#to her dragons & they chose to actually have her do that in the show i just.

[synchodai]

HBO's Continued Insistence on Dumbing Down Westerosi Politics

So there have been countless thinkpieces already on how GOT simplified the feudalist politics of Westeros (by giving a lowborn sellsword lordship over The Reach, by having no consequences for destroying the Sept of Baelor, etc.), but I haven't seen a lot of people talking about that for House of the Dragon.

The worst being that the show presupposes that Rhaenyra is the lawful heir when the books showed there are plenty of lawful arguments why she wouldn't be.

Mind you that I've been enjoying the show a lot so far. This is just to vent out my frustration with the writers' failure to fully engage with the values and protocols of the Middle Age-inspired setting. The show seems uninterested in laws of the Realm in a story ostensibly about politics, save for when they're using it as an excuse to amplify depictions of sex and violence.

Blacks vs Greens wasn't a matter of misunderstanding of who each side thought Viserys wanted on the throne. It was the Targaryens' belief of their absolute authority clashing with the Realm's established traditions. Everyone always knew who Viserys chose as heir. In Fire and Blood, Grand Maester Orwyle said as much when he was parleying with Rhaenyra on behalf of the Greens.

Rhaenyra heard his terms in stony silence, then asked Orwyle if he remembered her father, King Viserys. "Of course, Your Grace," the maester answered. "Perhaps you can tell us who he named as his heir and successor," the queen said, her crown upon her head. "You, Your Grace," Orwyle replied. And Rhaenyra nodded and said, "With your own tongue you admit I am your lawful queen. Why do you serve my half-brother, the pretender?" Munkun tells us that Orwyle gave a long and erudite reply, citing the Andal law and the Great Council of 101. Mushroom claims he stammered and voided his bladder. Whichever is true, his answer did not satisfy Princess Rhaenyra.

(For non-F&B readers: Munkun is the Grand Maester who served Aegon III, the king who came after this civil war. Munkun's book, The Dance of the Dragons, A True Telling, is one of Fire and Blood's source texts. Mushroom is the King Landing court jester from Viserys I to Aegon III's reign. One is a source written with academic rigor but is secondhand at best. The other is a firsthand eyewitness account but is from a literal fool who will take every chance to make things more scandalous and sexual to please the crowd.)

In House of the Dragon, they replaced Orwyle with Otto and Orwyle's discussion of legal precedent with Otto handing Rhaenyra a book page from Alicent. It's quite evident here that the writers, much like Mushroom, thought a discussion on the actual laws of the Realm were negligible in this story about a succession war.

Even Alicent made no pretense that Viserys chose Rhaenyra over her children and I have no idea why the HBO writers decided to make her mistakenly think otherwise. Maybe they thought a queen regent pushing her son to take the throne over another woman made her appear unsympathetic as a character, but if anything, this only makes show!Alicent less politically savvy and more delusional than her book counterpart, fully believing an addled king's vague muttering on his deathbed was sufficient grounds to change heirs last minute.

Book!Alicent following Andal laws instead of her husband's wishes makes sense given her Andal upbringing, her devotion to the Faith of the Seven which enforces said laws, and her desire to protect her children from Rhaenyra given that Rhaenyra has shown she's not above murdering family (see: Laenor).

In the books, there was a long discussion between the former king's council on who should succeed Viserys.

Here are the arguments for Rhaenyra:

Rhaenyra was older than her brothers and had more Targaryen blood

the late king had chosen her as his successor, that he had repeatedly refused to alter the succession despite the pleadings of Queen Alicent and her greens

hundreds of lords and landed knights had done obeisance to the princess in 105 AC, and sworn solemn oaths to defend her rights.

Here are the arguments for Aegon II:

many of the lords who had sworn to defend the succession of Princess Rhaenyra were long dead [...]

Ironrod, the master of laws, cited the Great Council of 101 and the Old King’s choice of Baelon rather than Rhaenys in 92

the hallowed Andal tradition wherein the rights of a trueborn son always came before the rights of a mere daughter

Ser Otto reminded them that Rhaenyra’s husband was none other than Prince Daemon, and “we all know that one’s nature. Make no mistake, should Rhaenyra ever sit the Iron Throne, it will be Lord Flea Bottom who rules us, a king consort as cruel and unforgiving as Maegor ever was [...]”

Should the princess reign [...] Jacaerys Velaryon would rule after her. “Seven save this realm if we seat a bastard on the Iron Throne.”

Once again, the show chose to cut out this long political discussion. Instead, the council had already made up their mind and decided to stage a coup (when in their perspectives from the books, it would definitely not be a coup).

For all their marketing how two sides are equally grey, HotD is actively delegitimizing Aegon II. The strongest argument for him is how his claim follows the laws of the Realm, but the show doesn't seem to care about the laws of the Realm or the political need to maintain a more predictable/tested transfer of power.

Instead, the show focuses on Viserys's relationship with his daughter and the mysticism of the Targaryen bloodline. In doing so, they emphasize Rhaenyra's strongest arguments for succession — that she's more of a Targaryen than her half-brother and that her father prefered her.

And what for? Because in our modern-day, we don't have male-prefered inheritance and people can only imagine misogyny as the only injustice here? What about the injustice of a monarch exercising absolute control, thinking that his "superior" heritage makes him above the established laws of the native people?

This is not to say Aegon II is unquestionably the heir. But this is to say that the show removed the political nuance of why people are questioning in the first place. Precedence isn't the end-all-be-all of succession, but neither is "because daddy said so".

[frazzledsoul]

I'm not the biggest fan of GRRM (just finish the books, hire a ghostwriter, or tell us how it ends, my man) but I do find it hilarious that people are trying to fact-check him on Heleana's suicide and tell him he doesn't really know how she died and that Condal is actually right and that GRRM's version of the story is just "propaganda" intended to sully the name of Saint Rhaenyra.

Dude, he invented her. Fire and Blood is his story. He invented her, he invented Rhaenyra, he invented the tragedies of Heleana's life and how Rhaenyra contributed to them, and he invented Rhaenyra being a terrible queen whose mistakes led to her own downfall. The real issue here (and probably why GRRM chose to go after Ryan publicly when he didn't go after D & D) is that Ryan outright said that the show story is the "real one", the book GRRM wrote is wrong, and only he is able to carry forth the "real" version of what happened. Ryan could just have said that the canons were different, but he got carried away with the adulation of the fans and chose to dismiss the source material as being illegitimate. That's probably the key reason why GRRM lashed out.

I'd also like to point out here that it's been claimed that Rhaenyra retained baby weight after six kids is "propaganda" (Hess even claimed that being fat made her evil), that Aegon's bond with Sunfyre is a lie, that the notion that Blood and Cheese was morally wrong was a lie, that even the existence of Heleana's third child was a lie ... Ryan and Sara could have said that their story was different, but they didn't. There have also been fan rumors since House of the Dragon started that Game of Thrones is an illegitimate version of the story and that the "real story" is what would happen in House of the Dragon and be a reflection of the unwritten ending of ASOIAF, where Daenerys is a glorious queen who will survive the end of the story and vanquish her foes singlehandedly.

Now I guess maybe ASOIAF isn't even good enough?

Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if both Rhaenyra and Daenerys's deaths are ret-conned by the end of this.

