#she wanted it to be evil and all-encompassing and for it to Mean Something and it never really did. that's okay. it doesn't have to be.

[atissi]

WOW...............tf2 man. tf2...........................

[eemamminy-art]

I was talking about this in a server but I wanted to put the thoughts here too

I think Zenos being the way he is stems so much from Emet-selch's beliefs that sundered people are lesser. Like it's the generational trauma that made Zenos that way in the sense of Solus' cruelty to Varis led to Varis' cruelty toward Zenos, but I also think that the loss of the ancient world and the contempt Emet-selch holds for humanity is also something he instilled in both Zenos and Varis. The notion that humanity is just inherently corrupt and evil, and that people will always resort to violence and harm toward one another because he's seen so many conflicts and nations that rose and fell over the millennia.

So in his kin, that sentiment is passed on. In Varis' case, he is aware of his grandfather being an ascian and is very much like, "I will be the exception to the rule, I will be the example of mankind standing above the ancients." Except, of course, Varis uses this mentality to justify some of the most horrific atrocities a person could commit, such as mass genocide through black rose, or killing his own family members in the civil war that followed Solus' death. Varis has this notion that he's an example of a "good" human, despite doing all of the terrible things that Emet-selch ascribes to humanity as a whole.

In Zenos' case, he was groomed to be a living weapon and has come out the other side of it with this bleak outlook. If humans are inherently cruel and evil and corrupt, why does anything matter? It made his baseline assume the worst in everyone, including himself, so his apathy is all-encompassing. There is no right or wrong, everyone kills everyone and it's all fucked up, so why bother trying to be "right"? What even are "right" and "wrong" anyway? It allows him to be someone who does horrific things, while searching for some kind of purpose or meaning. I wish we had gotten to see more of Fandaniel and Zenos interacting, because I think they are so similar in the sense of wanting for meaning and purpose but being so disillusioned with the world and with the cruelty of others that they themselves became cruel.

I think long before the "would you be happier had I a good reason?" speech and Alisaie's rebuttal to it, Zenos had this curious little seed embedded in him by his encounters with the warrior of light. It's not unlike how Lyse spends much of 4.0 both hating Fordola, and also being fiercely curious as to why she is the way she is and seeking to understand her. With Lyse though, she is guided by her strong sense of empathy and the notion that all of her people deserve their homeland returned to them regardless of their actions, while Zenos lacks empathy completely and up until now didn't really think about anyone, not even himself. But that curiosity is there, deep down, and I think it is a major driving force in keeping him going forward.

You could argue that Zenos' motivations are selfish: he does say himself that he is chasing the high of battle with a worthy opponent, and I think on some level that is true. But there is something deeper to it, something that really makes him question all he's known: "In that transcendent moment, what was it that I sought in you? And what was it that you sought in me?" He's seeking purpose, he's seeking the reason for what motivates people like the warrior of light to do good, and what "good" even is. It's so contrary to everything he's known, but it grabs hold of him until it becomes an obsession.

I think it's further elaborated on with some of Zero's story arc where she's learning about empathy, although her reasons for being that way are somewhat different from Zenos, I think they are similar on some level in that they can't really understand empathy or inherent goodness. She does eventually learn it, of course, and I'd like to think if given the chance to survive beyond the battle with the Endsinger, that Zenos could have gone on a similar journey too. That's what I envision anyway.

[ike-garden2024]

Mirror Mirror 🪞

So I read this man’s route. The translated version provided by @aishangotome it was so good! There’s quite a few translations on their page. Go check it out!! 😄 It took me a couple days to process what I read because I binged the entire thing, including both endings 🤣 this is a mess of a post 🙈 the rest of this post will contain spoilers, if that’s not something you want to see please scroll away 😂 anyway thank you @aishangotome for your translation work! Now let’s talk about the man in question, Alfons

Warning ‼️ contains topics that may be uncomfortable to some including but not limited to: death, addictions, trauma, etc.

The tragic fate attached to his curse is exactly what I thought it would be, to be forgotten by everyone who knew him after he dies. I can only imagine how painful that is. Lots of people nearing death tend to talk about their memories a lot and often I’ve heard them say “I’ll be remembered for x,y,z”, Alfons can’t have that… well, not completely… I like that the writers added the part of Roger and Kate doing some research of people who were involved with someone who has the mirror curse. It opened up another avenue, the name and face may be forgotten but the impact the cursed one had on the other person is not. In fact it leaves the person with a sense of emptiness, like they’ve forgotten something important. While that can be painful, it also means that the life of the cursed one matters, they’re important. I can imagine that no one wants to leave their loved ones with that kind of pain, a pain that will never really heal over time because they’ll always be wondering what/who their forgetting and that could potentially lead to always trying to find answers. It can potentially drive a person crazy. Despite all that, I think I agree with Kate. All of that pain and suffering is worth it. Sure you end up making memories that you’ll eventually forget and you’ll forget the important person but, your body and emotions don’t forget, it’s still actively being felt. That’s why Alfons loving Kate means tearing her life to shreds, leaving unforgettable marks on her entire being. It’s also why he’d prefer to die after her, he genuinely doesn’t want to be forgotten by her. I think in the fake wedding event epilogue she says something about dying together 🤔 I can’t quite remember.

Moving on! The way he goes about using his abilities doesn’t strike me as “evil” necessarily. On his personal time I mean!! He’s certainly making criminals go mad as part of his judgement on them 😂 although it’s a bit twisted, the way he makes himself available for random people to use his power is a form of care. It’s not good to run away from the reality of a situation but many times people wish they could. That’s kind of where addictions and bad habits come from. But even if it’s not that extreme, reading a favorite book, watching a favorite show, playing a game, etc. are also ways to escape reality for a while. I like the way the character Alfons basically encompasses the idea of escapism. It’s an extreme version of something everyone does in their own way. I’ve always loved how writers have the ability to create a whole new world where you can just get lost in. It’s what inspires my career choice and seeing people’s reactions to anime, games, stories, etc. continues to motivate me. I’d love to help create a world one day for people to enjoy. Reading Alfons’s route weirdly motivated me more 😂 without moderation, anything can become an addiction, but it’s sometimes hard to create these moderations. Alfons always makes himself available, his free time is literally dedicated to sex addicts behind a bar and people in the east side(?) of London. Moderation is not in that man’s vocabulary 🤣 He can say it’s for entertainment all he wants but I think he’s somewhat genuinely concerned 😂 he’s like a drug though, have a small taste and you end up wanting more and more.

I don’t particularly like the man’s personality but I understand it a lot better now. I can somewhat respect it but thats it 🤣 His lifestyle choice truly is understandable after reading his story and the “why” behind it all pulls at my heart a bit. Honestly the way he found out about his curse and fate did not help at all 😂 like young Roger had absolutely no consideration when he dropped the info on him. To young Roger it was like “a new subject!” Damn, what if he would’ve turned out a little different had young Roger just gone about it a different way. I believe this is the reason they don’t get along(?) it’s my understanding at least. When the route comes out in English I’m looking forward to reading his side stories to get to know him even more. I definitely find him interesting from a writing perspective. Great character concept and execution!

AH! I forgot to touch on the Elbert/Alfons dynamic. They’re so cute 🥰 you can really tell they care for each other. With their silly bets, Alfons leaving Elbert a handwritten note, and just other things 🤭 it’s great

This is such a bad pile of notes, I apologize for any mistakes but I needed to get my thoughts down and out 😂 Thank you

[silvermoon424]

Wuxing and Its Influence Over Sailor Moon

NOTE: if I get anything about wuxing wrong, please correct me! I did research for this post but I'm sure I greatly simplified things.

I don't recall seeing a post about this on Tumblr, so I figured I'd be the change I want to see!

