska was only able to 'create' Perfect Jack because Becquerel didn't object.

Really, he could have prototyped anything he liked, no matter what Vriska did. Even if she tried to shut the Entry down by incapacitating Jade, he could simply have activated the piñata himself.

I mean, that's basically what happened!

If any Aspect is geared around survival, then it's Feferi's. There's no breath left in her body, but our girl is still in the game!

Getting back to the trolls will be interesting, especially since - I assume - we'll be zipping back to when Feferi was still alive. The Veil is a much less friendly place, now - but does Feferi know this? What, exactly, is about to happen to the trolls?

I suppose. I guess there's no reason for every Carapacian to be created with knowledge of the Rings.

Actually, Sburb might not want them to know - Jack's probably not the only one who wouldn't respect the Ring's rules. There could be potential ringwielders out there who are far more dangerous.

Thank you! I feel like I've been doing a lot more character analysis in Act 5 versus previous Acts, where most of my speculation was about the lore. It's a fun change of pace.

Damn, I didn't think we'd actually be explaining these!

It's moments like these which really enhance the comic for me - justifications for things that I genuinely thought were just nitpicks on my part. It's really gratifying, honestly.

@thelegendofgreg asked: Here's some commentary from the jade enter flash, theres uh. alot to read but its all neat stuff "I talked about this way back, maybe even in an earlier book? Well, here I go again, so hold on to your ass. There are four entry items: Apple of knowledge, Bottle of wine, Crow's egg, Dog piñata. A, B, C, D. All of them are related to new life or new beginnings. You bite the apple, you fall from grace, enter a new world, begin this wild journey. You smash a bottle to christen a ship. An egg hatches, creating new life. You break a piöata to celebrate a birthday. Each involves breaking or puncturing something. Each involves a form of sustenance, or something to consume (piñatas have candy inside). Two are vessels for the substance (bottle, Piñata), two are the food items themselves (apple, egg), and one arguably counts as both (egg). Two of them drop from the same basic tree template (apple, piñata). They ramp up in complexity. John's is a simple test: bite the forbidden fruit. Not much to it. A single unit of departure, almost conceptually elemental, like an apple, as Rose goes on about later. The challenges get trickier. Rose has to break a bottle. Easy enough idea, but things go wrong, and she has to take a blind leap to get it done. A sacrificial gesture, and one of faith in a friend (Jaspers). Dave's is even more obscure. A simple test of patience, but one that's not clear. He isn't told what to do and just has to wait. Non-action is the key, and in a way it's another gesture of faith under dire circumstances. Finally, Jade's challenge incorporates a lot of these elements. It's another "blind faith" situation. She has to take a shot in the dark. There's a sacrificial gesture, but instead of risking herself (like Rose), Jade must symbolically sacrifice her friend via effigy and cannot complete the sacrifice without help from that friend. (Bec must redirect the bullet. There's no way this works if he doesn't.) It is also a signifier that the pet she knew as a friend her whole life is about to, in a way, become her enemy. Like a good dog gone bad, who now must be put down."

So they are all intended to be foodstuffs! And, apparently, alphabetical - although I think 'Crow's egg' is a bit of a stretch.

There are also themes of sacrifice and faith that I didn't really think about before. Choosing to enter Sburb at all, knowing the stakes, is absolutely a leap of faith - and it's a game which sacrifices your whole planet. Skaia's been telling us the score this whole time.

Homestuck absolutely deals with dark themes - but they start out buried under the surface, and even now, are still in the process of revealing themselves. This makes sense for Homestuck, a coming-of-age-story whose protagonists are slowly coming to terms with some dark truths about their lives.

Awful Hospital, however, immediately says: here's our protagonist. Her baby is dying. She just woke in a strange room. She doesn't know how she got here. Her baby has been stolen. There are monsters inside her brain. By the way, here's a quip, because this is actually a funny comic. It just felt... dissonant, and not in a fun way. I don't really know what it's going for, tonally.

Don't take this as a negative review, though! I only read a couple dozen pages, so I'm really not qualified to rate the comic - I just wasn't feeling it at the time, so I shelved it. I enjoy a lot of Bogleech's writing, and Awful Hospital's lore sounds pretty interesting, so I'll probably give it another shot at some point.

Not for the most part! I'm super into time travel stories, though, so I'm well-Primed to understand their intricacies.

So there might be intermittent stages between the four we've seen in the kids' session? That'd be interesting - I'd love to see the intermediary stage between John's 2D chessboard and Rose's 3D cube.

There are, at this point, too many awesome songs for me to pick favorites. Umbral Ultimatum and Sunslammer are excellent, but what songs aren't, at this point?

I can't imagine what we're in for when we reach the Act 5.2 finale...

Ooh, interesting. Considering how many accidental references Hussie seems to make, it's honestly up in the air whether that was intentional.

That said....

Jack is looking awfully divine these days.

I suppose Tavros has probably logged the most rocket-hours, yeah.

I'm sure all Breath Players probably learn to fly, unless there are some oddball classes which don't let you interact with your Aspect.

Anonymous asked: forwarding this message to you from someone who doesn't have a tumblr account. ~DJ "Important fact. Dave and Aradia both use musical instruments for time travel, but different ones. Aradia’s is a music box, it has a single prerecorded music, the only way to “play” it is to turn it so it plays the music that was always in it. Dave’s is turntables. They contain a preexisting music, but what you do with them is to jump, cut and shuffle this music, creating something new, having full control of it. - RM"

I like it! As Time Players, they both follow the set path of the Alpha Timeline - but Dave gets a little funky with it, multiplying himself with a complex series of time loops.

Aradia, ever the fatalist, instead turns to doomed clones for reinforcements. I don't think we've ever seen her make a stable loop.

