#but they’re the nerds of the animal kingdom

[babyspacebatclone]

I’m curious about national animals.

I mean, I’m Canadian. This is my national animal:

I mean, you seriously have to work to make a beaver dignified.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re amazing! Their dams, their biology, they’re fascinating creatures and I believe they deserve respect.

But dignity?

And you know what?

I adore every relevant Canadian fauna with everything in my heart. The death giant that is the moose. The rage in black and white that is the Canadian goose. And the giant leather tail of the “noble” beaver.

They’re all just so Canadian - goofy, industrious, terrifying, bizzare.

They’re animals that represent an entire nation that annually fights cabin fever by strapping knives to our feet and waving around long narrow wooden clubs.

Are other people proud of their national animals for reasons that aren’t - they’re insane and therefore my spirit animal??

Because I’m currently living in the USA, and every time I see this treated as a symbol of dignity…

image source

I die a tiny bit inside.

[darknesseddiem]

Small(Big) Problems

𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭: "Can you do one for some of the small boob giries please? Where reader is insecure of their small chest but Eddie reassures them xx."

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: Self-deprecation, derogatory jokes, low self-esteem, Eddie being a sweetheart and comforting Reader.

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 0.830k.

𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @birdysaturne @wdsara48 @ali-r3n

You like my work? Support me with a small 𝐊𝐨-𝐟𝐢.

To all the girls who have ever felt insufficient or worthless, know that you are amazing and that you deserve the world, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

The Hawkins High cafeteria resounded with the clinking of cutlery and trays carrying the students' lunches, the tables entirely occupied by friends chatting animatedly about the frivolities of their unspecial lives.

Each person's place was designated according to a social “hierarchy”, just like in the animal kingdom where the lion was the king of the jungle.

The lions would be the basketball team, the ‘Tigers’. Ironic, isn't it? Logically, the cheerleaders would be the lionesses, responsible for maintaining balance among the pack, or not.

And so followed the hierarchy imposed at Hawkins High: Basketball team and cheerleaders, popular people, party lovers, intellectuals, readers, scientists, musicians, theater kids, alternative people, the shy and reclusive, the dregs of society and… The weird nerds, better known as 'the Hellfire Club'.

At the last table, far from everyone else, was your people, Eddie Munson's pupils who were arguing vehemently about something that you hadn't been able to decipher yet.

“Dude, you don't understand!” Gareth exclaimed frantically, running his hand over his face, “Please, someone kill me…” Jeff replied in a whisper with his head thrown back.

You looked between the two in confusion as you went to your reserved seat- on Eddie's left side, and carefully placed your tray with the food. "What is happening?" Curiosity got the best of you and you whispered, leaning into the boy next to you. “I have no idea, they’ve been at it for almost half an hour.” The curly-haired boy whispered back.

“How come you can’t decide which one is prettier between the two?” Jeff rolled his eyes at his friend, “I can’t because they’re both practically the same!” He countered loudly.

Gareth made a sound as if he had heard the greatest atrocity a human being could utter. “Man…” He said with his jaw dropped, “You are truly blind, without a doubt.” The blonde shook his head. “Oh yeah? Tell me something that’s different about the two.” Everyone at the table was enjoying the two's discussion.

A mischievous smile began to appear on Emerson's face. “That's easy,” He crossed his arms over his chest, “Pamela Anderson's titties are much bigger than Heather Locklear's.” And with that, a commotion was generated at the table.

“Eww!”

“Jesus, we have a lady sitting here Gareth!” Dustin pointed and everyone at the table stared at you.

"And…?" He shrugged. “How do you think she’ll feel hearing you talk about… Um, another woman’s parts like you’re a pervert?” The smaller boy scolded.

"Hey!" The blonde haired boy fumed, "It's not my fault she's flat as a door and feels insecure around other girls' breasts." He slapped his hand over his mouth when he realized what he had just said.

Your face fell in shock and embarrassment, hot tears threatening to form as everyone at the table looked equally shocked at Gareth.

Feeling humiliated enough, you got up from your chair and headed towards the cafe's exit without looking back.

“Man, you really are an asshole.” Grant said disappointed in his friend.

Eddie, who was watching the discussion unfold, now looked at Gareth with a dark look, getting up from his place at the head of the table, Emerson barely had time to react when he was hit with a tray of food and something wet. "What the-"

“Be thankful it’s just food and not a chair,” The older boy said seriously and followed you.

Eddie found you in the drama room where they were playing D&D, “Princess?” The chair next to you was occupied by him. “Hey, I hope you’re not like this because of that scumbag.” He caressed your damp cheek.

“He’s not wrong, Eds… I-” You were silenced by a finger on your lips.

“Ah, ah, I won’t even listen.” His dark curls shook as he shook his head. “Gareth is an idiot who hasn’t left puberty yet.” You both laughed, “But you… You are more than a body, you know that right?” You denied, overwhelmed by the emotions that his sentence brought you.

“You know now, you are an incredible girl with so many qualities… It’s almost ridiculous that you reduce yourself to a body, when you have so much to offer.” His brown eyes looked at you with intensity and sincerity, “I think you’re beautiful, and I’m not just talking about physical beauty.” The smile on your face was huge.

“What I want to say, Princess, is that you are much more than this standard imposed by the patriarchy, you are worth more than that…” He looked down with flushed cheeks.

You jumped into his arms and hugged him like there was no tomorrow, “Thank you, Eds.” You thanked him with a trembling voice and felt him tighten his arms around your waist, returning the hug.

People can be mean, and sometimes you have to remember: You are more than a body.

[chaoticm0therfvcker]

Hollyberry Cookie Headcanons

In game

She knows how to make her own berry juice. Wildberry has tried to restrict her a few too many times so now she just makes her own

She’s really close with all of the dragon cookies. Pitaya introduced her to the rest of the dragon fam and they all kind of view her as part of the family

She babysat Princess Cookie a lot when Princess was younger, and that’s why Princess is so bold and chaotic

After Tiger Lily went missing, Hollyberry spent weeks searching through the kingdom and the surrounding jungle trying to find her granddaughter

She does her best to visit her friends in their other kingdoms, though the only ones she’s able to visit are Pure Vanilla and Dark Cacao. She’s got a lot of experience going on high stakes adventures, so as long as she has climbing gear and an extra insulated, extra puffy, full-on “I can’t put my arms down!” Jacket, she’s got no problems

She has a lot of survivors guilt being the only one in her friend group without excessive trauma. Sure, she as a dragon ex who she got to see almost burn a village down and a missing granddaughter, but that’s barely anything compared to all the crazy stuff her friends have been through

Her and Golden Cheese used to go on adventures together as kids. They’re both practically immune to high heat, so it’s no wonder they stuck together

Modern au

Her and Pitaya are exes, but they fake flirt so much that if people didn’t know that they were divorced, they would think that they were dating or married

She teases Wildberry for having a crush on Crunchy Chip. Obviously not enough to make him self conscious, but she can’t help but tease him for how he goes from this deadpan tough guy that’s almost as intimidating as Dark Cacao into a total giggly and smiley mush ball whenever Crunchy Chip is around

Since Golden Cheese is ace-aro, her and Hollyberry fake dated throughout high school to keep bigoted assholes away from Golden Cheese

She hates wine snobs with a burning passion. She’s able to appreciate a good glass of wine, but she appreciates it for the taste, not for the “aromatics” or “how well it can swirl around in a glass”

She’s secretly an art nerd. She took a ton of art classes throughout middle and high school and took an art history class with Pure Vanilla

Her room is full of random plushies and video game figurines. She can barely fit in her own bed from the sheer amount of stuffed animals she has on her bed

She has the biggest house and the biggest family out of her friend group, and she has a lot of dinner parties with her friends and her family. She even has a special place for the kiddos so they don’t have to be stuck with random babysitters

She’s not a very good chef, but she is an amazing baker, and she’s really good at decorating cakes. She makes almost all of the birthday cakes for family birthday parties

She can speak fluent Italian and Spanish

Let me know if you have any other headcanons!

Taglist: @janayuga @katsunemillennium @trustymikh @tartelongan @cedric-my-beloved @c00kietin

[bethany-sensei]

Okaaaaaay! Y’all voted for me to babble about…

Dragon Culture(s)

And I’m gonna. At great length.

“Dragon” is about as specific a term as “bird” would be, if birds were also sometimes people and sometimes immortals with elemental powers. In some worlds, only or primarily animal-type dragons exist. In others (such as the Second Sphere of Hell), dragonfolk make up the majority of the sapient population.

All Dragonish languages come from a common root. Second Sphere and Fourth Sphere Dragonish are functionally dialects of the same language, but they’re written completely differently. (Any linguistics nerds in the house tonight?) This is because Second Sphere Dragonish has its own native script, while Fourth Sphere Dragonish borrowed from the writing systems of other cultures (which is why its pronunciation is Like That).

Pretty universally among younger dragons, females are seen as more aggressive, and males more nurturing. As they age, they’re expected to grow toward a more neutral temperament.

Dragons are fairly successful as invasive species. Most sapient dragons are also extremely social, and sometimes they develop elaborate hierarchies.

Ok, that’s the basics. Let’s talk about a few specific dragon cultures!

The Mortal Realm

The only dragonfolk in the Mortal Realm (where you find humans and elves) are the Warriors of the Shadowed Marches, commonly called Shadowmarchers. They have small wings that are only useful for balance, and a rattle and a barb at the end of their tails. They also have the strongest venom of any dragon species, sapient or not, so touching the face of someone you’re not extremely intimate with is Simply Not Done.

As the name suggests, they have a rigid society led by a warrior caste. They keep to themselves in an extremely cold territory near the South Pole. Any incursions into their lands are swiftly repelled. Outsiders are not trusted. They kind of have a point, since a couple of centuries ago, some human used a soul-bond with a different type of dragon to subjugate most of a continent.

Don’t call them dragons, though. Shadowmarchers insist that they are not dragonkind, but in fact are a common ancestor of both humans and elves. (They’re wrong. They’re actually dragons.)

The Fourth Sphere

Hmm, okay. These guys have had it rough.

The kingdom of Seyzharel in the Fourth Sphere of Hell is home to a race of dragonfolk with… vampiric tendencies (all dragonfolk in certain Hell Spheres are blood drinkers). These particular dragons consume blood to fuel their magic, but also because they have a tendency to become anemic rather easily. So, of course, there are a bunch of rules about blood. Consuming blood from the flesh is most intimate. It’s also vulgar to do in front of people.

