#obviously there can only be so many combinations of features as to there be at least two similar swedish blond blue eyed white men

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Hi, sorry for it to sound like I was asking you to change your pfp, English is not my first language, so I sometimes end up saying things wrong. I actually thought the image was cool and tried comparing it to something I like, thinking it may be the same thing. And we do have a blue-eyed blonde who famously wears a red coat

(I don't know how to put an image here, but his name is Enjolras)

No problem friend! I know how it is, English isn't my first language either and you were merely likening my profile picture to something that brought you enjoyment! Which, wow. I looked Enjolras up and a lot of fanart of the guy has features that bear extreme resemblance to my little mermaid man.... here's some trends I noticed put into a single comparison, how crazy is this!??

Now I know where to look if I ever want to pretend like Ahti II has a fandom where he's dramatic and holding guns and/or flags /lh

[kacievvbbbb]

Okay so I’ve spent the last couple days on Twitter (@kacievvbbbb if you wanna join me 👀) just fucking yapping about my new found obsession with the idea that Mihawk not only reads but is an active and well loved contributor to the pirate smut genre all across the blues. And I just needed to bring this to tumble to get more thoughts on it.

Here are mine;

- he obviously writes under a pseudonym would be funny if it was an anagram of like Worlds Strongest Swordsman or something.

- he writes essentially y/n fanfiction but he is always the reader.

- he is heavily perfectionist about his detailing of things like bodice ripping and that has lead to many a fun night for Shanks as he discreetly tries to rest just how exactly a bodice ripping would look and feel. Or if this sex position is even plausible.

-this one was a combined effort between @Dior and myself but he writes all the lovers as much more of an active participant in sex than the pillow princess himself actually is and this is because he thinks he is putting in exactly the same amount of work into sex as Shanks is which is laughable.

-Benn features heavily in alot of these RHP smut books. Benn

-He mostly writes RHP smut but he will branch out to other pirates like Crocodile maybe Doffy 👀. This gives Shanks heart palpitations when he finds out all this smut has been written by Mihawk.

- Mihawk almost kills both himself and Shanks by drowning the first time he finds out that Shanks knows about his little hobby.

- Shanks regularly requests they try something from the book and Mihawk has to stomp down the urge to throttle him. But again Mihawk’s reader is a much active participant in sex than he is and he is not a fan of all this work he has to put in even though he enjoys the results. Shanks is highly amused.

- Shanks for the first time in his life becaomes an avid reader with a habit and this confuses everyone that doesn’t know what he is reading and suffers Benn greatly who does.

- Shanks is lowkey very into the stories where the “reader” has sex with other men. He starts setting plans in motion.

- Mihawk also collects a lot of pirate smut a lot of it is about himself as well and this is his equivalent to jerking off. His next favorite people to read about are of course Shanks, Cricodile he is ashamed of just how much Doflamingo smut he owns. Lowkey maybe some King smut too.

- a contribution from someone on Twitter tha I live is that he also grades said smut about himslef and then sends the notes to the authors.

- he pseudonym is well known and well lived in the community.

-this is infact where more than half of his riches comes from.

- yes he also does read marine porn. He steers clear of anything that even remotely mentions garp tho. His favorite marine to red about is Sengoku I don’t fucking know 😭. I can just imagine him seating in warlord meetings shipping Sengoku with random fucking marines and pirates as he is trying to talk about very serious business

- he sure write the well known and well loved “the red haired emperor & me” series which is published in Morgan’s magazine or whatever and Shanks always seeks him out no matter where he is and fucks him good and hard everytime a new chapter goes out.

- he continues to do this while at Cross Guild Buggy and Crocodile are non the wiser. His crocodile descriptions start to get more detailed a clown pops up every now and again in his writing Shanks might be on the verge of a heart attack.

- shanks is a little too invested in the situation some (Benn) would say.

[wonderrot]

MEET YOU AT THE GRAVEYARD

billy butcherson x female!reader

WRITING WARNINGS: reader is ageless but obviously eighteen or older as depicted as a young woman BUT that term can relate to any age (bc age is a mindset once you hit eighteen in my experience- meaning getting older than eighteen is a mindset) and there is a moment of fluff bc i love this man tbh.

XOXO, CHESHIRE — nobody ever writes for him &. it’s so super sad :(( so be blessed my lil crows <3! tempted to make this a series but idunno if anyone would be up for that!

y/n had heard of the town’s beloved favorite legend her entire childhood, as she had been living in salem since she was a young toddler. she knew all about the sanderson sisters but most importantly, she knew about the lover of two of the sanderson sisters. you see, she had felt undeniably close to billy butcherson ever since she had heard his name mentioned by one of her teachers during the first grade.

it was a complete utter mystery to the young woman as to why she felt drawn to him, especially during the night of samhain and why she would wake up hours later with no recollection of the night prior. this has occurred nearly every samhain since she had turned the age of thirteen. a number that many consider to be unlucky but y/n and the crow that followed her around for years that she nicknamed as mama happened to love that number. even more importantly, the young (h/c) haired woman considered that to be the day where her entire universe and timeline had shifted around.

yet again the date was marked as october thirty first and y/n y/l/n found herself following mama towards the old graveyard once again. her (e/c) irises looked around as she gently stumbled throughout the cemetery, after she gave a gift to the long deceased soul at the gate who kept watch over the cemetery, as she whispered apologizes to the dead for making her way through their ghostly homes. she hoped that none of them were too mad as she finally made her way to where billy butcherson had been buried all those years ago.

“oh billy.” she softly called towards the grave as she sat down, criss cross, in front of it and gave it a small sad smile as she watched mama sit upon the headstone. “you know what day it is, don’t you?” she remarked as she began tracing random designs into the dirt above his grave, not realizing that she had been drawing a mixture of sigils and runes, which would eventually lead towards him crawling out of his own grave. as she sat there mindlessly drawing those designs in the grave dirt she began wondering to herself — how would he react to the truth and what if she told him the truth after all these years? what then?

you see, y/n y/l/n never had any recollection of any samhain from the age of thirteen to where she is now as a young adult but she would occasionally be gifted dreams that featured that crow she nicknamed mama and flickers of her running through the town of salem with billy butcherson by her side. she knew through those occasional dreams that she had fallen in love with him over the years and she thought herself silly to even think about how he could possibly react to her falling for him after all these years. especially considering he had been dead and gone for a long while. but then again fate always found a way especially when it came to cosmic lovers.

a loud creak could be heard echoing underneath grave dirt causing y/n to jump up from her sitting position upon the ground to stare at the ground with wide eyes and a racing heart. she was beginning to believe that perhaps she was possibly starting to lose her mind due to being tired from her lack of sleep the previous night, only to be proven wrong, when she heard scoopfuls of dirt being moved away followed by loud grunts of annoyance.

“billy?” the young woman called out with a combination of fear and confusion melding into her tone before jumping back as the top layer of dirt was moved away and a head popped up from the grave clawing at their own mouth to try and remove the black stitches placed over them. “oh you poor dear.” y/n had remarked before glancing around upon the ground for an item to help the man and luckily heard a soft caw from the top of the gravestone, causing her to look up and notice a small bladed knife sitting near mama’s feet. she was quick to gently grab it from above billy’s head as he watched her with anxious eyes before she squatted down next to him and stared down at him from outside the grave.

