#I really like them both and I’m proud of the way I designed Fan

[someonenamedriptide]

Post-ii2 doodle where iii didn’t happen and everyone’s now just living in OJ’s hotel. A quick Mephone and Fan interaction because I really like how they mesh.

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @66sharkteeth

66 is a comic artist and the creator of City of Blank, a WEBTOON original series. They worked in the game industry at companies such as 2K Games before entering the field of comics. They began their career in comics at Tapas, where they worked as an editor and lead typesetter, before being signed to create their own original series on WEBTOON.

Check out our interview with 66 below!

Have you ever had an art block? If so, how did you overcome it?

The short answer is yeah, I’ve definitely had one. Overall, I feel like doing a lot of style studies during that time and trying to use new brushes helps a lot. In addition, because I’m a comic artist, I feel like writer’s block is in the same field, and with that, I’m really fortunate that I have an editor that I can work with, who helps me a lot there. Whenever I am stuck at a plot point in my comic, I can always go to my editor, who helps me hammer things out.

What medium have you always been intrigued by but would never use yourself?

Animation. Of course, everyone loves animation. I went to school for game art and design and even did some animation courses, and I am just not cut out for it. I don’t enjoy the process, and I am not good at it. Animation is beautiful, and I admire people who can do it. I’d love for my work to be animated some day, I’m just not capable of being the one to do it haha.

Warm tones or cool tones?

It really depends on the scene! Especially in my comic, I really go with both of them, just depending on the moment in the comic. There was a major character death, and that scene was almost black and white. But normally, the comic is very vibrant, and people really like it, so when I switch it to a more cold tone, it makes the scene that much more impactful.

What is a recent creative project that you are proud of?

Honestly, my current comic, City of Blank, takes up 100% of my time. But recently, I did a plushie campaign where I worked with Makeship through Webtoon to design the plushies and do a little bit of marketing for them. So that’s fun and different from what I normally do!

When planning a comic or a story, what do you do first, character design or character outline?

Normally, I have a design, and I fall in love with the character design, and then I find a role for them. That’s how a lot of my characters have started. Also, that’s how I’ve been tackling new projects that I want to work on after City of Blank. I just came up with a character, and I’m trying to make a story around them.

What is a convention experience that has stuck with you?

Meeting readers and realizing how much my work means to some of them. Some of them have started their own comics, having been inspired by mine. Learning that I’m part of the reason they started their own comic journey, the same way I looked to other inspiring comic artists to start mine—it means the world that I’m in that position now.

Top tips on setting up an Artist Alley booth?

Let’s see…bright, sparkly colors! I think just trying to make sure that the booth is eye-catching. I ended up making a big shiny banner for New York Comic Con, and I know many people stopped by because it caught their eye and they’re curious about what it is. I know a lot of people are selling merchandise of popular media. Even just a banner of your brand to get them curious about who you are and maybe interested in seeing what you make and taking a business card so they can look you up later. It’s better than someone just buying a pin and forgetting you exist. Lastly, put out a tip jar. You never know just how generous your fans are feeling.

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

I’m mostly involved in the webtoon sphere! I am definitely inspired by my fellow Webtoon creators, @lark-wren, who created the series Woven. I love their work and seeing them interact with their readers on Tumblr. Same with fellow Webtoon creators, @miranda-mundt-art and @astrobleme-enterprises, who created Lovebot.

Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing, 66! Be sure to check out their Tumblr blog over at @66sharkteeth and follow their webcomic, City of Blank, over at WEBTOON.

[ohno-the-sun]

Spoiler heavy fnaf ruin dlc rant up ahead

I am so fucking proud of steal wool they really took every criticism from the original game and fixed it and even added more

Like Cassie actually acts like a human being?? And like her knowledge of the original characters and cute little comments on every item are so endearing there is so much detail going into this.

The fact that they expanded on one of the fan faves Roxanne and giving her a great arc I’m in love I’m so happy

They honestly gave more depth to all the animatronics too like we finally see Bonnie’s design and get and get a taste as to what happened, also that poster Freddy gifted him I’m crying they are so cute and gay I love them

😭😭😭

Also the whole dark ride section with Monty is so fascinating like is that narrative kind of true or is it just fabricated by fazbear inc to cover up the decommissioning of Bonnie

Why replace Bonnie with Monty?? Why not make a new Bonnie model?? With the prototype label on Freddy it may be confirmed that they make multiple models (well we already kinda knew that with Freddies comments but oh well)

Also Freddy?? Like is that our Freddy or a different one?? They very clearly highlighted the prototype label so they want to emphasize it, but then the head is still missing like in the princess quest ending so what is the truth??

Feel bad for chica fans tho she really was sidelined hard

Aaaaa and my baby boys!!! There’s 3 now aaahaga

I was really not expecting eclipse to be the way they were, very… normal? Is that the right word?? Like obviously a little delusional on when the daycare is gonna open again, but in the right mindset of like this child needs to leave this place is not safe. It is interesting to me that both he and Roxy thought that it was Cassie’s birthday, maybe that was the last day before she left the plex? Or maybe that was the day the plex caught fire? Or maybe most depressingly we are playing on Cassie’s birthday so the animatronics have it in their systems what her birthday is and wish her a happy one (if they are in the right state of mind lol)

Some peeps are upset moon is a little too villainous

I think you can still say it was mainly the virus but I would argue even if it’s not the virus I feel like moon is kinda justified here. Like sun has been shutting him away for a long time before this (if the books are to be believed but also in general) so when he finally gets a chance to roam free of course he’s gonna take it. And idk about u but if my alternate personality was constantly trying to shut me out and I finally got control, I probably too would try and keep my control for as long as possible. Also from what I have seen so far, not even moon is all that aggressive? Like he grabs you at the beginning, but I think that’s just his very ineffective way to get kids to sleep and other than that he just kinda stays away

Poor sunny baby is stuck in the ar world 🥺🥺 I didn’t notice at first but yeah everytime you talk to him it’s only in the ar world. And the end part where you switch them out for eclipse if you do that in the ar world, he says not for me it’s for moon.

I will say though I noticed the voice acting for them changed a little this game, like both have a higher pitch and are more goofy sounding? Like more gremlin energy than evil villainy. I wonder if that was on purpose? Both of them sounded more like the other so maybe that was the reason? Interest interest

Also their mouth moves?? Sort of?? That’s so silly to me they have a whole working mouth system and their face mask doesn’t work with at all 😭

Does give me lore intrigue tho cause like why do their mouths move but not anymore?? Did something happen?? Are they just not maintained enough?? They also move outward instead of up and down (at least from what I saw) so is the mechanism different?

Also the way that sun and moon talk about eachother is so interesting. Like moon says the light hurts “us” and sun says “no the other me” like they seem to almost consider eachother more connected than we first thought, like they’re not just coworkers or strangers they are almost like two sides of the same person. It’s very interesting and I wonder where people will take this.

Overall great job I’m so excited to comb through the game and find every little secret (especially regarding the dca) aaaa

Ok ok update moon does have a jump scare but it’s ridiculously hard to get and I’d still argue he’s not as vicious as he was base game. I mention in another post but eclipse being as kind as he is and being (presumably) a combination of both AIs, gives even more evidence moon is supposed to be kind and caring like his posters suggest but something went wrong. Also Cassie’s comments on their plushes show that there were kids who truly liked the daycare.

[fangirlwriting-stories]

First Blood

Summary: No One Knows AU Part 1, Danny should have expected that he wouldn't be able to do this ghost fighting thing by himself forever. Though admittedly, he didn't expect things to go quite like this.

Author's Note:

My brain: Hey you should write a Danny Phantom AU

Me: Wtf? Why?

My brain: I wanna

Me:

Anyway I do partly blame this fic on AO3 by artistfingers for giving me the inspiration.

…

He’d meant to tell them, was the thing.  It was entirely a coincidence that they weren’t there when it happened in the first place.

Sam had been the one to first have the idea of checking out the ghost zone, even if Danny had been desperately curious before that too.  But she’d been the one to convince him to try it, and he’d even gotten into the suit his parents had designated for this purpose (thankfully with a thought from Sam to pull his Dad’s face off his chest), but before he could actually go in the portal and turn it on, Sam’s parents showed up and dragged her and Tucker home.

They had never been the biggest fans of Danny or his parents, and weren’t super happy when they learned Sam was there.  Tucker had tried to protest against getting dragged along, but Sam’s parents kind of had a presence you couldn’t stand up to for very long, so they’d both left eventually.

But Danny was only more desperately curious after almost going in, and he couldn’t know when his parents would both be out like this again.  So, he’d gone back an hour later and turned the portal on.  And then…

Well.

Then he’d started trying to come up with a way to say “hey guys I’m sort of half ghost now” without sounding like a total lunatic.

And then the ghost fights had started, and Danny Phantom became well known before Danny Fenton could come up with a way to explain it to them.  And then he didn’t want them to get hurt.  The fights were hard enough on him, and he had superpowers.

He’s… definitely regretting that decision now.  He should have known eventually he’d come across something he couldn’t defeat on his own, for one reason or another.  But he’d always assumed if that came up it would be a ghost that was just too powerful, and he could ask someone for help.  Hard to do that when the problem is an evil but human ringmaster with a ghost-controlling crystal ball.  Admittedly, he hadn’t thought that far ahead.

He’s not quite sure what’s going on when he comes to, but the crystal ball is shattered in pieces at his feet and the other ghosts he’s become familiar with are blinking in the space across from him.  Freakshow himself is in between them all, staring at the crystal ball like he’s trying to process what’s happening.

Danny’s doing the same thing.  This isn’t Amity Park, that’s clear enough, but he doesn’t know where he is.  He doesn’t know what’s just happened, though he has a vague memory of an overwhelming sense of anger giving him enough force to throw the crystal ball to the ground.

“You know,” Freakshow says, looking up with a terrified grin.  “When I called you, uh, ‘minions,’ it was really a term of endearment, like, ‘Oh, I love my minions!’”

Danny scoffs, meets eyes with the other ghosts, and finds them in agreement.

They drag Freakshow to the haul he’s made them all put together, call the cops, and fly off into the night.

But while the three of them go who-knows-where, Danny changes forms and heads for a grocery store or a gas station, any place where he can find a newspaper and hopefully figure out the date or his location.  Preferably both.

…It’s been weeks.  It’s been weeks and he’s halfway across the country.

Danny sits on the ground outside of the gas station and drops his head in his hands.  The homework alone is going to be a nightmare.

His stomach growls.  He’s been in his ghost form for who knows how long, and it’s probably been just as long since he ate, but he doesn’t have any money on him.

So, in a move he’s not exactly proud of, he steals a couple apples and bags of chips from the gas station and practically inhales them.  He sits on a bench for another hour or so before he realizes he probably can’t put off the inevitable anymore.

He switches forms again and starts flying home.

He’s pretty fast at this point, so it takes him no more than a couple hours to get there, but he has no idea what he’ll find when he arrives.  The past couple weeks get blurrier the closer the time gets to the present, but he has the feeling he’s done some bad stuff.  He doesn’t know what his public image in Amity Park is anymore, but he has an inkling it’s not exactly great.

And that’s just the Phantom side of things.  He’s going to have to deal with the Fenton side first, and that almost sounds worse.

First, however, he’s exhausted, and still hungry, and he can’t deal with this tonight.  So he resigns himself to worrying everyone for one more night, grabs some stuff from the fridge, and flies silently up to his bedroom.  He eats handfuls of whatever food he grabbed with his back to the door, and then leans back against it and breathes, taking in the feeling of at least being home.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem he’s going to get even a night of reprieve, because the next second someone bangs on the door he’s leaning against, and he splays forward on the ground with a surprised yelp.

He turns to see Jazz forcing the door open.  She freezes when she sees Danny, and for a couple seconds, they stare at each other.

“Uh,” Danny says.  “Hi?”

Jazz blinks.  “Hi?”

Danny swallows.  “Yeah?”

Jazz balls her hands into fists and glares at him.  “Where have you been?”

“Um.”

Jazz buries her hands in her hair and pulls on it, giving a frustrated scream.  “Danny!  Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been?”

“Sorry,” Danny mutters, not sure what else to say.  He still has no idea what’s happened the past few weeks.

Jazz runs her hands over her hair, smoothing it down, and takes a deep breath.  Then she kneels down and pulls Danny into a crushing hug.

“Why would you run away like that?” Jazz says, but there’s something else in her voice, like she’s trying to get at something.  “Are you okay?  Are you hurt?  Do you want to—” she pulls back, and looks Danny in the eyes with a very pointed expression.  “Do you want to talk about it?” she asks, her voice suddenly very soft and gentle.

Danny stares at her for a second, not sure where the sudden shifting emotions from her came from.  Either way, he shakes his head.  He doesn’t even know what he’d say.  He’s going to have to come up with some kind of story, but how is he supposed to do that without contradicting something he doesn’t remember happening?