Anyway, something I don't see discussed often in the Sailor Moon fandom is the fact that much of the Inner Senshi's powers and personalities are based on wuxing, or the Chinese system of Five Phases. Well, okay, technically wuxing influenced the Japanese naming system of the 5 planets known since antiquity (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn), as wuxing was originally used to refer those planets in ancient Chinese scholarship before it took on a broader meaning. But I still think Naoko Takeuchi was influenced by wuxing and not just the Japanese names of the planets themselves!

Anyway, you can kind of think of wuxing as similar to the Western idea of the classical elements, but it's far broader in scope. In traditional Chinese fields, it's used to explain a wide range of phenomenon, such as cosmic cycles and the succession of political regimes.

However, this post will only be exploring how wuxing is used to classify the planets and how that influenced Naoko Takeuchi when she created Sailor Moon. The elements and their planetary matches are:

Water: Mercury

Metal: Venus

Fire: Mars

Wood: Jupiter

Earth: Saturn

There are also certain mental/emotional qualities assigned to these elements:

Water: Wisdom, wit, intelligence, flexibility, resourcefulness, softness, anxiety

Metal: Determination, strength, ambition, self-reliance, strength of mind, rigid, leadership

Fire: Passion, intensity, resolve, spontaneity, dynamism, restlessness, hate

Wood: Warmth, generosity, idealism, cooperation, courage, kindness, anger

Earth: Patience, thoughtfulness, nurturing, honesty, stability, agreeableness

So yeah, I think there are some clear parallels here.

Sailor Mercury: Ami Mizuno means "Asian Beauty of Water" and Sailor Mercury has powers over water in all its states of matter (fog, water, and ice). I've sometimes seen people be confused over why Sailor Mercury has water powers when the planet Mercury is so hot and devoid of any semblance of water; well, it's because of wuxing! Anyway, Ami herself is also known for her intelligence and wisdom as well as for her soft heart.

Sailor Mars: Rei Hino means "Spirit of Fire" and Sailor Mars commands control over flames. Sailor Mars is known as the "Senshi of Flames and Passion," and lives up to that name by being one of the most passionate and intense Senshi in the series.

Sailor Jupiter: Makoto Kino means "Sincerity of Wood" and while Sailor Jupiter is commonly associated with electricity, her powers really encompass nature as a whole. In the manga/reboot anime, she has a number of attacks that involve plants. Mako is loved by her friends for being incredibly warm and generous, and Sailor Jupiter is known as the "Senshi of Courage."

Sailor Venus: Minako Aino's name ("Beautiful Child of Love") and her powers overall take much more inspiration from the Roman goddess of love and beauty, Venus, than from wuxing. However, she does still incorporate metal into her attacks, especially in the manga and reboot anime. In the manga/reboot this is done via her trusty chain, which is utilized for most of her attacks. Regarding personality, Minako is very self-reliant, ambitious, and determined, and of course is the leader of the Inner Senshi.

Sailor Saturn: There's not much to say here, because I don't think Naoko Takeuchi was inspired much by wuxing for Hotaru. However, "Earth" is reflected in Hotaru Tomoe's name- "Firefly Sprouting From Earth"- likely because the planet Saturn follows the wuxing naming convention in Japanese (it's called “Dosei," or "Earth Star"). That being said, Hotaru is very patient, thoughtful, and honest (I would not list "stability" as one of her qualities though, considering the whole "possessed by an evil alien and then reborn as a rapidly aging baby" thing lmao).

Anyway, that's it from me! I hope someone out there learned something new!

[frankifried]

something i've always found interesting about the misinterpretations of darian or the hunters of the dead in general is that they are apathetic or cruel, or lacking a love for "anything beyond the sanctity of the golden order," which in itself is oversimplified.

the golden order encompasses everything. all of the life in the lands between, all of the potential. everythings' soul returns to the ertree with time, by darian's own prayer, because everything is sacred. by the hunter of the dead's account, or at least darian's, the golden order is no perceived to be exclusively some unreachable, small concept. it overarches all of the lands between. the hunters' responsibility is the lands between, everything the erdtree touches.

i've never understood this concept that such a thought process is built on apathy and not a misleading or desperation given the hunting in itself is so driven by a protection & cleansing of others & the world?

even the concept alone that they seek "an absolute evil to contend with" means they believe in an overarching innocence or goodness to be protected, beyond the golden order. that the "absolute evil" in question harms or threatens. whether that be the animals, the agriculture, passing tarnished, sacred ruins.. followers of the golden order are waiting for its restoration, waiting for queen marika's return. the lands between is in shambles but that does not mean that what remains is not worth protecting until it can be restored to its livelihood once more.

to see these concepts so simplified and mistaken or misinterpreted is so saddening to me because at the end of the day it is all about love. i understand at first being a bit "icked" or reactionary to certain dialogues but that is both a privilege & a disadvantage that we have as the player. we know more than these people do.

it can be difficult for us to understand the perspective of alot of these characters at first because of this, or even acknowledge that there is a perspective at all, but i greatly encourage people to try.

to the inhabitants of the lands between, marika just up and left with little explanation at all. everything fell apart. and it's been quite some time on top of all of that. and when explicitly in a conversation about the hunters of the dead & the spread of death, one can assume that darian at the least has been doing this for years now. one does not simply keep a disease spreading across an entire world at bay by themselves out of some sort of malice or bloodlust. one is not so adamant about warning passing strangers not to tread somewhere they don't understand out of an itchy trigger finger. i hate this concept that darian would harm or kill any that slightly opposed her. because it's not accurate or truthful to how she's portrayed within her dialogue whatsoever. the erdtree itself is not stingy or picky about who is in or who is out. it's complex. and the hunters of the dead are meant to serve in what they interpret the golden order may want, not what they personally think is best for it. (which in itself is a different conversation regarding darian's heresy & whatnot. an unrelated topic.)

she's incredibly tolerant & accepting towards our decisions on purpose. a difference in opinion or a slight opposing in thought process does not deem you an "absolute evil" if you can still fall victim to something even greater than you. a disagreement does not make you unworthy of protecting, because that is not her decision to make.

the hunters of the dead are not scholars or prophets, they reject study in its entirety. and based on darian's opening dialogue, they're likely entirely incapable of proper rites & whatnot in its entirety as well. they are unfortunately detached from the soul of their faith, its dehumanizing. they are there to enact their hunting and that is that. not change minds, not spread propaganda or word like corhyn for example. they don't exist to engage in thought or the human bits of religious following. they lack autonomy, personhood. likely because if they pursue thought or study, they'll be forced to realize not only the complexity of fundamentalism, but recognize & accept the fallacies within the golden order, and how they've (the d twins) been wronged & misled by it. they're weapons, dogs. sent to kill what they believe to be the worst of the worst to protect others and that's it, so no one else has to.

the dead are perceived as an "absolute evil" by the hunters of the dead because it essentially eats everything. it takes over everything with little control, with little moral, little ethic. it kills without thought or reason. no matter how innocent or how guilty its victim is.

the conversation regarding whether or not the concept of an "absolute evil" can even exist under the golden order is not so much a demonization of the hunters of the dead as it is a genuine incite for thought and what the order means & stands for. the order is historically ever changing, that is its purpose. to morph & to shift to adapt to the world it overarches, not the reverse. that is the hunters' mistake.

yes, those who live in death kill & spread with no thought, no reasoning. but that is because by nature, without proper guidance, it is all they know how to do. how can they be blamed or "evil" if they know no better? can something be evil if it's not malicious or intentional? can something be evil if it's only misguided? they are intentionally juxtaposed to the d twins, as the only hunter/hunters(?) we know for this reason !!

too many people approach duskborn and the hunters v. the dead with an intent to come out of it picking sides. of fitting either of them into a box of "whos good whos bad." and it's such a terrible mistake to make because it's not about answers or fighting, it's about the complex thought & irony behind it all. the big bad evil is not the hunters nor the dead. it's those misleading them. because again; can something be evil if it knows no better?

