#secret Mantis backstory

[littlebittyhollowbugs]

Mantis lords headcanons~

First things first, the mantis lords names! We have..

Oriana (eldest)

Siara (eldest middle)

Biana (youngest middle)

Timono (youngest)

And additionally~

Tulian (Traitors child)

Mia (Traitor Lord's wife)

The mantis lords~

The sisters are triplets all a few years older than their brother.

Oriana is the eldest, the leader of the four. She is practical and stern, very composed and calculating. She is the face of the mantis lord council and tribe.

Siara is a bit more relaxed than.. all of her siblings. Probably the most open-minded and least stubborn. She is usually the one sent beyond the tribe to deal with outside affairs.

Biana is quiet and a bit secretive. More of a follower than the others. She enjoys working on traps, weapons, and leads the technological advancements within the tribe.

Timono was of lower rank than the other Lord's. (To gain higher rank one must prove to be as strong of a warrior as the elder Lord's. Something he, despite years of effort, had never proven.) Still Timono was a fierce warrior, who wanted more than anything to finally grant his tribe freedom from Hallownest.

(In case anyone missed this bit of lore- The pale king made a deal with the tribe that they must keep the spiders of Deepnest from gaining access into his kingdom and in turn allowed them to keep all their territory. The mantis lords all agreed though they still begrudged Hallownest and it's rulers. None more so than the eventual Traitor lord.) He wanted to put a permanent end to the war with Deepnest and their contract with Hallownest.

It was always the tribes intent to expand their territory into the West, And after the queen took all of the territory that would become queen's garden, while the mantises fought endlessly to keep the small area of land they had, Lord Timono became especially intent on standing against Hallownest.

Timono was angry, optimistic, and overzealous. He genuinely wanted what was best for his people, And would go to any lengths to achieve that. His more pessimistic and calculating sisters, while in agreement with his motivations, did not agree with his plans for action.

They knew they did not stand a chance taking up arms against Hallownest. He was angry with them, believing them to be cowards. They would very often butt heads over this, and Timono was of course always outnumbered by his sisters so his plans were never put into action.

That is until he began a rebellion against them. Another important aspect of his character, is that he was an excellent leader and motivator. He was the most extroverted of the four by far, incredibly passionate and optimistic as I've said, and after ascending to the rank of lord, he easily gained the favor of a large portion of the tribe.

Traitor Lord's family~

He was married to a war leader, named Mia. Mia had spent almost all her life fighting and dreamt of a peaceful era for the tribe. The two of them bonded over their dreams and ideals.

His wife died shortly after their child was born. (She died in battle against Deepnest.)

Tulian, the name that we've given the traitor's child, was similar to both parents, an idealist who longed for a better future, though much more gentle and patient than her father, And of course eventually becoming much more sympathetic toward Hallownest. Coming to believe that they should find a more peaceful end to the conflict between the lands. Timono loved his child more than anything, and was extremely protective of her, Though her sympathy toward Hallownest did create a rift between them. (The more complex the parent-child relationship, the more obsessed we become, or so go the written legends)

The rebellion and the infection~

Now.. exactly how this plays out in our story, may not be exactly what was implied in game and I acknowledge that. The Hunter's notes about the traitor lord seem to imply that he took in the infection and was then banished from the tribe. But in the backstory we've written it happens the other way around. (Our excuse is that the hunter probably isn't aware of the exact details of the mantis tribes affairs haha)

Anyway this made more sense to our characters,

Basically eventually after attempting for years to get his sisters to agree to expanding their territory into the garden, Timono finally decided to take matters into his own hands and lead a rebellion against his sisters. (He was hopeful that if the tribe would strike during the spread of the infection when their enemy was most vulnerable, they would be able to conquer. his sisters did not agree, civil conflict ensues) He had many followers and the conflict was devastating to the tribe.

He and his followers were defeated and driven from the village. They were branded traitors, and were left to fight for the garden without any support.

Now Tulian wanted to try and negotiate a peaceful resolution with the Queen. This attempt did not end well. Upon being refused his demands the traitor lord lead an attack against the queen, and in the conflict Tulian was killed.

The traitor lord and his warriors retreated into the lower garden, now more devasted and desperate than ever before.

The traitor lord had heard much about the infection over the years. He knew that it was dangerous, but that it granted any bug greater strength, At the cost of their minds. He believed that, as mantises (higher minded beings) that the infection would not be as devastating to their minds as to the common bug. That they would be able to attain some control, And it would be worth it to obtain that strength.

He was also incredibly desperate, and grieving the loss of the last of his family. He believed there was no other option. They were surrounded by enemies on all sides, Hallownest, Deepnest, even their own tribe. So he lead all of his followers in taking in the infection to gain the power of the radiance.

And from there on things are pretty self explanatory..

The future of the mantis tribe~

In our new hallownest happy ending au, the lands of hallownest are all brought together in rebuilding the kingdom and the mantis tribe does get to expand. There are eventually three main villages. The capitol village in the fungal waste, The battleground village in what was once north eastern deepest, And the garden village in what was once northern Queen's garden. As well as roadways between them. Each village is ruled by one of the mantis lords.

A little extra stuff about the whole mantis family and their relationships with each other~

The sisters are all incredibly close, and have been since birth. Siara and Biana are especially in sync with one another in most areas.

They did love their brother, though there has always been some distance between them and him. He looked up to them greatly in his youth and wanted more than anything to be treated equally with them. Something, he felt, never came to be. (The more dramatic the sibling relationship the more obsessed we become, or so go the written legends)

He was closest with Biana out of the three. But her eagerness to please her sisters stood between her siding with him on most matters.

The Lords also all deeply cared for Tulian. Timono was protective, but his sisters were all equally protective aunts. This made the banishment of the traitors all the more devastating to them.

They held much respect for the sister they gained through their brother's marriage as well. A most honorable defender of the tribe, who had been involved in many battles.

Timono loved his wife dearly of course. She was as inspiring to him as he was to her. (The more in love the married couple are with each other, the more obsessed we become, or so go th-)

And Tulian did not get much of chance to know her mother, but was told very many inspiring tales.

This is just the basics and I'll probably add more to it later. We have lots of smaller headcanons about this family as well.

[yellowmasque]

Okay, you guys need to stop

People are actually trying to defend the contradictory, underdeveloped backstory of The Chameleon in Kung Fu Panda by thinking up of every (made up) excuse under the sun. The biggest theory people are using is that Mantis and Shifu are exceptions. Where was that ever said or even implied? In the first movie, it's obvious that people made fun of Po for his fatness, not size. The closest I got with smallness being a thing was Mantis saying something like, "Who am I to judge a warrior based on their size? I mean, look at me." However, did anyone make fun of Mantis, even the villains, for his size? You know Secrets of the Scrolls? You know, the shorts that cover every member of the Furious Five and their struggles before they joined the Furious Five? You want to know what Mantis' struggle was? If you guessed his size, BZRT! You are wrong! It was his patience. His size was NEVER brought up!

Notice how I never mentioned Shifu? Yeah, no one cared about his size, and that was never brought up. Once. Again, not even by the villains, who are supposed to act prejudiced at least a little. It's almost like the writers never cared about his size because size never mattered to them. Ever. Crazy theory, right?

It's a big, giant fact that the writers thought up of her backstory in the last minute. They had ideas, but were scrapped because the director never wanted one in the first place. You want proof? Here you go! Just go to Q14! See? Isn't it great that you have proof for something instead of just mere speculation?! We should do that more!

The. Writing. Is. Bad. Stop trying to pretend that it ever was. It never tried to make sense. It only tried to be a funny panda movie. The fact people are trying to defend a movie franchise that lost its heart (what made it so loved in the first place) is sad.

[merpdaberp]

I disagree with people defending the Chameleon's Backstory

So when Kung Fu Panda 4 came out there was a lot of mixed reception from fans. Some hated it, some liked it or loved it, and others found it fine.

Personally, I think it's fine, I don't hate but I don't like it either. It could've been worse and could've been better.

One thing that always bugs me about fans defending the chameleon's backstory is that keep mentioning the shorts and one animator saying not all dojos were as excepting. Which I have several issues.

