#skimming replies

[bigfatbreak]

I see a lot of people talking about what Chloé and Kim did, and I think I'm missing something? What did they do?

In a more recent episode "Derision," (sloppy sum up below)

its discovered that the reason Marinette is so stunted, awkward, and generally staccato about dating Adrien in spite of genuinely liking him, is because she was a major victim of Chloe's the year prior. During that year, Chloe threatened anyone who would attempt to befriend her, isolating Marinette completely, only having a friend in a girl named Socqueline who would relentlessly defend her.

At the time, Marinette had a crush on Kim, and so Chloe, knowing Kim loves pranks, had him "prank" her at the pool as a fake confession. As Kim offered a fake, heartfelt confession in return for Marinette's own, he gifted Marinette a box full of spiders, causing her to flip out and fall into the pool from the high end. Sabine and Chloe were filming the whole thing, and planned on posting it on social media to openly mock her. The only thing stopping them is Socqueline, who legitimately kicks the phone out of Chloe's hands.

This leads into why Marinette is so bad at confessions. After a year of being harassed, bullied, and isolated, she takes a chance on love, and is only horrifically and publicly mocked. Her attitude towards Adrien makes more sense with this context - deeply and passionately loving him, but constantly hesitating on the last step, as last time was so devastating. She's got some severe trauma around confessing and connecting with love interests, as she assumes they're always going to mock her in the end.

I really wish this episode had been planned earlier in the series, because it DOES give good insight as to how bad Marinette had it, and would've been great context for the audience. Not long after, Socqueline had to move away, too, so Marinette had to rebuild her entire social network from the ground up, with several people in the class who didn't mind humiliating her for their own amusement.

Also I really liked Chat Noir/Adrien going sicko mode on Kim. PLEASE kill that boy Adrien. I am BEGGING YOU. He tries to cataclysm Kim in the fucking face. I was thrilled. I thrive off negativity

Using this as groundwork in the dad villain au, having all that shit happen to Marinette alongside losing Sabine essentially made her go "wow I am going to quit school and work at my dad's business. bye" which is super ironic because that is ALL gabriel wants adrien to do lmao

[chororine]

let's talk about Cubert Farnsworth

something nobody said during the production of season 7

The most striking thing about Cubert, to me, is the fact that in the most literal sense possible, he had no childhood.

Well, no early childhood – in “A Clone of My Own”, we see Cubert spring into existence as a fully-formed twelve-year-old, having only previously existed in a “mentally undeveloped” state in a tank in Professor Farnsworth’s basement. This is obviously convenient from a writing standpoint, allowing Futurama’s showrunners to introduce a new character effectively out of nowhere (their original plan to do so in “A Big Piece of Garbage” having fallen through) – but I think it also explains a lot about Cubert from an in-universe perspective, and makes an interesting lens through which to view one of the show’s most divisive characters.

Generally speaking, we as viewers are used to meeting characters and then witnessing their backstory, either all at once or in small chunks scattered across episodes - Futurama itself goes as far back as Fry, Leela and Bender’s births in seasons 3, 4 and 3 respectively – but Cubert is in the unique position of his “birth” (so to speak) also being his introduction to the audience. While most of that audience simply brushed his character off as “annoying” and that was the writers’ intention according to the audio commentary for his debut episode, I want to set authorial intent aside for now and focus strictly on what the text shows us: someone who was artificially created for a specific purpose, like Bender, raised without a traditional family, like Leela, and who entered the world of the 31st century through a glass tube, like Fry.

Despite having a surprising amount in common with our three main heroes, Cubert is markedly different from them in his actual personality, which (at first) is driven largely by reason and logical sense, and that… well, makes logical sense. As with most of the sci-fi concepts Futurama employs in the service of good stories and jokes, the show glosses over the finer details of how Cubert can emerge from the cloning tank with all his motor skills and the ability to form sentences, but it’s reasonable to assume that whatever arcane scientific process the Professor used prioritises imbuing the clone with concrete knowledge over anything subjective. Cubert’s behaviour corroborates this: the very first piece of knowledge he displays is (in a quiet subversion of cloning tropes) self-knowledge, namely the knowledge that he’s a genius.

ok so the park line isn’t strictly relevant but cmon you can’t quote this scene without it

