#tried going for a style that fits her methinks

[shriimpcandle]

Stat hi Stat why isn't she saying hi back

[aliensubstance-011]

Hi hello I absolutely adore your band AU!! I was wondering if you have any thoughts on the band's appearances, like clothes/hair dye/etc.? Especially given you've mentioned things past highschool

I rlly rlly want to draw these dorks practising together and want to stay true to your ideas :3

Hello I saw this just before I was going to go to sleep and then laid awake Thinking About It for the next 30 minutes so here I am!

Under the cut because there's a LOT!!

Richie

He layers just as badly as in canon

So in my head it goes:

Long sleeved stripey T-shirt

then a graphic short tee on top (which eventually becomes a band T-shirt nearer then end of senior year when Steph joins the band! (And when I design the logo lmao))

THEN a zip up hoode

I'm not done

Then a leather jacket he found at a garage sale (it's slightly too big for him normally so it fits over everything else.)

Ripped jeans + belt chains

He has one of those goth belts with all the metal eyelets in it

Boots!! He has loads of different coloured laces he wears each day!!

And ofc he has his blue hair

He has his ears pierced too- he has these skeleton studs and they're all he wears.

Oh and the green and black bracelet Max eventually makes when he becomes the band's friend. It's tied onto his belt loops every morning.

Peter

Pretty similar to canon in my head

He takes off his suspenders and bowtie when they practice though (he feels safe then)

His hair is longer! He wears it in a man bun because it made him feel more masc before he came out to everyone (in middle school)

When he felt more comfortable (and after he came out) he decided to keep his hair long and the man bun just kind of stuck

He gets an undercut maybe? I can't decide in whether that's good or not.

He had LOADS of ear piercings (industrial, tragus, three on each lobe, conch, helix) but he's too scared to get facial ones somehow

He wears dangly earrings in his main lobe piercing

After he makes friends with Steph and stops wearing his suspenders+bowtie altogether he unbuttons and untucks his shirt during practice.

(Steph almost passes out the first time he does this. She can see his collar bones. Victorian woman seeing ankle for the first time core)

Richie clips a short chain onto his belt loops "So we match!"

His yellow and orange bracelet becomes his hairband- you can't usually see it unless you're looking for it/it's in a ponytail

Ruth

Ruth was actually so so difficult for me to decide

Her normal style just goes so hard yknow?

I think she starts wearing Docs like Richie

But she just has rainbow laces and that's it she doesn't change them

She gets a leather jacket too and paints the band logo on (badly)

The band tee she'll wear but it'll be over-sized and half tucked in

Logo front and back babey!!

I don't know what else for Ruth so if you have any ideas please feel free to use them

Her blue and white bracelet is just on her wrist like a normal person lmao

Steph

Nose piercing Nose piercing!! She has a little ring

Her style is already SO SO good for the band AU!!!

She has fingerless leather gloves

She also has tattoos methinks

The beginnings of a rose + thorns sleeve on her left arm

And a shitty stick and poke star on her right wrist (over her veins) she got when she was 16- it's started to fade so she gets other stars tattooed on her wrist around it (one for each band member?)

She's the one who commissions an artist to design the logo, and gets t-shirts made for each of them!!

She, and Ruth both get the logo put on leather jackets. Steph's is proper vintage and is more of a biker jacket though.

She tries to convince Richie and Peter to get ones too, but Richie doesn't want to damage his jacket and Peter refuses to wear one at all (he won't wear the shirt either)

(She catches him using it as a sleep shirt. She teases him about it for weeks)

She cuts her band top into a crop top but she doesn't always wear it.

She dyes the tips of her hair red for while

But it fades into pink weirdly quick

So she dyes it back to her normal ombre

Steph's pink bracelet hangs from a hole made in one of her drumsticks. Her bracelet was made first (Max cried when he saw it)

Max

Max isn't technically part of the band

But he is their #1 fan forever and ever

So he has a shirt too that he wears to all of their (eventual) gigs!! The logo is a bit faded/damaged and washed out because he keeps washing it the wrong way

He has a scar in his eyebrow from when Steph punched him after she first joins the band (this kickstarts his redemption.) (Punchstarts?)

And he has his purple and yellow bracelet around his wrist!

I still haven't figured out how to fit Grace into this AU at all. I do HC that she thinks all music other than Christian Music is Of The Devil™ and she plays the flute but that's about it honestly... One of these days I'll figure something out

[neurotonic]

In a fight to the death between Solaris Fabby and Prism who do you think would come out the victor? The circumstances that lead to the fight are irrelevant I just need to know who wins.

