#most of it just looks like that pic of tails standing there like :0!!!! with that incredibly specific set of emotions

[hemingway-papers]

one thing people won't tell you is a lot of early lupin iii manga started as like an edgy raunchy pop-culture movie crossover parody. all the main players are typical stock characters you know from popular genres at the time but with an unexpected twist for comedy. you can feel it in the rough and genuinely funny art style and barely coherent mini episodic plots and intentional offensiveness. it must have been like Newgrounds for boomers. but then imagine if the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny became a world renowned beloved franchise going on for 50+ years into the future

[hedgehog-moss]

Me and friends need to know! What is the posing hierarchical order of the animals?

I am ready to answer this. I have a very definitive ranking of my animals with regards to posing for photos. Here it is:

1. Cats. It’s hard to take a bad picture of a cat, and people will probably love it anyway because it’s a picture of a cat. Among my cats I would probably rank Merricat #1 because calico privilege gives her many interesting angles, then Mascarille because her white mustache is so dapper, then Morille—black cats are tricky to photograph but the fluffy void look works for them, somehow.

2. Chickens! They shot up to #2! They are also tricky subjects because they are very busy little persons in a constant whirl of activity, but any resulting blurriness is the photographer’s failing, not theirs. When you can get a miraculously non-blurry picture they always look humbly magnificent. Here’s Cordélia protecting Pirlouit’s hay (or protecting the hay from Pirlouit, you’d have to ask her):

3. Llamas. Pampelune looks lovely 100% of the time in profile, and 0% of the time in front-facing pics. She knows it and is always willing to turn her head so you can photograph her at her best.

Pampérigouste often looks good even when facing the camera because from this angle she will remind you of Napoléon in a way you can’t quite explain or pinpoint (it’s the ears)

4. Pandolf. He is a handsome dog but you need to take a lot of pictures if you want evidence of this. Like the chickens, he moves around a lot, but I won’t take full responsibility for blurry pics as he is supposed to know how to sit still. Unlike the llamas, he has a lot of bad angles, believe it or not. It’s because of his absurd nose. His nose could comfortably wear a clown shoe and that’s just not okay.

5. Pirlouit. I’m sorry, donkeys are not the most photogenic people. They lack the ostentation of horses—make a horse and a donkey stand next to each other and you’ll see which one is good at self-marketing. Donkeys have cumbersome ears, short legs, a bristly mane you could brush your teeth with and a tufted lion’s tail that belongs on a lion, and often look unsure of how to make all these parts fit together into a coherent brand. It’s okay. Pirlouit is charming in person and since you aren’t dazzled by his attractiveness in photographs you can’t help but notice his winsome personality.

The last entry makes it sound like this list is based on looks but that’s not it (else Pandolf would probably be #1 as he is so elegantly pointy)—it’s a combination of how many advantageous poses each animal has at its disposal and how willing they are to strike them. Cats aren’t known for their willingness to do anything opportune or helpful but they happen to strike cute poses when they sleep, and they sleep 90% of the time, so they win by default, which is a cat’s favourite path to victory.

[mahou-furbies]

Loving the recents precure posts! I think your insights are really interesting :0 I’m interested on your thoughts on the fairy designs! Only if you’re up for it of course ^^;

Thanks, it’s nice to hear they’re appreciated!

I’ts no secret that I’m not a huge fan of the mascots (since they often feel like a superfluous story element that’s included just because the formula requires it, and a lot of the designs come across as “we gave this small creature big eyes and small mouth so you must find it cute”) so this probably won’t be very positive.. But alright, let’s go through the mascots. I’ll also put a few words on the personality/role in the story if it’s a season I’ve seen because when else am I going to write about these. 

Note: I hate high-pitched voices and speech patterns that have the character repeat their name at the end of every sentence, but there’s not a lot of point to write that under every entry. But you can imagine a “the squeaky voice is grating, as is the speech pattern” complaint whenever applicable.

Futari wa Precure

We start with kind of nondescript cutesy critters, especially the first two are about as basic as they come. I used to make “Pokemon” like this as a kid, like you get two round shapes for the body, some nondescript tubby arms and legs, huge eyes, and then the only distinguishing features are the ears, tail and markings. The Futari Wa mascots don’t really move me in any direction.

[March 19 2023 edit] personality-wise Mepple is unbearable and Porun is even worse

Futari wa Precure Splash Star

Splash Star continues in the same way as its predecessor and I still have nothing to say. Or I guess I like how the last two make me think of something you’d see in a video game.

Yes! Precure 5

It feels like I never hear anything of Yes!5, and the only thing I run into anything else than a random fanart once in a blue moon is complaining about a Cure’s relationship with one of the mascots, or how Milky Rose is annoying. But we don’t speak of that here at Mahou-furbies now since I haven’t seen the season, so it’s all about the designs.

I really like the darker squirrel, squirrel is the superior animal, and most importantly it has a really pleasing colour scheme. Also there isn’t anything stupid in it, and it looks soft and not overly cutesy. Wouldn’t care for the lighter one that much (and upon closer inspection it doesn’t even look like a squirrel), but together they work well enough.

Then the pink one, Milky Rose I believe? Huge fluffy ears are cute, but her face looks squished and at least in this pic she has too many accessories. Penguin isn’t particularly cute to me, must be the eyebrows, but not too bad. And the last one... It doesn’t even have a face...!

Doing this ranking taught me that Yes!5 has some kind of collectible mini fairies. There’s too many of them for me to make a collage and rank each one individually, so I’ll just say that if you’re going to have a lot of critters with no common theme, do go all out, and all out they did go. Some are humanoid, some are animals, some are objects, there are all kinds of shapes... They remind me of the little collectible toys that represent stuff you’d find in a shop, like there was apples, shirts and toilet paper with faces. My faves are triangle bird cloud, sassy pineapple star, star onion, another triangle bird, goo bunny, and heart shaped cat bread. What is going on here??

Fresh Precure!

Tarte best mascot

Tarte appeals to me by not being a cloyingly cutesy and not having a squeaky voice, but still looking reasonably cute. The long body shape helps him stand apart from the rest of the mascots, since most of them are more on the round side. His muted colour palette is also pleasing. And he’s fun to be around too in the anime; his relationship with Kaoru-chan is entertaining, always love to see what the pair is up to. Finally I like how we see that he has life outside being the Cures’ mascot, like this guy has managed to land a cute fiancee! 

Then Chiffon... Let’s just say that I’m Very Much Not a baby person, I didn’t play with baby dolls as a kid (my cousin had one and we cast it as the leader of enemy troops). And it is not a good prospect for a show if it’s going to have a crying baby, or expects me to find characters taking care of it endearing. So Chiffon was pretty much dead on arrival since she doesn’t really do anything to address this issue, but I can say in her defense that at least she’s a non-human creature so the connection to human babies isn’t as strong. Colours are also pleasing. And begrudgingly I have to admit that the baby mascots tend to have more involvement with the story and the characters’ relationship with them is actually relevant, so at the very least they don’t feel only like they’re there just because the formula requires a mascot.

As for the keys, not a fan of inorganic mascots, I like soft animals and also they feel way more merchandise-driven than animal based fairies. Also my memories of Fresh are getting hazy but if I recall correctly the Pickruns felt rather superfluous to the story, like the Cures were sometimes invested in them, but they weren’t really treated as proper characters so it felt quite hollow to me. But design-wise at least their faces are cute and I like how everyone has different eyes and accessories, so if we must have sentient keys in the show I guess these are perfectly serviceable designs.

Heartcatch Precure!

The Heartcatch mascots are sort of in the same camp as the ones from the earliest seasons, like they’re not bad, but not particularly memorable either. I still find them more recognisable than the Futari wa mascots though, but maybe it’s just that there’s four of them with a very similar design and I like themed teams. The colours are a bit off with the first two, the turquoise clashes with the pink, but with blue it’s almost monochrome. The other two fare a bit better. 

And then there’s the big one... well this certainly is different from the norm. I certainly complain about overly cutesy mascots but I’d still prefer them to have some level of cuteness.

Suite Precure

I find it hard to believe that these cats are from the same season, but that’s what the wiki says so I guess I have to believe it. Not a huge fan of either... The first one feels too cutesy but also kind of bland while the second one is rather overdesigned. But if you remove the arm and tail jewelry it’s more like a regular cat with a lot of neck fur which I can dig.

As for the jewel thingies, as I said in the henshin ranking I find them very uncute and they feel very merchandise-driven in the same way the Fresh keys do. And they don’t even seem to have any other different traits than colour so that’s just boring.

Smile Precure

The first one is kind of in the same category as the Futari Wa mascots. Kind of nondescript and doesn’t speak to me on any level or feel memorable in a sea of cutesy magical girl mascots. I guess I like the curly ears? Having a human form is also a plus. Lion is pretty similar but I like the calmer colour palette and the “hairstyle” suggests more personality.

