#also sorry for the long babble

[enhanced-operatives-division]

Junicrane/Starstruck Ramble

I will not be brief, all under the cut

To clear some things right off the bat:

No corpse, no proof with Juniper. Obligatory this is set in a canon where he's alive and adjacent to the agency in some way.

Reggie & Juniper are just gay to me, but I don't mind any interpretation of their sexuality

The games are set in 1967/68 to me (based on a couple bits in game) which is before it was legal to be gay in America at least (1971), which is relevant to how I interpret canon as being somewhat grounded in reality, despite unrealistic elements.

This is just an insane amount of headcanons/elements of and AU all culminated into one post. I will talk about some headcanons like they're just facts because they are established in my head, and it saves me over explaining literally everything, however I will explain some parts a little bit for clarity.

Alright. Actual beginning of the ramble:

Juniper is a character to me who had gotten so lost in his job as an actor and a social presence that in the end his whole life revolved around that 'role'. Because of this, by the time he's put into the situation where he's around the Agency, he basically knows nothing about himself, though he doesn't realise at first. Furthermore, what little identity he had has changed in so many ways. He's no longer a beloved famous actor in the prominence of public light, he's legally dead and he tarnished his career just before he was supposed to die, with the bonus of that making him lose the majority of his estate. From that, he also has horrific facial scarring from the electrical burns from literally having his face fried. I believe a friend of mine made a post about this a while ago (I also think they were the first to think it up also), but, to me, Juniper has a permanent trimmer in his right arm (aka his dominant hand) from the electrical current and it is messing with his nervous system.

All in all, he's not doing great, but he's too proud to admit that he's not doing great, because if anything, what's left of his ego is all he has as a defense since he's deep in unfamiliar water.

Before ending up around the agency (I have multiple interpretations of this, so I'm just going to bring it up generally), he'd never actually seen Reggie, and his only impression of him is a single voicemail, which was his only reference he had to later impersonate him. Juniper probably has very little feelings other than the ones he projects onto him because of Phoenix and that, at the very least, he's physically attracted to Reggie to some degree (that's like the beginning of how everything else would tumble into place in this sort of interpretation at least).

And on Crane's side? His feelings towards Juniper are probably very intense and muddled. On the one hand, he adores musical theatre, and that's his now ex-favourite actor. The thought of just casually being around him blows the bit of fanboy in him away at first because THAT'S the GUY, plus the inklings of a celebrity crush which still poke at him. And then there's the rational side of him, which knows Juniper has committed absolute atrocities on the side of Zoraxis, and hates him for that. Then there's how much Juniper comes off as an asshole at first because he refuses to cooperate with anything the Agency tried to put in place. He finds Juniper endlessly frustrating, and yet he's stuck working with him since, afterall, he's the one who knows the Agency's history with Juniper the best. I imagine him acting a lot like how he does IEYTD 1 around Juniper.

At this point, I'm just describing the pitch for a romcom.

I think the start of their relationship with one another largely started with Juniper trying to wind Crane up. It was a way of getting his attention, and I don't think Juniper knows why he's so dead set on that at first, because I don't think he realises he has a crush on 'this grump' at first. (I think that's actually the fun part about these two, because it's almost like a role reversal of the celebrity crush dynamic. This ex-big name actor has a TERRIBLE crush on an average joe and it is KILLING HIM.) But of course the Agency keeps them together because Juniper is at least conversing with Crane, so it's a start.

Through one way or another, they actually get talking casually, at least mildly at first. It takes Juniper a long time to fully deconstruct the wall he's built, and the thing is, Crane isn't the one trying to deconstruct it, at least at first, because yeah, Juniper realises if he wants Reggie to actually like him in any way, he can't keep winding him up. So they talk. Small talk at first, something rhythmic and almost easy to keep to a script. And over time that turns into actual conversations. Genuine ones in which Reggie rips out the occasional one of his jokes which Juniper is endlessly endeared about. The way he smiles just before he makes them, like he wants to chuckle at what he's about to say before he says it. That's probably when Juniper realised that he does have some vague crush on him, and that it wasn't going away.

