#the genes and the range is actually really pretty

[aardcinder-dragons]

Well, good thing I just got 5 more regular lair slots with my Glimmer and Gloom money.

[trillscienceofficer]

from Sci-Fi Universe magazine, October 1996

KISS ME DEADLY: In REJOINED, one of the season's finest episodes, a kiss proved to be more than just a kiss

Maybe it's another sign of format maturity, but the modern Trek era has never seen anything like the controversy that erupted over the airing of DS9's Rejoined, which takes the science fiction story opportunity made possible by Dax's Trill host/symbiont race and twists it into a social comment on sexual orientation Gene Roddenberry would have been proud to call his own.

"Last July," begins Terry Farrell, whose Dax character is at the heart of the story, "Rick Berman called and asked me if I would kiss a woman, and at that point I guess I didn't take it that seriously. I said, 'Yeah, as long as she's beautiful I don't care!'

"And then it spurred me to thinking about it before it actually happened, and I felt bad I had been so flip, because I didn't realize how serious a love story it would be—and how nervous I would be about it, really want to be sure I'm honest and I'm doing the story justice, and I really want people to talk about it and think about it afterward. It really meant a lot to me.

"I think it's really important to love people for who they are, and spiritually it was a great show for me too, because it just reinforces that all of us—whether we want to admit it or not—can really be judgmental at times. That was a really important show to say, to the smallest degree, you've got to remember that people's lives are always so much more complicated than you think they are."

"We had a lot of advance buzz, but we also sat on that show a bit,' adds producer Steve Oster, who recalled the flap in 1969 when Kirk and Uhura made history with television's interracial kiss in Plato's Stepchildren. In fact, the show didn't go looking for attention.

"Because it had a kiss in it, and because of the Roseanne hoopla a few years ago (concerning the high-profile star's on-screen lesbian kiss), our publicity people wanted to have them come over and take pictures of 'the famous kiss scene,' have a news crew like Entertainment Tonight there—and we opted not to do that for a couple of reasons.

"For one thing, because we didn't want to become the Roseanne issue where stations were deciding not to air it, and secondly, to Rick's credit, he did not want to make that what the episode was about. It was not about two characters kissing—it was not about making that a tantalizing factor of the episode."

As directed by Avery Brooks, the episode maintained a remarkably naturalistic feel through the acting of all concerned, including Farrell and guest star Susanna Thompson.

"They chose to play it as real, as we would any other scene with those emotions going on: not 'Okay, a girl is going to kiss a girl,' but it was 'This is someone you were in love with before and you still are,' and that's the arc of the scene. It was not about the kiss," says Oster.

"I think we were trying to be as realistic as possible," Farrell agrees. "Really, the only scene I remember going way out and pulling back was the last scene were I give her the ultimatum—where Avery let me basically go all out and cry my eyes out and then pull me back. So that was the only time I remember going from one extreme to the other, trying a range; otherwise it was pretty natural."

In fact, the scene with Sisko was one of the easiest to play, she revealed, because of the natural affinity she feels tor Brooks, the actor. "He was so supportive of me during the first year of DS9 when it was really difficult for me, he was the only one who reached out and really made me feel comfortable, and tried to help me build my self-confidence and self-esteem in really healthy way," she says. "So I felt like I didn't need to do a lot of homework."

Farrell reveals that, in fact, the hardest scene for her as an actress was the moment in which Dax and Lenara Kahn realize at dinner, without voicing it directly, that they are still in love. Aside from the new situation of seeing Dax giddy like that, Farrell recalled it was the first day of shooting on the episode. "I felt a little uncomfortable and was feeling nervous about the whole thing," she says, "and I remember trying to make her comfortable at the same time."

The chemistry that sparked between Farrell and Thompson—finally out from under the makeup as a Romulan and Tilonian, both on TNG [on The Next Phase and Frame of Mind respectively]—came as no accident, since the producers had taken pains to have Farrell read with those who came in during casting for the role.

"We auditioned and auditioned and auditioned," Oster reports. "We needed to find that chemistry, someone who can play that role as a human being, not as someone who's wondering about kissing another woman. And if someone has delivered for us, we'll bring them back if they've been in makeup before because that can change."

"And," agrees Farrell, "we made sure we had a meeting before we started the show—Susanna and Avery and I—to discuss the show. Usually we don't have time for those kinds of things to happen on our show, but they just made the time. And it really made a difference, I think."

Before the show aired, executive producer Rick Berman said he hoped it would be "received with some controversy."

"I think it does deal metaphorically with homosexuality in the sense of how society puts taboos on certain sexual orientation," Berman said. "It deals with it from both sides, I believe. And I'm sure there are those in the gay community who will probably feel that, again, we haven't gone far enough. But our objective in this story was very specific and very related to the big points that are exhibited in the story—it was never designed to be 'how far can we push this?' It's another step in our attempts to supposedly open stories that deal with a variety of sexual orientation [sic]."

The low-key strategy seemed to have worked: among the affiliates who knew what was coming, Oster reports, none ever dropped the show completely. All ran the episode on first airing—with a parental advisory added by the Atlanta station—and "two or three" others cut the scene out when repeated.

"The studio was very supportive of it; it was one of those things that when Roseanne became the cutting edge and it passed by, it suddenly became not much of an issue."

—Larry Nemecek

"Negative callers couldn't make the leap between seeing this kiss and the famous one between Uhura and Kirk in 1969 as both being a matter of prejudice."

—Producer Steve Oster

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: The face from Minesweeper

Debut: from Minesweeper

Minesweeper is a pretty cool game! I like it. I went through my entire life not knowing how to play it, and then a few months ago decided “I will learn how Minesweeper works” and now I like it well enough. But even before I liked it as a game, there was something about it that was always charming! Even as a silly baby, I felt positive energy radiating from this game with an honestly horrific premise, because this grid of squares and numbers was Smiling at me!

The Face From Minesweeper may register as an Emoji to you, but it actually predates them! This strange creature is a Smiley. More than a mere smiling face, a Smiley is like a sort of animal. Everyone loved Smiley! You can think of it on the level of other fan-favorite animal, Dog. Just like Dog, Smiley got all sorts of merchandise! Toys, decoration, even smiling French Fries! One day, however, the magic day finally came when world leaders agreed it was time to domesticate Smiley.

Though many would have loved to have a pet Smiley of their own, it was decided that they were unfit for such a lifestyle. Instead, they would become beasts of burden... they would be Used. The selective breeding began! Over time, they became smaller, cuter. They gained a wider range of readable facial expression. Most importantly, they were now hardy enough to be sent all over the world countless times per day. And that is how Emojis came to be! Linked gene shenanigans also led to some shaped like animals, plants, objects, even symbols! Don’t worry about it. But if you are interested, I think they released a documentary about this in 2017.

After this section in which I deliberately transitioned away from smileys and toward emojis, I would like to immediately return to smileys if that’s okay. Thank you. The face from Minesweeper is always watching... but not in a scary way! In a nice way. The face is your buddy. If it ever feels too hard, you can click the face, and its square will be pressed in, and the puzzle will be reset! No shame in that.

I wonder, where does the face end, and its platform begin? Is the face even the extent of the entity? Maybe the entire Minesweeper board is just a guy, and that’s where its face is! Minesweeper is a whole character!

In that case, then, it is even funnier that the face goes :O whenever you click a space. It COULD be that it is in suspense, since any wrong move can end in disaster, but maybe it’s just because you are poking its body! And that’s a little Weird. Evidence: it does this even if you click a cleared, safe square! It is reacting to touch, not anticipation! There we have it, Minesweeper is a creature. Also, I like to use the ease of activating this face like a little digital puppet! It is fun.

Like any creature, sadly, it can Die. However, it is at least functionally immortal and only ever in danger of explosions! Unfortunately, it contains land mines. I am becoming slightly convinced that Minesweeper (game) is, in fact, a bizarre sort of medical procedure where you help to isolate the explosives embedded in this grid-based life-form’s body. The only way to save it, sadly. And sadly, if you are not a professional, Minesweeper and its precious Face will die... but it’s okay. We have more! Just press the face and reset the game and don’t tell anyone!

If you win Minesweeper, then congratulations! You don’t get anything yourself, really. But that’s not what it’s all about. Minesweeper isn’t about YOU, the player. It’s about Minesweeper’s Face, the main character here! And after achieving victory, it is Cool. And you helped it get here! It turns out Minesweeper is all about helping another person become their best self, the story of an average schmuck who, with the help of a clever stranger, can become the coolest in town!

Lastly, I would like to show you Minesweeper as it appears as a character, in the Roblox game Databrawl! I don’t know anything else about this game! Don’t ask me about it please! I just think this design is really fun and cool!

[maulfucker]

Ok so. This is less concrete thoughts and more scattered ideas but.