Doki Doki! Precure

The animal quartet is a similar to the Futari Wa mascots too, but since there’s now a set they’re more memorable. Not a huge fan of the aggressively monochrome colour palette and I’d like it if at least the accessories were some other colour. The pupil-less eyes also feel somewhat hollow. However even if the designs are pretty basic I still like the customisability aspect here when everyone follows the same design principles, and it’s also fun how they have their theme card suit incorporated somewhere (except Davi unless you’re really generous with the inner ears). And points for everyone having a human form, especially Davi’s was good, and she was a great mentor figure to Makoto who would otherwise have been all alone. And based on what I can remember Lance had a fun dazed personality.

Then we get to my least favourite mascot. Ai had all the aspects why baby mascots are so objectionable to me (screaming, causes trouble, expectations that taking care of babies is cute) and also didn’t even have the decency to have a grown up design as a reward for our suffering. And while I can be a bit more forgiving on the babies lower on this list due to at least looking somewhat cute that doesn’t save Ai because I find this a flat out uncute design. The worst problem is the eyes; this is clearly a humanoid character but the eyes are the mascot button eyes and it just looks creepy, and position and colour of the eyelashes makes them look like some kind of tumor or leech to me. The colour palette also comes across as tacky and the outfit is unmemorable, but at least the hair is ok. Being reminded of her existence every time I watch Cure Ace’s otherwise good henshin (KYUPIRAPPAA!!) isn’t a good moment... Some silver lining to Ai’s existence could be that at least she had a point in the plot, but when DokiDoki ultimately was about how awesome Mana is that doesn’t amount to much. 

Happiness Charge Precure!

Out of all the main mascots I think HapiCha got the least cute one. I’m like, what are these, there’s various design elements combined without much rhyme or reason. Somehow they feel very unbalanced to me with their enormous heads and tiny bodies.The small ears also make their big bald heads feel even larger. I guess the backpack balances the look a little, but that’s another thing, the permanent bag that’s only used for creating the cards doesn’t feel too nice to me either. The huge jewel doesn’t have anything to do with any of the other accessories in the season too if I remember right.

And this is another thing that I could have put up there in the catch-all hate category with the squeaky voices: not a huge fan of how so many have their faces so low on their heads. I guess it’s because of the low face looks like a baby and is therefore cute, but the ginormous foreheads seem to have an opposite effect on me and I’d probably like many of the mascots more if you moved heir eyes up a bit. The high mouth is also an issue and sometimes it even dips to uncanny valley, the mouths should be lower than eye level as far as I’m concerned.

In the anime Ribbon was really annoying, Glassan and PhanPhan were more on the ok side. And I do like that with the accessories there’s the element of customisation, but I wish there was more to that, such as with whatever the spiral thingy is supposed to be, like if it’s a hair tuft couldn’t they style it in different ways? And finally them creating the PreCards felt very tacked on and just adds to the pile of how the cards are implemented poorly in the story.

Go! Princess Precure

Pafu is probably my favourite mascot after Tarte. She is simple enough but with the long fluffy ears is still recognisable. And I loved the eyecatch pics where her ears were styled in different ways. Also she had a similar personality as Haruka, kind of an underdog (pun not intended) and not so in-your-face as some of the other main mascots.

Aroma is alright too, again a really simple design but with the odd tail shape and head the tuft that makes me think of cream on his head the design is just about detailed enough. He is also a butler which is a great thing to be. 

Miss Shamour had a fun mentor role and I liked her stern but supportive personality. Design-wise this is an enjoyable take on a cat; you can still tell it’s a cat even if it takes a while to notice what’s up with the ears, and whatever it is hanging from her head makes the otherwise simple cat memorable (also heart tail). Kuroro is an ok cat and I like the orange spots, and being so fluffy is a good contrast to the smooth Miss Shamour. Face is maybe a bit too woobie but he’s more of a minor mascot so I don’t mind him.

Also everyone has a human form so props for that.

Mahou Tsukai Precure!

As I mentioned in the henshin item ranking I’m not a fan of teddy bears so Mofurun doesn’t appeal to me. But for a teddy bear she’s not all that bad, the colours are nice and warm and the hearts and stars are a nice detail. And they’re in the Cure colours too! I’d like them to stand out a bit more though. Also points for the starry eyes.

Then the kid... This is Cure Felice right? Now we take a little break from hating babies because I’ve always enjoyed looking through Felice’s many forms. I’m a sucker for seeing characters at different ages, and getting to see them gradually grow up is always awesome. Also all the kid forms are decently cute, and it’s a bit of a mystery to me since especially the youngest one has similar proportions as the HapiCha mascots. Maybe some of it comes from with the knowledge that we’re not supposed to spend the entire season cooing at the baby with a head bigger than the rest of its body so I’m more forgiving. Also this feels more like these are designed to be kid forms of an actual main character rather than only existing as the baby mascot, which has resulted in cuter faces. 

But in any case I like all three forms, they’re memorable and the outfits and hair have just the right amount of detail for each stage. Not a huge fan of the latecomer Cure having pink in her colour palette yet again but that’s more of a Cure design complaint rather than something to do with the mascots, and as it is the pastel colour scheme is quite harmonious. Also I’m always ready for unique eye designs.

Kira Kira Precure A La Mode

Pekorin has fluffy colour-changing ears and I appreciate sticking to the theme of the season with the cream look. Not so surprisingly I’m not a fan of the face, designs with the lower eyelid covering the eye like this must be used with care or you get closer to the kind of manic cutesy grin that I dislike. A Bib gives me flashbacks to babies but at least Pekorin is more like a child and it fits the food theme. Story-wise I would have loved for Pekorin’s part to be larger since it would have been a good coming-of-an-age story, but unfortunately it didn’t get a lot of screen time. Finally, heart eyes!

I tend to favour male mascots since they’re less likely to be cutesy or have shrill voices, but I’m not so big on Chourou. In general I’m not a fan of designs which cover the eyes, but otherwise the look is ok for a geezer fairy. But his role in the story felt rather unneeded, like I felt he only existed as the adult manager so that the girls wouldn’t get to run their cafe on their own.

Kirarin and Pikario have pretty basic designs but again being a part of a set helps them. Apart from the cute eyes they don’t raise a lot of emotions in me, but I guess I like how the friendly Kirarin has soft fluffy ears and the edgy Pikario has the spiky ones. Not a huge fan of the shade of blue for Pikario and it’d be nice if they had different... head accessories.

Hugtto! Precure

It’s a baby again. But same as with Felice this feels more like a character than a mascot so it’s not so bad, like remove the forehead jewelry and this could be a main character’s sister’s baby from episode XYZ. So it’s not bad as some of the Mascot Babies, but still has the issues with the expectation that I find babies cute, and doesn’t even come with the gradually growing forms of Felice or have any particularly memorable details.

Then the hamster. When Hugtto was announced I unsurprisingly wasn’t a fan of the baby and none of the girls interested me either, but I seriously considered picking the series up just for the hamster man... For starters the colour scheme is warm and pleasing, and most importantly we’re going for a ‘cool’ vibe rather than cutesy. But of course this is a hamster so the coolness ends up being funny, like it’s an earring and a chain, watch out we have a badass here! Then in human form we see this cool guy in a leather jacket lug around a pink baby in a baby carrier, that’s fun contrast. Not a fan of his voice though based on the clips I’ve seen.

Star Twinkle Precure

I have heard that there were people who were not fans of Fuwa’s second design and I’m among them too, but I wasn’t a fan of the first look either. And the culprit is the face which kills the whole design for me. The mouth is so high up that it’s almost between the eyes. Also I don’t really like this kind of wavy cat mouths. The eyes would also look better if they had pupils but that’s really a thing with almost all of the mascots. 

But other than the face the design is good, palette is cute, she looks soft and fluffy, the space iconography makes the design recognisable and fits the theme of the season, and I like the tiny eyebrows and star eyes. Also points for having different looks for each zodiac, but they don’t do much to me because I just don’t care for looking at Fuwa’s face in any context. But let’s take this opportunity to go through them anyway:

Aries is round and fluffy so therefore cute, I like the patterns on Taurus, Gemini is a bit creepy but also fun, not a fan of the protrusions on Cancer and thinking about how they’d wiggle creeps me out, Leo is just Cure Gelato, Virgo would be a very pretty girl if it wasn’t Fuwa, got nothing on Libra, Scorpio makes me think that she’s wearing a bikini, centaurs apparently don’t suit a creature with a less than 1:1 head-to-body ratio so Sagittarius is a bit weird, Capricorn looks like an old man, Aquarius is a bit dumb with the “drop of water in a pot” motif but I like it, and seashell ears is a fun idea on Pisces. Moving on!

As for the pony form, something about it just bugs me. Maybe it’s that I’m very much not into the MLP designs, or maybe it’s that the non-horse head doesn’t match the horse-like body. And that doesn’t look like a cute little unicorn horn, it’s more like an awkward party hat, or one of the drills in Gurren Lagann. But at least the mouth is now lower, colours are still nice and the overall design is still memorable and distinct from the other mascots. However it was such a disgrace that we got this huge “omg Fuwa has a second form” in the middle of the season but then she didn’t evolve any further, like give us something really cool or graceful or epic for the finale! Now this just feels like they wanted to sell a new toy.

