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marching-weirdo · 12 days

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if you told me that I would draw pj masks in 2024 two years ago I would ask who are they.

gunntech au sketches cause I'm normal. also taken during ap us history so ignore random strokes :3. headcanons under more.

connor:

my trans king!!!! 💪💪

gave him scars. most are long and thin, since they usually happen when hes running

let Greg give him a haircut before he transitioned, now never not gets a Greg haircut ™️

stays up late reading, hence eyebags

I have a trans male friend who loves this au as much as I do, so he asked if he could "model" for catboy.

again, this was during class, so he was smouldering like Flynn Ryder while I was learning about Pennsylvania so you know

the more you know

anyway he's Filipino and I'm like OOH THIS WOULD BE COOL

so he's filipino american

also BIG EYES cause cat

gay (thanks romeo) but he's only had, like, two crushes in his life

one of the two kids who go to school

could care less what people think, likes to show off scars ("For the ladies!" his gay ass says)

interesting marching weirdo fact, the lines making up Connor are more scraggly and rough then the others! it's kinda to show he's an angst boy for me lol. but it's cool lore about me!!

imma be honest, Connor was my least favorite sorry!!

also ignore bad gay pride flag, I ran out of colors

amaya

Japanese american (I think it's in @elmushterri video)

oh also @elmushterri is the creator of this au so follow super cool and amazing and intelligent and interesting and-

psa out

lesbian

see Connors flag error for bad Yuri flag

amaya is super careful about getting hurt

see, El said in a qna that amaya was under a super strict household so her aunt probably would want her to shave her legs, etc until said aunt eventually gets redeemed and amaya can be her own girl boss

so I read that and said "HOLD MY BEER"

so when she was like 9, she got a scar on her cheek due to training with Connor and Greg

amaya went home and her aunt starting freaking out

idk if I want the aunt to say it directly to her or like to a friend on the phone that amaya hears, but her aunt says something along the lines of "scar" and "uncivilized" and "ugly" (I imagine what amaya heard was a distortion of what her aunt actually says but I degress)

since then, amaya makes sure to be as safe as she can and not get scars.

she eventually gets one on her leg, but she can cover it with pants

so she changes the "Don't get hurt" philosophy to "only get hurt where you can hide that scar"

so she is the most careful of the three

but she has multiple scars around her body

for a while she thought "if I get a scar on my arm, I won't on my face" philosophy because ngl she's my version of anxious™️

but eventually she realizes that's dumb.

her back is shredded due to enemies trying to cut her wings

eventually when she is in therapy and an adult, Luna will draw shapes on some of her scars and vice versa

adult amaya still gets embarrassed whenever someone sees her scares

anyway

amaya has terrible eyesight. horrible. Luna knows this

has a hair pin with a moon on it as a gift from luna (the notes that came with it said "for when you need to shank a bitch on short notice"

wears it everywhere

keeps hair long to hide neck scars and only puts it up during training or on duty

fun story: Greg and connor wanted her to get a really short hairstyle so they could be the "Bob boys"

amaya refused and greg and connors dream died

the other kid to go to school

star pupil. young prodigy.

as all mae whitman characters should be

fun fact: took me hours to do her nose.

finally figured it out when I looked at katara fan art and said "ah"

so MAE WHITMAN CONNECTED UNIVERSE?!?

also

her lines are very curvy and delicate to show her more level-headed thinking.

as opposed to connors roughness

my fav. I support her rights and wrongs 😔✊️

greg

rich kid mullet let's gooooooo

i kinda got inspired by a cross between andrian from miraculous ladybug and dick Grayson from Wayne family adventures

speaking of adrian

he's French American because of course

he grew out his hair to match amaya and connor hates him now

home schooled (rich kids smh)

because he's homeschooled, he doesn't care about cuts and scars and hurting himself because he thinks it's perfectly normal

also, he was sprayed with acid during a test (you know those dinos from jurassic Park who shoot venom? that but feral child)

incredibly buff and will hug you to the point of death

TALL

I looked and he seems to not have many ships with men

so an ally

he's also clueless so...

he doesn't actually know that homophobia is a thing

he sees two men kiss he thinks cool

two women? cool

a woman and a man? SAVE ROOM FOR JESUS

joking.hes chill

he has dimples and the biggest smile ever

for angst: his smile gets smaller and smaller as each season happens.

as a teen, his resting face is a smile

eventually resting he looks in pain

ANYWAY

incredibly smart

romeo hates how smart he is

but romeo is street and lab smart

greg tries

he can tell you about quantum theory but doesn't understand that people are sarcastic

he's probably autistic or has adhd or both

he probably wasn't professionally tested

Luna probably gave him a lizard to watch and Greg didn't move for 16 hours

also luna and greg are besties

because of course

fun drawing: very square

I wanted him for two reasons

1: he's always stiff due to being a Gunn

2: he feels like a robot: infinite possibilities but only if a button is hit

anyways thank you! sorry for long post! villains up soon!!

#gunntech au #pj masks #connor pj masks #amaya pj masks #greg pj masks #artists on tumblr #sketch

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simplegenius042 · 7 months

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OCS as Character Tropes

Tagged by @nightbloodbix

Tagging @socially-awkward-skeleton @shallow-gravy @strangefable @adelaidedrubman @strafethesesinners @voidika @direwombat @onehornedbeast @josephslittledeputy @josephseedismyfather @cassietrn @chazz-anova @wrathfulrook @g0dspeeed @corvosattano @carlosoliveiraa @titiagls @turbo-virgins @aceghosts @inafieldofdaisies @afarcryfrommymain @softtidesworld @snake-in-the-garden @megraen @starsandskies @derelictheretic @deputyash @purplehairsecretlair @minilev @la-grosse-patate @cloudofbutterflies92 @skoll-sun-eater @florbelles @shellibisshe @ladyoriza and @thewanderer-000

Will be doing OCs from The UnTitledverse, Life, Despair & Monsters and A Radioactive Calamity Of Love, Bombs & Gore. Quiz can be found here. Results below:

BENNY THE RÉVOLUTIONNAIRE (The UnTitledverse, The UnTitled Ventures & The Ender sagas)

Here's some Eldritch lore! For Benny, this result is more literal than it is metaphorical. Pretty much, the Omniscience (the subconscious of creation itself/the multiverse) created Benny (the seventh-borne Eldritch) to either replace Zachariah (the second-borne Eldritch) as the "Hand at Fate's Table" or to help guide him onto a better path (like many things with the Omniscience, its' intentions are somewhat ambiguous). He is essentially designed with altruism (if a little mischievous in his methods), and unlike Zachariah's callousness, need for control and disdain towards humanity, Benny has a pre-set need to care for humans, give them some level of independence, and see the good of humanity like the rest of his siblings (except for Zachariah). However, Benny's disappearance/banishment (Zachariah's doing) into the Void, led Benny to develop a rebellious attitude, to free humanity from Zachariah's ruthlessness and tyranny. This attitude eventually leads Benny to build up a revolt that will activate when the time was right, and with Joaquin Lockwood's help, they manage to build up a great chance to depose Zachariah. However due to Benny's naivety in his responsibility, overconfidence and gross underestimation of Zachariah's awareness and ability to counter his plans, Benny loses his trump card (Joaquin Lockwood) and his plans for rebellion is set decades back instead of simply a few years. Benny's idealism is shaken, but broken, and in fact, he takes to heart this lesson, reflecting on himself and improving to the point he gets the confidence to try again... this time with a lot more organization and help.

EVERMOND SCOWLZKA (The UnTitledverse and Life, Despair & Monsters)

Doctor Evermond Scowlzka has used the power of silence numerous times, and taken advantage of the opportunities it gave him to continue his twisted scientific pursuits. Scowlzka has a cheerful and friendly demeanor mixed with a calm and collected tone, though this hides his frustration and obsession with what controls humans; the mind or the body? His passion and determination to seek out an answer that fits the answer he wants pushes him to commit many human atrocities; irreversible dismemberment and mutilation of the human body, lead the hunt for Mario Emmet which caused the deaths of the Holmes' family who housed the shapeshifting alien, surgically transferring a young and dying Kiyotaka Ayanokoji's brain into a different body, not to save his life on behalf of Atsuomi, but to create a living experiment that could help him win the "mind vs body" debate, was willing to dissect a teenage Icarus Galatos to goad Hatter out (so he could also dissect the interdimensional plant/fungus creature) and had on numerous occasions attempted or succeeded in child murder (he really hates teenagers in particular). While I don't agree with 'The Tide' as his result in general, I can see where it fits him.

RYDER (A Radioactive Calamity Of Love, Bombs & Gore, Fallout New Vegas)

Ryder is an interesting individual. She's cheated death many times, and traveled the Mojave and Wasteland long enough to feel numb towards the experiences she's faced. She hides her emotions behind various carefully crafted masks that help her get what she wants, and believes that playing all sides of New Vegas will eventually gift her a position of power that will resolve her crippling emptiness. She doesn't want to stay as a nobody courier who moves from one post to another with little to no impact, no lasting legacy. Always tired. Always full of regret. Always wanting more. And her near-death encounter with Benny was almost a wake-up call, and also the slight amnesia was enough to "renew" her into a blank slate, leading her to shape the future of the Mojave. And perhaps with a little help from a half-human, half-interdimensional creature figure wielding magic and a flame sword as well as his arrogant and almost psychotic half-sister who despises authority and harasses the elderly.

#the untitledverse #oc: benny the révolutionnaire #life despair & monsters #oc: evermond scowlzka #series: a radioactive calamity of love bombs & gore #fallout new vegas #oc: ryder #the courier #courier six

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caxycreations · 27 days

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🍓 Author Ask tag 🍓

Thank you for the tag! @phynewrites <3

Some fantastic questions ^-^

I tag @that-one-enby-onyx @verba-writing @mikathewriter @akiwitch and @dreaminggoblin

Your questions are:

Which OC has the Jester's Privilege (google it if you aren't sure <3)

How long have you been writing your most recent WIP?

Other than your WIPs, what creative hobbies do you have?

Which character do you like the least from all your works?

If your WIP were to be considered the "inventor" of a new trope, which trope do you think that would be?

When the Writer's Block Fairy hits, do you hit back or do you let it run it's course?

