#and I wanted some shape variance | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

danieyells · 3 months ago

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How much money do I have to throw at you to hear your opinion on which gouls are chubby chasers?

Are you the same anon who sent me an ask about which ghouls prefer chubbier partners at the beginning of the month lol YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY ME (i mean if anyone wants to offer me money i won't complain unless you're also struggling financially--) I'M JUST VERY VERY VERY SLOW AT ANSWERING ASKS A LOT OF THE TIME ANON. I like to dedicate time and effort to details and my adhd is like. If you do not have the energy or attention span or immediate thought to dedicate to this task i'm not gonna let you do it. Hence the slow responses.

Another thing is that. I feel like this is a somewhat difficult question with the way my brain is. Because while I(and my brother and my father even!) find fat people/characters attractive(if not more attractive/aesthetically pleasing!!! And I'm fat and my dad was fat!) my brain's just like. . .that's a given. People are generally pretty attractive in general, especially chubby people. How do I articulate this without making it disappointing? How do I articulate what or why they find this attractive without saying 'that's just how it is'? "There's no deeper feeling or explanation" is something i could say about anyone and if I do that it doesn't really feel like it. . .goes with a character. . . .

But enough excuses. I'll do my best and I'll hope you like it. Originally i tried to make a shortlist and then it became a proper list. 🙃 This is why i never get anything done.

Some nsfwish ahead!

Tohma - the fringes of society from whence he originates tend to have greater body type variance. You might think his concern for health would sway him away from a fat or chubby partner, but he knows well enough that being bigger is not a health risk(or sign of bad health) in and of itself. Also if you're into food being well-fed is also very good for you isn't it? He has fun molding you into someone befitting of high society--no compromises to your weight or shape and no shit taken from those around when he can hear. Tailored clothing without a word of complaint. Dance lessons where he's, perhaps, a little handsy with showing you where and how to move your body and hold yourself. He likes the weight of your body in his arm when he dips you. He likes the 'extra padding' that makes it feel like he doesn't have to worry as much about his brute strength when he's sleeping with you. The soft and """imperfect""" shape of your body takes him away from the pressures of the things he has to do and the ridiculous standards of high society. You're a grounding in reality, for a moment, before he goes back to the fake world he works in. And well since he doesn't have to be fake and maybe doesn't have to be as gentle, you can have a few glimpses of the former Vice Captain of Vagastrom and the way he appreciates every curve of your body with strong, rough hands, squeezing and caressing. You're much easier to lift up to a ghoul like him than you may think. He couldn't help himself when you react so well to sudden things like being grabbed, a swift and subtle smack to your ass or thighs, being scooped up off the ground--

Kaito - Kaito's interest started off with bad pickup articles that told him that fat people were less confident and thus more readily available and easier to flirt with. That turned into 'well what if I do land a bigger person' and actually putting in effort to understand what he should do and what he should and shouldn't say, and how he should handle a chubby partner's body and. . .he wound up in a rabbithole of pictures and video that filled his head with all sorts of appreciation for something that hadn't really done anything special for him before. He's not a big guy. He is the shortest of all of the ghouls and faculty save Cornelius. He's also not the biggest in terms of his body--he's pretty scrawny and a little softer himself, actually. Not chubby, but. He definitely feels closer to you than to everyone else around him who's in stupidly amazing shape. Even if you aren't unconfident about your body the way he is about his, he feels more comfortable and a little less like he has to idk push to be someone he's not when you can just be you(or, well, you don't have a choice really, you can't really just pretend to not be chubby.) Also, something about being with someone who's body kind of overwhelms his own does it for him--he kind of has to admit his 'weakness' there but he certainly won't let it stop him from working around it. Also. . .as a ghoul he's physically stronger than a human and being with you makes him feel strong! He can lift you up, believe it or not! He sure as hell doesn't believe it!!! Definitely not with as much ease as others but!!! Also, bonus if you're into pastries and sweets--he loves baking and he will feed you. And if you appreciate that he can bake pretty well he'll love you even more.

Lucas - similarly to Tohma, being from the UK, he's more accustomed to people who're bigger than the societal and cultural standards he's now surrounded with tend to find permissible. Again you might think that with his focus on training and strengthening his body that your body might be 'untrained' and he would find that unappealing--and maybe he does at first. But I think he would find it more appealing as time goes on. Even if you're 'untrained', there's something. . .admirable about that? It's difficult for him to put into words when he's trying to be less thoughtless. You aren't burdened in the way he is. You don't need to work yourself to the same degree to feel like you're achieving your goals. He could never be that way, certainly, but. . .he wants to protect you as you are and desire to be. It starts with a mindset like that, of being happy that you don't need to do what he does, and graduates into a. . .fascination. Maybe you train with him a little bit one day, even if it's just stretches or meditation. But the way you move and carry yourself is different. The way your body flows is different, and before long he realizes he spends a lot of time staring at your body. It's rude of him, but he thinks a lot about how your body must feel. About how your body moves when you do and what other ways he could see it moving--and he's not used to thoughts like that. He works himself up very quickly and easily without thinking about it. He would never burden you with his needs, but he can imagine what it would be like if you helped him. . .soft, warm, heavy, giving gently under his hands, your stomach such a contrast to his while pressed against it. . .round cheeks turning up when you smile at him. . .maybe it's just because it's you. He's noble, but he's not immune.

Alan - Much like Tohma and Luca he's a lot more accustomed to being around a varied type of people and his insane strength makes the prospect of someone who's, perhaps, a little less fragile more appealing to him. Which isn't to say he would treat you any less gently--you're still human and he's still. . .him. But he's a little less afraid of making mistakes. He doesn't have any sort of in-depth thoughts on what appeal to him about a bigger person beyond that--that and he really has an appreciation for. . .the contrast. He's more muscle than fat(which isn't to say he's the shape of some kind of body builder, he recognizes the importance of fat in maintaining his body's strength and capabilities, and also he eats a lot) and you're the opposite of all of his harder muscular parts. Also. . .your cheeks are soft and really cute. He pats them along with patting you on the head. He wants to hold you and bury his face against you but he's still pretty afraid of what damage he could do. . .but it's a lot easier to imagine safely doing so with you. Well, he still wants you to be careful.

Leo - Leo seems derogatory and egotistical first and foremost. He seems to be insulting your weight, your appearance, the way your clothes fit you, the space you take up. But oh boy. You somehow endure that and you will quickly find that Leo is one of the most physically affectionate people and it turns out he's all about touching you. He's a lot more cuddly once he warms up to you(and frankly that doesn't take long--he very well may be insulting you while cuddling you). And you have so many great places to lie down on and cuddle up to! And so much more space to leave marks all over too. . . . Eventually he'll be more straightforward with that he straight up thinks you're sexy and he likes the way your body feels and looks and there's no deeper meaning behind it--he's an asshole towards everyone, isn't he? How's it any surprise he's not any different towards you while still wanting to fuck you? Did you need him to spell it out? He's usually only blandly sweet towards people he wants something from, or to be mocking. If you want him to spell it out for you more he can--as long as you've admitted to liking him first--but he'll make a big deal about it.

Sho - Sho is a flirty playboy athlete and maybe that means you'd think he'd have basic tastes. Maybe you'd think if he came up to you and hit on you he'd be trying to make fun of you. Not so. He is very serious, even if he's probably not after something serious. But if he were ahahaha. Hahaha. Congratulations. Sho is a catch. If you happen to be a fan of food and eating he loves when people appreciate his food and he will feed the absolute hell out of you and praise you for eating and being big(and if you gain weight then that's just as much as a compliment.) It's not really a feederism thing, he just really likes cooking and he really likes when people appreciate the flavors and effort behind his food(in contrast to Leo who always lets his food get cold and smothers it in hot sauce--). That aside, Sho loves showing off. He's also one of the physically stronger ghouls thanks to athleticism and he can lift and throw you without it being any sort of effort. And he thinks it's fun to do that! Especially without warning you!! (He'll only throw you onto his couch or bed, you're not in any danger. He might move you places though, or use your body as a weight to lift.) Sho is pretty direct about his thoughts and feelings--even if he takes his flirting back half the time--so he would probably be the most open about that he specifically finds that you are fat attractive. He. . .might be a bit of a fuckboy about it and make a lot of sexual comments about how attractive your body is(which isn't to say he won't say anything about that you're attractive in general! You're absolutely cute/hot/pretty/sexy/beautiful/handsome/[preferred aesthetic compliment here] even when he's not sexualizing you and aside from your weight, but he'll let you know that, yes, something he finds attractive about you is your size/shape/weight.) but rest assured that you probably won't be left wondering if he finds you attractive. He'll tell you. Like Leo, he also likes to leave marks so. . .be ready for that too. Oh, are you worried about Bonnie? She's fine! She's a strong girl. Get on the bike.

