#this was a moNTH in the making

[original-jade]

Mortal Kombat OC Questionnaire

This wonderful collection of questions from @mkdecimation lit a fire under me! I started filling it out for all of my OCs before realizing it was originally intended as an ask game, but by that point I was having too much fun with it. Oops.

Factions and Alliances

1. What faction is your OC aligned with? Why? Shadow isn’t officially part of any one faction. They drift where they believe they are needed to protect the realms. That goal, however, most closely aligns them with the White Lotus, and they do confer with Raiden and Fujin when any potential threats rise.

2. What is their role - either in their faction or in the overall events of MK? Overall, they fill the mentor archetype with the confidante role. Shadow becomes a trainer of sorts with their own style, choosing to teach people to build on their own pre-existing strengths rather than pass on a textbook technique. Instead of giving answers, they prefer to give others the tools to find the answers, though it earns them a reputation of being seen as cryptic.

3. What are their thoughts on their faction? Do they enjoy being there? Do they want to leave? They admire the members of the White Lotus for both their dedication to Earthrealm’s defense and their selfless support of anyone in need. They feel most at home among them, but even so, there are still times they feel like an outsider.

4. What are their relationships like? Do they have any friends within their faction? What about rivals? Mentors? Friendship for Shadow is complicated due to their solitary nature. While they don’t form bonds easily, what bonds do form run deep. At first, they are wary of Liu Kang because of their knowledge, and he of them because of their mystery, though overtime they grow close. Bo' Rai Cho takes them under his wing as more of a social mentor, and Fujin becomes their confidante and support. There is a mutual respect and uneasy situational trust between them and Raiden for a multitude of factors. As for Kung Lao…well. They would break the world for him.

5. How do they feel about other factions? Do they have any enemies? Shadow sees nuance in every faction, judging individuals instead. Some choose their path with glee, some play the cards they are dealt, and some are unwilling participants. They are surprisingly neutral towards the Special Forces, mainly due to its more aggressive tactics. The Black Dragon and the Red Dragon both earn their ire for their exploitation and treatment of innocents, though their attention is focused mainly on the clans’ respective leaders. As for the Brotherhood of Shadows, Shadow absolutely despises both Shinnok and Quan Chi. If they could have a one on one fight with either of them with no consequences, they would do so in a heartbeat. When it comes to enemies, however, their one true antagonistic rival is Sovereign Aster, their literal dark double.

Origins

1. What realm do they originate from? Outworld

2. What species/race are they? Outworlder

3. What timeline does your OC originate from? NRS/MK9-11; By technicality, they don’t belong to any canon timeline, and instead crossed over from a timeline that branched off of Midway/MK-MKA millennia ago where Shang Tsung never betrayed Earthrealm after the first tournament.

4. What do they fight for? Why? Simpler said than done, Shadow fights for the universal right to live rather than survive. They can’t stand suffering, especially when that suffering is inflicted by tyrants and bullies.

5. Describe their childhood. What events led them to where they are now? Though the memories remain lost and faint, Shadow, born Aster, was raised alone by their mother Lucine on a makeshift farm. The two lived modestly yet happily, content with staying on the fringe of society and sustaining themselves. Shadow was a rambunctious child with a wild imagination. They could entertain themself for hours on end and spin story after story for their mother, yet would also become rather shy when faced with someone from the nearby village. Though their father was unknown to them and would always remain a mystery, they did inherit his green thumb and made their garden thrive once they were old enough to do so. When they were just barely an adult, however, their worldview was shattered when soldiers moved into the area on Shao Kahn’s orders. The threat the soldiers posed led to the young Aster’s powers awakening, and their defiance combined with their albeit weak display of magic made them a target. They were overwhelmed by the soldiers and chose to surrender as a prisoner in exchange for Lucine’s safety.

