#mertil-iscar-elmand

[kiwisandcoconuts]

Happy pride month animorph fans have some doomed yaoi (Gafinilan and Mertil)

[lexi-the-twilight-dragon]

Been watching a bunch of Animorphs videos on YouTube and noticed this discrepancy, so now I’m curious:

[fluffermckitty]

quickie of the space husbands for valentines 💗

[lorenfangor]

I heard that #40 was super homophobic :/ so I skipped it. But now your fic is making me want to give it a try. How problematic is it? Are the characters worth it?

Okay.

Okay.

Let’s talk about #40.

The plot of The Other (a Marco POV) is that Marco sees an Andalite on a video tape sent in to some Unsolved Mysteries-esque TV show, and he assumes it’s Ax and hauls ass to save him from being captured. Ax, being Ax, has videotaped the show, and they pull it up and Tobias uses his hawk eyes to figure out that it’s not Ax, it’s another Andalite - one without a tailblade. Ax is appalled at the presence of this vecol (an Andalite word for a disabled person) and we find out that he and others of his species have deep ingrained prejudices against at least some kinds of disabled people.

Despite this, Marco and Ax go looking for the Andalite in question because he’s been spotted by national TV, and they meet a second one, named Gafinilan-Estrif-Valad. The vecol is Mertil-Iscar-Elmand, a former fighter pilot with a reputation and Gafinilan’s coded-gay life partner. The two of them have been on Earth since book 1; they crashed their fighters on the planet and have been trapped there thanks to the GalaxyTree going down. Gafinilan has adopted a human cover, a physics professor, and they’ve been living in secret ever since.

Thanks to that tape, Mertil has been captured by Visser Three, and he’s not morph-capable so he can’t escape. Gafinilan wants to trade the leader of the “Andalite Bandits” to the Yeerks to get his boyfriend back; he can’t fight to free Mertil because he’s terminally ill with a genetic disorder that will eventually kill him, and (it’s implied that) the Yeerks aren’t interested in disabled hosts, even disabled Andalite ones. Despite Ax’s ableism, the Animorphs agree to work with Gafinilan and free Mertil, and they’re successful. Marco ends the book talking about how there are all kinds of prejudices you’ll have to face and boxes that people will put you in, and you can’t necessarily escape them even if they’re reductive and inaccurate, but you can still live your life with pride.

So now that I’ve explained the plot, I’m gonna come out the gate saying that I love this book. I love it wholeheartedly, I love Marco’s narration, I love Ax having to deal with Andalite society’s ableism, I love these characters, and as a disabled lesbian I don’t find these disabled gays to be inherently Bad Rep.

that’s of course just my opinion and it doesn’t overshadow other issues that people might have? but at the same time, I don’t like the seemingly-common narrative that this book is all bad all the time, and I want to offer up a different read.To that end, I’m going to go point by point through some of the criticisms and common complaints that I’ve seen across the fandom over the years.

“Mertil and Gafinilan were put on a bus after one appearance because they were gay!”

this is one I’m going to have to disagree with hardcore. I talked about this yesterday, but in Animorphs there are a lot of characters or ideas that only get introduced once or twice and then get written off or dropped - in order off the top of my head, #11 (the Amazon trip), #16 (Fenestre and his cannibalism), #17 (the oatmeal), #18 (the hint of Yeerks doing genetic experiments in the hospital basement), #24/#39/#42 (the Helmacrons’ ability to detect morphing tech), #25 (the Venber), #28 (experiments with limiting brain function through drugs), #34 (the Hork-Bajir homeworld being retaken, the Ixcila procedure), #36 (the Nartec), #41 (Jake’s Bad Future Dream), and #44 (the Aboriginal people Cassie meets in Australia) all feature things that either seem to exist just for the sake of having a particular trope explored Animorphs-style or to feature an idea for One Single Book.

This is a series that’s episodic and has a very limited overall story arc because of how children’s literature in the 90s was structured - these books are closer to The Saddle Club, Sweet Valley High, Animal Ark, or The Baby-Sitters’ Club than they are to Harry Potter or A Series of Unfortunate Events. Mertil and Gafinilan don’t get to be in more than one book because they’re not established in the main cast or the supporting cast, I don’t think that it’s solely got anything to do with their being gay.

“Gafinilan has AIDS, this is a book about AIDS, and that’s homophobic!”

