#Totally don't associate it with a certain character at all

[another-goblin]

They finally released a full-res version of that concert promo, and it raised some questions.

1. Why an accordion?

I don't think they put too much thought into what instruments to give to the characters, but there is certain logic.

Characters from a Chinese-inspired faction (Jingliu, Yanqing, and Jing Yuan) seem to use traditional Chinese instruments (with both Yanqing and Jing Yuan playing a flute. Like father, like son!) Kafka plays the violin. Aventurine playing an electric guitar, an aggressively modern and international instrument, might indicate how he's removed from his traditional roots.

So what about the accordion? How Greco-Roman or traditional is it? (the short answer is, not at all.)

The accordion had been invented in the 19th century in Germany.

It rapidly gained popularity in rural Europe due to its ability to both play the melody and the accompaniment.

It has also been gaining popularity in classical and jazz music lately, as well as apparently being quite popular in South America. Despite this, it seems to be mostly associated with folk European music (especially popular in Eastern and Central Europe, especially the Balkans), creating a connection with traditional European music.

It basically represents a "traditional" European instrument without being tied to any particular culture (because of not being traditional actually).

So what instrument would you give a quirky and kind of old-timey European? An accordion.

Because at the same time they had to emphasize how not from Amphoreus he is, so traditional Greek or Latin instruments were out of the question (notice how Castorice is playing a modernized version of an ancient Greek lyre.) And you can't give him any instrument associated with different European countries because he's not from there either.

To think of it, an accordion is a good fit for a weird, forever homeless guy of unclear origin who can't be associated with any country in particular.

2. Why is the accordion so small, with tiny keys?

There are mini-accordions and kids accordions, but their keys are normal size. This one seems like a normal accordion just scaled down 2 times. Weird.

Does he often walk into bars with his tiny accordion?

Speaking of which, what do people say about men with small accordions?

Does he play sad songs on the world's smallest accordion?

Bad jokes write themselves.

3. What is he wearing? Why the "skirt"? The obvious (and the only correct) answer is that it's just an awkward attempt to marry his traditional outfit with a modern western costume.

But why not speculate? First, it gave me strong Indian vibes. Modern western-looking clothes with a long garment sticking from under the vest:

I'm 100% sure that wasn't the inspiration, but it kind of looks like it, right?

Meanwhile, nothing I could find of traditional Greek and Italian clothes looks even close.

And it's a pity that they decided to give him this default "western" look with this little traditional element that feels out of place.

Speaking of skirts. Hoyo, stop being cowards! Make him double down on his unapologetic weirdness! This is a man who wears a marble bust as a mask and takes baths in the middle of a scientific space station. Make him proudly wear this! And play this!

(Btw I'm curious how historical this costume actually is. I never saw anything like this outside of official occasions or performances)

But the way he is now, I can totally see him playing at a wedding in an Albanian village in the beginning of the last century.

[barblaz-arts]

I’ve seen you talk about Vaggie and Charlie being your two favs (which same I adore them) and Emily being you’re third…..but how do you feel about Alastor? Personally, while he is charming and entertaining and stuff…..his fanbase is obnoxious as hell. Especially some of the Charlastor shippers. I can sense the lesbiphobia from miles. I also just really dislike the blatant favoritism he gets from both the creators and the fandom. I can’t escape this guy-

I've talked about how I feel about Alastor before in a previous ask so I'll just put that back here

I totally understand how you feel, but I try really hard to not let those types of fans and antis affect how i feel about Alastor. I take a lot of care in understanding characters and the stories they're in, and I don't want any outside influence and bias to cloud my objective judgement or personal feelings.

The merch, fandom, and creator bias in favor of him is like super undeniable lmao but I actually like Alastor as much as I do any average character with his archetype. The fact that the actual show didn't let him overstay his welcome really helped, because characters like Alastor are a lot better in certain doses. Also like i said in the screenshot, he's a bigger loser than the hotshot people think he is and that's hilarious.

I think a lot of the things associated to him are just because of misguided fan content anyways. Like, all the horny art of him? That man is canonically ace. Ch*rlastor? You'd have to be blind af to think there's there's actual hope of that happening. Even r*dioapple? Lucifer still wants his wife back and Alastor is definitely plotting to kill him. Claims that he overshadowed the main cast and is the actual main character? He wasn't in all of the episodes, and only one episode in all eight focused on him, and it was the b-plot.

So yeah. Alastor himself? If I dont think about the barely recognizable schlop a huge part of the fandom likes to fantasize that he is? I have absolutely no problem with.

I've just been trying to accept the inevitable fact that he's always gonna be at the top of any popularity poll. I've just been seeing him as a mascot for the show at this point. Yunno, like how pikachu is the most popular character from pokemon even tho Ash is the main character? Or how Elsa was EVERYWHERE for years when Frozen 1 came out even tho Anna is the main protag? It just is how it is. That man is the face of Hazbin Hotel whether we like it or not. I'm not happy about it! But whatever.

[calware]

Transmasc aranea is so interesting to me…do elaborate on your thoughts 👀

frankly i'm not really committed to this reading, it's just floating around in my head lol. not a "this should happen" idea but a "this would be kind of interesting" idea

the thing i AM pretty committed to is that she's TME, which is informed by comparing her to vriska; essentially, aranea gets to avoid a lot of the bad-faith perceptions vriska gets tacked on to her. vriska is a dangerous weapon that can't be trusted, aranea is just some annoying know-it-all who can't shut up. granted, both are bad labels to have, and both characters are targets of misogyny, but for a good amount of time there aranea gets away with a lot more than vriska does (for example, aranea idolizes her pre-scratch self and nobody bats an eye, but karkat goes running to john to tell him vriska is dangerous at the first sign that they might be into each other). so when you look at vriska through a TMA lens, aranea reads as TME by comparison

there are a lot of directions you can take this ofc, the "main" one being that she's a cis woman. that said, i think it's interesting that hussie posits characters who take on an "authorial role" as thematic representations of toxic masculinity, which was the seed in my mind that led to me considering aranea as transmasc in the first place:

"Much later in Act 6, we see Lil Cal is a juju vessel containing the splintered souls of various controversial characters in the story: Caliborn, Equius, Dirk, and yes...even Gamzee, which means he's actually here watching this ball drop in TWO forms. But all these figures are, in some manner, highly exaggerated negative manifestations of author avatars, who have amalgamated themselves within the body of English to wreak havoc on the story/reader. This is the galaxy-brained interpretation of the line. The most important character in the story is me, or more specifically, the most villainous, destructive splinter-composite of the author's presence in the story."

"Dirk and Equius similarly aren't even that unflattering as avatars either. You could do worse. And we do do worse. As far as demonic author-tiers go, English is the true monster. His dominating personality splinters are much worse too. Caliborn and Gamzee are complete hell-people compared to Dirk and Equius. They are also sort of author avatars in certain ways, but with a degree of cartoonishly evil exaggeration. They absolutely comprise the "authorial wrath" portion of the total Doc/English personality quagmire."

