#role swap mera

[internetgiraffekid1673]

Bring Back the Bombshells Batgirls!

In helping a friend of mine map out who all has been Batgirl across various DC continuities, I remembered a little jaunt to TVtropes where it mentioned that in a charming little number called Bombshells, the batgirl identity is shared by a baseball team.

This reminded me to actually go READ Bombshells, and oh. My. GOSH. It is the BEST FUCKING THING EVER!

What is Bombshells?

Basically, almost every male superhero got yeeted from the story or relegated to side character/civilian, while every female superhero takes the spotlight and gets to KICK SOME NAZI ASS (it's set during world war 2). Plenty of people get spotlight, but I'm gonna argue that the MAIN characters are probably Kate Kane's batwoman, Diana of Themyscira's Wonder Woman, Mera's Aquawoman (she hates that name, lol), Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, Zatanna, and Kara Starikov's Supergirl. All the storylines tend to revolve around them.

Oh, also it's super gay. Like, every single character is a lesbian or bi, there's tons of ladies kissing and dating and having implied sex, and at least one character---one of the batgirls actually---is trans.

In summary, go read bombshells it's really good, but today I'm here to specifically talk about:

The Batgirls (and boys)

"One for the ribbon, two for the pearls! Three for the crimefighting---

So first off, Bombshells is an elseworld, so it can do whatever the fuck it wants with backstories and shit.

Subsequently; this version of Kate Kane is a major league baseball player, and her Batwoman costume is literally just a pallet swap of her baseball costume (plenty of people figure out her "secret" identity because of this, but she's not super concerned about it). She uses an actual bat as her main weapon as Batwoman, and it kicks ass. More fanfic writers, and hell, comics writers need to hand the Batfamily some baseball bats, because it gives us scenes like this:

Or this:

(Yes her bat has a gun, it's supplied by Amanda Waller through goverment money, don't question it. Her baseballs are also explosives).

Oh, and also this:

Anyway, point is, Batwoman has a bat and it's great. But this means when Gotham's bat-weilding protector gets drafted into the Bombshells to go fight Nazi's, some new faces have to pick up the slack in Gotham.

And so:

Inspired by their vigilante/baseball hero, Harper Row, Kathy Duquesne, and Nell Little pick up some bats of their own and start busting up crime! The three of them are mechanics, that old car is their batmobile, and they're the best of friends!

Of this original trio, Kathy is "the brass" or the leader, and she remains nominally in charge through the whole thing. Nell is "the brawn" and while every batgirl is good in a fight, Nell is a bit of a demolition specialist. Finally you have Harper, "the brain" who invents their gadgets, works on their batmobile, and also jokes that she's the mascot, as this whole thing was her idea.

They don't stay a trio for very long though! They're quickly joined by "the beauty" Alysia Yeoh, an old friend of Kathy's, in an effort to break Cullen Row out of a prison-like orphanage (she's the t-girl btw):

You may notice another girl crouched in the corner up there too! That's Bette Kane, Kate's niece and the rightful owner of Kane Industries who will forcibly take it over, clean it up, and use it for good on her 18th birthday in like a week!

In the meantime though, she heard about the batgirls and decided she wanted in! She crashes their jailbreak and helps them wreck shop! She mostly shares the "brass" role with Kathy---a leader in her own right.

Anyway, their now quintet quickly finds the awful headmistress of the Pinkney orphanage berating one Tim Drake, who still has a living dad somewhere, but was snatched up by a dirty cop because this whole city runs on Newsies rules (not even kidding, I'll get there in a sec). Turns out Tim and Alysia are old best friends. Anyway, Tim fills them in on the sitch: the headmisstress has been using the orphans as slave labor to build war robots for the nazis.

The batgirls (now including Tim!), bust up the basement and the robots, free all the orphanage kids, including Cullen, toss the awful headmistress and the dirty cop helping her to one Detectice Maggie Sawyer---Kate's wife---and the day is saved!

In the subsequent week, Bette takes over Kane Industries, starts funneling funds into housing for immigrants and refugees and relief and aid and all that good stuff, and also recruits the final batgirl of the team: Felicity Smoak (the chick in braids)! Thus we have a full team!

Who's who in the alt text

I'm only halfway through Bombshells, but the batgirls and their adventures are a recurring plot thread, since protecting Gotham is entirely up to them while Kate is away. They gain lots of other allies and enemies (including one hispanic immigrant Lois Lane who does straight up help them pull a newsies and make their own newspaper with the real news in it at one point), and their sections are probably one of my favorite parts about the comic. It just feels so sweet and high school, while still feeling Batman-esque/Gotham-typical.

Why You Should Care:

Now. I may only be halfway through Bombshells, but I am in LOVE. With the story and the characterizations and everything!!! And the batgirls are a personal fave of mine cuz I'm a sucker for found family and teens fighting crime and bat-weilding superheroes!

But my point is: for all that fanfic loves these tropes too, there is NO fanfiction for them (or at least not on ao3). There's practically nothing for the Bombshells continuity PERIOD, which is a shame, but also to be expected for an elseworld.

But that's why I'm here and telling you about it!

You guys! This is fanfiction! We love flinging the batfamily through alternate universes and making lots of different characters take on the familiar Batgirl and Robin roles!

Why not bring forth the Bombshells Batgirls?

If you're writing your own elseworld, I suggest you nab this adorable team, or something like it! If you're writing an alt universe crossover, feature these guys!

They are the Batfamily found family you want! They CALL THEMSELVES a Bat-family! They all move in together! They loooooovvveee each other! And, as is the nature of the Batgirl mantle, they do what they do largely as independent operatives without adult supervision!

I would really love to see these guys yeeted into an alternate universe and have to cope with just HOW different their continuity is. Not only will they inevitably be flung way into the future, since they're around in the 40s, but in most continuities they're completely unconnected from each other and are absolutely not a team of bat-weilding crime fighters! It would be so baffling for any mainline batgirl and robin to meet a team that is so disconnected from them and so unconditionally supportive of each other and so Badass Adorable!

