#this entire post is a mess

[lividria]

Pikmin Theory: The Sparkly Wraith

⚠️CONTENT WARNING: HEY! PIKMIN⚠️

This post is huge, so I'm just putting the entire thing under the cut.

Preamble

So, during my Pikmin hyperfixation, which I can't even tell if it's over or not, really, I was getting really into trying to solve Pikmin lore, and never really got to put the pieces together. The reason? I watched DazzReviews' decade-old video about Umibozu Theory. No offense to the guy, I used to watch his other videos, but that fucking theory gave me one of the worst headaches of my life with how horrible it was and how little sense the points made. It made me feel physical pain. So, naturally, when I saw references to the theory start popping up in the wild, I just... Gave up. I've been avoiding Pikmin lore theorizing like the plague ever since, because, like, I don't want that to happen again. But then I realized I can't escape it, even if I tried, and I know that because I just saw it brought up in passing. Again. I know there's modern updates of the theory to get it up to date to Pikmin 4, but I'm not checking them to see if they hurt my head too.

Meanwhile, I brought this up in a previous post, but one of my friends around this time started making terrible Nintendo game ideas as part of a long-term troll him, me and another friend have been planning for a while now, and I... Got way too into the Pikmin ideas for it. I was trying to come up with really dumb lore, using all the dumb trivia I've learned, and instead via divine revelation was given this theory. I thought I got myself out, but this has pulled me back in. I probably could've left all of this out, but it's a funny story, so...

I have at least one other big theory for Pikmin lore, so I may type that up some time, too.

Part 1: Prerequisite Knowledge/Assumptions

This is assuming you're at least familiar with all 5 Pikmin games and what happens in them. In other words, spoilers. But you've had years to figure this all out, I don't need to say that.

I don't know yet if this will be all too relevant, but I'm working under the assumption that the timeline is 1 -> 2 -> 4 -> 3 -> Hey!. The Koppai food crisis is mentioned to be incoming in 4, and the Treasure Catalog entries for the music box treasure with Pikmin 3's title theme imply that the game's events haven't happened yet, especially Olimar's. In Pikmin 3, Hocotate Freight's almost bankrupt again, Olimar's using the Hocotate Ship, and the S.S. Dolphin's seemingly been sold... Again (They probably bought it back in-between Pikmin 2 & 4 with the newfound company wealth), and Olimar mentions wanting to buy it again, and then he has the S.S. Dolphin II in Hey!, where he also recognizes the Pikmin 3 Pikmin, meaning it's either after 4 or 3, so there you go. No, I don't have an explanation for how Pikmin 2's globes imply PNF-404 looks like present-day Earth, when Pikmin 3 has Pangaea Proxima, or a couple other inconsistencies (The Voyage Logs do seem to be non-chronological, iirc the "I'm so very tired..." log with a picture of Hero's Hideaway appears before Olimar goes there, and Olimar was keeping logs in Pikmin 1 & 2 that we may also be seeing to explain why he's seemingly unfamiliar with things like Pikmin & Onions, so like... Other stuff besides those), you'll have to figure that out for yourself.

Speaking of Pangaea Proxima, yea, if you look at the map in Pikmin 3's area select, you'll see it's actually based on a speculative map of what the world will look like in roughly 300 million years, and it's named Pangaea Proxima... I think there was another name, Pangaea Ultima or something, but I prefer Proxima. The only difference is the Formidable Oak's placement, when it's not supposed to be there in the actual map. So that gives us a time placement for when the games are taking place, and humans went extinct... At some point. No, I don't know why Hero's Hideaway indicates recent habitation, or how all of the treasures are perfectly preserved, you'll have to figure that out for yourself. Or, more accurately, for me.

