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me when sun characters are terrifying and destructive. me when light is an overwhelming damaging power. me w

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Thanks to the New Moon au I keep picturing Varian, Lance, Rapunzel, Eugene, and Cassandra all in moonstone armor together like a moonstone version of the Avengers

MOON-VENGERS. MOON AVENGERS. MOONGERS?

I SPENT WAY MORE TIME ON THIS THAN I SHOULD HAVE

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Me: “Yeah, my OCs would love Varian and be totally sympathetic towards him.”

Half my OCs, the first time they would meet Varian (when he’s with the Saporians):

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Currently working on my Saporia lore for Celestial Garments, and oh god is this fun.

Are ya'll ready for a giant loredump on the history of Saporia, later followed up by another post on the internal politics related to the merge as well as the former government system, then a post about all the other various cultural elements that still exist up to the start of the series?

Get hyped mfs, because I'm gonna give this fandom so much stuff to work with.

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North Design WIP

Whilst this is merely a sketch, I still wanted to show some basic concept art for my boy!

I don’t really have anything for his body yet, but drawing his head was easy-peasy. I loved drawing his dreads, since I love characters who have dreads. Said dreads go down to about his waist, since he is Saporian, and in this AU, Saporians prefer to grow their hair out.

Due to this, I decided to go with a longer beard design, however, I may occasionally draw art of him with a shorter beard, since that was the original idea I had in my head.

one important aspect of designing him is to make him look…comfortable? Generally welcoming, like someone who you’d easily warm up to. He passes the vibe check. But I also wanted him to be able to look intimidating when necessary (specifically when [spoilers]).

Like my Sundrop design, I’m definitely gonna make a digital version of this later, but I’m mainly just putting out some of the basic sketched for now, so that people know what they generally look like.

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Day 1402 of me bullying Varian for his Season 3 Premiere outfit

Look how fucking stupid he looks.

Then again, he is an edgy teenager, so he might as well look the part.

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scribbles from yesterday :>

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Modern college au Varian dressed fer a Party + misc sketches

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What if Adira got the moonstone instead?

Here’s my take on Moonstone Adira, if she was the one who protected her new friends from a cruel fate. I placed the opal on the eye because she’s wise and relies more on her brain.

Based most of the design on Cassandra’s and Adira’s. The Moonstone looks like it “clings” to its new owner, making the person’s suit skin-tight. I applied that on a few parts for Adira lol she’s edgy momdira now

also this is my excuse to draw adira with her hair down

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So, I have a bit of a fondness for TTS, however, there's been something I've been thinking about recently that I have a bit of a problem with in regards to the show.

In my Celestial Garments AU, there are a lot of POC/POC-coded characters (my biracial ass just can't help it), and when that's the case, I like to double check for harmful tropes by browsing the @/writingwithcolor blog. But whilst doing that and working out the relationships between one of my Black woman characters and Raps, I realized something unfortunate about the show.

While I love multiple of the POC characters we get in the show, I noticed that they perpetuate various unpleasant and negative stereotypes, and some of these tropes even bring down the quality of the show by not doing more with certain characters.

Let's go over each of the POC shown in the series, and analyze if/how they feel into racist tropes:

Xavier:

I love this man, since I like wise, mysterious characters like him. But unfortunately, he is 100% a Magical Negro. Half the time, it feels like he is only there to provide wisdom, advice, and exposition for our white protagonists. And that makes me kinda sad, since you could do a lot more with him, even in very subtle ways. Maybe better show how he is a legitimately respected pillar of the community, and don't always have him go out of his way to help. Instead, he'll just be doing his own thing most of the time, or priorities his fellow commonfolk.

But sadly, in canon, that is not the case. Instead, he mainly just pops up to help the white people. We barely know anything about him as a person or his backstory, nor does he have an arc of his own. He's just the wise old guy who's often delegated to being a plot device rather than a fleshed out character.

Lance:

This disappointed me so bad. Personality wise, I don't see too many problems with how Lance is written, though I could be mistaken. But narratively? Oh boy.

Lance is considered a "major character" and member of the main cast, being present in all three seasons and often accompanying the main group. And yet, somehow, he gets very few singing rolls (despite having an amazing voice), no real arc of his own, and very little time in the spotlight.