"I think when the time comes to show the douchebag cocktail stuck inside Cal, there's a brief temptation to regard it as an odd, semi-random melange of characters. But there are several layers of logic to the guys who all combine to form his personality. Much of the logic orbits around these negative traits associated with men, or more specifically, the "toxically masculine" aspects often linked to certain male personalities. Dirk has a lot of these traits, which are central to Dave's feelings of tension and abuse concerning his bro. The intellectual aggression, the power of assertion, the knowitall-ism, the mansplaining.

also, this line in particular makes me think of aranea:

As an alt-author figure, [Doc Scratch's] omniscience makes sense, since the author has sweeping knowledge of story details as well. Because I "know everything," he "knows everything" too. Of course, as I write the story, there are plenty of things I don't know yet, and the "not knowing" is always an important part of the process in this largely improvisational medium.

aranea starts out almost as a historian wanting to infodump pass down oral history of previous events; eventually, however, she becomes fed up with the story and decides to seize control of it herself, placing herself in an authorial position (or alt-author) so that she can steer the ship to the direction she that believes is best for everyone. ultimately, however, she fails, and gets herself re-killed by the condesce, a puppet of the real authorial avatar (english). the gendered interpretation of this is that a woman, she can girlboss (translation: be a woman in a man's position) as hard as she wants, but can never achieve true power under the patriarchy. she can play author all she wants (and hurt people along the way) but will never be allowed into the Boys Club

now, this doesn't mean that trying to be in a masculine position means a character is masculine (or even truly wants to be). but it's clear that she wants to be an author, she wants to know everything, she wants to wield the sword, all symbols of oppressive masculinity. and ONE(!!!!!) OF the ways to subvert/break that expectation is to figure out how to be true to yourself by reclaiming and embodying masculinity without succumbing the perpetuation of the patriarchy (which, coincidentally (or perhaps, not coincidentally?) is part of the basis for my transmasc reading of dirk, something i think he's forced to grapple with as well)

again, not my true + perfect vision that i'll die for or anything. just an interesting thought to speculate on

[danieyells]

So i've said before that Haku was probably the "dear friend" that left Jin's side. This is because Haku was our only known ex-Frostheimer at the time.

However we know now that Yuri implicitly used to heavily associate with Frostheim and no longer wishes to have any kind of connection to them, even professional.

I don't have a screenshot for this yet, but if you suggest Jin go to Mortkranken when he's sick in his Affinity 8 character story, he asks if you have a death wish, meaning he similarly doesn't want to associate with Mortkranken.

But why? Well, Jin suggests that somebody 'sold him out' at some point. Somebody told somebody about his stigma not working.

The faculty know Jin and Yuri have beef. . .but Dante suggests they aren't supposed to talk about it. Perhaps Yuri told them that Jin's stigma doesn't work, and the faculty are keeping it quiet for Jin's sake.

However the Frostheimers know Yuri disgraced himself somehow. Jin lashed out in an unusual way, and Tohma helped Yuri transfer to Mortkranken.

Haku, a second year, wouldn't need help transferring, as you can change houses after you hit second year, but you're stuck in your assigned house as a first year. However Tohma, well trusted by Darkwick, could surely convince them to bend the rules a little for a first year--especially if said first year's wellbeing may be in danger. And if the Frostheimers feel he disgraced himself then if nothing else he's going to have a hard time if he had to stay, to say nothing of Jin possibly wanting to cut his head off. It's better if he change houses--but somebody has to be there for Jin. . .so Tohma took his place.

(Perhaps Tohma resents Haku for being right there already but not being there for Jin? And then he goes and makes himself cozy in another house. . . .)

Jin and Yuri being friends also makes sense. Same music tastes, same attitude of "you're not important enough to speak to me, lesser being", a mutual distaste for Darkwick and the Institute's staff, they both love their mothers--

It makes sense that he might tell his close friend who happens to be a doctor about his family medical history too, I would say.

Jin knows Yuri likes a certain song and is a little irritated when you mention that he likes it.

It just. . .it adds up. They have interests and tastes in common and similar attitudes, they both now want nothing to do with each other or the other's house, and the other Frostheim ghouls close to Jin know Yuri doesn't associate with Frostheim, and even Jiro knows Yuri doesn't associate with Frostheim.

To the point that Yuri doesn't want Jiro going over there and is stressed out at the thought that he may have actually gone to Frostheim despite his orders and is openly relieved when you have proof that Jiro was actually somewhere else. And Tohma believed that Jiro had gone to Frostheim on Yuri's orders, perhaps because he already believed Yuri had told Yumiko about Jin's mother. However I don't believe Yuri would intentionally do something like that--he hates Jin but that doesn't mean he'd want to take part in a scheme to take him down, especially a scheme from a Frostheimer.

But! That does still leave an opening for Haku to have revealed the information. . .or Kaito, who can read lips and thus doesn't need to have heard an exchange to get the information from it, just seen it. Kaito is also a second year Frostheimer after all.

BUT. Until we know more this is all speculation. It's turning out like I was wrong about the previous observations after all. While these make more sense, I could still be totally off base and this could be totally unrelated beef. But it makes more sense than Haku to me. I'm glad we got such a good hint/reveal!

[cheruberris]

○ ۫ ⠀،،̲ cheruberries 草莓 ͟ ͟𝐹ame ACTRESS! dr

vogue, 73 questions with ℒILITH MARGARETA TASHEV ✸ ،،̲ what do you think about your fans? ━━ ' um not much lol ... '

⠀⠀၇୧ ⠀ᅟ𓈒⠀ inside jokes and trivia u have to know within my actress! fame dr fandom!

tw death . i wrote a short book (about 26 pages total) called 'till death do us part' at the age of 14. and self published it (i mean.. released it on tumblr) at fifteen (2015) The book dealt with topics such as death, the male gaze, obssesion (especially with male validation), light substance abuse throughout alcohol and drugs, even sex etc. it was niche but huge on certain corners of tumblr dot com. you'd see quotes like ' When he walked by my casket, his eyes instinctively wandered to my thighs that were surprisingly visible in the little white dress they clothed me in- I took pride in the fact that even when I was dead, I was sexy enough. ' on every sad girls tumblr page. ˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃 the whole context and concept of the book is hilarious. considering in every interview where i'm asked about my biggest fear i always instantly respond, "death." what prompted me to write it?? no clue.⠀

famous in my fandom especially became the era starting around 2019, where i did everything as to not be associated with 'till death do us part' . i felt like i wrote it in a bad mental state, and didn't want people romanticing neither the narrator nor woody && the topics it was overall dealing with. people were making it my whole thing, and i don't like being put into boxes.

but yeah. it turned into a meme how i'd literally block the term 'sequel' and the name of the book, from my mentions on socials. my fans now call it 'she who shall not be named' whenever they talk about it (つ╥﹏╥)つ

in terms of pop culture whenever there is a mean, manipulative and even just questionable man on the horizon he will be deemed 'a woody'. or woody energy. people genuinely use that saying, so weird. there was also this whole trend on tiktok, where i was asked to narrate the prologue of the book in an interview .. i agreed to it reluctantly. one sentence went viral as a voiceover and got used in those thirst trap edits all throughout 2020 ಥ﹏ಥ traumatized.

i got a marketing degree and dabbled in creative direction and marketing, i stayed away from social media and even deleted tumblr. it was all getting to serious to quick, considering that i was still young at the time. me going off socials and deleting apps to detox every once in a while is also an inside joke!! people gen say 'i'm pulling a lilith tashev' when they take a break from apps.

i got my first acting role through my marketing degree, because i was supposed to assist directing and marketing on euphoria. but.. i looked so georg that they ended up adding me to the show ... pretty privilege much ? ఌ︎. my character had some issues fr fr. like 'licking molly of some random dilfs dog tag type' issue (and daddy issues but shhh) and was honestly non fixable. people started saying that 'she was totally like irl me!!' which made me really uncomfortable. i guess that's what you get for not being online enough. people don't really know you like that. so i re-installed insta. i swear my fans are like male-manipulators, they know how to get me to react!!! :3

another thing about the socials situation ── there is this joke that i genuinely heal the world whenever i post something. whenever a new instagram photo dump hits the timeline, my fans are like 'look at her fixing climate change one step at a time 🥹 ' 'the world is healing!!!!' they are so DEPRAVEDDDD.

