#I think I just prefer to actually draw original characters and make original stories and such

[bacchuschucklefuck]

LIVING for your ponytail Yugi he’s so cute 😭💖

thank u! i hold dear in my heart the way yuugi is like a little plushie that wants nothing more than to die a noble death

[originalwinnerfanfish]

Well, this was a big piece of work, hah

I took a break from RW and decided to draw something nostalgic

Actually I've been stuck with this idea for two years now and I'm glad I finally found the strength to do something about it. Thanks for inspiration from one good man)

Long story short

In this AU autobots and deceptions are two unions of different tribes: mudwings, seawings and sandwings for the firsts and icewings, nightwings, rainwings and Pantala tribes for seconds. Skywings doesn’t exist anymore (because we need someone who takes place of predacons).

People are just people or scavenger if you prefer. And instead of whole cosmos it’s just two mainlands.

- Optimus Prime - I kinda like tfp Optimus. So formidable, powerful and mysterious but really gentle at the same time. And mud/sea combo works here in the best way. As the representation of two main tribes union and strong father/brother figure for team members.

I also think he might be an animus (but don’t use his magic often, especially for killing someone)

- Ultra Magnus - Pure Icewing already will be great for him, but I gave him part of seawing so he could be more like an Optimus. But instead of being softer and warmer, Magnus is more cold and pragmatic version of him. A character who sees other dragons not as close allies and friends but as ordinary soldiers.

- Ratchet - Yeah, the seawing would fit him better, but i just don’t know how to make the colors work here sooo… he’s a weak-fire mudwing. Like a skywing, but mudwing. Why not. Make sense with his lack of guns in origin. I think he’s design can be better, and maybe I’ll remake it.

I love his arc of recognizing people as equals and especially his interactions with Raphael. I think Ratchet often read him scrolls about history and magical artifacts.

- Bulkhead - No surprises here - mudwing fit him perfectly. I think that the Wreckers could been a big and strong mudwing troops, and Bulkhead was a bigwings in such a one. He is lost a lot of his siblings during the war, and therefore tries with all his might to protect the new members of his family. I absolutely adore his relationship with Miko and Jackie, so for me he’s one of the cutest character, and I tried to make his forms round and soft.

- Bumblebee - I know that majority draw him as a hivewing, but in that case the most logical for him will be a night/sandwing. Literally, autobots get their own Sunny)

I think in this version with his lack of a voice he could communicate using sign language or some variation of aquatic.

- Arcee - Also nothing special - she is a seawing. I originally wanted to give her a helmet but it was too hard to draw. Just like Sunny she was born pretty small and now even younger dragons can be bigger than her. I’m pretty sure she is old enough to have seen Bumblebee when he was a dragonet, so she's literally like an older sister to him.

Actually she really gives me a Queen Glory vibes with her sarcasm and dangerous beauty, so rainwing might fit her as well.

- Smokescreen - I used to think he was just a cringe, but now I realize he's a pretty interesting and realistic character. Like Ultra Magnus, I wanted to make him look like Optimus, only this time Smoke is more of a younger and much more irresponsible version of him. I think in this version (being part rainwing) he's trying to mimic Optimus's coloring using same red, blue and pale-gray shades.

- Wheeljack - The scruffy boy! I think in this version he could be Bulkhead's "adopted sibling", so they are really close to each other. And, because he spent most of his life with Bulkhead, it's harder for him to get close to other tribes and dragons.

Painting scales to keep canonical colors is kinda cheating, but for this dude it totally works. He should have a pretty bright appearance with all those scars and bright spots.

Cliffjumper - Ohoh… this poor guy. I didn't even think of putting him here, but I like his smug face too much. Even making his scales darker than the original, it's still too brightly colored for mudwing. He probably jokes about it a lot, saying that his ancestors were skywings.

I really like his dynamic with Arcee, and it's a shame we haven't seen much of their relationship. I think I need to do something cute about that.

[genericpuff]

Do you prefer pilot LO or the newer version?

The crowns in the pilot were so cool. 😭

Hard to say, honestly. I think both had their strengths and weaknesses, some unique, others shared.

The Originals version benefited in its early episodes from having an editor as well as extra time to really clean up those pilot episodes for re-release, it's a lot 'glowier' than its pilot and it expands on certain scenes that felt under-done (like the pilot still did a lot of that early jumping-around in the storytelling order between Persephone's POV and the reveal of how she got into Hades' house; they did try to improve upon this in the Originals version because it's made clearer in the second attempt with less gaps in the storytelling, buuut unfortunately it also just results in Rachel re-telling the same scenes like 3 times in a row across 3 episodes so it still wasn't perfect u.u).

But eventually that clearly turned into corporate interference after all the editor switching it went through near its end, and you can really start to see around the Episode 70ish mark where Rachel was starting to lose the plot because she never intended for the story to go on as long as it did. And that was before we ended up with two more seasons of it.

You can even identify some of the plot bloat right from the start, at least from what we've dug up so far of the pilot episodes, there was no Apollo SA scene, no multi-episode flashback of Eros x Psyche's backstory (instead Eros meets Persephone officially at the party, not after he's already dumped her in Hades' car) Artemis finds out about Persephone's crush on Hades a LOT sooner (like, by Episode 6), among other things like that.

(notice how Eros jumped straight into his apology and then continued onto his prying about Persephone's crush on Hades without any of the Super Tragic Backstory jammed in between?)

When it comes to the pilot, it definitely feels a lot more straightforward, though that is at its expense at times because Rachel seemingly jumped around at her leisure and only wrote/drew what she was interested in at the time of creating each episode. That's not to say she wasn't trying to write an actual story but you can really tell the story she wanted to write was mostly just fluff between Hades and Persephone, so as soon as they're separated, you immediately get scenes of them swooning over each other in private, far more intensely than what was conveyed in the Originals version (for better and for worse):

(both of these scenes happen within two separate parts of Episode 6 btw, that's what I mean when I say the plot moves WAY faster than the Originals version, which is sometimes to its benefit, sometimes to its detriment. It benefits it by not slogging the plot down with dragged out flashback sequences and side character conversations that go nowhere, but it also means less worldbuilding / character building because Rachel's too focused on drawing Hades and Persephone drooling over each other which sure, makes for great fluff, but isn't exactly plot lmao)

That said, the art in the pilot is some of the best that LO has ever had to offer, but also the worst. While I said earlier that the pilot's art isn't as "glowy", that's not necessarily a bad thing, because what it does offer feels a lot edgier. Sharper shapes, darker colors, bolder lines.

You can tell Rachel was still learning how to create a vertical comic like this, but her experience from previous projects like The Doctor Foxglove Show was still present. She really seemed to treat each panel as its own work of art-

Of course, the pilot still wasn't without its fair share of anatomy jank and half-finished rush jobs.

While the art definitely improved within just a few episodes, there's a clear moment when Rachel switches from the flat coloring style to more of a sketch style, which was exactly the same thing that happened to The Doctor Foxglove Show and compels me to chalk it up to "Rachel getting impatient". That's not necessarily to the pilot's detriment because it lends really well to this minimalist style with its bold and identifiable colors, but there are definitely times where you wonder if you're even reading LO anymore because half of the panels are in black and grey-

She does eventually transition back to the full-color style (so maybe that particular set of episodes were just rushed along for other reasons) but it also becomes pretty clear pretty quickly what subject matter Rachel was proficient at, but more importantly, more willing to spend extra amounts of time on-

(to state the obvious, it's Persephone. A lot of LO's pilot is just pin-ups of Persephone lmao)

And unfortunately, the frustrating and non-committal flip-flopping between "Persephone is barely legal, don't be a creep" and "Persephone is the perfect woman for you" when it comes to Hades pursuing her is still VERY present. Like, Hecate backslides even harder than in the Originals version and it's... very weird to read.

------------------

With all that in mind, it's hard to choose a "favorite" because they're both indicative of Rachel's strengths and weaknesses (and very blatant biases and problems) in equal, but sometimes different, amounts.

I think if I had to pick one, I'd pick the pilot, for the same reasons I'd pick the manga over the anime, if that makes sense. Sure, the anime might have cleaned up a lot of the manga's art and turned it into a more complete 'product', but the manga is closer to the original artist's vision and intention, and doesn't get bogged down by filler, poor directing decisions, and dragging itself out to a point that it's no longer enjoyable. While an editor almost definitely benefited Rachel, Rachel herself doesn't seem like someone who was ever suited for the format that LO wound up in - a weekly serialized vertical long-form webtoon - because that was never what LO was meant to be.

As much as Rachel tries to fluff it up as some educational deconstruction of purity culture and anti-patriarchal take on Greek myth, at the end of the day, she really was just writing a self-insert Greek myth smut fic. And evidently, it would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling Webtoons executives.

[alwaysless]

Fellow William analyst, greetings! I hope you are well, I hope you don't mind a question/ask.

I am curious about your thoughts on the lack of reaction we see of Will at the "one life" reveal at the dinner scene, if you haven't already shared your thoughts before! We know Annabel wasn't shocked, but what about Will?

It took me longer to answer than I thought, sorry

I'm not sure I can say anything new, but yes, it's pretty damn suspicious. The composition of the frame stylized as broken glass, makes it easy to draw Will with everyone, and a frame later we see him with other panicking students, so RnF didn't show his reaction quite intentionally.

But I also want to talk about his behavior further. In the next episode, Will doesn't behave the way you expect him to. Given his weak-willed personality, it seems like he should be scared and overwhelmed by the prospect of a survival game (like Morella for example) but he's confused at best, and moreover, confused by everyone else's reactions. He even tries to justify the deans, basically gaslighting the rest of the students.

Will is not afraid, but he does not understand why others are. I have only two possible explanations: either he knew, or he just doesn't care, just like Annabel. Or maybe both.

Maybe he has played these games before. Maybe he doesn't plan to fight for a second life (at least not in Nevermore, again just like Annabel). Maybe because he is somehow connected with the academic staff with all his doll aesthetic, there is no second life for him in general, he just works there. There are many options, but here I would prefer to focus on his parallels with Annabel - two characters whose reactions we don't see in this frame.

This is actually not the only scene where they are absent, contrary to common sense. In episode 6 we see the merit board for the first time. Most of the names on it are blurred, but some can be distinguished. Among them are Lenore, Annabel, Duke, Morella, Ada, Prospero and Will. All of them, except Annabel and Will, are present in the room at this moment.

