#palisman swap

[cryptid-moose]

A Concept✨✨

[talonmom]

I don't draw enough of my swap au,

And now that luz has a palisman i have updated the colors on hers in this au

His name is mao mao, he is a good boy.

For comparison, this is his old look

[hugsandchaos]

Toh Swap AU Heacanon

Most of the palismen we know followed Luz into the human realm. Owlbert somehow snuck through any previous trips to the human realm and ended up with Eda, but Luz figures out he’s a palisman soon enough. Flapjack, Stringbean, Clover, Ghost, and Emmiline all followed Luz through the portal during the escape that ended up with Luz trapped in the human realm after she burned it in a panic. At first, they stuck with Luz in the old (not so) abandoned house, but Ghost and Flapjack both left one night to find help.

They met Hunter and Amity and soon became attached. Any food they were given was usually brought straight to the others. From Luz’s point of view, they disappear for around half the day or night, then come back with food somehow. From Hunter’s and Amity’s perspectives, they’re trying to befriend these two strange animals that they swear on their lives replied when they asked if they had a name.

Eventually, Ghost and Flapjack lead Hunter and Amity to Luz during an emergency to help. During their talks, the two find they’re similar in swearing they heard their strange animal friends speak. Luz is like “Well, yeah, they’re your palismen. Of course you can understand them!”.

As for Gus and Willow, they slowly grow attached to them while visiting and helping Liz, eventually hearing them speak as well.

Also, I figured I’d say this because I think it’s cool, but sometimes Stringbean goes with Luz in public disguised as a neat snake choker. She made herself long enough to wrap around Luz’s neck and rest comfortably, and it looks really cool.

[thebowcollector]

OHMYGODDDDD THE OWL HOUSE FINALEEEEEEEE *ugly sobbing noise*

[fandom-queen-13]

Now that that's settled:

[catboymoments]

Some1 I follow on Instagram posted a really cool Harpy!Hunter drawing for their swap au and it got me in the mood to design a canonverse/franextgen “harpy” boy that’s just an extension of his already existing palisman powers… bird mode

[fizzlewizard404]

i know this kind Swap AU is a little overdone, but I just wanted to throw my hat in the ring.

I call it, "The Fox House", or something! (bc Raine's palisman is a fox... get it...)

[levshany]

I just remembered these drawings and decided to post them along with some thoughts (under the cut) about Belos that I have accumulated over the week

Spoilers for TOH (just in case)

I want to draw more good Belos, but I want to draw him in a way that looks "natural". And in the case of Mr. Kill-All-The-Witches, it is very, very difficult to do this, because this character is built so neatly and clearly that you take away just one detail in him - and the whole mechanism will crumble.

I have seen people draw the good Belos, while retaining all of his "attributes", such as the imperial cloak and the curse of the palismans. But the joke is that GOOD Belos simply could not get all these things: he would not start eating palisman souls, and he would not seize power, intimidating people with wild magic. He would be a completely different character.

OK OK. It can be assumed that in our time Belos realized his sins and embarked on the path of goodness, I'm sure such AUs already exist. But again, this is bullshit. Even if we and give Belos a redemption arch, it would be so huge and painful that Belya (it's the nickname I gave him) simply could not cope with it and would die of shame and grief. So rehab is not an option either.

And after much thought, I came to what I think is the simplest and most efficient option: to create a swap AU in which I will change the roles of the following characters:

Ida <–> Belos/Philip King <–> Kikimora Hooty <–> Collector Lilith <–> Caleb

Or: King <–> Collector Hooty <–> Kikimora

Everything else in the AU will remain the same.

Trite? Yes. Lazy? Maybe. But seriously. I need this AU only in order to draw more nice 'n chill grandpa Belos, who just hangs out with a bunch of kids somewhere on the outskirts of the world. Isn't that cool tho?

I have no idea when my hands will reach to make concepts. Maybe as early as next month.

[oxblooddraws]

Moths ago I did a swap au that I unfortunately forgot about it, until I recently saw some old unfinished wips on my folder… But, I didn’t like some things about it so I redrew and rewrote some aspects of it. More explanation under the cut.

Ok, just like before the Boiling Isles are afraid of the humans and the human realm in general, as they believe that humans are vile and evil creatures that want the destruction of witch kind so, they try to not have any connections with.

The people of the isles have perpetually stayed in a 15th, 16th century lifestyle for centuries.