[butterflydm]

Was it confirmed somewhere that Bells Hells' is also seeing the parts of the recording that take place outside of Aeor itself -- the bit at the beginning when the gods are fleeing what seems likely to be Predathos and then the part at the end when the Primes are deciding to construct the Divine Gate?

Because while all the parts in between speak to how much more understandable the gods are than they like to pretend to be to their mortal followers (for good or for bad), those two bookends show the practical reasons why Ludinus's plans are a terrible idea for the world and/or kinda pointless.

In the beginning, we see the great danger that the gods are fleeing and how all-encompassing the destruction is that Predathos could cause. Ludinus is unleashing something that could eat the entire world.

And at the end, we see that the gods themselves already fixed the problem that Ludinus is trying to 'fix' by freeing Predathos to kill them -- they went, "Okay, we are not capable of saving our children in a way that doesn't destroy them. We need to take ourselves out of the equation." And we saw that it was painful and hard, because they wanted to stay there on Exandria with the children that they'd created. But we also know that the Divine Gate does get created and that the Primes lock themselves behind it with it the Betrayers. They looked at their destruction of Aeor and decided to make sure it never happened again.

About that part in the middle where the gods reveal how 'human' they are. Or mostly about how resistant the gods are to the idea that they can be known on that level -- every single one of them, even the 'nice one' (the Everlight) insists that their reasoning is not something a mortal can understand. That is a part of what Ludinus is reacting against, I think, that arrogance that every single one of the gods show, whether Prime or Betrayer, whether good, neutral, or evil aligned. Their creations are children that are always meant to stay children. And no matter how much the Everlight tries to say that she didn't mean it in a belittling way... how can it be anything else? To insist that your children are incapable of growing up enough to ever be anything but children?

But we also have the Matron of Ravens. She was born mortal. She was an arrogant wizard with ambition. She clawed her way up to the gods themselves and took the place of one of them. She understands the power gulf between mortals and gods even more acutely than the rest of the gods, because she used to be on the other side of that gulf. And here she is with the rest of them; using the same reasoning as the rest of them (and finally now truly family in their eyes).

Definitely a lot to think about. So curious about how the Hells will respond!

That was so good and I really want to rewatch Calamity and then Downfall together. Probably (definitely) not going to happen before next week though, lol.

[leohtttbriar]

Someone brought an overhated character poll to my dash about Kai Winn and im literally so sad about the responses. I knew there were people who hated her but it's really baffling to me how maybe 10 people tops acknowledge her past and the reasonings behind her choices, they just see a space Karen.

oh dude, i'm sorry that sucks. and "sad" really is a simple but fairly complete word when it comes to the character of winn adami, huh.

like. i think a lot about how she's the most normal-looking woman on the show. she is also, simply, normal. she is faithful and political and appears and acts in ways far more familiar to us than most characters. even the fact of her alien-faith hardly serves to alienate, given that she is faithful in the way we might be--without true expectation of ever meeting the divine in this life. while kira can seem more like a fictional character when she speaks of the prophets, due to her proximity to them, winn sounds like the person accosting you on a street corner to talk about the rapture.

that's the thing, though, isn't it. about the "karen" phenomenon in general. there is nothing uniquely bad about middle-aged white women--nothing that makes them uniquely ungovernable in social spheres in ways men aren't. in ways everyone isn't, in some way. (merely anecdotal evidence, but my own experience in the service industry made me far more wary of men in their 30s wearing patagonia vests over dress-shirts). winn adami is a normal sort of frustration to people. one they encounter in the day-to-day. the political conservative who stands outside of planned parenthood and tells girls not to throw away their everlasting souls. the pentecostal women speaking gibberish in church, gesturing to the heavens with their out-of-fashion french manicures, who brought a tater-tot hot dish with extra kraft cheese to the pot luck. the women with cross-walls. with like. so many crosses. the women with leathery tans on the aging skin of their arms and neck. the women who quietly walk into voting booths around the world and choose "safety" over anything else, whether or not that "safety" is real.

at least. that's who people think winn is. setting aside the fact that most people don't truly know the kinds of women listed above, that it's unlikely they've spared a single ounce of pity for women like that ever in their entire lives, winn is not exactly pitiable in this way. she is awash in power. she is intelligent. she thinks. she would stand in a voting booth and choose "safety" (whether or not it's real) but she's not the lady wearing a t-shirt that says trump could grab her pussy if he wanted. she's not one of the many blonde women on fox news. she's not even sandra day o'connor or any other female conservative intellectual. because she's a metaphor.

we don't know her real-world politics because she's a fictional character in a fictional universe leading a fictional world. we know she's a conservative because fights very very hard to maintain the status quo regarding her bajoran religion and its teachings. but we don't know how any of that can be truly allegorized to conservative policies in the real-world. the main tension being: conservatives in the real-world base a lot of truly evil policy on a made-up divine figure interpreted through thousands of made-up hermeneutics and it is materially all Not Real. in ds9, the prophets are actual beings who affect reality. winn's said and done things on the show that sound like something an annoying woman with a turquoise-cross around her neck would say at a utah city council meeting about creationism and "inappropriate books." she also says things that a woman would say at a protest against the racist and paternalistic policies of the british museum. all we know of her as a political figure is that she is conservative. and like, power-hungry and desperate, but those aren't essentially related. she wants to conserve. and that encompasses more than one thing.

which means that people, when they see her, simply aren't thinking. they react to a woman who looks as she does. who speaks like a politician. who makes decisions that are unfair. but, exactly as you said, the show grounds her. they give her a past. they richly flesh out so much about her. they have her acting too rationally sometimes for someone of her professed faith. they have her acting completely irrational as her gods reject her again and again. all while she clings to them with a faith that endured actual torture at the hands of violent imperialists who yet attack her planet and yet attack her and yet she has to speak with as the leader of bajor.

and it's hard to see (beyond the obvious) why this character receives so much vitriol when you have characters like garak and dukat and kira who all are considered charming and beloved in some way or another, while still being as complex as they are. (and i don't even think dukat is all that complex.) even sisko has some moments that, if i lived in his world, i would be somewhat repulsed by--like when jake begs him to let the prophets go and sisko embraces the cosmic over the request of his son. (again: the prophets are real though, so my "repulsion" is more a reaction against people i see as priests, who i find in the real world, as a rule, awful.)

so. it's definitely sad. because the level and kind of hate bestowed upon this character really does seem to be a symptom of a much larger issue: of course, misogyny.

also that people don't tend to think.

[taemcains]

The idea of playing as a morally virtuous character with little to no human compassion is really intriguing for me. It's like understanding the idea of good or bad as a concept without fully embracing it on emotional level. That's a concept I've been thinking a lot lately so for HS:R to actually dive into is superb.

YESSS ME TOO i've always been interested in this. if you let go of being ruled by your emotions and allow all bad and good things to pass without holding onto it would that make you godlike and untouchable by life?

i wonder if she drew inspo from demian by hermann hesse

speaking of.

“The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who ever wants to be born must destroy a world. The bird flies to god. The god is called Abraxas.” The meaning of Abraxas is soon clarified for Sinclair in a lecture by a teacher as “something like a deity whose symbolic task is to unite the divine and the satanic”

not only could this be lane's path to divinity, it could also be the message of the Book. considering how it's being set up ie uniting dark and light to attain peace.