Towa - Towa is another one who doesn't have a lot of thoughts about this. He very much likes what he likes. He's also another physically affectionate and strong one who likes to show off how strong he is--everything about your body appeals to that he wants to scoop you up and cuddle you and protect you. You're cute and weak and that doesn't change even if you're chubby. Your round face and soft neck and hands and tummy are extra cute! In the past, he wouldn't have felt this way--but his feelings changed along with his feelings towards small, weak things. Expect a lot of unannounced contact, getting picked up and carried places. . .well, that's kind of normal for Towa regardless of body shape--

Ren - Similarly to Leo, he seems kind of mean at first. . .but he's tsundere, that's how he is. His complaints are mostly about you taking up space and sexually harassing him(touching him due to perceived lack of space.) But. . .he actually really likes the warmth and softness pressed against his side. He just won't admit it. He'll complain the whole way as always but he's not good at being subtle about looking at you or actually choosing to be near you. Making excuses as usual. Once you're close enough he'll. . .continue to complain about lack of space. . .while getting in your space and lying against you while he plays games or watches movies. People keep telling him how lazy he is and how fat he's gonna get if he keeps slacking off but. . .it fits you pretty well. Would it really be all that bad? He likes cuddling up to you(when offered or when he eventually gets over himself or blurts out that he wants to, whichever comes first) and maybe you'd like cuddling up to him more of he were bigger. What does he care. (When you sleep together, as expected he makes you do all the work. But he loves that, the feeling and sight of you riding him or sitting on his face, smothering him. . . .)

Taiga - Taiga is not allowed to eat people. Taiga is not supposed to eat humans or other ghouls and he and Romeo and their previous captain and Nicolas put a lot of effort into weaning him off of cannibalism despite that he honestly does think anomalies taste better(humans are just more readily available and he's gotta bring anomalies back, not eat them.) That being said in Taiga's eyes you are marbled like a wagyu steak and he wants to bite into every part of you--he always thought that more fat made a human taste better. That has not changed but has, instead, manifested into a different sort of allure. Maybe he wants to bite you a little, but he won't. . .not any more than he'd bite most anyone else anyway. Instead he'll pet you and grope you and tell you to wag your tail for him(and you have so much more tail to wag--) and maybe his nickname for you(because unless you've got a real short but also unique enough name he's not gonna remember your name, so you'll get a nickname) will play on your weight or shape. And his hunger will translate to other types of hedonistic hunger--he loves using his mouth and tongue and you will feel it even if he doesn't use his teeth. He also hates to be cold and will expect you to get in his bed and warm it up for him--and also stay there like a good cuddly pillow. You're perfect for all kinds of things he likes and, kind of like Sho, he's not a guy with a filter--he'll be a little blunt about how much he likes specifically that you're chubby and how perfect that is. And how hungry it makes him. But he won't eat you unless you're an anomaly, so don't worry! He's just gonna bite you and bruise you and cut you but he'd do that with just about any partner, so don't think too hard about it!!!

Haku - Once again, you are the pillow partner for your lazy boyfriend here. You're gonna be cuddled and kissed and slept all over. But also, Haku is much too flirty, much too appreciative of you and your body, and he has no shame about telling you you're attractive and that he wants you--he's not as perverse about it as Sho but you will never have any doubt that you and your body are well loved by Haku, as if he would ever leave room for any doubt. Hold his hand, let him put his arm around you no matter who's watching, sit in his lap whether or not you're invited. Haku is such a simple, loving flirt, how could he possibly not be drawn in when there's more of you to love? He doesn't like using his ghoul strength but he does like showing off for you, so if you might like being carried like a princess he wouldn't even think of it as something that might be "more work". It's never work if it's to please you. Yeah he likes his sex lazy and slow but that's all the more time to indulge in your body.

Edward - Ed is similar to Taiga in that his vampiric predatory instinct plays into his attraction to your body--but he's got much better control over himself. When he says you look delicious he doesn't mean it as much in that he wants to feast on you as that he wants to feast on you. (The videos he's been watching have been filling his head with rather. . .offensive thoughts on fat people. You want to prove him wrong, don't you? Of course you do--it's not fair that he thinks that way. . . .Filling your head with thoughts? Don't be silly, he's assured Darkwick he would never engage in any form of enthrallment. . .it's in writing, if you want to look into it.) He's also in the 'I'm used to more varied body types' group--both because he's been all over the world and because he's old. People's bodies were generally more well rounded when he was younger. Not that he's picky, but your body is more familiar and welcoming for him. On top of that he feels so much more comfortable at rest beside you--you're warm and plush and he is so very tired. . .and if you want to lie on top of him like a comfy living weighted blanket he won't have any protest. He's a whiner always saying how weak and delicate he is, but he's a ghoul and a vampire and he's just exaggerating so he can get away with being lazy. He would be happy to have you atop him--in many measures of the word. He is a little cold, isn't he? And his room, similarly cold? If you'll help warm him up he can return the favor--he might just need a little snack from between your legs. . . . No need to worry about him, he doesn't need to breathe, so put all of your weight on him and don't have a care in the world. He may need your body to solve a little problem that's arisen once he's had his fill, but it's okay if you want to take the lying back role while he puts in the effort--he's much more energetic after a meal, after all.

Lyca - (Of course if you're a girl you're evil and scary and dangerous but. . . .) Even if he insists he's human, he has a very animal mind much of the time. What's there to dislike about someone who's body is clearly well fed and also better suited to winter? That means you're healthy and don't have to worry about starving or freezing right? That makes you a good mate! You're also a more fun art subject--if you let him draw you, he'll put so much love and work and detail into every curve and dip and aspect of your body. He may touch or circle you to try and get a good feel for the work he's doing, but it's not for a perverted reason! He's trying to draw you right!! For some reason, maybe because he considers himself human, Lyca doesn't feel as much of a predatory urge towards you--as long as you're not nearing a full moon anyway. You definitely seem more like a plump prey animal then, but he won't let that change anything. You're both humans, so he's not going to treat you differently. He does have to resist the urge to push his nose into the rolls of your body where it's warm and your scent gathers more, but he's happy to snuffle up to you(as long as you don't touch his blanket) all through the night. Sex is. . .he's still getting used to thoughts like that, so you may need to help him a lot. . .but he's very engaged with the movement of your body, the bounce and ripple and the feel under his hands. . .it's a very human experience, his senses say so--this isn't like how wolves do things, this isn't how wolves feel, this is human and he's human and you're human and. . . .