In Summary:

I may have lost the plot a little with this, but my points are:

Bombshells is really good and you should all go read it

Bombshells has a team of adorable bat-weilding batgirls that has all the found family crime fighting tropes you could want without the bad blood of the mainline batfam

More people should write fanfiction for Bombshells

The Bombshells!Batgirls in particular I think are a great place to start with that. Nab the premise of a baseball team being crime fighters, or Gotham being protected by a group of scrappy children whenever the big bad vigilantes are away, or give these colorful kids their Bombshells!backstories.

Also use the Bombshells universe in particular when you're flinging bats across the multiverse. Yeet these babies into a mainline comics verse and let the juxtaposition and chaos run WILD! There's a million and one of these fics for the Young Justice cartoon, I know ya'll can do it for Bombshells

Also. Take every opportunity to give your Batfamily, and your Batgirls in particular, an actual bat. It'll be so much fun, I promise

Anyway, I'll probably be back with another Bombshells rant later, PEACE!

[burst-of-brilliance]

Don’t know when I’m gonna start talking about it but I have thought of my own role swap AU

“Epithet Shifted”

The swaps are:

Sylvie and Molly

Lorelai and Giovanni

Zora and Percy

Rick and Ramsey

Naven and Mera

Yoomtah and Indus

Phoenica and Howie

Trixie and Gorou

Some clarification before I do more with this

Calliope is still alive

Despite swapping with adults, Trixie and Phoenica are still children and Howie and Gorou are still adults.

Yes Trixie is the Sheriff of Redwood Run despite being a literal child.

Gorou has no relevance whatsoever

[ekat-fandom-blog]

Masterpost thingy 2

Unless stated otherwise, all of these are prompts. first masterpost here. (also some of them explicitly say "prompt" because adding a description seemed pointless or I was being lazy)

Patron Deities - Just a thought experiment (sorta) for which deities would be part of each of the shazamily's patron group.

Thought Experiment - which JL member would get which of Captain Marvel's powers.

Blurred Lines - Soulmate au w/JazzxDick, DanixJonxDamian, and DannyxBillyxKlarion.

Eddie's New Dog - Riddler runs into the GIW and Cujo.

Errand Boy - DanxConstantine where Clockwork sets the two up.

Demon Hunter Dani - DanixBruce where Dani goes to Gotham to stop a demon from causing trouble.

Thought Experiment - a thought experiment where I work through who I think would get which of Captain Marvel's powers if he decided to share them.

Role Reversal AU - heroes are villains and villains are heroes or civilians.

Swamp Thing saves some ghosts - dcxdp prompt

Allodynia - Tim/Danny prompt

Halfa!Beast Boy - Beast Boy starts getting some ghost powers

Imaginary Friend - Prompt featuring Youngblood, Kaldur, and Bart

Shifter AU - Sam/Val and Cass/Steph are shifters.

Soulmate Count/Body Swap - Constantine/Dan

Phoenix AU - Halfas are phoenixes

Atrocitus meets Skulker - dcxdp prompt

Monthly Meetings - current and former child/teen heroes get together to have monthly meetings.

Technus and Red Robin Shenanigans - dcxdp prompt

Lex vs Vlad - dcxdp prompt

Can't Kill The Jokers - Danny kills Joker, but there's more than one.

Lex's House Isn't Haunted - Johnny haunts Lex's house.

Jack and Desiree in Metropolis - GIW messes up. Supergirl helps.

Barbie & the Secret Door AU - dcxdp au prompt.

Important AO3 PSA about needing to tag OCs and Reader-Insert characters

Pariah Darkseid - dcxdp prompt.

Vlad & Larfleeze - dcxdp prompt

Magpie - just info about this Batman villain.

Therapy - Tim goes to Spectra for therapy.

Fliting - Ghost Writer leaves Amity to find a flite partner.

Totem Thief - Cujo steals the Tantu Totem from Mari McCabe (vixen).

Cursing Curse - Constantine and Zatanna investigate Amity Park.

Imposter - Amorpho meets Clayface

Clone meet dragon - One of Danny's clones made it into a new universe where most of dc characters are dragons.

Roy vs Lunch Lady - dpxdc prompt

Pass the Crown - Reformed!Dan is on the JL. Danny interrupts a meeting.

Magical Girl!Jazz - Dani and Jazz search for the Teen Titans to figure out what this magical item that bonded to Jazz is.

Danny's Powers - list of Danny's powers

Maddie and Alfred - the cats meet

Box Ghost and Tawky Tawny - dpxdc prompt

Valerie and Talia Meet - dpxdc prompt

Trapped in a Thermos - M'gann gets trapped.

The Hit - Deadshot vs Walker

Bounty Hunter - Danny's a bounty hunter going after Falcone.

Amnesia - Danny gets amnesia. Jimmy gets a visit from one of the observants.

Political Meetings - Danny meets Mera and Arthur (king and queen of atlantis).

Musical Chairs - Power swap dpxdc prompt

Tim Angst - silly little fic idea

Magic Show - Jazz gets run out of Amity and sees Zatanna's show.

18th Birthday - Reverse Psychology soulmate prompt.

Pain - Spirit Halloween ship soulmate au

[spliinkles]

(I know it's too late to say but I think Epithet Switched is a good name for a swap au)

You know what? You're so right.

[cartoonchaos]

🧡Breaking Barriers💜

So I guess my chat w/ @spliinkles is official swap au canon??? Maybe??? I love this au so much you guys

[spliinkles]

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHI

After a month of work, I present you 3 mediocre pages of a comic!! This is a roleswap au for @jelloapocalypse series Epithet Erased! 

Mera is Indus’ bodyguard instead of the other way around. Indus still wants to get the Arsene amulet for Mera’s sake but he doesn’t fully understand that it completely takes a person’s epithet. Mera has no idea what the amulet is or what it does but she refuses to let anyone get past her without giving it 120%

[millicent-dagworth]

Last, but not least of the Swap!Au, Indus Tarbella! He's (if I remember correctly) a teen paleontologist who absolutely loves dinosaurs and wishes they were alive. He is also in Sweet Jazz City to try to find out more on Epithets. During so, he runs into a small girl named Mera and over hears a conversation between staff that leaves him wanting answers.

