#I know I'm not even that far in but I'm already jiving with that post in the tags that's like 'Serenoa and his platonic legally wedded

[smartzelda]

Me, starting the triangle strategy demo: Well I don't usually play these grid bases tactical strategy games but I'll give it a go

Me, five minutes into playing: I don't care what this means for the sake of the land I will make any choice that keeps Roland on my side

[pluckyredhead]

The Lost Titans in Canon: Jason and Rose

I already talked about Jason and Eddie's canon friendship, so next up, I want to talk about Jason and Rose. They're an interesting duo, actually, because even though they have appeared in far more comics together than Jason and Eddie, a lot of them take place in Elseworlds, or timelines that are in questionable continuity these days. It's only in the past couple of years that this relationship has really picked up the pace - and to a certain extent, only in the past couple of days.

Jason and Rose first interacted in Red Hood and the Outlaws, the New 52 volume. Rose turns up hunting the Outlaws, and it's revealed that she and Jason have a sexual past. Because it's RHATO, she's of course written appallingly out of character:

Awful.

The very next issue, the book is canceled. Jason and Rose walk off together, but when we next see Jason in Red Hood/Arsenal like four seconds later, Rose is nowhere in sight.

Anyway, this history and interaction are...let's say in dubious continuity. Rose's appearance here barely jives with anything else she did in the DCU (most of which was also written incoherently by Lobdell), and everything about New 52 Rose was instantly retconned out of existence by Rebirth. Then again, you could say the same thing about Jason and Roy.

Ever since, DC has treated Jason and Rose like they have romantic history of some kind, or at least there are references to sexual tension between them, but no one is ever specific about exactly what their history is.

Next up is DCeased: The Unkillables, a miniseries set in the DCeased universe. Jason and Rose actually wind up getting married in this universe, but obviously it's not actually in continuity because it's an AU. Still, they're pretty cute:

(This ends tragically, of course, because DCeased.)

Speaking of AUs, we also saw these two together in Future State, a possible dystopian future. They are definitely sleeping together, but while Rose spends most of her time making double entendres, Jason is distant and brooding, until she gets pissed off:

Still, she shows up later to rescue him, and they actually manage to end that AU together and alive (for now):

Okay, so much for AUs and potentially retconned-away interactions. What about the in continuity stuff?

Well, this single panel happened during Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last Stories of the DC Universe, which was sort of the transitional event between the end of Rebirth and completely rolling back the remnants of the New 52:

Is it still in continuity? Do any of the characters remember it? I HAVE NO IDEA.

Next is Robin, when Rose tells Jason that Damian has entered the assassin tournament on Lazarus Island, and the former Robins show up to try to stop him. Rose and Jason don't interact directly, but we do get this:

Great question, Damian! NO ONE KNOWS.

Rose and Jason FINALLY interact ONE HUNDRED PERCENT IN CURRENT CONTINUITY FOR SURE in The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing, when she rescues him from a police van and they both look ridiculously hot about it:

I'm assuming she's calling him "lover boy" because they've hooked up, but if you've read any of my work you know I'm a Jason Todd Secret Virgin truther, so I'm choosing to read it ambiguously. I'm also choosing to read her last line as her having the hots for Steph. (Rose, like me, prefers Naughty Robins only.) Anyway, she's been roped into the plot of this book, but it's still ongoing so who knows how it'll resolve. (Spoiler: not with Jason successfully killing the Joker!)

That was going to be my whole list when I started this post, but then Batman/Catwoman: Gotham War: Red Hood #2 came out, and who should show up but Rose!

We've seen this dynamic from them before: Rose cracks sex jokes, Jason is stoic and terse and Focused On The Mission. I'm of two minds about this - it's fun to read, and Rose does tend to make bawdy jokes (she did grow up in a brothel, after all), whereas Jason ranges from stoic to equally sassy depending on who's writing him, so I wouldn't necessarily say it's out of character for either of them. It's more that Rose is always depicted as the one pursuing Jason, whereas he has Important Manly Things to think about instead. (See also: Bruce and Selina, Bruce and Talia, Bruce and any woman, any man in comics and any woman.) Just because it's not technically OOC doesn't mean it doesn't overlap into a sexist trope.

(I kind of love the idea that she is literally only doing it because she knows it embarrasses him and he is Focusing On The Mission to hide his blush and they both know they aren't going to fuck, but that's a personal headcanon and not really the Occam's Razor interpretation of these scenes, which are definitely meant to imply that they are banging.)

What I did find interesting about this issue is that it's the first one in continuity to show genuine concern and affection between the characters:

Do I think Rose would ever stand with her toes together like that past the age of 12? No. But this is still very touching.