anyway. outer banks.

look. i was exhausted post-euphoria. like, mentally, emotionally, spiritually dehydrated. and my agent was like “okay babe but what if you did this beach show with hot people and treasure maps-” and i was like no thank you. and then she sent me a picture of drew starkey’s face. and i was like okay fine!

my character is this bratender. who is a brat, no pun intended. she's not a progue, not a kook ── highly doubt she even knows who she is herself. then episode five happened, and the rest was.. herstory. slow burn enemies to lovers with rafe cameron??? c'mon the people ate it up.

people were tiktoking the living shit out of the romance. like there's a clip of me getting lightly choked coupled up with ride by lana del rey lurking around somewhere. lana del rey is genuinely always my top #1 fan edit choice.

but anyway. the era was art and chaos.

except for when someone printed out a fan edit of our sex scene and asked me to sign it at a convention. BLOCKED. then people started meme-ing that, to the point where i still have people in my dms with a random screenshot of that infamous scene, being like 'sign pls 💔 💔' GET OUT OF MY DMS!!

even the cast started getting in on it. at a comic con panel, someone asked “what was the hardest scene to film?” and drew just slowly turned to me and said “emotionally? or physically?” URGHHHHH somebody get his talking license revolved dude gets me WEAK.

another meme from the era was a random fan, high af tweeting 'they’re like if mr. darcy and euphoria rue had a baby and she grew up in north carolina.' like what does that even mean?? there are people on etsy selling shirts with it #trust

don't even get me started on everything that went down between me and drew. i'd be here for days :O

[blueishspace]

Hermitshift/EmpiresShift 5

Joel (Tango's role)

(Dungeon Master + Regular)

Naturally brunette, the weird hair colour is entitely for the cool aesthetic.

Joined Hermitcraft all the way back in season 2 making him one of the oldest members, don't call him old though he's in his thirties and gets self concious about it.

Usually hangs out with Mumbo, Cub and Scar.

Used to be pretty bad at redstone but being in Hermitcraft for years has definitely changed that as anyone who has played decked out will attest.

Has a tendency to get overly careless mad in the life series and accidentally exploding himself trying to get kills.

Tango (Mumbo's role)

(Mooner + Regular)

Resident mad inventor.

Also joined in season 2 of Hermitcraft.

The machinations of his mind truly are an enigma.

Why does he keep getting thrust on positions of power? He really has redstone he should be working on and yet everyone wants to put in charge of something.

"It's pretty simple actually".

Tie is made of fire, do not grab it.

He's old, of course he's making a plan to transfer his conciousness into another body to live forever.

Mumbo (Zed's role)

(Is that sheep looking at me? + Regular)

Joined the Hermitcraft server back in season 5.

What if, and hear me out, the mad scientist had social anxiety.

Will put you in a death trap to see you struggle to escape and eventually give up and accept your demise though, do not be fooled by the facade.

Why did he decide to do a game show when he doesn't like being the centre of attention? In his defense it was a funny idea and when he realized he was going to have to be the host it was too late to go back.

Not associated with Potatoman, the potato looking crime fighting vigilante...totally.

Zedaph (Shubble's role)

(Storm witch + Regular)

Yes, he does dye his hair...or well, used to, ever since he had to leave his home he hasn't had the chance. The roots are growing back in pretty quickly.

Listen, when he escaped his own dimension bringing along a terrifying demon wasn't in the plan...accident happen sometimes... especially to him.

Got kicked out of the witches academy for "unethical experiments" and "unsupervised production of illegal drugs" and "magical being rights violations".

And then got possessed by an evil moss that took over his body...fun.

At least the goddess Gem brought him under her wing and tbought him all about storm magic.

Shubble (Jevin's role)

(Holiday+ Regular)

Joined in Hermitcraft season 2 ...wich looking at it now is the same season most of the previously mentioned characters joined.

Just a chill gal.

Not really, she's a mess, but if she pretends to be chill then no one will know. (Everyone, literally everyone knows).

She just can't believe she has to be the one to host the Hermitcraft christmas Secret Santa. Everyone is so busy lately, someone has to bring some sense of community to the server and if no one else steps foward she will.

Hates the Poe-Poe, she liked her definitely permanent totally not pop up shop she 100% did not forget to finish. Started the APAC (All Poe-poe Are Cringe).

IJevin (Beef's role)

(New outfit + Old outfit)

For a slime having slime on your shirt is much the same as a human having blood on theirs.

Joined Hermitcraft in season 4.

Somehow got involved into the fish mob and Big Salmon™, if you find him with fish swimming inside his slime don't question it... Unless you want to get involved with that too.

Made the Hermits trading card game in season 9, it got him so stressed and tired his slime started to lose viscosity and melt randomly. (Like a certain other slime in a different mcyt smp after being pushed into lava but...less intense) the others had to host an intervantion and take over the card production in season 10.

[darklinaforever]

I don't understand the problem people have with rewrites of Dracula that humanize him. Yes, Dracula in the original book is a pure representation of evil. But like Carmilla he is a fictional and almost mythological figure at this stage who evolves with the times. The myth of the vampire has changed, so it is logical that Dracula himself follows this model. The book will still exist, so what's the problem ? The same goes for offering him a romance, whether or not it is with a rewriting of the character of Mina or an another invented female character, or sometimes a woman linked to the Van helsing lineage, or even Van helsing changed directly into a woman !

Even Jonathan himself for exemple in order to explore a homosexuality or bisexuality in the story of Dracula ! Strangely I never see people revolting when Jonathan is placed as a romantic interest. I totally see where that's coming from, but the fact is that their relationship isn't good in the original material either.

As for the problem of Mina, a strong female character, apparently having her strong characteristics erased when she is made Dracula's lover... I don't agree.

After all, it all depends on how the thing is done. Yes, the Mina from the 1992 film is not the one from the book (which is far from being a flawless representation of a strong woman... Yes, for the time when the book was released, it works, but in our time modern era, there are flaws apparently, as with most works dating back a certain number of years), but she still remains a strong female character in her own way and morally ambiguous in this adaptation. It's just a different version. I particularly liked the version of Mina in the canceled series of 2013. These 3 versions of Mina are all strong women on different levels.

Don't make me say what I didn't say. I love the original version of Dracula, and I really hope one day to have a more or less faithful adaptation, but the rewritings of the characters of Dracula and Mina are not to be demonized. I also think that we will surely continue in the future to have versions where Mina and Dracula are associated together as lovers, as other times not. Maybe one day we'll even have a version with Dracula and Jonathan officially partnered as lovers. Who knows ? And everything will simply depend on the writing of the characters. On the other hand, yes, I am a little exasperated by the tendency to make Jonathan a character either bland or an asshole in certain adaptations. Give me the adorable Harker from the book for a change please... Anyway, these are my thoughts on the various adaptations of the Dracula myth !

[sharlotscarletfox]

Hogwarts Legacy x Patronuses

This is dedicated to the one person that wanted to see it ily. To preface this I made a thread on Animagi forms for the main Hogwarts Legacy characters and I picked those on certain characteristics. I am picking patronuses based on their spirits or souls rather.

