#Barb Steven universe

[pintobeann]

✨Blue diamond art 💎✨

[sandflakedraws]

aw yeah, they're still fun as hell to draw

[big-meows]

Scrolling my twitter FYP against my better judgement and encountering "women don't like f/f because they're self-loathing misogynists and only like m/m because they're fetishists and objectifiers" and "drop your favorite tomboys/butches in the thread! (Thread has the same 5 tomboy/butch characters that surface in every one of these threads and then 30 other big titty anime girls who are not tomboys and/or butch by any stretch of the imagination)" in quick succession felt like a little like the guy who thought someone was breaking into his house and leaving post-its everywhere discovering he had a gas leak and was doing it himself

If you wonder I keep filling the house with m/m post-its, it's because there's a gas leak and it's "female characters designed around/defined by a time-tested and committee-approved feminine tropes"

"but you'll fixate one cardboard-ass background boy and give him imaginary depth why can't you do that for a boring background female character--" because the boy's elevator pitch one-note characteristic is something I align with and enjoy (loser, goofy, comedy relief, gross, obnoxious, weird, autistic) and I promise if you made that same boy a girl and changed nothing else I would make her my whole personality for literal fucking years.

Idk like it's true I gravitate to shitty obnoxious boys in fiction but if that's a problem for you have you considered maybe the solution is more shitty obnoxious girls in fiction and not more of the same girls that I don't really enjoy, or telling me to stop liking shitty obnoxious boys?

I do feel a little insane sometimes to see femininity constantly conflated with womanhood. "Soup, why don't you, a gnc woman, gravitate to more super sexy mommy doms or cutesy moe schoolgirls or walking talking fashion dolls do you just hate women?" like idk Jan I'll give you three guesses.

[sirenthekraken]

Isn't it obvious who I like best😶

[donutgirlsadie]

(Re)Remade Sadie's Song transparents

[georgi-girl]

More Trolls Character Fusions

A continuation of my SU inspired Trolls fusion list. Note that when two trolls from the same tribe fuse, they just become a bigger version of their species. When trolls from different tribes fuse, they gain extra limbs and appendages.  

Biggie + Cooper = Big C. A fluffy, muppetesque llama centaur. with four stumpy legs, long furry midsection, and extendible arms. Covered in blue fur with indigo dreadlocks. Always smiling and making jokes. Uses he/him pronouns.  Song style is based on Tiny Tim and Weird Al Yankovic. 

Poppy + Viva = Star. I hope this isn’t presumptuous, but I’m seeing them as friends. The fusion has dark pink skin, star-shaped orange hair, and a white leotard with a blue tutu. Also has stockings with dance slippers. Partly inspired by Rainbow Quartz. Voiced by Selena Lopez. Uses she/her pronouns.  

Reggaeton Trio (Tresillo, Marimba, Tambora) = Taino. Named after the Indigenous people of Puerto Rico. Androgynous features, Pastel body with tie-dye patterns. Uses they/them pronouns. Speaks mostly in Spanish. 

K-Pop Sisters = Korea. Inspired by the five Ruby fusion. Big, shiny, with pastel rainbow hair and an all-white leotard. Uses she/they pronouns. Speaks mostly in Korean. 

Branch + Hickory = Brick. Incredibly handsome, with four arms, green skin and dark violet hair styled in a cowlick. Wears a vest made from orange leaves and black pants. Uses he/they pronouns. Music style based on early Elvis. Also sounds like Elvis. 

Branch + Barb = Screech. (This fusion is strictly platonic, I wouldn’t ship these two if you paid me.) Dark blue skin, four eyes, gigantic indigo mohawk. Wears black leather jeans and denim vest. Inspired by the SU fusion Sugalite. Uses the pronoun It. Warlike berserker. Song styling is Goth Rock. 

Barb + Hickory = Studly. (I can picture these two as friends) Goat centaur with light orange skin, shaggy red hair that covers his eyes, and two left arms. Wears a brown vest and studded wristbands. Hunky stud. Uses he/they pronouns. Very Tarzan-like, even speaks in third person. Grows more savage the longer they’re fused.  Song style (surprisingly) is Tibetan Throat Singing

Hickory + Poppy + Branch = Blum. Something special for my favorite ship. Named after the German word for Flower. Beautiful deer centaur with brown skin, CYM streaked hair, three yellow eyes with pink petal eyelashes. Uses neopronouns ee/em/eir. Very kind and loving. Speaks in rhyme. Song styling is folk covers. 

