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greenbirdtrash · 10 months

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Decided to post some of my clothing analysis of the musical Once-ler. Most of my takes here are outdated (since i didn't had a chance to get acquainted with the script back then, but now i've got a better understanding of some things and the exact timeline, so lots of updated info and the contexts will be added when needed), but some of the listed speculations here are still pretty interesting to think about. It's actually kinda crazy how i came to that, building my own imaginary character profile and the timeline without the chance to watch the entire show, but just from analysing the available photos and the reviews. And the fun thing is..some of my speculations actually fit the story quite well. So..

Part one: Introduction.

[July, 23]

"Again, my conclusions may be wrong because of the fact that I only saw the fragments and photos from this musical, I cannot be completely sure that the slight difference in some of details and elements is present due to a certain story arc or the fact that the "test show" was performed in a different place and with slightly different props, but it's hard not to notice that during the course of events, the clothes of our beloved problematic capitalist change, maybe not as drastically as in the 2012 movie, for example, but this undoubtedly plays an important role in his development as a character (especially considering that we are looking at a stage adaptation with its own nuances, but more on that later) and reflects a certain kind of changes that he goes through in the process. Why is this so important? I'll try to explain.

Working with perception through colors and shapes is one of the most basic things in design that always works, and even being in some cases comically exaggerated, it remains effective because a person somehow always builds a certain association based on the things they saw. Like, we look at the warm green color, and it immediately reminds us of leaves, etc, etc.. Long story short, the aspect of different clothing, colors and patterns on a character who's going through different phases will be very important here. I saw someone else pointing the same thing out in one of the reviews, can't remember which one tho. Anyway, my huge thanks to Rob Howell for giving us all these amazing designs.

What I always loved in stage performances of all kinds and the theater as a whole concept, is the fact that you won't find there such thing as "narrow cinematic frame" in which you can just remove or cut out everything that simply "does not fit" into it, oh no.

In stage performances and musicals, the whole color extravaganza of the stage and the carefully carved environment will talk to you (yes, talk!), and actors are required to do much more than just show a certain face at a certain moment. Nope, it's completely different here, and most of the theatre actors are just built different as well. Spent some of my best years near them, that was an amazing experience. Anyway-

Being able to play simply with with your voice and face is not enough to be a good actor here, especially considering that even if you're lucky to have the most magnificent facial expressions......they are not particularly visible even from the middle rows. Even though most projects and plays are recorded with professional equipment from the close range (mostly for archive purposes), and for some plays you can even get the binoculars with no problem, it is impossible to rely solely on facial expressions.

And here's where costumes and choreography come into play.

So, the costumes...

From what I saw and read, I would say, we are introduced to this Onceler in a pretty interesting way.

At the time of his departure from home in search of a better fate, we are looking at a very ambitious young dreamer who just.. let's say, he doesn't fit into his original environment, neither by his character traits, nor by his ideas about inventions, nor visually. The visual clearly emphasizes this, and I got the impression that among all the green riot of chaotic colorful prints that prevail in his family's clothes, in his tailcoat he kinda looks like a "black sheep" among them, even despite the fact that he shares the same green aesthetic, but his design is not "too much" or hard to look at. In fact, we are still able to spot him even when he's surrounded by his family. According to this adaptation's background, their family is VERY poor, and all they own is an old mill(?) on which they all work tirelessly. Not a particularly wide space for revelry and elements symbolizing prosperity or luxury (yk, tailcoats are quite expensive), so to speak. Things were not going great for them, so perhaps such an expensive thing as a tailcoat in their conditions is some kind of a reference to the guitar of the 2012 version (for which, according to some information available on the web, the 2012 Onceler has been saving up for a long time). Perhaps (and most likely this guess will be more correct) our hero slept and saw himself in a completely different society - with a much higher and richer status [UPD: This guess was partially confirmed after i saw the script, so I will take this as canon. After all, in the stageplay, the young Onceler literally devotes an entire scene to the song about his dream of getting rich on his great idea], and perhaps he also believed that "clothes make the man" and planned searching for glory in the same outfit, I can't tell you for sure, but the fact is that visually he does not fit into his environment at all, he's "an oddball" with his head hovering somewhere in the clouds, and his clothes, among other things, help us draw a imaginary line which separates him from his surroundings and giving us a subconscious signal that he is just different. Not like them. We all faced rejection in one way or another, and we know what not being able to fit feels like, and it also kinda helps us to put ourselves in his shoes, feel his ambitions, and to start sympathizing with him as a character. [UPD: It works really well within the canons of this adaptation, I couldn't remain indifferent to it, and David Greig turned him into exactly that kind of beautifully written tragic deep character that I wanted to see, and at the end of his story, it broke my heart..in a good way, of course.]

Also, there's something really silly about how he looks at the start, he spots the funky striped fingerless gloves (Not the canon long ones, but still..That's a nice touch, every Onceler needs his gloves, and also it looks like he also has a watch on his left arm? Interesting..), some kind of a vintage green fedora, very fluffy green hair, green shirt and green pants with a slightly different "cold" color, brown suspenders and even a bright green neckerchief for some reason, so his green aesthetic is pretty much complete. Idk, his whole look during this phase kinda gives me the countryside vibes, maybe it was actualy intended? Especially considering what his family does for life?[UPD: It kinda was.]

Actually, he leaves the house just because his room and his bed is suddenly rented out for some pennies [UPD: Everything turned out to be much worse and funnier at the same time, he was literally kicked out by his family (You can literally feel their low expectations for him) just for them to take in a random person with "more reasonable ideas", but despite this, all his interactions with the "Bed-stealer" during the first act made me smile and giggle a lot, Small Ed is a great character addition and a pure comedic relief], and this probably becomes his last reason in favor of collecting all of his not very vast possessions and go seek his fate in the hopes that somewhere in this world there will be a better place for him.."

#lorax musical analysis #lorax musical #onceler #the onceler #the lorax #lorax #lorax 2023

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princeoftrashy · 5 days

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I updated the character designs of three significant figures in Sol's life + some bonus concepts. Read below for close-ups, character notes, and more backstory.

This is Sol's mother. She and Icarus met while she was in college. They didn't start dating right away, and once they did, they stayed dating for a long time. It wasn't until she got pregnant with Solstice that they finally got married.

Their marriage was rocky from the start, however. Although Icarus earned a pretty decent amount from his bounty hunting, neither of them were very financial conscious, so they were always fighting over money. And since he was gone often, Hanna was usually left struggling with Solstice alone. Eventually, she caught him with Leona, a mutual friend of theirs, and found out about their longstanding affair. They got a divorce soon after.

It was difficult for her after Icarus disappeared a few years later, since she couldn't rely on his help with Solstice anymore. She started working a lot more, which had the unfortunate affect of straining her relationship with her daughter in the years following. Sometime after Solstice ran away in her teens, an old college friend moved back to town, and they ended up starting a business together.

This is Sol's father. Originally, he was blond, but while redesigning him, I ended up liking the brown hair instead. I held a poll to decide the color, and most people seemed to agree with the decision to change his hair color to brown.

After the divorce, Icarus visited Solstice as often as he could and was always spoiling her with treats and toys. Around the time Sol was 9, Icarus left on a trip to Gowoa to hunt down a group of rouge vampires. But while on the job, they overwhelmed him, captured him, and tortured him for days. Eventually, they left him for dead, half-turned at the bottom of a canyon. A group of the Vampire Queen's guards found him while hunting down the same rouge vampires,. They took him back to their base to treat him.

As a newly turned vampire, he wasn't allowed to reenter society until he could control his bloodlust and swore fealty to the Vampire Queen. Although contact with his family wasn't forbidden, it was discouraged for newborns, as many choose to leave behind their old lives completely after the first year. After the year isolation, he ultimately chose not to go back home and let his family and friends believe he had passed.

Since then, he joined the Queen's guard and is currently the vice-captain. Fun fact, he actually knew Equinox as a kid, and was often assigned to guard over the three younger princes whenever they would visit the Vampire Queen's castle.

This is Leona. She's known Icarus since they were kids, and although she had feelings for him, it remained unrequited. They both went into the bounty hunter business together after high school. Icarus for a career, and Leona to pay for her college courses. Sometime in college, she met Hanna and they became close friends. Leona is actually the one that introduced the two.

After her graduation, Leona stayed with the guild and worked her way up to the administrative part of the Hunters' Guild, eventually becoming the head of one of the local branches. Sometime before Icarus' marriage, their relationship began to change into a romantic one. He considered breaking off with Hanna, but Leona convinced him otherwise due to her own guilt.

When Solstice was born, Hanna was very close to the family, even being given the name of "Auntie." Once the affair was discovered, her friendship with Hanna completely dissolved, and although she tried to apologize, Hanna made it clear she never wanted to see her again. Meanwhile, she and Icarus tried to continue their relationship, but they eventually broke up. By the time he disappeared, she hadn't heard from him for months. She regrets ever engaging in the affair and wishes she had been a better friend to Hanna.

When Solstice first entered the Hunters' Guild, Leona tried to take her under her wing, much to the girl's resistance at first. But due to Leona's guidance, Solstice's skills as a bounty hunter quickly progressed, even surpassing more seasoned professionals. She keeps an eye on her even now, but tries to maintain her distance if possible.

Last, but not least... these are Sol's paternal grandparents— or at least concept designs for them. Since Icarus' color scheme has changed, I needed to figure out where Solstice's blonde hair came from. So I quickly designed Icarus' parents. His father, Castor, is somewhat relevant, so I'll give him a more fleshed out design eventually.

Ayla died when Icarus was very little. Her death resulted in Castor being very distant with their son. They haven't spoken since Icarus left home at 18, and Icarus openly says that he hates his father. Castor does not know about Solstice.

Anyway, that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed character designs and backstories. 👍⭐

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zyuna-arts · 22 days

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XYZ SIBLINGS INTRO

I'm happy to finally introduce the XYZ siblings in art form after brainrotting for so long through writing about him and his siblings in my original story/spin-off of Code Lyoko, Project UNCIA 😭

I introduced concepts for their species earlier on here!

I took part in the #sgoctradingcard event which gave me an excuse to draw the siblings, though I could've done a better job with the graphic design and everything had I started much earlier 🤣 Deliberately kept the art style simpler after spending so long working on Cinthya and I have the tendency to overcomplicate things 🗿

ZOL:

He's energetic and curious and will steal your snacks if you leave them unattended 👀 Despite his playful nature, Zol knows when it's time to have fun and time to be serious. He is incredibly smart for a rynka but with intelligence comes mischief - not everyone can handle him and he gets labelled 'stubborn' or 'untrainable' sometimes. There are times he decides he wants to do his own thing so you must know how to negotiate with him.

He loves working together with his rider Aria (who I will formally introduce via art soon) and is very loyal to them, and by extension whoever Aria is close to. Zol likes to retrieve and gift things, where his gifts can range from a single rock, a branch, food, tools... Anything he thinks is interesting or useful!

YSRI:

Ysri [pronounced 'is-rri'] is anything but the stereotypical "forgotten middle child". With a heart of gold and dignified loyalty, her royal blue and red coat is coincidentally apt as "people's Prince" Faros [pronounced 'fah-rros'] of Rodron is her rider.

Although she isn't the easiest rynka to get close to, she is a reliable ally and dependable friend you can count on if you gain her trust. Ysri cares for her brothers deeply and looks out for them despite the occasional sibling squabble, as well as her rider Faros and by extension anybody he's close to.

I found myself gawking while designing Ysri's card frames (idk maybe I was high from lack of sleep) and it gave me Star Wars vibes for some reason.

XILIM:

Xilim [pronounced 'si-lim'] may be docile by nature, though he dozes off when he gets a bit too relaxed and isn't much help saving you unless you give him detailed instructions on what to do... He will just stand there or idle like an NPC and lacks natural guarding instincts - something his rider needs to keep in mind. If you do tell him to keep watch and be firm about it, only then will he fulfil that task. But he is good for hugs! He's also a popular choice among his drift for public meet-and-greets when there's open houses since he's one of the calmest around strangers.

Fun fact: The notch on his 'ear' is natural and doesn't cause him any issues. What may look like ears on rynka are actually akin to whiskers, helping them sense and pick up vibrations in their surroundings! Their actual ears are hidden behind those appendages and look similar to bird ears.

You may have first heard of Zol and Xilim as the name of my pigeonboi and crowboi plushies by @berry_winkle_ if you follow my Instagram but the reality is the plushies were named after the OCs and not the other way around hehe 👁️ Zol and his siblings mean a lot to me and I hope to share more about them 🥺

SOCIALS: Linktree

Original Art © zyuna

(DON’T REPOST/USE)

#zyuna arts #zyuna ocs #Project UNCIA #common rynka #XYZ siblings #original art #original species #first time showing their visual designs #will probably continue to refine designs #xilim's face was too small in the card front

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acaplaya-musings · 3 months

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Voiceplay Visuals: Valhalla Calling

This could be a bit of a long one (though still probably not as long as my post for Hide And Seek/Ding Dong)

Valhalla Calling was released on the 8th of April, 2023, and is kinda-sorta a sister video to My Mother Told Me. But Voiceplay didn't restrict themselves to just standing in front of greenscreen backgrounds this time, no no no! They worked together with some production studios/group called Vū, and usually I give credit shoutouts as I go through the video, but I think it might just be easier this time if I show you the credits in the description instead:

Yeah, this one was massive. (And wow Eli did a lot for this one! Shoutout to Eli!)

Voiceplay didn't see a return of Jose Rosario Jr for this one, but we got J None back for it! Woooo! So anyway, let's get into this!

I will get to everyone individually, but check out the set! I like the shields in the background.

J None! The man, the myth, the legend.

J has got the same kind of rune/symbol on his forehead as he did in My Mother Told Me (I'm using the video thumbnail for MMTM for comparison purposes), but brighter white on his cheeks, and of course a fresh new haircut. His shirt(?)/top is the same as well I believe, but the fur is different to that of his original costume.

Cesar of course didn't join Voiceplay till sometime after My Mother Told Me (fun fact: Valhalla Calling was release just a couple weeks shy of when My Mother Told Me was released, two years' prior), so nothing to compare against, but I love his makeup here!

Appreciation for the visual effects/design!

Geoff has swapped out the grey fur over one shoulder for a brown fur cloak/cape thing, and ditched the purple-ish lipstick he was wearing in My Mother Told Me as well, making him look a bit less terrifying 😝 (also, his hair in this one has a bit more fluff/volume to it (love that for him <3)). He does however have the same/similar tattoo designs on his face that he had in My Mother Told Me.