Seyzharel dragons are considered vain, even by dragon standards. They like to be surrounded by beautiful things. It sucks for them that they just had a bad ruler who plunged most of their society into ruin.

Their current regent is trying his best, but he’s very traumatized, doesn’t really know how to be a proper dragon, and also is Experiencing Gender.

The Second Sphere

Dragonfolk are the main sapient race here, and also their main source of off-Sphere revenue comes from their highly-skilled assassins. Yeah, you read that right. Dragon assassins. Who go to other worlds for contracts.

The king of the Second Sphere traditionally has a Named Heir (highly skilled in both assassination and administration), and also a Favored Child (who is allowed to specialize in one skill). The heir takes part of the current ruler’s name. In the current story the king is Tsai-Van and the crown prince is Van-Dal.

The best assassins generally get brought in to serve as part of the Royal guard for a time.

Outside of the assassination thing, the Second Sphere and Fourth Sphere dragons share a lot of cultural similarities, and have traditionally had friendship between their countries. In both Spheres, adult dragons tend to gather a Clutch which is a tight-knit group including any combination of friends, lovers, offspring, younger adult dragons they’re protecting/mentoring, and other types of close relationships, all living together. Wingmates are close friends who share the same Clutch or overlapping Clutches.

This is getting a bit long, so…

[rubywolf0201]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, games, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

Oh for sure. I’ll tell you my list of favourite characters from the media that I consume:

1.) Matakara Asamine (BUCCHIGIRI?!)- It is no secret that ever since this anime aired, he has become one of my top fav anime character. Character-wise, I love how he is the sunshine puppy childhood friend character but with some depth like dealing with inner demons regarding his lonely past and insecurities and it kind of goes to show that Mata is not your typical cheerful sunny character as he underwent a corruption arc back in Episode 9.

2.) Diamant (Fire Emblem Engage)- I’m pretty sure if you guys have scoured through my art blogs on my second art account and Twitter, you would realize I tend to draw fanart of him all the time. But as for why I like him. I like how he genuinely tried to reach out people outside of his kingdom that doesn’t need to involve war and bloodshed. He only gets angry/resort to violence if his loved ones or people closest to him are targeted (like the Morion incident) and that he also has major insecurities involving his duties as the Crown Prince. Oh and he also has a funny side to him like laughing at the most corniest joke that his retainer Amber has done. Oh and his relationship with Alcryst and Citrinne are the best too.

3.) Princess Peach (Super Mario Bros)- Gonna throw in some women in my list because it ain’t fair if I talk about hot dudes all the time but really I’ve been playing Peach’s second solo game since yesterday and I’m instantly in love with it. Now as for her character, she is a darling. She can be baking a cake one day, doing her royal duties another day or just go out and have fun with Mario and friends. But really, Peach is Nintendo’s most iconic female character of all time due to how she showcases that being girly and being badass aren’t mutually exclusive and that they can go hand to hand (Amy Rose is of similar vein too as well) and that whilst a pacifist, she won’t hesitate to get her hands dirty.

4.) Tooru Kirishima (The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting)- If anyone from 2022 has remembered how much I talk about this man, then yeah. Anyways, I just love how despite being an extremely violent yakuza enforcer, he’s actually a kind, quiet and socially awkward man but can be a bit of a tease towards his closest friends and family (have you seen the man interacting with the mum’s in Yaeka’s school?). His relationship with Yaeka started out awkward at first but over time, you see them geniunely bonding with one another. But that being said, it’s not best if you get to his super scary side if you piss him off more than once. Also, I have a weakness for scary men (sometimes women) with a heart of gold to them. He’s my silly little meow meow

5.) Takina Inoue (Lycoris Recoil)- I got into the anime pretty late last year despite being released alongside The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting in the Summer 2022 anime lineup but yeah I love Takina. She originally started out as a cold and ruthless girl who follows orders to a tee without being aware of the dangers she posed but after meeting Chisato, her worldview changed for the better in that she became a much kinder person than the cold hearted assassin she was before. She can be slightly awkward with her interactions, a bit straight faced with embarrassing things but that doesn’t hide the fact that she can and WILL kill for her loved ones if they’re in any danger (she’s basically a female Kirishima lol). Oh and I love her voice actresses performance so that’s why she is my fav. (Tho if you ask me who I like more, it’s Xanthe)

6.) Penny (Pokèmon Scarlet and Violet)- Penny is one of the Pokèrivals I just vibe and relate with because like her, I’m a huge nerd when it comes to anime that I like and we are also introverts too. She is blunt and rude yes but she’s a child who is capable of growing, as shown in the DLC epilogue where she began to take notice of how Arlan pointed out that her dad cares for her and that unlike him, she at least have families who love and care for her. (Oh and she has a party full of Eeveelutions, what’s not to love?) Oh and I recommend checking out her storyline because it’s amazing.

7.) Kiyoshi Teppei (Kuroko’s Basketball)- Like with Kirishima, I was also constantly crazy about this lil guy back in 2021-2022. Now I know he was introduced pretty late in Season 1 out of nowhere with no buildup, but he quickly became one of my favs because of how he is a teddy bear personified, can be a little dumb and unaware of the things he do but all he wanted to do is just have fun. Oh and he can display a selfish side if his friends are in any danger (Kirisaki game arc). His chemistry with literally anyone in the Seirin team is just too good but I like the ones with Hyuuga cuz you can te the VA’s are clearly having fun with voicing them.

8.) Souma Shiki (Play it Cool Guys)- Out of all the five main guys, I identify with Souma the most and the reason why is that like him, I’m trying to find things that I enjoy the most but sometimes feel insecure about it as well. The way he just laughs is just too plain adorable and his chemistry with the main cast, especially the ones with Shun is mostly enjoyable. Definetely one of my favs.

9.) Mitsumi Iwakura (Skip and Loafer)- Something that me like Mistumi is that out of all the female main characters that I have seen so far is just how confident, ambitious and reassured she is. Sure, Mitsu makes some mistakes here and there but it’s justified in that she’s moving to an environment that she’s completely unfamiliar with but still she tries her best with the things said environment provides her. Oh and any scene with her is just so enjoyable because of how endearingly innocent and awkward she is and that she is also trying her best in what she’s doing.

10.) Jing Yuan (Honkai Star Rail)- Listen I know that prior to being “fixed” in later updates, many ppl aren’t too keen in using him due to how his gameplay style wasn’t really the best and how other Lightining damage dealers like Kafka and Serval beats him. But I hardly saw anyone talked about his character so here I am. I think what made me fascinated about Jing Yuan’s character is that even if he appears to be slovenly and sleepy looking all the time, he is pretty shrewd and calculating when the situation calls for it. He is also a pretty nice guy and that despite having deep issues with his former comrades in the Cloud Quintet, he tries his best to stay strong as possible to the point of being self-sacrificial. That and he is one of my “Not Gay BUT-” type of characters.

[autism-purgatory]

Poorly Summarized WIP Tag

thanks for the tag @the-golden-comet!

Our Lonely Ocean:

Fantasy romance where closeted a prince comes to an island kingdom to become a squire, where he meets two really odd companions and an even more closeted knight who’s getting married in two months. They get along…ok at first, but will they overcome their rivalry whilst protecting the islands from invasive beas- oop nvm they’re fucking.

Altered_Humanity (AUGMENTED HUMANITY IS BACK BABY WOOOO)

Android wakes up in an overgrown post apocalyptic world and finds out magic exists now whoops. Turns out it was real all along and has suddenly returned in full swing (including giant cathedrals that can be seen from orbit). So said android had her arm replaced with that of her dead human wife who could use magic blah blah blah. Now she has to stop some eldritch elf twink from destroying all that remains of the old world with the help of an annoying hacker and a golem without a tongue.

Viscered:

Single dad who’s actually an escaped bio weapon is like one bad day from killing himself after the death of his wife, but he has a 10 month old son to take care of. Oh, also the government wants their super weapon back.

Loop of the Hollow:

Man that small town in southwest Texas sure is racist. And haunted, like, extremely haunted.

LunuL:

Three bounty hunters in the late 22nd century. Earth was overtaken by a prehistoric pathogen, humanity lives on mars now, aliens exist, you get the gist. Said bounty hunters don’t pay their rent in time and The Horrors TM ensue due to their landlord being a powerful crime boss. Also eyes. Loooooots of eyes. We’ve got a nerd who hates how light sounds, a former soldier who is surprisingly happy despite everything, and Astra, with whatever the fuck she’s got going on. And of course, they each have enough emotional baggage to drag down a plane.

Shadows Over Novald:

Urban Dark Fantasy. Murder Crime Soulmates are about to ditch Gotham but 10 times worse, when the god of death shrouds the city in darkness and asks everyone to find and kill five magic wielding humans in the city or else everyone dies to the undead. While this is happening, the most dysfunctional detectives ever are trying to find another way to break the curse.

WanderStruck: Nephew of closeted knight from before is ALSO getting forcefully married when he and his half sister suddenly get pulled through reality and into…modern day Los Angeles? So now they’re trying to find a way home with the help of some nerd who just wanted an internship at a cool tech company. He had no clue they did multiversal travel and just wanted to type at a desk.

Tales of the Sculpted Lands: A dark fantasy anthology about a land sculpted from primordial clay. It’s a dying, complicated world full of complicated people with complicated problems. Some tales are more adventurous and end happily, others absolutely don’t.

Grayguard: Ah shit I spilled my TOTK copy and my cup of Jujutsu Kaisen. Fantasy world where all magical aspects fall under chaos or order. Humans, animals, and elves are the only exception. Each major kingdom has a guild, one being the Grayguard, who’s leader is the strongest warrior in the land. Everything falls apart when a mysterious demon with magic robots kidnaps her. Now her students have to stumble their way into rescuing her and stopping the major kingdoms from imploding, all while old threats from their leader’s past begin to rear their ugly heads.

And last but not least: Chaos Travelers

The least deranged and unhinged fantasy motley crew come to the island kingdom from before to stop a doomsday cult from resurrecting the god of chaos. Hilarity and angst ensues. Our glorified D&D party includes a humanoid dragon bard with a southern accent, a runaway from said doomsday cult, a cat lady with magic paint who may or may not have sold her soul, and a mute knight with WAY too many knives.

Tagging @mk-writes-stuff @willtheweaver @alinacapellabooks @frostedlemonwriter + open tag!