Fuwa had some similarities with the baby mascots in that I remember some episodes where taking care of her were plot points and sometimes she behaved like a toddler, and they were difficult for me to sit through. Fuwa being the Thing the bad guys want did give her more role which certainly is better than the pointless mascots who serve no purpose than giving some exposition in the first few episodes, but since I really don’t care for Fuwa it wasn’t much use for me, even if there was some effort put into building the relationship between the Cures and her. If I remember right the finale had huge drama with how Fuwa should have been sacrificed for the future of the universe or something and of course the heroes were all “no! we must protect Fuwa!!” and I was like how about we do take this great opportunity to get rid of Fuwa...

Oh, right, Prunce exists too, I almost forgot since I was in bitching-about-Fuwa land for five paragraphs. I like Prunce, if only for not having such a high pitched voice and not having an overly cutesy design. In general I prefer fluffy creatures, but the smooth Prunce is also ok for a chance. Story-wise it was nice how the Cures used his stretchiness and ability to inflate in various scenes; it made him feel more like an actual part of the story. He often got the short end of the stick but didn’t get abused too much which also made him more memorable but wasn’t too mean. Finally I like his bag form too.

Healin’ Good Precure

The Healin’ Good mascots have the same head&body shapes, but otherwise they’re pleasantly different so they don’t feel like they’re in the “basic generic mascot” category, but due to the similar body shapes still feel like a set. Rabirin is the most basic both with accessories and colours, and since her eyes are lighter colour the empty-eyes effect is stronger on her. Pegitan and Nyatoran fare better; I like Pegitan’s fresh colour scheme and Nyatoran’s stripes, and Nyatoran looks like he is up to something.

Personality-wise Rabirin is a bit annoying and Pegitan’s wussines is somewhat one-note but he’s not so bad. Nyatoran is the best, he manages to be funny every now and then. I also like how the mascots get fairly many scenes together, makes them feel more than just obligatory mascots.

Latte is cute too and the pale beige with purple makes for a good colour palette (pink ribbon could be lighter). I’d probably remove the forehead jewel though, but otherwise her design doesn’t do anything stupid. In the story I’ve found it hilarious in a morbid way that they created a mascot whose Thing is... to fall ill all the time. Gotta feel sorry for the poor dog.

Let’s do the element spirits too. I didn’t like this face on Fuwa and I don’t like it here either. But apart from that the elements are cute, they’re the kind of trinkets I’d like to collect. I appreciate that there’s some variation with their eyes at least. The rain one is cute, it looks like it’s wearing a little raincoat, and I also like the apple one’s pastel palette. Water, light and wind also rank high for me.

[edit March 9 2023 for series starting here]

Tropical Rouge! Precure

Initially I felt lukewarm towards Kururun, but since then I've learned to appreciate their more subtle brand of humour. Like instead of being loud and annoying or cloyingly cutesy, Kururun's presence was more like "here Kururun is just being eerily weird in the background". The design is alright for a fantasy seal too, I'd like some other colour than the obligatory pink and the eyes not to look so empty, but overall it's still reasonably cute. Hear ears (?) are fitting for a magical girl mascot.

Also the Cure Kururun gag was excellent.

Delicious Party Precure

I like the DeliParty mascots, they're fun distinct designs with nice colours, but still look similar enough to be a set. I'd say Pam-Pam has the best design, but Mem-Mem gets points for being a dragon. The food form feels kind of gimmicky, like it just exists so they can sell a toy you can turn around itself, but sure I'll take it, it adds something unique to otherwise pretty basic designs. Also I like that they become a part of the Cure form, it adds at least a little bit of cohesion to otherwise very disparate Cure designs. Also also big points for everyone for having a human design and even a Cure form. And finally here's your regular reminder that it's so stupid that Amane never got a mascot partner.

It has been previously documented that I'm a huge fan of gradually growing designs, and Kome-Kome is no exception. I still think that Kome-Kome's role as the super unique fairy was handled poorly, but when the result is this cute I have to begrudgingly accept it regardless.

Hirogaru Sky! Precure

Not a lot new to say here, it's a baby again. Not the worst baby design at least and the pastel palette is very appealing.

--

Conclusion: The dark brown yes5 Squirrel and Hamster Man tie for the best design, Tarte is the best mascot when you factor in performance in the story (based on the season I’ve seen), and Go!Pri has overall best mascots when you account everything on all the fairies in the season. [edit March 19 2023] Kururun shall be added to the top tier of mascots.

[ladywaterfall]

g2 poses ranked

inspired by @paradise-estate who did a ranking on g1 and g3 poses, and I have Many Thoughts on the g2 poses. A ranking of the poses, not the ponies themselves, and with poses that had several head shapes the ranking is for the most common head shape with that pose. (poses have links w/pics)

Sky Skimmer pose: 9/10 regular standing pose but good!!! standing pose. looks dynamic and not stiff. some excellent standing here

Moon Shadow pose (neck motion) : 3/10 ow that bulging neck joint is ugly and she looks so clunky but points for HEADBANGING PONE

Sundance pose (tail motion): 0/10 hard to see in photos but those front legs are unnaturally molded together, she looks stiff ‘her tail swishes when you turn her head!!’ ye but who asked for that hasbro. nobody

Ivy pose (leg lift motion): 3.5/10 the lifting leg motion only works about 1 out of 10 times if you are careful. not as ugly as some of the other motion poses but still not very inspiring 

Clever Clover pose (regular lifted leg): 10/10 dainty! cute! gives personality! I love it! no clunky motion gimmick!! 

Morning Glory pose (trotting): 6/10 okay pose. how appealing it is depends heavily on how interesting the pony’s color scheme is. the pony makes the pose in this instance.

Baby Honeyberry pose (standing baby): 10/10 so cute!! adorable!! looks so happy! THE LITTLE HOOFSIES! 

Lady Cupcake pose (motion hoof): 0/10 ‘when you turn her head her hoof spins!’ YEAH HASBRO BUT WHY THOUGH. WHAT DOES THIS ADD OTHER THAN THAT YOU WANTED ANOTHER USELESS MOTION GIMMICK. IT CAN’T EVEN BE USED IN THE PLAYSET SHE COMES WITH. useless. she looks so snobby too. glad this pose was only used once.

Queen Sunsparkle/Dainty Dove pose (sitting motion): 4/10 at least this motion makes sense form a play perspective. looks clunky though. although why they scrapped the only once-released Light Heart pose that could sit for this uglier sitting pose I’ll never understand. speaking of...

Light Heart pose (full 4 legs motion): 7.5/10 HASBRO THIS WAS THE BEST G2 MOTION POSE YOU EVER DID AND YOU ONLY USED IT ONCE??? Cause here you get lots of motion that makes sense for play, she can sit and pose, and she doesn’t look out of place with the regular non-motion poses??? she looks like a regular g2 pony but with motion?? not clunky??? cute??? and you never used that pose again and instead used the much clunkier sitting pose and other uninspiring motion poses?? what’s wrong with u this one is super cute?? whose idea was it to scrap this and use the other ones I demand to know

Tipsy Tulip pose (tail-head motion): 4/10 she’s the opposite of the sundance pose in that her head spins when you turn her tail. spin that head as fast as u can gurl. basically a less appealing version of the regular lifted leg pose. hasbro was just so eager to get more motion ponies in they never stopped to ask if they should 

Baby Tickle Heart pose (baby skipping pose): 1000/10 OH GOD LOOK AT HER SKIPPING ALONG SO HAPPILY SHE’S SO CUTE N PLAYFUL AMAZING JOB

in summary hasbro should have stopped their big emphasis on poses with motion just for motion’s sake, so many motion ponies would look so better in the regular poses and I believe the (mostly) lack of motion ponies in g3 was hasbro looking at how unpopular the g2 motion poses were and decided not to do that again

[nerdarchy-blog]

There are many awesome crafters out there on YouTube. You can watch tutorials on how they make great stuff. I was inspired by a miniature I saw someone else make on the internet so I figured I would share with all of you the process I took to make this awesome mini.

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It starts off with three Reaper minis. There’s the goroloth, which to me looks like an aboleth. Next, a wolf demon is fun, and lastly the dragon tortoise. You won’t use all the parts of each of these three, which means you could use the extra parts for another kit bash. See what you can come up with, and do not throw the parts away. If can’t use them now you will certainly have the option to save them for another project later. If this is your first kit bash use this to begin your parts bin.

I have included progress pics in the slideshow below so you can see what I am doing during each step and what I am using. First up is the dragon tortoise. This is Reaper Bones No. 77334. From this we are going to use the most amount of pieces. Pull out the body, the legs and tail. The other pieces you can put in your parts bin. You can see in the slideshow the parts we are going to use. Dry fitting the legs was a little tight. I used a knife to trim them so they fit in and out better.

Next we are going to take the large clawed arms from the wolf demon. This is Reaper Bones  No. 77307. From here we are only looking to use those arms. The rest can go in your parts bin. Thankfully they come unattached so we do not have to remove anything from the model. Dry fitting the arms of the wolf demon into the turtle shell fit easy but do not stay inserted.

Lastly we look at the goroloth. This is Reaper Bones No. 77343. From this mini we just want the head.

Now I’ve got all the parts I am going to use.

