#to kill a kingdom aesthetic

[booksaesthesic]

-to kill a kingdom aesthetic-

[everdeenxmellark]

there is no feeling like diving into the pages of a book

[crypticccosmos]

"People don't tell secrets because someone needs to know them. They do it because they need someone to tell."

- Alexandra Christo, To Kill a Kingdom

[marsmachtmobil42]

Title: To Kill a Kingdom

Author: Alexandra Christo

Page length: 344

Synopsis: Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever. The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?

[samduqs]

- To Kill a Kingdom -

I read this book months ago and to be honest I can't remember the plot but I think the photos are nice

[voluptuarian]

Sometimes I just want to enjoy some new Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass-inspired media, but somehow every single adaptation seems to be a version of one of these

straightforward adaptation of the book(s)

mental illness metaphor (clever)

mental illness metaphor (tacky)

Oz and Wonderland exist together somehow

YA #dark #fantasy #royalcore series

claims to be inspired by the book(s), actually based on the Disney movie, no one involved has ever actually finished either

porn

manga/anime with little resemblance to the original plot and every major character is a hunky man for some reason

Disney-branded cash grab ahoy!

Dark and Edgy (and probably perverse) "subversive" or horror retelling

Hot Topic Aesthetic™️

Combination of two or more

pretty sure you could do just a drinking game of Alice adaptation tropes, pick literally anything, and be drunk out of your mind in no time. Drink when there's:

asylum

harem situation

"killing game" (for some reason??)

red queen/queen of hearts conflation

"the real story"

grouped with traditional fairy tales???

"it's not 'Wonderland,' it's [insert similar-sounding but darker alternative term]"

something victorian patriarchy something something corsets hysteria something something

scheming royal families

drug metaphor

Not saying none of these ideas has been done well, but they've all been done, many times! I just think there are far more interesting possibilities out there that aren't being pursued. Jabberwock as Arthurian questing beast! Card kingdom courtroom drama! Genuinely deep fantasy world building exploring the reversed time-space dynamic in Looking Glass Land! DO SOMETHING INTERESTING WITH IT BY GOD

[glitchgh0sty]

asking here when it comes to deciding was exactly what soundwave will be; if he was a harpy would you go with the pjo disign for him or the tradishonal version from mytholigy; and if you chose a siren would you go ithe the ones in the sea or the bird ladys that actuly sing the songs that loer in sailers? exuce my bad spell in i was rushing

I cannot even tell you the number of times I’ve tried responding to this ask,, tumblr keeps forgetting my drafts and it’s killing me to death,, 😭💀✨

SoOo, I may be a liiitle indecisive, how about we squish a couple of concepts together why don’t we? 👏✨

Fundamentally,, I consider Soundwave to be a bird siren with just, a couple more feathers, XD,, like if I saw him chilling on a rock, my initial reaction would be “LOOK AT THAT BIRD!?” as opposed to “LOOK AT THAT FISH!?” 🫵���

Background wise Soundwave likes to chill next to the water because it’s easier to blame strange trills and noises on ocean echos or waves to passerby’s, then it is to get the kingdom guard off his back if they had found out about his abilities 📻🥷

I’ve never considered Soundwave to be a knight as he was created long after the initial knights fall, and only gained his Siren-like abilities due to a pledge he vowed to simply the belief of their existence,, [mostly to protect his cassettes <33] He unintentionally lost his sight to Primus in exchange for these cybernetic abilities because of this vow, u-u✨

Speaking of “Cybernetic Advancements” 👏òuo,, Soundwaves siren abilities are [mostly] used in self defense so what’ll happen [more often than not,, *evil snicker*] is that he’ll wait for his subject to wander into his territory, and create a frequency that matches their EM field rate and make subtle shifts that the target feels and reacts to,,

Making them stressed / anxious,, meaning that if they don’t leave immediately, then they’re usually just scared enough to run away screaming if he pops out at them 😤✨

And, why the tfp Soundwave design? 👀?

UHhm,, aesthetics?? Just look at him! Those big metal bits on the tfp design are literally begging to be some funky wings and feathers 👏😂

[chronicallylatetotheparty]

I think western media has relied on non-human races as shorthand for oppressed groups so much that audiences have been primed to look for that instead of actual imperialist ideology.

One of the criticisms I've repeated about the Dragon Prince is how the writers take the Aesthetics of fantasy imperialism/indigenous people and just switch them without bothering to change anything about their ideology or historical context.

