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david-talks-sw · 1 year

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An allergy to the Prequels

While I'm putting together a post about the evolution Lucasfilm's transmedia strategies, this part kinda turned into its own thing!

So I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, but, uh... there hasn't been that much Prequel content since the Disney sale, right?

'Couple novels and comics, some episodes... but nothing meaningful.

The more I look into it, the more it feels like a deliberate avoidance to touch on anything Prequel-related - beyond the required quota, that is - to a point where they'd rather tell stories set during periods that are Prequel-adjacent (Dark Times, High Republic) than something set around Episodes I, II and III.

On-screen policy: "pretend they never happened"

I mean, this one's no secret. When The Force Awakens had been announced, with J.J. Abrams at the helm, everyone sighed in relief. "Finally, George Lucas won't keep ruining the franchise."

When Abrams had been announced as the director of Episode VII, I remember this cringey animated video started circulating online, titled "4 Rules To Make Star Wars Great Again" or "Dear JJ Abrams":

“Star Wars isn’t shiny and clean... Star Wars is a western.”

If you ask me, those two things are not mutually exclusive.

'Cause Star Wars has always been both, for many Prequel kids. Both clean and dusty, Coruscant and Tatooine. There was never a disconnect between the Original Trilogy (OT) and the Prequel Trilogy.

Even the documentary The People vs George Lucas shows Prequel-hating fans begrudgingly admit their kids felt all six episodes tied seamlessly.

Abrams, on the other hand, said: "I think [the "Dear JJ" video] was right on." Later on, he also said:

he considered "putting Jar Jar Binks's bones in the desert" on Jakku, somewhere, and

he intentionally made the lightsaber fights "rougher", "primitive" and "more powerful" unlike the fast-paced ones in the Prequels.

Later, we found out he wanted to blow up Coruscant.

It's clear he wasn't a big fan of the Prequels.

But y'know what? Not many fans over 20 were, at the time. And when The Force Awakens came out, most them celebrated it as a wonderful love letter to the OT.

Star Wars is cool again. Mission accomplished 🙌 !

However movies keep coming out, and references to the Prequels - if there are any - are literally just that... references.

Sometimes in the shape of a cameo ("hey look, Genevieve O'Reilly from the Ep. III deleted scenes is playing Mon Mothma again!")

Sometimes in a name (Luke name-dropped "Darth Sidious"!)

But nothing set during the Prequel era, and nothing treating the events that happened in that period as relevant or impactful, beyond subtextual nods.

In fact, the trend of avoiding anything Prequel-related continues as the final film in the Skywalker Saga comes out:

The Rise of Skywalker has a secret Sith society that chants the name "Palpatine" instead of his Sith name "Darth Sidious",

the film pretends the Kaminoans never existed,

and neither TROS nor Trevorrow's Duel of the Fates script even try to bring Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker back on screen. Let that sink in, we're talking about the Chosen One, Skywalker Senior, whose sins caused this whole mess... and his name isn't even uttered once in the final chapter of what Disney dubbed the *Skywalker* Saga (or the entire Sequel trilogy, for that matter).

But hey, The Clone Wars got renewed for one last Season! That's cool right? So many stories had gone unfinished and somehow the animation looks even better than befo--

-- oh. It's not 22 episodes? Only 12?

Four of which had already been shown to us, but hey! We need to set-up the Bad Batch series, so let's shoehorn those episodes in there, and forget Son of Dathomir, Dark Disciple or Crystal Crisis.

*sigh* Better than nothing, I guess.

In other mediums: "just not a priority"

Now this is something that I'll explore more in the transmedia post (and purely my interpretation), but the noticeable change between Lucasfilm's transmedia strategy *post-ROTS* and the one post-Disney sale is that:

Before, the games, comics and novels were the main content. After all, Revenge of the Sith had been released, so that was it, for the movies. Thus, a variety of other content was being cranked out to keep the Star Wars franchise relevant. There were comics set 100 years after Episode 6, comics set 25,000 years prior, games set in the Old Republic era, other stories in the New Republic era, novels galore, a couple of parody films and an animated show, The Clone Wars, which sometimes received its own tie-in comics, novels and games.

After the sale and ever since, most of the transmedia products have had only one goal: promoting the films & streaming shows.

So while in 2015 you won't see an abundance of Prequel content... you'll see an avalanche of OT books and comics come out.

Why? Because the heroes of that era will be in the Sequel Trilogy movies. It provided context to the kids who hadn't seen the OT yet, and reintroduced those films to a new generation of fans, while priming them for the Sequels.

A multimedia marketing strategy that ultimately proved successful.

However, it continued even after The Force Awakens came out.

Don't believe me? Compare how many comics there have been set during the Prequel era vs the OT era.

If they make comics about the Prequels, they're limited runs.

Case in point: before the current Yoda series, the best any Disney Prequel-set comic series ever got was 6 issues.

Note: it's worth pointing out that the frequency of mini-series aren't just a Star Wars-specific thing, it's a comic book industry thing. The readership for comics is dwindling, many people are reading scans online, and so no publisher wants to commit to a story that lasts more than 4-6 issues. My problem is: there absolutely would be readership for a Prequel comic series to warrant an extended run instead of a mini-series.

Let's talk books. There have been give or 64 canon novels published since the Disney sale.

Only 11 of them are set during the Prequel era. And even those stories only came out when the planets were aligned.

Almost half of them were released while being a part of some bigger multimedia push.

Example:

Before the Obi-Wan Kenobi series was being released on Disney Plus, we'd had one novel and like two comic stories about him during the Prequels... released between 2012 and end 2021. That's about three pieces of content in almost ten years.

Clearly a low frequency.

Then, when the series is around the corner, two books and a comic story comes out in the space of months, plus an anthology book with an alt cover with his face on it and a comic with a story of him and Anakin in the first issue, all in 2022.

My takeaway: short of there being a film or series that needs to be promoted, you'll rarely get any Prequel comics or books.

And this is OBI-WAN we're talking about. The character who even the Prequel haters love. Imagine how little attention the other ones get.

Gaming-wise, Battlefront had no Prequel content at all (again, 2015 was the year where OT content was shoved down the consumer's throats to prep them for Episode VII), and Battlefront 2 only released Prequel content a full year later.

All that being said, we did seen some Prequel elements here and there. After all, some actors got to reprise their roles, books and comics came out featuring Prequel characters... but there's a catch.

The stories they appear in are set in-between Episodes III and IV, a time-period known as "the Dark Times" or the "Imperial era".

"Dark Times" being used instead of the Prequel era

It's easy to see the appeal of this era. You keep the same threat from the Original Trilogy - the Empire - but redress it with Prequel elements... while also cherry-picking the best characters of both the OT and the Prequels and giving them a chance to shine again.

The situation is more clear cut, as opposed to the complex one in the Prequels. Bad guys are stormtroopers, good guys are anyone else. And the stories no longer take place in the shiny capital, you're back on the frontier.

But at this point... it feels like a cop-out.

When you consider how much content has been set during the Dark Times, it's nothing to sneeze at. Since the sale, we've had:

2 movies (Solo, Rogue One)

4 series set in that time-period (namely The Bad Batch, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and Star Wars: Rebels).

2 video-games (Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor).

17 novels (such as Ahsoka, Lords of the Sith, the new Thrawn books, etc)

And just a whole bunch of comic book series & mini-series (like Kanan, Princess Leia, various Vader-centric comics including Darth Vader: Lord of the Sith, many tie-in mini-series promoting Rogue One, Jedi: Fallen Order, Obi-Wan Kenobi, etc).

There's been so much content made for this time-period that it feels like an unwillingness to do the work and create something set something during the Prequel era, let alone something that follows its Jedi.

After all, why make a story set in the Prequels (disliked by vocal fans) when you can just take the characters in that story and put them in an OT setting (which will appease the Prequel-haters)?

Maybe these stories get relegated to the Dark Times because:

there seems to be a perception that anything set in the Prequel era won't sell?

or maybe the current SW writers weren't fond of Episodes I, II and III, and don't find those Jedi characters likable, thinking they're too righteous and dogmatic which makes it hard to craft a story around them.

Or maybe it's because they're under the impression that the Prequel Jedi are bad. Like, canonically, in the narrative. Not just in a "I don't like them" sense, but also in a "the story is all about them becoming corrupted" sense.

Let's expand on that last point.

Retconning the Prequels as the "Fall of the Jedi" era

Somehow the rare stories set during the Prequels that we do get seem to automatically be about how "the Jedi lost their way/failed".

The series Tales of the Jedi is explicit about it...

... and I already explained why it contradicts what George Lucas established here and here.

You also see it in Rebels and the new season of The Clone Wars...

... in comics...

... in games...

It gets to a point where the Prequels era has now been redubbed the "Fall of the Jedi" era by Lucasfilm.

You wanna know what that period was referred to before the Disney sale? The "Rise of the Empire" Era.

Because - and I'll never get tired of saying this cuz it's factual - the Prequels aren't about the fall of the Jedi, they're about the fall of the Republic and Anakin, and rise of the Empire and Vader.

So in addition to being overdone, the "Jedi lost their way" is not even the intended narrative of the Prequels (if one puts any stock in Lucas' words). It's a minor subplot at best, hardly the focus of the films, let alone a whole time period.

But dubbing it "Fall of the Jedi" implies that there's another era in which the Jedi were in their heyday.

Because Star Wars authors are in luck! Yet another alternative has presented itself in the shape of a new transmedia initiative, and it's even better than the "let's set it during the Dark Times" solution:

A new transmedia initiative: The High Republic

You wanna deal with the Jedi before the Empire, but for some reason you wanna avoid dealing with the ones seen in the Prequels?

Look no further. Meet the Jedi of the High Republic.

Noble, adventurous, inspired by the Knights of the Round Table, they're everything the OT kids dreamed about when they heard ol' Ben Kenobi talk about the Knights of the Old Republic.

That's more like it!

Note: the High Republic was created for other reasons and has many more upsides than the ones mentioned above. Namely, a fresh new spot in the timeline that allows for creative freedom and a beautifully-coordinated transmedia storytelling effort where retcons are non-existent. However it does seem evident that not having to deal with the 'unlikable' Prequel Jedi and their "fall" is one of those upsides.

Another perk that the High Republic era offers is more freedom in terms of storytelling compared to the Prequels.

In 2016, Pablo Hidalgo tweeted he still quotes to authors the following excerpt of West End Games' guide for aspiring Star Wars writers, from 1994.

You can't write "this was the best day in Luke Skywalker's life", for example, because another author may want to write a better day than the one you just wrote.

My guess is that a similar approach applies to how all characters from the movies are treated. They're massively iconic. So you can't write a book that drastically changes how Mace or Yoda or Obi-Wan are perceived overall.

The stories need to be self-contained, disregardable if necessary, because you'll have dozens of writers coming up with new stories for those same characters, and you need to leave them some room.

Examples:

Notice how in the book Dooku: Jedi Lost we never see how Dooku turns to the Dark Side and joins the Sith.

Same goes for crossover comic book arcs of the Star Wars issues, like Vader Down or Crimson Reign... the characters don't really change by much in those comics. You could stick to just watching the movies and you wouldn't really miss anything.

But with The High Republic, you indeed can develop these characters as much as you want.

All stories featuring Avar Kriss leave an impact on her, you can nail down who she is perfectly in one book or one comic arc, both being just as meaningful to her character.

The fact that she's not as iconic/famous a character as Mace Windu means that authors can go to town on crafting an interesting and nuanced character arc for her that'll have a beginning, middle and end... something Mace will never really get.

CONCLUSION:

Back in 2015... let's not kid ourselves. The Prequels were unpopular and Disney is a multi-billion dollar corporation. Opting to make as much money as possible is what they do.

It's the same reason they decided not to go with George Lucas' original plans for the Sequels, in 2012.

I mean, imagine you're Disney. You just dropped 4 billion dollars, with a B, on this franchise. Your next Star Wars movie needs to be worth the price tag. Now, you can pick between two options:

Option #1 is uncharted territory and it explores the midi-chlorians (the cursed word…!) and the guy who presented you with this option also openly admits that a big chunk of customers won’t like it, but he wants this to be done because it’s his vision.

Option #2 is very simple: a soft reboot, that plays on nostalgia that the same chunk of customers (aka the 'boomer and Gen-X fans who grew up with the Original Trilogy and now have kids, grandkids and MONEY) will like.

It's a no-brainer. They gave the customers what they wanted.

But time has passed, the fans who were children when the Prequels first came out have grown up, and grew up with characters like Yoda, Mace, Plo Koon, Kit Fisto and other Jedi as their heroes, aside from main characters like Anakin and Obi-Wan and Ahsoka.

