#Shogun Warriors Comics | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

echantedtoon · 4 months ago

Text

Demonstober Day 5 Omukade

Ōmukade are monstrous mukade–centipedes (Scolopendra subspinipes) with dark bodies and bright orange legs and heads.

(If you don't know what Kokushibo looks like as an Omukade centaur like Yokai follow the link.

This is half inspired by a comic on Tumblr. Warnings for mentioned death and killing.)

Tagging: @lavenderdropp @six-eyed-samurai @trancylovecraft @cherrysuzaku

Remember if you want to be added to the spooktober taglist lemme know

Once long ago there was a very powerful shogun, and he married a beautiful woman. Together they were happy with no want for anything in their comfortable lives. Except for one thing.

A child.

Even though they tried for many years, they still went without children. One day the woman of the couple decided to take a long walk in the woods to try to forget about her troubles when she came across a mysterious healer.

"My lady, you seem quite troubled. Would you like to tell me?", the man offered.

"Why? You wouldn't even be able to help me. It's no use."

"Try me. I might surprise you."

"My husband is happy with life and we wish for nothing but a child however it seems that the gods do not seem to want to bless us with one."

"Oh. Is that all?", the healer laughed before reaching into the folds of his cloak and pulling out a small box which contained three seeds. *I have the exact solution. Take these flower seeds and plant them in your garden in a place only you'll know. One month from now on the night of the blue moon, three flowers will appear."

"What good will flowers do me?"

"They're blessed by the goddess of fertility," the man explained, "Of the three there will be three flowers. A white lotus, a red spider lily, and a black rose. If you eat the white lily you'll gain a son as pure and kind hearted as the heavens. If you eat the red spider lily you'll receive a son as fast and strong as the fiercest warrior. If you choose the black one you'll receive a son as smart as a hundred scholars! Eating any two of the three will result in twins with all the traits of both flowers!"

The woman was so pleased with her gift. It would be the solution to all her problems and she left with the seeds. However the healer gave her a grisly warning.

"These flowers are enchanted by magic no mortal body can handle so there's a limit to how much you can have without a blessing turning to a curse. Remember. You may only have up to TWO. Eating all three will have deadly consequences that even I don't know what could happen. Heed my warnings, My Lady. Or disaster will befall thee."

The woman promised to remember the warnings given to her and that night planted the seeds in a place only she knew about telling no one. A month later on the blue moon she went back out and found the three flowers the man spoke of. She had already decided to eat the lily and lotus, but at the last moment decided to eat all three. It was a blessing from the goddess of fertility after all. Nothing really bad could come from a blessing. And she wanted her children to have all the traits the flowers promised.

Against the healer's warnings, she swallowed the black rose petals right after the first two flowers. Sealing her fate by her foolish mistake.

Soon after the woman indeed fell with child. Twins. Both husband and wife were so happy and the entire countryside rejoiced with the news. Nothing truly was wrong and the woman forgot about the consequences of her actions. Until nine months later-

Her husband was called to battle, while away his wife delivered their children in the middle of the night. However the children born that night were not infants.

But horrible monsters from nightmares.

The woman screamed in fear and horror as the doctors looked on in shocked silence as the cursed infants cried out into the darkness. Both grotesque and disfigured. Monstrous and horrifying to look at.

One they say was born with horns like an oni and eight limbs like a slightly humified jurogumo. The other one was more horrible. Half it's body writhing and squirming like an upsidedown centipede and so many eyes that they were spinning in different directions at once. They cried but no one dared touch them or show them any empathy. Their own mother scrambled away and shrieked out in fear.

"Take them away!," she cried out, "Take them far away! I don't care what you do with them just take them far away and be rid of them! I'd rather have my husband think we suffered a loss than look upon these ugly things! No one shall tell him of this!"

One of the woman's most trusted servants placed the crying children in a chained basket and took them away that very same night. No one knew what became of them. They were never seen again. The maid never did return either. And the woman never told her husband what had happened. No one else who was there that night never dared repeat what they saw in fear of drawing the cursed creatures back to them.

However they say that they still roam the lands. And if you are unlucky enough, you shall be the next to run into such a horrible monster.

You didn't have any idea of the last time you weren't told what to do. From the moment you were born your entire life wasn't even yours.

"I no longer have need of your services."

"Is that right?"

It had been months since the time you met him. The man who wanted you but who you rejected because he was a monster. An evil monster who would only devour. And you were already spoken for. It was only the beginning really.

Ever since you were a little girl you've done everything right. As heiress and next in line you were prepared for only one thing and that was to become the perfect young lady. You think they resented you for not being born the strong male heir they wanted to have and instead would have to pick someone else from one of the other noble families to marry you and become their true heir. After all a woman in their eyes could never inherit their estate. Not like a man could. So you had done everything you could do to please them. You studied everything you could do to make yourself come off as a proper well bred lady. Learning to dance in those uncomfortable shoes, laugh at suitors' ridiculous jokes no matter how obnoxious they were, making yourself fond over men that your parents expressed interest in even if you hated their entire being, forcing yourself into those ridiculous dresses and make up because that's what you were expected to look like...

