#// i tried lmao ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[pandebunuelo]

but if he knows that you know that you know that he knows that he knows that you know that you

[robo-dino-puppy]

adventurers

[goth-butt]

It would be an honor to work with you, Mr. Kimber.

[sogayitwrites]

[airborneice]

couple doodles of the sillies

[featherlouise]

Okok ik they're supposed to grab his wrist but HEAR ME OUT

Parallel to how the reveal goes in the main faaf timeline

(also I couldn't figure out the pose but shhhhhh)

Characters and AU belong to @dairyfreenugget !!

Go check it out if u haven't already and u want ur heart broke

[lostwindsau]

From the beginning || Previous || Next

Three new pages! :D I wouldn't be shocked if Vaati steals that bot at some point

[sialiia]

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ𝐒 𝐈 𝐀 𝐋 𝐈 𝐈 𝐀 (sī⋅ āl⋅ ēə)ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ❝the bluebird is a symbol of 𝓳𝓸𝔂 and 𝓱𝓸𝓹𝓮❞ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤᶜᵃʳʳᵈ

[gapbetweendimensions]

i fuckin. forgot how to make buddies.

[lilflowerpot]

What earth animals is the Rhyahl made out of? Now in the, created from way but looks like way

So first things first, here's the (somewhat abridged) description of the castleship's holographic record of the rhyahl as witnessed by Pidge in Perspectives:

She’s hesitant to call it feline, though anatomically it is, even despite the additional set of limbs, but a more appropriate descriptor eludes her. Pidge watches as the creature prowls—and there’s really no other word for it—towards her with a surety to its gait [...] As it draws closer, what Pidge had mistaken for oddly-textured fur becomes apparent as an armor of little layered scales: wine-dark, translucent, and almost feathered at the edges. They ripple over flesh as it moves, fracturing the light and causing the resultant shadows to converge and swell with each step, [...] Five eyes seems an excessive amount, flowering out from the centre of its flat, shapeless skull in a pattern that’s uncomfortably familiar though she can’t quite place it, each one narrow and slitted: a deep honeyed gash with no discernible pupil. [...] When it unhinges its jaw, it does so to release a great lolling mass of tongues; lengthy feathered things that writhe and coil as if they have a mind of their own, [...] those pale, coiling appendages caress her cheek, her jaw, her throat, until she’s all wrapped up in them and the creature is begging entry against her lips with a melodic crooning. - Perspectives: a Little Blade sidefic, chapter 01

To break it down more explicitly I had to work backwards, because when originally conceptualising the rhyahl I was thinking very much in terms of "what would make this alien beastie sound as deeply unsettling as possible?" rather than actively choosing traits from real-world animals to mash together, but I've found that its key aspects can be closely aligned with the below!

In terms of its general physique, I'd say a mountain lion (bottom left) if mountain lions stood 5ft at the shoulder, and on six legs rather than four; much like a mountain lion, the rhyahl was impressively adaptable, hunting its prey—chiefly the galra, but any living thing would do in a pinch—not only across its primary haunt of Daibazaal's vast desert wastelands, but into its craggy mountains and ancient jungles too! It would certainly have had great big paws to help better distribute its weight on the sand, though much like the galra I'd say these were structured with glaring similarities to camelidae feet.

Rather than fur, however, the rhyahl was covered top to tail in that "armor of little layered scales: wine-dark, translucent, and almost feathered at the edges" that Pidge describes, and I imagined these to look very much like a pangolin's (top left) would if you were to recreate them out of red/purple stained glass. It's tail is similar to that of the ground pangolin in particular—broad/flat/scaled—and could be used as a protective measure against severe sandstorms to shield the rhyahl's singular point of vulnerability (its eyes) by curling up into an armoured ball.

