#theres a lot you could do with that concept

[youngpettyqueen]

has your Star Trek series of choice ever left you wanting for more xenobiology? have you ever wanted to get really in-depth on a specific species? do you want to see anatomy charts? fun ads? are you an alien fucker looking to read about the semantics and science of alien sex?

LOOK NO FURTHER THAN ZINE O'BIOLOGY!

Zine O'Biology is a FREE zine all about xenobiology in Star Trek, made up of several contributors- including yours truly! you can find my piece on page 88: "The Study of Ethyr Bel: A Xenobiologist’s Observation of 30 Days of Progress with the Integration of a Trill Symbiont into a Non-Trill Host"

give us a download and give us a read! soooo many talented writers and artists came together for this, for everything from scholarly articles to charts to letters to the editor to fun in-universe ads! and, of course, we had the wonderful people over @zineobiology hosting, organizing, keeping up with deadlines and making all of this come together. please consider giving this zine a shot, and if it isnt your thing, send it to people you know will enjoy it! theres something for every kind of Trekkie in here

on a personal note, I had so much fun with my piece. this was such a fun reason to write about OCs- both Doctor Lonial and Ethyr are OCs of mine who I love very dearly. this piece was so much fun to write to go really in-depth on Trill symbionts and the idea of them Joining with non-Trill hosts, which was the concept behind creating Ethyr in the first place! when I saw this zine open applications, I knew I had to apply for it so that I could have a chance to just go completely hog wild on really thinking about just what that might look like. seriously, I had such a good time writing my piece, and it was VERY difficult to keep myself to the word limit lol I came REAL close to the submission deadline cause of the amount of editing I had to do

thank you to Zine O'Biology for letting me go crazy for 3k! I had a lot of fun doing it, and I hope other people have just as much fun reading it <3

[freaky-flawless]

I understand why they added the red to Cupid's design. Catty and Draculaura both already have the pink and black combo going on, not to mention all the heart themes in Drac's looks. Adding a third character might be a bit overkill.

That's honestly part of why I thought Cupid got transferred to EAH back in the day, aesthetically she competed with other characters, like Rochelle who also had a lot of pink, white, and black in her design.

That being said, though... the red is harsh. It's a little garish. Maybe if they'd toned it down a bit or made it more of an accent color, it would have worked better. I love Cupid's gen 1 design, but it would have been cool if they'd given her a completely fresh new look, maybe one that centered around the red so it wouldn't look so out of place. But I understand that too, Mattel could easily see that people wanted Cupid back and for her to be similar to her gen 1 version.

[icewindandboringhorror]

finally finished all of one character's entire quests/optional dialogue/questions/etc.... 100,000 words... .... aughhh

[sydmarch]

it was so stupidly difficult to find any nutritionist who has experience with arfid & takes insurance so after having to go through all these referrals my therapist sent me & jumping through hoops I lowkey hate the lady lmao feels like such a waste of time & energy

[puppppppppy]

i feel shy talking here when i dont have anything worth sharing but i cant help feeling like ive said things in the tags that could be brought up in court

[pyrosomatic-metamorphosis]

genuine question but is there any fandom where a character is well written by the majority. im thinking about fandom culture and the spread of frustration when people dont write characters well but. honestly in all the fandoms ive been in there's only like, a Select number of authors who i trust to write Well, let alone write Well AND In Character. character analysis and writing and getting inside characters' heads are all separate skills (all of which are trained by roleplaying fyi can CONFIRM playing pretend with your friends is good for you). there's been more than once where I've disagreed with an interpretation that others agreed with, and then I turned out wrong. or i turned out right. like it doesnt matter WHO is right it just matters that differences in character analysis exist, so even if you DO write well AND write in character, your in character is still going to be someone else's out of character

there's this sort of. vibe. that to play in the sandbox you Need to be able to make a castle, and if you can't make a castle then you shouldn't bother, and it completely dismisses the idea that youre in that sandbox to PLAY in the first place. there's this Weight of disappointing someone if you can't build something that they like, but that forgets that you aren't there to build them a castle. like, be KIND. if you disagree with someone then please make an effort to do so kindly. i dont give a shit about fandom discourse but there is a reason kids get removed from sandboxes if they keep throwing sand in people's eyes. but if they don't like your misshapen sand pile, then youre not obligated to change it. even if you yourself end up hating that same sand pile later- youre not building a legacy. youre playing. and sometimes the result of that play is out of character drivel. theres a reason there are so many authors and so few who i like to consistently read and thats because everyone is Fucking Around in their hobby space. hash tag brag or whatever but i can build castles. ive built several that im v proud of. ive also dug holes in the sand for fun and then tripped on them when trying to get up. I often dug a hole and then got up and fucking- whoops, its a castle now, and i didn't realize i'd made something to be proud of until after the fact. the whole time while creating shit i was Convinced it was bullshit that didn't make sense. and then other times i was Convinced it was bullshit and then i was Right and i can look back and go. huh. ew. but it doesn't matter what the end result was, because i had fun playing in the sandbox