[theplatypusblue]

COMPILING ALL LEGENDS OF CHIMA SEASON 1 THOUGHTS BELOW THE READ MORE (super long post, written as I was watching)

(I can be a little mean but I promise I’m having fun lol)

Episodes 1 + 2:

Man this shits super boring.

Idk if I can get behind craggers plot line tbh. He’s too much of a dumbass for me to really root for him.

The lore seems really cool so far. I like the settings and the stuff about the legend beasts.

Like?? Forest full of trees that just fall down all the time? Epic.

Legend beasts are especially cool cuz it means this is how Chima characters react when seeing a regular ass lion for the first time:

Episode 3:

Man Laval really fucked everything up.

I have a feeling all of cragger’s dumbass-ness, like, transferred over to laval and now we’re gonna be seeing him making all the dumbass decisions

The only thing I really care about here is the b-plot about Gorzan and his flower. More engaging than the main plot

Episode 4:

Prediction about Laval replacing Cragger as the resident dumbass seems to be coming true

Gorzan is quickly becoming my favorite.

Oh hey look it’s the beavers!! I remember they show up in that one episode of ninjago. I had zero context for what they were all about then but now I know!!

Episode 5:

The gorilla tribe seems like the most chill out of everyone. Gorillas 👍

Can I just say I hate the fucking skunk. He sucks.

Honestly kind of a nothing episode

Episode 6:

Eagle spire does that cool thing where all the buildings are built on super scary precipices. There’s literally a post going around about this exact thing but I can’t find it rn

Oh so the eagles are just a bunch of nerds. A little weird I guess(?) I feel like eagles are usually symbols of strength n stuff so that’s different. It’s giving cloud kingdom.

“Wing girl” tf kinda nickname??

Apparently the ravens are double crossing everyone but I have not been paying close enough attention to what’s going on to really process that

Ok so it was all an extremely convoluted way for the crocs to get everyone to fight each other. And the ravens tried to profit but they’re kinda stupid so nothing really worked out for anyone

Episode 7:

Purble moon??? Epic

Man the bears are so epic just like me fr

Nooo don’t mess w the gorillas they’re so chill :(

I am entirely uninterested in the 100 year full moon skunk fart lore. Sorry.

It’s a little strange and maybe I’m hallucinating but I feel like the animation has has somehow gotten better?? Like the lighting or smthn…. Or the facial expressions???

Oh….. skunk fart lore is plot relevant………

Now that I’m thinking… is that the only skunk in chima?? Cuz rn it looks like just the one guy

Episode 8:

Oh it’s a big boy chi

There’s a fucking peacock?? Don’t know how to spell his name. So wait if he wins who does the chi go to?? He gets it all to himself?

Oh wait nvm it’s probably a cragger thing. Mr. Peacock comes back after retirement or w/ever in order to do some evil shit with the crocs I get it I get it

Gorzan I love you

WHO THE FUCK IS THAT GUY?? Is it a pig? A warthog??? It’s giving Mr. E vibes.

Man idk this episode is structured rlly weirdly. Nothing really fit together very well. It’s alright tho.

Episode 9:

GORILLA EPISODE?? Let’s go dude

It funny cuz I feel like gorillas aren’t actually this mellow irl

STOP FUCKING WITH THE GORILLAS CRAGGER I’LL KILL YOU

Oh hey it’s our mystery mans. Oh nevermind he left again.

There are balloon plants?? Oh yeah those are the things they were using in the other episode. Sorry I wasn’t paying attention to anything else that happened.

Episode 10:

Uhh I forgot to take notes while watching uhhh

The fox guy was cute. I like a little fox guy

This episode managed to make me feel a little bad for cragger!! He wants to do a good job but he kinda sucks at everything :(

It also made me confused abt cruller!!! What are you doing w ur life girl!!!!

Kinda messed up how the wolves had to serve the crocodiles tho… probly for the best she threw away that pledge

If Laval’s dad is right when he says they’re not gonna race for chi for a long time, I’m guessing they’re not gonna do any more racing episodes for some time. That’s fine honestly.

WAIT THAT RHINO GUY’S DYING. Oh nvm. This whole situation is cringe I hope it’s a one-off thing….

Also I forgot everyone thinks craggers parents are dead but really they’re just chilling in that canyon. Kinda funny actually

Episode 11:

Oh man the wolves are fucking everything up

“We all gotta stay here till the walls are fixed” bruh just call the beavers or smthn

Man what is the deal with this shadow wind dude.

If there’s one similarity I could point out with ninjago, it’s all this talk abt ~the balance~. I guess it makes sense since they take place in the same universe, technically

These bears are so cute lol napping does solve everything so true

Episode 12:

Jets travel super fast in the air. If they’re going through a storm Laval should totally be dead by now

Cragger is setting boundaries!! We love to see it. Cruller is acting pretty cringe. In her ~~girlfailure era~~

Is Laval gonna fall in this gorge?? Oh yeah he’s gonna fall in this gorge

Noooo Gorzans underwear is gonna tear

It’s a little sweet how Laval still wants to help out cragger

Episode 13:

I guess I’m still not super into cragger but I pity him a little. He’s trying his best but he’s just a bit stupid. And also his sister sucks ass

Okay. So she may be cringe but cruller is living her best(-ish) life.

That wolf is wearing a really cute apron

Man they were bringing up Shadow wind earlier and I thought they were gonna reveal their identity but now I’m a bit disappointed…

Laval is being peak dumbass rn I kinda like it. “The warm milk of oppression” lol

Episode 14:

“You bears think you’re so clever” bro they are literally asleep I don’t think they give a shit

I think the thing with Cragger is that I absolutely hate him when he’s under the influence of the flower thingy. He’s unlikable in a not-so-fun way, but he seems much more cute/compelling when he’s normal lol.

Oh my god they’re getting back-alley chi lmao

Oh is everyone gonna think Cragger did this on purpose. That’s sad.

This Reagle(?) guy is really silly I like his design a lot

Ohhhhh the wolves are gonna plug the fake chi and become chickens. It’s not a Cragger-might-be-evil thing. Gotchaaaa that’s cute

Seeing Cragger and Leval act like buddies again is genuinely nice they’re friends :)

Episode 15:

Eagles are based communists that live in the sky got it 👍

Cruller stop fucking with the gorillas istg.

Okay what the hell did burning the flower do. Is that like taking an inhalant

The ravens attempted to use the eagles’ based communist values against them. However, they didn’t realize that the eagles are boring as shit, and don’t “own” anything cool in the first place. Based communist eagles for the win.

Okay wait is Eris liking the rhino like. A brand new development or was it hinted at before?? It’s been a hot second since I watched the last couple episodes

Also I recognize that animation from the Ninjago season 5 finale lol

Episode 16:

Man I just hate this stupid skunk

This fog of destiny stuff is really goofy looking from the outside lmao it’s hard to take serious

So it’s like. Making them entirely delusional or something? Some of them are acting the opposite of how they usually do, but others are having like, delusions of grandeur. Idk how it works exactly

Laval there has got to be a smarter way to wake them up. You keep getting thrown into the lake…. Oh my god is the skunk gonna fart again. If that’s literally how they wake them up I’m gonna be so mad.

Oh okay thank god I was wrong.

Oh wait it randomly made cragger evil again. Man come on.

Cruller you stupid dumb idiot lmao get wrecked honestly

I hope the skunk dies like actually for real

Episode 17:

Oh shit Lavals dad also had a best friend that did shitty things and eventually grew apart from?? Damn.

Also Laval in exile time!!! Hopefully this will be cool

Eh. It’s not so cool with the skunk around

OH SHIT is the shadow wind the guy that was exiled before??? Ohhhhh

Ahhh okay Cruller backstory time. Damn girl was getting compared to her sibling straight out the egg. Didn’t even have a moment to spare there huh

Noooo Laval you just enslaved the wolves again by giving him the treaty. That was like the one cool thing cruller manages to do

Oh. I guess the exile thing literally didn’t matter at all lmao kinda underwhelming

Episode 18:

Lol so Cragger is such a dickhead now it’s even causing his stupid ominous dream to take notice

Okay so the floating mountain that gives everyone the chi also makes you on fire when you touch it. Chima world building really is epic man I gotta include random cool shit in my stories once I get around to writing stuff

This definitely feels like part of a finale lol maybe we’ll finally learn what the deal is w shadow wind

Andddddd the chi’s all fucked up now

Episode 19:

Tbh I would also be kinda mad at the lions like. They had no idea what they were doing or if it would have any negative consequences.

Man the whole thing with the wolves just kinda. Fizzled out huh? Like a few episodes ago they had ~all the chi in chima~ and now they’re all like “idk man why don’t we all just get along” lol

I love the attitude of just asking the beavers to fix the mountain. Like let’s just chuck a couple of construction workers at this malfunctioning holy site that’ll probably work

Episode 20:

I’m guessing this is the finale?? Let’s see

Laval looks so weird without his little crown thingy lol hes so square

He’s definitely not dead tho

CROCODILE LETS GOOO!!!!! EPIC!!!

OH UM. Okay well that complicates things. And there’s like a million other questions we still haven’t answered but ok. I guess all of that other stuff can wait until later????

I thought the eagle guy said chima only had 2 moons left before everything fell apart?? So they really gotta get the ball rolling on that one uhm. Oh well.

**EDIT** Last time I posted this I thought it stopped at episode 13 for some reason?? Tubi is stupid; thanks to the person who pointed out the actual episode number. I’ll probably stop here for a while, sorry it took so long to update this lol. My initial thoughts and feelings haven’t really changed all that much, so I’ll keep them as they were:

I definitely feel like it’s a show that doesn’t have super strong characters. I think it would better if the show leaned more into the world it’s created instead, if that makes sense. Maybe later the character writing will improve a little bit, and I’ll changed my tune. But!! Who knows. I’m having fun with it.

Idk when I’ll get to season 2, cuz I get super busy sometimes (I started this one a couple months ago but couldn’t finish it till now ugh) but I do want to continue watching!! Eventually!!!

[gay-ghostwriter]

What your favorite Winx Club member says about you!

Bloom- you have main character syndrome. You always pick the Fire Type starter in Pokemon games. You actually have a good relationship with your parents.

Stella- you are that #bitch. You know fashion, makeup, the latest trends, the latest celebrity gossip, etc. Your parents are probably divorced, or one of them is just dead. You have a problematic woman (fictional or otherwise) you will defend with your dying breath.