Can we maybe expand on them, flesh them out more?

No, let's either ignoring the storytelling potential of these characters or reducing it to them being "righteous, arrogant and dogmatic".

God forbid we get a story showing the Prequel Jedi in a *gasp* more positive light? One where their POV is more understandable, instead of the same old "we brought this on ourselves" storyline.

There's a whole decade between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones... you're telling me there's no space to show us Anakin's training and how he formed bonds with the Jedi we later see in The Clone Wars? I tried my hand at it here:

Interesting or fun Prequel-set ideas from other pro-Jedi fans on Tumblr can be found here, here and here.

And y'know, part of the Star Wars intent is for fans to take the ideas in the movies and come up with their own stories. You're supposed to create headcanons.

What I'm saying is fans of the Prequels are being given less "imagination food" than the rest, and many of us who like the Jedi in particular are forced to rely on headcanons only. "Better than nothing" is no longer an acceptable standard.

There's a range of recognizable Jedi characters that have already been established in films and TCW, can we maybe expand on them, flesh them out more, instead of whole new ones?

#jedi order #star wars #sw meta #long post #meta #lucasfilm #star wars prequels #prequel trilogy #sw prequels #high republic #the high republic #dark times #imperial era #the clone wars #tcw #sw negativity

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fangxin-guoshi · 5 months

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Banana fish re-review ~

I did a rewatch of banana fish and oh my God I forgot how good this series was. Considering the original manga came out in the 80's in JAPAN, it was SO ahead of its time. One of the best depictions of gay characters I've ever seen in Japanese media, even by today's standards.

Some more silly thoughts:

Like yoshida just casually dropped a manga with an insanely progressive take on the bl genre by showing a complex queer interracial relationship with incredibly well-written characters. Honestly the fact that ash and eiji's relationship wasn't explicitly defined as romantic is a plus imo. Not being able to rely on obvious romantic gestures like kissing, hand-holding, romantic confessions, etc. actually forces the writer to develop their relationship without that crutch to lean on. That's why ash and eiji's relationship is so good, because it doesn't rely on surface-level romance to get across the fact that they love each other and instead use subtlety and little nuances in their interactions. It's obvious from the subtext and how much they're shown to care for each other.

Not to mention the great depiction of black characters (I know portraying black characters non-offensively is like, the bare minimum, but may I remind you this is the EIGHTIES in JAPAN, and there are so many CURRENT animes that have an issue with it).

I mean yea does it have its flaws? Sure. Ash's admittedly very lame "lynx" title that comes with many wildcat metaphors, eiji being a bit passive in the first half, sort of cringe portrayal of America, etc. but my God the way she handles the trauma and character dynamics is incredible.

Ok so I did have a uh... Not really a criticism but something that I noticed that got me thinking. I feel like some shows use dark subject matter as a bit of an easy way to evoke an emotional reaction from the audience. Sometimes authors give characters horrible backstories as a way to make the audience THINK the character is complex and interesting but in reality it's a bit of a lazy writing tactic. Low effort high reward kind of thing. Banana fish obviously does have brutal subject matter and ash is really put through the ringer, but I love that yoshida doesn't let that become the axis of his character. He has trauma that greatly impacts him, but he's also super developed on his own apart from that. When I think about Ash's character, I don't immediately think about the traumatic backstory parts. The balance between how significantly the trauma affects him vs making sure that's not the ONLY part of his character is extremely well-executed.

Scenes that stuck out to me (not including asheiji ones bc it goes without saying theyre all amazing)

- the interrogator playing Ash's tapes after being arrested ("later, movie star" was the most brutal line ever omg)

- max burning the photos of ash (underrated moment this was SO good),

- any and all interactions between sing and blanca (they're such an unlikely duo peak comedy right there)

- the convo between sing and yut lung in the last episode

- ash stabbing the guy in the dick with a fork

- callback to ^^^, ash stabbing the banana with a fork

- Ash's breakdown in front of dino (ep 19 I believe)

- the entirety of ash escaping from the "mental hospital" and then having to go rescue ibe and max lmaooo

- ash brutally murdering Abraham(?, the redhead guy) by blowing abt a thousand holes in him w a machine gun as payback for shorter

- ash shooting shorter

- running joke of max being Ash's dad

- everyone constantly manhandling yut lung by yanking on his hair (dude get a haircut)

- ash immediately going to shoot himself no hesitation after yut lung told him he wouldn't hurt eiji if he did so (technically asheiji but I'm keeping it since this was a yut lung and ash scene)

- "what does this picture look like?" "Your wife"

- eiji's cute stupid little outfit he wore when he went to go find shorter in Chinatown

I also have a confession:

I LOVE yut lung. Him being paralleled with ash, but instead of finding love he let hate consume him because he had no one unlike ash who had eiji was just devastating but in a good way.

So yea those are my messy thoughts after finishing it. I'd argue that it was probably one of the best pieces of queer media to exist at the time. In the world. And one of my personal favorite pieces of queer media ever.

#banana fish #asheiji #ash x eiji #ash lynx #eiji okumura #bf #🍌🐟

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shkika · 1 year

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The tragic part of moon I think is her incredible patience probably being something she learned by enduring the constant awfulness of the ancients, since she couldn't really speak out in any way, since she was in a completely imbalanced power dynamic with her creators.

Maybe that unwillingness or fear to retaliate or advocate for herself is what led to her not doing anything to stop pebbles until it was way too late even though some in game dialogue says she could have used admin privelage to stop him by force.

That makes her story even more heartbreaking...

Poor moonie, she deserved so much better from everyone. And the most kindness she was ever shown was from the little animals her creators made as tools and objects, I suppose there may be a kinship between them there.

I love moon so much. She deserves all the hugs.

I think her patience came in multiple ways!

If I had to ramble in detail on how I write Moon I'd be here typing all day..

Lttm has a lot of experience and has talked to many iterators, younger and older and has went through many generations in her colony.

But the way I see it is that Moon became a person who is just very.. mm tired I suppose. The unfairness and lack of regard for her feelings she received from the ancients was a constant she grew to passively hate, but accept. So she's patient with them yeah. Moon is patient and calm with anything that life throws her way, because she's had to deal with a lot. She's quick to accept defeat and see when something is unreachable. The opposite of Pebbles yet again, who tried everything to go against the very way he was built. He's willing to fight and take action much more than she does. Moonie ultimately, in her last moments with Spearmaster, accepts her demise. Nothing can be done and.. as scary as it is that's okay. She's happy others cared for her and still do.

I don't think she's afraid to stand up or herself! Moon isn't a pushover, at least to me! Nothing can ever be done about how ancients see her or her group so tolerating them is just.. easier! Otherwise she demands respect and to be heard and listened to on a basic level even from a slugcat and she thanks you greatly for it. Or else. You don't get anything out of her. Even in a vulnerable dying state she can put her foot down and refuse to speak to you.

The situation with Pebbles is different.

I don't think she was scared to talk to him. I think Moon wanted to trust that her brother wouldn't do something like this. Because she wasn't just his admin to take control of him whenever. She was his sister.

Unlike their parents he'd take her well-being into consideration, surely. He wouldn't risk her safety like they did.

But oh well.

It's how it is.

#nobody will ever understand how mentally ill i am for moon i LOVE her i cannot wait to draw her even MORE #AH #!!!#rain world #looks to the moon #kiki rambles #ask #anonymous #of course you don't have to agree with everything i see i feel like im repeating this like a mantra #but i dont want to force anything on anyone #this is how i read her character #shes extemely complicated #and a VERY good senior #shes not a pushover #god i love moon #favorite forever #i hope i get to explore her as well as id like to in the ask blog i really do

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tamed-kratts · 1 year

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★ Stargazer ★

Chris Kratt x Reader

Warnings: very tiny angst, miscommunication, putting pollen in the warnings cuz of allergies 😡

Summary: Chris, your current crush, has been ignoring you for a month. You’re about to find out why.

A/N: Never explicitly says reader is female and no pronouns are used but I write my readers to act kinda feminine so beware. Although, this one is pretty neutral. Also Chris would totally just dip the second he has a crush on someone LMAO. One more thing, i low-key diss cats at one point in this fic but don’t be mistaken. I love them.

It had been another warm summer day in North America, a humid breeze flew into the Tourtuga and in your nose as you lay in your reclining chair while staring at your phone screen. There wasn't much going on, the rest of your crew had been looking at some bug they found, you weren’t all that interested, you didn't think anyone would even notice your disappearance. But someone did.

Chris walked into the Tortuga timidly, avoiding eye contact with you as he hurriedly went to his own room, his steps were quick and he made a beeline down a hallway in the large turtle ship. Normally, you wouldn’t fret over one of the kratt brothers acting suspicious, since they were always up to something, but lately you felt as though Chris had been acting especially strange. Around one month ago, he started avoiding you. If you walked in the same room as him, he would make some lame excuse like “I have to go organize the gear.” before running out the room to the garage, leaving you and whoever he was previously talking to. It was pathetic, you had actually grown a small crush on him and it was tearing you apart to have him just pretend you didn’t exist.

He was a big factor to why you didn’t bother trying to hang out with the crew today, you didn’t really feel up to hanging out with your crush who obviously hated your guts.

A new pair of foot steps walked in, they were heavier and louder, it was Martin. “Hey, Y/n, ‘sup?” Martin, unlike his brother, did enjoy your company. He often went out of his way to ask how you were and about your well being. He reminded you of a dog, curious of its owner's whereabouts after a long day of work. You guess that made Chris a cat, one that hissed and bit you if you pet it for a second too long and hated you for the rest of its life. "Nothing, how are you?" You said.

“I’m good, me and Chris came inside to get changed. We’re covered in pollen and Koki said if we don’t get into some clean clothes she’ll leave us here, heh.” He laughed, but knowing Koki, she was probably serious. Looking at him, you realized his usually white shirt was now stained yellow and his blue blazer had spots green on them. "But I'm sure Chris told you all about it and probably more."

You sighed, "No, he didn’t. Chris probably wouldn’t even stay in the same room as me if he was suffocating and my skin produced oxygen." You rolled your eyes, annoyed by Chris’ childish behavior.

"What are you talking about?" Martin said, turning his head curiously.

"Chris hasn't spoken a word to me in almost a month, and when I walk into a room, he bolts out before I can even look at him." You said this a lot less confident than the last time you talked, mostly out of fear of how Martin would react. Martin just stared at you as a smile slowly grew on his lips, as if he was plotting something.

"Huh, well, I have NO idea AT ALL why that would be happening, heh…" He scratched the back of his neck before backing up to the main exit of the Tortuga. "If I were you, I'd ask him about flowers."

"Flowers?" You tilted your head as if you were confused if you heard him correctly. Chris had never shown an interest in flowers unless they had something to do with an animal. But just flowers by themselves?

"Yup, flowers. Specifically a Stargazer Lily.” He smirked and ran back outside.

“Martin, wait!” You yelled. “You didn’t change your shirt…” Sighing, you went back on your phone for a few minutes before Chris left his room.

“Chris?” He sped up. “Chris!” You jumped out of your seat and ran towards him, barely catching his arm. Standing next to him with your arm wrapped around his, you realized he didn’t have on his green fleece jacket like usual. It was slung on his shoulder lazily, probably to get out of the Tortuga as quickly as possible.

"Can we talk?" His posture stiffened up and he looked away from you, it kinda put you at ease knowing you weren't lying under his judgmental gaze. But it made you wonder what excuse he was plotting.

You squeezed his arm tighter. "Please." He had looked down, embarrassed and shamefully, before nodding his head. "Yeah. Sure."

Slowly, you let go of his arm; to your own dismay. You both walked over to your desk, he pulled up a chair across from you. Just like he did before he stopped talking to you, you felt bittersweet.

"So…what bug are you checking out?"

Still, he avoided eye contact. "Honey Bees, nothing special."

"What have you learned from them?" You asked; partially curious, mostly to just talk.

"Well, they communicate through scent and dance. They also are a matriarchal led society, so there's only a handful of male bees in a hive."

"That's cool." An awkward pause was held between you both, it was probably the most uncomfortable silence you had ever sat in.

He stood up, his hand supporting himself on the chair as he got back on his feet. "If that's all, you wanted to talk about, the-"

"Why are you ignoring me? Did I offend you or something? If I did, why didn't you tell me?"

He stared at you like you were crazy. “What?”