Okay, this is… hard. First, yes, Gafinilan does have a terminal illness. Yes, Gafinilan is gay. No, Soola’s Disease is not AIDS.

I have two responses to this, and I’ll attack them in order of their occurrence in my thought. First, there’s coded AIDS diseases all over genre fiction, especially genre fiction from that era, because the AIDS epidemic made a massive impact on public life and fundamentally changed both how the public perceived illness and queerness and how queer people themselves experienced it. I was too young to live through it, but my dad’s college roommate was out, and my dad himself has a lot of friends who he just ceases to talk about if the conversation gets past 1986 or so - this was devastating and it got examined in art for more reasons than “gay people all have AIDS”, and I dislike the implication that the only reason it could ever appear was as a tired stereotype or a message that Being Queer Means Death. Gafinilan is kind, fond of flowers, and fond of children - he’s multifaceted, and he’s got a terminal illness. Those kinds of people really exist, and they aren’t Bad Rep.

Second off, Soola’s Disease? Really isn’t AIDS. It’s a congenital genetic illness that develops over time, cannot be transmitted, and does not carry a serious stigma the way AIDS did. Gafinilan also has access to a cure - he could become a nothlit and no longer be afflicted by it, even if it’s considered somewhat dishonorable to go nothlit to escape that way. That’s not AIDS, and in fact at no point in my read and rereads did I assume that his having a terminal illness was supposed to be a commentary on homosexuality until I found out that other people were assuming it.

“Mertil losing his tail means he’s lost his masculinity, and that’s bad because he’s gay! That’s homophobic!”

so this is another one I’ve gotta hardcore disagree with, because while Mertil is one of two Very Obviously Queer Characters, he’s not the only character who loses something fundamental about himself, or even loses access to sexual and/or romantic capability in ways he was familiar with.

Tobias and Arbron both get ripped out of their ordinary normal lives by going nothlit in bad situations, and while they both wind up finding fulfillment and freedom despite that, it’s still traumatic, even more for Arbron I’d say than for Tobias. And on a psychological level, none of the main cast is left unmarked or free of trauma or free of deep change thanks to the bad things that have happened to them - they’re no less fundamentally altered than Mertil, even if it’s mental rather than physical. And yes, tail loss is equated with castration or emasculation, but that doesn’t automatically mean Mertil suffering it is tied to his homosexuality and therefore the takeaway we’re intended to have is “Being gay is tragic and makes you less of a man”. This is a series where bad shit happens to everyone, and enduring losses that take away things central to one’s self-conception or identity or body is just part of the story.

Also, frankly? Plenty of IRL disabled people have to grapple with a loss of sexual function, and again, they’re not Bad Rep just because they’re messy.

“Andalite society is confusingly written in this book, and the disability aspects are clearly just a coverup for the gay stuff!”

Andalite society is canonically sexist, a bit exceptionalist and prejudiced in their own favor, and pretty contradictory and often challenged internally on its own norms. In essence, it’s a pretty ordinary society, and they’re really realistic as sci-fi races go. It makes sense from that perspective that Andalites would tolerate scarring or a lost stalk eye or a lost skull eye, but not tolerate serious injuries that significantly impact your perceived quality of life. Ableism is like that - it’s not one-size-fits-all. I look at Ax’s reactions and I see a lot of my own family and friends’ behaviors - this vibes with my understanding of prejudice, you know?

“Mertil and Gafinilan have a tragic ending, which means the story is saying that being gay dooms you to tragedy!”

Mertil and Gafinilan have the best possible ending that they could ask for? They are victims of the war, they are suffering because of the war, they get the same cocktail of trauma and damage that every other soldier gets. But unlike Jake and Tobias and Marco, unlike Elfangor, unlike Aximili? Their ending comes in peace, in their own home. Gafinilan isn’t dying alone, he’s got the love of his life with him. Mertil isn’t going to be as isolated anymore, he’s got Marco for a friend. Animorphs is a tragedy, it’s not a happy story, it’s not something that guarantees a beautiful sunshine-and-roses ending for everyone, and I love tragedy, and so I will fight for this story. Yes, it hurts. Yes, it deserved better. But it’s not less meaningful just because it’s sad. Nobody is entitled to anything in this book, and it’s just as true for these two as it is for anyone else.

“It’s not cool that the only canonically gay characters in this series don’t get to be happy and trauma-free and unblemished Good Rep!”