Cubert’s approach to suddenly springing to life with a ready-made body and personality is to engage with the adults around him head-on: said personality is pompous, pedantic and pugnacious (...as in “confrontational”, not as in a crack about his nose). He struts into Planet Express like he owns the place (which, of course, he will one day) right in the middle of season 2, the point where it’s safe to say the audience and characters (even fish-out-of-water Fry) have both adjusted to the show’s status quo: Professor Farnsworth can create anything as long as it’s funny or convenient to the plot (or both); Bender is an integral part of the “family”; Leela can beat up anyone who deserves it. But Cubert, who was abruptly thrust into the midst of that status quo, relentlessly questions it: how exactly would scientists “increase the speed of light”? What use would a delivery company have for a bending unit? Should Leela really fly with just one eye? Audiences and characters alike generally like sticking to the status quo (as this ever self-aware show pointed out back in “When Aliens Attack”), so it’s really no wonder Cubert rubbed people on both sides of the fourth wall the wrong way.

you know someone’s being insufferable when not even Turanga “it’s not his fault he’s an unstoppable killing machine” Leela likes them lol. believe it or not this IS a pro-Cubert post stick with me here

Questioning established norms is no bad thing, but the way Cubert goes about it is very... blunt, and far from endearing: he’s dismissive of the Professor’s “junk heap” of inventions and viciously mocks the Planet Express crew, painting people he’s only just met as incompetent and, later in the episode, calling Fry an idiot to his face. Make no mistake, this is… as we say in my neck of the woods, it’s not on. But while Cubert’s lack of socialisation “growing up" doesn’t excuse his tactlessness, it might very well explain it - along with him lacking the childlike wonder his fellow suspended animation survivor, Fry, felt at being thrust headlong into a world where the only limit to science is imagination. To use the episode’s Arc Words, “nothing is impossible”... except, it would seem, Cubert fitting in with the misfits who make up Planet Express.

Professor Farnsworth is eager to take Cubert under his wing, but also demonstrates where the latter gets that bluntness, being transparent about his intent to have his clone “spend his life finishing his inventions”. With that in mind, perhaps it’s not surprising that Cubert initially attempts to distance himself from the Professor, coldly referring to him as… well, “Professor”.

This is a detail that’s easy to miss or overlook on first viewing of the episode, but it effortlessly and efficiently explains what kind of relationship between the two Cubert initially desired: he acknowledges that they share DNA, but would prefer a “creator-creation” dynamic – perhaps akin to a robot and their maker - over anything familial. He states his disinterest in fulfilling his intended purpose as an inventor without a trace of the self-doubt that plagued Bender upon quitting his job and meeting Fry (or in the face of being replaced by a more up-to-date robot, or of being forgotten, or…), creating the impression that Cubert has a good deal more confidence and self-awareness than even an adult in a similar position to him, but also that he’s – let’s be fair to him – a complete dick, pointedly declaring himself the Professor’s “only half-decent invention”.

But as is often the case in fiction, that complete dickery serves a purpose in creating the catalyst for the episode’s fast-paced third act: the dejected Professor checking himself into cyber-retirement. In a perfect example of the characters’ recently-found comfort with the status quo, Fry immediately expresses a desire to rescue his boss who causes him more problems than he solves (what with the potentially fatal delivery missions and all), but who’s also family - a sentiment his non-blood relatives, or at least Leela, seem to share.

The only person at Planet Express who questions this desire is - who else - Cubert, but Fry brushes off his concerns with a well-placed “nothing is impossible” (the episode’s second use of the phrase). As an implicit reminder of Cubert’s status as a misfit among misfits, he, as a child character among a cast of adults, lacks the agency to avoid getting dragged along on the rescue mission for reasons that aren’t initially clear, to him or the audience.

It turns out Cubert’s purpose on the trip to the Near Death Star is to be both a DNA donor and part of Fry’s 160-year-old man disguise. Our three heroes do most of the heavy lifting (literally in Fry’s case), relegating Cubert to what he initially does best: complaining. While he does express a bit of (at this point) uncharacteristic concern for the comatose Professor, it comes after he airs his grievances about the ridiculousness of Leela’s plan, having to be Fry’s hump and the “stupid robot” – so maybe it’s a bit of well-placed karma that he gets knocked out mid-chase scene by a passing space station door, neatly excising him from the episode’s narrative.

