#can elfs get effected by cat nip?

[msshadows97]

Season 2 episode 5/6 spoilers (before the episodes even comes out

I didn't know the episode names but we get to see Betty this episode!! Her short stint in New York wasn't enough I want my girl to save the day

[abominationvault]

Session 1: Sat 24 June 2023

The town of Otari is known for its lumber, and its slide-like innovations which are used to get the lumber on board ships.

We meet in Wrin’s Wonders. Wrin is a half elf tiefling, like Nadia. She is from a village that was attacked by demons. She set up shop here because she collected so much shit it got too heavy to carry it with her all the time. She says she doesn’t like being inside buildings. She also doesn’t like corners, hence her outdoor shop:

She draws our attention to an object that we can’t quite see. Nadia thinks she can see a faint blue glow above the trees to the north west. She points it out to the others.

Are we aware of the history of this town? There’s a nursery rhyme…

500 years ago in Absalom there was a powerful magical family. They were prominent in society but had made pacts with great evil. Youngest scion was called Valkora. Family’s secrets discovered and family thrown out of city. Moved here. V. built a lighthouse and swore revenge on Absalom. A party of adventurers followed and killed her. Party rogue was lost in process.

In time Valkora will return, according to legend…

Wrin has been out there, there are definitely ruins. The lighthouse is supposed to be ruined, it hasn’t been active in hundreds of years. So what is the blue glow…? Would we be happy to go and investigate it? Joto doesn’t want to go near water. Skabb whispers in Grabby-Cat’s ear and they both nod. Sprocket asks what a lighthouse is. Skabb offers Joto a treat; he agrees to go. Luna makes up her mind to be difficult about it next time we are asked to go somewhere, in order to be offered a treat.

We follow the path she points us toward for about 20 minutes and find ourselves in marshland. Skeeters, yuck. Ruins in the marsh. Foggy and dim, even though it’s early morning. Above is a monument - a lighthouse. Skabb expects corpses floating in the water.

Skabb sneaks forward and hides in the bushes. She finds a tasty slug. Hartvig goes and looks at the doors; they look rotten. The frame collapses in as soon as he touches the handle. Mould and mildew, green and black smears on the walls. Collapsed chairs, foul-smelling grey lumps. Cobwebs festoon the ceiling.

Joto opens the other door to similar effect. Sprocket asks Hartvig for a biscuit; sadly he doesn’t have any. We do have a few days’ worth of provisions from Wrin. Sprocket announces that he has to eat food because he’s magical, and not clockwork; and he gives Hartvig a shin-hug.

We all stealth forward.

We hear high-pitched squeaking; it seems to be talking to us. There is a lot of giggling. Joto looks around.

Hartvig recognises the grey stuff as mitflit dung. These are distant cousins of goblins:

Skabb hides behind Hartvig’s legs, and sneaks a treat into his pocket. She is spotted by the mitflits! She can understand the squeaking. The mitflits invite her to partake of the delicious grey 'pixie mud' on the floor! Skabb laughs and tells them she’s a fairy, and she has some fairy mud for them to try. Do pixies like these slugs? She holds one up. More ‘pixie mud’ is slung at her from above.

“The fucking cheek.”

Among the spiderwebs above, she can make out shapes; she thinks these might be the mitflits. They are about fifteen feet up. She casts Tanglefoot to try and capture one. She doesn’t want to hurt it, only grab it. Her attack misses, though. There is a yelp, and now that the voices have stopped pretending to be pixies, they are deeper, guttural.

Skabb hears, “Nasty fat fairy tried to catch me!”

Skabb has found her people; she might just stay here.

Initiative!

Skabb tries to intimidate one of the mitflits into telling her who they are working for. It works; Boss Squong?

Skwarng?

Skrawng.

Skabb kills the last one. Yay! She takes its eyeballs in case Grabby-Cat gets hungry.

She nips out the front door and grabs some dirt, making it into a plaster. It helps wounds to heal. It doesn’t work, but Hartvig casts Heal on everyone. He looks in his pocket and finds an unexpected treat; he gives it to Sprocket.

[mdhwrites]

Since you mentioned it in a recent post, what do you think about TOH having a sympathetic main cast of mostly conventionally beautiful, humanoid characters while still preaching about how 'weirdos have to stick together'? Do you think there's some hypocrisy in how the show handles its less 'cute' characters?

I do think it's hypocritical and that in and of itself is a problem. It's also just really fucking boring and contributes to the problem of it feeding into the fantasy problem of "Our world but with more teeth."

So since I'm going to rip into this creative choice for the rest of this blog, let's first talk about the positives of having a cast that is effectively all humans, especially all good looking ones, instead of demons, monsters, etc. After all, we need to be fair. There's a lot that goes behind these choices and while the Isles has a lot of bizarre designs in the backgrounds, there had to be a point to all of the denizens we commonly interact with looking like generic elves. *flips through notes* *checks some papers* *flips through more notes* It makes fanart easy.