1. We don't know if the shorts are canon or not. The shorts are character backstories. Especially in the secrets of the Furious Five and secrets of the scrolls. Fans would mention how some of the dojos didn't accept or respect certain species. They bring up Crane not being accepted because he is skinny and looks weak. That sure is fair enough. But the thing is in the same short we have Mantis kicking ass! Now we don't know much about how Mantis learned Kung Fu. This is another thing I'm skeptical of in the shorts especially Secrets of the Furious Five, as it was Po telling the stories as lessons to kids. So we don't know how accurate they are.

Then we have the secrets of the scrolls. People also brought up but it doesn't make sense as an argument. Like Shifu is a master and he's also small. We even see other Red Panda masters. People say when he gets mad at the five as an example. But people missed the point, He was not mad because they were different species, he's mad because they weren't the people he asked for.

My rule is if it ain't in the actual movie then it ain't canon or brought up at all. Unless DreamWorks actually says they are canon but they haven't. Btw I like the shorts but I wouldn't take them too seriously.

2. People keep bringing up one animator on Twitter who says that not all dojos are as accepting as the Jade Palace. That would've been fine but like, the issue is that it's one animator.

We haven't heard from the others and not even the writers. Also, they said that Secrets of the Scrolls is canon. But my criticism is that she only worked on the fourth movie and not the previous ones. Unless it's her personal opinion or headcanon. But like I said if it ain't in the movie it dosnet count. I wouldn't mind it if we saw a flashback to see it happen, but we never did.

Edit: I should also mention that there might be biases, as it is an actual animator, so of course they would defend their work but there is also a Kung Fu Panda fan. I do not hate Abbey btw, I just think we shouldn't take their word for it. The context was someone asking who would defeat Death from The Last Wish and the Chameleon, Abbey tried to explain it and gave a backstory that was never in the film. As a KFP fan, she used the shorts to explain it.

Now, as I said, there's nothing wrong with that; I just have an issue with certain fans using it to explain the chameleons' backstory. Especially since it's only one person saying it.

3. Even if the dojos were rejected just because of her size. It still doesn't make sense because we already have canonically small masters. Like we literally have a Master Rat that leads an army. We knew this because we the army's battle helmet at the Jade Palace in the third movie.

Heck, even in 4 Po mentions a Master Chipmunk. So how unlucky does the Chameleon to find the right dojo? There are probably dojos out there who specifically train small animals. Heck we even saw them in Secrets of the Scrolls of red panda masters (I know I just repeated myself)

So that's why I disagree with some fans. I feel like there trying to make it sense in their heads which is fine, but they acted as if were in the movie? Like in the film Chameleons just said she was rejected because was small and lowly. Nothing else to flesh it.

So that was my rant and stuff. I gotta go to bed. Sorry for any grammar mistakes.

[love-for-faeries-go-burrrr]

Backstory for Rose / Info on Her

taglist: @raccoonfallsharder @saaandy (if y'all want to read it no pressure just some insights into my gal)

Rose's full name is Rose, her people don't do last names

She is a Princess of the Faerie people, but will never be Queen due to having 6 older siblings.

Rose's birth year was close to 1975 Earth years.

Is Peter & Mantis's half-sister through Celestial Ego.

Rose's mother is Queen Belladonna married to King Consort Fern who was a previous war general. They gave birth to 6 healthy children almost back to back.

Rose has a 15-year age gap between her and her closest royal sibling.

Her gem on her forehead? All her people have one, it does a fun thing where it can show memories, basically can make a hologram of past people/memories. Memoires cannot be altered or forgotten. So her people perfectly remember things as least the way they saw them. (Imagine having this power for toxic people, oh you didn't say that?? HAHA I GOT THE HOLOGRAM TO PROVE IT)

Her mother committed adultery with Ego, and when Yondu showed up to collect Rose she stated the child was her husbands, and used her money and power to advantage to keep her daughter from Ego's hands.

King Consort Fern confronted Yondu and Queen Belladonna during this and stated Rose was his blood, knowing that wasn't the case, saying he would stand by his wife if Yondu was willing to fight over this.

Rose's father was very loving but very strict, her birth only stressed her parent's relationship, and she blamed herself for the downfall of their marriage. The worse the relationship became, the harder her father was on her, if he ever were to be gone she needed to be able to fight back.

Rose excels in dance. Every princess/prince is issued a talent on her planet and her talent was being the 'Princess of Dance'

Her father was poisoned when she was around 20 years old, by the 'trusted chef' and a 'duke' although it is speculated Queen Belladonna had something to do with it.

Her mother's abuse was only emotional before this, but brutal training where Rose had no chance of winning and beatings would take place, with her older siblings married off and her father now dead she had no one to protect her.

The first people she confided her abuse in truly were Mantis and Rocket on separate occasions. Coming clean to her older siblings or her people was never an option, because the abuse must've had a reason, must've been a duty she was born to carry.

She is canonically around 40 years old when she meets the Guardians, though she is still a young adult in her people's view, they live to be around 125-150 years old.

When her kind die their body becomes energy that depletes to the surroundings, only the gem from their forehead is left, and there is no burial of bodies.

She was betrothed to a King from a nearby kingdom, he was kind but Rose only saw friendship with him and was carrying out a secret relationship with a female peasant.

The night before her wedding, the peasant broke it off with Rose stating they couldn't risk their future to be with Rose, unknowingly to Rose, they had just taken a bribe from Queen Belladonna to break up with Rose so Rose would carry out with the marriage.

Rose would have carried out with the marriage and force herself to be happy, King Alador was kind and she did care for him as a dear friend. But when she saw her mother's slight smug smile, she ran from the alter, running away with a faerie intergalactic band that had just landed (to perform at her reception).

Met the guardians when she held a small performance with the band, Groot adored Rose right off the bat, but trouble happened when guards showed up to drag Rose back home, by any means necessary as long as she lives. And of course, Rocket has got to help a pretty princess ;) which happens shortly after Vol. 1.

Is a people pleaser and good at reading people a little too good due to a life of walking on eggshells.

Her antennas glow when humming or singing, and can change colors depending on the mood of what she is singing.

Not as skilled as Gamora in hand-to-hand combat but becomes close after training with her.

Rose's wings are usually a disadvantage in fights, unless she is using them for flights they act like a cape, and as Edna Mode said NO CAPES.

Very feminine, adores dresses and high heels, but does get seen as just a 'pretty princess' who is a damsel in distress which does cause headaches sometimes.

Does suffer from episodes of being a perfectionist, it's the way she was raised she must do everything right and perfect and be perfect. Had a panic attack once and Rocket comforted her by sitting there and just letting her pet him.

Rose's powers are similar to Poison Ivy from DC + Isabella from Encanto, she can grow flowers and vines at will but usually needs to use her hands which can be a problem when she is handcuffed.

High intelligence in combat skills due to her father's past experience passed down & high people skills knowing what to say and when. (Can be used to manipulate in the right scenario)

Can feel auras slightly, as I said very good at reading people. Would like Nebula right off the bat after meeting her. Would send her off with a ripe Yaro Root at the end of Vol 2.

Good at herbalism and can in a way grow fruits, can technically grow the vines to grow grapes, but can't just poof grapes out of nowhere if you can get my drift.

Mother Figure to Groot, Friends with Drax, Close Friends with Peter, Friends with OG Gamora, Close Friends with Mantis, Friends with Kraglin, and Friends to Lovers with the one and only Rocket.

Slow burn with Rocket, don't confess to each other until around 2 years of knowing each other, she fears he fears commitment, while he fears he isn't good enough for her / what she is looking for. (Comic Rocket would've bagged her in less than 2 months or more like 2 hours lmao)

Does NOT out her mother's adultery ever in her life, but does hint to her mother she knows the truth and to back off on forcing Rose to marry off someone after she met the guardians. But overall wants her true father's image to remain intact.

If you have any specific questions for my girl feel free to comment I adore when people ask me questions about her.

