#and now i have so many transformers characters

[tobi-rx]

My brain made a connection after cracking up at the 3rd image of the post I’m reposting, because I love linking my various special interests together, this time happening to be my current main one: Transformers, and a little danmei novel called Scum Villain Self Saving System (SVSSS).

Not exactly an original idea but here goes:

So, Optimus Prime is a stoic, serious, strong leader, and has rizz so strong it’s pulled the autobots through their darkest hours over and over again. Not the most eloquent description but I think that suffices. However this persona is one that he’s had to put on in order to lead as Prime.

Before he became a Prime, Orion Pax was naive (i think in both TFP and TF: One’s characterizations), a sweet little guy, kinda adorable, a bit of a shut in nerd, at least as far as I can tell from what little I’ve seen of the books related to TFP. However, he’s also a sassy little shit (TFA, TF: One), pretty good at on the fly thinking, and he’s def not a helpless kitten with no claws even at his most naive (I dislike and disagree when people portray him like that in ff).

In my own headcanon his time in the archives probably makes him more knowledgeable than the average bot on cybertonian history and artifacts lore.

Then there’s the Matrix of leadership which sometimes tells him things and gives him hints and nudges towards the plot.

You know who’s also a shut in nerd who is rather knowledgable, and then has to put on a persona to appease a supernatural force nudging him towards the plot? Shen Qing Qiu/Shen Yuan. His characterization iirc (it’s been a hot minute), is that on the outside, he’s a graceful, calm, stoic master cultivator, while on the inside he’s going on a tirade, giving the most heinous verbal lashing known to man, and THIS close to a mental breakdown while the System holds him at gun point.

Consider an AU where upon receiving the Matrix, Orion Pax gets the knowledge of the Primes, including alternate versions of himself (The idea of getting knowledge of his alternate selves is taken from the awesome fanfic, The Brave Shall Heed the Call https://archiveofourown.org/works/1118472/chapters/9259933#workskin).

Although the narrative has doomed him and cybertron to infinite sadness and endless war, Optimus will try to avoid that fate. No harm in cussing Primus out while he’s at it.

Essentially:

Optimus Prime persona as the SQQ persona.

Orion Pax as Shen Yuan.

The Matrix or Primus as the System.

Externally Optimus behaves as he does in TFP, meanwhile internally Orion Pax is praying (giving a verbal lashing) to Primus that his desperate ploys and schemes work against all odds, hope against hope in his attempts to save as many lives as possible, meanwhile the Matrix is mostly silent and unhelpful but until it isn’t, but OP is used to that by now.

This AU is most definitely not one to one, but possibly:

Maybe Ratchet as Shang Qinghua because he’s the only one in the main cast to know who OP/SQQ respectively is outside of the persona they present, esp in TFP. Ratchet isn’t the author though!

Bee, Bulkhead, Arcee, and Smokescreen as the disciples?

Oohhh maybe Cliffjumper as Liu Qingge, because both of them were supposed to die early on in the narrative and that’s that.

Megatron as Binghe, but not a disciple (Because doomed and toxic yaoi :3). Or would it be more like Bingge? Maybe he’d have anger points….

Starscream as Sha Hualing. Though I’m not sure whether to put Shockwave in the role of Mobei-jun, and Soundwave in the role of Meng Mo, or vise versa.

NGL I’m not confident in my ability to pull that off because I don’t feel I have a good enough grasp on the characters, and idk I feel like I should make it something more distinct from One More Time Optimus Prime! https://archiveofourown.org/works/12434079/chapters/28299075 (good read btw) if I’d write this.

Maybe I could ask for tfp related requests here, eventually

[turnleftonlastlaughtlan]

The line by twenty one pilots just dropped and i think might die if it’s actually about vik but the lines are hitting a way too close to home.

"honestly, i thought i was fully prepared for the threshold in store, stay your pretty eyes on course. i guess i never really faced my fears before. so stay with me because. my body's on the line now, pull the blanket tight now. i can feel the light shine on my face.

My body's on the line now I can't fight this time now. ”

“i thought i was fully prepared for the threshold in store”

Viktor knew he would die young and had been battling death for all his life, he thought he was prepared to die but isn’t truly.

“i guess i never really faced my fears before” Could be interpreted as many things. Viktor although he knew he would die young did everything to save himself, even argumenting himself with the hexcore. By trying desperately to search for a solution he never confronted the fact he simply would have died.

“my body's on the line now, pull the blanket tight now. My body's on the line now I can't fight this time now. “

honestly pretty self explanatory, viktor’s body has always been on the line, always been fighting for life. He might be transforming into the Herald and by doing so fundamentally changing his body, putting it on the line.

