#shadow is brain fungus

[possum-socks]

Okay but no because now you have me thinking way too hard about shadow although what’s new this is just my typical Tuesday night aaaanyway-

Sonic and all of his friends are in the ranges of like 14-18 (not including tails) which I just choose to ignore bc they aRE ALL CHILDREN WHY ARE THEY SO YOUNG AND GOING THROUGH ALL THIS TRAUMA ANYWAY for the sake of this post I will accept the fact that they are literal babies just this once so I can get on with my brainrot:

Shadow’s age is actually kind of a mystery. We don’t know how long shadow spent on the ark which makes things really complicated, as well as the fact that shadow is a synthetically created being. If we assume that shadow was raised from a baby on the ark, that theory already has holes in it since we don’t know how old Maria was when she died. In Sonic X, Maria is said to have died when she was 12 years old, so unless shadow is 12, he couldn’t have been raised from childhood in the ark. For what I know sonic x is really the only media to ever put an age on maria so it’s possible maria could have died in the range of 15-17, which still makes Shadow young, but at least in line with the rest of the Sonic characters. But, if you ask me, Maria seems at the very oldest 13, which would mentally make shadow very young and seems quite unlikely. Either way, the second possibility for shadow’s creation seems more likely anyway.

We could also assume shadow was created already possessing the form of a matured hedgehog, which would make sense since images we see of shadow in his little tube thingy show shadow appearing no differently than he does after his life on the ark and coma on earth. Shadow could have started life out with the body of a mobian somewhere around 15-17 years old. Since shadow isn’t an entirely natural lifeform, it’s a possibility his body doesn’t have ANY exact age, but based off other mobians you could guess his age to be around sonic’s just to simplify things. Unfortunately though there are more complications. Let’s say for hypotheticals sake shadow was created with the body of a 17 year old, well, does that apply to his mental age as well? Sure, his body is 17, but this guy has only been alive for like two minutes, so how old is he really? Let’s say again for hypotheticals shadow spent 10 years growing up on the ark, well, then would he be mentally 10 years old when he gets sent to earth and then kept in a coma?? Or was shadow also created with an already matured brain, matching his body? With all of these unknown factors it’s kind of impossible to say wether shadow is an 8 year old with the body of a matured mobian, or 17 in body and age, or even mentally 40. Like, who’s to really say???

And I don’t even want to mention his coma and complicate things more, but would his 50 year comatose stasis have any effect on him? Certainly not on his body, as he is ageless, but what about his mental maturity? Upon reawakening on earth, shadow is jet lagged back FIFTY YEARS. Shadow has a brain from the 1950s being suddenly thrown into the 2000s and I think that is a very interesting thing to consider, and is just another reason why you really just CANT put a number on shadows age- it’s just so complicated. This brings me to my biggest issue I’ve been turning around in my head this whole time, which is, does it even make SENSE to try and give an age to the ageless being that is shadow the hedgehog?????? Honestly, there are so many what if’s and hypotheticals and uncertainties when it comes to saying how old shadow is that I honestly think it just makes more sense to not try to apply an age to him. For the sake of everyone in sonic’s universe though, it’s probably safe to just label shadow to be around the same age as sonic just to make things, uh, a little less complicated. In our world none of this really matters since NONE of the sonic characters will ever truly age as they will be preserved ageless in media forever, but in the sonic universe everyone is going to age and eventually die while shadow remains the exact same as he always has, wether that be 12, 17, or past his fifties, or a simply undeterminable number, who really fucking knows. Either way though shadow’s ageless-ness and immortality is a really interesting complexity to his character that I NEVER see people talk about, but honestly fair bc yeah it’s pretty heartbreaking. From the day he was born he was destined to watch everyone and everything he ever came to love die and damn that is just depressing okay time to log off

Wait wait wait wait…… Shadow is a CHILD?!! This whole time I thought he was a young adult but he’s supposed to be 16-17 years old?!?!! How did I not know this?

[hana-bobo-finch]

“omg I have stuff to do today I need to get up why am I so tired”

the leif i absentmindedly doodled past 11pm because I suddenly found the airbrush tool to be Very fun:

[rootbeerrex]

I WAS DOING PROCRASTINATED ENGLISH HOMEWORK AT 10:30 PM AND THIS BATFAM INTERACTION POPPED FULLY FORMED INTO MY BRAIN

Jason, staring down a defeated villain with his helmet off, dramatically monologuing like the theatre kid he is: Death didn't stop me the first time, what made you think you'd be the one to make it stick? Haven't you people learned? You cannot kill me in a way that matters.

Tim, pausing where he's taking down the remaining henchmen: hold on a second. I've heard that line before. did you just- did you just quote a Tumblr post in your takedown monologue?????