[professoruber]

Epithet Erased Role Swap AU FanFic: A swapped place in Sweet Jazz City Prologue

Hi, This is just a quick Fanfiction I've written up based on the amazing Role Swap AU made by @spliinkles. I actually did have a somewhat similar idea before (which was what if some epithet related event caused characters to switch ages) but I really love the ideas of this AU and wanted to write about it.

Sorry first of all if there are any errors. I wrote this up kind of quickly and if I do find errors I will be willing to fix them if  I get around to it.

Am posting this fanfiction here because the Epithet Erased fandom seems biggest on Tumblr and also that's where this AU is from.

Prologue: You're reading it

Chapter 1: https://professoruber.tumblr.com/post/189841325568/a-swapped-place-in-sweet-jazz-city-chapter-1

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Giovanni Potage was what some might call a variety of unflattering yet undeniably accurate descriptors. Such things included ‘problem child’ and ‘wannabe delinquent’, both titles he wore with pride.

With the exception of the ‘wannabe’ part of course, if you were to ask him, he would insist he was the most feared delinquent in his school’s history and most definitely not an adorable little soup child.

His reign of delinquency was joined by his friends, his ‘boys’ as he called them. Two of these aforementioned boys were now accompanying him on the most boring field trip ever.

“-and that’s when I smash that ball right into the principle’s office, and everyone cheered” Giovanni finishes accounting his latest most definitely truthful anecdote about his misadventures as a dangerous criminal delinquent.  His squeaky twelve-year-old vocal cords pushed to their deepest potential level in order to attempt to put on a wave of coolness on top of what he considers his amazing storytelling ability.

 “WOW GIOVANNI. YOU’RE SO AMAZING! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH” Screams one of his friends, known most often as Crusher for rather self-explanatory reasons. The high volume of his sudden outburst eliciting a glare from one of the museum guides who were currently giving a tour to their class.

The young guide turns away from the crowd of youths briefly to pop another pain pill before taking a deep breath and snapping back towards the kids with a forced smile.

“As I was saying before I was… interrupted…” she began, briefly pausing to once again glare at Crusher, who blessed with embarrassment and hid behind the protection of Giovanni as she continues “Epithets are rare and amazing powers gifted to just a one in five of the population. Wow, so cool. Anyway, moving on…” she begins to keep walking before being lightly nudged by her older bearded co-guide.

“Come now my apprentice Mera. It is important to show enthusiasm for this thing. It’s important to always do your best in every situation” the man says the last sentence with such sheer power that he flexes for emphasis, prompting a array of awed stares bystanders at his muscular build.

Mera even admires it for a moment before turning back to the children and sighing “You’re right Indus… I’ll try to spice up the tour a bit” she gives a somewhat more genuine smile this time, as Indus pats her on the back.

“Now that’s the spirit! Why don’t we tell them about the Arsene Amulet, that will certainly spice things up” Indus suggests with large genuine smile aimed at his young apprentice.

Mera goes wide eyed at the mention of the amulet before whispering to Indus “Uh… Indus I’m not sure if telling these kids about the amulet is a good idea”

Indus looks thoughtful but nevertheless was still in proud teacher mode “Do not worry apprentice Mera. No harm should come from granting these children some of the wonder of this museum”

Mera eventually relents and soon launches into a somewhat less half-hearted explanation of the amulet as well as other cool and interesting exhibits, Indus sometimes dropping in to suggest topics, such as the Dinosaur exhibition which he insists is amazing.

However, these were quickly drowned out Giovanni’s criminal mind as it’s focus settled firmly on the fact a mysterious cool amulet was hidden within these halls. An awesomely evil formed from the dark confines of his self-proclaimed delinquent mind.

“Car Crash, Crusher, come with me” he whispers in his best covert voice before snatching his pair of friends away from the tour. The former blushed at the close contact to his crush while the latter looked annoyed.

“Hey, my name’s Fred. All I did was crash Ben’s go-kart five times and now everyone just won’t let it go!” He complains and throws up his hands in annoyance.

“Shush, will you? Whatever. I have an awesome plan to show the whole entire world my awesome criminal skills so no one will deny that Giovanni Potage is the most awesome supervillain of all time!” He exclaims quietly with clenched fist.

Crusher loved every moment of It and even ‘Fred’ was captivated by the intensity if nothing else.  

“I will sneak inside the museum; spray paint my name on the exhibits. And then for the finale I will steal that amulet thingy and leave a pool of boiling lava and… uh… acid! In its place. These history nerds will never no one hit them” he gives a smug smile, proud of himself for having come up with such a villainous plan.

Crusher fell to the floor as he clenches his heart, overwhelmed by the sheer continued amazingness of Giovanni. Fred meanwhile was somewhat confused on What Giovanni’s plan was.

“So, you want to get an amulet which steals Epithets?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.

Giovanni looks confused for a moment before putting two and two together “oh is that what that thing does? Nah that’s totally lame. What I want is the street cred. If I pull this off then all the greatest criminal gangs will be begging to have me join them. Maybe I might be able to join the Bushido Blasters… or even the Banzai Blasters!” He exclaims with enthusiasm.

As Crusher continued to be amazed, Fred scratched the back of his head “I don’t know man, this seems kind of dangerous even compared to what we usually get up to. And me and ‘Crusher’ can’t be out after dark, so you’ll be alone for this”

Crusher cries manly boy tears at the thought of having to abandon Giovanni. But Giovanni simply dramatically holds his hand to his chest and begins to reassure them.

“Don’t worry my boys! I have the greatest- hey what’s that over there!” He suddenly shouts pointing to the left, and grinning as Crusher and Fred look to in that direction. While his friends are distracting, Giovanni quickly dashes behind them and yells “Teleports behind!”, startling both boys.

“As you can see my stealth skills and unmatched. And after tonight no one will able to deny the supervillainy of Giovanni Potage!”

