#in universe it feels like an odd design choice for her

[yunyin]

Have people talked about this skull motif on Marinette's dress?

This feels like such an odd choice to me. I'm not sure what to make of it yet.

[funhouse-mirror-barbie]

Sinner’s Demon Designs vs. Their Human Designs—

I’ll start off by saying I’m not trying to shame anyone or say these design choices are bad-it’s just something I’ve noticed about Helluva Boss’ character design choices that struck me as odd considering Hazbin Hotel’s character designs-specifically the designs of the “Sinners” or characters that were once human.

More than anything I just think it’s interesting, and am trying to examine the character designs from a world-building perspective.

So, since rewatching HB, I’ve realized that the Sinner Versions we see of Human characters are pretty close in design to their Human selves.

It’s very easy to tell these are the same characters. They’re all the same proportions with the same face shapes, and have similar silhouettes. (Critique continues below)

Now, this could change for Hazbin Hotel (and maybe there already are canon human designs for the HH sinners that I couldn’t find?) but in my opinion, most of the designs don’t translate well to what their human forms might have looked like. There’s of course exceptions to this, with the more humanoid demons, but with demons like Angel Dust, Husk, and Sir Pentious, I assume their human forms look almost nothing like their demon selves.

I think the main reason for this probably boils down to the Hazbin cast having established designs way before the series was created, but I feel this has created a problem where there are SOMETIMES rules for why Sinners look the way they do, and sometimes the designs seem completely random.

I’ve read that the way that sinners are designed is based partially on the way they die, and if that’s true, there doesn’t seem to be any rules or guidelines on WHEN to convey that—Mrs. Mayberry’s sinner form doesn’t particularly hint towards her death in any way in my opinion, but it’s VERY clear that the counselor died via drowning/water.

This wouldn’t be a huge issue on its own, but the creators have stated multiple times that Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel take place in the same universe. The rules for why characters are designed the way they are should be clear visually, but the designs of the Hazbin cast have always seemed random and confusing to me personally.

It looks like the majority of the Hazbin cast are designed after animals, but that’s not always clear either.

I didn’t realize that Angel was supposed to be a spider until I was explicitly told that was what he was, and I thought Alastor was an Owl based character due to his hair looking like a great horned owl’s feather tufts, and because his antlers were so small and dark that I didn’t notice them until I watched the pilot the first time. It’s possible the first drafts of these designs looked more like the animals they’re supposed to be based on, but if you don’t know all of the backstory or haven’t been following the creators, I’m not sure how you’re supposed to recognize these things.

Overall, I don’t think it’s a BAD thing to have a cast of characters that have very different designs, or don’t have very clear design rules for their universe. But in my opinion, having this big of a difference in the Sinner’s character designs when all of these characters are supposed to share the same universe really confuses things.

More than anything though I just found this sort of interesting. I’d be interested to hear more about the process of designing sinner characters, and to see what more sinners look like outside of the main cast that was initially designed several years ago.

Also please don’t send me hate—I like Helluva Boss, and I’ll probably like Hazbin Hotel. I just enjoy critiquing and examining the stuff I like and I’ve been on an HB kick since I rewatched the series recently and while watching this just occurred to me and I wanted to talk about it.

[celtrist]

Hot Take, I don't think some people take some things into consideration for redesigns.

Don't get me wrong, some people just do them for fun and there's a lot of REALLY cool ones out there, some I kind of prefer to the official designs to some degree. And I don't think it's a matter of people NOT doing research on the characters as that's absolutely false. But people just kind of neglect/forget/or don't realize some facts about the characters for one reason or another. A lot of designs don't even work great when you put it in the context that the characters would be animated. This doesn't mean redesigns people have done are lazy or anything, you can see a lot of care put into a lot of them.

I plan on doing a sort of "Batman Animated series next season" sort of redesign at some point, and by no means should MY takes and ideas be meant as superior to others. I also wouldn't say some of the critiques given about the official designs are unwarranted, but I think they DO get dogpiled on more than deserved (I mean, a lot of people do LIKE the designs, so they can't be that awful). Below are some things I think people forget or don't understand (again, this is not anything that should be taken as the bible, just my own thoughts about stuff and elements of characters people don't seem to take into consideration a lot):

Lucifer and Satan aren't the same person, so it makes sense Charlie isn't a goat. According to Viv, no part of her design was based on it, and it would be strange for her to look like the love child between Lucifer and Satin if she were. Though totally understand why people do it, goat Charlie IS adorable and also, where the heck does the hooves come from???

Many of the characters don't live in their time period, especially Vox and Angel Dust. I'll be a bit fair on this one, with characters being from different times, it would be visually more interesting to see those styles clash. But some characters, like Vox especially, wouldn't work with that as they WANT to live in the modern day. Vox's WHOLE THING is about staying with the times, so of course he's not looking like he's from the 50s. I've seen some redesigns revert the man to his box head, and that totally misses the point of his character and how he's opposing Alastor's want to stay with the past. I do think it wouldn't hurt to have some illusions about their time periods, though (whether through their clothes or the rooms they occupy).

Alastor is a cannibal, so it wouldn't make sense for his teeth to be so dull. Maybe they could've sharpened his canines with blunt teeth for the rest, but I think he isn't meant to be an approachable figure or anything, and the sharp teeth read as "dangerous". Also, if the canines are only sharp with the rest blunt, the toothy smile feels a little less iconic. To be fair though, a lot of characters have the sharp-tooth smile and the same smarmy face. I just think it makes more sense for his character with what he eats and the in-universe intimidation he's going for him to have full-on shark teeth. Just anything but only the blunt teeth smile, even if it works better with his smile mantra and is arguably creepier (and give his grin a more distinct feature from literally everyone else in the show.

I think the idea people have for Alastor’s colors being black and white or sepia-focused is both a good idea and a silly idea. On one hand, having his colors be like that out of a photograph would be neat and help aid in the idea of Alastor's ideals with the past always being superior to the future. He would literally look like he's stuck in the past. HOWEVER, there is a slight problem with these ideas. The issue with the black and white scheme is that he'd look like an old cartoon character rather than a man from a photograph. This would be a bit odd of a choice considering he's not associated with TV in general. Sepia is a bit better of a direction, but also a bit odd when you consider Alastor is not the only demon to hold the past on a pedestal. So why would he have the sepia scheme while others like Rosie do not? Again, bit of a double-edged sword. There's also the fact that Alastor is focused on AUDIO mediums, never visuals. So to have his scheme focus in visual mediums like being out of a photograph or old TV would be a bit odd. It would be more accurate to argue that he should look more like the invisible man with maybe only a radio head or something if you wanna make the argument about his colors not reading 1920s.

Making Alastor a full deer anthro, while cool and makes sense in theory, loses a bit of thought when there's a BUNCH of other anthro characters. Don't get me wrong, I think people often come up with some cool designs and, to be honest, look more deer like than Alastor's canon design (like seriously, those ears are not deer ears at all). However, it loses something when anthro sinners are quite common in Hell (Husker, Crymini, literally any crowd shot you see probably has an anthro character in there). So, while this might read as a bit of a personal take, Alastor being a straight up mix (dare I say a Kemnomimi) between a human and deer feels like it reads a bit better into how he died. That being, he was a man mistaken as a deer. So him being very humanoid but having the attributes that may have made the hunter think he was a deer with his silhouette and surroundings, come off as a bit stronger and better related to his death. Again, I don't think I'd call this out if it weren't for the fact we see so many anthro demons and really no kemnomimi-esc demons. Because of that, Alastor being a mix of human and animal comes off as more unique and stronger than if you made him a flat-out demon.

Alastor doesn't show his hooves because he's a gentleman! While I think they could get away with giving Charlie some open-toed shoes, Alastor is a man who wants to be fully dressed, so to have him lack shoes to show off his hooves doesn't really make sense for him. He's actually fully dressed up, no part of him showing skin aside from his head! His hands could be a bit of an argument on that, but they have been described as gloves while official merch would seem to contradict this. My fun theory is that they're gloves, but they look exactly the same as his actual hands. To follow up on the clothing thing, Alastor would never willingly show something like a tail if he has one. I am of the "he does have one" group, but I think it would make sense for him to try to hide any features that would put him as a prey animal. The following are a bit more in designs speculation territory, so take with a grain of salt:

This is a bit of a side thing and could totally be wrong, but I've seen mention that all residents in the pride ring wear/have some color of red on them. I'm not sure how true it is (I mean, when you look at all the characters seen there is some form of red on them even if it's just by eyes). This would honestly be a neat "cartoony logic you just don't question" in theory if it wasn't for the fact only the pride ring residents have this going on. If it is true, they need to have that color thing happen with other rings (so hellhounds have yellow on them, lust have purple, so on and so forth). It would be neat as then we could see where different demons come from just by their color scheme, however, that's not the case. The idea of everyone in the pride ring HAVING a bizarre dress code requiring them to wear red is more distracting and less "just accept the cartoon logic" when they're the only ring that does it. Also, I still agree that characters do not need to be drenched in color if it is a requirement in their design. Again, this is all to say this idea is true, which I cannot verify other than all the demons we see in the pride ring do seem to have some form of red on them.