If you could give any advice to your past self, right before starting your WIP, what would it be?

My questions, from phynewrites:

Which OC are you most fond of, and why?

David. I draw Davina more than David, by a lot, but David is my special little boy. He's the very first fursona I ever had, and he's still very near and dear to my heart.

Is there any form of media (other movies, books, theater, news, etc.) that inspired your wip/s? How so?

Visual Novels (which I'm working on one myself now!) and RPGs like Fable 2 and 3. Games where choices matter. I wanted to make a story that takes causality into account directly. Instead of writing back-to-front, where I have a pre-set conclusion, I write linearly. I've...essentially BECOME Malor, the God of Fate and Chance, from Relan.

I set very specific events that NEED to happen (David's incident with Trace, Ryder's employment with Kaleb, that sort of thing) and then allow the story to create itself in the in-betweens. What happens happens, and the choices matter: I let the characters breathe, live, do their own thing. I step into the shoes of an observer.

If I hadn't been so heavily inspired by games where the events are determined by free will and choice, I wouldn't write the way I do, and the story would be drastically different.

What wip-related activities do you do aside from writing your wip? (making moodboards or playlists, etc.)

Visual Novel XD I'm making a visual novel, and I draw now and then as well!

What are you most proud of in your wip/s and why?

The worldbuilding lore that most of the readers will never see XD

I put a LOT of work into building the world, before I ever wrote a single letter of the story, and most of it will never see the light of day unless I actually manage to finish the Relanian Lore Compendium

What tropes are common among your wip/s? Why do you enjoy incorporating these tropes?

Found Family, friends-to-lovers, affably evil, and irredeemably evil are my favorite tropes to use and pop up in almost everything I do XD

Which part of your wip are you most struggling and how do you plan to overcome it?

THE DOWNHILL CALM AFTER THE CLIMAX OF THE STORY. I've been struggling to write it for ages now. I finally hit the climax of the story and have been trying to write the final 2 chapters, and it's hard.

Supernatural said it best.

"Endings are hard. Any chapped-ass monkey with a keyboard can poop out a beginning, but endings are impossible. You try to tie up every loose end, but you never can. The fans are always gonna bitch. There's always gonna be holes. And since it's the ending, it's all supposed to add up to something. I'm telling you, they're a raging pain in the ass" - Chuck Shurley, Supernatural

Any advice/ words of encouragement or just really a greeting to any writeblr who would have read this far?

When you see those posts telling you how to be a good writer, giving all sorts of advice on the concepts of "show, don't tell", "don't over-worldbuild, don't under-worldbuild", "write this way, write that way"...

Fuck'em. If you're new enough to need advice, I promise, any advice like that is harmful. Start off just developing your style, your way. Learn how YOU write, what feels good to YOU. When you know your style, and you know what feels good to you, THEN learn the "rules".

Read like hell, both before, during, and after developing your style. When you have your style, learn the rules from an academic standpoint, learn the "correct" way to write.

And then adapt it. Bend the rules that suit you, break the rules that hurt your efforts, follow the rules that improve your work. Create your own set of rules and follow those instead of any standardized "This Is The Right Way" rules set by others.

That's my advice. Nobody can tell your story the way you can, so why should you follow anybody else's rules for writing?

#writeblr #literature #writing #tag game

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opinated-user · 1 year

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”*creates a fake goddaughter and then sexualize her avatar in my RPG videogame*”

okay what lore am I missing here?

mmm. short story: for years and even irl LO lied about having a friend that had a daughter, of which she claimed to be the godfather or even father depending on the day you asked her about it. this god daughter had a fictional avatar named Jaina. LO later claimed this god daughter died along with the mother, but she kept writing Jaina on her Family Guy fanfiction, where she went to have a incestuous romance with the baby that was actually her uncle and romantic tension with her father... that was the admitted self insert of LO, Lord Ryder. anyway, based on the universe of Lord Ryder LO made a RPG where in the DLC you'd have the option to have this Jaina character (that was written to be 16 at most) completely naked.

#lily orchard

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da-xiao-jie · 2 years

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i’ve just had it revealed to me that Frozen 3 is in production at the ol’ D-biz and it’s reminded me that I have a lot of Thoughts about this franchise, specifically all the issues I had with the second film so I will now write about all my frustrations and maybe some Disney Exec will see it and incorporate my thoughts because my thoughts are brilliant. anyway.

My main issue with the second Frozen movie was the focus on Anna and Elsa. While I get that added lore is exciting and everyone likes the magic and EVERYONE loves Elsa (I do too, so no shame there), from a story point of view, it was completely unnecessary. Did we need more backstory with Anna and Elsa? Not really. We saw their childhood, we saw their family, the tragedy of their parents’ death. Heck, the fan theories about The parents being on the way to Rapunzel and Eugene’s wedding made more sense. Anna and Elsa didn’t need more background to make them Special and Different. I will allow that Elsa being born with magic leads to very intriguing questions, but i’ll get back to that later.

You wanna know who needed more background? Whose origins and life we know very little about? Kristoff. All we know is that he helped the ice harvesters and then went home and one day got adopted by trolls. Were the ice harvesters his family? Who was his mom? What was life like with the trolls? There’s SO MUCH potential.

Which leads me to point 2. The Northuldra should not be related to Anna and Elsa. Their mother should not have been made Northuldra. Let’s look at some pictures, shall we?

Here’s some main Northuldra for your consideration. Cool

Here is a comparison that I did not make of child Iduna and adult Iduna. Maybe it’s just me, but they look nothing alike. Hair texture, hair color, complexion, face shape, and even eye color seem slightly off to me. Iduna has always looked very much classically european and that child very obviously does not in the sense that the Northuldra are supposed to look different. my apologies if that’s offensive or poorly worded.

But hey, do you know what might make more sense? If a certain ice harvester who wears furs and leathers and has a “thing with the reindeer” and even sings a whole song with reindeer backing him vocally has biological ties to the Northuldra. Maybe not completely, but maybe one parent was caught on the outside of the enchanted forest and made a kid with some blonde and out comes Kristoff who somehow ends up abandoned, gets taken in first by the ice harvesters and then the trolls. Heck, i don’t know. It just seems to fit better. This would’ve not only filled in gaps from the first movie, but it wouldn’t try to fit an already established character into an indigenous mold to make the main characters extra special.

Beyond that, Kristoff makes friends with Ryder pretty early on and, if given more time, could’ve had so much potential for Kristoff to have friends/family that a.)are human and b.)aren’t his fiancée or his fiancée’s sister.

This has gotten longer than I intended so I’ll wrap it up here and make a pt. 2 or something. Please be civil if you disagree. I just thought i’d get these thoughts out.

#frozen #frozen 2 #frozen 3 #elsa #anna #kristoff #sven #olaf #arendelle #northuldra #disney #movie critique #ryder #honeymaren #personal thoughts

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engagemythrusters · 1 year

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okay. ahsoka. here we go

Immediately a fan of the music. Did they get the same people as TBOBF and The Mandalorian? The Ludwig person? Forgot the name…

INTRO CRAWL?! DAMNNNNN

But also red? Why red crawl?

Why is she searching for Thrawn not Ezra. Like I know the two left together but you think Ezra would be the priority. Not thrawn.

Aaand there’s the ship. Always start Star Wars with a ship.

Uuuugh my pirate site keeps buffering. Booooooooo

“They’re jedi” okay vibe but are they actually. Or is it those sorta-Sith guys

Ugh okay my annoying I have to go without subtitles now… :/ tbjs js gonna be hard

Okay that was a very Star Trek move. Why. For what.

YEAH ITS THOSE SITHLIKE BITCHES

Shin Hati evil love that for her. Love evil gorls

Evil granpa got shoulders daaamn love that for him

Ah it’s Bad Wig Girl.

God seriously why are the wigs so bad. Fucjing Disney. Boo.

Man I miss when Star Wars had cool titles. Phantom Menace. Return of the Jedi. Now it’s just fuckin NAMES.

Oooo interesting place. Old jedi temple? Looks like it.

Aaand her Lekku and Montrals still look like shjt styrofoam.

Okay fun lightsaber trick. At least theh didn’t forget how cool Ahsoka Tano is.

Wonder if we’ll see Morai…

Oh wow. Ahsoka wearss lipgloss ig. Okay.

This is very slow paced. Move a lil girl.

Those remind me a lil of the Zeffo spheres. But if they were filled. Idk maybe I’m making a connection that isn’t there. I just really like Star Wars Jedi games. Their lore was WAY COOL.

What do droids need capes for tho. Like why. That’s literally so fuckin impractical

UH DAVID TENNANT rip

RAMP JUMP RAMP JUMP RAMP JUMP

God I love T-6 shuttles. Best Star Wars ship. I mean other than bobas. But yeah T-6 sexiest SW ship

Do we get to see Sabine soon I miss her

OH MY GOD HERA

OHHHHHHHHH MY GOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

THE GASP I JUST GUSP

Okay her makeup and contacts really really suck

Hera just. Disbelieving. I get it. She’s so hurt she can’t let herself hurt anymore.

“Does that mean Ezra—“ WEEPING

Hera “oh my god more jedi bullshit I can never escape” Syndulla

SHES NOT FORCE SENSITIVE LEAVE HER ALONE

YAY SABINEEEEEE

Oh lothal so so pretty

RYDER hi!

EZRA MONUMENT?!

Ohhh it’s that wall

Ohhhhhh weeping

SABEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN

Oh she’s not there

Hehe I love her

OH IS THA—YEDSSS JAI

I love u Jai

God look at them. Look at the wall. Christ. Kanan…

Hehe sabine

SPECTER?! YOURE NOT ALLOWED THAT. YOU DONT DESERBE IT. THATS FOR THE FAMILY. THATS FOR! FAMILY!!!!

Sabine u shit hehe

This is a good actress for her 10/10 thank you for giving yourself to our beloved explosions girl

“She’s crazy” yeah she had years of being stupid with Ezra to make her nuts xoxo

TOWER TOWER TOWER

OHHH KITTH KITTH KITTY AAAH

What’s the kitties name

Ohh it even uses the same loth cat sounds from the show AND real kitty sounds

What’s the NAME of kittyyyyy

Oh Ezra’s stuff 😭

EZRAAAAAAA

“More than others” WHAT?! Okay. Not sure what that means.