This is one I can kind of understand, and I’ll give some ground to it, because it is sucky. The only thing I’ll say is that I stand by my argument that nothing that happens to Mertil and Gafinilan is unusual compared to what happens to the rest of the cast, and that their ending is way happier than Rachel and Tobias’s, or Jake and Cassie’s. But it’s a legitimate point of frustration, and the one argument I’ll say I agree has validity.

(Though, I also want to point out that I think there are plenty of equally queercoded characters in the story who aren’t Mertil and Gafinilan - Tobias, Rachel, Cassie, and Marco all get at least one or two moments that signal to me that they’re potentially LGBT+, not to mention Mr. Tidwell and Illim in #29 and their long-term domestic partnership. There’s no reason to assume that the only queer people here are those two aliens when Marco’s descriptions of Jake exist.)

“Marco uses slurs and reduces Gafinilan’s whole identity to his illness!”

Technically, yes, this is true, except putting it that way strips the whole passage of its context. Marco is discussing the boxes society puts you into, the ones you don’t have a choice about facing or escaping. He’s talking about negative stereotypes and reductive generalizations, he’s referring to them as bad things that you get inflicted upon you by an outside world or by friends who don’t know the whole story or the real you. The slurs he uses are real slurs that get thrown at people still, and they’re not okay, and the point is that they’re not okay but assholes are going to call you by them anyway. He ends by saying “you just have to learn to live with it”, and since this is coming from a fifteen-year-old Latino kid who we know is picked on by bullies for all sorts of reasons and who faces racism and homophobia? He knows what he’s talking about. He’s bitter about what’s been said and done, he’s not stating it like it’s a good thing.

Yes, absolutely, this speech is a product of its time, but it’s a product of its time that speaks of defiance and says “We aren’t what we’re said to be,” and in the year this was published? That’s a good message.

tl;dr The Other is good, actually, and Mertil and Gafinilan are incredible characters who deserve all the love they could possibly get.

[mcauley-art]

And they were ~shorms~

[limulusamebocytelysate]

girl help I’m once again obsessing over minor characters in obscure fandoms with little to no fanfic/art focused on them

[sarifel-corrisafid-ilxhel]

My brain is telling me to write a short bit of domestic postwar fluff for Mertil and Gafinilan.

Not sure if I would rather write Gaf in his normal body, surviving on medication found on Earth, or if he has trapped himself in Human morph.

Hmmm...

[summerlimeismethebrony]

I couldn't not draw this.

I tried to find at least one character for each, and English-translated names for the different sexes.

The strong ones: Obviously Gafinilan would be one of these. I couldn't think of a name that wasn't Earth-centric, though.

The fast ones: I chose Mertil for this, as well as Aldrea. I think when these guys want to go into the military, they're expected to be snipers and medics and stuff. Which is why Mertil's being a fighter pilot is fine, but Adrea wanting to be a warrior is not. I landed on sprinters for the name, but that could change, I think.

The venomous ones: I had to go with Alloran here, mostly because he and Esplin strike me as that one 5'5" drill sergeant who will take no shi*, although in very different ways. Also the many times he's been impersonated by children would make more sense. I think that 'strikers' is a pretty good name for these guys.

The vocal ones: op has volunteered Estrid for this, and it makes a lot of sense. I imagine their vocal sacs work like a frog, and different sounds are related to their emotions or something. Op also dubbed them noisemakers, which is great. And said they're considered flighty and social.

The ones who endure: It sounds like the military would mostly be these guys and the strong ones, so I figured this is the best fit for our kiddos Ax and Al. I imagine their stats would be pretty average, having no immediate boosts, but being able to keep it up longer. Because they make such good soldiers, artists and such of this sex are considered a waste of potential, but not as uncommon or frowned upon as it would be for the strong ones. I've been calling them runners, but that might be too close to sprinter.

I want to re-do a few scenes as comics, and I guess now's the best time with being stuck at home.

Obviously I will love Animorphs until the end of time, but I will never get over the fact that KAA gave Andalites a gender binary with the exact same stereotypes as humans. Ax’s “I am male so my human morph is male” in #4, the sexism against Estrid in #38? I can’t deal. It just feels so cliche for a series that loved to make its aliens non-cliche. It seems to me that, on the contrary, it would be astronomically (lol) unlikely that a species that evolved in total isolation from us halfway across the galaxy would have the same setup.