Red sclera and white-ish irises might help to indicate some demons as hellborn. So this could kinda be seen as a weak argument, but I just thought it was strange how the only other times we've seen this eye trait is with hellborns: Hellhounds, Lucifer, and Charlie. And I think it would make more sense for that to be the case rather than Carmilla and her daughters happen to have fallen into Hell together. I mean it's not IMPOSSIBLE, but meh. Also, would add a bit more interest to Velvette if it was revealed she was hellborn. Thought it was a bit odd for other characters like Vox and Valentino to have confirmed death years but Velvette never got one officially (as far as I'm aware). It also would just be a nice design element that actually sort of means something (that being if you have those eyes, you're more than likely a hellborn). Especially when you take into account characters like Crymini where, if it weren't for that eye-color scheme, you would think she was a normal Hellhound.

This one is 100% headcanon territory, but I'm sharing it again because that's the power I wield. To keep it short, Alastor has high respect for women and tends to prefer their company, so maybe out of that respect/his mother possibly having it, he got himself a bob cut as that was popular with women in the 20s. The hair gets a lot of flack for understandable reasons, but I thought it'd be a bit more fun to give him a reason for having it and I also just don't think it's as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Here's the post getting a bit more into it, but pretty much the same is said just detailed.

Finally, as I've said earlier, these characters need to be animated. And most redesigns don't take that into consideration. To be fair, a lot of people also acknowledge they don't for the designs, which totally valid. It's already tricky to design characters, so to make sure they'd be animatable would be even MORE of a pain.

Again, this is just some small tidbits and by no means is this an attack on anyone or anything, just some of my thoughts and things I think people don't think about when making changes. By no means is canon perfect, I don't even think canon takes some of these considerations in to be quite honest with you and I don't think the designs are made as thoughtfully as the redesigns, but I don't really care for the "my designs are better" mantra.

All in all, just some of my thoughts on things. Lemme know if there's anything you disagree with or have your own ideas people seem to forget/not notice!

[peregrinvs]

(The below is a show-only question.)

Iroh during Sozin's Comet said that he couldn't fight Ozai in part because the world would see it as brothers fighting for the throne, instead of the restoration of peace. But then he says that Zuko needs to confront Azula so that when Ozai falls, he can take the throne.

I can see the argument that Iroh thought that Zuko would secretly enter the Fire Nation Royal Palace and capture Azula with Katara before then holding her hostage until Aang arrived. But it seems more likely that he intended Zuko to fight Azula and her forces together with Katara.

So how do you think people in-universe saw the Agni Kai, and how do you think Iroh/the White Lotus justified his seemingly contradictory statements/actions? Also, do you think Zuko or the other members of the Gaang caught onto the contradictory, and if so, did they ever talk to Iroh and/or the White Lotus about it? Or if you think Ursa ever returned, did she confront Iroh about it?

Thanks for the ask!

The "Iroh v. Ozai final fight" question is kind of a mess. The showrunners didn't flesh out their relationship at all, to the point you can barely believe they're related. They made Ifoh a powerful firebender and a morally good person, whcih combined to his parentage puts him in position to stand up against Ozai.

And yet they absolutely needed for the final showdown to be Aang v. Ozai, which was needed thematically. They kinda painted themselves into a corner making Iroh the Designated Good Moral Upstanding Mentor Figure (tm) so they needed to find a good justification why this amazing man couldn't get rid of evil himself. Iroh needed an excuse that still made him look good so that's what they came up with.

Iroh's doalogue could have been better written to reflect that either he feels he lacks legitimacy to challenge Ozai, or to simply state that he doesn't want to kill his own brother, but with the way itwas handled on the show, we're left to speculate about his motives.

If you ask me, Iroh's real motive is that he's unlikely so win against Ozai and he knows it, so all he can do is hope the Avatar is OP enough to do it. However, he has such a high idea of Zuko that he's sure the kid can beat Azula in a duel, especially with Katara's help.

Thre's also the question of legitimacy: Iroh has previously accepted Ozai as Fire Lord and didn't object to being passed over when Ozai took the throne. It's a bit complicated for him to do a 180 now that Ozai has been reigning uncontested for years. On the other hand, Zuko has a valid claim to the throne because he is older than Azula, and he is in the right timeframe to challenge her before her coronation.

Finally, Iroh is a character who doesn't act much, even when faced with hard choices. That's because he's written as an older mentor figure, but it has the result of having him be passive and tend to let others fight his battles. He has never tried to stop Ozai, he was content playing shop while the war raged outside Ba Sing se. It's in character for him to just offload the hard work on the kids with some vague advice about destiny.

I very much doubt he intended for Zuko to peacefully capture Azula - he never expresses concern for her, and he clearly just sees her as a hindrance that stands in the way of Zuko's Destiny(tm). He probably doesn't intend for her to die, bur i doubt he cares how Zuko defeats her, as long as the kid ends up Fire Lord.

I don't see why the Gaang or the White Lotus would have any issues with that, since having Zuko as Fire Lord is beneficial to them.

Ultimately it's hard to give a convincing explanation because i'm sure the writers intended for him to have a good reason, but as is often the case woth Iroh, his actions and reasoning are at odds with how moral he's supposed to be.

NB: i have not watched the new live action version, this answer is based on the original animated show canon.

[purseowner4thequalityanimation]

400 Follower Special - The Trial of Obtaining and Using Lucifuge

Thank you for your continued support of my blog. Normally I would just post a GIF set and be done, but the demon I had planned turned out to be a huge pain in the ass so I thought I would share the pain. All images under the cut. Spoiler warning and flashing/bright lights warning.

I wanted to make walking/running GIFs of Lucifuge, a high level Tyrant of the Dark-Chaos alignment. He was one of the few remaining unique models in the game. Interestingly NINE appeared to be his playable debut, similar to Gemori and Seth. All three originally appeared in Shin Megami Tensei II as NPCs and would only gain stats in later entries.

NINE, like the name suggests, has nine different potential routes. The usual Law-Neutral-Chaos alignments make up only one axis of endings, with the other being  comprised of Dark-Neutral-Light for a total of nine combinations. From what I can tell by following guides online, you must be on the Dark-Law path in order for Lucifuge to appear and fight you. I realized he had to be defeated to be fused when none of the supposed recipes to make him worked. (Notice the words that are bolded, they’ll come in useful later.)

So I loaded an earlier save from before the alignment lock and got to work getting to the Lucifuge fight, which involved threatening to kill my in-universe little sister to gain enough Dark points for the route change. Prior to fighting Lucifuge himself, I had to fight the ugliest NPC in the entire game who supported himself with 3 Legions and could instantly kill me with Budufyne. Cool. I forgot to take a picture of him. Once he died, Lucifuge showed up to fight me. He was also a pain, as I was down to one demon from the previous fight and he nuked them immediately. But eventually he died, and I was able to proceed.

Now, this is all taking place in the final chapter of NINE so obviously a lot of plot stuff is popping off. Raguel the angel shows up to throw an energy ball at NPC lady Feris, and to serve as the next boss fight. Raguel was much less difficult to defeat.

Raguel’s dead, but this priest isn’t here to deliver a eulogy. The next big player reintroduces himself by throwing an energy ball at Raguel in a bit of poetic justice for Feris earlier, then asks us to join him on the roof. Damn, everyone’s throwing energy balls in here. Here’s a WEBM version if you’re into that shit.

We witness the digital world going to shit on the rooftop and get offered a choice between siding with him or against him (& Sumire, who you can kinda see in the right-hand background).

I choose against and we begin another boss battle. This priestly fellow turns out to be Sariel, another angel, except he’s a fallen angel and at odds with his fellow Shin Megami Tensei II alumni Raguel. Neither of the fights after the Legion Guy-Lucifuge combo were nearly as difficult, so Sariel also goes down. I say “neither” but I forgot to mention I also killed a childhood friend, Baraki, inbetween the Lucifuge and Raguel fights. But that’s not important.

What’s important is I got through all the bosses, and got to a point where I could finally fuse Lucifuge. Which I did, easily.

Finding a place to take GIFs of Lucifuge walking would be tricky, because at this point in the game my first pick, Shinjuku, was no longer an option. Maria, the holy mother, is waiting there to take me to the domain of Yaldabaoth, the false god, so that I may kill him and bring about the reign of Law, and I really didn’t feel like doing that. Even if it would mean seeing her cool not-a-statue-with-dinosaurs-on-it design that never appeared again.

Instead I made my way down to Roppongi, which usually has great music but during this endgame bit is instead silent. I went to summon Lucifuge into my party and got a message I couldn’t. Oh, of course, you can’t have Law demons and Chaos demons in the same party. Doy. Duh. You could never have party that was mixed Law and Chaos in these old SMT games. So I removed the Law demons, set my Navigator demon to neutral and then tried to summon Lucifuge again.

The message remained. What could the issue be? Why was I unable to summon Lucifuge into the overworld? What was this last hurdle between me and Lucifuge? If you have your notes from paragraph 2 and 3, you may want to consult them now. There’s also a hint in the previous paragraph! Put on your thinking caps. Get out your detective pipes. Don’t scroll past Sukuna Hikona until you’ve made a guess. Are you sure of it? Really sure? Alright. Here’s the solution to this locked room murder mystery that robbed me of half an hour of my time:

YOU CAN’T SUMMON CHAOS DEMONS AS A LAW-ALIGNED PLAYER, EVEN IF THEY’RE LOCKED BEHIND THE LAW ROUTE. 

For some reason I guess I assumed this wouldn’t apply to me, and I continued down the Law path subconsciously knowing I wouldn’t be able to actually show off the demon I was dedicating so much time to obtaining. Thankfully, once I realized this I thought to redo this endgame stretch from ANOTHER back-up I had.

