#actually made me realize i have very similar issues and other stuff that i need to work on

[wolfwarrior142]

As someone who relates to Rayla on a ton of personal/internal stuff and has actually seen some improvement in my own massive self confidence issues as a result of seeing her try to work through hers (both in this season and previously) and work on trusting people better, I hate that people are saying that bullshit. Oh no, characters who appear strong because of unhealthy coping mechanisms they've learned now learning how to develop more healthy ones. While also becoming close with those around them as a result. Oh no. The humanity. It's so awful to see. Especially in a show that's technically a kids show. And can maybe help kids. The humanity.

I'm glad I haven't actually seen anyone say that personally, cuz thats a very toxic mindset for people to have and I'd get so...annoyed with it. I'd block em immediately for sure cuz no one needs that bullshit.

people watching rayla learning how to trust / let other people help her, which a lack of was her entire fucking problem in arc 1: is this a bad character arc

[dreamsofbroflovski]

Okay one, when Butters is super horny and it's just you two he'll hump your leg without realizing it and two can we have HCS of the main 4 + Butters with a reader that doesn't finish easily cuz they're on antidepressants? U don't gotta go into detail but it's a similar thing that I struggle with :3/nf

- 🐣 anon

 #1 - ABSOLUTELY. In your sleep too...

 #2 - Here it is! Hope I did it justice. I might've been a bit too honest about how I see these people. was it made clear i have a favourite? no?

Also, for the people that have sent me asks with requests and stuff: I did not yeet them into the void. I try to do the most I can, so if I haven't gotten to your ask yet, it's very likely I'm holding onto it because I either need another request done first (I guess y'all have noticed how slow I am) or need to converse with my three brain cells (which only awaken in a very specific planetary position) before I can actually write it.

MAIN 4 + BUTTERS HEADCANONS - ANORGASMIC READER

𓆩♡𓆪 STAN MARSH

Eeeeh… Well, sorry. But the very first thing this dude will do is blame himself.

After your first time together when he cums and realizes you didn’t, it’s an automatic shift in the mood from chill and sexy to absolutely dark. He fully sulks, thinking he’s the most selfish motherfucker on the planet, that you’re definitely going to leave him and you should because he doesn’t deserve you.

Which then makes it a shock when you actually explain to him what’s going on - it involves you opening up about some rather personal subjects, and he pays close attention to every word, slowly feeling even worse for making your problems about himself. Out of nowhere, it turns into the both of you butt naked talking about life.

You bond over something. He drowns himself in alcohol to escape his own depression, right? Alcohol can cause erectile dysfunction. At first he didn’t imagine his problem could be similar to yours - but, even if it’s not the same thing, he feels a bit… seen, in a way. Less ashamed of himself.

The concept of things maybe getting a bit more difficult moving on scares him a little bit, no doubt. Like, what if he ends up doing wrong by you and then it really becomes his fault? But he’s suddenly determined to not let something like this get in the way of your relationship - so he pushes through it, and you two end up emotionally closer as a result since you decide to face your problems together.

𓆩♡𓆪 KYLE BROFLOVSKI

The smartest about it. i love him so much i married him 3 times already actually

This is the type of knowledge he’d have even if he doesn’t take antidepressants himself. So, once he finds out you do (either by you outright telling him or by him noticing something around your house), the dots connect in his mind instantly.

So he knows the issue isn’t with either of you, rather it’s a side effect like all medications have, albeit a very bothersome one.

And what do we do with problems? We sort ‘em out. So this guy is doing research and reading scientific articles to try and approach it from a practical sense for you, especially if you’re getting in your head about it, he’s showing you actual information to drill into your head that it is normal.

To be real with you, I think that, in general, Kyle’s one of those people that heavily subscribes to the notion that ‘sex is more about connection and both parties feeling good rather than orgasms’. So he’d have your back in that regard, remind you of it often, and keep that philosophy whenever you two are together. i’m marrying him a 4th time right now

Extra little fact: He’s read through the medicine information leaflet for your medication like a dozen times to figure out everything that it does and any potential other side effects. And probably cornered himself into an anxiety attack of his own by doing so, tbh.

𓆩♡𓆪 ERIC CARTMAN

sighs I’m holding onto the hands of all the Cartman wives right now. But y’all knew what you were in for when you chose the hellspawn. And he’d by far be the hardest to come to an understanding with.

He wouldn’t comprehend it at all. Like, surely this couldn’t be a problem with him (and, for once in his life, he’s right on that!), right? He’s amazing! So that leaves out the other half of the equation, which is you, and he’s sure that’s where the ‘problem’ lies.

It’s entirely possible that you two might even fight over it. He feels a bit threatened by the prospect of there being an inadequacy in your relationship, and so he gets defensive.

Once he gives it a Google search and finds out it’s actually something that happens, though, boy does he regret arguing. And then you get something that you probably should’ve recorded because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime affair: an honest to God apology, complete with flowers on your doorstep, from Eric Cartman.

He ends up having to re-learn a lot of his preconceived notions about sex. A lot of newfound understanding about orgasms not being the end-all-be-all of the deal, and learning different ways to bring you pleasure, physically and mentally. But we know how he gets when he sets his mind to something, and he does deliver on that regard. Cartman growth arc what do you know

If he does make you cum, though? No one is ever hearing the end of it. So so smug.

𓆩♡𓆪 KENNY MCCORMICK

At first, this idiot sees it as a challenge. Like you’re being bratty or testing him out or something - which he’s down for.

But then he goes serious immediately when you explain what actually is going on, and he does apologize. It is all a little bit confusing in his mind, to be fair - for him, arousal and sex are the only actual easy things in life, so this feels out of left field to him. 

Honestly? It would take a bit of explaining to him that your situation is a side effect from medicine. I feel like his household is one where the concept of depression is spoken of as ‘laziness’, so his knowledge about the subject is zero when you first talk.

He’s willing to make amends, though. He does provide a lot of emotional support - in the usual Kenny way; there’s a lot of non-sexual touching involved - and makes sure you understand that it’s not gonna be a problem for him and that he doesn’t think less of you for that at all despite his initial misunderstanding.

And from then on, whenever you two meet for that, he’s a man prepared for battle. Sex toys, lube, water and snacks to replenish energy, anything he can possibly try on you to bring you that pleasure. And if still by the end of the ordeal you don’t finish at all, he’s gonna have made sure you felt good. 

𓆩♡𓆪 LEOPOLD ‘BUTTERS’ STOTCH

So sweet it gave me a cavity, as usual. 

Does blame himself a bit as well at first, but doesn’t get in his head nearly as much as Stan would. It just takes a little bit of talking and that sadness gets quickly replaced by legitimate concern.

Another guy who wouldn’t understand antidepressants very well because his parents would’ve probably given him the belt if he even thought about saying he was depressed. He’s a fast learner, though; the explanation amps up his concerns for you a bit, but it also brings him back to his regularly scheduled programming, which is…

You get absolutely smothered with support and reassurance. He’s not gonna let you feel bad about a single thing if he can avoid it; so if you have any insecurities in that regard, he’s helping get rid of them with loving words and a little bit of careful insight he’s picked up from his limited understanding of the matter.

He’s eager to go through with any possible suggestion to sort things out and make things better for you. Different positions, actions, or sex toys? Why not! Sex therapy? He has no idea what it actually entails, but sure, go right on. He needs you comfortable first and foremost, whatever shape that takes.

Dividers by @cafekitsune

[zombie-bait]

Omg i just realized I have something tiny to add to the whole James Somerton debacle. I'm currently watching the hbombguy vid (as you do when procrastinating assignments) and I remembered something that stood out to me in James' old videos.

So I used to be a fan of his stuff. I am also a fan of Hannibal and IWTV. He made a video covering both so naturally I was very hyped. It was called 'The Gay Appeal of Toxic Love.' The vid itself was fine (I don't remember having any super strong opinions of it besides being excited to hear ppl mention Interview cuz I had recently become obsessed) but one thing did stand out to me. In the IWTV section he mentions Nicki and, naturally, his death:

"After becoming a vampire, Nicky becomes nearly catatonic, and eventually slips away from Lestat entirely. And after centuries of dealing with depression and severe mental illness, Nicky kills himself."

(sourced from this transcript: https://github.com/TerraJRiley/James_Somerton_Transcripts/blob/main/Transcripts/The%20Gay%20Appeal%20of%20Toxic%20Love.txt)

To anyone who's read TVL, I don't think I need to explain that Nicki had not, in fact, been around for centuries. "Nicki had lived to be 30" has been rattling around in my head since I first read it.

And like, obviously I don't expect every youtube essayist to read several long-ish novels to have a full grasp of the series' deep lore, especially when the focus was largely on IWTV and Loustat rather than the entire Vampire Chronicles. Still, it makes you wonder a bit about the quality of the research being done here. You can find the proper info in like, 5 seconds by just going on the fan wiki so I'm not sure what his sources were. And that's the issue at hand, isn't it?

At the time I felt a tiny bit smug recognizing the error but in light of everything that's been revealed, it's kind of telling. I'm not saying this part was plagiarized (I haven't found anything but others on reddit have found issues with different sections of the same video) but rereading the transcript it comes off as someone who clearly doesn't know much about Interview.... It feels like he's reading through a loose summary of plot points rather than analyzing a piece of media that actually means anything to him. It's very much Interview for people who don't know Interview which, one could argue is fair. Especially beyond book one, VC is a niche series and a lot of elements that are important to certain characters or plot lines cannot be summarized quickly for an audience unfamiliar with it. A good writer, who's done a lot of research about the specific topic they have chosen to make a video on, would be able to balance this. There is a LOT to analyze about queerness in VC and its a shame to see one of the more popular queer media channels half-assing it just to churn out videos heavily made up of other people's work. In retrospect he had several videos like that, where he would discuss things like manga/manhua communities while clearly having little knowledge on the nuance of those subjects. He was an outsider who presented himself with a strange amount of authority.

This was content created with the sole intention of propping up queer stories and history, yet it's built off stolen work from queer authors and doesn't actually care that much about exploring the communities it features. Vids like the IWTV one weren't really fact checked because it's only people like me who would might give a shit or even notice anything is off in the first place. There's a bit of a similar vibe in some of his other vids where he undermines the experiences of queer women because he clearly has not taken the time to learn about the nuances of representing queer women in media. These are things that irritated me when I first started to notice them but I put those concerns in the back of my mind because I cared about the topics he was covering and was excited to see these discussions becoming more mainstream.

The revelations of this evening have been disappointing to say the least.