Sebastian Sallow

For him I headcanoned a dog as an animagus form and I think he would have a Fox as a patronus. I think he would definitely be able to conjure one, he has plenty happy memories of his parents before they died and probably a lot of good memories with his twin sister and Ominis. Just because he was going through it in his fifth year that doesn't mean his entire life had been a tragedy. Unlike... our other Slytherin boy...

This quote is not exactly off the wiki, it's actually off Pottermore which is like... mid. Unironically I hate the Pottermore sorting system if you want a good sorting take the damn uquiz that one person made it's so accurate and it clocks your personality so well. I'll link it in the end if anyone's interested but I'm getting too off topic. Anyway from Pottermore:

"Associated with cunning, the fox has a place in many ancient cultures’ folklore. Foxes are sometimes thought to be tricksters, leading the unsuspecting down a path of demise. The calculating fox can outwit its enemies with strategy and adaptability."

Very much a Slytherin Patronus. Sebastian had been adapting the whole series, learning different spells and researching things in order to find a cure. He went above and beyond to figure out how to use the relic and he did succeed in it. Also a trickster he seems to live pranks and causing mischief. Foxes are also my favorite animal if you can't tell from the user. They are also solitary creatures which is not exactly like Sebastian, however he was fully willing to do everything on his own if it came down to it. He was willing to fight Ominis in the catacomb and abandon MC if she didn't talk to the keepers.

Anne Sallow

I headcanoned Anne to have a cat animagus form to be a complete complement to Sebastian and I think she would have a Brown Hare as a patronus. Also this is a complete coincidence that I ended up matching them in patronuses as well. I wish I dated my notes but I don't but I had a list of like 10ish patronuses that would match the Shadow Trio and Anne close to when I started writing my fic but then never ended up doing anything with the information and then I decided that the Brown Hare fits her the best out of all I had and I didn't even have Fox listed for Sebastian for some reason I don't know you live and you learn I guess they are matching wood. Also I think she can conjure one for the same reason Sebastian can.

From Pottermore once again:

"Brown hares are typically characterized as shy, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be bold. They often outsmart predators by hiding in incredible stillness, but they can run at formidable speeds if they need to get away. In the spring, brown hares can be found “boxing” with each other in open farmlands. Your brown hare Patronus will not hesitate to get in a fighting stance and face the Dementors head-on."

I think this fits Anne well, not afraid to fight her own battles if it comes to it but maybe shy at first. Also outsmarting opponents is a Slytherin trait, I think while Sebastian is headstrong, Anne is a bit more logical with her approach of things. Sebastian and Ominis share like 3 braincells total when they are together so they need someone with some semblance of common sense to keep them together and Anne held that position before MC crash landed in Hogwarts for sure. I bet she would attempt to summon it just so she can watch it frolicking around they are fucking adorable.

Ominis Gaunt

So as a recap again I figured Ominis would have a White Snake as his animagus form but definitely no snake was considered for his patronus. As I said I think the patronus is more of the reflection of the soul and he tries so hard not to be associated with his family so I think there is no way his patronus is anything snakelike. YOU KNOW WHAT IT WOULD BE THO? A hedgehog. Also I think he would be able to produce one but it would be really really difficult.

Pottermore quoted:

"Cute and loveable inside and out, those who possess a hedgehog Patronus may thrive on giving and receiving love and may feel they need more of it than others realize. While upfront about their endearment and affectionate personality, hedgehogs are also known to be anxious and overly cautious. They often worry about their own and others of their kind’s safety. Those around must approach the hedgehog with care and precision, though, because when defensive and hurt, hedgehogs are remembered not for their sweetness, but for their sharp spikes."

Read the first sentence like 3 times and tell me it's not accurate. He cares so much for Seb, Anne and MC but none of them seem to reciprocate the sentiment to the extent he would like it. Anxious and overly cautious. He tried to keep Sebastian from the Dark Arts even going as far as to threathen the headmaster. He was also adamant about protecting the Undercroft from MC. In addition to all that he kept in touch with Snne throughout her illness and made sure she was doing okay. Also Ominis out of all the characters seemed to retaliate the most when he was hurt by something. He was never shy about voicing his hurt. Either the Undercroft, the Scriptorium, the Catacombs all these times he stood up for what he believed in and tried to protect his friends even at the expense of his own feelings.

Now a bit more fun exploration. Another fun thing to consider here and that I considered was that his patronus takes the form of whatever the player's animagus form is. That has happened before in canon and I think it's really sweet. The fact that your soul can reflect your love for someone else. For angst potential you can maybe write/draw his patronus present as a snake first and then later pick up MCs animagus form or patronus to match it. This concept gets even more interesting I'd you headcanon your MCs patronus/animagus to be a Unicorn. Why you might ask? Unicorns very heavily prefer women, (it is also the rarest patronus but who cares enjoy the game and headcanon whatever you want have fun) but that means that Ominis would be a very special exception for both of those reasons. Although Ominis does seem like the kind and pure enough soul to get accepted by a Unicorn. (PLEASE WRITERS AND ARTISTS TAKE NOTES MY IDEAS ARE FREE)

Natsai Onai

This is kind of an hear me out but it made so much sense in my head. I think Natsai would have a Giraffe patronus because of her dad even if this doesn't exist in Pottermore but what does jk rowling know anyway am I right. Speaking of that bitch idk why we are touching the main plot and making a show for it when there is so much potential to explore maybe Hogwarts Legacy Sequel or Marauderes or more on the Fantastic beasts movies or focus on another school but no they decide to mess with the old stiff and possibly ruin it sigh.

I went as bit off topic there I'm sorry none of these are super planned i just write what's on my mind. Anyway as I mentioned Pottermore doesn't list Giraffe as a possible patronus however since Natsai's father has such an influence on her life it would make sense to have his animagus form as her spiritual guardian. Same thing as I brought up with Ominis, love changes people and that's a good thing. I think she should have no problem producing one and would probably cry when she first sees it.

Poppy Sweeting

Poppy was headcanoned by me to be a bee animagus and I kinda gave her the most Hufflepuff like pateonus but I swear it fits so well. Poppy was the one I did the most recent research on because for the Shadow trio and Anne I did this a year or so ago and Natty's just came to me in a dream. Eventually I settled on a Badger which is the Hufflepuff crest it's like giving a slytherin a snake yes I know. I think out of all our characters aside from maybe our gifted MC she would be the fastest to produce one because she is full of love and full of joy.

Quoting Pottermore:

"The recognizable mascot of Hufflepuff House, badgers represent determination. Badgers mostly keep to themselves but are aggressive when threatened. Connected to the earth, the badger is grounded and celebrates individuality. This creature’s stubbornness and instinct to protect make it a formidable enemy for Dementors!"

Like you can't blame me it just makes sense. Surprisingly Poppy wasn't portrayed to get along with a lot of her peers which is odd but it would make sense that some people would find her obsession with the animals weird especially since this is Pre-Fantastic Beasts so they have not been studied to the right extent yet. However she is never afraid to be herself and break free from the ideas that her parents taught her. She was determined to save the dragon and the snidgets and she was always making the calls that would help preserve the animals. I love Poppy she's so sweet she is definitely deserving of a patronus that represents her whole house.

MC

Again putting MC last because as the player/writer/artist your patronus is what you want it to be and there is no wrong answer to this. In my case I gave my idea of MC as Thestral patronus because it's something unique and it also plays into what I headcanoned as her animagus form which is a Raven. Both Ravens and Thestrals are associated with and are seen as omens of death and thats a recurring theme in my mind with her.