My version would be that Andalites have 5 “genders,” none of which can be clearly mapped to our human idea of male/female but each have their own complicated stereotypes and some of which are more likely to be discriminated against in Andalite society. Like one that’s stereotypically bigger and stronger (but slower and with less endurance), one that’s very swift (but typically weaker and more prone to injury), one that produces tail blade venom (but is smaller and more juvenile looking even into late adulthood), one that possesses a membrane-like structure that allows them to make noise (but has the shortest thought-speak range), one with a fucking hardcore endurance that can just keep going for days (but is not especially fast or strong).

And Andalite scientists have lots of theories about how their species evolved that way but the prevailing theory is that when their ancestors were non-sentient herd animals millions and millions of years ago, herds that kept an even balance of all five types were the most successful (each with a corresponding herd “role” theory i.e., the poisonous ones would blending in the herd’s young and if a predator got close enough to threaten the young, the poisonous ones would fuck their shit up). And the same wisdom holds true in most Andalite societies, that a generous mix is the mark of a healthy society.

And (generally speaking) any Andalite could either gestate a child or fertilize it, but the child is always the gender of one of the two parents–i.e., a child of an endurance parent and a strong parent will be either endurance or strong themselves, inheriting a “package” of linked traits from one parent, and none of the corresponding linked traits from the other (though there is a range in every gender, including some room for overlap). I think it’s an even 50/50 chance for all pairings, though maybe there’s culturally specific (or even family specific) folklore about certain genders having stronger inheritibility. Some societies are heteronormative, some are homonormative, some don’t care. Similarly, some Andalites have strong preferences for romantic partners and some don’t.

And when the human Animorphs ask Ax if they’re male or female, Ax is like “………..uh…………….wait what are my choices?” And Ax’s translator chip can handle gendered pronouns once it has been fed the information of the human in question, but Ax is always messing up accurately guessing the gender of a new human (”In his defense, that isn’t really Ax’s fault, we did say that long hair generally meant female pronouns.”)

I’ve thought about ficcing the idea but it seems hard to find a way to do that that isn’t just *NONSTOP EXPOSITION MACHINE.* Maybe the way to do it is as a retelling of #38, and Estrid shows up and Ax is like “well, you know, the noisemakers, they don’t usually go into the military, most people think they’re too fightly and social to really fit in when the going gets tough.” And the Animorphs are like “How does that even track?!” And everyone learns a little something about stereotypes that day. But also I’m pretty busy with non-fic projects at the moment so who has the time. Basically what I’m saying is if this interests anyone else, feel free to use it with my blessings.

(I edited this a little bit in the last half-hour since I posted it, sorry in advance if there’s anyone who liked it before my edit that maybe disagrees with something after)

[featherquillpen]

Chapters: 1/8 Fandom: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Characters: Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, Jake Berenson, Rachel (Animorphs), Cassie (Animorphs), Marco (Animorphs), Tobias (Animorphs), Loren (Animorphs), Estrid-Corill-Darrath, Mertil-Iscar-Elmand, Eva (Animorphs), Aftran 942, The Governor (Animorphs), Melissa Chapman, Toby Hamee, Jordan (Animorphs), Sarah (Animorphs), Michelle (Animorphs), Walter (Animorphs), Illim, Mr. Tidwell (Animorphs), Ket Halpak, Tom Berenson, James (Animorphs), Kelly (Animorphs), Arbron (Animorphs), Original Yeerk Character(s), Original Taxxon Character(s), Original Hork-Bajir Character(s), Original Chee Character(s) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Daemons, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Moral Ambiguity, Angst, Dark, Alien Culture, Worldbuilding, Horror, Taxxons, Chee - Freeform, Auxiliary Animorphs, Book 52: The Sacrifice, Pandemics, Revolution Series: Part 26 of Dæmorphing Summary:

The Animorphs and their allies fall farther than they ever have before.

Chapter 1: Two Mercies

[acavatica]

Chapters: 34/50 Fandom: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill/Marco (Animorphs), Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill & Tobias (Animorphs), Marco & Tobias (Animorphs), Marco/Sergeant Santorelli Characters: Marco (Animorphs), Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, Jake Berenson, Tobias (Animorphs), Sergeant Santorelli, Jeanne Gerard, Menderash-Postill-Fastill, Forlay-Esgarrouth-Maheen, Rachel (Animorphs), Cassie (Animorphs), Mertil-Iscar-Elmand, Noorlin-Sirinial-Cooraf, Estrid-Corill-Darrath Additional Tags: Post-War, Hollywood Marco, Established Relationship, Long-Distance Relationship, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Mental Health Issues, Secret Relationship, Space Opera, Alien Culture, Alien Politics, Trans Character Series: Part 9 of Breaking and Entering Summary:

Takes place during and after #54 The Beginning.