Art sketches done by: @glow-autumz & @pompompoyo

[nochi-quinn]

candela obscura chapter 3 episode 1: oh god everybody's fucked up

I'm here, I fell asleep and missed the start but I'm here

lmao the immediate note-taking

ur really committing to that voice huh liam

marisha made an older character and liam said hold my dentures

STEAMPUNK JAZZY

heyyyy someone else makes the joke I picked up from a stargate episode 20 years ago

liam what was that look

absolutely love ashly's wig

sam looking like he got hit with a cattle prod

what's a sam reigel

why are we getting oscar's CV

"are they hot"

listen I saw the trailer he 100% uses that chain to beat people with

"no one calls you carey, oscar"

oh no he's hot

oh he's kotallo, that's why

the flat cap does look good on sam, I can't lie

y'all that's gay

I like cordelia's little halo

eloise best character

(maybe that's the look liam was giving ashly, eloise vs elsie)

elsie's a werewolf calling it

yesss the old people guilt trip

liam

oscar: I'm gonna punch a ghost

"you're wearing a ball gown. it's the morning."

the maw??

haha it took me until literally this moment to remember ashly is aloy, my ship is reunited

"I'm using my bullshit detector" did you get that cleared with the gm

I like the term "blood and guts doctor"

I've been watching S1G play Slay the Princess and the more they describe her the more she sounds like a Princess variant

oh no lights

liam you did that on purpose

oh Aadtika (?) is a very pretty name

"lung, heart" liver, nerves

"you have an extra house?" "you don't?"

rajan

"you slick son of a bitch"

he IS a slick son of a bitch

oh sam's being THAT character

prepared to spend three episodes threatening to punch oscar in the head and throw him in the pool

("nochi nobody read your free! livetweets" well maybe they should have)

sam doesn't watch the product

liam always wants to roleplay fish and chips

[picks elsie and raj up and shakes them until backstory falls out]

"I'll be as subtle as I can be" smash cut to him beating someone to death with a chain

the docks seems like a terrible place to play baseball

sam

did they do a dndbeyond for candela?

they did!

sam forgot he was short

"high stakes not for harm" but bc it's funny

rajan: oh I am NOT involved, you made that VERY clear

"don't waste that on me" "I agree"

I'm being gaslit bc I've always pronounced "copse" like "cope" with an "s" in it

shades of the old man at my previous psych office yelling about obama's secret weather machine

"I help by SCREAMING"

grandpa's making a wheel for it

[mabel pines voice] grappling hook!

the way sam rolls dice STILL kills me

oh good, everyone else also thinks they should fuck

"why can't we just be friends? oh right, because I don't like you."

what the fuck's a flashlight

"yeah! temperature play! :D" aabria

"do you go down my little hole" "of course!" aren't y'all divorced

oh no an ot3

don't say degloved that means something else

oh I dig that

werewolf!

lights!

were….thing!

oh no aabria's doing the voice

everything goes black, and you die

l…lights?

breathing?

how could crcw not have prepared me for this

immortal asshole oscar grimm

EXCUSE

oh he's an asshole because he gave up the non-asshole bits to bargain with death

hey sam what the fuck

oh hey ashly. ow.

thump thumps? why?

loud??

imagine if oscar coming back just freaked elsie right back into beast mode

there's another hour left of this wtf happens

yessssss "I'd take a bullet for him but I wouldn't go drinking with him" my beloved

local woman realizing that everyone around her is an absolute freak

liam's startled old man noise

"ohhh I'm not good at that"

ACTION GLASSES

wait I don't understand what he just did

oh he did a drug

little bird ;-;

his WHAT

chairsword!

it glows blue when there are nuns nearby

where's that one digital devil saga monster

I desperately need an artist's rendition of this orca-mantis-thing

excuse me

I keep missing the spelling of his sister's name

"oh god everybody's fucked up"

A WHAT built in his WHAT

augh eye stuff no quiero

is noshir lefthanded?

I kind of half-called that

"that felt like twenty. that was a season."

BEEKEEPER

"do you know you're covered in bees?"

I like my women like I like my coffee

"because yours is super chill"

liam you can uncommit to the voice

(he will not)

"drop the skincare routine"

[raccoonfallsharder]

rose -ˋˏ ༻ʚ𑁍ɞ༺ ˎˊ-

is such a fuckin delightful oc, created by @love-for-faeries-go-burrrr ♡♡♡ who is kind enough to let me draw rose whenever i just wanna paint a woman with cotton candy curls (which is all the time)

look at this sweetie. LOOK AT HER she is a glorious faerie princess, very sweet with nebula, lover to rocket, half-sister to pete & mantis, secret badass with a heart of gold who almost everyone underestimates. she’s the princess of dancing on her home planet and her people have the power to grow various flora and vines — a talent which she uses in battle (along with just being a badass who can hand-to-hand just fine). she also like. ran away from home && left some royal at the altar because her abusive mom was trying to marry her off… with a fuckin intergalactic girl band, if im remembering right. seriously this girl has a complex and rad-as-hell backstory and you should go read it ♡

anyway her beautiful wings were ripped off by thanos in the infinity war battle, but the goddess of her planet’s people eventually gifted them back to her — and ever since reading that story, i couldn’t get it out of my head. i just wanted to draw rose getting her wings back

so anyway here she is. i love her and am always greedy for more of her story

thank you for letting me draw her again, my dear friend ♡♡♡ she’s just too fucken pretty

let me love your OCs masterlist ♡

original rose appreciation post

let me love your OCs masterlist

(more versions behind the cut)

[catnerdenby]

Whirl

I was planning to do Skyfire or Optimus Prime first but Whirl has consumed my brain now.

So. Whirl, huh? Gotta say, it broke tradition by scanning a mammal, not an insect. And I know it would've made SO much sense for them to be a praying mantis, but like...bat Whirl.

So. They use it/its and they/them pronouns, though they used to use he/him instead of it/its before it was empuranta-ed(?).

They're pretty similar to its MTMTE counterpart personality wise, though they're a bit less intense. Mainly because it's a parent/guardian/responsible figure now.

This is their little scraplet, its reason to keep fighting, just to make a peaceful future for them. Inside it knows though, that it's already too late.

It could rarely be home, since it was one of the few flying Autobots and was often needed in the field, but that didn't mean that they and their sparkling were distant. The opposite really.

Their backstory is very similar to IDW Whirl's but it never became a part of enforcer forces, but isolated themselves from society. There they took up carving, since it couldn't craft clocks no more thanks to those cursed clunky claws.

In order to relieve their frustration, they began carving the people they hated out of metal, and then destroyed the statues. That resulted in the surroundings of their home being littered in destroyed metal statues, which could be mistaken for real corpses.

He was arrested for attacking and killing an officer that came to investigate the reported bodies, and spent a good while in prison. There he became a punching bag, who always punched back.

After that it's again similar to IDW. Recuited by the Autopods (who promised to relieve it of its prison sentence), they became well-known for their su*cidal recklessness, and soon enough was made a part of the Wreckers.

Out on a mission,it accidentally came across a sparkling, who had not yet developed any features, and without being sure why, took the bitlet in. The full name of Red Rust came from the injury Whirl obtained from rescuing them and left untreated for quite a while. Before that they were often called little scrap and scrapling. The nicknames remained after the official name, as Red Rust was very small compared to Whirl (my Bumblebee sized).

Whirl left the Wreckers, as it had found a reason to live again, but as one of the few flyers, he still had to go out on missions.

They kept Red Rust a secret from everyone, until the fateful mission where he went MIA. As it was usual that they were away for long periods of time, the sparkling was fine for quite a while. Then another unfortunate event occurred. A battle happened very near to the place where the two of them lived.

They were found under the rubble (luckily by Autopods) and made a trainee. Unfortunately, Red Rust was slightly scared of heights, due to not having the proper flight training.

Back to Whirl. It was on the Autopod ship that crashed on Earth and thus had no way of getting back to their charge, as it was in stasis with the rest of the Autopods.

Once the crew awakened, they were more aggressive than they used to be. It lashed out at the smallest of things and caused the other Autpods to avoid it, adding to its isolatedness.

That is until the arrival of additional firepower is announced. At first they are furious about the news, but as the date inches closer, it gets excited, which worries the others, as they suspect that they might attempt to sabotage the arrival of the ship.

They are put in the brig, to its anger and frustration, but breaks out and rushes to the landing pad, just in time to witness the landing. It is attempted to be detained again, until they start desperately yelling out:"Red Rust, Red Rust!" Its captors step away in shock, but a shuffle begins among the people and Whirl kneels. A tiny dark bot bursts out from the crowd and into its arms.