The Boiling isles have been ruled by the empire for 400 years. Who tries to secure the peace of the isles by destroying or foreclosing every human artifact that comes on the Boiling isles and everyone that gets caught of even possessing the smallest one are branded as criminals and sentenced to a lifelong prison or worse execution.

Lilith and Eda are the second in Command to the Emperor and capture anyone that violates the law.

Philip and the Collector are living in the outskirts of the word in the forest with the Bat Queen and the other Palismen. Philip is known to people as the Palisman Keeper, mysterious being that scares away anyone that dares to go into the forest.

Luz gets to the Boiling isles accidentally by a titan blood pool in Gravesfield and after a while she stumbles into Philip and TC, who take her and try to find a way to get her back home. So Luz tries “blend in” as witch named “Luzura” . But, unfortunately for her a rumour that a human has appeared in the Boiling isles has already spread…

This au is going to have a different name than previously had,but I haven’t thought anything yet, so for now it’s vague.

I also may delete the old au later on..

[lizard-dumbass]

Alright so the TOH brainrot has come back in full force after the finale came out so now i too am making one of them lists of things that i liked/stuck out to me. Also sorry if this ends up just being a bunch of incoherent nonsense

HOLY SHIT TITAN!LUZ. the design is so cool what more can i say. Furthermore,

HOLY FUCK LUZ DIED????? i was so not expecting that and good lord was it heartbreaking. Eda and King's reaction to Luz's death were also heartbreaking, and so was the Collector finally realizing what death really is. And oh my god puppet!Camila crying as the balls of light pass by her, showing us that she has had the realization that her daughter died. After the grief and trauma of losing Manny, Camila and Luz had a heart to heart which made their bond stronger than ever, only for Camila to lose Luz aswell.

LUZ SAID THE THING! NOW EAT THIS SUCKAAAAAA!!!!!

THE BOILING ISLES IS BIGENDER BABY! i honestly love the titan so much now. His bad girl coven t-shirt and glyph pants and dad-bod are absolutely everything. (Also what's with the little hooty worm sticking out of her eye socket??)

The goddamn bread pun 😭 that warms my heart so much

The raeda in this episode was IMMACULATE. I was really hoping for a kiss but i'm still happy with what WAD gave us. The loving stares, Raine's absolute joy when Eda and Titan!Luz came to their rescue in the throne room, the hugs and nuzzles, the cuddling in their new nest, etc. They seem so relaxed and happy at the end. The world has been saved and now they can finally live their lives together and rekindle their relationship. Oh and how could i forget the EARRING SWAP!! they're wearing eachother's earrings!!! I've seen quite a few ppl interpreting the exchanging of earrings/jewelry as a marriage custom in the demon realm, implying that Eda and Raine are married in the timeskip. I never cared much for the idea of raeda getting married but you know what? I like this headcanon.

Raine whistling raine's rhapsody/eda's reqiuem.

Hunter is a palisman carver! And he has a new palisman! Apparently the little blue jay's name is Waffles and that's just adorable.

Raine also has a palisman now and it's a little fox! I wonder what their name is though.

The entire hexsquad has matching Flapjack tattoos! Also Flapjack's grave, that gave me so many feels. But im so happy to see how Hunter has healed!

Harpy Lilith!

Eda is the principal of a school now?

Eda's hook arm! Also just everyone's new outfits/appearances in general. I love Raine's fully white hair and their scars and their outfit just oozes gender. I love Luz's outfit and punk eyeliner. I love Amity's hairstyle. I love how Lilith kept her short ginger hairstyle. I love Gus's new hair and his little beard. I love Willow's shorter hair and sporty outfit. Mattholomule has a real mustache now!

Fuck yeah they figured out how to remove sigils so now the BI residents can do magic like the Titan really intended!

Aladarius canon??

Everyone reuniting with their dads. Amity running to Alador whilst Odalia just stands at the side with an annoyed face. Fucking priceless. Willow's dads kissed on screen! Hunter thinking no one would be there for him only for Darius and Eberwolf to show up and accept him into their family. my heart 😭❤️

Eda and Camila finally got to meet!

Luz reuniting with King and Eda made me sob so unbelievably hard.

Luz and Vee graduated together!

Luz goes to college in the demon realm!

I thought she was giving all her Azura stuff away at first but i think she's actually bringing it all with her to college.

