#and the whole team as a ship's crew

[seawardboundsammy]

WAIT I JUST REMEMBERED I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT FOREVER

arbor's favorite book is The Wooden Boat by Joseph Gribbins

[puzzlevision]

the episode didnt broke me, i broke the episode

[grimvestige]

🌹 for Lillian!

AHHH SORRY THIS TOOK ME 8 MILLION YEARS TO GET TO!! (I still wanna get to those other outfit requests from folks too I just got slapped really hard by mental and physical health and drawing motivation for a bit)

Anywho! Soft OC Ask!

🌹 Where in the world does your OC feel most at home? Is there any reason why? If it’s not the place they were born, where were they born? Is there a certain somebody that makes them feel at home where ever they may be? What does home mean to them?

Killian is a particularly interesting case for this question because he was a stowaway, and is still currently figuring out where he even belongs in the world. (He thinks it's kicking the ass of his older brother and proving to his family he's worthy of upholding their high-skill mercenary tradition, but as his player I'll tell you that he's wrong lol)

Killian feels the most at home when working a forge, crafting weaponry, or tending to his own. It gives him quiet time to think and focus. And, while he would never say it, he enjoys being able to contribute to the well-being and safety of the crew, and being appreciated by the ship's engineer, which isn't exactly something he got at home.

Speaking of home, he was born in Ellara! Which in the campaign setting is a country of mostly adventurers, and serves as a demilitarized zone. I haven't actually picked a particular town, since he's my backup character in case I can't play Tiarnan.

Killian probably doesn't really know what home means to him in any substantial way, if you asked him he'd give you the dictionary definition, and if pushed for a more meaningful definition then he'd probably make an excuse and leave.

Thank you for the ask~! Killian's such an inexperienced adventurer, and also pretty immature emotionally (aka pettiest bitch in the universe) so trying to drill down into more serious stuff with him is fun.

Soft OC Asks if anyone wants to submit some!

[ut-reblogs]

I strongly disagree, in favor of it being because of him trolling everyone who ever calls in relation to a service. See tags for more, bc I’m too lazy to retype them all out.

Rodimus is not allowed to answer the phone on the lostlight because he keeps falling for the spaceship insurance scams.

[ponett]

Any opinion on the Pokemon Gigaleak or nah?

I think seeing some of the WIP assets from when gen 3 was in development is kinda neat, because Game Freak is normally so secretive about that kind of thing. But beyond that I mostly just find this whole situation tiring.

Fans have a tendency to almost treat scrapped material as "more canon" than whatever actually made it into the finished product, in a way. It's treated as this pure, unfiltered insight into the creators' true vision. In reality, most of the time this stuff gets cut for a reason. Sometimes they very quickly realize it was a bad idea that was never gonna work, and they don't go very far with it. Sometimes it's a pitch from just one guy on the team that was never gonna get accepted. Sometimes they're just spitballing. Experimentation and iteration and knowing when to cut things are integral parts of the artistic process.

And hell, a lot of the time creators will just mess around with an idea purely as a creative exercise, or to get an idea out of their system, or to explore a crazy what-if scenario, or even just as a joke, with no intention of ever actually using those ideas. We recently saw this same thing happened with those leaked Rebecca Sugar sketches, where people were like "OMG Rebecca ships this, this is what they REALLY wanted to do with the show, this is canon, this was happening off-screen!!" And it's like, y'all have no idea how much crazy shit your favorite artists draw with their characters just to amuse themselves. The crew on Clarence had a not-so-secret Tumblr where they redrew scenes from Evangelion with Clarence characters. That doesn't mean they wanted to turn Clarence into Eva. They were just screwing around. This happens all the time, and with way more extreme examples than these. Lord knows how many Disney animators have drawn Mickey Mouse with his dick out over the years. That doesn't mean they ever actually wanted to make an official Mickey Mouse porno.

And, of course, there's the response to those myths that were never supposed to see the light of day. Anyone who's even passingly familiar with mythology from just about any part of the world shouldn't be surprised to hear fables about humans and animals having babies or whatever. But now people are responding to those unused stories and going "OMG Game Freak is a bunch of gooners who want humans and Pokemon to have sex!! This is canon!!!" It's so fucking tiring. So much of the modern internet, particularly Twitter, is driven by people who just want an excuse to whip out their favorite shocked/disgusted reaction image and ham up their reaction to something that isn't actually all that shocking. Everyone just wants to get their funny dunks in and feign moral superiority. It's childish. And it's because of reactions like this that this stuff was never supposed to see the light of day in the first place. But fans feel like they're owed every single shred of info from the development of their favorite franchises, so these leaks happen and people run wild with them.

