#The circus from hell's main post

[circusfromhell]

ᏔᎬᏞᏟϴᎷᎬ Ͳϴ ͲᎻᎬ ᏟᏆᎡᏟႮՏ!!

ᎷᎽ ΝᎪᎷᎬ ᏆՏ ᏞϴՏͲ, ᎪΝᎠ Ꮖ ᎡႮΝ ͲᎻᎬ ᏟᏆᎡᏟႮՏ ᏢᎪᏀᎬ!

ᎷᎪᏆΝ ᎪᏟᏟϴႮΝͲ ᏆՏ @losttheclown

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ᎪႮͲᎻϴᎡՏ ΝϴͲᎬ

ͲᎻᏆՏ ᎪᏟᏟϴႮΝͲ ᏆՏ ҒϴᎡ ᏞϴᎡᎬ ᏴᎪՏᎬᎠ ᎪᎡϴႮΝᎠ ᎷᎽ ϴᏟ'Տ & ͲᎻᎬ ᏟᏆᎡᏟႮՏ Ꮖ'ᏙᎬ ᎷᎪᎠᎬ.

ᏢᏞᎬᎪՏᎬ ΝϴͲᎬ, ͲᎻᏆՏ ᎪᏟᏟϴႮΝͲ ᏆՏ ᏀϴᏆΝᏀ Ͳϴ ᎻᎪᏙᎬ ᎷᎬΝͲᏆϴΝՏ ϴҒ ᏟᎻᏆᏞᎠ ΝᎬᏀᏞᎬᏟͲ, ᎷႮᎡᎠᎬᎡ, ᏀϴᎡᎬ, ᎪᏴႮՏᎬ, ՏͲႮҒҒ ϴҒ ͲᎻᎪͲ ΝᎪͲႮᎡᎬ.

ᏆҒ ᎽϴႮ'ᎡᎬ ΝϴͲ ᏟϴᎷҒϴᎡͲᎪᏴᏞᎬ ᏔᏆͲᎻ ᎪΝᎽ ϴҒ ͲᎻᎪͲ ҒᎬᎬᏞ ҒᎡᎬᎬ Ͳϴ ᎻϴᏢ ϴҒҒ ͲᎻᎬ ᏢᎪᏀᎬ, ᎽϴႮ ᏔϴΝ'Ͳ ᎻႮᎡͲ ᎷᎽ ҒᎬᎬᏞᏆΝᏀՏ ❤

ᎽϴႮᎡ ᎷᎬΝͲᎪᏞ ᏔᎬᏞᏞ ᏴᎬᏆΝᏀ ᏆՏ ᎷϴᎡᎬ ᏆᎷᏢϴᎡͲᎪΝͲ ͲᎻᎪΝ ᎷᎽ ᏞᏆͲͲᏞᎬ ᎪᎡᏀ/ᏞϴᎡᎬ.

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ᏟᎻᎪᎡᎪᏟͲᎬᎡՏ

ᎡᏆΝᏀᎷᎪՏͲᎬᎡ - ᎪΝͲϴΝᏆϴ

ᎡᏆΝᏀᎷᎪՏͲᎬᎡՏ ᎻᎬᏞᏢ - ᎡᏆᏟᏦᎽ

ᏟᏞϴᏔΝ - ᏞϴՏͲ

ᎫႮᏀᏀᏞᎬᎡ - ՏͲᎪᎡ

ᏟᎪͲᎬᎡᏢᏆᏞᏞᎪᎡ ᏦᏆᎠ - ᎪᏞᏞᏆᎬ

ᏙᎪᎷᏢᏆᎡᎬ ᏞᎪᎠᎽ - ᎷᎽՏͲᏆ / @mysticalxmagical

ͲᎡᎪᏢᏢᎬՏᎬ ᎪᎡͲᏆՏͲՏ - ҒႮᎬ & ᏙᏆᎡᏀᏆᏞ

ᎻϴᎡՏᎬ ᎡᏆᎠᎬᎡ/ᏟϴᏔᏴϴᎽ - ᎫᎪᏟᏦ ᎷᎪᎡᎡϴᏔ

ᏟϴΝͲϴᎡͲᏆϴΝᏆՏͲՏ - ᎷᎪᏞ / @malacheezyy & ᎬᎬҒ/ @theleetoalerandalertoalee

ҒᏆᎡᎬ ᏴᎡᎬᎪͲᎻᎬᎡ - ᎪᏞᎬХ / @goth-bestlee420

ᎡᎬᏟᎬᏢͲᏆϴΝᏆՏͲ - ᎠϴᏞᏞᎽ

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ᎠΝᏆ ᏞᏆՏͲ

𝑵𝒔𝒇𝒘 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒔

𝑻𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒔 & 𝑵@ͲᏃ¡𝒔

𝑨𝒏𝒕𝒊 - 𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒆

𝑨𝒏𝒕𝒊 - 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏/𝑶𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏

𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒃𝒊𝒂, 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒃𝒊𝒂, & 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒈𝒃𝒕𝒒+ 𝒊𝒏 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈

𝑷𝒓𝒐/𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔

𝑰𝑹𝑳𝒔

𝑷𝒆𝒅𝒐𝒔, 𝒁𝒐𝒐𝒔, 𝑴𝒂𝒑𝒔

𝑹𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔

𝑬𝒙𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔

𝑨𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔

𝑼𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝟏𝟑

𝑳𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒔 & 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒔

𝑺𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎 / 𝑬𝑫 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒔

𝑫𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔

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Edited 6/10/24

[lonelywretchjervistetch]

The State Birds Initiative: New Jersey (#3)

Welcome to the third official poll of the State Birds Initiative! Before the poll, though, one thing real quick. My suggestion is that you read the post below before voting in the poll below. That's especially important if you're lacking any context about the birds being presented as the new (or old) State Bird of the Garden State, New Jersey. This is to be fully informed as to why these are being presented, and to make your choices appropriately. Lastly, some of these birds, you will notice, may go against some of the rules listed in the introduction post. All is explained after the jump where the explanations are, I promise you that. But with that...OK! Here's the poll! If you'd like to see the last post, check out Pennsylvania (Poll | Results)

So, with that done...New Jersey.

OK, I'll be honest, I have very little history with New Jersey. Only been there a few times, I've driven through it a decent number of times, and I mostly know it by reputation. But, uh...for whatever reason, every trip I take that requires me to go through New Jersey, NJ is the worst driving portion of that trip. Basically every time. Maybe that's a New Jersey turnpike problem, maybe that's unhappy coincidence. Hell, maybe it's conservation bias from being a New Yorker (upstate, but I've gone to the city regularly throughout my life). Or maybe it really is cultural reputation for New Jersey trickling in to my subconscious (looking at you, Jersey Shore). But either way...I have complicated feelings about New Jersey.

But this post is NOT about my personal geographic experience. Mostly. It's about birds! So, let's get into New Jersey objectively. Third state admitted into the union, state capital is Trenton, largest city is Newark, and it's the most densely populated state in the country. Famous for being the origin of electricity in civic infrastructure, as well as the home of their favorite son, Thomas Alva Edison. Which...when you learn more about the guy, makes you wonder about New Jersey as a whole. MOVING ON! It was a major staging point in the American Revolutionary War, and ever since, it's been all about freedom. Even though you can't pump your own gas there. Although, to their credit, the Statue of Liberty is actually technically in New Jersey waters. Yeah. That's absolutely true. But, like...it's spiritually a New York landmark, so we'll let it slide.

Now, here's the thing about New Jersey, seriously and truly. It has a bad reputation because of media and New York City. This is for two more specific reasons, from what I can tell. One, the New Jersey Turnpike sucks, and it smells like raw sewage due to its proximity to industrial factories and processing plants. And unfortunate way to experience the state, and the main way I've experienced New Jersey personally. So, that's one, and it's not indicative of the state's quality. Number two is simply the fact that it's a hub for commuters, with lots of people going to either NYC or Philadelphia for work. Because of that, Jersey itself gets pieces of their cultures combined, which also makes it a very easy target with a unique accent. So, not Jersey's fault.

In reality, it's quite a nice state with more natural area than you'd expect for somewhere so densely populated. New Jerseyans, unsurprisingly love their state...and aren't big fans of tourists, from discourse I see online. It's a small state, which makes it crowded enough. Plus, there are tourist attractions there. There's the massive American Dream Meadowlands mall, there's MetLife Stadium, there's Six Flags Great Adventure, there's...Trenton. Actually, no, Trenton sucks, I stand by that assessment. But it's also a highly diverse state, with the highest proportion of Hinduism followers in the country, as well as the densest collection of LGBTQ+ social centers (AKA gayborhoods), amongst other things. NJ does deserve more credit.

Now with that said, let's talk about the natural world of New Jersey, because there is a surprising amount to talk about. 45% of the land is covered in mixed deciduous-coniferous forest, which you've probably noticed is typical of the NE USA. Oak is our primary tree here, which is also probably why Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra) is the state tree. It also has some major ecological features that are well known for its natural advantages. Cape May is a seaside city and vacation resort, but also one of the most well-known and important sites for birders from the United States during migration seasons, making it immediately prominent for this post. Great Swamp NWR in the north is the first wilderness area ever designated by Congress, and also serves as a major refuge for birds during the breeding season for various reasons. And maybe most importantly, the New Jersey Pine Barrens are the largest remaining pine barrens in the NE USA, and act as a bastion of diversity. More on this later, I promise; there's a species entry dedicated to this unique environment.

And that's not all to talk about here. NJ's environment needs some focus for a number of reasons, not least of which being that the state has more toxic waste dump sites than any other state in the Union, which are the focus of the federal Superfund environmental remediation program. Yeah, there's some cleanup that needs to happen in the state, especially as it is so small. Of 150 federally listed sites, only 35 have been cleaned up since the 1970s. So, yeah. We should get on that, please. But with that said, NJ has relatively low carbon dioxide emissions compared to other states, they're seventh in solar power, and get most of their electricity from natural gas and nuclear power. So, it's a greenish state that could be a lot greener.

There's a lot to talk about for such a small state, it would seem. Let's not linger about, and let's get on with the show here! I'm honestly kind of excited. Birds after the jump!!!