Included in the photos is a basic mini base for a huge mini. Any three in round base will work great for you. But if you do not have any feel free to use these. The other thing is you’ll see two pieces of metal wire bent slightly. Mine are just about 2 1/2 inches overall length. This gives us room to insert it into the glue and still have considerable length.

Now that we have all of our pieces we are going to dry fit everything together and see how it all lines up. The arms and tentacles off of the head really interfere with each other so we are going to have to either reshape the arms or build up some base when we glue to re-position the arms. I prefer to build up a base with glue. Though if you like there are tips out there on dipping Reaper Bones minis into boiling water, reshaping them the way you like and then dipping them into an ice bath to freeze the shape into place.

Either method works just great but it is your call how you want to proceed. Like I said I am just going to build up a base to work from.

Since the head comes from a different model than the body you are also going to have an issue here. It will not be a nice tight fit as you might be used to, if you are familiar with Reaper Bones minis. Hre is another place you can use the glue gun to build up your base. As I look at the model pieces it could be cool to have this creature with an elongated neck. You could get some air-dry clay or any other way of building up and make this creature taller. But I do not want to mess up the balance on this mini so I am going to hold off.

I use hot glue to build a nice secure foundation to attach the head to the shell torso. In the picture I saw online to inspire me the creature had antenna. Sadly I forgot this part when I ordered my parts or I might have spent some time picking the antenna I was going to use. Since I did not I decided to check my parts bin for supplies. I did not have anything that would fit as-is, but grabbing some wire, I cut pieces a little over 2 inches. While the hot glue was drying by the head I shoved the wire in and used the glue gun to build up the antenna with some texture. You can do this part however you like. You can have nodules on the end, bumps up and down them or however you like. I just built up some extra size and texture within that first inch and left the wire alone for the rest.

Next we move onto the arms. We saw how we wanted things to fit in the dry fit section so hopefully you know how you want this creature to look. The arm position was not going to be nice to me, so like the head I had to use the glue gun to get the arms in a position I was happy with. The right arm I angled out to the side while I took the left arm and positioned it up. This got me around all the tentacles coming off the head.

Now we are fully assembled (sorry, Avengers) a creature of nightmare. Moving on to painting. Since this is your craft you can do as you please with color scheme and paint job. I wanted this to be primarily green and purple. Since there is very much a tortoise shell I wanted to own it, but there is the thing from beyond as well and purple fits there to me.

I did a base of primer first. Then moved onto different sections. I used Vallejo 72147 Heavy Black Green on the back of the shell. I thought this dark color would be a nice contrast. I painted the head, or at least the top of it and the arm, minus the claws, in Vallejo 74025 Imperial Purple. This is another great dark color. The antenna and the underside of the head I painted Vallejo 74028 Witch Purple. Like an octopus can have a second color underneath this would be a nice extra detail. Painting the antenna in this same color gives another pop of color and makes them stand out among the darker colors on the top of the model.

I painted the base of the tail and the legs in Vallejo 72029 Sick Green. I used Vallejo 72033 Livery Green to paint the under-shell, the accents on the legs, the eyes, accents on tail and back of shell. I came back and used some of the purples to accent the tail. I hit the front of the shell and legs with Vallejo 73205 Green Wash. I used a basic white for the spots on the tail that looked like eggs as well as the outer parts of the claws. I used black to do the inner parts of the claws as well as the toes. I dry brushed the same white on the suckers on the under side of the head to make those details stand out.

Painting done, it was time to coat. I felt with this creature I was going to use a combination of matte and satin. I used a satin on the octopus, gorgoth or aboleth, head. I used matte on the rest. I think it came out really well. If you decide to follow this idea and you make your own please feel free to share it in social media and tag Nerdarchy so we can see how you did.

Thanks for reading. Until next time, stay nerdy!

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Nerdarchist Ted got his hands in the parts bin again. Next thing you know he's kit bashing nightmare fuel from down in the Nerdachy HQ. #DnD There are many awesome crafters out there on YouTube. You can watch tutorials on how they make great stuff.

[daisy--sorbet]

no one cares but uhhh time 4 some kh3 opinions

god i love olympus. it was a rly nice world to be reintroduced to and i actually rly loved whats essentially a tutorial level.

and while im sorta implying game mechanics - i actually rly love the way kh3 plays. the fighting feels pretty fluid imo and i really love formchanges a lot more than i did in kh2

and by formchanges i mean

just. i guess just the formchanges from shooting star and hunny spout - more shooting star tho bc its just. rly fun to nyoom around 

uhhhhh what else

im sad abt twilight town bc it was one of my fave worlds in kh2 tbh and now its just. its so tiny. its gorgeous but its just so small and i would have loved to be able to see the usual spot at the very least???

HAYNER. PENCE. OLETTE. i love them. especially hayner tryin 2 fuckin kick ansem sod like u stupid boy i love u

also i never expected to love ienzo as much as i do but i love him w my entire god damn heart. a cute dude. 10/10 i can and will die for him

and speaking of characters i love a lot: demyx, axel, and larxene are all still <3333 for me. axel and demyx have been since 2, and larxene started w 3 and intensified when i met her in kh re:com because ugh she could literally slam me against a wall and i’d be heart eyes emoji at her

listen i loved playing as riku in 3D and i wish i could play as him more.

AQUA. MY GIRL. i loved fighting as her even tho i nearly died in the process once or twice but-

also!!!! waking ven up!!!!!! my boy!!!! i love ventus so much and hes probably one of my fave characters its just <333 to see my boy awake again

possibly also intensified by the fact i recently beat bbs and watched him sleeb

i already shared my thoughts on the paopu scene.

uh back 2 worlds

i think my fave worlds so far would be a huge tie between the kingdom of corona and san fransokyo??? which... im probably biased because i rly love tangled and bh6 but

i love eugene so much sdfkjhsdf hes just. one of my fave disney guys honestly.

and UHHH

TWO??? BAYMAXES???? i was so excited when i saw both of them bc baymax has been one of my favorite characters for a while now and bh6 is still one of my fave movies even tho i desperately need to rewatch it soon.

i tried to get a pic of hiro being hugged by both of them just so i could send it to a pal and say “god i wish this were me” but sdkfsdhf

uhhh least favorite world out of all of them is definitely the caribbean :/// FUCK luxord and that boat race. it was bullshit and i lost too many times bc i literally like. had the tutorial on how to steer boat and i went “oh no. ohhh no. oh no.” because i Knew what was coming because you dont just introduce new mechanics like that without putting in some kind of challenge with them tbh :/

but no, seriously, this world literally ruined any sort of replayability for me??? like. i’d replay the game, but i’d get to the caribbean and go “oh fuck, not this part” and die i guess

arendelle was.... ok. not my favorite world, but not my least favorite in the series at all. i wish they could have done more.

100 acre wood felt... rushed. im glad they included it bc theyve had it in every game im p sure??? or at least in most of them. i do love the minigames and its still a good happy place 

ALSO. SPEAKING OF 100 ACRE WOODS AND MINIGAMES

i got so excited to see remy in twilight town 

mr ratatouille im a huge fan

(idk how many ppl i dmed that with 0 context and they were like “ok then” but it was a lot)

monstropolis was fun! i grew up watching monsters inc a thousand times w my brother so it was just another <333 nostalgia thing for me 

TOY BOX WAS LIKE. VERY MIXED FOR ME??? i love the world and what it is, but i didnt enjoy certain parts of it

mainly also that opening bc that commercial confused me a lot before it was revealed to be a commercial

lets talk forms.

toy box sora: good design imo. very cute. 

monstropolis sora: also very cute. his lil tail...

the caribbean sora: honestly, as much as i hate this world, i absolutely adore this design??? hes so cute and he actually fits in with the world because kh2... the contrast there is rly funny sfkjjshf

uhhhhhh main complaint: can we talk about the writing in this game? mainly the female characters?

i was hoping for badass kairi. shes a keyblade wielder for christs sake! but instead shes stuck in another pretty pink dress and shoved into the background.

and while we’re on kairi: i wanna know more about her friendship with axel??? 

i actually really like concepts brought up with aqua. she stayed hopeful for so long, anti-aqua was an interesting concept! im also an awful person who likes to break characters sometimes for the development it brings but something tells me not much is going to come from this. she was left alone down there for so long, and when she had a shot at potentially escaping, she lost it. :(

thank u san fransokyo for giving us some good gals. i love go-go and honey lemon a lot since hell yea!!! smart gals kickin ass!!! love them.

i feel ROBBED of having elsa as a companion. i guess it makes sense but i was hoping to have her fuck shit up after accepting her ice powers bc her kingdom was in trouble Or Some Shit like cmon man :(

also why was the entirety of let it go in kh3. it looks so good but why.

were there any other female characters??? olette im relatively ok w since shes not supposed to be some super strong fighter or anything im p sure - and the other female characters in different worlds either didnt stand out enough for me to have any feelings towards

sora feels... off in this game. so does riku. idk what it is, but...