[eliteseven]

Hi, so sorry to bother you, I absolutely love Serena, but sometimes I feel I don't know her very well. I've been able to pick up bits and pieces from your fanfictions and some of the asks here, but sometimes I feel I might be missing a few secrets, fears or motivations in that beautiful head of hers. If it's not too much trouble and if you get the time I'd love to know more about her, maybe some neat HCs or other such things that maybe aren't talked about as much. I just love her so much and I wanna hear more about her (not that I don't absolutely LOVE hearing about her adorable interactions with Shadowheart) 👉👈 🥺

🥹 it’s no bother! Thank you for asking!! I’m so flattered you’d like to hear more! I try not to talk about her as much as Shadowheart because she’s the one we all have in common, and I don’t want to bore anyone with OC lore 🫠

Unfortunately, I simply cannot shut up about OC's once asked. So anyway here's her life story: (this is so long I’m so sorry)

Her past:

-We all know her past: she grew up in a partriar family, as the product of a marriage of convenience. She enjoyed a life of luxury, is learned in history and etiquette, but always craved a life of adventure.

-As a little girl she was so curious, and got into trouble often for exploring where she shouldn't, for being late to her lessons. As she grew older, the severity of her punishments increased. Her once kind father turned on her; he sought to kill that “rebellious” streak in her- to make her a proper heir.

-Her father was heavily abusive, getting worse with age. He succumbed to his vices. He gambled the house into debt. He unilaterally decided to marry Serena off to recoup some losses, to join his house with another. And so at 18/19 she and her mother fled to Cormyr with next to nothing to their name. She became a knight, they were avidly recruiting for rebuilding efforts as defense. For a decade, she dreamed of facing her father, getting revenge, getting the estate back for her mother.

-She eventually returned to Baldur's Gate, only to find her father had died a while ago, but not before taking a mistress and a child and leaving the estate to them! Ouch! She...cannot bring herself to take anything away from them, let alone let them know she exists. She decides to return to Cormyr, completely lost, when she's taken by the mind flayers.

Her wants/needs:

-Serena's main purpose was to secure a home for her mother, to regain what their father had taken from them, and to confront the man who terrorized her for so long. Of course... that didn't work out.

-Her new purpose is ridding herself of the tadpole and surviving with this weird, rag-tag group of individuals. It's through this journey that she realizes that they're kind of like a family- and that's something she never had. Her mother and father were always practically at war, everyone around her was fake, a bootlicker to her father, or interested in wealth and material gain only. She realizes she craves close companionship, domesticity. More than that- intimacy. She's had lovers- but only had one lover that she actually got to know. Until…along comes a sharp-tongued, very enchanting Sharran. Not the poster child for domesticity and love, but...Serena sees something twinkle in her eyes, when she looks at animals, at children. She wants to bring out that side of Shadowheart, to protect that kind streak she’s seen in her.

-I think Serena's motivations are simple. She was a frightened little girl, with no agency, and no means to protect herself from her own kin. She never wishes to feel that way again. She wants to protect and provide for her loved ones. She wants to have loved ones. She wants to bring her mother back from Cormyr and give her a home.

-Her fears are also simple: She fears being weak. She fears being vulnerable like she used to be. She fears losing her loved ones- her mother, first- and eventually, Shadowheart, when they fall in love. Not necessarily losing them in the sense of them dying: her father changed. She watched a once decent man grow crueler with each passing year. She fears change, in a sense, or abandonment of the emotional variety.

-She really fears returning to high society in Baldur's Gate- as you will see when she attends that feast Wyll is having at High Hall. She remembers the scorn her family faced in their later years, she remembers the cruel whispers behind her back as she and her mother were nearly swallowed whole. She does not have fond memories of those times, and does not want to attend. She's noticeably very nervous about returning and doesn't want to bear her own last name (which Shadowheart thinks is RIDICULOUS because it's her name and she earned the right to be proud of herself, and it).

Personality:

-She's even-keeled, and kind, just like her mother. She’s generally approachable and easy to talk to- residual effects of all that time spent socializing. But she’s been humbled into this kindness. She knows what it means to struggle. She’s been at the figurative top of the mountain and rock bottom. She couldn't fathom not helping the tieflings. She makes a good leader because she isn't too hot-headed and seems to understand that people have intricate, complicated pasts.

-She's still very much a noble at heart lmao. Just because she's had to rough it, doesn't mean she's lost her taste for finery. She spent almost eighteen years in luxury! She takes care with her appearance (Lae'zel definitely mocks her for this at the beginning)- she holds her wine cup with her pinky out subconsciously (everyone mocks her for that except Wyll lol)- she's still soft and posh sometimes, hardened as her edges become.

-Her best friends are Wyll and Karlach (aside from Shadowheart ofc). Wyll knew her growing up in court- and though he's younger, they bond over those memories of festivities and other gatherings at High Hall.

-She can be playful- sharp tongued, but not like Shadowheart- she's much kinder. She's a traditional romantic- as seen in the fics. She's nowhere as experienced as Shadowheart. Her flirting style is just being honest and having a lovesick look in her eyes, tbh. She's oblivious to her own charm- but really, she's been a little too occupied to notice.

-She's so patient. She has a certain grace that never seems to go away, even as a soldier. She has a posh accent that was a dead giveaway for her in Cormyr.

-Conversely- when she’s upset, she can make cold, cutting remarks. She retreats into herself, bottles it up. It takes a lot to get her there, but she can be feisty when provoked. After all- she knows how to wield words as a weapon- surrounded by both diplomats and scheming politicians in her youth.

-She has forsaken religion (but she secretly prays to Selune). She was technically raised a Selunite, but her father's cruelty made her skeptical. He never worshiped anything other than coin and ale. He used to joke about how they ought to worship Umberlee, when nearly half of their trade fleet never made it back to the docks. When she helps Shadowheart along with her faith- that's when she returns to Selune, quietly. She prays for Shadowheart. Not even herself.