Anyways, Sparklium. A bizarre material that doesn't have mass, but is found in... Basically every object you can think of? All of the treasures in Pikmin 4 & Hey! Pikmin, but are primarily found in metallic objects. It also seems to manifest as gold nuggets, though it can also be red, rainbow, or an acorn... Wait, how can it be an object if it has no mass? Anyways, it can be used as fuel, and doesn't seem to ever run out, as you don't spend it in either game, you keep it all, and there's a ship part called a Sparklium Converter that... Converts Sparklium to usable fuel, I guess, and for some reason when it's lodged into the Leech Hydroe, that makes it incredibly angry. The solidified Sparklium primarily appears in Sparklium Springs, lakes of water with an inexplicable rainbow aura shooting up into the sky where Sparklium nuggets will periodically spill everywhere.

We don't know if those are on PNF-404, but they're definitely on the Hey! Pikmin planet, which was also home to a human civilization comparable to our own that is also gone now... Which doesn't make sense, if we're talking space colonization, but whatever. I've named this planet Heihei, because... Hey!, and also it's a word for Chicken in another language, which is funny. Heihei also shares wildlife with PNF-404, for some reason, somehow including Pikmin when you can assume that if Leafling dogs can't leave the planet, Pikmin shouldn't be able to either, but that's for you to figure out for yourself.

Also, someone did the math on all of the people who have crashed on PNF-404 because of the asteroids around it, and it's over 20 crashes. The only people who have gotten there without interruption have been Olimar & the President returning for Louie in Pikmin 2, Olimar and Louie returning to PNF-404 for more treasure in Olimar's Assignment and again to fix the Hocotate Ship in Olimar's Comeback, and Pom (Is it common knowledge that's the community name for the Pikmin 4 protagonist? Just in case, that's who Pom is.) coming to save the Rescue Corps (and everyone else).

Speaking of the Rescue Corps, you can unlock diary entries from the past that imply the little people are descendants of humanity after some sort of apocalypse drove them underground:

"The surface! We made it at last! Finally, we can begin making a fresh start here on this planet. Of course, it will take many long months and years before what we've built here will be anything like what we once had. But we won't be alone. Our beloved dogs will be by our side as we walk this long, difficult road."

"Many years have passed since we first began to make this land our new home. Still, we need more time to complete our environmental adaptations. In the meantime, we must survive so that, one day, we can pass down this new history to our children, and pass down the ways we've learned to rescue and protect everyone. One day we will live here in peace."

""Beyond the sky itself there lies a beautiful blue planet." Those words have been passed down from captain to captain, calling to each of us. I can't imagine what sort of place this blue planet might be, but it's said to be home to even more dogs and folks that we have here. One day, I hope to fly beyond the sky...and into space."

I'm probably forgetting something, I'll figure it out as I write out the actual theory.

Part 2: The Shining Demon

Humanity somehow went extinct on at least two different planets, and Sparklium is also absolutely everywhere on those two planets. The Sparklium Springs' rainbow aura is... Uh... Strange, that's not how things work, it looks otherworldly, and Sparklium is inexplicably spilling out of it, and they all have water. We already know about some otherworldly being associated with water: The Water Wraith. Them and a couple other instances (Glow Pikmin, the Smoky Progg and Gloom are the first things that come to mind) show that there's some esoteric unexplainable property of the Pikmin universe allowing for strange, almost paranormal things to occur.

I don't have a clean transition into this, but hear me out: There's a supernatural entity of some sort that I'm naming the Shining Demon, that somehow threatened humanity on all of it's planets, so the people got together and broke it apart into Sparklium, and sealed all of it away in the Sparklium Springs of Heihei, probably in some sort of extradimensional space (Fun fact, there's a random reference to the "Master of Dimension X" in a Pikmin 2 sales pitch that goes unexplained, so I'll refer to this as Dimension X from now on just to use the name), with that rainbow aura over the water being the magic seal. However, over time, the seal began to fade, and the Sparklium began to spill out, and integrate into all of the objects around the planet, probably spreading to PNF-404 when people went from one planet to the other, or there's unseen PNF-404 Sparklium Springs, either or.

It's safe to assume that the Sparklium Converter has Sparklium in it, and you know what it does to the Leech Hydroe. That thing was so aggressive, it was the final boss, and one of two bosses that give you any semblance of challenge in Hey! Pikmin. It's also shown to be in living (or previously living) treasures such as fruit, meat and fossils, and just about any other kind of object you can think of, so the Sparklium could've either gotten into animals & plants to make them aggressive towards humans, or gotten directly into humans to kill them from the inside, or something.