“Are you sure?” Jazz says, still looking at him intentionally, and Danny does not understand what she’s trying to say.  He’ll blame the exhaustion and brain fog.

Jazz sighs, and pulls him back into a hug.  “Okay.  But you’re going to have to explain to Mom and Dad why you’ve been missing for weeks.  Uh… for exactly three weeks and four days, as we both know very well of course.  And you’ll also have to explain why no one knows anything at all about where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing— as far as I know that is.”

Danny pulls back and gives her a baffled look.  “Why are you talking like that?”

“Excuse me!  You’re the one who runs away for, just to reiterate, exactly three weeks and four days to an unknown location, and you’re asking me why I’m being weird?”

Danny stares at her.  “Uh, I mean I kind of am now?”

“I can’t believe you!” Jazz exclaims, waving her arms up without actually looking that exasperated.  Then she leans forward and wraps her arms around Danny again.

“I’m really glad you’re okay,” she whispers, with a suspicious sniff that Danny doesn’t acknowledge.  “Please don’t scare me like that again.”

Danny reaches up and wraps his arms weakly around her.  “I’m sorry,” he murmurs, which is all he can say, because he can’t exactly guarantee that nothing like this will happen again, can he?

For a minute, they both just sit there, and Danny tries to ignore how good it feels to be hugged by his sister, because that’s a totally lame realization to have, and he doesn’t need any more reasons for people to beat him up.

But then another familiar voice comes from behind them.

“Jazz?  What are you doing up—”

Danny jerks around and meets eyes with his mother, who stares wide-eyed back at him.

After a second, she turns and screams, “JACK!” then rushes forward and pulls Danny towards her.

“Are you okay?  Are you hurt?”  She takes his face in her hands, turning it back and forth.  “What were you thinking, you’re grounded for a month!  You look terrible, when did you eat last?  When did you shower?  Do you have any idea how worried sick we were?  I’m never letting you out of my sight again!  Was it ghosts?  What can you tell us about them?”

Danny laughs despite himself.  His mom is being so incredibly normal (well, normal by her standards) that it immediately brushes away quite a few of his worries.

Then he remembers what his best option for a cover story is, and his smile fades.  His dad shows up in the doorway a second later, looking half-asleep.

“It… it wasn’t ghosts, Mom,” he says, and at least that part is true, if misleading.  “I just… I’m sorry.”

His mom presses a hand to her forehead, looking like Danny’s taken about ten years off her life.  “You’re grounded for two months,” she amends.  “What were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t,” Danny says, which is also true, if… also misleading.

“You got that right,” his dad said, putting his hands on his hips in what looked like his best impression of a stern father.  “You’re grounded for three months, mister.”

“That’s just going to keep going up, isn’t it,” Danny says with a sigh.

Jazz reaches over and gives him a side hug and a sympathetic smile, and Danny really isn’t sure what’s going on with her right now.

But honestly, for the moment, he’s just glad to be home.

…

Danny still isn’t quite sure how he manages to get out of giving any details to the police, but he does it.  He’s given back to his parents to decide his punishment, meaning he’s confined to house arrest for the next five months (it did keep going up).  That’s going to make ghost hunting a little bit difficult, but he’ll burn that bridge when he gets to it.

The one exception to grounding, obviously, is school, which Danny is equal parts dreading and looking forward to.  It was a Saturday when he got back, and of course Sam and Tucker know he’s returned, but he hasn’t gotten to see either of them.  He doubts he’ll be able to see them much outside of school or the occasional study party.

Stupid Freakshow.  This is going to ruin his life until Christmas.

Either way, Monday comes.  And Danny walks into the school and over to his locker and tries to ignore everyone staring at him.

A loud bang at his left causes him to jump and turn to see Sam leaning against the lockers, looking none too pleased.

“So,” she says.  “Have you finally decided the rest of us are worthy of your presence again?”

“Come on, Sam,” Tucker says, walking up behind her.  “You said you weren’t gonna be like that.”

“Sorry, he just screws off to nowhere and you expect me to not be upset?” Sam asks with a glare at Tucker before turning back around.  “Honestly Danny, you know I’m all for escaping awful parents, but you didn’t even tell us where you were going!  We didn’t know if you were okay!”

“My parents aren’t awful,” Danny mutters as he looks down at his feet, all he can think to say.

“Then why did you leave?” Sam snaps, leaning into his face.

Danny winces, leaning back.  “Do we have to do this out here in the hallway?”

Sam huffs, standing up straight and glaring away.  “Fine.  Whatever.  I’m going to class.”  She stalks off without another word.

Danny sighs and turns to his locker so he can put the textbooks he needs into his backpack.  It’s not his fault, and he knows that, but he still feels like the worst person on the face of the planet for making them worry.

“So…” Tucker says slowly, leaning back against the locker much less angrily than Sam.  “Why did you leave?”

Danny closes his locker and swings his bag over his shoulder.  “Doesn’t matter.  I’m back, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, except it kind of does, though?  Dude, if you feel like leaving again, I want to help you.”

Danny turns to look at him and sees nothing but honest concern in Tucker’s eyes.

He wishes it was that easy.

“You can’t,” he says.

“Why not?”

“It’s not—” Danny sighs, looking around to make sure no one’s listening.

Everyone is listening.

“Not here,” he says, turning back to Tucker.  “And not now.”

Tucker looks at him for another second.  “Okay,” he says finally.  “But don’t think I’m letting up on this.”

Danny smiles just a little bit.  “I know you’re not,” he says.

The warning bell rings.

“I have to go,” Danny says.  “If I cut first period on my first day back after running away, I think my parents will actually kill me.”

Tucker smirks.  “Sounds like you brought that one on yourself, dude,” he says.  “But sure.  See ya at lunch.”

“See ya,” Danny says, and turns to walk the other way.

The day is about what he expects.  Mocking and socks in the stomach from Dash, dry remarks and glares along with piles of makeup work from teachers.  He’s exhausted, but he deals with all of it and prepares to work through it until things are at least marginally back to normal.

He can’t wait for Sam and Tucker to not be mad at him.  That would help a ton.

There doesn’t seem to be much of a chance of that when lunch arrives, however, because Sam starts glaring at him the second he sits down, and Tucker just gives him that same concerned look that Danny is pretty sure he can’t make go away without spilling his guts.

…Well, not that “hey Tucker I was actually being mind controlled by that ringmaster from Circus Gothica” would make him less concerned.  If he believed him in the first place, that is.

Danny doesn’t know what to say to break the awkward silence, but apparently Sam has that covered.

“So, Tucker,” she says, very loudly.  “Are we still on for Nasty Burger after school?”

Ouch.  Fair enough.

“Uh,” Tucker says, rubbing the back of his neck.  “Maybe that’s not such a great idea anymore?”

“Why?  Are we supposed to drop our plans the second Danny decides to stop being childish?”

“Okay,” Danny says, turning to face her.  He’s positive he doesn’t have the energy to deal with an angry Sam for the weeks it takes her to forgive him.  “What do you want me to say to you, Sam?”

Sam turns her glare on him.  “I want you to tell me why on earth you left with no notice of when you’d be back or whether or not you were okay or why you were leaving,” she snaps.  “Why the fuck would you do that to us?”

“I wasn’t trying to,” Danny says, looking down as guilt stabs him in the chest.  “I’m sorry.”

“What do you mean you weren’t trying to?  What were you trying to do?”

“I don’t know,” Danny says, because it’s true.  He doesn’t really remember the exact specifics of when and where and why he left Amity Park with Freakshow.  He is pretty sure he wasn’t around as Danny Fenton for at least a couple days before that, though, meaning Jazz’s random ‘three weeks and four days’ comment was probably more accurate than the one he’d worked out from the newspaper.

“I really don’t know what I was thinking,” he reiterates, forcing himself to turn and look at Sam.  “I don’t know what else to say.  I’m sorry.”

He watches anger and concern and something else war on Sam’s face for a second before she scoffs and glares away.  “You’re really not going to tell us what happened?” she asks.

“I… don’t know if you’d believe me,” Danny says quietly, looking down at his awful school lunch that is leagues better than the almost nothing he’s probably eaten the past couple weeks.

Sam gives a bitter laugh, shaking her head.  “Oh my god.”

“Sam,” Tucker says, narrowing his eyes at her.

“What?” Sam asks, turning her glare to him again.  “Are you trying to pretend you haven’t spent the last three weeks terrified out of your mind too?”

Danny fights to not hunch over on himself.

“I’m sorry,” he says instead, turning to look at Sam.  “I really am.  I didn’t want to scare you.  I’m sorry.”

Sam looks at him firmly for a long second, and she must see something in his face that makes her believe him, because she stabs at the limp broccoli on her tray without looking at it and says, “You gonna do it again?”

Danny shakes his head and prays to whatever’s out there listening that he’s not lying right now.  If Desiree was around, he might even make a wish on it.

Sam seems to accept that at least a little bit.  She turns and takes a bite of her vegetables.  “If you do I’ll murder you,” she says.

You’re a couple months late for that, Danny doesn’t say.  Instead he just nods.

“So,” Tucker says, drawing both of their attentions with a much more easygoing smile on his face.  “I imagine you’ve got a lot of homework to make up, Danny.  You want to move our hangouts to after school while you’re doing that at least?”

Danny smiles gratefully at him, and Sam sighs and mutters, “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

So that’s where they end up, and Danny immediately appreciates how almost-normal it feels.  One of the last clear memories he has before things start getting fuzzy is studying in the same library with Sam and Tucker, so in a way it feels like picking up where he left off— with some unwelcome tension added to the air.

Danny spends the first half hour or so doing homework while Tucker and Sam talk idly next to him about things they’ve done in the past three weeks that he’s apparently missed out on.  Unlike lunch, there’s no anger involved, just awkwardness and hesitation, which is… better, he supposes.

Finally after an hour, when he’s only finished a tiny bit of homework for one of his classes, he sits back in his chair and massages his temples.  “This is gonna take me a month.”

“Well, you did miss almost a month of work,” Sam says, with a not-very-sympathetic smile.  “You don’t really have anyone to blame but yourself.”

“I’m gonna get so tired of that sentiment,” Danny says, dropping his head into an open textbook.

“It’s true.”

“I know,” Danny mutters without lifting his head.

“Did you at least have fun while you were on your runaway vacation?” Tucker asks.

Danny pulls his head up and finds Tucker now leaning on the table in front of him.

“No,” he says, because he’s sick of lying.

Tucker winces.  “Ouch.”

Sam snorts.  “Serves you right.”

“Sam,” Tucker says, at the same time Danny waves her off with “I know, I know, I get it.”

Sam sighs, and pushes herself up on the table.  “Alright, look.  You should probably lie low for the first month or two.  But when your parents eventually stop watching you closer I can help you sneak out for a little fun from time to time.”

Danny gives her a grateful smile.  “Thanks, Sam.”

“Yeah, yeah.  You owe me one.”

“I already owe you one,” Danny says.

“You got that right,” Sam says, crossing her arms with a smirk.  She probably thinks he means her forgiving him so quickly.  He doesn’t.

They don’t stay much longer, because the hour after school in the library is the only time his parents gave him before he has to go home.

As soon as he gets a free moment, when his parents are busy making dinner, he sneaks downstairs and looks up Danny Phantom on the computer.

Just as he expected, it’s not great.  Most of the things it lists Phantom as doing are robberies and property damage, about what he expects.  But there’s also quite a few mentions of him being cruel to the other ghosts in Freakshow’s circus, and he… cannot figure out how he feels about that.

Fighting ghosts is nothing new, obviously.  But the ghosts in Freakshow’s circus didn’t choose to be there.  He didn’t choose to hurt them either, but he still feels kind of uncomfortable with it, with the idea that it happened and he doesn’t even remember it.

“Danny?”

Danny yelps and closes the window on the computer, spinning around to see Jazz standing there.

“Jazz,” he says weakly.  “I uh, I didn’t hear you come down here.”

“Dinner’s ready,” Jazz says, giving him a look he can’t read.

She looks at the computer, and it’s way too obvious she saw what he was looking at.

“You know,” she says, turning back to him.  “Unless you’re just catching up on the ghost fighting from the past couple weeks, I wouldn’t put too much thought into Phantom.”

Danny blinks.  “Uh, why?”

Jazz rolls her eyes.  “He was so obviously under the control of that Freakshow guy,” she says.  “Don’t you think?”

“What?” Danny stares at her.  “How would you know that?”

Jazz gives him a soft smile and leans forward to kiss the top of his head.  “Just a hunch I have,” she says.

“Gross, get off me,” Danny says, though he can’t put any real bite into it and he’s pretty sure Jazz can tell.

“I pay attention, you know,” Jazz says, stepping back.

Danny swallows.  “Yeah?  How much?”