Anyway, JayRose is one of those pairings that I don't ship but am perfectly fine seeing unfold in canon. I totally get why DC would pair them, I totally get what they would see in each other, I think it will all end in disaster but that can be fun to watch. It'll be interesting to see if DC commits to actually telling an in-continuity story with these two, or if they will forever be restricted to her showing up and making a dick joke that Jason will ignore because of how he's sad inside. Time will tell!

[givehimthemedicine]

El's 4x3 massacre flashbacks analysis

just want to chew on some of the unique massacre closeup shots in this flashback that are rarely or never used in the full scenes. gonna try to see what jives and what doesn't.

(I'm not even gonna touch the Brenner shots, not because they fail to raise many questions, but because he's been thoroughly analyzed already)

let's begin!

---

8 Ball

4x3 flash:

best look at this is in 4x8, and I think it's not consistent. the blood on the 8 looks a little different. and we may be missing floor droplets:

---

chess board

4x3 flash:

the angle/distance of the board seems a little different relative to the 8 ball compared to my previous 4x8 screenshot, wouldn't you say?

the chess board is also not as pictured in Brenner 4x1 scene. there's no blood on it or chess pieces around it when he walks into the room:

ah so then it must come from El's 4x7? also no:

ps literal dialogue about Papa "moving the kids like chess pieces" and then both dead kids and chess pieces keep moving around in the massacre footage. I'm begging them to be serious

it also doesn't match the 4x6 bullying scene flashback's chess board:

---

I don't know what you call this thing

4x3 flash:

it usually sits on the center bookcase in the RR, and we also saw tiny blonde El playing with it in Terry's memory.

it is present in 4x7 and its blood seems consistently oriented to the stripe on the floor.

it's also not a perfect match for 4x6 (it's lying on white floor and the blood spatter extends from red onto white)

---

maze

4x3 flash:

not much to say about this, we're never shown this area very closely during the massacre.

--

drawing table

4x3 flash:

this is SUCH a weird angle. this is the divider of one of those drawing tables seen from almost directly underneath.

I wanted to say it's obviously the left table, but this other shot from the montage conflicts - the surface I thought this was, is clean. but at the far right edge you can see the neighboring divider is bloody.

4x3 flash:

this is weird because that's a surface that's never exposed. the drawing tables are always kept right up against each other:

so I guess they got both shoved apart and bled on during the massacre? perhaps the POV and blood belong to whoever fell down in between them and landed on the floor?

whoever that was, it definitely wasn't El, not the El shown in 4x7 anyway. she didn't go over in that area of the room at all.

anyway, to actually compare it to the only time we're shown a decent view of that corner during a massacre scene:

okay, so I never noticed the drawing tables did indeed get shoved apart. and. well well! there is indeed a dead kid who's fallen between them on the floor RIGHT EXACTLY THERE where that pov had to come from.

which kid is that and why is pre-NINA El remembering that kid's pov?? what if that's Other Timeline Elev[gets chloroformed]

anyway, the drippy blood on the bookcase is a match to 4x7's massacre. however, we're missing some blood splatters on the yellow and green stripes above the right drawing table.

wait a sec. is this 4x7 shot not also from dead drawing table kid's exact location?

--

dice

we never get a good view of this area during the massacre, but it's this spot seen best in 4x6's bullying scene:

--

and my personal favorite! Two:

they only let you see a quick glimpse of him, and most of that is very dark. the lights only flicker on in literally one single frame:

even though this is exactly the same footage we're used to from 4x7, it's not identical, it's been changed in post, and no I'm not just talking about the color grading:

in 4x3's flashbacks his eyes are clear, and in 4x7's version of the massacre they're trance-white.

sooooo. who's killing you in this timeline, bud?

so it's hard to say which version these closeups are consistent with because no single version of the massacre is even consistent within itself. but you know what these closeups ARE a match to?

the ones in the HNL Control Room trailer.

aka NINA.

but, again, El experienced these flashbacks while she was still in California. before the s4 NINA plot even picks up.

(Regina George voice) so you agree? NINA has been used before?

another option is the inverse - that El's legit memories are the source of these images and NINA is their destination - they've been taped out of her head and the HNLCRT is a demo of that footage being shown to someone else. however that still requires that something super screwy is going on with El's memories well before the NINAing of 1986.

or, third option, this trailer isn't part of canon. but that's no fun.