And it worked! Instead of fighting Sariel I gave him a disc, murdered Miranda and was able to summon Lucifuge.

Lucifuge offers to hug it out in apology for causing me such pain. I still couldn’t make gifs of him in Shinjuku because Maria is still there, but instead of trying to take me to Yaldabaoth’s realm she’s trying to kill me. And I really don’t feel like taking her on right now. Not when she’s throwing out chains and sefirots like this:

Shin Megami Tensei NINE is a game that exists. Thanks for enjoying my blog. Hopefully I’ll have some neat stuff by the time there’s 500 of you following me.

Also somewhere along the line I did a shooting-energy-ball-gesture at my little sister to disarm her, who was trying to kill me. Probably because I threatened to kill her earlier. Oh well. Get logged out, idiot.

[starleska]

thoughts on Despicable Me 4...🐜✨

i finally got to see Despicable Me 4 today and wanted to share a few thoughts, as it's a series near and dear to my heart (and same for many pals on here 🥰). of course, massive spoilers below!!!

so to start off: DM4 is tremendously charming and funny just like it's predecessors! there's plenty of fun action, an entertaining roster of new characters to enjoy and some very interesting lore-building on the origin of supervillainy in the DM universe. i laughed a lot and generally found it to be a fun little romp!! and of course, y'all know how obsessed i am with the main baddie 🙈💖

that being said, i do feel that DM4 was a little...thematically muddled, in places, with a few aspects falling short of expectations. whilst i adore him, i think this can be felt most with Maxime Le Mal, our fabulous bug-themed villain. although Maxime had a killer entrance and a truly terrifying vendetta against Gru, i was a little deflated to see it revealed to just be a routine high school rivalry...with no particular explanation!! i was left with so many more questions about him and his history: when did his and Gru's rivalry begin, and why? why is Maxime Übelschlecht's favourite student? what's Maxime's background? how did he and Valentina meet, and why did they stay together? can he transform at will, or was he turned back into a human by the AVL?

likewise, Maxime's partner Valentina suffered a great deal more: despite a banging design and a touted history as a femme fatale, Valentina ended up not being much more than Maxime's girlfriend, which was...bizarre, honestly. i kind of felt that they accidentally gave the badass action sequences and lore development which should've gone to Valentina to Principal Übelschlecht...which was odd!! it feels like we were given the tantalising suggestion of all the history at Lycée Pas Bon, but all we got to see was a glimpse at the talent show. which felt like a waste!!! i have a few thoughts on how Valentina could've been made more vital to the story, which i'll expand upon another time 🔥

it's a similar odd unbalanced feeling when it comes to Lucy, Margot, Edith and Agnes...lots of us were interested in seeing how Gru and Lucy having a biological child affected the girls, but it seems to be a non-issue. having the girls and their development be sidelined again so we can explore a different young character wanting to explore villainy (Poppy) seems like such an odd choice to me...as cool as Poppy is, why not just make it one of Gru's kids? it kind of felt like Gru has 'finished' bonding with the girls, so his trying to bond with Gru Junior was prioritised 💔

here's the thing: i think the scenes with Gru and Poppy were incredibly strong, and him mentoring a young villain is a fabulous idea! but why move it from Lycée Pas Bon at all? imagine a version of the movie where one of the girls - or all of them!-is/are accepted at Lycée Pas Bon as a student, and the whole family relocates to support her/them. perhaps Maxime could've stayed on as a villainy teacher, and Poppy could've been an already-enrolled student!! then we could've had that re-emergence of old high school rivalries along with the AVL subplot, Poppy wanting to pull a heist, etc. without Maxime and Valentina needing to spend half their time off-screen hunting for Gru!! 😭💖

weighing all of that up... i really enjoyed Despicable Me 4, but there were lots of places where i think the elements weren't properly blended or expanded upon. it felt like perhaps there were too many things going on at once, and they weren't cooked for quite long enough? but hey, that's alright - it makes the universe a more fun sandbox to play in :3c plus, this movie can't go down in my estimation - not only does it have Maxime Le Mal, but we also got to see all of our old favourite villains!!! (the way i SCREAMED seeing Balthazar again oh my god-!!!)

so yeah!!! really fun movie with plenty of stuff to keep us guessing and coming up with interesting new angles in the fandom :3c i'd love to hear your thoughts!!!

[theender36]

Recently watched Superman: The Movie (1978) for the first time in well over a decade and it really is a great movie so I got some thoughts that I want to put somewhere before I forget.

The cold open of theater curtains showing a mockup of an old Superman serial featuring Action Comics is a great nod to the character's past. Then the title flying out of the old theater screen is a fantastic visual as well as a good transition to kickstart the credits sequence accompanied by the iconic music

The set design of Krypton is phenomenal; the glowing clothes, the crystalline look, and the streamlined technology feel alien and futuristic in a unique way, although it is a little odd that everything is so white except for Kal-El's baby blanket.

The trial of Zod, Ursa, and Non has the striking combination of visuals that are the trio being held in a spotlight by spinning rings and the stern Kryptonian judges' faces being projected onto the otherwise dark dome surrounding them

Marlon Brando keeps pronouncing it "Kryptin" for some reason. Like when I'm joking about watching "The Batmins"

Genuinely very sad goodbye scene from Kal's parents

Pretty much every wide shot in Kansas is super beautiful

As is the custom, Ma and Pa Kent bring Clark up right. I appreciate the moment where Clark tells Pa about how he gets so mad at bullies that he wants to tear them apart because first off, you can tell from how he says it that he knows it'd be wrong to do that. And second, Pa doesn't yell at him for having those feelings, he tries to help him deal with them.

Clark doesn't just bail on Martha to go find himself, and he makes sure she'll have help on the farm while he's gone

The sequence of the Fortress forming itself has amazing practical effects and editing

Maybe it was because I was watching the Blu Ray version with extra scenes but the abstract montage of crystal Jor-El teaching Clark about the universe and his abilities and giving life lessons ran a little long but it was cool

Clark is very much playing up his meek, clumsy identity but him being Reporter Clark Kent as a person is not totally an act. He makes sure half his paycheck goes to Ma back home because he wants to make sure she's taken care of and he tries to be polite and helpful around the office, which tracks with who he is at his core

I think Lex being a business tycoon/scientist is pretty integral to the character but I don't mind this version's "Napoleon of crime" shtick. I like that Gene Hackman's hair being a wig in-story is hinted at when Otis is poking around the spa and he finds a spare hairpiece

I know everyone knows this already but Christopher Reeves is a perfect casting choice and he does an amazing job at making Clark and Superman superficially different but obviously the same person at heart. Even when he says something a little corny as either one, there's so much sincerity to it

Clark feeling a little guilty about enjoying being a hero is on-brand. I like that Jor-El reflects Johnathan Kent by encouraging him but also giving guidance so he doesn't lose who he is.

The moment of Jor-El saying "I've sent them you. My only son." is veering very close to the common Superman-as-a-Jesus-allegory mistake but it's the only time in the entire movie I remember it doing that, so I can't harp on it too much

Lois is just a force of nature and the only reason Clark can keep up with her as Superman is because she's starstruck

This version of Superman and Lois are down just HORRENDOUS for each other

The flying date scene is great and I think the poorly-aged flying effect is countered by the nighttime background and the chemistry between the characters. That being said, the "can you read my mind" poem is just. What. Why is this

The scene of Lex, Ms. Teschmacher, and Otis attempting to tamper with the nukes and then having to do it again because Otis screwed up is so goofy I forgot they were villains

Great moment when Superman shows he can be intimidating by just staring down Otis.

I like that Superman is saved by Ms Teschmacher because she believes in him which is a surprise to Lex because he only believes in himself

Really great effects in the scenes of the destruction from the San Andreas fault

This shot is underrated

The moments of Superman realizing Lois is dead have so much weight to them and are amazingly shot

I kind of wish they explored the consequences of him "interfering in history" because otherwise it is sort of just a convenient deus ex machina

Everything ends tied up very nicely (except the Zod squad but after two hours, nobody's thinking about that) and sometimes that's all a movie needs

It's astonishing really how much they manage to fit in this movie considering they give a lot of scenes more time than you'd expect

Overall, movie good.

[ask-court-genshin]

... I have a feeling I'm screwed if I try to lie my way out of this one.

Raising their hands up, they offered the odd stranger a nervous chuckle. It seems like they've walked in on the wrong place entirely due to... Annoying Lumine.

"I do apologize for intruding, sir," they began, looking nervous at the glare. "I had come by to the palace under lady Furina's request from Fontaine, simply so— in her words— 'to take in the sights of Sumeru and see what it's like from the wonders of the court'. Although... I'm afraid I got myself lost and wandered off here."

Dear God, if they end up calling me out on this one, I'm screwed.

"Believe me, I really didn't mean to intrude," they added, bowing apologetically. "I can always head back and get out of the castle, if needed be."

«ENCOUNTER: Cyno & ???»

Cyno: I think it works.

Tighnari & ???: It doesn't.

The blonde man pursed his lips, furrowing his eyebrows in deep contemplation.

???: How did you get here? I could've sworn the guards here are strict...

Tighnari: Looks like your people aren't doing an adequate job, Cyno.

Cyno: Hmph. Isn't more likely that Kaveh failed to design this place with security in mind?

"Kaveh": Excuse me?!

