#also them setting human Cole up to

[dark-elf-writes]

Solas changing his mind because he has something from his past grounding him is so on brand. He's so lonely and scared and he is convinced he was wrong hell tear the world down but seeing kids connected to it he just can't.

A world of tranquil but while he can accept that they're people he would always chase the idea of more. They could be more. But here is a group already more. He will protect.

Cole chooses to be himself and he is not bound. He'd still in the middle he always will be. Grover is happy he keeps his friend his friend. (there are no moments of Cole remembering his past and removing them. There is no cole losing his abilities. He is himself.)

Also laughing at the idea of people asking all of them what their godly parents are like and Solas becoming more and more determined to fuck up another pantheon with each anecdote. Particularly Zeus, Hera, and Athena because the shit they did to these kids (and huge number of other Athena kids in the past) was heinous.

The thing about wolves is that they’re loyal and for all he may have been named for his pride Solas would always define himself by his loyalty to his people. And now to these kids who are so like what once was.

Cole still having his powers and getting to keep his personality is so important to me and I’m so upset they made us force him to change. He deserved better and Grover will be there to make sure his friend gets better.

[senseandaccountability]

the narrative that could have been

Having mulled over the game for a couple of days I have realised that the main problem for me is that Veilguard is good based on the premises they ultimately choose, but not based on the set up and promise of what was there before. I know this isn’t a unique take by any means and yes it’s all about the Evanuris and the Veil and Solas. 

Replaying really emphasises how incredibly little the game convinces me of its original main quest - to prevent Solas from doing his ritual. This is a problem as a long-term player because for three games we’ve had build up for a great crescendo tackling the overarching themes of the (restrictions and oppression of) magic, of tears in the Veil, of religious tyranny and oppression based on myths about the Black City and the temptations of flawed humans, we’ve seen and deconstructed the elves quite a bit, we got started on the dwarves and in DAI your Inquisitor can openly ask Solas if it wouldn’t be better if the Veil came down because then spirits wouldn’t be separated from the living and risk becoming demons. Cole, whose function is to reflect the plot, talks endlessly about the old songs wanting to be sung again, about how it hurts to be cut off from part of yourself, how the templars feel it, how the mages feel it, how the elves and the dwarves feel it. The Veil as a prerequisite for life has been deconstructed, the Fade demystified, the gods have mostly fallen. The Veil as an actual wound inflicted on this earth has been presented as a theory and not been convincingly rejected by the narrative. 

The game actually gives no explanation whatsoever as to why the Veil coming down would be worse than what Rook causes in the beginning and what the escaped gods then do to the entire Thedas. The entire south falls to the Blight because Elgar’nan and Ghilan'nain are let loose. The Wardens are more or less wiped out. There’s enormous political turmoil. The game gives us Solas saying “thousands” would die when he brought the Veil down, but that he had a host of spirits there to help. (Yes, I know, his sole function in this game is to Trick and Deceive so who is to say if he’s lying, HUH, but even so, THE ENTIRE SOUTH FALLS TO THE BLIGHT IN ROOK’S VERSION OF THINGS.)

The game puts emphasis on Solas's questionable methods and past horrors but it doesn't ever explain why his goals are despicable here and now. It doesn't convince us that tearing down the Veil with lots of safety measures in place and after considerations is a bad result, all things considered - save for Varric’s initial yelling about demons. (We even learned in DAI that the Veil itself creates demons because it restricts the passage of spirits, come on.) Because three games have suggested it's not, not ultimately. Trespasser especially nuances this, just as it nuances Solas’s view of this current world state. Right after his long nap he would have nuked it all, I’m sure, but the whole point of character arcs is that things happen in them and what happened to him is that he was shown layers and angles he had not considered and adjusted his mindset and ultimately his plan accordingly. That is where DAV should have picked it up. That's where the build up was headed. But, now he must serve the narrative solely as the God of Treachery and Lies which means that previous build up is washed away for the most part. (In no way do I think he is OOC in DAV, I just want to point that out so nobody thinks I’m a sappy fangirl or whatever. I think he is perfectly in tune with his inner Dread Wolf, but that is also all he gets to be, because of the narrative, and I’m always much more interested in when roles and personas clash.) Again. The main problem is that the narrative cannot explain why bringing down the Veil would be the worse option than the shit we see unfold on screen. Instead it gets a bit lost in the past.  And I have Issues with that, as well.  Like, the dumbing down of the war against the Evanuris. The war that started because the leaders of the rebellion - who previously had to carry out terrible orders so the Evanuris, the upper crust of the Elvhenan, could play gods - decided that the Evanuris was a threat to them all. And the game gives us what, a depiction of how the rebellion ended up crossing lines, too? No shit.

Like, I am fully on board with the individual theme of regret on Solas’s part and he ought to be wrecked with guilt but I wish the game could be less all over the place with what sort of things he ought to be wrecked with guilt over. Saying fuck you to the Evanuris is the best and brightest of his character, I suppose I just don't want it dragged down to the same level as him breaking the Titans. I suppose I would have wished for a narrative that also worked on a systemic level when depicting things like, you know, war and revolutions and subjugation. But we don't have that, because DAV is only about personal choices. The Lighthouse crew flippantly writing the hierarchical and violent power struggle off as being about love and betrayal is on my shitlist forever. 

No, Taash et al, it was not about pussy, it was about feeling compelled by superiors to commit heinous war crimes and being lied to about the actual purposes of your damn war in the first place. The elves shouting at Elgar’nan and Mythal in this painting aren’t driven by love and sex they have been lied to by their ruling class. It was never about freedom or ending the wars, it was always about Elgar’nan jerking off to ultimate godhood. The writing even suggests betrayal here is to be understood as Netflix drama betrayal, maybe some juicy porny plot but it’s ABOUT THE BETRAYAL OF THE ELVES BY THEIR OWN KIN.  ((ETA: I would have wanted my Dalish mage to be allowed to be furious, NOT WITH SOLAS, but with the fucking Evanuris for betraying her people and being so fucking vile that the only option that remained was to create a world where she's a second-class citizen. I would have wanted the game to recognize that not all causes are equal and that Elgar'nan's cause for godhood was objectively more vile than Solas's cause for freedom because as it stands now, there are some really iffy vibes of "both sides are equally bad" and other things authorities tend to say when comparing destructive regimes with uprisings.)) I’m sorry, this shit hits me on a personal and political rage level. 

I also can’t help but mourn a game where the Trickster God fulfilled his trope’s duty and shook the stagnation apart with his actions - for good or ill, the way trickster gods are wont to do - and where Rook was tricked into helping and then, a more complex game about its consequences could have unfolded. The Evanuris could still have been the bad guys, if they wanted big villains frothing at the mouth. There could still have been numerous unplanned consequences, like all of Solas's plans have. Maybe other ancients awake as well. Maybe ancient evils who aren’t elves, who knows. Point is - the Veil should have come down, at least in some form, at least in some outcome. THAT is what they've been building up to. In this game that never was, Rook could be an actual interesting character where we could mold her as either accepting of this trickster role (which fits perfectly for a blank slate with no ties) or set to overturn it and enforce status quo, with some vanilla option in the middle. Maybe the Veil doesn’t come down until the very end of the game, ancient magic takes time after all, maybe a lot has happened by then. But ultimately, Rook’s choice in the end should not have been about siding against Solas because he’s lying to you or because he did horrible things in the past or siding with him because you want him redeemed. The narrative should have provided those options either way. The narrative should have been brave enough to suggest that hey, maybe Solas isn't wrong at all - his methods maybe, but his goal, no. If they truly wanted mirrors between Rook and Solas, Rook should have tackled the issue of actively bringing down the Veil herself, not because it's a roses and sunshine-outcome but because it might very well be the lesser of two evils. Gods, that would have been interesting. It should have been a choice about what sort of world Rook and the Veilguard wants to see in the future. It should have been about the people, the world, not how angry Rook is that an ancient elf has tricked her. 

That would have been the game I wanted to play.  This story doesn't really give anything new to the world of Thedas, which a world without the Veil would have. It accomplishes closure for our favourite trickster god and bless them for that, but as for the plot and the world-building it ends on a meh because the narrative isn't about the people unless they're brought up as being endangered. This is why I can feel satisfaction regarding the thematic conclusion to certain character arcs, the trickster becomes the healer with the bloodiest hands, the wolf submits willingly to his trap and so on and so forth, and I can have fun with the characters and their arcs but also really mourn the game that was there, in subtext and build up over three previous games and in several tie-ins.