Flora- stoner lol. You care a lot about plants and the environment, and you’re probably vegetarian or vegan. You’re the mom friend (gender neutral), and are softspoken, which makes people think you’re a pushover. You unironically like cottagecore and pumpkin spice lattes, and you’re valid.

Musa- you have a playlist for every occasion. You cannot function without music playing in at least one ear at all times. You’re bold and not afraid to speak up when someone is talking shit. You somehow have both daddy and mommy issues. You also have horrible taste in romantic partners.

Tecna- the nerd friend. You’re really into Homestuck or Kingdom Hearts or some weird shit that your friends will never understand your love of, but they support you anyways. You were “a delight to teach” in all your classes. Probably had an anglophile phase.

Aisha- you stan an unproblematic queen. You enjoy spending time by yourself or with your friends, silently vibing to your favorite songs. You’re a very active person who doesn’t like sitting still. You like going to the beach and used to wish you were a mermaid. You deserve better.

Roxy- you care about animals and get along with them better than people. You feel like nobody understands you and wish you could get upducted by aliens or fairies or something so you wouldn’t have to deal with your problems anymore. You secretly think no one in your friend group likes you and that they’re all just being nice to you out of pity, or as part of some elaborate joke.

[msweebyness]

Class of Heroes AU: More Headcanons!!!

As a treat, folks, after which I might be done for a few days. Unless I think of something I just HAVE to share, lol. Have some more Headcanons!

*Ondine is the youngest of seven daughters. Their names are Olivia, Ophelia, Octavia, Olga, Oona and Olympia.

*She and Kagami are in Mendeliev’s class (Yen Sid in this AU.) Her classmates, especially Denise and Aurore are protective of her because of her naïveté and lack of knowledge of the surface world. They and Kim have had to get her out of dangerous situations where her curiosity got the better of her.

*Kim was raised by his two mortal fathers after his uncle’s henchmen turned him into a mortal. (His biological parents are, of course, Zeus and Hera.) He buys them a huge house once he’s successful as a hero.

*Xuppu serves as Pegasus, but he actually likes Ondine because she’s just too darn sweet. He’s always nosing Kim out of the way to receive affection from her.

*Kim was NOT very well-liked back in his hometown for his lack of control over his strength. He was often shunned and called horrible names for the accidents he caused, as well as his lack of intellectual prowess. This, and his discovering his true heritage, was what made his fathers decide to send him to the school.

*In this AU, Kagami has three younger brothers: Daisuke, Daijiro, and Daiki. True to Brave, they are demon spawn. (Their father died in battle.)

*I’m changing something from a previous post: Plagg is still Mushu, but Tikki is now Cri Kee. She is silently judging you.

*Adrien does not fence in this AU. His preferred weapon is a certain cooking implement.

*Nino has a tendency to add ‘Bibbidi-Bobbidi’ before other B words. (“What a Bibbidi-Bobbidi bummer, bro!”) Some people think it’s funny, others find it annoying.

*Ivan has mild kyphosis(I had to look this up), which causes him to slightly hunch over and have mild to moderate back pain.

*Alya works jobs at diners before and after school to bring in extra money for her family. She is one of few students who work.

*Mylene has a habit of sometimes speaking in rhyme, especially when she’s really happy about something. Ivan thinks it’s very cute. (This is a nod to the original animated film.)

*Max likes to listen to Fall Out Boy (heh) while he works on his machines. What? Nerds can like rock music! (He is Hiro Hamada, to clear up confusion!)

*He transferred to Francois Preparatory Academy from a prestigious tech institution after an…incident that he doesn’t like to talk about.

*Sabrina (Pinocchio) was part of a puppet show as a young child. She often has nightmares about the abuse she suffered there, and Aurore is needed to come comfort her.

*Cosette is incredibly close with the other four members of their band, sharing a sibling-like bond. It calls and face-times with them on a regular basis, and has introduced them to all of her new friends.

*When Lacey gets especially angry, her face turns bright red and she’ll launch into a rant in ‘fairy-speak’ (the squeaking noises that the humans hear in the TB movies). Her wings also start fluttering rapidly and she sometimes slams into the ceiling…

*When Marc was young, he accidentally struck his younger brother, Kiran, with his ice magic. Their mothers, the queens, didn’t blame him, but sadly they died in a shipwreck only a few months later. After that, the cruel royal advisor convinced Marc that he was a dangerous monster and isolated him from the kingdom and his brother.

*Zoé has a list of 65 different chores she has to do for Chloé each day. They eat up a lot of her time, but not as much since her friends started helping her. They’re working on convincing her to make Chloé do them herself.

*Denise prefers to sleep outside amongst the trees, because it reminds them of their stump back home. Simon brought them a pillow and a blanket one night because he was worried about them.

*When Reshma is agitated by something or someone, you can tell because poison ivy starts sprouting up around her feet.

*Bustier is still a suck-tastic teacher. She will scold Kim and Marinette harshly for damage they cause completely by accident (her clumsiness and his strength), she berates Ivan for bad posture despite it literally being a physical health condition, she frequently suggests that Adrien should cut his hair because it looks too feminine, she regularly threatens Alix with legal action for incidents with her kleptomania despite her almost always returning what she takes, she forces Juleka to sit in the back of the room and doesn’t often allow her to speak lest she ‘frighten’ other students, she has outright referred to Sabrina as an ‘it’ (meaning an object, a non-living piece of wood, not the pronouns, which are completely valid.) and a ‘toy’ rather than a girl, and of course, she lets Chloé get away with everything.

I’m looking for ideas for Lila and Felix, baddie and anti-hero respectively, as well as a fitting new name for Mor’du. Be sure to check out my poll about Chloé!

*Edit: Mme. B*tch-ier has now been cast as Flora, the most insufferable of the ‘good’ fairies, in my opinion. (Let’s hear more applause for @artzychic27!)

That’s it for now! Whoo, I’ve been on a roll! As always, credit for @imsparky2002 and the aforementioned artzychic27, who created the Disney Villain AU that inspired this! You both rock!

[razorblade180]

Is there any media you've consumed between writing stories that affected where you want to take your story? Like you watch a fight scene and want to do something similar or you see a character and create an oc based off them.

All the time. Nick is who he is because I play FF 15 and I wanted a guy who can use a bunch of swords. I’m shameless about this.

When the OCs fought Shiva, part of then ending is Carmine and Lucas deflecting hundreds of icicles. It’s just the ending of Kingdom Hearts 2 for a moment.

I rewatched Naruto to get ideas for Tenzen. It’s also why I made him an anime nerd that occasionally does a move that Yujin will call him out for. Man casually uses a lightning move and expects her not to notice that’s an orange chidori lol.

Something I specifically remember is FF7 Remake when Cloud fights Sephiroth. He runs behind him, goes for a left swing then right before he hits, Cloud pivots his entire body to swing at the opposite side. I immediately gave that to Carmine. It’s hard not to because their swords are roughly the same size.

Somewhere on here i have a post that’s gifs of certain anime characters as examples of my characters fighting. I’ll probably report it soon for my own sake because anime characters do cool things and help everyone including myself envision what’s happening.

A big one I use as way for thinking outside the box I guess would be the magic circles in Fairy Tail and how in Naruto at anytime where they’re in the water, they can just lift themselves up out of it. I’ve used both of those to make the Twins fighting more interesting because Schnee’s have glyphs by default. It gets boring to simply make one normally, so I do things like treating it as a rug they use to pull under people’s feet or having it be a ledge in midair they use to pull themselves onto before changing the angle to jump. My favorite is they could be sliding backwards towards a lake, and simply make more floor to not fall in then have the end be a wall to rubber band them forward.

Also generally speaking, glyphs, Eliza’s magic, and especially Summer’s sword allows for a variety of “ magic spells” to exist and make sense. I’m pretty sure every interesting dust combo Summer used in Snowflakes can be found in Birth By Sleep when I think about it😅

[quwr0fwrlccywrlfh]

HxH Ch 395: Founding, Pt 1

My thoughts on some of the newest hxh chapters, bc I’m losing my mind and need a place to just spew out every rambly little thought going through my head.

Spoilers ahead ofc

We’re staring at the beginning of the Meteor City flashback, bc tbh I’m not even caught up on the current arc yet, but everything pales in comparison to the momentousness of the PHANTOM TROUPE’S BACKSTORY. These sprawling panels alone already had me so emotional. This is a story decades years in the making: 20+ years ago, there was the *briefest* of scenes in the Yorknew arc of bb Chrollo playing catch with a VHS tape (it got like 1 panel in the manga and less than 10 seconds in the 2011 anime—even less in 1999). It’s one of my absolute favorite scenes in the series, and I even designed a big heckin enamel pin of little chrollo with the tape, but I was resigned to the likelihood that it would remain just that: a cryptic, wisp of a scene that would never be fully fleshed out or explained.

And tbh? I was totally fine with that. One of my favorite things about Chrollo and the troupe was how little we knew about them, how their characters and motives were presented by indirect information and impressions. The air of mystery made them more intriguing.

So when I saw this tape again, I had mixed feelings—I was excited beyond belief to get more spider content—and not only that, but have my pet favorite cryptic hxh scene CONTEXTUALIZED—but I was also a little apprehensive. I was worried I’d be let down by knowing the truth, that the spiders’ backstory would be hoaky. (Specifically, I was worried that their eventual genocide of the Kurta clan would attempt to be justified in some way—because, well, um, no.)

But wow was I wrong.

So that’s what this whole rambly, off-the-rails post is about: how wrong I was to worry that the spiders would LOSE their interest and appeal by getting a backstory. Bc they have only gained it, and once again, togashi is fuckign brilliant.

Also Meteor City is beautiful. Like yeah it’s a junkyard, but the vast expanse conveyed in this opening panel is breathtaking, and ever since first hearing of its existence in hxh Ive been fascinated by the concept of a wasteland city—it’s just so dystopian and unique—and now we finally get to SEE IT.

Was definitely reading through tears when I saw these three—the BABIES. We now know the two other kids Chrollo was playing catch with way back in the Yorknew flashback was Franklin & Shalnark. It surprised me a bit at first, bc I never considered the possibility that practically the WHOLE troupe were childhood friends (I suspected a few of them were, but not the whole group)—but thinking about it more, it makes sense that these three were close right off the bat. Chrollo, Franklin, and Shal. They’re the cerebral & logic-driven spiders. The brainiacs, the nerds—and the weebs (Franklin: I hope it’s anime!). These panels already establish that hunting for tapes is their thing, even at risk of trespassing on another kid-gang’s territory.