Bliss and horror, man and woman blended together, the most sacred holiness intertwined with the most hideous abomination, deep guilt flashing through the loveliest innocence—such was the image I saw in my sex dream and so too was Abraxas. Love was no longer either the dark, animalistic drive I had fearfully felt it to be at first, or the pious, spiritual worship I had offered up to the image of Beatrice. It was both—both and much more: angelic and Satanic, man and woman in one, human and animal, the highest good and the uttermost evil. To live this love seemed to be my destiny, to taste of it my fate. I longed for it and was terrified of it at the same time, but it was always there, always above me.

is this how lane will come to experience love on the lost humanity path? not in a selfish, individual way of humans but in an all encompassing way of the gods? loving all equally, untouched by petty human emotions.

i have so much respect and admiration for aleksandra for including themes that really make you think and theorize. i'm excited to see how this is going to progress in future eps and esp on the romance routes. what is it like to love a god? i think even cain is going to be a little unsettled here.

[salvagesmha]

AFO's Jailbreakers - Motif & Archetype

Wanted to do something like this for a while, where I breakdown a sub-set of Villains in MHA into the general motifs they all share and the archetypes they tend to represent individually. The easiest way to start I figured was to start with the minorest of Major Villains in the series, All For One's Jailbreakers, since there's so few of them, and they wear their inspiration and concepts on their sleeves.

The Jailbreakers in questions, befitting their status as AFO's minions, all fall into some monster theming, so hope you enjoy me rambling about them...

Also, left out the Spike Jailbreaker and whoever is the last one. Sorry, but even amongst these one-scene wonders, there's REALLY not much I can talk about with them.

Gashly

Motif: Skull Gentleman /No-Face

Archetype: Corrupted Childhood Horror

Gashly's dapper look is based on the skeleton gentleman from the Gashlycrumb Tinies cover, evidence by his umbrella to his scarf and hat. He also seems to take heavy inspiration from Noh-Face from Spirited Away, from his blank face/mask to his blobish black body to his silent nature, as well as a tendency to eat people in order to advance his goals. In the story, combined, the former is supposed to show off both Gashly as a representative of a twisted fairy tale by spawning endless evil monster kids to attack the Takoba Heroes, and the latter is supposed to show his gluttonous nature given he's essentially using such minions to try to eat people alive. His archetype, as one can guess, is that of turning something innocent with youth - in this case (fake) kids - into horrible monsters.

Kunieda

Motif: Scarecrow/Alien

Archetype: Plaguebearer

Of the two, Kunieda being a scarecrow is his chief inspiration given his clothing and even his straw-like hair, harkens back to scarecrows. He lives up to such a design since, just like how scarecrows ward off crowd from getting too close, he wards off his own defeat via his spores. Also, like with Mina and Curious, his unique black sclera eyes, rather unique mindset of the world and (assumedly he actually does have unique skin than how the anime deviated from) skin designate him as per Fat Gum words, alien like. His archetype is of the plaguebearer sort, that being someone who creates an infectious 'disease' that can spread throughout others and make other people catch them in order to make more. In this case, he does it via his spores.

Dictator

Motif: Clown/Igor (Yes, Igor isn't a monster, per say, but the idea of a villainous hunchedback flunky is baked within the horror genre)

Archetype: Puppeteer

From his face, Dictator has the most of his clown theming with purple lipstick, unique clown-shaped eyes and wideish grin he always has. Likewise, the Igor comparison comes from his obvious hunchback. Together, both shows off how he toys with people's lives and is a clear flunky to AFO with no real desire other than having his needs met. Likewise, he fits snugly in his archetype since he can literally puppeteer people around against their will.

Shark Jailbreaker:

Motif: Leviathan

Archetype: Kaiju

He's just a sea monster...that's it. Okay, if I were to be honest, he's more than likely a more visually appropriate leviathan than the actual Leviathan in the MHA series (...whose a goddamned clown by the way, why name him Leviathan???), and it's pretty clear he's meant to be a kaiju like entity, like Godzilla.

Fanged Jailbreaker

Motif: Manshark

Archetype: Thug

He leans more into the archetype than motif side of things, but his sharkmannish appearance is still something to take note of. His various tattooes of religious women (I think), jewelry and locket, just in general he holds the vibes of being a gangster/thug-sort of Villain.

Lady Nagant

Motif: Cyborg

Archetype: Assassin

Another one that embodies the archetype more than the motif, Nagant's archetype is heavily based on her being an assassin. She encompasses both meanings of it, being someone who murdered out of misguided creed for her HSPC organization (up until they got her thrown into Tartarus for killing their president in self-defense) and as a contract killer that was paid off with a Quirk and vow of ruining the society she had come to loathe. Likewise, her very basis as a character boils down to a rooftop sniper being pretty much one of the classics of the hitman concept. Likewise, her motif being a cyborg is how she's both part-human and part-machine thanks to her one of her arms being, you know, a working sniper rifle. It's also rooted in her issue concerning being essentially a tool for others to use to carry out their desires, with no real regard for her own feelings in the matter (and eventually spiraled into her spiral into villainy).

[dreamieparadise]

✨️ Character Spotlight ✨️

Name: Momina Luqman

Nickname: Momo

Alias: The Heart Reader

Gender: Nonbinary

Pronouns: She/They

Sexuality: Demi/Pan

Age: TYB! 14, TYL! 24[Verse Dependent]

Appearance: medium brown skin, heart shape baby face, plump two toned lips, overbite, beauty mark on the right side of her mouth, an upturned nose, large round almond shape eyes with long eyelashes and dark brown eyes with orange flecks [her eyes become full orange when she is using her full abilities], dark brown wavy hair. Her hair goes to mid back as a teen and to her butt as an adult. As an adult she has a stud on the right side of her nose [usually a star but sometimes a flower.] As both a teen and an adult her ears are pierced [she got them pierced by her mother when she was a few months old.] She has a curvy body and her weight fluctuates a lot. Her hair tangles and gets messy easily.

Birthday: July 8th

Height: TYB! 5'0'', TYL! 5'3''

Ethnicity: Somali

Personality: Bubbly, caring, and a social butterfly. Momo absolutely loves meeting and learning about new people. She is tries her best to be understanding, accepting and patient but in all honesty she is someone who gets irritated easily. However, she is learning to manage her irritation. Thankfully she is someone who's temper dies out as quickly as it appears. Being an older sister is something they are proud of, they are very nurturing and will mother just about anyone [including her own parents when there is a chance.] But despite this they are also very anxious and awkward, desperately not wanting to be disliked and thus also has people pleasing tendencies. They are unintentionally loud but try their best to be quieter when this is brought to their attention. Just like 99.99% of Somali people, they talk with their hands. They are also a very animated person, often giggling and bouncing around. Unfortunately they are also someone who tears up very easily [this even if they aren't sad] and it's something she is very embarrassed of. They are also very stubborn and can be impulsive but those closest to them can keep her in check.

Main Love Interest: Gokudera Hayato

Family: father, mother, 6 siblings [Momo is the second oldest but first girl]...over 100+ relatives if you count her tribes.

Abilities:

Psychic: medium, can see and interact with spirits. Uses this ability to gather information such as names, secrets, and ability to map places [but she is terrible with directions/telling people where to go] sometimes has visions of the future and can tell if someone is cursed or has evil around them. The cost for this is it takes a toll and worsens her health.

Weapons: qolxad [dagger], belawa [short sword], gãschãn [shield] and a gun. All have been decaled/DIYed to Momo's desired look.

Flame(s): Main sun, lightning and storm. Her flames are strong due to the strength of her will and can be all-encompassing. She can easily summon them without thinking, just needing a strong emotion to have them bursting forward. A snake tattoo appears on her body when she uses her flames.

Affiliation: Amare family/Luqman family, Neo-Vongola, CEDEF [when Colonnello comes calling]

Mentor(s): Reborn, Colonnello and Lal

Job: Information Gatherer, soldier [!?]

Languages: English, Somali, French, Japanese, Tagalog, and Italian

Likes: socializing, helping, learning, napping,

Dislikes: rudeness, wasted time, math,

Health: Momo is someone who has chronic health issues, along with anxiety. These issues get exasperated when she uses her abilities. She uses her sun flames in order to keep pushing herself past her limit when needed.