I have a lot more to say but it belongs in my other RR analysis. let's just end here before I lose my mind

[cflight]

get to know the author!

it's been quite a while since i've done one of these so i figure i might as well get this out of the way (even tho i chose to do it like. lol. i just woke up from a nap, spare me)

name: evan

pronouns: they/them (he is also fine)

preference of communication: discord by far (starteas#6241)

most active muse: the only muse i currently have for this blog- ekira. i'd honestly love to add some of my other muses to this blog such as hemlock since he's incredibly prevalent in ekira's story, but i need to curb my own laziness and finally give him a page lmao. i'm also incredibly out of practice with writing villains so it's been quite a while. i definitely need to freshen up there.

experience / how many years: i've been roleplaying on tumblr since i was about 13 so i have about 8 or so years of experience. i only started taking it seriously fairly recently into my early teen years, and i've been trying to do so ever since. i don't keep up to date with my rp experience nowadays (considering thinking back on old things i did as a tween makes me cringe heavily.)

when i rebooted ekira's blog back in 2020 or so is when i started taking writing up as less of a hobby and more of an artistic pursuit. i've always enjoyed it for as long as i can remember, and have loved making up stories with my characters since i was little. i consider rping to be an extension of that, and it's always great to improve my writing and characters along the way.

platforms you use: tumblr and discord, but mainly this hellsite

best experience: my best experience has been meeting other muns and interacting with characters from all aspects- whether it be canon muses or ocs, or even heavily canon-divergent muses, i love them all and interacting with each muse has been so fun. i know i would like to interact with more muns one on one more often, but i don't mind the mini interactions we do get with replying to each other's posts or seeing each other in our notifs. hello friend!

rp pet peeves: punctuation. this might be me considering i am VERY finicky on correct punctuation and spelling, so it's incredibly hard for me to jive with characters that don't seem to have as much care in their writing presentation. that's just a me thing though, and i absolutely don't fault anyone who falls into this category! it just itches my brain in a way i really do not like

this is also directed at myself, but i dislike happy-go-lucky characters with little to no substance. when i first started writing ekira that's the only thing they tended to embody. they were sweet and kind and friendly and incredibly fucking boring. they could get emotional, sure, and could get angry sometimes, but they were completely sanded down and unfun to right and otherwise just boring. i wasn't having fun writing them and i wasn't having fun in threads because i wrote them all so... samey.

it's why i decided to revamp ekira's blog the way i did, and in the same vein change up how i wrote them completely. i won't get too much into it (because tbh i already stated my problems with it and we'd be here ALL DAY if i continued) but i'm much happier writing them now than i ever was before the reboot. sometimes i still find myself falling into the same patterns as i did when i first wrote them, and it's something i personally am striving to improve on the more i write them.

ekira's still friendly and kind but can get frustrated, sad, angry, and isn't much of a blank slate as they were before. i'm incredibly proud of how far they've come since then, and hope to avoid any of the same stuff i ran into before in the past.

fluff, angst, or smut: fluff and angst are both good in moderation. i'd personally love to get into more angst threads as it's the ones i surprisingly get the least of (understandable) but i'd also like to get into more smut. i don't write it much as i'm still very much a beginner to it, but it's something i'd like to explore more of in the future; same with angst. there's a lot to ekira i'm grateful i get to explore with my friend @modestmuses and i'd certainly love more of it whether it be in those two categories.

plots or memes: i have a lot of fun doing both, but i definitely want to get better with doing things that are much more planned out. i'm not the best at thinking of in depth plots on the spot, but i know it's something i want to do more of. memes are also great (again, shouting out teddy for this one) because he just knows how to craft plots around memes so expertly that makes me crave EXACTLY what he's writing.

long or short replies: i tend to do medium replies depending on length, but recently i've been feeling more drawn to long replies. it helps me improve my writing and i love testing the waters with longer replies; it gives me more opprotunity to flesh out ekira's thoughts and actions much more than two paragraphs ever could.

best time to write: whenever i feel like it. i'm sporadic when i use tumblr so i get bursts of inspiration randomly. usually it comes best to me either mid afternoon or very late at night.

are you like your muse(s): yes and no. i'd go more in depth about it but all i can say is we both need to learn to love ourselves a bit more. also i want goat horns and a tail, it'd be sick as hell

tagged by: @modestmuses (not actually i stole this lol)

tagging: steal it

[boreal-sea]

What do you mean by "rate limited"? As far as I'm aware, no mastodon server prevents you from posting many posts in a row.

Mastodon is definitely not "just twitter but better built". I'd say there are 4 main purposes of mastodon (and the rest of the fediverse).

The first purpose is the same purpose as tumblr or twitter etc. It's social media. It's meant for people to find other people, connect with them, and post and share content that matches their interests.

To decentralize social media. This is the big pull of mastodon that makes it very different from twitter, facebook and tumblr. It's also the feature that is most confusing to understand. I'll explain it more below. It also leads into #3 and #4.

To be a place where you can be in control of the rules. Don't want Nazis? You can ban them, or join a server that has strong rules against them.

To get away from commercialized forms of social media so you aren't constantly bombarded by ads, and your data isn't being fed to advertisers, and so you know the platform you are on won't cave to advertisers and do things like ban porn.

#1: Social media

This is the easiest to understand: it's social media, we all know what that is. If people think the fediverse is only about #1, they go "ok but the internet is full of places to meet people, I don't need another website to do that on". And they'd be right! But it's the other three purposes that make the fediverse unique.

#2: Decentralization

In my opinion this is the key to the fediverse. And it seems really complicated and too difficult to understand but it's really not.