(Also I know I'm meant to be sticking to just the visuals, but you can't just expect me to talk about Valhalla Calling without talking about the B0 subharmonic that Geoff holds for 15 seconds!!!)

Layne seems to be wearing almost exactly the same (if not the exact same) outfit as he did in My Mother Told Me (see the first screencap above), and the same kind of face designs as well

Eli still has tattoo designs on his head like in My Mother Told Me (though whether they're the same or not I'm not sure), but the makeup around his eyes is darker, and of course, he now has a full beard and mustache! (Very impressive, might I add)

"shields and s p e a r s"

(For someone who is ridiculously modest when talking about himself ("baritone with a bass range" I mean REALLY), Geoff sure knows how to look incredibly smug in videos when he wants to be 😅😂)

Actually scratch what I said about nothing to compare Cesar's outfit against - the cloak he's wearing is the same one (or at least very very similar to) the one that Jose wore in My Mother Told Me!

Also shoutout to Cesar for being able to do literally anything when it comes to characters, acting, and performances! Multifaceted is an understatement honestly (and yes I will be talking about Creep, eventually)

He's coming!!!

He is here!!!

(Love Geoff raising his alehorn(?) to J in greeting here)

Outside group shot! Makes costume comparisons a heck of a ton easier.

Layne is basically the only one that stuck with basically his whole original outfit. J kept parts of his and still stuck close to the original concept (with the fur and stuff), Eli definitely got an outfit upgrade (though his tunic/shirt is a pretty similar green colour to what he was wearing in MMTM, and Geoff just basically went with a brand new look (Good For Him). He's still got one arm uncovered/exposed like in MMTM, but it's the right arm this time, not the left! (And J none has more of his arms exposed than he originally did!)

Very smooth hood flip! (which somehow I never noticed before this)

More appreciation for Cesar's makeup!

Everyone of course gave this performance 110%, and J None absolutely killed it with his original rap solo (hey, it was a visual performance too!), but also look at Geoff, looking like some sort of powerful and intimidating sorcerer while delivering another B0 subharmonic held note!

J None trying to rival Layne in Hoist The Colours with his Fierce/Crazy Eyes look I see!

Also whoops I think I just spotted a minor editing/continuity mistake. See Cesar in the background in the above shot here? With the hood off? Well this is the next frame:

Cesar with the hood still on. I shan't hold it against them (editing this must have been a nightmare, at least partially), but I am here to talk about visuals, and so if I see something of note, then I will mention it!

A very small and very blink-and-you-miss-it eyebrow quirk/raise from Geoff (y'know, just to kill us further 😆)

The original creator of the song, Miracle Of Sound, commented on this video, saying "Well done, lads. Definitely one of the more creative covers I've heard! I rate it ten raised alehorns out of ten." And the video currently sits at 4.2 million views on YouTube, which is pretty dang impressive considering the video isn't even a year old yet (UPDATE: as of the 20th of March, it's now at 4.6 million! Goddamn!)

Incredible video, incredible arrangement, incredible vocals, it's honestly peak Voiceplay (but not Voiceplay at it's peak! They don't have one!). I have a good handful of videos to keep going through, so stay tuned!

#voiceplay #acapella #valhalla calling #geoff castellucci #eli jacobson #layne stein #cesar de la rosa #j none #acaplaya analysis #voiceplay visuals

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sysig · 10 months

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Hm ok what's your favorite or a really cool worlbuilding thing you've done? For any fandom or original or even an unimplemented idea

Hmm well at least in the past decade, my big worldbuilding projects have mostly come down to three-ish stories: Other Side of the Gun, Adventures of Gæilo and Ethon, and Just Desserts

OSG was an Invader ZiM fancomic concept I started around 2013 to justify every single Irken headcanon I ever came up with lol - I never finished it, or even really started it, but I put a lot of time and energy into its roughs back in the day :)

^A stick figure recap of Ch. 1, inspired by - what else - the Vargas stick figure recaps lol

One that you can see over here is all the work I did for my DnD campaign, AGE! (Though its sideblog hasn't been updated in a while haha - the AGE tag over here works just as well) I basically homebrewed a pantheon and had an absolute blast designing all the gods and their forms before they became gods and even things like architectural differences in their churches and the BBEG and his motivations and just ah <3 Such a fun project :D

It also laid the groundwork for things like Pokemon Homestyle, specifically all my papercrafts! You can really see how I leveled up haha

And my latest has been Just Desserts! Even with less time under its belt, it's still pretty expansive, as evidenced by my icon and theme and the backlog lol, and it's the one I have the most AUs of! (Though OSG does come close actually haha) There are still some thorny details I'm trying to iron out, especially to do with the magic system, but all the characters and creatures and the fact that I made my own fighting minigame, ah, pleased! I've never been so happy with a sona before Charm! ♥ From the very beginning it's been so fun to work on and I still want to improve!

#Long post #There have been others of course - things like BunBonBop and TMatM and quite a handful of original species lol #I was also involved in an IZRP that got very in depth which is where Bar comes from actually!#As well as my brief stint into being a TGWDLM askblog lol soz to everyone over there ouq #And little stories like Karera no Kotogara and Yanderapy but those mostly set in cartoon-reality y'know?#No magic or sci fi there haha #Man looking back through the OSG stuff kinda makes me wanna unstore Ch. 0 - I've grown a lot since then!#To the point where it almost doesn't feel ''mine'' anymore haha - it has been almost ten years! Maybe to celebrate its anniversary :)#Also yeah if you look hard enough I've been in love with and inspired by Vargas for as long as I've known about it haha #AGE was so much fun <3 I would like to get back to it someday but picking back up after so long is hard!#I still hold all of them fondly of course ♥ Mar especially since they were the tipping point for me loving spiders :D #It's hard to believe Just Desserts is already four years deep! It still feels so new to me haha #I know I big up Charm and her design a lot lol but for me it really is exactly what I want <3 It's my perfect :)#I still really want to get into 3D modeling to make her as I originally envisioned her!#If I had the funds I'd absolutely commission someone but tbh I don't know many names on that side of art haha #I've also heard about people who give advice/brainstorming sessions for magic systems and I've been intrigued ever since :0 #I'd love to sit down with someone and hash out Exactly how their magic works! It feels like it just needs a few more pushes!#Then again that's what I said about the TVAU outfits too haha ♪ Maybe it would all fall into place!#To the base question tho: I never know how to qualify ''implemented'' - does just putting it out there as a concept count?#Writing a story? Making a comic? A series? Polished? Completed?? Where's the line haha #I'm always so full of ideas but focusing on anything long enough to make it ''pretty'' is so hard for me still #I just keep creating never stopping haha

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skylermadness · 8 months

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Volatili-Tea (Junkrat TF/MC)

(Original Date of Upload: January 29, 2023)

Original Description:

My half of a trade with A-C-Crowley on DeviantArt! His half for me was a Reinhardt TF that also functions as a companion piece to this story, which can be found here: DeviantArt I actually had this written roughly three or four months ago, back in October, but I didn't want to post it until both our halves were complete. Although funnily enough plans for this trade were being set up as early as summer of last year. Damn how time went by, huh. Writing this story was actually quite fun! So much so that I actually wrote it and edited it in its entirety in roughly an entire day. I don't know what struck me with that much inspiration to write something that fast, but it sure as hell was a fun one! Especially since I feel like this story explores a couple new concepts in my writing. Prosthetics in TFs, more complex bodily descriptions, and especially transformations in a public space. Makes me want to do more public setting TFs these days, honestly. Anyway, a very fun story to write, especially for a great friend of mine!~ ...I honestly kind of hate the pun in this story's title though...

"And the winner of our third raffle of the day is… Matt, numerical designation 478! Please head to Big Bang Beverages in the northwestern catering sector to claim your prize."

Despite being surrounded by crowds of convention-goers, Matt could hear the announcement loud and clear. It took him a moment to cross-check the number on his raffle card and the numbers played aloud on the intercom, but it was proven correct in an instant. Pocketing the card, his head moves up and takes a cursory glance around the area he was in.

He stood within the middle of a boulevard of a convention center, not necessarily directly near any retailers or exhibitions. He was mainly roaming around taking in the sights and trying to understand the layout of this year's convention. Where he stood there were walking around left and right, individuals and groups of friends. Among the people in standard attire were various cosplayers ranging from video game characters to anime ones. As for Matt, he was just one of those individuals in casual clothing. A black long sleeved shirt, gray pants, and dark grey shoes.

He begins to tread casually through the middle of the boulevard, relieved at the fact that he shouldn't be too far away from the catering area of the convention. His thoughts wander to the announcement, curious about what the raffle he won would fetch him. Admittedly he wasn't exactly excited, but more so intrigued.

As the announcement entailed, this was the third in a line of raffles. It was also the third in about an hour and a half since the convention presumably began. The locations that each winner was deemed to head to seemed different with each announcement. Unfortunately, the only other one he could really recall correctly was one to someplace called the HoloDrome. But it leads him to wonder how different the prizes were amongst the winners.

The lighting begins to brighten slightly as Matt closes in on the catering area. Smells of various foods begin to permeate through the air the closer he gets, and soon it's really all that can be smelt once he properly enters the region. The source of the smells range from the various concession stands lining the area, the rows bisected by tables sprinkled about the area. As he starts to walk through the area he adjusts his glasses for a moment. His eyes slowly scan for the place he was looking for.

Matt whispers under his breath the name as he does so. Big Bang Beverages. A peculiar name, he thinks. Also not one he's familiar with. But then again he never goes around memorizing the concessions at these places.

He's lucky that it doesn't take long to locate what he was looking for. A stand nestled between two other ones in the left row. It stood out particularly well because of how… average it seemed. As Matt started to step closer, he took note of the weird air that seemed to emanate from it. The front casing of the stand was completely black with no additional design flare. The stand's logo used the most generic font. It felt almost manufactured in a way. He tries to ignore that though as he finally walks up to the stand itself.

The internal portions of the stand were a silvery white and contained various tools for beverage creation, a few stacks of cups beside those tools. The only person within it was a man of average build and looks wearing what looked to be a standard button-up uniform. Matt took notice of a logo on the right side of the uniform of a company he can't quite pin down, but his eyes then drew to the man's name tag: Louis.

"Hello!" the stand worker greeted with a smile.

"Uhh, hey," Matt shoved a hand in his pocket and took hold of his raffle card. "I'm uh, Matt. Won the third raffle." He then holds out the card for the man to take.

Louis takes the card. "478, wonderful!"

Matt raised a brow. "Could've just called me by my name but alright…" he says in a whisper.

Louis seems not to hear (or just practically ignore) Matt as the man bends down and trifles with something under the stand's table. Matt grew a little curious as the noises that accompanied the worker was metal clanking as something was inserted and unlocked followed by the hiss of depressurizing air. Louis then stands back up with a smile, a medium-sized metallic object in his hand. "Here!" He places the object onto the table and slides it closer to Matt. Matt looks down at it to inspect it.

It seemed to be a flask of some kind. Circular with a cylindrical protrusion. Metallic silver with a light coating of… rust? Dirt? Something. Curious, he picks it up and is greeted with the noise of something liquid inside. Unscrewing the cap, his nostrils are filled with the familiar scent of tea. He peers into the container to inspect the liquid, eye widening as he notices small spherical objects floating within the fluid. Strangely, the objects within looked stylized. Black with protrustions on them, almost reminiscent to a stereotypical look of a bomb.

"Boba tea…?" he asks no one in particular.

"Yup! It's our unique Frag Bomb Tea, only sold for a limited time here! However, you also get the flask as well!"

"Uhuh…" Matt presses the flask against his lips and takes a small sip. Tasted kind of milky and sweet, accompanied with a weird bubbly feeling to it akin to carbonation. It didn't interfere much with the taste though.

"We thought with the grand event coming up later today we'd produce something for the occasion."

Matt swallows the swig of tea and moves the flask away. "You mean that Overwatch IRL event or whatever?"

"Yup! A lot of the stands here have been hammering the Overwatch-theming. That beverage in particular is meant to be reminiscent of Junkrat!"

Matt nods. "I can definitely see it…"

He lifts the flask back up and takes another drink, mind starting to wander. He was well aware of the Overwatch IRL event going on, although he barely had any real information on it. It was hyped up as some grand event for this convention, however the specifics behind it were all under wraps. Theories roamed around online about it being a complex costume contest or some form of roleplayish question panel. These were even a few outlandish ones like it being some kind of musical or something-

His thoughts are interrupted for a second as he realizes a few boba cascades through his mouth. There was a flavor to them he couldn't quite pin down. It wasn't fruity, but it had a sweetness to it.

Matt hums as he pulls the flask away again, a shiver running down his body for a moment. "That was weird…" he whispers before starting up another conversation with Louis. "Hey, what ingredients did you use in this boba? It tastes good but I can't exactly pin down what's in it…"

Louis just smiles. It was getting eerie at this point. "Company secrets I can't divulge."

"Well, alright…"

"You should go enjoy the convention now! I hope you like your prize~"

Matt tilts his head in confusion, a little confused at that last statement. It had a tone that felt like a 'go away'. But considering he had nothing else to really say, he might as well. He turns his back and walks away, taking another quick sip of his tea as he goes, unaware of the fate that lies ahead of him.

Matt exits from where he came, heading out from the catering area and returning to the boulevard. All the while he occasionally takes small drinks from his new flask. He's never really had something like this before, but the taste of this tea was rather nice. He still kind of wishes he knew what was in the boba though.

Strangely, with each consumption of boba, he also finds his body taking weird shivers. There was no noticeable temperature shift, he didn't feel cold, but for some reason he'd have a sudden shiver run down his spine. He tried to ignore it though.

Ultimately Matt decides to walk into the opposing region to the catering district. An area composed of various bits and pieces that didn't truly fit a singular theming. He found himself walking past a small tattooing booth on one side, and on the other side some random booth that seemed empty.

Taking another sip from his tea, a few beads of sweat start to form on his forehead as now he begins to feel a warmth start to rack his body. "Ough, did the heat get turnt up…"

The cause of this wasn't heat related, mostly. Rather it was because something was starting to change in his body. It was subtle at first, though. Arms and legs getting a little more defined, his torso and abdominals pronouncing a little more. Small amounts of muscle slowly expanding throughout his form. It was just enough to cause his shirt to start rubbing up more against his skin, body steadily filling it out.

His leg feels numb for a moment, causing him to stumble a little. He quickly manages to stop himself before he falls though. "Ugh, startin' ta…" he stops to clear his throat. "Starting to feel kinda weird." Did his voice sound a little strange for a second? No, that can't be right.

