#thank you for voting in my polls!!!!

[themurderofsonic-knockout]

The rest of round 2 is up!

[8pxl]

they're girlfriends,,,

[tokenducks]

Charles “We’ve got literally forever to figure out what the rest means” Rowland

[ghostlykidplaidbanana]

Turtles forever 2 but it’s just a prank war with 4 teams

Here’s my 300 follower special 💥💥

(Part2)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Congratulations to TEAM CHEESE for winning the popular vote on the Charcuterie poll!

[zeldalizzy]

Warriors and Cinderella! I love that you all voted for me to pair them together! Not only are they both ✨ fabulous ✨ but they both value hard work, know what it is like to rise up in the social ladder (from servant to princess/queen, from knight to captain), and both know the importance of courage and kindness!

I feel like Cinderella is also very proper, very composed, polite, and sweet, and I think Wars would really respect that, especially in contrast to Cia (*shudders*).

My favorite part of this one is definitely Cinderella's dress, I would loveeeee to have a dress just like it and it is very self-indulgent lol. I made Cinderella a princess/queen here, like she has already married her Prince Charming and lives with him in the palace.

Warriors, as a Captain, would likely be extremely respectful in her presence, though the other boys might cause a bit of trouble, which would likely cause poor Wars a bit of anxiety lol.

Anyways, I hope you all like this one! Thanks for all of your support on this series! You all are so sweet and I feel so blessed by your encouragement and kindness!! Have a lovely day! 🩵

[flwrkid14]

Tim and Duke: Finding Their Place

It’s hard to feel like you belong when you’re always waiting for someone to tell you that you don’t.

Duke Thomas had always been an outsider. Growing up in the streets, never quite fitting in anywhere, always waiting for the other shoe to drop, for someone to see him as a “replacement.” A filler for someone that wasn’t there anymore, or someone that was missing from the picture.

It wasn’t that the batfamily didn’t accept him—hell, they’d welcomed him with open arms. Dick and Barbara made him laugh, and even Damian, with his snarky attitude, had slowly started respecting him. But it still felt like there was something missing. Like he wasn’t really part of the family. Like he was just another vigilante working beside them, trying his best to live up to an impossible standard.

He didn’t know where to fit. Didn’t know if he could fit.

Tim Drake was the last person Duke expected to find himself bonding with.

Tim, the third Robin, the one who had earned the title by proving himself after a tragedy. Tim, who was always a little too serious, a little too reserved, a little too smart for his own good. But somehow, Duke found himself slipping into conversations with Tim, finding small moments of camaraderie between them. They didn’t talk much about their respective pasts—Tim’s was a messy minefield of trauma and loss, Duke’s was a life lived in survival mode, both of them figuring out how to be something more than what Gotham tried to make them.

One night, after a particularly long patrol, the two found themselves sitting in the batcave. Duke was lounging on the edge of a desk, his hoodie pulled tight over his head, the ever-present weight of exhaustion pulling at his shoulders. Tim, as usual, was hunched over a computer, eyes glued to a screen that made him look even younger than he was.

“So,” Duke said, breaking the silence. “Do you ever feel like… I dunno. Like you’re just here to fill in for someone else?”

Tim’s fingers stilled on the keyboard. He didn’t look up. “Yeah.”

Duke blinked. “What?”

Tim finally turned his gaze up from the screen, his eyes tired but sharp. There was something in his expression that caught Duke off guard. A knowing look. “I mean,” Tim continued, voice low, “I’ve spent most of my life being called ‘the replacement.’ It’s not easy, you know? No matter how much you try to prove yourself, it’s always there. The ghost of ‘who you’re supposed to be.’”

Duke’s stomach twisted at the words. “You feel like that too?”

Tim let out a dry chuckle. “Yeah. All the time. Even when I’m with the family. Even when I’m with you guys. There’s always that part of me that wonders if I’m really needed, or if I’m just… filling in a spot.”

There was a silence that hung between them, heavier than the usual quiet that enveloped the Batcave. It was raw. Honest. Two boys who had lived through too much, felt too many expectations, and had spent their lives trying to prove they were worthy of the lives they’d been thrust into.

Duke let out a breath. “That’s crazy, man. You’re Tim Drake. You’re not just some replacement.”