Jiro - in medical studies there's a gap in understanding of effects of medicines and illnesses on bodies considered "overweight". If there's a gap in knowledge in regular medicine there's sometimes a similar one in anomalous medicine. Gaps in knowledge make Jiro curious, they make him interested, and lo and behold he's been drawn to more interesting subjects. He doesn't usually think in unprofessional thoughts, but if something interests him more then isn't it worth thinking about when solving certain problems? You'd never know he has such an attraction to bigger bodies because. Well, Jiro rarely shows any interest in anything. If anything he expresses the interest clinically and requests your assistance in filling in gaps. Obviously you're only one person and that's nothing for a sample size, but it's a start. He's so analytical regarding your body that it's almost. Sensual. Carefully recording fat distribution, asking about history. Is your body this way because of diet, exercise, medical history, genetics, something else? Weight loss never comes up as a 'solution' unless there's some aspect of your weight that might actually verifiably be an issue(such as with effectiveness of certain medications, but even then it's a last suggestion compared to 'try a different medication' or 'increase dosage if you're comfortable doing so.') He finds your body interesting in a clinical way and that leaks over into a personal interest. He's spent enough time studying your body medically that he's interested in. . .studies outside of his usual area of expertise, I'm sure he'd say. Has the growth of your body affected your nerves and, if so, are you more or less sensitive in certain places? How do your stretch marks feel--do they itch or hurt or have any sensation at all? Do you like when he touches them? Cellulite is a harmless, painless part of fat accumulation, is the same true for you? He's stroking you a little bit more than you think is necessary for an examination? You might be right. That's his bad. You also might be right to point out that he's a little aroused. He'll handle it when he's done, so will you comply a little longer? He has more questions and tests he wants to run. This isn't official work, so you can stop whenever you want. It'll be a long time before he really addresses his sexual interest, but that's normal for Jiro. It'll be faster if you. . .offer your assistance, of course. But he won't make it unprofessional if you won't. (Jiro also likes baking because it's a lot like making medicine--precise numbers and amounts, mixing things in the proper methods and orders--so he's another 'I'll feed you if you're into that' boy. Don't worry, he won't put anything strange in your food. Probably.)

Yuri would specifically be more attracted to fat women(or feminine people--) because there's something. . .motherly about that to him. And we know what a mamas boy he is.

I don't think any of them wouldn't find a chubby or fat partner attractive except maybe Romeo. Romeo very specifically because he has a voiceline in which he complains that you look like "a fat slug" when you're bundled up in the winter, and more or less says he doesn't wanna be seen with you like that. Which doesn't necessarily mean he's not capable of being attracted to somebody bigger--it much more likely means "that doesn't fit you in an aesthetically appealing way and you are not meeting my standards"--but it struck me as sticking to conventional standards in a strict and negative way. He'd just need more time to like you and your body would have to come after. He has no problem feeding you on his birthday so it's not like he's going to force you to be skinny.

BUT UH. THERE'S THAT. I HOPE IT ISN'T DISAPPOINTING OR UNPLEASANT. SORRY THAT SOME ARE SO MUCH SHORTER THAN THE OTHERS. MAYBE JUST A LIST WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER BUT I'M NOT GOOD AT THAT. . . .

#danie yells answers #danie yells with anons #danie yells at tokyo debunker #nsftish #tohma ishibashi #kaito fuji #lucas errant #alan mido #leo kurosagi #shohei haizono #towa otonashi #ren shiranami #taiga hoshibami #haku kusanagi #edward hart #lyca colt #jiro kirisaki

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sothasil · 2 years ago

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hello my good friend and keeper of khajiit knowledge. I have an inquiry for you. How do khajiit babies start out? I've heard they all begin as kittens, which does make sense for most of the furstock, ease on the alfiqs, but I'm having trouble like. making logical sense of it (which I know is dumb for tes lore) and I was wondering if you had thoughts on the subject?

My biggest thing is just the sheer differences that would have to happen in the first few weeks/months/years (however long it takes for a furstock to develop in it's entirety) for the variances between just plain skeletal structure. Because if they all start as kittens, so four legged digitigrades, I cannot imagine the shift to two legged plantigrades makes for a pleasant infanthood. It's growing pains turned to full blast! There's gotta be differences in newborns between four legged and two legged and digitigrade vs plantigrade, and maybe they just start kitten sized, but not actually kittens?

sorry if this is a bothersome ask, you just know so much about khajiit/have amazing world building for them and I figured you could solidly set this into my brain besides just handwaving it and going "it's moon magic!" like everyone else has done rjgtkgjf

Hello Chance! I'll be answering this ask publicly just in case other people are interested - if you'd want it not shared, please say so and I'll lock RBs.

The short answer to your question is we don't know. Khajiit children, or depictions thereof, do not exist in TES. So strictly canonically speaking: we have nothing.

The longer answer: I have had the exact same train of thought before and came to similar conclusions. Not only do khajiit of all shapes and sizes have to grow into these shapes and sizes, but any shape of khajiit has to uh, get pushed out of any other shape of khajiit... For my own headcanon I have solved this with two ideas. The following is all headcanon!

The first thing: the furstock of the mother will in major part dictate how many babies they can have in a single litter. In real life biology, humans have it very complicated, because our hips, made for walking upright, work poorly to give birth. Following this, I think the more humanoid a khajiit is, the less babies they can carry at once.

In my own Khajiit OC families, this is why Ma'Jahrann only has a brother and they are both single litters, because their mom is an Ohmes. But the mom herself (Elaahni) is one of half a dozen litter-sisters, her mother being Alfiq-raht.

The second thing: all khajiit are born as tiny shapeless cat beans. The younger they are, the more khajiit look like each other in terms of furstocks. Some eventually stand upright and others do not. Here is some concept art based on this idea I did for Beyond Skyrim.

On top of growing into their adult body plan, I made them also grow into their coat, with some more humanoid furstocks staying relatively hairless for a khajiit (see my Ohmes concept art). While this makes for rapid, weird growing, this is arguably the case for many animals including humans, who go from quadrupeds to bipeds pretty fast!

For BSE, instead of doing a model per furstock for children which would be a hefty amount of work, we decided on only three at around the same young age as vanilla kids, to "sum up" all furstocks with three yet less defined body types: a quadruped very catlike one, a digitigrade fully furry one with a long tail, and a plantigrade type with a straighter neck; allowing for variety with limited ressources.

For my own OCs again - some older drawings I did of Rezad and Rakkan show them as having short legs and a very catlike baby shape, despite both of them being bipeds, Cathay and Cathay-raht respectively. Again, because as babies, their body plan is more muddy.

Rezad and his dad, both Cathay

This being said - I hope this is inspiring, but again, all headcanon! As with any unexplained lore area, it's your freedom to make your preferred takes out of it :) Cheers!

#khajiit #ask #the elder scrolls

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etirabys · 1 year ago

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I've spent the past several days in the kind of art hole where it's been hard to focus on my day job, so here's a blog post about painting.

I had a four month painting hiatus that I decided to exit by making something really easy ("I'm going to make a simple shitty painting by slapping together some geometric shapes"), which produced the square painting on the right (explanation here). It turned out to be a combination of easy and hard – laying down the outlines was easy, since this is the kind of doodling I always do anyway. Putting down the colors was easy. Refining and swapping those colors was hard. In that last step, I realized that the variance in outcome was wider than expected – in particular, that the right combination of colors could probably make this something I truly loved. So that refinement step ended up being ~50% of the work by time, ~70% by mental energy.

This was surprising. This is a child's coloring exercise. On the other hand, I don't remember doing those coloring exercises while growing up, and they turn out to have a lot to teach me. They feel like exactly the right intermediate exercise for me to refine my sense of what colors and shapes look good together.

I've always been bad at colors-and-shapes – and since those are the basics of artistic composition, I considered myself kind of a fundamentally untalented painter. ("Okay, 'fundamentally untalented' is a fake and unhelpful label and I try not to think about it, but in my heart of hearts I know it's a meaningful concept and it's obvious that I'm fundamentally untalented...") It's been a surprise to fuck around in a genre that makes this static fact about myself buckle.

The painting on the left (still in progress) was harder than the first, because I decided most of it would be monochrome except for the top right circle, because the abstract concept I'm trying to convey demands it. (To me, that abstract concept is having a promising fiction synopsis or outline that I may not be able to breathe life into – "breathing life" being something that perseverance and intelligence alone seem to be incapable of promising – and gibbering and sweating and praying hoping it's just going to happen.) I don't want the colorful part to be garish or the monochrome part to be boring, but I don't want to dilute the dichotomy by colorizing the monochrome part too much or vice versa. After a few false starts it's exceeded my expectations, and I know it's going to get even better by my lights. I'm iterating much faster than usual, and I can feel the gravity of the local optimum pulling me in.

There have been multiple points in my life where I suddenly left some plateau of technical skill and bumped up to a new level. I think I'm in one of those phases again. When I close my eyes I see my painting the same way I see Tetris blocks when I'm in a Tetris phase. Cores that are unused for even ten seconds get reallocated to art. It feels amazing.