Dathomirian Zabrak biology speculations/thoughts!

While at first glance it looks like males are the only ones who have different skin colors and the females are all pale, we do see at least one Nightsister with darker skin (the one whose facial markings are white and resemble a skull), meaning skin pigmentation is present in both but manifests differently in males vs females!

(This is much like birds where the females are the neutral-colored ones while the males have more vibrant colorations and are expected to impress the females to be picked as a mate)

And it's very curious to me that iridonians have very human-like skin tones, while dathomirians ended up having two extremes, either having very vibrant skin ranging from yellow to red, or very pale skin ranging from white to dark gray, both outside the human (and iridonian) range

I think if a transgender dathomirian had HRT their skin color would gradually change with it (much like how birds can change coloration depending on their hormones)

The fact that males have no hair and females have no horns seems very random to me and I will not be thinking about the hair thing but I will say:

Have you looked at Mother Talzin's head shape. Have you seen how strangely tall it looks. What if. What if females "lack" horns because instead of growing at just a few specific points their entire skulls grow and elongate over their lifetimes.

This makes sense if you consider that they live in a "dense jungle" type environment where things (fruits, branches, predators..) can fall on their heads all the time. Having a thicker skull would probably help avoid a cracked skull from constantly getting hit in the head by falling stuff

(No idea what about the hair thing though. Maybe it's something to do with gene interactions. Like whatever gene makes their skin so saturated also deactivates the "have hair" genes. or maybe nightsisters are all wearing wigs and none of them actually grow hair)

Speaking of the geography of the planet, I think it's pretty sad that we never really get a good look of what the Nightbrothers' region looks like outside the village and some mountain terrain around it. Is it more sunny than the Nightsisters' side and that's why their skin adapted to have more color while the females' adapted to lose color? Or is it a seasonal thing and we just never got to see another season in the shows? Or is the village just built in a place that's so high the mist doesn't reach it? We get the sense that it's cold, at least at night, so why are they dressed in such light clothes? In fact, is it hot where the Nightsisters live, or is the entire species more adapted to colder temperatures and that's why they all wear so little?

What would happen if you crossed a dathomirian zabrak with a species that also has non-human skin tones but not linked to sexual dimorphism. Like what if you had a pantoran-zabrak cross, since pantorans are on the opposite side of the color wheel. Do you think they'd be an extremely vibrant blue or yellow-orange-red, or a middle ground, like green? Or perhaps an extreme outside both species' range, like purple? Do you think the "no saturation" gene would take over and make them gray no matter the gender?

[sunthyme]

Ah... welcome to another instalment of my headcanons. I lowkey lied again but I think my prefect will be the last of the headcanons to come out. Tyty for all the love, as always, and now...

🪶The NRC Staff🪶

Trying to find characters I hadn't already twisted for my student ocs to make my staff ones was such a pain 😭😭😭 but here they are!!

🐦‍⬛Dire Crowley🐦‍⬛

(he/it) - Bisexual

The most USELESS HEADMASTER EVER!!! God, I know his SSR card looks great but I won't pull for it istg this bitch. We could have had Sam or Crewel but nooooo...

- I wanted him to look a bit older but since we don't know his age, I didn't push it too much. No spoilers for book 7 but I assume he's probably fae or smth idk.

- You'll notice I honestly didn't change much about the staff in general but I do like most of their design already. Kept his sclera dark cause it looked cool and made the gold eyes pop.

- He talks in a weird mix of old language that literally no one uses, like hella old-fashioned, and poorly used teen lingo. He's trying... A for effort, ig.

- His house and office are super cluttered with a ton of stuff he's found throughout the years but knows exactly where things are. His memory's actually incredibly good, he's just lazy. He likes to collect teaspoons.

- Later in the story, when he starts kinda view the prefect as his kid of sorts, it starts dropping off little trinkets at Ramshackle. Various things from old photos to books with old annotations to pretty rocks. He just wants the prefect to make the dorm 'more homey'.

- I'll get into this more with my prefect design but when Crowley attended NRC (in my headcanon idk if he actually did), he was a Ramshackle student. As such, my MC is using his old uniform as he didn't have any extra ones.

- He really likes cats but they just fcuking hate him. Lucius hisses everything he see Crowley. This is why he cries himself to sleep.

Enough of my dead-beat dad, onto the good dad!

🐕Divus Crewel🐕

(he/they) Transmasc - Panasexual

The good father-figure!! I love Crewel. Also, ignore me misspelling his name in the big one, I thought it had two 'l's...

- He is my Mexican father. Idk they give like simultaneously abuelita and Mexican mom vibes and I am so here for it. (Apparently also Jewish grandma vibes according to @thearchiveofalexandria but I wouldn't know lol).

- I also think he'd be older, like late 40s/early 50s but because of those anti-ageing Mexican genes, they look like 30. (Literally, my mom gets mistaken for being that young, she's in her 50s) Gave him some gray hair at the back but don't be fooled, that's just from putting up with Crowley's bullshit. The shit that goes down in-game for sure results in a couple grey hairs for poor Crewel.

- Is the father figure I never knew I needed, well, my prefect anyway. I know my MC would go to him for anything ranging from 'Crowley's threatening to cut off my water supply!' to 'Can you help me make a Halloween costume?' and his ass always helps. Stan Papa Crewel.

Oh god, this next one was HELL ON EARTH I hate drawing masculine men...

🏈Ashton Vargas🏈

(he/him) - Heterosexual

God, I hate Vargas' og design. The worst part is it does it's job, I couldn't find much to change. Also, didn't even know he had a first name lmaooo.

- I gave him more of a beard because it looked so fcuking bad without it ong 😭😭😭 I hated this... that's pretty much all I did.

- That being said, I do think Vargas wants the best for his students. Wait. Dad-bod Vargas. Guys, I just had an epiphany.

- He's got a wife, kids in like elementary school, and like two dogs idk. I feel like he's older thirties. He's giving total family man and likes to cheer on his students like they're his kids too.

- I feel like he's got mad ADHD and it's one of the reasons he became a gym teacher, just to be constantly moving and doing stuff.

My opinion of Vargas has increased while writing this. Onto my funky uncle...

🏷️Sam Cecil🏷️

(he/they/it) Genderqueer - Asexual Aromantic

I LOVE SAM!!📢📢

- They're like mid-twenties, I don't know if they went to college but if they did, they were a business major. I gave him a last name too, idk the fact that he didn't have one made me mad. Cecil cause Dr. Facilier had a daughter named Cecilia apparently.

- I tossed in a couple more piercings and I love the idea that he has tattoos too.

- He's like the fun uncle that occasionally sponsor your weird ideas. Wanna make cookies at 3am? His store's still open. Need some Nerf guns? He's got 'em. If he says it's in stock, he will literally have anything. Don't ask, he won't answer you anyway.

- Also has crazy good like and low-key knows the future but typically drops hints in a joking manner. He's also very good at communing with the dead, sales for sessions are discounted in October.

- Incredibly rich. Probably canon given his store branches and the crazy shit he has in his shop but I felt the need to reaffirm it.

- Also supplies Ramshackle with snacks and groceries. My MC works at its shop part time in return but I firmly believe that it'd refuse to let the MC starve.

Now for the gramps,

📚Mozus Trein📚

(he/him) Transmasc - Heterosexual

- Trans old man, idk. He is to me. Also, he's both the history and literature teacher.

- Also changed pretty much nothing lol, he's just an old trans man whose sick of Crowley's bullshit (you'll notice a running theme).

- All the grandpa memes and stereotypes are so true for him. His drinks tea every afternoon, plays chess with Crewel (that's canon btw), and squints whenever you try to show him something, especially on a phone.

- He uses a flip phone mobile-y but his house has a rotary one. His daughters keep telling him to replace it but he refuses, saying modern one are too complicated. His daughters also went to Royal Blade as he originally worked there before recently transferring to NRC.

- Hates pumpkin-flavoured anything so doesn't care much for fall. Winter is his favourite season though as he loves sitting with Lucius by the window on snowy days and reading. Very academiacore, gramps.

- He totally advocated for NRC to allow students to use preferred names.

Onto the ocs!!

🪐Mèng yáo Yuan🪐

(she/they/it) Agender - Biromantic Demisexual

- First up is Mèng yáo, twisted from the Horned King from The Black Cauldron. Never seen it personally but @thearchiveofalexandria has and recommended I use its villain.

- She's Chinese and a fae of sorts so she's likely quite old, though she looks in her twenties.

- She's the astrology and philosophy teacher because I thought it would make for a good course since it's mentioned in passing in Book 4.

- She's also skilled in potionology and she and Crewel test out potions for Crewel to teach in class. She is intrigued by the concept of immortality but it's more of a passive study for her.

- She's really bad at getting jokes, though she tries. She's generally not too familiar with modern human concepts but does her best to learn.