Imagine you could download tumblr's code, then upload it to your own website, and run your own copy of tumblr. As a bonus, you could still follow anyone over on the main tumblr website and they could follow you. It would be exactly like using Main Tumblr; the experience would be seamless.

But there would be advantages too. Like if Main Tumblr decided to cave to advertisers and ban porn, for example. YOU wouldn't have to stop posting porn, because you're not on Main Tumblr, you're using your copy of Tumblr on your site, and your rules say porn is A-OK. So you could keep posting all the porn you wanted, and anyone who followed you could see it, and no one could stop you (as long as you're following the laws of the country your server is set in obviously).

And what if Main Tumblr decided to shut down? Not a problem for you - you're not using their site, so all your data is safe! If Discord goes down, every single Discord server also dies with it.

Twitter is dying; every single Twitter community and everyone's followings they've built are all dying with it because there's only one Twitter. A lot of artists and other people who depend on Twitter due to the followings and the communities/brands they've built on there are literally losing their livelihoods because Twitter is dying, and there's only one Twitter.

But if they'd been on a mastodon server that was dying, they could just move to a different server and all of their followers go with them - they wouldn't lose their audience and they wouldn't have to rebuilt it. Or, even better, they could just host their own server for their own brand and never have to worry about it going down on them, ever.

Now yes, hosting a website does cost money. And if you don't have money, that's ok! There are a bunch of servers out there already that are running and funded and accept users for free, and most of them have a set rule that if, for some reason, they have to close the server, you will get a 3 month warning to pick somewhere else to go.

All you have to do is read their rules and see if it's a community you jive with. Then after you join, you can follow anyone anywhere. It's that open, and that easy.

#3 Rules and moderation

Another huge advantage of the fediverse is that every server can have its own rules, just like Discord servers can have their own rules. Many servers have extremely strict rules against nazis, racism, homophobia, spam, etc.

And the best part is, these server admins can actually enforce these rules because most of the servers are small. This means there's not that many people to deal with and moderation is actually a feasible task.

#4 Commercialization

You might have heard "on facebook, you are the product" and it's true. Your data (and your identity) is the product being sold to the advertisers on those platforms. With no ads, there's no one trying to buy your data. The server your are on is the product, one you can choose to donate to if you wish.

[impyssadobsessions]

So far from what I’ve read from your DPxDC fanfictions I’m in love. Danny would just thrive so much having other supers/vigilantes to bounce off of.

BUTT it got me thinking… What about Dani? She doesn’t have the ghost crown tying her to Amity Park nor is she responsible for any ghost containment. If she’s really stabilized she can go wherever she wants in the world. Heck if she’s feeling drained she could take a dunk in a Lazarus Pit for all we know. Plus she’s got the black hair blue eyes too. AND a very good reason not to trust rich men wanting to adopt kids.

Danny would become top tier hero if he had other heroes to rely on >w< He already has the powers and from experience knows that life is in his hands, plus natural leader. I thought a lot about Dani's dynamic in DC crossover. There is a lot you can do with her, plus it be easier for her to run into heroes because she's roaming around. Also think it be fun if someone did a story of Catwoman semi-adopting Dani.. She be so proud of her little thief. XD I can see them both jiving well together. Meet while stealing =w= With the bats in particular, can see her wandering into Gotham and running into them. If she gives any of them a time of day its because one of them reminds her of Danny, so that little bit of security... (Which wouldn't be Bruce because Batman scary XD) Tim or Dick more likely.. or even Jason because he has that ghostly feel. Anyways Dani I see as a loner mischievous type, she's still fresh to the world so she doesn't have strong morals. I think Batman would actually be really good for her to grow, plus Batman actually has experience with kids that act like her. Once he overcomes her trust issues with billionaires of course. Dani also I don't see as the heroic type, anti-hero at best. She just rather be free and have fun, so I can see her running around as robin just for funs but decide heroing isn't for her. Her getting excited about doing normal things until she realize they're boring like school XDD. Can see Cass being a good mentor/older figure for her too. Dani would wreck havoc at galas.. and Bruce couldn't prove a thing. =w=' Kek. But like I said I see Bruce being a good figure for Dani because of his experience with the other kids.. and having strong morals. Which encourages Dani to start revaluating her own morale and what she is or isn't ok with. What crosses the line for her. Idk if her and B ever be close but she definitely would love all her family members and fight for them in a heartbeat. Ooo can also see if Batman doesn't know about Danny yet... Dani probably confusing the heck out of them.. when she mentions Danny.. because Dani is her name XD... but also them finding out about her "cuz". In DC crossover I see like Danny being good for Bruce's growth more than his own and Bruce being better for Dani's growth. Because Danny isn't like the other kids he's adopted.. despite looking and acting similar. He KNOWS the dangers, he knows how bad a screw up can change everything. He's half-dead, so he's very well aware that death is a possibilty. So Bruce would have to change his approach if he ever want to get close to/mentor Danny. Kek sorry for long post. I had the Dani thing explained better in my head, but anyways. Dani is perfect to use for a dp x dc especially for the bats. Tim bringing over Kon... Connner? ......k or c? ANYWAYS brings him over and she can relate to another clone. If going off from what I have written from my own fanfic.. can see Dani existing makes Danny and Bruce argue.. because Bruce like why haven't you told me and leaving her alone like that was irresponsible. Danny like WHAT YOU EXPECT FROM ME BRUCE?! I'm 16, she doesn't have a cellphone, and the only place that ISNT safe for her is my home town. Well until now.. AND WE HAVE A VENDETTA AGAINST BILLIONAIRES! Why would I tell someone I'm still trying to learn to trust?! Plus I like to make sure she's ok with it before telling you. Because its HER LIFE that's at risk. Anyways Danielle has so much potential. She just hyper little op demon. Chaotic little girl. ..again sorry for the long thing XD