[acidsaladd]

here they r!!! these were gonna be like a set with one other drawing that i did finish and posted

[id: three drawings of cole, kai, jay and zane from lego ninjago. they are drawn as humans in all three of them in a warm yellow canvas. in the first drawing, all four of them are hugging, jay on the very left then zane, cole and kai on the far right. jay has his cheek on zanes shoulder his eye squeezed closed and smiling, his arm reaching across zanes chest. zane is resting his head slightly on jays head, his eyes closed and smiling. cole is poking out from behind all of them, his head resting on zanes shoulder, he is also smiling with his eyes closed. kai is leaning his head close to coles, smiling and looking at the viewer, his arm is resting on zanes stomach. jay is drawn with brown skin and reddish brown hair, he is wearing a pink shirt and lichtenberg scars poking out of his short sleeve. zane is drawn as a black man with a cool undertone, he is wearing a light blue shirt. cole is also drawn as a black man with a warmer undertone and thick locs in a half-up-half-down hairdo. kai is drawn with slightly darker brown skin and a dark wine red t shirt, burn scars over his forearm.

the second image is a drawing of the four of them laying in a bed, cole on the far right, then kai, jay and zane. they are all half under the covers. cole is half sat up, one arm bracing his head and the other resting close to kai over the covers. kai is looking back at him while hugging jay close with one arm. jay has his eyes closed and mouth open as if yawning. zane is looking back at them, hands clasped over the covers. the third image is a drawing of them sitting and laying on the floor over each other. cole is sitting in the middle, legs stretched out in front of him, resting his head on the wall, eyes closed and mouth open as if talking. zane is leaning into him on the right, legs crossed and one arm is reaching across cole to hold jays arm. jay is laying down head pillowed on coles thigh on the left and his legs tangling with coles leg, his eyes are closed and he is laughing. kai is using jay as a backrest while laying down, hes resting one foot up on his knee, one of his arms is resting against jays stomach and the other is reaching at coles face./ end id]

[notmeowse]

Curious to know why you wanted the veil to come down? I personally would’ve liked the option because it sets the world to how it was meant to be, BUT came to the understanding (idk if understanding is the right word but that’s what I’m using here lol) that because it would bunk up everything for everyone in the world currently, it was kinder/safer for everyone currently alive to leave it in place. After all it’s all anyone has known and not knowing the result of tearing it down was too big a risk. To let people keep living their lives instead of essentially turning back the clock was the safer option which is why I’m actually not super upset about not having “tear it down” as an option. It would’ve been nice to have it. In fact that’s probably the route I would’ve taken had it been available, but I can understand why the team and Rook don’t see it that way.

I think if we look at it from a developer standpoint it does look like them wanting to keep the status quo, but if you look at it from an in-world standpoint of “the world as it is now had been in place for thousands of years and it’s all anyone knows. It’s too risky/scary to tear it down just because you (Solas) can’t move on from your regrets that led to its creation in the first place” makes sense to me. Like a “you made your bed, it’s time to finally lie in it” kind of way. If they do make a DA5 (doubtful since it seemed like this game was meant to tie up or throw out loose ends) maybe it will be about finding ways to tear it down that wouldn’t idk…risk also messing up the world people currently reside in

Also question, because I mighta missed it, but if the veil is torn down completely would that not release the blight in its entirety? I thought that was also why they couldn’t take it down. I know Solas said he “had a plan” but was that a plan to not let the blight out if he took the veil down? I think that because that was my understanding of the blight that’s also why I wasn’t as pressed about not getting a tear down option, but now I just can’t seem to remember if that was the case with the blight or not

Hello and thank you for this ask! I so appreciate you leaving this for me so I can iron out my thoughts, because in many ways, the ending really did not go the way I thought it would. Spoilers/novel-length response under the cut!

After all, it was foreshadowed multiple times in the previous games. The biggest foreshadowing was Sandal's prophecy back in DA2, which was clearly the first draft of the events of this game:

One day the magic will come back - all of it. Everyone will be just like they were.

The "everyone" in this scenario could very well have meant the dwarves, but it also could have meant everyone. Elves, spirits, dwarves, everyone that lost something from the Veil going up. That was supposed to be what was coming. Every tear in the veil, every claim that it was weakening or failing in any way, served as (I thought) foreshadowing to it coming down.

And the series gives us very valid reasons for it to do so.

The main reason the Veil should have come down, for me, was to save the spirits. They're essentially trapped in the Fade, pressing against the Veil and constantly twisting themselves into the wrong shapes to be able to get to the waking world because they do not understand why they aren't part of it. Yes, it is kinder and safer for everyone in the waking world to not disrupt it by letting the world bring itself back together -- but what about the spirits? The ending, in its current state, disregards them completely. As if we haven't spent the last 3 games building them up as people. Not just that, but as the other people (besides elves) that Solas wronged by throwing up the Veil.

The games have had multiple instances of (for lack of a better word) humanizing spirits for us, by giving us characters like Justice and Cole, the All New, Faded For Her spirit, and now the demon Spite. They're naturally drawn to the waking world, to people, to strong emotion. The Veil acts as a barrier for them to truly experience the world, and when forced through it, they tend to become demons. But we are very much meant to see those characters as people, and Solas's entire argument in Inquisition was that they suffered from the Veil, too -- and no one else alive in Thedas seemed to care. Now that he's gone, that's actually the case.

In Trespasser, he was originally tearing down the veil for the spirits, not just the elves, and ended up killing Mythal to be able to have the power to do so. Veilguard wants to pretend it was for her, all along, despite the fact that he quite literally snuffed out one of the last shreds of her existence in the previous game in the name of helping the spirits and the elvhen.

But of course, we learn that the Veil doesn't just contain the Evanuris in this game, right? It also contains the rest of the blight! And shortly after we reach this revelation (depending on when you watched all of the memories) we discover that the very first Tranquil beings in Thedas were the titans (sundered from their spirit + achievement for the memory is quite literally called Tranquility), and that the blight comes from their madness. It is essentially the titans' nightmares!

Now, when we learned that in-game, I absolutely thought the next course of action would be to help them. Not just because it would stop the blight in its tracks and remove one reason for the Veil being up, but it would also snatch away the main weapon of the Evanuris, AND ALSO heal them for the sake of the dwarves. To help them reclaim that part of themselves long-since sundered. Veilguard actually gives us no explanation as to why we DON'T do this. Reversing the damage is briefly considered by Emmrich as a possibility, and never brought up again -- why didn't the team immediately pivot to that, given Harding's presence and connection to the stone? She alone (being the only dwarf currently in Thedas who had that connection) could have led us right to the remaining titans, and we could have used the dagger (the same one used to sunder their spirits in the first place) to heal them, much like the Inquisitor used the anchor to heal.

I had thought this was foreshadowed heavily in Inquisition, given that Solas learns (and is deeply intrigued by) the Inquisitor using the anchor not to rip open the Veil, but to heal it instead -- there's even a codex entry on it in this game. We also learned in Inquisition (Nope, actually DA: Asunder) that Tranquility can be reversed, but very little is done with that revelation in that game's plot -- surely it was meant to set up reversal of the titans' Tranquility in this game? For us to go fix it? Apparently not.

Regardless, that solution (helping the titans) would also have rendered the Evanuris blight-less, defanging them and taking away their favorite toy thus truly evening out the playing field and making the final fight of the game far more believable. Like, in its current state, my little Antivan Crow Rogue Rook kills Elgar'nan. The first of the firstborn. The oldest and strongest of the evanuris. At full power. Something Solas could not do. And Rook did it without even a single power boost -- and yes, I do think that Rook should have taken on the essence of Mythal, leading to Solas having an oh my god there's two of them moment. But that's not really my point in this absolute essay I'm writing you (I'm so sorry if it's more than what you bargained for lol)

My POINT! Is that we finished out Trespasser with Solas treasuring the possibility of being wrong about his plans. We are led to believe that the Inquisitor (or, you know, the protagonist of the next game) is going to find an alternative route, or a reason for him to leave the Veil up -- something that would prove him wrong. Ultimately, my point is that the revelations about the titans should have been that reason. Fixing them, rejoining them with their spirits and curing their tranquility, should have been the alternative that Rook/the Inquisitor presented him. And frankly, that should have been his fucking atonement. None of this bullshit at the end of the game with him binding himself to the Veil, he's quite literally reinforcing the band-aid he slapped over the world instead of getting to the root of the problem. Which is the titans. He should have helped them. He alone probably knows fucking how, since he broke them in the first place. It doesn't make any sense that he didn't... consider that avenue in the first place?

So by the end of the game, it's like oh, great! The Veil is now reinforced so the spirits will continue to suffer. And there's also a very real possibility that the one dwarf in Thedas with stone sense just died, jeopardizing any chances the dwarves had of reconnecting with or helping the titans. So now the titans will continue to suffer too! Yay! All of this buildup was completely pointless!

