#nanovores

[autistic-sidestep]

someone remind me to write up my fh disability theory reading meta at some point

[sidesteppostinghours]

ok but. listen.

(for context this comes up when argent injures a romanced!steel step post villain reveal)

i cant stop thinking about this line. it mustve fucked with argent at least a little bit right?? especially with the line "i need you to have control". like. dude. control is arguably the most important thing to her. weve seen how meticulous she is with it even in the most mundane situations

weve seen what happens when she does lose control of herself

and we know that keeping up with everything is already tiring for her

argent is, out of every other character in the game, the one who needs to be kept under control the most, and the one most aware of that fact too. even if she acts volatile, shes constantly expending her focus to keep everybody around her safe. steel does Not need to add on to the stress of what she already knows. and the line after that, "this wasn't an accident. You went in there with the intent of hurting [them]" doesnt make the situation any better.

argents made mistakes. she absolutely has regrets. again, she doesn't need the reminder. actually, "this wasnt an accident" is worse than saying that, because if some of the thing she implies doing were mistakes, then what could she do when shes being deliberate? and "going in there with the intent of hurting [them]",,, Oof. hows the control of the nanovores worst impulses going for you angie?

i just. i think this line was somebody echoing her worst fears back at her. telling her in the bluntest, most brutal terms that everything shes doing isnt enough. that she needs to put in more effort to be considered safe for others to be with. and that must hit hard for sombody so lonely who already tries so hard every day, yk?

[laatmaar]

Puppet theatre! 🎭

[silvery-bluish]

Mysterious - Telepathy - Speed

[beastking-golion]

FHR SPOILERS

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I avoided to Argent’s romance because I didn’t think I’d like it but I finally played it and I was so wrong I was so wrong, she is so girly pop murder fiend “I have morals but only sometimes” ass kicking nanovore-made cupcake eating god princess

[swordtit]

only just remembered that the streetwise kids are supposed to be their pre-heartbreak selves so ive been going back and baby-ifying them

[sacredspirit1337]

Hey, @bogleech, have you ever heard of the old game Nanovor?

It was an old toys-to-life game (think Skylanders) from 2008, created by Smith & Tinker, that sought to make their mark during the height of the Mons craze.

The plot of the game stated that, long before life as we knew it lived on this planet, the very first creatures to evolve shortly after the formation of the Earth were microscopic silicon-based creatures known as Nanovor, feeding off of the Nitrogen-rich atmosphere.

As the Earth transitioned to an Oxygen-based atmosphere, the Nanovor began to die out, becoming extinct. Their corpses became sand, crystal, and silicon, and inadvertently became revived when humans invented the computer chip, hiding away in many electronic (or just electric) devices.

A group of students inadvertently discover the Nanovor, and guided by their science professor, seek to stop this knowledge from falling into the wrong hands.

It was a multimedia franchise, so, besides the computer game, there was a handheld peripheral called the Nanoscope that you could use to store your Nanovor (Pokéwalker-style) and battle wild Nanovor and other players on the go.

There were also comics, a web animation series, and even a short-lived tv series that served as an expansion of the web animation.

There were also action figures that served as both collectibles and ways to get new Nanovor:

The creature designs were top-notch in my opinion, as you can see here with the three Starters, which are nowhere near as ridiculous or extreme as the designs can get:

And as for how the tone of the combat goes, it’s closer to Digimon than Pokémon, in that it’s got a Hard Sci-Fi tone. In fact, the best way I can put it is that it is to those games as Darkspore was to the original Spore, as, like Darkspore, it had the Hard Sci-Fi tone and was much more violent, as the Nanovor slaughtered each other in gory fashion during battles.

In fact, that was a plot point, as they only way they could stay alive in an oxygen-based environment was by the adrenaline released through combat. Those killed could be easily revived by another surge of electricity, none the worse for wear.

Sadly, the game was shut down a year or two after its creation, but, like with Darkspore, there are fan projects in the works to create functional emulators to bring it back!

[opaattack]

This is a girls

[ianthedebonair]

In terms of legs, we have:

Ortega who got paralyzed from the waist down due to an accident

Chen who got his legs crushed by building debris

Lady Argent whose legs ended up being nanovore brunch

Herald with Schrödinger's limp; and

Sidestep/Puppet who needs to get their driver's license revoked.

