#* meta.

[kismetconstellations]

@sockdooe, I apologize in advance if you're as clueless as I am, but I genuinely want to know.

What is the L/K "queerbait" I keep seeing people complain about? Did something major happen between Lance and Keith in seasons Five and Six-- like, they leaned in toward each other as if they were going to kiss only for it to be a gag/fake out?

I watched five seasons of this cartoon and saw absolutely no hint of anything baity with those characters.

Though I do see the validity in claims that fans were baited by Adam's significance in the show being hyped up

only for his actual role to not amount to much more than another means of hurting Shiro, this, in my opinion, is the closest the show got to genuinely baiting its audience:

There's no reason to animate Keith moving in for a hug this way, other than to give the impression that he was about to kiss Shiro like he's the fairytale prince to Shiro's Sleeping Beauty.

Continuing to interpret two teenaged boys butting heads and competing with each other as "sexual tension", even after, from what I read, the voice actor for one of those boys confirmed that his character is exclusively attracted to women, does not count as legitimate queerbaiting.

[cadejos]

Nanami was always beautiful, but it's amusing how drastically he evolved in appearance from his teen years to adulthood. I know the diegetic reason for it (needing to #conform to that corporate drone lifestyle), but that only makes his choices during HS that much more interesting

For example, his hair. While skimming late 00s Japanese hairstyle catalogues for men, I failed to find a direct inspiration for it, the way I could for the likes of Gojo and Haibara. IMO it could only be a strong indicator of his personality and interests (maybe even subcultural).

He clearly drew from his technique for the hair part as well, which would be endearing if intentional, although part of me wants to believe that it was mostly instinctual, carrying on into adulthood because once you find a comfortable way to part your hair you tend to stick to it.

Then there's the topic of his uniform. All JJ Tech uniforms get custom fits, and Nanami's has a strong silhouette. He has the wide shoulders and the cut gives his torso an almost rectangular, prominent shape. Contrast with Gojo, which is just a bit more triangular.

On the other hand, his pants are possibly the skinniest out of the whole crew, or even in general if you include the modern generation of students. This was definitely an active fashion choice. Coupled with his gloomy, angsty teenage attitude, I feel like Nanami has quite a dramatic side that is often times overlooked. Probably because, just like his fashion choices, he had to learn how to conform to societal expectations.

[shadowsofdread]

prev - clearly i am also a guy who is a theronmancer at my core and i have also talked at length about how much i love romancing him and his relationships to potential love interests because guy who likes exploring characters through the lens of their romantic relationships.

and, it will never not drive me up the fucking wall that theron is as popular as he is because he's a love interest, and for the content of his romance route. and it will never not drive me up the wall the fanon characterization of him being stupid or unthinkingly reckless it makes me want to grab people by the shoulders and scream that theron shan is a man who makes a lot of insane decisions that look, on the surface, like carelessness, but are actually so intentional.

theron's got a fierce independent streak. he makes his choices based on what he thinks the right thing to do is, not necessarily the practical or safe thing. he's not the sort of person who will forsake or sacrifice others for the Greater Good. he doesn't compromise when it comes to other people.

theron has had to depend on himself for most of his life. he was raised by a guy who refused to ever see the person standing in front of him, only some legacy that theron was meant to live up to, or an obligation to a former pupil. no fucking wonder he's got attachment issues and is not a team player usually. but he can be, and he has been, even before we meet him.

and even though his background would completely understandably make him the kind of person that doesn't bond to others and prefers to go it alone, he does connect with people. very much so. he goes out of his way to help teff'ith - even when she really wishes he wouldn't - because he cares. he cares so deeply.

theron charges headlong into danger, not because he doesn't know the risks or thinks himself invincible, but because he believes someone's gotta, so he's going to.

i just. collapses to the floor. theron shan. theron shan if you can hear me, i love you.

[jojo-schmo]

I wish I could tell the original artist that this drawing permanently changed the entire direction of my life in 2009. I want to shake their hand, look them in the eye, and admit I would not be who I am today if this drawing didn’t exist.

EDIT: Original artist is @ivynajspyder !!!!