[vodkababy]

barbie girl ｡˚ ⋆꒰ა♡໒꒱⋆ ˚｡ 🎀🍉

mike wheeler x doll collector! fem reader

smut. this is fucking nasty so if u guys dont like mike wheeler smut just s c r o l l ♡♪

age pairing : 17-18

warnings : none

the exchange of looks and stares between you and a classmate of yours in chemistry bubbled across the hallway. you had taken an interest towards this boy, “wheeler” as you called him. his glare towards you always sent chills to your spine. or even to your throbbing— we aren’t there yet.

it wasn’t a joke that he was hot. he was really hot for a nerd. his fingers always got your panties in a bunch. his nose— oh god don’t even get started with his nose. his nose is perfect and to think of it, his curls were cute.

you guys were partnered up for a project and he had to come to your house to finish, and that’s how he ended up in your room, admiring your collection.

mike considered himself a gentleman, a respectable boy, but boy did he reconsider those words as soon as he saw what you were wearing. half of the time he was over, he was either talking to you or staring at your hardened nipples under your shirt due to the cold temperature of your ac.

“you collect barbies?”

“yeah.”

“don’t you think they’re kind of uh.. creepy? imagine sleeping and first thing you see when you wake up is a doll.”

“i don’t think so. they’re quite pretty to me, to be honest”

“i don’t really have a collection. i play dungeons and dragons.”

his fingers lingered on your barbie doll that you were quite fond of. your malibu barbie. a wave of confidence washed over you.

you had remembered the lingerie set you bought a couple of months ago on impulse. it wasn’t like you were actually planning to fuck someone. you weren’t a virgin. you had taken a few polaroids of yourself wearing the dainty pink lace panties and the bra that was almost spilling your huge breasts.

“i’ve got a barbie you can play with.”

mike felt his cheeks go red. what was she implying? immediately, dirty thoughts went onto his pretty head. he had always thought that y/n l/n was hot, first of all, she was a cheerleader. she was pretty. he just chose to ignore those lingering feelings he had because he didn’t want a relationship.

“is this gonna be a one time thing?” he asked. they were both slowly closing the gap between them, feeling their hot breaths on each other. “it’s up to you, mike.” slowly sliding down her own straps of her pink gingham tank top.

“i don’t want it to be a one time thing.”

“so do i.”

those words made him push over the edge, as you pushed him to your bed and straddled him on top, grazing your fingers on the evident bulge in his jeans. he pulled you to his face and you guys started to make out.

you unbutton his shirt while his hands were fondling your thighs, later you came to unzip his jeans and later his underwear, leaving him completely unclothed. he went to pull your tank top until you stopped him.

“ah ah ah. you don’t get to touch me.”

“come on y/n. please let me touch you—“

“you have to work for it, baby”

feeling defeat, you had tied mike onto your bed posts. your bed didn’t look any different to your barbies’ clothes. it was all styled in pink and lace.

you teasingly take your shorts off. leaving you in your sheer pink panties that made mike drool at the sight of your pussy. sitting beside him, you slowly pull your panties showing him your glistening core.

“i wanna touch you so bad, barbie girl.”

“good things come to those who wait, ken.”

you unclipped your bra revealing your tits. mike watched your breasts move with a slack jaw, the tip of his dick having a shade of an angry red. of course, you didn’t fail to see that so you did him a favor.

“you’re so big mike” “how will you fit in me?” you showered him with praises that didn’t fail to make him moan as your fingers were wrapped around his cock with your spit coated in it.

you crawl on top of him, only for his mouth to be met with your cunt. immediately he latched his mouth onto your pussy, and licked a stripe up, leaving you shuddering with his touch. kitten licks turned into big licks. big licks turned into sucking. the sucking turned into him plunging his tongue in and out your throbbing core, making you catch your high and throw your head back in pleasure.

mike grabbed onto your hips to support you, further, his hands started to dig onto your supple skin. “m-mike— i’m close- oh god” the overstimulation made you feel weak. you eventually started grinding on his face. it had only been a few minutes yet this boy had made you come more than 2 times. you felt yourself release, him lapping up your juices with his tongue.

you pulled off his mouth and collapsed on the other side of the bed. “you alright?” he asked. he sat up and looked at you, noticing your chest was heaving up and down.

“i have an idea.”

“well, we can make that idea happen if you untie me.”

“oh i will.”

you had grabbed your lipstick shaped vibrator from the drawer of your nightstand, mike parting his lips in shock of all the toys you have hidden in your drawer. you quickly untied his wrists from the posts of your bed, him immediately getting on top of you and starting to kiss you.

“what are we gonna do with that little toy of yours?”

“use it on me, please.”

“mmh, what if i don’t wanna?”

“i don’t take no for an answer pretty boy.”

next thing you know, you were sprawled in your bed. legs parted wide and mike dragging the vibrator across your pussy. “o-oh! oh my god- fuck!” you said gripping the sheets. he had increased the speed of the toy, making you buck your hips unconsciously. surprisingly you squirt. (bye wtf im crying how does squirting even work)

“oh god, you’re a squirter-“ “shut up!”

“i wanna fuck you even more now”

“then do it mike”

he had lined his cock up your pussy and started to ease himself in slowly. he starts to pound in your pussy in a controllable speed, then it goes faster. faster until you feel like your back was going to break after all that arching. you could even see the tip of his cock visibly inside your womb.

“shit— you feel so good barbie.”

“faster- faster- please baby”

loud moans were heard across the room. you were thankful that your parents were away this week for a vacation in italy. if your parents were home, god you would’ve been grounded for half the year.

“y/n?”

“yeah?”

“can i um— ask you something? its- its more of a favor but like—“

“what is it?”

“could you uh— ride me.”

you looked at him with a surprised look painted on your face. you didn’t expect him to ask you for a favor like that, as if you weren’t the one who started this fuck session with him. his cheeks were red out of embarrassment, you smiled as soon as you saw his face and agreed with his “favor”.

you flip each other’s positions, leaving him under you. you sink onto his dick, firstly, moving your hips back and forth, ending up with you vigorously bouncing on him.

his moans were loud. he was whining like a bitch, showering you with praises like “y/n you’re so good..” “so fucking beautiful” “you feel so great oh god—“ he felt himself slowly reaching his high. he didn’t have a condom on. “y-y/n i’m about to cum.” he spoke so softly.

“i didn’t put a condom on”

“it’s okay, you can do it inside.”

those words pushed him over the edge, releasing inside of you. as soon as you felt his cum inside you, the knots inside were erupted.

you collapsed on to the other side of the bed looking at him. his eyes shut and his lips parted, chest heaving.

“that was nice” you said. just so that the silence wasn’t so awkward.

“yeah. you know, i’ve always liked you.”

“you did?”

“yeah.” he said. kissing your lips softly. it wasn’t like anything you had done just a few seconds ago. it was a sweet kiss. the ones you share with pure love in it.

you guys were totally fucked up the next day tho, you had forgotten about the reason why he was even over at your house.

[cosmic-walkers]

Enough time has passed for me to say I hate what they did to Baela. I absolutely hated how the majority of her character was just centered around uplifting and existing for Rhaenyra and Jace. Yes, she is Rhaenyra’s step-daughter, yes she is Jace’s fiancé, but she is still her own character. They aren’t her only family.

I get the need to reinforce that she is a Targ, especially with the racism that Bethany herself faced because she was one of the first, canonically Black targ characters we see on screen.

But the need to reduce her character to just, being a cheerleader for Jace and Rhaenyra, and hardly giving her any character conflict outside of her tumultuous relationship with Daemon - which went no where and at the end of the day, centered Rhaenyra and Jace - is upsetting.