He tries to shake everything off as he continues his walk. He tries to roll his shoulders, his delts continuing to expand. Previously nonexistent muscle spirals around his arms. His biceps and triceps grow a little thicker, the muscles in his forearms doing the same as well. It isn't very long until his sleeves properly fill out. His musculature isn't the most impressive, but it is definitely noticeable beneath his clothing.

A pressure enters his bones for a moment shortly after as they are forced slightly longer. The ends of each sleeve run further upward and away from his wrist. His left arm then starts numbing, a stronger numbness than what was in his leg. One that felt oddly permanent. He took note of this and, with what little strength he had left in that arm, transferred his flask to be held by his right hand.

He stares at his hand and proceeds to grip and ungrip it. It was responding to his actions, but he didn't really feel it. A pang of worry entered him, but a part of him was attempting to rationalize this. As if to say that this was fine.

He also noticed the new musculature in his arms. "Were my arms always this thick…?" he asks himself, a brow raised. They… must've been, right?

He shakes his head. He's worrying too much about this. It's fine, it's fine. He lifts the flask to his mouth again and takes a drink of it. With an exhale, his worries fade. It's fine!

With a couple more steps Matt walks out from in between the two booths and into a smaller boulevard. He curiously looked around, finding a few more assorted booths. In the distance was a photo-op area, and he could just make out what seemed like a few autograph booths beside it. His head then turns a few degrees rightward, turning upwards as something else piques his interest.

It was the only part of the wall that seemed to roundly curve outward. It also stood out as it was the only wall that wasn't colored beige, being a deep blue instead. At the bottom of it was a doorway that was blocked off by a few velvet ropes (as if that'd stop anyone), but as he looks further up he finds a massive screen with the Overwatch logo displayed on it. Beneath that logo was a number that was counting down.

"Ninety minutes…" he says, entranced momentarily. There's a fraction of him that kind of wants to break in there and roam around, perhaps cause some… mmph, he shakes his head and casts the thought away. Strange, he's never had that kind of thought before.

He presumed that place to be the famed HoloDrome where the convention's key event was going to take place and decided to ignore it for the time being, taking a left instead. If he remembered properly, this would be the way to the exhib…

Matt's leg numbs a second time and does so for a few seconds longer. He stops walking in order to prevent himself from risking falling, but still finds himself wobbling for a few moments until his leg regains feeling. He takes another sip from his flask and sighs. "My body's actin'-" he clears his throat again. "Everything's acting really weird today. Heck, I swear my voice sounds weird every so often…" It sounded like for a moment there was an odd shift in tone and accent in his voice. Such a notion felt absurd to Matt, though.

He starts walking again, and with each step his body changes more. His sleeves stretch a little bit more as a final bout of muscle growth is incurred in his arms. His hands were also catching up with all the changes, growing and stretching to become slightly larger than they were before. Changes in them weren't as impressive as other changes in his body as the only shifts that occurred were them getting a little meatier. At least, that's what was happening in his right one…

The numbness in his left hand and arm seemed to be a result of a much greater change. Beneath the elbow the forearm rippled, skin and muscle seeming to squelch and tighten as the material upon it hardened. Pale skin deepened, orange fading in as his flesh was morphed into metal. The bottom end of that sleeve tore against the transforming limb, fabric shredding as metal continued to extend from the area.

The associated hand's changes mirrored that of the arm, albeit it seemed a little more intricate. Fingers bulking, cell structure twisting into something inorganic. Mechanical joints rippling forth from his own joints, each finger splitting into a more mechanical and functional version of themselves. Rivets and screws bubbling and popping into place, everything reformulating as his entire hand was transformed into something mechanical.

While feeling wasn't restored in that hand, Matt had a sensory perception of his nervous system having been connected to it. All he gave it was a cursory glance as he heard his shirt sleeve tear against it, a few bits of fabric slipping off the slightly weathered metal.

"Huh…" was Matt's only acknowledgement, his voice slightly lower and raspier at the time. For a second he thinks something is off, but shakes his head and looks upwards, continuing his walk.

"Nice mech arm, man!" a random stranger says towards Matt as he walks. He stops for a moment and turns towards them, his mind trying to register the compliment. He finds it odd for a split second, but loses that feeling an instant later.

"Th…thank ya!" he responds. Matt's eyes widen and he shakes his head again. "Jeez, my voice keeps gettin' weird…" He takes another swig of his boba tea and resumes his trek.

He was roughly two thirds of the way to the exhibitors area now. The mechanics in his arm whir as he opens and closes it, a sense of newness settled in his mind despite himself having a conflicting sense of familiarity with it. Come to think of it, a lot of Matt's mind was conflicted, but every drink he takes from his flask seems to suppress it more and more.

He raises his mechanical hand and pulls at the neck of his shirt. The body part was now starting to properly feel a little tight as well. Ridges formed in the black fabric as his torso began to push out slightly, pectorals properly emerging from that region. His abdominal region was also slowly growing out, although it was not as prominent as his pecs were. That area remained a little flat, although the ridges of a budding six pack were steadily etching their way across his form.

The hem of his shirt began to rise further up his belly as a pressure settled in his back. Matt felt a little disoriented as the world around him started to adjust in some way. Looking down he saw that the ground was getting further from him, and his shirt was riding up his body. "Why did I wear such… small clothin'... Come ta think of it why am I… wearin'... Mphm…" he shakes his head again. Why did going shirtless sound… appealing just now? And his voice kept changing… why did it sound like it was bordering on an Aussie accent?

He tries to ignore it and takes another drink. He starts to wonder how he hasn't gotten to the bottom of this, or how he hasn't even run out of boba. Everything about this is weird, but it's fine!

As his shirt tightens a little more, Matt also starts to feel something stimulate his skin. A weird feeling of something leathery snake around his body, circling the sides of his torso and extending around his pecs. The chill of something metallic settles on the upper half of his back as something begins to materialize there. All it does is make his shirt tighten more.

Stumbling slightly, Matt finally enters the exhibitors district. Various booths focused on the latest information regarding different medias lined this region. Much like everywhere else, people and cosplayers alike were doing their own things.

Matt could sense eyes on his as he stumbled slightly into the area, him feeling his leg numb again. Walking started to shift more into hobbling as moving that leg had finally become hard to do. "God, I hope no one thinks I'm drunk…" he mutters to himself. Although this haze in his mind might as well make him drunk but like… there didn't seem to be any alcohol in this tea.

With another drink he shakes his head. "Agh, who the hell cares about what others think!" he says a little too loudly, his voice growing deeper with each new word. A noticeable Australian accent was even settling into it. He garnered the attention of a few more conventiongoers, but many of them decided to look away.

Matt shifts his flask to his left hand again, the metal of the flask clinking against the metal of his hand as he does so. A smile starts to plaster on his face as his eyelids start to move downwards a little. He places a hand in his hair and scratches his scalp a little, the man starting to feel a warmth etch into that region as well. "Damn, the heat's gettin' annoyin'..."

Not as bad as Aus, though, he thinks to himself. He blinks at the thought though. "Urgh, what's with my… my mind today…"

He stumbles again. Fuckin' 'ell-

He tries to regain himself quickly, his pants becoming the next to tighten as similar changes swath that region. While his legs had already become a little more toned over the course of the past ten minutes, their changes were kicked into overdrive. More muscle loaded into them, albeit a similar size as that in his arms. Thighs thickening, the crus of his legs bulging as his calves grew larger. His legs also grew longer, his height increasing even more and the legs of his pants rising.

He resolves to just stop moving, Matt feeling even more eyes on him. He looks around, a slight look of aggression in his face. "Oi, who y'all lookin' at?! Mind yer own business!"

His outburst seemed to get most people to divert gazes away, although there were still one or two who seemed to watch. Matt didn't care too much at that point though, his own attention drawing to his legs. Shaking his head and blinking, his eyelids flitter a little. "Fuck, something is… nngh…" he squeezes his eyes shut and presses his right hand into his scalp. "N-no, 's fine-"

Despite its numbness he could feel a heavy pressure compressing his left leg and foot, although it seemed more focused in his foot. Within a shoe, the foot was squishing and compacting, flesh, bone, and muscle twisting and squeezing. The associated lower leg was thinning at the same time, atrophying at a rapid pace and going beyond what would be considered human.

His flesh and bone hardened to a cold metal. It wasn't long until his left foot was warped into nothingness, structure fading into a thin and flat tip. At the same time, a yellow spiral coiled around the upper end of the newly created metallic peg leg. The end that connected to his knee bulged out, skin and muscle dislodged and reshaping. His kneecap practically split in half and became a metallic casing as his knee itself became a metallic joint, two massive screw-like connections emerging from it. A silver ring then bulged around the flesh above his knee region, becoming a clean connection to his knee prosthetic leg.

He lifted the new leg out of his shoe and sighed before lifting his head back up. A few eyes were still drawn on him. "Ain't never seen anyone with a… a metal leg before??"

He blinked again. His voice kept fluctuating but to a bystander it was clear it was being overtaken by something decidedly Australian. A few people continued to stay, looking worried, but Matt just lost the ability to care at this point. His new leg clicking against the floor, Matt continues his walk through the convention center, all while drinking some more from his flask.

The toes of his remaining foot curled as he could feel his shoe get smaller. That foot was easily growing in size, steadily getting larger and thicker and pressing up against the cloth of his shoes even more.

His eyes zip around the area of the convention center he was in, Matt's back arching as he was settling into a slouched position. Every so often he'd take a sip from his flask, but his mind kept jumping to weird thoughts he couldn't bat away.

A more chaotic state of mind was seeping into the man's brain. He had already experienced such thoughts earlier but something about this felt overpowering. There was a desire to cause mayhem, to cause some form of destruction- But even then, some part of him still tried to keep such thoughts away, to retain some rationale.

The almost manic smile creeping onto his face was a clear sign rationality wasn't winning.

He runs another hand through his hair, rolling his eyes as his mind continues to descend into a state of chaos. Multiple ripple throughout his face as he walks, the structure and vibe of it shifting into something far from what it used to be.

His broad structure steadily narrows out; lower jaw lengthening and chin sharpening as his skull shape is compressed thinner. Facial features shift and restructure; mouth widening, ears noticeably pushing out, his round nose sharpening to a dull point while a mole formed on the left side of it. The feeling of his face squeezing and shifting felt almost euphoric to him for some reason.

He blinked his eyes, his eyesight seeming to improve drastically. As it does so his irises seem to brighten to a bright greenish-yellow, and his eyes seem to sink into his head slightly. His eyebrows flare out and, starting from the tips and moving down, brighten to a dusty blonde. Brows grow thicker and bushier, the ends styling, spiking, and curling to something almost flame-like.

Speaking of flames, the heat on his head seems to progress until a dull flare enters it. Brown follicles throughout the peak of his head and down slowly burn away in an oddly symmetrical pattern. It's not the most drastic of changes though as what remains of his hair seems to stay in a perpetual flame, those follicles lengthening and sticking out higher. The style shifts from neatly combed to a cataclysmic style of stuck up hair that in itself was reminiscent of a burning fire. At the same time, the color shifts as blonde overtakes browns at a quick pace, and smoldered black enters in certain points as well.

He pulls off his glasses and crushes them in his mechanical hand, letting the fragments and frame clatter to the ground shortly after. "Don't know why I was wearin' those!" He then stopped for a moment as he started to feel his shirt tighten more. "Oohoh what's…" he closes his eyes and moans slightly, smile faltering and voice cracking for a second. "What's going on…"

Something started to push from his back, pulling his shirt to his front at a steadily increasing pressure. More and more this grew, small tears forming and expanding territory to reveal his chest. What looked to be a harness grew visible with each passing second. The back of his shirt was gaining a noticeable circular indent that only seemed to grow as whatever was forming was getting bigger, bigger and bigger.

The faltered smile restores to its manic glory, his eyes widening. "Heh… heheheh- this is feelin' goooood…"

His shirt continues to tear apart over his chest at a constantly increasing rate. Black fabric was easily sloughing away as whatever was pulling at it still got larger. He could feel a weight forming as the size was becoming evident, but the sensation of his constricting clothes being torn away filling him was pure ecstasy. The circular formation in the back of his shirt continues to grow some more before it convulses for a few seconds. A cacophony of tears echoed through the air as one final crescendo, and a loud bwoomph! accompany them from behind him.

The man twitched slightly as he regained his bearings. His head turns slightly to glance at the newly materialized object. A large circular chunk of rubber with metallic spikes sticking out of it. "Ah! My RipTire~"

He can feel the eyes of others on him again. They were accompanied by whispers that he felt were almost judgemental (even though in truth they were of worry). A part of him flares up, wanting to show them a thing or two… He shakes his head. Some sense of rationality still stubbornly remained. He sneers as he walks further down.

More feelings started to run through his body as various final changes ran through it. He felt something appear around his right wrist, a tire-like band appearing before a substance exploded out the top of it and wrapped around his hand and hardened into a leather glove. On his left arm something inked into the flesh of the upper arm, a concise image forming as a skull and crossbones tattoo forms on the skin. At the same time, the fingernails of his remaining hand darkened to black.

A new material soon grazed the skin of his legs as what seemed to be a new set of legwear started forming beneath his current set. Slightly scratchy fabric rubbing up against his skin as it threads itself around each leg. Something about this seemed to cause his current pants to begin to rip, revealing the camo pattern of the new pants.

His current belt buckle then snapped, the button of his pants breaking and zipper descending as a new belt buckle materialized beneath the region and pushed everything out the way. An even greater sight of destruction occurred to the left side of his, a lump forming in that side of his pants before it floomf'd out into a pouch. Slowly, the remains of his old pants start sliding down and making way for his new legwear.

The feeling of bandages wrapping around his right foot ran through that area, followed by the feeling of something else encasing it. Something akin to the top line of a boot slipped around his ankle and rose from the top of the shoe, hinting at the nature of what formed there. His shoe underwent its own pressure as result, the footwear pushing outward being forced to a new limit. The straps snapping, cloth ripping. The shoe couldn't handle it anymore as shortly after the cloth shattered revealing a new, if not ill fitting, boot; black in color and leather in material. He wiggles his toes at the sense of freedom.

Shreds of his former legwear sloughing off more, his new pair of pants seem to fully reveal themselves in their glory of frayed legs, camo coloration, and various patchings stitched around them. With one last drink out of his flask Matt clips it to his belt, content. Although really, is he Matt anymore?

His mind was practically overtaken with an irrational desire to destroy something. The very thought was no longer concerning, but instead rather appealing! It was an intense feeling of mental pandemonium. Of an overpowering desire for causing havoc.

