#color coded of course because what are we? animals?

[mushed-kid]

voltron as textposts etc. 20

(i’m finally free from the thought that i need to have 10pictures for each post! so relieving because it’s hard)

[fagdykevash]

the sibling dynamics in voltron are so top tier they make me fucking unwell. like shiro and keith teasing and being honest each other + pidge and matt complimenting and bouncing off each other like ughhh it's so good

[rarilight]

Tamagotchi - Ficlet ft. Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy

PROMPT: Fluttershy asks Twilight to bring back her Tamagotchi pet after it accidentally dies

-----

When Fluttershy barged into Golden Oaks, reduced to tears, Twilight Sparkle feared the worst. Somepony had upset her sensitive friend, or a book she'd lent her had been accidentally too sad, or worse, one of Fluttershy's animals had died.

Which they had. Sort of. Kind of.

"Please, Twilight," Fluttershy sniffed, dabbing at her puffy eyes with a tissue. "Please, t-there must be something you can do! I've only had Sorbet for a week, and I promise I've taken good care of him, and--"

Twilight pursed her lips, hesitantly looking over the small purple electronic Tamagotchi. "One minute, let me see what I can do." She turned away from Fluttershy, fiddling with it for a moment before determining that, unfortunately, the battery was likely faulty.

"Well?" Fluttershy pressed. "Did you find out what's wrong?"

"I... I think so, yes," Twilight replied, still looking over the device. "The battery is shot. It's an easy fix, and I even have spares to give you, but... Well. The internal memory of these things usually rely on the battery, so--" She turned around to look at Fluttershy, her sentence petering out at the hopeful expression on her friend's face.

"So?" Fluttershy asked, her ears alert. "So you can bring Sorbet back?!"

Twilight smiled. Awkwardly.

"Ha ha. Well. Er."

Fluttershy's ears fell. Tears bordered her eyes anew. "....Twilight?"

"Yes!" Twilight lied, because she couldn't bring herself to tell Fluttershy that Sorbet was gone.”He’ll be there, just like always!”

“Really?!” Fluttershy gasped.

“Yes! Yep. Yes.” Twilight immediately levitated the Tamagotchi over to a bookcase. “Though, I, uh, need to keep him overnight just to make sure he’ll be okay. Alright?” At Fluttershy’s effusive nodding, Twilight apparated a notebook and pen. “And, uh, why don’t you, er, write down all the information you remember about him? Just so I can make sure the coding didn’t change.”

“Of course!” Fluttershy grabbed the notebook and immediately got to work. “Oh, thank you, Twilight!”

----

It was about three in the morning when Twilight Sparkle finally decided it was time to pass the torch. With bleary, tired eyes, she blinked at the details Fluttershy’d written, and then looked at the creature she’d been painstakingly grinding for hours. It had taken her about sixty-eight reboots to get a creature with the same shape, color, nature, gender, and preferences as the original Sorbet, and she’d only just gotten to the halfway point of matching its experience levels to the original’s. 

Thank Celestia for the book she’d read on using magic to hack devices. There was no other way she’d been able to bypass the time-locked events otherwise. 

To the sound of a big yawn, she walked towards the bed, tiredly rubbing the snoring blanketed lump on the couch. 

“Rarity, it’s your turn.”

“Sssssnore.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Rarity.”

“SSSSSNOOOOORE.”

“Come on! Up! Why did you send Fluttershy to get my help if you don’t like my solution?” Twilight chided, far too tired for shenanigans. “And stop that, we both know you don’t snore!”

“SSSSNOOOO—” The blanket came off, and a weary Rarity glared at her friend. “Fine, fine!” She magically snatched the Tamagotchi and frowned at it. “This is ridiculous, Twilight! It’s just a game! Sorbet isn’t even real!”

Twilight arched an eyebrow. “Oh? Do you want to tell Fluttershy that?”

Rarity looked away. “...No.”

“That’s what I thought. So, go!” She collapsed onto the couch and covered herself with blanket. “Level twenty-three. Six gifts pending. The complete sunflower outfit.”

“But the minigame is so difficult, and we already have the hat! Isn’t that enou—”

“Complete. Sunflower. Outfit.”

“But—!”

“SNOOOOORE!!!!”

----

“Oh, Twilight!” Fluttershy exclaimed the very next day, her eyes now filled with happy tears as she pressed button on her little device. “He’s fine! I’m so relieved!” She brought the device to her face and nuzzled it. “Oh, Sorbet, I’m so happy!”

“And everything is as you remember?” Twilight asked, the bags under her eyes matching the ones of Rarity, who was napping on the couch. “Not that it would be different, obviously! Because it’s the same Sorbet as always.”

“He’s just like always,” Fluttershy reassured her, allowing Twilight to finally relax. Or, well, until Fluttershy frowned, peering at her electronic friend. “Oh, that’s strange.”

“Strange?” Twilight asked, alert. “What is?”

Fluttershy blinked. “Oh. It’s just… His favorite fruit was oranges, but now it’s apples?”

“He changed his mind,” Rarity said, immediately, without even missing a beat or even turning around on the couch to look. 

Fluttershy looked at her friends, surprised. “He changed his min—?”

“Yep!” Twilight interrupted. “Yep. They do that. Yep.”

“But he really loved orang—”

“Darling!” Rarity continued. “Considering your crush on dear Applejack, it’s only natural he’d switch to apples, yes? Yes,” she interrupted, poor Fluttershy’s cheeks turning thirty different shades of red. “Problem solv—”

Twilight blinked at Fluttershy. “You have a crush on Applejack?”

“Rarity!” a flustered Fluttershy gasped in return.

“SSSSSNOOOOOOOORE….”

[lavernius]

Locus as a metaphor for colorism/racism

Some people were interested in this take so I'm going to go over it really quick. I am brown, a lot of the experiences I talk about here are lived (and a lot of them I experienced from this fandom, ironically enough). Warnings for discussion of racism and colorism + abuse.

Don't be weird, keep it civil! I'm not telling you what to think I'm just giving my two cents as a person who has experienced all of this.

Note: I don't think RT intentionally did any of this because they couldn't even treat their real life employees of color well so I don’t trust them with a character of color LMAO. “Colorism” is specified here because being brown affects every part of life in a way that's difficult to explain if you haven't experienced it firsthand.

Locus experiences very true aspects of real-world racial profiling: he's a big, dark-skinned, reserved brown man who is heavily demonized—both by the narrative/show AND in-universe. The fact that the “scary” merc of the duo is the one who was confirmed brown in 14 is likely colorism on RT's part, yes, but it doesn't change that Locus is painted as an aggressive monster canonically (a common stereotype of brown men, and a cause for code-switching in many POC). He's a monster, a dog, a weapon, a machine—all words that are used to describe him in the show, some he even uses on himself. Obviously not words you should be applying to a brown person good lord!

Locus’s apathy isn't inherently part of him. Maybe he wasn't always kind or gentle, but he was forced into a violent situation and TRIED to stay empathetic, wanting to spare his enemies at times, before he was forced out of the mindset—something that still bothers him to this day, even if he's repressed it! Brown people commonly have mental health issues and trauma that doesn't get addressed because of cultural expectations and medical racism, to the point where a lot of our cultures normalize very unhealthy behaviors. More of a stretch, maybe, but it reads like racial trauma if I ever saw it (and I have). Specifically because:

Felix sees him starting to lose his empathy, which is VERY BAD for Locus’s mental health, and takes advantage of it to use Locus as something of a “guard dog”. Erm, white people benefiting from racism and colorism? White people forcing stigma on brown people to gain power over them? What a surprise!

On the note of Felix: while Santa’s reveal that Felix is afraid of Locus can have several meanings, a lot of them can still lead down a road of (abusive) racism. He's scared of Locus because he's a “merciless killer”, isn't the same person he used to be? Who caused that, I wonder? Scared because if Locus found out he was being manipulated he’d immediately abandon Felix? Yeah, because he's being manipulated and abused, of course he’d leave… if I found out I was being manipulated by a white man I'd be uncomfortable too! Victim blaming is EXTREMELY common with racist white people because there is POWER in being white and blaming the brown man.

I like to see Locus’s divorce from his given name and visage as a symbol of cultural isolation. POC are so frequently made victims of identity crises because we’re expected to conform to a white world, whether we try to be white people or try to be what white people expect us to be. The latter in Locus’s case—they want a violent brown man, they have one. It keeps him alive at the cost of taking his sense of self away. He's safer as Locus, the armor, than he is as Ortez, the person.

There's not like, canonical evidence I can point to, but Locus feels like a catch-22 of “I want to be angry that people see me as a monster for being brown, but if I’m angry they’ll see me as a monster because I am brown”. It's a cycle that's hard to escape because when you ARE a righteous brown person who wants to be angry because the world has hurt you, it's so easy to paint you as an animal.

Um the fandom is extremely racist to him in ways I don't think they're even aware of. He's got it all! Fandom whitewashing and stereotyping and sexualizing and demonizing, people shipping him with a white person who hurt him (because a brown person cannot be hurt by a white person without SOMEONE wanting to forgive the white perpetrator for it LMFAO, many such cases where it’s done for the sake of shipping too), performative diversity and a lack of actual depth in his culture bar the fact that he speaks Spanish and has a Hispanic name…I don’t even think the guy who MADE him gives a shit that he’s brown (past it giving him brownie points) and how it affects him. Yeah who’s surprised. (EDIT: did not know Miles was mixed, but POC are still capable of colorism, etc. I still think Miles, as a lighter skinned person, doesn't fully comprehend how Locus being dark plays into the dynamic/Locus's character as a whole. Still, entirely my mistake.)

So basically: brown guy gets dehumanized, white guy takes advantage of it, systemic colorism and stigma helps white guy get away with it, brown guy is alienated from himself as a result and thinks he genuinely is a monster because everyone treats him like one. I see myself in him as a brown person who has experienced colorism for having low empathy and not connecting with society. It's awesome.

He is a textbook traumatized brown guy. He's got internalized racism/colorism. He's going to meet other brown people and unlearn it. He’s going to connect with his culture again. He’s going to realize he never owed the white man power over him just because he was convenient to control. He's going to be okay!