Oh I see... We're pitting three bad bitches against each other... any history/feelings on killing aside, my answer depends on the nature of the fight/what they're allowed to prepare and use for the brawl. Putting this under the cut because WOW this got longer than I thought.

Edit: Also I forgot to add but I'm not going to throw in any of their feelings between each other for this, I'm just kind of basing on what they CAN do, no context no nothing. If you DO want my opinion of it...I think they Really wouldn't like having to kill each other. But that's not what we're here for today.

For pure hand-to-hand combat, no additional tools/weapons... Prism is probably not used to that kind of thing. She's on her ass inventing all day and Reggie mentions that she's not used to the physically stressful life of a field agent. Fabby's probably more used to getting into fights, though her style leans more on her using lethal inventions. And I feel like her general sense of class would prevent her from fully giving her all with her body movements.

Which leaves us with Solaris. I wholeheartedly believe she's jacked as fuck. Astronauts are required to be physically fit and strong to do whatever it is they do in space. So all that training, combined with her stature easily gives her the physical advantage over the other two. However, if the fight happens AFTER the Death Engine explosion (maybe a few months... or years later...) Solaris is in a lot weaker state. If we're being extremely generous and say she's almost as good as she was before, the odds would be more or less equal between the three. She is Nawt gonna go back to the way she was before sorry queen. But if we're talking peak performances, then there you go. Brick Shithouse Solaris.

Conclusion: Solaris, for pure hand-to-hand combat.

IF we're playing to their strengths and let these inventors play with their little touys, they'd have a more equal footing methinks! My immediate instinct says Fabricator wins because I think, out of the three of them, she's the most familiar with designing inventions that are the most efficient at killing people, if we're going from her kill count. However, she's going against two other inventors with some very unique tricks up their sleeves.

Solaris's lasers are a close second and BOY are they dangerous. Maybe they're not in the same scale as the Death Engine because of the possible timeframe, but she's able to make the dashboard canon and self-destruct module real quickly (I THINK. i forgot the timeline for this but I digress). Prism's robots can Also technically overpower the other two with the sheer number she could make within a set timeframe. Maybe she could also weaponize kinesium (but that's a little disadvantageous for her robots now that I think of it. Could be like a last resort self-destruct thing. But she's not gonna like it).

Fabby could easily kill them with poison gas, but with Solaris's and the robots' lasers they could ignite and negate the gas--that is, if they're quick enough. From the gasses Phoenix ignites, they're usually still in their containers before they're dispersed in the air (and I'm not sure how the chemistry goes if they try to ignite that as it's being sprayed...). If anyone tried to attack Prism directly, they'd have to go through her shield of robots (which she's not gonna like either, but they Are handy). Solaris also still has her physical strength alongside her lasers. This is actually harder than I thought with all the possibilities between them oh Goddddd.

If we find weaknesses, I think Prism's would be the most glaring - if any of the other two find out how to destabilize kinesium, it could make a disastrous chain reaction of explosions that'll wipe out her robots if they're not far enough. But then the robots could try to explode closer to the other two, somewhat of a "im bringing you down with me" situation. For Fabricator. I dont really know what other Types of inventions she could make specifically for fighting...................if she blows all her poison gas she's probably gonna get screweds immediately. She could have lethal fashion things of varied uses, but that still involves surpassing the defenses and avoiding the offenses the other two have. Solaris is going to fair pretty well when it comes to the offense, but her stature actually puts a bigger target on her body since she'd be easier to see and hit.

Jesus well. Sorry to disappoint you anon but I'm really drawing a blank here. If you really want I could add their feelings on Killing as a last resort and say that Prism probably wouldn't win because she Really isn't the type to kill without reason (she'd defend herself to the end), and Fabby would be the winner of this because she is in fact the most bloodthirsty out of the three of them. She's probably the fastest to analyze what she should do to exploit the other two's weaknesses.

Without that, feel free to imagine these three inventors absolutely giving it their all and then everyone exploding to bits and pieces simultaneously. Whoever wins is a win for #feminism except they really just Die at the same time here so

[aquilacalvitium]

A bunch of thoughts that are incomprehensible to people who aren't Cirque Du Soleil fans

Target and Nico have the same energy and would almost definitely be friends

Someone please introduce Aviator from Quidam and Aviator from Kurios to each other, they'd be besties

Klara moves like a clockwork doll and it's mesmerising to watch

You can see Time Master's effects on the flow of time by watching Klara and Microcosmos in the background

This meme I made

I think Gongli (chair balancer from Koozã) would be Carlos' (chair balancer from Kurios) plus one at Klara's dinner parties

Volta's ending is a tad abrupt methinks

Ela is just awesome, everything about her is awesome, I want to be friends with her

