#sorry I'm very normal about epic

[kuwupikaa]

Rattling my cage in excitement while crying my fucking eyes out

[mlepbean]

if jorge rivera-herrans isn't my top artist on spotify when spotify wrapped comes out in two months ive failed as a person and as an epic fan send post

[singeryuri]

I SEE THAT YOU'RE ALSO STARTING TO SELF SHIP WITH ODYSSEUS FROM EPIC AND I WANT TO LET YOU KNOW YOU'RE SO REAL FOR THAT !! love him sm <3

(also I couldn't find if you're okay with sharing but if you're not... feel free to block me, sorry to bother you </3)

HII YAYY NO WORRIES !! I'm only non-sharing with two of my f/os and he's not one of them :D

But YEAHH HSUSRHWJRHS funny story I started listening to Epic last month because I know a billion people who like it, somehow, and I started to develop a crush on him before I could process what was happening to me. And I felt really ashamed about it because it felt silly and weirdly shameful or wtv but I saw you rb some stuff of Circe with your tag for her one day, went "wait is this not as weird as I'm making myself believe", saw Odysseus on your f/o list and immediately breathed like 10 sighs of relief. I am a free man now and am gradually becoming more ok with reblogging stuff of him on here and not getting so flustered I die LMAOO!! But AUFBSUTHRH he's so. I can't even word it right because I genuinely have no idea why my brain latched onto him, but it did, and I now giggle and kick my feet while thinking about a greek myth guy™. I have no regrets life is GOOD !!!

[heartbeetz]

Ok I took a second and I'm normal about that ask now. That's so real. He would. Not all the time, but sometimes. Especially at work so it wouldn't get lost or damaged.

And also for sentimental reasons. That too.

[gigizetz]

Heya! Really love your art style, especially your Circe design. I was wondering what inspired her (Circe's) design, like the clothing style and all that good stuff, the reason I'm asking is because I also love to design characters and Circe's design really intrigued me, it's really simple yet still very elegant and feminine. So I was wondering what the reference and concepts were :D

Thank you! I don't really have references for Circe, but I can explain some of my choices for her. Hopefully that's helpful! :D

Circe was probably the first EPIC character I drew actually. I remember getting immediately excited for this musical when I noticed she would appear, because at the time I recently finished the Madeline Miller book Circe. So when I started doodling her I was basing mostly on the book interpretation of her character, and because of that, you'll notice that in these drawings she looks way more young and friendly than in the current design.

(also sorry for the quality on the second image, I sneezed when taking the picture and got too lazy to redo it)

Needless to say, the crop top and the long skirt starting at the hips aren't accurate to the period at all, but that was intentional! I think it fits that she looks so exotic and out of place, as her character in the musical is seen as this foreign threat to Odysseus' crew. She has this unfamiliar, yet seducing aura. Plus, the revealing outfit also represents how freely Circe and her nymphs live in Aeaea. Free of worries and men.

Still, at the time I wasn't really seeing Circe on these drawings. It's hard to explain, but something about her was a little bland, too elegant. Normally when I'm not "feeling it" with my character designs I try associating the character to an animal! I go over in my mind what feelings I want this character to pass off, and which animals better represent said feelings. You can see this pattern in some of my characters, how Athena has owl-like features (owls represent wisdom), how Hera's face resembles a peacock (they represent vanity), and, as I would figure out later, Circe matches with a lioness.

That's the thing that made Circe for me. What was missing on her old design was this feline, wild, but still imposing look. I gave her sharper features, lioness eyes, hair over the face, and shapes to represent various parts of a lioness. And there she was!

Very proud of her, I think I translated the image I had in my head for her as best as I could. Hope that was helpful in any way! :D

[sabertoothwalrus]

OK PREFACING WITH IM SORRY IF I ALREADY SENT THIS EXACT ASK BUT MY WIFI KILLED ITSSLF AS I SENT IT SO IDK IF IT ACTUALLY WENT THROUGH. but in case it didn’t . i know youve gotten this countless times in the past because i blog stalked just in case youve mentioned something similar before but i need to know if you have any specific inspirations when you draw exaggerated expressions specifically like these two images of marcille. ive actually cried laughing over this comic and being able to communicate this type of visceral emotion is such an insane skill and ive followed your art for probably close to a decade through various fandoms so watching you develop this style has been fucking awesome and epic. like i cannot articulate how funny these are to me i just need you to understand i look at this comic to inspire me to draw now. the closest comparison i can draw to the feelings they evoke are like those mspaint reaction images and also mspaint tails i included for reference even though you probably know exactly what im talking about anyways but its actually so much harder to do that intentionally when you study art. also i lied you literally don’t even need to answer this i just had to let you know how obsessed i am over your silly comics and now ive written out a whole ass discussion post about it. im sorry if this is weird at all i think my daily prescribed amphetamines r wearing off and i know this is such a dumb specific thing to fixate on and im so sorry if its not something you want to hear about your art. ive just always seen that as an artist this type of expressive stupid silly style is something that comes after a significant amount of time and practice and study and style development despite being “simple” in theory. its just so cool to have worked with your own style so much that youre able to go “off model” from it and still maintain consistency with the rest of the piece. i said it already and im sorry this is actually rendundant now but the ability to communicate such raw emotion somehow decreases from at its height when someone is a beginner artist learning how to proportion and keep a steady line and what looks “normal” but somehow it all comes full circle because taking all that experience and using it to almost return to where you started but in a fully informed and intentional way so you can make choices to draw characters like this when the situation calls for it is just dhcidogakgoshfhw. i think i need to cut myself off or im going to talk in circles im sorry tumblr user sabertoothwalrus i just am fascinated by your style and progress and the years you’ve dedicated to art can be seen in so many places but this is just one that stands out to me specifically.

MMMMM what a fun question!!!