No thanks to RT because they couldn’t write a good brown guy if they tried + it falls on us brown people to give coincidences this kind of personal meaning. LOL

Next week (not really) I get into how Lopez is an incredible accidental portrayal of alienated brown people who have pride in themselves and want justice for being mistreated all the time.

[irislunace]

Siciria Analyzes The Most Complex Stick Figures Known To Man (part 3)

ooki, so here's part 1 and part 2 (Blue and Red)

This one is for Yellow :D

Also, I am thinking of ending this after 5 parts (after this we'll have part 4 Green and part 5 TSC)

...depending on factors I might keep going after part 5? Like maybe Purple or something? But uhh anyways...

SPOILERS AHEAD

-

Okay, so Yellow is essentially the resident "nerd" of the group. He likes redstone, command blocks, strategy games, and coding. He canonically has glasses as well (when his face is visible), and he is quick to implement his ideas, especially during battle.

Examples:

He was quick to throw his staff at the minimize button because he understood where Greenscreen was getting his power from.

He was quick to begin making a plan to escape the piglins (whereas Blue froze instead - check part 1).

Yellow is someone that can understand what needs to be done and do it efficiently.

But, er, sometimes...

...he can get carried away. His inventions and mind can get away from him sometimes and cause consequences for him and his friends. Prime examples of this are the lucky block episode - (he literally got POSSESSED because he took apart a lucky block and used the glowing magic orb thingy to make gifts for his friends) and the Actual Short: Upgrade, where his invention essentially destroyed their house.

But now I kind of want to talk about more recent occurences with Yellow. As most of us know, there was a comment on one of Green's vids that said that Yellow had lackluster acting, and another one saying he was useless in the skit, both hearted by Green. In my opinion, the "useless" portion is fine (the comment was probably talking about Yellow's role in the skit), but Green could have responded better to the one about lackluster acting.

And this got me thinking - Yellow's probably really insecure about this kind of stuff. He is already the least popular out of the Color Gang (and Purple, Chosen, Dark, King, and Corn Dog Guy) - I'll explain my theory as to why in a second (hehe).

AND...I've also been seeing a few comments and fanfictions saying Yellow is the "worst fighter" or "least athletic" of the group??? These mostly stem from his kind of unconfident fighting stance in this scene...leading to him getting clapped (even tho everybody got clapped without the weapons).

And now my theory as to why Yellow is liked the least.

In my humble opinion, all four of the fighting quad had roughly around the same in the beginning. Of course, Second is the main character, and he lives up to that title, so he'd obviously have way more fans. But each of RGYB have different personalities that appeal to different segments of the audience.

But we obviously don't like it if our favorite character isn't having screen time or any contribution...and we also don't like it if another character that isn't our favorite is getting more screen time. Like Yellow in Animator vs Animation.

He's the one who hacked into Dark's computer and brought Alan's cursor to the Outernet, and kept a level head while everyone else was freezing.

And he's the one being wanted by Rocket Corp, while the other three were cast aside. He has a larger role in AvA than Red or Green or Blue, and I think many of us kind of dislike him for that. Heck, when I first watched the Showdown, I disliked it slightly as well.

-

I know this one was less of a character analysis than the other two, but I really wanted to talk about this with Yellow. Feedback and additions are appreciated!

[tare-anime]

I've watched Spy x Family Code White!!!!

And and ........!!!!

OmG!!!!

It's so totally awesome!!!

Tbh, I've never watched anime movie that good before!

I might be biased, but truly, it WAS so AWESOME that I'm planning to rewatch it (if I've ever managed to find extra free time)

My full with spoiler review under the cut

So first of all, the animation quality WAS top notch!

They way they draw scenery, background, lighting, camera movements. OmG!! I really love how WIT studio pay so much attention to details. And the smoothness of it.

The scenery of snowy mountains, sun light reflections through crystalize ice, the water...... wow!

And then there were the difference in way of drawing scenes. Like Anya's imagination was drawn so cartoony, meanwhile Yor's fiery 🔥🔥🔥 fight with type F was drawn with so much intensity, and Loid's stealthy fight was drawn with different color as if Loid was in different dimentions than the rest of the enemies because he was the only one in disguises.

This different way of drawing scenes kind of like Spiderman into the spiderverse, but not to that extent. Nevertheless, it's super awesome.

The foods!!! OmG! Those were detailed and awesome food drawings that make me drools 🤤🤤🤤 desserts, main courses, even snacks!! Wooooaaaa

The action!!! I bow down to the animators. WIT studio once again showing off their skills in drawing super awesome fight action scenes. They draw the character movements very well. Even Fiona get her short glimpse of action scene and that's awesome!

Loid's different action tones animation is super awesome, but I have to bow down and thank the animation team in making Yor (my queeeennn 🛐🛐) being super badass!!! The way she ended the fight with type F??? Guh..... I need all my will power not to screamed "That's my queen!!" in the middle of theatre 🤣

Of course like all anime movies out there, we have to lower our expectation regarding plots. (Plot? What plot? We're here to see the family awesomeness 🤣)

We can easily spot the re-use of plot from canon material but was shown in different font, such as:

Yor's jealousy towards Fiona, that leads her thinking she's inadequate mom and wife, that was a result from her overthink her 3 gossipers cowokers

Fiona's obsesiveness in trying to impress Twilight and becoming the Forger mother

Drunk Yor vs Twilight which ended with Yor sleeping

The super direct advance of Twilight that sucessfully making Yor super embarrases that her body instinc injured Loid

Super long and hiperbolic poop joke from Anya

(These managed to make us the audiences LOLed though 🤣🤣🤣)

Not to say, plot holes (?) Or plot that make you go "huh?", such as:

The super unnecessary idea of replacing Loid with other incompetent agent for a mission as important as Op.Strix

The possible stella from a cooking contest that end up all for nothing because of technicallity malfunction

Putting a very valuable microchip inside a common trunk, and all of a sudden was transported in a common train, leniently lying around in a place where a kid can meddle with it. Secured with only 1 very common key.

A secret recipe of dessert that is a secret but the restaurant owner can give the ingridients to stranger because the owner felt guilty that Anya's share was taken by a foodie adult with military power.

An old plane memento that somehow still in prime condition that can be used by Twilight to pursue Anya's kidnappers.

I can't be helped. The animators may not create something that might disturb canon stories afterall. So these plots were just there to drive the story forward, and forward the story goes!!

(Despite all the things I mentioned above, I still enjoyed the story well.)

And then, last but the most important things, the movie managed to deliver the family awesomeness so well!! The animators clearly know the character and character dinamics so very well. And I, again, bow down to them. 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️

There are so many moments that will make you go "awwwwwww" and give you so much fluff and sweetness you'd have diabetes right away.

The way Loid always tried his best to give the best for the family, but he forget that the family IS the important one. And Yor was there to softly remind him of it. (This scene was so soft I really teared up 🥲🥲🥲🥲)

The way Anya tried her best to help her papa in acquiring the ingridients because that's the mission was, but eventually she got into trouble. And yet at the end Loid was still very proud of her.

The way Yor took care of Anya and play with her during the trip, the way she protected Anya during their initial fight and at the end of the fight (so many mother daughter moments!!!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰)

The difference way of fighting between Twilight and Thorn Princess. Like Twilight will go all stealth and disguises until he can't. Meanwhile Thorn Princess was just strorm right through the front door (or rear wall in this movie), demolishing everything while at the same time politely asking for her daughter and husband 🤣🤣🤣

The way all of family working together so that the plane didn't crash at the town, and the way they laugh (Yor and Anya were laughing out loud, meanwhile Loid was chuckling) when all of them managed to "safely" landed.

Good boy Bond always tried his best to support Anya and even galantly tried to defend her but alas, he was no match to human enemy. 🥲🥲

I was just 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

And really, Endo should take notes.

Because all of these are what make we love Forger family. And that it IS possible to make the family do a mission together without revealing their secrets. Like Loid's lousy excuses that make Yor went wooooww, Yor's even more lousy half lies that Loid believes just like that 🤣🤣🤣🤣 (these two omG!)

I also love how Anya as the captain of TwiYor ship actively pushing her parents. Yes Anya 🥰🥰🥰

I also love how the main villain able to recognize Twilight in disguises via the unusual scent. Like. Woa!! That is so possible!! I mean, latex should have a very distinctive smell afterall.

All in all, truly an amazing first movie!!! I do hope one day the anime team will continue to make amazing movies in the future. 🥰🥰🥰

[tansyuduri]

Merlin Loregasm Rewatch S1E5

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my rewatch of Merlin focusing on the lore. I am a giant nerd so pretty excited about this. We’re on LANCELOT

Lancelot: It's my life's ambition to join the Knights of Camalot OKAY let's talk knights! While most knights were nobles. (Especially in the later middle ages) Not all were. In the early middle ages it was not that unusual for a commoner to be knighted for acts of valor in battle, Great service to a much higher lord, or marrying a noble woman. While this got much more rare it did not fully die out. So Lancelot coming as a commoner and hoping to be a knight is unusual but not unheard of. His way of going ABOUT it is a bit odd.

Arthur: Right you jumped up dung beetle this is it. your final test. Pass this and you are a knight of camalot. Fail and you're no one. You face the most feared of all foes. The ultimate killing machine. You face me. Your challenge is to last one minute in free combat. Grimmond second son of Wessex. Your time starts now. OKAY lots to talk about here. First of all Knight of Camalot must be a great honnor. This dude is the second son of at LEAST a noble family. That being considered no one is huge. However the second son thing could mean he would not inherit his fathers title and this is what Arthur refers to.