American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)

Let's kick things off by talking about the incumbent, the American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis). Now, why was the American Goldfinch chosen as the State Bird of New Jersey in 1935? Easy answer: favoritism. The bird was nominated as the only candidate by the New Jersey Audubon Society because...it was their mascot at the time. Yeah. That's it. In reality, the New Jersey State Bird is the New Jersey Audubon Society. And even then, it's officially lost its relevancy, because that's not their mascot anymore. More on that later.

What's actually worse about the goldfinch here is...for some reason, not a lot of New Jerseyans have actually seen them. Part of the reason for this entire series, by the way is this Reddit post, which stoked the fires that had long been simmering deep within my soul. OK, not that deep, but still. Anyway, the header of that post is that the OP had barely ever seen an American Goldfinch, despite being a native. I thought that was insane (and said as much in my comments), because this is a ridiculously common bird, especially for birdwatchers. But, uh...I've looked into since then. And only 0.4% of its global breeding population resides in the state. What's crazy is, this is a common sentiment amongst New Jerseyans. They just...haven't seen this bird. And obviously, that/s not every new Jerseyan, and a lot have reported seeing it. But to be honest...is this bird really worth being called the State Bird of New Jersey?

OK, can we make the American Goldfinch make sense in retrospect? Let's see, they're a highly social finch species throughout the year, living in dense colonies in the spring and summer especially. The males are late breeders with ornate flying displays meant to attract females, and may group territories with other males to defend against predators. And they're an open secondary growth forest specialist that live in the state year-round, including during the breeding season. Which means...well, actually, it means that they're perfectly suited to live in New Jersey, funnily enough.

Hear me out here. There are two things that goldfinches love most: forest clearings and weeds. New Jersey may be 45% covered in forest, but it does have deforestation as a minor problem around its settlements. However, that's not a problem for the goldfinch, who thrives in secondary growth forests that occur as a result of succession. Given an attempt in recent decades to recover New Jersey's forests, this means the goldfinch is a potential symbol of these efforts. Plus, its love of the seeds that come from flowers that are pest plants, like dandelion, thistle, ragweed, and cosmos, make it a potentially attractive bird for gardeners of the state to attract, especially as those plants thrive in open fields during stages of succession!

...YES I'M STRETCHING MORE THAN AN AUSTRALIAN BREAKDANCER WITH A DOCTORATE TRYING TO MAKE A POINT, BUT WHAT ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS MASCOT OF AN ORGANIZATION NAMED AFTER A SLAVE-OWNER???

So...moving on.

Clapper Rail (Rallus crepitans)

While the majority of natural New Jersey is covered in forest, it still has a fairly important habitat in the form of the saltmarsh. Just to get the definition in place early, a saltmarsh is essentially what it sounds like: a vegetation-dominated coastal biome with salt and brackish water, salt-tolerant grasses and plants, and the animals that depend on such. They're coastline preservers, trapping and binding sediment as it makes its way to and from the ocean, and acting as a major supply for the food web along the coasts. They're incredibly important habitats, and this will not be (and have not been) the last time you've seen them during the State Birds Initiative.

Now, obviously, these habitats are chockful of birds. New Jersey has a few major salt flats along its coast, all of which shelter some major breeding populations of birds. One of these species is the Clapper Rail (Rallus crepitans), which is our eBird-sponsored pick of this poll. Clapper Rails have 13% of their global population in New Jersey saltmarshes, meaning they're quite dependent on this unique habitat, and most of their population breeds in the state. Some people may never have seen or heard of a rail, but in case you're one of those people, just know that they're a smaller semi-aquatic relative of cranes. If you've seen a coot, moorhen, or gallinule, then you've seen a rail! And the Clapper Rail is a crustacean-eating, saltmarsh-loving, new Jersey-dependent example. And that said...it is kinda boring looking to the average person.

Don't take me wrong! For me, this bird is fantastic, and would actually be a lifer for me, personally. But the average non-birder? Look, in instances like this, I usually tap into the part of my brain my fiancee lives in rent-free, and all I can hear is her shouting "LONG DUCK LONG DUCK" over and over. I love these guys, but I'm not sure they'd resonate with the public. Plus, as far as saltmarshes go, these are good representatives, but I'm not sure they're the best. Are these a good New Jersey representative? Possibly, since they represent a major ecosystem in the state, and that is important. But I'll leave that question to you all. Moving on!

Cape May Warbler (Setophaga tigrina)

OK, onto the category of birds that are named after the state, and New Jersey has one of those! The Cape May Warbler (Setophaga tigrina) is so-named because the first specimen described by Alexander Wilson was collected in Cape May, New Jersey by George Ord. That said, it's certainly a unique warbler, easily recognizable, and dependent upon conifer forests dominated by spruce, which the Pine Barrens are...not. Still, an iconic bird in New Jersey! Except...wait, hold on...ah. It doesn't breed in the state. In fact, after it was described from a Cape May specimen, it wasn't seen in the area again for...a century. So...yeah, it's named after a major location in the state, known for birds at that, and yet it's barely found there?Love this bird, but...maybe think about renaming it one of these days.

Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus)

Now, the Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus), on the other hand, that's a better warbler representative of New Jersey. Well, sort of. To be fair, the Pine Warbler only has 1% of its global breeding population in New Jersey, so the state isn't a bastion or reservoir for the species. However, there is a major reservoir of the species in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, which I'd mentioned earlier. And hey, Pine Barrens, Pine Warbler...slam dunk for representation of the habitat right there. And yeah, that's absolutely relevant to the species as a whole. They live, eat, and breed in pine-dominated forests, exactly like (and including) the Pine Barrens. It's actually listed as a "Significant Congregation" species by the New Jersey Audubon Society.

And as for making a good State Bird of New Jersey? It's a notable bird, even keeping the goldfinch's yellow with white wing bars. It's not terribly difficult to find, especially during the breeding season in areas like the Pine Barrens. And hey, they're even well-known to live with other species, making them an important biodiversity indicator for conservation purposes. Plus, if people go out to look for the Pine Warbler in the wild, they'll likely encounter other species like the Blackburnian Warbler (Setophaga fusca) or the Tennessee Warbler (Leiothlypis peregrina), amongst others. Fostering interest in birdwatching by chance! It works in a conservation sense...but I don't know that it's particularly emblematic of New Jersey, to be fair.

Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonicus)

Now, here's an interesting choice! If the current State Bird, the American Goldfinch, was chosen because it was the mascot for the New Jersey Audubon Society at the time, then by that logic, their current mascot should actually be the State Bird of New Jersey. And so, in that case, may I present to you the current mascot of the NJ Audubon Scoiety, and the next candidate for State Bird...the...is that a Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonicus)? Yeah, looks like it, and some sources I have confirm that's the case. But, uh...why?

Let me be really clear about something first off: I adore the Northern Harrier. Also caleld the marsh hawk, they're a beautiful raptor native to brackish and salt mashes, as well as grasslands and fields, hunting small mammals, insects, and the occasional bird. They're one of the few accipiters that are silent fliers, ambushing prey from above like owls. They even have the disc-like face. They're one of the new North American raptors with sexual dimorphism (the smoky gray male is pictured above, as compared to the brown females), and their iconic coloration has given them the nickname of the Gray Ghost. WHICH IS BADASS. They're also one of the only polygynous raptors, meaning a male can mate with several females in a given season, nesting on the ground and hatching chicks. Because of their unique relationships, some indigenous peoples see them as a symbol of healthy marriage. Finally, these are considered good for agriculture, as they eat rodents and not chicken. I love harriers, they're super neat birds, and it's always a pleasure to see them in the wild. Also, they DROWN THEIR PREY!!! What the hell! That's terrifying!

OK, harriers are cool, but do they have a relevance to New Jersey outside of being the logo of New jersey Audubon? Well...they do breed there...barely. But they've been observed doing so, so that counts. They represent key habitats in the state of New Jersey, so that's great. Their certainly charismatic enough (GRAY GHOST), and they've got nationwide conservation concern as an endangered species. So, it has those qualities going for it as the State Bird candidate. We'll see what the poll says. In the meantime, let's move on!

Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)

Y'know, my original plan was to put the Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) in this list as well...and then, I stumbled upon a fun fact. The black-headed cousin of the Ring-billed Gull, and Laughing Gull, is a regular traveler to New Jersey, and in fact has a colony right off of the Jersey Shore, making them a fairly well-known and recognizable resident of an iconic area of the state. But pretty importantly, the species has a pretty massive breeding population in New Jersey. 5% of the breeding population of the species are in southern NJ, which isn’t the bulwark of their breeding population in the USA (that'd be Louisiana, according the eBird Status and Trends), but it's still a significant portion.

That said, the Laughing Gull is a recognizable member of the New Jersey shore community, and I mean the term "community" in multiple contexts. Ecologically, they're omnivorous scavengers that are well-adapted to living in a densely populated state, as well as in saltmarshes and other coastal environments throughout New Jersey. Sociologically, they hang around human settlements so much that they see opportunities in human hands...literally. The Laughing Gulls of the Jersey Shore are pretty notorious for stealing food out of the hands of beachgoers and boardwalk visitors. There are even boardwalk restaurants with signs saying they won't offer refunds if your food is stolen by a gull. They're SO notorious, in fact, that falconers have been hired to use their falcons to drive away these birds. And honestly...that's a shame. After all, the Laughing Gulls are such prominent citizens that humans have had to adjust to them.

But that said...I'm gonna quote Brian Donahue, the reporter at the end of the video/new report I linked to above...because it's hilarious, and it makes an interesting statement that I think people from New Jersey should think about. Read the quote, but trust that I have a somewhat well-thought out idea supporting it.

Derided as "flying rats" by many, I think it's time to reconsider the Laughing Gull, because if things haters say about Laughing Gulls (they're loud, feisty, there's too many of them... (Interviewee Kathy McCarey): They're rude...they're very demanding...and they come for what they want...I don't like 'em.) ...are the same things haters often say about New Jerseyans. Laughing Gulls are us. They deserve more respect.