The way that she never actually got to mourn for Rhaenys, and when she and Corlys could’ve had a moment to mourn for her together, it was re-routed to her defense of Rhaenyra and how Rhaenys wanted Rhaenyra to be queen. The way she interacted with Corlys, who was grieving his dead wife, you wouldn’t have even thought they were related. There was a coldness to the conversation, she didn’t care that her grandpa, also her blood, was mourning the loss of her grandmother - and the thing is that, this was a perfect time for her to exist outside of Jace and Rhaenyra. This was the perfect time for us to show a more vulnerable side of her, that stemmed from her connection to her mother’s family. 

Do you know how beautiful it would’ve been for Corlys and Baela to mourn together, to have a moment of sadness and tears, to perhaps speak of Rhaenys in ways that didn’t circle back to Rhaenyra? Perhaps they could’ve even had their own private ceremony together. 

But this show is so allergic to making baela a character outside of Jace and Rhaenyra, she isn’t allowed to be vulnerable unless it is tied back to them. And her mother’s family is always written as negative, less desirable part of her heritage - by both the show and fandom. Her cruelness toward her grieving grandfather, the father of her mother, was out of nowhere - and the lack of allowing her to mourn outside of Rheanyra and Jace is just…ugh.

And again, Baela being black also comes into play because it’s quite annoying to me to witness a Black dragon rider for the first time ever, yet her narrative and growth is tied to white characters. And the black characters in the show she is either cold to, distant toward or had absolutely no relationship with. 

Baela deserved better writing. And the exact same can be said about Rhaena, the only good thing about Rhaena tho is that she chose to exist outside of the unfair expectations Rhaenyra put upon her at the very end.

[lullaebies]

i genuinely wish they didn't make helaena a dreamer at this point it's so....??? i would've rathered seeing a sweet girl doing her best as princess, mother and later queen and have her experience her heartbreak truly so we can experience it with her.

they cheapened dragon dreaming by not knowing how to depict them. the show flip flops around with it, and the lack of ambiguity makes helaena seem careless if not apathetic (does she understand her powers or no? bro). and the worst part, is that they have done nothing but make her a spoiler machine, while not actually doing something substential with the dreaming.

she could've been a substential character that the history book overlooked, and the showrunners could've given her a voice. yet they chose to diminish her to the background, bring her forward only to be hurt, CONSISTENTLY throughout the season, and every moment she does speak is so short and lacks relatability because they don't care to put the effort.

my girl helaena deserved better.

[wishful-thinking64]

One Hell of an Unpopular Opinion #02

Note: This opinion is longer than the first one as I'm super passionate about this one compared to last time. Because of that it might come across as a bit of a rant. Side Note Regarding My Previous Post: I came up with a proper acronym for C.H.E.R.U.B. as I plan on using them in my rewrite for HB and what I came up with was the Capable. Habitual. Earnest. Reliable. Upbeat. Bureau. This took me all of two to three minutes to come up with. _______ Adina should've/should be in Hazbin Hotel's series due to how much she fits with the whole, "Heaven is corrupt," idea that the show is going for.

For context, Adina was a character from Viv's Zoophobia days who was featured in the scrapped Angels vs. Demons arc alongside Emily. That's right, much like most of the Hazbin Hotel cast, Adina and Emily were in the same Zoophobia arc too! However, unlike Emily, Adina's character was ultimately scrapped and replaced by Sera (by the way, you're not being clever with that name Viv) who is nowhere near as much of a threat as Adina was.

These three images ALONE already express so much about Adina as a character to the point where you can tell JUST BY LOOKING at them that if anyone were to try and convince this woman that her beliefs are wrong, they would probably either be murdered or tortured immediately. By the way, if that silk ribbon bow that Adina wears wraps around anyone that isn't herself, it not only reveals but forces demons (as seen by beta design Angel Dust) to RE-LIVE their MOST UNPLEASANT AND TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCES. And on top of all of this...

HER TRUE FORM WOULD'VE BEEN THIS GIANT ELDRITCH LOOKING DRAGON CREATURE! VIV, ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT YOU TRADED AN ACTUALLY GOOD VILLAIN WITH A GENUINELY BAD ASS FINAL FORM THAT FOLLOWED THE SHOW DON'T TELL RULE FOR ONCE ALL FOR A STATIC CHARACTER WHO'S FINAL FORM IS BASICALLY JUST A FUCKING BIRD!?!? ... Obviously, the answer to that question is yes. That being said, it will never cease to piss me off how or why the answer to that question is yes. Moving on, I heavily believe that Adina's character could still work incredibly well within Hazbin Hotel and to where you could still keep Sera if you wanted to. Simply, have her be Sera and Emily's mother. That's what I'm doing for my rewrite of Hazbin Hotel. To me it makes sense especially how Adina being Sera's mother would explain why she's so hesitant in stopping Hell's yearly exterminations. Although, that isn't exactly what I plan on doing for my rewrite you, reader, could use it for yours (if you plan/want to rewrite the show that is.) In conclusion, I'll never forgive Viv for replacing Adina with Sera because even if I wasn't a writer that was just a terrible decision to make. Like, you literally had all the material and potential there and you chose to scrap it. But hey, that's Viv for ya. Always scrapping good ideas.

[brookstolemybrand]

Another post because I have more thoughts on the ASL brothers

(btw is there a better word for them bc I kinda feel bad about possibly clogging the search results for the language?)

Anyway, I was thinking about how Ace and Sabo represent different big brother archetypes for Luffy:

Ace is the big brother who has the closest relationship with Luffy. They very much grew up together, Ace trained him, protected him, lightly bullied him, all the classic big brother things. And both of them gave each other companionship, they both kept each other from getting lonely, especially after losing Sabo

Ace is also the big brother that Luffy looks up to, who Luffy strives to follow, who's like the older, stronger, cooler version of Luffy. He has similar (though very crucially still slightly different) ambitions: he also wants to become a notorious pirate. He's also the pioner, trailblazing ahead of Luffy. Luffy is always in some sense following in his footsteps, even as far along as Wano!

(And of course this is why he's the brother who had to die for the narrative....)

His role in the story is also to introduce Luffy to the wider world of pirates, the big league pirates. He is the connecting link between Luffy and Whitebeard and arguably also Luffy and Blackbeard

I also feel like as a big brother he's primarily Luffy's protector; whether he means to or not, he ends up saving Luffy over and over again, from the marines, from Blackbeard, from Akainu...

Meanwhile Sabo is the brother who kind of ends up taking the role that Luffy might have played in another timeline where Dragon raised Luffy as his own. I'm never going to bother arguing over whether Sabo or Ace was actually older, but here Sabo kinda plays the role of the oldest son, destined to follow in the father's footsteps.... except of course for the fact that Dragon isn't originally Sabo's father! He's a father figure Sabo chose for himself!

