#I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THIS WILL LEAD

[wardingshout]

alttp manga cover redraw

[bet-on-me-13]

The Fentonworks Mega-Lab.

So! AU where the Fentonworks Labs actually stretch Miles upon Miles below the City of Amity Park.

It started when the Fentons wanted to add a simple addition to the original Lab when they ran out of space to store their more dangerous weapons. They didn't want their (at the time) young children getting their hands on their experimental Weaponry, it could blow up in their faces!

So they built a different Wing of the Lab to hold all those Inventions.

Then they ran out of space and added a few extra Storage Rooms. But then they decided it was a hassle to have to carefully transport their Dangerous Inventions all the way to the Storage Rooms, and built a Lab specifically for Dangerous Experiments near that same Section. Then that Lab was occupied for a while, and Jack wanted to start a different experiment as well, so they built a few more.

In the end they just never stopped building onto their Labs.

There are sections of the Mega-Lab that are entirely walled off because a few of their more unstable Experiments contaminated the area. Walking into them was not recommended, else you could walk out with an extra eye or 5.

In other sections, their Captured Ghosts had taken over a few Labs and created a sort of Mad Max style civilization using their discarded weapons and vehicles.

In another, all Ghosts became Humans and all Humans became Ghosts. That was a weird one, to this day they still didn't understand how they pulled that off.

In another, some type of Eldritch Time Ghost had been born, and now sort of always existed and never existed, and began experimenting with its powers. They nicknamed it Clocky because it liked to carry around a stopwatch.

And so many more. At one point a failed Portal Experiment messed with the internal Space of the entire thing. Now there was literally no way of Mapping it. The Fentons still somehow managed to navigate it perfectly.

When Jazz and Danny grew up, they too learned how to navigate the Labs, which is how Danny managed to show his friends the Portal Experimentation Wing in the first place.

Unfortunately, it wasn't safe for anyone aside from the Fentons to enter the Mega-Labs, so one day when the Fenton Family+friends left town on a Week Long Camping/Road Trip, they put up a few Ghost Shields to keep both Humans out and the Ghosts in.

This drew some unwanted attention after some tourists saw the giant Glowng Green Building in the middle of an Illinois Town, and rightfully called the Justice League.

Now, the Justice League had tried to call the owners of the house, but nobody picked up the phone. (An incident with Jack and a Canoe had knocked most of their phones into the lake. They weren't even at the lake yet.)

When nobody picked up, they decided to investigate personally.

After getting into the House, they quickly found a door labeled "Labs: Do Not Enter (unless it we are late for Dinner)" and went into ignoring all the warnings.

They quickly regretted it.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

Marvel Meow (2021), Nao Fuji | Professor X and Magneto

Bonus:

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

hope you feel better soon!

I am riddled with ailments, but I stay silly!

[batri-jopa]

I love my life highly satisfied just being myself

(Check the OTHER VERSION too✌️)

[puppppppppy]

(guy who has never played cotl) haha au time

[poke-poke-poke]

hear me out - i think leon and nihilego would be a fun combo

their designs compliment each other well lol

(i like villain au ideas though, so i may be biased, aesthetic wise)

[bonefall]

Hey, what makes a character a 'plot device but not a character'? And how do you not do that? I'm trying to do it on purpose but also I need to still make them interesting because it's on purpose, yknow?

A good skill to pick up is to learn to criticise criticism itself. A "plot device" is simply a thing that moves the plot along, it's a neutral literary analysis term! Usually, when people are angry that "a character has been used as a plot device," it doesn't mean they hate plot devices. It means they're gesturing at something deeper.

Runningwind and Bumble are equally plot devices in their deaths. They are both killed by the antagonist to escalate political tension. Runningwind is rarely "accused" of just being a plot device, and yet, we're talking about Bumble for the same thing.

So, why?

Well, Runningwind is just a background character, but in life, he was a part of the community. He was characterized as impatient but responsible. Yet, he wasn't SO important that he died with a bunch of unresolved plot threads.

He is mostly an extension of the entity of ThunderClan. His killing by Tigerstar, and the fear and paranoia that settles on the group after this, feel like a progression of the story insteas of something forced.

Bumble, on the other hand...

Is hated immediately by Gray Wing, when she's established as Turtle Tail's friend. Bumble's abuse at Tom the Wifebeater's hands invites even MORE investment. The rejection is shocking and upsetting. There's a story there about our main characters being imperfect; jealous, bigoted, and judgemental.

But, she is simply killed off. Everything they set up for this character is gone with little personalized fanfare. It's not a tragedy with a lesson about cruelty, or something anyone regrets.

It's just... plot. Gray Wing whinging that no one will like his shitty brother now that his body count is 2.

More than that, in the discussion of women in particular, "Fridging" was coined to give a name to the way women characters often don't get their stories told at all. There is a CULTURAL trend of female characters facing disproportionate violence, for the sake of advancing male plots.

Bumble has a lot going for her. Petal had a lot going for her. Turtle Tail had a lot going for her. Bright Stream had a lot going for her. When they died, they took their potential with them.

It's not always wrong to kill off a character of high potential, mind you. In Gurren Lagann, Kamina's death is sudden and shocking, leaving a massive hole in the hearts of the cast that never heals. Grappling with that loss, but also letting his memory fuel them, is a major theme of that story.

All that to say... there's no formula for avoiding it. You've gotta identify what the deeper issue is, in your specific narrative.

I can't say for certain what that will look like for your story, but here's some things I keep in mind;

When you make characters who exist to die, make sure they're people before you axe them.