YES SISTER OKAY YES. NO SHIPPING. JUST SISTER. AND BROTHER.

Not sure that I like the change that recording brought. But. It’s okay I’ll accept it.

Evil gorl <3

SHES A DUCKIN NIGHTSISTER?!

WHYD she choose such a bland ass name then?!?!!

INQUISITOR?!!!

THATS AN INQUISITOR

SABINE IS NOT FORCE SENSITIVE *FUCK YOU* LITERALKY S4 OF REBELS CONFIRMED IT SO HARD THAT CHANGING IT WOULD MAKE THIS THE STUPIDEST THING EVER IN THE HISTORY OF STAR WARS

oh my god. Jesus that was force shit wasn’t it. Fuck that oh my fod DONT MAKE HER FORCE SENSITIVE YOU DUMB FUCKS. IM SO FUCKING MAD.

Haircut time?

No not yet.

That was CRAP dialogue. That was HORRIBLE. Wow. Oh my god fire these writers. So hard.

I do love this music tho. It’s p good.

Okay so far it does NOT make sense how ahsoka arrives at the tower at the end of rebels. This isn’t fair. I loved that scene so much.

Awww chopper drawing.

Okay she’s a puzzle maker now as well as an artist? That’s dumb

GOD SHES NOT. FORCE. SENSITIVE.

THIS IS SO FUCJING STUPID THIS IS DUMB!!!

SHES! NOT!! FORCE!!! SENSITIVE!!!!

And she’s gonna steal it isn’t she hehe she is def Ezra’s sister >:)

Huyang like “I taught this”

Luke so not the only jedi he was meant to be hehe I mean k get it. But also it’s so dumb 😂

SHE DID IT HEHE I LOVE U SABINE

Sad that they didn’t make Lothals mountains just like the ones in the real series.

Towerrr

Kittyyyy

WHAT JS KITTY NAME PLEAS TELL ME

callin him Turkeyleg until told otherwise

Sigh I miss Ezra.

Fucking miss Kanan. It still hurts so much.

It’s been so long does Sabine still hurt? Does she still miss him the way she used to?

Heraaaa hiii 🥰

Hera knows her daughter

Okay so why is holograms so. Sounding like this. It’s more… MORE. Than how they used to sound. Is technology worsening or some shit?? Don’t like that.

Ahsoka stop being MEAN TO MY SABINE.

Yeah SNIPS. Ha.

Heras greatest strength is that she is understanding above all else. And I love her sm for it.

FATHER SON DAUGHTER RIGHT

I better be

Palm hand fist…

Oh.

Okay fine.

Hhhh.

SHES SO SMART I LOVE HERRRRRR

Mr Tukeyleg

OH NO DONT HURT SABINE OR TURKEYLEG

Ah shit yeah I figured

Nothing will ever be easy for her. Nor for ezra.

HELMET

*HIS SABER*

SHES NOT FUCKING FORCE SENSITIVE OKAH

She can use a lightsaber and she can use the Darksaber BUT BY GOD SHE IS NOT FORCE SENSITIVE

Why are u flying so slow 😭

OH MY Fod

OH MY GOD NO SABINE

No not my girl 😭

Oh is that the end ep 1?

Oh who is Ray? Rest well, Ray <3

Ep two coming in a sec.

#star wars: ahsoka #spoilers

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brickowskibois · 2 years

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Rex Squad Cutie Marks (very crudely drawn)

Okay, so, when it comes to MLP Legos... I always thought that Emmet gets his cutie mark from finding the piece of resistance, and that it's Watevra's heart form, that his special talent is bringing people together!

But ignoring the lore that a pony's cutie mark can't change, or imagining that my OCs are turned into ponies in their current states rather than being Emmet horses...

Here's Rocket's!

In my head they were all overlapping (and obviously they'd be actual points and not poorly hand-drawn)

But Rocket's calling is to be a family man and lover boy. To spread love no matter where in spacetime he goes 🥺

He travels far through the stars but his love is constant.

And AltR!

Most people think it's just a cool flame. But those who look closely know it's a flamethrower 🤣

Tech guy with a short temper and a love of dramatic showmanship. He loves being seen as strong and impressive.

And here's Rem!

He actually has a love of woodwork that I haven't talked enough about

He loves building things and creating! And he can bring out the best in anyone. He's patient and steadfast. He won't give up on you.

And honorary Rex Squad member Ryder too X3c

Lasso with a heart. A cowboy who was able to love himself (and his partners) again by finding his passion in cowboying :3 (I dunno if I like the body colors for him yet but that cutie mark is good)

#the lego movie 2 #rex squad au #tlm mlp au #crossover #hey look i made a thing: art tag #rocket rex #alt rex #rem brickowski #ryder rex

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chevvy-yates · 6 days

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Sending out kudos to everyone who has shown their love towards Ryder for the past two years.

I love u all very much and every engagement, be it even just a like, means a lot to me.

I've intended to sorta make a cool post of some older vp of him as of today, September 17th, exactly 2 years ago I have created Ryder,— back then as a supposed supportive character for Vijay, very unsure if I would like him as Ry didn't visually turn out as I wanted him to be in the first place and he never went that way either afterwards — yet I find myself writing those lines instead.

I've accepted his look and his imperfection started to grow on me with each picture I took of him. Unlike my other ocs he went his own way leading me along to discover his personality. That's what makes him so different compared to my other blorbos and has me so attached to him.

I did not plan to make him a raver (he was supposed to become an 80s goth punk, a total different style than he's got now) neither that he would end up with a rogue AI controlling him. Only his name, basic info and the toxic family story was planned right from the beginning but that's pretty much it – Ryder showed me the rest of it.

Within the year 2023 I noticed more and more that Ryder has slowly but surly turned out to be my main character.

He turned out to be the most expressive and photogenic one of them all. I don't see him as the prettiest looking either yet he's my most precious and I love every pixel about him.

He's the one thing in my life I am actually truly 100% proud of.

Almost all my ocs exist because of him. They are his support characters. Without him half of them would not even exist. There would be no Thyjs. Even Garnet exists so Ry can live out his passion (that was not really put into the game but exists as lore: Technoise).

I am beyond happy to have created him.

He helps me in a lot of rather personal ways too I do not need to address here.

I got so much to tell about him (also about my other ocs) yet idk if I should continue or not as I find myself stuck with overthinking about it bc of lack of public response literally everywhere (this excludes private chat talks with close friends). Maybe Ryder's too intimidating (not the first time I would read that), his lore gets overlooked easily, or it's to much (confusing) text.

I cannot make anyone force-like him. Tastes are different. Minority is into others oc lore. Less time to read it all. The list is long. I'm aware of it all.

But I cannot underline it enough: do never hesitate to ask me questions about him. He's on my mind 24/7 and my biggest wish is to get this story out and done some day (whenever it will be) and receive some actual feedback on it what was liked.

Just a tiny detail is enough. <3

Another wish I have ever since I joined the CP77 fandom: that people would go back to comment each other more. We all do have little time for it, we all think "oh no so much text to read", we all are in our own bubbles rarley coming out to explore another bubble within this universe. It takes a lot of effort to do. people do seem scared on top to write anything at all for numerous reasons. I have all those problems as well. But I try to sit down and read the one or other lore chunk others wrote down and give a tiny comment as best as I can to make the creator have a smile on their lips. I truly wish we all would do this at least once a week to one person. once a month would be also fine. But if we don't this fandom will be dead soon enough and all thats left is just liking vp with characters on it we know almost nothing about. And maybe even those characters won't have lore anymore bc people stop creating it.

#about: ryder von scharfenberg #thoughts

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ao3feed-brucewayne · 1 year

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Justice League Ice Breakers

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/ZqSA1cE

by Obligatory_Trope_Insert

The League's tech guys have developed a new communication platform. Now super heroes can talk to other super heroes.

Almost entirely based on the DCAU. The overall plot and characters are from Justice League and Justice League Unlimited with some story lines taken from the comics.

Presenting the DCAU text fic that no one but me asked for because I love a good text fic that incorporates every single character including the minor ones. Also I thought this would be less work than an actual narrative plot but I'm so freaking exhausted after writing this you have no clue

Words: 3166, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), DCU (Comics), DCU, DC Animated Universe (Timmverse)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi

Characters: Justice League (DCU), Clark Kent, Diana (Wonder Woman), Bruce Wayne, Shayera Hol, Wally West, J'onn J'onzz, John Stewart (DCU), Mr. Terrific, Ray Plamer (Atom), Kara Danvers, Oliver Queen, Billy Batson, Dinah Lance, Greg Saunders (Vigilante), Courtney Whitmore (Stargirl), The Question (DCU), Pat Dugan (STRIPE), Sir Justin (DCAU), Zatanna Zatara, Cisco Ramon (Vibe), Orion (DCU), Beatriz da Costa (Fire), Tora Olafsdotter (Ice), Mike Maxwell (B'wana Beast), Kimiyo Hoshi (Doctor Light), Aztek (DCU), Jack Ryder (Creeper), Tom Tresser (Nemesis), Atom Smasher - Character, Arthur Curry (DCU), Sanderson Hawkins (Sand), Ted Grant (Wildcat), Doctor Fate, Crimson Fox, Thunderbolt - Character, Patrick "Eel" O'Brian (Plastic Man), Ralph Dibny (Elongated Man), Nathaniel Adam (Captain Atom), Red Tornado, Daniel Cassidy (Blue Devil), Cynthia Reynolds (Wraith), Lee Travis (Crimson Avenger), Prince Gavyn (Starman), Todd Rice (Obsidian), Matthew Ryder (Wave Rider), Rex Mason, Jason Blood, Etrigan, Hank Hall, Don Hall, John Henry Irons (Steel), Dmitri Pushkin (Red Rocket), Charles McNider (Doctor Midnight), Rick Tyler (Hourman), Michael Carter (Booster Gold)

Additional Tags: Justice League as Family (DCU), Families of Choice, Comic Book Lore, Chatting & Messaging, No over plot just vibes and family, super heroing, probably more chapters to come, this was fun, Bickering, Crack, Fluff and Humor, Domestic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Team as Family

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/ZqSA1cE

#IFTTT #bruce wayne #batman #the dark knight #the cape crusader #gotham #dc universe #ao3 #ao3feed

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ultramagicalternate · 7 months

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ULTRAMagic Alternate Lore 15 - Universe-0X

Previous | First | Next

Master Post

The Cosmos proper is home to many universes, each with their own unique stories and experiences. Some of these are of particular note to entire realms and other universes. Universe-0X is a chaotic universe that has had multiple interactions with the mysterious realm known as The Unlight. Several mages from this universe have even joined the ULTRAMagic Guild. Furthermore, the denizens of 0X have engaged with several universes in its vicinity. This has warranted the attention of organizations such as The Time Watchers, The Multiverse Patrol, and the aforementioned ULTRAMagic Guild.