...or so it would seem: in reality, the episode’s final two scenes circle right back to Cubert and his character arc. He springs awake to deliver the episode’s third and final “nothing is impossible”, having finally internalised the truth of it - and the secret of how to fix the ship’s damaged engines - thanks to a conveniently-timed dream (a borderline deus ex machina that may be an allusion to Groening and Cohen’s inspiration for Cubert, Wesley Crusher of Star Trek: The Next Generation – I did say at the beginning I was going to set authorial intent aside “for now”). Despite this apparent 180, Cubert demonstrates that he’s still fundamentally himself by shooting down Bender’s labelling of his discovery about the ship’s engines as “a complete load”. Evidently, Cubert’s nocturnal, almost divine revelation enabled him to use his sharp tongue for good rather than evil, as this discovery and Cubert’s quick repair of the engine is what allows the main trio and Farnsworths to safely escape from the Sunset Squad.

The episode’s conclusion uses a few well-chosen words and pieces of animated-acting to bring many aspects of Cubert’s character full circle. Most obvious among these is the conflict of whether or not he’ll fulfil his intended purpose; the Professor granting Cubert permission not to is a noble but ironic gesture, as the latter admits to having accepted his destiny, but only on his terms: not as a copy, but as a family member. Futurama, at its best, is masterful at showing and not telling; for instance, because Cubert initially addressed his creator as “Professor”, him switching to “Dad” completely unprompted feels like a display of agency as well as love.

And because Cubert had no childhood, him smiling with his whole face for the first time in the episode also marks him doing so for the first time in his life.

Let’s take a brief step back outside the text itself and look at it in relation to the various reactions viewers have had to it, because the episode’s resolution is something that… well, viewers have had varying reactions to. Looking up the episode on Wikipedia, you’ll find a citation of The A.V. Club’s review: one Zach Handlen wasn’t a fan, claiming that “[Cubert’s] shift from “This is stupid and doesn’t make any sense” to “Anything is possible!” doesn’t make a lot of sense”. YouTuber Johnny 2 Cellos seemed to enjoy the episode and Cubert’s character considerably more, but still said of Cubert’s decision to follow in his father’s footsteps that he’s “not sure [it] was the best lesson” - and honestly, they both raise valid points. Cubert’s change of heart is rather abrupt, and a step removed from the typical feel-good narrative of choosing your own destiny and becoming whatever you want… but nonetheless, I do think it’s a plus for his character, and to explain why I need to go back to the very first episode of the show.

The aforementioned “choosing your own destiny” narrative is so prevalent that Futurama itself has played with it from the beginning – and I do mean “played with”, not “used wholesale”. This is, of course, a fantastical show, but it always keeps a degree of emotional realism close to its heart; part of that realism is Fry’s one-way trip into the future not being the straightforward wish fulfilment he initially expected, as his new life still involves having a job, and it’s nominally the same dead-end job he once longed to escape. But Fry isn’t resigned to this: instead, he accepts the hand the universe has dealt him and makes it work for him…

…in fact, the theme of accepting one’s fate on one’s own terms is a theme that runs through Futurama all the way to the end of the original run.

And right in the middle of that run lies Cubert, perfectly exemplifying that nuanced theme with little more than the word “Dad.”

That choice to – again - show and not tell the change in how Cubert views his creator-father is something that I feel mitigates the suddenness of his change of outlook: wanting to emulate one’s father is a different feeling than wanting to emulate one’s creator, and a very human feeling... as is having sudden, eye-opening experiences in one’s preteen years. Cubert’s arc in this episode could be seen as a microcosm of growing up, and as a story of someone who thought he knew everything realising he still has growing up to do… and about a season later, we get to see him do some of that growing up.

Much like Cubert himself was initially intended as one thing and grew into another (on both meta and in-universe levels), I started this post with the intent to analyse him as a character but it ended up more focused on “A Clone of My Own” specifically – I might as well continue on this path and analyse “The Route of All Evil” as well. However, I don’t feel the need to do so quite so meticulously simply because Cubert is a far more straightforward character in the latter episode - and that in itself speaks volumes about what’s going on under that ginger muffin-shaped haircut.