I wouldn't have paid much attention to this scene if it weren't for Prospero. Why is he there? He doesn't speak a single line, and we haven't been introduced to him as a character yet. His presence here is useless. So maybe the idea really was for all the characters whose names were visible on the board to be in the scene(or at least have already been introduced, like Annabel).

So what about Will? My main problem with shapeshifter characters is that they can be anyone, anywhere, at any point in the story. Especially if they can also create their own copies. He could have already been introduced and we just didn't notice.

Now let's talk about the games these kids love to play so much. We know that Annabel is a talented chess player, and Montresor constantly uses card game slang. But did you know that it was William Wilson from Poe's original story who was a cardsharper? I just think it's such an interesting detail. Nevermore`s Will has never been seen like this, but considering how much of a board game aesthetic this webtoon has, I think it's important to note this.

And finally, there is a similarity that also makes them very different: both Annabel and Will have ribbons as an essential symbol, but it has a completely opposite meaning for each of them. For Annabel, the ribbons are a symbol of madness, fear, and perhaps her golden cage. It appears in her hallucinations after Lenore's fake death, as well as when Ada shows her her main fear.

Will, on the other hand? The ribbons are his weapon. He uses them to tangle other people. Curious, although his spectre is obviously a marionette, he doesn't have a control bar for strings, he controls the strings himself (not always successful but still).

No matter how weak-willed Will is, he's the only one in Annabel's group who isn't influenced by her. She blackmails Montresor, Prospero respects her as a leader and friend, Ada admires and envies her. But she doesn't have anything on Will. In the chess allegory, he will obviously be a pawn (and I`ll write a whole post about it, I swear), but not Annabel's pawn. I have an idea that sooner or later, Montresor will think of using Will to find dirt on Annabel in revenge. After all, given their spectre abilities, it's easier for them to find out lenabel's secret.

So, let's summarize what we found. Absolutely nothing. This post turned out to be longer than I had planned, because I was a little carried away, but I hope you found something interesting for yourself in this stream of thoughts.

Here, take funny little Will everyone. He deserves to be noticed.

[itsabouttimex2]

I hope this isn't an odd question

But, do you think Wukong or Macaque would act or treat different their "cub" if they genders were swapped or being a female version? This is also for a Yan behavior

I don't know too much about how is the raising of a monkey from the father and mother so I was curious with this since they're both mystical demons

I was thinking about this when I saw some fanarts from the artist @/car_nimbus on Twitter, they made a neat versions of the characters with another gender

Monkey Mama

(Hmm okay let me build a hypothetical OG “Female Monkey King” to work off of here and then I’ll try to translate that into LMK’s SWK. Also, I’ll probably make a second variation of this afterwards with other characters, haha. This got a little long to do both SWK and Mac!)

Sun Wukong as a character is already heavily defined by rebellion and personal choice, so I think that making him a girl only really compounds that layer of his character.

In many older narratives, female characters are often expected to be more obedient or modest than men, and very frequently only exist as prizes or, more rarely, villains. A female Sun Wukong; assuming she plays the same role as her original incarnation, defies the expectations of how “traditional” women should behave, shirking the demure and passive “ideal” and adding another layer of rebellion to her character.

(JTTW is actually pretty great in terms of female representation, with characters ranging from the perpetually good Quanyin, the eventually repentant Princess Iron Fan, and the straight up evil White Bone Spirit. I’m a big fan of how the women aren’t slid into any one “role” throughout the story.)

I think: in story, she’d likely be viewed as a sort of “anomaly”—a woman too strong, too outspoken, and too unwilling to conform to typical feminine ideals. Her defiance and arrogance might be viewed as even more scandalous by the Celestial Realm.

Instead of being made a “stable-keeper”, I think probably she’s sent to whatever Heavenly Scullery exists in that divine realm, and put to work very quickly. She would treat this “job” with indifference or even amusement at first-after all, physical labor or menial tasks don't diminish her self-worth or confidence! She’s had a life of hard work, leading an army of Yaoguai, cultivating Flower Fruit Mountain,

So she’s fine with this… at first. Then it turns out that the food she makes with her fellow low-class workers isn’t distributed amongst the people making it, but plated up nice and pretty for a bunch of “stuffy old gods” who didn’t lift a finger! Bullshit!

So obviously, the prideful Monkey Queen goes on a destructive rampage in regards to the unfair disparity of treatment, then storms back down to Earth to throw a “feel-better” party with her fellow Yaogaui.

(Which isn’t just a party, but a symbolic reclaiming of joy and community, with her monkey tribe representing the freedom she craves and the earthly bonds she prefers over heavenly authority. It's not just an escape, but a statement of independence.)

After an extensive set of repairs, the Court sends down someone to drag her back, because, you know, the local super-powered monkey is back on the loose, and that’s not exactly great for them. This time, they offer her a “better” role- she gets to become an official Peach Maiden, lucky her!

Of course, it’s just another form of entrapment, but within a prettier cage. Even though she's given a cushier position, it's a veneer- she's still being silenced, controlled, and stripped of her freedom. The role played by a Peach Maiden is an inversion of Wukong's essence, as these women are happily serving the role of passive caretakers, nurturing with gentle smiles—a direct contrast to the free-willed, brash nature of the Monkey Queen.

(And while there’s nothing wrong with being demure, passive, and feminine, having people try to force her into that role is where Sun Wukong draws her line.)

Here, she is expected to watch in silence as others revel in the freedom and power denied to her. It's a different kind of prison, one that quietly erodes her spirit. When the Celestial Court tries to reintegrate her as a Peach Maiden, they are once again attempting to place her into a docile, decorative role, one that strips away her power and independence. Those immortal peach orchards, a symbol of immortality and divine favor, becomes a prison for her.

Surrounded by "ideal" women who embody the quiet, submissive role she despises, the Monkey Queen finds herself chafing under the pressure of conformity. Her energy, once boundless and chaotic, is now caged, and the simmering resentment builds.

The buildup to her inevitable rebellion after being made a Peach Maiden, then, becomes a very sympathetic moment because it's not just a rejection of the role forced on her, but a rejection of the very system that tries to diminish who she is at her core. Her rebellion isn’t about anger and shame- it’s about reclaiming her true self after having been suffocated by the expectations of the Celestial Court. Her rampage becomes an assertion of her identity as something that can't be confined by heavenly rules or social mores.

The Court, in its attempt to “contain" her, only fuels her defiance further, leading her once again to rebel.

It was never going to end well. But it ends all the same, and punishment is to be levied to the Queen, just the same as any other rebellious rule-breaker... actually, probably harsher.

There’s “you broke our rules and tried to lead a coup”, then there’s “you did all that, and we also find your very person to be wrong on a fundamental level”, and then she gets the book thrown at her twice over.

But! Then she meets Tang Sanzang, who sees something in her that neither the Celestial Realm nor her own band of Sworn Brothers saw. Not a heretic simian savaging a holy realm. Not a Queen to rally behind for their own gain.

But a lost soul in need of guidance.

And from there the Great Monk works on building Sun Wukong up as a person instead of leading her astray or trying to cut massive chunks of her personality out? And talks to her about the things she cares about? And teaches her about all the things she missed after spending five hundred years under a rock?

And then she meets Zhu Baije, who starts out a little too happy and carefree about having a beautiful woman around, but eventually comes to smash open heads when Wukong is disrespected, because that’s not just a hot woman, that’s his sister?

Or Sha Wujing, who helps her with even the smallest things, from trimming her claws to cutting her wild hair to preparing meals for the monk? And lets her perch on his shoulders and head so the queen can get some skinship in?

Then Ao Lie, who is every bit the “disappointment to the world at large” that she was considered? And they take turns braiding each other’s hair and wiping the mess from the other’s face, and sleeping in the same tent and same bedroom because it’s less effort?

She gets a dad and three little brothers?

She gets a family.

And then loses it and is alone again for several hundred years more.

So if we go with this theoretical “My natural existence has been rejected for being seen as ‘improper’ by a court of stuffy traditional assholes” and then “I dearly love/miss my dead found family” angle, I think she’d be portrayed as a very different sort of character in LMK.

She’s quicker to lash out and defend herself, and much less willing to sit around and let the world pass her by- because that’s what was demanded of her by the Celestial Realm.

Be good. Be quiet. Be demure. Be obedient. Be anything except you.

I don’t think she’d be as willing to “rest on her laurels” as her canon counterpart, given that a “quiet boring life” was what she had fought so very hard to escape in the first place, so instead of isolating herself from the world in the first place, she probably sets up a little “souvenir shop” at the foot of Flower Fruit Mountain, taking a human form to sell little knick-knacks that herald to the journey she undertook with her old friends.

In part, this is how Wukong works to honor them. To spread their legacy. To ensure that they aren’t forgotten, left as a footnote in the annals of history. To remember them.

In part, it’s how she justifies all the mistakes she’s made and the suffering she’s been through. Settling in to a pointlessly relaxed life is exactly what she fought against, after all. She’s heavily fallen into the “sunk-cost fallacy”, where giving up and settling in, to her, means “losing”. It means “everything I went through was all for nothing”. So she keeps at this little store instead of just retiring and isolating herself from the world, even though she’d be happier to ditch it and lounge about.

So when MK and his eccentric bunch of friends comes around with their boundless energy and mischief, she immediately goes, “Oh, okay! This is what I wanted!”

(It’s not. All she’s ever wanted is her friends back. How could there be anything else?)

The Monkie Kids are vibrant, eccentric, and full of qualities that immediately resonate with Wukong. They remind her of the energy, camaraderie, and sense of adventure that she once shared with her old companions. She sees MK's arrival not just as a chance to teach someone a few of her old tricks, but as an echo of her own life—a life she hasn't been able to truly let go of.

So she starts projecting- on the surface, MK is very much like her. He's spirited, good-natured, and curious- and reckless. Just like she was. Wukong latches onto this quickly, sort of using the kid as a proxy for herself. After all, if she can't go back to her old life, why not embrace a new one that feels close enough? In some ways, this marks her refusal to accept the passage of time, a desperate clinging to the hope that, through MK, she can rekindle the connections she once cherished.

