#and to see everyone redesigns of her the more i see the more i become mad because mihoyo fucking ROBBED US WHY DID YOU MAKE HER WHITE

[tealime9]

Bro I fucking LOVE Mavika

like her personality and shit SHE is awesome

but FUCK WHY COULDNT THEM MAKE HER WITH THE CORRECT SKIN TONE, LIKE

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[pukefactory]

Ok so umm we need more crk content up in here so.. Eternal sugar cookie x angel like reader guys idc if she is not out yet. 😭😭😭😭

AUTHOR’S NOTE

At the time of publishing, Eternal Sugar Cookie has not yet been released, and key details about her character remain unknown. As a result, significant artistic liberties were taken while writing her portrayal, which may become outdated once her full character is revealed. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this interpretation, even if it eventually becomes obsolete. I simply couldn’t resist writing for the one and only.

- SAINT RUNE

₊˚⊹⋆ ♡〜 YOU, I’M CALLING FOR 〜♡ ₊˚⊹⋆

˗ˏˋ ♡ Summary: A Compilation of Headcanons Featuring Eternal Sugar Cookie X Angel Reader

˗ˏˋ ♡ Character(s): Eternal Sugar Cookie (Cookie Run Kingdom)

˗ˏˋ ♡ Genre: Headcanons, SFW

˗ˏˋ ♡ Warning(s): None - Completely Safe!

˗ˏˋ ♡ Image Credits: @inkcomposer

❤︎ Eternal Sugar didn’t like you at first. She adored you. Resented you. Feared you. Worshiped you. You were everything she used to be—pure, winged, serene. The real deal. While she draped her corruption in silk and perfume, you radiated. You were everything she had lost and everything she wanted to taste again. So of course, when she first met you, she called you “darling” with a tone of acid sugar. You didn’t even flinch. That, somehow, made her knees weak.

❤︎ She teases you constantly, poking holes in your innocence just to see if you bleed gold or red underneath. “Oh my, do you blush when I call you precious? No, no—don’t look away, let me see~” The thing is, it’s never just teasing. Eternal Sugar is always testing boundaries, yours and her own. She’ll flirt like it’s a game, then flinch when you touch her hand too gently—because it’s easier to be adored than loved.

❤︎ Her Garden of Delights becomes your safe haven too, though she insists it’s purely practical. “One less realm you could be poached from, sweetheart. Can’t have little demons nibbling at your wings, now can we?” But she redesigns it. Slowly. Subtly. Everything becomes a little gentler, softer, holier. A part of her aches to make a heaven just for you, even if she can’t go back to hers.

❤︎ You’re the only one who sees her when the glamour cracks. She never lets it drop completely—never. But you’ve caught glimpses. In the mirror behind her throne, in the reflection of her lyre strings, in the split-second between blink and breath. The sluggish bitterness in her eyes. The flicker of exhaustion behind her smile. You don’t confront it. You just lay a hand on her cheek when no one’s watching. She always leans into it, silent.

❤︎ Eternal Sugar knows how to corrupt. But you? You purify. Without even trying. One time she offered you a kiss, dipped in pink sin and glittering promises, just to see if you’d take it. You did—gently, with a whisper of a touch. Not flustered. Not naive. Just… kind. “Thank you,” you’d said. “You deserve to feel wanted too.” She had to vanish into mist for a solid hour before she could look you in the eye again.

❤︎ She likes to fiddle with your wings when she’s anxious. No words. No sharp smiles. Just careful fingers brushing through feathers and threads, humming old celestial lullabies under her breath. “Don’t mind me, sugar. I just… needed to remember what grace feels like again.”

❤︎ Despite her dominion over sloth, she never rests unless you’re beside her. “You look divine when you sleep,” she murmurs, curled around your side like a ribbon. “But I look better. Don’t argue—angels don’t lie.” But when you kiss her forehead, she goes quiet. For once, there’s no seduction in it. Only reverence. Her halo dims and pulses faintly like a heartbeat.

❤︎ She lies to everyone else. But never to you. Or at least, she tries. The first time she attempted to trick you, she ended up confessing the truth five minutes later, lips trembling. “I didn’t want you to leave, okay? I thought if I said the wrong thing, you’d fly off and I’d never be able to reach you again.” You didn’t judge her. You just held her hand tighter.

❤︎ Sometimes, in rare private moments, she sings to you with her lyre. Not the seductive melodies that enchant her followers. Something older. A hymn from the age before the fall. Your eyes close. She watches the way your expression softens—like home. Like Heaven. She plays until her own hands shake.

❤︎ She still calls herself the Bringer of Happiness. But when she looks at you, her voice softens. “You know… I thought I’d have to trick joy into loving me. Seduce it. Lie to it. Twist it until it looked like something that could belong to me. But you just… offered it. No games. No catches.” She holds you close, breath warm against your ear. “You ruin me, angel. And I love you for it.”

[darksubject333]

🩷The first three redesigns of Winx characters!~🌟

Let's remember childhood together! Winx really had a place of honor in my childhood. I was in love with these transformations, images, heroines, villains, everyone who watched Winx wanted to get into Alphea one day and also become a fairy.

I decided to draw the heroines from Winx and not just fanart, but to make designs for them in my performance, slightly redo them.

Bloom💙

The main character opens the top. I decided to add puffy sleeves to her and close her outfit, as we know that she is a shy, dreamy child who did not make friends, but went into the world of fairy tales and dreams. And a small bracelet hinting at her fate in the future:)

Stella⭐

I've made minimal changes to her.I just made a more direct reference to her belonging to the Sun and stars, and of course a fashionable handbag💅

You can see that Stella has slightly beachy motifs in her design. And this is logical, since she is a sunny, bright girl. Here are the pictures for inspiration–

Flora🌺

She also has minimal design changes, except that I made her a skirt that looks like a pink rose branch.

The second three characters will be available later, as soon as I finish drawing Tecna.

[spookierdeer]

my internet was down recently so i redesigned some miraculous ladybug characters from memory. details of this spur of the moment au below ⬇️⬇️⬇️

this is kind of off the cuff and wordy as hell, but it was what i was thinking about while drawing. i ran out of steam to draw anyone else but if i were to revisit i would probably do this in a different art style lol i tried to make them match but it's too samey to me and got boring working on this fast </3

marinette is 16-17ish instead of 13-15, most of the cast are this age except a few like luka who are 17-18

ignore that marinette isn't fully colored in the first image, i saved it before deciding to fully color everyone LOL

instead of general education, they go to an arts school the first akuma attack was focused on a private school nearby which adrien, kagami, and chloe attend with adrien and chloe being transferred afterwards to the art school (adrien and chloe both put in the fashion design course by their dads)

marinette is in the fashion track, alya in photography/video editing, nino, luka, and rose are in music, juleka and marc in writing, and nathaniel is in illustration/animation. other characters either fall into other tracks as well, attend the private school, or another nearby school that isn't arts focused. if a character fits something else better than what i said then pretend i said that instead 👍

marinette's interest in fashion design takes more of a front seat, i feel like it isn't brought up much in the show for how important it seems to her. instead of a 14 year old designing an album cover and whatever other insane opportunities she's gotten, i think those opportunities might come from businesses and celebrities working with the art school and marinette having a track record of lucking out in her work catching the eye of the people interested

kagami in canon is extremely autistic teen girl coded to me and therefore my favorite so i double down on that here

-her hair is short because in one of the only times she's actively rebelled against her mother's wishes, years prior to this au, she cut her hair short on her own because the feeling of it touching her neck and shoulders was constantly upsetting her. when her mom finally noticed she took control over this act of rebellion and took kagami to a hair stylist to get a haircut she found more appropriate; kagami has been getting it cut this same way since then.

-after moving to paris she had to give up a lot of the norms she found comfort in. i think she would have taken incredible care of the backpack she was given when she first started school and it's become somewhat of a comfort item. the private school would be pretty strict about dress code, but as long as the backpack didn't look sloppy and was in one of the allowed colors, she could use it- so even if she didn't use it much in middle school i could see her returning to it to have as a piece of home in a new place that's otherwise incredibly overwhelming.

-even if she isn't interested in it, she listens to her mom and does as she says which has her even more quiet and reserved than she would be normally. shes good friends with adrien, he's actually one of her closest friends, but she doesn't open up much more around him and he can tell. she meets marinette through him and while she doesn't magically blossom into a different person, she definitely speaks her mind more when around her and eventually adrien- marinette's personality connecting with her own just right and that makes her feel safe in a deep way.

-marinette inspires her to push boundaries, one of the first ways she rebels (considered so in her own mind) is wearing a friendship bracelet marinette makes for her despite her school not allowing jewelry like that. another is a "good luck" charm key chain she keeps latched to a zipper inside her backpack.

-i don't remember, but in the show i think kagami might model with agreste brand in some way? she might do that here too since her mom and adrien's dad are close, but she prefers modelling for marinette's projects even if she's shy about it at first. they're usually alone during this and kagami sometimes helps by wearing marinette's WIPs as she works and during those times kagami finds she laughs and smiles the most.

-i'm rambling now, but kagami reflects marinette in a lot of similar-but-opposite ways i didn't get into here and i need to stop talking about kagami and marinette or i'll be here all day.

idk what all to write for adrien bc i dont keep up with the show anymore so idk what his deal is rn, BUT here i would explore his experience with unspecified depression- he would have so much lust for life and joy but between his mom recently passing and his dad being a quiet megalomaniac with his only real parental support being his dad's assistant and his own bodyguard- he just doesn't feel much excitement with life despite how he might express himself in front of his friends. i think getting transferred would be, unintentionally on his dad's part, the biggest boon possible for adrien bc he would slowly regain that excitement in regards to just living his life- even if gabriel squashes it often with rules and tiring modelling work. becoming friends w nino, marinette, and everyone else would bring him out of his shell just like kagami even if it's in a different way.

luka is one of my faves too so he was one of the first i designed; he's not incredibly more important in this au, but i'd want to focus more on the eldest sibling in a single parent household stress of his character. a wonderful son and brother with a lot of skill and patience who's willing to lend an ear to any friend. lot of stress would pile up and i like thinking about him finally finding out who his dad is- that he's met the guy and it's one of his musical idols. and the man never said anything. and how that would upset him. and being the backbone of not only his family, but his friend group as he's stressed about going out into the world on his own soon in an unstable field and now he has to cope with that too...

instead of meeting alya at school, marinette and alya have been best friends since childhood which brings a bigger stress on marinette when she can't even tell the one person in the whole world her biggest secret- especially since alya IMMEDIATELY becomes ladybug's biggest fan and defender and they never would keep secrets before- and alya could tell she wasn't saying something. i like imagining the added stress of losing that confidant marinette would have had for years and years and having to handle some of the most stressful things she's ever experienced on her own save for tikki with alya slowly worrying more and she can't say a thing. alya got into photography in middle school during projects with marinette and ended up wanting to study it, but seeing ladybug only fuels her love of it- running the ladyblog and social medias about the hero while marinette watches on wishing she could tell alya for the longest time. eventually she does but that's down the line lol

nino is still adrien's first friend in the new school and he meets everyone else through him. i think nino and luka would be fairly close in this au with them working together whenever the other needed help on projects or just helping the other out with learning new skills. i'm not sure how to write it here but i like thinking about alya and nino's dynamic as a couple since what i remember of the show was mostly them together then talking about adrienette instead lmao

one of the biggest examples of missed potential in mlb to me is chloe, so shes rewritten as bully with hero worship of ladybug(/baby's first lesbian crush) only to have her dreams crushed when ladybug takes back her miraculous and says she doesn't think she'll be able to trust her with it again. not sure if she would let it fully go to her head here or if she just suddenly found comfort in pollen only to have ladybug take the kwami away without listening to her side of things. i have a whole thing written for her in my notes app that ill never share just know shes fleshed out here way more than in canon- i already rambled too much about kagami so i'll hold myself back here LOL

marc is such a fun character to me but i REALLY don't like his look in canon and he's one of the main characters i wanted to redesign so i let myself have a lot of fun with him to make up for the years of looking at his canon one

nathaniel is similar, i don't want to change too much about him but i think he's a fun character and his blazer/tshirt/skinny jeans/converse fit in canon pissed me off for years on the back burner lmfao... i think i might've leaned too far away from a style his canon counterpart might choose, but he goes to an art school and if his multiple of his friends being in the fashion track and his partner being an alt kid can't stop him from wearing a plain tshirt and blazer then idk what could

JULEKA..... why does her first saga design look like a sims 4 townie that's goth and into track? not even current sims 4, 2014 sims 4. sims 4 fitness stuff. i'm getting to the characters i wouldn't change a ton about story wise now clearly, i just think their drip is nonexistent, barren. i think her going from near full coverage purple and black goth to bright pink clown when akumatized is a fun dichotomy. i don't think i'll be redesigning any other outfits (or characters for that matter), but that drastic of a change is very fun. i could see her occasionally wearing a privacy mask like marc on days she feels too socially anxious.

i think a modern take on rose would almost inevitably lean into lovecore, but i tried to keep her more simple. i will always love purple/pink ships and the tall, dark, and broody looking juleka who's mostly just quiet and shy and rose who's short, bombastic, and kind with a huge heart is a very sweet and fun pair. in the show she has an unspecified illness which could be any number of things, so i thought maybe she would need to bundle up more than the others (granted there's a lot of long sleeves here lol)- more layers than usual to regulate in the cooler months and the opposite during the warmer ones. i kind of drew these with spring in mind, so she'd probably be wearing thicker leggings or something here- she still REALLY wants to look cute even if her body is mad at her (relatable).

i'm intentionally not getting into the miraculouses or akuma or kwami or the whole (gestures vaguely to gabriel and lila and everything else) here since i'm already yapping more than this justifies for an au i'm not doing anything with. just had a lot of thoughts while designing these. i didn't get a ton into ships here aside from the last few, but i also don't really know how i'd deal with the "love square" since i was never invested in that and instead liked lukadrienette and marigami more lol... i'd also want to explore marinette finding out about chloe's one sided crush on ladybug and her reaction vs chloe dealing with the fallout of hero worship. if you read all of this thank you ilu mwah mwah

[magixfairyix]

Icy Disenchantix Redesign: Click for better quality.