This episode provides an explanation of Cubert’s absence throughout the second half of season 2, a glimpse into the life he’s been living off-screen at boarding school and something any good character needs: a companion to bounce off of. Dwight has less distinct characterisation than Cubert (partly as a result of having one less episode worth of development at this point), but I do think what he does have is worth analysing. I won’t do so too deeply, at least not here, simply because it’d be outside the scope of this post, but I will touch on the aspects that are relevant to my point: the ways in which he complements and contrasts Cubert.

Cubert and Dwight are similar in their intellect, precociousness, love of retro video games (really retro by the year 3002) and in being besieged by a bully, but the latter is less talkative and more chilled-out (as exemplified by him having no visible reaction to his best friend being sent flying by a mail tube), yet more business-minded: his immediate reaction to being presented with something new (always a fun way to tell us about a character) is to question its value as a product… while Cubert’s reaction to the same new thing is to use it for a prank.

As he demonstrated with Bender at the end of “A Clone of My Own”, Cubert hasn’t lost his fire in gaining respect for his father’s line of work: again, him addressing the Professor as “Dad” says a lot with few words, and remembering the context of his debut episode makes his “useless contraption” comment feel more like playful ribbing than genuine dismissal. Indeed Cubert spends much of the first act of this episode causing annoying-but-ultimately-harmless problems for the adults around him, along with Dwight, who evidently shares his interest in pranks. That interest of his wasn’t explicitly shown in his debut, but feels like a natural offshoot of his sarcastic sense of humour... and could also be chalked up to the change from the ultimate sheltered upbringing to a “normal” school environment. That in itself is a refreshing approach for the show to take: while probably done for simplicity’s sake, it shows that Cubert’s clone status is no barrier to him enjoying a normal childhood, as Leela’s orphan status was to her, or Bender’s robot status sometimes is to him sharing his adulthood with his organic friends (but the specifics of Cubert’s school life are more within the realm of speculation and headcanons, so I won’t dwell on them here).

Of course, the main thrust of “The Route of All Evil”’s plot is Cubert and Dwight’s business endeavour: Awesome Express. Again, I don’t need to analyse their motivations for founding their own delivery company too closely, because… well, Dwight outright states them in the episode.

Most people can relate, on some level, to wanting a loved one to be proud of them; a desire so universal is a perfect demonstration of Cubert’s newfound normality. It’s a sharp turn from his apparent superiority complex over his father and future employees in “A Clone of My Own”, but clearly one that made him happier: the permanent smug grin of his debut episode has given way to laughter at Hermes’ expense, casually sharing Dwight’s game console, celebrating their victory over Brett Blob (or rather his window)… I could list more, but you get the point. Enjoying the childhood that started twelve years too late without really dwelling on it feels like a natural evolution from where we left Cubert in season 2 – but not a wholesale change, as he still possesses the spark of madness he inherited from his father.

In the process of running Awesome Express, Cubert and Dwight make both upstanding and underhanded decisions: they have the prodigious business skills to quickly become more profitable than Planet Express, and rather than frivolously spending their earnings, they put them towards fair wages for their new employees Leela, Bender and Fry… and the absolutely vital flame decals for the ship.

Not all their decisions are that ethically sound or badass, though: Cubert and Dwight ultimately kick out and fire their fathers, respectively. Professor Farnsworth becoming homeless (though Hermes and LaBarbara are willing to at least temporarily put him up) as a result of his son’s hubris is another time I can see where Cubert’s haters are coming from, along with his moments of ableism directed at Leela’s vision problems and Fry’s… er, That Brain Thing – but karma swiftly comes down upon him and Dwight when they grow overconfident with their workload, leading to the first time we see Cubert cry on-screen (one of only two unambiguously canon times in the entire show) and the aforementioned admission of their motivations.

Luckily for the boys, their fathers recognise the purity of their motivations enough to forgive them for their questionable behaviour, and are quick to “do a little father-son weaselling out of this”. Professor Farnsworth and Hermes prove their love for their sons with actions, not words, solving their problem with the former’s arsenal of gadgets and the latter’s perfect aim as a “paper-man”... and ultimately put themselves through the ringer by attempting to fight the father of their sons’ bully, Mr. H. G. Blob. This one-sided “fight” results in slapstick humour, but also a show of Futurama’s emotional realism shining through its often cynical sensibilities.

