#I loved it so much that I had to draw my version of it

[aphidclan-clangen]

hey!! same anon that sent the novellas thing, and i’m here with dark forest concepts for all of them!! (and i will do this for the babs once they grow up!)

Pearlstar : 

mostly just shadows, BUT, his tail has a giant clam (not real) on the end!!! inside lies a delicate, shining pearl. he lures you in with it, you just wanna grab it. but by the time you get close you’re already under his spell. he and paradise are the king and queen of hell!!!

Firebeetle : 

a being made of flames and screams. he is a light far away. he draws you in, comforts you even, makes you feel welcome, at home, and than he burns you.

Blisswhistle :

she is pure light, like an angel, the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen. she plays an act. but his true form is an amalgamation of just... everything... you could never make out what she is, and rainbow would drive you insane just by presenting her true form.

Goldshine : 

sort of a bat-like creature, he stays away in the shadows most times. he can’t really fly, but star glides with his huge wings, they are wyvern-like. he looks ragged, and scrappy, but in order to draw cats in, he uses his voice, instead of showing himself.

Stormwhisper : 

he is literally a storm. his form is constantly shifting and whirling, you can see bits of teeth, bones, limbs, stars, and scraps of metal floating around. he quite literally sucks you into his trap, you can’t stop looking, and he makes sure of it.

Sparkspeckle : 

again, a storm, but she is more of a lightning storm. she is made of swirling clouds, lighting, thundering sounds, and glowing lights. she would look like a blessing  in the dark of night, but she truly is chaos in cat shape.

Icesheep :

made of ice and water, you can only see him when looking into a body of water. he appears as a sort of ice deer (ever seen xerneas?), and whispers things to you, pretending to be a Starclan cat, and it usually works due to his elegance and beauty.

Shadebreak : 

similar to bliss, shadebreak would be a light, surrounded by shadows to make themself look more... holy????? they usually work with goldshine to trap victims together. they have this sort of halo, which really sells the deception point.

Lilacpaw/flame : 

flowers on fire. she is flowers on fire. she is completely wilted, but the fire never goes out. her tail is a giant lilac bush/tree, and it attracts victims with is sweet scent, and vibrant colors. when they least expect it, but lilacs will set ablaze, trapping them.

Gravel : 

a hollow entity made of quick sand. she let cats slip into her trap without even revealing themself. her true form is a huge desert personified (catified??) multiple cacti grow on her, and since most cat don’t know what it is, they’ll prick their paws on it, sealing their fate.

thats all :3

I love all of this! I love how you guys have caught on to my whole idea of dark forest cats being more,,,analog Eldritch horror-y, like monsters from a different realm entirely, twisted and terrible versions of who they were in life, and I love how that’s sparked so much creativity! I’m always happy to inspire other people, I think that’s really beautiful

(this is also really helpful because if I’m being honest I had ZERO clue on how I’d possibly give anyone else a dark forest form LOL)

Blisswhistle, Goldshine, and Icesheep are especially my favorites <3

[daresplaining]

I'm going to need to know your FULL opinion on the erosion of Elektra Natchios in The Red Fist Saga ASAP!

OOF. Okay, here goes...

Elektra's role in the Red Fist Saga directly follows the Woman Without Fear mini-series, so I feel like I should start there, especially since I haven't really talked about it yet on this blog. Woman Without Fear was an Elektra solo comic that came out just as Devil's Reign was ending and the creative team was gearing up for the Red Fist Saga. The mini-series's purpose was to introduce big, shocking changes to Elektra's origin story. These changes didn't end up having much to do at all with the Red Fist Saga, or with anything else really, but they did functionally strip her of her agency and autonomy and made her motivations instead revolve around Matt. Now, Elektra's origin story has changed before. Frank Miller himself gave us three versions: the original, introduced in Daredevil volume 1 #168 and #190, a slight variation in Elektra: Assassin (he changed the timeline a bit and modified the character of Elektra's father), and then an entirely new, in my opinion much less interesting version in Man Without Fear-- which was not intended to be part of the 616 continuity, though that didn't stop later writers from drawing from it, including Zdarsky, who seems to have used it as a core text to inform his characterization of Elektra in general.