I love everything about Luz's quinceañera (or should i say KING-ceañera)

I love the very last part where every character we've come to know and love over these 3 wonderful years (except Odalia lmfao) say "Byeee!" to the audience. What a perfect way to end this series.

I think that's it lol i have so many thoughts

[tohwitchesduels]

FIRST ROUND OF WITCHES DUELS - Battle 6: Luz Noceda vs Skara

Disclaimer: This is not a popularity contest or which character you prefer, in this tournament, you decide who is stronger/better/smarter/etc. opponent.

Information for both opponents under the cut to those who don't know what they can do in their battle:

Skara:

Skara specializes in the bard track. For the purposes of this tournament, I allow Skara to have a powerset established by MoringMark's comics due to him fleshing out her capabilities in the "A Hint of Blue" comic storyline and his comics being beloved by the fan base. And not only. Her instrument of choice is lyra.

Skara is established to be an excellent ASIAS strategist and an experienced athlete in both grudgby and flyer derby. She also did show some fiery spirit in LR and judging by her becoming a new teacher at Hexside, she seems to be quite proficient in magic, granted usually in battles she didn't showcase impressive feats.

Skara has no real issue with Luz, but she can get very competitive during this battle and she also has pressure from Boscha to take out Luz since she doesn't want to face such a loser in the finale.

Skara possesses a Palisman and shows she is capable of staff wielding. She seems to be a decent flyer but was also the first to be taken out during the flyer derby match, suggesting she doesn't have enough skill or defenses to shield herself from being knocked out in midair or performing any serious aerial attacks.

One of the tools I'm willing to give Skara regardless of everything is flying boots. She can use them for transportation and aerial attacks even when she doesn't possess a palisman during the battle and she can use them to save herself from fall damage if she ever is knocked out midair.

Another tool I'm willing to give her is the bag of tentacles she used in Once Upon a Swap to prank people, she can occasionally throw some of them at the battlefield to create tentacle traps. Skara doesn't control them though so the tentacles could attack her as well.

Arrow Strike - MoringMark exclusive ability. Skara can release a single arrow using her magic which can be used offensively. The arrow is strong enough to pierce through magical barriers. Requires an instrument.

Arrow Storm - MoringMark exclusive ability. Skara can release multiple arrows at once using her magic for offensive purposes. Requires an instrument.

Beat Box Shockwave - MoringMark exclusive ability. Skara can release a shockwave all around herself by beatboxing. She can utilise it to push away anything coming her way, including even her opponents. The range however isn't particularly big though.

Willpower Increase - MoringMark exclusive ability. Skara by playing her instrument can regain her strength and clear her mind. Can be used to refresh herself during the battle. Requires an instrument.

Sonic Whistle - MoringMark exclusive ability. Skara by whistling can release sonic waves that can be used to distract or even immobilize her opponents due to the noise hurting the ears of everyone hearing her whistle. It however won't work on deaf opponents.

Thunder Wave - MoringMark exclusive ability. Skara can create a thunderstorm with lightning directly striking her opponents. It's Skara's strongest offensive capability. Requires her instrument. Skara can release multiple lightnings one after another dealing even more damage to her enemies. Skara can also choose where her lightning strikes too.

Snow Spell - as demonstrated in Something Ventured, Someone Framed, Skara learned how to create snow. She will usually display it as a simple snowball or snowblast attack.

Fire Spell - as demonstrated in Something Ventured, Someone Framed, Skara to create snow can also create fire. She will usually use this ability specifically to throw a single fireball.

Link to more of Skara's abilities here

Luz Noceda:

I'm going only to mention spells by names here, here's are the links for more exposition on Luz's capabilities (part 1, part 2, part 3).

Luz has no real ill will towards Skara, but she does not intend on losing for the sake of both proving herself and meeting her friends especially Amity in the finale as she promised her a friendly and romantic rematch between them, so Skara is going down.

Luz Noceda, the protagonist of our story, is one and only. Unlike other competitors, Luz is a rare example of a jack of all trades who does not specialize in one specific magical track and studies all of them. Normally, Luz specializes in glyphs but according to the lore of my own tournament which happens after the final battle with Belos, Luz no longer has access to glyphs. However, she now does have a magical staff that allows her to still be able to cast spells just fine as proven by Owlbert in Young Blood, Old Souls. Now, since my rules specify how at times you're not allowed to use palismen in the battle, Luz is capable of avoiding this rule thanks to String Bean's shape-shifting nature, as String Bean possibly could transform into an accessory that would allow Luz to cast a spell like everyone is none the wiser, or maybe even shape-shift into an instrument to mimic bard magic (even though Luz has no vibration based spells). Outside of that Luz would also have access to some other supporting artifacts.