Given that they're doing a hard reboot of the series (the south was destroyed anyway, any future games likely won't take place there and Thedas as we know it pretty much went through an apocalypse/had way more death than the original ritual would have created), it would have made perfect fucking sense to boardwipe the world and change everything in it by BRINGING DOWN THE VEIL. It would quite literally have accomplished the exact same thing the superblight did, but with added benefits of spirits being free to roam about the cabin, and we could potentially have gotten the freaking titans back. Holy hell. The worst part is that they're still alive. Like, they're more scattered and disparate, clearly, but we're just leaving them in the past? Oh my god, they're still alive! What are we doing! Why aren't we helping them, why aren't we giving the dwarves back their dreams and their magic! Are we seriously supposed to accept that these are just the way things are now, despite the fact that we have a dwarven success story in the party with us? The new postergirl for dwarves getting their magic and their dreams back with very little negative side effects?

Like, the game doesn't do anything to try to convince us it would be a bad thing to save the titans, doesn't do anything to suggest that we should leave this any of this stuff (which, apparently now includes the Dalish, because Arlathan was given to the Veil Jumpers) in the past. It also doesn't put up a great argument for keeping the Veil up, either -- Rook repeatedly says Solas will drown the world in demons, and he doesn't correct them simply because he doesn't respect them -- but we, the players, know that would not be the case. He would have quite literally reunited the world with itself, on multiple levels.

I'm sorry. I'm so irritated about it all, if that wasn't clear by the novel. Thank you again for asking, it was good to get this out. Veil should have come down.

[saltylandland]

‘Who hasn’t jerked off while their family was fighting downstairs?’

I.E I loved Lisa Frankenstein and while I don’t want to see cole sprouse in a porno (cuz I really don’t lol) this scene would’ve slapped so this post and this poll is what decided this fic. Sorry if this is unreadable I mostly wrote it sleep deprived

Warnings: y’all heard of David being the hidden romantic, but are you prepared for somewhat romantic! Marko? (More like virgin, obsessed with the reader) Vibrator, somewhat voyeuristic? Also Marko can turn into a bat instead of a revamped corpse for the purposes of our story

Also go watch Lisa Frankenstein y’all it’s so good

As you walk through the door you feel your soul escaping you, floating around dizzyingly. Surely it’s finding its way to hell before your body follows it, not that you particularly believed in hell anyway.

Greeting you in the front foyer is your father and step sister, with varied states of worry. Lovingly contrasted by your numbness. You bring her into a hug, comforting her over her missing mother. With a sharp sting you feel the bat in your pocket bite you through your clothes.

With a hiss you jump out of the embrace “ow you little shit” rubbing near the spot where he’d bitten you mutter quietly. Your sister looks at you through her tears, “what?” You subconsciously hit your pocket as nerves rack through you. “I said you must be going through it, hah ha”

Your sister nods with a rueful smile “yeah, I think we’re going to make a police report, would you like to join us?” Your back straightens as you inch up the stairs away from her “oh, you know, I choose to believe that she will be here first thing in the morning, making a police report makes it feel real, ya know?” With a watery smile she pulls you back in for a hug before you bolt, blissfully unaware of her mother’s two killers in front of her. “Yeah, she’ll be home tomorrow, then we can all laugh together about the missing person report”

“Yeah, truely” and with that you leap up the stairs to your room.

Even with the distance between them you could still hear your father’s and panicked step sister talking. Slowly you close your door before leaving it open a crack as Marko jumps out of your pocket, swiftly changing into his human form as soon as he could. Buzzing about, he digs through your closet for pyjamas and you two get ready for bed. It feels oddly… domestic.

Marko gets to bed first, patting the space beside him as you slowly crawl into your place. You heave a tired sigh as the day sets in on you, as you watch Marko grab the ‘massager’, offering to ‘massage’ you for your troubles.

Looking at his eager face you wouldn’t have been able to even conceive the look of utter bloodthirst he had on as he ‘got rid of the evidence’. But looking at his expression now, you don’t feel anything you probably should feel isn’t present. You didn’t want to go to the psyche ward your ‘intuitive’ step mother wanted to send you too, and looking at the person who made that go away…

He’s still fiddling with the vibrator, waiting till you let him massage you. Reaching for it, you stiltedly lean over. “You know… it’s not a massager actually… actually it’s used for…” gesturing wildly a bit, you gently push the wand down to your upper thigh. You see his back straighten as he hesitates for a second on what to do.

Trailing it up your thigh your body does a full body shiver as you giggle from nerves. There were countless times you’ve used the vibratior yourself, but there’s something about the alien feeling of the wand exploring your body in someone else’s hand. Up and over your stomach gently it goes all the way to your neck and back. Just like how he’s done before with his normal massages. This time, his lips trail over the same areas, ghosting over your skin carefully. Devotedly.

Marko watches your reactions with rapid attention, as the wand starts to dip back down to the lower half of your body. It started agonisingly slow, but as your breath hitches, he picks up the pace with an eager grin. He’s so close to your pussy you hold yourself back from grabbing at his hand to pull him closer, until you suddenly hear from beyond the loud thrumming of your wand. Your step sister crying louder as she talks on the phone and- oh fuck

Marko presses the wand right on your mound, so close to your clit, yet still a bit clumsy. But with the prep beforehand to make you all hot and bothered, it feels heavenly. Shaking you go grab his hand to push it away but he holds steady, your voice pitching uncontrollably higher that you worry your family below can hear you. Marko shows no remorse nor any signs of stopping, not that you’d want him too.

Moving the wand around to find the best reaction you can give and once he finds your clit you give him quite a show. Half leaning on his chest your back arches as you moan. One hand on the pillows below you and the other taken captive by Marko’s other hand. Which he holds up to his mouth to kiss. A sweet gentlemanly action as he rubs the sex toy directly over your clit.

You still listen disconnectedly to your family downstairs as they talk on the phone, but that worry only heightens your high. With a final desperate gasp you cum in your pyjamas. The lights in the house flicker from the voltage your vibrator requires.

Basking in the afterglow of your orgasm, you listen to the sounds downstairs, your family have since finished the police report and dispersed to who knows where.

Fiddling with your clothes while you were distracted, Marko pressed the wand onto your bare skin. Looking at him quickly, you start to melt into his embrace once again.

[spinchip]

For the Find Your Way Home AU, are there any character relationships or connections that you think would be different from canon because the ninja all meet each other at a different point in life/under new circumstances? Like, for example, are they less close with Zane because they only just met him and didn't know him while he still thought he was human? Is bonding with Lloyd easier because they didn't deal with him trying to go all "child villain" on their asses?

ohhhh ohhhhh the Zane dynamic in the group is so fun because he's not human, he knows hes not human, and he's actively keeping it a secret. he's lying to them! for a long time! because of this, hes effectively always keeping the others at arms length. he can't risk anyone getting close because they might find out. this puts a wedge between him and the others until they find out about his secret (which is... seasons down the line. oops.) also they think he's weird ❤️ and all his extensive knowledge, seer abilities, and android nature only add to that. it takes them longer to warm up to him.

bonding with Lloyd is definitely easier because to them he's just some kid signed up for a tournament he should NOT be in. they want to protect him!! and Lloyd also has a lot going on that really helps him relate to the others, and he's more willing to be open about those things. doesn't know his dad, who left when he was a kid? hey Kai! feels he's destined for something greater and feels the pressure to live up to that mysterious bar? Nya! complicated relationship with a parental figure? helloooo Cole! Different in an unexplainable way that sets him apart from others? Zane! has a hard time making friends and uses sarcasm to shield himself? Jayyyyy!

Cole and Jay take a loooong time to trust and rely on the others. they have each other, and that's a crutch they both constantly fall back on. they know where they stand with each other and don't have to worry about guessing games with the others.

Kai is not really into the whole Elemental Masters thing, but he forms a close bond with Lloyd and Nya really pushes him to embrace his destiny so he finally warms up to the idea. part of him is still resistant so that can cause a bit of contention between him and zane especially, who'd fully committed to his role as the White Ninja.

Nya's relationship with kai suffers a lot during this because Nya always KNEW she was destined for greatness!! and then she learns about this amazing prophecy... that her brother is part of. her brother, who wouldn't even have come along if not for her. who wants no part of it. HE'S in the prophecy. and he's still trying to baby her and take care of her. she's bitter towards them all but doesn't show it

feel free to ask about specific relationships!

[kcwriter-blog]

The Theme of Forgiveness in Cole’s Personal Quest

The theme of The Veilguard will be regret. But there is more to getting past regret than just deciding to get over it. To experience regret is to experience shame and guilt. It is to feel sorry for causing pain. It is about penance and forgiveness.

