#I'm still working on the armor design.

[are-uwu]

WEREBEETLE IS BACK BABY!

One of the things I loved about the Blue Beetle movie was the transformation scene. Especially the black tar on Jaime's face and I couldn't help but want to use it for the werebeetle.

The tar will serve as a mask used to protect Jaime's identity so that both the enemies he faces and future allies will think he is not human (he will not risk compromising his remaining loved ones..not again). The red eye would also serve that purpose, as well as generate some fear for whoever breaks the armor of his face. (The idea was inspired by the design of Blue Beetle in Batman the brave and bold).

[geezmarty]

designed some mournwatch armor for my #girl

[moe-broey]

Taking a rest day but I have to doodle at least a bit, and. Currently agonizing over if Moe should also be equipped w the Breidablik for loadbearing canon lore reasons. Which, I have MANY grievances about, from "Gee Moe why do you get TWO weapons this isn't a main series title where you can do that" to "Moe is A STAFF USER. FULL STOP. ALWAYS HAS BEEN." to "oh fucking god I do NOT want to learn How To Draw That."

But. Looking at the artbook. I had a Vision

Very minimal mockup but. That little thing, there. You could put a keychain on that. You could put little charms on that. You could. You could...

[keeps-ache]

i have a new hobby!! i listen to my playlist and say things like 'oh this goes hard' 'it just can't miss' 'it's so good, you have no idea' to my brother who cannot listen to it bc i am wearing headphones lmaoo

[chill-vibes-but-rainbow-panic]

Honestly, I like Equestria Girls, but now that I saw one (1) other person talk about this I feel not alone enough in this that I can complain

Why do human Flim and Flam look so bad???

I will not include pictures, because I Do Not Want to see them on my blog, but like? Why is Flam's mustache gigantic? Why does he have curly hair? They couldn't even bother to give him one of his, like, three unique character attributes? That's all he has!

Why do they look like they turned actual horses into humans? In a bad way?

[mothpawbs]

it's the post i talked about making with seawing armor!! i was planning to do a third drawing with weapons, but i'm not super into it so maybe some other time

design notes under the cut!!

so first thing's first, i know very little about armor design. i did research and stuff, an attempt was made here XD

seawings mainly use materials found in/around the sea. metal is pretty limited to use in armor, weapons, and tools, especially during the war.

as such, seawings probably wouldn't know a ton about metallurgy, especially with the fact that they don't have fire. this generation's blacksmiths were likely informed by allied tribes, being mudwings (formerly) and some sandwings.

design is based off of ancient greek armor, mixed with some art nouveau styling. there's a bit more emphasis on aesthetics than practicality, a holdover from pre-war times.

materials are limited to things that won't degrade in saltwater (at least not quickly). bronze armor with glass-enameled elements, shark leather (or seaweed in lower ranks) straps, and titanium fastenings.

even though they won't degrade quickly, these materials will still oxidize. soldiers are expected to keep their armor presentable and in working order.

armor is made to be light, flexible, and limit use of glowscales, teeth, claws, and wings as little as possible. for these reasons, soldiers only wear a helm and spaulders unless in active battle, at which point noncoms would have a chestplate, and officers would have a chestplate and mail on the gills and belly. the gills are not usually covered, as their plating makes them the toughest part of the seawing naturally.

while there are armor gaps for use of glowscales, these are small and not the most practical. instead, seawing soldiers have been using a limited version of aquatic, made primarily of hand signals, for centuries.

because fabrics such as sashes would be impractical for seawings, rank is denoted using colored enamel portions on the armor. higher ranking officers, especially royalty, may also have custom armor, though this is a bad idea as it would make one a huge target in battle. regardless, some don special armor as is tradition.

[originalwinnerfanfish]

Well, I did it

Megatron - I love his tfp design. Probably one of the best iteration of Megs. He is huge, heavy armoured, his face covered with scars… He doesn’t looks like an ordinary military leader who is only capable of giving orders, but like real warrior who can destroy any enemy with his bare hands.