After that, Whirl becomes calmer and friendlier, though it's very protective of its sparkling, and will not hesitate to attack anyone who dares to hurt them.

They become closer with the rest of the crew and the new additions as well.

Whirl and Red Rust have synchronised clocks on their chestplates, which will always tick in sync, until one of them dies in which case, the other's clock will stop.

[chevvy-ryder]

How about beloved Ryder!

Oh, I'm always ready to talk about my black sheep of the family <3 Since I saw no number, I'll just do all of them, so this is probably going to be super long. I'll set a cut somewhere.

01. Full name:

Ryder's full name is Gilbert von Scharfenberg. He hates his real name for a good reason: his family – wealthy pure German Corpo blood. Basically no one knows that he's a Scharfenberg either – except for Vijay, because he was the one who deleted all of Ryder's data soon after he left his old life behind. So, basically if you scan him it would only show 'Ryder' and nothing else (I still write it out here on tblr completely bc it sounds so damn good <3). As soon as the family moved to the NUSA, Ry started calling himself 'Ryder' using it as his nickname from now on. It comes from the German surname 'Reiter' (rider, horseman), which was his first love's surname (who sadly died, getting shot by a Cyberpsycho during a rave in a club in Berlin).

02. Best friend:

Ryder's bestie is Vijay Steyr. They know each other since 2071. Vijay is the guy who helped Ryder out of his old life (mentioned above). They didn't met in person back then but their paths crossed a while later again: they ran into each other at a Depeche Mode party, talked, became buddies, then also lovers shortly after. The relationship lasted about a year and they parted for reasons everyone understood and accepted. Ryder rarely saw V the following year, because he needed a bit time and was busy with his own life/job, but Vijay eventually began to contact him again in 2074 when he got into buisness with Jackie doing merc jobs. They needed someone on the front and Ryder was the best guy Vijay could think of since he has mantis blades and a good know how about Militech and Corpo things as well. After Jackie died on a secret job neither V nor Ry knew about, the bond between the two got stronger again and today (2077/78) they are best friends. If you listen to their talking you could also say they sound like an old married couple. Ryder would protect V with his own life and it's vice versa. Vijay was there for him in his worst times, helped him to settle into his new 'street kid' life and most of all: pep talked Ry all the time tearing that wall down he had built up for years. Vijay is defnitely the reason why Ryder feels content with himself and smiles so often now.

03. Sexuality:

Ryder is openly gay. He doesn't look a lot like one in the first place, but he is. He's always been gay because he never had any sexual interest in women since he can think. Only the opposite gender doesn't seem to notice and he had to refuse a lot of times giving him a hard time to express it in words. He also feels kinda awkward when a woman shows a bit more affection towards him than the usual (he's better with friends after a while), so forgive him for behaving like a douchebag. Sadly he couldn't live out his sexuality for many years because of his family. But since he got away he was finally free to do what he wanted. He's no go-getter though. It's the contrary – he's too shy to make the first move. And that's probably why he's been single a long while as well after the relationship with V (who's the go-getter ofc).

04. Favorite color:

Ryder loves black. He knows there are people who don't accept black as a color. For that phrase he's got another answer: purple and green. Besides black, it's these colors he loves (he just won't wear anything purple nor green). Purple like amethysts he collects and (dark) green like the mysterious German forests he misses a lot.

The rest is under the cut for those who are interested in reading more about him. Beware, it really has gotten long!

05. Relationship status:

Ryder is off the single market. After I created him back in Sep 2022, I already had Vijay flirting with @nervouswizardcycle's Arki (<3), so my original idea of V and Ry together couldn't last and was made into a backstory part instead since I still like that ship that formed in my head when Ryder was only an idea. However, I couldn't imagine him with any official npc and looking for some possible other oc over here didn't bring me much further, and also with no one making a real move either (I waited for it like Ryder would do), I decided just a few weeks back that my boy shouldn't be lonely for so long. It made me sad having to look at him knowing his profile still said 'single', so I sat down and created another oc for him: So, yes! His love interest is Thyjs De Wit.

06. Ideal mate:

Ryder's ideal mate is @nervouswizardcycle's Arki. Arki turns out to be his best gay buddy. There's just ideas existing right now but I'm loving it! The two literally don't like each other at first — well it's more Ryder who has a grudge against Arki, but he will find out soon enough that the two are much alike in many things I don't wanna name now bc it could be possible spoilers for some future fanfiction. However, Arki will be a good mate for Ryder: giving tips in training for battle, trying to control his anger, but also the guy to go shopping with (bc Arki is fashionista, baby!). And the two may have many evenings where they get drunk, laughing over stupid anti-jokes (where V just shakes his head and Thyjs also doesn't find it laughable) and watching a shit ton of anime if they don't do stupid stuff in the city. They are both Scorpios and this is a certain vibe you can't turn off easily once they come together.

07. Turn-ons:

Bottom lip biting. It seriously turns Ryder on when you go from casual busses to biting down onto his bottom lip. He sees that as an invitation to get more passionated. Hard lollipops. The meaty kind. He likes a man's best piece a lot. Especially when they have a beautiful shape and tint. Loud, hard rave beats. Eespecially when it has some naughty lyrics it kind of turns him on. If the right person is with him, this may be a chance for making out on the dancefloor, vanishing into a darkroom or just go somewhere else to get dirty.

08. Favorite food:

Pistachio ice cream. In generall he loves pistachios: salted or not, in combination with chocolate, ice cream – everything pistachio – give it to him. You'll make him be a happy pistachio.

09. Crushes:

Thjys De Wit. He's going to crush on him the first time he meets that Dutch pale soldier boy — Thyjs literally zapped him. There's a lot of pining from Ryder's side. Vijay, however will notice and tries to encourage him to make the first move since Thyjs is not a go-getter either (and has to cope with his own feelings for Ry as well at first). It's gonna be interesting. Don't wanna tell too much, though.

10. Favorite music:

Ryder is a true Raver. <3 He lives for hard and dark techno beats. There's nothing better than that ever enduring repeating bass under his feat. It keeps him going, helps him to vent off his never ending anger for a while, keeps the beast within at bay, while he moves to those amazing loud eletronic beats combined with unreal but also beautiful accompaning melodies. Ryder also listens to Industrial and New (German) Wave.

11. Biggest fear:

His biggest is facing his superior again. He fears nothing more than is father: Wilhelm von Scharfenberg — now CEO of Militech HQ in Night City. There is another one: He's afraid of losing control over the beast within him completely, hurting those close to him. He doesn't know where it came from, it was there one day, accompanying him ever since. It lusts for blood mostly so the chance it takes over in a heavy fight during a job is pretty high. Once he's in a killstreak for too long, he's unable to stop and literally goes berserk. Therfore he has asked his best friend Vijay to take control and stop him if the situation gets tricky. He's got a special mod installed that allows Vijay to hack into Ryder's Berserk Operating System making him able to reset it since the beast seems to feed heavily from this system. Ryder's Mantis Blades will receive an order to retract and he gets unconscious for a short amount of time to make sure he's gonna be stopped. If that case happens and the situation is tricky, someone must be right there to protect Ryder for that time since he will be unable to defend himself. Before every job V double checks the mod and renews the codes to make sure everything works. Ryder isn't exactly proud to always leave a mess of blood puddles, organs and dead bodies behind. It scares him as well since it has gotten worser over time. It's his greatest wish that the beast within vanishes one day the same way like it showed up.

12. Biggest fantasy:

To fly to the moon. Ryder loves space and the universe since he was a small boy. He dreamed to be a space pilot one day, flying people or cargo to the moon. He would love to walk on it as well, feel the lack of gravitiy when he jumps. The moon is very fascinating to him. He's amazed by the surface, all the pattern the craters made, the grey tones. And he very much would love to see how earth looks seen from up there. If you suspected something sexual instead: To have hot, dirty, greasy sex in a tank. Specifially in a retro WWII model.