While I don’t know how that will play out in The Veilguard, I believe we see some of those same themes in Cole’s personal quest, Subjected to His Will. As Trick Weekes wrote Cole, Solas and presumably the quest, I think there are aspects of it that could be relevant to Rook and Solas’ arcs in Veilguard. Since there are potential spoilers, I will put the rest under the cut.

The quest revolves around the question of whether Cole should become more like a spirit or more human. There are pros and cons to each, and I really don’t think there is a right or wrong answer. What is interesting is how very Old Testament that section of the quest is.

Cole, Varric, Solas and the Inquisitor find the man responsible for the real Cole’s death. Cole’s immediate reaction when confronting him is, understandably, anger. It’s not so much that Cole wants revenge as it is that he feels he must seek it. The man was responsible for the real Cole’s death; therefore, he must die. Basically, an eye for an eye.

It’s an interesting set up because we aren’t being asked to decide whether the man will die. As Varric points out, no one is suggesting that. We are being asked to decide how Cole will heal. Will it be by exacting revenge or by offering forgiveness.

One thing we always overlook during the quest is the ex-Templar himself. We don’t consider his feelings. Feelings he has been living with since the day the real Cole died.

What we know immediately is that he is an ex-Templar. He wouldn’t be buying black market lyrium if he wasn’t. We also know how harsh a life that is due to Cullen and Samson’s backstories. As the Templars wouldn’t care about the real Cole’s death, he wasn’t kicked out because of that. Which means he probably left the order because he couldn’t stand to be reminded of what he had done. He regrets it. He is sorry.

So, on one side we have a man who feels so guilty, he leaves the order, subjecting himself to a precarious existence because he can’t forgive himself. On the other, we have the person harmed by his actions, seeking recompense.

Cole has two options. Or rather, we are given two possible paths for him. If the Inquisitor sides with Varric, he is offered the opportunity to exact revenge. This helps Cole grow but I would argue it is the easier option. Vengeance is simple. It makes us feel better right away. Forgiveness is much, much harder.

Why then does Solas advocate for it? Because forgiving someone who is truly repentant is an act of compassion. Cole is a spirit of compassion. To become more of what he once was, he must find compassion in himself.

And it is hard. I love the imagery of the scene where Cole confronts the Templar. The man realizes his sins have caught up to him. He sinks to his knees in front of Cole. Now he is at Cole’s mercy. At which point Solas steps in and asks Cole to feel the man’s pain.

Solas is asking Cole to empathize with the man, to try to understand not why he did what he did, but how he has felt every day since then. He wants Cole to understand that the man has been punishing himself. He has been doing penance. It isn’t working because he cannot forgive himself. He needs to be forgiven by the person he hurt.

Once Cole understands that the man has been punishing himself, he no longer feels the need to kill him. Forgiveness is Cole’s to grant or not grant. He has that much power. He chooses to forgive and in so doing frees them both.

While both ways of resolving Cole’s situation are valid,I believe that withholding forgiveness does not do Cole any good. All Cole learns from the experience is that taking a life for a life doesn’t solve anything. That doesn’t mean you heal. It just means you accept. Cole will never truly be free of the knowledge that the person he tried to help died. He was too late.

I should add that this doesn’t help the Templar either. He remembers what he did and apologizes because he fears for his life. Afterwards? He thinks the person he kills lives which means all he has done since then was pointless. That can lead to bitterness, resentment and possibly him hurting others because of it.

Now what does all this have to do with Rook and Solas? Well, Solas is carrying around about a thousand years worth of regret and guilt. Rook is probably carrying some also. Both for something they did that was supposed to save the world and ended up making things worse. They both will need to heal which means they will both need to find or accept compassion so they can forgive themselves.

[goldengalaxy99]

Cause I haven't seen anyone else talk about this, i wanted to point out the ways the new opening credits directly reference Helaena and one of her prophecies and how that ties into one of this season's major conflicts:

So, the embroidered tapestry is an obvious reference to Helaena because we always see her working on her embroidery. As for her prophecy, in season 1, she said:

“Hand turns loom; spool of green, spool of black; dragons of flesh weaving dragons of thread."

This is one of the few prophecies we haven't seen immediately play out in the same episode and it's because it is a prophecy about the dance as a whole.

How I interpret it is that it references how the actions of outsiders (most obviously, the hand, Otto, and other characters like Cole, Larys, you can even argue Alicent) have led to the fracturing of House Targaryen. Once fractured, the dragons of flesh (Targaryen dragonriders) take the reins and begin to weave their own tragic tapestry (dragons of thread) as they wage war on each other. That tragic tapestry eventually goes down in the tapestry of human history as the downfall of House Targaryen.

This is also in line with the conflict the show has set up for this season. We see it with Alicent trying to prevent wanton violence in the first episode. And I think most clearly at the end of the new season 2 trailer when Cole says, "we have given the war to the dragons"

The dance was started because of outside players who wanted to control House Targaryen. But the conflict they created is beyond their control. They forgot that the Targareyns are dragons. And now there isn't anything that can stop them from unleashing fire and blood upon each other

[scifigeneration]

Blade Runner soundtrack at 30: how Vangelis used electronic music to explore what it means to be human

by Alison Cole, Composer and Lecturer in Screen Composition, Sydney Conservatorium of Music at the University of Sydney

In June 1994 the late composer Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou – better known as Vangelis – released his soundtrack for the 1982 film Blade Runner. It would go on to become emblematic of his skills, with only a handful of soundtracks reaching a similar level of cult status.

Prior to this, sci-fi film scores tended to be characterised by orchestral sound palettes. For instance, John Williams’ 1991 Star Wars soundtrack leaned on the London Symphony Orchestra to communicate the vastness of a galaxy far, far away.

Vangelis, on the other hand, used an electronic approach to bring a subtlety and complexity that shifted the focus inwards. His ability to communicate deep emotion, alongside expansive philosophical concepts, was perhaps his greatest achievement with Blade Runner.

Missing pieces

Director Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner was adapted from Phillip K. Dick’s 1968 sci-fi novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – which itself was a thoughtful examination of empathy and what it means to be human. The emotional gravitas of the original story, along with Vangelis’ accompanying timbral exploration, created an aural experience that was new to sci-fi films at the time.

Vangelis began work on the score in 1981. He received edited footage scene-by-scene on VHS tapes and created live takes in his studio with his synthesiser collection.

However, the first official soundtrack was delayed some 12 years after the film’s release, due to what was reportedly an ongoing disagreement with producers.

When it finally was released, purists viewed it as more of an album than a soundtrack. They criticised it for not having much of the music used in the original film, and for including pieces that never appeared in the film, such as Main Titles and Blush Response.

While the 2007 version (a 25th anniversary edition) included some unreleased material, parts of the original soundtrack remain unreleased even today.

A symmetry between newness and nostalgia

By emphasising longer drawn out notes, rather than thick instrumental combinations, Vangelis thoughtfully taps into the atmosphere of Scott’s visual world to create something truly unique.

Early sci-fi movies such as Forbidden Planet (1956) and The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) often used electronic instruments developed in the early to mid-1900s, such as the theremin and the modular synthesiser. While these instruments helped augment concepts such as aliens, spaceships and robots, they did this somewhat simplistically.

A more sophisticated perspective pervades through Blade Runner, which combines film-noir instrumentation with classical, electronic, jazz and Middle Eastern music genres.

Specifically, Vangelis leverages the different sound qualities of synthesisers – such as bright and airy, thin and cold, or dark and thick – to at once capture emotion and highlight the complex ideas in the film’s narrative. In the final act, expansive synths dominate as the film reaches an intellectual and emotional climax.

While the synthesisers lend an artificial timbre to the score, the musicality simultaneously communicates life and feeling. In this way the foreign and familiar became enmeshed.

The film’s retro costuming and brutalist architecture also set up an expectation for the soundtrack. At times, the score will meaningfully go against this expectation by delving into a more nostalgic sound. The track Love Theme is a perfect example.

Innovative takes

Vangelis’ innovative use of dialogue in the soundtrack also helped to translate the complexities of the human condition. The tracks Main Titles, Blush Response, Wait for Me and Tears in Rain all feature dialogue in a way that makes them feel like a part of the film’s DNA.

The soundtrack’s arrangement was also uncommon for its time, as it mirrored the action narrative sequence. Tracks 1 through 4 are mixed as a single ongoing track. Tracks 5 through 7 are separated by silence, while tracks 8 through to 12 are also combined into a single piece. While this technique is common in electronic composition now, it was unique at the time.

The films dark, fraught and sad dystopian themes are further highlighted through collaborations with Welsh singer Mary Hopkins in Rachel’s Song, and Greek singer Demis Roussos in Tales of the Future.