I'm not gonna lie, I think it's just Letting A Drawing Be Bad. I definitely think the people that struggle with this the most are people who have genuinely very pretty art styles, to the point of being kind of perfectionist about it. and to Draw Funny often means Drawing Fast and Weird. Pretty is kind of the antithesis of funny (unless being pretty is the punchline). do drawings that make yourself laugh. tracing/lining funny sketches almost always makes them less funny.

one of my favorite types of humor is when it skews more deadpan, actually. This is one of the reasons I love Adventure Time. minimal expressions and flat line delivery + absurd context is a really good combo. the key to comedy has more to do with contrast! if your drawings are allllll crazy ren & stimpy all the time, they're not funny anymore cause it's just "normal". if it's all subdued UNTIL it's extreme, and vice versa, then it's funny. The reason this comic is so funny is because of the complete lack of any expression. I feel like the one you sent of Marcille shouting "WHAT" is funnier when you know how much she tries to be dainty and feminine and delicate, how much she values her appearance, and how averse she is to "gross" or "weird" things.

something I find really annoying (and this is with comics/animation in general, not the expressions themselves) is when the joke goes on for too long. Like you'll have the joke, then the punchline, and THEN the characters reacting to the punchline??? Like the author didn't trust that their audience would find the joke funny, so they basically drew in a laugh track. But, this is distinct from a character's reaction being the punchline (like how the examples you gave from my Marcille comic are). MY POINT IS sometimes expressions aren't as funny on their own as you think, and context can affect how you feel about it!

as far as inspirations go!

my own face! even if I don't have a mirror, I like making the expressions myself so I can "feel" where the points of tension on my face are, and it gives me a sense of what to exaggerate.

my brother's art, believe it or not! we've been trying to make each other laugh with our drawings since we were kids, and he's really good at it.

ATLA has some great expressions

OK KO has been a reallyyyy good source for me lately. That show is so tailored to my sense of humor and the expressions and line deliveries feel exactly like the kinds of things I'd come up with. The tone, timing, and art style are all really close to the tv show pitch I'm working on, so when I feel like I've "strayed" too much from it (like after drawing a bunch of dungeon meshi, and my art feels tighter and... idk "manga-ier"?) I like to go and watch a couple episodes of OK KO to loosen back up

A lot of things like OG Spongebob, Calvin & Hobbes, the Simpsons, Chowder, etc etc

memes in general. if it makes you laugh, keep it in mind

and lastly, I wouldn't say I ever try to mimic funny expressions I see. Like if I watch a show for inspo, I'm not pausing it to copy specific drawings, I'm just trying to notice patterns and pay attention to what about it I find funny.

talking about being funny is really bizarre and I dunno if it makes it lose some of the magic. Ultimately it's something you can't think about too much, and just gotta go with your gut.

[rzyraffek]

Slashers with y/n that just gets along with everything

Like slasher could litteraly kill somone near y/n and she would be like alr alr whats really important is that you are happy🤠😎. Im sorry that first 2character had super long headcanons while last ones have way less :( I had no ideas Request open!

Billy Lenz

He always expects some sort of negative response when he calls people and when he heard new voice on the Phone he got even more exited cuz new person new reaction! He totally didnt expect her to just go "yeah yeah sure buddy, anyways... how is your day man? Cuz im so so tired...*starts normal converstation*

He probably tries to stay in character but he is so caught of Guard he doesnt know how to react really (hehe the table has turn)

Now he kinda hopes that she will pick up cuz shes very intresting😈 billy likey

"Ew its this creep again! He is asking for you y/n? Of please dont tell me you befriended him??" "So what? He said hes favourite fruit is strawberry he cant be that bad!" *billy saying slurs on the phone*

You need to constantly tell him that, no Billy no harrasing women isnt sexy, you arent quirky, you are mentally ill

"Y/n i killed that bitch that was gossiping about you 🧍 " "👍good for you billy im glad you found healthy way to cope with that negative emotion😇" "on god"

His whole moral compass is created around the simple question 'does it hurt y/n?' .1:no it doesnt so feel free to do it .2 do not do it, she will ban Billy from sweets (bad ending)

The man from hush

This guy. This dude. This Little gremlin. He is upset that he gets no reaction! Like please oh please act all angy when he 'acidently' shot tire in her car! But oh no ofc no, she had to be like "oh its okay honey i have backup in garage🥰" hes like HHUH SINCE WHEN WE HAVE GARAGE

Like tbh thats how i imagine how they met: he saw her, he wanted to hunt her, she was so chill that she didnt even leave her household while the power was off and he went inside and just saw her having lil nap on couch. 🧍🤨erm exuse me gurl im trying to roleplay epic hunter here tf

He probably kidnaped her cuz she was too weird to just kill her but he didnt want to risk her calling police. He probably tied her up and yeeted her on backseats. And then she begun judging music on the radio"yo big guy can i get some good music taste?" "What? Whats wrong with Taylor Swift?"

He will overshare everything to kinda check where is her limit if it comes to being chill "yeah so i killed this old lady.." "im sure you had good reason🥰" "🤨... anyways... yeah so i was drinking some redbull when some guy said i look ugly so i shoot his head off and-" "HEY HEY hold up geez you CANT drink Energy drinks?? Bestie you know it is unhealthy?? Also you like hunt for sport it will ruin your condition!? How you gonna shoot people with shakey hands?? You crazy or something?" "Damn😔"

Micheal myers

I tried to put him here but i realised he will be as chill as her.

Like he can give her gifts covered in blood and she' just going to clean it and wear it like nothing happened or completley ignore it

He cares about this stuff as much as y/n so like not at all. I mean tbh theres is a bit of difrence: shes at least positive about it! Like "yeah micheal go for it, love🥰😇 i know its hard to cope with trauma take it all out alr?" Shes trying to be a good supporting gf not her fault she never had serial killer bf!