Based on this mood board: Because the Trix deserved a better transformation for season 3. It kind of makes senece, because the Winx would be the butterflies, and the Trix would be the spiders.

Transformation Qualities:

One's eyes become monochromatic, and the witch gets a diadem that sort of looks like spider eyes. And a lot of jewelry has the same design.

Monochrome colors and a lot of gradients.

SPIDER WEBS!

How One Gains It:

I really want to make the Trix achieve it by killing Valtor and using his body in a ritual. OR, witches would have to harm/kill somebody from their planet.

Maybe Disenchantix was the transformation the Ancestral Witches got, because gaining it would be dark. The Ancestors (if they would appear in season 3) or Valtor controlled by them, or just simply Valtor, would tell the Trix to gain this transformation. It would make more sense for the order to be from the Ancestors because the Trix are indeed afraid of them at this point.

Either the Ancestors in season 3, OR in Magical Adventure. I can picture the Trix cursing the Tree of Life after gaining Disenchantix, and all of them still mourning what they've done. (Darcy holding a hand over her mouth to bury her sobs, or else Liliss sees).

Icy would have to go back to Diamond to kill the last surviving person there: Sapphire. She doesn't want to, but Belladonna orders and threatens Icy to do so. Icy still has the attitude of, "Oh great Ancestor, I will do what you ask." But it's very painful for her to kill Sapphire, and she's becoming less of a dedicated devotee to Belladonna after this.

Darcy is like, "No, no, no, no," when Liliss orders her to kill someone from Zenothe to gain Disenchantix. Yes, everyone on her planet is in a coma when Darcy accidentally released her magic as a child, so it would be easy. But Darcy DOES not want any part in this, and even resorts to begging Liliss to convince her.

(This scars Darcy for life lol).

(Like, she can't stop crying).

Stormy just goes to kill her father, tbh. She doesn't want to kill, but she and Tharma have a half-decent mentor relationship. Tharma doesn't give a fuck as long as Stormy listens to them. Stormy feels guilty after that fact, and that cripples her emotionally.

But finally, with this transformation, The Trix can clock the Winx <3

(Though gaining this transformation AND getting possessed by the Ancestors, they'd be wrecked)

[scen7rage]

CHAGGIE SWAP AU DESGINS!!

As I was redesign the designs I think of Vagatha have a more alt look on her, as it shows her chaotic nature n chaos as her being swap as Al, vaggie have a personality of no care of anyone and will laugh out loud if you done something wrong, but have a canon behavior of she can do things when things r tough 4 her

Charlie haves a more in a 18th century era style as it shown of her royalty and her duty’s as one, she is nice but more mature than the canon, and yes it’s based on the 18th era on her ok.

CHARLIE MORNING STAR storyline: ever since her rehabilitation dreams were never refilled by the lack of support of it, she left it behind and went 2 do her duty’s as a royalty since everyone needed a powerful leader 2 depend since her father never do his duty’s and been on his sorrows in his palace. Which lend of Charlie and Lucifer have problems and cut off ties from him. Lucifer usually calls Charlie’s or text her 2 see his daughter is ok but never get a response or just a text message of “I’m ok”. Charlie become mature based of being a royalist who has a job 2 do n trying 2 not corruption of hell. She attends court cases, events, charities and so other more that the hell r happy 2 have a ruler like Charlie 2 b around. In around the times Lucifer miss his daughter and seen how she busy of her life and cleaning up the mess of her father by his lack of maturity and very ignorant of his job. But on episode 5 of Hazbin hotel swap, Charlie had a break day chilling her place , while Lucifer was struggle what 2 do of the hotel and needed 2 do this b4 the extermination happens. Alastor Suggest of call his daughter and help him out 2 call her. Charlie look at the call and sigh 2 see what he needs now so she can get this over with, she answers and hears Lucifer by his awkwardness of hearing his daughter again. As he mentions heaven and the hotel she deny it. “Oh no, I do anything but that dad. You know I don’t associate of that anymore.” Charlie thought its a waste of time but Lucifer beg that she should come and see how it’s going 2 see the potential it is. She finally accepted and went 2 the hotel.

As she was enter the hotel, Lucifer gave her a big hug with a “Charlie!” As Charlie see the place of this “develop hotel” she introduced herself of the guest of the hotel. That’s when she met Vagatha. Vagatha and her did not came a great start, Vagatha Develop a Crush on her since she saw her events. But Charlie seen her as a edge lord that her teenage self would behave which make Vagatha shatter and get a payback from that, throughout the episode she was making her and Lucifer relationship as a dad and daughter which anger Charlie since she has a complicated relationship from him.but throughout the series they both see how they not bad and get along and began dating after that. vagatha is a her knight but Charlie sighs knowing that she very powerful and protect herself but let Vagatha have this confidence.

VAGATHA STORYLINE: born from heaven n served the angel military, became one of the best soldiers 2 battle and defend her own homeland 2 the disgusting demons from hell. Vagatha had an instincts and will fight anyone who gets her way or do something that is in heaven, during extermination, she will kill most of the sinners out of joy with her bsf lute. Lute and vagatha had things in common, they protect the ones they love, they defend heaven which any cost, they h8 sinners. Which they became best friends 4 life, or so they thought. During the times of all lute have developed this obsession of power and control and wanted 2 be a leader of all the power she wanted. Over the years it gets worse that vagatha have 2 stop lute 2 do break any rules. Till one day lute break a rule which vagatha try 2 claim she innocent.heaven seeing them two have a history and how they disrupted the peace of heaven by their actions and sins which lend them fall down in hell. When they fall in hell, lute and vagatha had a huge fight which she lost an eye and wings, and lute having a missing arm and a broken wings which she can’t fly anymore and made aid 2 help her fly. And then so on, vagatha work alone and became a chaotic women who likes destroying stuff. They call her the “mad women” and become an overlord making her a 1st angel who is an overlord then lute being the second. She disappeared all the sudden in 7 years and came back out of the blue. She saw the hotel of Al and Lucifer made. She become entertained.

That’s when she came 2 the hotel and join there. And rest is history

[kandy-sticks-zaza-blogs]

Asmodeus Redesign

His OG design reminds me of that curse yaoi body like the head is too small shaped like a Dorito and he isn’t serving CUNT.

I decided to CUNT DEGREE HIM,good to look at properly AND MADE HIM LOOK FRUITY.

Voice claim is Tim Curry or Levi Stubbs

I am tired of this dom daddy bullshit time to get glow up for him.

Genderfluid Male/Abrosexual that goes by any pronouns but still refers themselves as the ‘Prince of Lust’.

His eyebrows always frowns so he would look seductive and innocent looking like they did nothing.

Made his outfit based of the Moulin Rouge and non sexual nudity art on Pinterest.

His other heads are hiding in her hair so he would fool everyone by looking human.

They worked as the boss of the House of Asmodeus like Moulin Rouge and the place based off Missing Marmalade.

Mammon and Asmodeus despise eachother and the only person that will calm him down is her big wifey,Belphegor.

He doesn’t love Fizzaroli she only see them as a puppet to them,doesn’t care about what’s going on in the Lust ring,seduces for fun and dating with Belphegor because they match eachother freak.(They’re Lust related so they would kiss fr)

Asmodeus was born during the medieval time he was raised in the forest surrounded by the Goetia when they grew up she became looking more human but got the bull and ram horns.Stolas got hatched as Asmodeus took care of Stolas like an Older sibling.

Asmodeus fell inlove with Lilith but Lilith belongs to Samael,her husband she felt upset that Lilith only be with him once when they have a Intimacy last night. Asmodeus begin to seduce all the ladies taking away their chasity as they becomes the prince of Lust.

When Belphegor appeared in Hell Asmodeus fell hard for Belphegor but hides it as he hides their feelings for a long time as Belphegor stayed at her place for sleep over cause she is tired to go home Belphegor confessed her feelings in her sleep as Asmodeus confessed as well.

Suggestion Ideas by: @hotter-than-hell-rewrite , @midnighthybrid1 and @dnpanimationstudioclone

[valleyfthdolls]

1980s mode redesigns & rewrites based on my own rewrite ideas and ideas I've been sharing with and obtaining from a friend (whose tumblr I forgot I'm so sorry)

Info under the cut, as usual:

Ryoko Mitarai (later Ryoko Aishi):

A serial killer. Largely disregards the safety of those around her, and doesn't care much about anything that's not her senpai.

Dresses in shibuya casual/shibukaji inspired fashion. Perms her hair.

Mostly the same as canon.

Kaguya Wakaizumi:

Social, but feels as if she doesn't fit in with the popular girls she wants to fit in with (the rainbow girls). Feminine and likes cutesy, Seiko Matsuda-inspired clothing.

Speaking of Seiko Matsuda-inspired, she wears her hair in a Seiko-chan cut.

The second of Ryoko's victims. Stabbed in the back after being tricked and isolated by Ryoko. This incident made it clear to the police that there was a serial killer at the academy.

Moeko Rakuyona:

A rule-breaker and regular petty criminal with a tomboyish personality who feels more comfortable being around guys and perceived as a guy. Hangs out with the popular boys/Jokichi's friend group (the rainbow boys), but feels like they see her as the girl of the group.

Wears pants instead of the uniform's skirt despite it violating the school rules. They're also not uniform pants, just some white pants she picked up at the store.

Cut her own hair short after accidentally burning it.

Died in a burning "accident" after losing control of a fire she had started thanks to Ryoko's interference.

Honami Hodoshima:

Suffers from severe social anxiety, to the point of struggling to form words when speaking to others. Despite this, she is very lonely, and wishes she had more friends.

Very easy to scare, which Ryoko used against her.

After encouraging another student to befriend her, Ryoko began anonymously threatening Honami to stay away from Jokichi, causing her to become panicky and paranoid until she confided in her new friend, which caused the situation to become publicly known and a bit of a scandal that someone was threatening the girls Jokichi was getting close with.

Sumiko Tachibana:

Considers herself rather feminine, despite her generally "boyish" hobbies of sports and exercising. A member of the school's track team.

Owns Mizuno brand sport gear (like her socks). Also, apparently, the gym uniform was a real type of gym uniform worn at high schools up until about the 2000s.

Often pushes her lifestyle onto others because she thinks it's best for everyone.

Has freckles and tan skin from being outside so much.

Extremely dedicated to her goals of being an athlete.

Died of heart failure during a track event after a week of having her food repeatedly poisoned with heart medication and blood thinners.

Ritsuko Chikanari:

Rich, bratty, and extremely entitled. Believes that she is entitled to everyone's time and admiration, especially Jokichi's due to her romantic interest in him.

Spends time around the other popular and rich girls, though most of them don't like her very much due to her personality.

Died in an "accident", the details of which are largely unclear. Her former friends largely seemed to feel responsible for what happened- it seeming to have happened, in their eyes, as a result of a confrontation- and as such, the police had a hard time gathering an unbiased report.

Ai Doruyashi:

A junior city pop idol. Positive and girly with a very childish attitude, though it's hard to tell how much of it is her idol persona and how much is her actual personality.

Just like Sumiko, extremely dedicated to her goals of being a pop idol, to the point of changing her entire personality and appearance for it.

Pushed to pursue a relationship with a member of the martial arts club instead of Jokichi.

Why Ryoko felt no need to kill or even harm/humiliate her or damage her reputation, I'm not yet sure.

Teiko Nabatasai:

Loves learning, the pursuit of knowledge, and sharing her knowledge and work. Extremely motivated with very high intelligence.

An aspiring novelist with goals of becoming widely known for her writing.

Dresses a bit like a schoolteacher, and is teased for it by her friends.

Expelled from the academy thanks to Ryoko's sabotage. While of course survivable and something Teiko could and did recover from, it was a distressing and humiliating loss of both her social circle and her academic standing, and that was Ryoko's main goal- to humiliate her.

Komako Funakoshi:

The most popular girl at school. Wants to make others happy and do the right thing at all times. Many people at school see her as "ideal wife" material, while those with no romantic interest in her simply enjoy her presence.

Jokichi is probably one of the many who views her as "ideal wife" material, a fact she is generally unaware of at the beginning of her week.