...OKAY FINE! That's only SOMEWHAT hyperbolic. The reason it makes fanart easier is also why it's really easy to just go with a cast of humans. We as a SPECIES inherently trust and connect better with those who look like ourselves, for better and mostly worse. This can be as specific as skin color and as abstract as simply the human form. Yes, for people like me who are proud monster fuckers, this line blurs but for common Joe Shmoe, they're going to want someone who looks fairly normal if they're going to get really invested.

Worse yet is if you look at modern cartoons. Bare minimum, Molly McGee and Amphibia. Yes, SOME people in those fandoms will draw the frogs and Scratch... But they ALL draw the trios of human characters. And yes, shipping matters here but I've also seen a good number of Amphibia artists just admit to spending way too much figuring out how to draw Sprig because the anatomy is wonky enough to make you question yourself. If they're all humans, you can still get by just fine with your normal style and lessons that most art books are going to teach you.

This isn't even untrue from a writing perspective. Just a cultural shift (and yes I'm calling myself out on this) can be enough to throw you WAY out of your comfort zone for how to write a character besides token elements like food. Throw in entirely different anatomy, skill sets inherent to biology, weaknesses similarly inherent to that biology, and you start to have a lot more questions you need to ask for a very basic level understanding of a character. Which seems like a good transition point to talking about the monstrous denizens of TOH. Specifically that there is ONE 'monster' in The Owl House main cast and that is King.

...

Can you tell me what the fuck is special about King? Besides being short and fluffy, his differing anatomy effectively NEVER comes into play. His magical blasts are practically replicated by Raine whistling. Make him an 8 year old elf child and the only thing you lose is his ancestry. Not his heritage, his ANCESTRY. That's pretty fucking weak.

Edit: Someone on Twitter pointed out to me that King's design is effectively just a furred Cubone and I hate knowing this.

Otherwise, the only inhumane thing about him is that they make him a dog. Which, you know... isn't exactly going very far down on the spectrum of likability for most people. In fact, this technique isn't anywhere near new. Toothless is just a giant cat and I love him for it but I wouldn't blame anyone who looked at the How to Train Your Dragon Dragons and went "I wish they acted like dragons." Because... They don't? They have the designs and move sets of dragons but most of their temperament is far more cat like, down to having dragon nip and being distracted by reflected light.

King is also the only foreground deviation for the protagonists. As I said when I first mentioned this, you can't even really go with Willow being heavier set. She is pretty much the textbook definition of "More to love" seeing as her being slightly heavier just gives her a softer design than the rest of the characters instead of being anywhere close to unappealing like one of Mabel's friends in Gravity Falls is. You're supposed to look at Willow and go "I bet she gives really good hugs" and that's about it. Her weight, much like her ethnicity frankly, is hardly what you're supposed to think about with her design besides basic contrast.

And she's still better than the rest of the cast who are models. Including Luz for that matter. Now the show's style doesn't lend itself well to distinguishing how pretty a character is besides their reactions from a different character... But it can also absolutely do ugly. And no one in this main cast is ugly. You want a NASTY scar, you're gonna have to look elsewhere than the tatted up teenage boy and the girl who has a little flair on one of her eyebrows. One is meant to look cool, the other is still the same job while also being slight enough not to embellish the main face too much.

Amity and Eda though are explicitly in text stated as REALLY PRETTY. Like model pretty from how people react to them. Yes, one of these people is Luz's girlfriend but literally any acknowledgement of her looks is more than Gus, Willow or any of the villains (especially positively) are given. Not even Odalia who is the best case against this argument. But, you know, those are Amity's genes running through Odalia. She's not gonna be ugly because then how are all of the Blight Children ready for a Vogue cover shoot?

And here's the thing: In most media, this isn't really a problem. People like attractive people and there's nothing wrong with that. I know people want more representation and they are right to want that but also most media is a fantasy of some sort. Especially for a basic wish fulfillment isekai like TOH, a really pretty harem is packaged explicitly into the fantasy because who doesn't want hot magical beings saying they're the best?

Except then there's the line of "Us Weirdos Gotta Stick Together," or the fact that Luz is stated to be bullied (but didn't actually look out of place amongst the cheerleaders or drama kids), or the fact that TOH theoretically peddled early on a Fantasy vs. Reality theme. It is a show that is meant to CELEBRATE the Other and be challenging to those who are commonly seen as better... But the Other isn't present. When they are... They're villains. Belos is the only character with a curse that doesn't make them pretty. It's really gruesome what the curse does to him, even before he becomes a full monster. Contrast that with Eda who sprouts feathers and that's really it? Then you have Tibbles, who is a literal pig, the evil publisher who is a lizard, the monster hunters who are orcs effectively, Warden Wrath who is a homunculus? There isn't actually a clear inspiration directly for him besides 'monster' which is part of why he's one of the best one off villains of the series. The closest to a protagonist monster is Hooty which the series goes out of its way to make most people mock, outright hate and/or be actively repulsed by him, especially if it's a character we're supposed to care about.