Love languages: Quality time, acts of service

Trivia:

⭐Momina means "faithful", "truly believing". Luqman means "wise" or "intelligent."

⭐her number is 63

⭐ associations: apples, flowers, purples and pinks, stars, the moon

⭐ Her best friend/sister is none other than Miruku Osashima [@mimiruku]

⭐ Has a tendency to talk to herself but because of her abilities people who know sometimes get confused and think she's speaking to spirits. She sometimes lies because that's less embarrassing [she isn't a very good liar.]

⭐ Momo has a tendency to claim those close to her as family as, in her mind the hierarchy is family and then friends. This isn't too say she doesn't love and care for her friends deeply, just that she is very family oriented.

⭐ has a lisp, but it lessened as she grew into adulthood.

[justanotherhh]

@girlbossradiodemon: Queerness as an insight into humanity. I am curious what that means.

heya, hope it's ok to move your question to a new post, because it gave me an opportunity to ramble about something I've been thinking about -- so we'll call this post:

hazbin hotel, aroace alastor, and complicating redemption

cannot remember how i phrased it in the original post, but the main crux of the idea about queerness as humanising is "when does horror and villainy use queerness as a shorthand for Other/deviant and when are those thing subverted"

in terms of alastor specifically, aspec identity (especially the kind that is on the repulsed side of things) is often used -- without people knowing they're even describing real experiences and identities -- as a way of describing a lack of feeling, a lack of empathy, a lack of connection with other human beings, as a way of signposting "this is going to be a Bad Guy, look at this person who can't engage in the Universal Human Experience Of Love (sometimes with the prerequisite desire for sex, and sometimes it's the just-wanting-sex-but-not-love that's the Evil Code)"

note here, of course, that a lack of empathy also shouldn't be a shorthand for evil! the word "psychopath" generally needs to be put on a high shelf for anyone writing anything unless they can prove they know what in the world they're talking about!!

with alastor, when reading with the aroace hat on, we get an insight into how he does relate to other people. rather than going "he's so evil he can't love," it's opening up questions about what sort of connections he does form with people, and how those are complex, and possibly there's a lot of backstory there -- that's part of the whole story we're seeing with pretty much all the main characters: "misfits who have struggled to form connections because of their specific brands of Weirdness (and also they're in hell)"

now something im interested in with him being aspec, is how the show also to an extent deconstructs the ideas that being alloromantic and allosexual are necessarily indicators of goodness, and could go a lot further in future, if it wanted to -- this works better because almost all the characters in this show are queer (and tbh, until niffty is confirmed to be allorom, i am hc'ing her as aro), and so there's much less risk of falling into the trap of "deviant sexualities vs normal sexualities" that even some shows with queer characters fall for, because they still set up monogamous, allosexual relationships as More Correct vs Other Kinds Of Queerness That Is Bad

in the hellaverse, being kinky isn't semiotics for evil, being poly isn't semiotics for evil, being arocoded isn't semiotics for evil, etcetc.

being aspec is a difficult pill for a lot of people to swallow, including other queers, especially aromanticism, and so it's neat to consider the potential of portraying depictions of love and sex that are healthy (charlie and vaggie, pentious and cherri bomb, etc) next to depictions of love and sex that are unhealthy/toxic/abusive (valentino's and vox's ways of interacting with these things) next to depictions of not-love and not-sex that are complex and (i hope) indicators of how to get to know a character better, rather than villainising or simplifying a character. that maybe initially a character like charlie (amongst others) might not get it, but that's something she needs to sort out, not alastor

it's another way the show could go a step deeper into deconstructing how we take in ideas about "goodness" in narrative and in life based on simple clichés, for example the idea that "love redeems you" -- well, what if you don't love? and what if you do love, but that's not an indicator of goodness at all? is "love" in fact an all-encompassing positive force in the first place? why do we place it on this pedestal?

in many ways the potential of alastor through being aroace, reminds me a little of how we see angel in season 1. he's introduced a Certain way -- as shallow, as someone who doesn't put the work in, as someone who "doesn't care," -- and these narratives are enforced diagetically and non-diagetically by showing that he's an addict and a sex worker. a lot of the scenes related to drugs and sex work and kinky sex are funny (crack is expensive), and/or are met with disgust by the main characters (the sex dungeon), are considered things he needs to overcome in order to be worthy of redemption (the roleplay with sir pentious)...

and then those things are pulled apart, and both narrative and characters go: "what's wrong with being a sex-worker? what's wrong with being an addict? hell, what's wrong with liking sex???" and through that "why does he need to prove himself to be redeemed?" and i predict, eventually, already heading in that direction "why even need to be redeemed when the problem is the black-and-white morality of pure goodness/badness to begin with?????"

and i think alastor being aroace could play a cool part in that. it's not love that makes alastor human, and it's certainly not sex. it's how he interacts with not fitting into those normative boxes, and how other characters, hopefully, eventually, will learn to see things from his perspective (at least, in this case)

the whole the idea of "queerness as an insight into humanity" is something both hazbin and helluva do really well, because of their portraying queerness as a given, as the thing that it simply is how these characters interact with the world -- whether good or bad or somewhere in between, the characters' queerness invites us to ask questions about them, and i think some characters offer that opportunity even more starkly than others...

i mean alastor of course. keeper of the aroace Themes.

so yeah. aroace as humanising. love doesn't mean goodness. what even does redemption mean?

[monslord]

The Ten Shadow's ties to Shintoism and it's significance for the end 

With only five more chapters left, my previous theory regarding the resolution of the story went officially down the drain. To summarize, I had assumed that it would be through the merger that Yuji would accomplish freeing everyone of Cursed Energy. At this point it's safe to say that the merger will not happen. But what does that mean for the resolution of the problem of Cursed Energy and all the subsequent issues it causes in the story? I have too much faith in Gege to believe that he simply abandoned those issues. Therefore I believe that the answer to that is a character I hadn't been able to place properly in my previous theory: Megumi.

Before Jujutsu Kaisen there was Jujutsu Sousen, a previous version of the story that centered Megumi as the main character. Curses were described as a type of malediction and Megumi's goal in the story was to find a way to cure his sister of this malediction. It would be Megumi who would become Sukuna's vessel from the get go, instead of Yuji. This variation was dismissed, because editors deemed Megumi as not suitable for a main character. Still Gege had managed to write the story in such a way, that would have us end up in exactly the situation which he had wanted from the start: Megumi as Sukuna's vessel and on a quest to save his sister. Because of that I believe that Gege's idea for the resolution of the story likely also hadn't changed since then – Megumi is the key to finding that "cure". Gege had long mentioned that the resolution for Megumi's end is something he already knew for a while.

None of the information I'm going to share is new, I'm just going to summarize it here to make the case for my theory at the end of this post.

The origin of Megumi's Ten Shadows CT derives mainly from Shintoism. Gakuganji and Utahime are two other characters related to the Shinto religion, making Megumi's ties to it not entirely out of place.

Shinto call their gods "The Eight Million Kami" because they believe that there is an unknowable number of potential kami in the world. Kami are neither wholly good nor evil and are inherently connected to the living and dying world. They are hidden from the mortal world, existing in their own spirit world that is a mirror to ours - separate yet connected**.** The term Shikigami can also be read as Shiki-no-kami: Ceremonial Gods. 

This already tells us a bit about the Ten Shadows' ties to Shinto: Megumi has access to the shadow world of the Kami, or more specifically to his own Shiki-no-kami.

The Shikigami in Megumi's possession all have some relation to the "Ten Sacred Treasures" in Shinto mythology, with the markings on their bodies bearing similarities to the regalia they are associated with. I won't go into the details of the mythological history behind every single one of his Shikigami, there are already many other posts talking at length about it.