“Enough to know that robbery and property damage isn’t Phantom’s MO,” Jazz says with a roll of her eyes.  “And that those reports aren’t gonna say anything about what he’s actually like.”  She pauses and looks at Danny for a minute, then clears her throat and looks away.  “You know, just in case you’re curious about that kind of thing.  You should find better sources.”

“And what are you, a journalist?” Danny asks.

“I’m just… concerned,” Jazz says hesitantly.  “I hope that… wherever Phantom is, he’s doing okay.  I hope he knows it’s not his fault.”

Danny doesn’t say anything, and he and Jazz stare at each other for a minute.

They’re interrupted by their mom calling from upstairs, “Kids, are you coming or not?”

“We’re coming Mom!” Jazz calls back.  She looks back at Danny and nods her head up the steps, and Danny shuts off the computer and follows her up.

…

He’s not that shocked when he gets nightmares about Freakshow, but it’s definitely inconvenient.  If he can think of one thing that won’t help with getting things back to normal, it’s being consistently sleep deprived.

The worst part is that he can’t really be sure which of the nightmares are his brain throwing his worries back in his face, and which parts are actually his brain putting together things that have happened that he can’t remember right.

Honestly, maybe it doesn’t matter that much.  Either way, he doesn’t get a full night of sleep once for the first week he’s back.  He can tell Jazz notices, though he’s pretty sure his parents aren’t picking up on anything, and none of them say anything.  He tries his hardest to pay attention at school, because he really can’t afford to fall behind due to falling asleep in class.

Unfortunately, between trying to act normal around his family and pay attention during school, that means he usually spends the first half hour with Sam and Tucker passed out asleep on top of his textbooks.

“Dude,” Tucker says, after the fifth school day in a row of waking him up so he can do at least some of the homework he’s missed.  “What time are you going to bed?”

“Yeah Danny, I never thought I’d be the one to say this, but maybe you need to go to sleep a little bit earlier,” Sam says, raising an eyebrow.

“You act like I’m not trying that,” Danny mutters, rubbing at his eyes.

“What’s stopping you?” Sam asks.

“Uh,” Danny says, not having thought that far ahead.

“Danny, seriously, on top of being the only time you can get your homework done, this is also the only time we get to hang out with you for a while,” Sam says.  “I’d appreciate it if you could stay awake for all of it.”

“I’m trying, honestly,” Danny says, leaning back in his chair.  “It’s not like I don’t care.  I do.”

“Then what’s going on, Danny?” Tucker asks.  “You know you can still talk to us, right?  You can always talk to us.”

Danny winces.

Well, maybe he can start small.

“I… I’ve had a couple nightmares,” he admits, running a hand through his hair as he sits up.  He pulls his homework closer so he doesn’t have to look either of them in the eyes.  “It’s not a big deal.”

“Nightmares about what?” Sam asks, giving him a look he can feel without looking back.  “Did something happen?”

“I really don’t want to talk about it,” Danny says.  “Can we just acknowledge it and move on?”

“Uh, no?” Sam says, reaching forward and pulling the homework away from him.

“Hey!” Danny says, turning to her.

“You can’t just say something like that and not expect followup questions,” Sam says, crossing her arms.  “Nightmares about what happened while you were gone?”

Danny sighs.  “Maybe.”

“What happened?” Tucker asks, obvious concern in his voice and on his face.

Danny looks up at him, not having a clue what to say.  Should he explain the one about blasting all of the other ghosts into the concrete hard enough to cause a dent, or the one about terrorizing a small child and her mother to get them away from the paintings they were trying to steal?

Neither of those sound like they’ll come without follow up questions.

Danny reaches over and pulls his homework back over in front of him.  “There just wasn’t a lot of food going around,” he says, settling on the one human experience he can reliably count on.

There’s a couple seconds of silence, and then Tucker gives a long sigh.  “Dude,” he says.  “Why did it take you so long to come back?”

“I need to get this science homework done,” Danny says in lieu of a reply.

Neither of them say anything back to him.

Strangely enough, the first one who comes up with something that’s actually helpful in regards to the nightmares is Jazz.  And she seems to do it unintentionally, like she’s been doing a lot lately.  She very casually at dinner one night brings up an article she’s read about how rewriting the endings of nightmares can sometimes be a good way for someone to calm down after having them, then starts discussing the science of dreams and sleep and how both of them are important and how to make sure both of them are going as smoothly as they can.

…Okay, maybe this time it’s a little more intentional than she wants to let on.

That doesn’t mean her ideas aren’t worth trying, though, so Danny gets a notebook to keep on the nightstand for alternate endings to write down.  (He’ll destroy the pages every morning for privacy purposes, but he draws the line at getting a night light.)

It ends up being helpful enough that he can at least fall back asleep, which is a big improvement, if the ideas he writes down seem a little unrealistic, with how hard it actually was to break out of Freakshow’s control.  Either way, he’s not so tired, and despite how loathe he is to admit it, he has Jazz to thank for that.

Not that he’ll ever tell her that, of course.

…

It’s a week and a half after he returns that things change in a meaningful way.  He hasn’t had any ghost fighting to do since getting back, but that changes during lunch on Monday.  Not anything he can’t handle, just a quick eye roll with the Box Ghost, but it apparently means something very different to the rest of Amity Park, and, more important to him personally, to Sam and Tucker.

“I mean honestly,” Sam is saying when Danny shows up at the library after school.  She’s pacing back and forth across the library, and though Tucker waves at him when he notices him, Sam continues marching angrily in front of the table.

“Who does he think he is, showing up like nothing’s different?  First of all, he ruined Circus Gothica, and then he just shows up expecting everyone to still see him as the hero?  That’s not how that works!”

“Hey Danny,” Tucker says as he approaches.  “Don’t mind Sam, she’s pissed off about the ghost fight today.”

“Why?” Danny asks, setting his bag down on the table.  “I didn’t think that was really your scene.”

“Not until that Invis-o-Bill idiot made it personal by messing with my circus,” Sam says, rolling her eyes with obvious anger.  “And then expects everything he’s done in the past couple weeks to just be brushed off.”

Danny sighs, reaching inside his backpack for his homework.  “Yeah, that figures.”

“What figures?” Tucker asks in confusion.

“Math figures,” Danny says, dropping his notebook on the table.  “Gonna try and knock out a lot of the math homework today.”

“Uh, fair enough?” Tucker says, still sounding confused.  “But honestly Sam, at least he seems to have gotten over whatever’s been going on and isn't actively being malicious anymore.”

“Great, so we’re supposed to reward him for the bare minimum?”

“Do we have to talk about this right now?” Danny asks, looking up with what he hopes comes off as annoyance.  “I get enough of ghosts from my parents, I was kind of appreciating you guys actually being a break from all of that.”

“Look, you don’t get it,” Sam says.  “I don’t imagine you’ve been following ghost news for the past couple weeks, but he’s—”

“I don’t want to talk about him,” Danny snaps, giving Sam as firm a glare as he dares to right now.

Sam raises her eyebrows.  “Excuse me?”

“Sam, honestly, I’ll let you be as mad at me as you need for as long as you want,” Danny says.  “But please, can you back off with the ghosts?  My parents already think I was kidnapped by them or something, I don’t want to talk about them during the only time of the day I can actually relax for a little bit.  Okay?”

Thankfully, Sam and Tucker both go quiet.  Now he’ll just have to hope that neither of them actually ask his parents about that excuse and realize he already told them that’s not what happened.

But apparently he’s misjudged their silence, because after a minute Tucker taps his textbook with a pencil, drawing his attention.

He looks up and finds Tucker and Sam both looking at him like they’re trying to come up with the right way to say something.

He blinks.  “What?”

“Danny,” Tucker says slowly.  “If I ask you something, can you promise not to freak out?”

“No,” Danny says honestly.

Tucker considers this for a second.  “Fair.  I’m gonna ask anyway.  Did you actually run away of your own free will?”

Danny goes stiller than, well, a dead person.  “What?”

“Did you actually run away?”

Danny looks back and forth between him, and then Sam, and then back.  “Why are you asking me that?”

“Dude,” Tucker says, leaning closer.  “You’re not acting like yourself.  Even ‘just made a huge mistake and now everyone’s mad at you’ yourself.  You’re having nightmares, and you don’t want to talk about what’s causing them.  Did you actually run away?”

Danny opens his mouth, shuts it, and looks down at his math textbook.

“…Danny,” Sam says, sounding baffled and angry but also more concerned than he’s heard from her since he got back.  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because that’s something you just say in the middle of the hallway,” Danny snaps despite himself.

“Danny, come on,” Sam says.  “Why are you just letting everyone be mad at you then?  You need to tell someone—”

“No,” Danny says.

“What?  Dude,” Tucker says, leaning forward with obvious worry.  “They could go after someone else, or come after you again—”

“He won’t.”

“You can’t know that!”

“Yeah, well, I do,” Danny says, keeping his gaze very firmly on his math homework.  “And I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You know what?  Fine,” Sam snaps, pushing her chair back and grabbing her bag.  “Because you’re being ridiculous.”

With that, she turns and marches out of the library.

Danny doesn’t say anything in protest and starts working on the first math problem on the sheet.

“You know,” Tucker says quietly.  “She was really really scared when you weren’t here.”

Danny keeps writing.

“She was worried something was gonna happen to you and she’d never see you again,” Tucker continues.  “I…” there’s a pause, and then he sighs.

“I’m not gonna make you talk about anything you don’t want to, dude,” he says.  “Just… know that she’s not actually mad at you.  She’s just still scared.”

Danny sighs and puts his pencil down.  “Yeah,” he says.  “I know.”

Tucker reaches out and puts a hand on Danny’s shoulder, in a way that should feel really awkward but somehow doesn’t.  “You know you can tell me anything,” he says.  “Right?”

Danny looks away.

“Okay,” Tucker sighs.  “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He picks up his stuff and leaves.

…

Danny spends the night laying on his bed tossing a ball up in the air and trying to catch it.  He has to get up and chase it down more often than he’d like, he’s not exactly the most athletic person out there.

He ignores his growing stomach and skips dinner, telling his mom he’s not feeling well.  He can always go down and grab something after everyone else falls asleep.

After dinner, however, he hears a knock on his  door.

“What?”

“Can I come in?” Jazz asks.

Danny pauses in tossing the ball in the air and considers for a moment.  “Yeah.”

The door opens as Danny resumes tossing the ball.  Jazz walks in, then closes the door behind her and heads over towards the bed, already looking concerned. 

“Are you doing okay?” she asks.  “You were upset about something when I came to pick you up, and now you’ve been up here for hours.”

Danny manages to actually catch the ball and sits up, setting it down next to him.  “Okay, what is with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been acting like, aggressively supportive since I got back,” Danny says.  “Sam is angrier at me than you.  Mom and Dad are angrier at me than you.”

“I’m your sister,” Jazz says.  “It’s not my job to get angry at you.  It’s my job to support you.”

“No, you’re my sister,” Danny says.  “It’s your job to tease me relentlessly and make my life way harder.”

Jazz gives him a look.  “You really don’t need that right now.”

“And why should you care?” Danny snaps.  “I brought this on myself, remember?”

Jazz doesn’t say anything.

“I just, I’m trying to understand what your deal is,” Danny says.  “Do you want something?  Are you trying to butter me up for some reason?  What are you getting out of this?”

Jazz gives him what almost seems like a sad look, then reaches forward and squeezes Danny’s hand.  “I’m worried about you,” she says quietly.

“Why?” Danny says, pulling his hand away.

Jazz sighs, looking down at the bed.  “Because we both know you didn’t run away, Danny.”

Danny throws his hands up.  “This again?  I’m fine.  No one died, no one hurt me, I didn’t have to hurt— people, so I’m fine!”

Jazz gives him a look.  “That is in no way how that works.”

Danny shakes his head, glaring down at the covers.

Jazz nudges him gently in the side.  “I’m not going to make you say something you’re not ready to,” she says.  “Just know that you can tell me anything, Danny.”

With that, she stands and starts to walk out, and Danny feels a weight press down on his chest, one he’s barely sure he can take anymore.

“Jazz, wait,” he says, reaching out and catching her arm.

Jazz pauses and turns back around.  “Yeah?”

“I—” Danny says, and stops.  Nerves start to crawl up his throat.  He half expects his ghost sense to go off, but it’s not that kind of anxiety.

He takes a deep breath.  “If I tell you something,” he says.  “Can you promise to let me explain everything before you make any kind of judgment?”

Jazz smiles at him.  “I promise,” she says with a nod.

Danny takes a shaky breath.  “I, um.”  He stops.

“Yeah?” Jazz probes gently.

“Sorry,” he mutters, looking down and clenching his hands around his blankets.  “I don’t think I’ve ever actually said it out loud before.”

Jazz reaches out and puts her hand over his.  “You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” she says.  “I… already know.”

Danny jerks his head up.  “What?”