So, in the WOF version, he definitely shares some features with Princess Burn, not only because of his might, but also because of his horns shape and dirty-dark scales (that absorbed blood of his enemies)

Starscream - Boy, I hate him so much 🤣… but in the good way, trust me! In my opinion, when the show's creators make you feel such strong negative emotions towards a villain, it means they've done a great job. Also, I think that his animation in the show was absolutely incredible, because even though he's a 3D model, he still manages to move like a 2D character, which is amazing!

I feel that in my design he still looks more like a skywing, than an icewing (which is kinda logical)

Soundwave - This one was tricky. I couldn't figure out what his mask would look like, so I just made his face a really dark color. I think Soundwave has both gifts of the nightwings, and he’s equally great at telepathy and a future vision. So he doesn't really need equipment to predict enemy movements, which makes him an ideal communicator in the WOF setting. His Laserbeak is part of the armor enchanted by Shockwave, and it might also allow him to open portals (but I'm not sure with this one)

Shockwave - My favourite evil genius. He would definitely have animus magic and mind reading. I think Shockwave is the only one who has advanced the study of magic so far, precisely because he combined it with scientific knowledge and created safer methods of using it, that don't damage the mind. It's like if a Mastermind got animus magic in books.

I also like to think that he didn't heal the damaged part of his face just so that his enemies would fear him more)

Dreadwing - This man deserved better! It's really a shame that he was removed from the show so quickly due to financial problems. It would be great if his arc got a proper conclusion in season 3.

Considering that I didn't want to make him a hybrid, it was difficult to choose a suitable color palette. So let’s just say, that I tried my best😅

I don’t think that he would have any nightwing powers, but honestly it doesn’t even matter - this guy can make a bombs, what else does he need to be cool

Arachnid - Did anyone even doubt that she would be a hivewing? Damn, she even got her own “Othermind” virus. Her design was the easiest to work with - just a little poisonous ass (suspiciously similar to Maleficent).

Just like Starscream, I hate her, but in a good way. She's one of the creepiest characters in the entire series, who’s acting like a fucking heartless monster, especially with Arcee, but even so, there's always was something mesmerizing about her. I just really like strong female villains

Knockout - Wery bright and charismatic guy, definitely one of my fav cons!

I tried to draw him as handsome as possible. Worked a lot on the face shape and coloring, and as for me it turned out pretty nice (finally).

Most decepticons think Knockout is as stupid and lazy as all the other rainwings. And it's not like he completely disagrees with that. Of course he’s not stupid and lazy, but if it’s means less dirty work on the battlefield, well, he’ll continue act like a tipical rainwing

(I also believe that Megatron keeps him as an “art”)

Breakdown - Fun fact: "Operation Breakdown" was the very first thing I saw in this series. And it was an interesting experience for 8 year old me. Maybe that's why I'm so scared of eye gouging scenes in movies now…

I think that he didn't have any siblings initially due to his parents nature, and even after meeting Bulkhead, he felt uncomfortable among the other mudwings. And this is why he later chose the side of the decepticons. And maaaaybe because of one cute rainwing influence)

P.s.

I think that, being mostly nightwings and icewings, the decepticons are much more concerned about purity of their blood and rarely accept half-breeds into their ranks.

During the war, there were many animus dragons among decepticons, which is why they have so many artifacts that allowed teleportation and communication at a distance. But, honestly, I still can't imagine what Nemesis would look like in this AU

[sunshades]

FINALLY THE NORMAL SPRITE IS DONE so: cathy in her official outfit, as a t corp. researcher, as an atelier logic fixer, and as a tres association fixer. some notes on design and association ideas + a couple color variations for the base one under the cut 🕊💜🙇‍♂️

🕰 t corp. is based on the researchers' design from ruina- they're the ones who operate the tt2 protocol for the hatchery, i thought it'd be very funny (not for her) if this was what she did in the r corp. world. it looks like they're just wearing some shapeless black dress thingy but that'd look pretty boring to sprite, so to keep the same vibe i went w pants and long skirt, more modest like t corp. fashion and also more fitting for what should be slightly colder weather in district 18. the boots are "matt's" lol. i wanted her to have really long hair like those guys but also needed to make her look different from the k corp. one, plus the ponytail looked too...peppy i guess so i just made the braid as long as it could get without looking weird 😭 i imagine she's just a bit too depressed to cut it.

