#Sectranza

[toxic-lavender]

Love

[kirbsmakemesmile]

Happy new years!!

Thanks for sticking around!

[buradeeznuts]

youre not alone. theres spiders

[ex-vespidae]

do yall remember the to be loved is to be changed thing? ok but sectranza though

whoops

nah cause sectonia would've never gotten the mirror if taranza wasn't so loyal, oh he loved her so. he must!

and who knows maybe sectonia thought something felt off about it but she trusts her friend right?

it hurts because the reason that tdx ever happened was because these people loved each other and cared for each other and yet 1 mistake causes the destruction of everything they cared about.

The mirror bring to the forefront the problems and shows them and does not let you feel the happiness that you once felt. and it gets worse and worse and worse because every time you get closer to it, it feeds off those bad feelings. And only wants more and more. and it feeds and feeds and you get worse and worse, till you're hardly yourself anymore.

does taranza even know why sectonia fell. did he even ever get that knowledge that it was the mirror? does he even know?

god and imagine taranza will never stop trying to get sectonia back, i mean he can already summon her ghost, but does she even want to? If he brought her back would he just be causing her more pain? Would she be scared of even being near him, she hurt him when she was corrupted after all.

And here's the thing there's no way she could ever go back to who she was before, memories and experiences change people. Who is she if she's not the kindly queen or the violent tyrant, heck she isn't even a queen anymore. She's basically an undead woman if he were to succeed in bringing her back. Also, I'm pretty sure dying would probably traumatise an undead person. whoops.

this has gone into more of a tangent oops sorry angst central these two fr i love exploring them i need to study them under a microscope

[mothstache]

seeing a helluva boss ship vs Sectranza poll on my dash is like seeing a poll between the lesser of two evils

sorry sectranza fans who follow me I just can’t get behind the ship. Or helluva boss

[desultory-novice]

I don't know if you're still doing character asks, but if you are, what are your thoughts on Taranza?

You bet I’m still doing asks! Will happily talk Kirby all day long!

003 Taranza

How I Feel About This Character:

I like Taranza. I've got characters I'm more hyperfixated on, but Taranza is good. Very good. You basically need to push me to start talking about Taranza, but once I do, I can talk for a surprisingly long time! Which is what I'm about to do here, haha! 

(No lie, I think this is my longest ask yet??)

So, okay, I LOVE puppeteering characters/characters associated with puppets and control. While I was completely reeling during the Masked Dedede fight (my brain screaming "Noooooooo! Dedede!!") I was kind of digging it at the same time, no lie!

I also love vassal characters. Loyalty is big yes for me in fictional characters/relationships and Taranza is one of the few (only??) "villain" character to have that in spades.

Finally, everything about Dark Taranza is just completely amazing?? Their design (THAT DESIGN), the little scraps of personality we get from him. If I were only better at drawing flashy (and fabulous) villains...!

Any/All the People I Ship Romantically With This Character:

Sectranza, yeah!!! Oh wait, she's... But no, I love the lovey-spider-duo and their painfully doomed romance. (I know it's not made explicit, so you can view their relationship in a variety of ways, but I choose to see them as romantic.) They've got that sliiiight class difference of ruler and vassal, but you can just tell watching them that a young Sectonia didn't care about that stuff at all and treated Taranza like an equal. And then, out of love for her, he accidentally curses her, leading to her death at (partially) his hands...No good deed...

Brb, crying forever over spiders...

...Also, I'm, um, one of those weirdos that quietly ships Dederanza...? So, okay, I -really- expected Taranza to move to Dream Land after Triple Deluxe, at least as an ambassador of Floralia or something. And once there, he'd come to interact with King Dedede as Dream Land’s (self-proclaimed) monarch in a much more positive way than their -previous- interaction. Dedede has a big heart and would generally forgive him fast enough, I think, which would be kind of important for a Taranza who is still grieving. 

