#the visuals in both of those are like. bananas

[tenmyoujump]

i think kaguya sama has ruined me for anime openings and endings because i can’t think of a single one i didn’t thoroughly enjoy

[bunnys-kisses]

hi bunny! May I request a s'more,honey cruller and banana bread with a side of juice and earl grey for Franco Colapinto? Thanks love 🥰

bakery menu!

want to submit your own order? hit up the menu! there's tons of things to order! i write for a variety of fandoms! so please check out all the details, i'd love to hear from you! this is my second franco fic, the first one went over well, so i wanted to write more haha! i hope it's amazing and thank you @reddingtxn !!

s'more: "the accent gets to you, doesn't it?" + honey cruller: "i forget how small you are sometimes." + banana bread: "i'm going to fuck that sweet pussy of yours until the only word your little brain can form is my name." + juice: cockwarming + earl grey: big cock served by franco colapinto (formula one)!!

cw: smut/pwp, cockwarming, teasing (clit play), big cock!franco, dirty talk,

you wished franco gave you the heads up when you first got intimate. while you had been with other guys before, franco was your first serious relationship so you wanted it to work. but how was it supposed to work when you saw his cock for the first time.

eight inches was something you could visualize

he ran his fingers through your hair and smiled at you, he had already perfected the kind of smile that would make anyone swoon, "i forget how small you are sometimes." and that started your training towards getting more familiar with franco's size.

you swallowed as you sat there in his bedroom a few days later. you both had the time off because he had to go for racing and you were back at school. his goal was to get you used to the feeling of his cock before he left. and that wouldn't be achieved through a quick fuck, it had to be slow.

"such a beautiful girl." he said as he approached you in just his briefs. they were dark blue with white at the waistband. he crawled into bed with you and his dazzling eyes gleamed at you, "i know, i know. i promise it's not as scary as you think. you did so good the first time, taking me in your throat like that." his words curled in your mind. you hated that in a way he had such an effect on you.

"franco." you arched your back a little as he laid himself on top of you. his kisses were scattered across your chest and you moaned a little louder. his hands wandered your sides and you felt hot all over, a flush of heat through your body with anticipation for what was to come.

"the accent gets to you, doesn't it?" he laughed even as you pushed his face away in protest. but he kept those arms around you lovingly for a moment longer. he then sat himself up against the headboard of the bed and got his briefs off, "now, come on, beautiful. i'm going to fuck that sweet pussy of yours until the only word your little brain can form is my name." his words made you shudder in the best way possible.

you pulled of your panties and bra before you got over to him. you swallowed when you got close enough to his cock. you took a moment to lean over and kiss his length which made him shudder. that felt good. he grabbed you by your hips and got you straddling his waist. you were facing the television at the far end of the room and away from him.

"i thought we were fucking?" you asked.

he kissed the back of your neck, "no, no. not in that way, i want you to get comfortable with my size before i leave. so you're going to cock warm me while we watch a movie tonight." he smiled before he sank you on his impressive size and watched you arch your back a little from the feeling.

it was a bit of a pain, but franco's kisses softened the feeling as you got yourself seated on him. you could feel it so deep inside of you. you could feel him in an intense way as he lazily wrapped an arm around you.

you relaxed a little while he looked around you to choose a movie to put on. you rested against him, only to tense up with his hand started to play with your clit. you moaned a little.

"shh, shh." he said, "i want to watch the movie. keep quiet, okay?" and felt you squirm a little against him which only excited him more. his cock twitched inside of you as you moved your hips a little. he held onto one of your hips while he continued to tease your clit.

"franco. honey." you swallowed, feeling the heat bloom in your cheeks. everything felt a little hotter all of a sudden, a rush of pleasure through your body as your boyfriend of the past little while played with your clit with a skilled precision. it made your heart hammer a little, the flush of heat through your core. of course franco knew exactly how to make you crumble.

"shhh, movie's starting." he said as he relaxed further against the headboard and wrapped one arm around your middle while his other hand played with your achy cunt. when you made too much noise, he simply shushed you. him doing that only emboldened the heat between your legs.

the stretch wasn't painful when he rocked his hips a little against you. he felt you close to him and it felt like a certain euphoria. you moaned a little bit and he leaned in a little further against you.

"franco." you swallowed quietly.

"mmm, beautiful. don't make me gag you, your panties are right there." he mused for a moment. the movie played in the background but, you ended up turned around and facing your lover. your cheek against his chest as his cock remained in you.

he kissed the top of your head and tried to play with your clit some more, but you were too close to him to get his hand back between your legs. so both arms were soon around you as he moved his hips a little bit. it was hard to deny the feeling, even with minimal movement. he was feeling the heat between you two.

"i can't take it anymore." he groaned as he rocked his hips against you gently. the pleasure was flooded in your brain that it didn't take long before you both came. first you, then him. it left you breathless with his heavy breathing against your back. the movie long forgotten.

you honestly didn't even know what he put on, but the pleasure clotting your brain was more important. you kissed him gently and he groaned into the kiss. eventually you just laid against him once more. letting the pleasure wash over both of you.

"do you think it'll fit easier now?" you asked.

he shifted a little and said, "not too sure, we might have to do it again." there was heat in his words and it made you excited to become more familiar with your boyfriend's large cock.

[fuyupeach]

Unintentional (Not Really)

Miguel O’Hara x Gender Neutral! Reader

When on a mission between just Miguel and yourself, things go not as planned: not at all. Miguel thinks he might lose the reader, and finds he's more attached to you than he thought he was.

Leave it to this movie to break me out of my writing break, haha! Fastest I’ve ever written a one-shot this long. Enjoy! Also on AO3 here.

WC: 4,125k

----------------------------

Miguel was… well, to put it concisely, very interesting.

The very last thing you expected was to become a Spider, and even less than that did you expect there to be a hub of Spider people all in one place far in the future… to be honest, you were more surprised about there being a (very much needed) therapist Spider-Man and a kitchen-café-food-area-thing than you were to know that there were multiple dimensions in which each Spider dealt with. You were subtly appreciative of being in a universe where technology had had plenty of time to improve, granting you the luxury of fanfic. No one needed to know that was why you were able to understand the concept of Canon events so quickly.

You had just wrapped up a mission containing an anomaly, silently snacking on a banana you snagged on the way to Miguel’s office as he oh so slowly descended from his platform. He may be cute, but you were tempted to tamper with the damn thing if it meant you didn’t have to waste precious seconds waiting for him to speak. Who was he, Batman? He was also lucky the back view while you waited was so visually appealing… you made sure to keep your face calm, lips twitching to smile like a gremlin at your thoughts. 

You had been partnered with Mr. Spider-Punk himself. While you and Hobie got along swimmingly, you knew you would always be delegated debriefing duty when it came down to speaking to Miguel. It was both a perk and a massive disadvantage when you were tired and no longer felt the urge to speak for the rest of the day. Today was one of those days, though you will pat yourself on the back for not growing too impatient today as your thoughts traveled to your comfy bed, it’s soft sheets you recently washed, pillows fluffy and decadent—man, you were tired. You’d probably be hangry too if you hadn’t snagged that banana. It would have to do for now. You could swear you hear Hobie snicker behind you, as if he could read your thoughts. 

Glancing lazily over to the ever slow platform, you’re mildly surprised to see that Miguel is looking right back at you, eyes glowing a subtle red in the low lit room. You straighten out, swallowing your bite of banana before speaking.

“It almost feels like you came down quicker today,�� you start, tone friendly. “Everything went as usual. Or, ideal, I suppose I should say.”

Miguel’s face was in its usual slight frown, the pout of his lips appealing to your eyes as always. “You closed a tear in a universe’s most frequently trafficked area and that’s the extent of your report?” 

You swallow another bite of banana, blinking. “I could go into detail on how I almost fell into said tear—in which I did thank Hobie for saving me—but I don’t think that’s very interesting or relevant. I’m quite tired, your majesty.”

Miguel sighs, fingers rising to pinch the bridge of his nose. 

“I’ll read your report later, then.”

“Mhm.” You hum, eating the last section of your banana, chucking it in a nearby trash can. Perks of spider-sense, you didn’t even need to look. 

“Dismissed, then?” Hobie chimes in, rising from the table he snuck over to lay on somehow during your conversation.

“..Dismissed.” Miguel sighs again, already turning back towards his holographic monitors. Hobie needed no more words as he nodded his head at you in goodbye before beelining for the doors. 

“I keep telling you you’re going to have even more wrinkles on that pretty face of yours if you keep sighing and frowning all the time,” you call out before he can start rising back up. Miguel stills for a brief second, a quarter of his face hidden from your view as you smile slightly. “And get some rest while you’re at it. I know I will.”

“The fate of the multiverse—“

“Yes, yes, I know, O’Hara. Goodnight.” You wave over your shoulder as you depart, hand raising to your mouth to cover the yawn you let out.

Your relationship with Miguel was probably no different from everybody else. You had your moments where you’d feel you’d become amiable at the very least, given how often you had to speak to the guy. He made you nervous at first, being a terribly attractive person, but he was intense. There was an air around him that seemed to push others away—subconsciously, instinctively? Maybe both. It didn’t help that he seemed to align with your (questionable?) type of men. It was also hard to continue to be nervous when he had a baby crawling all over him whenever Peter B. swung by, and even less so when his serious moments were broken by his AI, Lyla. Miguel was surprisingly… cute. You could imagine the multitude of others that know him looking at you as if you had grown two heads and four arms. What’s not to like about fangs? Tall men? Very muscular, quiet, brooding, men? 

Hm. You were starting to see why they might look at you that way.

One thing you learned from your still short experience as a Spider, however, was the importance of time. You—well, thanks to Miguel, you kind of can—never know when the last time you will be able to speak or see someone is, and unfortunately one of the reasons why is death. It breaks your spirit just to reminisce on what could have been. 

As you became more comfortable around Miguel, you began to test the waters on what to say and how he’d react. Tomorrow is rarely ever guaranteed in your line of work, so if you had to push past a massive spring of nerves to flirt with your hot coworker you might never see again, then dammit that was what you were going to do. He wasn’t really one to react much outwardly to your small advances, but he wasn’t exactly protesting them completely either. One time when you were out for about a week due to your own universe’s conflicts, you could’ve sworn you felt the man staring at you longer than usual when you were silent upon your return. You were eating at the Spider-Cafeteria, and was surprised to see Miguel there. There was always a 30/50 chance you’d see him anywhere except his office, the odds rising to 50/50 on empanada days. There wasn’t really much to say, but as you got up to put your used dishes on the return rack, he spoke.

“No drink?”

Your eyes widen a bit as you turn back around to face him, pleasantly surprised. You smile. “Nah, but I guess I could grab some water. It’s not really something I think of when it comes to soup.” You chuckle for a few seconds.

“Here.” Almost like a magic trick, Miguel slides a small bottle of water towards you, silent as you blink back at him. Well, he is Spider-Man. You guess there could be other things to be more surprised by. 

“Oh. Thanks, Miguel.” Your smile widens a bit more as you take the bottle from him, your hand brushing against his (you totally did that on purpose). 

“I think he liiikess youuu.” 

The two of you jump at the sound of a new voice, eye contact breaking.

“Lyla.”

“I had to say something. This tension is drawing out a little too long for me–”

“LYLA–” Miguel swats at where she floats in between the two of you, large hands just a millimeter away from yourself. You briefly wonder how the size of said hands would compare to the size of your waist. Lyla appears in a different spot behind Miguel, smirking.