“let me help you with that.” she softly remarked as she gently moved to use the blade against the black stitches and carefully cut them away from his lips. she didn’t believe it was fair for her to just sit here and watch him struggle to remove what was bounded to him that he clearly didn’t like, especially with how she loved him. it was undeniable as her (e/c) irises scanned his face and took in his ruggish and haggard appearance as he did the same with her. a loud clearing of a throat was heard before a raspy voice spoke, “you have a staring problem there ma’am?”

“you know for a man who has been dead for at least a couple centuries, you sure do have a lot of sass in your form of respecting someone.” y/n quipped back to the man who rolled his eyes at her playfully as a grin found its way upon her face. “and maybe i’m over being dead.” the brunet quipped back as he moved as gently as he could to get himself out of his own grave, groaning to himself as he moved considering his bones haven’t been moved in a good long while.

the (h/c) haired woman shook her head at his words as she moved to ensure that the man had enough room to comfortably get out of his grave as she shamelessly watched him move around and she had checked out his clothing that he had been buried in, taking notice of the purple bow tied around his long hair. “you say that like you had the plague.” she remarked back to the man who shook himself like a dog to get another thick layer of grave dirt off of his clothing. he was quick to whip his body fully around to stare at her in order to reply in such a sarcastic manner, “a plague of witches who don’t know how to keep to themselves.

“you see now i know why they decided to kill and bury you.” y/n softly called as she moved to start walking towards the gates of the cemetery. she heard heavy footfalls behind her and grinned as she knew he would be following her as he seemed to want to keep up the banter. “where are we going?” billy had been quick to question as he stood a respectful four feet away from the young woman as they made their way towards the gates. “you mean where am i going and you following me like a six foot something bloodhound?”

“it’s not like anyone else is here and like you said, i’m a few centuries old, who wouldn’t want me to follow them home?” the brunet had chuckled at his own joke and y/n shook her head as she playfully rolled her (e/c) eyes as they approached the gate and she whispered a thank you towards the spirit that watched over the cemetery. “alright come on now, pup.” she spoke in a fit of giggles at the very end and it extended into a full laugh as she heard the now undead man behind her making a sound that was very reminiscent of a fellow dog.

[drabblesandimagines]

Warm Palms

Clive Rosfield x afab reader Fluffity fluff, slight spoilers, mentions of period

Clive has always been a light sleeper from a young age. From his training as a Shield of Rosaria and later a captured soldier of the Imperial Army he knew sleeping left you vulnerable. Any slight noise was a threat that needed to be assessed, then either dealt with or dismissed.

He would admit, however, that he had been sleeping somewhat easier since you’d started to join him in bed.

Too long had both of you ignored the feelings bubbling under the surface, only coming to a head after a pint too many of Molly’s brown. Molly had headed off to bed when the two of you were her only remaining patrons, and to avoid your voices echoing around the ale hall Clive had invited you up the stairs to his room to finish off your drinks. It was only when the two of you entered, he realized he didn’t have anywhere to sit - the chair at the desk being the only seat in his room. So, the two of you had sat on his bed, knees knocking, until a combination of the sweet smile on your face as you listened to him speak and a surge of confidence had resulted in his lips meeting yours before escalating into a passionate, frantic kiss.

You’d spent your nights in his bed ever since – whether he was there or not, he’d discovered, returning late one night from an excursion and finding you fast asleep in his sheets.

It takes him a minute to realize what’s woken him up. The waters of the blighted lake lapping upon the walls of the hideaway, the soft hoot of the stolas in his chambers, and then a soft grunt of pain coming from your side of the bed.

Your breathing is different, not the steady state of one asleep, but that of someone trying to tolerate discomfort. You shuffle ever so slightly, obviously trying not to disturb him and wince as you do so.

“Darling?” He whispers.

“Sorry,” you mutter back. “Go back to sleep.”

He leans up, slightly – you’re facing away from him. “What troubles you?”

“It’s nothing,” your voice hitches for a second. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

He places a gentle hand on your shoulder, tilting you towards him so he can see your face, catching a wince.

“Love?”

You open your mouth but take a moment to say anything. “It’s my monthlies.”

“Ah.” He nods, as if he knows much of the subject. The truth was, you were the first woman he had been intimate with and though you had been together a fair few months now, he hadn’t heard you mention them previously, assuming they had happened in times of his absence. “Painful, I take?”

“Mm. It’ll pass.” An unconscious grimace crosses your features once more. “Please, go back to sleep. You never get enough – I feel guilty for disturbing it.”

“I can hardly sleep easy knowing my lady is in discomfort.” He sits up then, reaching for his discarded linen shirt.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ll go down to the infirmary, I am sure Tarja will have something…”

Your hand grasps his arm, stopping him before his feet touch the wooden floor. “No, Clive. Please don’t wake half the hideaway on my account. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

He frowns – he doesn’t want to go against your wishes, but he can’t lie back down knowing you’re in any amount of pain. You’re so precious to him, every wince or soft noise of pain is like a dagger to his heart.

“Please.” You reiterate, and he concedes, dropping his shirt back.

“I must do something.”

“Just stay – that’s enough.”

But there must be something more he can do, he thinks, as he leans back against the wall slightly, taking you in his arms and pressing his lips to your forehead in what he hopes to bring momentary comfort.

A conversation overheard dredges up in his mind – a time in the infirmary, after Tarja insisted he sit still for ‘at least ten minutes’ after she had stitched up a gash on his arm and he’d complied to save her the stress. From the other side of the curtain, he heard her speaking to one of the young girls of the hideaway who’d started her monthlies, providing her with information, talk of painkilling draughts and herbs and also a mention of a warm compress upon her stomach to relieve the cramps.

He looks at his palm in the dim light. Since the reawakening of Ifrit all those years ago, he’d tamed the flames that ran underneath his skin more and more, able to change the intensity at will. He concentrates hard, just enough to bring an imperceptible layer of warmth to his palm and touches it experimentally to his face – he’d never wish to burn you. It feels soothing upon his skin.

“Do you trust me?”

“You know I do, love,” you mumble from your place on his chest.

“Roll onto your side a moment.”

You don’t question, doing as you’re told. Maybe if you hadn’t been tired and uncomfortable you would’ve questioned it more. Once you’re on your side, Clive readjusts himself onto his own side, his broad chest pressing onto your back and he slips his hand around your waist, dipping below the slip you wear to bed, up your thigh and eventually landing on your stomach. You’d gone to protest, unsure of what he was thinking, but when his palm pressed upon your skin it was comfortingly warm, soothing the rolling waves of pain in your stomach.

“Does that help?” He asks, tentatively, but he had already felt your tense muscles relax at his touch.

“Very much so.” You sigh into the pillow. “How…?”

“Thank Ifrit.” He presses a kiss to the side of your head, before rubbing soothing circles upon your stomach.

“Thank you.” You reply, softly. “It feels wonderful.”

“Anything for you, my darling.”