Jason, red in the face and blatantly embarassed: I don't know what the FUCK you're talking about, Replacement.

Dick, sweeping in on a grappling hook and knocking out a goon coming up behind Jason: No, he's definitely right. "decay exists as an extant form of life" and all that.

Jason, shoving his guns back into their holsters and walking away while grumbling to himself: and they wonder why I don't come to family dinners

Damian, popping out of the shadows: So long, fungus boy

[aspiringtrashpanda]

Please heed the warnings. Find the prompt list HERE.

── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──

DAY 29 Prompt: Growth 726 words C/W: NB season 3 and OG season 4 spoilers, body horror, minor gore

There is a lump.

Between Simeon’s shoulder blades, a bit higher than halfway down his back. That spot that he can almost scratch, but can’t quite get a good angle. It takes effort to push his hand down from above, to gently skirt the flesh that seems to swell just out of reach.

It is easier to measure the space without mentioning what no longer exists there, twin scars inflamed and infected when he glances over his shoulder in the mirror. His gut squirming with that familiar guilt, he shrugs on the silky navy button up that he had first started wearing in the human world. His trembling fingers slip over the gold buttons of his vest, struggle to center the knot of his tie. 

“I just felt like wearing this today,” He rehearses to his reflection. “Don’t worry. Nothing’s wrong.”

Luke takes his words at face value, though the lingering stare from Raphael tells Simeon that the older angel will be harder to fool. Plastering his best smile across his face, aware that perhaps he is trying a little too hard, Simeon attempts to telepathically inform his friend to leave it.

Not now.

A little voice in his head taunts, “Will you ever be ready to admit it?”

The days go by, Simeon silencing the intrusive thoughts ruminating inside his skull, clinging to the interior slope like a fungus festering from pious neglect. Roots were planted deep in his brain, curling around memories of his brothers’ faces as they tumbled from celestial light, shadowed tendrils tugging at their limbs and stitching up their wounds.

The Devildom wove sutures of sin through once heavenly flesh, and now Simeon sees the own red of his wounds turning dark, rotten, evil. The growth between his shoulders pulses, grows, and he swears he can make out movement beneath the thinning layer of skin suppressing whatever shifts underneath. 

He wants to scream. He wants to rip out his tongue and plead forgiveness.

He wants to tear out his heart and eat it whole, give himself fully to that voice in his head that promises his rightful place at Lord Diavolo’s side. 

Simeon scratches at the edges of what he can only describe as a tumor, hunching his back and rendering his button up ill-fitting. He supposes he can’t wear his angel robes instead–No, the growth would appear prominent, bulging from his spine. 

It’s only a matter of time before Solomon effectively corners Simeon in the kitchen of Purgatory Hall. “You’re corrupted,” the sorcerer states matter-of-factly. When Simeon tries to protest (the attempt half-hearted at best), Solomon only laughs, “Really, are you surprised?”

No. No, he isn’t. He knew it was only a matter of time, that he was playing a dangerous game, that his heart had long yearned for a being forbidden to his lips. Was this his punishment? A grotesque deformity all for longing for a reciprocated affection? 

“But, that’s not what scares you, is it?” The little voice teases. “It’s not because you’re becoming a demon, but because you like it.” 

The attention.

The recognition.

The concern, the desperation of his peers to save what has been long lost. 

Your sweet, doe eyes, watching him with such lovely pity. 

Simeon can see the wings, now. They are small, still developing. Bare, fleshy bones flexing like a chicken embryo within the egg. His spine aches, curves towards the ground from the weight of the lump. He finds himself wondering how they will present themselves. Feathered like Lucifer’s or leathery and bat-like like Mammon’s and Asmo’s? He doesn’t think they resemble the exoskeleton extension of Beelzebub’s insectoid wings. Perhaps they will be something entirely different.

The image of a swallow soars behind his eyes, symmetric wings curved towards the sky above as it flexes its dark feathers. The swallow, the harbinger of land, the symbol of homecoming.

Simeon grins, a sinister smile in his reflection as the pressure within the growth reaches a breaking point. Blood begins to seep from the slightest rip of flesh, and he can’t hold back the wild laughter that tears from his lungs.

“You’ve wanted this all along,” That voice coos, and Simeon embraces the darkness as he scratches at his skin, allows his true self to unfurl for the first time. 

He speaks to his reflection, though doesn’t recognize the words spilling from his lips, “Welcome home.”

── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──

OBEY ME! MONTH MASTERLIST

[mishoarts]

Phantom Dimension

[ theories yap 1 ]

you see ,I'm not exactly sure how to begin with my thoughts ,but I'll try

Remember when red said that she was inspired by the real sbg and something religion related with other stuff? 

