#kinda makes him look like a sheep imo

[kurikorso]

some soup for the traveler on the edge of town

[thegamingcatmom]

Hi! :3

I come bringing question(s) mostly just one, I have recently started cooking something and I am debating wether I want Miri to be saved or not. Well "save her" i kind of think is a strong word bc she may be unhinged enough to have crossed the point of no return but who cares about that?

My question is, you think Miri is like evil for real? Or you think she has been manipulated by 'The Black God'? I have been reading some crazy theories and stuff so my mind is racing with million ideas mind you, kinda chaotic up there. Like she certainly is no saint, nobody in that forsaken village is but here we are, simping over all of da women, sins ain't stopping us from doing so XD

Their sins are the reason we simp for them. 😏❤️‍🔥

Right so, I know a lot of fics and theories portray Miranda as this divine being/demigod who was sent to bring Judgement or smt. For some, she is The Black God. However-

The Black God is actually the name Miranda herself chose for The Megamycete, also because it holds enough power that bringing back Eva seems entirely possible. As a result, she proclaimed herself a prophet of "The Black God" and started her cult. In other words: "Mother" Miranda was born.

So, what does that tell us?

That whole priestess persona is as much of a disguise as the Old Hag (which she uses to spy on the villagers). She has to keep her flock in check somehow, and what better way to do that than by parading as their sheperd? She´s basically a wolf in sheep´s clothing, snatching them up one by one (to experiment on them) without any of them noticing.

So, there´s no divinity involved here. Not really. Miranda draws all her power from the Megamycete aka The Fungus Root - an ancient entity that stores the genetics as well as the consciousness and memories of those it has come in contact with.

As for whether Miranda is actually evil? Hm...that depends on what you define as "evil". I like to think that there´s never just "good" or "evil". Life´s not that simple.

Like, let´s look at some of the facts here:

Miranda abducted Mia and experimented on her for (probs) multiple reasons. One of them being that she needed her DNA in order to take on her form and infiltrate the Winters household.

She played dead when Chris shot her because she knew it would be the easiest way to "rid" herself of her problems and escape with Rose into the night.

(She´s literally so cunning, I can´t-)

She unleashed the Lycans on the villagers because she had no further use for them.

But also to feed them to The Megamycete and thus, ensuring its power would be sufficient for the ceremony.

She checked the Village to make sure there weren´t any survivors left.

She killed the last one herself (Iulian).

Miranda divided Rose into several pieces. Not just to experiment with them, but also because it kept Ethan busy.

BUT HERE´S THE THING:

She gave each of the Lords one piece because she knew Ethan would kill in his quest to retrieve them.

Miranda basically used Ethan to rid herself of her "children".

She always planned on killing them.

She killed Ethan when he outlived his purpose, meaning she had no further use for him.

All of Shadows of Rose (haven´t played that one yet, but Ik Miranda is even more unhinged in this one)

Sooo, does that make her evil? Some would say yes, others would say she was driven by grief and sorrow over losing her only child. I say-

It´s complicated, lol.

No one is ever entirely "good" or "evil". It´s a mix of both and whether it leans more in either direction depends on your experiences and goals in life, as well as the minds you surround yourself with. And lots of other stuff that would take a lot more than one tumblr post to fully cover. The human psyche is a mystery, after all. 🧠🧐

I do believe no one is beyond redemption, though. Like I said, nobody is ever just evil, that´s a rather naive way to perceive the world, imo. While some certainly lean more in that direction than others, it´s not what makes them, yknow? Nobody is "born" evil, so we shouldn´t reduce them to their worst qualities. Instead, we should help them get better because that will ultimately lead to a better world. ✌️

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Thanks a lot for your ask! 💋

[mysterycitrus]

i dont know who a writer would be who could handle it (more ignorance on my part than lack of good writers though there is that too) but i’m curious what you think a real, earned redemption could look like for jtodd and if you would even want it.

i definitely think there’s a path, esp because so much of bruce’s philosophy relies on a genuine and earnest commitment to rehabilitation and restorative justice, but i also think (and maybe i’m wrong if anyone has comics recs lmk) but i don’t think i’ve seen a comic with the hard work of reaching out and healing/moving on from the past from both bruce + co and jason

i really love his character but especially now i don’t think dc knows what it wants to do with him so he’s in this perpetual limbo where he’s always on the edges of the batfam, a fringe black sheep member but a member nonetheless, still entangled with them

personally i would love either way but i wish dc would either separate him and let him do his own thing that’s not just punisher lite or really actually go through the process of making amends and fully integrating with the crew, learning to love and trust again and all that

omg this really got away from me so apologies for just word vomiting in your asks but yeah im curious dc puts you in charge of j todd’s next big character arc, what would you do with him

i don’t think that’s ignorance — dc is not known for hiring writers who can include and explore complex themes in their comics lol

personally i think the easiest way to trigger a redemption arc for jason would be take him away from the batfamily and force him to interact with other villains, specifically amanda waller and the suicide squad. task force z came kinda close to this, but didn’t push the concept far enough imo. jason’s interactions with black mask were some of the best parts of utrh — i want to see his ideology be questioned by people who do the exact same things as him, and are fully aware that they’re selfish and destructive.

the truth is that while jason is acting out and murdering people, he’s still bound to bruce. he is autonomously making decisions, but fundamentally he is choosing to stay. he’s choosing to be tethered. he’s choosing to care. seeing the indentured recruits of the suicide squad would be confronting to him.

i don’t think the happy family fanon dynamic will ever be possible without ruining every included character simultaneously, but that’s okay. that’s not what jason truly wants anyway.

specifically, i don’t think he’ll ever be able to work with bruce, which is why i find the jason + dick dynamic so interesting. you’re right — bruce’s fundamental mission is about restorative justice, and he would continue to reach out. dick, however, is a realist, and is extremely protective and territorial of the people in his care (tim, damian, the titans, etc) all of whom jason has hurt. jason has been shown on page to respect dick and his position, and simultaneously think he’s pathetic because he refuses to lose control.

for me ideally, he’d be someone on the very outskirts. i feel like dick and babs would be his point of contact — dick because he’s keeping an eye on jason, and babs because she has way less hangups about working with killers. otherwise? i think he’s lost the chance to properly bond with anyone who knew before he died. that’s the risk he took when he decided to become the red hood. that’s the tragedy.

but to be perfectly honest, the most restorative thing jason could do would be to leave the game entirely, and relearn how to live.

[mykaeba]

@w3ndytheraccoon hi omg lemme ramble. so first of all yessss his hair is like techno’s, i really really think it goes well with how the later it went in the dsmp, the longer his hair was in general headcannons! plus i just really wanted that for him. he doesn’t have to keep it short bc he has time to take care of it now, yknow? same idea for lots of his clothes, you can see some patterns on the short skirt (tunic?) he wears as well as the pockets of the pants and his glove,, it’s because he has The Time for it!!

the tunic is also a ref to chommy’s pretty fluid gender in the fandom, and even tho i never drew her, i quite love the idea too. so the long hair and the skirt are there to make the character more androgynous :]]

the glove is a ref to tommy’s time at techno’s place. he arrived there not caring about the cold and kinda wanting to die, but techno taught him to heed the cold and he does now! he always has gloves on him (bc you can’t hold a sword with frozen fingers, tommy, what the heck man.)

the sword!! it’s a really simple one, bc tommy always crafts tools with whatever he has at hand, but!! it has a sheath! and the stitching is ugly, because it was his first one, and he doesn’t care. it’s a sheath! he doesn’t need to have his sword out at all times anymore, he doesn’t need to be vigilant! he can sheathe his sword now

his prosthesis (which i put on the wrong foot if you look at literally all the other arts i made where he has one, oops) was made by techno and is a bit clunky but it never failed him, so he never replaced it. tubbo and tommy spent an afternoon engraving and painting some flowers in the wood before they finally put varnish on it to protect it. the foot part had to be replaced a few times as he finished growing, so it’s not techno’s (techno’s had a steel sole so tommy could kick people). this one is wood only and looks like a naked foot bc tommy goes barefoot in the fields with his sheep. and since it’s magic, he can put a shoe on it too without it altering the height of the prosthetic. he hadn’t planned to meet jack and go to the tundra, so he didn’t bring the other shoe (tubbo’s gonna be so mad about that later).. he slipped a few times in the snow too.. ((his shoe is a design i made and never posted…))

he also has an earring which can be whatever you want (in my head, it’s the piece of bedrock, tho)

he still has the red and white shirt!! you can see the sleeve :]] he added a front pocket to it bc comfyness

as for his overall posture, he’ll never stand straight (ha) imo, but if you look at that one drawing i made of techno waiting for phil on the battlefield, you’ll see it’s very similar… we never really notice the habits we borrow from people closest to us i think

ANND THATS ALL ty for asking!!!!

yeah ctommy, same man

[zzencat]

Heyy, here for your free readings!