13. Bad habits:

Ryder has a obsessive-compulsive disorder. He sees himself forced to align everything neatly and symmetrically. He will do it all the time: at home, during shopping, sitting at the table in the Afterlife, aligning billard balls in the Coyjote Cojo, staple Vijay's vinyls in his apartment (he even tidies up V's apartment at times bc Vijay is a bit chaotic). His own apartment is clean and simple, every bottle in the shelf faces with the ettiket, books are placed ordely and even pillows on his bed sit how they should and so on. Besides that Ry is still super fidgety. He can't sit still. It mainly has to do with background music everywhere, so he's bobbing e.g. his leg all the time. But he also constantly needs to play around with something in his hands. He can't sit still longer than five minutes and then repositions. The only times he's not fidgety is when he's sleepy or in fact sleeping. Once he falls asleep he likely won't turn around much and stay in the position he feell asleep in.

14. Biggest regret:

The missed oportunity to run away earlier. His decicion to leave his Corpo life happend when he was already 21. If he had left earlier, he would probably live in Italy now together with Tommy Reiter, his first love, who would probably still be alive as well. Tommy wanted to go away with him, but Ryder was too scared to do it back then, still being a teen.

15. Best kept secrets:

That he's Corpo – a von Scharfenberg. As already mentioned, only Vijay knows about that. Ryder did literally everything for not looking like a Corpo anymore: changed visually completely with adding cyberware, new eyes, getting tattoos including scarifications (to cover own scars), changed his hairstlye, grew a messy beard, trained like a mad-man to gain some muscles for not having to watch the thin useless Corpo boy in the mirror he once was. Starting the life of a so called street kid. His Corpo attitude sadly comes trough at times (and can be extremely helpful for some missions as well). In some cases he sees himself on the high horse thinking he's better than anyone else (but Vijay reminds him of that).

16. Last thought:

Maybe 'Bitte ein Bit'? Idk man, but I have the feeling that Ryder's last thought ever will definitely have something to do with beer.

17. Worst romantic experience:

When he decided to try out bottoming for once in his life. It was a good experience at first but it ended with something unexpected: receiving an exceptionally good fuck that caused him to feel like a supernova seeing stars all over brought some negative connotaion with it: he entirely lost control over his body making him have his mantis blades spring out ready for action. Nobody died though, but it was Vijay who topped him and V has a huge trauma concerning blades … So once both finally relized what actually happened, Vijay got off and fell into a shock he was unable to explain to him. And Ryder ofc was shocked by the thought that he can lose control that hard by just getting railed (the beast within was just evolving and a minor problem btw). The situation could have turned out much worse that night. And this situation is also the cause for their break-up in the end, with both really feeling bad about it: Vijay because he wasn't able to tell him why and Ryder for losing control that hard in such a situation. Since then Ryder never bottomed again, because he can't allow himself to let it happen again.

18. Biggest insecurity:

Ryder has had a lot of insecurities — still has. His biggest besides him not being able to live up to his father's Corpo ideals is probably that he (still) feels he is/was not good enough for anything or anybody. This situation started early in his childhood and reached the worst high as soon as he had to start working at Militech unable to do anything right (he hated this work and it wasn't what he wanted to do), nonetheless he tried hard to make his superior satisfied, but it was quite the contrary in the end. He was treated by his family like ballast they had to carry through, got bullied by co-workers and therefore fell into a huge hole of depression. It took him a long time (and quiet a lot of Vijay's patience) to accept that he's good enough in what he does. Vijay told Ryder more than once, that he is valued, that he is thankfull for Ry's support, and that people appreciate him and that he is a good person. He still does and it is impotant to reward Ryder constantly with nice and cheering words otherwise he's prone to worry about it again. Ryder still has a lot of trust issues towards new people to this day.

19. Weapon of choice:

answered here.

20. Role Model:

Vijay of course. Ryder looks up a lot to his best friend. He wishes he could be more like him. Capable of leading, always having an answer to everything, understand the realm of netrunning, his entire positive character and warm personality, looking forward and not back, the ability to stay friendly towards literally everyone (Vijay is good in hiding his disgust for someone if he want's to, but most of the time he lets people know when he doesn't like them).

[naughtygirl286]

So yes we finally went to see Guardians of the galaxy Vol.3 and yes there was some collectable goodies for this one too which you can of course see here.

Now as for the movie itself I though it was amazing! it was a great way to cap off this series and an excellent send off to these characters and for one they will be missed. but I'm sure they will appear again in future MCU movies but of course just not as the Guardians of the Galaxy of course and at the very end it says Star-Lord will return. So we will see him again as for the other I'm not sure but we'll have to wait and see

but anyway yes the movie was excellent The acting, the visuals, the action and the emotion was all amazing, I would say I loved pretty much everything minute of it.

The story is basically this Knowhere is attacked by Adam Warlock who was sent by none other then the High Evolutionary Who wants Rocket Raccoon. The Guardians fight him him but Rocket is seriously injured and the Guardians of the Galaxy set off on a daring mission across the cosmos in order to save Rocket and confront the High Evolutionary over his nefarious plans and learn the secret ties between him and the creation of Rocket Raccoon.

like I said the movie is excellent and I would say partly do to the writing and directing it was funny when it needed to be dramatic and serious when it needed to be and emotionally charged when it needed to be.

I was happy to finally see Adam Warlock on the big screen but I didn't think he got as much screen time as I thought he would have and I thought. The person playing him Will Poulter I thought he did a great job, I have always seen the character as kind of serious but this version is a bit more comedic in a way I felt and I think he kind of balances that so I thought he did a great job also I thought the introduction of the High Evolutionary as the movies villain was good as well and I thought Chukwudi Iwuji who plays the character did a great job as well and I am enjoying them bringing some of these huge "cosmic" characters like Ego the Living Planet, Kang the Conqueror,Eternity,The Celestial to name a few. but everyone who reprised their roles did and excellent job.

The movie is funny when it needs to be there is quite a few jokes and gags and you have to laugh at the bickering between Drax and Mantis that is hilarious all on its own and of Nebula gets pulled into it at times too which makes it even more funny

The action and stunt work is awesome too watching this is just pure fun and the visuals are I thought were a bit mind blowing the movie is truly a visual spectacle you have to probably see it just for that All the production design is amazing I'm also happy that they finally got to wear their comic book uniforms in this one too but yeah all the creatures and aliens are imaginative and all the visuals involving Rocket/Groot and any other character was perfect, I feel the work they did on Rocket was turly amazing to the point where he looked, acted and felt like a real live creature that was onset with everyone else

The music for this was perfect too each song just fit were it should and work perfectly in the frame of the movie and yes this was a very emotional ride of a movie especially concerning Rocket and his backstory truth be told I did tear up through all that, it was very very sad at points so I couldn't help it

but yeah like I said the movie is amazingly excellent it was a great way to cap off this series and an excellent send off to these characters so if you love the other stuff they were in and enjoyed these characters I would highly recommend going to see this last chapter.

also yes there is some credit scenes there is one mid and one end for this

[man--eater]

Hello! I’m loving Daphne’s Goetia design, her wings are beautiful. I’m curious about her paternal heritage, how did a Goetia fall in love (or at least in lust) with a Hellborn/Demon?

Thank you so much for the ask! It makes my day to know someone is interested in my writing 😭 I’m glad you like her design, it was fun to puzzle out. We meet Daph’s dad in a few chapters!