Instead of killing her or turning her friends/admirers against her, Ryoko ends up doing something genuinely difficult for her: she tells Komako about the way her reputation leads her to be viewed by boys, and that Jokichi only sees her as the perfect housewife, not as a potential friend. Uncomfortable with this revelation, Komako asks Ryoko for help in essentially reverse-matchmaking them- crafting ways for Jokichi to see Komako's flaws and the ways their interests and goals don't align until he's no longer interested in her, as his illusion of her perfection has been broken.

Probably is rather fond of Ryoko after her week, but wouldn't speak out against murder charges against her on the basis of "she helped me get this guy I wasn't especially interested in off my back".

Chigusa Busujima:

Flirty, a bit "seductive", and tends to tease others. Also, willing to hurt and put the people around her down for the benefit of her career and fame.

As a model whose target audience is mostly fellow teenagers (and mainly teen boys), getting into a relationship or explicitly pursuing someone else would damage her image as it would break some of the "fantasy" that she was advertised with, so she courts Jokichi secretly- it's only because Ryoko stalks him that she finds out.

Framed as the person who threatened Honami into staying away from Jokichi, causing Jokichi to lose interest in/respect for and be creeped out by her, damaging her reputation at school, and even causing her image as a model to take a hit due to the scandal.

Sonoko Sakanoue:

A year younger than the rest of class 2-2. Skipped ahead a grade in junior high.

Well-respected at school for her sigma male grindset dedication to her job as a junior detective and her duty of protecting her classmates and finding the killer of Sumire, Kaguya, Moeko, Sumiko, and Ritsuko. Has eyes on both Chigusa (as a result of the "threatening Honami" scandal) and Ryoko (because her mentor believes it was her).

Stoic, intelligent, and very serious.

Put in debt to Ryoko using her fear of getting hurt or getting others hurt through her job, which she used to manipulate her into knowingly botching the murder investigation, twisting the facts to make it look like her mentor was framing Ryoko, and testifying on her behalf in court.

She carries that guilt with her years later. It never really goes away. No matter how many people she helps now, she still thinks about them.

Sumire Saitozaki:

A shy, timid girl prone to getting scared and crying when upset. A bit childish, but some find that endearing about her.

Naively considers most of her classmates friends.

Gets her red hair from her mother's side, dark skin from her father's.

Ryoko's first victim. Her spirit still haunts the school, and the incidents that followed gave her "power".

Though not fully aware or capable of much, Sumire's anger causes the school's environment to become oppressive, dangerous and malicious. Her presence is the reason people are always turning to look over their shoulders, finding a reason to look at someone funny no matter how small, forming cliques and gangs to defend themselves and each other from the threats of school life, and even capable of being driven to violence over emotional matters.

Jokichi Aishi:

One of the most popular boys at school. Widely admired and has lots of friends.

Generally not especially serious, and tends to play off when he feels awkward (which, due to his lack of experience in a lot of fields, is often).

Plays fast and loose with romance (again, as a cover for awkwardness). Would probably have gone out with any of the rivals who asked him to. Would have even gone out with Ryoko, if she'd only tried even a little bit to court him in the weeks leading up to her attempted confession. And also, if she hadn't gotten arrested and taken to court for like five counts of murder.

To be honest, despite Ryoko's acquittal, he probably wouldn't have ever been able to get past that. Sort of like Ryoba says at the end of 1980s mode- he'd never be able to see her as the cute underclassman who has a crush on him, only as the girl who was accused of murder on national television. But also, not just accused of murder- accused of murder on behalf of an obsession with Jokichi, and of stalking him. The murder alone would've been too much to ever be able to go out with her, but everything related to him in the case was so much he probably wouldn't have been able to look at her or be in the same room as her until graduation.

Kidnapped by Ryoko after the trial. Both Sonoko and Sonoko's mentor are quite sure they know where he ended up, Sonoko never contacted the police about it, and when her mentor did, he was threatened with arrest for harassing Ryoko.

[weirdowithaquill]

Let's Talk About Rebecca:

Well, I said we needed to talk about Rebecca, and here we are.

To begin with, I would like to preface this with a simple disclaimer: I am in no way telling people to like or dislike the version of Rebecca found in BWBA, but instead looking into what caused such a deep disdain for this character, one that lasted long after Henry had been departed and was fuelled not by her position as a ‘replacement’, but rather by the series itself. This is not a dissertation on why Henry is a stronger character and why Rebecca should never have been introduced - that is counterproductive and, in some ways, false. This is instead something adjacent to an essay in which I will focus on how Rebecca’s flawed introduction, characterisation and tenure in the series both represents the BWBA era as a whole, but also what led to her being notably absent from All Engines Go, the reboot of Thomas and Friends. This will be followed by me attempting to redesign her characterisation and create an alternate version of Rebecca, one which in my opinion would have done far better for herself in the series. 

Part 1: Who is Rebecca, and Why Her Characterisation Doesn't Work:

According to the former official Thomas and Friends website, Rebecca is: “...a very cheerful and happy engine. She is painted a sunshine yellow which reflects her positive outlook on life. Rebecca always sees the best in others and enjoys helping everyone around her feel good about themselves. Despite her warm nature, Rebecca is not afraid to stand up for herself or her friends. She is a big, strong tender engine who is not intimidated by the more experienced engines on the railway. Rebecca is the number 22 engine.” 

Already, there is a major issue here: her characterisation is a strange amalgamation of others, who could probably just as easily take on her roles without really breaking any of the episodes she is in. “Cheerful and happy” are characteristics held by Ryan, Stanley, Whiff, Thomas, Percy, Edward, Mavis, Peter Sam; the list goes on. There are already far too many engines whose main qualities are cheerful and happy. She is painted yellow - like Molly and Flora were, or if we go further back, like Jock, Pip and Emma were. “Sees the best in others” was once upon a time a quality unique to Edward, as well as Salty. “Enjoys helping everyone around her feel good about themselves” sounds way too close to what Emily has become in the series, without mentioning the evolutions of Mavis’ character or Rocky’s character. If we add in her clumsiness and shyness, we get Kevin and Molly respectively - and Kevin is also yellow! She isn’t intimidated nor does she have any trouble at all with fending off engines who want to be mean to her. She isn’t unique here either: Duck did this when he first arrived, and he had a much bigger and more notable impact because of how he acted when confronted with the big engines' attitudes. What all this really means is that Rebecca has already finished a character arc at some point in the past and does not need to grow further. 

And here we reach the crux of the problem with Rebecca in BWBA: she has nowhere for her character to grow into - something all the other main characters have done decades ago. This is especially problematic at this late stage in the show; Thomas & Friends has been running since 1984, and almost every character they pair Rebecca up with has had an exceptionally long time to bed themselves in and grow into the space they occupy. For Rebecca to compete, and truly qualify for her status as a main character, her character needs to make its own space - and importantly, make that space bigger than as many other characters as possible. This is a running problem in the TV series post Season 7, and something that really baked itself into the show by the time the series reached CGI: the characters do not develop. The Steam Team (bar Emily) hasn’t had any real, natural character developments since the Mitton era - not any sustained over multiple seasons, at least. If we go back to the Classic series - or further back to the Railway Series - we find that the very essence of Thomas is in its strong characters and their natural growth. Gordon grows into being more humble, Edward and Henry grow more confident in themselves, Thomas and Percy mature and (to some extent) learn their limits - the list goes on. There are characters that do not grow as much or remain the same, yes - but they still have some sort of character arc where the essence of them as a character is tested. 

Rebecca does not undergo character growth in the series, and her character itself is not tested in any meaningful way. Instead, she is overused and underutilised - by which I mean, she appears constantly throughout the series but is given nothing to define her as being any different to any of the characters mentioned above. Worse yet, Rebecca’s leads are easily interchangeable with any other Steam Team member, and this further complicates her. Rebecca takes trucks perfectly - like Donald or Douglas would, or perhaps Edward? Rebecca is too fast and leaves passengers behind - like Peter Sam did to the refreshment lady. And when she causes all kinds of delay, is that not like James did way back in Series 3? And she’s tricked by Diesel… like almost every single engine in the entire series, going as far back as Gordon, Henry and James were in Series 2. 

Would it have been better to divide Rebecca’s leads up and give other, more established engines more spotlight? Probably. Her personality is similar to a number of others, and her introduction is basically a mix and mash of older episodes - notably the eighth series episode, Thomas and the Tuba, the tenth series episode, Seeing the Sights, the first series episode, Thomas' Train, and the fourth series episode, Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady. This really doesn’t help to define her, especially when all fans think about when they watch the episode is what other, older episode it is most like. Her subsequent appearances do very little to endear her either, both due to the lack of effort put in by Mattel to ground Rebecca in the series and the low impact of the episodes she does star in. Characters like Oliver or Duke have had lasting impacts on the fandom despite their short tenures because their episodes have high impact. Duck is one of the most popular characters in the fandom of this show, despite having been a secondary character ever since Series 5, and being practically absent from the series between Series 8 and Series 16.

Rebecca also takes up a difficult spot as a replacement for Henry, which complicates her relationship with a large portion of the fandom, meaning a lot of her as a character is questioned in relation to what Henry would have done. While technically, Rebecca was slated as a replacement to Edward, her arrival coincides with Henry’s departure, and thus for the purposes of this, we will consider her to have taken the position Henry had, similarly to Nia and Edward. Whether or not Henry’s departure from the main cast is a bad thing is an issue unto itself, which dives into character assassination and to what extent the Henry seen in Season 21 is the same Henry seen in Season 1. In either case, Rebecca’s roles could have quite easily been filled by Henry or another standing character, and her characterisation is too similar to other, pre-existing characters to make her stand out amongst her costars and their longer, more notable characterisations and character growths. 

Much of this is compounded by how Rebecca was introduced and integrated into the main cast, which is clearly seen when compared with another notable case of an engine joining the Steam Team after it had been first codified: Emily. 

Part 2: Rebecca vs Emily - How to Introduce a Main Character: 

Rebecca’s introduction is extremely underwhelming, especially for a Steam Team member. Thomas and Gordon shared the very first episode, Edward established himself as a foil to Gordon in his introduction and in Henry’s first appearance, he is bricked up in a tunnel in perhaps one of the series’ most infamous and iconic episodes. James makes his grand entrance by crashing into a field, Percy nearly gets destroyed by Gordon and Toby tugs on the viewer’s heartstrings as we watch him lose his entire livelihood. Moving forward several seasons, Emily’s introduction includes her saving another engine from a terrible accident - and then lastly, Nia gets an entire movie to embed her. Rebecca just bumbles about for ten minutes and takes the final shed at Tidmouth. 

To make matters worse, Henry’s departure is equally low-intensity. Edward at least got a full episode; Henry got a single line, used to further Gordon’s character as opposed to finalising Henry’s arc and introducing Rebecca’s. And while Gordon’s character here is interesting and new and possibly the first real growth we’ve seen from any of the Steam Team since Henry, Toby and Percy regressed into children before CGI even began; it does nothing to create a satisfactory conclusion to Henry’s arc or properly build up Rebecca’s arrival. This ultimately undermines Rebecca’s position as a primary character in the series, where she has joined far too late in the series to make an impact without dedicated time and effort being put into her. 

We are expected to accept that Rebecca has simply arrived and is now a main character by the show without any reasoning behind this. There is no connection between the viewer and Rebecca to justify this promotion to main character status, and it is telling. The writers don’t have anything new or unique to say about Rebecca either and it reflects in her episodes, which are remixes of old episodes or bland and unoriginal. This is especially painful in an era when so much of the writing is like this, bar the few episodes that really manage to break through the white noise. Ironically, two of the episodes that do really stand out have Edward and Toby as main characters respectively. 

In contrast, Emily is very well introduced to her position and has a long, notable character arc that plays out across both the Classic and HiT eras to cement her as a main character before making her a permanent member of the Steam Team - a journey that endeared her to fans and helped to build her characterisation to make her unique and interesting. Emily is first introduced in Season 7, where she has a strong introductory story played out against Thomas where she steals Annie and Clarabel and then rescues Oliver from a nasty accident. I’m not entirely certain, but this might be the first time that an engine takes Annie and Clarabel without asking - prior to this, Percy and Duck both got permission or it wasn’t mentioned. And after this episode, Emily does not immediately move into Tidmouth Sheds - she remains at Knapford, despite having further notable appearances across the rest of the season. 

What is made apparent in Season 7 is her characterisation. Emily is brave and bossy, but kind-hearted. She doesn’t headline constantly either, instead playing off other characters and rolling into the background when needed. She slots naturally into a secondary role in this season and feels like an engine who belongs on the NWR. Season 7 introduces Emily to viewers and gives her characterisation to back up her unique appearance. Season 8 continued this trend, building on her more and pairing her up with different engines to settle her comfortably into being a proper presence on the island - notice how it’s an evolution over two seasons? By Calling All Engines, Emily is a main character by virtue of her cementing herself into the cast, and her berth at Tidmouth feels like a natural progression of her story, firmly planting Emily as a Steam Team member. By Season 11, she is being used as a primary character to bounce newbies like Whiff off of! 

