#this conditioning thing isn't working as well as i would like but some pups take awhile to come around i guess

[citrine-elephant]

the irony of applying to a job where i have to talk to people and i can't even buy a chocolate bar without mild, writhing panic bcuz it wasn't a simple "just this, thanks, bye"

[weirdestcornelius]

Ohhh boy. I'm going to put this under a cut because it's going to get a bit long, but thanks for asking!

I would keep it due to being a suicide attempt, yes, but instead of it just disappearing I would change the entire way Uni is shown to deal with it.

You can't just say a character suffers from something and then never show them actually suffering from a disability. It's a very shallow way of including representation and it's especially shallow with Uni because pup tearing her eyes out is meant to be a strong plot point but. It's not. I seriously FORGET Uni has sight issues because of how erased it is in comic, which is not good when you're trying to write a visually impaired character and have it be a big part of them. So I'd rewrite Uni to have more struggles in the comic.

First of all, her goggles should not erase their sight issues with magic. If you just magically fix her disability with magic there was no point in Uni having a disability in the first place! It comes off as super shallow and overall ableist to go that route. Instead, I'd have pup wear goggles because she's self conscious about her eyes, because they are literally like a SH scar for her! Uni is still depressed in comic and most people who are depressed aren't going to be open about their scars, coming from someone who has suffered with that. To show the reason she wears her goggles is because of them being self conscious, only show her NOT wearing them around people she trusts, like Caroline or maybe Barry over time. Show them being uncomfortable to take the goggles off in other settings as well!

Second, actually show Uni struggling to do certain tasks because of their impairment. The goggles are worn in V4 because they apparently help her make puppets, but just show one of her friends helping her make them! Or better yet, you can show Uni making them by pupself, but just make sure to show her struggling to do certain things, like stitch things in a neat way. Uni isn't completely blind obviously, so she would be able to do some things herself with practice (and making puppets is something she's apparently been doing for a long time) but that doesn't mean they'll be able to do everything perfectly. As for daily things, show her having to be really close to her screen to be able to actually play the video games she enjoys. Show them struggling to find things that are right in front of them because of how bad pups vision can be sometimes. Show her having to get other people to read things to them! In v1 Uni had to ask Barry to read a map because they can't do it themselves, show that again!

As for her wearing them to hide their missing eyes from their kids in Cometcare, sure, that works. But as said above don't make them fix her disability! She can be said to always wear them because 1: still self conscious about her eyes in some ways and 2: doesn't want her children to see pups empty eyesockets because it alludes to the hospital, which the kids aren't supposed to know about. They can even be shown being given more accommodations because shes out of the hospital! Uni has a pet cog in Cometcare (I can't remember her name) but make that a seeing eye cog for her! Kittycorn has already said that ferry's that help with disabilities are a thing, so that means that Uni could have her cog help guide her when she's out alone. Not to mention all the different ways you can spin how Uni got the seeing eye cog in the first place; since Kittycorn says that Uni's parents are concerned for her condition and care about her well being, THEY could have been the ones to gift the cog to them after they got out of the hospital, as a way to clarify that Uni would be safe. I don't know about others, but if I had a kid that randomly came out of some murder hospital and be severely visually disabled out of the blue, I'd probably be worried about how they're going to live life in a town considering Uni hasn't been out of the hospital in like, six years. It's going to take some getting used to if she wants to even walk around the town she lives in.

And since Cometcare seems to be so focused on cutesy ship stuff, make one of Uni's spouses shown to be helping her sew! Show them reading important things to her, show them describing intricate pictures to her! It's not that hard to give a bit of better representation with these kinds of things.

Oh yeah other Sparklecrit blogs have talked about this but I wanted to add to it as someone that is actually pretty badly visually impaired.

I don't like the way Uni's sight is fixed with magic goggles. Don't get me wrong, I love Uni. She is literally one of the most relatable characters I have found in any kind of media as someone who's genuinely traumatized and has taken on coping mechanisms similar to theirs. But I do not like the way her visual disability is treated.

As stated above I am visually impaired. I'm not going into details but it has put me under the risk of becoming blind quite a few times and strongly impacts the way I see the world. Obviously I'm not completely blind but it really does impact me, especially with the way other people see me sometimes due to it and the forms of ableism I've had to deal with. It's honestly why I related to Uni at first; both me and her have the same issue with our vision being really messed up. But it's not just my personal opinion that matters here. As other blogs have said the "magic can fix disabilities" trope is inherently very ableist and gross and just- honestly an excuse to get rid of a characters disability entirely.