As for the blanket it could be a reference of the blanket jayce gave him when they had the “ divorce” . Also a blanket his usually put upon a deceased person…

“I can feel the light shine on my face” him in the intro:

“Did I disappoint you?

Will they still let me over?

If I cross the line?”

I see this as viktor asking jayce if he is disappointed in him, seeing what he is become and what he has done (although not conscious of it, maybe he realized later). “Will they let me stay over” could be referred to a lot of things, piltover for once, zaun for second, and all the other characters for third. Will they let him live there? Will they let him live at all? If he crosses the final line of becoming the Machine Herald.

“Take a seat

But I'd rather you not be here for

What could be my final form

Stay your pretty eyes on course

Keep the memories of who I was before”

Again, very self explanatory. Viktor wouldn’t want his best friend to see him as an unemotional machine that in the name of the “glorious revolution”, his final form, doesn’t respect others rights. Since he can’t stop jayce to see it tho, he invites him to take a seat. To see the monster, and to remember who he was before: the silly, sassy and ambitious scientist jayce got to know over the years.

The true Viktor that now is gone.

[tossawary]

While I do think that Wangxian would still be obsessed with each other in a Human/Cybertronian pairing, whichever one of them is the robot, I keep leaning towards Wen Ning being the robot in a "Transformers" AU for MDZS. I think it really fits the "I rebuilt you into an abomination" angle for the Ningxian situationship.

Also, I keep making myself laugh by thinking about bitchy-faced Lan Wangji sitting awkwardly in Wen Ning's passenger seat, because Wen Ning passive-aggressively won't let LWJ sit in the driver's seat even if Wei Wuxian isn't in the car. 

Which led me to thinking about the worldbuilding and plotting of a MDZS TF AU in which only the Wens are Cybertronians. (For the Sunshot-Era characters, at least.) Young WWX and LWJ are roughly the equivalent of human characters like G1's Spike, Carly, and/or Chip. (Though it would also be fun to do a different AU where WWX and/or LWJ are transforming giant robots, of course.)

In my mind, this story would take place in a modern-ish sci-fi setting. Start close to a Bayverse-like setting (live-action TF movies), but quickly morph into a "Pacific Rim"-style mecha setting (humans building mechs to fight monsters, not necessarily with a "Drift" co-piloting setup) as the equivalent of the Sunshot Campaign war starts and continues, before ultimately the setting becomes more of a retro-futuristic space opera like the original 1986 TF movie and the third season of G1 (the original TF cartoon). 

So, Wei Wuxian is a teenage genius at some prestigious robotics university/college, which does important research on a handful of alien artifacts. Lan Wangji also goes to this school and teenage Wangxian have the usual interpersonal conflict between them. 

Alien robots have been visiting Earth with increasing frequency over the past few decades, usually flying in and out without doing much, sometimes causing some destruction, so they're somewhat known, but a lot of people still think it's an elaborate hoax of some kind. The recovered pieces of these alien robots have provided a technological boost to humanity, which has caused some serious problems all over the world, but mundane life goes on for many people even if mech programs are apparently a real thing now. 

(Wei Wuxian's parents (who were humans) had dealings with Cybertronians. He does not initially know this.) 

The Cloud Recesses school possesses some very important alien artifact that serves as our story's MacGuffin. I'm thinking that it's either the Allspark or the Matrix of Leadership. Whatever it is, it's been dormant and useless for a very long time... basically a rock... until Wei Wuxian manages to build technology that actually manages to interface with the MacGuffin. No one else has ever managed this before. He can make it do stuff. 

Unfortunately, in achieving this, he accidentally sends out the equivalent of a signal to all Cybertronians pretty much everywhere saying: "YO! Earth has got your stuff! The MacGuffin you've been searching for for a million years is over here! Come and get it!" 

So, the school gets attacked by a group of Cybertronians, probably led by Cybertronian Wen Chao. The school possesses enough technology for some of the more daring and reckless students (Wei Wuxian) to fight back a little, using a combination of smarts and highly volatile projects, until some mech pilots arrive to chase them off. Wei Wuxian manages to knock one of the transformers down, but he doesn't take the killing shot, because the transformer looks scared, and Wei Wuxian also saw this transformer trying to step carefully around the humans. The transformer retreats with the other Cybertronians. 

Insert some plot and character stuff here. Then, in the next action-y sequence when Wei Wuxian gets attacked by Cybertronians again, he's saved when a car pulls up in front of him (it looks like either LWJ or Jiang Cheng's fancy car) and flings open a door for him to jump inside. It's only as they're driving away that Wei Wuxian realizes that no one else is in the car. 

Wei Wuxian: "...You're a Cybertronian, right? Was this a bad idea? Did I fuck up?" 