Tim didn’t smile, but there was a shift in his expression, a small, almost imperceptible shift that showed Duke he understood. He wasn’t looking for validation, not really. It was the kind of unspoken recognition that said, I see you, and you see me.

“You don’t feel it though, huh?” Duke asked, a little unsure. “Like you’re just… pretending to be part of this family? Like you’ll never really belong?”

Tim’s eyes softened, and for the first time that night, he looked at Duke—not as the new guy, not as the one still trying to prove himself—but as someone who got it. “Yeah. I feel that. All the time.”

Duke shifted in his seat, looking down at his hands. The weight of those words—Tim’s words—felt different when they came from someone who understood. Someone who knew exactly what it was like to feel like you were never quite enough.

That was the moment things changed. It wasn’t the kind of bonding moment that happened with grand gestures or speeches. It wasn’t about solving everything, or fixing the endless loop of self-doubt that both of them shared. It was just about knowing that they weren’t alone in their feelings. They both carried that weight, that fear of never truly fitting in, of always wondering if they were “the replacement” in a family that had already been through so much.

But for that moment, for just a little while, they didn’t have to explain themselves to anyone else. They didn’t need to pretend. They didn’t need to be anyone other than the two of them.

“You know,” Duke said quietly, breaking the silence again. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Tim gave him a look, a quiet acknowledgment, his eyes flicking back to the screen. “Yeah, i'm glad you're here too.”

They didn’t say much more after that, but it didn’t matter. In the quiet of the cave, with the weight of their shared thoughts hanging between them, Duke knew he wasn’t just another vigilante in Gotham. He was here, with Tim, with the family. And for the first time in a long time, he could almost believe it.

Maybe, just maybe, he could belong.

And Tim? Tim didn’t feel like a replacement anymore, either.

[headaching]

part 1

[starflungwaddledee]

some rather strong first impressions were made.

required reading for the magical "voice" headcanon and another for starstruck's signature in particular. asked by @trainerbob23 !

[toodrunktofindaurl]

patreon poll winners: emma x regina

[bestanimal]

Round 1 Final Stats:

The top phyla have been ranked thusly, listed here from highest ranking to lowest:

🪲 Arthropoda ~ 2,002

🐠 Chordata ~ 1,780

🐌 Mollusca ~ 1,687

🪸 Cnidaria ~ 1,307

🫓 Platyhelminthes ~ 1,217

🔫 Onychophora ~ 1,180

🔬 Tardigrada ~ 1,101

🌈 Ctenophora ~ 1,013

⭐️ Echinodermata ~ 947

🪱 Annelida ~ 681

🧽 Porifera ~ 535

👥 Bryozoa ~ 331

⚪️ Placozoa ~ 328

⛱ Brachiopoda ~ 303

⚙️ Rotifera ~ 298

🍆 Priapulida ~ 216

🧲 Phoronida ~ 178

🌍 Nematoda ~ 169

🐉 Kinorhyncha ~ 169

🌰 Hemichordata ~ 169

🎉 Loricifera ~ 147

🎗 Nemertea ~ 138

❄️ Micrognathozoa ~ 124

🧪 Xenacoelomorpha ~ 123

🍴 Entoprocta ~ 111

👛 Cycliophora ~ 110

🦷 Gnathostomulida ~ 100

🏹 Chaetognatha ~ 83

🧶 Gastrotricha ~ 82

🐙🔍 Dicyemida ~ 19

🦪🔍 Orthonectida ~ 12

🐴✂️ Nematomorpha ~ -37

The top 3 phyla are Arthropoda, Chordata, and Mollusca!

This means Arthropoda, Chordata, and Mollusca will be moving on to Round 2, and broken up by Class (or some other phylogenetic equivalent).

But that’s not all!

After Round 2, we will have an extra Round 2.5, featuring every other phylum that received over 1,000 points! This will give some of the more highly ranked phyla a second chance to move on, and make Round 3 a little more interesting.

Round 2.5 will include Cnidaria, Platyhelminthes, Tardigrada, and Ctenophora.

(Unfortunately, I can’t include Onychophora as it only contains 2 families without class or order ranking, so I will have to preemptively move them forward to Round 4 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

To give myself enough time to queue up polls, Round 2 will begin November 1st.

See you then!