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Across the city in the backroom of a family owned toy store sat a young barely adult woman wearing a dark green dress and a yellow apron and boots, her dark brown hair tied up to prevent it getting in her face.

The woman was working stoically on toys which would be sold in the Blyndeff Toy Emporium, her family’s store.

“Police are still baffled at the recent theft of expensive several statues from a local art gallery, all of which were replaced by teddy bears. Despite the absurdity of this case police have still found no leads on the criminals responsible, although reports suggest Banzai Blasters may have been involved- “ the noise drowns out in the woman’s mind as her lips slip into an evil grin as she recalls the recent caper which led to her promotion from Blaster to Captain in the Banzai ranks.

In the monotonous world of manufacturing and retail she was glad to have an outlet to cut loose when she could, keeping up appearances in front of customers and not hitting the many who deserved it was tiring, and she’s been doing this for around a decade at this point.

Taking a deep breath, she got back to work, turning off the news livestream playing on her phone just had it had begun talking about how a Detective Ashling had been assigned to the case. She had bigger things to concern herself with right now.

Namely that of her first heist as a Banzai Captain. Her crew of minions were ready and a location had been mapped out. Now all she needed to do was complete the final workings of her special criminal helper toys, as well as the toys which need to be sold.

“Molly! Mum wants to know if the new toys are ready yet!” The bratty voice of the woman’s little sister comes through the door of the workshop as the young girl in question walks into take a look herself.

Molly feels like grimacing but instead effortlessly donned a smile as hollow as her soul.

“Almost done Lorelai. Tell mum I’ll have these out on the shelves soon” she said with a mask of cheerfulness, to which Lorelai simply rolled her eyes at and gave a quick “Whatever” before leaving back to the rest of the building, shutting the door behind her.

Molly got back to work, only stopping at one point to take out a small picture of the Sweet Jazz Museum, causing her to gain a much more genuine, and evil smile “tonight” she simply says, as she returns to work.

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Later in the dead of night, Giovanni’s head raises up above from a bin. He leaps out and whisper shouts “Teleports inside!” to himself as he looks around.

He proceeds to run carelessly around the now empty halls of the museum, slipping and knocking some stuff over a few times before arriving in the entrance.

“Uh hu! This shall be a great place to begin the reign of terror of Giovanni Potage” the twelve year out super-criminal announces as he walks up to the desk.

“I should call my boys, to let them know I got it, not that they would be surprised of course” He picks up the phone and dials Car Crash’s number, only for it to fail to go through. Confused, Giovanni looks at the phone only to find an explanation of its true nature.

“Internal and emergency calls only? Pfft, lame” he comments as he slams down the receiver. He then proceeds to duck down under the desk and take out some items from his bag. First a whoopy cushion which he fashions to the chair and then a canister of spray paint.

He begins spray painting a message about how lame their phone system is. Meanwhile as the young delinquent writes, a hole in the roof is silently made and a group of Banzai Blaster begin slowly coming in from above, going unheard from anyone who might be within earshot thanks to their leader’s Epithet.

The last to go down is their new Captain, Bear Trap, who under the silence of her Epithet begins handing out instructions to her minions.

“There all done” Giovanni says proudly as he finishes his villainous vandalism, popping back up from behind the desk her suddenly comes eye to eye with Bear Trap.

All parties present simply fall back, startled due to not expecting to encounter anyone else. For a few moments silence reigns even without the assistance of Bear Trap’s Epithet.

The silence isn’t broken until the shock face of Giovanni suddenly shifts into one of wonder and excitement.

“Wow criminals! Awesome!”

[heckyeahepithetswitched]

candaru liveblogs reading her own writing: episode 6

it still absolutely makes my day when people get excited over me talking to them; like habgsdklfgh I’m not Jello I’m just an awkward bean who likes to write?? anyway today’s been pretty good

GHHGASDGAKSDLFH I LITERALLY FORGOT I WROTE THE OPENING LIKE THIS

PFFFFF I GET DONE W/PRAISING JELLO AND THEN IMMEDIATELY GO ON TO ROAST HIM

Gorou being absolutely oblivious and his minions being the ones to drive the plot is hysterical tbh

every once and a while I write a line and then have to squint at it until I figure out where I stole it from because I hear it in a VERY specific voice in my head so I know it’s a reference but even I don’t know to what

anyway (Kirbopher vc) I’M NOTTA SQUIRE!

IT’S THE SWAP VERSION OF WHAT GIO DID TO SYLVIE IN THE MUSEUM

I’m not overly fond of the original bar fight but I wanted to go with the same goofy cartoon brawl aesthetic, so I spent quite a while throwing around ideas before settling on “Nightmare Fuel, but it’s Gorou so instead of being actually scary it’s giant talking donuts trying to eat the people”

I think that was a good idea :)

this was just my personal vendetta upon learning Gorou’s original powerset haijgklsdfhgbh

...but also a good excuse for a swap!version of the “nah, I’m just awesome” line XD

soooooo this was a BIT of a cheat, but I had to have someone drop Molly’s name and I knew it couldn’t be Molly herself because she wouldn’t be dumb enough to do what Gio did (no offense Gio) and every other way I tried to make it happen had other problems, so. Gorou gets to hint at Molly’s backstory! yay!

he used to buy toys for himself and the Banzai Bees even tho he was already very much an adult :’)

this is a joke

but also a very subtle reference to the fact that the cat (who is in Howdy Morning’s role) was part of a plot-relevant “government experiment”

I absolutely love that last one ngl habsdlkpfaghfsd it’s just so absolutely something that would happen in EE

just. a bunch of minions way more competent than their leader but they all refuse to be promoted and “leave the others behind” so they end up as these very highly-skilled but low-ranking Banzai Blasters

OH I TOTALLY FORGOT UNTIL NOW

THIS WAS THE EPISODE I WROTE THROUGH A DEPRESSIVE ATTACK

AND I’M STILL REALLY PROUD OF THE WORK

don’t let your mental illnesses stop you from achieving your dreams, kids

and thus everyone’s favorite nickname was born

the most-loved scene in this entire thing, by FAR, and honestly I’m perfectly happy with that

everyone please salute Anime Campaign, proof that even your dumb friend group RPs can be turned into a masterpiece as long as you’re open-minded to change things

...I forgot I actually DID put Howdy into this basghsdklfgh (tho most of the joke was that none of his lines needed to change at ALL)

this episode is just full of jabs at Jello, huh?