[supurman-a]

+ TOPIC : // the npc profile of the krypto you will find on supurman

QUICK SUMMARY: this krypto follows an original origin story but then features a twist when clark goes to college from my own design. i do this because i feel krypto has become a underutilized and eventually forgotten beloved companion of superman. on this blog i seek to make krypto more of a character in clarks life. its HIS dog from his home planet after all. he's a good boy.

KRYPTO HC DIRECTORY: 1 ( random summary of krypto facts and hcs )

NAME: krypto ( real name ), spot ( past, secret identity), dusty ( current, secret identity ) ALIASES: krypto the super dog BELONGS TO: kal-el superman, and the house of el family FAVORITE PERSON: kal, but he loves all his el's. AGE: unsure & verse dependent., definitely older than superman by AT LEAST 4 years. doesnt show signs of aging. clark always says he's about 4 for his identities sake. OCCUPATION: live stock guardian dog, guard + attack dog ( always ), protector of metropolis ( current ), trained therapy dog to clark kent, part time guard dog for others if superman allows ( i,e green lanterns ask for krypto )

SECRET IDENTITY: dusty, the normal farm dog. as dusty kryptos high tech collar is black and shows a tag that says dusty. but when he turns into krypto the collar turns red, his tag turns into to the super insignia, and a cape pops out! even without krypto's collar can he blend in as a normal white dog who has no sense of duty and just likes to be content canine.

+ SUB TOPIC : // mannerisms....

krypto is a medium social dog who is only ever excited to see those he has a bond to. hes not overly social to meet strangers muhc preferring to stick with his people. but, he is not aggressive to random pettings from strangers which is completely fine. he more or less will just sit there. he is a friendly dog with a level head and a strong sense of duty as taught to him by superman.

IT IS IMPORTANT KNOW KRYPTO IS A DOG. unlike humans, he doesn't feel guilt to kill. krypto is trained to incapacitate but he also BITES TO KILL. more often then not he is shown in comics to go for the neck. so be sure to tell the dog first if you want him to kill or simply incapacitate. if you try to go for his family or people he is dedicated to protect often times krypto will make his own choice and that is to KILL.

+ SUB TOPIC : // powers ...

EYES: a brown-orange. a common dog eye color... WEIGHT: 157 LBS FUR: white, has a coarseness to it on his back. EARS & TAIL: pointed ears, long paddle tail... prone to happy tail. but his tail wont hurt him it can hurt others like you kicked your beside corner!

krypto is a large white dog who looks like a cross between a german shepherd and a grey wolf. he has the same gait as a grey wolf which promotes calorie efficiency and maximum endurance. when asked by normal clark says his dog is very specific unrecognized breed from his corner in kansas. this is to not make any suspicious how clark seems to always have these very similar looking dogs over the years, since dogs do die but krypto does not !

+ SUB TOPIC : // DOG BREED . . .

BREED: kryptonian shepherd. much like the german shepherd of today they are a versatile breed who can do more then what they were originally intended for. krypto has a innate strong sense of guarding his people, a gentleness with domesticated animals, a high prey and ball drive which makes him great as a working dog. kryptonian shepherds feel happy to do any job. down to the bone this breed is a working dog and seeks stimulation. intelligent. capable of being independent and figuring things out on their own.. has a good 'off ' button so they can be an active dog when needed or a calm and relaxed companion at home after a good days work.

developed on krypton. it was a popular breed that could withstand the lower temperatures the planet could endure in the winter due to the red giant sun being very cool. featuring a white double coat that sheds out in the spring. these dogs only came in white.

sent in a test rocket before the infant kal-el from krypton, krypto was meant to land on earth to accompany his infant kryptonian kal. in a sad turn of events krypto's rocket lost course so he laid suspended in space. after about 12 years krypto crash landed onto the same farm kal, now named clark, had when he was an infant. dog and boy now united they bonded quickly as the 2 only survivors of their destroyed home krypton. to krypto, the destruction of krypton meant nothing, finding his boy again meant everything.

krypto stayed with clark on the farm and just like his kryptonian the dog developed amazing powers under the yellow sun.