A voice begins to echo through the massive convention hall. “Can Matt, numerical designation 478, head to the HoloDrome sector. We repeat…”

He stopped walking and planted a hand on his head. His voice cracks, likely for one last time, as it shifts into a mix of two voices. "I… that’s my… eheh… heheheh~"

Crazy laughter escaped his throat as his mind finally snapped. His voice settles into a perfect Australian accent, and his mind settles into a perfect manifestation of madness. A truly explosive personality! As a result, a new identity was nestled into his brain.

“Matt? That ain’t my name! The name’s Junkrat…!”

A few more glares are thrown his way but at this point they are no longer lingering. With a frenzied smile he looks around the spot he stands in. He had no recollection of where he was or who any of these people were, but…

He feels a weight push onto his torso, prompting Junkrat to look down at the source. His grenades…

“Heheh, maybe just one…”

His thought pattern is broken when he’s suddenly acknowledged by a set of strangers.

“Nice cosplay, man!” One says, prompting Junkrat to turn around. The one who spoke was a slightly burly looking man, dark skinned man with fake-looking blue armor and an orange scarf. Accompanying him is a woman in some kind of blue and gold dress (or at least that’s what Junkrat thought it to be). She also seemed to have a prosthetic arm (which Junkrat wasn’t aware was fake).

“You’ve got the acting pretty well~” The woman begins to take out her phone. “Mind if we get a picture with you?”

Junkrat raises a brow and smiles. A picture? With him? Such a proposition was stroking his ego. “Sure!”

The duo gather around him, sandwiching him between themselves. The woman holds out her phone and holds up a peace sign and the man smiles. Junkrat smiles as well, although his is more maniacal. After a few seconds a shutter sounds emit from the phone, the picture being taken, and the duo break away.

“Thanks a lot man!” The man said, smiling and walking away. The woman follows behind him, letting out a “Yeah, thanks!” as she departs.

With that dealt with, Junkrat proceeds to turn around and eye the convention hall. With that distraction out the way, he can-

“Can uh… Junkrat? Numerical designation 478, head to the HoloDrome sector.”

Junkrat’s face falls and he rolls his eyes. “The heck’s a HoloDrome…” he whispers to himself. “Eh, whatever, I’m sure it’s not important!”

He begins to clasp a hand on a grenade pinned to his harness, eyeing a good (and preferably not crowded) spot to throw it. Unfortunately for him, he’s interrupted a second time…

A large, thick hand grabs his shoulder, followed by the sound of a deep voice muffled by a mask. No words were spoken, just an elongated guttural grunt.

It takes a few seconds for Junkrat to register the voice, but once he does he somehow slumps more than he already does. “Roadhog! When’d you get here?”

The gas mask they wear is emotionless, but Junkrat practically feels displeasure illuminating from the larger man.

“Uh-huh… well Roadie, I think now’d be a good time to-”

A third announcement rings through the walls of the convention hall, except this time it’s a more feminine voice in a clearly annoyed tone. “Junkrat, numerical designation 478, head to the HoloDrome sector immediately. Precautionary measures will be taken if you do not heed to this announcement. God, this is so FUCKING annoyi-” the announcement then abruptly cuts off.

Junkrat can practically feel Roadhog’s gaze pierce his very form. He turns to Roadhog and smiles nervously. “Heheh, guess we should head there then…?”

Roadhog nods, then lifts an arm and points in the direction forward to him.

Junkrat turns around, vision centering at the outwardly rounded portion of the wall. A large screen that was even visible from where the two were displays a weird circular logo with a bunch of numbers below it. “I guess we’re going there then!”

The two begin to walk towards their destination, garnering gazes from the conventiongoers. A silence settles between then for a second, one that was quickly broken by Junkrat.

“...how do you know that’s where we’re supposed to go?”

----------------------------------------------------------

Even to Junkrat there was an uneasy feeling of artificiality in the location he now was in.

Despite it clearly looking like the outside, the lack of proper heating or fresh air was noticeable. Nonetheless, it looked like the perfect replica of some small village that he had no idea was an actual place or not. He was also apparently put in a team of some kind. Said team was prompted to sit around some weird looking truck. That was a long time ago though. Now he’s just alone, leaning on a wall, fingers itching to cause some destruction. Roadhog had left a few minutes prior, presumably to inspect the area a bit more. The larger man was likely assured he could leave the Aussie alone after Junkrat failed to blow up a wall. He was still seething about that incident, by the way.

He watches the rest of his teammates communicate amongst themselves. There were only six of them including him and Roadhog. He didn’t really get any of their names though. There was some older looking dude in a mask, a dark skinned guy with dreadlocks, an Omnic that was surrounded by gold orbs, and…

A hulking guy in armor walking right towards him.

“Ah! I don’t think I’ve gotten a chance to introduce myself to you…” The man speaks in a deep and boisterous tone with an unfamiliar accent lacing it. His face is shown to be pretty old; weathered with thick graying hair and a beard. “The name’s Reinhardt!” he says loudly, holding out a hand.

Junkrat doesn’t hesitate to grasp it and shake. “Junkrat!”

Reinhardt smiles. “It is nice to meet the both of you! There seems to be quite the colorful cast where we are…”

“I dun even know where we are, big guy. I just have the itch to blow something up…”

“I take it you were the cause of the explosion I heard earlier, then?”

“Yup! Although it didn’ even do any damage! Everythin’ here looks like it’s made of wood and shit, a hole should’ve been blown clean through that wall!”

Reinhardt nods. “This place has some peculiar properties. It’s an odd reminiscent of a place I have… memories of. It fills me with a feeling of uncertainty.”

Junkrat’s eyes just slowly drift sideways, unsure how to respond to that.

“Ough, I apologize. Went a little too personal there. Either way, I’m sure we’ll make a great team here!”

Junkrat just nods. “Yeah. Do you even know what we’re doin’ ‘ere?”

“...no. Not really. I actually kind of woke up…”

Their conversation is abruptly interrupted by an accented, calm, feminine voice ringing through the area. “All participants please move to your stations. We will commence the event in five minutes.”

Reinhardt looks up. “There’s that voice again…”

“I don’t know what stations it wants us to go to, but I have a feelin’ I’ll finally be able to set something ablaze!”

“You’re quite the eccentric one, aren’t you?” Reinhardt says with a deep laugh.

But Junkrat doesn’t respond. A goofy and manic smile forms on his face, the Aussie filling with excitement as the prospect of causing some chaos enters his brain.

This is going to be great…

#character tf #human tf #transformation #tf

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fuckyeahgoodomens · 4 years

Text

Ineffable Con 2020 Fun Facts

Fun facts from the Ineffable Con 2 (2020) guest panels :):

Neil Gaiman, Douglas Mackinnon and Rob Wilkins

David G. Arnold (the music composer)

Claire Anderson (the costume designer)

Peter Anderson (Peter Anderson Studio created the opening title animation and in-show graphics)

Paul Adeyefa (Disposable Demon)

Jeremy Marshall-Roberts (the owner of Mary the Bentley)

1. Neil Gaiman, Douglas Mackinnon and Rob Wilkins

What do they have from Good Omens:

Rob has the statue from St. Beryls, all four motorbikes from the four horsemen, Crowley’s Devon watch, box signed by David Tennant with Crowley’s sunglasses and Aziraphale’s cocoa mug with Michael Sheen’s DNA :).

Douglas has the playing cards from Episode 1 and heavily annotated Good Omens book they used for filming with inscription by Neil: ‘For Douglas, make us love, make us cry, 3rd August 2017’.

Neil has Aziraphale’s chair from the bookshop that he bought from the BBC and he uses it for Zoom meetings.

What is their favourite thing that was not in the book and was added to the TV show:

Neil: all of the first half of Episode 3 - an absolute joy.

Rob: also the beginning of Episode 3.

Douglas: David Arnold’s music and Peter Anderson’s front titles.

Could Aziraphale get out of the Bastille easily if he wanted to?

Neil: if he could: absolutely. Did he have any conception of the mess he was in: probably not. It’s one of Neil’s favourite pieces of acting - the absolute delight on Aziraphale’s face when he realizes that Crowley’s there and then he turns around and rather petulantly, grumpily goes oh it’s you - that moment of joy on Aziraphale’s face when he realizes that he’s been rescued is one of Neil’s favourite things.

Neil and yoghurt starter: I had this slightly mad thing where I would explain to everybody that fans were yoghurt starter. And I said, ‘Basically you start out with yoghurt starter and you put it into your warm milk and you leave it, and the yoghurt starter goes off and turns the entire thing into yoghurt.

Neil realized that there was a cat in his house (Neil doesn’t have a cat :)). After the panel Neil said that he was going to look for the cat with a can of sardines and Douglas joked that he would find Michael Sheen in a cat costume.

What was the best and worst about making the series:

Douglas: the best - the camaraderie, getting to know the people, the cast and crew.

Rob: the best - realizing that the book could be translated to the screen and watching it happen. The worst - coming to the end of the shoot and saying goodbye to everybody.

Neil: the best - the amount of love from everybody, the worst - fighting budget battles (producers wanted gone all of the cold opening and the death of Agnes Nutter).

Did they expect that Good Omens would attract so many LBGTQ+ people and how they feel about that:

Neil: Yes, absolutely. There are definitely people out there who seem to think that I accidentally wrote a love story with all of the beats of a love story including a break-up halfway through, without somehow noticing that I’d written a love story. And I may not be the brightest candle on the candelabra, but as an author who’s been doing it for a long time, I’m very well aware of when I’m writing a love story, thank you very much. And so from my perspective I knew that the love story would be one of the driving things that would get us from the beginning to the end. And I also made a bunch of decisions about our angels and our demons in terms of casting, in terms of gender that everybody backed me up on, which I loved. You know, the idea that the archangel Michael is played by Doon [Mackichan] is something that is... or Beelzebub is Anna Maxwell Martin, whatever, there’s... it’s not like we are going: these are women, there are men, we are going: these are demons, these are angels. They... this is not a thing. And also doing something like Pollution, where you go in and go: okay well if we were doing this in... if 1989 was now, if there were they pronouns, we probably would have done that. We didn’t think of it at the time but that’s no reason why we can’t do it now. And we did and I remember having a... not exactly a battle, but a... my very tiny skirmish with one of our execs who was very nice and very bright and was like: ‘Why are you saying they?’, and I’m like... and I... explaining, and he’s like: ‘Well I’ve never heard of that before.’, and I’m like: ‘Oh, okay, but trust me, just trust me, it’s all fine, just trust me.’

Douglas: And you know I have to say, just following on what Neil’s saying, I’ve been directing for quite a while, and I tend to notice if characters are falling in love, I tend to notice a love story happening in front of me, and I think it’s there, and everything is meant, guys, everything is meant.

Neil added: I would just say, there are some things that you do while you’re writing a script intentionally. The fact that... I wanted to do this, well, it was a thing I did that I really enjoyed doing... where whenever people accuse them of being a couple: they don’t deny it, they don’t argue, there’s no flustering on their part. They absolutely… you know, everybody… what I’m trying to say is: yes, other people in the story are perceiving them as a couple too. And here is Uriel perceiving them as a couple, here is wonderful Dan [Starkey, playing the passerby] …and you know, you do scenes like that because that’s... you are trying to make a point here and you’re trying to make a point on how people are perceived.

Season 2, yes or no [fiends, all three of them!]:

Douglas: What’s that?

Neil: Of what?

Rob: Is it muted for me as is for everyone else?

Neil confirmed that they are going to be Funko Pops. [yay!]

2. David G. Arnold (the music composer)

He didn’t read the book before he was approached to do the music. He was asked to do it by Douglas Mackinnon he knew from the Victorian episode of Sherlock and he said yes before even knowing what it was about because he wanted to work with Douglas again.

The first piece of music he wrote for the show was the brass band doing the Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon [Episode 6, in the park before the kidnapping].

The second piece of music he wrote was the lullaby that Crowley sings to Warlock. He always liked the lullabies like in Mary Poppins so he said to Neil: Why don’t we do it like Walt Disney, but if Walt Disney was possessed by Satan? That was about 7 months before he needed to write anything again while they were shooting and it kept going round his head the whole time - the melody stuck with him and when it came to the Opening Title of the show, this became the middle bit.

The original opening title was Everyday by Buddy Holly and each episode was supposed to be closed with a different version of it: a death metal version, an angelic choir version, a carmina burana version... and he actually made all those. But he likes to find the musical identity of the show and put it in the opening titles because it’s important and it tells you: ‘This is the word you’re going to experience’, so he wrote his own opening title with the lullaby in the middle and played it to them [probably Neil and Douglas] with Buddy Holly as the backup and: Neil just turned around in his chair and said, ‘That’s Good Omens.’. From that point the instructions were with no rules, just to create whatever he wanted: the further you can go the better, the weirder and the stranger you can think the better. It’s a rare thing to be shown a world like Good Omens and be let free to run around in it.

His favourite ending title is the Queen one in Episode 1.

One of the reasons he didn’t do a theme for Crowley and a theme for Aziraphale is that the theme of the show is theirs - it’s theirs and they share it and it’s both of theirs and there is no separating in that regard.

About Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship reflected in the music score: It’s interesting isn’t it, because the relationship changed in a way slightly frequently and majorly infrequently. It seemed right from the start that their relationship was somehow seeded and planted and had begun by the time we saw them even though they may not have realised it themselves, you know, with the pair of them on the wall, considering one is a demon in the Garden of Eden and one is an angel. They act very charitably towards each other and they act with a lot of things you might not expect. And underneath that there is a sort of sense of togetherness and support even though they both know that their paths are going to diverge and they have different responsibilities. So I always felt like, right from that moment, when the wing came up on the wall, that there was something special about their relationship. Three moments that stuck with him: in Episode 3 saving the books in the church when they completely rely on the other for survival in the way that they were very open about, one in the car outside the nightclub in 60s Soho - the Holy Water, you go too fast for me, that genuinely tearing, that there was reluctance in those words that he spoke and that sort of things as a composer is gold, it’s about making those moments more, and in the last episode in a scene they’re not event in when we see Adam and Dog in the fields and Anathema that music there which celebrates Crowley and Aziraphale’s music which is the theme of the show - their shadow has passed over everyone’s emotional journey, and everyone’s emotional journey is theirs as well. The argument in the bandstand was important as well.

His favourite leitmotif from the series is the lullaby.

About the scene in the car in episode 2 when Thomas Tallis changes into Queen: Terry’s favourite piece of classical music was the Thomas Tallis piece [Spem in Alium] so Neil asked if they can go from Thomas Tallis - a choral piece from 16th century - to We Will Rock You, and: ‘You never say no. You don’t say that you can’t do it. What you have to do is to be the first person who solves the problem.’ In the end it was a two-days work just for this little bit and he mentioned that he never had these sorts of challenges anywhere else before.