#rambl #eti draws stuff

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dogtoling · 8 months ago

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You have very cool headcannons so I want your take on this: how come there’s such a wild variance in octarians? Do you think octolings having belly buttons despite them being able to reproduce with a haircut indicates they have multiple methods of reproduction with one being significantly more taxing?

I think Octolings reproduce the same way Inklings do (eggs and paralarva/the little squid baby), so the Octolings are the creature that occurs naturally whereas Octarians are created from their cut tentacles. We don't have an exact answer to HOW exactly Octarians are created (to be honest i don't really want one because if they say "idk they just kind of grow from tentacle cuttings and walk around" i will turn into a villain), but the way I see it is they're grown from the tentacle cuttings and naturally end up mimicking an Octoling-like shape, so they're some kind of pseudo-clones?

Octarians have highly developed technology, so I could see them growing Octarians in labs, and what the Octarians end up looking like depends on how long they're left in there. Consider the severed tentacle as something that's kind of like an embryo that develops into a bigger Octoling-like shape (with some liberties that are probably controlled). The Octotrooper-style Octarians (including Octoballs and Octocopters, etc) are somewhere around the bare minimum where something like the Octo Samurai has been cooked a very long time and is pretty humanoid as a result. So basically Octolings are just Octolings and they reproduce normally (despite that one art book page that's been sowing carnage and confusion for several years) and Octarians are artificially created and can't reproduce, but are technically still the same creature because they're clones.

#mailbox

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inventors-fair · 29 days ago

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Signpost Commentary: At Odds and Ends

Well, folks, it's been a long week. A very long couple weeks. Things aren't shaping up as neatly as I thought they would but that doesn't matter because we're all in it together. And you know what? I've been feeling as of late that I've just kinda gotten worse at Magic overall. I like Duskmourn a lot, but is it how I'm drafting? I've had some sets that've been enjoyable and others that have been fairly despicable, and some chaos that's panned out and some that's just plain failed. Where's the right answer? What's the right direction?

But that's a hard question to answer, because there are so many. You'd think that this would be a transition into signposts, but really, it's just me venting about having to work weekends when I just want to write about custom cards all the time. (This is mostly a joke; working at an LGS is pretty great.) And as for signposts and environments, I find it quite interesting how many different folks had basically the same consensus about some recent sets and cards. Like, a LOT of consensus. I fully expected everyone to have a completely different take but no, wow, we saw...a lot of variance in what people changed.

Is that speaking at all to what expectations were before playing the set, or are these considerations after an open mind has already approached what's ostensibly solved formats? Or is this experimentation for better times overall? Strange times indeed. Anyway, I know already that this is going to be late and also, it's going to be shorter probably. Each card I'll write about until I don't feel like writing anymore.

JUDGE PICKS are cards that I particularly liked for some reason or another, and/or they were close to winning or running, and/or there's a specific aspect of them I wanted to point out. Sounds good? Sounds good. Let's roll.

@bread-into-toast — Momir VII, Cloned Colonist

I think I understand the mechanical intent: more treasures ensures that plotting becomes easier, you can get your engines and big things online, etc. I'm not seeing the connection between Momir and treasures, though, or Momir's real connection to the plane in general. That said, OTJ did have a weird plot and flavor, so I guess there's some justification. As far as replacing the good bear doctor goes, though, I don't feel that there's too much of an argument to be made here as for why this one would necessarily be...better? That said, I don't even know if that's the argument being made at all.

There's just no specific grip on this card for me in the scheme of greater OTJ game feel or flavor feel. Plotting felt just plain good as it stood, and Doc Aurlock did a fine job as a two-drop to get some of the ramp more easily situated. Having Momir trigger off of more things that aren't as relevant feels like it's more of a first draft playtest. Maybe that's fine, though, and it would be worth seeing how he'd play in the shell. I'm not sold, though, mostly because the question of "Why Treasure?" lingers as a discrepancy. But ramp is ramp; I'll chalk this to overthinking.

@corporalotherbear — Vengeful Fighter (JUDGE PICK)

Now, the reason why I want to put this card as a judge pick is that it would've been a fantastic finisher card in the format, and it's a powerhouse for sure. I'm also of the opinion that it would be a much better rare than an uncommon. Any party overlap and you're doming for more than your fair share. Any attack turns into either chipping away or forcing lethal, assuming that you can get any number of party members to stay on board. Consistent damage is fine if it's hard to get. Signpost uncommons that can deal up to four damage on attacking OR blocking with a fair amount of consistency? It's really rough, especially if it stacks.

Consider: your opponent has a huge board, and you have five creatures, two warriors (one of which is this dude). Swing in with all of them, and those unfavorable swings that would just kill your creatures turns lethal. And maybe they don't block—well, unless they have you dead to rights, they're dead on the crackback. This would be an awesome rare, a seriously good finisher, or maybe there are places where the death could deal different amounts or whatever. I would love to have played with this card! I feel we may be a little powered up for aggro limited. Secondarily: the name is a bit generic. How could some part of this make it feel more Zendikari?

@cthulhusaurusrex — Corpsejack Source (JUDGE PICK)

Compared to the signposts of the time, this card feels oddly contemporary. I do mean that as a compliment, and I also mean to say that I don't know how it would've been printed at the time, if anything like that would've been printed at all. I guess they made weirder cards, but hey, this was before FIRE design and Modern Horizons and whatever, so. I do like it, though, and I feel that the gist of getting more bodies per body is really great for the Scavenge decks. That's all that a fungus wants to do!

Should the second ability say "other" creatures, perhaps? As in, you don't want to confuse folks with whether or not it triggers off of itself attacking. I want to emphasize, BTW, for anyone reading this: if I bring up an example of something that could possibly confuse players, I'm using the general scale of complexity that we've seen handed down/explained by MTG designers, COMBINED with questions I've gotten myself as a de facto judge at FNM. Anyway. Fungus is also an interesting choice. Ooze would've been by go-to, but I like funguses. Just to wrap up: overall, this card feels a little slow to get going, especially as a 1/1, but I see where you're coming from with it. It's here as a JP for its neatness in mechanical expansion, I'd say.

@dimestoretajic — Glitterseed Scrounger

The first of the squirrels. Why were so many folks not down with the simplicity of the signpost squirrels from Bloomburrow? Or maybe folks just wanted to see something different, I dunno. Either way, a three-mana 1/1 that on occasion makes tapped treasures doesn't really do it for me. Deathtouch feels like it could be reasonable if this is a utility creature. On the squirrel curve, that one feels particularly less aggressive than squirrels want to be; I think that's the reason that the other signpost was the aggressive body that it was.

Foraging for treasures is kind of cute conceptually, but what does that really have to do with the squirrel gameplan? It doesn't really need the ramp, and now you're mixing and matching different tokens on your board as well. I feel like it could've played fine, but treasures as a theme weren't what Bloomburrow needed, I don't think. I can feel the justification in the flavor text as well; that definitely feels like you were reaching, not gonna lie. I think that developing ideas that naturally combine into a flavor-and-mechanical blend is useful for the second go-around on whatever ideas come to mind.

@feyd-rautha-apologist — Corpseroot Mentor

Oh boy. I think mixing metaphors is a little weird here. I grok the card, but the complexity isn't what you want from a signpost. And to be fair, I think that the grokworthiness of this card would be fine for any other design standpoint! We're in the trap of good idea, good execution, and the main issue is that you're designing for the average player cracking standard packs. Offspring costs not being mana is a divergence that probably should be saved for rares, if that. You'd be surprised what the average played does or does not grok.

...I mean, would they even know the word "grok?" I hope that's common knowledge among the custom-design-corner here on Tumblr and beyond. What I also grok is that this card is designed to be a bit of an engine, and I respect that that's what you'd want from the four-drop slot here in the aggressive squirrel deck. Having played that deck (and having won only one BLB draft with that deck) I feel that this turns a little midrange-y? It's not a bad thing to have that option. I do like the triggers as well, and the amount of food that one gets is pretty nuts! To avoid rambling, what I'll say is that I like this card a lot, and I can envision the AD even. Some complexity wires got rewired, though, and I would suggest keeping in mind the base difficulty of different sets. I do love me some potential Horizons-y costs.

