#epic pairing

[epicthemusicalstuff]

I was calling with a friend today, and out of nowhere she started singing “Penelope why, you know I’m too shy” and I was so excited cause did she finally listen to Epic like I’ve been telling her to?!?! No. No she did not. She saw it on a silly little instagram reel.

In other news the Would You Fall In Love With Me edits are haunting me- and now friends are sending me drawings of other fandoms I’m in with that sound and it kills me every time :3 how are yall?

[melodyartist]

Zeus and Poseidon cus good gods do you design them fine as hell🙏

Just a good opportunity for an art dump of the two despicable brothers. Plus I'm finally getting used to the new Zeus' design

[theellipelli]

fun fact this was drawn while watching both versions of 'all quiet on the western front.' can u tell

[wukyma]

Hey, you! I like you! *gives your favorite character a long happy life*

With all the sheep symbolism surrounding Polites I think he should become a shepherd... You know, as a hobby

(or maybe I'm just tired of living in the city and wanted rural vibes,, who knows)

Details!

Polites wears the headband on his arm as a reminder of past events (it's unsuitable for his current lifestyle anymore maybe?)

He's got a proper beard now!!

Not really important but the sheep's legs are taking me out. Yes that lil fluff was drawn from a reference I adore it

This can be seen as a continuation to any of my AUs since Poseidon is there too hehe

More pictures below ⬇️

You can't see it but The Fish™ is smiling (woah, right? Who knew his face could twist that way)

Also I think he would try to match Polites' aging, changing appearance subtly each day; one time, though, he would experimentally revert to something youthful (like the Titanomachy times) only to be told "gods above, no. change back." LMAO

And yeah he's still in disguise as a mortal because he doesn't want to jumpscare random people ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ almost no one except Odysseus and a few others know who's chilling with Poli on that ancient equivalent of a farm

[somegrumpynerd]

Some skeletons as kitty cats

Neko Sansume

[nightmarearian]

Done (heavy quotation marks) with monster Ody @evergreen292 ;)

tbh I couldn’t for the life of me pick a color palette I liked And Render it so I gave up on color. Enjoy the half assery.

Tbh I’ve just been call it Ithacan Naga, but it’s objectively it’s a mix of snake, owl/bird, and human. So 🤷.

Tbh the wings are supposed to be white/gray-brown, cause owls & Hermes, while his scales are supposed to be an oscillating scale from sea green-blue to purple-tinted gray. Uhm. Evidently that sorta didn’t happen but also did. So.

The purple/grayer scales are gonna be more around with the feathers and wings.

Those fin colors are. Too blue and too bright but I love the colors themselves so they’re staying for now.

Uhm. That’s it for now, ig. I’m sorta on a timer rn and I’m tired so <3

The writing bit with this is still in the works (😭)

[firinnie]

Telemachus and the exiled!Athena

Characters for my latest fic Lightning comes in pairs, so we have winter fun in Ancient Greece, and Athena learns how not to die being mortal.

[somepsychopomp]

well. I've tricked myself into shipping Ares/Telemachus now, so I'm gonna make it a problem for everyone else.

imagine Ares post-Ithaca saga, where he got to watch Odysseus (and his son) slaughter 108 screaming, crying men in their own home. That's super cruel and warlike and hot! Sadly, Ody seems to be really smitten with his wife. Now, Ares can transform himself into a copy of Penelope, but he doesn't think he can pull off her mannerisms well enough to trick the little king into sleeping with him.

So plan B. He's gonna court Odysseus' son (who he denies once calling pathetic and weak).

Since trickery isn't really Ares' style, he thinks the much better option is to ride over the ocean in his chariot of charred metal and flames, pulled by his infernal horses with their golden reins in his hand, dressed in full armor as he breaches Ithaca.

Ares finds Telemachus at the most perfect time possible, when the prince is far away from anyone else. What a coincidence! (He def didn't bribe Hermes to give up Telemachus' current location.)

Telemachus screeches as a giant man in a magic chariot pulls up to the fresh mountain spring where he was once bathing in peace. Now, Telemachus just went through his whole training arc with Athena and is in the woods on a hunting trip, so he's more than able to defend himself.

Just as he thinks Ares is about to attack, he lunges out of the water and reaches for his bow and arrows.

A coward's weapon? Ares wonders, sneering beneath his polished helm. Then he sees the spear next to them and he sighs quietly with relief.

"Who are you?" Telemachus demands, nude and sparkling in the sunlight, the beads of water on his skin shining like pearls. He's also aiming his arrow at Ares' forehead.

Cute, Ares thinks. The boy has the build of a young warrior- strong but slender limbs, a narrow waist, some soft wispy curls at his lower abdomen.

He would look even better in my arms.

"Peace!" Ares calls out, though it somewhat sickens him to do so. He removes his helm and offers the young prince a smile, "I've not come here to cause bloodshed. It seems there's been enough of that already."

Telemachus lowers his bow, still suspicious but undoubtedly curious.

Ares deigns to match the prince in dress, his armor dissolving into flames around his body before fading all at once, revealing his flawless, nude form in all its glory. Telemachus' face flashes bright pink, his gaze averting as if he were a little maiden.

Ares cups his face and forces their eyes to meet.

"I saw the way you slew the men laying waste to your home. Not terrible work," Ares says, his voice a low and rough purr like the rolling of chariot wheels across a battlefield, "But you lacked ferocity, and that led to your capture."

Just as it was doing now.

