#luca seafolk

[starburr]

Seafolk are definitely not fish though, at least when we try to ground them as a species that evolved naturally under specific evironmental conditions and pressures, also not a result of chimeric splicing and gene manipulation. We can ascertain that they are highly adaptable animals, even surviving 'The Deep' and its crushing depths, altering their own physiology even among related individuals (see Lorenzo and Uncle Ugo). It's also worth noting that perhaps their human disguises might be as seen in the movie, a defense mechanism to not expose themselves evolved out of getting hunted by early human coastal communities. They might have branched early off from the human ancestor evolutionary tree due to the Aquatic Ape hypothesis. And in such a short time, they evolved fins, scales (pangolins have) and even the ability to breathe completely underwater. At the same time they can switch into breathing air, implying they have lungs.

Also the titular character we know, probably a stretch but LUCA is a term that stands for Last Universal Common Ancestor. Now this could just be a coincidence or a surface level connection to explain their human like appearances by way of showing that seafolk as a life form are valid and can have genuine connections to humans as seen in the film, but this could also imply that they are not too distantly removed from humans. After all, the niche of shallow to open water life form that may ocassionally feed on fish (although its shown they are more omnivorous) is filled by them without disrupting the ecology of the area. They aren't an invasive species either, having grown a thriving community under the waves near Portorosso, and possibly in other areas. Not to imply anything but if they can easily take on a more human appearance, then it's possible they might have interbred before with humanity not just in Portorosso.

Another interesting thing to note is the basis of last names. We can assume they can take or keep their last names in marriage or whatever ritual they have as seen with Uncle Ugo not having the Paguro sir name but Lorenzo does, implying the surname Paguro was from his mother's side.

Well that's all my brain can manage for now. I forgot where I was going with this, but basically, they're closely related to humans in their continuity and this makes more sense despite looking more like fish given some of their traits. The others are attributed to deeper water survivability.

[thedenofravenpuff]

Aaand finale one for today before my arms fall off. 

@zackwhitefang’s shark girl Cirel, climbing out of the sea in full creature mode. As nature intended it.

Enjoy!

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[brunosaderogatory]

ok, I got a question :)) out of all the fairytales you can think of, which one fits luberto the most?

Disclaimer: I’m probably one of the worst people to ask this question. I am not that well versed in fairy tales when they don’t have movie adaptations outside of Cartoon Saloon, Disney, Dreamworks, etc.

Also, Luca and Alberto’s love story (as is shown in canon) breaks a lot of the typical rules. Most prominently, 1) they do not get together in the end, 2) even though they don’t get together in the end, it’s a good thing, and 3) even though they don’t get together in the end and it’s a good thing, they still like each other and there is no animosity between one another.

Like, I could gesture to The Little Mermaid and talk about how it was a gay metaphor about rejection and loneliness and a sea creature wanting to live it up with the humans on land, had it not been for the fact that Alberto didn’t die when Luca left him for Genova.

Or, I could point to The Selkie Wife and talk about how the transformation from Selkie to Human is kinda similar to the transformation from Seafolk to Human, had it not been for the fact that Alberto would also be a Selkie in this case and Luca wasn’t trying to escape Alberto when leaving for Genova, nor did he go to the ocean at the end of the movie while leaving Alberto to suffer for his misdeeds upon land.

Or, I could go the most obvious route and bring in the fairy tale Luca (2021) was initially based upon, Pinocchio, but Luca and Alberto aren’t seeking humanity. They’re seeking freedom and knowledge and fun, and still enjoying living their lives as sea monsters all the while.

But those are also the only ones that I can think of that even sort of remotely fit them, so that’s gonna be my answer—If you’re asking me, then it’s a three-way tie between those.

The Little Mermaid, The Selkie Wife, and Pinocchio.

[aftertheline]

Welcome to the Universe of SpiderLuca !! 🕷️🐠

continue for an introduction of everyone, their story, and more!! 🫶

this is luca! aka SpiderStar-Fish 🌊🐠💫

he's based off of - and was bitten by - a spotted fishing spider! (i won't put a picture for those afraid of spiders but feel free to look them up yourself)

his lighter, land suit is based off of his human form's shirt and the daytime sky. his darker, underwater suit is based off of his seafolk form and space.

this is giulia jane! aka luca's mary jane 💖

this is alberto! aka SpiderDreamer 🌃🌟

he's based off of - and was bitten by - a striped fishing spider!

his lighter, land suit is based off of his human form's tank top and his eye color. his darker, underwater suit is based off of his seafolk form. he has a hooded suit to resemble his tall hair and to parallel spidergwen's suit. this is to hint at alberto being luca's love interest and to acknowledge the parallels in his and gwen's stories.