And yet it was NEVER good enough for them. Never good enough for anyone. All of your efforts only seemed to make them more angry of you even though you were doing more than they expected.

In the end they were so fed up with your existence that they made the choice to end your life, other than imprison you or vanish you they sold you off to the wealthiest man they could. Both would've been preferable fates, at least then you would've been free to stop pretending to be something else you weren't. And leaving you to be taken off in the back of a wagon as they carted you off like unwanted cargo. If you only hadn't been born in this family maybe nothing would've happened.

It was still better than marrying the destructive monster that kept plauging you in the night. Each night asking you for one thing-

"Give me your hand as my wife."

The same line over and over. Night after night. He asked you for the one thing that you knew if you accepted, you'd never get out. Better the monsters you knew than the monster you didn't. You once asked him why. Why did he want you when there was surely woman far more wealthy and willing and beautiful? His answer was always the same.

"We were lovers in another life. You died then but you're still mine. It just took me time to find you once more. Give me your hand once again as mine. Join me once more as you belong here in my arms, by my side, and continuing to love me."

You rejected him. It didn't matter what you were then, it's a new life and you had a duty to your parents, and you had a fiance now.

Perhaps you should've accepted because the destruction that followed you when the monster finally reared itself to show in the moonlight and attacked your wagon transport...it was something out of hell.

But now you sat here in what remained of the crumbling mansion and just stared blankly at him. The monster who had done all the destruction. First ones to go were the ones who transported you away, then your parents, then the man who had paid your parents for you, and then anyone the monster dam well pleased. Over and over day after day until the estate and the province as a whole was swallowed up until nothing else was left but a smoking husk of what once was.

You nodded before the red and amber eyes of hellish stoic fury. The one responsible for it all. "Yes. You've done everything you could do to satisfy your vengeance... So we have no more need to be in servitude to one another. I release you from anymore duties you feel you have to me."

Instead of taking the obvious way out, he hummed tilting his head. "Hmm. That would make sense....but I have no interest in in leaving what's mine." Those deadly eyes narrowed. "Isn't that right, my dear little wife?"

Wife.

You'd forgotten about that.

As an heiress you were expected to be married. More like married off. It was your duty to be married off to someone else who you probably would never love. All under the guise of being for the 'better of your people and kingdom' and then to be nothing but the perfect little supportive wife to him for the rest of your lives and produce him many heirs. It was a duty you being trapped didn't want but made peace with doing a long time ago and would've done it at one point in time. Especially if it meant avoiding his destruction and wrath.

To force yourself to wear whatever gown your mother picked and force yourself to smile and laugh in mock happiness as your father walked you down the aisle after the bridesmaids and flower girl and ring bearer. Force yourself to repeat rehearsed vows your mother wrote for you in advance and say I do to a stranger you'd never love. And thank everyone for coming to 'the happiest day of your life' and force yourself to scarf down too sweet wedding cake and cry over tacky decorations you'd have no say in picking.

But now none of it mattered really. You ended up promising your hand to the demon before you.

"Please! Just don't hurt anyone else!"

"Then give me your hand." The claws stained by the blood of many and if you weren't careful, you couldn't accidentally cut yourself if you grasped his hand. "As my wife for eternity."

A princess and a monster. An ironic comical fate but what choice did you ever have? You accepted your fate and reached out to the monster. He was suddenly upon you, grabbing your hand while the other looked around your waist pulling you against him as he grinned a smile that was both malevolent and full of want for you.

"After all all this destruction wasn't a part of just wrath. It was my wedding gift to you Let this be my marriage vow and promise to you, my dear.~"

#demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #kny #Demonstober #kokushibo demon slayer #kokushibo x reader #kokushibo #kokushibou #demon slayer kokushibo #kny kokushibo #kokushibo x you #kokushibo x y/n #demon slayer michikatsu #michikatsu #tsugikuni michikatsu #michikatsu x reader #kny michikatsu #michikatsu tsugikuni #michikatsu x y/n

44 notes · View notes

brevoorthistoryofcomics · 6 months ago

Text

BHOC: GHOST RIDER #35

This was the first issue of GHOST RIDER that I ever bought. I seem to recall picking it up at a supermarket that carried a few comics–the same one where I’d earlier purchased SHOGUN WARRIORS #3. I was never a fan of Marvel’s assorted monster titles–I was a super hero man through and through. But I’m sure that having seen a house ad for this issue influenced by choice. And it’s a great issue,…

View On WordPress

#Ghost Rider #Jim Starlin #Marvel #Steve Leialoha

35 notes · View notes

phoenix-king-ozai · 8 months ago

Note

Honestly I'm more impressed when reading fanfics in ATLA how Ozai is constantly tormenting his kids(sexually, physically, emotionally) like 24/7. Personally Ozai struck me as the type of person to not really focus on his kids beyond honing in their skills, especially if that kid is Zuko.

