#briarpatch

[thecreaturecodex]

Briarpatch

"Rose" © Sandra Duchiewicz, accessed at her deviantArt here

[It's been a long while since I posted a unique monster intended for the Age of Monsters campaign. And clearly there's still interest--my precis for that campaign, and the article about how the Mythos deities fit into it, are still getting likes.

Briarpatch is a character whose seeds (hah) have been planted in several other entries, such as Dr. Shiny and the Vermilion Mother. My inspirations came from all over the place. The sexy, spooky plant girl art of Sandra Duchiewicz was always something I wanted to incorporate. There's a growing idea in ecological and archeological circles that plants domesticated humans as much as the other way around. And I wanted to make a version of Poison Ivy who is genuinely evil.]

Briarpatch CR 27 NE Plant

This woman is beautiful, but alien, with chlorotic skin like the surface of a diseased leaf, and flower petals in place of hair. A collar of brambles grows from her neck and extends into long, thorny vines. She has piercing yellow eyes and an appraising expression.

The Elder Goddess Shub-Nugganoth has many epithets, but her most famous is “Black Goat with a Thousand Young”. In truth, her spawn number far more than one thousand. The creatures known simply as dark young are the most common of her progeny, but unique individuals are her offspring as well. One of these is Briarpatch, a green woman laden with occult intelligence and a profound disgust for urbanization. It is Briarpatch’s goal to see cities crumble and mortal civilizations reduced to decentralized subsistence farming once more, and she is going to use plants as her tools to achieve this.

Unlike many evil creatures of a druidic nature, Briarpatch does not disdain farming. Far from it; she believes humanity exists to serve plants, and that by distancing themselves from the soil, they have betrayed their roots. As such, she both exalts farming and farmers while simultaneously using domestic plants as weapons. Sometimes this is as elaborate as encouraging farmers to plant crops that will use more water and resources than the environment can support, forcing governments into subsidies and increasingly desperate acts to avoid famine. Sometimes this is as simple as distributing seeds of man-eating plants mixed in with garden plants or birdseed. Briarpatch’s cult includes a number of neutral farm-folk, who see her as salvation to their local communities, even as the nation-states that collect their taxes suffer as a body with a parasite does. Her cult often refers to her as the Pale Lady, especially among outsiders.

Briarpatch’s domain is the Forest of Veils in eastern Ustalav, and she communes and coordinates with the mythos horrors that live there. She is allied with the Vermillion Mother and Diceid as a coven of divinities obsessed with invasive species and reshaping ecosystems. She and the Vermillion Mother have a sexual relationship, and treat Diceid as something like a nephew or son. Briarpatch has an entitled personality and considers herself Shub-Nugganoth’s favorite child. She is convinced that if she does enough to deform society in the Inner Sea region, her mother will favor her with a promotion and transform her into an emissary Great Old One, similar to the relationship between Yog Sothoth and Tamir at’umr. Whether this ambition is achievable or is merely one of the Pale Lady’s delusions is hard to say.

Briarpatch rarely participates directly in combat, but when she does, she is a terror to behold. Due to her occult origins, she has access to a wider array of spells than a typical green man. She uses these to inflict overwhelming euphoria or grotesque physical transformations. Sometimes both simultaneously. If she actually wants to kill, rather than toy with her victims, she combines powerful area of effect spells with her tendrils and thorns. Briarpatch is acutely aware that she can still be slain permanently, and will retreat from a battle that turns against her to recuperate and plan revenge.

Briarpatch CR 27 Variant eruphyte green man XP 3,276,800 NE Medium plant (augmented, shapechanger) Init +16; Senses darkvision 60 ft., greensight 60 ft., lifesense 60 ft, low-light vision, Perception +30, thoughtsense 60 ft.