“Outta hereeee.” She winks at you before disappearing completely. You’re greeted with the delicious sight of Miguel’s shoulders and back sagging slightly, muscles contracting with his movement. You honestly found it pretty cute how despite how many times Lyla has no doubt teased this man to hell and back, he still reaches to grab her as if she has a physical form to do so. You keep your giggle to yourself, smile betraying your lack of laughter. You decide to give him a break today, turning back around to get rid of your dishes. 

“Thanks again for the water, Miguel.” You shake the bottle over your shoulder as you walk away, confidence and mirth fueling each step.

– – 

Well… damn. 

You’re actually pretty pissed that this rhino out of all the other ones you’ve seen and dealt with is giving you this much trouble. It was only yourself and Miguel on this mission, so it seemed pretty low difficulty. That difficulty was raised the moment he decided to plow through the city and onto one of its main bridges, surrounded by cars and–you guessed it–people. This Rhino was actually quite smart compared to the others. You heave a sigh as you swing around gathering another group of civilians to safety, narrowly avoiding a large chunk of building that flew your way as the Rhino surged forward elsewhere. That was Miguel’s problem until you completely cleared the area. Times like this made you appreciate that your universe wasn’t surrounded by skyscrapers like this one was. The more damage the Rhino did, the more nervous you subconsciously got. 

The fucker was pretty strong too. Every time either of your webs hit or tried to wrap around him, it’d almost immediately snap off, either because of the velocity of how fast he was running, or something he must’ve had added to his suit that would burn it off, leaving useless wisps in its wake. You both needed to find a solution, and fast. It would be hard to find a way to trap him in open terrain, and no point in really trapping him if he can just break through (so far) every damn thing. Your mind was scrambling to find solutions amidst the chaos, temples pulsing. You’d likely have to brute strength it out. You let out another sigh.

You were sure he didn’t need you to tell him, but it’d look like Miguel would need to get as close as he could in order to bite him, leaving the Rhino paralyzed and motionless for capture. Miguel was actually keeping up a great pace with him, it was the whole not killing innocent civilians thing that comes with being Spider-Man that was making things difficult; placed in a crowded city to boot. 

You’re grateful the next group you escort is the last, spider-sense not picking up anything else for now. You swing around two nearby twin towers, using the antennae sticking out from the top to catapult yourself to Miguel.

“It’s bite time!” You yell out, getting straight to the point as you swing to keep your momentum, right behind Miguel. “We’re gonna have to brute force our way out of this.”

“I know!” He responds, swinging in tandem. “I think we’re going to have to rely on all these now empty cars coming up. My signal.”

You look forward, the end of the bridge the only thing in sight. While the bridge wasn’t over a large body of water, you weren’t keen on falling off the side today if the plan falls through. The bridge transitions into a narrow tunnel, tight, but not impossible for the Rhino to fit through at all. You couldn’t see inside it, but there were a good amount of rocks outside it, connecting to a surrounding mountain.

You had worked with Miguel often enough that you didn’t need to verbally communicate when in battle, him turning to nod to you being all you needed before grabbing as many cars as you could and pulling them together with your webs to make obstacles for the Rhino in attempts to slow him down. You couldn’t help but laugh at the view you had from up above. This must be how scientists feel looking at their rodent subjects. 

You hit the ground for a second for more stability as you grab another car with both webs, using the leftover momentum to spin yourself and throw the car in the Rhino’s direction, a grin stretching across your features under your mask as it successfully hits. You flinch as it explodes. You forgot cars might do that. Hm. You were just glad it wasn’t you.

Miguel flies through the explosion smoke, using the distraction as a chance to get close as the Rhino staggers. He lands on his back, sinking his talons into his skin to make sure he wasn’t going anywhere. 

The Rhino yells out, trying to shake Miguel off to no avail. Miguel stays low, avoiding the Rhino’s horns from touching him as you see his mask fade away. You couldn’t help the excitement that flared up in you no matter how hard you tried at the sight of Miguel’s fangs. You always thought they were pretty cool, not that he needed to know that. 

Just as Miguel goes in to bite, your senses jump to alert, spotting the reason a second too late.

This Rhino also had a self-destruct in its suit. Great.

You don’t even get to yell out a warning before light is all you see, your body flying back hard into something also oh-so-unluckily for you, harder. Yeah, you weren’t a fan of the big city at all. 

You blearily feel around for your surroundings, crying out at the sudden sharp pain that emerges from your abdomen. That can’t be good. 

You keep blinking until your vision clears, immediately searching for Miguel. You spot him not too far from the Rhino, also on the floor, but relatively unharmed. You sigh in relief. The Rhino also looked unharmed for the most part, to your dismay. He was however, now left without a suit, which meant less obstacles for Miguel. You weren’t too far from them either, but you definitely weren’t close. They were stopped right in front of the entrance to the tunnel, still gathering their bearings. You could tell the Rhino would get up and keep moving soon.

You attempt to move again, but the pain is too intense. You finally glance down to assess the damages, a sharp intake of breath leaving you motionless. 

You had collided with a nearby abandoned car, and were very much inside of it via a damaged windshield. Shards of glass surrounded and were inside you, some minor, some probably very bad. You reach up cautiously to your face, feeling parts of your mask torn as well. You take a breath to steady yourself and try not to panic. You were going to catch that fucking rhino whether it was on your last breath or not. It was extremely personal now.

You manage to maneuver yourself until your front is sticking out of the windshield, trying not to aggravate the pieces of glass that you deemed too dangerous to take out. You spot a nearby car and spray out your web, dragging yourself out on your back. You’d have to ignore the stinging for now. You see Miguel starting to get up as well, and call out to him.

“You have to go NOW, O’Hara!” You cough, body running cold at the taste of iron in your mouth. “Quick!”

His head snaps over at the sound of your voice, body stilling as the words he had ready to say die on his tongue. It takes a blink from you for him to land in front of you, on his knees as he cradles your head. 

“What,” He attempts to compose himself, and you can’t help but let out a small puff of a chuckle at the sight. You may have wanted him to hold you at some point, but definitely not like this. “What did you–what were you–” He takes another breath. Your heart aches at the slight tremor in his voice, and the feel of his talons digging slightly into your skin that he doesn’t seem to have noticed has come out. 

“I.. definitely didn’t plan on flying into a windshield today.” You attempt to joke. You hated seeing him so upset. You had never seen him like this before, and it was starting to scare you. You must look pretty on the brink of death. Your breathing starts to pick up at the thought. 

You catch movement in the corner of your eye. Oh, man.

Your eyes flick back to Miguel. “You need to move.” His face remains tight, expression at a loss for what to do. “Just do what we usually do: kick ass.” Your attempt to smirk is interrupted by another blood filled cough. 

“Hey.” You try again, your hand finding his. You grip it as tight as you can. “I’ll be fine. Take me out on a date after this and we’ll call it even. I don’t know what’s gonna happen after this, so make it a good one, okay?” 

Before he has the chance to respond back you move your head out of his lap, rolling over sharply to aim at the rocks surrounding the tunnel entrance and pull, the pain in your abdomen nearly causing you to black out. You fall forward back onto the ground, stomach down. Your body seems to make the choice to knock out for you this time, the sound of crashing rocks and the feeling of blood rushing out of you is the last thing you remember.

– – 

Beep. Beep. Beep. 

Beep. Beep.

Bee–

Your eyes snap open, greeted with the sight of white walls and ceiling. 

You were alive, great! But damn did your body hurt. You felt the pinch of an IV in your arm as you shifted to get more comfortable, looking around. They must’ve had you on some pretty good pain killers if a small ache in your limbs was the extent of your pain thus far. Looking down, you see a hospital gown donned on your body, and bandages were wrapped practically everywhere. You hated that the first thought that came to your mind was wondering how you were going to pee. You don’t think there were any bandages down there…

You take a peek under your gown. 

All good.

Taking an even longer survey of the room, you realize you got lucky. No one else was there. Yet. You were aware of how close you were cutting it at the time. If Miguel’s face before you passed out was any indication, there was at least someone that was tasked with doing rounds on your location. You just hoped you hadn’t been out for too long.

Almost as if you had summoned said person, your senses alert you of someone’s presence a second before the door slowly opens, the door’s shadow growing larger before thinning out again. Lo and behold, it was an exhausted looking Miguel, his eyes unfocused. The dark circles under his eyes looked more pronounced, his lips pressed together in an even tighter line. Another wave of ache runs through your body at the sight. You couldn’t help but want to immediately alleviate the tension that lay thick in the air.

Miguel walks over to one of the sinks in the corner, setting something you couldn’t see down. He had closed the door softly, quietly, still unaware you were watching. You see his shoulders rise and fall as he lets out a sigh, turning on the faucet to splash his face with water. 

What time was it? A quick dart to the clock above the door alerts you to the fact that it’s 3am. 

There wasn’t much light throughout the room, but it wasn’t as if the two of you really needed it to see each other. You can almost see his face in clear detail as the man stills at the sight of your eyes, open, meeting his. 

You attempt to speak, but a sharp dry sensation attacks your throat, leaving you to cough instead.

You blink and Miguel is already at your bedside table, turning the low light lamp on as he pours you a cup of water from a nearby pitcher. His hands completely envelope the small glass, careful as he hands it to you. You take it gratefully, greedily enjoying the brief warmth his hands provide. 

“Thanks,” You finally say, not sure where to look. You truly didn’t know what the man was going to say. “I—“

“What you did was stupid.”

“Alright…” You muttered. Getting right to it, then. 

Miguel takes a seat in the only chair next to your bedside, eyes seemingly more red in the low light of the room. If they could burn through you you were sure they already would have. Tiny little ___ bits…

“Trust me when I tell you I didn’t go out with the goal to end up punted into a windshield.” You start, tone flat. “And excuse me for following your protocol: getting the mission done. I know it was stupid. I also knew you were going to keep me safe.” Your eyes flicker up to meet his.

“And if those were my last moments, yeah, it definitely would have sucked… That would’ve meant no date.” You truly didn’t know what else to say. What happened, happened. You can’t really say you regret it, either. Classic Spider antics.

Miguel runs a hand through his hair, brows furrowed in frustration as he mutters in Spanish under his breath. “What is this, some sort of game to you? This is serious.”

“And also part of the job.” You respond. You pause to really take him in now, curiosity driving forward in your mind. You were honestly surprised he was even here right now. And if the natural way he had maneuvered around the room was any indication, he must’ve been the one checking in on you. You didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but this was definitely nowhere near the usual lecture you’d receive for doing something he didn’t like. “What’s up with you?”

Looking at Miguel, you could almost see the turmoil going on inside his head. He opened his mouth before closing it again, lips pursed, jaw tight. If it weren’t for the tension in the air as you waited for him to speak, you would’ve said the man looked adorable, almost pouty. Now, though, it was almost like pulling nails out of concrete.

“When you… when I saw you on the ground like that.” Miguel’s tone was low, deep. It was his turn to look away now. “I felt… helpless. Weak. I haven’t felt that way since—well. I’m sure you can guess. I wasn’t expecting to feel that way. Wasn’t prepared to.” 

You were left speechless. 

“If I had gotten close faster, sunk my fangs into that fucker’s throat… I kept thinking, over and over again.” It was as if the floodgates had opened, Miguel getting any and everything he could on his mind out now. “I froze. And when you pulled away, fell to the ground, it felt like I was running with her in my arms again. Then she was gone. You were gone.”

“Miguel…”

“So, yeah.” His eyes meet yours once more, heavy. You wait for him to say more, but he doesn’t. If he was going to bear his heart to you in this way, you were going to too.

“I… never really was joking, you know.” You start playing with the blanket on your lap. “Pretty sure you already guessed that.” You chuckle softly.