BUT SERIOUSLY, SIR PLEASE. WHY COULD RAMSEY REMEMBER PERCY’S EPITHET? DO ERASER CUFFS ONLY MAKE YOU FORGET YOUR OWN? BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE MERA AND INDUS HAVE A PRETTY SOLID BREAKOUT PLAN IF THAT’S THE CASE. AND EVEN SO, HOW WOULD PERCY KNOW THAT ONE OR TWO “ZAPPY TOWERS” WOULD BE ENOUGH TO KNOCK HER OUT? SHE DOESN’T HAVE A NOTE AND SHE’S UNDER THE ERASER CUFF EFFECTS. SHE SHOULDN’T REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT PARAPET. SIR PLEASE—

one of the reasons I didn’t like Redwood Run as much as the Museum Arc was bc I felt that Percy and Ramsey didn’t have much time to actually develop their dynamic, so what they did have felt kinda forced and rushed. of course that’s not exactly Jello’s fault bc he only had THREE episodes to work with and a lot to set up, but I still did my best to give the swap duo as many little moments as possible.

I cared NOTHING for Yoomtah before writing this episode and by the time I was done I LOVED her

one of my fav artists drew this scene PERFECTLY and I now see it in their style whenever I read it

open/confirmed spoilers up ahead regarding Yoomtah:

so the whole “Yoomtah is a robot/cyborg who runs faster than anyone and has electric powers (?)” thing REALLY bothers me because Jello NEVER established that there was magic besides Epithets during the ENTIRE SHOW SO FAR (same with Phoenicia being a magical girl) and that’s just,,,, bbghdsjkg it took me a long time to go “okay, this was based on something else first, I get it, I can get used to the new rules” but gosh I just wish that had been set up better. then again I guess it’s nice that even the writers I admire the most make mistakes.

anyway, got off topic but I love how in the swap version, Yoomtah being a robot/cyborg/??? is just vaguely implied and never actually confirmed, it’s such a good running gag

also

I had. SUCH a hard time coming up with a reason for Sylvie and Yoomtah to have a rivalry, since Sylvie’s got no interest in construction work

and then literally my friend was like “isn’t Yoomtah the one who never sleeps?” and I was like “yeah, why— oh”

SEE? THINGS LIKE THIS. I THINK BUGSY & ARNOLD ARE MORE FUN AS OBVIOUSLY-CORRUPT COPS, AND I THINK YOOMTAH IS MORE FUN AS A CHAOTIC NEUTRAL WHO ISN’T ACTUALLY PART OF THE BAD GUY TEAM BUT IF YOU GET ON HER BAD SIDE SHE’LL TURN INTO YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE FOR .00092 SECONDS

idk I guess I just really like “characters who break the personality stereotypes of their moral alignments” which REALLY fits the rest of EE to a T

the case of the “golden buttocks”

I know I talk about this a lot but I was really so, so proud to finish this (& then the next script) on the deadline. I have discovered that shockingly enough, I like (creative) deadlines. Deadlines make me happy.

maybe I was fated to love EE just because of the opening intro or smth idk

[spliinkles]

iNDUS OH MY GOD-

More roleswap!au stuff with lil!Mera, now including cop!Indus

[lily-the-smol]

So I just came up with the weirdest Epithet Erased role swap AU? It goes as follows:

Zora and Giovanni swap

Percy and Indus swap

Ramsey and Molly swap

Sylvie and Mera swap

Thank you for your time, I tried to make the weirdest swaps possible.

[spliinkles]

IT'S DONE!! My Swap!au version of that cool ass poster that @jelloapocalypse released!!

[alternate-universes-erased]

Au Giovanni wasn't in the museum that night, it was Ramsey. Ramsey was trying to get some vaulable stuff so he might be able to pay off his bounty to Zora, so she'll leave him. (He can make gold but he knows that she probley knows about how he turn back into dirt, and won't trust him) Sorry this au just popped into my head. And I hope Ramsey meets Molly and Sylvie soon.

These two asks are very similar, so I’m gonna answer them together.

In general:

-Ramsey’s actually capable of being a force to be reckoned with, especially when it’s going to affect how long he’ll live. He’s not afraid to gold some legs if he needs to, but it’s not his go-to.

-If he manages to get the Amulet, Zora would be more than happy to take it off his hands and even offer to protect him from other bounty hunters.

-Even if he doesn’t, it amuses her enough that she’s willing to go easy on him and maybe forget about his bounty.

In Gio’s role:

-Adopts Molly on the spot.

-Gets ruthlessly insulted by Sylvie then kind of adopts him too once they’re done fighting. There are lots of golden sheep and Sylvie just gets fed up with it and that’s why he used Nightmare Fuel.

-Ramsey has no way to protect Molly from fire but he sure is going to try!

-Since he doesn’t really have any way to knock out Mera, he instead swaps out the Amulet with a fake like he did with Zora in canon.

-Percy might not recognize him on sight, but he’s certain that other cops will, so he skedaddles real fast once they start showing up. He gives Molly his phone number so she can call him whenever she needs anything or just wants to get away from her family.

In Mera/Indus’s role:

-This implies that Ramsey pretends to work for a museum and gives really bad tours and I’m living for it. Except as an appraiser, he’d probably actually be really good at it. Or he’d just go so in detail about the artifacts that everyone gets bored.

-Again, adopts Molly on the spot. Probably doesn’t care about what her or the Banzai Blasters do as long as they don’t target the Amulet too. There’s enough treasure around to share (he hopes).

-Sylvie is a problem, because he’s not going to let anyone steal artifacts, and if anyone’s going to be leaving with the Amulet he hopes it’s himself.