Cybertronian Wen Ning (the transformer whom Wei Wuxian didn't kill earlier): "Yeah, kind of. I'm surprised that you just went along with that? I'm kidnapping you. Sorry." 

In this universe, the Wens are essentially the Decepticons, but if the Decepticons had basically already won the war. There are some remaining Autobots out there, Wen Ning actually has a few Autobot ties, but the Autobots are largely scattered. Wen Ning and Wen Qing are both Decepticons here to get the MacGuffin (Allspark or Matrix), so that Decepticon victory will be complete, and Earth will probably be destroyed or conquered in the process. 

Well, they were here to do that. Wen Ning isn't really feeling that plan so much. He feels bad for the humans. And he thinks Wei Wuxian is really cool! He's never seen anyone that small and squishy humiliate Wen Chao that badly! Wow. 

Wen Ning doesn't like Lan Wangji so much, however, which is mutual. Currently, I'm thinking about this with polyamory vibes. Wei Wuxian would love to have car sex with Lan Wangji in Wen Ning's back seat, but he's not looking directly at that thought because he's pretty sure that LWJ hates him, and he refuses to reflect at all on why he wants this fantasy to be happening inside Wen Ning specifically. WWX is too busy dealing with a robot war to face being gay, much less being gay(?) for a giant robot as well, he doesn't have the time to learn what polyamory is yet! 

Insert series of events here that ultimately lead to a Humans versus Decepticons war, where the humans have mechs and a growing force of New Autobot allies, but the struggle against these lethal transforming robot soldiers is still grueling. 

The great sects in this AU are all giant tech and/or weapons companies of various types. Which is, you know, morally not great, probably, but this is what these kids have grown up with. They're feeling additional pressure to "do their duty" to protect Earth. The Nie family are heavily involved in some mech program that's been running for a few generations now and has some disastrous health effects, but is not going to stop Nie Mingjue from piloting Baxia until it kills him. Jiang Yanli is already married to Jin Zixuan, son of the CEO of the Jin Corporation, which will play its usual role of "shadowy, greedy company" this time with cyberpunk-esque aesthetics. 

I'm not sure what the Jiangs do, but I'm learning towards something to do with space. Jiang Cheng could be in business school, or doing some form of military service, or participating in some astronaut program (still not good enough for his mother), in preparation to take over the family company someday. His life plan gets completely wrecked by giant robots. Specifically, when the giant robots destroy most of the company's buildings and factories, early on in the war, and then his parents also get killed. The insurance alone is a fucking nightmare to deal with. 

In this AU, the only person whom young man Jiang Cheng has ever experienced any kind of attraction towards is a 20ft+ robot "woman" (Wen Qing) who is allegedly a doctor and can turn her arms into buzzsaws (see Knockout from TFP). No, he doesn't want to talk about these feelings. You could physically force JC's ass into therapy and he'd still never talk. 

Anyway, everyone is having a really bad time in this war! Wei Wuxian grows out of his teenage years desperately pulling useful information out of the MacGuffin (Allspark or Matrix) and developing new technology to fight back. Work sucks. War sucks. The state of his family is a tragedy. His relationship status with now coworker Lan Wangji is a solid: "???" Every day, New Autobots like Wen Ning seem to get a little broken and Wei Wuxian can't fix it all. 

Eventually, Wei Wuxian develops something really dangerous that helps to kill off the leader of the Decepticons and win the war. I was thinking some kind of spacebridge technology, perhaps? Because I was thinking that a spacebridge accident should be what "kills" Wei Wuxian for 10+ years, before popping him back into his usual reality, back into a world that has seemingly moved on without him. 

After the Decepticons are first defeated, the situation is tense. Wei Wuxian is sitting on a goldmine of dangerous and powerful technology, capable of developing more. He somehow managed to bring Wen Ning back from the dead this one time and even the Cybertronians seemed weirded out by that. After the war, a lot of people aren't kindly inclined towards the New Autobots, and some people want to take them apart to see what makes them tick. 

Including Wen Yuan, a brand new Decepticon who was created during the war and then rescued by the New Autobots at the very end of it, taken under their wings before he could be forced to do anything to hurt anyone. Wei Wuxian is not this kid's dad. Wen Yuan isn't really a "kid". But he's still relatively small (only like 10ft-tall) because they don't have the parts to get him good upgrades yet and so inexperienced. I need you to picture a six-month-old robot very, VERY carefully picking up a human Wei Wuxian who is about half his size, who drank himself to sleep in the lab again, so that Wen Yuan can put him to bed. It is sad. 

The character who is probably the closest equivalent to an Optimus Prime figure here is Granny Wen. Optimus Prime if Optimus Prime sounded like someone's grandma. I think it would be fun to make her the leader of the New Autobots. Not sure yet whether or not she has or at one point had the Matrix. If she ever did, maybe it was ripped out of her chest at some point. 