Today, the Blade Runner soundtrack remains the most beloved of Vangelis’ works by his ardent fans – and it continues to commands its place in the 20th-century electronic music canon.

[localguy2]

General analysis of DR Zane, S1 and S2 included (spoilers):

Man... Is this one a doozy...

Okay okay so, what I wanna touch on first and foremost is Zane's humanity, or his perception of his own humanity, because uhhh...

Folks the implications are NOT GOOD in the SLIGHTEST in regards to his Mental State and thinking process.

Something we've seen repeatedly throughout DR is that the merged realms and it's people in general don't view Zane as human, they don't see him as a person but more so a machine, or equipment.

We saw this first in S1E13 'Wyldly Inappropriate' we get introduced to "Zane Day", a day dedicated entirely to Celebrating Zane and who he is, and it sounds really sweet and it is- but...

It's celebrated in the worst possible way ever.

Zane is treated like a robot, like striaght up robot, when people speaks its all in an attempt to mimic a robotic voice, and sometimes people end up saying stuff that's really offensive to him (Zane look alike contest).

Heck, even other Nindroids are in on it.

This sorta paints a sad picture in regards to Zane, because it implies that the city (or maybe entirety of the Merged Realms) see Zane as just a robot ninja with cool powers, nothing more, nothing less.

And we see this a second time in S2E7 'Fugitives from Madness' and S2E8 'Secrets of the Wyldness', in which Zane and Cole fight off The Administration, and yet again we see how Zane's Humanity is absolutely disregard, heck it's even violated in this scenario, they don't even acknowledge him as a person, The Administration straight up calls him "Equipment".

Equipment that's to be destroyed when taken, and that's despite Zane proving himself to be an actual being multiple times to the agents.

So, what am I getting at here?

Well, in simple terms, The World of Ninjago Post-Merge doesn't really acknowledge Zane's humanity or his personhood, of course, the average everyday civilian to a lot less extent then say, an entire organisation, but the wholehearted confidence the Agents of the Administration say that Zane is an object calls into question whether it's their actual personal beliefs, or protocols set by the Administratior.

And... You know what's the absolute worst part?

Zane doesn't even TRY to defend himself.

Striaght up, he neither tries to explain what Nindroids are to people during Zane day, and just goes along with the flow.

And when fighting The Administration, he even OFFERS himself to them in exchange to let Cole and Bonzel get away, granted you could say it was part of his plan to buy him and the others more time, but his continued insistence on trying to find a compromise with The Agents sorta hammers home his whole hearted belief that he's:

A) Expendable.

B) Not a person, but a machine/"equipment".

Now, this might be over analysis on my end, but I would also like to point out the scene where he plugs himself into The Administration mech and tries to decode/hack their netrowk and systems.

In that scene, his mech gets stabbed in the back with a massive sword from one of The Agents, and instead of immediately getting the fuck out, he stays Plugged in and KEEPS trying to hack their stuff, all in the hope that he can finish it in time before he gets fried alive.

Unfortunately, that doesn't happen, his circuits get fried completely and he passes out.

But, it again (directly or indirectly) hammers in points A and B, Expendable, and Nothing more then a machine.

(I would like to add as well, his this parallels nicely with PIXAL in S11 during 'Kiaju Protocol', their stubbornness, and something I've neglected to mention about Zane which EVERYONE knows, is his Self-Sacrificial and Nobel tendencies).

And you don't even have to make that many assumptions for all of this to be considered true, just look at what he says...

In S2E5 'The Spell at the Waterfall', Zane finds a plush made for him by Frohickey, of Frohickey himself.

When Zane asks why Frohickey made him this plush, Frohickey says that he made it so if Zane had any issue to take up with him, he could talk to the Plush instead (reminiscent of his PIXAL-Brush coping mechanism in S1).

And Zane... Well he striaght up lies, he says and I quote:

"I do not expiernce heightened emotions."

Which, yeah, okay buddy, sure...

Just ignore the time you shut off your emotions... Sure

But anyway, this is really really unusual for Zane to say, he might not be good at emotions, but he'd never ever deny the fact that he feels all of them.

Well... Unless he fully believes he's just a machine.

See what I'm getting at here?

If he doesn't believe he's more then machine, then he sure as hell will make wrong assumptions and judgements on his own personhood and emotions, and... Why shouldn't he?

Everything and Everyone in the merged realms sees as him as nothing more than that, regardless of previous experiences and events that have impacted him personally.

It's wrong, really REALLY wrong, but in his mind, probably not so much.

So, what do I think they writers are doing this?

I think personally, this is all subtle and slow build up to give Zane an eventual arc, perhaps in Part 2 of Season 2, or in Season 3 even.

Because, even Doc himself recognised that Zane's character has become very stale and boring during the last few seasons, and given how pretty much EVERY CHARACTER in the show has gotten something to do that involves their character, it'd be particularly odd to leave Zane out (well unless they don't know how to write him).

And it's why they're deliberately making Zane go and say these things, it's subtle, but when it's time to give him his own time to shine, it'll make a lot more sense.

This could also related to the egg/pod thing he woke up in under Imperium, because Doc also said that it's a matter for later seasons.

But it remains to be seen if the future planned Zane arc/story is connected to the egg he was in, we'll just have to wait and see really...

[alittlebitofloveliness]

The Outsiders and Attachment

Ohhhhhkay y'all I finished my human development final two hours ago (we love exams that end at 10pm) and I'm currently functioning on two hours of sleep and and a wee bit of hysteria but part of my cramming studying today was focused on attatchment styles and it was super easy for me to link these to the outsiders so here you go (Im sleep deprived and a psych nerd so this might get rambly and chaotic and hard to follow and LONG- you have been warned)

Ok SO first a shit ton of background info because I love psych. Basically there was this experiment conducted by this psychologist lady Mary Ainsworth and her goal was to measure and catalogue attatchment in infants so she set up this 'strange situation' experiment which (coles notes version) basically involved babies and their mothers being in a room and then leaving the kid alone with a stranger, mom returning, and then leaving the baby completely alone in the room, and they looked at all sorts of behaviour in these babies, things like levels of distress, whether they engaged with the stranger in the presence of their mom vs when they were alone, but the main thing they were interested in were the babies reactions upon being reunited with mom. Ainsworth observed 3 trends in babies and grouped them based on their behaviour.

Group A - babies who didn’t care if they were left with a stranger, and were uninterested in reunion with their mothers. A1 was babies with no interest with their mother, A2 was babies with slight interest in their mom and a desire to stay away from them

Group B—babies who may or may not have been distressed at separation, but were happy to be reunited with their mothers. B1 was babies not distressed at separation and slight interest at reunion, B2 was babies who were mildly distressed at separation, and approached caregiver at reunion, B3 was babies who were mildly distressed at separation and actively sought contact at reunion.

Group C – babies whose behaviour was not consistent at reunion (sometimes would engage with caregivers and then immediately run away). C1 was babies who were very distressed at separation, and C2 was babies who were very passive and did not respond at all to separation

*Note: mild distress would be whimpering and crying, very distressed would be like screaming and beating the ground with their fists kinda thing*

A N Y W A Y here's when things get interesting IMHO because these behavioural trends are the basis of our attachment styles

Group A babies have what's called an Anxious-Avoidant (also sometimes known as Dismissive) attachment style to their caregivers- these babies don't know if their caregiver will be retuning and they don't expect to be reunited. Parents of babies with this kind of attatchment style are visibly unhappy to be with their offspring and their resentment/displeasure is clear enough that babies as young as a few months old can pick up on it. Approximately 20% of babies fit this attatchment style

Group B babies have what's known as a secure attatchment style. They're your run of the mill happy babies, and their needs are met consistently enough by their caregiver that when their caregivers are out of sight, not only do they expect a reunion, they're happy to be reunited. This is most likely due to the aforementioned consistent care. A lucky 80% of babies fit this attatchment style.

Finally we have our Group C babies, who have an Anxious Ambivalent attachment style. Babies in this group have conflicting emotions to being left alone. (some babies might be screaming when the caregiver leaves, others are so apathetic as to have been considered unbothered by researchers). Babies with this attatchment style usually have caregivers who are unresponsive to their needs. These are babies who are abused or neglected, who have no sense of security or routine. apprximately 10% of babies fit this attatchment style.