Clive continues to rub his palm on your stomach until he hears your breathing slip into the rhythm of sleep he knows so well. He nuzzles his face into your neck, feeling content. His palm remains in place all night, the warmth keeping the pain at bay and granting the two of you a restful sleep.

--

Ghostdog: I'm on my period and I can't find my hot water bottle, so Clive's imaginary palms will have to do.

Thank you so much for all the requests! I am working on a few at the moment <3 Wrote this more for me but I will have some requests up in the next few weeks. There's some other characters I'd be happy to write x reader fics for in FFXVI, so do let me know! x

Masterlist . Requests welcome . Ko-fi

[starryoak]

Basic Pokémon Worldbuilding Headcanons

Decided to write down my base worldbuilding assumptions about the Pokémon World, in case anyone else would like to share them;

Pokemon types are not fully a human-made classification system, but rather a metaphysical property of a Pokémon’s aura, the same aura that Lucario and many other Pokémon manipulate; the ‘frequency’ of their type is unique to them, and the combination of types makes its own unique ‘frequency’, much like coordinates on a chart with 18 different axiis on both sides.  This means that classification was first made and named by psychic humans who could sense them, until humans developed machinery for proper classification. The formal classification of a type is conditional on being detectable by modern technology, which is why the Fairy type remained unclassified for years, as it was very similar to Normal type in makeup.

This energy is also how Pokémon can be contained in Pokeballs and transferred electronically; Pokemon are naturally capable of converting from energy to mass and back again, though the exact mechanics of this transformation only became known in the 90’s as advances in science allowed the Pokémon Storage System to come into existence.

Psychic humans, of course, as we know, exist. Up to 5-10% of the population is some form of psychic, the extra 5% having psychic potential of some manner that, while not offering powers of any kind, makes them extra vulnerable to psychic effects or attacks.

This fact mixes explicit canon with my own headcanons; evolution for Pokémon is a process entirely separate to aging or the biological meaning of evolution in our world. Pokémon evolve for a variety of factors that are often connected but not always related to aging; if their territory is suited for them and would not support their larger evolution, many Pokémon simply choose not to evolve, leading to strange (for humans) sights like encountering elderly Treecko. As Grovyle are significantly larger than their prevolution, the Treecko would have had to leave his family behind to seek new territory, so it simply never did. Evolution is not the process of aging for Pokémon, though it’s often intimately connected with it, most Pokémon are fully capable of reaching maturity and breeding prior to their final evolution, so many simply choose not to do so for their own reasons. 

The act of evolution consumes a large amount of energy in a short period of time; this is the cause of the glowing light seen in the anime and some games, while others feature large bursts of swirling wind, the method of energy dispersal can vary, but all evolution causes some form of sudden energy discharge.

The process that is described in our world as natural evolution, and this is explicitly canon, does occur to Pokémon, though often it can be much more rapid than in our world. For example, and this is implicitly (though not explicitly) canon, Electrode and Voltorb’s species was originally a species of Apricorn mimics; this is implied by the Temple of Sinnoh’s statue of the original Lord Electrode, which has no dividing line between the upper and lower halves. As Pokeballs came into existence, they pivoted to mimicking them instead.

Pokémon breeding is more complicated than canon presents, obviously, but the base premises the game uses, of “Egg Groups”, is fundamentally still correct. Pokémon reproduce in different ways based on their species, but all Pokémon capable of breeding are in some form capable of laying eggs, often with the more mammalian Pokémon simply being ovovivaparous, giving live birth to their young, but still having eggs inside their bodies rather than placentas.  Under stress or other conditions that make it more favorable, often these Pokémon can choose to lay their eggs rather than develop them internally. Despite most technically being capable of doing so, most Pokémon simply do not choose to breed outside their species, and in fact, interbreeding between species in the wild is a likely sign of a disturbed ecosystem.  Obvious incompatibilities due to size can be overcome through artificial insemination, and Pokémon breeders often use these technologies to help create more effective battlers. As in canon, male Pokémon pass on very little to their offspring. To elaborate on that fact, male Pokémon pass on their aura to their child more than genes, and this leads to the influence of the father on a Pokémon expressing themselves subtly, often offering the capabilities to learn moves that may not be natural to their offspring. Very occasionally the father’s genes will express themselves in minor physical differences to an average member of the species, but this is very rare and usually very subtle.

Pokémon that are not biological in nature and/or in the No Eggs Discovered egg group tend to reproduce in their own unique ways, but due to unknown reasons, speculated upon wildly by scientists, usually still produce some form of egg in the process of reproduction.  For example; Magnemite and its family reproduce by two or more Magnemite collecting magnetic minerals together into a roughly egg-shaped ball, which eventually solidifies into a Magnemite egg. This type of reproduction is common to most Pokémon in the Mineral egg group. Most Ghost types are capable of natural reproduction, despite their appearances, and simply collect energy together during reproduction that coalesces into an egg once a male Pokémon has provided their aura.

[anistarrose]

So I have only my two cents to give on the "curing disabilities in fantasy/sci-fi stories" trope, as just one disabled person among many disabled people, but here are my two cents nonetheless.

One defense of the trope is that it's simply a form of escapism, and moreover, a fantasy that disabled people themselves can quite reasonably find joy in — as a feel-good story, a break from all the pain of real life. Many — not all by a long shot, but many — of us would jump at the chance for a cure, after all, and it's not like we're not valid to do so. Lots of us take pride in being disabled, but nevertheless, sometimes it really fucking sucks.

The counterargument to the above is this: that this isn't a realistic trope, and that particularly in combination with the suffocating frequency that this trope is used, this becomes the opposite of a hopeful fantasy. When you have an incurable condition, and the only happy endings you see represented for people like you in fiction are inevitably only achieved once the characters stop being like you — that can be indescribably upsetting.

Disabled characters do not get happy endings while remaining disabled — and fiction is fiction and all, but I'm not going to pretend like this doesn't have gradual, accumulative real-life effects on the amount of effort people/society are willing to put into accessibility and acceptance, because of beliefs like "aren't you going to be cured someday anyway?" Or "isn't this disability just going to stop existing, someday? one way or another?"

I hope I don't have to explain how damaging it is to think the above way, or to imagine a future where disability doesn't exist. (Yes, even though disability is partially socially constructed. That's a load-bearing "partially".)

So, if you couldn't tell, I do generally relate a lot more to the harsher, more critical view of this trope — but I certainly don't want to judge actual disabled people for writing it either (and especially not people with progressive conditions), not when there is genuine catharsis and escapist joy that can be wrung from it. I obviously don't trust non-disabled folks with writing "cure" stories any further than I could throw them, due to a long fucking history of non-disabled people fucking it up — but also, no one should be forced to reveal personal details, let alone medical history, to justify their choice to write something.

This is the paradox that I am willing to come to terms with, by throwing up my hands and saying, "okay, so some of the time I sure don't like it, but it's technically none of my business."

That said: if you're non-disabled, or you're writing about a disability much different from your own (a physical disability when you're autistic, for example), and you want to write an escapist feel-good story featuring disabled characters: I also want to stress that "escapist themes" versus "no one's disability gets cured ever" is very much a false binary. You can have both.