By the look on her face, he can tell they both mean exactly the same thing.

“You…” Danny says weakly.  “How long?”

“Uh, since the Spectra thing,” Jazz says, rubbing the back of her neck with a sheepish smile.  “I wanted to give you a chance to tell me yourself.”

Danny gapes at her for a second, Jazz gives him a soft smile.

“And you…” he says finally.  “You don’t care?”

“Of course I care,” Jazz says, crossing her arms.  “I care that you’re safe.  I care that if you don’t want someone to know, they don’t find out.  I care that you’re my brother and you’ve been trying to do this all alone.  I care that some jerk ran off with you and has been forcing you to do things you clearly don’t want to do for the past month.”

Danny winces and looks down.

“Are you okay?” Jazz says, sitting down on the bed next to him.

“Not… really,” Danny says.

Jazz wraps her arms around him and pulls him over towards her, and this time he doesn’t pull away.

“I don’t like watching you do this all by yourself,” Jazz says.  “Can I help you?”

Now Danny does pull away, if just to stare at her in bafflement.  “You want to help?”

“Of course I want to help,” Jazz says, like that’s obvious.  “If anything, the past month is a clear sign that you shouldn’t be doing this by yourself.”

Well, he can’t exactly argue with her there.  Still…

“It’s dangerous, Jazz,” he says.

Jazz raises her eyebrows.  “All the more reason I don’t want you rushing into danger without backup.”

“I can handle it,” he says.  “That’s what the ghost powers are for.”

“Danny.”  Jazz leans forward, giving him a pointed look.  “I want to help you.  Okay?”

Danny looks at her for a minute.  He takes a breath.  “Okay.”

Jazz leans forward and pulls him into another hug, and for once, Danny can know she means it.  His brain can’t make any arguments about how she wouldn’t be doing this if she knew, because she does know.

And, well.

He could get used to that.

[accio-victuuri]

Bunny laoshi’s 1005 birthday CPNs Part I 🎂

I am giving it this title cause i’m pretty sure we will have more in the next releases or whatever. So yeah. First, I wanna thank you xiao laoshi for all the shiny presents he gave us for his birthday! we have been so blessed! I mean those photos from XZS? and the biggest CPN of the day which is him featuring the Leica camera we have been screaming about for the past days. Personally, we can skip all of these and that sugar alone is enough. But apparently, there’s more….

I will start with my favorite which is related to the birthday cake he was holding in one of the photos.

The person who designed the cake shared info on their creation. No problem. Anyone would be proud for making a cake for a celebrity like XZ. Yes, it’s camping themed. Which is a recurrent CPN in this fandom since both of them suddenly became camping enthusiasts around the same time.

This time the customer wanted to make a camping model, so I started looking for some pictures from my colleagues. But because Master Fang doesn’t make other store models, He finally decided to use the scene of Xinjiang grassland then add with other camping accessory of ours~

AND THIS CAKE SHOP IS LOCATED IN HANGZHOU. Who is in HZ? Who frequents HZ? Definitely not ZZ. So who had this commissioned??? I’m sorry but as soon as I heard Hangzhou, what came to mind is WYB. I swear. He is that city’s adopted son or something.

Out of all ZZ’s “hobbies” who would decided let’s do camping. I can only think of Bobo. And the delivery fee is 3k. There is really nothing top expensive when it comes to each other.

Next is how photos were with him holding the Leica. Kind of like how the camera was posted in WYB’s photosets in Paris. They are both showing off. Clearly.

When you put the bday messages from their studios side by side — it appears that the theme and pattern is the same. 😂😂😂😂

lament about how time flies >> one year role review >> talk about life >> good wishes

I mean it’s not the most unique format but it’s so cute seeing how similar. even how it’s split in paragraphs.

Tho I have to say wyb’s was very very special. That message made me tear up.

WYB is about to go home, Paris to China and he is wearing Ralph Lauren. Yes, ZZ is endorsing the fragrance but it’s still an interesting choice.

I am cackling tho cause you can see that WYB was online at midnight! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It got some people nervous. Will he greet XZ? Will he comments on XZ’s bday post? I mean what’s going on???

Turns out, WYB posted about his experience with the Chanel PFW. This is the perfect time cause he is literally leaving Paris. What’s funny tho are the people commenting. It’s BXGs. Because come on, who’s awake? It’s us. We are awake cause it’s GG’s bday. I took a screenshot, just look at the pfps. I think by the time I publish this post, it will be overtaken by so/os cause one fan club asked other so/os to comment. Lol.

Some are saying the first words he used to describe the show are actually for ZZ’s photos but i really don’t buy that. and well, he is gonna see the love of his life soon ^^ I really hope they get to spend sometime 1005 or over the weekend 😌😌😌

and well the repost on ZZ’s birthday post on his own weibo is another story too 😂😂😂

==================

AND SOME LAST WORDS ABOUT ZZ PULLING OFF THIS CAMERA CANDY TODAY. It’s actually a joint effort. Intentional or not, I’m all for it. It goes to show that the way we speculate on things actually make sense and are not too out there. They could easily hide the camera if they want to block all the cpf talk but they didn’t. It was displayed proudly.

It’s one of those things where I think they/their team really listen in on what’s going on in the turtle fandom and they get to decide which ones will be given more fuel or not. Again, their relationship is between them, but imagine them willingly sharing this personal part of their life to us is making me 😭😭😭.

Whether it’s the exact same camera or not. XZS’ posting closed the loop of doubt. It’s not all on WYB’s side, ZZ claimed it too. and that to me is an iron clad cpn. No one can say that “WYB is just trying to feed the cpfs…”. It’s mutual.

It’s a lesson on believing in them. A couple of times this year, I’ve seen people question them. Always throwing tantrums for “lack of candy” and being annoying. Be patient. You will be rewarded if you just wait — appreciate them as people and enjoy the content they put out. It will come to us in time. Trust them. 🤍

-END.

[blasphemousclaw]

wtf is going on with Rykard’s hair

So, I finally took it upon myself to make a post laying out the entire Rykard hair color situation, and going over and assessing the potential theories about what’s going on here. For context, the general fan consensus had been that Rykard’s hair was red like his father and siblings. It makes sense for all their hair colors to match, and if we look at the descriptions of both the Redmane Knight helm and the Gelmir Knight helm, they read:

“Helm worn by knights who fought by General Radahn's side. The red plume is a symbol of Radahn's pedigree as Lord Radagon's son - the mane of the proud Red Lion.” (Redmane Knight Helm)

“Helm worn by knights once loyal to Praetor Rykard. Its crest of red feathers symbolizes Rykard's pedigree as Lord Radagon's son.” (Gelmir Knight Helm)

The portraits of Rykard displayed in Volcano Manor also seemingly did not contradict this interpretation, since the lighting in the Manor is strongly tinted red:

However, two images started floating around: in this image, from the Elden Ring manga, the colorist depicted Rykard’s hair as blond.

We don’t know if this character design was their personal interpretation or if this was specified directly to them by Fromsoft, but it is significant nonetheless.

Then there is this image, which includes the image files of the Volcano Manor portraits taken directly from the game (free from the influence of the Manor’s red-tinted light).

It shows that Rykard’s hair was painted as pale and slightly golden, in stark contrast to his brother Radahn’s darkly saturated red hair.

In retrospect, we can also look at the art of Rykard’s severed head from the game’s opening, and there appears to be several pale hairs across his face.

So we can reasonably conclude that, at least at this point in Rykard’s life, his hair is inarguably pale-colored, not red like his family members. However, this doesn’t rule out the idea that his hair has changed color over time. Let’s go over some different theories about where this pale hair color might come from…

First, I’m going to start out with two theories that I think can reasonably be dismissed.

The painting is aged

It has been argued that the color of Rykard’s portrait could have faded and made his hair less pigmented. However, I don’t think this is a good argument because in the same painting, we can see that the red gems in his sword are still quite pigmented. Furthermore, Rykard has multiple other paintings as we have seen, such as the painting of Radahn, that do not appear to have lost significant pigment (plus, the other portrait of Rykard is painted in the exact same colors as the first portrait). Lastly, this theory doesn’t account for the pale hairs present in Rykard’s intro art.

Rykard himself is aged

Many people have interpreted Rykard’s pale hair color as due to age, but I have problems with this theory. It doesn’t make any sense for Rykard to have aged significantly, because neither Radahn nor their parents look aged at all. Rennala doesn’t even have godly blood, but she looks like she hasn’t aged a day since she became queen! Why would Rykard be the only one in their family to get old??? It’s true though that in his portraits, his face looks pretty, for lack of a better term, fucked up. But I have another idea about that which I’ll talk about towards the end… I honestly don’t think he looks particularly old, I think it’s more to do with whatever the hell is going on with his skin. Also, to me, his hair here doesn't really look like it's greying, it looks like it's tinted gold.

With those theories out of the way, here are the theories that I think we can seriously consider.

Rykard was always blond

The main evidence for this theory is that according to Miriel, “Lord Radagon harbored a secret,” which was discovered by a sculptor of the capital. We can then investigate the statue in Leyndell and come to the conclusion that Radagon is Marika. While Radagon was married to Rennala, he ordered the preceptors to don masks with the mouths sewn shut with golden thread “To make it clear that all of their matters were to be kept strictly private.” I interpret Radagon’s extreme secrecy as him hiding the truth that he and Marika are one. Radagon and Marika as one being produced twin children, Malenia and Miquella, of which one has Radagon’s red hair and the other has Marika’s pale gold hair. So I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Radagon, who is Marika, could have had a child with Rennala who has Marika’s gold hair.

Some counter-evidence to this theory is again, the description of the Gelmir Knight helm: “Helm worn by knights once loyal to Praetor Rykard. Its crest of red feathers symbolizes Rykard's pedigree as Lord Radagon's son.” This item description definitely can be interpreted as evidence that Rykard indeed inherited Radagon’s red hair, and is invoking it in the design of his soldiers’ helms to draw a connection between himself and his father.

However, I don’t think the use of this symbol necessarily means that Rykard had to have Radagon’s hair color himself. Radagon’s red hair is his defining feature (“Radagon’s glory burns as red as his hair”), so using it as a symbol invokes him and his prowess on the battlefield… which benefits Rykard and Radahn, because they want people to think of Radagon’s strength when they see their armies. In other words, the red plumes could just be the statement “Radagon, the famed warrior, is my father” and not necessarily “Radagon, the famed warrior, is my father and I look just like him.” Interestingly, the Redmane Knight Helm also includes an extra line: “The red plume is a symbol of Radahn's pedigree as Lord Radagon's son - the mane of the proud Red Lion.” The last line here specifically mentions Radahn’s own red hair, but the Gelmir Knight helm has no such reference to Rykard’s hair… perhaps because his hair isn’t actually red?

One side note to discuss… I’ve seen it said that Rennala is actually blond, so Rykard might have inherited it from her. However, this is only a trick of the light — Rennala’s hair is very clearly meant to be brown, which can look either very dark or very light depending on the lighting. Rennala’s hair in her concept art/in-game portrait is unequivocally brown:

Rykard’s whole appearance changed

This is the last theory I have… which is that Rykard’s hair color used to be red like his family, but changed as a result of his involvement with the Great Serpent. If we take a closer look at Rykard’s in-game art, there’s a lot of questionable things about his face:

He’s got frighteningly dark eye sockets. His beard and other parts of his face seem to be scaly and fleshy, almost looking like flaps of skin. And in the intro art, his eyes have turned black with a yellow iris, like how we see him in his boss fight.

I’m not sure exactly how, but I think it’s possible that Rykard’s appearance had been somehow drastically altered even before he was devoured… perhaps he could have made some kind of pact with the serpent god that had some physical effects on him? Or if he somehow altered his face himself, in order to appear closer to the serpent and to better embody it? Any of these transformations of his face could also have included a drastic lightening of his hair, who can say for sure?

A counter-argument to this idea is that some of the stranger features of his face might only be artistic, and are not meant to be taken literally… they could be symbolic representations, meant to show his connection and dedication to the path of the serpent.

Conclusion

I can see either of these theories about Rykard’s hair being true, we just don’t have enough information at the moment to explain why he looked the way he did… maybe we will eventually?

[arzuera]

Damian walked into the dining room where a few of his siblings and his father had already gathered for breakfast. In a slightly robotic movement, he headed over to his designated spot at the table and sat down. Bruce took a sip of his coffee while Dick yawned in his normal over exaggerated way. It was kind of surprising that he wasn’t face first in his cereal yet. Duke sat next to him, not fully awake himself though he was at least able to get a forkful of eggs to his mouth. Small victories. Damian sat in his chair, and Alfred brought him his breakfast of pancakes made of oat flour and almond milk. Setting a small dish of bananas and peanut butter next to it, along with a small syrup dispenser.

“Good morning, Damian,” Bruce said as he took a bite of his own breakfast.