“You aren’t talking to me and every time I walk in a room you leave, you don’t look at me and you just tried to run outside!” He got tense, but you didn’t notice and continued ranting. “I really miss you, I thought we were friends. That’s why I thought you’d come to me if I did something wrong but you never did and I- ugh! Do you know how much I miss you? I really like you!” Covering your mouth to stop the flow of word vomit, you gasped. Chris wore a shocked expression too and his cheeks began to flush. “I-I mean like, I like your company…”

You were going to try and explain yourself further, but Chris had already begun speaking. “I don’t hate you or anything I just-“ he sighed heavily “…Do you remember a few weeks back, when we snuck out of the tortuga?” You recalled the event, it was the last time you two spoke before Chris went on his silence strike.

You heard of a few constellations being incredibly visible in the sky at the time. So you and him had planned to meet at the top of the tortuga that night to stargaze. You both agreed to not invite anyone else, just you two and your shared interests. You stayed up there for hours, talking about nothing in particular.

“I used to wanna be an astronaut when I was a kid, y’know? My childhood room is covered in space stuff. I even used to have my own telescope.” You reminisced about going out on summer nights and looking at the moon.

He chuckled. “I'm not surprised, you knew a lot about the moon when me and Martin got stuck on it that one time.” He remembered how you couldn’t stop ranting about moon folklore. “You also have a lot of space stickers in that binder you let me borrow. Plus you had a minor in astronomy in college.”

You stared at him, amazed. “You remember all that?” You said, surprised anyone would pay that much attention to you. His cheeks grew a light shade of red.

“Uh yeah, we spend a lot of time together. How could I not.”

“Oh. Yeah…” you said, staring back up at the sky, the Sagitta constellation, amazed at its beauty. Meanwhile, Chris stared at you.

“It's so beautiful.”

“Yeah…stunning…”

The next day, Chris was talking to Martin about the conversation you both had last night. He said he felt strange at the end. And in Martin fashion, he yelled “You’re in love!” Chris brushed it off at first, but everytime he looked at your face that word echoed in his skull.

“Love, love, love…” He couldn’t even look at you without feeling like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. And looking at you now was hard. Your face was flushed and your eyes were awestruck.

“Is that…really why? You aren’t just messing with me, right?” He choked on his own words.

“I- No! I know it's stupid! I just-…you’re really nice and pretty and you always listen when I talk. I couldn’t help but fall for you.” His chocolate brown eyes were completely honest. You leaned forward and cupped one side of his face with your hand.

“I am…so happy you said that.” The kiss was soft and kind, you both melted into each other's grasp as you enjoyed the warmth of one another’s skin. When you pulled away, he smiled kindly and leaned in for another kiss.

“Hold on, lover boy,” You said, covering his mouth with your hand. “I asked Martin about this and he said to mention some flowers called stargazer lilies, what’s that about?” He cringed for a second and held his face in one hand.

“Please don’t make me say it…”

“You haven’t talked to me in a month, you owe me this.” He sighed in defeat.

“I was going to get you these flowers I found because they reminded me of you. I was going to give them to you but I got…nervous and I…”

“…you?”

“I stuffed them into this vent. Martin saw and told on me to Aviva. Then, she asked what I was doing with flowers and Martin told her that I liked you. After that, they’ve been trying to matchmake me with you. I'm pretty sure Jimmy and Koki know also…”

“We do!” Said a voice from outside. Looking in the doorway, you saw your fellow crew members peeking inside to invade you both.

“Smooth, bro!” Martin said, giving his steaming brother a thumbs up before running off while being chased by him. The rest of the crew crowded around you to ask you about your relationship with Chris.

“What can I say? I like looking at stars.”

#wild kratts #martin kratt #chris kratt #aviva corcovado #christopher my beloved #chris kratt x reader #wild kratts x reader #martin fic next perhaps

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total-convergence · 10 months

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Species Post: the Yuo Yowa

⚠️CW: Nakey humanoids

Introducing a third sophont species, the Yuo Yowa. I already posted about their non-sophont relative, but I'll copy paste a paragraph from that post for newcomers, or to just refresh your memory, since that part was before the lineage split into them and the ancestors of Yuo Yowa and therefore is also important to their evolution.

"When their ancestors, the house cats, started exploiting a niche of a small, arboreal predator, one of them had a nanite mutate its forelimb claws in such a way that they were slightly more opposable. This individual passed it down to their offspring, because it happenned to be an advantage for climbing and prey capture. As the time passed and the ecosystem stabilized more, their population began to grow larger as larger prey established their own populations in the rainforests. At this point, their ancestors weighted circa 60 kilograms. Due to their diet shifting to a larger sized prey, they slowly abandoned the tree canopy, but still climbed on their daily basis. One branch of these moderately sized felines would slowly become more and more social, using their opposable thumbs for grabbing rather than restraining. This lineage will be very important later on, as they will be one of the few lineages to develop their own culture."

So if that wasn't clear enough, the "later on" means right now.

Their ancestors also left the rainforests, but unlike the sister lineage mentioned above, the Yuo Yowa are still somewhat arboreal despite the fact that they are also well adapted to deal with very hot and dry weather in the plains and the desert. Their large ears, for example, are very important for thermoregulation, and the desert inhabitants almost always leave them exposed when dressing up.

Due to both pheomelanin and eumelanin present in their skin cells, they can have reddish and yellowish skin tones. When their hair grows, it starts out as dark until the production of eumelanin halts and the hair continues growing light, or with only pheomelanin present. Basicaly like agouti fur in cats and dogs.

A video showing mechanics of their retractable claws and how they work during item manipulation. The Yuo Yowa have retractable claws on both their feet and their hands, with the exeption of the hand thumb. Shown here is a 3D animation with a non transparent and a transparent (fingerbone revealing) model of a Yuowian hand grabbing a cylindrical and a spherical object. In the animation, I was experimenting a little bit, I wasn’t sure about the design so I made only half of the claws retractable to see the difference. I was so hooked up on the idea that this can't possibly work, but after some tests I realised it's a lot more straightforward than I thought.

And a sneak peek for the end

#speculative evolution #creature design #digital art #worldbuilding #artists on tumblr #spec bio #spec evo #speculative fiction #3d art #3d model #reference sheet #total_convergence #TCofficialstuff #3d animation #drawing #procreate #scifi worldbuilding #scifi

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huginsmemory · 2 years

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First meetings: Wolfwood and Vash

ID: Wolfwood in his introduction chapter pinching a protesting Vash's chin with interest and exclaiming that people are stupid for not immediately recognizing Vash.

One thing I noticed while rereading the manga, is the nature of Wolfwood and Vash's first meeting; that is, Wolfwood isn't targeting Vash as his next mark, nor does he likely know that Vash is his next mark. As a result, I thought it would be interesting to look at how that shapes their relationship with each other in the beginning, especially in comparison to the differences in the anime adaptations. Just a fun lil tidbit to sink your teeth into.

Proof of Unknowing

For the case that Wolfwood wasn't yet targeting Vash, my first point is that it makes sense logistically; if Wolfwood was targeting Vash to kill him as Legato had originally told them to in the manga, it would be assumed that he would have tried to kill Vash. However, instead he doesn't try to at all, although one might chalk that up to Vash saving his life by spotting him while on the bus or some other plot gimmick for Wolfwood to not immediately try to kill Vash.

Secondly, and more obviously, Wolfwood hasn't met Legato yet. This is seen clearly when Legato asks Wolfwood if he's Chapel, who Wolfwood is (later shown to be) impersonating, which means that Legato has never met Wolfwood. As well, Wolfwood is only shown to know the location of his next job- when he mutters about the chapel on the top of the rock- and doesn't seem to know nothing else, making it highly likely he doesn't even know any other details. In fact, Vash actually warns Wolfwood to not get involved with Legato, giving Wolfwood his description, to which Wolfwood when recieving the info doesn't seem to know the man; and upon arriving, and meeting Legato, Wolfwood actually parrots the description from Vash's warning in wariness, recognizing him through Vash's warning.

ID: Collection of three manga pages.

First page: Legato comments, "'Chapel' seems to be missing... Well, no matter. Our target... Has yet to arrive." His words fade into Wolfwood exclaiming, "Huh?! A skull attached to his left arm?" Vash says, "Yep, yep! That's right. And a raised, needle-like torture device on his right shoulder." After a pause, Vash says, "You don't know him? Well, if you see him, let me know."

Second page: Vash tensely remembers a blood spatter and thinks, "Like a shadow, he came. And like a shadow, he killed and slipped away. If he... If he can move in and out of a crowd like that, people can be killed easily..." Wolfwood and Meryl look curious, and Wolfwood asks, "Well? If I see that guy, what should I do? You got a message for him?" Vash makes an exclamatory sound and shouts, "No! No! Never-mind!! Do not get involved. He's a very, very dangerous man. I swear!" Wolfwood laughs, "But I heard you were the most dangerous man in the world!" Vash sighs.

Third page: we see Legato and Wolfwood standing across from each other at their first interaction. Legato says, "That cross... I've been waiting for you. You're 'Chapel,' correct?" Wolfwood's expression is wary, and he says, "The skull... The torture device... I know you..."

Since Legato hasn't met him yet, this also means Legato's precious half-coins which he gives to each of the gung-ho guns hasn't been given yet to Wolfwood, which Legato has been previously shown to inform the gung-ho guns who their target is when he gives it to them (as with the first gung-ho gun). This again makes it unlikely that Wolfwood even knows his mark is Vash.

ID: A panel of Legato touching a broken coin in front of Monev the Gale, the first gung-ho gun and saying intensely, "Do whatever it takes. For twenty years of your master's benevolence, it's time to repay him."

Lending further support, when Legato mentions that they specifically may need to deal with--ie, kill--Vash, this is the moment when we are privy to Wolfwood thought processes, where he desperately rages against his life as a assassin and how he wants to escape this life that causes him to kill. This is especially understandable under the context of Wolfwood just being told that he is supposed to kill a man that he had just somewhat befriended, a man who had just saved his life and payed for his lunch, who clearly has a good heart.

ID: Two subsequent manga pages. Legato (off page) says "We're entering unknown territory here. You must be ready to handle any situation. Especially... Vash the Stampede. By no means may you fail!!" Wolfwood's frowning face is shown as Conrad comments that Vash is coming and that he understands why Knives chose that location. There's a close-up of Wolfwood's narrow-eyed expression before a cut to his shoes stomping up a mountain. He angrily exclaims, "Shit! What the hell was with all th' training?! Once again I'm staining my own hands with blood. God..." He thinks, "Once it's gone full-circle... where will it end?"

Basically, manga Wolfwood and Vash's beginning of their relationship starts with them forming a camaraderie before Wolfwood learns that he needs to kill/betray Vash. This makes it in a way more bittersweet, because their original interaction never had that tension of knowledge that Wolfwood is there since the beginning to betray Vash, and instead, they are simply existing together and form a what might tentatively be called a friendship--at least something where the both of them seem to have made a positive impact on the other-- outside of Wolfwoods mission. As a result, the question of how much of the camaraderie in the beginning of their relationship is Wolfwood having to get close to his mark is removed; you realize the camaraderie they share is honest and organic. In a way it's more tragic, because Vash even warns Wolfwood to remain away from Legato, but Wolfwood is already inevitably heading towards meeting the man, and learns to his horror that his next target is actually Vash. For Vash it also it's bitter because when Wolfwood finds Vash, Wolfwood mentions Knives for his reason of finding Vash; showing that even against Vash's warning, Wolfwood has clearly been entangled in some manner in the fight between Vash and Knives.

Anime adaptions

All this gets cut from Stampede, as Wolfwood is pretty explicitly following Vash to babysit him since the beginning. As Stampede has considerably condensed the story this makes sense since it would take time they don't have to add it in; but I think that cuts out an interesting extra dimension to Wolfwood and Vash's relationship, but so many things have been cut that I'm not surprised, and it's so changed that this being cut is not a big deal to me (compared to other things they cut which were more important).

From what I remember of the 98' anime, it's left a bit open to whether or not Wolfwood already knows from the beginning. However, as Wolfwood appears before Legato appears, it may mean that Wolfwood doesn't know during their first few meetings, like in the manga, but we aren't given a specific scene that shows Wolfwood being told to follow Vash, so we don't know where in the timeline he knows (we are only given the scene where he's told to kill Vash, later in the series). As well, Vash warning Wolfwood about Legato was removed in '98, which then lacks that bittersweetness of the realization that Wolfwood has become entangled in Vash and Knives fight. However, I haven't finished rewatching '98, so I don't have a more confident answer for whether or not Wolfwood knows, so take this part of the analysis with a grain of salt.