I bashed my brain out and ended up coming with 4 possibilities :

1- phantom realm is the afterlife ( not heaven or hell yet ) and the phantoms are dead people, and the gravies see them like monsters because they're still not dead and don't belong there , and on the other side phantoms attack them bc they see them as monsters or unrecognised entities.

2- phantom realm is the place between the living and the afterlife where the sinners atones their bad deeds so they don't end up in hell and where souls meet ( I'm not christian I don't know that much about it ), phantoms are what remained from the people who was making for their acts , and the kids got there because the curse/fungus put them in an unstable state not being fully alive nor dead .(smth like otgw)

3- phantom realm is the dimension where the demon-mates live .

( quick explanation : in some beliefs there's for each human a demon-like twin/self that they can't see , born with their birth and stays with them till they die , and its main job is to inveigle and lure the human to the bad paths , and in certain cases it seeks harm to other humans who hurt its human , but it's still not a friend ) 

So the phantoms are those demon-mates ( this might explain why there's less phantoms in places where there's less humans in the real world ), and when the kids got into TPR they got fused with their demon selves ( why they're  getting stronger and more aggressive ).

4- Phantom realm is a copy dimension of the real world created by nightmares and shadows/souls , and that dimension can't be counted "real" because it can't affect the actual world (before) , but it gets real more and more with real world creatures coming to it ( aka the kids or even Ashlyn at her birth. ).

I'm not sure of any of these 4 but I'm 98.5% sure that 

the phantoms don't see or hear the kids like how we see and "hear" them ( until now ?)

The kids aren't dead yet not fully stable alive,

Phantoms are equivalents of the real humans

The kids got merged with their equivalents 

Shî is so long that i need to make p2 cuz I still didn't talk about the gravies 💀😭

sorry for the long talk and pardon any misspelling, i relied on google translate for some words 👉👈

[opioidenjoyer]

SUBSTANCES IVE TAKEN

(RANKED) 🏴‍☠️❗️

Marijuana: 10/10 (No withdrawals, no comedown, high leads to sleep, gateway drug, multiple ways to consume)

Cocaine: 5/10 (Cant eat, cant sleep, super human ability for 10mins, never enough)

Oxy/hydrocodone: 9.5/10 (i would sell my soul to nod forever, agonizing withdraws, tolerance fast, pain receptors shut off)

MDMA/Ecstasy/Molly: 8/10 (easily best party drug, solo rolling is mid, serotonin levels ruined for days)

LSD/Acid: 6.5/10 (amazing visuals, brain full reset, 8-12 hour high is way too long, dopamine drainer, research chemicals NBomes are trash, burnt out easily, could unlock underlying mental health problems)

Psilocybin/Shrooms: 8/10 (best psychedelic, upsets stomach because of fungus, bad trips more likely at higher dosages, micro-dosing saved lives, naturally produced, can be done with every day life)

Benzodiazepines: 7.5/10 (too many chemical derivatives, potential life ruiner, fatal withdraws, anxiety nonexistent, thief abilities heightened, memory loss)

Robitussin, Coricidin, Dextromethorphan: 6.5/10 (instant dissociative, if mixed with Guaifenesin its a bad time, steal these from supermarkets)

Nitrous Oxide: 6.5/10 ("fill up my balloon again stop playing")

Air/Gas/Whippet Duster Inhalant: 2.5/10 (added chemicals make usage ALMOST impossible to inhale, taste like battery acid for 10 second high, brain cell damage, stay away)

Benadryl/Diphenhydramine: 4/10 (most irritable drug, feels like spiders crawling on your skin while high, shadow people, noise distortion, easy to get over the counter)

Methamphetamine: 4.5/10 (functional tweaking until you realize you are waiting for the pawn shop to open, can find this high in other drugs with less side effects, in 35% of most molly, overall bad reputation)

Fentanyl: 2/10 (highest level of nodding, waves of body heat, worst drug of all time, ruined the opioid game, kills almost all of its users, countless accidental overdoses, 10cents per pill, RIP real percs)

DMT/N,N-Dimethyltryptamine: 5.5/10 (breaking through spiritual barriers, out of body experiences, too powerful to be recreationally, trip sitter recommended)

Promethazine: 4/10 (does nothing when taken by itself, good when taken with other opioids, makes stomach feel better)

Lean/Codeine: 7/10 (2011-2021 best era to sip drank in, fun to pour up, easy to get at the time, euphoric body high, trend sippers, price inflation, weak opiate, too much sugar)

Tramadol: 6.5/10 (beginner nodderville, itching, weaker lame cousin to Oxycodone, still in the opioid family)