Defense AC 54, touch 36, flat-footed 41 (+12 Dex, +1 dodge, +13 insight, +12 natural, +6 armor) hp 663 (34d8+510); regeneration 20 (deific or mythic) Fort +34, Ref +23, Will +24 Defensive Abilities wilderness insight; DR 15/epic and slashing; Immune ability damage, ability drain, daze, electricity, petrification, plant traits, stagger; SR 37 Offense Speed 40 ft., climb 40 ft. Melee 2 slams +46 (1d8+21/19–20 plus 1d6 acid and absorb magic), 6 vines +46 (2d6+21 plus grab) Ranged 6 thorns +41 (2d6+21/19-20) Space 5 ft., Reach 5 ft. (30 ft. with vines) Special Attacks absorb magic, constrict (2d6+15), grab (Colossal), thoughtspear (17d8, DC 39) Spell-Like Abilities (CL 26th; concentration +37) Constant—pass without trace, speak with plants At will—plant growth, transport via plants 3/day—summon plants 1/day—awaken Druid Spells Prepared (CL 20th; concentration +33) 9th—antipathy (DC 32), extended control plants (DC 32), foresight, greater siege of trees, rival’s weald (DC 33), telekinetic storm (DC 32) 8th—euphoric tranquility (DC 31), horrid wilting (DC 31), mass cure serious wounds, stormbolts (DC 31), sunburst (DC 31) , vinetrap (DC 31) 7th—quickened cure moderate wounds, heal (DC 30), greater scrying, transmute metal to wood, waves of ecstasy (DC 30), waves of exhaustion 6th—antilife shell, greater dispel magic, green caress (x2, DC 30), mass inflict pain (DC 29), primal regression (DC 29) 5th—baleful polymorph (DC 29), cure critical wounds (DC 28), death ward, quickened ray of enfeeblement (DC 24), synapse overload (DC 28), extended thorn body, wall of thorns 4th—arboreal hammer, command plants (DC 27), confusion (DC 27), dispel magic, explosion of rot (DC 27), freedom of movement, strong jaw 3rd—cure moderate wounds (DC 26), excruciating deformation (DC 27), protection from energy, quench (DC 26), spike growth (DC 26), thorny entanglement (DC 27), vampiric touch 2nd—alter self, barkskin, fog cloud, harvest season, resist energy, warp wood (DC 26), wilderness soldiers 1st—cure light wounds (DC 24), entangle (2, DC 25), faerie fire, longstrider, snowball (x2), touch of the sea 0—create water, detect magic, guidance, light

Statistics Str 44, Dex 35, Con 40, Int 35, Wis 36, Cha 33 Base Atk +25; CMB +42 (+46 grapple, +44 sunder); CMD 85 (87 vs. sunder) Feats Combat Reflexes, Craft Staff, Craft Wondrous Item, Defensive Combat Training, Diehard, Dodge, Endurance, Extend Spell, Greater Spell Penetration, Improved Critical (slam), Improved Initiative, Improved Sunder, Power Attack, Psychic Sensitivity (B), Quicken Spell, Spell Focus (transmutation), Spell Penetration, Stand Still Skills Acrobatics +44 (+48 jumping), Appraise +26, Bluff +40, Climb +54, Disguise +40, Diplomacy +40, Fly +30, Intimidate +43, Knowledge (arcana) +46, Knowledge (geography, history, religion) +41, Knowledge (nature) +46, Linguistics +19, Perception +30, Sense Motive +42, Spellcraft +46, Stealth +44, Survival +42, Swim +35, Use Magic Device +44 Languages Abyssal, Aklo, Common, Daemonic, Druidic, Infernal, Mi-Go, Sylvan, Zern, telepathy 100 ft.; speak with plants SQ bardic knowledge +29, change shape (Colossal or smaller tree [tree shape]), deific, green empathy +45, occult gifts

Ecology Environment any forests Organization unique Treasure staff of heaven and earth, belt of physical perfection +4, headband of mental superiority +4 (Knowledge [arcana], Use Magic Device], amulet of mighty fists +4, wings of flying, bracers of armor +6, ring of the ecclesiarch, ring of mind shielding, rod of empowered spell (normal), deliquescent gloves, 11,000 gp worth of material components and miscellaneous treasure