Obligatory gallery if you made it this far:

[ratasum]

Ugh okay. Some thoughts. I have specifically tagged this as soto critical so that if you enjoyed it, you know what you're getting into. These are my opinions. If you enjoyed it I genuinely am thrilled for you, no sarcasm at all, but my usual disclaimer remains that I did not. I'm not gonna come at you or attack you for enjoying it, I promise; we all have different opinions and that is good and valid.

(Not that I hated it entirely; I actually love a lot about it. I just was not thrilled with everything in the end.)

I've also specifically censored names so they don't show up in those characters tags to the best of my ability.

First I'd like to go over what I actually really did enjoy:

The new maps are visually stunning. I'm on the fence about the heavy reliance on Skyscales, but they're creative and interesting to look at and fun to explore.

Love P*itha (though not like that I just think she's Neat I need to clarify that) and the Krypt*s. Really wish we could've spent a lot more time digging into the power structure there but I like that they think WE'RE the ugly ones.

I've been gnawing on the shadiness and cult-like nature of the Astr*l Ward since the jump and am really hopeful their behavior gets treated with the gravity it genuinely deserves.

It was nice to see Z*jja again, even if my opinion of how she was handled is... well. We'll get to that below.

The W*zard Vault is a HUGE improvement over the daily system, don't @ me. Love being able to spend my fun bucks on whatever I want whenever I want without being bogged down in "ugh it's x days until I can get clovers or a tome."

I'm keeping R'tch*kk, Glade, and Z*zel. Fr*de too. And L*hr. No one can stop me.

All that being said...

Glad they admitted they bit off FAR too much. SotO felt too big for its britches after the first drop, and what could've been really interesting things got shoved into closets and out windows to make way to hurry along to the next beat. Everything was equal parts rushed and a slog, lore buried in journal and hidden text over and over and over. The pacing was absurd.

To say nothing about how miserably they flubbed Z*jja's story. What could've been a really interesting dive into what she went through as she maybe journeyed into and through Nay*s with us, her going through a will she won't she until deciding in the end that maybe ascension was the best option? Nothing. Hurriedly mind wiped off screen before the second drop even hit and shoved completely out of the narrative with barely any relevance to the story as it stood, despite how loudly anet banged the pots and pans of how super big and important her arc was.

You literally could replace her with a lamp and it would change practically nothing about the story. She wasn't even relevant to the greater story at all. Why was she even there?

To say nothing about those really juicy drops of how shady the Astral Ward was, between the bits in the fractals, G*lrath's threat, the "something has gone wrong" status effect at the end of the third drop, and none of that was followed through on.

And I say this as someone who loved the first drop immensely, liked what we were seeing, was genuinely intrigued... and then nothing.

I really wish we could've either stuck with the ward, or had the ward be barely introduced before being tossed into Nay*s and spending most of our time there so that we didn't have all this setup that felt like it dangled.

I'm glad to see they took the criticisms on the pacing and story content to heart, though, and maybe it'll improve. Still feeling a bit stung, and there's a LOT I'm still planning on rewriting (gonna tweak some stuff with the knowledge we'll be addressing the ward again... hopefully. Z*jja's still not there though sorry not sorry anet).

I'll remain cautiously optimistic in the meantime.

[crystalelemental]

Lodge Adaman interactions are up, and...wow, do I have some opinions about it.

Starting with the Pokemon, I do think it's great that Grass is the standard type of the Diamond Clan given Hisuian Lilligant.  I also think it's cool that he's interested in Pokemon Behavior specifically.  Like it's the most interesting aspect to him, even beyond just raising Pokemon himself.  

Items make sense.  I think it's kinda neat that Z-Crystals are listed as points of interest.  Like yeah, these things are cool.  Also he likes Gym Badges.  Has no idea what the fuck a gym is, but the badges are neat.

Friends check out, kinda love that Irida's there, also find it really funny that no one else in Diamond Clan is his friend.  Oh god is this signaling who gets in?  Oh god are they gonna add Melli?  Putting that aside, he's slight friends with Dexio.  ...how?  Is Dexio even on the island?  Elio is also an interesting pick, I don't have enough of a handle on Elio as a character to have a sense for that dynamic.  Being friends with Lyra and Rosa feels like they just picked the grass starter protags, but I could definitely see Rosa getting along with him.  I also like how it's all or nothing.  Either he is absolute friends, or you're like a distant acquaintance, but at no point are you casually friends. Ride or die, bitch.

Hobbies.  My man can cook.  I also love that Time is a hobby.  Like yes, I enjoy the hobby of experiencing time.  Or maybe it's like contemplating time?  Either way, dork.  I do think it's hilarious that Space counts but only slightly, and that apparently the one modern attraction he latched on to was Ferris Wheels.  Get him and N to hang out.

Fashion is whatever, not much to say.

But now I start yellin.  Places.  Why is Lake Verity listed?  Diamond Clan is situated next to Valor, not Verity.  That seems like you just copied Dawn's answer to avoid needing to make a new one.  Also how does he actually know any of these specific places?  Ecruteak?  Melemele?  Fucking Pallet?  He's never been there!  Why would he care?  This feels weird to me. Ecruteak at least checks out because Lore, but I cannot imagine what Pallet Town is offering him.  This was like the one time to have very few listed places, but for some reason they still slapped a bunch in.  Also apparently he is never neutral about anything unless it's in a very specific location.

Others is packed with hilarity and frustration.  First, Impatience is listed as his favorite thing.  I kinda love the commitment to being this way.  Second, Ninjas rank high.  Guess he's a fan of Benny.  Fourth, Pearl Clan is moderate favoritism, which is just kinda comical.  Fifth, one of his Others interests is Fancy Lady.  Cultured.  But the big one.  The one that drives me up a goddamned wall.  Is Space-time distortion.  DeNA.  Listen.  You can't just keep slapping region specific stuff into characters' favorite things list like that.  The entire point of the distortions was that no one liked them and they caused endless problems, the fuck do you mean Adaman loves them?  I'm sorry, this one just feels like complete nonsense.