(It also doesn't help that this is all just sourced back to a 4chan thread, so people were posting fake shit between the real leaks and muddying the waters. And also most of it is in Japanese, so people are just sticking documents through Google Translate and going "whooooaaaa this is canon")

[hoaxghost]

Mouthwashing has been on the mind cause the intentionality and execution of its concepts make me dive further into it than I normally would otherwise. Haven't seen as much discussion on it but one aspect I super like is the theme of children/offspring. Heavy spoiler discussion

Like there are so many parallels you can draw between Daisuke and the unborn baby. The way Daisuke was a last minute addition to the team despite the ship only having enough resources for four members (and four cryosis pods), the way he's seemingly a burden upon everyone because he's a nepotism hire whose new to the whole job, and especially the way Jimmy's selfishness kills Daisuke in the end. Like there's a reason the fetus was located in the vent system along with all the hibiscus flowers you can find scattered throughout the section. Just as how a baby is loud, disruptive, and immature, so is Daisuke in contrasting against the rest of the team with continuous optimism, much more colourful (and childish) attire, and fondness for sweets. It's worth noting he's the only one to really mention his family back home.

It's also worth noting how both Daisuke and the unborn baby had to be 'put out of their misery' by their 'parents' (Swansea being a clear father figure and well Anya is self explanatory) despite their harm/existence being caused by Jimmy. It's the way Jimmy has convinced himself that responsibility means the 'burden' of ordering others to their deaths that makes it all the more gut wrenching. He didn't want to take on the responsibility of the unborn baby- so it led to him crashing the ship and dooming everyone to their deaths. He didn't want to go in the vents to visit the med bay so he used 'captains orders' on the one person in the crew whose too naive to refuse them. Also the whole thing with Swansea too- how the old man expresses near constant frustration throughout the game with him but then its revealed its more of a frustration with himself and his difficult relationship with taking responsibility with his family back home. How much easier it is to fall into hedonistic pessimistic alcoholism and involve his intern when faced with 99.99% guaranteed doom. At the end, it's too late for him to change anything. The only thing left he can do is to put Daisuke out of his misery cause he let his intoxication be manipulated by Jimmy. There are other facets to Daisuke's personality too I think are interesting to explore but those are more fitting for a different post... stares off into the fake sunset sky...

[average-mako-enjoyer]

I recently scrolled past this one post that talked about how a certain turian was oh so important to the SR-1 crew because he was working on Mako while Kaidan and Ashley were basically doing nothing. And while I have no interest in "correcting" the author of that post, I'm pretty sure we don't talk enough about how essential Kaidan and Ashley are to the SR-1 crew.

So Ashley is filling in for Corporal Jenkins, which means she has her own unit of soldiers to command, just like she did on Eden Prime.

What does that mean in practice? She does the training, she does the physical and psychological assessments, she does the team building exercises, she writes reports for her CO. If you've ever been the leader of a small team (in Ashley's case, about 7-10 people), you know it's a hell of a job because you have to be both a babysitter and a confidant to fully grown adults who tend to get into all kinds of trouble with each other.

She also maintains the squad's weapons in her off hours, which is wow? Great job, Ash. Now go get some rest.

Kaidan is the staff lieutenant and head of the marine detail, which makes him the third most important person on the ship after the captain and the XO.

What that means in practice is that he's constantly observing and evaluating the work of all the marine personnel aboard the Normandy, working with lower-ranking officers like Ashley to determine how correct and effective their actions with their units are, determining what kind of duties and positions are best suited for each marine on board (he's definitely responsible for Anderson's decision to add Ashley to the crew), and doing the same babysitting, training, and confidant duty for not just one squad, but for every member of the marine detail.

He's also a really good tech specialist, so I bet he does a lot of calibrations on the squad's weapons, armor, and omni-tools.

So yeah, big shoutout to the most useless members of Shepard's team, who are literally responsible for keeping this whole Sarenhunting Spectre shitshow running smoothly.