His favourite non-musical detail in the show - the crucifixion, how the scene was shot, how it was upsetting, and how it was made more effective by Aziraphale and Crowley’s inability to stop it, that they had to observe and watch it, that it had to happen. I remember seeing that at the time and thinking, I wasn’t expecting that level of brutal honesty, in terms of the pictures that I was looking at and what they chose to show. And I think all the more effective for it.

3. Claire Anderson (the costume designer)

When creating the costumes for the characters she started with mood boards.

Aziraphale - she knew that he needed to have something winglike in his collar so that’s why there are sweeping lapels very often. Using velvet [for the waistcoat] because that was nice and soft and had all the appropriate qualities. His watch and fob that has little gold wings hanging from it and other tiny bits of symbolism. Tartan bow tie. Beautiful cashmere checkered trousers - not quite tartan but a nod to it. A mid to late Victorian coat, Michael only made his decision on the coat a couple of days before the filming. Aziraphale in the present settled on a ring with angelic symbol and harp cufflinks, earlier his ring in ancient times has got a much more roughly hewn set of wings on it, so before jewellery making became sophisticated he modernised slightly - he magicked it up to be a bit more modern, more gentleman signet type of ring, but he never modernises entirely. His heart is much more in the past.

After they began to define Aziraphale they started to look at how the Heaven army of angels might look - the element of tartan came sort of from Aziraphale and the angels have a not-tartan kilt with a semi military type jacket and a military band across that might hold arms or not, because they are not really violent. She used spats to make them look quite neutral and genderless so hiding fastenings and concealing little details like that seemed a way to do that.

Gabriel doesn’t wear spats because he’s on Earth such a lot. His shoe has a cover with two buckles on the side giving the same neutral element. He wears a cashmere light-as-air suit.

The other angels are all in bastardized versions of what era they may have died in, so they could have died in the 1930s or the 1800s and the costume would have an element of that era about it - though of course as an angel you can change things.

The Quartermaster Angel - the costume is a combination of slightly Indian type military, maharaja pants, longer spats from another era, all combined pieces of military tailored to be magical and slightly nonsensical, as Heaven might be.

Crowley - she felt that he wrapped around like a snake sheds its skin so she wanted something double breasted because that seemed to envelope his snakey charm. David wanted to be more casual than wearing a suit. Under his collar he always has a flash of red like the snake that he comes from - the red belly. They put a red seam into the sole of his boots so always there is a hint of where he came from. The red tie in the blitz. He was more rock and roll than Aziraphale and modernised more to a snakehipped rock and roll star really. His present jacket - the fabric there is quilted, they found an 80s jacket that had elements of things they enjoyed - part of that was that it had a slightly quilted quality to the fabric which was like a textured snakeskin. It took quite a long time to create the fabric and then to make the jacket from that - they quilted some fabric and washed and whooshed it repeatedly to create a bit of puckering in it. He has a snakey scarf around his neck like a chain mail linked scales of skin scarf that he wore that complemented his neck chain. The trousers he wore in Victorian times are the same he wore in the 60s when he meets young Shadwell. His present trousers - slightly waxy denim - we just were looking for a slithery finish. Crowley’s neck chain - there is only one in the world - her tailor has a Gothic church full of interesting stuff like busts and drapes with old things, this chain mail scarf was there and David was looking for something to complete his costume and liked it.

Hastur and Ligur are her favourite characters - they were so enjoyable to create. She had an amazing book of 1920s and 30s criminals and they used that as a starting point, because they were all quite worn out and bedraggled and poverty stricken and like hell might be ideally. They burnt and decayed the bottom of them as if they were rotting from the Earth and rotting back into the ground - all demons have sort of gators as if they were rotting from the ground up.

One of the most difficult things was the demons - when they realized they had a few days to create hundreds of demons in South Africa (4-5 days for almost 200 demons). It was as if I had been dissolved in holy water when they asked me for another 150 costumes.

The sleeves of Anathema’s coat have been inspired by a Victorian cycling coat.

The historical costume that Newt’s ancestor wore influenced his and Shadwell’s costumes - they used elements of the historical costume to put a little cape on Newt and Shadwell and their wax coats to give them the quality of that look. Newt's costume has a lot of mustard to make him feel a bit awkward and uncomfortable - it's not the most flattering colour on a northern European complexion.

The nuns’ headdress needed to look a little bit demonic - she bought a whole book on nuns’ headdresses for research. They also used the V in the nurse's apron because that was nicely demonic. The nurses' watch has got this Satanic symbol at the top - a little take on the medical since old nurses’ uniforms used to have watches.

For Madame Tracy she went back into the 70s, slightly Biba-esque makeup and a cape. They had only one pair of her goggles so it was always a nightmare to find them.

Which part of the cold opening is her favourite: I love ancient Rome because there is at least 6 to 12 metre of fabric in a toga and that was quite fun wrapping that around the boys and creating those., and her favourite was the Globe.

The lapels represent wings in every way and every shape and every form. Wings are very important.

4. Peter Anderson (Peter Anderson Studio created the opening title animation and in-show graphics)

The first thing that the director Douglas Mackinnon (with whom he worked on Doctor Who and Sherlock) said to him was: for all the graphics, for all the title sequence, for everything, I want you to promise me one thing, and that is very, very simple, promise that you send me emails that say: ‘this might be absolutely nuts, but my idea is...’.

The opening title it’s full of easter eggs - it’s a type of sequence that’s been designed to watch a thousand times, for example: on the escalator down to Hell there is one character running up deciding that he doesn’t want to go to Hell or the sea is full of plastic bags because we don’t look after the planet.

Every single face in the title sequence is either Crowley’s or Azriphale’s, they are repeated all the way through - inspired by Neil saying that there’s good and evil in all of us, so there is a grand procession of people of all the characters from the story - marching towards Armageddon - but all the characters have been taken over by good or evil. And along the way our two heroes are kind of playing tricks on each other, doing good, doing evil

The opening title combines multiple elements - two dimensional animation elements, three dimensional animation elements, CGI and live action (the people in the procession were created by live action on a travelator). So the result is a kind of strangeness - such as 3D figures with 2D animated tracked heads - which makes it unique.

Their first idea and version of the opening title was based on tapestries of old, subverting them, but then they wanted something more new and fresh.

Both Douglas and Neil were an important part of the opening title creation process.

The opening title sequence took about a year to make from the creative start with four intensive months towards the end.

One of things that inspired him was a Bauhaus theatre image from 1930s.

Question if the hand-drawn font for the graphics will be a purchasable font: no, because it was original and it’s unique and it was created just for this - it was for the love of the show and the story and it will be kept there.

In the scene where there are three photos of witchfinders - Neil and Douglas revealed in the DVD commentaries that two of them are their grandfathers - the third one is Peter’s great uncle.

Originally the signs telling us things like ‘Thursday’ or ‘Mesopotamia’ - were done as if somebody (who was living inside the television screen) ran up close to the screen and showed us the sign. In the end they simplified it, only showing the signs. The one time that it was sort of left in the show was when in Episode 5 a little demon in the video game shows a sign ‘GAME OVER’.

Outside of his work on it, what was his favourite thing on Good Omens: spending time with Douglas and Neil, and also working with Milk VFX - I think I can honestly say it's the best job I've ever worked on with the nicest people.

5. Paul Adeyefa (Disposable Demon)

He first read the book when preparing for the audition - the character wasn’t in the book but he got into it, loved it and couldn’t put it down.

He didn’t know about the name Eric until the script was published and people started calling the demon that, he really likes the name and thinks it fits.

There was a version of the script where the demon was going to be dressed in different costumes each time he was discorporated (for example one in long hair wearing a dress) - they would be all the same but different incarnations, in one version they had different accents.

The first scene he shot was the one where the demon goes to Heaven to deliver the Hellfire (and also wants to hit ‘Aziraphale’ which was cut). That first day was also his favourite moment of shooting because there was an immediate welcoming atmosphere and everyone was lovely and in love with the production.

Disposable Demon is like a permanent intern, running errands for the higher ups in Hell.

His favourite part of the costume were the eyelashes (though he loved the whole costume).

If he could change anything about the costume he would also want cool contact lenses - some brightly coloured ones.

Question what animal (like other demons have on their heads) comes to mind when we see the Disposable Demon: he didn’t think about it at the time, but later he saw people talking about his horns as bunny ears and found it interesting, and also the facts that there are so many of him and that he is quite happy and friendly for a demon so the bunny makes sense, so he might be a sort of a rabbit. Or perhaps something goat type because of the horns.

Question if there is another role in Good Omens he would have liked to have played: he always thought that the four horsemen were very cool and Pollution was his favourite so probably Pollution (also was the most jealous of Pollution’s contact lenses).

If there were a season 2, he would be there in a heartbeat.

Question about Eric’s feelings on Crowley, if he’s a bit of a Crowley fan: I think he might be. There is something about Crowley and how he is somehow a little bit different from the rest of the demons. - and the Disposable Demon has, much like Crowley, interest in the human world. He could well be 6,000 how many years old, the same as everyone else, but he seems to have this younger vibe and I think he thinks that Crowley is quite cool.

Good Omens fandom is his first experience with a fandom of this scale. It speaks a lot, the fact that this kind of very, this minor character, a character who is only on screen for a very short amount of time gets any kind of attention at all, it's quite amazing really, it goes to show how big and enthusiastic the fans are. I never experienced anything like that.

6. Jeremy Marshall-Roberts (the owner of Mary the Bentley)

When Crowley used a miracle to switch off the Bentley lights in Episode 1 at nuns manor it was done by: there was actually a very small guy called Louis turning on and off the switches quickly.

David Tennant was allowed to wear the snake eye contacts for only 3 hours a day otherwise they could damage his eyesight.

For Mary, the Bentley, it was the second time she was ‘blown up’ on film - first being in the Endeavour with Inspector Morse about three years earlier.

He was a bit nervous during filming the bookshop fire scene because the Bentley was so close to a real fire - not wanting the paint to blister. The car was moved off after a few minutes of filming but still.

About the damage to Mary: Unfortunately, we overran, and Rob my stunt driver had already booked a holiday and off he went and so when he returned in January, on the 10th of January, I had this new driver who really had no clue how to drive old cars, so I showed him around, I showed him to go around corners. He came around the corner, the door was not closed properly for some reason and the door flew open as he went around. And instead of slamming on the brakes which is extremely efficient and would stop him straight away he kept on going, hit another car and really smashed the door quite badly. It did take the car off the roads for 10 months. The door was completely remade because of this accident and it cost the total of £24 000 to rebuild the car to get it back to running as it is today.

The Bentley’s part most difficult to maintain and service is the engine.

Would Mary be available for a potential season 2: definitely!

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miekasa · 3 years

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hey do you have a layout of the apartment that eren and reader share in "nice"? or maybe just random pictures that remind you of it? i really wanna see if i've been imagining it right

Here is my attempt at making a floorplan for their apartment and it was harder than I thought 😭😭 don’t ask me about dimensions or scale bc <2 just know that... it’s unreasonably big and the total cost of the whole thing is like $65 million which doesn’t even include the furniture or art they’ve put in since living there. Anyway, this is the general layout of the first floor, intended to look something like the Van der Woodsen’s apartment in Gossip Girl so you can also look at that! Might do the second floor later, but all that’s really up there is Eren and OC’s bedrooms (they’ll probably renovate Eren’s sooner or later) and ensuite, another balcony, and a smaller office.

Basically, it’s very kinda open concept space design whatever you call it. Anyway, here are some fun facts about their apartment/living arrangement!

Eren designed the majority of the apartment. It came with a lot of furniture, but he switched them out and played a big part in the renovation.

Remember, the original plan was for Eren to live in his childhood apartment (now Carla’s apartment) when Carla moved to Paris full-time; he bought this one for the two of you to live in, and it was a surprise present. He doesn’t have the knack for making clothes like his mom, but he does have a knack for designing, and he’s pretty good at interior design.

It’s mentioned in the fic, but the elevator opens up into their apartment because it’s the penthouse. No, not just anybody can come up, you have to scan a card or be on their list to get let up by the doorman.

There is nothing in that storage closet but packages that they keep forgetting to open lmfaooo. Maybe a few extra winter coats and random shit.

Those statues are actually relatively new. They were a gift from Mitchell (Carla’s husband) for their wedding; he had them commissioned from an artist friend he knew in Paris. They aren’t of you and Eren (that would be a little creepy), but they represent each other.

Eren keeps buying art just because it matches the decor and he knows that art is like a status symbol or whatever. He doesn’t know what it means, but if he likes it (or if you mention you likes it), he buys it.

That kitchen is a dream which is funny because Eren can barely cook. Mikasa can tho, so thank fuck for her. Eren can and has fit into that pantry.

All the plants are fake because Eren has allergies. Also because he does not have a green thumb. You guys periodically change them out for the season, and the only time a real plant is in the apartment is during Christmas.

Armin burned himself trying to use the fireplace once and hasn’t even stepped foot near it since; he doesn’t even sit on the twin chairs near it, only the sectional because he’s a big baby.

Coffee table #1 is the more functional one; it’s where they sit and eat, lounge, drink wine, use their laptops, so there’s usually a bunch of stuff on it. Coffee table #2 is more for show; it’s made of glass has books on it, and a candle, too.

Whenever you fall asleep on the daybed, Eren always carries you upstairs. Similarly, he knows you’re prone to napping on the daybed, so (before getting married), whenever he felt that you were working too hard/too long on schoolwork, he would tell you work there, just bc he knew you would fall asleep.

There isn’t a symbol for it, but there is a big set of sliding doors that can close the dining room, but it’s always open (they usually eat at the bar anyway). They always host Thanksgiving dinner at their house, but they don’t throw a lot of formal parties otherwise. They do have their friends over a bit, and they randomly show up sometimes, so they keep the extra seating around.

Eren loves the pool, and he loves dragging you into it. The outdoor grill legitimately only gets used by Connie whenever he has a grilling kick in the middle of the summer, what the fuck does Eren know about grilling other than it seems sick to have one.

The outdoor “bar” doesn’t actually have alcohol stocked in it. The terrace is pretty secure, no drunk person could accidentally just fall off of it, but you still don’t like the idea of having drinks accessible out there. It’s mostly sodas and fruit juices. Occasionally you and Eren sit outside with a glass of champagne or two, but nothing more than that.

The guest bedroom hardly gets used because your guests are obsessed with the sectional, so they usually fall asleep there. The only people who like the bed are Mikasa, Reiner, and Sasha.

The atelier was, obviously, designed with Carla in mind. She does have her own apartment in the city, but Eren put this one in for her anyway (way before the events of NICE happened; which only goes to show that even though Eren is mad at his mom for her marriages, he never hated her and always sought to take care of her). It doubles as a fitting room and powder room of sorts.