At the same time, that forgiveness and openness leads to a kind of painful rebound crush for Taranaza, because he finds he admires Dedede similar to how he admired Queen Sectonia - only King Dedede is the ideal powerful AND compassionate monarch that Queen Sectonia wasn’t - and he starts to fall back into this obsequiousness that got him in so much trouble last time. And Dedede accidentally lets Taranza play into it (because he's kinda used to being served by the Dees without any wrought emotional baggage coming up on their side) until he realizes at last just how unhealthy this direction is for Taranza.

They get to talking, maybe at night, on the balcony, and Dedede tries to set him straight and maybe starts to recommend that Taranza go back to Floralia, but that's when Taranza tells Dedede that yes, he DOES like him the same way he liked Sectonia...but also different!! And they--...

...wait, sorry, I think I was starting to write a fanfic here...?

My Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship For This Character:

Pairing him with his fellow magic user contemporaries, aka, Marx, Magolor, and Gryll. The fact that he's such a good boy (or -tries- to be) but his friend group are all terribly devoius tricksters and he's sort of the "I don’t know if we should do this...." conscience of the group, and yet, it's -surprisingly- easy to talk him into their nonsense games because he's not THAT much of a good boy.

(I could possibly be talked into some Marxoranza or whatever that OT3 is called at some point, but -my- Marxolor is a little too bonded-over-shared-experiences that I think my Taranza would feel like the third wheel.)

My Unpopular Opinion About This Character:

Okay, it was probably all leading to this anyway, so here is my take on the "Should Taranza move on?" debate. The answer is... yes and no. 

Sectonia was such a huge part of his life. And Taranza is portrayed as continuing to mourn her in media and I honestly think that is FAIR. I don't think that's awful or cruel to have him keep feeling that way because, like yeah...death is seriously sad. And the death of someone you loved? Someone who meant the world to you? It’s traumatic. A scar you carry with you for your whole life. So no, I don't want to see Taranza move on from Sectonia necessarily, nor do I think he -needs to- for his mental health. I think it's okay for him to continue to think about her and try to preserver her memories/the things important to her, and to hope for her happiness in whatever form she exists in now. But...I do want to see him find happiness too.

I guess what I don't want is a "Omg, look at how much better Taranza is doing now that he's with someone else!" resolution. (Healing, if it happens, should come from within, not just because you found someone new.) The thing is, some of my previous fandoms were -really- big on lambasting any guy with a "lost love" trope in their backstory - as if they could NEVER be a good partner because for some reason, they'd never treat their current partner as if they were first in their life unless they specifically disavowed their previous love?? (Like, yikes! Imagine having to publicly disavow someone you loved or else your partner couldn’t trust you...) and anyway, the language around that was adamant, damning, and moreover, just exhausting, so I'd rather see other avenues explored for "lost love" characters rather than “hope they get over it.”

Oh, and one final opinion! 

I HATE his speech pattern in Japanese! Marx's なのサ is cute. Taranza's のね reminds me of some of the annoyingly xenophobic speech patterns they'd give foreigner characters in certain old anime and it just gives me hives. It's probably not on purpose and just there to make him sound obsequiousness and cute but... my experiences make it not cute for me. EN Taranza > JP Taranza.

One Thing I Wish Would Happen / Had Happened With This Character in Canon:

Shipping or not, I'd still have loved to see the "Floralia's ambassador to Dream Land" thing happen. I think, with his book smarts, he would make a good final point on the triumverate to Dream Land's unofficial "court" of political (Dedede) and military (Meta Knight).

Oh, I guess there was a comic adaptation in which all six of his hands had different personalities and acted independently of each other/himself? I don't wish that for canon Taranza, but heck if that doesn't sound hilarious for a couple of cheap jokes now and again.

Favorite Friendship For This Character:

...GDI I messed up with the categories again... You know, I enjoy this character ask meme a lot, but I sure chose one with weird formatting, haha!

I already listed my favorite friendship up above, um... what else should I talk about? The Wave 3 group is okay. I personally think their personalities clash too much (two HUGE warring egos in Mago and Susie) for them to have a lot of fluff together, but they've got a great blue/green/pink color combo going.