[xixovart]

^^ this!!

jason’s and reyna’s parts in rhe titan war are scarcely mentioned in hoo but ykw? so are percy’s and annabeth’s. their roles in the war are mentioned briefly to give context but that’s essentially it. the fandom has a tendency to put one character over another even while blatantly ignoring canon. percy’s achievements seem larger in comparison to jason’s because we, as readers, were there to see it. we saw the struggle and the power it took to defeat kronos because the entire war, from the very beginning, was written in percy’s perspective. readers understand the struggle percy and annabeth went through to defeat luke’s army, but we have no idea what it was like for jason and reyna. this makes it more difficult to sympathize with their efforts, making percy (unjustly, since they are all of equal glory and strength) seem like the greater hero. none of the seven (+nico and reyna) is stronger than the other. they all have their feats and strengths but at the end of the day, they were the only nine heroes worthy of this quest. juno herself handpicked them because they were the best. not in comparison to one another, and definitely not in comparison to percy. the entire point of the prophecy is that they are a team. seven half-bloods shall answer the call.

jason's whole 'fighting a titian with his bare hands' is hardly mentioned in heroes of olympus and i firmly believe its because rick didn't want jason to see powerful and we see that with hazel & nico to their accomplishments are pushed to the side to make percy seem better percy is extremely powerful and has great feats and accomplished many things even gods haven't but hazel literally took down gaea and jason fought a titain with his bare hands when he was 14/15 its like the seven (frank, jason, and hazel especially) never get to see there fully potential because no one can be better than percy

[monsterfuckerconfessions]

Sort of a mix of exhibitionism, breeding kink, and experimentation/medical kink, but I really love the idea of hanging out in a group of friends/strangers when we all get abducted by aliens interested in humanoid reproductive and sexual capabilities. Waking up to find myself suspended and covered in some strange diodes/electrodes as some strange being prods at my body, jotting notes and making comments with little acknowledgement of me. Left immobile by the strange technology, I'm forced into presenting my wet pussy while a girl is floated over to me with her cock erect, bumping clumsily against my lips and clit until one alien finally guides her member in, and once its in they bind us together in a makeshift doggy position, looking to test how long it takes for ejaculation to occur with limited movement. Desperately trying to distract ourselves even as her swelling cock stretches me, as my pussy can't help but weep and shiver around her, until its too much, her desperately apologizing to me as her hips hump shallowly, me reassuring her as I feel her twitch, eyes on our strange captors to see how they speak with pride and fascination to each other when they see us fall over the edge of orgasm. They test all our limits with increasing interest, how much cum we produce, how much we can take, depositing fluid directly into the wombs of those subjects who have them, the endurance of each subject. They start to note different subject's tastes and preferences, that this one cums faster when struck while another responds when touched lightly and quickly with instruments until laughter is produced. The aliens are fascinated to learn that even if they are not stimulated themselves watching one of their companions be tested on, toy up their ass and down their throat and cock being milked, results in similar arousal symptoms. The trans-galactic team is especially fascinated to find that some human suspects are even interested in the aliens themselves; a whole new task force/research team is put together to test alien-humanoid breeding possibilites. One scientists finds the eggs of their own species incubate well in human stomachs and wombs, their heavy bellied subjects' caring instincts kicking in; even the most reluctant subject who refuses food begins responding positively with an alien baby in their belly. Another finds that human breast milk is the key component in a breakthrough cure for its species, quickly arranging meetings with its home research crews, a contented human in one of their sets of arm who sits placidly as they're used as a tool for presentation. Some breakthroughs don't even have a real purpose other than the scientists own fascination- one of the ship's engineers takes a liking to a specific subject, and when it's discovered that his frequencies and sustained eye contact with his eyestalks can bring a human to orgasm without physical contact, he manages to make a compromise that he gets to keep his new pet in his personal quarters so long as he contributes to the research with his ability.

.

[lutorao]

law is truly an incredible man

he isn't talkative person , instead he prefers to do things rather than talk and his actions always say otherwise

he always said that they weren't friends, they were soon to be enemies, it was just an alliance and so on, but both his actions and the way their teams treated each other said otherwise.

Let's start from the beginning, just like the other pirates, law also stalked Luffy, especially after the Ennis lobby incident, besides, he was very excited when he saw Luffy for the first time.

Then there was Marineford, this man rushed into the middle of the war to save Luffy, not only putting his own life in danger, but also putting his crew in danger, (there is a theory that law was a revolutionary and that's why he saved him, but who knows) ( bonus i m gonna show you one more that moment later)

This person not only saved him, but he went to a safe island, and stayed with him for 2 weeks, two whole weeks, and even left his own sword with him, to show his respect for him, and I think he understood Luffy's pain best, Let's not forget that not only him, but also his hat, he kept it, and when Rayleigh appeared on the island, he even got scared a little bit

And then he left the island without saying a word, but 😏🙂‍↕️i know right?!

(On Punk Hazard, when he met him, he says that Luffy was able to survived, we don't know what happened during those two weeks, but we can assume that he knows about Luffy's nightmares

Another point, the fact that law was there for him at his worst, and saw him in that state and didn't leave his side for two weeks, that makes the bond between these two special for me.)