Ask yourself; what about them does the cast miss?

If they just miss them because they were (pre-existing relationship), go back to the drawing board.

Fluttering Bird as an example. Who was she? Dead sister. Why do they miss her? Dead sister. No traits until after her death.

Runningwind was short-tempered and helpful. Kamina was a valuable leader who made people believe in a brighter future. Swiftpaw was fiesty and desperate to prove himself. The better characterized, the more profound the loss usually is.

If this is a female character who is dying just to serve the plot, be aware of cultural bias and tropes. How is the gender ratio looking in your cast? Is this happening disproportionately with your girls?

Note how Quiet Rain's litter had both a boy and a girl, but the girl was chosen to be "weaker" and wither away.

And how most of the time in DOTC, whenever a man had to be upset, a girl would get killed for it.

If you ever feel like the character on the chopping block is NOT a full character, ask yourself why it needs to be a character at all. You don't need to spend narrative time building out someone when a literal object of high value might suffice.

"My sister died when I swore to protect her and I can't face my family" = Old. Tired. Ive seen this.

"I lost my heirloom sword when I swore to protect it and I can't face my family." = Fascinating. Why was the sword so valuable? Will they really not take you back? How did you lose it?

When you do kill off "high value" characters, try to make sure you're not leaving too many plot threads hanging. Or at least make a point of how they will never get closure.

[cementcornfield]

I want the triple crown, I ain't gonna lie.

- Ja'Marr Chase | The Pivot Podcast | 2022

[dykedvonte]

MacCready being one of the few companions to not lose affinity if you eat people makes sense when you remember the fungus in Little Lamp Light grew from decomposing bodies. Like the kids weren’t eating people directly but they were eating people adjacent things.

Not to mention how the Lone Wanderer can trick the kids at LLL into buying “strange meat” to eat which is just human so it’s more likely than not they have just straight up ate people so he’s either very desensitized, knows what food desperation can do to people or feels he really has not ground to stand on since he was in the same boat whether he wanted to be or not.

[geodesick]

[ID: a drawing of pye from outer wilds, standing with her writing staff. she's wearing an orange nomai space suit without the helmet, and she has a light brown face with curly darker brown fur. end ID]

figuring out how i want to draw the nomai, so here's a pye since i am obsessed with her !!!

[luna-the-cretar]

I want yall to know that it was technically Torbek’s entire character that made me realize what Kremy and Gideon’s character arcs are, and that they even had character arcs in the first place

And I have an actual explanation for this. I’m not just pulling this out of my ass here.

Torbek from the get-go is everything that Kremy and Gideon are not. He is honest (or as honest as he can be), kind, compassionate, morally decent (I’d say the goblinoids are the 2 party members with the highest morals), and is incredibly emotional (and forthright with said emotions).

Not to say that the husbands are incapable of being any of these things—in fact, Kremy and Gideon both have repeatedly shown signs of kindness and compassion, both to their friends and to strangers. But also…im not gonna sugarcoat it, they’re not good people. They steal, they destroy, they murder (and actively enjoy the murdering process—or at least Gid does), etc. Kremy’s whole character is built on lies (literally his part of the opening poem says “when turned to words, could only lie”), and Gideon is very emotionally stunted (I’ve made a separate post going into this fairly in-depth, so I’m not gonna get too into it here, but he clearly hides behind a mask of anger whenever he feels genuinely sad, nervous, frightened, etc).

Anyway, I didn’t realize that Kremy has been going through a sort of character arc regarding his lies until they met Pincushion, where Kremy tried lying and bullying his way into getting what he wants (and it not working), and Torbek tried being kind and truthful into getting what information they needed (and it working wonderfully).

[a-very-questionably-unstable-box]

Huh- sour feelings?

//ok, now say the the first thing that comes to your head-

Lemon.

[mushroomnoodles]

settling in

simon is learning more about morri's abilities that they've gained since he's been gone. one in particular catches his attention.

morri's become disillusioned with their sleeping mother, suspecting either betty isn't there anymore or she doesn't care enough to be.

it breaks simon's heart to see them feel that way, and now that he knows there's a way to see GOLBetty he's sort of antsy to get to her, just to see her again- prove she does care about morrigan. he knows she does. but morri's not in the mood for it yet.

also, simon develops narcolepsy, with out of body experiences while he's asleep.

[fuckitpossumorb]

Listen, no matter how funny I find the idea of the sdr crew being obvious to Rett and Pyke being in a relationship let’s all be honest, they know. They know

Have any of you ever may a highschool couple who think they relationship is “super secret” meanwhile everyone and their mother is aware they are dating? That’s exactly the situation that is happening except I don’t think either of them have half the mind to try and keep it secret.

They try not to be too obvious or too lovey dovey in front of the crew bc 1. They are emotionally fucked and 2. They don’t want to make them uncomfortable.

But they have also been married for like, a millennia, who cares.

They are Dandy’s PARENTS. She would literally introduce them like “This is my dad Rett and this is Rett’s boyfriend Pyke”

Leboosh isn’t the smartest ooze construct in the galaxy but he knows a couple when he sees one, he is the epitome of the “this bitches gay, good for them” picture.

Kavir is aware, Kavir is one of the only vaguely emotionally stable people in the Rhapsody, he was Rett’s best man at the shitty Vegas wedding they had.

Chuckles acts like he doesn’t know for the memes, for the joke, but let’s all the honest.

Anyways, they are all a big family they make me ill.

[canadianlucifer]

Sometimes I get a fictional little guy in my head and I have to draw them to release them