Conclusion

TLDR: In comparison to Wolfwood seeking out Vash to betray/observe him since the beginning, Wolfwood not knowing, (as shown by Legato not knowing who Wolfwood is when they meet) makes their whole first interaction in the manga organic, and adds a whole extra dimension of tragedy to their relationship, especially with the way Vash tries to warn Wolfwood away from Legato, which ultimately fails. As a result, the darker parts of both of their lives, which they don't acknowledge in their first meeting, end up intertwined, against their will. This actually serves as part of a huge thematic resolution of monstrousness and rejection but that's not the point here, that's another thing for another day.

Btw! If u wanna read more rambles from me, here's a masterpost of em :)

Edit (Apr. 2): Added photo ID, written by @princess-of-purple-prose

#trigun analysis #trigun manga #trimax #trigun maximum #hugin rambles #wolfwood #nicholas d. wolfwood #vash #vash the stampede #vashwood #i thought it was a really interesting tidbit about their relationship #cause damn the both of them being like oh they were neat and were a good person to realize that their paths cross again but in a way that #they both are entangled in darknesses not of their own making #and where one is doomed to betray the other #mmmmhm absolutely lovely #also im working on writing out basically wolfwoods acceptance of Vash's inhumanity which this is also directly tied to and its just. HNNNGH #so well put together nightow how do u do this #trigun #trigun meta #uh yeah i think thats it #looking at the narrative of trigun from wolfwoods view point is fascinating #also if u @ me being like why ur manga screen caps shit its because i read them at low brightness to not MURDER my eyes at 3 am #and im a lazy fool to change it to high contrast when taking screenshots

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highqueenofelfhame · 1 year

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a/n: happy mermay!! this wasn't supposed to be multiple parts but it started getting a little long. it won't be a full length fic but it will have a few parts for it just to keep it from being one insanely long one shot. i hope you enjoy. pls be kind, i haven't written fantasy in a long time or fantasy like this ever. ok bye <3 PS: IF YOUR TAG IS BOLD IT WOULDN'T LET ME TAG YOU!

masterlist // rowaelin // 5.3k words

Of everything that Rowan Whitethorn had ever been called, stupid was never one of them.

Always at the top of his class, he graduated valedictorian in both high school and college. He worked tirelessly to graduate with a double major in oceanography and marine biology. A decade later, he had a doctorate in the former and worked for the most well respected ocean research institute in the world. Rowan himself was said to be one to watch in their community with his passion and tireless research.

Right now, however, the only word blasting through his brain was stupid stupid stupid while alarms in his submarine wailed for about fifteen different reasons. Frantic fingers flew across the keyboard to access troubleshooting. Everything was going off. His oxygen inside the craft was plummeting, air pressure was rising, something in the back was hissing, communication with the surface was down, and he had no fucking idea why.

Five minutes ago he approached the ruins far beneath the waves and was studying animal activity in the middle of the night. It was by the far the dumbest thing he had ever done, going down at night without telling anyone. The submarine was built for two bodies and there was always a team on land surveying everything about the machine in case something went wrong. He knew better, yet something had been calling to him until he found himself pulling on his clothes and boarding alone. Rowan hadn’t even woken anyone up to ask for assistance. It was a trip he had made so many times over the last few months and he didn’t see the harm in going.

And now the multi-million dollar submarine had managed to hit something incredibly hard while not moving. Nothing had shown up in the radar. One minute he was scribbling notes on lined paper and the next he was launched out of his seat and into the wall. His body was screaming as he pulled himself into the seat to figure out what the hell happened, but he couldn’t see anything. Rowan wondered what kind of chaos was happening above the water. Everyone would be awake by now and realize that both he and the submarine were gone.

Still panicked, he kept trying and failing to get the back-up oxygen running. He was down to three percent which should have been fucking impossible for how long he had been below.

At least he was going to die in the ocean. He had loved it so thoroughly since he was a boy, always feeling drawn to the water. At least there was this.

“Burning hell,” he heard, but it wasn’t his voice. Rowan quickly surveyed the submarine and came to the conclusion that he was alone. But where did that voice come from? The accent was unlike anything he had ever heard but it was so lovely. All rolling letters and curved syllables, it nearly entranced him. Whoever she was, her voice was the most gorgeous song he had ever heard and there was a tug—

Metal groaned and cracked, popped and exploded to nothing and suddenly he was launched through the water. By the grace of the gods, he managed to get one gulp of air into his lungs before being swept out into the iciest cold he had ever felt. It was pointless. He was going to die. How he hadn’t burst into a billion pieces at exposure to such high water pressure was absolutely beyond him. That one quick breath wouldn’t save him.

Maybe he was already dead.

With his body going into shock and the submarine sinking in pieces and chunks to the ocean floor, there was no way he wasn’t one hundred percent a dead man. It didn’t make sense that he hadn’t blown to bits, that he had seemingly stopped flipping and hurtling through the water. Everything around him suddenly felt warm like the ocean was wrapping him in a loving embrace.

Definitely dead, then.

If he was still alive against all odds, he didn’t have much time left. Despite being an excellent swimmer with lungs that could sustain him under water for several minutes, he didn’t have the time to get a proper breath. Still, he opened his eyes, rapidly blinking as the salt burned, invisible tears escaping into nothing. He shouldn’t be able to see anything this deep without the lights, and yet…

Something was glowing. It was a radiant golden light floating closer and closer to where he waded. Which also shouldn’t be possible, but he supposed all bets were off when you were dead. Perhaps this was all a dream and he would wake up soon, haunted by that lovely, lilting voice he didn’t want to forget.

“I can’t do this for very long,” Gods, that voice. His panic seemed to cease at the sound of it. A sense of calm washed over him and the sudden sensation of air whooshing up his nose had him exhaling the breath he was holding. Rowan blinked again, that blurry orb of bright light turning into a woman.

Mala burn him alive, he had never seen anyone so beautiful in all his life. Her hair seemed to defy the laws of oceanic gravity, cascading over her shoulders and well below her breasts. With pale skin and a smattering of freckles across her nose, she swam until they were close enough to touch.

Despite his blurry vision, he could tell her eyes were the color of the purest seas. So vibrantly turquoise there was no way she was human. Light seemed to radiate from within her turning the golden ring in her eyes into molten flame as she appraised him. Her skin cast a dim light around them, those brilliant eyes scanning the area.

Something deep within him tugged, like a taut piece of string pulling against his ribs, his heart. This is what he had been looking for. This angel was the reason he was so drawn to the ocean and all that dwelled within.

“I can’t keep giving you oxygen for long,” she told him, concern furrowing her brow. Rowan opened his mouth to ask if she was an angel, to tell her how beautiful she was and that it felt like he’d been pulled toward her his entire life, but water rushed in and forced all of his words back down his throat. “Don’t try to speak. I don’t have long.”

Dumbly, he nodded his head. He would do anything she asked of him.

“You have two options and you must decide quickly.” Her pretty words were rushed like she was the one panicking. “You can die and I can return your body to the surface, or I can save you. But if I save you, you’ll be like me. And you will dwell here forever.”

He was already dead. There was no other explanation. But he cocked his head slightly in a silent question. What did she mean like her?

Thus far in their interaction he hadn’t been able to pull his eyes from her perfect face. His eyes had dipped down to her neck, but no further than that. Something in his mind told him to look, to see, so he took one of their dwindling moments to fully take her in. If he wasn’t dead, he probably would have been surprised. Perhaps he would have yelped and tried to get away, or maybe his brain would have made something up to make him believe what he was seeing.

Her hair seemed to move from her neck, coiling around to the other side to display what could only be gills just behind her delicately pointed ear. Some sort of shining fabric was wrapped around her breasts. Like her eyes, it was a stunning shade of turquoise that he was convinced had no name and seemed to be fused to her somehow, like scales. Her body was finely sculpted by the gods, all the way down to her navel. There, her skin reflected bits of gold, and lower she—

Where her legs should be was a vibrant, shimmering gold tail. It looked like golden starlight had been melted and wrapped tightly around her body. The fins of her tail swayed idly in the water like molten ore. Similar to some jellyfish, the edges of the main fin had a slightly ruffled quality to them yet looked like the finest gossamer. He couldn’t be sure with his blurry eyes, but it seemed to have a glimmering effect. At her hips she had fins on each side that looked much like the one where her feet might have been if she was human. She was a mermaid. And she was fucking exquisite.

“I can save you, or take your body home. What do you wish?”

The answer seemed obvious. Die and let his friends and colleagues find his body, or live forever in heaven with an angel. One that it felt like he’d been looking for his whole life. Maybe that was the death talking.

Still, he nodded, gesturing toward her. He wanted to ask how she was going to save him, but the words didn’t leave his mouth. Instead, she smiled, pink lips spreading to reveal surprisingly normal teeth.

“A kiss,” she whispered, her voice a sultry purr as she leaned closer. “Are you sure?”

Rowan nodded as the airflow through his nose grew weaker. How could he say anything but yes to her? To the creature with the voice of a song his heart had been singing forever. As he took his last inhale of the air she gifted him, his nod grew more eager.

“This is going to hurt, and I am so sorry.” Before he could process her words, cool lips were pressed against his.

Something pulled at his insides, but he couldn’t name the feeling. His lips parted when her tongue brushed his lips and she exhaled what could only be liquid flame into his core. Rowan began to thrash about, lightning striking every nerve ending in his body. Aches rumbled deep in his bones and barreled through every pore, that white-hot pain lancing across his skin, his lips, his eyes. Even his hair seemed to hurt as she burned him from the inside out. The pain was so fierce he couldn’t muster the strength to even attempt to restrain her, to shove her away and make her stop.

Through the pain his body bowed, back in a tight arch that felt like his spine would splinter into thousands of pieces. Color exploded behind his eyes as whatever fire she breathed into his lungs took root. Paralyzation took over and he couldn’t move, the only solace to the heat being the frigid water surrounding them.

Rowan might have been screaming to no one and nothing, and she might have been devouring his very soul. Even when the pain became so blinding that consciousness was no longer an option, her poisoned mouth stayed glued to his.

He had always heard that beautiful things were deadly. It couldn’t be more true about the creature stealing his soul. All he knew was pure agony when the freezing darkness of the ocean swept in, claiming another life to her mysterious depths.

~*~

When Aelin awoke she was nestled on a bed of kelp and seagrass. The sickly-white bioluminescence told her enough about where she was without having to really look around: the infirmary. It wasn’t the first time she had woken up here with twinges of pain throughout her body and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. It was, however, the first time she couldn’t place why she was there.

In true Aedion fashion, he was lounging on a rock with a solemn glare aimed at her. Aelin winced as she sat up and adjusted her weight. One of her fins had been caught beneath her for what felt like entirely took long. She frowned at the wrinkle, at the thing that seemed different about herself that she couldn’t place before looking at her cousin.

“What the hell happened?”

“You don’t remember?”

“Not particularly, no. Some grand adventure of mine turned a little sour, I suppose.” They often did much to her family’s eternal dismay. It wasn’t that she went looking for trouble, she just had a penchant for finding it.

“The submarine? The explosion? The man? Your kiss? Any of that ringing any bells, sweetheart?” Bright memories clanged through her at his words and she started, twisting and turning to find the man from the vessel.

Her heart both soared and sank at the sight of him several beds over. Considering that he was already finished with his transformation and sleeping soundly, it meant that she, too, had been unconscious for at least two days. Maybe three.

What a glorious transformation it was, though. Her aching body pushed her through the water to his side, her fingers weaving into the seagrass as she came to a stop. Gills fluttered gently as he breathed, his long silver hair fanned out around his head like a halo. The clothes he had been wearing when she found him were gone. A bronze sculpted chest expanded with every breath and occasionally his eyes and fingers twitched. The tattoo he had as a human remained, but where the ink had once been a flat black, it now flashed with blues and greens beneath the lights. It had expanded to crawl up his neck and feathered along his jaw, the edges of it wrapped around his ears like tiny tentacles. Fascinating. The gauntlet of scales that started at his wrist and crawled up his forearms were of the same coloring as his tale, all vibrant shades of silver, gold, green and bright blue.

Then there was his tail. While hers was all golden with turquoise throughout, his was primarily her favorite shade of green. About halfway down it faded to a darker emerald with sparkling silver and gold shooting throughout. Aelin’s scales were flatter, more silken to the touch. The ones of his fin were thicker and more defined, similar to how Aedion’s were. He had very defined boning through his bottoms fins, the webbing between iridescent hues of pine, starlight, and the purest ocean water. In short, he was beautiful, and she was positive she could write an essay about him if she tried.

“Has he woken up at all?”

“Not yet, but his vitals are steady and healthy. He should wake up soon, though. Probably good that you woke up first.” Aelin nodded in agreement, curling her hands into fists to keep herself from touching him. “Are you going to tell me what the hell happened to make you give him your kiss?”