"Kaveh" huffed, crossing his arms and glaring at his two friends. This seem to be a usual friendly banter amongst the group.

Kaveh: I'll have you know that I have based the gardens on the former King's–

Tighnari: Enough, enough.

Once again, you were sure that cut-off was intentional. Even hydro eidolons like yourself know that the former King of Teyvat's name must not be uttered. Especially in the presence of Queen Furina and her people.

With that said, it seemed as though they do believe you and your claims. (But you're not sure about Cyno... You don't think he'll actually let it slide once tea time's over.)

Cyno: While you're here– what's your name?

You tell them your name.

Cyno: Hmm... Navina.

Cyno: Navina, do you have a degree here in Sumeru?

At the corner of your eye, you see Sy floundering around, making gestures that lying will leave you digging a large grave for yourself. You shook your head.

Tighnari: Where are you leading with this?

Cyno: Which University do you prefer?

Kaveh: Oh my lord...

Despite Kaveh's disagreeing tone, all three men looked at you expectantly.

Tighnari: That question feels childish to inquire but I'm curious now as well. Navi, surely you can tell that we're either deans and headmasters of the unis inside the City.

Kaveh: ... Really, guys? Are we seriously asking this?!

Kaveh whispered.

Cyno: Navi–

Tighnari & Cyno: Which university do you prefer– Amurta, Spantamad, or Kshahrewar?

Current route: Common route

Tighnari Status: 03/50

Cyno Status: 02/50

??? Status: 00/50

⚠ NEXT ACTION WILL HAVE A SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON YOUR PLAYTHROUGH ⚠

Sy's "whispers", translated:

"Navi, Navi!!! Choose which student. Three choices, or six! Only one uni!"

"Amurta Archers! Fox dean– must be smart– and mora needed! Healing! Useful. Very!"

"Spantamad Knights! Strong, big elements! Serious guy likes! Tough."

"Kshahrewar Pillars! Pass hard test, free everything else! Yellow man, study hardest! Machines! Oil, yuck..."

"Vahumana Stallions!... No memory. Sorry."

"Rtawahist Cardinals! Stars, fate! Lumine studied! No sleep! Nights... cold... Zzz..."

"Haravatat Bulls! Strict teacher! Too much reading! Don't like ash man. But reading good!"

[majorproblems77]

Musical Master sword headcannon post!

So exactly one person asked for this (Thanks @ajscico.) And that's enough for me because I care about this head cannon so much!

I've spent a long time building it and trying to get details together so that it makes sense as to why each link has the instrument he has.

This post is LONG, It goes through my reasonings for each Link plus the extras. Throwing a few names down while I work, as this headcannon is still changing. The only concrete thing is the Main 9.

Do feel free to ask me questions! I'll happily speak about this all day!

To save your feeds, I shall begin under a cut.

You clicked in? Oh man, Thank you so much!

You can have access to the cookie jar! :)

Please note! I have not got a musical background!

So to start I'll explain what the head cannon is.

Fi can speak to every person who is worthy to hold her. She designates a different instrument for each worthy person upon their first contact with her - During the events of linked universe.

This 'speech' comes in the form of an instrumental, that each person is able to understand. Unless Fi is actively trying to speaking to multiple people she is only heard by the person who her music is aimed at.

(Or in the case of the chain. When she is handed to each member she greets them with their instrument. - Sky is aware and can hear every greeting and hence knows every person's instrument immediately.)

It's important to note that it is Fi, Who assigns the instrument based on the person. They don't get a choice in the matter.

Alright, so to begin, Let's start with the Chain

Time - Ocarina Warriors - Chello Twilight - Pan flute Four - Flutes (A group, 4 to be exact ) legend - Pan drums Hyrule - Bells Wind - Windchimes Wild - Piano Sky - Harp (More specifically the goddess harp)

I'll start with the obvious members

Sky - Goddess harp Man spent his entire journey learning songs on the goddess harp, It was gifted to him by Zelda the love of his life and the person he did his whole journey for. It's a comforting sound for him, as it's something familiar. It reminds him of his home.

Time - Ocarina Time spent his first journey learning music like Sky did but I like to think that as his first instrument (his original fairy ocarina was gifted to him by a good friend) the sound would be a comfort. While Fi doesn't speak to Time very often because She is aware of his opinions of her there is still a designation for him anyway.

Now the rest - You'll begin to spot a theme with these :)

Warriors - Chello

Now, this may seem like an odd choice. (or maybe not.) But I had a few things I was thinking when I was looking into Warriors instrument.

1 - I wanted him to have a string instrument 2 - it needed to be a classical one 3 - Couldnt be a violin (I had another chain member with that at the time)

Warriors is very mature, and i wanted an instrument which resembles that maturity. so as with the rest of my choices, my first choice was to go to the Hyrule warriors theme tune.

(So many wind instruments) But also string instruments.

Chellos can also be played in 2 ways, Just plucking on the strings and by using a bow.

One creates a sharp and precise sound, while the other draws notes out into groups. In my eyes, it shows the two ways he fights. fighting groups is his speciality. (Playing the long notes with a bow). But he also capable of making shorter notes, all be it with restrictions.

Twilight - Pan flute

I wasn't sure where to go with Twilight to begin with, but I settled on the pan flute.

They look like this!

But it's one of the instruments used in the Ordonian village soundtrack. (Found here) As a big family man, I can see Twilight with a song that reminds him of home.

Four - Flutes (plural)

Now at first, I'd actually given four handbells. But, something about it just didn't sit right. I trialled several instruments for four. Trying to juggle what I know about him, his soundtracks and the like. Then I settled on a group of flutes.

There are different pitches of flutes (Concert flutes specifically) which sound slightly different but are obviously all the same instrument at the end of the day. Which reminds me of four.

Here is one type, I'd probably have this type be the main type. so for Green.

Then

Blue - C base (an octave lower than the flute above) Vio - G alto flute (lowest pitch of the concert flute variants) Red - Picallo (High pitch small flute)

Legend - Pan drum

I went with Pan drums for Legend after much deliberation.

They look like this

Again based on a soundtrack this one. (Links awakening title) Of all his journeys I've always considered his journey in links awakening to be his most important. Even with the outcome being what it is he made friends and family that were very important to him while he was there. The memory of his time there would be a comfort.

Hyrule - handbells

Now Hyrule was a little more difficult, as when I was first starting to put this together I wanted everyone to have something 'classical' so so synth, techno etc. I settled on handbells, as they are more unusual of an instrument.

Like Hyrule, they are something a little different and unique! And something that has a really complex sound set if you use several in tandem with each other.

Heres what im talking about

While I don't own a set of handbells so I can't test I do know roughly what they sound like. So i had a fun time going through the Legend of Zelda 2 soundtrack (Mainly the title theme )and figuring out if it would sound good with that instrument.

Wind - Windchimes

Now either, this was an odd choice for you, or an obvious choice. But yes, 'windchimes' is actually an instrument from the percussion family.

They look something like this

And sounds very much like the ones you have hung up outside in your back garden. They remind me of the ocean, and i like to think, He would have one hung outside of his home.

Wild - Piano

Now as you might have figured out by this point This is another one that I based around a soundtrack. I love the BOTW soundtrack. Its amazing.

Now there are several types of piano, i was thinking of using a grand piano.

These ones!

I like to think that Wild was maybe taught off to the side by Zelda while he was her knight. I mean come on Zelda is a princess. She must have some form of instrument training. Maybe it reminds him of her. Maybe it reminds him of a home he can't remember.

Ways i can make wilds story more tragic i suppose

With those members out of the way, there are three more specifics we need to address

Zelda's

Now the Zelda's are easier than I thought they would be. I've come to the decision that they will hear the same instrument as the respective link. But at a different pitch.

Now what exactly depends on the individual, Four may become an exception to this rule and might use a separate instrument entirely just cause he technically already has four pitches he uses.

Group

I've decided that the best way for Fi to communicate with everyone at once is to use her current wielder instrument. (This does extend to the Zelda's)

So for example

If Time's Zelda (lullaby) was holding Fi as she was talking to everyone they would all hear the higher-pitched ocarina that she hears when Fi speaks to her.

If Sky is holding her, and she needs to address the group. She would use the sound of the goddess harp.

And so on for the entire group.

First - Violin

Now some of you may be surprised to find him here. As he's not appeared in any of my works at the moment. But. Something in me felt the need to set him an instrument anyway.

We have so little information about the man that's tough to give a full reason as to why I've given him the violin. As First is basically a character I have to create from scratch, we shall have to see if my reasonings change. But for now, he gets the violin.

I think thats everyone!

Thanks so much for having an interest in this! It means the world!

[frogblast-the-ventcore]

Starfield Thoughts on Pets (and Missed Potential)

A friend of mine and I were talking about Starfield, and some of the story/design choices they made. She mentioned one that really struck her as odd:

"A thing that Major Sanon says the first time you meet her, when you talk about why the terrormorph is concerning, is that humanity has brought across the stars a lot of animals, like pests, pets, livestock, etc, intentionally and unintentionally, but terrormorphs remain a mystery.

"But somehow we didn't bring our Earth animals?

"We're sending settlers to lonely farms on distant armpits of worlds where a latrine is a luxury, but nobody thinks they'll need horses, chickens, cows, etc.?"

"Like, even the pets aside, think of the livestock ideas. A well maintained large chicken coop could provide fresh eggs for a whole community, same with dairy cows. And they clearly have cloning and highly advanced gene tech in this universe, so its not even about bringing millions of cows with them.