💼 atelier logic! we have now seen a good deal of their work so i had a good idea of the aesthetic to go for, black&white with small detailing, simple but expensive looking...

i wanted to do a white vest with black pinstripes so it'd look like a gunpowder trail, but i couldn't find a piece that worked for a vest, then i saw how cute the butler sleeves looked on it and i went with a cool lil uniform instead... of course, she shares this world with full-step heathcliff so what i wanted the most was for them to match, with the opposite colors shirt and tie... should've had black gloves as well but the contrast is better like this. turned out nice they're really silly 💜

🔩 tres 💃💃💃 i can't wait to see them cuz i love workshops. i went with a reddish/rosy color since we saw that in like all workshops we've met (rosespanner, leaflet, yuria's outfit) and it's not being used by another known association for now. i couldn't think of any spanish trope that could be used to inspire tres (like cinq has the musketeers) so i just went for a mechanic kinda look. their secondary color is silver, from the armor pieces they wear. i went with full pink on weapon and armor highlights, but maybe they change those up depending on personal taste. cathy's also carrying that nice ribbon since well. long-time bell fans will remember this one shares her mirror world with oufi heathcliff. the spear...chainsaw axe thingy is also not standard, i imagine they work on prototypes a lot, so their official weapons would have some points of commonality but be mostly unique between one another. they still would be either charge or tremor based as their main thing, typically keep the rose main color, and always include the association symbol in them. here it is

and we're at the end SO here's more kitty. a purple one because u know i like it better, and a red one for the classic epic kate bush reference, and because i'm still genuinely surprised the dress wasn't supposed to be red without the t corp. filter dsyghujdfnk

[deonsx]

helloo there!!♡, I really love the way you write. I'm wondering what it would be like if sae,rin,kaiser, have a gf who is a cosplayer, tyy♡!

Hiii dear!! Have a nice read and thank youuu^^

Rin Itoshi

Rin had come home early from practice. As soon as he opened the door he heard strange noises coming from the living room. When he walked in he found you sitting on the floor trying to shape a large piece of cardboard. The room was a mess with hot glue guns paints fabric scraps and oddly shaped foam pieces scattered everywhere

“What are you doing?” Rin asked with a curious expression. You looked up at him. With a smudge of paint on your face and messy hair you smiled brightly. “I’m working on a new cosplay. This is going to be a piece of armor” you said holding up the cardboard. Rin raised an eyebrow. “Armor? That thing needs a lot of work before it even looks like armor.”

“Don’t tease me!” you retorted. “This is just the base layer. It still needs painting hardening and detailing. Rin chuckled. “Alright alright. But why does the entire house look like a battlefield? Do you even know what you’re doing?”

Though you looked a bit offended you could tell Rin was getting interested. “I watched some YouTube videos and read a few guides. It’s a bit challenging but I’m learning. Plus it’s fun”

Rin sat down next to you and picked up the piece of cardboard you were working on. “If you’re going to put in this much effort at least do it properly. You need to cut this cleanly with a craft knife” he said grabbing a knife and showing you how to do it

After that day Rin couldn’t help but get involved in your project. Sometimes he’d point out mistakes saying “You’re doing it wrong” and other times he’d grab a paintbrush to help you add finishing touches

When the cosplay was finally ready you put it on and showed Rin the completed look. As you posed excitedly you noticed the surprised look on his face. “Alright” he said after a moment “I thought it was silly at first but… it actually looks really good”

“Really?” you asked your eyes sparkling with hope. Rin shrugged. “Maybe. But after all that effort I guess I can’t say anything against it.” At the convention your armor caught everyone’s attention. People stopped you to take pictures and compliment your work. Rin stood a step behind you a small smile on his face keeping an eye on the crowd to make sure no one crossed any boundaries

Sae Itoshi

when you first mentioned your passion for cosplay he didn’t think much of it. “Cosplay? You mean dressing up as fictional characters?” he asked one day his tone calm but slightly curious “Exactly!” you replied with excitement. “It’s a lot more than just dressing up though. I design the outfits build props and sometimes even compete. It’s a hobby but it means a lot to me”

Sae gave a small nod. “If it’s important to you that’s fine. Just don’t expect me to dress up” You laughed at his response knowing it was his way of acknowledging your interests without diving too deeply