Daphne’s father is an orchid mantis sinner demon named Orpheus. He is a talented musician, particularly with string instruments (the extra pair of limbs—his raptorial claws—are a big advantage here). He was a wandering starving artist for several years after arriving in Hell, honing his skills and building up some mystique around himself, though he was never near being a household name. Handsome, charming, and utterly unreliable, Orpheus left a trail of no-show gigs and broken hearts in his wake—he could never settle down, and would slip away quietly to the next city, the next gig, the next muse. He was hired to perform at several Goetia events and ceremonies, and even managed to show up to most of them. Orpheus happened to be playing the harp at a lavish royal birthday party that the Goetia princess Alstroemeria (and granddaughter of Paimon) was attending. It was immediately electric between them—he found his Muse, the one whose beauty and grace would inspire his music forever, and she was swept off her feet by the forbidden romance of it all. They courted in secret and fell in love, and when Alstroemeria’s mother found out, she effectively disowned her daughter. But instead of being forced to never see Orpheus again, Alstroemeria’s punishment was to marry him and be cast out of her House, to live in a small, forgotten estate in the Pride ring. They thought they had gotten away relatively unscathed, all things considered, and they had Daphne. But the intense, consuming passion that had driven them began to fade. Alstroemeria began to realize just what she had given up by leaving her family to marry a penniless sinner demon—love could not put clothes on her back, or food in her child’s belly, and Orpheus was too inconstant to hold down a steady job. He grew distant from both Alstroemeria and Daphne, longing for the road and the freedom to follow his passion for music. Resentment festered between Orpheus and Alstroemeria, and they were both too self-absorbed to care that their little daughter was watching them fight. One day Orpheus said he was leaving for work and did not come back. He mailed Daphne postcards at first, but they grew less and less frequent before finally stopping altogether. Alstroemeria was not permitted to petition for divorce, but she took control of her house and her life. She grew more critical of and harsh on Daphne in an attempt to force her to be stoic and strong enough to handle life as a half-breed Goetia exile. On the rare occasions that Orpheus came to visit, he always seemed slightly surprised that were not overjoyed to see him. He does love them both, in his way, and is doting and affectionate with Daphne, but she knows she never was his priority and never will be. It is no surprise, therefore, that Daphne has a dim view of love and romance, and has never sought either.

Well this turned into more of an essay than i meant it to, but it was fun brainstorming his backstory with my friends in discord <3 Thanks again for the ask, this helped me hammer a lot of things out!!

[aggravateddurian]

I just found a bunch of my early 2077 fanfics, like opening an ancient library.

Most of them are barely started, mostly concepts that I later scrapped, but I think these are the best ones:

'The Voices in My Head' (2020)- The year is 2079, V (my first ever V, a nomad) wakes up confused in a Biotechnica lab, surrounded by Arasaka and Biotechnica officials standing around gawking, confused as to why a woman was produced from their secret cloning facility, where they're growing an army using Biotechnica dark corpo science and the Relic's memory transfer technology to grow an army of trained clones, Palpatine style.

V's last memory was jacking into Mikoshi, so she is justifiably weirded out by why she's naked on an examination table being stared at by a bunch of confused suits.

'Subject 9' (2021) - a pair of Solos, I can only describe as proto-Val and Trey (not Val or Trey, but there's definitely the roots of their characters here), are hired to take out an Arasaka transport in the Badlands. They capture it, and find the cargo is a single human in a cryo tube. I think this one may have inspired my first Cyberpunk RED campaign, which also features a woman in a tube on an Arasaka transport, copious amounts of Militech nonsense (including the first mention of Aaron Donoghue, Dorian's boss) and Anders Hellman getting a Mantis Blade run through his gut (which, I think, we can all agree was a long time coming).

'Sniper NC' (2021) - Corie is a NUS Army vet with one of the steadiest hands and sharpest eyes in Night City, a common customer of the Afterlife, and Night City's most dangerous bounty hunter. I'm pretty sure I based her off Linda-058 from Halo, because she's a badass sniper with a tragic backstory that involves being trained as a sniper by Militech as a kid.

(I'm thinking that Corie might fit in Brother's Shadow)

'Cyberpunk Fanfic 5' (that's what I called it) (2021) - an alternate universe where V (a streetkid V) can't stop seeing and hearing Johnny Silverhand, even after the Relic is removed. It turns out that there is a fragment of Johnny still in her psyche subtly affecting her decision making, fashion choices and her overall personality.

'2080' (2021) - V finds the cure to her brain problem on the Crystal Palace, but returns to NC essentially a puppet for Mr Blue Eyes and his shady scheme. Johnny is... Johnny is somehow in this... with a cloned body... supplied by MBE, and is with Rogue? I don't know how many glasses into the rum bottle I was, but it was a whole thing.

I like 'Voices in My Head' the most, so I'm going to get that started. Should tide me over until I am able to look at wolvenkit again.

After a string of invective that a Marine Corps Drill Instructor would blush at, directed towards Wolvenkit, I have elected to organise my documents folder, and finally centralise the 10+ documents and like 10000 words' worth of lore, fanfic and homebrew Cyberpunk RED stuff.

It feels like spring cleaning.

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #123: Vengeance in Vietnam! -or- An Origin for Mantis!

May, 1974

Now, I’m not one to spoil an issue of a comic book several times a week but I feel compelled to say that this cover doesn’t 100% represent the contents of the book.

Although it very much feels like a comic book cover. Shocking behavior and dramatic statements and constipated faces that just compel you to turn the pages in search of answers. Silver age books thrived on this stuff. I’m only surprised that Thor isn’t forcing Black Panther and Scarlet Witch to fight to the death for some insane reason that barely makes sense with how its actually portrayed in the story. Or maybe pouring water out in front of a dying Iron Man.

So if you’re one of my three readers you may remember

LAST TIME: Zodiac, led by Cornelius Van Lunt as Taurus, hatched a mad scheme to kill all Geminis in Manhattan except for Zodiac’s Geminis. The Avengers thwartened them but Mantis was injured and Zodiac escaped. Internal power squabbles split Zodiac in half but then Taurus launches the rebelling houses and the Avengers into space with a space warehouse.

Libra of Zodiac turned on Taurus to steal his spaceship and rescue the Avengers and the rebelling houses because he presumed that his daughter was among them.

This time (again): “Mantis, I am your father!”

Dun dun dun (again)!

Tragically, Mantis does not say ‘That’s not true, that’s impossible!’ but she expresses pretty much the same sentiment.

She also claims she has no father to which the ever pedantic Vision replies “every person... who was born has a father.”

Libra asks why he would lie. He betrayed Zodiac and sat back while the Avengers kicked their asses. He has no motive to lie. Unless this is a long con thing. Who knows with comics.

Anyway, Iron Man doesn’t really want to have this soap opera conversation in front of the prisoners so he suggests that they turn Zodiac over to the authorities and then return to Avengers Mansion to talk this out. Also, that way Swordsman can be part of this important conversation.

Mantis again accuses Libra of lying. About all manner of things. Why, I bet he’s not even really blind- OH GOD NO EYES

Although really she was skeptical that an occidental man could move so easily despite being blind. Someone should introduce her to Daredevil.

Anyway, Libra begins his thrilling tale of love, loss, and cool martial arts. A tale fit for a movie maybe. Although the MCU Mantis is so different that its just not to be.

Anyway, back before he wore short shorts Gustav Brandt was a German mercenary working for the French in Vietnam. During downtime in Saigon, he met Lua. They had a whirlwind courtship and two months later they were married.

Except Lua’s brother disapproved.

And since her brother was Monsieur Khruul, the king of the Saigon underworld, his disapproval was somewhat worse than some icy family dinners.

You remember Monsieur Khruul from Swordsman’s story of how he met Mantis, right?

Anyway, Gustav and Lua had to flee his wrath. For ten months they moved from hamlet to hamlet to stay ahead of Khruul.

But then baby happened. And with baby came the desire to give the baby a stable upbringing and roots. And with staying in one place came Monsieur Khruul finding them. And with that came paid assassins and flamethrowers.

Gustav and mini-Mantis escaped but Lua was killed. And Gustav had lost his eyes to flamethrowers. Which is not great unless you like staggering blindly through the jungle, hoping a tiger doesn’t eat you.

Somehow after days of running, Gustav stumbled onto a temple in the middle of the jungle.

A temple and the Priests of Pama.

They took mini-Mantis away from him, to train her in their ways. They also trained Gustav to compensate for his blindness until he could perceive the world anew. It took years.

So he would sneak off to ‘see’ his daughter. The priests trained her in martial arts, covering every conceivable situation, every type of defense and offense and with an emphasis on her perfection.

Because they seemed to worship her for some reason. This random baby brought by a random ex-soldier blindly running through the jungle.

And they would never let Gustav talk with her. So in time... he just kind of forgot the love he had for her. And without that tying him there, he left the temple and used their teachings for selfish gains and became a crime lord. Because I guess they had trained his body but not his mind. Usually the two go hand in hand but I guess the Priests of Pama decided not to bother.

Anyway, Mantis completely loses her shit.