I've never written a "curing a disability" story. But I've both written and enjoyed some extremely escapist, unashamedly hopeful stories revolving around disabled characters — and it's all about accommodation.

A story of any genre where society is more accepting of — and willing to collectively help care for — chronic illnesses and chronic pain? That's escapist, and if it's something that characters once fought tooth and nail for, it's pretty damn cathartic. A fantasy or sci-fi story where medicines are still required to treat a condition, but the medicines are more accessible, more effective, et cetera, may also be escapist depending on the context.

Fantasy service animals, high-tech service robots, magical or indistinguishable-from-magic mobility devices? They're all possibly escapist too. (Just note that a lot of disabled people may still maintain a personal preference for seeing the "real world" versions, and that's that's also perfectly reasonable. Remember that the gripe with the original trope has a lot to do with a lack of variety in representation, justified by arbitrary rules about how fantasy/sci-fi "should" look, and the goal should be not to replicate that.)

So, in conclusion: if you find yourself writing a disabled character, and want to give them a happy ending, I urge you not to jump to "their disability is cured now" without at least thinking through the alternatives. Do your research regardless, and accept that disabled people will likely have a wide range of opinions on whatever you decide to go with — but accept that disabilities themselves are varied, and should not inherently have to consign either characters or real human beings to tragic lives by their mere existence.

[stealingyourbones]

I bring you come Ethically Sourced Bones (antlers) and thing written at approximately 4 am. Apologies for typos or ramblings, as it is currently 4 am.

Timothy Drake is not a human. He may look it and act it, but he is not. With those he trusts he does not pretend he is human. He let's none of his features show but he will freely tell them, "I am not a human. I have never been a human. If I am ever seriously injured, allow me to tend to myself. Would be best for everyone if I did so."

None of his family believe that last part. Bruce, Alfred, Dick, Jason, Cass, Steph, Duke, and even Damian do not believe for a moment that Tim is better off locked in the Drake Manor by himself to heal on his own, no matter what he insists.

Tim does not tell them what he is. They all have asked at least once but Tim always tells them the exact same line. It is delivered with a smile and cheery tone that has undertones of something more sinister, "some secrets are best left as they are, for everyone's saftey."

Tim is not human. But this body he uses is, sort of. This body is actually a fake. It is something he constructs using psychic powers to walk and talk among People as People Do. He can only make one at a time and should this one be rendered inoperable well. It's a simple matter of concentration and a few days to remake the body from scratch. This is made easier by the fact that only one body sleeps at a time, his consciousness simply jumping between his Human Shape and his True Form.

Though sometimes, if Tim isn't paying attention and is feeling Very Relaxed, his forms will... blend some. Mostly just streaks of color appearing in his hair or on his skin, his body taking on a strange texture, or on a few extremely rare occasions long tentacles will peak out from under his shirt or jacket, wiggling and waving to show he content he is, like a dog wagging it's tail.

Far, far away, deep under the ocean his True Body rests, many colorful limbs wrapped tightly around the downed nuclear sub he dragged into his nest dozens of years ago. Tim's True Form is Large and Old. So large it hurts to imagine. He knows that in a hundred years he will miss this family dearly, but accepts this fate. He will always love them and cherish them and if they called for True Help.

Deep in the ocean, a smile spreads across the face of Titanus Na Kika as he thinks of his family so far away, yet so close as he brushes a shoulder against Jason.

Ok so according to a quick google search, this is Titanus Na Kika:

And my dude, I absolutely adore this.

Even if Tim DOES tell his family what he truly looks like, he knows that they’ll never see his true self. He’s far too deep underwater and far too dangerous to comprehend visually without any barrier to their vision.

The Batfamily knows that something is slightly off though. Superman has mentioned to Bruce that Tim’s vocal range seems to reach far higher and far far lower than a human should be able to speak. These strange guttural drones and clicks are combined with his speech like it’s simply apart of how he talks.

I’d like to think that eventually when he tells everyone, they grow used to Tim’s more relaxed form. Obviously he isn’t the true behemoth colossal creature from the deep, but he certainly no longer resembles a human in this state. They accept Tim’s strange hums and chitters and clicks as vocal inflections to his speech, they’ll high five a tentacle as they walk past Tim and hand another tentacle a hot coffee that said tentacle lifts towards a mouth that previously didn’t exist and pours the nearly boiling beverage into its open maw without flinching from the scalding heat.

Tim is a bit strange and weird, but he’s their Tim.

[itsclydebitches]

Okay, so I saw this RWBY meme made by a fan and I can't remember it completely but it was about Emerald switching sides. What stood out to me was the language used and how Ruby's group was specifically referred to as "The Good Guys side" and if that doesn't show how broken this show's morality is then I don't know what does. Emerald switched to the side of good, not just Ruby's side. The side that is specifically good because it's Ruby side. You're either with Ruby or against her with no in-between. Compare this to Aang's group in ATLA, affectionately called The Gaang by fans. A term that collectively refers to the group without proclaiming them as THE good guys. We know they're good because their actions show they are good. It isn't just a title grafted on because they're the stars of the show. And while they have an official grouping in the form of Team Avatar. It still isn't used in the same manner as RWBY fans calling all who agree with Ruby "The Good Guys".

Decided to start answering backlog asks! We've officially entered the post-RT discussion era. Fun! 😬

You know, RWBY is compared (unfavorably) to Avatar a lot, but this comparison is particularly interesting to me because Avatar is, well... Avatar. That's a title. And it's a title built into the fictional world, one that's so significant it's worthy of being the name of the show. The Avatar is a combined destiny/job description that, in the words of the wiki, is the "human embodiment of light and peace." Obviously free will still comes into play - I'd never ignore the significance behind Aang's personal choice of how to bring balance to the world - but there's an element of fate here, of self-fulfilling prophecy, and fourth wall-breaking knowledge. In-world, benders are (presumably) not chosen if they're unsuited to be this embodiment of peace. Once someone knows they're the avatar, they can more easily find the courage/determination to meet such high standards because this is how it's "supposed" to be (regardless of whether anything cosmic is actually ensuring their success). And the audience knows, by virtue of that title and our opening, how we're meant to view Aang: as the Good Guy of the story. All that already exists outside of the actions he takes within the show, helping to soften anything potentially suspect with a "Well, he's just a kid" or "Well, everyone makes mistakes," or whatever explanation that's technically true in any harrowing story featuring a young protagonist... but continually falls flat with Team RWBY.

Because RWBY didn't do that same work. RWBY doesn't have a handle on its own identity the way Avatar does. It laid some of the groundwork early on but then never capitalized on it, which is why I'm endlessly groaning over the failure of not doing anything with Ruby's status as a SEW/simple soul. Those could have easily been titles the way "Avatar" is a title, something that the people of Ruby's world see as cosmic evidence of her purity and inherent ability to lead them in this war. Instead, it's just a one-off, ambiguous statement and a very badly used skill.

