#i like them theyre all extremely creature but in different ways

[hinata-boke]

2nd years

[spearxwind]

Just wanna let u know all your art slaps and I love it so much and ur a very funny person so congrats on being one of my fav blogs of all history

Also do u have any tips for drawing dragons because they (your dragon OCs) are all so cool looking and I have some of my own but I wanna spice them up a lil so I wanted to see if u have tips and tricks for that stuff

AUHGHGHGH THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Im super glad you like my stuff!!!

And YES ACTUALLY I do have tips, but they're not my own!! Whenever someone asks me for tips on dragons I always love to redirect to the tutorials on dragons sammy torres did, all of which you can find [ HERE ]

These tutorials are like The Bible for drawing anything dragon related. Not only are they beginner friendly, they are expert friendly as well, in my opinion. These are an immense help to anyone looking to do dragons, and there is one for every different part that one might have trouble with! And honestly, I feel extremely confident linking these because they word everything much better than I could

Other than that, I think dragons are generally really subjective as creatures. There's classic dragons, but the term 'dragon' applies so broadly to so many shapes that its extremely hard to go wrong with designs. Theyre one of the things that lend themselves the most to experimentation with shapes, bodies, features, etc, so even though these tutorials might nudge dragons in a specific way dont be afraid to experiment with anything youd like to explore :]

My one wish however is to make sure every dragon has proper wings though for that refer to [ THIS ] post of mine thank u for ur time

[thewertsearch]

Asks Comp 1/5

We don't even need to speculate about Vriska's hidden motives - even her stated motivation is dangerous.

As I said before, we know exactly how she 'helps' people.

Thank you! It's good to be back.

Act 5.2 has been fun so far. I didn't realize how much I missed the kids until we got back to their PoVs.

Homestuck could have opened on Rose, watching her mother drink herself into a stupor - or Vriska, tossing a corpse into her spider's pit. These events are canonical, but bringing them into sharper focus would turn the story into something very different.

That Homestuck chose to start with John tells us a lot about its identity. It's a dark story, in a lot of ways - but there are much darker stories, two steps to the left.

Sburb Any% in 23:59:59 (Green Sun skip)

Haha, that's fair, actually. Although you're probably not chastising them for failing to understand the time loops you're both navigating.

(If you are, though, you have the coolest job imaginable. Are you hiring?)

@gravity-rocks asked: Ooo, saw the person who asked you about your thoughts on lusii and troll evolution and thought I would pitch in with my little theory. I like to believe instead of lusii being the parasites, maybe TROLLS evolved as brood parasites. All these lusii seem to have consistent blood colors, and the blood colors always match the troll theyre a guardian of. I know we havent seen baby lusii, but maybe before they become "white" their babies are a bright color, and the bright blood colors of the trolls evolved as a way to trick the lusii into caring for them. Now, not all animals actually care for their young, so it's not a perfect strategy, so some creatures taking 'advantage' of this parasitism couldve evolved side by side, which I find super interesting. And with troll genetics and slurries, that made me wonder if troll genomes are particularly unstable and able to incorporate all sorts of other dna into it, like some bacteria - perhaps lending to this ‘infiltration’ power. The troll powers and mutations relating to their lusii is really really interesting, I mean we saw sollux’s ogre lusus with similar powers. I wonder if that sort of matching dna in subtle ways influences which trolls are adopted by which lusus. Alternatively an even more interesting explanation. Trolls grow their powers over time with their lusus and incorporate more of their dna over their lifetime with them. With huge wiggled populations, the way the genetics slurry with each other, and ease of mutation, perhaps it explains how intense their anti mutant and culling sentiments are, and why they might have evolved to be as extreme as they are.

This is some great speculative biology - I particularly like the idea that trolls are highly prone to mutation, like an alien Eevee.

It is interesting that Sollux shares his eye-beams with his Biclops. Their powers are identical, so there has to be some casual relationship between the two - we just don't know what direction it's in.

Aw, Kanaya. Neither of you is the Stupid Girl - it just feels that way when you have a crush!

I started shipping these two because they're my favorite characters - but I'm continuing to ship them because their relationship is cute as all hell.

For sure! The added context of Hivebent really adds a lot of texture to the plot. The playing field feels wider, and the stakes are much higher.

@manorinthewoods asked: What are your favorite songs from Homestuck? [ they listed their own faves but some are technically spoilers, will send them later! - C] . ~LOSS (25/4/23)

My current favorites are Descend, Dissention, Sburban Jungle, Upward Movement, and The Beginning Of Something Really Excellent!

Another album review is well past due, but Homestuck Volume 5 is longer than the first four combined, so I'll need to set a day aside to really take it in.

I never got an ask about this, so send away!

Zathura! Damn, it's been a while since I've thought about that movie.

I love the idea that every 'real' game in fiction is actually taking place in an infinite sea of monsters.

That's true, I guess, and you do need to get there to fight the final boss - but Sollux proved that you can freely fly between planets, if you have the means. The houses seem kind of redundant, if that's their only purpose, but I don't think it is.

Act 4, I think! Hivebent's troll worldbuilding is great - but Act 4 focused a lot more on Sburb's game mechanics, and that's still my favorite part of the comic.

We don't yet know the circumstances of his Exiling, but he probably needed to lose, to be Exiled the way he did.

As for why he needed to be Exiled the way he did... well, we've already talked about how weird and arbitrary these loops are. In the end, WV's army was just a casualty of causality - and messing around with causality is beyond the scope of the game.

Not impossible, necessarily - just beyond the scope of the game. Rose knows what I'm talking about.

It's either that, or the meteor's seed was what fell into the portal, and it grew to full size after it left the Medium. Either works.

It's impossible for me to choose - but I'll default to Descend. It was a great bookend to pre-Hivebent Homestuck.

Thanks for the list of names - and congratulations on your evolution to full blog status!

That's all true - and I never considered that Karkat would be jealous of John's social circle. Things are just easier for him - his friends all get along, and he doesn't need to needle them into working together. From Karkat's perspective, John barely has to do anything as a leader, while Karkat worked his ass off and still failed. Damn.

[ this post! ]

Hahaha, damn. I forgot about those early predictions.

I was right about the terraforming, I just wasn't thinking big enough. In retrospect, it's pretty funny that I only gave it a 1% probability - for all the help they were, I may as well have pulled those numbers out of thin air.

John's the kismesissitude mascot, after all!

Earth's a big place, so there could easily be thousands of unseen temples - but I'm starting to doubt they'll ever get any focus.

I've slowly begun to accept that Earth's other sessions might just be out of scope for this story. That's for the fanfiction authors - and, maybe, for 'semi-canon' spin-offs.