when clark turned 18 he sought to bring his dog with him to metropolis so he too made a secret identity for his pooch. clark learned how to train dogs himself , trained krypto, then eventually become a certified service dog so he can readily follow his boy. together, they headed off into metropolis.

over the years, krypto did develop a rebellious stage becoming quite reactive for reasons clark could only equate to not knowing how to go about his powers. the dog would scare lois, and was even aggressive to kara. he was a liability to hurt someone. however, clark always believed his dog was good and never gave up on krypto. going back to square one, clark trained krypto more to properly utilize his senses and powers and hone his focus.

now, the dog is a staple to metropolis having earned the name super dog, dog of tomorrow! his el family now goes beyond just his boy kal but to all his kids as well. life is good for a dog and his boy.

krypto helps defeat atlas and becomes metropolis's dog too ! hes just happy to be here.

rp notes ... : anyone is allowed to direct an ask at krypto, or ask for him ina thread. i am very happy to write out this very intelligent dog and make bonds with him!

puppy

[weptfreedom]

thinking out loud about one of cole's lines, don't mind me

worship makes you more.

it's an interesting thought exercise, and to be clear, I'm coming at this from a very pagan perspective.

what about it makes a god a god? is it the act of prayer, of ritual, of sacrifice, that strengthens the subject of worship? is the belief behind these acts?

in this context, I want to say it is both. acts "feed" the entity in question, and it is belief that shapes them.

They were not demons for me.

in practical terms as they relate to this blog, because my worldbuilding notes prompted this: Ilriane takes part in the acts, because it is both a societal expectation, and required of him. His acts contribute to that strength, but lack (the expected) belief, and are thus not as effective as they could be.

[ekko]

ekko's time travel and z-drive is portrayed really inconsistently across league media, which is fine because it's just consequence of different writing teams. and half of the joy of writing league of legends is having the freedom to pick and choose what interpretations you like best! so a brief compilation of my thoughts and all notes of my specific portrayal of ekko.

i don't like that ekko only got his hands on the z-drive in season two. i was originally under the impression that he had it in season one, as the way the fight between him and jinx appeared to be portraying that ekko had gotten shot by her (artistically being censored with them play fighting as children), and then ekko reversing time in order to out maneuver her. ekko has his z-drive far before any event similar to arcane season two.

ekko originally released with a comic called chronobreak, in which ekko discovers the corpse of his friend named ajuna and tries over and over to rewind time to prevent his death. in this comic, we can infer that ekko's z-drive has the capacity to go backwards in time to upwards of five minutes. he tries multiple different routes, but is only ever able to find ajuna a minute before he passes. in one timeline, he murders the piltie who killed ajuna, but ultimately chooses to rewind time and spend ajuna's final moments holding him and saying goodbye. (my mobile banner is ajuna's goggles from the comic! which ekko chose to keep. he has similar keepsakes of jinx and vi as well, i think.)

^ both of these scenarios are really important to my ekko, i think! they're really well done. as such, my interpretation of ekko can go backwards up to seven minutes at a time (it has since improved since the ajuna incident), but the reliability of such is faulty. he can only safely and consistently go back for a minute, and he tries not to go further if he doesn't have to.

ekko cannot healthily cope with grief. he has not properly mourned the loss of powder, or vi, or ajuna, or anyone he's lost. he tirelessly works on the z-drive because he believes that one day he will be able to turn back time far enough to prevent what happened to powder, to save ajuna from death. he refuses to grieve them.

i was waiting for arcane to wrap up because i thought they might reveal ekko's real name, since they stated in ekko's original champion AMA that ekko is not his real name and instead an alias given to him by his friends. they didn't reveal it, obviously, so i'm taking the liberty of doing it myself. i saw one singular person on reddit speculating that the "tuff tuff" jinx writes in the arcane artbook and on ekko's jacket might allude to his real name as a nickname, and i think that's cute! ekko's real name is teffis. the only people who would be aware of this are jinx and vi. his mother also affectionately refers to him as tuff or tuft. ekko is horribly embarrassed.

i don't think i've stated it anywhere, but my ekko is also trans! he's also post-op, thanks to a shady undercity doctor. he has some gnarly scars for it. teffis is not his deadname, but the name he chose for himself as a young boy.