It's a very funny twist of fate

Sabo is the brother who takes the role that was arguably destined for Luffy, but that Luffy didn't want

So that Luffy can be free to do what he actually wants to do

Because that's what SABO's role is as a big brother, and the role he plays in the story; he takes Luffy's place in order to free Luffy. He does this in Dressrosa obviously, but he also does this in a more general plot level by fighting the World Government and the Celestial Dragons directly while Luffy is busy elsewhere. This is all very protagonisty stuff that would better fit the main character, but Luffy simply does not have the time to be doing it and can't divert from his path

This is kinda meta in fact, he's taking a necessary role in the story in order to free Oda from needing to make Luffy do awkward detours and mess up the pacing (particularly with the Reverie; imagine if Luffy had to go all the way back to Mariejois... and hell, he almost does when he hears about Vivi! But even here it's actually partially thanks to Sabo that Vivi managed to escape on her own and didn't need Luffy to come and save her, although this was very indirect and unintentional of course)

He also plays the role of the Hero of the People that Luffy explicitly doesn't want

So where Ace is Luffy's protector, Sabo is Luffy's liberator

Ace protects Luffy while he's still too weak to always take care of himself and teaches him important lessons early on, but he has to die so that Luffy can stand on his own feet and become his own man, not the little brother protected by an older brother

Sabo frees Luffy to follow his own path, mainly on the meta level but occasionally also very literally (such as Dressrosa), and that's why (for narrative reasons) he's brought back when Luffy starts to become more adult and more independent and is starting to get threatened by (gasp) responsibilities (and as the plot becomes too big for one protagonist to handle all alone)

Both of them act as conduits for Luffy to be able to continue this adventure, and they show up exactly when they're needed and exit when they're not

[bluegiragi]

hello! i'm gira, i go by she/her, and i've been making fanart for the cod fandom for about four months now :) the majority of that time's been spent on the soapbox saga, which is sort of just what i call the very plot-ridden porn comic featuring ghost, soap and konig. and recently i've been working on the monster 141 au!

i'm here to address the reasoning behind how i assigned certain monsters to certain characters, particularly the POC characters as well as accusations of racism regarding me neglecting gaz in all my art :) whoever you are, if you're reading this in good faith, i thank you! i earnestly never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable from my work.

The Monster AU

i won't post the blog who brought this issue up mainly because, (realistically speaking) i think people might go after them and spam them with hate so I'm paraphrasing here. but basically..."how come all the POC in the Monster AU are assigned animal-associated monsters? Comparisons to animals can be incredibly demeaning when it comes to minorities".

I completely agree! But earnestly, I think my desire to assign every character a 'monster' that was relevant to their culture overshadowed the part of my brain that would've raised red flags about this sort of thing. There's the argument here that I could've assigned these characters cooler monsters such as Price who is a dragon, and Ghost who is a wraith, but I wanted to be respectful of all the minorities in the COD cast by giving them creatures that reflected their culture and personality.

ALEJANDRO - NAGUAL

In the Monster AU, Alejandro is a nagual, which is considered a guardian spirit in Mesoamerican culture. Typically, it's said that the nagual is the shapeshifted form that powerful men can transform into in order to do evil (although that doesn't apply in this case, Ale's a heroic lad), and can come in the forms of a jaguar, deer, dog or bird. I chose a jaguar, since it seemed to be the most common form of nagual depiction in the resources I was looking at. The 'panther mode' isn't pre-established as part of nagual mythology, but since most panthers are just black jaguars, i thought the association wouldn't be unreasonable.

I chose Alejandro to be a nagual because it's so in character for him to be protective of his home. The idea of him being a literal guardian spirit for all he considers his just made sense to me :)

--

RODOLFO (RUDY) - CADEJOS

In this AU, Rudy is the vessel for two cadejos, which are legendary dog spirits popular in the mythology of Central America, parts of South America and Mexico. Historically, they've been known as psychopomps (guides to help humans into the afterlife following their death) but modern interpretation has shifted to depict them as the good guardian dog and the evil attacking dog respectively.

A lot of the minute information about the cadejos tends to differ depending on the source. Like whether they're actually two separate dogs, or they're the same dog just in different 'modes', or how big they are. My personal depiction of them has them sized as normal dogs (although their spirit nature means they can move into small spaces pretty easily by just becoming immaterial temporarily) and as separate spirits that have been passed down through Rudy's family generationally.

I chose the cadejo for Rudy because although I wanted to include him in the Monster AU, i still liked keeping him as a character who was a bit more 'human' than Alejandro. I think Ale needs Rudy to hold him back sometimes, and having the two cadejo definitely helps with that. Sort of like how cheetahs in zoos have therapy dogs growing up because they're so anxious all the time! I think it also does a good job of showing Rudy's two sides as well, like he's a softie who just wants to protect those he loves, but he's capable of a lot of violence too.

--

VALERIA - GORGON

Valeria is a gorgon which, admittedly, is not part of Mexican mythology. However, I was put in a bit of a bind here, since my research didn't really reveal to me a monster in Mexican culture that I thought would suit Valeria's vibe (manipulative, elulsive) and I just felt like a gorgon would be perfect for her. Medusa's myth has her being continuously demeaned by the men in her life and is a symbol of female empowerment, which I thought was a great reflection of the implied reason that Valeria left the army was due to internal sexism. There's also the perfect parallel of how anyone who sees El Sin Nombre's face dies, and Medusa's whole 'turn you to stone' thing.

I thought i could compromise by making Valeria a gorgon but her hair would be Mexican black kingsnakes but...turns out they're actually not that dangerous. Some people even keep them as pets! So I decided to keep the visual, but make her a pit viper, a subfamily of vipers found in the Americas as well as Eurasia.

--

HORANGI - HAETAE

Horangi is a haetae (해태) which is a beast in Korean mythology that typically comes in the form of a horned lion or dog. It's prevalent in a lot of cultures in East Asia actually, although it goes under different names depending on the region - kaichi for Japan, xiezhi for China. I made Horangi a tiger variant on the creature because...well...'horangi' means 'tiger' in korean. It just made sense to me to put that little twist on it.

Typically, haetae are seen as spirits of judgement, that decide on innocent and guilty parties in disputes and punish the latter. It's also considered a guardian against fire (hence the fire immunity and cloud manipulation powers I gave him).

GAZ - HARPY

Gaz is a harpy which, I won't lie, was purely inspired by the fact that he seems to keep falling out of helicopters. But it's also because...yeah, I did neglect Gaz in the soapbox saga. But I think I neglected...everyone in the soapbox saga who weren't directly involved in the main ship. I sort of just tunnel visioned on the main three, so my exclusion of characters isn't just limited to Gaz, it was included Price, Laswell, Alejandro, Rudy, Graves etc.

I just want to make clear that my treatment of Gaz in particular isn't reflective of any inner preference against him. And to make good on that, me assigning Gaz wings of all things was to help me spend more time on him in the Monster AU! I think the contrast between Gaz being an upstart harpy, and Price being a one-winged dragon has a lot of potential as a mentor/protege relationship (and perhaps even something more) and it's why I assigned this monster to him. I really wanted to establish a connection upfront, but just making Gaz another dragon felt cheap - the harpy thing felt a little more in turn with his character :)

--

I really hope this cleared up any remaining frustrations with my designs for the Monster AU. I hope you can see that I never meant anything demeaning by assigning these monsters to their respective characters - in fact, I earnestly tried to go out of my way and be respectful to their backgrounds.

In any case, if you have any more questions I'd be happy to answer them - I'd just ask you to please ask politely :)

[mad-raptorzzz]

[Image Description: The SixFanarts challenge. The first is Whiteout from WOF, a Night/IceWing hybrid who is a dark grey-blue with a lighter belly. She has ice blue freckles throughout and caribous like horns. The second panel is Cera the triceratops from The Land Before Time. She is a peach color and is making a snarky face. The third panel is the villain The Nowhere King from Centaurworld. The design is a deer skull with glowing neon green eyes sitting in a bunch of dark goo. The fourth panel shows Randall from Monsters Inc. He is clinging to the box and grimacing in disgust. The fifth panel has Kion from the Lion Guard. He has yellow fur and a red mullet-esque mane. His left eye is scared and pale blue, indicating vision loss. The sixth and final panel contains Frostpaw from Warrior cats. She is a pale grey cat with a tipped left ear and human-made scar across her neck. Her eyes are widened in horror./End]

Wooooof, I finally finished this. Thanks to @bi-pan-whiteout for suggesting Whiteout!! I just chose the other 5. It was fun to draw non-dragons for a hot second. But man oh man do I need to practice lion king characters and cats

Whiteout: I tried a more traditional coloring scheme for her. I think I might still like piebald Whiteout. But I have like 15 designs for her in my brain at all times. She's just got so much potential!! Love her obviously.