*Also important to note that babies can have different attatchment styles with different people.*

ANYWAY so while I was studying earlier I sorted the outsiders characters based on what kind of attachment style I think they'd have as babies (fun fact- you often carry your initial attachment style with you throughout your life unless you consciously work to fix it)

Goup A (Anxious-Avoidant)- Steve & Tim Shepard

-Steve's mom split and we know his dad routinely kicks him out even though it isn't usually permanent. To me, it makes sense that his parents would do the bare minimum to make sure he was decently ok as a kid, but their resentment would be clear that even toddler steve could pick up on it. Thus we get sullen little Steve, who avoids or is indifferent to being left in a playpen by himself, and doesn't care when he is eventually picked up

-I like to think Tim Shepard's ma was a little different when he was a baby than when Curly and Angela were born, and while I don't think she was ever a great mom I think she might have given it a go, even though she wasn't the most attentive and was bitter about having him. Thus, Tim becomes another dismissive baby, who doesn't notice or care when he's left to his own devices

Group B (Secure) - The Curtis boys, Two-bit Matthews, Dallas Winston (to his mom)

-We know from the book the Curtis kids had a happy childhood, and that Two-bit's mom is lovely even though she works a lot. thus, we get healthy secure attatchments for these boys

-I like the headcannon Dally had a happy(ish) childhood and was a total mama's boy when his mom was still alive so I think he'd form a secure attachment to her at least.

Group C (Anxious-Ambivalent)- Curly & Angela Shepard, Johnny Cade, Dallas Winston (to his dad)

-This one involves little explanation. I think Curly and Angela (who I hc as twins) were definitely oops babies and by then the Shepards ma was too far into alcoholism and hatred to even attempt to parent, thus Angela and Curly never got used to her being around so the didn't notice when she wasn't. (The securest attatchment they formed was to Tim.)

-Johnny very clearly wouldn't form an attachment to either parent though I could see him being the type who's confused, especially when he was young, because I don't think the Cades were 100% horrible from day one. I think as a baby he would have never known if he was gonna get a cuddle or a kick, so he'd be the baby screaming when left alone, then running up to his parents and away when they came back to whatever room they'd left him in. Lots of turmoil and confusion poor thing, leading to the anxious-ambivalent attatchment

-We know Dally didn't like his dad, so I think an anxious ambivalent attachment, one characterized with a baby dally not noticing or caring when his father is around or when he leaves or returns to be the most likely of the attachment styles for him (i hc he was indifferent to him until dally got a bit older and mouthier and thats when the physical abuse started).

ANYWAY sorry this was so long I'm just a psych nerd who psychoanalyzes fictional characters for fun. If you actually read to the end of this bullshit you're a real one fr.

[master-jarrus]

Ninjago Star Wars Au species list

I will not debate anyone over these

Starting up:

Jay, half human, half twi'lek, his mother is the twi'lek. When he was born he was shipped to the Huts on Tatooine but his little carriage pod dropped and was picked up by Jawas. He has mechanical wings he made himself and specializes in marketing for the Jawas because he's adorable

Force sensitive

Ed and Edna: Jawas who find Jay are the main ones who raise him but I'm fairly certain jawas take the whole village approach.

Cole: Togurta. Togurta's are very strong and agile but people always seem surprised when they actually show case their strength. This seemed very fitting for Cole.

Force sensitive

Kai and Nya: human nautolan hybrids but it has been so long since the nautolan was introduced they don't have many traits other than large dark eyes and Nya is able to breathe under water. (They don't know its nautolan, which is kit fistos species for those who don't know)

Force sensitive

Nya is stronger in the force but she uses chants to help her focus (like the og dathomirian witches)

Zane: zane is a kyber crystal powering a droid. He more specifically the crystal then the body because kyber crystals are sentient

Force sensitive

Pixal: same deal as zane but her crystal faced torture (from the mining process) zane heals her later but she still struggles (fun fact ahsoka's kyber crystals were corrupted and tortured but she rescued and healed them and that is why they are white)

Force sensitive can only manipulate it through the dark side

Garmadon and Wu: Diathim (also referred to as angels) and part zabrak (i went back and forth on that because beskalisks have four arms but then I drew it and just fit well for them) angels are considered the most beautiful creatures while zebraks tend to be considered evil. Both are capable of good and evil.

Very force sensitive

Garmadon isn't strictly a sith. More of just acts as he sees is needed. He does tend to use the dark side a lot though

Garmadon is missing his lower wings and has mutated arms with cyber supports

Misako: Chiss, intellectual tend to try to logic their emotions away (think a blue spock) the Diathim have prophecies. She wanted to study them. She and Garmadon fall in love

Lloyd: Diathim, zabrak and chiss. Very tall. Blue skin, red eyes, has all of his wings but also has a set of lower arms that do not have cyber supports.

Force sensitive, just dripping midiclorians to the point he boosts the sensitivity of those he is around

Struggles with acting in anger and will accidentally hurt his lightsabers original kyber crystals that he will wear on a necklace and pours into whenever he meditates

Rei: human, mandalorian black smith

Force sensitive

Maya: human nautolan hybrid also unaware of the nautolan she just thinks it's the force she is trained like the og dathomirian witches

Force sensitive

Lily: Togruta

Force sensitive

Lou: Togruta dancer and singer, gets paid for it

Harumi: human, not force sensitive but will later inject midiclorians to try be able to use the force and will become dependent on them

Cyrus: human, tries to create kyber crystal droids like zane but the mining process corrupted all of them including the prosthetics he tried to make that were powered by crystals. He chooses to be wheel chair bound after the incident but he is ambulatory with regular prosthetics he just finds it exhausting

Morro: zabrak, becomes a malevolent ghost but will later settle down into a regular force ghost who follows wu around

Force sensitive

Serpentine: sub species of hutt. Made them native to dathomir and the moons

Let me know who else you want to know

You will for sure get art of Garmadon. We will see about the others

[riagraie]

Ninjago AU Headcannons

so obviously, this includes OC content. if you don't like OCs, don't read that part/ignore other hc ig?

anyway, this is for my AU of Ninjago, Echoes of the Echoed. The timeline is set to be between Crystalized (s16) and Dragons Rising Season 1. So there shouldn't be any spoilers?

this is just a bunch of random hcs I have for the ninja (and Hanna) in my AU. some of these are adapted from other people, some of them are mine.

Kai

he has naturally straight hair so he uses curlers to put wave in it. by curlers, i mean the ones your grandma uses overnight. he also sleeps in a bonnet

bro wears eyeliner. not a lot, but when asked he will admit to it.

he knows how to cook a meal and is probably the best chef (minus Zane bc Zane is goated) but doesn't like to cook

he is terrified of bugs. any kind of bug, it doesn't matter. he doesn't want to look at them, he doesn't want to be near him, and if he was alone in the monastery and found a spider, the entire thing would be up in flames.

when he gets spooked, sometimes fire will shoot out of his shoulders.

when someone on the team is upset or struggling with smth, he forces them to do self care nights with him

he paints his nails black or red

he's an insomniac, has been since his parents left. it got better around s11 but still struggles with it. when he can't sleep he likes to do blacksmithing. nya and pixal set up a station in the X Cave for him to do it quietly.

Jay

adhd, adhd, adhd, adhd, adhd, adhd-

he doesn't know what his biological mother looks like and he likes to try and imagine it.

the reason his hair curled after s7 is bc of puberty. some people's hair gets curly :/

when he uses his powers his spine will glow blue and have offshoots of the same color that look like lightning. it's sick af

he always carries his yin medallion with him. he might be wearing it, he may be holding it, it may be chillin in his pocket, but it's always on him.

after the events of s15 and then after s16, jay brags about how easy it was for him to grow a beard. it pisses lloyd off.

the eye that he hurt in Skybound(s6) is ever so slightly a lighter shade of blue than his other eye. sometimes it still hurts him and on those days it looks bloodshot and he wears an eye patch.

his favorite kind of art is watercolors.

he's got a wicked spice tollerance

Cole

he forced Zane to teach him how to cook basic things. but, he is a very skilled baker naturally

he's great with kids bc he lets them swing off his arms like monkey bars

cole is black and bc his dad never did, kai taught him how to take care of his hair.

he likes having long hair bc it covers his scar from when he was a ghost.

right after becoming human again, he kept forgetting he wasn't a ghost and kept running into walls and doors

he has seriously considered becoming a streamer

cole is terrified of singing because his mother used to sing him to sleep.

