#not a crossover per se

[dreamaturgy]

all the ashes in my wake・゜✭

CHAPTER ONE. ☆ dream x fem!reader (original character) ☆ when a vampire unwittingly bites the dream lord in her sleep, she gets roped into helping him investigate why dreams are mysteriously dying/disappearing. what starts as a reluctant partnership turns into something more as they chase night hags around faerûn to save both the dreaming and the waking world. OR: a sleep-deprived vampire just wanted a nap and inherited dream's problems instead. ☆ warnings: blood, mild horror ☆ note: nine chapters planned. third pov. ratings will 100% go up. and yes i poured my thirst for astarion into this oc don't @ me. ☆ comments, kudos, likes and reblogs are loved ❤

☆ snippet (READ ON AO3):

The dream in his arms flickers, gossamer-thin as it struggles to breathe — as much as a dream can. This shouldn’t be happening. Dreams don’t fucking die, and Morpheus presses his knuckles against its emaciated cheek, swallowing past the lump in his throat. Around them, grass and leaves rustle mournful. “Have I displeased you, my lord?” it asks, somewhere between a rasp and a whimper, and Morpheus shakes his head, the knot between his brows stunned and crestfallen. But it’s not entirely uncalled for. Gault comes to mind — among other things — and briefly he closes his eyes, red-brimmed. “This is not my doing,” he tries to reassure — to soothe a guilty conscience from past errancies, maybe — but it doesn’t matter. The dream fades, regardless of the forces behind the uncanny circumstances, of his own strength and essence poured into its weary soul. “You have served well, and you will serve again.”

He’s never felt so uncertain before, so… disquieted, watching his realm and its folks and its guests succumb to an unknown sickness. And he’s utterly powerless to help them. The dream shudders one last time, its body mirroring the stars above, pinpricks of light winking out one by one like dying fireflies. A dream, gone. Against his will. And it dies smiling, so quick to trust him, to heed his promise and believe. There was a time when he lamented the lack of faith of his subjects. As if he would abandon them. As if it were in his nature, to forfeit his responsibilities. As if he had no heart. That smile should comfort, and cheer, and embolden. Instead it only manages to perturb him. “Something’s wrong, boss,” Matthew announces the obvious, a new frailty in his voice that itches on Morpheus’ cheek; he wipes it off. “Dreams aren’t supposed to die.” “No,” he agrees quietly, sounding so weary all of a sudden. “They are not.”

READ THE FIRST CHAPTER ON AO3.

[swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual]

Here’s a sort of…. Prompt? Headcanon? Idea?? For Danny Phantom.

Let’s go with the,, semi-fanon idea of cores. We see the Far Frozen with ice powers, with their whole little civilization. They are ALSO the only ghosts we see that have any medical knowledge.

So what if ghosts with ice cores had healing powers? Danny is very durable, but he also (probably) has advanced healing.

Idk, it’d be a fun possibility to explore Danny ‘plays as a tank in irl superheroics 4 times out of 5’ Phantom finding out he can heal people while doing a school-mandated cpr class.

[necrotic-nephilim]

-debby ryans at you- how are you feeling about that thunderbolts* trailer, snookums. your old blog is trying to crawl from its grave.

you are an unhinged rat for sending me this ask i hope you know <3 you already knew that but i'm telling you anyway bc you're a rat bc now i have to explain myself-

this is from @eebuckley my partner <3 i've alluded to it in the tags of this blog but i used to be a semi-popular MCU blogger from like 2018 to 2020. (semi-popular for the ship i wrote, anyway) and since like, probably Infinity War/Endgame i have been slowly more and more disillusioned by the MCU ranging from only passively being interested in projects to outright despising them if i saw them. which sort of sucks, given how much i loved the MCU at it's height. i was like. aggressively into it. like a "i had asthma attacks watching trailers bc i got so excited" level of into it. maybe cringey in hindsight, honestly but yk. whatever brings you joy, ig.

and anyway- my partner witnessed my very real and normal reaction to the Thunderbolts* trailer and now i'm *mad* bc i'm actually excited about it. it made me feel about the MCU a way i haven't felt in years, especially after a lot of announcements that rlly pissed me off.

cannot believe it looks like we might actually get a comics-accurate Yelena and a comics-accurate Bucky. i'm such a sucker for Bucky Barnes, he's one of the only Marvel characters i actually read Marve comics for and i'm forever bitter how badly he got screwed over. if that movie is good i'm going to end up writing fanfiction. probably crossover fanfiction bc over my dead body will i write just plain MCU fanfic. and i'm a Jason Todd/Bucky shipper anyway so i could make it work, i think-

anyway TLDR is i'm excited and i'm mad about it and how dare yo expose me for being an MCU fan on THIS blog. you coulda send this ask to my MCU blog that still exists and i have occasionally used. but instead you *exposed* my ass on my refined DC blog as a filthy Marvel fan. i will be divorcing you again. ty gn ily

[thelastspeecher]

I read the latest Percy Jackson books and THEN I reread the Heroes of Olympus series and THEN I read the Kane Chronicles/Percy Jackson crossover short stories

and I have one conclusion

which is that Percy and Annabeth are SO CUTE TOGETHER AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[pbaintthetb]

Since you're currently rewatching House... "I wish you would write a fic where" the MDZS crew are in a modern day AU and NHS drags NMJ to House because of his strange qi deviation symptoms :) Bonus points if Wen Qing is one of House's interns!

oooh very interesting idea. So, I took a stab and have about 2.5k of random segments (not chronological sorry) I did find the voices kind of hard to get

s1-3 era i guess if only because it's the original duckinglins + wen qing. It's also slightly unclear whether cultivation exists in this and if so whether people know about it or not but eh

If i do more segments, becuase i had some in mind I will reblog this and add on to it but I make zero promises. Not sure how many of the things you wanted I hit but I had fun spitballing, even if the House and WQ voice is hard

***

“I didn’t realise they let war criminals work in hospitals these days,” Mingjue comments, it’s meant to sound idle, but to Huaisang it sounds icey. He expects it sounds pretty damn icey to Wen Qing too.

“Good thing I’m not a war criminal then,” Wen Qing refutes with a tight smile, moving her stethoscope to Da-ge’s back. Mingjue humphs, Huaisang digs into his thigh with his key through his trouser pocket and wishes he didn’t have to be so responsible.