I'm disinclined to kill off all the Wen remnants again in an AU, so I'm leaning towards Wei Wuxian helping them escape Earth through a spacebridge in the face of some "unofficial" mercenary attack. Wen Ning gets "killed" again (captured by the Jin Corporation, who are not identified at the time). Pretty much everyone else manages to get away. Except for Wei Wuxian, who gets caught in a spacebridge accident, and banished to the Shadowzone, assumed dead. 

Many years later, young scientist Mo Xuanyu uses Wei Wuxian's spacebridge research to bring him back from the Shadowzone. Wei Wuxian does not have a good sense of how much time has passed. He was wearing an exosuit, which kept him from dying outright, but being in stasis in between realities takes more than a minute for recovery. Damn. That was weird.

The situation more than a decade later is actually apparently less dire than he might have feared. The New Autobots managed to negotiate a treaty and a safe return to Earth, and have built a new base here, working cooperatively with allies such as Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng, who have put much of Wei Wuxian's work to good, productive use helping Earth rebuild. How do Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng work with the New Autobots when they can't stand speaking to each other and hate agreeing with each other ever? Well, that's what personal assistants are for. 

Lan Wangji apparently only got hotter as he got older and Wei Wuxian is having a hard time dealing with that! It seems unfair! (Wei Wuxian is going to cry when they find and rescue Wen Ning again. And someone will finally force him to talk about his desire to make out with Lan Wangji across the hood of his car who is also his friend who is also a giant robot.) 

I don't know what has happened to Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan here. They could be alive? Maybe not? In the AU, however, Jin Ling is the equivalent to Daniel Witwicky, who is son of Spike and Carly. Jin Ling in this AU is a cute human tweenager / teenager with the roundest, rosiest cheeks you've ever seen. 

And all the other "Juniors" are giant robots. 

Lan Wangji took Wen Yuan under his wing. Lan Sizhui has gotten his first few rounds of upgrades, so he's at least twice his previous size, in good repair now, and pretty much unrecognizable. I need you to imagine giant robot Lan Sizhui very carefully picking up "Dr. Lan" to demonstrate to the other junior New Autobots how such a thing is done with humans. Lan Sizhui is very roughly equivalent to the TF character of Springer at this point. 

Ouyang Zizhen is roughly equivalent to Arcee. Lan Jingyi is roughly equivalent to Hot Rod. They were brought to Earth because Cybertron is still partially under Decepticon control and the Earth base is safer for young Cybertronians. They are also roughly the same age as Lan Sizhui and Jin Ling.

As far as little human Jin Ling is concerned, he has just as much right to "leadership" of this friendship group as any of the others! They're alll the same age!!! 

And yes, one could also move Lan Sizhui into the "Hot Rod" position here, but Lan Sizhui has vibes that are closer to Ultra Magnus than Hot Rod in my opinion, and I like Hot Rod. And it is just funny to think about Lan Jingyi becoming a Rodimus Prime equivalent and having to deal with being the new bearer of the Matrix of Leadership. No one considered him a potential candidate, least of all himself. He did Not Ask. He does Not Want. 

There's a potential plot here regarding the Jin Corporation and Mech Pilot Nie Mingjue's murder and potentially some Unicron equivalent threat to the planet, but it's too heavily dependent on whatever has happened previously in this plot to create solid thoughts. And it's late! I would much rather amuse myself thinking about Lan Jingyi as Rodimus Prime. He would like to Get Off This Ride.

[blasphemecel]

My OCs' jersey number explanations ramblings ^_^

Tsubasa - #13 (usual jersey)

Tsubasa's birthday is February 13. So purely in terms of personality, Tsubasa is egocentric and self-absorbed enough to use his birth date as his preferred jersey that he insists on wearing

Now onto the meta stuff:

Well we all know 13 is the cliched bad luck number in Western culture. Tsubasa in his backstory has many unlucky circumstances surrounding his life. Btw I know Gesner is #13 in BM but let's be honest Tsubasa is more important (my beloved oshi). I think it can also have a double meaning, unlucky number 13 as in you're unlucky to be against him rather than the sole fact that he, himself, is unlucky.

Tsubasa is a self-reliant person & player who always preserves so it can be a case of someone "making their own luck" no matter the circumstance as well.

He has a lot of strange beliefs and conventions so being symbolized by a superstitious number also fits him thematically. For example he believes in angels and the death-rebirth cycle and other such not scientifically proven to exist things.

Tsubasa's character has a theme surrounding an obsession with "death" both literal and symbolic (as his goal of self-realization and also his definition of "change" lies in "death" in his own mind, hence the obsession with "dying", and to him "death" is "repentance" for what he "has done", which according to him is "being born").