My intials are EE

First of all, there's this guy in my class, and Idk anything about him, except his name, and he seems like cute, I mean he's good, ykwim 😭 I mean it's just been like 4-5 days, and ugh- idk if I should try to form a friendship, and there's noooo way I'll be the first one to make a move or anything

Ugh idk what to do,

So, can I know about him ? Like is this crush going anywhere or it's gonna end just like this?

aight EE you’re up!! thanks for participating! 👊👊

hmmm before you fantasize about this mans any further, there is a bit to break down (ruminating abt a life w him is prob not in your best interest). so there’s an obvious rush, an urge to wanna be with this guy. great!! HOWEVER, there are some things to consider. there’s definitely a lack of commitment, either in home or financial life. it seems like there’s already conflict here or there is going to be, based on your energy rn. so if you continue to live like you are right now, day to day, after this reading as if nothing happened? you’ll need to sort out some issues first. your energy is going in a direction where it gets crushed by many people or things in life to mature and either cut ties with those around you, your environment, or your own layers. there’s a lot of focus on gaining money and some sort of stability first bc the nature of this guy is lowkey bland af. maybe he’s one that relies on looks rather than personality? whatever it is, not the greatest vibe. if you happen to follow family traditions or engage in cultural events, etc., this guy doesn’t give a damn. he’s either slow in learning and taking in info, but his brain has lesser grooves in it than sheep do (aka bro is a lil dumb or blatantly ignorant and doesn’t care). either way, he gives “idk idc” brain energy.

ok so now we get to pulling his cards. it seems like he gets away with a lot of things by looks or begging or whatever- i was getting some slacky, noncommittal cards but as i further clarified, … this is a possibility as well: maybe he’s grown up in a poor household—it’s either this, or he’s the one causing instability, at least in material. he seems to run away from problems a lot. “escaping from treacherous waters.”

if you do get involved with this person tho, it could trigger an onslaught of crazyyyyy ass events in order to get you to an abundant place in your life. you’d have one big character death basically, and it would fuel you to work hard and do ambitious things.

if you wanna develop some kind of relationship with this guy, try platonic first, just as you’d mentioned. then you can see more bits of his personality for yourself.

the choice is up to you EE! imo, this guy kinda seems scummy, but hey, to each their own yk? thank you again!!

if you have feedback, i will gladly accept with open arms bro hit me w it :)

[ratwars]

apologies, i'll elaborate! i think most would agree on the borzoi - that one wolf-skinwalker russian breed which looks like a cross between an angel and a worm-on-a-string

but personally? i think fyodor would be perfect as one of those scrawny, Mephistopheles typa black dogs people write folklore about; maybe a belgian shepherd (or just a black borzoi after all)

now for sigma, a dalmatian would be v cool! but yosano already claimed that one, so i think id assign him one of those smartass sheep herding dogs that can memorize 420 words and people love to stress to death on those tv tournaments. I think thats v sigma coded

Ahh thank you thank you 💜🙏

"Mephistopheles typa black dog" sent me a bit ngl, I'm flattered you somehow thought this sort of dog match up would be obvious to me (even tho it wasn't 💀)

I see, both the Borzoi and the Belgian Shepard have such a distinct look but the Belgian Shepard looked cuter imo. I am seeing your theme of having him be very striking and kinda odd looking though in wan!dog form and I like it. (And a longer beautiful black coat of course).

I did forget which were already taken in the wan dog au, so that makes sense! Dalmatian can't be an option then if it is one breed per character. Tbh your idea does sound very much like Sigma in terms of temperament and how they are put through the ringer so, yes I'll accept it 🙏😌

[adelheidvonschicksal]

🚨

HOLY CRAPPOLOPOLLXJSKSJSKSJSKSK

it’s so cute and fluffy??????? and you captured xavier’s character so freaking well, I can’t-

“Many things, I assume, a portable heater comes to mind” — this got me in particular!!!

i feel like far too often, he’s painted as this super innocent/naive guy, or a completely calculated and cunning dude. he’s definitely a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but he also is an easily flustered bunny. it’s his duality that’s makes him so interesting (imo), and you’re the first one who I’ve seen who’s properly captured that! even if it’s just innocent teasing, he is kinda cheeky but in a sweet way. just the vibe he gives off is super unique and personally i love the way you write him!!!

thank you for the sneak peak! i’ll def be sleeping well to night *mwah* <333333

Thank you! I don't really see him as super calculated either, like yeah he does have thoughts to what he wants and how he wants things to go, and he can be teasing, but I feel like he's 25% innocent, 25% calculated, and 50% vibes and testing his luck. Ohhhh, he's opportunistic! That's the word. 😂

I honestly love that we finally get a soft-looking cute boy, who is also shown to still have urges. It's nice he's not infantilized and that he can actually be sort of dommy. Then, when I have the urge to bully someone, Rafayel is right around the corner. 💙

[marshallpupfan]

My Marshall Collection! (June, 2022)

It's been a while since I've shown off my Marshall collection! Things are a little different now, so I figure now's as good a time as any!

For those of you that missed it, I recently replaced my old display case because the sides were starting to bulge. Fortunately, I was able to find another one for a low price, not to mention it looks much nicer, too! It was about six inches wider though, so it couldn't fit in the same spot. To give everything more space, I ended up rearranging my entire room to place my collection on the opposite wall. Imo, I think it looks better than it did before!

And much like the last time I posted pics of my collection, I figured I'd briefly talk about each section. Well, let's get started!

Over on the left, you'll find the majority of my plush dolls, as well as a few other things here and there. Not too much has changed, except I was able to make the shelves on the wall much wider, so now I can fit more up there whenever I purchase more plush dolls (or other items, such as a few Marshall backpacks I have my eye on).

Over in the corner, you'll find some books! For these, I decided to focus on ones that center around Marshall, or he's the biggest pup featured on the cover. In truth, I'll be replacing this bookshelf eventually, since there's not much room left for the other books I plan on purchasing. Hopefully I'll find something that'll work out better.

This mini shelf seen one of the bigger changes. Previously, it had a bunch of plush dolls, but I decided to relocate them in order to make room for DVDs! Much like the books, I focused on ones about Marshall or he's the biggest pup featured on the cover. And similar to the books, I have a few more I plan on buying despite the little room I have left. Yeah... I'm not sure how I'll solve this issue yet. lol

This smaller bookshelf is a new addition. I originally had other plans for it, but because my new display case is too tall to place the larger plush dolls on top again, I had to relocate them here.

In the middle of my collection is my TV, once again showing off my Laptop wallpaper! And of course, my Ready Race Rescue theatrical poster is right above it! There's a window right behind it, so just pretend those are theater curtains or something. lol

On the right, we've got my new display case... but before that, take a look at the items on the wall next to it! Also, I had to retake this picture later, and I totally forgot to turn the TV back on. Oops!

Here, you'll find my EMT Marshall wall art, the badges that came with some figurines, two walkie-talkies, artworks sent to me by a friend, and a bunch of framed pictures I printed off. Seeing as how the new display case doesn't stick out as far as the old one, I was able to fit in a few more, though I replaced a few, too. The new pictures include Sheep-disguise Marshall, EMT Marshall, Marshall sleeping with Squeakin'Beam, Marshall covered in stickers, and still one of my personal favorite outfits, Marshall in his Rescue Knights armor!

On the bottom of the Display case, we've got Marshall's many vehicles! I decided to rearrange them a bit differently this time, so most of them are all together now. I had to stick two on the floor, but I kinda like it like that.

Because the new display case is wider, I was able to get both his Ultimate Fire Truck and Movie Fire Truck on the same shelf. I decided to place the True Metal vehicles in front of them. The smaller, plastic vehicles were placed elsewhere.

Above that, you'll find the majority of the figurines! Many of them are Marshall wearing his usual fireman gear, but of course, there are so many other outfits on display, such as him in his Ultimate Fire Gear, his Pup-Fu Gi, all versions of his Mighty Pups super suits, Rescue Knights, Dino Rescue, Moto Pups, etc.! That new step shelf I made for them a few months ago doesn't fill up the entire shelf, so I stuck one of those big toys at the end to fill up the space. I think it works!

Nearing the middle, we've got the biggest shelf housing most of my bigger, non-plush items. The Marshall-shaped shampoo bottle (imported from the UK), two bubble makers, ceramic piggy (puppy?) banks, bobble heads, an alarm clock, that large piñata I always struggle to find a spot for, that large multi-color face lightbulb, among other things. The smaller vehicles were relocated here, since there wasn't much room for them with the other vehicles.

Many other various items are right above that, including a talking coin bank (also imported from the UK), coffee mugs, bath toys, a bunch of Christmas ornaments, some candy dispensers, etc.. Admittedly, this is my favorite out of all the shelves.

Nearing the end of my collection, we've got this final shelf displaying additional items, such as the lunch boxes, Good2Grow bottles, the many mini figurines found in those mystery boxes. etc..

Last, on the very top of the display case, we've got the final batch of plush dolls, including the one I recently found for $1 that I cleaned and sewed up!

=============================

And there you go! As Tumblr has a limit of ten images per post, I'm unable to focus on everything I wanted to talk about, so hopefully this does the job well enough. But to think, they've released so much merchandise of one character... and yet, I'm still nowhere close to owning everything of Marshall! Crazy thought, huh?

To say this least, I see this collection as a testament to just how crazy I am about the character. I know I say this often, but this spotted pup really is my #1 favorite animated character of all time! He means a lot to me, which is why I made these MarshallPupFan accounts, why I post daily pics of him, why I enjoy showing off his merchandise, and why I even went as far to purchase my own Marshall mascot costume to represent him in my town's parade (that plan's still pending, however). Seriously, I just love this character to death! In my eyes, he's one of the greats, and I can't imagine PAW Patrol being anywhere near as good without him!

