#how am i gonna tag this

[diorysuss]

a convulated oc fact list i wrote in 40 minutes about my ocs because why not. (I am also tired so if some facts seem outta place that’s why 😭😭)

SoL kids and what they are

Dion(ysus) Simmons

- Guarded, Jazz Agent, Psygeology

- African American, specifically creole from New Orleans

- Bisexual

- She/Her, Cis Female

- Bilingual, French and English

- Companion: Molly B. Even though Dion hates the way she talks, they’re a pretty good duo.

- Autistic, but she never got diagnosed so was just called “odd but cool once you get to know her”

- Special Interest was brass instruments as a kid but now she’s just really into rocks.

- In her shadow run she gives eye trauma to shadow president as revenge

- Dating Big Lizzie. Calls her Lovebug (goals)

- Selectively mute sometimes. Like she will just flat out ignore you and not talk to you if she’s mute.

- Dion can play every brass instrument but will visible sob if you try to teach her string/woodwind

- “No, just because I’m named Dionysus doesn’t mean she’s associated with alcoholic beverages and organized crime, damn it!”

- Doesn’t wear hats. The hatless run.

- But will constantly wear her shades. Her left eye does this weird thing from when she was 6 and she doesn’t like it.

- The oldest/peacemaker out of the 3 Simmons kid.

Ares Simmons

- Checkered Past, Pig Skinner, Cryptobotany

- AroAce | Neurotypical | Anger Issues

- He/They, demiboy (he will actually beat the shit outta you if you say otherwise)

- Companion: Simone. He freaks her out sometimes but they got along.

- African American/Italian, adopted from DirtWater and brought to New Orleans

- Ares actually served in the U.S army under Bruise; he genuinely thought for a little while that his lieutenant was named Bruce, and was shocked to find him as his rival.

- He adopted the ruthless perk from his mother; absolutely a beast and has little to no empathy for most others than his family and companions. Most violent being in loathing

- He was put in prison for 6 months before getting out for the wrong thing (they thought he committed a series of gruesome murders; no he just punched a parking meter too hard or something)

- In his shadow run he didn’t just absorb Bruise he literally beat the shit outta him until he was bone

- “Romance is for WEAK PEOPLE who need another person to function.”

- Ares has little to no filter; he says whatever he wants when he wants. This can lead to unwarranted consequences that he shoves, kicks and bites his way out of.

-Bruise is missing a finger because of him.

- Youngest out of the 3 siblings

Demet(er) Simmons

- Scouts Honor, Cheese Wizard, Insectology

- Any/All, Genderfluid

- Lesbian | Asexual

- ADHD

- African American, Creole and from New Orleans

- Companion: Obie. They help each other and duet in the speakeasy a lot.

- Bilingual, French and English

- Demet is notably disabled and uses fore-arm crutches to walk; makes wizarding a bit hard but they make do

- Pacifist, he genuinely wanted to be friends with Noël, but had to send her out of country.

- Demet knows piano; a hobby she practiced since she wasn’t allowed (or rather didn’t let herself) go outside.

- Hates bugs but hates sapient rocks and weird plants more

- She likes Jasper’s shades a whole lot; makes her feel cool.

[wilkoakdraws]

Transformers "More Than Meets The Eye" comic has recently torpedoed me down the feelsy space car robots hellhole, an therefore i present a sketchy collection of Lost Light crew as homo sapiens. I had SO MUCH fun coming up with the designs! Now off to actually learn how to draw robots i guess

[anna-scribbles]

last one i promise(<—lie)

[noornight]

Long distance besties. This definitely happened after the third movie (source: trust me bro)

Based on this

[xxplastic-cubexx]

[right to left]

finally finished This Wip from Ever ago and so now i ask you ever look into another dudes eyes and suddenly want to do whatever he wants

[raticalshoez]

Etho "I am not a protector" Slab

[bedforddanes75]

im not american but some of you guys are just fucking stupid ong what do you MEAN youre not gna vote because you disagree with like one part of what youre voting for. like okay me when im fucking thick

[tubbytarchia]

really awesome interaction (x)

[rapidhighway]

[pillowspace]

(Audience of vaugarde ask) im curious how Loop's Bonnie in particular would deal with being part of the audience post loops. I imagine they would want to reunite with their sister, but having a doppelganger and being part of the audience would greatly complicate that.

Bonnie's dealing with it pretty well! /j

Do they eventually get Nille back? Who knowsss...