Yep, this chicken/egg stuff is so common for Sburb that it's practically routine by now. It's simply not possible to say whether Titles cause personalities, or vice-versa - both were 'simultaneously' encoded into the Alpha Timeline. The point is moot.

Yeah, quadrants really haven't shaken out the way the original infodump implied they would.

Karkat's Dark Crush on John doesn't seem nearly as toxic as whatever's going on with Jack and the Queen.

Is Karkat wrong about his feelings? Do Carapacians experience kismesissitude differently? Has Hussie quietly retconned some of Hivebent's quadrant stuff?

At this point, who knows. Alternia's original view of quadrants might not even matter - it's gone, and the surviving trolls are free to do their own thing.

[onejellyfishplease]

Good morning, Jelly!

So, regarding the question I mentioned last night; As you are well aware of by now, my Tabletop Turtles AU (or TTAU, for short) esentially combines RotTMNT with D&D mechanics and tropes.

And if you are going to tell a classic D&D story, you need to have your adventuring party face off against a dragon, right? The question is, which iconic RotTMNT villain should I turn into a dragon? I've got two options I've torn between, both with their own pros and cons (I apologize in advance for the slight info-dump)

1) The Shredder Aesthetically, this is the easiest option. I mean, the Shredder is halfway towards being a dragon already. Just slap some wings and a tail on that sucker and boom, you have a dragon. And let's be honest, a Shredder dragon would look cool as fuck. And the lore wouldn't be too difficult to flesh out either. But there is one problem with this idea, and that is that the Shredder isn't the 'final boss' of RotTMNT. Which means I'd need to come up with a climactic threat to come after this dope ass dragon. And how am I supposed to top a creature that is so iconic to Dungeons and Dragons that it's literally in the name?

2) The Krang Making the Krang dragons would help them fit in with the fantasy setting, where aliens might feel a bit out of place. Though, while having the Krang be dragons will solidify them as a world-ending threat that blends iconic creatures from both the show and D&D, it would open a whole can of worms in regards of questions to answer. How would I design them so that they look recognizable while still retaining that classic D&D feel? If they aren't aliens, what would exactly would the technodrome be? How would they krang-ify people? What's the deal with those mech-armor things? would they still use them? These are just a few of the questions that would need answering.

In short, the Shredder would be the simpler option in terms of design and lore but would give me an extremely high bar to clear when I introduce the Krang. I could just… not use the Krang at all, but they feel like too much of an important part of RotTMNT canon to just ignore, y'know? On the other hand, the Krang would fit better thematically, but come with a plethora of design challenges and lore questions to answer.

I know this is a bit of complex lore problem, and you might not be able to provide a miracle answer that will solve all my problems, but hearing your two cents on this will be very helpful. After all, you have much more experience creating AUs (you seem pretty much incapable of not constantly making new AUs), and this is the first real AU I've created since I was a child.

First of all, I love the name youve chosen!! very cool.

And oof i get the struggle between thematic and aesthetic choices! it can be really hard!

I have a few suggestions that might help?

(just saying that i dont know much about dnd lore besides looking through a few of the books and osmosis from being around my brother)

Okay, Idea one: Kraang as Beholders? they kinda look similar i guess?

Idea two: (this ones a bit more fleshed out)

In a lot if tmnt iterations, the kraang use technology to become physically stronger (ie the mech suits) but since this is dnd, perhaps they should have a more magical solution. perhaps, they lean more into the possession role. perhaps here they act more like parasites? perhaps theyre taking over the minds of dragons and other dnd monsters- using them to their own will? (taking inspiration from rabies here). then u could get some kraangified dragons.

maybe the defeat of shredder can cause the release of the kraang?

this way you could still do the dragon idea for both of them.

the technodrome could be an amalgamation of possessed monster that have become so twisted that they have moulded together? (depends on how dark u wanna go here)

id say you could turn them both into dragons and get away with it if u make their designs, nature and goals different enough.

have the shredder be originally a dragon, but then merged himself with so much magical and cursed armour that he no longer looks like one

(or -another thought- make him a man who wanted the power of a dragon, and so through both magic and armour twisted himself into something vaguly dragon like)

making them related to one another (not just genetically but also thematically) might work aswell?

maybe the shredder created the kraang? maybe in his goal to make a synthetic biological dragon (why he would want that idk, something powerful that shares his ideals) and it went wrong?

woah that was a lot of rambling. i realise that i mostly did both the shredder and the kraang as dragons instead of anything else. my bad.

i hope this helps!! i know i threw a lot of rambling at you just now!

[rxttenfish]

i think ideally i want to include more of merfolk spirituality in the way that they casually think and do things - not necessarily in an overt way, no, but in the sort of ingrained way that works its way into all that they do that shows what a cultural force it is and to help them feel unique in thought.

thats something that always sits at the back of my mind, on how to depict the thought process of an entirely different species, and its something that i never quite feel fully happy with since i worry that itll then be either nonsensical in a way that doesnt feel lived-in or that it'll just feel like a carbon copy of my own thought processes.

for merfolk, thats mostly a lack of hard borders around everything and everything being majorly tinted by their social dynamic, adding in a lot of non-linear thought. they think of things primarily as either song or as a social dance, and tend towards thinking of things in "three-dimensions", being creatures who evolved in an environment where moving up and down requires effectively the same energy as moving backwards or forwards, and being able to conceptualize things better in three dimensions helps with navigation and existence inside of the medium they live in. this also correlates to their songs, aiming for complexity with the higher amount of information they can pack into that same space and to navigate tightly around the social bounds (merfolk having very stiff, non-emotive faces for instance, with most emoting being seen with their fins, means that the majority of how they convey emotion, especially over distance, is with sound and noises.), to the point of being able to form mental maps of their area based solely off of listening to the merfolk around them and what they're saying and singing.

however, all of this means merfolk can also be extremely confusing for landfolk, seemingly leaping from one topic or another or taking great care to restate things and being highly specific or broad and unclear without much of a difference by the merfolk at hand, or just otherwise treating relatively complex topics like theyre much simpler and self-evident than perhaps they might be to others. alternatively, merfolk can end up feeling like conversing with landfolk is too slow or nonresponsive, having a harder time moving at rates that feel natural to them without having to enunciate themselves or go back and explain things that are easy to grasp. to them, landfolk entirely miss most of their emotional complexity and non-emotive, which is fair, because landfolk think the same of merfolk, when we dont really have to specify our emotional response and intent inside of what we have to say and expect body language to serve the majority of that duty. this isnt to say tone doesnt also play an important role, but merfolk are effectively playing with an advanced version of tone which doesn't always map onto ours, and is quickly lost in translation.

but one of the big things to be a "merfolk-ism" would be how much they tend to treat everything as a part of their emotional group, and don't bother drawing hard lines between entirely different objects or contexts. for them, a group might be indistinguishable from the area that they inhabit, buildings and environmental structures being just as important as living elders, or from their relationship to their neighbors, all being as much "defining traits" as the people themselves who live there. which can get confusing, as merfolk might refer to and speak of the dead or historical events as though theyre still alive or still happening, mostly expecting the other person to know that they are dead or in the past, and viewing them and their continued impacts upon the present, or even just them being used as building blocks for the present, as essentially just as meaningful as the presence itself.

