#that could make for really cool horror concepts

[rapdogmon]

You've always thought the hills you've passed on your way to work looked a little bit like the vertebrae of a human spine, lightly pressing against the Earth's skin. Sometimes, usually near dusk as the sky grows dim and the sun begins to set, you think you see them shift though you're never certain.

Your 4th grade teacher told you those hills used to be mountains. Taller that Mount Everest. You're not quite certain you believe her. You think about a massive creature with a rippling spine of mountains rising from the earth. So massive it would turn the days to permanent nights not just for your state but four states over.

You remember a time when your grandmother told stories about those who went missing between the mounds. She says it was spirits of the past and you choose to believe that though something in your gut tells you it was the earth, hungry and waiting.

Geological horror. You find a geode and crack it open and the crystal lining its walls is human blood that can't be genetically matched to anyone. You find a human skeleton but every one of the bones is made from rock, a rock that you know can't be whittled into those shapes. You find layers of clay and loam that sport ancient fossils at the top and the still-rotting corpses of modern animals at the bottom.

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

MAC MAC. SORRY I GOTTA RANT IN UR INBOX I’M HAVING MAD AT GENLOSS THOUGHTS. BUT THAT POST ABT THE BACKROOMS/POOLROOMS AND UR TAGS ABT WHAT YOUTUBERS DID TO IT GOT ME THINKIN. THIS IS THE EXACT PROBLEM WITH GENLOSS. ranboo took an already potentially scary concept—the deterioration of something when it’s been recorded over and over again until it’s incomprehensible, which could have been really cool if he had done it as an analog horror and made it so reality itself was deteriorating around them—and just fuckin. put Ooh Spooky Scary things in it and completely botched the concept. the fuckinggg. hey heres a big scary corporation CLEARLY WATCHING THE CHARACTERS!! ISN’T THAT SOOO SCARY AAAA!!!1! and the wire monster. and the “twist” villain hetch. the deaths. like. do u know brian david gilbert’s video Teaching Jake About The Camcorder??? that’s similar to what i wanted from genloss. if genloss was like some old video or show LIKE A SITCOM!! OR A GAME SHOW!! OR A HOME VIDEO!!! and the first season was was like almost completely normal and the second one was like a replay of the same episodes but Just Slightly To The Left and it progressed until it turned into something horribly irreparably distorted THAT WOULD BE COOL. THAT’S WHAT I WANTED. AUGH. PAIN. backrooms 🤝 genloss: oooh spooky scary monster makes things scary right??? ok sry i’m done i just HADDD 2 RANT. OK BYE

GODDDDD NO WHISKEY COME BACK UR SO SO SO SO RIGHT. I THOUGHT ABOUT GENLOSS AS I WAS WRITI G THOSE TAGS. actualy i was really thinking about the charlie/tommy/ranboo youtube vids where they just say "we're in the backrooms!11!1!" over and over again. like. aughghghhhg. god. genloss rlly is just ooooo let me shove this spooky scary thing in your face with 0 subtlety. there u go i have made horror. like thats NOT HOW IT FUCKING WORKS.

[sunnytheopossum]

“Protecting Me From Myself”

(Ramblings & WIPs below cut!)

Who, me? Making Marble Hornets content? Never.

But actually, I have no idea what came over me with this. A few days ago I watched the entirety of the School Rumors webseries, and became so completely obsessed with it that it triggered me to watch and rewatch literally every analog horror series I could find to feel that high again, including, of course, Marble Hornets. And obviously, I can’t watch Marble Hornets without also watching Clear Lakes, and also Eckva, and then of course I HAD to read all of the comics again… (cough) and also some fanfiction (cough), and long story short, I put off a whole day’s worth of homework for tomorrow to work entirely on this all day. Will that come back to bite me? Almost definitely, but I don’t regret it, because this turned out cool as heck!

So… upon further reflection I realize that the concept behind this piece doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in canon? I was just thinking about Tim and Masky, as usual, and how (through the lens of a character frequently seen by the fandom as having DID) it is very interesting that Tim, in that altered state of mind, always forgets what happened as “Masky”, as if he’s protecting himself from what he’s seen, and how Masky could then be viewed as a sort of protector for Tim, even if he also frequently puts him in dangerous situations… and then I remembered halfway through drawing this that literally every single character in this stupid show has memory loss, and that that’s a very well-established part of the lore relating specifically to The Operator, not Tim, and it’s really not as deep as I was making it out to be in my head. So, uh.. feel free to interpret this artwork however you’d like, because you have as good an idea as I do now about what it’s supposed to represent lol

[shibiichi]

I absolutely love your updated Daycare attendant, especially Moon such a handsome beast. I've always loved your version of Moon it my favorite one

Thank you so much!!! 🫶 I’m so glad you enjoy their updated looks! (I’ve never been this happy with their designs haha. Especially Moon’s!)

I’m flattered you enjoyed my old Moon too! My old DCA designs are sorta weird to me lol! They were definitely a result of me wanting to have fun with the designs but also being scared to stray too far from canon! (You can def see that in Moon’s colors) Honestly though, my AU isn’t canon! So there’s no reason to be anxious over making them too different! It’s supposed to be a reflection of my current tastes, my Sun and (especially) Moon designs really encapsulate that! :D

Also here! I realize I haven’t really posted ART since January (oops) so I do have a small handful of sketches pertaining to the DCA!

[Moon concept]

Above is one of my first attempts at redesigning my DCA! There was a previous version with full stars that looked more like my old style but I found I didn’t enjoy those at all. A problem I’ve always had with my old Moon’s design would be the star patterns on his pants, hat, and sleeves. They often weren’t very sharp and looked kinda ‘spacey’ (and not in the cool celestial way lol!) They kinda looked more like an overlay and lacked definition, making my old Moon’s design kinda lack luster? So the first thing I wanted to do was figure out that pattern more! (I ended up going with a split look to help make the stars that are there not overwhelm the character)

This fixed up first pass is pretty close to what I ended up going with, though I decided to change some anatomical things to make him look more doll like and more elongated. (I really wanted to make them look uncanny when they don’t have their jester fits! Like they are fully relying on those outfits not to look uncomfortable.)

[Moon and @shadysubject06 ‘s Chica!!]

I briefly mentioned what my DCA’s side facial profile would look like in the ref post, so here’s an actual drawing of it! They do look pretty humanoid in head shape, though with a weak chin and flat nose to accommodate the ‘dinner plate’ look lol. I love how Moon here looks like he’s the MC of an anime that just bumped into the love interest and is all ‘flutters eyelashes’ and starry eyed.

