#maybe because they're. magnified

[kalosian-woods]

froakie must've felt so satisfied for achieving success by choosing ash after so many failed attempts with other trainers

the mere fact that he finally found that "love" he always wanted must've already been such a big milestone for him in life.

-🦋

In a way I really did enjoy how they mixed things up with Ash's obligatory 'tough' Starter this time, especially as most of them were abandoned by their Trainers (Charizard, Infernape, Pignite) or just didn't have any contact with people before (Sceptile). But instead Froakie wanted to find a Trainer and has picked them out himself, reversing the way the relationship usually starts out, and being a great foil with the other Starters/Pokemon as well.

The fact that Froakie has been searching for a while before Ash is something that I've always thought about, myself. He's left at least 8 people considering the shadows? And the way that Olympia said that humans taught it that in order to be stronger he needed a bond (but through feelings, not words), the way he wanted a lot from his Trainer, that he was searching for someone that was worth risking everything for, looking for 'love' - to me, it is an all-encompassing feeling that he's been searching for. Love so much that you would do anything for Pokemon like he would do anything for you. Give and take. Froakie did not expect a relationship where he had to carry out everything that the Trainer wanted without question - he wanted a relationship where his opinions and thoughts mattered just as much, to deal with the potential he always felt inside of him. And it is a lot, to balance a relationship in that manner. A lot of new Trainers would not even realise that is an option, and that's what initially threw him off.

Froakie is very persistant, it's true, but he can also be impatient at times. Would he have bothered to stay by Sycamore's lab any longer, considering how he was up and around Lumiose watching Ash? Would he still stick by his resolve to find the perfect Trainer, no matter the failures he had recieved? I don't think he would lower his standard, but at some point, he probably did wonder if there was someone out there who held the love that he wanted. When he first laid eyes on Ash, noticing how Pikachu was and their shared interest in battle, it piqued his interest. But it was the way they faced down Team Rocket despite being overpowered, Ash helping Pikachu even though he couldn't stand up to their might, that's when Froakie saw what he wanted.

To him, I think that feeling of love felt like the static shock he felt when being hit by that Electro Ball being reflected by Wobbuffet. Twice as strong, utterly paralyzing, weakening him completely. But also-- the feeling of two hands around him, and a voice calling out to him, and the wind as he was rushed into care. Love was knowing that someone had your back and will support you, even when the odds were impossible. And considering how much they'll go through, I don't think Greninja regretted a thing.

[catsoupki]

the way katsuki crushes on you has stayed the same, since he was four he has made sure that everyone, including you, always knew that you were his.

he offers you roughed up flowers from the sandbox, covered in dust and dirt, shoved into your hands are the bundle of wild chrysanthemums and crumbled weeds, and in exchange are the paper rings you made before going to the park, because even when you were four, you already knew bakugou in the way you knew the names of the stuffed animals in your room; a sense of pride nestles inside, somewhere between your little childishly innocent heart and your soft fluttering stomach when you see your katsuki declare proudly with a smug smirk to all his groupies that he's now a married man, and that doesn't change.

in middle school, aged 12 bakugou isn't afraid to lean over your desk and stare you down and demand your time during recess, even though his cheeks used to redden when his female classmates would tease him for being such a romantic for you, he's learnt that it's either he toughens up and take this, or he has to deal with the other boys from his class chatting you up, and seeing their little cheeks tint with pink when they're spared even an ounce of (undeserved) attention from you is much more painful than having his own apples go fuzzy from your gaze.

katsuki changes a lot in U.A. but not in this. maybe the other class 1A kids don't have enough reference to notice, but izuku sure as hell can tell that the slight glisten and shine in his childhood best friend's eyes when he looks at you have only ever grown in brightness as you mature and age. as your body takes shape and your voice deepens, his affection for you simply gets magnified from a sheer adoration for your ability to keep up with him on the monkey bars and to withstand his loudness, either that be from the epicentres of his palms or the ever growing intensity of his voice when deku gets in his way, his respect for you grows and grows and festers and festers the more you win in the sports festival, the more you train, the more muscular you get, and the more internships you are offered.

as his own brashness gets dimmed down while the months go on, deku is no longer the only one who is able to notice the soft spot he has for you. jirou and shoji can only ignore the way bakugou whispers 'that's my girl' to you during class drills so many times, ochako and mina can only turn a blind eye to the way bakugou always cooks for you during the late nights where you collapse from exhaustion before eating so many times, by the end of the second year, even shouto knew to always find bakugou when you got hurt during missions and to just leave you two to your own devices for the rest of the evening.

the smirks might have grown less and less smug throughout the years and maybe more genuine, but the childlike wonder when katsuki looks at you stays always the same, it stays constant from when you were four all the way to when you're walking down the altar, it stays the same, from stepped-on flowers to bouquets of roses, from 'that's my girl' to 'that's my wife', you've always been his, the switch from craft paper to the 24 carat diamond ring on both your fingers never changed that; his face, to deku, looks identical. whenever dynamight is on a talk show and is asked to watch a clip of you fighting, the soft creases next to his eyes have always been there, bakugou's lips just twitch upwards when it's you.

what can he say? your katsuki has always been a prodigy, he knew since he was a kid, since the second his grabby little hands and tiny rolling eyes were laid on you, he has since decided that you were the only one worthy of his greatness, no matter how shitty his temper was at age 15, he looks at you like how sunflowers look at the sun, and that will never change.

[seat-safety-switch]

Do you have a zipper on your person right now? Take a look at that zipper. Chances are it's made by an enormous Japanese conglomerate called YKK. If not, it's probably some knockoff zipper that also says "YKK," because they know that's what folks expect to be there.