Also, this was my first time ever properly drawing Bonnie, so here's a normal version without shadows:

( other posts in this AU: Audience of Vauguarde | Mira's ribbon | Loop's name | extra info | classic mistake | Bonnie's wishes | *unshadows your hat* | long hair | Isaloop comfort )

[thefloatingstone]

Trying to figure out how to make squid boy emote because every time I've drawn him so far he looks very stern and it just didn't sit right with me. Also the more I played the more I noticed how his expressions change.

Anyway this is what I got so far. I plan to do more because hoo boy is it tricky to pull certain emotions out of him.

[kaiserouo]

if ordan karris wanna complete that sentence does that mean he also likes us?

[shorthaltsjester]

i truly am baffled by some of the cr fandom when it comes to the topic of the gods and c1 and death in general because. the raven queen didn’t kill vax. in fact she gave him more time. she Does get the blame from keyleth and some from vex but even those two by the end were more so just holding grudges wrapped up in their own issues that were exacerbated by vax’s choices. but it was always vax’s choice. which, y’know, i’m aware of a portion of the cr fandom’s propensity for dismantling every interesting choice a character makes into something forced upon them, but the role of fate in exandria has never been like bad faith you must adhere to the path chosen for you, it’s much more like what brennan has spoken about wrt specificity: as one makes more choices they become more particular to a given outcome. but that’s not some curse by the gods that dooms characters that’s literally just. what living is.

and of course death is a complicated thing that everyone approaches differently but. god the amount of people who view vax’s dynamic with the raven queen as an injustice or his death as some unforgivable thing the raven queen caused some how? in the words of laura bailey, Were We Watching The Same Orb? it isn’t an injustice that vax, completely willing to pay whatever it cost him to save his sister, was bound to the Deal He Agreed To. his role as the champion was one he found meaning and purpose in. further, it was the raven queen that allowed him to be resurrected later in the campaign. like, it isn’t fair that vax had so little time but it is time he chose and time he was given, but vox machina tends to fall on the reaping the benefits side of unfairness of power in exandria. if what makes the gods — particularly the matron of ravens — irredeemable is that they have the power to make choices that mortals can’t like denying someone’s resurrection, how irredeemable must the group of heroes called vox machina (whose members drop like flies to be revived moments later) be to the everyday person who just has to watch the people they love die and make peace with it?

of course it sucks that vax could not have a happy ending or epilogue like the rest of vm, except of course, vex has a family and is happy and loved, and keyleth is strong and alive and protected, and i think that looks a lot like what vax wanted most.

[panthermouthh]

And I said, “Hello, Satan

I believe it’s time to go.”

[heartorbit]

so when's the wxs phantom of the opera set

[hauntingofhouses]

Very interesting to me that a certain subset of the BES fandom's favourite iterations of Mizu and Akemi are seemingly rooted in the facades they have projected towards the world, and are not accurate representations of their true selves.

And I see this is especially the case with Mizu, where fanon likes to paint her as this dominant, hyper-masculine, smirking Cool GuyTM who's going to give you her strap. And this idea of Mizu is often based on the image of her wearing her glasses, and optionally, with her cloak and big, wide-brimmed kasa.

And what's interesting about this, to me, is that fanon is seemingly falling for her deliberate disguise. Because the glasses (with the optional combination of cloak and hat) represent Mizu's suppression of her true self. She is playing a role.

Take this scene of Mizu in the brothel in Episode 4 for example. Here, not only is Mizu wearing her glasses to symbolise the mask she is wearing, but she is purposely acting like some suave and cocky gentleman, intimidating, calm, in control. Her voice is even deeper than usual, like what we hear in her first scene while facing off with Hachiman the Flesh-Trader in Episode 1.

This act that Mizu puts on is an embodiment of masculine showboating, which is highly effective against weak and insecure men like Hachi, but also against women like those who tried to seduce her at the Shindo House.

And that brings me to how Mizu's mask is actually a direct parallel to Akemi's mask in this very same scene.

Here, Akemi is also putting up an act, playing up her naivety and demure girlishness, using her high-pitched lilted voice, complimenting Mizu and trying to make small talk, all so she can seduce and lure Mizu in to drink the drugged cup of sake.

So what I find so interesting and funny about this scene, characters within it, and the subsequent fandom interpretations of both, is that everyone seems to literally be falling for the mask that Mizu and Akemi are putting up to conceal their identities, guard themselves from the world, and get what they want.

It's also a little frustrating because the fanon seems to twist what actually makes Mizu and Akemi's dynamic so interesting by flattening it completely. Because both here and throughout the story, Mizu and Akemi's entire relationship and treatment of each other is solely built off of masks, assumptions, and misconceptions.