Kenna on TikTok was right when she said that a franchise where the oppressor and oppressed were all the same species makes a better racism allegory.

The fact that the Four Nations were all human added to the themes of imperialism and genocide in ATLA. While on the opposite side of the coin, the Xadians all being different species undermines it.

You can say Fire Nation people were a bunch of imperialists without going into bioessentialism. You CAN'T say humans are a bunch of warmongering monsters without sounding like an eco fascist.

The Sunfire elves textually being the most fantasy racist group is fine because they're elves, therefore oppressed, and the white writers made them superficially based on African-French speakers.

Meanwhile Katolis is "obviously" a Fantasy European Imperialist nation and therefore the oppressor. Never mind that it's had a black, now mixed, ruling family for a thousand years. Or that it's citizens aren't just white.

I remember seeing a post comparing the taboo against Black Magic to Xtian fundamentalism. At first I thought that was a bit much but no. Season six revealed that TDP has a canonical Hierarchy of Beings so that guy was absolutely right.

In Xtian fundamentalism doing something good the "wrong" way is the same as doing something bad.

Save a kingdom from starving? Well you had to kill a rock monster so obviously the right thing to do was let hundreds of thousands of people starve to death. (I've had weirdos go onto my posts and literally say this.)

Break the chains preventing you from saving the people you love? Well it hurt you so the right thing to do was let your friends and loved ones drown I guess.

Your son is dying? Better protect some old man's sense of moral purity than save a child.

All of these actions are not considered bad because they had a negative effect. They're considered bad because they go against the dominant power's desired order.

They're inherently bad because "humans" are inherently bad. Because human ways are not as pure as a direct connection to an Arcanum.

Note: this^ is imperialist ideology.

The idea that a group of people fighting for their survival justifies ethnic cleansing and mass murder is imperialist ideology.

The idea that the scary, blasphemous practices of a people you don't understand makes them dangerous, and therefore justifies you "defending yourself", is imperialist ideology.

The Liberal focus on "cycles of violence" and "both sides are at fault". Instead of on reparations for the people they killed and the homes they destroyed is imperialist ideology.

But Katolis has a pseudo-medieval aesthetic and the elves do not.

I was so angry at the scene where Sol Regem burns Katolis because THIS is the poor helpless dragons the humans "colonized"!? This living air bomber is the "victim" of the big, bad humans? One Archdragon can destroy an entire city single handedly and you expect me to believe the elves and dragons ethnic cleansing of humanity was REASONABLE!?

No. We are past any doubt or rationalization. What Sol Regem did to Katolis was just a small glimpse of what the elves and dragons did during the Human Exile. Just a small glimpse into how imperialist powers treat those that they cannot exploit.

And then demonize them for daring to oppose/question/subvert the imperialist's god(s) given superiority.

[monimccoythings]

Tiny and cute!

Here I come with a new one! Thanks to all the shitposts that give me life and inspiration to write this! I think this might be the last one I write of this series for now, because I’m literally out of ideas lol. But it has been really really fun. I really enjoyed it. But don’t worry, I’ll keep posting if I get more ideas.

Ayyy lmao when I get a better quality of the angery boi in a pickle jar I update it. This contains spoilers!!! If you haven’t watched the movie yet, go and watch it now! It’s worth it!

Previous parts: 1 and 2

Next parts: 4 and 5

tags: @loveforfandomsstuff @harpy-space​

After so many tiring weeks working your ass off for the minimum wage, you finally got a very well deserved vacation. Which you were totally planning to spend with your friends and your little pal.

He was such a grumpy pants, he cussed you whenever you came close, but deep down inside his little black heart you knew he craved the attention. If only he didn’t try to bite your fingers with his hampter teef.

So, you, Peach, Mario, Luigi and Toad set off on a journey to the Kong Kingdom, a tropical paradise, for a week of unashamedly lazing off. Since nobody trusted Bowser to be left on his own without causing a ruckus (throwing the piano over and over again against the bars of the cage), you so kindly offered to bring him along in a pet carrier. Oh he was big mad now.

Didn’t help that you kept feeding him apple slices through the bars saying “does the Big Boy want his appy slices?” and it certainly didn’t help either that the Big Boy really wanted his appy slices. To make up for the embarrasment, maybe you’d let him take a sip of your Caipiranha plant cocktail.

The Kong Kingdom was something you wouldn’t have even imagined in a thousand years, and you came from the Mushroom Kingdom. Throw tropical paradise, with Aztec aesthetic and Nash Car in a blender, mix it, and that’s what you get.