She lunges at Libra and the Avengers try and stop her. So then there’s two pages of her kicking their asses. She even drops Thor with a not-quite-deathgrip. Goes to show that skill can beat out strength sometimes.

With the Avengers tossed aside, nothing is between her and Libra. But according to his story, he trained in the same temple as she did. And maybe he’s not as skilled (since he was studying daredevilism while she was studying everything) but he has one more trick up his sleeve.

And its related to his Zodiac theme, even!

As Libra, he is the master of leverage. If he sticks his arm up in the air, his other arm presses down irresistibly. So he just pins her down by putting a hand on her stomach just as effectively as if they put Mjolnir on her.

Anyway, here’s those sweet beatdowns.

Gratuitous? Maybe. But fun. It was a good rampage.

Mantis tries to call Swordsman to her aid but the guy has vanished at some point. And then they hear a Quinjet launching from the roof.

Yeeeeeeeaaaah.

Swordsman just stole their Quinjet and took off to Vietnam to get vengeance on Monsieur Khruul for killing Mantis’ mother. He’s probaby feeling insecure because of his injury putting him out of action and because he’s afraid Mantis likes Vision more than him.

Love makes fools of us all but specifically Swordsman.

Of course the Avengers are going to follow him. There is a small logistical concern though.

Their only other Quinjet was left in New Jersey from when they fell into the space warehouse trap. And Black Panther’s ship only fits one.

Scarlet Witch (herself in a bad mood since those suicide bombers tried to blow up Vision) snarks about the Mighty Avengers being stuck at the starting gate. Iron Man then blows up at her and flies off to go retrieve the second Quinjet.

Things are a bit heated with the Avengers currently. Wanda is on her anti-human kick. Vision is freezing up in battle. Captain America was framed for murder. And now Swordsman ran off and is probably going to get himself killed. And now they have to go to Vietnam which is convenient because Iron Man was headed there anyway to search for Eddie March’s brother! At some point, being an Avenger became like living in a madhouse.

To which I can only say: Geez, Tony, you’re going to look back on these days as simpler times.

Later, Swordsman busts into Monsieur Khruul’s villa.

It does not go well.

Like. At all.

Swordsman is not at 100% and Khruul has giant sword-wielding guards that are doped up to not feel pain. Swordsman gets to be a cool guy who defeats two despite his weakened condition but there are more where that came from and he gets knocked out.

And you know. Torture is an ugly word but Monsieur Khruul is totally going to torture Swordsman now because he mentioned his niece (which no he didn’t, I flipped back and checked) and the guy wants to know more about that.

Only an hour later, the Avengers arrive in Saigon and find Swordsman tied up post-torture at Khruul’s villa.

Swordsman confesses that he broke under torture and revealed that the Priests of Pama raised Mantis. And Khruul is just that sort of petty man that will kill the priests for daring to offer baby Mantis sanctuary.

Scarlet Witch takes him to the hospital while the rest of the Avengers follow Libra to the temple. And along the way Mantis insists that she’s never been in this area before and clearly Libra is lying and Swordsman got hurt because he believed his lies.

And yeah. They get to the temple and the priests are all dead by Khruul and his giant sword guards.

The Avengers leap to avenge the priests, all thinking their own thoughts about how this relates to them and their problems.

Iron Man thinks about how it was in Vietnam that he became Iron Man.

Black Panther thinks of men who wished no one ill will but were brutally killed - men like the Priests of Pama and men like his father, T’Chaka.

And Vision worries that he’s malfunctioning and will freeze up in battle again. But all seems good so he acts with confidence and sticks his hands in two of the sword people and KOs them.

But while the Avengers were occupied, Monsieur Khruul escaped, running deeper into the temple.

And they hear him screaming in terror below as they race after him.

BECAUSE OH MY GOD HE WAS KILLED BY A DRAGON THERE’S A DRAGON LIVING IN THIS TEMPLE AND ITS CALLED A STAR-STALKER OH GOSH THATS RAD.

Oh and it killed Khruul so maybe its a good dragon? But probably not.

Now a dragon lurking just out of sight while the Avengers find the dying Khruul is well deserving of a two-page spread.

Next time we get more details of Mantis’ origin and a change for Vision. Cool, cool.

[uhhhyaenbyjade]

Star Wars OC

Here is my Star Wars OC y’all; Jade Onyx! She is a near-human female Gray Jedi! Because no, I cannot help myself from doing all the tropes. Okay? Leave me alone. Also, I added her lightsaber! Constructed with ancient artifacts discovered in the Unknown Regions! Her backstory is under the cut!

Also yes I know the boots aren’t practical. I don’t really care though, since robes are not a good idea for sword fights, and there’s bigger issues in Star Wars that we could be worrying about, like the broken physics of lightsabers and the Force itself 🤣 also i am completely unable to draw different OCs without fishnets and collars/chokers, and I don’t know why I can never do it, lmao

Originally a force sensitive near-human child who was unknown to the Jedi Order, Jade was therefore untargeted during the massacres of Order 66. Living on Coruscant as a merchant, Jade was eventually discovered in 20 BBY, and taken into the custody of the Inquisitors. Out of fear, Jade complied with their demands and answered questions about her past and heritage, and as a reward experiences a marginally smaller amount of torture compared to most prisoners. After months of interrogation, the Inquisitors then tormented her into becoming an Inquisitor.

Becoming the Thirteenth Sister, Jade was constantly competing with the other Inquisitors, most notably the Second Sister; Trilla. However, despite this rivalry, they quickly became fond of each other, and eventually they formed a physical relationship to help alleviate the pain and stress of their lives. When this was discovered by the Grand Inquisitor, both Jade and Trilla were severely punished. Afterwards, Jade decided to commit to leaving the Inquisitorius, and attempted to convince Trilla to leave with her after one last secret night. Failing to do so, Jade escaped Nur by herself, and went deep into the Unknown Regions.

Eventually, Jade landed on an unidentified planet, and discovered ancient ruins of the Zeffo race, who had fled the Known Regions after their culture had collapsed due to their own dogma after they fell to Dark Side. With her powerful yet untrained Force abilities, Jade was thrown into many visions of the remnants of the Zeffo race, and even had brief communications with the last Zeffo Sage, Iefra, and Jade was able to break the hold the Dark Side had on her, and embraced the Light Side of the Force. However, still feeling the pull of the Dark, Jade learned to balance herself as she traveled the Unknown Regions, becoming a Balanced Force User in the process by using both Light and Dark powers.

After losing her Inquisitor Lightsaber during a fight on Jedha, Jade then decided to head for Ilum to obtain a new Kyber Crystal to make her own Lightsaber. There, she met Cal Kestis after his Master’s lightsaber was destroyed on Dathomir, and they assisted each other in finding the Kyber Crystals that called out to them. Using materials that Cal brought with him, as well as artifacts collected by Jade in her adventures, the two craft their sabers; Jade’s being a jagged gray blade due to her not being completely of the Light, but also refusing to let the Dark hold her.

Upon returning to the Mantis, Jade learns about their journey to reestablish the Jedi Order, as well as the obstacles they have been facing in their way. Deciding to trust them, Jade willingly told them her own history with the Trilla, the Inquisitorius, and her subsequent healing, shocking the crew. Afterwards, Jade joins the crew and they head to Dathomir. 

Cal and Jade prepared to head to the Tomb of Kujet, but Jade was bombarded with visions of the Zeffo and their lingering spirits sensing her connection with their descendants. Merrin arrived and helped Jade recover, before listening to Cal explain Taron Malicos’ treachery and deceit, leading Merrin to join them in their mission. The trio fought and defeated Malicos, with Merrin burying him alive. While searching the Tomb, Jade once again is afflicted by visions and spirits, but they help lead the way to the Astrium they were searching for.

When the crew returned to Bogano they find it infiltrated by the Imperials. Cal brought the Astrium to the Vault, and discovered the Holocron, before Trilla revealed herself to fight him. Having a bad feeling, Jade enters the Vault right as Cal grabs Trilla’s lightsaber, becoming incapacitated. Showing herself to Trilla, Jade once again tries to bond with Trilla and convince her to leave the Inquisitorius. However, rightfully angered by Jade’s perceived betrayal, Trilla attacks her former lover, and the two have a brief hand-to-hand battle until Cal returns to consciousness, Trilla escaping as the two recover.