(also for the record I know he made other more recent vids about IWTV but I haven't seen those and even if his account was still up I don't think I would lol

BUT

I did look at the transcript for his 'Vampires and the Gays Who Love Them' video (found from the same link I included above) and this quote about the IWTV AMC show is sending me: "Daniel has never grappled with the complexities of being gay"

Shoutout to straight, uncomplicated icon Daniel Molloy. Devil's Minion was a mass hallucination, spread the word)

[quibbs126]

hi hi! could I request a Pitaya Dragon x Dark Cacao fan child? an example of a name might be dragonfruit choco, which my friend came up with for this ship they came up with. their dynamic is two big guys with swords and anger issues that are besties but also maybe more??? :000

oh and snapcube sonic and shadow

I only realized now that there was a suggestion for the character. Sorry about that. Anyways, this here is Dark Sapote Cookie

Also one thing to note, I basically had Dark Sapote finished months ago. I think you can tell by the way their lineart doesn’t entirely match what I do now. Literally all that was left was the sketch, which I did today. There’s another fankid in that boat, so she might get posted today too (among others that I just have forgotten to post)

But also on top of that, it’s been a good while since I’ve thought about Dark Sapote, so I may miss some stuff

Anyways, on to Dark Sapote. They’re half dragon and live in the Dark Cacao Kingdom. They have a more dragon like form they can transform into, though it’s more of a drake than a dragon, and they don’t turn into it often. They’re technically an heir to the Dark Cacao Kingdom throne, but they don’t do much of anything, so they aren’t really considered such. They also choose to live outside of the Citadel in a cave somewhere

Dark Sapote is extremely chill and often very sleepy, to the point where they’re pretty lazy. However, this isn’t entirely due to their nature, but rather due to the temperature. Because the kingdom is so cold, their body’s essentially in a low power state, as they subconsciously are in a brumation state, but also aren’t reptilian enough to actually go into it, so they’re just stuck like this. And they specifically have this problem because Pitaya is from a tropical and more fiery climate, and Dark Sapote inherited biology for a warmer climate, not a colder one. No one is really aware that this is the reason Dark Sapote is like this, not even Dark Sapote themself

In higher temperatures, they become more active and energetic, and in addition they become more powerful. But because they live where their power is dampened pretty much all the time, they don’t have the best grasp on their full power. If they were to go to say, Dragon’s Valley, they’d likely unleash mayhem with their uncontrollable power. Not quite sure how they haven’t encountered this problem yet, but whatever

They grew up in the Dark Cacao Kingdom simply because they liked Dark Cacao more than Pitaya, but they kind of all unwittingly created this giant problem for Dark Sapote, leaving them in this state

Anyways, on to the design

So Dark Sapote is a name I’ve had on file for a long time, after I discovered the existence of black sapotes, which is what they’re based on. Black sapotes are a tropical fruit like pitaya, and apparently when ripe, they taste similar to chocolate pudding

Black sapote:

So to look for things to say on their design, I watched the time lapse video Procreate makes, and now I remember, Dark Sapote was hell to design. And if I’m being honest, I think the rough sketch is the best version of them

They were apparently originally going to have horns or a crown of sorts, but I decided against it or it just didn’t work. Side note, but I need to give my characters more accessories, especially in the hair. That’s how they end up looking so plain

Their hair is supposed to be the same between the sketch and the final design, but you can’t really see it with the pose. Apparently I tried other hairstyles that would make it visible but for some reason I decided against them

Their side hair thing is supposed to be from Pitaya, with their side bang things, but I don’t think I executed it super well

The colors on the armor were such a pain, mostly because Dark Sapote has so many dark colors, making them all blend in with each other and the black lineart (I only color it at the end once colors are finalized). That was what made me shelve them for so long, because I couldn’t get them to look right, until one day I came back and was like “yeah good enough” and colored the lines, and then left because I was out at the time

Also the colors themselves aren’t the most appealing. The green and brown come from the fruit itself, but they aren’t the nicest to look at

To be honest, I think Dark Sapote needs another shot at a design. The final product isn’t the worst, but it definitely could have turned out better. And also, I like their character

And yeah, that’s Dark Sapote. If you see a redesign of them later on, don’t be too surprised. But regardless, I hope you can enjoy them in some capacity

[a-not-so-clean-blog]

Nu carnival ftm boyfriend being dysphoric ♦️(Morvay)

Yakumo

He will sit with you and talk if you need it. He wants to comfort you and he's very likely to make you a cup of tea or your favorite meal to help you feel better. He may not know what to say specifically but he reminds you of just how much he loves you and why.

Edmond

He doesn't really get what the big deal is. As long as you say you're a man he's going to treat you like a man, and if anyone else disagrees well… He's not usually one for mockery but will definitely have words with anybody who is rude to you about your gender. If you vent to him you'll try his best to listen but honestly stuff that personal makes him uncomfortable. He'll never turn you down or say no to listening to you, but he doesn't like that he doesn't know how to help.

Olivine

He will pray to the god of Klein for your piece of mind. Man also has huge honkers so he may make a joke about that to lighten your mood. Of course he'll be blushing like mad if he does. Hes really good about talking and listening and you know he would never use your insecurities against you. He will try and give advice but after will always double check that he didn't cross any boundaries.

Quincy

He's not entirely sure what to do in this situation, so he asks. He'll ask you what you need or what you want from him and if he can accommodate he will. If you need anything specifically he's even willing to talk to the old fox to get them for you. He may ask you to do simple tasks like chop wood for him. It's a simple way to not only distract you, but build muscle and make you feel more masc.

Kuya

Actually a pretty simple fix for him. He is going to make a magic crystal necklace for you that casts an illusion so anyone who looks at you while you're wearing it sees you as however you want to be seen. Oh and if the reason you're feeling dysphoric is because someone misgendered you… well let's just say they won't ever bother you again.

Blade

You explain dysphoria to him and he sort of understands? He thinks it's similar to how he feels human despite having an edroid body. It's actually really interesting talking to him about the differences between your dysphoria and his dysmorphia. He often uses reading and learning as a coping tool for himself so if you're feeling bad he's going to invite you on a library date.

Garu

You're feeling bad about yourself? Proceeds to tell you how amazing you are and how he's confused about why you feel bad. Once you explain the bad feelings aren't something you can control and it's about how other people perceive you he is still just as confused. He wants to know who's perceiving you wrong so he can tell them just how good you are.

Karu

He's got no idea what's going on, but that's okay because he loves you anyway. If someone misgendered you he's going to insult them. “Wow I didn't realize humans were blind and stupid. That one can't even tell you're a boy.” He never comforts you directly but he's always speaking up for you even if he thinks you're not in the room.

Dante

He's not going to let you have self image tissues while he's around. If he can get his hands on something that'll make you feel better he will. Whether that be tailor made clothes that fit perfectly and make you look flat, or a rare herb that acts like HRT, or really anything, nothing is too great for him to do for you. If you ask if he can make a workout routine for you to help with some of your image issues he will be really excited. He can use the workouts to help you shape your body how you want, and use it to sneak a peek.

Rei

He'll do the surgery himself if you ask… this is also his go-to response if you tell him that you're feeling dysphoric. I don't trust him with a scalpel anywhere near me, but that decision is up to you to make. He's not good at soft comfort but he can definitely talk you through some of your feelings. He can probably also explain why your brain chemistry is like that and rationalize everything you're feeling. I don't know if he's trying to help or just info dumping though.

Eiden

He is SO good at being a supportive boyfriend! It doesn't matter if you came out two minutes ago or two years ago, he loves you for who you are on the inside. He may be the only person here who's got experience with trans people in a modern sense. He's the first to make a sarcastic comment if someone misgenders you, and knows the importance of a good distraction when you're feeling bad. Also being a designer has the perks of knowing how to make binders and packers.

Aster

Is it something money can fix? He's more than happy to help you transition physically, but he's very awkward when it comes to listening to you talk about dysphoria. He doesn't really know how to be emotionally supportive, but he's trying. He may “accidentally” order too much herb that can be used to increase testosterone and be graceful enough to share with you. He will also use you to test cute clothes and is very vocal when something makes you look flat or particularly masc.

Morvay

This can go one of two ways. Either he's really sweet and sits down and lets you vent about whatever you're feeling, or he hands you a strap on and tells you to fuck him like the man you are. Either way he's not leaving you alone until you feel better. Even if you say you want some space he'll just sit in the corner of the room because he doesn't want to leave you alone when you feel bad and always wants you to know that he's there for you.

[trykefag]

Hi.... :] before we get into this I wanna say one (1) thing: I'm pro-Palestine AND (shocker) pro-Israel. I'm hitting a hornets nest tagging this with pro-Palestine when how I view being for Palestine is so drastic to others' views.

Any sort of harassment or antisemitism will be reported and you will be blocked. We don't hate Jews or Israelis here. Also, if you tag this post with "to the river to the sea Palestine will be free" you're ignorant and dunno what the fuck you're saying.

This post is lengthy (imo) and just my personal spew on stuff, it's nothing like...revolutionary lol. I just need to get shit out somehow.

I don't get the anti-Israel crowed like....they know nothing and its so baffling they'll just say shit they don't understand the concept or history of. You can be pro-Israel and hate the Israeli government, you can be pro-Palestine while also realizing that the history is very convoluted and if you did a simple YouTube search about history on Palestine and Israel you'd be more educated. You can be both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine...shocker I know!

I've learned more from YouTube than in history class. I've also learned that antisemitism is very easy to fall into, which is something I knew but didn't understand. Pro-Palestinians I don't doubt actually care, I'd love to think most Pro-Palestinians actually give a fuck about the murders that're happening! The downside is that they're falling and repeating shit the fucking Nazis would say in the name of activism and see NO ISSUE. (Saying "gas the Jews" and holding up Nazi flags is, even in the name of activism, antisemetic.)

I try and not be cynical, but like there's literal dog whistles and antisemetic shit being spoken about and there's signs being put up that says "No Jews" and there's even fucking Tumblr blogs with "Jews DNI" on them. (I've seen them, they're very much real. Most of them have "Zionists DNI" which is usually just a dog whistle to Jews, but I digress.)

Don't get me started on fucking Zionism actually, no one knows what the fuck that is and they claim they do when they don't. It's so brain numbing!

"Go back to where you came from!" that'd be Israel....which you wanna get rid of. That's also what Zionism is btw. Jews are from Israel...please Google things before you open your yapper.

I can only find solace in the Jumblr tag (& similar ones) because they have knowledge about what the fuck is going on and I won't get called a "Zionist Nazi"!

In the face of chaos I will say that studying and my plans to convert one day is the best decision I've ever made; you can't get rid of Jews, no matter how much you want us gone. Reading the Torah, researching about Israel, learning the culture, the food, the language, etc. It's healing and I'm glad to be coming home slowly but surely. Am yisrael chai.

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

I havent really complained about crescent city 1 despite having read it because, idk man, I enjoyed it well enough for the mystery despite the Sarah J Maas-ness permeating all of it but @ae-neon's recent posts about it made me realize just how bad it is after all, specifically the racism and slavery stuff. Im pretty sure this is her third series with a major plotline about humans being enslaved and I would think she wouldve learned how to write it with a little bit of tact by now, and I would be wrong

While I didnt fully register how bad the handling of the racism was when I read it, I do remember feeling very weird about the total lack of human perspectives other than Bryce and the terrorist guy, specifically, about the fact that Bryce didnt seem to have any human friends ?

And I couldnt help but think about my own life experiences as the child of a family that immigrated to germany from an ex-soviet country, and how basically all of my friends were from a similar, if not identical background. Like, I was a child when I made those friends and i was barely aware of the differences between german-german culture and immigrant-german culture so it wasnt like, a conscious decision, I just seemed to bond the most with other kids who had that common with me. So the fact that Bryce, who wanted to seperate herself from her vanir heritage so much so that she almost refused proper citizenship because it meant acknowledging herself as fae, didnt have any human or half-human friends really stuck out

Now, some might say "oh, she only wants to seperate herself from her fae-side, she doesnt have an issue with vanir in general" and eh. Maybe that would be more of a convincing argument if each vanir-group actually had a distinct culture, but they all just kinda blend together so yeah

Also, this is only tangentially related but I just remembered that there was this whole through-line about Bryce learning how to trust vanir men, sorry, males, because she has issues with them because her biological fae father did to her mother what Rhysand did to Feyre, and she needed to get over those in order to love her vanir bf, Hunt, and Im sorry but you cant do the hashtag not all males-thing, when all of the male characters are the same. Like, theyre all just various flavours of the shitty guy that sjm loves to write about and none of them have any distinct cultures to set them apart, except for that one mermaid man who lived in the water and thats about it

[haru-kuneko]

I think the movie would've made such an impact if Mr. Peabody turned out to be the villain.