"If anything, in the "we have Firefly at home" parts of the franchise, you'd be seeing people basically ranching like if it were 1890s Kansas, with horses and animal labor to make up where they can't bring machines.

"I do strongly feel so hard it's a missed opportunity to do a whole "we wrecked alien world ecosystems with Earth animals and bugs that lack natural predators."

"In a world with breathable atmosphere but no predators, a couple rogue mice could easily destroy the entire ecosystem by eating all the indigenous fruit. A world dominated by tiny animals would be wrecked by a feral cat colony that reproduces unchecked.

"And you could have enviromentalist movements about preserving the alien worlds as they are, conflicting with the economics and emotions of wanting to keep our pets, and wanting to keep eating beef, etc.

"And it's pretty obvious Bethesda thought about the idea from the concept art, but it ended up on the cutting room floor."

The above art is from the official art book, and depicts a clearly cut-content "Pure Planet Initiative", suggesting Bethesda was at least considering these sorts of plotlines.

Here we see what may be an early concept Sam Coe and Cora Coe, on what is likely the Eye, with an actual cat.

So they've clearly thought about all of this.

As to how they might bring this plotline/Earth animals in general back into the game?

Literally just a data core with the genetic information of all the main Earth animals/plants. Space Noah's Ark meets Space Svalbard Seed Vault. That's all they'd need to bring Earth animal life to the rest of the Settled Systems with the exodus from Earth.

I'd buy that DLC in a heartbeat.

[onepiece-oc-archives]

The Different Tribes/Species in One Piece

This topic was requested by @dogfightx - thank you for your question!

General Introduction

The world of One Piece is extremely vast and diverse, with its whackiness ranging from all sorts of odd islands to weird weather phenomena to the creatures that inhabit it. At this point of the live action, you may not know that much about them, but as the story goes on and we enter the Grand Line, you'll start to see a lot more of what the world has to offer. It's fairly rare to see anything other than humans in, say, the East Blue (which is why Arlong was such a big deal), but not impossible (see, once again, Arlong, the host at Baratie in the live action, and Merry - but we'll get to him later).

As such, here's my list of the most important, naturally-appearing, humanoid species - or "races" as they're referred to in the wiki, but that term just really bothers me - you can find in the world of One Piece. You won't find any artificial races or animals in this post. If you want something on that, let me know! I'm gonna be listing them in chronological order of their appearance, so you can tap out whenever you like. As usual, I'll try to keep this spoiler-free. This also means there will be no pictures because those could be spoiler-y - and because I can't possibly fit the diversity of some of these species into one picture. If you want pictures, just ask!

Humans

(First appeared: ch. 01; ep. 01; s01ep01)

You're probably gonna say: "Evie, they're humans, what's so special about them? Just skip it!" But oh no, my dear reader, humans in One Piece are far from regular humans. Most of the humans you might have seen so far in the live action are fairly normal. They might look a little quirky sometimes, like Nami and Zoro with their "unnatural" hair colors. Their hair colors are natural. And that's just the start of how odd humans can get.

Admittedly, we have no way of knowing how far the live action will actually go with the freakishness of humans, but it did keep Buggy. Yes, Buggy's clown nose is real. He was born like that. Humans can have "non-human" features and still be fully human. Feel free to give your OCs pointy ears, sharp teeth, even horns. Some humans in the manga look like apes while still being fully human. You can also make them freakishly large. For reference, one of the tallest humans in the One Piece universe is nearly 30 feet tall with no mixed genes in sight - and their parents are regular-sized! But these are really the outliers and they appear fairly late in the story, oftentimes as antagonists, usually intentionally made to impose respect. And again, there's really no way of knowing if the live action will pick this up in cases where it isn't mandatory for the character to work. Most humans are just regular people with maybe one or two appearance quirks.

So, you can get away with some strange design choices for your humans without them having any mixed blood. But here's the thing: Humans are also compatible with most if not all other species of the One Piece world! Hybrids usually inherit a large chunk of the non-human features of their non-human parent. So, create away!

Humans are the most dominant species across all seven seas to the point that encountering another species or tribe outside of their homeland is fairly rare, and they usually have a bit of a rocky relationship with other species, mostly due to actions of the World Government or the fact that they're considered weak in comparison to some other species I'll touch on later. Humans are often freaked out by the special traits of other tribes and those tribes are often freaked out by humans because they lack those traits.

Most humans have a lifespan that we would consider normal in our world, but there is one character who is currently close to 150 years old and at perfect health, due to her medical expertise. Sanji and Usopp also both claim to never have been sick, but in both of their cases, it should be taken with a huge grain of salt, though for very different reasons.

Fishmen

(First appeared: ch. 69; ep. 31; s01ep05)

Fishmen were introduced to us in the live action as incredibly strong and durable, their skin even able to withstand bullets. That bullets part doesn't hold up for the manga and anime though and may have been special to Arlong, who is a fairly strong fishman. Generally speaking though, fishmen are on average ten times stronger than your average human. It's a tradition in their society to tattoo the symbol of a group you belong to on your body, for example Arlong's jolly roger, the sawfish tattoo.

Fishmen vary greatly in appearance because they can be based on every type of fish imaginable, as well as other sea creatures like squids and octopodes. Crustaceans so far haven't been shown but might also be possible. This can result in some fishmen having multiple sets of arms, for example, or special abilities. Remember Arlong and Luffy's little jabs at each other about having expected the other to be taller? Well, in Luffy's case of insulting Arlong, this is actually a reference to manga canon where Arlong is, in fact, noticably taller. This is a trait shared among many fishmen. They also always have legs and gills at the base of their neck which are also their weak point. This played a huge part in how Sanji defeated Kuroobi in the anime, by the way! They were fighting under water, where a fishman's power is doubled and a human's power is halved. Sanji, close to drowning, blew air into Kuroobi's gills, forcing the fishman to surface and take the battle back to land. Maybe this little bit of information is useful to my fellow fic authors in the future. Many fishmen also have webbed hands and those sharing the genes of a type of shark usually have very sharp teeth. Sharks are also considered some of the strongest fighters among fishmen. Yes, Arlong is a shark, a sawshark to be exact.

As you may have guessed, fishmen can breathe underwater and in the air. Get air or other substances in their gills and they can't breathe underwater anymore, just like how humans can't breathe air if their airways are somehow blocked. Some fishmen are also trained in Fishman Karate, a special martial art that allows them to control water - a very potent weapon, especially against devil fruit users. Their genetics can get very weird, with people often inheriting traits from distant ancestors.

And yes, in case you were wondering, there are female fishmen, referred to as fishwomen. They're also mammals, by the way.

Fishmen mostly live on their own secluded island under the sea, called Fishman Island. Those who don't are usually pirates, but there also are some fishman civilians living on land. Fishmen and humans have a very strained relationship, with fishmen believing humans to be violent and dangerous, but also weak and inferior to fishmen. Humans, in turn, have a long history of classifying fishmen as fish instead of men and discriminating against them. This isn't true for all humans and all fishmen though. Both species are very capable of living together in harmony and there are known hybrids between them.

The following species haven't been introduced in the live action yet! I'll introduce them in the most spoiler-free way possible, but if you consider simply knowing about them a spoiler, this is your chance to close this post.

Giants

(First appeared: ch. 96; ep. 45)

Giants are, well, giants. They're incredibly strong, incredibly big (real, full-blooded giants are at least 12m tall and stand at 20m at average) and can get incredibly old. There are different tribes of giants but the most commonly known ones are the ones from the island of Elbaf, which is viking-themed. One other tribe of giants are the Ancient Giants, which reach around 60m in height and have ogre- or oni-like features. There is also a tribe that resembles yetis, standing at roughly 40m tall.

Giants age slowlier than humans do. The difference is barely noticable while they are children, but by the time they are adults, an 80-year age gap between two giants is somewhat like a twenty-year age gap between humans. In their early eighties, a giant may look to be in their early thirties by human standards. The oldest giants seen in the story are over three centuries old.

Hybrids between giants and fishmen are called "wotans". They're noticably shorter than giants and maintain a lot of their fishman heritage.

Culturally speaking, giants value a warrior's honor. They celebrate the winter soltice in a festival and fast for twelve days before it. When it comes to relations between giants and humans, there mostly aren't any real animosities, but there is some amount of friction.

Shandia

(First appeared: ch. 221; ep. 145)

Shandia are one of three (officially) tribes who originally came from the moon. Yes, you read that right. They're largely human in appearance with small wings of white feathers on their backs that are too small for them to fly. Per tradition, they often have tattoos across their body. They're modeled after the indigenous cultures of the Americas.

Many Shandia have a hatred for foreigners for historical reasons that I won't mention here because of spoilers. They're a very dedicated tribe and many of them are fearsome warriors. A central belief of the Shandia is worshipping their ancestors, mainly the legendary warrior Kalgara.

Skypieans

(First appeared: ch. 238; ep. 153)

Skypieans are another species originally from the moon. They're very similar to Shandia except they're not modelled after indigenous people (meaning they're mostly fairly light-skinned) and their wings are slightly less detailed, sharp and defined than those of the Shandia. They're a very peaceful tribe and also can't fly.

The Skypieans have a caste system that they rarely question.