Extra Awards:

Phylum Porifera

~ had the highest percentage of likes at 50.8%

Phylum Placozoa

~ had the highest amount of neutral votes at 295

Phylum Xenacoelomorpha

~ had 0 hates

Phylum Platyhelminthes

~ had the most votes at 620

~ had the highest amount of loves at 245

~ had the highest amount of likes at 204

Phylum Gastrotricha

~ had the lowest amount of favorites at 2

~ had the lowest percentage of favorites at 0.7%

Phylum Mollusca

~ had 0 dislikes

~ had the third most reblogs at 86

Phylum Entoprocta

~ had 0 hates

Phylum Phoronida

~ had 0 hates

Phylum Orthonectida

~ had the lowest amount of likes at 20

~ had the least notes at 17

~ had the least reblogs at 6

Phylum Dicyemida

~ had the least votes at 158

~ had the lowest amount of loves at 4

~ had the lowest percentage of loves at 2.5%

~ had the highest percentage of neutral votes at 67.9%

Phylum Micrognathozoa

~ was our first single species to be ranked

~ had 0 hates

Phylum Rotifera

~ had 0 hates

Phylum Nematomorpha

~ had the highest amount of dislikes at 74

~ had the highest percentage of dislikes at 30.1%

~ had the highest percentage of hates at 11.4%

~ was the only phylum with a negative ranking

Phylum Onychophora

~ had the most notes at 310

~ had the most reblogs at 115 (though a lot of them happened after the poll closed)

Phylum Arthropoda

~ was the only phylum to get over 2,000 points

~ had the second most reblogs at 101

~ had 0 hates

Phylum Echinodermata

~ had the highest percentage of loves at 52.8%

~ was the only phylum to not receive any dislikes or hates

Phylum Chordata

~ had the highest amount of favorites at 334

~ had the highest percentage of favorites at 71.5%

~ had the lowest percentage of likes at 4.9%

~ had the lowest percentage of neutral votes at 0.6%

~ had the highest amount of hates at 37

[rampantram]

Drawing results from the most recent poll!

These were honestly a lot of fun and I'm proud of how they came out - I hope you all enjoy them~ 🥰

[sasanka-27]

The oil under Impala mystery 🔍✨

(Inspired by the lady with expert wife tips from tiktok)

[astral-herald]

Viktor and Sevika: The Cause and the Effector

Or another installment in "What Could Have Been, if Only Riot had Kept Arcane Between Piltover and Zaun."

Before season 2 did Sevika so dirty, she was, with some certainty, my second favorite character in Arcane, and I'll always be upset about how they squandered her character in the end. And there was just so much more they could have done - including merge her politics with Viktor's (wasted) time back inside Zaun. Just imagine a conversation between them!

So let's rewind to season 1 and consider both Viktor and Sevika's goals, which are a lot less disparate than they seem...

Sevika's Cause

One of my very favorite lines in Arcane is from Silco in 1x03, to Vander: "You'll die for a cause, but you won't fight for one?"

This is a profound question throughout season 1. Vander, in the pursuit of somewhat naive pacifism, shies away from any and all conflict between Zaun and the Enforcers. At first, he seems reluctant on account of his kids (as that one background character points out: "You're just protecting your kids!") but Silco and Vander's confrontation in the Shimmer plant makes the point stronger.

At the start of season 1, we understand that Zaun is an ideal for Silco, a symbol of beating back classist oppression that has left the undercity's denizens in financial ruin, turned them against each other, and wrecked their physical health (!!!). When Vander abandons this idyllic dream, on account of the fact that achieving it requires violence, he is acquiescing to a less-than existence for Zaun, which Silco cannot abide.

Sevika comes into play when she abandons Vander after he fails to stick up for them against the Enforcers in 1x02:

"No. You look weak."

She, too, sees the ideal of Zaun crumbling within Vander, so she allies herself with Silco to make sure that dream happens. She doesn't mind his methods because she doesn't follow the individual. She follows the cause. THIS is Sevika's most profound trait - she cares not for the figurehead, but for what that figurehead represents.

This is especially interesting when we consider the emotional toil that other figureheads endure (and inflict) Arcane - Jayce crumbles under "The Man of Progress" moniker; Caitlyn struggles to uphold her legacy in a way even remotely similar to her mother; Jinx as revolutionary in season 2 is a bust. But Sevika will always be there, championing the cause, holding the line, while never taking the mantle of Revolutionary Figure because it's just not in her nature. She holds on to her loyalty for Silco, despite his operation falling apart (largely in part due to Jinx), as a last-ditch hope that things are still possible for Zaun's liberation.