One of the Kongs kindly took you all to your huts and very wisely ignored all the Traffic regulations and laws of safe driving, which moved you so much, you spent the entire journey with tears in your eyes and your mouth open in a never ending scream of pure terror.  Yeah, next time you were walking.

One of the most peculiar traditions of the Kongs that you experienced there was some kind of tournament in a stage that was literally floating on air. You had to say it was a bit awkward when the kinda handsome? and cocky prince of the Kongs invited you all over to ‘smash’. Oh well, it would be way too difficult and weird to explain it to them anyways, and quoting Mario, ‘that was a pipe that wasn’t worth exploring’.

The tournament was like watching a real gladiator battle, but the gladiators had superpowers, and they were monkeys. Of course DK won, since, until Mario, he was the undefeated champion. He was a show off, you were truly impressed and cheering for him. He sent a flirtatious wink your way. And a loud thump was heard from inside the carrier. Awww, potato man didn’t want anybody else catching your attention. That was so sweet of him, actually.

The truth was, that despite this being a bit of a holiday, the real reason you all were there was because the turtle had to answer for his crimes against the Kong Kingdom. Godzilla v. Kong. It was jury duty for your friends, yaaayy.

Apparently Bowser didn’t get the memo. He was absolutely angery, screaming, raging, fighting. There was no way to handle him. To try an coerce him out of the carrier and into a proper cage was a task no Kong was patient enough to endure.

Would have it been easier to handle if he had remained in his temporary enclosure? Yeah, it would, but Kongs were monkeys with deeply rooted traditions, and if the teeny mutant ninja toitle had to be in a cage on the witness stand, then he would be in it, conscious or not. Looks like they had very little regard for the rules of the courtroom, but he had tried to kill them, so they were even.

Nobody took into account the possibility that he would manage to break free and make a run for the entrance. Tbh, it was kinda sad to watch him give the effort of his life trying to get to a door that was like ten feet away from where you all were. Still, no Kong was able to lay a hand on him, given how slow he was and how eager he seemed in getting hit, it was as if they were avoiding him on purpose. Peach would later explain you that given the nature of the power up, if he got hit in any way the mushroom would loose its effect and would turn him back to his original size, which was a big nope.

While the jury was debating wheter let him enjoy what little freedom he would have before he was tricked back into the pet carrier or just pick him and finish it, you had a moment of enlightment. That was it, the moment you had been waiting for for the last months, what you had unconsciously been training for your entire life. This was your moment to shine, your moment to be the hero, your moment to-

“Look at you so tiny and cute!” You gushed, picking him up, mindful of the spikes in his shell. He wiggled, trying to be set free and demanding you to put him down that instant or throw him as hard as you could against the wall. But the only thing you wanted to do was...

* smooch * You kissed the tip of his nose. You had been wanting to boop it since day one, and its scales were as soft as you had imagined. Your life dream had been achieved.

Bowser went very still in your hold. His eyes were wide and his pupils had shrunk with shock. The Kongs looked horrified at you so casually holding a narcissistic and psychotic tyrant like a pet, Peach was awkardly smiling at the eldest Kong, Cranky, while Mario and DK were trying as hard as they could to not burst out laughing. Luigi quietly snapped a pic and quickly hid the phone in his overalls, when the guards shot him dirty looks.

It were a couple of uncomfortable minutes that felt like years for all of you, until someone decided to clear their throat, snapping all out of their stupor. Bowser was still frozen so putting him inside the cage was easy. And so, the trial went on without any more disturbances. Whetever the sentence was, he didn’t hear it, nor did he care. Because his mind was occupied by something else. The kiss.

BONUS SCENE

You didn’t know how it had all started but suddenly there was a loud explosion and the entire castle was on flames. Tumbling, you made your way through a bunch of screaming toads towards the source of the blast. Because you perfectly knew where it had started.

The thick smoke made your eyes watery and you blinked several times, trying to clear your vision through the tears. You coughed several times, your lungs ached and you felt like you were going to pass out at any given moment. But you had to keep going fowards, make sure everyone got out safe. And by everyone you meant every single one of the creatures inhabiting this castle.

Finally, you reached the giantic doors. Exhausted, you tripped and desperately clinged onto the golden knobs, burnng your palms in the process due to the overheated metal. Thankfully, your weight was enough to pull the doorknob and push the door open.

You fell against the cracked marble floor, the only things in front of you were the dark columns of smoke that clouded your vision and the burning roar of the flames in your ears. Until, you saw it.