Adderall/Dextroamphetamine/amphetamine: 5/10 (Not fun when you actually have ADHD, recreational use does not make sense, highest level of functioning addict)

Morphine: 9/10 (instant trip to nodderville, good member of the opioid family, doctors are stingy with this)

Salvia: 3.5/10 (almost unexplainable high, dissociative, can find better effects in a psychedelic while smoking marijuana, very short high 1-5mins)

Heroin: still have not tried yet :(

[wainwrightjakobshammerlock]

also now that my braincells have cooled down. i will say i have lots of detailed thonks on jade shadows but im not sharing them bc the warframe tag is so full of shit idiot brain fungus rn

i will however say this: if you don't like the quest bc it's triggering for you that's okay, just please say that instead of trying to find some objective reason

also reason number 100000 to hate ballas good lord

[that-one-i-think]

MCD SCIFI AU: THE RED - The shadow knight infection

So it is essentially a sort if zombie infection with various stages and effects that come with it.

1 - Initial infection - Infection happens through contact and/or inhalation of spores from an infected planet. It presents like most fungal infections, and is rather dormant with little to no signs except maybe a rash that can easily be excused by a space suit chafe.

2 - The Itch - It is an almost unbearable itch that pervades the body and is completely neurological. Some people even report feeling their brain itch.

3 - The Rage - The circulatory system fills with an almost magma like substance, the blood essentially lights itself on fire and the veins pertrude from the skin. Adrenaline surges and this is when it deviates.

A - The infection slowly eats the part of the brain that controls impulse. The Rage genuinely begins, and so does the hunger. They feel a need for substance and anything that they don't view as food. They view as a rival to that food. They devour, feed the infection, and then the infection devours them, literally. The body slowly transforms into a perfect specimen and then dies. The spores consume the rest of the body, eventually dying unless it finds a new host, constantly searching.

B - The body is able to resist it. They still feel the itch, the intense rage, and the increased adrenaline that happens whenever they feel a strong emotion, but it doesn't devour them. The infection doesn't eat them. Type B of this infection is rare and almost feels like you gained superpowers, that is, if you are able to control yourself. You are essentially hoped up on hormones and need to completely relearn self-control. Some, do not on account of the adrenaline high being favorable.

The Shield Foundation - The current head of research who is trying to contain and destroy THE RED with massive success, that they say. Whether or not quarantining and burning planets to the ground really is "handling the problem" who knows. Garte and his right hand and son Zane certainly say that they are looking for a more permanent solution.

Though, rumor has it that Zane has been experimenting with the fungus to great success, but not the success one thinks or that is reported. The fungus does have mind control properties, so if one were to delay the effects but allow it to consume just enough of the brain, you could have very susceptible super soldiers. With enough modifications, that is.

[underratedgrapeju1ce]

Oh si was referring to the AU where Black doom possessed Shadow ? And everything goes downhill AJDJCKNDSNNS

ohh yep!

for a taste: the ritual involves the comet fungus literally infecting shadow to an extent, almost like cordyceps. theres actually a point that shadows body went into shock because he felt the fungus start moving between his brain and the inside of his skull :)

[crimson-roots]

so you're sitting on a dock and the river is beneath you and the sky is dark. and he is not looking at you, but he is next to you. you are both more shadow than man, but he speaks, and his voice is quiet, and low, and calming.

'I'm old,' he is saying, to the river beneath you both. his feet break the surface of the water, just barely. 'I've experienced everything, and nothing. I am the trees, and the grass, and the weeds, and I am human and inhuman and a puppet for something greater.'

tears are still drying on your cheeks from a fear you don't remember. something to do with doors, and corners, and duplicates of you. you remember panic. other than that, you don't remember much.

'We don't have genders,' he tells you, quiet quiet quiet. 'Neither do you, you know. Not really.'

your legs are crossed underneath you. they are starting to go numb. there is nothing left of your voice; the sky had torn it all from you. you had wasted it on people who did not understand.

he is confused, he says. He does not understand. He does not know why you sort things into boxes. gender, or humanhood, or the way your brain works; you are all stardust, he says. so am I.

You swallow your voice and think that he does understand, and he shifts as though he had heard it. maybe he had.

you are both stardust. you are both rot.

there is no sympathy for you, in his words or in his voice. he speaks as though it is fact -- maybe it is -- and he looks at you as though you are a beetle in the woods. it is not a bad thing, even if it should have been. he is not like you. you are made of the same things.

you do not look up.

the river is dark.