so...what is their story?

luca paguro was bitten by a radioactive spider when he was 13 years old, and for the past 3 years... he hasn't been up to much..like at all. luca is *very* scared of being spiderman.

not to mention, his parents have a certain idea of his future that just.. doesn't include being spiderman. so for the past 3 years, luca has actively *not* been spiderman. if someone attacks portorosso, then so be it. he pretends not to care, because it's not his fault..right?

that is, until alberto scorfano shows up one day.

alberto scofano was bitten by a radioactive spider when he was 14, and for the past 3 years he's been trying, and failing, to be the spiderman his universe needs. alberto doesn't fit in his dimension as spiderman.

that's not to say alberto isn't a good spiderman! it's just..he seems to let his personal dreams and side-adventures get in the way of the *real* problems occurring around him. but he's still a good spiderman..right?

after the death of his father, alberto decides there's nothing left for him in a universe that doesn't care about him, and creates a one-time-use-only watch that allows him to travel to any universe.

luca doesn't know what to think when he sees a hooded, masked figure swinging through the streets of portorosso. is he not spiderman afterall? did his time run out since he's been idle so long and someone else is here to replace him? no, he's definitely still spiderman.

a few days pass of luca ignoring this new spiderman. he's doing a good job at keeping the town safe, and everyone is so glad to finally have someone to protect them. luca almost gets comfortable with using his webs just for recreational fun.

but this new spiderman isn't clueless.. he's been on the lookout for this universe's spiderman since the day he got there and when he finally finds him, he realizes why portorosso has been deserted of its spiderman for so long and decides to train luca on all things spiderman.

their training sessions proved to be very successful. luca is thriving as spiderman and he and alberto are making a great team. but alberto is disintegrating. he isn't meant to be in this universe and each glitch rubs it in more.

when luca finds out about this, he panics. he needs to help him. so when the spider society contacts him to join the society and explains how he would be able to visit any dimension without glitching if he did, luca knows what needs to happen.

through much convincing - "i wouldn't be spiderman if it weren't for alberto!" - luca convinces the society to accept alberto as their newest member instead and allow him to stay primarily in luca's dimension. being a member of the spider society provides alberto with the opportunities to chase his dreams in any dimension and gives him the sense of community he's been searching for. plus, with luca being able to keep portorosso safe all by himself, alberto gets to choose when to take on his spiderman duties vs spend time on his passion projects.

other info...!

luca's gwen is his childhood best friend. both their parents always assumed they would get married and luca did too until she died in front of him. he struggled a lot with what his life would look like without her since she was a major part in what he thought his future would be.

the dimension alberto asked his watch to go to was "a universe who needs me". it wasn't just portorosso who needed him :)

giulia jane meets luca and alberto during their first training session together, she doesn't see their suits or abilities but she does hear a large "CRASH!" behind her house and hurries them inside to tend to their cuts and bruises, eventually letting them stay for dinner too

(maybe more extra info to come! if i think of smth specific to add)

[lucapizzelles]

I know it's not accurate because I went back into the movie and double checked myself BUT-

At some point a while ago, I watched the Portorosso cup scene and it looked like Daniela was so much bigger than the humans around her. idrk how I saw this because she looks normal height but my brain latched onto it so bad and now in my mind seafolk are just bigger, or at least taller, than humans (on average) in their seafolk forms

i need to share this because it's been like a little worm in my brain for like a month. incredibly exaggerated underdogs height difference. imagine. like 5'4" luca normally and then he gets wet and bam nearly 6'

[twixtandshout]

Not to get too Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons, but I think Ruby Gillman  Teenage Kraken should get to meet and be friends with Meilin Turning Red and Luca and Alberto Luca.

Admittedly there would have to be some time shenanigans to bring the Luca crowd in, but come on. Teenage (non-mutant) undercover sea monsters. (You could bring the Ninja Turtles in if you really wanted to, they’ve certainly got appropriate parallels, but that is not this post.) Ruby and Luca bond over math and their respective years in hiding. Alberto is seethingly jealous for a hot minute over Ruby’s size and powers and More people invading the friend group, but Ruby is too sweet to hate and also is totally enthralled by his stories and swimming skills, so that helps. Ruby, for her part, is tearfully thrilled to have found some Actual super seafolk besties. Connor and Giulia bond over being left behind on land but loving this new relationship with the sea, and also their respective Wheeled Sports Vehicles tm. Maybe there’s a mutual “Ruby/Connor’s gonna leave me for this person/these people who’re more like her/him,” which after the requisite teenage miscommunication angsting and shenanigans obviously gets debunked because come on, they Clearly like you, it’s just nice to have someone who Gets It. These new people aren’t Romantic Competition, they’re your new wingpeople!!