This episode’s ending focuses more on “three fathers, enjoying a day out with their sons” as a group than Cubert or Dwight as individuals, but that in itself is a nice way to bring this duology of episodes full circle: Cubert is Professor Farnsworth’s son, no different from how Dwight and Brett are Hermes and H.G.’s sons. Perhaps he does fit into the abnormal, non-traditional family that is Planet Express after all.

fun fact: “Planet Espresso” dropped while I was still writing this post and it made “The Route of All Evil” hit different now I know Hermes in particular was working extra hard to end the cycle of parental neglect. not relevant to the whole “Cubert good” point but still interesting, at least to me

Now, you’re probably thinking that this is the part where I talk about “Bender Should Not Be Allowed On TV”, and… yeah. You’re technically right, I will briefly touch on it – but it won’t be complimentary.

Someone being “out of character” is a common complaint when it comes to TV show writing, but I’ll be completely honest: in my opinion, having Cubert, a character whose whole deal used to be questioning the status quo and authority figures (and in “The Route of All Evil” trying to surpass them), open the episode by admitting he and his equally precocious best friend want to mindlessly emulate what they see on TV goes beyond “out of character”. Cubert and Dwight’s intellectual-yet-rebellious nature would’ve served this plot perfectly, as it would’ve provided an opportunity for the writers to call attention to them not acting like themselves as a result of Bender’s influence – but the key gap between idea and execution is that the adults around them don’t treat their mindless viewing habits as something out of the ordinary for them. A simple “this isn’t like you” from the Professor or Hermes would’ve gone a long way, but as it is, it feels as though the boys’ past characterisation was intentionally ignored in order to more easily execute a storyline that could’ve been done in The Simpsons, with Bart and Milhouse succumbing to the allure of a newly-famous Homer’s bad influence.

In particular, the line “we can celebrate the day I extracted you from the cloning tank” kind of breaks my brain: we’ve seen that day in the show, and the more I go back to this episode, the more I feel like there’s nothing left of the Cubert the Professor extracted from the cloning tank – the one I just spent five pages analysing - in this specific Cubert (or the Dwight who crushed Planet Express with Dwight Lightning in this Dwight, for that matter). No scientific skills, no use of his trademark snort, no biting-but-good-natured jabs at his adult companions… nothing. To be fair, the episode does have a few nice ideas (the concept of a Growth Scraping Day itself, Tinny Tim becoming the third member of the kids’ friend group and them getting to do a little crime as a treat), but they’re so thoroughly surrounded by… well, everything else that I personally choose not to incorporate this episode into my mental picture of Cubert (or Dwight).

I’ll be the first to admit there are a lot of duds and weird writing choices among the post-revival episodes of Futurama, but I also think fans of the show have a tendency to put the Fox era on a pedestal while completely dismissing the later seasons - even though “Bender Should Not Be Allowed On TV” (along with “Bend Her” but that’s a rant for another time) proves that even season 4, often touted as the show’s peak, can be as guilty of bad characterisation or formulaic plots as the Comedy Central or Hulu eras. Conversely, season 6 in particular was flawed but did plenty of things right, and one of those things was using Cubert in interesting ways: “The Late Philip J. Fry” is the most famous example, but “A Clockwork Origin” and “Overclockwise” are both notable for succeeding at building on the foundation laid out in “A Clone of My Own” and “The Route of All Evil” - where Cubert’s last outing of the original run failed.

Whether that foundation was laid down intentionally or simply as a compromise between multiple creators, writers and directors that happened to meet a particular subjective reading, to me it’s an incredibly strong one: a fish-out-of-water who was abruptly thrust into the chaotic world of the 31st century but survives and thrives in his own funny, interesting, slightly unhinged way, just like Fry, Leela or Bender. Cubert isn’t for everyone, but I hope I’ve demonstrated why he resonated with me so much when I watched the show at his age, and why thinking of him as simply “the annoying kid” was… well, impossible.

This post is long enough as it is, so rather than analysing “The Late Philip J. Fry” (well, enough people have analysed that one already that I don’t really need to) and the two “clock” episodes of season 6, I’ll leave you with the suggestion to (re)watch them yourself with an open mind… and to keep an eye out for Cubert in the Hulu run. As I alluded to at the top of this post, season 7 conspicuously pretended he didn’t exist outside of one dubiously canon skit, so maybe it’d be too much to hope for future seasons to explore him in detail… but as a wise old man and his son once said, nothing is impossible.

Not if you can imagine it.