In order to summon Mahoraga, Megumi chants, “Sacred Treasure swing and ring, ring.” This phrase is part of a real chant called the Furu no Koto (also known as Hifumi no Haraekotoba). This is a Shinto chant, one recites while slowly swinging the Ten Sacred Treasures. It is said that in the event of difficulty, illness, or in order to dispel evil, one should chant the names of the ten regalia while flourishing the objects, and the desired effect will immediately appear in response.

Shinto believes in the inherent good and purity of people, which gets corrupted throughout life. The concept of an original sin is non-existent in Shinto, therefore making purification of all types of sins possible. Thus Shinto focuses a great deal on purification rituals (harae), which aim to cleanse people from the pollution of sins (tsumi). Tsumi encompasses the following three: Evil deeds, defilement and disasters. It's obvious that Tsumiki's name has it's origin in this term, as someone in need of purification of the defilement she has fallen victim to. Megumi, who's name means to grant a blessing, is the perfect counterpart to the corruption of Tsumiki.

All of this leads me to assume, that Megumi's full mastery of the Ten Shadows and his fully realized domain will lead to a complete purification of Cursed Energy. This might seem absurd at first, but what is Jujutsu Kaisen, if not a continuous exorcism of Curses? A purification is nothing else but an exorcism.

Let me explain a bit more:

There is simply no way that Jujutsu Kaisen will end without us readers seeing Megumi's fully mastered Domain Expansion. I believe his Domain Expansion is the externalization of his shadow - the shadow world of the Kami opened up. The term Chimera Shadow Garden already says as much: A shadowed garden for Chimera creatures.

We see Megumi's Domain Expansion form what seems to be a cervical vertebrae. I think this might be the beginnings of what would be a complete fusion of all his ten Shikigami. A completely fused Chimera creature, that possesses all abilities of each Shikigami.

Reggie Star VS Megumi also brought up some interesting insights:

In his battle against Megumi Reggie Star makes three statements, that might foreshadow what's to come:

Megumi's black shadow is like a fluid. At one point he confuses the feeling outright to drowning in water. Purification rituals in Shinto include washings with water.

Reggie remarks that he assumes, that if Megumi dies while Reggie is being held inside Megumi's shadow, that Reggie will be stuck in there forever. Unless Megumi is alive to open it, there is no way for anyone to exit this realm.

The weight of his shadow can potentially crush Megumi to death.

So here is what I think might happen in these final chapters

Nobara returns as a Cursed Corpse, so her Resonance technique can get applied to the remaining finger of Sukuna. As the finger is indestructible, the effects of her technique will simply echoe to Sukuna's reincarnated body, for as long as she keeps going.

Yuji will keep his promises and kill Sukuna with Megumi's (via resisting Sukuna) and Nobara's (via the finger) assistance, and through that save Megumi

Sukuna's remaining indestructible finger will get sealed into the Prison Realm, which will get topped off by additional seals

Megumi will use his completed Domain Expansion to purify all of Japan of Cursed Energy. True to his name, he will bless everyone by sacrificing himself and dying after the weight of all the absorbed Cursed Energy kills him and remains locked into his now inaccessible shadow realm.

This way Megumi would have realized his dream of creating a world that wouldn't have exposed Tsumiki to injustice and unhappiness, even if too late, while fulfilling his own wish: finally dying.

Happy leak day, y'all. Thanks for reading!

[originalwinnercheesecake]

What if the Teen Titans were pokemon trainers

Doing this summary again. So basically pokemon is something I loved as a kid/teen, then I outgrew it around the time Black&White came out. Now I am back into it and am having a lot of fun imagining pokemon teams for characters from other cartoons I like now/liked as a kid. I have done a bunch of posts for Disney cartoons, and a couple od cartoon network ones (No Nick ones.. yet). Teen titans was one of my favorite shows growing up and I have been wanting to do pokemon teams for a while. So here are teams for the Main group of Titans, Titans East, and 3 anti hero’s. Now I used the 2003 version of Teen Titans, since that was the one I watched every week as a kid but if anyone really likes Teen titans Go you could probably still use most of these pokemon for that show too (Change out a certain one of Raven’s for a Ponyta, and maybe another certain of Robin’s for I don’t know farfetch.)

Now one thing important about the 2003 version is that when describing the dynamic between the titans the writers (using Robin’s name/voice) summed them up as “We are not five hero’s. We are one Awesome team". In this version the titans were all extensively trained in combat, and did everything together as a team. I do not want to take there powers away, or change their dynamic. Since they do have powers (In Robin’s case gadgets and lots and lots of martial arts experience), and already have numbers through each other; I do not think any of them would feel the need to catch a full team of six. So I am giving everyone 3 pokemon.  

The main titans will also each have a shiny pokemon, the one I think would be their top pokemon, or the one that best encompasses their emotional arcs/places on the team. I also gave each of the Titans East a fairy pokemon, mostly because I saw half of them had fairies and figured okay this can be their teams version of shines. Without further adieu, teams below

Main Titans Robin

 The Leader of the team

Taillow: Well of course the iconic “Bird Boy” needs a bird pokemon. It scouts ahead, trails bad guys, and yes does fight in battles. I picked Taillow for Robin due to the birds flying and normal type (Headcannon that Normal or duel Normal types are Robin’s favorite, because they are similar to him) and brave gutsy nature, which mirrors the boy wonder’s own.

Hitmonchan: Robin’s strongest pokemon. Given his martial arts and combat knowledge Robin would also have a fighting type pokemon. I picked Hitmoncham because it’s a classic fighter, that can land a serious punch, and is always training to better itself. Wiki also says it will train by sparing with its trainer, if said trainer is tough enough to be able to keep up. Since Robin definitely could, this pokemon would be a great partner for him on and off the field.

Shiney Absol: So n the 2003 version Robin walked the line between good and bad more than Raven, or any other titan. (I exclude Terra because she ultimately decided she wasn’t/did not want to be a titan.). In season one Robin believes that their is “Good” and “evil”, the two have a very clear divide, and that because he places himself on the side of good, he has justification to take any risk or try anything. A belief that clever villains (Slade) learn to exploit, and even Robin himself crosses at times. 

I am giving Robin an Absol because at the end of his arc, and in episodes centered around him in later seasons , Robin is forced to admit that he thinks very similarly to Villains he fights against, and has the potential to be like them. I am making this his Shiny pokemon to show his relationship with his friends, and how at the end of season 1 he tells Starfire that he will never turn out like the villians he shares these similarities with, because he knows that his friends will never let him.

Starfire

The strength of the team. Proof that innocence does not mean ignorance

Starmie: A star shaped pokemon, for Starfire. One that like her is equal parts strong, powerful, and beautiful.

Shiny Blaziken: I will make Starfire’s ace her shiny to show her prowess as a fighter, lying underneath all her curiosity and sweetness. I really wanted to give Starfire a strong fire type. The torchick line is a good line, that’s popular among girls. I am giving Starfire a fully evolved one because our girl is more than capable... I also kinda really like the idea of Robin and Starfire both having fighting types for their strongest pokemon, Robin’s being a regular fighting type and Starfire's being a duel fire/fighting type. I think that really suits this couple.

Dunsparce: Yeah yeah yeah. I know its a pretty lame, weird looking pokemon. It’s the closest Pokemon I could find to Silky okay. It’s Starfire’s pet.

Cyborg

The Muscle, mechanics, and resident big brother of the team.

Electrode: a good electric type for Cy. It helps stop his systems/machines from overloading/taking to much electricity. Its detonation could work as a substatue for Cyborg’s sonic cannon if he finds himself in a situation where he has taken damage or needs to conserve power. I also think it would make a really good guard Pokemon for Cyborg’s room, or any place he keeps machines that for safety reasons only he should touch (be where of Electrode Beast Boy).