@hypexion — Mercury Host Stalker

There weer a cycle of landcycling cards in MOM, as well as some self-mill strategies, that could get cards with massive values into your graveyard fairly early on. It's entirely possible that this card could get a 6/6 or 7/7 Phyrexian on turn four, plus the flying body. Maybe that's magical christmas land, but is it that far off? I think that this card feels quite good and maybe my worries are less of "these are problems" and more "this is the ideal scenario." I also remember the removal in MOM being quite clunky compared to the bombs... Maybe this is just plain worrisome for no reason, y'know? But I don't hate it at all. I'm just scared of it.

Part of Halo Forager's advantage was that it could steal from any graveyard, and I think that I appreciate greatly how much you adhered to the original stats and body while creating a completely different card. I think I can agree with the argument this card is presenting, in favor of a definitive Phyrexian body instead of a potential flashback body. Between the two, I still find the forager more interactive and interesting—spell value in a control shell. This card isn't bad, of course, because in a bomb-vs-bomb format, you can match some of the huge green creatures or whatever. This may be a personal taste issue re:color intent in the formats, and what graveyard interaction would look like.

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes — Master Forager

I'm not opposed to triggers-within-triggers myself; it's also taken me a lot longer to really get into my brain how they're supposed to work with certain cards. They're really difficult to get the timing down on sometimes! With this one, the question of targets and resolution and if-thens get really messed up. When does someone lose life? When does the creature get the -1/-1, if there are any life-loss triggers or ETB triggers for the second ability? All of these make sense on the board, sure, but again: you've got a cool card from a designer's brain standpoint, and I want to shift you into an average-player-who-doesn't-consider-design standpoint.

That's the TL;DR of it, and I think I want to point out the second ability as a really nice blend of what foraging allows you to do, and what it would look like to have those choices. Maybe if there was just an ETB or combat forage? I think it's possible that the second trigger could've been one part "Whenever you ___ to forage"—but I don't actually know, because that would mean diving into some definitions of the keyword that I don't think matter in this case. Honestly, a modal foraging trigger at the beginning of combat (or whenever) could've been perfectly cool too: "[when/whenever/at], you may forage. When you do, choose one:" And then you have the life loss, -1/-1, or token. Y'know? I like what this card wants to deliver. I'm not quite on board with it yet.

@izzet-always-r-versus-u — Gratitude/Resentment

I don't think this card would fit into Wilds without it being a bit of a wild swing. Don't forget: in any given environment, even though they don't quite have mechanical significance, split cards are themselves a mechanical addition to any given set! I mean, this card is supposed to be from WOE, right? The creative choice to add a card frame/style that wasn't at all part of the set is a little baffling to me. But, big risks and big rewards, I suppose. If anything, knowing your general strengths as a designer, I'd say that this is one place to dial back. Split cards didn't belong in WOE, and postulating this as a signpost isn't at all what we were looking for.

As a card in general, in a vacuum, I like it a lot; hell, I'd even go so far as to say that it would play just fine in the WOE archetypes. It's interesting that you chose to sorta-kinda mirror the uncommon Adventure creature in the sense that there are pseudo-symmetrical effects here. Of course, they're not exact, but having that mirroring is notable by comparison. A couple indestructible effects and an additional edict ain't bad; plus, I can see some situations where Resentment would cause some fun blowouts. Again, I want to stress, it's not bad—but it doesn't fit into WOE, which was part of this contest's challenge: how well you can match and/or argue for a set's needs.

@lich-of-the-golgari — Thrull Processor

Ajani's Pridemate is the first thing that comes to mind. Having a flying Pridemate is a bit of a pain to deal with for sure. Overall, I'd say that this card groks well, but it's not especially exciting to me? Having played a fair amount of Gatecrash back in the day, I remember cards like One Thousand Lashes and Gift of Orzhova, things like that. Man, it was a different era... Obzedat was a bit of a pain, that's for sure. Anyway. I think it's really funny that it starts out as a 0/2. Could you get away with this as just a two-mana creature?

Maybe the gist of this card is defined by that bygone era, honestly. I probably wouldn't first-pick this, but it would be fine in the deck, and it's... I just noticed that it doesn't have flying, dang. If it was flying AND lifelink, well, that's a different story, but something in me was imagining the original thrull. I guess this is what they say about art and wings and making a difference. In a lifegainy set, even without flying, I think that making it big would be okay, although I'd like a little bit more of a mechanical push to make an argument of having this over any other part of a curve or even a cycle, y'know?

@piccadilly-blue — Vargrahn, the Pit Boss

I'm not sure exactly how you interpreted this contest, but let's back up a little bit. The goal was a set mechanic on a signpost. Is this card supposed to be from Ravnica, where detain was originally printed? Because it's giving a Capenna vibe, where you'd be looking at conniving as the main Obscura mechanic. Without a little more information, I honestly don't know what your goal was here, but it doesn't fit within the contest parameters unless you're really stretching the boundaries of what the Azorius were doing on RTR. Honestly, who knows what they were doing, I didn't read the story at that time.

Anyway, I'll give a quick read on this card: in a hypothetical future where detaining was part of SNC, this card kicks butt. I loved detain as a mechanic myself because I was a horrible control player at the time. The fact that you're hypothesizing a detain payoff makes me quite happy. The fact that there are only twelve cards that detain pains me to the core. That's really neither here nor there, though, because this card's clearly not from this timeline. Hey, that's...fine? I suppose? But I'd really like to know what you were thinking with this one in terms of the contest. Also: keep writing art direction. Add some composition notes and that's a 10/10.

@wildcardgamez — Alabaster Armory

It's interesting that you chose this card as a representation of signposts because this card was actually designed before a time where signposts were integrated into set design. Seriously! Some sets were designed for draft after a few years of MTG's creation, but an actual-genuine signpost wouldn't show up in packs until the set after New Phyrexia—original Innistrad. Even then, they weren't multicolor, not until Dark Ascension. Whew. That sent me down a drafting rabbit hole, but the point is that this card is interesting compared to where it would want to be.

As a signpost, though, I don't think I'm sold. It's a contemporary card in a retro shell—unless you were intending for this card to be part of a different set, in which case I really don't know what you were going for. Living weapon being printed before the Phyrexian creature type is a little bit of an odd duck, and if this was indeed from the original New Phyrexia, I'd say that having almost every single creature being Phyrexian would make this more of a Bastion of Remembrance card than anything specifically tied to the type. But B/W equipment might've been an archetype, I dunno, anything was possible back then. What theoretical applications can be applied to a card that's not in conversation with its origin? It's hard to determine.

@xenobladexfan — Maestros Defector (JUDGE PICK)

I'm gonna copy-paste the personal commentary I gave from Discord because a) I can and b) this commentary post is late enough as-is:

I think my favorite part of the card is the intersectionality it opens up between Maestros and the Treasure synergies of the set, actually, which is itself the intersection of Cabaretti and Riveteers. I do feel that between Blitz, Treasures, Casualty and the common labs cycle, you risk a card with exceptional advantage comparatively. For three mana and a 3/3, the ability to generate a card possibly every turn is wild. I'm also thinking of formats where Mayhem Devil is played, yeah? Like, that itself is a smash hit, and while this one isn't a wincon in itself, you can't deny that it's a little pushed. Not that it's a bad call, though, and I feel with a little numbers tweaking it could be easier to get balanced for uncommon. I might also word it to only trigger for the first one you sacrifice during each of YOUR turns, to encourage Blitzing.

I think the flavor is a little awkward for SNC? In a set ostensibly designed to introduce the families, having a card that's a Riveteer- mechanic focus but that's about a defector feels a little odd to me. Plus, something tells me a defector wouldn't last long on the streets. They're good at making things go away. Maybe if the flavor was about why the Maestros don't go after him? But either way, I think that a focus about what the Riveteers ARE would've been stronger, because right now the name suggests a character motivation that isn't delivered in this iteration.

@yd12k — Bloodtithe Harvester

There's a certain boldness in this card's presentation that I appreciate. Overall, I'm not opposed to the original BT, but it seems that there are some redesigns that more than one person wanted to change, eh? Blood tokens were such a good mechanic. Tying up a draining effect with that is a real pain in the butt, but in a good way. Looking at VOW in general, I honestly don't know if this effect is necessary though. There are a few cards that have you gaining life, there's one with an activated ability to drain, there are plenty of cards that repeatably create Blood tokens... It's hard to argue the necessity of this card in the grand scheme of the set compared to an on-board removal spell.