There's a third tribe of people that's confirmed to be from the moon, the Birkans, but they barely have anything to talk about, so I'll just mention them here. Some of them look very human, some of them have a goat-like appearance. They also have small white wings but they're down-turned and, you guessed it, they can't fly.

Merfolk

(First appeared: ch. 195 (cover story); ep. 306)

There's no pirate story without mermaids, of course, so here they are! These are your regular old mermen and mermaids, mostly. Human upper body with a fish tail - or octopus tentacles. I haven't seen any crustaceans around yet, but that might also be possible. Biologically, they function very similar to fishmen, including being able to inherit traits from their distant ancestors, and can mate with them. However, they usually don't give birth to hybrids. Their children are either fishmen or merfolk. There are hybrids between humans and merfolk though! They're virtually indistinguishable from full-blooded merfolk in the first generation but lose almost all merfolk features by the second generation. Merfolk live on the same island as fishmen and the royal family of the island comes from their ranks.

Mermaids' tails split when they turn 30, meaning they can walk on land more easily, whereas males keep their tails intact all their lives. Don't ask me how this works for our octopodes folk, I have no idea. They can consciously merge their tail back together for swimming. Mermen generally have a more fish-like appearance similar to fishmen, whereas mermaids usually look fully human save for their tails and have a dazzling natural beauty, which soaking in water allows them to maintain. I don't know about you guys, but I see a lot of gender-bending potential here :)

Merfolk, unlike fishmen, live a mostly vegetarian lifestyle, though it's unknown whether this is for cultural or biological reasons. They're usually good natures and are said to save drowning sailors. They're the fastest swimmers in the entire world of One Piece and can talk to sea creatures and even control them to some extent. However, this excludes sea kings (save for one very special person). Like fishmen, they have a water-based fighting style called "Merman Combat", but it's less useful than fishman karate since merfolk are less capable of walking on land.

Kuja

(First appeared: ch. 498; ep. 392)

The Kuja are, essentially, humans, except for one very important detail: They're all female. They're a lot like the Amazons from Greek mythology in that they're an all-female warrior tribe, but they go one step further: Weirdly enough, all Kuja seemingly only ever give birth to females. Maybe that's because of something going on with their island, but that's just my theory. As such, most Kuja go through their life never having seen a man before. Don't ask me how they keep their population up like that, I have no clue. But this could be a fun thing to play with in fanfiction!

The Kuja are ruled by an Empress and have their own pirate crew called the Kuja Pirates, though not all Kuja are part of the crew. Lots of them spend a relatively peaceful life on Amazon Lily, especially considering that they're fierce warriors. Their clothing is generally very revealing and could be considered offensive by outsiders. (Good luck with that one, live action!) Being warriors, lots of Kuja are fairly muscular, and they consider strength to be beauty. They all have a pet snake that can take on various forms like a bow, for example, and can track people or objects. Most Kuja have no idea what devil fruits are. No men are allowed on the Kuja's territory, potentially because the Kuja's empress can catch a disease known as "love sickness" when she falls in love with a man but keeps that love suppressed due to her tribe's traditions and laws, which will lead to her eventual death.

Longarm Tribe

(First appeared: ch. 498; ep. 392)

People from the longarm tribe have a second joint in their arms, leading to them to have very long arms - hence the name. There's at least some amount of racism against them for their appearance. Apparently, there's at some animosity between longarms and longlegs. They can have a hybrid child with both parents' special features, being referred to as someone from the "longlimb tribe". Hybrids between longarms and humans maintain the tribe's long arms. Longarms seem to be largely Chinese-themed in their fashion.

Minks

(First appeared: ch. 498; ep. 392)

Minks are a lot like fishmen, concept-wise, except they're based on mammals instead of aquatic creatures. Or, to say it more bluntly: Furries, rejoice! Minks are anthropomorphic animals. They have been largely isolated from other species for about 1000 years and refer to humans as "lesser minks" for their lack of fur but have no animosity towards them, considering them a type of monkey mink. Lots of minks also carry over some traits from their animal resemblance. For example, canine minks have a thing for bones. Yes, they have toe beans. Similar to fishmen, the type of animal minks are born as doesn't have to be directly hereditary.

Contrary to what the world believes about them, minks are actually very welcoming towards visitors - the only issue is reaching them. Additionally, minks have access to newspapers and are thus informed about world events. They also know about devil fruits and are fiercely loyal to their friends.

Minks are born great fighters. They possess incredible strength or speed and are extremely stealthy. Additionally, they can generate electricity, which is how you can differentiate a true mink from an animal-based devil fruit user, for example. The minks of Zou know a powerful transformation called "Sulong" which is activated by looking at the full moon for a specific period of time. During this transformation, they grow larger and their hair longer and more voluminous, turning white along with their fur. This transformation greatly increases their strength and speed, however, it has massive drawbacks. If the user hasn't been trained to suppress their feral urges, they will go on a rampage, and using it for too long will result in potentially fatal exhaustion. To transform back, a mink's view at the moon would have to be blocked, either by clouds or by covering their eyes.

Minks take great pride in their fur and don't eat meat from anything that has fur. They do, however, eat animals like fish and reptiles. Generally speaking, minks are very physically affectionate and consider sharing close an act of friendship. They great each other by rubbing their cheeks together and saying "Garchu!" and refusing this or other physical affection could lead to them becoming upset.

There is a theory out there that Merry is part mink, due to his sheep-like features, which are even more pronounced in the manga.

Longleg Tribe

(First appeared: ch. 651; ep. 570)

As the name suggests, members of the longleg tribe have very long legs, making them much taller than average humans. They seem to have a tradition of showing off their legs through clothing or jewelry and, most importantly, tattoos, though not all longlegs do this. Their legs are the most important part of their fighting style and if they use any weapons, they are scaled to their increased height. Hybrids between humans and longlegs look virtually the same as full-blooded longlegs. There is apparently some animosity between longlegs and longarms, but this is never directly addressed and they can be seen working together, their hybrids being known as "longlimbs".

Three-Eye Tribe

(First appeared: ch. 651; ep. 571)

As the name suggests, these people have three eyes instead of two, their third eye being considered "creepy" by other species. Because of this, they might cover it up. A full-blooded member of this tribe has never been shown in the story, but a hybrid between a human and a three-eyed person looks like a normal human, save for the third eye. Full-blooded three-eyed people can achieve something known as the "True Awakening" which makes them incredibly valuable assets, but it's unknown if hybrids can achieve this.

Dwarves

(First appeared: ch. 711; ep. 640)

Dwarves are small enough to fit in the palm of someone's hand but they possess much greater strength and speed than humans. Members of the Tontatta Tribe have very fluffy tails. They are very careful not to be seen by humans and will kill anyone who does see them unless they promise not to tell anyone about their existence. The humans who live on the same island as the Tontattas refer to them as "fairies". Humans and dwarves can produce hybrids.

Generally speaking, dwarves are very gullible towards humans, whom they call "Big Humans". They will casually ask them whether they are good or bad and "good" humans can prove themselves by giving up their weapons or possessions. They're great cultivators, being able to grow any naturally-occuring plant with ease.

Snakeneck Tribe

(First appeared: ch. 827; ep. 786)

As the name suggests, snakeneck people have very long necks that they adorn with rings and, sometimes, tattoos. Oftentimes, they have slender bodies to match their necks, making them resemble snakes even further. No full-blooded snakenecks have been shown thus far, only human-snakeneck hybrids.

Lunarians

(First appeared: ch. 925; ep. 918)

OH BOY, Lunarians. This species is commonly thought to be extinct. They have large, black-feathered wings that allow flight, brown skin, and silvery white hair. A plume of flames is constantly burning at the base of their wings an extinguishing it might be the key to weakening them but it also grants them a speed boost. Generally speaking, Lunarians are very powerful and can ignite their body, making them capable of using formidable fire-based attacks. Additionally, they're known for their near invulnerability. They used to be "a race of gods" that lived on the Red Line, long before the Holy Land of Mariejois was ever there, but went extinct for unknown reasons. The World Government has put out a reward of 100 million Berry for any information on any surviving Lunarians. There's a popular theory that they originated from the moon, much like the flightless Skypieans, Shandia, and Birkans, but it hasn't been proven.

So much for the info part, now here's my little warning to you: Be very careful creating Lunarian OCs. Because of their extinction status and the high reward out for their heads, having a Lunarian that is recognizable as one would be very difficult. They would constantly have to be on the run or enslaved. That being said, you're also very much allowed to apply Schrödinger's Canon.

I had my winged OC Luna even before Lunarians were introduced and had a very minor breakdown when they came along since I could already see my whole concept for her being thrown in the trash. What I did to solve that is way too complicated and spoiler-riddled for me to explain here, but if you'd like to know how I solved the issue because you maybe want something similar to a Lunarian but not quite, let me know.

So, here it is! The collection of almost all of One Piece's species! Hope this helped :)

[magmacavern]

Hero and Partner Week, Day 7: Free Day!

Last up for the free day today is a little drawing of my own team! After I made all this art of Neo and Skitty (now named Penelope) for this week, I decided that I should actually try to come up with unique designs for them. Now all of my previous illustrations of them are officially outdated. Oops.

I'd gotten attached to the depictions of them in my previous Hero and Partner Week drawings, so I didn't want to change them too much, but I still wanted them to be recognizable as original chararcters and not just general depictions of an eevee and a skitty. I'm pleased with Neo's redesign, but I would like to make Penelope a little more unique in the future. If you're interested, you can read more about them and their alternate universe under the cut!