-Ramsey turns his jacket and boots into gold and puts him in time out. He wants to give Sylvie the chance to check out the Amulet, but he also can’t risk it.

-Sylvie is FURIOUS that Ramsey wants to steal it and use it as a bargaining chip, and he’s sure gonna try to fight back. Cue Dr. Beefton fight!

[spliinkles]

God I love your art so much

trixie, staring at her cousin giovanni: sorry officer ive never seen this child before in my life.

Indus is out here in a generic cool boss pose and I borrowed from someone’s idea that he can make complex barriers in this AU, so. saw blade barriers. I’m guessing that like how Molly distracted him in canon and forced him to use barriers to hold up the dino, in the AU boss fight the gang has to get him to overextend so that he can’t spin/control all his saw blade barriers/etc at the same time…. good thing Gio is very small and fast! haha! (there are probably some close calls).

Banzai Feenie is trying her best :( she had no advance warning!! that’s a whole child! I mostly wanted to draw her hair flipped over though ngl

[millicent-dagworth]

“Counting Sheep,” Sylvester said, just as a flock of rams charged down at them. The remaining Blasters screamed as they were quickly overtaken by the sheep. Mera, panicking, shattered any that came too close, also shattering an arm in the process.

“Dammit!” Zora shouted, releasing the frozen bullets towards the sheep. Half of the flock was immediately destroyed before she began firing again, destroying the other half.

“Very good,” Sylvester said, not sounding too impressed, “You should be nice and tired now.” Sylvester’s eyes began to glow, and suddenly the room was dark.

“Nightmare Fuel.”

Here he is, the Beef Sheep boy, swap!Sylvie! He guards the Sweet Jazz Museum with Molly and hidden intentions for a certain amulet. He’s sworn to keep Molly safe since she can’t fight back. (I won’t do Swap!Beefton because he is... hard to draw and I am not prepared for that challenge)

[professoruber]

A swapped place in Sweet Jazz City Chapter 1: Masks and Faces (Epithet Erased Fanfiction)

Inspired by the Role Swap AU created by @spliinkles.

Synopsis: We all know the stories of Sweet Jazz City, people did things and other people reacted to those things. However what if places were switched? Banzai Captain Molly prepares for her first great heist while rambunctious twelve year old troublemaker Giovanni sneaks into a the Sweet Jazz Museum after hours.

Prologue: https://professoruber.tumblr.com/post/189820483268/epithet-erased-role-swap-au-fanfic-a-swapped

Chapter 1: You are here

==============================================================

Giovanni couldn’t believe it, real life criminal stood before him. He had a million questions to ask them and hoped they’d be impressed by the diabolical vandalism he has committed. Through his sheer joy he manages to get through a few words of excitement.

“Wow, criminals! Awesome!”

==================================================================================

Earlier that day….

==================================================================================

Detective Sylvester Ashling stood before the crime scene, analysing it with investigative genius mind. The crime had been committed without any alarms, the culprit or culprits having gotten in from cutting through the roof while somehow not alerting anyone or any security.

And while the good detective would never admit it, even he was mildly puzzled by this.

“So, what do you think detective?” questions the stressed gallery curator, who has been spending all their time since the robbery alternating between cooperating with police and apologising to wealthy patrons.

“Well it’s about time I was brought in to bring an end to this caper. Behold as I unleash the powerful mind of a master investigator” He answers dramatically, somewhat reassuring the curator.

He returned to considering the circumstances and events this this criminal act, all while absentmindedly swinging around his yoyo. The thieves in question got in from the roof, and by that he means burst through. The cracks are visible and it seems like they simply forced their way down by sheer weight pressure, something which would’ve logically caused much noise and alerted even the most asleep night guard. 

But security cameras showed all nightguards were doing their jobs, and neither security guards nor cameras recorded any unusual noises.

And then there were the teddy bears, these toys were left in place of these very expensive statues. They have already been taken in for examination but so far, no noticeable traces evidence could be found on them.

This is not the first time such an event has occurred. In past months alone there has been a variety of bear theme crimes, many committed in areas with high Banzai Blaster activity.

But as Sweet Jazz City’s most brilliant master detective, or at least that’s what he always called himself, Sylvie was sure he would get to the bottom of this in now time.

He gave a laugh which most definitely sounded awesome and showed his masterful genius and did not sound like clown laugher in anyway, which drew a few stares from others.

These criminals will rue the day they decided to commit crimes in the notice of Detective Sylvester Ashling.

==================================================================================

Dr Percival King stood admiring the fine exhibits of the prestigious Sweet Jazz Museum, honoured to be attendance of the fine work of noble historians. Truly there are few greater pursuits than that of knowledge, an ideal with Percy took to heart.

As a criminal psychologist her days consisted of long hours of analysing the sickening debauchery and vile criminal minds of her patients. Hers’ is a dangerous road yet she has chosen it nonetheless.

As she walks around examining these exhibits her attention is drawn to a tour group of children being led by two museum staff.

“Ah, I see that this museum makes sure to spread its knowledge to aspiring youths. Very excellent” she compliments to no one in particular as she was over to get a closer look.

The tour itself was fairly standard and admittedly lacklustre at time, however a notable occurrence was the information on the ‘Arsene Amulet’, a mysterious artefact capable of stealing Epithets.

Such an item would catch her attention both for her research into if a person’s Epithet affect their criminal capabilities as well as that such an item would likely come under threat of theft, and as such studying it would provide an excellent resource in delving into the dark motivation of criminals.

She respectfully waits for the tour to be finished and for the pair of museum curators to be free before approaching them.

Walking up to the young woman she believes was called Mera, Percy launches into introductions and explanations.

“Good day miss museum curator. I was hoping to discuss a hypothetical partnership with the Sweet Jazz Museum in order to further my research into the minds of the criminal element”

The museum guard in question looked caught off guard “Wait… what are you talking about? Who even are you kid?”

Percy looks somewhat embarrassed at her own forgetfulness “Uh of course. I apologise, I have not introduced myself. I am Dr Percival King, criminal psychologist residing in Sweet Jazz City” she explains matter of facty.