[fagcrisis]

i am asking abt funerals. my starwars knowledge is tiny but my interest in fictional funerals is large please do tell

THIS GOT INCREDIBLY LONG I APOLOGIZE

okayokayokay. i actually had multiple extremely long posts about this on my old blog but theyre like lost media (unless some of my old star wars mutuals have them but i think only like, nick and lucky remain)

coruscant is the capital city of the galactic republic in star wars, and i mean that literally, because the entire planet down to the core and up to the very border of the atmosphere it is a city. it was originally inhabited by zhells and taungs, the latter being the spiritual (if not biological) ancestors of the mandalorians, who lay claim to the planet city because of this connection and its the cause of their conflict with the republic. stream vode an

theres a criminal lack of stories that utilize the incredible potential coruscant has (in my humble opinion), save for one legends book i havent read and a level in a game i havent played. i think coruscant being the melting pot for the entire galaxy's cultures and species could create really interesting areas and conflicts that would be worth exploring if star wars was good instead of very bad (except for andor). i also had a series of posts theorizing about different districts having humidity controlled and even flooded districts, areas where the air is not filled with oxygen and so on. me and @katschipper have an oc named kees, they're an ex jedi turned pizza delivery guy and i would also love to talk more about him and the conflicts and such he encounters (id also love to write things with him but we cant have everything im a busy man)

so anyway now that you have context. coruscant is a planet city with either trillions (canon) or one trillion (legends) inhabitants. law enforcement is shown to be ineffective at the best of times, and straight up replaced with jedi in some cases (you should ask me about my thoughts on this also) and even if they were effective, acab. crime and poverty run rampant through the city, housing is a nightmare, healthcare is basically nonexistent in the lower levels, the corpse per hour ratio must be INSANE. where the fuck do they put all the corpses

we very rarely see funerals in star wars, and save for a few theyre almost all jedi funerals. the jedi also have interesting funerary rites you should ALSO ask me about, by the way, and ive heard there is a great funeral scene in andor but ive yet to watch andor (im on it guys). the only funeral that actually takes place on coruscant that i know of, is in the clone wars and it's a jedi funeral. so beyond this point is purely headcanon zone

because on coruscant social standing is extremely linearly tied to the levels, i came up with two main places where people are laid to rest.

the first is necropolis districts. because coruscant originally was just a planet like any other, populated by the ancestors of humanoid species and more specifically mandalorians im assuming (based on my knowledge of mandalorian funerary rites, also super interesting, ask me about that) that some sort of mass grave situation must have been going on as that is how mandalorians bury their dead. after the taungs left and the city gradually enveloped more and more of the continents and eventually oceans, having cemetaries in every city must have become incredibly ineffective with the amount of dead

coruscant is comprised of levels that are split into districts. the lowest levels of the city are not officially inhabited, haunted by strange creatures and PROBABLY RADIATION ASK ME ABOUT NUCLEAR CORUSCANT. i think on every level there must exist one, if not more funeral district, a necropolis spanning half a continent housing more dead than the level has people. sanitation has to be on POINT in a city of this size, and due to space restrictions people cannot afford to not burn their dead. that is a right reserved only to the richest of the rich, just as sunlight and breathable air is. because coruscant is repeatedly shown to be a hypercapitalist society, taking inspiration from cyberpunk media (aka really weirdly orientalist i could also talk about this for ages) i'm assuming a space for the ashes of a loved one, or even a nameplate you can bring flowers to, is a luxury few can afford. the industry around death is massive with necropolis districts being surrounded on all sides by generations of families who have made their living off the funerary industry. funeral districts are not solemn, quite the opposite, bustling with life and new corpse deliveries to the incineration rooms every hour.

a moderately well off person living close enough to the surface to be able to dream of seeing the sky one day only has to start worrying about their final resting place probably around the time they retire, but for poorer families on the lower levels it is a constant worry just like making rent every day. diaspora species and cultures that require more complicated funerary rites have traditions that specifically grew around the restrictive laws of coruscant. ashes or the bodies of the desceased cannot be kept in the home, and being discovered with them after the allotted mourning time comes with a hefty fine or a long stay in a prison colony where your family will never get your body back from. certain workplaces offer insurance for your corpse up to 3 years after your death, so your family does not have to worry about the rent for your grave while they mourn, but obviously these jobs comes with a way higher risk of injury or death. when a child is born their parents have to consider where they will be buried. coruscant, the beating heart of the galaxy, is a planet obsessed with death.

as the skyscrapers of coruscants reach ever higher, and as the lower districts begin to be choked by their corpses the upper crust of coruscant must consider a new approach, and so as always, they turn to the sky

there are four naturally formed moons that orbit the planet, centax 1, 2 and 3 and Hesperidium. Centax one is a penal colony (also interesting but not relevant) 2 housed a jedi training facility for a bit and then palpatines weird ass legends bullshit, and 3 was blown up by the fucking yuuzhan vong i forgot that happened jesus christ star wars is stupid. the planet is also orbited by so many artificial moons and satellites to the point where direct entry to the athmospehere is a challenge and many ships just dock on stations around the planet and their passengers and cargo take shuttles to the surface.

i think there are maybe a dozen funeral stations orbiting coruscant taking away precious airspace from way more important things, where you can pick out of several options for your body after your death. these include being completely suspended in time, surgery on your barely cold body so you are even more beautiful and the people who visit the station (because im sure they do, its the weird ass shit rich people tend to do) can be jealous and marvel at how much better previous generations were. these stations are as much exhibitions of the wealth and power of the desceased, as places of mourning, if not more so.

if you really are rich, if your family has maintained their power and their money for enough generations, maybe you can be buried in real soil on centax 3 (before the yuuzhan vong blow it up) and brag about it to your less rich friends at parties, and list the benefits of natural decay to the environment, as you sip imported wine they made in the orphan crushing machine or something

regardless of social standing the obsession with death is rampant throughout coruscant and many people commit egregious crimes for their body to be disposed of exactly how they would like, even disregarding their actual life in the process. coruscanti movies and books and music are extremely concerned with the subject and many romance movies are about couples dying together on their own terms or someone attempting to bury their beloved according to their wishes. sanitation workers are somehwat demonized due to this. many parents wish their child would be born force sensitive, so they can be buried in the jedi temple with their body intact, instead of whatever fate they will have as a civilian. many of the pushback against the clone army when they were initially introduced to the public was due to the fact that many generations grew up romanticizing the warriors who fell in the mandalorian wars and were buried on other planets in real soil

its been a bit since i wrote star wars meta but man i fucking missed it! as always you are welcome to argue with me about any of the points brought up (in fact please do) and if youre interested in anything i mentioned here i love to talk about the version of star wars that lives in my head and is good instead of bad. i swear i will watch andor

[bluest-planet]

Thought I'd throw our hat into the bin and share some of our personal Toh Collector/Archivists hcs and ideas into the void so if your interested take a looksee behind the cut away!