A big change I made between my old and new Moon designs would be the titular nightcap. Before my Moon’s nightcap sat upon his head normally and was SUPER long! Like to the floor. The more I thought about it the more I began to get uncertain about the idea. Like sure, that’s fine if Moon were more like his canon self at around 7ft, but my DCA is 12’8”! As someone who sews, the amount of fabric needed to make a nightcap that both fits Moon but is long enough to drag on the floor gives me a headache. Besides, I found I really loved the ‘covers one eye’ look so much more. He looks shy, like he’s hiding behind his own hat. Also I wanted him to fidget with his hat more, so having it hang over one eye makes it a lot more accessible! (Also I am one of those FNaF fans who tries to think about the base logic on how these characters are built. 💔 i can’t help it.. it makes designing more fun. The only place where a hat like that could be stored would likely be somewhere in the torso, and my old DCA’s torso was pretty packed already. ��)

[Jack-o’-Moon / Harvest Moon concept]

Also had fun with a Halloween design idea! (I know it’s not even fall….) this drawing is pretty accurate, though the main sun rays would not be present for this design as this is technically Moon.

This costume would be used for the week of Halloween in the plex, the mall working like a fun family friendly fall fest in the day and a horror attraction at night. Sun would refer to himself as ‘Jack-o’-Sun’ as Sun’s specific look would fall into the pumpkin jack-o’-lantern look during the day! At night the staff would make Moon look a bit more scary and we’d get ‘Harvest Moon’, who plays more into the whole grim reaper look. Not sure if they’d actually have a scythe but I thought drawing them with one was fun!

I have a lot more lore to drop but this post is getting way too long and I’ve rambled enough. Thank you for the ask!! I really appreciate it! Nighty Night!

[honourablejester]

A thought I’ve always had with the celestial warlock is that …

So warlocks are mercenaries, right? They make pacts to gain power. They do things for patrons in exchange for magic. I mean, not exclusively, but bargaining is something of a core concept of the class even if you’re not focusing your roleplay on it. Warlocks are mercenaries.

And the thing with that in the context of a celestial warlock. So often I see the concept for the patron as a celestial who rescued you, or who’s trying to redeem you, a hand of good laid upon your soul, a plaintive Jiminy Cricket in your ear.

But the question I always have is not what kind of mercenary makes deals with angels, but what kind of angel hires mercenaries?

I feel like you could do some really cool things and have a really cool and interesting relationship with an angelic patron who is … greyer than the stereotype here. Because. They are a force for good who is perfectly willing to hire agents. Not by seeking a true champion or relying on conscience, but by the simple mercenary inducement of payment. Your morals don’t come into it, your beliefs don’t come into it, the arrangement is simple. You do a service for them, you help the cause of good, and they pay you. There’s a certain amount of pragmatism in that, and subtlety, that I find fascinating to imagine in a holy being.

Also. Celestial warlocks get mostly good-seeming powers from their subclass, healing and the like, but they’re also still getting the whole warlock package from their patron as well. Your eldritch blast and your hunger of hadar are still coming from that source. What kind of angel equips someone with those powers?

What kind of relationship could you have with such a being? Is it rigid and remote, a handler towards their agent? Something more casual, you do some jobs on a freelance basis and they pay you in healing and spell slots? Or something more collegiate, warmer, conscious of the moral greys and the sometimes extremely physical horrors they’re sending you into, but knowing that it needs to be done? Do they trust you enough to let you colour outside the lines a bit, or are their instructions extremely strict? Or do they want to know the details at all? Are they so grey that they give you carte blanche, a need to know that they don’t need to know, so long as there is a net victory for good at the end of it? Or are they extremely conscious, not only of everything you do but everything that is done to you?

I don’t know, I just feel like there’s a lot of room to play around with what sort of being your celestial patron must be to even enter into the relationship you both find yourself in. The kind of celestial that is at least a little bit greyer in nature, by pure implication of the bargain itself. You could do something … very Cold War-ish there, a more pragmatic and sordid sort of relationship.

And, yes, there are also evil gods and evil celestials. But honestly I like the grey celestial idea better, a servant of a genuinely good and holy cause, who’s just that bit more pragmatic about it. Yes, yes, moral champions, but when we’re short on time, or bodies on the ground, or when we need someone to blend in that little bit more … I mean, if the job gets done, does it matter by who? We can just pay someone to go in and do the needful. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that. And if we save a sordid soul in the process, great, and if not … it’s no overall loss? We can’t lose what we didn’t have in the first place.

Are you expendable to such a being? Are you used to save the truer champions, genuinely good and worthy souls, at least some trials here or there? If so, what does that make such a being, who would use and sacrifice you so? Do the ends justify the means? Do you have opinions on such questions, regarding both yourself and your patron? Do you hate them, as much as any fiend warlock might hate their cruel master?

Or do you live in world where the things that must be done must be done, where principle is all very well but only so long as it does get the job done, and thus you and your patron understand each other quite well. You are a mercenary, after all. So long as the jobs are reasonable and you’re getting paid up front, that’s all any mercenary can ask.

I just really like the idea of a pragmatic angel, a handler with their agents, operating in a more subtle realm than that of crusades and champions. Sometimes, if you need a job done, you just hire someone to do it. No muss, no fuss. Get your bodies on the ground, and work out the rest later.

And the question then is, what’s it like being the poor hired muggins in question?

[i-will-physically-fight-you]

I think something that's fascinating in the AI discussion is how non-creatives perceive AI versus how many creatives perceive AI.

For example, years before AI was a thing--I spoke with someone about my creative writing projects and they expressed to me how they found it unfathomable that I could just make up entire worlds far removed from our reality of existence. To them, it was like magic.

To me, it was the culmination of countless hours spent playing with words until they flowed into semi-coherent lines of thought and emotion. I remember being ten years old and laboring away on my "biggest" novel project ever--it was 5k words full of singular sentence-long paragraphs and garbled heaps of grammar atrocities to the English language.

If I hadn't written it, I wouldn't have come to learn how to create the basic foundations of a story.

But I do get the "it's magic" sentiment a bit--I'm that way with music. Theoretically, I understand the components of a music composition but it feels like magic to see a musician that can listen to a tune for the first time and play it perfectly due to years of honing in their craft.

That's the premise of that quote from Arthur C. Clarke: "Magic's just science we don't understand yet."

When it comes to anything we don't have countless hours of experience with, it feels like magic. It feels like something that's outside of our feeble human capabilities. It's not until we start to put in the time to learn a skill that it becomes more attainable inside our heads.

Generative AI presents a proposition to the non-creative: "What if you could skip past the 'learning process' and immediately create whatever art of your choosing?"

It's instant dopamine. In a world that preys upon our ever-decreasing attention spans and ways of farming short spikes of dopamine, was it ever a surprise that generative ai would be capitalized in this fashion?

So for the non-creative, when they use generative AI and see something resembling their prompt, it feels good. They are "writing" stories, they are "making" art in ways they could never do with their lack of skills.

(It is, in fact, really cool that we have technology that can do this. It's just incredibly shitty that it's exploitative of the human artists whose works were taken without permission as well as its existence threatening their livelihoods.)

What I think is equally concerning as the data scraping of generative ai is the threat that AI imposes on the education of the arts. More and more, you see an idea being pushed that you don't need knowledge/experience in how to create art, all you need to do is feed prompts into generative ai and let it do the "work" for you.