Cera: Land Before Time is a big nostalgia trip for me. I gave Cera actual triceratops horns because it always bothered me she didn't have the eye horns. She also should have scars on her because my girl is ready to throw hands at all times.

The Nowhere King: Oh man Centaurworld was an absolute blast start to finish. This guy was my personal favorite part. His story is tragic, but they let him continue being evil. Such a wicked design too. Goop with a skull.

Randall: Randall is one of my favorite Disney/Pixar villains. Right up there with Scar and Ursulla and Hades. I just like that he's a conniving little guy. And his colors and design are just perfect.

Kion: So I know some Lion King fans really don't like the Lion Guard show. I don't mind it. The Lion King is my second favorite movie of all time, and Simba's Pride is my favorite direct to video Disney sequel. I enjoyed the show, even though I was waaaay older than the target audience. Especially the third season when they aged things up a bit. I imagine that Kion lost vision in his left eye after the injury. I also love his stupid little hairstyle and I doubled down.

Frostpaw: The horrors persist but so does she! She is one of my favorite characters in WC from the recent books. Such a cute little anxious lass. Trying her best. Interested to see how things go in Star.

[mbslost]

Another yapping session with MB yipeee!

nah in all seriousness i would like to talk about some things, now that my temper is gone.

we still remember the post on twt made by @/renhanasgf about Gato not being more inclusive, oorrrr that her poc character are ignored. (i wont talk about the real stuff from discord in this post since proofs are still gathered.)

well here i am! (sadly)

1.How many poc characters?

7 well known (or maybe more). who are those? well we'll start with Raven(tinr) or known as Selin as well, Chet Ichpujani(tinr/tpof), Strade(btd/tpof), Thomas(tpof), Jaqueline(tpof), Machete(tpof) and fucking Derek(tpof)

some of them dont have a full name (besides an alias) either because story wise it didnt mattered or because of their lore (Strade and Machete are criminals, doubt they would want a victim that escaped to expose their identity, no?) Also another detail, even some white characters do not have a last name,such as Sid(tinr), Dragon/Jace(tpof), Komodo/Mike(tpof), Chamomile(tpof), Richard(tpof) and probably some from 'Facility'.

their ethnicities are indeed unknown, either because it wouldnt really affect their story or it was avoided in case it could cause a conflict. dunno. about this i cant really talk a lot since her blogs are gone, thus i cannot dig into this matter anymore. although i believe having a hc on them is fine. ''- It is 100% okay to have ANY headcanons about my character!''-her website)

Raven was one of the well know character from Gato that is poc. her nationality is unknown due to the story (which i would recommend you to read tinr, pretty cool tbh). since her story goes deeper i would suggest you to also read her wiki (fanmade). sadly lots of stuff are now gone about her. still a lover character.

Strade. Strade is Strade. (kind of forgot what she said in the answer about his name but the wiki says ''Strade is not his actual birth name. It's similar to a placeholder name like John Doe. His birth name is unknown." still you can check out more here)

Chet Ichpujani is another character involved in tinr, a manager (i believe) at a semi-restaurant thing? in the end he offers to help Farz with his problem. pretty cool guy since he and Anthony Shore re-appeared in tpof. (picture below)

Machete, ''Machete is the newest member of the desert group. He had to prove himself worthy by performing various criminal tasks to be allowed in. Despite his recent acceptance, the rest of the group remain wary of him. His quiet demeanor and decisive actions tend to unsettle the other members. He regrets everything he's done to be admitted into the group, but he chose to stop at nothing to get revenge for his sister. He feels as though he's completely lost his identity and humanity to his "purpose"." -wiki (also a small detail, he did everything to revenge his sister)

Tom/Thomas, ''Tom is a college student, taking a media development course centered around sound design. He took a few years off high school, kind of meandering through life without an aim for a while. However, he eventually found a passion for making music. Despite tons of research and hard work, he was never really able to get his brand off the ground, so he decided to head to college to get some formal education on the subject. Late one night, as he was about to head home, he was abducted by Komodo and Dragon.'' -wiki

Jaqueline, "Jaqueline is a young trades worker learning to paint houses. She takes pride in her work and also frequently goes to the gym. Her mother pesters her to get a higher education, but she loves her current career path. Due to the friction with her family over her job, she tends to choose to spend time with friends instead. She was violently abducted by Jack in broad daylight, unlucky to have no witnesses." -wiki

therefore, there's plenty of information, plus that lost from her blogs.

2.Model minority

must agree, her work from 2016 looked alike yet, in the last years she actually showed more bodies (like types)

here are some examples:

also Strade's new model as well:

quite diverse, is it not? i am aware i didnt show others as well but if you wish to (and i actually encourage to) you can view the rest here! Lawrence, Ren, Celia (or on pinterest!)

3. Conclusion

i still believe everyone can create whatever they wish, whatever character. the details are on their part. now i could understand Gato for being upset when someone doesnt draw their character as they are (such as changing the body type, skin colour, etc) but also cant blame those who feel like being ignored (trust me, had to survive the genshin fandom).

so the characters exist, thus i dont see the problem of not being inclusive (also, as she often said, you can hc her characters, thus i believe their ethnicities are free to chose for yourself)

that's it. as for the real deal (the discord stuff) i believe it's the best more proofs come. rn i dont see her as a racist artist, but that comment in spanish does sound in fact xenophobic... well, until more context is posted, we'll see

stay safe!

[reesespeanutbutterfuck]

when vinny misses you, he...

unseen where vinny longs for you during a training away from you.

pairing: vinny hong x jo!reader

cw: short, other than that none.

—

When Vinny misses you...

He struggles to function well.

Dom stretched his back after stepping out of his shared room with June and the juniors to find the other crew members sitting on the table and eating steamed sweet potatoes.

“Morning, guys–” he greeted on the way to the bathroom but then he stopped when he spotted Vinny sitting on the edge of the table staring at nothing while the others were having their breakfast. “Woah, ‘you going through something, Vinny? Are you not feeling well?”

Minu, Jay, and the others winced, as they too, noticed how gloom Vinny's mood is this early morning, yet chose to shut their ups because they know Vinny would hide his feelings more if pointed out. Which, a certain someone just did.

Vinny doesn't answer. His eyes shot up to glare at Dom for a second before it shifted to the sweet potatoes in front of him. He's the only one not eating.

“Why don't you eat?” Yuna asks him, also noticing how Vinny isn't eating like everyone else is.

“I'm allergic to sweet potatoes.” Vinny shuts his eyes and gets up with a sour face. “I want seaweed soup. The one [Y/N] makes.”

He slides the sliding door and steps outside. Dom and the others only looked at each other when Vinny closed the sliding door completely.

Dom gaped his mouth, as he got the hint on why his friend was acting that way. His eyes immediately flew to your brother, Jay.

“That’s… a vaguely creative way to indirectly say he misses [Y/N]. Why can’t he just say it straight?” Dom controlled the volume of his voice, careful not to be heard by Vinny who's zoning out outside.

“Duh. the brother’s here, obviously.” Minu's puckered lips pointed to Jay with a nod of his head.

“Weird. But hey, it's Vinny actually expressing his feelings in front of us for once after all,” June smiled to himself too. “Who the hell even is allergic to sweet potatoes? I saw him sneak one inside his pocket before he stood up. He's a liar. He really just misses [Y/N].”

“Well, he's not going to think straight without her by his side. Jay, think you can do something to bring [Y/N] here?” Dom sits across Jay in front of the table.