“I can’t ever know what it’s like to lose something like that, but I want you to know I am here for you. I really just wanted to see how you felt about me; really didn’t have much to lose... I’m not really sure what to do now—“

Your words are cut off by the sensation of lips meeting yours, warm yet hot at the same time. Your hands grip the sides of Miguel’s hoodie, the IV in your arm preventing you from reaching higher. You feel Miguel’s hands hold your head in place as his lips continue to tangle desperately with yours. His fangs brush against your bottom lip and you shiver. 

When you part, you’re almost gasping for air, stomach tingling. Woah.

“If you’ll have me, I promise you I won’t let go.” You whisper, earnest.

Miguel looks surprised as you say this, like he wasn’t the one to initiate your heart to heart moment. His thumbs caress your cheekbones as he moves close once more. 

“Yo también,” He pecks your lips. “mi cariño.”

You rest your foreheads against each other, basking in the silence and comfort of the moment. A beat passes.

“How do you feel about bowling?”

[adobe-outdesign]

chia pop chia reviews, maybe? is there even a better name for those because chia pop chia sounds unwieldy but they aren't all fruit. potato chia pop when

(Note: I already covered a bunch of Chia-specific colours in my Chia review. To avoid redundancy, I'm going to list a few secondary favorites in this colour review so the entire thing isn't a repeat. Also, I'm doing my least favorite colour instead of species for obvious reasons.)

Chia pops are basically just those cheap ice pops where they come in liquid form and you toss them into your freezer. There are a bunch of them and for the most part they're normal food items... except for a few with the handful of "magical". For reasons that have never even been remotely explained in the lore, Chias that eat magical Chia pops change into a matching fruit/veg form, most of which are unique to them specifically. These additional colours give the Chia some flavor (both literally and figuratively) and are their main gimmick.

Conversion is a weird topic for these Chias. The bulk of them got redrawn and put into standard poses for customization (which is a particularly strange choice as they can't wear clothes anyway)... except for some that just didn't, for no clear reason.

Because the conversion was so uneven there's no way to make a judgement call for all colours, but on average I'd say that they looked better pre-conversion, as they tend to just look strange in the default poses—though on the plus side, most of them lost the weird lower lip that Chias used to have. Hopefully TNT will consider doing pet styles for these colours in the future so people can pick and choose what they like best.

(Secondary) Favorite Species:

Agueena: Chias that are based on Neopets-specific fruits are always neat, and the agueena was already a good-looking item, so unsurprisingly the agueena Chia also looks pretty good. It's less fruit-like than some, but the cyan-on-blue splotches make for a good pattern that works really well with the orange hair-like "leaves". The shading on this one's also really good.

Banana: I like my fruit and veg Chias ridiculous, and this is a ridiculous colour all right. The elongated body is immediately distinct and fun, and I like how its partially unpeeled, which adds a bit more visual interest to it than it would have otherwise.

My only issue with it is that I wish the face lineart was colored so it matched the rest of the design. Also, the arms and legs don't seem to actually line up with the body quite right; I kind of feel like the legs should've been redrawn and the arms dropped entirely ala the onion Chia.

Thornberry: Another Neopets-specific fruit, this design is pretty similar to the tomato Chia, which is its only major drawback. However, I find myself liking the thornberry Chia more, as it has a bit more contrast with the dark feet and the texture at top breaks up the otherwise monocolor body.

This is absolutely a colour we could use a pet style for though, as the unconverted version was much better. Aside from having better face proportions, the variable sizes of spikes really added something to it.

Least Favorite Colour:

Gooseberry: Just kind of a strange pick of fruit to begin with (for those wondering: gooseberries are an actual thing, look it up), nothing about the gooseberry Chia has ever looked good. The colors are drab and low-contrast, the body is weirdly off-kilter and has poor shading, the face placement is odd (it used to be lower down on the pre-conversion art, which was better but not by much), and ironically the thickness of the stripes make it not look much like an actual gooseberry. Honestly, all this does is make me want a watermelon Chia.

[yukachaan]

Found family anime recommendation list

I've been thinking about making this rec list for a while because found family is my absolute favorite trope, so this is really self indulging haha 🤭

these are just some of my personal favorites, but if you guys have more recommendations please add them!

(This list contains spoilers!)

1. Dororo- absolutely heartbreaking and beautiful. the two main characters, Dororo and Hyakkimaru, develop such a special and precious bond throughout the story, and what makes it even more interesting is that at the beginning, Hyakkimaru is not able to see, hear, or really communicate with Dororo, and he gets those abilities slowly throughout the story (through killing demons haha yes it's that kind of story), so it makes the development of their relationship really unique. Both of them don't have their actual families for different reasons, but I absolutely LOVE the familial relationship they develop!

2. spy x amily - everyone's new favorite family lol. I don't think I need to elaborate, I love the little family they've built. it's so cute how all three of them have their own selfish reasons to want to keep this family unit, but at the same time care so deeply (and obliviously) for each other, I love it! there's not a single character I dislike, there wasn't a single episode i was bored watching (so far). it's like the perfect found family - they found each other, and just created a family instantly haha. If for any reason you're still not watching this, you really really should

3. banana fish - ugh honestly it's hard to find words for this one, it's so so SO good, but also, watch at your own risk, it's been years and my heart still hasn't recovered. The relationship between the two main characters, Ash and Eiji, is so beautiful and touching and tender, and it's so satisfying to watch. Ash deserves all the love omg 😭 I love how they take care of each other, how it's obvious to everyone how much they love each other. and i hate how it ended but that's a talk for another time...

4. Run with the wind - ok so i think most sports anime have an aspect of found family - your teammates become kinda your family, and friendships and bonds are usually the main focus. but i think it's especially highlighted in run with the wind - it's a show about running a marathon, and it's in a university setting (which already makes it more interesting lol). i LOVE connections between the characters. here as well, there's not a single character i dislike. even king who i didn't really care about in the beginning, I grew to love so much by the end. and Haiji might be my favorite character of all times. like throughout all platforms, he's my favorite. he created this team and he made them a family and i just wish i had a haiji in my life, you know? 😭

5. march comes in like a lion - ok, so, this one is especially precious to me, and i think it's my favorite anime of all times. officially, the show is about a boy who plays shogi professionally, and it is a part of it, but there's so much more to this anime. I've never watched anything that handled depression, and the journey of getting better, in a more accurate way than this show. the main character, Rei, is an orphan, and has a really complicated life story. he meets these three sisters, and is kinda invited to be a part of their little family. the relationships in this show are so touching and tender, even when nothing sad was happening i found myself crying. the sisters basically adopt rei, and little by little help him heal some of his wounds. the visuals of this show are perfect, you can feel everything rei is feeling. the sisters' house feels warm and inviting, while other spaces feel cold and disconnected. it's brilliant. also, the show handles the different characters with so much care, you end up caring about them all. i can go on forever lol, it's a masterpiece.

6. kids on the slope - another brilliant show. this is a slice of life, and the focus is on the friendship of three teens in the 60's. i love this one because even though they all have families that play a part in the story, they still become like a family to one another. their relationships are so touching, and so realistic. it deals with jealousy and friendship and love and loneliness in such a realistic, relatable way. for example one of the boys gets really jealous when his friend gets a new friend, it makes him lash out in such an unreasonable way, but at the same time you can totally relate to what he's feeling, because like, which one of us hasn't been there, right? i really recommend! (Also, the music is absolutely fantastic!)

7. Umibe no Etranger- maybe some people would think this doesn't belong here, but i totally think that along with love, this movie is totally about found family 😊 the two main boys are both on their own, Mio because he was orphaned, and Shun because he lost connection with his family after coming out. throughout the story, they become each other's family and support system (especially if you keep reading the manga like i have hehe🤭). i love their relationship so much!

8. fruits basket - again, maybe it's not the main trope, but it's definitely very much there! tohru, who is left without a family, finds a new family in the form of the very dysfunctional sohma family, that cares about her immensely, while she also cares about them and helps them heal and break their curse. i never read the manga or watched the old anime, and i didn't expect this to be as deep and painful as it was, but honestly one of my favorite shows right now.

9. Poko's udon world - so! freaking! cute! is it a ploy to make people have families and kids? perhaps. do i care? nope. Poko is the cutest child character ever, and the parent-child relationship between sota and poco is so precious, this is the most literal definition of a found family lol- sota found poco and basically instantly adopted him. the story is really touching and cute!

10. Clannad + Clannad after story - ugh i don't know if I'm able to talk about this one again, as it makes my heart hurt. this is one of my all time favorites. i think even though it's a love story, above all else it's a story about family. i wasn't sure if it fits the "found family" category but decided it does. even before nagisa and tomoya get married, tomoya is basically adopted by nagisa's family. they take him in to allow him some distance from his father, and show him how happy and loving a family can be. Also, all the friendship in the story are meaningful and have a familial feel to them. throughout the show there's a lot of focus on the subject of family, which leads to the main characters creating their own new little family unit. if you've been living under a rock i must warn you, I've never cried this much while watching a show in my life. while the ending is a happy one (well... in a bizarre kind of way, i guess), there's so much pain throughout the whole show, it's overwhelming at times. still, it's so so good and i really recommend to give it a try! (please, get through the first season and get to Clannad after story, it's really worth it!)

11. Usagi drop- i also wasn't sure if this fits the found family category, as it deals with an actual family, but wth, it's my list i can do what i want lol. very sweet story about a guy who adopts his grandfather's 6 year old daughter when he dies (yes, his aunt, basically), when no one else in the family wants to take her in. it's very sweet, very touching. they slowly become a family, and he learns what it means to be a single parent, and what sacrifices he has to make (like getting demoted at his job so he'll have more time to take care of his kid). the show is very wholesome, but don't read the manga, as i heard it went in different, less wholesome directions.

12. kotaro lives alone- this show was a ride! i was expecting a silly show about a 4 year old boy who lives alone, and got a heartbreaking show about neglect and trauma. his neighbors become his family throughout the show, and come to love him a lot and take care of him, and their relationships are very entertaining and sweet. ngl, i cried a lot during this show. i do think it deals with some very triggering things, so you should check that before watching 😊

and.. that's it for now! these are the ones i thought about so far, please feel free to add your own recommendations! i would love to get more!

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Bengiyo's Queer Cinema Syllabus

For those of you who don’t know, I decided to run the gauntlet of @bengiyo’s queer cinema syllabus, which is comprised of 9 units. I have completed four of the units (here is my queer cinema syllabus round up post with all the films I’ve watched and written about so far). It is time for me to make my way through Unit 5- Lesbians, which includes the following films: The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995), Bound (1996), Water Lilies (2007) [Skipping for now until I can get access to it], Saving Face (2004), D.E.B.S. (2004), The Watermelon Woman (1996), Set It Off (1996), The Handmaiden (2016), Carol (2015), Imagine Me and You (2005), Two of Us (2019), Rafiki (2018), and The Color Purple (1985).

Today I will be talking about

The Watermelon Woman (1996) dir. Cheryl Dunye

[Run Time: 1:25, Available on: HBO Max, Hulu, Google, etc; Language: English]

Summary: A young black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played 'mammy' archetypes.

Cast:

Cheryl Dunye as Herself

Valarie Walker as Tamara

Guinevere Turner as Diana

__

This film was a really interesting watch for me because I did no research about this film beforehand and went in to it really thinking it was a documentary, but as the film progressed I started questioning which pieces of the film were real and which pieces were not, and to learn at the end that the entire biography of Fae Richards aka “The Watermelon Woman” was fake was a really great moment of realization that I both started to question what was real but also that I have approximately zero background knowledge of Black Hollywood and therefore went in to this without any knowledge necessary to know that this biography was fiction. Which, I think, is part of the point of the film, right? How little of history has been regarded as important and recorded, knowing that there are people like you out there that did the things you want to do, that made an impact on the world, but not having the tangible evidence. 