But it's still good, and if there weren't a massive amount of Blood effects in this set already then I'd say this was a thumbs-up. Maybe there was just an oversaturation that's diminishing my good graces. Maybe it's even better than the original and I'm misremembering how good the original was (although Standard would argue differently). I think that having to sacrifice Blood to drain would encourage you to go though your deck even faster, and that's fine as a wincon assuming you can get through with your bloody dudes for damage faster. Chip damage is always perfectly fine and having multiples would be even finer. The question of "what does this card do for me in the larger shell" isn't answered as well as the original BT, though; extra blood making extra removal on an aggro body is a little more directional than the winmore that this version provides.

Have fun with the current contest, phew. Lots to get through.

@abelzumi

#mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #inventor's fair #commentary #entries #signpost redesign contest

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istherewifiinhell · 8 months ago

Text

IS FLYING GENDERED?

On the masculine default, typifying gender in genre, and women as the other in the transformers cartoons.

question for the ages

once again i said back in the halcyon days of watching g1 (aka 5 months ago) i was like. Nooooo, decepticon is NOT a gender that's Silly. It's funny, but as a Read Of The Text, I thought it largely unneeded. (The concept came about, as a joke, involving dismissing the bad guys using the same language you would abt women (sexistly) that they're emotional [heh, flighty], vain, and shrill) after all. If in the 80s era there are 5 whole named/speaking woman tfs, its only ever gonna get better from here right? (<- booboo the fool)

anyway

Let's consider the axiom that the assumed default gender is male, that maleness is often seen as LACK of gender, and femaleness and gender variance are the PRESENCE of gender. In certain reasoning and worldviews, of course (See Androcentrism). Then add that, for transformers, the assumed default thing a transformer turns into, is car. (Autocentrism, if you will)

(The most general term for what a tf turns into is "Alt mode" as some of them are not vehicles at all. The other mode is "Robot Mode", whether its humanoid or not)

So I will be laying out why I believe the cartoon iterations support: non standard alt modes = non standard genders. This is in spite of the fact that FIRST lady tfs were all cars. Sleek cyber cars, but still. For whatever reason, (possibly, the reason for everything in tf, toys) they might as well not exist for how woman tf characters presence in the cartoons progressed over time.

And, to be clear, this is a reading of how these works of fiction are created, not a new unified bioessentialism but for robots aliens I'm proposing for like. In universe lore reasons. I hate that idea.

That said, alt modes in order of most to least gender: Spider, motorcycle, flying (in general, with rotors, jets), tank, and then FINALLY, car. (water and space crafts are already too marginal to rank, but they too can be assumed in relation to default maleness, AND that in making one a woman, would still qualify as othering her).

The NUMBER one reason for this is the bizarre need to have an ESTABLISHED woman tf character before making new ones. AS YOU MIGHT IMAGINE. With a g1 gender ratio something like.... (counting even the most marginal cases for the ladies) 9:120? (That's a rough count from a quick scanning of the tf wiki g1 char list) Shits dire out here.

The second is, ofc, character design based. cis people [stand in phrase for the hegemonic world view] are not okay, and their opinions about how tf gender must need be depicted visually is. uh? Im not a fan. Size and shape dimorphism in general is a given, and specifically having women tfs as far more humanoid and curvy in specific. Also general cartoon lady face syndrome but, whatever. I think there's exactly one character here who doesn't have "lips" or "lipstick" as a distinguishing factor. I'm so tired.

Third is generally, the idea of The Girl Of the Team. When there's The Girl, she often isn't JUST a normal character, who happens to be a girl. See, of course, the Smurtfette Principle. But in my view there's also a trend to give The Girl "special traits" on top of "Girl", maybe even to directly combat the idea that the Girl Character has no other traits? To stop this from being a General Primer on Woman in Media, my explanatory focus is things specific to the tf franchise.

(A phrase I use for thinking about normative modes [in general, not just the Alt ones] in within the tf universe is "unique transformerdom" or, even more clunkily, "A transformer of unique transformerdom". The excessive verbosity is amusing to me personally. All I mean by it is to have an umbrella term for any of the ways tfs can be made unique from their peers in the non allegorical realities of the fiction).

I could, and do, and greatly want to, speak about this AT LENGTH. But it keeps spiraling away from me. So I'll say for now were looking at ways a character is being depicted different from her peers, not because she is the only woman (which she likely is), but cause she's a different kind of transformer, AND if she's othered for it.

(IN SOME forms of the lore. Being a transformer woman, IS A UNIQUE KIND of transformer unto itself. Let's just say I hate it and move on)

Fourth, is the gender of villainy. There is much to be said about gender presentation of villains, the ways they are allowed to be aberrant. We will get to it. There is also all the tropes specific TO evil women, and the modes of villainy open TO female characters. But a general thing I think impacting the gender ratios of the factions is the how "Good" and "Evil" female characters are written. I'll generalize and call this the "Damsel vs Temptress" dichotomy. (See concepts like the Madonna-whore complex). Transformers, is by and large, an action franchise. Unless special reasons are made, characters who can impact the action– have more screen time, and likely more memorable, and iconic presences. A villainous woman can be unchaste, violent, aggressive. While a heroic woman, even if not a literal damsel are more likely to be in a support role. The secretaries of the action genre: medics and techs.

(Another factor is that tfs are giant robots, and the good guys are often friends with tiny squishy little humans. These make very good damsel fodder, and can be taking up the spots on the roster that might, in a different franchise, go to women. Additionally, while woman characters in transformers overall is an interesting topic. When I say tf women, I'm referring to ones that are in fictionally, transformers.)

SO, now understanding our points of attack/obstacles for getting woman into transformers. (Getting established, gendering the designed, uniqueness of existence, and general villainy). Lets go over those alt modes, and the characters that have em, in more detail.

Spiders

The "Beast Era" (1996) intro-ed the spider ofc. And what don't we have with this one. She's a villain, but shes also misunderstood, the era and design style let to these more organic shapes. And they used them to make sure she was very sexy. She's genre aware, she's quippy, she's an absolute icon. So naturally. She gets ported to other later shows. Which means we just have sexy spider ladies running around when everyone else is a fucking truck and shit.

Her own origin is, well think of her as a "Bride of Frankenstein" to the resident evil scientist, also a spider. She was designed for, and manipulated by him in multiple ways. Her protoform (A blank robot base), was supposed to be one of the good guys (a Maximal), but was reprogrammed into a bad guy (Predacon). Even then, she eventually joins them, for her own reasons. She's not even the first predacon to do so, the difference? Well the characters are a lot more NORMAL about his autonomy. Both of these characters stress that being a predacon is an identity they still see as important. But only the woman is told that really, she is was was always MEANT to be a maximal. And while that's true in a sense. There's also a plot were she's forced (by plot contrivance, not the other maximals) to get corrective robot surgery for it. And when they think she died from, everyone's more sad for her boyfriend than for her. Ouch.

The second spider, in the 2007 show, is now one in a world where she is the only "techno-organic" transformer, hence, she is spider, everyone else is a vehicle. Similar to the first, her narrative is very gendered, but less in the way were, like, I do literally think the first was was experiencing in universe sexism from other characters. Here, they really focus on the "techno vs organic" narrative, and the tragic circumstances on how that happened. In this case its just real world sexist writing.

THIRD SPIDER, (2010), instead of misunderstood and tragic evil, this ones just super mega likes to cause pain evil. She also occupies a strange place between the typic vehicular tfs, and the insecticons. This is because she has a helicopter alt mode, and her robot mode is just, a lady with spider characteristics. And, more than just a passing bug like similarity, she has the power to control the insecticons (you know, cause evil woman mind control). However, she doesn't fit in with them either, as the insecticons are at the most insect like they've ever been, in look, living in hives and that most don't even speak.

They may vary in exact character, relationship to the story's moral conflict, and design. But they stay comfortably established, dimorphised, flirty and flirting with villainy. And bonus points, always, for black widow spider trope.