For those curious of the description:

"Thestrals get a bad reputation as unlucky omens, probably due to their spooky appearance and association with death. The reality is that these intriguing creatures, which are only visible to people who have witnessed death and accepted its significance, are gentle and kind. Thestrals can fly at incredibly fast speeds and have a keen sense of direction. If the herd that lives in the Forbidden Forest is any indication, Thestrals can be extremely loyal to their human friends and will fiercely attack their enemies. This makes the Thestral an intimidating and powerful Patronus."

As an ending thought I think Pottermore sorting is bad however idk about anyone else but I got clocked with the patronus choice. When I took the quiz god knows how long ago it gave me the Nightjar which fits my personality incredibly well. If you were around for my post on wandlore I mentioned I would have a wand with many defensive qualities and Nightjar is also one of the more protective patronuses. For anyone wanting the quiz I will link it here. https://uquiz.com/quiz/oz0xOu/hogwarts-houses-but-pottermore-can-die-by-my-blade

[auset66]

PSYCHIC READING 🔮

If you feel called out from this picture or anything numbers or just feel like yes it does have my message. Go on. (No it's not tarot I am doing it just on my intuition.) 🌸🪻

Yes? Go on sweetie your personal message Is just below this. 👇

First I want you guys to hang tight cause for some it could be all for some it could be just one or here there. It is going to be a bit messy so please understand. Please let me know if it resonated. 🪽

A wish a dream of yours I see is comming true. Very soon very unexpected way. You even forget about it yourself. And you won't even notice it yes, you will realize it after Some time. Like oh yeah I remember I cried over it to stars year ago or so. I almost forgot.

Purple and crown Chakra. Meditation at 444 frequency anything maybe at this time will help.

God I might sound complete crazy but whatever here it is if you feel like something supernatural wanting to connect to you. Well this is the confirmation. Yes you are not on oh my god honey I am getting tingles. Amethyst, mountainy regions, fog, rain, lake, flowing water, you felt it.. it was real. You want to get clear picture? Try free writing or something or oh my god see what you are writing about these days? What type of character? The song? Just whatever it is. Or what are you drawing? When you are like absentminded typish. The clarity about it is there.

What recent series or manga or anime got you hooked? It has answers to your carrer path. Like the struggle, the relevance, how the character overcame it. Not maybe necessarily the same carrer but similarish problems.

Your cup of coffee. Try switching. Seriously what is even this? Oh. Yes if there is someone you are bonded over coffee or you know this one particular thing or person you associate with coffee. Yes. Time to switch. Yes. Yes.

Talk. Extend. Family. Friend. A cousin who or a friend or even your own sibling. Someone who you still close too offcourse but haven't talked with for quite some time. Talk to them. They very very very clearly need a safe support system. You. Go and talk. Not small talks or chats. Meet and get the tea. Something very major is going on and your advice is important.

Greece. Venice. Artic? Switzerland? is calling you. If you have been planning to go. Finally take the trip. Don't postpone it thinking again And again some other time some other time.

If a certain god/goddess is calling. It is new yes I am way too very sure. Something foreign to you. It could like you seeing them a lot on Pinterest or you just know. You would know instantly. Read and understand about that God/goddess. The life story and all the mythologies. Understand it on psychological level on material level. Like what it could mean and how and everything. Well just let yourself be know about it. The path further Will open. You will know yourself what to make of it.

Skipping parts? Don't? Make it known oh my god. Guys. (88) and yes. Okay. So in workplace or whatever. Well don't hide yourself. Let everyone know what you did. And what is your work. Who are you. Don't hide. Shine. And reclaim your original work. Don't let people (16:16) steal away your work, your ideas your, your limelight. Let everyone know your truth your originality.

Crazy tubelight? Just lock loose? Neighbours. Beware of your surroundings. Especially if you live alone. Look around and be aware of what is going on around you. Who is around you. Online too be aware. Don't overshare unless you are completely sure.

Unexpected turn. No in 6 months. I am so so very sure. Whatever you think impossible now. Yes Something totally absurd totally unexpectedly totally not really shocking but yes very unexpected that you can't even think of is going to happen. Just really trust me this. Especially if you are wearing something like with red dots on white or white dots on red typish dress or something anything. Even a bow red.

These are so random I literally don't know what I just wrote and why I wrote it. Let me guys know if you liked this type of reading?

Good bye and take care. And take those meds please. Your family doesn't hate you sweetie. Live and laugh. Bye-bye 💕💕🪻

[cripplecharacters]

Hi! Ok so at one point I remember when answering an ask you said that when making animal based characters to just stay away from making any rat ones because of negative connotations (which I totally get)

So my question is would it be ok to have a whole humanoid race that is mildly based on mice? They look like humans but their ears vaguely look mouse-ish, they have tails, and their feet are sort of like paws. I am considering two different options with the tails in case I should stay away from the mouse thing, one looks like a mouse tail (kind of the main thing making them mice themed) and the other is a similar shape but fluffy especially at the end (A little like some versions of unicorn tails I've seen)

I would like to include disabled characters so if the mouse thing still isn't recommended I'll redesign them

Hello!

Most of the time when we advise that people avoid a certain trope/concept, it isn't a complete ban on it. It's generally more of a "be careful with how you approach this" type thing.

For example, we often advise against making a disabled character that's a villain because of their disability. If your only disabled character is a villain with chronic pain that kills people because their disability stops them from their dream job, that's not great. BUT if you have this same character and you also have a wheelchair user who runs the tech stuff for the hero side (Oracle-style, for my DC folks) and a Deafblind hero who leads the charge against the villains and an autistic sidekick and an amputee henchman for the villain and several able bodied villains and so on, then its less of a problem. It might not be gold medal representation but because you're no longer equating disability with tradegy and hatred and instead showing that villain as part of a cast with diverse stories and, more importantly, as a person with their own unique experiences, it's much better.

This is all a very long way of saying that most tropes that are generally best avoided can still be okay in some contexts.

In this case, having this whole species is completely fine and it's great that you want to include disabled characters! I see nothing wrong with this.

If you had a world where the characters were all anthropomorphic animals and the only rat character was also your own disabled character, that'd be a bit of a problem because it's singling out your disabled character -- presumably to poke at their disability.

In the concept you've presented, though, being part of this species is a trait all (Or most) of your characters share. Which is fine!

As a few final notes of caution:

If you're worried about certain unintended connotations or messaging coming across, it's generally best to spread your cast out as much as possible. By this, I mean that if you have other species in this world, don't have all your disabled characters be part of this one species. Likewise, don't have every member of this species be disabled. Instead, consider having your disabled characters be from different species. For example, have an amputee character be from this species but have a blind character be from another species.

Certain specific disabilities do have individual associations to watch out for. Be careful making associations between a character with a cleft lip and hares/rabbits (Because of the derogatory term "harelip" that has been used). Likewise but to a lesser extent, be careful with associations of blind people and moles, mice, and bats. This is because of the naked mole rat, the Three Blind Mice, and "blind as a bat" respectively. There are a few of these out there.

This is less of a warning and more just something to consider but keep in mind how their animal traits can be impacted by their disability. Would a character that's paralyzed have use of their tail? Would a blind character trip over their tail or would their same "sense of self" extend to the tail like it would an arm or leg? How would a character in a wheelchair adapt their chair to their tail? Etc.

Hopefully some of this is helpful!

Cheers,

~ Mod Icarus

[liquid-bonhomme]

TW: Discussion of CSA. No Graphic descriptions, but be advised

I want to try to try and put into perspective the absurdity of this predator hunter mindset by talking about my own situation for a bit. Not to make this about me, but, it's the only experience I have that I can speak as an authority on.