[animus-enmity]

Sugilite

*Synthesized Bass and Percussion Sounds*

I got possessed by some art being cause I drew Sugilite out of nowhere and it didn’t take two weeks for me to force myself to finish.

[l-egionaire]

Reblogging for Steven Universes 10 year Anniversary.

Steven Universe Future Futures

Now that Steven Universe Future is over, I'm proud to give my headcanons for what I see for each characters future.

Steven- After his long road trip across America to see the sites, Steven ultimately moves back to Beach City as he felt that was were he was most at home. But instead of moving back in with the Gems, he moved into a nice little house Bismuth and the other Gems helped build. For work, he took over Lars 's space bakery and remade it into a cozy café called The Galaxy Cafe where humans and Gems alike come for a nice chat and a cup of coffee. He and Connie eventually marry and have a daughter named Lisa Pinkrose Universe.

Connie- After graduating college with a degree in political science and moving in with Steven, Connie started working for the office of mayor in Beach City. After a few years of hard work, she eventually became mayor of the town and rumor has it, she's considering running for senator.

Greg- (Greg's relationship is inspired by a story written by @mandareeboo.) While his son was away from Beach City, Greg started a relationship with Sadie's mom, Barb and eventually the two of them got hitched. Soon after, Greg decided to focus on his management career and the two of them moved to Empire City where Greg started up his own music management business Universal Music. But he still makes time to drive down to Beach City and see his son, daughter in law, and granddaughter.

Garnet- Garnet comes to use her powers of both emotional understanding and future vision to become a relationship advisor to the people and Gems of Beach City. She also takes the occasional wedding planning job for happy couples shes helped.

Amethyst- Amethyst worked with Mr Smiley to help set up the special Gem Wrestling Federation in Beach city. She helps manage a number of Gem wrestlers in Beach City including her sister Jasper or as shes known in the ring "The Orange Wild Lion".

Pearl - Pearl opened up a special combat training school called the Sword and Shield Academy of Martial Studies. She teaches her students the art of combat as a way of helping them reach their full potential and gain confidence in themselves.

Peridot & Lapis - The two of them build a new barn and start a buisness of selling fruit and plants that they grow. They spend their days tending to their crops and just being together.

Bismuth - Bismuth starts her own company constructing everything from buildings to weapons to wedding armors. Her motto is " Your Bismuth is our pleasure ". After a period of dating, she and Pearl end up getting married

Extra: Spinel- Spinel ends up meeting Volleyball while on Earth and the two of them end up in a relationship. She then starts to often visits Little Homeworld to see her and puts on performances for Beach City kids.

[barblaz-arts]

Oh look what a shocker it's me lol So, i've returned to the Steven Universe fandom (for like the 1000th time... I don't think I'm ever getting over it), and was looking through some Lapidot stuff and happened to stumble across your old Lapidot art and- YOU HAD A LAPIDOT PHASE!?!?? I was digging through whatever I could find, kicking my feet, and squealing. Jussstt felt the need to bring that to light!

Yep! I was actually one of the crack shippers from way back before they even had canon interactions, so you can imagine how feral i was over the Barnmates episode like...

Holy shiiiit lmao

Lapidot was actually the reason I even made a tumblr and ao3 acct in the first place. My first officially posted fic was for lapidot. And the art was back in my old art blog that got hacked and deleted, but geeeeeze back then my art was just pencil scribbles on lined intermediate paper in photos taken from my shoddy phone camera. Can't believe I had as much followers as I already did back then.

My username, Barb Laz/Barbara Lazuli across all socials is even a Lapis reference. The Barb part was from the "Bob" joke

[pintobeann]

I think I going to finally finish this Lars figure I was making🍩

[rocksibblingsau]

Queen Barb has her army of rockers and music, Evil!Trollex has a turntable that fires lasers. What would the other leaders have for their "World Tour"?

Funk: Honestly pretty similar to canon with their army, along with their tech. The strings are kept in a Bass

Classical: you know how in Steven Universe, Blue Diamond can make gems cry on command? They have a chord that can do that to Trolls (similar to how they have the Joy Chord). The strings are wrapped around a conductors wand

Country: Also an army, possibly with the forbidden guns that Dreamworks doesn't want them to have. The strings are kept in a banjo.