ALSO is Wessex suborninate to Camalot? Or are knights just coming from outside Camelot because being a knight of Xamalot is such a big deal. Wessex was a anglo-saxon kingdom and as I have said before we are pre saxon take over in Merlin. HOWEVER the first recorded king of Wessex was named Cedirc and this name is thought to be brittonic rather than saxon giving rise to the theory he was a native of Briton who was later saxonized. Possibly implying a existance of Wessex before the Saxons arrived. It is also implied that for a while he was not a king. SO it's possible Wessex could have been part of Camalot. Also, the test is interesting. See Kings could knight whoever they wanted. Occasionally they would go on a knighting spree of squires just so they could say they had more knights before a battle. Of course as we know in Camalot squires are not a thing. So the normal path of page to squire to knight goes out the window. MY POINT HERE is this test might serve as a replacement for that. Come up with by either Uther or Arthur. Hey you wanna be a knight for us? Sure, pass this test and BOOM knight. It kinda suggests that a LOT of people wanna come be knights of Camelot. (Which seeing how many die is a good thing) So my question is WHY. WHY is this such a plum gig that people want it so bad. Is there some level of renown? Uther does not seem to give out bits of land so it can't be that.

Okay I'm kinda loving the fact that the coat of arms for Wessex is similar to but not the same as the one given to Wessex in the 1300s. Same colors no cross (eliminating Christianity) and what looks like different animals. (but its hard to see)

First reference to the First code of Camalot. Only those of noble blood can serve as knights. Will talk about this a bit more later then reasoning is explained a bit I do find it interesting that they use the word code which was also used for the "code of chivalry"

Gaius: The first code of camalot states that only those of noble blood can serve a knight. Uther created the knights to prtect this kingdom from those who wished to destroy it. He knew he would have to trust each of his knights with his life. So he chose them from the families that had sworn allegiance to him. The nobility Okay first of all considering how he treats commoners and is paranoid fair. SECOND OF ALL HOLY SHIT UTHER CREATED THE KNIGHTS? What was there before? I mean I know he conquered the kingdom. so choosing them from families sworn to him makes sense in that aspect. BUT DID CAMALOT JUST NOT HAVE KNIGHTS? I mean where were the Knights of Medir sooo. Okay I've got this. Knights of Camalot were likely disbanded or something following the abuses of the Knights of Medir. Uther however was like Naw fam I'm bringing them back, there is NO WAY that could happen to me. So he re-formed the knights of Camalot. ALSO does this mean every camalot knight we see comes from Camalot nobility? So Camalot has some part of western illes (Valiants heraldry implied Ireland so Camalot owns part of Ireland?) Or can it be from any nobility? Even if it's not sworn to him? And Northumbria mentioned later is also Camalot but there are still other kingdoms? Okay okay. so either at first knight they were nobles of Camalot but then things spread to other nobles. That's why Uther doesn't seem to know Valient. (Of freaking Ireland) but still invites him to serve as a knight of Camalot. And has knights coming to try to serve from lots of places. OR Camalot is bigger than I thought it was despite just being conquered and Includes some of "the western illes" (Almost certainly Ireland) Wessex, and Northumbria. (While Mercia is somehow its own kingdom) Gonna look for evidence to resolve this as I keep watching the show. because I NEED TO KNOW.

FYI I will not be trying to solve what obscure references like this are about. A LOT ABOUT TOPOGRAPHY CAN CHANGE esp when magic effects things.

Okay LORD of Northumbria. Its looking like Camalot actually does include Northumbria and likley Wessex but not Mercia. (Also thus possibly some least bits of Ireland? Or the other two were from outside Camalot and Northumbria is part of Camalot. I'M KEEPING AN EYE ON THIS. BECAUSE AGAIN I NEED TO KNOW. ANYHOW LETS TALK NORTHUMBIA

It was an Anglo Saxon Kingdom consisting of two other lands that united under the Saxons. (Bernica and Deira both of whom likely existed before the saxon invasion.) Now Deira at least it brought up later so it's likely separate from them. Bernicia is also never mentioned in Merlin SO my thought is Merlin world wise Northumbria is basically the name we are using for Bernicia. Because otherwise it just plain would not exist yet.

Okay in a time before machine made clothing this is a BIG DEAL. See noble did not sew her own clothing. Instead they would hire a tailer who was hired specifically to make custom fitted clothing for the elite. AND if this is true it means Gwen might have been one of them in addition to being a servant. Gwen would likely be far from the only one. But if she was the best that would be noticed. HOWEVER If a noble family was wealthy enough and had an extensive staff, they might hire a tailor exclusively. I don't think Gwen served this role simply because she would not have the time. Gwen however CLEARLY knows how to sew clothing for nobles, as she does it for Lancelot. This implies that she in fact DOES sew clothing for nobles (If not the pendragons themselves) as a side gig. This would likely earn her money. (Further supporting the Gwen's family is more well off than most non nobles theory.) I find it interesting that she keeps being a servant when she has this as a possibility. Does she need to? Or is her loyalty to Morgana and Later Arthur on display here that she chooses to keep being a servant?

Hahaha Okay this position is pretty unique to the Merlin world. Normally patents of nobility would be used and not really checked. ALSO, nobility would have married other nobility People tended to know each other or of each other. Nobles never really had to prove their status otherwise, because their status is known to everyone at the time of their birth.

Gaius: A griffin is a creature of magic. It is born of Magic, Sire and can only be killed by magic. Okay what constitutes a creature of magic? Unicorns are not, thats clear, Are Afancs? Since Merlin did use magic there they could be? Cockatrices are not, however. And trolls are not. In short what counts as a "Creature of magic" Seems to be kinda arbitrary in Merlin. So not much I can extrapolate here.

LIKE I SAID IN PREVIOUS POSTS Gwen's father is not just a typical village blacksmith. And that has implications on the status of Gwens family and their ability to live a higher quality life. (I talked a lot about this in previous episodes)

Okay we have a thank god from Gaius who we KNOW was trained in the old religion. SO either saying god does not mean you are not pagan in Merlin, or he converted or somthing.

Gwen sent at least the helmet off with him. Possibly more. That stuff is not cheap! As in normally only rich nobles could afford it. Also did she send him off with the set that was the best she had? I don't really think Lancelot would accept that. So I think she sent him off with a cheaper suit or helm. UNLESS Lancelot didn't really know how expensive armor was. Which is a big possibility because he didn't know about the code so he might not know about other things in a knights world.

[mdhwrites]

My Frustration With Belos

As a presence, Belos is fantastic. He actually has probably some of the best animation in the series and arguably the best voice actor in the entire cast. He sells every line Belos has with a gravity and menace that the emperor might otherwise not have. He sells his anger but also his control and even after I stopped liking the show, I found my attention demanded when he desired it.

Unfortunately, as a character he absolutely fucking sucks and is almost impossible to take seriously.

He only functions as Belos. Not even Emperor Belos because once you bring in that title, you have to tilt your head and ask "Well, what is he as an emperor? How does he use his minions to enact his will? What is his will?" In that order:

He is a kind, stately emperor who only asks for one rule to be obeyed. Even if you stayed out of the fold, if you come to him willingly seeking forgiveness, you will be granted it and absolved of your crimes, like with the wild witch friend in Hollow Mind. He revolutionized the Isles, turning them from seeming small towns to a now interconnected nation (his rise to power is literally impossible with news being able to spread so people can fact check him) and brought safety and regulation to a land that has none (Terra acts like the Safety codes in Them's the Breaks are new or something so beneath a proper witch as to be able to be entirely ignored and no one cares.) No one faces persecution except those who flaunt breaking his one rule but you may be of any race, skin color, belief, etc. and he doesn't care. You are all equal in his eyes.

He uses his minions weakly. They are bumbling fools who are honestly better at party planning than they are at combat (look at... Literally any fight with the EC scouts frankly. The literal only wins they get is raiding an empty, unguarded house and attacking two exhausted, distracted witches who are out of power.) They are seemingly not punished for this though except supposedly at the higher ranks. Even then, they are merely demoted. Those who wish to leave also show no fear in doing so, as proven by the EC scout who says fuck this and goes off to join the cute cat coven. This displays a lack of interest in power or enforcement.

His will appears to be to bring order to a land of chaos. To bring structure and unity to a land that didn't have it. He will go to any length, including manipulation, lying and threats in order to obtain this. He keeps mystique about him, seeming to believe that being feared is stronger than being loved, fitting with his claims that the Titan speaks to him and wishes for a rather extreme societal change. One he will see to no matter what.

These are... Actually interesting. You know, until you remember his actual goal is the genocide of literally every living being on the Isles. Then they come across as incredibly stupid, inept and backwards for what ANY of his goals should be and that's without getting into how his plan explicitly left out the entire child population of the Isles. This means he didn't even actually want to get the job done properly before he fucked off.

That is befitting Philip and Belos though as actual manipulators. They both are on easy street as far as it goes. The one manipulation we see from Philip is by using two people who clearly want something from him and are interested in helping him so so long as he doesn't literally start throwing fists, he's fine. Belos meanwhile leverages Eda's curse against Lilith, an entire fake backstory against Hunter, and just being Kikimora's boss to get what he wants. Anyone not in the EC though he never manages once to actually convince of anything and he is pretty bad at actually keeping up his deceptions.

This is of course made worse by knowing that 400 years ago, that commanding presence that is Belos... Was actually just a whiny British bloke who couldn't even wait until after his victims were dead to gloat about it. I tooooootally still fear him, especially as S3 commits narrative contrivance after narrative contrivance to A: let him be ALIVE and B: to let him win, CONSTANTLY, without also murdering the main characters. Like he literally tells a group of witches and a monster "I'm saving your souls," while he has them all at his mercy, having already shown he was more than capable of beating them all... And leaves. Because he is REALLY bad at his goal.

And honestly, him being so bluntly tied to a movement, time period and ethnicity that all bluntly say he's Christian without saying he's Christian... Actually just kind of makes him worse. Knowing his beliefs makes his behavior BAFFLING. He has none of the actual zeal and fury of a crusader, who were so bloodthirsty as to have peasants march on their own as they screamed Deus Vult, nor does he have the actual politics and methodologies of colonizers. The closest he is is a missionary and that's not even the case because he's not interested in conversion, only genocide. He is just an asshole who has the label "Christian.