Finally,

💎Kore Gorgon💎

(she/her) - Sapphic

- Kore is based on Madame Medusa from The Rescuers, which, fair warning, I ALSO haven't seen. I really needed villains though lol. I read the wiki page and prayed tbh.

- She's around her mid-fifties and is the Math and Physics teacher. She works to integrate known magical physics with standard math and physics and teaches such.

- Her wife is named Crystal (based on an inspo character for Madame Medusa) and they're Kyra's adoptive parents. This is a small nod to Madame Medusa having two pet crocodiles. Kyra kept her parent's names as a sort of way to remember them but likes her adoptive moms a lot too.

- Kore's name is a reference to another name for Persephone and is associated with not only 'the maiden' with the underworld as well.

- She loves shiny things and adores being dressed to the nines all the time. She has a small collect of pretty rocks and tends to decorate her classroom with various trinkets.

- She and Crewel get along super well as their personalities are rather similar. (Fun fact: Madame Medusa not only was heavily inspired by Cruella De Vil, but also served as an origin for Ursula's design.)

- She has bipolar disorder and does her best to work around it, sometimes having pre-recorded lectures if she's not able to be in person.

I'll be sharing my designs for some side and family characters tomorrow so stay tuned! Love y'all!🩷🩷🩷

[verdemoun]

timewarp au fun facts

'people who have been personally victimized by the o'driscolls' is a support group that meet once a fortnight. it's just kieran, annabelle and jake adler. sometimes arthur goes. activities range from hiking trips and volunteering at community centers to playing poker and getting drunk on the couch while occasionally saying 'fuck colm o'driscoll'

YES jake adler is there he pretty much lived as a survivalist and then happened to bump into the gang like oh you guys were born in 18-- too? he has the same tendency of getting drunk and crying about how much he misses his wife as sadie does.

as kieran adjusts to modern era and starts recovering mentally he develops a really dark sense of humor (well really he always had a dark sense of humor but he didn't live long enough with the gang be comfortable expressing it). some of his favorite one-liners are 'still in one piece' and 'nothing to lose your head over'

karen and sean actually end up having a baby which a) leads most to an existential crisis over whether they are considered alive or dead b) unabashed fear over what this child could become. her nickname is the crimson terror she's got sean's hair and brains with karen's personality. she calls both lenny and sean dad and jenny and karen mom. even this child knows lenny and jenny are her only chance for survival

arthur and eliza co-parent isaac. isaac is actually the parent in both relationships and is constantly having to explain technology and current era things to them. arthur still insists on teaching him 19th father-son stuff which includes fishing and how to shoot and clean a gun

arthur morgan at parent-teacher meetings genuinely failing to understand how isaac is in the wrong for knocking out a kid who was showing his girlfriend's nudes to the rest of the class

isaac definitely went to juvie. he was already committing crimes before jack showed up (he blames it on the morgan genes, which arthur hates)

i'm not saying trelawney is responsible for the time warp but i am saying 19th century america should really address the issue of seemingly omnipotent well-dressed men with amazing moustaches running around. trelawney never died but is present in both timelines. when asked why he can't go back and warn people of various things coming (don't kill micah, john), he simply replies it's a canon event.

trelawney has in fact tried this, which has lead to multiverses including the various endings of rdr2, whether javier is taken in alive or killed by john in 1911, or undead nightmare. he will no longer risk it because he likes being able to go back in time and see his wife and children <3 he learned the hard way they don't exist in every universe

[kneelingshadowsalome]

WHAT WILL KÖ AND HIS BABES FUTURE WILL BEEEE IM CRYINGAHA will it get better? Worse? IM WORRIEDJABA , get married? Eventually having kids? ?? Live together?

I am not well

König gets into trouble after the Graves incident, that's for sure. Just as some people suspected, he probably gets suspended for a rather long period. It's a tough time for both of them, K doesn't really know what to do with himself when he's not killing people working. He goes to the range a lot, tries to improve his accuracy, goes to the gym daily to get at least some of his usual adrenaline high. Poor Engel gets so much love every night it starts to get a little annoying >:((

But they'll get through that rough patch eventually, and K returns to work after solemnly swearing he won't shit in his own nest anymore (*or else* he gets the boot for good). He also gets some of the shittiest jobs for a while, people avoid him even more, but getting back to the field is all in all a huge relief for König.

On the other hand, Engel has a calming effect on him. Now, König can't get "fixed"... but he's not as out of control as he used to be. When he returns to his lady night after night, gets to hold her and these two get to know each other more, the sharpest violent edge is honed away. Love and trust simply has that effect on this guy because he's not actually a psychopath devoid of empathy (might be a sociopath with a nice little personality disorder or two on the side).

König would sooo want to live together at some point. I'm pretty sure that special ops soldiers like him have a nice, fat payroll. He's bound to have some savings and he would try and get a nice little place with a small garden or a yard (he doesn't want to live in a rented place) and basically demands they move there after 4–6 months.

Tbh introducing him to parents and friends is nearly impossible. He wants his Engel all to himself and would be controlling regarding who his darling sees and how often. Toxic much? Yep. Annoying? Very! And he doesn't want anyone to see him or come to know who he really is (has the biggest fear of rejection and truly thinks he's a monster).

When it comes to children, König would have the biggest fear of passing down his genes. Doesn't consider himself as father material at all, and only gets traumatic flashbacks from his childhood just from thinking about having kids.

But marriage is something he thinks a necessity after a while. He thinks himself a gentleman (and to a certain extent, is...?) and that walking down the aisle is the next natural and logical step when he has finally found that special someone.

So if Engel is willing to live in a controlled and extremely loyal and loving relationship with König, they will have quite the cute, domestic setting and happy times together despite this guys violent tendencies.

[ltwharfy]

For the ship game, gotta get in roudise!

Ship It

What made you ship it?

I've been a fan since the first airing of "Carpe Museum". I enjoyed Rudy right away as a character since he reminded me a lot of myself as a kid. And Louise's interactions with him were pretty different from what we'd seen with any of her classmates before- she treated him as an equal on their adventure, she was concerned when he had his asthma attack. I liked that he brought out a different side to her. By the time they were cuddled up next to Bob on the bus, I was sold.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

For starters, I'm a dork for friends to lovers. And I really enjoy the way the show has developed their friendship- it hasn't been static. While I love "Carpe Museum", I really think "The Kids Rob A Train" shows them kind of moving from classmates who get along to friends. And other episodes after that show their friendhsip continuing to evolve until you get a story like "The Amazing Rudy", which would not have rung true if it was earlier on in the shows run. As I've gone on about at length elsewhere even the epieodes that focus on the two being in conflict, "House of 1,000 Bounces" and "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy" , ultimately end up showing them growing as individuals and as friends (and the "growing" part is important since they are only 9, after all.)

But I also really love that their friendship doesn't have to be the focus of an episode to be there. It is often reflected in the show in little moments like Louise cheering on Rudy in kickball in "Stop! Or My Mom Will Sleuth!" or him laughing at her joke at the beginning of "Amelia".

And I like the way their personalities play off each other. I think they have similar personality traits but in different proportions- so they are able to bring out another side in each other. Louise encourages Rudy's more adventorous side, he brings out her more thoughtful and selfless side. They complement each other well and are capable of bringing out the best in each other ("are capable"- they don't always do so, because, again, they're 9).

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

That I ship it, LOL! (Sorry, but I feel like folks can say this about any "Bob's Burgers" ship except Boblin. I mean, if you don't ship Boblin how are you even watching the show?!)

Okay, seriously, I think an opinion I have about them that might go against the conventional wisdom is that, while Louise can be a force of nature, Rudy's not a pushover. I actually think that, after Tina (who has the big sister card to play), Rudy is the next best of any of the kids on the show at standing up to Louise when necessary. Not only is there a whole episode about Rudy setting a boundary and Louise realizing she screwed up by overstepping it ("Bridge Over Troubled Rudy"), you get little things ranging from Rudy being snarky to her in "The Gene Mile" ("How is this 'for Gene'?" and- one of my favorite Rudy lines- "Someone's fishing for a compliment...Good job, Louise!") to Rudy speaking up on behalf of himself, Arnold, and the Pesto Twins in asking for a refund in "The (Raccoon) King and I".

(I will admit that I find this "unpopular opinion" question to be tough! I don't know what's popular! I never have! That's why I'm so unpopular!)

[theborzoiarebackintown]

Let me tell you guys the story of Vex.

I have adored her father from the moment I met him when he was 10 months old and he came and stuck his entire head into my purse looking for treats at my first borzoi national. I adored him even more when I saw him again a year later and he was developing into an exceptional male. He was my first choice as a stud for Margo, but I will not be breeding her, so that’s moot. Even after making the decision to pull Margo from the breeding gene pool, I remained obsessed with Varus. I’ve had the opportunity to really get to know him over the years and he is a wonderful dog on so many levels.