Not because he wants Xichen or A-Yao to be doing this (not necessarily at least) just… Huaisang had moved heaven and earth to be here and frankly he’d rather not. They haven’t met Dr House either yet… though from what Nie Huaisang had read that might actually be a good thing.

He looks at his brother and Wen Qing again, her face is in deep concentration, and Mingjue’s is furrowed in an expression that means discomfort of some kind. What kind, Huaisang doesn’t know. For all he prides himself as a brother, he’s no expert in reading the microexpressions. 

And a lot has happened recently, a lot of things that could be causing discomfort in all kinds of ways.

Or maybe it’s even guilt for how he’s been acting. Huaisang wouldn’t know. His brother has been a growing stranger to him these past few months. And then last night…

Nie Huaisang looks at his brother in Wen Qing’s hands and thinks about maybe getting some air, maybe even going on a walk to the coma ward. But he can’t bear to leave his brother, and as he looks at Wen Qing, he feels- somewhat despondently- that she’s a lot stronger than he is.

But Nie Huaisang doesn’t want to be strong, Da-ge’s strong, Huaisang is persistent and weak. Which is why he’s dragged his brother here, despite all the complaining. He knows he’s only being humoured, and he knows why he’s being humoured.

But Huaisang will take a hundred burnt fans if it means a healthy Da-ge. Besides, a hundred burnt fans would still leave the nice one Jiang Cheng got him after they left that Gusu Summer camp a while back.

“How long have you been having these symptoms?” Wen Qing asks clinically, bringing Huaisang’s focus back into the room. He chides himself, what is the point of being here if he doesn’t pay the utmost attention?

***

“Don’t you wonder how your intern and Guangyao know each other?” the big guy demands. The way the big guy spits the name suggests some kind of history there. House is kind of interested, except he expects it’ll be pretty banal so, maybe not.

“I don’t know,” House drawls, twirling his cane, “She’s a renowned doctor, he’s an innovative music therapist, both working at hospitals in New Jersey- of course!” he gasps sarcastically, “Did they meet in a sex dungeon?” He tuts, shaking his head, “Naughty, naughty Qing. First Chase, now her- do you reckon she uses those needles for extra-curricular purposes?”

Just for good measure House throws in a leer. If he’s reading this guy right, wound up and uptight as he is, he’s about to lunge. Which means House can get him restrained. Which means House has a better chance of doing the tests he wants with the consent of the obviously confused, and obviously devoted little brother.

There’s a story there too… but House has no time for sob stories.

The big guy stares at him flatly.

“There’s no shame  in sex, that would be a stupid reason for me to be angry at them.”

Interesting.

“Whoa! Who said anything about being angry?” House asks all mock confused,  “I thought we were just discussing how they met?”

The patient gives him another side eye.

“You’re not half as slick as you think you are.” With that the guy settles back down in bed.

Which is just hurtful really. Also interesting. House doesn’t exactly think he’s trying to be slick, so it’s interesting that the patient thinks he is.

***

“Cuddy’s been hunting House all day to get him to do his clinic hours,” the blond doctor explains, probably to his colleagues, because they adopt matching expressions of complete comprehension.

“Oh really,” Da-ge hums, expression unimpressed, and he’s looking right at Huaisang. Huaisang gulps. “Sounds lik-”

Whatever it was that Da-ge was going to say shirking work sounded like (and Huaisang has really no idea!) is cut off by the sudden spew of blood from his mouth.

Sadly- and it really is, at this point Huaisang is kind of used to it so he’s not even-

He’s not even surprised.

He still screams and flinches though, crying and begging the doctors to do something.

And they do, running around, saying words just short of a yell that all sound very serious and complicated. So Nie Huaisang stops yelling,  because nobody needs his words too.

***

Mingjue doesn’t like Dr. House because the man is a dick. It does not mean, however, that he doesn’t respect him. Dr House is honest, at least. Unlike some people. Dr House is honest about having no real regard for Mingjue, no respect for order or regulations, a purely academic understanding of morality and being a curmudgeony arse.

Nie Mingjue isn’t overly fond of Wen Qing either, though that’s less to do with her skills and her honour. Mingjue has faith in those because he’s experienced them first hand. He just doesn’t like her.

Plenty of people have done things they didn’t really like very much in circumstances they’d infinitely prefer to not be in. But there’s always a choice but Wen Qing had made hers, and Mingjue- well. What happened happened in the way it did.

House, Dr House is staring at him rather intently. Mingjue lets him, he’s used to being stared at. He hit six-foot when he was fourteen, and he’s six-four now with the breadth to match. And he’s used to being stared at because ever since their father died all the questions have been directed at him. And he’d certainly been stared at under Men- Jin Guangyao’s dark stare in that room wit-

Mingjue cuts off that train of thought, feeling his head pound. The Doctor is still staring at him, leaning forward.

“Your brother thinks you’re crazy, you know? Cuckoo, loo-loo, the whole works.”

Mingjue doesn’t say anything, his hands fist in the sheets. He knows. He knows Xichen thinks so too and that’s why nobody ever listens to anything he says. They look at him and see his father twenty years too soon.

But Huaisang didn’t drag him here to have his head looked at. Huaisang’s happy to defer to Xichen and the rat about that. Mingjue knows that, he knows that. He’s here because Huaisang sees their father twenty-years too soon and there’s been a countdown going off in his didi’s head since the first time he found the bloody tissues Mingjue had stuffed in the bin in an ill-thought out plan of hiding them.

Honestly though, how was he to suspect Huaisang would be looking in the rubbish, the little brat never did any tidying and now Mingjue is here when it’s all-

“Huh,” Dr House says thoughtfully, “You do know. Maybe you’re not crazy then, crazy’s not usually so self-aware.”

Mingjue’s not so sure. Their father had been self-aware enough between all the moments where he wasn’t to be horrified. Not that that horror had done much, locked into an endless battle with their father’s pride. He’s not sure how to word all of this to Dr House, and he’s not even sure if he wants to. So he doesn’t.

Mingjue’s here because Huaisang wants him to be here and Mingjue wants Huaisang to be safe. Mingjue’s proud, but not so proud as their father. If he lashes out here there’s a syringe of haldol waiting for him and orderlies to hold Huaisang back.

Mingjue would prefer not to be here, but if Huaisang won’t let him alone (and Mingjue knows his didi can’t) then this is the best place to be.