A few weeks later you were preparing for a convention. Your living room was a workshop with fabric glue guns and foam scattered everywhere. Sae walked in and paused his sharp gaze taking in the scene “You’ve been at this for hours” he commented setting his bag down

“Yup” you said not even looking up from the detailed painting you were doing on a prop. “The convention is in two days and I want this to be perfect” Sae sighed softly walking closer. “Does it really need to be this detailed? No one’s going to notice if it’s off by a little”

You shot him a playful glare. “Oh they’ll notice. Trust me cosplayers have an eye for detail” He didn’t reply but leaned down to pick up one of the finished pieces. “It’s impressive” he admitted after a moment. “I didn’t realize you made all of this yourself”

The day of the convention Sae offered to drive you there. As you stepped out of the car in your fully completed costume he couldn’t help but let his eyes linger for a moment. You looked stunning the outfit perfectly capturing the character you were portraying “You’re really into this aren’t you?” he said his voice softer than usual “I am” you replied with a bright smile. “And I love it”

At the convention Sae stayed in the background watching as people approached you for photos and compliments. He observed the way your face lit up every time someone admired your work. Despite his usual stoic demeanor he felt a subtle sense of pride

Later as you both sat down to eat he spoke up. “You’re talented. I don’t think I could have the patience to do something like that” You grinned. “Coming from you that’s a big compliment.” Sae smirked faintly. “Don’t let it go to your head”

Kaiser Michael

“You dress up as fictional characters and make all this stuff yourself?” he asked, spinning one of your half-finished props in his hand like it was a trophy.“Yes, Michael” you replied, rolling your eyes at his tone. “It’s not just dressing up. It’s crafting, designing, and bringing something I love to life. And no, you can’t break that it took hours to make”

Kaiser smirked and placed the prop back carefully. “Relax. I’m just admiring your… creativity” A few days later, he strolled into the room while you were sewing fabric for your next costume. His golden hair was slightly tousled, and he leaned casually against the doorway, watching you work. “So, when’s this big event of yours?”

“This weekend” you answered, not looking up from your work “Perfect. I’ll clear my schedule” he said with a grin. You looked up at him, surprised. “You’re coming?”

“Of course” he said as if it were obvious. “I have to see how good you are at this. Besides, you’ll need someone to make sure your fans don’t get too close”

The day of the convention, Kaiser arrived in style, dressed impeccably as always. When he saw you in your finished cosplay, his usual cocky smirk shifted into something softer. “I’ll admit” he said, circling you like a critic. “You look incredible. Almost as good as me” “Almost?” you teased, raising an eyebrow “Fine” he said with a mock dramatic sigh. “You look better than me for now”

At the convention, Kaiser stayed by your side, his presence impossible to ignore. People stared as much at him as they did at you, but he didn’t seem to mind. Whenever someone asked for a photo with you, he’d step aside, arms crossed, observing like he was the one managing your image

“You know” he whispered at one point as you posed for a group shot. “You should’ve told me earlier. I’d have joined you in costume. Imagine us as a power duo unstoppable” You laughed, shaking your head. “This is my thing, Michael. You already have football”

“But you’re my girlfriend” he said with a wink. “That makes everything you do my thing too” By the end of the day, you were exhausted but happy. Kaiser drove you home, still talking about how “you stole the show” and how “everyone was lucky to witness your brilliance”

Enjoy!

[dseval]

Me and my bestie have been SCREAMING in chat about a royal-ish scenario where Dream is the prince and Cross is his knight. So I drew that... Except I accidentally drew them as... Lesbians?

So it's the Princess, Dream... With her Knight, Cross.

I love (drawing) girls.

Sorry if it's messy and the anatomy is janky, uh, still in artblock and forgot how to draw (cries in the corner)

More under the cut

I'm sticking to my butch lesbian Cross headcanon (actually coping because I am incapable of making Cross look more feminine, but it works in my favour)

If I ever pick this up again, remind me to properly design their dress and armor, currently I am unsatisfied but unsure how to fix it.

Easter egg:

(returns to WIP stash)

Credits (please tell me if there's a typo or if I missed anything):

Cross Sans by Jakei

Dream Sans by Joku

[emsartwork]

Hey yall im not dead!