What if Sherman starts to learn the person who's been holding him back and causing him more pain is none other than his own father?

Mr. Peabody has always struck me as very controlling and overbearing. He might as well be a villain since he may be a genius but is too prideful to admit his shortcomings.

He was kind of a b*tch later into the movie and focused only on how the kids broke a plane. I noticed how Penny (despite being a bully), Agamemnon and Da Vinci are the ones who were proud of him. I get you shouldn't mess around in the past because of how it might alter the present. Da Vinci said it best "Children are not machines. Let them have fun."

Sherman is not some drone you could order around and expect him to not step out of line. He's freakin' seven and we all know how kids their age tend to be stubborn and impulsive. What more if he turns fourteen and seeks to be independent?

He was doing just fine without Mr. Peabody such as being able to fly the plane and control the WABAC machine. I wouldn't be surprised if he could also fire a gun like a pro and take down mercenaries alone. But nooo! According to Mr. Pompous Smartpup, Sherman can't do all that 'coz he's just a little pet who needs him at all times.

His son could start hanging out with other people which continues to make Mr. Peabody even more jealous and irrational. He makes it hard for Sherman to make friends and believe in himself.

Also, I wish they tried debunking facts like how Marie Antoinette never said "Let them eat cake" or the Trojan horse was just a myth. At least have some lore involving his involvement in both World Wars and the Cold War before adopting Sherman. Maybe explain why Mr. Peabody doesn't actually like being called a dad (probably his own daddy issues and unresolved abandonment issues since childhood?). Penny should never have been a love interest.

He later starts to realize his mistakes once other historical figures from the past, including child services, start hunting him down and threaten to take Sherman away.

... Or number 2: "Mr. Peabody and Sherman" would've been more iconic if it was an indie series.

With indie animation on the rise, they could adapt the ol' Improbable History cartoons but make it resonate with both the old and new fans of the show. It could be lore-driven and have Easter eggs pointing to other shows including Rocky and Bullwinkle. It'd be something akin to Murder Drones where a strange creature called The Absolute Solver (or let's just call it The Void) alongside other historical figures manage to follow them all the way to the present-day.

Mr. Peabody is still the same overprotective father who went as far as put a tracking device on Sherman without his knowledge.

I know, there's already the animated show on Netflix but I don't consider that canon. Seriously, did Lankybox work on this show? It looks more like Panty & Stocking from Temu to me. (NOTE: Kids, don't watch PASWG. I don't care if it looks cute 'coz this show is rife with swearing, violence, suggestive content and offensive humor).

Mr. Peabody is definitely gonna do messed-up stuff to his son. Maybe play a sound that'd entice Sherman to obey him without question similar to a dog whistle. In his eyes, this is discipline but it's actually taking a toll on his son's psyche. He'd be playing mental games with the boy and even the viewer. Sherman doesn't notice the red flags as he gets to live a happy, comfortable life where he gets almost everything he wants.

They can also have some lore involving his involvement in both World Wars and the Cold War prior to adopting Sherman. The Void has brought in several notorious historical figures to them. Then, they will reveal to Sherman who Mr. Peabody really is. A double-faced vigilante with blood in his hands.

But Haru! This is supposed to be aimed at kids. Isn't that too complicated for kids to understand?

Uh no. I grew up with movies and shows that explore dark themes yet they tend to resonate with me more. "Mr. Peabody and Sherman" is a good example of respecting your audience's intelligence. This is why anime is so reverred. Just because it's animated, it doesn't mean it has to be for kids only and remain kid-friendly.

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

I want to see your team ups pls

HELL YEAH. welcome to the space zone.

explanations for the teams will be below the cut for the sake of your dash. because i have a lot to say about some of these.

TEAM "SCOTT'S WORST NIGHTMARE" (BIGB, JOEL, GEM)

i've talked about this team before, but this is the one i most strongly want to see soon. partially because i think the dynamic between the three of them would be awesome, partially because i think they'd be the rest of the server (but especially scott's) worst fucking nightmare, and partially because i think one of them would absolutely win. quickly going to break down why they'd all be scott's worst nightmare and then i'll get into their dynamics with each other.

gem-bree made this point better than i ever could so go read this post, thanks. gem can scare scott in a way no one else really can, and she knows how scary she is to him and just about everyone else. and it's awesome.

joel-literally self explanatory. you know what violence joel feels in his heart for scott. scott isn't actually particularly afraid of joel but joel with a team of people who he can convince to go after scott with him who he's actually afraid of would actually get his attention.

bigb-probably the most charismatic man on the server other than scott. can talk his way out of most situations, including talking scott out of stuff, which as we learned from sl!scott, freaks him out a bit! i think about "it's a lot easier to kill him when he's muted" literally everyday, i think it sums up scott's deal w/ bigb pretty much perfectly.

NOW with each other i also think this would be an awesome team. first of all, i think they'd have a really interesting dynamic. we've seen a fair bit of gem and joel on hermitcraft that makes me think they'd be a whole lot of fun together here, and i don't know exactly how bigb would contribute to the dynamic (because he's barely spoken to either of them in the grand scheme of the series), just their vibes as people make me think it'd be fun.

but also they're all very interesting people when it comes to their past teamups. bigb has wanted to be in on a close knit alliance for a really long time, but it so frequently falls apart for him, either because of his own trust issues or his bad reputation (or both). the notable outlier here is nosey neighbors, and generally i think bigb functions best in these smaller alliances with people who a: don't subscribe to/care about the baggage he comes with (the way cleo talks about him) and b: who can view him equally to the other alliance members. gem has no real preconceived notions about bigb, and joel is well aware of the last life and double life stuff, i'm sure, but i don't think he'd really... give a shit? so i think this would be a group that would welcome bigb in and maybe (in gem's case specifically) convince him that they trust him all the way through, or at least that they trust him as much as they trust the other guy in the alliance, because gem and joel have a relationship in hermitcraft, but not really in the context of the life series. because of their respective alliances last season, they were on opposite sides most of the time! none of these people have ever allied together before, and i think that fresh blood would be huge for all three of them.

joel also has a weird track record with alliances, having been a lone wolf until he was forced not to be in double life, at which point he realized having friends was awesome actually and has been desperate for it. i think joel and bigb are both desperate for friendship in a similar way but both want to be Cool about it, joel because he desperately needs to be cool all the time and bigb because all the times he's tried to actually hold onto people it's not worked out. so putting the two of them on the same alliance would, in my head, not necessarily force them both to confront their problems but would get them somebody who matches their freak. joel and gem also have a similar level of bloodthirst, joel has his violent grudges and gem doesn't necessarily get those grudges but she just genuinely has fun when she gets in fights. put them together and i think they would destroy.

gem's track record with alliances is hard to judge because uh. she's only had the one (i'm not taking real life into consideration for any of this because i 1. still haven't watched it and 2. don't see it as wildly indicative of how anyone would act in the actual series because no one was taking it or themselves seriously). but gem and the scotts were being held together with "glitter glue and a dream", as my buddy mcybree said that one time, so i think gem teaming up with two people who are uh. weird. about alliances wouldn't really throw her. bigb spending a ton of time on his own wouldn't stand to make her distrustful of him, though i think she would try to convince him to actually base with them (unlike the heart foundation). and then with joel who would like a friend please, she'd absolutely be down to hang out with him because they play off each other stupidly well. and she knows they do, so she's gonna make it work!

i don't know if any of that was comprehensible i will be honest. but just trust me THEY WOULD WORK AND IT WOULD BE AWESOME. and i think they'd be a really well balanced team, as well, hence me saying that i think one of them could win with this team. they'd be willing to put the work in to make sure one of them wins, and they have the skills to back it up (bigb with his silver tongue, gem with her pvp ability and weaponized reputation, and joel with his willingness to throw himself headfirst into whatever it is he wants). do you see the vision.

WORLD'S WORST POLYCULE (SKIZZ, TANGO, REN, MARTYN)

this would be, to me, a somehow even worse version of team BEST. because it's once again shoving two pairs of insanely close people into a group and hoping it works, but this time it's got the further layer of martyn's weird dynamics with skizz and tango (and skizz's dynamic with ren). literally the only people who have not, at some point, had a weird gay thing (or a weird anything) going on in this group are ren and tango, this is gonna be a nightmare.

so obviously we were all there for treebark, that's self explanatory. also if we're imagining this as next season, aka ren's triumphant return to the series proper, that would make this whole thing infinitely worse in ways i can't begin to comprehend. we were also all there for tango and skizz's three seasons in a row of teaming up and literal years of friendship and gay shit. also self explanatory.

but then there's more. so first of all, we have skizz and ren. skizz and ren also had some weird gay shit going on in third life, it's just usually overshadowed by the gay shit ren had going on with martyn (partially because him and martyn never got over it and partially because martyn lived with him and as such, got to be gay with him more frequently. and also the beheading.) but skizz loves to be a "loyal sword" (his own words), and he hasn't really gotten to do that since third life, despite his best efforts. because skizz wants to be a loyal sword to someone who acts like ren did, and no one else really wants to be a leader in that way, so skizz has to do it instead. skizz said this on the imp and skizz podcast- he has modeled every alliance he's ever had on the red army. that's that loyalty that never fucking goes away. skizz being in an alliance with ren again would be able to slot right back into the loyal soldier role he's so desperate to play with knowledge that it'll work, that he can trust the guy in charge to lead. and all of that is already insanely layered, but when we consider that, oh yeah, martyn's here, i don't think martyn would be too happy about this! it was fine in the red army because he was closer to ren than skizz, he was the right hand while skizz was the sword. he was an extension of ren in a way skizz wasn't. but here, we're starting over again, we're starting over after seasons and years of these guys not playing together or being in the same alliance, and martyn has gotten so much worse. he's going to have his jealousy on full display and it would be ugly.

and the "martyn's gotten worse" thing leads nicely into my next point, martyn and tango. to put it simply, tango hates martyn so much. so fucking much. he has held a violent grudge against him since about halfway through limited life that he's never been able to adequately get revenge for, because he just kept failing. and martyn also doesn't get it. just doesn't really get why tango's so mad about those two kills, which makes it worse for tango, i think. and so putting the two of them on the same team would put tensions at a high at all times between the two of them, but it would also make martyn and skizz's dynamic even weirder, because skizz doesn't really have anything against martyn, not in the grand scheme of things, but when tango's mad at somebody, skizz goes along with it. for example, in secret life when they're trying to recruit... i think it's bdubs, i can't actually remember, martyn gets whoever it is distracted so they don't talk to them, and tango instantly starts talking about how it's typical martyn behavior and skizz, despite not really having this hatred for martyn that tango does, skizz immediately agrees, saying "yeah, martyn ruins everything". so if the vibe on the team is going to be "tango at martyn's throat all the time while martyn is insanely weird towards skizz in regards to his relationship with ren", skizz is going to return that weirdness! and it would be funny. and also insane. unfortunately tango's violent hatred for martyn is the reason i think this team isn't happening. at least not until tango gets over it, but that would also make the team up less interesting to me. or less interesting to the public at large, i would still be so interested to see how skizz's loyalty would get split between ren and tango, but i don't think most other people would care.

