#Ground Effects

[crownedstoat]

Lotus Esprit and type 79

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

Hot take

Night furies are actually perfectly evolved for hunting and killing other dragons and the only reason they aren't a dragon-hunting species like the death song or deathgrippers are is because DreamWorks couldn't have their adorable main character dragon be a "cannibal"

(below I'm gonna try to summarize what we've figured out in a convo with friends on discord)

(also tw animal death via predator)

First of all yes I'm aware that pretty much every decision made about their design was with consideration of the effect it would make on human audiences but hear me out

Night furies are most iconically known as dive-bombers. They are built for speed, high maneuverability, night-time camouflage and for striking targets from above. If we remove human settlements out of the equation (which would not have existed long enough to actually influence night fury evolution, come on), what does that leave us with?

They aren't built for catching fish for sure, they aren't very hydrodynamic and their head is round, wide, and their teeth are dull. Honestly, the monstrous nightmare is much better suited for catching fish, with its long neck, almost pelican-like jaw and rhamphorhynchus teeth

Compare to

Yeah the jaws look kinda like a porpoise of some sort but for that the whole body would have to be a lot more aquatic imo. The light fury looks a lot closer to an aquatic diver, it has a sleeker body, rounded fins instead of spikes, and a long neck.

I don't really see them hunting land animals either, they just don't look like they're adapted for that minus the resemblance with large felines and even then, they're too large to effectively hunt in forests.

The one thing I can kinda imagine them hunting is large mainland megafauna, but we're working with a setting that takes place pretty much exclusively on islands. And overall, dragons are the only abundant species there with the exception of fish and human-bred sheep and chickens.

In general, night furies have duller teeth, smaller claws and are smaller than most dragons. Disregarding the movies making Toothless weirdly OP, a night fury would be disadvantaged against most dragons in a 1v1 fight and besides, it has four huge weak spots that would highly discourage it from a direct physical fight - the primary and secondary tail fins. One unlucky rip in the membrane and the night fury is fucked.

The night fury however noticeably resembles falcons, given their dive-bombing ability and high maneuverability.

Falcons too have smaller beaks and weaker claws compared to most birds of prey, and for that they compensate by simply picking up speed, balling up their talons and Punching. Really. Hard.

And they use that ability to kill other birds, even much larger ones, by knocking them right from the sky.

Here, the night fury's plasma blast works the same way as a falcon's punch. Dragons are fire-resistant, so what the plasma blast does is really just a densely packed bolt of energy that has the effect of either stunning or outright killing prey by damaging its spine. And what the plasma bolt doesn't do, rapid contact with the ground would finish. And if even that doesn't do it, the night fury's wide jaws and dull teeth are just fine for simply clamping around the unlucky dragon's neck and strangling it, like a lion or a pitbull.

The night-time camouflage allows the night fury to soar for extended periods of time perfectly unnoticed in the night sky, and by the time it strikes, the dragon wouldn't even know what's coming.

Unless

Say the hunting night fury is aware of other dragons sleeping under the trees, as most dragons probably would at night (village raids aside, most dragons seem to be diurnal), so how does the night fury get them in position where it can use its signature attack? Well, there's That Iconic Screech Of Death. Since in the movies it tends to appear not just during dive-bombings but also when charging up a blast, I imagine it's something the night fury is able to control to some degree. So by simply fake-diving in close proximity to sleeping dragons, it can effectively terrify them into leaving their hideout and fly out into the open where it can easily take them out.

I dunno, the possibility of night furies as predators to other dragons just makes so much sense to me, I really don't know what other reasons there would be for them to evolve these particular adaptations.

And one more little headcanon to add to this whole rant - since night furies are significantly smaller and less equipped for dragon vs dragon fights and are primarily speed-based predators, I imagine there is this very likely scenario:

There is one dragon who resembles a hyena, a lil bit

Ok, rant over

[endlesshunger]

STEREO LEFT ON, NASHVILLE, TN. 2023

[puppyeared]

littlest furth shop

@laikascomet

[mostmagical]

I've been thinking about that last conversation with Garrus before the final push in ME3 a lot lately.

I hadn't noticed it at first because the whole conversation makes me so sad to think about, but recently I realized that if not for the apocalyptic dread, Garrus being the one to suggest retirement would actually be comical. since day one he's been a workaholic, going from the calibrating the Mako to calibrating the guns in the battery the second he's recruited. even in the Citadel DLC, drunk off his ass, he somehow finds a way to work. he couldn't retire; he'd absolutely die of boredom. and honestly? I don't know if Shepard would be able to retire all that easily either. pair that with his follow up comment of turian-human babies, and I realize that this whole conversation isn’t so much of a promise for the future as it is him throwing out his final hail mary. he's listing things that sound more improbable than defeating the reapers to get her back on track and believe in winning this war. maybe it could be "I want a life with you even though I don't think we're going to get one," but that isn't what he's trying to do.

because you see the destruction. to get TO Garrus, you had to walk past a radio reporting 100% casualties in one sector. you know it's bleak, Shepard knows, Garrus knows. it's clear neither of them think they're getting out of there. hell, the whole reason he tries to cheer her up is because he's the one who brought up last chances. so he does what he's been doing all game and throws his final attempt at cheer at her with all he's got. it's his final push.

[fusionsprunt]

me when my meteor-powered robot gf attempts to murder me 😳😳

[ashinaisshin]

Arriving at Anor Londo

[opens-up-4-nobody]

I crucify the birthday boy as a treat

[nyxpheros]

Here's the final version :) might make the small chibi Mordin a charm you can buy on my etsy.. hmm..

[marcygoo]

RAHHH flesha ref sheet except this time it doesnt suck. as i said on the last one this whole thing is f2u ^_^ including the colors. go ham idgaf. also probably click on it to see the details and text and such cus tumblr is probz gonna destroy the quality

[kaasiand]

i wish inkbrush could do this

[doodlejoltik]

POV: you're a random Starly about to be caught unawares

I got @waywardstation's keychains and they're phenomenal! Some of my favourite keychains ever, look at these lil guys :D They went on a mini Survey Corps Expedition together

Home and sleepy...

A few more pics under the cut of Just Rei haha

Gracidea flowers perhaps....

he's just. a little guy!!!!! I love him

[goodsmellerart]

☀️ first pass at the Princesses 🌙

[omegastation]

You will be the voice of our people. I will be more than that.

[yamsgarden]

More doodles

[syn0vial]

another headcanon i have for "alan fishes tronzler out of the poisoned sea and brings him to the user world" AU is that, because the grid was devoid of any natural textures, such tactile stimulus is useful for pulling tronzler out of traumatic flashbacks where he thinks he's back on the grid again.

basically, imagine alan noticing tronzler starting to disassociate, and then just very gently and concernedly placing a pine cone into his hands. and it works