Does it bother you that nearly every zipper on planet Earth has passed through the hands of Tokyoite ultra-industrialists? It does to me, so I went ahead and visited one of their competitors, you know, the folks who make the sucky zippers nobody wants. The haters (and my parole officer, who too is complicit in this hating) think it's strange that I have this kind of travelling-the-world money to drop on a whim just for a journalistic project. I agree with them that it is strange, and offer no explanation.

Soon, I was walking the streets of Germany. Germany is one of those countries that is not Japan, which is to its detriment. They try, though. In fact, they try so hard that their zipper-makers have cut a deal with YKK to step aside and not compete. That made the government angry, mostly because it meant that all their clothes were stuck with inferior German zippers. Didn't last long until everyone involved was pulled into the principal's office and struck with an oversized bratwurst until they let YKK zippers come back. Only thing that beats a monopsony is a monopoly, that's what my old economics professor used to say. He didn't like zippers. More of a button man.

Anyway, I showed up at the crappy German zipper company, ready to look at some crappy zippers in their showroom. Maybe make an ass of myself in front of one of their PR talking-heads and get ejected. Be a good start to my documentary. There, I saw the horrible truth. An intern had left a door open, and I was able to peer into the factory floor. There, a line of YKK zippers were being spraypainted over, and then a row of little old ladies with magnifying visors hand-painted their logo onto the freshly-blacked-out zippers. Yet more fraud! I gasped, and turned to leave, but the guards were on me already.

What I'm trying to say is: just buy whatever zipper you want. They're all the same anyway, and any perceived difference in quality is surely based entirely on prejudice. Can I go now?

[softantlers]

something that is so fun about taivan is that, yes, they are a small town queers scarcity ship. not to be an asshole but it is very possible that they may have never dated each other if they had been in an environment with more options, not because they are not suited to each other but because that's just how it goes-- what initially draws them together is the scarcity of wiskayok, which we know is not affirming (especially in the 90s) due to the way all the queer characters navigate anxieties around the closet.

but what is so fascinating about taivan is that you take that small town and make it EVEN SMALLER by putting them in the wilderness. they become codependent in ways that parallel the experience of being some of the only queers in a small town but are incredibly magnified because of the intimacy they develop in surviving the wilderness and being each other's secret keeper about other tai. they truly become a "no one else could ever understand" ship, beyond what initially brought them together.

also, other tai in of herself is such an excellent insight into tai's psyche, since she is invariably experiencing small town scarcity differently from van because she has to move through added layers of marginalization in being biracial and Black. the idea that the wilderness may be a place she finally feels comfortable coming out as gay in but not as one she feels comfortable having the other girls know about other tai in is SO INTERESTING.

i don't know if i have the words to capture what i mean and maybe there is some projection going on here, but i will talk to most people about being queer but the intersection of my queerness with my relationship with race & being mixed often feels less speakable. i don't mean to connect other tai to race in this same way (more that it's an echo of otherization). what i do mean to point out is that tai, unlike van, has to negotiate which slivers of herself can be shared with other people because she has more identities to move through and frankly more room to be misinterpreted, treated poorly, and harmed by other people's perceptions. other tai, i feel, is an example of that conflict-- able to share some things but having to keep other parts of yourself tied up and hidden because the entirety of You is not something you feel anyone can truly hold.

and that isn't to say that van does hold everything but without tai's choice or consent van DOES KNOW about other tai and even as their connection is tumultuous and they don't always get each other, i do understand why "you saw and didn't run away" becomes another scarcity element to their relationship... also also, van desiring someone emotionally intimate at the end of her life is a representation of scarcity, one that is deeply human but that also compromises her own morals about tai's relationship to simone and sammy. scarcity brought them together in the first place and brings them together again, and it is so INTERESTING and MESSY. don't let anyone tell you that they're a boring or (frankly) healthy ship. omg they are not, and that's fucking real! there's so much going on there and it's rich and deep and hurtful and human!

[piosyne]

ok so 18 pounds of cokane, 12 pounds of crake, and 7 male strippers. but make sure none of them are white, i won't be able to see the coke on them if they are

I did this mostly for shits and giggles but if you're wondering how the death mark main plot would align with MLP here's my official thoughts:

- In this universe the death mark also still dooms you to death, but it's a cutie mark-related curse in particular

- afflicted ponies have their marks replaced by the death mark and start having amnesia because cutie marks are tied to a pony's self-realization and establishment of who they are as a pony

- ponies without cutie marks or who are just on the precipice of getting them can still be cursed don't ask how ok

Death Mark spoilers below but

- unlike every pony else, when Yashiki gets rid of his death mark he doesn't get masamune kujou's cutie mark back since he's a new pony now. So he's a blank flank instead immediately post-dm 1

- I imagine he'd get a new cutie mark for realsies this time after the events of dm 2 when he fully accepts his position as a spirit healer. I didn't draw it but I think it would be cute if he had like a cutie mark crusaders esque design where different portions of his mark reference his companions. Maybe a shield to complement the sword and scabbard thing the spirits siblings had going on + a rabbit for saya + mashitas magnifying glass since they're partners now + ok I'm out of ideas

Anyway hope all 3 death mark fans enjoy

[littlemissfandomdefender]