[yusosha]

dazai in the capitol if u care

[kismetconstellations]

The most "dad-like" thing Shiro ever does is this:

[cadejos]

ON NANAMI'S POWER LEVEL, DOMAIN EXPANSIONS, DOMAIN COUNTERS, AND HOW JUJUTSU SOCIETY PLAYS A ROLE.

This analysis originally turned viral on twitter. I'm posting it here for archival.

Nanami treated sorcery like a job and Gojo treated sorcery like a lifestyle. I've thought long and hard about why Nanami does not have certain skills (DE, Simple Domain, etc) that'd easily bump him up in terms of power, as he's already very strong. The reason is two-fold:

He never set out to do more than what he absolutely had to do. ("Moderate effort where moderate effort suffices," etc)

Information about sorcery is very gatekept and compartmentalized, because Jujutsu society sucks.

For point number 1, we are to keep in mind that Nanami is a grade one sorcerer, very much the peak of what sorcery is supposed to be outside of Special Grade work. The purpose of sorcery, up until very recently, has been about killing curses, most of which are not special grade or intelligent. The disaster curses are anomalies, and battles with Domain users were very rare until they showed up. They vastly skewed the power system. Remember that not even Naobito Zenin, the head of one of the great clans, had a Domain expansion either, and it took the work of a Domain user (Megumi) and an experienced sorcerer killer (Toji) to properly counter Dagon in his domain.

If domain battles are truly so rare, I don't really blame Nanami for not going out of his way to work on developing one, especially since Domains require an element of self-assurance that Nanami, due to trauma and disposition, was never geared toward developing.

His soul was strong enough to protect against a novice Mahito subconsciously, which is a promising start, but once Mahito grew too strong he was way out of Nanami's scope (not to mention Gege deliberately tired him over the course of Shibuya) and Nanami was more inclined to take his loss gracefully than to force himself to craft an spontaneous Domain Expansion. It's not like he really had the energy to try, either.

Overall, developing a DE for the off chance that he stumbled upon a Domain user just doesn't sound like his style. And he wouldn't do it for fun, either, because jujutsu is not fun for him, and it never has been. It's just work.

Let's say he would want to at least develop a domain counter, though. That's where point number 2 steps in. The whole reason something as fundamental as a domain counter is so rare in jujutsu is purely because jujutsu society is inherently selfish and self-serving.

If I recall correctly, SD is not something you can teach due to a binding vow tied to the technique. It has to be something you learn on your own through observation and intuition, or by joining New Shadow Style. Up until UiUi's soul swapping, there wasn't a reliable work around for this conundrum. And the other domain counters? Old, not very well known, and gatekept by the clans.

Sometimes I'm inclined to believe jujutsu sorcerers learn sorcery not because of the school system but in spite of it. Unless you're already a genius, born gifted, or willing to go an extra -- ambiguously illicit -- mile (like Kusakabe), there's not much the average sorcerer can do, and not many tools for them to learn to begin with. Nanami is presented as the baseline of what modern day good sorcery looks like; what you can achieve if you're competent, and don't have the privilege of relying on very good mentors, obscure knowledge, or ancient techniques. Even then he had an expansion technique, not something every sorcerer has, and he was capable of achieving one of the pinnacles of Jujutsu, which is the black flash; precisely because of his attitude toward jujutsu and his ability to focus when things get serious.

Maybe if given enough time to heal from his psychological wounds, and given opportunities for more black flashes, as well as a strong enough incentive, he could have circumvented a lot of problems and enlightened his way toward a DE or other such jujutsu-relevelations.

But that's speculation and not really the point of his character.

Had he been a villain though? Gege probably would've made him stronger, if his Culling Games score in JJK's draft Jujutsu Sousen is anything to go by, which is amusing.

Supplementary reading:

In regards to black flashes: a post where I go over why I think Yuuji and Nanami are especially good at them, and why I think they require conditions that are in opposition to Domain expansions.

Measuring Nanami's critical hit power: where I use a statement to further analyze and evaluate the capabilities of the Ratio Technique.