I know you know Elektra's original origin story, but I'll provide the general gist for anyone who might be unfamiliar: Elektra Nachios was the daughter of a rich Greek diplomat and his wife. Her mother was gunned down by assassins while pregnant, but Elektra survived. Her father, now paranoid and fearful, put Elektra in martial arts classes from a young age, while also keeping her sheltered to protect her from harm. She ended up attending college in the US, where she met Matt Murdock, another sheltered kid with a beloved but overprotective father. They fell in love, but the magic was destroyed when Elektra and her father were taken hostage by terrorists. Matt tried to be a hero, and Elektra's father ended up getting killed. Shattered by grief, Elektra left school and traveled across the world to train with Stick, who had trained her childhood martial arts teacher before casting him out (in Elektra: Assassin, the timeline is slightly different; Elektra trained with Stick before attending Columbia, though the end result is the same). Stick saw Elektra's skill, but judged that she was too emotionally compromised to complete the training and kicked her out. Elektra devised a desperate plan to prove herself to Stick: infiltrating the Hand and taking them down from the inside. She failed tragically. Turned cynical by grief and hardship, she used the skills she had picked up from all of her training as weapons to protect herself from a harsh and unforgiving world. She carved herself a life from the tragedies she had endured. She became an assassin.

Note that I mentioned Matt's name a grand total of two times in that synopsis. It's not to say that Matt isn't important to Elektra, of course he is, but he isn't that important to her origin story. The star of this beautiful tragedy is Elektra, as she should be.

Woman Without Fear introduces something new-- at least, new to the comics (more on that in a moment). It takes the Elektra: Assassin timeline and suggests that she trained with Stick when she was still a child. (It also brings in things from the Man Without Fear Elektra origin, but I don't think I'm going to get into that here because that is a whole other rant and this post is long and tangent-y enough already). It then suggests that when Stick rejected her, she still ended up with the Hand-- but not of her own will, with the intention of destroying them. No! She was successfully recruited. And once the Hand had her in their clutches, they sent her out to go after another target: Matt Murdock. In this shiny new backstory, Elektra and Matt run into each other at college not as two kindred spirits, but because Elektra was ordered to hang out with him in order to bag him for the Hand...before, oh no!, accidentally falling in love with him. To add extra insult to this character assassination, we're told in the main series that even her behavior during her father's hostage situation was intended as a test for Matt.

What this change indicates to me is a fundamental lack of understanding of Elektra's character; or worse, a lack of respect for her complexity, or a conviction that she operates at her best as a tool to further Matt's narrative.

What is possibly most baffling to me about all of this is that this change had pretty much no bearing on the Red Fist Saga. Why was it made? What was the point? The term "MCU-ification", referring to changes being made in Marvel's comics that seem aimed at aligning them more closely with the MCU, gets thrown around a lot-- possibly too much-- but this really does seem like a case where there's no other clear explanation for the change other than to shift 616 Elektra's backstory closer to that of her live action counterpart. (In the Netflix show, Elektra recruited Matt for Stick; something I, as a huge Stick and Elektra fan, actually thought was a cool What If?/alternate universe because it presented an opportunity to explore a different take on their relationship). The new backstory is mentioned a few times in the main Daredevil series, but otherwise it seems irrelevant to the plot. And that's because Elektra herself is kind of irrelevant to the plot. She seems to have three purposes in this story: 1. To serve alongside Stick as an exposition machine and provide details about the Hand/Fist/Pinky Toe/etc.; 2. To be someone Matt loves and thinks about in moments of danger and conflict (despite the fact that they have very few moments of actual emotional connection in this story, despite getting married!), and 3. As a warm body onto which Matt can project his perpetual internal musings on good and evil ("Elektra was Bad, but she is Good now. She, like all people who have done bad things, is still worthy of God's love and is capable of rehabilitation, and look! Her decision to take on the Daredevil identity is proof that she is now Good! She has become a worthy soldier of God." Man, I wish I was exaggerating.)