Akemi believes Mizu is a selfish, cocky male samurai who destroyed her ex-fiance's career and life, and who abandoned her to let her get dragged away by her father's guards and forcibly married off to a man she didn't know. on the other hand, Mizu believes Akemi is bratty, naive princess who constantly needs saving and who can't make her own decisions.

These misconceptions are even evident in the framing of their first impressions of each other, both of which unfold in these slow-motion POV shots.

Mizu's first impression of Akemi is that of a beautiful, untouchable princess in a cage. Swirling string music in the background.

Akemi's first impression of Mizu is of a mysterious, stoic "demon" samurai who stole her fiance's scarf. Tense music and the sound of ocean waves in the background.

And then, going back to that scene of them together in Episode 4, both Mizu and Akemi continue to fool each other and hold these assumptions of each other, and they both feed into it, as both are purposely acting within the suppressive roles society binds them to in order to achieve their goals within the means they are allowed (Akemi playing the part of a subservient woman; Mizu playing the part of a dominant man).

But then, for once in both their lives, neither of their usual tactics work.

Akemi is trying to use flattery and seduction on Mizu, but Mizu sees right through it, knowing that Akemi is just trying to manipulate and harm her. Rather than give in to Akemi's tactics, Mizu plays with Akemi's emotions by alluding to Taigen's death, before pinning her down, and then when she starts crying, Mizu just rolls her eyes and tells her to shut up.

On the opposite end, when Mizu tries to use brute force and intimidation, Akemi also sees right through it, not falling for it, and instead says this:

"Under your mask, you're not the killer you pretend to be."

Nonetheless, despite the fact that they see a little bit through each other's masks, they both still hold their presumptions of each other until the very end of the season, with Akemi seeing Mizu as an obnoxious samurai swooping in to save the day, and Mizu seeing Akemi as a damsel in distress.

And what I find a bit irksome is that the fandom also resorts to flattening them to these tropes as well.

Because Mizu is not some cool, smooth-talking samurai with a big dick sword as Akemi (and the fandom) might believe. All of that is the facade she puts up and nothing more. In reality, Mizu is an angry, confused and lonely child, and a masterful artist, who is struggling against her own self-hatred. Master Eiji, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

And Akemi, on the other hand, is not some girly, sweet, vain and spoiled princess as Mizu might believe. Instead she has never cared for frivolous things like fashion, love or looks, instead favouring poetry and strategy games instead, and has always only cared about her own independence. Seki, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

But neither is she some authoritative dominatrix, though this is part of her new persona that she is trying to project to get what she wants. Because while Akemi is willful, outspoken, intelligent and authoritative, she can still be naive! She is still often unsure and needs to have her hand held through things, as she is still learning and growing into her full potential. Her new parental/guardian figure, Madame Kaji, knows this as well.

So with all that being said, now that we know that Mizu and Akemi are essentially wearing masks and putting up fronts throughout the show, what would a representation of Mizu's and Akemi's true selves actually look like? Easy. It's in their hair.

This shot on the left is the only time we see Mizu with her hair completely down. In this scene, she's being berated by Mama, and her guard is completely down, she has no weapon, and is no longer wearing any mask, as this is after she showed Mikio "all of herself" and tried to take off the mask of a subservient housewife. Thus, here, she is sad, vulnerable, and feeling small (emphasised further by the framing of the scene). This is a perfect encapsulation of what Mizu is on the inside, underneath all the layers of revenge-obsession and the walls she's put around herself.

In contrast, the only time we Akemi with her hair fully down, she is completely alone in the bath, and this scene takes place after being scorned by her father and left weeping at his feet. But despite all that, Akemi is headstrong, determined, taking the reigns of her life as she makes the choice to run away, but even that choice is reflective of her youthful naivety. She even gets scolded by Seki shortly after this in the next scene, because though she wants to be independent, she still hasn't completely learned to be. Not yet. Regardless, her decisiveness and moment of self-empowerment is emphasised by the framing of the scene, where her face takes up the majority of the shot, and she stares seriously into the middle distance.

To conclude, I wish popular fanon would stop mischaracterising these two, and flattening them into tropes and stereotypes (ie. masculine badass swordsman Mizu and feminine alluring queen but also girly swooning damsel Akemi), all of which just seems... reductive. It also irks me when Akemi is merely upheld as a love interest and romantic device for Mizu and nothing more, when she is literally Mizu's narrative foil (takes far more narrative precedence over romantic interest) and the deuteragonist of this show. She is her own person. That is literally the theme of her entire character and arc.