When it comes to the villains, there are two who stand out as prettier than the rest and they both have direct connections to the main cast. In fact, to Amity. Odalia who I talked about earlier and Boscha. I guess Matt if you want to count him but as far as looking like a basic ass bitch goes, you don't get much more basic than Matt without bleaching his skin. Boscha on the other hand's prettiness is pretty much the best argument we had before she was given a half assed redemption that she was going to be redeemed. Why else make her so much prettier than everyone else? Unless it was just fueled by "She is going to be next to Amity a few times and a Blight wouldn't interact with anyone too... alternative." None of Amity's friends are more monstrous than a third eye after all and that doesn't really hold Boscha back all that much. Frankly, it probably saved her from large forehead jokes akin to what Amity gets since they both have hairstyles that pull their hair back and that's a problem for the show's style.

What does all of this mean? Well, it means in a show that is trying to lift up those who feel like they don't belong, it's still reinforcing standard beauty ideals of society. Worse yet, it just kind of discredits that Luz meets ANY outcast. I wouldn't have called my friends in High School ugly of course but were any of us ready for the runway? Of course not. We didn't take care of ourselves right for that or just didn't have the right genes for it.

Because let's face it: The eyeball head girl was NEVER going to be a main character. And that's... also really boring. The fact that witches are just elves but without any of the culture, long lifespans (as far as we know) etc. like that is also just really boring. And for a fantasy show, especially one that pitches in the first episode that ANY folk tale we have originated here, that's not good. Especially since even if they look like elves, you could have still at least TRIED to make them interesting with things like the bile sac but that's a throwaway joke to the writers. And the saddest thing is... If you're a person who LIKES weird characters, or actually embraces their weirdness and so doesn't need to be told they'll have a Victoria Secrets model as a wife... What is TOH gonna do for you? Or for anyone who doesn't want designs that are less interesting and less unique than even Danny Phantom's. And that's from fucking Butch Hartman who is not exactly known for being a top tier artist. Like SAM as a goth is more alternative (especially for when the show first aired) than fucking ANYONE in the main cast of TOH. And that show debuted ALMOST TWENTY YEARS AGO. And Valerie even had a similar bodytype to Willow but with WAY more personality!

Now I'm just thinking about all the shows I grew up with like Total Drama Island that had so much fun with even their pretty boy designs. That's frankly my biggest issue. The pretty problem in TOH IS bad thematically. Above all else though... it's just boring. Boring and lazy. How these characters look don't mean ANYTHING to them. It doesn't say much about them, the show or anything else.

They're pretty just because the creator probably likes making pretty people and I can usually support. I support Yoko Taro after all. But Yoko Taro makes people (or androids which are based off humans). This is fantasy. You can do whatever you want and the TOH crew couldn't be assed enough to even do a demon.

In a world called the DEMON REALM! I think at that point, you need to ask why the fuck they're bothering with it being a fantasy show in the first place, let alone one trying to pitch itself as anything other than basic wish fulfillment.

=======

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[drawsshits-inactive]

It’s <i>fucking</i> cold.

Well, that’s to be expected, Anders supposes. After all, it’s the middle of November and the winter storm that the weather forecasters has been tracking for the last week is just two days away from really hitting the area. What he wouldn’t give to be in his cozy little apartment right now with his cat and some fuzzy microfiber pajama pants, <i>that are not women’s pajamas</i>, no matter what Isabela said. But instead of cuddling up in front of the sofa with knitted blankets and a cup of steaming hot tea, he’s standing in a dark corner in nothing but thin shirt a pair of jean so tight that he’s worried about freezing his toes off and not being able to feel it happening because all his blood circulations have been cut off.

Fuck. Talk about actually freezing his balls off.

Anders looks over to where their source is standing, an elf going by the name of Jethann. Anders is reasonably sure that that isn’t his real name but Anders doesn’t really care. It’s a wonder that this Jethann had the courage to even approach the cops face to face with the information he had. It’s been months of chasing their own tails trying to crack down the serial killer roaming the streets, and Anders is perfectly willing to give their only lead some anonymity if it means they can finally catch the murderer.

Of course Jethann looks casual and handsome, not the nervous wreck that walked into Anders’ station just a few days ago. He’s not even shivering, and it isn’t not for the red blush on his pale cheeks, Anders would think he’s some otherworldly apparition that doesn’t let something so petty and mortal as near freezing temperature bother him.