While I do understand that Uni doesn't want her children to see what happened to her eyes, just wearing a pair of normal goggles would fix this issue without literally completely correcting her disability as if pup didn't have it in the first place. And before someone says anything, no. Seeing in a single color does not at all equate to her vision being so blurry that she can hardly make out facial expressions. This isn't just a Cometcare issue either, Uni has started wearing goggles in Sparklecare as well to correct her visual impairment and it comes off as really weird. Obviously pup would have a hard time making the puppets with how blurry their vision is but they could always get help from another character. Or literally just show how a characters physical disability affects them ykyk.

While this most likely wasn't what Kc was going for I can easily see why it looks like that, especially with the Jay's scooter and Polly's cane drama. I feel that if Kc wants to write physical disabilities into buns comic, she should definitely get some physically disabled people on the team. Again, this is not hate towards Kc- I just really wish that physical disabilities were represented in a better way in the comic because although squeak probably didn't mean for it to come off as this trope, it definitely did to me and a lot of others.

[thethreemages]

W O O, so I'm back a bit from the art-grave to finally upload this piece I had completed a lil while ago... the pic in question being some slight redesign/touchups for two of my central side characters of TTM, Noira and Raider Crane~ 💙 Just to keep things a lil fresh and reflecting a bit better of their current character portrayals, so I hope you all enjoy! ^^

More info about both characters can be found below (and here on DA too)~

-Noira Crane (age 16) is Raider's younger sister, Princess Zia's best friend and currently enrolled at St. Ravilda's Mage Academy. A generally stoic and poised young lady with a rather sharp tongue than many would expect... often expressed through well-placed snark at those trying to interrupt her and Zia's "fun" (aka: sneaking around and setting up pranks around the school). When she's not busy hanging with Zia and keeping up their rather limited cheer squad these days, Noira could often be seen competing heavily for maintaining her place up above the top ranked students (of which a certain white-haired prince keeps trying to secure that spot for himself). Underneath her "well-to-do" exterior, however... lies a deep-down insecure girl who often feels pressured to bottle up her feelings, especially with the amount of pressure her parents (Lachlan & Vinia) put on both her and her brother Raider growing up. Combined with the strain put on from Raider's falling out with their parents a few years back... it's left Noira rather scared to delve too much into her own natural Water Mage abilities for fear she can't measure up (even with her folks trying their best to "dial back" for her sake, since she's their only remaining child living with them now). The few things in life that can truly bring a sense of peace and smiles to her face are Zia's company, the success of beating her rivals, and the never-ending bond she and Raider share between eachother... no matter the distance, no matter what.  (Fun Facts about Noira): -She's usually never seen walking around without her beloved dog companion, "Misty Belle" (courtesy to my pal @littlechaoticwitch for helping to come up with the name :3 ). The fluffy pup given to her as a gift from her folks a few years back, Misty is quite a sweet lil lady for most who are allowed to be near her. Always eager to follow her mistress around faithfully, snuggling and goofing around the room when left idle, and occasionally chewing at the ankles of those who try to mess with Noira (like, again, a certain white-paired prince who never ceases to push his luck lol).  -She was named after one of the earlier Crane family ancestors, "Noira the Victress". Said to have been quite a powerful blood pirate, the present-day Noira Crane has... always been a bit unsure of how to feel about her namesake, despite her father and some other distant relatives seeming rather proud of it. She's still a lil curious to try and research more about her ancestor though, given how popular she was as a subject for numerous campfire stories.  -Noira has been diagnosed as nearsighted from the time she was in elementary school, and thus is never seen without her favorite pair of horn-rimmed glasses (an aesthetic picked up from her favorite aunt, Freya).  -While her parents have officially stated for Noira to be the heir to their Crane Corp Industries business, Noira is still conflicted in herself of what she wants to do in life by the time she graduates. Whether it'd be to try out being a traveling Mage, or join more of Zia's royal court down in Asteria... its hard for her to decide atm.  -Being born a rather tiny and frail baby, Noira was always watched like a hawk by the family-hired medical professionals to keep her safe and protected. She's required to carry a couple EpiPens with her on the day-to-day with how many allergies she has, and Zia always tries to remember to keep a nice lil bag of snacks with her too in case her friend's blood sugar dips too low (as does Raider when he and Noira get to hang out on their own).  ============= -Raider Crane (age 21) is Noira's older brother, one of Kain's old school friends and currently making it big as an extreme stunt performer/traveling Electric mage. A bright, cheerful and fun-loving young man who lives to make others smile... whether it'd be for his own friend group or the crowds of audiences who clamor to come see his shows. Yet even with so much going well for him now... it wasn't always the easiest for him growing up before. Living under the roof of his folks who