Cass has a whole song about "waiting in the wings," but Lance is the true one constantly waiting in the wings. I don't even remember an episode that's all about him. He has room for depth, and yet it's never explored.

He also, to my dismay, is constantly regulated to the "Black best friend" roll more often than not despite having so much potential. What is he often described as? Well, he's Eugene's best friend. That's essentially how he was introduced as in his debut. He's a sidekick, and we never really get to seem him lead during their times together. They are supposed to be partners in crime, and yet we mainly see Eugene taking charge, Eugene coming up with the plans, Eugene telling Lance what to do, Eugene getting the final hit in.

It's never Lance who goes first or makes a plan. I'm fine with characters being more followers than leaders, but in terms of duos, I think they should both be able to lead each other.

Honestly, the fanfic writers are better to him than the show ever was. There are fanfics in which he supports Varian and hangs out with Varian, Catalina, and Kiera, but in those, even when he's supporting Varian, there will be a large part exploring how his backstory has caused him to react this way. He gets depth and emotional intelligence and appreciation from the author and readers.

The show rarely explores his strengths and instead chooses to show his weaknesses and flaws, and whilst characters having flaws is great, you need to balance it out a little. The fandom knows that he has some amazing qualities, but the show never highlights that the way they do for the rest of the main cast.

The only times Lance gets to shine is when he's in a fanfic, and that makes me really fucking sad. And even then, part of his role is to support other people. Whilst I love Varian-Lance friendships in fics, it makes me sad that Lance never gets supported. He's always forced to take care of other people, and I have yet to find any fics where Lance is getting lifted up rather than doing the lifting.

It's just really disappointing and noticeable that they mainly do this to the only MOC in the main cast.

Adira:

If how Lance was handled made me feel bad, it is nothing in comparison to the immeasurable disappointment I feel in regards to how Adira was handled.

She was one of the most interesting characters in the series, to the point that I would 100% want a spinoff just about her travelling around and doing stuff. Many in the fandom have even called her the best character in the show, and I can see why. Which honestly makes how they treated her narratively much worse.

Adira clearly had her own personal goals and backstory, but she is still regulated to being the "mysterious Asian mentor". And worse off, her whole role in the series is to guide the white main character around and support her journey. Adira's whole (barely even finished) arc revolves around Rapunzel, and it feels disappointing. She has so much potential, but she is constantly forced to revolve around the white lead.

And once Adira starts having her own stuff (like the thing with Hector), she's quickly taken out of the story again. And then they don't even manage to finish her plotline properly. She has so much potential, and yet she's constantly being pushed aside.

Kiera:

Not completely stereotypical, which is good. I can't think of any stereotypes she fits into, though it does feel a bit weird that her red-head sister gets an episode around her, whilst Kiera doesn't. But at least she's pretty well written (in my opinion). But, I might be mistaken on the lack of stereotypes, so if any Asian folks have anything to say on her, please add more in the replies/reblogs.

The Separatists of Saporia:

Oh Saporia, you poor, underexplored concept. You had so much potential and were so intriguing, and yet this happened to you.

Other folks have commented on the antisemitic aspects of the Separatists and how they are designed, and since I am not Jewish, I can't exactly comment on that much. But I will believe people on that, and even then, I myself have some complaints to make.

Andrew's race/ethnicity is hard to pinpoint (racial ambigious character alert), but he clearly has a lot of ethnic features and there is no way in hell that he is white. And what is this character's main trait? He is a terrorist who has enslaved an entire kingdom. Not a good look for one of our few MOC in the series.

Juniper is one of the only Black woman in the show, and not only does she have little to no speaking lines, but she is also a violent terrorist and seems to fit the "Angry Black Woman" stereotypes, at least from what I remember. She at least always looks pissed off, which is...a choice.

Kai is a large, dark skinned man who is also part of this group of terrorists. A "Scary BIPOC Man", if you will. Great...out of the few brown/black men we have in this show, basically all of them are either big and muscular, or soldier/warriors. That's nice...

So, out of our very small cast of POC, three of them are terrorists. Fun.

Ruthless Ruth:

She is one of the two Black woman in the series, and god am I disappointed. Literally a "Strong Black Woman", and a violent "barbarian" at that. This hurts my soul. I just- I just can't. I can't deal with this shit. Two out of two of the Black women in the show are violent criminals. Why? Just....why?