Now, where else could it go from there? You know how it's primarily in metal objects, especially in Hey! Pikmin? What object has strange properties in the Pikmin series that's made of tons of metal? THE ASTEROIDS. And if the Pikmin people are descendants of the humanity that the Shining Demon hated so much it drove to extinction, and it's in control of the things it's inside, AND Sparklium is used as a fuel source and is thus also in the spaceships, then you can put two and two together and assume that it's crashing people to get them stuck in it's territory where it can kill them to finish the job.

But, if it was originally a living being, if you were to put enough Sparklium together in one place, could it not form together once again? That's exactly what it did.

Part 3: Fool's Gold

The Plasm Wraith is a fragment of the Shining Demon. I mean, come on. Not only does it look like gold, it's Elemental Plasms are based on Cubic Pyrite. Fool's Gold. Olimar is demonstrated to be a fool, having been scammed multiple times if you read the Pikmin 1 Ship Part descriptions, and thinks that the Plasm Wraith is gold, which is why he goes to collect it, even when Louie is apprehensive, because he enjoys treasure hunting a foolish amount now.

In the Pikmin 3 Deluxe Piklopedia, Olimar speculates that the hole in the Plasm Wraith's face is a "manifested psychic wound". If it was torn apart and sealed in the Sparklium Springs, then magic or esoteric shit of some sort was already involved, so that could've been from when people were trying to kill it directly. Also, it makes sense that the psychic wound is where it's "head" is.

Remember in Part 1 where I mentioned 3 out of the 4 times people were allowed to come to PNF-404 without being attacked were Olimar? At this point, I think the Plasm Wraith, or more accurately the Sparkly Wraith, piece of the Shining Demon, recognizes that for whatever reason Olimar keeps coming back and putting a ton of Sparklium in one place, so it's just... Letting him come so that it can keep taking shots at him, and he literally walks right up to it. Why wouldn't it want him to put all of the Sparklium in one place? It'd help it form into another Plasm Wraith. It hasn't done that yet, I guess because he never gets enough together, but still, it's possible.

Also, you know how the Plasm Wraith seems to be caressing Olimar when the Koppaites arrive at the Formidable Oak? Two possibilities:

It likes him now, because it views him as an instrument it can manipulate to get back in one piece, so it just kinda... "Takes care of him". I don't know what it was planning to do, since Olimar was there, for like, at least a week.

It wants to figure out how to get into him like it might've gotten into the humans and all the other objects. Olimar's sealed up in a spacesuit, which it might view as foreign, so it's really curious about him... And wants to learn how to penetrate the suit, so that it can kill/control the current descendants of humanity. Speaking of...

If you check the Pikmin 3 Deluxe Piklopedia, Louie ate the Plasm Wraith. And a lot of other stuff, including the animals we know the Shining Demon might be in control of because of the Leech Hydroe, treasure in Pikmin 4 which I've established has Sparklium in it... Whoopsie. That'd explain why he progressively starts talking less, as Olimar mentions in Pikmin 3, and starts lashing out more and more... Then again, that unused cutscene has Louie reveal he believed he was kidnapped by the Koppaites, so, I don't know. Is that still canon if it was removed? Whatever.

Side tangent here, Louie wasn't controlling the Titan Dweevil, because if he was, he would've been able to control the Scornet Maestro to stop it from eating/attacking/kidnapping him, because that's also a bug. The Titan Dweevil probably just liked Louie's antenna, or something, as it likes shiny objects, and Louie's sociopathy and uncaring demeanor towards animals (He eats EVERYTHING which requires killing everything) rubs off on it when Olimar comes back, plus potential feelings of betrayal or anger or whatever, because the Volatile Dweevils mimic the behavior of the objects they carry so the Titan Dweevil might to, but all of that influence would've been accidental, as he's unconscious. He did, however, use the Ancient Sirehound to lash out intentionally, even after hearing Olimar's voice. Got it? Got it.