Dr. Mortum, get behind me now before Malin busts your kneecaps, please!!

[swordsandspectacles]

Things I didn’t expect from Aura’s playthrough; for her to sit up and go “Oh hey there-“ @ Argent

Ramblings under the cut

These were all meant to be longer but I’m still figuring out a lot and - comics aren’t a thing I can really do. I’m learning.

THINGS I LIKE before I start to muse on the nature of Aura’s bisexuality

-Aura’s speed bubbles cut her off from Argent and Ortega. This is ! Intentional. I felt clever about it.

-Light through blinds like cage/prison bars on Aura and Argent, but not Ortega.

- Argents sword at opposite angles to the bridge cables! It’s satisfying. The arm + sword should probably have like a 5° clockwise angle shift though. Argents taking up very little space in the panel but the hand/sword breaks through, she’s so imposing, suddenly, she’s breaking the border, and the bridge cables are sort of like a net around Maneater. The sword + cables behind her also box her in.

Bonus doodle for sticking with me so far

Aura and Argent are both SHORT.

Also argent gets fluffy angry ghibli hair. I think it would be funny if the hair floofed up when angry tho that’s. A bit of a dead giveaway with the nanovores- anyway———

Aura’s having fun.

She’s! A weird character to play. Mel’s a fallen hero original, Matty isn’t but he fits the world well (he’s sort of a refugee from his original setting and likes to pretend he belongs elsewhere. Aura is too (she’s. She’s his mum in basically every other au) but she plays it off better!

So the whole run is a bit more “let’s! Have fun!” Than actually. Honestly building the character thoroughly. It’s an Au of my oldest oc! My favourite girl! Hell yeah!

Plus in superhero universes she’s usually a bit of a superwoman-sort-of-a-vibe so it’s nice to see her with the gloves off being horrible. Because it does come fairly naturally to her.

But yeah! The “Maneater” moniker lends itself to ‘oooo femme fatale’ but she’s equal opportunities on the eating, she’s bi. Generally in a sort of “lmao doesn’t everybody have crushes on other girls though???” Way, she’s sorta clueless. She’s also got a heavy streak of “I’m here for a good time not a long time so I’m gonna take everything going please and thank you veeery much!” By which I mean I think Chen’s the only person she isn’t making a pass at.

She leans more to attraction towards men, but it’d be like 60/40 if I had to put numbers on it. There are universes where she has like two and a half wives, she’s out here vibing.

[harbingersecho]

i've been struggling over this man's armor since 2018 but i think i finally got something i rly like... the terrifying armor is so hard bc what the fuck even constitutes as terrifying. i just tried to go for a... infected science experiment insectoid? an amalgamation of metal and meat and nanovores? girl idk lol

[sidesteppostinghours]

should i be asleep right now???? probably. but i cant do that right now because im busy crying about the parallels between step and argent.

[kittlesandbugs]

FHR: Pulse points Pairing: Sidestep/Lady Argent Warnings: Canon-typical hints at self-harm/suicidal thoughts, nothing explicitly depicting Word Count: 694 Prompt: Prompt from @mihqorio for Riley/Argent and hands on/at wrists

Curiosity bubbles to the surface of Argent's mind as you take the silver hand draped across your chest in yours and examine it in the golden light cast down from the ceiling lamp. Pillowed in her lap, your eyes dart up to hers, and she doesn't seem to mind. Wants to know what you're doing, what you think, as you examine the flawless mirrored skin. As you wiggle her fingers, playing with the joints that all seem to function normally. As your fingertips explore hers, her nails soft and safe right now. 

"Having fun…?" she asks, her voice tinged with a slight edge, but she doesn't pull away. 

"Mhmm," you hum, tracing back to her wrist again, your original thought unsatisfied. You can't tell where she ends and the nanovores begin. Not at all. But you don't want to tell her that. Or ask and pry. You aren't sure how she'd take that kind of scrutiny. You know you’d hate it if it was directed at you and your tattoos.  So you keep your nosy intrusions to yourself. Instead you press your lips to her where her pulse should flutter and come away unscathed this time. "Beautiful," you offer instead, earnestly, truthfully. 

You think she'd blush if she could. You feel a little ripple of heat and embarrassment dance across the surface of her thoughts, but you dive no deeper. 