[shadowsofdread]

inspired by the poll about theron shan's romantic chemistry with each of the origin classes, i wanna pose a somewhat similar question because i love thinking about it. it's a big thing in the swtor fandom that people tend to write relationships between their mains of each of the origin stories, and certain trends/combinations tend to be common - namely, sith warrior & jedi knight, jedi knight & jedi consular, sith warrior & sith inquisitor, etc.

so an open question i'm putting forward for anyone to reply to is what are your favorite pairings of classes - platonically, romantically, secret third thing, antagonistically, etc. you don't have to name an "underrated" one, but my question is based more on the chemistry between the classes, like, in general as opposed to specific iterations of that class. i.e., by all means use your OCs as an example of why you like that pairing, but like. i am talking more broadly about archetypes than specific characters. does this make sense. anyway, some of mine:

sith warrior & jedi knight

you knew this one was coming. i think the SW and JK are positioned pretty well to act as foils to one another, and there's something very interesting about how the transitions between Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 of each campaign mirror each other, with the finales of their respective campaigns leaving them on opposite sides of a current or future antagonist - with the SW ending up on that same side as the JK by ziost. i've interpreted this as a shared sense of personal responsibility - through their actions, one way or another, they make the most sense for being the emperor's number one enemy, which may lead to a sort of alliance between the two characters, depending how you spin it. or, hey, maybe your sith warrior is actually loyal to the emperor even still, at least until they are ultimately betrayed by valkorion. in which case, lifelong, bitter enemies. where maybe they should've had a common cause, maybe the pieces should've been there all along for them to fight together, but against all sanity and reason, the SW chooses again and again to stand by vitiate/valkorion.

sith warrior & imperial agent

next to SW&JK, this is the dynamic i keep coming back to over and over again - there's a reason why taizi's met most of @tiredassmage's agents. it's also the one i have the hardest time explaining why i like so much. there's the appeal of like ... hypercompetent pairing with vastly different skills but very good at those skills. it's kind of like a variation on what scratches my brain about SW & quinn in that there's a lot of toying around you can do with sith/imperial power dynamics - made even more interesting depending on the type of agent you're playing, and regardless an agent who has had their literal brain fucked with by the dark council, i.e. the castellan restraints.

sith warrior & jedi consular

listen. have i actually gotten to use this one much in the "playing blorbo barbies with my friends" sphere? not exactly. it's a very new one that i'm still rotating, and i don't know how to explain what it is i like about it but i really, really want to see more of it. i think it could be delicious, brent. please let your warriors and your consulars talk to each other more. one thing i will put forward is i think SW & JC scratches a similar itch to SW & JK to me, but in, like, a slightly different font? i dunno, man. i just wanna see it more.

honorable mentions:

jedi consular OR jedi knight & trooper: it's like jedi / clone trooper but without the ethical issues and cognitive dissonance! /lh

sith inquisitor & jedi consular: could be taken so many different ways, i just don't think enough about SI to do much with it

imperial agent & jedi knight: only really seen a few iterations - two of them being my own - but like. something in here's really fucking good.

[agentnash]

parker is like. generally not a good person. he's mean, and meaner when he's drunk ( which is most of the time ). he likes to say things specifically to get under people's skin, and he'll act like he doesn't care about anyone or anything. he cusses a lot ( mostly at people ), he's easy to anger and will always say that one thing that will hurt your feelings. and he refuses to apologize for any of it.

but he's good at his job - underneath it all, he cares about justice and wanting to do the right thing ( even if he goes about it the wrong way ). he has a soft spot for kids and is good with victims who are answering his questions. he's fiercely protective and loyal, and will bite anyone who raises a hand to the people he actually cares about.

he's just a sad and lonely alcoholic who got the shitty end of the stick, but if you can put up with him for long enough to see underneath all of his many, many, many flaws, you'll be able to see the good parts of him. it just takes time and trust.