By the way, you know how in Pikmin 4 the Pikmin 3 fruits return, and have Sparklium in them? And the Koppaites bring all of that back home to eat? Shit. (I stole this from the Umibozu Theory video I complained about earlier, and I'm not sorry.)

I don't have a good conclusion here, just like how I didn't have a good start. Just... Deal with it.

Part 4: TL;DR

Sparklium is actually a fragment of an esoteric entity I've named the Shining Demon that tried to kill off humanity, that was sealed away in the Sparklium Springs by humanity, only for the seals to gradually begin fading and begin releasing Sparklium that then infects all sorts of objects and creatures, which it then used to kill humanity. However, some humans survived, escaped underground, and evolved into the small people we see in Pikmin over 300 million years, and are constantly attacked by the asteroids around PNF-404 and the Hey! Pikmin planet that have Sparklium in them, in an attempt to get them into it's territory to kill them off and finish the job.

The Plasm Wraith is a lot of this Sparklium fused together into a living being, much weaker than the Shining Demon, and Olimar's idiocy directly benefits it by hoarding tons of Sparklium, so it captures him and either wants to use him to further it's own goals or wants to figure out how to break through his spacesuit so it can kill everyone it can via it's Sparklium infection, and it's also potentially infected Louie due to him consuming Sparklium, as well as the Koppaite trio and potentially the rest of Koppai.

I don't know where the Water Wraith fits in here, but it may have some connection to the Sparklium Springs, I guess.

[reallyghostlypost]

The Ferngill Republic's history

(As a disclaimer, this post might or might not be controversial, since it ties SVE with a few... unfortunate real life events like the second world war and the foundation of USA. I think the associations make sense from the dialogue, and Ferngill-SUA Gotoro- Imperial Japan is a pretty popular theory in the fandom, but obviously not everyone might necessarily agree. Also this post is messy in general since I'm trying to build a continent's entire history from like four lines of text.)

I need to add some historical events to my own worldbuilding and unfortunately we know very little about the world's history. Stardew Valley is very light on lore in general and SVE avoided truly touching this part of worldbuilding. Aside from vague dialogue about ancient magic that can't be tied to any actual time period or historical events, we have only two hints about the Republic's past: the pelican statue behind Joja and the event SVE adds for Demetrius.

The pelican statue reads: "PELICAN TOWN- DATE: 04.17.19XX- Built in recognition of Stardew Valley's Elegance", so we have a very vague date of the town's creation (the date changed btw, it used to read something like 20XX). Since it's hinted in the game that the town is young it couldn't have been built before the Republic existed, so we have a vague date that happened during the country's existence. This is a weird way of putting it but it's important because of Demetrius's event.

"A thousand years ago, a huge meteor shower periodically bombarded this specific area of the Ferngill Republic. Of course, back then, the Republic didn't exist yet. [...] So our ancestors called these showers the 'Silk Dew of The Stars'. When the Ferngill Republic was first established 150 years ago, the Admission Union named this valley 'Stardew' in honor of our ancestors. [...] It's the reason so many farmers have established their livelihood in Stardew Valley!"

These are the relevant parts of the event, and I bolded the words I found interesting. So... the Republic seems to be modelled after America in SVE. The war with Gotoro has similarities with the WWII, with the Gotoro Empire resembling Imperial Japan. SVE even has it's own version of Pearl Harbour (this is easily my least favorite part of the mod since tying fantasy events to real world ones brings lots unnecessary implications and puts huge limitations on lore, but such is life ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).

Demetrius's event further proves the fact that Ferngill Republic was modelled after USA. It's a very 'new' country that seems disconnected from it's past and brings to mind the colonisation of the Americas. It even has some kind of Union as the political body responsible for this. While states change their types of government and their names all the time, life within the country remains largely unchanged. Demetrius implies farmers moved to Stardew Valley after they somehow discovered the fertile soil of the area, instead of the Valley being used by farmers since time immemorial, which would happen in an 'old country'. Similarly, re-naming the Valley would be weird, it would simply be known as Stardew throughout it's history and it's name would carry on independent of any new government.