I have a love-hate relationship with the knowledge that Cheryl had to invent a piece of history to resonate with her, but love at the same time that her feature film debut, (which made her the first out Black lesbian director of a feature film) was dedicated to building up that history, and recording her own history as a Black lesbian in the film industry, so she cannot or will not be erased or forgotten. 

That all said, I want to write about a couple of things that I really enjoyed from this film and think are important, even though I know they are scripted. 

First things first, I loved that she went about obtaining information about The Watermelon Woman directly from her own community. That we get clips of her asking people on the street, that she seeks her mother’s knowledge, Tamara’s uncle’s knowledge, the knowledge of her mother’s friend who is herself a Black lesbian and only then starts turning to additional sources: to the library, to the experts. Not only that but I loved that in the interview with Martha’s sister, that Cheryl holds the knowledge of her own community as the truth and is not swayed by Mrs. Page-Fletcher’s adamant statements denying her sister’s queerness.

Secondly, some notable visual touches:

I do not know why but my eye was super drawn to this one guy behind Cheryl and Tamara in the library who was wearing red lipstick, mostly because it brought a lot of minstrel show imagery to mind. It’s totally possible that is not what she was going for, but because so much of the “documentary” was based around mammy archetypes in film, which is itself a caricature, that is the first place I went to.

Mrs. Page-Fletcher, who is established as racist, homophobic, and the sibling of someone who created films with mammy characters, having a Black maid come in and check on her as Cheryl and Diana are getting ready to leave the interview.

The AIDS poster in Cheryl’s apartment

The banana skirt in the Ken Burns style Fae photos in the last scene.

Third, something I do not think I have the time to unpack my feelings about but sure as hit me with the layers of commentary: 

The interview with Dr. Camille Paglia, who is playing herself, talking about how much she loves mammy archetypes and that fat bodies are sexy, and how women in the kitchen is not a sexist thing, and that watermelon is an important symbol and how she ties all of that to her own Italian heritage and experience as an Italian. 

That interview with the Dr. Paglia is especially interesting to me in conjunction with the conversation occurring between multiple characters and Cheryl around the inclusion of white people in the “documentary” and inclusion of white people in her life. Tamara, for example, gets increasingly emotionally distant from Cheryl the more she hangs around/longer she dates Diana and the more she is nice to Annie. Fae Richards’ lover Jane leaves a message criticizing Cheryl for her inclusion of Martha Page (a white woman) in the documentary about a Black lesbian at all. Cheryl appears to disagree with that because Martha Page was queer and in a relationship with Fae and therefore is relevant to the story. The C.L.I.T volunteer talks about donations of information from the Hysteria Project which wanted to focus solely on Black people in history so they have crossed out the white people.

There are pieces of this that are clear but not explicitly stated, especially around why Tamara is getting increasingly frustrated with Cheryl. And we end on the biography of Fae and statements about needing to create history, thereby ending entirely by focusing on the story of two Black lesbians (Fae Richards’ fictional life, and Cheryl Dunye’s actual one), which I think is the appropriate choice. 

Favorite Scene (and Favorite Quote): 

I think my favorite scene is the final scene, because it really feels like the thesis statement of the entire film. In it, Cheryl Dunye sits talking to the camera as if she were talking to Jane (Fae’s lover) before diving fully in to this fictionalized life of this invented Black lesbian. Cheryl says the following: 

“I mean I know she meant the world to you but she also meant the world to me and I know those worlds are different. But the moments she shared with you the life she had with Martha on and off the screen, those are precious moments and nobody can change that. But what she means to me, a 25-year old Black woman means something else. It means hope, inspiration, possibility. It means history. And most importantly what I understand is that I am going to be the one who says I am a Black, lesbian filmmaker who’s just beginning, but I’m gonna say a lot more and have a lot more work to do.”

And she has, she has done a ton more work since her debut here in 1996.

Score 

9/10

This is a very smart film with a lot of things to say, there was a lot of bad acting (which to be fair I did kinda love), and they made me listen to far too much karaoke in that one scene. 

Also, Cheryl Dunye? Hot

Next up, Set it Off (1996)

[mirai-e-jump]

Uchusen Vol. 76 (Spring 1996) Choukou Senshi Changerion Segment ft. Toshiki Inoue Interview (translations below)

Publication: June 1, 1996

BIRTH OF THE CHANGERION

Choukou Senshi Changerion, which began airing on April 3 as Toei Hero's third slot, is an extremely ambitious work that aims to create an epoch of 90s styled heroes.

First, there's the visual shock of the hero, with the heavy use of transparent materials. Shinohara Tamotsu was in charge of the design, and Rainbow Zoukei, which was in charge of the modeling, even installed new equipment for Changerion.

The result, as you can see, is a super battleship like suit, with two layers of crystals and mechanical parts throughout its body.

Another ambition of Changerion, is its spirit. As those who have seen the show already know, Akira Suzumura, the main character, is a person who has no sense of being a hero or having a mission.

With this character image at its core, the story is light hearted, with a comedic touch. At the moment, Screenwriter Toshiki Inoue's unique world is unfolding, as he handles all of it by himself. We'll leave the details to Producer Shirakura Shinichiro's comments, but, it's a completely new tokusatsu hero work that aims to be an anti existing hero. A new program with 100% expectations, keep an eye out for future developments! _

Staff Comments

Design: Shinohara Tamotsu

"Based on the premise that the suit is made of a transparent material, the key idea is to give off the image of a, "Demon in Angel's clothes." Both order and chaos are coexisting. For the transparent parts, I tried to create a godly feel with wings and muscles, which are associated with Greek mythology, while inside, I tried to create a rough feel with the complicated mechanics. It's true that the mechanics inside are so complicated, that it alone is like a demon…."

Modeling: Maezawa Nori (Rainbow Zoukei)

"Changerion is an idea that I've always wanted to try someday. That's why we tested it carefully, and finally completed the project after many retakes, until the very end of the permitted production time. I'm confident in saying that I've reached a level where I'm not embarrassed to consider this a modern tokusatsu hero. I'll continue to challenge myself to create new concepts whenever I have the opportunity, so please continue to support us."

Producer: Shirakura Shinichiro

"Our first priority when planning Changerion, was to create a true to life hero. For humans, I don't think they'd suddenly feel a sense of justice or mission when suddenly told that they're heroes from this day forward. Everyone wants to have fun and enjoy life. From that perspective, what kind of drama can we create? That was the theme. To achieve this, I wanted to establish the appeal of Akira's character as a human being, and make him the driving force for pulling the story along. For that reason, Inoue-san was the best choice for screenwriter. Another thing is that I want people to think is, "This is kinda stylish." I want it to give off the feel that this is a story that's happening right now, in the year 1996, and no other time. I want to properly capture the feeling of "Now" in my work. In that case, we, the staff of Changerion, are thinking of creating a completely new work without being bound by the existing image of a hero, so please look forward to it." _

Main Cast

"Why is this guy like this? And of all people…he's Changerion."

Suzumura Detective Agency Main Character: Akira Suzumura, is the head of the detective agency. Although he pretends to be a first rate detective, the work he receives is always something like searching for lost dogs and cats, and, he's constantly running into debt.

Akira Suzumura (Takashi Hagino): A naturally happy go lucky person. By chance, he's exposed to the Crystal Power and gains the power of Changerion, but he's not aware of being a warrior. He loves banana parfaits.

Akemi Tachibana (Mie Hayashi): A college student and a part time employee of the Suzumura Detective Agency. She's a reliable person and is practically in charge of the office. Her family runs a guest house in Iwate.

SAIDOC Members: Katsuhiko Hayami (Kazunari Aizawa), Takeshi Munakata (Noboru Ichiyama), Eri Minami (Chika Kochihira) A special agency established by scientist Takeshi Munakata in preparation for the DarkZide invasion. As a trump card, he carries out the Changerion Project using recovered DarkZide technology, but, all of it was accidentally taken by Akira, and the agency is in trouble financially.

Super Light Knight: 3 droids developed by SAIDOC to support Changerion. Each of them has the ability to transform from robot mode to vehicle mode.

DarkZide: Higher life forms that emerged in the Dark Dimension and evolve differently from humans. They disguise themselves as humans and hide in society. They're monsters whose purpose is to absorb "Larmu," the biological energy of humans. _

Interview with Toshiki Inoue

-Akira is quite honestly an incredible superhero-

"Inoue-san, have you been involved with Changerion since the planning stage?

Inoue: I have. We've been planning since the days of "Android Hakaider." So, since this would be the start of a brand new show, I thought it'd be better to break away from the existing hero genre. That being the case, I was certain that comedy was the way to go, and that comedy is the way to go from now on. I don't have anything to back up this claim (laughs).

"How did you create the main character?"

Inoue: In the beginning, he wasn't going to be a detective. He'd be a "fugitive". Like that old American TV series. I was trying to do a comedy with "The Fugitive" in mind, but it just didn't work out. It ended up becoming too dark (laughs). It's funnier when fugitives run away laughing like crazy. And since they're never in a single spot, it's hard to determine their location. That's why I made him a detective.

"In reality, being a detective is pretty plain, and isn't a very cheerful profession."

Inoue: That's right. Akira used to do pretty boring work before he became Changerion, didn't he? But, he's got a playful spirit even in his mundane work, so he has fun carrying a gun and acting pretentious. Characters like that are so important to me in that, it doesn't matter what their occupation is. It doesn't matter if he's a fugitive or a detective. He happened to become a detective by chance because it'd be easier to tell the story as a detective.

"The fact that the main character becomes a hero by chance is similar to Jetman."

Inoue: That's right. That's why there's only two ways to create a hero. Either it's someone who's selected and chosen, or it's someone that shouldn't have been selected but becomes a hero anyway. For me, I like the latter.

"The enemy's setup isn't really depicted within the show."

Inoue: Executives are becoming alot more unnecessary. When I start a show, even if I want to do something new, I don't change my mind so quickly, so I thought that things like an evil organization and other detailed settings were all necessary. But, as we started and the drama progressed, my expectations became different in a positive way. I began to think that we could do without all that. I can say that because the story is moving along. So, you know, it's easier to understand Changerion if you think of it as just a detective drama. It doesn't have to be a so called hero story, where it's split up by allies and enemies who then fight each other. It also doesn't have to be like a final episode, where the enemy is finally defeated and the story ends. But, the scenario is difficult. If this were a normal hero story, I could do the whole show with just one idea, but it's a comedy, so I have to come up with alot of material, so it's…..it's abit tiring, isn't it? (laughs).

"What would Inoue-san consider to be his image of a hero?"

Inoue: It would be a guy who's complacent. When faced with a crisis, everyone goes into a state of panic, so I think that having composure in such a situation is a strong point. That's why Akira is quite honestly an incredible superhero, now that I just thought about it (laughs).

[redstringraven]

TMNT’s 40th anniversary ask game ~ May I ask for number 22) , 26) and 35) ? Lots of love <3

TuT!!!! THANK u, cherry. loves of love to you, too 💜✨

(please excuse that this ask is visually a bit more of a mess. i wrote too much again for tumblr to be chill with my usual formatting. why am i like this.)

TMNT's 40th anniversary ask game!