Then there's Dressrosa, Luffy was the first person law tells about Corazon (besides his crew), he entrusted to luffy his 13 year of preparation

he shoots law

in addition i guess everyone remembers that this man was ready to die along with luffy and Despite the fact that he was half dead

He still came to help him

and one more thing, I like how luffy was focused on him, and the fact that even though Luffy said at the beginning that he was going to defeat Doffy himself, he later just allowed law to use him to his max and at least inflict some kind of injury on Doffy

It doesn't matter whether you ship them or not, the fact is that they are a very good duo, when they work together, law may complain a lot, but in the end, everything works out.

(next part will be about Wano)

[asterlark]

me and den @unloneliest were just talking about murderbot and ART's relationship and i want to discuss how they quite literally complete each other's sensory and emotional experience of the world!!

there's a few great posts on here such as this one about how murderbot uses drones to fully and properly experience the world around it (it also accesses security cameras/other systems for this same purpose). but i haven't seen anyone so far talk about how once MB stops working for the company and consequently doesn't have a hubsystem/secsystem to connect to anymore (which for its entire existence up to that point had been how it was used to interacting with its environment/doing its job), after it meets ART, ART starts to fill that gap.

ART gives MB access to more cameras, systems, and information archives than it would normally be able to connect with while MB is on its own outside of ART's... body(? lol), but also directly gives MB access to its own cameras, drones, archives, facilities, and processing space. additionally, so much of ART's function is dedicated to analysis, lateral thinking, and logical reasoning, and it not only uses those skills in service of reaching murderbot's goals, it teaches murderbot how to use those same skills. (ART might be a bit of an asshole about how it does this, but that doesn't negate just how much it does for murderbot for no reason other than it's bored/interested in MB as an individual.)

we all love goofing about how artificial condition can basically be boiled down to "two robots in a trench coat trying to get through a job interview" (which is entirely accurate tbh) but that's also such a great example of ART fulfilling the role of both murderbot's "hubsystem" and "secsystem", allowing it to fully experience its environment/ succeed in its goals. ART provides MB with crucial information, context, and constructive criticism, and uses its significant processing power to act as MB's backup and support system while they work together.

from ART's side of things, we get a very explicit explanation of how it needs the context of murderbot's emotional reactions to media in order to fully understand and experience the media as intended. it tried to watch media with its humans, and it didn't completely understand just by studying their reactions. but when it's in a feed connection with murderbot, who isn't human but has human neural tissue, ART is finally able to thoroughly process the emotional aspects of media (side note, once it actually understands the emotional stakes in a way that makes sense for it, it's so frightened by the possibility of the fictional ship/crew in worldhoppers being catastrophically injured or killed that it makes murderbot pause for a significant amount of time before it feels prepared to go on. like!! ART really fucking loves its crew, that is all).

looking at things further from ART's perspective: its relationship with murderbot is ostensibly the very first relationship it's been able to establish with not only someone outside of its crew, but also with any construct at all. while ART loves its crew very much (see previous point re: being so so scared for the fate of the fictional crew of worldhoppers), it never had a choice in forming relationships with them. it was quite literally programmed to build those relationships with its crew and students. ART loves its function, its job, and nearly all of the humans that spend time inside of it, but its relationship with murderbot is the first time it's able to choose to make a new friend. that new friend is also someone who, due to its partial machine intelligence, is able to understand and know ART on a whole other level of intimacy that humans simply aren't capable of. (that part goes for murderbot, too, obviously; ART is its first actual friend outside of the presaux team, and its first bot friend ever.)

and because murderbot is murderbot, and not a "nice/polite to ART most of the time" human, this is also one of the first times that ART gets real feedback from a friend about the ways that its actions impact others. after the whole situation in network effect, when the truth of the kidnapping comes to light and murderbot hides in the bathroom refusing to talk to ART (and admittedly ART doesn't handle this well lol) - ART is forced to confront that despite it making the only call it felt able to make in that horrifying situation, despite it thinking that that was the right call, its actions hurt murderbot, and several other humans were caught in the crossfire. what's most scary to ART in that moment is the idea that murderbot might never forgive it, might never want to talk to it again. it's already so attached to this friendship, so concerned with murderbot's wellbeing, that the thought of that friendship being over because of its own behavior is terrifying. (to me, this almost mirrors murderbot's complete emotional collapse when it thinks that ART has been killed. the other more overt mirror is ART fully intending on bombing the colony to get murderbot back.)

in den's words, they both increase the other's capacity to feel: ART by acting as a part of murderbot's sensory system, and murderbot by acting as a means by which ART can access emotion. they love one another so much they would do pretty much anything to keep each other safe/avenge each other, but what's more, they unequivocally make each other more whole.