You know that femslash couple the fandom weirdly hates? Yeah that one. Tell me, please, are they really lacking in chemistry or can the fandom just not handle seeing them together? Can you tell me, are they in love for 'no reason' or are they entitled to have a crush? Tell me, do people hate them because they were 'random' or hate them purely because they weren't their favs? I think it's the last one. Say it with me: Just because a couple is not your OTP doesn't mean it sucks. Yes this is about Maggie and Nina. Justice for my girls, I love them both so so much. And people hate them cus what???? "Nina was so mean!" She had a toxic partner controlling her and refusing to let her be even ten minutes late home, she knew if she started speaking too much to anyone she'd get in trouble. "They tried too hard to be Aziracrow!" Broski. My dude. My friend. They are a parallel. That's the entire point. "They were random!" yes no way watson they were new characters. "They had no chemistry!" did we watch the same show? Maggie liked her plenty and Nina was avoiding her own feelings, just because they aren't aziracrow doesn't mean they have no chemistry. "Maggie had no reason to like her!" it's a crush honey people get those, I personally get them stupidly often and intensely MAGGIE AND NINA HAD A SHORT TIMESPAN AND YOU DARE TELL THEM THEY DO NOT DESERVE A VALID RELATIONSHIP OR THE SAME LICENSE OTHER COUPLES HAVE PURELY ON THE BASIS THEY HAVEN'T LASTED 6000 YEARS???? THEY'RE HUMANS BRO LEAVE THEM BE. I think people a lot of the time do not grant the depth of character or license to female characters and this is magnified in sapphic relationships. I also think people are frustrated about the ending of S2 and are taking it out a little on these two. Obv you can think what you want! This was more a personal rant about the way these two sometimes get treated and it frustrates me maybe because they're so cute! and i like them. again, your opinion, your business, but please can we not just decide to hate on a couple every time they arent your otp please especially when it is a femslash you dont grant the leniency you give male characters.

[ckret2]

Weird question, but do you think ford is/was repressed or in denial? Filbrick doesn't seem like a very understanding parent, and I notice throughout all the lavish praise Ford heaps on Bill he stops short of outright saying he has a crush, which I think hints at ford being unaware that he has feelings for Bill because You Only Get That for the Opposite Gender (and assumes a god like bill is way above his league). The "girls will talk to me" quote in particular seems very much like someone trying and failing to fit himself into heteronormative standards and just chalking it up to social awkwardness, and the way he clings to Bill reminds me very much of a first gay relationship, where the fear of being rejected is magnified tenfold by thinking that literally no one else in the world will love you. Sorry, this became a whole essay, I just have so many thoughts about billford and have spent hours combing through gf Tumblr analayzing their relationship.

You're asking me about what I actually think is true so that's the perspective from which I'm starting here.

First, let me say that I think headcanons are like dartboards. There are some "canonest" headcanons—even if they're not confirmed true, they feel like they're at the bullseye at the very center of canon-compatible possibilities, the thing most likely to be true if canon were ever to directly explore it.

And then there are the "this isn't what I think they'd actually do if canon were ever to go there, but based on what we currently know this headcanon is still canon-compatible." These are the headcanons that are on the dartboard but on an outer ring, not a bullseye.

I think the "bullseye" interpretation of Ford's sexuality is that he's aromantic. Possibly ace as well, but this isn't as firm—Ford does talk like he finds the idea of a committed romantic relationship bizarre, but he doesn't talk like he doesn't understand the idea of being attracted to someone, making me think maybe he does feel sexual desire.

And if that's what Ford is, then he didn't say he had a crush on Bill because he didn't. He was obsessed with Bill, he considered Bill the most important person in his life, he respected him and admired him and liked him more than anybody else, he'd rather spend time with him than with anyone else... but, it's a platonic obsession. It's not in any way weaker for being platonic instead of romantic, but it's platonic. Queerplatonic relationship type territory.

He talks about girls talking to him someday because, for lack of any better evidence, he assumes he must be heterosexual because he has no positive proof otherwise, so he figures he probably just hasn't met the right girl, right? And he hasn't met the right girl because he's so unpopular no girls want to talk to him. Once he meets the Right Girl, he assumes he'll Get It then—because that's what a lotta aros (and aces!) think for the longest time before it dawns on them that that's never coming. (It's possible he even has been sexually attracted to women, further obscuring his aromanticism from himself. He did date a siren at one point. But tbh I don't think it's highly likely.)

That's my "bullseye" "canonest" interpretation of Ford's sexuality.

Now, my personal "on the outer ring of the dartboard" headcanon is that Ford's sexuality is, in extremely professional terminology, demiromantic monsterfucker.

He has felt sexual attraction, he is not in denial or repressing his sexual attraction in any way, he's accepted this about himself; however, everything he's been attracted to is, like... Mothra. or Cthulhu. or a weird singing fish-bird, i.e. that siren.

80% of the time he's had sex it's not even motivated by sexual desire but by other platonic motives. If the Hide-Behind ever hit on him, he would eagerly accept just to find out and document what Hide-Behind mating behaviors are like without ever once stopping to think "but am I attracted though?" Like he'll have a fine time, he isn't repulsed, but he's not doing it out of desire.

He does have the potential to fall in love—he has the potential to fall in love with Bill—but again, I headcanon he didn't say he had a crush on Bill because he didn't. It was slowly building over the course of several years. He was like 97% of the way there...

... when Bill revealed his evil plan and started torturing Ford.

So it never quite tipped over.

Thirty years later, Ford's got enough self-insight to realize that even though he wasn't "in love" with Bill, he was 1) very close, and 2) feeling something platonically strong enough that ultimately, that slight difference doesn't really matter.

I can also see him as just not feeling, understanding, or caring about the dividing line between romantic and platonic.

In either version of my headcanons, I don't think Ford was "repressed"/"in denial" about having "gay" feelings. He's got enough issues, I'm not interested in tossing internalized homophobia on top of it—especially when from college onward he's all about celebrating outsiders and weirdness. At most he'd be a case of queer ignorance where he hasn't explored himself enough to figure out what he is.