Seriously if Zuko never spoke during the war meeting Ozai probably would've entirely ignored him. When we see what Ozai's ideal version of Zuko is like when he's under the impression Zuko killed Aang, Zuko is legit silent and basically sits there like furniture during the meeting.

Also I struggle to see Ozai interacting with his children beyond training since that's probably where Ozai's expertise lies more than parenting. Ursa was probably bench pressing the parenting duties until Ozai told her to leave and even then, I imagine Ozai left other people to do the more tedious tasks like servants or what not.

I believe that Ozai, Ursa, Zuko, and Azula including the entire Fire Nation Royal Family have very complex relationship dynanamics with each other. I believe that over time Ozai began to develop feelings of affection, care, even geniune love for his family. However, since Ozai has been raised to be a ruthless, cunning, manipulative vicious warriors since his childhood. Ozai and Ursa maybe be Fire Nation Royal and Noble by blood. However their personalities and background environment extremely differ. Which is why Ozai is so much colder, cruel, and brutally ruthless compared to his wife Ursa and even brother Iroh. Ozai has been personally brainwashed and socially conditioned since childhood by the Fire Nation Elite and Fire Lord Azulon to become the man that he is today. Compassion, Morality, Peace, Pacifism and Mercy are signs of Weakness and MUST be eradicated and eviscerated. However, during Zuko and Azula early childhood Ozai was more gentle and fatherly towards his children and husbandly towards his wife. Ozai was never some sadistic wife and child beating that the ATLA Fandumb tries to horribly make him out to seem like! It just their Abuse Porn Headcanon Fanficition Obession!

Zuko mentions that Ozai and Ursa along with their family used to be happy, and we saw that in Zuko's flashbacks. Yang, just decided to make Ursa a victim because in his mind: URSA IS A GOOD WOMAN! OZAI IS A BAD MAN! SHE MUST BE HELD HOSTAGE BY THE EVIL ABUSIVE MONSTER!!! While Ozai and Ursa arrange marriage does make sense and was confirmed by the creators. It doesn't mean that Ozai and Ursa's relationship was ALWAYS BAD, or SHE WAS KIDNAPPED! Plus, the Urzai relationship is quite normal in the antiquity of Asian societies that the Fire Nation is based on aka Shogunates of Japan and Imperial Chinese Dynasties!!!

Ozai HIMSELF stated in the comics that he tried to be a good father to Zuko and Azula during their young childhood which is canon to flashbacks that Zuko has in the show. Zuko HIMSELF also stated that Ozai tried to be a good father to him and Azula. WHICH ALSO EXPLAINED WHY ZUKO TRIED SO DESPERATELY TO GET BACK IN HIS FATHER'S GOOD GRACE AGAIN AND REGAIN HIS FATHER'S LOVE! So, in conclusion, Ozai did love and care for Ursa, Zuko, and Azula. Despite, according to the comics he was ALSO FORCED into an eugenics experiment with the granddaughter of his grandfather's old rival and friend. On the orders of his father Fire Lord Azulon and the wishes of the Fire Sages. I believe that Ursa did alot of the child rearing when Zuko and Azula were toddler with Fire Nation Royal Servants helping her as well. However, Ozai was a active and positive influence as a father for his children in their early youth. Why would Zuko desperately want to return to the Fire Nation and his father if Ozai was just a cruel, harshless, bastard to him? Ozai, Ursa and the children used to enjoy the time at Ember Island with theater plays and playing on the beach at their family's summer house.

Ozai's harshness and ruthlessness regarding Zuko have nothing to do with Ursa or Ikem's forbidden love! Ozai wants Zuko and Azula to both prove themselves. Ozai doesn't favor Zuko or Azula. It is about which child will succeed Sozin, Azulon, and his legacy as future Fire Lord. In fact, Ozai doesn't want Zuko or Azula to think that they are the “favorite” child. He wants Azula and Zuko to improve through competition. Because of the “only the greatest of pressures can forge diamonds” & “steel sharpen steel” mentality. Ozai has the mentality of an imperialist warlord. Ozai isn't trying to be the world's most loving and caring father but rather continue and build upon a powerful and dominant legacy that his forefathers had created before him. He wants Zuko & Azula to be cold, ruthless, heartless, vicious, and brutal imperialistic warmongers like him (Ozai), his father (Azulon), and his grandfather (Sozin). As far as Ozai and Azula is concerned, Zuko is a disgrace as Firstborn of the Firelord. Ozai had some hope in the past for Zuko which is why he didn’t Exile, Assassinate or Banished him during his childhood or during reign as Firelord until the Agni Kai duel. Ozai was originally shame of Zuko for possibly being a non bender. Fire Bending probably means everything to Fire Nation Royalty and Nobility, even Piandao [probably noble] parents abandon him for being a non bending because it would be a disgrace. Ozai was probably going to disown Zuko for being a “non-bender” that was born on a Winter Solstice and Premature. High Fire Nation society is all about power, dominance, intimidation.