Mera meanwhile still looks confused and also doubtful “A psychologist? Really? Sure kid whatever you say, now did you need something”

“I can assure you I am a registered psychologist, as impersonating a professional would be a severe offence” As Percy hands Mera her business card and qualifications, she briefly notes Mera had a nervous reaction to the mention of impersonation.

Suddenly the other tour guide bursts into the scene and shouts “Greetings apprentice Mera and teenager I have never met!” He catches sight of Percy’s qualifications causing his eyes to go wide “Ah a psychologist I see. Greetings Dr Percival King, I am Indus Tarbella, the man whose Epithet is BARRIER!” He suddenly proudly shouts and flexes as his sentence finishes while he also shows off his barrier.

Percy merely nods in greeting “It is a pleasure. With your permission I seek to extend my research to that of the Arsene Amulet which I heard will be displayed in the Museum”

Mera looked startled at the mention of the Amulet, but kept her cool mostly “Uh… look ‘Dr King’, as much as we’d LOVE to assist in growing your bright young mind, I am afraid that we will be much too busy tonight with… museum work… for any ‘psychology research’ to be done”

Indus looks saddened by these works but nonetheless agrees “Indeed my apprentice speaks truthfully. Are work will take us to great lengths in the coming nights, am I am afraid we must tearfully stand in the way of your quest of knowledge”

Percy was disappointment but not upset “I understand, please allow me leave my details with you before I take my leave. And with that I bid you both good luck in dealing with the inevitable assaults on the sanctity of learning by the many vicious thieves who will no doubt be on their way here”   

Despite the sincerity and non-accusing nature of Percy’s words, it still causes a great deal of alarm in Mera, who begins waving her arms around in a panic “Thieves? Who said anything about thieves? What do know kid!” Her tone shifts rapidly from fear to accusing and back around again. Causing Indus to come in to comfort her and calm her down.

Percy takes some moments to analyse Mera’s reaction but otherwise seems unperturbed by the outburst.

“I apologise for my lack of explanation, I simply assumed you were already aware. As someone who has studied criminal psychology for a number of years now, I have come to find an understanding and pattern to their actions. An artefact such as the Arsene Amulet being placed in a museum would attract many opportunists and scalawags seeking the notoriety and validation that such a theft would be assumed to entail, of course their broken vile minds are unable to comprehend that crime leads to nothing but suffer, but I digress. With crime rate increasing and many of my disenfranchised troubled peers flock to criminal dens of debauchery such as the Banzai Blaster”

Percy looks to her personal belongings “it is for those reasons why I always carry this” she begins to motion to a real ass goddamn sword which she is carrying, causing another startled reaction from Mera and a look of amazement from Indus.

“Is that...?” Indus asks with a tone of wonder. Percy nods and confirms “Indeed it is. But do not be alarmed, I assure you on my honour as a psychologist that I am both fully trained and licenced to wield such a weapon and am prepared to only use it for the purpose of self-defence”

Indus and Mera both stare at her for a while, Indus is the one to break the silence with a request “Please remain here young psychologist, while me and my apprentice talk over there”

Both Indus and Mera scuttle off to a corner to talk, while Percy stands there politely waiting. After a while they return.

“So… look here’s the deal kid. We thought about it and with all these threats of thieves and stuff around, it might not hurt to have another ear in the museum. Just so long as you stay in the offices while we’re busy” says Mera, to which Indus smiles which prompts Mera herself to give a small smile.

Indus pats Percy on the back “It is our honour to support the troubles of a young scholar such as yourself”

Percy has a look of gratitude “As a fellow academic I thank you. And you have my word that I go over my research away from your work while you are busy. And also, that I will make sure to report any suspicious behaviour to you”

==================================================================================

Meanwhile across town Molly had just finished stocking the last of the shelves with the new toys she had made. Her face plastered with false joy for the sake of the annoying customers which just love to continually interrupt her stocking with obvious and meaningless questioning.

“Right over there, sir” “No need to worry sir” “What can I for you sir” “Sorry sir those coupons are for other competitors” “I’m sorry we failed to meet your satisfaction sir”

These are some of the phrases she has trained herself to repeat without thinking since she was ten. Even if her main job was filling her dad’s place as the toymaker, she did still have to deal with customers often, and Lorelai just loved every chance to outsource her own work to Molly.

False smiles and resisting the urge to hit people who deserve it so much has been Molly’s life. She would’ve gotten crazy by now if she didn’t get a chance to be herself around her friends, and by friends she means fellow criminals.

Stocking the last shelf, Molly proceeds to make her way to the counter, stopping several times to deal with customer, all while she retained the same level of faux cheerfulness that is expected of those in retail. She walked steadily forward in the heels she swapped out her working boots for, as her mother has always made sure Molly knew to keep up appearances when in working among customers.

“All selves are done Lorelai and my shift is over. I’ll just be clocking out and heading back to my apartment to get ready for night school now” Molly doesn’t wait for her sister’s response and instead simply takes her leave, clocking out and letting another staff member know just in case Lorelai wasn’t paying attention. With their mum still probably off discussing business deals across town, it would be up to the hired staff to keep an eye on Lorelai for the night, Molly gave a silent prayer for their continued relative sanity.

She takes off her apron and places it in a small back closet of the store and continues outside in her simple green dress after having her nametag placed in her bag, nothing about her would make her stand out but anything other than a normal woman. The special devices for the heist which she has made on the side were store safely to be ‘collected’ later. Having to juggle her legitimate and illegitimate work was tough but her first job as a Banzai Captain was worth it.

Making sure to get to the bus stop before it gets too dark, she rushed to the nearby bus stop just in time to catch the next one to her apartment.

She sits down and crosses her legs, looking like just any other passenger. And just like any other passenger gets up and calmly walks from the bus and to her stop when it is called.

The rest of the walk to her apartment is simple as she wears a mask, the mask which she has trained herself to wear for almost a decade. Token girlish giggles at compliments and flirts, smile at passersby, one foot forward at a time. Her mum had always ‘encouraged’ her to act as expected and in public nothing about Molly Blyndeff deviated from what one might expect a young woman in both life in the retail world would act.