Tbh I don't think he's any more likely to be attracted to human men than he would be to human women—and if he did fully fall in love with Bill, I don't think Bill, O Wondrous Interdimensional Muse Whose Body Is A Frigging Triangle, would ping Ford as "male" enough for Ford to feel like his own attraction is "gay."

[avocado-writing]

Ok this request might be a bit specific but can you write headcanons for halsin,astarion ,dammon karlach and lae'zel (feel free to add any other character if you want) when their petite partner comes back from fighting the god of death and suddenly they're towering over them? (It's temporary but they'll take advantage of the fact that they can carry halsin)

This happened to me in my play through, I kept trying to remove items from my inventory because I was slower and it wasn't until I came across halsin in the camp that I was like " hold on... Halsin why are you so tiny???" Then realised

LMAO i have never had this!!! do you change size during the myrkul battle? that's SO funny if so. gonna change the prompt to be a bit less specific, but will still include a size change! under a cut bc nsfw, minors dni

Astarion

your shadow falls over him. he looks up. and up, and up. "oh... darling. you've... grown."

you apologise and tell him that this is only temporary, but he really doesn't seem to mind it all that much.

sits in your lap and likes to feel very small, curling up like a cat. you can practically hear him purr.

when you go to bed that night, if you're intimate, he'll enjoy straddling you and feeling how wide his legs have to splay around your wide hips.

he falls asleep on top of you, like you're his giant pillow. it makes him feel safe and protected.

he's woken up when you're back to your usual size, slapping at him to move off you - he's crushing you!

Halsin

he feels relieved not to be the tall one for once. it's nice for him to look up at you!

"my, when you're this size, i can appreciate all of you so much more... see magnified what nature has blessed you with..."

if you're comfortable with your size he wildshapes into something small so that he can really enjoy how big you are. little cat halsin nestled in your huge shirt <3

pick him up and carry him to bed. he's thrilled.

when you lay together that night he labours over every lovely inch of you, musing in great detail about how wonderful you are, how he enjoys you feeling so large compared to him...

but the next day he is just as happy to have you back to your normal body. no matter how you look, you are perfect.

Karlach

like Halsin, she is so pleased to be the small one for a while.

keeps wanting to compare the size of her hand to yours. they're so big now! amazing!

can't stop giggling when you reach down to kiss her. likes it when you cup her face.

when you have sex, she's thrilled by how small she feels, how you can take control of her a bit physically.

afterwards she just lays there going. "wow. wow. WOW."

lets you know that she wouldn't mind a repeat performance...

Lae'zel

is confused, but you can see her try and hide a smile.

"an interesting development. is this permanent?" "it shouldn't be." "hmm. then we shall explore what it means later."

before you go to bed, she's pleased to have you slightly stronger in order to help her around the camp. you can hold her weapons and stuff for her while she sharpens them lmao

at night you can tell she's thrilled when she dominates you and you're this size. you're both even more exhausted than usual the next day, and she's just smug.

Dammon

you walk into his forge and start knocking stuff over accidentally

probably bang your head too...

he's so surprised and helps you get your bearings, asking what's happened.

you explain you took this elixir and in order to help him more in the forge... but now you're just causing a ruckus.

he smiles sweetly and brings you down for a kiss, reassuring you there's no problem and it was a sweet idea.

probably gets you to sit to the side and keep him company while he works though, he doesn't want you hurting yourself!

and bonus:

Gale

my man loves to be thrown around a bit. prove me wrong.

eyes light up when you walk in.

does a lot of experiments to test your altered strength. you suggest maybe you'd prefer to explore hypotheticals in the bedroom...

you pick him up and carry him, bridal-style, to the bedroom.

pin him against the wall and suck his cock until he's a whimpering mess...

you need a lot of aftercare for him because he becomes easily overstimulated but keeps asking for more. wears his massive love bites with pride the next day <3

[ndrv3expert1]

Double Standards, Misogyny, and Bad Writing: A Deep Dive into Character Criticism

So, it's a common saying that no one's perfect. We all make mistakes. Some of which we remember at 3 a.m. when we're trying to sleep and think, "God, why did I do that?"

But since we, as a species, don’t consider ourselves perfect (well, most of us who keep our feet on the ground don’t think that), why shouldn't we hold our characters to the same standards?

Now, writing flawed characters? It’s good writing. It doesn’t even have to be a major flaw. Make them a procrastinator, make them unable to cook, etc. But we should give our characters flaws. We don’t want our characters to be two-dimensional. We want them to be complex, we want them to be interesting.

But some people, when female characters have flaws, they hate it. They’ll magnify these flaws and perpetually criticize them. But when a male character has flaws, suddenly, they're a complex, well-written character.

Like I said before with Kaito and Tenko very similar characters pretty similar flaws to some Tenko's flaws are magnified or talked about to large degree while Kaito's are pretty much ignored.

Not saying there's no valid reason to like or hate either of them.

Think of it like cutting out cookies. People put men in a bigger mold, so they have more room for mistakes, but they put women in a tight, rigid mold. Their expectations are too narrow. And this is just normalizing Mary Sue characters, which in my opinion, is bad writing. Perfect women with no flaws who just sit there, looking pretty, are counterpieces to the male characters. I don’t want to live in a world where writing Mary Sue characters is the norm because people hate flawed characters.

Writing flawed characters is good writing. Flaws make them interesting, relatable, and real. In fact, most people kin characters because of their flaws. But when female characters are constantly held to impossible standards, it’s not just unfair—it reflects a much bigger problem with how society views women.

It’s the same pattern we see when people complain that women in video games aren’t sexualized enough. Is that seriously all you’re playing for? If you can’t handle women with flaws, maybe the problem isn’t them. Maybe it’s you.

[hellfire-fist]

We don't talk about Zoro canonically saying he'd follow Luffy to hell enough.