Generative AI pushes the idea that all art should be pristine, sleek and ready for capitalism consumption. There is no room for amateur artists struggling like foals to take their first steps in their creative journeys. We live in a world where time is money and why "waste" time learning when you can have instant success?

It's a dangerous concept because presents a potential loss in true understanding of how art works. It obscures it and makes it seem "impossible" to the average person, when art is one of the freest forms of expressions out there.

It's already happening--Nanowrimo, the writing challenge where the entire point was writing 50k original words in a single month regardless of how pretty it looked--coming out and saying that it is ableist and classist to be opposed to AI is the canary in the coalmine of what's to come.

For the non-creatives who enjoy the generative ai, it feels like a power fantasy come to life. But for creatives concerned about generative ai?

We're living in a horror movie.

[ducksido]

First off, I have known you for around 10 minutes, but now I’m a dedicated fan, your writing is absolutely amazing! And love that you include EPIC in it, if it doesn’t bother you, could you do a Mexican!Yuu? Like a little Mexican chaos gremlin who insults with every insult known in South America, you can totally ignore this message btw, no problem, have a nice day!

(Combining these three) [Also thank you very much c0ralrubi and childofserpents[❁´◡`❁])

Grim: "You mean to tell me tamales come in different flavors?! And you make them for Christmas?! Gimme one!" Grim is obsessed with Mexican food but underestimates the spice levels. After one bite of a habanero salsa, he refuses to trust Yuu’s food recommendations. He also thinks alebrijes are real and keeps asking if he can have one as a pet.

Crowley: "A culture so rich in history, legends, and celebrations! Why, I must host a NRC Día de los Muertos event in your honor!" Crowley 100% butchers the execution of it and makes it look like a spooky Halloween party. Yuu threatens him in Spanish while wielding a chancla.

Crewel: "Your homeland embraces bold colors and statement pieces—how absolutely divine!" Crewel admires traditional Mexican embroidery and charro suits. He’d love to make custom traje de charro-inspired outfits for Yuu, with a modern twist.

Trein: "Mexican folklore is filled with such intricate tales… Tell me more about La Llorona." Trein is fascinated by Mexican horror legends. Yuu tells him about Nahuales and El Chupacabra, and he starts using them as cautionary tales in class.

Vargas: "You mean to tell me your people run with BULLS for fun?! That’s the kind of strength I admire!" Vargas is shook when Yuu tells him about Mexican rodeos and charreadas. He tries to challenge Yuu to a physical competition, but Yuu just smacks him with a lucha libre mask and runs away screaming "¡Viva México!"

Sam: "Ooooh, you got all kinds of magical folk legends? Tell me more about these aluxes!" Sam sees Mexican myths and traditions as an untapped business opportunity. He starts selling calaveritas and copal for "spiritual balance" at his shop.

Heartslabyul:

Riddle Rosehearts: "You celebrate by smashing a piñata?! How… reckless." Riddle is horrified by the concept of piñatas. He gets hit in the face during a birthday party, and Yuu just yells, "¡Le pegaste al cumpleañero! ¡Córrele!" (You hit the birthday person! Run!)

Ace Trappola: "Wait, you have, like, a WHOLE holiday just for bread?! That’s sick!" Ace tries to get Yuu to share their pan de muerto. He also loves Día de los Inocentes, especially since he can pull pranks and blame it on a cultural holiday.

Deuce Spade: "Hold on—you have a whole fighting sport where people wear colorful masks?! That’s so cool!" Deuce becomes obsessed with lucha libre. He asks Yuu to teach him insults in Spanish so he can sound like a rudo (villain wrestler). He’s bad at them.

Trey Clover: "Wait, you put chocolate and chili together?! That actually sounds amazing." Trey loves Mexican desserts like churros, cajeta, and tres leches cake. He tries making mole and is deeply confused by the mix of chocolate and spices.

Cater Diamond: "Okay, but Magicam aesthetic—can I take a pic with your Día de Muertos ofrenda?" Cater is obsessed with Mexican aesthetics. He starts using phrases like "¡Órale, güey!" incorrectly and gets roasted by Yuu for it.

Savanaclaw:

Leona Kingscholar: "Hmph. Your people have strong warriors and deep traditions. I respect that." Leona admires Mexican fighters, from Aztec warriors to Lucha Libre legends. He’s also highly interested in the jaguar symbolism in Mexican culture.

Ruggie Bucchi: "Wait, wait, wait—you guys eat grasshoppers for snacks?! That’s actually kinda genius." Ruggie loves chapulines (fried grasshoppers) and asks Yuu for recipes. He also steals tamales and learns the hard way not to mess with the Rosca de Reyes baby.

Jack Howl: "Your people are really into loyalty and family, huh?" Jack deeply respects how important family and tradition are to Yuu. He’s super intrigued by Mexican legends about wolves, like El Cadejo.

Octavinelle:

Azul Ashengrotto: "So you’re saying these… alebrijes… are spirit guardians? Fascinating." Azul is intrigued by Mexican folklore, especially alebrijes and their meanings. He wants to see if he can profit off of them.

Jade Leech: "You honor mushrooms in your culture? How delightful!" Jade adores that some Mexican indigenous traditions view mushrooms as sacred. He asks if Yuu has ever tried special ones.

Floyd Leech: "YOU GUYS HAVE FIGHTING MASKS?! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME SOONER?!" Floyd immediately challenges Yuu to a lucha libre match and makes up his own wrestling persona.

Scarabia:

Kalim Al-Asim: "Your celebrations sound so lively and exciting! Can I join?!" Kalim is absolutely in love with posadas, piñatas, and mariachis. He tries to dance to jarabe tapatío and nearly trips.

Jamil Viper: "Your food looks delicious, but I sense a dangerous amount of spice." Jamil is deeply suspicious of Mexican chiles. Yuu pranks him by telling him habanero salsa is “just tomato sauce.”

Pomefiore:

Vil Schoenheit: "Your people emphasize beauty in tradition? I respect that." Vil admires the bold colors in Mexican clothing and makeup. He wants to create calavera-inspired makeup looks.

Rook Hunt: "Ah! The poetry of your culture! The passion!" Rook is obsessed with Mexican poetry and romanticism. He dramatically recites Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz poems.

Epel Felmier: "Y’all have weird apples, but I kinda like ‘em." Epel falls in love with tejocotes and ponche navideño. He gets super into Mexican cowboy culture.

Ignihyde:

Idia Shroud: "Mexican mythology inspired, like, half of my RPGs…" Idia geekily rants about Quetzalcóatl and Xibalba. He thinks La Llorona is the best horror story ever.

Ortho Shroud: "So… Día de los Muertos is about remembering loved ones? That’s beautiful." Ortho loves the sentimental side of Mexican traditions.

Diasomnia:

Malleus Draconia: "You respect spirits and traditions? You are wise." Malleus deeply respects Día de los Muertos and wants to experience a Mexican graveyard celebration.