Look, as extremely funny as that point is...there's a point about that statement. That is something that people say about New Jerseyans! They live in a state full of garbage, they're obnoxious and loud, all of that kinds thing. And New Jerseyans love their state as much as anybody else; SO MUCH, in fact, that many people online say they actually love that stereotype, because it means that people STAY OUT OF THEIR STATE. Funny or not, true or not...there's a point there. Laughing Gulls, as with all gulls, have a bad reputation, which is mostly undeserved. They're opportunists trying to feed themselves and their young, who see a smorgasbord of food right in front of them, in their neighborhood! In their place, what would YOU do? Honestly, these guys are a solid contender for that reason alone.

Plus, honestly...it's kinda funny.

Saltmarsh Sparrow (Ammospiza caudacuta)

Finally, let's look at the conservation focus for this post: the Saltmarsh Sparrow (Ammospiza caudacuta). So, this is a pretty big one, especially when looking at New Jersey. A full 32% of the species' global population breeds in this state, which is, frankly, a MASSIVE proportion of any species. What's more, they're considered an endangered species, which immediately makes this an impressive contender for the State Bird of New Jersey. And as one of the most endangered species in the Eastern USA, not to mention a species of immense scientific interest for ecological and genomic reasons, this bird should get some attention by the public and federal government.

However...and this is a point to be made here...it's not exactly the most iconic bird for non-birders. As a birder who would kill to get this on his lifelist (I AM WORKING ON IT, LITERALLY TOMORROW AS I AM TYPING THIS), this is a prominent bird within certain communities. And to others? Ugh, this is gonna hurt me to say, you have no idea, but...it's a sparrow. It may be a little harder for people to become attached to a sparrow, and even more difficult for people to recognize the Saltmarsh Sparrow specifically.

Don't believe that this matters? Do me a favor, bird people. Show your non-bird friends Bird A, Bird B, and Bird C. Ask them how many different species you showed them. I'm willing to bet the especially observant will say 2. The less observant are gonna say 1. And throw in these top two pictures, while you're at it. I'm willing to bet you'll still get a 2 or 3. Because, unfortunately, to many people, sparrows all look pretty similar. And going forward, that's something we'll have to keep in mind: a unique appearance. What makes a bird iconic is also in its uniqueness and identifiability. And sure, maybe I'm not giving the average person enough credit, but we're also talking about children. I've said it before and I'll say it many times over: kids are important targets to consider when choosing natural State Symbols. And I really don't know how many adults could tell the difference between some sparrows, even professionals. And, uh...the Saltmarsh Sparrow is a very important example of this, because it wasn't even a species until the '90s.

Oh, and kudos to those of you who caught on immediately to my little trick up there. Probably a good amount of you noticed it, but if you didn't...there are five species of sparrows shown in this post. The two birds pictured in the post? Different species. Yeah, hearing that now makes that more obvious, but you may not have noticed it immediately. The first bird pictured is indeed the Saltmarsh Sparrow. The second bird, however, is the Nelson's Sparrow (Ammospiza nelsoni), which was once considered the same species as the Saltmarsh Sparrow. Dirty question, I know, but it's also found in New Jersey. Not a breeder there, but it's enough to cause a bit of confusion. See what I mean?

Oh, as for the rest, Bird A is LeConte's Sparrow (Ammospiza leconteii), Bird B is a Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis), and Bird C is a Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum).

Please understand, bird-peeps: I hate making this argument. Genuinely. The New World sparrows are a wonderful group, and a really fun one to play around with and hunt down as a birder. And don't worry, sparrows will be getting a mention in my personal list. But as for the State Bird? I'll let you all decide.

And with that, that's the end of this post! I miss any big ones? Make any leaps a bit too big? Feel free to let me know! In the meantime, stay tuned for State #4 - Georgia! Wait...wait, the fourth state to be admitted into the Union was Georgia? Huh. Go figure.

See you next time, and happy birding!

[the-s1lly-corner]

(This was inspired by an OC post I saw)

Can I request headcanons for Jax being affected by a love virus, (as in being forced to act lovey-dovey because of a glitch the reader carries)? I hope this makes sense.

Jax w/ a love virus!

might be a little different than the post youre referring to because i dont know what post youre talking about </3 written as the reader and jax already being in a romantic relationship since i think otherwise i may be uncomfortable writing it </3 will touch more on that in the actual post but!! kind of written with like, a slight angst angle at the beginning, going off my own silly ideas since i dont know specifics for this!! my toxic trait is seeing someone call a recipe "hard" and "difficult to master" and my immediate reaction is to make the thing. i learned how to make macarons i can learn how to make panettone... not today though i need to get the nuts and fruits for it

he doesnt care if he was sick, when he recovers from it hes going to be so embarrassed. will become argumentative with anyone who tries to bring it up, even if theyre being neutral or supportive of him.. it might be easier for him to come to terms with it and live it down if you (his main target) are already in a relationship with him

i think he might be really upset if he got the virus from you; regardless of if you can control it or not.. it sucks, yeah, but this isnt like a flu or cold, but

yeah

bonus points if you yourself dont show many symptoms of the virus and even more bonus points if you decided not to tell anyone about it; i think if it were like this it would warrant break up material for jax

obviously i dont know the specifics, and i do want to keep this somewhat vague so it can hopefully be morphed to fit what you, the anon, specifically saw/read

but how is he like during the actual virus/infection?

clingy. very clingy

sure, jax was already clingy in his own way before getting sick, what with keeping an eye on you and trying to keep you all to himself when you guys were alone... but this is... something else

he constantly follows you around, and might even drape himself over your shoulder while you're trying to talk to someone else

gets visibly antsy and even irritated when separated from you for too long, perhaps even becoming a little verbally aggressive to the other circus members if they try to get him to calm down

wont even hesitate throwing himself into danger. not to save you. but to be around you. "if you die im going to die with you" mentality, pretty much

audibly whines when you have to go do something. embodiment of the "nooo you hang up :3" thing but way more intense and kind of obnoxious (obviously not a knock to anyone who does it, jax is just ramping it up to 100 and beyond)

if hes showing typical... sickness.. symptoms (fatigue, fever, ect) youre going to have one hell of a time keeping him in bed. youre probably going to have to monitor him until he recovers; because otherwise hes just going to follow you around the circus

this is already normal jax behavior but hes going to push people, hes just going to do it a little more often and more aggressively in order to get to you while hes sick

[afrotunada]

incomplete list of fun and interesting things I've learned about Jason Todd through my scattered readings and late night googling

One time, he was sooo desperate for affection and validation, he was willing to risk it all after an accidental, spur of the moment kiss with Barbara Gordon in Three Jokers Issue #2. Alas, he was thwarted by a janitor, the poor bastard...(much to everyone's relief I'm sure) (Batman: Three Jokers)

Batman: Three Jokers Issue #3

In addition to statuesque amazons (Artemis), blonde bombshells (Isabel Ardila), white-haired beauties (Essence and Rose Wilson), and Dick's ex-girlfriends, Jason also likes smart, curvy ladies ;) selfshippers rejoice! (although I myself am not so curvy, his love of normal girls is a positive in my book<3) (Red Hood: The Hill)

Jason hooking up with Dana's friend and employee Carmen Ortega while Dana herself (as Strike) gets her shit rocked by her other (former) friend and employee Omar (as Slayer) on the other side of town - as one does. Red Hood: The Hill Issue #2

One of Jason's first overtures at rejoining the Batfam was made in the New 52 relaunch of the 2011 comic Batman Incorporated, where he takes on the persona of Wingman at the behest of Bruce. He even teams up with Damian Wayne (going by Redbird at the time), forming their own very brief Batman & Robin-esque pair! Also, they both looked kind of ridiculous... [apparently, takes place sometime during Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 1 (2011-2015), around issues 17 and 18 and Death of A Family, but before Damian's death and his own Joker-induced gas coma. weird ass timeline!] (Batman Incorporated (2012))

Yes, that is, in fact, Jason in that getup. It's giving Cybercop Owlman. Peak fashion, actually. Batman Incorporated (2012) Issue #4

(as an additional aside, post New 52 and into the Rebirth era, Jay and Bruce start patching things up (kinda) and enter a truce of sorts starting in the Red Hood and the Outlaws: Rebirth one-shot from 2016. Yay!)

In the Elseworld of Batman: White Knight (also known as the Murphyverse for it's creator - Sean Murphy), Jason Todd is the eldest son instead of Dick Grayson, meaning that he was actually both the first Robin, and Bruce's first adopted son! He was still captured and tortured by the Joker tho....he escaped alive, but was presumed dead and given a burial and tombstone - as in the main universe - and Dick was taken on as Robin in his "absence." Poor guy! He can't catch a break even in AUs! BUT!! He does gets his own Robin sidekick in this universe - Gan! (also known as Robin IV, a young woman of Mongolian descent who took up the mantel herself with a homemade costume (similar to Stephanie Brown)). In fact, she's the one who encourages him to become Red Hood in the first place! (Batman: White Knight)

Harley Quinn is a primary protagonist of this universe, btw, and pretty much saves Jason from being killed Batman: White Knight Issue #2

Gan is my adorable daughter and Jason (the messy bitch as she calls him) deserves his own chaos gremlin apprentice<3 Panel 1 - Batman: White Knight Presents: Red Hood Issue #1 Panels 2 & 3 - Batman: White Knight Presents: Red Hood Issue #2

Speaking of AUs and elseworlds, in 2002's World Without Young Justice, Jason Todd was a circus acrobat, as per his original pre-crisis origin (minus the red hair). In this AU, he's dating fellow circus member Anita Fite (normally Empress, but here known as Voodoo Princess), but she ends up assassinating him at the behest of his step-mom, Catherine Todd, because he discovered his parents dirty business dealings with Killer Croc. What the hell Catherine? (Young Justice Vol. 1 - World Without Young Justice, Part 1: The World What Once We Knew)

Young Justice (1998) Issue #44 - World Without Young Justice, Part 1: The world What Once We Knew

Anyway! This isn't comprehensive or anything, just a post made in fun to put together some things about Jason that I think were funny/interesting that the fandom doesn't know/talk about much. Might add more later if I come across other stuff during my readings (maybe not for a while tho; I am currently consumed by World's Finest and following the Absolute Power event).