Special Abilities Absorb Magic (Ex) When Briarpatch strikes a creature with her slam attack, she immediately attempts to absorb one magical effect from the target. Treat this as a targeted dispel magic (CL 20th), with Briarpatch preferring to target effects that prevent his vines’ grapple attempts, like freedom of movement. When Briarpatch absorbs magic in this way, she regains a number of hit points equal to double the level of the spell effect she absorbed. Deific Briarpatch grants divine spells to worshipers. This does not require any specific action on her behalf. Briarpatch grants access to the domains of Evil, Plant, Strength, and Weather and to the subdomains of Decay, Growth, Resolve, and Seasons. Her favored weapon is the sickle. If a druid worshiping Briarpatch chooses to take a domain, the druid must choose the Plant domain, regardless of alignment. Her holy symbol is that of a feminine face made of leaves and rose petals, facing to the left. Green Empathy (Ex) This ability functions as the druid’s wild empathy, save that the green man can only use this ability on plant creatures. A green man’s green empathy check bonus is equal to his HD plus his Charisma modifier (+43 for the typical green man). Occult Gifts (Ex) As the daughter of Shub Nugganoth, Briarpatch has abilities of an occult nature, and blurs the line between plant and aberration. She has the class skills of an aberration, although her total skill ranks are still those of a plant. He gains Psychic Sensitivity as a bonus feat, and adds psychic spells from the Abomination, Pain and Psychedelia psychic disciplines to the list of druid spells she can prepare. Lastly, she gains the benefits of her wilderness insight ability in any environment not subject to a dimensional lock effect, as alien spirits whisper these insights to her as much as natural plant life. In exchange, Briarpatch does not have the green caress aura of a typical green man. Spells Briarpatch can cast spells as a level 20 druid. She does not gain a domain, or other druid abilities such as an animal companion, unless she takes levels in the druid class. Summon Plants (Sp) Three times per day as a swift action, Briarpatch can summon any combination of plant creatures whose total combined CR is 20 or lower. This otherwise works like the summon universal monster rule with a 100% chance of success and counts as a 9th-level spell effect. Thorns (Su) Briarpatch’s thorns are ranged touch attacks with a range increment of 120 feet. A creature damaged by her thorn moves at half speed and can’t take 5-foot steps, fly, or use air walk, either naturally or magically, until the target or another creature pulls out the thorn as a full round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. Thoughtspear (Su) Once per hour as a standard action, Briarpatch can direct a blast of disorienting mental energy at a creature within 120 feet. This attack deals 17d8 points of damage, and the target cannot attempt Knowledge skill checks for 1 minute afterwards. A target that succeeds a DC 39 Will save reduces the damage by half and negates the skill disruption. This is a mind-affecting effect and the save DC is Intelligence based. Vines (Ex) Briarpatch can extend up to six thorny vines from her body to attack foes. These act as primary natural melee attacks that deal bludgeoning and piercing damage and have a reach of 30 feet. Wilderness Insight (Ex) Briarpatch gains an insight bonus to her AC and CMD equal to her Wisdom bonus.

[nellarw95]

Happy Birthday Rosario 🥳🎂🎈🎁🎉

Rosario Isabel Dawson

May 9,1979

Buon Compleanno 🥳🎂🎈🎁🎉

9 Maggio 1979

[raurquiz]

#happybirthday #davidpaymer #actor #moritzbenayoun #startrekpicard #mapsandlegends #nightofthecreeps #stateandmain #getshorty #theamericanpresident #ingoodcompany #carpool #oceansthirteen #dragmetohell #HorseGirl #Briarpatch #BadTherapy #dave #TheMarvelousMrsMaisel #minx

[pauliecstuff]

Brer Rabbit thanks Ron DeSantis for keeping Splash Mountain going! @rondesantisfl @waltdisneyworld @disneyparks @disney @disneyanimation @disneyland @tokyodisneyresort_official @disneycaliforniaadventures @disneylandparis @hkdisneyland @shanghaidisneyresort #Briarpatch #brerrabbit #rondesantis #disney #waltdisneyworld #disneyworld #splashmountain #tianasbayouadventure #princessandthefrogride #art #cartoon #caricature #exaggeration #satire #lively #animated #savesplashmountain #dontsavesplashmountain #disneyride #disneyart #disneycartoon #disneyanimation #cause #roughsketch #ruffsketch #message #thanks #webelieveinyou #brers #longlivethebrers https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn_TDldMoQJ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mitchellkriegman]