Lilia Vanrouge: "Ah, I remember the battles of your ancestors!" Lilia claims to have met Aztec warriors. He’s probably telling the truth.

Silver: Falls asleep mid Mexican legend.

Sebek: "YOUR PEOPLE RESPECT ANCESTORS?! FINALLY, SOMEONE SANE!"

RSA + Noble Bell:

Chenya: Steals pan dulce. Neige: Thinks Yuu’s culture is magical. Rollo: Disgusted by how loud Mexican parties are.

Extra Mexican!Yuu Chaos:

Randomly yells "¡No mames, güey!"

Calls everyone "cabrón" or "mijo."

Fights Leona with a lucha libre mask.

[kotoku]

not exactly a request, but…

Imagine being a sort of half-blood monster humanoid, perhaps even one of a handful, and spending most of your life feeling as though you don’t belong anywhere, like you just came out wrong and there’s no cure for it...

And then you meet Laios and he absolutely freaking adores you and will not let you forget it.

imagining reader just hiding every single part of their appearance that shows their half-monster side, always walking with their head bowed down in shame. they have experienced so much hate, disgust, and horror to the point they don’t have much mirrors so they can avoid looking at themself. it’s truly sad.

i could see the reader usually spending most of their days down in the floors scavenging for some items that could be sold for money, considering it’s pretty detached from the surface world. maybe the reader is like senshi, who makes the dungeon their makeshift home, navigating the ecosystem and surviving all by themself. i think a floor that may be more deeper or less populated with adventurers is where reader can safely show their more monstrous appearance/self.

and then one fateful day, the reader meets laios. whether its through helping him and his party escape a monster or simply stumbling across them by accident, you’re now bound to his little gang of weirdos. he’d enthusiastically ask if you’d like to join, not knowing your true identity since you immediately sealed yourself away beneath a hood/etc… the reader, who has nothing much going on and figured they could use a change, would join (mostly due to laios’s pestering because you were pretty petrified of these people finding out what you are).

skipping ahead, lets say during a fight your identity was revealed. your appearance shocks the entire party, some feeling a little wary of you (their suspicions were already developing because whatever the situation, you always had that damn hood/cloak on). but nonetheless, they’re accepting. especially a certain blond tall-man who had a undying love for monsters.

ahh, count your days because this man is going to be the death of you. he’s so stunned, happy, fascinated, and angry because why didn’t you tell him !? what do you mean you hated what you are !??! WHY WOULD YOU HIDE SOMETHING AS COOL AS THIS FROM HIM !?!??!

laios is so envious of you, goddamn.

he’ll use every chance he gets to study your anatomy, your biology, your whatever. he’s obsessed. the others are interested too but not as much as laios… often having to wack or chase him away from you when you start feeling overwhelmed.

besides laios’s excited self, the rest of the gang are open to hearing about your insecurities and are a great support system. senshi would like to learn more about you so that he has an idea of your diet and what nutrients you need. chilchuck, a stern fatherly figure to you, would make sure laios isn’t getting too handsy with you. he’s also there to nail it into your head that you arent weird or anything (tough love huh..). marcille, if she doesn’t have any information on your species/monster, would like to learn more about you as well. like chilchuck, she’d be sure to drag laios away when he’s got a little too close and up in your personal space.

one night, you’d explain to laios about your insecurities in detail and your history. he wouldn’t really understand it because you’re so cool ??? but i think he’d get it because he’s been in that kind of situation back in his home town. he may not exactly know what you went through, but at least he’s able to understand and if you let him, he’ll gladly help/support you.

bye, you’d cry from happiness/relief from the party, especially laios’, acceptance.

group hug ensues**

sorry this was so long, it’s a lovely concept and i love just imagining it ^^

[ckret2]

How do you think bill would feel about origami? I feel like the most obvious answer is that its like body horror to him but a part of me thinks maybe he’d be morbidly fascinated by a process that turns 2d into 3d…even if it mutilates the 2d. Smth smth it’s just like his life. In a way

well, i've got a scene in an unposted chapter that describes the effect that sex with a black hole has on bill's body as "fractal origami," so there's that

But more seriously: on some level, I feel like Bill shouldn't see origami as turning something 2D into something 3D. Because like, paper isn't 2D. It's just really thin. You could draw a 2D plane on a paper; but like, that's an image on the paper. (And even then it's only a symbolic image representing a plane, not an actual plane; even the drawing itself is literally 3D, because the ink it's drawn with has depth.)

And to you and me going "well ackshually a piece of paper isn't really 2D" is, like, annoyingly pedantic, right? like we understand perfectly well that it's like ~symbolically~ 2D, we can look at it as a representation of 2D-ness and we all get the point.

But to Bill, who is actually 2D and grew up in a realm without depth? I feel like a piece of paper doesn't convey symbolic 2D-ness to Bill the way it does to us, because no matter what, a piece of 3D paper has that alien quality of third dimensionality that was absent from his home dimension. Folding a piece of paper in half is like folding a pillow in half: it's just a 3D object bending. If a human tried to compare origami with folding a 2D thing into a 3D thing he'd be like "oh, oh sure, when you explain it I get how it would look that way to you," but like, he doesn't FEEL it.

But whenever I think through a headcanon like this, I have to ask myself a very important question: would Alex Hirsch have put this much thought into the minute logistical details of how a 2D being perceives the 3D world? And the answer is: Alex Hirsch gave Bill a phobia of 3D glasses. So, no. I accept that I am overthinking this for my own entertainment.

BUT if we separate the concept of origami from actual physical paper, though—and like, imagine actually bending and folding a 2D plane into a 3D shape—I think Bill would just think that's cool. Not even in a melancholy morbid way, he'd just be like haha yeah fuck that shit UP. Anarchy!! Fold the plane in half and now it's like suddenly everyone on the left side of the universe teleported into the right side of the universe because they're pressed together. That's crazy. He's making Wrinkle In Time-style tesseracts out of this thing. Look he folded the plane into a swan, enjoy the new wormholes teleporting you across the galaxy where the creases meet.

My headcanon for how Bill's dimension was destroyed follows all the evidence we have that it was burned, not that it was tilted or folded. So the idea of folding a plane doesn't set off Euclydian Massacre flashbacks for him.

I actually imagine that there are 2D dimensions out in the Gravity Falls multiverse that bend—like, it might fold at a perfect right angle, and if a shape went over the angle it wouldn't even notice because from its POV all it perceives is a continuous flat plane. The fact that Euclydia's structured in such a way that if you go off the top edge you pop up at the bottom and if you go off the left edge you pop up on the right suggests Euclydia itself was a plane on the surface of a sphere. So Bill's accustomed to planes that are 2D within their own perspective but not flat when viewed with the third dimension. Origami then isn't inherently destructive to the second dimension; it just makes it weirder.

[deconstructthesoup]

I think the reason that Dimension 20 really scratches all those itches in my brain is that it really shows what you can do with D&D---and TTRPGs as a whole.