I first saw her mother in 2021 when she was being campaigned (and finished the year as #5 AKC borzoi), but didn’t meet her and fall in love with her for another year. She is a typical borzoi bitch, one who doesn’t give you the time of day until she decides you’re worth her time. Thankfully she very quickly warmed up to me, and she’s my precious Leisel weisel and we love each other and it’s gross. She’s one of the sweetest borzoi I’ve ever met. It helps that she’s also gorgeous and almost perfect structurally.

When I decided I wouldn’t be breeding Margo, the search was on for another hopeful foundation bitch. My best friend and breeding partner was planning this breeding for awhile, and I knew it would be exactly what I was looking for in regard to pedigree, structure, and temperament.

I was given the immense privilege of helping with the whelping, and it was a magical (albeit stressful and sometimes scary) experience. All puppies were born at over a lb, which is very large! Most borzoi are born in the range of 11-16oz, Vex was the smallest at 16.2 and Riddick the largest at 21.

With 8 puppies you have to be very vigilant everyone is getting enough colostrum and then milk to keep healthy and gaining. The first week is pretty scary, everyone can be born healthy but then take a bad turn in the blink of an eye.

Even though Vex was a relatively large puppy, since she was the smallest we were keeping an extra close eye on her. And you guys. This puppy. She was so quietly tenacious about eating. She didn’t yell or fight about it, just determinedly pushed her way to a nipple and DID NOT let it go. She quickly got to the middle of the pack weight wise, but it was too late for me. I was absolutely smitten.

With my priorities though, I knew I couldn’t let an emotional tie or “gut feeling” influence my decision. I wanted the best bitch I could get as the potential beginning of my breeding program. I had I long list of wants and needs and wasn’t going to settle for anything mediocre, no matter how much I loved a puppy on an emotional level. I didn’t tell my friend about loving vex, as I didn’t want to influence her thinking or decision making as she’s growing these puppies and evaluating their potential.

We get to about six weeks and really start discussing picks. My gut feeling about Vex had not diminished, I knew she was going to be special. I didn’t know if she was going to be special for me or someone else, but she was going to be special. My friend reveals to me she’s between maroon collar girl (vex) and pink collar girl (Violette) for me, but hasn’t decided.

After some very lengthy discussions on their differences structurally, and how each one was meeting my list of priorities, I decide to tell my friend I want Vex. She was only not ticking one box for me, but was ticking the huge additional box of gut feeling and emotional tie. The decision was also much easier knowing I would be co-owning my friend’s keeper(s) as well.

That one box she wasn’t ticking is developing a lot better than either of us expected, and I’m so beyond happy with our decision. She’s an actual clone of her mother with a a couple traits from her father. She’s elegant and curvy and unbelievably gorgeous. I won’t get into the structure discussion here but I’ll just say she’s really lovely overall. No dog is perfect and there will always be something to improve of course, but she’s not far from my absolute ideal borzoi. (With the caveat she’s a baby and nothing is set in stone until 3-4 with bitches)

This puppy has had my heart from the day she was born, and I just know the journey we’re about to go on is going to be amazing!!!

[parsnippety]

Brainstorming-

Mkay I have several ideas for alien/human posts so I'm putting them here before I forget. If this gets popular maybe I'll actually write some lol

Songs/singing : sounds being very powerful w/ other species; the most severe (?) sounds you'll find are soft clicks/rumbling and most languages developed through touch / what we'd call sign language. So these species are mesmerized by human singing cause they either can't do it / don't have enough control over the pitch of their voice or they "hear" by feeling vibrations and process tones differently.

This has endless possibilities- a human singing softly while working and causing some extreme reaction in the mechanics of the ship or their crewmates, humans taking over ships by accessing the intercom system, humans knowing the first thing to do if they're kidnapped is to yell at a really low pitch then a really high one cause chances are one of them will do something, videos of humans harmonizing becoming really popular (and being banned in several galaxies), two humans realizing they both know a song with a harmony and proceeding to sing it (causing everyone on the ship to stop what they're doing and just listen in awe), sign language becoming the main form of communication and ships having soundproof rooms so humans can talk to each other / themselves...

Species variation : most species didn't figure out efficient space travel for millions of years. Pair that with gene editing (to get rid of "imperfections"- usually this portion of the species' history is their "dark age"), and each individual looks pretty much identical. Most species have some sort of fetishized/slur word for individuals with any kind of abnormality, cause they're really really rare at this point. Think crocodiles; maybe some color variations but they've stayed more or less the same for millions of years. But humans? No two look the same- except maybe identical twins, but they could have different haircuts (don't even get me started on body modifications- other species do it, sure, but humans are already so different that it makes them a nightmare to teach about.) And in space the beauty standards are all over the place so if you want tattooed stripes you can get them- but wait, aren't there already some humans with stripes? And pointed ears? Dyed hair?

There's also the constant battle between human willpower and circumstance. When other species carefully figure out how to turn and move around an obstacle, humans are literally slingshotting themselves off of it. But for every death-defying feat, there are God knows how many feat-defying deaths. One human got an adrenaline rush and lifted an entire gnarflax. Another fainted 'cause they stood up too fast. Most species have clearly defined limits, so there's no pressure to push past them.

And mimicry : As if humans' vocal range isn't enough (what's that clicking? Sounds like a xhrhghfnl from my home planet- nope, it's John. Machinery malfunctioning? Alarms? Nope. F***ing John.), they can also make disguises and act. See, most species can manipulate the holograms or whatever but there's no way they'd be able to do convincing impressions in real time. Just going for it? Completely irrational.

One time, a human even convinced an entire rhusngi fleet that she was a rhusngi inspector "in disguise". (Honestly that line should've given it away but it walked and moved with the same mannerisms- the same- I don't even know. We were completely- what's that human expression?- shook.)

Not knowing what someone's going/been through unless they tell you is a completely novel concept. Imagine a human acting all violent when you take over their ship so you put 'em in the brig somehow, only to pull up the camera feed later and see them sobbing or completely frozen in a fetal position, or even worse- hurting themselves somehow. But the second you go down there, they're spitting curses at you and showing zero signs of weakness.

If anyone wants to write about these pls go right ahead. Sorry if they've already been done/overused (if they have, please lmk so I can go read them).

[sluttery-withoutshame]

Went on another shopping spree!

Saw on insta a shop had a bunch of Kiss records come in. Trouble is they posted it on the 4th, and because their algorithm is SO SHIT, I didn’t see it until today.

I hate insta with the heat of 1000 suns.

But I rang them and they still had some left and I was like “Hold them! I’ll be there in half an hour!!”

So here what they had left!

I didn’t need it, probably won’t want it, but now I have it, I’m going to need to find Gene’s now, coz I can’t just have three of them.

It also came with the original poster inside in perfect nick!

—

Honestly never craved this album, but a collector gotta collect. But there’s two songs I know on it and they’re two REALLY GOOD SONGS.

(I Love It Loud and War Machine.)

Scarce!

—

Sadly didn’t include the full colour booklet. My cousin had a poster of this back in the day, and that picture of Gene scared the fuck out of me.

Nice Gatefold. I missed out on getting the first Alive, and I like the cover of that a lot more, but I’ve heard a lot of people say this is a better record. Glad I got it.

—

Now this was a real worthwhile get…

Still sealed brand spanking new Destroyer 45th Anniversary edition!

If I only had gotten this one, it was worth the drive over.

The inserts are so pretty, and the lovely booklet!

I actually googled it when I got home and the cheapest one I found was $30 over what I paid.

—

So I’m pretty happy with the haul, just wish goddam Instagram would give me A FUCKING CHRONOLOGICAL FEED

I’M NOT ASKING FOR THE WORLD.

[honey-minded-hivemind]

Another cute scene I thought of:

Kitty: what did you guys get on question 6?

Pietro: I got 7

Wanda: I got 9

Kitty: Damn, I got 42, guess I flunked this math quiz… Reader, what did you get?

Reader, with this expression 🫠: I got George Washington…

-Later-

Professor Xavier (who’s favorite student definitely isn’t reader, what are you talking about?): I got your tests back. Except for Readers, sadly your test…drowned. You get an A though

- ❤️ Anon

🤣😂😅 Oh dear... I can see that happening! But I raise you this: What if Reader actually was correct? Now that would be hilarious 😆...