OH

THE DYNAMICS BETWEEN SORA, DONALD, AND GOOFY???

they’re so good.

i was smiling so hard at the “just like your face!” joke because it was so DUMB but it was so CUTE and i love the three of them being good pals and making dumb jokes together

i also love mickey and riku havin a good friendship there.

even if i did make the “mickeyriku is canon” joke when they reunited at the end of 2. it was purely to stop myself from crying.

but idk as much as i love sora, donald, and goofy gettin some good friendship stuff in - it feels like

thats where all the focus was for sora’s friendships? like.

idk he doesnt really talk to kairi or riku as far as i remember???? more kairi than riku but like. still. theyre supposed to be two of his closest friends tht he grew up with, and yet he doesnt??? really make any comments abt communicating w them from what i can remember???

like. the most he had was calling riku i think? and then going to the realm of darkness to get riku and the king back.

i wonder how much of the kh3 plot would change if we took kairi out

huh

[rivermoon1970]

Title: Silencing Perfection Author: rivermoon1970 Fandom: Criminal Minds/H50 Characters: Aaron Hotchner, Spencer Reid, David Rossi, Derek Morgan, JJ, Penelope Garcia, Chin Ho Kelly, Steve McGarrett Pairing: Aaron Hotchner/Chin Ho Kelly Genre: Case Fic, Romance Prompt: Picture Prompts Beta: None Word Count: 7901 Tags: Pre-Slash, Introspection, Introversion Warnings: Canon typical violence

**Challenge by DJQ accepted. Using all four pics in one story.**

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The girl was sitting in the chair, the Viola leaning expertly in against her, the bow poised at the perfect angle. The gauze was still wrapped tightly around her mouth and up to her nose. She could breath, at least, but she couldn’t talk. She felt the tears in her eyes, but when the background music began and her captor commanded her in that hard gravelly voice, she had no choice but to comply. She played for him. She played for hours, her captor relentless. She played till her fingers bled and she was shaking from the pain in her fingers, and her body for sitting there for so long. She wanted to stop, to close her eyes, to rest, but he didn’t let her. Then, he turned off the recorder and she knew, she knew she was dead.

“Dammit, I was sure we were going to find her in time,” Steve growled as he paced the hotel room. The Cello was on the ground with the bow and the rosin sitting next to each other perfectly straight. The victim as also laid out next to the instrument. Sighing he wiped his face.

“Steven, I just got a message from a Jennifer Jareau from the FBI. The Behavioral Analysis Unit, to be exact. It looks like this is an ongoing Federal case. She’s asking if her team can come.” Danny walked up and stood next to his partner.

Steve looked down at the girl and a part of him wanted to protest, he didn’t want to give the case away, but even he had to admit that this was way outside of even 5-0’s purview.

“Tell her yes. I think we are going to need their help.” Steve walked off, frustrated as hell. This was the third body of young women who were musical prodigy’s that had been found so far. He didn’t get what was happening, and he had a feeling it was going to get worse before it got better.

______________________________________________

Vegas was hot and dry. Spencer and Aaron were standing over the body of a young girl, rotting gauze over her mouth, a violin by her side in perfect alignment with her body. Bow and rosin next to the violin. The rate of decomposition was going to make it hard for them to tell when she had been killed. The odd tree, the only one for miles around, had both men frowning and wondering why the UnSub chose this particular location. It was barren, and the area looked cracked and dry. The desolate nature of the location made Aaron think that it was an extension of how the UnSub was feeling. Each location so far had been remote, desolate in some way, and this one seemed to be the worst. He was brought out of his reflection when Reid’s voice filtered past his consciousness.

“Finger’s bloody, just like the other’s. Violin this time and again the alignment of body and instrument are perfect. Won’t know if there is any sexual violation till after the autopsy.” Spencer carefully used gloved hands to examine the body before the coroner’s office came and took her away. “The wounds, like on the other girls, are consistent with being forced to play for long hours at a time.” Spencer stood and looked out at the desert landscape, an area of Vegas he didn’t know well, but knew that it was popular for body dumps. “It’s a miracle that she was even found, even in this state.”

“We are lucky it was a set of experienced desert hikers that found her. It could have been years, or even never. But, we need to know at least an approximate time of death. Come on, we should let them do their job. As soon as the medical examiner gets us a preliminary report I want you to go there with Morgan. We need to know how long ago this happened. She maybe our origin.”

“Okay Hotch.” The two started off towards their SUV. They headed back to the LVPD station where they were set up. Everyone else was at another crime scene, this one in one of the hotel rooms on the strip. JJ was working at the station, setting them up and calling in family members.

“He’s moving on quickly. I feel like we’re chasing our tails.” Hotch was frustrated. They had seven bodies in five states so far. They were lucky that someone had started to put it together in the first place, but they were already months behind in the investigation. And with parts of it spread through the various PD’s it had been difficult at first to co-ordinate.

“We’ll get him Hotch.”

“What’s the significance here Reid? I understand the binding of the mouths. That’s to keep them quiet, but is it the music that is most significant? And we aren’t even sure what type of music it is.”

“I don’t think that matters. There have several studies done on music and how it can mimic the feelings one has after sexual release. In fact, there was a study done in Copenhagen where they had broken up an orchestra into its individual parts, woodwinds, percussion, strings, and brass. Each part played a piece of music geared to their specific group. The testers gauged audience responses and the string instruments, especially Violin, Bass and Guitar all invoked a response similar to what one experiences after orgasm. The audience members stated afterwards that they could actually feel the resonance of the instruments themselves along with the music inside them….” Spencer trailed off and frowned.

“You didn’t need to stop Reid. So, maybe the UnSub is getting some kind of sexual gratification from the playing of the instruments themselves, and not the music alone.”

“It’s just a theory.”

“It’s a good theory and the only one we have. The precise care taken with the placement of the body and the instrument tells us he’s an organized killer. So far he hasn’t made any mistakes and there isn’t any devolving.”

“No, but he must get tired after each kill. He has the victim’s play, literally, till their fingers bleed. He has to be staying somewhere close by.”

“We can have Garcia look into local hotels and see if there is any overlap, but that might take a while, especially in a place like Las Vegas.” Hotch parked, the drive back didn’t take them very long. He and Reid left the SUV and made their way inside. As soon as Hotch cleared the bullpen JJ was coming out of the conference room.

“Hotch, we have another victim. This time Hawaii. We have an ID, Hailey Simmons, she was 17 and a Cello prodigy. The local’s aren’t the ones that were called in on this one.”

“Who was?”

“The Governor’s task force, Five-O. I reached out to them, they have three cases now.”

“That’s more in one state than the others.”

“They sent over the files, but they are willing to let us come and work on the investigation.”

“Alright, get the jet on standby, make sure they have enough fuel for us to make the trip. I’m going to have to call AD on this one, going to Hawaii is above Strauss. I’ll have to get their okay. I want to try to stay at least until we get some kind of TOD on the unknown victim in the desert. Reid, I don’t think a typical geographical profile is going to work, what if you do a statistical relational model.”

Spencer took a few moments to think about it.

“If I can see the relations in each individual area, then we might be able to get a sense of his favored hunting areas. I’ll see if I can get a list of music schools, conservatories, private tutors, and music stores from Garcia.”

“Good, get on that.” Spencer walked off and went to call Garcia to get as much information as he could. Hotch turned back to JJ. “Who is the agent that is heading the task force?”

“Well, he isn’t actually an agent.”

“Okay, want to fill me in?”

“He’s an ex-navy seal that the Governor felt would be the perfect person to head her task force. They have carte blanche on their investigations. So far they haven’t had a case thrown out, but they definitely skirt the edge even more than we have. Here, I dug up as much information as I could. There are currently four members of the team. Commander Steve McGarrett, Detective Danny Williams, Detective Chin Ho Kelly and Officer Kono Kalakaua, she’s only a year out of the academy. But, she’s Detective Kelly’s cousin. I don’t know what we are going to walk into when we get there.”

“Alright, thanks. I’ll contact the Commander and see if we can coordinate and get more information. Have Garcia dig a little more, I want to know exactly what we are walking into.” Hotch walked off to the small office that the Captain of the LVPD gave him to make a few phone calls. After he was done, he was going to go to the crime lab and find out if they had anything for them yet. He didn’t think they were going to be staying long, he wanted as much as he could get before they moved on.

Sitting down, he organized the files in the order that they had definite TOD’s on. He wasn’t sure why he knew the victim in the desert was the first, but he did. If so, that meant the UnSub had circled back around and killed the second victim in the same area as the first, but he left her for them to find, unlike the first. He took the files that JJ had given him and he was going through them, working out the timeline in his head. The UnSub had been in Hawaii for several weeks and for some reason he was staying there. Looking at all of the victims, Aaron knew they were all prodigy’s and all of them had some kind of position in local orchestras.

Picking up his phone he called Garcia.

“Garcia, did we ever get pictures of the orchestra’s that each of the victims were part of?”

“No, Sir, but it will be easy enough for me to find. I can get back to you once I have more information.” Hotch took a moment and noticed the stress in Garcia’s voice. She didn’t end on one of her usual quips and it worried him. “Garcia, are you okay?”

“No, no I’m not okay. You guys have been gone for weeks and you’re chasing this crazy UnSub and I’m worried about all of you and I haven’t seen any of you and it’s making me a little crazy cause when I don’t see you guys for this long I worry…”

“Penelope, calm down and take a deep breath. I know and we don’t like it either. I haven’t seen Jack, Morgan hasn’t seen Savannah, and JJ hasn’t seen Will or Henry. It’s a stress on all of us. But, you are doing a good job and with your help, we can get home faster. Though by way of Hawaii. That’s also what I want to talk to you about.”