But yeah! Feel free to add on if you like! :)

[gingebreadbeetle]

Hey guys it’s me your favorite hazbin slop critic with more slop takes.

Something that has been bothering me lately, like badly is Lucifer in general. From his design, his status to his writing.

A lot of other smarter bloggers have already talked about Viv’s problems with daddy issue characters and making them sympathetic, so I won’t really discuss Lucifer’s writing in that regard as I don’t think I can add much.

I’m also aware some critics like Lucifer, as well as fans and to that I say, good for you! Like genuinely, if you like Lucifer from hazbin hotel, there’s nothing wrong with that! ( i literally like sir Pentious and he barely has any real screen time episodes or development so I cannot speak.)

Okay, rant from here on.

Vivziepop is so bad at religious imagery it is laughable. Lucifer’s theme of the garden of Eden and ringmaster of a circus sound good but she fails to mesh them together. I lowkey thought the snake on his hat was a worm. His design is the generic sexy man copy paste top hat bow and or tie and suit with weirdly shaped feet. Canes may or may not be included.

Lucifer doesn’t feel like Lucifer at all. I sort of understand what she was going for by making him a guy failure, but I feel like compared to other works with a similar episode count, cough DEVILMAN CRYBABY cough, she fails to accurately capture the intrigue and allure of Lucifer through his said persona and design.

While we’re talking about persona and design, Devilman crybaby’s Satan, Ryo, is so excellent. From the writing, the clash of ideals, the reveal to the final form and fight, it’s perfect. Satan and Lucifer are things I feel people cannot accurately capture in works, because while Jesus is a perfect human, Satan and Lucifer go beyond anything human as they are pure evil and, light.

So it’s really fucking embarrassing when a character who is also Lucifer has a similar arc ( clash of ideals, final form, fight ) and fails in every single way.

I understand that hazbin hotel obviously is a lighter show, that Lucifer isn’t trying to be the MAIN big evil nor is he, from the protagonists perspective, the villian, but for the ruler of hell, the light bringer and enemy of heaven … he doesn’t really size up and he’s another generic Vivziepop character in a pile of them.

To wrap this up, it’s just very disappointing. As someone who is very hyperfixated on demonology and the literature and philosophy of Lucifer, Viv fails to recreate an ounce of intelligence or thought that goes into writing a being of horror and evil.

Better Lucifer’s imo: Devilman crybaby, paradise lost (shocker guys ong who knew I’d reccomend it ) Sandman, and hot take but CSM public safety arc ( I could make an argument on how makima represents Lucifer but that’s another post sometime soon.)

[ask-funnybunnydoll]

Hi!

I think I have to move on.

You may have noticed that all of a sudden my posts have become less and less frequent. That's not on purpose I simply don't have the motivation to keep this ask blog going. I made this blog at the peak of my TADC hyperfixation because I knew it would give me the boost to work. At the start I made like, what? 2 a day, wowzas! Then it became like every other day posts. It's not that I don't enjoy the blog, the ship, the asks. Hell, the asks were the best part of this, I love just seeing what you guys come up with for these three and I get to do the even more fun part of drawing the answer.

But I still have no motivation to keep this going. And I have fixated on something else if you follow my main.

So, thank you for being here and still liking my posts even if I hadn't posted often. This was the most fun I've had and being my first ask blog I ever created just makes it more important to me.

I probably won't ever revive this blog but I'll keep it open for you. And if you want to see what the story I originally planned out was gonna be then check below the cut! Or if you wanna stay curious and theorize then just scroll by. Thank you again, hope ya have a great day and year. I hope my shit was at least okay to you.

I'm not gonna lie. Most of the stuff was just created along the way of drawing. I was like, huh this would be cool let's add that in. And ofc I didn't get to any juicy lore in this but it would've been rushed because I didn't plan beforehand... which you probably could tell xd

For Pomni, here's the plot twist: she's dead and her conscience was updated into the game to keep her somewhat alive. She worked in the place that created the game, she even took part in putting people in there. The entire game was just an expirement to test if immortality was possible, but of course.. everyone goes insane in there so they have to keep on and keep on trying with more and more people to get anywhere. They wait until someone goes to edge of absolute insanity and that's when they take them out of the game, their bodies are still kept alive and they go back to normal. They forget everything that happened while in the game. For Pomni she died just after her conscience was converted to the game, for others they were forced to go while alive. Who killed Pomni? Well, her boss, the head of the experimentation. Why? Idk 😭

For Jax, I gave him a dark story. He was isolated in his home and kept away from the outside world, which is why he lacks empathy, because he simply doesn't know how to feel that way when he never really had knowledge of emotions outside or even inside his home. His father was emotionally and physically ab4sive so.. that didn't help. He latched onto his mother the most but they never saw eachother often. That's all I had for him in mind.

For Ragatha, she lived in the country on her own land with her husband. Yup! She had a husband and a daughter too. Husband was a total jerk and she couldn't leave because she didn't want their kid to experience separated parents. She's a doll in the game because it resembles the doll she made for her daughter.

I also had some plot that I made up in my mind. Like.... Pomni at the end would be the last one alone in the digital circus. That being since she's dead she would just be yknow. Dead if she left the game. Jax and Ragatha leave but only because Pomni forces them. Again don't know how, I probably would have made it up while I went along with the story. So, Pomni is just there alone, with Caine. And she lives like that for eternity. She doesn't go insane anymore and it isn't as lonely as it used to feel like. It would feel like home kind of. But she would be there, longing for her partners forever unless she decides one day to just. Yknow, die..

Also since Jax and Ragatha would forget everything after they leave the game, they just don't remember they were in a relationship and would live their lives like before. Sad and lonely.

Goodness, I forget I make the most sad stories ever sometimes 😭

[autisticandroids]

free space: "i forgor"

this is for fics that should have been on my other reclists for @spnficrecfest but, well, i forgor.

my other reclists are in this tag.

this list will be ordered by wordcount, but it will also be by category.

should have been on my season six reclist:

what a brave little ant you are by withthekeyisking, 2k

dean goes about his life. cas pops in, from time to time. dean is soooooo mad about it. the salmondean of it all is good too. great stuff. destiel.

there are no lies on your body by tiptoe39, 6k

post godstiel, cas is a poor little meow meow. dean's poor little meow meow. destiel.

the law of conservation of energy by peroxidepest17, 90k

an oldschool "what if cas capitulated in the man who would be king and they had to come up with a different plan" type fic. im kind of obsessed with this one. like the ways in which it's good and the ways in which it's weird. destiel.

should have been on my season nine reclist:

i shall not want by domesticadventures, 20k

a little season nine bunker depressionfic with good brother conflict.

should have been on my true au reclist:

après moi, le deluge by allthismusic, 11k

dean is an innocent hiker, and after he messes up his foot, he and his brother happen upon a nice cabin with a friendly cas inside. destiel. horror.

the fix by luulapants, 12k so far, chose not to warn

an au where dean is a conservative politician and cas is a fixer. this is like, the fic i have been longing for for literal years, and i can't think of a better author to take on the topic. wip, but my experience is that luulapants will finish what she starts. destiel

lillith's fayre by all_the_damned_vampires, 17k, chose not to warn

a strange and wonderful fic with a lot of fun character stuff. meg is the main character, and she's joined by casey and lenore, two favorite side characters from the early seasons. and cas, of course. it's a whole polycule thing. they're in the circus in the nineties. the demon circus. i was particularly compelled by lenore's characterization.

should have been on my canon-a-little-to-the-left reclist:

in the twilight kingdom by argentnoelle, 48k, violence and noncon warnings plus chose not to warn

so i am actually currently enjoying this fic right now and im not done with it. i'm like halfway through? which is maybe against the spirit of things. but im REALLY liking it so far. it's a rewrite of seasons four and five which takes place mainly in hell. deanalastair, destiel, megstiel, and deancasmeg. the deanalastair parts are particularly compelling to me because they're like written like, you know. it reads like a sugar daddy thing. except of course you know how things started. you KNOW. sickeninggggg. and of course dean and meg are brainwashing themselves a castiel. which i'm greatly enjoying so far.

should have been on my rarepair reclist:

a rock with a hole in it by de_nugis, 11k

cas has an interlude with soulless sam in fairyland. a kind of fascinating, unsettling pastoralism. and it's not even set in season six. sastiel, unrequited destiel.

should have been on my outsider pov reclist:

leave my body, moving up to higher ground by trieduntrue, 17k

post godstiel, cas has to switch vessels. an adventure from the point of view of the vessel. i'm kind of obsessed with this author. the vessel character is so charming to me, i enjoy her. yes: this is a female vessel cas fic, lol. destiel.

[twilightpowerdiamond-blog]

My Helluva Theory

(AKA mixed characters in Helluva Boss)

So, my friends and I were hanging out and discussing Helluva Boss over a call. I had Google Images open and something struck me looking at Blitzø's family photo.

His mom is a succubus.

Her horns struck me as weird. All other imps have the striped horns with the white bands indicating gender difference. I started looking up crowd shots and confirmed so. However, guess who has the thin, all black horns?

She also, notably, has no white features as imps do. Succubi lack these white freckles and whatnot entirely. Most of all, she has their pupiled eyes.

This sent me down an insane rabbit hole of digging deeper. There are PLENTY of mixed characters throughout the show that I think have flown under the radar, and I really want to talk about them. Some might really surprise you.

Following this, I started looking into Blitzø (and Barbie by extension). This post helped point out lots of features on Blitz:

It reiterates lots of the points I just made, and adds some. Blitzø has lots of unique features that make him very un-imp-like. His feet and eyes, namely, along with a heart theme in lots of his objects. He is also canonically stated to be AMAZING in bed.

Next, my friend pointed out that Fizzaroli has the same eyes as Blitz. At first we were scared this broke the theory, but looking into it, Fizz has some of the same characteristics as Blitz that makes me think they might've been childhood friends partially because they are both half succubus.

The pupiled eyes are our best piece of evidence since his adult form is mostly robotic, but the sharp boots on a child stick out to me still. Fizz also grows up to be a sex icon in Hell despite his shtick clearly being a clown. Fizz is probably also a half succubus.