On the whole, pretty fun spread, but man I really wish they'd put just a little more thought into Lodge choices.  Lake Verity has borderline nothing to do with him, it should be Valor but they didn't want to add another selection so they reused Dawn's.  And the Space-Time Distortion being a favorite is just them over-emphasizing "They love stuff from their region and nothing else!"  It's frustrating.  Just once, I want a character that's like "Yeah, my region blows, but this other region is cool."  So long as it's not Kanto they're bigging up.

[wolfylch]

OK I MIGHT BE GOING INSANE BUT PLEASE HEAR ME OUT:

The lore for Ovenbreak and Kingdom are incredibly different, so please know I'm talking about Kingdom lore!

I have a theory that when Pitaya began to lose their powers, their flame wasn't the only thing they lost when giving it to Fire Spirit (though it's possible Fire Spirit might actually just be his mighty flame reincarnated).

Pitaya seems to have ran away from Dragon's Valley after being reborn as their cookie form, likely being embarrassed for not being the powerful dragon the tribesmen worshiped/feared. They have little memory it seems other than being drunk on juice as they don't even remember Knight Cookie cutting off their tail tip (though in Kingdom it might've actually been Hollyberry who did it as she tricked them into biting their own tail) but they do remember Hollyberry and that she was the only cookie to have defeated them in battle which gave them reason to linger around her kingdom - they felt relatively powerful amongst these people while also having a strong rival to who could best them.

This is important because it leaves Dragon's Valley without Pitaya - they have no real reason to go back as they'll only be ridiculed for not being the ferocious dragon they once were. ALSO it brings up the main point to my theory:

There was concepts of Mala Sauce where she referred to Pitaya as a "Spice god".

What if Capsaicin is actually Pitaya's spice? And he's actually the (new) Spice god? Maybe when Pitaya began to lose their powers their spiciness seeped into the magma and began to solidify into a cookie the same way Fire Spirit did?

I feel as though it would make sense as Pitaya fruit are not spicy at all! They're very juicy and taste almost like nothing or sweet sugar water. Pitaya was known as the Legendary Reddish Green Dragon before and was likely worshiped for their spiciness at one point... but now it's gone!

Capsaicin can also turn into a large beast like how Pitaya can turn into a dragon, which I think is rather neat. Not to mention, the horns on Mala Sauce's helmet are the same as Capsaicin's horns!

Capsaicin also has slit pupils and hair that are very reminiscent of Pitaya's look.

Basically what I'm saying is Pitaya, Fire Spirit, and Capsaicin are like an unholy trinity. Pitaya being the Father (as they're the origin source), Capsaicin being the son (as he's the unrivaled spice reborn from magma), and Fire Spirit being the unholy spirit (as he's the spirit of Pitaya's strength and flame).

[sketching-shark]

decides to give names to the bone spirits because I have almost nothing content of these two

Their fanon names are Gǔtou and Gǔ

this little friend here Báigǔ

what do you think

Can you think of other types of names?

If you had to give them a personality what would it be?

Do you think Lady Bone Demon could have been affectionate towards them, you know, to give her other nuances of personality by showing that she really is affectionate towards her own people?

Oh that's actually a pretty neat idea to have an entire yaoguai species made of bone people! And thanks for letting me know of some of the fandom lore @maidenofthecloud :D. That said, I'm very ignorant about how precisely naming conventions work for Chinese names, so I'd likely make some major goofs if I tried to come up with something fitting for the bone spirits (X_X).

In terms of personality, given how angry and hollow they look I could imagine them and Monkie Kid's Lady Bone Demon actually fitting quite well as being something like pretas, or hungry ghosts. Pretas are present in a number of Eastern religions, Buddhism included, and while as always keeping in mind that I'm not an expert on this topic, from what I understand the basic idea behind them is that they are the remnants of dead humans who as a result of their bad deeds are now tormented by insatiable hunger, desire or thirst. They do seem to often act as malevolent entities--they possess people and bring bad luck--but there is something very sad about them too because even though they've already died they're doomed to endlessly suffer the torments of desire without even the potential recourse of reincarnation.

As such, I think it could act as a potentially interesting layer to Lady Bone Demon's whole "save the world by killing literally everything & starting over" plan if she was driven to such a twisted form of compassion by seeing, interacting with, and even experiencing herself the kind of unrelenting torment that pretas go through, especially after seeing the deities live it up even though a number of them are responsible for some pretty heinous things that they more or less never have to answer for (though gods from Li Nezha to the Jade Emperor himself all have their own painful pasts). Like if she had viscerally realized just how much unending suffering is in existence, and how even adulated religions seemed incapable of addressing it, you could more easily understand why she decided to just throw the whole reality away. If they had kept Sun Wukong's og backstory it could have made her whole deal an interesting comparison/contrast to the Monkey King himself too, as in the classic he commits all kinds of violence to help his beloved monkey family; she'd just be doing something similar for her beloved pretas, but on a universal scale. Hell, throw in a scene too where the Lady Bone Demon tries to convince SWK of the virtue of her omnicidal plan because of the way even his own lifetimes worth of efforts resulted in nothing but suffering for himself and everyone he ever loved too! It would be a perfect opportunity to FINALLY get some insight as to why that monkey exiled himself for centuries in the first place if nothing else. Not to mention antagonists who are convinced of the righteousness of their actions no matter what are wonderfully scary, and showing how the Lady Bone Demon arrived at her ideas in the first place could really up the sympathy/creep factor!

That said, I know that setting up and exploring that sort of dark situation would likely result in a MUCH higher rating, and probably isn't the kind of thing that could be addressed in a careful and nuanced manner in a silly lego show lol. It is still fun to think about!