Heya! Happy to see ya reading more! Makes me happy that someone wants to read my silly little thoughts on the funky whimsy space cherubs. :3 please keep in mind that this is a work in progress still so things might change or be renamed down the line if I feel like it.

Anyhoo! Onto my Archivists!

...or rather, my Conservators!

Right that might be a bit weird to say so let me explain: Archivists and Conservators are one in the same, they're the same race and have the same powers the two differences between them are:

Their Ideologies

The way in which they use their powers

Archivists chronicle and preserve history, creatures, and restore the past to the best of their abilities. They're kinda like archeologists in my mind.

However, somewhere down the line instead of saving what was left of dying worlds and civilizations on the brink of extinction, or discovering and studying lost cultures and people's to keep them alive long after they're gone and share with other worlds; they began to 'preemptively' preserve any world they came across. At first it was just, 'oh no there was a massive natural disaster, we should save a few species before something happens again' or 'this empire has fallen into chaos and many stories and cities are being burned, we should step in' to 'it would be best to just archive them now before they have a chance to destroy themselves, it's for their own good.'

This thought process led to Archivists becoming more like what Collector implies, hunting down titans out of fear and unwarranted precautions, burning whatever doesn't fit their carefully curated archives instead of chronicling everything, good or bad, for the good of knowledge. Ironically kinda mimicking the civilizations they've studied in the past.

Some Archivist did not agree with this mindset, or thought it was too extreme so a separate group was made: Conservators.

Conservators are as the name implies; a curator and protector of a collection. Their goal is more inline with conservation, more akin to a wildlife reserve. They tend to protect and nourish dying solar systems and planets. Unlike Archivists who go from world to world, Conservators will stay in more place for much longer periods in order to watch over their domains. They observe passively and maintain a bit of control over their worlds in order to ensure their preservation. Because they often take the place of a sun or a moon, they are seen as gods and depending on the Conservator, directly intervene with the civilizations or nature.

Some are more controlling and obsessive, almost micromanaging their systems to entire their survival, others watch from afar and rarely, if at all, interact with their denizens, however they will all step in if something threatens the survival of the entire planet. Some Conservators will only do this if it's a mass extinction event, others if a single empire collapses. It all depends whether or not the Conservator deems it a threat to their personal preference.

Conservators are less organized/unison in beliefs, and less collaborative than their Archivist counterparts. They tend to argue and get territorial over their domains, and are usually loners or work in small groups if need be. Because they are much newer (comparatively) to the Archivist faction, theyre in the minority and less influential. However, because of their support and protection of their domains they tend to be more powerful as individuals than Archivists do, who thrive on collaboration.

Despite their differences, Archivists and Conservators rarely fight between each other and often coexist within the same clusters. Although they split apart into their own clusters, (siblings/families/friend groups etc, they do not follow human conventions they are just groups of closely connected Collectors) all Collectors inherently have the instinct to protect, group up with, or side with their own kind. Putting aside difference towards a common goal: to gather knowledge and preserve history.

With a few rare exceptions I'll get into later, they seldom fight between clusters.

Clusters are groups of Collectors that share a close bond or are otherwise connected. They are identified by their naming schemes, for example;

Conservator Cerulean Sun's Cluster consists of: Archivist Vermillion Rain, Conservator Planet Chartreuse, Conservator Veridian Dawn (Binary Stars with Chartreuse), Archivist Maroon Moon, Archivist Fuchsia Typhoon, Archivist Magenta Twilight (Binary Stars with Fuchsia)

Ceruleans's cluster chooses names after colors, but if a member ever chose to leave the cluster or change their role their name would change. (i.e. Cerulean Star becoming Sun)

Collectors can change their appearance and powerset if they wish, but it often takes a long time to complete the process as they have to train themselves each time.

Another example of a cluster with a different naming convention would be Harvest Moon's Cluster: Archivist Winter's Dawn (Binary Stars with Harvest Moon), Archivist Morning Star (Binary Stars with Dying Dusk), Conservator Blooming Sun, Conservator Gatherer's Equinox, Conservator Dying Dusk, Endless Cosmos (not affiliated too strongly with either group) they name themselves over concepts or seasons.

(Binary Stars are Collectors with closely resonating energies and magic. Usually created at the same time, or they find each other later in life as if destined by fate. When one dies, they cannot reincarnate until the other does to full recuperate their shared power)

Collector's Cluster/Siblings consist of entirely Archivists; Carbon North, Indium East, Bromine South, Gallium West (names may change down the line, however they instead of celestial objects or weather, or the day night cycle, they follow the four cardinal directions)

The naming convention of each Cluster is entirely unique to the culture and traditions of the cluster. Most Clusters formed long ago and any new members quickly assimilate into taking after the appearance of their fellow members. Hence why all of Ceruleans's cluster are much more colorful than Harvest Moon's.

Now onto some juicer stuff! Still with me..?

Good! Let's keep going!

For my Collectors, none of them were ever children. They are simply born like stars after a long accumulation of magic and cosmic energy fully grown; or at least, like young adults or from proto star to sun, supergiant or dwarf levels.

I was inspired by an adorable toh comic where King asks where Collector's come from, who replies with getting a wish granted from the tree of life (link here), and a concept in Drakengard 3 where dragons get a single wish upon death, usually using it to reincarnate.

So! When first born, they are called Collectors, simply collecting and learning from their older Cluster members. Often taking after the Archivists or Conservators they closely resonate with. They gain a magic affinity for day, night, stars, suns, etc along with a name befitting their Cluster's naming convention. But they're never young children, when they die from taking too much damage or using too much magic, Collector's use their one wish to reincarnate. However, it isn't limited only to reincarnation.

Here's where Harvest Moon and Cerulean Sun come into play for my au/hcs. Two Conservators who were bound to a dying solar system. It's star dying, Cerulean became a Sun and took it's place, preserving and reinvigorating life. Harvest Moon replacing a broken moon and fixing the gravity and tidal waves on one of the planets. However, despite how close they were they couldn't meet due to the distance and their responsibilities. But they would play verbal games together, or tell each other stories and send each other gifts. They fell in love but could never meet.

