#fatespeaker post

[the-aviary-system]

Big RainWing energy

-Fatespeaker (she/her)

[flawseer]

On the False Dragonets of Destiny

Recycled art... Forgive me, I can't physically draw more than I currently am.

Just a little while ago I was looking at some replies to my recent work, and I noticed a nice comment from someone who expressed they enjoyed my comics featuring the false dragonets of destiny, but couldn't really get into them in the books. I am thankful for that comment, but even more thankful for the opportunity to ramble at length about something I kind of wanted to talk about, but couldn't find a plausible excuse for. Until now.

All of this is just my reading of the material, of course. You don't need to agree with me on this.

Content Warning: Some discussion of abuse, trauma, violence. I don't know if it's severe enough to warrant a warning, but better be safe.

General discussion

The false dragonets of destiny, the alternates, or whatever one wants to call them. They enter the story proper in book 4, after having made a few minor cameo appearances before, and serve as a kind of hybrid antagonistic force and pseudo-allies for Starflight during his stay on the Nightwing Isle. During that time, they are very abrasive, stand-offish, uncooperative, and a bit annoying, and I guess that doesn't make them come off very well. But like, in spite of that or maybe partially because of it, I am really fond of these guys, and I'd like to take some time talking them up to you.

One can examine how these guys act and conclude that they are a bunch of dysfunctional screw-ups. And they absolutely are that, don't get me wrong. But one should keep in mind: the majority of the time they are in the spotlight, they are in an extreme, tense, and frighteningly uncertain situation. It's easy to forget how stressful these situations are because the books as a whole really like to gloss over the more frightening kind of subjects on account of being written for young readers. You can't really go deep into themes of abuse, trauma, and depression in a story like that without tripping over some kind of censor on the way, but the implications are there, between the lines for you to find.

Understanding the group

Who are the false dragonets of destiny? They are posited as a mirror image of the true dragonets of destiny, who have all been extensively schooled in matters of education and martial prowess. The first thing we see THIS group do on page is brawl, so one may think they must be trained and capable fighters. Viper and Flame constantly throw around death threats and aggressive quips, so one may think they are hyper-violent and dangerous. They are neither. Nautilus admits the Talons haven't bothered training them at all, they haven't seen real combat, they've likely been deliberately kept away from the war as a whole. Flame doesn't even know how to use his fire breath correctly. Starflight, who is by far the least physically adept of the arc 1 protagonists, is able to outpace them even as four of them team up against him.

They are neither killers nor a crack team of badasses, rather they are a bunch of play-fighting, posing delinquents who talk a big game with little in terms of actual skill to back it up. Realizing this is key to understanding just how out of their depth and ill-equipped they are to handle anything that gets thrown at them on the Nightwing homeland, especially past the negotiations at the Skywing outpost.

Abduction and imprisonment

When Starflight first finds them, they have been on the Nightwing Isle for a good while, and they are suitably bristly because of it.

Look at this situation from their perspective. These guys have known nothing other than their semi-peaceful life in the Talon camp. Then the leader of that camp, Nautilus--a figure they all know and trust, essentially sells them to a frightening stranger, who looms over them and is so physically large he could crush each of them easily. This stranger pulls them away from their home without even giving them a chance to say goodbye to their relatives (I'm convinced Avalanche would not have let Morrowseer take her son if there was a chance to intervene, so Flame must have already been gone when she found out).

A contingent of Nightwing awaits them, blindfolds them so they don't know where the entrance to the Nightwing home is. They pass through a kind of eldritch tunnel that pulls at their souls. When they are finally allowed to see again, they find themselves trapped on an island where there is no sunlight and every breath hurts as the air is thick with ash.

The Nightwings won't let them leave, in fact they don't know if they will ever be able to leave again. Nobody tells them what's going on, what they are meant to do, or what the plan is. They are left confined in some room with nothing to do, and they (sans Fatespeaker) can't go outside without being arrested. Food is brought very infrequently, and usually inedible, so they haven't eaten since they were forced to leave home. They don't know where they are, nor where their parents are, nor if their parents know where THEY are. They are completely cut off from anywhere, isolated, trapped in this little slice of hell with no means to escape and little hope to acquire any soon.

I think if I was in a situation like that, I would be pretty cranky too. More than that, I would be scared out of my wits, and I believe that they are as well. If you look at their actions through a lens of them being frightened, their irritating quirks suddenly become very relatable. Viper is coping by throwing out threats and making herself seem bigger and scarier than the thing trapping her. Flame makes offensive jokes about killing Fatespeaker because making light of the situation helps him keep his wits together. Ochre is hard to read, but I think he's just tuning everything out. Squid is convinced that his father--who is the most important and smart dragon in all of Pyrrhia--has made the correct choice and knows what's best for all of them. And Fatespeaker is in complete denial, choosing to trust an inaccurate vision of the future while ignoring all the red flags that don't fit into it.

I think it's interesting that you can read this as all of them having a different strategy to cope with the uncertain and frightening situation they're trapped in. That's part of why I like them; they're very flawed and make interesting decisions.

Trauma and Empathy

You can look at someone like Squid and see his surface traits: He is annoying, he whines and complains constantly, he brags about who his father is, and he seems completely incapable of doing anything useful. If this guy was in any other story, I would probably dislike him. But Squid has the benefit of being a whiny dweeb in a situation where it is very appropriate to whine and be scared. He has a scene where he makes a somewhat goofy speech at Morrowseer where he calls him stupid and wants to go home, and is subsequently exiled. It's a bit silly in execution, but for me it did succeed in making me feel bad for Squid as he desperately and pathetically pleads for Morrowseer not to send him to his death.