Meanwhile on the Turning Red side, obviously Margot, Trevin, and Bliss get along wonderfully with Miriam, Priya, and Abby. Abby cracks her knuckles and begins the business of badgering another shut-in into having fun. Ruby and Meilin bond over maybe being a little too anxious to tell their friends to chill out with the merchandising – look, the support is nice, but sometimes it feels a little too supportive, you know? I’m still me, even if I Am a giant creature sometimes. Much fun is had with the “We’re just Canadian!” joke. Margot and Priya go on double dates with their respective five-second girlfriends. Bliss quickly becomes Priya and her girlfriend’s third (and is advised to take anxiety medication). Trevin and Miriam have some friction at first, cause he’s a Redditor and she’s a tumblrina, but Ruby is Very tumblrcore so Trevin clearly can’t mind That much and also we are all holding hands and smooching these days. Anyway I think Miriam should introduce him to gender and crack her egg.

[fruitwanderer]

xBcrafted if you wish

I just want it to be known that I am not convinced that Kerilson is a figment of xB's paranoia and loneliness or something. That creature is an old god of mischief and knowledge, Odin type shit.

I'm a sucker for him being a guardian hybrid, though I don't like to use the word hybrid because I'm annoying like that. He's a seafolk inspired off of the creatures from Luca cus those designs make my brain go brrrrr

I need to watch more of him *head in hands*

[femmepeterparker]

i hesitate to ask this bc i know im very fast and loose with trans headcanons but like. alberto actually is trans.

like. the seafolk have sexual dimorphism and it's really easy to see the differences. females have spiny tails and males have smooth tails.

it's not just in the concept art btw, it's like this in the movie too.

(look at daniella's tail compared to luca's)

aside from that, alberto is pretty obsessed with appearing masculine? like he makes a huge effort to copy massimo and appear macho especially around luca and guila. he also never takes his shirt off which. they are in fact Fish so that doesn't really mean much but it's worth pointing out.

hnnnnnfhh. so like. alberto is trans right?

[ocmakerofcanada]

Made my own version of seafolk

[athelscop]

Made another Luca fanart! Fish-boys go aswimmin.

[starburr]

Megop LUCA AU designs. Takes place somewhere in North America. Orion was called as such because his parents knew of the constellation from their human friends. D-16 only ever knew the wreckage of a boat that he took as his name. He despises humans for the simple reason of witnessing one older Seafolk, Terminus, get brutally slain by a few fisherman. His sin? Wading into shallower waters to rest. Orion's family has a good relationship with a few fisherman, simply because they aren't as discriminatory as the other humans near land.

D-16 (Eventually Kaon) got into a freak accident that resulted in the loss of his right arm. He was out fishing, minding his business like Terminus was when suddenly, he was netted and stabbed at by spears. During the resulting chaos in the water, the net went adrift and tangled itself into the boat's propeller. His right arm was wedged in, and before he could get it loose, the motor roared to life.

He changed after that incident. Dragging down sailors and whoever passed by his abode to their doom. Orion's family had no choice but to stand with the community in order to exile him to The Deep. He swore revenge, returning years later with translucent skin and grafted body parts.

[lukebeartoe]

Assuming that Luca and Alberto didn't learn to read and write (respectively) while in Portorosso, Seafolk literacy seems likely. The problem of paper in the water seems to not be as bad as I feared either, since the vespa drawing survives several trips back and forth. Maybe there's hardier paper, like parchment.

Also, Ugo says "good thing you sent for me when you did" meaning it was not a personal visit, and Daniella says it was on "short notice" implying that the messaging is fairly rapid.

The idea of piscine message hawks or carrier pigeons is super adorable and I'll be assuming it's truth!

Got a question for you Luca fans. How did Luca's parents contact Uncle Ugo? Did they travel all the way to his home in the deep? If they did, how did they locate his home? Or do sea-monsters have a postal service?

[thedenofravenpuff]

FINALLY completed, a collab with @zackwhitefang, that’s been stuck in unfinished limbo for FAR too long. Phew, all cuz of chronic illness sucking out all energy from me. Oh well.

Good old silly Luca AU, with seafolk Rowena getting some tasty treats from her land monster friend Chiro. Zack made lineart for one of my old sketches and I did the colouring. 

Do enjoy! 