[stillness138]

5 things i'm able to rant about for an hour without preparation, or, the brainworms tag game

thank u @thirstyforred ☺️

-

i think i'm quite predictable, but lemme try

1. yeah, this one takes the top spot here too, surprising nobody. the witcher, text, lore, metatext. or however it's called when the writer had a goal and we all have to live with his increasingly more nonsensical way of reaching it. everything about it makes me go insane and what perhaps the most is the way people - and i now mostly mean writers other than Sapek - handle the material after him. the good and the bad. these books and whatever came out of them thematically touch me like nothing else does and i can't imagine a world where the attachment i have to it all didn't exist. an hour would barely suffice to get started.

2. art and art history. obviously, so i don't have to type a whole lot here. i always did it, i studied it, it's a fundamental part of me. if we ever go to a museum, give me something to chew on so i don't yap the whole way through.

3. meteorology. i just think they're neat meme but it's clouds and our atmosphere. it's a bit deeper than that though, i grew up in a gliding environment and this was an omnipresent, crucial part of it. my interest in severe weather resparked a couple years ago so now here i am, running out of the house whilst sick to take pictures of a thunderstorm. don't ask me about tornadoes.

4. the elder scrolls, with the clarification that i am very very far from actually knowledgeable about it. but it, for me, exists in a funnily similar place as the witcher when it comes to including ideas and themes, but also author and intent in how i look at these works. this would lead me to a whole tangent on how nothing exists in a vacuum and triple A videogame writing, probably. i really enjoy creating characters in this universe, maybe more than any other (they don't know i have like 30 tes ocs...), but keep the brainworms in check on purpose because if i cared about another thing at the mercy of corporate interest as much as i already do about that one, i think not even touching grass could help me.

5. i'm not sure if this is the best descriptor or if it deserves its own spot but...people? fandoms and cliques, how art is perceived and treated. how class and classism play into that. i feel strongly about these things because i find people fascinating and spend too much time on the internet, but i'm also who i am and interacting with people will sometimes inevitably make me ponder these things. it's why i put "theme shitaboutgiver" in my bio here tho so i guess gamers give me enough of a headache to warrant a spot on this list.

i also wanna know what vexes the rest of strays so consider yourselves tagged frens 🌼

[allykakamatsu]

Part 2 of my brain being unhinged.

As I said last time, this is the basic lore run down for my KH X GI au because I have a problem.

Basics: Like I said last time, the basic run down is that Sora ended up in Teyvat instead of Quadratum, so now Riku and Kairi are going there to try find him, however the power that sent them there also dragged a good few of the others along for the ride. What I didn't mention last time is that Teyvat is like Quadratum in the sense that is very difficult to get into, so as an 'entry fee' to get in they're not allowed to leave until 'peace has been restored', aka until the plot is over.

Visions: The interesting part, I know the whole group is Descenders and realistically couldn't get a Vision, but it's my au so I'm gonna twist the rules and say for a reason the gang isn't aware of they can get them. Everyone can still use their regular powers though, and a good few characters won't even have a Vision by the time the main team catches up with them. Because of this, Vision's don't have to match the characters associated element and are instead given based on a trait they show when they unlock their ambition, for example Elrena is going to have an Anemo Vision alongside her usual lightning powers. I'm mostly basing my decisions off of this post as it gives a good case for a unifying trait of all the elements.

Keyblades: Every nation is going to be treated as it's own world basically, so after completing the Archon Quest every Keyblade wielder who was present get's a new Keyblade to play around with. Part of this was for rule of cool, the other was because drawing Destiny's Embrace made it very clear I had to get people more options so I don't have to murder my hand drawing some of these things. Also, not gonna say who or when yet, but certain Genshin characters are gonna get Keyblades as well, some intentionally, a lot by accident-

Princesses of Heart: Like I said, every nation is gonna be treated like it's own world, so every nation is gonna have one of Teyvat's Seven Princesses of Heart, though in this case Princess is more of a gender neutral term as a girl, guy or anything in between can be one of the Princesses.

Is the main plot gonna have any changes: Not gonna spoil what specifically is gonna change, but the KH gang being in the plot is gonna spawn a lot of changes, some out of necessity so the KH crew don't steamroll the plot, other things I changed because I think they would be neat, and some changes were purely because the plot desperately needed some ironing out in areas (spoilers but not really, Inazuma is gonna be changed the most-)

Characters: Gonna have some character focused posts later but for now I’ll just go over the basics of where everyone starts out.

Riku and Kairi start in Mondstat, with Ienzo also being along for the ride.

Naminé is assisting Albedo up in Dragonspine

Lea/Axel is working for Beidou so she can get him and Roxas to Inazuma, meanwhile Roxas is more or less just Vibing with the Liyue kids.

Isa is working for Yae at the Shrine to help him and Xion, meanwhile Xion herself is pretending to just be a helpful random girl but is actually with the resistance.

Repliku is vibing in the Saberuz theatre with Nilou cause he as nothing else to do, and Vanitas is making questionable life choices yet again (he’ll get better I swear-)

Sora um… he’s complicated, but let’s just say he isn’t tied to any one nation and he’s having a not great time-

Laurium and Elrena are both members of Spina di Rosula, however the former is also the part time tea party planner to Furina and the latter spends her free time helping the twins with their act.

There’s still more but I wanna leave them a surprise so I’ll get back to them later.

That's about everything I can thing of for now, I'll be posting more art and tidbit's about this au soon, so hope you all enjoy, and here's some concept art just so this post doesn't look too boring.

[arcann]

if you don't mind me asking what FFXIV classes do you like in terms of gameplay/fun to actually play versus ones that are fun for the story/characters; taigat related or not

Taigat is canonically a conjurer (... just a conjurer), dragoon, dark knight, red mage and reaper. He won't ever be a ranged dps because he's missing an eye.

My top favorite classes by just their gameplay are reaper, red mage, dancer and sage. I like playing all roles of the triad! They can all be fun but tbh I don't like all classes.