This is what kickstarts John I can't-buy-you-things-to-impress-you-so-acts-of-service-it-is Juniper to do little things for him. It mostly starts off as him trying to make Reggie his tea how he likes it. However, the nerve damage in his arm makes that hard, as the weight of the kettle and trying to pour is hard all of a sudden. And he refuses to accept that, so he tries for a very long while. Long enough that Crane would go to investigate what was going on. And when he does see Juniper leaning over a cup with the kettle as he uneasily tries to pour it, and when Crane asks Juniper responds so matter-of-fact that his intention is nothing but genuine. And it catches Reggie off guard because Juniper hadn't done anything like that up to that point, and his very apparent vulnerability is so clearly on show.

It shifts something between them.

From that point on, conversations are longer, more familiar. Both of their attitudes soften, and Reggie makes more jokes. Juniper learns how to better use his left hand while strengthening his right back to a point where it could be used again. Slowly, they're both spending time with one another not because they have to, but just because they can. Little bits at first, not too far outside what they already were doing, but those little bits turned into long bits to a point where the other person's company was genuinely desirable.

As time passes, Juniper probably realises that he doesn't genuinely know much about himself or what hobbies he's into, because he never really had the time when he got big, and his home life in his youth wasn't bad, but it wasn't picturesque. I think Reggie would pick up on it, and absolutely try to introduce him to some things he's into. Some things stick, other things don't (corn husking very much stays Reggie's passion, and John will go with him sometimes because it's him, but it's not something he strongly cares for). Crane introduces him to a lot of music, and it's something that becomes a staple between them, with tracks they listen to more than others (tragically, I know relatively little about 60s music so I couldn't really say what). Occasionally they dance, never anything intense, think slow dancing, but the closeness is nice.

Through all of it, Juniper is battling the worst crush of his life, and he can't stand it, because I think he struggles to read people since he doesn't have anything like a script or a director to refer back to, so he has no idea if Reggie likes him back or if he's just desperate for that to be true. I think because of that any sort of confession between them would be incredibly raw, not only because of the time they live in making it hard for them to be truthful about how they love, but because it's a complete show of Juniper who's worked to be this better person. I don't exactly know how that would go, mainly because I don't have one set version of their dynamic, this post is just a generalisation of main consistent points.

Reggie does like him back, because he's gotten used to Juniper being just this guy, not a figure in the public eye, not a Zoraxis lackey, and not any sort of Agency operative (despite being under their care to some degree). He's someone he genuinely cares for, because they've given one another the time of day to learn one another, and I think because Reggie was a field agent, he was a lot better at reading Juniper than Juniper was at reading him. Eventually Juniper's company becomes something he could see around him for the rest of his life, and I think he accepts that he likes Juniper a lot more gracefully.

I think any affection directed at Juniper would at first be met with him feeling a little muddled. Reggie was a very physically affectionate person when he could be, and sure the initial flirting with one another came with the occasional little touches, but everything now was so deeply intentional. I also don't think Juniper would almost ever get over the novelty of being able to kiss him, or many other gestures, because it made the fact that they were together so very real, and it was great. I do think it comes easier to Reggie, and it's a big way of showing how much he cares, so it's important for Juniper to try and show it back because he knows how much it means to the other.

I like the idea of them eventually living with one another, too. I think Juniper would have always had a quiet little daydream of sorts where he does just live a domestic quiet life, and he can with Reggie (well, as close as they can get between the Agency and Zoraxis always being at odds), and he loves that, and he loves him, and it's immense.

I think they cook for one another a lot, it helps Juniper work on his dexterity in a controlled environment, which means a lot because it's a huge point of insecurity (that and his scars). He does improve, and Crane is proud of that and shows it and it's great. I also think they'd probably cook together too, because they can deal with being in the kitchen together and they work well with one another. It's probably a good way for them to unwind because over time they can do it in relative silence.

As I said before, I also think music is a staple in their household, and that Reggie listens to things on vinyl almost all of the time because he likes the background noise. Sometimes Juniper will catch him chuntering along to the music which he finds endlessly endearing. I wouldn't put it past his dramatic ass to also join in to fluster Reggie, but I also don't think Reggie would mind that terribly because Juniper has listened to the music enough to know the lyrics, and that's huge to him.

I don't think they are without rough patches, no relationship is, but I think the good part about them is that they're willing to talk about it (... eventually). They're used to long conversations, and while they're often less fun conversations, they're needed and they know that, and it works out.