As always, I hope you all enjoyed seeing my collection again! ���

[callmethehunter]

I've read a few fics by different authors about Robert, and I'm kinda confused. They portray him in different ways, so what's his personality like in different aspects? I know that he's extroverted (I saw him getting typed as an ENFJ) and extra, and has a warm heart, but what about his flirtiness and apparent hedonism? How does his rural ideals contrast with touring? I know people are multifaceted and no one's flawless, but I still wanna know some things for certain.

Oh dear Anon, you have made my day! These are great questions about my favorite subject in the world: Robert Plant.:D And as far as that goes, I could (and will) go on and on about this forever, I’ve got so much to say!!

I’ve been obsessed with Robert’s music as well as with his personal life for years. I find him to be a multifaceted, highly talented and intelligent person who embodies traits that one would think were mutually exclusive, yet are somehow at home in him. He is without a doubt, totally outrageous and extroverted, he wants to be the center of attention, yet he is also reclusive, a deep thinker who is keenly aware of the world around him while also being introspective and self-aware. In his own words he has said

“It's part of me to get off on those moments where... well, what people would call attention. Obviously, that isn't the be-all and end-all of life, but at the states of creativity that I've reached, well, it helps the lyrics along a little bit.”

“ I’m pleased with how ridiculous I am. I like me. Though I’m not a huge fan. I know when to switch me off.”

I do think he has a very warm heart. He is genuinely interested in other people, in experiencing the most out of any given situation.

In my opinion, he loves the idea and the feeling of falling in love. He gets off more on that than on the longevity of it. It’s like he’s got ADHD in the aspect of love lol!! I say this because of the number of serious relationships (and not so serious relationships) that he has had in his life. I’m sure he was saddened when they ended, but then he’s moved on to the next great infatuation and adventure. He’s quite capable of starting again, as he has shown multiple times both in his personal and professional life. But I also think it’s a testimony to his heart that he’s been able to continue to be friends with his past loves. “There have been people I've warmed to over the years but, as the situation I'm in is so fleeting and transient, I've always known it's going to be over kind of real quick.”

I mean think about this: after having children with two sisters, Maureen (his exwife) and Shirley, they have been able to raise their children in what looks like a loving extended family. His sons, Logan (with Maureen) and Jesse (with Shirley), are half-brothers as well as first cousins. Just think on that for a moment. In a recent picture, there’s the entire family on vacation: Maureen, Shirley and their children with Robert, as well as Robert and a previous girlfriend, Jessica something or other (don’t remember her name). He’s not confined to societal conventions. He could give a flying fuck. I love that free spirit and he himself has said (and I paraphrase) that he may come across as being a good mate, but in reality he’s out to do whatever the fuck he wants. (And it shows!! )

He says, “...if you do what you think is right for the benefit of everybody and everything and you make decisions, then to go back and regret them afterwards - it's a futile experience and it's not worth thinking about. Because life just unfolds. Provided you do your best and you think you're on the right track, you can only be right or wrong. But to regret it - I don't think there are any huge errors or misdemeanors.”

In the area of friendship, however, he is fiercely loyal. He and Bonzo were like brothers till the end, and even still, Robert honors his dear friend. He’s also been able to maintain friendships with so many people from his hometown- people he knew before he was famous. He puts away the trappings of fame and fortune to be the good old Black Country boy, riding horses and playing with goats, walking around in the forests and enjoying nature.

“I think I could sing and shear a few sheep at the same time.” he says. He is the picture of the word “earthiness”. Able to be the rock god on stage as well as the humble farmer on the farm or at the local pub. He’s loyal to his soccer team and to the sport itself which has been a lifelong passion. I love that in him.

Is he a hedonist? Absolutely!! he has tasted every pleasure there is to taste. His every material wish could be a reality in an instant...He has done drugs, had hundreds of one night stands. He is a highly sensual man. IMO the sexiest man that’s ever walked the planet. His sizeable bulge perpetually stands as a symbol (no pun intended) of his virility and lust (and I like it!!) He exudes charisma and raw sexual energy. He’s done it all to the highest level, partied and cavorted around the globe. What a life he’s lived!!

But he is also soulful- in his lyrics there is also a deep spiritual side of him: I think he is a modern day troubadour and philosopher. His lyrics touch on that, “it is the springtime of my loving” ….“In the light you will find the road” “when all is one and one is all” “Then as it was, then again it will be, though the course may change sometimes, rivers always reach the sea” and I could go on and on with other examples. These are just what popped in my head. “I am a reflection of what I sing. Sometimes I have to get serious because the things Ive been through are serious” He’s experienced moments where he is the “golden god” as well as tragic moments such as the loss of his 5 year old son and the loss of his dear friend Bonzo. These are definitely reflected in his music.

And finally, in his own words:

“I'm like one of those firecrackers that goes off in your pocket occasionally. I'm not really struggling with it as much as the people around me. But at least I'm not doing too much damage to anybody or to myself. It's just the condition I'm aware of."

And he’s still got a twinkle in him and always will.

Thank you for letting me go and on about this man, he holds such a special place in my heart. He is a beautiful and joyous old hippie full of wisdom and talent. He has created a lasting legacy and I hold the deepest admiration for him, despite his human frailties or shortcomings.

If you have read this far, you deserve a kiss and a medal! Thanks so much for this ask!!

[sleepymccoy]

Aziraphale’s demon aspect

As voted by 246 people!

The winner is

Owl

with nearly 26% of the primary vote

many people added in their free form answers that they were imagining a barn owl specifically

Owl was the front runner the whole way through this survey, but most of the time by a very beatable margin. The 40 or so people who voted in the last night really tipped it over, it was a tight race! And the results are crazy split imo, a quarter of votes constitutes a win! I love the different opinions and ideas we all have so so much

Ram/sheep came in a hearty second with 16.5% of the vote

A very regal demon there.

After that it gets a little murky, so I’m going to share the second graph I made when is every animal that got more than 1% of the vote. So it’s the top six animals

Magpie and Lion holding strong! Then Moth and Goat looking very good

The second question let you vote for as many options as you thought were appropriate for Aziraphale! So, there were a lot more write-ins! It’s crazy!

I’m using google sheets so I can’t get it to show you every name, but the raw data will be in a read more so you can scroll through everyone’s beautiful imagination there

Again, Owl winds with a solid 20% of the vote. Ram/Sheep coming in with about 15%, followed by Moth, Magpie, Goat, Lion, then Tortoise.

Tortoise was 11th in the first round, tied with Snake (but pale), and managed to surprise me by coming through so strong in the second. Slow and steady, baby.

Nearly everyone who wrote in about Magpies told me that Magpies hoard stuff, so it’s nice to see the hive mind at work there!

Five people told me they were voting goat because of that one piece of art by @hollow-head​ that shows Aziraphale scaling a bookshelf like goats do cliffs. As an artist myself I found it legitimately moving that this one image had stayed with people so strongly. That’s just beautiful. Here’s an example of just one person’s comment

idk dude i just remember one person posted art of him scaling the bookstore shelves like those goats scale mountains and just eating his clothes while he reads it was so fuckin funny but anyway goat eyes are great or he could have lil stubby horns that r covered by his hair

One moth enthusiast took the time to give me a short essay on their choice of moth. I have included a portion of it, cos it was so great

So if I had to choose an insect, it would be a moth, preferably a Megalopygidae, also known as the Flannel Moth. They are fluffy, white-beige and look innocent and fluffy, but their larvae can cause painful inflammations. A poodle moth would also fit because it's almost pure white.

Here’s a flannel moth for everyone

and a poodle moth, which i honestly thought was a hoax but i looked into it just now and it seems legit? There’s not a tonne of proof, but the og pictures are from a scientists who stands by them, so like, wow

And then a DIFFERENT PERSON put this in;

the moth i had in mind is Acherontia atropos, in polish called Zmierzchnica trupia główka (meaning more or less "dusk death's head"). i have a whole symbolism planned out and stuff 

Fucking, moth fandom come through!!

I’m vaguely scared of moths, fun fact. I don’t like the thick thunking sound they make when they hit stuff.

Here is the second round but with all the animals that got four or less votes removed for ease of viewing

the one segment there at 12 o’clock that google hasn’t labeled for me is Swan at 0.9%

I cannot believe I didn’t put swan in as an option, that’s all write-ins

So, to summarise, I suggest you take a lot of this with a grain of salt. It is not meant as an instruction to fandom or to railroad creativity. I have a narrow corner of the Good Omens fandom that I interact with, and while this quiz was up for a week I’m not sure it reached a great variety of people. About 250 folks filled it out, which was tonnes more than I expected and I love each and every one of you for filling it out!! But I have noticed that Owl was first on my list and in the free form answers the example prompt I gave included, “such as a breed of owl that specifically speaks to you,“ so I think it’s possible I did that unknowing bias thing that practiced survey folk know now to do. So, grain of salt.

I also think that if animals like Swan and Cat were in the list of options they’d’ve gotten more votes because the people who voted for those were coming up with it fresh themselves. I suspect people would’ve voted for them, but it just didn’t occur to them in the moment. In much the same way it didn’t occur to me in the moment I was writing this survey.