this wasn't meant to turn into a ramble but i have Feelings about bad art and art that's badly perceived and how public perception can screw with your head and how making art youre proud of is fucking. it's so difficult!!! it's hard!! it's really fun, which is why i try to make it, but i promise you it is Okay to not tryhard creativity. even if you CAN, it's okay not to do it all the time. or ever, even. fuck around find out have fun etc

[sonknuxadow]

I greatly enjoyed my time with Sonic Prime, but I will admit that the ending confused me

i thought the ending worked fine but it was a bit underwhelming compared to some of the theories i saw. and i also wasnt really expecting for it to be possible to restore green hill without wiping the shatterverse from existence because that just. didnt feel possible based on what we knew about how this stuff supposedly works . What ever its just baby cartoons doesnt matter

and ive also seen people thinking the ending was meant to be a cliffhanger setting up for a potential continuation but i dont think that personally. to me its obviously just meant as Ohh sonics life never slows down so theyre immediately jumping into another adventure The End. or whatever

[oswednesday]

im not a hundred percent sold thats who the book means unless its confirmed somewhere else like twitter but playing in that space intoxicated by the idea of bill speaking about her life that

[admincourtneykissesgirls]

i keep thinking about you saying your courtney has kind of a rough relationship with women (kind of want to think about that too cus thats really interesting sexuality wise) due to her upbringing experiemce cus conversely ive been thinkinf that tabitha feels like the kind of guy where the majority of positive influences in his life were women

Emerges from my cave. Rare anon ask... waow...

OOH I can actually kind of see that being the case...

I've yet to actually really fully develop a LOT of characters (Tabitha very much included) but do know that Tabitha does have a rocky relationship with masculinity (? not sure how to word this i just woke up minutes ago haha) because of some unsavory childhood experiences (something something daddy issues something something "struggled to find much of a place among his peers" that kind of stuff. yada yada toxic masculinity.) Unlike Courtney though, he pulls through it a bit better I guess? Not saying he ISN't struggling because who wouldn't but compared to Courtney he's doing much better than her by a Delphox-length because unlike Courtney hes HEALING.

This kind of also means that its likely that his relationship with women probably would ALSO not really as sunshine and rainbows as one may think but tbh I dont think that means that it can't still be better, of course! I can kind of see, as you mentioned in the ask, that a lot of the positive influences that shaped the best parts of himself were women. But again: I'm still developing quite a bit, so this could change and definitely get more nuanced once I get to it.

[elsolaer]

i have many thoughts in general but this tidbit from tingyun's voice lines is one of the things i wanna elaborate some more on at some point...

" Every time I head out, I leave a letter behind and lock it in the drawers of my shop. If I come back, then I'll burn it later. If I don't... then it'll be something for others to remember me by."

[uchimakis]

been seeing so much unnecessary bi mike slander on my dash recently. sometimes selfcare is blocking 15 people and going into the bi mike tag for an hour <3

[secretlybugged]

WHEN WE FIRST MET (2018)

Guy relives the night he met his unrequited love over and over again until he realizes maybe his crush wasn't the one for him. He learns to live in the moment, not to change himself for someone, and to accept disappointment.

ALSO it takes place on halloween so you could have fun with costumes.

Marinette obsessively relives the halloween party to win over (adrien?) but realizes (Chat? Luka? ) is a better match.

hey guys what are your favorite silly romcoms to project miraculous ladybug characters onto. asking for a friend(s' movie night)

[snekdood]

one of the most frustrating things about the situation w my abusive ex is how ppl act like they're an uwu innocent child with 0 agency? like as if i ~manipulated them~ into believing conspiracy theories about "freemasons brainwashing children" with me, rather than me genuinely being terrified of the ideas put forth from others about it and being terrified that was happening to me and i just didnt remember it bc I was trying to figure out why I was sexually abused by someone close to me and nothing was done about it and this was the only fucking way i could explain to myself ~why~ it happened? like yall have to convince yourselves im like this nefarious strategic alt right type with ulterior motives rather than someone who was fucking scared out of my mind, doubly funny if its someone ik irl from HS because like dawg- i definitely dropped everyone i knew because I was terrified, how in tf do you see that and think "well clearly hes being strategic and trying to control our poor sweet innocent babu who totally isnt 4 years older than you and totally isnt an adult who went along with you in believing this stuff because they wanted to", gotta be bc i forced them somehow right. give me a fucking break. they're not a child with 0 agency, they knew what they were doing, only when they realized it might hurt their image did they stop and try to blame me for alllll of it and why they believed in it rather than them wholeheartedly and willingly going into it. and even if you want to pretend that they are just a dumb baby and they just follow in peoples footsteps like a toddler, i still wasnt being fucking nefarious or strategic regardless,