Zane

sometimes he feels what pixal is feeling bc they share a heart

even after nya came back in s16, zane didn't turn on his emotions again until nya convinced him too. he then cried for three hours straight.

he will laugh without hesitation at a dad joke. he will also crack up as he's trying to tell a dad joke

he still has pictures lloyd drew him in s1 until childs play.

he's easily annoyed by people who break traffic laws.

he rarely swears, but swore more when he was pretending to be a pirate in s15.

after figuring out him roleplaying a detective in s12 annoyed Pixal, he downloads and roleplays things for other missions they are on together. like the pirate thing in s15.

he lets kai paint his nails

Nya

unlike kai, her hair is naturally wavy and she used to straighten it from the pilot-s7. then she kinda gave up.

she decided to grow out her hair bc she wanted to look more like her mother, but then hated having hair against her neck all the time and started putting it up.

she can bench press jay and she has a sleeper build

she gets pissed when she sees someone in the arcade getting close to her and jay's high score on the dance machine

she's a light sleeper

she's terrified of snakes

when she's upset about something, she will either beat the shit out of the training equipment (then proceed to fix in in a huff) or just build random things

she's seriously considered building jay a robot dog. but she never went through with it

Lloyd

when he's really happy, sleeping, or meditating, he purrs.

he's got freckles that look like diamonds bc of the dragon scale thing

hes got fangs, his ears are pointed, and when he's pissed or enamored by something his eyes turn red. naturally, his pupils are a bit pointer, aren't as round basically

lloyd knew about his oni form before the events of s16 but never told anyone. he's known about it since s9 when he had a nightmare and woke up to see himself half-shifted in the mirror. he asked mistake about it, she explained, he asked her to not tell anyone, and she didn't. neither did he.

he likes mints because he likes hard candies better, gives him something to fidget with

he's always bustling with energy bc of his element. he can't sit still for the life of him.

he can still control the individual elements of creation as well as water and wind. he found out he could control wind after s5 and he could control water after s15.

when he uses his powers, his eyes glow whatever color they are (red or green) for up to an hour afterwards.

he has super hearing and super smell. he can also partially see in the dark if theres just a little bit of light

he hates ants

he has consistent nightmares. nearly every night. unlike the visions in DR, he doesn't flail for his nightmares, just jolts awake.

he loves photography and has many professional grade cameras. he likes it because he gets to hold memories.

when he's upset at someone, he unconsciously switches to yelling at them in Oni language.

he can understand and read the Harmonizer language but can't speak or write it.

Hanna

she's filthy rich. her parents own a very successful real estate business and a shipping company

she doesn't talk to her parents and doesn't like talking about them

she has an accent bc of being part Harmonizer but she hides it bc it led to a lot of people not understanding her. the closest thing it sounds like irl is a Russian accent.

she sometimes talks in the Harmonizer language, especially if she's frustrated or sleeping.

she can understand and read the Oni language.

after shifting to full harmonizer the first time, the black and gold lines on her skin became visible when human if your close enough to see them

she requires no form of skin care but still joins kai for skin care nights.

she has bad periods and struggles with migraines bc of her powers

she could feel something was off before the crystal king formed in s16. she has a scar on her knuckle from where she punched harumi in the face

she loves sports bikes. she liked going fast and breaking traffic laws. but, safety is her top priority even for herself and never goes out without making sure her and any backpacks are in full gear.

after s15, she had a lot of anxiety attacks

she knew about Lloyd's oni form bc she accidentally walked in on him one day he struggled to mask it.

she is also really good with kids

she heals pretty quickly bc of being part harmonizer, and because of that, most of the wounds she gets scars over.

she hates being in the spotlight

so thats them, let me know what you think. should I do more hcs? let me know ab that too. uhh

hope you enjoyed :D

[alanaartdream]

So sketching / drawing last night and this morning some more ideas for fairy Timmy with how Jimmy Timmy power hour & nicktoons unite handle it … also

Somehow added in chococat dress as Timmy for fun not such why I felt the need to draw that;;

Also I feel like getting turned into a fairy at 13-14 and then getting a chance to grow up with poof/peri and Wanda / Cosmo not having Timmy’s birth parents being bad influences on Timmy (let’s face it Timmy’s birth parents along with Vicky & cocker were manger players into A lot of Timmy’s bad wishes once you take them out of the picture I feel like Timmy’s wishes wouldn’t be so out of control anymore) would be quite positive influences on Timmy plus having Jimmy and the nicktoons unite gang would also be great influences on Timmy as well

He most likely will mature and become less selfish with all of their influences; because like Wanda and Cosmo know already at heart Timmy is a good kid he was just living a life a bit like Cinderella was living before Wanda and Cosmo came into his life

I mean I get the feeling with Timmy’s birth parents they love the idea of being parents especially at 1st but hate the responsibility of it being as they’d go on vacations without him then hire Vicky to babysit whenever they could and ignore him a lot of the as well as only pay attention to him when they felt like it;;

Now before the nicktoons unite gang get approved to be teachers for helping Timmy use his new fairy powers my fairy Oc Felicity had to set some ground rules for them ( her main jobs are fairy of inspiration (art and writing she acts as a muse and helps artists & writers get out of art/writers blocks ) cat disabusing system (she helps cats who wants/needs homes find the right humans to help them (she can speak to any feline animal but no other animals)) and record keeping but she’s also in charge of making sure the human child turn fairy settling into their powers well; most of fairy world cannot trust Jorgen to handle this alone because of his track record of what happened to half of godchildren in his care (also nana boom boom would note she couldn’t leave child felicity with Jorgen being as she almost blew up fairy world as a child when left with Jorgen; apparently when fairy children scream in fear or upset bad things can happen; happy screams or giggling good things happen; Jorgen was trying to make her laugh but accidentally scare her so had screamed)

Soo Felicity starts to make a list of things to be careful of and while she’s doing that Jimmy makes a file listing these rules down to have in his computer & lab

The list starts out as

Fairy rules

1) no making fairy children cry/ scream in fear but if you accidentally do this you have to try to get them to laugh so it cancels out the nagetive magic

2) no iron around fairies

3) no butterfly nets to be used around fairies

4) do make reasonable wishes around fairies so no ricks of magical back up and be careful of what wishes you do make around them

5) no human unless they sign right paperwork/ made a agreement with fairies or are godkids are allowed to know about fairies being real ( if any untrustworthy human is around say the fairies are program holograms or have the change into disguise)

6) do not trust pixies or Anti fairies; if one shows up be careful how you handle them

Now that’s how the rules start but new ones will get added as nicktoons unite gang find out about all the other interesting things

Now with no more worries of his birth parents and having Wanda & Cosmo as his loving parents and adorable baby brother poof/prei I start to see Timmy getting less and less selfish and becoming more sweeter and could see Jimmy falling harder and harder while Danny probably see Timmy like a little like himself when he first got his ghost powers so treats Timmy and peri/poof like younger cousins/ siblings

Now I know a lot people dislike Cole from later seasons (I didn’t get to watch when she and the dog started to become apart of the show know only what others have said about her but for the few Cole fans out there I’ll say the fishbowl will after a week be moved to her home and Wanda & Cosmo will explain some things to of what happened to Timmy and what went downhill and that she’s not allowed to let anyone know what happened to Timmy or she’ll lose them as fairy godparents so Timmy & poof will probably get to see her until it’s her time to grow up and forget about them and fairies;; but most of the time Timmy and peri will be enther at fairy/ magic school or hanging out with nicktoons unite gang so Cole doesn’t get to see them too much only mostly Wanda & Cosmo but Timmy & poof/peri do give her one last goodbye when she turns 17-18 before she forgets them all;; so cocker switched to chasing her around for fairy god parents but the nicktoons unite gang will come in to stop him if Cole needs help dealing with him so she only meets the nicktoons gang in those times but otherwise I don’t think I’ll do much with her sorry; but when that goodbye happens I can totally see Timmy & peri hanging out with Jimmy that day then maybe Wanda and Cosmo go into their retirement and Peri and Timmy focus on their studies; and I believe Jimmy will become a great inventor as well as a professor and I could see Danny becoming a professor and thanks to Jimmy he starts Foundation for safer students into the paranormal being as he himself is well half paranormal himself (the government in Danny’s town/universe would call on him

To deal with ghosts and paranormal stuff) can also See Jimmy doing very well and yeah grovnment having to call on Jimmy for his smarts/ intelligence and inventions

So by then Timmy will probably helping Jorgen with DA RULEs of fairy world while helping out fairy world with all sorts of things while also being a fairy lawyer and by then felicity works as his assistant when she’s not too busy with her own fairy work;

[vigilskeep]

did you watch all the personal quests and would you rank them for our entertainment?

1. blackwall. it’s a great plot, i love that the war table options for it are two thirds unhinged, and the way blackwall talks back to the inquisitor about it all is really refreshing. i like that they let blackwall say fuck and that the romance version is deeply insane. no notes. this man belongs in a better game

2. cole’s seemed kinda fun! i love a spirit companion. i would’ve killed that guy though

3. sera’s i have actually played. i like when she kills that guy. like a lot of these i don’t think it really addresses anything major about the character it’s just like hey remember how this character is this character. and then gives you the opportunity to throw her out (again)

4. varric’s was fun it didn’t seem very interesting to play but i quite liked bianca actually. are there any consequences about the entire red lyrium thing being because he told his ex or

5. solas is alright i guess. another one i have actually played. i guess it’s what you can do when you can’t reveal who the character is yet?