The Earth of Universe-0X is what draws the most interest in this situation. It is a timeline where humanity is heavily invested in magic, yet continuously falls victim to calamities throughout the centuries. These have led to a version of humanity that is limited to alchemy, has started a two front war between machines and themselves, and is on the verge of a fourth calamity that threatens to wipe them out. Fortune is smiling upon them at the moment, but what led to this situation in the first place?

The First Calamity

This occurred 1,000 years prior to Universe-0X discovering The Unlight. An individual by the name of Milosh Proch had found an ancient laboratory that held the secrets of alchemy and necromancy. Of course this was no standard laboratory as it required Milosh’s party to travel 3 lightyears across Earth, something that cannot be done through conventional means. Opening the structure that was found caused a great upheaval in humanity that led to Milosh and Valentine Pari becoming immortal. Everything was in chaos as now people had knowledge of the arcane arts and were making good use of them.

After several wars that did great damage to humanity, the Proch family took control of the schools and academies of Earth-0X. This allowed them to limit the knowledge of magic, creating peace for a time. Naturally many people over the years have taken issue with the fact that the Proch’s control the education system. The growth of magic has been stunted and the Proch’s have created narratives that hide their misdeeds. On the other hand, many praise them for the very thing they are criticized for. Either way, the Proch’s have managed to keep education alive and functioning over the centuries.

The Milosh and Valentina of universe-0X are not to be confused with their universe-23 counterparts. Milosh-0X is a fairly upstanding individual, despite his flaws. He did not fall to ideological zealotry like his alternate self, who was so arrogant to assume that he could overthrow the Unlight kingdoms of Shadowland and The Iron City. Valentina-0X is a dark angel, just like Valentina-23. The difference here is that Valentina-0X never went to The Unlight (prior to the discovery of it) and had incarnated as a human. Her immortality has embittered her towards Milosh as she desires to return to Heaven someday. She also disagrees with him on an ideological level, believing humanity just needs guidance instead of suppression.

The Second Calamity

500 years later saw the emergence of the Ryder family, close friends to the Proch family. They had made breakthroughs in technology that led to an era of prosperity for humanity. Specifically they had perfected steam engine and eternal combustion technology, even going so far to create rudimentary artificial intelligence. This was not without controversy, as they had been suspected of getting special treatment from the Proch family in regards to their education. Regardless, Ryder machinery was widely adopted across Earth.

The issue arose when the Ryder’s had the idea to go to a “god” to have him “bless” their machines. The Proch’s had done research into something calling itself “The Machine God.” They all assumed this entity would grant the machines true intelligence so that they could serve humanity even better. Milosh set out with a team to locate The Machine God and found him in a similar way to how he had discovered the laboratory from centuries prior. What they found was something beyond their wildest imaginations.

No one had expected The Machine God to take the form of a floating city of endless machinery. Still, the team pressed on to the core of it and presented their creations to the god. Sensing man’s arrogance, The Machine God naturally grew offended. He gave them what they wanted, but this resulted in the machines rebelling against their creators. The machines retreated to a city of their own and named it Fortschritt. They would then declare war on humanity, planning to get man under control so that they could eventually explore outer space.

It should be noted that The Machine God is what is known as a “Rogue God.” Some Spirits of the Cosmos reach a point of advancement and enlightenment that allows them to return to God when they arrive in the Ennead. Referred to as gods from this point onwards, a select few amongst them become bored and desire to visit the Cosmos. Unfortunately some of that minority end up going rogue and cause trouble for the Cosmos. The gods that remain pious will employ the help of primordials to subdue these troublemakers. Records show that The Hunger of Old sealed away The Machine god with help from The Madman of Old and The Automaton of Old.

The Third Calamity

This one occurred in 2000 AD and was caused by Valentina Pari. She had grown fed up with the repeated blunders of Milosh and took matters into her own hands. The mage cast herself out of society and began seeking “forbidden” knowledge. This led her to discovering necromancy (communion with spirits). The demons Asmodeus and Corniger would hear Valentina’s beckoning and lend her their aid. They knew who she actually was and pitied her greatly. To ease the pain of being trapped in an immortal body, they awakened her memories of Heaven and granted her some of her angelic powers.

Valentina got to work creating her own land, the dukedom of Donnerherz. The self-proclaimed duchess went to work finding as many disillusioned, downtrodden, and outcast mages she could find. She promised them freedom and prosperity if they came to live with her in her grand city. Things were great up until Donnerherz was infiltrated by a member of the Warwik family, claiming to be true to Valentina’s cause. Valentina’s work was deemed heretical and it did not help that a good amount of her subjects were treading into what could be considered degeneracy.

As for why the Warwik family had done this, they had recently emerged as an economic powerhouse that had befriended the Proch’s and the Ryder’s. Several people that owed money to their banks had gone missing and they had sent out agents to find them. One had an idea of where to look and the rest was history. Valentina was immediately met with threats of military action, but declared that she had no intention to overthrow humanity. She merely believed that she could guide her mages along the right path and avert the wars of their ancient past.

Donnerherz has a shaky relationship with the human realm (As Donnerherz residents call it) and the country of Fortschritt. Both of their rivals do not trust Valentina and the duchess is equally distrusting. At the same time, the human realm has not had a true reason to attack Donnerherz and the same goes for Fortschritt. The machines look upon Valentina favorably and have considered alliances with her in the past. Of course, such a union could lead to war with the human realm. This is something both parties wish to avoid.

The Fourth Calamity?

The cold war between man, the machines, and Donnerherz has not been favorable to humanity. It caught the attention of the Spiritus Magni of Earth-0X. Unlike their Earth-23 counterparts, they are nowhere near as forgiving. Should things become too chaotic, the Spiritus Magni will wipe the slate clean and start humanity over. The outbreak of Earth-0X’s World War 1 has not helped in averting this calamity. Thankfully, the recent actions of two families have postponed the wrath of the Spiritus Magni.

Something else that is halting the ambitions of the gods is the absence of one of their own. Spiritus Magni Manius has gone missing, turning up in The Unlight as a sellsword named “Captain Roger.” Spiritus Magni Vita of Earth-0X has made it clear that she will reconsider their plans if someone from their Earth can bring him back safely… or at the very least, keep an eye on him and make sure he stays out of trouble. Lastly, several gods from other pantheons of Earth-0X have sided with humanity. Some of them are Cú Chulainn, Sun Wukong, Susanoo No Mikoto, Anubis, Prometheus, Anansi, and Kali.

The Two Rising Families

Two families have stepped up to oppose and disrupt the hegemony of the big 3 (The Proch’s, Ryder’s, and Warwik’s). These would be the Dracul’s and the Leichenberg’s. Both families are rising through society, carving out their own niche. This has not gone unnoticed by Milosh and Valentina. The Former is quite nervous while the latter is very interested in the potential of these families. The machines are also somewhat interested, but see these humans as just more humans.

The Dracul’s were thought to be extinct with Vlad III Dracula unintentionally ending them in the medieval era. This was disproved when the family reemerged with Zoltan, Vlad IV, Bratoslav, Stanislav, Yelena, and Vesna. The family creates excellent mages, has some of the best educators around, and has a sterling record with campaigns and missions. They are not perfect, however, as they do have vampires in their midst. This has caused some friction in the human realm.

The Leichenberg’s are a family of werewolves from Germany-0X that had been on the run for the longest time. This was until recently when they decided to stop running and put their feet down. How did they do this? Simple: They took over the lumber industry. Optimizing the production of lumber, the Leichenberg’s found out how to export wood without ravaging the environment. And it has been very profitable for them as German lumber is some of the best around. Lastly, like the Dracul’s, they also produce fantastic mages.

Both families could theoretically take over the world if they wanted to, but their rivalry prevents them from doing so. Contrary to popular belief, Vampires and Werewolves do not inherently hate each other. In fact, they often get along swimmingly. The issue is that Vlad III Dracula viewed the Leichenberg’s as a threat to humanity and pursued them during his lifetime. Had the voivode not realized near the end of his life that he was wrong, the two families would have been at each other's throats in the modern era. Fortunately this conflict settled into a harmless rivalry.

Rostislav and Ludwig

Rostislav Aleksandru Dracul and Ludwig Dieterich Leichenberg are two secret friends from both families. Starting with Rostislav, he is the son of Zoltan and Morana Dracul. Aside from being born a vampire, he had a normal childhood. He would be enrolled in prestigious mage academy where he would end up meeting his friend and rival, Ludwig. The two met while Ludwig was introducing himself on the first day of class. Rostislav tossed a wad of paper at him and called out “fetch, boy!”

Ludwig on the other hand had an odd childhood. The boy was actually the human incarnation of a demon named Caacrinolaas (known as Glasya-laBolas in universe-23). Despite being known in the Goetia for centuries, Caacrinolaas had just recently come into existence (Hell experiences time in a non-linear manner, permitting such an odd occurrence). Ludwig’s parents discovered this when their son had gained his wolf form… only for it to be a large dog with gryphon wings. Naturally being a demon caused many to look at Ludwig in a strange light. It never escalated to outright discrimination, but people were weary of him.

The two boys would go on to become accomplished mages in adulthood. One fateful day, the two were invited on a mission to infiltrate the dukedom of Donnerherz. These kinds of missions were nothing new. Donnerherz held great knowledge and many were always curious to know what was going on there. Valentina rightfully called this out as snooping and would often welcome people to her land, stating that said snooping was unnecessary. Still, these missions persisted.