However, underneath that initial enthusiasm is the repressed understanding that MK, despite his similarities to her younger self, cannot truly replace what she lost. The friends she fought beside, the battles they waged together, and the lessons they learned are unique, irreplaceable moments in her life. No matter how much MK’s gang reminds her of the past, he and his friends a stand-in for the companions she still longs for. But her deep desire to reconnect with her old friends clouds her ability to see MK for who he truly is: his own person, on his own journey.

It takes her a while to get to that point, though. So she’s more doting and affectionate, in a way that somewhat stifles her student’s training because she wants to be both her old carefree self and also a good mentor, and the two just get jumbled.

Sidenote: I think with the difference in actions and behavior, MK would be more open to viewing Fem!Wukong as a parental figure than the OG, especially since he doesn’t really have someone to fulfill that “mom” role.

For their dynamic, I think something like this would be the outcome:

———————————————————————-

The afternoon sun hangs low in the sky, painting the landscape in hues of varied orange and blue. With a tired hand, MK wipes the sweat from his brow.

He’s perched on one of the rocky spires dotting Flower Fruit Mountain, gazing at the view with a small smile of accomplishment. Training had been intense lately… if only because he had been doubling down on the time he spent practicing, without giving as much care to rest or aftercare.

After all, even though his powers were blooming steadily… his enemies also were growing in power and quantity, leading to the ever-creeping edge of fear that anything less than a constant one-hundred percent just wouldn’t be “enough”.

And right as he reaches back to grab the golden staff he has inherited from the Monkey Queen-

“MK! I told you to take a break, not run off to do more training!”

Her voice, uncharacteristically sharp, cuts through the formerly tranquil air, causing MK to jump. He turns just in time to see Sun Wukong strolling toward him, her hands on her hips and a look of mock annoyance on her face.

MK grinned sheepishly, shifting his grass-stained boots against the dirt. “I was just, you know… checking out the view.”

She raised an eyebrow, the corner of her mouth twitching in amusement as her eyes narrowed in annoyance. This kid... “Uh-huh. Checking out the view or sneaking in some practice when I wasn’t looking?”

Caught fast in his lie, MK rubbed the back of his neck, face scrunching up in embarrassment. “Maybe a little of both?”

In spite of herself, Sun Wukong quietly laughs, the sound echoing like a chiming bell through the mountain. Her long, golden hair flowed behind her in the wind, each strand catching the light like molten fire. Despite her legendary status- the rebellious warrior who’d fought the heavens and nearly won!- there was a warmth to her that MK had come to cherish.

“All work and no play, MK,” she said, sitting beside him on the rock and ruffling his hair with a fondness that always made him feel like a little kid again. “You’ll burn out before you get anywhere.”

He looked at her, eyes shining with admiration. “But you never stop training. You’ve been at this for centuries! I just…”

A pause, as his chest turns over, unsettled by the notion of opening up. But… it’s the Monkey Queen. So it.. should be okay, right?

“I want to make you proud.”

Sun Wukong’s expression softens, and she wraps an arm around his shoulders, pulling the boy close in a tight embrace. “You already make me proud, kid. You don’t have to prove anything.”

MK leaned into the touch, feeling a wave of comfort wash over him. Even from the start she’d been like this with him- protective, nurturing… and maybe a bit overbearing at times. But he didn’t mind. It made him feel safe, like no matter what challenges lay ahead, he wasn’t alone.

MK chuckled, turning his face up to meet his idol’s eyes.” I’ll keep up,” he triumphantly declares, pumping a fist.” I promise.”

“Good.” Wukong shifted, her clawed hand lightly missing his spiked locks. “Now, how about we head back to the shop and grab something to eat? You’ve earned it.”

MK’s stomach growled at the mention of food, and he nodded so eagerly that she wondered if his head wouldn’t ache from the motion. “You know, I won’t say no to a good meal.”

The Monkey Queen stood up, dusting off her mentee’s clothes before offering him a hand. “Of course you won’t. C’mon, my treat.”

———————————————————————-

Now, to answer your question about how she acts in regards to her own cub… in general I think she’s much more doting than the OG, willing to express herself through constant displays of physical affection, in ways that are far more varied.

Constant forehead smooching, cuddles, grooming sessions, all of it! Mama Wukong never wants to let go of her baby! Sit down and let her paint your nails! Let her comb and braid your hair! Let her make you a nice lunch (loaded with mystical drugs to keep you nice and sleepy for extra cuddles), or at least a filling snack! Let her pepper your face with kisses as she spins you in her powerful arms!

Lots and lots of indulgent fluffy days of binging unhealthy foods and watching cozy reruns of old shows, your head in her lap as she hums and does up your hair with her lazy hands.

Lots of reminiscing about old suitors as she considers the quietest and quickest ways to kill anyone who makes the futile attempt to pursue you in the same way.

Despite her obsessive behavior, Wukong struggles with conflicting feelings about wanting her child to be strong and independent, just like her! She pushes you to train hard and become powerful, but when you inevitably seek their own freedom or autonomy, she’d experience a mix of pride and heartbreak, pushing her deeper into possessive tendencies.

If you ever tried to leave or even just start to break away, Wukong’s worst traits would bubble up like hellfire. Just as she fought against an entire realm’s authority, she would absolutely wage a war to keep her child close, all while justifying her actions as love.

The Monkey Queen is also more willing to take routes outside of brute force if it means securing extra protection for Y/N. If Macaque or maybe Azure (or someone else like Erlang Shen) wants to try and play “suitor”, well, she’s not too interested… until the thought arises that having him around makes you extra safe! And then she’s willing to think on it.

(That’s assuming that you aren’t one of their biological kids to begin with, in which case there might be a sort of “yandere triangle”. Azure/Macaque/Erlang Shen doing his damndest to reclaim his wife, before he learns that she’s had a child while he was gone... or maybe Pigsy and Tang decided that MK needs his mentor in a more ‘accessible’ position, and plot to drag her to Megapolis…)

Lots of potential monkey mama shenanigans, basically!

[truths33k3r4]

Good morning, everyone!! :)

Sooo I found this ROTTMNT lizard mutant base a few days ago, (credit to @kittpunk144 for drawing the full-body base!), and it made me think about a certain female lizard mutant that appeared in the original 1987 series... And when I thought about it, I realized that Mona Lisa never actually appeared in Rise... SOoooo I'd like to present to you all, Mona Lisa in Rise style! :)

I don't have too much of a story behind her, but I'm going with one rainy night in Central Park the brothers all stumbled upon her with a wound in her side. They bring her back to the lair to get her fixed up, and she admits to them that she really has nowhere to go. Mikey immediately chimes in that she can stay with them, and Raphael and Leo both agree. (Donnie's not so quick to welcome a stranger into the home, but his curiosity of her mutation and abilities pushes him to at least give her a chance. (so he can ask her all the questions and do so many tests to find out just how many gecko abilities she can do like CLIMB WALLS or LICK HER EYE)

Over time, Mona Lisa finds her place in the lair. (and even some big red panda's heart~)

~ Her Design is based on the Namib Sand Gecko, not only because I loved the colors, but also because it's one of the only lizards with webbed feet. (The original series' Mona Lisa had webbing between her hands and I wanted to incorporate that here!)

~ She's anything but a morning person. The whole lair quickly learns this when she's woken up and dragged into the kitchen for breakfast only to faceplant into the table, blissfully back to sleep. It takes her a long time to become conscious and aware. This is also due to the fact that the lizard she was mutated from is nocturnal.

~ Also because of her breed of lizard, she prefers to sleep on an assortment of pillows scattered haphazardly around and below her. This is as close as she can comfortably get to the rocks that would be her natural habitat.

~ Since her original character in the 87 series was drawn with 80's fashion, (puffy hair, bandanna), I decided to give Rise Mona a thicker jacket with bright colors that would mirror the style of the 80's. :)

That's pretty much all I got on her so far! :) Thanks again, @kittpunk144 for making that Rise base! :) It was really fun to use it! :)

~ Melissa

[georgescitadel]

Interviewer: To what extent do you feel your characters are unreliable narrators? Sometimes we get accounts of important situations from different viewpoints and it’s very interesting to see what each character focuses on... Would you say that (what a character is telling) is not exactly what’s happening, that’s just how they see it?

George: I do use the device of the unreliable narrator, particularly when dealing with memory. I present these scenes sometimes from multiple different viewpoints and the versions don’t quite jibe and then you have to figure out what really happened. The only problem with that is I’ve discovered – not being perfect – that I make real mistakes, and I would prefer not to make real mistakes, but my readers are very good, and they point them out to me. I have a horse that changes sex between books and I’m terrible with eye colours, so I’ve got a couple of characters whose eye colour changes. When you make mistakes like that and when you come across the unreliable narrator, people think, ‘oh, he fucked up again.’. Actually, I didn’t fuck up, some of that is quite deliberate and I wish I could eliminate the real mistakes so that the fake mistakes could be seen for what they are, which is a sign of my literary genius. I think the point of the unreliable narrator is that you’re seeing everything filtered through the viewpoints of the characters who are your eyes and ears in that particular chapter… We have a book coming out – The World of Ice and Fire. Elio García and Linda Antonsson helped me write it, and it’s got all the history of Westeros. The original plan for this book was that Elio and Linda would go through the books I'd already written, and they would pull out all the factual nuggets of history and organize them and then I would polish what they wrote and add sidebars with things that I knew about previous kings and legends. One of the things I did in the sidebars was present history, not in an objective manner, but as something written by a maester at the Citadel who lived hundreds of years after the events and was drawing on primary sources. In the particular case of the Dance Of The Dragons: Archmaester Gyldayn, based on court records and official things; Septon Eustace, the court septon, who was giving a religious bent to everything; and the court fool, Mushroom, who was relating all the filthy things that were going on and the lascivious stories. That allowed me to present three versions of every major event that were often at dramatic odds with each other, replicating real history. Mushroom’s version would always be completely outrageous but also the most fun to read and then you’d have the other more sober versions. So, I do have fun with this point of view thing and the narrator.

- George R.R. Martin, Edinburgh International Book Festival

[pixelatedraindrops]

“Don’t worry, my pokepal. We’re here for you.”