6. demands of the qun is fine and krem’s existence upgrades it a few levels. i like krem he’s nice. conceptually i like the idea of a quest silently setting up a betrayal later. but i just don’t care for how the qunari are written ever so it kind of does nothing for me

7. i didn’t rewatch last resort of good men because i watched some dorian videos a while back and i vaguely remember it being fine. i don’t think it really offers a moral dilemma? oh i just remembered he can be convinced to talk it out more with his father i think. why

8. vivienne’s is. well. it’s very short and relies on it being a surprise that she’s a human being with feelings. i also don’t get the weirdly judgemental misdirect abt it being a youth serum and why they wasted other character moments on it like in here lies the abyss. it was a bit funny when her guy just immediately died

9. cassandra. oh nooo the seekers are bad people. who could have predicted this. am i supposed to be gasping

[agenericplaceholdername]

Dragons Rising S2 E6-10 Thoughts

This is the last post in the series! Maybe I’ll do these for Season 2 Part 2, maybe not. But either way, here’s some thoughts on the Dragons Rising, Season 2 midseason finale:

To Mysterium!:

Geo you might not be trained, but you and the Finders were holding your own against the Wolf Masks

This scene exists solely to advertise the sets (tbf the whole show is but this is super obvious)

In The Temple of the Dragon Cores Zane has a full map of the Merged realms; now he has nothing?

Lloyd tries to reassure Arin and just puts more pressure on him :(

Fun scene with Kai and Nya

Such incredible disguises

Orange Frohicky!

I’d buy a disco toaster

Why would a cloud be on a map? And why does poison affect Zane?

Why do you hate humans, Egalt? What happened in your past?

What do you mean trick map, Cole? Are maps that change by magic(?) commonplace?

Arin vs Lloyd is not fair

Egalt!

Jiro walking on two legs is kinda strange

Are these supposed to be the same people from Gangs of the Sea or just the same character models

Poor Arin

“Well, he is a professional actor”

Dorama’s humor has overstayed its welcome

“No self-respecting school allows the students to escape”

Purple imperium drones

I doubt that’ll be the end of Dorama, but honestly I’d be okay if it was

Fugitives from Madness:

Cole this monastery looks identical, just recolored

How did that mark get there? Are the monasteries linked somehow? What about when the Monastary was destroyed (multiple times)? Did that impact the Mysterium monastary

So is Gandalaria gonna explain everything about the Monastaries? Or who this “Sprite” is? (the answer is no)

Sora cmon he clearly didn’t go through the last pillar

“Stop being so hard on yourself” someone learned her lesson from last season

Already posted about the Egalt & Wyldfyre scene but it is SO GOOD

I get the desire to use the Zane/Cole/Bonzle/Gandalaria stuff as lighthearted stuff to contrast the emotional stuff in the A plot, but it feels like the episode just grinds to a halt when we cut to them

Still nice that Gandalaria accepts Bonzle

“You can never force the motion of the universe to bend to your will” I know a certain tiger who would disagree

Why is Gandalaria’s storehouse in a different realm? Not a plot hole, bc Gandalaria is totally the type of person to do something like that, but what was the thought process?

“Yes, nearly 9%!” 

I love the Countershot scene. Great music, great for Kai and Nya, sorta nostalgic

The Blood Moon rising is so ominous (also the moon does not rise this quickly, or over the whole planet at the same time)

Did the Forbidden Five place a curse on the Dragon Masters? Why do they turn to stone?

I love how the Administration, a society from an entirely different realm, uses the word “Nindroid,” invented by Jay

THEY IMPOUNDED JIRO?

The Administration is so goofy

The way Michael Adamthwaite says, “Told you” sounds like Jay

The Administration immediately vaporizes their own paperwork lol

Gandalaria is nuts

JAY??

So many great scenes this episode

Secrets of the Wyldness:

Wyldfyre pretended to be stone once? Assuming Kai tickled her out of it like Wyldfyre tries to do to the Dragon Masters?

Kai why don’t you try to do Rising Dragon now

Thank you Cole for yelling, “The Wyldness” even though that future never comes to pass so that the Ninja know where to go

Gandalaria, Janet’s got nothing on you

I mean if the Departed Realm is part of the Merged Realms, a dead man could still owe a fine

“I hereby demand your surrender.” “Uhh… no. Thank you.”

Jay’s lighting is both yellow and blue

And so ends Jay’s part in S2P1

Does this even count as a Zane fake out death? It lasts less than a minute

“We can’t give up until we find Bonzle” why would she be hard to find? She’s supposed to just be under the Monastery — where you told her to go

The Cloud Kingdom with the Blood Moon behind it is so ominous

Goodbye Jiro

Fortune telling tea is weak, Gandalaria needs to get some spirit smoke

There’s a strange effect on the Bounty crash scene, I guess it’s the effect of Theroxian magic

RIYU MY GOAT

“Instant doom” if you all down the cliff. Remember this

Kai, Wyldfyre, and Sora is such a fun trio, I’m glad we get them together for the next few episodes

Don’t worry Sora, that won’t be the last time the Bounty will be destroyed

Is Gandalaria’s magic similar to Clouse’s? Or Hazza D’ur’s?

Shoving people in a box is typically not the best course of action

“I’m a scientist,” says Jordana earlier this episode. By the end, she’s overpowering the High Sorceress of Mysterium’s magic. No wonder Theroxian was banned

Why would walking in the direction of the moon mean you’re heading to the ritual?

Good luck Arin and Riyu

The Forest of Spirits:

Ras flashback?? Poor guy

“We are the masters of our destiny now” he says this with such malice. The Writers get out alive because this is a kids show, but a different show would just have them executed

I don’t have a fear of heights but you’d better believe I’d develop one if I was falling to my death

Poor Lloyd

The crumbling Cloud Kingdom tower in Lloyd’s vision actually happened in Writers of Destiny (and I don’t think happens later)

Jordana, that's not very nice of you. 

So much is going on and then we have to waste time messing around in the mystical storehouse. Gandalaria isn’t even an unfunny character, but this bit just drags

Riyu flying has a great bit of music, looks awesome, and is just plain fun. Arin is so happy :)

Fun battle scene

Okay, remember before about the “instant doom” thing if you fall off the cliff? Well Sora just murdered someone

Arin is genuinely apologetic, but there was no need to mention you still don’t remember Jordana’s name

Bonzle and Arin are so funny together

Wait how did Jordana get this car — did Ras build it? Buy it?

Either the Ninja trained for a good amount of time or Wyldfyre just heals super quickly

“I’m always adorable”

The Shadow Dojo looks so cool

The first look at the Forbidden Five in the M. C. Escher- inspired Nether-Space is so cool

Ras, physical abuse does not lead to a good rating on Glassdoor

Such a heartbreaking scene for Arin (and cool one for Ras). Tells us a lot about both of them. And to be fair to Arin, he does last longer here and Ras has a weapon

Great ending to an overall solid episode

Rising Ninja:

Arin sees Lloyd and Nya as his parents im crying

Heating up metal while it’s touching someone sounds like an easy way to burn them

Great cut to intro

I doubt wearing the wolf masks when the Gong is hit impacts Sora, Wyldfyre, and Kai since you probably have to let your soul be shattered, while they’re fighting it

You didn’t accidentally do Rising Dragon, you were explicitly training to do it

Great one take

Is Nokt in charge of the Five? How’d they decide he goes first

Really am not commenting a lot here because the whole battle is just so much fun

“She’ll miss my sweet shatterspin”

You’ve rewatched this part dozens of times, I’m sure— Kai doing Rising Dragon and Lloyd v Ras is so awesome

Nokt looked cooler before he opened his eyes or removed the extra cloak

Even Euphrasia gets a big moment, although I don’t know how that seemingly limited amount of wind is enough

Nya unlocking Rising Dragon is cool

Why doesn’t Cinder attack Lloyd while he’s having visions?

Sora this was probably the right move, but not telling Arin… idk how that’ll go

Teleporting the entire Shadow Dojo is super powerful; Ras’ Master must be a big threat

“Did we win?” honestly a good question Arin- most of the 5 didn’t escape, but at what cost…

“Where are we?” Good question too Cinder

Did Nokt just trip? What happened?

Jordana???

Ras’ Master is def not happy

Bittersweet way to end S2P1, while leaving a lot of thing for Part 2 to build on and/or resolve

And that’s it! Overall, I’ve heavily enjoyed each installment of Ninjago: Dragons Rising, and am looking forward to rewatching Season 2 Part 2 for the second first time! If you’ve already seen it, make sure to watch it on a legal site so Lego knows there’s demand to keep this great series going.