In Fire Nation Elite Society, the Agni Kai between Ozai and Zuko was socially justifiable in the eyes of the of the elite noblity. The burning and banishment was cause by Zuko breaking sacred Fire Nation tradition in a War Meeting that he wasn't invited for!

HE IS A COMPLETE FAILURE OF A FIREBENDER AT 14 AND HAS NO MILITARY EXPERIENCE AS A GENERAL YET HE HAS THE GALL TO CALL OUT GENERAL LI PLANS FOR BEING TERRIBLE?

INSULTING AND CRITICIZING A HIGH RANKING WAR GENERAL WHEN HE SHOULD HAVE NOT BEEN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE ACCORDING TO IROH!

REFUSING TO DUEL (ANIMATED ATLA) OR HOLDING BACK (NETFLIX ATLA) IN A SACRED AGNI KAI DUEL WHEN COMMANDED BY THE FIRE LORD AND HIS IS OWN FATHER!

Extremely hot take...Yeah, I know. Granted, Zuko was MORALLY RIGHT about the Fire Nation troops being sacrificed on the battlefield for victory, but SACRIFICES ARE COMMON IN FUEDAL ANCIENT WARFARE which the Fire Nation is based on! Tokugawa Shogunate Japan, Yuan Mongolian Empire, Tang Dynasty and etc. Which were Imperialist and Absolute Monarchies. Robb Stark and Napoleon did the same thing and are considered great generals!

Was the plan immoral? Yes, but the Fire Nation genocided the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom for decades. Morality is the LEAST of the Fire Nation concerns especially when you can sacrifice a platoon of inexperienced fodder to capture a massive town or city and flank the powerful EK army. Firelord Sozin also had no issue committing genocide against hundreds or thousands of Air nomads during the beginning of the war, the same can be said for his son Firelord Azulon genocide of the Southern Water Tribes and his raids on the Earth Kingdom and Seige of Ba Sing Se!

Ozai's distaste and despisement of Zuko have NOTHING to do with Ursa and Ozai's arguments in ATLA Canon even in the Comics Ozai was simply saying that to hurt Ursa's feelings and gaslight her over bullshit letters. Ozai views Zuko as a disappointment of a son, firebender, and prince. His skills in Firebending are pathetic compared to his sister's and his morality from his mother and later uncle is out of line with Ozai and mainstream Fire Nation Elite Imperialists. If Zuko was a ruthless and cold-blooded killer like Azula and was at least just as good as his YOUNGER sister, then Ozai would NOT HAVE ANY PROBLEM with Zuko as his son and heir! Zuko represents everything that Ozai was raised to hate and resent; compassion, morality, mercy, weakness, etc. Ozai hates his son for incompetence as a firebending warrior which is antithetical to Ozai as the strongest firebender in the series along with him being an Agni Kai champion along with the morality and softness that Ursa and later Iroh fostered in Zuko. The fact that Zuko doesn't conform to their society's warrior culture and morality bothers his father since Ozai was likely forced to conform since his own childhood under his father Azulon’s reign. Ozai probably resents that Zuko has his mother and uncle's affection whereas Ozai as a child probably didn't have his mother, Ilah's love to protect and care for him from Azulon's wrath due to her death in childbirth. Iroh got to experience his mother's love and presence along with his father's respect during his childhood, something that Ozai never had. Ozai resents his first-born Zuko and relates far more with his second-born daughter Azula who is neglected like him.

#atla #avatar: tla #avatar: the legend of aang #avatar: the last airbender #ozai #ursa #zuko #azula #fire nation parenting #fire nation royal family #royal fire family #fire family #fire fam #urzai

34 notes · View notes

savage-kult-of-gorthaur · 10 months ago

Text

"THERE SHALL COME A DAY WHEN TITANS WALK THE EARTH..."

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on a Marvel house advertisement for the then upcoming Japanese-influenced giant robot comic book series, "Shogun Warriors," co-created by Doug Moench & Herb Trimpe. Published by Marvel Comics, c. 1979.

Resolution at 735x1115 & 736x1087.

"There shall come a day when Titans walk the Earth. Titans dedicated to defending our world from the dark forces of evil. There shall come... THE SHOGUN WARRIORS."

-- MARVEL COMICS GROUP

Sources: www.pinterest.com/pin/marvel--146155950395758594 (Pinterest 2x).

0 notes

cosplayinamerica · 1 year ago

Text

Anime conventions and their Yamato roots

by Dave Merrill

“Conventional” (ha ha) wisdom says that the first American convention devoted to Japanese animation was Project A-Kon 1990 in Dallas, Texas. This prototypical event was instigated by a group of Texas anime fans gathered under the banner of Star Blazers’“Earth Defense Command,” a Space Battleship Yamato fan club that grew to embrace all of Japanese animation. As of this writing, Project A-Kon is preparing for its 20th show.