She buzzed into the apartment complex, waving and smiling at any of her neighbours who by chance were also out and about across the building, even the rude ones. She gave a final token giggle and “Thank you” to the older lady who lived down the hall who had just told her that the heels she wears everyday look particularly nice tonight. She didn’t have anything against the old lady and she did seem perfectly nice to Molly, it’s just that Molly just barely had the energy to deal with anyone after work.

Entering her room with a smile which immediately dissolves the moment the door is shut, Molly collapses into her small bed. Finally feeling the effects of all the energy, she has expended across the day in wearing her mask.

 She just lays there for a while. Not moving. This is one of the few places she can still act herself, its why she worked so hard to get this tiny one room apartment, with the only attachment being a small walk-in closet sized washing room.

Getting up slowly she squeezes into the washing room and splashes some cold water on her face before taking off her dress in favour of some jeans and a purple singlet along with her favourite woolly jacket pulled over it. A cute mildly bear themed head band is snuggled into place among her hair as she takes out her retail heels in favour of criminal sneakers.

Going through her possessions to make sure tonight would go according to her plans, her eyes briefly falling to the smudged-up picture of her family, back when her dad was still alive.

It had been cried on, torn apart and put together again dozens of times and the damage showed, yet despite all this it was one of the few things Molly could see with complete clarity. 

In the picture her dad was alive and holding her mum’s hand. Molly and her young sister both stood between them and Molly had a genuine real smile on her lips, a rarity as the years went on.

“I’m sorry…” she said, and unlike her trained response to customers, this apology came from somewhere else.

Sighing, Molly tucked the photo deep under her clothes, out of sight and out of mind.

What happened all those years ago is irrelevant, all that mattered to Molly tonight was the heist. Night school had simply been a cover for her work with the Banzai Blasters, once Molly may have been uncomfortable with the lies but in the tightly controlled Blyndeff Household she quickly realised that it was the only way to survive.

Refreshed and ready for the night, Molly flashes a wicked grin as she got her bear claws, a literal bear life hand attached to a stick which she can use for self-defence if need be. As well as her pair of hand claws for climbing. Stuffing them into her back for now to avoid unneeded attention.

From the moment she exited her room the mask re-established itself naturally. She walked down the halls, briefly stopping to make some polite small talk with the old lady down the hall due to Molly now having more energy to deal with people.

Soon she returned to her walk. Heading down the streets of the town and towards the building where her night class was allegedly taking place. Her mum’s frequent insistence on keeping up appearance even through tragedy plays through her mind, making her work with ease and an aura of normalcy.

The cute smile of the young woman would seem perfectly normal to those passing by her. And yet a small tint of a maniacal grin itched itself ever so slightly into it, as Molly prepared to take one more step towards freedom.

==================================================================================

Molly sat in the passenger seat of the van, her friend Sound Phoenix, real name Phoenicia Fleecity, sat in the driver’s street. Molly took a moment to look at herself in the small car mirror, her new Banzai Captain uniform and cape caused a real smile to come to her face.

She reminded herself that while in this yellow uniform she wasn’t Molly Blyndeff, the hardworking and cheerful daughter of a respected businesswoman, she was Bear Trap, dark hearted criminal and newly minted Banzai Captain.  

She still remembers the thrill of finding out about her promotion. Her old captain Gorou Shimizaki had been promoted to Banzai Vice Principal despite admittedly not being the most competent individual, thanks in large part due to Bear Trap’s role in the heist of several expensive statues.

Afterwards he took her aside and told her that as his first act as Banzai Vice Principal was stealing a bunch of donuts for himself. She wasn’t sure how that was relevant to her but then he also mentioned that while he was eating those donuts, he thought about all that she’s done to help him and recommended her promotion.

No matter her opinion on the abilities or intelligence of her old captain, she was undeniably thankful to him for that. Being a member of the Banzai Blasters was one of the few things which was truly hers. Rising up the ranks of this pyramid scheme was her way to freedom.

The van pulled up in a hidden spot near the museum, any noise which may have come from it having been muffled by Bear Trap’s Epithet.

Sound Phoenix was left behind in case of need of a speedy get away. The rest of the Banzai Blasters proceeded with their captain while making sure to stay within her noise cancelling field.

They kept the dark sidelines and eventually snuck to the back wall of the building. Molly’s hand claws were may specifically for this kind of obstacle. She had also made sure to use the time she was suppose to be making toys in order to craft several more hand claws for her minions, it was hard but worth it.

The team of thieves proceeded up the wall and using a map they had found online of the semantics of the museum, they walked over to the entrance area, deeming it the best place to begin their search for valuable items to steal and be most alert of any potential dangers.

Sawing a hole in the roof took some time but Bear Trap’s epithet made it so no one could hear it happen. After several silent moments it was done and carefully placed out of the way as they begin lowering themselves with a rope.

Night Fright, also known as Molly’s friend Trixie Roughhouse, remained on the roof to keep watch of any potential dangers.

The rest of the Banzai Blasters entered the Museum along with their leader.

“Alright girls. This is the Sweet Jazz Museum. Now all that’s left to do is stick to my plan and commit all the crimes” she said with a wicked grin which was soon shared by her minions.

“Alright first let’s search this area…” Molly’s voice soon trails off as a young boy with a brush of pink hair atop his head suddenly popped out from behind a desk.

Her mind raced with panic as she rapidly pondered what this child was doing here this late. Where were his parents? Did they abandon him? Did he run away? Is he hurt? Will he yell for the staff? Are his parents the staff?

In her panic she barely noticed she had dropped her muffling bubble and now the silence which filled the room came only from the surprise and shock of those within.

She braced herself for the child’s screams which would no doubt begin once he realises that he’s alone at night with a group of dangerous criminals. She is about to move forward to silence the inevitable screams when to her renewed confusion his face begins shifting not into one of fear but into one of amazement and wonder.

“You’re, criminals! Awesome!” He said with a smile. Bear Trap…. No,… Molly paused in her place, unsure of how to respond to that.