Is that other person with blue feathers in Volta another character? Or is he still Waz? It's a bit ambiguous and I'm not good at subtext

Quidam (the character) somehow manages to be somewhat intimidating while also having very strong "safe person" energy

The Seeker suddenly gains two assistants in Creature De Siam that have not existed at all up to this point

They always turn even the singers into characters in the shows and I love that so much

They always manage to do something with the stage itself, from traps doors to a revolving platform to prop tracks and sometimes more than one of the above

I tried learning French so I can understand the characters but it is an evil language and putting myself through that would count as self-torture /j

The wiki refers to the train at the beginning of Kurios as Mister Microcosmos' outfit but he is standing elsewhere on stage when the train comes in so I actually have no idea who that is

Time Master doesn't get enough appreciation, I get that he isn't as merchandise-able as Klara and Nico and Mister Microcosmos but his act, aside from Chaos Troupe 1900, is definitely my favourite

Also the track for his act is not on the ost and that is a crime

Neither is the track that plays between 11h11 and Bella Donna Twist or the track that pays right before Hypnotique

And for some reason Departure is half of the track for Hand Theatre and then suddenly goes into the track before Dangerous Flight? I'm a bit confused there

I've started assigning names to character who don't have names or who's names I can't find anywhere

I refer to them by their actor's names like Carlos and Gongli

If they're a group or I can't find the actor's names I make something up I.e. I refer to the banquine performers in Kurios as The Beachgoers because I mean look at them it's a fitting name

WHY DID THEY RETIRE MICHAEL FROM KOOZÄ HE'S MY FAVOURITE CLOWN IN THE SHOW I WILL FOREVER BE UPSET ABOUT THIS

Also I can't find a single good quality picture of Michael in his grotesque-whiteface-esque costume that he wears for the whole show apart from during his pickpocket routine which is weird

I kinda can't stop staring at Klara or Nico any time they're on stage because their individual styles of body language are just fascinating

How does Quidam (the show) have such specific energy? I can't think of a better word than ethereal. Like it's unsettling but also feels safe and familiar somehow? Idk but I love it

WHY isn't Bella Donna present for the finale? That woman carried so much of Bella Donna Twist and then dips??? Give that woman the standing ovation she deserves!!!

The Quid Pro Quo/Mr Wow Show scene has probably more dialogue than the entirety of most of Cirque Du Soleil shows I've seen

Waz's outfit on Quid Pro Quo is. Something. I really want to know how that was made and what materials were used - this is coming from a guy with ZERO interest in textiles

Actually all of the outfits in Volta are crazy, even the Grays have interesting stuff going on, major props to the costume department

The fourth wall may or may not exist at any given point in time and it's fun to look for it

Especially when there are characters who thrive of off breaking the fourth wall (all clowns) vs characters who never once break the fourth wall (I.e. The Innocent or Ela or the Curios)

I DID NOT MEAN TO HIT POST THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT

I guess if I have any more thoughts I'll just come back and edit this post

[zomb-rabbit]

Hii! Im here to request a matchup!

My physical appearance: I have dirty blonde hair that reaches to about my shoulders. I’ve never dyed it btw. I have blue eyes with green around my irises (central heterochromia I think it’s called) and a tiny beauty mark under my right eye. Speaking of, I have beauty marks almost everywhere on my body. I’m 5’4 and a bit chubby but sadly only in my tummy area which I’m insecure about :( I have a vertical labret and a septum. I either dress in the ‘Mcbling y2k’ style (just like shirts, skirts and accessories that relate to that genre) or a band t-shirt and some jeans. I don’t ever put my hair up. I do my Make-up a lot, basically whenever I go out for anything lmao.

My personality: idk if this counts as “personality” but I’m straight and my pronouns are she/her😭 I’m a loud person, like if I get excited or stuff like that. I’m a YAPPER🔥 I’ll talk about anything I know a lot about for hours. I’m the “mom” friend, I’ve been told, but also match the chaotic energy (quote my bsf)

My hobbies: I love baking, just cooking in general. I ❤️ MUSIC. I listen to music on the daily. My favorite artists are Mitski, Arctic Monkeys, MSI (I don’t support their actions btw���) and Weezer. I go on walks a lot, specially around sunset on the edge of these woods outside my house (ironic given the fandom I know lmao) I love animals, my favorite is rabbits and raccoons

And finally for the relationship preferences I’d definitely want something long term :3

Thank you!! 😽

HIIIIII U SOUND SO COOL WHATT !!!!!!!!!

this is totally my bad for not specifying it, but you didn't put what fandom/s you'd want so i tried to fit you in with them all :)) i hope that's okay !!