When it comes to Luz's fighting style, she in general prefers to outsmart and outpower her opponents with the raw strength of her magic. Luz has come far ever since she started to learn magic, currently with String Bean by her side she certainly is now more accustomed to spell-casting. Luz is quite proficient with magic now coming up with new creative ways to utilise her magic. She also now has more experience in combat meaning she's more willing to take down her opponents head-on. Luz can however be pretty reckless and impulsive when approaching her opponents, biting more than she can chew and sometimes jumping without thinking. Luz can however be quick on her feet and easily recover and come up with new ways to get an upper hand during battles.

Luz possesses now her own palisman as we all know it which happens to be none other than String Bean. String Bean showed that with her presence, Luz could be even stronger than she used to be, and Luz had plenty of experience with Owlbert beforehand to know how to use a witch's staff. Luz is a true aerial ace as Eda's Requiem episode proves as she could've won the race if it wasn't for King. She of course also knows how to correctly cast spells with staff alone and can use it in combat. String Bean also has a unique ability of shape-shifting, which allows her to take on features of other creatures and use them to her advantage. Granted she can't change size with the ability so all animals will be miniature, but it can come in handy nonetheless, and she could possibly change String Bean into other objects (like jewelry or instruments) in case she can't use witch's staff.

Luz shall be allowed a multitude of tools to help her out during battles. One of them happens to be a crystal ball from her oracle class. Luz can use it to conjure up a single ghost that can be used to help Luz aid in the battle and also predict Luz's future. The ghost is usually chill but rather helpful. It's intangible meaning it's immune to physical attacks for the most part (but can be dispelled with special attacks) and can phase through solid objects to get to its opponents and be capable of touching them to inflict harm.

Another tool Luz would be allowed to use is tea leaves from oracle class which would also help her learn about her opponents, what they're capable of, and what they're going to do.

Luz is also equipped with a training wand in case she needs another source of magic to cast spells from. It's like a hidden dagger if someone would take her sword (as in her staff, I'm clearly alluding to Sasha Waybright's example) away.

Another tool Luz is free to use is her iconic bat which Luz can use for offensive purposes. Luz is allowed to have and use other weapons like a mace and a sword to aid her in the time of her need.

And of course, how could I not forget that Luz also has fireworks to help her in a fight to add more to her firepower.

Luz also has brought snakes to her battle as she managed to tame them just enough so they would not attack her but certainly would attack her opponents. They're not venomous though considering now pressed any charges when Luz brought them to school. She will bring a few of them.

Another animal that Luz would bring with her to the battlefield are spiders. They're mostly used to just scare people during the fight by pouring them all over her opponents. Can be used as a great distraction. She has quite a big number of them and she can even naturally attract them as seen in TtT. The spiders are also not harmful and Luz is not phased by them either.

Smoke Potion - Another tool Luz would be granted to use is a smoke potion she could brew as seen in the First Day. Luz could potentially utilize it as a smokescreen or suffocation attempt.

Light Orb

Light Bomb

Ultimate Illumination

Multiple Light Orbs

Hologram Projection

Illusion Casting

Illusion creature creation and command

Telekinesis

Object Creation

Disintegration Spell

Invisibility

Partial Invisibility

Ice Platform

Ice Wall

Ice Spike

Ice Slide

Ice Bat

Ice Construct

Ice Sword

Freeze

Ice Spike Prison

Ice Spike Stream

Ice Blast

Iceberg

Ice Stream

Ice Spikes

Ice Shield

Ice Bullet

Snow Construct

Snow Storm

Icicle Assault

Ice Bridge

Ice Enchantment

Majestic Tree

Thorn Bolt

Tree Assault

Vine Trap

Hanging Vine Trap

Vine Transport

Vine Grab

Vine Attack

Vine Shield

Vine Platform

Jungle Grab

Plant Creature Creation

Plant Enchantment

Plant Bomb

Fire Ball

Fire Enchantment

Fire Sphere

Temperature Raise

Fire Shield

Fire Stream

Fire Explosion

Fire Geyser

Fire Propulsion

Fire Ejection

Combustion

Fire Rainbow

Fire Tornado

Spicy Toss

Safety Hover

Steam Cloud

Sleeping Cloud

Tornado Spell

Water Spell

Teleportation

Flash Step

Laser Strike

Mega Beam

Explosion

Return to the masterpost

[spacehareart]

TOH x MCYT au

Philza ;

Witch

Cursed / Crow Beast

Wild Witch but is mature about it.