Pop: Consider........ Bergens.

[ordinaryschmuck]

I had a dream that Steven of Steven Universe got kidnapped by gangsters who wants his healing spit to heal their boss' leukemia. He busted out of the car on his own with a safety bubble, running away from them on a bridge that's gridlocked in traffic. He's eventually saved by Greg of all characters, who is stuck on a never ending lawn mower that Pearl fixed up for him three episodes ago, and they ride off together just in time. Only for the lawnmower to FINALLY ran out of gas and stopping at the side of the road. Thankfully, Barb pulled up in her mail truck to give them a ride. Unfortunately, there was no room so they ended up tying a rope to a bumper and a sled and having her pull them back to town that way.

...I have NO idea why my brain dreamt up this dark, lost episode of Steven Universe, but it happened.

[midnightechoes]

I'm not caught up on My Adventures With Superman, but I've seen enough promos posts on social media to know that they seem to be doing something with Kara and Jimmie, which, sigh. I'm sure it's done well, this show is great and it's probably handled fantastically. I can't lie though, a part of me was desperately hoping that this would be the mainstream thing that they let Kara be queer in.

A part of me knew that there wasn't any chance in hell of that happening. At this point, I don't expect anything popular and mainstream to have any queer content beyond minor stuff in the margins. (Like how MAWS let a he/him gorilla and a he/him brain in a jar be a couple in one episode)

I wanted so badly to be proven wrong. Partially because it's Kara and I've been longing so badly for the day they let her actually be queer in one of the mainstream canons and not just in AU stuff like Dark Knights of Steel and Bombshells. As a Kara and Barb shipper in my youth and a supercorp shipper now, I've always read Kara as a queer character, and I've always hoped that would be confirmed someday.

And partially because I fear we are starting to slide backwards.

(Please keep in mind that this is entirely about western animation. I'm not talking about anime or live-action stuff here)

For a moment, it felt like we were building a space for major mainstream LGBTQ+ rep, specifically sapphic rep. You know, not just some minor characters here and there, but main characters, protagonists even.

Steven Universe, Legend of Korra, and Adventure Time led into She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, which immediately led into the Owl House, Harley Quinn, and Dead End: Paranormal Park.

There is Arcane, but with the way Netflix has been recently, I wouldn't be shocked if s2 completely shied away from caitvi being a thing and just never addressed it. Again, I hope I'm wrong. And there's a pretty good chance we still have RWBY's Bumbleby for a little longer. Arcane is ending this fall, and RWBY has maybe 1 - 3 volumes left at most and is having to fight for every one.

Honestly the best thing we have going right now that seems to have a future is Hazbin Hotel, and I understand that's not for everyone.

But on the whole, it feels like the momentum we've been building over the last decade has completely stalled and crashed. Yes, this is very much a byproduct of the entire United States backsliding on the progress its made, but I'm not equipped to have that conversation.

And this has been mostly focused on sapphic representation. Even when the momentum was building, we never even got far enough with having queer men characters and trans characters.

Hopefully someday Kara Zor-El can be a main character in a mainstream thing and actually get to kiss a girl. Hopefully Lena Luthor.

I hope I'm wrong and by this time next year there's a new animated series that's the hottest thing on Max or Netflix and the protagonist is a cocky lesbian that makes out with women everywhere she goes.

I'm hoping.

[novantinuum]

Fandom: Steven Universe Rating: Teen Audiences Words: 2.0K~ Summary: His family’s not present the third time he runs away… they never see the creature he becomes. Early corruption AU.

This chapter fought me the entire way because it's nothing but a nonstop action sequence, but oh well XD

It's done now! Enjoy.

_

Chapter 20: An Undesired Truth

“All right,” Garnet calls, summoning her gauntlets with a snappy pivot of her wrists. “This is it, Gems. Stay together, and stick to the plan.”

Defensive and strategic maneuvers only, they all agreed. No attacking to poof, unless the luster of one’s very gem depends on it. This restriction will raise the potential danger of this mission tenfold, but there’s no suitable alternative at play here. After all— given Amethyst’s disturbing yet convincing theory about its identity— they simply can’t risk harming the creature.

“On your ready—!”