Do you know how intense that statement is? How much love and devotion you've got to have to say something so casually? It's redundant at this point, but Zoro really does put his captain first. You don't hear this, "I'd die for your dreams Luffy" a lot from other members, and do correct me if I'm wrong because maybe I'm too focused with ZoLu, but I can't even remember anyone other than Zoro explicitly say stuff like this in the manga/anime–MULTIPLE TIMES. Let's be honest, they're all ready to die for Luffy (for sure) but Zoro??? He's probably the only one who wouldn't even hesitate! Not even a millisecond. And Luffy is highly aware of it too! In the anime, he tells Zoro "now you have no reason to die" when he wakes up from his power nap. A lot of their scenes in Wano implies that Luffy trusts Zoro with his life more than anyone— and you know what else? That he wouldn't mind death because he knows Zoro would follow him even there.

The trust between these two is so damn magnified in canon, it physically hurts me to think about them.

ZoLu truly is the standard.

[m0r1bund]

What inspired the sort of abomination-like Swiss Army knife centipede look of the Archivist? And can I get a picture of them being all tall and with bad back posture :D

Absolutely.

excellent excuse to do horrible weevil man origami. Also hi I have a tablet again, yay :)

I didn't expect to have as much to say about him as I did, but design rambling below.

so I should preface this with the fact that I didn't work out Petrei's design in advance. I definitely had an image of him in my head, but the panels in Threadbare are the first times I drew him. so the biggest reason he looks like that is because it's what I could draw quickly and shittily.

second biggest reason is uhhhhhhh

The Archive is an offshoot of the Endlings which are an offshoot of me wanting to make some WH40k Mechanicus-type guys that I could play dolls with. they're kind of walking backwards into this, the Archive being visually closer to the source material, but deviating more than the Endlings from being machine animists, what with their disdain for the secutors they rely on.

With the Imperial Archive, I think it's important for them to take themselves very seriously but look goofy while doing it. I struggle to find a good balance between making them feel goofy, but not too endearing; brutal and inhumane, but not too competent. it should be easy to make fun of them, but it should also feel a little dangerous, because they are fragile people with big egos and bigger guns. probably that's why I keep taping knives to every available limb. I'm taking another page out of warhammer's book. it's an inherently goofy setting, and the more bad actors try to co-opt it into being "cool", the more goofy it becomes. tape a knife to a gun. tape a knife to his legs! and he has bonesaws for wings because fuck you i guess

Designing around this tension between goofy and banally cruel is difficult sometimes, because there are a lot of ways we can unconsciously punch down when we design villains... making them "ugly," old, gender-nonconforming, giving them disfigurements, equating extensive robotics and prosthetics with inhumanness, etc. In retrospect, Petrei sorta resembles this statement and is a weird primer for what an Archivist looks like. I think of the archetypal Archivist as a conventionally beautiful person who is just, like, vacuously brittle and empty inside. but Petrei isn't in the business of worrying about his appearance. He has other insecurities to deal with. He's also head of the Archive's bioengineering division, and I felt like it would be a missed opportunity for him not to be a giant mechanical weevil man.

(Aside: The Doctor studied under Petrei before working with Markus, so that's another source of design symmetry. I thought it would be fun that they resemble each other.)

Anyway, I found myself thinking a lot about about body image, disability, and transhumanism with Petrei, because of the aforementioned considerations, and also because this has emerged as a running theme with Chief + the R.A. and Threadbare and I'm stumbling to keep up. I think the Archive rides the fringes of what is socially acceptable / desirable among the imperial elite. but they also are maybe the most sensitive to others' perceptions of them because they're in the business of manipulating hearts and minds. so, the mundane self-image problems that everyone has get magnified to the extreme in them. they're too mired in the loneliness and misery of cruelty to be able to see themselves clearly... not to say they are unhappy people necessarily. probably they are doing the same mental gymnastics that we do just to get by, and it has become too normal to be anything but background noise in their lives of comfort. but they are certainly yoked to maintaining power/control/security and I think they are forever missing something because of that.

Perhaps Petrei feels insecure about his dainty frame or his masculinity, and feels the need to appear bigger than he actually is. maybe he doesn't want to be perceived as, ahem, "flamboyant" like certain other Archivists. Being the Archive's head bioengineer also means he's very Visibly a guy who is artificially extending his lifespan like a living mummy. He interacts more intimately with death than the other Archivists, and maybe his own mortality hangs over him because of that. I mean, all Archivists tend to be obsessed with their own mortality, because they had to kill to get into office, but perhaps Petrei is insulated from that, because he hoards knowledge on his trade and creates secutors, something every Archivist needs. this leaves him time to self-experiment and guard himself against the more inevitable specter of age hanging over him. does he hide behind layers and layers of robes and wires and biomechanical augments because he feels fragile? maybe it's fitting that his proximity to death makes him a little "weirder," less brittle, and more vulnerable/accessible than other Archivists. maybe his self-image could benefit from the fact that there are people who will see being a 15 foot tall centipede weevil man as a feature and not a bug (hah) but I don't think his ego needs inflating. he chose lobotomizing people over love, and he gets to deal with that.

Speaking of weevils, we'll get his personal monologue for modeling himself after them later. mine is that I think they're cute (goofy) and it's easier for me to design machines after insects than anything else because I'm better with creatures than I am machines. The centipede origami came later when I had the idea that it would be fun if he was actually tiny under there.

He did end up resembling the Col more than I wanted him to, but I can live with tweaking their designs later. we can't both show up to the party with centipede legs. how embarrassing!