“Ignoring me won’t make me go away, you know,” the irritating doctor singsongs. It tempts Mingjue to try, even though he’s had years of a little brother and is very well acquainted with this fact.

***

“San-ge and Er-ge would never hurt Da-ge,” Huaisang objects, voice going high with his wail. They swore a brotherhood! Sure, things aren’t so good right now, but things aren’t always so good with Huaisang and Mingjue and neither would hurt the other.

The stupid Dr House just cocks his head. Wen Qing is standing a little behind him, face carefully blank.

“Very convincing. You convinced enough to stake your brother’s life on that?”

“I-” Huaisang starts, stops. Heart trembles. It feels like a betrayal. Saying no. Saying yes.

He looks at Wen Qing and thinks about the coma ward, three floors down, 2 corridors across.

“I wouldn’t stake my brother’s life on anything,��� he refutes. Concession, admission, permission, whatever.

***

“I don’t know,” Foreman responds, “My brother and I? We were never like that.”

Chase is sprawled out in a chair, Cameron is the same but she’s doing a much better job of making it look elegant. Foreman is leaning forward with his elbows on the table, hands clasped.

And Wen Qing is standing there, like it’s her first day again, an outsider.

It’s this case, she knows the patient and she doesn’t know him and she- Well she doesn’t know much about Huaisang. But A-Ning had said enough things before that she’s just…

But as much as she doesn’t really know either of the brothers, she does know this.

“Both their mothers died in childbirth, and their father’s been dead for over a decade,” Wen Qing interjects, walking over to the coffee pot so she doesn’t have to look at them. She thought she’d buried this when she’d moved here. Except for A-Ning; she could never bury him, Wen Qing refuses. 

“They’ve only got each other.” The pot’s empty and she scowls in disgust. “Siblings like that- they either can’t stand each other or they’d do anything for each other.” Maybe both. She doesn’t think of a certain little brother of her own, because she’s on the job right now and even as she’s always thinking of him she can’t.

“They’re half brothers?” Cameron asks, and Wen Qing won’t take this accusation.

“Yeah it’s in their history, I-”

“No- no,” Cameron waves her off, “It’s just- Huaisang seems so convinced as much as it’s like their father’s illness, it’s different- and Huaisang seems utterly unaffected. What if it’s something Mingjue got from his mother?”

“What, like a completely different condition that just mimics the one his father had?” Foreman snorts, kicking out his legs, “That’s likely.”

“Or maybe…” Chase starts like he’s had a thought, “It’s some kind of [interaction]. He got his father’s illness, and he’s got something from his mother that’s making it act like this.”

They all consider that for a moment.

“We need to tell House.” Wen Qing’s already walking out of the room.

***

“The mental symptoms!” House yells, “The guy’s got fucking PTSD- and nobody noticed, not even his supposedly so devoted brother.”

“But-”

“Oh jeez, if only there was a reason that the mental symptoms were so much more aggressive and and in flux than what they reported of his father- if only there were a doctor on my team who knew the patient, but-”

Wen Qing burns, she burns so hard she can’t even hear the insult to her character House is no doubt lumping out. She can’t talk about this, she can’t.

Meng Yao’s, or whatever he’s calling himself these days, has good fucking lawyers, and enough skills to have kept himself alive under her Uncle’s watchful eye for a year. Wen Qing had signed, and signed, and A-Ning’s upstairs and Meng Yao’s somewhere else and-

Mingjue is worth nothing compared to A-Ning, do no harm be damned. And not even Huaisang’s fury is enough of a motivation. She understand that fury, she understands it well, it burns inside her everyday her brother doesn’t wake up.

“I said,” Wen Qing hisses, aware of the stares of her fellow interns on her, and the genuine angry glare of House, “That I suspected he’d been through trauma recently- as did his brother!”

House does not look calmed in the slightest, he takes a step toward her.

“Well maybe next time use the word ‘torture’. It’s got a certain buzz that really makes it shine out as an alarm bell.”

Her ears ring, and ring. She can’t say anything, and if anyone else is speaking, she can’t hear it.

***

Wilson doesn’t know how he always ends up in House’s conference room dragged into a case that clearly isn’t cancer and therefore doesn’t need an Oncologist to consult. But, well, House is House (demanding bastard) and Wilson is Wilson (needy bitch) so maybe he does know.

The children as House would term them are all throwing out theories and Wilson is following along well enough to understand, but nothing’s sounding like cancer and House never hired Wilson so he’s not really giving out any theories.

That’s when the man walks in. Anybody unknown walking into Houses’ office can go a few ways, so Wilson preemptively prepares for something to be thrown. Except the guy’s just looking at Wilson.

“You have another doctor in your team?” the man asks House uncertainly, but he’s still looking obsessively at Wilson. It’s kind of weird.

“No, no, I’m just here as a consult,” Wilson explains politely, “Dr James Wilson.” He extends a hand.

The man- who’s kind of more of a kid takes it nervously, still staring at him.

“You’re an oncologist,” the unknown guy, who is probably related to House’s current patient in some way, states. Brother? 

“Yeah I am,” Wilson chuckles awkwardly, mentally kicking himself. “How did you know that?” Because if he knew the patient knew he was an oncologist, he wouldn’t have said. Nobody likes hearing you’re an oncologist, unless you’re saying you’ll never see them again. And even then, sometimes they don’t like it.

“It’s on your door,” the brother of the patient says, still sounding uncertain. “Does this mean you think my brother has… uh- I mean, whatever it is that oncologists treat?” his voice has gone up at the end.

Mentally, Wilson is raising a brow, externally he is not. He is a professional and actually knows what the term ‘bedside manner’ means, unlike some people in this room.

House doesn’t raise a brow either, but that’s because House doesn’t believe in restricting yourself to non-verbal symbols of rude disbelief when words can be twice as insulting.

“Whatever oncologists treat,” House drawls mock sympathetic, the patient’s brother twitches with what could be embarrassment. “No, we don’t. Dr Wilson is just here to stare at Cameron’s ass. Or maybe Chase’s- who can tell them apart from behind?!” 

Wilson looks to the ceiling for salvation while House guffaws and Chase and Cameron scowl.

The guy is still looking at Wilson, and taking pity, Wilson divulges.

“No, we don’t think he has cancer.”