The death-rebirth cycle samsara is a Buddhist belief. In Japanese beliefs about Buddhist deities, there are thirteen Buddhas who also play an important role in traditional funerals (once again bringing it back to the theme of death and rebirth in his own personal belief system + as well as the fact that he veers spiritual).

The number 13 itself in astrology and tarot readings is sometimes associated with transformation and rebirth, and the End of one cycle onto the beginning of another. The "Death" card is number 13 in the major arcana - the card itself also symbolizes renewal.

In Japanese & Chinese numerology: 1 + 3 = 4, "shi" = death, traditonally four is considered unlucky in Japanese culture even if 13 itself isn't.

#42 - U-20 match jersey specifically

4 + 2 = "shini" = "to death", again considered an unlucky number, in Tsubasa's case more so means "I'll play to death", i.e. "I'll play until I'm renewed". It's also pretty edgy and contrarian all things considered since a superstitious Japanese person would usually avoid having this as a jersey number.

Mael - #5

Mael's jersey number as well as most things about him are meant to be ironic in some way/bully him.

In Japanese numerology, it's considered a lucky number. It's also associated with the Chinese concept of the "five elements"/Wuxing, so it is said sometimes that number 5 brings luck and blessings, which Mael lacks from birth.

The deficient destructive cycle in Wuxing is the fifth phase "counteracting" (fire evaporates water, water destabilizes earth, etc) -> Mael has a reactive and explosive personality that is harmful to him and others lying within his trigger prone behavior.

In Christian numerology, number 5 symbolizes grace and God's unwavering love towards humankind, which is again ironic because Mael is born in an unfavorable situation and struggles to move on.

God's fifth commandment is "Honor your mother and your father" -> Mael was born into an abusive household to drug addicts who neglected him and later on disowned him. Since birth they gave him nothing and were nobodies to him. Number 5 symbolizes God's favor culturally, but Mael was not born in his favor, and afterwards he fails to adjust to a normal and stable self and living.

In Buddhism there are also five precepts that serve as the base morality principle for enlightenment and the path so salvation.

The five precepts forbid the following: killing of both animals and humans, theft and other things along those lines (fraud, forgery), sexual misconduct (i.e. sexual acts which are either forceful, unethical or adulterous in nature), spoken falsehood (lying, gossiping, verbal aggression), intoxication (alcohol, drugs, occasionally smoking is counted).

Out of those Mael is guilty - and often! - of theft, verbal aggression/malicious speech, intoxication (both as someone who uses stimulants and drinks frequently and even sold substances in the past).

TL;DR MAEL IS NOT MAKING IT TO NIRVANA WITH THIS ONE 😂😂😂 HE IS STUCK IN THE CYCLE 😂😂😂😂

[nocturnaclysm]

I'm going to start off by highly, highly recommending What is Body Horror? by Shannon Lewis if you want to know what body horror entails, because the above definition is far too simplistic. It also fails to take into account why we love body horror so much, and fails to acknowledge how it's being utilized so cleverly in Mouthwashing.

Body horror holds a mirror up to the person, saying “this is you”; the person’s reaction is to reply, “it can’t be.”

Body horror is complex, but at its core are two crucial ideas: 1) loss (loss of autonomy, loss of self, loss of control, etc.), and 2) confronting your own mortality and vulnerability of the flesh. These two things are precisely why the devs chose to use Curly's circumstances as a storytelling device; his disability functions to parallel the loss of autonomy and vulnerability felt by Anya, not as a punishment but as a consequence of his own inaction. The horror is on Curly's end, as he's forced to look in the mirror only to not recognize himself, to realize that he's not the person he thought he was - not because he's disfigured, but because his disfigurement is a physical manifestation of his complacency in a system that functions to strip others (i.e. women) of their own autonomy and safety. Only when he's finally able to acknowledge this does he lose the ability he once had to do something about it, and all he can do is watch his inaction unfold before him, and to him, powerless now to stop it.

"Even the most natural process can feel like a perversion to the person to whom it is occurring."

Attributing ableism to this interpretation of Curly's character shows a lack of understanding for what body horror really represents. Body horror isn't horror because the body in question is disfigured or itself scary. It's horror because it forces you to confront your own vulnerability, because it's in our a nature, a primal instinct, to fear the "unnatural transformation, destruction, or degeneration of the human body or other creatures." It's in our nature to avoid it, to want to prevent it, and fear is a universal, primal emotion that's helped get humanity far enough to contemplate it. One could (and many, including myself, do) argue that having a body at all is inherently grotesque and horrific; our bodies smell, leak, decay, we're crawling with bacteria, we're susceptible to infection and disease, our insides spill out, shed, excrete. Most of all, we feel pain. Pain is a concept crucial to understanding Curly as body horror; the sounds he makes when you're feeding him his pill, the wailing you hear when he needs it, the blood-soaked bandages trying and failing to conceal the raw, exposed flesh underneath. The unbandaged eye following your every move, his only form of communication outside of agonized moans. It's horrific because he can't do anything but endure it, because there's no escaping it, not even in death. Jimmy took that from him, too. (The horror is on Jimmy's end just as well, while we're at it. He has to stare his sins right in the face and reconcile with them, but he fears it. Fears him. Again, not because he's disfigured, but because his disfigurement represents something much larger, much more horrific - the consequences of his own actions and the need to "take responsibility" for them.)