Both harbored a great love for mortal life and art. They bonded and often doted on their shared solar system like parents, wishing to take part in having families like mortals and be close to each other. So one day they came up with an idea that would have definitely been resisted by their Clusters and especially Harvest Moon's binary star Winter's Dawn.

Desperately wanting to be together and have a child/family of their own they decided to share their final wish, for Harvest Moon's it was to fuse and become one with Cerulean Sun. Ceruleans's wish was to have a child who could grow and experience life, with Harvest Moon. Creating the Collector we know and love.

Cerulean is already a powerful magic using Blue Sun, mixed with Harvest Moon's skill and durability gave Collector a stronger boost in magic despite his young age compared to other Collectors his age.

There is much more to this, including the effect this had on Winter's Dawn, or how terrifying Endless Cosmos, Dying Dusk, and Morning Star are. Or how The Collector became apart of his own Cluster with the Cardinal Directions. But I think I'll get into that another day ✌️

Thanks for reading if you got this far! This was fun to write out to flesh out some ideas I've had. Def want to expand and potentially rework some of this. But until next time, until then I'll be drawing out some overcomplicated designs. 💙

[cathedralcomic]

So i know you've said before the clowders in cathedral are mostly indifferent on house cats / previous house cats. But what do they actually think about them based on what they know ? Do they think their lives are weird or interesting?

And on a similar note. I started on a fake book series based on Warriors that has now over the years changed into an original series. I've decided to rework it because of this. And I did have an arc where the main character is treated poorly for being previously a house cat because the clowders think theyre lazy and dishonourable (this later changes in the story and they come to accept them). I don't want it to be xenophobic like Warriors though. There's an actual explanation as to why the clowders don't like them and the main character learns this and tries to convince the cats that just because one cat sucks doesnt mean they all do. Do you think that's acceptable and fall out of the xenophobia? (If other people could give their input i'd love that as well Idk who else to turn to about this)

first off i shouldn’t be your only source here! if you haven’t already, take some time to research xenophobia in fantasy from well-established writers and folks who actually experience xenophobia.

one of waca’s problems is pitting the clans against every non-clan cat because the narrative positions them as “superior.” according to the books all cats should be clan cats to live their best life, and there’s a weird colonialist mentality whenever our main characters interact with non-clan groups or individuals. the way i’ve written the darrows in cathedral kinda serves as a jab/deconstruction of the waca clans. but the key difference here is portrayal, there’s no doubt that the darrows function very poorly and are cultish. their dislike of cats outside of their very small group presents itself in their limited gene pool. they are a fucking mess and i do not paint them in a charitable light.

i think regardless of what creature you’re writing about real world problems will seep into your story, no matter how you label them in-universe. because you are a human writing a story. what you described does sound like it drifts into xenophobia territory, but as i said earlier the concerning shit tends to lie in depiction/author bias. othering is a very common trope in fiction in general… make it explicitly bad. i’m glad your clowders come to accept house cats because wc’s complete lack of growth with the kittypet thing post-arc 1 perplexes me. if it’s still present it should be challenged and not just through character interaction but through the writing itself.

“all house cats are lazy and dishonorable” is a very warrior cats issue (down to the main character being one), so to differentiate yourself maybe reshape it until it’s unique to your story. this is more of a general writing thing though. i can imagine it being compared to wc and from my own experience that can be frustrating down the line.

soo i think my overall point here is that you’re bound to run into issues like this when writing fantasy/xenofiction, which is why research, self-reflection, and sensitivity readers are extremely crucial. keep your presentation consistent as well. if you want to condemn kitty xenophobia in your world you don’t want your readers thinking, “actually, it kinda makes sense!!!” be careful you’re not entertaining the beliefs of bigoted characters.

[thereareeyesinsidethetrees]

cracks knuckles. so, been just trying to gauge overall reception with this, but what are your thoughts on the fan made return to the bunker episode? i’ve noticed glowing reviews from people who vaguely describe it—hit the character vibes right, jokes were cool, i liked the art, etc, but scathing ones from people who go more into detail—stan would never be this explicit in his desperation, ford was never this outcast or terrified of himself/others nor did he consider dipper as below, the entire thing was misogynistic, etc. so, what’s your opinion?

i did say i wasnt going to talk/reblog anymore posts about return to the bunker, but ill answer this anyway

i feel its kind of important to say right off the bat that i never finished the episode and i certainly dont intend to. i never even got to one of the b plot scenes with stan and dipper. i stopped around the bit where they got into the bunker and ford started trying to warn them about the shapeshifter. the clearly-not-ford-ness radiating off of 'ford' was too much to ignore and i couldnt finish it

anyway- what was good about the episode? well, the art and voice acting, for sure. during the first part, it also seemed like they had gotten the characters down pretty well and i thought some of the jokes were good.

in the first part.

and then mabel comes in. this is around the time real ford goes missing and fake ford shows up. no there arent two fords in the actual episode, its just that the difference between them is stark enough that theyre completely separate entities in my mind. anyway

i noticed that the sweater thing was weird to a lot of people. glad im not the only one that was extremely confused by the guy wearing a sweater saying it was too hot to wear a sweater. maybe it was meant to be a joke? it really just came off as ford trying to make excuses not to wear mabel's sweater.

which- its not like him not wanting to wear the sweater cant coexist with him liking mabel. maybe its a situation where he doesnt want her to see all his scars, or maybe he doesnt want it to get ruined when he goes to beat the shit out of the hawktopus (since yknow that was kinda the whole point of him being outside)

the point im trying to make here is that it really seems like the episode is just trying to paint ford as unreasonable and not liking mabel. speaking of which-

the way ford treats mabel is uncharacteristic. the first time we ever see ford smile in the show is when he's meeting mabel. he literally says 'i like this kid, she weird!', why are we acting like he doesnt like her?? genuinely confused. who looks at the way he was treating her in the episode and goes 'yeah fords just like that'?

sorry, anyway, last thing i have to say-

the entire bit where theyre making their way through the bunker struck me as a bit odd. it sorta felt like the episode was trying to make a joke out of ford and his wariness about the place? hes trying to guide mabel and some other kids he barely knows through the place, theyre rushing ahead (which cant be good for his paranoia), and for some reason when theyre getting close to shifty and hes trying to warn them its framed as him being melodramatic?