Alright. I think I'm done for now. I haven't mentioned everything, but this definitely got the worst of it out of my system. If you ever want to hear any specific thoughts my ask box is open but other than that, behold my general dynamic for these two which has been festering in my head for years. I think they're great

[sskk-manifesto]

Next time we should just skip over ep 3 and do a chapters 84-87 reread

[ashwii]

I saw in your tags that you stopped reading fanfics bc you would get hyperfixated on them. Did you ever try sorting by complete, and with a lower word count? That’s what I’ve had to do to make sure I don’t get nonfunctional for days while reading a long one. Just only read completed fics that are 3k words or less haha

Hehe yes I would, usually I read fics that were less than 10k 🤔 however that kinda left me unsatisfied a lot of the time, i guess. Say, after a 5k I would always go look for another few fics too, so I still wasted some hours until I passed out asleep. And then sometimes there'd be that *perfect* fic I wanted that was 100k, and well there goes the *entire* day XDD

I got reminded of all this bc I was feelin Leo angst a few days ago, and I remembered that one of my very lovely friends rec'ed me a Leo fic last year (Where in the World is Neon Leon?) and I was like "... welp what's the worst that could happen," 90k and I didn't do anything till i finished it 12 hours later AHA. *Then* I got such an enormous urge to look up F!leo fics, and I was so "I've avoided rottmnt fics for 3+ years now, is this where I finally break-"

Man I love fics so so *so* damn much, but I'm in the middle of my semester rn and it would be such an awful idea for me to get hooked on fics rn lmao. Maybe once the semester is over I can take a lil dive into into ao3, find those f!leo fics ehehe. Maybe if you lovley people have any recs, I can keep the recs for when I finish my semester as a reward ehe -w-

[qoldenskies]

THE 50 THOUSAND WORD MARK HAS BEEN BREACHED I REPEAT THE FIFTY THOUSAND WORD MARK HAS BEEN BREACHED

[i-eat-worlds]

Honestly I’m just really starting to get into the “Whump” side of things but I’ve been a big fan of Medfet and darker subjects like surgical fet and vivisection for a few years now.

Not sure if it’s too odd but what got you into the vivisection side? Seems like an extreme jump but I can’t say much since I enjoy it all the same as well! 😂

Thanks for the ask!

I don’t think it’s all much of a jump, honestly. Whump is a wide genre, and plenty of it crosses over into what might be considered “kink” territory, depending on the reader’s intentions. Especially when whump crosses over with gore (which it often does, when ever you’re hurting fictional people intentionally there tends to be…blood and misery) it’s not really that much of a stretch to go from gore to kink.

I’ve always been really in to medical whump, both for my comfort and my hurt. I’ve always loved lab whump and gore, so vivisection was really just a natural progression.

But yeah, there’s a lot of crossover between these communities. If you want to join, we’d love to have you! <3

[ltlemon]

Beweeepp bwop bweop bep bep bop bep bweeeeeap bwamp. Bewmp.

LMAO

SORRY I JUST CLICKED ON THE NOTIFICATION IN THIS 👇IMAGE

[i-am-the-balancing-point]

you are not gonna be able to guess what lucky circumstances I managed to accidentally get myself into this time lmao I secured myself a spot at a nude drawing class without even knowing it was a nude drawing class. it’s absolutely fantastic tho! the class is usually super popular and spots are hard to get so I was really lucky

[aperture-of-bullshit]

No one on vertical scroll comic platforms has any media literacy. I will comment (and this was my first mistake, as there is no one of sound mind to respond to the comments of vertical scroll comic platforms). Maybe. This antagonistic character has a very specific, and perhaps even sympathetic, reason as to why they are a dick to the protagonist in the specific way that they are. And that I am very much looking forward to what will be revealed and how the narrative will deal with it. And how I hope it ends positively with reconciliation because I see a potentially worse version of myself in the antagonist. And I will get people responding to my comment (on the vertical scroll comic platform) to tell me that I am an abuse apologist and that I am “just telling on myself.” And then I fly into an incandescent rage. And then. Weeks later. The motivations will be revealed. And the protagonist and antagonist will have settled their differences and reconciled. And in the extras and authors note the author will say. “I really didn’t expect people to hate the antagonist so much and thought I’d have to convince them that he Was toxic, not the other way around!” And how it’s easy to 2D-ify him as a villain. And then in the comments (of the vertical scroll comic platform) everyone will ignore this revelation. Even though every time the antagonist showed up previously the comments would be full of people 2D-ifying him. And. I will once again fly into an incandescent rage. But this time. I will be vindicated.