Facially, the rhyahl had no visible ears, discrete nasal slits—from which it could expel air to emit a high frequency cry that induced a hallucinogenic state of paralysis—and five eyes that "[flowered] out from the centre of its flat, shapeless skull [...] each one narrow and slitted: a deep honeyed gash with no discernible pupil" that Pidge describes as being "uncomfortably familiar"; though she cannot place it at the time, its eye-placement reminds her of the druid's masks! This is because the both the Diij and the Drui two of Daibazaal's largest religious sects traditionally wore the skulls of deceased rhyahl, and later, after Alfor destroyed Daibazaal and all the rhyahl along with it, took to fashioning masks in the same style (with the few surviving skulls being considered sacred relics in the modern day).

Finally, we come to the rhyahl's most distinct (and horrifying) feature: it's mouth and numerous feathered tongues. As illustrated in my original post on how the rhyahl consumes quintessence, Daibazaal's apex predator had "no fangs to speak of, but rather a rigid calcification that lined its jaw and served to clamp its prey in place without puncturing it and risking too swift a death, allowing for it to feed off its live victim’s quintessence. This absorption of quintessence was a result of the tiny pinprick barbs of the Rhyahl’s feathered tongue—which would be inserted into its prey’s mouth—piercing the vulnerable interior lining of its throat and draining the cells of their very life energy."

As to how this translates to real-world animals, the closest comparison I could find for the concept of the rhyahl having (numerous) feathered tongue(s) was that of the pallas longe-tongued bat's (top right) lingual papillae:

"[Glossophaga soricina has] a tongue tip that uses blood flow to erect scores of little hair-like structures exactly at the right time to slurp up extra nectar from within a flower [...] the bat’s cylindrical tongue has a mesh of muscle fibers that contract so that the tongue becomes thinner but longer, extending farther into the flower, [...] the same muscle contraction simultaneously squeezes blood into the tiny hair-like papillae. As blood is displaced to the tongue tip, the papillae flare out perpendicular to the axis of the tongue, and in their erect state they not only add exposed surface area, but also width, allowing the tongue to function as a highly effective nectar gathering device."

The above, combined with the rhyahl's capability to unhinge its jaw like a snake, means that the scale of its prey does not pose an issue, and I've specifically chosen the rhombic egg-eater (bottom right) for its likeness due to the fact that they don't have any teeth! Also, the lining of that little guy's mouth being black is just a really cool detail that I've now decided is true of the rhyahl too, as it fits in with my previously mentioned thoughts on the colour black being divine—as, remember, the rhyahl was considered sacred!—while providing a stark contrast against the ghostly hue of those "pale, coiling [tongues]" with white being an especially ominous colour, denoting the antithesis to everything Sa represents.

[catgirlkirigiri]

a vivisection of me yielded the start of a mystery

[tcpdog]

Archer is SAPIOSEXUAL as his primary 'mode of attraction' (i.e. intelligence attracts him the most, and the most often). this doesn't mean "ONLY ATTRACTED TO SMART PPL" or "if you're dumb GET LOST" because those are braindead takes. yes, muses that exhibit behaviors that Archer considers below a certain threshold of intelligence, he will be less likely to find attractive. doesn't mean that's the only factor in play. and doesn't mean he's not willing to flirt or seduce someone like this for ulterior motives.

besides that, he's BISEXUAL, with a male lean. Archer's an equal opportunist for the most part and if someone appeals to him enough, in most cases, he will display and reciprocate interest (although not always for the same reasons).

Archer is also HYPERSEXUAL-FLUX. his sex drive is like a heartbeat monitor, it spikes very quickly (for a decent period of time rather than just a short burst) and then crashes, before repeating the process. sometimes certain events or interactions can prompt an early change in either direction, and it doesn't follow any particular "schedule" or set of rules. but sex is his main method of 'connecting' with people and allowing himself to feel certain things, as well as a way to destress and recompile himself.

[squidaped-oyt]

I feel like the companions should have been a touch less surprised about the Alfira Incident, given that the 'please help i have uncontrollable violent fantasies and urges :(' option was the one I picked first when speaking to all of them.