Requiem for a Rabbit Despite what you’ve heard - it’s tragic. With the end of Splash Mountain at Disney World, the last popular iteration of Bre’r Rabbit has been been vanquished to the cultural dumpster. The original versions of the Bre’r Rabbit tales came to America from Africa. Bre’r Rabbit was the first truly collective creation of Africans in American. These classic stories are as compelling as “Winnie the Pooh” or Kipling’s “Jungle Book,” or “Aesop’s Fables” with a really important distinction - the Bre’r Rabbit stories are American. Africans have always used stories to inspire young people, to entertain and teach social and moral values. As families were tragically split apart, the tales provided a comforting world of characters as well as an entire African Cosmology that children encountered wherever they ended up, regardless of their dire circumstance providing the spirit of their elders, their culture. Besides being smart-ass clever and funny, Bre’r Rabbit is like Charlie Chaplin and other classic scamps and tricksters. Where do you think Bugs Bunny comes from? Is there any better story than the one about Bre’r Rabbit and the Briar Patch? It’s about turning the table on your oppressors to get the advantage and gain freedom. I know what you’re thinking... what about Uncle Remus — isn’t he synonymous with “Uncle Tom?” s never part of the Bre’r Rabbit stories. In 1880 a white journalist, Joel Chandler Harris created the fictitious slave character of Uncle Remus, to put the stories in a colonial frame. Despite being painted with a racist brush, the stories triumph offering models for succeeding over adversity and oppression. Br’er Rabbit still has true smarts. In the words of Zora Neale Hurston, he could “hit a straight lick with a crooked stick,” he could “make a way out of no way.” Why can’t our culture treat this subversively original, vibrant, snappy-ass character with respect? Drawing by the great @mulliganjimmy #splashmountain #brerrabbit #zoranealehurston #hitastraightlickwithacrookedstick #disneyworld #briarpatch #africancosmology https://www.instagram.com/p/Comyd0buBIx/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[yarnsofyore]

Briarpatch Magazine | Feb 2000 | Canada

[snekdood]

anyways,

i only brought that vegan thing up bc thats usually what makes ppl dismiss my opinions on animals on here.👍

im sorry that i and many other people will likely never not see equipment as a descriptor for just inanimate objects.

[grymmdark]

Actually, the Pittsburgh potty is about sewer lines as well as containing mining messes! Sewer lines back up into the lowest fixture in the house, so having a basement toilet means that it'll back up in the dirty basement rather than your nice clean house. I have one in my basement all the way out in idaho because our house is old.

It's pretty smart!

oooooh that makes a lotta sense. i guess if you spend all day in the mines/steel mill with probably no bathroom to use let alone bathroom breaks you'd probably be backin that thing up on the regular lmao

[jazzrj]

A thought provoking moment.

[kinetic-elaboration]

October 12: Briarpatch 1x10

My Briarpatch re-watch is complete. I really enjoyed it and the ending was very satisfying!

I think this ep really showed off how well-cast everyone was. Seeing Alan Cumming just deliciously slurping up the scenery was great, but everyone just hit their noir toned roles so well. It was really satisfying even though or perhaps especially because it was so often over the top.

For example: “I’m the most terrifying thing in the world. A lady with a job. And I’m good at it.” That was?? Actually amazing? Feels good to hear her say it.

The episode did suffer a little bit from “has 10 finales” disease, in that the last 20 minutes easy--everything from the Confrontation Scene on--was just one ending after another. Oh, what a poignant conclusion. Oh wait! Oh, what a poignant conclusion. Gotcha--there’s more! But there were a lot of loose ends to tie up and personal notes to hit.

The intro, interspersing Dill’s plan with the actual plan being carried out, was so well-edited. I love that technique in general. I did find some parts of it a little bit hard to follow, even on a second viewing. For example, she told Spivey they were going to align themselves with Brattle, and got him to agree to that to her. He was supposed to break things off with Raytek at the same time. Presumably to get her to do something. But Dill also relied on Spivey still prioritizing his own skin, and trying to keep his alliance with Raytek anyway. At that point, Dill knew that Raytek was the second bomber. Was she trying to draw her out as Spivey’s backup? Which didn’t work, she actually came as Colder’s backup but it turned out the same? I presume that’s it. Although on the other hand, she knew the real estate deal was off, so maybe this was more about Spivey than Raytek?

Spivey she was just misdirecting entirely by letting him think she was really going to let Brattle go. To be honest, I’m not sure how she was expecting that to play out, if Colder hadn’t shown up. I guess use Brattle to get to Colder, and then let the FBI, who were never called off because she never had any intention of stopping the Senator at all, would get Brattle.

It’s a bit confusing and I would like it explained to me lol.

Another thing I really liked was that in this show about selfish people all working to their own selfish ends, where there really aren’t good guys and bad guys but just different types of bad guys who are more or less sympathetic, and our main character is a classic anti-heroine, everything still tied itself up in a morally satisfying way. It didn’t just throw up its hands at the end and say, well, everything is grey anyway so nothing matters! Rather, it had a very clear sense of what bad acts were, in this narrative, especially bad, and it punished the perpetrators of those acts accordingly.