shifty locked his friend in a cabinet and pretended to be said friend so it could catch a look at the creatures in ford's journal and start transforming into them. i think hes allowed to be a bit cautious/afraid about meeting shifty again

and some bonus stuff ive heard about below:

ive heard that ford wipes their memories with the memory gun. he was a victim of it (implied or directly stated multiple times- who wants to bet hes got brain damage from that?) and he struggled so much to use it on stan in a situation where it was necessary to keep the world from ending. no, theres no way ford could just hit them with it like that

ive also heard fiddleford shows up and ford is weirdly antagonistic to him? 'im sorry fiddleford' is a phrase running through ford's mind on the constant for over thirty years and his first reaction to seeing fiddleford again is to apologize to him and assume he hates him. according to the journal, he actually mentioned to everyone else in the shack that he was wondering what happened to fiddleford. its implied he did that several times.

i dont have anything else to say and i dont know how to end this so. thats all. thank you for the ask and sorry if anything i said here sounded aggressive at all. not my intention.

uh moral of the story: i didnt like it :(

[blurryfce300]

blurry thoughts: blurryvision edition

alright so this all started cause i was talking about how i want like not even an mv just anything from blurryface’s perspective, not like us seeing him but seeing from his point of view physically. i want to see things how he sees them.

this led to me talking about different how characters see things, the bishops cant see yellow, ned has a slight chromatic aberration filter øn everything, making everything look sørta glitchy or off.

but then theres blurry. clancy hints that he sees everything as red:

but then the timh mv gives us something that i can call blurry’s perspective, or at the very least a blurry-influenced perspective. he looks around a lot, and when he does he sees people looking at him and when he does their eyes warp and get larger. there’s a constant feeling of being watched and being judged, everyone is looking at him (at least to blurry).

things get worse, the warping gets more extreme and widespread and then everything starts falling apart. its not actually exploding but it feels that way.

and like right after he looks at people he shakes his head around. a literal attempt to shake the feeling of being watched and judged, a futile one at that.

taking both of those accounts into consideration from timh and clancy, and adding in some chromatic aberration from ned for two reasons:

a: looks cool

b: blurry and ned seem to have some sort of connection to one another based on spelling patterns and what theyre meant to represent (creativity vs insecurity, two closely connected things, after all blurrys hands are black because of an insecurity related to creation).

anyways, complete blurry vision could look like this:

ok nøw i just wanna get into more theory/headcanony stuff because i can

like adding onto the vision stuff theres also like thinking about how blurrys other senses can get warped or changed entirely by him being present. like does he hear the thoughts of others? is he being constantly bombarded with voices of others overlapping and making any experiences with people an absolute sensory nightmare før him?

no wonder he likes the woods and social media so much. the woods are quiet and lonely, but mostly quiet. nobody’s staring at him and he cant hear anyone else out there. and social media lets him talk to people without him having to actually interact face to face because he can’t really without getting overwhelmed and panicking and being consumed by thoughts.

concerts must be a terrible experience for him to endure like thousands of people staring at you for hours on end sounds awful for blurry. i really want to see how he sees things. like in any visual format, doesnt have to be in an mv just anything. i wanna see how it døes or døes not differ from the bishops, since their vision seems to just be normal but no yellow.

you get what im saying? this creature is just never having a good time at all

[moonie-presence]

canvas, wardrobe, & alternate for the oc ask game ?? any character(s) of your choice!! :3

omg hi!!! Ty

canvas: Does your OC have any scars, piercings, tattoos, or other markings? Do they display or cover them up at all?

Du Vide, unless im misremembering, is my only oc with tattoos. They span his entire body, neck to toes, and he did them himself, sewing needle stick n' poke style. I doubt he'd have trusted any one else to ink them.

Since du vide is an upcoming ttrpg character and my fellow players follow me i wont go into detail regarding why he has them by he definitely has them for a reason, relating to his work in experimental machinery/technology. Any good mad scientist tests things on themselves first, obviously.

As for covered up or not, he doesn't make any real effort either way, due to the size of the tattoos. he's usually pretty covered, but he doesn't care if they get seen, theyre not secret. as for why they don't show up in the art usually is because i hate drawing them. weeps

wardrobe: How big is your character's wardrobe? Do they wear things threadbare, or can they afford new clothes often? Are they any good at mending and repairing their own clothing?

Courtland is a notable character wardrobe-wise because i designed him to be so unredrawable due to my madness

pictured: madness

Courtland's wardrobe is relatively large but most of his clothes look the same. The clothes he's wearing up there are his work uniform, so it's what he's usually wearing day to day with a few changes.

however he does have other clothes in line with what you'd expect from an aristocrat, like day clothes, outing clothes, outrageous party clothes, etc. Courtland's got *very* extravagant party clothes. he doesn't get the opportunity to wear them often and isn't very fond of them anyway.

as for when his clothes get fucked up, he's very good at repair. sewing and the like is one of his favorite hobbies!

here's him under all that fabric;

alternate: What would your OC's alternate universe look be? If they're a fantasy character, what's their modern look? If they're sci-fi, what's their fantasy look? What AU would you want to see your OC in, and how would they dress themself? Bonus: Prompt an AU!

when it comes to AUs, the one i end up landing on a lot for the earthshakers is the classic "what if it all never happened"/"what if they lived"

theres exactly one post on here (or the art blog i dont remember) explaining what the deal is with purgatory so heres a quick rundown: In the spaces between realities exists a vast, wild, metaphysical plane referred to occasionally as purgatory, which is a roiling melting pot that chews people up and spits them out as fantastic monsters. getting there is extremely difficult, but the hands down easiest way is to die, and fall through a weakness or crack in your reality when transitioning from life to afterlife.

Since the creatures in purgatory are always changing to suit their needs and there is no true ceiling for what can happen to you, occasionally a particularly strong-willed individual will grab unmatched, omnipotent power and become something called an earthshaker, the highest most feared echelon of purgatorian life. not gods, but damn well close. The earthshakers i've designed are Wellium (aka Lux, or the White Light), Videns, and Seleen.

(psa: this is a creative project? headworld? thing? ive been working on for literally upwards of 6-7 years now. I consider it my special interest, but its kind of nebulous and wordy and i get Too Excited about it so i end up rotating it around in my head a lot instead of talking about it)

Each of the three come from wildly different places/settings, and each has a grisly death, leading to their conquering of the endless voidplane. It's a fun thought to think about, about where they'd be if they just never died at all.