“Sir?”

“I don’t know if JJ called yet, but I want you to do a deeper, legal background check on the members of the Governor of Hawaii’s task force, 5-0. I want to know what we maybe walking into when we get there. We are being let in on their end of the investigation, but I want to know more.”

“Right. Orchestra pictures, background checks. Gotcha mon capitan.”

“There she is.” Hotch smiled, and felt a little more at ease knowing he helped to get the analyst back on track. “Also, I’m going to need you to pack a go bag, and your equipment. You will meet us in Hawaii. I’ll have JJ get the travel arranged after I contact AD Evans.”

“Sir?”

“I want you there. I know they have their own people, but this task force is…I don’t know, it isn’t like anything we’ve dealt with before. I want to know I have people I can trust.”

“Right, okay, thank you, Sir. I’ll be ready.”

“Good.” Hotch hung up and waited to talk to the Commander. He wanted to know if there was anything on the desert victim and what they got from the victim in the hotel. He stood and gathered the files he wanted then made his way towards the crime lab. He was impressed that the lab and the precinct were connected, it made asking about evidence easier. He talked to who he needed to talk to and got as much information as he could before heading back to the conference room.

As he stepped in, Prentiss and Rossi made their way in.

“The Victim at the Texas Station was found exactly like all the others. This time a Viola, bow and rosin placed precisely perpendicular to the body just like the others. Gauze and same type of wounds on the fingers.”

“Alright, get everything boxed up. As soon as we hear from the medical examiner about TOD I want a definite timeline. He started somewhere and Reid and I both think the body in the desert is where he started. But, it won’t be confirmed until the ME has a look.”

“What’s going on Hotch?” Prentiss asked as she sat down at the table. The others did as well.

“We are most likely going to be going to Hawaii. They have three bodies with the same MO. The UnSub seems to be staying in one area this time. JJ has already put together the files for everyone. But, I need to clear it with the Bureau. I know we’re all tired and frustrated, but with this latest development it seems as if the UnSub is staying put. I’ll talk to the AD and see if I can eek out a budget for clothes and personal supplies. I know we’ve all been living in the same things for a while now.

“You are all doing an amazing job and I appreciate every one of you. Now, when we get to Hawaii, we aren’t going to a normal precinct. We will be dealing with a special investigations office called 5-0. I need to call the Commander and coordinate with him on what is going on with his end of the investigation. Once I clear everything, we’ll need to be ready to go. I think time will be of the essence here. Now, I have Garcia doing some deep digging on the victims and any organizations or Orchestras they might have been a part of. She’s also doing some research on the people we will be working with. When those files come through, you guys will understand why.” Aaron was going to say more when his phone rang. Pulling it out of his pocket he looked down and saw the number was the ME’s office. He answered and put the phone on speaker so the rest of the team could hear.

“Agent Hotchner, I understand that you requested TOD as soon as possible on the victim from the desert. The closest approximation I can give you is that she has been out there for at least five months, maybe more. The rate of decomp, and other factors make it hard to pinpoint, but that is the best guestimate I can give you. I have taken dental impressions and sent them off to hopefully be identified.”

“Thank you Doctor. I’d like you to keep us in touch. We are going to be leaving Vegas most likely in a few hours. But, I don’t want to be out of the loop. If you get more after your examination, please contact myself or Dr. Reid.”

“Will do Agents.” The Doctor hung up and Aaron put his phone away.

“All right, Reid, I want you to continue with what we discussed. Dave and Prentiss, the family of the hotel victim is here, I’d like you both to speak with them. JJ, I want you to contact the Governor in Hawaii and any media contacts you have there and make sure that they have kept this quiet. We want as much control as possible before we get there. Morgan, Garcia is going to be getting a lot of information to us, I’d like you to coordinate with her and get it organized. She’s also going to be meeting us in Hawaii, but it’ll be a day after us. Okay, I’ll be making a few calls, let’s see if we can reign this in.” Aaron nodded before he walked off back to the small office to make the calls he needed. Including a call to his son that he was missing greatly. There was a lot they needed to do and little time to actually do it. He hoped they would find their answers in Hawaii because the stress of this case was getting to all of them and he knew they all just wanted to go home.

_________________________________________________

The plane landed and the team was exhausted. They had left Vegas quickly, Reid didn’t even get time to go see his mother, which Aaron had felt a little bad about, but luckily the genius didn’t complain. He knew they were under a time crunch.

When they disembarked there were a couple of SUV’s and four people there to greet them. On the plane the team had gone over the information that Garcia had dug up on each person. It was an odd rag tag group, but their solve rate was fairly high. They were only given those cases that the regular police couldn’t do anything about because their hands were tied. Aaron still felt like they were walking into a situation that they might have a hard time controlling, but they were all willing to work with these people as long as they did things by the book. If anything went wrong, the UnSub could end up going free, and that was not an option here.

Aaron’s eyes quickly landed on McGarrett and he walked right up to him.

“Commander, thank you for letting us in. Once we get to your office and set-up you’ll see why we insisted on coming. But, for now my team is exhausted and we need food and rest.”

“Agent Hotchner. I have something all set-up for you. It maybe a little cramped, but it’s better than a hotel.”

“Okay,” Aaron couldn’t help the confusion in his voice.

“I’m going to set you up in my house, Agents. I have three rooms, a den and a living room all with comfortable sleeping arrangements. You can shower, wash clothes, use my kitchen or even the grill outside. I figured you’ve seen too many hotels at this point and would want some kind of comfort.”

“That’s rather generous of you. Of course the Bureau will pay you back any expenses…”

“Just help me catch this bastard, that’s all I ask.”

“Okay, then let me introduce you to my team. This is Special Agents David Rossi, Emily Prentiss, and Derek Morgan. Dr. Spencer Reid and our media and family liaison, Jennifer Jareau.”

“Pleased to meet you and this is my team, Detectives Daniel Williams and Chin Ho Kelly and Officer Kono Kalakaua.” Everyone shook hands with everyone else, but a memory was niggling at the back of Aaron’s mind.

“Detective Williams, out of New Jersey, correct?”

“Was wondering if you were going to remember.”

“I don’t normally forget, but this case has had us chasing our tails. It is good to see you again, but I took you for a Jersey boy all the way.” Aaron couldn’t help the small smile.

“Well, when your ex-wife takes your daughter across the damn country and doesn’t give you a choice…”

“I understand. It’ll be good working with you again.”

As Aaron was talking to Danny, he couldn’t help letting his eyes wander to Detective Kelly. Not that he should even be thinking about attractive Hawaiian men. Nodding once, everyone piled into the SUV’s, Aaron, Reid and Rossi going with McGarrett and Williams. Emily, JJ and Morgan went with Kelly and Kalakaua.

Aaron was in the front with his head back trying to relax.

“Oh, I forgot, a package came for you overnight. If you look on the floor there.” Aaron sat-up and found the package and looked inside. It was the promised Visa prepaid cards for each of them and instructions if they needed more. He would wait till they got to McGarrett’s place, hopefully they could get some real rest for a change.

The drive wasn’t long and everyone piled out of the vehicles and followed behind the Commander. When they got in, he showed them the guest rooms, the den with a pull-out bed and the living room, also with a pullout.

“Some nice work you’ve done here McGarrett.” Morgan was admiring something along the walls.

“How do you know I’ve done work?”

“He restores houses on the side. Has a contractors license.” Rossi said as he moved towards the den. “I hope you kids don’t mind if I take the den.”

No one objected as the man walked off to put his stuff down.

“I don’t mind the living room. I’m usually up earlier than most of you anyway. JJ and Emily, why don’t you take one room and Reid and Morgan, the other. And I don’t want to hear any bitching.” Aaron directed it at Morgan as he was about to say something. The sarcastic smile from Reid wasn’t lost on anyone. “Before you guys go, here. The Bureau is giving us each $1000.00. Make it stretch or anymore will come out of our budget.”

“We can take you to the best places to shop. You guys are not going to want to wear suits and ties. The more casual, the more people will talk. You show up like that,” Steve pointed to Aaron, “They are going to know immediately you’re feds. Trust us.”

“Why don’t I run to the store and get some food to grill.” Kelly said as he grabbed keys to one of the vehicles.

“Sounds good. We’ll set-up outside. I think I have some things we can throw together. Don’t worry Agents, we’ll take care of you.” Steve ushered them all into the living room, “I have two showers, one upstairs and one attached outside, if you don’t mind. It’s mainly got just a curtain, but it’s enough privacy.”

The agents talked amongst themselves and worked out a shower schedule. They all let Aaron go first, over his protests, but in the end, his team bullied him for a change.

By the time everyone was done and changed into something comfortable, food was being grilled, beers were being passed around and the team was relaxing for a change. JJ called Will and spoke with Henry, then let Reid talk with her. The smiles on both his agents made Aaron relax a little. None of them had smiled or relaxed since the start of this case and he knew it was wearing on all of them. He stood and walked a little ways away on the private beach and took a long pull of the beer he had been given. Technically he knew they shouldn’t drink, but he had thrown some of the rules out the window over a week ago.