22.) what is your favorite kind of pizza?

terrible news, everyone: i'm a pro-pineapple bitch. you may block and unfollow me now; i forgive you for being incorrect (/lh). i tend to be pescatarian if i can help it (i'm flexible due to money, and also i hate inconveniencing others especially if i'm a guest), so i prefer pizza without meats. i'm happy to eat any kind of veggie combination with the exception of banana peppers. never liked those for some reason. i also really like mushroom and eggs as pizza toppings. i'm kind of just an egg fiend in general; i love the taste of a well-made egg.

26.) what is one of your favorite pieces of TMNT fan art?

these things keep asking for one, but i'm gonna continue responding with however many i feel like. because it's not my dad. the scarf, by @hamsterandturtlesoup weakness is a sickness and a virtue, by @tatortart various candid illustrations by richard chen vis dev by kellan jett

35.) which character relationships are your favorite to write/draw?

...since we're both OC people, i'm gonna take this as an opportunity to gush about canon and OC relationships: two of my favorite brotps. because they're character relationships i adore writing with all my heart and soul.

mikey, gwyn & ash i mentioned previously that @plantdonutwrites (jenn) writes for mikey in our RPs, so i consulted her for mikey's perspective on this brot3. i will paraphrase her answer in this paragraph:

"all his life, mikey's been used to only having his bros as company; they're family in a way that puts the rest of us to shame. but as they grew older they met all sorts of people, some became an extension of that family. raph has casey or maybe angel when he wants to dip for a bit. don has leatherhead or the professor (bree, too), and leo has usagi even if he's not 'as regular' (and min-ji, too). his brothers have their separate circles of friends, but, against all odds, mikey doesn't seem to have that (at least not until cassia shoved her foot in the loneliness door). then he bonded with gwyn and ash... but then they left. he realized that it wasn't just that they didn't treat him like 'the annoying brother who tags along' but because they'd actually become friends, and they were friends who didn't humor him. they liked the comics he talked about, they love klunk, and they're interested in his art and ideas. it meant a lot to him to have that--to know what it was like--and when they weren't around, he really felt the difference. in an odd way they helped him become a more empathetic person, too."

it's harder to answer in ash's perspective because she has a lot less agency than gwyn and, because gwyn's paranoid/won't let ash out of her own hands much less her line of sight, ash doesn't get a lot of one-on-one time with mikey. she's interacted with him a LOT more than she's interacted with most people--which absofuckinglutely means something--but since she does consider herself 'dead' and is at peace with the possibility she'll be a literal shapeshifting weapon for the rest of her sentience, i think a lot of his meaning to her (right now) is very rooted in what he means for gwyn. THAT being said.

mikey is gwyn's first real friend. like. ever. in all the time she's been alive. very much in the same way that the brothers only had each other for most of their lives, gwyn only ever had ash. her community considered her a parasite and an omen, so she was essentially outcast. gwyn grew up feeling she wasn't wanted, had to earn any love she received, and when ash died and became trapped in the weapon, all that transpired and followed afterward re-enforced that. i haven't talked about darach a lot--deliberately--but know that he's a masterful manipulator in more ways than one. if ch'rell was brute force and intimidation, darach is more like the pot you put a frog in and slowly turn up the heat. you don't realize you're being boiled alive until it's too late. thanks to his influence, gwyn's been tricked, back-stabbed, cornered, and watched people suffer 'because of her' countless times. when i said she was paranoid, i wasn't really being hyperbolic. she has SEVERE trust issues. ...then came mikey. someone who, unknowingly, had already given them a taste of his character.

gwyn and ash had heard of mikey's rematch with kluh during their travels--that the match was made mortal, that mikey had not only won but had spared kluh's life when he had every reason not to. darach wouldn't approach someone like him, they figured. and as time passed, mikey continued to not just be open and kind with them, but again and again he's emphasized to gwyn that they just... CARE. to quote him "we don't keep you guys around for any benefits other than being able to know you". which, in so many ways, is unheard of for gwyn. she still struggles to believe him sometimes, but she trusts him. mikey is her first and best friend, he's someone she admires, and he's proven time and time again that ash isn't the only person capable of loving her, and that she's worthy of that love by just being herself. i had to spend a lot of this answer on exposition because OC, but... i earnestly can't emphasize enough how much mikey's come to mean to gwyn. he asked her not to leave again without them, and she promised she wouldn't. that promise to him has kept her from running away and isolating. even though she's terrified--for herself, for ash, for them--she trusts him. writing them makes me so happy. it's been such a delight to see their relationship evolve and the influences they've had on each other and their worldviews. i love this brot3 so goshdang much.

min-ji & raph min-ji belongs to jenn and, oh my god, i love her relationship with raph so, SO much. when we rp, jenn's obviously writing for min, and i write for raph.

again! consulted jenn! her answer paraphrased below:

"raph's pretty much the first assertive person in her life that had her back early on? her home life is complex; her family DOES love her but sometimes that love can veer controlling and toxic (responsibilities/obligations). raph was a type of personality she'd never been around before, and he cared about her well-being in a way that was unconditional. hanging out with him more helped her become more assertive and in touch with parts of herself she was forced to suppress to be more palatable to her family. she's found that being angry about something that happened to her, or something that was said to her, doesn't make her bad or a burden. raph doesn't expect her to shy away from her flaws or nuances. he lets her be a person."

as for raph's end, it's kind of hard to put into words. but i love that min-ji has become one of the very few people he will allow himself moments of vulnerability around. like. instead of it just happening, he makes the choice to let a wall or six down. they've created a mutual safe space between each other.

i think this has cultivated from a lot of things. min was much more timid when they met--raph even made a bit of a point, initially, to not interact with her so much because she was skittish and on-edge thanks to surrounding events. but through the events of our writing, he's watched her grow in self-confidence, be more open, and allow herself to 'take up' more space. she's also survived two major threats to her life, now, both of which have scarred her physically and emotionally, yet she persists and continues to extend kindness to people who, in his opinion, don't deserve it. but that's HER business (while he makes his feelings known, he stays out of it unless she signals him otherwise). she may not be a fighter in a literal sense, but he sees her as an equal. like, he's still protective of her in dangerous situations since she's not trained to fight--obviously--but... i dunno, i guess it's more like "i've been through shit; you've been through shit; if i say things look bad right now, you won't like it but you also won't give up". he doesn't feel a pull to coddle her if things are looking grim, i guess is what i'm trying to say?; he'll shoot straight with her because he knows she IS a fighter. even if she doesn't fight. does THAT make sense?

like i said, it's hard to put into words. but i think it's a combination of min-ji's emotional strength and kindness as a person, as well as the fact she's not an immediate family member, that make it easier for him to let those barriers down around her and have severely needed moments of vulnerability where he doesn't dismiss pain or fear or anything else he might be feeling. he knows min would never lash out at him, physically, emotionally, or however else. min-ji is kind, and she's strong, and she's safe. he trusts her, values and respects her judgment and input. much in the same way his presence lets her feel like a person, she's extended that grace to him. just in a different way. i love getting to write interactions between them. there's always something warm and comforting in their exchanges, light-hearted or more melancholic. it's nice. the love is very much there.

[mostofthingsmostofthetime]

Omg just watched episode 2 of Distant Lands & I'm screaming.

Now, don't get me wrong, I definitely shipped Bubbleline before, but this episode had me INVESTED!!!!

Ahhr, I don't even know where to start?

The glass kingdom is so beautiful. I don't care how impractical it'd be, I wanna live there.

Marceline's old look was so awesome!!!!!! like, don't get me wrong, she always looks good, but I know WLW were being fed this episode, lol. As for me, I want Bubblegum's wardrobe STAT as not only is it a pastel lover's dream come true, but all the clothes look so soft (which I don't know how they manage to convey in 2D but they did).

Domestic Bubbleline has my entire heart forever, bye!!!!

Am I correct in seeing the friendship between glass boy & See Through princess as a parallel to Finn & Bubblegum's early friendship? Like tall, beautiful royal that's bogged down by her duty vs small, younger(?), disabled (which Finn later ends up becoming), blue boy who starts feeling dismissed/not taken seriously by his older(?) friend & wants to help/be a hero despite not having any powers (ok, so Finn has lightning amuinty, but that didn't come till much later)? Plus, there's the whole fire monster trying to kill him only for it to turn out to not be so bad, like when flame princess was introduced, & turning into (what looks to me like) some kind of a butterfly at the end, which we know was one of the things Finn was reincarnated as in a past life.

Those royal helpers (or whatever they're called) suck ass.

Simon, I love you!!!! Also, Ignore those monsters. Wear that moomoo & crown if it helps you cope.

They bubble wrapped him!!!! I'm crying, that's the sweetest, funniest & most practical way to go about it though like dude, you're litrually made of glass & already have a cracked face. You need to be way more careful about your obvious fragility.

I'm sorry, Bonnie, but the song does slap.

This is the major Bubblegum betrayal that I've been hearing about? Omg you have to be kidding. Like, I'm not saying you HAVE to love her as a character, but you really had me scared she was gonna do something absolutely twisted & it turned out to be.....this? Like, don't get me wrong, her reasoning wasn't the best & it was definitely bad of her to keep it from Marcleline, but do we really want characters without flaws & why are some fans seemingly convinced that Bubblegum is the sole AT character (especially out of her & Marcleline) that has any? Like the episode litrually gives us serval scenes from both of their POV's to show us that they each have good & bad qualities, streaths & weaknesses, baggage/insecurities & don't always handle everything the best way (especially in the past) but that they clearly love each other & are now in a much better place. Where they are willing to learn & grow & be vunrable by actually talking things out & apologising if they do something that hurts the other. Also wasn't, overcoming past hurts that are impacting your current, hard earned happiness by realising that you can't always be right/win all the time & that it's not always worth it if it means loosing what really matters to you, a huge part of the theme of the episode?

Mama Marcleline, we finally get more of your backstory & god dose it hurt. RIP queen, you did the best you could (am still scared to find out how you ended up pregnant though coz like, Hunson's a freak LMFAO!). Also, baby Marcy, I wanna hug you so bad 💔😭.

Ok, that song is so fucking cute that it makes me wanna bite my own cheeks off & eat them, and no, I don't care that that doesn't make sense.

That's how she got the band shirt? Omg, shoot me dead!

Oh, Simon, you know those banana guards can't do shit lol.

Omg Finn!!!!! Ok, so I kind of already saw that visual (being online, you can only avoid spoilers for so long), but still. My man, looking good. No prostetic? That's probably nice for amputees to see. The Jake Tattoo makes me both happy & sad because, on the one hand, it shows how much they love each other, but on the other, he probably got it because Jake is dead in this time period (I'm assuming).

Omg, grown-up Bronwyn is so cute 🥰!!!!!!!!

All the other cracks being revealed in others was a lovely touch. Thinking about the cracks as flaws or imperfections (or truma like the "damage" people accuire through being alive) & how society demonises that to the point where people feel like they have to hide them & then lash out at others who can't or refuse to hide theirs. Also, love the princess getting pants, lol. The angry monster secretly having a cracked face the whole time got me ok . Like, no wonder it hated the palace for how they acted towards glass boy. When it first saw him, it was probably so happy to know that someone like it existed & then was so hurt that Glass Boy was trying to change himself to be like everyone else.

Yes, Glass boy, kill those assholes!!!!! I hate hypocrites. It's sadly realistic, though. Sometimes, it really is the people with the most flaws who wanna condemn people the most.

[strmrunner]

LIKE A SUGARY CONCOCTION SHOVED INTO A LOCKER. 　 ── 　 caution: mentions of death, blood, murder, and suicide further down. 　 In 2007, STRUMRUNNER Media—poorly named SWARM Entertainment at the time—entered the world of music with the debut of their first fictional boy group CANDYHEARTZ. Hitting the stage with the popular, yet highly controversial, single Descent of Warriors, they were met with instant success and skyrocketed in popularity, even gaining the attention of people overseas for the bone-chilling and blunt lyrics. Many praised and criticized the song, saying that it was great to be spreading this message but that they were capitalizing on people’s pain. 

