#not a bad thing of course!

[imtrashraccoon]

Dragon Au Headcanons?

if you have anything at the moment.

I wrote out bullet points days ago but kept forgetting to actually expand on them... Oh well, here's some little things I thought of, as well as, a few things you sent me. :3 (I should mention that this is all in regards to their dragon forms and not the gaster blaster/humanoid ones.)

The Dark Fortress: Dragon AU Headcanons

They're essentially immortal in the sense that they only grow stronger with age and they aren't affected by most physical ailments. It is technically possible to kill them but their scales make them nigh invulnerable to most weapons so anyone who tries will need the aid of magic. Fortunately for them, mages tend to be rather squishy.

All of them like being pet or groomed, but only by their mortal friend and they all react differently to the idea with some being more open to it than others.

Donovan will only let you touch him when no one else is around and even then, you better not make a big deal out of it. He's a big powerful dragon and you're a puny little mortal; he's letting you live so you better be grateful. Just don't stop halfway through or you'll have a grumpy dragon on your hands.

Dirk loves getting attention, nearly as much as he loves causing mayhem, and you'd be lucky to get him to sit still for ten minutes. He doesn't care if others are around, if anything he'll gloat that you're giving him attention instead, just don't be too affectionate or he might become more unpredictable than usual.

Maul seems like he could care less if you touch him or not and he'll often let you do whatever, so long as you don't approach him from the right side (his blind spot) first. Truthfully, he really likes your attention but as he's a dragon of few words, so you'll have to figure it out through body language.

Reven is in-between. He mostly keeps to himself so you'll have to go out of your way to give him attention. He definitely ignored you at first, hoping you'll get bored and leave, but when you don't, he realizes that he actually really likes the attention.

All dragons have the compulsion to create and protect hordes and these boys are no exception.

Naturally, Donovan has the largest horde although his is mostly books and gold. He's very particular about where everything goes and will get upset if anyone moves or destroys anything.

Dirk mostly collects sharp things, particularly if they're shiny. Although, this isn't limited to weapons as evident by all the cutlery littering his den.

Before being cursed, Maul already had a bit of a problem with the thought of food scarcity and he actively preserved any food he could. Now, his instincts have been magnified and he regularly goes out of his way to hunt and steal any food he can find.

Reven wasn't much of a hoarder before, unless you count him keeping track of all the murders he perpetuated. Now, he likes to collect soft things like scarves, blankets, flags, etc. It would actually be kind of sweet if these weren't collected from the victims of raids he regularly goes on.

You'd think that being a super powerful dragon is all that, right?

Well that's what Donovan thinks anyways, although sometimes he does find himself missing his tendrils or wishing he could read a book without accidentally tearing the pages.

Dirk loves his new form, however he can't exactly pull any partners with how large he is now.

Maul has possibly the hardest time adapting out of all of the boys since he's even more clumsy than before.

Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, Reven could care less, especially since he can kill things easier in this form.

They actually really like when you tag along for adventures, although don't get any ideas of becoming a dragon rider anytime soon.

Donovan will smack you over the head with his wing if you ever bring up the idea of saddling him.

Dirk may not mind too much as he's hard to keep up with even on the ground, but don't let the others know.

Maul welcomes the idea since you can watch out for threats and he knows exactly where you are at any given time.

Reven doesn't like the idea either but he'll give in after he realizes that it isn't very safe to ride him without a saddle.

Each of them have their own way of fighting although some of their techniques have been simplified now that they're massive creatures.

Donovan prefers to use his tails to send foes flying in close combat but otherwise uses his breath weapon or magic.

Dirk almost exclusively uses a special blade he fitted to the tip of his tail, although his bite packs a mean poison too.

Maul prefers the simple approach of throwing his weight around and he makes good use of his claws, teeth, horns, and even wings.

Reven actually switches up his fighting style, opting to use his breath weapon and magic rather than getting up close to enemies.

As dragons, they enjoy being worshipped or admired to some degree.

Donovan already desired to rule over the whole world and this desire was only heightened. He demands respect from everyone - be they human, monster, or beast alike.

Dirk revels in the idea of being revered. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be a good ruler at all as he has no experience and his ego would be his own downfall.

Maul can't deny that it's appealing when people admire and respect him. Although, the poor guy doesn't want to actually rule over anyone and his trauma would likely hinder his ability to do so.

Reven definitely gets a power trip whenever people fall on their face and beg him for mercy. He also has no interest in ruling as he'd sooner slaughter anyone stupid enough to stick around when he's raiding a village.

They each have scars; some that carried over from their old forms and some new ones.