Fighting Style

1. Does your OC have any special powers/skills? How did they gain them? Through ancestry, they have innate magic, though their actual skills had to be honed through centuries of study and practice. Most of the techniques that Shadow uses are ones they developed themself. They could have channeled their fledgling magic into any school, and still could if they so chose, but their interests lie in the bonds of space and reality. They can teleport and phase through objects alone or with others, form temporary physical structures or sense altering illusions, even look through and step between realities, but their calling card is their mimic ability. With enough study of someone’s technique, they can form an avatar of that person around themself, taking that person’s weapons, abilities, and fighting style for themself as long as the avatar holds. They are a literal echo fighter.

2. Describe their fighting style. Do they practice a specific style of martial art? Or do they rely on magic/their powers? Physically, they can hold their own. They are trained in basic hand to hand combat and self defense, but their true strength lies in their ability to utilize the environment surrounding the fight. They excel at winding around an opponent, turning a corner into a trap, ensuring they always have the high ground. While they can easily force an advantage with their abilities, they do prefer to limit the energy they expend just for the challenge of it, usually only calling their signature spatial daggers.

3. What weapons does your OC use, and how proficient are they? Who taught them? How did they learn? They prefer to use magic constructs as weapons, favoring twin spatial daggers. They’re able to dismiss and recall these daggers at will, allowing them to control the flow of the fight. If they were given physical daggers of the exact same dimensions, however, they would not be nearly as proficient. Traditional weapons are not Shadow’s strong suit. Sparring has given them experience with basic melee weapons, but not near enough to truly utilize them. On the other hand, their mimic grants them theoretical knowledge of how to wield any weapon that lingers quite a bit after the avatar expires. As an example, while they normally would be clumsy with Kabal’s hook swords, if they mimic him for a few minutes and let the avatar fade, they would be able to give him pointers on his form despite not being able to physically demonstrate any longer.

4. How quick are they to fight? Are they aggressive, or do they prefer to talk things out? Shadow is very much a talk first person. Whenever possible, they limit bloodshed, regardless of the opponent. If it does come to a fight, though, they also won’t hesitate or hold back. Limiting the collateral damage by limiting the duration of the fight is just as, if not more, important to them than securing a win.

5. What is their last resort? (Think of an all-out attack that they would be used only if there were no other option.) Their last resort is letting go of their control. There’s an ability they don’t know they have until well after they’ve used it, and it horrifies them when they learn the truth about it. Major, major spoilers, this one.

Appearance

1. Describe or draw their outfit/armor. Shadow’s main outfit can be found here in their ref sheet. As for alternative outfits, they have one that Johnny bought for them and calls their “urban camouflage.” That outfit consists of a plain pair of jeans, black converse, a graphic tee, and a bright multicolor neon windbreaker.

2. Make a mood board for your OC.

3. Does your OC wear any jewelry? What is its significance? Nope! Shadow doesn’t have any objections to wearing jewelry, but they don’t have any attachments to it and don’t wear any day to day. They’ll wear borrowed pieces if the occasion calls for it. The only exception is rings due to their scars - they don’t even wear a wedding ring.

4. What physical characteristics make them stand out from the other fighters? While they keep them hidden, they do have a network of scars over their fingers and hands. Both their scars and their eyes glow violet when they use magic. If a stranger saw them outside of a fight, however, they would appear completely unassuming and wouldn’t leave an impression.

5. Does your OC have a particular style? Why? They favor function over fashion, not caring what others think of them day to day. The unique style that emerges because of that is a blend of Outworld tradition and Earthrealm advancement. It drives Johnny just a bit crazy that they’ll openly wear spandex but won’t touch an elastic hair tie or zipper if they have a choice. If need be, they’ll wear something out of their comfort zone to blend in, whether that be to just not draw attention to themself or to infiltrate a particular group. Doing so means they don’t have to worry about keeping up a constant illusion.