Brahms Heelshire

He lives for attention! What do you mean the war crime he commited this lunch break is okay!?!? Baby pleasee

But this negativity disapears the moment he realised he can get a lot of positive attention when he will do some nice stuff! "Oh honey I didnt kill any rats today" "oh that's amazing brahms I'm sure you and the rats inside walls will get along well soon🥰" (rats in walls bully brahms)

Please complement him or he will get a tantrum and destroy something

Brahms and rats have very hard past i might do seperate hc about that

Ghostface

"Look babe! My newest victim *shows photo*" "ugh baby...😰 you NEED to buy new camera or watch some youtube tutorials about how to take good photos" "aw man whats wrong with my pictures 😔"

Otherwise y/n supports his hobbies! People need to grow😇 (and he needs to grow up)

If theres 2ghostfaces(like in most movies) they will bet money on how long you gonna keep this 'do whatever as long as youre happy' act. Well they didnt know that this wasnt an act but her personality

Also they will probably try to use this chillnes aginst her like "oooh y/n something terrible happened! I crushed my car oh what will i do!" "Alr bestie i will drive you over there😇" "😈omg you are so nice i totally didnt expect that(heheh i dont need to pay for gas today (hes very evil))

[blueskyscribe]

In my opinion Season 3 is easily the worst season of Earthspark.

It's thematically incohesive (don't trust Decepticons, but also Prowl is a prick for not warming up to Megatron immediately), Optimus is unlikeable and bitchy, Thrash's only character trait is cowardice like he's Scooby Doo or something, no good resolution for Starscream, Breakdown and Bee's friendship is broken up because ?????, the Quintessons are impersonal, unengaging enemies compared to the Decepticons (who just jet into space, bye), and a lot of parts are just really boring. (The Fairmaestro episode and the movie night episode being the biggest offenders.)

There were scenes I liked in Season 3, moments I liked, and I liked Prowl. But overall this season was hit by Ultra Magnus' Cloak Syndrome.

You know how in Netflix's War for Cybertron series Ultra Magnus goes on his own to parlay with Megatron? And he's wearing a Mysterious Cloak? And you could tell the writers were biting their lips thinking about the epic moment when it was revealed to be Magnus? But it's undercut by the reality that Transformers have very distinct sizes, colors, and silhouettes, so it's complete unbelievable that even a single Decepticon would wonder whose giant shoulder stacks those were?

Yeah, that's how I feel about Season 3 Earthspark. And just Earthspark in general tbh. We don't get a natural story driven by who the characters are. The characters live in service to story beats, whether they make sense or not.

The writers were like "It would be dramatic if Breakdown chose the Decepticons over Bee. So let's have him do that." No setup, no instances or flashbacks of Shockwave or Soundwave saving Breakdown's life or bonding moments with other 'Cons or anything to show why Breakdown would pick them over Bumblebee, who he has risked his life for before.

The writers were like "It would be cool to have a scene where Optimus and Megatron reconcile! So we'll start off this season with Optimus being mad at Megatron." No reason for it; he's just mad so that later, like the Maltos, we can clap our hands when it gets resolved.

By contrast look at the Beast Wars episode "Gorilla Warfare".

BW Dinobot scoffs at Optimus Primal's gentle and curious nature as he studies a flower. Later when Primal gets infected with a "go apeshit" virus, Dinobot is like "Well I'm sorry for the guy but this strategically good, his anger will win us the war." But then Primal's blind rage nearly gets him killed and Dinobot realizes how much the Maximals depend on not just Optimus' strength, but his calm wisdom.

The episode ends with Dinobot sitting by Primal's bed, waiting for him to wake up so he can tell Primal he's glad he's back to normal, and Dinobot leaves the flower from the start of the episode by his bedside as an oblique apology. THAT was a conflict that made sense, that arose from the core of who the characters were, and that was resolved based on a character's growth. And it all happened in a half-hour!

Like some of these ideas in Earthspark WOULD work if they were fleshed out . . . I could imagine Breakdown having a bond with other Decepticons and really caring for them; sure, I can write my own fanfic. But if I'm watching a TV show and it's a Big Plot Point then it is the job of the writers to show me that, on the screen. I shouldn't have to be filling in their lack of storytelling with "uh maybe offscreen--" and "what if--".

[anniflamma]

I'm so sorry for all the sh*t you had to deal, not only yesterday but with your own art.

I hope you're doing okay and taking care you yourself, I know how much energy those trolls could take of one.

For now, I'm really grateful to you for standing with Elianzis, art is suppose to be controversial, art is not to make everyone feel comfortable, is to wonder, to question.

It is so sad to see the media literacy die these days, to have people think less and hate more, this wave of conservatism and conformism in social meadia really worries me, people are so entitled to themselves that can't reflect, discern and separate from a work. Everything is taken personally.

In a way, I'm sad she has to take down the piece, but I'm glad for the sake of her mental health.

I hope at least this discussion helps we, as a fandom, to evade something like this in the future (a person could only dream).

Take care, sorry for the long ask <3

Thank you so much, and sorry if I made you worry! Sometimes I just explode. I'm mostly angry on behalf of the other artist, really.

I really enjoy this type of discussion when everyone is chill about it. But now, when I reread everything I wrote, I noticed I fumbled a lot of my words and didn't fully express what I meant. To summarize, everything has nuance, and it’s okay to criticize both fictional and real-life stuff. I do believe that fiction and media can normalize harmful things, and I truly belive that. but I also think it’s fine for someone if they want to enjoy problematic content, when they can acknowledge its issues. For example, if someone tells me they like Lovecraftian horror, I’m like, "Ok, cool! I like it too!" But if they start to show discomfort or being indenial when I wanna talk about problematic stuff about Lovecraft, then yes, that is a massive red flag. Its a extreme exemple but that is all I can come up with right now 😅

I think all of this will tone down eventually. Epic community is a very chill fandom compare to others :) But all fandoms has its dowsides.