Something I made based on BrightStar’s birthday present fanfiction to me. It’s a RainCode Pokemon AU crossover story. I felt pretty down last night and I needed a distraction. So I drew this. Originally it was going to be a small uncolored doodle I’d attach as a thread to the fic, but I just kept going… xD

Description below read (its long lol)

I kinda drew out one of the scenes, however I added my own element to it. I know that the scene takes place in the normal setting of rain code, except everyone is a Pokemon. But the story itself gave me huge Pokemon Mystery Dungeon vibes so I made the setting similar to the PMD Explorers games. With the straw nested beds, the grass flooring, and the sliced berries.

Tbh, the explorers games are the elements of PMD I’m most used to and prefer. I like the idea of Pokemon living like feral creatures with small living circumstances, like cavemen. Not fully functional furnishings and machines. I feel it gives a cozier domestic aspect and it separates a Pokemon society away from us humans. They have more modern settings in the newer games, but I like the way it was done in explorers the most. So I hope you don’t mind that!

It was rather nostalgic to draw a PMD themed art again after so long. It was a game I loved drawing fanart of in the past and I even had teams with the hero and partner based off my friends. Good times…

Reading this fic got me to thinking how much I would have loved to see a whump or illness scene from the game. Having the hero, partner or even important side character fall ill to have a nursing scene with their whole team tending to them. (The closest we got was the Manaphy post game quest before releasing it to grow up in the sea)

So I did just that. I used the fodder from Bright’s story to create this little piece where Team NDA help their newest member through a status ailment, known as a BRNing fever. (Plus yay an excuse to draw yuma sick as an eevee :D)

Everyone has a role to play in his recovery.

The patient, Kokovee is lying in the infirmary nest bed feeling exhausted, sick and miserable where he is tended to by the rest of his team. Yakgrowth makes sure he stays warm by using his many vines to force wrap a blanket around him, also to monitor his temperature, and to try to feed him. (I can see him doing all sorts of tasks with all his vines, Grass types are grade A caretakers :3) Liepara uses their sharp claws to slice the berries that are brought as medicine to be easier for him to consume. Oran berries for his energy, Rawst berries to settle the heat, and Persim berries to prevent any confusion (delirium) that might be caused by the illness. Desuhichu walks up to him and connects his cheek to his to loan him some energy his way. (though this only works on other Pikachu, it does not harm the sick shiny Eevee) Celibuki uses her psychic powers to pre-soak the towels in the stone bowl for cooling him off later, Duskullgami can’t do much but she makes sure her partner is at least comfortable, and Vivisol merely stands guard. He doesn’t do too much but he forewarned the team of the disaster beforehand so they got everything ready. He did help in his own way... XD

I was actually inspired partially by @asaka-lucy-dr-rc’s birthday work for me where everyone helps tend to sick Yuma in their own way. I wanted to do something similar, except they’re Pokemon now... xD

Desuhiko and Yuma's forms were designed by me, as Eevee and Pikachu are the only Pokémon I have confidence in drawing. It's why everyone else is kinda offscreen (that and to focus on kokobolt since Bright wrote this story as an extra service to her XD)

Ya'll cannot force me to draw anyone else completely so they are just there, feet and heads cut off LOL at Vivia's big-ass claws (shinigami was interesting to try though)

The other designs belong to @snivyartjpeg as part of their own PMD AU. Seems Bright used them for this story, so I had to draw them too. (sorry biggie I know sick whump isn't your thing, but I had to credit you... X'D)

But yeah it was fun to draw this out! (kinda needed a stress reliever)

I hope you all enjoy! ^-^

Thanks again for the cute story Bright!💜

Alt Version where Yuma’s body is free:

[noblecorgi]

2024: A Re-Entry to Fandom

I guess this is a thing? (Oh shit this brackets bit was written at the end and I appear to have emotionally vomited an essay. Sorry ‘bout that.)

In late 2023 I experienced a personal tragedy and retreated to where I had always found comfort: books.

I read a series that had been recommended to me before, but I hadn’t had time to read it - The Simon Snow Trilogy by @rainbowrowell and it awoke a dormant-but-never-forgotten love of fanfiction in me.

In my teens and early 20s I wrote a lot of fan fiction on the ol’ FF net, all of it of atrocious quality I’m certain, which is why I haven’t tried to rediscover that account.

Instead I found AO3, and restarted regularly writing for fun instead of for work or study/research.

I didn’t do any summation for 2023 because I think my first fic was posted on like 10 December 2023, but AO3 tells me I wrote 4 works, all SnowBaz, at a total of 55,154 words.

In 2024, I’ve published 5 works, at a total of 94,323 words.

What truly blows me away (and honestly makes me a bit teary) is the 1013 kudos, 100 subscribers (inc 15 subscribers to just me rather than a fic!), and 222 comment threads on my works. 🥹

So: my 2024 works.

Use your words, SnowBaz, Rated: E, 3,930 words

A smutty lil gift fic wherein Baz teaches Simon how to sext.

Splendid Morons, SnowBaz, Rated: E, 12,886 words

Published for Erotic Grope Fest, aka Baz’s birthday. A collaboration with @alexalexinii and a story written to enable their amazing art of Baz in lingerie.

Precious to me for not only getting to work with Alex, but also for being the beginning of my relationship with Becky @rbkzz, my incomparable beta who has become one of the dearest people in my life.

On The Rocks, SnowBaz, Rated: E, 74,592 words (WIP)

My opus, as it were. It originated from a fluffy cute prompt of “what if Baz and Lady Ruth were work besties?!” And I came along like “YEAH! But with trauma, exploration of love in mental illness, and alcoholism!”

I began posting it in March and it’s about 2/3 done now. But for Becky it would be both an absolute pile of horse poop, and an abandoned WIP. Instead it has a clear direction and she found motifs that I’d repeatedly used by accident in my drafts and built imagery, greater meaning, and also debated me ad nauseam on my preference for spelt over spelled.

Immune Response, @lumosinlove’s Cubs, Rated: G, 1,421 words

I was a big consumer of WolfStar in my teens and was recommended Lumosinlove’s Sweater Weather and, like many before me, fell in love with the story, the original characters, and ice hockey itself (much to the surprised glee of my Canadian spouse, who for a decade has tried in vain to get me on board. Little did he know the key was obviously gays.)

This is a lil’ slice of life sick fic examining how each of the Cubs responds to getting sick.

I have a lot more unpublished drabbles about these characters and some fics that are being cocreated so stay tuned for 2025?

Preliminary, my dear Basil, SnowBaz, Rated: T, 1,494 words

A gift fic for @martsonmars as part of the Carry On Discord’s Secret Snowflake Exchange.

Among their suggestions was “Sherlock AU, but not BBC Sherlock, 19th century Sherlock” and it hooked me with the idea that Baz would absolutely fancy himself as Sherlock. I actually sketched out a plot to SnowBazify 4 of the Holmes stories, so maybe 2025 will see them unearthed.

There is one other published fic I worked on this year, but as a beta rather than a writer for @swoopswrites @rsbigbang piece Class A which was super fun to do (and got me to watch a great series - The Gentlemen on Netflix) and Swoops has a fantastic mind so I’d encourage you to to check it out.

Finally, I have always been a writer rather than an artist, but I do enjoy drawing, and the need to upgrade my iPad for work arose and so I also tried my hand at drawing again for the first time since I was 17 or so.

In order from the first one to the most recent one, the lil scribbles I did this year:

Penelope Bunce, Wolfstar on a train, Baz with coffee, cuddly Cubs, FinnLo being adorable, iconic Moony with a cane, emo Sirius Black.

And THAT was 2024 (and 2023).

@artsyunderstudy @asocialpessimist @angelsfalling16 @whatevertheweather @edenalix @emjaydellyone @erzbethluna @emeryhall @run-for-chamo-miles @raenestee @rimeswithpurple @roomwithanopenfire @thehoneyedhufflepuff @theearlgreymage @thewholelemon @lonleyhumanbeing @letraspal @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @youarenevertooold @iamamythologicalcreature @ichooseyousnowbaz @ic3-que3n @ileadacharmedlife @onepintobean @palimpsessed @prettygoododds @philaet0s @pacey-bunce-loves-joey @sorenphelps @skee3000 @stitchy-queerista @fiend-for-culture @facewithoutheart @fruitcoops @girlwithcurls96 @hushed-chorus @hihimissamericanbi @cutestkilla @cosmicalart @confused-bi-queer @noopienoopiernoopiest @messofthejess @monbons

[pixelchills]

Chill's ramblings about the DCA fandom and personal feelings and issues towards TSAMS (both positive an negative):

(I'm writing this like an essay but treating it like a diary, so if I jump from subject to another, it is because I am just typing as the thoughts hit my head. Sorry for being so wordy.)

I simply feel like I need to write my thoughts down, so why not share them with you. Maybe you can validate my feelings or something, I don't know.

Intro:

So, oof, I got a fic rec from @thedenofravenpuff and I'm loving it so much I really wanna draw fan art for it...

But the problem is that it's a TSAMS fanfic and I've sworn to my name I'll never draw anything related to the show because that will make me engage with a part of the fandom I'm not comfortable with.

My biggest issue with TSAMS:

I have such complicated feelings towards the show and its fanbase and I do not wish to make my life and work more difficult because of it as it already is.

My own work and characters are already constantly being compared to TSAMS. When I first introduced Solar to my fic, he was constantly being referred to Eclipse from TSAMS. Now that the show had a character with THE SAME NAME, it has been even worse.

Dolldrop Moon has been compared to Lunar. Even though the dolldrops existed before the youtube channel was even created (and Lunar made his debut much later).

The biggest issue I've had has always been the fanbase, that takes the show as the canon for Sun and Moon from FNAF and uses it as an excuse to harass shippers like me because they think Sun and Moon are brothers.

I've first handedly seen the damage the fanbase has done to some of my friends who draw, or have previously drawn art for the show besides their own AUs and personal headcanons of Sun and Moon as lovers. I'm sorry to tag you, but @kriimhild and @fablekitty : I've seen how the immature side of the show's fans have treated you, I am so terribly sorry you've had to defend yourselves over and over again for things that were not meant to be mixed up.

I have posted some ideas of a possible Animutant Moon and Sun forming a polyamorous relationship with Solar in the future of "My Dear Daffodil" on my personal/adult Twitter account. Someone kept commenting on my posts that I was glorifying incest, because Sun and Moon were brothers and Solar was their cousin.

The post had "Animutant" in it. Not "TSAMS". These comments came from a person saying they were 19 in their profile. So it's not just kids who can't tell not every fanwork is about TSAMS. It's starting to be some adults too.