When considering Emily and Rebecca, two takeaways make themselves known: firstly, that characters need time and effort to be cemented in the story, especially when introduced long after most other central characters have had time to imbed themselves; and secondly that characters need strong, interesting differences when compared to those they share the screen with in order to fill unfilled positions. Emily is brave and bossy, giving her a unique style that makes her work great either as the protagonist or antagonist of a story. It gives her character flexibility - she can either be the engine that the protagonist is paired up with to learn something from or it can make her big-headed and in need of being taught a lesson of her own, one which she will - in her own way - try and pass on. We don’t meet someone with a truly bossy personality like Emily’s again until Bradford, and even then it isn’t the same. Bradford is used as a comedic character, whereas Emily’s bossiness was treated seriously. 

In comparison, Rebecca’s characterisation causes her to fade where she needs to shine. By being given a personality that has already been used consistently in Thomas, she fails to have a lasting impact and the abruptness of her introduction and elevation to the Steam Team is jarring and gives older viewers no reason to be interested in her. When combining this with the few defining qualities she has, it is equally hard for Rebecca to intrigue new viewers, making her feel bland and unoriginal when compared to many of the characters she shares the screen with. Rebecca is asked to attempt and hold her own against characters who have been intentionally woven together by the series for decades - and as explained above, this is not an impossible feat. It is not an impossible feat in the CGI series either, as Hiro, Paxton and Marion have all managed to stand out in an era when characters very rarely got much character building beyond their introduction. Unfortunately, Rebecca is given none of the same care, and it is reflected in how little she is used. Despite appearing more often as the seasons continue, she gets fewer leads to the point where she has an equal number of leads to Toby in the final season.  

Emily and Rebecca are two sides of the same coin in terms of introduction, both first appearing in an episode rather than a movie and then becoming members of the main cast - the difference is that where Rebecca was shunted in and thus the writers were unsure how to use her, Emily’s careful character-building and integration into the series ensured she would always have fans, something that is reflected in her being given a proper conclusion to her character arc in Series 24, where she is given the number twelve and thus immortalised in the same way that Thomas through to Oliver were. 

Considering the above issues, it becomes quite clear that the potential best way to introduce Rebecca and have audiences become invested in her and her story is not to simply drop her into the series, but rather to build her up slowly, similarly to Emily - which was entirely possible and plausible. 

Part 3: What Could Have Been: 

If we assume that Mattel was fixated on Rebecca having her canon characterisation as well as the BWBA series, there is still an entirely plausible method that could naturally build her character into the main cast, though it is underpinned by the original intent of the showrunners to have her introduced in Series 21 and replace Edward: 

In Series 21, Rebecca is introduced and shown to be clumsy but kind. In keeping with the original episode, she messes up the express and gets in trouble, however she then redeems herself by rescuing Gordon when he breaks down with the express. She is shown to be clumsy but kind, and gets the lead in a couple of episodes, as well as several minor roles. Preferably, she stars in at least one episode with Thomas specifically. At the same time, audiences are introduced to Henry’s dilemma surrounding whether or not he should sleep at Tidmouth - be it cause of the Kipper, arguments with Gordon, or whatever. This both places Rebecca into audiences’ minds while simultaneously opening up the question of whether or not Henry will remain at Tidmouth. Edward leaves, but the shed remains open - this is filled by Nia. 

Continuing in this vein, in Series 22, Rebecca gets a couple more episodes than last season, specifically with both primary and notable secondary characters - I’m talking Duck, Oliver, Rosie, Daisy, Ryan - characters who are popular, relevant to the series and allows the series to cement her as a main addition to the cast. This is to cement her and give her plenty of characters to bounce off and develop relationships with. Meanwhile, Henry’s arc comes to a conclusion and Henry quits Tidmouth in the last episode of the season, leaving it open. This also allows the creators to build up Gordon’s reaction to Henry leaving, showing his struggle to adapt to Edward’s absence and his simmering disdain towards Nia for replacing Edward before the 23rd season. 

Finally, in Series 23, Rebecca takes the empty berth at Tidmouth, replacing Henry and kickstarting an episode - or preferably two, but this is Mattel, so it is likely to be one - where Rebecca is forced to withstand the brunt of Gordon’s anger as he boils over, being compared to Henry before proving herself. This plants her firmly as a main character, while also potentially giving her a strong reason to become close friends with Nia - who also had to deal with Gordon’s stubbornness. Henry is given a proper farewell arc as well, allowing him to gracefully retire to his secondary character status. 

By arranging Rebecca’s arrival over several seasons, she is given time to fall naturally into her position and role, developing slowly and making the connections with other characters needed to cement her position on the NWR before taking centre-stage. This would also help writers learn how to write her, creating a scenario where Rebecca has a real chance of taking off as a character and potentially even getting similar stories to Emily where she is the lead main character who is used to introduce new characters - like how Emily interacted with Whiff in the eleventh season. This would also help viewers to understand who Rebecca is and get comfortable with her presence in the show before being asked to accept her as a member of the Steam Team. 

However, I still feel like her characterisation is weak in comparison to other Steam Team members - as mentioned previously, her clumsiness has been done by several characters including Kevin and Percy, who is a fellow Steam Team member. Her “Cheerful and Happy” characterisation has been used by far too many characters to count - including Percy, Peter Sam, Derek, Stanley and more recently Ryan - and not even her bright yellow paintwork makes her unique in terms of the series, seeing as Molly and Flora both had similarly bright shades of yellow for paintwork back in the model series. Moreover, her leads place her in relatively generic situations where other characters likely would have produced far more interesting plotlines, such as Molly easily pulling trucks despite being built for expresses or James trying to prove he can still pull the express and getting into trouble. Based on this, a complete overhaul of Rebecca’s characterisation is needed. 

Part 4: How to Redevelop Rebecca as a Character: 

When designing a Thomas and Friends character, one of the first things required is a real-life basis - and Rebecca was given a very interesting and unique basis that had the potential to give her very interesting stories. Rebecca is a Bulleid Light Pacific, in particular an unrebuilt West Country Class.  These were strong, powerful mixed traffic Pacifics used by the Southern Railway from 1945 until 1967, giving them a lifetime of about 22 years. They were praised for their free steaming, excellent boilers, and had a number of notable innovations for British steam - including welded fireboxes and frames, as opposed to the traditional, riveted system. The class was also well-known for their availability, being able to pull trains on almost every line that the Southern Railway had. 

In contrast, the class was also very famous for their flaws. Remember, Rebecca is an unrebuilt West Country Class, which had many of the same problems and flaws as their larger Merchant Navy Class relatives. These issues would plague the three Bulleid Pacific classes to such an extent that many of them were rebuilt by British Railways in the 1950s into a more conventional design which utilised the strengths of the class while altering or replacing many of the issues that Bulleid built into the engines as he used them as a testing bed for some of his more modern ideas. In particular, the major problems with the West Country Class were: 

Adhesion problems: the lighter load on their driving axles meant that they were even more prone to wheelslip than the larger Merchant Navy class, requiring very careful control when starting a heavy train - there are several surviving videos of these engines struggling to start a train due to their wheelslip. 

High fuel consumption - these engines were hungry, and this was in many ways highlighted during the 1948 locomotive exchanges where the West Country Class burnt 13.5 kg/km as opposed to the 9.02 kg/km of the T9 class that they replaced - for reference, the West Country Class’ coal consumption is comparable to the Gresley A1 Pacifics prior to the exchange trials of 1925 - a number which was dropped to roughly 10 kg/km after they were modified into the A3 class. 

Restricted driver visibility due to the air-smoothed casing and soft steam exhaust from the multiple-jet blastpipe. The exhaust problem was never adequately resolved, and smoke continued to beat down onto the casing while moving, obscuring the driver's vision.

Maintenance problems: the chain-driven valve gear proved to be expensive to maintain and subject to rapid wear, which was particularly problematic during the Post War period, as British Rail focused on availability rather than high quality maintenance. 

Leaking: leaks from the oil bath onto the wheels caused oil to splash onto the boiler lagging. Once saturated with oil, the lagging attracted coal dust and ash, which provided combustible material, and sparks from heavy braking would set the lagging on fire underneath the air-smoothed casing. The fires were also attributed to oil overflowing from axlebox lubricators onto the wheels when stationary, to be flung upwards into the boiler lagging in service. In either case, the local fire brigade would be called to put the fire out, with cold water coming into contact with the hot boiler causing stress to the casings, meaning these un-rebuilt locomotives would have warped casings, the result of a lagging fire!

All of these strengths and flaws tell a notable story about the kind of engine Rebecca may have been in real life: an engine with extremely good power and speed, but with difficulty at slow speeds and design issues that could have dangerous and rather embarrassing unintended consequences. This is a brilliant basis for a character, and it really irks me how little of all of this characterisation gold that Mattel ended up using - while it is consistent with how they treat their newer characters, it is also a real shame. Especially considering that from all of this, it is really not hard to build a genuinely interesting character that wouldn’t feel too out of place in the Railway Series or Classic series. 

Firstly, based on the high coal consumption and severe maintenance and wheelslip issues, we can suggest that Rebecca is a bit clumsy and worries about how others perceive her. Her class was large enough for this to be less apparent back on the Southern, but perhaps she was one of the worst for it, so she was teased mercilessly - and so after having moved to Sodor, she fears how the other engines will treat her. To cover for these insecurities, Rebecca acts standoffish or gruff, wanting to keep the other engines at a distance so they can’t find out about her flaws and tease her for them - already very different from her original characterisation, but far more interesting as it makes her one of the few new NWR engines to actively try and push both steam and diesel engines away. Furthermore, her excellent steaming abilities and fast speeds in service could translate into Rebecca being somewhat reckless or a speed demon, wanting to use her strengths to both hide her weaknesses and as something she enjoys. Rebecca has an air-smoothed casing, and it may help her feel the wind better at speed, like Spencer with his streamlining. Quite simply, by using her basis as a starting-point for her personality, building up character-traits from strengths and flaws of the class, we can construct an interesting and different characterisation that draws people in, similarly to how the Reverend Awdry did with his eight famous engines. Better yet, it means that once the other characters crack open this more standoffish side to Rebecca, we can still see the kind and clumsy Rebecca from the TVS, but it feels more natural and rewarding to go through a journey to get there and if it’s directed only to her close friends, while also meaning that we the audience can still see her gruff side when dealing with unknowns or characters she dislikes. 

There is also the fact that by considering her class basis, show writers can find interesting stories or take other issues with Rebecca’s class to incorporate into her personality. For example, the low-visibility created by the air-smoothed casing could translate into eyesight problems for Rebecca that she tries to hide because she fears engines would tease her for them, potentially culminating in Rebecca passing a red signal and getting into a crash. Maybe she doesn’t like fire or hates the works because of bad memories, meaning Rebecca hides any mechanical faults until they cause her to break down on the main line. 

By building her character around her class basis, we can develop an alternative personality for Rebecca that naturally stands strongly around other engines - especially as there are very few other Southern Railway engines on Sodor who could see Rebecca’s gruff and cold attitude as the defence mechanism it is. It also gives Rebecca a strong connection to Henry, who acted practically the same when he first arrived on Sodor to hide his steaming problems, making him sympathetic to Rebecca and opening the two up to a long-term arc that ends with Henry having helped Rebecca grow into the happy, cheerful and clumsy engine from the series before leaving. Her recklessness could translate into a rivalry or competition with Gordon, who is far more responsible and meticulous with his express due to his experience and the pressure that has been put on him. 

However, this is not the only way to build a better characterisation for Rebecca, the other option being to make Rebecca into a foil for other main characters. 

Part 5: Rebecca as a Foil: 

The other way to build Rebecca’s character into something that flows naturally with the other, previously introduced Steam Team members with making her more unique and interesting is to build it around the concept of the foil character. A foil character is a character who contrasts with another character, typically contrasting with the protagonist - a strong example of foil characters are Edward and Gordon, or Thomas and Diesel 10. Rebecca could quite easily fall into the position of being a strong foil character to the three big engines, more specifically James and Gordon, who are without a solid foil character to be contrasted against since Edward’s departure. In BWBA, when Nia arrived, she was considered to be closer to Thomas and Percy than Gordon or James, leaving them without a natural opposite. Rebecca has all of the strengths and weaknesses to fill this role. 

For the first option, using the personality the series gives Rebecca, we get the following scenario: Rebecca arrives on Sodor and is both an express engine and a mixed-traffic engine. When she arrives, instead of fumbling her first Express badly, she succeeds, and James and Gordon become worried about their status and jealous of her high speeds. Remember, prior to the codification of the characters into one or two jobs by CGI, James was a common replacement for Gordon on the express, and having his role as secondary express engine threatened would be a major blow to his ego. Worse yet, Rebecca likes pulling trucks, and is thus both similar but also a complete narrative opposite to the pair. Other engines like her for her kindness and helpfulness, even if it does get her in trouble when she doesn’t get her own work done on time - which Gordon and James exploit to make rude remarks about her. 

Already, Rebecca is a natural foil for Gordon and James, being similar enough for viewers to compare one to the other while also being different enough that her positive traits are highlighted against their negative ones. 