But was A-Kon the first anime convention in North America? No. Not even close. For years, we’d seen references and offhand comments about a “YamatoCon” that was held in the Dallas area years earlier. Were these references true? Our crack team of researchers donned their explorer togs, dusted off their pith helmets, and began the harrowing search for enlightenment. Well, to be honest we sent some emails. Here’s what we found…

The first YamatoCon – that is to say, the first American fan convention devoted to Japanese animation – was held on August 13, 1983 at the Harvey Hotel in Dallas Texas. This one-day affair was the brainchild of Mark Hernandez, Don Magness, and Bobb Waller, each of whom had experience in the Dallas comics/SF fandom community and each of whom put up their own hard-earned cash to make YamatoConhappen. Scheduled the next-to-last weekend before school started, Mark Hernandez remembers the planning being as simple as getting commitments from dealers, finding a venue, and setting a date. Yes, it really is that easy to start a convention.

Programming consisted of the first 26 episodes of Star Blazersrecorded off TV, shown in continuous order (minus commercials, of course) and a bonus Yamato film. This 13-hour Journey to Iscandar (“It was a long day,” says Mark) was a primary attraction at YamatoCon, 1983 being a time when VCRs and blank VHS tape were expensive, collections of Star Blazers on video were hard to come by, and the experience of watching Star Blazers outside the morning or afternoon UHF timeslot was a draw in and of itself.

Star Blazers on video wasn’t the only activity, of course. Like other conventions past and future, YamatoCon had a dealers room consisting of 22 tables of for-sale memorabilia. It might sound small by the standards of 25 years later, but we must remember that anime merchandise of the day – what was available in the States, anyway – hadn’t achieved the tidal wave proportions it would reach in the wake of Robotech, to say nothing of the total saturation of the post-Pokemon, post-Sailor Moon years. Anime merchandise in 1983 consisted chiefly of books and model kits. Roman Albums, Anime Comics, black and white manga volumes, the occasional manga weekly, and other publications streaming from Japan in the wake of the Yamato Boom battled for the anime fan dollar alongside model kits from Yamato, Crusher Joe and My Youth In Arcadia…not to mention the endless ranks of giant robot kits from unseen shows like Mobile Suit Gundam, Dougram, Ideon, and something called Macross.Along with the remnants of late 70s super-robot merchandise sold here as Shogun Warriors, the anime con dealers room in the early 1980s was far from barren. In fact, I still waste my money on that sort of stuff.

Also available at YamatoCon were copies of Mark Hernandez and Don Magness’s Star Blazers fanzine Argo Notes. Future EDC officer/contributor, fan artist and “Between Galaxies” author Logan Darklighter won the model contest with, naturally, a Yamatomodel. It proved to be a pivotal day in Texas anime fandom. Approximately 100 attendees and 8 dealers made the show an unqualified success. Don remembers it this way: “I remember we got to the hotel early and set up the rooms, then went out to breakfast. When we got back, there were 3 young men sitting on the front steps, one of them had a convention flyer. Mark asked if they were there for the con, and they said they were. We went inside and out of their hearing range and had a little celebration. 3 people had come! We had no idea that the place would soon be packed.”

A showing of 100 might not sound like a lot in today’s numbers (“that was about 100 more than we expected,” said Don). However, when considered against the attendance at general SF conventions in 1983 – a time when your absolute largest cons MIGHT draw five or six thousand attendees and your typical Dallas or Atlanta comic book show maxed out at three – YamatoCon‘s ability to nail down that many dealers and customers is commendable.

The show’s importance went beyond the one day; people across Texas and indeed, across fandom as a whole, who were unable to attend or who heard about it after the fact were spurred into action by the mere fact of YamatoCon‘s existence. That such a thing could happen – that Americans could organize and hold a successful anime convention – was both revelation and reassurance. Anime fandom was going to be more than just a video room grudgingly tacked onto the local Star Trek show or a half-page of merchandise in the back of the latest issue of Fangoria.

READ THE REST HERE https://ourstarblazers.com/vault/317/

#Fandom history #anime fandom history #convention history #con history #anime cons #Yamato Con

55 notes · View notes

comicartarchive · 2 years ago

Photo

Shogun Warriors 1 pg1 by Herb Trimpe

#bronze age comics #Herb Trimpe #shogun warriors #splash page #title page #Color Guide #Original Comic Art

37 notes · View notes

littleeyesofpallas · 27 days ago

Text

Alright well I gave up on this idea quickly enough. So i'm not about to drag myself over glass trying to scribble out even loose designs for these guys... So i guess just have a big wall of text, broken up for readability by... images of more and bigger text...