[moonsdancer]

Jayce is from the Talis House but house members can be parts of Clans (Kiramman, Medarda, Ferros) which are the like nobility. So I still think that Jayce is middle class post time-skip.

I don't know, according to the wiki:

The difference between a clan and a house is that clans are larger, do not necessarily have all of their members related by blood by direct family connections, and have larger political influence and income for their ventures. For instance in the Arcane universe, House Talis still requires funding for their hextech ventures, despite Jayce Talis being a councilor.

We know that Hextech still needs backing to really fund its development on a largescale, which makes sense. I think for any development on this scale that has implications for the entire city's trade with all of Runeterra, commerce and mega infrastructure (like the Hex Gates), he would need to make deals with investors and have the approval / support of the council.

Re: clans and houses. It doesn't seem as crazy and hierarchized by titles as, for example, British aristocracy. So while the Houses don't have as much political influence, expansive wealth or largesse as Clans but they're still important and not regular middle class folk. On the other hand, he's seen as an upstart by some people, e.g. the cops outside the Progress Day event, to some extent Marcus, and some of the councilors even when he ascends to being one, so that's interesting. I'd like to hear more about that kind of thing.

Jayce, by the time-skip has raised his house's status to some degree, even before he becomes a councilor. I assume they don't invite just anyone to deliver the Progress Day speech. And I'm not convinced he could've even be raised to (a) the prominence he has and (b) the council if he wasn't already from a house, and from a house that had already been massively elevated by his highly profitable/impactful/popular inventions.

Aside: there's a wealth of interesting things to be said about the relative mega social mobility he has vs Viktor who's from the undercity, has never had the backing of any important house or clan etc., and isn't celebrated by the city at large the way Jayce is. It's the man not men of tomorrow. Like obviously, Viktor is uncomfortable with the more public aspects of being one half of the Hextech inventor duo, but I doubt there were many doors open to him to even play that role to begin with even if Jayce would encourage him to do so over the years and is happy to share the spotlight, but maybe I'm wrong????

Mel is a curious anomaly and I'm still confused by where she stands in the 'verse. In Arcane verse, she's the first Medarda in Piltover. As far as we know, there is no Medarda Clan or House there yet, she's alone. Her mother claims she was sent to take care of Medarda interests but this doesn't jive with the whole banishment thing. In ep 2, we learn she somehow has the backing of Clan Ferros, and they feel she "owes" them. Are they how she got her spot on the council? She's the richest person in the city, but is that enough to buy a seat on the council? Doesn't seem that way. Maybe the show will expand next season to make it clear who Salo, Hoskel, Shoola and Bolbok represent/ed to help clarify. And I think the show is establishing Mel as essentially the matriarch of Piltovan Medarda Clan (if she survives).

[esther-dot]

Did you understand her motivation? I didn't, lol. It's worth a good head scratch. Whatever they showed, was too little, too inconcistent, too disconnected. In the book the king of the ashes is the one who inherits KL after the catastrophe, not the one who burns it. I.e, leaving scorched earth to the enemy. In the absence of political content, the ending felt really stupid. I'll be forever mad abt it. What a waste of such a good story! dif anon btw.

I'm working through my inbox and this ask is so old, I can't even remember what I had posted that this was in response to. I'm so sorry anon! But clearly, we're talking about Dany and why she burned KL. I absolutely agree that what they did with Dany was very disjointed. When I think about it, I'm not satisfied with any one interpretation because they threw so many conflicted ideas at us. I know sometimes we've talked about it as punishment for the people not embracing her/loving her, but I think it makes more sense if Dany was meant to make the logical (evil, but rational) choice to quell rebellions before they began by destroying KL. That feels like the right followup to “let it be fear.” If you (they) wont love me, you'll (they'll) fear me.