Enjoys Potions and Beast magic.

Crow Palisman

Tommy ;

Grimwalker mix of Philza and Techno. Philza does know, Techno sorta knew. Tommy Doesn't know.

Philza's student.

Enjoys being a wild witch, immature about it.

Pig Palisman from Techno, Bee Palisman.

Ranboo ;

Witch

Disabled Witch, teleports glitch-ingly.

Uses illusion magic mainly. Uses it to appear more like a demon featured witch to hide from others. Also uses Oracle magic.

On the run.

Sphinx Cat Palisman.

Techno ;

Demon/Witch mix.

Traveled while Tommy was a kid, past away by saving Tommy from a Titan.

Had a Pig Palisman.

One of the few wild witches left.

Philza's and Tommy's Adoptive Brother.

Slimecicle ;

Human

Secretly Cursed

Uses illusion magic and Abomination magic.

No one knows much about him. They don't know he's human or cursed. He keeps Juanaflippa a secret.

No Palisman..

Villain

Tubbo ;

Witch

Not a wild witch. In the healing coven against his will.

Prefers Plant magic.

Has a wolf Palisman.

Quackity ;

Witch

Not a wild witch. Forced into Oracle. Prefers Beast.

Has a duck Palisman.

Other

Eggs ;

All eggs are Titans ( but are stylized to look a bit more different from each other ) except for Code Flippa and Gegg. Which are both Collectors.

Other: not a swap AU, literally just them as their characters. I will be updating with more ! ( not exclusive to just qsmp/dsmp ( which i havent watched dsmp anyway ) members, will be including ldshadow lady and stampy; etc :)

Some newer additions, the first stuff was a bit older as of 6 / 17 / 2024.

Philza, Schlatt and Slime made a Grimwalker from a bit of Philza and what was left of Techno. Thus, making Tommy. Grimwalkers in this AU age fast until teen years, where memory actually starts. Tommy doesn't know what he is. Tommy is 20 when things begin.

Tommy will get wings later after some arc or smth. Same with Philza, he too has a bird beast, a Crow form. He also gets a Crow harpy form.

Philza is a long distant cousin of the Clawthornes.

Slimecicle is one of the antags, he also has a curse where he becomes a slime beast ( similar to Belos ). He learned how to make grimwalkers because of Schlatt and Philza. After losing Flippa he lost Mariana, and made Grimwalker Flippa. He pretends to be a shopkeeper and restocks Philza's potions. He is a human while every one else is a witch.

Philza only has Chayanne and Tommy, but eventually finds Tallulah.

Ranboo bumps into Tommy and adventure begins tldr.

And before someone asks in case they dont know: the grimwalker thing is a HEADCANON, the owl house never showed us, but its assumed they are born as teenagers or sped up aging until teen years. But that being said, Tommy is chronologically ( and technically bilogically ) and mentally 20 by the time the story begins. Tho there won't be any shipping , i just wanna make that clear.

( i do not support dream or wilbur thus they will not be in this AU at all. )

This AU is still new so its lore is a mess, sorry abt that.

[sparklyballoonballoon]

The Owl House Post-Finale/Post Watching and Dreaming Roleplay Request

Anyone up for an Owl House roleplay with me? I was hoping for a roleplay that takes place during the timeskip of the show, sometime after the finale.

I also want Palisman to play a big role in the roleplay as well. I love the concept of palismen so much that I was hoping if we RP that we can have it play a bigger role than it did in the canon series.

I also wanna do a thing with King going to Hexside and making friends, falling in love, and even making some enemies in the process. Maybe have him form his own Hexsquad.

Here are the ships I wanna do for this RP (some of the names of the characters of the canon background characters are based off of MoringMarks headcanons):

Luz x Amity 

King x OC

Cat x Sibley (Pufferfish bipedal demon in the abominations track with the sloth Palisman)

Boscha x OC 

Amelia x Lucas (the blond guy with the black beanie in the oracle track uniform who is a part of Boscha’s group in the episode Once Upon a Swap)

Eda x Raine

Jerbo x Edric 

Viney x Emira 

Skara x Fled (The brown bat biped demon who was in the beast keeping hexside uniform who went to grom with Skara)

Gus x Matt

Vee x Masha

Perhaps the two human students who talked to Luz and worked the haunted Hayride with Masha at Thanks to Them, along with Vee and Masha’s friends could also play a role as well.