The guy nods, not as if this is good news, but rather as if this is news he’s always known.

***

“Brother shops around for the best diagnostician he can find, but doesn’t even know what an oncologist is?” House shakes his head and helps himself to some of Wilson’s fries. Wilson offers a put-upon expression in return, but he hasn’t touched his drink so he’s probably not actually put upon. Besides, Wilson knows House is going to eat his food, if he wants it to stop happening he should stop buying it.

“So?” Wilson asks, playing his role of audience participation in their private one-man show as always. “I didn’t realise that your webpage had the definition of oncology on it- right underneath your name I suppose?.”

House shoots him a look for the snark. And the blatant missing of the obvious point.

“The first thing anybody does, when they google symptoms is find cancer,” House explains, Wilson nods, so maybe he gets it too now. Gets how weird it is- and House doesn’t like things that don’t make sense.

“Ok,” Wilson is still nodding and House takes some more fries while he’s distracted, “But isn’t he here because he thinks his brother has what their dad had? Which wasn’t cancer? So he doesn’t think it’s cancer, so doesn’t need an oncologist. He’s deadset on it being this one thing so he’s not looking at anything else.”

House shakes his head, he doesn’t know what it is or why it’s bothering him but it is.

“He’s here because he thinks it’s not operating like what their dad had, which is when worried younger siblings start running down the cancer route and looking for the best Oncologist they can find-” he shoots Wilson a significant look “-but he skips that altogether and brings his brother here- his sick brother who’s been sick for a while but only just agreed to come.”

It’s interesting, it’s a puzzle. House likes puzzles and he’d rather puzzle out what’s affecting the older brother right now, but a man can always multitask.

[ace-the-fox]

I made a post on here saying I could make a fandaughter for Patty B (I still have not watched nor read it)...

Her name is Samantha (Sam or Sammie for short). She's kinda a bitch, but we love her though.

Also, ofc, the crossover I kinda designed her just to do.

They would hate eachother, but I also wholeheartedly believe they should make out (if Momo wasn't in the picture ofc). At least once.

(If anything's unreadable, the alt text has all the text transcriptions too!! 👍)

[phantom-of-the-ruckus]

Phantom Krueger

It is finally done! Phantom Kruger is done! Without the lighting and shadows, I swear that the sketches gave me so much Phillip/Belos vibes XD

Trigger warning for blood and burns!!

Now, everyone will go "Phantom, if Freddy is the Phantom of the Opera, where is his mask?"

And my response is that you, lovely jellybeans, are seeing it. I am not sure if the sketch allows seeing it, but there are some stitches to his face. So, yes, the Phantom's mask is his face...or well...made out of flesh.

This is actually what I mentioned in the Christine! Nancy post about the sketches and how I got the idea:

So, yeah that is actually something that POTO 1989 does with their Erik. I thought it was gory and well fitting to this crossover so I kept it. My major difference is that Phantom Krueger uses it to hide his burns, but just as the Original version he is bald too, so the hair you see in the sketches is just a pretty tight (maybe glued) wig on his head.

I decided to add the stitches to convey he well...stitched them to his face as it is really hard to draw the amazing makeup effect the OG POTO 1989 has

There is some sense of discomfort, or that something is of when you see Erik's face, which adds to the later scene (which is on YouTube) where well he removes his mask as the backstory of his character play.

The hair color was not chosen by me, it is actually from the 1989 Erik as well as an inspired costume he has, which is basically the Red Death costume from the POTO, which was referenced in the mask Freddy's holding as a cute easter egg.

If you guys are wondering what POTO characters do Glenn, Tina, and Rod would be dressed as ?Here they are

Glenn, of course, would be the "Raoul" (or Richard which the POTO decided to name Raoul like) as he is cannonically Nancy's boyfriend in the first film, so I thought it would be fitting.

Tina would certainly be heavily inspired by Meg from both 1989 ver and some small inspo from the musical (just slightly.) as POTO 1989 Meg is still Christine's best friend, so I would be drawing a lot of inspo from there

Rod is a bit hard due to not much of a male character outside Raoul (or Richard...) in the POTO 1989 so far has been, but I'll probably based him around Piangi as he was an actor in the POTO which also ironically died a similar way to Rod-

I'll probably get Glen and the others costumes designs and maybe in a later post explain Nancy's dress.

And just for another reminder. This crossover will not have the Phantom be in love or attracted to Christine because his motivations are based around Freddy Krueger's + its a big no for me

[sysig]

It’s that quarterly time of year again where I complain about tumblr’s inability to handle 50+ images in one text post

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

Ok! Btw he is less Norse and more Germanic/Scandinavian. This guy was written abt in (what is now) England, but was local to Denmark, while Hiccup’s home is, afaik, roughly based on an archeological site in Sweden.

Anyway here he is! Descended from the biblical Cain, related to elves and jotunar, described first in Old English, by the peoples who the HISTORICAL King Arthur would have been fighting. He’s large and magical asf and deeply indistinct of species. Might be human. We don’t know.

If you like this guy, consider researching his hot mom. Because yes, he comes with a Knife MILF, and for some reason she appears to be a type of mer-creature. Or possibly just a magical woman who lives in a lake.

…have I mentioned how AGGRESSIVELY AMBIGUOUS these guys are

Also there is a TON of interesting lore abt them if you can speak/read Old English (I can, a bit) so hmu if you want to know more about them

EDIT: I noticed you like OSP. They have a great video covering Beowulf (the text these creatures are from), however they do draw Grendel as hairless. As an OE scholar, this is a pet peeve of mine, Grendel is described in one passage with long hair at LEAST on his head, so, while OSP’s video is overall good, I implore you to not contribute to a widespread artistic inaccuracy, please do not shave the Grendel. He has been through enough.

@thesaltofcarthage nice name! Get Grendel’d

I don’t mean to shove my Confusing Niche Folklore Hyperfixation That Is Also An AU Of A Popular Tumblr Fandom, but…..

Would you be interested in creatures (Monsters? Humans? Spirits? Gods? Hard to say) that actually, in irl folkloric canon, bridged the gap between Christianity/specifically Genesis, and the Old English paganism that Merlin is based in…. While also being adjacent to/part of the Norse/Nordic cultures that inspired HTTY? Also aggressively Fae- and Mermaid-adjacent.