But then you can read beyond the lines a little and view the scene in the full context that isn't really dwelt on. Here, you've got Squid, who is inept even among his peers, sheltered and doted on by his father, whom he has never been away from for any real amount of time until now. This guy, who probably can't even feed himself (otherwise he might have been able to catch fish in the waters around the island), keeps telling himself that his father has a plan, that all of this, even the questionable stuff, is happening for a reason. He hasn't eaten in weeks and he's been the punching bag for everyone else's frustrations (because Fatespeaker is not around enough, hanging out with Starflight). Now he has been chased halfway across the world, forced to cross the ocean while tired and starving, to be told he has to talk to a bunch of violent strangers who hate his kind and want to kill him. He tries to hide but is grabbed by the throat and held in the air by a soldier twice his size. This is likely the first time his life has ever been threatened that directly and with genuine intent.

The strange new Nightwing who was sent with them somehow manages to deescalate the situation enough to save him, but then, without warning, more dragons burst into the room. Suddenly everything is on fire, including the soldiers who just a moment ago threatened him. He is close enough to them to watch their forms twist and writhe in agony as they slowly burn to death.

As he is made to watch this horrifying spectacle, all the feelings he repressed by reminding himself of the faith he has in his father come flooding back in at once. It becomes too much for him to bear, and he breaks. He starts crying and verbally lashes out at their abuser for the horrid conditions they have been placed in and demands--half asserting and half pleading--to be allowed to go home. This isn't really whining anymore, this is a full-scale mental breakdown, rendered to be simple and digestible to a young audience. Imagine how harrowing this scene could have been if it wasn't filtered through a child-friendly narrative.

Closing thoughts

There is a scene some time after that I found kind of poignant. At one point, Starflight looks out and he sees Flame just standing out there, silently staring into the distance. There's maybe one line dedicated to it, and when you read the book normally, you don't really dwell on it since it's so nondescript. But this scene happens shortly after the visit to the remote outpost. The soldiers that burned to death in there were all Skywings. Skywings like himself, and like his mother, who also was a soldier before she joined the Talons. Whenever I picture him standing there, I imagine he is reliving that moment, hearing the dying screams of his kinsmen. I think he will be hearing them forever.

So in conclusion: The reason why I like the alternate dragonets so much is because of the enormous, untapped potential they possess as characters, and how deep some of them run if you take some time to look at them. I feel like all of them have a story to tell, and it's a bit of a shame that Sutherland likely won't come around to telling any of them. If I had infinite time, money, and energy, I would love to make many more comics about them, as they are an interesting lot.

Especially Flame's story I feel is such a heartbreaking tragedy, and thinking about the way it ended saddens me. He's one of my six all-time favorite characters in the series, I wish he could have gone out in a happier, healthier way.

[toadslug]

I FINISHED IT!! Here are my silly opinions for the silly dragon series 🥰 Character names, explanations, and template below the cut:

★ Favorite character: Clay

Clay has been my favorite character since I read his book!! I think his character goes a lot deeper than how some of the fandom treats him (his character arc is amazing), and he's also just a really nice guy.

★ Liked by everyone but me: Queen Ruby

I have no idea why I don't like her 😭 I think the way she treated Peril just kind of pissed me off when I was a kid, and I've never been able to shake the grudge. It's not her, it's me. I almost put Bumblebee here instead (I can't fault her for acting her age, but her screaming can get tiresome).

★ Didn't like at first: Fatespeaker

I considered putting Glory here, but I only started to hate her when that was the popular thing to do (I'm back to liking her now). I immediately didn't like Fatespeaker... Probably because I was rooting for Sunny x Starflight at the time 😬 I PROMISE I'm not like that anymore omg, I was, like, nine. I've come to value Fatespeaker a lot more; her character is surprisingly interesting to pick apart.

★ Would like to know more about: Hailstorm

There's so many characters I want to know more about!! Gill!! Tau!! Riptide!! Moray!! Osprey!! Sora!! Literally any MudWing character!!! But I went with Hailstorm. I adore the cool, supportive big brother energy he radiates, and seeing him trying to fit back into IceWing society (and maybe go through a teensy identity crisis) would be interesting.

★ Least favorite character: Sky

Honestly, I don't really have a least favorite character...? There's Whirlpool, of course, but that's too easy. I ended up choosing Sky 🤷‍♀️ I liked him enough in Dragonslayer, but he annoyed me in The Flames of Hope. I feel like he became a lot louder and more brash.

★ Like the design, dislike the character: Vulture

His dragon skull tattoos and the gimmick for them is so sick?? Why is this grandpa more stylish than me and everyone I know??? His design is great, but everything to do with him and his crime ring felt a little out of nowhere to me. It's been a while since I've read Darkness of Dragons, so maybe I'm just not remembering everything? But yeah. I wish he was introduced better.

★ Like the character, dislike the design: Luna

I like Luna!! And I like how she looks on her book cover, too (the rendering on her is drop-dead GORGEOUS). But the rest of her appearances in canon art... ehh.

These shades of green are making me feel things. And the spots on her wings look kind of awkward to me.

★ Favorite ship: Jambu x Pineapple

I was really close to putting Clay x Peril here because of how OBSESSED I was with them as a kid (shout-out to the Demons Peril PMV by Echosplash Animations that saved my life); however, Jambu x Pineapple is the only ship in the series that got me kicking my feet. The flashback to them cuddling in the hammock melted my heart 💖 Luna x Swordtail, Tamarin x Anemone, and Mangrove x Orchid are also my beloved. Honestly, though, I'm not that involved with shipping anymore.

★ Would never befriend IRL: Sundew

I like Sundew as a fictional character, but I would be slightly scared of her if she was real. She probably wouldn't like me.

★ Would befriend IRL: Umber

He just seems chill. I don't think he'd prod me to do stuff or talk, and I like people like that... People who can just let you exist. I feel like he'd tolerate my cringey humor, too.