Side notes: 1) shal’s little gap tooth smile!!! 2) they’re wary of Machi in particular--as they should be

Here’s their rival kid-gang: Uvo & Machi (bb Machi!!! ;_;) Again, after a little thought, it made sense to me that those two were a team as well—they’re both instinct-driven and reliant on brute force and physical strength (Machi just happens to double as a healer). And what a cute little duo they make too: little Machi providing Uvo with ammo :’) The way Uvo calls it his “kingdom” is interesting as well, but more on that later.

Side note: Chrollo’s soft little “Ah! So soon?”

Shal the smartass is rewarded with PAIN haha. Something that I LOVE about these chapters is how the troupe’s child selves are portrayed so consistently with their adult characters—it may seem obvious, but writing a consistent character is HARD, especially when their story spans 20+ years of real time and undergo massive amounts of life-altering development. Also, it’s cool to see that despite abandoning themselves to become hardened criminals, parts of the spiders’ personalities remain unchanged. For Shal specifically, bc we already knew he was a little psycho, so it makes perfect sense becoming a mass murderer didn’t do much to change who he is at the core: a smartass.

It also provides a neat little contrast to Chrollo, who DID change quite a bit—but we’ll get to that.

SHAL IS STILL ROLLING XD Uvo’s “9 deaths left!” conveying that despite Shal’s snide comeback, he knows very much what he said—and meant it. He’s more than just your average meathead: he’s straightforward rather than simple, and he makes his own definitions.

Chrollo, Franklin, and Shal are clearly at odds with those definitions here—hence the conflict. Where Uvo sees his personal kingdom, the brainiacs see public property. This conflict might seem tense at first, but we soon see that it’s not:

They’re grinning, clearly having some fun with this. It’s implied that this isn’t their first run-in, and it’s a repeated game for them. How else do kids stay occupied in a landfill?

It’s notable that Franklin steps forward to confront Uvo, since it implies leadership (to be fair, he’s also big, unlike Chrollo, and fully functional, unlike Shal). Franklin also delivers their scavenger group’s worldview: the harsh reality that they live in a junkyard full of discarded trash, and everyone has an equal right to it. During the conflict, Shal has only snarked, and Chrollo has only made quiet side comments—more to himself than anyone—but Franklin confronts their “enemy” directly and speaks for the group.

Uvo responds in the most Uvo way possible, and it’s a really touching line, honestly: “Only dumbasses let their surroundings define them! I’m wherever the hell I say I am!” His pride shines just as brightly as a kid as it does when he’s an adult, and it goes on to shape the whole troupe’s philosophy too: the underlying sense of pride they have at not letting their circumstances define them, and refusing to let the world silence them.

Touching philosophy and fun games aside though, they still beat each other up haha.

Enter: our third little gang! It was no surprise that Phinks and Feitan were a team, because they’ve remained close even as adults in the troupe, but what WAS a charming surprise is them bullying Chrollo. I had a pet theory that some of the troupe members used to bully him as kids—bc well, he’s a little nerd—and it was so gratifying to have it confirmed.

Notable that Phinks does all the talking—it’s consistent with the idea that Feitan may have been a newer resident of Meteor City at this point, and was still not confident enough to speak in the local language. It’s also so cute to think of Phinks stumbling upon a scared, shy little new kid and deciding to adopt him :3

Side notes: 1) the deliciously detailed shots of the junkyard meteor city rubble 2) phinks and feitan’s hairrrrrrrrr 3) phinks’s FACE 4) Chrollo being the cutest lil guy once again

The sneaky little thiiiiief ahhh. Well, not a thief yet really, since Meteor City trash IS communal property, but I love how he pulled one over on Phinks. It reaffirms 1) how much of a lovable, gullible dumbass our resident tracksuited himbo was and is 2) how crafty Chrollo was even as a kid. Also love how Chrollo doesn’t say a word the whole time—he seems pretty reserved overall, saying very little, and when he does speak it’s often side comments to himself without any intended listener, more just a way to help him reason through a situation. For all the changes that happen to the poor little guy later, that’s consistent with his adult self haha.

Also going back to phinks’s “we’re not like that meanie Uvo”: it hints at an aversion to physical conflict when he can avoid it. The bike speaks to this as well: he’d rather zoom away from a problem, which is totally fine, especially when so many ‘problems’ in Meteor City are far too big for two kids to take on alone, and escape is a much wiser option. Feitan, however, is cruising for a bruising—just look at that bat.

Side note: another really pretty strip of sheer Meteor City setting detail ahhhh. It’s clear now that a lot of the residents live in hamlets or shacks, which is definitely what I pictured and makes sense.

CHURCH BOY CHROLLO CONFIRMED!! It was so obvious I couldn’t believe it at first, but wow, there it is. A nice twist is the hodgepodge architecture of the building: it’s not just a traditional Catholic cathedral. It fits with how despite the endless jesus parallels and the louder elements of adult Chrollo’s character design (inverted cross, forehead tattoo), his shtick is more than just christian. His character has elements of Buddhism, Judaism, fatalism, etc. He’s a sampler of religion and schools of thought, not necessary an adherent to any particular one, in part because he grew up in a multifaith setting.

Philosophical and religious musings aside, this scene is so quietly touching and sad. Chrollo still has his little tape, but he’s got a basket of flowers as well, implying that he stopped to pick them before heading over to check the tape, and further implying that the flowers are even MORE important to him than the tape he and his friends risked bodily harm to collect. Looking closer we see why: the center lower panel is filled with little crosses. Graves. He laid flowers on gravestones.

It immediately brought Melody’s words about him in Yorknew to mind: “He walks with death every day of his life.”

This scene established that Chrollo is indeed a frequent visitor of the church. It’s his sanctuary: a place for him to go and study. The church itself seems surprisingly nice and well-kept too: the only finished building we’ve seen in Meteor City so far, which implies it’s supported financially in some way, and is a priority in the community. They may not have houses, but they have a nice church. The how’s and why’s of this aren’t specified yet, but it makes me very curious about the structure of the city’s society.

Speaking of society: the priest sheds light on the graves outside: they’re children’s graves. Specifically, children who have been abducted. So the graves are meant to acknowledge the missing rather than the confirmed dead, which is almost worse. It’s also the first little hint of what we’ve all been looking for in this flashback: the probable reason behind the troupe’s anger and despair.

The sheer weight of the information contained in these panels, wow.

Before getting into it though: we can see Chrollo’s flowers by all of the graves, and they’re nice big pretty flowers too. Zinnias, dahlias, maybe roses. He took time out of his very urgent tape mission to gather and leave those flowers. It’s heartbreaking.

Para 1: info we knew already. Meteor City residents are all unpersons, so the system doesn’t care what happens to them.

Para 2: more info we knew—MC struck a deal with the mob in exchange for protection—but then a new gut-wrenching detail that makes sense but makes it so much worse: the vast majority of the victims were kids.

Para 3: very fitting, since we already knew chrollo took one of his strongest known abilities, Sun and Moon, from a MC elder, and interesting that we now know that multiple such elders had similar powers.

Law of Retribution motto: the same as the note the spiders left behind at the Kurta massacre. There’s so much to say about it but I think I’ll save it for later, since this is meant to be a light little jaunt of note-taking lmao

Para 4: the wording confuses me a little—does it mean the troupe were literal babies when this system first started, meaning it had already been in place for a few years by the time they reached the ages they are in this chapter? Or is it more figurative timeline-wise: meaning it was still in development, and that’s why so many kids are still going missing. Togashi is occasionally very hyper-specific when it comes to timing, but most of the time he’s pretty fast and loose, so I’m guessing it’s the latter, the law of retribution is still in development--or it’s proving to not be very effective.

NNNAHHHFHFHDJADHHSKS

the BABIES T_T

It was a shock and also no shock at all that Chrollo and Pakunoda seemed to have a close friendship and aren’t surprised to run into each other at the church. Needless to say I think it’s the highlight of this chapter for me, not least of which because we already know full well how this story ends, and the flashback only makes it hurt that much more.

I’ve also seen this panel of Chrollo circulating around with the caption ‘He used to be so happy’--and yeah, yeah he was. This whole chapter is shaping up to deliver the resounding point that Chrollo used to be a bright, happy, normal (?) kid. I’ve also heard him described as having a mix of Gon’s boundless enthusiasm and Kurapika’s insatiable curiosity and intellect, and I think that really fits.

Side notes: 1) Chrollo’s “Yo!”, I cry ;_; 2) Paku’s HAIRCUT. Stranger Things inspired, perhaps? A nod to how both she and Eleven have psychic, memory-reading powers? Either way, the look is fire.

They’re so cute I am in pain ;_;

Tiny Chrollo’s little meltdowns :’))) Once again showing how EMOTIVE he was as a kid, versus the cool and collected facade he keeps up as head of the spider. As a kid he had no qualms about letting his feelings show, which is extra endearing as a boy, who are often socialized from young ages to bury their emotions (but hey, maybe Meteor City is different).

“You read us like a book, Paku!” - clearly a nod to what Paku later develops as her hatsu: psychometry. Reading memories, and therefore people.

THE LITTLE GLANCE PAKU GIVES HIM. It’s everything to me tbh. I remember when my friend first started sending me leaks of this chapter, these tiny side panels were some of the first I saw. To me it confirms what I’d already suspected: Paku had deeper feelings for Chrollo. Whether she kept up the same childhood crush is up for debate, but either way, she cared about him a lot, and I’m connecting the dots that it’s why she was unable to sacrifice him for the sake of the spider in Yorknew.

Paku’s shock at Chrollo being fluent in at least two foreign languages, paired with Rizol listening on thoughtfully, followed by a cut to what looks like some kind of MC council meeting. Chrollo is a prodigy, no doubt about it, and he’s getting noticed. What makes me pause is how they’re already pinning the hopes of an entire city on a child--it certainly adds to long list of christ figure elements of Chrollo’s character, but it’s like... are things really so desperate... that you’re going to burden a kid with this responsibility? Perhaps. Perhaps they’re looking more to the future, once Chrollo is allowed to grow up a little and rise to the role on his own, but either way, it’s clear the point of this scene is to cement Chrollo as his community’s genius golden boy, much like a certain Kurta.

We get more angles of the fascinating architecture of the church, as well as an interior that seems to be the council room. Chrollo’s penchant for burning candles on his pedestal? It was born here.