• I headcanon Reader is great with things like algebra and multiplication, just maybe not word questions in math or English

• Reader is good with drawing notes, charts, and diagrams/pictures for science, biology and anatomy classes. Scarily accurate, in a way, at least compared to the other teens closer to their age

• Reader has weaker arms, but really strong legs. They're a good defense on sports teams, so they're more likely to block someone or hit/kick/strike the ball to someone else (they accidentally kicked someone in the shin, hard enough for then to fall over in agony)

• Reader is good at baking/cooking. They tend to be okay with measurements, but struggle a bit when it comes to dry vs. wet ingredients and diffent oven temperatures

• I'm going to say the campus appears similar to a boarding school: Everyone lives there, basically

• Reader does not have a roommate; they are invited to stay over with others, though... or have a few platonic yans invite themselves to stay over with Reader in their room

• The town near the school (it's a few miles out) is pretty much like a ghost town, save for a few odd individuals... There are places to go for field trips, such as a science and history museum, an aquarium, an art museum, and some landmarks/environments such as a mountain range, the beach/coast, and a few forests...

• The Town has a few places to visit, for food or clothes or movies, it's just... really, really quiet... If it weren't for the few people living there, one would think they're in the middle of nowhere...

• Is there a uniform? Not exactly? Everyone has to wear a wristband that states their name and school number, but otherwise? There isn't much of a dress code

• The campus has dorms, it has a few built-in cafes and galleries, as well as an auditorium, gymnasium, pool, garden, library, and a few other places... (Don't look beneath the /&>=# &!))... )

• The students and teachers have their own living areas and recreational rooms. Sometimes the students throw large sleepovers in one or two of their rec rooms, because no one's room is big enough to hold everyone; Reader, once they join the school, is being invited to these sleepovers almost every time

• The students, the mutants ones, have their mutations. Sometimes they have to take a day or two off, due to them (namely those who have feral mutations and instincts, those with mind-reading or telepathy, those with specific needs where their mutation has to be controlled, ex. Rogue wearing gloves, Scott wearing glasses, etc.)

• Reader has a mutation, but for some unknown reason, it isn't showing or known to the students or teachers... They've had tests done and had the feral mutants see if they can scent the X-gene from them (it causes a distinct scent), and so far Reader has passed each test... It's confusing for a lot of them...

• There is a dark secret buried beneath everything, something pulling a few characters' strings and forcing paths and actions... But this secret keeps itself hidden and unknown... What I can say, without spoiling anything, is that it's not one person who's behind it... It's several...

And these are a few fun facts to know about the 📒Mutant High🧪 AU!

(Thank you, ❤ Anon, or Bee🐝!) (Or BeaBee🐝!)

[indie-ttrpg-of-the-week]

Game Garage: Lancer

Hello! Welcome to what I hope to be the first instance of a series about Game design and clever usages thereof in Tabletop games! We'll be talking about lancer, it was the first post on this blog so I felt it was fitting, we'll be going through standard character creations from License Level 0 til License Level 3, and showing how our mech, and pilot, grows during that time while playing out a theoretical game. Is this just like the example of plays in the actual books? Yes! But I wish to go for some more mechanical depths than those often do, and try to theorize around certain decisions made in a specific game.

I'll be using Comp/Con as a visual for this guide, I'm aware there's other ways to do mech building but basically everyone agrees you should just use Compcon for it, also while I'll avoid using expansions too much, I'll still assume you at minimum have KTB as it adds some pilot-side customization

LL0: Beginnings

You are immediately prompted to give a portrait, name, Callsign, and a background to your character, already just giving your character a callsign adds that little bit of personality to them! Lancer is primarily focused on the tactics side, rather than the roleplay side, but these little things do really help in fleshing out a character's personality, as that's still a factor.

I'll also give a quick shout out to Comp/Con for having the sickest UI of any webapp for a ttrpg i've seen, intuitive and strangely immersive, I really like it

Thracia was a project by a shadowy, now defunct, corporation to create a spokesperson for their gene editing services, the company went defunct before she turned 3, so she was just thrown away into some bin somewhere. She was eventually picked up by a gang of mercs who brought her back to base where she was effectively communally raised before joining the corps proper at age 20.

Now that we've filled out some simple flavor, lets move on to proper stat creation

We're brought to a stat creation screen, these don't matter too much in combat, but outside of them they're what your character specializes in, their role outside of the mechs. Don't sweat these too much, you can respect at any level up in lancer, and this won't matter too much outside of on the floor missions, which barely happen

For now, Thracia's good at fighting, investigating, and leading and inspiring, its what she was built for after all!

Now we get to talents, these are vaguely intimidating at first glance, but don't worry, you can respec at any time RAW, and they're pretty easy to decode once you get the hang of the system. For now, just think of what your role within the party will be, I want Thracia to be an artillery Pilot with a side of support, so we'll be taking Crack shot (which lets me give up my movement to become better at aiming each turn) , Leadership (which lets me add leadership dice dice to allied rolls as long as my fellow party member is within range) and Technophile (which gives me a Servant-Class NHP, a form of AI that controls my mech if I'm away, not too useful right now, but gets better benefits later on)

Now we get to the part I don't like, Mech Skills. Mech Skills are... theoretically really fun, but practically speaking you always want at least one level in Hull, and the other level in whatever your main stat is, in this case we'll be taking Engineering, you'll see why later.

Now we have our full pilot card! but there's still a little bit left to do before we Level Up for our first time.

First lets pick out our equipment, this is basically purely flavor so just pick what you think your character would logically have

NOW! we finally get to the fun part: Building your Mech... kinda

see right now, you're stuck with default configurations, you're not licensed for anything more complex than GMS mechs, the Great Value store brand of Lancer. So we carry on with an Everest, a basic if not a bit underwhelming mech, its reliable, customizable, and handy, if not a bit underwhelming and a lot less flashy and optimized than later mechs you get, I'd still keep an everest in your backpocket though, never know when you might need it

Someone playing with all official products would have a choice of 3 different GMS mechs, but I still recommend just picking the Everest, its the handiest option. though for reference: the Chomolungma is a Hacking frame, and the Sagamartha is a tank

You're prompted to name your mech, Thracia's gonna name it A farewell to Arms, after an ancient book she read once

Booting into your mech screen, it may feel a bit overwhelming at first but don't worry, these all aren't too complex to understand Traits are just that, what your mech has that makes it special from other mechs, its just that genesequouis that makes them cooler than other mechs.

Attributes are derivative stats that take your skills, Grit, and base mech stats into account, in our case the Everest is pretty middling in everything, but has a decent heat capacity due to our investment into Engineering.

and now for the fun bits, Core System and Mounts

Core Systems contain two things: your ultimate move, your signature play, that special power that you use once per duel and spare only for the most dire moments! the other thing is your Core System itself, Everest doesn't have any, but for future reference these are what your build is entirely based around, your core gimmick

Mounts are what you put your weapons into, and Systems are non directly attacking abilities that you use to gain advantage during battles, we once again only have GMS tools to go with for now. Something clever about the mount system is that it adds an inherent balance to mechs, a mech could have incredibly powerful abilities, but lack specific mounts that could make it overbearing, as an example the Gorgon lacks a heavy weapon mount, and Heavy weapon mounts are in general sparsely distributed, as giving them to the wrong mech could break the balance, this is a problem I see a lot of lancer GMs and homebrewers run into, underestimating the power of a heavy slot, even some who were contracted by Massif themselves!

For now, we'll give ourselves a shotgun, to dispatch enemies at close range, a Mortar, to deal with large clusters of enemies, and an Anti-Materiel Rifle to be our primary weapon.

Now for the systems, you have a budget of SP to use on buying systems for your mech from the ones you've unlocked, the GMS systems, outside of some standouts like the Flight System are... underwhelming mostly, you'll usually dumpster these pretty quick, but we might as well pick them because hey, its just free advantage, right?

We'll be mounting our free NHP we got from our talents of course, as well as a shield, a turret drone as we're not doing much with our reactions right now and they allow you to expend a reaction to deal some extra damage, Personalizations and a Custom Paintjob, these are basically just flavor but they both have to do with adding some extra bulk to your mech, in our case the Personalization is a built-in winch, adding a +1 to relevant Hull skill checks, and the Paintjob is a tasteful pin-up of an older looking woman, a fling from a past mission.

And that's it for LL0! It might feel like a lot, but I promise its a breeze in actual play. Now onto: LL1: Your First Taste of TRUE power

Thracia Schrader Came back to home base, sweaty and tired after a long mission, nothing big, just dispatching some pirates, but it was her first truly serious one, only to receive a ping on her terminal: she'd gotten a promotion, she'd be given budget to buy new parts for her mech, a raised paycheck, and some free time to work on new skills, she was over the moon, finally she'd be getting recognized!

Now onto LL1, so far your mech has had decently high customization, but from here on out? the world's your oyster honey, pull it open and devour its flesh, show the world that it's gotta be scared of you!... I think I lost my train of thought there, sorry about that.