Jay snickered, attracting everyone's attention. “Don't worry. I don't have to do anything.”

He raised his phone and showed your messages saying you're on your way after basically a lot of death threats holding him at gunpoint to tell you where exactly they are.

“The dragon won't be lonely for long, the princess is on her way to see him.”

***

© reesespeanutbutterfuck 2024, don't forget to support your creators by reblogging !

[itsabouttimex2]

Monkie Kid Villain Fates

A more in-depth look (especially for Macaque) down below!

(I know I’ve been posting a lot of content that’s outside my usual, and I hope no one minds too much! I’m cleansing my palate to prep for Season Five, which I am very excited to write for. ((Especially for Li Jing and Nuwa!!!)) So here’s a slew of my thoughts on the villains, and which one is my least favorite!)

(Spoilers: his name is written in purple above.)

Disclaimer 1: I am not counting instances of “throwing your lot in with the heroes when the world is at stake” as redeeming moments. If you only do something because it personally benefits you at the moment, it’s not exactly selfless.

Disclaimer 2: Redemption means three things-

1. The character acknowledges their wrongdoings.

2. The character works to become a better person.

3. The character makes amends/reparations for the harm they’ve done, without the threat of death hanging overhead. Good must be done of one’s own will and volition.

Disclaimer 3: A character not being redeemed doesn’t make them a bad character. In fact, some characters work better without redemption. (Like the Lady Bone Demon.) I just wanted to make a villain tier list and talk on some of the people it contained.

Red Son: Decently humanizing interactions with Mei, but ultimately uncaring of all the damage and harm that he’s caused, especially in regards to potential deaths during his attacks on the city. Unfortunately, the first example of “pretty much unrepentant but universally-forgiven”. (Fix: Have him interact with people harmed by his villainy, and resolve to help them- even if only by repairing their destroyed vehicles. Something small enough to be reasonably in line with his pride and arrogance, but enough to show that he’s become a better person.)

——————

Macaque: The worst villain here. Utterly unrepentant and shameless, outwardly cruel and violent… but still got a “you’re not a bad guy” speech before actually showing that he wasn’t a bad guy. Despite being able to skip fights with his shadow portals, he intentionally stuck around to raze the Dragon Palace of the East Sea to the ground. (AO GUANG AND HIS PEOPLE’S STATUS ARE STILL UNKNOWN) This still hasn’t been addressed in canon, not even by Mei, who was related to those who lived there. Instead, she has a team-up with him, never addressing the still unknown fate of her uncle. Never apologizes, never makes amends, never tries to repair the damage he’s done… but allowed to stick around all the same. Where characters like Azure or LBD do what they do because they truly believe in their causes, Macaque is just having fun hurting people. Again, given his ability to shadow-portal, he doesn’t even have the “I’m trying to save my own life” excuse. He could’ve just skipped the torment and violence, but explicitly chose not to, and is always happy to inflict harm- even bragging about what he did to the Dragon Palace.

Also, I don’t give a single shit that Peng “bullied” him. It doesn’t make Macaque more sympathetic, it makes him less. He knows what it’s like to be insulted and berated for your nature, then (unhesitatingly and gleefully) does the same to MK, who may well be a child?

Yeah, no. Then, his “awesome” team-up with Mei only serves to rip agency and nuance from her character, turning this caring and energetic warrior into an amnesiac that doesn’t care about her family for the sake of “Boo-hoo, Peng hit me once to protect someone they care about!” So, Mei holds grudges, right? That would make her a more interesting character! But no! No, no, no! That’s just for Peng! Her grudge isn’t against the man who essentially attempted genocide on her people and razed an ancestral palace full of innocent people to the ground, no!

OF COURSE NOT, SILLY!!

Because then Macaque’s actions would have something called “consequences”, and the writers just won’t allow it! Because he’s just a murderous, violent, manipulative, cruel, spiteful, villain! How dare we expect any actual comeuppance for his crimes? No, we can’t have that!

Oh, and how does he help MK in the fourth season? How about he outright tells (great storytelling, btw) MK about how delusional Azure Lion is- a character with which he has no tie with beyond a tenuous past oath and no actual interactions. This moment could have easily been given to, you know, Wukong! Or Yellowtusk, if they were going the full redemption arc route for him, but no!

We have to pretend that Macaque’s input on a character he has no interactions with is important! Oh, and they let him play mentor to MK, who he has: manipulated, betrayed, violently assaulted, stole the powers of, berated, and attempted to kill.

Does MK care about any of this?

OF COURSE NOT!

But MK is absolutely furious and heartbroken at Azure for doing maybe half of those things, and with an honestly noble reason to boot.

Ugh.

I think it’s only made worse by the fact that people get so mad when there’s any criticism of Macaque “redemption arc”. Throwing actual fits and constantly arguing when someone dares to say “everyone allowing Macaque (and many other villains) to get away with the worst of his actions and not holding him accountable for being a genuinely dangerous, unrepentant and violent criminal is bad and makes the “heroic” characters around him look worse.”

And you can’t use the “well, he didn’t get a redemption arc!” The writers didn’t try to redeem him!” defense.

Because, yes. Yes they did.

We are supposed to think this guy is better now. The series wants you to think of him as redeemed.

MK leaves him handmade food and a drawing. His “you’re not a bad guy” speech is supposed to be taken as truth. Wukong is making amends with him (sharing smiles and offering food) and no one has any personal problems on the guy sticking around (which makes them all seem blander, given that at least one of his victims should be upset), which is portrayed in a positive light.

This is portrayed as good.

THE WRITERS CONSIDER MACAQUE AS DESERVING AND WORTHY OF THIS. THEY THINK HE HAS EARNED IT.

So yes- he is supposed to be “redeemed”.

But he isn’t. He really, really, isn’t.

(Fix: God, where do we start? Some remorse? An apology? Have every character not forgive him immediately? Have Mei not forget about the razing of an ancestral palace? Have Pigsy threaten to kill him if he tries to hurt MK again? Have Tang refuse to interact with him? Anything would have been nice.)

——————

Jin and Yin: No redemption arc at all. Essentially forgotten about by the show. They show up with the Scorpion Queen, but don’t have a satisfying send-off. It’s just a little funny scene. (Potential fix: more interactions with them as stagehands, working for the community. Why make them neutral only to shift immediately back to evil? It could’ve been nice to see them integrate into society instead of being turned evil again and written out of the story with little fanfare.)

——————

Demon Bull King: Same as Red Son, but without the humanizing interactions with a heroic character. Bonus points for putting his life in danger to save Wukong and MK, despite gaining nothing for doing so. Unfortunately, aside from that, another “pretty much unrepentant but universally-forgiven” character. (Potential fix: Would’ve been nice to have more positive interactions between him and Wukong. Maybe talk about how hard it is to open up and be soft when they dedicated so much of their lives to being strong? Chat about his struggles adjusting to the modern era? Have him show clear remorse for mistreating his extremely loyal son?)

——————

Princess Iron Fan: Not much to say. Same as her husband, same solution. Really wish she had gotten some more screen time outside of her family. (Fix: Maybe flesh out her bond with Jin and Yin? I know it was supposed to be a funny “noodle incident”, but learning about their past could’ve been nice- maybe we could’ve gotten a scene of her with little Red Son to humanize her a bit?)

——————

As it says on the tin. I’ll do this all in one quick chunk.

Nothing much to say here- but it would’ve been nice to have one of the spiders survive and redeem themselves, especially since that it was teased for Huntsman.

I wish Goliath (not even his real name btw) hadn’t been such a nothing character. Like, we really don’t learn a single thing about him.