always kept a tight grip

on him being "the best" (especially by his father), and even facing it worse with some bullying by Kaz's crew at school... it left Raider pretty timid and reclusive for the longest time. Only once others like Kain, Lyra, Briar and a few others taking the time to approach him did his true loveable goofball nature started to sprout for good... but at the same time, something just felt "missing" within Raider that didn't really sit right with him. Knowing how much of a rut he'd be bound to stay in if he kept up things how they were now... he decided by his last few years of Ravilda's to "change" himself for the better. From getting a new "bolder" punk look, working out and bulking over the summer, and taking some social sessions with fellow popular girl Dyani to gain some confidence in himself... Raider returned to the halls of the academy with a brighter, more-outgoing outlook on life now. He started gaining popularity left and right, taught Kaz's crew a thing or two when they tried one last chance to mess with him, and by graduation he was already on his way to make it big after getting signed on by an aspiring tv crew. All was going fine for once... yet back at home, things escalated between his parents (who still didn't seem understanding of Raider's personal dreams over their family business) to where Raider just... couldn't take it anymore. Many words were exchanged that night that prompted the young man to up and leave the family home for good... and never turning back except to now and then check up on his baby sister Noira. As the few years passed up until now, things are still going good for Raider in terms of his work and bond with Noira... though things remain relatively strained and awkward in regards to him and his parents. Whether things will ever truly improve or not with them is unclear as of now... but for the time being, Raider is at least content with himself on being able to finally shape his life the way it should be; fun, free, and fulfilling in its own way~.  (Fun Facts about Raider): -Back at his own personal trailer, Raider has a trio of cats he adopted awhile back named "Sprocket", "Buzz", and "Zipps". Having always been a strong cat person since he was a boy (but never getting the chance to own one growing up, given his mom's allergy to them), it was a big dream of Raider's to get his own feline companion by the time he moved out of the house. He went to the shelter to find three kitten siblings who were tossed aside and overlooked among some other animals... and being the big sweetie as he was, Raider was all too eager to scoop them up to adopt them all together. They're quite a funny bunch who tend to get into some trouble if left unsupervised, but are very much loyal to Raider either way with how often they'll form some "snuggle piles" with him once he's off-of-work.  -Raider gained his name from his paternal great-grandfather, Raider "The Swiftest" Crane. Originally was going to be named "Odin" (after Lachlan's own father, as was the old man's request many years ago)... but due to a falling out between the two not long before his son's birth, Lachlan decided against that and gave his boy "an even prouder name" to look up to instead. As for the present-day Raider himself, he's always been curious to know more about his great-grandfather given some accounts about him being a "commander of the skies" (via-riding dragons).  -From birth, Raider has carried an eye condition known as "Anisocoria"... in which one of his pupils is permanently smaller than the other eye and thus leaving him with some partially-blurred vision. For certain shows of his that take place in some heavy-weather conditions, Raider is required to wear some specialized goggles to help him see through his performance.  -His current neon/cyan blue hair isn't his natural haircolor, as Raider was actually born with darker/blackish-blue hair instead. Used to grow it out pretty shaggy and long up until his teens (in where he often hid his face behind his locks at times when he was down on himself)... but by the time his last

few highschool years rolled around, he cut most of it off and styled it to the look its at now as a nice change of pace. Got quite a few compliments on it's initial debut, so Raider has long since kept it around as his own lil "brand".  -As most of his friends have all long since went their separate ways after Ravilda's, Raider is the main one who likes to keep arranging for them to meet up on the few downtimes they're able to take off from their schedules. Often likes to greet any of his buddies with the biggest, crushing hugs imaginable (being lowkey touch-starved as he is)... and while not always the most logical thinker in terms of planning, he's the main heart to keep the group afloat in times they start bickering or feeling lost with one another.