Eren has never used the first floor bathroom.

The art at the end of the hallway was done by Jean, and was originally a gift for your birthday, but offered to pay him and value you it like real, expensive art. Eren claims that was a waste of money. You just have to point to any random object in the house to humble him about “wasting money.”

#anonymous #fic.ask #this was very fun but also very difficult bc it looks a Specific Way in my head #their apartment is fucking huge #its kind of a mix of serenas first floor and blairs top floor ?#and when will i have another eren x reader fic idea lmfao #i have some but they’re not… exclusively x reader hehe

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ecto-american · 3 years

Text

Hey I wanted to fuck around and ramble about how I specifically headcanon and like to portray Jack and Maddie career-wise for my fanfics/personal take on the DP canon.

So to start; I headcanon Maddie as having a masters in electrical engineering and Jack as having a PhD in Thanatology (the scientific study of death and the practices associated with it), though he has a bachelor's degree in mortuary science while also having a funeral director’s license.

Why these? Because I absolutely see Maddie as the builder and thinker, the one who can build things, and Jack as the theorist who knows everything there is to know about ghosts. I picked Thanatology because it was as close as I could find to studying ghosts in an actual applied scientific sense, but I liked the mortuary science because it felt like a good accompaniment. I originally had mortuary sciences as his PhD (if you’ve heard me talk about this before), but I found out that I was actually a big dumb because in the US, you cannot get a PhD in mortuary sciences ihsofsa so I did research for an alternative.

So how do their jobs work? Well, I think it's approached in a very academic-y sense. While I kind of play with it loosely based on the specific fanfiction, I generally say that their job is a sorta combination of any number of the following:

Research grants to study ghosts, from both the government and just private companies

Writing books/textbooks revolved around ghosts (like ectobiology, ghost hunting, etc)

Contract ghost hunting work (like being paid to get rid of ghosts from private residents/buildings)

Income from ghost invention patents (think their Fenton weapons and things like the Fenton thermos)

They do non-ghost research and inventing as well (since they seem to custom build their own computers and other various technologies, and even just things like the Specter Speeder can be marketed to a non-ghost hunting audience like the military, and Jazz implied in GNO that Maddie has a lot of inventions outside of Jack that she works on)

Paid to teach/give lectures or make appearances at seminars, conventions or speak at certain events

Since Jack in this is licensed funeral director, he also occasionally works with a funeral home, and sometimes I even headcanon that Jack and Maddie used to own a funeral home before they got the grant/funding to build their ghost portal (which I touch on a little later!)

Jack teaches part time at a local community college/university, teaching normally one or two classes here but sometimes more, and sometimes even as Casper High teaching ghost 101 safety

Maddie is also a licensed electrician that does occasional work related to that

And this is kind of where you may be asking: wait, aren't they kind of a joke? Why are you giving them all this credit?

Well, honestly, I really like to think of the Fentons as being actually fairly well respected academically and by fellow ghost hunters. There's a lot of scientists that you'll basically learn are real Weirdos, but that doesn't distract from the fact that they are incredibly smart people who made amazing breakthroughs.

To me, I headcanon Jack as being autistic, and that ghosts and the paranormal is a special interest in which he's actually an incredibly well respected scientist, who has the most accurate (as far as the paranormal studies scientific community knows) information and knowledge about ghosts. He's been writing and studying it for twenty years, and arguably, essentially proved that ghosts exists because of his ghost portal and living in Amity Park, where ghost activity boomed. While there's canon evidence dedicated to him being made fun of in Million Dollar Ghost, I personally like to think of this as more of other ghost hunters just kind of seeing how Awkward and ridiculous he can be socially. We also hear about Danny and Jazz dunking on them, but I think this comes more from two teenagers being embarrassed about their oddball parents.

I definitely picture the Fentons as still being the town weirdos because well. You see their oddballness every day. But most ectobiologists would only see Jack when he's presenting and read his work, where I imagine he's presented as a bit less goofy and more serious. Because it's a chance for him to essentially ramble on about his special interest and area of expertise without interruption to an incredibly eager audience that's going to be asking questions and wanting his opinions. To me, Jack definitely seems like the person who you don't really think about how odd he kinda is (purely because of masking and it just not really coming up) until you're really with him 1v1 outside of these of these conventions/lectures/classroom environments.

I don’t totally see Maddie teaching, because while I’m definitely picturing her here as being a very smart mind that would likely also be a good teacher; the specific reasoning why I say Jack would be the ones that does the teaching part time is because it’s literally perfect for him. It's an excuse for him to trap 25+ people in a room on a regular basis to listen to him about ghosts. He'd absolutely just one of those easy A teachers, where if you just show up and listen to him babble about ghosts for 1-3 hours and turn in the homework (he gives no tests, midterm/finals or quizzes), you get your easy A. It’s the similar concept with the seminars and guest lecture things; Jack is just much more enthusiastic and would want that solo speaking time, and Maddie knows how much it means to him, so I feel like she would let him have this.

Maddie herself, I feel liker her heart rests more in just the general inventing and building side of it. While she has an interest in ghosts, this also seems to mostly enjoy the physical side of inventing. I say this mostly because, again, in GNO, Maddie has a whole bunch of inventions that she’s working on outside of things she builds/helps Jack build. To me, this straight up personal invention projects, even though they’re still ghost based, tells me that her heart and passion seems to lie within engineering and not necessarily too much in the way of ghost theory.

The way his and Maddie's relationship works to me is that Jack knows more of the ghost related information and he relays this to Maddie for her to build what they need. For example, he'll tell her “this is what the Ghost Zone is like, these are the dangers, this is what we need to survive, etc” and Maddie will have the knowledge to design the Specter Speeder, and they build it together with Maddie being the primary leader and troubleshooter.

However, Maddie has the education and license to do the electrical work and knows how to properly build and submit the patents. Meanwhile, Jack will eventually do all the research and write and publish the book detailing what they learned about the Ghost Zone. Repeat the process with ghost weapons and other such inventions.

I like to think that Jack and Maddie were essentially going through the process of getting the huge government grant they'd need to build the actual ghost portal, which took a lot of prior research, convincing, pleas for money and getting the city permission and code permits to get the money and permission building it, hence the like 20 year gap between the prototype portal and the final portal. Especially since they obviously started a family during that time too.

#danny phantom #headcanons #posts #my posts #jack fenton #maddie fenton

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weirdmarioenemies · 3 years

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Name: F Boy (again)

Debut: Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins

It feels so strange to look back on my very first post for this blog! It’s so... dry! Where’s the passion? Back then I really had no idea what I was doing and was just kind of imitating Mod Chikako hoping nobody would notice... but thanks to all the love this blog has received, I think I can write with a lot more confidence now! Not to get all sappy on the first paragraph, but I really appreciate everyone who reads this blog with all of my heart. And that includes You!

But if I’d known I’d spend several years using the moniker “Mod F Boy”, I probably would’ve put more thought into the name I picked, huh? I’m not even sure I’m a boy anymore! I just thought the name was funny and that was that! But given how indecisive I can be, maybe it’s a good thing it was so spontaneous... Like it or not though, I am more attached to the concept of “F Boy” then I was three and a half years ago, so it’s only fair I give F Boy the post he deserves and write a whole lot more about him!

Believe it or not, F Boy is a fire enemy! A single flame with dot eyes, the classic design they’ve been using since Fire! I’ve expressed love for them in the past, but this little dude is a little different... it isn’t found in a lava or castle stage like you might expect, but the spoooky scaaary stages, AKA Pumpkin Zone! Why’s that?

Enter the hitodama! Literally using the characters for “human soul”, these ghostly wisps of fire from Japanese folklore are probably something you’re familiar with even if you don’t know it! The Litwick Pokémon line, the flames on Jibanyan’s tail, the little flames around the boy from the toilet anime, or even the Embers from Paper Mario... that’s really just a couple of specific examples off the top of my head, but they are in basically anything associated with Japanese ghosts!

Though... all this time I’ve always called them hitodama, but I should probably specify they aren’t the only kind of ghostly fireballs! Onibi (demon fire) are often described similarly, and I’m not totally sure what the difference is! I suppose they would be more demonic hence the name, and probably less of a good idea to get close to. Also, if they're made by fox demons, they’re kitsunebi (fox fire)! Isn’t that neat! But there are no foxes to be found here, so F Boy definitely isn’t that (Unless it stands for Fox Boy...?).

However, you might be more familiar with the concept of will-o’-the-wisps, a similiar kind of legend from Europe- in fact, a whole number of cultures around the world have stories of ghostly lights and flames! There’s two explanations for this, either that it is a misunderstanding caused by some chemical reaction (boring, lame) or that hitodama are real and really exist for real (fun, exciting)! I encourage everyone to go outside with a net and catch as many as they can.

Even though hitodama can be red or orange in some traditional accounts, they’re mostly described as blue and most modern media sticks with that! Which makes it quite weird that F Boy... isn’t! He is a rather fetching orange of course, and without the added context of spooky old Pumpkin Land you wouldn’t be mistaken for thinking he is a lava enemy that just got lost or something!

Now, moving on to a completely different topic, something else that is great about F Boy is his little cheeks. Have you seen them? Here is the picture one more time in case you forgot after all that. He doesn’t have one in the sprite, so isn’t it quite weird to give a fireball enemy such distinct little cheeks? I want to squeeze them, even if they are probably intangible.

And finally, we come to the part we’ve all been waiting for- the name! You were thinking it, I was thinking it, it’s probably the only reason I chose to write about him in the first place! Because F Boy is a funny name for an enemy! I think it’s just quite silly to describe a fireball as a “boy” in the first place, as a term of endearment. It is just a boy! A little guy! He’s not hurting anyone!

But then they add to that name- one letter. That one letter, F. It changes everything. All of a sudden, there’s a question floating in the air- what, pray tell, does the F in F Boy stand for?

If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you might remember we added an addendum to the original F Boy post, saying the mystery had finally been solved- the English version of the Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia lists his name as Fireball Boy, which is a pretty definitive answer right?

But since then, it’s been more or less exposed that this translation took a bunch of unsourced and conjectural names from the Mario Wiki, leading to something of a controversy and a Mario Wiki page that is essentially just roasting the whole thing! If even the Wiki doesn’t accept this book as an official source, I wonder if there’s any merit to the name Fireball Boy at all! Either way it’s odd how this is the ONLY name they changed... do they know something we don’t? I dunno!

My next evidence to present to the court is something that isn’t really related to F Boy at all! Rather, in Super Paper Mario, the Lava Bubble enemy has a tattle that reads the following:

It's a Lava Bubble. This fiery magma boy loves the heat... Max HP is 1 and Attack is 4. Obviously, it's quite immune to fire... It pops out from below when people approach, so take care when jumping over lava...

Fiery magma boy! The chances of this bit of text being intended as a reference are very very slim, but what if, you see? What if? It’s still a fun coincidence, but what if though??

But of course, my favourite possibility is that it isn’t a word related to fire at all and is actually something completely different! I looked up a list of adjectives beginning with F and I’d like to highlight ones I want F Boy to have. Fabulous! Friendly! Faithful. Fantastic. Fascinating! French? Fresh! Fun, and Funky! Faultless. Fetching. Feminist! Festive. Formidable. All these and more describe the complex soul that is F Boy.

After all is said and done, that is F Boy! Who would’ve thought that a little monochrome fireball enemy from a Game Boy game could have kicked off so many months of writing for this blog? I said in the first paragraph that I would not get too sappy, but now we are in the last one I can be as sappy as I dang well please! This blog has brought me such incredible joy and friendship that you can’t even imagine, and my only hope is that I can convey these feelings to even one person who reads these silly posts. If you are reading this? I hope you have a wonderful day! I hope you have a wonderful life! I hope you never forget to be passionate about the things that really don’t matter at all, because no one else can decide for you what is worth caring about! Mwah! A kiss goodbye. I’m not sure how to end this post.

#mario #mario enemies #f boy #weird mario all-stars #mod f boy

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defdaily · 3 years

Text

THE STAR Magazine April 2021 Issue featuring JAY B

Translated by defdaily.

GOT7’s eternally sincere leader JAY B. A friendly interview where you can feel his warm-heartedness.

*This interview was done in informal language to give off the feeling of two friends chatting*

It has been a while since we last met for GOT7’s feature in 2017.

Right, hi. I’m JAY B. Nice to meet you. Have you eaten?

JAY B has been chosen to be on the cover of THE STAR’s 8th anniversary issue.

Dobby is free now. (Laughs). I’m a freelancer now but I still can’t believe the fact that I was chosen to be on the cover of THE STAR’s anniversary issue. I’m so thankful to THE STAR for choosing me to be on the cover so I worked extra hard during the shoot.

How are you doing these days? We’re curious to know what you have been up to.

A freelancer’s daily life is always similar. I work when there is work and rest when there isn’t. I was busy recently organising this and that to release GOT7’s digital single ENCORE. I took the lead and there were many things I needed to figure out such as paperwork. So I was very proud. The members have all joined agencies but I want to take a little more time and think about it carefully before choosing. I’m still a freelancer.

Does the freelancing life suit you?

I don’t know if it suits me but it’s fun. Now work-related calls come to me directly, so I would be asleep then receive a call. I’d go “Ah I fell asleep for a moment, sorry. What is this about?” (Laughs). Since I do even these kinds of small communications myself, it’s nice and fascinating to realise the value of work and opportunities. If I didn’t have this time and experience, I think I might have not realised the value of work as much. I used to be on edge at times when the managers used to tell me things in the past. But now that I’ve learnt how much processing has been done before the information reached me, I feel sorry. Now I have a heart full of gratitude for opportunities.

I don’t know if it’s because you’re a freelancer now, but you seem much brighter than before.

Dobby is free now. (Laughs) I’m joking. Of course it was very helpful having a company. But now that I do everything myself, I feel more satisfied. I enjoy it.

The GOT7 members have all started solo activities. It must not have been easy for everyone, how did you come to your decision?

Right. It definitely was not easy. The seven of us researched a lot so that we can continue as GOT7 together. But then we thought that we should broaden our view so each of us could end up in a better situation. In the process, what we each wanted changed a little and, there is a future that each person dreams of right? The company said we did everything we could do on our part and that they will cheer us on in the future, that made me feel proud. We are also very thankful to the company. I felt that we received a lot of protection under a large umbrella. After all, the company is like the mother that gave birth to GOT7, so I’m thankful to them and respect them. I also thought a lot and looked into a lot of things about how to continue as GOT7. I also went to the president and asked him for advice, and I greeted and thanked Jinyoungie hyung for everything.

While preparing for new activities, what was the thing most discussed amongst the members?