[naomiknight-17]

My brother said something the other day about how no-one could prove if the current anti-Israel boycotts are actually making an impact cuz there could be other reasons people aren't eating at McDonald's or whatever

But besides the fact that there are many articles easily find-able online saying that the companies are aware of and feeling the impact of such protests, and some are even making some changes, I needed to make a point to him about why I participate in boycotts whether they're successful or not

But my brother tends to get annoyed and stop listening whenever I talk real politics, so I tried to make a really simple analogy

Let's say there's a man outside our house, and he is just beating people to death with sticks. Not people from our neighborhood, but still, people. We can't call the cops to stop him, because they think he's doing a great job. And we can close the blinds and ignore him, but he's still there and we know it.

And he has a big pile of sticks, so when one breaks he can get another to beat the next person to death with

So one day you have to go outside and the man turns to you and says, "Hey. Can you pass me a stick?"

And maybe it doesn't matter if you do or not. Maybe someone else will give him a stick anyway, or he'll get one on his own, or he'll start punching people

But I don't want to give him a stick.

And maybe I can't stop him, but I at least don't want to help him

At this point my brother tried to make a joke (because that's what he always does in every conversation) and he said something like "What if you don't give him the stick and then he beats YOU to death"

And I was like, "That's a great point, actually, because the Yemeni wouldn't let weapons shipments through their waterways so Israel bombed them."

And the analogy was broken but. I hope I made my point

Maybe I don't have the power as an individual half a world away to stop a genocide. But I at least want to not contribute to it

[turnaboutdick]

I love language. What's a random linguistics thing you've been chewing on?

rAAAGHHH A CHANCE TO BABBLE ABOUT MY INTERESTS?!?!?!? ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡I’LL TAKE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK SO I’ve admittedly been thinking a lot about the universal translator from star trek lately because i started re-watching the st series deep space 9. i am fully aware that there's a lot of holes in the way the whole thing works since the concept is pretty much a plot device to have the story flow nicely but i like thinking about its implications just for fun! 

so. the UT translates every single language, even from new encountered cultures/species(!), and it works by (((as far as i remember)) analyzing the new language and comparing it to a massive database of other languages in order to deduce the new language's grammar. 

one of the things i think about for entertainment is: if i for any reason i was the first encounter with “The Aliens” and they had a universal translator like the one from star trek… how would That go?

Like, for example, if i used the formal form of spanish when i'm talking to them (because i am Polite), would the universal translator assume that Spanish only has that form? Or is there a way for machine translation to infer the existence of an informal form even if I only refer to the aliens in formal spanish?? ((in other words, is there something embedded in the way spanish is constructed that would hint towards the existence of an informal form? and could a super clever machine like the UT pick up on it))). Furthermore, if their alien language makes no distinction between formal and informal, does it even matter at all that i am trying to be polite with them??? (((i mean, it would matter to me in my heart but like objectively speaking,,,,,,, probably not??🤨 but even if i know it's not gonna carry out into their language i would still use the formal form and try to be polite.....))) 

also, in-universe i’ve always wondered why some characters are able to switch from English to their own language. shouldn’t all their speech be translated, if the UT is constantly running?? the only answer i can think of right now is that the universal translator somehow reads their mind (?) or is somehow aware of the speaker's intention/desire and can sense when a speaker wants to switch back to their language. Which would make sense. and i think that is part of the canon explanation for how it works –some technobabble about brain waves that i can't remember right now–, but if that is the case then it only poses more questions to me. like, for example, if someone makes a joke that would be hard for outsiders of their culture to understand then:

1) would the u.t. be able to tell this?  because maybe yes maybe the UT can deduce grammar and syntax but there's so much more of Us in the way we use language!!1! can it deduce culture or slang or idioms?? a lot of the language we use is so nuanced, which is precisely one of the limitations of machine translation.

but lets say the technology is so advanced that it can tell when things are jokes and when said jokes will be hard to understand for outsiders, then: 2) would it make use of equivalence OR would it opt for something like literal translation?  domesticating stuff (or finding an equivalence) could make communication “easier” or "more comfortable" for the receiver but aren’t these people in space precisely there to learn about new things and cultures? When you domesticate a text, part of its original meaning gets lost... wouldn't scientist or historians or whatever be apprehensive about losing that information about other cultures? Someties when i consume things that have been translated into my language, i wonder about all the inside stuff like that that i might be missing lol