So people know, I got the ten or so animals that I put in the survey from searching the demon!aziraphale tag on tumblr, so it was all stuff that other people had come up with. I was trying to avoid my own bias, but i think in hindsight i could’ve done better!

Having said all that, this was all so much fun and the results are clear!!! Love a good owl!aziraphale

Imma continue to draw my boy as a ram, though. Cos this was all just for a laugh <3

numbers and a few more things under the cut

So some of these have half a vote ascribed to them. That’s for people who in their freeform answer said things like this;

ngl, that one post about him being a swan still makes me laugh

Mourning Dove. Though that Scallop answer was fucking brilliant

And I kinda made a judgement call that that wasn’t a vote, but it was kind of a vote. So I gave them half a point.

There were a few situations where people would write in a specific species. If I got more than one vote for the root animal I just grouped them together, but if it stayed the only vote then it kept the species. Cat got the most specific species mentioned, and in the second vote Bat had a few species mentioned (albino bat being my fave), but I ended up grouping them all just under Cat and Bat to give them a better chance of getting on the graph. There were probably a few other examples but I can’t think of them. The one exception to this is the person who wrote-in Duolingo Owl specifically. For that one I figured Owl is already pretty solid, and that’s just fucking funny, man

I was also pretty generous about some stuff. So, this person didn’t vote for Moose but they clearly regretted it so I added a vote for Moose in the second one where you could vote for multiples. They kept their Ram and Goat votes, of course, but I added Moose for them

I get very bastard energy from my demon az headcanons. Like f-ing shit up for a laugh more than anything, but otherwise indifferent. That's kinda why I like the ram/sheep/goat thing so much because it reminds me of indifference and random chaos. Or a moose. Shit, I should have written in moose

So yeah, it’s hardly a double blind study that’d stand up to any real criticism, but it was fun and I think the essence of it is fun!! Scroll through and have a read. Imma pull a few more of my fave write-ins and put them down the bottom cos it’s great. Esp the ones that only got one vote, the reasonings were stellar on some of those

Here is the first vote results, where everyone could only vote for one animal each

Owl 63 Ram/Sheep 40 Magpie 28 Lion 26 Moth 21 Goat 17 Swan 4 Eagle 4 Dove 4 Cat 4 Tortoise 3 Snake 3 Scallop 2 Rat 2 Rabbit 2 Mongoose 2 Badger 2 Shima Enaga 1 Shark 1 Porcupine 1 Orangutan 1 Mouse 1 Long Furby 1 Hippopotomaus 1 Goose 1 Duck 1 Dragon 1 Cow 1 Cereberus 1 Boar 1 Bee 1 Bat 1 Alpaca 1

Second Vote results, where everyone could vote for as many as they wanted

Owl1 82 Ram/Sheep 136 Moth 108.5 Magpie 98 Goat 96 Lion 72 Tortoise 61 Snake 37 Eagle 33 Cat 9.5 Swan 7.5 Lizard 4 Rabbit 4 Badger 3 Mongoose 2 Dove 2 Mouse 2 Squirrel 2 Bear 2 Raccoon 2 Capybara 2 Dragon 2 Bat 1 Long Furby 1 Rat 1 Boar 1 Goose 1 Peacock 1 Pangolin 1 Lindworm 1 Moose 1 Chinchilla 1 Duolingo Owl 1 Cackatoo 1 Crow 1 Cow 1 Alpaca 1  Dodo 1 Shark 1 Big Dog 1 Snow Leopard 1 Scallop 0.5

All voting was optional. To help explain how scallop lost 1.5 votes from first to second, I believe the people who voted for it in the first question just skipped the second cos they’d said their bit.

In terms of how many people engaged with the questions, Q1 had 245 answers and one skip. Q2 had 241 answers and 5 skips, and Q3 where I just let people talk at me if they wanted to had 84 answers and 162 skips.

So please enjoy my selection of free form answers. They all made me smile but putting all 84 in seems excessive to me, so I’ve chosen the ones that are either full blown mini essays or that make me laugh. It’s still a lot, this project brought me so much joy

-

Shima enaga - It's the hair man

Cow (aka golden calf)

Scallop. He is a snack.

Swan. Elegant but very capable of fscking you up. Mates for life.

basically anything that is both gentle in nature and fiercely loyal, territorial and protective (but prone to anxiety). Also hedonistic esp. with food. For all of these reasons, I think a dog would be the best choice.

Dragon with his hoard of books

it’s about the teeth. just too sharp and too many to be human. (comment from op here, this person voted for shark, just for context)

Turkish Angora cat. Magnificently fluffy, incredibly intelligent, love heights and will jump off crazy high things and land on your head, gloriously dignified until they see a string and run into a wall, love one or maybe two persons to distraction and want everyone else to fuck off, will drape themselves over their person’s shoulders and go to sleep, range from “will jump in the sea to hunt fish and has a murder pit full of seagulls they’ve massacred” to “will fall over at the sight of a baby bird”, very particular about food and will yell at you if you get it wrong. Also the breed that some asshole took three cats from and bred parent to child to make Persians. The cautionary tale has been acknowledged and we love our crazy smart, single braincelled children.

I usually imagine him as an owl because they are nocturnal (and we know that Aziraphale can easily stay awake the whole night reading). Also the image of an owl puffed up is kind of ridiculous and reminds me of him, of how an annoyed Aziraphale would look. However the options above have made me think that a lion would suit him very well, too. A lion or just a very BIG cat. I mean, he makes pleading eyes to get what he wants, likes to be confortable, is a bit of a bastard and often puts himself in awkward situations from which he needs to be rescued. He just... acts very cat-like in my opinion. Also owls and cats are both predators, but are usually imagined (or, at least cats are) as cute little creatures, just like Aziraphale is an Angel of the Lord (a Warrior, actually) but looks all soft and cute and huggable. I dunno. Maybe I just want to pet an Aziracat.

I love all the other people's thoughts about demon!Aziraphale, but what about the honey badger? I try to explain why I have it in mind for demon!azi: its name (I think it's funny, expecially in English because 'honey' can make you imagine it's something sweet (it is for me), while the 'bad' in badger can be an alarm bell (like 'be careful! It is not like it seems!')); its face (ok, who can say its face isn't cute? I think, and hope, nobody can, and like the name, it is a misunderstanding: as always, be careful, it's not like it seems!, I think demons can say something about demon!azi as like "you don't seem like a 'good' demon, you can't be, your face (animal and human) is too f-ing disgusting sweet to be a demon!", I think maybe even angel!crowley, at the beginning, can think something like this ("how in the world somebody so cute like you can be a demon?"), then he discovered how demon!azi can be a very talented demon sometimes, but in Crowley's mind azi is still his little cutie angry furry); its furry's colour (black=demon, white/grey/silver/idkitsname= color of demon!azi's wings, because even if he fell, I can't say no to his white wings 😭); it is a snake's predator (and in my mind angel!crowley is still a snake); its solitary life (demon!aziraphale is alone and he doesn't mind it, unless it's angel!crowley we're talking about, then our cute demon minds it); its behaviour (demon!azi, even if he's cute, can be a really very talented demon: honey badger is fearless and dangerous, it can fight bigger animals if there aren't other chances and it can't escape); its skin is very tough (except for a soft/safe spot, behind its neck if I remember well, that only angel!Crowley knows and sometimes he uses it to calm demon!azi down or make azi do some good deeds); its diet (it has a sweet-thooth, for honey in primis, but it can eat everything it wants... Doesn't it resemble demon!azi?); it's smart (search for Stoffle on your browser if you don't know)... Ok,I think I finish, sorry for the novel 😅

I tend to think of animals that meet three criteria: (1) they exemplify “faults” in his character exaggerated to “sins”—gluttony, greed/hoarding, sloth, (2) they are species that favor fawning or flight as a defense mechanism but can also be bold on occasion, and (3) blend very well or have a keen affinity with human society, specifically thriving in urban (i.e., city) environments. This is mostly because I can’t see “Aziraphale” in a reverse AU that doesn’t preserve some of his core traits as an angel (a little hedonistic, hoarding, anxious, etc.). So I like city-dwelling bastard animals with bonus points for relation to scripture, like a rock dove or a fox or an owl.

Owls aren't  smart, and the pedant in me says not an owl. But, thinking on it, demon aspect, owls are perceived as smart, but designed as deadly silent predators, patient and solitary. So actually demon Aziraphale could take on more owlish aspects. I just like cockatoo better, since they are smart, and showy. Or a crow, although that does amusing things with Crowleys name.

god imagining him as a chimera is !!! (comment from op, there was this odd flurry of mythical animals being voted for one night. i think the survey hit a corner of fandom that leans that way. there was also dragon, another chimera, a griffon, and a lindworm all at the same rough time)

Magpies are great because they’re cute and fluff themselves up (go look at Sophie the magpie) and like hoarding their favorite things but also I’ve watched one just straight up kill another bird before because corvids are sneaky little bastards with no lack of a mean streak if they’re crossed

It’s the duolingo owl, I’m so sorry op but it just is. I genuinely don’t mean to clown on your post, but this take was delivered to me in a sleep induced haze and I believe it’s the god given truth. Demon Aziraphale WOULD try to make you learn a dead language and he’d go about it in a vaguely threatening way (comment from op, you’re so fucking right dude. also, shit like this is made for clowning, i’m with you 100%)

When choosing a demon aspect for a Aziraphale, I usually tried to keep in mind the artistic tradition of which animals are linked with demons. The Good Omens team seems to have drawn inspiration from that source because all the animals we do see are either reptilian or insectoid. Those species were often shown inhabiting hellish landscapes in Renaissance and Baroque paintings. However, Aziraphale never struck me as cold or slimy or hard like an exoskeleton. So if I had to choose an insect, it would be a moth, preferably a Megalopygidae, also known as the Flannel Moth. They are fluffy, white-beige and look innocent and fluffy, but their larvae can cause painful inflammations. A poodle moth would also fit because it's almost pure white.