The fancy outfits of Rizol and the council member shed more light on Meteor City as well: it shows it has a distinct culture, which makes perfect sense and seems obvious in retrospect, but it’s yet another thing I didn’t really consciously think about when I used to imagine Meteor City. I didn’t picture it this organized. What bothers me though is how the priests and council members get nice, fancy outfits but the kids are running around with rags their feet instead of shoes.

THE MYSTERY OF THE TAPE IS FINALLY SOLVED. I can’t quite describe the noise I made when I saw this for the first time, but it was definitely very loud and very exuberant. As a 90s kid, I was RAISED on the Power Rangers, and that’s clearly what the Clean-Up Rangers are parodying. What a fitting parody for a city fully of scrunkly street urchins too haha: the theme of cleanliness. (For the troupe in particular it has even greater thematic weight, but we can save that for later). But once again: I cannot believe the mysterious VHS tape people have been theorizing about for 20+ years turned out to be episodes of the Power Rangers. It’s better than anything I could have ever come up with.

Chrollo mentions “yesterday,” which means they left and came back at some point, and further cements that they hang out in the church together pretty regularly. It also implies that Chrollo was right in that no one ever guesses where he goes--at least not Phinks or Uvo--and he can keep it secret for at least a day longer.

Paku’s enthusiasm for getting everyone together to watch it is so heartwarming too--it speaks to a sense of community that looks past silly turf wars (depending on who she means by “everyone,” haha).

Lastly, Chrollo’s got a plan. His first of many:

Paku and Chrollo’s interactions here are so quintessential “KID” it destroyed me :’))). First, Paku calling Chrollo ‘Li’l bro,’ - which you’d think might cancel out the romantic crush theory, but my read is it’s more along the lines of kids not fully grasping the nuances of different types of relationships yet--that or she’s in denial, which is also likely xD

Then Chrollo getting absolutely MIFFED about being called younger, when he is actually OLDER than Paku, thank you very much!! *huffy face emoji* It’s exactly what a kid would do, and once again it breaks my heart to see him be this cute and innocent and know what he becomes :’)

Paku’s “You don’t look it!” calling to mind all the other times in hxh when people have commented on Chrollo’s age vs appearance: such as Neon (a literal teenager lmao) being surprised that he was in his late 20s, and the mafia men who found Chrollo’s “body” being shocked that their forces were decimated by a “kid.” Chrollo is and always has been: baby.

They’re so adorable I just wanna dunk them in my coffee.

SPEAKING OF ADORABLE

I think it’s precious that these two babies find it very important that the three female characters in the Clean-Up Rangers get three distinct voices--because yeah, yeah it is important, good job kids (I just wanna pat their little heads ;_;) And not only that--once again we see Paku surmising Chrollo’s thoughts/actions without him needing to say anything, which attests both to her future nen abilities and to just how closely she pays attention to him.

CHROLLO’S ‘I LOVE YOU, PAKU!’ GAHHHHHH. stooooop T____T 

100% became a core memory for this girl, and Chrollo has *zero* clue what the big deal is. It could just be childish innocence, but it could also be that Chrollo’s model for attraction doesn’t allow him to see the significance of telling a girl he loves her (*cough* ace *cough*). Because on the other hand - it shouldn’t  be any more significant than for two kids of the same gender, but since we live in a world still heavily influenced by the gender binary and heteronormativity... *sigh.*

(I can just picture adult paku thinking about this sometimes though... “when we were kids he told me he loved me...” no wonder she couldn’t let him die).

Chrollo insisting on his sincerity is so endlessly precious too--because he DOES mean it, just not in the way that Paku might be hoping for. If there’s any major, overarching takeaway from these chapters it’s that Chrollo loves his friends very, very deeply.

Side note: Chrollo surprised pikachu face.

Enter: two more Chrollo friends! I love that his closest friends all seem to be girls :’) Their introduction comes with mixed emotions though, because we’ve seen Sheila before, in Kurapika’s backtory--and that’s a big shock--but we have not seen Sarasa anywhere, so... where did she go? Could she possibly be one of the unaccounted spiders: the original # 4 or # 8? Or could something else have happened to her?

Moving on past that thoughhhh - it’s neat how they have such vibrant personalities that we get a read on them right away: Sarasa is the spunky go-getter who loves trying new things, and Sheila is quietly curious, happy reading her favorite book over and over (”Your sound arguments won’t change my mind.” - I’m DED) Also love the detail that Sheila’s a bit of a klutz: she trips and falls over mid-book, and there was already a bandage on her leg before that.

Other great details: Their little nerd hideaway is called the “All Faiths Church,” confirming what was already implied with the mixed architecture. Just like Meteor City itself, the church is a bit of a hodgepodge.

“Don’t let Uvo and the guys find out!” - there’s a gender divide here, and it’s interesting how the line is drawn with Machi on the side of the “guys” and Chrollo on the side of the “girls.” (kindling for my own little theory that they’re both trans/non-binary and are most comfortable hanging out with a gender different than what they were assigned at birth).

Chrollo being a little genius once again--verging on the unrealistic, because even if it took Paku a couple hours to find their friends, it’s a tall order for even an expert translator to write up an entire script. But it sure makes a point that this kid is SMART, and on top of it, he doesn’t seem to let the praise get to his head, breezing right past Paku’s shock--which is so so so precious. Modest little guy :3

“Huh? So you’re playing everyone else?” - the significance of this didn’t hit me at first, because I was too busy being distracted by all the CUTE, but this is clearly foreshadowing to Chrollo’s struggle with identity. Right now he’s just being an ambitious little actor (and a bit of a hog - the excuse not to let *anyone* else in seemed a little flimsy to me), but in retrospect it’s easy to make the connection: so good at playing other people that he forgets who HE is.

“No way was he born here.” - I have so many thoughts about Sheila’s comment. Might Chrollo have come from somewhere other than Meteor City initially? Or is she just referring to how gifted and charismatic he seems, how it’s hard to believe a kid like that could’ve come from a junkyard? It almost makes me wonder if she suspected there was something off about him, even while they were all still just sweet, innocent kids. I also think it’s an ironic statement, considering how Chrollo grows up to become the embodiment of Meteor City: taking everything, but having no identity of his own.

Side note: Sarasa and Chrollo dancing around all excited. The cutest.

The cuteness sure gets dampened abruptly, though. Here we are: the last page of 395, and a very ominous hint once again at what might be the cause of the troupe’s rage and despair.

It’s redeemed a bit by the image of Chrollo and friends working on their dub though. Once again, never in a million years did I expect my beloved mystery VHS tape to be... Power Rangers haha. And never in a BILLION years did I expect it would lead to Chrollo forming his own dubbing company.

Final takeaways from this chapter: 1) the founding members of the troupe have ALL known each other since childhood (yeah nobu’s not here quite yet but I’m sure he’s... somewhere), and not only that, a lot of them were close friends 2) many of them seem to have retained a lot of their childhood personalities, with the notable exception of Chrollo and Paku, who are MUCH more full of life as kids than they’re ever shown as adults 3) Baby Chrollo in particular seems very different, in all the best of ways, and it makes me so incredibly sad. He lays flowers on graves, speaks at least two foreign languages and gets excited about the Power Rangers. Whatever happened to that sweet little kid? Or is he still there, somewhere?

Guess we’ll have to read the rest of the flashback.

Until next time!

[strangeswift]

@astrobei gave me permission to info dump so… if you guys ever wanted to learn more about pit bulls on a st fandom blog... your resident dog nerd, vet tech, and former animal control officer is here to school you.

The first thing you should know is that in the U.S. “pit bull” is used colloquially as an umbrella term for several breeds. These breeds are the American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, and American Bully. American Pit Bull Terriers (APBT) and American Bullies are not recognized by the AKC (American Kennel Club) but are recognized by the UKC (United Kingdom Kennel Club) and ABKC (American Bully Kennel Club.)

Some dogs that are commonly mistaken as belonging to this group (alternatively called bully breeds) include American Bulldogs, Dogo Argentinos, and even Cane Corsos.

The majority of dogs labeled as pit bulls are some mix of the breeds previously listed. However, the term “pit bull” historically referred to APBTs. Pure APBT are rare, though the majority of dogs in U.S. shelters have at least some APBT in them. All of the other breeds were derived from the APBT, with American Bullies being the most recent by far, being bred purely as companion animals in just the 1980s, and only picking up in popularity in the last ten years or so.

There is some controversy regarding using pit bull as an umbrella term, and here’s where that comes in. APBT have extremely high bite statistics, which has led to them being demonized and banned in many places, as I’m sure everyone is aware. It’s also led to a lot of dogs being euthanized. Here’s the thing though. Because of pit bull being used as an umbrella term. whenever a dog labeled as a pit bull bites someone, it is reported under the APBT’s bite stats. 

That would be like grouping all shepherds together, so anytime a german shepherd, australian shepherd, dutch shepherd, belgian shepherd, etc. bit someone, it would all be logged under one breed. That breed would have INSANE bute stats, and that’s exactly what’s happened with pit bulls. So many people prefer “bully breed” as the umbrella term and “pit bull” referring only to the APBT. That being said, I do sometimes refer to my American Bully as a pit bull for brevity, but he is properly labeled on his vet records, and if he were to bite, I would make sure he was reported as an American Bully. If you’re not sure what your dog is, “mixed breed” is always a safe call. The worst part is, many of the dogs labeled pit bulls in shelters aren’t even any of these breeds, they’re just dogs with boxy heads, they could be boxer mixes, hound mixes, etc.

So that’s the labeling controversy, now onto history:

As I said, the term pit bull was originally used to refer to APBTs, which were derived from old “bull dogs.” These bull dogs didn’t look like the English Bulldogs we keep as pets in the modern day, these dogs were leaner with longer legs and snouts, and they were bred primarily for “bull baiting.” Bull baiting was an old dog sport where the dog would be released on a bull and the dog was supposed to lock onto the bull’s face with their mouth, and stay there as long as possible without being shaken off. Obviously, this was a very cruel practice for both the bulls and the dogs, and many dogs died. 

From bull dogs, “pit bulls” were bred. Originally the term “pit bull” referred primarily to what we now call American Pit Bull terriers (APBT), which were bred for an even worse sport: dog fighting. Hence the name, the “pit” being the dog fighting ring. Now you may have heard a myth that actually pit bulls were bred to be nanny dogs!! Not fighters!! This just isn’t true. Though their gentle disposition with people can make them great with kids, APBT were bred for dogfighting, and we shouldn’t shy away from that by trying to make up stories to "soften them". If we want to help these dogs, we have to take them for what they are, including what they were bred for. Which brings us to how important are breed traits when it comes to individual animal behavior, and the answer according to research is: pretty important.