Relationships

1. Do you ship your OC with anyone - canon or otherwise? If so, tell us about their relationship! Shadow falls for Kung Lao despite their initial determination to stay uninvolved. They try to pull away at first, convincing themself it wouldn’t end well if they made any sort of connection with anyone, even when Lao tries to confess first, but nearly dying makes them realize how short sighted that was. The two take it slow, navigating their places in the world while discovering the ways in which they fit together. Their differences, even when they are opposites, compliment each other, such as Shadow being more of a quiet observer and Lao being nearly always ready to entertain a conversation. They both care deeply, much deeper than they let others see on the surface, and are both ready to lay everything on the line to protect their home and those they love. One aspect that defines how their relationship evolves is their honesty. After a particularly jarring revelation, one that Shadow at first tries to hide out of fear, they promise each other no more secrets. Sometimes Lao has to gently coax Shadow into talking about particularly bad nightmares, but talking through everything, especially when its something rough, brings them closer and makes them stronger. It doesn’t surprise anyone when they get married.

2. Does your OC have any friends? How did they meet? Most of the krew considers Shadow a friend in one way or another. Despite their social reservations, they do hold closer bonds with a few people. They first reach out to Hanzo when he was still Scorpion, when everyone else considered him an irredeemable enemy, and worked to show him that he was still himself and still so much more than the monster Quan Chi wanted him to be. After a rocky start and a hard conversation, they and Liu Kang become closer than either of them expected. Johnny more or less pesters his way to their side.

3. What is their family situation? Are they close? Are they still alive? Family is tricky for Shadow. When they start getting bits and pieces of their memory back, they can remember their mother, but not her fate. In addition, as far as they’re aware, they can’t go back to their original reality. When they go to Outworld to try and find answers, they do find their mother’s counterpart in a remote village not far from where the farm would have been. It’s a very emotional reunion on both sides. To Lucine, it doesn’t matter that Shadow isn’t really Aster anymore, and it doesn’t matter that they aren’t her Aster. They’re still her child, and she loves them all the same. Whenever Shadow gets a chance, they make it a point to visit. Still, their relationship takes time to build enough to be considered a familial bond.

4. Do they have any pets? Tell us how they came to be! No pets in this universe.

5. Do they worship any god in particular? Elder God, Titan, One-Being, or otherwise? Shadow respects all deities and their individual authorities, but they don’t worship any of them. No deity has a true constant across the branches of the universe, so they don’t view any as being infallible or worthy of blind trust.

Game Mechanics

1. Describe their intro animation. A crack of light appears in the air that then widens into a violet glowing portal. Shadow steps through with their hands outstretched and eyes glowing, and with a flick of their wrists, the portal closes completely behind them and the light in their eyes fades. If equipped with a gloveless skin, their scars glow and fade with the same timing of their eyes.

2. Describe their victory animation. Shadow spins their spatial daggers around their fingers a few times before letting one of the daggers fade, jumping to one side and teleporting away. When they reappear, they are right in front of the camera and slash it with their remaining dagger, breaking both the lens and the fourth wall. Their eyes glow the entire time, and if equipped with a gloveless skin, their scars glow as well.

3. Describe their fatality. Own Worst Enemy: Shadow mimics their opponent and uses their own default fatality against them, copying any weapons or abilities needed with spatial constructs.

4. Describe one of their brutalities. Heart to Heart: Shadow teleports behind their opponent and stabs them in the back with a spatial dagger. Then, they twist the dagger before ripping it free, pulling their opponent’s heart with it.

5. Describe their mercy animation. While their opponent is stunned, Shadow holds a hand out to conjure and manipulate spacial mannequins that steady the opponent until they are ready to rejoin the fight.

6. Describe their taunt(s). Turning away from their opponent, Shadow pulls a tome from a pocket space (most comparable to an invisible bag of holding) and begins to flip through its pages, appearing bored with the fight.

7. Describe their weaknesses. While they can string together a great number of hits, Shadow’s damage output per strike is relatively low.

8. Describe their strengths. Shadow is unpredictable and hard for the opponent to read. They move fast, and with their teleportation, it’s near impossible to zone them.