Ok so the only reason I pick magpie is because those bastards are smart as hell but also know how and when to inconvenience the shit out of you, and if you gain their trust then they're absolute darlings but if they decide "nah, dont like ya" then you're basically done and you'll wake up every morning with shit on your car window. I also chose sheep/ram cuz I mean... idk it suits him. I don't remember my other choice but I'm sure I had a good reason.

I feel like a barn owl would suit him well but I'm not really sure why, I also think that a moth would suit him really well because of the whole "moth to a flame" thing and as a demon he would have gotten burned because of that attitude.

I write a reverse AU fic called Lambs to the Slaughter where Aziraphale's demonic aspect is an albino sheep! I imagine him as a mix between a wild Argali ram and the first woolly domestics. I chose an Argali because they're the largest species of wild sheep, but I wanted him to have traits of a domestic breed because he obtains his animal aspect from a sheep in Abel's flock which would be several generations down from the original wild species in Eden. I really think a sheep suits Aziraphale! They're an incredibly common animal and have been since they were first domesticated. Likewise, since the start of human history, Aziraphale has been living side-by-side with humans, providing for them, and protecting them. Due to how common they are, sheep are often unnoticed, which Aziraphale leans into. Crowley wants to stand out. He has a dedicated aesthetic and an obsession with human invention, where Aziraphale leans more towards simpler, known things and creature comforts. He fades into the background, and that suits him fine. He doesn't have to be outstanding to Heaven or to humans or even to Crowley -- it's enough to do his part, to trust in a bigger plan. People associate sheep (especially lambs) with innocence or ignorance which foils nicely to Crowley as the serpent tempting with knowledge, as well as with Aziraphale's own sharp mind and ongoing embers of faith in a system that is failing him, Crowley, and all of humanity. Sheep are, like Aziraphale, soft, cute, and hiding a hard-headed stubbornness and a surprising strength that makes them absolutely fearsome. Aziraphale is very much the sort to put his head down and push relentlessly forward regardless of the pressure and strain. Rams in particular have thick skulls to withstand the brutal force of headbutting one another in displays of dominance. While Aziraphale is clever, he's not above rolling up his sleeves and getting the job done, as messy and unpleasant as it might be (see: pulling a gun on the Antichrist). Also sheep are associated with Pan, a god associated with food, music, theatre, and the criticism thereof, which hit many of Aziraphale's personal interests and hobbies! I like the idea that in a reverse AU, the demon formerly named Aziraphale might be the original basis for Pan!

I wrote in Orangutan for the first question because if I remember correctly they are some of the most violent apes. Although I'd accept bonobo for him too. They fuck alll the time.

mothman aziraphale,,,,, thats it

Snowy owl, speremint's tortoise, and I just adore the goat.

moth - dusty and eats books

Long Furby the way Loni-Capri draws it.

I keep thinking about that Black Philip quote "doest thou wish to live deliciously" because... it fits so much with the general epicurean/hedonism vibe the Fandom has for him ... but in a demonic way and also I think a lot abt that art piece (already referenced many times probably but what the hell) of him climbing his own bookshelves, it's just so good!!

Albino Lion/white lion (matches his hair).  I feel like maybe I should explain why I think Lion would fit him best, lol. Lions actually are rather sedate, inactive for 20 hours of the day (see: Aziraphale reading and unmoving- yes I pulled wiki for this to make sure I didn't spout anything terribly wrong, shhh)  but also there's nomad lions. Lions that range widely and move around sporadically either alone or in pairs (*looks at Crowley after apoconope*) (pairs are more frequent among males who have been excluded from their birth pride)  but also I think of lions as protectors, defenders, and what is Aziraphale if not that? If not an angel who fiercely protects humans, crowley, earth? (When he finally overcomes heaven and it's abuse) lions don't hunt unless they're hungry, don't attack unless they're defending. They've been known to sit directly next to jeeps full of people and just watch them, not attacking or being aggresive.

I saw art once (I have no idea who the artist is) of Demon!Aziraphale climbing his bookcases like a goat and absentmindedly chewing on his sweater while he reads. I felt like the goat aspect suited him perfectly.

Honestly I wrote Az with a rat aspect because, well, it fits who I see demon Az as. He's not super powerful but he is very consequential, like rats carrying plague fleas (this also describes how I see Az tempting). He tries to blend into a crowd, which is arguably one way rats survive, and can get himself into places/situations that should be impossible or super difficult. Like snakes, rats have been unfairly maligned by our culture for a long time, even though they are very social with their colonies, smart, affectionate, and generally good beans. Finally, male pet rats are known far and wide as the lazier of the sexes while the girls are super curious and adventurous.

Somehow his tartan pattern becomes either his colour scheme or his coat/feather pattern.

Eurasian eagle owl. A big, unapologetic grump of an owl that is soft as soft can be underneath. Possessor of the glare to end all glares to be used in such dire situations as being interrupted when reading or being told one has "had enough cake".

[jubberry]

oohkay let's go tua with those ship asks: fiveya, horrance and alluther.

thanks el i love you

Send me a ship and I'll answer three questions based on if I ship it or not.

fiveya obvs i ship this since this is 90% of my tua drawings lol

1. ill wait ill wait (to be the one) by georgiestauffenberg made me ship it cause holy fuck dude. I dont know if i ship them romantically when i saw them onscreen cause first of all, age difference is kinda weird lmao. Second, they dont rlly interact much outside literally the first couple of eps. But he was so soft for her, and i felt like they had so much unexplored history.

so i looked at fanfics cause i was wondering if ppl still ship it, then i liked the description of this one so i gave it a go.

Basically the premise is that vanya dates a much older man who seems to know a lot about her. And it was amazingly in character and just provided their characters some depth that u wouldnt find outside of a romantic relationship between them. (The implication of five pining while she doesnt know who he is, their missed chances when he time travelled, fives missed chances of living and having a 'normal' life bec of his own hubris, vanyas insecurity and being able to open up bec shes with someone whos known her since childhood). Its so sweet and thats how i was like, oh yep i can do so much more with these two, and what has kept me interested in drawing them etc.

2. My favourite things are the shippers cause i made some friends in the fandom who are super cool and supportive! I dont get super involved in fandoms and usually just watch from afar so finding people to talk to and muck around with in this tiny fandom is super cool 😭

Though thats not to say I havent come across some bad apples in this fandom and things that I dont like. I think thats the importance of carving out a place for yourself and ur friends in fandom tho.

Another thing I like about the ship itself, i just like the grumpy person whos soft for one person trope. Its so cute. I like all the little clues in canon on how their relationship as kids is quite warm, which is interesting cause five is basically the star student and he can be quite cold vs vanya who is the black sheep of the family.

I also like how five likes her powers even when she caused the apocalypse he spent the majority of his life in lol. Like its a popular hc that five is just a wife guy and i love that.

I see vanya as the type who has a lot of love to give, and she sometimes has unrealistic expectations of what her partner can give. Betrayal and lies really angers her, but also when her partner cannot meet her expectations of love she gets very upset bec its also an indication of how shes not good enough, or not loveable enough to be able to have this in the relationship (her insecurity means every failing always comes back to her, even if its out of her control).

I feel like five would be a level-headed person enough in the relationship to not be afraid to say 'vanya ur being stupid' (ie. the s2 confrontation lmao). Also, five's personality means she will never have to doubt his actions bec she knows hes the type who will not give u the moment of the day if hes not interested.

Not to mention they also have the whole apocalypse vs. saviour, hero/villain thing. Theres just a lot to explore!

3. I probably have several. But mostly I dont mind five being a dick to vanya bec first, even if the appeal is hes soft to her hes already kind of a dick in canon lmao. Also, vanya isnt a child. Shes grown and she can handle petty af things like five telling her shes not good at cooking lol. I also dont mind it cause I feel like people are getting too afraid to write... conflict for fear or portraying an abusive relationship or smth. Like, chill. Conflict is fine, resolving it is how u get a story. However in saying that, nobody should be obligated to write any way unless you want to! Fanfic is for comfort so if what your doing is making u happy then its good enough!

horrance which i also ship but i love the platonic and romantic relationship equally:

1. I came in tua in general not shipping anything so Im honestly not sure. I do remember someone doing a meta before s2 came out that was basically how ben acted weird when klaus summoned dave in s1 that made me go 👀 Otherwise, tua s2 rlly made me like them cause tua FED horrance shippers. Like..... the fact that klaus didnt want ben to leave him, and ben knows thats why he stayed 😢 or the fact that klaus was all over him for some reason???? Somebody also mentioned gay ben once and I resonate with that deeply. Like i get that jill exists but i resonate with gay ben deeply.

