#<—— god I had a phase

[biancathebrawler]

Ok guys!! This is my VERY FIRST EDIT!! I know it’s technically just a slideshow with music but I wanna just say how damn talented people are that make the REALLY GOOD ONES👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Ok! So these are technically my favourite crushes I’ve had… I have more… expect those deserve to never see the light of day by the public😭 anyway! Pls enjoy :3

My type in women: brave, independent, glamorous, badass.

My type in men: I want them looking like they walked out of a fuckin gutter.

Plus I just love this new audio :3

[pa-pa-plasma]

love fics where Danny ends up in the DC universe & every alarm goes off at once & the magic users are like "yeah that's the most powerful being in the universe & also possibly super evil we are FUCKED fucked" & the Justice League is freaking tf out trying to find this thing that casually tore a hole in reality & it just cuts to Danny (Fenton) standing in the background blissfully unaware & like "man my life sucks but at least i have this candy bar—" *drops it in a puddle*

[effemar]

I’M NOBODY’S BABY / I’M EVERYBODY’S GIRL / I’M THE QUEEN OF NOTHING / I’M THE KING OF THE WORLD!

[violentdelightshavevioletends]

“Dain is just an imperfect 21-year-old kid who trusted his dad, and is a little over-protective telling his chronically ill friend to sit the fuck down.”

[cheapbourbon]

The moon requires a sacrifice 🌙

[thankstothe]

so unserious

[demonoftheseas]

collab redraw with me and @xxthunderthedragonxx !!

[walmart-miku]

Ok so a vast majority of us are familiar with the Gigantomachia arc in ORV but I took a classical myth class and obviously did my final project on ORV (bc it was to take a modern retelling of a greek myth and relate it to the original/classical myth version). But there are so many layers to Heracle’s involvement in Gigantomachia omg.

So in ORV, both the original myth of Gigantomachia and elements of Heracles’s myths are referenced during the Gigantomachia arc. The version of Gigantomachia in ORV most closely resembles Apollodorus's account from the 2nd century BCE. (This is also the Gigantomachia myth that my professor had my class examine)

For those unfamiliar with Apollodorus’s telling, Gaia, angered by Olympus’s victory over the Titans, enlists the help of Ouranos to birth the giants and exact revenge on the Olympians. The giants, invulnerable to the gods alone, wage war on Olympus. Gaia also tries to make the giants invulnerable to humans as well with a special herb but Zeus manages to get it before she can. Recognizing their limitations, the Olympians call upon Heracles, who deals the killing blow to the giants, securing Olympus's victory. (very similar to the version in the Percy Jackson Gods and Heroes book for those who know)

For Heracles, the way he’s portrayed in ORV deviates significantly from the original myth. In classic Greek mythology, Heracles is a demigod and son of Zeus. He commits some Greek crimes and has to do 10 labors for his evil asshole of a cousin that's also a king.  However, in ORV, Heracles is not a real hero but a construct—a composite of stories curated by Olympus to create the ultimate soldier. Heracles is not a constellation or incarnation, but rather a tool made to be used in Gigantomachia. The decision to portray Heracles as a construct stems from the Greek mythological timeline. According to Greek myth, Heracles was born after Gigantomachia and therefore could not have realistically existed during the events of Gigantomachia; however, Heracles does appear in Gigantomachia. (In class we were told to disregard this discrepancy and chalk it up to it being myth and fiction.) However, ORV addresses myth like it is reality. Yoo Sangah asks about this inconsistency, which allows reader’s to clue into what Kim Dokja already knows (from having read WOS NOT because he has a background in greek myth like Yoo Sangah does)

Furthermore, in my class, we discussed how in classical myths, Zeus created Heracles to enforce xenia on Earth. Xenia is the ancient Greek concept of being good to strangers. It’s basically the “love thy neighbor” of Ancient Greece, only more extreme. (Can’t turn away strangers because what if it’s Zeus or a different god, etc.) In ORV, the creation of Heracles differs with “Zeus, the god of lightning, had sowed his seed in preparation for Gigantomachia. As always, the 'seed' here was a metaphor. Zeus feared the giants and collected miscellaneous hero stories from across the world.” (ORV Chapter 330: Ep. 62 - God's Enemy, III). Zeus takes these hero stories and fragments and turns them into Heracles. These fragments include the 12 tasks and come together to create the story that is Heracles. But even though the way Heracles has been created has changed, he is still made for the same purpose. And that is to be a weapon and tool for Zeus to use to enforce his ideals.