Fantasy High, by itself, is an incredibly compelling concept. What would D&D look like in a semi-modern setting? What would a high school that's all about teaching teens how to be adventurers look like? And the way it's done is beyond inventive, especially if you look at all the encounters in the first season---we've got a literal food fight, a high-speed road chase with tiefling greasers, a nightclub brawl with zombies, vampires, and werewolves, a skating match with a bunch of dwarven middle schoolers and a concrete golem, a high-stakes game of football (ish) with undead jocks that give off major teen slasher vibes, a fight done in an arcade where characters can get trapped in the consoles, and the final battle is done at prom. PROM! How cool is that?

And then we get to the Unsleeping City, which takes the urban fantasy elements that Fantasy High already had and elevates it. The way the D&D lore and magic is interpreted in a modern New York setting is excellent, as is the whole take on the "American Dream," magic literally coming from dreams, ideas, and the imagination. I know that I need to actually finish the UC saga, but from what I've seen and experienced, it is truly fantastic.

And the same energy carries through to the other seasons---my personal favorite outside of Fantasy High being A Court of Fey and Flowers, just because I'm a sucker for any Fey Realm content and I've been raised on Jane Austen---where the genre mashups shine through in the best way possible. I'll admit, I haven't seen A Crown of Candy, purely because I know how heartbreaking and devastating it is and I don't think I can physically handle it, but the concept of Candyland Game of Thrones is so beautifully bizarre that I totally get why people love it so much. Escape from the Bloodkeep hitting that workplace comedy vibe that we love to see in villains. Misfits & Magic being a love letter to the "magical boarding school" genre while also calling out all the weird contradictions inherent in it. A Starstruck Odyssey literally being an homage to Brennan's mom and exactly the kind of madcap and unhinged energy I need from my sci-fi. Neverafter perfectly encapsulating the true horror of fairy tales. Mentopolis hitting my noir-loving heart and personifying hyperfixation in the best way possible.

I'm not even kidding when I say that, if it weren't for Dimension 20... I probably wouldn't have even started my own campaign. I'd had snippets and ideas ever since officially getting into D&D and joining a game with some old friends (and getting back in touch with them in the process), but after I saw the Mentopolis trailer, I realized just how much variety TTRGPs had to offer. I could do a time-blending, history-meets-future campaign. I could go out-of-the-box. I could have endless amounts of options available to my friends and still tell the story that I wanted to tell. And when I sat down and watched Fantasy High---and when I got that Dropout subscription so I could consume whatever I wanted---it felt like the show was actually giving me advice. It's fantastic.

Also it helps that the episodes are usually only roughly a couple hours instead of being, like, an entire afternoon long. And that each season is 20 episodes, tops. No offense to Critical Role, but the sheer amount of content literally makes it impossible for me to get into it.

[utarinho-bonjour]

my tsats 2 expectations!

Nico looking healthier: At the end of tsats1 we see him thinking "how could i not eat when it gives so much pleasure?" or smt like that. I can see him improving significantly his eating habits and at least gaining a bit of muscular mass (is that how we put it?), which will make him more powerful, since normally eating a grape a day might reduce your necromancy powers.

Nico being cute: we can absolutely expect that he will be insufferable next to will in this book. Like, he was already being the cringiest nerd ever at the first book, where he still had a LOT of emotional limitations, he wouldnt let go of will, always touching him and showing absurd amounts of affection through his touch. We can expect him being a little shit even more now that he seems to be getting more and more comfortable with wills touch.

TEENAGER COCOA PUFFS: (god i love this one). I think it could be something like: the more nico grows comfortable with aspects of his trauma, the more the cocoa puffs grow. The more he accepts and deals with shame, the more the little ball of darkness grows until it actually evolves as something with a physical form. I remember seeing something about the cocoapuffs taking animal forms as they grow and i LOVE this concept. Imagine some monster or deity trying to taunt nico with shame or envy and this teenager sized bear shows up from the darkness. God, i cant, nico is the coolest character EVER.

COCOA PUFFS: i like the concept of them also growing independet, as much as the idea of some little balls of darkness following nico is very dear to me, i also like the idea of them exploring the world or evolving as creatures too. They would be independent creatures but as an extention of nico, they have their own personalities, connected with their respective trauma but you can see the action part being similar to nicos.

COCOA PERSONALITIES: Shame being shy but when cornered they get angry and defensive. Envy being full of pride and "comunicative" but when triggered they get quiet and cold.

NICO GETTING HADES' BLESSING: i think one of the things most of the nico stans have in common is an absurd love for his demonstrations of power 🙂‍↕️. The thing with hades' blessing is: we dont know what it is, up to this point we havent seen anyone get it and deal with it yet, which is very cool because we can overpower it on our heads 🤭! I THINK, the hades blessing would act to counter the biggest weakness of most (ig) children of hades, it would waste way less energy. Of course it would seem sick, like making nico actually look and perform as a creature of the underworld, him getting horns, maybe? nico getting black eyes? his skin turning grey? his hair turning white? nico having less form? being completelly engulfed by shadows? God i loooove fanservice, lets go rick and mark yall have one job, and it is to make nico look like a dragon ball transformation, so we can look at it and think "sick". I like to think that his fighting style at this state merges with his powers, going for a kick at his oponents head then suddenly apearing behind them? sick. stealing the life of his oponents? killing them while healing himself from it? sick. getting shadows with venon around him? absolutely sick.

NICO BEING GOOD AT GAMES: i love gamer nico. It matches his personality soo well. That is like the best remedy to insomnia, right? Im not really a gamer myself aside from competitive online games, and i cant really imagine nico playing league (ew), but i could see him ending resident evil 7 in a night. Playing tomb raider? yes! I could see him playing most adventure, suspense and horror games, and the thing is: bitch can play the most gut wrenching games with the scariest jump scares EVER, and he wouldnt even flinch. on the other side, him getting easily scared by anything on this games would also be super funny. Bitch screaming like a prey runing from a lion while playing dbd. He went to tartarus and is dissolving by a jumpscare? funniest concept ever.

NICO LOOKING HANDSOME: and way more intimidating. With some sun, actually being happy for once, better eating habits and accepting himself i think he would look quite good. I see him now with very black hair and very black doe eyes, a full mouth and a very straight and a bit too big nose, a bony face shape and a little bit of eyebags. I like to think he still has these features but his face is really symetrical and his skin makes him look like a doll, his lips and beautifull but his eyes, even though they look beautiful, the look is haunting, and make you need to look away. He looks like he's reading your mind, but he also looks so handsome you want to keep looking. I think he has long lashes too, and his scar only makes him more intimidating, it is the only not symetrical thing on his face and it makes him stand out. He has a cold look in his eyes, you never know what he is thinking (aside from will that reads him like a book), and the fact that he is constantly getting healthier and more handsome is very haunting.