COSMIX!!! I've officially redesigned all the transformations in the Winx Club TV series hell yeah

Lore and Design notes below

So Cosmix is a rather defunct transformation in the modern era. It used to be used heavily in the age of space exploration but since teleportation and hyper speed ships became common place, the Magix dimension prefers to use those. Essentially, in order to set up a teleportation center, the caster/s need to have been to both the origin point and the target point. Witches and Mages were the primary people responsible for setting up the teleportation system, but in order to achieve the spells requirements, they would require help from a Cosmix fairy. The primary function of Cosmix is the ability to fly through space with out detrimental effects. Cosmix fairies can take 1, maybe 2, people with them while they fly in a shooting star esc trail function. Cosmix is not great for fighting unless the foe is darkness/light based. Defense is strong against cold, pressure, and friction, but not most other kinds of damage.

Cosmix is also theorized to be the Magix Dimension's version of the elementix. So like Sirenix is the transformation that grants access to the Infinite ocean, Cosmix is the one that would grant access to the Magix Dimension if fairies were in the other realms. Because humans already belong to the Magix Dimension, and the transformation isn't required to earn Nymphix, it isn't considered a true Elementix. Some fairies (mostly Solarians) do experience biological changes when using the transformation, seen here in Stella, but it's not super common. The hair takes on the magic color and drifts into nebulous star dust and galaxy clusters. Solarians are located closest to Lumenia, a tightly clustered star formation, and frequent attract Lumens due to Solaria's binary star system. They have formed fast friendships with the Lumens and many Solarians carry a Lumen's Blessing (it's similar to the elemental companions' bonds in the elementix) in their bloodline which contributes to the biological changes when using Cosmix.

I'm still hammering out how seaosn 8 works plot wise but I'll add it to my show changes masterlist eventually.

Design! The initial concept was "man i wanna draw some chunky ass boots" and i kinda ran with the cyber punk look from there. I was also adamant that Cosmix is a pants transformation, both out of practicality and spite because they made everyone so hyper feminine in season 8. I referenced the actual cosmix designs and their "space travel" oufits for the general shapes for these, but obviously there aren't a ton of similarities since I went in such a different direction haha. Also my first time drawing Aisha with twists! I almost gave her a fro cus it would mimic an astronaut's helmet (and lowkey a nod to Garnet from steven universe) but i like how the twists came out haha

Cosmix includes! Hair up and out of the way, a mesh base layer with light veins and stars, a body suit or shorts and top, a padded armor torso piece with some tubing ports, so many buckles and straps, a clear plastic portion(usually part of the torso peice, sleeves, or around the waist/hips), wrist/arm guards, and chunky chunky boots. The wings are also larger than most transformations (rivaling Butterflix/Faunix) and trail more of the fairy's magic color than usual. Simple geometric designs are standard.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I'm so sorry to bring up the recent Silver card again, but I would like to get my love for it out of my system. As someone who has had, quite literally, a lifelong love for Sleeping Beauty, this Silver card is like my perfect card.

Any time Twst leans into the movies design wise or atmosphere wise, I'm immediately reminded of what drew me into the game in the first place, and Silver's brought up all my love for Sleeping Beauty all over again. AND THE GROOVIED VERSION?! THE PINK AND THE BLUE!! I can never really put into words how much I absolutely adore that movie and now I can't even put into words how much I love this card. I feel like it just really brings everything together, like this is the kind of thing I would expect a movie poster for Sleeping Beauty to look like.

Sorry this is kind of all over the place!

I don’t have an attachment to Sleeping Beauty myself, but it’s great that book 7 brought you joy in the form of it ^^

Silver’s Dawn Armor initial illustration and its groovy are for real works of art!! Twst usually has this issue where the groovy is “off” in some way, but this one was such a slam dunk 😭 The gleaming armor, Silver’s determined expression, the looming threat of the dragon in the distance… contrasted with his gentle and teary-eyed smile, his fluttering cape shifting from blue to pink and back, the dreamy colors of the ballroom—and!! His friends and family surrounding him, rather than the desolate, doomed battlefield of the initial artwork. (I still can't get over Sebek crying in the background while Grim's chilling on his head??)

It feels like a perfect encapsulation of the climax of the Sleeping Beauty story but also a showcase of the happy ending that results thanks to his heroic efforts.