[striveattemptfail]

it'a definitely too late to bring this up considering the webtoon is ending in 2 episodes, but with the majority of the story complete i figured i may as well say this now before i forget:

i think what zatr suffers from artistically is being unable to balance horror and the manhwa-like, more approachable style popular in webtoons' most successful titles, especially wfa (which, as of may 29/23, is in the top 20 most popular series on webtoons)

zatr #49

taking the two panels of allura above: it's difficult for me to truly grasp the stakes of the situation of zatanna literally melting her face off when only panels earlier allura is cartoonishly looking back and forth between the zataras

some of my favourite parts of the webtoon were when it unapologetically leaned more into the horror of everything

zatr #20, #37, #42, #43

for a story that started about jack the ripper to morphing about a canonically terrifying serial killer from the batfamily's rogues gallery, i'd think there would've been a lot more horror throughout the story.......but it didn't

of course that's just bc of the direction zatr went for in general. zatr is slotted as a fantasy story, and with characters like gorgo and zatanna's earlier decisions to just magic herself modern items, it simply wouldn't make sense to maintain any horror-like atmosphere for long bc of the comedic breaks it often took

but i do think the webtoon could've really benefited more if it just went full balls-to-the-wall horror. by going the more palatable fantasy-with-dashes-of-comedy route, i think zatr ultimately ended up suffering a lot tonally bc it was difficult to balance the fantasy-comedy-and-occasional-horror it seemed to strive for

and to my comment about zatr trying to be approachable stylistically like wfa: i know not all of webtoons' top horror series are rendered like a junji ito comic. in fact, the current top horror title—surviving romance by lee yone—is by an author whose previous work is romance, and the style absolutely shows it. i very much think syro is capable of rendering a horror story with her current art style

what i'm getting at is that the stylistic choices in zatr conflicted a lot bc it tried to balance fantasy-comedy and horror, the art reflects that, and it ended up suffering for it. and now as the webtoon comes to its finale, i can more objectively see why it hasn't done as well as other series, dc or not

(of course, this also isn't even getting to the actual plot and execution of zatr! this is just an observation i've made as a designer and a nerd who really likes comics lmao)

[douwatahima]

the thing about me is i am always, always, going to champion creativity. it doesn't matter how weird, or out there, or not to my taste a piece of art may be, i'm going to champion anyone's right to tell the stories that speak to their soul. in fandom terms, that means fighting for anyone's right to do whatever the hell they want regardless of whether or not their fanart/fanfic/whatever aligns with canon.

look, i grew up in an age where there really wasn't a wealth of lgbt media. it was fairly normal for the shows/movies/books i fell in love with to filled completely with cishet characters. and yet the fandoms that sprung up around these stories had a ton of lgbt folks who looked at the source material and went "yeah, this is good, but i have some notes"; who went on to make boatloads of art queering the text in hundreds of exciting ways. no one making that art ever expected their headcanons or fanfics to become canon, but that fact was immaterial to the art they were creating. it was about the act of invention, about taking a story that had had an affect on you and reorganizing the pieces to make them your own! and it was fun! it was so so fun!

so yeah, i really don't care if you want to spend all of your time talking only about background characters because you like them more than the main characters. it doesn't bug me one bit if you want to only make art for a fanon pairing because you don't like what canon gave you. i might not necessarily agree with your takes, but that's what blocking and muting is literally for. i will never be the one to tell you to stick only to canon if your creative inspiration lies elsewhere (especially because, as someone who has favoured fanon over canon before, it would be hypocritical of me to do so lol).

however, there is another side to this that i think some people forget. and that is that you know who else is allowed to be creative in whatever ways they want? the people who make the source material. the writers in the writers room, the directors on set, the actors bringing the characters to life, they are all allowed to tell their story in whatever ways they see fit. and yeah, you absolutely do not have to agree with every choice they make, but i feel like there's people in fandom now who feel entitled to getting their way purely because they're an avid fan.