SDJDSKDSFHDSJKHDSK ¿¿¿¿in sum ???? i have many thoughts and questions regarding the Star Trek Universal Translator** and literally no concrete answers. i just run around thinking about it. i think most of the answers depend on the situation i guess. (**many of which can be applied to translation itself)

this ended up not really being Linguistic Facts and just me voicing my brainrot. im sorry. i tend to go feral over anything that is about translation and/or language teaching bc that’s what i'm majoring in and the universal translator has always been such an engrossing concept to me. PLUS i had never actually shared any of my thoughts on this outwardly and i had a lot of fun rambling ((( you might be able to tell by the long ass wall of text i replied with. WHICH. AGAIN. IM SORRY))))

[kingtomura]

you won’t see me panic until we get to chapter 4/5 and there’s no mention of Tenko. then I will lose my shit lol but until then.. as long as the villains have a good ending/rehabilitation then I am okay 😀👍🏽

[dykexenomorph]

1, 2, 3, 6, 9, and 16 for Lady Dimitriscu and Donna Piano 😁👍

as always answer the ones you want and skip the ones you dont:]

1. Why do you like or dislike this character? lady dimitrescu is a 9 foot tall milf dyke who eats ppl for fun. like of COURSE im gonna love her, cmon man donna is a weird one bc she doesn't rlly have a lot to go off of in game? i think i initially liked her bc her in-game segment is by FAR my favorite part of the game, but i ended up having a lot of fun analyzing whatever parts of her chara i cld get my grubby little hands on, now shes one of those charas tht i feel nobody knows like i do LMAO

2. Favorite canon thing about this character? see above for lady dimitrescu...but also specifically her saying manthing? if tht counts? it is very funny. TO ME. for donna i have NOTHING. WHAT CANON THINGS DO WE HAVE. idk her one line of dialogue i guess. my options are endless.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character? this is SUCHH an unpop opinion (and also a VERY old one that i haven't really thought about since re8 first came out in like 2021, so it may change next time i ACTUALLY take my time in a playthrough), but the way she treats her daughters?? idk fanon atp has definitely established her as like. THE mother of all time but i rlly dont feel like she was great to her daughters (I HAVE IN DEPTH REASONS FOR THIS I SWEAR) for donna its the lack of canon content.............

6. What's something you have in common with this character? i too love to throw vanities around and make ppl hallucinate evil dolls when im angry! hurray!

9. Could you be roommates with this character? NO TO BOTH OF THEM HELP. Lady D would obliterate me after I make a noise too late at night or smth and Donna's hallucinations would probably be too much for me? i'd have a better time w the latter though if i had to room w one.

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character? if people....do not stop forcing me to witness art......of donna with her niece........im going to obliterate someone.............

CHARA ASK GAME

[mitamicah]

https://www.tumblr.com/occhi-verdi-come-il-mare/754017842861670400

Damon has hinted at meeting Kris tomorrow

Awwwn that's lovely I hope they have a good time 🥰🤗(thank you for the context :3)

[sakurarisen]

εїз

Send εїз for an unimplemented HC!

So this one's gonna be kind of long, apologies ahead of time- XD

Despite her rough life, Sera has kind of always known there's more to her than even she can understand - And this is a feeling that only grows once she's finally able to settle down with Zack into a calmer, more peaceful life, and learns how to cope and face the things that've happened to her. The more she finds ways to cope and finally have the life she's craved and deserved, the more it feels like she's standing on a frozen lake; there's so much more under the surface, so much more to her, and yet she can't access any of it past the occasional tap on the ice and a temporary, slight bubbling up of the cold water underneath. So, so much more... Something, but she's never understood what, no matter how much she tries to find the answers to 'what makes Seraphina Fair tick?' - A question that comes up especially often in her FF7 canon, when she realizes the materia she picked up on her way to Gongaga is a summon materia for Shiva, eventually gaining the use of her aid and power, albeit at the cost of her own energy and needing serious bedrest after.

This question of what makes her 'tick' and what lies under that frozen over lake is now the same in every verse: Because Sera holds the power of one of many elemental phoenixes - In this case, the Snow Phoenix.

There's lore I wrote up a very, VERY long time ago (and need to rewrite and fine tune, now XD) for another OC of mine whose bloodline is descended from a phoenix - Essentially, the phoenix lived in in an era where gods walked the planet freely and many gained a following, with the phoenix especially enjoying a temple and a fair number of worshipers. But as humans do, war eventually broke out, and the phoenix himself was targeted for his feathers under the false claim they would give the power of rebirth and the inability to fall in battle, causing his temples to be overrun in the people's bid to get their hands on them.