So yeah, Emerald joins The Good Guys, which wouldn't be bad if, as said, the show had shown the group unambiguously being Good people in a war with black and white solutions. Or, if we had some reason to believe that Ruby is The One True Leader, destined/worthy of bearing this burden no matter the number of mistakes she's made. But RWBY even undermines the title aspect by making Ruby herself fairly inconsequential in later volumes. Yeah, the show is also named after this team/our protagonist... and yet that began to feel incidental as the cast grew AND many of the characters brought new - arguably better - perspectives + powers into the fray. Avatar made the simple but VERY important decision to say, "This is the ONLY GUY who can do this job. Sure, he's going to need a lot of help and saving the world is absolutely a team effort, but that team revolves around him because he is, again, the ONE PERSON who can accomplish this." RWBY failed to set that up and (arguably) failed to show the group being The Good Guys, at least to the extent that the whole world would understandably put their faith in a teenager who, frankly, just keeps making things worse. Like, that's a big consideration imo. Ruby's intentions have always been good and most fans are fully on her side regarding justifications for her choices, so in that sense she is absolutely The Good Guy, but beyond that she's just really bad at saving the world. So if she's not somehow ordained to do it and continually shows a severe lack of skill in this regard... why are the characters/the viewer rooting for her again?

[pebbledragon78]

I decided to do the “draw your comfort characters as the Steven Universe meme” art trend originally from Twitter, featuring Melami Goldmine from Master Detective Archives: Rain Code and Kirumi Tojo from Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony.

I think I’m the only one who’s done this specific combination of comfort characters. Melami is obviously my current fave, as many have seen on my Rain Code posts, but I also really like Kirumi from V3. She’s among my favorite Danganronpa characters across the entire franchise.

The dialogue was changed because I felt like this would fit Melami’s character slightly more; She’s not into violence, so I can see her possibly leaving the dirty work to someone else. Though to be fair, I don’t really see her getting others to kill for her in the first place? Idk tho 😅😂

Also, this is my first digital drawing shared on Tumblr, so there’s that! Yippee! 😄👍

W.I.P.S and original tweet below the cut:

[qfitpac]

Imo this is the most likely event for Sunday, and let me explain why. (leaks from the QSMP discord)

First of all, earlier Quackity mentioned being on a plane. Why is this relevant? Well the only way to get to Korea is by plane. However, 14 hours later, he tweeted that he had lied about the plane. Now why would he do this?

This is, of course, because BTS had been testing the mod and realized that Korean wasn't working. For some reason, whoever coded the translate mod had mixed up the language files and replaced Korean with Spanish, specifically Spanish with a Korean accent. (Tbf I don't blame them, the file was named something like QSMP_language_file_v3_finalFINALVERSION_KOR_Korean_Hangul_Accented_Spanish_ESPANOL, and obvi if ur screen is small the last part would get cut off).

Now Quackity is in a predicament. He's very smart, obviously, so he cancelled his plane immediately and actually got a 70% refund even though he was technically canceling within the 24hr window. And then he got in a call with admins. I was actually in this call (they added me on accident) and although I don't speak or understand Spanish I was able to comprehend everything perfectly (they were speaking English).

Basically, they were screwed. BTS themselves had scheduled out time to make a guest appearance on the QSMP, this was huge! MASSIVE!! But the translator wasn't working: what were they going to do? Now naturally my first instinct was oh, well they can speak English, right? But I should've held in my trust of Quackity and the entire admin team, bcuz their creativity and problem solving is as always off the charts.

One of the admins (not going to name anyone for privacy reasons) had been doing a project on their spare time. Eggsonas, of course, have been a trend on and off since the first adoption day. And this admin had been making all sorts of models. It just so happened, by a stroke of luck, that they had made 7 bts eggs!!!!! Everyone was so excited about it, the entire call was shouting for a good minute lol. I actually had to take out my earbuds.

Eggs, of course, cannot speak. This solved the translator problem flawlessly, as the sign and book translators were working as normal. It also gave the BTS members an extra 2 hours to play on the server! (previously their managers had allocated 2 hours for them to find/create minecraft skins, which obviously is now unneeded.) It's a win-win-win.

Now on to analyzing the teasers: firstly, you'll notice the Update accounts tweets. These are, of course, referencing how bts have both touched and eaten ice and ice cream. Also, as true fans will know, bts just recently broke their freezer and had to mop everything up. It's a nice red herring given the previous ice imagery in teasers, and we all know Quackity loves his trickery.

Secondly, the seven outlined in grass. Grass has been a prominent feature in many BTS music videos. Some say it's even a staple of their work. For example, in their 4th music video there is grass on the ground, to represent how growing up has made them more grounded. Nextly, the seven. Obviously there are seven members, but combined with grass this is actually a double hint: BTS was active for seven years between 2013 and 2020 during which they released songs. This is a special number for them because of these events.

Now obviously, I don't have all the answers. My prediction on the discourse, for example, was completely made up. But i hope this gives you all a sense of what to expect come Sunday. (also please don't tell any qsmp admins I'm leaking this info 😭😭😭😭)

[superpeeboy]

Top five reasons Good Cop Bad Cop are the best characters?

Oh man! You knew what would happen when you asked that. Here goes!

(lots of text below)

1. Concept

GCBC’s concept has always stood out to me. Even before I was obsessed, I looked at his design, and I thought it was cool! The combination of the Good Cop Bad Cop trope and a dual-sided minifig head is really smart! Those ideas combine so well, and without that idea as a basis, GCBC wouldn’t be GCBC.

There’s also subversion of how split-personality characters tend to act! Obviously, Good Cop is the good one and Bad Cop is the bad one, but its more complicated than that. Good Cop is still willing to melt Emmet, and he still works for Business and participates in the policework, he is still a villain despite being nice! And Bad Cop, while it isn’t quite as noticeable earlier in the movie, 100% redeems himself in the end! (And I think he still has moments where he isn’t just full-on evil earlier on, I’ll get back to that later.)

A peculiar fact I know is that they started GCBC’s design with the Good Cop Bad Cop trope, NOT the dual-sided minifig head. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel like the natural progression would be starting with the LEGO feature and turning that into a character. But they didn’t do that. Originally, he was just going to flip glasses up and down from his hat.

The highlight of GCBC’s design is obviously their head. I love their outfit (maybe not so much when I’m rendering something), but there’s not that much to do about a police outfit. I only wish it was actually purple. BUT I’m getting distracted. I was trying to mention how GCBC’s faces contrast so much! Good Cop’s large glasses highlight his eyes, and his eyes show how nice he is, they’re round and soft and cute! To contrast Bad Cop’s sunglasses block out his eyes, and all you get to see is his big ol’ mouth. He usually has his teeth shown, with each tooth lined out. You don’t see outlined teeth on Good Cop. Outlined teeth are something I always got told not to do in art, because it makes characters scary. But of course, Bad Cop is supposed to be scary! So he has that trait! And I love to see it!

I’ve always been interested in character design. It’s not something I myself can do very well, but I love to see interesting characters. And GCBC’s design and concept are exactly that! Interesting! (And this whole thing is about GCBC, but I think a lot of the other characters also have really good designs.) What I especially love is how all TLM designs are interesting despite the limitations of being a LEGO. In fact, I think they’d be worse if they weren’t LEGO! The artists had to put a lot of effort into making these designs look good, even as minifigs. I think that’s awesome.