Now, I'm not saying that Ferngill's history follows America's perfectly, or that it was founded after a large amount of people moved here from another place to create a new country, after all the new republic could have been created as a result of a past war with Gotoro, for example. Mainly that this resemblance changes the way it's inhabitants deal with the past.

Ultimately, this theory being true or not doesn't have much relevance on the history of the world itself (mainly because we don't know anything about it), but will determine what historical events are relevant for worldbuilding. If I don't use the Ferngill-USA comparison, than all historical events of the continent are important, since there's a smooth continuity in the country's evolution. On the other hand, if I use my theory, than only the events happening within two centuries at most will be truly important. Past events happened to another 'country' after all.

For example, I want to add some monster related tragedy in the Valley before Pelican Town was built, explaining why it took so long for the town to be created when the soil is apparently famously fertile. This theory would change when the disaster happened. If I rely on it, the disaster must have happened during the Republic's existence, or at least very close to it's foundation. If I don't, then it could happen at any point in the past and I have no limitation on my worldbuilding.

---

Moving on, let's look at the history of Pelican Town, which is just as mysterious, although less important in the grand scale of things. It must be at most 150 years old, assuming it was founded soon after the Republic was established, but it seems to be much younger than that. Marlon implies that he started the guild either when the town was created or soon after, since he mentions that most of the area was covered by wilderness. So the town's history all happened within a human lifespan. It's possible that people lived here for longer before that, and that the area was first inhabited by miners and only later the town was created.

Andy mentioned that he moved here in order to become a farmer, it's possible that he moved when the town was established and farmers were encouraged to take advantage of the fertile and cheap land. Demetrius mentions the fountain being 30 years old, so at earliest the town has existed for three decades. Lewis says he's been the mayor for more than 20 years, he might be the second or third mayor the town ever had. And lastly, the recession that destroyed Aurora Vineyard happened when the farmer was still working at Joja according to Andy.

---

This is pretty much the only thing we know about the history of Ferngill Republic. There's lots of space to fill with whatever worldbuilding you want, but the lack of details makes this surprisingly hard. I'm curious if anyone has any headcanons about this.

[sunderwight]

Crack SVSSS Mpreg AU where when Shen Yuan transmigrates in, the system impregnates him with the displaced soul of the original Shen Qingqiu.

For the purposes of this AU, we'll say that male pregnancies or trans men being pregnant in the PIDW universe are uncommon but not especially noteworthy concepts.

So now not only does he have to deal with recovering from his qi deviation and of course being pressed into the role of the scum villain from the novel he was just reading, he's also mysteriously knocked up, can't explain it, and doesn't even know for sure if the baby will recollect being Shen Jiu when its born -- and of course hate him for stealing the Shen Qingqiu life.

What's more, Shen Yuan can't bring himself to get rid of it, because he does have mixed feelings about stealing Shen Jiu's life as well. Even though he knows it's probably the best tactical move, and he doesn't even like Shen Jiu, and the system has said there wouldn't be any penalties because it wouldn't impact the major important plot milestones, he opts to just... keep it. And not think too hard about it.

Luckily(?) cultivators have a lot of control over their bodies, which means a pregnancy can last however long they want it to, so Shen Yuan doesn't have to worry about giving birth in a hurry. SJ seems fine in utero, stalling his development doesn't have adverse effects, so Shen Yuan just swears Mu Qingfang to secrecy and figures out how to keep his pregnancy at the early stages for as long as possible while he hashes everything else out. So apart from internal freak-outs, most of the early plot proceeds as usual.

Unluckily(?), this state of affairs changes when Shen Qingqiu gets infected with Without-a-Cure, as that makes it so that putting off the inevitable is no longer a viable course of action. He can't spare the extra energy and doesn't have the stability of cultivation required to mess around with his pregnancy anymore, so things have to proceed at a more normal rate.

Which means the other peak lords and the disciples on Qing Jing find out that Shen Qingqiu has been harboring a secret pregnancy for an undetermined length of time. Shen Yuan has to bite the bullet and use the amnesia excuse to explain his lack of insight to the existence of any other parents (he's surprised it works so well, because he doesn't know that the rest of the sect has already figured out he doesn't remember some things after his fever), which inspires a lot of behind-the-scenes chaos because everyone has ALSO figured out that Shen Qingqiu's amnesia seems to pertain to things that must have traumatized him in the past.