KlingKlang: here is Cyborg’s strongest pokemon. Steel is another type I feel like Cyborg would favor/want to train. And since he is a shop class guy with an expertise with cogs and gears, he and a fully evolved gear shaped steel type pokemon just to me feel like a match made in heaven

Shiny Mechop: This one is Cyborgs little buddy (For real I love dynamics where one person is really big/tall and then the other is really small. So since Cy is an already a big muscle man gonna say that an ever stone was used to keep Machop as mini muscle) and extra pare of helping hands. It knows how to use tools and crawls into tight space Cyborg cannot fit to fix things. If the pare are not training or battling together they can often be found outside throwing the footballs around. Cy has even tried to teach it to play video games with him and BB (though it sometimes destroys the controls).

Raven

The Hope and steadiness of the team.

I picked her pokemon from a Psychological perspective. In addition to her not having a ponyta I also excluded “Raven” Pokemon like Murkrow or Crovisquire because while they may match Raven’s “esthetic” I do not see them as matching in other ways.

Haunter: a ghostly spirit pokemon. Clever, somewhat creepy, kinda looks a bit like the shadowy magic Raven uses. It's not a dark type though, because Raven does not do dark spells. It's also generally a very silly pokemon and goes to lengths trying to get Raven figure out that she will not accidentally blow up the world if she laughs or has fun ever now and again (Haunter gets along really well with Beast Boy. It will enlist his help if it seems like it's trainer is being particularly difficult in this area.)

Alakasam: A strong psychic pokemon for this heroine with such strong powers. Alakasam and Raven's meditate together, and are able to use the similarities in their abilities to communicate telepathically, and could maybe even draw assistance/metronome from each others power pool. They have done a lot of good together. But they also both share that internal fear of "what kind of destruction would I be capable of if I ever lost control". This holds them back considerably. I don't think they would be brave enough to really give it their full power until season 4's finale battle with Trigon.

Shiny Togepi: Raven was the Titan that turned out to be great at and really like babysitting, so baby pokemon for Raven. I picked Togepi due to it being an empath (just like Raven) pokemon. More than that though, Raven has always feared that her heritage means she is fated to be bad. Togepi's sense what is in others hearts and refuse to obey those they see bad in. Being Togepi's trainer assures Raven that she is not her heritage and is fully capable of choosing to be/do good. It is her shiny because it's the pokemon that helps bring out the best in her.

Beast Boy

The comfort and laughter of the team.

So my original plan was just to give him a sea, land, and flying pokemon, since he has performed Hero work in all three. When I picked the three I found I could not leave them less than fully evolved. BB has been these animals and knows full well what they would need. This led to him ending up with the strongest team.

Manatine: Beast Boy's water/sea pokemon. Helps him keep his friends and the T-Sub safe. It evolved from Mantyke all the way back in season 1 after Beast Boy and Aqua Lad were able to put aside their differences and beat the army of Tritant's.

Donphan: this is BB's land pokemon. He liked elephants in the show and donphan's being a rock type also works because rock/earth had so much to do with the terra arc. To which BB was integral. So I am going to say that BB's little phanpy liked and wanted to help Terra almost as much as BB did. Her betrayal was all the worse for it because not only did it lose a friend, but then it had to watch its, normally carefree and happy go lucky, trainer go through such a long period of heartbreak. It evolves into Donphan in the first part of Aftershock, while trying to protect Beast Boy from Terra. It isn't able to that time. But it is still a comfort to him after the season 2 finale, and the pair get stronger over the next 3 seasons.

Shiney Altaria: Beast Boy's Ariel pokemon. I chose Altaria because of its strong typing, and because it is covered in fluffy pillows. It's his shiny because of the three it best represents the lightheartedness and support Best boy brings to his team. For most of the show its a little bird. It evolves at the beginning of season 5, like the first or second episode. The doom Patrol see it evolve. By the end of that arc (when Beast Boy and what's left of the titans Allies go to face the Brotherhood, not when Terra comes back) Best Boy and Alteria have found stones and mastered mega evolution.

(Okay so it looks like I didn't mention this up higher, but Starfire and Beast Boy are the only two Titans I could see using mega stones with their partner pokemon. Raven and Alakasam are scared of the effects/loosing themselves, and Robin and Absol are stubborn and adamant say they do not need "extras" to be Hero's).

Terra

the lost girl, trapped in a cycle she could not beat alone

Dugtrio and an Alolan Marowak: Terra first two pokemon that she has pre meeting the titans (though her Marowake was probably a Cubone then, and it evolved in between her first meeting and when she came back, a ghost of the sweet girl they met before). They represent her loneliness and how unstable her life feels to her. She is close with these two pokemon and they do care about her. Terra set's them free before staying to stop the volcano. The Titans want to take Dugtrio and Marowak back to the tower and keep them until they can figure out how to reunite them with Terra. But after everything that went down the pokemon pair decide to leave Jump City to wonder again. They are eventually found and picked up by Terra's older bother Geo-force, and live happily with him.

Onyx: This pokemon actually belongs to Slade. When he and Terra commonsense their plan in Aftershock he places its pokeball in Terra's hands with instructions to use it to help bring the titans and the city to their knees. The thing is big, mean, and super destructive. Laying waste to the town alongside Terra, Slade's other goons, and robots. Terra leaves it behind when she gives up during the battle at the start of part 2. What ever happens to Cinderblock/Overload/Plasmus happens to it. The next time we see it again would be the amusement park in "Things change".

Butterfree: I know, I know I said each character would only have three. But a.) Onyx wasn't really Terra's pokemon so she technically only had two. b.) Terra acquires Butterfree after coming out of the statue (before seeing Best Boy again). By this time she has released Dugtrio and Marowak, and is starting over with an empty slate.

Terra finds butterfree as a caterpie one evening when she gets caught in a storm on the way back to wherever her place of residency is. The storm is clearly scaring caterpie and Terra take pity on it, and takes it back with her. It turns to have been right at evolution, and was holding off until it could find a safe place to. It evolves into Metapod that night and Butterfree a couple weeks later. Terra keeps the butterfree as an emotional support pokemon. If it can go into a chrysalis, come out as something new, then go on to live a good life... well than maybe so can Terra.

Okay so this is already getting posted late because my computer crashed and the repair shop could not fix it, so I had to order a new one. Plus i think it's long enough with just these six. So I will post it as is and if it gets enough likes/comments I will post a part 2 with my pokemon pics for the The Titans East, and the two other anti hero's. The two other anti hero's are Red-X and Jinx if that gets anyone wanting to leave likes and comments in an effort to motivate me to write part two faster

[ancientcosmicsecrets]

The Lyrans

The Lyrans

The Lyrans are a race of humanoids that existed long before the history of Earth began. Long ago, the Lyrans came to our galaxy from another not far from this one, demonstrating their incredible creative abilities to craft and uplift new species in Eden of the universe. They are peaceful people with an endless culture concerning their almost billion-year-old existence since their ascension. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't be here now; for a long time, the galaxy was in peace and harmony for millions of happy years to come… But something made the negative beings angry at the Vegans and their creations. After many attempts to make peace again, the fleet of reptilian and bird ships attacked a fellow allied star system. Thus, the Great Galactic War began. The Vegans didn't want to interfere.

But when the battlefront came dangerously close to their home, and after witnessing the devastating loss of billions from Draconian and reptilian invasions, the Lyrans, with their indomitable spirit, decided to take action. They feared their homeland would not survive the war, so they advised the humanoids, their most recent Creation, to escape the attack and establish new homeworlds elsewhere. In a display of their resilience, they broke into three distinct factions and embarked on a journey to other worlds, determined to prosper despite the circumstances.