As the article touches on, though, there is a way to paint certain bodies that can be read as ableist (ex. "stories that position becoming disabled as a “fate worse than death”, antagonists with marked visible disabilities when compared with the “heroes.”"). This is an important distinction to make, but interpreting Curly's circumstances as body horror does not align with this (unless they're expressly saying he's horrific himself for being disabled, which I don't think anyone is arguing). Mouthwashing is a horror game after all. The use of Curly's disfigured body to instill fear in the player is deliberate, a perfect representation of what body horror represents. Whether or not you agree with its use is another conversation entirely, but make no mistake - Curly's disfigurement is horrific, in more ways than one.

body horror is defined as a horror subgenre depicting "the unnatural transformation, destruction, or degeneration of the human body or other creatures".

mouthwashing things that are body horror (or adjacent):

giant womb full'a horse fetuses

hallway full of giant curly eyeballs

climbing out of a giant disembodied curly head

polle centipede

jimmy dismembering and eating parts of curly (cannibalism; the dehumanisation and consumption of human meat)

mouthwashing things that are not body horror:

curly being a burn victim & amputee

[oddberryshortcake]

Would you say Silver has the fairy gifts Aurora was given in Sleeping Beauty?

YES

Quite literally virtually the same gifts in more ways than one, with the first gift of beauty being more obvious and the second gift of song being a bit more subtle, and third gift being kinda identical to Aurora's situation.

As of right now we don't know if Silver is particularly good at singing, we've never heard him sing in game and it's never stated anywhere that he's good at it BUT the lyrics and scene from Sleeping Beauty 1958 would imply that it's more of a sort of melodious vibe one carries with them, which matches him perfectly

The gift of beauty is self-explanatory, I'm including the visuals because the birds shown here are also shown in Silver's signature spell.

Silver (and his biological father Dawn Knight) were given golden hair from day fairies blessing them. This is a trait that Aurora was blessed with too, specifically 'gold of sunshine' which Lilia describes Silver as having when he was a baby.

Silver is also referenced multiple times in canon as handsome and/or beautiful, Dawn Knight is also referred to as handsome and receiving 'the gift of beauty,' Silver was obviously gifted this as well.

Now here's where things get a little subjective,

I'd argue that this is how his friendship with animals came about, the 'sweet serenade' he's given could very well be the animals that come to help him in his time of need (that and Aurora is pictured conversing or at least befriending a bird in the visual)

His friendship with animals is so noticeable that other characters notice it and find it strange (sometimes endearing) animals are willing to gift him things he wants/needs (like in Silver's lab vignette) or literally defend him from danger (Book 7 Chapter 73 Westward Breakthrough - Part 1)

Silver also describes his childhood as him living alone deep in the woods with his father (in virtually the same cottage of fairy cottage), and that he was never lonely because he had many animal friends to keep him company (which mirrors the live Aurora lived until she was 16)

Merryweather's gift to break Maleficent's curse is pretty much the final 'blessing' that Silver had been given (that I think transformed into something more of a curse unless the story proves otherwise)

Dawn's three fairies gifted Silver all of these things, and their final gift for him was to protect him in magic sleep so that he wouldn't die in the conflict that killed his bio parents and instead wake up in a world without war.

It was a spell meant to save his life just as Aurora's did and true love is meant to break it just like Aurora's so I'd say it counts, except he spent more time in spelled sleep than she did in both the 1958 movie and the original Sleeping Beauty fairytale 😭

So to sum it up, Silver basically received all of Aurora's gifts with their own little spin on it. Anyways, highly recommend watching Sleeping Beauty for yourself, I've loved this movie long before twst even existed so seeing such a genuine homage to the story of Sleeping Beauty and Aurora as a character makes me so happy.

[emuwarum]

#10, the Healer for the ask meme!

This is Kite

[kiiingsnake]

i’ve been reminded to post my transformers day design

[hercarisntyours]

The ones who load the dice, always say the toss is fair. (hadestown au)

Orion looked around, panic setting in. Is it true what they say? Is there truly no way to get his love back. That's he's too late? She's truly gone? He walked all this way, why? just to play the part of a pawn in the God's cruel game of chess?