Also, why is the circus symbol clearly a heart? Could it be because notably both succubi and imps worked there, along with their mixed children?

I had also heard talk of Striker being half something. I think his design speaks for itself: the distinct snout, the ringed eyes, his long and spiked tail. I thought he might be a loan shark at first, but this is a half-imp-half-snake.

He is clearly different from Butch, the half imp loan shark who has the smaller imp stature and lacks the two large fangs.

Striker's attempt to connect with Blitz, another half-imp who climbed up the ladder, makes lots of sense now.

Those are those in the main cast I could pick out, but there are minor characters I wanted to pick apart. To start off, Glitz and Glam.

These are not loan sharks. They lack key features all loan sharks appear to have. They do not have tails nor the distinct snouts. Their eyes are not ringed. However, the aquatic theme is still very apparent, and their skin is pale. I figured they are probably succubi-sharks. Their horns (which the sharks DO have) have the black pattern on the tips that some succubi have, and the shapes match. They have wings, another distinct succubus feature.

Their song is about transactional sex, a combo of both the themes of loan sharks and succubi.

A wrench was thrown into my theory, though: Stu, the loan shark, is canonically a half succubus. Also, this background character from episode 4.

They are very different! The pink, the heart tail, the present snout, the ringed eyes. They look nothing like the other pair.

So, Glitz and Glam are not sharks. They are part possessor, which are eel-like demons. Marcella has similar glowing spots in her hair and this background character has the same eyes as Glitz and Glam.

I do not think Glitz and Glam are full possessors, though. Their horns are succubi horns and, as far as we know, only succubi usually have wings. Their faces are also still very flat.

The Ozzie bouncer MIGHT be a succubus mix.

He has white features that are too pale to be scars, the x's which may or may not be clothes, the striped horns, and no irises. However, he has the wings. This could be mitigated by the fact that imps can earn a pair of wings, so he may simply be an accomplished imp.

But if Blitz and Fizz are half succubi, why does this one look so different? The answer is in the parents. Ligers and Tigons are different depending on which parent is which.

Similar, but clearly different.

I have no idea how to end this, but it was most of what I have figured out after lots of digging. I think it's really fascinating! It makes me appreciate Vizi and the team's designs a lot.

I have a few people to thank in the comments that pointed out some problems which I've amended, such as how imps can get wings. Thank you guys!!

[duckie-darling]

Worth the Effort

Lucifer x gn! sinner reader (may skew more f! reader in later chapters)

Chapter 1: Slow burn, Fluff (for now), post season 1, 4.5k words.

1 of (at least) 5 chapters

Inspired by the very specific intersection of Luci hyperfixation and youtube hoof care videos and relating way too hard to this silly, sad little man.

Summary: During the upswings of depression, the King of Hell's love language is breakfast and over the top circus puns. But on the downswings, he needs help remembering that he matters, too.

It was hard to identify the smell wafting through your hotel room, beckoning you away from your dreams and out from under the covers. The streets of hell were often smoky with the faint burning smell of dumpster fires or smoldering brimstone. But this was a little different. Almost pleasant. Almost comforting.

You rolled over to your other side, trying to will yourself back to sleep. It was too early to deal with a fire in the hotel. Surely if it were serious there’d be screaming, right? And besides, if it was anything besides the viridian hell-fires hungry for the flesh of sinners, then it would be fine. It wouldn’t actually hurt the sinners in the hotel, just the hotel itself. Right?

But after a few minutes of trying and failing to fall back into slumber, your growling stomach convinced you that it’s not likely to happen. You reluctantly kicked the blankets down off of your body and laid there, soaking in the comfort for a moment longer.

You hadn’t been a guest at the princess of Hell’s hotel that long. Long enough to fall into somewhat of a routine, but not long enough for the absolute decadence of the plush pillow and feather-soft sheets to have worn off. Not long enough for the quiet and solitude of a room all to yourself to stop being exquisite. Not long enough to forget what it was like to be out on those streets, a hapless sinner trying to dodge knives and bullets and bad deals. No, the privilege of this room and this place hadn’t worn off yet, so you chose to soak in a few more seconds with your head on a pillow behind a securely locked door.

Although, your stomach disagreed.

Finally giving in to its demands, you reluctantly shuffled to your feet and flicked on the bedside lamp with a yawn, limply rubbing sleep from your eyes. The smell had turned from something your brain detected as burning into instead something sweet, slightly smoky, and inviting. Someone was probably making themselves breakfast, and according to your stomach, you should follow suit.

You had come here with only the clothes on your back and whatever of your belongings weren’t pinched by pickpockets. So at least the added step of having to change out of pajamas wasn’t keeping you from breakfast! Turns out there’s a bright side to having not a single possession to your name.

But you still felt the need to make yourself look like you hadn’t just rolled out of bed before facing the world outside that door. The princess didn’t really seem like the kind to kick someone out for messy appearances, but you couldn’t afford to take any chances.

So your stomach continued to murmur as you trudged to the bathroom. You combed your fingers through your bedhead, detangling just enough to be presentable, and gargled with tap water in a weak attempt to stave off morning breath. You also checked your face for dirt and ensured the clothes you slept in weren’t twisted around during sleep. The face staring back at you in the mirror wasn’t exactly your best - but it was presentable.

Stepping out into the hallway, you were pleased to find you were alone, at least for now. While the enticing smell was definitely stronger out here, it didn’t seem like enough to awaken any other hotel residents. As you slowly walked down to the main floor, the sizzling and chopping noises cutting through the silence made it apparent that someone was in there cooking up a storm.

Plenty of people in hell were night owls or just slept most of the day, but very few of them would wake up this early in the morning to cook a proper breakfast for themselves, whistling cheerily. If there was some kind of visitor coming this morning, maybe it would be better to stay out of there - lie low, maybe see if that bartender (Husker was his name, you think?) had any cocktail peanuts to nibble on until the place cleared out. You cautiously stuck your head around the corner to glimpse the source of all the activity.

In no way did you expect that all the activity you heard from this room was coming from just one person.

He stood in front of the stove, whistling a jaunty little tune as he held a skillet in his right hand. He skillfully jerked the skillet, flipping a perfectly browned pancake into the air, which then did an acrobatic little flip before plopping back into the pan. His left hand was whisking some sort of concoction in a red bowl, which itself was being cradled in the air by a swirling golden light. On the counter off to his right, yet another swathe of golden magic was wrapped around a chef’s knife, rapidly julienning potatoes into perfect little matchsticks.

He let go of the whisk, grabbing instead, straight from the air above his head, a black spatula. The utensil was decorated with a shiny red apple at the handle. That, it turns out, was your first clue, but when he twirled quickly in place before coming to face you, you were suddenly certain exactly who it was you had just been caught spying on.

Lucifer - fallen angel, ruler of demons, King of hell - stood before you. 

Making pancakes. 

In an apron. 

Patterned with rubber ducks.

“Goooood morning!” he chirped, eyes brightening as he flipped the pancake again into the air, angling it to land gracefully on a platter that was already piled with its siblings. “Oh, haha, you’re a new face! Well you’re in luck, because early risers get served first~!”

You blinked rapidly in surprise.

“Take a seat!” He snapped his fingers and one of the stools at the kitchen’s island pulled itself away from the counter as an invitation. There was a slight swirling sparkle of golden magic in the air above the surface, and a cascade of plates and silverware arranged themselves into a perfect place setting. The napkin was folded in the shape of a perfect origami swan (or duck?) in the middle of the plate.

“Are you thirsty?” He was talking too fast for you to move or even respond. “Apple? Orange? Pomegranate? Pick your poison!” Each word was punctuated by the fruit in question appearing in his hands, which he almost immediately started to casually juggle. Even just the fragrance of those fruits - a rare, almost unheard of delicacy in hell - made your mouth threaten to water.

He paused a moment, giving you just enough time to inhale in the hopes of replying before he interrupted.  “Oh, but not REAL poison, heh!” his voice cracked and he looked slightly bashful over the misstep, finally breaking the constant excited chattering and replacing it with a slightly awkward silence.

“I-.....” You suddenly realized that somewhere in all that you had been given a command by the king of Hell, so you promptly sat on the stool that had been pulled out for you. “O-orange…?”

The awkward smile turned less awkward, and his face lit up again. “Comin’ right up!” His 3 makeshift juggling balls quickly turned into four, five, eight, twelve. After a moment of showboating while he juggled them with ease, each orange in turn magically hovered over top of your glass, squeezed itself dry, and then helpfully launched itself into the garbage can.

He dusted his hands off on his apron and gave a brief bow, seemingly ending his performance. Then his eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance, stopping your heart until you realized he was staring at your glass. He snapped his fingers, adding both a silly straw and a ruby red paper umbrella. “That’s more like it.” He then spun on his heel, resuming his whistling as well as his work.

You sipped the juice. It was delicious.

You couldn’t tear your eyes away from the man before you. He gave off the least intimidating presence you could imagine, and yet he was almost definitely the most powerful person between the two of you. No, realistically he was the most powerful person in the realm. Just thinking of the broadcast footage from the final extermination convinced you that much was true. 

And sure, you had expected his once-in-a-while presence when taking up a room in the hotel. Rumor was he stayed in one of the corner suites, though you had never encountered his presence since you had gotten here. But this…this was not what you had expected. 

You swallowed hard, again struggling to find your words. Words that wouldn’t risk insulting him and lead to you having your soul tormented more viciously than ever before, or your organs squeezed as dry as those oranges. But you were thankfully saved from having to say anything when the door swung open with another visitor.

“AuuuuuUUUGUH,” Angel Dust groaned, slipping onto another of the stools and planting a bottle of vodka onto the counter, followed shortly by his face. “Boy am I glad yer here today, pops. Ya don’t even wanna know about the fuckin’ night I had. Val had me upside down blowin’ so many dicks I couldn’ get the blood rushin’ anywhere but my head.” He seemed too exhausted to even pounce on the easy “head” double entendre. “Think ya can just make me the usual?”