★ Similar personality: Clearsight

I am NOWHERE near as girlboss as her, but I can relate to constantly worrying about future situations that may or may not happen 😁😁

★ Least favorite ship: Burn x Scarlet

Sorry toxic yuri ☹️ I just don't ship Burn with anyone.

*This template wasn't my idea; I took the original template and modified it to my liking.

[mythos321]

I decided to draw Fatespeaker! one of my favorite characters from Wings of Fire

I love everything about her she’s adorable-

[the-aviary-system]

This is so mecore

-Fatespeaker (she/her)

[otiksimr]

I'm having... A VISION! That you just might draw Fatespeaker! (If you're still doing those Canon Requests.)

Ahh. A divine vision speaketh

[epiphlyte]

aaugh i never thought i would procrastinate so hard on posting here but whaddaya know this has been sitting in my drafts for days.. mostly because school has started up again for me and im too tired in the evenings to write out my thoughts on things SJKKHJ

anyways, ive been feeling extremely nostalgic recently, so as a bit of a warmup-gone-out-of-control here are the fake (well, backup) prophecy dragonets! remember this reveal absolutely shocking me reading the books as a kid. their dynamic is wacky.

an in depth explanation of their designs under the cut!

something i initially didnt like, but now think is a striking visual, is the fact that their designs really don’t go together - especially compared to the actual prophecy dragonets. was puzzling over this for ages, trying to figure out how to make them more cohesive, but eventually just decided to leave it. i think it fits since they really dont get along lol.

the problem with making starflight (check previous posts/tags) purplish is that now fatespeaker has to be a more saturated purple to distinguish the two - she additionally has faint teardrop scales by her eyes to add some spice to her design. i think canon should give nightwings more unique silver scale patterns as well, like fatespeaker's "bracelets" (sadly not included here)!

i want to eventually revisit flames scar, it didnt really come out how i wanted it to. other than that, i like his colours and his pose! you might notice that as i recall how to draw dragons again ive slowly been working on my poses and expressions, making them more dynamic.

seawings are one of my favourite tribes to draw so i really liked designing squid, although he hasn’t really made that much of an impression on me. i should eventually make a palette tracker of all the colours for the tribes, to make them more unified? or alternatively, focus more on the shapes and attributes of each one. i like making seawings squishy and frilly, like some sea animals!

viper is probably my favourite design out of this batch! i really like her colours, although they border more on the palette id use for ocs - eg. is she recognizable as a canon character? i do like her pose though!

and finally ochre - i seriously can’t remember any of this guys dialogue. with this though i did manage to nail down my mudwing designs, varying horns and tusks. maybe i’ll draw clay’s sibs next?? no one knows, not even i.. but i am currently in a character designing mood!

[wings-of-waffles]

The only two pieces of writing that have ever driven me to actual, full on tears are:

The end of Warriors: Dawn of the Clans and a certain drawn out character death (no spoilers, go read dotc if you haven't already it is either the best or second best wc arc imo)

This one Mastermind fanfic that made me so excited as I got up and ran around my room, bonking my nose against a shelf somehow, which contributed to the tears even more

And that is how Mastermind Wings of Fire almost broke my nose, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[axilarycobra]

I used to hate Fatespeaker and thought she was annoying but its crazy how quickly I realized that I'm actually just like her and that she's so real. she's just a delusional queen who likes equal rights and loves a boy

[flamebringer0]

About Nightwing Powers

Wow it turns out you can attach titles to posts, awesome. I will now make another post.

It always drove me kind of crazy how Nightwing powers are presented in canon. I think it drives a lot of people crazy because I've seen more than one person's headcanon adjustments to them. So here is my contribution to that genre.

Some Nightwings have perceptual abilities that other dragons -- other Nightwings and members of other tribes -- lack. One is the ability to read minds, the other is the ability to see the future.

All Nightwings develop both future sight and mind reading in the egg. The mind of a fetus can't integrate any of this information, and most will lose both abilities long before learning to understand what they mean. The dragonet's third eye closes, so to speak, within hours after hatching, and will stay that way for the rest of their life. For unclear reasons, the loss of these abilities is prevented by exposure to the light of a full moon immediately after hatching.

Nightwings always hatch at night, at least if the eggs are exposed to the sky. Those who hatch under a full moon retain the ability either to read minds or see the future, whereas those who hatch under two or three full moons retain both. The presence of these abilities also causes the development of silver scales on the face. A mind reader has a silver scale at the outer corner of each eye, whereas a prophet has a silver scale in the center of the forehead.

[Image ID: Two simplistic line drawings of a dragon's head. These drawings are identical with each other aside from the placement of specific scales, which are highlighted in white. The left drawing is labeled "mind reading" and shows two crescent-shaped scales at the corners of the dragon's eyes. The right drawing is labeled "prophecy" and shows an eye-shaped scale in the center of the dragon's forehead. /.End ID]

The appearance of the silver scales correlates with the strength of the ability. A larger, rounder scale indicates greater power.

[Image ID: Five simplistic line drawings of a dragon's head. These drawings are identical with each other, and with the drawings in the previous image, except in the placement of specific scales. The first drawing is labeled "Starflight" and has no highlighted scales. The second is labeled "Fatespeaker" and has two crescent shaped scales near the eyes. These scales are very thin, much thinner than those of the drawing that was labeled "mind reading". The third is labeled "Clearsight" and has a single scale in the center of the forehead. This scale is large and perfectly round. The fourth is labeled "Moonwatcher" and has three scales: two at the corners of the eyes, and one in the center of the forehead. These scales are shaped identically to those of the "mind reading" and "prophecy" drawings from the previous image. The last drawing is labeled "Darkstalker" and has three scales: two at the corners of the eyes, and one in the center of the forehead. All of these scales are large and perfectly round. /.End ID]

A dragon hatched under three full moons inevitably has the most powerful prophecy and mind reading. Other than that, it's unclear what exactly makes the abilities of one Nightwing stronger than those of another.