He's out of his mind.

How did he so foolishly believe. Nothing changes and nothing will.

Orion understands now. They're all playing a fixed game. His role involves him getting beaten and betrayed.

He's blinded by guilt, regret and doubt.

And hope. A spark of hope still burns with-in him.

He sings his voice loud. He asks the walls. Is it true? what they say, is it true?

Pickaxes stop ringing. The ringing in his ears doesn't.

He turns to go, Ariel would be disappointed, he could never stand up right.

The answer to his question will never be heard. Not in this concrete jungle.

The workers hear his.

He realises the ones who deal the cards, are the ones who take the tricks.

He who says the words, is always the one to say they are the last.

The walls repeat his words. Standing up and listening.

He shouts his answer out. For he hears the workers now, no longer questioning them; but the wall they had been so desperately building. If they have the will, there's a way to break it down. He believes they are many, and those he questions are few. 

If it's true, he'll be on his way. After all, what can a few do against so many?

[leafuxxtea]

god the announcement of hnk (houseki no kuni/land of the lustrous) has got me in shambles,,, i haven't read the chapters after the 10 000 years hiatus so i gotta catch up (actually I'll probably re-read the whole thing)

‼️rambling incoming‼️

imo, hnk is one of the best series for deep psychological analysis,,, it had such a deep impact on me when i first read it (like 3 years ago) and still remains in my top best/favorites series 🥹🥹 i could ramble abt it for so long,,, the process of one losing bit by bit the parts of themselves and replacing it with something else (both physically and metaphorically) in an endless need to help others, but also as an own selfish wish to become better than who they used to be. Then looking back, and realizing things were so much simpler back then, and mourning that past self. (The fact that all of this revolves around their self-hatred and the belief that they're worthless is just. It's so heartbreaking to me. They've become so desperate for affirmation and yet still keeps getting hurt, by others and by themself too.)

i have too many feelings about the manga 😭😭 im losing myself to the brainrot, help-

[rayven-ray]

So, I just finished reading Lost Light, and with it, pretty much the whole idw series.

I feel happy, sad, crashed and ecstatic all at once. I'm going to miss hearing all the stories of the characters who became so personally close to me. It's been ling since there was a story that evoke so much emotions, both positive and negative, a story that could actually speak to me. This comic is an experience that i am happy to have found.

Might sound a bit cheesy, but i talk sincerely

And i'm looking forward to create something of my own, to watch all the fan universes that i like to think are the infinity of universes described in the comic. I think that the story is not ended, but rather continues with us

'till all are one!

[vulpinesaint]

p sure we aren’t moots but I definitely know it’s you when I see venom on the tl!! and whenever is isn’t you I’m always a bit like 😮 👉 that’s vulpinesaints thing!!!

LITERALLY THAT'S VULPINESAINT'S THING. i love not being in fandom spaces it's so delightful to me that it's Me And Only Me posting about venom out here in this little corner of space as far as i'm concerned. surely there are communities out there somewhere but this is My thing. i am venom guy forever and ever and ever now

[luminiera-merge]

i think my tolerance for moe (ie the anime stuff) is in freefall rn

[galacticlamps]

actually ascension needs its own post since that's the one with the most details to speculate over and im starved for soho talk so i will talk to myself if need be

First the cover again, because I kinda can't get over it:

my only thing is that I had been hoping we might get Lizbeth on a cover again since she's never been on one of the boxsets before, despite being the 2nd person credited on all 4 of them (even if that's just alphabetical, still, she's the only one of the four main characters who never makes the cover)

But letting that go...

I know we already kinda knew the brief for this one but damn I didn't expect it to go quite this hard. Maybe that's just because the Parasite & Ashenden covers were (comparatively) similarish to each other and I was so pleased with Unbegotten's, and then got so used to it as the placeholder for Ascension while they kept postponing it, I wasn't expecting anything this colorful or detailed or with what I can't help but register as Fun New Outfits even though these are still like, pretty damn basic as far as costumes go. Still, it's a different vibe from everyone in suits and trenchcoats on every cover, technically. (Oh the woes of being an audio fan such that two characters owning sweaters actually does qualify as new information)

On top of just being visually delightful though, I know we knew religion was gonna be a fairly big part of this one, but I didn't actually expect to get quite this much of it - though I'm glad of it for a number of reasons. The BF twitter already made the ineffable joke so I don't have to, but also yeah I did very much spend all of season 2 episode 4 of good omens half convinced Samuel Barnett & Dervla Kirwan were about to pop up around any given corner (if you will go around being gay supernatural and horrible at your messy bureaucratic jobs in midcentury soho then I'm sorry, this is where my brain's gonna go) - so, fuel to that fire. But in terms of actual important things, at least one of my Soho wishes looks to be being granted because we have a Rev Edward Folgate on the cast list, which must mean we're finally meeting Norton's father, even if his mother & brother don't appear (which they could, technically, I've definitely seen BF not list all the doublings on their cast tabs before). Religion, domesticity, and the nuclear family are all things that absolutely fascinate me when it comes to Norton's character, so getting any amount of story involving his father & his church is something I've been actively hoping for for a long time now.