[mushroom-through-the-stargate]

literally cannot stop thinking about the return. like imagine being the sgc right? you send a group of second-bests; people that are really good at their job, but you can risk sending to another galaxy with a chance of not getting them back. and about 80% of them are people who don't really Work Well In The System. you dont hear from them for a whole year and consider them lost, and then you get an email that they need your help Right Now or they'll Die. alright whatever you send a ship and a zpm they win the battle everyones grand. using that ship you keep sending new people there, and these people know they can go home at any time. its just another rotation to them. but they start writing home and saying that the original crew are..... weird. there are interesting rules and habits and recreational activities and food. and the most weird is their connection to the actual city. you take note of these letters about the original crews Weirdness but otherwise dont really care. and then the ancients come back!! and they kick everyone out of atlantis. well, that sucks, but it was a resource sink anyway and all you really got out of it was another interstellar war you weren't prepared for. you take this as a sign you shouldnt have gone out there in the first place and carry on with your day.

except the original crew are fighting back. theyre complaining and rallying and saying its not fair and they should get to stay. what the fuck. you tell them its out of your hands and bring them home. and they're all acting like depressed little lizards, and oddly enough Elizabeth Weir - the token "normal person" you had put in charge of these outcasts - is the most depressed of the depressed little lizards, and she doesnt leave her house the entire six weeks. and the one time she does leave her house, she, her flagship team, and the fucking DOCTOR of all people steal the weird little ship and go fight the replicators to retake atlantis.

fine. whatever. they can have their city in another galaxy. its not like they ever listened to you in the first place.

[prying-pandora666]

Azula And The Tides: The Most Misread Scene in ATLA

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:

“The tides scene shows how irrational and spoiled Azula is! She got lucky! She endangered her whole crew for her pride!”

Or any similar variation.

The only problem is it’s not even remotely close to true. Let’s talk about that.

Here is the scene in question for reference:

Seems pretty straightforward, right? I mean, the Captain warned Azula about the tides and she put her ego before reason and made the crew take a huge risk. Horrible leadership and narcissism on her part, right?

Except for one little detail.

Azula was right.

Remember in “The Storm” when Zuko demands his ship chase after the Avatar and his crew warns him that it’s a fool’s errand because they’ll surely perish in the storm? Zuko stubbornly insists his goals are more important than anyone else’s lives, including his Uncle, and demands they drive recklessly into the storm. Sure enough, the crew nearly perishes in the storm, just as predicted, and Zuko is humbled enough to even rescue his Lieutenant that he disrespected earlier in the episode.

I bring this up so we understand how ATLA sets up and then demonstrates its narrative cause and effect. It’s rather straightforward as, after all, this is being written to be inteligible to children.

So what happens with Azula’s ship when she demands they dock right away despite her Captain’s warnings?

The ship docks without incident or injury.

In fact, they dock stealthily enough that neither Zuko nor Iroh see Azula coming and she’s able to surprise them. How would this be possible if the Captain had been correct in his assessment and Azula had just been acting out of ego?

I’ve seen some people argue that Azula just got lucky, like a drunk person driving home in a car. Not that I expect the average person to have extensive knowledge about docking a ship, but it demonstrates a severe gap in knowledge of the subject matter. When it comes to the tides you cannot half-ass it. Either the tides are in or they’re not. Either they’re high enough or they’re not.

And if they’re not, what happens? The rocks you can’t see beneath the waves will shred your ship apart and you will get stuck or outright sink. Best case scenario, if by an act of divine intervention you avoided all the rocks, you’re still screwed because your ship is going to get beached and tip over. Especially with a ship of that size!

You cannot squeak by here. Even with all of our tech and modern day ships, if you don’t respect the tides, you’re going to have a bad time. There is no avoiding this.

It boggles my mind why people assume Azula is the one in the wrong here and not the Captain who is later shown to be so incompetent that he spoils the mission. He was talking down to her and she rightfully put in his place. Cold and ruthless as her method may have been, she was making it clear that she is not to be talked down to or to have her authority questioned. An important skill for a young leader. Look at the comparison with Zuko who couldn’t wrangle his men. They were about to mutiny and would’ve if Iroh hadn’t intervened! Azula has no Iroh to fall back on. She has to manage on her own. And she does! In this same episode we are shown that Azula is a perfectionist who can’t tolerate a single hair out of place. But somehow we are supposed to believe she is also reckless and incompetent? I don’t think so.