Anyways, anyone wanna roleplay with me? OCs are allowed BTW. Anyways, lemme know in the comments below if you wanna roleplay with me

[thetownwecallhome]

Boiling Isles or Bust

((Just some style swapping with TNBC and The Owl House again, ft demonrealm Sally, Jack and their palismans.

Ft also the most dreadful Halloween Hunter of all time in the Tim Burton Style)

[mdhwrites]

The issue with Owl House is that it’s cliche in the most boring way. A show can be filled with overused tropes yet still be entertaining yet the Owl House just…isn’t.

This is why I can’t rewatch the show because it’s just not exciting enough to do so.

So I'm mostly going to focus on the rewatch value of the show here rather than the trope elements, I feel like I covered that only a couple blogs ago. For why it's a bad rewatch though: I've said before that TOH is REALLY good at introducing elements and TERRIBLE at follow through. Amity was presented with a lot of great potential in just two episodes because of how clear it was that her current relationship with success was toxic but that you also didn't necessarily want to see her fail in her goals. Then she becomes just a love interest who entirely forgets her goals and has pretty much everything we had introduced in the first two episodes she appeared in swept under the tacky rug named Odalia. Literally two of the first 5 episodes... Wasted. Almost entirely pointless because you could jump in at Lost in Language and her character reads WAY more consistent... But less compelling. She wants to be good at school but it isn't consuming her mind, even at that point despite Luz not really having discussed that part of her at all. She's much closer to a normal, driven girl rather than one demented by the need to succeed. That is frankly just less interesting, at least without ANY explanation as to why besides 'girl crush'. It's akin to how by Escaping Expulsion, she's let her grades slip and only seems to care because her parents are saying she's not allowed to have friends because of it. Or, more importantly, Luz.

That's the thing: Most of the character arcs and elements in TOH don't build on one another. Instead, you start with this really well built house that could use a few additions but it's quite serviceable as is... And then each episode takes a sledgehammer to it. Even the world counts for this. An interesting dystopia fueled by greed where being normal is prioritized over being good? Where everyone is looking for a dime and would threaten to kill you for their own gain because they know they'll get away with it so long as they do it in a normal manner? That's FASCINATING. And that is explicitly the Isles we get for about three episodes.

But then with Covention, it shrinks. Suddenly people are just a little suspicious of Eda but you start realizing that she does run a market stall in the middle of town. That without posters, people practically don't care about her bounty. Cheating is seen as unacceptable rather than what should be the norm with the lack of morals on the Isles. All while it hasn't actually examined the world it implied early on besides honestly a pretty normal con artist and the fact the school was willing to kill an intruder.

Just think about any element really. The EC/Lilith? Presented as really cool and something that could genuinely be a philosophical debate against Eda. Then their second episode is Once Upon a Swap, where they end with their leader as a dog and can't control a witch who has pretty much no control over her magic. So interesting. -_- Hunter is FAMOUS for this. The Golden Guard is an entirely different personality from Hunter himself and implies a LOT of fascinating things about him... And then they're all immediately dropped by Hunting Palisman, even small details like him being a prodigy respected in the EC. Willow is an unexpected one as her first real return is Hooty's Moving Hassle which bungled her power issues so badly, it took Sport in a Storm for the majority of the fandom to realize they were resolved in the sixth episode.

It's also why the show keeps having to add elements rather than having anything to actually expand on. Eda gets pretty much her entire character finished up by the end of S1. She could still teach Luz about potions and genuinely examine the struggle she has with the difference between little magic and no magic but... Instead she gets glyphs and a super form rather than proper character development. Then she gets a love interest that is what she focuses on for a couple episodes of the season. They even have to escalate the curse, despite it being toned down being part of the S1 climax, just because they have so little to actually do with her at this point. They've accelerated her character so quickly past all the things she supposedly cared about that they have to grasp at straws for what can be pulled back. It's why Willow and Amity take effectively an entire season to follow up on the end of Understanding Willow because at that point, they're desperate for Amity to be able to do ANYTHING that isn't just Luz. It's why she suddenly gives a shit about her father out of NOWHERE. It's why Gus has to have the same problem rehashed three times but tackled at with his only two character traits and then sudden anxiety issues that technically aren't out of character but still feel like they came out of nowhere. Because if the show isn't adding something to a character, it only has so much room to go, at least from how the writers seemed to have thought.