So if he's pregnant, and he lost his memories of how he got that way...

Well. Cang Qiong is now on the hunt for an attacker who might already be dead and doesn't actually exist.

But everyone agrees that Shen Qingqiu doesn't need to be troubled by these details, so if he's okay with not remembering, then they're okay with letting him not remember. The only one who tries to bring it up is Liu Qingge, and that's mostly in the context of wanting clues so he can track down the culprit and stab them until they are dead.

Luo Binghe supports the quest to find the persona responsible and violently murder them, but as a disciple he has no resources to actually go on some wild goose chase for a mystery rapist. Besides, he has more important things to do on the peak, like making Shizun's meals, keeping Shizun's house, and preparing to help raise Shizun's baby. Luo Binghe is not going to be the stepdad, he is going to be the dad who stepped up! (Binghe please cool your jets you're like fifteen you're going to give your future shizun whole new inner turmoil about whether it's possible to accidentally babytrap your own teenage disciple via immaculate conception reincarnation pregnancy...)

Anyway eventually baby SJ arrives, and Shen Yuan immediately decides to block all recollections of the childbirth process and never dwell on it again. Something happened, he's no longer going to think about it, oh look a baby! A potentially evil villain baby. With cute widdle toes and tiny fingers and a squished, grumpy baby face that gets all red when he cries...

Yeah. Despite his reservations, there's no way he's not getting attached.

He gets Binghe to help him pick out a name for the baby, partly because he feels terribly presumptuous when he actually knows this kid's real name (but he can hardly call his son "Shen Jiu"), partly to encourage Luo Binghe to have some fondness for the kid so that if he someday hates his old shizun, he might still spare his "son" from his revenge. Even though it's actually SJ's fault. Well, he's a baby now. He probably doesn't even remember anything! He sure does cry a lot! Would the OG villain cry and fuss and settle down only after being sufficiently cuddled?

Turns out, yes. Shen Jiu remembers everything from before his fatal qi deviation. He's just also still an infant. So what can he do but cry? And maybe pee on the beast and that body-stealing creature that has reduced him to this. He spends most of his early infancy waiting for someone to come smother him with a pillow, but the conspirators must want to keep him alive for some reason, because it doesn't happen. Instead he gets looked after and soothed and taken care of in a way he never has been. Also, his stupid baby instincts keep insisting that the creature which stole his body is actually the safest person in the whole world.

It's like a cruel joke. SJ finally gets the childhood he always wanted deep down inside, but the one giving it to him is some kind of monster.

[jadecantcreate]

coalecroux incorrect quote doodles (its ironic guys)

i slightly modified & used this (^) quote from perchance’s incorrect quote generator

[borgialucrezia]

"Grief? Then why do you force this false joy upon us? We are dancing on your brother's grave."

[monkesupreme]

Maybe i SHOULD draft out my ‘Clark is a SuperPlant’ propaganda post

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Game night results (from this poll)

Character selection inspired from extraterezi's post!

[anthonyzoxide]

Today on drawing crossover False art despite not having seen a second of the crossover (I just think she's neat)

[ptvstvrrr]

This is genuinely probably the craziest and dirtiest edit I've made

[turtleblogatlast]

I like to think that Leo one day decides to really play around with his portaling and teleportation abilities and see the full extent of them.

Like - continuously throwing one sword and teleporting to it while throwing the next one immediately and repeating this as long as he can to see how far he can keep it up without stopping.

Making little portals in the air that lead right up against the ground so he could potentially just stand on the portal in the middle of the sky.

Ultimate storage system - anything anywhere at any time is available if he knows where to get it (personally my headcanon for why he goes from two satchels to one in the movie.)

Phasing to avoid attacks - like, he could lightly toss a sword a single centimeter and teleport to it, and in that short amount of time he can completely avoid hits.