Most pure APBTs will show moderate to severe dog aggression, it’s even listed in their UKC breed standard. That being said, a dog with dog aggression (DA) does not translate into “bad dog.” And on top of that, APBT have a wonderful disposition with people and are eager to please, and this isn’t by chance, it has everything to do with their breeding. Dog fighters didn’t want dogs who showed aggression toward their handlers. The dogs needed to be obedient and eager to please. A fighting dog who showed human aggression didn’t get bred, they got shot. So those lines didn’t get passed down, resulting in very sweet dogs with people.

That being said, they often show animal aggression particularly towards dogs, which isn't a problem if you know how to handle them and don't need a dog that is social with other dogs. It's not something you should try to train out, it's in their genetics. That being said, as with any breed traits, there are always exceptions, so it’s not a hard and fast rule. Also, it's nature vs. nurture. It isn't "ALL in how you raise them," because genetics play a huge role in behavior, but how you raise them plays a big role too. Any dog of any breed can show aggression. Trust me on that, I've seen it firsthand. 

NOW, most people with "pit bulls" don't have pure APBTs, so the things about dog aggression don't apply. The other breeds that fall into the category are far less likely to be dog aggressive, and it can often be managed when it is present. American Bullies especially tend to show no dog aggression at all if they are well bred. But pure APBT aren't especially well suited to be pets for the average dog owner, though they are fantastic for dog sports (the fun and humane kind of sports, like bite work, lure coursing, etc.) They were bred to be sporting dogs (as horrendous as it is, dogfighting is still a sport) so they are incredibly high drive and need a lot of exercise, similar to a german shepherd, but with a lot of dog aggression. If your “pit bull” is lazy like my American Bully is, it’s definitely not a pure APBT.

Some other things to know:

Lock jaw is a myth. There is no mechanism in the jaw of a pit bull that allows their jaw to lock. They do have an incredibly strong grip, but their bite force isn’t even in the top 5 highest when you break it down by breed. 

Statistically, bully breeds/pit bulls are common among low income households, which don’t often have the resources for training and proper care. They are also an attractive option for criminals who want an “intimidating dog.” Both of these things play into their bite stats and reputation as well.

And lastly, in my personal experience working with pretty much every breed of dog in every capacity for the last four years, bull breeds/pit bulls are the bestest <3 which is why when i had the opportunity to get a dog of my own, that's what i wanted!

Here is a picture of my boy. He is my whole heart.

[thedeliverygod]

Bright Spots of 2022

This kind of reads more like a Thanksgiving post since it’s kind of the things I’m grateful for in 2022 but lol I didn’t think of it till now so oops. But anyway I know the last few years have been pretty shitty for most of us so I wanted to highlight a few things that were good this year on a personal level.

Going to my first convention since the pandemic started. It was hot af and uncomfortable wearing a mask, I won’t lie. Not to mention I was out of shape cuz I haven’t done much in the past 2 years. but with plenty of breaks and water, it was worth it to have the magic of being in a con center with a bunch of nerds again.

Getting into Stray Kids. They’re such a talented group and just so fun and I can’t say enough about them. My favorite bands beforehand were pretty much Evanescence and Yellowcard; Yellowcard has (sort of?) disbanded, put out their final album but they recently did a show together again at a festival and announced another one lol. So maybe there’s hope for more of their content in the future? And Evanescence put out new music in 2021 which was only a year ago but it feels like it’s been forever for some reason lol. But even so, I haven’t been this excited about music/a band since high school and it’s really refreshing. Stray Kids everywhere all around the world!

As much as I miss being able to see her easily, my best friend moving to another state to get out of a crappy home situation. Of course she still has struggles in her new place but she definitely seems to be on a better path in general.

Spy x Family’s anime was a wholesome and comedic addition to my life that I dearly needed. I’m always a simp for found family stories. 

Tenjin Chat. we’re not always active but you guys are the best and I love having you in my life so much. 

Going to the beach and finally getting to swim in both the ocean and a pool for the first time in years. I was with my sister, my nieces, and mom so there was some drama naturally but god I’ve missed the water. 

Pokemon Legends Arceus mainly was the video game highlight of my year but Pokemon Violet was also fun. If they can take the things from both games that made them great, I can’t wait for the future of pokemon. 

Speaking of games, Cupid Parasite was also a blessing. Hilarious and sweet. Can’t wait to play more otomes in the future. 

Noragami fandom events; I always love interacting with everyone and seeing the creations especially since the main content itself is just #pain right now lol. 

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Kingdom Hearts with you all. I still can’t believe that it (and I) are this old lmao. But I loved how everyone dipped into their memories and made beautiful art of all kinds for the celebration. 

Lastly, the Kingdom Hearts IV trailer. Because holy shit, KH4 is real and the hype cannot be matched. 

[firedragon1321]

OC General Thread

So I’m gonna post a bunch of OCs for your consideration. I will sort them by the universe they’re from.

This may get very “do you love the color of the sky” in length so click the Read More if you’re interested. Also most of these are tagged by character name on my blog.

As of 2024, I'm experimenting with pronouns on profiles. I use "male/female" as shorthand for "cisgender" (mostly so I don't have to change 5+ years worth of documents). Nonbinary and trans characters with pronouns in their profiles will not use these terms.

Notes for triggers- "mention" means I don't go into detail and it's text only. If you don't see that word, it means the art or description will go in-depth on the trigger. Stay safe!

TOON-IVERSE SAGA

This is my main universe. Below is the professional description for those unsatisfied with “Kingdom Hearts meets Pibby meets suspiciously wealthy fujoshis and deviantArt users”.

“Welcome to a world where the boundary between reality and fantasy is malleable, and cartoon characters walk alongside real people. From anime to edutainment to stop motion, any character- or “toon” - one can think of lives in this world. Summoned from their cartoons to reality by the mysterious dragon Shenlong, these toons struggle with the ups and downs of daily life. They are considered to be less than animals by real people, with few options in life but rumors of a hidden utopia.

In their quest to reach this utopia- or simply to survive- toons must be careful,. Enemies lurk in the shadows, willing to bring all of toon-kind under their rule. They must watch out for the demons, which can transform toons into loyal thralls in the blink of an eye! The demons share a shaky alliance with the factories- institutions run by real people with the aim of turning toons into slaves. Though these two factions do not represent the general public, they have enough power to threaten the freedom of toons.

But things cannot stay this way forever. In the year 2002, a toon named Soren appears in this world. A friendship is forged, a quest is begun, and the wheels of change are set into motion.”

Soren (tummy alt): Chubby tummy.

Soren: My favorite OC ever.

Soren character sheet and lore (TW: mentions of child abuse, other triggers mentioned in post): Here it is.

Soren (weapon, TW: blood, knife, child with a weapon): He has a KNIFE!

Old Version + Reference (TW, blood) https://firedragon1321.tumblr.com/post/701139716258578432/let-me-see-what-you-have-a-knife-no-just

Soren (alternate hairstyles): Because playing with his hair is fun

Soren (squinting): Bright light!

Soren (dress): This is legit key to the plot.

Soren (flashbacks, TW: parental abuse): Babies!

Beck: The story’s deuteragonist

Locky: Autistic computer nerd

Zeus (TW: gaslighting mention): The angy boy

TOON-IVERSE SAGA (GENDERBEND AU)

The same as the above universe, only all the dudes are girls and vise versa.

Sorrel: Soren hates that this exists

TOON-IVERSE SAGA (NON-CANON)

Random AUs and BS with Toon-iverse Saga characters.

Beck (Bunbun, Pibby reference): Bunbun Beck!

ZUNRU

An original monster project similar to Pokemon or Digimon. The protagonist is an autistic character written by an autistic author. Here's a longer description if you want-

“Humans share the world with Zunru. People can thank these magical creatures for the dawn of civilization. Zunru are responsible for building homes, providing food, and offering companionship. People who own Zunru are called 'Tamers'. With a Zu You Co.-approved Zunru Band, they can store a large number of Zunru to travel and fight with.

Jackie is a fourteen year old boy who loves Zunru. Though he has a heart of gold, people find him odd- even those he considers friends. While visiting the town of Seaside Heights, Jackie uncovers a dark secret- Zunru, presumed to be of animal intelligence, are as smart and passionate as humans. They are not companions, but silent slaves.

Jackie aims to create a world where human and Zunru can walk together as equals. But this comes with challenges and costs. He loses the trust of his friends. He discovers that he has autism, a newly discovered condition that sets him apart from other humans. He must confront everything from Zu You Co. itself to his own parents. But with Zunru by his side- rather than under his thumb- Jackie might be able to set things right."

Jackie (hairstyle evolution, TW: scars, burns, readmore discusses or mentions child abuse, albiesm, depression, post traumatic stress disorder, autistic meltdown, psych ward): Over here!

Jackie (original sketch vs 2023 art)- Here!

Jackie (busts, 2020 vs 2023): Thisaway!

Jackie (scar ref, TW: scars, burns): Ouch.

SINGULARITY (formerly Capsule Zaurus)

Originally a reimagining of a prototype version of Digimon, but it got big, so I made it an original work. There is a video by Karn EX that goes into more detail.  Some of the older stuff may use the word "Zaurus" instead of "Datazar" for the monsters, and that's okay.

Human Characters- Tomoya (plus Merazaru full line): Borger

Human Characters: Tomoya and Toshi: Please for the love of God research for your stories!

2024 Main Datazar (Merazaru, Fukazaru, Kerozaru, Raizaru, Tosazaru, Orchizaru, Nyazaru): Right this way!

Anglozaru- He’s a fish

Capsule Zaurus Part 1 (Merazaru, Raizaru, Kerozaru, Tosazaru, Fukazaru): Redraws of concept art right here!

Capsule Zaurus Part 2 (Baby Army): Baby booboo 

Capsule Zaurus Part 3 (Megalozaru, Narizaru, Odosuzaru, Tonozaru, Tsukuzaru): Digivolve to Cham- oh wait that’s wrong.

FAN OCs

Characters I made up for existing properties. These are further subdivided.

DIGIMON: FRAGMENTS (DIGIMON)

A fan DigiDestined project I dabble with sometimes. This one has a fanfic, which you can read here. Please read all its tags and the author’s note in Chapter 1 before committing!