Lucifer made a flourish with one hand, and more ingredients landed on the counter in another golden swirl. “Buttered biscuit, over hard eggs, absolu-HOOTly no bacon, shredded potato, lots of cheese. Coming right up!” He rolled up his sleeves and started shredding potatoes for the order that he apparently knew by heart.

You cleared your throat for a moment, finally managing to speak again. “Is this….a regular thing?” 

Angel picked his head up, hair fluff falling over his face as he took a quick swig from the bottle. “Yeah, every once in a while.”

“That is-....that is, very kind of you, your Highness,” you muttered, addressing Lucifer this time.

The man in question paused from his nimble knifework to shrug and glance back at you. “Just Lucifer, actually!”

"But-", you stuttered, shifting in your seat. Was this a trick? “But you're the king and-”

"That I am!" He stood a little straighter, and from what little of his face you could see, his teeth shone through a smirk. “But to my darling Char-char’s official guests, I’ve decided to forgo those titles.”

He turned back to his slicing. “No matter how debauched, debased or demented! Whether pickpocket, peddler, porn star or poisoner. To all of the sorry sinners who haunt these halls, I am just Lucifer.” He stiffened a little, and then chuckled out a nervous laugh as his voice cracked. “I’m sure you’re just fi-iNe, though!”

The king glanced back at you, noting the nervous (or maybe confused?) energy. “But…you ca-can call me whatever you want! Whatever, uh, makes you more comfortable! Anything is fine exce-”

“So you’ll let me call you ‘Daddy’ now~~~~~?” Angel Dust interrupted.

“Except that,” Lucifer sighed. He was now tossing the shredded potatoes into a sizzling hot pan, and then grabbing his apple-handled spatula again, twirling it between his fingers like a baton. At some point in the rotation, it turned from spatula to whisk. He dipped it into a bowl full of egg yolks, beating them together with a practiced hand (and, apparently, wrist muscles of steel). The cheery whistling started again, and he tapped his foot gently to the tune. It was only now that you noticed he was standing on a stool in front of the stove.

He next grabbed a salt shaker, and you flinched a little as he tossed it into the air, doing a full 180-degree turn before catching it again and using it to salt the egg mixture.

“I gave you that bottle thinking you’d at least save a glass for me, Legs,” Husk growled slightly. He had apparently slunk in while-...while your attention was elsewhere. 

It wasn’t your fault, though. It was sort of mesmerizing. Like watching a master at work - you just didn’t expect that work would be breakfast sandwiches. And he seemed to take genuine joy in the art. The corners of his eyes crinkled slightly when he smiled, and his forked tongue stuck out slightly when he seemed to be focused on flipping the egg just right. The blush-pink circles on his cheeks did cause his expression to always seem slightly-...well, cherubic. The genuine excitement made his smile so bright you almost had to avert your gaze. “Morningstar” really was a fitting name.

Lucifer floated over a plate onto the counter, and Angel Dust tore into his greasy sandwich.

“Hm-...could I have-...pancakes?” you spoke up, finally brave enough.

Lucifer turned to you with wide eyes and a dopey little grin. “Well that is actually my specialty! What shape?” 

“R-...round?”

His face dropped in disappointment, scrunching up his nose a little. “That’s way too easy. How about a-”

“Duck?” Husk guessed with a smirk.

“...turtle. I was going to say turtle, BUT a duck is also an excellent idea. Do you want a duck? Please, say you want a duck?” he turned his eyes to you, almost pleading.

And how could you say no? “I-...yes, sure. Duck pancakes. Duck-cakes?”

“HA!” he let out an enthusiastic laugh. “Duck-cakes! DUCK-CAKES! That’s great. HahA!” 

He made your order with expected enthusiasm, and when the plate slid across to you on the counter, the top pancake was decorated with an orange-wedge beak and blueberry eyes. Taking a bite, it was expectedly delicious, the perfect balance of crispness and fluffiness. You couldn’t help letting out a little sigh of delight.

“Heeheh! It’s the shape that makes it more delicious,” Lucifer snickered with another toothy grin. “Don’t you think?”

“It m-must be. But I think the chef also had a lot to do with it.”

That got him to beam even more, but you didn’t get to bask in the glow of that expression for long before his gaze snapped up to the next visitor.

“Char-char~!” he exclaimed, and 3 pairs of wings burst out of his back, allowing him to cartwheel through the air to land gracefully next to his daughter. “Do you want pancakes, honey? Duck-cakes, DUCK-CAKES! How have I never thought of that?” His hands flailed out above his head in excitement.

“I’m pretty sure you have, Dad,” Charlie offered with a smile as she sat down, Vaggie taking the seat beside her.

“Oh.” His jazz hands fell and his face scrunched up in thought, trying to remember whatever time she must be referring to. “Well, anyway, what’s your order this morning, Char-char?” He poofed himself back over to his post at the stove, already preparing to start on his next order.

The rest of the morning went on similarly to that. Hotel guests (and crew) slowly filtered in, each seeming to know exactly what they wanted for their breakfast order.

The diminutive hotel maid, Niffty chortled and wheezed her way into the kitchen, skittering up to Lucifer and holding a plastic dog bowl above her head. “In this, please....hehe... ”

Lucifer glanced down at her from his spot on the stool, frowning skeptically. “...really?” His eyebrow arched gracefully, again forcing you to turn your eyes away from the way the light caught his pale, unexpectedly beautiful face.

“yES, hehe,” Niffty chuckled.

“Uh, okay," Lucifer said with a sigh and another shrug, “you-... oddly endearing little gremlin.”

The comfortable chatter in the kitchen started putting you a bit more at ease, and it was easy to stay seated right where you were as the morning waned. You sipped your orange juice as your eyes wandered around the room, observing the conversations without having the need to participate. 

Angel leaned an elbow on the counter, and his cheek on his palm, shaking the last bits of Beelzejuice into his own flute of freshly-squeezed orange juice. Charlie's face spread into a dopey grin as she sipped her mug of hot chocolate, and then began rambling to Vaggie about how she ‘never knew humans had invented something so delicious, so splendid, so warm and comforting!’ You also tried not to look too hard at Nifty, eviscerating her cockroach-shaped pancakes into a gruesome mush as strawberry syrup splashed out of the dog bowl. At least she seemed...happy?

But your eyes again found it difficult not to linger on the chef de cuisine. He was still standing on his stool, seemingly for a better vantage point to observe the results of his handiwork. His posture was perfectly poised, back straight and facial expression reserved as he sipped apple juice from a silly straw, but you managed to catch the smile. 

Not the paparazzi smile, the one he probably puts on for the public, the people who want something from him. But a genuine one, tilting up the corners of his mouth and arching his eyebrows with some sort of fondness for the sinners surrounding him (and surrounded you all were, because quite a few other residents had filtered in throughout the morning). 

He clearly seemed to be happy to do anything to please his daughter, but you also caught a sense of satisfaction when Husk, reaching past Angel, slid another pancake onto his place with a 'gimme one of those!' It was a struggle, but you caught his subtle grin when Vaggie, flushing as she took a bite from her girlfriend's fork, licked her lips so as not to waste a drop of syrup.

Not that it was a surprise for the literal sin of pride to get an ego boost from people enjoying his handiwork. But it was a softness you can’t say that you expected.

Lucifer’s eyes caught yours, and he tilted his head curiously, lips still clamped around the silly straw. You unfortunately could not control your expression, your eyes widening as you glanced away.

But it was too late, and you heard a little pop! of golden magic at the same time the stool next to yours was no longer occupied.

“So who are you, again?” his question was punctuated by loud straw slurping as he drained the last of his apple juice. “Oh, right! You’re new here. Right? That’s why I don’t remember you.”

You cleared your throat a little and turned to face him. “Y-yeah, pretty new. Got here a few weeks ago…”

He set the cup down with the tiniest hint of a frown on his face. “Ah. Well, it’s, heh, a big place, and I just can’t keep up with all the sinners Charlie brings in because-.....well, you know, because I’m usually in the suite doing-...very important paperwork and-”

“I, um-” you interrupted him, almost regretting it until you saw the relief on his face when he no longer had to keep talking, “It’s ok. I mean-! I mean, I’m not offended. It is a big place and-...I-I should say it’s an honor that you and Charlie are taking someone like me in and-”

“Oh, that was aaaaall Charlie! I don’t want a thing to do with managing the sinners,” he glanced over at his daughter with a gentle smile, full of pride.

“Oh…I’m sorry, should I-”

“Oh gee whiz!” he exclaimed, turning back to you with a frown. “No, that’s no slight meant to you, I just-” his delicate hands went to cover his face. “Obviously I’m no good at talking to humans any more. Or, I guess I never really was!” he chuckled in exasperation.

“A-as long as you don’t want me gone…then it’s alright,” you smiled, nervously but sincerely trying to reassure the Devil.

His hands left his face and he let out a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s try this again.” He turned to you with a smile, leaning his cheek on his hand and his elbow on the counter. He had managed to calm the nerves in his voice, and instead in a smooth tone that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, said, “So what brings you here?”

With that particular choice of words, the graceful way he crossed his legs and bobbed his foot, the inquisitive arch to his eyebrow and the frankly embarrassing way you’d been eating up the view all morning, it was hard not to imagine it as a pick-up line, and instead as the invitation for small talk that it really was.

“Well-...I-...before this, I was sort of just doing odd jobs that I could bear to stomach. Trying to get by without-...you know…doing something really terrible. The place is honestly a miracle, because it’s-...tough out there. I’m sure you know that.” You managed to make eye contact for a moment, and you were met with an expression of genuine interest, and a twinge of guilt.

“But-...if you mean Hell in general? I really wish I knew!” you admitted, glancing away again and turning to stir the bare ice cubes around in your otherwise empty glass. “I thought I was a good person. I mean, I’m sure I lied occasionally. Had a mean thought every once in a while. Didn’t always do my best or give everything my all. But, I really thought I would-...well, I didn’t think I would end up here.”

“HhhOOO boy do I know how that feels.” He inhaled deeply, then let out a sigh. “But-...ok. Listen,” his voice lowered, leaning in closer and giving you a whiff of what must have been apple-scented cologne. “I’ve tried to tell Charlie this, but the rules for that kind of stuff ma-ake no sense. It’s not even worth trying to figure out a ‘why.’” 