If they ever do go to space and end up on different planets, with enough training he can just…go there, whenever. Not only would this be great for being well traveled and having more places to go in general, but this also opens up more room for connections and allies that could assist them the next time they need help against a grand foe.

Leo can easily remove injured team members from a fight and get them help without having to account for transportation times.

On that note - Leo’s teleportation in particular acts on a particle level. It’s quite literally breaking him down into particles and remaking him every time he uses it. Both for him and for anyone he uses it on. Who’s to say it can’t be used for healing? At least for basic wounds.

None of this even touches upon the offensive potential of both portals and teleportation. Leo’s abilities flourish more as a support main, but that doesn’t mean those abilities can’t easily be used as weapons - and I don’t think I need to get into how exactly they can be. Portal chopping alone can take on a very different meaning…

Furthermore, I gotta wonder if he’ll always need the swords for this, or if he could one day be able to achieve the same results without them.

My point being - teleportation and portals are super OP. Even with the abilities Leo has in present they are so unbelievably adaptable and so fun to think about in terms of basic mechanics.

[deoidesign]

Sketching

[poisonousquinzel]

"harley quinn's never had a good design in the last deca-!" WRONG dropkicks you through a brick wall

[ryssbelle]

Poppy for N2 au, it took me so long to make her design cuz I didn't really know what I wanted to do only because I feel like her design is pretty perfect.

But then I just thought about fun outfits to give her or outfits that I would find comfortable if I was wearing them and it all came together.

Poppy here is pretty much the same as here movie counterpart, as nothing really changes on her end of things other than having more insight on Branch through his brothers, and through Lief. Shes also a bit more understanding a bit earlier on because of it but it doesnt do much to change her own character arc I would say.

Bonus

Part of Poppys design was based off a design I had made for previous rulers of Troll Village/Tree

Namely Queen Protea who I designed as Poppys grandmother

Named after the Protea flower which part of her design is based off :D

In the context of this Au Protea was the one who conceptualized the tunnels while her son, King Peppy, was the one to follow through after her death

[clowningaroundmars]

my personal atsv hobie brown hc is that this boy can build a watch that enables the wearer to travel to any dimension they want to, made entirely out of cobbled up parts he "finds"

but anytime anyone brings up AI or algorithms or social media he pretends to be 100 years old

hobie: what's a bloody "snapchat"? fuckin 'ell those effects are nightmarish, mate

miles, exasperated: hobie, you BUILD TECH that astrophysicists in my dimension can't even replicate. how are filters on a phone trippin you up?

hobie: dunno, everyone's got their strengths n weaknesses, i 'spose... 🙄😒

[bixels]

What did/do you like about Pharah?

Uh, gameplay-wise, I really love characters in shooters who rely on three-dimensional movement techs. Chaining together hover and jump to stay in the air for as long as possible and keep momentum is so satisfying, and picking enemies off from the sky made me feel like a bird of prey. I was a good Pharah main.

Story-wise, there unfortunately isn't much to canonically go off because Pharah is so underutilized and neglected. Her personality's pretty boilerplate "heroic hero" (she's literally inspired by Captain America).

But it's the crumbs/bits and pieces that I really latched onto. Pharah's a confirmed lesbian; her short story with Baptiste implies she harbors a crush on Mercy (fucking thank you.). She's biracial Egyptian/First Nations. She has major mommy issues, having grown up both admiring and resenting Ana. She's the bridge between Old Overwatch, inspired by the idealized heroes who surrounded her childhood, and New Overwatch. She's one of the only inter-generational characters in the cast; someone whose experiences span the gap, which is why I seriously believe Pharah would make a great main character.

There isn't much to go off of, though; she's a very uncomplicated character (she's a soldier for a private military corporation, lol.). But that just means she's a blank slate character, so I've seen fanfic writers run wild and create some really interesting takes on her. My favorite interpretation of her's a dense, herbo gym-bro type (a lot of her liens are about work outs, exercising, and playing sports) who's easily excitable under her seemingly self-serious, armored visage. We see how she tends to gloat and hype herself up when she's on a streak too, so Pharah definitely has a competitive and boastful side under her more professional and militant performance.