Then, Gordon could discover her hidden clumsiness and wheelslip problems, exploiting them to cause her embarrassment - something that has previously happened to James and when Rebecca is reprimanded for the resulting incident, he remembers his own struggles with wheelslip. This makes him more sympathetic to both Rebecca and the audience, and places him on a path towards apologising to Rebecca for how he spoke to her - while Gordon enjoys having the express to himself again. This could follow naturally towards an endpoint where Gordon gets his comeuppance and Rebecca is accepted into the Steam Team, having been a natural foil to both and developed close character relationships based on how she is positioned in contrast to Gordon and James. The series then progresses to seeing Rebecca act in opposition to the pair, as well as trying to one-up them, being either the protagonist or antagonist depending on who the hero of the story is. 

The second option is to use the character made for Rebecca in the previous part - the one built out of her basis and its issues - to turn Rebecca into a strong foil to Gordon and Henry, as well as potentially to Diesel or Thomas. This would begin with Rebecca arriving and acting recklessly with the express, being a speed demon where  Gordon demands professionalism due to his experience. This startles CGI Henry, who is also not a fan of recklessness and places her at odds with them but also potentially makes her interesting to James, who is himself quite reckless. Furthermore, Rebecca’s standoffish behaviour and grandstanding alienates engines like Thomas or Percy, while being very similar to how Gordon, Henry and James acted during their younger years, forcing the three to be confronted with how they used to act, reminding them of their old selves (BWBA is so obsessed with flashbacks and dream sequences, so this would be a good opportunity for them to use classic series moments to help flesh out all three and Rebecca here). 

This could build into Henry recognising the traits he used to hide his insecurities before he was rebuilt, helping to shift how the audience sees Rebecca and giving Henry an arc where he helps Rebecca learn to trust other engines and accept friendships - though notably not Gordon and James, who she sees as being the most likely to make fun of her. This helps Henry gain his classic series confidence back, giving him a boost to stand up and tell the Fat Controller that he wants to move, as well as the confidence to push back against Gordon when the big engine gets angry about the change. The series then follows Rebecca as she argues with James and Gordon, with engines taking sides depending on the episode - including  Thomas potentially absolutely hating Rebecca due to his alliance and friendship with Gordon.

Finally, Rebecca’s actions and attitude could help spur Diesel into recognising some of these negative traits in himself, finally ending the character arc that was attempted with Springtime for Diesel. 

Both of these options really focus on taking these established characters and growing them using Rebecca’s characterisation and unique position as the new big engine at Tidmouth, while also building off of Rebecca’s character strengths to make her stand out as unique too. Remember, Rebecca is the same size and strength as Gordon - the series hasn’t seen a NWR engine of comparable size to Gordon since Hiro was introduced, and he was neither an express engine nor a candidate for the Steam Team, so he was never a credible threat to Gordon. And before Hiro, the last engine of that size was Murdoch right the way back in Series 7, who never made it beyond the model series era. Rebecca has a real potential to be this threat to Gordon, being the first engine of such size introduced in almost a decade - she can pull express trains as well as Gordon while showing up James and being mixed-traffic and versatile like Henry. This is what irks me - Rebecca had everything going for her before she debuted, and got none of it. 

What is even more painful is the fact that there are an infinite number of ways to further develop and build her character or other characterisations to give her that take inspiration from the source material while still being fresh and interesting - for example, what if Rebecca’s clumsiness came from her being a static exhibit, possibly one at a children’s theme park which would explain the bright colours. She could be so kind and cheerful as a way to handle the pain of watching her siblings be scrapped - something that she could bond with Oliver over. The point is that Rebecca had and still has potential but needs a lot more effort put into her than what she got in canon. 

Part 6: Characters to Pair off with Rebecca: 

This brings me to my final core part to this long, and slightly ridiculous dissertation: who to pair Rebecca up with to best build her character and insert her into this universe while feeling natural and potentially giving them some more screen time and character dynamics outside of their usual social circles. 

For this, I decided not to look at Gordon, Henry or James, seeing as they got a lot of consideration in the previous parts, where they were core components of building up Rebecca’s character while also naturally removing Henry from the Steam Team. The following ten characters are engines who I feel would be some of the most interesting to pair up with Rebecca earlier on in the series, to help her bed into the series and give a wide range of popular or interesting characters for viewers to connect her to: 

1: Rosie: Rosie is a USATC s100, a class that worked at Southampton when Rebecca would have been in service! These two potentially have history, and even if they don’t, Rosie would be one of the first engines to realise why Rebecca is acting so standoffish and breaks through to her, seeing as she would have known the class from her younger days. Maybe they become confidants once Rosie manages to break through Rebecca’s facade? Maybe Rebecca decides she prefers Vicarstown and we go back to the Classic-era ensemble cast? The opportunities here are great, and it has the potential to give Rosie some real backstory too! 

2: Salty: Salty also worked at Southampton when Rebecca would have been in service, his class having been introduced in 1962, giving up to five years’ worth of potential overlap. Though it’s less likely the pair would have crossed paths, Salty would still know a lot about the West Country Class. He could potentially even float the idea of her getting rebuilt like a number of her siblings, which would add some real-life facts to the series! It would also be interesting to see Rebecca avoid Salty because she doesn’t want to be exposed by him - remember, she was in service at the end of BR, and really wouldn’t trust diesels based on what they did. 

3: Thomas: Thomas’ class also worked at Southampton when Rebecca would have been in service! However, Thomas would not have personally been at Southampton which means the connection is a little looser. Instead, he could have heard about them from a sibling, or maybe Stepney? Imagine Thomas being really excited to meet this new engine who he’s heard all these positive things about and then it’s this standoffish, grumpy engine who Gordon says is dangerous at speed. It would make for such an interesting dynamic and we could see the cheeky and blunt Thomas from the early series again! 

4: Oliver: These two both made it through the darkest days of BR and survived, and both are also very proud of their achievements - these being Rebecca’s speed and Oliver’s bravery - which could make a scenario where the two hype each other up, much to their own detriment. It would also be interesting to see how Toad would fit into this, seeing as Rebecca is quite reckless and Toad would be opposed to such a thing - and could create a really interesting dynamic where Oliver is forced to pick which of the two he believes during an episode. I can see Oliver being someone Rebecca trusts due to their shared experiences, and it gives Oliver some spotlight. 

5: Emily: Emily was what Rebecca is - an express engine with wheelslip issues who is considered to be one of the best engines of their time. Emily is also an engine who has some issues with CGI-era characterisation and could really do with being revitalised, so why not work with it? Emily tries to be nice and kind with Rebecca, only to keep hitting brick walls and reverting to her old, bossy ways to try and force the new engine to do what Emily wants - bonus points if this is held as being the right thing to do in that situation! It could also play into her getting her number, maybe by rescuing Rebecca from an accident she got into? 

6: Sir Handel: Sir Handel is another engine who desperately needs their characterisation revitalised, and Rebecca is a great chance! Sir Handel considers himself an express engine, and meeting Rebecca puffs him up as she regales him with tales of her speed. This plays into Sir Handel’s cockiness and he gets himself into trouble - and then he decides to get payback in whatever way possible, and we see the reverse of the situation where Sir Handel’s stories get Rebecca all fired up and she gets her own comeuppance. This would not only reintroduce Sir Handel, but also could set the foundations for Duke to return, with references to the MSR. 

7: RWS Flying Scotsman: I specify RWS Scott because I want the kinder, more humble version we got in the RWS to the version we got in the CGI era. Seriously - this engine has just been saved from scrap and given a second chance and his first action is to antagonise his only living sibling? I want him trying to be a voice of reason to Rebecca, seeing as he is uniquely placed to know the consequences of wheelslip - something he also has; as well as recklessness - Scott was the first to officially hit 100mph, so he knows a thing or two! Even more, Rebecca might look up to Scott, based on his fame, though his stories may lead to her being more reckless! 

8: BoCo: Remember I mentioned that the West Country Class caught on fire? Imagine a story with that, with BoCo (a Class 28 infamous for catching fire) as Rebecca’s foil. It could begin with BoCo backfiring and Rebecca making fun of him for it due to her disdain for the diesels who replaced her class before she suffers a similar fate when her boiler lagging catches fire and it’s BoCo who has to help her get her train home. It would be a great way for Rebecca to learn that diesels aren’t all bad, as well as giving her someone new to be friends with - and it would reintroduce BoCo! This could also help draw Rebecca down the branch to meet Bill and Ben… 

9: Molly: Overtly shy Molly and secretly shy Rebecca who covers her shyness up with aggression would make for such an interesting dynamic! I can imagine Molly gathering up all of her courage to speak to Rebecca only to be shot down (unintentionally) and then never want to talk to Rebecca again, and it’s only when Rebecca realises that the bigger engine tries to hunt Molly down - possibly with hilarious consequences. This idea would really work well if you popped in Mavis, who would want to help Molly and stand up to Rebecca. It would also be interesting to reintroduce Molly, especially with Mattel wanting more gender equality. 

10: Mike: This would be a case of grumpy, standoffish Mike versus standoffish-to-hide-insecurities Rebecca! These two would be about as productive as a house on fire. Literally! These two would naturally bump heads in the worst way possible, and it would create incredible comedy and infinite story potential. This would be even better if you added some inferiority complex on Mike’s side, based on the fact he’s never seen an engine this big before - seeing as Rebecca is the only engine of this size able to visit Arlesburgh. They would rile each other right the way up the wall and it would probably never get any better. 

To conclude, Rebecca had real potential as a character - she had an iconic basis, good timing for her introduction and the role she was aiming to fill in many ways needed to be filled; Henry’s character assassination had made him hard to watch for a long time, and moving him out of the spotlight to give writers some time to rehabilitate him was long overdue. It’s just a real massive shame that they managed to fail so badly. By failing to properly plan and develop Rebecca, Mattel created a background character that they tried to have fill a major role that she simply was not able to fill. There were many better choices in the show to take Rebecca’s role, not least of all Molly - a yellow tender engine who was shy and a bit clumsy. By neglecting to properly integrate Rebecca into the series and then giving the show writers very little personality to work with, Mattel ensured that Rebecca would be a BWBA-exclusive character, an engine who never managed to gain half of the popularity of other characters who had comparable runtimes. Engines like Murdoch, Molly and BoCo have far better legacies than Rebecca, and it comes down to how they were treated by the series. All three were introduced with something that made them unique, be it through their interactions with other characters or through their own unique characterisation. Rebecca is a grim reminder to people developing characters for stories - especially characters being added later in the series to a cast of strong, notable and even iconic characters - that these late introductions need a lot of effort and carefully designed arcs to make them viable and allow them to become embedded into the series alongside those they share the screen with. 

Rebecca is one of those characters who is enough of a blank slate that it is easy for people to project onto her. In some cases, this is useful to a character’s legacy - Fergus, Molly, and even Smudger all have been remembered far more fondly by the fanbase than their limited appearances ought to warrant, however this is mostly because they were given a strong enough personality by the show that these projections had preexisting characterisations to connect to. Rebecca was given far too little, and in redesigning her character, I feel like I’ve gained a new understanding of just how far Mattel had pushed the show prior to its cancellation. By expanding the series to include new characters from around the world while also demanding episodes with new, untested characters back on Sodor, the writing team was rushed to complete episodes with a plethora of new faces that had no substance to back them up. There was no chance for these foreign engines to become anything meaningful while Mattel demanded enough new characters to fill an entirely different series, nor was there time for many of the characters back on Sodor to develop meaningfully while the writers scrambled to try and create far too many new characters from scratch. 

And it was the characterisations that suffered for it. 

Once again, this was not an attempt to convince people to like or dislike the version of Rebecca found in BWBA, but instead look into why Rebecca as a character failed to stand up against the other Steam Team members or even many of the more notable secondary faces found in the TVS at this point in the series. This can be boiled down to comparisons to her predecessor, a lack of effort from Mattel to give Rebecca a chance to develop and the decision to use cliched characteristics to create a version of Rebecca that never was going to capture many viewers’ imaginations. This was also an attempt to redevelop Rebecca into someone that can be used by the fandom to rehabilitate her image, or at the least to point out what went wrong and what could have been done to fix it. Maybe someday Rebecca will get the redevelopment she deserved, or perhaps she will be left to the annals of Thomas history, becoming just another footnote in the ever-expanding list of characters who couldn’t stand the test of time. 

Thank you for reading.

[modeus-the-misanthrope]

I hope (even though I am confident we won't) get the chance to see a redesigned & reworked Dionysus. Cause with how everything is going in the war against Chronos & Strife herself running wild, I feel his wine/party god aspects are gonna become secondary to his more....Cthonic traits.

People tend to forget he was a Cthonic god originally and was much more heavily associated with Insanity/Madness. And with the mortal world in absolute chaos, a much more insane and unhinged Dionysus would be awesome. Make him unnasociated with the current pantheon in a, "Yeah, we haven't seen Dionysus in a while...probably to depressed to party, so we have been letting him have his space." When in reality he is gone buckwild and is now another 3rd party actor like Eris. Attacking anyone and everyone he sees.

For added angst, how about the reason they even offer Melinoe boons is because he confuses her for Zagreus. And refuses to hear otherwise when she corrects him in dialogue.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

If you gave Chloe a redemption how would Zoe fit? Not Vespera just Zoe...

I discussed this in more detail here, here, and here, but canon Zoe has all the hallmarks of a Mary Sue. She shows up out of nowhere in the middle of the show and immediately becomes close to the main cast. She has no real flaws. Everyone loves her. She gets a romance arc with the main character. She's the only person other than Adrien to wield the black cat miraculous. You get the picture. She's the kind of character I expect to see as an OC in a fanfic, not an actual character in canon.