Utterly unprompted by anything apart from vacuous boredom I tried to come up with sort of demi-fusions of shinigami and arrancar? Like turning shinigami characters' core persona into arrancar, but with just a tiny dash of an existing arrancar for flavor sort of shtick(?) and vice versa. There was no reason to impose this limitation on myself but I abide by it and made things more difficult for myself anyway... I've definitely done this kind of random exercise before with, like, DC✕Marvel(Amalgam comics) characters, and pokemon, and I dunno it's just kind of how Monster Rancher and Jade Cocoon work canonically... It's kind of just a preset mode my brain operates in some times, to absolutely no benefit to anyone... anyway here's a buncha bullshit

Yamamoto Genryuusai (✕Grimmjow Jaegerjaques)

Obviously the lazy choice would've been Yamamoto and Barragan so first order of business was to dodge that entirely. With this fusion, it maintains Yamamoto's oldness, boss status --in both Yamamoto's shogun status and Grimmjow's "emperor" status among his fraccion-- and by adding Pantera's big cat to Zanka-no-Tachi's sun motif the mix landed me at the resurreccion Nahui-Ocelotl[ナウィ・オセロット]. Kind of a weird way to kick it off as it's not actually spanish at all, but nahuatl for "Four Jaguars" paired with the kanji [第一の太陽]: "(The) First Sun" which is all just a direct point to Aztec mythology and the idea that the world was made and destroyed and remade several times over as marked in ages called colloquially called "suns" in English but all prefixed with "nahui-...": "Four..." in the native tongue, not the word for "sun". Each sun is named after how it ended (Jaguars, hurricanes, a rain of fire, flood, and earthquakes) The First Sun having ended when the god Tezcatlipoca commanded jaguars to eat all the human beings.

I have no idea what that really means for powers though... Obviously it gets to retain Yamamoto's whole "burn the earth to ash" vibe but with jaguars... Does he become jaguar? jaguar warrior?(which would line up with some real world aztec iconography) summon jaguars?(almost like starrk's los lobos?) does sword become jaguar? sword that shoots jaguars? who knows.

Sui-Feng (✕Nnoitra Gilga)

Avispón Gigante[アヴィスパ・ヒガンテ]: "Giant Hornet"/[雀蜂]: "Giant Hornet" literally just the same kanji as her original zanpakutou, because the suzumebachi is the name of the Vespa mandarinia. structurally kind of mirrors how Nnoitra's Santa Teresa is just the common name for the praying mantis. I'll admit, this one wasn't very clever of me, but I liked that they both had an insect sword and I liked imagining tallgirl Sui-feng, so that was just kind of enough... Admittedly, they do both have loosely adjacent superiority complexes centered around their fixation with a woman. We all know how that ended for Nnoitra, but it would be interesting to see Sui-feng's played out as a little more consequential and toxic.

I do like the idea of Sui-feng having a similar death sting power, but also being able to sprout extra arms and "swords" to sting with.

Unohana Retsu (✕Yammy Llargo)

Belladonna[ベラドンナ]: spanish name for the "deadly nightshade" but taken from Italian lit."beautiful lady"/[必殺美人]: "CertainKill(i.e. "Deadly") Beautiful Woman". I intended to name it something to the effect of "violent flower" but then I realized I could just name her after a literally deadly flower, and the Deadly Nightshade even has the same kind of bell flower shape as the 4th division flower insignia, so it just seemed like a good fit. Although I sorta lost any trace of Yammy's wrath gimmick in all of it.

I feel like she'd have a cool DeathDealing type power mixing the scaling power of Ira and the medical theme, but that just got me thinking about expanding this to Sternritter as well, and then I never came back to it... I have other faction fusion ideas but beyond this first set they get less and less detailed or even complete. I separated the three factions out into separate new drafts to save space. I might try to make the Espada as Captains bit presentable but the Sternitter one is more incomplete than not, and I don't see myself revisiting the brainstorming phase for it

Kuchiki Byakuya (✕Baraggan Luisenbarn)

Combining both their regal demeanors, their arrogance, their death/dying/fading motifs, and the Senbonzakura's cherryblossom imagery I got... Zempasuchiles[ゼンパスジュレス]: an alternate spelling of cempasúchil the name for "(Aztec)Marigolds" (I liked the way the alternate spelling sort of mirrored the truncated form of Sakura being Zakura) [死に十菊]: "Death(Dying) 20 Chrysanthemums" a play on shini[死に]: "dead/dying" the pun shi-ni[四二]: "four, two" and the fact that cempasúchil means "20 flower," and Cem-chil-Giku[センジュギク] being the Japanese name for cempasúchil, abbreviating it to just the first and last syllables, and appending -giku[ギク] from kiku[菊]: "chrystanthemum" in reference to both it and the marigold's phenotypical many layered petals. The marigolds are the flowers of the dead used in day of the dead decoration and ritual.

It'd be cool if it was similar to senbonzakura in that it manifests as a countless falling flower petals, but once they land on something they wither and whatever they've touched withers with them, like arrogante's aging respira.