“I know what it looks like, and it’s not that,” she blurted, perching on the edge of the man’s bed. It looked like she lured him out of the submarine to seal his fate below the waves. While she had spent the last several months enthralled by him and the work he did, she didn’t kiss him lightly. It wasn’t a simple decision to make, and it was one that few mer ever risked.

Aedion arched an eyebrow, his fins moving in a way that told her she was impatient. Aelin sighed heavily, running her fingers through permanently silky strands.

“He got too close to the city. The defenses went off and when I tried to shove them out of the way, it was too late. It rocked the back half to the vessel and sent all the mechanics into a tizzy. He was going to die.”

“He’s doing work that could kill us all,” Aedion reminded her. It was a harsh truth she wanted to ignore. Something about this man was different from all the others that had ever studied their kingdom. Humans saw it as a cluster of ruins. In reality it was one of the seven thriving kingdoms that dwelled at the bottom of the ocean. A kingdom that she was the princess of.

While many oceanographers tried, and failed, to get too close to document the ruins, this man had always made his team stay far enough back that no damage would be caused. Even on the night that the world went to hell, he was a respectable distance away until a current pushed him a little too close. Aelin had been watching all these months, though. The man was incredibly intelligent and cared greatly about the ocean and her creatures. She spent hours watching him while he scanned what he believed he saw, scribbling notes in a little book. Most often he had a golden or onyx-haired companion with him. It was always this one that was most cautious and respectful about the marine life, though.

The lost Kingdom of Terrasen was only a myth because it had never existed on land to begin with. Legend says a thousand different things about how it wound up on the bottom of the ocean, leading generations of scientists to dive deep below to try and find the forgotten city. Most of the time, the defenses of the kingdom would wipe memories and send people far away. Some of them forgot what they were doing in the water to begin with, some forgot who they were entirely. Their wards were temperamental and it all depended on the heart of the person hunting them.

For the first time ever, when this man was on board the submarine, they were allowed to see the ruins of what might have been. It confused everyone, her father included. Even the king didn’t have control over what the wards permitted people to see or what knowledge they might walk away with. This man and his team had been chosen for the smallest amount of exposure. The only catch, it seemed, was that they couldn’t nail down exact coordinates and there were days between visits because they got lost.

The night he appeared entirely alone, however, it was like he knew exactly where to go. Like the magic of the lands were whispering to him, guiding him almost to their doorstep. It was the first time he had ever gotten much too close and it almost cost him his life. That wasn’t entirely his fault, there truly had been a current that moved the ship just enough that it triggered major defense systems. If Aelin hadn’t tried to knock the blast out of the way, he would have been dead before she could intervene.

She looked back down at his handsome, sleeping face and held in a sigh before looking back at Aedion. “You know that the magic sings to him.”

“Is it the magic, or has it been you?”

Aelin scowled. Sirens were relatives of the mer, and liked to lure men to tragic deaths. Somewhere in their shared Ashryver bloodline were siren powers. They never really used them. Speaking to this man to save his life was the first time she had ever put the full force of it in her voice, and it had only been to calm him down.

“You know it wasn’t me,” she said, twisting to look back down at him.

“You gave him your kiss.”

“I gave him the option of death or life, and he chose life. So of course I gave it to him.” A mer’s kiss was as much of a legend as the merfolk themselves. Most of the stories were watered down versions of the truth. None of them were exactly correct, yet they weren’t wholly wrong.

Many of them claimed you would be given magic of your own or healing powers. Most implied it could be done over and over, and that to take a kiss from a mer was to sell your soul. The last part was kind of true. To take a kiss was to become a mer, but it was a little more complicated than that.

Each mer only had one true kiss to give. Typically it was given to humans, though some had been known to give it to other creatures of the deep. It was a heavy decision on the mer because of the repercussions. That other life would be immortally bound to theirs, half of any magic the possessed transferring to the other being in the process. The elders said it was because the magic was the only way most could survive the transformation, and after witnessing it with her own eyes, she understood why.

Aelin had always known that it would be painful on both parts. For the man she saved, it seemed to ring true. She had never seen that kind of blind terror on anyone’s face, had never been able to feel such raw, visceral pain coming from another being as clearly as if it were her own. The few mer that she knew were Made had once said it was like having every part of you ripped out and made new, but it depended on what magic the other possessed. Among a few smaller healing gifts, Aelin had liquid flame that nobody could really explain. It had to have been agony.

For her, she felt parts of herself she didn’t know existed splintering apart. The tangible feeling of her magic being torn from her body was painful enough, and she wouldn’t have been able to pull away from him if she tried. Her bones still ached like she’d been slammed into the sandy floor over and over. Maybe she had. At some point she lost consciousness and then woke up in the infirmary with her glaring cousin at her side.

And then there was that other thing she had felt. Like a harp string between their bodies shining golden in the dark, plucking a song she swore she had heard her entire existence. Most merfolk didn’t risk giving their kiss away. The costs were simply too high for them unless they found their true mate. Looking down at the handsome face beside her, feeling that vibrant bond between them, she couldn’t help but wonder if the wards had been so forgiving of the man because his heart sang their princess’s song.

“Aedion, I think…” Words were tangled in knots that she couldn’t speak.

“I know. We all knew. Look at his tail and yours.” Aelin swished her lower fin up, gasping at the brilliant shades of green that shimmered in the bioluminescence of the infirmary. Where her tail used to be just gold and blue like her eyes, green was now infused effortlessly. Near her bottom tail, the gold speckled then blended into turquoise. Now green made the fade all the more seamless and complete. The delicate webbing that layered upon itself in a ruffled-like display had vibrant bands of green melted effortlessly with her natural coloring. As fuzzy as her mind had been when she woke, it was insane to think she had missed the green and silver scales speckled through what had once been solid gold. Even the fins at her hips and her forearms matched the lower one.

When she looked back down at his tail she felt silly for not seeing it before. Those blue hues were exactly the color of her eyes, of her scales and webbing. Even the gold was identical to hers and that was rare. Not even Aedion’s or her parent’s shades of gold were a perfect match.

The sleeping man was her mate. It was wholly undeniable.

Hours passed, her mother and father coming to check on her not long after her revelation. Neither were angry with her, though she wouldn’t have blamed them if they were. Both were just relieved that she was okay and still breathing, and promised they would figure out the next steps together.

“Let us know when your prince wakes,” her mother said, a knowing look twinkling in her eyes. Prince. Because he was now a prince of the most powerful kingdom in the ocean. Gods above.

Aelin stayed perched on his bedside, tail swishing anxiously while she waited for him to rouse from sleep. She had just finished a seaweed snack when she heard a deep inhale beside her. When she looked over, she was gazing into bewildered but bright green eyes.

“Hello,” she said, pushing off the bed to give him his space. Hints of fear were speckled in his eyes, the smell of his heart rate spiking beneath his skin heady in its own way. Her fins swayed idly to keep her in place, the ribbon-like tendrils at her hips reaching for him. It was almost like her magic and her body recognized him as belonging to her.

The man was quiet, bleary eyes blinking up at her. One of his hands waved in front of his face as though realizing he was underwater, breathing, and alive. Wonder and amazement crossed over his features before he looked back at her.

“Am I dead?” His voice was prettier without machinery warping his words. Aelin bit down on her lip and glanced away, trying to bite back a smile.

“No. You are quite alive, but not the same as you were. Are you in pain?” Those green eyes didn’t stray from her face as if he couldn’t look away.

“I’m sore.” Aelin nodded, parting her lips to respond when he asked, “Where am I?”

“In one of the infirmary towers of the palace.”

“Underwater?” Bewildered, his eyes flew around the room. He probably expected ruins, and was instead greeted by pristine walls made of seashells and rows of beds. Beyond the doorway behind them was an extensive supply of medicinal plants and herbs.

“We were never lost, just never wanted to be found. You are the first human to ever see it as ruins. I’m afraid that your research won’t reflect that. The magic only seemed to like you and I can’t imagine your colleagues will remember what they saw down here.” Aelin’s smile was sad and her heart ached for what he lost. From his human life to the career and research that he seemed to love so much.

“I think I died. And that you might be an angel of death,” he said slowly, the memories seeping from his mind down that new bond they shared. Aelin could feel his fear of her, even as she shook her head.

“I know it felt like I was trying to kill you, but believe me when I say it was the only way to save you. My powers.. I have great strengths, but I also have weaknesses. My healing magic is few and far between and I only have so much to give. I wouldn’t have been able to sustain your oxygen levels for the ascent despite how fast I can swim. You would have been dead before we broke the surface.” She hated the dread on his face. Hated how much he wanted to believe none of this was true. Still, he hadn’t looked away from her to see what he had become. Aelin wondered if he could feel it, if he knew, or if he still felt the phantom of his human limbs.

“Are you an angel?” His eyes dipped to her throat then back to her face. The Adam’s apple in his throat bobbed and she wondered if it was the gills that got that reaction from him.

“I think you know what I am,” she said, swishing her tail hard enough that he had to view it in all its glory, not just out of his periphery. “Just like I think you know what you now are.”

His eyes were roving over every scale, every shimmering, shiny inch of her body. She held still while he drank every piece of her in, his mouth parted in surprise. One hard swallow later and he was gaping down at his lower half like he couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing.

Some mer chose to take this part away after the kiss. Truthfully, she hadn’t thought about it too much, but was now wishing that she had. So many emotions were flying across his face entirely unfiltered, so quickly she couldn’t make sense of them all.

“What’s your name?” Her hands toyed with the ends of her hair just to have something to do.

“I— Rowan. Rowan Whitethorn.” His eyes darted to her body and back to his.

“Rowan,” she whispered, two syllables turning over sweetly in her mouth. “My name is Aelin. I’m the princess of what you call the Lost Kingdom of Terrasen.”

“Bullshit,” he blurted, shooting upright and looking around the room. His hands were braced on the bed, the kelp and seagrass trapped beneath his fingers.

“When you’re feeling better I’ll show you everything. Anything you want to see or do, it’s yours. But I would rather wait until the residual pain has faded because swimming long distances—”

“What did you do to me?”

“I saved your life the only way that I could. I told you it would make you like me.” She hated that her tears, thicker than water and shining in her eyes like oyster shells, were burning her eyes. Soon they would be falling down her cheeks like lost pearls.

“I thought I was dead,” he argued, the beautiful lines of his face hard and unforgiving.

“You would have been if I didn’t shield your human body from the pressure, the cold, and your submarine exploding into pieces,” she fought back, hands in fists and voice on edge. Aelin was known for having quite the temper when the right buttons were pushed.

“Maybe you should have let me die. Everything I loved is above the surface.” It shouldn’t have hurt, but it did. It felt like the spindly thorns of a lionfish pricking venom into her skin. Her jaw clenched, sharper teeth sliding out from her gums. The sharp tang of blood filled her mouth as she bit the tip of her tongue. They were a defense mechanism, sometimes used for certain meals, but in moments like this she had little control over their appearance. Her body and magic thought she was in danger so they were giving her the tools to protect herself.

“I gave you the choice. It was your choice. I—” Aelin turned and fixed her eyes on one of the bioluminescent lanterns on the wall. She didn’t need him seeing those shark-like teeth and becoming more fearful than he already was. “Do you want me to take it away?”

“What?”

“The memory, the pain, all of it. I can take it away. But I want that to be your choice. You can hate me if you wish, or I can take it away and you won’t remember your life before.”

Technically he could do it himself, too, but informing him that he now had different kinds of magic flowing through his veins right now didn’t seem like the best idea. Rowan was quiet, fingers tracing over his brand new scales where his knees used to be. Aelin keenly watched him out of the corner of her eye until those teeth sunk back into her gums and she felt his eyes turn back on her.

“No,” he finally said. “No, I don’t want to forget.”

“I know there is going to be a lot of adjustment for you. I want to make it as easy as possible. Your rooms will be next to mine and I’m at your disposal. Should you need me, just call for me and I’ll come. For now, I’m going to find something to eat for the both of us. If you’ll excuse me.” Before he could even open his mouth to object, she used a blast of her power to propel her through the open archway that led into the hall.

While she was going to find him food, those tears were getting a little too close to falling from the tension. It had been a long few days, an even longer few hours of being awake. Not only was she feeling all of her own emotions, but his were thrown into the mix, too. A moment to breathe in the salty water would be enough to ground her.

Her pace only slowed when she was far enough away that it felt safe to sink onto the sandy floor and cry until the frustration began to drift away on a slow current.