Wellium was once a soldier, a test tube baby/experimental weapon used in an intergalatic war. Eventually after a life of training to kill the unfamiliar, her life was considered inconsequential enough to be selected to guide and activate an experimental bomb to attempt to wipe out their enemy. Videns was a child born with select supernatural powers, and out of fear and superstition was drowned in a river by a mob of villagers after a life of living on the run. Seleen, a magician, was born with too much magic, and died when her body couldn't handle the strain anymore.

like. Videns could have found a place where she couldve flourished and been accepted. Seleen couldve pursued other paths in life instead of obsessing over her own impeding death and the use of the very thing that doomed her. Wellium couldve gone home.

their deaths are tragic, but theyre what set them on the path to kinghood and make them the creatures they are now. however, due to the way their universes work, there are realities where they did live, and lived full lives. got the chances to become people. its fun to think about!

what is and what was.

again ty soooo much for the ask! sorry that this post is dashboard destroying lol

[cunttom]

this sucks and nevermind the comics or whatever ill just say whatever. its stupid but ive had this in my head since april

The end is. Different. Tord pitches his world domination plot only to be told it wont work. Instead, each member of the group posits their own thoroughly-structured schemes, and end up seni-collaborating/fighting to executing their plans before each other. Includes: tord and tom madmen chaos violence together.

Finally, sick of being smothered, and at a moment of Argument, tord unleashes his secret weapon: tordbot!

Eventually he seems like he's expressed all his inner rage and how he feels like no one is really his friend because he doesnt deserve it. Edd talks him down (maybe kaiju battle?) and tom and matt were sitting there cheering and sharing popcorn while tord threw his fit. All their new good moods are spoiled, however, when tords robot slips on the grass in the front lawn and wipes out the entire house.

Whoops! All homeless

COUCH SURFING!!! they're not as mad at each other as they were. A little resentment to tord for destroying the house but theres some good catharsis in getting in a giant fistfight. But theyre also couch surfing. As a group of four.

Desperately, in a more organized effort, they try to put their world domination plot under way. Combining each of their powers, they can do anything!

They can't. But, since tom struck a deal with bing and larry to make more clones as his part of the plan, uh, now there's tons of those. And tords brute force + underground logistical strats have very much destabilized a few world powers. And matt has this super cute zombie army. And edd now has this monopoly over meat packing, which hes the boss of in name only. So 

THE MAIN FOUR ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN TAKE DOWN THESE NEW THREATS IN A DESTABILIZED SOCIETY AND TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!

edd gets bored of it in a week. Tom, matt, and tord are very into it, but. Uh. Aren't. Good at it.

in the midst of potential onset of nuclear armageddon, tom and matt (and tord, extremely unwillingly) retire to their new house: an exact replica of their old house. There's still clones overrunning the streets, so they're like, technically in witness protection, but #girl

tord voice eh i guess in my retirement as god of earth im gonna, uh, do mad science

tord is a mad scientist, world domination optional. he operates from his secret lab in edds house, to whom he pays “rent” (halfassedly doing all the cleaning in a maid halloween costume bought ten years prior).

They all live there still because theyre unemployed slacker losers with nothing better to do. also they have to live in hiding. so.

tord did the body mods on tom (lifesaving) and matt (claims it’s cosmetic but his body was rotting apart).

Figuring tom and matt were now indebted to him, tord gave them a prototype time machine. Their assigned purpose is to generally carry out his bidding, including preventing people who inconvenience him from being born, preventing major inventions and world events so he can create or cause them, and harvesting extinct creatures’ organs.

Tom and matt agree but instead they use the time machine to steal historical relics and then alter history so tord doesnt realize theyre misusing his invention. they pay rent thru stacks of stolen gold bars

they used Time Paradoxes to clone the time machine prototype to get one for edd. Theyre working on making tord forget he gave them a time machine at all, but he keeps reinventing it. He’ll probably forget about it eventually, hes been self experimenting and acting a little weird lately.

matts like okay don't commit quantum suicide and edd is like i wont :3 and matts like ok and walks away and he peeks over his shoulder and edds still standing there holding his time machine so matt turns back around and walks out of the room. And then he peeks back in as edd goes MUAHAHAHAHHAAAAA LITTLE DOES HE KNOW IM GOING TO COMMIT QUANTUM SUICIDE!!!!! and travels to the past. And matt sighs

edd and tord are slightly gay. Thats all Thats all i wanted to say :3

The clones still exist, and . That’s why cokes outlawed btw. Trying desperately to kill off the edds. (Matts are easy to kill for obvious reasons.  Toms can be more strategic in combat, and tords are dangerous, but theyve been stopped from overrunning the planet. Edds, however, are impossibly powerful, and satisfying them has become a national problem. depriving them of their main source of survival is the only way to stop them.)

[hairscare]

Was there any inspiration for your takes on the other creeps? And do you have any fav versions of them from other aus or by other artists?

this is a long one sorry

ngl i really dont look at much creepypasta fan stuff i pretty much stick with my own interpretations. for a lot of them its really just taking these stories where this characters are op edgy crazy killers and being like okay how would these characters actually be as teenagers and then forming their personalities like that.

jeffs obviously a megalomaniac wannabe edgy boy who thinks he can do anything without effort and that leads to him embarrassing himself constantly. extremely comphet unaware gay

ninas story is also very over the top and shes able to like dodge bullets and stuff and is very harley quinn to jeffs joker except theyre both young in these stories so for her its manic pixie dream girl who romanticizes the edgy boy (basically what jeff fangirls were like) but then actually meets him and dates him for a week and is like wtf youre not who i thought you were??? anyways shes scene

janes character is nothing revolutionary really shes goth though i do think she really leans into fancy feminine gothness as both gender expression (shes trans) but also as escapism from the fact that shes just some girl who was thrown into a horribly traumatic situation so she compensates by making herself a character that she feels can overcome the situation and defeat her enemy.

ngl i really dont remember bens creepypasta i know hes supposed to be a hivemind but i also think that personality wise hes like if an imp was a 12 year old. like the demon whatever thing was like you know what i like this kid im gonna be a 12 year old link cosplayer and then he was. so yeah hes a gamer tween who wears those gamer shirts and plays fortnite.

my sally is arguably the most different compared to how shes usually portrayed as a sweet innocent kind young girl. my interpretation is that shes a no filter rambunctious bully bc shes stuck in an 8 year olds body and has severe trauma and doesnt know how to deal with it at such a young age so she puts up walls. shes mean but in a little kid way where its brutally honest and childish all at once. she calls jeff gay and he breaks down crying.

jack is mainly a semiserious tired guy, but he also can be a creature when he wants to. hes depressed mall goth and is team edward forever. he also really likes gardening and nature tho he has a bunch of cacti and likes walking through the woods

slenderman is like how hes normally portrayed except hes more gay and also enjoys gardening

habit is habit hope this helps

the rake is a dog but also a guy who sleeps at the end of slendy and habits bed but also will break into your room and whisper prophecies to you but also is a dog

smile is if a dog was a sassy gay man

the proxies are just vibing college students

the clown throuple visit sometimes and are. killer klowns

and zalgo is a silly dilf

[ppnuggie]

Heyy!! Congrats on all ur followers! Can i request a match up for G1 transformers? I hope this isn’t too long 😳

Personality: im very people oriented, But i keep my friend circle relatively small but we are very close! I have a very happy bubbly disposition and positive outlook on life no matter how bad it gets. Im smart and very interested in art and science, the environment and nature.