It says nothing. Most of his character says nothing. They slam you over the head saying he should be saying something, that his backstory should be deep and that he had grand plans but if you interrogate these claims, no he doesn't. He says nothing except "Christianity bad" and essentially condemns the ENTIRE RELIGION because of how little nuance there is to him, his backstory makes him look pathetic, whiny and potentially sympathetic which makes no sense with the rest of his character, and his grand plan was literally DESIGNED to fail because he never gave it any real thought or else he would have baptized witches into being in covens so they had the sigils from birth and he'd get ALL OF THEM.

He is perhaps the personification of what is wrong with TOH in this way. If you look at any one scene, it seems to promise so much. The animation is correct. The voice acting is correct. You can see what themes he's supposed to be talking about and can make a Twitter post very easily about it. But... These are all surface level and only function as moments.

As a whole story, as a whole character, it falls to tatters as you see there was nothing there except conflicting promises and basic fantasy tropes.

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I'm trying to not blog about TOH as much anymore because I'm just kind of tired of it but Belos has always been a thorn in my side because there are so many scenes that are so effective with him but when I think of him as a whole, I have nothing but boredom and annoyance. So I wanted to properly explore that and highlight how little sense his character makes and why just consuming him like popcorn is functional, even good, but if you try to have him for dinner, you'll find only bones.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[cross-my-heartt]

Three antagonists, three distinct attitudes, all representative of what the Empire stands for as a whole

I wanted to take a moment to appreciate what a good job TBB has been doing with its antagonists so far, especially our three imperial officers here. A good antagonist is so important to a good story and I love how each of these characters has a distinct feel about them even though they’re all meant to represent the Empire’s worst qualities. (Yes, Hemlock isn’t included here. That guy's a whole new category of yikes.)

Tarkin: ruthless authoritarianism

Tarkin is the perfect representation of unfeeling single-minded power. He's willing to go however far it takes to accomplish the Empire's goals, eradicating all that stand in its way or dare to oppose it. He hated the jedi for their reluctance to go against their moral code and their unwillingness to bend to the Republic’s will and he hates the clones for much the same reason.

Tarkin believes that nothing should stand in the way of victory. He is the face of a regime that tolerates no opposition, no hesitation and no failure and shows no inhibitions when enforcing those rules.

Morals and human lives are meaningless when the interests of the Empire are at stake.

In a way that simplicity is what makes him so intimidating – his is a straightforward but absolute point of view. That’s scary as hell when it belongs to someone with so much power.

Rampart: calculating ambition

Unlike Tarkin, Rampart represents those that see power as an end rather than a means to one. He’s the rank climber. The smarmy bootlicker. The ambitious overachiever who’s willing to make concessions in the name of success.

We learn that the implementation of chain codes was his initiative. That he’s the one behind project War Mantle. We see how animated and obsequious he is when talking to Tarkin only for him to show his true (dismissive and arrogant) colors to those he considers his subordinates later.

He readily uses and manipulates those he can use for the sake of his own personal gain. This could be the renegade batch or Crosshair to whom he's open about his doubt in regards to his loyalty and that’s where he and Tarkin differ.

He’s dangerous because he is cunning and his cunning allows him to exploit the opportunities the Empire has to offer. He may or may not care for the system itself, but he certainly cares about what it can do for him, which is why he works to further its cause.

It's the kind of self interest that has little regard for morality. Rampart isn’t tolerant of anything that threatens his reputation and by extension his chances of success and he will dispose of anyone who isn’t convenient to him.

Which makes it all the more ironic that he himself was disposed of when he became inconvenient to the Empire.

Nolan: bigoted loyalty

If Rampart was the calculating opportunist, Nolan is his (even more) despicable counterpart. He’s the small insecure man who nonetheless profits from his political alignment, not because he’s competent but because he’s a good little imperial henchman and it gives him a sense of importance.

All in all, he’s the precursor to all the bumbling imperial officers we see in later star wars media, who stand not on merit but on selling themselves to a regime.

A man who cowers at a little turbulence

and has no experience under his belt and yet touts his rank and considers himself better than the clones.

He’s the typical bigot who tramples over others – resorting to derogatory labels (such as 'used equipment') and treating them as less than human – just because he can and because it gives him a power high.

If Rampart saw the clones as a resource that could be used to the very end, Nolan sees sparing medical supplies for one as a ‘waste of resources’. Which is bullshit of course. But prejudice is pretty bad at pretending it’s logical. And the show does a good job of showing us the various little pathetic excuses it tries to hide behind.

(I thought I couldn't hate this guy more and yet I somehow managed it after writing this lol.)

[delilahcalicocat]

♡~Always Here~♡

{Rating: Is there a circus in town? Cause Holy f*cking sh!t that's alot of fluff!}

{Warnings: Fem!Reader, Falling Asleep on FaceTime, Reader wearing Cody's nightmare factory Hoodie, Crying, Panic}

{Trigger warning: Animal Death}

{Pairing: Cody Rhodes x Fem!reader}

~Summary: Cody was busy on the road, and Y/N was on leave to take care of her sick cat, and she finds herself wanting Cody to be there with her..~

——————————🥑——————————–

[Y/N's POV:]

Cody was out on the road, I was back home because C/N (Cat Name) had fallen ill a few weeks ago, and he wasn't doing so good...

C/N was in his pet bed, napping as he would usually be doing at 11:00pm. I went to wake him up for his medicine, I tapped C/N gently to find him not awakening...

No.. this couldn't be happening- C/N....didn't... die... did he?

I kept tapping the cat, he didn't wake up at all. I panicked heavily..

I FaceTimed Cody, a sobby mess..

"What's Wrong Starlight? What happened back home?" He asked me

"C-C/N is... D-Dead... Cody!" I sobbed out

"Oh... Starlight, I'm sorry.." He spoke

"Can.. I borrow your hoodie for the night?" I asked Cody

"Of course starlight" He Said

I had already put the poor kitten in a temporary coffin until y'know we could have him... cremated ⚱.

So I grabbed his hoodie and put it on, I laid down and kept speaking with Cody.

"So what happened with Finn and JD?" I asked

"So, Finn was cracking jokes to everyone backstage. And JD was drinking a water because he just fought in a match, so Finn made the joke, and JD spat water all over himself" He said

"Haha, that's so funny Codes. So like anything else happen while you were backstage?" I spoke

"Roman Cracked a Smile after Jimmy made a funny picture in his head, and Seth was a cackly mess at the end of the night too" he said

Wow, Cody made me so happy.. I had a contagious smile as right after i smiled he smiled, we kept on talking, we talked for over 2 hours, I found myself on almost the third hour.. Falling asleep, I eventually fell asleep.. and Cody Noticed it.

"Haha, talk to you later Starlight.. hope you have a good night of sleep" He smiled and then hung up

I dropped my phone straight on my chest. I think that's how he realized I was out cold, that or it was my light light snoring

[Dream]

I ran around a sugary, Candy like world.. it was pastel colors and candy everywhere, I wandered into a Licorice forest. It was raspberry flavored licorice, I ran through the forest until I ran into a giant lollipop. The beaches were ice cream and caramel syrup, which seemed weird to me, but okay- I walked onto the Sprinkle Covered Ice Cream Sand. It was softer than I thought..

[Y/N's POV:]

I woke up at like 8:30am, a little later than usual, but it was a Friday so It couldn't hurt to get a little extra sleep, but I woke up to Cody coming in the house...

I'm so happy he's back home now...

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Tag list: {comment if you'd like to be added}

[opiopal]

OK

So I’ve decided that I’m going to into dump about my Mc(since like four people mentioned they’d read it lol), with the inclusion of pictures, I’ll try to keep it organized, making a list that goes, basic info, details, relationships, and add on’s, but I’m not that best with organization especially when it comes to my own characters.

This will be a mixture of canon stuff to the OM universe and my own stuff, I’ll go into my own personal headcanons and junk to. Fair warning this IS going to be long. Sorry if she seems a little bit to much of a main character lol. I tend to go overboard a lot of the time.

(ALSO I did redesign her basic look because I wasn’t really feeling it)

Basic info: so to start out, My Mc’s full name is Opaline L. Shards, though she introduces herself as Opal, since she thinks Opaline is a mouthful. She uses she/they pronouns, and is Pansexual. Throughout the series she is 21-24 years old, she was born and raised in Oregon state. She is about 5’5, 5,7 with her skates on. Her family consists of her mom(divorced) and her two other siblings. She LOVES anything and everything colorful and shiny and is generally curious.

Details/facts:

Opal is mostly blind, as in she is missing an eye and already needed glasses before losing said eye, so obviously it’s hard for her to see things. She prefers to work off of muscle memory and the blobby shapes that are people to her, which that is also why she likes/prefers things to have color to them. She though of course does have glasses, but prefers to wear them when she’s alone to work on things in her room so then no one can see her full face.. so she has a lot of homework. But is still fortunately a straight A student. Upon her very first night staying in the HOL, she waited until everyone was asleep to just, walk around and know her surroundings, who’s rooms were who’s and what was where. She removes her skates and anything clanky on her person before going, to avoid being caught ofc.

Her and her sheepiness

I like to imagine she isn’t a 2ft tall sheep 100% of the time throughout(because imagine trying to work at a desk or navigate massive school hallways as a stuffed animal), and that it’s really just a little enchantment that was put onto her to keep her safe, like a spidey sense, if there is danger around in RAD or in town or anywhere at all, she’ll POOF! Into a sheep. But instead of it working off of if they themselves feel threaten it just works off of if there is something that plans on hurting her around. So when that first day scene of over hearing two demons talking about eating her right then and there it’s just,

“Hey isn’t that the human exchange student? Let’s go eat then there’s no one arou-“ POOF! Scitter scitter “… what”

Speaking of RAD, clearly she isn’t wearing the uniform in its full-couch cushion looking entirety. She had texted with Barabatos to ask basic questions about dress code and asked if she could do add ons or remove a piece or two, and I’m guessing since thirteen basically mangled her uniform and didn’t get any shit for it, her wearing a sweater instead of the jacket is more then ok.