Anyways, when leveling up you'll be given the down-low on what you're getting, an improvement to your skill triggers, more talents, more skills, more grit, your first license unlock, extra sauce on your eggs, and a complementary chocolate bar... OK those last two aren't there, but I'm sure most merc companies add them in

Skills don't matter too much so we'll skip over that, but for reference I took a boost in Leadership

You get an improvement in one talent, in my case I'll take the second tier of Technophile, which lets me reroll one roll per scene, very useful. You can also take a 4th talent at this point, but I recommend holding out a bit before doing that, your build is too weak to really afford big moves like that right now. You could also actually delevel one of your talents and level another to level 3, if you have a talent that you don't really need or want, but again, not recommended unless you know what you're doing

Now onto mech skills, you just get a flat +1 to any skill, right now I'd advise taking whatever you picked as your second skill after Hull, but if you wanna boost hull even further because you don't wanna get hurt too bad, I don't blame you, but we'll be getting that engineering boost for now

NOW to the fun part, the part we're all looking forward to (I think), getting more mech parts! now, people familiar with the system knows that the Engineering boosts and Artillery focus probably means we'll be taking a Harrison license, the 4 licenses in the game correspond roughly to the 4 mech skills in how they're built, they do end up mattering for something called Core Bonuses, but that's for much later, for now just treat them like a way to split playstyles. IPS-N likes Hull, Smith-Shimano Corp likes Agility, HORUS likes Systems, and Harrison Armory likes Engineering, choose accordingly.

We'll be unlocking the Sherman first, its a cool mech that I think often gets overlooked in this game's cluster fucks of eldritch mecha nightmares and othersuch things. You don't get the mech itself until LL2, so for now just slap on the parts you got into an Everest

The first level up is always kinda underwhelming in lancer, but trust me it'll get better from here! for now, we'll just replace our shotgun with a Sol-Pattern Laser Rifle, and our Personalizations and Custom Paint Job with a Reactor Stabilizer, a useful tool for keeping us nice and healthy when melting down

That's about it for LL1, yeah as I said its kinda boring, but it only gets better with LL2: You know what they say: Find what your niche is, that leads to riches!

Thracia Schrader comes back home, tattered, bruised and beaten, the promotion obviously meant more dangerous missions, this she knew, but she didn't expect to deal with enemies of that caliber just yet, turns out the pirates were more equipped than she thought at first, they seem too organized to be pirates actually... Well, she's being paid to dispatch rabblerousers, not think, she goes back to sleep in her cot, while browsing mech licenses for sale, she got a big bonus, she can splurge a little bit

While you get the same benefits as from LL1, this is where the fun really begins because if you take a second level from your frame you obtain:

A frame! You can finally get out of that dinky everest and get into something COOL! Frames in lancer essentially serve as your classes, they're what you mount your other obtained abilities into to create your unique playstyle, but overall they're probably the most important aspect of your character. Frames can have different sizes, HP thresholds, armor, and so on. the Frame system leads to your creativity being effectively limitless, while I'm doing a fairly basic artillery build, I'm sure a melee Sherman build could be fully possible! anyways, if you're using this as a build guide for some reason, I took Crack shot and an extra point in Hull alongside the Sherman frame

Now lets build our new puppy shall we? Our new mech will be called... how about Mr. Blue Sky? its Thracia's favorite childhood song

Now you'll have to rebuild your mech, but with a few considerations in mind 1: Your mounts are all different now, you can't rely on the weapons you did previously most of the time, Sherman's actually an exception to this, it has largely the same mounts as an everest, with the main difference being a built-in laser gun which charges while stabilizing, hm, maybe taking some stabilization talents could be worth the time... 2: Your new mech has new traits! the traits in the everest were pretty simple, just some bonus actions once per scene, "More of what's good" is the unofficial GMS Motto

The sherman's a bit more complex, it can keep you in the danger zone (which benefits not just the sherman but most Harrison Armory mechs really), give you soft cover by throwing steam at your enemy's face, and makes it better at engineering (handy, since you'll be trying your best to not take too much unintended heat)

For equipment, we'll be using some old tools and the new ones we just got

Sherman just got the incredibly powerful Andromeda-Pattern heavy laser rifle, but don't worry kids, this isn't the peak of laser power, oh no no, that comes a bit later. We're also using our handy shotgun, she needs to defend herself from nearby enemies somehow.

For systems, we're dumping the reactor stabilizer, its served its purpose but we can manage our heat better now, and we're picking up a deployable cover, useful for long drawn out gun fights, personalizations (a huge library of ancient and modern texts, useful for SYSTEMS checks), and turret drones, we're still not doing much with that reaction and our sensor range's pretty dang strong. Now a word of advice, at LL2 is where your build will branch most, you're comitting to an entirely new mech after all! but always remember: you can respec at any time

LL3: True Power!

Thracia comes back home and brews herself a cup of tea, so it turns out that the pirates she was dispatching were just locals defending themselves against the corporate agency paying her, she was offered a contract by them, lower price, but less price on the conscience, she urged her boss to take it, and she did take it in the end, she thanked Christ the Buddha she didn't need to betray the closest thing she had to a family. Tomorrow, Thracia would dispatch a corporate HQ, the locals were calling the Union for aid, and they promised aid would come in the form of supplies, but they'd need to fend for themselves, and supplies did come, she took some of the mech weapon supplies for herself, she was fighting for them now, might as well right?

LL3 is where your chosen frame's power peaks, many people actually skip the third level of a license, the items given are usually fairly niche, we won't be doing that, this is a pretty standard build so i don't think its worth it

you know the drill for skills

Talents, I'll actually do something a bit weird here, if anything to demonstrate one of the more interesting RAW decisions of Lancer, I'll take away crackshot. Most of the laser rifles of the sherman are AOEs, and Crackshot assumes one target. Instead we'll be taking two levels of Grease Monkey, they make our stabilizations stronger, and give us some nice bonuses during rests, and we'll also be capping off Technophile, you'll see why soon.

We'll be leveling up Engineering for this level and taking the final level of sherman, but more on that later because now, we have the first sight of our Core Bonuses

the 5 companies of lancer like to reward brand loyalty, so if you stick with one company for 3 levels, you unlock their "Core Bonuses". what are these? these are powerful abilities that you only get every 3 levels, and you need to have 3 levels in a company to unlock their respective core powers, GMS powers are unlocked by default of course. We'll be taking Superior by Design, the premiere Harrison Armory ability

the boost to heat cap is what we're looking for, anything that makes us less punished for taking too much heat is a good thing. the Impaired immunity is a good bonus

Now at this point, your mech should have unlocked their most powerful weapon and system, these are often "Super Heavy" weapons, which means they take up two slots to mount, but sometimes they just may be a powerful control ability, for example the Kidd unlocks their ability to build misc structures at that level.

We'll be installing our brand new and shiny Tachyon Lance, a massive motherfucker of a weapon that just emits a line of destruction and a cone of destruction behind you

we'll also keep the shotgun, its a handy weapon

for systems, we'll be equipping our brand new Asura-Class NHP, what does it do?

well, once per scene, it just lets you take another turn! No caveats, and the only real cost is a bit of heat on your end, but other than that? you just have two turns that turn, incredibly valuable in a build that often wants to stabilize, wasting precious actions

Oh, as for the third level of technophile? I can't have 2 NHPs in a mech at once unless I take that level, its just not possible, NHPs are incredibly powerful resources so I understand wanting to limit them like that.

That's about it for LL3, its your peak of power... for now, but soon enough your mech might be having some... foreign intrusions

LL4: The Crossover nobody wanted

Thracia was broken. She wished she'd never signed up for this mission in the first place. Children and women running from corporate mechs way better equipped than them, farms being abandoned by people who lived there for generations, good people sacrificing themselves to keep their loved ones safe. Terrakis had gone from a quick buck by dispatching pirates, to a nightmare. She was always told it was a dirty business, making money from blood, but she never expected it to be this bad. Looking to calm down, she calls up a friend, a warehouse worker from IPS-N, and wonders if she could maybe hook her up with something

You know the drill by now, the only thing of note is I'm going to dump Leader to take 2 levels in Siege Specialist (lets me take down structures more easily and lets me knock down adjacent enemies), we're picking up another level of Hull, and now, for the interesting bit: your 4th license

At this point, you've found your niche and made your mech plenty strong... but it could always be better, right?

Thracia picks up a level of the Drake, giving her the powerful Assault Cannon, a handy, if not low ranged, weapon that can grow in strength by spinning its barrels before launching, as a bonus its also a cannon allowing for our Siege Specialist to trigger. She throws away her nostalgic shotgun for this weapon

Thracia had also been feeling protective of her fellow backliner, a clumsy goblin pilot named Lika whom she borderline had a crush on, while Thracia's mech isn't bulky by any means, its bulkier than xer goblin, so she gives up her redundant systems to pick up the Argonaut Shield, a tool that lets her take half the damage her fellow pilot would take instead.