SOUP GROUP REDUX (PEARL, IMPULSE, GRIAN)

look i want to see a soup group team as much as the next guy but i think this teamup would also be awesome. perhaps even better. we wouldn't be getting whatever insane yuri we got out of pearl and gem in secret life, yes, but we'd have whatever the hell these three would have going on. this is the team i could see happening the most, out of all the ones on the list. we technically got this team already at the end of limited life, but etho being there as well made the vibe different than what i think the three of them on their own would have, especially since pearl and etho weren't on good terms.

but we've seen grian with them in pairs before (impulse and grian in last life and grian and pearl at the end of limited life), and while we haven't seen pearl and impulse together in the life series before, it's soup group, we know they work well together. the teamups within the team that we have seen before have also been ones i've wanted to see more of. i loved the way impulse and grian played off each other with the wither in last life, and i've wanted to see a world where they teamup again to do that level of crazy but like, functional this time for ages. and i love pearl and grian all the time forever, but they were a ton of fun in limited life, i'd love to see them do it again and for longer this time.

i just don't really have the words to describe it but like! they have a really good and solid dynamic with each other! you've watched them, you know what i mean! this would also be a season i could see impulse winning, which is part of my reasoning for wanting to see this team so bad. pearl doesn't want to win again, and grian acts like he does and i don't think he doesn't want to win again, but i don't think it's gonna happen. but impulse would have a team of people who are just as good if not better than him at the game to back him up, who'd be willing to help him along to a win, and i could see it finally working out for him. as long as they don't get on team scott repellent's bad side. since that's the other team i could see with a chance to win, and being on the bad side of the actual winner and winner's allies (bdubs and desert duo in the third life, pearl and divorce quartet in double life, mean gills in limited life) has always been his downfall when he gets close.

OH JESUS CHRIST (BDUBS, CLEO, LIZZIE, SCOTT)

this would be. insane. you know it would be. this is another one that i can't see happening because i unfortunately can't see lizzie and cleo teaming up for a full season again. maybe near the end of the series when they were getting desperate, but i'm making up day one allies here, and that is not happening with this group. but we can imagine it together anyways.

ultimately, all the craziness here revolves around cleo and her insane relationships with everyone else in this group. bdubs loves to have undying and terrible loyalty towards cleo. shadowrot. scott and cleo are qpps that make each other so much worse. all of them have such unique relationships with cleo and i cannot even begin to imagine how it would mingle together but i know it would be wild.

there's also everyone else's dynamics, of course. i think bdubs and lizzie would just be really fun, vibes wise. i think they'd mingle together well and i don't really have any evidence here, i just know it in my heart to be true. lizzie and scott would also be a really interesting team to me, since they've got their x life and empires history but otherwise haven't interacted a ton in the life series. part of that is because lizzie hasn't been in the series much, but i want to see them interact more. i enjoy their dynamic outside of the life series a lot, and i'd love to see how that transfers here, especially since scott's main association with lizzie is everything he heard about the fairy fort from cleo after she defected, so uh... it's not a great image, i'll say. and also that time she tried to kill him and failed really badly in secret life. that doesn't help.

bdubs and scott have a fun dynamic outside of cleo, but because cleo is here i have to touch on widow's alliance. widow's alliance was made out of scott and cleo's total surety in how third life would work out, and scott was right, and he felt no real remorse about having bet on two people's deaths to be right about that. and i don't think cleo would've felt remorse so much as she would've mourned, had they been right, but they weren't. cleo went first. and scott, instead of. uh. having tact and being normal when he talks to bdubs afterwards. just tells him straight up "this wasn't supposed to happen. you're supposed to be dead, and this should be me and cleo." and that's already kinda deranged of him, but my favorite thing in bdubs response to that is that like... he doesn't really refute it. he just goes "yeah, that tracks, i thought she'd outlive me too" and they move on. and i would love to see what would result in these two being in close proximity to each other AND cleo from day one. lizzie would only make this worse and it would be great.

also i think this team would successfully get scott to care about them in a way that blindsides him ala jimmy (expecting their deaths and thinking he's prepared for it, only to realize how wrong he was) and as such make him perform worse. this is how we avoid another scott smajor top 5 performance.

SECRET LIFE AU (SCAR AND JIMMY)

secret life was great for scar AND jimmy in different ways and i recognize that scar definitely wouldn't have won if he and jimmy had been allies. but have you considered that i would kill for this. they were so fun during the empires/hermitcraft crossover. they play off each other in such good ways, since they're both guys who are frequently the butt of the joke and know how to play the butt of the joke, but they also both know how to be bitches. and they should be bitches more often, i love when both of them get snippy, because they're funny. scar is more comfortable getting snippy rather than letting himself be the joke than jimmy, and i think if we put them together jimmy would definitely be the target of scar's jokes a lot of the time, but i think it would also encourage jimmy to be more of an ass to everyone else. and i support jimmy solidarity's wrongs. i have no idea how these two would work out strategically. probably badly. but that's not important to me, what's important is the energy.

MUMBO'S BIG DAY (ETHO AND MUMBO)

do we all remember the best friend task. because i do. and i think a season that's literally just that for the entire time would be insanely funny. i also think mumbo would manage to be first out of the series in this hypothetical team, but he's a sacrifice i'm willing to make for the humor. i also think after mumbo died etho would just quietly add himself onto the bdubs/cleo/lizzie/scott team and make the dynamic infinitely worse, but that's not the point of this. the point of this is that this would be probably the most entertaining time i would ever have with a mumbo season, which is saying something.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I've done a very rapid turnaround on Stuart Laws, in the last couple of weeks. One of the fastest turnarounds I've had on a comedian, going from not much liking them to liking them a lot. This one hasn't been quite as dramatic as my biggest turnaround, which would have to be John Robins, who mildly annoyed me for the several years I knew about him before I watched Darkness of Robins, fucking loved it, and tore through all of his other stand-up and radio as I realized that actually, he's actually in my top few favourite comedians/parasocial relationships of all time.

Stuart Laws is less dramatic than that for me, as I didn't particularly dislike him to begin with, and I'm not going to listen to several hundreds of hours of him talking on the radio, now that I've decided I do like him. But I did used to think of someone whose stuff I never really connected with, even though on paper he should be someone I really like. Then a couple of weeks I watched his earliest recorded stand-up special, absolutely loved it, and have decided that I at least need to go through all his other recorded stand-up.

The issue is that, while I've known his name for ages, I'd only seen little bits of him turning up in other stuff (and, of course, seen his name always in the credits of other people's stand-up specials), and that's not really enough time to have any idea what Stuart Laws is doing. I got that he had the vest thing (which I only know, due to having to Google it to work out what Laws was talking about, is called a gillet in England), and that's his quirky thing/manufactured USP. I just didn't see what was supposed to be so special about him that made seemingly all other comedians love him (besides the fact that he produces all their stand-up specials).

The first full stand-up hour I saw by Stuart Laws was at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe, where he livestreamed on NextUp. And I liked it. Just not enough. I felt like I could see all the pieces he was neatly sticking together, and it looked like a competently made piece, but I just couldn't get that into it.

Then a couple of weeks ago, I watched his oldest show, and fucking hell, there was the Stuart Laws whom I'd heard described by so many other comedians who rave about how talented and creative he is. It was his 2016 hour, and it was a masterpiece. All the pieces of some great work were still in there, but put together so expertly that I found myself fully caught up in the conceit, only coming out of it in the moments when Laws chose to bring us back to reality, to get laughs from the transition. And it worked, every time. I watched it while on vacation with my dad, and the next day, he asked me why he kept hearing laughter coming from my room the night before.

So of course I went through his other recorded stand-up specials after that: 2017, 2019, 2023 (those aren't all the years they were filmed, but those are their Edinburgh years, and in my meticulously organized comedy hard drive/spreadsheet, I name shows by their original Edinburgh year rather than by the year the recording got released, except in a few clearly defined sets of circumstances when I follow a different convention, you can see why Stuart Laws appeals to me so much, and for that matter John Robins too, come on Robins come perform near me and I could be your "that guy in Pierre Novellie's audience who let him know why autistic comedy fans like him so much"). They were all of a similarly high standard, all a similar style but entirely different structure. He kept finding new ways to play with this interesting thing he does. The surreal draped over regular stand-up stories, the construction of worlds and characters and excuses to go like 18 layers deep into twists and callbacks. And they still kept being funny.

My mistake with Stuart Laws was starting with his 2024 show. And I don't think he's gotten any worse at comedy in recent years - his 2023 one was still great. And his 2024 show was also very good, just less my sort of thing, personally. Unfairly to him, I tend to rarely enjoy a comedian's first show after getting into a serious relationship, or their first show after getting married. But he's passed that first one now, so as long as he doesn't get married and do a wedding-based show any time soon, it'll be back on track.

Anyway, as part of my getting super into Stuart Laws era, I listened to his ComComPod episode. It was very interesting, as I'd expected. And he kept talking about a thing called Grave New World. A 4-part (but hour-long) TV mini-series that he made with his own production company in 2021, since he couldn't do an Edinburgh hour that year due to pandemic. He said that Grave New World was basically meant to be his 2021 Edinburgh hour, in TV form.

That's the actual reason I'm making this post. I went and watched Grave New World after hearing his interview, and fucking hell, is that ever good. Really, really good. I think I liked it even better than his regular stand-up shows, because there was so much interesting stuff he could do with the TV media. And he did all of it! All of it at once!

This show is quite cheap to buy or rent on Vimeo, and I cannot recommend highly enough that people do that. I know this whole post wasn't necessary to convince most Tumblr people to get into it - in order to do that, all I have to say is James Acaster's in it. Only for a few scenes, but he's very funny in those few scenes. I promise, Acaster fans, this is worth the time and (small amount of) money. And if you're not an Acaster fan - he's only a few scenes, watch this anyway.

It is so fucking funny. It's complex and intelligent and everything, so much so that it takes some cognitive effort to follow what's happening in it, and it's almost a problem that it's difficult to keep up that much cognitive effort when the show is making me laugh so hard, so frequently. Constant laughs. Constant moments when I had to pause the video and run it back because I was missing stuff.

It's so cool to see a TV thing that was written and performed, as well as produced and edited, by someone who has so much experience on the technical side of things. You can see them take full advantage of every little aspect of creating a TV show, to make it more than the sum of its parts. I'm intentionally being vague on details when describing it, because it's so interesting to discover what it is while watching it, and I genuinely want everyone on Tumblr to go watch it, so I'm avoiding actual spoilers. Just trust me. Just trust me. James Acaster's in it. A whole lot of other people I recognized and like are in it too - Amy Gledhill and Chris Cantrill. Ian Smith. Eleanor Morton. A pre-divorce Harriet Kemsley and Bobby Mair. Plus Alex Kealy, the comedian whom I dislike for what's probably the least fair reason I've ever disliked a comedian, which is that last year a different comedian wrote a terrible show about how great Alex Kealy is and how very important his wedding and bachelor party were, and that show was so fucking boring that it made me repeatedly say, "Oh my God I do not fucking care about Alex Kealy stop telling me about him", and that thought stuck with me so hard that now every time I see Alex Kealy even in other contexts, my instinct is to think "Oh my God Alex Kealy, go away." This is of course incredibly unfair because Alex Kealy wasn't even the person who wrote the boring show, and every time I've seen or heard Kealy actually do anything, including in Grave New World, he's been perfectly fine. Anyway, I think I've got off topic, what was I talking about? Right, listing surprise familiar faces in Stuart Laws' TV masterpiece. Jessica Fostekew turned up in it, that was pretty good. Evelyn Mok.

Look, I know there's a huge side of Tumblr full of people who will watch anything James Acaster's ever appeared in for at least three seconds. He's in this for more than three seconds. Everyone needs to watch it because it's amazing.