In s8 they were leaning into that love vs fear idea, and I really think 8x05 “let it be fear” moment was meant to be the decision point. She already knew no one in Westeros would love her, but to actually know that not even Jon did, when he was the only one left (Jorah and Missandei having died), but he wasn’t loyal/didn’t love her, I think she’s meant to realize, she has nothing. She has no loyal advisors or loved ones, not even a trusted ally. She has nothing but the throne and it’s the final nudge with her god complex. She is so far removed from humanity, that she not only executes individuals without flinching, she'll destroy a city without caring. Of course, that doesn’t jive with what happens after the burning of KL or after her death (in which Tyrion and Jon are still loyal/enamored...apparently), but it felt like there was a reason they focused on her being isolated. If that was a moment that she realized no one, not even the people who are technically on her side, love her/trust her/want her to rule, then it makes sense to do something awful to strike fear into people. She already tried ruling once while people were rising up against her. Why wouldn't she think that this time, she'd stop them before they began? Idk, I guess I am all for ruthless conqueror, very against brokenhearted girl who slaughters a city because her boyfriend doesn't want to get it on. And yeah, I know people say we're stupid for getting that impression, but like...that's on D&D.

Another possibility is that Dany was meant to take the city still using some restraint. There was a Dany stan who got to look at the script and they said that it only specified that she was targeting soldiers and that it was the Wildfire that did most of the work of burning KL. I know a lot of people pointed out how excessive her targeting of civilians was (they dedicated a lot of screentime to it), so maybe at some point their plan for show!Dany was less extreme, and Jon killing her was far more morally grey. This wouldn't absolve Dany, she knew about the wildfire, but that would have been more a matter of accepting mass casualties than needlessly causing them. Since the show cut out her worse acts, I don't immediately dismiss this possibility. Maybe they were going to white wash her until the end. If there is any truth here, it would imply that EC's reaction to that script made D&D realize they had really fucked up and needed to make her even more monstrous to justify Jon killing her and also rewrote stuff in the finale to soften her ending for her stans, resulting in some very incongruous stuff. I don't really buy that though.

I will never not be amazed that D&D tried to tone down the fantasy, and then chose not to lay the groundwork for the ending. Imagine making that choice. "We want to focus on politics. Btw, let's not offer any explanation for the political endgame." lmao.

[afoxysunny]

Jives as High Duke

So Jives gets a second pick and oh my G did i struggle with choosing this one. In the end I'm pretty happy with the decision to give him the Monkey Miraculous

The whole story for how he ended up with having to pick a second time is already on the post about Stingy, who gets the Turtle from Jives, so I'll try not to repeat myself too much

So here are the references for this design

This design came out a lot simpler than it probably should be considering that it's based on the Chinese Monkey King but Jives isn't one for overly flashy and elaborate costumes in my opinion

Also, yes, again, his eyey should be blue but making colour changes to coloured pencil drawings is really hard, I'm sorry

Again, i just did what felt natural to me and in no time this was the outcome. Conclusion: drawing Jives comes very natural to me and i appreciate him for that

Design Notes:

Chest Pattern - i wanted to make the chest pattern here resemble the one he had as Grinder Turtle, this was also a big factor that sold me on giving him this Miraculous. I just think it looks really cool and it connects the two designs in a vague sense

Beanie - my boy Jives always wears some sort of hat, this is no exception. The Monkey Miraculous is a Crown and here it blends in so it now replaces the brim section of the beanie. On second thought it might be a little basic to choose a beanie but it just really suits him, i couldn't think of a better fit. Especially because it goes along really well with the headshape of the monkey i based him on

Toque Macaque - I'll be real with you, I'm not a huge fan of monkeys which makes them one of the few animal species i don't love and also makes the biggest reason i wasn't immediately happy to give my dear Jives this Miraculous xD I'm shallow i know. Anyways. I may not know a lot about monkeys but i knew enough to pick this macaque because the colours go well enough with the Monkey Kwami Xuppu and i liked the markings it has. [coicidentally this specific kind, the Toque Macaque, happens to share its natural habitat with the peacock ;)]

Tail - on his back you see how the rope detailing from his chest and pants combine into the belt and eventually the tail. I wanted the markings to kind of resemble a harness for climbing, i don't think it comes across too well though

Hair - the little bit you can still see of his actual hair coincidentally blends in almost seamlessly with the colour of his costume, that wasn't planned but i like it a lot

Reasoning:

At the point in time where i made the decision that Stingy would take the Turtle Miraculous from Jives i already had most Miraculous assigned to most other characters, in fact i was only really missing one for Ziggy. So spoiler alert i guess for him. I fudged around for a while between the Mouse and the Monkey, both would've worked well with either but in the end settled on the Monkey for Jives for multiple stupid timy reasons. For example the chest pattern i already mentioned, my ship-trash side going "a monkey and a peacock fit together way better aesthetically than a mouse and a peacock would", he and Xuppu would have a funny bro dynamic together etc.