SO. SPIDERS. Established: ✅️ Gendered designs: ✅️ (Extremely!) Unique: ✅️ Othered: ✅️ Villainy: ✅️

Motorcycles

Tooooo my knowledge the first bike lady was in 2004, and fairly minor, in the actual plot, but rest assured, they did go the previously established woman route, by being pink, though, which one shes named after varies by language. But neither were previously motorcycles. (And yes, there is also this problem of mixing together or swapping out one woman tf for another. As if we have the ladies to spare). Even though motorcycle men also exist, this one just stuck for a bit. Maybe something to do with Those Movies. I think the Gendered Existence of a motorcycle is pretty evident though, general sex appeal, being smaller, the mode of riding a motorcycle is different, more physical and intimate. Mainly this ranks so high for the level of grossness they can pack in. Just how objectifying it can be, particularly with two instances where the human rider is an annoying teen boy. Naturally, I've also never seen a male and female motorcycle in the same room, but the approach to design tends to be different. And yeah most of em are Arcee, who's first alt mode was cyber car, but it's not just her.

Established: ✅️ Gendered designs: ✅️ Unique: ✅️ Othered: Depends on iteration, I do NOT like the way one gets called "tough, for a two wheeler". Villainy: ❌(they wouldn't need to be motorcycles if they weren't making them the Special Girl Autobot, after all)

Flying

General: It just tends to stick out when your one girl is only flyer in the group, even she's otherwise tactfully done. Only flyer of the Maximals, a falcon, only flyer of the dinobots, a Pteranodon.

Rotors

I can barely even figure this one. Maybe it's just a general, aesthetics and use case of the actually vehicles, the associations? None of these ladies (and special case) are very connected otherwise. As previously mentioned, the spider helicopter. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A big one for this is the preschool demo shows, which are rescue team focused. In the first one the only woman on the human response worker team pairs with the helicopter, they mention she does medical at times. The helicopter is male, like the other tfs. But also he's afraid of flying, and while not the first case of a flyer with a fear of heights, their personalities are, pretty different. As he's both fearful AND effeminate, fine as character traits go but, with the tone of humour used, marks him as Other.

In the second, Whirl (pointing to icon) becomes a girl for the first time, now with standard humanized face. I assume as move to keep with the previous show of having a girl one, as there's no human team mates. She's also the only one who really likes rescue school. Aaaand that's all know of her. What more do you want from me.

Helicopters: Unique: ✅️ Othered: ✅️ (milder than some)

But why'd I call this section rotors instead of helicopters? That would be because one of the latest Sole Female TF we just put in everything™ is a VTOL jet with rotors. She'll tend to be the only jet of her type, which is also smaller than the type of jet used for the villains.

And, of course, aside from alt mode, the thing that makes her stand out most in the cartoons? That she's very clearly a comics character. (I find the emphasize that she's "fan created" over done, as it only controlled minor aspects, and irrelevant cause tfs get completely overhauled in new versions all the time). From her design, which is a bit busier than most characters she stars with. And also uses Japanese aesthetic signifiers in ways that I think are a bit misappropriated and untactful. (VERY USamerican comics). Also, when she stars next to a guy, also from comics employing Japanese aesthetic, you can tell its not deployed in the same manner. (E.I she has hair and makeup, he has armor). Either way, her depictions have her either as badass sword lady on mission from god who's constantly getting hit on by an annoying guy. Or have her be from a different planet and has special telepathy.

Do we see how both her gender AND the cultural signifiers are having affects here? That the main woman tf in a series can be a literal alien even among our alien robots, with cultural signifiers they don't have?

Ratings Established: ✅️ (made the comics to cartoon jump) Gendered designs: ✅️ Unique: ✅️ Othered: ✅️ (SO SO EXTREMELY, using methods in fiction and real life)

Jets

I think my association of jets with tf gender is stronger, than some of the above examples, even if there's less reason to it. And why is that? Well, lets get socratic. Here's another question.

Is This All Starscream's Fault?

No. He's not real, he can't do things. But. His legacy as THE main stay transformers character that gets to subvert gender? Yeah. (Sure, the G1 autobots have their own effete, but he's not in every single cartoon they ever made now is he? Plus now that I think about it, he is a FLYING car...)

From the get, he's not a Man's man. He's shrill, he's manipulative and duplicitous, petty and emotional, cowardly and wheedling. He is, of course, the Perfect character. Now naturally, the 80s cartoon was not concerned with your paltry logics. Starscream and his ilk are the jets, but every decepticon can fly. The gun, the cassette player, the camera, the cassettes.

And each to a last, more masculine than he is. Vocally or behaviorally, physically. Every one of them fit the gender expectations more than he does. Even being a small time grunt, is a masculine trait, after all, more so than unchecked ambition. So its not femininity from flying, from jets. But direct relationship, reference, and descendancy from Starscream that makes it. I've yet to see female versions of Jet fire and or the aerialbots, for example.

So what to do when an effeminate male villain was less maltese falcon and more that man has effeminate hips? Well. We had to start getting his ass for being effeminate, explicitly. They made the female clone of him, which yeah, is an offensive joke stemming from the various The Gender Anxieties. (Transmisogyny, homophobia and sexism. General relation toxic masculinity. A heady mix of all and more).

But I mean. It's free girl tf... Once given a name in extra canon materials, she start's showing up in other things. Once you're in books, video games, comics, and most importantly, toys, you're real. And then eventually, her first non clone appearance in a cartoon, and how her presence shaped it.

That being, Cyberverse. Which is a cgi show, you need to know this for reasons of production. Making new models is expensive. This has always been the reason you just make recolours of Starscream and name them different things. Chicken or egg on this one, I don't know, But because CV has Slipstream, and the only difference between her and the generic "male" decepticon jet, is a more feminine face; Suddenly, any random decepticon goon can be a woman.

An absolutely revolutionary take for striving to populate a fictional world with gender parity. By at large it also means they're way more lady villains, and specifically flying model of villain. The show has other woman, but none who get the same androgynous body mold treatment.

Established: ✅️ Gendered designs: Mildly to NO. Unique: By design, no. Othered: Yes for the clone, and Screamer himself, I suppose. No, otherwise. Villainy: ✅️(That's, the whole idea)

Tanks

It needs to be said. Sometimes, when doing things that transgress a norm, anteing up is less subversive. This is another reason why gender variance, female agency and overt sexuality are more common traits of villains. When already defying strictures of society. What's one more.

That's Right. TANKS ARE THE BUTCH WOMAN OF TRANSFORMERS.

Alright. Let me back up. Strika is the stone cold knock out undefeated champ of lady tf designs that, actually has a reoccurring cartoon presence. She is, admittedly, only a reoccurring to minor character.

Her introduction is in another show with techno-organics, this one involved in the struggle between well, the techno and the organic. Strika as we see her, and as the design that will go on to be iterated, is not in her normal transformer body. She has been transferred into a 'vehicon' body. Without a preexisting essence contained in one, vehicons are not considered alive, in the way a transformer is. Visually, they lack the more human body plan, a standard face, feet and hand like appendages.

To further contrast Strika against the two techno-organic woman. Both of them are tall, and slender. Their softer organic shapes designed towards elegance or beauty, whatever your subjective opinion of that result might be. They both have romance subplots too. By the way. Or honestly one subplot and one main plot. Strika. In contrast. Is built like a brick shit house. Her face is. Minimal. And her goal: protecting her planet... by terminating the heroes.

Now, existing as a character that can be referenced for other media, and given the detail that she was a "Famous general", it's off to the races. She makes a wonderful big tank menace that can fill out a background shot, too.

Without her I hardly think we could have Clobber, also from CV. Who is. The true goat. The finest thing, the achievements of all we could ever hope for. A big fuck off woman, gender swapped from a previous male design with minimal faff, with now even more personality and show presence. Friends, wants, desires. Emotions. Thank God for Clobber, Thank Clobber for Clobber. Thank Randolph Heard and Mae Catt for Clobber.