9. What gear could a player customize for your OC? Spatial Daggers: Changes the design and type of blades conjured. Default are hilt-less curved boot daggers.

Gloves: Changes what covers their hands. Includes full, fingerless, and sheer gloves, torn fabric wraps, and gloveless. Default are black leather gloves with adjustment straps at the wrists.

Sash: Changes design, color, and tie type of sash. Default is plain crimson wrapped over itself and secured with a knot at their side. [Mechanic only; remains unchanged in series]

10. What would their konsumable be? Blossoming krystellion branch: Shadow conjures small shields to block incoming projectiles for a short time.

11. Does your character have a special stage? If so, what does it look like? Does it have a theme? Reclaimed Shores: This is the section of Shadow’s (formerly Shang Tsung’s) island where visitors are greeted. To the far left and far right are twin wooden docks each with a lantern atop a relatively high pole. The white sand beach extends endlessly beyond the boundaries of the stage and into the background against the tree line. The forest is dense and unyielding, and as the island slopes up from the shores, it also keeps the sky from being seen by the camera during a match. At the midpoint of the stage, a path of carefully laid stepping stones cuts through the forest, marked with its own posts and lanterns, and though the stones continue onto the beach, they do not reach the fighters. At night, all four visible lanterns are lit. During a match, the fighters leave visible footprints in the sand as well as imprints from any slides, rolls, or falls. Occasionally, a wave will roll onto the beach and wash away any marks left behind in the sand. The two dock lanterns at the edges of the stage are interactables. They each have a rope attached to the top with the free end loosely wrapped around their respective poles. If a fighter is near, they can grab the rope and swing the lantern at the opponent as an improvised flail. The theme for this stage is a slower, softer version of the Genesis’s Palace Gates theme, while Shadow’s individual battle theme is Storm from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

12. What nicknames would Announcer Johnny Cage give them? -Slim Shady -Houdini -Mirror Match

[werethropy]

"The nonbinary afab who goes by she/her, dresses femininely, and uses a push-up bra when I—" when you what? What's wrong with her?

Is she not nonbinary enough for you? Is the way she experiences her queerness and how she presents not perfect enough for you? Nonbinary people don't owe you androgyny, right? So why is she the exception? Why does she have to hate herself to appeal to your standards? Why is she any less trans—any less worthy of respect—cause it's "not visible"? Queer solidarity my ass. Don't spout this bullshit on Pride, man.

[monstermonger]

Now the ash dances with the snow....

Lil winter dragon stickers ♡

[jodielandons]

THAT'S SO RAVEN (2003-2007) S3E10 'True Colors'

[ruushes]

i'm sure there's a canon timeline but dao is a springtime game to me

[seagiri]

could a depressed person do this

[captainjonnitkessler]

You know I used to think "tumblr's absolute refusal to actually engage with the Trolley Problem in favor of insisting that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is just a short-sighted idiot is really fucking annoying, but I guess it's not actually doing any harm".

Anyway that was before we asked tumblr at large to decide between "guy aiding a genocide but making progress elsewhere" and "guy who would actively and enthusiastically participate in a genocide and would also make everything else much, much worse for everyone elsewhere" and the response was that there must be a third, morally pure option that doesn't require them to make a hard decision and that anyone who asks them to make a binary choice is a short-sighted idiot.

[kedreeva]

There's some dude (derogatory) on FB who is PISSED people are pricing their farm fresh eggs at $2 and $3 a dozen instead of $4+, saying it's "disrespectful" and "undignified" and "I'm trying to feed my kids" like Sir, you are on a Facebook group page bitching about your neighbors egg prices because your pet chickens aren't earning you a living wage and you think it's your neighbors' fault, you do not have a leg to stand on here wrt dignity.

Also half the answers are like "I give them to friends and family free" or "I donate them to food banks" or "I'm making them affordable to folks who might not otherwise be able to get them now that they're so expensive in the store" and "if you think you're going to turn a profit keeping backyard chickens you have been wildly misled" and so on, and so forth, and I'm so living for it.

and I can tell you right now, he did NOT like my answer of "if you're trying to feed your kids, I hear eggs are edible."