[sidekick-hero]

let the impulse to love and the instinct to kill entangle to one

(steddie | wc: 918 | teen | written for @steddiemas and @steddieholidaydrabbles (prompt: came back wrong) | tags: fluff, first kiss, kas!eddie

"I'm not staring at you. I'm staring at your ugly ass sweater. What is that thing?" Steve asks, aiming to sound appalled but failing miserably. There is too much affection in his voice, laughter echoing in every word.

He thinks he can't be blamed, though, because Eddie looks ridiculous in that big green and red sweater with Rudolph the Reindeer on it, pulling an empty flying sleigh. Especially with the gray tinted skin and the sharp teeth and the fucking wings that spilled out of the cuts in the back of the sweater.

"Where's Santa, huh? Did you eat him?" Steve laughs and Eddie chirps again, this time clearly offended. He pulls away from where he was leaning against Steve, climbs off the bed and retreats to the farthest wall. Standing there in a defensive pose with his arms crossed over his chest, Eddie hangs his head and hunches his shoulders, making himself small. His long, black curls hide most of his face, but Steve can still see the onyx color of his eyes gleaming in the dim light of his bedside lamp.

The sight makes his heart ache in his chest.

Getting up from where he's been sitting cross-legged on his bed, Steve pads over to him, determined to fix whatever he's done to make Eddie look like this. But when he ducks his head to catch Eddie's eyes, all he gets is an irritated growl as Eddie turns his head away from Steve's searching gaze. Behind him, his tail flicks back and forth angrily.

One thing he didn't know about Eddie before, but learned pretty quickly, is how damn stubborn he can be. Good thing Steve is not one to give up easily, having spent nearly four years babysitting teenagers.

His hand slowly reaches out, making his intentions clear until it rests on Eddie's forearm. He learned his lesson when Eddie first started coming to his room late at night, still has the scars to remind him of that lesson. He knows that Eddie didn't mean to hurt him. Steve just startled him the first time he reached out to touch him without warning, eager in his excitement to see Eddie alive.

Things have changed since then. A lot.

Eddie is less cagey, no longer afraid of Steve. He tolerates his touch now, even seeks it out. But he still doesn't take well to surprises. Steve wonders what happened to him all those months he was lost in the Upside Down and thinks maybe it's better he doesn't know. He's not sure he wouldn't do something rash and epically stupid if he did.

"Sorry, Eds, I know you don't eat people. It was a dumb joke, I didn't mean anything by it." His thumb smooths over the tense muscles he can feel under the soft material of the sweater. It looks like it should be scratchy, offending more senses than just his eyes, but it isn't.

Just like Eddie looks scary, but isn't.

It seems to be the right thing to say, because the onyx of his eyes takes on a warmer shade, like very dark chocolate or the first precious coffee of the morning. Eddie chirps again and shakes his head.

"No, I mean it, Eddie. I don't think you're a monster. I know you wouldn't hurt anyone, it was a really stupid joke. I guess I'm still an asshole sometimes and -"

Eddie interrupts his ramblings by bumping his head against Steve's before nuzzling close to his neck, chirping and purring. He still can't talk, even though Steve hasn't given up hope that he will, but that doesn't mean he can't communicate.

"Okay, okay, no bad self-talk. Got it, jeez. You're worse than Robin, I swear," Steve laughs as he runs his hands through Eddie's soft curls. Secretly, he doesn't mind letting their bodies do much of the talking. Words have never been his strong suit, but this? He's damn good at this.

"But honestly, what's with the ugly ass sweater, huh?" He can't help but ask again as he practically holds Eddie in his arms. He's colder to the touch than a normal human, but Steve doesn't mind. He always runs a little hotter than most, so it balances out perfectly.

Eddie pulls back a little so he can look at Steve and points to Steve's chest with his claw.

"Me? What do I have to do with this? It's not one of mine, is it?"

Eddie shakes his head and his claw taps Steve's chest again, then points at himself and the ugly sweater.

"I'm sorry, Eds, I don't -"

The claw moves from his chest to his face and Steve holds still, his eyes crossing as it follows the deadly weapon. Eddie's finger touches his mouth, effectively shushing him, before the tip of the claw slips between his lips and pulls ever so gently at the right corner of Steve's mouth, forcing a crooked smile.

"Sssseve" Eddie hisses, the first words he's spoken since he returned not quite the same as before, and it clicks.

"You were trying to make me laugh?"

Eddie beams at him. "Ssseve," he says again, chirping with delight and Steve can't help but kiss him. Eddie freezes for a second under his mouth before kissing him back urgently as more sounds pour out of him between kisses, chirping and purring against Steve's mouth.

So what if Eddie came back a bit wrong? He came back to them. To Steve.

In his book, that's worth more than normal anyway.

[m0rkl]

The People We Become || Reverse Portal AU || Grunkles and The Kids

If you've noticed that I barely talk about Mabel and Dipper you're absolutely right sdfghjk sorry I'm far too interested in the Old Men but I really should talk about their different thoughts and feelings about Ford, Fidds and Stan

The Three Grunkles and The Kids

The arrival in Gravity Falls for the summer is a little different than in canon. The kids are actually really excited to meet Ford since he wrote their favorite book series. But because of this, they've built up an image of him, the way kids often do, and there was no way Ford would ever perfectly live up to it. Its the same with Gravity Falls, the town. The kids are excited, dreaming up cool summer adventures in the mysterious town their mysterious great uncle is from. But once again, few things can actually live up to the grandiose dreams tweens looking to distract themselves over the summer.

Mabel:

With Ford, she's excited to get to know her super cool great uncle who wrote their favorite book series, but it ends up being a little bit of a let down. Not that Ford is bad, but she definitely put him on a pedestal in her mind as some epic adventurer who befriends unicorns and goes on fairytale like adventures. He ends up being a little too scientific and blunt for her.