A gigantic dark shadow with glowing red eyes pulled out from the darkest of nightmarish Hells. The eyes burned with a flaming passion and seemed to be piercing your soul. For the first time in a long time, you felt true fear running through your veins. Still, you were too stunned to move.

A low rumble came out of that disturbing sight. It started to approach you, with every step it took the ground shook, and the less time you had to make a run for it. A shiver ran down your spine at the thought that were you brave enough to run, this monster would catch you in a matter of seconds despite its size.

A sob got caught in your throat when the smoke cleared and you got to see the owner of those eyes.

Your little fella. Your beloved tiny musical tot that played piano. Literally everyone’s warnings against him suddenly came to mind. He was not so little now.

Bowser extended one hulking arm, and with one of his meaty fingers, he dragged a claw through your collarbone without breaking the skin, like some twisted version of a caress. He let out a low purr, certainly deepest than it had sounded merely days ago. “Look at you...So tiny and cute...”

[holmsister]

The ONE thing that ryoko kui didn't really care about in her worldbuilding of a realistic pseudo-medieval world with elements of magic is clothes. Which isnt a problem for 99% of the population but tragically material history is where MY inner laios thoughtform emerges from the shadows.

There are a few good outfits (im thinking especially of late manga laios which i THINK he gets in the Golden Kingdom which is relatively consistent in terms of historical refs and the unchanging eternal middle ages are just such a well-established fantasy trope its a pointless fight) and I'm not judging what the long-lived races are wearing because I get that she was going for a vague timeless fantasy feeling but some of the outfits the main characters wear are unforgivable. All over the place in terms of reference - theres medieval from all over the 1000 years of history but all up to like. The mid 16th century? What the fuck is up with chills shirts. Buckled collar? Shirt collar? Kabru's turtleneck - how does he slide that on, this is before elastic and it doesn't look like it has any fastening. I love the sexy dungeon lord marcella outfit as an aesthetic it eats but GOD its just. Nonsensical in the context where in the Moulin Rouge For Elves did the Winged Lion come up with that shit. Its like. Visible bodice fastened on the front? Black ostrich feathers? Whateverrrrrr (at least people do comment that it's a weird outfit in context so this is a temptative pass)

But the worst offender is anime only (I think) and its the fucking. KABRU SLACKS. From the meeting with Chimera Falin. First of all im pretty sure that type of close exists for trousers that have zippers which is SO WRONG but even assuming that hides a row of buttons or like string. Like. Those are just modern trousers. The cut is modern the way they're built is modern. I hate them so much whenever I see them my ears ring. If i could kill a pair of anime trousers id torture them slowly.

[yeenapolitan]

Hello Satyr!

Out of curiousity - is there anymore media you are really into? What makes so said thing interesting for you even?

Hope you're doing okay! Remember, you are vaild and loved and if anybody will try to tell you otherwise, get the shotgun, we gonna kick some asses >:³

Have a great day!

You just activated the biggest neuron in my head I hope you’re ready eeee

- TADC

- Kinger. Just Kinger, he’s seperate from tadc itself

- Fantasy Life

- Gloomverse

- Gravity Falls

- Steven Universe

- Sally Face

- FullMetal Alchemist Brotherhood

- Black Clover

- The Backrooms

- Hyenas

- Furry Fandom

- Undertale

- Skyrim

- Fallout 4

- Maximum Ride

- Maze Runner

- Minecraft

- Into the Spiderverse

- My Little Pony

- Stardew Valley

- Dungeons and Dragons

- Fantasy Anything TBH

- Cottagecore Aesthetic//Homestead/Farm

- Demon Slayer

- The Promised Neverland

- Genshin Impact

- Wicked

- Rick and Morty

- Yuri on Ice

- ABO (The genuine universe and built society unrelated from sex)

- Five Nights at Freddy’s

- Attack on Titan

- Invincible

- Cannibals

- The Last of Us

- Horror

- Cookie Run Kingdom

- Friday Night Funkin

- Killing Stalking

- Mouthwashing

- Animal Crossing

- Epic: The Musical

- Ace Attorney

- HunterXHunter

- Hazbin Hotel

- Sweeney Todd

- Horses (Horse Girl)

- Creepypasta

- The Sims

- Pagan Religion

- Adventure Time

- Tokyo Ghoul

- Kaiju N.8

- Pokemon

- Mythical Creatures

- Herbology

- Witchcraft

- Greys Anatomy

- Grimm

- Animation Meme Community

- Digimon

I’m probably missing some things but these are everything I currently like or used to at one point but I’m not big into anymore