“Morning, Father. Pennyworth.” The boy replied, and he also received a wave in greeting from Duke and a cut-off greeting from Dick as he yawned again.

“Good morning, Master Damian. I do hope you enjoy your breakfast. I made sure to make them with your favorite almond milk.” Alfred said kindly before heading back into the kitchen to finish preparing food for those who weren’t up yet.

Damian idly played with his food for a few minutes. Using a knife to put peanut butter on the pancakes or taking a bite of banana. Nervousness bubbled under the surface of his stoic demeanor. He could do this. It wouldn’t go wrong. He looked up to his two adopted brothers and his father, who wasn’t really paying him any mind. “I am… courting someone,” Damian said, watching as Dick and Duke’s heads whipped up, and Bruce looked at him with a soft smile on his face.

“Congratulations. That’s wonderful, Damian.” His father said with a warmth that didn’t always manage to reach his voice but this time it had. Duke let out a cheer and Dick was wiping a fake tear from his eye.

Seeing the positive response from his family, Damian continued. “I don’t know if we’re compatible yet. I just like him a lot and, physically, he’s very nice to touch.” Duke snorted a bit and Dick managed to keep a smile on his face without laughing as Damian kept talking. “I bought him a keychain. And a bracelet. Also, I’m going to drag him to a fair with local small business owners. The small one that is being held right outside of town.”

“As long as you are safe, having fun, and enjoying being with him, then you have my approval,” Bruce stated taking another sip of his coffee. Giving his son a proud look. “Small fairs are the best.”

Damian’s lips quirked up a small it in a rare smile. “He’s so cute. And works with small animals so we can bond about that too.”

Dick leaned forward onto the table with his elbows. “I’m glad you are having fun.”

“A fair!” Duke exclaimed with a big smile on his face. “With local small business owners. That’s the peak of romance oh my lord…” he fell back in his chair, fanning his face playfully, and Dick lightly knocked the younger boy’s shoulder.

“It’s so cute and romantic.” Dick agreed with Duke, taking a bite of his cereal and not missing this time since he was now fully awake.

Damian felt himself buzzing in excitement. His family doesn’t even know the boy’s name and they already approved. He looked up at them fully, his breakfast completely forgotten. “He promised to show me a woman who makes tea blends based on superheroes.” Damian’s normally monotone voice had an excited lilt to it that brought everyone in the current room into soft smiles.

“My best wishes on this romantic endeavor, baby bat,” Duke said with a twirl of his fork in the air.

“We both have a slight obsession with tea.” Damian continued on almost bouncing in his seat from all of the positive energy he was feeling.

“Oh my god.” Dick said at the same time that Duke replied “Oh my lord…”

“Keep him!” Dick exclaimed, standing up abruptly while brandishing his spoon at his little brother. “Even if only as a friend.”

Damian hummed in thought for a moment. “It’s more of a platonic one. I am aromantic after all.”

“Courting endeavor then,” Dick replied with a shrug not worried about the semantics and just happy his brother was happy. A smirk formed on his face as he said, “Damian, the aromantic, going on the most romantic date ever.”

Now that Damian thought about it, it really was kind of romantic, wasn’t it? “Should I tell him it’s a date? Should I?” he asked looking to his brothers and father for guidance before looking down at his pancakes. “Maybe not… I’m still feeling our relationship out…”

“DOES HE NOT KNOW IT’S A DATE? HE’S TAKING YOU TO SEE THE SUPERHERO TEA LADY?!” Dick exclaimed in slight disbelief and Bruce chuckled behind his mug. He leaned toward his little brother as close as the table would allow him to do. “Damian, is it a date? Because it sounds like a date.”

“Listen, the first time we went out, Danny bought me an iced tea on his insistence.” Damian rolled his eyes as he replied to his enthusiastic older brother. “Then brought me into a secret basement vinyl shop and let me place my chin on his shoulder. As in, I was fully pressed up against his back and watched him browse said vinyl.”

Dick stared at his little brother. “I think you have a boyfriend, baby bat.”

“Tt.” Damian tsked a bit and looked away from Dick. “I do not. I have only seen him once face to face. He has stated that he has never had a relationship, and I do not wish to make him uncomfortable by springing this upon him.”

“Do you talk on the phone or online? Because that definitely counts.” Dick asked, putting his head in his hands as he continued to look starry-eyed at his little brother.

“Yes but only after we met in person.”

“How did you two meet?” Bruce asked, taking the opportunity to chime in and learn more about the boy that Damian was interested in.

Damian pulled out his phone and scrolled until he found out what he was looking for. “There is a chat for trans people in Gotham, and occasionally, I will join in asking if anyone wishes to do activities together. Several people will then reply at once. That is how we met.”

Dick moved to sit properly in his chair after getting a stern look from Alfred. His pout turned into a thoughtful look as he rolled over Damian’s words in his head. “And on your first meeting, he bought you tea, and y’all cuddled up in a basement vinyl shop while looking at records together?”

“Mmm yes.” Damian nodded his head as he recounted the encounter in his head. “And he walked me to my designated safe drop-off and hugged me goodbye. He also hugged me hello, as well.”

“Was anyone else there?”

“For a brief period of time, yes. Others popped in after tea and hung around for about 40 minutes and then went their own way.”

Dick was vibrating in his seat, and it was obvious he was trying to contain it. “I’m trying not to get too excited about all the hugging because hugs entirely depend on the culture people grew up with, and one might see it one way but not another.”

“I am trying to be better with physical affection, but a lot of people aren’t so comfortable with me on the first try.” Damian had come a long way from the angry assassin child his mother had dropped off. “He was, though. That’s why I’m happy too.”

Duke chuckled. “Okay. Do you like him?”

“I do enjoy his company so yes. I do like him.”

Bruce cleared his throat when he saw the slight moment where there was hesitation on Damian’s face. Getting his children’s attention effortlessly. He turned his full attention to Damian as he set his mug down. “You don’t have to date Danny or label anything if you don’t want to. Just hang out and have a good time.”

Damian nodded his head briskly and quickly looked back to his breakfast with a secretive smile. “Yes. Thank you, Father. I will.”

----

The dialog was done by 4 peeps in the batpham server with the one as damian being gay motherfucker.

These peeps are cute ya'll

[edream93]

Thoughts on The Rise of Red

Okay, these are just my thoughts that I wrote down in my note app as I watched the movie.

SPOILERS if you haven't watched "Descendants: The Rise of Red" yet:

Uma crying talking about Carlos is definitely China crying for real. It’s definitely a plot inconsistency because as far as we know Uma and Carlos didn’t have any type of relationship outside of Mal but for China and the audience, I thought it was a touching nod to Cam.

Maybe it’s just me but I feel like over the past three movies we had gotten better with the wig situations and this movie felt like a bit of a step back for some of these wigs

The special effects in Red’s first song were pretty neat for a DCOM-adjacent movie 

Maddox is kinda cute…This man is 44!?!?! 😍

Paolo Montalbano 😍 My first crush! Honestly he and Brandy and China are the only reason why I’m watching this.

Still not a total fan of Cinderella’s dress. It’s giving royal moo-moo 

Brandy and Paolo are still cute together. Like not even in a romantic way but they are definitely co-actors that have great chemistry on screen together. Like it feels like they slipped back into their characters effortless.

I’m sorry Brandy but those shoes are ugly

OMG! Chad is their son!!! They really was like, the Prince Charming had a White dad and a Black mom so of course he and Cindy can have a White son 🤣

Is it me or are there already more songs in this movie than the previous? 

Maybe it’s because it’s the only second song but I definitely expected that they would have given Rita and Brandy more to work with

I know Dylan and Thomas probably have grown out of working with Disney but I at least wish they gave a throw away line about where Harry and Gil are. Like we know at least where Mal and the others are and that Carlos apparently died. Idk, the lack of Harry’s line in Uma’s song made me miss them.

You know, for all of the fuss they made about the magic wand, the fact that the Queen of Hearts can easily cut it in half is funny to me

Is this Aladdin and Jasmin they keep cutting back to? I didn’t keep up with the movie production before it came out so maybe them being in this movie shouldn’t be surprising 

“Now make me proud, for once,” is such a hard comment to hear from a parent.

Not Chloe’s wig changing randomly 🤣

The actress playing young Fairy G definitely looks like a younger actress of the original one. Good casting.

I feel like a lot of these songs are just sing talking. Like not really singing but just them talking and like I know they did that sometimes in the previous movies but it just feels…odd

….did Chloe’s wig change…again…???

It did….

Did both of their wigs change???

Honestly, I’m underwhelmed by the costumes. I know the same designer wasn’t on this movie but eh

Ella is like… “Mom? Who you calling mom?!??!” 🤣

I forgot that since this was before Auradon they probably would take classes about magic 

Bridget’s and Red’s outfits are so far my faves

Jaladdin 🤣

“If you wanna roll together we can be a vibe” 🤣

…..Chloe’s hair changed again….Is this just her face hair or something because it’s not the hair she had in the previous scene

Morganna’s son!?!? Didn’t expect that. Again, I have been so far removed from keeping up-to-date about the production of this movie

Oh I forgot Maleficent and Hades were together at some point. Guess I just thought that was an Isle boredom fling thing

I love how this movie totally negates anything that has happened in the original movies, at least in terms of how they happened. I honestly like to think of the OG movies as royal propaganda 🤣

Okay so I think there’s three wigs that Chloe has had, a regular, a slightly more volumized one, and then what my friend calls the “chia pet” one 😅

Chloe…NO! 😫

Honestly, this portrayal of Cinderella is kinda my fave. She’s been through a lot

Okay, should have known the VK songs would be a bop

Maybe it’s just me but every time I see Hades in this, I think he looks like Chris Colfer

I feel like this movie has so many special effects which isn’t bad, it’s just interesting because I feel like big special effects were saved until the last half/battle

WIG CHANGE AGAIN!

Paolo acting his butt off to the pay the bills

Oooo that was too far Red…

Wig change

Yeah, this movie definitely has a lot more songs…😬

Also…why is her wig longer when they’re gardening? 

Are there…are there FOUR wigs?!?!?!?!

Me snorting at the captions reading -hero music playing-

Morganna’s son is missing a few brain cells. Love him.

There’s 7 minutes left….what are they gonna do in 7 minutes!

Not the Queen of Heart’s hair blowing in the wind! 😊

I know it’s not that serious in this movie, but I wonder what’s the reasoning for Red never going to Auradon now that things have changed

I’m glad the Queen of Hearts is nice and all but there should definitely be a fanfic about how Red is trying to distinguish her old reality with her new. And no, it won’t be from me. I wipe my hands clean of this series. I mean it! I’m so serious! I totally don’t have any plot bunnies in my head now! Nope! None. At. All!

Wait! Uma! Are you implying there’s going to be some - GASPS- ramifications to the time traveling!?!?!?

Final thoughts:

Maybe it’s because I’m OFFICIALLY not part of the target demographic anymore but I kind of felt underwhelmed. Like the last three movies had things I wasn’t a fan of but there were at least songs, aspects, characters, that I was a fan of. Honestly, the only person I LOVED in this one was Maddox. If you liked this movie, that’s totally fine and I hope my thoughts don’t stop you from enjoying it. I hope you have all the head cannons and fanfic ideas and amazing energizing conversations with others in the fan. If they come up with more stuff with this series (which they probably will) I might tune in but I think this, plus that Pt.2 outline of WLTF that I still owe folks will probably be my last active contribution to this particular fandom. 

Anyway, my faves of Descendants: The Rise of Red:

Uma, even if she was just serving the purpose of narrator/handing the torch from one generation to the next

The nod to Cameron

Brandy and Paolo. I LOVE them on screen together.

I actually really liked Ella and hope to see the actress, Morgan Dudley in more things

Maddox was cute but I honestly always seem to have a thing for movie/TV mad hatters (points to OUAT and the SyFy mini series Alice) 

Things I’m “eh” about:

The WIGS!!!! And the costumes but the WIGS!!! Like, if this series continues they need to fix stat!

The songs were kinda forgettable. Uliana’s song at her hideout was kinda a bop and Red’s intro song is good too but everything else was kinda “bleh”

I also feel like we didn’t really get to know Red that well or maybe I was just too distracted by Chloe’s wig.

The plot and pacing. I mean, the OG Descendants movies weren’t perfect but I feel like they typically hit certain plot beats where, as much as you can with these type of movies, it feels like the stakes are high. I guess Merlin’s office being the scene of the last “battle” and then going back to their time just felt a little anti-climatic for me.

But anywho, those are my thoughts. If you don’t agree, that’s fine, just be polite, okay? 

[ryuichirou]

Replies

A couple of replies today! Kuroshitsuji and Twst.

Anonymous asked:

are you ever gonna make some Kuroshitsuji 2 art featuring my favorite blonde psycho?