[holycrimin]

that one Laios meme but with the 12 bros, saw the rise one and got inspired <33

(don't tag as t-cest)

original under the cut!

Original by @/sweepswoop_ on Twitter

[daiwild]

asexual klapollo art i shouldve kept in drafts

[aerequets]

this is vaguely going off a comment someone left about yor paying loid a compliment but this comic just kind of went in a totally different direction lol. it is very messy even by my standards tbh but we're gettin back into the swing of it... Slowly

[ink-the-artist]

mage

[sunclown]

“I wanna ask you…”

Heres my 8 page love letter to the otasune dialogue ever that made me crazy over this series, please enjoy!

[oblique-lane]

References for Anomaly Diversion!!!

Official!! finally!!

I wanted to make their design stand out, so I created them from scratch; they're not loadouts you can find in-game. Plus a little bit of character description because I'm dying to talk about them and their roles in the story (*wearing a shirt that says "please talk to me about my fic"*).

Now I can finally draw them often!!

Somewhat goofy clothing sheets under the cut↓↓↓

I tried to design them the way their silhouettes and colors stay recognisable, as if they were meant to be used in-game later, to not to break the gameplay rules. I also wanted them to look as tf2-like as possible, I studied the hell out of the 3d models and on the last three I guess it started to turn out decent. Drawing Spy is still pain though.

Or maybe it's just that I'm not attracted to the majority of the mercs visually?? That's why they don't look satisfying?? Lmao. Need to adjust them to my tastes later.

I'm not sure I can exactly explain my design choices with these... How exactly they correlate to their characters. There is something, but I went for it fully intuitively.

//

For BLU scout I went for the softer, rounder oversized clothing to accent his insecurity and the need to shield himself for comfort. It still needed to shape his torso (game rules) but his hood and sleeves do the deed. There is also a strict rule in how to draw his freckles: they look more like moles and there's 7 or 8 of them. You won't believe me if I say this is lore relevant.

For RED Scout, I went with the more aggressive military style. I think I literally took this jacket design from a real military one. There should be an accent on his heavy relations with the army. His clothes are tight because he still likes himself.

RED Sniper is giving hunter vibes, forest type. BLU Sniper looks more like a fisher or a winter hunter. Not sure what deeper meaning I could assign to this except that BLU Sniper was heavily referenced on Ogata Hyakunosuke.

BLU Spy should radiate tiredness. His look is quite unkept for his standards but at this point it doesn't matter anymore. The turtleneck and the boots are special requests from @/gentlesurgeryenjoyer (xoxo)

BLU Medic just looks so freaking cool in a black shirt. It was a vision. I'm not sure if black and white accents mean anything in terms of which side those characters are on. I also wanted to separate him from another famous horror witnessing Medic.

And Miss Pauling was the most satisfying to draw, it was a gift to draw her last... I gave her pants because it's getting cold outside at the time when the story takes place. I also find it very impractical to go killing job in a pencil skirt, I'm sorry. She probably also wears snickers underneath.

And also thanks to @nightly-headache for helping out and assistance!

[skellydun]

why is it when people ask me what i want as a gift i immediately become someone who enjoys nothing at all and has never wanted anything a day in their life.

[stil-lindigo]

lighthearted.

if this comic resonated with you, please consider donating to this palestinian escape fund (vetted by @/nabulsi and @/el-shab-hussein) as it is less than $7,000 away from it's goal.

i turn 24 today. To celebrate, I made this comic to be a spiritual successor to lead balloon, a comic in which I talked about the darkest period of my life so far.

A lot has changed since my 23rd birthday and this one. My priorities have shifted a lot, in ways that I think are mostly good. But i think the best part about today is that suicide has gone back to being a far away notion. I'm really lucky, and I'm grateful for that.