(I will say I'm a tiny bit bummed Saffron Coomber isn't on the cast list to play Mia again, but I kinda figured she wasn't going to be since Greg Austin's Armitage, who's making his first recurring appearance after originating in Unbegotten, was listed ever since the boxset was announced - presumably if she was also returning, that would've been handled in the same way. But since Unbegotten ended with Lizbeth and Mia going on a date, I still held out hope. Who knows though, maybe things did go well for them and Lizbeth just has a better work/life balance than Norton so she can date someone without them getting dragged into every scifi plot. I know that's not a very common accomplishment for any Torchwood agent, but a gal can hope)

At this point I know I'm completely in the realm of speculation & even wishful thinking, but I'm really really hoping we get some more clues as to Norton's overall timeline in this one, and I have a feeling that even if there's nothing as direct as dates given, the events of a plot like this one are going to heavily influence my personal interpretation of it.

To say that life & death are major themes for the soho crew feels wildly reductive, but even by Torchwood's standards and taking into account its origins as a piece of media with Jack Harkness & his newfound immortality at the heart of it, the living/dead status of this bunch has always been fantastically up in the air to me. Obviously Ghost Mission introduced Norton as kind of a ghost before revealing more obvious ghostly characters later on to which the title might have been referring, but his being from the past did beg the question of his survival into Torchwood's present era all the same, which Outbreak later alludes to much more directly, and his habit of showing up via hologram in multiple stories only further obfuscates any certainty we might have about where & when he definitely can be said to be alive and well. Then you've got Lizbeth and Gideon both being effectively 'brought back to life' via paradoxes that prevented them ever having died in the first place. Again, they are very very far from being the only Torcwhood characters this happens to (for a sprawling EU, it's really rather impressive how often & in how many different ways Torchwood as a whole manages to circle back to being about like. chaotic undead queers at the end of every day. though I suppose that consistency is part of why I keep falling in love with its different iterations again and again). That's without even getting into the question of Norton's dubious fate in God Among Us - and I say dubious because I know some people take that to be his ultimate death, but I personally think that reading something as vague as that as having any kind of finality rather goes against the spirit of this whole world/series, not just because I want him to live. (There are obviously other ways to make him survive/reappear, but I don't see this as a River Song scenario where we can safely assume one of his earlier-released adventures had to happen at the end of his personal timeline). But wherever God Among Us falls for him, he does very much meet God in it - or at least, a god, since the sentinel in Unbegotten is also described as a god of sorts, and even if he doesn't ultimately have the status of the god Jacqueline King is playing there, Unbegotten is still full to bursting with ghosts/undead/came back wrong/echo characters to continue underscoring that life/afterlife theme.

So all things considered, even allowing for the fact that we know Norton's twin hobbies are lying about himself and abusing time travel to suit his own ends/ever-shifting alliances, I find it difficult to believe we could get through a whole 6-part boxset about religion & death without something providing some kind of compelling evidence about where this adventure fits in among his other run-ins with apocalypses and gods and ghosts and dead-but-still-here characters/creatures, so I'm very much looking forward to any further exploration on that front.

And lastly, and least intellectually, I really want to know what the hell 20th-century Torchwood's obsession with Reginalds is. Reading through the cast list, I had to do two separate doubletakes over the character 'Sir Reginald Peebles' - firstly, because I had Reginald Rigsby on the brain, this being Soho (and the other Troughton brother being so active on BF's releases for this same month) - and secondly, because reading this in conjunction with the announcement for the July monthly adventure in which the new main Torchwood guy of the 20s is apparently called Sir Reginald Dellafield, there was a brief moment where I took that monthly release to be a tie-in with Ascension. I don't expect it to be, but damn. was it really so popular a name?

anyways, catch me thinking about those stained glass windows for the next couple months I guess (and knowing Torchwood Soho, for a long long time after it comes out as well lol)

[yuckydraws]

Joining a new fandom with little knowledge and having to learn all about the fannon-verse as well is a whole journey in and of itself. However, it makes me realize that new Undertale fans? Are probably the most lost 💀💀

[megagrind]

Bitches be like “I’ve spent so long chasing after this person that it’s time I move on and fall in love with someone else” and it’s literally the exact same person