We love Alois and I did draw him a couple of times! We posted some of the stuff here, but everything that wasn’t posted on tumblr can be found in this kuroshitsuji log on pixiv.

I’m not planning on drawing him in the nearest future, but since he is very special to us, it might randomly happen at some point…

If you have any troubles with pixiv, let me know and I’ll post Alois art from there here.

Anonymous asked:

The thought just crossed my mind... Do you ship Sebastian with any other characters aside from Ciel? Do you have any thoughts about those ships, if you do? Do you see Grell as a top or a bottom, too?! (I can't pick a side w/ them personally)

We talked about our Kuroshitsuji ships some time ago, here is the post if you’re interested! But in short, we kind of ship him with William because their interactions in the Circus Arc were hilarious and William was 100% playing hard to get. I don’t think I’ve even drawn them at all, but I should do it at least once… I should draw all of our Kuroshitsuji ships at least once, to be fair :(

Ironically, we don’t have any ships or even thoughts about Grell, sorry for disappointing! Maybe it’s due to the fact that while we were hating on Kuroshitsuji all those years (dark times lol), Grell was pretty much the only character I would draw anyway because of the cool design… But not really, to be honest; it’s actually more likely due to the fact that none of the Grell ships really clicked with us :( As for the position, it’s easy to see Grell as a bottom, but it doesn’t really help in this case.

Anonymous asked:

I've noticed I think y'all ship idia the same way I ship silver LOL just 24/7 running a list of characters through my head like "would it be hot if they dicked down Silver? It would be a little hot, wouldn't it? Lets just add them to the list anyway 😌" [he and said character has spoken a total of 2 times]

YES This is the treatment Silver deserves, his father would be so proud lol a little jealous, but still!

It is fun though... I always say it, but twst cast is very interesting, so a lot of characters who seem to be just a random pick could have such nice chemistry that it’s easy to start shipping them after just one interaction or a voice line. I love it so much lol

Anonymous asked:

i can not stop thinking about how Ortho has 24/7 access to any and all porn ever uploaded to the internet. and with a little modification he can bring even some of the most fantastical ones into reality.

He is just way too powerful, isn’t he? And the worst thing is, no one can even stop him anymore, now that Idia can’t access his system anymore…

If you think about it, Ortho is the perviest and the most knowledgeable person in NRC, even if he isn’t actively aware of all the kinks in the world. To think that only 5 minutes of buffering time separates him from being completely unaware and him having seen the entire collection of sex machine porn videos… And knowing Ortho, he’ll definitely want to try some of the things irl lol

Anonymous asked:

Hello! I'd like to know your thoughts on one of the side characters: Fellow Honest.

Sorry if you've already talked about him and I missed it.....

I'm just curious, because you seem to like Rollo and Che'nya, side characters that have made a few appearances in your art.

Do you have any interest in Fellow? Any headcannons? Or are you waiting until next Halloween, when Playful Land is available in English, to talk about/possibly draw him?

Hi, Anon! Sorry for the late reply.

I haven’t talked about it, and unfortunately I still can’t really talk about him. We are very intrigued by both Fellow and Gidel, but we haven’t seen their event yet. So I can’t make proper judgments and come up with any headcanons :(

We don’t really care about the EN release because we watch fan translations on youtube, but we just don’t have time to watch anything these days unfortunately. But when we do watch it, you’ll definitely notice, because there is no way I won’t draw Fellow at least a couple of times. His design and his sleazy faces are just too much fun lol

[ducktracy]

I love Popeye so much— the franchise is my current special interest, but I love the 1980 movie in particular. I get really pleased whenever you post about Popeye (partially because you're the only one really active in the tag) so if you could continue to post Popeye loud and proud that would be cool as hell

THIS IS SO SWEET OH MY GOSHHHHH!!! i saw this yesterday when you sent it in and meant to answer earlier, but i have to say i’ve spent both yesterday and today thinking about it because THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY TO HEAR!! THANK YOUUUUUUUU!! i also had no idea i was really the only one active HAHA, amazing!! i assure you, the Popeye posting will always continue! i LOVE Popeye, and i’ve actually only seen a fraction of the shorts compared to those i haven’t. i’m so protective of the 1935-1938 sweet spot with Jack Mercer, Mae Questel and Gus Wicke that it’s really hard for me to move onto the shorts post-Miami move… but i gotta! because more great cartoons await! and so i’m sure i’ll be gushing about those when i discover them more and more :)

SPEAKING OF 1980 POPEYE!! i know i’ve had some followers curious about my opinion on it! I FINALLY WATCHED IT FOR THE FIRST TIME BACK IN JULY! i admittedly forget if i said my piece on it or not, but i will here anyway!

is it good? in an objective sense? probably not. did i absolutely love it and have an absolute blast watching it regardless? ABBBBBSOOOOLLLUUUUUUTELYYYYY!! i had so much fun watching it!! as a fan of physical slapstick, anything “cartoony” translated into live action, Popeye (of course), and many other specifics i’m forgetting but know the film included, i really enjoyed it. the almost obligatory physical slapstick and sheer amount of stupid pratfalls was giving me so much joy. i’m genuinely impressed at Robin Williams’ muttering and him keeping his one eye squinted the entirety of the film. Shelley Duvall is PERRERRRFECT as Olive Oyl! she was the best part of the film for me, she was so darling 🥺 and the songs were cute, VERY AMUSING, very campy, some i liked better than others but they were very catchy. the sound design was very baffling as well but i kinda loved it

i said this when streaming the film in a groupwatch and i still stand by it:

also, evidently copious amounts of cocaine were involved in the production of the film and i can absolutely believe it. SUCH A FUN WATCH THOUGH, very cheesy in the absolute best way! thank you to all who encouraged me to watch it, i’m really glad i did and will probably rewatch it again at some point :) but yes, that’s all to say that the Popeye posting will absolutely continue and i am SO GLAD to hear you enjoy it so much!! that seriously makes my day!! Popeye is really the cure for happiness in cartoon form

[sweetmusingss]

Oscar was on high alert when watching you and seeing you about to leave. He was grateful that Pierre wasn’t leaving with you but he still was panicked watching you leave alone. He exchanged a look with Charles, the other man nodding at him and they both ended up chasing after you. Oscar took the lead, the two of them deciding that he was better with words than Charles was. He ignored the looks he was getting from Katie, Max, and Lando, not wanting it to shake his confidence. “Nay, wait up,” he said, glancing over his shoulder and seeing Charles was trailing behind a bit so it wasn’t incredibly obvious you were leaving with both of them. “Please don’t go back to the hotel alone.. We miss you,” he said softly, rubbing the inside of your wrist gently after wrapping his hand around you. “We can just talk or lay there.. I don’t care. But we’ll be on our best behavior. If you hear us argue even once, you can kick us out on our asses, I promise. But we’re not going to argue. You are too important to us,” he said, staring intensely back at you.

I look at them both, knowing that Oscar was probably losing his mind not being able to be close to me and clingy with me. Charles was better at separation, but I knew it was probably killing him too. And honestly, it was killing me. This whole night of cat and mouse had been fun, but I was desperate to just cuddle with them and have a relaxing rest of our night. “Promise that I can kick you out if you annoy me?” I give Oscar a small playful smile, nudging him in the side and giving Charles a playful glare. “Fine. You’ve won me over. But one sign of an argument, you’re both out.” We leave how we normally do, Oscar and I getting into a car, making a trip around the block before picking up Charles, knowing the paparazzi and lingering fans were not paying enough attention to the car to notice. We get back to my hotel, going straight into the bathroom to change, not immediately pulling one of them into me with a kiss like I normally would. I was my make up off, putting my hair up in a messy bun and put on a cute pair of pajamas, walking back out and smiling a bit when I saw them both already stripped down to their boxers and sitting in the bed, on their designated sides, with space for me in the middle. I crawl up the bed, shuffling my way under the blankets and letting out a content sigh at finally laying down. “Did either of you really think I was going to sleep with Pierre?”

__

I patted your bum playfully, telling you to be careful if Renee ended up finding you when I wasn’t around but I was happy that you were going to apologize to Oscar without me even needing to tell you. I grin at Lando when he found me immediately and I giggle happily as he hugged me, throwing my arms back around his neck. I ran my fingers through his hair as I stared back at him fondly. “I am so proud of you, baby. I can’t take all the credit though. You didn’t need me at all. You absolutely killed that and didn’t let the pressure get to you for a second. I am so happy for you,” I grin back at him, kissing gently all over his face. “I can’t wait to go out and celebrate tonight.”

“No, I did need you... it was that kiss. It energized me to actually have a decent start... you know me, I can never get the fucking car moving when I’m first and tonight I did. That kiss put some proper pep in my step.” Lando chuckled, squealing cutely as you kissed all over his face, loving all the affection and an attention you were showering him with right now, his hands resting on your hips. “I can’t wait to get absolutely hammered tonight, with you and Max and Oscar and the whole team. This season was great but I am so glad that it’s over...” Lando hears someone yell Max’s name, turning and watching as Renee barreled towards her boyfriend and Max, Charles rushing after her. Lando let out a laugh and turned back to you, acting as if it was a totally normal sight, seeing all of these dynamics clashing at once. “It’s going to be quite an eventful night to say the least. I’d ask if a Constructor Champion could get a night alone with you but I don’t think the reigning WDC would be too happy about that... and I get it.” 

[ammcgee-author]

219. Sorry, I was Assassinated <3

As Mark Twain once said, “The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” I’m not dead, yet, but trying to regroup and make some kind of sense out of the world around me.

In the old days, you could count being assassinated as an “occupational hazard” of being a Peacenik, an AntiWar Activist, or even holding a non-mainstream opinion. (Sort of like how losing an arm or getting sucked into a machine is an occupational hazard of working in a factory, dying in a fire is an occupational hazard of being a firefighter, getting shot is an occupational hazard of being a police officer; and having your whole family slaughtered in front of you is an occupation hazard of being a Palestinian journalist.) Just look at what they did to John Lennon, and more recently, the lead-singer of Audioslave, Chris Cornell.

My favorite half-baked conspiracy-theory is that he was assassinated for the AntiWar stance he took at his last concert. Although I know, that in reality, it’s just as likely he planned his suicide in advance; and wanted his last message to the world to be one of peace, love, and brotherhood.

I was never really much of a Soundgarden or Audioslave fan but I really liked their instrumental song “Night Surf," and of course “You Know My Name,” Chris Cornell’s Bond theme and one of my favorite 007 theme songs of all time! It’s worth noting that, although James Bond movies are fun and exciting action flicks, full of international intrigue and traditionally sexy women, they’re also composed of the most blatant pro-war propaganda; rivaled only by Disney/ABC’s Marvel Movies or HBO’s Game of Thrones, which tend to be slightly more allegorical; which is fine, as long as you’re aware of that going into them and treat them only as the lightest of all light entertainment.

Though, in spite of whatever Mr. Cornell’s personal issues might have been, I can’t help but think “selling out” to the war-machine is one of the factors that led him to suicide. At the very least, it probably didn’t help.

Speaking of “international intrigue,” my grandmother who was a pilot and an electrical engineer in the United States Air Force, (who also helped design the American-Made cruise missile systems Russia is currently using against the Ukrainians) was once questioned by the CIA because she ran a small airport gift shop, and routinely flew from continent to continent looking for exotic wares to sell in her shop. She was accused of being a spy, and sharing government secrets with overseas enemies. As outlandish as it sounds, stories like this are not uncommon, and cause a lot of generational trauma and general mistrust of the government within families. Of course, the government likes it that way, they enjoy keeping people on their toes and out of their way, especially militarily. Because of this experience I’m always sympathetic to people with seemingly “paranoid” or “schizophrenic” views of the government because the government does enjoy terrorizing people for their opinions. This danger obviously increases, exponentially, the more exposure and influence you and your ideas have. Both my grandmother and grandfather were in the Air Force, and being in the Military after World War II, caused my grandparents both to take a decidedly AntiWar stance against our wars of conquest, imperialism, and liberal interventionism overseas. Even as they worked as civil engineers for the Defense Industry and Military Industrial Complex.

Another notable member of my family is my distant cousin, Pat Robertson, someone who up until his death, recently, was literally paid to promote Zionism and Zionist pro-war propaganda on television. (He’s the reason why I feel I’m able to view the Israel/Palestine situation in a more fair and nuanced way, than I might otherwise be inclined to… And also the reason why most of my immediate family generally vote independent and identify as Democrats.) I don’t mention this because I’m at all proud of the association, but because it does seem to loom over my Christian family, our AntiWar history, and my activism; even if we’re not all doomsday Christian Evangelists like my famous cousin Pat and his televangelist heir, Gordon Robertson.