2. I love their bickering, theyre so cute together. I just like ben being angry bec hes self aware that hes got both shit and amazing taste. Shit bec he cant believes he likes Klaus (and also amazing also bec Klaus). I think the idea of them being kind of underdogs, theyre not rlly leader types and dont want to be, helps them bond together even in platonic horrance. They're both down to earth, and even tho they can annoy each other, they also know if they want a space to feel comfortable its with each other. Theyre not pressured by rivalry over leadership, or any sort of competition.

I love the idea that even tho ben is like klaus's ''conscience'', hes also down for chaos and bitchy. I feel like klaus rlly enabled that side of him, its not exactly a good thing but its p funny lol

3. I know some people think their dynamic is unhealthy but i dont care lol

alluther. So id say i dont ship this, mostly due to the fact that im not invested? Just like all tua ships so far I rlly came out not wanting anything but platonic relationships cause I feel tua doesnt do romance very well. With alluther, theyre so cute but im not super invested in either of their chars so they havent stuck for me. I appreciate seeing them and talking about them tho, and I'm def open to exploring them further.

1. I think tua canon romances are just so lackluster 😔 Idk who writes the romances but I was just like 'nice' but afterwards I dont really think about them. I love their dance scene and the message behind it! Otherwise, theyre sweet like most of the tua romances but im not super invested, same with all the non canon ships.

2. I really feel like tua needs to decide on what their relationship is. Like, just say its incest or not and stick with it 👀 Or if you wanna support it or not, just make up ur mind. I think I would've liked it better if I found the characters more interesting. Allison especially I feel like suffers from the fact that tua just doesn't want to make her ''mean''. They want to make her supportive and are less interested in making her flawed (ie. she should've had a conflict with Vanya in s2, but the writers didnt want to write the girls fighting which is stupid imo and not what that conflict is about).

In regards to Alluther, the scene where Allison gets annoyed at Luther for sleeping with someone else felt out of line. Like, how are you marrying other people and moving on but Luther isn't allowed to? But honestly, I don't mind if they actually just acknowledge it and make it a deliberate part of Allison's trait that Allison can expect a certain loyalty automatically from other people (which can tie in to her childhood being a star, and the rumour).

Luther is a big simp for Allison, which is sweet, but at the same time it would be nice to have him explore himself for a bit, and who he is outside of the academy. Then maybe they can rekindle their relationship again as new people and see where they go from there.

3. I don't hate them, but they're ok. I'm not super invested in them, just like all the tua canon romance. But I wouldn't mind making content for them if I were a bit more invested in their characters. I love their dance scene in s1 and I feel like its super a underrated portrayal of what their relationship is meant to be. I know no one talks about it but it's just such a great scene, and I'm pretty sure the choreographer was into interpretive dance? The scene had a lot of meaning that I don't see people dig around with.

Essentially I'm pretty sure the fairy lights are obviously a throwback to their childhood together, spending time outside of Reggie. So the dance scene kind of symbolized that pocket of space they made for each other in their life (even if theyre far away, or with other people, they will always have that space for each other).

The way they danced was more like playfighting than dancing, which means their relationship isn't sensual. It's more ''pure'', and romantic. Its basically two kids rekindling their love as adults. I also think this is a response to the incest, cause in s1 tua klaus literally said that 'thank god Regg is not their real father' right before Allison and Luther meet lmao. So its kinda like saying Allison x Luther isnt supposed to be 'ohh step sibling hot' but two people who experienced the same trauma as kids and finding comfort with each other (and rekindling that love after many years).

[sleevesareforlosers]

could you perhaps elaborate on kobra and cherri’s dynamic in twitterverse with regard to their like. soft-ish moments of respect and why they keep coming back? maybe???

ah! i can! (and again i know i get rambly feel free to follow up if any of this isnt clear)

okay yeah so as you (im assuming ur the same person thats sent the other twitterverse asks) mentioned yesterday, so much of twitterverse is about like. reputation and perception. and cherri and kobra are somewhat equal in terms of how theyre treated by the rest of the zones.

theyre both addicts, theyre both known to be lethal, kobra's got a bit more of a sociable reputation from racing and sleeping around but hes still like. not necessarily seen as a person by other joys? i touch on it a bit in. i think chapter two or three? when kobra's smoking with that roller after the race and they go "i cant believe im smoking with the kobra kid" (or whatever they say) like. its a weird celebrity worship. cherri has a bit of a worse time of it because waveheads are SO stigmatized in the zones whereas sweet tooths are like. ehhh theyre partiers that took it too far

so like. theres a lot for them to respect about each other and theres a lot of understanding that can come with being these kind of. highly stigmatized individuals and having a way that people do expect them to act. you arent really gonna have the same expectations from a person thats on the same footing as you. and most of their softest (imo) moments come around when theyre having sex bc theres a lot of intimacy inherent in that Anyway (especially once it happens more than once). im Really going benefit of the doubt that ur an adult but i still wont be too graphic here

so for instance, theres a moment where cherri asks kobra if he Actually likes having sex bc up till then (and after still but i think to a lesser degree) kobra is. really performative about how he fucks. and im not gonna say whether or not kobra having this many hookups is good or bad for him bc it varies, but cherri's pretty good at getting a read on people and it can tell that kobra isnt being 100 percent genuine. and this is like. a big moment for kobra bc its a guy that, really has no reason to actually stop and care abt what kobra wants but it still does. its a moment where kobra gets that cherri isnt going to take advantage of him (an earlier draft also touched on this when they were at the radioshack and cherri established that there was something it wouldnt do with kobra while he was high)

so ig thats like. (apart from the fact that it is really nice sex) why kobra keeps coming back? bc he consciously or unconsciously knows that cherri sees and respects him as a person and doesnt really look up to him OR look down on him. just kinda looks at him

as for cherri, its also a lot of being able to feel like its more or less an equal to kobra. like, im not sure how much it came across and if/when i do a followup ill probably explore this more but newsie and chimp (cherri's two closest relationships other than whatever it and kobra have) are SO much more put together than it is. its the black sheep/wavehead/ultraviolent/bad at talking to people/cant even really get itself around the zones without asking for a ride/fuckup of the family (affectionate). theres not really a sense of inferiority that cherri has from this but it is like. newsie takes care of it in a lot of ways and sometimes you're jsut tired of that! kobra isnt gentle with cherri, he treats it like an equal and like someone thats dangerous and capable and desirable and (going back to how stigmatized waveheads are) he treats it like its a person. (i dropped an essay abt cherri and personhood in regards to gender a LONG time ago like before i even started publishing SOA that kinda ties in)

i also hope im not spoiling things for u bc idk how far youve read but i really tried to make sure i never had kobra and cherri insult each other based on obvious insecurities. once cherri clues in to how much kobras reputation as a 'slut' bugs him it never throws that at him, neither of them really throw the waveriding and sugar at each other to try and rile one another up. like yeah, they'd probably be justified and it wouldnt be punching down bc they are, more or less, equals, but i think both of them would feel a) shitty and b) hypocritical for using shit like that as an insult

so um. to sum up its on a shallow level bc they can have really good sex with each other and on a deeper level its the kind of understanding that comes with being outcasts in different but still deeply similar ways.

[ectonurites]

Tbh I kind of hate how fandom has latched on to the Lazarus Pit wrt Jason’s actions? Like despite having very little canon basis, it’s just so prevalent in fandom and fics, to the point where as far as fandom is concerned it’s become ubiquitous with the character, kind of like with baby stalker Tim or caffeine addict Tim. And it gets used as an excuse for his actions a lot, which I feel takes a lot of agency away from Jason. Like, sure, I can understand using Lazarus Pit madness as a contributing factor for like, the Battle for the Cowl nonsense and such, bc that was nuts and he was clearly unstable/OOC. But it’s used as a way to distance him from his actions and make it easier for the family to bring him back into the fold, which I get! True reconciliation with Jason as is would take a lot of work on the writer’s part, and I completely understand not wanting to get into all that. But I just feel like it’s a disservice to Jason’s core character. He’s someone with conviction and commitment. He believes his way is better than Bruce’s, and I feel like contributing that to Lazarus Pit madness, at least past a certain extent, undermines his character and takes away his agency and free will. Also, I’m ashamed to say it’s just while I was writing this that I had this epiphany as more than just a fleeting thought, but we can explain his Battle for the Cowl-era actions without the “Pit Madness”, bc mental illness is actually a real thing even without the Lazarus Pit

Oh I totally agree.

The thing is... while sure it’s nice in an ideal world and I know fanfic in general is a lot of wish fulfillment, realistically as he has ever existed in canon (especially pre-reboot) Jason ‘fitting in’ to the batfam is basically impossible without altering core things about him. And I think adding in ‘reoccurring lazarus pit madness’ as a way to rationalize his worst actions is the most common alteration, because as you said it distances him from some of his actions. 

Some rambling thoughts on this under the cut just looking at some Jason Moments™ but the main point I guess i’m making here is that taking away his agency kinda sucks because he is really interesting on his own

Jason, again particularly in preboot where he was at odds with the fam more constantly, is written very inconsistently and I think anyone would agree on that. He teeters on that line between Villain and Anti-hero. But no matter what in either of those positions, he is still having core differing ideals from the Bats, and that is not a result of the lazarus pits, that is a result of his life (and, well, death) experience.