For gameplay, I enjoy warrior very much because it's a no brainer and you can just rush through dungeons without the help of a competent healer esp by level 90. Dark knight and gunbreaker are also very fun but they do requiere more attention. I never adapted to paladin because it feels like a hot mess. It got a rework like a year ago and it's still pretty annoying.

I agree that dark knight is the best job storyline as it is the accepted general opinion. Gunbreaker is nice but too short. Things they tried to explore are explained way better in a different raid mission (Bozja). It also had a random dark knight garlean duskwight villain that came out of nowhere and they said he was as poweful as gaius which was super random and ooc for garleans to recruit a guy like that. Warrior is mid but it takes a turn for the worst when the mentor gets introduced to The Girl tm and they fall in love (heterosexual af despite the girl being a better warrior than him). Paladin is the worst, I know you didn't like the gladiator part and tbh it just introduces more and more annoying characters and very little of it's lore is worth it. They completely leave out ishgardian knights in favor of uldans 💀

I love healing too except maybe astro. It's enjoyable and very pretty but some parts of the rng are annoying and it's always getting reworks. It will probably get another one in dawntrail. Sorry to the people who main it if that happens. Sage is my favorite and I find white mage and scholar very fun too.

I love the white mage's npcs they're very cute to me especially Sylvie and Gatty. E-Sumi-Yan is one of my favorite mentors as well. I've mentioned it before but Taigat ran the whole whm story but only to help Sylvie and the Senna twins. The rest are fine. Just fine. Scholar and Astro give some neat lore tidbits but tbh I'm not that interested in them. Sage has you running around with a sharlayan cop catgirl so several points will be taken off bc of that.

The only caster I like for its gameplay is red mage. I know black mage players enjoy how much freedom they get to make their own rotations but I just don't see it, also it changes a lot depending on the level you're in. Summoner got reworked in ew and now it's a no brainer (Sasha has a lot more to say about these changes, I just didn't experience it when it wasn't like this) and like I get no braining tanking with warrior bc I'm pulling all the heat and still living but. just clicking 5 buttons without worries? While nothing is chasing me? Not for me. Red mage is super fun and sexy. This is a good mix of melee attacks and ranged magic. I wish paladin would approach it a bit but tbh I don't imagine how. Blue mage doesn't really count and I haven't played through it but it feels like a hassle.

Thaumaturge's plot is pretty funny because you see how fucking pathetic those lalafell siblings are. I made it so that Taigat goes through it post ew but just so he can go "you're all freaks i'm stealing something from your house". Dyulgor did the black mage storyline decades before ARR happened. It's interesting and it has a moon keeper conjurer who doesn't trust you and it was cool to think there was still enmity between black and white mages but they kinda ruined him a bit by making him have a crush on our lalafell mentor. Some beast tribe members are also important here but tbh they act to much like caricatures and it's sometimes annoying. Summoner introduces a lot of interesting lore about your relationship with the primals and allag + you hang around with y'shtola's half sister and she's very neat + the ascians are one of the main villains which is unique outside of the msq. The red mage storyline has voidsent and weird implications about getting close to vampirism with this class which gets an automatic 10 from me. The mentor is a really nice catdilf from ala mhigo who fought long ago, before and during the garlean conquest. He's also Alisaie's mentor and he will mention her a couple of times. Blue mage sounds fucking awful and that's all I'm saying.

Dancer has a very unique rotation and even if parts of it are rng based I can't complain because you're mainly support and you're there to buff other teammates. Machinist is fine even if I don't like certain attacks where you have to stand still or else you'll interrupt your attack. Bard's rng is a mess right now and in lower levels your rotation feels very incomplete which is pretty unsatisfying.

Dancer's story is really bad and like gunbreaker, too short to explain anything introduced there well enough. It would have been better to give them something to do in Thavnair. Machinist makes you spend a lot of time in Ishgard and I think that's great but I didn't care much about what happened. I'm glad the mentor kicked nobles' butts though. Archer is kinda rancid bc it's about a racist elezen learning that maybe moonkeepers are people and still being super rude around them. Bard has this two mid looking white guys so ofc there's a section of the fandom that is obsessed with them but I don't care for them. Moogles give you your job stone and they're involved so that is a plus.

Tbh I like all of the melee classes' gameplay. It traumatized me a bit that I wasn't playing dragoon right for a long time but I recovered. I probably don't remember all the rotations that well on account of not practicing lol.

I like Foulques way too much to let him die so like you I make him older and changed his background quite a bit. He does have a competitive relationship with Taigat but after they save him from falling down that cliff they start bonding. If anything Taigat visits him more than anyone at the lancer's guild but I imagine Foulques travels a lot around the Black Shroud so sometimes it's a bit difficult to find him. Dragoon is neat. Just neat. It was fun to see Estinien lose his marbles and swear revenge then several days later going "no no, I'm fine, we're fine. Let's forget that happened." in the msq. Puglist and Monk suck so bad especially that racist historian I hope he drops dead and his wife cucks him. Samurai started really strong but after you reach Kugane it becomes a story of "maybe the oligarchy is there for a reason and everyone who defied them is being too violent ergo worse than it" which. why. why. Rogue is an interesting idea to insert in limsa, which is very much filled with plot holes but having a secret police to keep the pirates in check is neat. Hated that the mentor is just a nod to jack sparrow. I imagine Dyulgor has a huge problem with these guys since he's very friendly with the sahagin and he has killed several of the people sent to investigate him but they can't track the murders back to him, lol, lmao. I don't remember ninja quite well but the main rival was a clown who annoyed me real bad. I'm glad the mentor and his main ally came back for Bozja and got away from that guy.

Y'all know I'm insane about reaper but it did a good job at having a neatly closed story imo. Tbh sage did so too, when compared with gunbreaker and dancer. Maybe they realized by then they would have much less screen time and organized the story beats better.

For dawntrail, viper and pictomancer look extremely unappealing to me right now. Viper seems like samurai but with nothing cool about it and pictomancer looks like something adapted from neopets. Not excited about this at all.