The phoenix stood tall and protected his temple and the priests and priestesses within it, eventually taking human form to fight beside them, and at the end of the war, began a bloodline with his most trusted priestess that eventually, many hundreds, probably thousands of years later, to my other OC - Who, for multiple reasons, thought she was the last of the phoenixes despite being only a halfbreed.

Expanded lore I've been working on, however, adds more phoenixes; the original was a solely fire-based creature, while the others that existed among the world were of other elements - Ice, lighting, water... The original 'myth' had been passed down among the people of a pretty remote village, and the myth/legend had inevitably changed over time, like playing a game of telephone, until all mentions of other phoenixes and gods ceased to exist within it. Nobody knows there's others - But even so, Sera herself inherited the defensive, healing powers of the Snow Phoenix, while her older brother Thoma inherited some of the fire phoenix's power - Two phoenixes who were originally siblings, now echoed in Sera and her brother, linked closely together just the same as the originals.

However, despite Sera embodying the Snow Phoenix in just about every way - defensive and protective in nature, rose from her 'ashes' to keep moving forward (multiple times over her life, actually, this girl SHOULD have died several times over and managed to survive), an affinity for ice magic/abilities, ranged fighting, a healer, hiding in the form of a snow leopard/human/snow fox, etc., that's all for another post and not this one which is already longer than I intended it to be - she isn't strong enough to use it, at least not in full. The circumstances of her life/lives have made it so that while she HAS the power within her, she's too physically weak to access it, and using it in full would more than likely kill her - Though she can access incredibly tiny fractions of it when she desperately needs it, or with the aid of Zack and Thoma, her soulmate and the single blood relative/member of her birth family she has left she's super close to.

This lore also fits into just about everything I have running for her; reincarnation and rebirth is a thing across all my blogs (every verse and AU is another lifetime for the muse, with them all being connected in the end by being the same person reborn into a new life with the same soul, changed only by the timeframe and circumstances they're born into, otherwise the exact same person), and the snow phoenix follows her through all of them. In GI, it's an old power caught up in the rebirth cycle, in FF7 it was a familiar of Shiva she aided into gaining human form - Nothing like an ancient in any form, but a being connected to the goddess and the elements (who still needs materia even with her innate abilities), and so on.

This... This isn't implemented YET because I need to figure out how to rewrite the phoenix myth and organically insert it into Sera's stuff, but this is... This is just Sera. This is my girl, and it's taken me over a decade to FINALLY figure out this is what she's had lingering within her, even though I've known there's something there for a looooong time. I want to make SURE it makes sense and doesn't step on toes when I add it in, or buck anything in canon lores for any of the verses, and I really want it to work out - And since Sera is inherently fandomless/multifandom at her core, it should be easy enough to do that?

But also I've been rambling for FOREVER here so I'll cut this one here XD I'm just?? So excited to finally know what's going on with Sera in more detail, and I have SO MUCH MORE I'm working on on top of this! <3

[pufffinn]

blease tell us abt trollitics (troll politics) & dewdrop

OMG YES YAYYYY TYSM FOR ASKING

ok so like. basically after i watched the third movie i was thinking about how gristle was paying for the wedding venue and that’s literally what started my whole thought process here. cause the venue is. well yes it’s technically the plaza but it is RIGHT under the troll tree. so maybe it’s a popular wedding spot but it got me thinking who exactly like. owns the area under/around the troll tree?? you would think the monarchy right ( aka king gristle ) but gristle seemed pretty stressed about having to get out of the venue in time 😭 yes i know it’s all played for jokes but i’m a chronic over thinker so what were any of us expecting. so ANYWAY. surely, after the bergens and trolls make peace, wouldn’t the trolls want the tree back? and that got me thinking MORE like how did they transition the ownership of the troll tree back to the trolls. and are there now troll-bergen laws? troll protections? troll TREE protections?? reparations for literally eating trolls alive for years? THERE IS SO MUCH OPPORTUNITY HERE to make a whole thing about how the bergens and trolls learn to exist with eachother and it is so so interesting to me.