Vice versa I've had another person comment on my very clearly SFW Twitter how they're following me because I am an adult artist who draws TSAMS incest. I have never drawn TSAMS art. I ship Sun and Moon, but they're never related with family bond, because I love presenting them as lovers.

Why I ship Sun and Moon:

Because I am a hopeless romantic. I love romantic love. Every single story I write is always about love.

The only exception to this is the Poppy Playtime comic I am doing. But even then, I was originally planning for a romantic love between Dogday and the Player. Yet, I decided to leave it, and keep the relationship open for any type of representation the reader themselves will prefer.

I used to watch The Sun and Moon Show when it first started airing. I loved their playthroughs. I had a big distaste for them calling each other brothers, as well as some of the first "lore" videos they had. My biggest issue at the time was how Moon treated Sun, though. As someone who grew up with an abusive sibling, it sometimes just hit a bit too hard at home.

But it got better after Eclipse and Lunar appeared. Moon was more caring, and I started to really like his character development. There was one episode where Sun explained to Lunar that he and Moon had simply just "decided" to be brothers, despite not having a canonical relationship.

This actually made me really happy. Because the Old Moon was aroace, the love he felt was simply never meant to be romantic, but platonic. And by making Sun his brother by choice clearly indicated that Sun was always the one he loved the most - in a way that was suitable for aromantic person like him.

And it really made me enjoy the show for a while. Sun is my favourite character, and despite not always liking the way the show presents him, I always feel so much love for him, no matter the AU he is in. So I loved that Moon loved him more than anything, even if it was just platonic. Because I've always been under the impression that the canon Moon loves Sun, and is only under a virus to protect him. For me, the best part of any Sun and Moon AU is to know that Sun is the most important thing to Moon.

Why I stopped watching TSAMS:

And then that Moon I had really started to like, who loved Sun more than anyone else but just platonically, died.

It hurt so much I simply stopped watching the show. I've watched a few episodes here and there after that, but I am having a hard time liking the show the same as I did before.

Partially it's because of the fanbase. Partially it's because I don't find the lore very interesting and some of the stuff a bit repetitive. Partially it's because I am scared to see Sun eventually crumble up into madness, because he has been through so much.

I like the New Moon. He is funny and nice, what I've seen. His relationship with Solar has been interesting, and I genuinely hoped they would've been able to take the romantic route after Moon said he wasn't sure if he was aroace anymore. But as I said, I've only watched a few episodes after the old Moon died, so I don't know either of their characters that much to form any strong opinions about them. I just listen to the Monty and Puppet podcast once in a while and get a little inside to some of the lore that has been happening.

But hey, at least there's fanfics. Which is why I am rambling here today.

Fanfics:

It is a rare treat to find Sun x Moon fanfics that aren't simply just porn, or do not include reader inserts. So since my romance-filled brain needed something to fill the void, I've started reading some TSAMS fics with romance (that wasn't between Sun & Moon) and plot in them.

I know Solar was settled to be a "cousin" to the weird family tree of TSAMS. But I simply crave for Solar and New Moon to be at least queerplatonic. Solar is not from their dimension, no matter how much they decide they're 'cousins' it doesn't make him their real cousin or relative because they're not from the same world.

Sun and Moon are brothers but they technically gave birth to Eclipse, who then created Lunar so Eclipse is technically Lunar's parent and then brother and Lunar is Sun and Moon's brother and... do you see what I'm trying to say?

The family tree is so complicated that I don't think I'm a horrible person for shipping Moon and Solar and reading fics about them. Tell me if I am wrong though.

The FIC that is making me question everything:

So Puffy recommended this fic by @theinfamousdoctorf , "Eclipse Meets His Match".

I'm currently on chapter 40, and I am genuinely surprised how much I am liking this fic so far. It got everything; redemption and character growth, the representation of Sun as the good, glowing angel he is in my mind (for canon, and every AU. He is always perfect in my eyes I love him can you tell lol), slow-burn romance, drama, excitment, plot, jokes and funny moments... even if there are a lot of mentions of sex and sexual pleasure, it doesn't feel out of the place as there is so much more to it too.

Eclipse's redemption to become better and realising he is in love with Sun has been so interesting to follow. Sun deserves the love. I love when Sun is getting loved. I literally ship him with every other animatronic in the games and love it when people ship him with their self-inserts and OCs. Because I love him so much I want him to be loved in every possible universe he is in.

Even bigger bonus to this fic is the second pairing, Solar and Moon, which I already opened up about above. I don't know how much the fic is truthful to the canon lore of the show, but I wish to pretend this fic is the canon now /hj.

I love the characters and how they're written. I love the descriptions of their flaws and hopes and dreams. How vulnerable they can get. How closely they stick together. And as an appreciation for making me tearful and excited about fanfiction in such a long time, I would hope to be able to gift the author some fan art for their fic.

But I've sworn to not draw anything for the show. For my own good. I've got too many awful comments already from the fans of the show despite never doing any art for it. I am just scared it will turn things worse.

End words:

I don't know if creating a new alias would be the right choice. So my main name/account would be spared from the confusion that the show's fans seem to stirr into, where one tsams artwork turns all of the artist' work into tsams.

I don't care if the art style would be recognisible. The artist would be me, but not PixelChills. Just so I could gift something to the author of this fic that is currently saving me from the boredom of being unable to write my own.

Thank you.

(This text has been typed on my phone, so pardon for any typos).

-Chill

[jesncin]

HI HELLO HEARD YOU WERE A LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS ENJOYER soo just wondering what thoughts you mayhaps would be willing to share?

YESS I LOVE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS!! I know the show's a classic, but I only just recently got to checking it out after Wait In The Wings' fantastic documentary on the Audrey 2 puppet and general making of the musical! I admire the work that team does to archive and interview the people involved. I adore puppets and animatronics so seeing a musical involve that as a center piece was a huge draw for me! The show really is like proto Disney 90s renaissance but "allowed to be more risqué" which is amazing to see. It has classic Disney lyrical genius (Howard Ashman and Alan Menken the duo ever) but allowed to be more camp and dirty.

I strongly identify with Howard Ashman being obsessed with a mid movie, then making an iconic reimagining that infused so much personal life (upbringing in a tough neighborhood, love of girl groups, and dentist backstory from Alan Menken's dad) that it outdoes the original. He made the monster win in the end. The monsterboinker in me approves of this.

I LOOOVE this Tiny Desk concert! Not only are we treated to wasian Seymour by gaysian icon Conrad Ricamora, but it has my all time favorite dentist so far (Christian Borle) who is giving greasy bad boy with a fun subdued energy that makes his occasional outbursts more shocking. We also actually get to see the Audrey 2 singer (Aaron Arnell Harrington) emote on stage which is priceless.

Feed Me is probably my favorite song because there's something hilariously homosexual about Howard Ashman and Alan Menken coming to an agreement that "we need to make Audrey 2's voice something a man would take orders from" and that voice is this low manly voice that is giving drag voice miss Piggy but commanding and catchy. Even describing it as "seductive". This ^ is my fav performance of both the voice and puppet work so far! That puppet is lip syncing for his life and is so emotive! I don't know if it's specifically the same puppeteer but I hear Noel MacNeal, the Bear In the Big Blue House actor, is in the revival show and that guy is fantastic.

My fav Seymour actors are the ones that go all out with being a pathetic nerd in their acting and singing voice. I get disappointed when they get a typical Broadway handsome man lead and they just use their usual leading-man voice. This is your chance to play a fun character! Don't just give me your Disney Prince voice I want to hear a NERD. I think Jeremy Jordan did a pretty good in between where he was using his Newsies voice again but with a bit more nerd acting tossed in. His rendition of Grow For Me is sooo tasty. I've never heard Jeremy sing badly ever. I don't think he knows how. I personally prefer campier performances for Audrey as well. The soundtrack version of her from the 2003 album is giving Harley Quinn and I really like it!! This show has larger than life characters who sing heart tugging songs that make you connect with them. Joy Woods is a good in between of the dramatic Audreys with sincere camp. The little differences she makes in her performance are iconic.

Speaking of Harley Quinn. If I were to Gotham cast the Little Shop of Horrors crew it would be: Riddler as Seymour, Harley as Audrey, maybe Penguin for Mr. Mushnik? Joker as the Dentist (I think this should just be the Joker's origin story), Harvey Dent and the rest of the rogues for the many roles the Dentist actor plays, Gotham City Sirens (woc versions) as the urchins (I'm thinking Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Eddie), and. I know it seems obvious to cast Poison Ivy as Audrey 2. But. Hear me out. Swamp Thing as Audrey 2. I won't take criticism for this choice.

I love little shop of horrors so much. Chances are a song is stuck in my head if I'm dozing off.

[cripplecharacters]

Debated on whether I wanted to resend but here goes nothing.

This is Margo, my OC. She is currently being developed into a Stardew Valley mod. I don't wish to spoil too much, but she fought in The War and was injured. She now has facial + body scarring and a cane. I'm still writing the story, but so far, she has two plots: A, which is her learning to open up and accept the player. And B, which is her trying to find a hobby with the help of other NPC characters.

I'm mainly sending an ask in for feedback on her design. As of now, her torn lip has been edited to show her gums instead of all teeth. Otherwise, nothing has changed. Thank you!

Side question: How should her facial difference and cane be addressed, if at all?

[Image description: two pixel drawings. The first one shows the full body of the character; she has light tan skin, a burn scar on her face, and long red hair. She's holding a cane. The second drawing shows multiple versions of the character's portrait with various facial expressions.]

Hey!

She looks good! I especially like the top right one, very cute :)

I think my only concern would be re: her right eye - is she meant to have corneal scarring or a traumatic cataract? I'm asking since it looks like she has corneal blindness, but that's rarely caused by an injury like that (it's mostly a vitamin deficiency/parasitic thing). It's not impossible that she'd have it from a burn, but I want to make sure you're not confusing the two (since I see that a lot) and these two conditions do have different symptoms (outside of blindness).

If you're willing to address her disability then I think it would be a good idea. I'm not sure what kind of narration you're going for, but it wouldn't be ableist for the player character to simply Acknowledge that she has burns on her face (e.g., before the player learns her actual name, the placeholder could be "red-haired woman with a burn" since these are just her most visible characteristics). It also wouldn't be out of place if the player character wondered "what happened" - I know we (disabled people) all hate this question, but I don't think it's weird for someone to just think that in their head when they see someone (thought crime isn't real, etc.). As long as the player character isn't going around harassing her asking why she's disabled as the first thing they do (unless I guess it'd be to show that the player is ableist and has a lot to learn?) it should be ok.