NICO ACCEPTING HIS GOOD PARTS AND WILL ACCEPTING HIS BAD PARTS: I think this one is my favorite so far, Nico being able to sustain himself in a fight, stealing life from oponents (i loooove this one), or simply learning how to heal because he understands that death and life are the same thing. While Will understands that not all lives are meant to be saved, and to save more lives it might take some difficult choices like not saving others. It might make him get the hability of necrosing things just like nico, or (like canon) giving diseases just like he heals.

thats it for now! english is not my first language! be kind.

[imissivan]

the thing is that no one ever taught ivan how to love. no one really taught ivan what love is, even—how to give it, when to hold it back, how to take it, and what it felt like to be cherished and valued and loved, loved, loved. can he be blamed for going about it in all the wrong ways?

on the other hand, till has never not been loved. he’s been hated, abused, dehumanized, put through horror after horror. but through it all, from life to—from birth, love always found its way to him. but he didn’t exactly have the words for it, either. didn’t have the words to express his own love, actually. so used to receiving it, his only way of giving it back was through song. sharing his happiness. it’s not his fault that he couldn’t see how that might never occur to someone to do, who had never experienced real happiness before.

still, love is the most human thing of all. even in the blackest of sorrows, it will find a way.

read this on AO3 — WE AREN’T HEROES —

https://archiveofourown.org/works/61117030

ivan leaned back against the plush couch he was sitting on, affecting coolness, calmness. it wouldn’t do to let the aliens surrounding him on all sides know of any emotional turmoil beneath his mask—it would be a weakness for them to exploit, a new and crueler show to force ivan to dance to, or simply upset their celebratory atmosphere and result in punishment. or worse, they’d send him home, leaving till here by himself.

pretending to smile and laugh at something said to the group formed around him, ivan shifted position, sweeping his gaze across the large and segmented party room, looking for till. he wasn’t dealing with mitzi’s disappearance well, nor sua’s—the four of them weren’t confidantes, but they were constant companions in the garden. rather, they had been. till was sitting quietly, a concept that clashed desperately with the furious wreck of energy and emotion that ivan knew till to be. till was sitting quietly at a table next to his owner, a foul mouthed alien whose cruelty was matched only by his wealth. painful circles were carved beneath his eyes. till usually looked sleepless, but it also usually contrasted against a bright burning of life in his eyes, spite and music and hope. but his eyes were lifeless. dim. and it revealed just how beaten and abused his body really was.

he looked like an entirely different person to his stage portrait—and every time ivan saw it, he felt sick. he thought of all the nights he’d crawled into till’s medical bed, held his hand as he slept in fits and starts, yanking out of sleep with sharp jerks and flinching away from ivan every time he awoke, until till recognized ivan’s face, and relaxed again. ivan stayed awake, eyes unblinking, watching to make sure till would not be spirited away in the night. and just watching. he couldn’t explain why, but something about till was just so deeply fascinating to ivan. till was attractive, yes, and ivan would call him beautiful, actually, especially when he was sparkin’ mad or embarrassed. but the aliens tired of beauty quickly. faster and faster all the time. and anyway, would ivan feel so protective of a particularly gorgeous piece of art?

till stared blankly into the plate of food set in front of him, and ivan’s hand twitched into a fist. he was so close, maybe if ivan excused himself to the bathroom, he could just brush his fingertips across till’s shoulders—anything, anything to banish the deathly stillness ivan was watching now.

a loud bang of a hand, much larger and with more digits than ivan’s, slammed the couch next to ivan’s leg. “[you are not paying attention!]” the alien snapped several times in front of ivan’s face. “[do not make me get the rod, and ruin the party for my guests.]”

another alien, with long drooping antennae sprouting where a human’s hair might grow, placed a hand on the first’s arm and purred, “[such a thing can be entertaining on its own, actually. have you heard of—]”

across the way, till’s alien yanked on his collar. till almost fell out of his chair, catching himself only at the last second. till’s alien gestured to the stage, and another yanked till to his feet, then shoved him up to the microphone. the music started, and a selfish part of ivan was almost excited to hear till sing (he always wanted to hear till singing) (a sound beaten only by till’s laughter, a throaty, obnoxious sound that came all too rarely). ivan tensed. till looked so far away, so glazed over. his cue to begin singing came and went. he only stared at the microphone.

till’s alien went fast to violence. never one for patience. grabbing till by the face. forcing him down. ivan was standing, was taking faltering half-steps towards till. what could he do? what could he do? wracking his brain in desperation. clicks and hisses of irritation from the aliens he was meant to be entertaining.

then till snapped. reared back. launched himself at his alien. a sound of shattering glass—till had a bottle in his hand. was using it to beat his alien bloody. thud after thud.

ivan was terrified, angry. with who, for what, he couldn’t say.

chaos. guests surged away as bodyguards and other pet owners surged forward, eager to please, eager to demonstrate their own training prowess. ivan moved to get closer, unsure of what to do, but just listening to an animal instinct that said as long as ivan kept his eyes on him, till would be fine. so long as ivan kept till in his sights, it would all be okay. (never mind that this had not stopped them from both being drafted for this season.)

ivan’s own alien was not at the party, so it was the one with the fleshy hands that assumed responsibility for human pet Ivan. it grabbed a thick handful of ivan’s hair and yanked him backward. ivan resisted by instinct, scalp burning. there was yelling in his face, painful in his ears. he ignored it, trying to see what they were doing to till. there was a human yelp, an involuntary sound of pain, and then several sick thuds. ivan’s guest kicked at ivan’s legs, forcing him to the ground with a bang against his knees that would surely bruise.

he gave in. he crouched and raised his hands in front of him, showing he was cooperative, he was nonviolent, he was a good little human pet, wasn’t he? his heart twisting the whole time. he couldn’t see till, but he could hear. the whole thing, he could hear with crystal clarity.

when it was over, the pets were all shuffled out of the party, maybe as a punishment, maybe for security, maybe as a reminder that they were kept around only for entertainment and little else. all of them but till. as ivan limped—slightly, only slightly—past the opulence of the aliens’ banquet, he saw till slumped on the ground next to his alien, the creature’s hand in till’s hair, possessive and dominant.

ivan could do nothing but continue limping out of the party. sick to his stomach with his own helplessness, and angry at till for giving up on his own life so easily.

hours and hours later, ivan finally found him. till was passed out in the same place, the same position, and leaning against the sofa next to him, still on the floor. bruises of deep mariner blue and sunset purple had already formed along his jaw, a sight that made ivan’s heart stutter. what had he been thinking? years, they’d been doing this. what had made him snap this time?

ivan crouched beside till’s sleeping form and unlocked his muzzle with one small motion. till’s breaths were alarmingly shallow. ivan lightly, as gently as he could, brushed his fingers across the bruises. cold heat gathered in ivan’s head. useless, he’d been. useless, till was. just the same as mizi. just the same as sua (sua, who was dead now. who’d sacrificed her life for someone who was also never going to get out of this place alive) (sua, who ivan had felt contempt for, every time she shared a happy moment with mizi, planning the whole time to die for her).

ivan’s body suddenly felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds. he put a hand against the wall to brace himself, leaning down more closely to till. even in his sleep, he looked troubled. no, he looked more animated than other people. than ivan, whose mask of ice wasn’t something he intended to wear. any amount of emotion on till’s face seemed obscene with ivan in the room.

till… was it thoughts of mizi that made him snap? had till even known that ivan was in the room with him, not fifteen feet away? what had sua been thinking, as she climbed the steps to the stage, as she greeted the person she cared for more than any other, knowing that only one of them would walk away? as she put in action her plan to be the one who fell, lifeless, and forced the other to live on with the pain of that loss?

what was ivan going to do tomorrow, when he was faced with the same?

they were too old now to sleep in the same bed, but ivan wished they could anyway. it would be their last night together, whoever won (whatever he decided). softly, he leaned down and pressed his forehead to till’s, breathing in his scent. his skin was rough, but ivan had always liked things with an edge.

in that half-caress, ivan let his eyes drift closed, and made his choice.