so what kind of laws and protections are there now?? how do they get established?? WHO’S establishing them?? troll and bergen lawyers?? so many questions and so many possible answers

but now that we’ve got like a bit of backstory and politics and my lead up of thoughts out of the way which i could rlly just go on forever about. we’ve got whimsy’s introduction!! basically what happens is between the events of world tour and band together, some pop trolls start wanting to move back to the troll tree ( whimsy among them ). but the main village in the forest is too big and settled for everyone to want to move, and it is still the main village, so poppy spends most of her time there and can’t go back and forth between the two places all the time ( tho she certainly tried ). so after a bit of this they need to appoint a headman for the troll tree village to help keep things runnings, to act as a spokesperson for poppy, report back to the main troll village every once in a while, etc etc. ( i could’ve grabbed an unused canon character but why do that when this gave me a chance to make another oc ). said headman for the troll tree ended up being whimsy dewdrop!! it’s a very busy troll nowadays, and ends up working a lot with the bergens to make agreements and laws regarding all the intricacies of bergen and troll cohabitation. whimsy also ends up spending quite a bit of time with poppy and occasionally branch when they come to check up on the troll tree and everyone living there. whimsy herself is a little more down to earth than some other pop trolls but she still loves all the classic pop troll activities. she also LOVES glowbug watching and was very excited when they started hanging out around the troll tree again.

also i think that later on in the game when everything is much more settled, the bergens and pop trolls work together to make the troll tree plaza more hospitable to the trolls, creating places for trolls to move around outside the immediate area of the troll tree!! trolls can generally get around pretty easily even in large spaces, but i think it would be neat for the trolls and bergens to do things like business ventures together, and for troll decoration/architecture to kind of bleed into the plaza. maybe a bit unrelated but i also hc that the troll tree grows/thrives from joy, and also that it was regularly trimmed to keep all it’s branches inside the old cage. now that it’s free to grow and has lots of joy and hope and happiness to thrive off of, it starts to spread over a very large majority of the plaza.

i really just wanted to explore how the ‘common’ trolls and bergens would learn to live with eachother and what that would entail. and ofc troll politics. who doesn’t want to think about that. anyway if you guys made it this far ily muah tysm 🫶

[the-light-of-animation]

Oh WOW Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was freaking awesome!

I’m so happy this film eventually got made, I’m curious how different it is to when it was originally set to be made all those years ago. Either way it turned out absolutely incredible, really really loved it. I had only seen an image from it but it looked like the animation was a lot simpler than the previous Shrek films, kind of reminding me of The Croods: A New Age (but that turned out gorgeous regardless of the different, less detail focused? style that DWA did so well). And this was film was the same, holy fucking shit the style this film had was amazing, the creativeness and everything was so well designed. It was really different to anything I expected and worked so well with a Puss in Boots story.

Speaking of the story, great freaking story. I was really surprised it was a sequel to the Shrek films and not another prequel, I suppose the one downside to the new animation style is that Puss looked so much younger and at the beginning I thought it was actually a prequel to the first Puss film. But yeah the whole nine lives story and a bunch of characters trying to get the wish was really great, really fun. The humor of this film was so good too. And Puss’ fear of death was done in a really chilling way

And I always loved the Shrek series and their use of Fairy Tales and this film did it in plenty! They truly just went fucking ham on the Fairy Tale stuff hahah. It was so fun to see all of it.

Loved Perrito as well, Harvey Guillén was so good. Was surprised by a lot of the characters and voice actors to be honest. John Mulaney was instantly recognizable and great to hear. Oh and the Cricket was fantastic, so freaking funny! Goldilocks and her family were a really fun and heartfelt part of the story too. And I LOVED those two Serpent Sisters they gave me such unbelievable Tuff & Ruff vibes that it almost felt like it was them hahah. And I love them so much so it was perfect. But it’s funny I thought I recognized Death’s voice but then no I didn’t know the actor. He was amazing though.

But yeah I guess they are making a Shrek 5 as the ending set it up like only a Marvel post-credits scene could hahah. As much as I loved the animation and style this film had, I kind of hope Shrek 5 looks more like the previous films. I just feel like this style would be too out of place for a Shrek story, can’t picture Shrek like that. But anyway they went to Far Far Away though so that must mean Artie’s returning, which has actually got me a bit excited for Shrek 5 even though it does not need to be made at all. But screw it I love these characters and want to see them again.

Anyway, like I’ve said before I was so worried DreamWorks Animation was gonna turn into Illumination 2.0 but it is the complete fucking opposite and it’s been amazing (besides the film we do not speak of). I am so excited for anything and everything they have coming up.