Under the Red Hood (& Hush & that Teen Titans issue he’s in where he attacks Tim, so his earliest things after coming back) I think should always be interpreted as him acting more as a villain, because it is a revenge plot, it’s him acting out, it’s the result of every pent up feeling he had because of the circumstances of his death and how he felt he wasn’t properly avenged thus was unloved. Lost Days shows the foundation for that, but Lost Days also shows us that deep down in his core he still has a lot of heroic ideals, which is why when he’s not fueled by a need for revenge I think he’s best written as an Anti-Hero. When Jason sees people who are innocent (like the kids in that arc in Lost days) he is going to save them, he is going to be someone who stands up for those people. He is just willing to do any bad things he might need to in the process, he has sacrificed the more ‘heroic’ methods because he knows firsthand how they can still fail.

But honestly, after that point of crazy revenge schemes up until probably Battle For The Cowl where it all goes suuuper downhill, he falls way more in Anti-hero territory imo! Like, for example:

The Nightwing story with Tentacle Jason! (Nightwing (1996) #118-122)

Thinking about it aside from the sheer ridiculousness of the ending for a second, he expresses constantly in that story that he wants to be closer to Dick, he wants to work with him, because he does want to be a hero of a sort, he just thinks lethal methods are necessary. But that story was about him not wanting to be entirely isolated from the family. This is a Jason who is an anti-hero, he’s killing people because he thinks it’s necessary, not because he’s being driven crazy by a lazarus pit.

Then like, the Green Arrow story (Green Arrow (2001 #69-72) 

He kidnaps Mia to try to recruit her. He’s not just being ‘evil’ he is trying to make the tough calls and do things the rest of the general ‘hero’ community won’t do because it’s what he deems necessary, and he’s trying to convince her that she should do it too. It doesn’t make him right, or anything like that, but there is a logic to what he’s doing. It’s not ‘madness’.

Then like, he helps Dick out by giving him information on Black Lightning in the Outsiders! Because Black Lightning was innocent and Jason figured he may as well let Dick know what he knew. Countdown is a little bit of a mixed bag just because the event itself is kinda a mess but like, overall Jason cared about Donna and Kyle during it and while he was definitely the ‘black sheep’ of the group he still helped until it just became too much for him and he needed to peace out. But like, dude finally had gotten to a world where a version of Bruce had avenged him like he’d always wanted his Bruce to, and then he had to watch that Bruce get murdered in front of him. I can understand wanting to step away from the super scene for a bit after that! That’s not gonna put im in a great place mentally.

And then putting Bruce’s actual death in the main time during Final Crisis on top of it? NO SHIT HE WAS UNSTABLE DURING BATTLE FOR THE COWL. And like, even though it’s not fully justified reasoning, even BftC does show that something set Jason off. It was a tipping point:

(Battle For The Cowl #3)

It was still badly written Jason, but you can definitely start to explain it with literal just... instability because of trauma, unaddressed mental illness, etc, etc, you don’t need to say it was because he was dunked in the pit! Because that really does take away the responsibility he has over his own actions. 

Just... while it’s a fun idea to play with a Jason who can be an integrated part of the family, if you’re going to do it base it more on his current canon version where he has been shown to be willing to make compromises (rubber bullets) to be accepted because he is placing his need to be accepted by his family over his actual ideals at some points. This is honestly one of the biggest key differences between his pre-reboot version and his New 52 (especially Rebirth) and on version.

Pre reboot canon Jason wouldn’t do that. He absolutely would not. Not that he wants to be isolated from his family, (bc think about like not only the Nightwing stuff above, but there are TWO instances he reaches out to Tim, yes one of them is in BftC which ya know is a mess but he also does at the end of Tim’s Robin run before that!) He doesn’t even really hate them (ok he hates Dick in the way you hate your cool well-liked older brother but that’s different) but if he sees them as standing in his way he will take them down and stand against them. He is so deeply seated in what he believes is the right way to find justice, and they are not going to pull him out of it.

Blaming his actions that are rooted in his ideals on an outside factor like pit madness is definitely cheapening him as a character. 

ALSO side tangent but people who base things in preboot with Jason almost never even bring up Sasha and that just makes me sad. Like. Come on! He cares about that kid a ton! Sure Morrison’s version of Jason was also a mess, but the ending bit where he even does work with Dick & Damian to save her?? Winick had taken over writing by that point so it’s already a better characterization of him.

And this next bit also gets down to kinda the core of the matter: He’s willing to work with them as long as they let him do his thing, it’s just that they are not willing to work with him if he’s going to kill. And he’s not willing to fully compromise that longterm. 

(Batman and Robin (2009) #25)

Using a lazarus pit as an out for his actions and thus acting like he didn’t choose to continue a lot of the killing (without an outside influence) changes his motivation, and creates a version of Jason who probably would compromise like that. But that’s not... how he actually was, in pre-reboot especially.

[phoebehalliwell]

Okay, so I swear I mean this legitimately and not rudely, but I'm curious about how you pick out your rarepairs (Kyle x Piper, Andy x Phoebe, Sheridan x Phoebe)? Is it like sticking characters in a generator and seeing if you like the dynamics or do you just have a galaxy brain that mere mortals don't comprehend?

so piper and kyle was actually not an invention of my own brain that is thanks to one or possibly two anons dating like way way back this was one of them and the other was the lone person who voted piper/kyle in my valentine's rarepair extraordinaire and it was really the valentine's one that kicked it off because i rewatched that morgue scene because of it and like. like man. There Is Something There. and then i kinda have this tendency to latch onto things kinda chew on them for a while and piperkyle was def one that's real fun to work with because the more you think about it imo the more appeal there is because just to say it point blank is like woah wait what the fuck but to break both of them down especially tracking piper's evolution as we've seen it as she becomes more jaded and bitter and closed off to love and optimism and to have that kind of become undone by a man who is just as jaded and bitter??? like! the flavor. the. narrative foils. an unlikely trust growing that unconsciously grows more and more into something that resembles love but no you can't put that name to it because it's not love because (especially in piper's case like you had love you had it and you lost it you know love) and this is just so wildly different from anything you've ever experienced and yet from where there once lay only thorns now blossom roses like!! i'm a sucker for a good slow burn i also think kyle was a really wasted character when it comes down to what he was versus what the show tried to make him so when there's time to like hash him out i always think that's fun. with sheridan and phoebe that was literally just me giffing i think it's 7x01 where sheridan like vaguely threatens phoebe in the park and i'm like okay. that's gay. that one i'm just like hey everyone sees this right that's just chemistry that's that unexplained x factor (esp considering so many of phoebe's love interests lacked that in favor of casting men who at the time were considered pretty). phoebe and sheridan had that man. phoebe and andy Specifically tho i was thinking of an SO swap for reasons soon to be revealed and i was like oh yeah i should just revisit the greatest hits paigeleo pruecole piperkyle and then i realize that that's a p even swap no like. double stacking love interests meaning i should pair phoebe with a prue interest and i was just giffing wicca envy and i do wanna gif this scene but it's a bit too long kinda a pain in my ass where prue looks really guilty of murder and andy's there like u look guilty of murder and phoebe's like step off her man?? fuck off? what, is this cause she dumped you, huh? bitch? like phoebe's always had such a mouth she doesn't shy away from a fight and you know andy doesn't want some demure girl next door type some sweet boring doormat so i think someone who challenges him and brings that passion is really great and then as we see even in s2 like phoebe does eventually want to settle down and have like a bunch of kids and be a mom and we know andy looks for that too so there's both a present compatibility of this banter this look em right in the eyes and challenge them flirtation (another great phoebe/andy moment? where's your warrant.) but also a future compatibility of similar goals And an added past compatibility of clearly they were all like family friends right that's why we see andy in the manor in that 70's episode but On Top Of That phoebe's the black sheep criminal the punk rock sk8r grrl whereas andy was like. upstanding citizen followed in his father's footsteps third generation cop. like. there's a friction there that can very easy turn into flame, you know?