I WAS F U C K I N G SCARED.

[arolesbianism]

Why must I only be capable of coming up with cool art ideas long past midnight

[wtfforged]

my campaign hiatus has gone on for too long so to cope ive combined my interests at their maximum potency and had some dnd-strawhats thoughts

thoughts in depth under read more... :)!

this is SO self indulgent. their designs literally did not change. but i am a firm believer that dnd doesnt have to be european high fantasy. and also one piece literally IS fantasy. no changes are necessary to fit into dnd. ive already imagined plenty of campaign/oneshot ideas inspired by one piece. so this was basically just an exercise of trying to replicate their canon abilities in dnd 5e as much as possible without totally homebrewing everything. well. aside from luffy. you just cant take away or change his stretching.

LUFFY: (human monk. drunken master subclass. outlander)

the only plain human of the crew to balance out with the fact that he still has rubber powers. obviously a monk. but drunken master subclass specifically because i think the flavor(not the fact that its about being a drunkard) and abilities both fit him really well. this line in the subclass' flavortext especially fits him: "A drunken master often enjoys playing the fool to bring gladness to the despondent or to demonstrate humility to the arrogant, but when battle is joined, the drunken master can be a maddening, masterful foe."

ZORO: (tiefling fighter. samurai subclass. bounty hunter)

a fighter with the samurai subclass is so very incredibly obvious... but i actually had a lot of fun geeking out while comparing the abilities to what he can do in canon; Fighting Spirit, Rapid Strike, and Strength Before Death especially! tiefling is also pretty on the nose for his demon pirate hunter shtick and asura form, but i thought he'd be really human-passing for a tiefling and theorized about his tail getting cut off at some point or another before joining the strawhats. initially wasnt gonna give him a feat, but i gave sanji a feat so i thought itd be unfair to not give him one as well, so sentinel fits the bill pretty well i think!

NAMI: (tabaxi rogue. arcane trickster subclass. criminal)

cat burglar -> full grown literal humanoid cat. this one is INCREDIBLY self indulgent... i love... cats... theres nothing deeper to this and no other reasoning. i took cat burglar and ran with it. can you tell that i love izutsumi dungeon meshi? rogue for the aforementioned burglar-ing as well, and the arcane trickster subclass for when she picks up climatact! the mage hand will be very useful for her pickpocketing. in the future as she levels up with timeskip, i can totally see her multiclassing into wizard as well! weather wizard!

USOPP: (lightfoot halfling artificer. artillerist subclass. urchin)

I HAD SO MUCH FUN THINKING ABOUT HIS CHARACTER SHEET. halfling's Naturally Stealthy ability lets him hide behind his crewmates since theyre (almost) all bigger than him, so its perfect for hiding behind zoro or sanji all the time. Lucky is also perfect for him, and I think Brave fits pretty well too when he puts on the sogeking mask. artillerist artificer is also very fun! tinkering and making magic items for his crew, and i think Eldritch Canon or Arcane Firearm could both be easily reflavored as kabuto or any of his inventions. for emphasizing his sniper-ness, the spell sniper feat was also necessary. i think hes my favorite of all the concepts. big ears and long nose combo is so cute to me.

SANJI: (half-elf monk. drunken master subclass. guild artisan (cook!))

race was mostly based on vibes i wont lie. squints. and that vinsmoke balogna or whatever too ig. but mostly vibes. along with the idea that i think a dwarf zeff raising him would be really funny and cute. monk is also obvious, and same subclass as luffy for mostly the same reasons. though the flavor fits him much less, i think the abilities still fit him perfectly, and this blurb specifically; "Your martial arts technique mixes combat training with the precision of a dancer." i really wanted to give him a different subclass from luffy, but i dislike all the other monk subclasses a lot and i found none of them fit him as well anyways, so to try and give them SOME differences, i gave him the crusher feat.