Speaking of her uniform, her hair is tied up, which isn’t really that big of a deal, but I like to imagine Lucifer does her hair, why? Well, her hair is a fluffy mess, and she really only brushes it in the morning, so Lucifer stops her from leaving first day and tied her hair up so then she looked presentable as to not embarrass him. Why did I make this a thing? Because I think it would be funny as hell that during the events in the beginning of season one, no matter what happened the night before, no matter how much they hated each other at the moment, every morning she went, knocked on his bedroom door, he opened silently, she handed him a hair tie and her hair brush, turned around, he did her hair, then she left silently and he continued to get ready to leave. Because I’m a sucker for the whole “we hate each other but we’ve made a routine and we’d rather die then not follow a routine”. (Opal also cannot handle when there is a change in any part of her unwritten routine or else she’ll be off for the rest of the day.)

Her pact Marks:

So I guess I have a reason for each of the placements/designs for the marks, for starters they’re so big because I can imagine since it’s pacts with the avatars of sun themselves the pact marks are a bit more dramatic(also I can imagine the pact marks are usually black/grey, they only glow with their sin when that magic is being used or the sun is being felt, ex: opal is pissed off, wrath glows, opal feels prideful of something she did, pride glows, ect.)

So Pride is placed on her chest, like puffing one’s chest out in pride. I just added on more stars and stuff to make it look fancier

Greed is placed on her right hand, or her stealing hand since its her dominant hand. The dots within the ribboned design represent gold coins and stuff, the mark swirls all the way up to her elbow then stops.

Envy is on her lower back over her tailbone, it’s a spot that’s a bit more out of place and is most likely to be covered by clothes then the others, so even the mark as a reason to be envious. I just added onto the water droplet and arrow design and made it stretch more onto her front as if it’s trying to be noticed more.

Wrath is on her left hand, being left handed is associated with the devil and junk so by default I think it would be cool it it landed there. And also it’s for throwing hands. The triangle design represents satans spiky tail. The mark trails up to the elbow then stops, just like greed

Lust is placed over her uterus and creeps up her stomach, I think that’s obvious. But the mark itself is in the shape of an upside down uterus. I tried to make lust look like the more elegant of the pact marks.

Gluttony is on her upper/center back because it’s a place where fat tends to accumulate more. (I promise it’s not a “big back” joke btw, I’ve had this mark placement way before it even got to be popular), a lot of the add ons are just to match the others, BUT I added four k-nine teeth, two on the top and two on the bottom. cause, yk, you need teeth to eat.

And finally sloth is on her outer left thigh, I… don’t have much of a reason as to why I put it there, apart from the fact I had nowhere else I could think of. I could say that it’s because you don’t use your legs when you’re lazy or it’s the plushest part of the body, but yk. The add ons I did was just add two more stars and two crescent moon shapes.

Relationships:

So for relationships with the other characters I did this chart I used off of google since it was the only one I could find with all the characters(I wanted to make my own but by the time I moved onto making the chart it was around 2 am and I was tired). I will explain every relationship going from brothers, demons, angels, then thirteen and Solomon.

Lucifer: she personally views Lucifer in a fatherly way, she grew up with her dad only in her life for her first 5 years of being alive and he wasn’t great. So when she did meet Lucifer for the first time not only did he vaguely look like her dad but also acted a bit like him. Which to her was more then enough reason to not like him. But over time it went from “ugh he reminds me of my dad…” to “oh! That’s my dad!^•^”. He is the first person she goes to when she needs assistance or guidance and she cares about him a lot, she has forced him to take breaks through bringing him tea or a few snacks and sitting down with him to have a conversation. And it doesn’t really help that he clearly favors her, she is very honest and polite, so I can imagine that warmed him up to her.(honestly I kind of wish there were more platonic fics with Lucifer Bc in my own brain he’s literally mothering, but alas,)

Mammon: so just from the chart, he is her best friend and also partner. I know it was probably unnecessary to add the best friend and partner arrows because your partner should be your best friend, but I added it anyways. Opal is probably a little to in love, but so is he. She goes along with pretty much everything he wants to do because she either one: wants to have the learning experience, or two: want to spend time with him. They often sleep in each others rooms, they rotate out, some days they sleep in his and others they sleep in hers. When they want more privacy or just to be alone with each other I can imagine they go to his room most of the time. She absolutely steals his clothes for herself whenever he’s gone during the night because she can’t help but be clingy, and you know she’s tackling him the moment he walks into the HOL. Overall they are both stupidly in love with each other.

Leviathan: levi is definitely one of her best friends, she loves his room since she really adores anything ocean. She likes to go to his room when she’s feeling overwhelmed or like to go find him during social events when overwhelmed since it’s most likely guaranteed he’ll also be hiding. She loves listening to him ramble about anime and stuff that he bought recently, and of course she likes gaming with him. And that one morning when levi was complaining about opal constantly shooting him in game is definitely common for her to do. If she see’s he’s on a online game she will join and mess with him. Mammon has probably woken up to her on her laptop cackling because she keeps killing levi in game.

Satan: once again someone she’s close with and would consider a best friend, I can imagine they do homework together often, and he wouldn’t mind reading things out for her. She is kind of an animal magnet, so whenever they both go out there is a high chance she’ll suddenly be holding a stray cat and they’ll both stop for like an hour to give it so much attention.

Asmo: another bestiee, after gaining a pact with asmo she definitely gets a little closer to him because of the fact that he does more “girly” things. They go shopping together and she lets him dress her up and style her hair. He is actually the only other person apart from mammon that knows she’s missing an eye, why? Well because her natural hair color is actually black, and she thankfully befriended him before her roots fully started to grow in so one melt down later she asked him for help with dying her hair, which, he’s also the only one that knows red isn’t her natural color.

Beel: she was very close with beel pretty much right off the bat, since she was already feeding him. She’s a bit of a picky eater, so she separates some foods from the foods she will definitely eat, she feels bad about leaving a bunch of left over food so beel is the garbage disposal friend. So every single “are you going to eat that?” Is always met with a cheery “nope! You can have it!”. And canon Bc of the chats, she helps him when he works out, like sitting on his back during pushups or just simply hyping him up.

Belphie: she is still very unsure with him. Though she knows he feels guilt about LITERALLY KILLING HER. She hasn’t quite forgiven him, though she is still polite and helps him out when he needs it. She isn’t close with him in the slightest though, if you asked her to describe him she would just say “uh… he sleeps!” And that’s it. Though of course she’s probably still around him often due to beel and belphie being twins and the anti Lucifer League 

Dia: another best friend! Despite the fact that they don’t hang out often, they still try their hardest to chit chat! Like her going over to have tea with him occasionally on his free days, she talks about how things are going at the HOL, with school, and other little hobbies, and she lets him complain about work and talk about other things. They are literally sunshine character+sunshine character. It’s inevitable that they would be close! She had also used her first bit of grimm to buy him roller skates! She got them custom made and surprised him with them because he mentioned that he liked hers and was really intrigued by them, so after buying him the skates they skated around for a while, linked arms and her teaching him the basics.

Barbatos: barbatos is someone she felt like she could trust right away but she was also intimidated by him. Though she ignored the intimidation and just continued treating him as normal. She constantly wants to help him and feels a little bad whenever he does something for her or gives her something. She really loves fruit so whenever she’s visiting dia there’s always a plate out for her, and whenever Barb refills it she’s always like “oh! Thank you- you don’t have to though I’m probably eating to much anyways” “nonsense, please continue to enjoy yourself” “ok:,)”

Mephistopheles: they are both unsure of each other, though he is very open about the fact that her, I am a strong believer that it’s probably just a mask. Despite rarely seeing each other she is very respectful towards him and offers assistance with smaller things, if he ever asked for help with anything relating to the news paper club she would absolutely be HYPED.

Simeon: she loves seeing simeon when she can! She thinks he’s really chill and likes being in the presence of another creative, they’ll often talk about things related to writing or drawing, really it’s just back and fourth questions. But whenever she goes down to purgatory hall she loves to just sit and talk about whatever comes to mind while drinking tea.

Luke: that is her little brother and no one can tell her otherwise. But in reality she knows what it’s like to be the youngest in a room and not be taken as seriously, so she makes sure his voice is heard(or at least he feels like he is heard.) and she is decently protective of him. Her mom actually owns a bakery so she also knows a lot about baking! I like to imagine that when they both bake something they exchange their goods with each other, and other times when she’s at purgatory hall they bake together.

Raphael: she doesn’t know him very well but still finds him pleasant!

Thirteen: she thinks thirteen is super cool! She definitely unintentionally boosts her ego, a lot. Opal is the type to speak her mind(or just think out loud), so it’s very common that when thirteen show’s off something she made or something she plans to make it’s met with a “oh! You’re so cool thirteen,”. Opal really enjoys having another fem presenting person around to, though they don’t see a lot of each other.

Solomon: she definitely appreciates having another human around(even if solomon hardly even counts as a human being anymore,) she sees him as more of an older brother to be completely honest, an older brother that’s MUCH older then her, like an older brother that already had a wife and kids when she was born kind. So she introduces him to trends and stuff and they reference random things to each other randomly. I can imagine they both like to mess with demons by basically doing improv in public. “Hey has your skin started shedding with month yet?” “No… but I can feel the skin on my face starting to dry up, I only have so much moisturizer,” “here I can get you some extra lotion if you need it,” “Aw, solomon you’re such a Girls girl!” Or “Solomon, was it batman or Superman who helped in ww2?” “Superman,” “thanks, I always forget” BUT they do have a mutual respect for each other, solomon is more then aware that opal may turn out to be stronger then him, and opal is aware that solomon has more knowledge then her and is strong.

Add ons/more background on Opal:(some violent stuff is mentioned and a very main character ass backstory fyi so be ready)

So let’s talk about her family and what life was like before RAD, there’s her mom and her two siblings. Her mom’s name is Mary, she is a shorter women but is very sweet, she owns a bakery called “charlottes web”. then her two older siblings who are twins, Diana and Travis, they are her half siblings, so they don’t share a father. Both of her siblings dabble in magic and area little well known. Travis is more silent and looks menacing but is secretly just a very anxious person. He looks very gothic but underneath every hoodie is a bright pink anime shirt from an anime he likes called “origami kittens”(my own thing), an anime about a teenage girls origami kitten coming to life and being her friend! Every episode a new one with a new personality is made. Diana is very rough and tough, she is rowdy and very tomboyish, her and Travis bicker a lot but are literally inseparable. They both love their little sister to pieces. But, none of them are apart of the descended bloodline of Lilith, her dad is actually one of the descendants.