As the summer goes on, they do bond a lot. She sees him for the excited and curious scientist he always has been and they go on their own duo little adventures.(I also have the headcanon that when Mabel gets older she realizes she's aromantic so she and Ford bond over that)

Mabel gets along GREAT with Fiddleford. They decorate his inventions together and he always lets her make design suggestions even if the have... interesting outcomes. Fiddleford is a lot more emotionally away that Ford often is and he handles her various moods well. They sing silly songs together and dance while Fiddleford plays the banjo. She was a little weirded out by him at first, but quickly grew fond of his weirdness.

Mabel and Fiddleford join forces when both Ford and Dipper have gone too long without a shower. It's a deadly combo of Fidds' "Instant Shower Gun" and Mabel's "Body Wash Water Balloon Slinger With Glitter". It's a mess but at least they don't STINK

When Stan arrives, Mabel is a bit scared of him. He's a big intimidating man with weapons and scars. She tries to act like her normal, friendly and excitable self, but she can't help but come off as a little wary. Stan takes notice of it immediately and does his best to come off as gentle and friendly as he can manage. When that inevitably back fires, Mabel takes notice and understands that he's trying, so she starts doing her part to understand him a little better as well.

As they start to bind, Stab tells her stories, gives her piggyback rides and lets her braid his hair. Eventually Mabel sees Stan for the softie he is

Dipper

Dipper goes in with some very grandiose ideas of what S. F. Pines, the author of his favorite series and their mysterious great uncle, is like. He has a lot of expectations that Ford sometimes meets, but often falls short of. Still, he has high hopes for following in Ford's footsteps and learning from him as both a writer and investigative researcher. Dipper still has his same fascination with Gravity Falls's weirdness, but in addition to that, he also is trying to understand the mystery of Ford's stories.

Aside from more serious and traumatic things like Bill or the portal, Ford doesn't hide much from Dipper and gives him a lot of blunt truths. And while Dipper tries to act like it doesn't hurt him, sometimes Ford's directness makes him self conscious. Dipper very desperately wants to impress Ford and tries to mimic him or study what he does

Fiddleford, on the other hand, is a different matter. He won't say it, but he thinks Fidds is a bit if a crazy old man. Because even I'd he's not the same 'old man McGucket' Fidds is rather eccentric, even for a genius inventor. Fidds gets a lot of tween eye rolls and groans from Dipper.

However, he does get to see a more serious side to Fiddleford later on and they gain more of an understanding of each other. Fiddleford gives him a little bit of space and Dipper laughs a little more at his weird hillbilly sayings.

Of course, this all gets dropped on its head when the truth is revealed about the Portal Incident

Dipper is overzealous and amazed when Stan arrives. To him, Stan is a comic book action hero. He's grizzly and strong and fights bad guys. Doesn't he? Once again, the kid builds up expectations that people can't reach. He's more forgiving with Stan about it at first, since he's been through this with Ford, but when Stan starts to really show how rough his life has been, it does scare Dipper a little.

Stan is very traumatized and doesn't know how to act towards kids, especially not his own family members. This version of Stan is very quick to push people out and Dipper doesn't reach out much either. It takes him seeing Mabel get closer to Stan for him to start opening up to him as well

And yeah, these dynamics change when the Portal Incident is revealed and Stan returns.

Portal Incident Reveal

Dipper shifts to siding solely with Ford and completely turning away from Fiddleford. He thinks Fidds is practically a village for erasing Ford's memory. He hears Ford call Fidds selfish and starts to take that into his own head, viewing Fidds' need to save Ford as a selfish need.

Mabel, on the other hand, goes to comfort Fiddleford because even though she knows what he did was wrong, she still cares about him and sees how upset he is. She asks him a lot about why he did it and gets to hear his side of how much the portal incident wrecked Ford when it happened. She hears about how desperate and scared he was. Then Fidds tells her how often he used the memory gun on himself to get rid of his pain. It was wrong, but it was the only think he could think to do. He had no support from anyone else and had to rely on what he knew.

Fiddleford stresses that he erased Ford's memory to save him and the world. He did it out of love and fear of everything going wrong. And he got 30 years of things being better. And Mabel understands. She thinks if she could hit a button and save her parents marriage or make it be summer forever, it would be almost impossible to say no. So while she doesn't think Fiddleford did the right thing, she knows that in his shoes, she likely would have done the same

When these sides come up between Mabel and Dipper, Dipper argues that he would never ever forgive anyone for dooming Mabel like Fidds doomed Stan and he would do anything to save her.

Mabel tells him, that's the point. Ford would have torn of the world and doomed himself to save his brother. Fiddleford couldn't stand the thought of losing Ford because he loves him.

Then Dipper asks if, in that situation, Mabel would be okay with having her memories erased. She tells him, of course not, but she would understand why it was done.

They don't come to an agreement for a while and it causes a lot of tension, but eventually Stan talks to Fids and Ford. While they don't get back together yet, they come to an understanding and sit the kids down for a long talk

It ends up being about the complications of relationships and how to communicate with someone who hurt you. Its just complicated all around

[gingermintpepper]

hi, i haven't read the iliad and the odyssey but want to - do u have a specific translation you recommend? the emily wilson one has been going around bc, y'know, first female translator of the iliad and odyssey into english, but i was wondering on if you had Thoughts

Hi anon! Sorry for the somewhat late response and I'm glad you trust me with recommendations! Full, disclosure, I am somewhat of a traditionalist when it comes to translations of the source text of the Iliad + Odyssey combo wombo, which means I tend to prefer closeness in literal verbiage over interpretation of the poetic form of these epics - for that reason, my personal preferred versions of the Odyssey and Iliad both are Robert Fitzgerald's. Because both of these translations (and his Aeneid!) were done some 50+ years ago (63 for his original Odyssey tl, 50 flat for his Iliad and 40 for his Aeneid) the English itself can be a bit difficult to read and the syntax can get confusing in a lot of places, so despite my personal preferences, I wouldn't recommend it for someone who is looking to experience the Iliad + Odyssey for the very first time.