Story:

I already explained why and how Jives loses the Turtle Miraculous to Stingy in my post about the latter so I'll just give a short summary here before moving on

As per usual Jives didn't eat much throughout the day and ends up fainting. This time it's a much bigger deal though. Usually he doesn't actually fully faint, just sway a little, maybe collapse but for the most parts he stays conscious just really weakened. That day the team of new heroes is fighting an important battle when he full on passes out in the middle of it. Luckily Stingy is able to step in to build their defense up again.

Obviously, instead of saying "i eat as little as possible because i have a problem" Jives just shrugs it off and goes "guess i didn't eat enough again, my bad guys, sorry" and thinks it'll be fine. He didn't expect Álfurildi, aka Sportacus, to take this very literal and announce that he planned on having them eat in his airship as a whole group anyway gor team moral and to make sure they're all healthy enough to actually handle a Miraculous. They deduce that must have been the reason Jives full on fainted this time, while going by his usual life he obviously didn't need as much energy as he now needs to be a superhero so the simple solution is to just eat more.

He makes excuses to not eat with the others as often as he can but one day he'd have to actively leave the others to do so as he already is in the airship with them when they start preparing to serve the next meal. That day he actually snaps at Sportacus that he just doesn't want to eat. Unfortunately, thanks to being such a gentle soul and also sensing Jives frustration and hunger Sportacus tries to comfort Jives with the worst thing he could've said. "heroes gotta eat well, so you can become big and strong" to which Jives absolutely loses it. He snaps at him "I'm already too big without eating anything, can't you just leave me alone!" and just jumps out of the airship. By now he already has Xuppu as his new partner so of cause he makes it down unharmed to run off into the forest. Sportacus wants to follow him but Robbie stops him. Robbie, who so far was pretty quiet and reclusive when the teens came to visit, says he will go find and talk to him taking Pixel with him as he is his best friend after all.

I'll spare you the unnecessarily details i cane up with and just say this is the moment Robbie gets to explain how the powers i gave him work and we get to see that he does really deeply care but just can't really express it. They find Jives and thanks to Robbie being able to relate to him about some of his insecurities and Pixel being a great friend he ends up confessing to them about his eating disorder. He never wanted to be the odd one out but never managed to fit in with the others. It's hard to hide you're different when you're towering over your peers so he figured if he just stopped eating he'd stop growing and though it had no positive effect on him he just couldn't stop doing it even after realizing how bad it had gotten.

Going back to the airship together once the situation calmed down a bit and with Jives' permission they let Sportacus in on this secret. As Robbie figured, the local health expert knows exactly what foods wouldn't upset such an empty stomach too badly and they start the process of finding a few good things for Jives to eat so he doesn't break down again.

Name:

Quick, something more lighthearted

When Jives gets his second pick for a Miraculous his eyes fall on the little Monkey, Xuppu. The two pretty quickly get along thanks to Xuppu being a jokester and Jives liking how bro-like they can talk and poke fun at each other. This turns out to be a great pick as this Kwami of Jubilation not only like shouting random noises around just like Jives but is also sassy and straightforward enough to remind him to eat every once in a while by poking fun at him using something Pixel once said to him "I'll not let you eat less than the Kwamis" (yes this part should've technically been in the reasoning section but you kinda need the context of the story for it so i put it here)

So Trixie explains that Xuppu's transformation and powers are based on the Chinese Monkey King (she knows that from the Guardians) but Jives really isn't one for flashy costumes and important titles so not only is his costume more basic than it probably should be but also he wamts to name himself "Duke". Stingy immediately objects "A duke is about as royal as a prince! You're completely underselling this concept. You have to trade with me! You get yoir turtle back. Let me be King!" Xuppu and Wayzz look at each other and roll their eyes, Xuppu then steps floats forward to say "well, he's not entirely wrong. Wouldn't you like to pick something higher?" so Jives chuckles and goes "High Duke". Again Stingy is outraged by this disrespect "that's ridiculous!" but Xuppu laughs and says "no, i like his style! Let's do this!" and so their new duo is established

Look, don't judge me, everyone headcanons Jives with growing not all legal things in his garden so now that he's actually a teen in my au I'm keeping it xD

Thank you so so much for reading so much of my rambling. You're so cool for taking the time to read this!

[afoxysunny]

Stingy as Vault

I went through a couple options what Miraculous to give Stingy and in the end settled on the Turtle, Wayzz. Now you might be a little confused and inclined to ask "but wait, you already gave Jives the turtle?? Did you forget that or are xou redconning it??" and I'd say, very well observed but trust me, it'll all make sense in due time

Stingy, just like in Lazytown canon, is the kind of kid who will not share anything unless he has to and prioritizes his own gain over basically everything and everyone else. Granted, in the show it's mostly played for laughs but that is not what a superhero is made of. Lucky Bug and Pitch Serval are very clearly advised to choose people they can trust with their own and the lives of their family and friends. Due to him behaving like a total selfish dick he does in fact not get to choose a Miraculous together with all the other teens in the friendgroup.