(Absolutely could not CONTAIN my delight upon seeing that the GO x Merlin, “Magic Doesn’t Mix With Miracles” comic author likes HTTYD. I hope it isn’t awkward to say that your multiverse/fandoms perfectly fit my favorite folkloric creature)

I'm always down to learn new mythology, it's so interesting!!!

(And this ask comes with funny timing cause I've been trying (emphasis on trying) to do research on Norse mythology for another top secret potential Hijack fic concept that has been all I can think about for the past week)

[swampjawn]

Like the goofy horror crossover that inspired it (Sadako vs Kayako) Dandadan's identity is all about smashing together the identities of its many eclectic inspirations. (most notably of course, ghostststs vs aliens)

So how does its opening embody that identity? Well of course the song itself is swarming with references to everything from a couple Japanese creepypastas from 2chan to Demon Slayer and other popular shounen hits, to M. Night Shyamalan — but not to be left out, the formal elements of the animation combine not only the bold and sharply contrasting color schemes that are characteristic of the show, but also three completely different animation styles into one strangely cohesive piece.

Directed by "Scott Pilgrim Takes Off" director and one of Science Saru's original creative voices, Abel Góngora, the opening sets the stage with the contrast between these close-ups of the syllable "dan" shown mostly on various digital screens, and these character shots that give the impression of analog film with soft edges between highlight and shadow, and overlaid grain, scratches, and imperfections.

These cuts are not exactly realistic per se, but they reflect a version of the world of the show that's very grounded in live-action cinematic techniques, like I discussed in my previous video. Many of them mimic a wide-angle perspective and give the impression of a real camera filming the characters.

Soon though, we jump into these highly stylized cuts in which bold, textured silhouettes stand out against saturated painted backgrounds.

This style in particular feels very characteristic of Góngora, who has worked on many of Science Saru's opening sequences, and seems to love these stark, stylized, and textured silhouettes:

Many of these shots are direct references to the 1967 Ultraman TV opening,

but they also generally draw inspiration from 60s and 70s pop art and cut-out animation. Slight imperfections in the credit text and slight camera wobble even give the impression of hand-cut paper being filmed with an old 60s camera rig!

Turbo Granny gets up in the mix with a third totally different style: these loose, chaotic, and gestural scribbles where clean line-work gives way to pure organic energy with very little consistency between frames.

These cuts are mostly done by Kyouhei Ebata (江端 恭平) (who you might recognize from his crazy painted frames on Dungeon Meshi) and Genta Ishimori (石守 源太) who has relatively few official credits so far, but has done some extremely impressive (if quite disturbing) independent work on his youtube channel, and whose own personal style seems to have primarily created the vision for how Turbo Granny would be portrayed in the show!

And finally, the three art styles and two major opposing colors all come together in this climactic cut as this slick, detailed illustration goes from clean, detailed blue, to bold, chaotic red in an instant as Okarun smashes through it, and is interspersed with these three demonic frames that find a middle ground between the bold textured silhouettes and the loose scratchy turbo granny scribbles.

This is all just a sampling from this video, where I go more in depth on all these elements, and lay out way more of the direct references, so go watch it! (If you're not too scared… Maybe you can't handle it…)

[oraclereadsandreviews]

comics i’ve read and loved lately:

- batman: the killing joke

this was the first batman comic i picked up as a tween, and it blew my mind. the gritty, scary style was right up my alley and completely changed what i thought comics were. the final page lives in my mind always, and the final joke + batman laughing haunts me. also, the injury of barbara gordon! what a pivotal moment for her (i am deeply disappointed by the decision to not have her stay as oracle). a great standalone read, a great read with the context of batman, a great read if you are just an enjoyer of great writing. 100% recommend.

- DCeased

this was a more recent read, but i love elseworld comic stories. this comic especially was heartfelt and showed the empathy that the heroes have for each other and for the earth in crisis. it’s a bleak storyline, but there is still hope throughout and that’s the beauty of the characters. before i read this comic, damian al-ghul wayne was probably the least on-my-radar robin. however, his characterization in this run is fantastic and i was torn to shreds by him over and over again. his and jon’s relationship is precious (as always (why is jon aged up again?)). definitely would recommend.

- batman & robin: batman reborn!

the story of dick grayson taking up the mantle of batman, essential reading for a massive change in the batfam. damian and dick’s early relationship, learning together, and some jason thrown in there, it’s a great read.

- superman: son of kal-el

jon kent as superman (unfortunately after his aging up, but still great), a really nice art style by john timms. some crossover with nightwing by tom taylor, a wholesome comic. not the most interesting of stories per se, but it’s really the only glimpse into jon as the main character we get, and he’s just such a sweet boy. the art is the best part of this for me!

- detective comics #833-#834

the backstory of bruce wayne and zatanna’s friendship. a great team up between them too with a crazy trick by joker. love the bat and zat’s relationship in this, and it shows bruce’s willingness to see his errors and his care for his friends(some comic writers do not understand this aspect of him). the first comic that got me into zatanna!

[all-lee24]

who do u think would be friends in a conceptual crossover between asoiaf and elden ring?

Not exactly friends per se but I did make a list of characters I would put in a room together for my own entertainment

[mask131]

Another little post about the Sandman/Flat-Earth situation. I have seen this recent post relaying the idea that Gaiman's Sandman is an entire rip-off of Lee's Flat-Earth. I spoke about this idea before - pointing out that people seem to be overblowing it a bit and trying to turn a "strongly inspired by" into a "it's a plagiarim case" thing. You know how it goes with the Internet - as soon as someone turns out to be a bad person, every new "trivia" that pops up is spreading like wildfire without people checking their sources (again, to stay on a Gaiman adjacent thing, see how people were deeply convinced Rowling had plagiarized Gaiman's Books of Magic, despite her not doing it and Gaiman himself not feeling plagiarized at all - especially since a lot of the Books of Magic series wasn't his per se, he just created the original mini-series and the rest was grown out by other artists).

Anyway I want to specifically talk about one point made in the post I linked: that Destiny of the Endless (Sandman) is supposedly a plagiarism of Flat-Earth's Destiny. I guess the character they are referring to is Kheshmet, Master of Fortune, embodiment of fate. Now, I have to be fair: I have not reached the part of the Flat-Earth series where Kheshmet appears. So far I am about to finish "Death's Master", and without this post I would have never been aware of the existence of an embodiment of fate in the Flat Earth (since the Lords of Darkness are usually talked about in terms of the trinity of Azhrarn, Uhlume and Chuz).