“So what is it that you want to do?” “So what do you want to do?” We asked that a lot. So everyone said “We have to do it" So I asked again “No, not 'I have to', but do you want to do this? Or do you not want to do this?” If you are going to do something, you should do it properly, right? If you are not going to do something with an active attitude, I think it’s better to not do it. So we all came together and decided to give it a try.

It’s clear that you are GOT7’s leader.

One advice the company president told me was that my talent and effort as a leader starts now. Personally handling matters related to our recent digital single, I felt this “Taking the lead as a leader, I need to really work hard.” There was a lot of pressure, but if I don’t do it, who would. It pushed me to work hard.

You mentioned very clearly in your social media livestream that “GOT7 did not disband.” I felt your affection towards the team, what does GOT7 mean to JAY B?

One extremely important thing in my life. Actually, it’s an indispensable part. I’m thankful for the fact that our team exists. You have to know that because GOT7 existed, we individually exist too. It wouldn't matter if my beginning was as a solo, but my beginning was as GOT7. That's what made me who I am now.

How is Lim Jaebeom different as JAY B within GOT7, JJ Project, Jus2 and ØFFSHORE?

Comprehensively they’re all sides of me but if I have to split them, they would be a novel vibe versus an essay vibe. ØFFSHORE and Def. are all about music I like, regardless of genres, and honest stories I want to tell. As for GOT7, JJ Project and Jus2, we would have a particular concept and make it a bit more fancy.

Most of the songs you have shown on SoundCloud are R&B genres with a groovy feel. Have you ever had a conflict between music you want to do and music you have to do?

I felt that I needed to work harder to prove [myself] to do what I wanted to do. I can’t always be spoon-fed. To prove [myself] I made more GOT7 tracks and sent around 15~20 demos. Later on Jinyoung hyung and the president acknowledged me and said “Jaebeom will take care of the musical aspect. You can trust him with that.” I felt really proud hearing that. I don’t really feel a sense of conflict between the musical differences. From pop and R&B to folk and modern rock, I don't want to draw lines between genres and make music that sounds good.

We are curious about the music JAY B will show alone and what you’ll pursue. What stories do you want to tell?

I want to do a variety of things. Alone, I think I will try mixing genres and do things that are fun and experimental. I can also do R&B pop or Urban genres which I’ve originally liked. But that might change later on.

Is there an artist you’d like to collaborate with in the future?

Someone with a pleasant tone to listen to. Even now, when I listen to music and I like the artist’s tone, I send them a DM asking if they’d like to collaborate. And Korea's top hip hop artist, IU-nim. Do you think it's possible? (Laughs).

Then would you like to send a message to IU?

Suddenly? Um… I will work very hard. If by chance you think my song is alright, I would love for you to add your nice voice to them. (Laughs)

An appearance that may seem cold with a tsundere charm. But what do you think your real personality is like?

I’m the type that is quiet and calm, but people close to me tell me I’m a weird person. When I cry reading a book or watching a movie, or when I get emotional they say “It’s so weird, it doesn’t suit you.”

Are you the tender type?

I think I just often get hit by waves of emotions.

We’re curious about the lifestyle you seek and your values.

To live each day without any regrets.

Is there a place you’d like to visit after COVID-19 ends?

Kyoto, Japan. It’s a place where there is a lot of Japanese heritage and it’s also pretty.

Recently you have combined your two Instagram accounts @jaybnow.hr and @def.cnvs, what was the reason?

I’m the one doing everything after all, it is just the musical name that was different. I can’t split my body into two. I realised I could combine them into one account and just show the difference within it. And as I get older, it’s hard to manage two accounts. (Laughs). Was I too honest? Now I'm confused about what's what.

Was there any other moment that made you feel old?

I don’t do much and my whole body aches. In the past, my body wouldn’t get affected by the weather. Now when the weather is gloomy my back hurts and my knees go numb. (Laughs).

I can see that you’re interested in artistic aspects such as photography, painting and fashion etc. Do these things influence your music?

Of course. They affect the way you live in itself. I’m a person who wants to express and leave behind what I feel. Calling myself an artist feels somehow cocky.

What are you interested in recently?

It’s not art but I’m interested in moving around. Living as a freelancer, I spent more time lying down at home, but now I need a fast-paced daily life. I try to wake up in the morning to eat breakfast and nutritional supplements then go outside to photosynthesize and soak in the world. Everyone has to keep moving. (Laughs).

Are you interested in fashion and lifestyle curation and design etc?

I don’t think I’m a person who dresses up exceptionally well, but if someone asks I’d be willing to help.

What would you introduce as JAY B’s preference?

Freedom. Regarding fashion too, I liked vintage and grunge styles but recently I’m interested in work look and amecage styles. My preference keeps changing. I can't define myself clearly either, but I like the sense of being free.

What inspires you?

Many situations and people, my experiences as well as indirect experiences.

How do you have an indirect experience?

Watching movies and reading books. Nowadays I read song lyrics and unfold the scenes in my head. I try to think of various points of view in these one-act plays.

To JAY B, love is?

Nonexistent. A moment. I don’t know. As you live life, I think falling in love is a momentary emotion. If it lasts long, I think it’s affection not love. I'm a person who has to talk about love, but sometimes I wonder if it’s okay to feel this way. There are also many different forms of love. The love that my parents give me and the love that my fans send me. I’m thankful for everything.

While promoting for 10 years, what was the happiest moment and most lacking point?

I feel like every moment until now has been somehow lacking. Whenever you look back you end up thinking “I should’ve done better back then.” I think everyone feels that way. But I never regret those times I’ve spent. The happiest instance was when I spotted my parents at a fanmeeting and ran to them and held them while singing. It felt like I was boasting to my fans “These people are my father and mother,” and it also felt like I was showing my parents how I was receiving that many fans’ love and support. I'm thankful that the fans looked at my family happily at that moment.

Have you ever had a slump?

I don't think about something if I think I'm going to fall into something serious, but I'm the type who gets stressed out to do something new.

You are loved not only in Korea but also abroad, have you ever thought about why your fans like you so much?

A lot. I just don't understand. I'm not even popular among my friends... Why on earth?

Think of at least one thing.

Maybe it’s because I worked hard steadily? To be honest, during the past 10 years I have never not tried my best on stage. I can say this with confidence. I’m thankful to be able to do what I like as a job. I have told the members about this previously, I’m sorry for not being affectionate to fans onstage. It’s my nature so I can’t help it. But I have never been indifferent as a singer onstage, that is a fact.

Your bucket list that you surely want to achieve this year?

Being healthy mentally and physically. Since the members have started their solo activities this year, I think I should release an album as well.

Any words for the readers?

Everyone, I’m not saying this as a formal greeting but I really want to say thank you. Hmm… How should I put this? Don’t worry since we are not disbanding. That’s why I tried hard to release the digital single. Continuing on I’m going to try my best to do as much as I can. You might feel disappointed at times along the way, and I apologize in advance for that. But what I can promise is that I’m going to do my best. Thank you so much for supporting me for 10 years. You all know this already, but I’m not so good at things like sending hearts and saying thanks affectionately. I just want to speak sincerely. Thank you so much. I hope everyone will be more happy, not just because you like and support us… I could sound arrogant saying it like this but... I hope our fans are sturdy people who will find their own small sources of happiness in their daily lives even if that isn’t us. And I hope everyone is happy. I’m so thankful and I want to ask you to trust me.

Lastly let us know your future plans.

We will try our best to match our times and do GOT7, JJ Project and Jus2 etc. no matter what. Even if our times don’t match somehow, we’ll try our best to gather even 4 or 5 people and return, so don’t worry. And Dobby is free now. (Laughs). I will do my best in everything. I've made a lot of songs and I'm diligently working on songs right now too, so look forward to it. You’ll be able to listen to it soon. Thank you. This has been GOT7 JAY B. Please give lots of love to The Star’s April issue!

Translated by defdaily.

#jay b #jb #jaebeom #def #defsoul #got7 #got7 jb #got7 jaebeom

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twistedtummies2 · 3 years

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Well, you've done DC. How about Marvel?

Okay, this one was REALLY tricky. XD The issue with Marvel is that while there is one character who is consistently one I adore, the rest of the characters I can have kink crushes on tend to be in flux, so to speak. Like, sometimes I'll like them a whole lot, sometimes I'll only like them a small bit, sometimes I'll like certain designs or portrayals and not others, etc. So there are NUMEROUS Marvel characters I wouldn't mind writing for and can fantasize about, but how much those levels stand is forever fluctuating. Having said that, this won't REALLY be a Top 5 of favorites, but more...a Top 5 of consistency. Because aside from my number one (and maybe my number two), the other characters here fluctuate in terms of how much I like them compared to others. HOWEVER, they are ALL characters I CONSISTENTLY enjoy to some degree or another in a pred/big eater role. (Mostly pred, if you haven't guessed from previous answers.) Now, let's get into them...

5. Galactus.

Ah, yes, the Eater of Worlds himself. In point of fact, Galactus' literally cosmic appetite is both his biggest pro AND his biggest con. Galactus is a veritable god of destruction; a nigh-omnipotent being whose entire existence REVOLVES around consumption on a massive scale. Galactus literally eats worlds; he absorbs all energy the planet has into his being, and his hunger is neverending. Time and again he's come after Earth, but every time, he's outsmarted by the heroes and left to find some other place to gorge himself. On the one hand, God-level predators are freaking AWESOME, and that level of sheer hunger is INTENSELY squeak-and-blush-inducing. On the other hand, however, it doesn't leave much room for intimacy or for writing that will present an especially great amount of conflict. As a result, Galactus' appetite is both incredibly appealing and yet slightly off-putting for me.

4. Fin Fang Foom.

While his name is pretty silly, this giant dragon is actually one of Marvel's most underrated and intensely powerful antagonists. Originally imagined as a sort of unlikely cross between Godzilla and Fu Manchu - a monstrous distillation of all things that terrified people during the Yellow Scare - Fin Fang Foom has evolved with the times and, much like the Mandarin, still has a steady home at Marvel in the comics and in animation. He's not very well known, however, I think mostly because he hasn't appeared in any movies. As you know, I love dragons, and Fin Fang Foom is a dandy of a beast: a regularly rampaging monster who is, indeed, a canon pred. The image used here is actually from a defective clone of Fin Fang Foom, which had much of his power but little of his intelligence; the REAL Fin Fang Foom is actually highly intellectual...but this does not make him any less ravenous than the version depicted above. (Plus...come on, with imagery and writing like that, I HAD to make this the image I shared.) He's pretty much perfect for macro/micro type stuff, if you're into dragons.

3. Nightcrawler.

There are several X-Men characters I have had crushes on: Beast, Blob, Toad, and Sabretooth are the chief ones. However, in all four of these cases, how much I like them tends to fluctuate, as I've said before: it depends on a LOT of factors. However, the one X-Men character I seem to consistently want to stuff full of food or end up feeding myself to is, ironically, one of the least likely options: Kurt Wagner, a.k.a. Nightcrawler. I WOULD say this is because he's my favorite X-Men character (which is true), but I don't really think that's the reason. There's not much evidence of Kurt being an ESPECIALLY big eater, and certainly no evidence of him being of a predatory mindset...yet he has developed a niche group of vore-loving or belly-loving fans who really love the thought of feeding him one way or another, and I am in that niche. I think it's a mixture of his design and his personality: Kurt looks like a fanged, fuzzy demon, but his soul is actually that of a very fine fellow. He's an impish mischief maker, a charismatic and chivalrous gentleman, and a kind, charitable, religiously devout sweetheart, all at the same time. You can imagine Nightcrawler being a big tease to someone who has certain kinks, but you can also imagine him being very docile or very comforting. He's pretty much a tailor made character for the softer, safer, more playful sides of these interests almost without trying.

2. Tiger Shark.

I've only come to know Tiger Shark fairly recently, and I haven't READ much of him...but with what I have seen of him and learned of him, he's definitely worthy of the number two spot. Remember how I said in a previous thing of these sorts that Killer Croc was sort of "King Shark done right"? Yeah, I think Tiger Shark is an even more accurate example of that. In the comics, this rogue's story goes like this: Todd Arliss was once an Olympic swimmer who lost his abilities in an accident: desperate to regain his athletic capabilities, he gave himself over to experimentation, and his DNA was fused with that of a tiger shark, and also of the mythical Sub-Mariner, Prince Namor. The resulting mutation turned Arliss into a predatory monster, with superhuman strength and a savage appetite. Over the years, Arliss has been depicted less and less human and more and more animalistic by various artists; whether this is a canon show of his worsening mutation or just artistic license is anyone's guess. Tiger Shark has a more consistent personality than King Shark, and while his design has changed over the years, he's at least retained the basic concepts, as well as his hunger. I have to admit that I actually prefer a version OUTSIDE of the comics for my interests: the version that appears in the series "Avengers Assemble," which gives him a whole new backstory and a decidedly beastly design. If I were to write for the guy, I'd likely follow that one more closely. Still, the comic version definitely has some merits, too.

1. Venom.

Now, I'm specifically talking about the original Eddie Brock Venom; other versions just don't interest me as much. With that out of the way...Venom didn't START OUT as a predatory beast, but quite quickly, as time went on, the character became more and more focused on that aspect of things. Just looking at the guy, it's easy to see why. The Jekyll-and-Hyde-esque relationship between Eddie Brock and the ravenous Symbiote that controls him is one that can be used for both comedy and tragedy, and Venom's gluttonous, aggressive, and at times delightfully witty personality makes him a very fun character to imagine. He can devour massive amounts, has a canonical love of chocolate (as well as human flesh), and has more appealing dialogue than you can shake a stick at throughout his long history. He's right up there with Killer Croc as one of my favorite predator crushes in comics, and possibly the only Marvel character I can consistently say I adore above ALL others.

#ask #answer #marvel #q&a #comics #supervillains #superheroes #nightcrawler #venom #fin fang foom #galactus #tiger shark #pred crushes #kink crushes

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curioskitty · 3 years

Text

THE・Chonk Tie

We all know about Midoriya-kun's iconic tiny chonky tie. Horikoshi-sensei has already explained it away as Midoriya-kun just being bad at tying it. In Japanese he uses the word "ヘタ" (heta), meaning clumsy or unskilled.

But, just for the helluvit, I'm gonna speculate on this a bit. I think there's actually a ton of stuff packed into this tiny tie.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Midoriya-kun went to a middle school with a gakuran uniform so he likely never needed a tie. On top of that fandom likes to speculate that since his Dad isn't around, no one can actually show him how to do it. I can't disagree with Midoriya-kun just being a clumsy fashion disaster. It's a very straightforward explanation.