He sat up, glancing over at his daughter, then back at you. “You came here for help, anyway. That’s...that’s good enough.” He paused for a moment, staring at his own fingers drumming against the counter as he seemingly became lost in thought.

Would it be a mercy to break him away from his thoughts? Maybe.

“Can I- ….can I ask a question, actually?”

He blinked rapidly, looking around as if trying to remember where he was. "Can you-....oh, but I believe you already did just by asking me that~” he snickered, as his brain caught up enough for a witty retort.

“Okay, fine,” you couldn’t help but chuckle. “Can I ask you a question besides the one I'm asking you now? "

“Hmmmm, I'll allow it! I am a gracious king after all.”

“While you were cooking...you just, you know, created those ingredients. Poofed them into existence. Why go through the trouble of cooking it? Why not just-....summon up a finished product?”

Lucifer straightened up again, and the trademark toothy grin spread across his face. “Well, it would be wa-HAY less fun to do it that way. If I did that, I’d make them, but I wouldn't really make them.”

After you tilted your head in momentary confusion, he continued, “Isn't it more fun to-....to make something by hand? To bust out the elbow grease? To feel like you sculpted something bit by bit?” There began a rising excitement in his voice, and you could see the slightest flutter of the wings laying flatly against his back. “To look at a pile of bits and pieces, and create magic instead of relying on it? Sure, I could make anything anyone wanted.”

He shrugged, and seemingly just to prove it, twirled his finger and created a 3D ferris wheel pancake sculpture, complete with carts full of maple syrup.

“But-...you know-...when people bother to take that first bite-...it feels better when I actually tried. It may not be as easy as this,” he rested his chin in his hands, watching the flapjack wheel rotate. “But to truly enjoy creating something, you have to put in the effort…”

“That’s-...that’s quite a sweet sentiment coming from-...sorry, please don’t take offense, but the literal devil. From the Bible.”

He chuckled, again almost forcing you to look away from the brightness of his expression as your heart fluttered. “Yeah, well! You know what they say. Don’t judge a duck by its feather.”

And you couldn’t help but chuckle in return, “I d-don’t think that’s how the expression goes! But may-ha-ha! M-maybe it should~?” 

“Uh, wait is that not how it goes? Hold on- I could have sworn-” he rambled, as something about his expression kept you snickering. It was the lightest you’d felt in days, maybe even since you’d arrived in hell. A conversation with the actual devil had you tittering like a schoolgirl with a crush.

When you caught your breath from laughter and opened your eyes, you could swear his gaze lingered for a moment longer than necessary, though it could easily have been your imagination. His sharp smile widened, and he leaned in just a little closer. “Well, however you say it’s supposed to go, doesn’t it roll off the tongue a little better? Doesn’t the image it conjures of a flappy little bird-o sound so-ho-ho much cuter~? And make you want to not judge his wittle feathers?”

You smiled again, picking up on the apparent fact that the duck obsession was more than just a pancake thing. “Okay, yes. Maybe the people-...up there on Earth will realize not to ‘judge ducks by their feathers’ either. Things can change...sometimes,” you shrugged.

He settled that dazzling smile into a gentler one, still looking at your face and making your heart flutter against your will. He then seemed to suddenly be aware of his unconscious gawking, and looked away, clearing his throat.

“Y-yeah-" he stammered, “...I guess sometimes they do.”

[ask-hells-hazbin-circus]

-.Hells’ Hazbin Circus.-

A Digital Circus x Hazbin Hotel AU!

Synopsis:

Pomni wakes up in a circus in the Pride Ring of Hell, with its psychotic ringmaster/magician swearing to protect his sinner performers from the yearly exterminations. But something is telling her that there’s more to his “generosity” than meets the eye…

[Definitely gonna be out of order, so just ask any questions you have about the au I’m still trying to figure things out]

Asks are open! I just ask that you:

- Are patient, I will only respond to asks/upload when I feel like it as I am busy and this is just something fun for me to do when I have the time

- So please do not spam, this guarantees I won’t respond to your ask

- No NSFW questions please, I will not answer them

- You must have a proper profile picture, no default, and at least 5-10 original posts on your blog (sorry, bots are just bitches sometimes)

- Shipping is fine, just don’t be weird please. I don’t plan on having them canon to the story but don’t let that stop you! Again, just please be normal people about it

If I have anything else to add I will. Failure to not follow these rules will result in me blocking you.

If you are seeing this on my main blog, please puts all asks in the box for the @ask-hells-hazbin-circus blog

Thank you and have a wonderful day!

[a-doubleh-x]

A little frustrated lately with the Hazbin fandom

At the present moment, it's been about 3 months since Hazbin Hotel's first season dropped. It's a lot of story at once, but it's also a proper start ever since the pilot era.

I'm sure most people expected some sort of controversy coming from a show that takes place in Hell, whose main characters include porn stars and murderers, but personally, I didn't expect the biggest ones to come from the fandom itself.

From the start we've heard of all sorts of tone deaf opinions coming from inside the house, included but not limited to:

• The idea that Angel Dust's character and his music video, Poison, glorifies abuse when its artistic intention clearly is to denounce it.

• The vitriol against problematic characters like Valentino, which has lead to the harrassment of cosplayers and fans of said characters.

• Ship wars mixed with hate speech, from SJWs claiming Alastor ships are ace erasure from Vaggie haters attacking Chaggie because it's canon.

I could go into detail on each of these incidents, but I won't go into it today. I'll just say for now I'm *really* disappointed by this fandom. I was really excited about HH because I thought it would bring much needed attention to certain topics, such as the still ongoing demonization of minorities to the crippling self loathing that comes from abusive relationships.

It feels like the people to whom the show's message is made for are the ones who are working the hardest to tear it down, which is not only a disservice to themselves but everyone involved as well. I expected the harshest criticism involving the show would come from the typical rabid christian ultra conservatives, but apparently they don't need to do their job anymore because they already got us to do it, apparently.

Hazbin Hotel became a creative spark for me when I was lost and empty of motivation. I began writing loads of fan fiction from just before season 1 came out, but during the latest weeks I've just gotten tired of it.

As a mutli-shipper, I'm constantly in the middle of ship wars. I'm hearing constantly on this very site of Charlastor shippers who hate Vaggie because she's supposedly terrible and hate her role in the show canon. I'm hearing of Charlastor haters that claim it's ace erasure, even though no shipper I've heard of denies the fact that Alastor is canonically ace. And worst of all, I hate the fact that some people still claim that Charlie is a lesbian and shouldn't be shipped with men when she's canonically bi.

As a biromantic person who recently came out of the closet, it used to be very liberating to write fics where Charlie gets involved with both Vaggie and Alastor. I like both characters and I like the idea of Charlie being romantically involved with both characters. But apparently the one thing that is not still worthy of respect in this day and age is divergence of opinions.

I came to this realization the other day when episode 2 of The Amazing Digital Circus came out. It's a smaller fandom, even though the audience attention is *massive*. I was looking through the community posts and... guess what? Practically little to none inflamatory speech or ship wars.

People there ship Pomni with Jax, Jax with Ragatha, Ragatha with Pomni, even Pomni with *Caine* for some bizarre reason that I can't comprehend and even Gangle and Zooble.

People *get* the intended message, which I must admit it can be largely attributed to the fact that the writing is better (sorry Vivz) and the episodes are more sparce. But the few people who don't get it don't go around attacking anyone with a different opinion or the showrunners themselves.

I apoligize formaking an unfair comparison, since, as I previously mentioned, these two fandoms have very different sizes and their respective shows deal with very different issues, but I'm just expressing my perspective.

I'm still highly disappointed in Hazbin fans. I expected better than you, but if this post reaches the type of fans I'm talking about, I'm sure they're happy that I'm upset. So, congratulations, you won.

Anyways, I'm gonna stop writing Hazbin fics for a while, for how long, who knows and I'm going to start writing TADC fics instead. I already had an idea in mind, so it's little trouble for me.

Thank you to the fans who have been engaging in peaceful discourse and have sated my shipping thirst so far with wonderful art and writing pieces alike. You've pulled me through some hard times, but it's time for me to part.

Sorry as well for the melodramatic tone of this post, but I'm just really sad and general and I need something to obsess with in order to prevent my inner demons from taking over.

In any case, thank you for reading, and I hope to see you all again soon 👋

[demiaroacejadeharley]

This post contains some spoilers from The Amazing Digital Circus. This post also contains critiques in regard to Vivziepop, Helluva Boss, and Hazbin Hotel. Vivziepop stans (as in the people who defend her work and her as a person) are not allowed to interact with me. Any Vivziepop fan who sends me asks (especially Anon asks) will be deleted. Any fans who DM me will have their message deleted and will be blocked. Finally, anyone who screenshots this post and makes a post tagging me in it to defending Vivziepop will be blocked.

I'm not trying to get people to harass Vivziepop and harass anyone who is a fan of her. And I'm not trying to stop people from supporting Vivziepop and not trying to make people feel bad about supporting her either. Watch whatever you want. Take this post with a grain of salt. And if you get somewhat upset with the criticisms I have for Vivziepop, then that's your problem.

Vivziepop antis and critical fans are allowed to interact.

Earlier today, I watched The Amazing Digital Circus, and these are my final thoughts.

Honestly, the pilot was really good, and I'm looking forward to it finally becoming a full-fledged series. And I'm looking forward to it expanding the Lore as well. I'm curious as to how Pomni got trapped there in the first place and other stuff like the void and the exit door thing.

What I appreciate it is that it didn't need copious amounts of swearing, unlike other comedy web series like Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss. There were swears, but they were more spread out and brief on top of the swears being censored.

Even though Gooseworx has worked with Vivziepop in the past, I find TADC to be leagues better than HH and HB. I've seen a video about the drama surrounding Gooseworx, but from what I've seen,the stuff they have done is much more tame than the shit Vivziepop has pulled.

I hope to see more Amazing Digital Circus content to come out in the future. I'm interested as to see where the series will go. Unlike Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, it didn't feel like I was watching something that felt like it was created by an edgy middle schooler. The female characters had much more personality than the ones from HH and HB, despite it being just a pilot.