Her dad was originally very kind and curious, like her, but when Mary was pregnant with Opal, he started to get into some shit he should have and suffered a head injury that caused a whole personality shift, he got very boastful and prideful, and wanted everything his way or no way. He still loved his family dearly but grew very violent very quickly. One night when opal was five Mary and him got into an argument in the middle of the night, opal had walked downstairs to see what the noise was about and in a fit of rage her father threw her through a closed window, causing a mild concussion. Of course nearly immediately Mary divorced his ass and that was the last time Opal ever saw her dad, no one ever ended up learning why he had changed. He passed away when she was about 12.

Growing up she was very curious and also energetic, but, because I love this kind of stuff, she indulged in the seven sins. She had a short fuse, she had a bit of an ego, she shop lifted sometimes, that kind of stuff. But one summer when she was 14 she went to stay with her grandma out of state and met her girlfriend Elora, and let me tel you they were IN LOVE, though the town in which Elora lived in had a lot of supernatural drama, so they both kind of became ghost busters/mystery inc type people. Though they had a lot of fun doing so and had a blast learning about that kind of crap. Eventually opals family moved in with her grandma and opal started going to school with Elora, unfortunately by the time that they had both turned 17 they were more public about their relationship, which is unfortunate because it was a very religious town. So some assholes had harassed them for a while before attacking them, Elora sadly did not make it and Opal in turn had lost her right eye. So she walked out of that experience with no girlfriend, no eye, and plenty of different types of trauma.

It took her a while to recover and she started to dye her hair and let it grow out, originally she had short hair with blue tips, but a lot of her hair was cut off, representing being stripped of her pride. Eventually once she was recovered physically and mentally she decided that she wanted to go back to school and decided to respond to a really good college that offered her a scholarship. But of course once she was classified as a student she ended up being picked for the exchange program and of course we all know what happens from then on.

Now onto some more light hearted stuff,

Obviously as I’ve stated she naturally dyed her hair red, mainly to separate herself from both her father and her past. She prefers to cover most her face with her hair and that simply just works because cartoon logic.

She is very silent, maybe even a little dumb at times, as in she has a hard time with things like social cues and when to quit. She is a straight A student because she easily jumps right into each class because she finds it very interesting! Like hell yeah she wants to learn about different demonic species! That’s so cool!

She doesn’t like drama though she loves talking about it, her and asmo definitely gossip to each other often and they keep tabs on everyone they talk about, one time they were both sitting at dinner, opal checked her D.D.D., gAsped, sent whatever she saw over to asmo, then made eye contact with him and motion for him to look at his own phone, he also gasps, and immediately they both leave the room to start talking.

I can also imagine that it was not KNOWN that she couldn’t see that well for a little while, until eventually there was maybe a small dinner party at dia’s castle, she mentioned that she was going to the rest room, then barbatos offered to lead her there, which in turn made a few of them look confused like “but they’ve been here before, why would you need to show them to the restroom?” “Ah, because they can’t see, why else?” “BARBATOS NO-“ then she has to awkwardly explain that she’s blinder then a bat after he apologizes to her. I’m sure some of them already knew but she did NOT want the other brothers to know because she knew damn well they would make a big deal out of it.

Alright, let’s get some pictures in here,

Starting off this is her bag! It’s older and she’s torn it a good few times, so she patches it up herself, obviously there’s a little sheep mc key chain that’s totally not a lesson 16 reference, she also has a little mc sheep pin, a random :3 face pin, a set it off pin and a destroy boys pin(two of my own personal favorite bands)

Next we have her D.D.D. And her headphones, she probably won both the case and headphones in a give away for some astronomy thing she is into, of course she added the Kirby sticker herself. But yeah.

Next is her ominously labeled journal, why did I label it as such? Well because she writes and draws some interesting stuff. The way she learns about things is to draw and dissect them in her brain along with a series of “what ifs” so one thing she ended up doing out of her own curiosity is pull a dungeon meshi and think “what if i drew the boys as different foods?” Which lead to her making detailed drawings of different parts of them as foods. Obviously she would never ever even think of doing such a thing, but her mind wanders. Apart from that the rest is a little normal, doodles of people and animals she’s seen, little diary entries, that kind of stuff.

Lastly there’s this necklace, seems a little random BUT, this is a reference to one of the beach events from the OG game, when mammon finds a shell and gives it to MC, obviously it wasn’t stated what type of shell it was, only that it was spiky, but opal most definitely kept it and turned it into a necklace she rarely wears.

Smaller stuff is that she loves fruit(as mentioned previously), like LOVES fruit. If there is cut fruit at a party she’s going to beat beel to it and eat as much as she can handle. And it actually sometimes works to her disadvantage, if for example, mammon wanted to go “look” around the demon lords castle, but opal is over here like “mams you know lucifer doesn’t want you to do that since you can’t keep your hands to yourself” giving her a plate of fruit not only will stop her from snitching, but will also keep her in one place silently until she’s done eating, because her brain is just “fruit fruit fruit fruit fruit- oh no more fruit- wait where’s my boyfriend- oh no.”

She also makes it her personal mission to pet everything that she can, street cats, people’s dogs, horses, you name it. So she makes it her mission to befriend that silly three headed dog in the basement, which she eventually does successfully by offering raw steaks and treats.

Along with that she likes to garden, but not like a normal person with fruit or flowers, but instead carnivorous plants. If she learns that there is a man eating plant that she can buy in town she is getting that plant, slapping a bow on it and falling it princess. I like to think that Lucifer eventually lets her take over a small part in the backyard of the HOL for her plants.

And she is very very clingy, but also hates being touched. So it’s kind of torture for her, because she would LOVE to get a hug from beel or let asmo paint her nails, but within her first year there she just doesn’t trust any of them enough to not hurt her. But mammon ends up being the exception, because as they get closer to each other she just can’t let go of him, ever. They’re always holding hands or linked arms, she’s always pressed up against his side or lowkey cuddling when they sit, and of course mammon would love the attention and would be equally as clingy.

Another thing is that she eventually learns shape shifting magic, mainly because she thinks it would be funny. One morning lucifer is acting weird, then all of a suddenly a second Lucifer walks in?? Lucifer #1 Bursts out into giggles and suddenly is opal.

She also binds her chest, cause anxiety and self confidence issues, along with anxiety she has a few scabs on her fingers at all times from digging her nails into the skin.

I am done as far as I’m aware, but I’ve been writing for like two hours with breaks, I appreciate if anyone actually read all of this all the way down to the bottom! I would’ve been more detailed in some areas but I realized that Opal feels like such a main character, I don’t want to change her lore but that doesn’t mean i’m not a little embarrassed about her lol. She’s my silly and I love her but I probably went overboard with all her fine details. Also here’s the full drawing of her

[hampink]

so kaku twitter space Q&A highlights (5/14/2023)

was casually listening to so kaku’s (kaguragi) twitter space while i was drawing, so here's some fun kingohger related + personal questions he answered that i noted down and translated!

(unfortunately i didn't record the stream though so you’ll just have to believe me)

 (source: bro just trust me)

Q: who’s your favorite king in kingohger?

probably yanma. he’s very cool and manly, and i like how high energy he gets

Q: do you guys come up with the kingohger tiktoks yourselves?

we have a social media manager who suggests which audio to do, and we (the actors) decide how we'll act it out together

Q: anyone from the cast you talk to/hang out with the most?

all of them, but maybe because we’re shooting a lot of scenes with jeremy right now recently i talk to masashi ikeda a lot

Q: does kaguragi know what kuroda looks like?

oh but of course he does~!

Q: what's your favorite sentai?

dairanger! it's such a cool show

Q: a question from my 5 yr old son: does kaguragi like flowers? he says he wants to go flower picking with kaguragi

ahh, flower picking, how nice! yes, kaguragi likes flowers!

Q: does kaguragi have a favorite place?

he does, but i can't say what it is yet. there’s a really good scene (about it) so look forward to that

Q: how much of kaguragi’s hair is a wig? also how long does the hair and makeup take?

the entire thing is a wig. it used to take a lot longer to get into hair and makeup, but the makeup artists have gotten used to it/have gotten better at it so the process is a lot faster now, which i’m really grateful for

Q: i heard shiokara's actor does a lot of adlibs. do you do that a lot as kaguragi too?

“sukonbu piiman” (”sour konbu peppers”, kaguragi mishearing “sukopi”) was an adlib

Q: are kaguragi's geta (wooden sandals) hard to walk in?

it was at first, but i've gotten used to it now

Q: what’s your favorite anime?

code geass, gurren lagann, higurashi no naku koro ni. i like intense anime

Q: favorite musician?

BUMP OF CHICKEN

Q: favorite flower?

pansies

Q: favorite food?

curry, sushi, and yakiniku

Q: i love how hachi ohger incorporates kabuki movements in his fighting style. what's your relationship with kabuki?

i really like kabuki. it wasn’t a traditional kabuki production but when i was younger i saw a performance of “super kabuki” and thought it was really cool. as for kaguragi/hachi ohger, the suit actors and i would watch videos of kabuki actors and try to mimic their movements.

Q: we want to see the fruits of your (muscle) training!! please let kaguragi wear a tank top!!

hopefully we get to do a scene like that hahaha

Q: do you look up your name online?

i do... so please don’t say mean things about me ;w;

Q: what's kaguragi's favorite vegetable? my nephew who’s growing vegetables at home would like to know!

wow! kaguragi would love anything homegrown. but maybe in particular he likes tomatoes, or eggplants

Q: what’s your favorite thing about kaguragi’s outfit?

the haori (coat), definitely. it’s when i put it on that i really feel like i’ve transformed into kaguragi. but the outfit weighs 5 kilos... so heavy...