2. Story

Ough! It already hurts and I haven’t even typed yet! But of course, GCBC’s story is important. GCBC is given the most tragic story in TLM. They are forced to keep working for a corrupt boss, and they are the only ones (outside of robots) who are aware of the corruptness. But that is exactly why they have to just go with it, they know Business has the power to kill them and everyone they care about if they went against him.

And even then, even when they’re working for him the best they can, knowing far more than anyone else and having to act normal about it, well you know what happens. GCBC loses everyone. They obviously do not have many people that support them to begin with, but Bad Cop loses his parents and Good Cop! And that leaves him with one person, Business.

It’s implied Business has been so terrible to GCBC for a while. Good Cop is so scared of Business that he avoids the guy as much as possible, to the point Business needed to specifically ask for Good Cop, and even then he would keep switching out. And GCBC’s helmet is mostly for protection from Lord Business, not master builders. But what can GCBC do about their situation? Nothing! Business is the damn president, they can’t do anything about it. And they can’t join the master builders, they’re murderers, they can’t just join the good guys! GCBC is a victim of such unfortunate circumstance.

Isn’t that crazy!? They just add the most horrific abuse on GCBC to this movie!? It’s a movie about LEGO! And you can even see how this affected Bad Cop, if you look closely, and have worms eating your brain! But again, I want to get to that later!

3. Personalities

IT’S LATER! Obviously GCBC is two guys in one. I love that. I love it so much that it feels wrong when people seperate them! I’m getting more and more into my own interpretation and outside of what is actually shown/implied in the movie, but I think GCBC just wouldn’t work seperated. I feel like Good Cop and Bad Cop exaggerate each other’s personalities. Good Cop is really nice, which leaves Bad Cop to have to be the mean one. No matter how nice Bad Cop might try to be, he isn’t going to be able to match Good Cop. And their names are no help anyhow.

If they were to be seperate people, Bad Cop wouldn’t be as aggressive. He wouldn’t HAVE to be! And if he was, then he would just be a complete jerk. But when they’re connected, they both balance eachother out and contrast more. Good Cop allows Bad Cop to be mean and Bad Cop allows Good Cop to be nice.

Good Cop is the nice one. But he isn’t THAT nice. I think I said this earlier, Good Cop was totally okay with killing Emmet and he still works for Business. But he is less violent. He is the Good Cop, so he must be the sympathetic one, or else he wouldn’t BE that! He certainly is evil, but he also certainly is kind.

Bad Cop is the antithesis. He is the bad one, duh. But he also is not entirely terrible. He can be a little nice, as a treat. Especially after the loss of Good Cop. Now that there isn’t a Good Cop to be the good one, that leaves Bad Cop. And if you’ll notice, he does start acting a little nicer. He offers an easy way to Emmet, Wyldstyle, and Vitruvius in that Old West scene, he says thank you to what he THINKS is a robot, and obviously he brings back Good Cop at the end, he’s not entirely evil. But he definitely is a little bit.

During the movie, Bad Cop has a running gag where he beats up chairs. Aha, I’m really going into headcanon territory right now, but I see that as him taking his anger out on chairs instead of PEOPLE! Wouldn’t that be sweet? He tries not to hurt people! Amazing! He also melts people but I forgive him for that!

I love GCBC’s personalities. I love them on their own, but especially how they work together, as ‘one’ character. I love how despite being a Good Cop and a Bad Cop, they’re both more complicated than that. Man these guys are great!

4. Family

GCBC is the one LEGO character given a family. Obviously the story is about the Man and Boy upstairs, and they’re family, but no other LEGO gets that. Emmet and Business aren’t exactly related, even if they’re the LEGOsonas of Will and Finn. In a draft of TLM, Emmet did have a mom, Doris, but she was removed. GCBC gets parents though. And also, eachother, as brothers!

GCBC is a villain. But they have a family that they really do care for. Good Cop can’t bring himself to kill his family, when he’s entirely willing to kill Emmet. And Bad Cop is ‘willing’. But it’s more like he knows that if he doesn’t do it, Business is going to do it instead, and he’ll be punished. And he’s clearly apprehensive anyhow!

I already mentioned how Bad Cop reacts to losing his family, the only people who care for him, but there’s more! Bad Cop sings the song ‘Danny Boy’ after losing Good Cop. An old irish song about losing someone (usually by death) and wishing to be reunited someday. Cool man! I’m not crying! My eyes are sweating!

The fact that GCBC is given a family is very special! And the family really helps with their character. And everyone comes back in the end, but does that change how terrifying it would be to lose all your family, family who Bad Cop was especially close to?

5. Love

And now I talk about what might be the best part of GCBC. The love! Theres so much to GCBC, clearly the creators loved him. I love being able to see that. Despite being the villain, and not even the main villain at that, GCBC is included on lots of merch. GCBC is also included in lots of extras. And he’s included a LOT. GCBC is given so much by the creators!

Liam Neeson didn’t have to voice GCBC in single takes, but he did. Because he thought it fit the character. Because he cared about the character! He improvised that darndarndarnydarn thing because he cared about the character! He added all sorts of weird noises because he thought it fit GCBC! He didn’t HAVE to do that! He wasn’t getting anything from doing that! But he did it because he felt like it made the character better.

Isn’t that just darling? GCBC is not just a fan-favorite, I think he was a favorite of the people who worked on the movie as well! And I think those guys know a lot about TLM, ha ha! So, that’s 5 reasons why GCBC is the best character, in my opinion.

[fnaf-hope-au-askblog]

Hello and welcome to my FNAF ask blog!

FNAF Hope AU is based of a dream I had soooo... Lemme do it in ao3 tags style:

#Alternative Universe #OOC #OMC #OFC #robophilia #robot sex #sex with robots #blood #death #possible death of main charactres (that depends on you 👀) #god they all need therapy #NSFW #self insert #no minors here this is FNAF!!!!!

I will obviously tag the questions with specific tags, but if you don't like don't read, I am here to have fun and if not to give a happy ending for all of them, then atleast give them a hope for a good ending.

all answers in choronological order! (works for dashboard only)

CHARACTRES YOU CAN ASK NOW:

[???] [River O'field] [Hazel Perez] [???]

Slowly over time you will unlock more characters, but you will have to earn the trust of animatronics and in many cases even fix them to be able to question them.

Ask blog RULES:

Do Not Repost My Art! If you want to translate/voice over it - ask for permission first!

Specify who are you asking a question to, you can ask several people/animatronics in the same question

Можете смело задавать вопросы на русском! uωu

ask anything, NSFW too, CHARCATERS CANNOT HAVE BOUNDARIES. Bother them. Push their limits. Provoke them, push them to do certain things!

Dublicated questions will be combined into one answer

Answers will be mostly sprites and sketches, finished artworks/comic pages will be rare

Theories are allowed and welcome for submition, tho I will not comment on it anything other than just :) #theory

Asks to me as a creator and admin please send to @kotikaleo

Also I will be tagging any answers with #fnaf hope au ask and use content lables built in feature of Tumblr so you might as well check your settings in case it is set to complitely hide labeled content

So with all that...