I can be really anxious at times (anxiety disorder) but i don’t let it get me down! I have overcome a lot in life and enjoy guiding people through their struggles/giving advice. Im more alternative leaning in fashion, piercings, dyed hair, etc. I can be really ruthless and unforgiving if someone is being horrible or cross my friends with intent to harm, but i don’t hold grudges and i forgive people when they ask. Im fairly brave and i dont like to back down from a challenge

I like to do volunteer work when I can, especially with children and animals. My adhd makes it hard to commit to things so i come off as lazy (i am also genuinely lazy sometimes lol) and i jump from thing to thing without finishing it, despite being scientifically inclined i can get over emotional in debate and just in general. I can also be very judgmental when someone does something morally incorrect and hold myself to high standards morally. Im also extremely loyal.

Likes: plants, bugs, nature, food, movies/tv, horror, chilling, music, vibing, ALIENS!!, archeology, biology, animals

Dislikes: all forms of discrimination, liars, cheaters, rich people, crooks, directors that ruin movies by making shitty sequels, environmental damage

Gender preference: male

ty !! :D and dw its alr that its long ^^ it rlly helps me when its that way bc it lets me be able to do matchups in the way i want to ^^ w/ a lot of depth and detail 😎🙏 i managed to match you with two different characters 👀

𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 :

- perceptor

- wheeljack

𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐒 :

perceptor ::

• perceptor is definitely into teaching you what you wish to know about science ,, more of biology or outer space then wheeljack is able to

• hes also quite a calm guy to be around ,, not too loud nor harsh ,, hes just nice in general :)

• he’ll indulge in your liking towards nature ,, maybe even teaching you a thing or two about a specific plant you two might come across

• being with him also means getting a few trips to space 🥴 as he does go every now and then when optimus requests he be there ,, and he usually takes you along <3

• he’s okay with bugs ,, but definitely interested in learning about them if theyre foreign ,, or if theyre not insecticons 💀

wheeljack ::

• wheeljack is more active and energetic then perceptor is ,, and is more in for mechanical science then biology ,, but that doesnt mean he’s not interested in other types of science ,, just that hes best with engineering :)

• he’ll definitely be lazy with you ,, cuddling together and watching a show or movie ,, he doesnt have much of a preference but he will make unnecessary comments 💀🙏

• probably point out a few errors or call the character’s actions stupid sometimes ,, but he does laugh a little here and there

• wheeljack doesnt touch space stuff as much as perceptor does ,, but he does take some liking in archeology ,, wanting to learn about ancient artifacts at times

• wheeljack probably isnt great about healthy environments ,, especially since his stuff does blow up sometimes ,, but he makes sure to do it away from habitats and do it in his lab ,, even if it means getting a disappointed sigh from optimus 💔

𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐎 :

the two of you walked along the soft yet mushy ground ,, perceptor gazing about at the foreign scenery. it felt like something out of a book ,, a small paradise with bioluminescent plant life all around. even the water glowed a nice purple ,, little creatures skittering and swimming about.

it could easily remind you of the movie avatar ,, how pandora had such beautiful plant life. the leaves atop of your heads were stretched out wide and had lovely pink streaks glowing amongst their dark blue color.

“ wonderful isnt it ?” perceptor asked ,, smile placed softly on his face plate as he glanced down at you. “ makes me wish i could stay here forever with you ,,” he chuckled softly to himself as you two continued your walk.

[mihai-florescu]

Brb having to rethink my kin list

[cassthecringe]

more detailed rundown of this under the cut cause im insane

let’s start with what the fuck exactly i mean by “heart of the sea, soul of the stars”

jotaro loves the ocean and the life that resides in it and it’s reflective of his love for his family. much like the lifelong dedication you have to possess to get a DOCTORATE in a subject, jotaro dedicates his life to saving his family from the aftershocks of dio (which he includes himself as because he and dio have the same special power and so jotaro just simply doesnt trust himself near his loved ones)

but ironically, jotaro’s love the ocean is also repsentative of how he’s different from dio...if only he realized this

dio is the desert; he’s powerful and consuming and intense, and the creatures who live there have to prove theyre worth the space they take up (similar to dio’s followers). this contrasts to jotaro, who, despite his stoicism and aloofness that parallels the ocean’s salt, is where life starts -- which, going along with the metaphor, means jotaro is safety and comfort for those who care about him. jotaro loves so much and he’s loved in return, by holly, joseph, avdol, kakyoin, polnareff, iggy, josuke, jolyne, koichi, etc. they dont need to prove they’re worth his love like dio has his followers (and even those he actually comes to care for, like pucci and jonathan) do; the only thing is they need to weather the waves that try to push them to shore and away from his grasp

jotaro and dio are the two extremes of the same scale, yes, but the way they are extreme differs vastly as a result. theyre both ahrd to truly reach/aloof, they both want to be the most powerful -- they just want it for different reasons. dio wants it to save himself; jotaro wants it to save his family.

anyway since the ocean metaphor is all about how jotaro loves, he thus has the heart of the ocean

now the star shit

jotaro is a joestar. star platinum, the literal actual physical manifestation of his soul and will, takes after the star tarot card. i do think the star connection is obvious now let’s dive into why it makes me insane

so first we need to know a bit about the astronomy and earth-based observation. the world is divided up into latitude and longitude lines as we all know for navigational. latitudes are the horizontal lines.

there are two notable latitude lines: the tropic of capricorn and the tropic of cancer. if you lived between these latitudes for a year, you’d able to see every single star that is visible from earth

but cairo is only just north of this; it’s literally only ~7 degrees away from the tropic of cancer

what does this mean re jotaro? well.

we all know jotaro is at his strongest during the dio fight, as it says that pretty plainly in stone ocean. but after that fight, jotaro kinda regresses because he’s scared of what him being able to use timestop means for him as a person

jotaro represents the stars. so the fact that he never lives up to his potential because he’s scared of himself is reflected in the fact that he lives through his heaviest trauma in a place where it’s so close, but ultimately not possible, to see all the stars from earth. you could say it’s. it’s one step too late.

so this is also reflected in the fact he can’t save jolyne. so close, so, so, so close, but not enough. because he’s scared, because he’s out of practice, because he’s kept himself under lock and key for too long. much like all the stars will never shine down on cairo, jotaro will never be as capable as he could’ve been had it not been for dio’s influence

so. jotaro, the man with the heart of the ocean and the soul of the stars, faces his greatest adversary and goes through the worst trauma he’ll ever endure in the desert of cairo, egypt -- a place where you’re so close, but ultimately not completely able, to see all the stars visible from earth. do u get it