Anyway. That's my rambling thought process, but I also am just throwing spaghetti at the wall recreationally and seeing what sticks. Thank you for inquiring! I will also be answering your other ask soon because it is making my brain tick in a good way... stay tuned

[universe-030]

Info dumping random shit abt the Spider-Man/Peter Parker I'm writing, deeper lore stuff is near the end 🩷✨️🌈👬

- He eats most stuff with his hands to feel closer to his food, but it also kinda backfires cause saucy or crumbly fingers is the closest thing to the 9th layer of hell for him so... win some lose some idk

-He wears de-magnifying glasses. His eyes work a little too well, so things up close are too magnified, so he has special glasses made so he doesn't have to constantly strain his eyes into focusing properly.

This also means that when he doesn't wear them for too long and forces his eyes to focus, he will get splitting migranes.

- Peter early in the friendship uses Wade's kitchen to cook and bake. It gives them both an excuse to see each other, and Wade buys more real food. It's kinda giving a symbiotic relationship. They enjoy eachothers company plenty but look for excuses to see eachother cause they're both too small brained or neurotic to just say "I really like being with you, let's hang."

- Peter probably has a hard time watching hero movies or movies where there's towns/cities under attack cause all he can think about is what would happen if it happened to New York. He physically cannot relax until he makes a plan for it

- Deffo has an "I'm special" complex but isn't an asshole about it (mooostly 🤧)

- He made a solem promise to himself never to use his powers outside of the Spidey suit, which lasted all of a week before he was ceiling crawling and using webs to get snacks from the cupboards

- Always calls Tony Stark "Mr. Stark" and "Sir" to his face but in like a pathetic little act of defiance kinda way

🌈 these ideas are less fleshed out and sometimes contradictory and mostly word vom but still fun to read 🌈

Peter is basically the KING of compartmentalization.

For a while he knew what spiderman was to him but more often finds himself having to fit the mold that people are projecting onto him. He's loosing his grip on spiderman. He also has a morality complex where his every action feels dictated by "WWSP?" even in his own privacy and life choices.

He's just having trouble keeping Peter and Spiderman in one body and feels like he's 3 people. He's Peter, He's Spiderman, and he's some miscellaneous grey middle man that doesn't fit into either life.

Maybe this third option is the manifestation of public opinion, or maybe it's the urge retreat from his life. Whatever it is, it haunts him.

The mental separation from Spider-Man and Peter Parker gets so intense that

Early into their dating, Peter is very adamant that they don't "do" anything together relationship wise when he's Spider-Man. Peter compartmentalizes to the point where Spidey is basically another person. Peter Parker is in a relationship with Wade Wilson/Deadpool. Spider-Man is not.

DP acts fine with this until he blows up on Peter because it's unfair that he only gets half of him. No matter how much mental gymnastics and logic Peter uses, he is still Spider-Man and it's unfair that Wade is only getting 50% of who and what he loves.

Wade: "I feel like a third wheel in a 2 person relationship..." <-- that's something I see him saying/feeling

I like the idea that Peter Parker essentially split himself into 3 people. Peter/Spidey/Unidentified Third Thing, and he tries way too hard to split his one life into these 3 categories. It stretches way beyond being multi faceted, have yall heard of the movie "The Substance"? It's sorta like that

I go back n forth on "does he know what spiderman is or doesn't he." But it could also just depend on where he is in the ""story""

Like, if it were season 1, he's locked into Spiderman and then season 3 he looses his grip or hell even vice versa

Anyway that's all for now, kisses <3

[fractale-circuit]

doc getting viscerally nauseous from the idea of hank being a person with feelings rather than a living weapon. like the implication that he's putting a real person, one like him, through something worse than hell is. it makes me feel like. oh. ohhgh oh noooo

i noticed the tags on almost every reblog of that scenario i posted were some variation of garbled screaming and agony. i think that's good! my work here is done.

the thing is.. hank's humanity (gruntness? gruntmanity..?) is endlessly complicated, be it from their perspective or others'. hank isn't sure they are human, even before they're magnified which is an entire other can of worms.. they really feel more like a glorified piece on a chessboard than anything else, just one that stabs any hands reaching to try to move it and flings itself across the board for fun.

in turn.. pain is very normalized to them, if they feel it at all. subhuman things do not feel pain or express it. when they are injured, especially after some time (post mc6/being revived repeatedly by tricky), they hardly even notice and will go through a mission battered and bloody with almost nothing from their pain receptors, paying no mind until something serious happens or the blood loss makes them faint.

2b has to force them for checkups, for surgery, for anything, because they fail to see there is a problem. if they do see one, they know it's nothing they can't handle themselves and they've probably been through worse. i have an rp with my partner of hank actually hiding away after 2b sews up a wound to rip out the stitches and redo it themselves with regular sewing thread, because that's how they've always done it and they aren't permanently dead yet. the thing about stuff with high exposure, they lose their meaning over time.. for hank, those things are pain and death.

so after years of having to make them accept their humanity by way of accepting their pain, of course 2b is unbearably rattled to his core by them choosing to indicate that they hurt, to stare that humanity in the face and go to him instead of punching their reflection. it's almost like their way of asking for comfort.. "you are the only one i've ever known that cared when i am in pain, even i don't care anymore. i never could. please make it stop."

and.. i don't think 2b intends to treat hank like they're subhuman and continue that narrative, but he subconsciously does. he doesn't have much of a choice in that, really. this is where i think 2b accidentally parallels jebediah, but if you told him that he'd make you swallow all of your teeth; he's a man with his gaze focused so hard on his goals that everything else tends to go blurry. he's a control freak, he wants to succeed. success is fighting to make hank obey, bringing them back from the dead, demanding they kill and die over and over for eternity until he feels accomplished.

so to have one of those sacrifices look at him with humanity in their eyes and ask him for help.. he has to look through hank more than at them. he actually seizes in his movements and tenses uncomfortably, he can already feel bile rising in his throat and he desperately wants to tell them to leave, because this is too much for him and he's selfish. he really always did put himself before anybody else, didn't he? he makes himself ill.

he doesn't have the heart to refuse them, as much as he wishes he did. he swallows hard and tells them to hurry up and settle in then, because he's busy goddammit. and they do, and he looks at them and listens to them, and he sees and feels their exhaustion.