This will be my last submission for Hero and Partner Week. I had a blast drawing and writing for this event over the past month, and I really enjoyed seeing what everyone else created as well. Thanks so much for hosting this amazing event! I'm already looking forward to participating again next year and seeing how much I've improved as an artist by then!

(Also, apologies if this posts twice. It disappeared from my queue sometime after I scheduled it, and I'm not sure if it's still going to post. I decided to just rewrite it in advance, and if the other version turns up, I'll delete it.)

@heropartnerweek

Neo

Neo is an odd-colored Eevee who woke up in the Tiny Woods one morning unable to remember who she was or how she got there. She occasionally dreams of a strange Pokemon atop a frozen mountain, and after learning about the legend of Nintales, she comes to the conclusion that she must be the human in the story who angered the deity and abandoned her partner Pokemon, Gardevoir. She feels obligated to help save the world because she's (allegedly) the one who brought about its destruction long ago, but secretly she feels she's not capable of it and is hoping for a way out. Neo can most easily be described as cowardly. She lacks courage and prefers to run and hide rather than fight and stand up for herself. She doesn't wish to hurt others and cares deeply for many Pokemon she knows, but when push comes to shove, her strong sense of self preservation takes control and she always puts herself first, even at the detriment of other Pokemon. She also lacks confidence, and this causes others to be distrusting of her and lack belief in her abilities. Neo tends to make promises she can't keep because she either doesn't think it through all the way or just wants to help and please others, which makes her seem more unreliable to those she lets down. Her hastiness also hurts her ability to think for herself. Neo can problem solve well when she is forced to slow down and reason out the situation, but when she rushes herself, she doesn't consider all the possibilities and can come to the wrong conclusion. Neo came to trust Penelope quickly because Penelope was there for her when she didn't have anyone else to turn to, but she also sometimes regrets forming a team with her and wonders if it was the right choice because of her struggle to show bravery and do the right thing like Penelope does.

Penelope

Penelope is a young Skitty who was raised in Littlegrove, a town on the sea northwest of Pokemon Square. Her parents, a Meganium and a Delcatty, tend to a pecha berry orchard and a small garden of other berry and herb plants, and her mother is a skilled weaver who makes scarves and other textiles using the plants grown in town. Penelope and her younger sibling Orion were often tasked with travelling to Pokemon Square to sell Delcatty's scarves to the Kecleon brothers and the many rescue teams that visit town, but since a mystery dungeon formed within the Tiny Woods, Penelope has been making the trip alone. When she learns that she and her partner must be the ones to save the world, she immediately rises to the task because the lives of her family are on the line and she's determined to save them, even at the cost of her own life. Penelope is courageous and quick-thinking with a strong sense of integrity. She's highly motivated by her commitment to and love for her family, especially her younger sibling Orion, and she'll never make a promise that she thinks she can't keep. Her strict moral code often makes it difficult for her to be understanding of those who act selfishly, and it also makes her prone to overworking herself or throwing herself into danger if she thinks it will help someone she loves. She is highly confident in her beliefs and her decision-making abilities, which allows her to act quickly on instinct. However, this also makes her stubborn and unlikely to follow in other Pokemon's footsteps or take their advice without good reason, and because she's still young, her beliefs and decisions aren't always backed up by experience or knowledge, leading her to make some poor choices. Her personality is often at odds with Neo's cowardice and self-interest, so they have a rocky start to their relationship.

One early spring day, Penelope was travelling through Tiny Woods with a new stock of her mother's pecha scarves when she came across an odd-looking eevee named Neo who said she had lost her memory. While she was distracted by the stranger, Gengar of Team Meanies snuck up on Penelope and attacked her. Because of her Normalize ability, Penelope was unable to fight back and Gengar stole most of the scarves she was carrying. Neo fled in the commotion, and Penelope chased after her, assuming she was working with Gengar to steal the scarves.

Penelope found Neo at the entrance to the Tiny Woods's mystery dungeon, which appeared as a deep chasm in the forest floor. She confronted her while Neo couldn't escape, but Neo claimed she didn't know anything about Gengar or his plans to attack Penelope. As they were arguing, they were approached by a Butterfree who needed help because her child, Caterpie, was lost in the dungeon. Penelope agreed to help and forced Neo to come with her because she didn't yet believe that Neo and Gengar weren't working together.

After finding Caterpie and reuniting him with his mother, Penelope took Neo to Pokemon Square where they decided to stay the night at Kangaskhan's inn because Neo didn't have anywhere else to go and Penelope didn't know how to fix the problem of the stolen scarves. While in Pokemon Square, she asked Neo to form a real rescue team with her in order to help earn back the lost money.

[clay-cuttlefish]

Okay, more Blue Beetle thoughts, mostly about how it adapts the source. Major spoilers under the cut.

Using most of Ted's original backstory was a clever choice. "Evil uncle is building a robot army on a secret island" is a great self-contained threat, and it's a lot simpler than Jaime's crisis origin or longer arcs. The relevant part for Ted is usually just that Dan dies, so pulling a Brave and the Bold and bumping it down a generation doesn't break anything.

Carapax is basically an OC, which works. He's got a really cool design and is fun to watch fight, that's enough of a reason to use him for me. Connecting him to Dan would've complicated things and I like what he's got going on instead.

The OMAC project is a fusion of a couple things? It's definitely mixing the custom super soldiers of the original OMAC with Jaime's comic backstory featuring OMAC. Mostly, though, it feels like a more grounded version of Jarvis' robots from Brave and the Bold that needed the scarab.

Jenny fills some of the story role of Danielle Garrett, and is the Ted standin for the parts adapted from his backstory, but she's mostly her own character. It's odd to me that Ted was married while active as the Blue Beetle, let alone had a kid, but that's not the movie's fault.

There's a bit near the beginning where Jenny asks Victoria "what really happened on Pago Island" or something like that, and I assumed that meant Ted died there, but no? Maybe I'm misremembering, or it was meant to foreshadow the secret evil lair, or I put too much importance on it because I'm used to Ted being asked that, but I don't think it really paid off.

We'll see if the post-credits tease of Ted being alive ever gets followed up on. I couldn't understand most of it but I heard something that could have been "Booster", so if that show actually happens it might be there, or it could tie into Peacemaker. Aside from that, though, the movie works perfectly well as a standalone thing, which was nice. It implies that a larger superhero universe exists, but there's nothing that needs a followup - I wouldn't mind seeing more of Xolo as Jaime, but a good movie can just be a good movie.

[spider-xan]

I liked Spider-Gwen at first, but then actually read the comics and they weren't. That Good. She is a good character in ITSV/ATSV, but idk I still feel indifferent about her. And she's been, once again, relegated to just The Love Interest by the majority of fans. Regular Gwen is Peter's love interest and Spider-Gwen is Miles' love interest. Nothing else. It wouldn't bug me if people weren't so obsessive about her, most fans are like "Gwen HAS to be there she HAS to we NEED Gwen!!!!" and it's very annoying. It especially annoyed me that people were drooling about the fact that Insomniac might (or might not) include her and make her Miles' age, so they can be together. Completely disregarding the fact that Hailey exists.

I like her design and all, but she's very meh to me, speaking as a woman myself. Beside the things I've mentioned, my biggest gripe with her that she feels like a completely different character and not a variation of Gwen Stacy. With alternate versions of Peter, while they feel slightly different, they still have the character's essence. The only thing she shares with the OG Gwen is the blonde hair and name, she might as well could've been an OC.

Yeah, this actually is p much how I feel about Spider-Gwen as well tbh! I actually do remember when she debuted and it was coming off hot from the massive spike in mainstream popularity she got after the first TASM film came out in 2012, and I think a major selling point was that her comics would explore what if Gwen lived and got spider superpowers - so I was surprised when I read the comic and aside from having blonde hair, a strong personality, and a cop father, she was basically a new character, rather than if 616!Gwen had a different life; I know a big Spider-Man fan on here wrote a really good meta post examining why Spider-Gwen fell flat for her that I don't have the link for on hand right now, but I remember it discussed the odd choice of taking away Gwen's science skills from 616 when that was a trait that set her apart back in the 1960s and would have been interesting to explore if she had spider powers.

But yeah, like, I would consider myself on the flexible side with adaptations instead of being a strict textual purist, but I agree that you do have to keep a core spirit to a character or else they may as well be a new character with a superficial resemblance, and that's what Spider-Gwen felt like to me - if she had been branded as Spider-Liz Allen or just a new Spider-Woman, I wouldn't have thought of her as actually being a Gwen with someone else's name.

And yeah, you're right that Gwen in general often gets reduced to a love interest who doesn't exist independently of Peter or Miles. (My controversial TASM opinion is that she's not really written as an independent character so much as the perfect girlfriend for nerds.) In Miles' case, it also happens in reverse where the non-Black fandom struggles to think of him as a character separate from Gwen, in stark contrast to how Peter is not treated that way by fandom unless they're hardcore shippers who only ship - and then yeah, you get misogynoir like people screaming, 'Where is Miles' girlfriend??', re: Insomniac Spider-Man 2 while posting a picture of Spider-Gwen and erasing Hailey.

Anyway, yeah, I agree she does not and should not be in everything, and it honestly bugs me when people try to point at Miles by comparison and act like she's on par with his importance when she's not - Miles was groundbreaking and still important to this day on a meta level bc he was an Afro-Latino Spider-Man who became THE Spider-Man in his universe and took Peter's place originally amidst a lot of racist backlash to that change in the (Ultimate comics) status quo, whereas Gwen is far from the first white woman Spider-Woman, nevermind the only one, like, no, she is not the Miles Morales of (white) women.