The man who sexually assaulted me (very brutally) as a child will never face justice. He will never see the inside of a prison cell. And outside of private circumstances, it is in my best interests as a victim to not name him. Here's why:

I was around 3 or 4 years old when I was assaulted. My 'memory' of it happening is less of a memory and more like a formless abstract, nightmarish sensation -- throughly deep fried by time and trauma.

I know now for certain it did happen-- but only because the assault was severe enough there was physical damage done to my person extensive enough a doctor was able to confirm for me that was the most likely cause of it. I suspected it for a long time, with good reason, but I didn't know for sure until I was an adult.

I can give you a name. And I am of some confidence this was the man that assaulted me due to process of elimination and . . . Other bits of concerning information I have about him, it is still a guess it was him. The abuse took place during a time-frame where I was left unsupervised and exposed to a lot of adults I shouldn't have been. That it stopped occurring immediately after he lost access to me due to my parents having a falling out with him and his wife for totally unrelated reasons is the best 'evidence' I have-- and even then that timeline is based on me doing my best to work through crunchy childhood memories, and me asking other people for cross reference.

My actual clearest memory is of him killing an endangered animal right infront of me-- and him taking us kids out to gawk at the gored bird. Us, barely not toddlers at the time. It was terrifying. I was scared shitless of this man. He was not a good guy-- in general. I can confirm that much as fact. But there IS a chance the fact that he was such a brutal man might be leading me to the conclusion he was my abuser by negative association. Or, it's character evidence. You could argue either way, honestly.

He's a rando. Nobody. He's a fucking white trash Albertan boomer who as far as I know remains to this day in his little chronically divorced hermit hole taking up space. I understand people focus on notable individuals because their influence gives them broader access to victims potentially-- but that is not the only circumstance that gives opportunity for this kind of abuse.

So like, as a representative figure in this sort of space though it's certainly not limited to him--

Lio Convoy-- what are you going to do?

What could you POSSIBLY do for me, Lio? Don't I deserve justice?! As I type this there is a possibility that fucker could be molesting other children. We KNOW that pedophiles are likely to reoffend as long as they can get away with it.

I could give you his name and place of buisness, Lio. A link to his Facebook. Pictures of the fucker. Hos ex-wife's name. All the names of his children. Photo evidence I was in physical proximity to his family around the time I say the abuse took place. I could give you my medical records that indicate something happened to me at some point.

Or, in no reasonable court, should you be able to convict someone of a crime that serious, with just a limited amount of circumstantial evidence like that?

Would you be asking me, the victim, to put myself in the position of having to have to litigate one of the worst experiences of my life, a crime committed 24/25 years ago, with the courts, with YOU, and potentially the entire internet?

What fucking good would that possibly do anyone?

Sucks right? What an unfortunate reality we all must face that sex crimes happen behind closed doors and the most vulnerable are the least likely to get justice, huh?

This is NOT me saying it's wrong to call out predators. When appropriate. Or that in all circumstances, there is no point in TRYING to seek justice.

But this is just the reality in living in a social system, where the only thing we do is criminally prosecute SA. No effective deterrence, no proper education to parents AND children how to prevent situations like this. Very limited public welfare services to deal with predators BEFORE they offend as preventative measures. So much social stigma.

Predator hunters-- what are you realistically actually fucking doing to actually fucking help-- literally any of this?

[dingodad]

tell me about your choices for the tarot troll signs........ im stalking your artfight to remember which one is which again- the world one i get, obviously astrological terra, though because of that im surprised you didnt use sol for the sun, seems like the magician has it on their forehead instead? the devil has some sort of opposing forces thing going on... the rest of them im clueless. sorry if this is a bit much im passionate about tarot but i am a bit rusty on their individual meanings

what a great question :) unfortunately very boring answers inbound hahaha.

my mission with these designs was to capture what was iconic about the artwork associated with each card, rather than necessarily to address their esoteric meaning, so the signs largely reflect that. they are abstractions of what is depicted on the card in the same way a constellation only very abstractly represents the thing it is named after (TOTALLY DELIBERATE CONCEPTUAL PARALLEL). in the case of the hanged man and the hermit i found the silhouettes of those characters strong enough that i went for straightforwardly gestural depictions of them in symbol. but temperance (gold)'s is a pictograph of two drinking vessels overflowing for instance. the solar disc is just on their forehead cus i noticed it in the card art and thought it worked for a psychic character like a goldblood LOL

there are a few cases where i was so uninspired i just adapted a symbol that is literally on the card. see: strength and the empress. i had a particularly hard time finding anything on the empress card at all that was interesting enough to adapt into a fantroll design. SORRY. first ever female character i have completely failed to be compelled by despite repeated attempts...

outside of the motifs common to each caste i tend to avoid using established symbology as anything more than a starting point for fantroll symbols. it's been so long i don't even remember if the world's sign looking like the symbol for planet earth was intentional LMAO i guess it probably was though. but i don't know if i really have a proper justification for this approach. i guess it's like any other part of a character design in that if i ever felt like i had drawn something that someone else was just as likely to come up with then i probably haven't pushed the design hard enough. that said i think i am particularly irrational and neurotic about the idea of one of my trolls having the same sign as someone else's fantroll who isn't even in the same caste LOL like THAT'S NOT HOW SIGNS WORK. THAT COULD NEVER BE CANON. no doubt i picked this up when when i first found out about that art project giving symbols to every single constellation and i was naturally like wow, this would be really great for my homestuck oc! and then subsequently discovered that literally everyone had already had that idea. that will never happen to me again... anyway /rant /vent /traumadump

specifically for the sun card i wanted to avoid any symbol that seemed particularly obvious. cus what i like about the zodiac symbols is that they're so abstract that they don't really depict anything at all, but when you know what they're SUPPOSED to be you can kind of squint your eyes and see it. like scorpio is clearly not a picture OF a scorpion but you can see why it represents what it does. so i didn't want the symbol representing the sun to be anything we would already traditionally recognise as a pictograph of the sun. i don't know if it even would have occurred to me to use the alchemical symbol for the sun, but i think i basically arrived at the same IDEA as the solar disc even if my conclusion wasn't identical. and i think there's a certain in-universe sense to approaching things this way too, because if you were a troll and all the trolls around you had abstract symbols it would be weird if you were just walking around wearing a picture of the sun right? like, you're not The Sun Guy. you're just a guy. i mean you ARE the Sun Guy but you don't know it. the fact that you're the Sun Guy is a secret that nobody is ever supposed to call attention to

[neomechanicaldoll]

Beast yeast episode 8 spoilers!

So. I've been going a little bit cuckoo bananas over the new update and its happenings, and I just cannot get this stupid game out of my head. and thus to cope I have made

The pure vanilla conspiracy

Basically just a bunch of things both big and small that I find kind of strange about pure vanilla cookie and associated things

Starting small we have: the pure vanilla kingdom and my first thought is, how is it floating? Just... how did it get there. I don't think it's natural and even if it were how would cookies of gotten up there. In the story gingerbrave and co get up there by using a teleporter and I can't think of a way anyone could of gotten up to the floating island to build it if it were a natural structure.

And speaking of that teleporter, the pure vanilla kingdom is surprisingly technologically advanced. Of course the golden cheese kingdom has all its stuff going on but that place is the exception to everywhere else, the only other places with automations and/or machines I can think of off the top of my head is creme republic, city of wizards and whatever was going on in the summer music festival story(I haven't really played much of that so idk) there could be some I'm missing that I'm just not thinking of right now but point is the pure vanilla kingdom is surprisingly advanced compared to most other places

Quick another thing is the pure vanilla kingdom possibly being responsible for the valley beneath it being so baren, there's something to be said here but I don't remember remember what so uh

Moving on to actually important stuff, I wanna talk about pure vanilla cookies design and the design motifs associated with him.