Ax and Marco broke up after the war. Marco ran off to space to find him. After his rescue from The One, Ax returns to his home planet to recover. It doesn’t take Marco long to decide that he’s going to stay with him. It also doesn’t take Marco long to uncover a military conspiracy that may change Ax’s entire understanding of his people.

[lilacsolanum]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Cassie (Animorphs), Naomi Berenson, Mr. Tidwell (Animorphs), Mertil-Iscar-Elmand, Loren (Animorphs), Melissa Chapman, Toby Hamee, Ronnie Chambers, My CEO Of Cinnabon OC Additional Tags: Misogyny, Politics, Sexism, Underage Crush On Older Man, world-building, Post-War, Post-war culture, Racism Series: Part 5 of The Rachel Summary:

A small collection of scenes from Cassie after the war, leading an army of herself.

This takes place in The Rachel universe, but is largely a stand alone piece. Only the last segment directly relates to the b-b-b-boyz in the ship.

[samtalksfunny]

Chapters: 5/? Fandom: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Gafinilan-Estrif-Valad/Mertil-Iscar-Elmand Characters: Gafinilan-Estrif-Valad, Mertil-Iscar-Elmand, Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, Ajaht-Litsom-Esth, Aloth-Attamil-Gahar, Nerefir, Andalite OCs, Skrit-Na OCs, Yeerk OCs, Other Aliens, there are zero humans in this fic Additional Tags: Prequel, Action/Adventure, Tailfight Club, Established Relationship, Romance, Drama, Angst, Humor, Angst and Humor, Andalite bros, Elfangor is a good bro, Canon Compliant, Canon Backstory, Minor Character Death, POV First Person, POV Gafinilan Summary:

Set pre-series, the warriors of the GalaxyTree travel to the Ssstram planet to counter the Yeerk invasion.

Featuring: those wacky Skrit-Na, an amateur tail-fighting league (the first rule of tailfight club is you don't tell Captain Nerefir about tailfight club), illicit gambling, and interstellar war.

Updates weekly.

[taekwondorkjosh]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Gafinilan-Estrif-Valad/Mertil-Iscar-Elmand, Mertil-Iscar-Elmand/Menderash-Postill-Fastill Characters: Menderash-Postill-Fastill, Mertil-Iscar-Elmand, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, Gafinilan-Estrif-Valad Additional Tags: Martial Arts, inspired by Cavatica's awesome stuff Summary:

Mertil picks up martial arts, and Menderash finds this REALLY interesting

[lorenfangor]

BLADE BRAIN oh lord i love it, please write more!

(continuing on from this. a brief note - "primary" shoulders/spine/etc are the quadrupedal parts, "secondary" shoulders/spine/etc are the 'human' parts.)

The Dome was half-full, thanks to midshift mealtime. Mertil trotted in, letting his hooves open up once he was entirely on real grass, eyes up and scanning for anyone he knew. It didn't take long to spot Soorif and Vandrid and Neniag near the center, standing in a loose circle with the rest of the pilots on their watch. Neniag waved at him, and he answered, picking up his gait again to trot over. This watch was mostly soldiers and pilots, and the Dome was filled with friendly sparring and an impromptu game of Toffit with a seed pod for a ball. It was evidently early spring back home.

<So,> Neniag said as he approached, <did the split hoof shred you?>

<He tried,> Mertil said smugly, tail held high. <Prince Elfangor stopped him.>

<He should have shredded you,> Soorif said. <That was an unfair move, and you know it.>

<You're only angry because I shot you down,> Mertil shot back, tail coming up over his shoulder. <If you were quicker on your hooves, you'd have guessed what I was going to do.>

<Would you have guessed it?> Soorif asked, and his own tail was rising higher, angling for a strike in an extremely unsubtle way.

Mertil struck first, pivoting on one foreleg and coming into a half-press, bracing his weight against his friend and snapping the end of his tail so its blade smacked flat-to-flat against Soorif's. They broke apart as quickly as they'd come together, accompanied by the inevitable rush of <Oh> and <Here we go> from anybody who bothered to watch.