Ares' other hand touches Telemachus' bow, wrenching away the offending instrument, for it could hardly be considered a weapon at all, and takes the prince's hand in his own. Ares kisses the heel of his palm, appreciating the gritty touch of callouses, and offers Telemachus another smile.

"I could show you otherwise," Ares offered.

Telemachus, his face still bright red, gives him a strange look. Too late, Ares realizes that the prince isn't staring at him, but something behind him.

He cries out in pain as something sharp stabs him in the side. He lets go of Telemachus, wheeling around to find the King of Ithaca himself. And unlike his son, Odysseus is fully dressed. (A shame.)

"What do you think you're doing with my boy?" he asks, his voice cold, his eyes calculating. Odysseus hefts the spear, the pointed end glistening with ichor.

Ares is beyond frustrated, but knows the chances of courting the prince have vanished by this point. Now, he wouldn't say no to having his way with Odysseus. Ares did have a fondness for savage warriors, and was admittedly impressed with how a mortal man managed to catch him by surprise.

But it seems that today simply will not be the day he gets to play with the little wolf or his father.

Trying to salvage the last of his composure, Ares leaves them and returns to Olympus where he roars for Hermes. His little brother shows up, kicking his feet with glee.

"Run into trouble again, Ares?" Hermes asks.

Ares grabs hold of Hermes by his chiton, "Why didn't you tell me the prince wasn't alone?"

An eye roll. "You never asked!"

Typical. Ares will lick his wounds before going to Aphrodite. If anyone could offer him counsel here, it would be his lover.

[rawliverandgoronspice]

I think what particularly annoys me with the "zelda was always gameplay before story" is that... it's not true? At least I don't think it's true in the way people mean it.

Zelda games were always kind of integrating story based on the standards of the time. When game stories were in game pamphlets, Zelda's stories was in the pamphlets. ALTTP tried to tell a pretty complicated stories with the limitations of the time. OoT was actively trying to tell an epic, cinematic tale packed with ambiance and expand what 3D could offer that 2D games struggled with. Majora's Mask is deeply character-driven in many, many ways. Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are both pretty concerned about their stories, down to the point that some people were bored by TP's cutscenes in particular. Skyward Sword, from what little I have played it, is very very invested in its characters and their journey (and 2D Zeldas have Link's Awakening, Minish Cap... None of them are visual novels, but they are concerned with emotional journeys, character arcs, mysteries about their own world...)

What is true is that the narrative wraps around the mechanics, and not the other way around. The mechanics drive themes, aesthetics, emotional beats and character journeys; and that's great. The world is a puzzle, and the world is delightfully absurd when it needs to be, full of heart when it calls for it, dark and oppressive when it suits the player experience.

That does not mean the games aren't invested in their stories. Even BotW has a pretty complicated story to tell about an entire world rather than one specific tale or legend --all of it at the service of the gameplay, which is exploration and mastery of your environment.

So. Yes, none of the Zelda games are million-words long visual novels that care deeply about consistency and nuance; but stories don't need consistency or deep lore to be meaningful and serve an emotional journey. Again: gameplay is story. The two cannot be so easily parsed from each other.

And Zelda as a franchise obviously care deeply about story, characters and setting (and still does right now --otherwise there wouldn't be a movie), even if it doesn't try to imitate prestige narrative-driven games, which is great and part of why I love this series so much. Doesn't mean it couldn't have done better in the past, it obviously could have, but I feel like pretending that nobody ever cared about story or character is just... false? It's a huge disservice to the devs too. Some of them obviously cared immensely.

The "gameplay above story", at least in the extent to which it is paraded today to defend TotK, mostly, is a really recent development. And I think it's one that deserves to receive some pushback.

[milflaszlo]

But she means everything to him. 📹: @medium-observation

[sonknuxadow]

FINALLY . SONIC AND KNUCKLES IMAGE

[unproduciblesmackdown]

WAUGH!!!

[simstationdance]

"Alien" hair family attempt. What do you think?

Color names: Moonstone (blond), Bloodstone (red), Blue Moon (brown), Entropy (black)

[technicalthinker]

Seong Gi-hun | Luck Runs Out (Epic: The Musical)

(Spoilers for Squid Game Season 2)

"Don't forget how dangerous the gods are."

"Have faith, friend, we've come this far."

[witsserviceablesubstitute]

A ramble that's not in good faith, sorry, I know this online discourse gets under my skin. Anyway, context, Tumblr fandoms are very queer inclusive spaces that can forget how queer exclusionary many areas of storytelling can still be. Queer characters are a staple on US and UK television now but continue to have a lot of caveats and constraints.

Fandoms are likely a big part of why queerness in television has come as far as it has in the last few decades. Not for their constructive conversations about queer representation with an industry, but because they make queerness visible and viable. Creators started fighting back. Shows like Xena, whose actors and writers refused to let Gabrielle and Xena be seen as simply 'gal pals'. Refused to let the clear queer subtext be erased. Shows like Steven Universe and The Owl House, who actively went against their networks to ensure their queer romances couldn't be censored.

Can you remember the last time the "let them be friends" arguments applied to anything but the potential canonization of queer subtext? Cast your mind on the major same sex ships over the past 15 years. How many are canonically romantic? The vast majority are, in canon, intimate male friendships. Friendships that hold more importance in the story than any romance. Perhaps ask why this same argument is being applied to a queer relationship with clear romantic subtext? What does erasing that subtext serve and who does it hurt.

[vestacritter-otd]

DAY 11

Today's critters are dinosaur fairies !!