I pity the Ink Curse. Created to be a tool of torture, never allowed to love or be loved. Poor thing.

——————

Mayor: One of Season Four’s biggest flaws is that it could really feel disconnected from the previous three, which all felt very tightly interwoven. Example one: Mei “no longer *wielding* the Samadhi Fire”, when it had previously been established that she fused with it. Example two: The mayor’s fate is never addressed, despite being such a prominent enemy. (Fix: Just… tell us what happened to him. Is he in jail? Did he escape justice? Did someone just… murder him? I don’t care if “it’s being saved for Season Five”. It’s weird to just forget about someone so dangerous in universe.)

——————

Kui Mulang: Presumably either dead or returned to the Celestial Realm for punishment. Unlikely that we’ll receive further information on him.

——————

Peng: Probable that we’ll receive an update on their status in Season Five. Very interesting character with a few humanizing moments (being close to Yellowtusk and Azure, being upset when Monkey King was trapped in the scroll) that keep them from being irredeemable. Actually a better person than Macaque, given that they never remorselessly razed a palace of innocent people to the ground. Or tried to murder an innocent kid who wasn’t involved with their fight at all. Or held a young lady’s life hostage and threatened to murder her. But they’re sort of mean, so I guess people consider them irredeemable? Super weird.

Like, Peng is an asshole, sure. They clearly aren’t in this fight out of the goodness of their heart. But the awful way they get treated in the fandom is insane, especially with the babying treatment that other villainous characters (like Macaque, the Mayor, and Red Son) get.

——————

Azure Lion: Macaque, but better written! Letting MK be angry at a person who: manipulated, lied to, and betrayed him? Not having his misdeeds be forgotten and glossed over? People actually being upset at what he’s done further than a few minutes after he’s done it? Incredible character! This is what I’ve wanted from Monkie Kid for so long! Ultimately, Azure accepts his failures and sacrifices himself- a punishment for hurting innocent people and wreaking havoc? A villain acknowledging their misdeeds and making up for them? God, I love Azure so much!

Probably my favorite character!

——————

Yellowtusk: I love this grandpa so much, for mostly the same reasons as Azure. His crimes aren’t immediately forgotten! Everyone doesn’t immediately forgive him! And he has to head back to the Celestial Realm for actual consequences?! Damn, this is what I’ve wanted from LMK villains for so long! Real redemption arcs, my beloved.

Also, this proves that the writers do know that people who commit crimes should be held accountable and punished for it? Can you give some of that to the others, please?

——————

Scorpion Queen: Another character I don’t have much to say about. She acknowledges her mistakes, ceases her villainy, and seems to have made genuine friends in Jin and Yin. Given the very little harm she caused, redemption was never going to be outside of her reach- but I’m happy for her anyhow.

——————

Finishing Points

1: I do not “hate” any of these characters. Though I definitely dislike how some are written, each one is lovable and enjoyable in their own way. I enjoy writing for all of them, and will continue to do so. I just wanted to take a break from fanfiction and talk about my perspective on some villains.

2: What do I mean by “punishment”?

Essentially, a consequence delivered to the character on account of their villainy. Someone tripping and eating dirt isn’t a “punishment”, unless they’re being shoved down by an old victim. Losing a fight isn’t “punishment”, it’s a matter of self-defense. Additionally, the punishment has to be actively performed as a consequence of misdoings- tripping and breaking an arm after doing evil things isn’t a punishment, but having a victim of the villain actively choose to break their arm is.

3: This is not an attack on you or your “fave”. This is not me saying that the show is bad. This is not me saying that I could do better. This is not me saying that you shouldn’t like these characters. This is not me trying to change your mind. This is not me saying you should feel the way I do. These are just my personal thoughts on the villains listed, and some of the “flaws” that I personally have with their portrayals and depictions.

[darkestspring]

“He takes Helaena and their three children and bends the knee to her in return for senya and the twins being kept away from allow this. “

- please please please would you give us an actual fic of this.

Show them living on dragon stone.

Show them arrive at dragon stone, Nyra is confused but welcomes them especially Senya obviously. Show them bend the knee

I need more of this. It would be so good and you would write is brilliantly as always.

- =]

Aegon's initial plan to run off to Essos with Senya had failed, ending him Aemond dragging him back while Criston carried the slumbering five year old Senya in his arms.

He didn't care if this had been his father's will (he doubted it. Was his mother finally cracking????? finally going delusional???? rhaenyra was the heir, not him.) he wanted to part in this succession. He didn't even want to be married to Helaena but after Senya, they were still trying to make it work, trying to be parents together instead of him ignoring her.

He wasn't going to take this lying down, not for one second. Not for Senya's sake. It took him a few weeks but he finally created a situation that required everyone's attention so he could slip away.

"Come with me-" Aegon barged into Helaena's room but she was already waiting with all three of their children and the cut himself off.

Sure, it was a little unsettling how Helaena knew things before he had the chance to utter them but this situation was urgent. He didn't have time to think about anything else but getting the fuck out of there.

"Alright, let's go now." Aegon urged Helaena forwards with a gentle guiding hand. "Take the twins on Dreamfyre, I'll take Senya on Sunfyre. It shouldn't take long to reach dragonstone."

Helaena nodded and picked up the twins as Aegon picked up Senya.

Rhaenyra was confused, last thing she heard, they were crowning Aegon as the new king, what a fucking joke, but here he was in front of her with Helaena and their three children but she held up her hand, stopping Daemon from moving forward.

Daemon looked like he wanted to say something but ultimately stopped as she wanted, standing behind her as he glared Aegon down.

Senya looked to be about their son, Aegon's age now. She was peering up at them as she waved towards them, still in Aegon's arms.

"Heard they were making you king. Is that why you are here. To proudly declare that you've usurped my throne." Rhaenyra stared coolly at her younger brother.

"I would rather have birds tear at my limbs." Aegon retorted and maybe he shouldn't have, maybe he should have been serious about this. But he didn't come here to fake niceties. He knew his sister hated him, he hated how much she was loved by their father but all he wanted was his family to be safe. "I'm not delusional, I know a farce when I see one. Father chose you when I was a babe, he never changed his mind."

"I already tried to flee once but I was brought back so, I ran here instead. I don't care about the throne, I never have. All i want is for my family to be safe, for Senya to not grow up in a place surrounded by war and terror." He grew up in peace, so he wanted the same for his daughter.

"I'll bend the knee, I'll do whatever you ask of me, as long as my family is safe."

Rhaenyra stared at Aegon for a moment even as he followed through, both Helaena and Aegon kneeling, Senya imitated her father, still not sure what's happening and the twins followed after their sister.

"I'll protect you, as your sister, and as your queen. You've knelt and shown loyalty to me, so I'll forgive whatever transgressions have been committed in the past." Rhaenyra beckoned Senya forward, not being able to hold back anymore and Senya rushed over and into her aunts arms.

Life was easy now, he no longer had to look over his shoulder for his brother or his mother and grandfather. Senya spent most of her day either playing with Rhaenyra's youngest children, Aegon and Viserys, or out looking at the flowers.

Aegon was just happy to still see the unfiltered happiness on his daughter's face.

[geekgirles]

I was hit with the realisation that even if Echo hadn't intervened to stop Oropo, his plan, to destroy the gods and replace them with the Brotherhood of the Forgotten, would have failed nonetheless. 

If I'm not mistaken, Oropo intended to weaken the gods by severing their connection to the World of Twelve and then destroying them so his followers could ascend and replace them. However, by severing that connection, he, too, would have robbed himself of his new pantheon. Because the demigods' powers aren't a result of their divine parentage, but of their alignment. 