Conclusion: You got your tools now! Thracia was tired of seeing people dying, she was tired of the war, of the bastards in suits puppeteering it, she wanted it done and she wanted it done now. Talking to the leaders of the locals they decide on a final plan of attack: destroying the HQ of the corporate settlers

SimpleCorp must fall

Terrakis must be free

From here on out, you have your own tools to make your own builds, remember to focus on your roles, pick up abilities that complement your allies' playstyles and positionings, and most of all: have fun! a bad build in lancer isn't a huge deal, you can always try and try again until you get it right.

Oh, you wanna know how Thracia's story ended? Alright then, here you go

Mr. Blue Sky stood atop the ruins of SimpleCo's elite pilot: Fear, Thracia was no longer afraid, she was no longer broken, she was now only filled with pride, and joy. Terrakis was free, and she had been a part of its liberation. She hoped this would send a message to any bastard trying to take it over, she looks upon the pictures hanging inside her cockpit, complimentary drawings given to her by small children, of her mech as a hero of legend, of SimpleCo goons being burnt by her Tachyon Lance. That day, Thracia knew she had for once in her life done the right thing. After all of this, she decided to stay, War was not her business, and the locals of Terrakis wished for her to stay to help with any future intrusions.

She and Lika lived a peaceful life together, no one wanted to fuck with Terrakis after SimpleCo's downfall

Too cheesy? well, sometimes that's just how careers end, in the duty of a lancer, you either leave before you die, or you die before you leave. Go play your own stories! I'm sure there's some GM out there struggling to find new players who'd love to have you in their group

oh fuck i completely forgot to talk about bond-

[theworldvsyoshiko]

A current state of affairs, since I haven't posted an overall update in a while:

The settlement hasn't changed shape much. The main update of note is those tunnels off to the east. One thing with this map: the exposed area is a relatively small crater in the center, with one real narrow route in or out. This makes it incredibly defensible against people attacking on foot. Against drop pod raids and such, though, it means that there's very little available space for them to spawn. Most drop pod raids end up landing basically in the middle of the base, even ones that are balanced around not doing that. This makes them the biggest threat by far, and there isn't much I can do about them in the current setup.

So, the girls are starting to migrate underground. (With lots of chokepoints built in to mitigate the risk of insectoid infestations.) This will be a slow as hell process, because all of the rooms they're going to spend much time in need to be smoothed out to make them not ugly, and this is a group genetically dispositioned to be bad at Construction.

Almost everybody has the gene for Psychite dependency now, because it's basically free metabolism. Yeah sure I'll make my biochemical processes dependent on a special easily-produced tea in exchange for eating 40% less food.

Almost everybody also has a Bionic/Archotech Eye and genes for quick wound healing, slow bleeding, and Scarless, which is already a pretty solid combat loadout.

Karina McClain

Look don't ask me what's going on with the Very Diligent Student trait.

Karina's decent at basically everything but art. I think her Crafting skill purely came from making clothes before Cupcake was old enough. Despite the 20 Shooting, she's only the main combatant because of her mechanitor stuff. Otherwise, that title goes to...

Karina "Cupcake" McClain

Sure, Cupcake's a bit worse at shooting than Karina, but she has some other advantages. For one thing, Trigger Happy, which makes her shoot twice as fast for a bit of an accuracy penalty. Since she isn't using her utility slot for a mech pack, she can also use a ranged shield belt, which makes her much safer to venture out of cover. She's got an Archotech Arm, which combined with her tail gives her 142% Manipulation for fighting and crafting. But also,

Outside of combat, Cupcake's also the lead researcher and crafter.

Karina "Damage" McClain

Damage is also good at everything. Being giant means that she's a nice big target, so she also has a Painstopper (0 pain), a Healing Enhancer, and a Toughskin Gland. Damage currently has higher armor than Karina, who's wearing marine armor. But then also:

... and then the snake tail gives her an extra melee attack, and being giant gives her a shitton of health. She should probably pick up Robust to balance out Wimp, but frankly it hasn't been an issue yet. Damage can take a truly ridiculous amount of, uh, damage.

Karina "Kitten" McClain

Kitten inherited Evil Twin's genes. The last memory of Karina's ex-wife...

Kitten doesn't have a lot special going for her just yet, but she does have

Karina "Scratch" McClain

Like Kitten, Scratch doesn't have much to distinguish her yet. Apart, of course, from

... if I give this kid six bionic/archotech arms, I assume that she'll be the fastest worker on the planet. High Manipulation makes most things faster, but bonuses to quality and such tend to be capped around 100% Manipulation.

Karina "Shorty" McClain

is baby

The only really notable thing about Shorty at this point is that they got a minor mutation in the cloning tank, and came out with like 10% more melanin than the rest of the group.

Spider and Lustthrist

The resident ghouls. Meaning: they're incapable of basically everything that isn't hand-to-hand combat, but they feel no pain, don't sleep, don't have any non-food needs at all actually, and regenerate ridiculously fast. Melee shock troops, basically. They've both got armor plating bolted right onto their skin, metal barbs jutting out of it, a nuclear stomach that makes them eat 1/4 as much in exchange for bombarding them with radiation that they don't mind, and their heart has been replaced with one that drops a lot of that pesky 'blood' stuff to generate acid for them to projectile vomit.

Once the girls have a little more research done, they'll be replacing some of the ghouls' limbs with weaponry, and other fun things like that.

[drpeppertummy]

current Details on rufus & russell (i still might change my mind on the names but at this point i probably wont) not kink-related just General Shit

ok so first off since Hell exists in whatever universe i have going on i have to give my little rundown on what goes on there

so like it Is an otherworldly plane and people Can go there when they die but its not like Solely Devoted To Afterlife Shit its more like. if someone goes to hell for bein bad or whatever, their soul or whatever has to go there for counseling/rehab/courses/etc to help them get their shit together & hopefully teach them to do better on the next run. & people who arent responsive to that dont get released until they get it together so theyre Stuck There In Hell. & there are a lot of centers for that but its also like just some place. its like "oh im visiting the east coast bc they got good pizza" "oh im visiting hell bc they got good Soul Counselors" like its their Thing. its their Main Export or whatever. like theres only so many places where dead people can actually go to & be universally seen & recognized (as opposed to here where barely anyone can see em). & then they can get reincarnated or whatever

i think its like a stereotype that people from hell work as counselors but also it Is a very common job there. & since its such a common job there & they take it pretty seriously as Their Thing & its a very respected job, most places are really well staffed so they usually have pretty good hours. no eternal shifts or anything. it can be super exhausting tho esp emotionally & sometimes physically. can even be dangerous its not without risk of harm

rufus & russell are both counsellors & theyre really good at that sort of thing bc theyre both like friendly & patient & understanding & warm etc. theyre both real sweet paternal types. they put people at ease. they dont work at the same place tho

theyre both around 500 (equivalent of like 40-50 in human years) & they have a few kids ranging from the human equivalent of maybe 10 at the youngest to early 20s at the oldest. im on the fence about whether the baby currently in rufus' belly is actually theirs or if hes doing like a surrogacy thing for a younger friend. which is something hes done a couple times since he takes it like a champ, although since people in hell vary wildly in shape, size, etc (not everybody can pass for human. some of them are like jersey devil-type shit. some of them are 10 feet tall. some of them are like giant lobsters. anything is possible) & it isnt always determined solely by genes sometimes it can be rough on him bc Hes Just A Little Guy

russell (tall one) is a big softie & he lovess being mushy romantic & dancing in the kitchen & all that stuff. i think he has kind of a grandmacore thing goin on he loves cute knickknacks & decorative pillows & shit. they both love cooking & taking care of each other & taking care of their friends & neighbors & loved ones. theyre always baking cookies for people & shit. theyre the go-to if someone needs a babysitter. their kids friends always feel safe at their house. theyre real involved with school activities. theyre just all around Good Loving Dads

also one of russells nicknames for rufus is Fussy bc 1. its short for rufus and 2. Hes Always Fussin Over Shit. & they both purr

[fandomstuckportal]

Stikbot Biology

((also, since people are always interested in my headcanons for them, a guide on stikbot biology. this is in an otg context largely!

Genetics

we know that stikbots are somehow physically born from two parents. whatever this mechanism, their coloration, shell type, etc. are heavily determined by their parents.

i like to think that, similar to breeding games like flight rising, color is determined on a range, based on the shortest possible distance between two colors. if parent a is yellow, and parent b is blue, you can assume their kids will be yellow, green, or blue. if parent a is red and parent b is purple, their kids will be red, magenta, pink, fuchsia, violet, or purple.

this can also work to muddy colors. if parent a is orange and parent b is blue, their kids will be orange, brown, or blue.

lets look at this in canon!

lance and clint are brothers. they're pretty easy given they're both blue and solid. their parents, we can assume, were identical to them- one parent was teal, the other parent was blue, and both were solids. unless you wanna go out one step further and say one parent was green and the other was blue.

shift and jamie are siblings. we actually see what their whole family looks like, thankfully! whats interesting here is that shift is a solid, and jamie is a metallic.

we know that their parents are identical to them. one is a lime green solid, and the other is a gold metallic. however, if they had other siblings, we could see yellow-green colors.

metallic, reasonably, would be a rarer shell type than solid, but itd be possible to have metallic kids since one parent is metallic.

lets apply this to pixel and striker!

pixel is a pink glitter, and striker is a bronze metallic. their kids would be metallic, glitter, or translucent, and be either pink, magenta, red, rust, orange, or bronze.

okay but what the fuuuuck am i on about this!! what is all this shell type stuff!