[fangdoesstuff]

The HTTYD hyperfixation from my childhood is back with force

anyways ngl? the live action looks good in so many aspects so far! But other things do look bad. My opinions will be shot out into the infinite space of the internet!! (long af post after the break)

Good stuff:

The actors seem to be taking it very seriously and I think they fit the roles well. Especially in the new trailer, in the scene with Hiccup arguing with Stoic about Toothless, bro. There is so much more anger in Hiccups voice like HELL YEAH!!

Some of the dragon designs look great RAHH!! So far Stormfly/the deadlynadders look good, and tbh Toothless (although very similar to the original movie) looks so cute!

Ehhhh Stuff:

Hookfang… he looks so… boring? yeah. Misses the charm of the original and I think he doesn’t have a very good silhouette, they need to exaggerate some features.

The Red Death seeeeems to have that same issue? We haven’t seen much of her yet, but from what was shown they got rid of her sort of red and greyish blue contrast and really squished her face a bit. As well removed some of her spikes? I hope maybe she’ll look better in the full scenes of the movie but we will have to see.

Both of these issues come down to the fact they are making the dragons look too “classic”? Like too similar to a baseline European dragon representation. Not to say it’s a bad thing, for example the Monstrous Nightmares original design does have those aspects! It leans more on a wyvern esque look but still has a unique design that takes its own risks, especially with the wings. Unfortunately those aspects are largely lost in the live action version.

I’ve realized this is becoming a really long post so NOW LETS REALLY GET INTO IT ACTUALLY BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE IT!

First of all Hookfang!! I really like talking about Hookfang…

Here’s the original design. Notice how the eyes are sitting ON TOP of the head rather than on the side, and facing FORWARDS. Insert smart thing about predators and their eyes vs prey eyes here. Also, the general fire motif through out the design. The spikes and wing tips look like the shape of flames. Also something I really like about the design is the wings having round spikes ??? idk how to say it but YEAH. The double horns and long claws are also important to point out, but contribute less to the silhouette as a whole.

Now here’s the live action design.

The very first difference that I saw of course was the eyes. They are on the side of the head, not on top. Now this can be counted up to it trying to be more realistic with its designs, buuuttt still they could have made the eyes forward facing more, like a wolf or something. The horns are the same, looks great. They gave him? her? Tbh I can never remember Hookfangs gender LOL more of a crocodile jaw, but I personally think an alligator jaw would have fit much better, more rounded on the bottom. And the spikes and wings are just boring!! They are 100% the “classic” or “basic” dragon problem we’re having. Also, in the original design lots of the spikes are HOOK esque! Altogether I think it could be better. :(

Now the Red Death!

Now, there are couple of KEY elements of her design that I think make her have a good silhouette. First of all, that HUGE jaw. It brings our focus to it because of its size and the long sharp teeth. Her mouth and jaw are where her most powerful attacks come from, including the bite that takes Hiccups leg. As well, she’s got the front horn that juts out of her face. Another aspect is her crest, the weird coral like silhouette to it. You can clearly see it in the side shot, as well as the jaw. And of course her stocky and powerful build, this lady is built like a semi truck. Also want to point out the clubbed tail, adding to her “brute force of nature” vibe. Cannot forget to also mention her colours, a deep red and dark grey blue and black that adds great contrast.

Now live action!

We unfortunately don’t have much to look at for her yet, buuuut what we have brings me some questions. First, it does seem like they’ve kept her jaw, although it is hard to tell in the scenes shown how big it is? or rather, where the jaw ends and neck starts. Her teeth seem to be much shorter. From the scenes in the trailer she does look to still have her stocky build, not sure about the tail club though. Also, seems like the wing size has been greatly increased, and imo this isn’t good. Her smaller wings in the original keep the focus on her larger body, AS WELL as the fact she sits and waits for other dragons to bring food to HER, rather than going out and hunting herself. Her crest seems to still be there, but is much less prominent, which again isn’t good as it messes with her silhouette and recognizability. Okay. What is going on with her eyes, especially when she is front facing? they look SO high up on her face but also they stick out on a large brow?? What?? Tbh, in every scene they showed her face it looks a bit different. Of course we don’t have a clear shot of her yet so we have to wait and see.

Can I hear Hideous Zippleback?

…. YEAHHHH

So the original Hideous Zippleback has some really interesting features that make its appearance. Firstly its body is very wide, as to accommodate for its two heads. It’s lower to the ground, with smaller wings. Its heads are its main vocal point that brings the design together. It has an aggressive underbite, a horn on the front of its face and those very thin cone like horns on the back of its head. Its eyes are off to the sides of the face but with oriented forwards. Also, it has two whip like tails to balance out the doubling of the heads. Another very important piece of the design are the colours and their saturation. The Zippleback has this bright green hue with that bright yellow underbelly, while also having splotchy patterning in dark green and almost red (like its spikes). This gives it an almost toxic look, that connects well with its gas and fire breath power.

Now here’s what we’ve seen in the live action:

So far, we haven’t actually had a good look at them. They are in the intro sequence with all the dragons flying but that’s it. I can see they’ve kept the wide flat body, which is good. Wings look a bit strange, like they’re connected on only one spot rather than having the wing membrane connect all along the side of the body. Heads seem to look okay? They aren’t very round, I believe the designers are afraid of round designs :( they also seem to be missing the underbite. The necks seem to be shorter and thicker, but I can’t really tell from the angles we’ve seen so far. Colours (as with the other dragons) are dulled, and can’t tell if there’s any patterning or not. Overall it doesn’t seem bad, but we will have to see.

Now the Gronkle (there isn't much for them yet)

We can break these bad boys down into the most simple of shapes, round wonderful and rotund. They're made of four circles, stumpy legs, and small wings. Gronkles have probably one of the most aggressive underbites, with two large teeth protruding from their jaws. They have a rough bumpy texture, basically they are just flying boulders (complimentary). Usually natural colours but some Gronkles we've seen have brighter more unnatural undertones. Key points of their design are the small and fast beating wings, like that of a bee, and the large faces.

Now we don't have much for the live action yet, but here's some I found in the same sequence as the Zippleback:

We can see that they keep round body shape (thankfully since they apparently hate round shapes) and it seeeems like the faces are okay? Maybe a little more proportional, it seems like they have more of a neck than the original design, and the underbite may be less pronounced. The wings seem about the same, maybe slightly bigger. Unfortunately because we haven't seen them fully I can't speak on the colours or anything else specifically.

DEADLY NADDER BABYYYY!!!!!!

We LOVE the Deadly Nadder. Stormfly <3 <3

SO. Nadders have many similarities to the Red Death, mostly in the head area. Large protruding nose horn, a spiky crest, large jaw. Nadders are much more based off of wyverns in a bird sense, unlike the Monstrous Nightmare which is more reptilian. Nadders have eyes on the side of their head rather than the front. Their wings are connected in one place along the shoulders rather than having the membrane connect all the way down. They have very tall legs, that are more stumpy at the bottom where the claws are. Of course they also have the very long tail, covered in spikes that can be shot out at will. Most Nadders we've seen have more bright colours, with splotchy patterning. The crest and the noise spike define the head of the Nadders, with the large legs protruding down from behind the wings and the long tail being the other vocal points.

LETS SEE THE LIVE ACTION!!!

ahhhHHHH She is BEAUTIFUL!

I really thing they nailed the Nadder design for the live action imo. The signature crest is just as large as the original, the nose horn is much bigger though. I don't mind it, I don't think it was necessary to increase the size but it still stays consistent with the original ig. The legs are perfect, tail is long and thin as it should be, and the colours are PERFECT. I believe the fact that Stormfly's design is so well done is because she is Astrid's dragon, and of course Astrid is a main character. BUT we will get back to that later.

Now it's time for our main boy,

Toothless!!! (aka Nightfury)

The titular bitchular, fellas! Lets get into it.

As most already know, Toothless's mannerisms and body style is based off of a cat (and some other animals too, but mostly a cat) He has a flat oval shaped face, with little ear things like an axolotle protruding from the back of his head. His eyes are front facing, but still set in on his head. He has a long sleek body, that tapers out thinning all the way down the tail. His entire body is leathery black, with sections of more prominent scales mostly his legs and face/ears. The bat like wings, and smaller dorsal wings along the tail, into that big tail fan and the end. His legs are cylinders with larger ovals at the bottom, with super small claws. As well, along the back of the legs, he has small little spikes that match his larger spine spikes. Now I would LOVE to look deeper into his design rn, but i'm losing steam so WE'RE MOVING ON! (Maybe i'll make another post abt just Toothless idk)

Now the live action! (if you can even tell LMAO)

As shown, the nailed it. I wasn't expecting them not to of course, Toothless is the face of the franchise, but still. On the contrary, there are some minor changes! He is generally more angular, especially noticeable on his face. His eyes seem a little closer to his nose from the side, making the width between his nose gap a bit smaller. His colour has of course stayed the same. He is far more scaly in this version, moving away from the leathery skin on his body and leaving it just for the wings. The taper of his body to his tail is way less prominent, making him more boxy. Overall, these are really just minor changes that make him more in the live action movies style. I think he looks great, would've wished they kept him more round and agile looking, but he still looks like our boy.

Now that's it for now! But, I do have some things I want to point out before ending this post off. First of all, I think (unfortunately) that much more care was taken for Astrid, Hiccup, Stormfly, and Toothless because of their MAIN main character status. I really don't want to think of it that way, but it this wild world of entertainment we live in they care much more about preserving a leading couple than what they consider as "side characters" ;-;.

Next, I can see throughout this analysis, that they were afraid of round shapes in these character designs. Now, this is definitely an aspect of translation from fully stylized animation to a live action, but I still think they went too far with it. They are afraid of the stylization of the dragons! It just an unfortunate aspect of the live action, it loses the exaggeration in exchange for "mass appeal" or something.

Anyways I'm full of opinions on httyd rn so I WILL be posting more. Also, ALL OF THIS IS JUST MY OPINION! I'm no expert character designer, I'm just a dragon girlie that wants them to be more funky.

[box-architecture]

I discovered that Communication Knife AweSamDrunz have Children Now today, and I’m loving everything I’m reading so far.

Also that they hang out with Sapnap, Philza, and Techno. Was not expecting that, but yeah, Dream would want to reconnect, wouldn’t he? Even if it make Sam Uncomfortable and Punz Salty.

aaaaaaaaa I'm glad!!! The kids are sort of separate from the main au in that they're not really the main focus, they're just something that occasionally makes me happy to rotate in my mind. Healed, happy characters who are extremely neurodivergent, with their weird neurodivergent children, able to exist contently.

also, yeah!!! I realized a while back that I haven't really talked about the relationships and conflicts or Anything with real consistency on this tumblr. I'm used to interacting with people in the discord who've already had to listen to me so many times yell and rant that I've forgotten that I. might need to give context actually to other people who have showed up to a person on a soapbox spouting nonsense.

short answer: yeah, theres a Lot of complicated feelings, but by the time the children are in the picture its been like a decade and peace has been made with most things. No one has forgotten, of course. Shit was fucked. But events keep happening, characters keep developing, and Dream cradles his happy ending with the people he got to keep so very close to his chest.

So its like! Techno will support Dream through thick and thin and be civil with his partners, Punz and Sapnap had some rough moments but are buddies, and Sam will never talk to Dream's friends about anything deep, but after years of him genuinely trying to be a good partner, Techno and Sapnap are no longer five seconds away from trying to murder him.