I was trying to figure out just now whether I want to see fireworks when Taranza gets to meet Dark Meta Knight. I mean, I already wrote about my Soul Melter EX Unpopular Opinion that -everyone- is friends after Star Allies, but I never actually did much thinking about how that would even work with DMK and Taranza when I wrote that... So lets's do that now!

Obviously, DMK is not the one who corrupted the Dimension Mirror (he just seems to take all the blame for it, haha) but that is exactly why Taranza might be convinced to fall into that same trap of "It's YOUR fault that happened to Sectonia!" and DMK - who is Meta Knight's terseness and aggressiveness upped to 11 thanks to -whatever- is going on in that world that caused the greatest swordsman in Dream Land to take a scar to.the.face - is not even remotely interested in correcting Taranza or doing anything except add fuel to the fire and so a minor fight breaks out (which the good guy team mates have to stop because you've got the 2nd best (?) physical fighter in the group going up against the 2nd best spellcaster and that could be BAD.) 

...And then there's sore feelings all around and someone else has to tell Taranza about Dark Mind, and Taranza - who'd just had his pain stirred up anew and had a -brief- taste of “revenge” for his loss - is now burdened with 1) the fact that Sectonia's revenge is already gone and 2) he’s feeling guilty for blaming the wrong person -- even if that wrong person IS kind of a jerk. 

So you get some kind of scene where Taranza has a big damn heroes moment helping out the loner DMK, and Taranza would probably give a "I don't actually like you! You're mean and violent and <etc etc> but after that incident, I swore to never stand by while <etc etc> happened, and so I'll help you out!" And DMK, who doesn't go in much for feelings, but appreciates a good fighter just gives him a "Hrmph. Just don’t slow me down." and allows Taranza to assist.

...God, this little exercise just makes it clear how much I want a Star Allies novel w/ the Dream Friends included. I really, really want to see these characters talk, argue, find common ground, fight, make up, and become true friends as they save the world.

FREE SPACE/Recs:

I think I wrote everything that would have gone in the free space (including the outlines for two separate fanfic??) so, uh, everyone's seen Rinyo's "Egomama" right?

Man, rewatching this made me think about how good Triple Deluxe was. It has the unenviable position of being the "good" middle child stuck between two Kirby masterpieces, but it's got such heart! And it's just very pretty? 

I've talked (briefly) before about my feelings on Kirby and grimly dark fairy tales in my "Horrors of the Soul" series (need to get back to that; I've got everyone but Void scripted out, but they're a huge pain to draw because they're so visually intensive...) but this "trilogy" of games has the strongest "careful what you wish for" vibes of the whole series. (RtDL even opens like a storybook!) 

But while Robobot has the best visual design work (maybe in all of Kirby?) Triple Deluxe is possibly the prettiest, with that heavy floral theme and bright, soft colors throughout. I personally find Taranza hard to draw (...and get right, at least) but damn, the details on his (and Sectonia's) costume are great.

[monarchamos]

I'm re-reading the letters you wrote to me I'm searching and scanning for answers in every line For some kind of sign And when you were mine The world seemed to... burn... ...Burn...

I was coloring a sketch but then i wanted to try out doing paper-burns and tear drops and then my angst slipped.

“original” colored sketch under the cut

this was originally just a midnight sketch of Sectonia. It’s sort of a combination of her original form and her “main” form. tbh i didn’t feel like doing the details in her wings

[kirbsmakemesmile]

Ooh, maybe you could draw Taranza taking Sectonia out on a date to the Wonderia amusement park in the Forgotten Lands

I’m not too good at drawing backgrounds, and a carnival isn’t any better, but I can do lights, so this’ll be like a festive little drawing for the holidays! 💖

Hope you like it!