Donovan has poc marks on his wings as the corruption didn't mesh well with his dragon form at first and his right eye is still covered by said corruption.

Dirk mostly has new scars from weapon strikes, thanks to him preferring to get up and close in a fight, but his warped soul is still the same.

Maul actually had his scars carry over, as evidenced by his right horn being broken and being blind in the same eye.

Reven hasn't sustained any obvious new scars but you wouldn't really be able to tell if he even has any in the first place since he tries to conceal them with his hood and wings.

[nocek]

Given how the HQ design looks like, the mother hen thing is true. He is just being very tsundere about that ;P

Also there is pin poll still going on. Take a look if any design speaks to you ;)

[egophiliac]

just thinking about hair and faces

[agnes-come-back-challenge]

I love that everyone in TMA is just. Unremarkable. Jon isnt a heroic character; he's self-loathing and depressed and he exhibits the same self-pity as I do when I'm self-loathing and depressed. He doesn't stand out for his strength of will or quick-thinking or virtue. He's a good person but he stops trying to stay human when it gets uncomfortable. He's everything that a regular person is when theyre trapped in a horrible situation and it's ugly and insufferable and Real.

[hyydraworks]

And along with little bird themed rexes, will have some non feathered boyos as well.

[marlenacantswim]

forgive me while i analyze a sitcom that ended like ten years ago, but i don't think psych degraded in quality at all as it went on. it seems rather like what quality they had got funneled into specific episodes, so instead of a consistent aura of general Sauce like in the first half of the show, in the second half you get absolute banger episodes that leave you barely able to breathe whether through comedy or emotional devastation sprinkled between episodes that feel more unmemorable by comparison.

similarly, while the series is always running on goofy scenarios, they tend to be goofy case scenarios (death during civil war reenactment; a dinosaur did it; a sea lion was murdered) in the first half and then start trending towards goofy character scenarios (gus and shawn accidentally yet totally preventably get their dna all over a crime scene; lassiter becomes a pathetic slobbering mess in the field; Last Night Gus) in the second half.

i think these reasons — combined with 00's nostalgia — are why a lot of fans prefer the vibes of the first four seasons even though a fair portion of highest rated episodes (including the consistently highest ranked one) and honestly most of my favorite episodes come from the latter four seasons.

[why-the-heck-not]

me, a responsible being, working on the coding project as I should vs. me, a dysfunctional shithead, getting distracted by reading about brains (once aGAIN damnit (it's my favorite "I need to study my field but bc I should do that it's an impossible unthinkable feat now, so I'm reading about something else to fool my brain I'm still being productive"-topic))

[bayeis]

I haven't watched this show a day in my life

[mellosghosts]

this is how their little brains work methinks

[stankworth]

after many years of being strong // may you have the chance to be gentle again

[buggachat]

honestly just in general it's very exhausting to try to analyze media that is literally meant to be analyzed, only for the replies to be filled with people arguing not against your analysis, but against the premise that the media can be analyzed at all.

i don't even know what to say about it without starting to really betray my frustration, so i'll just settle with— just don't engage with analysis posts? I'm serious. if you're typing a response to a media analysis post, reread what you've written and ask yourself "is this comment/response against the very concept of analyzing the media at all?" and if the answer is yes then delete it all and go sit in the shame corner. throw your curtains away if you want to so bad and stop telling me that I'm not allowed to hum and haw at the fact mine are blue

[demaparbat-hp]

Toph as a Goalball player 💪💚

[blorbologist]

Y'know, I think I figured out why the Hells still feel like a new low-level party to me, even though they're level 13 and almost 100 episodes in.

I don't quite think it's the lack of conversations, or the fact half the party's plot hooks are big ties to past campaigns - though that definitely plays a part.

... Bell's Hells still primarily rely on quest givers.

Most of their goals are given to them and do not feel organic to the party, and constantly remind us that the Hells are pretty much never the most powerful people in the room. Which is usually something you see with a low-level party.

NPCs offering jobs is not a bad thing; it's a very common plot hook. Matt has been extremely skilled with using NPC quest givers in those two campaigns. Not only do they provide an obvious plot thread, but they can put the party in the path of others (say, the Nein running into the Iron Shepherds while doing a job for the Gentleman and everything that came of that). And the Hells had a solid start with it too - Eshteross was an excellent quest giver!

The problem is that Bell's Hells have never really not had a quest giver.

Maybe it's a byproduct of the more plot-heavy structure of this campaign? But while prior parties have felt like they decided on their course of action and what they prioritized, Bell's Hells feels less like level 13 (13! Level 13!) experienced adventurers and more like an MMO group clicking on the exclamation point over an NPC's head. Where does the plot demand we go next? Who do we report back to?