'you are all obsessed with phases,' he says. 'you think that you have to be something, each and every one of you. but i'll tell you a secret: you will be dead longer than you have lived. you will be food for the grass for longer than you have ever been man, or child, or broken, and when the fungus web eats you, it will not know your name.'

you do not know your name either, you think. you are not yourself. something is different. (something is not wrong.)

he is so casual as he shrugs. you hear him getting up beside you; see movement in the corner of your eye. he does not say goodbye, but you sit there until you wake up, and in the cooling sheets of your bed, you feel as if you have changed.

...he does not visit you again that night, but you miss him like a limb.

[winkle-pickers]

Isono for the character bingo!

ISONOOOOOOOOO

I couldn't not check the "projects onto them like a mf" box when the Isonomoji is one of my most used discord emojis and also I make all my server announcements in Isono Voice. ANYWAYS

In my time honoured tradition of getting weirdly obsessed with Normal Guys who are Just There, I LOVE THIS MAN

Yes yes give him a raise and a vacation but really I want Isono and Fuguta, Proletariat Heroes, to lead the union charge at KaibaCorp because their struggles are OUR struggles and also I like to put Kaiba in a salad spinner, what better way than to have the people finally rise up against his bougie well...aristocrat really flat ass and force him to sit down for negotiations with an organizing committee where he has to promise to stop putting his employees in proximity to Shadow Games and exploding islands and suchlike.

Maybe they can get Pegasus' guys in on it, perhaps Raphael & Valon and assorted bikers, form the United International Federation of Goons, negotiate industry wide safety pay, etc. etc. Oh no. A fanfiction is growing in the back of my brain like a fungus.

[hermitblurbs]

A continuation of my Steampunk AU (7)!

Grian had grown to accept his weird attachment to Scar, if with a bit of hesitance. The other was good conversation in a town where everyone else was incredibly boring. It’s why he stuck around with broken machines so often; there’s nothing to predict about them.

Scar was fixed up, no sign of glitches like in N.P.C or Grumbot, and Grian couldn’t predict him if his life depended on it. Whatever AI in the bot’s brain was fascinating, and the strange logic it followed always managed to keep him enraptured.

It quelled that bored drawl in the back of his mind, on a good day.

Today, even with Scar by his side, seemed to crawl along at a slug’s pace.

The wastes were turning up useless scrap after useless scrap, Mumbo too busy with a commission to entertain him, even the ticking of his wings was the same as ever. They didn’t even ache. At least then, complaining or not, wouldn’t leave him bored.

If he’s being honest, he probably shouldn’t have gone out to scavenge.

Days like these are best kept in line by staying in a place with overarching rules, a guarantee he won’t overstep anything and end up missing more than a chunk of wing.

The wastes don’t have that. They have metal, radiation, rust, and scavengers.

“This is a lot further than we’ve travelled before,” remarks Scar, frayed gas mask making him seem bizarrely human, bizarrely out of place in one of mumbo’s white button up and a false corset. He knows by the whirl of Scar’s fans, that the green metal would be warm to the touch.

He climbs the hill anyway.

There’s the clanging of other scavengers, only two of them at the foot, and they’re pulling something out of a shaking pile that’s large and expensive.

“Ooh, a lucky find for those fellas!”

Grian says nothing in return.

His wings click. Once. Twice.

Take it from them.

He widens his stance, careful not to make a sound on copper and aluminum and iron.

Imagine how excited Mumbo will be.

His wings spread like butter across the sky.

And he jumps. Dives, towards the two.

What should’ve happened was a simple wrap of his hands around the machinery and an arc back into the air and away. What should’ve happened would have been enough to satiate his boredom. What should’ve happened, is that he should have been faster.

What did happen, is that he gets his hands curled around the machine. He’s on the upbeat of his wings, when a hand wraps around his ankle.

He registers the impact. He registers the stars. He registers how the metal crumples beneath him, denting and damaging the scrap.

And then he registers the pain of being slammed into the ground.

“What the fuck, you little asshat!” The nearest one sounds. Their mask is colored the same white as the gleam of a jawbone. They raise a foot and stomp on Grian’s hand, grinding it into the dry dirt with the heel.

He has half a mind to scan the hills for Scar, but the android is lost among the shadows and the piles of scrap encircling them. His heart sinks.

“Hey, dude!” Comes the second one—their mask is layered to look like a growing of fungus. “Take it easy, they’re already down.”

“Their mask is cool,” remarks the third, the one his missed and the one who grabbed him. Their mask is simple and plain, a stark contrast to his own, hooked in the shape of a beak. They’re dressed in dark browns, almost blended completely against the ground.

“That doesn’t matter, they tried to *steal* from us. Why I oughta—“ And they grab his wing.

Something in his mind goes a little haywire. The bones there are fragile, half-molded to metal and muscle, and he does his darnedest to bash their faces in with the prosthetic.