With how ORV reimagines Gigantomachia as a recurring scenario staged by Olympus to prevent the giants from rising again. Each repetition of the scenario ensures Olympus's victory, reinforcing their dominance and the story. Due to this fact, Olympus creates Heracles as a weapon and retells the story of their success as a way to manipulate the system. The gods perpetuate the Gigantomachia narrative not only as a tool for victory but as a fabricated story made from fragmented myths. By repeatedly telling this false version of Gigantomachia, Olympus solidifies its victory anecdote within the scenario, ensuring their triumph against the giants every time. According to Kim Dokja, "Once it becomes a story, it can be said to originally exist. Isn't it amazing?" (ORV Chapter 330: Ep. 62 - God's Enemy, III). In other words, ORV explains how a “false” tale can become a real story. This accounts for how traditional Greek mythology describes Olympus’s victory through the involvement of Hercules despite the clear timeline discrepancies, as seen in Apollodorus’s The Library of Greek Mythology, Book I, The revolt of the Giants, “The others [giants] were destroyed by Zeus, who struck them with thunderbolts; and all of them, in their death throes, were shot with arrows by Heracles.” 

In addition, in older tellings of the world’s creation, Gigantomachia does not exist or is not written. For example, in The Theogony by Hesiod, Gigantomachia doesn’t exist. The Theogony was written before The Library of Greek Mythology, meaning that with how Heracles is a false story in ORV and was likely created for Gigantomachia then it makes sense for Gigantomachia to have been a story that became popular or well known later due to the effect of repeating Gigantomachia so that Olympus wins. 

I don’t know, this is a really long ramble but I think it’s amazing how Shingshong can take classical greek myth and it’s inconsistencies to create a new and compelling story about Olympus. It’s the perfect blend of familiar well known myths with a well done twist to it from how the Star Stream functions. It’s also just super impressive to me how well thought out the whole Giganotmachia arc is since I would have never realized how much thought went into ORV’s version of Heracles if I hadn’t taken this college class.

[crispycreambacon]

have y'all ever wonder whether the Gay Oars from Puppet History are some fucked up reference to the yaoi paddles

[bangoose]

Low effort shitpost

[kaybzzart]

Oh We are SOOO BACK

[canisalbus]

forgive me if this has been answered previously, but what were the circumstances around vasco finding out about machete's death? i'm heartbroken but fascinated to think about what his immediate reaction could have been

They don't live together, Vasco was at home in Florence at the time. Either someone who knew of their relationship managed to alert him of the murder, or he showed up in Rome to visit him just like countless of times before, and one time he was just gone. He would've missed the funeral for sure, and since Machete doesn't have family, his belongings would most likely end up escheated and subsequently liguidated by the church. He certainly wasn't remembed fondly, for the most part it was like he had never been there in the first place.

I don't want to get into the details but of course he was devastated. The threat of death was a constant presence in Machete's later years, he survived at least a couple of assassination attempts and his health kept getting worse. I think he tried to keep Vasco in the dark about how bad things were exactly, but Vasco didn't miss how his fear of death ramped up in intensity towards the end. So it wasn't a complete surprise when he found out they had finally gotten him. For a long time he had hard time not blaming himself for it, thinking whether he could've done something to prevent the outcome, whether his presence would've changed how things played out. Over the years he learned to live with the sudden and violent end of their relationship, but the first few years were extremely rough, the whole ordeal broke him in unprecedented ways and he never fully recovered to his previous state.

[schellis]

thyme finding kale half dead on the ground after she wakes up from getting knocked out by lightning at the end of phase 2

ref image & closeups under the cut :]

[gingermintpepper]

Day 3: Asclepius

Interpretation notes and trivia under the cut!!

Woo boy, this guy was another difficult character to settle on both a design and an interpretation for! Asclepius tends to have two big schools of thought for his tale, either he's the tragic doctor who resorted to illicit methods in order to save his patients or he's a strict scientist who was so skilled at his art that his resuscitations were called magic but were just science. I don't actually mind either interpretation, but due to the way I personally see Coronis and the way I chose to interpret Asclepius' birth story, I chose to focus on a different facet of Asclepius; Asclepius the family man. The theme of geneology and the inheritance of 'curses' through blood and birth is one that permeates this work and Asclepius, in a lot of ways, has not only inherited both his mother and father's banes but his actions and talents create new ones for his children. Throughout this, and all the many messy crimes Asclepius will commit in the name of what he thinks is necessary and right, he will willfully ignore the warning signs staring him dead in his face screaming that he will leave the burden of his work to his children and it will be easy. After all, Asclepius has made a career out of ignoring his own father's warnings and cautions, what are a few more red flags to ignore?

Less of a character note and more of a personal thing, but for a very long time I used his teenaged design when sketching out scenes and ideas but after tidying up my timeline, I realised that he would be an older man throughout the events of the story!! Since he's properly mortal, he would have to look his age and while that was slightly intimidating since I've not drawn many older characters, it also made me very excited since characters in the 40+ age range are rarely protagonists of these sorts of adventure/fantasy stories and working in the physical differences between him and his brothers was extremely fun!

