#hc8 avian!mumbo au

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

I haven't drawn avian mumbo in a while, so here he is being all flustered and hiding behind his wings :]

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

more mumbo (and grian) hc8 soul swap shenanigans, because I realized I could give mumbo grian's silly hair and he would hate it

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

I like to imagine that in my avian!Mumbo AU, Grian also gets (mildly) affected by the soul-juicer incident. Namely, he now has to shave to avoid growing his own mustache. Much to his annoyance. (Sometimes he just lets it grow out to annoy Mumbo)

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

I have drawn more winged Mumbo!

I just think the idea of him accidentally getting wings out of the soul juicer incident is really funny

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

Posting the avian!Mumbo rant's doodles separately because otherwise people might not see them and I think they are fun (full post here tho)

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

I just randomly found ur blog and am now OBSESSED with the whole avian!mumbo concept

…….tell me everything there needs to be known abt it please I want to draw little bird boy (even tho my main way of doodlin mumbo is vampire but I WANT BIRD)

(apologies for the ramble I live laugh love moustache man)

(here's the previous avian!mumbo post for anyone curious)

It has taken me far too long to get the chance to respond to this ask and I have been so impatient because adjsaklfhaskghjd someone actually saw and enjoyed my unedited babbling about avian!mumbo :')

anyways I think I already said most of what I have coherent ideas on, and the rest is just nebulous vibes and happiness and fluff and hurt/comfort potential, but! I can share doodles and also reiterate/expand upon stuff I have already said

(putting it below a cut so I can make it soso long)

WING FLAPPIES!! I feel like this would definitely be something he'd appreciate about having wings, because I feel like it would be a more satisfying expression of emotion than like. stomping or bouncing or whatever. He would also totally struggle to control his avian body language, you can read his wings/ears/tail like a book, he's so unused to paying attention to and stifling his bird gestures. (Grian finds this beyond hilarious especially, because he can read Mumbo even better than everyone else being another avian)

His wings are red and black, though I haven't entirely decided if I'm gonna switch which goes where to make it match Grian's wings better. Since Grian is a Scarlet Macaw, Mumbo really ought to be too, but that would look just. so goofy. with his color scheme

AND SPEAKING OF LOOKING GOOFY- his wings look so silly for the first couple weeks. Until the feathers grow in properly, they're just kind of gradually more fluffy. raw chicken. wings. stuck to his back. because that's what baby parrots look like apparently! And then also pin feathers, before finally being pretty feathery bird wings

He also just accidentally passively collects the other members of Boatem's clothes. Grian does this too, but intentionally. Mumbo just does it without realizing and then gets confused about it because he doesn't understand the whole nesting thing, so someone else has to explain it to him

Oh and Mumbo tries to just go about his life without any changes or accommodations for his wings at first, because he doesn't want to ruin his clothes or generally have to change his routines. Grian and the others do not put up with this and persuade him to take proper care of the wings instead (<- this is a constant uphill battle for months)

On a more overarching note, Mumbo initially Does Not Like the wings, because they're just tiny and kind of ugly things that get in the way of his elytra and make him have to get all his shirts edited and they don't really do anything but cause him problems. Then once the wings start getting feathers and stuff and they have to start making preparations for learning to fly, it kind of becomes a bit of a bonding thing that brings Boatem together, with Mumbo starting to get used to them and accept them, and everyone else being able to help out with their care some (preening, stretches and exercises...).

Ultimately (probably sometime around HC 9), Mumbo ends up quite loving his wings in the long run. Once they're fully grown they're actually pretty impressive (since he's so tall they end up being a fair bit larger than Grian's, much to his annoyance) and Mumbo ends up putting a fair bit of effort into their upkeep and keeping them all nice looking (at least, when he's not too busy with other projects). He does still find a bunch of the other avian traits a little embarrassing (nesting, chirping, dietary restrictions, wings giving away his thoughts...) but he gets used to them.

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

Btw when I talk about avian!Mumbo with little baby bird wings I don't mean it in a cute fluffy chick way, I mean it in the awkward teen phase and covered in pinfeathers way.