[lockheed-martin-unofficial]

Thinking about Altmodes.

The fact that cybertronians even have the ability to “scan” vehicles (created by other alien species) tells me that they’ve always not only been aware of other intelligent species, but also possibly interacted with them. They were designed to interact with them that way, assuming scanning was an ability Primus gave them and not an extra gadget they added into their frames afterwards (Which is also an interesting concept) But maybe that interaction only went one way.

Taking the catchphrase Robots In Disguise™️ seriously, it is easy to imagine cybertronians being a horror story for other species. Aliens that hide in plain sight, lying in wait. Indistinguishable from the very vehicles you use to travel around. Would you trust your car, be sure it wasn’t replaced? Cybertronians would be TERRIFYING if they wanted to conquer your planet from the shadows.

On another note, I like to imagine there’s More Than Meets The Eye™️ to scanning altmodes. It’s not just to hide. Take TFP for an example. Neither Airachnid nor Dreadwing/Skyquake transformed before scanning an altmode even though they were in situations where doing so would have greatly helped them. This was probably an animation thing, the people making the show not having the time and budget to design two seperate altmodes for the characters.

However, if we read into it, I think it’d make sense that the true reason they scan earth-based altmodes is that their cybertronian altmodes are not fully compatible with earth. Or at least they don’t know how compatible they would be so instead of risking they wait to scan an earth-based form. Especially when it comes to flyers. The atmosphere, the gases in it, the gravity, all work a whole lot differently on other planets. It’s more advantageous to become something that was built to maneuver on this planet, than trying your chances with your cybertronian altmode and seeing how it fares in this unfamiliar environment, while also in the middle of a battle.

The Autobots specifically mention to Wheeljack and Smokescreen that they needed an earth-based altmode for disguise purposes, so we know they could have probably transformed this entire time but simply chose not to out of convenience.

They would probably not be able to go back to their earth-based altmodes again without scanning if they reverted to their cybertronian ones, which is why they don’t when they go to Cybertron. I also imagine the process of un-scanning an altmode (dunno what else to call that) would take a while, so if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

In episode where Arcee and Jack go to Cybertron, she’s gonna come back in a few hours so why would she go through the trouble? In the movie, they don’t really have a reason/motivation to do so. The Autobots probably want a reminder of Earth, Decepticons like Shockwave and Megatron already have cybertronian altmodes. I don’t think we see Knockout transform but he’s always been very vocal about how pretty he is as a car so he probably kept his altmode as well.

That leaves only Starscream to be explained, and my personal headcanon is that he secretly grew to like human-made aircraft. Although it would’ve been cool to see him as a cybertronian jet in the movie, the movie scriptwriters didn’t really care about Starscream anyway.

In my AU the earthplane enjoyment is in part due to him bonding with Nicole and pitying all the trouble humans have to go through to achieve what comes to him naturally.

[greenunoreversecard]

Plsss do another part to the fic ‘A koala and it’s tree’ the concept is so cool!!

a/n:I had at least half written and then my phone fucking deleted the draft I want to cry so hard I'm in mourning. Also sorry it Took me a minute to comr up eitheir a idea for the plot of it

Teaching a old Dog new tricks (task failed succesfully) ->Alastor x teen!platonic! Reader

(Pt.2 of a koala and its tree)

You sigh, dragging yourself along behind Alastor and Rosie. You don't understand much of what their saying, as their speaking like it's the early 20th century. Which, to be fair, they are from then.

But you could barely understand a word being said, due to missing ao much previous knowledge about slang and terms and shit. And you were so bored and

What if-

Oh ho ho! Bingo!

A wonderful idea indeed.

---

You sigh loudly, feet hurting from all the walking you've done today and plop down on the couch next to Angel Dust, and alastor sits on a arm chair across from the both of you. You smirk, setting your plan into action. You make sure your loud enough for Alastor to hear you.

" did you see that new video? No Cap I'm going to be for real it's lowkey giving try hard you know like? I'm just being real like I really don't vib3, like girls not giving main character.. and like, Miss ma'am you are not slaying you are not giving it is not the vibe like, twas not a glow up but a glow down. But it is kinda sus how she treated Kim like, big yikes. Not loving the energy. And That outfit did not understand the assignment. It was basic and it sent me"

Angel looks at you wide eyed for a moment, you nudge him and side eye Alastor hoping he gets the cue. He does.

"I for real was just thinking that, like bitch be deadass with me you did not leave your house like that. But that tea was piping hot and bussing. And the fact Jennie had no rizz? Bitch please, you acting all that and ended up capping, highkey a flop."

"THATS WHAT IM SAYIN BITCH LIKE-"

You glance at Alastor, who's wide eyed and with a strained smile. If you could guess it would probably be a mix between strange curiosity and slight horror.

"I- pardon?"

You smirk. Mission accomplished.

---

A week later you sat Alastor down, explained some simpler slang words and terms to him.

He didn't didn't to get it, bit when he told angel "Bitches be slaying, queen" you think he got some of it, but not the way he was supposed you.

You almost coughed a lung up from the amount of laughing you did, and vowed from thst day forward you were never going to correct his usage if it meant funny shit like this happened again.

[brucewaynehater101]

Hello I have an idea for Tim.

What if he got those game screens pop up whenever he's doing some side missions or quests. And after that he'll get some cool and valuable stuff like: cool weapons with superpowers that are not from his world, advantages of gaining more information than the whole hero community, etc..

The Batfam probably thought that he was doing those missions because he was bored and wanted to relieve some stress, which is kinda true but whenever he does these quests he also makes a lot of allies from across the planets and helps him through it while also being part of the "Tim protector squad".

Also the screen will always congratulate him and give him some praise, plus the screen can also help Tim by upgrading his stuff or watching him from any danger and giving him a warning to be careful. Just a guy with his screen, what could go wrong? Hahah-

But. The screen can also give him some weird quest like "protect your loved one from [Redacted]" which confuses Tim but the screen doesn't have any power only providing him so who's the one controlling the screen???

Anyway these are just silly thoughts that I want to give :333

Heck yeah! I love exploring unusual/non-typical powers.