Q: tell us about the "H" incident

the what....? *suddenly remembers* OHHHH HAHAHA

so during the roll call scene in episode 10 where aoto (yanma) said "eichi no ou, yanma gasuto! (king of wisdom, yanma gast!)" i thought he said "eichi" as in the latin letter “H” (in japanese, H = hentai/ecchi, in other words he thought yanma said he was “the king of perverts/sex” LOL)

Q: what's kaguragi's color? (asking for light stick reasons since there’s no black color setting on a light stick)

it's orange, i'm pretty sure!

END

i joined in kinda late so there’s probably some questions i missed (and sorry if i remembered some details wrong, i was multitasking and not fully focused, but i did take simple notes) he also talked abt things like how he plays valorant and how great his muscle training is going etc (he lamented that kaguragi wears so much clothing and he doesn’t get to show off his muscles lol). i think i remember he also teased something about kaguragi and rita as a duo and something ~maybe~ happening with them in the plot

it was his first time hosting a twitter space and he gave off very boomer energy because he had No idea what he was doing. people kept trying to help him understand how to let in other speakers but he gave up lol xD he was kind of nervous but it was still a lot of fun! himeno and shiokara’s actors were there too, and he might do a twt space with the both of them next time ^^

[omgsquee2001]

We Are Connected: Chapter 1: Discovery

It had been quiet for a few days. There had been no distress signals for a while now, making Keith on edge. Almost all the Paladins were on edge. This was normally the calm before the storm. Keith looked out towards the stars. Shiro walked up to his friend.

"You okay?" He asked. Keith glanced at Shiro before looking back at the stars.

"It's been too quiet for a couple days now. It's making me on edge." He said. Shiro smiled and placed a hand on Keith's shoulder.

"We can take this time to rest. Just because it's quiet, doesn't mean it's a bad thing." Shiro said, smiling. Keith sighed and relaxed a little.

"Yeah. I guess." He said. The other Paladins entered the main deck of the ship, walking over to the two. Hunk sighed.

"Man! It's nice to be able to relax! We're not having to form Voltron, not having to take down any Galra. This is nice." He said. Pidge nodded.

"Yeah. I've gotten time to create and algorithm that would, within a statistically acceptable margin of error," Pidge started, pushing up her glasses. "Provide a list of target-rich Galra environments, color-coded, of course, because what are we, animals?" Pidge said. The others looked at her like she was speaking another language. Pidge's smile fell and her shoulders dropped. "In simpler terms, I made a Galra finder." She said. She really wished that her team members understood the complexity of science like she did. It would make things much easier to explain. Lance's eyes widened.

"Oh cool! This will make taking down the Galra much easier!" He stated. Allura was scanning through the solar system, making sure that they hadn't missed any distress signals in the past few days. She scrolled past something that made her look again. She zoomed in and her eyes widened.

"It, can't be." She said to herself, catching the ears of everyone else. Shiro walked over.

"What is it, Princess?" He asked. Allura immediately called for Coran, who entered through the doors.

"You needed my assistance, Princess?" Coran asked. Allura looked over at him like she had seen a ghost.

"Can you come look at this? I think my eyes are deceiving me." She said. Coran walked over and looked at the planet she was focused on. Coran stood there for a moment, then, his eyes widened.

"Y-You aren't seeing things, Princess. That is Pandora." He said. The Paladins looked at the two Alteans in confusion. Lance tilted his head.

"What's Pandora? Does it have cute ladies?" He asked. He was then elbowed in the side by Pidge. Clearly, whatever the two were looking at, it was a serious thing. Allura turned to the Paladins.

"Pandora is home to the Na'Vi. They're an alien species with excellent fighting skills. They have been one of Alteas' greatest allies for many decafeebs." Allura explained. Coran turned to them.

"We thought that Pandora had been eradicated, just like Altea." He said. Allura nodded.

"Their Chief, Aengtew, and his mate, Seäumni, were very good friends of my father's," she explained. She turned to Coran.

"Coran, do you think it might be possible to pay them a visit? It has been a while since I've seen Pandora." She said. Coran nodded.

"It shouldn't be a problem. Though, you do have to remember, Princess. It has been ten thousand years. Things may have changed a great deal." He said. The Princess sighed and nodded.

"I know." She said. Her smile returned and she looked at the Paladins. "We could think of this as training!" She said. "Like the Olkari, the Na'Vi believe that everything is connected. They believe that everything has the same energy. Seäumni once told me, that all energy is only borrowed. And someday, you must return that energy." She said. The Paladins looked at each other. They all nodded. Shiro looked at the two Alteans.

"Why not. It seems like a good learning experience. Plus, if there are any Galra there, we can form Voltron and protect the people." He said. Allura smiled and nodded.