However I have, again, to point out that despite the feeling maybe being right... to call Destiny of the Endless a "proof" of Gaiman's plagiarism of Lee falls flat (no pun intended). Because Gaiman did not create Destiny of the Endless. Again, this is something that most Sandman fans know about - unless they are fans of the show exclusively - but the very first issues of Sandman, the first arcs, were about creating a new series part of the DC Universe (it was only later that Sandman strayed away into its own thing, and the series adaptation removed most of the DC Universe references to avoid being too obscure to newcomers).

Sandman wasn't just about creating another part of the DC Universe (well, multiverse) but it was also entirely dedicated to bringing back under the light obscure, secondary or forgotten DC characters. That was Neil Gaiman's goal, and it was because these characters were unused and forgotten that he was allowed to go crazy with them.

The Dreaming's inhabitants, when we first see it, are all old EC Comics/ DC Comics horror hosts that were forgotten. Eve, Cain and Abel, Lucien, the gargoyles... They were all part of a shared universe before, the vast network of the old DC horror-universe. Gaiman took it back and simply decided that this universe would be the Dreaming's nightmare part in its ruined state.

The Three-in-One, the Three, the Triple Goddess, however you call them... start out as Neil Gaiman not just playing on the "Wyrd Sisters" like Pratchett himself did (Norns/Macbeth witches crossover), but actually reinventing the Three Witches that were old DC horror-hosts of the "Witching Hour" series.

Hence also why Constantine appears, why Dream fights Doctor Destiny, why Batman's Scarecrow appears, why one of the first "alternate Dreams" we see is the Martian god of Manhunter, why Dream has his Ruby (it was the Materioptkon), etc etc... In fact the first arc of Sandman lost MANY present many people trying to get in the series due to how heavy it was with old DC lore.

And Destiny of the Endless... he is not exception to the rule. Destiny is in fact the ONLY Endless that Gaiman did NOT create - when he started Sandman (again, we have his manuscripts, propositions and drafts in various companion books) he only had three Endless in mind, clearly designed, Dream, Death and Destiny - and the reason Destiny appears so early on in the series is precisely because he was pre-existing in the DC Universe.

He was another DC horror host, who had "canonically" interacted with characters like Lucien or Cain & Abel. Not only that, but he also appeared as a proper character in other DC titles before Sandman was created.

What did Gaiman do with the character? Give him a family and an exact position in the DC Universe. Change his purple robes to gray. Make him blind. And of course, let's not forget giving him a domain... The Garden of Forking Ways. Which Neil Gaiman has been very open (on his very Tumblr he said it two or three different times) about being a nod to Jorge Luis Borges' own Garden of Forking Paths.

As I said in my previous post, yes Gaiman is very derivative, borrows a lot, plays a lot of homages, makes a lot of Easter eggs and nods and winks to other works, resulting in his works being these sort of cultural Frankenstein Monsters... But when you want to point out where a character comes from, get it right please.

Yes, Gaiman was inspired by Tanith Lee when creating the Endless and Sandman. The Lords of Darkness are very similar to the Endless in many ways (personifications of abstract concepts tied to humanity ; top dogs of the supernatural hierarchy who play around with people's fates for their personal amusement ; have their personal world-domains, there's a certain D- motif recurring with Death, Delirium, Delusion...). But they are also very dissimilar in many ways (the Lords of Darkness are under the Gods, who are separate and stronger entities, while the Endless are "above and beyon gods" ; the Endless are a dysfunctional family whereas the Lords of Darkness laugh out loud when humanity imagines them as "cousins" or "brothers" ; and the D- motif is not recurring since among the Masters are the Master of Night and the Master of Fortune).

It is not because Sandman was influenced by Lee's Flat-Earth that EVERYTHING in it is a Flat-Earth rip-off. You have Ovid rip-off, Shakespeare rip-off, Zelazny rip-off, Brian Froud rip-off, The Golden Ass-rip-off, Eddas rip-off, Angela Carter rip-off and much, much more.

Maybe my point of view about the origins of Destiny will change once I get to read Lee's depiction of her Master of Fortune... But for now, if you want to accuse someone of plagiarizing Lee, accuse the artist who created Destiny for hosting EC Comics.

[bvckbiter]

some thoughts on characterization of the seven in hoo, VERY long post ahead:

for each of the five books in the series, i read them right as they came out and endured the year-long wait til the next release. like many readers, i was thrown off by the introduction of the new trio in the lost hero. but that was offset by 1) the seemingly more mature vibe/themes that riordan wanted to explore, 2) the monumental tension that was being built around the greek-roman separation, and 3) percy's comeback in son of neptune, even as an amnesiac.

mark of athena, released october 2012, was extremely anticipated because it was set to be the long-awaited percabeth reunion as well as the true crossover for the greek and roman spheres. there were a lot of theories being made at the time. would piper be able to mediate between eons-long enemies in a genuinely diplomatic way, or was she going to brainwash charmspeak them into compliance? how is reyna going to take jason suddenly having another girl and a new set of friends and another life after abruptly disappearing? will we get to learn more about jason's relationships within camp jupiter? would nico be dealing with any fallout from essentially boating along two riverbanks (translated directly from a tagalog idiom, so if the wording seems clunky thats why)? it didn't help that the first avengers movie came out in 2012, so the idea of a huge crossover event was all the hype then.

the published work, in my opinion... fell considerably short of expectations.

to be fair, we got some very good character moments. i did not find the judo flip scene cute, just kinda weird in the sense that i felt the author didn't know how to handle such a huge emotional turning point, but percabeth for the most part of moa was enjoyable, really giving you the high of this teenage couple finally being able to resume the honeymoon period they were probably in after four years of pining and a war lol. everything the fans wanted! unfortunately, we didn't get the same with other characters.

while i wouldn't say that percabeth was the reason, the difference in spotlight is nonetheless very staggering. the roman-greek reunification goes bad, sure, but it begins due to outside interference more rather than any actual intrinsic differences between the two camps; so the built-up tension from the previous books kinda falls flat. we get none of jason's backstory, so next to percy, he barely leaves an impression on the reader. hazel, frank, and leo get shafted into this weird love triangle where their enemy is leo's long-dead ancestor who ultimately makes no impact on the plot other than to have hazel and leo intersect somehow, contributing to leo's man-angst of being the seventh wheel. frank, who arguably has the most interesting set of powers and lineage, is basically relegated to being the muscle and hazel's (understandably) jealous boyfriend. piper... good lord. thats probably a whole other post, so i'll just say: cornucopia.