@fancysludgeshoelamp @kritical24 @readandlisten @icantfindmychashma @westofmoon @helwanderer @latenighthazymusings @lululululululuop @rowanaelinn @drywhiskers @constant-disappointment-and-gay @throneofus7 @princess-rumi-blog1 @the-regal-warrior @holdthefrickup @baby-babayaga @althelkingshorses @empress-ofbloodshed-writing @earthtolinds @lunadorned @adrianaslv @lunarwitch25 @superspiritfestivall @larisssss @renxzs @1islessthan3books @darknessofoceans @autumnbabylon @backtobl4ck @aelinchocolatelover @besiber24 @s-uppertime @livingmylifeforme @tothestarsandwhateverend @kritical24 @sleeping-and-books @carranam-mates @fireheart-violet @aelinchocolatelover @basicbittywitty @goddess-aelin @shyvioletcat @punkassbookjockey26

#a kiss of salt and flame #akosaf #mermay #mermaid au #rowaelin #rowaelin mermay #rowan whitethorn #aelin galathynius #aedion ashryver #tog #throne of glass #rowaelin fic #rowaelin fluff #mermaids #mermates #heh #see what i did there

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r4i0-0 · 6 days

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Hey. Everything good? I'm just here to write some Hcs and theories about a character that I really like. You can just ignore this if you want.

But then, i'm just putting some more ideas out now, so...

• Hcs and theories in my head about Rock from ice scream.

○ The first thing I had in mind is that Rock was an old soldier/warrior who possibly fought against something much bigger, what could that thing be? I still don't know. (But this is already obvious because he wears a dog tag, right? :^)

○ My second idea, this being totally a theory, was that Rock actually came from another place, perhaps another island or even a more open place that wasn't an island, but still in the snowy environment. Because he is one of the only penguins of his kind on the island, I theorize that on his island there was possibly an attack by some strong predator or some very strong being that led the group of his species to form groups of soldiers. Thus causing Rock to become one of those soldiers in the future, hence his pendant and katanas in his home.

○ But, possibly at some point, his species had to flee or retreat and somehow Rock ended up on the ice berg island. In which, I gather that Rock retired there, assuming that all of his companions were gone/lost or were most likely dead.

○ That's why he keeps his katanas at home, framed on the wall, in case something worse happens or perhaps to always be prepared some thing like that happens again and remember the day he lost his home, his old companions, family and friends.

○ As animals are not repeated in Ice scream, I would say that the enemy war group/or the war enemy that attacked Rock's species is not a seal, but I guess it would be a sea lion. Since this is a species that never appeared in the game. And since penguins' main predators are seals, whales, sea lions and sharks, I deduce that the one that would have the most chance of being turned into a great enemy is a sea lion. Since there is already a seal in the series, this being Mafuyu, who is not a threat and much less wants to hurt Rock, and Rock in no comic has been shown (or has it given information) to be uncomfortable with her presence because of her being from the species of seal. We can now remove the whales too because, in my opinion, whales would be better in water fights, in this case in the water where their natural habitat is and as Rock had a sword, it was because the enemy was possibly someone who could come to the surface...? (Of course, the character could have a human form and know physical combat, so there is a chance I could be wrong. But still, it's something I don't believe. Maybe I could be wrong, I don't know. :/ ) Now, sea lions, in my opinion, are the most likely to be the enemy of Rock's species, as they are animals that can stay in the water and on the surface, in addition to some of them having a threatening size and appearance if you compare the size of small penguins with a gigantic sea lion.

○ Besides, sea lions (at least from what I've seen in some sea lion videos. I'm no biologist, guys '-') like to play with penguins, their prey, so it would make perfect sense if his enemy group was a pack of sea lions.

○ Another species that could also be a great enemy would be the Leopard Seals. It would be cool to see a character that represented a leopard seal! >:D

○ I don't know if it could be sharks, I think it's unlikely to be the case, so I guess the highest species to be Rock's enemy group in this "war" is with sea lions or leopard seals.

○ And as they were possibly much stronger than the penguins, they had to retreat or even flee, with Rock being a survivor of this possible massacre or war of species that happened between his and the sea lions and leopard seals.

○ (Extra: That Mf even has katanas on his wall at home, IT'S OBVIOUS THAT HE WAS PART OF SOMETHING BIG, I'M NOT CRAZY. WHY SO MANY SWORDS IF YOU'RE TO FIGHT ONE PERSON ONLY?? OR IS THAT PERSON SO STRONG THAT IS IT NECESSARY TO BE THAT PREPARED??! THERE WAS CERTAINLY A WAR IN ROCK'S PAST!...or he might just like katanas too. I would be sad if it was only that... :c)

But that's it, I don't know how to delve deeper into these ideas of mine for now, but it was fun to share this idea here. If you want to draw something about my idea/theory or even write something about it, go for it, friend! Just share with me too because I want to know and see please 👉👈

But, that's it, right?

Bye! :D

Have a good afternoon/evening! ♡

#If there is something wrong let me know because my English is not the best and I used Google Translate a few times.#okegom #funamusea #ice scream #Rock #Ideas from my head

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ikamigami · 3 months

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Just a heads up since I know who TS is and my friend told me what they did to you. You reblogged something from their other friend, witchysolfan (I think that's the spelling) TS, DCTCB(that one friend of theirs), and WSF are the big solarxmoon shippers right now who keeps spreading the "Sun is so horrible for abandoning" Moon narrative.

Yeah.. it's so predictable..

Though I thought that I blocked WSF.. but maybe someone else reblogged something from them and I just didn't realize..

Anyway.. this is just so ughh.. Sun didn't abandoned Moon, goodness gracious 🙄

I don't like how they only talk about Moon in lense of the solarmoon ship.. it's so annoying..

Yeah, I know that they also say that Moon is psychotic.. but like Moon really doesn't act as detached from reality as some people claim..

Like most of the cases when someone experience serious psychotic episode - I'm saying serious as in a sense that the person is very detached from reality like Sun was when he killed Bloodmoon and went after Eclipse - they can kill someone sure but it's usually because they believe that the person wants to do something to them and it's usually a close one who is a victim..

Like I was trying to explain why Moon and Sun's situations are different.. but people don't seem to get it..

Cause when Sun killed Bloodmoon he later said - when he and Moon were reacting to animations and there was one with Sun killing Bloodmoon - that it didn't look like that to which Moon said that it's the same dialogue. Which is a pretty solid evidence that Sun probably didn't saw this situation like we viewers did.. which implies that Sun was infact detached from reality in that moment..

And I think that it just sped up the process of development of psychotic episode - which reminds me how awful were Moon's words about Sun not being able to handle killing Bloodmoon.. like no shit cause for most normal people killing mess your brain up.. but Sun shown symptoms of developing psychotic episode prior to this moment so I can only imagine how worse it was for him..

People confuse Sun going after Eclipse - because he's their enemy and villain - with Sun being stable and aware where in fact him going after Eclipse - when he previously mumbled to himself that he isn't like him and later started acting and talking like him - shows us that it wasn't just simple "oh, he just decided to kill their enemy cause he had enough".. no, Sun was scared that he's just like Eclipse.. that definitely mean more than people realize..

I even made a long post explaining how Sun probably doesn't see Eclipse as Eclipse but as embodiment of the voice he heard in his head - many things are hinting to that Sun sees Eclipse differently from everyone else hence why he hates him more than anyone else..

With Moon we don't have that.. if Moon was truly so detached from reality he would just kill Ruin immediately when he caught him.. and only later he would try to come up with what exactly do with Ruin's body to bring Solar back..

Like Sun went completely unprepared to kill Eclipse.. he didn't even know where Eclipse could be.. he was so unstable that he was exploding with such a great magic no one even knew he had..

For me Moon picking and choosing who he's going to kill shows us that he is more aware.. he doesn't act completely on autopilot..

I think that Sun calmed down slightly after that huge magic explosion but he was still greatly confused and didn't know what to do.. he wasn't thinking clearly someone had to tell him what to do - Eclipse was the one who told him to go to Golden Freddy..

Only when Earth showed up and helped him to calm down from his mental breakdown he was back to his senses and even if he still had psychotic episode he was more aware..

We can see that with Moon it's different. He's confused but he isn't as detached from reality as Sun was.. He's more aware of his symptoms unlike Sun who even when he knew that he killed Bloodmoon so when he saw him he said "you're not real" it still didn't click to him that Bloodmoon isn't actually there.. like he even asked Earth if she sees them..

Like to me Moon seems to have mild form of psychosis at most - mild in a sense that he's more aware of things - and maybe if theory about virus is correct than it could explain why Moon is so violent and murderous.. and also it wouldn't be surprising that it made his mental state worse..

I know that you probably saw my posts and all but I thought that it won't be a bad idea to try to explain the differences between Sun and Moon's situations once again for those who will read this answer..

I don't like that those three just spread this awful narrative that Sun abandoned Moon and never loved him or some other shit 😕

And that the most important thing to them is solarmoon 🙄

And I really hate how they try to justify Moon's awful behaviour because he's psychotic.. 🤦‍♀️

It's just wrong.. I'd understand that if he was as detached from reality as Sun was at the beginning of his psychotic episode..

But with how things are with Moon.. it's nothing that can be excused in any way imo..

For me DCTCB always seemed to not understand Sun at all.. but sometimes I think that they don't understand Moon that much either saying that he cares about Solar more than he cares about Sun.. solely because of this stupid solarmoon ship 😕🙄

And this ship isn't even canon but they act as if it was ughhh

They all act as if they knew exactly what is canon and what isn't.. even though they don't write these shows..

But the worst is their audacity to tell others that they can't have their own interpretations or theories or headcanons.. and that others can't be confident in their opinions cause oh lord only they can do that, only their opinions matter..

They tell you that you're projecting but they do exactly the same thing and it's apparently okay for them to do so..

And they try to say "you're just mixing your projections and headcanons with canon".. but they don't see that they're doing exactly the same..

Which is both annoying and hilarious.. but maybe it'd be more funny if it wasn't for how they treated me.. it was just foul..

I really hope that more people we'll see things for how they are.. especially with those three..

I'm sorry for just all this rambling, hope that I entertained you a bit 😅

#anon #anon ask #ask answered #sun and moon show #sams #sams sun #sams moon #sams fandom #solarmoon #tw psychotic episode #tw psychosis #tw hallucinations #tw murder #tw rant

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bellaaldamas · 19 days

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Hope you have a well deversed rest! Your edits are awesome as always! 💕💕💕

Also fun question: I remember reading one of your conversations with stupidrant that someone made a scenario where it's possible for Freya & Baldur to reconciled(?) Would like to know how this could work since he's one of the the few Aesir I sympathized the most. Baldur in Norse Mythology comes back from Hel after Ragnarök. Would be fun to see how he turns out since it possible for SMS to push this direction. :)

Thank you again for the kind words. And I'm grateful that you, through the playlist you had shared with me earlier, familiarized me with the song I used for the edit. It is not only remarkably fitting for Angrboda and Atreboda in terms of lyrics but is well constructed and competently performed in it's own right.

Regarding Baldur, it's fair to say that he is that exceptionally rare example in popular media of a tragic villain done right. Unlike certain whitewashed villains and antagonists apologized either by the narrative or by their respective fan-bases (or, typically, both; this usually applies to male villains but female ones and toxic female characters in general also tend to get away with their abusive and violent behaviors, especially when they come from privileged background) Baldur was treated exactly the way he deserved to. He was shown for someone who was, from beginning to end, a product of his upbringing, circumstances and personal choices influenced by said circumstances.

It would've been exceptionally easy to portray Baldur as a wayward and lost son of a virtuous woman - Freya - who chose the wrong path because due to Odin's genes he was "inherently evil" as well as "ungrateful" towards his mother for her misguided but genuine attempts to protect him.

That's not how Gow18 and GowR (where, notably, Baldur wasn't present at all in the current timeline) portrayed him. The narrative allowed him to vocalize and express every single valid concern he had with the way Freya went about keeping him safe. It was made clear that it were the ways in which he himself chose to express it that were wrong rather than his feelings or experiences.

What stands out the most is that Gow18 events are set in motion precisely because Baldur tracks down Kratos and confronts him on Odin's orders (even that small bit of information already reveals Baldur's characterization as that of a broken individual desperate for parental approval). As the gamer starts learning new fighting mechanics through their battle - the second boss fight in the game and the first one between Kratos and a fellow god - the audience is introduced to Baldur's emotional turmoil, albeit without context. Not through third parties or through Freya (whom Kratos, Atreus and the gamer meet and bond with later and become biased in her favor) but through Baldur's own heartfelt screams about how he doesn't feel a thing and Kratos struggling against him is "pointless" (as he baits Kratos/the gamer to give him their best punch).