This would do little to slow their growth; coming back with the single Last Romeo, the seven took on a completely different tone of voice by proclaiming their love in this dreamy and upbeat song. CandyHeartz would take on the roles of high school crushes and quickly became the standard for boy groups in the nation, considered to be the starting blueprint. 

However, the rug would be pulled from beneath them when their fellow group mate and leader, Park Daejung, was found dead in his studio only two years into their career. The remaining members would go on to release one last song under the new leadership of Choi Seomin, before collectively deciding to disband, unable to see a proper way forward without the core member of their group. 

Nowadays, the six are seldomly seen hanging out together in public, though they’ve each said they keep close contact with each other. Twice a year they join hands on stage again, once on their debut date and also on Daejung’s birthday, to honour the group and their fallen friend.

─── 　 THE BASICS .

DEBUT DATE: 　 September  13th  2OO7

DISBANDMENT DATE: 　 December  31st  2O1O

YEARS ACTIVE: 　 3 Years  &  3 Months  ( 2OO7 — 2O1O )

FANDOM NAME: 　 SUGARUSH 

OFFICIAL COLOURS: 　 Banana Taffy  ( #F9CB40 )   Berry Blast  ( #CA2E55 )   Electric Raspberry  ( #009FFD ) 

FANDOM COLOURS: 　 Tart Green Apple  ( #71B48D )   Watermelon Crush  ( #F9B9B7 )

CONCEPT: 　 High School Cliques and Romance – A theme inspired by western media like Heathers, High School Musical, and Grease where each member represents a different high school stereotype.

─── 　 THE LINEUP .

MOON BYEONGHO 　 aka THE SWEETHEART  ──  1985. 　 MAIN VOCALIST.  LYRICIST.  

Soft and kind are the two words most would use to describe Byeongho. Known for doting on the members the most and being able to portray such heavy emotion when singing, many were happy to see him re-debut as a soloist once the group had officially broken up. He continues to send money to Daejung’s younger siblings to help pay for living expenses and schooling.

IM YEONGSU 　 aka THE HEARTBREAKER  ──  1986. 　 RAPPER.  DANCER.  VISUAL.  

Known as the heartthrob of CandyHeartz and the most popular member, Yeongsu was hit the hardest with the news of Daejung’s passing; the two had been friends since diapers and promised to make it big together in the music world. Although he stayed with the company, Yeongsu practically disappeared from the public eye, keeping to the shadows until his reappearance nearly three years later as a soloist.

PARK DAEJUNG 　 aka THE POPULAR KID  ──  1986. 　 LEADER.  MAIN RAPPER.  PRODUCER.  FOTG.

Regarded as the heart and driver of CandyHeartz, many would collectively agree that Daejung was the sole reason for the band's existence. On May 31st 2010, during one of group’s breaks, family and fellow group members contacted the police with worries about the leader, stating that he hadn’t contacted any of them for a few days—behaviour that was highly uncharacteristic of the social butterfly. Police found him only hours later, slumped over in his work chair at the studio, bloody and unconscious. Dead. Originally ruling it as suicide, they only agreed to look into the crime further after heavy pressure from both fans and those closely concerned with the star came rolling in. To everyone, it was obvious that foul play was involved but till this day, Daejung’s case has still yet to be solved and the killer still remains at large.

CHOI SEOMIN 　 aka THE BRAINS  ──  1986. 　 MAIN VOCALIST.  PRODUCER.

If Daejung was the heart of the group, then Seomin was the mind. Known for his talents in producing and great determination, it was no shock to the public when Seomin was chosen as the new leader, serving as such until the group’s disbandment. Besides the other former members, no one truly knows what he does with his life nowadays. However when the new CEO of the rebranded STRMRUNNER Media was revealed in 2016, many believed it to be him and still do til this day.

OH JEONGHUN 　 aka THE JOCK  ──  1988. 　 RAPPER.  VOCALIST.  PRODUCER.  

Easily the most curious member, Jeonghun was the one to make the first call in the brief search for Daejung. He went on to blame himself, thinking that if he had checked in more, the leader’s death could’ve been prevented. Having stayed with SWARM Entertainment after the group’s disbandment, Jeonghun hasn’t shied away from the spotlight, becoming a known producer within their staff under the name JUDAS. 

KIM HYEONJUN 　 aka THE LONER  ──  1989. 　 MAIN DANCER.  VOCALIST. CHOREOEGRAPHER.

Already known for being quiet, Hyeonjun had practically turned into a ghost following Daejung’s death. Many pointed out how he’d withdrawn further into his shell, no longer the witty and blunt young man they were used to. He parted ways from SWARM Entertainment after their disbandment and opened up his own dance studio not too far from Daejung’s hometown, honouring the elder’s wishes to bring arts and music to his rundown neighbourhood.

LEE YUCHAN 　 aka THE NEW KID  ──  1990. 　 MAKNAE.  DANCER.  VOCALIST.  

As the last to hear about Daejung, Yuchan regrettably lived in a state of denial in the following weeks after, only coming to his senses when prompted to vote for their new leader. Following the disbandment of the group, Yuchan chose to stay with the company, but went on to pursue a degree in psychology before coming back as a dance instructor. Living a mainly quiet life, he rose to become a prominent advocate for idol mental health awareness over the years.

─── 　 THE DISCOGRAPHY .

DESCENT OF WARRIORS  ──  2OO7.  DEBUT SINGLE. 

LAST ROMEO  ──  2OO7.  SINGLE.

REPLAY  ──  2OO8.  EP.

JULIETTE  ──  2OO8.  EP.

MAN IN LOVE  ──  2OO9.  EP.

HEART ATTACK  ──  2OO9.  EP.

SWEET GIRL  ──  2O1O.  EP.

SPRING SNOW  ──  2O1O.  SINGLE.

[deliveryclan]

Ferret Clowder - The Proud

(credits to @/bonefall, @/rippleclan and @/salt-clangen for inspirations)

Let's start with the 'this is the most canon warrior cats clan I can handle before I get bored out of my mind' one.

Also - I don't want to lock them all in a specific climate, so if appearance of some trees or herbs or prey doesn't make sense, then that's why. The only rule I have is no actual tropical fruits/vegetables like bananas or coconuts. For the most part, I put in stuff that grows in my country (Poland) because that's what I'm most familiar with.

Intro

Ferret Clowder is, historically, the last clowder in the area to be established. After a disagreement on how to handle the issues surrounding what will became Oat Clowder's camp, the original group of cats split, and those entranced by stories of ancient 'wild' groups decided to set up a camp in the forest across the main parol. They called themselves 'Ferrets' after their superior, Ferret's Belly, and after each group picked their borders, they became 'Ferret Clowder'.

Nowadays, the modern Ferret cats don't remember that part of the history, and wholeheartedly believe that they were the first around here, originating from the ancient cat groups from the south. As a result, they put themselves higher than other clowder cats, believing that their way of life is 'superior'.

Background

Ferret Clowder is notable in the area, for having most traditional lifestyle. They pride themselves as most self-sufficient of the clowders in the area, and most respectful of their roots. Wholeheartedly believing into being descendants of ancient cat groups from the south.

They are the only clowder that still has 'one mentor one apprentice' system, instead of the younger cats being trained and raised communally. They also have them pick their additional ranks the moment they become apprentices, rather than decide after they trained for a bit, making it hard to swap for something else that they might like more or be better at. This excludes menders and mediators, as in every clowder the young cats has to decide before reaching 6 moons if they would like to train as one.

They also believe into 'tough love'. Treating younger members harshly and keeping them at distance, believing it will help them develop stronger sense of individuality and making them self-sufficient, prepare them for harshness of the world itself. It had unfortunate side effects of many Ferret cats being rather emotionally constipated, believing that showing any 'emotional weakness' is a sign of physical one as well and how it will affect other groups viewing them. Being seen as a force to be reckoned with and respected outside of their borders is more important than solving inside issues with this lifestyle.

This shouldn't come as surprise, that as a result they don't get many newcomers join (due to both their attitude towards outsiders, and the 'tough love' aspect), but also some of their younger members make the difficult decision to leave the clowder, to seek a safer place to stay. Those who end up in other clowders, often face harsh treatment from their old clowdermates when they met them at the border or on the gathering.

Territory and Camp

Their territory includes majority of a dense forest, with sparse meadows and open spots where the trees get thinner. Two rivers cut it, one on the south (going towards the ocean) and one on the north (coming from Sweet territory).

Their camp consist of one big cabin, where majority of the older members live, few smaller ones for other cats, separate cabin that acts as a nursery where younger cats are raised, one for menders and the sick and injured cats, a greenhouse for medical herbs, most common vegetables and fruits, and small huts where they store majority of their tools and resources. It's surrounded by a tall fence as whole.

(Visual of the average cabin. The main one might be decorated to make it look different than the rest.)

Around the camp there are spots for fireplaces, for leisure, warmth and outdoor cooking, as well as tables and wooden posts to hang freshly caught prey and prep them for meals (including sausages), or to reap leather.

(Wooden posts, along with some tools and buckets to gather blood and everything else that fall off (and out) of prepped prey.)

The living cabins have access to basic electricity for light, but besides that they rely on 'alternative' means of cooking and staying warm, rather than 'modern wonders'. They still have access to somewhat running and warm water, except it's only used for cleaning. Bathroom needs are dealt with in outhouses, just outside the camp fences.

(Greenhouse 'tent'. Shown empty, but overall filled with pots and all that stuff, for growing mainly medical herbs.)

Resources and Trade

Ferret Clowder believes they need to be as self-sufficient as possible, and so they usually don't ask for resources and tools they can find and make themselves. That includes majority of herbs, raw prey and tools such as knives.

They do, however, offer wide array of *their* herbs, fruits and meats. This also includes their processed forms.

(I'm not listing everything, as some things are the same across all territories.)

Leather gathered from otters, hares, boars, deer and foxes.

Apples, including wild apples.

Walnuts and chestnuts.

Bilberries, wild strawberries and blackberries (including blackberry leaves).

Sausages.

Various mushrooms (chanterelles, morels, birch bolete)

Horsetail, oak leaves, maple leaves, juniper and nettle.

Raw and dried meat harvested from ducks, geese, otters, boars, deer and foxes.

Honey and honeydew.

Duck and geese eggs and feathers.

Maple sap, birch tar.

Raw fish (like carps, trouts and breams) and frogs.

Antlers and bones.

Pottery and clay.

Accessories

(Vest and trapper's glove inspired by @/thewhalesheart)

Code and Faith

Unlike other three clowders, they pay a lot attention to their code. Breaking any part of it, no matter how small, is an offense and unless a cat has a good explanation or defense to why they did that, they might even face exile.

They take their borders very seriously, and don't go easy on anyone trespassing. Letting someone get across the border without good reason might earn the offending Ferret cat a cuff in the ear or temporary demotion, especially when the trespassing cat stole prey or herbs from their side.

Trading, giving away, but also asking for resources without leader's knowledge, even if done with good intentions, is another thing that might end up putting the cat in hot water with the high ranks.

Despite having access to many tools that could be used as weapons, bringing them on a border patrol/skirmish or into a battle is strictly prohibited, and breaking the rule will result an immediate exile. They obviously expect the same out of their opponents.