[marinerainbow]

The FNAF fan song 'Creepin' Towards the Door' gave me this idea.

Five Nights at Roger Rabbit's Toontown AU

(Please note; I know NOTHING about Fnaf, nor do I plan to go into the series. All I know is that it's got neat character design, something spooky happening, and they're all animatronics. So I apologize if I get lore wrong)

Summary

Set in the 80's, a huge, cartoon themed restaurant was opened, under the name Roger Rabbit's Toontown. By the towns mysterious judge, Mr. Doom no less. Nobody could fathom why a normal man of law would establish such a business, let alone a man like Doom who's attire alone looked like he was ready for a funeral any minute. Especially a funeral he was the cause of.

Nevertheless, Mr. Doom's new gig quickly became quite popular among children and families. From the colorful visuals, the cute and witty cast of oddly advanced animatronic characters. It even brought in more tourists for the town! Which of course, made Doom an even bigger presence in the community than before.

However, no one ever stopped to wonder; how are these robots so advanced for the time? Why did the cruel judge even think about going into the family friendly business? And how do the toony characters seem so... Life like?

No one cared to question it. Neither did Eddie Valient, the new and desperate security guard hired for the night watch. But he's going to see exactly what these animatronics get up to when the curtain draws close...

The Restaurant

Judge Doom is an old soul. Which is a nice way of saying that he's a stuffy, old-fashioned man. And the decor of the place shows his taste. Despite the more toony and child friendly theme, it is definitely a homage to the early 1900s. It even makes history fun! Children can find plenty of interactive attractions around the place that will tell them interesting facts, such as how the first animated cartoon was made in 1908.

The size of the place is also clearly meant to make sure that the 'town' part of the establishments title was not to be taken lightly. Large enough to be considered a mansion, with one huge stage in the center and circled by the countless tables (think Dolly Parton's restaurant Stampede, as seen below), not to mention all of the secret passage ways and vents that allow the cast and staff to either navigate the restaurant without disturbing the show, or quickly make their way to the audience to interact with them and make them a part of the stageplay! Which, each play is on par with your favorite Saturday morning cartoons; wacky, zany, and just a hint of adult humor for the parents.

Eddie and whoever else might be on night watch with him will have quite the hassle keeping track of all the animatronics, when they know the place inside and out...

The Cast

The Humans

Judge Doom: The owner of this fine establishment. A mysterious man with a dark aura. Rumors say that going into the family entertainment business is him trying to turn over a new leaf... Though others believe that the family fun is an attempt to hide something far more sinister...

Eddie Valient: a down on his luck man who just needs something after the untimely and mysterious death of his brother. He can't keep asking his girlfriend for help, he knows she has her own bills to pay- not to mention he already owes her so much. He needs this job, even if those animatronics are freaky...

The Good Guys

Roger Rabbit: The main protagonist and mascot of the restaurant. This cute little rabbit just adores his beautiful wife, loves all of his friends, and offers a helping hand to those in need! Even if those mischievous weasels are out and about... Though sometimes, even heros need someone to save them...

Jessica Rabbit: The wife and secondary protagonist of the restaurant. Although her design is meant to appeal to the more mature members of the audience, she is always right beside her honey bunny and ready to step in when the weasels go too far...

Baby Herman: Oddly, the only humanoid animatronic in the whole establishment- next to Jessica that is. His role on stage is a sort of 'oblivious side plot'; Roger is almost always, for some reason, taking care of the baby and has to keep him out of trouble. Though when everyone goes home, this baby proves just how much of a loud mouthed brat he can be... It's odd how a child character would have such a crass soul deep down, no?

Benny the Cab: Taking the role of Roger's side kick and vehicle, this cab is part of the reason why the restaurant is so huge; to make room for such a huge animatronic, especially one made for chase scenes! Despite being a car, he almost seems a bit human... Though the same could be said for all the other animatronics too.

The Bad Guys

Smartassguy Weasel: The big bad of the whole cast. As the leader of the giggling pack of weasels, he's the one behind most of the nefarious plots against Roger Rabbit's Toontown. Mean, egotistical, and a cutthroat attitude to boot. You don't want to get on his bad side, as Eddie will find out soon enough...

Greasy Weasel: Smarty's perverted right-hand man. With an oily personality, a swift hand, and eyes on Mrs. Rabbit herself, it's a wonder Doom allowed this character to be made for a children's establishment... They should see what he's like when the lights go out.

Wheezy Weasel: This weasel is believed to be the Judges way of teaching children to say no to cigarettes. Quiet, intimidating, and with his glowing red hued eyes, it's odd how Wheezy wasn't chosen as the main villain for the cast...

Psycho Weasel: This animatronic has seemed to take it upon himself to bring a whole new meaning to 'interactive storytelling' in the grimmest sense. Psycho will often pop up out of nowhere and scare unsuspecting patrons, and the few times he speaks is always something... Sinister... Why Doom would think a character this morbid would be fit for family-friendly entertainment is anybodies guess.

Stupid Weasel: The only villain animatronic who seems to fit in the toony theme of the establishment the best. A big dumb brute, who just follows orders. His childish antics shine a more light-hearted light on the rest of his gang, but also make him stick out like a sore thumb... It's almost like he's not where he's supposed to be...

Will the nightguard be able to survive all five nights in Toontown? What do you think?

[houseflyy]

What are some good blogs you'd recommend?

well my initial answer is every mutual i have! all blogs is good. :) but i'll also namedrop a couple for you.

@ableplay just got off the ground with a really neat original universe and characters. it's inspired by indie works that are popular right now like w.elcome h.ome and a.mazing d.igital c.ircus and, like those, has a great cast with a lot of potential and unsettling undertones beneath the cheery aesthetic. there are so many mysteries to it! i'm excited to see how it develops and where the storyline goes.