2bdamned wants to apologize, or maybe he doesn't want to, because that's admittance. treating someone with a very slight increase in warmth in their time of need is the coward's way of saying sorry. hank accepts his apology with understanding nods, the coward's way of saying thank you. they really are made for each other, you know..

[transformers-spike]

Jello there it's foot anon.

Anyways.

I've been having lots of thoughts about like. A cnc scene with Screamer and his human. Foot based of course. Because I want that guy to be mean to me. Just a little. Well a lot. But that's not what this ask is about. It's about Screamer's human finding his stashe of feet pics and also kind of being into it. They're supportive at least. Also should I start writing a foot fetish fic. With Screamer. I'll be the change I want to see in the world.

Anyways².

We all know how much Starscream loathes himself for like fleshie little pedes. His curiosity got the best of him and he's done some 'research' (looked up pede porn) but none of it got him going like seeing his human shoeless just lounging around. Then he finds foot fetish content on the internet!!! And he's like 'wow....... These fleshies are such perverts who could ever find themselves self servicing to this slop?' and lo and behold he's nearly bulging out of his panels imagining his human in the pictures instead of the model.

And this continues for a while. Anytime him and his human get freaky, Starscream is always distracted. The way their toes curl or their legs shake in pleasure, it drives him up the fucking wall. And his human is like 'you okay, bud?' and Starscream is like mm never better while he's blue balling himself over some toes.

But his human suspects something more. And they suspect the worst. Maybe they just don't pleasure him, or he's losing interest. (VERY LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER‼️) so they start sniffing around. They look for clues. They have an obnoxiously large magnifying glass too. But in reality they just scour his search history. They find the foot fetish content. And human is like. Not as bad as it could be. So they stew, and the consider, and they think, and they doubt, and they get insecure. Insecure that they can't fulfill a very normal fetish, but human has no idea where to start. So like any normal person they look more into the foot fetish porn that Starscream has procured. He likes stockings, and dangerously high heels that are sleek in design. He likes bare feet that are well maintained, pampered even. Likes the cutesy casual socks that look suspiciously like their own socks....... Oo this freak like feet and he's ashamed! is the big take away they get. And they love starscream so much, and the stuff he likes seems mostly tame! Why not? Why not indulge your big metal man's foot fetish?

and then that's exactly what they do. Idk how they obtain Louboutins but what's funny to me is that they use Megatron's credit card. I know it's unrealistic, but hey, anything for pretty bird man.

Anyways³.

Starscream's human obtains the Louboutins, and stockings, and replenishes their normal socks because those have been going missing too. But that's a story for another day.

They hide this stuff away, nervous but excited. They start out slow, incorporating more upscale footwear and during their night time routine, lotioning their feet and legs where they know Starscream is watching. And boy does he watch. (POP THOSE PANELS BOY I KNOW YOU WANT TOO.)

Now. I have concepts of what happens next, but that's where this lil drabble ends in my notes app, so I'm gonna freeball the next part.

Eventually, they put on the Louboutins and a slutty little secretary outfit (pants or pencil skirt, your pick) and watch a tutorial on how to walk in these things, and they are golden. They pick the perfect day for it too. They say megatron FINALLY decides to host a meeting for all his Decepticons for uh.... (Checks notes) Literally what ever reason. Battle plans and whatnot. And guess what! Starscream decides to bring his human for also! Literally whatever reason. And so does everyone else! So his human is perched on his shoulder, ever vigilantly watching over him (watching cat videos but shhhh) and those itsy, bitsy red bottoms are just. There! Resting against him so casually! He's distracted yes, but not distracted *enough*

His human is innocently crossing and uncrossing their legs. Starscream's fans click on but nobody says anything, not while Buckethead (laub u megsy) over there is talking. At this point, Starscream would be taking notes, but he just wants fleshie feet. Literally would do anything in this moment to whip it out and not be chastised for jorkin it to feet in front of his boss and subordinates. But he keeps and level head. He can mooch off Soundwave's extensive notes later.

Meeting adjourned. Now, his fellow Decepticons are mingling, sharing notes and opinions about the formerly discussed battle plans and what not. Starscream is anxious to hightail it outta there but his human makes eye contact with Megatron's human and now they just have to talk! They gotta catch up! They gotta make plans! And share silly videos! And compliment each other's outfits!

So now, like many other mechs, Starscream has to wait for his human to finish socializing. It's like moms at a little league game. Wine coolers are involved. (/j?)

Anyways⁴.

At this point, I'm just rambling, but I think I could turn this concept into a little fic. A foot fetishie fic☝🏻 hope u enjoyed my mindless thoughts and my run-on sentences.

Bye lol

Pleaseeee if you turn this into a fic send it to me. Even if unfinished, I need this

I'm a sucker for TFP Starscream going through it TM just because he won't admit his kinks

And tbh it cracks me up to hear about Starscream and Megan's humans chatting together. Straight up telling you Screamer's having a hell of an awkward time

Also something tells me he's into open-toe socks...

[alexanderwales]

I've heard some people lauding the NATO phonetic alphabet, and am just sort of scratching my head about that.

Like, here were the criteria for words in the alphabet:

Be a live word in each of the three working languages.

Be easily pronounced and recognized by airmen of all languages.