His call to Jessica and to Jack hadn’t gone as well. Jack was upset and Aaron didn’t blame him.

“You look like a man that holds the weight of the world on his shoulders.” Aaron looked to see Detective Kelly standing next to him with a beer loosely in his hand.

“It’s just been a very long few weeks. This UnSub is making us chase our tails.” Aaron took a pull on his beer and looked out to the ocean. He took a deep breath and felt so very tired. “This place is beautiful.” Aaron turned to watch his team as they ate, drank and even laughed. He knew this is what they needed. Time to destress and he was grateful for Steve’s generosity.

“They are your Ohana.” Kelly smiled as he watched Aaron.

“I’m sorry?” Aaron turned back and saw the smiled on the Detective’s face. He didn’t know why he was always drawn to exotic men, and it didn’t hurt that Kelly was gorgeous. Made him think of John Blackwolf, he always wondered what could have happened between them if circumstances had been different. Now, here he was again looking at someone he shouldn’t be looking at in that way. They had a job to do, he didn’t need to get distracted. He needed to stay focused so they could just all go home.

The soft laugh and wide smile made warning bells go off in Aaron’s head. He cursed inwardly because he did not need the attraction, not when so much was at stake.

“Ohana means family, but it’s more than that. It’s the people you choose to be your family. Like them. You want to protect and care for them, yet you keep yourself separate.” Aaron swung his gaze back to Kelly. How do you tell a stranger that you feel like a failure, that everything in your life lately has fallen apart, that they had your back, but in the end you still failed. Even if it wasn’t the truth, even if no one else saw it that way, it was what you felt.

“They’re the best. I would do anything to protect them.”

“Just don’t lose yourself in the process.” Kelly smiled again at him and Aaron knew he was fucked.

_______________________________________

The next day both teams met at 5-0 headquarters. Steve showed them where they could set-up. Case boards and white boards were found, even though the 5-0 team used more state of the art technology, the BAU preferred to go old school.

“This is what we have. Each girl was found with the gauze around her face, the instrument perfectly aligned with the body along with the bow and the resin. We did Vicap searches and nothing similar came up. This UnSub is only going after young female prodigy’s whose preferred instrument is one that utilizes a bow. This girl was found in Virginia, her instrument was the fiddle. What is the significance of the bowed instruments?” Aaron asked as both teams took in the information on the boards.

“Bowed instruments are one of the few families that can be played exclusively without some kind of orchestral or band back-up. Yes, many wind, like a saxophone or trumpet can be played separately, but it isn’t often. There are many pieces of music, especially in the classical genre, that the bowed instruments have long solos, or played individually. Many Jazz songs showcase the bass. The fiddle, violin and viola all have long-standing histories as solo instruments.” Reid was concentrating on the photos and didn’t see the shocked look of the 5-0 team.

“Get used to it. That’s just Reid.” Aaron couldn’t help the tiny smile and look of pride on his face.

“I’m sorry, was I rambling again Hotch?”

“Yes, but it was good information, Reid. Okay, so he shows reverence for not only the instrument, but the wielder of that instrument.”

“There’s a depth of care to with the victim. Though the fingers have severe damage to them, which suggest long hours of play, you can see here and here that even some of the old callosus have been cut right through. The UnSub cleans them up, and carefully lays the instrument next to them. Like it’s essential they are together.” Morgan walks to the boards and contemplates each of the crime scene photos.

“Maybe he is seeing them as one single instrument. You can’t have the Violin without the player. And, you can’t properly play without the rosin. It’s essential in keeping the bow in the perfect condition to be played against the strings. And what trophies is he taking?” JJ asked as he flipped through the photos on her tablet.

“We won’t know till we find him.” Aaron stood with his arms around his chest. “There isn’t any sexual assault, but Reid pointed out that the music itself, whatever it is he is forcing them to play, is the sexual component. He’s getting off on them playing and feels no need to touch them physically.”

“What if he’s putting it all together?” Kelly asked as he thought about everything the BAU had thrown out there.

“You mean like a recording?”

“There have been a lot of artists on the internet who have gotten together through on-line social media and made some amazing music videos without even interacting with each other. What if he’s going to splice it all together as one single piece of music?”

“That’s a good theory. However, we still won’t know his motivation till we catch him.”

“Could this be similar to that case in New York, Hotch?” Morgan asked.

“The one with the young singers? Where the UnSub wanted to capture their voices at their prime while still young and a little raw.”

“Exactly. These are all girls who were prodigy’s with their particular choice of instrument. What if he’s similar to Wakeland and wants to capture them at their most raw and prime?”

“Who’s Wakeland?” Steve asked, feeling a little lost at what was happening.

Morgan went on to tell him about the older case. They continued with their speculations when Detective Williams came in with Penelope Garcia.

“Hey, baby girl. Glad you here mama.” Morgan smiled wide as he hugged the analyst.

“Hey my sweet chocolate goodness. I have a few things for you before I ask for a place to set-up.” Garcia put everything down, then pulled out a thick file from one of her cases. “Here you go bossman, everything I could find on Orchestra’s, professional and amateur that each of the girls were in. Also, a list of talent scouts, and fans. I have a list of all of their social media and fansites, but I’ll need to set-up before I can show you what I found.”

“Thank you Garcia. Before you do, let me at least introduce you.” Aaron took a moment to introduce Garcia to the other members of the 5-0 team.

“I have a setup all ready for you over here Miss Garcia.” Kelly smiled at the colorfully dressed woman.

“Well, smart, techie and handsome. I think my day just got a little better.” Garcia flirted a little and Aaron did not want to analyze the little pang of jealousy that he felt. He had only just met Kelly, and he was already feeling off kilter with him. He needed to refocus and get this investigation on some kind of track.

Aaron looked around at his team and saw that the tension they had been living with had eased a little. He didn’t have to wonder anymore if he made the right decision in accepting McGarrett’s offer of a place. They had needed last night, even in light of what they were dealing with.

“Alright, let’s look to see what we’ve got.” Aaron spread the file in his hand out for everyone to see. Each girl was displayed prominently in their respective Orchestras. “Prime target for this UnSub. He sees them standing out, highlighted, the best of the best. Was that what attracted them to him?” Aaron asked more to himself than anyone else.

“Maybe we need to get a list of potential victims. We have a victim profile, and with more than one Island that has local music ensembles, he may seem them as potentials. I can get word out. And not all the Islands have a law enforcement presence. Usually it’s Coast Guard, and Water Patrol. Since most of the dump sites are fairly remote, we can get something together that gives us a start.”  Detective Williams was studying the boards and the photos.

“That’s a good idea. McGarrett you guys know these Islands best, do what you need to and we’ll get a profile together for you to spread as wide as possible.”

“Kono and Chin know these Islands the best. I’ll have them do the notifications after you have a profile together. Is there anything that I can tell the Governor? She’s getting nervous about this case.”

“Tell her we’ll have the profile in an hour and distribute it as far and wide as possible. If the UnSub is holding true, the more remote areas will be the most likely that he will use as his dump sites. Hopefully we can catch him before any more victims are taken.” Aaron moved away from the boards so that he could call Strauss and the AD to update them on what was happening. After his calls, he came back and doled out assignments.

As he sat in a Range Rover with Kelly driving, Aaron was going over the profile they had hammered out. He knew it was correct, but he felt he was missing something.

“You think to yourself too much,” Kelly said as he drove towards one of the previous dump sites.

“Sorry?” Aaron furrowed his brow as he looked at Kelly. It didn’t take a profiler to understand his motivation to go with the man. Even Morgan had given him side eye when he gave out assignments.

“You watch, listen and then you get inside your head. You contemplate and are very careful with what you say when you do speak. I know it’s only been a day and half since we met, but I can tell you hold yourself back.”

“Are you trying to profile me?”

Kelly laughed as he shook his head.

“No. I wouldn’t know where to begin. But, what I do know is you need someplace quiet and some food. I know a place, that is if you trust me.”

Aaron looked fully at Kelly and couldn’t help that tiny smile.

“I leave it in your hands.”

“That might be a dangerous thing to do Agent Hotchner.” Kelly’s smile was definitely going to be the death of Aaron. But, they had a case to finish and he had a son to get back home to. A little harmless flirting was all he was going to allow himself. He couldn’t help the slight blush that creeped up his face. He wasn’t paying atten when Kelly pulled into a small lot next to a seaside shack.

“This place has the best Kalua Pork tacos. I’ll sometimes come here in the evenings when they are digging the fire pit and getting the pig ready to lay in it to roast overnight. Nothing better than sipping on a beer, watching the sun go down and seeing tradition being carried on. Even if they use it in a new way. It’s the perfect melding of the old and the new.”

Aaron got out of the car and wasn’t quite sure what Kelly was meaning. He felt as off-kilter with the man as he did Blackwolf. They had very similar, almost zen like personalities. He felt, for lack of a better word, comfortable around Chin-Ho. Shaking his head he followed the man and ordered whatever sounded good. As they walked to a table, food in hand, Aaron was thankful that Steve had talked them, well him really, out of wearing his tie and jacket. He rolled up his sleeve and undid the first two buttons of his shirt before he realized what he had done.