Established: Depends if you want to count that Strika had so much swag they kept drawing/modeling her Gendered designs: FUCK NO Unique: ✅️ Othered: only originally Villainy: ✅️

Cars

So now you have the final piece of the puzzle. In transformers, Autobots are Cars. Yes, there are plenty of autobots that are NOT cars, and there are cars that are not Autobots. But they're exceptions, they're aberrances. They're unique. And Autobots are the norm. They oppose the Decepticons. Decepticons are Villains. And Decepticons can fly. Modal simplified binaries and false dichotomy abound!

And the thing about those original Autobot woman, the one's who largely did not influence all of this? They were cars, it's true, but not like how the men where cars. They've not been designed from transforming car toys, with a shellac of humanoid gender over top. Their designed in the way of human gender. With the car on top.

When the preexisting clause leads to the original designs to be revisited, which, has largely only happened in more recent years. They aren't car woman robots. The cars are literally not part of their bodies, they are additional. Instead of a unifying identity of a robot who is a car, its Arcee and her backpack. Parts of cars get grafted onto their petite lady bodies, and placed anywhere out of the way.

In order to make a transformer a woman, they have to give her a gender, not understanding that that's always been the case. And to give her a woman's gender, she's got to LOOK like a woman, not a transformer. And to look like a woman, she's got to act like a woman. She must be heroic but reactive instead of active, or else, villainous, conniving and or self centered. To be a woman, we must have some other previous woman to explain her presence, or else explain it anew with her unique, strange, or exotic origin. How could she ever be a woman if she simply, existed, looked average, talked average. How could she be a woman if her body is hunks of ungendered car. How can she be a woman if she's everything we expect a transformer to be.

A woman is transgressive, a woman is not normal. Autobots are normal. Autobots are heros. Autobots are men. And Autobots do not fly.

#some shit #its not called cisformers #<- IT SURE ISNT FOLKS #a note on how im using citations here u can read BEFORE getting into the post proper #I'm writing this in mind that someone might have NO idea about tf. or. god forbid.#the general perspective of media trope analysis im working from.#So the links can be considered additional or further reading with intent of 1. if a more thorough understanding of a concept might help #2. something im eliding the name of for search reasons 3. a referential example of what im saying #4. a specifc reference/bit of info that might be unclear. in which case im usually linking to a SECTION of the page #5. JOKE #ALright now normal tag talking space.#THIS IS. serious media analysis done casually for fun! in that. I mean it. genuinely. But also im here for silly fun and im not trying #to be SOOOO academically rigorous that its still not. Posting. u know?#MUCH inspired. or i suppose u might say. encouraged to completion and whole hearted commitment by (fandom) silly serious analysis and #math theroying thematics #i have NO idea if this thing will be searchable with all the links and the words i used. but i prepared for it it case it is #AND I PUT A LOT OF WORK INTO IT!!!!!!!! SO its okay if anyone reads it!#but im also braced for bad faithing inwhich case. I will not be held responsible for my actions. thank you.#i have been told to tag this #maccadam #transformers #if someone tryies to kill me for it im not taking responsibility

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ineffabildaddy · 11 months ago

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Hello! I'm sorry if this question sounds a bit weird, but I've just stumbled upon your post about aziraphale and crowley's first time and seen "#i don't care that they can manifest superdicks or superpussies or superboth"

I'm new to the fandom I was wondering if it has ever been discussed what their sex and gender would be as in mainstream Christianity angels are considered agendered and to have no sex. All of the posts I've seen about them use he/him pronouns and talk about dicks and yours is the first one I've seen to open the possibility to something else so that's why I got curious

On another note I agree with your original post, they would last 30 seconds and would leave the sex marathon or the tender sex for later.

Sorry again if it's weird a weird question I'm already regretting asking

Have a nice day!

hi!!! thank you for asking me this, i'm delighted that you're interested in this aspect of the good omens universe and that you came to me about it:-)

gonna put my answer under the cut as it's quite long!

this is what the book has to say about angels and their potential sexes:

... angels are sexless unless they really want to make an effort.

what most people have interpreted this to mean is that angels and demons are not inherently possessing of any particular primary sex characteristics (pasted from google: primary sex characteristics are those organs and other physiological structures that are directly related to sexual reproduction. These include both the primary (ovaries, testes) and secondary (vagina, penis) sex organs).

while they may have secondary sex characteristics (pasted from google: a secondary sex characteristic is any physical characteristic developed at puberty which distinguishes between the sexes but is not directly involved in reproduction) as part of their corporations - for example, tits or facial hair - most fans believe that angels and demons would have to actively 'make an effort' to manifest a penis or balls or a vulva or any combination or variation therein.

we've also got examples of what humans would view as gender variance within certain angels and demons the show - for example, there are angels with almost universally masculine names who are played by women (e.g. michael). these examples are largely seen to be a nod to the idea that gender identity is at least somewhat arbitrary for angels and demons.

here's a quote of a direction from the script book that sheds some light on this matter:

(There is a similarity to the angels, although they cross all races and do not necessarily have obvious genders. They all like wearing suits.)

here's another significant quote from the book, which is also paraphrased in the show:

For those of angel stock or demon breed, size, and shape, and composition, are simply options.

in fan content, this largely translates as follows: if crowley, aziraphale or indeed any other angel or demon wanted to 'make an effort', they could physically manifest whichever primary and secondary sex characteristics they chose. they are assigned a "corporation" - a body, or a 'vessel', as it's referred to in the tv show supernatural - that they must take care of, as we learn throughout the course of the story both in the book and the show, but the fanon view of this is that within that corporation, they can configure 'gender expression' and indeed have sex however they like.

why do angels and demons almost all have a perceived gender identity to viewers, even if they themselves do not subscribe to the idea of gender identity at all? why does gabriel read as a man, why does shax read as a woman, why is beelzebub referred to neutrally?

these questions are interesting and valid ones. gender expression always has a purpose in story, and good omens is no exception. i've actually got a detailed post that's been sat in my drafts for months about why i think that each significant character, and why the occasional side character, has the perceived gender expression they have. if people are interested, i shall go into this in another post.

all this to say - most people interpret crowley and aziraphale as at least vaguely male, in that they largely refer to both characters with he/him pronouns. for a lot of people, penis = male (even though this isn't inherently true), so most fans also like to think of them both as possessing penises by default, should they choose to possess any genitals at all.

popular headcanons posit crowley as genderfluid, due to their variety of gender presentations throughout the ages in the show (see the crucifixion scene and nanny ashtoreth), and aziraphale as agender, due to the way he's described in detail for the first time in the book, presumably among other things.

here's the first quote that i committed to this post in context, included here so you might understand better why people could see aziraphale as agender:

Many people, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide. Two of these were wrong: Heaven is not in England, whatever certain poets may have thought, and angels are sexless unless they really want to make an effort.

especially in the time in which the book was written, gender identity and sexuality were and are inextricably tied to one another. to be gay was and largely still is to be a man who exclusively likes men, and therefore to refute the human assumption that aziraphale is gay is to also refute the idea that he is a man at all. of course, in the minds of terry and neil, this passage probably served to make a general point about angels with regards to gender and sex more than anything. however, some fans have drawn upon it to interpret aziraphale as being distinctly without a sense of gender identity. there'll be more to why people think of aziraphale as agender, but i don't know much about this aspect of fanon, so i'm not the best person to ask (someone reblog with more info pls?)

do feel free to interpret aziraphale and crowley's relationship to gender identity and sex characteristics in whichever manner you see fit :-)

the moral of the story: read, write, and look at fanart about crowley and aziraphale presenting with whatever characteristics you enjoy seeing them possess! i, for example, exist in a gorgeous little transmasculine corner of the internet where we love to write and read a male-presenting crowley with a vulva. this is not a requirement by any means for me to enjoy a fic where gender and sex presentation or sexual activity is relevant, it's just something i like in particular - and you get to decide what you like too, if you have any preference at all :-)

the great thing about crowley and aziraphale as characters is that, due to their ethereal (or occult, haha) nature, you can make them into whatever you want and put them wherever and whenever you want and it won't not make sense. go forth and be free with it!

i hope this clears some things up for you - if you have any more questions or thoughts, please do let me know<3

#good omens #gender stuff #book omens #ineffabildaddy

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