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 3

Propaganda Under Cut

Kairi

kairi is the third protagonist of the kingdom hearts series and the third member of the destiny trio, alongside fan favorites sora and riku. sora/riku shippers HATE kairi, and will go out of their way to discount her at every turn. the hate for her ranges from typical "she's a boring bitch" to fans of soriku making five-hour long video essays reassuring their fellow shippers that the big bad kairi won't show up in the next installment – to quote one video, "she's in a box. she's on the shelf. four walls, no door." kairi is the greatest bogeyman the soriku fandom has ever known, to the point where most of said video essays and fanon meta posts focus not on why sora and riku should get together, but rather on why they don't like kairi.

Literally has a 100+ page Google doc fan theory writing her out of the narrative and putting all of her (few) canonical accomplishments onto half of the popular m/m ship (soriku). Don't even get me started on how her memory was completely written out of the canon plot of re:coded. KH is a nightmare to explain so dude trust me she is THE victim of yaoi

She is so fundamental to the plot and themes and narratives of game and yet it is near impossible to find anything about her thats not ship bashing pre-mlm with the other two characters. I dont even care if she ends up with one of the main characters i just want fans to see her as a cool character to love or like, anything other than “annoying comphet girl.” You can write your mlm but pleaae stop inventing comphet where it doesnt exist. She does not even get to spend time with sora ever?? Why does everyone see her as a threat and a thing to destroy?? Let her have friends so help me

Misa Amane

she gets treated in-canon the way fandoms treat female characters that Threaten an m/m ship. it's like, "oh why don't you go sit in the corner and be pretty, misa, while the Men have intelligent conversation and pretend they aren't ten seconds from fucking each other, doesn't that sound nice?" it's infuriating. and MAYBE it's better now but i remember her getting treated the same way in fanfiction too, like we all need to do just as badly by our female secondary characters as fucking tsugumi ohba, but with the added insult of making her be alternately oblivious of the relationship between light and L or actively trying to sabotage it—incompetently, of course, because god forbid misa be allowed dignity or moments of cleverness.

she's one of the first characters I think of when I consider old school fandom misogyny. The annoying bitch and clingy crazy gf allegations were AFTER HER ASS. She's also a lot more intelligent than people gave her credit for, but most seem inclined to take the Very Biased word of our unreliable, narcissistic narrator and his homoerotic arch nemesis and claim that just because she's bubbly and into romance that she's also a complete moron. Which is blatantly untrue. Everyone was afraid of Misa girlbossing too hard. Killing people and devoting yourself to the deranged twink of your dreams even though you know he'll never love you back??? Having a hardcore goth aesthetic and being so Hot even literal Death Gods are into you?? God forbid women do ANYTHING!

Not only is she the victim of yaoi culture, she is the victim of early 2000s misogyny by an author that wanted to introduce a girl character because he knew his male rivals were getting too homoerotic. She is a goth bimbo icon who portrays what I think is one of the few callouts for stan culture and what parasocial relationships can do to both the stan and the idol. The fact that she is a toxic fan of Kira and also hot, funny, sociable is tragic in its own way, which I think the author did try to touch on but was too misogynistic too really get through. Of course, she was reduced to villain status by the fandom and anime alike because she got in the way of the supposed romance in their psychological horror anime.

[velveteen-vampire]

please tell us more about the Jiequan/Yi swap pretty please with a cherry on top

i can try to wrangle my brain in enough to dump a little bit of what we had figured out for it.

basically jiequan used his money and research into transmutation to join the tiandao council like in canon but in this au he is much less about trying to replicate the aesthetic and ideals of jietong and much more about putting up a veneer of "righting ancient wrongs" and "using jie's resources for the good of all of penglai" in order to put public opinions in his favor (while still doing fucked up shit like torturing kanghui on the downlow). this is why he hasnt transmutated himself (or if he has its not in the same way as canon) yi is mostly normal UNTIL heng actually dies of tianhuo way before new kunlun is finished with construction. in his grief he becomes entirely misanthropic and demotivated, opting to basically shut himself away from the world and just focus on his work. with yi even more antisocial than normal and completely out of the public eye, jiequan uses his charisma to position himself as the face of new kunlun i havent entirely figured out why eigong kills him (probably something to do with her realizing that he fully intends to overthrow her and revive the jie kingdom when tianhuo is cured) AND i havent figured out how he ends up in the apeman village at all but he does! and he gets shuanshuan'd. in this au the home base is not the pavilion, but the prison, changed in layout slightly to accommodate being a safe-ish zone. the home base part of it is only a few walls away from all the guards and sentries, though. jiequan is keeping his kid only BARELY out of harms way. yi also took over the transmutation factory in jiequan's absence.