“Well, that is a nice sight to see Agent.”

“Hotch, or ah you can call me Aaron.”

“Aaron.” Kelly dug into his food with gusto, letting Aaron’s mind wander. The quiet of the food shack, the gentle whoosh of the surf, the crunch of the sand as people walked up to get food. The briny scent of the ocean, the same yet different from his parents vacation home at Virginia Beach. It all wound together in Aaron’s senses making him relax like he hadn’t…well since the Reaper’s attack. Closing his eyes a moment he pulled himself back in and ate, bringing his mind back to the case.

“Dammit,” he exclaimed as he set the taco he was currently eating back on the plate. He dug his phone out of his pocket and dialed. Kelly was looking at him with a raised brow, but he just held up his finger telling him to wait.

“Reid, I think the profile is off. I think our UnSub is a woman. The care taken with each victim, no evidence of sexual violation, no wanting to revisit the dump site, using poisons, it all points to a woman and we just completely missed it.”

Aaron listened for a minute and was glad that Reid and Rossi had come to the same conclusion. It made things a lot easier, and a lot harder at the same time. When his conversation was done and he set the phone aside he turned to Kelly.

“There have just been things that haven’t made sense,” Aaron said as he picked-up his taco and started to eat again. “I was just sitting here, not truly thinking about anything then it hit me.”

Kelly’s smile was smug as Aaron watched him take a long sip of his guava drink.

Chuckling and laughing to himself Aaron knew he should have seen through Kelly.

“You did this on purpose.”

“Of course. You think too hard Aaron. You worry too much. It was nice seeing you get out of your head. Now finish your tacos and we can go to the crime scene.” Kelly finished off his drink as Aaron finished off his food. He hated to admit that he had a much clearer head.

Getting Garcia on the line again he gave her new parameters to search, this time with a female UnSub in mind. By the time they got to the dump site, Garcia was running the new searches. Aaron walked the area and noted, again, how remote it was. Looking out at the ocean again with Kelly beside him, quietly giving him support. Aaron didn’t understand why it was suddenly important that this man next to him gave him that comfort. Rubbing a hand over his face he thought that maybe he was going a little crazy. Too long on the road, too long on the chase. He was reaching out for someone not on the team and Kelly was the person he had immediately connected to. That was all.

“The gauze around the mouth. Keeping them quiet. We usually see that with people who either don’t want to listen to someone speak, or if…”

Taking another leap of logic, Aaron pulled out his phone.

“Garcia,” he excitedly said as his analyst answered. “I need you to add in something else. Anyone involved in music that can’t speak, or can’t hear for some reason. Also, this is going out on a limb, but I need you to see if any of those have something wrong with their hands.”

“Okay, got it bossman.” Garcia hung up when he did.

“Seems Hawaii likes you Aaron.”

“Come one. I think by the time we get back to 5-0 we may have some answers.”

Aaron didn’t want to acknowledge Kelly’s statement. At least not right now. Later, maybe, possibly, but not right now. He looked out of the window as they drove back, the sun setting and Aaron could feel the anticipation down to his bones. He knew, just like many other times that he didn’t voice what he felt or knew, but he knew anyway that by the time they got back, there would be answers.

Kelly parked and Aaron held back on his enthusiasm. He buried it, just like he buried the want to reach out and place a hand on Kelly’s back. He fisted his hand at his side and showed none of the emotion that was broiling inside him.

“Bossman, you were right. I don’t know how you were right, but you were. See I started to dig using the Orchestra’s as the focal point and checking everyone possibly connected, even in the smallest way, to our victims. Then it hit me, what if it was a car accident or, or some kind of tragedy, THEN, I went back as far as I could…”

“Garcia,” Aaron cut her off. He knew she would end up in a long winded ramble if he didn’t get her back on track.

“Oh, right. Anyway. There is one, Sandra Westcott. She had been a child prodigy. Like she was huge back in the day. She even did Lettermen, Oprah, all the big talk show circuit. She even performed with both the London Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Toured, the whole shebang. Then, and this is where is gets just horribly, tragically sad, a terrible plane crash. She lost her manager and her father. But, unfortunately, she also lost her right hand, and her vocal chords are scarred. Thought they tried to repair both, the prosthetics at the time meant that she would never be able to play the same again.”

“And I bet you found a paper trail?” Morgan asked as he sat at the end of the table.

“Did you ever doubt me my sweet incarnation of Anubis himself?”

“Is she still here?”

“Yup, and I found her hotel and all her information.”

After that it was a flurry of activity and almost three hours later, after a standoff where Sandra had another girl, they had been able to save the victim, and brought Sandra in for interrogation and booking.

By the time that JJ and Prentiss had a go at her, they had a full confession. The team was relieved and once they searched her hotel and the few things she traveled with, they also found the recordings, her trophies.

The team wanted to go out and celebrate. Aaron just smiled and nodded. He wanted the quiet, but he just didn’t know where. He didn’t think that they were going to solve this in a day, but for some reason he stopped trying so hard and it felt like the old him. The quiet contemplative him that didn’t worry as much. He wondered if that part of him had died when Haley did. If that was when he became the introvert, the worrier, the man who buried everything deep down just so it didn’t hurt so much.

He felt dark eyes on him as he turned to look at Kelly.

“I know a place…”

“Of course you do.” Aaron smiled wide and shook his head. “And I suppose you want to take me to this place.”

“Of course. I’ll even get us dinner.”

Aaron stood and slowly let out the breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding on to.

“You seem awfully determined to take care of me, yet we’ve only known each other a day, at most.”

“A day is sometimes all you need to know the measure of a man. Your team looks at you and they see the man they always have seen, but probably just a little more closed off. I see you and I see a man in pain. One who is determined to keep it all inside. One who worries so much, you don’t see what’s in front of you.”

“And how did you get so perceptive?”

“Annoying isn’t it? I think I keep McGarrett on his toes. Come on, trust me.” Kelly smiled again and Aaron knows he’s screwed.

They get to a stretch of beach that is overlooking a pier. On that pier was another shack. Aaron thinks that Kelly had made it his mission to find every shack, nook and corner of Hawaii that hasn’t been overrun by tourists. Kelly had laid out a couple of blankets, then said he would be right back. It didn’t take the man long, and in his hands was, of all things, a pizza.

“Don’t tell anyone, but that place makes the best pizza this side of the Island. I didn’t know what you liked, but I forwent the spam and pineapple.” Aaron looked at him horrified. Kelly doubled over laughing. “Oh, oh my if you could see your expression. I am kidding Aaron. Pepperoni, mushrooms, and olives. Anchovies on the side.”

Aaron leaned back on the blanket he was on after taking the six pack of Kona Brown Ales, so that Kelly could sit. The pizza between them, the two men ate and sipped at the beer. Aaron looked out at the sunset and his breath was about knocked out of him. The sky was all colors of orange and purple with dark clouds ribboning throughout. The waves slowly lapped as they rolled up onto the sand, the dragged back out again.

“My parents owned a beach house in Virginia Beach. We used to go several times a year when I was a kid. Even after my brother was born. The estate still owns it, but I haven’t been since my Mother passed away. Haley didn’t like it, she only went to the beach when Jack was first born, but if we went it was because I wanted to go. When I get home I should open the house up, take Jack, take time for just us.”

“Sounds like you have good memories of the beach.”

Aaron turned to Chin Ho and felt that little flutter of attraction.

“I’m a mess.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“I live, four thousand miles away.”

“Is there a law that we couldn’t try?”

“I have a son.”

“I love children.”

“I’m too serious, I bury myself in my work and I know I hold things in too much.”

“Let me help you unburden.”

“Fuck.” Aaron let out the expletive, which was a rarity for him.

“We could, but shouldn’t we get to know each other a little more first?” Chin grinned as he moved empty pizza box and the rest of the beer out of the way. He scooted closer on the blanket and reached out to cup Aaron’s cheek. “Like I said, Hawaii likes you. You don’t have to make life changing decisions. There are ways to make this work, but only if you want to try. We don’t even know if we would work.”

“You are a very strange man.”

“And you are much too serious.”

Aaron leaned in and was only a hairs breath away, contemplating pulling away when a hand gently gripped the back of his neck and pulled him in kissing him. After they pulled apart, Aaron knew he was lost. He fell back on the blanket, with Chin leaning on an elbow above him. He tried to figure out when he had been this content.

After a while of them talking, soft tentative touches, and more gentle kisses, they got up to go. Chin invited him to spend the night at his place. No pressure, he had a second bedroom and Aaron didn’t even hesitate. They both knew that spare room wouldn’t be used. No words had to be said and for once Aaron was spontaneous, doing something that was completely and selfishly just for him.

In the morning, wrapped together, Aaron knew the peace that he had found for a few hours was shattered.

“I’m sorry. We have a case.”

  Silencing Perfection Title: Silencing Perfection Author: rivermoon1970 Fandom: Criminal Minds/H50 Characters: Aaron Hotchner, Spencer Reid, David Rossi, Derek Morgan, JJ, Penelope Garcia, Chin Ho Kelly, Steve McGarrett…