Whole Cast of Digimon Fragments + Oliver bust and character sheet + Luca character sheet: DigiDestined on parade! 

Oliver bust (TW: panic attack): Poor baby

POKEJIN (POKEMON)

An AU where all the Pokemon are gijinkas, and a deconstruction of Pokephilia weirdo fics. Follows the parallel stories of a wild Pikachu named Tekka and his band of rebels, along with two newbie Trainers who get sucked into the evil Team Embrace. Based mostly on the game universe.

Tekka (art): Pika pika! 

Tekka (lore, TW: Pokephilia mention, technically rape mention): I am cringe but I am free.

PROJECT STRIKEBACK (POKEMON)

A “what if Ash was replaced regionally starting in Jotho” character design thing. These are OCs based on the games and Ash’s previous designs.

Rico (Paldea): Mini-rant attached

UNTITLED SHINKALION PROJECT

Something I whipped up a few years ago. An original season of Shinkalion. Unfinished except for notes for now, but I have some art.

Takara (old): Mechanic nerd.

RANDOM OCS

OCs that I drew who don't belong to any project, or just random stuff.

Joran (2023 NaNo Protag): Anxiety yay!

Leo (with profile, TW school trauma, child abuse, asylum mention, albiesm/masking allegory): Just a little guy.

Jovie (progression): A bunch of guys, but they're the same guy.

Ryder: He's smol.

[ts-porter]

Recently I've been having a fun time thinking about a group of adventurers going up against some sort of kingdom-threatening bad guy that nobody can stop (as one does), only when they finally reach him the bad guy starts monologuing! Yes, he is protected by a Prophecy that No Man of Woman Borne can kill him! (macbeth is a classic for a reason and if jirt can steal the line so can I. no regrets.)

Cue the party huddling up to plan like 'ok, is this man-as-in-male meaning the ladies can go Éowyn on his ass? or is it Man as in mankind as in human? Do we go get some attack dogs somewhere? An attack cow? What? Cows are way more dangerous than sharks, there's statistics about it! Whatever, we don't have time to go get an attack animal! What if it's about identifying as human? Quick, is anyone in the party a furry? C'mon, don't be shy, the kingdom is at stake!'

Meanwhile the quiet one (it's always the quiet ones) sort of hanging in the background of this panicky planning sesh goes 'huh', and then he just walks straight up to the still-chortling big bad and slays him dead.

Stunned silence.

Then of course there is a lot to do in the aftermath and everybody's busy, but later the rest of the party is like 'ok, really, how did he do that'. They are trying to figure out what's up with their bro. Let's call him Brian. Brian the Baneslayer, that's got a ring to it.

So the party's trying to figure out what's up with Brian and how he managed to kill the big bad despite the prophecy. They're like 'is Brian a trans woman, have we been misgendering Brian this whole time!? Is Brian somehow secretly not human? We definitely need to ask Brian. What, no! You can't ask directly, Brian is like the most private person ever! We've just got to make sure Brian knows we're cool and accepting no matter what so Brian can tell us how the flip the prophecy was eluded.'

Mission: We Affirm All Identities is go! Various party members, with various levels of awkwardness, 'casually' bring up stories of their own queer identities, or that of their beloved friends and family and... Brian smiles and nods and makes quietly supportive noises and that's it, no sharing of stories. They have semi-staged arguments concluding that 'people are definitely people and deserving of all support even if they were somehow not a human people' and Brian just sort of nods along and still nothing.

(the quiet ones, man, their secrets are too powerful)

Anyway, this goes on for several weeks before one of the more straighforward of the party members breaks down like 'Brian, Brian, we all love you so much no matter what your whole deal is and how you got around the prophecy. we just love you, ok?' (yes, alcohol was involved)

And Brian cracks up, as he finally puts together what the team's been trying to do. "Oh my gods, you nerds. I forgot you didn't know. I'm not trans or anything, my parents are. I wasn't borne by a woman. My dad had me!"

[darkmagickingdom]

Dark Magic Kingdom au info

AU where the Disney parks funded and had their Imagineers develop a series of highly advanced walkabout animatronics to allow guests to more authentically meet their favorite characters. Inspired by @disney-android-foundation ‘s AU and the concepts behind the disney parks kinect game and the mobile game Disney Magic Kingdoms

Since I have the ability to envision the company as not a totally soulless corporation in this AU, this implementation didn’t result in all character and mascot actors getting fired. They’re now either on the repair teams, understudies (to take the place of an animatronic if it breaks down) or character handlers (the folks who keep an eye on the animatronics and make sure they A. aren’t left to just break down somewhere, B. don’t wander farther than they’re supposed to, and C. don’t cause trouble for the guests) Character handlers also sometimes have to break up character fights or arguments because they’re all programmed to act and interact with each other very authentically.

However the animatronics were built with Asimov’s first law in mind, so unless something goes REALLY wrong, they’re incapable of intentionally causing physical harm to humans. Some of them will definitely yell at your kids though.

This AU is centered around the villains but there’s hero characters too (princes, princesses, mascots, supporting characters, etc), and I would be happy to talk about them as well if requested.

I’m mostly covering Disney animated movies, but also Pixar films, spin-off cartoons of both, stuff based on the rides (PotC, Haunted Mansion mostly), and Star Wars stuff (though mostly prequel era content because that’s my main area of interest and expertise). I’m not really going to cover Marvel stuff, sorry, I’m just not a big enough MCU nerd. Block criteria is at the bottom (I don't expect everyone to read it, it's just there for like. My stance on things I think matter and an explanation as to if anyone gets blocked and doesn't get why)

Villains and their home sections

Magic Kingdom

Fantasyland

Grimhilde/The Evil Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves)

Maleficent and Diablo (Sleeping Beauty)

Ursula (The Little Mermaid)

Madam Mim (The Sword in the Stone)

The Horned King, Gwythaints and Creeper (The Black Cauldron) / Character Handler: Carys

The Queen of Hearts (and the king) (Alice in Wonderland)

Hades (Hercules)

Gaston (Beauty and the Beast)

(Gaston can also be found roaming Animal Kingdom)

Adventureland

Captain Hook (Peter Pan)

Jafar (Aladdin)

Mozenrath (Aladdin the animated series)

Yzma and Kronk (The Emperor's New Groove)

Davy Jones (Pirates of the Caribbean)

Helga Sinclair (Atlantis: The Lost Empire)

Clayton (Tarzan)

Tamatoa (Moana)

(Clayton can also sometimes be found roaming Animal Kingdom)

(Because Tamatoa’s so huge, he’s mostly stuck in his meet and greet area)

Liberty Square

Dr. Facilier (The Princess and the Frog)

Oogie Boogie (The Nightmare Before Christmas) / Character Handler: Sam

The Headless Horseman (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow)

(Oogie has a casino-themed restaurant here, he roams the whole park in the Fall but stays here the rest of the year)

(The Horseman also shows up in Main Street, USA and sometimes Frontierland. He's a night-only character and sometimes even chases the Disney Railway trains, which the guests love. Both he and his horse are animatronics because you are not going to get a live horse to do tricks like that. He leads the Halloween parades also)

Main Street, USA

Cruella De Vil (101 Dalmatians)

Professor Ratigan, Fidget and Felicia (The Great Mouse Detective)

(I know they're British, I didn't really have anywhere better to fit them and Main Street's based on Colonial America anyway)

(Cruella can also sometimes be found roaming Animal Kingdom)

Tomorrowland

John Silver (Treasure Planet)

Scroop (Treasure Planet)

Doris (Meet the Robinsons)

AUTO (WALL-E)

NOS-4-A2 (Buzz Lightyear of Star Command) / Character Handler: Carmen

XL (Buzz Lightyear of Star Command) / Character Handler: Roxie

Evil Emperor Zurg (Toy Story)

Randall Boggs (Monsters Inc.)

(In my heart there's a Treasure Planet dark ride in Tomorrowland 😔)

(AUTO's pretty much confined to his meet and greet area, maybe it's inside a restaurant or something. I'm not sure yet)

(Zurg is based on his personality in the Star Command series rather than the one he has in Toy Story)

Animal Kingdom

(and either California Adventure or Adventureland in Disneyland)

Africa

Scar (The Lion King)

Zira (The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride)

Shenzi (The Lion King)

(Shenzi's hyena buddies are also around but she's the one that interacts with guests the most)

Discovery Island

Bruce (Finding Nemo)

(Bruce's shark buddies are also around, but he's the one that interacts with guests the most. They're all confined to the water)

Asia

Shere Khan (The Jungle Book)

Kaa (The Jungle Book)

Star Wars Galaxy's Edge

Darth Maul

Asajj Ventress

General Grievous

Count Dooku

Cad Bane

Hondo Ohnaka

Darth Vader

Various battle droid types (B1, Commando, MagnaGuard and Droideka)

I can attempt other characters not on this list also.

Block criteria

I don't have the time or patience to thoroughly vet everyone who interacts with my posts and I make it a rule to never publicly call out anyone blocked, but if I see you being like openly racist or ableist or some shit like that it's a block (probably a report too for hate speech). If I see you being hateful of any part of the queer community, that's a block. (Transphobia, homo/lesbophobia, biphobia, exclusionism against nonbinary/aspec/pan/"weird" labels and genders, take your pick, it's all banned)

I'm pro-choice and also antivaxxers would do well to avoid me because I am autistic and proud, I'm not gonna have you around spreading lies and treating me and people like me as though we're a fate worse than death.

Because I'm autistic and proud, folks who I see calling people having fun and being themselves "cringe" get a block too. Basically if you're pro-bullying or think bullying is okay if the target's "weird" or fat or whatever.

I do not want to be dragged into discourse, please don't come to me asking me my stance on the discourse of the week. If I haven't made my stance clear I either don't care or don't have enough info to feel confident taking a side. Or I'm actively choosing to stay out of the drama.

I generally will not block over ships or written/drawn fiction unless it ends up making me super incredibly uncomfortable. If that happens, please don't take it personally. I can't really predict what will and won't upset me really bad, but I won't call you out. If I see you suicide-baiting someone over written/drawn fiction/a ship that's a block, though. There's no reason to get like that over your uncomfortableness. If I think you might be an actual threat and not just someone with a ship I dislike, I'll just quietly block and report. No drama, no callouts.

If you think there's anything inherently morally wrong with being a furry, being a monster lover, liking villains, or selfshipping, you might as well block me because I'm shamelessly pro all of those.