Komamura Sajin (✕Coyote Starrk)

Using a mix of Komamura being estranged from his people and soul society and Stark's loner shtick, and of course both their wolf motifs, I got El Lobo Estepario[エル・ロボ・エステパリオ]: "The Steppenwolf" literally taken from the Spanish translation of the book Der Steppenwolf. And the kanji [荒野の狼]: "Wolf of the Wasteland" is just the Japanese translation of Der Steppenwolf. it's a bit of a lazy one, but Kubo phoned it in more than once, so I get a few freebies.

The Herman Hesse novel is btw about a neurotic middle aged playwrite grappling with his loneliness and unsociability, and what he sees as a conflict between his dignified and civilized social status and his yearning to indulge in more base and animal desires, a struggle characterized by the "wolf of the steppes", i.e. the steppe wolf, a breed of wolf known to be somewhat easily trained as guard dogs --tamed but never domesticated. It's a great timeless exploration of a neurotic self destructive man's struggle with his self image and place in society, very proto-incel shit.

I feel like it'd be cool to have a gimmick like Findorr where he has a break away mask. but instead of just getting more powerful he starts with full wolf bone armor but fights like a man, and the more of the wolf he breaks away the more feral his fighting style gets, until he's got no wolf mask left at all but he's fully devolved into animal fighting style.

Kyoraku Shunsui (✕Szayelaporro Granz)

Kind of a superficial link between these two just between Szayel's lust and Shunsui's womanizing. La Novia y Madrina[ラ・ノヴィア・イ・マドリナ]: "The Bride & Godmother" just sort of an obvious mexicanization of the visual themes already in play with Katen and Kyokotsu as spirits. [嫁姑戦争]: "bride and mother-in-law war" a Japanese term for the kind of common/stereotypical dynamic of a wife and her mother-in-law who do not get along, especially where the wife moves into the husband's family home with said in-law.

When I found this draft there wasn't even a section for any power ideas on this one.

Hitsugaya Toshiro (✕Ulquiorra Cifer)

Un Frio que Pela[ウン・フリオ・ケ・ペラ]: lit. "A Cold that Peels(the skin)" coloquially referring to uncomfortably cold weather. I thought it would make a neat cross between Hitsguaya's ice, no nonsense cold shoulder/frigid personality, and Ulquiorra's emotionless and unfeeling demeanor to try and work numbing cold into things somehow. I was messing with words for frostbite and hypothermia for a while when I came across this phrase. In buddhist naraka the mahapadma: "great lotus" is a layer of icy punishment where the condemned are made so cold that their skin cracks and splits open like the layered petals of a lotus into gory red blossoms --and it's where the Daiguren[大紅蓮]: "great red lotus" in Hyourinmaru's bankai comes from-- so a "skin peeling cold" felt like a perfect fit. For kanji I went with [摩訶鉢特摩] which is just the kanji for aforementioned mahapadma, japanized as makahadoma[まかはどま].

I think i mentioned something similar just headcanoning junk about the sternritter in wahrwelt, but I still think a cool way to handle cold powers would be entirely passive, where the domain just gets cold and keeps getting colder, so while the user is maybe conjuring something simple like ice swords or spears/icicles the real damage being done is wearing the enemy down with the cold, making them number and slower the longer the fight drags out.

Zaraki Kenpachi (✕Tier Harribel)

I was gonna go for something about hungry sharks or hunters, but given Nozarashi's weathering theme and Tier's supposed death theme of being a sacrifice I settled on Desollado[デソッラド]: "Skinned." It felt like a fun way to go as it evokes Zaraki's fight with Unohana, but also points to the aztec god Xipe Totec's epithet, "Our Flayed Lord" as he is something of a martyr, having flayed himself alive to give food to mankind. He is also portrayed as a red skinned (i mean it seems obvious that that's, like, exposed bloody red muscle and tendons) god of war which suits Zaraki's unnamed bankai. Oh right and [皮剥我主]: "My/Our Skinned Lord" obviously just the Japanese translation of Xipe Totec's common epithet.

As a power it'd be cool if the sum total of wounds dealt by Desollado make it stronger, so that as a fun twist they can turn their sword on themselves and gain power boosts that way.

Kurotsuchi Mayuri (✕Zommari Leroux)

A little on the nose, but I was trying to dodge the most obvious fit being Szayel. El Hechicero[エル・エッチセロ]: "The Sorcerer"/. But given some of the spanish etymology, there's some play on the "artificial" buried in there. I don't know that that reads at all in actual spanish but between the options i had it felt like justification enough to pick on word over the others. I like that even though I was trying to dodge Szayel, I managed to stumble into the Japanese phonetics for H[エッチ] in there anyway, so there's still some perv energy floating around. [誤魔法使] mashing together [誤魔化す]: "to deceive/cheat/swindle" and [魔法使]: "magic user," so it reads something like "false magic user," which feels appropriate for a technician type character with a science over magic disposition.