[buradeeznuts]

love how this whole thing started as a joke

[buradeeznuts]

mirror sectranza the groom and the ugly ass bride

[ex-vespidae]

sectranza beauty and the beast au,

have i posted about this before idk. I've definitely thought about it before though anyways

I haven't seen beauty and the beast for like years upon years but i think i know the basic plot

- Taranza before the curse works as Sectonia's main assistant and best (read only) friend, they have a small mutual crush on each other but it doesn't go further than that because they are both so far in denial that it would ever work out

- Around the time the curse happens Taranza is out of the house doing chores somewhere? Maybe visiting some of his friends in the village? But then the curse happens and he forgets about his job and Sectonia overall....

He goes to Dedede for help (I guess he's like the village mayor in this au or something), he and dedede remember that he had a job but they just cannot remember what it was at all (...because magic) so Dedede lets him stay somewhere and probably gives him a job at the local library or something...

- On the other hand, Sectonia gets cursed by something..? ( I don't really have a clear idea for this part? It would probably have something to do with her vanity ig? not sure how it would go since pre-corruption Sectonia isn't really a horrible person...)

Anyways idea is Sectonia gets cursed into wasp form which is obviously bad and horrible for her since she is forced into this situation. Also, nothing feels right anymore, she feels too big, too heavy, she can't fly even if she has wings as a wasp, because she doesn't know how. She's basically freaking out big time. ( Not sure how the house curse would work, maybe all the servants are turned into big insects instead of furniture and stuff? )

So yeah that happened.

- People from the village start looking into the random big house that they don't remember being there at all and of course are scared of the big wasp lady thats just living there (who is by the way not mentally well since all her servants avoid her, leaving her isolated, and isolation does not do well for the mental health.)

- Main idea is that Dedede gets kidnapped and Taranza, who feels he owes Dedede a debt for all he's done for him, goes to get him back. This leads him to the house and consequently to Sectonia, who at this rate is probably angry and bitter etc etc. from loneliness and you know being cursed into a big wasp...

Honestly, I think it would put more angst if Taranza actually sees Sectonia as a monster when he first gets there, like he has a weapon of some sort and attacks Sectonia with it because I mean, I probably would too if there were rumors of monsters living in a house and said monster was real. (Plus if there's a scene where Sectonia is like "Taranza...?" and then he just hits her and then she feels betrayed and gets mad and runs after him its so aaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAA)

Same thing plays out as the original Taranza gives up himself for Dedede's freedom and gets stuck in the house, except there's another motive behind it, the house and Sectonia herself feel... familiar to him, he doesn't know why but he thinks that his missing memories are linked to this place....

And then blah blah blah romance stuff blah blah blah Taranza gets closer with Sectonia again and makes her believe that maybe even if she is seen as a monster she doesn't need to play into that role.

Scene where Taranza discovers Sectonia playing music on some instrument ig, he's intrigued since he also plays music in his free time, they play together and its cute and they play a song from before the curse and Taranza feels like he knows it before and they play it very well together first try because it links back to before the curse and they still remember it together and its cute and happy and incredible.

And that's all I got rn, I know there's more in the movie and stuff but im not sure how to incorporate it because

1) I don't remember the movie- I remember that there's a flower or something?

2) not sure who the other characters would even be. like who. Who is Gaston, tbh you probably don't need anyone to play him as much as you just need the village to hate the person in the beast role... (Once again I haven't seen the movie in YEARS like actual years I probably watched it once as a child.)

EDIT : I FORGOT TO MENTION EVERYONE IN THIS AU WOULD BE HUMAN EXCEPT SECTONIA WHEN SHE GETS CURSED... for obvious reasons cause i don't think 1 humanoid wasp would get the "ooo scary monster" reaction from a town composed of other strange creatures

[buradeeznuts]

mirror sectranza numero uno campeão de mundo

[ex-vespidae]

hhhhuuuuuuuu sectranza thoughts.......

[buradeeznuts]

hey i just remembered the idea of “in your next life, you look like the person you loved the most dearly” and how taranza’s counterpart in the mirror world being eerily similar to sectonia in many ways feels a whole lot like that but a little to the left. i am hurting now

[monarchamos]

why is it so hard to choose between making ship art and making angst art

[monarchamos]

might draw some happy sectranza