We also know that Azula canonically attended the Royal Fire Academy for girls. This wasn’t some preppy finishing school, it was an intense military academy with survival training so deadly that Rangi described having to eat worse than rats to make it out alive. We know Azula excelled in school. Why wouldn’t she know something as basic as how to read the tides? That’s seafaring 101.

Combine that with the fact that all their best naval officers probably perished at the North Pole and it’s easy to glean that this Captain isn’t exactly their A-Team.

So what IS the point of this scene if not to show Azula being irrational, egotistical, or incompetent?

Remember our comparisons to Zuko? The point of this scene is to show how much better and scarier of a leader Azula is. It’s a simple way to convey to the audience that unlike Zuko, Azula *can* and *does* command like a true military leader. She is therefor a more frightening and dangerous opponent for our heroes to face than the already dangerous Prince they’ve been battling since the previous season.

I don’t think this misinterpretation would’ve ever spread so far if some fans weren’t dead set on trying to tear down Azula for the simple crime of being better at things than fan-favorite Zuko.

And I say this as someone who adores Zuko.

[cosmerelists]

Cosmere Protagonists as Villains

As requested by @idontknowanametouse :)

Let's talk about what Cosmere protagonists would be like if they decided to play for Team Evil!

[Spoilers for book series mentioned in titles--but no Wind and Truth spoilers included]

1. Kaladin [Stormlight Archive]

What turns him evil: I think Kaladin could honestly go down a Moash road, where he decides to take justice into his own hands and punish people who have hurt him, his friends, or What's Right.

What he'd be like: Abso-storming-lutely terrifying. Imagine a Pursuer-esque figure, but it's Kaladin coming to kill you. I mean, you'd die. He once ripped a guy's head off by lashing it to the floor. He never loses a fight. He wouldn't sneak up on you assassin-style, either. He's blowing the front door off its hinges and entering like a glowing Angel of Vengeance to MURDER you.

2. Vin [Mistborn Era 1]

What turns her evil: I can see a few possibilities: like she does take up the power in the Well of Ascension and becomes the new Lord Ruler, or Zane is just a lot more persuasive than he is in the original. But I'm gonna go with "Ruin gets to her so completely that she becomes his agent."

What she'd be like: Vin already has some...villain-esque actions in the original, like when she pretty much slaughters an entire Keep with Zane. But always in the original she was doing it to protect, and she had friends to give her moral and emotional support. But if she was Ruin's, then she really would be a Natural Disaster Made Flesh, bringing Utter Destruction and Ruin to the whole world. Like, she's taking down whole cities single-handedly.

3. Shallan [Stormlight Archive]

What turns her evil: Listen, Shallan already kills a lot of people. We know this, and we still love her. But perhaps she gets a little too into killing people and just goes straight serial killer.

What she'd be like: You ever seen Hannibal? I'm seeing the most beautifully artistic but horribly deranged Murder Sculptures. You know, where she's killed someone and but then turned their corpse into Art.

4. Tress [Tress of the Emerald Sea]

What turns her evil: It's hard to imagine Tress being evil, tbh...but, I mean, she does sell Crow into slavery to avoid the same fate, so there's something there. I'm gonna say that either the Sorceress does kill Charlie or Tress believes that he's dead, and she turns totally to the dark side.

What she'd be like: She already plays with hugely destructive powers and captains a Pirate Ship--plus her crew is actually loyal to her. She'd be what Crow wanted to be.

5. Yumi [Yumi and the Nightmare Painter]

What turns her evil: I mean...Yumi faced religious abuse for like thousands and thousands of years. She took it pretty well, all things considered, when she found out. Imagine if she didn't...

What she'd be like: Yumi is, like, the most invested being in the Cosmere. She's nigh unkillable. And she likes to stack things.... In this case, mountains upon mountains... of skulls.

6. Adolin [Stormlight Archive]

What turns him evil: I think Adolin could break from the combination of (a) finding out his father burned his mother alive and (b) killing Sadeas with virtually no consequences. Maybe he figures that if his dad can do all that and still be a beloved political figure, then he might as well do whatever he wants too.

What he'd be like: Adolin is great with people. As a protagonist, this makes him the sort of guy who makes friends easily, remembers everyone's name, and wins over even people determined to dislike him. Evil Adolin takes those skills but goes straight manipulator. He's winning people's trust only to poison them with lies, turn them against each other, make them think he's the only one they can trust. And if manipulation doesn't work, well, he can always challenge you to a duel...in a dark hallway with nobody around...