Captain Quaid:

This guy is only in one episode, and he seems okay to me. I can't remember too much about him, though, so I can't say for sure. If anyone has any comments on him, please mention them in the replies.

Fernanda Pizazzo:

Not sure how to feel about her, but she's giving me "Romani Fortune Teller" vibes, in like, a bad way. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it's there.

Madame Canardist:

I thought Fernanda was bad, and then I saw this character. Holy fuck.

If there is an outline for how to write an offensive caricature of Romani folks, I'm pretty sure some of the crew read it and used it verbatim for writing her. It would almost be hilarious how stereotypical it is, if not for the fact that this portrayal is deeply harmful. -1000/10, very icky no good.

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So, yeah, I mostly love this show, but the way the characters of color are written/designed is very bad and harmful. They are always either caricatures, bad tropes, or have their potential wasted in order to support the white leads. I hate it, and it adds yet another gripe I have with the show.

I just think it's very important to always acknowledge as a fandom the racism in the show. I'm just glad that the fans are better at writing the show than the showrunners, since ya'll have improved a lot of this stuff in your fanfics and stuff.

I'm not sure exactly how to end this post, I just felt the need to make it, especially the parts about how the narrative handled Xavier, Lance, and Adira. They deserved better.

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Sundrop Human Form WIP

So, this is the Sundrop in her original human form. I'm still learning how to draw plus-sized characters, so I'm quite proud of her. I recently saw a post on @/writingwithcolor (don't want to tag them and overwhelm them) that mentioned how fat Black women are treated in the media, and it inspired me. I decided to make Sundrop a lot more on the bigger side with stuff like fat rolls whilst also portraying her as glamorous, ethereal, and beautiful.

Since I've also been working on make characters who don't fit in with Eurocentric beauty standards and have more ethnic facial features, I decided to also give her those. I always planned for her to be Black, but now I actually like her design more now that I've decided to move away from the more Eurocentric character design I had before.

I'm gonna make a colored-in, digital version of this, but I still just wanted to put her out there early since I want to start generally showing off some of the designs I have for these OCs.

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Let Me Make You Proud (Reprise 2)

(This takes place during the Season 3 premiere, but Varian stayed on the ship and pushed Raps off instead)

I know I’ve made things a mess

And I know you’re right to have doubts in me

I know, but nevertheless

Thank you for choosing to trust me

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Spoken: “See you soon, Mom.”

(Pause) *Sigh*

-

Yes, I’ve made lots of mistakes

I know that I’ve hurt and harmed you

Still though, whatever it takes

I’m gonna fix this, just watch me!

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Just you wait, I’ll make it up to you

If it’s the last thing I ever do!

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I will make you proud!

I just hope you remember me…

And though I will soon be a thing of the past~

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I will save the day!

And if they set you free…

Won’t it be a surprise

Hearing your son was rising at last!

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Watch me soar through the skies

‘Cause I’m finally rising

At last

*The ship explodes*

(The “at last” can be either really soft, or belted higher and more triumphantly than ever)

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Quirin + Outfits

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character who is sun-coded but not in the traditional ray-of-sunshine way. character who is sun-coded in the sense that they burn hot and bright and powerful, that they're a raging fury of fire and passion, and that maybe, just maybe, they are destroying themselves as they do so.

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List of OCs for the AU

(More will be added as I create them)

Ember

North

Solaria

Yue

Ourana

Nova

Eternity

Sun

Moon

Star

BH

Nebula

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Status of Each Garment

Sundrop: Missing, exists within Rapunzel 

Moonstone: Never went missing, it’s existence remained public to those in the Lunar Kingdom until the Incident. Currently still held in the Lunar Kingdom, guarded by the Brotherhood

Rings of the Planets: Unknown

Earth Bracelet: Guarded by secret organization, lead by its Guardian

Meteor Slippers: Missing

Sky Cloak: Went missing but was found by the Guardian, who is currently in hiding with it

Star Necklace: Never went missing, currently in the possession of its Guardian, who is in hiding with it, but still resides in civilization. Some know of the necklace’s existence, and a few know of the Guardian’s status, but only the Guardian knows where the necklace is

Nebula Shawl: Not in the possession of the Guardian, however, it has a new temporary Guardian at the moment

Black Hole Crown: Found, but hidden in the castle where only the Guardian knows where it is

Galaxy Gown: Unknown