<I would have,> he said smartly, grinning at Soorif with all four eyes. <You're not very good at hiding your approach.>

The Dome doors opened again, and he turned one stalk up and away from his friend, who was trying to circle him and get another slice in across his flank. A group of four Andalites came in all together, though they spread out as soon as they were inside.

<Those are the new arrivals,> Neniag said. <I heard about it from Tornen after you got your tail dragged up to the bridge.>

<New arrivals?> Soorif asked, both his stalks turning back toward the doors. <A little late for rotation, isn't it?>

<These aren't rotation,> Neniag told them. <They came in with the supply ship. Late deployment. UAST and espionage training.>

<Espionage?!> Mertil said. <I thought they weren't done for another cycle!> When Soorif took advantage of his shock he went flat-to-flat again, slapping away the other pilot's blade once, twice, three times. Captain Nerefir was very strict about friendly sparring in the Dome - absolutely no purposeful blade-edge contact - and he didn't think he'd have good odds of escaping disciplinary action twice. Soorif realized he was beaten, and backed down, and Mertil angled his stalks toward the doors again.

It only took a moment for the rest of his eyes to follow.

<What's he looking at?> Vandrid asked, and Neniag cuffed him across the secondary shoulder with his own tailblade and pointed with one arm.

<There,> he said, and soon Soorif had joined them, all three of them looking at the same thing.

<Crangar's bloody tails,> Vandrid muttered as Mertil trotted off across the grass, <he's about to get incorrigible.>

There was a tall, broad-chested Andalite standing near to the doors, apart from the others; a small bag was slung across his secondary shoulders and hanging down to rest against his primary ones. He was alert, even as he idly grazed, stalks scanning the Dome and tail drifting low. He was far larger than most of the other Warriors and all of the arisths, though there was something about how he carried himself that hinted at hidden depths.

Mertil came alongside him, tail wrapping around his primary spine until they were pressed together, and reached up with one hand to touch his face.

<You didn't tell me you were coming,> he said, and the mating-bond that had lain dormant in the back of his mind opened again, taking the edge off his aggression.

Gafinilan sighed, relaxing into the hold; his own hand slid down to caress Mertil's face and his tail wrapped around his mate's.

<I thought I would surprise you,> he said. <And I didn't know we were shipping out until we were.>

<You should have gotten here a few hours earlier,> Mertil said, almost reproachful. <You could have seen me cut through the GalaxyTree's shields and scare the fur off of T.O. Ascanel.>

<And, probably, nursed your bruised pride back to health after he shredded you underhoof.>

<Precisely,> Mertil said, putting his other arm around his mate as Gafinilan curled against him, scenting him again after an entire year of being apart. <This is why you shouldn't ever go anywhere without me, I'm deprived without you.>

<And you can't groom yourself to save your life,> Gafinilan reproached him. <You look terrible.>

<But my fighter is pristine, and isn't that what matters?>

The look Gafinilan gave him was enough to set them both to laughing.

[klutzycustodian]

♕

RUNNING MUN.EXE. PLEASE STAND BY.

♕ ━ which fictional characters are your favorites?

( My taste in characters is honestly all over the place so I’ll just present a long-winded list of characters I really like in no real order. ( Obviously excluding Wheatley. )

Gordon Freeman ( Half Life )

Kindred, Draven, Soraka, Lucian ( League of Legends )

Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, Marco, Mertil-Iscar-Elmand, Gafinilan-Estrif-Valad ( Animorphs )

Honestly… the entire roster of Team Fortress 2. Such perfect characters.

Flim & Flam, Cheese Sandwich ( My Little Pony )

Doug Rattmann, Cave Johnson ( Portal )

Gelbin Mekkatorque, Khadgar, Silas Darkmoon ( World of Warcraft )

Rick Sanchez ( Rick and Morty )

Ravi Chakrabarti, Blaine DeBeers ( iZombie )

Turbo ( Wreck-it Ralph )

Tormund, Roberta, The Werelupe King, Lord Kass ( Neopets )

I unironically love the shit out of Tracy the Caseworker from Tooth-Fairy and you’re allowed to fight me about it. )

[summerlimeismethebrony]

Redesigned some aliens. Might post about my thought process later, I dunno..

[Edit:] Taxxon design partially inspired by @thenixkat , I just love the way they draw those sqoodgy little arms.