But in this age of tutorials and YouTube, part of me just can't let it go. And Midoriya-kun has friends now that would probably teach him if he asked. Heck, Mina-chan taught Midoriya-kun how to dance, and you're telling me she can't teach him how to tie his damn necktie???

But almost everytime we see this kid in a tie, it's always tied like that. In almost every illustration or sketch where Midoriya-kun is wearing a tie, even the gender bend one and random fun sketches posted to twitter, Horikoshi-sensei has him in some variation of this tie. He has been very meticulous about it and it's details like this that make me such a huge fan of Horikoshi-sensei.

(It's such a small detail, but it's one of my favorite parts about his design. I always see fans going on and on about his adorable face, freckles, green eyes, green curly hair... But no one talks about this damn tie!!! It's one of the best things about his design IMO. )

In fact, the only time we don't see this is the culture festival performance. That's the only time I've seen this kid with his tie on properly. Look at this perfectly tied nonsense right here!!!

(Granted, these costume ties do seem to be a bit shorter than the uniform ties. On Ochako-chan, Tsuyu-chan and Mina-chan, the ties seem even shorter.)

But assuming that he didn't get someone else to help him, or it wasn't already tied and ready to slip on (that's actually the likelier scenario, but, shhhhh!), then he actually tied that tie on properly. Considering all the practice, they had to have taught him how to tie the tie at some point.

But that said, if this kid KNOWS what he's doing, why is it that the chonk tie still lives?

(Back after the culture festival and even more glorious than before?!)

Consider that a normal tie you could get away with just loosening it and just re-wearing it, but this chub version has to be re-tied every day. So why does Midoriya-kun do it, if he knows how to tie it properly?

He does it on purpose.

In 2009, there was a trend among British uniformed school kids to tie their ties improperly as a form of rebellion.

Midoriya-kun's tie is actually called "the superfat style".

Odd coincidence or did Horikoshi-sensei make our boy a hidden rebel?

We all know Midoriya Izuku has a baby face with a hidden rebel side. And it must be noted that in Class 1-A, everyone else, except a certain gremlin child (yes, Bakugou-kun, I'm talking about you, now shut up, I'll get to you later), has a properly tied tie.

Midoriya-kun doesn't express his rebellious nature outwardly and seems to be in line with the stereotypical cooperative Japanese rule abiding citizen. But, despite his cherubic baby face and outwardly tame veneer, Midoriya Izuku is a known feral, law-breaking, quirkless hero society outlier. AND HE ALWAYS HAS BEEN.

All Might said I can't be a hero? Prove him wrong, win his quirk. Iida-kun's in trouble? Laws? What laws? Todoroki-kun looks sad? I'll just break some bones so he'll feel better. Villains are attacking, so I should go back to camp? Hard pass, there's a kid I need to save. What, Kacchan's in danger??! My arms are broken, but that's what I saved my legs for. All of Class 1-A doesn't want us to go save Kacchan? Well, just watch me and my worst yakuza impression ever as I wear this fake goatee, break curfew and sneak into a villain hideout packed with several noumu and one very scary AFO.

Just what part of Midoriya Izuku isn't a rebel?!

Going back to the prototype oneshot of Boku no Hero Academia, "Boku no Hero" Horikoshi-sensei re-used the main character Jack's design. This character was actually similar to Midoriya Izuku in a lot of ways. A quirkless salary man who wanted to be a hero and used support items to fight.

Horikoshi-sensei loves paying homage to his earlier works by reusing old character designs. Tenko, Snipe, Gang Orca, and more were recognizable concepts that found their way into Boku no Hero Academia. Considering Horikoshi-sensei's heavy emphasis on the theme of 'remembering one' s origins,' it really comes as no surprise the author does this himself. He has done that quite a lot before and it's not surprising at all.

(Considering he was a professional salary man in a suit, the chonk tie is even more of a visual symbol of the maverick nature of this character.)

What came as a surprise to me is that Midoriya-kun's prototype Akatani Mikumo actually didn't have this feature. Both he and Gougou Katsuki (Bakugou-kun's prototype) wore their ties properly?

Well, I guess it's close enough on proto-Bakugou, considering our Bakugou-kun lost his tie completely... (I said, shut up Bakugou-kun, I will talk about you NEXT! Geez, this brat).

So why did Horikoshi-sensei decide to ressurect the chonk tie? Remembering his origins? As an homage to Jack? Hidden rebel? Maverick thinker? Clumsy kid? Fashion disaster? Extremely successful iconic shounen protagonist design feature?

Or maybe, all of the above...?

Either way, Midoriya-kun just wouldn't be the same without his tiny tie. And I'm here for it.

Chonk on tiny tie. I see you. I appreciate you.

Horikoshi Kouhei: ORIGIN

#Accidentally posted this before I finished...#Still new to tumblr #very sorry #bnha randomness #midoriya izuku #Midoriya Izuku's tie #bnha crack #bnha meta #bnha #mha #boku no hero manga #horikoshi kohei #bnha spoilers #if you squint

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reversemoon255 · 3 years

Photo

(This is the second of a three-part series chronicling the story, concepts, and original Pokémon that appeared in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign I worked on for several months. This entry will be more focused on a lot of my original designs and how their encounters would play out, rather than concrete story. Also, much of the art was done by @extyrannomon on Twitter, and I suggest you check them out.)

Dungeons ‘n’ Dragonites - Phase 2: Ultra City

The Queen Durant would prove to be a difficult foe, able to use all manner of elemental attacks to strike from a distance to compensate for her low speed. Furthermore, she would have full command of the Duranthill, using her followers to guard herself. As the battle rages, the team slowly begin to evolve, and their newfound strength and Types, along with the aid of the Princess, would have them see victory.

I was unsure as to the ultimate fate of the Queen. Either having it disappear into the tunnels alone, or be sucked into another Ultra Wormhole like the Poipole. And with the Queen vanquished, the Princess would choose to become partner to whoever she felt most worthy (a combination of good role playing and damage dealt).

I designed every Pokémon in this campaign under the pretense that it could actually exist. The Queen and Princess fall under the category of “Rare Variants.” There’s only one queen in a colony of thousands of ants, so it makes sense for it to be rarely seen. They’re still Bug/Steel, but special attackers, with the three spheres on each of their abdomens made to mimic the pattern of Tri-Attack, symbolizing their ability to use those Types.

As for the Starter evos, Flymph has evolved into Epipesis, gained the Electric-Type, and become a full Dragonfly. Calfyre into Steared, staying mono-Fire, but growing considerably (4 feet at the shoulder, the largest mid-stage Starter). Squisque into Knaval who’s now Rock, because he’s a rock lobster! And Utaw into Uteteo who may still be pure Fairy, but has gained some gold adornments.

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My working title for this campaign was “Ultra City.” Hinted at by the appearance of the Poipole early in the game, my intentions would come into full swing during this portion, with boss encounters against many of the known and some unknown Ultra Beasts. I had a few encounters planned, from a pickpocket Pheramosa that they’d fight in a mall store room full of mannequins, to a Blacephalon that had kidnapped several children, hypnotized them, and had them watching his performances, to a beach episode where there’s just a Buzzwole hanging out and not causing trouble.

Things would take a twist when a Guzzlord would take over the abandoned district, raining destruction down from its highest building. The crew would have to climb a multi-floor dungeon in order to battle it, many scared and aggravated Pokémon blocking their paths. After reaching the top however, after initiative had been rolled, a mysterious Pokémon would descend from the sky, felling Guzzlord in a single strike...

Majra, the Dragoon Pokémon (a slurred portmanteau of Magic and Dragon). A Dragon hunter with a unique ability, “Hunter of Evil,” that removes all its resistances but makes it immune to Dragon, Dark, and Ghost. This Pokémon came about as I was trying to create a dramatic encounter that would interrupt an expected one. As I was thumbing through DnD and fantasy ideas, the idea of a Dragoon who furiously hunts Dragon-Types came to mind. Ice/Fairy seemed the perfect combination, and the sentient suit of ice armor fell into place soon after. As Pokémon don’t typically hold weapons, I made him part scorpion, having him hold his tail as a workaround, and also informed how his extremities would look. The Haxorus skull buckler also helped drive the Dragon hunter aspect home.

Ultra Beasts were the second category of original Pokémon in my campaign, and encompass all purely original Pokémon (including the Starters). However, I didn’t want to just haphazardly make a ton (as commissions cost money), so I gave myself the condition that if I made an Ultra Beast it had to play with weaknesses and resistances in a way to trip up experienced players, hence Majra’s ability.

Majra would not attack our players in their first encounter, unless someone was using a Type he hunts. He would be a reoccurring boss character, helping or hindering the players depending on their enemies or allies.

The next unique encounter would have been a tutorial battle against another Rare Variant, a Shiinotic possessed Parasect. Every boss encounter is technically 4-on-1, so I wanted to give a Pokémon a reason to have multiple turns, and fused or symbiotic Pokémon felt like a naturally occurring way to have that happen. I created this Shiinotic as a way to teach the players how these Pokémon work.

As Shiinotic is a bio-luminescent mushroom, I wanted to have Parasect faded in color from its light. I also thought it’d be a nice touch to have Shiinotic’s spindly fingers act as puppet strings to move Parasect’s arms around. It would have been encountered after a swarm of scared Paras started flooding out of the sewers near everyone’s school.

Then would be Fortifiend, who would be encountered a few times as an easily circumventable castle wall in the middle of the street before Majra would eventually attack it, forcing our players to take a side in the battle (with Fortifiend possibly joining them if they help it). His ability would make all attacks not very effective while it had over 50% HP, and the opposite when under 50%. Despite the name, I pictured him being very nice, and giggle whenever he heard someone compliment his stone structure.

I imagined that the world he came from had naturally occurring stone structures similar to him, and his folded castle form was a sort of net to help him catch large prey; partly why he doesn’t attack the smaller people and Pokémon of the game’s dimension (he’s around 30ft tall). He could be encountered anywhere, so he wasn’t a full quest; just a fun “what the heck is this” moment to confuse players.

Also, while it wasn’t purposeful, Fortifiend and Majra both also matched the DnD aesthetic. That definitely helped them stand out as some of my favorites, and Fortifiend barely missed the final pass for the last round of commissions.

Then was the twin encounter of Feyerre, a Fire-Type igloo and snowmobile Pokémon, and Eyescse, an Ice-Type pyramid and four-wheeler Pokémon (probably the most Ultra Beast-esque concepts I came up with). They would be messing with the weather across the city, causing disturbances until the players eventually found one of them, in when the other would appear. Their ability would flip their weaknesses and resistances, and they would have an attack that could do the same to a target. And fun fact: there’s meaning to the color and number of their eyes! Feyerre’s are F.I.R.E (Fire=Red, Ice=L.Blue, Rock=Brown, Electric=Yellow), and Eyescse’s are I.C.E (Ice=L.Blue, Sea=D.Blue, Electric=Yellow).

But their defeat would incur the wrath of a mysterious Pokémon they had encountered a few times:

“As you turn around, you see a grey Charizard standing there. It stares at you for a moment, wide-eyed and unblinking. Then it begins to open its mouth, wide, wider, and wider still, stretching beyond what should be possible. Then a hand reaches out of it...

“Suddenly you’re falling. The lights and sounds of countless unknown worlds whir past you incomprehensibly as you plummet through time and space. You try to close your eyes to shut out the flurry of stimuli, but it’s impossible to drown out as your minds begin to feel the strain of the void. Then, after what feels like hours, time seems to stand still as the heavy rain of an unknown world hits your face. For a brief moment you are able to take in the desert that surrounds you before a flash of lightning illuminates the sky, revealing a titanic silhouette looming above you before you are once again thrown into darkness. And as you come to outside the warehouse (where you encountered Feyerre and Eyescse), in the distance, you hear what sounds like laughing.

“Fofofofofo...”

The final original encounter I had planned for Stage 2 was Meadew. It would have been wandering the city, spawning grasses and flowers wherever it went. However, while beautiful, the sudden growth would be causing havoc and destruction to all the buildings and vehicles it could root into.

Unlike the other Ultra Beasts, Meadew’s ability didn’t affect its weaknesses, but instead created Substitutes since I wanted a way for it to form its own adds (the concept behind its inception). However, it wasn’t without a Type gimmick; rather than an ability it has a signature status move called “Radiance” that raises its attack and special, as well as give it the Fire-Type, making it Grass/Water/Fire (the 3 Starter Types). It would invoke this after its adds were defeated, but could be talked down through diplomacy, unlike some of the other encounters.

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I’ve mentioned Rare Variants and Ultra Beasts, but there was a third Type of original Pokémon that could appear: Mutant Evolutions. Essentially, evolutions like Probopass or Leafeon where being in an energy charged area or coming into contact with a huge ore deposit (what I interpreted the Mossy and Icy Rocks as, since they became Leaf and Ice Stones in later Gens) could force an unusual evolution in a Pokémon already shown to be susceptible to unique evolutionary conditions. Due to a future encounter, I already knew there would be large Metal Coat and Ice Stone Ore deposits in the mountains to the north, so I wanted to do some test prototyping using each of those items, whether I used those evolutions or not.

Poliwhirl is already shown to be capable of multiple evolutions, all of which use items, so I thought having it come into contact with a massive amount of Ice Stone Ore (since it should be chemically similar to Water Stones) could force a Mutant Evolution. This is Policuti, from the Latin Cutis meaning skin, and Poli-Cutis would mean “multiple skins,” as it wears the shed skin of preevolution. And being freshly shed is why its skin lacks pigment. It’s just a cute little frog in a raincoat! Also, the swirl on its jaw is actually its tongue.

Since Magneton evolves into Magnezone through being electrically charged, I thought about how it might evolve if charged with Steel energy. I imagined it being magnetically attracted to the Metal Coat Ore, fiercely trying to pull itself away, being stretched and elongated in the process, resulting in the bullet train Pokémon Magneline. The Mutant Evolutions weren’t supposed to be anything important to the story or that they’d run into in the wild. They were more so surprises to excite the players who would be expecting something, well, expected. I had considered doing at least one for each player if they caught a compatible Pokémon, but as no teams were filled out, I was merely left with my prototypes. The only reason I had these two commissioned was because I was very happy with their designs.

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As we reach the end of Stage 2, the reoccurring group of rowdy Onix would return once more. Following them deep into their tunnels, our heroes would come across a massive chamber with a giant metal stalagmite and frozen stalactite in the center of it. The Onix would then appear, twisting around them, forcing their evolutions. One into Steelix, and the other into Glacix...

#Pokemon #dungeons and dungeons #DND #dnd homebrew #durant #shiinotic #parasect #poliwhirl #magneton #onix

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