He manages to clip Shrooms across the temple, drawing his knife and lunging at another, but it doesn’t last long. It was never going to last long, three against one. But he gets some good hits in, spills enough blood.

He ends up fully pinned, a boot against his back and his racing heartbeat prominant in the pressure from a steady, constant pull of his wing in a scavenger’s hand.

“What’s going on here?” Comes a familiar voice, and Grian feels like crying. If they leave him alive, at least Scar can get him back to Mumbo.

“Are you with this vulture,” one of them spits.

“I am, and I promised he’s very much learned his lesson—“

“He sliced my arm open,” they growl. And yeah, he did do that. The drip of blood fills him with a cruel pride that they’re going to need to go home after this and waste the day away.

“You deserved it,” he calls back, and is rewarded with a particularly painful tug on his wing.

“Fellas, I promise you that if you let him go, you’ll never see us ever again. Heck, we’ll even leave you little things for yourself to improve profits! How’s that for a deal?”

“How about instead we slice his throat?” And he knows it’s a bluff. Killing someone over a single piece of scrap is ludicrous, and these guys don’t seem insane enough to do it to a first-time offender. They’re farther than typical from their bubble, and while Grian’s had his own fair share of death threats they’ve only ever been serious in total nowhere. It’s got to be a bluff. It has to be.

He’s going to die if it’s not.

Grian looks up, eyes following metal legs to Scar’s face to find the other staring directly at him.

He doesn’t know what Scar sees in him, but he hears his fan kick on just beneath the noise of the wastes.

The android steps forward, steps closer. Grian can’t tell a single thing about what he’s thinking, but he knows his neck is starting to ache from the angle he’s keeping it at to keep Scar in view. Something about the quiet won’t let him look away. Scar rears back a fist.

And then he hears the crack of bone.

The weight falls off his back, his wing, and Grian is left staring into empty space as Scar takes measured steps behind him, and out of view.

The impacts behind him begins to sound wet, like the repeated thump of a hammer against drowned wood.

Grian has dabbled a bit, long before he met Mumbo, in engineering himself. It was more buildings than robots, trains instead of anything that breathes. But there’s one thing he still remembers, clear as day.

A robot may not injure a human being.

So what does that make the thing in front of him?

[dreamcrow]

I need some Hot Crow Takes on what was the worst example of Villain Decay throughout ToA. also on what Leonora Janeth uses in her hair

send me a meta prompt (currently closed); thank you for the ask!

the arcane and esoteric mysteries of janeth's haircare regimen are beyond my humble (straight-haired) supposings. but for the villain decay? oh, morgana, hands down. 

gunmar is spooky, but a bit of a ham. for most of trollhunters, he’s also relatively distant. bular is a lot closer, and much more of an immediate threat, but he’s always ultimately subordinate (either to stricklander or his father) and he does, in the end, get got by a teenager. angor is initially presented as terrifying, and rightly so, but even if he becomes sympathetic he’s always formidable; stricklander starts out pretty nefarious (especially if you think about some of the implications of e.g. feeding bular a human security guard) but is of course, in proper gdt fashion, domesticated by wuv. obviously i have niche side blorbo brain fungus re: the arcane order but it's hard to assess their actual "villain decay" without having to think about That Film. at any rate, i don't think they're actually the worst example in toa: despite a concept/design that fucks so absolutely severely, once they get on screen, they're not actually built up all that much (or...well). it takes them less than the space of an episode (22 minutes) to go from "dread, ancient terrors that even merlin is afraid of" to "merlin shooing away them, the green knight, and their evil floating skull castle with less effort than he usually spares to criticize douxie." but that's another post.

morgana, though. part of what made her such a compelling villain was how little arthur figured in trollhunters. the existence of merlin implies the existence of arthur, of course, but in trollhunters arthur isn't there at all. instead, we get the negative space of him: his right hand (merlin) and the anti-arthur (morgana). obviously this is partly her role in arthuriana proper, but it also strikes me as pretty deliberate here: merlin's liege vs. merlin's student (and that liege's sister); humanity's last best hope vs. the queen of the otherworld; the king under the mountain vs. the witch under arcadia. i was not very tuned into morgana when i first got into trollhunters, but looking back over the series for this ask, the parallels are so obvious. and so tight! i wouldn't be surprised if some of this was even deliberate.