Now Mercy? Mercy is a real complex character.

[dxxtruction]

"Louis acting like a pimp to Armand" And what is a pimp exactly? Quickly. And, oh so sexual trauma survivors can't engage in kink now without it being all about that? Pet names? They can't be submissive anymore? Consensually? Sexually healthy? Be serious. I'd hardly say there's much power difference between them during all this anyway, except that Louis is freer than Armand and it's been putting a strain on their relationship. Louis wants more from Armand, and less of this 'being his past' for them both, and so helping Armand with this could fix that. It's healthy to want to help your partners get out of a rough patch?

I mean, the whole exchange was very clearly set up as a "I want to help you" after such a great moment of vulnerability Louis feels just how much Armand is desperate for it. Louis called Armand so they could work out a plan together.

And the bit with the umbrella was Louis' way of asking 'are you willing to listen to me?' and Armand said yes by unfolding it. Louis goes on and explains, Armand is allowed to argue against it, but Louis makes his point. And then he gives Armand a way to make his own choice in it too. Armand's already decided 'I want you, more than anything else in the world', but Louis still asks after if he's sure of his choice, and with a name, Arun, that is the one of his fullest agency, running the point home. Honoring the situation Armand calls Louis Maitre - as a way of being like 'I'll do as you've said then'. To make this work he's going to have to give Louis some of the control, yes. But it's the first time such a role is ever established, and it was his choice to do it. So so what if they do it in a very suggestive way? They can't like doing that? I think it's them having fun.

I struggle to find how Louis is being overly domineering here when really he's giving and offering Armand the most agency he's ever had. Same with finding it manipulative. The manipulation was more earlier in the episode I think, when he was stringing him along, giving mixed signals. He's no longer toying with him like that. Louis might be pushing Armand, leading him on to make a decision, but he doesn't mean bad by it.

But back to this pimp thing. I find it frankly offensive that this is where people are going with this. I get it, but to run with it being the case is, on many levels, wrong.

Louis told us episode 1 this was the only sustainable line of work to support his family and keep their standing, at the time. It was never his choice to be doing this either but his blackness allowed no other options. He did what he did so his family could stay in that house and maintain all their same comforts. It gave him privileges most black men didn't have at the time that he wanted to maintain and even have more of. Anyway, it doesn't and had never defined him the way 'being good at running things' had. And in that case he just likes having that kind of control where he can get it, which makes sense.

The world is what placed that kind of role onto him of what he was allowed to be able to run, not himself. And on that he actually treated the sex workers he employed well and respected them enough to give them more opportunity.** He recognizes they don't have much in the way of options either.

Louis employed sex workers, yes, but he didn't subject them to abuse, (like how Armand was)*. He didn't oversee things in a way that would go against their consent (see; episode 1 again)**. Sometimes a job is just a job. And Sex work is work.

Armand's particular past with sexual abuses may strike a particular cord with Louis, given all that, but the very last thing either is thinking is that Louis' pimping Armand out here. This is merely their decision as companions, and had nothing to do with adding another line in a laundry list of selling Armands body out to people at the command of someone else. Armand rescinds some of his control to Louis' wishes, because he wants him, and he trusts him, that's all.

If you aren't allowing Armand that choice, and are doubtful it's fully his, you're putting him right back in the box of being defined by his abuses. Putting him back into that space where he isn't given any agency over what he does. (Which is exactly opposite of what the intent of this scene is for)*.

*: (edit) added for clarity.

**: (strike through) numerous people are saying I'm misremembering these points so disregard it. (Thought he was siding with Bricks, it was the other way around). (Technically one aspect of those opportunities were for getting around the law). I don't have a perfect memory, it happens. Let's not get mad about it. Doesn't change much of the point which is that Louis, now, Louis then, was always considering more about the running things and for stated purposes. So I guess I'd say he may only have respected the SWers enough sometimes for what allowed him to do that, and there are moments he certainly expressed remorse over the fact, but he has a great deal higher respect for Armand that is genuine. It's incomparable. Please read my added notes in the tags, it should address most other concerns.