Raw power isn't the whole story, though. Clearsight is the greatest prophet of all time, but she isn't the most powerful prophet of all time (or even the most powerful in her immediate friend group). It just turns out that a dragon who diligently works on her abilities will have a certain advantage over one who believes he is already the most powerful and has an inevitable destiny.

It may not be immediately obvious what it would mean for someone to be "more" or "less" powerful at mind reading or prophecy, but there are two relevant metrics: clarity, and control. I think the names are self-explanatory, but just in case, here's a metaphor. If you imagine Nightwing powers as a flashlight shining into a dark room, clarity is the brightness of the bulb, and control is how easily one can direct the beam. These metrics are not really independent: weakly empowered Nightwings will be weak in both aspects, and strongly empowered Nightwings will be strong in both aspects. For those in the middle, who make up the majority, clarity is more developed than control.

The strongest prophets can direct their vision down many different paths, examining the futures that cascade out of intricate chains of decisions, possibly centuries into the future. The weakest prophets have occasional, muddled impressions that a certain decision in their immediate future might lead to something good or bad. In between are the average prophets, who have clear visions, but little ability to control when they occur or what they are about.

Similarly, the strongest mind readers can root around in another dragon's mind and examine any fact, belief or memory they're interested in, whereas the weakest may have a vague impression of the most immediate, intense feelings of whomever they're around. Average mind readers can clearly read the surface thoughts of other dragons, but can't probe arbitrary mental structures without somehow activating them -- by inducing the target to actively reminisce about a memory or some such thing.

In the old days, back when Nightwings understood where their powers came from, it was quite common for ambitious parents to try to time the conception of their eggs so that they would hatch under the full moon(s). For a single full moon, this is almost pointless: the quickest of the three moons cycles through its phases in just a few weeks, and the variation in the incubation period for a Nightwing egg is great enough that it can't be reliably timed to any specific moon phase. For two and three moon nights, this practice is more meaningful, but only in the very general sense that someone who doesn't conceive an egg roughly a year before the brightest night definitely won't have any thrice-moonborn dragonets, whereas someone who does, might.

Some seers would also offer advice about how to do this. For the most part, this advice was snake oil; only the most powerful seers could decide to have a vision about a particular egg's future. Even among the few who could, it would be extremely difficult to see and articulate all the subtle factors that lead an egg to hatch after a longer or shorter incubation, and most of them would be far outside the ability of the parents to really control anyway.

More unscrupulous parents would occasionally try to break an egg open under the full moons, regardless of whether the dragonet was ready to hatch on their own. This practice has never been successful, as hatching in this way disrupts the delicate developmental process needed for the dragonet to retain their power. It is also quite dangerous, and many of the dragonets who were subject to this simply died.

Foeslayer and Arctic didn't do any of this, incidentally. They just got lucky. Or they got unlucky. Depending on which of them you ask.

Speaking of Foeslayer and Arctic's kids, Whiteout has both Nightwing powers. It's not because she hatched one day after the brightest night, though. Hatching a day after a full moon doesn't grant any power. It's actually a manifestation of synesthesia. Synesthesia causes sensory modalities that are unrelated in most people to correlate in a specific way. Whiteout, like all Nightwings who hatched under no full moons, lost direct access to her abilities shortly after hatching. However, she's still able to use them indirectly via synesthetic influence on her other senses. This is why she describes Clearsight as "azure on the inside": to her, Clearsight's thought patterns are azure in a fairly literal sense.

Another Nightwing whose power manifests in an unusual way is Flame. I mean, Flame isn't actually a Nightwing, but he has a semi-recent Nightwing ancestor. That's why he has a forked tongue, unlike other Skywings, and why he has darker scales than any other Skywing. And he hatched under a full moon, so he can read minds. But since his Nightwing ancestry is slight, his power is extremely weak. It's so weak that he has never become consciously aware of it, and most of the time, it doesn't really affect anything. But if someone thinks really hard about him, he senses it. This is why he's the only dragon Moon has ever met who can tell when someone's looking into his mind. It's a very weak form of the same two-way communication she uses to talk to Darkstalker.

In the year 5000, Nightwings have largely lost access to their powers, since they no longer allow their eggs to hatch under the moonlight. Contrary to what Moon thinks, this isn't because they're afraid of hatching another Darkstalker. After all, if it were specifically desired to avoid hatching eggs under the full moons, we would expect to see some kind of active prohibition, or at least some sort of legend about the terrible consequences of doing so. What actually happened is that the Nightwings' new home prevented them from hatching eggs in moonlight, and after a few generations with no mind readers and no prophets, the dragons started to believe their own abilities were legendary or allegorical.

Despite the Nightwings' present powerlessness, belief in their abilities persists. The Nightwings encourage these rumors, and also train their dragonets to imitate the power they lack. This training mostly consists of cold reading and theatrics, not unlike the techniques human con artists use to simulate psychic powers. However, they also leverage the one sensory ability that Nightwings still have over all* other dragons: an extremely strong sense of smell. Most dragons are aware that Nightwings smell better than members of other tribes, but they don't grasp that they may leak private information through subtle odors that only Nightwings can perceive. By examining the smell of another dragon's body, modern Nightwing "seers" and "mind readers" deduce information in a way that is easily mistaken for magic by the uninitiated.

Darkstalker is highly scandalised by this practice when he wakes up, not least because he has an Icewing-tier nose and can't do it.