While I will defend the rights of Mary Sue's in a general sense, a Mary Sue has no place in Miraculous canon. It's the wrong type of story for an idealized self-insert that the audience can project themselves onto for many reasons, chief of them being that those types of characters only work as main characters. This makes it impossible for me to use Zoe as-is. I'd have to completely redesign her character so that she had depth and flaws and I have no interest in doing that.

It's not that I hate Zoe, it's that she has no reason to exist outside of being Chloe's perfect replacement. Take away that role and what is she even doing here? What purpose does she serve that you can't give to one of the twenty other teenage characters that canon already introduced!!! And that's not even counting the specials which introduced another three for some reason. Writers, what are you doing? Stop adding characters!!! You need depth, not breadth!!!

In theory, Zoe could be used as part of Chloe's redemption, but that would require them to have an actual bond. As best I can tell, in canon, Chloe and Zoe didn't meet until the start of season four. They're sisters in the biological sense, but that's about it. This once again makes it hard to see Zoe as value added.

If the Kwamis didn't exist and Zoe was Chloe's cool older sister, then she'd have some potential as Chloe's mentor, basically taking on the role I see Pollen in. She'd also have potential as a significantly younger sister who adores Chloe, making Chloe act nice because she wants to keep that adoration. But Zoe is none of those things. She's basically the same age as Chloe, Chloe doesn't care about her, and Adrien already fills the role of Chloe's same-age sibling who grew up in a different home, so why would she need another one?

Another theoretical path for Zoe would be to let Chloe redeem Zoe. We know that Zoe was a massive liar in the past. If she was introduced while still in that phase, then redeemed Chloe could show off her new skills by helping her sister. It would even give you a nice way to address how messed up their mother is.

As nice as that may sound, I still wouldn't go there unless Chloe was my main character. Zoe's redemption just eats up way too much screen time as you have to establish who she is, give her a relationship with Chloe, and so on. Not a quick little addition to the script and not worth the time when her only purpose is fleshing out Chloe. There's also the Sabrina issue. If Chloe is going to redeem someone, it feels silly to add a whole new character when you have an established character right there, ready and waiting. Writing wise, Sabrina feels way more like Chloe's sister than Zoe ever did so why add Zoe?

No matter what way you look at it, canon Zoe just isn't needed. There are no missing roles that she's ideally suited to fill. You'd have to totally redesign her to make her work and, at that point, you're not using Zoe, you're using an OC with the same name.

[gnomeonamelon]

Hello! Part 2 of my designs: Thalia Grace and Nico di Angelo!

In honor of reading (/listening to) The Demigod Files for the first time, I decided to do the other Little 3: Greek Edition) next! For the sake of reference, Thalia is 27 chronologically/ 17 physically and Nico is 19 (I'll explain).

The rules I set myself to for these redesigns were explained in Part 1 where I did The Trio.

Notes Below (and a poll please I need help):

Thalia:

The ears probably need the most explanation here: I like the idea that becoming a hunter changes you more than simply immortality. They are made up of humans (demigod and mortal) and nymphs, so I threw traits in the blender- the humans become more nymph like, and the nymphs become more human like (always including their bond to a specific place/ thing in nature being broken).

The only other thing of significance I did that wasn't just design flavor was change her hair color from black to brown. I just thought the color worked well with her complexion and differentiated her from the others more.

I keep bouncing around with who should get Aegis after she becomes a hunter (I'm almost positive she never uses it again after TTC)

Nico:

When I was working through the seven total children of the Big 3 and their ages, I realized that I wanted to make it conceivable that any of them could've been the child of prophecy (or seen that way) at some point. I was able to do this fairly easily for everyone else but had to get more creative for Nico. Currently, I'm working with the idea that Nico and Percy are the same age, they have the same birthday.

Once Nico is introduced and Bianca joins the hunters/dies, no one knows who's going to fulfill the prophecy. This adds more tension as he is seemingly evil, and no one knows where he is most of the time. This would probably make everyone but especially Annabeth really suspicious. It would go back and forth for a while before eventually turning out to be Percy.

Ok! On to the actual design: I wanted to go with something different for Nico's outfit as he has a couple early in the series. My personal favorite of these alternates is the black trench coat, so I went with that. Combined with the heeled boots, curved, almost cutlass looking kopis, and cross the body sash for the sheath, he looks very piratey to me with his more formal shirt and pants all being 1940s inspired.

He also has a lot of elements that I at least always forget about. He has a chain belt in BotL that I have never seen in fanart before, so I wanted to include it. I also wanted him to wear his (now skeleton themed) armor since the poor boy needs armor if he's going to go to Tartarus.

It's hard to see at a distance, but there is a key embedded in Nico's sword. Given that the Underworld is described with prison/ door motifs (ex: The Doors of Death), I like the idea that underworld gods have different keys.

When fighting Melinoe, Nico finds (steals) a key that allows him to summon ghosts without the ritual (its criminal that the Ghost King didn't come back in this story).

[mistressroxielove]

Hey everyone~ I got some more stuff for ya~

Long story short, I've discovered the new Fairly Oddparents reboot, absolutely loved it and was inspired to make this AU idea for the show! With a slight reimagine/redesign of the characters as well.

Here's some more info about my AU:

Fairly Odd Parents AU/Rewrite

Au Name: FairlyOdd Brother

Summary:

Perri (previously known as Poof) recently graduated from Fairy Godparents School and is eager to start granting Wishes for his very own godchild! Only problem is that with his lack of experience Jorgen is weary of giving him an assignment and keeps finding excuses/reasons to not give him a godkid. Realizing it might be a 1,000 years before they give him a chance to be a Fairy Godparent, Perri decides he needs to be a little bold and perhaps, bend Da Rules, to get his foot in the door so to speak. And his answer comes to him from a new neighbor in his human home, a family with a sweet shy 10 year old girl who is absolutely miserable. Perhaps Perri might be able to offer this girl a little comfort and fun as her new Fairy Godbrother!?

(Basically the same premise of the show, except Perri’s first godchild is Hazel, and through a technicality in the rule book, becomes her god brother instead of her godparent.)

ALSO please note this AU is more of a slight reimagine of the original show, meaning I did tweaked / changed some of the characters personality to match the new story I made for them. Nothing majorly different, but again just a heads up before you read on. Hope you like it~

Name: Devin “Dev” Dimmadome 

Age: 9/almost 10

Sex: Male

Physical Description: 

Is basically the same as in the show, though there are a few key differences. 

-Despite having slicked back hair he always has a single strand that no matter what always sticks out, he hates it and is always trying to move it back into place but to no avail. In reality without the hair product he has natural curly hair like his father, though his curls are a little more difficult to comb and manage than his father, something that he doesn’t like about himself

-Has freckles! But always wears makeup to cover them as according to Dale’s research are ’less desirable’ and would statistically do better with them covered up

-Also has heterochromia, one blue and one green eye, but always wears either a blue or green contacts to hide his ‘flaw’, again being told to do so by his father

- Though he is always required to wear a branded white hoodie, Dale actually lets him wear whatever shirt he wants underneath, just with the promise Dev never takes his sweater off in public. Dev usually wears all sorts of geeky and nerdy shirts, mostly love meridian and Crimson Chin related stuff, it's the closes thing he’s allowed to wear ‘freely’ without requiring his father’s approval. Again this ‘freedom’ is kinda pointless since he still has to wear the hoodie, but he still appreciates it.   

-As you can see in the photo above I showed what he looks typically on the left, and on the right is basically what Dev would dress like if he had no rules or restrictions.

Personality: 

It's basically exactly the same as in the show, I really like Dev both in a story sense and a comedic sense so nothing to really change. The only slight difference is that Dev in this version clearly gets a crush on Hazel in this version. I think the show is ‘hinting’ of them possibly being a couple later on, but in my version I wanted to make it a little more clear that he has a subconscious crush on her. Basically think Anya and Damion from Spy x Family if you want a good example. He likes her, but being a 10 year old boy with severe daddy issues has no idea how to handle this and ends up being kinda mean to his regret. 

Other fun facts:

-I won’t get into it now, but his relationship with his father is a bit different, as I have a unique take on Dale and who he is as a person. I’ll probably draw him next but for now just know Dale isn’t an evil heartless father and there’s more to him than it seems, and thus the relationship between Dale and Dev is a little more complex.

-And yes though it isn’t important yet, he does end up getting Cosmo and Wanda as his fairy godparents instead of Hazel as the AU would suggest.

- In this version Peri is also not a big fan of Dev. As he obviously doesn’t like how he’s mean to her at first, but as they become friends and Peri soon realizes that Dev has a crush on Hazel this leaves Peri horrified at the thought. And of course being a proper big brother is completely against and despises the idea of Dev and Hazel ever ending up together. He’s not too over the top about his dislike, but definitely would be sitting in to conor with his arms crossed, while trying to subtly tell Hazel she could do soooooooo much better than him.   

I hope you guys like this, I'm personally really happy with how this design turned out, especially his 'real Dev' design on the right. But I would love to hear your guys thoughts and opinions about my designs. Do you like them, hate them? Feel free to tell me below.

Also tomorrow I'll post a version of this photo with a transparent BG and maybe upclose shots of the design as well, just so you can see the design easier without the BG

Previous - Next

[ultravioletqueen]

Loyal to my words in this post i decided to work in nijah's redesign and there he is! My beautyfull prince😊

I want to explain the entire Yadmidas family dynamic, so this will be a long post.

Tamaae Yadmidas is the patriarch of the family. He belongs to the Scalding Sands royalty, and his family has worked as advisors to sultans for years, making them part of the elite in the lands of Scalding Sands.

Tamaae is a strict, proud, and highly superficial man, being a viper with people he considers beneath him and unworthy of his attention. He is incredibly cruel and unfair to people when he believes they have offended or disrespected him. One of his favorite punishments is placing seals on people using his unique magic to make them do what he says. He is very sadistic with his punishments (on one occasion, he made Azusa dance for three hours until she fainted, and on another occasion, he forced her to feed his most dangerous birds without any protection).

Tamaae is also quite hypocritical and two-faced, acting polite and hospitable to people she considers to be on his level (like the al-asim) and knows how to appear kind and trustworthy when there's an audience he needs to impress.

Tamaae, being the current leader of the family, has always been fixated on having a son to inherit his position and knowledge of magic, so he sought to have children with his first wife, Aasma, with whom he had his first daughter, named Aleayiq.

Aasma was Tamaae's first wife. Being a merfolk princess, she was sent to be his bride since they were teenagers. She left her home in the process, This caused her to lose some of her joy and become a serious and inexpressive woman(but not less kind and gentle). However, you can see that some of her former joy and vivacity are still there, but behind closed doors.

After the birth of her first daughter, Tamaae tried to have more children with Aasma. However, after an attempted poisoning of Aasma, she ended up losing her womb, making her unable to bear more children.

This caused Tamaae to look for another wife, which greatly broke Aasma's heart and made her realize that this man didn't care about her at all, but rather about her womb and her ability to bear children.

A year after Aleayiq's birth, Tamaae remarried, this time to a peasant woman who had caught his attention for her unique appearance. Arwa used to be an elementary school teacher who used to pass by the Yadmidas Palace on her way home from work. Her albinism had caught Tamaae's attention, and he began courting her until he married her.

At first, Aasma was extremely resentful toward Arwa, especially when she became pregnant with twins and had Tamaae's undivided attention for this very reason. Despite all the tension Arwa always was kind and sweet to Aasma and she always tried to befriend her.

However, she saw that Tamaae saw her no differently than she did with her when she found out Arwa was giving birth ALONE, unaccompanied and completely heartbroken. This made Aasma put aside her resentment and jealousy and helped Arwa give birth alongside the rest of her ladies-in-waiting (since, as Arwa was not a noblewoman, she didn't have any ladies-in-waiting of her own).

Unfortunately, one of the babies (a boy) didn't survive birth, but the other baby, a girl, Azusa, did.

The news that his potential male heir had died enraged Tamaae. He not only blamed Arwa for not being able to bear him a son, but also blamed little Azusa for having received the most nutrients in the womb (as you can see, this man blames everyone but himself). This caused Tamaae to harbor a great resentment toward Azusa and Arwa.

After Azusa's birth, Tamaae went looking for a wife again. During this time, Aasma and Arwa made peace, realizing that Tamaae was the problem, not them. Tamaae had turned Aasma against her because he liked the attention but didn't care about them. After this, the two began raising their daughters together so that, at least, they wouldn't be alone against their father.

Tamaae married for the last time a year after Azusa's birth. This time, he married Basma, the daughter of a very wealthy merchant who was willing to give her daughter's hand in exchange for a position in his court. Tamaae agreed.

Unlike Aasma or Arwa, Basma always displayed a defiant attitude and didn't hesitate to put Tamaae in his place if she thought he was being too rude to the other two wives. Even if she also craved Tamaae's attention, she didn't need to demean her co-wives to have it.

Basma seemed pedantic and proud but she also has a big heart and always knows what to say to make things better, this made her become friends with Arwa and Aasma almost instantly.