True, being descended from gods grants the Siblings semi-immortality and stronger abilities than their mortal counterparts, but they still owe their powers to their race. In other words, Coqueline, for example, is an Osamodas demigoddess not only because her father is indeed the god Osamodas, but because she herself is an Osamodas. 

The best example of this is actually Flopin. Technically speaking, he is a demigod—his father is Iop's latest reincarnation—and Oropo chose him to become the next Cra God. However, with the reveal that, as an Eliotrope, Oropo shares Yugo's memories and feelings, then it becomes plain to see his insistence on Flopin and Élely joining his cause had less to do with them being legitimately good candidates and more with his desire to make the Brotherhood of the Tofu his.

Just like he targeted Amalia despite already having Dathura as his next Sadida goddess and Echo as his lover. Those were Yugo's feelings clouding his judgement.

But back to Flopin and how he proves Oropo's plan was futile since the very beginning, unlike Élely and Pin, Eva's Little Wolf has never displayed any special powers beyond those of a normal Cra, something he himself is acutely aware of in season 4. That is because, while he might be Tristepin's son, he is not an Iop, and therefore, he can't inherit any divine power because he is not actually connected to the god Iop like Élely, Pin, and Goultard are. 

And that is the most basic aspect of the franchise: your powers come from the god you worship. 

This all comes to show that if Oropo had succeeded in destroying the gods, his chosen ones would have not been able to replace them as he intended, because if he killed the gods and severed the Twelvians' connection to them, then the Siblings would have been rendered powerless too, maybe even gone back to being regular humans. Meaning everything Oropo had done to fulfill his dream would have been for naught. 

In fact, I'd go as far as to say the only ones who wouldn't have suffered the same fate would have been Adamaï, Yugo (since, before season 4, there was no indication that the goddess Eliatrope lived in Inglorium), Echo and Sipho (due to their dragon heritage), and Oropo himself, as he draws his power from Yugo and the other Eliotropes.

But who's to say he wasn't counting precisely on that to become the Supreme God as he declared back in season 3? After all, he was a master manipulator...

Some food for thought.

[thatguythatdrawsalot]

Weiss - Atlas Design Critique.

Wow, I’m back to do two things useful with my RWBY Archives, talk about Weiss’ canon look in Atlas, and redesign her. I’m gonna talk about her actual look first, as the character notes on her dedicated page made me… hate the look much more. It was already in my top ten least favorite designs in RWBY but NOW it’s in the top five. RWBY Archives

I’ve been wanting to know why they thought it was a great idea for Weiss to wear a restricting-looking dress in the North Pole. Why does she choose to look like a wealthy princess when she is no longer tied to money or her family? The book gave me an answer I was not expecting… they just wanted to make her look like a wizard. I HATE IT. It’s bad enough that Weiss just summons, but this has to be some animation trick. They didn’t want to animate Weiss fighting like a ballerina anymore, so it was best she stuck to just summoning and only uses Myrenaster as a glorified wand. You might as well dress Weiss in whatever way you want cause all she does is stand and point… and whenever she does try to fight it looks janky as hell.

No way did they think Weiss could fight in a dress, Maria and Cinder could, but no way can I see Weiss fight like THIS anymore. 

Hair

Now I don’t wanna disrespect the modeler cause I’ve seen their Artstation account. They modeled the Gods’ dragon forms, Winter, and Jaune! Models that look good! But the hair… they struggled and the backlash was hard cause they tweaked her hair again for Volume 8. I’m surprised they chose to change it when the people in charge should’ve changed it before Volume 7 even aired. It just tells me their standards are low and don’t give a crap about the product unless they need the fans to say something. The huge mass on top of her hair was so jarring I was convinced Weiss just took Blake’s chopped hair, dyed it, and applied it to hers. 

Primary Color - White?

Blake is wearing more white than her, The Ace Ops are wearing more white than her, and Jacques is wearing more white than her- Weiss’ colors are perfect if she was representing the color blue and her name was something like Azure. The tiny reds don’t make an impact, wouldn’t surprise me if people didn’t know there was red inside of the dress. The super blue for her puffy jacket can’t be found anywhere else to balance that color, and her whites are then covered by grays. It’s like too many colors, what else can I say other than SHOWING what they could’ve done in the choice of color placements.

Positives?

This is gonna sound like an odd positive but I think she looks downright gorgeous in Ever After. The whacky princess look standing next to the Red Prince was amazing. It made me wish Weiss was the ‘Red Queen’ for The Ever After, similar to how Neo was ‘The Mad Hatter’ and Jaune being ‘The White Rabbit.’ It really could’ve tied in well. 

Redesign

I miss redesigning a character; I kept in mind that White is primary, the tiara is no longer a staple to her design since she is no longer tied to wealth or even the heiress, and that her Volume 6 leggings and scarf stay intact. Why make accessories to protect her from the cold, but when she gets to a colder place she ditches them for a boob-window and bare legs that can make anyone freeze to death up in the north??? Side note; It’s not perfect, I’m not saying mine is better than the originals or anyone else’s this is just how I would’ve designed her or at least kept in mind to make a priority for the design. I also wanna say, yes, this outfit does look similar to another redesign of Weiss that someone else has made. I drew the design first before I went to Google to check if the look did look similar to someone else’s and I was like “Oops.” It wasn’t the intention, just coincidence. I didn’t steal.

Conclusion

It looks like the Atlas designs had a very huge backlash by just how BAD they were, as it now affects the girl's presumed Volume 10 looks in Vacuo, they have Weiss in white, ditched the chunky braid, and kept her in a presumed combat skirt than a restricting dress.  Either A.) The original character designer for team RWBY finally took constructive criticism to get the girls back to themselves B.) They no longer design the girls and Viz Media put in a new artist for the team or C.) Vacuo designs were much easier to make than Atlas.

These options can be wrong too these are just my little theories, end of the day we got a design for Weiss that just shouldn’t have made it into the show. A design that didn’t represent white, displays wealth when trying to distance herself from her family/company, a huge animation restriction, and overall one of the worst outfits I’ve seen put on Weiss Schnee.

But of course it’s just my opinion. If you love this design or hate the design, please share your opinion. I’d love to hear it! :D

[prapaiwife]

Something about this scene felt very personal the lines spoken. "But as the reader base grew, some groups of people started finding faults with it. Saying why this character did that why. It's just like when people ask why there are dragons in a fantasy world, illogical things can only happen in a fictional world."

Mame is an author obviously and so writing a character like tongrak who is an author I feel she's able to share her burdens and or reasonings for why he chose to take this path as an author and write her stories the way that she does. She constantly gets hate for her shows and gets questioned about why so many times. And I think she's trying to explain and/or express that with this show.

She writes as an escape to be lost from anything that is going on in her own life. And for some people to misinterpret that and say no, this is what she actually meant .This is the story that she wants to tell to her viewers it must be so hard and confusing. I feel that if ppl can relate to her stories or characters. Who are we to judge and question someone for that everyone's stories are not open to share. If you can't relate to her stories or her characters and you just feel the need to spread that negativity and hate around, that's so unnecessary. And trauma It's very complicated and it all depends on how you as a person respond to it. I don't think shes trying to Retramatize people. But if it is, then I think that's something that u an individual can just figure out on your own, but it's okay because that's something that will always take time.

It's literally like tongrak said Illogical things can only happen in a fictional world.

And also tongrak saying this No one’s ever complimented me” and mut saying “Then i’ll do it” 😭😭😭😭😭 and rak said "So have you” like a simple compliment can truly make someone feel appreciated in their work in their life it's so easy to do.