That's how the narrative establishes that, on one hand, Baldur's aggressive behavior is inexcusable and unprovoked and, on the other hand, there are underlying psychological reasons for that which need to be examined. From the writing standpoint it's a perfect set up for providing an explanation rather than a justification for villain's actions.

Another noteworthy point is that we get more background on Baldur and learn of his being Freya's son after - as mentioned above - getting to know Freya personally. As Kratos, Atreus and the gamer come to sympathize with and respect her. Unlike Baldur, an obvious antagonist, Freya is, from the get go, introduced as an ally character and as a caring, kind and nurturing person (her determination to save Hildsvini, then in his boar form, after he's shot by Atreus, her love for animals and plants, her saving Atreus's life, her giving Kratos the comfort and support even after he lashed out at her for keeping the very same secret about her deity background that he did in regards to his own son). Which further ensures that Kratos and Atreus as well as the gamer end up taking Freya's side once the faithful information about Baldur being her son is revealed and he attempts to kill her to get even for taking away his feelings. Such framing could've been an opportunity for the writers to only show the situation through Freya's lens and completely rob Baldur of any agency or voice.

But that doesn't happen either. Instead, Baldur is framed as an antithesis for young Atreus. Both had parental issues and estrangement from said parents (despite the emotional closeness to Faye, Atreus eventually finds out she, much like Kratos, also lied to him about vital things and not just her own but Atreus's background as well, for the sake of protecting him - wrong thing done for the right reason, not unlike Freya regarding Baldur). Both Atreus and Baldur aspired to prove their worth to their respective, emotionally distant fathers (as we learn in GowR from Freya herself; who goes out of her way to compare Baldur and Atreus and offers Kratos to become a mentor and motherly figure for Atreus in order to make up for her failures with Baldur).

In Gow18 Atreus has his low point when he finds himself on the verge of losing his morals and compass upon finding out about Kratos's and his own deity heritage. But eventually comes back on track, both due to Kratos breaking the emotional distance between them in order to become the authority figure and positive influence in Atreus's life that he failed to be from the start; as well as due to Atreus's own realization being a ruthless killer is not who he is or wants to be. The latter is the most important part of that arc, showing that Atreus choosing to stay on the right path was, first and foremost, for his own sake. Rather than a part of him wanting to please Kratos and earn his approval, the way Baldur aspired to earn that of Odin. The theme of personal choice over imposed circumstances or mistakes of one's parents is, thus, further highlighted through parallels and contrasts between Atreus and Baldur.

Upon the "family reunion" in the end of Gow18, Baldur gets to spell out his frustrations with Freya and she fully accepts the blame and responsibility. Down to her willingness to allow Baldur to kill her as a penance for robbing him of his ability to feel. However, this is also when the narrative, through Kratos and Atreus, shows that while Freya undeniably is one of the fundamental reasons Baldur turned out the way he did and got consumed by aggression and anger (other reason being Odin and it is in GowR that the audience gets more in depth information about that - along with said audience being prompted to check themselves on placing the full responsibility for bad parenting and it's consequences on a woman), Baldur, ultimately, is his own person. And is just as responsible for his own choices as Kratos, Atreus and Freya are.

The above point continues to be emphasized more boldly in GowR and is the reason Freya escapes being reduced to a misogynistic stereotype of a broken woman consumed by bitterness. Said stereotype is often framed as "feminist" in mainstream media and juxtaposed against soft and vulnerable female character types who maintain their cheerfulness and inspiration in spite of the adversities, like Angrboda. GowR subverted that false juxtaposition as well when it paralleled not only Freya and Angrboda but their interactions with Kratos and Atreus respectively.

As I noted many times, the most subversive point of Freya's arc in GowR is that her vindictive quest against Kratos ends prematurely and permanently less than halfway into the story. Rather than perpetuating the cycle of toxic motherhood by making Baldur's tragic but logical demise (because of his own actions and the route he chose to pursue) about herself and her pain Freya chooses to redirect her anger onto the real aggressor which is Odin ("you're [Kratos] not the one who needs to die"). Essentially diverting said anger away from herself and Kratos; whom Freya initially aspired to kill even if it required irreversibly destroying herself in the process and giving up on everything and everyone she used to hold dear (another part of the toxic parenting cycle).

Her further bonding with Kratos is also remarkable: while Freya recognizes Baldur as "not perfect but hers" she, as noted above, delves more into his background, his dangerous determination to impress Odin at any cost and his similarities with Atreus; whom Freya aspires to shield from the same fate as Baldur's. Atreus, in the meantime, continues to prove himself a parallel/antithesis to the aforementioned by actively seeking interactions with Odin and trying to trick the latter by winning his trust - something Baldur failed to attain either in life or in death.

Through those conversations (particularly in Vanaheim and during Freya's Missing Peace quest) Freya and Kratos realize how numerous factors affected Baldur's worldview, ultimately resulting in the man he became and his eventual death at the hands of Kratos, in defense of Freya. In the scene with the Norns Freya actively jumps to Kratos's defense when they mention his love for god killing being the cause of Baldur's demise ("it was not out of hate!"). Even though she said nothing in defense of herself or Baldur when the Norns mentioned their own choices determining their fates.

As far as Baldur's potential return, I have conflicting feelings about that though consider the idea interesting as well as having potential for SMS to come up with new "mythology with a twist" plot points and give the characters more development. On one hand, Baldur's come back could provide Freya with a closure that, in GowR, she had not yet found with herself (even when Freya was no longer blaming Kratos for Baldur's death she continued beating herself over it, including in the optional scenes and side quests, causing Kratos to emphasize that she did what she though she must do to protect Baldur).

Additionally, regardless of whether the writers take a romantic route with Freya and Kratos' relationship (my preferred scenario) or a platonic one (your preferred scenario) getting to face Baldur again, for both of them, could strengthen their bond and result in them working through that issue completely. The narrative made it a point to never gloss over it and that's what made Kratos and Freya's partnership and alliance so productive, strong and positive.

An anti-parallel to that would be Thrud's unhealthy reaction to Atreus killing her brother, whose death she outright dismissed by saying they were "better off without him" (because at that stage Thrud was mindlessly parroting her father and grandfather's propaganda and didn't have a mind or analytical thinking of her own; her "treacherous ex wife" comment about Freya is a product of that same mindset). Followed by her inviting Atreus, said brother's killer, to enjoy his stay in Modi's room and explore Asgard with her. That is, in between showing distrust or even contempt towards Atreus not for legitimate reasons (as Freya did towards Kratos for killing Baldur and as Thrud should have done towards Atreus for killing Modi) but because of Atreus's independence and unwillingness to tow Odin's line. In Helheim Thrud either prides herself on being supposedly stronger than Atreus - though constantly needs his help and aid with "almost budging" doors - or outright tells him she should have never trusted him. And that her mother was right about him all along when Atreus makes an honest mistake out of good intentions.

There where Angrboda and Atreus's interactions serve as a parallel to that of Kratos and Freya (see above) Atreus and Thrud's dynamic is an anti-parallel to both. That said, as I mentioned before, the most fitting scenario for Thrud's development would be to have Freya as her mentor (something that was hinted at by Lunda) and, in the process of bonding with her, reconsider her misguided perceptions imposed by Odin.

Concerning favourite Aesir characters, in my case it would be Sif whose determination to better herself, overcome her addiction for the sake of her daughter and a brighter future for her family and her willingness to embark on diplomatic missions to restore peace deserves far more credit than she tends to get.

#kratioed #text #reply

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gay-disabled-characters-showdown · 5 months

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LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 1, Wave 3, Poll 16

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Eduoar Corabelli II-The Reader Trilogy / Sea of Ink and Gold

Qualifications:

He's canonically mlm and has depression, and both his relationship with the man he loves and his mental illness are very important to his character and story. Since it's high fantasy the term 'depression' isn't actually available to him, but it's explicitly canon anyway and he just calls it 'melancholia.'

Propaganda:

Ed is like a Disney princess with depression--gentle, kind, loves animals dearly, all that jazz. He's also, when we meet him, being crushed under the weight of responsibility and a familial curse that kills every family member and each person they love before their time, and he's in the most fascinating, sweet, twisted little unspoken relationship. He loves this guy, his childhood friend, but is too scared because of the curse to give voice to those feelings; this guy loves him, but is too reluctant to talk about it, because of the guilt of actively poisoning Ed in a drawn-out assassination attempt and having just killed Ed's last relative. Also, Ed knows he's being poisoned and is gladly going along with it, because he's suicidal. It's complicated; he does get better though. Just know that their love is profound, but not as good as Ed deserves, and when he breaks free of the mental prison of being cursed and leaves the shadow of a man who almost killed him despite that love, he finds he's not just a good person but a capable one

Mod note: apparently according to Mod A “I HAD TO SCROLL THROUGH GOODREADS FOR LIKE TEN MINUTES TO FIND OUT IF THIS GUY EVEN EXISTS”

Eda Clawthorne-The Owl House

Qualifications:

She has a magical chronic disorder which has flare-ups, is mitigated by taking medication (potions), and has similar side effects to many real disorders such as fatigue, greying hair, and physical impairment (drains magic, a natural ability of *most witches). Unlike in other stories however, her condition is NOT ever completely cured. It does evolve and become more manageable over the course of the story, but she still experiences symptoms from it. Eda also loses one of her arms later in the story. She does get a replacement hook, but it is never shown whether she has a functional prosthetic or not. Most likely, she only has one fully functioning arm after this. As for being queer, she is in a relationship with a nonbinary person and is all but confirmed bisexual (has a secret box with the bi flag on it seriously why else would she have this). Also the owl house has a Lot of queer characters in it and I mean. just look at her. I would be surprised if she wasn't queer somehow.

Bisexual, and has a curse that affects her day to day life

Bi & lost arm and has a chronic illness metaphorically

Propaganda:

Has canonically dated both men and a non-binary person. Her curse affects her ability to use magic (and at one point outright stops it), which is very important in witch life. Said curse also causes her body parts to fall off sometimes. Many have said her curse is like a metaphor for depression but really it's more like a magic version of a physical disability (although I wouldn't be surprised if she actually also had depression).

Uuuuh she’s great and stuff idk I can’t propaganda well sorry

#polls #poll #disabled characters #lgbtq characters #disability #lgbtq #lgbtq dcs round 1 #lgbtq dcs wave 3 #eduoar corabelli II #the reader trilogy #sea of ink and gold #eda clawthorne #eda the owl lady #the owl house

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searchie · 4 months

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i’m fixiated on the echinoderms so . I have a fewwwww questions about them (feel free to skip some of these since they might delve deep into some lore stuff that might not be revealed yet OR if there isn’t an exact answer)

how did they all originally meet?

2. did each one of them kind of just. fall out of touch with one another once hairon died?

3. did the other two (quillon and bascon) react to hairon dying aswell ?

4. did hairon and cincon do rlly silly stuff together before hairon died . like idk frolic in the fields together (/silly)

5. how were the others like in the past (before hairon died and perhaps before suhkjot)?

6. how does cincon view the mutants ? does she view them with fear or with dread/guilt?

also. sorry if im rambling a lot im just genuinely invested in this little group of animals from one of the games i adore A lot .

Alright, let's see here...

You know, that's actually a good question and one I may want to explore later. Wouldn't be surprised if they were all creatures from a single unknown island.

Hairon's death certainly worsened things, but Sukhjot was also part of it. After being freed from its mental control, I suppose they all kind of had different goals in mind; Quillon's desire to keep Sukhjot sealed, Hairon's desire to make up for the Sukhjot incident and Bascon just wasting away at arenas are all very different goals.

Without a doubt. If Quillon wasn't a Woeful Urchin before, he certainly became one by then. Bascon probably became even more lost in fighting.

Well, they're both pretty dedicated to their respective duties... I'm not sure I can say in good faith they did a lot of silly stuff. The Sukhjot incident especially made them very unlikely to engage in nonsense.

That being said, I'd imagine they'd be a lot looser before the Sukhjot incident - the tragedies and trauma they went through really exaggerated a lot of their worse traits. Quillon was probably always a bit shy, Hairon was always on the more serious side - albeit more of a positive kind of serious - Cincon... was probably more visibly a nerd, maybe with some social awkwardness but a desire to do good - and Bascon enjoyed fighting, it just wasn't a coping mechanism at the time.

Her reaction to them was largely horror - that someone that she thought she could trust performed such terrible acts. She's not too knowledgeable on what happened to most of the Morphed after she was shown them - the whole thing was covered up - but she does hope they somehow got help or that they're doing well, and it still kind of haunts her from time to time. She does actually still have contact with Facsimile - he acts as kind of a bodyguard of sorts for Viendrome.