CHOPPER: (awakened deer(shifter statblock) cleric. life subclass. hermit)

this ones definitely a mouthful im sorry. awakened deer for obvious reasons, but due to magic instead of devil fruit stuff. when i was struggling with his race, i looked a lot at shifter because of his forms, but it occurred to me that itd be super cool if he could shift between all of the different shifter options instead of being stuck with just one to replicate his rumble balls. something like heavy point/guard point=beasthide, horn point/arm point(?maybe?)=longtooth, walk point/jumping point=swiftstride, and brain point=wildhunt. hed definitely need some kind of nerf though to balance out that homebrew... and cleric for class. duh.

ROBIN: (high elf wizard. order of scribes subclass. criminal)

robin is definitely the one i struggled the most with just because of her class. elf came pretty easily- shes very elegant and i think shed look cute with super long ears- and i landed on high elf instead of wood elf for the int-based abilities. i was really on the fence between sorcerer and wizard for her because i knew shed be a full spellcaster, but i didnt feel that any of the subclasses really fit her. i ended up going with wizard for order of the scribes since it focuses on texts and knowing everything. but also because robin with a flying talking sentient book would be crazy cool. it could also be similar to how she spawns mouths and eyes places to talk to or watch people. my "fuck it, why not. this would be rad. its my house" mindset kicked in with her i will admit. also the One with the Word ability made me cackle out loud when i read it. thats the funniest ability ever. anyways, i cant really think of a way to replicate her powers, but maybe we could just reflavor a bunch of spells to be her limbs or clutch; hold person, maximillian's earthen grasp, or evard's black tentacles. thatd probably work okay, and theres a handful of spells to replicate her ability to spawn eyes or mouths. unrelated, but i imagine nico olvia to be a drow. why? her hair is white. i am a simple man!

[eleu22]

You guys do not appreciate Gaz enough so I’m here to sell him to you

this shit is important so yall better read

I truly don’t understand the lack of Gaz love -

ok well

I do at some level

I think the argument usually levied against his character id that he’s boring

but beautifully stated by tumblr user mockerycrow in their character analysis of him

CHARACTERS DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE A TRAGIC BACKSTORY TO BE INTERESTING CHARACTERS

press keep reading to fall in love with Gaz

Who is Gaz?

I’m going to start out with who Gaz is as a character

morality

Gaz is someone who has a strong sense of morality and struggles with the balance between doing the right thing and doing the morally right thing, there’s this debate between long-term morality and situational morality that Gaz struggles with

look im maybe not the most linguistically talented person on earth so im just gonna throw in a few quotes which i think gives Gaz

Gaz is someone who admist chaos and war is trying his best, trying his best to be a good person, to be reliable and to do the right thing

if thays not lovable idk what is

relationship to price

ok so i think this aspect of Gaz’s character is what people tend to focus on

and as much as the omg price’s son shit is cute i think he’s become a vehicle for people to emphasise price’s daddy factor (which like dont get me wrong keep up the good work)

but i think theres so much more to that

i forgot who wrote this but someone said something about Gaz trying to follow in impossibly large footsteps and i think thats so accurate

going back to Gaz’s struggle with morality there’s so much untapped potential in the idea that his idol, may not be an amazing person, having to come to grips with the idea that Price, his role model can look at a woman and child as interrogation leverage is something that i think people need to look into more

OK so now

Untapped Potential

so here are somethings which i

idk if this is like the correct phrasing

headcannon? idk i just think these are parts of Gaz’s character which could be rlly interesting to explore

ahem

yes Gaz is a good guy, but that doesn’t make him passive Gaz has shown moments of anger, like in the interrogation with the butcher when he lunges at him or when him and price first meet

i think the fact that Gaz is so calm and collected but has these moments are cracks in the facade he creates

i believe personally he has a lot of repressed anger whether it be at the world, at himself, at his captain hes an angry dude hes just better at keeping it under wraps

and i know we don’t really have many details on his backstory but cmon there’s no way u sign up for a job like this and don’t have any issues whatsoever

i think this quote is so good for this because he’s harnessed his anger, it’s what makes him good at his job, a knife, a weapon

i think another interesting concept for Gaz is guilt

the fact that he cares about whats right and wrong how does he feel going to sleep at night? do these things haunt him? is he irredeemable?

i think its like that one quote “the dog that weeps after it kills is no better than the dog that doesn’t. My guilt does not purify me.”

Final Thoughts

anyways guys thanks for coming to my ted talk

i know this was really messy but i just want to encourage some Gaz love because i think he’s a really interesting complex character who we just need to dig a little deeper into

i hope this incites some more gaz love

THANK YOU 😳