THANK YOU FOR READING (or at least skimming) ALL THE WAY TO THE END OF THIS POST!!! as a reward for indulging my autism please treat yourself to a nice turducken spread with your found family. merry hulurama to all and to all a good night

[enden-k]

Just out of curiosity, what are your thoughts on the yaoqing trio? Do you ship them or see them more platonic? What kind of dynamic do you see between them?

i dont rlly like moze and jiaoqiu ship. i see their relationship platonic, both having admiration/adoration for feixiao (you could interpret as romantic or platonic, however u please i guess)

(if - IF - i would ever draw ship art of the two of them it would only be when shes included so yea, either all or nothing idk)

i rlly enjoy mozes relationship to feixiao (jiaoqiu too prob.i adored how caring they are to him and their whole ending scene when he goes blind)

i see their relationship to each other as very close and intimate, like hurt one and face the wrath of the other two. theyre professional but caring i rlly enjoy that

[skimmingmilk]

sonic in your sa2 fic: “try not to scare me like that again, ok?”

tails: “ok” *proceeds to scare him like that again. multiple times*

this kid is going to make sonic go gray early istg. tho i guess he did say try not to so…

Fun fact, originally the line was: "You don't get to scare me like that, okay?"

Buuuuuut as much as I liked it, I found it hard to keep because Sonic's not about restrictions, even if it's to keep the people he cares about safe. He values their freedom just as much as their safety, to a point. However, with Shadow's loss still so fresh and all the close calls they had in the past couple of hours, he does slip for a moment and lets himself ask Tails to just try. Because that's still putting the power in Tails's hands, he just... needs him to know. He can't let someone else fall out of his reach.

And to Tails's credit, he is trying! He's just also trying to get stronger and more capable so that Sonic won't have to worry or be afraid for him. So that Sonic can trust him.

And even if it makes him want to smack his head into a wall, of course Sonic wants Tails to live his own life, the way he wants. He loves watching him grow and wants to be right beside him for each accomplishment and misstep, cheering him on. If a few gray quills are the price for that, he'll pay it every time <3

Ah, the trials and tribulations of being a big brother/best friend/mom/dad/fence :')

[ahamkara-apologist]

ugh destiny reddit really is a shithole, i just saw someone (in the context of mara sov) joke about turning a lesbian into a straight girl (plus ignoring that mara is canonically bi???)

yeah pretty much every place outside of tumblr is an absolute shithole when it comes to enjoying d2 content. i ended up pissed off for like half the day today because youtube recommended me a vid talking about how revenant was the worst piece of content that destiny released (in terms of sheer bugs, maybe, but not the story) followed up directly after by forcer complaining about eramis getting the echo when 'all she did was show up, complain, and leave' when that was...not what happened. the amount of people who don't understand even the barest fucking shit about storytelling and its constraints makes me want to start cervically dislocating them

i've been tentatively dipping my toes into bluesky bc some of the laid-off writers have been posting on there (i hate the concept of worshipping creators as gods or w/ever or saying their words are canon but its fun seeing them post memes about the characters bc its like, getting a sneak peak at the back of a tapestry, if that makes sense), but then someone on there started picking a fight on one of my eramis appreciation posts by calling her a 'terrorist' that we should have put down for the 'justice of the city' and calling the eliksni 'invaders and colonizers', so. not really enthused at branching out. i'd prefer the tumblr tag being pretty much dead than that bullshit, esp. since the whole reason why i love the eliksni + eramis so much is bc i sympathize with them as the child of an immigrant who fled to the country that fucked over their home bc they had no other choice

[ying-doodles]

Where do you read cpsm? Also, how does one become as awesome as you?

you can read the mtl here~ have fun reading! (just a heads up though: chp 170 and 326 are missing unfortunately..)

also I have. no idea how to answer your second question ahdjdjsk but thanks for thinking I'm awesome aha,, (*/▽＼*)

[byanyan]

anyway... i'm working on byan's carrd again today and i need you all to know that the bio is at 2600 words already and there's still a big chunk of events to cover, so. that's why this shit's taking me so damn long lmao

[gholdengodaily]

[ Reply To ] [ @book-of-legends ]

"Assuming it has- but I figure you wouldn't be able to use the Universe Gates for other things if a war was still going on. How'd they go from tools of war to being used the way they are now?"