[You can read my thoughts on the book 7 finale here!]

YOU AREN'T THE ONLY ONE 😭 I feel like I've been seeing this sentiment floating around a lot on socials and even in my own smaller Twst circles. The pre-book 7 "He's okay but sort of boring!" to the post-book 7 "He wrung all the tears out of me and left me emotionally devastated but I thanked him for it." is pretty wild. I'm happy that many more Twst fans are discovering his charms through book 7 and his character arc in it.

I'll admit that I wasn't a fan of him for most of the main story myself, but it was still so satisfying seeing him formally adopt Lilia's surname with all his peers in attendance, and Malleus officiating it. Silver had to work so hard to accept his father's love for him, and to realize that he is someone worthy of love... and you can tell he cares so much about having this thing to call his. Not something tangible that glitters like armor or a medal, but a name forever bound to his identity for as long as he shall live, and much, much longer after he is no longer here. A surname that once existed to mark a blood-stained warrior is now granted to the one that restored peace, at last bringing father and son together. (The official in-game character profile also reflects this change:)

[kattudime]

My younger Shamura design, from when they were still a warlord raging a war against the gods ❤️

Not too sure about their armor design yet but I'm working on it :3

And an extra Shamura after the cat distribution system hit them

[bluegekk0]

New WIPs

Working on my designs for the tribes of Hallownest! I want to design some background characters for Dirtmouth but I figured I'd tackle these first to get a better idea for how I want them to look.

So have some rough WIPs that I did today:

Mantis tribe + Mantis Lord first (the other two look basically the same when it comes to shape). Based on mantises and gerenuk antelopes since the long necks reminded me of them. The lords are a different "subspecies" (since I use tribe as the word for species in the AU, I guess they'd have a different term for a subspecies, maybe blood? So they would be of a different blood. Sounds cool), basically a long running family that rules over the Mantis Village, which is why they look a little different. Prominent horns, different shaped arms, shorter necks. Still thinking how to handle the Mantis Traitors. As a little bonus, I want to make a Dirtmouth character who comes from the Mantis Tribe, that was actually what made me draw these.

And here's The Hive (Bee tribe?). These are somewhat simple, my idea was "make them look like bees without making them look like bees". I like how they came out, they look very angry which I think fits them. Also included the Hive Knight, still thinking if I want to include the armor or not. No Vespa design yet, though I'm looking forward to drawing her.

As always, I'm open for suggestions and ideas, either for the final versions of these or the other tribes (or some characters for Dirtmouth)

[jccatstudios]

OMG JESPERS OUTFIT IS SO GOOD. JESPER IN GENERAL IS JUST SO GOOD YOUR DESIGNS ARE INCREDIBLE

Thanks!!! I love to design costumes and outfits so much. I'll take this as a oppurtunity to share some details from the Ch 3 illustration.

For this artwork, I wanted to feature my favorite garment (the leather jacket) and take the opportunity to draw the trio in more modern clothing.

For Jes, it's always about patterns. He's got three in this outfit, though I think he should have more to match his aesthetic. We've got warped checkerboard, cherries, and checkered hearts. The cherries weren't in the original plan, but I decided to add it because I love a good patterned lining (also a nod to a song on the playlist I'm working on for him).

And the riveted tie was a thing I found on pinterest. How cool is that?! I love rivets that don't have a function, especially on the side of jeans.

Each ring represents one of the characters! Green for Jesper, black for Kaz, and the braided one for Inej. This was probably my favorite part of the illustration due to the process. First, his hand was bright purple to make the brown overlay cooler but still keep some warmth to it. Then I used clear alcohol (0 for my fellow Copic users) to get the fine details on his nails.

If there's a chance to give Kaz some sort of crow wing motif on his back, I'll take it. The jacket is semi-backless, revealing a light purple ribbed sweater underneath. There are three layers to the wings: the short ones snap and zip to the second layer, which then is sewn into the waistband of the third layer. He also has a "KB" patch, opposite to his "R" tattoo on his right arm.

As for his pants, I gave him patchwork jeans as a nod to the ever-iconic "not so broken" passage in Chapter 38.