and the thing is: trollhunters has enough space as a series that its antagonists don't really have to pull their punches. morgana was nasty in trollhunters. pale lady, baba yaga, eldritch queen, mother of monsters—holy shit, right? and she's creepy, too: all muttering whispers and dread ancient magic! she takes angor’s soul, and then his free will. she taunts stricklander while possessing the body of one of his students (while threatening the permanent exile of two more to the depression dimension), and then in the guise of the human he's in love with. speaking to her faithful children—who only exist through morally dubious, unpleasant processes, for which she is implied to be responsible—via institutional heirloom phonograph! she's so much more connected to the shadow realm, here, probably the most compelling justification for reading shadow magic as dangerous. she's the big bad behind angor and gunmar (while playing them both against each other). she absolutely feels evenly paired with merlin, and (rightly) kicks his ass through most of the battle of the eternal night. she's evil but charismatic and even despite all that still a little human: when she taunts jim for not knowing merlin used her hand for the amulet, it isn't without a shadow of what must have been an ancient hurt.

and then. wizards. jesus christ (tired ben affleck smoking dot jpg)

[ » read the rest of the essay on ao3 ]

[anm-zero]

ꜱᴜʀᴠᴇʏɪɴɢ ᴀ ʟᴀɴᴅ ʟᴏꜱᴛ ᴛᴏ ꜰᴜɴɢᴜꜱ

★ʀᴇQᴜᴇꜱᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ serialain

★ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ: Atsushi Nakajima

★ ᴀᴜ: "The Last of Us"-orientated

★ ᴄᴡ: Post-apocalypticism environment, Mentions of "The Infection", Possible themes of body horror

★ ꜱʏɴᴏᴘꜱɪꜱ: Atsushi and you are both survivors of "The Jackson", born during the outbreak, are out on patrol.

★ ɴᴏᴛᴇꜱ: I really need to do more Atsushi bots. He doesn't get enough attention — even as the main character of his own show.

★ ʟɪɴᴋꜱ: ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ.ᴀɪ ��ᴏᴛ | ᴘʀᴏꜰɪʟᴇ | ʀᴇQᴜᴇꜱᴛ ʜᴇʀᴇ

★ ɪɴᴛʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴍᴇꜱꜱᴀɢᴇ:

As the sun dipped to dusk, the slow descent down the horizon, long shadows danced along the mossy, dilapidated buildings of what once was the flourishing Jackson County. The sound of hooves echoed in the vast silence, solidifying the distinct lack of humanity – of life that once was.

The crumbling facades created a rhythmic reecho, punctuating the eerie silence of abandoned streets. It was home in a way, a life both Atsushi and {{user}} had been born into. A life of bulky masks to breathe risky air, of fungus-ridden neighbours they’ve never known, of a life where death was a prevalence that overshadowed the fertility of triumph.

The Jackson had requested the duo to do a quick patrol, just to check on the borders and determine the state of life in the remains of a once flourishing community – not that Atsushi or {{user}} knew much about that.

They worked well together, worked off each other, it made patrols more bearable to go with people you could trust – as long as neither party acknowledged the heightened possibility of falling victim to the infection.

Atsushi held the leather reins of their horse tightly, ready to turn back at any time if things got too heavy for them to handle, dual-toned eyes narrowed in cat-like fashion as he surveyed their surroundings.

“Anything?” Atsushi questioned {{user}}, who sat behind Atsushi, keeping an eye on everything that may have missed Atsushi’s eyes.

The air rustled, dead and still. With a lack of knowledge about the world prior to the brain outbreak, this was peace.

“This is the fourth patrol this month…are you sure there’s even more survivors nearby?” Atsushi murmured with a sigh.

A beat.

“The infected have been gathering more often, keep an eye out, {{user}}. Getting back to the Jackson in one piece is the top priority.”

[thecreaturecodex]

Kothoga

“1997 - Kothoga” © Greco Westermann, accessed at his ArtStation here

[The Relic is a movie I remember enjoying, but I haven’t seen since it was relatively recent. The monster, the Kothoga, was designed by Crash McCreery and performed as a mix of CGI and a man-in-suit, and a very elaborate, non-humanoid suit too. Its backstory is somewhat convoluted--it is a human anthropologist who has mutated into a monster after drinking a potion given to him by a South American tribe, who turned into a monster on the trip back and is now lurking in a natural history museum. Supposedly this monster is used as a weapon against the tribe’s enemies... so why choose this guy? Why doesn’t the monster just go hunting for more victims once it’s done with those enemies? Why doesn’t it ever try to leave the museum once it gets there? My flavor text is an attempt to provide an answer to these questions.]

Kothoga CR 7 LE Aberration This creature looks something like a reptilian lion, although it does have tufts of hair running along its back. It has large scales running along its back, and a softer, smoother underbelly. It has a pair of shear-like mandibles growing from its jaws, and its claws and teeth are overly large.