Understanding my history and ties to both the military and Christian evangelism is important to understanding who I am as a person, and why I choose to take such a profound moral stance on issues of justice and international policy. Though that association somehow seems particularly important to mention, now, even if it alienates me from the other Pro-Palestine demonstrators protesting today, because it makes me feel like a kind of mediator who can sympathize with the views of both pro-war Zionists and Palestinian AntiWar demonstrators. Though I myself am committedly Pro-Palestine, and of course, AntiWar.

A pragmatic way of looking at Israel’s current campaign of ethnic-violence and genocide in The West Bank and Gaza, in particular, is that is not a “war” but the result of the Palestinians losing a war in 1948. This is hardly “politically correct,” and is probably the most politically insensitive thing you could say to people on both sides of the conflict. It also in no way delegitimizes Palestinian resistance to Israeli Apartheid, but does explain the situation better than simply damning and condemning vague things like “colonialism” and “whiteness,” altogether. (Which, let’s be honest, was only ever a trick or tactic used by Jewish protesters to manipulate Blacks and People of Color to take either side, which when used outside of the limited scope of Black Muslims, like Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X, who have always stood by Palestinians, where the language was first borrowed and misappropriated from, is often used to keep people of all races and nationalities from understanding the issue; while also distracting attention away from the larger issues at hand, ones that may or may not actually affect them; such as how America’s unfettered support for Israel could potentially lead to a U.S. war with Iran.) The world has taken on the overly vague and sometimes idealistic language of Jewish-Israeli Peaceniks and Refuseniks without knowing what, specifically, they were protesting. If those protesters just said, “We’re against Zionism and Jewish-Supremacy” rather than mincing words, then they surely would have gained a lot more followers and supporters on both the left and right, though they might not be the supporters they wanted.

Actually, in a recent video of Israeli IDF refuseniks (a slang term referring to conscientious objectors) they do just that, refer to Zionism as Jewish Supremacy. Which a refreshingly positive change of course from the usual vague allusions to “indigenousness,” (in regards to who is or is not indigenous where) “white-supremacy” (to describe several only vaguely related and oftentimes incompatible political ideologies) and other debatable variables, coming from the far-left.

Nowadays, it’s much easier to silence people.

You don’t even have to assassinate them, for their views and opinions, because you can just as easily discredit them by “cancelling” them, locking them out of social media, downvoting or shadow-banning their comments to keep them from having a prominent voice by limiting their influence on public discourse; and otherwise intimidating them into compliance. (Usually through a combination of online and IRL terror-tactics and good old-fashioned character assassination.) Or by simply confusing them with political double-speak until their ideas disappear into oblivion.

Celebrities, today, rarely take an AntiWar stance because the entertainment industry is run by, well, Zionists — And thus anyone “fated for fame” is heavily vetted by the Military Industrial Complex before you ever even hear their names or see them on a marquee. (Though that very likely may be a coincidence, because most people today aren’t really very political, especially on international and foreign policy matters, except for performatively, and because most celebrities only have a high-school or grade-school education.) Jewish guest, Timothee Chalamet’s, recent rather distasteful mention of Hamas on SNL, during Israel’s current genocide of Gaza, is just one example of how Hollywood acts as an eternally out of touch propaganda machine. Thankfully, Tim’s character offed himself at the end of the skit, which was funny and well-deserved, but which might also be read as a distasteful reference to Israel accusing Palestinians of causing their own destruction.

This kind of gross insensitivity and feigned ignorance might have been forgivable if Americans had forgotten that this is the exact same comedy and variety show that held prayers and candles for Ukraine, after the U.S. forced Russia’s hand by manipulating Putin into intervening in the region by first orchestrating the U.S.-backed illegal Maiden coup, and creating a civil-war, there, under the Obama Administration; and then threatening to make The Ukraine, which is historically part of Russia, part of the NATO alliance, (which was only created to oppose Moscow and the former Soviet Union, in the first place,) during the Biden administration. (Simplifying the issues of today is of course this current movements’ greatest weakness, because in order to understand what is happening in Syria and Ukraine, you have to have an in-depth understanding of American foreign policy over the last decade, at least. Gen Z may seemingly have a greater sense of morality when it comes to America’s wars of conquest and colonialism overseas, but not when it comes to holding members of their own generation accountable, like Mr. Chalamet.) SNL did that, of course, because “standing with with Ukraine,” a U.S. puppet ally like Israel, is obviously a pro-war not an AntiWar position.

It’s also more than merely noteworthy that Ukraine’s acting President, Zelensky, is a Zionist himself; and thus any attempt to equate Palestine with Ukraine, or Russia with America’s ally, Israel… (especially when the current Banderist government in Kyiv has been massacring ethnic-Russian civilians in the Donbas region, critical of the U.S.-led coup, since the Obama administration) Is a bit of a stretch.

Nor is the humor lost on me, that many of the people in the George Floyd/BLM/ANTIFA rallies who worked so hard to get President “Genocide Joe” into office, are the exact same ones who are currently protesting his foreign policy in regards to Israel/Palestine, now. It’s pretty damn hilarious, in fact! Are they all just fools who genuinely feel betrayed by the person they campaigned and possibly also voted for, or is something deeper going on? And who exactly is funding and organizing these protests, anyway?

If I sound cynical, it’s only because I remember the (20 year!) long period of Hipster political burnout and apathy to U.S. foreign policy following the invasion of Iraq in 2003. That was also a landmark year for AntiWar protests, but as the years went on people became more and more indifferent to the joint Republican/Democrat-backed wars in the Middle East and elsewhere. (It might even be too optimistic to refer to the protests that are going on now as “AntiWar Protests” since they’re really “anti-genocide” protests with a more narrow focus and simpler demands. Which is honestly great! Since in order for a protest to work, it needs to have clear demands that can be achieved; but at the same time I think many of these protesters are missing the bigger picture, that Zionism isn’t just a threat to Palestinians, but to the whole world. This is true mainly because of the relationship between war and industry, banking, lobbyists, and foreign investors. What we AntiWar protesters sometimes refer to as “The Military Industrial Complex” describes this relationship between war, industry, finance, and propaganda; and regardless of whether it’s labeled a “Jewish conspiracy theory” or not, for most of Israel’s 75 old history the MIC has been decidedly pro-Zionist.) Many of these protesters weren’t even alive back then, or were simply too young to protest, but many of us who have been carrying the AntiWar torch are turned-off by the phoney political correctness and “wokeness” demonstrated at these rallies. Mostly, since these are the exact same “politically correct” ideas that got us here in the first place. The same censorship, and the same policing of language and ideas, and the same silencing of sincere foreign and domestic policy discussion.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the numbers are great! And I wish we saw this same turnout when the U.S. and NATO bullied Russia into war on its borders in the Ukraine, or when America’s “Worst Black President” Barack Obama, and his Vice President “Genocide Joe,” created ISIS and invaded Syria in 2012… But I digress. It’s just that begging your oppressor for a ceasefire, rather than getting to the root of that oppression — U.S. foreign policy towards Israel — is asking for far too little far too late. The only way to reverse course, though it will never bring back the lives of the roughly 12,000 Palestinian civilians who have been killed in the last few weeks, is to sanction Israel rather than supplying it with the weapons it needs to continue to commit genocide against innocent people.

Protest and protesters have the power to block the shipment and dissemination of weapons, temporarily, but not permanently. Only policy can do that, that’s why more action is needed. By action I don’t mean more reactionary protests, when the fires of the obscene immorality of our sacrificing literally tens of thousands of innocent civilians for our foreign interests grow too hot to bear, but the kind of sustained action that puts pressure not only on Israel, but on American policy makers, as well.

I was locked out of my Facebook account, without explanation or violation, right before the U.S. publicly sent depleted uranium and cluster munitions to Ukraine, (which is surely a coincidence) and that’s why my usual online activism on my AntiWar Pages: Peace & Love and The AntiWar Independent Party, have been silent throughout this most recent escalation in Israel and Palestines’ 75 year old long conflict. While I obviously feel both inspired and encouraged watching the younger and older generations marching together for peace, and while I wish I could somehow position myself as Gen-Z’s foreign policy professor, since I know so much of the brainwashing “information” they’re getting is incorrect, just as it was when I was young. I believe moving forward we have to be more direct with the particular policies we oppose, if we ever stand a chance to make a real difference in the world, and limit the influence of foreign bad actors (like Benjamin Netanyahu, Volodymyr Zelensky, and Benny Gantz) on American politics.

Like Chris Cornell said in his final speech, at his final concert, “They don’t give a sh*t about me, and they don’t give a sh*t about you!” He was talking about American politicians, lobbyists, and war-profiteers who perhaps in their own minds are looking out for long-term American interests, (or their own short-term financial or political gains,) but at the sacrifice of American soldiers and our National Conscience.

I say this with all humility, since I was only ever really an outspoken AntiWar Activist during the Obama years when the AntiWar Movement was most dormant. I created my own political party, simply because I could not abide by the pro-war policies of either major political party, as a lifetime AntiWar Activist. As an American I believe I should have some say in who dies in my name, and why. As an Independent I wanted to create a political party that I would be proud to be a part of, one that I felt was looking out not only for my country’s best interests, but the best interests of my fellow countrymen. (Although I first became politically aware as a child during Kosovo, and opposed “The War On Terror” campaign in Afghanistan and Iraq, as a teenager; I only, truly, politically came of age during Obama’s invasion of Syria; something that even many American veterans and active duty servicemen protested.) Nor do I delusionally count myself as some kind of charismatic leader, quite the opposite in fact, as I often limit my own activism (such as paying for advertising for my political party) simply because I know that I am not, nor have I ever claimed to be. (And also, because I can’t afford it!) Rather, I am simply a concerned citizen who cares about peace and the future of American Foreign Policy; as just another American who, like millions of others; is right now witnessing the results of our policies of endless war, rampant political Zionism, capitalist imperialism, liberal interventionism, modern-day colonialism, war-profiteering, Genocide, and destruction overseas.

— A.M. McGee

[owlixx]

Kirby Super Star Ultra Thoughts

Opted to just play the remake instead of playing both versions, like I did with Adventure/Nightmare in Dream Land

This is the first one of these that I have ample experience with

Owned this physically as a kid and remember playing it a bunch in middle school

I particularly remember getting lost in great cave offensive, not necessarily in a bad way

I also have played through a good chunk of the SNES original as a coop game a couple times over the years, but never gotten past the first few “games”

What I’m getting at is that Spring Breeze/Dynablade reminded me of being in college/high school, Great Cave Offensive reminded me of middle school, and Milky Way Wishes was brand new

Most importantly, this entire game is just such a joy

Having not played this game properly in single player in a decade really made this a unique experience

Also, playing the games leading up really helped me appreciate this game more

I was especially impressed by the graphics, the variety of the different games, and how fun the copy abilities are

Finally having multiple moves per copy ability increases the fun drastically

I actually really enjoyed summoning AI companions even if they ended up destroying one of the treasures in Great Cave Offensive

I think it’s bogus that the DS version requires player 2 to look over player 1’s shoulder

Milky Way Wishes ended up being my favorite game of the bunch because of how you permanently unlock copy abilities to switch between

I really enjoyed that we got to see multiple different types of level design here:

Old kirby levels remixed for the new style in Spring Breeze

An original set of levels in Dynablade

A single large interconnected level with collectibles in Great Cave Offensive

A time-restricted level in Meta Knight’s Revenge

Puzzle/unlockable based in Milky Way Wishes (especially loved that season-swapping puzzle at the start!)

And haven’t done it yet, but getting to play as meta knight and the helpers in the extra DS modes

So yes, the different games feature a mostly similar Kirby and abilities (except Milky Way wishes and the extra DS modes) but because the concept behind the level design is so different, that’s what makes them feel distinct to me

Favorite abilities were hammer, parasol, yoyo, wing, jet

Loved the way parasol and wheelie could connect you and your companion

Really every ability in this game feels amazing to use though with dash attacks, dash jump attacks, blocking, and other unique moves

Still not a fan of stone, copy

Didn’t even try plasma somehow

If laser is in this game, I never got it

Generally avoided the screen clear abilities this time

I wish modern Kirby games had a mode like Milky Way Wishes and the new DS modes (meta knight remix + playing as every helper)

The sword fight against meta knight is even better this time with the addition of all the new moves you can do

I love all the references to other Nintendo games in great cave offensive

Love that Kirby still gets to change color for each ability

Really just want to emphasize how much joy this game brought me.

I’ve been having fun up til now, but I couldn’t stop smiling while playing this game, especially the further I got

Actually played this on a genuine DSi XL which probably helped sell me on the nostalgia

I have a hard time imagining that another game is going to top this one, besides maybe Robobot because I already know that one slaps

I am wondering if Amazing Mirror is going to remind me of Great Cave Offensive (and if I’ll get stuck and have to skip it)

I beat the shoot ‘em up section and Marx in a single try! Very proud, I was on my last hit point and had never seen that content before

Side note: I am already multiple worlds into Robobot, Return to Dream Land, and Epic Yarn from a while ago. I plan to just continue where I left off in those games, maybe just replaying the opening level of each to get my head screwed back on.