Now that Nightwings are living in the rainforest, it's likely that their extrasensory abilities will start to become more common again. Unfortunately, their only connection to the ancient techniques for controlling those abilities turned out to be evil and was sent to gay baby jail. It will likely fall on Moonwatcher to begin the process of re-developing these practices and teaching them to a new generation of Nightwing dragonets.

*Actually, Seawings can smell nearly as well. But only underwater.

[yall-hate-kids-tourney]

Y'all Hate Teens Tourney Bracket

(Bracket updated through Round 2c)

76 teens who are unfairly treated by the fandom for being teens. Who has it worst?

We tried our best with the matches, but sifting through several unique submissions does get to us... We apologize for any unfavorable matchups.

Please let us know of any name corrections. For Japanese names in particular, we denote long vowels and put given name first.

No guarantees on when the tourney starts, but we'll try to get it started within a week. We'll start by setting up the propaganda posts, which will be separate from the poll posts this time around.

Round 1 and 2 matchups under the cut. Color-coded schedule here; undescribed. Note that the listed order is not the same as the schedule.

Round 1

Alicent Hightower (House of the Dragon) vs. Abigail Hobbs (Hannibal)

Amy "Panacea" Dallon (Parahumans (Worm/Ward)) vs. Orihime Inoue (Bleach)

Lady Kenna (Reign) vs. Lisa "Tattletale" Wilbourn (Parahumans (Worm/Ward))

Kokichi Ouma (Danganronpa V3) vs. Scott McCall (Teen Wolf (MTV))

Daphne Blake (Scooby-Doo) vs. Sophie Foster (Keeper of the Lost Cities)

Breezepaw (Warrior Cats) vs. Winter (Wings of Fire)

Gamzee Makara (Homestuck) vs. Yanqing (Honkai Star Rail)

Vriska Serket (Homestuck) vs. Haru (Beastars)

Dirk Strider (Homestuck) vs. Xander Harris (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Wednesday Addams (Wednesday (Netflix)) vs. Sylvester Ashling (Epithet Erased)

Yukine (Noragami) vs. Sayaka Miki (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Yukio Okumura (Blue Exorcist) vs. Soyo Nagasaki (Bang Dream! Girls Band Party!)

Round 2

Dawn Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) vs *1

Marcy Wu (Amphibia) vs. Fatespeaker (Wings of Fire)

Sansa Stark (Game of Thrones) vs. Charlotte Pudding (One Piece)

Olly (Game of Thrones) vs. Penny Carson (Bojack Horseman)

Azula (Avatar: The Last Airbender) vs. *2

Mai (Avatar: The Last Airbender) vs. Peril (Wings of Fire)

Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender) vs. *3

Steven Universe (Steven Universe) vs. Gohan (Dragon Ball Z)

Adrien Agreste (Miraculous Ladybug) vs. *4

Marinette Dupain-Cheng (Miraculous Ladybug) vs. Sakura Haruno (Naruto)

Muu Kusunoki (MILGRAM) vs. Misa Amane (Death Note)

Chloé Bourgeois (Miraculous Ladybug) vs. Candace Flynn (Phineas and Ferb)

April O'Neil (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)) vs. *5

Gwen Stacy (Spider-Man : Into the Spider-verse) vs. Dovepaw (Warrior Cats)

Damian Wayne (DC) vs. *6

Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto) vs. Kyuusaku Yumeno (Bungou Stray Dogs)

Shinji Ikari (Neon Genesis Evangelion) vs. *7

Shuuji Kayama (Digimon) vs. Gon Freecs (Hunter x Hunter)

Asuka Langley Sohryu (Neon Genesis Evangelion) vs. Youko Nakajima (The Twelve Kingdoms)

Rei Ayanami (Neon Genesis Evangelion) vs. Uzi Doorman (Murder Drones)

Akito Shinonome (Project Sekai) vs. *8

Ena Shinonome (Project Sekai) vs. Mafuyu Asahina (Project Sekai)

Katsuki Bakugou (My Hero Academia) vs. *9

Yuuma Tsukumo (Yu-Gi-Oh) vs. Megumi Fushiguro (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Wesley Crusher (Star Trek: The Next Generation) vs. *10

Ezra Bridger (Star Wars: Rebels) vs. Theresa "Scary" Marlowe (Dungeons and Daddies)

Hope Estheim (Final Fantasy XIII) vs. Tohru Honda (Fruit Basket)

Severa (Fire Emblem) vs. Taimi (Guild Wars 2)

Yukari Takeba (Persona 3) vs. *11

Rise Kujikawa (Persona 4) vs. Kotone Shiomi (Persona 3 Portable)

Goro Akechi (Persona 5) vs. *12

Yuuki Mishima (Persona 5) vs. Makoto Niijima (Persona 5)

Phew, that was a lot.

[ravewing]

flame wings of fire headcanons because i am feeling silly .