[soupcorvus]

OKAY SO I JUST WATCHED/REWATCHED (i had seen about four episodes before watching through the whole playlist again) POKÉMON: TWILIGHT WINGS AND WOW (my thoughts are below the cut, i have many of them) ((SMALL SPOILER WARNING FOR POKÉMON: TWILIGHT WINGS!! i don’t spoil a lot but there’s a decent amount in there about smaller things))

-everyone knows this but this series is gorgeous, like it looks fantastic, you’re free to disagree with me but i just don’t understand why you would, it’s just visually stunning hhhHhh okay i’m gonna move on now before i end up making this all about the visuals

-these short episodes fleshed out some of the trainers like the games never managed to, in my opinion the games did about the same amount as twilight wings when it came to characterizing leon, sonia, and hop, and i think the games did better in some places with characterizing bede, piers, marnie, and raihan (i’m really sad that we barely got to see piers and marnie in twilight wings but i guess they did get their time to shine in the games so i can’t really complain that much).

i’m happy we got to see development and a more full-fledged character for bea, nessa, allister, and oleana, i never really liked oleana and then episode 5 (“assistant”) came along and called my opinion wrong in several different ways, which i’m very happy about. i’m still sad we barely got any milo, kabu, gordie, or melony, but hey sometimes that’s just the way things are 😔

oH I ALMOST FORGOT TO TALK ABOUT AVERY, CLARA, AND MUSTARD LET ME DO THAT REAL QUICK! starting with avery, when he showed up in my game at the station i was like “mm, i see what you’re going for and it’s not for me” and i still don’t like his outfit that much, but his personality (which i think he lacks in the games, judging from what i’ve seen) (no i didn’t get the dlc) makes up for it! they didn’t give us much for clara, but she was cute, kinda funny, and then there’s mustard, who i liked (but he says “leon, my boy” so often, i consider it funny but also like,, you can just call him your boy without saying his name we know his name), he seems really cool and fun, leon my boy out of 10, all of them were fun to see, and i’m glad that peonia/nia and peony only got brief cameos because that’s really all we needed of them here imo

-some of the emotional beats really hit for me, especially in episode 3 (“buddy”), i’m not gonna get into me projecting onto a fictional sheep creature but i feel like that sentence on its own says it all so moving on! second on the list of episodes that made me super emotional is probably episode 2 (“training”), just seeing bea push herself super hard and seeing her pokémon know that she needed to take a break while she was just putting her body through more and more intensity was just heartbreaking, like when her machamp had to physically hold her back to keep her from pushing rocks out of the way because it knew it would probably harm her?? ow dude that really made me feel something

and then there’s the finale, which got me a different kind of emotional, as in happy stimming and grinning like an idiot, it just felt like the creators were giving you some kind of payoff for playing the games and like it was made specifically for people who played the games, sort of like a love letter, idk if other people felt this way but it made me really happy, especially because swsh weren’t well-received games, and yeah there was definitely a far-more-than-noticeable amount of issues present within those games, but they did have good parts too, and everything that made the games good and lovable being wrapped up into a neat little package for you to appreciate personally makes me super happy

-every scene has a very good amount of atmosphere and realism to it, they did a great job conveying the idea that wow, this is its own world and it functions like it, no matter how little of this we see in the games, and as someone who’s currently working on world-building myself, this is such an inspiration to me

yeah i think that’s all i have to say about it for now (unless you ask about how i feel about the visuals, then you will hear about how i feel about the visuals)! thanks for reading <3

[huntsman-ash]

RWBY V8E2 LiveThoughts

And now, for episode 2; same deal as last time, spoilers for this weeks episode. 

RT getting a wee bit too real with the “curfew in effect” sign on the side of that building in the opening. Least here its a visible noticeable threat and not Corona. Still.

Oh, heh. “Hope has no place here.” Always did love that line. But that might just be the grimdark fan in me.

Overall Im not a huge fan of this seasons opening, it doesnt sound as melodic as the last couple ones. More...chaotic. I think thats intentionally but Im still not a fan.

Dude, Qrow, thats unsanitary. Seriously, clean that shit off. You’re gonna get like, tetnus or something.

And Robyn complaining to Qrow. I mean shes not WRONG but at the same time SHE was the one who decided to pass out during the crash. Dont go throwing blame around Hill, you were just as useless and dumb as everyone but Tyrian in that whole section of last season.

Correction, shes talking to Jasque Scnee who is SOMEHOW in the same prison as they are. Additional; hardlight cells with no visible emitters, no toilet or other commodities. This must be a holding cell of some kind. Unless the bed they all have is ALSO a toilet. Ew.

Yeah you sure about that Schnee? Indirect murder is still murder.

Whh...WATTS IS IN HERE TOO?! WHAT THE FUCK IRONWOOD. You dont have a maximum security like, ICEBOX lock up? Dude this is just ASKING for trouble.

Watt’s black eye is still there. Maybe there is something to him not having his aura fully unlocked. Or...something else. Im really confused about that.

Odd cell structure. Impromptu? Or is this whole room just modular. Cause its WAY too big to house just this many prisoners. Im getting the feeling this is impromtu, yeah.

Schnee thinks hes getting out, sucker. 

Mad props to the Atlas soldier for the brutality. NOW HIT HIM AGAIN.  Robyns smirk gives me life.

And Qrow suggests Operation Valkyrie. Im down. Ironwoods proven useless at this point, maybe his replacement will be more tactically viable.

Alright, Atlas has pulled all military forces out of Mantle. Guess that means Ash and CAMO would be out too. Officially anyway. Making note for future threads...

Cute about the news guy, but I LOVE the fact you can hear the former masculinity in May’s voice here, like she isnt fully finished transitioning. If its intentional, bravo. If not, still cool.

“Its time to show your teeth, Mantle.”  HELL FUCKING YES THATS THE KINDA SHIT IVE BEEN WANTING TO HEAR!

Ah and there’s the hoverbikes from the teasers. I really dont get why they’re so goddamn big. Surely you can miniatruize hovertech...right?

They’re big enough to have weapons installed IMO. They should have.

Ah okay here’s the rest of the trailer

Hey look more lesbians. Boy that one on the left is MAD.

I cannot believe these Grimm are dumb enough to not go AROUND the dropwall (and Im going to call it that until I get something else, its literally the equipment from Halo Infinite’s release trailer). I get Grimm are dumb but damn bro.

Ah okay, THATS the split. All the faunus live in the slums down in the crater. Mantle proper is the mid-level, and then Atlas is humans for the most part. As far as I can tell anyway. Literal stratification. 

Ugh, that whole conversation was so expositiony. Jesus fucking christ.

Holy shit this crews moving slow. Like, good fucking lord.

Personaly headcanon; that tiny fox toy Oscar rides past on his bike is later retreived by Ash. That is actually his bootprint on it too oddly enough.

Unity in this situation, Ozpin? Not likely. What you need is miltiary intervention and firepower.

Still not sure why there’s smokestacks in Mantle if everything on Remnant runs on Dust. Maybe its steam vents for the heating system.

So the Crater is literally a divide. Like a circular diamond mine or one of those “rabbit hole” gold ones. Literal wall holding its outside. 

Snowshoe Shipping. New company. Full autonomous workforce from the looks of it. SDC related of course. And its still running despite everything. The drones here are literally AKs. Motherfucker, I think I know where the idea for them came from. SDC literally just weaponized its fucking worker robots. 

And apperently Dust is refined in the Crater. Okay that makes sense. Does it come from outside or are they still mining it there I wonder.

Oh pnumatic elevator. STEALING THAT

“That isn’t relevant at the moment.” WAY TO DODGE THE QUESTION RT. YEAH BECAUSE THERES TOTALLY NOT OTHER COMPANIES OUT THERE RIGHT?

What the fuck happened to Penny? Did becoming the Maiden make her emo?

Lol yeah people are gonna die, its WAR Penny, eat shit and get over it. Fucking weaklings...

Your the maiden. Get over it. Go kill some people, you’ll feel better. Relish in power.

And Weiss is now dead from either pressure shock, thermobaric style lung implosion, forceful impact, or just being crushed flat. Oh, and asphyxiation.  Seriously that was the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my life. REALLY NORA.

Oh hey, a banjo in the crater. It really is hicksville.

Fire dust crystals right into a metal container to keep it  going. Holy shit it only took us 8 seasons to see Dust used physically again...

Sheep nom map. Nom nom. 

Wonder who this Crimson she mentioned is.

Lil hops. Oh no shes too cute.  Also it seems Mantle is divided into sectors. Useful information. Wonder what designates them.

Hahahah Fiona’s uncles a mole XD

And good to know “crap” is a swearword on Remnant.

Sounds like Crimson is a person with the Huntress’s. With his accent Im going to personally imagine his a grizzled former veteran, like Sergeant Stacker from Halo.

Note; the map says “Mantle City”. Interesting. Wonder what the other option is. Crater?

Ohhh and a spudmasher. Wait...no thats not a grenade. Some kind of gravitational surge thing. Again. Okay seriously RT is it so hard to just make a FUCKING WEAPON? Nothing fancy, no special features, just something that kills the fucking enemy. 

Okay...what the hell. Those Grimm cleared out like they got a retreat signal...

Ohho whats this now...this thing looks a LOT more interesting. And SAVAGE. Damn, its beating the SHIT out of Oscar! I think I like this one.

It transforms. Like the Zeta Gundam. FASCINATING. So it must have a rapid transport/assault form of the original dog one then changes to this new one for close in? Or carrying I guess, its stealing Oscar. This must be the thing that Salem sent.

Yeah kinda looks like a werewolf.

Soooo why were they just standing there watching this thing beat up on him? It was open for a couple of seconds. Surely it cant be they were worried about Oscar, the best thign to do if an enemy is grappling your friend is to get in and take advantage of it. 

Its smart too, used Oscar as a meatshield. Apperently just long enough to distract Yang and then yeet her. 

Its got ONE HAND with Oscar in it you idiots, hit it all at once! Go for the legs and the other arm, knock it down, blow its head off. COME ON, its OBVIOUS.

Oh hey it talked. Good. That means it can probably feel pain.

There is no way those legs should work like that. They’re too small and its torsos the wrong shape. This things breaking physics. 

The arms are also way too long.

Also why are you just standing there watching it grow wings? Kill the fucking thing already.  Gotta admit the movement and screaming makes me think it feels pain. Interesting. Good to know.  That or its just body horror/squick.

And thats the episode. I like how Fiona calls them “kids” though shes probably about their age.