Long answer: I'm trying to pull together some posts that will give detailed explanations of this entire thing. Itll take a bit, but its infinitely easier than the full fic I was trying and failing to write. I'm pulling this timeline from an old post so it might not be completely up-to-date even with my edits, but this is some skeleton stuff I can give that will make things easier for Understanding probably. I'm very sleepy. Here you go.

Timeline for My Own Damn Convenience:

Shady Dubcon Prison sex w/ SamDream

Prison Escape

Gentle Recovery sex w/ Drunz

Dream decides he has major control issues and is going to fuck Sam to prove he isn't traumatized. Punz thinks this is a terrible decision.

AweSamDrunz sex, complete with a rulebook of things Sam isn't allowed to do (including giving or receiving kisses)

Quackity kidnaps Drunz similar to in the one cut lore thing, offers to let Punz go if they torture Dream (they stab Quackity instead)

Sam rescues them (without Q finding out) and then kidnaps them, where he ties up Punz and gets Dream kisses until they all eventually pass out (Dream gets mild medical attention)

Dream wakes up and unties Punz

SamDrunz has a talk and decides Sam is allowed kisses again

many kinks are discovered

Sam tries (and fails) to get a hobby

Sam builds +30 prisons/boxes/sex dungeons around the server, of various usefulness

Sapnap finds out about the Torture, sees the sex tape, assumes Dream can't consent to the relationship considering Sam was his warden and Sap thinks Punz betrayed him, and takes Dream to a cottage away from everyone to try to protect him. After Sapnap yells at SamPunz, Dream gently informed Sapnap he's going to continue the relationship, and they have an emotional reconciliation that leads to weeklyish meetings between Dreamnap where they can just sit and talk

The Snow Incident

Sam Recovery From The Snow Incident

Oh God The Egg Is Back (Sam locks up Punz and Dream in a bunker for a month out of terror, and doesnt tell them why because he knows it will stress Punz out and Dream could be an idiot and get himself Egged. Punz is pissed but can't argue with that) (Dream could have fixed this all with his admin abilities good god)

They actually deal with the Egg

An Incident Happens (but its like several incidents actually, including Tubbo finding out that Ranboo was working with Dream the whole time)

Failed Finale

Recovery

Eventually grow old and live in a nice little lush cave house called The Box that Sam made

[septnautical]

Hybrid Creation Logs

RR-001 and SE-002

(AN: Hello friends! I’m getting back into writing stuff and while rereading older stories (and fixing a lot of stuff like how I used to write Henrik’s dialogue, yikes!) I realized I absolutely hated how little info I gave in the original creation story of how the boys were made and met- they didn’t even have their designation numbers back then!! So!! It’s revamp time!! Starting with Chase and Jack and - a bit more from the white suits too :3)

————————————————————————

To: Grant Xander, 4546B Xenobiology Research Team 213

From: Xeno Research Division

Subject: RE: Experimentation Grant

Proposed: Experimentation of humanoid -fauna hybrids using DNA from dominant species of 4546B and DNA samples from deceased Altera crew member, Sean Mcloughlin.

Status: APPROVED

Good luck with your experiments, team. We look forward to seeing the fruits of your labor. Please send regular updates and logs.

-Alterra Xeno Research Division

———————

Notes from Dr. Cynthia Goodall, regarding growth of Rabbit Ray human hybrid RR-001:

12-10-2226

It has been about 8 months since RR first emerged from his egg. He has made tremendous progress and his growth factor has been outstanding. Despite it only being months… mentally the subject is processing information and even speaking to other scientists at the level of a 4 year old human child. It is extraordinary to witness. That means mentally each month he is maturing about half a year. We are providing him enrichment and lessons to help accelerate his growth. Vitals are all good and he is quite active. No predatory or omnivorous traits to be seen so far- despite the extra fauna we have supplied in his tank. He actually likes to race the other fish and has even been found singing to them, despite low exposure to his mother species. Perhaps linked to instinct? Further research required on that point…

However, I am a bit worried. For the past couple weeks he seems to be more tired and lethargic. We make sure he has exposure to the sun through the top of the tank and artificial sunlight is provided. So, not a seasonal issue… again maybe further research is necessary. I hear there’s already talk and work being done on another hybrid… perhaps that might give me some answers.

———————————

Notes from Dr. Grant Xander, regarding growth of Sea Emperor human hybrid SE-002:

05-15-2227

It has been 3 months since SE-002 emerged from its egg on 07-02-2227. We didn’t think it could be possible… that’s why we tried with RR-001 first. A more readily available DNA to procure. Though, the sea emperor population has increased exponentially since 4546B’s rediscovery about a century ago.

However- we should have tried this much sooner… SE-002 is a marvel. The fauna it interacts with seem to love and adore it, much like a king with his subjects. The whole tank has been more energetic and lively, with SE-002 playing and laughing throughout the day before tiring itself out to collapse into a sleeping heap. Usually the other fish circle around it.

It has been documented the Sea Emperor while held in the Primary Containment Facility seemed to be able to pacify predator and prey alike within its tank- to see a similar phenomenon with a half human is unlike anything we have seen… we are unwilling to try to see if SE can truly pacify a predator at the moment but perhaps after more growth from the subject. It is healthy and happy.

It seems to be growing in the same manner that RR-001 had. About half a year or so within a month mentally and physically- at least by human standards. By now, SE-002 mentally seems close to a 2 year old child. Maybe younger… unlike human toddlers though- they are not helpless. It seems the hybrids are able to swim almost right away- and find food quickly. Though, it seems they do need help at the beginning- they very quickly learn what they can find themselves provided it’s planted for them in the aquarium. Until about 2 weeks after hatching- it seems the hybrids behave more like their mother species- i.e. fish-like. They had a vacant far off stare and were driven by food and providing for their needs. They had trouble gripping things with their hands and would often run into objects with little grace. At this stage, a small personal aquarium is the safest option. Then, there is this… spark. It's like the human part of their brain has caught up and starts to develop milestones much like a human infant. Imitating smiles, babbling, gaining control of their hands, eye tracking. Thank god that Alterra has mastered the childhood development programming that we all grew up with on our own planets- they have been essential in ensuring we can provide correct education to the hybrids as they mature. We are not childcare providers… I don’t think any of us quite expected this experiment to result in… something so… human? Ironic, I know. I think we all expected something a bit more… easy to document and understand. And perhaps it is- just from a parental perspective instead of purely scientific. It was harder to understand what exactly we were seeing when observing RR-001… until one of our crew had a child. Then, we started to see the connections, even if the hybrids are growing more rapidly than human infants do.

I do hope this accelerated growth has a plateau however… Maybe human maturity? Perhaps, they will be like Terra canines- growing at a fast mental rate within the first years then stagnating after adulthood. We can only hope… if the hybrids grow so rapidly and it only leads to faster expirations… then this experiment might be considered a failure and waste of resources. I don’t want that to happen. I believe this project has so much left for us to discover…

Especially with SE-002. Even if it’s been a century since the curing of the infamous Khaara bacterium- it is still present here on 4546B. Just- much less deadly and easy enough to cure. Like the common cold, really. However… we saw in the Sector Zero Levithan… Khaara has a chance to survive and mutate- which we are all well aware of. History could very well repeat itself as we put ourselves into the grand roles of the ancient Architects. So… SE-002 could be the key we need should any disaster strike. Once stable enough, we should be able to see if he can provide any Enzyme 42 samples like its mother species.

Personal notes: …I’ve started to call him Jack… Jackaboy. I can’t help it. He looks so much like him when he was younger. Almost makes me miss home. But, I can carry a piece of my Jack with me this way. It’s unprofessional, I know. Unnecessary attachment… but SE-002 has an irresistible charm to him and zest for life. Just like Jack. I believe my brother would be honored.

—————————

To: Grant Xander

From: Cynthia Goodall

Subject: Hybrid Interaction, Urgent Matter

05-08-2227

Grant,

I am deeply concerned for the well-being of RR-001 at the moment. Subject is showing signs of depression and is not as active as he once was. I believe SE-002 is showing signs of being healthy and active. Perhaps we should combine our efforts and house the hybrids together for observation and socialization? I believe this could negate any negative impact from perceived isolation. Many fauna here are highly social, especially the rabbit rays. I think RR-001 could really use a friend. Please advise.

- Cynthia

——————

To: Cynthia Goodall

From: Automated Response Line

05-08-2227

Hybrid Tank integration: APPROVED

-Grant Xander

————————-

Xander walked down the bright white corridors of the lab, holding SE-002 in his arms. The little sea emperor had his arms wrapped around the scientist’s neck as he observed the base with wide curious eyes. They sparkled as they passed windows showing the ocean beyond, bright with fish and glowing fauna. It wasn’t too different from SE’s tank but…. It was so big. It seemed like it went on forever.

“Hey Xander? Where are we goin’ again?” SE-002 asked.

Xander chuckled, “I thought I told you Jackaboy! Today, you’re going to meet a new friend. Someone who could really use someone as energetic as you.”

“Oh yay!” Jack smiled wide, “I like making friends! Is it more fishies??”

“No, lad,” Xander laughed, “It’s another hybrid. Just like you.”

Jack gasped, his eyes widening and sparkling. “Wooahhh! Really?? Someone just like me??”

“Well, he’s a different kind of fish but… very similar.” Xander smiled. “In a way… you two are like family. Brothers, really. I think you’ll like him. You two can be together from now on.”

“Yay yay yay!!” Jack cheered, bouncing up and down in Xander’s arms. The scientist shook his head with a laugh, “Save some of that excitement for RR, Jack!”

Soon enough, Xander strides into the main lab that housed RR-001. Dr. Goodall looked up and beamed at seeing SE-002. She walked over with a bright smile.

“Hello Xander! SE-2! My… look how big you’re getting!” She cooed. Jack shyly hid behind Xander’s neck but did attempt to wave.

Xander chuckled, “You remember Dr. Goodall, don’t you, SE?”

Jack shook his head. Cynthia smiled. “Well that’s alright. I’ve only really seen you in passing. But, I watch over RR-1 so… now that you’re joining him- we can all get to know each other better, hm?”

Jack looked a bit nervous and clung tighter to Xander, digging his little fingers into his white coat. Xander pats his head. “I’ll be around too, Jackaboy.” He whispers. “You don’t need to worry.” Jack slowly nods.

Cynthia gives him an understanding smile then gestures towards the hatch at the end of the large aquarium tank in the room. “Ready to meet RR, SE?”

Jack nodded again and smiled, his tails flicking to show his excitement. “Yes…!” He says quietly and the doctors smile. Dr. Goodall opened the hatch and Xander gently lowered Jack into the water. He smiles and ruffles Jack’s hair, “Go have fun, lad. I’ll see you later, okay?”

Jack beamed, “Okay! Bye Xander!” And then the little sea emperor rocketed off deeper into the aquarium to explore.

RR-001 was lying in the sand in a hidden corner of the tank, hiding behind some of the long creepvines. He was too tired to go swimming around today… he was hardly getting any sleep. And there was this- hole in his chest. It ached. More than the needles and small tests the doctors did on him. But… different somehow. He didn’t really have a word for it. And he didn’t want to deal with Dr. Goodall’s attempts today… she had been trying so hard to make RR act happier. Saying he wasn’t himself. Maybe he could see that… but he just didn’t have the energy. She did seem to mention a… surprise for him though? He couldn’t remember what… maybe a new fish for him to attempt to eat. He didn’t really like eating them though… made his stomach churn.

Suddenly, the vines he’s hiding behind are split apart by hands and a similar looking face to his pops into view.