i've seen some people become outraged that their headcanon, no matter how far removed from canon it actually was, got disproven. people who feel personally betrayed that their special little blorbo, who wasn't a main character to begin with, didn't suddenly become the sole focus of the plot when new material came out. people ready to rain down holy fire when a ship that was in no way hinted at didn't suddenly become canon just because they, a fraction of the series' fanbase, liked it a lot. and this is honestly incredibly unfair to me. the creators of a story do not have to temper their creative freedom just because you, a single fan, want them to do something else, and to expect them to is not only entitled but also, frankly, delusional.

so yeah! play in the sandbox! make things you like! find people who agree with you and talk endlessly to them about your headcanons! that's literally what fandom was built for! but if we're a year down the line and you're still harping on about how a show personally betrayed you because it didn't cater to your specific desires (even though it never, never said it was going to) i kind of feel like you've lost the plot tbh. and if the canon doing something you didn't like messed you up so bad that you still feel this pressed about it then, idk, maybe it was never the story you wanted it to be in the first place and maybe it's time to go find a canon that suits you better. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[junipernight]

I redesigned Yangchen's outfit!

... I actually designed a lot of outfits for her, because I am Extremely Normal about these books, and also I like costume design and learning about historical clothing.

Short disclaimer: These fantasy clothes aren't culturally or historically accurate, just historically and culturally influenced. I don't have any expertise in East or Central Asian culture or clothing, I've just been clicking around on the internet a lot the last two weeks learning things because that's my idea of fun lol. If you wanted to talk to people who actually know things you should check out @atlaculture or like @ziseviolet, both of whom's blogs I referenced while drawing.

I only designed two alternates for the outer robes. The first is based loosely off the robes Buddhist monks wear (loosely, because drawing draped fabric is hard ^^') especially the Tibetan zhen robe. This garment is just a long wide rectangle of cloth which can be draped across the body in lots of ways (versatility ftw!).

The other garment I drew is a Chuba, a traditional garment from Tibet and the Himalayas. It's a robe, but it highkey reminds me of kilts and hoodies, in that it a) can be worn over one or both shoulders or just as a skirt and b) it makes a giant pocket over the stomach. The long sleeves can be folded up or tied back btw.

I spent the most time on the middle layer, because I was thinking it has to be something she could comfortably fight in while also being suitable for diplomatic meetings, meditating, espionage, and possibly sleeping.

And like. You can fight and hike and whatnot in loose skirts, but it's annoying how twisted up they can get while sleeping. ALSO, YC does a lot of flying and leaping, so my girl needs pants. My faves are definitely the Xiaolin monk pants and the yellow wrap pants Aang wears. I tried dhoti (Indian wrap pants) because that kind of looks like what the giant statue of Yangchen meditating might be wearing, but I think it looks odd paired with a highwaisted shirt instead of a long tunic. Maybe I'll do some more drawings with her in a tunic and dhoti or a monk's dhonka and shemdap later, idk.

As any good historical fashion nerd knows, foundational garments are everything (◡‿◡✿).

But also, there's a scene where Yangchen and Kavik pretend to be lovers, and are "discovered" by a maid sleeping in the same room, with Yangchen in a state of partial undress (gasp!)

I am living for this fake drama; I need to know how scandalized the maid was lmao.

When the maid walks in, Yangchen immediately wraps herself in a bedsheet before ushering the maid back out the door. Maybe all she did was take off her outer robe... but why would she need to wrap herself in a sheet if she was wearing a long-sleeved high-necked gown? I got the sense from both the book and cursory research about buddhist monks that walking around without your outer robes was socially acceptable, at least in casual settings. I think it more likely she was in her underclothes, which historically (in the west anyway) would also double as sleeping clothes.

"The Aang" is censored because this is Tumblr-dot-com. Its mostly a joke, but also, I know other countries are less uptight about bººbies, so like, maybe it's a valid option ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The ~Water Tribe~ look is based off Sokka's swimwear and not Katara's, mostly because chest binding seems antithetical to airbending.

All the other undergarment designs are based on hanfu neiyi, because that's what I could find reference photos and romanized names for.

I'm tired of typing now. Lemme know if you have questions about something, or want me to post a larger version of a specific outfit. I am open to feedback and tentatively open to requests.