Ludwig and Rostislav’s squad had been tasked with rescuing another squad that had not reported back in some time. This was Valentina’s doing, but this was not known to the second squad. She was very interested in the two boys and wanted to recruit them to her clause. If not that, she at least wanted to tutor them. The only issue was that Valentina had mistakenly traveled to The Unlight right when she should have met with Ludwig and Rostislav. The realm had recently been discovered by her scientists and her curiosity had got the best of her.

ULTRAMagic Lance

- - Entering The Unlight - -

Things got incredibly heated during the rescue mission. Everything was going south as the squad had no idea what they were even up against. Their intel was horrifically outdated and Valentina’s mages were not ones to slow down in their studies. Adding insult to injury, the second squad could not locate the first squad. It was like they had vanished. In the heat of a chaotic encounter, Lance was outwitted by a soldier of the duchess and lost the advantage.

On the verge of being defeated, Ludwig had lost his mind. Many things had been building up to this, ranging from his self-esteem to feeling like he had failed his comrades. He had become so angry that he turned into pure lightning. The resulting thunderstorm was truly apocalyptic, razing the land beyond recognition. As if something beyond the Cosmos itself recognized the problem, Ludwig vanished. Nothing could quell the mage's anger at this point, even if he had defeated Valentina single handed.

Ludwig fell out of his universe into an unending abyss. The Abyss eventually opened up into a strange, barren wasteland being assaulted by a wicked thunderstorm. He was now in the Unlight. Something then clicked in Lance's mind: He was angry. He was angry that he failed, failed his friends, failed his superior, failed humanity, lost to Valentina, and had been bested by one of the duchess' underlings! And of course he was now in a strange realm that he had no knowledge of. Is it any surprise he started screaming?

This was some of the most angered filled, bloodcurdling screams one could ever hear. The white hot anger was so intense that it had burnt away his body, leaving only his Pneuma. It was at this point when the Thunderstorm had embraced him. Having shed his human body, he slowly created a form that was indicative of his true self. Of course this form took a while to solidify so-to-speak. Ludwig’s anger hindered this process and it took a long time to subside.

An interesting event occurred during this storm of anger. A blacksmith was on a mountain top, creating a greatsword for a succubus who had hired him. He was using the thunderstorm to help forge the weapon. While he did raise an eyebrow over the now screaming thunderstorm that was destroying the land around the mountain, he welcomed the challenge and kept going. If anything, this would make an even greater product for his client. Naturally this storm caught the attention of the ULTRAMagic guild, especially since the blacksmith was a member of the guild.

- - The End of the Storm - -

In the maelstrom of lighting, Ludwig had been reborn as ULTRAMagic Lance. Ludwig, however, was not in the mood to admire his new form as he was too blinded by anger. He promptly went on a rampage. For an unclear amount of time, he was utterly berserk, destroying things indiscriminately. It did not matter if it was a creature, monument, or a piece of the landscape. Several infamous horrors of the Unlight died during this period, leaving behind charred corpses that hummed with electricity. After one final explosion of anger (literally), Ludwig finally collapsed and passed out. The region would later come to be known as the Thunder Wastelands (formerly the Storm Plateau).

While he had no memory of his rampage for a time, Ludwig did learn a vast amount of new spells based on lighting and glass (the former more than the latter). Ludwig would be found by ULTRAMagic Reaper who would bring him back to the guild. Reaper actually did a little research into Ludwig and felt like he needed to take care of the boy. Reaper was not a perfect father in his own timeline, which compelled him to redeem himself. Ludwig had not been himself for a while, so he naturally gravitated to Reaper, thinking he was his father.

Over the years, Reaper worked with Ludwig to help him regain his memories and train him. Ludwig definitely felt tinges of anger come back as he regained his memories, but the white hot rage had long since burnt out. He also moved more towards seeing Reaper as a mentor, but was grateful to have him in his life regardless. Relearning his spells was a fascinating experience for Ludwig. Reaper was a bit surprised at just how much rage was funneled into these spells, but at the same time it was to be expected. Where Ludwig got the Soul fragments needed for ULTRAMagic is still a mystery though. The spells Ludwig created in his rage were as follows:

Glasscherben

Glasscherben Sturm

Glasscherben Sturm - Wutanfall

Gewitter Wut

Blitzkrieg

Blitzkrieg - Voller Amoklauf

Donnerschlag

Blitz Versuch

Kugelblitz

Stromschlag

Stromschlag - Todeszelle

Ultimativer Lichsturm

Ludwig was a little concerned about using the more destructive spells, given how powerful they were. The self-awareness did make it a little tricky to use them for a time. Either way, Reaper was there for Ludwig in helping him master and control these spells. Of concern to Reaper was that Ludwig seemed to be focusing on his lighting spells rather than his glass spells. Lightning was the boy's specialty, but the glass spells had potential. This hesitance was something Reaper made an important note of.

- - Joining the ULTRAMagic Guild - -

Once he was ready, Ludwig joined the ULTRAMagic guild and was welcomed with open arms. This is when he would properly assume the identity of ULTRAMagic Lance. After he was all settled in, he had some unfinished business to tend to. He returned to his timeline right after he had fallen out of it so long ago. Firstly, he had to flex a bit and show off his new power. Then he challenged Valentina to a duel... it went poorly for her.

Just as it seemed like Lance was going to deliver the finishing blow, he stopped and helped her up. He had no intention of killing her; he merely wanted to elucidate her, her followers, and his old friends. They all learned what soul magic was and were taking to it pretty well. With his old timeline on the right path (or so he arrogantly assumed), he returned to the Unlight. Of course he does go back to visit and check on things every now and then.

Sometime later, Lance would be summoned by the Reality Walkers. One of their members, Ignatius Darren Ford, was having trouble with his magic. Turns out the young man had inherent ULTRAMagic and it was going nuts due to a lack of training. He would take him to Magistrate as Lance felt he wasn't in a position to be training people. Despite this, Lance and Ignatius became good friends, even so far as becoming Ignatius' best friend.

Lance and Infinity (Ignatius’ guild name) just clicked together. Ignatius still had that spark with his inner child alive and well. He was fun loving, goofy, and pleasant to be around. It really took Lance's mind away from the grim reality that was his old timeline. Plus Ignatius saw Lance as the older brother he never had. Lance always had an answer to his problems, even if he did not actually have an answer. And the fact that Lance was actually a demon made him even cooler.

As of recently, Lance has taken interest in a new guild member, ULTRAMagic Ex. Lance sees himself in Ex, given that they both arrived in the Unlight under similar circumstances (minus the ungodly anger). It should be noted that Ex's circumstances were nowhere near as bad as Lance's. Lance has also returned to his timeline to assure Spiritus Magni Vita that Manius is safe and he is looking after him. The fact that his people are that close to oblivion keeps him up at night. It also does not help that Manius is a massive troublemaker, meddling with Universe-23 and Universe-15.

- - In regards to Ludwig's character - -

Bringing up the discussion of the strongest ULTRAMagic guild member, Ludwig is definitely up there. Weirdly he is barely talked about in the running for the strongest member. Nothing can beat dreadnought and Ultimatum, but most life forms were never meant to handle 300 million to a billion volts of electricity. The glass spells would also make Ludwig fairly formidable... if he would just spend some time on that aspect of his magic.

Speaking of that, there is an underlying problem holding Ludwig back: He's not taking advantage of his ULTRAMagic. He has made Soul magic his only form of magic. He will not talk about it openly and is extremely hesitant to learn anything else. Ludwig is no pushover, but he is wasting his potential by not studying other types of magic. This has Reaper, Magistrate, and Infinity very concerned. Even Ex, a newcomer to the guild, is raising an eyebrow over this.

Personality-wise, Ludwig is certainly something. From his old life, he is brave, caring, and was willing to take risks. He was also dedicated and willing to brave the worst for his fellow people. Falling out of reality somewhat changed his old outlook. He got a good dose of cynicism after he regained his memories. This made him a bit more stoic, but at the cost of killing a lot of his enthusiasm. He is not a grouch, but he has been known to be rather blunt at inappropriate times. Something that also popped up was a slight stubborn streak. This is seen mostly in his reluctance to study other types of magic.

Aside from his shortcomings, Ludwig is a hard worker and can be very focused when he wants to. This has made him a very desirable squad leader in the guild. When on duty, one will mostly see his professional side. When he is relaxed, especially around Infinity or his friends in general, he is a lot more chill and easy-going. Ludwig also loves to have fun when he is like this, happily playing video games, board games, watching movies, playing card games, making art, etc. It is also when he is relaxed that he is the most productive. Now if only he would take this productivity and apply it to his magic…

Lastly, the arrival of ULTRAMagic Richter, a comrade from his timeline, seems to have triggered him a bit. He is not hostile towards him, but he is not that friendly either. Their old rivalry has picked up, much to the chagrin of The ULTRAMagic guild. Fortunately they do seem to still be friends. The higher ups of the guild just wished they were more open about their friendship. There is no reason for the two to be hostile towards each other since they are guildmates.

The Aftermath and Ramifications

Getting back to Valentina, she had been in The Unlight, interacting with Lance and people from Universe 0Y. The 0Y individuals were of interest to her as she wanted to bring them to her universe (and she did). Valentina was also thoroughly impressed with Lance, wanting to know his name. The mage was confused at first, since he had met Valentina before. Realizing what had went wrong so many years ago, Lance took the opportunity to mess with her:

“Pardon my saying, your grace, but you already know my name: Ludwig Dieterich Leichenberg.”

The Duchess’ heart nearly stopped as her blood ran the coldest it had ever been. She dropped everything and immediately returned to her timeline, only to see a wasteland and both groups of mages fighting tooth and nail. She stopped the conflict immediately and brought everyone to her castle. Of course, not too long afterwards is when Lance (not future Lance) showed up to challenge her. Lance’s soul magic caught her off guard, leading to the demon besting her. Naturally she apologized for not being there on that important day and wanted to know all about the things he had learned while he was in The Unlight.