7. Sarene [Elantris]

What turns her evil: She just gets tired of not being in charge, considering that she's smarter and more strategic and just better than the men actually in charge...

What she'd be like: Honestly, Sarene would be a fantastic Evil Vizier, the real power behind the throne who is actually controlling everything for her own evil whims. I can see her doing it to Iadon, but that's almost too easy. I know in canon they love each other and are actually good 'n' all, but imagine her controlling Raoden from the shadows and tell me it's not kinda cool...

8. Marasi [Mistborn Era 2]

What turns her evil: She gets the Bands of Mourning...and decides she's never gonna give them up.

What she'd be like: Ultimate Power Marasi would decide that SHE knows what will keep a society happy and healthy, and that's her control. I see her creating a terrible police state where everyone's actions are very tightly controlled and every infraction is punished...but only because she wants what's best for you, you know?

9. Jasnah [Stormlight Archive]

What turns her evil: I mean, remember Jasnah's Philosophy Lesson to Shallan where she baited out some robbers and then murdered them in Cold Blood since they were hurting people and no one else would do anything about it? Now imagine that Jasnah takes it upon herself to fix all societal problems through whatever means are necessary...

What she'd be like: Jasnah could be a sort of Vigilante, who makes sure that "bad people" and "political problems" are dealt with swiftly and murderously. Like imagine the Urithiru coalition of monarchs, only Jasnah's is gonna assassinate you and replace you with a puppet if you're not persuaded by her arguments.

10. Spook [Mistborn Era 1 / Secret History]

What turns him evil: I mean, Spook had a lot of voices talking to him--first Ruin, pretending to be Kelsier, and then Actually Kelsier. And the voices were always pretty darn pro hemalurgy. I'm not 100% sure Spook wasn't evil by the time he was in charge...

What he'd be like: Spook suggests in his book that old people should let themselves be killed via hemalurgy to make sure their powers get passed on. Think that, only it's not a suggestion and it's not just old people and oh my god Scadrial is Hemalurgy Power Planet now.

11. Navani [Stormlight Archive]

What turns her evil: She just gets lost in the sauce, the "sauce" in this case being Scientific Advancement and Discovery.

What she's like: I see her as an Evil Scientist who is simply making terrible weapons of mass destruction more or less because she can...and no longer worrying about the consequences.

12. Ulaam [Tress of the Emerald Sea]

What turns him evil: Listen, he TRIED asking people politely for their organs and limbs after they died, and NOBODY ever said yes!

What he's like: Let's just say he got tired of waiting. And asking.

[lynxmov]

✮B-3 TEAM✮

✧────.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝔹𝕀𝔽𝔽 ˖ ݁𖥔 ݁˖────✧

Height is 4.6 m. The alt-shape of the moon rover. The role on the ship is an engineer and a medic. He is a kind guy by nature, but he can easily be led to aggression if you break something or put something in his cabin out of place. He has a tendency to mild sadism. He trained in the elite Cybertron Guard.To the crew members with more patience than to everyone else.

✧────.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝔹𝕃𝔼ℂ𝕊𝕋ℝ𝔸𝕀 ˖ ݁𖥔 ݁˖────✧

The alt form is a space rover. Height 10.5 m. He is the captain and armorer of the team. A graduate of the Elite Guard with honors. He worked with Ultra Magnus for a while, and then he was entrusted with a personal team himself. By nature, he is a rather cheerful guy, such people are usually called "his own in any company." A true extrovert and leader. It may seem that he is not serious about his status, but this is a mistaken opinion. When it comes to work, this guy is no less serious than Ultra Magnus. He is very sensitive to his team.Hobby - collecting rare weapons.

✧────.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝔹𝕆𝕌𝕍𝕀 ˖ ݁𖥔 ݁˖────✧

The role of the ship's pilot and operations operator in the team. Her alt form is the Cybertron plane. She is 7.4 m tall. She can be called an exemplary and very naive girl. She was an excellent student at the academy without missing a single class. She really wanted to become an archivist, but she was redirected to study to be a pilot and a signalman. However, she did not lose her love for books and archives and secretly actively studied the history and other literature of Cybertron. A shy personality, but shows poise and seriousness while working.