@chainsxwsmile will make you fall in love with bruce from f.inding n.emo more than you might think is possible, taking a character with only so much screen time and making him their own to such a point that i cannot imagine him being written by anyone else. they integrate him into other universes seamlessly, whether that involves developing upon an existing concept like with their t.olkien verse or establishing something entirely new like their cetea species. plus they have a ton of biology knowledge that supports their work, which i admire; i'm always learning new things from them!

@riiese is another blog with an original universe and lore and characters that are all so great. their leading pair of muses, ingvar and hilda, have a strong, compelling friendship and they're both incredibly sympathetic and likable. and it's important that you know that the former is giant, like, a literal 30-foot tall giant, and that lends toward a ton of creative scenarios and dynamics and forces you to think a lot differently (in a good way!) about how an interaction will play out. pair all this with a lovely, distinct writing style/language that captures the feel of fairytales and fantasy that they're inspired by.

@dethqveen has one of the most complex original characters i’ve seen in the rpc and doesn't hold back on writing heavy and nuanced topics and themes. their muse eerie brings a valued perspective to the community and, put simply, is an unapologetic badass. there are almost always some antics on the dash with them that are a lot of fun. and they're creating a webcomic with eerie as the protagonist, which is really cool; how many blogs can you say that about?

if nothing else, check out everyone's art! so many roleplayers are great artists on top of being great writers because people can be so multi-talented like that. hope this helps!

[ninjahiccups]

Hi there! I saw in one of Songbird of Asgard's chapters that you headcanon Heimdall as demi - do you have any other Heimdall headcanons you would like to share with us? Sincerely, a definitely-not-Heimdall-content-starved anon.

I have a few, though I don't want to share some of them just yet since they would give away things that happen in SoA later on.

-Like I said, I hc Heimdall as demi. Gender identity really doesn't matter to him so long as he can tolerate someone and trust them enough to accept them (which is the real hard part lol)

-Heimdall is a little shit, that much we know. I like to think that applies to people he's close to as well, but in a different way. He'll give them sass and do annoying things to them just for the fun of it. Short? He puts things on the top shelf just to watch them go crazy looking for it, then casually reveal that he moved it after they've lost their mind just to watch them blow up. Have a pet peeve? You better believe he's doing the exact thing that pisses them off every chance he gets. Neat freak? He will 100% walk into their space and fuck it up. If they're someone who will push his buttons right back at him for revenge it turns into a never-ending war of pranks and sass and just messing with each other, and he's too prideful not to have the last laugh.

-Speaking of caring, Heimdall is an all or nothing kinda person, so if he cares, he goes all out. He'll be a selfish, snobby prick to everyone else, expecting them to meet his needs and expectations because they aren't worthy of his time and effort. But if someone's earns his trust and becomes important to him, he will do anything for them. There are limits to how far he'll go depending on the circumstances, but he is devoted to the people he values.

-The same can't really be said for animals, unfortunately. Yes, he respects them, but in the end he sees them as tools that can outlive their usefulness, hence his reaction when Gulltoppr dies. T_T Though he could grow to care for an animal as well, but it would take a lot. It boils down to how he perceives external bonds, seeing them as valuable only if they benefit him (we can thank ol' Odin for that) and he has to get very, VERY close to people to let go of that idea be as devoted as I described above.

-I see him as being 6'0, 6'2ish max. I know Kratos is 6'4, and it looks like Heimdall isn't *too* much shorter than him? (This would make Eivor about 5'5 in SoA)

-Based on the God of War: Lore and Legends book, I'm guessing Heimdall is not too much older than Baldur? The book states Odin and Freya were married about 125 years before GoW 2018 and Baldur came along 5 years later. Freya clearly knows Heimdall, and considering she doesn't care for him at all makes me think she never saw him grow up (if she did I honestly think she would cut him some slack since she has a soft spot for children). That would mean Heimdall would have to be an adult by the time Freya came around, making him at least 135ish? BUT he still seems a lot younger than the other gods like Tyr and Thor based on appearance alone, so he can't be too much older. I hc he's 150ish, which is still very young compared to most other gods.

-My mans is touch-starved and you can't convince me otherwise. So force this man into a hug for god's sake, he just can't admit he needs it so someone has to take it into their own hands.

-He appreciates the arts. Literature, architecture, visual art, music, anything like that. He's just very picky about what he likes.

-I subscribe to the idea that his fate would have been different if just one person cared about him. He would have had one reason to trust someone other than Odin, and that could have changed his perspective completely. Odin likely never allowed that to happen specifically to keep Heimdall under his thumb.

-He does drink, but it's more of an Asgardian culture thing than a letting loose thing. He never gets drunk and has no desire to be.

-His favorite color is gold (shocking, I know).

-He had to learn how to control his foresight in his youngest years. It's always warned him about anything that's coming at him, but actually *reacting* to it in an efficient way was something he had to work on. He wouldn't have been able to catch arrows when he was a teenager, just duck out of the way of them. Of course, his mastery over this skill is part of what makes his ego so enormous.

-My dude is an indoors enjoyer. He very much likes neat environments, clean floors, organization. Outdoors is only nice in the short term, but ask this man to go camping? No way, bruh. You'd have to work to get him to sit on the ground, let alone SLEEP on it.

-Between Heimdall's snarkiness and Atreus's smart mouth, I see so much annoying sibling energy between them. If things had been different, Heimdall would have definitely been like a smartass, I'm-better-than-you older brother, and Atrues would have been the flat-out irritating, Nuh-uh-your-face-is-stupid younger brother. I will ride or die with the idea that the god of order and the god of mischief would piss each other off like brothers who beat each other up for fun. I may or may not plan to hint at this is SoA at some point ;)

(Side note, this blog DOES ***NOT*** support Heimtreus shipping. That last headcannon is strictly in a platonic and familial kind of way)

That's all I can think of right now, other than the ones that would give some things away is SoA. I hope you enjoyed that anon!!!