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[vanillavandal]

Decided to buckle down and make a seafolksona with my boyfriend and ended up creating probably the best art piece I ever created. I peaked guys

[anchoviesinthenightsky]

Oh I've spent so much time thinking about the connection between WWII and the world of Luca. Like. Maybe WWI/WWII was the reason sea monsters withdrew fully underseas? Or, if they were already mostly underseas but earlier were more open to going on land - imagine how terrifying it'd be when suddenly bombs start falling and you have no clue what's going on. Genova/the Ligurian region was bombed A LOT during WWII. Is the war the reason there's barely any kids, and Luca has to work, bc there's a lack of able-bodied adults? Maybe they became more reluctant to have kids bc of the increased danger, and it would take time to really realize the war ended if they don't really get human news. I never reach any conclusions, but yeah, I've had many thoughts.

re: Daniela being so anti-surface, if I remember correctly I read someone mention a scrapped potential scene where Daniela took Luca to the surface when he was a toddler (?) and he nearly got injured or even killed, and that's what triggered her being so extreme with her anti-land views. That could potentially also be something related to WWII chaos.

oh I didn't know about the scrapped scene!

but wow yeah. you've put so much thought into this! i didnt know that region was hit so badly during wwi/ii. and i think that could explain why luca might be the only kid? depending on if you think of the movie as early 60s or late 60s, luca was born sometime between the late 40s and the mid 50s. maybe not the most stable time to be having a kid.

[lucapizzelles]

TWO THINGS (though one thing has parts a,b,c,d)

1. I think it is at least slightly possible for the fins to grow longer but it could be based on sexual dimorphism, which can explain why a lot of the older female seafolk that we see have longer "hair"/fins (specifically Daniela) while a lot of the older male seafolk (and Luca and Alberto) have shorter fins.

Granted we, of course, never see young female seafolk. (Which has been the bane of my existence when it comes to stuff like this) (Unless I missed a character in the movie) So it's impossible to say if it necessarily grows or if they're just born like that. Same with facial hair, though it's kind of funny to imagine a baby seafolk with a literal mustache. I don't know what exactly would have caused the sexual dimorphism to form in the way it did, maybe it's just a fun coincidence, maybe something with hormones, because Libera has shorter hair (maybe, lucia, its an animated children's movie!).

But also I don't think cutting the hair is possible, like you said, because for a long time it wasn't even necessary for their hair to mimic being able to be cut, because a lot of human cultures for a longgg time left their hair long for both genders/legit had no way to cut hair besides like. rocks. (and a lot of cultures still do to this day) so I definitely think if it were to be cut it would be bad for them (even though there's not that much bloodflow to the "hair" due to the thin size, it would probably still at least pinch if you cut a hair, not to even mention cutting multiple at once (as haircuts often do)). BUT I do think it's possible for it to grow at at least a slow rate like mentioned, possibly affected by hormones (iirc, estrogen does increase hair growth rate on the head in humans so. but idk how it'll affect.. skin..)

Also, if we go with this theory (which, it's funny, so I'm going with it. All the evidence I need), even though they can form individual strands and though you see the head fin retract and then the hair forms after it (in the gif), I imagine the curls or general clumps of hair still tend to follow where a head fin would have been. They form perfect sections/curls and I imagine though it can be separated it wouldn't feel nice to be separated. Not that it would hurt, per se, but maybe somethjng like brushing a cat's fur the wrong way.

ALSO (one more thing) with Alberto, we see that he doesn't really have head fins extending down to his neck, like Luca does.

This effectively mimics the "shaved back of head" look that you talked about despite it mechanically being lowkey impossible, but also in the same back of the head image used, his hair under a certain point just kinda looks Different.

Explanation for this? Him being a character model? It being an animated movie where things aren't perfect? Hair being time consuming to make look perfectly realistic in an animated movie (and it looking weird when it does look perfectly realistic)? Yeah probably, but I'm going to use it to my advantage anyway.

That's pretty much where his head fins end when he doesn't look human, so I think it makes sense if head fins do at least play a partial role in forming the hair, though it can still grow on its own in places where there weren't/aren't head fins. The hair in those places probably just looks thin/disorganized/slightly weird looking. A shaved look. though you can't really shave the "hair."

2. Coming from someone with curly hair and how much of a bitch it is to style and maintain, I can imagine. So much between Giulia and Luca. Them waking up in the morning and Luca's being perfect and he's all ready to go to school and Giulia's taking 5-10 business days to get looking nice. At school and their classmates/friends go "oh Giulia, Luca's hair is always so nice do you know what he does to style it?" and her gripping the table in anger and going "He Doesn't." And likewise with Alberto. Giulia sees him with his tight curls and her first thought it like "haha yess he gets it" nope. nah. He wakes up with that perfect pompadour esk thing and goes on about his day.