ji is also here helping jiequan. he ends up taking a very abacus kind of role. though he still makes jiequan fight him before eigong. both of them are excited about that fight lmao

when it comes to the sols, jiequan actually kills kuafu. kuafu is the sol right before yi and killing him triggers yi to come out of hiding and send an endless wave of geno guards after jiequan to capture him. when he does he tells jiequan that he found shuanshuan and captured him/took him away but he is actually bluffing because ji hid shuanshuan away somewhere else before yi could search the entire prison. yi decides to torture jiequan to get revenge for kuafu's death but it activates the secret freak inside of him and he enjoys it a little too much. which jiequan notices. jiequan is still a little bit on his "we're actually the same" crap with yi and he is a little bit right.

theres a miniboss with abacus where you have to insert some kind of sabotaging device to break him entirely. and i think theres probably a little mini boss with yi somewhere in here where jiequan kills him but he regenerates, so at his actual fight jiequan actually rips the cords out of yis head and plugs him into abacus, trapping him in a goumang-like feedback loop where he is alive but totally suffering the entire time. this, too, is yaoi.

we also had a few ocs in there for fun, like marble's zhan and my buddy rubric's xiawen, but this post is already getting long so ill probably talk more about their involvement when we actually figure that out.

[arson-is-chill-actually]

AvA and AvM characters and what I think their favorite video games are

TSC: Either Bendy and the Dark Revival or OneShot, but for the same reasons of great story and impeccable art.

Red: Sky: Children of the Light for both the social aspects and for the general aesthetic of it.

Yellow: Portal/Portal 2 because of the puzzles and ageless comedic writing.

Green: Hi-Fi Rush for the rhythm mechanics and generally really good music.

Blue: Subnautica. I’m not sure why, I just feel like it fits his vibe.

Purple: Tears of the Kingdom, he definitely played Breath of the Wild when it first came out and practically died of happiness playing TotK.

Orange: TLoZ Wind Waker, definitely played it when it first came out and is not ashamed to admit that he cried listening to the Colgera fight music while Purple was playing TotK.

TCO: Super Mario Galaxy, once again based purely on vibes.

TDL: Satisfactory, but for all the wrong reasons.

Victim: Sims 4, but only so he can create sims of Alan and kill them in increasingly violent and psychotic ways.

[curetapwater]

So Shadow was formed from a cauldron, but what does his life look like before his adventure begins? 👀

Glad you asked! Infodump about the ultimate pretty pink prince's backstory under the cut:

Much like in canon, Gerald creates Shadow to help find a cure for Maria. Unlike canon, though, Gerald in Barbie AU is the sorcerer king of the Robotnik kingdom, and as such is able to fund his own research. GUN doesn't exist here.

Aside from his obvious personal stake in saving his beloved granddaughter, Maria is the crown princess, next in line for the throne. If Project Shadow succeeds, it won't just save the princess, it'll save the royal lineage!

Maria's illness is first discovered when she's only an infant (I'm thinking it also killed her parents, which is why she's raised by her grandfather and is his heiress). It takes five years for Project Shadow to finally come to fruition, when all of Gerald's work culminates in a sweet little hoglet with black fur and unique pink stripes being born from his cauldron.

Gerald looks upon the creature that he's created, and soberly realizes he has created a life. Therefore, this creation is his son. And any son of the king is therefore a prince. Hence, he was dubbed Prince Shadow the Hedgehog.

Shadow's birth turned the palace laboratory into a nursery. His early years were spent studying his vitals, marinating in potent magical baths, and being treated as well as you'd expect a young prince to be. When he outgrew his cauldron around the age of five, he was moved into his own bed chamber (beside Maria's, of course) that he still resides in to this day.

Maria and Shadow were as inseparable as you can imagine. They were raised together as siblings. Maria was raised as a future queen, and Shadow was raised as her protector, her savior. But to her, he was simply her beloved baby brother (he's only five years her junior).

Maria's influence greatly rubbed off on Shadow. He didn't smile nearly as much as her, nor giggle, but she imparted on him her belief in making their kingdom happy. She also shared basically all of her hobbies with him - horseback riding, gardening, astronomy - as well as her aesthetic tastes.