The one that gets 'broken' a lot and the leadership is exceptionally harsh on is having outside mates. While they are aware that they need fresh blood to prevent devastating results in the future, they are very harsh on outsiders, and even those from other clowders. The only way to prevent punishment is to get the outside mate to join the Ferret Clowder. Then it's technically not code violation, since they are considered a part of the clowder. Others find a 'work-around' and either give birth outside of the camp to claim they 'found' a stray litter, or ask someone from the clowder to pretend to be their honor sire. However, if the cat is discovered to have lied, both they *and* their kits will face exile (although it also depends on the leadership, one leader might allow the kits to stay, but remain very harsh on them, other might exile them along with their parent). Nowadays the leaders are more lenient on kits born from relations between Ferret cat and an unaligned cat, since they lost many cats to sickness and several younger cats ended up leaving the clowder due to mistreatment, significantly lowering their population.

They are the only Clowder that believes in the being called 'Starbringer'. It's one of few Higher Beings that are known around the world, and Starbringer is believed to be a patron of life and death, birth and rebirth, living among the stars. Legends say that those who prayed to Starbringer had a chance of receiving a blessing from it, allowing their spirits to return to their body after death, with the cause (wounds, illness) healed. Some stories say the blessing lasted for nine deaths, other say it was less than nine. Nowadays it appears so Starbringer went silent after a great tragedy, and since then no one had received the blessing.

Neighbors and Relations

They share border with Sweet Clowder, Oat Clowder and Mallow Clowder.

The Ferret territory is in peculiar spot, separated from other three by a long, gravel road, that connects the Trading Villages with the City. As such, Ferret's side of the road if there their border ends, and the other side of the road is there territories of other clowders begin.

The road is treated by everyone as a neutral stretch, allowing everyone (aligned or unaligned) to move around freely.

They technically share a border with nearest Trading Village (Howler's Respite) and the City. But between them and the edge of Ferret's territory is enough space, that they aren't considered neighbors.

Oat-Ferret relations are tense at best and hostile at worst. And it' mostly one-sided, with majority Oat cats not giving a crap about the border disputes, and Ferret cats in particular being touchy around the subject. They also deem Oat's lifestyle 'soft' and 'must be so hard living in a nice building', despite the obvious.. issues surrounding the place. Oat Clowder is also know for taking in outsiders and exiles, especially those from Ferret Clowder, which they find insulting.

Sweet-Ferret relations are mostly positive. They both share mutual interest in growing their own food and thus they respect one another.

Mallow-Ferret relations are somewhat tense too, but they also share 'borders' (or nearby area) with the City and have to deal with cats coming from there, and such they usually go over their differences to focus on 'common enemy'.

They are known to not be particularly welcome towards outsiders. Other alignments like Trading Villages (including the nearest one to them, Howler's Respite), the Pod and the City of Andromedae are generally on thin ice (especially Andromedae cats) and left alone, however.

Roles

Leader - Is the cat making major decisions for the clowder and its members. In the same vein of them believing in Starbringer, the leader changes their name to include the -star suffix, to further show their devotion to the Higher Being. They still have only one life like everyone else, however, and it's just purely 'cosmetic' change.

Deputy - Leader's second-in-command who will become leader after the previous one dies/retires and who manages most of the inside workings of the group, including patrols, hunts and assessing the apprentices. It's still up to the leader to pick cats for gatherings and pick mentors for kits, but generally the deputy's opinion on the matter is listened to. On the same vein, leaders usually pick their own apprentices for the deputy position, believing they trained them the best and know they will continue their legacy, even better than their own kin. Deputies are also required to act like leader's personal bodyguards in case of an uprising or a fight.

Mender - Is how Ferrets call their medics. Unlike other three clowders, menders are partially spiritual guides too, also praying to the Starbringer for guidance and help. And due to this, Ferret's menders are generally discouraged from having mates and kits, as they believe that it will 'taint' the connection between them and the Higher Being (rather than distract them from the duties, as they are still allowed to have friends and remain in contact with their family members).

Trapper - Are cats responsible for making the tools and making sure they are up-to-date and the top quality. They are also responsible for dealing with the caught prey, like making sure the meat and organs are good quality, strip the fur off the carcass and more.

Ranger - Cats responsible for tracking down prey and predators across their territory (like deer, foxes, badgers), potential trespassers, and overall making sure the territory is in top-notch condition - no trash, rotten corpses potentially spreading disease, no fire-hazards, no waste etc. Rangers are generally ones send to do border patrols, along with a warrior escort.

Seeker - Seekers aren't in use as frequently as they used to, as they are widely considered 'dishonorable'. They were meant to be spies, sent onto other territories to scour and then report to the leader anything they saw happening in other clowders. However, any discovery of a seeker on enemy's territory usually lead to their death, and Ferret Clowder faced a lot of scrutiny for it, regardless of intentions. Nowadays there aren't many, if any, seekers left.

Other roles - This includes mediators (whose job is to negotiate outside relations between clowders and other groups, as well as inside relations between clowdermates, but also investigate accidents and crimes) and warriors (who do most of the border defending and fighting when time calls, but overall they also do camp-work and cooking.. like everyone else). All cats have to go through a warrior training, including mediators (but excluding menders). Other roles are just elders (cats who retire), queens (nursing cats), apprentices (cats under at least 12 moons that are training in their respective ranks) and kits (cubs under 6 moons).

Starting high ranks

Ages are accurate as of Moon 0.

(Foxstar is Primpetal's uncle, from his mother's side)

(Foxstar is also a ranger, and Nightwish is a trapper.)

[keepsmagnetoaway]

Defenders 16 (October 1974)

Len Wein/Sal Buscema

Over the years, there have been many attempted solutions to the perennial problem of "only some of this superhero team can fly", but this has to be one of the funniest.

Hulk hold wheelchair while Doctor Strange levitate Hulk! This will look fine! Anyway, yes, those good ol' Defenders are back, trying to stop Magneto's new supermutant, who Magneto has brought to the United Nations - where, apparently, a delegation from 12th century Baghdad is also visiting.

This is all prime Magneto shit and obviously we love it.

Meanwhile, though, the new super-mutant, named Alpha, who is still mutating or something, is undergoing a slow transformation and an awakening, from this...

...to this...

...to this! Hey, look, it's sequential visual storytelling!

Also, it's trippy as fuck!

And what, ultimately, is Alpha's judgement? It's that Magneto and co should be both punished and given a second chance: by being turned back into babies.

Becomes a godlike super-being, turns Magneto into a baby, refuses to elaborate, leaves (for space). This, obviously, is the greatest thing ever. Absolutely fucking bananas pair of issues, can't wait to see an even more bananas explanation of how Magneto undoes this whenever he next shows up again, 10/10. I loved this.

We now have one more pre-reboot issue to read (a story unrelated to this one) and then we get into some more recent stuff set before the reboot. It's almost going to feel like a shame when we have to go back to just reading one book in order, this magical mystery tour of guest appearances has been wild.

[zedecksiew]

Three Clerks

Last week I tweaked my back. It hurt. A lot. As I recovered, I found that sketching with pen and pencil was less strenuous than writing on keyboard. So that's what I did.

Sketched characters from an adventure I am currently writing for Colin Le Sueur's We Deal In Lead. It began as a homage to Wisit Sasanatieng's tomyamgong western Fa Thalai Chon / Tears Of The Black Tiger.

+++

SHIN SUL SHAP, SHRINE CLERK 4 Grit 10 STR 10 DEX 10 HRT Switch (d4)

Face hidden by a broad-brimmed bonnet and veil. Patrols the lines of pilgrims; like a schoolmarm she thwacks anybody chit-chatting. Piety should be silent!

A waif snatches a lead token from her pouch, and bolts. A chase ensues. He begs your help. If Sul Shap finds him, she will sell him to captive takers.

+

Sul Shap is a clerk at the Shrine To The Headless Sun: a bare plaza; a marble pavilion; a golden man, with an ever-burning flame where his head should be.

The Headless Sun is patron saint of the Admiralty, whose laws now govern both Ocean and Sea. He was its founder. The kings of old captured and beheaded him. He overthrew them anyway.

+++

References for Sul Shap were basically Buddhist nun robes (mainly for the volume of fabric), plus an European bonnet.

Initially I'd imagined a conventional broad-brim hat---ie: her veil would be a cylinder around her whole head. But as I sketched I thought the bonnet made a more interesting shape? Also its rear was an opportunity to create a crest / halo of sun-rays. Religious iconography!

Alms bowl, because giving is a virtue. But the Headless Sun values ego-death, not asceticism---so colourful beads and gold amulets and pouches full of lead tokens (money).

+++

RIS SHAY NAM, RECORDS CLERK 2 Grit 10 STR 10 DEX 10 HRT Swung typewriter (d4)

In a wheelbarrow, pulled by a servitor, typewriter balanced on her belly, pockets filled with banana fritters. Greasy fingerprints on any document she works on.

Shay Nam thinks herself a moral soul. Will side with abolitionists and revolutionaries, with justice—until her own skin is at risk.

+

Shay Nam works at the Hibiscus Court. Princess Khur San, distancing herself from the old order, surrendered this palace to bureaucrats.

Clerks have filled its once-airy halls with shelves. By sympathetic sorcery, all contracts in the province manifest copies here. Rumour has it that this magic works both ways.

+++

This was my first sketch. In pain and bored I just started drawing.

No references, and it shows? Skirt and stockings and boots because these were the easiest for me to do. In my mind Shay Nam was an archetypal overweight NEET. Here she looks to be a sassy layabout. I like her better, now!

Also: a servitor is an empty body. Created when you ritually touch a shrine-stone to the Headless Sun---your soul is obliterated. What is left behind is mindless, hence the harness and reins.

+++

KHAN YUL MIN, COURT CLERK 4 Grit 1 DEF 10 STR 10 DEX 10 HRT Sabre (d8)

A university grad and former marine. But his townhouse sits below Rose Hill, on Merchant’s Row, beneath the old families' notice.

Yul Min means to change this. He has his eye on the Widow Gon. He will hire ruffians to waylay her palanquin—then swoop in, to rescue her. Elaborate theatre.

+++

Yul Min, like all these characters, live on the Sea of Sorrows, whose waters are literally the souls of the dead.

Roses always bleach within sight of it; to retain their colour they must be shipped in glass, then kept in arboreta—never once sharing air with the Sea.

Those who can afford red-rose gardens tend them on the south end of the city, where streets begin to climb Mount Go, in compounds walled like fortresses.

+++

Drew Yul Min last night. Had tabs open for "Thai traditional clothing" & "military uniforms 18th century" & "krabi" & "Vajiralongkorn".

Given my inspiration, I think the referencing of Mainland Southeast Asian material culture is appropriate. Maybe a little to obvious, though? Ie: the visual forms haven't been composted well, into new and more imaginative shapes ...

Still: very pleased with the proportions and details.

I liked how the hamsa-esque icon of the Headless Sun developed over the course of these sketches. I would not have discovered it, otherwise; it's one of those details, too small for words.

Drawing is an intrinsic part of the writing process, I guess!

+++

[skinks]

Oh my god. You are a saviour!!!!!!!! Idk but after some what, 6 hours, im not the same person anymore?? The English. The English. Its so packed. Cant stop crying after the last ep i there is a hole inside my chest now it hurts so much idk what to tell more like yeah amazon produced silly western with white girl saviour moment haha how about feeling the well of every humanly possible emotions after some .... several hours? I... didnt expected that. Cornelia...

Cant say thank you enough for your ramblings in the tags!!!!!!!!! You are not a frequent media enjoyer so to hear from you in the tags was such a suprise that ive downloaded it like after i just came home from work and was so dumbfolded by the narrative ? one ep for one day so i... wasnt aware of... you know... last three eps direction (but it was always there, always!!!). the fucking Event of my life thank you so much for mentioning it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Idk im just speechless....