The whole team is in comparison

[anthurak]

Takeaways from the Volume 9 Epilogue:

--

One thing I really like about Oscar’s ‘If there was anything I wish I could borrow from you…’ monologue is that it laid out/confirmed something I’ve always felt was a major aspect of Oscar’s dynamic with Ruby that I nonetheless feel a lot of the fandom has missed: That Oscar very much sees Ruby as a mentor and an example to follow, and how their dynamic is specifically a foil to what we saw between Ruby and Ozpin. That Ruby acts as a mentor and example to Oscar in the same way Ozpin was to Ruby, and that Ruby is a far BETTER mentor and example to Oscar than Ozpin ever was to her. Which, as an aside, is a dynamic I can’t help but feel a lot of people have been misinterpreting as ‘ship-teasing’ and is one of the main reasons I’ve simply never been able to see Oscar as any kind of viable love-interest to Ruby. Frankly the dynamic of ‘Ruby is the mentor and example to Oscar that Ozpin couldn’t be for her’ is simply so much more INTERESTING than any kind of romance could ever hope to be.

--

Even in animatic form, Winter basically going overdrive on the maiden powers was a sight to behold. And her own monologue had all the self-deprecation we were expecting. Our girl is clearly holding on by a thread and it’s going to be REAL interesting seeing how she reacts and adjusts to her sister not actually being dead. As in, I can imagine a situation where Winter tries to throw herself into a heroic sacrifice with the belief that Weiss would make a better Maiden than her.

Also, Winter’s monologue giving major focus to how Penny is super-super-dead-dead-and-definitely-not-coming-back-for-really-realsies, as she is talking to the sister who she ALSO believes is DEFINITELY also dead? Specifically with the words that Penny is gone, when Penny’s last words to her were that she’d be ‘part of you’?

Yeah, there is no way in hell we’ve seen the last of Penny XD

--

The CROWN. Like it was only a few shots, but as someone who read the CFVY Books (which you totally should if you haven’t, they’re great), holy shit I was NOT expecting them to pop up here.

I mean, in hindsight it makes perfect sense that they’d be involved in Volume 10. They’re basically Vacuo’s equivalent to Vale’s criminal element and the White Fang splinter faction as Salem’s co-opted insurgency group, with Jax and Gillian joining Roman, Adam and Jacques as the latest of Salem’s unwitting patsies. It’s definitely going to be real interesting seeing the crew deal with them. Like it’s really fun to imagine Team RWBY in particular being kind of exasperated at seeing Jax’s probably doing a whole ‘With Salem’s help I shall be King!’ shtick after everything they’ve seen with Roman, Adam and Jacques.

Oh and if you don’t know, Jax has a mind-control semblance, so him trying to use that on Yang could actually lead to a sneaky callback to the Justice League crossover, ie; Yang doing a ‘Yeah, I’m not doing THAT shit again.’ XD

--

Qrow’s whole vibe through this is fascinating. Like his section may have been the one we already saw, but after seeing the abject depression and growing despair of all the other characters, Qrow actually being OPTIMISTIC hit so much harder.

--

Raven showing up at the end is… interesting.

I’ll admit that ever since we saw that specific clip a few months back, I’ve been rather conflicts about Raven showing up to deliver RWBY+J to Vacuo, particularly after Ruby’s tree vision. Like for one it felt a bit random and unnecessary. The tree already deposited the Ever After team outside of Vacuo so they didn’t exactly need help getting there. Not to mention that it kind of clotheslines the story-thread set up by Ruby’s vision; that she now has a reason to track Raven down to get the ANSWERS to what happened to Summer. Finally, it’s just kind of… random? Like where did Raven even come from to get the team?

But now having seen the clip with its intended context, I’m definitely more on board with it. Particularly hearing from Kerry and Eddy that the original ending for the penultimate episode had RWBY+J going through the portal to arrive at their memorial stone, and met by a ‘Mysterious Figure’, ie; Raven. Here it feels like were getting more set up to get answers later as to what Raven was doing at the memorial.

And really, now that I’ve thought about it more, this method kind of puts the thread of Ruby going to Raven for answers even MORE into focus. Like the story reintroduces Raven in the present right after Ruby got a vision basically saying ‘hey, Raven is important’. And now going into Volume 10, we’re pretty much perfectly positioned for Ruby to pull Raven aside for those all-important ‘Why were you fucking my mom? What happened to my mom?’ questions.

--

Finally… yeah that ending hit me a LOT harder than I was expecting. Like that ending was HOPE in its purest form and it was honestly beautiful to see. Particularly right now with the future of the show seeming so uncertain. I’ve personally been optimistic about RWBY’s future (in a manner not unlike Qrow’s vibes I suppose lol), but damn the hopefulness of that ending hit especially hard, and was something I’ll admit I needed. And I imagine the rest of us could use as well.

We'll be getting Volume 10. And 11, and 12, and however many more it takes to finish this story. At this point, I have no doubt of that.