[supurman-a]

+ TOPIC : // the dismissal of aged superman phrases + brief touches on superman belongs to the world ( and a mention of identity ...)

notes: this meta sprung out of no where, i do think the focus of it gets lost at some point as i express more points about superman in relation to the main topic. i wish to make a more specific meta on clarks identity issues + how superman belongs to the world...there is also a brief talk of how clarks parents affected the man he is that deserves so much more brushing on. the panels i use need a shout out to jonathan kent as he is a big influence on clark's person. with that being said, i still hope you all can understand me clearing up superman's misunderstood character and what he represents regardless of how this is written.

the obsolete superman phrase " truth, justice, and the american way " has done so much damage to him. it gives the idea that he champions america and american ideals, giving him a biased opinion on one way of life and that he belongs to one nation. originally this was a phrase given to him for propaganda reasons back in the Olden past. clark is not the first comic character to be a victim of propaganda. there are many covers of him with eagles, or holding the american flag all in out of date fashion. i am very against superman ever having bias to any nation in the world over another. most of the time, when American identity is put on clark its always in old fashioned obsolete writing.

though, there is a proper way to put american identity on clark, and thats how it was a form of assimilation him ... before clark ever knew he was adopted and an alien he would be every identity that made sense of him. then comes a day he is aware he is no of this world nor human. when he finds this out he realizes all the identities ( american and human ) he has known are false then he enters a intense identity searching mission to find his true origins similar to how many adopted children of other countries feel. ( i do not fault the kents for anything, they did the best they could. )

as clark ages he comes to realize he is more than what he ever thought he was. he becomes a man of the people seeing that there is oppression, evil, and crime throughout the globe. superman becomes an icon for the entire world, a beacon of hope to inspire anyone who need to look to something believe in. it would be selfish for a man who heralds hope to align himself with a country or natio when the things he stands for belong to everyone. truth, justice, and hope.

his care lies within the entire world, every beating heart. i highly doubt clark considers himself american, merely american on paper but not by heart. clarks identity will always be a very complex topic, but i did want to touch upon how americaness seems so unfair to his character and to the people in the world who look up to him as a symbol of hope.

ultimately, the new and improved phrase will always have it right: ❝ truth, justice, and a better tomorrow. ❞

clarks love for the people can be found from not just seeing first hand that others need something to be loved by, but his parents. the lessons from his mother and values of his father created a person that has a UNCONDITIONAL amount of love for the world. his mother cared for him. his father calling him special. his parents helping him take his first steps. being told nothing that he is loved. the man that grew out of these lessons only says the same to those that live on every corner of earth. everyone is special to superman.

[weptfreedom]

does the idea of justice and morality align for emithas, or does emithas have a point where he will do anything for his loved ones?

I've said before he was raised with the ideal of doing no harm, by people new to physical existence, who became that way through coercion and refused to continue to take part in war.

To go from that into an existence in which most of what he did was harmful without a choice in the matter, well...it changed him. How could it not? How could he hold onto that ideal in such an environment?

Taking on the identity of the Varghest gave him some means of striking back: little, spiteful moments of inconvenience for the tyrants who'd uprooted his life and salted the bare earth.

And the rebellion? to borrow Tas' phrase, it was not civil. It was not bloodless. It was not gentle. They were up against primordial beings of immense, reality-shaping power (Rook's ability to stand against Elgar'nan was the result of a perfect storm scenario, any deviation from that would have meant their failure. I said what I said 🤷) far beyond any of them.

All that to say, ideals are great, but Emithas' lived reality made holding onto them a pipe dream.

does he have a point where he will do anything for his loved ones?

He reaches that point, or as far as he's ever gone, in one endgame scenario. He is desperate. He has tried to reason with Mythal. He has fought her. Neither convinced her. Now, in a highly fraught moment, he bargains, he keeps his word. He uses what's left of her as the anchor that maintains the veil, and it is not done (solely) in order to spare Solas that same fate.

In that moment, Emithas is vengeful.

[pomniegranate]

Sometimes I forget that Pomni had ended up in Hell due to electrocution. She was dealt a faith similar to being sentenced to death on death row via electric chair but she wasn't a criminal, she wasn't in an electric chair. She was just an underpaid and overworked accountant for her job that readily sent memos out regarding the new piece of equipment that nobody's supposed to interact with or touch. And she did. The headset had seemingly clamped itself onto her head and fried her brain and she has no recollection of it after arriving in Hell.