Have good radio transmission and readability characteristics.

Have a similar spelling in at least English, French, and Spanish, and the initial letter must be the letter the word identifies.

Be free from any association with objectionable meanings.

But then you look at what they actually picked and it's like ... okay, you picked a bunch of names? You picked "Whiskey"? On the assumption that what, this is a drink that's common everywhere in the world? That everyone is fine having an alcoholic drink as one of the words? Nowadays I can pull up a global map of whiskey consumption, but that's not something they could do in the 50s, and I would guess that they were not considering e.g. Muslim pilots. (Some places do actually change out "Whiskey" for this reason, along with other regional variants, which are exactly the sort of thing you want in a standard everyone is supposed to be on the same page about.)

And alright, whatever, I think the list is kind of confusingly culturally bound given what the criteria were, but it served its purpose well enough ...

Except that as standards do, it began to be used in other places, including by civilians, and including by civilians when both parties have not agreed on the NATO phonetic alphabet. It would be great if we all had an agreed upon phonetic alphabet that everyone knew, but the fact that some people don't know it makes it a lot worse, particularly if you're on a customer service call, and particularly if you're on a customer service call with someone who is not a native English speaker and who was not raised in the same cultural context that the NATO phonetic alphabet assumes.

If you, like me, love terrible quality PDFs, then some helpful soul made a FOIA request for "The Evolution and Rationale of ICAO Spelling Alphabet", and you can read it. This is a fun read for me, because it's not just concerned with the phonetic alphabet, but the history of it, and in one case they're just like "welp, we have been completely unsuccessful in locating this file". And I'm sitting here in 2024 reading a ratty PDF of a file from 1959, thinking "yup, that's how it is sometimes, they do all that work making a report and then no one fucking preserves it".

(Most of the document is about whether they would use the US-UK version or the ICAO version, and then some modifications and why they were made, and this is all interesting, but I'm kind of still scratching my head about some of these, especially given what they say the criteria were. "An international alphabet designed to fit the multilingual requirements of all nations"? Maybe they really thought that's what they were doing in the 1950s.)

Anyway, this isn't to say that I think we need a new, better phonetic alphabet, just that I think the current one is not actually the pinnacle of standards that some people seem to think it is, and in fact, it contains a lot of baggage from the time and place it was made. Further, it's being used in places well outside the environment it was made for, and unless everyone is trained in it (and maybe even if they are) some of the deficiencies get magnified.

[starmosaics]

Venus square Neptune

I have this aspect in my own chart and I've known many people with it in theirs. When Venus squares your Neptune, you can often brush past people’s flaws by magnifying and highlighting the good things about them to the point where you're not seeing the other clearly. Oftentimes these folks don’t see people for who they are because they unconsciously choose to only see another's positive qualities, looking at them through a rose colored lens or placing them on a pedestal higher than where they place themselves, which is why it’s so important for people with this aspect to learn the importance of somewhat detaching themselves from the other and to examine whether or not they're projecting their ideals and expectations. The idea of a person will always be more appealing than the actual person who's standing in front of us. Wishful thinking is huge with this aspect and it can be incredibly destructive as they can perceive something to be greater than it is or put high unrealistic expectations on others.

With this aspect, you kind of choose what you want to see in a person, especially in romantic relationships and when the illusion breaks, what’s underneath can be deeply unsettling for one with a Venus-Neptune square. This is one of the hardest aspects a person can have on their Venus in my opinion because it puts a veil over one's Venus beautifying everything; even the ugly. Red flags turn into a pretty pink and once that veil is lifted we have a hard time forgiving ourselves for not seeing the obvious blaring cautionary signs or for not being rational enough. Tina turner, Whitney Houston, Diane Keaton, Joan Collins, and Stevie Nicks all have this aspect in their charts and all have faced major challenges in regards to their romantic relationships.

These people may attract partners who may not always have their best interests; they may date people who portray themselves as one kind of person when they're the complete opposite, get into a relationship with somebody who is deceiving, or they may face a painful unrequited love. They can often take rejection personally as if it reflects something about themselves, but the truth is rejection is to protect us from those who aren't the right person for us. Neptune is a very distorting and illusive planet when harshly aspecting another planet. These people have a hard time saying no and often fall into people pleasing tendencies as well. Dating is confusing, exhausting and oftentimes very heartbreaking. These people may feel a sense of sorrow for putting in so much effort towards their relationships or a towards person that did not reciprocate.

In romance, Venus-Neptune people are often looking for the love of their life. They're hopeless romantics waiting to cross paths with the one. Venus-Neptune people go through the ringer when it comes to dating and over time they become discouraged and soon realize that maybe their fantasy was never going to come true. Because of this cyclical pain and rejection, they can become entirely closed off to romance by creating ideals that absolutely no one can fulfill.

They can also get into a relationship with someone who does love them, but if it’s not the kind of grandiose fairytale love the Venus-Neptune person is seeking or if the person doesn’t perfectly match their ideals or meet their expectations, they can exit the relationship out of dissatisfaction. A good way to combat this is to ask yourself if you yourself could fulfill all of the things you seek in a partner. This is the challenge because Venus-Neptune folks are hardcore lovers and they tend to repress that part of themselves if they’ve faced enough turmoil in their relationships, or like I said create unrealistic expectations in others, ruining their chance of being in a healthy relationship.

Something a Venus-Neptune individual should know is that the love that they so badly want does exist because they exist and that they don’t need to go over and beyond to receive the love they deserve; they should never plead someone to love them. They need to provide the love that they so badly want to offer another person to themselves first. They also need to determine whether or not their ideals are rooted in reality. Self love, self appreciation, and self examination are deeply needed to be practiced when one has this aspect.