"Then to Pandora we go." She said. Thus, began an adventure the Paladins would never forget.

~~~~

//Here's chapter 1. Let me know what you think about it. Also, if you would like to request a one shot, or something like that for Voltron, please don't hesitate.//

[eurekavalley]

I'm still thinking about Jimmy and his three suit jackets in the mirror in 6x01. We have the past (his ill-fitting, sad brown S1 suit), the present (the jacket with the little boxes that matches Kim's outfit that he'll wear that day), and the future (the shiny Saul Goodman suit that we eventually see him wear to testify in federal court in the finale).

Seeing Jimmy pick among these suits for Kim's client could be too heavy-handed or too meta, but fashion is so important to him and his character that it feels like an appropriate crossroads to find him at. The past and the future are so tangible, he can touch them and make choices about them, let go of them when he is ready and put them back to hang in his closet when he is not.

Some Reddit comments point out how similar the silver jacket is to the shiny metallic suits that the Salamanca twins wear - in the same episode, one of their jackets is laid respectfully over one of the burned dead bodies as a shroud. But what really stands out over the course of the season is the connection to Kim's shiny silver d-day blouse.

This is Kim at her girlbossiest, making the worst decisions with the most confidence, getting high off the results. This is where they were so beautifully in sync they could have read each other's minds, and where they destroyed their lives, and they did it together. Kim was wearing it when they probably last had sex. (I'm going back and forth on this because they could have had some traumatized sex after Howard's death - but with the scam being such a sexual thrill for Kim in particular I'm thinking that the trauma shut that down for her.) The blouse is shiny, bold, and flamboyant, but still has a certain kind of neutrality. It's a blank screen for the red light of criminality and treachery of the show's color code to project onto, in the dark room scenes.

Jimmy's court outfit is kind of wild on the face of it, more unhinged than most of his Saul persona outfits, especially in the behind the scenes pictures where you can see the red shirt underneath the shiny silver blazer. The cartel layer to the jacket is absolutely there - even though he spent the last six months hiding like a prey animal, Jimmy is the last player standing in the game and he has a certain kind of pride in that. But it's a callback to those memories of Kim as much as his finger guns are - I remember us and how we got here. It shows what we all know - that when he walked into the courtroom, he was focused with one intent in his mind. And knowing Jimmy and the way he takes every little comment to heart (how I relate to that!), Kim's casual assessment of the silver jacket in 2004 while she was on the phone, that it was "too nice" for court for her pro bono client to borrow, must still be lodged somewhere in his brain. Kim liked it once.

Anyway... the attention to detail is incredible.

[lilyginnyblackv2]

A Deeper Look At Kazuki’s Delinquent Teen Version of Miri

In Episode 5, we see Miri packing for her brief visit and stay with Kyutaro at the Mistletoe Cafe:

She has a drawing pad, crayons, an eraser, water bottle, a white stuffed rabbit, and some food: the stuff like the orange gummies and popcorn (ポップ) seem rather generic, while the Poki Poki is obviously meant to be Pocky, the pink container is meant to be Calbee’s じゃがりこ (jagariko), which are basically like a potato stick snack. The chocolate seems a bit generic too, though the shape of the box and the circular shape of the chocolate reminds me of Lotte’s Ghana chocolate:

In Kazuki’s wild imagination of a shoplifting teen Miri, we see that he has her stealing Poki Poki and the Choconut chocolate, two things that she is packing in her bag in Episode 5. There’s also a stack of Morio Kart 6 games (like 3 or 4, maybe for her and her friends, lol). 

The stationary stuff was replaced with makeup and other kinds of cosmetics, which fits in with what we see of her appearance. 

Looking at her face in the image below, Kazuki has her looking like Misaki, Miri’s mother. This makes sense, of course, she is her mom. He imagines her with the same color eye shadow though, which is interesting. Anyone who has watched anime, especially school based ones, for a while, likely know that wearing makeup goes against the usual school dress codes. 

The same goes for her earrings, especially if they are pierced. Most school dress codes in Japan don’t allow for earrings, so if someone does get ear piercings, it’s in adulthood, after they graduate. Even then though, clip on earrings are more common. A teen girl with pierced earrings though gives the image of delinquency. 

Miri is also show with the top buttons of her dress shirt unbuttoned and her tie loosened. All of which is against dress code as well. Her skirt was also altered to be a bit shorter than it is supposed to be (you can see that more in the last image below). Before we talk about that last image though, let’s talk about the aspects of Miri’s appearance that could go against some Japanese school dress codes, but which she has no actual control over.

Specifically the color of her hair and it being wavy. I’ll link to some articles that go into more details on these issues, but her is an excerpt from on Vice article. It mentions:

Text: The unnamed female student said her institution repeatedly demanded she dye her naturally brown hair black. She followed the school’s rules at first but eventually stopped, leading school officials to remove her desk from the classroom, erase her name from rosters, and check her hair roots. A court ordered the local government to pay her $3,100 in damages last February, but ruled the school has a right to impose hair regulations.

In another article entitled, #HairWeGo: Japanese take aim at school rule requiring black hair, from AsiaOne (which I will link to below), we have this segment:

Text: In most of Japan's public schools, pupils are only permitted to have straight black hair. They cannot bleach, dye or perm it. Conversely, any student whose hair is naturally light or curly can be made to straighten or dye it until it is the required shade of black.

The reason for these rules on hair color and needing all students to have straight black hair is because it is often associated with the ideal Japanese image. 

There have been lots of debate and discussion about these sorts of rules over on Japan Twitter, Japanese news, and etc. in recent years, with many calling these rules out. So, recently, many of these rules have been removed or, at least, are currently being reevaluated. 

But these changes are still new, ideas of differently colored hair like brown (or blond, like Kazuki) and hair that isn’t straight (curly, wavy, etc.) are viewed as outside of the norm. And therefore are often associated with acts of rebellion (dyeing hair, perming hair, etc.) rather than the possibility of them just being the natural state and color. 

I’ve worked at a number of Japanese elementary and junior high schools though, and I know that this sort of mentality is changing, especially as more and more biracial children are being born in Japan. But, there is still preconceived ideas there. I remember one teacher I worked with, had to dye their brown hair black for a formal event (outside of work) once. It was sad to see.

But, that’s also why I like the fact that a lot of the Buddy Daddies characters have brown hair (Miri, Kyutaro, Miss Anna) and many of the children Miri plays with have different hair color shades as well (different shades of brown, Taiga with blond-ish colored hair like Kazuki, etc.). I know it’s an anime, but the general character designs in Buddy Daddies leans more towards grounded than something you might find in a Shonen Jump series, etc. So, I think these choices also say something.

Finally, lets talk about this last image. In the background you have posters for the basically “Just Say No to Drugs!!” campaign in Japan (they don’t always use the Globe Mascot for all posters, it makes sense they would use one with a cop at a police station or police box location). There is also a poster warning about phone call scams.

But, I want to focus on Miri sitting with her legs crossed. The other day on Twitter, I saw a video of a woman crossing her legs on a train. An old man that was sitting next to her, and who was manspreading, got upset when she did this and whacked her legs with a newspaper. (I’ll link to think video below).

It’s seen as rude and, especially in the case of women, disrespectful. Of course, that doesn’t mean that people don’t cross their legs (that woman did) and that doesn’t mean that older man’s actions were okay. But, this is also why teen Miri is shown sitting with her legs crossed in Kazuki’s wild imagination, because it is associated with disrespect and the like (the speech patterns that she uses in Japanese are rude too, of course). 

I won’t include the image here, but teen Miri and teen Taiga being all over each other (like hugging each other and making a heart shape together, etc.) is viewed as too much PDA, which is also looked down upon in Japan. So, of course, Kazuki would end up including that in his “delinquent” version of Miri, lol.

[hornyhermitry]

The many puzzle-pieces that served as inspo for Sukuna

A long time ago I made a little deck about elements of Buddhism woven into Jujutsu Kaisen's story.

Since I got a little time on my hands (and he's finally made it back to the manga!) I'd like to put this little run-down on influences Sukuna draws from here as well and extend a bit on it, since more than 2 years have passed since then. (And I've been meaning to rework the deck, but lack time and wantto get at least this one out properly again).

First of all - I don't think Gege copies any character or legend 1:1. IMO, Gege is drawing from various sources and remixing them into his own thing. Whether that's for the story, setting, characters or specifically Sukuna.

So let's have a look at all the historical and mythological characters Sukuna is remixed from.

Ryoumen Sukuna the 2Chan Urban Legend

This is the one probably the most people have heard about, since Gege openly mentioned having drawn inspiration from this:

The 2Chan post about an urban legend how some construction workers allegedly found a 2 meter sized box labeled as "Ryomen Sukuna" with a mummy of conjoined twins inside. The guys who opened it fell sick. The box was given to a local priest to handle the bad energies and at some later point someone called the priest's son and learned it was some deformed freak who died in a way some Buddhist monks practiced a long time ago - by simply meditating ascetically until you enter mummification while still alive.

You can read more on that here.

This is where Gege was clearly inspired to get mummified Sukuna, full to the brim with negative energy, delivered to the story in a box.

The "Rasetsu" Daijizaiten/Ishanaten (伊舎那)

Rasetsu are demon-spirits that reside in the heavenly realms, who have the power to influence and seduce humans, and then eat them. In Buddhism rasetsu are also believed to act as wardens under The Lord of Hell - Enma - punishing the damned. Ishana/Ishanaten/Isana/Daijizaiten is a demon spirit from the highestheaven of the world of desire and is often shown with a three-pronged spear in right hand, and a bowl of blood in his left. He is one of the eight manifestations of Shiva and presides over cosmic destruction.

While he is usually described with many-faces and many arms, in the Womb World Mandala he appears with two arms, dark red in colour, seated on a dark-blue buffalo, and accompanied by his consort "Uma"(烏摩), also seated on a buffalo.

I believe this is what inspired the design for Sukuna's original giant curse form. Color-coded in red, eating humans, holding a three-pronged spear and drinking blood while causing destruction. Yup. Sounds about right.

Daijizaiten's son, Kitchen God Sukanda/Idaten

Daijizaiten has a son, Idaten, also called Sukanda 塞建駄, who is the God of the Kitchen and looks after the provisions of the Buddhist brotherhood. He is known as a swift runner, because legend has it that he ran with great speed to catch a demon thief who stole the ashes of the deceased Buddha. Wherever there is trouble, he is instantly found there. His appearance is not described. In Japan he is usually in a little shrine attached to the monks' dining-room

I believe this is where Gege got the inspiration to give Sukuna his little cooking theme he got going on around his curse technique and domain. From the Japanese name for the shrine that can be read as an imperial palace's cooking quarter, through his cleave & dismantle technique that is illustrated with respective sushi knives for skinning and chopping fish. And of course he is cooking with fire, as we see with Jogo.

Interesting that Sukuna has all this sushi chef imagery going on, when there is so much fish symbolism in the story and especially the anime - from the culling games' original name Japanese name referring to the annual fish migration to all the fish shown in the Season 1 intro and a lot more. Of course, there is also the little shoutout to this when Sukuna tells Gojo he's nothing but a fish on his chopping board.

Heian era scholar & poet Sugawara no Michizane, deified after death

Sugawara no Michizane was a respected politician and poet at the imperial court for most of his life. Michizane took a great liking to plum ("ume") trees. In his later years, there was a power struggle between rivaling clans and after the emperor he worked under abdicated, he was demoted, banished and sent into exile by the new (Fujiwara) clan who assumed all influential official posts and rose to power. Exiled, he wrote a famous haiku bemoaning the absence of his favourite ume tree.

(It does fit awfully well to Uraume not forgetting Sukuna for a thousand years until they reunite, huh?) According to legend, his favorite plum tree flew from Kyoto to Dazaifu in Kyushu to be with him. Shortly after, he died in exile. Now something very peculiar happened - shortly after Michizane died, the land was struck by death, plague and drought. The new emperor's sons all died one after the other. Lightning repeatedly struck the Imperial Palace's Great Audience Hall and there were rainstorms and floods for weeks.

People assumed Michizane had become a vengeful spirit and built a shrine (Kitano Tenmangu) to appease him, while posthumously restoring his office and titles and planting many ume trees. Legend also states that during Michizane's funeral procession, the bull pulling the cart bearing his remains refused to go any further than a certain spot, so his shrines are usually decorated with statues of bulls.

If you look at it, it's really on the nose, isn`t it? :)

While a few people have been theorizing Sukuna might have known Sugawara no Michizane or that he might be his relative, mostly because Gojo namedrops him as a potential shared ancestor between Gojo and Yuta ... I personally think that Sukuna is partially based on him and I'd love to find out if this is going to have relevance at a later point in the story. We know so little about Sukuna's time as a human, but when you look at the design of his Malevolent Shrine full of ox skulls, the fact his consort is called Uraume and has plum-themed hair and how he refers to himself as a calamity back in the day, much like plagues, famines & storms, the puzzle pieces really fit together quite smoothly.

And as a last puzzle piece: After a life of being revered and looked up to as a court official next to the emperor, Michizane was exiled and fell from grace at the imperial court when another clan took over —- now remember how Sukuna calls himself „the disgraced (or „fallen“) one“. How intriguing, is ‚t it?

As for his tattoos: Inspiration might have been an old Japanese practice to tattoo criminals with symbols indicating their crimes. The practice comes from the Edo times (1603–1867), making it multiple hundred years too late for a Heian (794 to 1185) criminal. Nevertheless, fair game for loose inspiration.

Another inspiration might have been something from a specific Buddhist hell (there are multiples ones). In Kokujou Jigoku (黒縄地獄), the Hell of Black Threads, those who have killed and committed theft, receive marking lines made of black thread on their body from demons and ogres, so these demons know where to hack their bodies apart as punishment, using axes and saws.

What I find intriguing most about Sukuna's tattoos is that he has them on all his bodies - both Yuji's and Megumi's --- which would indicate they are more like, uh, tattooed onto his soul than his own skin, why else would they show up on multiple meatsuits of his? My last guess about the tattoos has no footing anywhere, so take it as a random sidenote - I'm just wondering if he might be sealing something with those sigils. Who knows what their purpose is. Maybe he just likes the look of it, who knows.

So, to recap.

I think Sukuna's appearance in modern times is taken from the 2chan thread as Gege said, his further character design is mostly lent from the Sugawara no Michizane legends (fall from grace, calamities, shrine, ox and "Ume" plum tree included) and his curse form is further inspired by Daijizaiten, the human-eating god of destruction who is also accompanied by an ox and a consort called "Uma" and finished off with a touch of that god's son Sukanda who is a literal kitchen god and a fast runner, tending to a shrine's kitchen.

OF COURSE this man is a scholar turned rogue fun-loving cannibal. <3 His demeanor is not that of a peasant who never learned to read who's struggling to meet ends during a famine, but shows he has been moving among higher ranks back as a human. He attended festivals as a curse/deity and even cares about the seasonal aspect of Yorozu's haiku.

This man has been around the imperial court in the Heian times, knows how to play politics and intrigue and evidently studied mind and soul of humans since way back then, until he rose above it. That's not up for debate, hahaha. Where his arc is going? We shall see. Still hard to say at this point. You'll find me over here, holding out for a flashback to his past. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed! -Jisa

Yup, that‘s me writing poetry in blood with my scholar turned curse upon humanity commissioned from JinRozenrot . As my old friend Mr Lecter would say: Tada~ ♥