Body Coloration + Shell Types

color has always been a big focus to me with stikbots!

stikbots come in a few shell types: solid, transparent (no color), translucent, glitter, metallic, and glow.

solids are shiny, solid-colored bots with no metallic paint. metallics have this metallic paint. translucents are colored and see-through. transparents are colorless and see-through, often bunched in with translucents. glitters are colored, see-through bots with little pieces of glitter in them. glows have a weird see-through coat that looks a little misty sometimes, and they glow in the dark.

like breeding games again, certain shell types are rarer than others. from most common to least, i imagine it runs like this:

solid

metallic

glitter

translucent

transparent

glow

metallics are almost exclusively metallic colors like bronze, silver, copper, gold, metallic blue, etc. translucents, glitters, and solids can be any color. translucents have no color at all. glows are typically teal, green, or white.

there are other combinations though, but they arent linked to shell types, and this is where our genetics are going to get a little funky.

Rare Combinations + Colors

these aren't shell types or colors by themselves, but rare genes.

multicolors are pretty simple. they can occur in any shell type and are usually bi-colored bots. how do they work in our genetics? pretty simple, really. parent a is blue, and parent b is red. while their kids will normally be somewhere in the blue-purple-red range, their kid may ALSO be a mix of two colors, both red and blue.

tricolor multicolors can occur, but theyre exceedingly rare, and almost always mismatches. the one i have in the image above has a translucent body, but a solid head- a mismatch. theres another bot i found earlier that has a solid printed body, but a metallic head, also tricolor. these likely occur when a multicolor has a child, resulting in 3 colors being expressed. parent a is a red-blue translucent multicolor, parent b is a solid white- bam, tricolor mismatch.

why mismatches dont occur in bicolor (trust me, i looked!) can probably be assumed to be just a genetic incompatibility thing, where a tricolor mismatches just because theres so much color clash going on.

bicolors and tricolors, and especially mismatches, are probably something like chimeras. i imagine due to genetic weirdness, mismatches would have some health complications, but this is just me projecting since im disabled, oopsie!

okay, now the easier ones. melanism and albinism are simple enough, polar opposite conditions that affect pigmentation. to be fair, stikbots probably dont have melanin, but they sure have something.

melanistic bots are bots with dark colors and white faces. a melanistic bot must ALWAYS have a white face! that is how you know a bot is melanistic. they come in all sorts of shell types and colors, and they are the only ones to ever NOT be see-through when they are glitter. there are no melanistics that are visibly translucent, the melanism gene always making the shell solid.

albinism in stikbots comes in two varieties- eyes-affecting and cups-affecting. albino bots are ALWAYS white (solid/translucent/glitter) or silver (metallic), with red faces or red suction cups. the best example of albinism in bots is raptus (yes, i know he's custom painted, but let me have my fun), with those stark red eyes.

Eyes

(this headcanon specifically pioneered by @anobodythatsall)

stikbot eyes are camera lense-esque in nature, with square "pupils". colored shutters act as eyelids, giving them a wide range of expression. these can be damaged and cracked like normal camera lenses. they can be repaired and replaced.

red eyes are a sign of albinism, while white are a sign of melanism.

like humans, stikbots with misshapen eyes, such as ultimate raptus, have a more difficult time seeing.

stikbots have a stellar feat to be able to dodge things moving at supersonic speeds (bullets), and part of this can be contributed to their eyes. their little camera eyes can process the information so fast that they can swiftly dodge out of the way of bullets. this was developed for survival- stikbots are the #1 prey animal in their universe, after all!

Internals

GUTS GUTS GUTS GUTS

seeing stikbot internals is pretty easy when we have things like translucents, but they arent completely accurate to canon (but we will talk about the things translucents let us know about stikbot biology). in lore terms, lets see whats going on under the hood.

stikbots are, notably, full of gears. we see them from the chest a lot if not always, as of course, fuel cells are the primary currency outside the grid, and fuel cells are located in the chest. where the heart is, yknow.

i recently changed how i draw internals to reflect this a little.

a load of gears would need to packed away somewhere in the chest, so i picture a sort of "ribcage" here. what is this area for? well, probably energy storage and arm movement. we dont see a lot of joints going on in stikbots, after all.

but why the fuel cell outside the chest, if people are tearing into stikbots to get fuel cells?

it looks baller

STIKBOTS ARE COMICALLY THIN-SKINNED

we see how easily stikbots are torn to shreds in otg. to get to a fuel cell, youre PROBAAAAABLY going to accident pierce the chest cavity too, where a fuckton of gears are stored.

blood! stikbot blood is black, most definitely oil. this is stored in the chest cavity, "skull", hips, and probably some within the wires.

as for hips, ive been thinking of this sort of like just your fucking hip bone. more gears, all for leg movement. it also corresponds to this plug in the lower torso:

again, no joints on a stikbot.

but waaait what do i mean "no joints". i mean like, in the traditional sense. stikbots lack a skeletal structure.

zing calls these "joints". i call them WIRES. theyre like massive nerves, sending signals to the rest of the body to move.

finally, da BRAIN

stikbots have these plugs in them where their bungee cords that make them move end, so they dont fray and fall apart. this one the head has always caught my eye, and i treat it as a skull of sorts.

like a human brain, a stikbot's main computer would be located here. all their processing.

The Weird Shit

hey, remember when i said stikbots can dodge supersonic things? lets talk about that!

this is another thing @anobodythatsall pointed out to me when i was rewatching otg (his first watch). either bullets in otg are subsonic, or stikbots are capable of moving, briefly, at supersonic speeds.

we settled on the latter because it SOUNDS SO COOL.

they are actually worse at dodging things at subsonic speed. more often than not, we see stikbots in otg getting hit by things moving subsonic more than they get hit by bullets. this is probably the tradeoff of having evolved to dodge supersonic things.

so lets get poppy!

pixel reflecting a bullet with excalibur is a good time to bring back that stikbot eyes are capable of sensing supersonic motion as it happens, their brains are capable of processing this data and reacting accordingly.

of course, to dodge or purposefully hit supersonic things, you need to be moving as fast or faster. this swing to hit this bullet is undoubtly a supersonic movement.

same goes with striker deflecting these bullets. okay, this WAS where he had already noticed there were bullets involved (this is right after "no one told me there were live rounds"), so he couldve reasonably been prepared, but he just deflects them so fast.

same scene, pixel deflects 4 shots in a row, alternating her arms she deflects with each time. this literally has to be supersonic movement or she is taking 4 bullets to the chest/face. look at how fucking fast shes going dude!!

heres some projectile dodging.

a stikbot's supersonic movement is most likely a survival adaptation. theyre in a world where guns and similar weapons dominate.

these quick dodges and actions would cause a popping/snapping noise as stikbots briefly break the sound barrier.

lance throwing shit at clint compliation

stikbots, for all their size and relative puniness compared to the rest of the species of the world, can sometimes be really physically strong. throwing heavy objects, tossing off heavier enemies, we see it a few times. this may be a supersonic movement thing, this may just be that some stikbots are really fucking beefy, this may be something else entirely.

we also see stikbots with heavy armor and extremely large, heavy weapons- even shift, who is kinda pathetic (sorry king), carries a load of really big guns around. maybe their suction cups provide something here...

speaking of!

we know these are hands and they work identically. they can pull triggers, grab objects, toss things, do delicate mechanical work, just like human hands.

so, of course, i draw these guys with claws. because claws are cool. their suction cup i draw in the palm of their hand. why keep it? extra grip strength, likely needing to pick up such heavy items.

@anobodythatsall interpreted this a while back as stikbots having something of "invisible" fingers, and the way they manipulated objects was by way of electromagnetism, their suction cups being electromagnets.

i kinda like the inbetween, mostly cause i just like drawing them with little claws. the palm suction cup acting as an electromagnet for grip strength, and the digits allowing for manipulation.

suction cups come in tons of colors, which is really cool, btw. i dont have an hc on this. i just think its need. maybe wrap it up into color genetics.

ummm thanks for coming to my ted talk??? feel free to use these headcanons wherever you want, or build upon them!

watch stikbot off the grid))