Another thing to point out is that the cast of TADC had a lot of fresh faces to the voice acting industry, unlike Hazbin and Helluva Boss, where Vivziepop relied on casting big name actors in order to garner more attention to her work. And I'm going to be fully honest, I find it really sus at the fact that the OG cast of HH couldn't return because they didn't unionize in order to get their roles back. A lot of them were fully new to the industry, too, which is the sad part. I wish that Vivziepop wouldn't rely on hiring big-name actors in her work and would hire people who are very new to the voice acting scene who are desperate to land a role as some of them rely on voice acting as their main source of income.

To end this post, I just want to point out that I'm not blaming Vivziepop for the fact that the original cast of Hazbin Hotel didn't get their roles back. But at the same time, that whole situation feels questionable to me. Until I hear the full story about it, then I'll decide if she should be held accountable or not. However, the whole hiring big actors thing has been a critique of mine for a while on top of the use of the r slur in Helluva Boss (even though it was only said once and was almost again, it shouldn't have been used at all as it's an ableist slur and I'm a disabled person who has been called the r slur many times in the past). I'm fully aware that HB takes place in hell, but using hell as a way to excuse the use of the r slur is ableist. It's still ableist to call someone the r slur regardless of the setting and the context. The r slur should never be used as a way to call someone stupid. I'm not sure if Vivziepop wrote the script herself, but whoever is in charge of the script should be careful of the type of language they use in the show. I'm fully aware that both Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel are adult shows, but it doesn't mean it's an excuse to normalize offensive and bigoted language. It doesn't help that the shows poorly portray women (like how Millie is just reduced to being Moxxie's wife and likes killing) even though the creator of both shows is a woman.

I'm just gonna stop here for now. I'm going to go back to waiting for more Amazing Digital Circus content to come out.

[armed-with-a-waffle-iron]

As much as I adore some of Wayne Family Adventures (and prefer it to almost everything since the New 52), I don’t understand the appeal of the Bat Family as this flanderized, happy, perfect, rich family living in a mansion by day and beating up petty thieves by night. 

I like my grungy, complicated, fucked up, impossible-to-label, tangled web of a Bat Family from Post-Crisis/Pre-New 52, where love for one another was hard earned but no less beautiful, everyone noticeably comes from wildly different social backgrounds (mostly working class) and each walked through different circles of hell, everyone’s moral codes and politics contradict ever so slightly, and everyone stands on their own as a hero first and isn’t just another member of the bat clan. EVERY relationship is messy and complicated but that doesn't mean that each relationship can't be sweet and fluffy too.

Edit: my main gripe is portraying the batfam as this perfect rich family.

Besides Bruce, Tim and Kate, almost every member of the Bat Family had a WORKING CLASS background, upbringing, and that's majorly influenced who they are. Dick was a circus kid, refused to take money from Bruce then worked jobs like bartending, teaching acrobatics and museum curating. Hyper-independent Babs grew up in a broken home to a cop dad and worked in the library as a teenager. Steph's dickhead dad was in and out of jail, she had to take care of her substance-addicted mother, she had a baby at 16, and she struggles with college finances. Cass and Jason literally spent years homeless.

Next, part of what's so beautiful about the Bat Family is that it's not a happy-go-lucky perfect found family. None of these relationships can be easily described in one word and each of them, despite their difficulties, can give me a different, unique reason to smile.

[myaoza]

I saw this post about how Jax really treats everyone as NPCs, including the circus gang, as opposed to Pomni who humanizes everyone including the NPCs and how their narrative foils in a way. The “treating everyone as NPCs” thing really stuck with me, cause he definitely does. However, Jax, at least to me, is the most stereotypical DND Murder Hobo I have ever seen. Newer players to ttrpgs, when given the freedom to do fuck all (especially in fantasy settings) have a tendency to, well, murder. Even more so if they’re used to playing fps and combat games in general. They typically don’t care too much about plot progression and “playing along” and sometmes actively try to thwart the other players for gits and shiggles.

Think Susie from Deltarune. When she first enters the dark world all she did was try and pick fights. She refused to follow Kris’s lead, and did whatever the hell she wanted for funsies. Ofc, Susie does end up bonding with the main cast members, including Ralsie and Lancer later on and becomes more engrossed in the Dark World but this post ain't about her.

This is also a trend with newer players. As they move through the game, their roleplaying skills improve and they end up getting attached (Speaking from experience lol). Jax, on the other hand, never really attempted to move past his Murder Hobo ways. In fact, he’s leaning towards them. I think in an effort to not get attached, he’s depersonalized everything and everyone.

It’s honestly surprising now that I think about it how similar everything is to DND, with the cast being the players and Caine being the DM. They’re all just stuck playing one shot after one shot.

Back to the point, I think we can all relate to to fucking with NPCs, trying to push game boundaries, and messing with other players. That’s not to say Jax isn’t an asshole bastard man, he definitely is and I want to put him in a blender. It’s just everything he does feels so detached and apathetic, from the quips to the insults to his nonchalance at everything that’s not fucking with others. I’m pretty sure the only reason Jax is sane despite not forming any strong bonds with the cast when he’s the third longest member is treating everything like a game he’s playing instead of the life he’s living, and honestly? Kinda Valid

[thefoxiestboy]

William Afton and Charles Lee Ray are the same goddamn person

I made a joke about this on my last art post but now I am here to back up my claims, and oh boy do I have evidence

We'll get the simple stuff out of the way first

Both are serial killers

Both of their main storylines began in the 80s (it's pretty widely agreed upon that William began killing in 1983 after the death of the Crying Child, and Chucky was first shot down and became a doll in 1988)

Both have had their souls either fused with or transferred into an inanimate object originally meant for children's entertainment (William's soul was fused to the Spring Bonnie suit (a mascot suit/animatronic) after he got springlocked, and Chucky transferred his soul into a Good Guy doll (a baby doll))

Both use children to fuel their quest for eternal life (William kills kids to gain access to remnant to fuel his research for eternal life for himself, and Chucky initially tries to use kids to be his new vessels but eventually began using them to further split his soul into more dolls so he can never truly die)

Both have died and come back to life multiple times

Both have said the line "I always come back"

Now that's already a lot of similarities but there's more

Both have accents (William has a British accent in the games and Chucky has a Jersey accent) (this isn't really that notable but still)

Both have killed their wife and turned them into what they are/would become (Not actually confirmed, but heavily implied that William killed his wife and made her into the animatronic Ballora, and Chucky killed his girlfriend, (later wife) Tiffany, and transferred her soul into the Wedding Belle doll)

Both have a biological child who has reluctantly helped them commit their crimes before later turning on them (in the movie, William's daughter Vanessa helps him cover up his murders and is going to help him kill Mike and Abby too but turns on him after befriending Mike and Abby. In Seed of Chucky, Chucky's kid, Glen, goes on an outing with him where they're forced to help Chucky kill people, but they later turn on him when he attempts to kill them and Tiffany)

Both have a biological child who has willingly helped them and then turned on them (in the games we learn that William's son, Michael, was sent to Circus Baby's at William's request to find Elizabeth and the others, and later Michael helps Henry set the last of the children's souls free and send William to his own personal hell in Pizza Sim. In Season 2 of Chucky, Chucky's kid, Glenda, kills people in order to help him escape from Tiffany while in Nica's body. Later when he continues to try and manipulate them, they realize that he's actually a douchebag that doesn't really care about them or Glen and ends up turning on him and helping the main kids of the show get rid of him)

Both have a biological child/children that were either born like them, or became like them (Elizabeth, William's daughter in the games, is killed by the animatronic Circus Baby, who she goes on to possess. (There's also the Crying Child who may be one of two spirits possessing Golden Freddy, but that's not confirmed) In Seed of Chucky we meet Glen, Chucky's biological doll child, who then becomes his biological human children Glen and Glenda, who then go back into their doll body and become Gigi at the end of Season 2 of the TV show)

Both have targeted one child that gained a larger vendetta against them than any other they've targeted (for William this would be Cassidy (The Vengeful Spirit/Golden Freddy) and for Chucky this would be Andy)

Both have also been tortured by the same child with the greater vendetta (Cassidy is the one who trapped William in Ultimate Custom Night, and were shown in Cult of Chucky that Andy managed to capture one of the Chuckys who he had been torturing since)

Both have had songs written about them (there's way too many Fnaf songs to count and plenty of them are about William. For Chucky there's the song Assault and Batteries by Ice Nine Kills)

So after all of that there's also one last crazy insane coincidence

Brad Dourif, the actor who voices Chucky and originally played Charles Lee Ray, played a role in the movie the Exorcist III. The Exorcist III was a movie that the real life murderer the Gainesville Ripper said inspired him to kill. The Gainesville Ripper then went on to be the inspiration for the movie Scream. Matthew Lillard starred in the movie Scream as one half of Ghostface. Matthew Lillard then later went on to play William Afton in the Fnaf Movie

I am losing my mind

Anyways, yeah they're the same man.

[anemicjellyfish]

Update: thanks to my beloved mutuals, I will be calling the fic an AU when I finally post it. ❤️

Okay, I'm confused about something since I'm relatively new to fandom activities. I'm closing in on posting the start of a fic, and I'd love some advice if anyone has the time:

Is it AU or Rewrite?

If my fic is about giving Blitz some royal lineage, but doesn't change the entire backstory (he gets to the circus eventually), keeps the setting of Hell, keeps most of the canon characters (as "in character" as I can keep them), and adds a few original-type-characters to fill in some gaps... I'm unsure what to label it. I checked some forums, and I'm struggling to understand the finer details.

Since the series isn't finished, I'm not sure it could be considered a "rewrite." It's definitely not a true "retelling" because it still keeps Blitz as the main character, seeing through his eyes and so on.

Some of the details I want to add much later are simply headcanons/ideas my brain plays with, and I'm honestly not sure which category that falls under.

I've been calling it an "AU" in my head for a while now. And while I'm tempted to just slam the "post" button, I'm stopping myself from doing so because I don't want to accidentally mislead anyone with the wrong tags.

Probably a terrible idea to post this immediately before bed, but this is when I do my best fic writing.