The trio squares up, brandishing their weapons in preparation for whatever upsetting scene is about to rear its monstrous head over those trees. But before she can so much as utter the command to advance, the corrupted Gem’s whole upper body rises above the foliage. Her mouth falls ajar. She’s altogether paralyzed in its sight. Its mournful eyes bore into her own, inky black with glistening pink irises. A singular tear escapes her futile attempt at emotional stasis, slipping out from under her visor and dampening her cheek.

Those eyes… she ruminates, her fists clenching with unrestrained anguish within the security of her gauntlets. That face, it’s—

Quick as a sheet of lightning, three separate visions surge to full color within her consciousness, spiderwebbing their way across the geometric planes of her gems and permeating through every single branching route of her hard-light form.

The first is a vital realization— of what is, never mind all their biased notions.

Another is a premonition— of what could be, should she make the wrong decision in this place.

And the last is a promise— a solemn vow to herself… to every last member of her family. An opportunity to act. To be brave.

Garnet closes her third eye.

For the first time in weeks, she knows exactly what she needs to do.

“Let’s go! Go!” she beckons to her teammates with a wave of her gauntleted hand, sensing the need to slice through their paralyzing distress.

Amethyst and Pearl both nod, their horrified expressions hardening into a diligent focus. Good. It’s iron-willed attitude like this that is sure to be their saving grace today.

And thus, with a wide, inciting slash of Amethyst’s whip against the corruption’s pink scaled legs, the encounter begins.

Stick to the plan, her own voice echoes tauntingly, now fully aware of the blunt danger she’s about to put both herself and her teammates in.

Task one: Seize the Gem’s attention. Lure them towards an open section of the beach.

Of all the stages of their scheme, this one is by far the simplest. It never took much more than encroaching upon a corrupted Gem’s territory to antagonize any of the others, and on surface, the creature the three of them face here today responds to their goading attacks no differently. The Gem thrashes their way across the sands in an almost indignant frenzy, flailing their arms and tail towards them as if vying to swat all of them right into the ocean’s wake. Amethyst leaps out of striking range of that barbed tail just in the nick of time, but alas Pearl is not so lucky. She lets loose a sharp yelp as the barest edge of this limb slams against her side, launching her all the way back to the jungle’s edge.

Garnet’s fists clench tighter within her spiked gauntlets as she skirts around the creature— now wholly distracted by her teammates’ whip and spear— from behind, setting herself up for the beginning of phase two. Can’t look, don’t look, she reminds herself, energy thrumming like a burning neutron star at her core. It wasn’t a critical strike. Pearl can more than handle herself in a fight. And anyways, she can’t let herself get distracted by the grim reminder of all the what-ifs she still can’t see, no, not for a second. She’s their captain. She steers their ship. A miracle in and of itself, she tugged the threads of this precise sequence of events out from a tapestry woven from untold millions of futures, and now all that’s left to do is ensure it won’t fray at the ends as she puts it into action— no matter the consequences.

Stick to the plan, she repeats within her mind again. Not the plan that was discussed on the ship— not anymore— but the plan she saw.

Once Pearl and Amethyst have cornered the corrupted Gem on a large enough swath of beach, she summons the first piece of Bismuth and Peridot’s handiwork from her gem, a potent energy core they cobbled together from some old scrapped ship tech fastened to a large spike that’s sturdy enough to anchor it into the dampened sand.

Task two: While the others keep the corrupted Gem distracted, lay out all six barrier axis crystals in an equidistant circle.

She stakes crystal number one as deep as she can muster and rapidly moves on to the second.

The third.

The fourth.

It’s at this stage, however, where wrangling the gargantuan beast becomes a good deal more complicated.

As she sprints towards the fifth insertion point, she senses one of the corrupted Gem’s limbs swinging towards her faster than a Roaming Eye surging into FTL travel. Out of sheer bodily habit she moves to dodge, but then—

With a mighty yell, Pearl fires off two energy bolts from her spear. They collide against a nearby palm tree, splintering the wood of its trunk and felling it atop their bright pink opponent, knocking their already disproportionate form precariously off balance. The spiked tail never reaches her.

Good, she thinks, breath heavy. Just as predicted. That’s one step closer to the path she envisioned for them all.

But now…

Garnet summons the second to last barrier axis crystal.