Inej's jacket is based on medieval knight armor, especially in the shoulder detailing. Some people have said it looks like a bird's beak at the top. Unintentional, but I thought that was a cool interpretation. While I didn't draw her real knives, I gave her a little one to go through her piercing. What book is in her backpack? I'll let you decide.

[ao3cassandraic]

The depeopleization of *Units in the Murderbot trailer

Just some things that caught my eye as I watched.

The amount of literal and metaphorical dehumanization -- ugh, bad word; Murderbot isn't and doesn't want to be human, so let's go with "depeopleization" -- of bots in a short li'l trailer is... whew. It's a whole damn thing. If you didn't feel as uncomfortable as the Preservation crew did watching the corpos market their SecUnits not with spec sheets (much less résumés) but by putting the most expensive model on blatantly posed display... I'm not sure I know you, because wow, that's absolutely hideous. The books aren't subtle about Murderbot's story being a sci-fied enslavement narrative, but absolutely zero punches pulled in that scene.

(It reconciles me, a tiny bit, to Murderbot being acted by a white person. I still don't love that! But I can acknowledge there's some symbolic utility to it. Thing is, there would be symbolic utility the other way too; it'd just be different.)

While Murderbot itself waves off the corpos' scorn of it as an older and less-capable (by their lights) model, I can't. That, too, is a blatant denial of inherent worth and individuality. (Also I have every confidence that Murderbot could give that new model a fair fight. Experience counts for something, not that the corpos care. So they're being ageist, too! If Martha Wells was using that moment to take a shot at the publishers that wrote her off, more power to her.)

Obviously SecUnit armor is also designed to look deliberately not-human, even perhaps with an ableist touch. Murderbot's visor makes it look as though it has only one eye, and what it wears as it's guarding the door of the crew base is tilted toward what reads to me as a cliché TV robot. The newer SecUnit is entirely faceless (in a very 2020s-riot-cop sort of way, which was doubtless fully intentional).

I frankly got angry (Watsonianly, not Doylistly; I'm not mad at the trailer or those who made it) at the "it can't hear us!" bit. Personal history as a bullied child. I was walking back to school from a fourth-grade field trip, two of my bullies talking shit about me right behind me. One of them finally noticed I was there, shut up, and nudged or poked or kicked the other, who just said disdainfully and in full consciousness of the lie, "she can't hear us." Yeah, so that completely depeopleized bit in the trailer -- again, possibly with a touch of ableism to it -- was perfectly executed, and that's all I'm going to say about that.

And then we get to the Sanctuary Moon clip, in which the soap-opera conflict revolves around the Captain possibly having slept with "that bot," also a completely depeopleizing (though perfectly soapy, doubtless paralleling "that bitch") phraseology. (For what it's worth, I fully believe the Captain slept with that bot. John Cho's face, y'all!)

What's fascinating about that clip is that the crew's reactions of disgust and dismay are ambiguous. Possibly sleeping with a bot is viewed as inherently gross. Possibly it's something about that specific bot. Possibly it's something to do with how humans gender bots in soap operas (which we know nothing about even from the books, because Murderbot doesn't give a crap about gender or sexuality). Given that Sanctuary Moon is a soap opera, quite possibly there's history specific to the Captain, the bot, or both. We don't know! But what's clever about that is that it forces us to allow the possibility that once again it's bot depeopleization.

Cinnamon-roll Ratthi (perfectly cast) gets himself in a perfectly Ratthiesque muddle trying to work out how to be respectful to Murderbot. Using a person's self-chosen monicker is indeed respectful in almost all circumstances! But as Murderbot itself says about its name, "That's private." So Ratthi's attempt falls a bit short, but I'll give him some love for trying.

If you haven't seen it yet, do find the non-trailer clip going 'round of Gurathin opening a conversation with Murderbot. (If you check the #murderbot tag, you should find it.) This reads to me as Gurathin, perhaps prompted by Ratthi's behavior (the chronology here isn't clear), deliberately trying to assert to Murderbot that it is, in fact, a person. Gurathin does this by requesting that Murderbot do what people routinely do when they talk to one another: bare their faces.

Tactless? Yeah, arguably, though again it's not clear how much Gurathin knows about Murderbot's shyness at that point. But I get what he -- and the show -- are driving for.