Specifically, the cardinal sin of the story is hurting, betraying, using, or abandoning Felicity. Raytek, Spivey, and Colder all failed her in some way. And none of them get what they want. They are all roundly punished: Raytek and Colder with death, and Spivey with prison. (Brattle is also killed but he’s just an all around Bad Guy, so that’s unsurprising.) The Senator, on the other hand, is no peach, but he essentially gets what he wants: Spivey’s arrest will be a big win for him, Allegra is asking for almost nothing in exchange for not releasing the tape, and we can fairly well assume he will at least win the nomination for the Presidency. He was willing to kill Allegra! He’s pretty awful! But he wasn’t involved in the Felicity story. It would be unrealistic for everything to end happily ever after, in such a story, or with neat, clear lines where the deserving win and the wrongdoers are punished. Corruption is everywhere, at every level, and so many people are just selfish and awful and power hungry. So yeah, a corrupt, selfish, power hungry politician lives to fight another day. But Dill got justice for the person she came to avenge. That’s a happy ending, and it’s a morally satisfying ending.

It helps that there are a couple of just honest-to-goodness good people here, too, and that they unequivocally prosper. I’m thinking of Singe and Cindy, of course.

Dill as the anti-hero has a fitting ending as well. She is, of course, also complicit in Felicity’s death, and she says so many times. She’s guilty in the exact same way Spivey is: the only thing we ever saw was each other. But she has a self awareness that he never has, not even at the very end. And, critically, she doesn’t completely win. I see Dill’s ending as happy, yes, especially by her own definitions--she can drive again, she no longer fears her past, she’s free both of the burdens of her past but of everything, and she’s in control of her destiny again. And yet, her main reward is simply escape, and a blank slate. She doesn’t prosper, specifically. I’m not sure I’m explaining this correctly, especially since she’s never wanted the sorts of things, money and power etc., that the other characters want, so to say she doesn’t gain power or influence or whatever isn’t saying much. Still, I see her ending as more reaching purgatory than reaching heaven. Like the Master and Margarita in The Master and Margarita (weird comparison I know lol).

As Candy Bar tells her in the previous ep, you can’t beat the system, and the only morally pure thing to do is to leave it altogether. That’s what she does. She uses her blackmail to buy her freedom and also her escape from the whole immoral system. The system continues--the Senator on his way to the White House--she isn’t a hero, she didn’t bring the whole house of cards down. And it’s certainly arguable that her decision to leave entirely is actually morally pure. But then she was never a hero, right?

I also loved what the show did with the central conundrum of a murder mystery where the victim is important to the detective--the central conundrum of any narrative that starts with the death of someone close to the main characters--that the audience will never know that deceased character properly. We have to be TOLD what the character meant to other characters. We have to be TOLD what she was like. We have to be TOLD why we should care that she’s gone. I think Six Feet Under is a good example of this: the show starts and ends with major deaths in the Fisher Family but Nate’s death hits completely differently than Nathanial’s--because we know who Nate is.

Briarpatch’s solution to this is to fold it into the plot. Yes, Felicity looks like just a plot device, and not least to Spivey and Dill, who are brought together by her death just to spend 10 episodes doing their will-they-won’t-they, toxic-most-important-person dance. The audience forgets that Felicity was important to their relationship too. And Spivey and even Dill forget this at times too: as she tells him in their final scene, he’s wrong to say it was always the two of them. It was always THREE. He can’t look at her now and say that they can still win, because the only thing that has ever mattered is that Spivey and Dill come out on top. He betrayed the third person, and Dill can’t forgive that.

Never mind that it’s never really been Spivey and Dill anyway. It’s just been Spivey, Spivey, Spivey.

That she simply walks away while he’s holding the gun on her, a moment foreshadowed by her walking away from the kid with the gun, was really excellent.

The insistence of both Spivey and Colder that they are the good guys was VERY interesting in this overall context of a morally grey noir genre, with a morally grey anti-heroine at the center, whose ending was recognizing her own complicity in the evils she’s avenging and then walks away. Does Dill get to ‘win,’ comparatively, because she is honest with and about herself? Why is it so important to Colder and Spivey to see themselves as the good guys? Because it allows them to justify their bad acts? Colder is a quintessential “nice guy” who is absolutely devoid of any moral core at all, and completely delusional about it. It hasn’t been as obvious throughout with Spivey, but it’s certainly been simmering under the surface with him.