Due to the shenanigans surrounding Lance and the Universe 0Y guests, two people left for the Unlight. These would be Rostislav and Manius. Rostislav had achieved ULTRAMagic thanks to Valentina’s help and wanted to know what Ludwig was up to. He would come to be known as ULTRAMagic Richter. Manius on the other hand was looking for greener pastures. He had taken the form of a human mage amongst Valentina’s ranks and felt that he had seen it all. Why not check out this strange, new, Unlight realm? Naturally his fellow Spiritus Magni are very concerned for him.

As for the families of importance, Milosh has been having an interesting time. The Proch’s are no longer the premier authority for magic as Valentina is now offering to teach other forms of magic to those eager to learn. This has greatly disrupted the power he and the big 3 held. The Dracul’s and the Leichenberg’s were also able to establish ties with Donnerherz. They serve as ambassadors for the human realm. It is entirely possible that the machines may also cease their conflict with the humans in hopes of ending The Great War, which should appease the Spiritus Magni.

- - - - -

Further Reading:

- - - - -

Relevant Reading:

Further info about Lance

ULTRAMagic Richter

ULTRAMagic Baron

#chaotictempleknight #ultramagic alternate #fantasy #sciencefiction #sciencefictionfantasy #literature #fiction #writing #lore #character lore #lore post #oc lore #alternate universe #alternate history #writers on tumblr

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rhikasa · 1 year

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OC Name Meanings Tag

Thank you @druidx (here) for the tag! ♥️

Rules: Search for and post the meaning of your OCs’ names (if you made their name up or they go by a nickname, post an explanation of how it came to you!) Bonus if you can find something for the last name too.

Guinevere / Margaret Elyse Iuscora: Guinevere is the name she was given in her origin life, while the second one is what she was given in her second life. Guinevere means “fair, white, blessed.” This name comes from Arthurian Legend, which is an inspiration for the wos universe. Margaret means “pearl.” Elyse, her mother’s name, means “God is my oath.” Her surname Iuscora is made up by me, but it signifies her family’s archangel ancestry.

Theodore James Grayson: Theodore means “gift of God,” which works out perfectly for his origin; his adopted mother believed he was left behind by one of the angels and therefore was meant as a gift to her since she was unable to bear her own children. James means “supplanter.” Not quite sure if that fits anywhere into his story. His surname Grayson means “son of the reeve” (a local official, in particular the chief magistrate of a town or district).

Elizabeth “Ella” Ann Hart: This isn’t her birth name, but rather one she chose when going into hiding. Elizabeth means “God’s promise or God is my oath,” though she has a complicated relationship with her religion. Ann means “grace, He has favored me” and it’s also accepted as a religious name. Her chosen surname is Hart, which means “stag.”

Alexander “Alex” Louise Ryder: Alexander means “man’s defender, warrior.” His first name was a placeholder until I liked it so much that it kinda stuck, but it’s surprisingly rather fitting. Louise means “renowned warrior,” and I just so happened to choose it because I thought it sounded great with the name Alexander. His surname, Ryder, is a variant of Rider so it literally means horseman or horse rider.

Penemu Zilyana Nightingale: I came up with the name Penemu years ago, but upon looking it up, it turns out that there’s actually a being in Enochian lore named Penemue and he’s “a curer of stupidity in man” (according to Wikipedia). Since she has the nicknames Pen and Penny, I decided her name was a variation of the name Penelope, which means “weaver.” Zilyana is also a made up name, but the closest match I could find was Zilya, which means “hunter, harvester, guardian.” The surname Nightingale means “someone with a good voice,” as this species of bird is known for its beautiful song.

Elisven Luina Skylark: The name Elisven was also made up by me, but it’s a variation of Elizabeth which means “God’s promise or God is my oath.” Luina is the name Luna (with an i) which means “moon.” This was also her paternal grandmother’s middle name, and Luina is the name of the moon goddess in Aetherian mythology. The surname Skylark possibly comes from a type of European lark, a bird renowned for its ability to fly vertically up into the air.

Tagging (no pressure): @isherwoodj @magic-is-something-we-create @oh-no-another-idea @writingforjoy @zmwrites and an open tag for anyone who'd like to join!

#( rhikasa ) tag game #( wip ) world of skies #( wos ) character #( wos character ) alexander ryder #( wos character ) elisven skylark #( wos character ) ella hart #( wos character ) guinevere #( wos character ) penemu nightingale #( wos character ) theodore grayson

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scarlettroubles · 3 years

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HPHM fanfic WIPs

I’ve actually been writing some fanfics for Eileen’s story as well as some Ryder Family lore for a while now but because of school I haven’t been able to get around to finishing any of them so I thought it would be cool to show you all some sneak peaks so enjoy!

In the Face of Fear chapter 2: of Faceless Strangers and Empty Halls

(The continuation to this fic)

She does not remember how long she has stood in this queue. Hell, she doesn't even remember what she's in line for anyway, not really. Logically she knows it's to get some important documents approved of before carting it off to the next sorry sod who was stupid enough to land themselves in this God forsaken place too. But she honestly couldn't bring herself to care. Politics, desk jobs, rules? She never cared for them really. Not even once.

She hated office work. Tulip had always found it dreadfully boring and the people who actually bothered with the crap even more so. So why did she take one?

The red head found herself racking her brain for answers as she waited oh so painstakingly for the queue to move and for her to be done with all this boring crap and lock herself in her boring little cubicle and bury her head under a shit ton of useless paperwork that, if she were lucky enough would hopefully suffocate her before this job did. But one look ahead of the line was enough for her to discern that it wouldn't be budging any time soon.

Why did she take this job? She hated the Ministry. Hated how suffocating rules and laws were. Sure, some were needed but that did not change the fact that Tulip Karasu did not like being restrained. So why the hell was she here? Working a dreadful job that was sucking the life out of her. Working for dreadful people who knew not the meaning of fun and only the meaning of responsibility, paperwork, and order and snuffing out the flame of good ol' fun chaos before it could really take spark. In a dreadful queue that was far too long to be normal with people and coworkers whose faces she always seemed to forget.

So why? Why here? She saw what this job did to people. How strict it made her parents. How high their expectations of her were and how they wouldn't accept anything less than perfect from their daughter. Despite most of the fog that clouded her tired mind she could still remember it so clearly... The promise she had made to herself so long ago. She had promised herself that she would never work here and would never be like her parents. Not if she could help it.

Did she finally resign to their wishes? Bowed like some obedient little servant and catered to their every whim? Had her fear of what she would do once she left Hogwarts finally override her logic?

Why did schools even do that? Why did the world do that? Telling students to make up their minds on what career to choose from such an early age? Tulip has seen what happened to the people that were unlucky enough to land themselves in a job that sucked the life out of them. She remembers how sometimes the most brilliant of students ended up having their spark extinguished as soon as they left school. Left to reminisce on their glory days and what could have been. The very thought of it made her tighten her hold on the documents in her hands.

Because everybody needs to know what they want to be at an early age. Everybody needs to know their place. They just have to have a place...

It was one of Tulip's greatest fears.

Ending up in a job that gave her zero satisfaction. A job that would end up isolating herself from everyone and everything because nobody wants to be friends with a traitor. A no good friend that turns on the other for their own gain. That's why Merula left-

Tulip was snapped out of her thoughts when she suddenly felt the sharp edges of the stack of documents she was carrying dig annoyingly into her side and moved to adjust them. Checking each one carefully to see if they've been ruined in any shape or form.

The last time she had presented a stack of reports that were ever so slightly crumpled and not properly organized to fit the pencil haired bastards ridiculously high standards she had been given such a withering gaze by her superior that she had felt herself visibly shrink just the tiniest bit. But the want to smack the arrogant sod and prank him mercilessly was stronger.

How she wished she could pull out a heap of dungbombs or any other joke shop product and just reign full chaos upon this hellhole.

She looked up and, to her relief the line had actually moved significantly. In fact, She was only three heads away from being in the front of the line. Huh, that was...Weird.

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Regrets of a Useless Man

(Context: A story told from Edward Ryder’s perspective and explores how he grew up mentored by his father, to becoming an Auror and meeting Julianna and to the tragedy that caused the Ryder Family to spiral down a path of grief and neglect).

Useless.

Edward remembers how often that word was hissed at him with such venom in his youth. How hard it would make him physically recoil, and if it wasn't the venom behind the words that stung, it was the pain and shock from the slap that would often follow next.

He remembers so clearly the sound of hand meeting cheek echoing so loudly within the Hunter's room of the Ryder Family Manor that day, and how the shadows in the dark room, the dancing fire in the hearth and the countless portraits of long dead ancestors were the only things to lay witness to it.

The day had started off simple enough. His father had brought him to the library for his afternoon studies on magical combat and magic theory. Edmund had forced the studies onto him when he was just 7, and Edward was now 12. Today though, Edward found it difficult to focus on reading the ink written words on the paper before him, he instead thought of the words his father said to him the day he had first started bringing him into this room every afternoon to ready him for what he claimed to the then 7-year-old, was his destiny.

"Your mother may think I'm being too harsh on you boy, but a child must learn sooner or later if he is to make his way in life. And you, Edward, my son…You will bring this family to glory. You will take back what once was mine... You will make me proud."

His father had made it his goal to have Edward become the next Head Hunter of the Hunters of Artemis. The group of bounty hunters and other unsavory individuals who were tasked in hunting down those The Ministry could not. Members were either recruited by the group's leader or were sentenced into joining it by The Ministry if they deemed the criminal guilty but useful elsewhere other than filling the empty cells up in Azkaban.

The title of headhunter used to be his father's. Back when Ryder was up against Ryder during the Wolves Rebellion. Edward remembers bits and pieces of the bloodshed. Their family's civil war had only recently ended after all. And although Edward was still young when the war was at its peak, he was there to see the ending of it.

His father had lost a duel to the death for the title of headhunter against his own uncle and just when he was about to be killed, he was saved by his younger brother, Octavius Ryder, who would later become the next headhunter and finally put an end to their Family's civil war. While Octavius was hailed a hero by his family, Edmund Ryder was left crippled and was left to depend on a cane for the rest of his life.

"Edmund's leg wasn't the only thing that was left crippled, his pride and soul got crippled too."