They're level 13.

At level 13, Vox Machina had just defeated a necromantic city-state to clear their name and Percy's conscience. And, you know, the Conclave just destroyed Emon. No one was explicitly telling the group to gather Vestiges and save the world (though Matt guided them there), and they were usually among the most powerful people in the room. They chose which Vestiges to prioritize, which dragons to tackle when, even if the over-all plot was pretty clear.

At level 13, the Mighty Nein were celebrating Traveler Con (another PC goal, I'll note) after brokering peace between two nations, accidentally becoming pirates and heroes of the Dynasty. The Nein regularly chose what to do based on personal goals, not grand ones. Though definitely smaller fish than Vox Machina at this level, they were very independent and gaining solid political clout.

While we're at it: level 13 is one level lower than the Ring of Brass, who had a huge amount of sway over Avalir. They ended the world, and also saved it, while in the grand scheme of things being only a smidge more powerful than Bell's Hells are now.

Can you really see the Hells wielding that amount of influence, when they're constantly being told what to do next?

The god-eater might be unleashed, so Bell's Hells have no time to do anything but what is asked of them. No time for therapy unless stolen from Feywild time, no travel on foot and late-night watches. They haven't even had time to grieve FCG. Percy was grieved in the middle of the Conclave arc. Molly was grieved when half the party was still in irons.

Matt is in the very unfortunate spot of not being able to give the Hells the same agency as the other two parties. Not only because of the world-ending plot introduced so early on; they are surrounded by characters they know (and the cast knows) are stronger and wiser than them - the familiarity of the past PCs and NPCs is to their disadvantage.

Why would the party reasonably ignore Keyleth's task that will help save the world and go off on a romp? Why would the cast when they know well Keyleth has to be sensible and with the best intentions in mind? The stakes are just too high.

It means that the Hells still feel like they're running errands instead of pursuing their own destiny. Their accomplishments are diminished as just being parts of a to-do list, and any stakes feel padded by several level 20 PCs/NPCs standing 5 steps away ready to catch them.

This isn't Bell's Hell's fault, nor is it Matt's. It could be amended, I think, if the Hells are really left to their own devices for a long period of time without support and shortcuts (like during the party split)... which would be really tricky to pull off at this point in the campaign.

They're level 13. They're big fish, but they're stuck in a pond full of friendly sharks, so they don't feel big at all.

[ciaran]

the language of addiction is a plague. im reading an article and whenever addiction language enters the picture it all becomes so sensationalized due to the cultural forces that accrue around the concept of addiction, always framing the addicted person as suffering from some flaw of personality that needs to be overcome by self-control. the fear of addiction, the fear of substances that affect the body & mind, changing the way that person responds in the presence of that substance - comes from a place of deep anxiety about lack of control but spirals into an obsession with the supposed purity of the body, where desire is inherently corrupting. which is why people steeped in this manner of thought will start saying things like "we're addicted to cooked food" or "you're addicted to your phone" or "you're addicted to porn" - it all comes from this terror that your behavior is influenced by desire when desire is fundamental to the way we interact the world. pathologizing want and desire makes people distrustful of others who are openly wanting - to want to change the way you are (which is, of course, construed as a natural, uninterrupted, pure state) is a crime. to want happiness through drugs, through food, through sex, through pleasure, is dangerous, so dangerous and unacceptable that anyone who feels too good and pursues feeling good becomes threatening to society, which is built on making people believe that having very little of anything, very little joy is alright because joy is bad for you. what a fucking con.

[kit-screams-into-the-future]

bro chill. that's your girlfriend

transcript:

JENNIFER: Well, what d'ya think? Do I make a good cowboy? MARTY: o////o MARTY: Yeah! Good! Great! Good. Good cowboy. Great. Good. JENNIFER: Ah. JENNIFER: Aw, you really think so? MARTY: Aaugh. JENNIFER: Y'know, Marty, you make a pretty good cowboy yourself- MARTY: I do? JENNIFER: Yeah, you do. DOC: [LIVE DOC REACTION] DOC: *AHEM*. When you're done with that... about the Delorean... JENNIFER: (forgot he was there) OH MY GOD.

[blackfangedhellhound]

fascinating how many tumblrinas will come out going "i support all victims. i support victims soooo much. however i just don't think we have enough information. have you considered the lack of information? here's 30 reasons these victims can't be trusted. it's politically motivated. kinda seems like they want to ruin this nice man's life?" and by fascinating i mean completely inating