and yet, despite the disparity in characterization... you don't really feel that percabeth has a character arc or development per se. it's an odd contrast, with percy and annabeth getting a lot of time but pretty much remaining stagnant characters, as opposed to the other five who are written pretty blandly, but have valid, explicit inner struggles and questions they must face. for jason, it's being greek or roman. for hazel and leo, they want to parse their connection, even at the expense of frank, who is still struggling with his self-esteem. piper comes into her own power.

so despite being a book full of twists and turns, especially for percabeth, this is where you really feel the stakes begin to slump. decisions are being made to move the plot from point a to point b pretty straightforwardly, but there's not a ton of effort to make you invested in these characters other than what we know about them from previous books and the fact that they have a role to play in this apocalyptic second great prophecy.

but there's still two books left! the yearlong wait demands patience and creativity. surely percabeth falling into tartarus is going to make for some interesting development and impact. it was a brilliant plot twist, after all. with the darker turn that hoo was seemingly taking, there could have been so many consequences. percabeth could shut the doors of death from their side and come back alive, but come back wrong—unearthing old traumas, questioning and ultimately foreswearing their loyalty to the gods, threatening the reunification of the greek and roman aspects, etc.

and once again, house of hades... only semi-delivered? the tartarus chapters were certainly harrowing: percy choking akhlys is still a Scene of All Time to me because it felt earned, after all that percy has been through and what the series has been building up to! annabeth also having to face all the times she's been abandoned in her life, while less focused on, was also a very poignant moment for her character. they were events that seemed to push for development.

back on the argo ii, there's a continuing case of kind of low-effort writing on the other characters. frank and his mars blessing, for one; you kind of understand what rick was getting at, but... what! piper... girl idk what she was doing other than seeing visions in her dagger. leo... ue ue ue. jason commits to chb, but ofc he does because neither he nor we know/remember much about cj, so we don't really feel the loss! but there is one exception for his part, and that is of course the (in)famous cupid scene with nico, but i'll talk about nico much later.

hazel is an interesting case, so here's another paragraph for her. she gets to come into (more of) her powers just like piper did in the previous books, but from my viewpoint, it was considerably less engaged with who she was as a character compared to piper. in mark of athena, piper still struggles with being a daughter of aphrodite and how she can be "useful" as we know she struggles with internalized misogyny. on the other hand, hazel gets in touch with her mother's background... kinda? idk if controlling the mist can be considered equivalent to marie's voodoo; i dont think so. she certainly gains more understanding of her pluto heritage, too, and has this nice back-and-forth with hecate about creating her own path, but you don't really get the sense that doing so has consequences, or that she concretely shirked other paths to get where she was at.

where mark of athena fell flat with character stakes, house of hades to its credit does manage to up the ante—but only truly for percabeth. with all the resolutions to the character arcs in this book, you don't feel that the characters have anymore stakes or reasons to fight gaea other than the fact that she's still coming for them and they are in turn prophesied to defeat her. the one big thing that could be personal to them, which are the camps, ultimately fall under the purview of coach hedge, nico, and reyna, who are side characters, upgraded to main characters in the last book of a series already overbloated by shifting povs and favoritism.

ultimately, this is why blood of olympus falls apart. the best characterization work done, which is on percabeth and their time in tartarus, is in the end of no consequence and is barely mentioned. it's as if nothing has happened. all the build-up and investment fizzles out because in boo and beyond, even though they went through literal hell, they just shook it off (because accdg to rick demigods are extra resilient and don't get traumatized lmfao). the climactic face-off against gaea is headed by jason, piper, and leo, and it has no pay off. the books haven't dwelled on them as a trio after tlh because leo was too busy angsting about his love triangle, and jason's and piper's arcs, both individual and romantic, are shoddy, to say the least. to add insult to injury, leo's sacrifice is a fake-out! so he can finally shed the fucking seventh wheel arc that came about not because of a genuine exploration of how he has been outcasted all his life, but because the argo ii mysteriously became demigod tinder and also because rick thought "haha how funny that the latino is the outrageous flirt!" frank and hazel... just get shafted im so sorry babygirls T_T

what saves boo is not the cast of the seven that we have spent the five books journeying with. no, what saves boo is the three side characters suddenly made main characters because. well, fan favoritism and pandering. nico, reyna, and coach hedge comprised the only arc that wasn't an absolute slog to read through—high stakes, chemistry, and well-rounded character arcs that complemented each other. no hoo scene is honestly more heartwarming than reyna embracing nico. it makes you question if hoo's length and frankly shocking quantity of main ensemble members even constricted the narrative that could've been told, as opposed to the original intention of expanding the world of percy jackson through more povs. five books with at least 700-800+ pages each for five years. what a tremendous amount of time and energy to be wasted.

and there is, of course, the question of "should percabeth have been in hoo." until house of hades, my answer was yes. the fact that their tartarus arc fizzled into nothingness changed my answer to no. taking the whole series into perspective, if their treatment in boo was all that the hype and tension would amount to, it would've been better if they'd been relegated to side characters with mentor/helper roles as opposed to taking the spotlight away from the rest of the seven. their succeeding cameos in the other series + the new college reco trilogy makes the blunder all the more grievous.

heroes of olympus did give us a new cast of characters to love. along with all its racist stereotypes and pitfalls, it also diversified the percy jackson world. if not for the mid-2010s fandom who took up the slack of unexplored storylines and potential, these characters would be very much not impressioned on us. and as a successor to a series that was so deeply driven by family, friendship, love, and belonging, that it couldn't consistently humanize its main cast was the biggest sin.