Basic stuff out of the way first, pure vanilla cookie looks like an ice cream cone and I think that's pretty cool

Next I've got to talk about the eight pointed star which if you haven't noticed important characters (pretty much just exclusively the beasts and the ancients) have certain symbols or sets of symbols tied to them (basically like a visual leitmotif) when these symbols show up somewhere it signifies the characters connection to that thing and pure vanilla's is an eight pointed star (specifically an eight pointed one not a six pointed star those show up everywhere) and so here are some places where I have found said star

Predictable places are of course on pure vanilla cookie's design, the pure vanilla kingdom some and episodes 7 and 8 of beast yeast (only in the background though). More interesting possibly lore important places for this to be is his soul jam (I know this one seems obvious but I'll get to why it's interesting later), on the avatar of destiny's design (and I WILL be talking about this one just you wait), both dream station and eternal city of wizards (I'm not totally sure if this one holds any implications or if devsis just wanted more shapes for stars but they are there and if it is intentional than, oh my does it make things interesting)

There is 100% more places than this since I've mostly just looked through the backgrounds of the world maps, I'm just not bothered enough to look through the whole story and the level backgrounds and decors, maybe I'll do it another day

So- avatar of destiny

I am admittedly a little confused about this thing I really thought it might come into play in these past few updates and it kind of just hasn't, it wasn't even really hinted towards. I am an avid pure vanilla cookie will be avatar of destiny theory enjoyer and I still think that it'll be involved in the story but now I'm not exactly sure how. I originally thought that pure vanilla cookie would become the avatar of destiny a la dark cacao cookie in episode 14 which I still think is a possibility for it to happen I'm just not sure exactly how now. Although there is that one strange line shadow milk cookie has in his interaction with candy apple cookie that has some very fun implications.

But all that aside let's look at the design!

All this considered I feel like there's no possible way that the avatar of destiny and pure vanilla cookie aren't related in some way. I would compare the attacks avatar of destiny and pure vanilla have but aod isn't in guild raid right now and I don't have super sparkle pure vanilla yet so I can't (also I don't want to)

Ok now it's soul jam time. I can't really say alot about this bit because there's no that much information so uh. Pure vanilla cookie's soul jam is kinda really strange, like why does it look like this

It's so strange, pure vanilla's soul jam is the only one that looks different when in its non physical form. There's not really much I can say about this since nothing in the game ever comments on this, although there is something interesting where whenever the light of truth talks to pure vanilla cookie his soul jam appears on screen in comparison whenever shadow milk cookie talks to pure vanilla whilst pretending to be the light of truth this doesn't happen which means me think that shadow milk is unaware of pure vanilla's soul jam being like it is, just some food for thought

Now we finally talk personality and in terms of character the new updates have been a all you can eat buffet, but we're here to talk suspicious things incase you've forgotten which you probably have by now. It was mentioned in a post by piromina that pure vanilla is being mighty suspicious especially during that ending part of beacon of truth and it has made me think a little. When the other golden cheese and dark cacao cookie awakened they did so by denying the ideology of their counterparts (I think, I don't remember completely) but pure vanilla doesn't. Instead of doing something like I dunno just believing real hard he tricks shadow milk cookie, something that shadow milk would do himself. Also that lie shall vanquish a lie line was pretty concerning, I don't think pure vanilla cookie is entirely ok (I hope he isn't, I hope devsis puts him in the metaphorical torture blender again \affectionate)

Oooo suprise shadow milk section. Uh "why is this here? Isn't this supposed to be the pure vanilla cookie conspiracy?" don't worry about it, I just discovered some stuff during my crappy research and thought I should bring them up

So fun things I found, shadow milk eye motif on the walls of that one cave, y'know that one cave with the tapestrys of pure vanilla, it's that one and the weird blueberry eye plant things in city of wizards so that's cool

Uuuhh ya tgis was uh fun definitely helped with the brain worms I would do more character analysis stuff but I'm too tired to, maybe I'll come back another day, who knows

[astriiformes]

When I was applying for undergrad, I was fully in my "All my favorite characters are weird smart academic types" phase, because I Iike many undiagnosed twice-exceptional teens had carefully constructed a personal identity around a certain (incredibly harmful) societal idea of intelligence. It totally showed in the institutions I was applying to, too, and in particular, my motivation for choosing them.

This also lead to me making bad choices in the long run and was completely unsustainable, but I will admit that it was helpful when it came to motivating myself to complete my college applications. (Especially considering one of my top schools -- and the one with the most involved application -- happened to be a university that a beloved favorite character had attended but also, it is really, really good in retrospect that I did not get in there.)

I am happier and healthier now and have a much more sustainable image of success in my head, if an imperfect relationship with it, but this also means I have a complicated relationship with the fictional academic archetype and the type of characters I used to love, and that used to be motiviating to me. A lot of my favorite characters these days are ones who possess other traits I admire -- tenacity, kindness, a strong sense of justice, and a desire to change the world for the better. But I don't associate most of them with school or academic success at all; sometimes even the opposite.

All this to say, seeing as I have grad school apps due in exactly a month now. Save me Palamedes Sextus. Save me.

[mackeralsauce]

a very long dive into cuttletavio feat. my personal opinions and viewpoints as someone with an insane fixation on the ship.

hello fellow cuttletavio freaks... since the fandoms been propping up more lately i kind of want to talk about my views on the ship and share them, but the problem is, i'm kind of scared to?

it's not necessarily that i want to be unfriendly/antisocial, but moreso this particular ship has a certain *history* to it (which i won't go into) and so making friends in the community seems scary!

this is going to be a long, long discussion/ramble on my views of the ship (their dynamics, etc.) which i don't really think will be read much but that's okay! i just wanted to put my thoughts out there and see how it goes. the full ramble is under the cut.

I've made a post before on the whole 'compare and contrast' aspect of the characters of Craig Cuttlefish and Octavio Takowasa, and that still applies to my views of them. I think the aspect of coming together despite their differences is important to the core of the ship. It is also important to the themes of Splatoon.

Splatoon- as a series- has a running theme of humanity, its mistakes, and its nature. The inkfish of the series, for all intents and purposes, have inherited the good and bad of humanity. This allows for a very complex view of the characters, especially in focus to the past. However, from what I've seen, it appears a lot of people tend to have a very narrow view of Craig and Octavio. They tend to split them into one of two camps:

Total Good, or Total Evil.

This narrow black-and-white view of the characters ends up bleeding into the ship usually. I tend to see people in the groupings of 'fluffy, wholesome ship' and 'toxic, abusive old man yaoi'. Both of these are somewhat disappointing (though the latter upsets me most, we'll get into why later) and dilute it to such a flat view. I know this is to be expected, since that's how fictional works are oft taken, but it does bother me since I care so deeply about the topic.

I'd say the 'toxic yaoi' view is the worse of the two. Am I saying the characters should always be happy, without angst? Absolutely not! It's perfectly normal for couples to argue and have spats. What I refer to is when the ship is distilled into these mere tropes (often associated with BL writing and such), where they're genuinely abusive, where the 'toxicity' is the main aspect of it. I can't stop anyone from having that perspective on the characters, but it really doesn't befit either of them in the slightest.