“There you are!” The doppelgänger shouts with a smile. RR screams in turn and backs away, curling his tail up as close to him as possible, squeezing himself between the rock and the glass of the tank.

“W-W-Who are you?!” RR squeaks in a trembling voice.

The other hybrid grins, his teeth sharp but his expression is friendly. “I’m SE-2! But I dun really like that name. Xander calls me Jack and I like that sooo much more! So you can call me that!!”

“…j…Jack…” RR repeats. “Okay uh… h-how did you find me? I… I thought it was really good at hiding…”

“You were!” Jack laughs, “But I could hear you over here.”

“Really?” RR says with a tilt of his head, “…I didn’t think I was making any noise-“

“You didn’t tell me your name!” Jack interrupts, spurring forward to sit on the sand in front of RR. The rabbit Ray mer tries to scoot back again but he’s out of room. He looks at Jack with wide eyes.

“Uh… I… I’m RR-001.” He says slowly. Jack makes a face, raising an eyebrow.

“Your white suit doesn’t call you anything else?”

“…white suit?” RR asks.

“Oh- that’s what I call the doctors sometimes. Especially if I dunno who they are. They all wear white all the time!” Jack laughs.

RR finds himself chuckling too. Then his face falls. “…my ‘white suit’ hasn’t really called me anything. She gives me… nicknames? I think she called them? Like sweetie and love and stuff but… I don’t think those are… names. Usually, she just calls me RR.”

“Well that won’t do!” Jack exclaims, “s’not fair for me to have a name when you don’t! Besides- you don’t look like an RR to me… that’s a dumb name!”

RR makes an offended noise and slaps his tail against the sand. “Well! It’s the only name I know! M-Maybe I think Jack is a dumb name!”

“No you don’t. You think it’s cool. You’re kinda jealous.” Jack says simply, looking at RR with a strange, almost knowing expression. RR finds himself shivering. “H-How do you know that?”

“Mmm… I can feel it. Coming from your head, like- you’re saying it but not through your mouth.” Jack shrugs. “Dunno how I do it. I just know. So! Let’s think of a real name for you!!” He smiles brightly.

RR looks at the other hybrid nervously and curls up some more. “I…. I dunno how to… do that though…”

“We can figure something out! C’mon!” Jack says, grabbing RR’s hand and pulling him out of his hiding spot. RR makes a noise of protest but is eventually pulled out into the light, squinting his eyes and covering them up with his other hand. Man… how long had he been hiding in the dark…?

“Woahhh! You’re so much bigger than me!” Jack exclaims, looping around RR to look at him. “And your tail looks squishy!!” He pokes it and RR exclaims and pulls it back. “Hey!”

Jack’s head pops up under RR’s wing, almost looking like he’s wearing it as a hat. He giggles and nuzzles around in it. RR finds himself laughing without meaning to, pushing the other hybrid away. “Ah s-stop! That tickles!”

Jack pulls back up and giggles, swirling his tails around. “Sorry!! I just haven’t seen anything like ya! You’re a… a… oh what are they called?”

“…a rabbit ray.” RR supplies quietly, “that’s what Dr. Goodall says the RR in my name is. Rabbit Ray, RR. The 1 is because I was the first. That’s why you’re 2- you’re next.”

“Oooh!” Jack nods, then flicks his tails towards RR and giggles. “Well! I’m a Sea Emperor! Xander tells me they’re really special and junk. But, I dunno- you seem pretty special too!”

RR finds himself flushing. “You… you really think so…?” He asks, fidgeting with his hands.

“Yeah!” Jack says enthusiastically. “You were made first! That’s super special! That makes you my… brother- I think Xander said!”

RR’s eyes widen, a light coming into them that wasn’t there before. “…a… brother? Like… a… a family?”

Jack grins more and nods, “Yeah! That must be why we look alike, right? Xander and his brother also look alike but I’ve only seen pictures on the PDAs-“

RR finds himself laughing dazedly. “Y-Yeah… I guess so…”

Jack smiles at him and then twirls to look at the tank. “Alright then! Let’s look for your name then cuz I ain’t calling my brother a dumb letter name!”

After a few seconds of looking around Jack hums and then turns back to RR. “Before I came here, what did you like to do? Like- your most favorite thing to do!”

RR flicked his tail and played with the end of one of his wings. He eventually shrugs. “I… I like to swim fast- race with the other fish and try to chase them…”

“Oh! I like that!”

RR looks up and cocks his head, “like… what?”

“Chase!” Jack exclaims with a bright smile. “I think that sounds more like you than RR!”

“C…Chase…” RR tries out. It feels weird but… right. Slowly he smiles warmly at Jack, the biggest smile the tinier hybrid at seen from him.

“Yeah… Chase. I… I think I like that too.” Chase says. Jack yells in excitement and goes to tackle Chase in a hug. Chase startles, stiff in it as first. But, slowly he experimentally wraps his arms around Jack and… oh… that… that felt really good. Suddenly, his eyes feel wet and he makes a choked noise.

Jack backs up and then looks at Chase with concern. “Oh no! Why are you crying??”

Chase wipes at his face and looks at his hands in confusion. “I… I dunno…” he then laughs, “I think… t-they’re cuz I… I’m… happy…?” He laughs a bit louder and pushes his hair back, “y-yeah…! That feels right. I… I’m happy.”

Jack grins and grabs Chase’s hands, “Good! That’s really really good! C’mon! We can play now!” He starts tugging Chase through the water. “I wanna see how good you are at chasing, Chase!” And Chase can’t help but laugh and follow after him.

The two played all day long, Chase more lively and energetic than the scientists have seen in months. So, when the ocean water dimmed around the base and the lights turned off in the lab- the two were exhausted.

Chase swam over to his usual sleeping spot and splat down, ready to curl up in the warm sand and pass out. But, then he startles as he feels Jack crash down next to him and then sleepily curl up into his side, under his wing.

“Uh… Jack? What are you doing…?” Chase asked quietly.

“Gettin’ comfy….” Jack yawned, pressing his face into Chase’s side.

“Oh… um… why here?”

Jack blinked opened an eye and Chase now notices that they kinda glowed in the dark like his tails. Jack snorts out a tired laugh. “The fish in my tank never let me sleep alone so… I'm not gonna let my new brother sleep alone. Seems too lonely…” He yawns again and closes his eyes. “Dun wanna feel lonely again…”

Chase feels a grip on his heart and… that ache in his chest that had been so persistent seemed to fade. He chuckles softly and curls up so his wing is properly over Jack like a blanket and curls his tail around the tinier merman. “Okay…” He suddenly felt a surge of protectiveness flow through him as he looked down at Jack’s tiny body, how he breathes softly and relaxes into the sand. If there were predators around… he wouldn’t be safe.

Chase finds himself scooping up Jack to rest against his chest as he hugs him tight to himself. Jack is mostly asleep but just hums with a slight smile and curls some of his tails around Chase’s waist.

“…I’ll protect you, little brother.” Chase whispers, pressing his cheek against Jack’s hair. “We don’t have to be alone anymore…”

[spectralstitions]

oc thoughts and goals for 2025

Posting this here because it feels like the most informal place to dump some thoughts.

First of all I thought I'd mention that I change stuff about my ocs so often and post so infrequently that maybe like 95% of what is on this blog is outdated. So. That's great.... I'm truly using this blog to its fullest potential....

Second of all...... 2024 was a fantastic year for me in terms of unraveling my artistic mental blocks, but the problems I have with my ocs remain more or less unchanged. These blocks are difficult to describe, but they stress me to the point of being unable to draw my little guys or develop them much at all. Nor have I been able to make new ocs, as I feel a need to "complete" the pre-existing ones, as if they are each individual projects. As a result I've felt frozen; I'm not able to do much with them, and I can't so much as talk specifics about them with my friends because it stresses me out so much. The blocks exist not for a lack of trying to unmake them, and overall, you could probably say I made some progress this year as a byproduct of working through my art issues. But like with those, my oc problems are enigmatic and figuring out the root of them will be just as difficult as solving them. It took me over a year to identify and rewire the mentalities that rendered me unable to draw much, so I figure the timeline for my ocs will look similar.

The extent to which I get worked up over my fictional people is very silly and I'm well aware of this, especially because it's completely invisible to everyone else. And I wish I could get it through to myself that It's really not that serious, they're just ocs, they're supposed to be fun, because it works for the few characters I have that AREN'T story related. But when I was a kid I placed so much importance on having clearly defined characters with a structured, set-in-stone story to the extent that it felt like the only point of my life. And now I realize, I don't have much capacity for creating stories or characters in that specific way, but the pressure remains -- because honestly, what else do I do? I love drawing characters, but I only get emotional fulfillment from drawing the same ones over and over again. Which is a way to do it if you can create stories and/or find ways to invest other people in them, but that's always been a weak point of mine, and my motivation to work on it is very low because I'm not even really interested in doing that anymore. I keep revamping and changing things about my characters because I'm trying to come up with a structure that singlehandedly fixes what's happening in my mind and lets me fully engage with my characters again, which I realize now is never going to happen. Even if my structure is to have no structure, that's still an expectation of something that I put on myself that doesn't much affect my thought process or workflow. And although I can recognize this, I can not emphasize enough how difficult it is for me to break out of a system-setting or structure-making mentality like this. It's just completely unnatural to my character. It took at least a full year of trying nearly every day to rewire myself for my art, and this problem is far more relevant to my ocs than it was to art.

So.... what do I do then? Well, that's kinda what I want to figure out in 2025. OCs used to bring me more joy than anything else and I miss that. Like I mentioned before, there are little things that have improved this year, even if only marginally. I've been able to draw a few characters consistently, giving me something of a reference point to study. Those characters being -- my human AU of Jesper and Lily and, primarily, my sona. In both cases, allowing for vagueness and exploration of ideas to the point of lore/story contradictions has been extremely helpful. My sona in particular is a good example of the type of character I think I need to start making more of; they actually have a good amount of lore to them, but I sort of just pick and choose what pieces I care about for any given drawing so that I'm not stressed about depicting them "perfectly" -- because there is no perfect version of them, there's practically like 5 different versions of them. But I think of them as just 1 character, because their core concept, personality, and design motifs remain. Importantly though, and what makes this mindset very hard to follow for pre-existing ocs, is that I cannot LITERALLY pick and choose what lore to follow for a given work, or else the problems happen. It has to be unintentionally thoughtless, which is incredibly difficult for me, especially when I've already artificially placed so much importance on "making something" with my ocs. How can I treat them thoughtlessly when they're supposed to be so important?? Well, somehow I need to walk back a lifetime's worth of conditioning, so that I can realize, or rather, so that my body can realize, they're not actually so important.

I think my favorite way to have characters is to base them around a concept or topic that I have fun exploring many facets of very deeply (whether exploring an unconventional relationship type, untapped potential for particular symbolism, or something else) and to give them a core personality and set of design motifs. And then doing whateverthefuck with everything else. These allow me to fulfill a touch of my desire for structure, give me the means to express myself, and the means to form the emotional bond I need in order to get the dopamine hit that I need in order to draw anything in the first place (this is a whole nother problem and why I rarely make non-character art, though hypothetically I'd love to; it's just mentally hellish). And because of the vagueness, I get the dress-up doll aspects that keep me motivated to do things with them and have fun exploring things in new ways. But it's not without drawbacks, the main one being that communicating the point of my ocs or their deal to other people becomes very confusing and not super possible, and I can never make any consistent functional story with them, which is somehow both incredibly freeing and also really hard for me to grapple with for previously mentioned reasons and makes me feel bad about myself and my life.