Also the entire concept of their hair maybe being skin reminds me of velvet. Daily reminder that velvet is just thin skin on bone.

Seafolk Fins & Hair: A Study

something I noticed while rewatching this scene — and I’m not sure if this is because Giulia has actual hair while Luca has fins-disguised-as-hair, or if it’s a difference of texture/curl pattern, or if it’s from Giulia being more active than Luca, or if its just a style choice and I’m looking WAY too much into this — is that Giulia’s hair looks much more real compared to Luca.

By that I mean, zoom in. Giulia’s hair makes shapes, but the strands of hair are much more obvious than Luca’s, and there’s a lot more fraying strands. On the other hand, Luca’s looks damn near perfect, like he just got out of hair-and-makeup. It looks sculpted, like clay, rather than individual hair strands making a shape.

And it would be pretty damn easy to make a fins-to-faux-hair/uncanny-valley headcanon right there—had it not been for this one scene.

Yes, they do have strands of hair. Yes, their near-perfect appearance might have something to do with the automatic-stylization granted by The Change, and Yes, this whole post may very well be very, very silly because Dude, It’s An Animated Movie.

But there is one last thing that I want to point out, and it’s that Not All Hair Fins Become Hair:

And its just. what the fuck??? the cheek fins were right fucking there and obviously placed to look like ears. Why would you make a hair-fin become a piece of flesh(?) & cartilage???? This ruins everything, also, does this mean that seafolk-fins-to-hair are made of cartilage??

To which brings, holy shit. Cartilage.

The type of cartilage that would make the most sense, in my opinion, would be hyaline cartilage or elastic cartilage, but both would have their own problems.

Elastic cartilage, for one, is more focused on the anatomy of a human, given that humans have elastic cartilage in their ears. Although, elastic cartilage would explain the flexibility, but then there’s the issue of the perichondrium having stuff like blood vessels and nerves that just wouldn’t fare well for mimicking hair.

Hyaline cartilage, on the other hand, is found in the fins of fish (yay!), but it is less flexible and also has a perichondrium. Although, it is tougher, which would explain the very change-resistant curl patterns. But then you have the fact that it’s called the “glass cartilage,” because it is literally see-through to pearl grey, which, also isn’t really that good for mimicking hair (unless you’ve made it to old age).

The last type of cartilage available is fibrous cartilage, but, like elastic cartilage, it’s based around the anatomy of the human ear. Although it doesn’t have a perichondrium, it is far, far less flexible, and like hyaline cartilage, it’s white.

So idrk. Until we see more of the sea monsters—which is highly unlikely atp—it’s probably gonna remain a mystery.

WHICH IS WHAT I WOULD HAVE SAID, had I not realized I was looking in the wrong place.

I was heavily focused on a fish’s rays, which are highly flexible support beams of the fish’s fins, but I wasn’t looking at the actual fin—the very, very flexible, very, very thin piece of skin between each ray.

Skin.

It’s fucking skin.

Or, at least, something very, very similar to it with an abundance of keratinocytes or keratinized cells that have the same kind of flexibility, durability, and allowances for pigmentation.

(it being skin also kind of explains for the near-perfectness, being so much thicker and change-resistant than your typical hair follicle)

Though, when standing-in as a faux hair follicle, rather than the much easier task of acting like an ear, it would have to form kind of similarly to teeth, in the sense that what you get is what you get, and this is where we go back and reference the movie.

Alberto does not have access to a razor, and if he did, he does not have access to electricity, either. He could, in fact, have a pair of scissors, but even then, he proved that he didn’t exactly know what a mirror was/have access to one with the photo-on-the-makeshift-vespa, so I highly doubt it that he did this himself.

And although malnutrition is known to impair hair growth and structure, if he had truly been on his own for well over a year, his hair should be far longer than that. Also, sea monster haircuts just seem plain improbable, given the presence of the previously-mentioned rays.

That being said, sea monster hair-fins can be assumed to not really grow. At least, certainly not at the speed at which natural human hair grows, meaning the epidermis and dermis would be very, very thin as well as minimal blood supply in this respective area.

And extending upon (see: taking and running off with) this, I assume it would have to be similar in shape (not structure) to villi. And to explain that, here is a diagram, because I have run out of words:

“But-but-but skin would never naturally grow like that” right. because it’s not growing in as usual skin. It was originally a fin. Of a fucking aquatic animal. And now has to act like mammalian hair. there are some hijinks and creative liberties at play, okay? Just run with it.

Hope this all made sense.