He also took on hobbies of his own! Being the Ultimate Lifeform, Shadow was naturally trained in ways that would hone his physical capabilities. Namely, ice skating and ballet.

Shadow took interest in Maria's gorgeous wardrobe early on, and she was more than happy to help him develop his own sense of style. It's began with him trying on her dresses from when she was little, and progressed into his own wardrobe coming to look more like what one would expect of a princess, than a prince. He hasn't worn trousers to a formal event since he was 8 years old. Who is to tell the Ultimate Lifeform how to dress?

Shadow had a strong sense of purpose from an early age. He was raised with the knowledge that he wasn't born naturally, but created for a specific purpose. His birth is hailed as a miracle of magical technology. A modern legend to his subjects, and a curiosity to his (mostly human) peers in the upper class. Gerald and Maria made him feel like an equal, but those outside of his immediate family often made him feel like an outsider in what was meant to be his own community. He particularly never liked the way Lord Ivo looked at him like he was more a lab rat than a cousin...

Everything changed on the night of his fifteenth birthday. As his birth was celebrated, as he was hailed as a living miracle who would save the kingdom, he felt overwhelmed and at a loss. He had all these expectations placed upon him, but feared he couldn't live up to them. Outside of knowing he was immortal and... different... he didn't think anything was especially "ultimate" about him. He felt no great power that supposedly ran through his veins... only fear that he'd fail.

He didn't voice it until Maria sequestered him away to stargaze away from it all. There, she listened to his woes and reminded him that even if you cant see the light, it is a shadow that shows you where to find it. She asked him that they promise something to each other: to give all the people in their kingdom a chance to be happy.

Not even an hour later, did their jealous sorcerer cousin enact his plan to steal Maria's place in line for the throne. Wielding a scepter running on stolen power, Ivo blasted Maria right before Shadow’s eyes. She disappeared in a burst of cyan.

Shadow was traumatized, and Gerald was devastated. Ivo was banished, but Gerald was set on never letting this happen again. With Shadow as his only remaining child, he'd do everything in his power to keep him from harm.

Shadow was technically in line for the throne now, but as the years progressed and Gerald discovered new ways to prolong life, he managed to unnaturally lengthen his own. Rather than being treated as a future king, Shadow was treated like a fragile treasure to be locked away.

Over the course of fifty years, Shadow grew into a young man (and stayed that way; yay immortality) but was never treated as one. He was forbidden from leaving palace grounds, hardly received visitors, and was given no indication that this would ever change. To go from being treated as the Ultimate Lifeform, to a breakable doll to be placed in a room, collecting dust... it was quite the blow to his confidence. The distance between Shadow and his father only grew as years stretched into decades.

Shadow busied himself by becoming quite the renaissance man. In addition to honing the skills he already possessed, he also took up painting, singing, and multiple musical instruments (his favorite being the piano), as well as becoming rather well-read. He also developed quite the rebellious streak, sneaking out so often that an alarm system was set up in the palace just to make catching him easier.

This is where we see Shadow when his story truly begins. Insecure, estranged from his father, and isolated in a gilded cage for fifty years. Surely, his extremely sheltered life won't bring him any problems when he's plunged into an adventure that puts his resolve to the test?

@sonic-au-collision

[littleeyesofpallas]

At this point I've basically long since run dry on Bleach funfacts, certainly out of any that have any real weight in the broader readings of the series. But I do have one not-so-fun fact still left up my sleeve --a real dead end nothing contribution... So buckle up, I guess?

I apologize in advance if this ends up, like, I dunno, spoiling the aesthetic(?) if the Stenritter or the quincy for anyone. Feel free to just ignore this and move on if you're touchy about keeping your obsessive fandom experiences squeaky clean.

So, I noted back when I was combing thru Quincy terms, that it felt a little less than comfy that in addition to the general n*zi aesthetics Juugram's official title was in fact "Sternritter Grand Master" which felt, at the time, like an unfortunate coincidence that it would fall in line with the naming scheme of the K*K's nonsense titles like Grand Wizard/Grand Dragon, Grand Cyclops, Grand Magi and various other ridiculous sounding occultist LARPer horseshit they've cycled thru over the past century+. But I just kinda left it at that and didn't think to dig any deeper,

But then I was reminded that in the early days of the K*K one of their stated goals was to establish a white supremacist "country" inside the united states, and as they dabbled in this insurgency fantasy, they dubbed this goal of a secret, second, white nation within the confines of the USA, their "Invisible Empire"...