For an absolute beginner, someone who has tried to read one or both of these epics but couldn't get into it or someone who has a lot of difficulty with concentrating on poetry or long, winding bits of prose, I fully and wholeheartedly recommend Wilson's translation! See, the genius of Emily Wilson's Iliad + Odyssey isn't that she's a woman who's translated these classics, it's that she's a poet who's adapted the greek traditional poetic form of dactylic hexameter into the english traditional poetic form of iambic pentameter. That alone goes a very very long way to making these poems feel more digestible and approachable - iambic pentameter is simply extremely comfortable and natural for native english speakers' brains and the general briskness of her verbiage helps a lot in getting through a lot of the problem books that people usually drop the Iliad or Odyssey in like Book 2 of the Iliad or Book 4 of the Odyssey. I think it's a wonderful starting point that allows people to familiarise themselves with the source text before deciding if they want to dig deeper - personally, researching Wilson's translation choices alone is a massive rabbit hole that is worth getting into LOL.

The happy medium between Fitzgerald's somewhat archaic but precise syntax and Wilson's comfortable meter but occasionally less detailled account is Robert Fagles' Iliad + Odyssey. Now, full disclosure, I detest how Fagles handles epithets in both of his versions, I think they're far too subtle which is something he himself has talked at length about in his translation notes, but for everything else - I'd consider his translations the most well rounded of english adaptations of this text in recent memory. They're accurate but written in plain English, they're descriptive and detailled without sacrificing a comfortable meter and, perhaps most importantly, they're very accessible for native english speaking audiences to approach and interact with. I've annotated my Fagles' volumes of these books to heaven and back because I'm deeply interested in a lot of the translation decisions made, but I also have to specifically compliment his ability to capture nuance in the characters' of these poems in a way I don't often see. He managed to adapt the ambivalence of ancient greek morality in a way I scarcely see and that probably has a hand in why I keep coming back to his translations.

Now, I know this wasn't much of a direct recommendation but as I do not know you personally, dear anon, I can't much make a direct recommendation to a version that would best appeal to your style of reading. Ideally, I'd recommend that you read and enjoy all three! But, presuming that you are a normal person, I suggest picking which one is most applicable for you. I hope this helps! 🥰

[be-it-so]

Okay, I lied, I'm not done with vengeance saga.

For some reason I'm still so angry and sad because of it, that I need to criticize it more or I won't be able to sleep.

I'm again so fucking disappointed, the whole saga felt like some kind of joke. I mean, the song I was worried the most about - "not sorry for loving you - turned out to be the most normal one. Like, yeah, Calypso is still very selfish and manipulative, Odysseus just want to be as far from her as possible and etc, I don't like that we are clearly expected to sympathise with her, but you know, in the context of this saga I'll go with it.

Dangerous felt a little overdone. I love Hermes, "wouldn't you like" was my favorite song for a long time, and maybe compared to it "Dangerous" is trying so much to go with the same vibe, but feels so deliberate about this.

I don't have much to say about "Charybdis" because there is nothing really to talk about, visuals were great, but everything felt so rushed, and also so meaningless, like they just needed to show at least one obstacle for Odysseus before Poseidon and nothing more.

And, yeah...

"Get in the water" and "600 strikes".

If you haven't guessed it yet, I'm very disappointed.

First of all, it is a lot weaker musically that I've expected. Okay, maybe there are good. Maybe I just am not able to hear this, because through these two songs I just stared at the screen with the confused and disappointed look, so I wasn't able to enjoy music or acting on its own.

Second, I was so interested in "get in the water", i liked the snippet we had so much before. It was so cool, emotional, and dark. I was so invested in finding out how Odysseus could escape this, what he might have said to change Poseidon's mind, maybe expected there to be some gesture towards the Odyssey, where Odysseus would tell Poseidon that he will go on this quest with the oar and so on. Also, i hoped to finally see "snake tongued" Odysseus in action because, like, that's what he is the most known about, for his mastery in words.

But this?

This was so bad. It also feels so fucking disrespectful to Poseidon, like, don't get me wrong, i like the change in power balance, I love when a character who wasn't able to do anything at some point now is beating the shit out of his former abuser and etc, BUT THIS IS NOT WORKING WITH THE GODS AND MORTALS IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY. AND THIS IS NOT WORKING WITH POSEIDON AND ODYSSEUS, THE STORY OF THE ODYSSEY IS NOT ABOUT HOW TO BECOME STRONG ENOUGH TO BEAT THE GOD. IT IS SO FAR OFF!

Like, yeah, the original is neither about "learning that you need to be ruthless to be able to return home if that's what you want so much", but there is difference in the level of what level of getting things wrong is normal and can be called "creative liberties" and what level is just bad. If you wanted so much for Odysseus to show how ruthless he became, well, we've already seen "different beast" to show us his cruelty, don't you think that maybe if they showed us how epic-Odysseus is able to put aside all the men Poseidon has killed and all of the pain he himself have gone through because of Poseidon and just talk with him, bargaining about his own life or something like this it would have also shown his ruthless side in a new way and be so much more believable? Even if he pulled out "there are other ways" move I think I would belive it more than that he is able to defeat Poseidon, the god of SEA, STORMS and EARTHQUAKES, PHISICALLY, in the SEA, with the STORM and fucking power of friendship (no, I will not stop calling it like this).

You know, I have a lot more to say about this, but I guess i'll stop with this. I guess I feel so bad about it because I really liked epic, yeah, I had problems with it, but I considered it nice adaptation even if it's kind of far from the source material, it felt very good and respectful to the original Odyssey, but now it became this. So yeah, I'm really disappointed.