In my personal opinion- formed from character analysis and lore research-, they would be a healthy but complex relationship. As people, they are neither good nor bad. They want to be good people, they try, but they make mistakes along the way. These mistakes vary based on their own personal vices and virtues. We'll start with a discussion of that, their ideologies.

Craig Cuttlefish- keeping in mind that the NOA localization sucks balls- is a hopeful man that pursues an ideal of good. He's shown in-canon to care for his family, to be of artistic talent, and to pursue order. Through interviews, he's revealed to have always wished for peace. Based on these, I'd say he's somewhat of a hopeless romantic, with a strong attachment to his moral compass. I'd go as far to associate him with anti-war political beliefs and a certain 70s hippie charm to him.

Octavio Takowasa, on the other hand, is shown to be of a rebellious nature. Boisterous, loud, proud. He's shown in-canon to care for the greater good of his people, and that his allegiance is with chaos. His character tends to be misinterpreted less (from what I've seen), but many still tend to fall for the basic pitfalls of mischaracterization with him. As his kabuto symbolizes he likely leads a Shogunate-type society, we can infer he's of a strong, built mannerism, and likely was born into that militaristic structure. Despite this, I think he pursued peace in spite of his predecessors' rule.

Why does this 'order v. chaos' theme matter? It's because it can reveal their strengths and short-fallings. Craig is bound to his sense of justice, but it can be to a fault. Organized, operational, but would falter if his plans were broken. Octavio is able to go with the flow, ever-changing. He's a beacon of progress yet this also serves to his recklessness. Craig helps to ground Octavio, whilst Octavio helps to lift Craig up. They are, in essence, inseparable.

This DOES lead to arguments and falling-outs, but I do NOT think it would've escalated to that of 'toxicity'. They are mature adults. I don't think what happened at the Siege of Arowana was intentional, nor do I think they had it in them to hurt each other. I don't think they grew 'bitter' towards each other. Any hateful feelings were likely towards the leader of Inkadia's military or nation, towards the ones moving the pawns. It's unlikely Octavio started the war; not without being provoked. With Craig's behaviors, in-canon, I find it unlikely to be his fault.

If I were to go deeper-in with my personal theories, I'd liken that Inkadia as a nation is closest to Western Ideologies (which, does track, the whole haikara vs bankara thing). This is hinted at by mentions of inkling hedonism in pre-war times, which proves still present in the consumerist tendencies of modern Inkopolis. This doesn't mean that *everything* from western nations like the United States translates historically to Inkadia, but we can infer how this influence relates to the war and geopolitical tensions of the pre-war period.

It's already pretty obvious that the Sunken Scrolls are propaganda. From both sides, to be exact. The Octarian propaganda is obvious to us, the player, because we play as inklings in Splatoon 1. However, many people seem to not use the same thinking for the inkling historical sources in the scrolls. Those are likely influenced by propaganda too. This brings me to a topic I like to emphasize quite often (including in my fic... hi Ruse Theory fans!!): history is written by the winners of war.

The sunken scrolls state things like the war was started by rising tides, and that the inklings won due to 'superior number of limbs'. While I think the tides were *partially* true because of the Splatlandian scrolls mentioning a great flood, I don't think thats the whole story. We know the Zapfish are valuable to Inkadia. We also know that Bluefin Depot is a coal mine, Craig did something in Bluefin Depot during the war, and coal is a pollutive source of energy. Zapfish- so far- seem to be more of an efficient source.

Where am I going with this? The war had most likely been a power/resources battle, with the floods a further excuse for suddenness of attacking a previously-allied nation.

This ties into the ship because it clarifies the reasons for the war, and how much control they had in the manner. As far as we know, Craig's lowest rank in the early times of the war was that of Second Lieutenant. He wouldn't have been even close to calling those shots. As for Octavio, the waters are a bit muddied.

Shogunate Governments typically rule temporarily during wartime, but we also never hear of any other form of Octarian rulership. This can be excused with the fact that Splatoon's inkfish don't directly copy human culture. It's likely that the Octarians could have discovered remnants of human culture in the bunkers (pre-war, whilst exploring the continent), and simply emulated some of the elements discovered. In this case, the Octarians would have a Shogun who also serves the role of 'Emperor' as well.

Keeping this in mind, while Octavio serves over a military-type government, I don't think he started the war. Since Octarian tech RELIES on Zapfish, I believe they had claim over most of the Zapfish habitats in Inkadia's landmass. Therefore, we can sort of tie together how things escalate from there.

I think that even during the war, Craig and Octavio were in love. I don't think they ever broke up, neither, since Craig likely assumed the Octarians would take a quick victory. You could also infer some espionage-related activities but that bleeds more into the theoretical so I won't go into that. If there were some kind of separation, Octavio would have declared it out of worry more than distaste.

Keeping this in mind, I really think Craig and Octavio had a genuine love that bared no intention of hurting the other. If Octavio wanted Craig dead, he'd of taken care of that by now, even as old men. He's still very-much capable. Craig could have likely done the same, too, as he's shown to be resilient even in old age. There is a tragicness to the circumstances of their environment but they love all the same through it all.

What does this all mean? Craig and Octavio had a beautiful, brilliant love, stifled due to a war declared out of their hands. They loved so truly and openly, and planned on things to go smooth after a quick win. Unfortunately, the tables turned, and they got the wrong end of the stick. A life imagined of beautiful intimacy together, only for reality to crash in with that of isolation eating away at their hearts.

Going into personal theories some more, I don't think Craig stopped fighting for Octavio. He's left in such a poor state in Splatoon 1 for that of a 'recognized hero' in war. It could be an element of veteran mistreatment, and it could also be that he tried to speak up post-war of the unrighteous terms it'd been started upon. It could be he'd been stripped of any benefit due to his political views. I think Octavio resorted to stealing the Zapfish because he knew Craig's attempts would never bring about change, and that he'd been punished for trying. Craig wanted to stop him from stealing the Zapfish because he feared repercussions for his lover. I'm rambling on and its getting all sappy and I may cry now--

uhhh all this to say, cuttletavio more deep than basic tropes of 'toxic yaoi' etc etc. thank u for coming to my ted talk.... feel free to contribute to the convo in the reblogs or comments....

[velvetvexations]

Are we really certain that Tingle is even a homophobic caricature to begin with? I mean, maybe he has some unfortunate connotations, but his lore seems to be just that he is an eccentric man who wishes to be a fairy, a real race in the games. I just find it more likely that his design and personality was invented to explain why he was selling maps, then later got more and more problematic as further iterations went on, as we tend to equate eccentricity in men with femininity. And this reading of Tingle being a gay man instead of just a weird guy seems to be from the West.

It makes more sense for Tingle to just be the result of a designer needing something to explain why the player should be able to get maps, and then just kept one-uping himself, and basing his design off of Peter Pan.

This is all to say that sometimes not everything is a caricature. We equate weirdness to being queer, and so someone making a weird character might accidentally use traits associated with queerness. This doesn't make the design then a caricature or homophobic, but simply made in a world where many have unintentional bigotry.

Tingle's original conception is definitely in stereotypes of gay men. Something that OP didn't even bring up, because they are self-admittedly not a Zelda fan, is that Tingle's relationship with his father is very obviously mapped to a dad who's embarrassed to have a gay son.

It is true, however, that I cannot speak fully on the matter because there are nuances to Japanese culture and Japanese queer subculture that I cannot claim to be overly familiar with. It's a very different thing that I'm not equipped to articulate in a way that promises accurately...but I don't think the Japanese version of these issues are so alien that people are totally making it up when they point to queer elements of his character.