hii everypony .. welcome back to my quarterly tumblr post 

- piebald flame wings of fire . it would be so awesome it would be so cool - right handed BUT he would go out of his way to convince everyone else that he was ambidextrous . “noo ochre listen to me i can use my left hand i just dont want to . shut up ochre nobody asked” - transmasc and gay . im not wrong fellas - fatespeaker introduced him to coffee . he tells everyone he hates it but he doesnt - his mom is his best friend . he writes her letters from the hospital he works at - viper gaslit him into thinking that his eyes are slightly different colors . “oh my god pike shut up im serious my eyes are different colors LOOK CLOSER goddamn it” - speaking of pike they r 100% frenemies ,, they argue every night and then they play board games together - speaking of pike AGAIN because i love pike . flame was 100% an older brother figure to him - he probably envied carnelian for her confidence - when he and viper were dragonets they prolly had those dumb matching bff necklaces and then one time he gets pissed off at her and he throws it into the ocean (he cries afterward) - im 100% sure that he was TERRIFIED of onyx . imagine you go to school and then in your winglet theres this grown ass adult - pyrophobic after that one time the nightwings burned down the skywing guard post ,, - scared of being read because then people will think he is weak or sum . idk hes just like me ong - he and viper picked on squid ALL THE TIME . “hey squid truth or dare . i dare you to eat that pile of cow shit over there or we’ll tell nautilus that youre a pussy” - prolly hung out with tamarin a couple times . shes his therapist friend - DEATHLY allergic to red tide . the one time the talons of peace were camping by the ocean he was sneezing the whole time “flame go away youre sick we dont want you here” “SHUT UP OCHRE im not sick its my ALLERGIES” - 100% doesnt know how to handle emotions so he bottles ts up and takes it out on random ass people (usually fatespeaker) - he loves trinkets . when he was younger he’d probably scavenge for whatever he could find and then give it to his mom like those cats who bring you dead animals - cries a lot probably - shiftywing said that flame would wear an eyepatch this one time and i could not agree more - introduced pike to hot topic . “flame are you SURE i can wear a spiked collar in public . queen coral would pull out my teeth” “good i hope she does” - he used to have like one million piercings and then viper told him he looked dumb and then he cried - he was definitely a bug kid . “hey mom look at this cool beetle i found :)” “flame honey what is that get that away from me” - this goes hand in hand with the last one but ochre probably would kill bugs without thinking about it and then flame would get really mad at him and then cry - he blames himself for what happened with viper  - a kinkajou and flame friendship would be so funny . scene and goth duo fr - scared of the dark

ok thats all i have for today fellas ,, im going to seaworld tomorrow and its like a three hour drive so maybe possibly expect a flame doodle dump idk 

[flawseer]

Mail Call #3

Answering comments from @void-the-bear @railway-lands @keabirb @ilikebookssomuch @chezgorman @cartoons-everywhere @dragonra305

Please don't hurt me. I have glasses.

Thank you, to all of you. It makes me genuinely happy to know that I'm able to put something into this world that other people can enjoy. I think this is a great setting that is fun to add to.

Doing a Wings of Fire-themed run of this Smaugust challenge has been very interesting and it's good that the result appears to be well-received. It's not always been easy, I'm actually getting quite exhausted having to post content on a strict schedule like this. But it is worth doing if it makes people happy.

Relating to my comment on this post. I probably will do it eventually, along with some other ideas I had that didn't fit in. But it won't happen while Smaugust is still going, as I am already skirting the limits of what I am physically capable of right now.

Ahh... hm... This is the question that has toppled mountains and started wars. You're going to get hit squads sent after me.

Well, there is the big one, of course. Qibli/Winter. They have such wonderful chemistry whenever they are in a scene together (with one pretty upsetting exception). And Qibli is always teasing him about being his destiny and the two of them getting married, so I think there is some attraction there.

Then uh... I used to feel completely ambivalent about this one, but Starflight/Fatespeaker has really grown on me over time. There's a lot of interesting potential there that doesn't really make it into the story. I need to make a long-winded post about Fatespeaker one day.

Blaze/Glacier is another one that could be cute. I think putting a repressed Icewing together with a highly eccentric and rambunctious Sandwing is going to be a winning combination most of the time. Or well, I guess I should say "could have been cute", since Glacier had to die for the plot, in a very wretched and infuriating way too.

There are a couple more that I think have their moments or could be interesting in one way or another. Some of them even contradicting or overlapping each other. Listing all of them would probably be a bit excessive.

Oh yeah, and I think Sunny is ace.

Ah, a question that'll make me put someone else's favorite character at the bottom of a preference list... After the shipping question I'm starting to fear for my life now.

Let me preface this by clarifying that I generally like all of the DoD. There are some characters in this setting that I loathe and wish they would exit the story, and the arc 1 protagonists are nowhere near that. So being ranked low here translates to me saying "Yeah, they're okay, room for improvement", not "wow, they're the WORST!"

Okay whatever, let's get down to it.

#1 - Sunny

That one's easy, I mean, just look at the pinned post on this blog.

Sunny is so wonderful and charming and perfect in every conceivable way, she is one of my six all-time favorite characters. She is the flower that blooms in the bitter desert. A lot of people may perceive her as this demure and innocent character who is always happy and friendly, and oblivious to the suffering around her. Nah, Sunny knows exactly what is going on. She is keenly aware of all the bloodshed, suffering, and toxicity that unfolds in the world around her. When she remains optimistic and forgiving in the face of darkness, that is not her being meek or passive, it's her steadfastly refusing to let that darkness into herself. She is actively embodying the change she wants to see in the world, even when it hurts her or gets her taken advantage of, because that is what she believes in and the future she will create.

That's pretty inspiring. I wish I had that kind of inner strength.

Also, she is not weak. While she's not a powerhouse scrapper like Tsunami or an invincible stack of bricks like Clay, Sunny strikes quickly and without hesitation when her friends are in danger, and can be deviously clever. This is often overlooked, but she is--to my knowledge--the only character to land an attack on Morrowseer that comes close to actually hurting him.

Well... you got me rambling about Sunny. Let's go through the others more briskly.

#2 - Starflight

I like Starflight a lot. Unfortunately the story really doesn't. He is like, the unluckiest character by far. I don't know what he did to deserve the never-ending cavalcade of misfortune that gets shoveled in his direction throughout all three arcs. Like, it never ends. A couple of friends and I came together and we jokingly called our group the "Starflight Protection Foundation", because someone needs to stage an intervention. Like, wrap him in a cozy sweater and buy him hot chocolate or something. Heaven help this poor man.

He's another one of my favorites.

#3 - Glory

Glory is really cool; I vibe with the "unchosen hero spurned by destiny" theme. She goes through her life and is constantly told "No, you don't have a special destiny. You're the fifth wheel. You are worthless and unimportant". Though she struggles with the constant abuse and devaluation, she eventually finds a way to turn it into strength and declare that the only value that matters is the one she gives to herself.