His uncle Octavius had once told him that. And he knew it was true. Edward had seen the photos of his father back when he was younger. Before the Wolves Rebellion and before being damned to rely on a cane for the rest of his life. Edmund Ryder was a fierce and strong man. A man whose tall stature and commanding presence left his enemies either fleeing from the sight of him or hesitating to raise their wands. Knowing the moment they did, they would probably end up dead. But now though? Now Edmund Ryder was just a bitter old man who resorted to chasing his glory days and what he thought was rightfully his through his eldest son.

It was rather pathetic of him, to be honest.

"Get your head out of whatever childish fantasy you've ludicrously conjured, boy!" His father's sharp voice cut in. Snapping Edward out from his thoughts. He met his father's heated stare and could only sheepishly duck his head in apology. Silently hoping his father would let it go, just this once. He was a child after all, he could be allowed to be one every now and then couldn't he? But in Edmund's eyes, being a child meant close to nothing. He was just another soldier to train.

Edmund looked hard and long at his eldest son before letting out a huff and stood up from his seat. grabbing for his cane, he motioned for his eldest son to follow him. Edward looked at the door and calculated in his still youthful mind if making a mad dash for the door and hiding ‘til his mother came back from whatever social gathering his father had set up for her would be worth it. He knew it would not though. The first time he tried to escape his studies and sneak off to play with his siblings it hadn't ended well for either of them.

And so, the child silently got up and dutifully followed his father out of the room and into the halls. He could feel the eyes of the animated portraits his family had kept for centuries dig into the back of his skull and Edward so very badly wanted to shrink and hide away.

"You need to be reminded of what is at stake here, Edward." His father said as the steady clank of his cane meeting the floor echoed within the Manor with every step he took forward before taking a sharp left. And with that left, Edward knew exactly where his father was taking him to.

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Expanded Ryder Lore: The Wolves Rebellion

(Sometimes, all it takes is a few words for a family to turn against one another.

When the Ryder family finds themselves being requested an audience with a man named Gellert Grindelwald, Esteban Ryder and his brother, Orion Ryder decide to entertain the man and accept his request, not knowing that by doing so, a fight for the title of head hunter would soon take place. A fight where each family member would find themselves asking if they’d rather be a dragon or they’d rather be a wolf).

The Wolves Rebellion refers to a civil war that happened within the Ryder Family during the 1920s and lasted until the 1940s. It is regarded as one of the most bloody civil wars that happened within the Ryder family and nearly led to the House’s extinction.

The fighting came about because of a speech. Not just any speech but one given by none other than Gellert Grindelwald, regarded to be one of the most feared and most powerful dark lords of his time. Grindelwald was just coming into power and was seeking out allies and followers all over the world in order to rally an army large enough for war. He had already managed to sway a majority of the influential pure-blood families in Europe to join his side, and was now looking for new allies in the British Isles.

He had the Malfoy's, the Black's, and the Parkinson's families in his palm in an instant. As the dark lord was mulling over what family to sway to his side next, one name had managed to pique his interest, The Ryder Family.

The Ryder's were a feared and well-respected family known for their ferocity in battle and for their loyalty. Grindelwald had heard stories of the Ryder's toppling down many dangerous adversaries and mighty beasts, one of them being the very beast they had as their house crest, a dragon. But that wasn't what really got the dark lords attention, no. What got it were the rumors. Rumors of the family having a unique short of magic which came in the form of instinct. Instincts so strong they knew when to block a spell from an enemy before it was even shot, instinct that helped warn them of danger before it even took place, and as a seer, an ability that granted the man the ability to see visions of the future, Grindelwald was all too eager to see if the rumors were true and to see just how useful and alike his ability was with theirs.

And so Grindelwald sent a letter to the Ryder family, requesting to have an audience with them. The Ryder's were definitely ticked off by such arrogance, but the head of the family at that time, Esteban Ryder and Head Hunter, Esteban’s younger brother, Orion Ryder, had been hearing of this man for months now and decided to entertain him and accepted his request if not to just satisfy their own curiosity about this strange wizard from Germany.

The dark lord was welcomed into the Ryder Family's home in a show of good faith however Esteban, surrounded by his hounds and seated with his wife and 4 children by his side, demanded that the man get straight to the point about what he wanted. Grindelwald obliged to the man's demand and told them. And told him they did for not even a minute later did the Ryder's find themselves entranced by the man's honeyed words.

As the man spoke of his vision and dream for a world where wizards and witches could be free and didn’t have to hide in the shadows, Esteban took a look across the room and let his eyes take in the faces of the rest of his family members, he felt a wave of unease wash over him and settle at the bottom of his heart as he saw the hunger that swam in their eyes that only grew larger with every pretty word and lie that left the dark lord’s mouth.

For when the Ryder’s fled to the British Isles following Adrian Ryder and his family’s betrayal back in the 17th century, The family of hunters suddenly found themselves being hunted. The Ministry had been informed by the new fledgling American wizarding government, MACUSA of the Ryder family’s possible involvement with scourers and of their bloody history of hunting down mercenaries and dragons, and so The Ministry did what they did best. They killed those who they feared and nearly had the entire family exterminated like rodents. It was only when the Minister of Magic realized that the Ryder’s would be more useful to him alive than dead did he decide to spare them and cease the bloodshed. The Minister had the Ryder’s and their hunters swear loyalty to The Ministry and the once proud family of dragons found themselves reduced to loyal hunting dogs.

Grindelwald knew damn well about the Ryder’s being reduced to such a sorry state and having their freedom stripped away from them so fucking easily. And cleverly used it to get them on his side. He told them, “why should you all be muzzled and treated like dogs when you are something so much mightier than that? You are dragons, and dragons do not cower in front of anyone.”

Grindelwald thanked Esteban and Orion Ryder for their time and bid them farewell, and as the dark lord left the family to contemplate on his words, he also left with them a seed. A seed of doubt and malice that would soon sprout and dig it’s vile roots within the Ryder family that would cause them to have a power struggle that would leave body after body in its wake.

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Two Lesbians and a Baby

(Context: A short story that takes place in the AU Eileen and Merula end up together during the Second Wizarding War).

“I thought you said not to get attached to the baby.”

Merula jumped in surprise from the voice behind her, causing her to jostle the baby cradled in her arms. She took a quick look down to make sure it was still sleeping and not getting ready to scream itself hoarse for having its nap interrupted and was relieved to find the little thing not making a fuss like it normally had these past few weeks of taking care of the insufferable thing.

The cursebreaker let out a sigh of relief. Glad that she didn’t have to deal with the nasty bugger before turning her attention to her wife and giving her her best withering glare. The kind that made most of her pathetic coworkers back at Gringotts cower beneath the powerful witch’s gaze. But Eileen, who had been married to Merula for 2 years and had known the Slytherin for far longer merely chuckled into her hand, completely unaffected by the threats and death glares her wife sent her at this point which was something Merula wasn't all too happy about.

“Have you gone mad Ryder? Of course I haven’t gotten attached to this pathetic, smelly little hell spawn!” Merula huffed as she straightened her posture and looked up at her dearly detested bastard of a spouse.

Eileen merely gave the shorter woman an amused look as she stared up and down at the way the Slytherin was unconsciously angling her body to better shield the baby from any potential danger. Her eyes softened as they landed onto the still sleeping bundle in her wife’s arms which only caused Merula to feel annoyance start to claw up her throat.

“If there’s anyone who’s getting attached to this thing it’s you! You’ve been acting all soft and dopey eyed these entire two weeks of caring for this brat! Honestly, the way this thing has gotten you wrapped around it’s tiny little finger is pathetic even for you, Ryder.’ Merula spat out venomously.

"Oh, and you haven't? I've seen the way you look at the little fella when you cradle him in your arms, or the way you give him one of your rare gentle smiles the few times you managed to wrangle a giggle out of him. Or how when he wakes up in the middle of the night and it's your turn to take care of him, you grumble about it but sing him back to sleep anyway. You may deny it but you secretly love caring for this little bundle of joy that you lovingly call a 'hell spawn'.

“Face it Merl, you're completely enamoured with this little guy."

#eileen ryder #edward ryder #merula snyde #tulip karasu #hphm #harry potter hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery mc #hogwarts mystery #the ryder family #ryder family lore #keep in mind I'm still new to writing ya'll #its only in this fandom that I finally got the nerve to well #write and actually post that writing so yeah #hope u all liked it #I made #an entire timeline for the ryder family #just to keep track of the lore and eileen's story #as well as a family tree just so I could write the wolves rebellion lore #my writing

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see-arcane · 2 years

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“The Invitation,” or, “Please, God, Stop Letting Writer/Directors Slap Public Domain Names on Their Fanfiction”

Spoilers for The Invitation below.

Get a drink, grab some snacks. We’re going to be here awhile.

I am now and always a sucker (bad dum tshh) for new Dracula media.

Past experience has only given a decent payoff 1 out of 5 times, but hey, I like to gamble. And even with my misgivings about the trailer, even with the immediate sour gut punch of Rotten Tomatoes’ poor reviews from critics and audiences on opening night, I was ready to gamble again. The Invitation was written and directed by a woman, Jessica M. Thompson, and it’s playing to an obvious gothic vampire-romance angle, which meant it was already a prime target for snide review bombing. Hell, I was already half-grinding my teeth over the implications of Ken Doll Dracula at his Most Suavely von Handsome and the less than flattering depiction of the Harkers in the trailer.

But there was a chance it was misdirection! Trailers always hide their best twists!

Plus, it was technically doing what Last Voyage of the Demeter and the (obviously parodic) Renfield mean to do when they hit the theaters—it’s exploring the underutilized characters and lore potential that Stoker left laying around the narrative. In this case, the story of the Brides as seen through the lens of Evie, a young woman tricked into joining that same harem. That’s interesting! And, joy of joys, this Dracula is not pulling a Coppola.

No reincarnated wives, no starry-eyed romance with the victim. He’s just being a manipulative hot chick collector. If you squint, you can allllllmost see a loving nod to the (likewise less than faithful, but hey, it's not Gary Oldman going all Romeo with Winona Ryder 2.0) Hammer horror history, with various Draculas preying upon various maidens like, you know, a predator. Which he is.

But that steered me to the last thread of hesitation, which was the rating: PG-13. The only time a PG-13 movie has ever scared me was the American remake of The Ring—a freak miracle that I still believe outshines the original Japanese Ringu in atmosphere, acting, and scares. It was a one-off. Never been pulled off before or since in my opinion.