Basma, like Arwa, ended up giving birth alone, but with the company of her other two wives, Basma gave birth to a healthy baby boy she named Nijah.

The news of the birth of her precious son made Tamaae very happy. However, Basma was not happy with her husband's absence during such an important moment as the birth of their child. Tamaae ignored her completely and went straight to see his long-awaited son, leaving Basma perplexed and devastated while she was comforted by Arwa and Aasma

Nowadays, Aasma, Arwa, and Basma don't hide their dislike of Tamaae, but they know that if they try anything against him, the consequences will be worse for them, so they try to keep their distance and tell their children to do the same (Aleayiq and Azusa) or simply do whatever he says (Nijah).

Nijah remains his father's favorite son, seeing him as a reflection of himself (fucking narcissist), so he always stays close to him (much to Nijah's disdain) and tries to teach him how to be a model prince, giving him unsolicited advice and very one-sided talk about women that always makes Nijah uncomfortable (once a mama's boy, always a mama's boy).

Due to the very different treatment of each kid, the three developed their own issues and insecurities, which would later culminate in a triple overblot.

Aleayiq despite being the first princess grew up being ignored by her father, even when she tried to excel in magic, notes and so on, she was always in the background for her father, which made her quite resentful not only with her father but also with her younger brother, since she considers him a bootlicker who follows his father's whims without complaint, which makes Aleayiq consider it unfair that Nijah is the heir and she is not, being considered by everyone to be smarter, more prudent and more powerful compared to Nijah, but she was cast aside because of her gender.

I've already mentioned that Azusa is the one who suffers the most from her father's cruelty, despite her mother's attempts to protect her. She's basically the scapegoat daughter Tamaae always uses as a target for his frustration. This resulted in Azusa being a scaredy and insecure girl, always afraid of doing something wrong and being punished for every mistake she makes , even if it's just a small one. Azusa grew up fearful of seeing her father's worst side.

Nijah is the Golden Child, but that doesn't mean Tamaae doesn't have his way to practically exploit him to be a better version of himself when he was young. he's demanding and controlling of his son's social life, to the point where he chose which school he would attend (Nijah wanted to go to Night Raven College, but his father enrolled him in Royal Sword Academy, considering him more worthy of his family).

Several aspects of Nijah's social life weren't chosen by him, but by his father. Kalim and the servants' children are the only members of his social life he chose himself without outside intervention.

Aleayiq and Azusa have a strong sisterly bond despite being so different; they both grew up close and tend to share many things.

Aleayiq managed to convince her father to let Azusa study with her at Rosas Academy, using the excuse that the academy wouldn't be able to bring in servants and that he would need Azusa to run errands (fake idgaf-ker), so her father agreed. It was thanks to her that Azusa managed to get into school when her father preferred her to stay home and learn how to be a good wife.

Aleayiq is also very protective of Azusa, being judgmental of the people she associates with, especially Jamil the few times they interact. The animosity between them is very clear (she threatened him that if he uses his unique magic on Azusa, she would find out and that she would make his life eternally miserable). Even if her methods are questionable, you can see that she truly doesn't want Azusa to get hurt or to feel bad.

Azusa is also very supportive of Aleayiq, especially on days when she's feeling frustrated with herself. She usually goes to Azusa's room to relax and let her sing her a song to make her feel better (it works 99% of the time).

Azusa also doesn't let anyone talk bad about Aleayiq. She knows that while her sister has some unpleasant traits (she's bossy, arrogant, and vain), she knows she's not a bad person at heart.

Nijah has a complicated relationship with his sisters these days, he wants to be there for them but they don't want to get involved with their father so they don't want to get involved with him, they used to be closer as kids when they didn't have to worry about favoritism but as they grew older and saw that the situation wasn't in their favor they distanced themselves from Nijah, since their father spent so much time with him that they assume being around Nijah would be equivalent to being around that horrible man they call father.

Nijah's relationship with his sisters improves after the overblots, as they are able to open up to each other and let it all out, realizing that they all just needed to come together instead of drifting apart.

Now, I'll share some extra information:

Tamaae's hobby is collecting birds, especially exotic ones.

Aasma often changes into her merfolk form when she needs some time alone and goes swimming at the beach. It's like her purification ritual, along with reading (especially about mythology and geology).

Arwa educated Azusa alone until she was past preschool (remember, she used to be a teacher). She also taught Azusa how to do simple embroidery and play instruments like the flute. She likes to play the flute while Azusa sings or draws.

Basma is the only one of the wives who knows how to use a weapon (she knows how to use a saber and bows and arrows), and she has taught Aasma and Arwa how to use them with her children. Basma also has a hobby of horseback riding and often spends time with Nijah, racing together.

Aleayiq loves reading about ancient magic (and romance novels, but she'll never admit it), and she's looking for a way to undo Azusa's seal. Since her mother, Basma, and Arwa never had much magical power (and I don't know if they had it in the first place), Aleayiq sees it as her duty to break Azusa's seal.

Azusa and Jamil have thought about eloping together on more than one occasion, but both agree that it's too risky and dangerous to even attempt.

Nijah learned to dance and perform acrobatics by sneaking out of the palace and visiting the entertainment/festival areas several times, even dressing as a commoner to avoid being recognized. It's likely that he met Kalim on one of these escapades and they became friends after being formally introduced by Basma and Kalim's mother. Upon recognizing him, Kalim yelled at him and called him "festival boy," and Nijah had to explain himself to his mother a lot (she punished him after Kalim and his mother left).

Aleayiq's unique magic is the ability to control water at will. She can control its density (turning it into ice), its temperature (turning it into steam), and can draw it from plants and even the air. It's like avatar waterbending. She also possesses the ability to take merfolk form.

Arwa can transform into several white doves and can communicate with birds.

Aasma can make aquatic animals obey her (like Aquaman, lol).

Basma can generate small fireworks in her hands, and she can also make larger ones if she has enough energy.

@donanimee

(Español)

Fiel a mis palabras en este post he decidido trabajar en el rediseño de nijah ¡y aquí esta! Mi hermoso príncipe😊

Quiero explicar toda la dinámica familiar de los yadmidas, así que esté será un post largo.

Tamaae yadmidas es el patriarca de la familia, pertenece a la realeza de scalding sands y su familia ha trabajado como consejeros de sultanes por años, por lo que son parte de la élite en las tierras de scalding sands.

Tamaae es un hombre estricto, orgulloso y altamente superficial, siendo una víbora con la gente que considera esta por debajo de el y que no merece su atención, es increíblemente cruel e injusto con la gente cuando considera que le han ofendido o faltado el respeto, siendo uno de sus castigos favoritos es poner sellos en la gente usando su magia única para que Estos hagan lo que diga, es muy sádico con sus castigos(en una ocasión hizo bailar a azusa por 3 HORAS hasta que ella se desmayo y en otra ocasión la obligó a alimentar a sus aves más peligrosas sin protección alguna).

Tamaae también es bastante hipócrita y doble cara, actuando de forma educada y hospitalaria con gente que considera de su nivel(como los al-asim) y sabe como aparentar ser alguien amable y confiable cuando hay público que debe impresionar.

Tamaae siendo el actual líder de la familia siempre tuvo una fijación con tener un hijo a quien heredar su puesto y conocimientos en magia, por lo que busco tener hijos con su primera esposa Aasma, con quien tuvo a su primera hija llamada Aleayiq.

Aasma fue la primera esposa de tamaae, siendo una princesa parte del merfolk que fue mandada a ser su esposa desde que eran adolescentes, dejando su hogar en el proceso, esto provocó que perdiera parte de su alegría y se volviera una mujer seria y poco expresiva, pero puedes ver que parte de su antigua alegría y vivacidad sigue ahí pero a puertas cerradas.

Tras el nacimiento de su primera hija tamaae intento tener más hijos con Aasma, sin embargo tras un intento de envenenamiento hacia Aasma ella termino perdiendo su útero por lo que ella no podía tener más hijos.

Esto hizo que tamaae buscará otra esposa, lo que rompió enormemente el corazón de Aasma y la hizo darse cuenta de que esté hombre no le importaba ella en absoluto sino que le importaba su útero y su capacidad de tener hijos.

Tras un año después del nacimiento de Aleayiq Tamaae se caso de nuevo, esta vez con una campesina que había llamado su atención por su apariencia única, arwa solía ser una maestra de primaria que solía pasar cerca del palacio yadmidas cuando volvía a casa después de trabajar, su albinismo había llamado la atención de tamaae y la empezó a cortejar hasta que se caso con ella.

En un inicio Aasma estaba super resentida con arwa, sobretodo cuando se embarazo de gemelos y tenía toda la atención de Tamaae por esto mismo. Sin embargo pese a toda la tensión Arwa siempre fue amable y dulce con Aasma, incluso ella trató de hacerse su amiga.

Sin embargo Aasma vio que Tamaae no veía diferente a Arwa a como veía a ella cuando se entero que estaba dando a luz SOLA ,sin compañía y completamente desconsolada, esto hizo que Aasma dejase de lado su resentimiento y celos y ayudase a arwa a dar a luz junto al resto de sus damas de compañía(ya que al no ser noble arwa no tenia damas de compañía propias).

Lastimosamente uno de los bebes(un varon) no sobrevivio el parto, pero si sobrevivio la otra bebé, una niña, azusa.

La noticia de que su posible heredero varón murio enfureció a Tamaae, no solo culpo a Arwa por no ser capaz de darle un hijo sino que también culpo a la pequeña Azusa por haber sido ella quien recibió la mayor cantidad de nutrientes en el vientre(como puedes ver este hombre culpa a todos menos a sí mismo), esto hizo que Tamaae mantuviera un gran resentimiento a Azusa y a Arwa.

Tras el nacimiento de Azusa Tamaae volvió a buscar esposa, durante este tiempo Aasma y Arwa hicieron las paces ya que se dieron cuenta que el problema era Tamaae y no ellas, que Tamaae las había puesto una en contra de la otra porque le gustaba la atención pero no le importaban ellas, tras esto ambas empezaron a criar a sus hijas juntas para que aunque sea no estén solas en contra se su padre.

Tamaae se caso por última vez tras un año después del nacimiento de azusa, esta vez se caso con Basma, una hija de un comerciante muy rico que estaba dispuesto a darle la mano de su hija a cambio de algún puesto en su corte, por lo que Tamaae accedió.

Basma a diferencia de Aasma o Arwa siempre mostró una actitud desafiante y que no dudaba en poner en su lugar a Tamaae si pensaba que estaba siendo demasiado grosero con las otras dos esposas, incluso si también anhelaba la atencion de Tamaae ella no necesitaba rebajar a sus co-esposas para tenerla.

Basma parecía pedante y orgullosa pero también tiene un gran corazón y siempre sabe que decir para mejorar las cosas, esto hizo que se hiciera amiga de Arwa y Aasma casi al instante.

Basma al igual que Arwa terminó dando a luz sola, pero con la compañía de las otras dos esposas con ella, Basma terminó dando a luz a un niño sano al que llamó nijah.

La noticia de que había nacido su preciado hijo varon hizo a Tamaae muy feliz, sin embargo Basma no estaba contenta con la ausencia de su marido durante un momento tan importante como era el nacimiento de su hijo, pero Tamaae la ignoro de forma olímpica y fue directo a ver a su tan ansiado hijo, dejando a Basma perpleja y desolada mientras era consolada por Arwa y Aasma.

En la actualidad Aasma, Arwa y Basma no ocultan su desagrado hacia Tamaae, pero saben que si intentan algo contra el las consecuencias serán peores para ellas, por lo que tratan de mantener su distancia y le dicen a sus hijos de hacer lo mismo(Aleayiq y Azusa) o simplemente hacer lo que esté diga(Nijah).

Nijah sigue siendo el hijo favorito de su padre, ya que lo ve como un reflejo de sí mismo(puto narcisista) por lo que siempre está cerca de él(muy al pesar de Nijah) y trata de enseñarle como ser un príncipe modelo, dándole consejos no solicitados y charlas muy unilaterales sobre mujeres que siempre ponen incómodo a Nijah(una vez un nene de mamá siempre un nene de mamá).

Debido al tratamiento tan distinto entre cada hijo los 3 desarrollaron sus propios problemas e inseguridades que más tarde terminarían en un overblot triple.

Aleayiq pese a ser la primera princesa creció siendo ignorada por su padre, aún cuando intento destacar en magia, notas y demás ella siempre estuvo en segundo plano para su padre, lo que la volvió alguien bastante resentida no sólo con su padre sino también con su hermano menor, ya que lo considera un lamebotas que sigue los caprichos de su padre sin chistar, lo que hace que Aleayiq considere injusto el hecho de que Nijah sea el heredero y ella no, siendo considerada por todos más inteligente, prudente y poderosa en comparación a Nijah, pero ella fue echada a un lado por su género.

Ya conté que azusa es quien más sufre de la crueldad de su padre pese a los intentos de su madre de protegerla, ella es básicamente la hija scapegoat que Tamaae siempre usa como blanco de su frustración, lo que terminó en Azusa siendo una chica tímida e insegura que siempre tiene miedo de hacer algo mal y que la castiguen por algo incluso si es pequeño, Azusa crecio con miedo al ver la peor cara de su padre.