I really really want to develop this some more, so let's set up a power!

My favorite genre of games is horror. The fighting styles, gameplay, concepts, stick layouts, and all of that can be drastically different between games [at least Tim isn't stuck with game powers where he can't fight back]. Because of that, the end goal may be impossible to reach and thus changes to a new objective.

Here is an example of where this happened with Tim:

Convince Dick Grayson to become Robin Become Robin

Tim's thoughts and feelings can affect the missions he's given. He will never be given an objective he would not do (e.g. Kill Alfred). Not completing any task (side or main) can have consequences. Main ones have drastic outcomes that he can only somewhat control if he attempts them.

Upon completion, he gets points and rewards. His rewards are anything from new skills, connections, weapons, resources, etc.

His points can be used either in the "shop" or for his skill tree (Tim desperately wishes it was a "pay to play" game so he can get more points).

The shop has weapons, elixirs (one of which is Lazarus water), one use spells, maps, information/clues, outfits with effects, armor, etc.

His skill tree has three main branches: Body, Mind, and Soul.

For Body, he can enhance any of his characteristics to the upper limits of humans: eye sight, health, stamina, strength, sense of smell, etc. His points can also lower the difficulty or time needed to learn a very specific skill (ex. spending 5 points to decrease time needed to learn how to wield a pistol).

For Mind, he can hasten his thinking speed, create defenses against multiple mental attacks (including emotional manipulation and telepathy), decrease the mental energy required per tasks, decrease time spent learning languages/information, etc.

For Soul, this includes abilities to protect himself from magical/whatever interference, increase charm, increase ability to understand/read others' emotions, etc.

If he sounds OP, worry not! Tim suffers from never having enough points (he learned the hard way that he also needs to keep an amount saved up in case he suddenly needs to buy a tool or skill to save his or someone else's life.). There's so much he can buy, but there are only so many hours to complete side missions

Tim's least favorite quest was when he was chilling alone with his Zesti and suddenly got the notification:

Run

Jason's a jerk for scaring the shit out of Tim like that at TT

[lbulldesigns]

Wild Rune Foreshadowing Jayce, Heimendinger, and Ekko's roles in the coming episodes

I just had this sudden epiphany about the true significance of Jayce, Heimendinger, and Ekko's scene in the Wild Rune at the end of Act I.

The way that the Wild Rune distorts them is basically showing us what they are experiencing individually and foreshadowing their roles in the rest of the season.

Jayce:

We have this, honestly, really cool loop of Jayce which stands out from Heimendinger and Ekko's distortion. For one he's in tack, he isn't splintering apart or anything. Two, he looks at his previous self before facing forward which indicates that he's stuck repeating himself until we get to the end where he looks horrified at the Wild Rune and asks "what have we done" before attacking it with his hammer.

And going by how worn-out Jayce looks in Act II, his dialogue with Viktor, plus him just instantly attacking Viktor on sight. All points towards Jayce having been stuck in a time loop, and episode 6 is him finally breaking out of it.

I think the Wild Rune put him through this particular hell because it wants Jayce to fix his mistakes, but considering Jayce's habit of making decisions without fully thinking ahead (i.e. his deal with Silco, resurrecting Viktor, building the failsafe in a location that he didn't thoroughly vet first and making sure was safe) and then regretting said actions once things go wrong, the time loop could be the Wild Rune's way of forcing Jayce to make his mistakes until he either learns from them or learns to avoid them.

The glitching out we see before he shoots Viktor, going by Riot's way of showcasing mental struggles with individual characters i.e. Jinx seeing scratches and neon sketches when she has a breakdown, him splitting apart into more of himself can be a nod towards him reliving this experience again and again and again. He was prepared to talk at this point, and then he just starts shooting instead.

Heimendinger:

Now, onto Eldricheimer.

I've seen a lot of Biblically Accurate Heimendinger jokes going around, and this is mostly because of how his face splits apart and his eyes multiply.

I don't think the animators put this in just to show how disturbing the Wild Rune is, I think they wanted us to actually think of Eldrich beings when looking at him. For those who aren't well versed or know about H.P. Lovecraft's work, the Eldrich horrors in his stories share the same concept. They're creatures so ancient that looking upon them will drive you insane. They break the laws of our nature and are often hard to describe, much like biblically accurate angels who are described as having many eyes.

The reason why either of these beings are difficult to understand or describe is because they basically shoot knowledge straight into your brain, they show you the answers to the universe, but because our minds can't hold that much information, we go insane and perceive what we are experiencing as a horrific experience.

When Heimendinger is affected, his body is being held still and is facing forward. His arms are held stiffly by his side, as if he's being forced. And then his eyes splinter from his face and multiply (even on the wall behind him), with his many eyes staring outwards in wide eyed in horror.

The Wild Rune is forcing Heimendinger to look. It's forcing a person who has stayed so consistently and ignorantly blind to the point of sheer stubbornness to actually look.

Heimendinger, as we all know, doesn't take accountability for his actions. He is 200 years old, he assisted in the founding of Piltover, he lead the council throughout that time, and has basically allowed Zaun to fall so stupidly and pointlessly into destitution because he wouldn't look at what was happening in front of him. He stayed focused on his pride and joy, Piltover.

I speculate that, if we go by the theme we have so far with time distortion, that Heimendinger is being made to watch everything both past and future. This would drive a normal person insane, but Heimendinger is basically immortal therefore his mind would be able to handle the information overload; you don't live through centuries without being able to compartmentalize hundreds of years of memories.

And going by his League description, Heimendinger is a scientist that vows to understand the knowledge of the universe, both natural and magic. This is how we are going to get the unhinged Heimendinger who build mecha T-Rex's as shown in his splash art.

Ekko:

I thought that this was a pretty cool shot not gonna lie, I 100% believe that Ekko isn't dead, I mean we all understand his game counterparts history with time and there are still scenes with him that we haven't seen yet, so the revalation that his is a-okay is not that ground breaking.

But I really like where the writers and animators are going in regards to him acquiring his time manipulaton abilities for the show. Him creating a time machine because his a genius is good and all, but how much more poetic is it that he learns to master time by being taught by time itself and using both his newly acquired knowledge and his expertise in tinkering and inventing to then make the Z-Drive.

The boy who shattered time, being shattered apart.

And we all understand where his story is gonna go from here, he is going to be able to rewind time to fix things. Perhaps the Wild Rune imparted this knowledge onto him to counteract any mistakes that jayce would make, or to ensure that the best outcome would be achieved for whatever crisis (possible Void invasion) may be coming.

Or maybe it saw his wish to save Powder/Jinx from herself, but because fate has had a trajectory already outlined refuses to let him go that far back.

Perhaps the events of episode 6 are where the Wild Rune will allow this fate's story to be manipulated, like rewritting a chapter to determine a better ending to the book. There could be a chance that Jinx will play a pivitol role in the events to come, and that her dying before the upcoming battle will ensure a bad outcome... Or that could just be my own wishful thinking, I don't know.