If you want the characters to discuss "what happened" in the actual dialogue, it'd be preferably after they actually develop a relationship. I don't think it's weird to ask one's friend about their disability (as opposed to demand that information). Depending on Margo's personality and/or feelings toward the player she could either explain the whole story in great detail, leave it at "during the War, a building caught on fire, I was in it; it took them three months to put me back together but at least I'm finally back home, isn't modern medicine incredible?", or simply decline to answer that. All three are valid options; it's not like her character arc will fall apart if the player doesn't know what happened. She's visibly a burn survivor, there's hardly any mystery as to what's going on. Not everyone wants to talk about the origin of their disability, even (sometimes especially) to people they're close to - sometimes it's PTSD, sometimes it's the fact that they're tired of being asked that.

Her cane is more straightforward since in her case, her main "thing to address" are her burns and the cane would probably fall under that for most players. If you want you can have the player character compliment the design of her cane* or how well built it is, especially earlier on when it would be more awkward to just go straight to discussing her actual disability.

*Real life (not writing) tip: Not everyone likes that, please don't randomly compliment real strangers' mobility aids, especially if they're undecorated or without anything else that would imply they want to bring attention to it. A lot of people (myself included) will think you're being condescending.

Other than that, there's no reason to ignore her burns or cane; e.g. if the player visits her at home before going out she can mention that she needs to grab her cane, or put a pressure sleeve on before leaving, maybe on some days she's not available to talk to because she has physical therapy scheduled at that time, etc. As long as she has other character traits that have nothing to do with her disability (which it sounds like she already does) it should all be good.

I also like the plot B she's involved in - I wish this wasn't the case, but so many characters with facial differences don't have any damn hobbies ("obsessing over revenge for making them disabled" doesn't count) and almost never seem to have casual friends, so this is cool to see!

Hope this helps,

mod Sasza

[showsandstuff]

WHAT'S UP!

Welcome to my post where I praise the fanon original league version of Jayvik!!!

I'm gonna be real, I will miss the Og machine herald Viktor. I never played league, and I'm not going to, but before season 2 came out I read his lore and he's actually a pretty fun character.

Then after season two act 1 came out, I dove into the world of fanfiction cause I started shipping Jayvik and found kind a few fics about the league of legend versions of the characters. And here is what I will say.

If we go with fanon alone, I actually prefer the league versions.

League Viktor and League Jayce are actual enemies for most of the time. They used to be colleagues, then Viktor was getting into brainwashing whilst Jayce was a dick and got him kicked out of the academy. He also didn't speak up when some other scientist took credit of Viktors invention. Oh and there were misunderstandings about some crystal...

Long story short, they don't like each other. But in the fics they often times either clear the misunderstandings and make up or yearn for each other whilst on opposite sites. Or they fight each other which leads to make out sessions because why not.

The characters are also generally more fun to read about.

Jayce is a huge dick, that is literally his most defining personality trade. He is a cocky bastard and people like him until they get to know him because he's just such an asshole.

And Viktor is just... Really fucking silly. He wants to get rid of his emotions and says that he already did get rid off them, but then Jayce pisses him off and you can tell no way?? Where did you get rid off your emotions? You've been whining non stop. There's also still love, kindness and empathy within Viktor, but he somehow convinces himself that he is emotionless. It gets especially good when that's played for comedy, which it oftentimes is!

Also, the nicknames! They still call each other Jayce and Viktor but Viktor also calls Jayce "Defender" short for "Defender of tomorrow" which is jayces title, and Jayce calls him either V or Machine Herald, depending on the mood.

Arcane season 2 was too rushed and packed with so many seperate story lines that we didn't have enough time for the characters. We needed at least one more season.

But the fanon for the league version, as someone who never played it, gives me this huge time frame of them being enemies but they used to be colleagues or friends (or more than friends depending on the writer), and then a huge time frame of them being enemies.

Og machine herald League Viktor though??? PEAK, WHAT A FUNNY CRINGEFAIL LOSER!

Now more to Arcane...

I think as much as I love Jayvik there, it's all just too sad, especially if you don't necessarily want to read act 1 fanfictions or AUs.

Also Viktor is super hard to characterize because his personally changes with almost every act. That's why I don't buy it when people complain about the way he is characterized because Ik all yall want is sassy S1 Act 1 Viktor, but I prefer the less confident and workaholic Act 2 Viktor. We are not the same.

The Fanon of League is just, somehow, more consistent in a way, because it has existed just much longer and people probably get inspired by the same shippers for how to write their dynamic.

Arcane fics though depend on how the individual interprets the characters, and with characters whose arcs were rushed sm it's just impossible.

So Og machine herald Viktor, you will be missed. I hope people don't stop writing for them and drawing fanart!!

[moonlitscales]

Alright, boredom and procrastination are a powerful couple. So instead of drawing a ref for all my OCs like I should be, have a mini master list of all my OCs! Old, new, and ones I thought I forgot!

This will include a personality, sexuality, mini backstory, fandom (if in one), any other details I think are important, and a photo of said character! Also uh

WARNING: There is a lot, and I mean A LOT of writing so just know there will be a lot of reading if you are actually interested. I TRIED to keep it short and digestible but I love going extra. Oh also like possible tw if someone needs them: Death, Murder, Cult Mentions, and Abuse are talked about a lot. (IF I MISS A POSSIBLE TW PLS LET ME KNOW!!!)

Oh, also saying I have a Pinterest board/collection of each of my ocs!! Not every oc have a board though. (there are a few made by a friend in there so just don't touch them since they aren't on here lol)

Sia Mese Kitlen - The Main

Personality: Loud, expressive, caring of her older sister Nova, can have a short temper for people who piss her off, and listens to a lot of music. She's a very social person and falls in love easily but falls out of love just as easily.

Sexuality: Omnisexual with a preference for girls and Demigirl (she/they)

Backstory: A lot of stuff revolves around the cult chasing her and Nova. Her sister tries to keep her in the dark about her past, but piece by piece Sia connects dots of her dead dads and the reason her sister never wants to stay in one town for too long.

Other: Sia Kitlen is one of the OCs I've loved and been passionate about for a long time, but she's also gone through a lot of changes over time. She started as a welcome home oc but was still scene and was skinny (??). So since then she has her own story made and I gave her some body fat!!

Nova Lite Kitlen - The Secret Holder

Personality: Quiet, brutal and mean to anyone but her sister, will not talk to anyone she doesn't need to, wants to be a fashion designer because her Papa did, and only ever smiles around her younger sister.

Sexuality: Aro-ace (she/her)

Backstory: DEAR GOD IS SHE THE PUNCHING BAG. I won't go super into detail about her and I'll only give a base, but she seriously has gone through a lot. Her house burnt down with both her Dad and Papa in it, leaving her 7 year old self to take care of her new 1 year old baby sister. She moves around towns almost every year, finding some symbol of the cult that ruined her life in every town. Around 16-17, she found an old friend from when she was younger, Annie, and took refuge in her home but turns out right after falling in love Annie was a part of the cult too and Nova left in tears promising to never love again. Currently she's just in her late 20's and does her best to keep Sia protected, even if too much.

Other: Nova was created after Sia, and I don’t even remember why I made her but I do love her I promise, I just like punching and throwing bricks at her a lot.

Diana Ero Bunnston - The Lover

Personality: Around most people she's nice enough to pass by but not going out of the way for others; Unless she sees you as a competitor for Sias attention. If you're a person that Sia takes any form of interest to, Diana is more than brutal to you and makes sure your life is hell. To Sia she is a shy and nervous person, making it hard for anyone trying to tell her how horrible Diana really is. 

Sexuality: Lesbian (She/Her)

Backstory: Diana is a cult member sent from a higher up/her mom (cult nepo baby) to keep watch over Nova, except she fell deep in love with Sia and uses her cult mandated camera™ and takes pictures of Sia instead of the updates on Nova she's supposed to, just giving basic updates on Nova when asked. Diana is Sia's closest friend that 'somehow' always finds what town she moves to. 

Other: So the funniest part about Diana is the fact she was originally created from an OC playlist challenge XD. It took a little transforming but eventually she became Sias best friend/stalker/lover interest thing (I do wanna rework her charactera little bit I just don't have an idea how 😔)

Annie Nemis Bullstrong - The Family  

Personality: Family first girl, whatever the girl version of a himbo is; strong and a little dumb. Her priorities are always for her family and cult first. She really did love Nova with all her heart but the people around her would never let her.

Sexuality: Closeted butch lesbian (she/her) 

Backstory: She is also a cult member, her family car and trinket shop being one of the biggest 'cult meet spots' in a way. She was friends with Nova as a child and thought she was the coolest black cat on the face of the earth, only hearing a week after she disappeared that her friend ran away. When she came back Annie was over thrilled to see her again, getting so close and falling in love all over again until her mother told her she had to capture her. After the biggest fight she ever could've had with her mother, she knew she couldn't fight her. It was a night Annie got so close and confessed her feelings to Nova, only for her mother to strip her away. Even as she grows to an adult, she refuses to argue with her mother and forever wonders what could have been.

Other: So out of all of them, Annie was actually the FIRST first as a welcome home oc. She has gone through A LOT of changes, going from a shy painter puppet to butch pitbull in a cult.

Riesel Agate Darkwood - The Chill

Fandom: PJO/Percy Jackson

Personality: A very laid back child of Dionysus. She isnt a snitch unless there is a huge reason, you could probably tell her anything and she would just shrug and offer you some chips. She isn’t the best person for comfort and she has no idea how to comfort people yet somehow always finds herself a therapist. (BECAUSE OF SOMEONE. IF YOU ARE READING THIS YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE >:( /silly)

Sexuality: Lesbian and Demigirl (She/They)

Backstory: Her story does constantly get more and more lore with the more ocs SOMEONE keeps making, but her base story is similar to any demigod. Dionysus fell in love with her mother at a bar, her mother happening to be a worker in the local theater. Dionysus and her drink, do plays, ect ect, then Reisel is born. Dionysus leaves, and her mother never stays the same. Her mom becomes a horrible alcoholic that Reisel could barely ever see without a wine bottle in her hand. Reisel leaves the house at about 9, a satyr eventually coming across her and taking her to camp. Now, she has a best friend so close he’s a brother, Bee, and she spends her time at camp snacking and just being a chill friend to anyone that needs it.