It's actually part of why Luz is so incredibly stagnant in S1. Her character is actually really basic and the show itself has NO INTEREST in multiple elements of it. She can be described in the first episode as a bullied girl who is an outcast from normal people with a desire to live out a fantasy instead and has a good heart. Now that first half, the bullied girl who is an outcast, is jettisoned for the sake of making Luz's transition into the Isles easier/selling the idea of the Isles as a place she/the viewer want to be in easier. She never has social anxiety or the like, or even struggles to make friends and connections, because that would get in the way of seemingly what the writers actually care about like their romance plots and her wish fulfilment. So if you don't have those elements then all you have is her desire to live out a fantasy and that she has a good heart.

And for like half the show, that pretty much doesn't change at all. It's why a lot of the episodes with her effectively come down to her making a mistake because she wants to live out an Azura book, implicitly (Teenage Abomination) or explicitly (Covention), but then her good heart makes her set things right. And that is fine for your MC. It actually worked to keep her unobtrusive from the other characters as they worked through their arcs and lessons. MCs like this work well in general honestly. I've referenced Danny Phantom and Randy Cunningham as characters who fit this archtype, who also are pretty basic as both are teenage boys who would like to be popular but also have good hearts that will cause them to do the right thing even if it humiliates them, and those shows are great! There are issues with the style, and Luz has PLENTY OF THEM, but they work for a base.

But part of her stagnancy and issues with the trope is that she never seems to learn anything. That's because of TOH's problem of only tearing a character apart... Until it replaces. Lilith isn't Lilith anymore. She's now the cool aunt. Eda was practically never criminal or anarchist. She's just Momma Eda. The Golden Guard never existed, there's only the sad but mad boy. Etc. Etc.

The old character and their history do not exist and the new one... Is usually summed up really easily. Usually just with the statement of "A generally nice person." But having excised all of that old potential also means they can't do a lot with these characters without seeming to go back on their character development. This is why we get Hunter as a new Amity so someone can do her angst a second time since they decided to race past it all. It's why we get romance added more heavily because there are still tropes they can do with that genre and even love interests they can add. Why nothing gets explored because the show was so impatient to get to the big moments it wanted, even before the shortening since that mostly didn't affect the first half of the series so stuff like Amity's rushed development was not something forced on them, that it lost out on the chance to do the actually interesting ideas they pitched in the first place. Remember how Luz and Eda were pitched at the beginning as student/mentor? Theoretically, as the two main characters? And how after Adventure in the Elements, they have two plots together where they speak for more than like a minute with each other. Stranger Tides and Titan Where Art Thou, the latter of which actually rehashes a concept from literally a season ago (Grom) because they just forgot about Luz wanting Eda's approval until then.

All of this, all of this rambling, makes it so that while I am a firm proponent for the journey meaning more than the destination... It's hard to want to go back on that journey. To constantly be like "This is the best this character will ever be," through the first half of the show, if that, and then have only a couple character climaxes to look forward to. Worse yet is that even these introductory episodes HINGE on payoffs down the line, like Understanding Willow. That potential was part of what made them good when honestly a lot of them are kind of boring without the novelty of the potential story they're setting up. Knowing there's no payoff just makes the setup INFURIATING.

It also makes it really easy to understand why so many praised it so much harder early on. It comes out of the gate swinging but its punches have no follow through so when S1 was done and everything was introduced, the potential for the show was laid bare, we got HUNDREDS of animatics. We got thousands of comics. The fandom has NEVER thrived harder.

But by even the hiatus in S2... There's a reason why a LOT of people jumped onto Clarvee like ravenous hounds. A reason why a lot of people jumped onto Huntlow when it started being teased. Kept jumping to new elements being added because the old ones were left to rot, if they weren't actively sabotaged.

And the finale for a lot of people so actively contradicted one of those early statements, one of those early novelties people pointed to for why an okay episode was better than it was, that it really feels like it fractured the fandom. A lot of people saw Luz become a chosen one, literally empowered by God with no consequences and little work, and one of those things that people praised from episode 2... Shattered.