Don't fuck up! uwu

[slotumn]

Today's 3H worldbuilding thoughts:

What exactly is the in-universe advantage of Crests, if any, aside from status symbols/succession legitimacy? As in, what are its military/tactical advantages?

The most obvious are the Crests effects: occasionally recovering HP or doing additional damage or enemy not being able to counterattack. Which is... nice, but if we assume that it works in-universe how it works in the gameplay, you can't even control when those effects trigger, so when it comes to military strategy, you're probably better off treating that as a nice bonus rather than a key feature to plan around. I've also read the argument that a Crestless commoner who learned a powerful magic spell can very well do the same kind of damage that Relics can, and again, if we assume it works in-universe how it does in the gameplay, that's technically true.

But also, if you look at another gameplay mechanic: the Relics are all E rank weapons. And as long as you have the matching Crest, you can dish out the unique combat arts as much as the weapon durability allows.

In other words, as long as someone has a Crest, they can wield a matching Relic and reliably use crazy-ass techniques with no prior training, as opposed to others who have to study and train far more to master powerful spells and techniques. Of course there are other factors that would determine the outcome of actual battles, but Crest-bearers definitely have an advantange, higher baseline, whatever you call it.

What's interesting, though, is that obviously this only applies to Crest-bearers who have access to matching Relics. For those with Crest of saints, they still need to train and get their weapon rank up to A in order to wield their matching Sacred Weapons— but the Sacred Weapons can actually be wielded even without a Crest as long as someone is skilled enough (weapon rank A). They even get the healing benefits too, although those with matching Crests get more.

I like to think this actually explains how/why the Empire and Saints won against Nemesis and the Elites. The Elites were powerful, yes, and they were capable of superhuman feats, but their military capabilities depended far too much on those few superhumans. With Nemesis' "rule by strength/strong eats weak" philosophy, it's likely that they didn't do jack shit to make their soldiers work as a unit rather than a bunch of individuals competing to kill more people and prove themselves stronger.

Meanwhile, the Empire probably had a more robust infrastructure and training system; maybe there weren't as many "stand-out" individuals, but the overall median skill level was higher because the average soldier lived longer and gained more experience, and operations didn't fall apart over the death of one charismatic warlord-type leader because they were coordinated and organized on a larger scale. The structures established from this era is probably what keeps the Empire a formidable military force in the continent, even with Faerghus and Leicester falling away + suffering from a lot of internal corruption after a thousand years.

That being said, militarily speaking, the Empire post-Faerghan and Leicesterian independence is almost definitely not chill about the Kingdom and Alliance having Relics while they don't. Northern regions must have learned from the Empire's military organization while they were part of it, then they broke away again, meaning that they'd patched up a lot of their previous weaknesses... and also have stupid powerful weapons (Relics) that the Empire doesn't. That, combined with Church seemingly being friendlier with the Kingdom now, would definitely make them anxious.

I think the above also explains why the re-conquest of Fódlan has apparently been an ambition of the Imperial house for a while, according to Hopes. Like, morality of invading and conquering aside, of course Adrestia wasn't happy about losing control over the northern territories they fought a long-ass war to win and of course they don't like the other two having Relics. Once again, moral arguments aside, it seems like a continent-wide shitshow and conquest/re-conquest attempts with Relics and Crests as implicit or explicit cause was bound to happen at some point, even if it wasn't for Edelgard.

Tl;dr Fódlan's politics makes more sense if you think of Crests and Relics kind of like nukes

[olderthannetfic]

CW: rant about "racist fetishizing" and "exotification" as a white person, etc.

One thing that particularly drives me bonkers is when antis take issue with things that are either not obviously negative or are inextricable from things that are neutral or even positive. For example, are there situations where AAVE really is "appropriated" and used in a way that takes advantage of black culture while keeping a comfortable distance to actual black people? Sure! But my gents. 1) A random Tumblr user having absorbed a ton of AAVE into their speech patterns and saying "y'all" a lot is not it, 2) absorbing language patterns from those you socialize with is an unavoidable side effect of socialization, and I don't know how to tell this to terminally online people but it is in fact a good thing. It is a good thing that African-American people are so present and their content engaged with enough that people are passively absorbing AAVE! No, it doesn't mean racism is solved or that people who say "y'all" can't be racist, but absorbing AAVE in and of itself is a good sign!

I have a similar complaint with most accusations of "fetishization" (beside the meaningless vagueness of the term), because what it comes down to is "you find people who look like this sexy and that's BAD". Even "exotification" is not in and of itself a bad thing, when removed from the context of imperialism and colonialism, because looking at someone and thinking they're sexy because they look so different to what you're used to, i.e. "exotic", is not actually inherently a bad thing! We have some amount of sexual draw to what's different - I mean, people with blue eyes apparently all have a single common ancestor who really got around, for crying out loud.

Where this attraction becomes problematic is when due to the outside material conditions (whether on the societal scale or the single person scale), the exotified person is both desirable and lacking in power, but the exact same thing is true whatever the ethnicity of the person! (A good deal of what feminism views as "predatory" behavior in men is only really predatory against the background of economic desperation in women wherein there is some material disadvantage to turning down unwanted advances, and would be considerably more harmless in a setting where everyone is equal and living comfortably, which I daresay should be the end goal of any equality and empowerment movement).

As someone with straight hair, I think curls are sexy. As someone with brown hair, I think redheads and blond people and people with black hair are sexy. As a white person, I would probably date one of my cute Chinese co-workers if I weren't so damn ace, because something about that combination of same tone or darker skin + completely black smooth hair + the general facial features (including the monolid some people get so insecure about because Western poisoning sigh) is just gorgeous to me and I'm not afraid to say it. Saying something like this should not be taboo. People of any ethnicity deserve to have people of other ethnicities gushing about what makes them look distinct and unique! I mean, shit, people gush about white skin and blond hair and blue eyes enough.

(Disclaimer: I am once again not saying that there aren't contexts where calling out racial fetishization is appropriate, or where people desire someone for their physical differences but still consider them to be subhuman. There are many such cases, I know. I would even say that, based on observations of the heterosexual world, wanting to fuck someone and thinking they have equal value as a person can be completely and utterly uncoupled from each other. But this doesn't mean that all expressions of attraction because of the physical differences are automatically suspect, and it's no wonder that so much of pushback against "fetishizing X ethnicity" reads like a pamphlet in support of racial segregation!)

Tl;dr: Thinking someone of X ethnicity is hot and being racist towards that ethnicity can co-occur but have little to do with each other. People try to fix the latter problem by attacking instances of the former, and that's stupid, and just ends up looking like "you're not allowed to thirst outside of your own race".

--

It still boggles my mind that y'all is the thing people have chosen to take as appropriation from AAVE.