ANON!!!! I GET IT BRO I GET IT….. event of OUR lives

You’re right, it’s so incredibly packed it’s… idk where to begin replying to you but I agree, the plotting is so well-done and teased out with just enough detail that by the time you reach the last episode’s reveals you have to recontextualise every interaction you’ve seen so far.

It’s really a testament to the power of writing that doesn’t just blandly dump exposition out for an audience it doesn’t trust - the reason I keep going bonkers bananas about the dialogue is because, yes, it’s heightened, but it’s REAL. Real characters with painful motivations WOULD keep secrets and talk in arcs around the subjects they don’t want to really talk about. Then it’s those arcs that keep Eli and Cornelia intersecting and sharing and coming to the realisation that somehow, in the enormity of the endless prairie they’ve found one other person who understands them…. I can’t think about it too much I keep crying lmao I sympathise with the hole in your chest, like I have been GUTSHOT

Once again it’s the tragedy. The layers of parallels to figure out on a rewatch. I think this type of reaction in me to certain media only comes along every so often because it’s only the most weighty, tragic implications of narrative and characters with doomed love that get me this good. Brokeback Mountain, Baze & Chirrut from Rogue One, obviously Reddie post-itch2 and now this. It’s come along right at the sweet spot for me when I’ve really been craving Western stories and feeling the lack of emotionally-moving cinema this year. I’ve had a lot of disappointments in the theatre ngl, a lot of duds. So it was such a fucking horrible delightful treat to basically get a sweeping 6 hour western roadtrip movie where every decision has been carefully, deliberately made - from the acting to the costumes, production design, direction, music, everything - to tell THIS story. Their story. Revisionist and triumphant and tragic and romantic and violent all at once.

Maybe it’s an indictment of how few pieces of truly well-written visual storytelling I’m exposed to but it’s been such a breath of fresh air. Characters with very different stories and goals and arcs that still manage to see something of the same driving force (magic!!!) in each other? Themes of reclaiming that which was stolen from you, both literal and metaphysically? Identity, agency, land, history, family, a HOME??! My friend @benevolentbridgetroll likened it to Mad Max Fury Road in that sense, both works are using the grand visuals of wide open spaces to tell a story about momentum and desperate human connection and Never Being Able To Go Home Again but also that sometimes you have to try, because there are people along the way who need your help.

And on top of that it’s using only the SEXIEST of “golden hour sunsets shining through the clouds of Nebraska dust kicked up by our leading man silhouetted rearing on a stallion” visuals to tell the story like HELLOOOOOOO? I love imagery. The horror of the time is all the more real for being given the weight it deserves; saturated, slow-motion, the hyper-real intensity of traumatic memory without ever being grimdark or exploitative for grimdark’s sake.

Plus Chaske Spencer deserves an emmy or a bafta or SOME kind of award I’m dead serious. Not since Heath Ledger played Ennis del Mar in 2005 has a man imbued such rich inner heartbreak to tight little smiles and devastating, carefully chosen words and the meaning that comes from what you choose to Look at when you know certain Looking will get you killed.

Because that’s another thing I agree with you about - when I started the series my main worry was that it was going to result in another white saviour story, and with the caveat that obviously I’m both white and non-American, I think the show avoided that. Not only are both Cornelia and Eli’s arcs given equal importance to the entire theme of the story, but it literally couldn’t exist if it wasn’t specifically ABOUT how the experiences of women and Native peoples in the wild west differ from the typical White Cowboy Conquering New Unexplored Land narrative. Eli is given all the agency in the world to make a series of decisions FOR HIMSELF and what it means for him to be a Pawnee man in this place at this time. That’s literally what his arc is about, and it’s compelling! Also the series was made with a ton of consultation and approval from members of the Pawnee nation so overall I do think they were trying to tell as authentic a story as possible.

Anyway. I’m so so glad you watched it after my incoherent yelling in the tags, that makes me so happy! I would love for more people to enjoy it even just so I can read more fic or look at more gifs 😭 I have so much homework this week I can’t spend it all on photoshop. Also have to say that you calling me “not a frequent media enjoyer” REALLY tickled me and I’ve been laughing about it for two days now, I feel like all I do is enjoy media. It just takes some particularly good shit for me to get super-annoying about it on tumblr so for that I’m eternally grateful. 2022 media has been so bland for me besides The Locked Tomb series that I was beginning to think I’d lost the ability to feel shrimp emotions at movies any more, but here we are. I’m shrimping so so hard and I love it. Thank you for your message!!!

[saritagiovanna]

"I'm Going Slightly Mad" and Good Omens 2

YES!! This song is ABSOLUTELY in Good Omens Season 2. Just like the other coffee shop scenes, I didn't hear it until I saw it in the X-Rays! (So is The Show Must Go On, see my post about that). It's in Episode 5. Nina already called Crowley out on being an item ("bit on the side") with Aziraphale. This is about 13 minutes into the episode. (My apologies, if anyone knows how to do screenshots or GIFS, please message me or comment so I can figure out how to capture this visually). The scene I'm referencing is where Nina is all alone and has the chalkboard displayed on the counter and starts getting emotionally abusive texts from her partner. These texts are displayed on the chalkboard, and then Nina erases them away. The scene RIGHT BEFORE this is where Crowley calls Aziraphale over as he sits at the French restaurant drinking some wine and hiding from Jim/Gabriel, worried about being "smited? smote?"..."Smitten, I believe." He is WORRIED, he stayed up all night WORRYING about what could happen. The scene RIGHT AFTER Nina erases texts from the chalkboard is Crowley confronting Jim/Gabriel about trying to destroy Aziraphale and telling "my only friend to shut his stupid mouth and die...and I did not care for it." Crowley goes TO THE EDGE and tells Jim/Gabriel to jump out the window. This is UNHINGED Crowley...and yes, indeed he is "Going Slightly Mad."

Crowley isn't the only one, however, "Going Slightly Mad," and I'm curious why and how Nina is also "going slightly mad." I don't think it has anything to do with her abusive relationship, but rather all the weird stuff that is going on around her. Think about all the times that Crowley and Aziraphale are trying to influence them...they are FOCUSED on Nina and Maggie getting together. Think about their power TOGETHER when they made the miracle SO BIG it sent alarm bells off in Heaven. Do you think those miracles towards Nina and Maggie could have a...strange effect on them? Is that why they can't be "hypnotized" after the demons storm the bookshop? I still think something odd beyond what we can see is going on, but even if it's just the miracles pointed in their direction, at least Nina is sensing something weird. She even expresses this in Episode 5 to Aziraphale and to Maggie. She knows Something is going on, and she can't quite put her finger on it.

This song really is a great look at how both Nina and Crowley are feeling "slightly mad" about things going on around them. The other thing it COULD mean is that..."we, as the audience" are also going "slightly mad" since we know something is weird and we can't quite put our fingers on exactly WHAT is going on. FOR EXAMPLE...I just think it's interesting that the coffee shop is ALWAYS playing Queen songs (just in instrumental versions), just like the Bentley...

It's just all these small details that I freaking love! Here are the lyrics if you want to see what I mean!

I'm Going Slightly Mad, Queen

When the outside temperature rises And the meaning is, oh, so clear One thousand and one yellow daffodils Begin to dance in front of you. Oh, dear

Are they trying to tell you something? You're missing that one final screw You're simply not in the pink, my dear To be honest, you haven't got a clue

I'm going slightly mad I'm going slightly mad It finally happened, happened It finally happened. Oh, oh It finally happened I'm slightly mad

Oh, dear!

I'm one card short of a full deck I'm not quite the shilling One wave short of a shipwreck I'm not my usual top-billing

I'm coming down with a fever I'm really out to sea This kettle is boiling over I think I'm a banana tree

Oh, dear

I'm going slightly mad I'm going slightly mad It finally happened, happened Finally happened. Uh, huh Finally happened I'm slightly mad

Oh, dear!

Ooh-ooh-ah-ah, ooh-ooh-ah-ah

I'm knitting with only one needle Unraveling fast. It's true I'm driving only three wheels these days But, my dear, how about you?

I'm going slightly mad I'm going slightly mad It finally happened It finally happened Oh, yes It finally happened I'm slightly mad! Just very slightly mad! And there you have it!

[quindriepress]

This week's spotlight is on NORRIE and his comic Flesh & Flora. NORRIE is a comics creator, illustrator and character designer from Scotland. He lives in Dundee, drinks coffee and watches the birds from his window. He has no complaints.(@prehistoricfrog | website | instagram | twitter)

"Flesh & Flora follows two synthetic characters, Gen and Hare, who are doing their best to hold onto their humanity in a strange new world, prompting them to question each other's mortality. The arrival of an unknown species puts their differing perspectives to the test and may jeopardise both characters' very existence." 

Read the spotlight below the cut!

NORRIE's goal with Flesh & Flora was to create a book that if he saw, he'd want to pick up straight away. "I love the feeling of picking up a book and that being all I talk about for about six months. That's the essence of comics! I've always been interested in themes of identity and the human consciousness, especially when they are placed onto seemingly non-human characters, and I wanted to use those themes to think about very human concepts like ego and in particular the fabrication of responsibility. to make us feel important and in control of our world.

"I'm also fascinated when people describe the world as a character, like what does that mean? So I wanted to really run with that to an extreme: the world in Flesh & Flora is a character in the way that as nature, it is living and breathing but it's also an amalgamation of undulating flesh and a tangle of pulsating wire, flourishing amongst the flora. I primarily wanted it to be an uncanny image but also work as a sign that this world is evolving and that evolution is a process that takes such a long time, what would it feel like to be amongst those who haven't realised it's happened? This is the position I wanted to show Gen and Hare in really wanting to be able to explore this idea and their reaction to being left behind."

NORRIE's love of sci-fi, particularly robots and mechs, is clear throughout his work. "Look, I'm a simple little guy. I've got no shame in admitting that. I like cool robots, hot babes and bananas sci-fi. I've spent a lot of time reminding myself it's fine to indulge in these things artistically but basically, I grew up watching Anime vhs's like Bubblegum Crisis, Patlabor, Dominion Tank Police and Ghost in the Shell, and obviously there's a strong Cyberpunk vein running through these films and shows that's very exciting on a visual level to a kid. Once you grow and you revisit these stories there's much more going on, usually these questions of what makes us human, etc. than just the surface level Cyberpunk motifs that are plastered on everything these days.

"I love Headlopper by Andrew Maclean and Apocalyptigirl has had a big influence on me. Homunculus by Joe Sparrow is an incredible comic. I'm constantly thinking about SOMA by Frictional Games and more recently SIGNALIS by rose-engine really struck a chord and has already got me thinking about future stories." 

For aspiring comic creators, NORRIE has this advice: "Focus on what you love. Comics are hard so you should make sure that you are passionate about what you work on, don't try to please other people – there's no pleasing them anyway. If you want to be a creator, you should create for yourself. You'll always have an audience that way. I think people that appreciate good comics can see work that's honest, you don't have to be the best at drawing or be the next flash in the pan creator, just be yourself and don't be intimidated by others. There is always a place for you."

You may also be interested in some of NORRIE's other upcoming work! "I'm currently working on character artwork for the amazing video game AERO GPX. It's a futuristic anti-grav racer in the style of F-Zero but very much with its own twist. It's roughly scheduled for a 2024 release, it looks amazing and you can wishlist it on Steam now!"  

 You can pick up Flesh & Flora, alongside the other three comics in our 2023 collection, right here on Kickstarter!