And suddenly they realized that strong house they thought they'd lived in the entire series had so many holes in it from the sledgehammers that it all simply fell as if it were always a house of cards.

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I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[toh-tagteam-au]

Tag Team AU Synopsis – Something Ventured, Something Framed + Escape of the Palisman

Synopsis Masterpost Link

Previous [Lost in Language + Once Upon a Swap]

Next Part [Sense and Insensitivity + Adventures in the Elements + The First Day]

Starting to double down way more, but we have a Luz-centric ep and a sibling ep today!

Something Ventured, Something Framed

There’s not much plot I wrote for this one. Luz goes to Hexside to tutor Amity, since she basically fired Lilith from the position in Covention. Amity gets some Luz lore, mainly that she’s the same age as her and that she was taken in by the Emperor when she lost her family. 

Eventually, Amity notices that Luz is a bit uncomfortable getting stared at by the other kids, and she pulls her to the bathroom to change her into a Hexside uniform.

(hood is up, so ears aren't showing)

On their way to a classroom, they run into Gus. Luz and Gus hit it off pretty instantly, as Luz recognizes the acronym on his HAS president crown. Luz introduces herself as a Human appreciator, and Gus gets his nickname. They get to talking about humans, but at some point Luz’s learned-bias against humans comes up.

(This isn’t stuff that Belos taught her necessarily, but it’s definitely something she picked up given how much he says she’s helpless without Hunter to protect her. It's more self-depreciation than anything she'd think about anyone else.)

Luz goes to the bathroom to angst about knowing less about her own humanity than someone who isn’t even human (cool visual of her looking at her ears in the mirror and sighing), when Amity comes in and comforts her a bit. It doesn't work super well considering she has no idea what Luz is going through and Luz can't exactly tell her.

Their goal in tutoring is to get Amity to learn the spell she learns in Adventures in the Elements, the purple fire spell. After a few failed attempts, Luz's haphazard explanations of how she thinks casting spells should feel, and generally hitting a brick wall, Luz tentatively shows Amity the fire glyph and explains some of the glyph theory behind fire spells in general – you need to know what you need in order to cast it.

While they do that, Gus goes through some stuff of his own – mainly, Mattholomule succeeds in stealing the H.A.S. presidency from him since Gus doesn't have human Luz to fall back on. He's walking outside the room Luz and Amity are training in after losing the presidency when he recognizes the glyph as something that Hunter brought up in Hooty's Moving Hassle – that if you see someone using one, chances are you can't do magic naturally. He connects the dots as Luz not being able to do magic (not necessarily that she's human), and gets some context for the whole "magic-less = useless" spiel she went on.

After they stop training, Gus approaches them and he and Luz hash it out. Luz admits that she probably doesn't know a lot about humans, and that Gus was probably right. Gus says that they can learn a lot from human ingenuity, and that the fact they do the things they do without magic is inspiring (hint hint).

Then Willow probably comes in, has tension with Amity, recognizes Luz's voice as the GG, and Gus freaks out as an ending gag.

Escape of the Palisman

Luz and Hunter are on a GG mission in the Bat Queen’s woods to gather palismen for Belos.

Eventually, they hear a screech, and all hell breaks loose as the bat queen appears. Luz is kidnapped while Hunter is fighting off the babies. He chases after them, but is quickly lost when…

Flapjack appears!

(i had this written before the name reveal, so Flapjack is Rascal in my notes occasionally).

Cut to Luz, who wakes up from being kidnapped and finds herself in the Bat Queen’s cave. They talk about the situation, mainly that Bat Queen is pissed and figures she’ll take the Emperor’s child since he keeps taking her own. Some dialogue about how Luz feels about Belos taking her in and BQ’s views on that until Hunter appears and frees Luz, and THERE’S FINALLY A TAG TEAM SIBLING FIGHT.

It’s pretty slapdash, though. Luz gets knocked out, the staff is kicked away, and Hunter is cornered by BQ.

He escapes on Flapjack with the bag of palismen, the staff, and Luz. He lands in a clearing and Luz wakes up.

They go back to the castle. There’s probably a scene where Belos chews them out, and the way he talks to them kind of hints towards him being more pissed at Hunter than Luz. 

Previous [Lost in Language + Once Upon a Swap]

Next Part [Sense and Insensitivity + Adventures in the Elements + The First Day]

Synopsis Masterpost Link