Nijah es el golden Child pero eso no quita de que Tamaae prácticamente lo explota para ser una mejor versión de el cuando era joven, siendo demandante y controlador con la vida social de su hijo al punto que eligió por el a que escuela asistiría(Nijah quería ir a Night Raven College pero su padre lo inscribió a Royal Sword Academy al considerarlo más digno de su familia).

Varios aspectos de la vida social de nijah no fueron elegidos por el sino por su padre, siendo Kalim y los hijos de los sirvientes los únicos miembros de su vida social que escogió por sí mismo sin intervención externa.

Aleayiq y Azusa tienen un fuerte vínculo de hermanas pese a ser tan diferentes, ambas crecieron muy juntas y suelen compartir muchas cosas.

Aleayiq logró convencer a su padre de que dejara que Azusa estudiara con ella en la Academia Rosas, usando la excusa de que en la academia no podría traer sirvientes y que necesitaria a Azusa para hacer mandados(fake idgaf-ker) por lo que su padre accedió, fue gracias a ella que Azusa logró entrar a la escuela cuando su padre prefería que se quedase en casa a aprender a ser una buena esposa.

Aleayiq también es muy protectora con Azusa, siendo juzgona con la gente con la que se relaciona, especialmente con Jamil las pocas veces que interactuan y es muy clara la animosidad entre ellos(ella lo amenazó con que si usa su magia única en Azusa ella lo sabrá y que hará su vida un sufrimiento eterno), incluso si sus métodos son cuestionables pueden ver que ella realmente no quiere que Azusa salga herida o que la hagan sentir mal.

Azusa también apoya bastante a Aleayiq, especialmente en días en los que ella se siente frustrada consigo misma, normalmente llendo al cuarto de Azusa para relajarse y dejar que ella le cante una canción para hacerle sentir mejor(funciona el 99% del tiempo).

Azusa también no deja que alguien hable mal de Aleayiq, ella sabe que si bien su hermana tiene algunas características desagradables(es mandona, arrogante y vanidosa) pero ella sabe que no es una mala persona de corazón.

Nijah tiene una relación complicada con sus hermanas en la actualidad, el quiere estar ahí para ellas pero ellas no quieren involucrarse con su padre, por lo que no se quieren involucrar con el, solían ser más cercanos de niños cuando no tenían que preocuparse por favoritismo pero cuando maduraron y vieron que la situación no estaba a su favor se distanciaron de Nijah, ya que su padre pasaba tanto tiempo con el que ellas asumen que estar cerca de Nijah equivaldría a estar cerca de ese hombre tan horrible que llaman padre.

Nijah mejora su relación con sus hermanas tras los overblots, ya que logran sincerarse uno con los otros y dejan salir todo, viendo que todos simplemente necesitaban unirse en vez de separarse.

Ahora diré algunos datos extra:

El hobbie de Tamaae es la colección de aves, especialmente aves exóticas.

Aasma suele cambiar a su forma merfolk cuando necesita estar un rato sola y se va a nadar a la playa, es como su ritual de purificación junto a leer(especialmente cosas relacionadas con mitología y geología).

Arwa educó sola a Azusa hasta que ya paso su etapa de preescolar(recordemos que ella solía ser maestra), también enseñó a Azusa a hacer bordados simples y a tocar instrumentos como la flauta, le gusta tocar la flauta mientras Azusa canta o dibuja algo.

Basma es la única de las esposas que sabe usar un arma(sabe usar un sable y arcos y flechas) y le ha enseñado a Aasma y arwa como usarlos junto a sus hijos. Basma también tiene el pasatiempo de montar a caballo y suele pasar tiempo con Nijah haciendo carreras entre ellos.

Aleayiq disfruta mucho de leer sobre magia antigua(y novelas de romance pero ella nunca lo admitira) y ella busca una forma de deshacer el sello de Azusa ya que su madre, Basma y Arwa nunca tuvieron mucho poder mágico(y la verdad no se si lo tienen en primer lugar) por lo que Aleayiq ve como su deber romper el sello de Azusa.

Azusa y jamil han pensado en más de una ocasión fugarse juntos, pero ambos están de acuerdo con que es una idea muy arriesgada y peligrosa para siquiera intentar.

Nijah aprendió a bailar y hacer acrobacias al fugarse varias veces del palacio yadmidas y ver las zonas de entretenimiento/festivales, llegando a vestirse como plebeyo para no destacar mucho y evitar ser reconocido,es probable que haya conocido a Kalim en una de estas escapadas y se hicieron amigos tras introducirse formalmente por Basma y la madre de Kalim.

Kalim al reconocerlo grito llamándole "niño del festival" y Nijah tuvo que hacerle muchas explicaciones a su madre(lo castigo después de que Kalim y su madre se fueran)😅

La magia única de Aleayiq es la capacidad de controlar el agua a su antojo, puede controlar su densidad(convertirla en hielo), su temperatura(convertirla en vapor) y puede sacarla de plantas e incluso del aire, es como el agua control de avatar. Ella también posee la capacidad de tomar una forma merfolk.

arwa puede transformarse en varias palomas blancas y puede comunicarse con las aves.

Aasma puede hacer que los animales acuaticos la obedeczan(como aquaman lol).

Basma puede generar pequeños fuegos artificiales en sus manos, tambien puede hacer fuegos artificiales mas grandes si tiene suficiente energia.

[4rainynite]

Monster Prom Rooms

Hi, after getting into Monster Prom fandom I've come up with a bunch of crazy headcanons and interior design is one of them.

First will be our main characters Vicky, Brian, Amira, and Oz.

Headcanon: The four are roommates and live near Spooky High/ Academy in a rental. Vicky, Oz, and Amira have normal bedrooms while Brian made the basement is room.

Vicky

I picture Vicky's room being bright, clean, and studious.

The main colors are blue, black, and white.

With how academic Vicky is I wanted her room to have a great study space and look like a science lab (probably has one in her room). Vicky's room would be on the first floor (might even be the main room) with a skylight to use during thunderstorms to get some extra electric juice.

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Brian

I picture Brian's room being messy, laid-back, and relaxing.

The main colors are green, black, and brown.

With how chill Brian is I pictured his room would be messy and filled with secondhand furniture (As pictured in the first three images). I imagine Brian's bedroom would be in the basement so he could have some space.

For the last two images I can see Oz, Amira, Vicky, Nico, and Vera redesigning his room to look more fashionable.

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Amira

I picture Amira's room being bold, maximalist, and cool.

The main colors are red, black, and gold.

With how daring Amira is I wanted her room to reflect her awesome personality. Amira's room would be vibrant with a bad girl/boho feel to it. Her room would be the room everyone wants but can't afford it XD !

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Oz

I picture Oz's room being eclectic, calming, and comfy.

The main colors are yellow, black, and grey.

With Oz being one the oldest beings in existence his room has items from different cultures and from the past that have sentimental value to him. Being a creature mad of fear and full of anxiety I wanted Oz's room to be a place where he retreats when things become too much and a place where he can relax in.

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Gonna end it here; I plan to do the other characters later!

[felixcloud6288]

Dungeon Meshi Chapter 69

I would not want to play DnD with Thistle as a DM.

The chapter opens with Laios explaining WHY they have to defeat Thistle and let Laios become the new Dungeon Lord. Realistically, they have no reason to have to fight Thistle.

The party wants to restore Falin back to normal and the plan was to kill Falin, eat the dragon parts, and then resurrect the human part. Nothing about that requires fighting Thistle.

But now that Falin is dead, they've realized they're dealing with a logistical nightmare since it's impossible to transfer Falin's body to somewhere other people would be.

For a moment, I was thinking that maybe they could forgo having people eat the carcass and instead try cutting Falin out of the dragon and let other monsters eat the dragon half. But the last carnivore monster I remember seeing was the direwolves on the sixth floor and even that distance would be impossible to achieve in a timely manner.

I'm assuming the top level in this diagram refers to the town's underground tomb. If that's the case, then the entire dungeon had eight floors and Thistle's house was a separate floor from the Dwarf city ruins floor.

Thistle's dungeon altering powers includes his house. The first room when you enter his house used to be a hallway of mirrors. Now it's the kitchen.

And Thistle is being very deliberate about making their final battle be in a kitchen. He doesn't like how the party has been turning the monsters into dishes, so he's going to do the same to them.

Leave it to Senshi to be more concerned that Thistle is standing on the dining table.

More of the demon eye stuff when Thistle's at his worst. I do wonder how he'd act if he were fully himself. Thistle would probably like the party if not for the lion's influence on him. They're not raiders, they don't engage in wanton destruction, they got along great with the Kingdom residents, and Senshi insists they not take more than is needed.

Thistle might still have issue with the sorbet incident though.

Marcille did cast some sort of barrier ward to keep that stone from crushing them but it wasn't high enough to keep the stone from hitting Laios's head. Senshi seemed to catch on to what was about to happen since he pulled Izutsumi down.

Also, the bricks under where the party are standing are different and slightly lower than the rest of the flooring. This giant crusher trap wasn't a spur of the moment. Thistle redesigned the room specifically to crush the party when they walked in.

Marcille's half-elf status is revealed to the party and she looks embarrassed more than anything.

She always gets flustered when she gets racially profiled for her elven heritage. I bet if she were given the chance to become a full-breed, Marcille would choose to be a Tallman. Her fears of outliving everyone is caused by her elf heritage and she hates how pompous elves tend to act. So yeah, she gets embarrassed whenever someone says she's acting like a stereotypical elf.

The rest of the party does not like Laios's contribution to Marcille's argument.

Speaking of crossbreeds, I know of two additional crossbreed species. There are ligers (cross between male lions and female tigers) and tiger trout (cross between brown and brook trout). I did a quick search for some details on them in the hopes I could make some assumptions about the genetic relation between some of the human races. One interesting thing I found was mules and ligers are both one of two different hybrids determined by the species of each parent. Mules are the offspring of a male donkey and female horse. If the species are reversed, you get a hinny. And if you reverse the species of a liger's parents, you get a tigon.

Mules and ligers are both crossbreeds of species in the same genus. I found that horses and donkeys have different chromosomes but lions and tigers have the same number. Mules are sterile with exceedingly rare exceptions, meanwhile female ligers and tigons are able to reproduce and there are documented cases of them successfully having offspring with male lions (the hybrids are called liligers and litigons). I didn't find anything about whether those offspring survive to adulthood though.

Tiger Trout are cross-genus hybrids. They are entirely sterile and are rare even if the parent species are together. Brown and Brook trout have different chromosome counts. Tiger trouts are noteworthy for looking nothing like either parent and being more muscular than either parent.

So if I were to guess, I'd assume elves and Tallmen and all the human races are the same genus but different species, and elves and tallmen have different chromosome counts. Next question I would ask is whether a half-elf from a tallman mother and elf father has different traits and behaviours than a half-elf with an elf mother and tallman father.

Thistle said that half-elf growth rates are unstable. That would explain why Marcille grew roughly the same rate that Falin did in the academy. And since Marcille has always been so dodgy about her age, I guess she's actually far younger than her appearance implies. She looked like a child when she was a half-foot because she is child-age in elf terms.

Thistle bit his finger to the point it drew blood. Every panel before the fight where that finger is visible still has the blood on it.

Look at Senshi's face.

I just noticed something about Thistle. He appears to be ambidextrous, but he shows heavy preference for one hand depending on the situation. In the flashback last chapter, he was mostly right-handed; there were several images of him drawing, holding utensils, casting spells, and pointing with his right hand.

But during the fight in chapter 29 and this fight, he instead preferred to use his left hand. The shot of him appearing behind Yaad in chapter 47 also focused on his left hand. In chapter 66, Thistle was using his right hand for most everything EXCEPT when he grabbed those berries from Falin with his left hand. And he also started pointing with his left hand after ripping Eodio's soul out of his body.

And there are two shots of the lion licking Thistle and the lion licked Thistle's left hand both times.

Thistle's eyes change when he is acting like the person the lion turned him into, but he also seems to switch hand dominance depending on if his current behaviour is driven by his real self or the personality that the lion shaped him into.

Oh they are so screwed.

That dragon seems fascinated at Senshi's strength.

Not only would I not want Thistle to DM my DnD campaign, I also wouldn't want him to cook me anything. Those dishes look disgusting.

Ryoko Kui's commitment to the bit is both funny and grim. But this isn't as dark as the Falin and Warg skeletons because we're not given the nutrient content of these dishes. Since everything used was fed a well-balanced diet, the dishes are probably nutritious, but I don't think the cooking methods are ideal.

That Senshi casserole looks burned, the Chilchuck ruibe was frozen way too quickly and isn't being served properly, the saltwater-pickled Izutsumi is just going to taste like brine water, and the method used to prepare the nerve-clipped Marcille likely contaminated the food and made it unsafe to eat.

We've had plenty of instances of Laios's monster knowledge getting the party out of a bind, but this time we saw how the lack of knowledge made the situation worse. Laios shouted that Marcille and Senshi's methods for dealing with and escaping the dragons chasing them just made things worse.

Laios really lucked out here. It would have been ironic if he had been saved by the red dragon.

There's a nightmare stuck to Laios's forehead at the end of the chapter.

SENSHI FLASH!!

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