Elektra's appearances in Daredevil comics have always centered around Matt to some degree, simply because it is his comic. There's miles of difference between reading a DD comic with Elektra cameos and reading an Elektra solo series. But that doesn't mean it isn't frustrating to have comics like the Blackman/Del Mundo run, or the Dark Reign solo tie-in, that delve so deeply into Elektra's rich psyche, that truly do look at her worldview in a way that is complex and morally difficult and so, so compelling, and then to have comics like this where she barely even feels present because so little effort has been made to do anything other than slap some vague morality lessons onto her and make sure she and Matt sleep together every other issue.

[lepiota-cybe-yippee]

THEY ARE DONE!!! YIPPEE!! These are my AppleJack and Fluttershy redesigns!

here they are side by side.

RANT TIME. I did not struggle much when it came to applejack, I had always had a pet peeve with her og design because it was NOT proper for the work that she does. on a farm it is better to have short hair or have the hair in a braid so that it isn't in the way. ESPECIALLY when working with animals and or fruit tree farms. Long hair will get stuck in the tree branches and with a tail as long as AJ's it is BOUND to get dragged in manure and mud. So I cut the tail short and put her hair in a braid along with add mud stains to really drive the fact that YES she works on a farm AND YES she is gonna be dirty.

Fluttershy, I had a really hard time with. I knew I didn't want her to be a pony, so I made her a hippogriff. The details are what gave me the most issues. because on one hand, I wanted her to seem more like a flower but on the OTHER hand I wanted to bring in more animal themes. I procrastinated and at some point I just- shut my brain off and started drawing. I really liked what they did with her rainbow power up cutie mark so I incorporated it into my version of her cutie mark. also the reason she has her long hair out and free is mainly because its feathers instead of hair so she won't need to worry about loose strained or stuff like that. Also she can fly so she doesn't have to touch mud or dirt too often.

HEADCANNONS: okay so- Appledash is my opt along with Rarishy. don't get me wrong I like Fluttercord but I see them more as a Platonic couple. PLUS I JUST LOVE THE THOUGHT OF FLUTTERSHY BEING THE HUMBLENESS TO RARITY'S EXTRAVAGANCE. Back to Appledash for a bit. I think Rainbow dash, when they have time off, they would go and help applejack on the farm a bit, and if applejack finished early the two would just mess with each other like "I bet you I could jump higher than you!" "oh yeah? BET!" and stuff like that. Rarishy is like diva x shy nerd kinda- in my eyes anyways. Fluttershy is often visiting rarity to see what she working on and her claw-woven baskets she's made and tell rarity about the new animals in her sanctuary. I also think that rarity would often go on picnics with fluttershy and have tea and talk about sweet nothings with each other. Rarity would so ask fluttershy to model some clothes for her brand sometimes (As long as fluttershy is okay with it) and would help fluttershy with her self-esteem.

Just some thoughts <3 Don't forget to drink water and stretch!

[sukanne]

<3

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Thank you all for voting in the poll to decide who was going to be the leader of the band! It turned out to be such a close race!

[taichouu]

"What's wrong, Pharaoh? You look like you've seen a ghost."

₊˚🕯️♱‧₊˚ 🎃 Happy Halloween !! 🎃 ₊˚🕯️♱‧₊˚.

[sualne]

whole cake island live doodle reaction

[imnotamarysue]

oh, laudna

matching imogen piece!

[robot-carl]

Guess who rewatched Pacific Rim for the millionth time.

[pitske]

ROTZBACKE! HAKENZAHN! OI! OI! OI!

[crescentfool]

SEES girls! 💗

[beesinspades]

if i'm late to post the next chapter of my canon divergence fic in which wolfwood finds eriks stuck in his creechur form, this is why :3

[st4zia]

Marina, where are you?

[automatonknight]

longing for the sunshine, even if my wings may melt away

id: a digital drawing of mirage and gabriel from ultrakill. they’re shown running in green fields over a blue sky. mirage is closer to the viewer and she’s looking up, her legs are cut off by the frame. gabriel is fully visible, behind mirage and holding her hand, looking up into the sky as well. end id

[nero-neptune]

“Good movies are always better when you watch them with someone.” - Ed Chigliak (Northern Exposure)

[presidentheartbeat6]

You asked for Hornblower art prompts? The only thing I've been able to think about for days is an AU where the Renown trio goes rogue - would that be fun to draw? if you want! :D

THEY DESERVED TO GO ROGUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!