[luimagines]

Orginal monster imagine

Reader ran down one path and ran by/ ignore the monsters that block their way. Reader only thoughts are find the chain, find wild and bring them all to the exit. Reader doesn't them to stay another minute in this curse maze and for very good reasons. Reader stop when they hear a loud explosion and it sounded close and continued to run to were the noise came from and found legend coughing but look to be okay as whatever he was fighting before is turn to black liquid clearly Reader knows legend use a bomb but ran to him to help him.

Reader: legend! Thank goddess your okay!-

Sudden reader felt a very sharp pain and glance down to see a dagger stab into their gut and they glance back to see legend hold the dagger but his eyes are not his You shall color your eyes but reader knew on the spot that dark magic of the maze have Affected legends senses and sight making him believe that what he see are monsters not the group. They can't believe that what he's seen is and reader felt a cold dread hit their body fast.

Reader: l-Legend?

Legend: im not going to let you take her away from me again!!

Legend shove reader away while pull the dagger put as reader fell on their butt as blood drip off the dagger and reader shirt start to get stain with their own blood, but they move one of their arm press on their gut in pain and legend got up to try to stab reader again but reader not fast enough to move have little choices. Let legend stab their shoulder so move their only good arm to trap legend in their embrace as legend trying to free himself while let put few curse words as reader try to get legend to return back to his Senses, because of the dark magic that the maze is Producing throughout the while maze.

Reader: legend!!! Please!! I don't want to hurt you or the chain!! It's me!?! Reader!!

Reader make sure to not let legend move even his arms as reader blood continues to stain their shirt and drip down to the ground as small pool of reader blood.

Legend try everything he could to free himself but the monster is held him down and isn't going to let it kill him so he try use his strength to press the dagger deeper into reader shoulder to make it bleed more which it does as reader let out a cry of pain but doesn't let go they even start to shift to their halfway form to make it harder for legend to stab them, but reader start to notice that their bleeding too much but the sounds of armor and few footsteps are coming make reader open their mouth.

Reader: legend's under some dark magic!!!! Legend!! Snap out of it!

Somehow legend manage to break from and pull his dagger out of the monster reader to stab the monster heart but he get tackle by warrior as wild,sky,wind just arrive and the three star in shock to see warrior held legend down who's clearly under dark magic but reader lay on the ground bloody.

Wild: reader!!

Wild ran to reader as sky ran to were war amd legend are pull out his master sword to remove the dark magic wind star were hes at at the chaos. Wild quickly going through his bag and slate for a healing potion while he beg reader not to dead tears form in his eyes to see the stab wounds but reader look to wild and tell him that their hard to kill as wild found what he needs amd gently help reader drink it.

...I think I responded to these out of order... Or not? I can't really tell where these are, if they're following the same timeline that is. If these are stand alones for the same universe, then I feel silly. ^.^*

[polycephebi]

@electricea -- [ Mid-May. ]

------ Shuujin Academy, Tokyo-shi. Kamoshida Suguru. The name itself is kind of catchy. What a shame!

The breeze flickered with echoes of it around here; online, in person... Dear reader-of-his-thoughts, have you ever become suddenly aware of something, only to quickly have the sheer presence of it leave you dumbfounded? The more you look, the more you see; This guy was an Olympian! Of course the name has floated around, huh?

What a sharp downturn, though. Olympian, to Athlete, to Coach, to Target. What a disgusting guy, is what they're saying about him now. He was really like that? I can't believe it! Those poor students!

Well, it wasn't something he particularly cared about. Actually, what caught his attention was--

[ Do you believe in the Phantom Thieves? ]

-

He knew better. The odd little legends that cropped up around the internet were too often just that - a bluff, a story, a disappointment. But this one struck as a little different.

Recently, a strange occurrence has happened. Kamoshida Suguru, shortly following the attempted suicide of a nearby student -- Olympian, Athelete, Coach, has loudly and publicly admitted to his crimes!

Suddenly, a website has appeared. Suddenly, a gaudy name like 'Phantom Thieves' has seemed to trickle into many of the same minds that have recently recognized 'Kamoshida'. Suddenly -- Something strange and interesting has caught the attention of a bored, unrelated, meddlesome guy.