And also, even if epic Odysseus was somehow able to defeat a god, what the fuck will stop epic Poseidon from returning after couple of months recovery and just wipe whole Ithaca off the face of the earth after such offense and shame? Like literally what? Or little epic Poseidon is now so afraid of big bad epic Odysseus that wouldn't bare even think about his name again?

[khaire-traveler]

Hello there! I'm very new to hellenic polytheism and came across a question that I am not sure how to approach. I would be really grateful if you could let me know your thoughts on this (please don't feel obligated or anything, tho. I know I am just a random person asking a random question 🫣). So, for a while now, I've been getting more into greek mythology and from there into fandoms that depict the deities (e.g. Epic the musical which I love a lot). Would you say it is inappropriate to seek out fanfiction or fanart (especially those including ships) in those fandoms, or should I refrain from doing that as it would be disrespectful? Or are there limits I should be aware of? Thank you so much should you choose to answer this 💜 (I apologise for missing paragraphs. I am not sure how to do those on mobile.) (Also, is there a right way to end these kinds of letters/messages/questions? Like a way to express my gratefulness?) (Sorry if none of this makes sense. I always get anxious messaging strangers, but I couldn't find answers anywhere, so I thought I'd just ask🫣)

Khaire, Melie!

Ah, yes. The age-old question. How sinful is fanfiction, exactly? /joke (wanted to start this off light-hearted)

In all seriousness, I'll start with this: If you want to know how the gods feel about it, ask them. There is no better answer than the one that comes directly from the source. I understand the nerves around asking this question; some Hellenic Polytheists feel VERY strongly about it, and honestly, seeing their strong opinions has made me doubt my own interests in such media. Remember that some rando's opinion online, however, isn't the law, regardless of how strongly they feel about it or how desperately they want you to do exactly what they're doing. Opinions are opinions; facts are facts - they are separate things. Personally - and this is MY opinion -I think never engaging with modern media depicting the gods is a little too strict of an approach, and by following that, I feel that a lot of people are banning themselves from engaging with fictional media that they might enjoy. Each piece of modern media about the gods is a creative interpretation of Greek mythology, and people have been doing this kind of thing with other religions - that they don't believe in - for AGES. It's entirely normal, even if it is kind of annoying sometimes. Now, some retellings, games, shows, etc. genuinely take things too far, in my opinion, and warp the mythology so completely that it might as well be a different story entirely. I'm bordering on a tangent, so I'll move on.

Modern media about the gods isn't an inherently abhorrent, evil thing that should always be avoided, however, but personally, I do draw the line of engagement at shipping.

First and foremost, live your life the way you want to. Engage with your practice however you wish. I'm not the law-maker of this religion - no one is - and while I might disagree with someone's approach, I'm not going to shit all over them for doing things differently from myself. Now, into my opinion. I don't think shipping gods - be it from a modern form of media or not - that you worship is appropriate, personally. In my experience, it will blur your actual perception of those gods. I've seen it happen over and over again that people confuse the fictional representation of their God in media with the actual god, then feel the need to distance themselves from the media in order to regain something they feel that they lost. Like I said, you do whatever you wish, but I find it's just better to avoid the awkwardness of shipping entirely.

If you want to read fanfiction about the gods in fictional media, go for it, but I'm not personally a big fan of that. I don't know how the gods feel about it; I can't speak for them (no one can). For all I know, they could be reading the fanfiction themselves and laughing their asses off, who knows? But as a worshipper, I'm not personally comfortable with the idea of reading it. Again, do what you want with your life. If you want to read some spicy fanfic of one god with another, I'm literally not going to stop you, but make sure you're able to separate the fictional characters from the gods you actually worship before you do so - that's my advice. Too often, people end up conflating the two. When a fandom or fanfiction begins affecting your worship, practice, or even just the way you view the gods, that's when it's a problem.

I think the community has been torn on the topic of modern media for a while. Some people love it, while others utterly despise it, and you'll notice that answers will vary from person to person. In my opinion, these pieces of media become problematic when they swarm the fuck out of a small religious community that already struggles to be taken seriously. An example of this is what happened with Lore Olympus a while back. When the comic got popular, a ton of people would swarm and attack worshippers of Apollo online, calling them all sorts of extremely vile things, all because of a comic that literally wasn't even mythologically accurate. In my opinion, fandoms can get out of control sometimes, and when you're engaging with one based around the gods, I advise you to just be careful and aware. For some people, fanart and fanfiction of the gods are extremely uncomfortable, similarly to if someone were to ship Buddha with Jesus in the regard that it just...feels weird for people who actually worship those figures. Other people could care less, being able to fully separate the fictional characters from the gods they worship. Base it on your comfort, and the comfort of your gods.

I hope this helped to give you my perspective. I'm not going to tell you what is or isn't the right choice because honestly, different people will give you a different answer, and I'm anything but a religious authority. You're allowed to do as you wish, but I will always advise you to tread with caution and check in with yourself about how it feels for you personally. Reach out to your gods and directly ask them (such as through tarot, or another form of divination), "Hey, how do you feel about me engaging with this?" Asking directly is ALWAYS a good idea, in my experience. Take care, Melie. 🧡

[zuko-always-lies]

The Sokka and Katara were pretty mean to each other, and that's OK

"The Waterbending Scroll":

The camera cuts show Katara looking at the scroll. Katara: I just want to try this one move first and then it's all yours. [Gives it to Aang.] Here, hold it open for me. The single water whip. Looks doable. [Attempts the move, but ends up hitting herself in the forehead.] Ow! Sokka: Ha, ha, ha! Katara: [Glaring at Sokka.] What's so funny? Sokka: I'm sorry, but you deserved that. [To Aang.] You've been duped; she's only interested in teaching herself.

"Jet":

Katara: Why do boys always think someone has to be the leader? I bet you wouldn't be so bossy if you kissed a girl. Sokka: [Close-up on Sokka; defensively.] I've kissed a girl, you just haven't met her. Katara: [Back to Sokka; mischievously.] Who? Gran-Gran? I've met Gran-Gran.