I really wish the story had NOT made her turn out to be a secret princess. "I was born without destiny, so I'm making my own" is a so much more satisfying character trajectory than "Oh, don't worry. You were born special after all, you just didn't know about it".

So yeah, I kind of tend to put that "secret princess" plot twist on the shelf when I think about Glory, and prefer to think that she managed to sway Grandeur with her skill and determination, rather than a random blood link.

#4 - Clay

Clay is very lovable. He is like the emotional bedrock of the group and acts as a stabilizing force that pairs well with all of the other arc 1 protagonists. He pretty much resolves all of his baggage in the first book and becomes content and steady. That is very good for him, but unfortunately this also kind of turns him into just some dude for the following four books.

Which is fine, it is good for the other characters to have someone behind them who loves them and helps them up when they stumble. It just makes it difficult for Clay to shine on his own.

#5 - Tsunami

Okay, so, Tsunami. I actually like her a lot in arc 1. She's bringing an interesting kind of energy to the group that is like, half-supportive and half-detrimental. Very chaotic. She also has to contend with some heavy stuff; everything to do with her father and the complications in her family life. It's very interesting. Lots of places to go with that.

Arc 2 Tsunami though, really grinds my gears. She regresses into this kind of juvenile, immature personality that is just pointlessly abrasive and confrontational. She acts really condescendingly towards Peril-- despite the latter having saved Clay's life AND it being really important to Clay that her staying at JMA works out well. Her borderline sabotaging this effort by making Peril feel unwelcome seems very dismissive towards Clay's feelings. It also doesn't help that she is the most outspoken about her loathing of Nightwing mindreading and prophecies, which drives Moonwatcher further into her emotional shell and makes things more complicated.

Okay, I have to reiterate: I don't dislike Tsunami. I just think her character arc is incomplete. It feels like she is stuck in arrested development while at JMA. She's mostly running around yelling at people, when she really should be thinking about what to do about Queen Coral, and how to get custody of her siblings. Her sister Anemone is carrying emotional scars from how the Queen has kept her leashed like a dog for her entire life, a process that is now happening to Auklet, even to this day. And then there's the 30 something children who have never known parental love for a day in their life and their mother can't remember the names of.

Someone's gotta step in and save these kids. Or like, at least start vaguely thinking about it.

Turtle???

Hmm....

...

Moose!

[namesareweird579]

Dragon of the week l: 26

What's up Logang I'm back from the dead, my life has gotten alot busier so it isn't as easy to post dotw as much, nevertheless I'll still try to post it on time, anyways...

Gill is the dragon of the week at 56.3%!

Vote for the next dragon of the here!:

Have suggestions for who the next dragon of the week should be? Vote here!:

Characters already done:

Whiteout

Six-claws

Peril

Starflight

Clay

Qibli

Turtle

Tamarin

Jambu

Willow

Carnelian

Moonwatcher

Cricket

Sunny

Deathbringer

Lynx

Kinkajou

Winter

Hailstorm

Clearsight

Snowfall

Lady Scarab

Fatespeaker

Freedom

Gill

[mythos321]

The Calling Curtain

Scarlets new hatching day was just around the corner, and to her it was the perfect victory lap after getting rid of the leader of those Phantom Thieves! Three Moons, she wondered herself if her mind knew any bounds to its intellect! Even her recent scarring felt secondary to her now!

Today however was a particularly special day, a new retelling of her favorite musical “Oh Thrilling Queen Scarlet! now featuring more Scarlet and more bloodshed!” She had handpicked the best actors theater had to offer, and of course the best The Skywing Treasury could buy!

Now all she needed to do now was watch the most thrilling and totally accurate of tellings of her life story, how thrilling! nothing was gonna ruin her night

***

“Alright, we have everything together right? so all we need is the calling card!” Sunny stated, picking at the food Clay laid out for everyone

“Indeedio short gal! now we just need to pick about how we’re gonna go about sending it!” Tsunami stated with determination and confidence “…any ideas?”

“Hmm, it would be pointless to just try and mail it to her, she would just ignore it.” Starflight commented

“And even if we handed it to others to try and get them to read it to her, it’s still a doubt of if they’d read it in time!”

“Yeah! your head could be on her mantle by the time they even read the first sentence!” Tsunami joked, but Glory simply shuddered at the very real and VERY likely possibility she ends up dead if things go wrong

“What should we do then? not even my visions are telling me!” Sunny asked, with her and some of the others looking towards Clay to see what he thought, when suddenly a slightly crazed sounding cackle was heard between them all, as they saw Fatespeaker develop a growing smirk

“I HAVE A VISION! WITH A PLAN SO GREAT IT IS BOUND TO SUCCEED!” Fatespeaker shouted with such determination and glee it was almost infectious, her tiny teardrop scales seeming to almost gleam with her excitement

“Tell us all about it!” Starflight said, sitting down from across her as Sunny did the same and sat expectantly next to her best friend

“ The musical “Oh Thrilling Queen Scarlet! now featuring more Scarlet and more bloodshed!” is being played today correct? And who else but Scarlet herself would make sure to be attentive throughout the ENTIRE musical! I even have the perfect idea for when we could intercede! right as the musical version of Joker is shot and murdered, we cut the lights and reveal ourselves!” as Fatespeaker explained more of her plan, Clay momentarily reminisced on his shooter, and after a moment somberly remembered how, as far as he can tell, she’s gone now…

“To hide our identities we’ll use those earrings we stole from that green guy Hai- I mean Pyrite beat up! if anything happens we have Deathbringer can of course distract the guards with smoke and mirrors and all other types he may have, until finally we conclude our comeback speech declaring Scarlets heart shall be next!” Fatespeaker finished her explanation, taking heavy breaths after finishing talking, and looked around towards her fellow thieves

“…It’s…PERFECT!” Sunny exclaimed, fully immersed with the plan

“Here I thought you’re just a loon!” Tsunami laughed, also on board with it as her scales momentarily lit up uncontrollably!