Other: I love Reisel, I just haven't been super creative/active in the pjo community lately and I have a new pjo oc I kinda wanna play with, which is right below!

Lobelia Blooming Terriconn - The Flower

Fandom: PJO/Percy Jackson

Personality: Shy and quiet but blunt. She prefers animals over people and really doesn’t want to talk to people often but knows she has to. She knows she's not as ‘witchy’ as the rest of the children of Hecate but she does her best as she makes lots of herbal and floral things, bouques, teas, charms, and anything else she can put intention behind. 

Sexuality: Unlabeled (she/her)

Backstory: Her father was a very nervous but kind man, always trying to have her fit in even with her always blue hair, lazy eye, and the fact she was clearly magic. Since she was young she always carried around a plush from a stray black dog she named shadow, and one halloween her worst bully tears it apart and that night she gets the revenge she didn’t want to do. Her fathers friend who was at the house that night, finds her in the cemetery and knew it was definitely time to take her to the camp whether her father wanted her to or not. Now, she spends most her time in the camp woods collecting flowers and spending time with the woodland creatures.

Other: I actually have a full story doc on her backstory so if we want me to drop it let me know! She’s my only other Pjo oc, most recent, and I love her with all my heart <3

Brimella the Witch Hat - The Witch

Fandom: Dandy’s world

Personality: She’s as kind as she can be but does have her limits and tries not to totally blow up when they’re crossed. She really puts others in front of herself but can be reclusive and want her time alone every now and then. She finds honesty very important, and is partly the reason she doesn’t like a certain someone too much.

Sexuality: Pansexual (she/her)

Backstory: She doesn’t really have one, so I’ll just give her relationships with the other toons. She’s closest friends with Connie and Flutter, close friends with Yatta, Finn, and Brightney. She also is friends with Bassie and Astro but doesn’t see them too often. She has a complicated relationship with Gigi, sometimes finding her bearable, other times wanting to wring her neck. As much as she hates it, she often is put near and around Gigi since Flutter is close with her. 

Other: I know I just ranted about how much Brimella hates Gigi, but I love shipping them 😈. Kinda just enemies to lovers except if you still hated that person's guts while dating them (in a romantic way). I hope I dont have too many tomatoes thrown at me, but I like multishipping/poly shipping so I also just like making Brimmella kiss whoever and seeing what happens lol. My main poly ship with her is Connie x Flutter X Gigi X Brimella!

Electra Clawpaw - The Party Girl  

(her last/second name is really pending but I have no other ideas T_T)  

Fandom: Fnaf/Security Breach

Personality: A very playful and loud animatronic. She loves hanging out and dancing out with any kids and teens coming by the west arcade to dance or play games as she’s very energetic and Ke$ha coded. (Main character inspo think like Ke$ha, 6arelyhuman, and Catty Noir!!)

Sexuality: Pansexual (She/her)

Backstory: Not really any backstory for her either, so character relations! She, for some reason, isn’t a fan of Freddy. She doesn't hate him or anything, just not too interested in knowing him. She’s alright with Chica, and is pretty close with Monty and Roxy being the ‘edgest’ in the Plex. Her best friend is surely DJ Music Man though, as she spends all her day and night with him working in the West Arcade. Finally, of course, Sun and Moon because I’m a fangirl, shocking. She’s pretty close with Moon, the two pretty much immediately friends after she met him on one of his nightly patrols. Her and Sun however met a night when she was bored and explored the Plex, stepping into the daycare and finding him. Electra thinks of him as just some silly boy-failure guy, and he is completely head over heels for her Looney Toons style.

Other: She’s honestly just a character I made to channel my current interest in rave/scene/bright colors/club things and an excuse to oc x canon with Sun and Moon. Hehe.

Hazel - The Forgotten

Fandom: Fnaf/Security Breach

Personality: Calm and very kind, pretty motherly to all the kids she takes into her health room filled with tea and herbs. She really likes having tea with people, and I mean both types of tea because when it comes to the adults and others? She can be pretty mean and gossip about almost anyone or anything.

Sexuality: Bisexual (She/her)

Backstory: None, so character relations! Likes Freddy and Chica, good friends with them. Finds Roxy a little intimidating/scary but fine with her. Despises Monty. Like hates him with a burning passion that no one could ever tell you why, but he hates her just as much. And just a sassy sister to Sun and Moon.

Other: Can you tell I have a slight problem with making witch characters? She honestly was a character I just wanted to make a design for but I dropped her after like a week of having her. I might revisit/fix her up some later time as maybe a sona or something but for now she rots in the pages of my sketchbook.

Amber Stone Walklone - The Indoctrinated 

Fandom: My mutuals oc lore

Personality: Not too social, prefers to keep to herself and a farm girl to the core. Despite not looking so she can actually do some pretty good heavy lifting. She is easily influenced and falls to pressure from others a lot. Not like you ask her to eat a slug, but she would run across a mile and back to grab you something you didn’t even need.

Sexuality: Lesbian (She/her)

Backstory: She was raised on a farm all her life, her and her mother and all the animals they raised. She was a bright and cheery child until she noticed her usually strong mom starting to look sick and pale. Her mother claimed to be fine, so little Amber didn’t worry too much. But after the night her mother wouldn’t wake up, the farm was all hers and twice as hard to take care of by herself. Somewhere along the line, she was promised a paradise and took that chance reluctantly but gladly.

Other: She’s for a friend!! And I like punishing gingers with trauma!!/hj

Clara Roslyn Cladwell - The Overlord

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Personality: Reserved, selfish, and prissy. She was from the 1800’s, so very proper and not too keen on anything overly sexual. She always stands tall and is blunt in anything she tells you. 

Sexuality: Queer and Genderfluid (She/they/He)

Backstory: Growing up in a rich and royal house was not for the weak, and clearly not Clara. Ever since they were a child, they never felt how they were supposed to be; never fitting in with the other royalty she saw. Her mother was not physically abusive, but very verbally and mentally; one thing done wrong or a ruffle facing the wrong way and Clara was verbally beat down until he sobbed into his pillow. Since the obsession with beauty from their mother at a young age, they became extremely vain and did anything they could to stay good looking. The older she got, the more like their mother they became. Any butlers or maids near him, he degraded; telling them to lick the floor or slam into a wall, making sure he stayed the best looking. She died when one maid was fed with at all, pushing Clara off her balcony into the rose bushes below. Now, in hell as punishment for their vanity, their face so ugly and ruined they always keep a face covering on to never take off. Ever. She is an overlord that, ironically, runs a large make-up business.

Other: They also have rose thorn scars winding up their arms and legs, having them always wear gloves and stockings and has peacock motifs (for some reason). They present fem most of the time, but still feels nice being referred to as a boy once in a while. Also, running a make-up business and clothing going hand in hand with it so… She and Velvette are business partners! That hate each others guts. Clara sees Velvette far too modern, Velvette sees Clara too much as an old hag. Solution? Make them kiss. That’s right, more Oc X Canon because I love it!! Also an OLD oc.

Biana Mousé - The Model

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Personality: Sly, teasing, playful, and really flirty. She’s the type of person to never take anything seriously unless you happen to be a girl crying in a bar bathroom; then she is your sister until you stop crying. She’s really a girls girl but there's also a 50/50 chance she will ridicule you for no reason.

Sexuality: Bisexual (She/her)

Backstory: I don’t really remember much about her other than she lived through the 80’s and early 90’s with an absent dad and drug addict mother and was a stereotypical mean girl in school, so in the 2000’s spent her days as a very young sex worker. She died from a jealous coworker, having a horrible dispute and killing her. This coworker's best friend had gotten revenge by injecting rat poison into her veins, making her a rat in the afterlife but she prefers to be called a mouse. 

Other: She was honestly an eh oc. Maybe I’ll revive her at some point in the future but I just remember making her for the sake of making a mouse oc and dressing her up cute. 乁( •_• )ㄏ

Naku Namida - The Cry Baby

Fandom: Mha/My Hero Academia 

Personality: Very timid, shy, and obviously easy to make cry. She has a hobby of journaling similar to Izuku except she prefers noting her environments rather than people. 

Sexuality: Pansexual (She/her)

Backstory: Nothing too traumatic really, just an absent mom and a loving dad, so here's her quirk! Crybaby: Naku can stream tears from her eyes and control them. She needs to stay very hydrated, always having water on standby, but can make rivers with her tears to push away or trap opponents; even holding herself up with them. She discovered her quirk when being bullied, her bully saying mean things until she cried, and cried, and she opened her teary eyes to find her bully suspended in the air with a stream of her tears.

Other: I made her with a friend for MHA ocs but that friend has since dropped MHA so now this oc might get revived from ANOTHER friend liking MHA! (She’s kinda basically Lobelia if she had a better life but shhh)

Kai Lapis Trigion - The Beach Girl

Personality: Chill, laid-back, and caring. She’s just some girl who likes to hang at the beach and her new and really odd friend.

Sexuality: Lesbian (She/her)

Backstory: Kai lives in a beach side town filled to the brim with tourists all summer. She owns a small trinket/second hand shop by the bay, living in the apartment just above. She woke up in the dead of night, hearing a shuffling in the street to find some girl wandering the streets looking naked and terrified. Kai quickly left outside and took this girl in, inviting her in for food and clothes. The girl barely talked, but seemed to accept the offer of living with her. Now, they’re close friends that run the shop together. At first this girl seemed scared to even go near the beach, which was a little hard since thats all Kai liked to do, but eventually they started to spend some days there.

Other: She was originally just an oc I made for a friend because they wanted a beach lesbian lol. But now, because of boredom and ideas stirring in my brain, she has a story! (and a girlfriend)

Anisa Morrow - The Siren 

Personality: Quiet. She doesn’t talk much, if at all to the point people wondered if she spoke English. Kai eventually got her warmed up, speaking often but only to her. Anisa sometimes has a nervous small tap in her fingers or shakes in her legs, looking around paranoid only for Kai to calm her down.