Some fun trivia:

Youngest of Apollo's children currently alive and kicking. Maybe it was because Apollo so intensely regretted the way he dealt with Coronis but he doted endlessly on Asclepius and essentially personally oversaw his education and training. Because of this, Asclepius, without a doubt, is the child with the best relationship with Apollo between the brothers and believes unfalteringly in his father even if they have many practical and philosophical differences.

Has a bit of a sixth sense when it comes to necromancy and communing with the dead and spirits beneath the earth. Because he was rescued from the torch of death when he was babe, he has retained a connection with the chthonic. While he cannot exactly see figures like Thanatos or Hermes, he can certainly sense when they are afoot. Is very aware that Thanatos cannot stand him and expects to be taken by Ker when he does finally die.

Always keeps gold coins on him on the off chance he is spontaneously struck down while doing research or healing some previously unhealable disease. His father, upon realising that his warnings would be thoroughly ignored, pleaded for him to do at least that since after Asclepius is dead, Apollo would be unable to intercede for him.

Happily married and has four children! His eldest Machaon chose to follow his footsteps and became a gifted surgeon in his own right while his second eldest Iaso chose to follow her mother's footsteps and become more of a nurse than a doctor. He's endlessly proud of all of his children and hopes his research makes the world a better place for them.

Was recognised by Apollo at 15 and became Doctor Laureate at 17. Lost said laurels at 22 after he revived his second corpse from the dead and since then has been on a strict probation when practicing his medicine. Has a mark on his left wrist that will fill itself out if he commits such an atrocity again and then he will be marked for death and supposedly tormented until he forfeits his soul.

On very good terms with Orpheus and the two often work together and catch up when they happen to meet up while travelling. Never knew Eurydice but he gets the feeling that he would've really liked her.

Despite being a son of Apollo, has absolutely zero musical talent and cannot dance. He can't maintain his hair either and would've cut it multiple times over if Apollo himself didn't stop him and chastise him for even thinking about such a thing. Epione does his hair. The little braids in his beard are courtesy of the twins Hygiea and Panacea who enjoy putting little braids in anything they can get their hands on.

Doesn't resemble his father or his mother actually! The relative he resembles most is his paternal grandfather Zeus, a fact that gives his wife endless grief because his hair is thick but not curly, a trait she covets. Asclepius having thick body and facial hair was also very awkward considering Apollo is incapable of growing body hair and, for a while, his lack of curls and cascade of body hair when Asclepius started puberty made Apollo doubt whether Asclepius was truly his or if he had saved Ischys' child instead.

Has zero self preservation and will hunt monsters and creatures for their blood, teeth, claws and hides for his medicines. Like his father, he has a personal 'wall of horrors' where he stores everything from gorgon blood to pegasus feathers to hydra venom. Sometimes gods in the guise of men will simply give him precious materials because they know Asclepius is the one who will take their unsolveable cases in the face of disaster. It is a very risky exchange and has only barely skirted by Zeus' notice because actual money hasn't been exchanged (yet).

Preferred weapon is the scalpel and doesn't like fighting humans. Has a fire-retardant mantle made from chimera skin Apollo gave him when he was a child that doubles as a very good shield in a pinch.

Favourite colour is withy purple and his favourite food is goat butter spread on bread and topped with celery, tomatoes and olive oil. Has a lot of snake themed jewellry that he's passed on to his son because he thinks they're too gaudy for his old self to be wearing.

[drabdoodler]

wow! More ISAT! Who could’ve guessed!

[gifti3]

the goverment is definitely figuring out this alien situation asap right?? cause whats happening currently is not feasible in the long run is it not??

im sure they are trying to maybe figure it out...probably, but part of me feels like it is not being treated with the seriousness it should be by them, which ig is in character LOL

pretty much relying on one guy (who doesnt even wanna be doing this) is actually scary

and the mc still has to like 'encourage' him to do it, tho its much easier in the 'ray ending' for sure. that man just wants to live a regular life with mc (unfortunately for him that means continuing to be binary star and dealing with aliens)

and if i was a citizen and knew this id be panicking

like yea u have these other heroes helping and stuff which im sure looks comforting from an outside point of view! but like the actuality is that its ray keeping things afloat

AND ON THE TOPIC OF THE MC, i was definitely in my head like....wouldnt rays superiors (managers??) get like curious about them? like no way theyre not being nosy about it after a certain amount of time passes. it really feels like something that could be leveraged against him,,, (if there is fic about this pls send it to me lol)

honestly i feel like mc and rays relationship would have moments of high stress. like there will be good times but also the bad times will also be there and its sometimes gonna be because of outside factors they cant control