“Amethyst!” she barks, perhaps a bit more forceful than she intended within the heat of this encounter. “Keep the corrupted Gem within the circle! Pearl, from here on out, cover Amethyst, not me! Do not let those hands touch her!”

Pearl’s eyes flash with distress as she spins her glance to her, the motion ever so swift. “B-but what about—?”

“I’ll be fine, just watch each other’s backs, we’re almost there—“

She stakes the fifth crystal into place.

Only one left.

Their opponent slams their hind legs into the sand as they attempt a sweeping swat at Amethyst, just barely missing one of the previously placed crystals. And oh stars, these six are all Bismuth and Peridot had time to make, if he smashes one of them—

Stick to the plan, she once again reminds herself, sprinting across the beach towards the sixth insertion point, to where she’ll finally complete her circle. With Pearl covering, Amethyst will pull through in the end. She has to.

Task three.

(The Gem rears back, the horns atop their head and the crystalline spikes jutting out from their joints beginning to emit a dull glow of warning.)

In many ways, given the soul of what’s at stake, this task— while not anything she has conscious control over, merely the desperate want of a damned Gem— is the most vital of all of them:

Whatever happens, don’t get cracked.

She clenches her jaw taut as she manifests that final barrier axis crystal within her grasp, every last one of her senses tinging with expectation… the innermost facets of her gems already knowing what’s coming, already feeling what’s coming—

“Garnet, look out!”

But she doesn’t dodge. Doesn’t back down. Doesn’t deviate from the plan, from her promise. Because if she fails in her mission here… if she delays the activation of this barrier any longer… if she places her own wellbeing over Steven’s… then this lost, confused Gem will successfully push past their defenses to escape into the ocean’s murky unknown, and they’ll have lost him forever.

“I’m so, so sorry,” she chokes out to this poor, tortured creature, a singular tear rolling down her cheek as she secures the final device in the sands and uses her last millisecond of borrowed time to flick on the barrier’s power-up switch.

The corrupted Gem roars, emitting an explosive shockwave of energy powerful enough to hurl her through the air as straight as a dart, straight across this island’s tree-lined shore, straight into—

~

Pearl is helpless to do anything but watch as Ruby and Sapphire’s gemstones drop into the sand beneath that distant palm tree, Garnet’s form poofed on impact after being slammed against its trunk at terrifying force.

“Garnet!” she cries once more, her form outright stuttering with panic.

She scrambles back to her feet, brandishing her spear as she spins to face the monster that just singlehandedly poofed one of her dearest friends like it was child’s play. Stars above—! Amethyst and her are ridiculously lucky that its sonic attack wasn’t pointed their way, otherwise there’s a good chance they too would have suffered the same fate.

But there’s no time to think.

No time to fuss and fluster.

There’s barely any time to even process the loss of her fallen teammate as the corrupted Gem rears around to point those intimidatingly dark orbs their way, hungry for release… hungry for freedom.  

“Hey!” Amethyst bellows from across the sands. “Keep lively, that barrier’s gotta power up for thirty seconds ‘fore it goes up, remember? We gotta keep this guy from escaping!”

Shaking away the scattered remnants of her hysteria, Pearl tightens her grip on her spear.

“Right,” she nods, leaping right back into action.

“I’ll try ta’ tie ‘em down, you keep ‘em dancing with your spear bolts!”

And so— two against one— that’s exactly what they set out to do.

She darts around the barrier’s perimeter, shooting a myriad of energy bolts around the corruption’s feet to keep it in the center as Amethyst swings up upon its back with her whip and tries to lasso it by the horns. The monster roars, clamorous and anguished. It throws its head about like a dog shedding water, knocking the quartz clear off her perch. Pearl pivots sharp on her heels as she watches Amethyst slam into the ground, the ceaseless waves of hard-light coursing through her system jittering in instinctive sympathy at the sheer ferocity of this impact. But it’s not enough to poof her, thank the stars. It’s not enough to kill what stubborn fighting spirit they both have left.

…it might’ve succeeded in distracting them, though.

Pearl gasps as she notices what’s coming, closing in on her partner with all the pinpoint finesse of a seasoned warrior.

“AMETHYST—!” she hollers, surging to action.

Mere seconds before the corrupted Gem can knock the quartz across the beach with one of its powerful, muscular arms, she readies her weapon in hand and prepares to take her shot. It’s not what Garnet would’ve wanted, but she can’t see any other choice.