Sexuality: Pansexual (She/her)

Backstory: She is a siren, but not one her pod wanted to accept. While her sisters kicked around sea creatures with their fins and ate any human in sight, Anisa helped the animals when they were injured and resisted as much as she could from eating people. One night a ship is overturned and Anisa finds one man not dead, taking him to a special cave to save him. She couldn’t stay with him often, but tried as much as she could without being suspicious to leave her pod to feed and talk to him. They fell in love, even with her knowing he was supposed to be dead forever ago. One horrid night it all fell apart for her. Anisa swam back to his cave only to find the water and rocks nothing short of pure crimson, finding her sisters covered in his blood and skin. They chewed her out, calling her a disgrace and traitor, scratching and biting her bruised. Her mother, leader of the pod, shunned her away and said if her face was ever found again in the water she would be torn just like her lover. She swam away, knowing the way to a human town. She walked the streets bloody, bruised and soaking. Then she had a saving light, a woman who took her in and cared for her.

Other: She is my most recent oc and I really like her story, especially for summer and all!! And I just like yuri.

So uhhh yeah! That was 15 of my ocs and their backstories! If you, by some miracle, read all 15 oc things and made it to the end, or if you read half of one and got bored, either way

THANK YOU!!! <333

I'm SO glad I finally got to give some form of outlet for all my OCs! Just keep in mind this WILL be edited in the future whether I'm adding a new oc or removing/adding info to someone. Seriously, I cannot thank anyone who reads even just a little enough, I only ask if you read even a little to leave a comment, reblog, or even just a like!

[brionysea]

I was recently asked what stranger things is about by someone who, somehow, has never been exposed to it. at the time, I didn't have an answer. I could have described the first season - 'a young boy vanishes from a small town and then monsters show up' - but for the overall story, I was stumped, because we don't KNOW what's going on yet. if I was asked that question again, now that I've had time to think about it, I would describe stranger things as: 'jumanji, but the game comes to you'. that's what I think is happening in the show: everyone is playing a game

with all of my stranger things-acquired knowledge (which is almost better for the purposes of figuring out what the show is trying to do), I know that dungeons and dragons is a game played by a group, with the story being told and planned (sometimes there's no plan) by one person. the first few minutes of the show make it clear that this person is mike. after the cold open in hawkins lab of an unseen force attacking scientists, it cuts to mike narrating the demogorgon's attack to his friends in his basement. they get cut off in the middle of the story, mike's parents don't listen to his pleas for more time to finish the game, will decides to tell mike what would have happened next despite lucas' advice not to, and the story follows will home

there's a LOT to go into with this, but put simply, I've noticed that mike knows WAY too much about what's going on throughout the show, has a deeply intuitive understanding of the various story elements that few other characters do (nancy), and the narrative seems to reflect and line up with his emotions - especially when they're ignored and/or things aren't going the way he wants. we're watching a story-based game play out, and mike is the one telling it. (until he's not, because some people - like max and nancy - don't WANT to play d&d and prefer to make their own decisions rather than having the story told for them, which is why they take over in mike's absence - and even when he's still there one season prior)

it's kind of a writing cop-out, because even though I believe it's being done intentionally, any plot hole or nonsensical story beat could be explained away by saying, 'well, in universe, it's being written by a 12 year old!' - but the show is aware of this. at the end of the first season, the rest of the boys inform mike that his story (which is pretty clearly the story of the first season, in a cheeky, self-aware sort of way) makes no sense, they clearly find the ending unsatisfying, and he left numerous loose threads untied. when lucas recounts the story of season one to max in the second season, she says that although it was crazy, she really liked it, she just wishes it had a little more originality because it felt derivative in parts. to us, that's because stranger things is nostalgia bait for people who grew up in that time period. but looking at it through this lens, in universe, it's derivative because it's a child wanting to tell stories and taking inspiration from that really cool movie he saw last month

there are a few other storytellers in the main cast, and while nancy's journalism is more facts-based and focused on revealing the truth of the actual world they live in, will's art - like mike's writing - seems sort of halfway between *processing* the world and *escaping* from it. joyce says that, for his birthday one year, will got a lot of star wars toys from his friends and a box of crayons from joyce. he ignored the toys and just wanted to draw, and he drew a rainbow spaceship, which joyce was so proud of that she took it into work with her and showed everyone. it wasn't a star wars spaceship, not one from a movie, it was WILL'S spaceship. will tries to fill mike's role as the d&d storyteller during the third season, but mike easily takes over (again, giving the story - WILL'S story, this time - an unsatisfying ending), and then, once mike's attempts to backtrack and keep the game going are unsuccessful, will is once again the only person willing to tell mike the truth, and the story once again follows him home

between the two of them, mike is trying to tell his story by looking at what other people HAVE done and ARE doing, while will possesses the originality that max wished for from lucas' season one retelling. later, dustin says that lucas probably didn't tell it right - it's lucas telling mike's story, which is derivative of a million other stories, so it's essentially a copy of a copy of a copy... and so on and so forth. but mike is good with words and will can paint a picture, and together they can make something original - because mike clearly can't finish the story himself without giving it a terrible ending, despite all his efforts to the contrary (so far, he's incapable of accepting anything less than perfect, which is turning out to be really unfair on el especially by locking her into this rigid idea of what her story should be), and will can't seem to start the story on his own (due to his tendency of fading into the background in one way or another)

the reasoning for WHY all of this is happening (plot reasons, not thematic or character reasons), is a bit more undefined in my mind. it seems to have something to do with time, alternate worlds/timelines, and - knowing mike's characterisation - it's probably a form of protection for someone(s). dustin says in the first season that mike is never late, and yet every season opens with mike running late - running out of time - like clockwork. as if things haven't quite been put back to the way they're supposed to be yet

this is mostly me piecing together other people's theories, because the time stuff really is beyond me - but I suspect that something terrible (will's father; joyce and jonathan both weren't home for once, lonnie came into town looking to make money off of will's death, jonathan believes that lonnie could kill will, and the guy keeps getting brought up despite barely being a character) originally happened to will when he was vanished in season one. will ended up dead in the quarry, for real, and mike saw it, for real. mike then decided that the reality of will being gone was too much to face, so he somehow turned back the clock and turned the monster into something he felt confident the kids could save will from - a metaphorical monster come to life from within their unfinished game, their escape from reality, which is why the kids absolutely dominate at figuring this stuff out while older, by no means unintelligent characters struggle

mike is a very all or nothing character, and there always seems to be something he's not happy with (will being gone; el being gone; max's home life having the potential to take her away; hopper being gone; mike's friend group drifting apart/leaving him behind; mike's general emotional state and poor life choices - most of which ARE or COULD HAVE BEEN solved by A Monster, human or otherwise, showing up), so there's always something more to fix that keeps the story going. it's not until mike can learn to be content with who he is, with being originally and uniquely himself and not derivative of the people around him, that the cycle will break

[quibbs126]

could you do a blackberry x adventurer fankid if you havent already pretty please :3

I can’t really say that I made this because of the aforementioned “I haven’t drawn anything in a while” post, it’s just because I was scrolling through my requests and remembered that I was in the middle of drawing her before and thought “might as well finish”

Anyways sorry, this is Blackberry Scone Cookie

So if I’m being perfectly honest, I don’t entirely know what her deal is. I know that, unlike her father, she is very willing to acknowledge that she’s rich and uphold that side of her family. She’s also at least outwardly, very similar to her mother in being generally reserved in her emotions. I think one idea I had for her is that she does cool things, she just does with a disinterested face, which kind of just heightens the coolness

Okay so I’m gonna be completely honest, I am now going to just make something up as I write. That top part was in part for me to figure something out

Outwardly, she seems disinterested, but she has plenty of emotions, you just either need to pay attention to her actual words instead of tone, or you just need to get close enough to her for the mask to fall. She also has quite an interest in stories of magic and in mystical artifacts, though she prefers simply reading about them over going out to find them. Also, despite her interest in the subject, she just doesn’t have that much of an ability for magic/the occult, and has difficulty seeing ghosts (best she has is that she can sometimes see Onion), which is one of the reasons she sticks to simply reading about them rather than going out herself

While she has respect for her father in how he goes out on his own to seek out treasure and artifacts, she just doesn’t understand why he hates his rich life. Her only real guess is that he sees it as clashing with his adventurer persona, which she thinks is kind of stupid. She’s also pretty much the one running the estate while he’s gone (she’s an adult by this point) and being the one to actually deal with things such as house guests. Not to say Adventurer was an absent parent, and he’d actually take her along when she was younger on some of his expeditions, but he can disappear sometimes now

She doesn’t hate her parents, and it’s not like they were horrible parents to her, but she feels distant from her mother due to her lack of ghost abilities, and some amount of resentment for her father for being so attached to this persona of his and his disdain for his actual heritage, especially since she’s fully accepting of it and it unintentionally makes her self conscious about it

She’s not super sure of her place in the world, but for now she’s just trying to do her job as a member of a rich family

Hm, so I ended up writing more on her than I thought I would. Ah well, not a bad thing. Well, design time

So her name’s Blackberry Scone due to me headcanoning Adventurer to be some sort of shortbread or biscuit (I know they’re the same thing in other countries, but I’m unsure as to what kind of biscuit he is now). Scones are kind of like biscuits, add some blackberry and there you go, blackberry scones

A potential name was Blackberry Cobbler, but I think I prefer scone, especially since I made her more rich-seeming

Blackberry scone:

So almost everything I made of her, outside of the small sketches and some of the colors, I made a couple weeks ago while waiting at the dentist’s office, and I mostly blocked her out of my mind after that as a result. So I don’t really remember a lot of the design process

I feel like I gave her that hairstyle to make her look “cool”, but then I kind of threw that aspect of her character away. But I still like it, so she keeps it

Also, her suit was originally a bit more reddish, but I changed it today to make it more purple so it’d fit with the color of the scones. They don’t really look that red, so I changed it. But I think now the colors may not all look the best together

I feel like I may have made her colors all a bit too similar to each other, and/or not given her enough, but I don’t really know what else to change

Also when I came back today, the thickness of the lines was bothering me. Maybe it’s because I’ve been dabbling with the Syrup brush now, but I think I need to play with line width more now, since some of the smaller things like the brooch feel like they have too thick of lines

I don’t think her design is necessarily bad though, it’s mostly color wise I have issues with

And yeah, that’s Blackberry Scone, I hope you enjoy her