Maker, Anders is so cold.

Anders wishes that he can use magic to warm himself up just a little if it weren’t for the fact that that would be a dead giveaway to his not-so-prostitute-status and that warming magic tends to have the unfortunate side effect of making him steam like a humidifier working overtime.

Anders rubs his arms for the twentieth time in the last five minutes, trying to get some warmth back into his freezing limbs. Jethann gives him a surreptitious glance from beneath his lush eyelashes, mouth quirking a little. Damn him. Thankfully, Anders only has about an hour more to go until he can call the night off and go back to the station. It’s unfortunate (or maybe fortunate, Anders can’t decide) that their little street corner was left alone for the entire night. It looks like the weather is too cold for even john to try and get some in the back of an alley.

Anders thinks hard about warm cups of hot chocolate and Pounce’s happy purrs to get him through the rest of his shift. Maybe he can bribe someone else to take the undercover gig... if only the killer’s modus operandi didn’t somehow exactly match Anders. Or maybe he can convince them to throw in a goddamn jacket in his get up.

Deep in his thoughts, Anders jumps when a stranger approaches him, something that he berates himself for. It might be as cold as the Maker’s blue balls here, but he’s a detective and he shouldn’t let his guard down like that. It would probably make for awful public relations.

“Oh, so sorry!” The man says, “I didn’t mean to scare you there.”

The man at least has the decency to look sheepish, though Anders can’t really tell in the dim flickering street light. The man might actually have really murderous expression under his bushy beard and wind-swept bangs, long eyelashes highlighted by the fluorescent neon signs nearby.

He’s handsome, Anders thinks, and then blinks. He’s been staring for too long.

“It’s not a problem,” Anders says finally, putting on what he thinks would be a coquettish smile if his damn facial muscles haven’t been frozen solid. “Did you want something, handsome?”

While Anders kicks himself internally for the really bad line, the man in front of him blushes (though that could just be from the wind nipping on his face) and shoves his hands into the pocket. Anders really hopes he’s not a late night john, coming to buy some company for the night. That’s would be awkward.

“Oh no,” The stranger stammers, “It’s nothing like that I just,...”

Anders waits for him to go on. It would be a shame to arrest such a cute guy. The man scratches his bushy beard, and then his head, somehow messing it up in a way that makes him look even cuter.

It’s been a really fucking long time since Anders has gotten laid.

The man thrusts the thing he’s been carrying under his arm towards anders, like he’s afraid he’ll change his mind and run away. Anders takes it without thinking about it and realizes it’s a padded jacket.

“Sorry, you just looked so cold and uh,...” The man messes up his hair again in a nervous habit. He definitely blushes harder this time. “Anyways, I hope you have a nice night.”

With that, the man promptly turns around and jogs down the street before Anders can stop him.

“Uh.” Anders says, belatedly, into the empty air in front of him. It comes out in puffs of white breaths. He realizes that the man hadn’t been wearing a jacket over his hoodie.

Jethann jogs over to Anders’ corner, with a coy smile on his face.

“You got an admirer?” He nudges Anders in the ribs. Anders scowls in response. He checks his cheap watch. Ten more minutes before his shift ends.

“It’s a slow night,” Jethann says, “It’s rare but it happens.”

“I don’t think anyone would fancy taking their pants off in this weather.” Anders says.

“Oh, you would be surprised,” Jethann replies, sending a wink Anders’ way. “But… I’ll see you tomorrow night?” Jethann is good at keeping his face straight. Anders supposes someone of Jethann’s profession should be good at lying.

“Probably,” Anders sighs, releasing another puff of white breath into the air. While he’s out here, trying to bait the murderer in a last ditch attempt, the others will be chasing their increasingly cold leads. He’s hoping they’ll turn up something before he ends up losing a toe.

“You know,” Jethan says, running a hand over Anders’ arm in a soothing gesture. His hand is warm. “A scarf might help, or you can get a coat like Sabina over there.”

Anders follows Jethann’s finger to where a skinny looking woman is standing, wearing glittery heels and a puffy looking purple fur coat. It looks awful and Anders is incredibly jealous.

“I’ll think about it,” Anders says in a way that says <i>the budget department will never approve of me getting a faux fur coat</i>.

“Well, I think I’m going to turn in for the night,” Jethann says and Anders waves him off. Maybe he should have asked Jethann if he wanted a cup of tea or something, but that might have been inappropriate.

Anders puts on the jacket as he jogs the short distance to the undercover vehicle. It’s a bit big on him, not fitting him quite right around the shoulders. He let’s the unfamiliar but pleasant wisps of detergent and cologne envelope him.

It’s still a bit warm from the stranger’s body and the heat penetrates Anders down to the bone.