Contrast these two men to Raytek. She never says she’s a good person. She says she is a problem solver. She gets things done. She never worries about the cost because she has a larger goal in mind: fix the town, even if it means using people, double-crossing allies, lying, manipulating--even murder. These aren’t good or bad acts. They’re just steps in a plan. Nothing matters if you win.

Colder and Spivey have much weaker self-images. Colder is completely delusional. He’s completely separated his actions from his understanding of himself. He IS a good guy, and so everything he does is, by definition, something a good guy would do. And he kills Felicity over it--because she challenged his idea of himself and his idea of her. “She wore your sister’s face, but she was a different person. There was something twisted and evil inside and I had to kill it so I could keep loving the real Felicity” is a really chilling line.

With Spivey, again, it is subtler, but I thought there was something really sad about him facing Dill one last time and being completely unwilling to let go even a little bit from his own narrative. He was the good guy and he and Dill were united against the world and everything would work out for them eventually.

It helped that he could always blame Brattle for everything. And Brattle really did mess him up, and I do think meeting him again pushed Spivey back into that really dark mental place that years of abuse had created in him.

Or maybe it’s just as simple as, he will always care about himself most. He will always be selfish, to the very last.

It was definitely interesting to see a relationship, in Dill and Spivey, that WAS deep, and old, and multi-layered, where they DID love each other, as some combination of friends and family and lovers, where maybe in a sense they WERE soulmates, but they were also deeply twisted and bad for each other. Their relationship was so deeply unhealthy. It was all of those things at once.

[crippled-peeper]

@briarpatch-kids

[friendly-emerald-emily]

molly is such a fascinating character to me. and surprisingly, not because of her content in the show. but her lack of content. molly really felt like to me she was supposed to be the break-out star of the HiT era. let me explain why.

in short, it's all down to marketing and merchandise. i'm a massive HiT era apologist, mostly because it's the era of ttte i grew up with, but as i was looking through my catalogue of merch, i noticed something...molly was popping up. a lot. weirdly so.

i have a good amount of those briarpatch ttte board games, and typically they were for 4 players, and as such 4 engines were provided to play as: thomas, percy, james, and...molly? at first it seems weird, but when you think about it, it makes sense. molly rounds out a quartet themed around red, green, blue, and yellow, and also adds in a female character. i think that last bit is important, but i'll get to it later.

so i went digging, and the 4 player briarpatch games pre-molly usually had mavis in her place, likely also to add female representation, just swapping yellow for black. there are a few exceptions, i recall seeing toby and harvey instead, but again, it was mostly mavis.

looking at more merchandise outside of board games in this era, molly got quite a bit of focus. she was part of a set of 4 bath squirters along with thomas, percy, and james, and what i find most shocking, she was one of VERY few engines to receive a trackmaster remote control engine. molly also was featured on a 2008 great discovery trading card, even though she only had one line in the entire movie.

after this, i went digging deeper into the world of the thomas microsites and online games, where molly also had a strong presence. the quartet of thomas, percy, james, and molly continued in the simon-says type memory game (i think it's called 'peep peep!'?) and molly also appeared in the emotions game, but this game featured 5 engines, and the fifth...was emily. remember my point theorizing that molly was focused on because she was a girl? here's where it's important.

this five engine ensemble of thomas, percy, james, molly, and emily is repeated again in the plug n' play game 'right on time', a game that i own and remember fondly. emily was chosen again to fill the fifth slot, and i think it's because HiT wanted to have a gender-equal ensemble a la bwba. and i think molly was chosen specifically not only because her yellow paint is unique and for her gender, but because she is probably the girl character at the time that had the most opposing personality to emily. as we all know during this time, emily was interesting and had flaws unlike SOME OTHER ERAS- portrayed as having a very strong and opinionated personality, which would easily contrast towards molly's more shy and sensitive personality. both have also been described as having sisterly attitudes towards other engines. i think HiT wanted to prove in this 5 engine ensemble that they had varied writing for their female characters.