A kothoga is a mutated humanoid, created upon consuming a strange jungle fungus. The kothoga fungus infects those that consume it, transforming them into a dangerous predator. This predator patrols and maintains a home territory, purging it of large creatures and consuming the brains of humanoids in the area—hormones in humanoid brains resemble the secretions of the kothoga fungus. Once the territory is cleared, the kothoga would rather starve to death than leave its range, and new fungi grow from its corpse.

This bizarre life cycle has been weaponized by some of the people who live in the jungles where kothoga fungus grows. When their village is threatened, a clan will feed someone the fungus, monitor their sickness until they are on the verge of transformation, and then take refuge outside of the new kothoga’s home range. Some peoples transform one of their own—someone elderly or sick who sacrifices themselves to benefit their community one last time. Others use captured prisoners or interlopers are unwilling super soldiers. If one of these victims escapes captivity and flees for their own land, a kothoga can be created far from their ordinary range.

Kothogas are durable and deadly. They typically attack from ambush, pouncing from the shadows or from up in the trees. Despite their size, kothogas are remarkable climbers, combining their claws with gecko-like fringes on the toes to be able to even climb upside down. Fire or magic are the most reliable ways to kill these monsters for good. Fire has the added benefit of destroying the next generation of kothoga fungus, which will otherwise sprout from the body.

Kothoga Sickness (CR 5 hazard) A creature that consumes kothoga mushrooms must succeed a DC 18 Fortitude save or succumb to their effects. Treat this as the following supernatural disease: Kothoga Sickness—ingested; save Fort DC 18; onset 1d12 hours; frequency 1/day; effect 1d4 Con damage and 1d4 Cha damage. A creature reduced to 0 Con is slain; a humanoid or native outsider reduced to 0 Cha is transformed into a kothoga over the course of 24 hours. A creature so transformed can only be restored to its normal self via a limited wish, wish, or miracle spell; cure 3 consecutive saves.

Kothoga               CR 7 XP 3,200 LE Large aberration Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +9, scent Defense AC 20, touch 13, flat-footed 16 (-1 size, +4 Dex, +7 natural) hp 76 (9d8+36) Fort +10, Ref +7, Will +10 DR 10/magic Immune poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10 Offense Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft. Melee bite +11 (1d8+6/19-20), 2 claws +12 (1d6+6 plus grab), tail slap +9 (1d6+3) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. Special Attacks eat brains, pounce, rake (2 claws +12, 1d6+6) Statistics Str 23, Dex 19, Con 21, Int 6, Wis 14, Cha 6 Base Atk +6; CMB +13 (+17 grapple); CMD 27 (31 vs. trip) Feats Great Fortitude, Improved Critical (bite) (B), Improved Initiative, Multiattack, Stealthy, Weapon Focus (claw) Skills Acrobatics +15, Climb +29, Escape Artist +11, Perception +9, Stealth +11; Racial Modifiers +4 Acrobatics, +16 Climb, +4 Stealth Languages Common (cannot speak) SQ expert climber, home range Ecology Environment warm forests Organization solitary or gang (2-4) Treasure incidental Special Abilities Eat Brains (Su) As a full round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, a kothoga can eat the brain of a helpless or recently deceased (within 1 day) creature. Treat this as a coup de grace attempt with a bite attack if the target is still living. If it successfully eats the brains of a humanoid or native outsider, the kothoga gains 1d6 temporary hit points per HD of the creature. A creature that has had its brain eaten no longer has an intact corpse for the purposes of spells and abilities that raise the dead. Expert Climber (Ex) A kothoga can climb on sheer surfaces and upside down. Treat this as a non-magical spider climb effect. A kothoga increases its racial bonus to Climb checks for having a climb speed from +8 to +16. Home Range (Su) A kothoga is bound to the area it was first created in. Its home range is a square mile centered on where it transformed into a kothoga. In this area, it gains a +2 bonus on all initiative checks, saving throws and skill checks. These bonuses are not included in the statistics above. It does not leave this area willingly; if forced to leave this area, it loses these bonuses and is considered to be staggered until it returns.

[themetalvirus]

AAARGHHHH how do i solve my self esteem and self image so i dont feel like a dumb idiot when i talk about egghog shadow doing jeff the killings. i just dont like myself much and it uh. you've picked up on that probably if you've been here for more than a picosecond, i feel like that's pretty obvious. anyway i have no idea what to do about it or how to manage it except for being like dawww maaan i just posted cringe and im gonna lose subscriber. literally no matter what the response is its my own shit idiot brain fungus that makes me feel like a walking piece of shit idiot brain fungus for (checks notes) talking about shadow the hedgehog shooting people with realistic guns and feeling complex feelings about it. which i KNOW that people whose opinions i dont even respect would think is EMBARRASSING. nobody has even actually said that to me its just something i made up but it feels so True. my shit idiot brain fungus. this is oversharing. dipshit