And yet, still, when it seems that Jinx is branded as the symbol of Zaun against all odds, Sevika swallows her pride, holds down the fort, and fights alongside Jinx - the cause must always go on.

Viktor's Dream

Viktor's cause isn't superficially outwardly political, nor is he bound by the same revolutionary codes Sevika is. But, as an outsider in Piltover, despite Jayce's best efforts and intentions, his desire for an end to Zaunite suffering through official Piltover channels is inherently at odds with the Council's political goals, therefore making it political.

Viktor leaps on Jayce's "Hextech Theory," risking the success and accolades he's so painstakingly earned, because he sees his own cause alive within it: making the world a better place. He can alleviate the needless suffering through Jayce's revolutionary invention; he can make his ideal/dream a reality. Much like Sevika, he's found the individual who champions his cause and aligns himself accordingly.

(Of course, UNLIKE Sevika's relationships to Silco and Vander and the rest, Jayce becomes an inextricable part of Viktor's personal life, happiness, etc. They are markedly different in that way, but I still don't see Viktor as the kind to exalt the individual over the cause itself. It just so happens that Jayce and Viktor are star-crossed science partners in every universe <3)

Arcane makes a pretty distinct attack on the idea of Hextech being a product of an individual (seeing as though so much of Viktor's arc across both seasons is about him being ostracized, kept away from his legacy) via the infamous Progress Day mug eclipse:

All this is to say that Viktor's cause is to help Zaun, just as Sevika's is. Importantly, neither character follows an individual that represents their cause. They follow their goals to the end, even if it costs Viktor his closest friend, and even if it costs Sevika all that she holds dear in Zaun as she knows it.

3 more interesting comparisons stand:

Their polar opposite methods. Viktor would never tolerate Sevika's immediate resort to violence, and Sevika would think Viktor weak-willed.

Competing notions of sacrifice. Sevika endures sacrifice as a public figure; people rely on her outwardly for organization, support, muscle, etc. Meanwhile, Viktor's sacrifice takes place behind the scenes. This contrast can be attributed to their respective positions of power: Sevika is high up in Zaun, while Viktor struggles for recognition throughout season 1.

Being overshadowed. While Viktor's experience in this regard is more obvious, seeing Sevika be continuously sidelined to the number 2 when she's clearly THE most dedicated to Zaun's liberation was so heartbreaking.

Sevika shadowed by Vander's image...

...and Viktor stifled by Jayce.

What Could Have Been

I have so, so many ideas, down to specific scenes and lines of dialogue, for how to bring Sevika and Viktor together. Don't get me wrong - they would likely detest each other. Like I said, Viktor would be disgusted by how quickly she resorts to violence and she would think him weak-willed. But in the perfect season 2 world, wherein the story stayed between Piltover and Zaun, and Viktor could have returned to Zaun as a potential ally to Sevika's movement (since their causes are, at their base value, the same!), they could have made it work.

Sevika would see the cause in Viktor, and he in her. Viktor as the Herald (the Machine Herald, ideally) could rally the Undercity under his mythos. The mysterious healer, whether by the arcane, engineering, what have you, takes away the suffering Piltover's negligence and police brutality cause. He gives Zaunites hope. He fulfills his dream.

And, since nothing can be apolitical in the Piltover/Zaun conflict, Viktor would see Sevika's value and her passion. She is the executor of the cause, the figure who spreads it to the masses. He can affect change and she can give it a voice. She fulfills her dream. She can raise her people from their oppression.

Neither would exalt themselves as a savior, a leader, a fanatic, etc. They would stand apart from Silco, who became obsessive, and Piltover, whose leaders were so divorced from reality that they couldn't smell burgeoning armed conflict while it stewed right beneath their noses.

We obviously got something radically different for the both of them, however, so this is all just fun, whimsical conjecture.

I really think this was a squandered unlikely duo. it would have showed Viktor the reality of Piltover/Noxus' militarization and would have forced Sevika to let her walls down and allow other perspectives into the conversation. Neither would ever fully empathize with the other, but it would have been a riveting narrative challenge that I wish we could have seen play out.

[padiduys]

Bit of Butter would be nice.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Results from the ‘Who is the tallest MDZS Character poll! Thank you all for voting!