“I get that a lot!”

“Honestly, it’s stylish and brilliant!” Starflight exclaimed

“It’s amazing!” Pyrite shouted, as she finished her iced water

“I like the part where I distract the guards personally!” Deathbringer noted, looking smug as he thought of how cool he’d look

“It’s blazing Fatespeaker!” Clay finally spoke, as Pyrite and Turtle momentarily looked caught off guard

“Dawww! come on now, I can’t handle so much praise!” Fatespeaker blushed

“ALL RIGHT! It’s time to make these people come to their senses!” Tsunami shouted

“It’s showtime” Clay stated, as everyone readied up

***

It had been 5 hours since her musical started, and Scarlet couldn’t get enough of it! from her childhood to her doomed love to her complete rise to the power she holds today, it was all to thrilling to watch, Thrilling indeed, for what else could a celebration of The Most Perfect and Thrilling being be?

Now came one of her new and favorite parts! The Thrilling climax to the end of her most recent obstacle, as she leaned over her personal balcony to watch the reenactment The Phantom leader was about to be shot dead

BOOM

As the shot rang out, the lights went with it, with Scarlet feeling a moment of bewilderment as minor struggles were momentarily heard upon the stage, before it was lit anew, and suddenly, multiple new skywings appeared upon the stage

(dialogue is colored for your conveniences!)

“Good Evening, Sky Kingdom! what is UP everybody?!”

“We are the ones many of you know as The Phantom Thieves”

“And all of us, and I do mean ALL of us, are alive and kicking! But those shitty guys in power? They’ve been manipulating information to try and hide the truth!”

Skywing guards immediately attempted to head over, only for them to suddenly be caught in the sky by bolases, and for more unlucky ones, cerated disks, as someone in the shadows seemed to almost cackle with glee

“So before we appropriate our newest target, allow us to borrow your time!"

“The recent scandals of public figures, the accidents caused by psychotic breakdowns, and the mental shutdowns that have plagued the continent for now nearly 2 years. These weren’t caused by unknown reasons. One dragon is behind EVERY single instance, simply to satiate her own greed and desires!”

“That woman was afraid her crimes would be exposed, and so shifted the blame towards us! She even manipulated other kingdoms for that!”

“We only steal criminals hearts! but this asshole tried to dump what she did on us! Just goes to show she doesn’t care about those victims at all!”

The Head Guard was in a panic, believing if this went any longer it will be him who the queen targets next “ARE YOU ALL STUPID, JUST RUSH AND STOP THEM ALREADY!” Vermillion shouted, only to be hit by a large rock that quickly knocked him out

“Ahaha! This is to fun!” Deathbringer laughed from the shadows

“The identity of this coward is none other than The Woman of the Hour! The Queen of The Skywings! Scarlet!”

The Crowd all gasped at the sudden revelation, as Scarlet continued to stand from her balcony, now letting her thrill seeking get to the best of her, having Vermillion then tell the remaining guards to stand by as she waited to see what came next

“Everything that woman says is a lie! and to prove that…” All the dragons then gathered towards the center of the stage, with Deathbringer quickly putting on his own earring to join them “Do a headcount if needed! all of us are alive and kicking! I’m sure our investigators can tell you if it’s a lie or not! My friend right here has even had a vision that Scarlet herself shall confess all the crimes she’s committed! Please look forward to that!”

“We’re not gonna sit back and watch some napoleon complex having crook wreck the continent cause of her goddamn ego! ain’t that right, Mr Leader?” The crass Skywing then gestured toward the dragon in the middle, as he put a lookalike version of his mask on and removed his earring, revealing his real form, as Scarlets intrigued smile turned to a shocked frown as she saw the Mudwing reveal himself

“Yes, before that happens, we will take back this continent and free this kingdom!” The entire crowd went into uproar, as The Phantom Thieves all quickly flew off into the night in the ensuing craze, with a faint meow heard alongside them

All the while, Scarlet looked upon the arena, before turning back towards her palace, lightly touching the part of the mask that covered her scarred face, as it felt as though a new burning anger etched upon her

“Hmm…It appears I myself shall have to deal with these pests.” Scarlet almost missed that monster of hers, and had a feeling her recent disappearance may have coincided with these thieves as well, which made her all the more angered

“Very well then, I shall be the one to crush them under my talons!

How thrilling!”

[ilikemicrowaves]

Referring to my newest post about Wof characters being in band, here's my list

Dod

Clay: Tuba

Tsunami: French Horn

Glory: Bassoon

Starflight: Clarinet

Sunny: Piccolo

Jade Winglet

Moon: violin

Kinkajou: Ukulele and trumpet

Winter: bass clarinet

Carnelian: bass guitar

Turtle: cello

Qibli: snare drum

Extra characters

Fatespeaker: flute

Marsh: harp

Umber: trumpet

Peril: Electric Guitar

Sora: flute

Tamarin: harp

Icicle: violin

Pheasant: trombone

Hailstorm: clarinet

Reed: baritone

Sepia: trumpet

Newt: Trombone

Pike: trumpet

Queens

Corla: she sucked at everything but could only play piano. She stucked at it though

Moorhen: Baritone

Scarlet: French horn

Thorn: bass drum

Snowfall: violin

Glacier: violin

Blister: cello

Burn: Tuba

Blaze: violin

Villians/protagonist

Morrowseer: trombone

Mastermind: piano

Vulture: snare drum