for all of this, i think that molly WAS supposed to be a much more important character than she turned out to be, mostly because she was marketed so heavily and disproportionately than her screen time would lead you to believe. molly also appeared more often than the other HiT newbies (bar rosie), but that isn't really saying much with how little other characters like neville or billy appeared. i don't know why molly was dropped so suddenly when the set up for her seemed to be there? only thing i can think of is that emily had just been moved to tidmouth sheds right before series 9, and that they didn't want to repeat that process?? idk i'm just spitballing because i've been thinking about molly a lot recently. on a small related note, her basis is also very specific and her design is SUCH a standout compared to other new characters at this time, so clearly effort was put into her. i wonder how different the series would have been if molly was elevated to prominent secondary character status like salty or mavis, or even main character status!

tl;dr i think molly was originally going to be important but then she wasn't :(

[raurquiz]

#happybirthday #davidpaymer #actor #moritzbenayoun #startrekpicard #mapsandlegends #nightofthecreeps #stateandmain #getshorty #theamericanpresident #ingoodcompany #carpool #oceansthirteen #dragmetohell #HorseGirl #Briarpatch #BadTherapy #dave #TheMarvelousMrsMaisel #minx #startrek56

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

sugar apple / custard apple / sweetsop / whatever it called in english

it sweet & taste very good n when ripe it taste a bit sandy near skin (but like good way. idk how describe) but also somewhat soft/juicy? like not dry. but not dripping w juice. when unripe it taste like mildly like black pepper lol

@briarpatch-kids cool fruit alert!!!!!!!

[id: picture of fruit named above in pink dish. it halved, with green lumpy skin & other half show white flesh with black seeds. end id]

[mitchellkriegman]

Requiem for a Rabbit Despite what you’ve heard - it’s tragic. With the end of Splash Mountain at Disney World, the last popular iteration of Bre’r Rabbit has been been vanquished to the cultural dumpster. The original versions of the Bre’r Rabbit tales came to America from Africa. Bre’r Rabbit was the first truly collective creation of Africans in American. These classic stories are as compelling as “Winnie the Pooh” or Kipling’s “Jungle Book,” or “Aesop’s Fables” with a really important distinction - the Bre’r Rabbit stories are American. Africans have always used stories to inspire young people, to entertain and teach social and moral values. As families were tragically split apart, the tales provided a comforting world of characters as well as an entire African Cosmology that children encountered wherever they ended up, regardless of their dire circumstance providing the spirit of their elders, their culture. Besides being smart-ass clever and funny, Bre’r Rabbit is like Charlie Chaplin and other classic scamps and tricksters. Where do you think Bugs Bunny comes from? Is there any better story than the one about Bre’r Rabbit and the Briar Patch? It’s about turning the table on your oppressors to get the advantage and gain freedom. I know what you’re thinking... what about Uncle Remus — isn’t he synonymous with “Uncle Tom?” s never part of the Bre’r Rabbit stories. In 1880 a white journalist, Joel Chandler Harris created the fictitious slave character of Uncle Remus, to put the stories in a colonial frame. Despite being painted with a racist brush, the stories triumph offering models for succeeding over adversity and oppression. Br’er Rabbit still has true smarts. In the words of Zora Neale Hurston, he could “hit a straight lick with a crooked stick,” he could “make a way out of no way.” Why can’t our culture treat this subversively original, vibrant, snappy-ass character with respect? Drawing by the great @mulliganjimmy #splashmountain #brerrabbit #zoranealehurston #hitastraightlickwithacrookedstick #disneyworld #briarpatch #africancosmology https://www.instagram.com/p/ComYOlFOqb6/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[briarpatch-kids]

Hi. For context I don’t know you but I have a friend who’s followed you for a long time and was very disappointed. You claim to be anti-fascist and then unapologetically condemn people for being zionists after no research. Especially folks you claim to be friends with who have plenty of evidence to the contrary. https://www.tumblr.com/briarpatch-kids/757459468408733696/theyre-also-a-zionist-by-the-way?source=share Cancel culture at its finest thanks. You say that no zionists have morals.

Did you perhaps know that zionism is in large part a response to fascist regimes? So about as anti-fascist as can be?

Zionism just means that someone believes that Jewish people have the right to safety and self-determination. And currently pretty much the rest of the world, including most Palestinians and certainly HAMAS, disagree with that. Anyway now that I’ve heard more about your anti-ambulatory wheelchair user bullshit, I’m going to stop trying. Because you don’t deserve this effort. You’re in a fucking cult.

Nothing of value was lost with your departure. I don't fuck with people who allow genocide to happen and call it antifascism.