I'll go a little more in depth how it happens in the story section of this post but for now just know he eventually ends up getting the Turtle Miraculous from Jives

Here's what i referenced while drawing him

I swear, while drawing i looked at a seaturtle that had a yellow, brown, green and blue pattern on its shell but that miraculously (haha) is the only pic i couldn't find again while making these collages for you; but anyway

Design Notes:

Suit and tie vibe - it was never even an option to pull Stingy's outfit away from suit and tie territory so i gave him a vest as that looks basically like the shell bodx of a turtle anyway, he got those fabulous scale like suit shoes i found and the patches on his knees and elbowy are supposed to resemble the patches often sewn on suit jackets. He's just fancy like that

Shield - this was one of the spontaneous ideas that made me certain i wanna give him the Turtle Miraculous. Because of his wealth based priorities the usually simple shell like shield gets a yellow rim and a giant 1 on top of the design to look like a coin

Miraculous Power, Shell-ter - usually this power manifests as a dome like shape around the heroes to protect them from attacks. Strangely when Stingy uses it it changes its form completely. Because to him nothing is safer than a safe so it's not rount at all but instead a cube with one big hexagon on the front side, ya know, like thw door of a vault

Hair - slicked back hair not only fit well to represent a turtle but also

I honestly don't have a lot more to say here, it all fell pretty naturally into place once i settled on the theme

Reasoning:

Canon Stingy essentially runs on one of two modes, all for one or one for all

Either i want all the things and the best of the best, every thing needs to belong to me there is no debating it, i don't care about anybody else, all is mine, every thing and sometimes even people

Or all things suck, nothing is worth anything without my friends, all i want is my friends and nothing but my friends

And i wanted to include both sides of him

Story:

Stingy lucked out pretty hard with his suoer rich family, at least when it comes to possessions; personality wise, not so much. Being mostly around his parents he grew up to be very selfish as he was used to getting whatever he wanted. With Sportacus never moving into town Stephanie and the other kids were the only possitive influence he had but it didn't work wonders. Sure, they all are good friends but mostly just because they grew up together and that unites people. Overall, he is the friend in the group that nobody really understands how they became friends with but they like him and he likes them so nobody questions it.

But. When Álfurildi entrusted Lucky Bug and Pitch Serval to gather allies he was very certain to make absolutely sure the two understood how important it is to choose people they can trust. Trust to always have their backs and maybe even trust with their own lives and the lives of everyone in town.

When the duo explained the Miracle Box to their friends and told them to pick a Miraculous Stingy was overwhelmed by the shiny opportunity and immediately wanted them all for himself. He offered to buy the rest because they said one for each. Lucky Bug and Pitch Serval look at each other and the decision is made. No Miraculous for Stingy. He's just too unreliable, too unfocused, too selfish to be a hero in their team.

Offended to be the only one excluded he goes to pout. But not far away. He stays nearby to pout to make sure his friends can see him clearly so maybe they'll feel bad. They don't. He ends up "coincidentally" showing up to all their training sessions with cool expensive things only he has to pout some more.

One day the team of heroes is in mids of battle (second or maybe even first actual battle against the not yet very defined antagonist) when their protector Grinding Turtle, aka Jives, collapses like he's infamously known for. With him his Shell-ter breaks down and Spectra, aka Pixel, has to quickly jump to pick up his friend and bring him out of the fight. That's when Stingy, who has been nervously watching all this time, jumps into action himself. Snatching the Turtle Bracelet away from his unconscious friend he transforms into the new turtle themed superhero. He can't bear watching his friends lose this fight and so he had to take this chance as he saw it. Now or never. With a fresh Shell-ter powered by the very confident and determined Stingy they get a chance to regroup and turn this fight around.

After the battle, now that all his friends are safe again, he of cause refuses to give back the Miraculous to the rightful owner. Jives, by now awake again, looks a little lost at Lucky and Pitch. They exchange a few meaningful glances, then nod. Stingy can keep the Turtle Miraculous and Jives just has to pick a new one.

Name:

I'm sure it's obvious by now but I'll add it anyway.

In this moment of desperation, where Stingy's actions for the first time are not fueled by simply wanted to have a Miraculous but instead wanting to protect his friends the Shell-ter takes on the unusal cube-ish form of a giant safe. Because that's what Stingy needed in the moment, something unbreakably secure around his friends.

That's when someone asks in confusion "a safe?" and the ever confident know-it-all Stingy goes "actually, it's a vault, and it's mine!" super proud of himself he then decides to keep the name Vault for himself

Damn, look at you, reading all those words. Thank you so much for your attention and i hope it made sense and that you enjoyed it