With a mighty yell, Pearl hurls her spear straight at the Gem’s mouth, the point ricocheting off one of its razor sharp teeth.

The impact is jarring enough to throw its balance entirely askew.

Amethyst scrambles to her feet unharmed and rushes to join her, which would’ve served as a shining victory if it weren’t for the troubling little sight that greets them next. That monster emits a pitiable whine as it staggers around the clearing… an unmistakable line of vivid red blood dripping from the crease of its gums where its tooth had been knocked crooked. With a glittering burst of dauntingly familiar pink magic (oh, no… please, no—!), the pulp of its gaping maw stitches itself back together.

An electric hum radiates in her periphery as she stands there trembling, all but locked in place at the horrid reality of what she’s just done. She barely registers Amethyst’s harried call for attention. Barely registers the white hot surge of energy whipping up around her as the other Gem spins her whip around the corruption’s legs at sonic speed. It’s not until Amethyst outright tackles her out of the fray and the semi-spherical barrier surges to life behind them that the cruel flow of time finally catches up.

Pearl shudders, fingers scouring deep trenches in the dampened sand. She turns her head, bracing her mind and spirit for the punishing truth she’s about to gaze upon.

The creature collapses upon its side within the enclosure, breathing ragged after such a ceaseless display of ferocity and strength.

Almost entirely enshrouded from view within an endless sea of scales, the pentagonal facets of Steven’s diamond shimmers at the very center of his belly.

[darrellenjoyer]

i do not care if dead end paranormal park is the most reddit steven universe soy sjw tumblr art style shit in existence every time i watch it my heart swells with joy you could literally whip me with barbed wire every time i thought about dead end in any capacity and i would succumb to my injuries within 2 hours at most

[mymanyfandomramblings]

I was just thinking about Steven Universe, and I was joking about how in Beach City the dads are all mostly used for comedy (except for Greg bc he's a major character, but even he's occasionally used for jokes), meanwhile the mothers could kill a man, when I realised about how well Steven Universe, even with the background characters, deconstruct the 'bumbling dad/hypercompetent mother' tropes.

It's pretty common in TV shows to have absolutely terrible dad characters, who can range from mildly incompetent to straight-up abusive, and it's extremely unusual to see a show where the father is the more competent parent than the mother. Steven Universe, however, shakes up the normal dynamic. At first Greg is everything you'd expect from your bumbling sitcom dad: he looks like a bit of a slob, he's a hoarder, he's far less attractive than Rose, the Gems don't think very highly of him, and he works a rather unimpressive career, having failed to achieve his dreams. But Greg goes on to prove himself not only as a competent parent to Steven, but probably the most competent of any of Steven's parental figures (and we all know if Rose had been able to live, she would hardly have been a wonderful parent either). This is not, however, to say that Greg is perfect--far from it, he has plenty of faults, but no more so than any other character. The point is: Greg may have the outward trappings of a bumbling dad, but subverts the trope instead, by being a responsible, caring and genuinely good parent.

The show also deconstructs the 'bumbling dad's' sister trope--the badass mama bear who is incredibly competent at running their family, and is involved with their children's lives. The mothers we see around Beach City--Barb Miller, Priyanka Maheswaran and Vidalia (as well as the Crystal Gems, who are Steven's maternal figures) all pretty much fit this trope, although certain of them fulfil certain parts of the description better than others. However, the show does display that none of them are perfect parents. Barb would clearly die and/or kill for Sadie and would love to be a part of her daughter's life, but there's multiple episodes dedicated to showing how stifled Sadie feels by her mother's enthusiasm and desire to be involved in her life. Dr. Maheswaran is incredibly competent but is also hyper-controlling of Connie, leading to a breakdown in their relationship. Vidalia is clearly a cool mum who supports all her children's ambitions--which would be great, if one of her children wasn't Onion, who would probably benefit more from discipline, rather than just affirmation of his behaviour--which ranges from minor crime to full-scale mayhem. And this isn't even starting on discussing the Gems and their failures when it comes to their parenting.

I just think it's really intriguing how Steven Universe plays with and subverts the classic tropes when it comes to parents and the roles and expectations of each parent. It's another example of why the show is so good at deconstructing classic character archetypes and tropes.