[fountainpenguin]

If you were given the opportunity to reboot FOP from the ground up, what would you change, shake up, or put your own spin on?

I'll have to give this a short answer, I no joke spent over 2 hours replying to this, then added a Read More and Tumblr told me that my post was too out of this world and it broke the editor. It kicked me out in a split second without any opportunity to save. Sorry to everyone who has to scroll past my stuff in the future, but I'm not living through this again. Read Mores have no place on my blog.

I'm furious because 1) I tried to copy-paste out of this editor like I always do and save in an external place, but the new editor is busted and only copies one paragraph when you do CTRL-A so I gave up, and 2) literally the last sentence I wrote before typing that was "Before my hiatus, Read Mores broke stuff, but I'm willing to give this another try." It's not even the same error it used to be. I can't. I can't.

At least we're friends and I think you know a lot of my thoughts anyway. Sorry it took so long to write an answer to this message, but I've already let it sit for so long that I HAVE to get it out of my inbox now or I'll never go back to it after losing everything :/ I can't believe that just happened. How ironic that one of the main reasons I went on hiatus was because stuff kept breaking and then it's worse when I return. Bleh.

So... Here's the short version of things I can remember talking about:

Update world lore, especially regarding Anti-Fairies. Anti-Fairies debuted in Season 2 and didn't reappear until Season 5; Anti-Fairy World itself made its first appearance in Season 6 because the Anti-Fairies were only seen in jail before that. Anti-Fairy World is kind of barren and stereotypical, and the general vibe of Anti-Fairies is that they are all evil because their magic revolves around bad luck. I'd prefer some gray area. I also feel like the characterizations for Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda were rushed and we should say it.

Logically I know that Anti-Wanda can be said to parallel Wanda's high-class mafia upbringing, but I doubt that was planned since Wanda's family only showed up in Season 5. In another universe, we could have had a classy evil queen. I love the grubby gal, but there are so many cool aesthetics she could have had instead. The Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda vibe doesn't bring anything to the table that Cosmo and Wanda didn't already have unless you take creative liberties.

Maps. Maps would have been great.

Designs. Cosmo, Crocker, and Dad really don't need the same shirt. Wanda's outfit is pretty bland too, and it's honestly a shame that Anti-Cosmo got a unique outfit but Anti-Wanda's is just a recolor of Wanda's. See also, classy queen.

Also I've never liked Timmy's Channel Chasers adult design; I just don't think it's in character. I feel like his body type would be much closer to his parents, and the existing one is just too extreme for my preferences. Doesn't say "Timmy the average kid" to me.

"Fairly Odd Baby" - As much as I enjoy the idea of Fairies placing a ban on babies because they're destructive and Fairy World likes to push away its problems, I'd have introduced Poof as part of an announcement that Cosmo and Wanda had been expecting a baby for 100 to 1000 years. Their lifespans are so long, it wouldn't be out of the question. A reveal episode could have been fun.

I also don't think I would have chosen to leave Poof a baby who can't speak for that long; I think he has a fun personality (Sasses Foop, deliberately puts Foop in harm's way, but also he's super chill and nice and likes sports) and I would have liked to see more episodes where he talks. I don't love how he was shipped to boarding school as soon as he was able to talk and dialogue was needed.

Vicky takes Mark back onscreen. She canonically decided she wanted to start dating him again, after she found out he was an alien and she broke up with him. She made the choice to take back her alien boyfriend and she loves him and we should talk about it. I'm obsessed with them and will forever treasure the deleted "Foul Balled" scene of them holding hands at the senior home while Mark is in his squid form. I support Vicky becoming the shapeshifting queen of a violent planet and being extremely in love with her squid husband.

Chloe / A.J. friendship. A.J. ended world hunger in Season 2 and he built a time machine a few seasons later, I feel like those two would have really hit it off.

More episodes of Timmy playing soccer. I will not re-elaborate.

More of side characters I love, like Molly and Kevin. I love them. I love Kevin falling farther and farther behind his uncle when they walk together, I love Timmy introducing himself to Molly's fairy by shaking her hand... They might be side characters but I feel like they add a lot more to the world and character dynamics in their few scenes than many of the characters do.

Sharing fairies. Timmy sharing fairies with Chloe (or Kevin) as part of a temporary program (like she was just here for one school year before her parents moved again). I think one of the issues people have with Chloe is that it feels like she's here for the rest of Timmy's fairy-related life, and I think a few months of hanging out with her would have been plenty and then there would have been a reason for her to leave the canon afterwards.

Make Chloe Dinkleberg's niece. My favorite headcanon. Also a perfect explanation for why Chloe's family would move to Timmy's street. Also a hilarious parallel of Timmy seething with frustration at his "perfect" neighbor despite spending the entire series making fun of his dad for doing the same thing.

More Timmy/Chloe "step-sibling" interactions. I support Timmy "I will sit with you while you have an hour-long panic attack" Turner in "The Booby Trap" but I cannot emphasize enough that I equally support Timmy "Will take a call from Chloe, listen to her explain that she vaporized a juice box, then hang up and go to bed" Turner. They are step-siblings...

Timmy, Chloe, and Kevin. I support Timmy - Chloe - Kevin trio interactions in general. They're a comedic trio and I want them to support each other.

Gary and Betty. Unironically, we need to talk more about Gary and Betty canonically being aware of the magical world. Or at least they adjusted really fast to being teleported from California to Florida and back again. Also we should talk about that time Gary rang Sanderson on his cell phone, which gets funnier the longer you think about it. Also I love them and we should talk about the deleted "Totally Spaced Out" scene where they tried to flee to Mexico together.

Ending the series with a proper send-off. I'm not a fan of Timmy keeping his magical memories after losing Cosmo and Wanda. Being the protagonist doesn't make him immune. I feel like there are so many ways this could have been done in a sentimental way that people would have loved... I'm sad we didn't get a proper send-off.

On the list of things we don't need to change - Imaginary Gary, Norm, Mark, Molly, Jorgen, the Pixies, Flappy Bob, Foop, and Ed Leadly. They are flawless, 10 of 10. We also do not need to change Chloe casually swearing, but meanwhile Timmy will call you out for saying "Moron" on the radio, and we definitely don't need to change "This isn't a fancy French restaurant- this is a black hole!"

I love the Pixies. If they didn't exist, I would have come along and prepped some worldbuilding about characters who maintain magical paperwork. I love my snarky monotone wasp boys.

Also I just want to shout-out Chloe and Kevin and their personalities being hilarious. I think there are several Chloe-centric episodes that have flawed storytelling, but I do genuinely enjoy the character you're left with after brushing off some of her exaggerated perfectionism.

Kevin has some of the best dialogue in the entire series, and those two just seem to write themselves when you pit them together. I like the mental image of Chloe venting to Timmy about how unfair it is that Crocker shows him favoritism and then it slowly dawns on her that she also has a history of getting a lot of favoritism.

Thanks for the ask! I'm sad I lost the full responses, but I think I've learned my lesson and will draft in an external doc first. Please learn from my mistakes, I will not take back my venting >:(

Even if I lost it, it's nice to take some time and think about some answers to these things. I'm also pretty satisfied that I was able to make this post long enough to feel like a good answer. Yay.

[wormtime123]

Hello, I’m here to gush a bit about your AU, if you don’t mind

The premise itself is actually so cool like? it’s not something I’ve ever thought of or seen done before, but the moment you introduced it I knew I’d love it. I’m a sucker for your art, specifically how you draw Pearl, and I absolutely adore all of the designs for this. Scrolling down to read that not only have you written fic for it, but 120k words at that, was a wonderful surprise and I had a great time last night reading what’s come out so far all in one sitting.

I really enjoy the writing itself. You’ve got a nice style, and the way you describe the scene makes one feel like you’re really there. The first bits of banter between Pearl and Gem made it clear they were going to be a fun duo to read about, and I’m delighted that they’re sticking together so far. Your dialogue and characterization is super fun and witty, and your specific interpretation of Pearl in particular isn’t one I see too often, but stays true to her actual self / character and for sure makes for a fun POV to see everything through. All the little details, like how an elytra looks or how it feels to jump into a pool of water to break a landing, really bring the story to life, feeling realistic and true to the laws of the Minecraft universe.

The plot is wonderfully set up in the first couple chapters and makes me really look forward to reading the new updates as they come out, and I do love a good mystery. Where did Grian go? How did things end up so badly? How do those connect? How are they fixed, if at all? Makes for some wonderful brainrot and I will be rotating this in my mind for the next few business weeks, thank you <3

-🌙

oh Absolutely feel free to drop all the commentary, i can’t get enough of hearing people’s thoughts and this made me so happy to read, thank you so much!! i really enjoyed working on this story and put a lot into it (if the word count tells you anything lol) and i’m excited to see how people react going forward

there was a while during planning where i wondered if pearl pov would be too odd of a choice for a s7 conflict, so i’m glad it’s made things fun so far :] and i know it’s not as widespread fanon as grian’s, but i’ve always thought her EVO pov had a lot of underutilized potential in terms of backstory, so i’ve really liked pulling that in as an influence over her thinking/motives, too

and speaking of grian… yeah i’m sure everything’s just fine and normal don’t even worry about it