It's almost pointless to include any ideas for solutions I have right now, because more than likely I'll drop them after a week when I realize they don't hit right, but... I'll talk about my newest one, since if I go through with it, it'd be more of a tangible example. Going into '25, I'm considering letting go of the idea of a strict world setting / species categories / specific lore etc. entirely and instead create a sort of vague, implied world through isolated artworks of characters and scenes. This way, any implied setting or lore is just the result of what was in my heart the day I drew the thing, causing development to happen more naturally and allowing me to retract, reinterpret, or reorganize things very easily. Not to mention this would coincide very nicely with my 2025 art resolution and inherently get me to draw more, because the art itself would be the "world", and everything would only exist so long as I drew it. It would also be easier to tie into my identity, which is a big motivator for me when it comes to making art and characters. My characters and lore would essentially just become part of my art style, whereas they currently feel separate in my mind. And It's a possible way to trick myself into doing non-character illustration, since I will have an emotional bond to the world, where I can draw things that aren't just the same characters. Is this making any sense to anybody?? It'd be the caspar cinematic (artistic?) universe. Straight from my soul. Imagine it... Reading this back, this is probably just how most illustrators naturally work actually, which should tell you how bad my brain has gotten....

As for what any of this means for the blog, I don't really know? I'm so anxious when it comes to putting any of my character's information on here because I know it'll just change and then the 2 people who read it will have the wrong idea of my characters and I hate that.... this is why I don't use it much. But now that I'm thinking of it, maybe making myself do it anyways, even though I do not want to, could be part of the solution. Getting myself used to posting stuff even knowing it probably won't remain true for very long, and not putting disclaimers on everything apologizing for it... could maybe help rewire my mindset a bit. I need to revert to my middle school days of making ocs to random songs and throwing them all into a universe with no rhyme or reason. I used to have the time of my life sharing them with other people.

In conclusion i need an audhd diagnosis.

[finnbbl]

Hey fin <33

I read ur last post, and first, it’s ofc written soooo great and comforting as always,

but since u said it’s from ur experience and stuff i just want u to know, that all these things u wrote also are true for u.

U are such a beautiful human, with a even more beautiful soul and if I would know u irl I would do everything to comfort u and let u know how worthy u are

I know how hard everything ca be sometimes, especially when other people hurt you even more than you already are, but please, if u every feel like that then talk, cry, or vent to someone. But pls don’t bottle it up, and pls don’t do anything to urself.

Take care of urself, and maybe look in the mirror a bit longer today and remind urself how worthy u are. Ur not a bad person. And if anyone makes u think otherwise? Well they r wrong

I just wanted u to know that, and nowww virtual hug💕🫂✨

you have absolutely no idea how lifting your words are 🥺 it has been an absolutely shitty week and a half. however, i am doing my best to get through it. i have things to look forward too within the next month, and im trying to stay strong. i do my best not to bottle up my emotions however there are very few friends (ones that i will eternally be grateful for) who will let me vent my feelings out peacefully and tell me if im in the wrong (politely ofc).

even though they reassure me, i often feel like i rant too much or talk about my problems too often simply bc i somehow find myself going through a lot of shit. i’m a lot to handle, it is something i am painfully well aware of. i seem to attract bad people so i question whether it is me that’s the issue or not. i’ve had plenty of reassurance and i analyze my behavior vs theirs. coming to the realization i just have had horrible luck with having shitty friends. sometimes i still find myself in self doubt, questioning if im actually the problem; but im trying to get better at it. i just worry about how people view me, whether they see me as a bad person or not. no one is perfect but i do try my absolute best to be a good person that someone can count on, however things like my bad memory and lack of awareness also bring issues in my friendships. and then im sensitive so if someone says smth in the wrong tone i will absolutely break down 🥹 im so picky on how issues are presented to me. i’d rather it be a civil and polite sit down conversation rather than “you did this and this and this to me and you made me feel like this” half the time it was something i’m sure i didn’t do, and regardless of my horrible memory something i KNOW i wouldn’t do to someone bc I KNOW how it feels. gah i just can’t stand being accused of doing horrible things. other half of the time it was a misunderstanding/miscommunication but then i am not heard out and my attempt to clear things up is ignored and shut out. my biggest pet peeve is people who refuse to let you try and talk it out because they want to play victim. that was just a little bit of my week.

point is, when i feel like im getting too much for my friends, i turn to my blog where i can vent out my feelings on a comfort post or simply a rant like this one. i’m aware that bottling up emotions is one of the worst ways to try and cope. thank you for your such kind words, they really do mean a lot to me. i’m so glad you enjoy and feel comforted by my posts. i started this blog to bring a source of comfort not only to me but to anyone else who may be struggling with similar things i am. remember if you’re ever feeling down you can anonymously rant in my inbox. i can reply to it with some positive words, or i can leave it in my inbox/delete it if you just need somewhere to put your feelings out there. that goes for everyone.

life is hard, especially with everything going on in the world right now. we all need someone to turn to and a source of comfort. 🫶

[inolienkiki]

ok longpost incoming, because I just came across something very psychologically interesting but which will require volumes of backstory to explain. aita vibes if you like that kind of thing, maybe I’ll even post an update later. buckle up

my family

So, my grandma (mom’s side) is emotionally abusive. She’s been like this her whole life, as far as we know. It’s really hard for me to explain how or why in a few sentences, because it’s so vast and widespread that it’s hard to encapsulate. So instead I’ll just list a bunch of stuff she did, in vaguely increasing order of severity

- never asks for anything, but is confident she deserves it anyway. Whenever I’d visit her as a kid, she’d ask if I wanted a drink. If I wasn’t thirsty, she would continue asking multiple times, which left me confused for years- before I realized she wanted me to get *her* one.

- similar to this, she recently let her cat’s nails grow out for probably over a month. She complained continuously about this, and passive-aggressively blamed my mom for not cutting them— *several times*— but she’d never asked.

- when she had a dog, would repeatedly fail to clean up it after it had been in my mom’s yard. Once my mom got chickens, she would repeatedly bother my mom about cleaning up after the chickens (which, by the way, is barely necessary unless it’s really dry out). My mom got her multiple tools and gadgets to make it easier for her to clean up, and would often do the job herself despite disliking dogs (she grew up with 4 massive untrained dogs which is a whole other problem but whatever). Mom tried to be very clear about how Grandma needed to treat *her* yard and yet Grandma never took up these responsibilities.

- this same yard has really complicated xeric landscaping that my parents spent years doing by themselves. She’s made repeated unsolicited criticisms and demands about what she thinks, again, *their yard* should look like. After years of this, my dad decided he would start only listening to her if she made direct requests. He’s not forcing her to say please, he just wants her to *ask*. As a result of this, she started trashing him behind his back to her sister, her friends, her ex-husband, me, etc. Took me years to figure out he’d had it right the whole time.

- is very overweight. Fine, whatever. Feels immensely sorry for herself and clearly believes her weight is a problem, but does nothing about it, which is the actual issue here. When I was like 12, I would “make deals” with her where I’d offer to do stuff (move things out of her house, watch stuff with her, etc.) in exchange for her losing weight. She encouraged this and agreed to the deals but never lost any weight. This led to me having multiple breakdowns and fights with my mom about how they weren’t doing enough to support or help her. Turned out they had offered multiple times to make *all of her meals FOR HER*, AND PAY FOR HER FOOD, and she’d said no. Last I checked, she still orders a tub of cool whip when my parents bring her groceries every week or so.

- Speaking of food, when I was a kid I was very active in this project which involved avoiding a particular and pervasive ingredient that shows up in a lot of food, especially snack food. It’s made by cheap, exploitative labor and is super destructive to the environment. I was so passionate about avoiding it that I gave up stuff like Nutella and Oreos when I was, like, 8. My parents did too in support. My grandma never did, which, fine- but she’d *pretend* to. Like, I would tell her a product was bad, and she’d say “ok I won’t buy it”, and then I would go back the next week and there it would be and she’d gaslight me into believing I’d never said anything. Again, I was 8, so I believed her (especially because she often used memory issues as an excuse).

- very unhealthy relationship with her ex-husband, who is your typical Crabby Guy With a Heart of Gold. From what I’m able to tell- I wasn’t there- she’d (maybe intentionally) provoke him, then spend the whole argument screaming, wailing, playing the victim, pulling my (teenage) mom into it, then refuse to speak to him for days at a time. This happened constantly for years at a time, traumatized my mom, and destroyed her relationship with her dad for actual decades.

- She still pulls my mom into unrelated arguments. This has held me hostage for years now. I want to cut contact, but if I do, she’ll make it my mom’s problem.

In short: traumatized my mom, parentified me, tried repeatedly to destroy multiple relationships in our family, and now lives off my family and her ex-husband’s alimony while complaining constantly and blaming them for helping her.

If you need any other reason to hate her at this point, she’s also a bigot, repeatedly uses the r-word despite me telling her how disrespectful it is (which she pretends not to remember ofc), misgenders several of my friends repeatedly after I’ve corrected her, complains about queer people “making this decision so early”. I can’t come out to her, because I’m scared to, and because she keeps (for lack of a better word) *shipping* me with a close male friend of mine- who’s also 6 years my senior. We’ve known each other since I was 13 so obviously he has no interest in me, and Oh Also I’m Aroace.

the situation

Right now my parents are out of town for my mom’s birthday. While they were gone, they asked my mom’s close friend Katie to watch the cat. Turns out there were some things we didn’t know about Katie. This weekend she started screaming at her daughter for unclear reasons, got drunk, drove to my parents’ house and hid there. She was there for 1 or 2 days- (this is all secondhand information)- drunk essentially the whole time and not caring for the cat. Her husband tried to get her out of the house, but she wouldn’t go. He came back later with the police, who did absolutely nothing of course- they didn’t even notify my parents, nor did they inform my grandma, who lives on the property and was watching the whole time. Eventually he and my parents agreed that she had to leave, so they made sure she did (again idk how). Katie’s husband told us this was not the first time something like this had happened, he’s looking at divorce proceedings, and her kids were reportedly distressed to hear she was coming home.

This was hard on my parents, because (a) they had to get their neighbor to watch the cat on short notice, except she’s busy with work and her own divorce, so she’s going to have to bring him to a cattery on Thursday, which my parents were overall not prepared for, and (b) what the hell, Katie.

(You may be wondering why my grandma was not available to take care of the cat. This is, of course, because climbing the 2 readily accessible front steps is too hard for her to bother. She needs a man to help her. Yes, she refuses to climb the stairs unless my dad is there.)

So, tonight I was on my weekly obligatory phone call with my grandma- again, can’t cut contact- and we were talking about this whole situation. Then she said something very interesting. Something to the effect of: “you see how this kind of stuff can happen to women?”

To which my response was, “…huh?” And I reminded her that Katie had been harassing her daughter and clearly had done this to her family before. I’m not very close friends with her daughter and son, but based on everything I’ve heard, they don’t get along with her real well. Now I know why. They’ve clearly been keeping this secret for years.

But my grandma was comparing this situation to her marriage, which she’d never told any of her friends was having problems. She saw herself in Katie, who had recently retired, and who was “having problems with her kids” (at least as my grandma saw it… her daughter is hyper-independent and her son is trans and chronically ill… and they’ve been in this situation for years… yeah, not their problem.)

And it was then that I realized my grandma views herself as a victim of abuse- but she thinks being drunk, irresponsible, and volatile… *is* abuse. She thinks Katie’s husband coming to find her, managing this situation for years, and now starting divorce proceedings, *is* abuse. And I think this finally solidified it for me that my grandma accepts no responsibility.