The Lyrian races began evacuating their home planet over 22 million years ago, and they have peaked out and migrated from there more than once. They believe Creation is the First Cause, not that a Creator created it. They see Creation as Universal Knowledge, Universal Wisdom, and Universal Spirit. They were here and observed physical life on Hyperboria, a mythical first continent encompassing all the land mass at that time. This was before Earth humans began physical evolution. Descendants of these Lyrians came again later and assisted the budding societies of the next epoch and gave Lemuria and Atlantis their names.

Sekhmet

Sekhmet is among the oldest and most revered gods and goddesses in the ancient Egyptian pantheon. She commands respect and awe. Known by many names and titles, she often appeared in her characteristic red dress, symbolizing her power. She is usually associated with the goddesses Hathor and Bastet.

Sekhmet, a goddess of war and the destroyer of the enemies of the sun god is a force to be reckoned with. She is associated with disease, healing, and medicine, a testament to her complex nature. Like other fierce goddesses in the Egyptian pantheon, she was called the "Eye of Re." She was the companion of the god Ptah and was worshipped principally at Memphis. She was usually depicted as a lioness or as a woman with the head of a lioness, a visual representation of her strength and power.

Sekhmet's story in Egyptian mythology, the sun god Ra grew angry at humanity's lawlessness. He decided to enact a punishment by sending an aspect of his daughter, the Eye of Ra, to EarthEarth in the form of a lioness. She became Sekhmet, and her rampage turned the fields red with human blood. But, as myth would have it, Ra was not a cruel deity, and he ordered Sekhmet to stop the destruction. Yet, she would not obey.

Though millennia have passed since the days of the pharaohs, mythological figures whose presence adorn myriad walls, monoliths, and scriptures continue to inspire those who find meaning in what they represent. Among them is the powerful lioness goddess Sekhmet, perhaps the ultimate mythological representation of female power.

Bastet

Bastet, the Egyptian goddess of the home, domesticity, women's secrets, cats, fertility, and childbirth, symbolizes protection and comfort. She guards the house from evil spirits and disease, especially those associated with women and children, providing a sense of security. As with many deities in Egyptian religion, she also plays a role in the afterlife as a guide and helper to the dead, although this was not one of her primary duties. She was the daughter of the sun god Ra and is associated with the concept of the Eye of Ra, further emphasizing her protective nature.

Bastet, the Egyptian goddess of the home, domesticity, and fertility, was a popular deity from the Second Dynasty of Egypt onwards. Her cult was centered at Bubastis, and her early depictions showed her as a woman with the head of a lioness, closely associated with the goddess Sekhmet. However, as Sekhmet's iconography became more aggressive, Bastet's images softened, presenting her as a daily companion and helper, contrasting her earlier forms as a savage avenger.

Bastet and Sekhmet took their early forms as feline defenders of the innocent, avengers of the wronged, from Mafdet. This association was carried on in depictions of Bastet'sBastet's son Maahes, protector of the innocent, who is shown as a lion-headed man carrying a long knife or as a lion Bastet's association with Mau, she is sometimes seen destroying the enemy of Ra, Apophis, by slicing off his head with a knife in her paw; an image Mau is best known by.

As Bastet became more of a familial companion, she lost all trace of her online form and was regularly depicted as a house cat or a woman with the head of a cat, often holding a sistrum. She is sometimes rendered in art with a litter of kittens at her feet, but her most famous depiction is of a sitting cat gazing ahead.

[teaandinanity]

Edgy OC ask meme: for your BG 3 character(s) of choice or Valya and Calanthia >:D 4, 6, 14

:D :D :D THANK YOUUUUU (link to questions if anyone's curious)

I'm um. Gonna put this under a cut because we all know I cannot shut up. And also because I'm just gonna do everyone WHEEE~

4. When scared, does your OC fight, flee, freeze or fawn?

Veldrin's instinct is 100% Fight but he also questions his first thoughts because heeding them unquestioningly is, shall we say, inadvisable for a DUrge character who is not Chaotic Evil. That means that practically, he can often end up freezing.

Valeriya is natively a Freeze-er but is now entirely capable of switching to whichever will be most effective, because she has been afraid A WHOLE LOT; after about one second she will Do Something About It. Due to her skill set, this means Flee and Fawn are most likely but that a lot of people would be very surprised by her willingness to Fight if she is in a situation where she thinks she could win the confrontation.

Calanthia is absolutely 100% Fawn. Her mouth opens and things come out and usually they make her listeners well-disposed towards her; it is one of her best skills and it has saved her life multiple times.

6. How easily could your OC be convinced to do something that goes against their moral compass?

Veldrin is, unsurprisingly for a Paladin, not super-flexible on this and canonically requires blackout mind-control to do something he genuinely things is wrong. Edge cases where he's uncomfy but not necessarily staunchly opposed are more difficult - he can be persuaded to tolerate a lot of Uncomfy for people he loves. But the Hard Stop still applies at a certain point because he's a Paladin and encoded the 'some things are Fuck No Not Ever Actually' in his soul and so far that emergency brake actually works pretty well.

Valeriya's moral compass mostly points Lyon-wards. Like. Her own morals will encompass some VERY shady shit and also sometimes murder. It's just that now she can only be made to do things Lyon would disapprove of if the alternative would be letting him die, so it's usually not a problem for people because that LOOKS like having a very strong moral compass 99% of the time. :D

Calanthia is one of nature's cinnamon buns. She feels kind of bad for saying mean things about people who deserve it. She could probably be persuaded to cause property damage, but I think she'd mostly rather die than cause harm to others unless they were really repugnantly horrible people.

14. How does your OC want to be seen by other characters?

Poor Veldrin WANTS to be seen as worthy and good because that’s what he’s trying so hard to be. He thinks he DESERVES to be treated with fear and disgust and suspicion by everyone he likes or admires but it would hurt his feelings VERY MUCH if that actually happened. :D

Valeriya honestly mostly wants people to think she is terrifying and amazing and then be too intimidated to talk to her because people are exhausting.

Calanthia wants to be seen as a competent badass who can be trusted to solve problems. She mostly tries to achieve this by making sure the only person who sees how much WORK her accomplishments are is Jasper.

[mnemosyne-xiv]

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about

🍟 FRIES - do they order food often? or they prefer to cook their own food?

👪 FAMILY - what is their family like? what is your ocs relationship to them? does your oc have any siblings?

There ARE so many to ask it’s so hard to pick lmao! 😭 Milky Way is probs my fav question tho I wanna ask everyone it 😆

Ty!

🌌 The main theme that inspired all that Remia now encompasses was the idea that villains aren't born inherently evil. The three Unsundered really hit home that narrative of good people are capable of doing terrible things in the name of what they believe to be best for the future and I love how complex that makes them as antagonists. So expanding upon those three along with so many other controversial characters, I wanted to challenge myself to create an oc that actively denounces the foolish selflessness of heroes and will gladly embrace her role as a villain if it means she'll survive in the end. Early on I decided that I needed her to be about as morally gray as I could make her with a backstory to give reasoning to her callous ways without trying to justify her actions. The more everyone has to question whether or not she's a villain and if she's deserving of forgiveness or even a redemption arc, the better ^^

🍟 Remia forgets to eat proper meals so when she finally does remember that she kinda-sorta-maybe needs to eat to survive, she'll go out and buy some sweets from the closest vendor she can find. She's too busy causing problems to have time to cook :')

👪 Remia has a fraternal twin sister named Ravn! Due to Remia's extreme memory loss, she doesn't remember her sister at all so when Ravn tries to act sisterly towards her, Remia more or less just dismisses her or outright mocks her for being so attached to something as insignificant as blood. Doesn't help that they were separated when they were super young so Remia has no lingering affection for her sister either. Ravn tries to be a good sister and Remia shoots her down in classic buttmunch fashion -w- (bonus points because Ravn is my friend's oc so the in-character relationship between those two is a pretty accurate portrayal of our irl friendship lul)

Thank you so much for the questions (づᴗ _ᴗ)づ♡