[yersina]

a linguist plays chants of sennaar (pt 4)

[pt 1] [pt 2] [pt 3] [x] [pt 5]

we're getting close to the end, guys!!

disclaimer: can't promise that i'll have any insights that a layperson wouldn't have, this is kinda just me thinking through the grammar of the language out loud haha.

this post covers the fourth language and will contain spoilers! it also assumes that you know what the symbols mean already.

additional note: i went and added alt text to my previous posts in this series! sorry for not having them before :)

numbers!!!!!!!!

before i get into anything else, i think i might as well start with numbers, which are the most unique part of this language and really leans into the portrayal of this society as mathematical and scientific lol. like the arabic numeral system, this number system is base 10, which we can see from the ruler. whether it’s base 10 or not isn’t super relevant to the gameplay or the language, i think?? except that it mimics the arabic numeral system, so it’s familiar to us. i am not a mathematician or logician or what-have-you, so i wouldn’t know—my expertise does not lie in this area lol

we only have evidence in the game for numbers with up to 4 digits (one on each side and end of the center line) so we don't know how the alchemists would've represented really big numbers. however, the placement of the four numerical digits around the central line suggests to me that this language might have a system that counts by four digit placements, rather than three. (to clarify: in western cultures, we often count and represent numbers in groups of three: thousand (1,000), million (1,000,000), and so on, with a new word for each set of three digit places. in many east asian languages, large numbers are represented in groups of four instead (examples that came to mind were chinese, japanese, and korean, but that’s just what i’m personally familiar with; there certainly might be others). in chinese, we have 万 (10,000) and 亿 (100,000,000), single words instead of “ten thousand” and “hundred million”. the word for million is “hundred-ten thousand” (百万).) since this language naturally seems to represent numbers in groups of four, that's my suspicion. unfortunately, the addition-only calculator in lab 2 only goes up to 9999, so we don't know what happens at five digits; my best guess is that the center line changes (maybe becomes two lines instead of just one, since one line also represents 0?), but obv there's no guarantee.

moving on from numbers, this language is relatively consistent when it comes to visual representation of linguistic categories: verbs have an open circle, locations have the sideways u/semi-circle deal, and people have a triangle-plus-line element to them. interestingly, “fear” once again is more of a noun than a verb in this language in terms of appearance. at this point, i’m inclined to think that this a quirk of the developers, rather than the language; even though fear is often used as a verb in the language itself, its appearance denotes that it’s primarily a noun, which may indicate that the game developers also thought of it as a noun first and verb second.

other interesting combinations of elements/radicals in the language include “mine”, which combines the radical for location and the triangular feature of scientific elements/materials (i.e, “the location where you can find materials”). the word for “seek/want” and “laboratory” share a radical, which suggests that that radical means something like “answer” or “curiosity” or something like that. another fun thing i noted is that the word for “alchemist” shares a similar shape to “i/me”, which might be indicative of a thought like “i am an alchemist”, and that those two concepts are linked, culturally or historically. i also think it’s interesting that “fire” and “fear” visually look more similar to each other than the other nouns—again, could possibly indicate something about how the alchemists conceptualize them? they obviously live in an environment where they encountered monsters that were scared of fire, and they in turn were scared of the monsters—i wouldn’t be surprised if it were the case that these were connected in that way.

i’ve been trying to figure out if this language has a particular pattern when it comes to representing words with an open circle vs dot, but so far i can’t find anything. might just be random/artistic choice!

this language once again returns to the pattern of being SVO, with plural suffixes rather than prefixes like the warrior language. in fact, i would say that grammatically, especially in terms of sentence structure, the warriors and the alchemists seem to be the most similar. no verb-initial languages in this game i’m afraid, haha.

one more language to go!!

[clover-the-awesomest]

Vaggie’s Character Design is Great Actually

I literally just noticed this so bear with me here. Some details may be forgotten or just straight up ignored.

ALSO ALSO I JUST WANNA SAY THAT THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS HERE IN THIS POST FOR HAZBIN HOTEL SO IF YOU SOMEHOW HAVEN’T SEEN THE SHOW IN ITS ENTIRETY THEN PLEASE KEEP SCROLLING. THANKS!

So! Here we have Vaggie, a former angel exorcist and current short-stack girlfriend to the literal princess of Hell. Nice job Vaggie, you went from a 9-5 employee at McDonald’s to a literal vice president ur doing great 👍

There’s one thing I noticed about her design though, and it has to do with just that! Vaggie’s design is very… Mixed, in terms of the shape language. To explain what I mean by that, let’s take a look at a few more examples.

Alastor: Very sharp, lots of sharp edges and corners, sharp teeth, tall ears and figure, very red, lots and lots of bright bold red, so much red that it almost hurts your eyes, looks like he’s about to kill someone. In short, Alastor’s shape language (Also very triangular) is very sharp and menacing. He’s a villain, at least to an extent.

Adam: All over the place, very tall and menacing, lots of smooth edges/angles while still having very sharp corners. He’s not really a villain as his shape language suggests, just a pig. An absolute disgusting whore of a pig. A jerk, if you will.

Charlie: Hair and face have very round edges, and the features are very soft and understanding. Big eyes to amplify her innocent look. The clothes, on the other hand, are very red and very sharp, a bit more professional in terms of appearance compared to her actual body. Like she’s trying to fit in, or like she’s just trying to keep a steady business. Much more rectangular compared to Alastor though to show her resolute stubbornness.

Charlie’s character design is also mixed, just like Vaggie’s. Like stated just in that above paragraph, her hair and face have a much softer shape language compared to her outfit, which demonstrates that the outfit is acting as a cover of sorts, like a mask hiding who someone really is. Kind of like Adam’s design too, but his is a lot more all over the place and is very chaotic, showing how similar to Mammon he is when it comes to attitude.

What I’m trying to say here is that Charlie’s character design shows perfectly what she’s really like. Someone soft and caring and understanding, yet so naive that she has to pretend to be the opposite just to get by. It’s genius!

Now on to Vaggie.

Her outfit is like the antithesis to Charlie’s. It’s got lots of soft, rounded features, the skirt covering her big-ass thighs and her shirt being very loose and comfy. Her high-top socks have little white half-circles/ovals, representing some kind of softness or something. However, the rest of her design is very tough and sharp. Her hair is just a bunch of triangles, her eye is very pointed and the other one is literally gone, replaced with a giant floating X, and her feet are just little sharp nubs. The bow in her hair is a combination of these two design directions, being very rounded yet still quite pointed, and with many rips and tears in the edges to show how worn out it is.

Now let’s look at the designs for the exorcists, shall we?

We can obviously see an abundance of similarities here between the exorcists and Vaggie, but we also see some similarities to Adam as well. The exorcists have very sharp angles and pointy character designs. The thighs are very tiny compared to Vaggie, their outfits are quite bland yet commanding whereas Vaggie’s is very, well, not commanding… The list goes on! But we also see quite a bit of Adam in there as well, whereas the princess’s girlfriend has next to no resemblance to the guy.

Vaggie’s character design is not only a perfect parallel to the angels, and it’s also not just a total rejection of what Adam tries to accomplish, but it’s also a clue on what her origins are. The soft, comforting clothes are like an attempt to cover up or forget her disgusting, ruthless days as an exorcist. Her body shape is in itself a reminder, so she covers it with hope for a new fate, one that is much kinder than she was before.

Hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope it wasn’t too redundant. I just wanted to have some fun with it. I also only now realized it so if this post seems a bit wonky then it’s most likely from the adrenaline of discovery or something. Thank you for reading until the very end, I appreciate you so much more for that, and have a great day/night!