Whew. That was a lot, but it certainly helped myself develop them in my mind. I enjoyed thinking about and answering these!

#sekaiju a world of creatures #sekaiju #four echinoderms #sekaiju echinoderms #cincon sekaiju #cincon #hairon sekaiju #quillon sekaiju #bascon sekaiju #bascon #quillon #hairon

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cursedvibes · 7 months

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"I know why the fandom do it but I REALLY dislike to see these goddamn stitches on Kaori's head whenever she's represented in fanart. I know, it's Kenjaku! I know we never saw her without these stitches! I knoooow BUT I HATE IT she's Yuuji's mother and like what happened to her?! Was she pregnant with Yuuji before Kenjaku possess her body?! How did she get along with Jin? Is Kenjaku directly responsible to Jin being dead? And how Kenjaku found her? "

So what do you think about the post above? Do you think the og Kaori have CT all along? And, that Yuuji's personality is from Kaori not Jin?

I can understand the frustration to an extend. I rarely see it, but when Kaori is shown with stitches or Kenjaku without them it does rub me the wrong way. Kind of similar to people who tag posts who are solely about Kenjaku with "Geto", despite him having nothing to do with it.I can kind of understand it with fanart for a wider reach, but it unfortunately also means I can't block the Geto tag because that means I would miss out on over half of the posts in the Kenjaku tag (the anime caught up, why do people still call Kenjaku "Geto").

But at least one question of that post is easy to answer: Kaori wasn't pregnant with Yuuji before Kenjaku took over her body. Wasuke very clearly differentiates between Kaori and Kenjaku and he said Kaori couldn't get pregnant, that was only possible once Kenjaku took over.

Kaori always had a cursed technique, but it is unclear if she awakened it or if it was just lying dormant in her brain. Could go either way really, but the way Kenjaku worded it, it sounds more like she might have been able to use it, although I doubt she was an active sorcerer either way. I also think it would be more interesting and make her less of a passive participant who only got used for the dormant physical aspects of her body both by Kenjaku and Jin. I would like her to have had a little bit more agency and interesting background.

If Yuuji got some core personality traits from Kaori is impossible to say, since we know literally nothing about her as a person. Could be anyone's guess at this point. Yuuji got the humanity kanji 仁 from his father, but I don't think they have much in common personality-wise based on what we have seen of Jin so far. He is polite, sure, but he hasn't really shown that unconditional compassion Yuuji will give to people. He doesn't even seem like a particularly cheerful person. He was happy to have a child, but was ready to overlook over people's suffering in favour of his selfish goals. With how insistently Wasuke warned him and Kenjaku's bad acting skills I find it very unlikely that he didn't notice that something was wrong with "Kaori", but he went through with it anyway. He's also very cold to his father and we don't know how he acted around Kenjaku. I guess Yuuji is similar to him in that he also is distant towards his parent and family members, except for him Wasuke is the exception not the rule.

That also makes him quite similar to Kenjaku, who has shown trouble connecting with family members as well or people in general. They both have a very open and at times cheerful attitude towards others on the surface, but rarely allow themselves to make deep bonds with these people and over the course of their life have grown very hesitant (Kenjaku obviously moreso than Yuuji). The bonds they do form make them "weak", especially in the eyes of Sukuna and jujutsu society as a whole. They are both ready to sacrifice themselves and their body for the sake of a greater goal that is closely connected to a person they care about. Also they have a similar sense of humour. So I guess out of all his parents Yuuji is the most similar to Kenjaku in terms of core personality. I'd say he got Wasuke's stubbornness as well.

Also, another personal pet peeve related to Kaori is when people say Kenjaku calling Yuuji their son are subliminal feelings from Kaori coming through. That argument is already weak when people try it with Geto, but it makes even less sense with Kaori. She never met Yuuji, she might have never wanted to be pregnant for all we know and Yuuji was born at least a year after she was already dead. Where would those feelings come from? Not to mention that Kenjaku is very aware of their vessel (so far only Geto) influencing them and can differentiate between their own feelings and the ones coming from someone else. Not to mention that considering how Kenjaku treats the Death Paintings, suddenly developing parental feelings would definitely be something that would immediately trip Kenjaku up if it was coming from someone else.

#asks

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ducklooney · 5 months

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One question. What do you think Disney from America controls European Disney and must be their canon, what's the matter? Is there something they don't like?

Hi and sorry for not answering this question earlier. You have asked a good question, but I am not sure how to answer it through a long essay or through short explanations, although I will answer it this way.

After all, Disney was created in America by Walt Disney and originally they created all the important characters we know, European writers and artists used them in their comics only later, after the Second World War. Back then, there wasn't so much censorship and writers were free to do whatever they wanted without ruining the originality. And so for several decades until the last decade. Romano Scarpa and Guido Martina created separate comics in their own ways, different from Carl Barks and Al Taliaferro and you have an Italian vision through Topolino comics. You also have Dutch, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish writers and artists who, relying on Carl Barks and the American Disney, made comics in their own way and thus created a separate kind of Donald Duck comics. Yes, you also have Brazilian comics who have written a lot of comics especially about Jose Carioca ever since the movie Saludos Amigos from 1942 was shown. And they created those comics in their own way, which is quite different from American comics. Unlike Latin American and European comics, American comics after the 1940s era clearly separated Mickey and Donald so that they neither see each other nor know each other except at times, since they live in different cities, such as Mousetown and Duckburg. American comics, not counting Archie comics, Peanuts, Garfield, and superhero comics, declined after the 1980s because television took precedence, so many watched television, either series, movies, or cartoons instead of reading comics. So Disney comics also experienced a market decline during that period and then you have the making of the OG Ducktales in 1987 which was made mostly by Disney's animation studio in Tokyo, Japan. And since then, the American Disney has not relied on comics, although since the time of Walt Disney, the differences between the canon in cartoons and in comics have been clearly made.

From what I've talked to others, Walt Disney was also unhappy with the popularity of Scrooge McDuck that Carl Barks created, because a different Christmas comic should have been created. However, the American Disney has clearly indicated that the canon in cartoons is the only official canon, while the comic book is not, except in some exceptions, but that's why they force their other productions where they have ownership to obey and respect the given canon that Disney requires. I think since the golden age of cartoons, the story started about how the official Disney can't really stand their comics, even though the comics took Mickey, Donald and other characters to a high level. Many of the characters we know came from comic books rather than cartoons. I'm not saying this for nothing, since your question just stated that since everything is under the Disney name, although they deviated from the path set by Walt Disney, they still determine the main editorial policy for many comics published in Europe and Latin America. Yes, before, as I mentioned, the authors made independently in their own way, but so that Disney didn't even know, but with the arrival of the Internet, that changed and a kind of censorship had to be done. Sometimes due to public pressure, sometimes due to wrong decisions, although I don't like to talk about politics here, but I think that lately politics has had a lot of influence on it, although I will tell you that politics had a lot of influence during the Second World War as well. Propaganda cartoons are very much the case. But in order not to deviate from the topic, I will tell you a couple of examples where American Disney had a lot of influence on European comics and how the writers still had to respect Disney's canon.

Donald Duck had several girlfriends in addition to Daisy and that the earlier Donald Duck fandom preferred Donald with other people rather than Daisy because Daisy was a bitch who treated Donald horribly, although that's not Daisy's fault as much as the writers who over Daisy mocked feminism. Yes, I love when Donald and Daisy fight over stupid things, but not that Donald constantly suffers from Daisy's impossible wishes that never come true and then kicks Donald like that for her displeasure. Disappointed, Donald finds other people who will suit him better. One of the most common examples with whom Donald is on excellent terms is Reginella, the queen of the planet Pacificus, and she appeared for the first time in the comic "Paperino e l'avventura sottomarina" or Donald and the underwater adventures from 1972 by the writer Rodolfo Cimino and the artist Giorgio Cavazzano when Donald first meets Reginella. Reginella became Donald's new hope and their couple was really great in my opinion and so in several comics. Yes, I love the Donald and Daisy romance, but Reginella with Donald is very special to me and I understand why others prefer it over Donald and Daisy.

However, since Disney found out what other comics were doing unofficially, Disney imposed an unwritten rule that their canon must be respected, so Donald must be with Daisy and no one else. So the last comic with Reginella from August 2021 called "L'ultima avventura di Reginella" or The Last Adventure with Reginella by authors Alex Bertani and Vito Stabile and artist Stefano Zanchi is about the breakup between Donald and Reginella because supposedly Scrooge can't more to finance Donald's trip to another planet, and Donald also admitted to Reginella that Daisy is his first and only love. Yes, Daisy has improved a lot in the last comics and treats Donald differently, but again it was really pathetic that something like that had to be done instead of making some kind of deal to make a clone of Donald and stay with Reginella or something like that. It just tells you that official Disney made the decision that way. However, Reginella appears in two more comics after that and has one comic with Daisy, but I haven't read that comic so I can't tell you exactly. Those who are and who know it, would tell you. Although I would like to see Daisy and Reginella together.

Of course the love relationship between Donald and Reginella is not the only one, but I put it as the most common example that Donald is not only with Daisy as the only "canon" girlfriend. You also have romantic relationships Donald with Lyla Lay (Paperinik New Adventures), Xadhoom (Paperinik New Adventures), Kay K (Double Duck), and others. However, in the comic Double Duck "Agent Zero" Kay K admits to Daisy that Donald's greatest love is Daisy and that they are still friends and Daisy was ashamed of that because before she was very jealous that Donald was with someone else and not Daisy. And there you can see that even though Donald is with someone else, he still stays with Daisy, but it is by no means a breakup under Disney's directive as it was done with Reginella.

2. Canceled characters due to certain things

Dutch comics mostly until 2019 and 2020 drew characters from Song of the South such as Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear and they even had separate comics and were often represented together with Mickey, Donald and friends because they were anthropomorphic characters that also represented classic Disney. Of course, because of the problems in America related to the African-American population, Disney had to stop it and exclude the given characters because they represented caricatures of the African-American population from the South of the 19th century. The South, I mean the South of the USA, where there used to be a Confederacy that seceded and where the Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865. Of course, they could have just stated that it was a product of its time and that the value system back then was not the same as today's, but no, Disney banned Song of The South and cut those characters out, and those characters never appeared again, in those Dutch comics. Yes, I certainly condemn racism, but one must know that it should be censored in a different way, that is, to send a warning. Warner Bros. did a good job with Looney Tunes where they just said it was a product of its time and we don't make it anymore. In this way, you respect the old materials, and you also respect other people of other races. That is, everyone is satisfied. However, in the Dutch comics, Brer Rabbit is presented differently, after all, Disney takes the lead and they are not interested in excuses.

Not to mention the censoring of two Don Rosa comics because of Bombie the Zombie. Instead of giving a warning that it was the product of a man who created under the influence of Barks and that Disney had nothing to do with it, they simply banned it as if they were ashamed of the past. And you know who is ashamed of the past and simply forgets it, is condemned to repeat it, but worse. But I would not talk about that, because it is too difficult a topic.

3. There are no dark scenes in Disney comics like before

There are no more dark scenes like gun chases, dark and dangerous scenes as well as related to the depiction of women and ladies in a realistic view, because it is certainly not for children according to Disney, even though those comics are also read by adults, nor should there be anything dark related to Mickey and friends, and you have the Mickey Mystery comics where exactly such scenes appear. Mostly done for security reasons. However, due to Disney's recent policy and knowing what the authors of European comics are doing, they had to take a different approach. It is no longer the 1990s where you could have scary scenes like in PKNA and where you would feel sorry for Donald as if you were watching some dark blockbuster movie, yet the American Disney which supposedly has its main rules and its main say to decide what can be done in comics and what not not. And they deny comic book material, which is really ironic. Although I'm more frustrated about these things that Disney is doing lately, I still partially understand the need for censorship, but not to ban certain characters (especially Hiawatha), but you can't show racist caricatures like before, but it certainly doesn't mean that you should ban them to give the content to be displayed and read, because this negates the past, which is a great danger for future generations. Of course, European comic artists and writers approach these problems differently and write differently, but they certainly have the free right to draw and work, but they must adhere to the main canons that Disney sets. One of the reasons why you don't even get to see Donald's parents alive or the father of Donald's nephews appear and if he even exists.

There is a lot to say, but I think this is enough. I also apologize if I offended anyone with some of my comments, as it is not necessarily aimed at anyone except for certain stupid Disney decisions. I may have been vague, so I ask especially those who know Disney comics to correct me if I made any mistakes and feel free to add what you want to say. I hope these answers will help you enough to know why there are no more dangerous scenes in Disney comics like before. And thank you for asking me and if he has anything to ask me, feel free to ask me.

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