And although the word we hear throughout the TYBW arc is the German Wändenreich[ヴァンデンライヒ] from Wänden:“Walls” and Reich:“Empire/Realm,” the Japanese meaning underlying that term is [見えざる帝国]: “Unseen/Invisible Empire.”

In fact the white robes and hoods tradition stemmed from what were initially petty pranks(although they escalated very quickly in seriousness and danger) in which they would menace black communities and abolitionists by pretending to be the ghosts of dead confederates. In this capacity the imagery and language around them also evoked an "Army of Ghosts."

And although Bleach never properly addressed it, there was always this vague issue of the Quincy's ages... Those with clear backgrounds like Juugram and Bazz-B seem impossibly old. And we see that As Nodt is recruited on what appears to be his deathbed --in a hospital, on life support and in fear of dying, with a bible on his bedside as if ready to be read his last rites-- and of course the Quincy genocide of 200 years prior.

And tangential to this, we see the brief, if mostly pointless, return of the three dead Fullbringers --Ginjo, Tsukishima, and Giriko-- who all seem to have retained their memories and powers across the borders of life and death. (We won't ask about how or why their fullbring items are still usable)

Is it safe to speculate then that the Quincy are in fact a literal Army of Ghosts? It explains how they're able to go toe to toe with the shinigami in ways Uryuu's initial explanations of Quincy skills would've suggested wasn't possible. (i.e. that they were describes as being regular flesh and bone humans and only their weapons are actually supernatural, and thus they are not capable of particularly extraordinary physical feats, or blessed with any superhuman durability.)

And it also sort of makes more sense that rather than being a bunch of flesh and blood humans who survived losing the war, somehow spiritized themselves to get into the afterlife, and then hid for 999 years, that they could have just been humans who died first and were recruited as ghosts, having been spirited away into the shadow realm. Or Quincy that died with the full intent of reuniting as ghosts, having some kind of assurance that they would retain their memories and powers.

I like the former over the latter though, as it means the Ishida family really were the last living Quincy. But I do like the morbid idea of Yhwach commanding his army, Jamestown style, to kill themselves as the first step to them going to heaven. Only in this case the "kingdom of god" as they imagine it has to be fought for in the afterlife , because the shinigami already have a whole society there and need to be driven out first.

I don't think there've been any real allusions to Japans history of secret Christians apart from the vaguest superficial elements of the Quincy being Catholic coded and literally secretive, but it's not not evoked in all this ..

There is also a lot of "Knight" and "White Knight" imagery and titles evoked in the K*K's long history, and while that's absolutely vague enough to be handwaved on its own, it's all still very much adjacent to the themes of Christian invasion...

(This has nothing to do with anything I just had already slapped the uniforms pic together and wanted to use it somewhere)

So to sort of loosely review everything going on with the Quincy....

Catholic inverted priest frocks, crosses, silver and exorcisms, holy eucharist angel wings&halo final forms, blood eucharist schrift, conversion based recruitment policies, the whole "one kingdom under god" shtick, miracle baby son of god christ figure, explicit mention of monotheism

but then also 5 pointed crosses/stars and pentagrams,

victims of a genocide with a dr.mengele nemesis, YHWACH-v-YHWH

inverted Hugo Boss uniforms, german themed attacks, skills and tools, crosses again, explicitly evoking the Schutzstaffel with Yhwach's royal guard, and nonsense blood purity eugenics b.s.... weirdly not touched upon "black sun" or swastika imagery tied to Ichigo

For some reason a few loose threads of what appear to be Loius XIV and his sun god apollo fixation, purifying light and sun and stars motifs

YHWACH having big Backbeard energy, the literal evocation of Backbeard, being a western ghost army

and now these mismatched crumbs of what appear to be deliberate K*K references: ghost army, invisible empire, grandmaster, etc...

Like... I don't think this makes them worse, or paints Kubo as some kind of crackpot racist --in case my stance on his use of n*zi imagery didn't make that clear-- but like... I don't know what to make of it honestly... It's as inconsequential to the actual message or plot as anything else, including the n*zi stuff, but it just feels weird knowing it's there? Just sorta loitering around in the background??

Also the Quincy are just such a bizarre clusterfuck of unfocused nonsense ""themes"" with like zero actual content just in general. Given everything that's in that slurry I think that might be for the better? Because any coherent message drawn from all of these influences probably couldn't have been any good...

Anyway like I prefaced this whole thing with: this is just kind of a dead end. No meaningful conclusions. But also sorry if that feels like it leaves a stain on your favorite characters or anything.