it would be cool to have a lot of gimmicky deceptive techniques like having different kinds of body doubles, either kido-like illusions, after images, or body doubles like Urahara's balloon dummies only he uses them in random ways so that counters to one method don't work on the others, and eh just kind of plays a shell game with them all. I didn't bother brainstorming a whole repertoire of Mayuri level gadgets and gimmicks

Ukitake Juushiro (✕Aaroniero Arleri)

Los Piscis Tragón[ロス・ピッシス・トラゴン]: "The Greedy Pisces." Kanji, [殺人魚群] "School of Piranha," mashing up [殺人魚] for "Piranha," and [魚群] "school of fish." If it wasn't obvious it's a play on Aaroniero's hunger and Ukitake's multiple fish. Honestly my impulse was use Tier at first and to make shark and natural order into a food chain thing, but it felt a little redundant in terms of aquatic motifs. I feel like there's something to be done with Ukitake's chronic illness and Aaroniero being two heads in a jar, but I dunno what exactly...

It feels a little too simple but my first thought was just to have little los lobos style cero fish fly around him and the more spirit energy he absorbs the more fish he makes. he can basically swallow kidou attacks whole, and take big bites out of his enemies(or allies) sort of like Szayel with his fraccion, but then also spit up new cero fish to add to his growing school. And the fish of course can chase enemies around, do the smart missile thing and dodge around stuff rather having to just fire in a straight line, and jump in the way to take hits, or kamikaze bomb enemies.

So then I got in my head for some reason to mash together the three traitors and the privaron.(also I never did determine an actual 1-10 order for these espada, other than YamamotoGrimmjow being #1(or i guess #0?) so feel free to roll some ideas around in your head and let me know what you think their ranks should be)

Aizen Sosuke(✕Gantenbein Mosqueda)

Espejo Humeante[エスペホ・ウーミアンテ]: "Smoking Mirror" another referece to aztec mythology, the epithet of Tezcatlipoca, itself describing reflective obsidian. [誤煙魔鏡]: "Misleading Smokedemon Mirror" from the word gomakasu[誤魔化す] meaning to "decieve/cheat/swindle" and the kanji for smoke and mirror, both referencing Tezcatlipoca's epithet and the English phrase, "smoke and mirrors" referring to tools of misdirection used in stage magic.

obviously leans a lot more heavily on Aizen than on Gantenbein, but I liked the idea that the dragon thing lends the smoke aspect to Aizen's mirror. I imagine the powers aren't too different from Kyoka Suigetsu's fake power if you just replace mist with smoke.

Ichimaru Gin(✕Cirucci Sanderwicci)

Destrozado(de culebra)[デストロザド]: "torn apart (Snake)" a play on the snake being torn apart by the eagle on the mexican flag. I wasn't sure if having snake in the name was too much or too obvious --a lot of these have been a little too involved on the spanish end of things compared to how many of kubo's are pretty straightforward, one word names-- and there was something kind of evocative about having just the vague subject in just "torn apart." Oh but the kanji [綻蝮]: "ripped(apart) viper" turned out is the same word for "torn apart" that BBS used in Gin's beyond bankai finisher. Funny coincidence, that. There's some stuff about the indigenous symbolism of the eagle as it related to the sun and the rattle snake in opposition that sort of suits Gin's role in opposition to Aizen, but I'll admit I wasn't ready to try too hard to make that fit any closer than that.

Didn't get around to making a power for this one.

Kaname Tousen(✕Dordoni Alessandro del Socaccio)

Veleta is a different spanish word meaning "weathercock" (as opposed to Dordoni's Giralda) but this one can apparently be used as a sland to describe someone who frequently changes their mind or sides (i.e. "a traitor") so it felt like a serendipitous fit for Tousen what with his betrayal of Komamura and SS, but also his vow to turn on Aizen if he ever thought he'd strayed, only for him to regret it all on his deathbed. There's the temptation to just give him Dordoni's dance fighting, but that feels a little eye-rollingly cliche, even though it's not like he's just Eddy Gordo.

Powers wise it would kind of neat to give him a power sort of similar to Shinji's, only instead of distorting perception of directions, just physically spinning someone around against their will. So one minute they're charging and in the blink of an eye they're suddenly facing the wrong way.

well, that's all for this block of characters. we'll see if i can mine anything postable out of the Espada as Gotei 13 captains notes I left behind, but that batch is even spottier than these were. The Sternritters I'll post never though. It was just a list of existing Sternritters where 2/3 didn't have a second half, and then bits of me not being able to figure out whether I wanted to merge them with shinigami, or espada, or a mix of fullbringers and visored, or if i wanted to go back and scrap the Espada as Shinigami one so that I could do a little musical chairs bit and make it Shinigami-Espada, Espada-Sternritter, and Sternritter-Shinigami.

#man what do i even tag this shit #i dont want it out there milling about in legit tags #maybe just keep this one to my self #my personal bleach horseshit #not even meta or headcanon #and of course im posting it in the dead of night where no one will see it #as i always somehow manage to do #bleach oc #i guess #bleach au #bleach fusions

5 notes · View notes