Up next: I believe Dream Land 3 is next, perhaps after a brief detour into Star Stacker

[ninacarstairss]

you definitely are 😌 (it’s always a great moment for tea. i’m about to make one for myself too hehe)

yasss that is how you know the food was really good!!! when your trousers are about to explode hehe and i’ll definitely keep this one in mind!! i’d love to go see it if i had the chance!!

no way!! peachesobviously? i love her designs so much 😻😻 i might have to look up the heartstopper and rwrb ones :D lol i will try not to do that but i really wanna try soju now!! you really make it sound so good!!

yayyy it’s still time for happily screaming about that night!!! the depression can wait a bit!! and i love that you were there knowing every single word by heart like the number one fan that you are 😌 especially those songs that usually people don’t know the lyrics to!! that’s when you know you’re really way too obsessed and you’re super proud of it hehe (also a song just for that leg of the tour?? i love it kandksnsk kinda feels special!!)

that is my favorite kind of family hehe and my favorite kind of concert. that’s the same when i go to a louis tomlinson concert, it’s a big gay family and it’s perfect!!! and yess i can’t wait to see those glasses!! but honestly i never care what is more appropriate for concerts, and the read streaks were definitely the best look 😌 and no way 😂 all those pockets sound really perfect to hide anything lol

of course you aren’t over that!!! it must have been soooo perfect!! i still can’t believe it happened and i’m so happy for you!!

ugh i know, i’m glad i had some more time off. and yes!! it was really nice to see them outside of work, i really like spending time with them (finally without my judgy boss around 😑)

simba got his head scratch and he stayed with me in that same spot all day :) and it was lucky i had a whole day off doing nothing because i ended up having to work even on what was supposed my second day off of the week 😭 some people called in sick and i got called into work at like 9:30pm. i kinda wanted to cry all night :,)

but anyway, i’m loving these biscuits so much!! i’m wrapping us tightly in a mountain of blankets (yes i am really cold) and making us both another well deserved cup of tea <3

hello cece my beloved soulmate <3

it is that time, the time where i promised i would tell you about my slight break over these two weeks! i made a cup of tea for you to keep your hands warm while i tell you all about it <3

so firstly, the musical. so as you know, i went to see six the musical, and it was so good! it was a historical musical similar to hamilton, but it was about king henry viii's six wives and they were in a GIRL GROUP! the music was so good, and i have so much envy for how much stamina the performers had, considering there were only the six of them doing all the vocals and all the dancing with no break. it was almost like being at a concert! and i also got taken to this fine dining restaurant attached to the theatre beforehand and i had this really nice rigatoni dish and a mango sorbet (and an apple cider hehe). it was amazing :D

so i took this whole weekend off (friday-sunday) so i could travel and not worry for time. i celebrated one of my best friend's birthdays at a korean bbq place, and it was so good. i've never done it before and it has been on my bucket list for quite some time. i also had soju for the first time as well, it was this peach flavour and i almost forgot it was alcoholic (it was like three drinks in one LMAO) because it tastes exactly like peaches. my friend also really liked her gift (she discovered young royals, so i got her this young royals tote bag), so that made me happy :')

and then the big event of the weekend, i still haven't processed it has happened, but i went and saw rina sawayama in concert. RINA SAWAYAMA! she's actually a real person???? i did tear up seeing her, i will not lie. my throat is sore from singing every single word (i was so proud of myself). i'm sad that lots of my concert videos were ruined by people who are six foot tall and waited to be at the front. (i only got there two hours early and i was second row from the front.), but it was a spiritual experience nevertheless.

and the people there were so nice, it was almost homely. a guy said he loved my glasses (i bought these red elton john looking glasses just for the show) and i took them off while telling him about them, and then he was like "your eye makeup! shut the fuck up, i love it!" unfortunately, i lost him once we got into the venue and my eye makeup melted :'( we also had some people try and invite us out to go clubbing after, but i was so overwhelmed with seeing rina IN PERSON!!! and also i had red tear streaks down my face from my sweat reactivating my red water-activated eyeliner. plus, i don't think i would have gotten into the clubs with two shirts folded into my pockets...

anyways, enough about me! tell me how your day and your week has been, what you've been up to. has work been treating you well? have you been getting more rest? looking after yourself properly? i'm sending you a tight hug and a kiss on the forehead <3333

hiii nero my beloved soulmate!!! i’d missed you!! <3

aw how did you know?? my hands are super cold right now, i really need that cup of tea <3

no way!! NO WAY!!! the six wives of henry viii in a girl group??? i feel the need to see this musical now. honestly a girl group, and they were singing and dancing all the time?? i’m in love just hearing you talk about it!! it sounds like it was really amazing!!! and that rigatoni dish and mango sorbet also sound sooo good :D

A YOUNG ROYALS TOTE BAG?? 😻 i’m in love and i need one too now!!! i’m very glad your friend liked it but of course she would!!! also, i’ve never tried soju and now i really want to!! i’m really craving peaches and soju

YOU WENT TO SEE RINA??? HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS?? nero i’m so happy for you!!! your love for rina sawayama is legendary and i can’t believe you saw her live!!! i really hate all those super tall people at concerts but i’m so happy you loved it and you sand every ingle word!!! you know it was a really great concert when you’ve got a sore throat for screaming along to the songs

and the people 🥺 god i love those concerts where the people are just like a family. it makes the whole atmosphere so much better. and those glasses must have looked so cool!!! also, i love water activated eyeliners, but they do not hold up well with sweat lol but it’s a concert so of course your make up would totally melt during it 😂 but the read tear streaks down your face must have looked so cool!!! and sorry but how exactly did you have two shirts folded into your pockets?? 😂

i’m so happy it was such a great weekend!! it really sounds like it was wonderful and i’m so happy you saw rina IN PERSON!!! i could listen to you talk about this musical and this concert for days!! and also the food :)

as for me, i have been getting a little more sleep, and i also got more time to catch up with some friends and relax!! i have two days off this week (finally) and last week i went to a birthday party with some friends from work that i barely manage to see out of the shop, and we had a lot of fun. we also ate a lot at the buffet of course :D and now i’m currently sitting on my bed, wrapped in a warm blanket with simba purring on my lap, and this is how i plan to spend my whole day off 😌

i’m hugging you back real tight and spinning you around to the music of rina sawayama <3

[cyborg-franky]

Hiiii my little pineapple l tidbit, I was wondering if you'd please do some headcanons about some op characters reacting to a "nonstandadard op woman" body type for a gn afab reader? Like a reader with chub and rolls and stretch marks. ❤️ Thank you

Yessss.

Also these headcannons aren't designed to make people who aren't 'bigger/plus size' feel bad these are just for encouragement for others and so everyone can feel nice <3

Ace

- Boobs are boobs, big or small, male-bodied or female-bodied. Ace is a fan of every boob and would be happy to plant his face between them.

- Because he’s so scrawny/no meat he likes to cuddle up to someone squishy.

- He doesn’t really see your lumps and bumps as something ‘bad’ just part of you and doesn’t understand when you dislike them.

- He also loves to grab an ass, all asses are good asses.

Marco

- He loves legs of all shapes and sizes.

- Doesn’t matter if your thighs are thick and dimply as long as they feel nice on his face.

- He likes being able to grip your thighs, grab your ass, enjoying when his large hands feel full.

- When you feel down about yourself, he’ll cheer you up.

- Complimenting you every chance he gets.

- Just out of the blue “You look lovely today yoi.”

Thatch

- Thatch will always be rubbing your tummy, he loves how you feel.

- Likes to rest his face on your soft bits.

- Makes cute little puns about your ‘rolls’ and works on taking away any negative connotations, making you feel good about yourself.

- He has a little bit of a tummy himself and he’ll always jiggle his and pat it giving you a grin, being proud of it.

- “Can’t have you skinny, means I’m not doing a good job at cooking right?” He says with a chuckle.

Corazon

- He’s covered in scars from various places, he was once self-conscious about them.

- So he understands how you’d feel about your stretch marks and blemishes.

- He’d trace over the marks like you would his scars.

- Kissing them and making you feel like every part of you was perfect.

- Every ‘imperfection’ is just part of you and he loves it, because he loves you.

Law

- He doesn’t see ‘cosmetic’ standards really.

- Everyone is just a body with organs.

- He just cares about your personality.

- When he’s kissing you and you flinch, feeling a little self-conscious about a certain bump or mark he’ll give you a confused look.

- His genuine confusion to why you dislike that part of yourself makes you feel like it doesn’t matter to him, he loves you for you.

Sabo

- He has scars, a lot of them

- He doesn’t judge you for your marks.

- You are both there to pick one another up when it comes to self-esteem.

- He does like a good bum, big, small, flat.

- Sabo would use your ass as a pillow if he could get away with it.

- A fan of feeling weight on top of him, makes him feel safer.

Buggy

- He loves to grab someone’s chubby bits.

- loves how his hands leave indents, makes him feel powerful.

- Always grabbing a thick thigh, a plush ass and loves all breasts.

- He has things he’s very self-conscious about and knows when you need a pick me up about certain things.

- You know he finds you attractive from how he can’t keep his hands off you, how jealous he can get when anyone looks your way.

Rayleigh

- Curves of any shape are his favourite.

- He’s a sucker for big hips.

- Likes to grab them when you’re just standing there.

- Wraps his arms your hips often as he kisses your lumps and bumps.

- Running his hands over your stretch marks, tracing patterns, and mumbling how beautiful/wonderful you are.

Zoro

- Does not see ‘fat’ ‘ugly’ ‘too much ass’ you are just a person that he likes to look at.

- “Heavy?” He says eyeing you up when you feel bad about your weight.

- Effortlessly lifts you up and chuckles to himself as you swot at him.

- “One-handed, heavy? Nah.” He sets you down and ruffles your hair.

- “Just right.” he says with a firm nod.

Luffy

- Soft and warm, he just sees you as comfortable.

- Great at hugs, nice to hold.

- He doesn’t see anything wrong with you.

- When you feel bad about your stretch marks he just points to all his scars.

- “I have the same.” He said with a shrug.

- “Does that make me ugly?” You can’t even explain to him how they are different, but the sentiment is so nice.

[eggofritts]

The Vanguard

The first of three D2 acrylic charm designs! I will be making these semi-transparent 2.5 inch charms and limited stock since I’m not sure if there’s anyone else interested in these as well.

My current impressions of the three below! (Spoiler: I like all of them.)

When I first played, I did not care for Zavala or Ikora. They both seemed like fairly boring and serious people who gave me objective instructions. I was not even aware of Cayde’s existence since I first started playing Sept 2022. 200 hrs and much offline lore reading later, I still haven’t read everything regarding these three but I am so much more invested in them now.

When I went back to play Season of the Haunted, I got to learn so much more about Zavala. That felt like my first real impression and crack into who Zavala really was beyond the stoic facade. Lance Reddick delivered such an emotional performance!! I really do need to get to his lore books with Safi and every other lore pertaining to him. I especially love that his faith in the Traveller has waned so much, but he is still holding on for the people he actually knows and cares about. I personally did not connect with “protect the traveller at all costs” as a motive. So, I enjoyed seeing a much more relatable, down to earth, and selfish conclusion to Zavala’s true motivations to keep marching on.

I was a bit more interested in Ikora because I like Mara Junot’s performance for Evelynn in LOL and she was the first person I interacted with when I came into the WQ campaign. I didn’t get truly invested in her until I read the Witch Queen Collector’s Edition lore though (which was last night lol). I was a fan of Seth Dickinson’s books already so seeing his writing again is always welcome. Truly the lore did NOT disappoint. Her manic doubts, conversation with Chalco, banter with Zavala, ruminating about Eris, Mara, and Savathun, and the general themes behind lies, truths, and secrets. She was so vulnerable and introspective! I love that!!! When she explained why she always ask the guardian to meditate, I was very pleasantly surprised that there was an actual personal reason as to why she did that. Every time I mediate for new aspects now, I think about how she wants us to reflect on our past actions. After reading that, it made me feel more proud of choosing warlock as my first and main class even though I initially chose it on a whim and for gameplay reasons.

Of the three, I still know Cayde-6 the least. Since he’s dead and I haven’t actually interacted with him in-game (very sad about Forsaken being in the vault), I haven’t felt particularly motivated to get to know him for who he is. I like the snippets I get about his meaningful interpersonal relationships with the others so I’m sure I’ll like him. Plus, Nathan Fillion and the writing team do a fantastic job of making him charismatic and infectiously cheerful. The first time I heard his voice in old strikes, I was a little confused as to who this guy was but I also definitely had a smile on my face. He really does stand out from Zavala and Ikora in his own way.

I cannot wait to learn more about them all! If only I wasn’t so busy with everything else sigh