[stellarfire]

good morning y’all !! now that i’ve had time to sleep on the crossover… oh my god ?? and i mean that in the best way possible. this was everything to me omg

although there were some things i lowkey wish we could’ve seen (i.e., more kelly and voight tension, potential my miracle parallel with stellaride), not getting them honestly didn’t take away at all from how much i loved this? more thoughts below the cut bc i got very rambly (and spoilers i guess ??)

starting with stellaride bc they’re my lovelies, obsessed with literally all their scenes. the intro? perfection. stella telling kelly to be careful without knowing she would be the one in the most danger the whole time? o w. “stella kidd, report back right now”? O W. and the more i think about it, the more i’m almost kinda glad we didn’t get the my miracle parallel? i mean sure, the absolute emotional gut punch would’ve done wonders, but there’s something that feels so much more intrinsically them about refusing to say goodbye to each other (namely stella refusing) and instead maintaining that fierce hope that everything would sort itself out and they’d be back together. on top of that, their little reunion with kelly being like “let’s get out of here tonight” like YES please go on that goddamn vacation now you two deserve to go to cancún something awful. what we did get may not be as heavy of a punch, per se, but at least to me, it hit all the same, and my god was i a lowkey mess hearing kelly’s message to stella being what she told him that morning😭 “we gotta make the time” what if i collapse huh then what

i think this has the potential, judging by the promo as well as this article, to be such a good segue into them finally getting into the real deep conversations and i’m really curious to see how it plays out over the rest of the season. i know some people think there could be a “but…” to this, but even if there is, i don’t think it will be as major of one people might worry it could be. that said, will it be an easy path? definitely not. i know we’re about to get some semblance of drama before the end of the season (and i’m prepared)😭 but all things considered, we’re heading in the overall right direction !!

secondly, plouch. oh my god plouch. i haven’t gotten more emotional watching this show in so long than i did last night watching those two. mouch talking to trudy before she went under for surgery? nobody touch me i’m STILL recovering from that one😭 christian stolte the actor that you are WOW, he put 200% into that and it SHOWS

thank GOD tho she lived holy SHIT i was fucking petrified ripley and lenox were gonna come out and say she didn’t make it omg

just as i predicted too, burzek gave me emotional damage !! ruzek refusing to say goodbye and being insistent he would be home for dinner ?? letting mak pick it ?? the way kim literally BOOKED IT to him at the end and he picked her up ?? i can’t stop watching that it’s so so perfect😭

stella and ruzek was such an incredible duo too, i need more of them asap actually. the way they balanced each other out and relied on each other and just worked so seamlessly as a team by the end of it, despite not being super familiar with each other? SO GOOD

what stella did to duffy when he had her at gunpoint??? first off i’m stunned that happened i wasn’t expecting that shit literally at all and god was i living in fear for a few moments there. but secondly, i’m floored omg, STELLA KIDD THE WOMAN YOU ARE. we all knew how badass she was before this, but that was something else. i think i just fell in love with her all over again but i digress

also one last thing, pascal’s reaction to stella not answering ?? i could go on and on about kelly’s obviously but pascal’s honestly caught me by surprise considering how frequently they’ve butt heads this entire season. the genuine concern ?? OUCH. there’s hope for them yet !! seeing that side of him, even if brief, was a good emotional punch. that mf truly does fascinate me as a character. will be thinking about that entire sequence for a while

i won’t keep yapping; i think all of that about sums up what i can manage cohesively LMAO. was this crossover perfect? no, but you truly can see just how much love and care and effort went into this entire thing from everyone involved. and i think as much as i do love the infection crossover, i gotta say, i think this one takes it as number one for me. i will be watching all three episodes so many more times

one chicago my beloved <3

[crystallizsch]

HI okay so about that multifandom post — these are the ones that comes to mind i might post about in the future (with a lot of them having oc x canon stuff as well)

(the headers are my fan ocs btw 💕)

obey me!

i’ll very likely do this tbh

potential crossovers??? seven sins/brothers vs the seven overblotters???

i’ve been thinking about this for a long time actually (for example: obm mc and twst mc switching places)

and if you must know my faves are simeon and mammon >:]

stardew valley

maybe i’ll post about it???

i barely have time to play this game 😭 and when i do, i play it for like a week straight and dont touch it for several months (which is something i do with a lot of the games i play anyway 😔)

maybe potential twst x sdv au

as for the characters i’m into: it’s the alcoholic and the emo boy, if you know you know

IF THEY CAN’T LET ME HAVE ROBIN IM COURTING HER LOSER SON I GUESS

our life: beginning & always

a niche(?) visual novel with a customizable mc

augh i’ll definitely post about it bc i have SUCH a soft spot for it

it’s cheesy to admit but the game got me through some rough times before i landed on twst lmao (and it's literally the ONLY game i did somewhat of a self-insert hgdkfj)

if you’re into slice of life visual novels, PLEASE check this out, it’s free on steam (it has paid dlcs (that i all paid for bc i love the game so much) but the game is still VERY enjoyable without it)

it has so much 2000s-2010s nostalgic vibes, and it doesnt force you to a romance if you don’t want to (at least from what i remember but im pretty confident that’s the case)

and the main “love interest” is the CUTEST OUGH

it’s not really “exciting” per se since it’s a slice of life, BUT BUT—

ONCE I START POSTING ABOUT THIS I WILL CONVERT YOU GUYS MARK MY WORDS

pokemon

HUGE MAYBE THAT I’LL DO STUFF ABOUT POKEMON bc i struggle with animal art ;;;

so probably i’ll just do occasional crossovers/aus with twst

or sharing some trainer/gijinka ocs

misc games/anime/etc.

the arcana (nix hydra): another niche(?) visual novel free on the app store about a magician mc and tarot cards (grossly summarizing it), i’d recommend if you like fantasy/dark themes 🫶 i have a soft spot for it too bc it was one of my first oc x canon i started posting when i was younger <3 (i’d like to consider the art style of this dating sim “unconventionally pretty” like it’s not your usual anime otome game art style. it’s definitely not for everyone but i personally like it)

cult of the lamb: i have a one-off lamb oc but if i do post about this, it’s probably going to be more about gameplay than oc-posting tbh

honkai star rail: i have no ocs in this game but i LOVE playing for the characters/story so it’ll prob be just me reacting to story stuff and agonizing over gacha pulls

+ probably other franchises (like other anime or video games and stuff) i might make fanart of or just talk about

AGAIN TO CLARIFY: i'll still be twst-posting first and foremost because i know it’ll be my main fandom for a LONG while, i really don’t see myself dropping it any time soon!! these other fandoms are just side interests

and considering my track record of ONLY focusing on certain twst characters/ocs, i don't think the fandoms i mentioned here will show very often anyway 😭