He literally just looks like this to me:

It's just too heckin' funny to me to imagine him with tiny ineffective wings that just look like these scraggly little things, and all he can do is sit there and marinate in the knowledge that he brought this upon himself by tricking Grian into signing away his soul

(they do look prettier later tho, once they finish growing in)

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

Ohhhh I need to learn how to do detailed texture rendering stuff just exclusively so I can draw the most horrendous avian!mumbo with pathetic raw chicken baby bird wings guys

He looks so ugly to me, I hate him so much (/affectionate <3)

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

I feel like my avian!Mumbo would have no freaking clue how to preen, his wings would get into a horrible state if it weren't for Grian

I also think he probably puts off actually learning from Grian for ages for a combination of laziness and being a silly dork who wants affection but doesn't want to be vulnerable about it

Like, he lets Grian teach him how to deal with pin feathers when the feathers first come in through the down, because they're itchy and uncomfortable an dhe hates them soso much, but after that point. Well, there's a reason he only own one suit, and that reason is because he doesn't like fussing over his appearance much (except the mustache)

Grian on the other hand, is a fidgety little guy who really loves to do tiny meaningless tidying-up-ings and the like to procrastinate on actual work, and who also loves poking Mumbo and fussing over him (and also gets second hand itchy from looking at Mumbo's wings if he lets him leave them for too long)

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

would mumbo have problems with his wings getting into his redstone dust while he's working?

Oh definitely, especially once they start getting bigger but before he's really gotten used to them (like in the sort of fledgeling stage), they'd be sweeping his carefully laid redstone all over the place and bonking into all the other components too

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

Y'know, in avian!Mumbo AU I bet Grian had an absolute nightmare trying to teach Mumbo how to fly

Mumbo strikes me as too proud for his own good a lot of the time, but also fundamentally very clumsy and cringefail. So he'd just be absolutely floundering but also too stubborn to let Grian show him what to do properly, so both would just be a squawking flailing pile of frustration and offense with each other

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

I just want him to have tiny baby bird wings. I think it would be funny

Thinking about avian!Mumbo (again) (as always)

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

I only have very weak excuses to make this a thing, but I want some sort of universe I can play around with where Mumbo grows wings and Grain has to help him figure out how to care for them, and then start all little tiny baby before actually getting big enough to use, so for a while it's just learning to not wack them on stuff and keep them clean and strong while they're not even helpful but the two get to bond over preening and like health check-ups and stuff and then Mumbo's wings get strong enough that he can actually use them and Grian gets to teach him how to fly all over again (cus it's different than an elytra) and it's all just self indulgent fluff but it's midnight right now and I don't have a filter rn

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

I actually already have a doodle for this au thing I was rambling about btw

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

hmdnfbt something something 🦾

🦾 = A disability headcanon

Since you didn't specify a character I'm just gonna go through a handful just as they come to mind while I type

Grian and Tango are very ADHD to me, because I like inflicting pieces of myself onto fictional characters <3

Mumbo is also probably neurodivergent, I'm leaning autistic but I'm not autistic myself so I am also kinda biased towards ADHD because it's what I'm familiar with. Definitely anxiety tho

And side mention to my avian!Mumbo HC8 AU (where he gets wings from the Soul Juicer Incident) - I could see him having some sort of disability-ish thing going on with his wings never growing in fully, and instead staying small and unable to fly, if that counts as a disability given that he wasn't even born supposed to have wings?? But he would need some adjustments to any sort of elytra if he wants to ever fly again, given the wings being in the way, so I think that counts

Straying into DSMP, I also had an old headcanon for cRanboo using a wheelchair or being an ambulatory wheelchair/cane user, but never got to flesh that out to much. They are definitely ADHD to me too (because projecting again). And honestly I effectively headcanon them as immune compromised too tbh, with how bad I imagine their immune system to be. cRanboo gets sick constantly to me

cTechno also is definitely at least ADHD (but that's just canon) and maybe some sort of chronic pain or migraines from his execution and/or other injuries he's sustained over his life

And I also like the headcanons about cTubbo being deaf in one ear and/or blind in one eye, and having chronic pain from his execution

(ask game here)

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

I love when someone randomly stumbles across my hc8 avian!mumbo au and goes through liking the posts and then I get reminded of it and also go through and reread them all. avian!mumbo my beloved <33