He logged this kind of report in a different notebook from his usual-- normally, he was incredibly particular about keeping such things separate. But today, for such a case as this, it seemed more convenient that his notes - though to be sure: a nearly indecipherable scrawling of some made-up code -- rest in a small, easy to travel with, easy to hide little book.

It was more convenient this way, despite the risk, because--

----

"Hiiiiii, hi-! Hiroshi Akaru! The newest transfer student!"

This was the way he decided to investigate.

"Your name was Sakamoto-san, right? Is it okay for me to talk to you? I heard from other students that you had a weird personality, so... Ah-- I mean, to me, it sounded inviting!"

[hozaloza]

GUYS RED'S BOYFRIEND (Austin) LOOKED AT MY IG STORY.

AGAIN.

HELPP

ofc the one story he liked, it's the one he understood the backstory behind it because I live in the same state as him 🤠 (there was a flash flood warning, and I made this story below in humor of it)

he even saw the rosepunch </3

THE ROSEPUNCH YAPPING

HELPPP

[finitevariety]

ceo of finishing chapters

[arcade-confetti]

[enden-k]

I don't message at all, but I feel you might get a kick out this fun new bug on CN:

So apparently, Kaveh's E can permanently delete things in people's games permanently (or at least, as permanently as they can before a bug fix)

So there's now a running joke of Kaveh (or corrupt Kaveh) running around on God Mode

You can do what you wish with this information, I just felt an urge to pass it along to the best fan I know~

for the people who havent heard of this yet, here for (more) context: theres a kaveh hack going around (rn on CN server but who knows if this gets spread to other servers soon) where ppl in coop exploit his E to permanently delete stuff in your world.

since kaveh can burst dendro cores with it, theres apparently a way for the hackers to modify objects you interact with, such as statues of the seven, elemental totems, shrine chests etc so they will get recognized as dendro cores and deleted when kaveh uses his skill.

the deleted objects wont return if you return to single player, refresh game, log out or even reinstall- theres currently no way to get these back unless hyv comes up w a fix, thats why ppl advise players to switch off "everyone join" and not let strangers in ur world until this is solved, to prevent permanent damage to your world and progress.

anw to ur message, dunno what u mean with "do what u wish with this" bc i dont think im interested in working this into doodles. the fact that hackers use sweet kaveh to ruin ppls gaming experience for no reason other than to be assholes ticks me off more than it gives me inspiration lolol (i love redtham to pieces and he doesnt mess with real ppl at least LMAO other than w me and my sanity and self control)

[skimmingmilk]

Hiya :)

If you remember my post asking peeps for cute unbreakable bond examples, I wanted to say it's so nice to know I'm not the only one who loves the Sonic 4 Ep. 2 animations. My sis and I played that game so much just because of how cute the brothers are in it, even tho we never touched the first episode 😂 plus it was pretty fun, but I'm a little biased.

Anyway I definitely wasn't looking at reblogs because I started that project I teased in the post 😈 thanks for the material!

Hi! :D

I totally remember that post! I actually think about it quite a bit ^^;; Very curious and excited about the project you're planning, I love your art so much! They're such little guys, but so expressive! <3

And yessss, you understand the beauty of Sonic 4 Ep. 2!! It needs so much more love and appreciation! And I'm in the same boat, I never played Ep. 1 either (though I love a good Splash Hill Zone meme, lol), but Ep. 2 has so much charm and really interesting level designs, even beyond Sonic and Tails's adorable animations! That's so cool you played it with your sis, I'm still on the hunt for someone to co-op with me someday xD But those really sound like some awesome memories you guys made together <3

And now that you've said that, I will 100% be keeping an eye out for that project 👀 I'm sure you're going to make us all explode with feelings of cuteness and love for the unbreakable bond ever <3

[maxmoffs]

btw : LIFE. ALWAYS. COMES. FIRST! / im gonna just quickly post this part from my rules page , the one that i care most about alongside everything else that are often easily skimmed, bc it is my number one rule that I want to make clear first so that there’s clarity for me to not have to repeat it in the future , so now that am on the roll of just vibing to the swing of things with my writing and interacting , for everyone including myself to respect and remember. friends and writing commitments will be made of course! but should never be forced upon nor shamed for when we. cannot be on all the time. this is as simple as can get this for fun and for our creative minds to run free ! it should NEVER EVER take over our priorities, time, and personal matters by any means whatsoever. / please always take care of yourselves first /

love ellie <3