She scoffs and takes your hand in hers, just as gently, and mimics your examination under the light. The skin is dry and a little cracked. A little worn with age. Not as much as Ortega’s. You feel her tracing every little scar. Some are from tinkering, because you hate wearing gloves and knick yourself. Some are from going through a window and landing on the glass. You'd prefer not to think about those, but it's difficult under her curious scrutiny. She traces the chipped nails and fine lines, and you aren't sure how much texture she actually feels. 

Eventually the exploration makes it down to your wrist. To the lines that can't be attributed to accident or the incidence of living. You feel something roiling under the surface of her thoughts as her lips purse and her thumb traces the very old and very ugly scar running parallel to your pulse. 

"That was where the tracking chip was," you offer, because you know what the scar looks like. You may have hurt yourself in the past, when you were trapped in the lab, but you've never went so far as that. "I had to cut it out the first time I escaped.  It was… not planned. Things got a little messy." Armed with only a razor blade, adrenaline, and a vague notion of where it was, it was definitely not your cleanest work. But it still is one of your proudest. 

"Just a little," she says with a huff of an amused laugh, and you feel her anxiety released with your admission. Your easy answer makes want to her push a little further, to see what other secrets she can sneak a peek at. "Where's the second one?" she asks, eyes darting to your left wrist that’s bare of the same scar.

"... There isn't one," you admit quietly after a moment's hesitation. "I wasn't supposed to ever leave the lab again. No need for it."

You feel a brief stab of regret for the question. She brings your wrist to her soft cool lips and kisses the scar. A quiet apology. 

As your pulse quivers against her mouth, you feel an edged shiver running through both of you, and you aren’t sure where it started. You both know it wouldn't take much at all to knick the skin. To indulge the little ants swarming her thoughts at the scent of blood so close to the surface. But if it wasn't for your telepathy, you'd never realize the intrusive thoughts teeming inside her skull.  Her placid expression gives none of it away as she places your hand back on your chest. 

"What do you want to watch today?" she asks instead, swallowing down the instinct that isn't hers with a bite of chocolate doughnut.

[vin-ill]

SCOURGE references!

I’m really bad at drawing the same character with consistent design (as you can see even on this sheet the design shifts around depending on what I was trying out at the time) but I wanted to (quote unquote) justify the elements I decided to include into the design. So here we are! I’ll go in-depth under the cut (and there’s a closeup of the bottom right image), but whether you check it out or not, thank you for gazing upon my boy :)

Hey, you pressed to see more! Awesome! Okay, here we go:

Color scheme | I knew I wanted the colors to mirror the ones used in Sidestep’s design, so I went with a black & off-white base, with an electric orangey red for the accents, carried through to the nanovores. Both to pull focus towards the face and as a nod to my original attempt at assigning color to the suit, the face ‘panel’ is a dark blue.

Armored Coat | I really liked the description of Sidestep’s original hero suit, so my design philosophy for the suit was basically what would we have gone for if we weren’t too concerned with trying to stay out of the spotlight, and also had a bigger budget. The armored coat is now more bulky, and protects vital spots on the neck and head as well as the shoulders with both a collar and spikes against close-range attacks. A the long coat sweeps all the way to the floor, as to obscure both the jump jets hidden beneath it, and the physical build of the person wearing the armor. In the middle of the chest, a place that comes natural to defend, the Rat King module is nestled, tucked safely away.

The Mirror Mask | This one’s my favorite. If you don’t know what an infinite mirror looks like, look it up, they look sick as hell! The idea here is to make trying to look into the face of the armor a very off-putting experience, as it seems like there’s an infinitely long hole there. Of course, it’s just some mirrored glass that gives way with a satisfying crunch if someone lands a punch there. However, if it does its job and keeps people distracted enough from the real battlefield, the one in their mind, that punch will never land.

You made it all the way through my ramblings! Thank you for indulging me, here’s a redraw meme I did!

[limepigeon]

My favourite pieces I made this year, lots of unreliable narrators and disco dancers as Fallen Hero and Disco Elysium have completely rotted my brain these past 12 months.

Thanks for all the love, happy new year!

Links to each piece under the cut

Klaasje

Disco Kim and Harry

Harry and Kim on the beach

Sidestep and Void

Arson and Seagulls

Sidestep and the Nanovores

Fractal Crown