I could cite other examples, too, but I don't think I need too. Sokka and Katara can be very mean to each other. They can say very mean things about each other, entirely deliberately. They can laugh at each other's pain. They're not perfect little angels always looking out for their sibling.

And that's OK. That's normal for a sibling relationship, particularly among teenagers. Growing up with a sibling or siblings is weird because on one hand you love them but on the other hand there is always an element of war in your relationship. At some level, you know your sibling is always your competitor for something, and that leads to all sorts of conflicts and jealousy and so on. Sokka and Katara being like this, instead of being "perfect siblings," is good writing and makes them feel real.

However, one thing that strikes me is that the fandom has basically forgotten about this. No one seems to ever talk about the conflicts between Sokka and Katara, and as far as I've ever noticed fanfic writers rarely depict Sokka and Katara as having any sort of conflict, even the sort of juvenile level which is constantly going in sibling relationships. Like you don't need some sort of epic plot-level conflict, but just having them make fun of each other a lot when they're together would do a lot to round out their characters.

[stoneypony17]

omfg I need to get dis off my chest I HATE DISCORD SO MUCH

you'd think I'm over reacting, but no, anytime I see dis CREATIN on my screen I feel rage upon me as my blood boils and I shake my fist up in the air in ANGER. (Maybe not dat far...)

My main point is dat I'm just trying to find other fellow discord haters here, if u like discord good for you, dis is just my personal opinion BUT I FREAKING HATE HIM SO MUCH

I don't think he deserves to be redeemed AT ALL as we constantly see him being an asswipe to the whola mane six (except for fluttershy ofc -_-) solely for filler episodes or plot convinces and he is never actually useful at all. In the season 6 finale literally the ONLY time I remember him actually being useful was when he distracted the changelings and sacrificed himself for the group (dat literally took no effort at all..)

I specifically see him constantly going after twilight the most, I don't know why he has such a stick up his ass for her but he just does(???) there's multiple cases of him doing this buy I'm going to specially pick the episode "Three's a crowd".

Here, the main plot is dat Twilight and Candance set up a hangout together as tthey rarely get to spend time with each other unless it involes saving equestria. But of course, this fuckhead needs to make it all about himself because his widdle fwuttershy is off on a trip and he's alllll alone, so he fakes being sick for attention (grown ass adult btw..) and tries bugging applejack and rarity to take care of him. When they refuse he makes them sick and then takes his candyass to Twilight and Candance to RUIN THEIR DAYS INSTEAD. (Mind you, why couldn't he have just teleported to fluttershy and spend time with her there??)

He begins annoying Twilight and Candance and TRASHES Twilight's house and makes dis sick ass musical number (props to his VA lol) and basically just begs for free shit, and Twilight who has the patience of a saint gives it to him. He then tells them the only way to cure him is if they climb dis bigass mountain and grab a flower with magical petals. They go out of they're way to do so bc they want dis manbaby to stop wasting all their time, but whoodie fuckin doo, the plant turns out to be a monster and we get dis epic fight scene with twilight and Candance.

They end up getting the petal, but then they find out discord wasn't even sick in the first place and was faking it because he's a grown ass adult and definitely not an immature little pos, but then he gets his karma and actually DOES get sick, and blah blah blah idfk wat the lesson even was.

What I think bothered me the most was the fact discord wasted twi&Candance whole entire day, got applejack and rarity sick, and still got nursed back to health in the end?? (ME PERSONALLY I wuld have thrown him down the deepest ditch and watch him slowly decay..) and then fluttershy BABIES HIM at the very end when applejack and rarity ARE RIGHTFULLY MAD AT HIM. She goes, and I quote "Now now, he's had enough, he's learned his lesson already, isn't that right my little patient? ^w^" LIKE I'M SORRY??? IS HE TWO YEARS OLD???? Learned his lesson my ass, hell continue to keep fucking up bcuz he knows hell always get away with it punishment free (foreshadowung to season 9 finale..) and also dats just so inconsiderate to invalidate ur friends feelings when they have every right to be upset at ur fuckass boyfriend fluttershy wtf

This falls into my second point, but it's the fact dat discord also ruins part of fluttershy's character for me. The main reason why he likes her so much is because he knows shell baby him FOR EVERYTHING and will always take his side over her friends sides, he's a petulant toddler and fluttershy enables his pos actions because "oh but he's learning!!! I know he called all of u guys slurs but he's learning friendship!!!" IS SUCH A LOUSY FUCKING EXCUSE

"oh but he's chaotic and if he tries to be normal hell fade away" #1 he needs to fade away faster then #2 he has his own little chaos realm where he can go be chaotic in there, why tf can't he just leave the mane 6 alone and be a menace over there??

Not to mention dis man has betrayed the mane 6 twice already, first teaming up with Tirek and ONLY apologizing when he loses all his power to him, and THEN PUTTING TOGETHER 3 INSANELY STRONG VILLAINS TO PLOT AGAINST EQUESTRIA for a GOOD CAUSE???? I will admit, the second one was mainly due to season 9 just having terrible writing in general, BUT I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW TF A DUDE WHO PUT EQUESTRIA IN DANGER MULTIPLE TIMES BECAUSE HE WAS FUCKING BORED GOT REDEEMED, BUT A 12 YEAR OLD LITTLE GIRL WAS THROWN INTO PONY HELL AND PUT TO STONE FOR ETERNITY, HOW DA FUK DOES DAT MAKE ANY SENSE! 1?1!2!

but im going off topic, the main reason why I strongly dislike discord is because he's supposed to be a "redeemed character" who's "changed" however he's still a little asshole and never takes accountability for his actions and reminds me of fucking Caillou, dat stupid annoying bald brat is HIM in another universe u cannot change my mind.

But anywah I need to sleep noa dis is all jus my opinion don't be personally offended ;-;

Also