In the context of Dracula media, the only time this bastard should rate less than an R is when he’s there for a parody’s sake.

But still, I crossed my fingers. Got my ticket. Sat through the whole thing.

Let’s save a little time and get the Pros out of the way.

PROS:

-Evie and her best friend Grace are the best part of the cast, if only when they get to bounce off each other.

-‘Lucy’ is not really Lucy Westenra, though her demeanor is sweet enough to play to her original book inspiration. This is Lucy ‘Billington.’

-The Billingtons, along with two other ‘old money’ families featured in the big evil vampire wedding are all human, and all responsible for offering ‘Walter DeVille’ a viable pretty daughter as a tithe-Bride in exchange for their own prosperity. It’s an interesting take and it helps mesh with one of the film’s overarching themes that vampires and the rich are predators of the same ilk, abusing and feeding on the lower classes. Evie herself is a freelancer/caterer used to serving up canapes to the wealthy and her ongoing camaraderie with the hired help is nice to see.

-The subtlest good point the movie offers is the fate of the maids/catering girls who are brought in for the duration of the wedding celebration. They are, quite literally, the catering itself, being fed on and picked off one by one. It’s a metaphor given full bloody demonstration without needing it hammered in.

-Beautiful backdrop with the manor. Lots of gothic love in the design.

-At best, the movie might serve as a stepping stone for folks just weaning themselves out of softer vampire media and into meatier horror fare. Or it could just be for the cheesecake factor of the pretty actors and fangs. Everyone has a turn to get their titties out; Ken Doll Drac gets the obligatory shirtless scene, the Brides have gowns in the climax that seem one sneeze away from indecent exposure. If you’re here for some hot bloodsucker objectifying, a grrrrl power ending, and the kind of flick you can have playing in the background without wanting to crane your head around to catch every scene while you do something else, go for it.

CONS:

-…Give me a minute.

-………….Give me another minute.

- Okay. Let’s start small.

- Just from a technical angle, the acting is not stellar. Nor is the editing. Frankly, there is not a single good scare orchestrated throughout the whole film. And there are opportunities for it everywhere! They just are never, ever taken. Even when the poor maids are getting murdered there’s no menace. It’s like watching sheep marched into a slaughter, but with even less impact.

- Even the potential of having a good surprise monster design is left out. There are no creature effects beyond pointy nails and sharp teeth. Really, if it weren’t for those teeny little traits, everyone involved could just be a bunch of rich weirdoes with a blood fetish. (Which could have been its own flick! Go full Bathory! But no.)

- My absolute tiniest nitpick? Bats and wolves are mentioned as being around, bats and wolves never make an appearance. For shame.

- Grrrrrl power is in full effect. The climax is the main offender here, from the acting, to the editing, to the strangely Matrixy effects in the final battle. It might have worked if it was kept more low-key—Evie’s only real allies are the all-female catering staff/fodder, her best friend back overseas, and, towards the end, the head maid Mrs. Swift and a repentant Lucy who both sacrifice their lives to help her. Even the fact that, if you look, most of the rich human families involved have a heavy skew towards male members versus female. The latter are there, but not as many. The reason Evie gets roped into the scheme is that she’s the last female of the Alexander family they can offer to renew DeVille/Dracula’s fealty. There is not one single male in the cast who has anything but ulterior motives.

-…Including, yes, Jonathan fucking Harker. Alongside Mina fucking Harker. Who, while not in-house servants, are loyal to fucking Dracula. Not even vampires! Just regular evil old folks! Here, they’re an elderly couple running what looks like an antique shop near the manor, and they immediately concuss and sellout Evie when she comes to them for help.

- The brunette Bride, Viktoria, is the bi-coded, Catty Jealous Wife © ™ and the Evil Awful No-Good Mean Girl of the cast. She might have been fun if she wasn’t written to be a cardboard cutout of a character.

- Walter DeVille (those who’ve read the book, you know that last name is taken from canon as one of Dracula’s aliases, because the Count thinks he’s so damn funny) alias ‘Walt’ alias Actual Fucking Dracula. Where do I begin with you, sir?

This man is a marvel of hybridizing the worst parts of charismatic vampiric bad boy narratives and the Little Red Riding Hood Syndrome that involves deforming a villain so far away from his original threat and character into bodice ripper makeover land that he’s utterly unrecognizable.

Coppola-spawned wet dreams, lukewarm Fifty Shades of Grey rough drafts, and every unused extra from every Sexypire TV series ever made have their stamp here. True Blood, Vampire Diaries, that pile of ‘Erik was a Vampire All Along !!1!’ Phantom of the Opera fanfic you bookmarked in middle school. It’s all here. It all went into this one character.

With all my apologies to you, Drac actor Thomas Doherty, you are not scary. You’re not even mildly ominous. The old man playing the butler had more grisly gravitas than you. Which isn’t your fault! You’re following directions! You’re being Count Fuckula, a guy whose only want and purpose is to Gain New Hot Wife, Give Mysterious Unexplained Prosperity/Blood Magic/??? to Family of New Hot Wife, and Be Mr. Sexington Q. Charmley. Your jawline, pectorals, and all 4.5 scenes of chemistry you’re cattle-prodded into with Evie before the ~dramatic reveal~ of vampire cult goings-on were no doubt you following your cues to the letter.

It's not your fault any more than it was Gary Oldman’s fault. You have a script, a role, a certain vibe the director wants from you. But in Gary Oldman’s case, at least he acted like he had whole centuries’ worth of power, intellect, and massacre behind him, rather than an all-night reading session studying YA supernatural series for dialogue tips, done in-between gym sessions and cologne commercials.

You are not Dracula. You were never going to be Dracula. No matter what ‘See! See! I used names and places from the book!’ unearned titles are thrown around, nothing of you or this movie has anything to do with Dracula.

And here we have the biggest, least surprising sin of the film. The longstanding tradition of Dracula adaptations and spinoffs, now at its final form.

-Just because you put a famous name on something does not mean it is that thing. Naming a Chihuahua after Cerberus does not make your half-pound purse dog the three-headed monster mongrel of Hades. By the same token, vomiting public domain names all over the place—

Whitby! Carfax Abbey! Jonathan and Mina Harker! DeVille! Brides! Lucy! Dracula!

—does not mean shit if the things wearing those names are not those things. I know, I know, it’s tempting to hide behind the clout of well-known titles to lend extra punch to your work. It draws people in (hi), and gets them interested because, “Ooh, I recognize that name! I know and love that story!”

It takes some of the hard work out of it. It saves you from having to do what, in hindsight, you should have done all along—Coppola, Moffat, so many more, and now Thompson—and be original. Give these people new names, because they are clearly not the characters they’re named after and/or referencing. Then you can do whatever the hell you want without staying in the confines of the canon you’re borrowing from and trying to expand on; which, you know, didn’t stop you anyway.

You want some Dracula in there? Make Walter one of those snob bloodsuckers who reference Dracula. Maybe have him look down his nose at Stoker’s silly misguided notions about the nature of vampires, but give him credit for hitting close with the bit about the Brides, ha ha.

Or, even better, have him actually be young compared to most vampires. Give Evie something to chew his ass out on—point out that even for an immortal self-made ‘god,’ as he calls himself, he’s still scrambling for respect by naming himself and his surroundings after Stoker’s work. ‘The Harkers’ are only called that because their master wants it that way. The estate was renamed to Carfax. DeVille isn’t even his real last name. He’s just a wealthy, powerful fanboy who happens to have real fangs and a hankering for fresh bedmates. He doesn’t even seek the latter out himself. He needs his Brides delivered to him, like some shitty undead Uber Eats service. Pathetic.

Or or, have a really, properly nasty knife twist for the horror aspect. Make him a descendant of, say, Jonathan and Mina Harker. Spoilers for those who haven’t read the book, only minor spoilers for those familiar with the Coppola film, but Dracula does get a bit nippy with them as the book goes on. There have been theories (and spinoffs) focusing on what might happen if the Count’s influence was still in those heroic veins.

And what might happen if it passed on down the bloodline.

It’d make a lovely bit of salt and lemon to that legacy’s wound if Walter was an apple who fell perilously far from the tree…

…Only for Evie to provide a counterbalance. Yes, half her bloodline is of the Alexanders, which is what matters to the villains. But they only research that half. Wouldn’t it have been a laugh if they overlooked the other side of her tree, which is descended from the Van Helsing bloodline? Whoops.

Among dozens of other ways the story could have gone.

-In short, I was ready to leave The Invitation either mildly surprised or expectedly disappointed. Instead, I just left sad.

It wasn’t just an underwhelming film. It was a confirmation of my concerns for where future Dracula media might be headed. Even in things like Castlevania and Hellsing, stories that feature some of my favorite (and utterly absurd) takes on the Count, the former being full of occult power, wrath, and cunning, the other just having a riotously violent good time tearing his way through enemies like they’re screaming tissue paper, both of them have a romantic undercurrent to them, with Lisa of Lupu and Integra Hellsing respectively. They are anti-villain and anti-hero, not villains outright.

The one thing Invitation-Dracula has going for him is that he has the tiniest hint of Bluebeardish manipulator and illicit motives to his character. He is two-faced, he is a schemer. But, I feel this deserves repeating, the butler is more intimidating than him. Yes, even after the evil reveal.

That’s not a Dracula, guys. That’s not even a Lestat. Even an Edward would laugh at this mess.

It’s the final end product of generations of sandblasting and sexifying Dracula until he’s just one of a hundred interchangeable Sultry Nosferatu Dolls that writers and directors use to add legitimacy they haven’t earned to personal fantasies that have to hollow out the source material before their own idea can fit inside the airbrushed husk and wear it around like a costume.

-In shorter short, I am tired. I am spiteful. If this movie and those like it are good for nothing else, it lends me confidence in my own skill, and has inspired me to be infinitely, viciously more fucked up in what I make out of the toolbox Stoker left behind.

#going to take a nap #have a slice of my Harker anniversary cake #drag out all my best vampire flicks for a marathon #and dig into some spite-writing #The Invitation #The Invitation (2022)#dracula #spoilers #ranting and raging

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