After being knighted by Cere, Cal leads the crew of the Mantis to the moon Nur, where Cere, Jade, and Cal head inside Fortress Inquisitorius to retrieve the Holocron. Jade and Cere fought their way through to access the records of where the Holocron would be stored, while Cal snuck his way following their directions. As Jade and Cere finally reconcile with their past in the Fortress, Cal comes across Trilla in the interrogation chamber. By the time Jade and Cere arrive, Cal has defeated Trilla, and the former two were able to convince Trilla to give up her hate, as they did. 

However, Darth Vader then arrived, and seeing her betrayal, attempted to kill Trilla for her insubordination. However, Jade blasted him with Force Lightning, the power of it making him stumble back. Sadly, when Cere leapt at him to continue the attack, Vader had recovered, and easily sent her flying to her presumed death. While Cal helped Trilla escape, Jade held Vader off for several minutes, only able to do so with her unorthodox blade and her Dark and Light Side abilities. Being able to disorient the Sith Lord enough, Jade quickly followed after the others, fleeing through the Fortress to an underwater tunnel, where Vader once again confronted them. Cere and Jade held Vader off again, as Merrin began teleporting Cal and Trilla back to the Mantis. Seeing no other option, Jade then broke the glass of the tunnel, flooding it and leaving Vader preoccupied so that Merrin could teleport her safely.

With the Holocron now in their possession, Cal decided to destroy it to keep the Force-Sensitive children safe from the Empire. The crew then traveled around the galaxy again, even returning to Ilum so that Trilla could obtain her own Kyber Crystal, and therefore make her own Lightsaber. Jade became a Gray Jedi, and helped Trilla heal from her experiences, the two eventually reforming their relationship. Merrin and Cal also end up in a relationship together, and the crew started their new journey to rebel against the Empire.

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Hope you all enjoyed! Btw, I used several different reference images for my art, editing them once the basic shapes were down. I mainly just got inspired by making a custom LEGO Jedi (as seen with the design of the Lightsaber, with the dragon head hilt and the blade being official LEGO Ninjago pieces), and I really love the lore of Fallen Order!So I figured why not just shove myself into the story? I’m already ruining canon, so lets try it out! Also Trilla be my wife please. 

[a-happy-disappointment]

Secrets of the Scroll for the win cuz: • happy Tigress • playful Tigress • Tigress smiling • the Furious Five woohoo • Alive Oogway • marketing and franchising by Mr Ping • backstory yessss • humor 100/10

[5ammi90]

Rewatching Kung Fu Panda and I just realised the rhino guards are idiots because they didn’t take into account that their prisoner is a cat and has a tail. Which they can move like a fifth limb.

Rude fat shaming. Mean Shifu. Man the five are dicks in the beginning. I really forgot about that because of how they are in the 2nd film. Well I kinda forgive Tigress because of how much she’s trained and how much she wanted to be the dragon warrior.

Oh shit he free. They were very unprepared for Tai Lung ever attempting to escape. Dude took them out in under 10 minutes.

I absolutely love Po’s optimism because of how much it hurts Shifu.

Po has been yeeted out of the palace. Okay Mantis isn’t that bad.

Backstory of Tai Lung. Poor Shifu.

I take it back, I think Mantis just tried attempted murder.

‘There is no bad news’ ‘that is bad news’ make up your mind my dude.

Oogway is legit like ‘peace out bitches’

Po used smoke bomb.

Po tries to leave and Shifu uses uno reverse card. He fails.

Tigress’s turn to stop Tai Lung.

Okay the five of them jumping off the roof and their shadows in front of the moon is pretty cool.

I relate to Po so much because I also eat when I’m sad or stressed.

Food as a motivator. That’ll work. Epic training montage.

I love how even though he does all this training and become amazing at Kung Fu, his body doesn’t change showing that he isn’t fat, he’s a panda. They aren’t supposed to be skinny. As well as how he doesn’t change who he is even though he’s now brilliant at Kung Fu. This movie is brilliant.

Tai Lung looking forward to fight a worthy opponent. 🤣🤣🤣

Nice idea guys gives the ropes to mantis. You know the dude smaller than the ropes themselves.

Oh dang he flies.

The dragon scrolls is like the secret ingredient for the krabby patty. It’s hilarious.

It’s blank, we’re screwed.

I love this Po is having a minor breakdown and his dad decides this is the perfect time to tell him there is no secret ingredient. Run Po.

Tai Lung can teleport. When did he master the dark arts.

Tai Lung is out for blood. Poor Shifu.

Oh dang he broke the stick. Now Shifu is gonna cut a hoe.

The blue fire is amazing to look at this. This movie is gorgeous. I mean so is the 2nd one but this film has nostalgia goggles.

Here comes Po. Give him a second. Maybe two seconds.

‘He’s a panda, you’re a panda’ very astute observation there Tai Ling. Glad to know you have working eyes my dude.

Bounce back.

I love this fight because it ends with Tai Lung being in such a state of disbelief. It’s perfectly done. Also Po just using everything he learned, even his mistakes is brilliant.

Tai Lung is like ‘woo I won’ to ‘is this a prank’ to ‘bullshit’

The nerve thing is awesome because he’s a panda it’s difficult to locate the proper never points. Dang Po you made him bite his own tail, harsh.

Aww poor Tai Lung got bested by a big fat panda.

I love how they try to lift Po and then just give up immediately. Also we forgot about Shifu. How many times has this poor dude run up all those steps. I mean damn.

Two bro chilling after a battle and then getting food cause they burned a bunch of energy.

David Cross. I can’t believe I forgot he was in this. My ears betrayed me. Also the end credits are art. I love them.

I’m gonna watch the 2nd and 3rd later today, you know when it isn’t 3am.

Night hellsite.

[palant1r]

so we played turnabout countdown, here are my first impressions of aa5

PROS

-I really like Athena! she's got such a big personality, and we're starting to get hints of her backstory and character arc right off the bat. I think she's a great new addition to the games! i love her design, too

-I LOVE the mood matrix. it's probably my favorite cross-examination mechanic so far. it's not confusing to use, but it also requires the player to think about how to use it more than just staring at a sprite or finding the right evidence. And the little animation/sprites that play during it are so cool!

-it's a pretty creative first case. I like how it operates effectively as a tutorial, but allows you to skip some of the tutorial aspects, and also obviously ties into the larger story, both dropping breadcrumbs for the future and making us wonder what trial was in progress when the courtroom was bombed

-APOLLO MY GOOD FRIEND APOLLO. i know sorta what happened to him but im STILL intrigued! apollo didn't get much development/secrets in his own game, so i'm excited to see them let him be a Man of Mystery. all aboard the apollo angst train!

-the new sprites are really good! everyone's super animated, and their sprites feel so full of motion and personality. especially athenas. her sprites are SO good

-also this is the first time we get to see apollo's front facing sprites, and i really like them. especially the crossed-arm one. yeah, i've seen that one before. it's really cool to see that callback to aa4 in such a sinister way, showing how kristoph, his first mentor, still influences him

-the new fully animated and voiced cutscenes beat ass

CONS

-yo the 3d lowkey sucks lmao

-ok maybe thats a bit harsh. the 3d looks fine on characters that were designed for it, like athena, juniper, and the new payne. but apollo and phoenix look really janky and weird

-the scene before the trial felt kinda long and drawn out

-doesnt seem to really have the same sense of humor

-some of the sprites just look Bad. like phoenix's grimace, which was so charming in 2d, makes him look like a night terror. also apollos hair horns are so sickly now. he looks like a praying mantis

-it is SO unrealistic that apollo took a leave of absence and phoenix and trucy were like "aight ok." trucy didnt even say anything. remember when apollo tried to walk away from them and they did a huge bit to get him to stay in aa4? they should have done that again! and that would have been a really good opportunity for character writing, for apollo to stand up to them or snap at them, showing that he and their relationship have changed since aa4!

-i cant remember any of the music, at least not that we heard in the first case. given how pursuit 2001 and the apollo justice Tense theme live in my head rent free, this is unusual