EverymanHYBRID ;

Evan !! you two are so silly together, and i feel like you two could get down w listening to MSI together. i think of Evan as someone who knows how to cook and enjoys it- so y'all are a lil cook/baker duo :) y'all can talk at each other all you want about WHATEEVVVVERRRRR u want lolz. i think he'd also be a big fan of your style !!

Creepypasta ;

i was a little stuck between Toby and Ben for this one, but i'm leaning more towards Toby. you two can just keep a convo going for god knows how long on those evening walks around the woods, and he'd love to look for rabbits and raccoons to show you !! Toby also totally gravitates towards mom friends- he loves being able to actually tell that you care about him and that you wanna keep him safe. ALSOOO y'all would bond over Weezer and MSI

Marble Hornets ;

Brian !!! he is a great listener and he loves when you're passionate about what you're talking about. he thinks it's cute how much shorter you are than him, especially when you're trying to scold him about being careful while he's out. he's also a sucker for baked goods- you've got him wrapped around your finger if you start making stuff for him. i can also see him liking some of Arctic Monkeys :)

Overwatch ;

you and Cole could balance each other out methinks. he thinks it's cute how excited you get about things, usually in stark contrast to his slower smooth talkin nature lol. he loves that you try and take care of the people close to you, and he has a craaazy sweet tooth if that's the kinda baking you're into. he'd also love to go on late night walks or drives with you when given the chance

[autocann1bal]

part three of my playlist analysis!!

part 1 &lt;- part 2 <- back into the pit we go!!

therese - maya hawke kipps?? trying to rizz up lucy?? lockwood thinks not he comes to the rescue 'therese does not belong to you/the horses, cars, and cowboys do' type beat (ps ik what the song is about its for locklyle purposes)

youre somebody else - flora cash imagine how different norrie would be if she came back :) atlantis - seafret oh my god lucy is losing her SHIT after a more intense case where lockwood almost died (again) and they had gotten in a fight just before he put himself in immediate danger and shes just sitting on her bed thinking about it and how if he died the last words she said to him wouldve been harmful. shootout - izzamuzzic eepy vibes after a talk that lasted late into the night. apocalypse - cigarettes after sex this is self explanatory methinks?. tried - beabadoobe hes so tired of living. he just wants to rest [read as: die] lucy said no. they talk for hours one day, george is also there chiming in at appropriate times, they all fall asleep on lockwoods bed and lucy wakes up before the rest of them to make tea and brings it back to the room and they talk more :). telephone - waterparks au where lucy was on fittes team before joining lockwood and co and theyre btoh just watching eachother from afar for a bit <33. cough it out - the front bottoms the repeated 'i am delusional with love' is so both of them :( they both think the other one doesnt like them back. headache - rigby this could be both lockwood and lucy feeling like theyre weighing the other/the team down. it fits very well with either of them. god must hate me - catie turner very much stemming from lucy's in depth descriptions of her insecurities in the books, especially about "not being as pretty as other girls". (this doesnt relate to the song but the fact that we're outside of her head for the show is so nice because we can see that lockwood has literally been head over heels for her since the beginning and he loves her just the way she is). fool - frankie cosmos lockwood feels like he'll never be able to have her. he thinks shes to good for him :(. haunt me 3x - teen suicide lockwood braiding lucys hair after a panic attack, it helps him feel grounded <33 (im so unoriginal im sorry). listen before i go - billie eilish im not even gonna explain this one. figure it out. your hint is: lockwood. anyone else but you - the moldy peaches theyre so perfect for eachother. they dont even think other people are attractive because theyre so engulfed in their love for one another. i want what they have. funny you should ask - the front bottoms the in between stage before they where together and lockwood is. being angsty as usual. style - taylor swift THEY NEVER GO OUT OF STYLE!!!!! back to the old house 2011 remaster - the smiths lucy talking about the town she grew up in, telling lockwood about her mom, about her friends, more about norrie, about everyone else. shes crying, hes crying, george is crying. theyre all crying and drinking tea. leni (crystal castles vs goodbooks) - goodbooks, crystal castles mmm yes i sense yet another lucy panic attack in the shower after a rough job where lockwood put himself in direct danger once again. iris - the goo goo dolls oh my GODDD ITS SO LOCKWOOD 'id give up forever to touch you' WITH HIS LITTLE 'forever is composed of nows' ON THE THINKING CLOTH PLEASE LUCY MEANS SO MUCH TO HIM. brazil - declan mckenna them being Teenagers TM beach episode edition just imagine them all playing in the water at a nice beach on vacation (obv they arent still in the uk bc their beaches are Sad but like they went somewhere with nice beaches for a well deserved vacation. does london fall to shit without them? probably!! do they care? no!!). jesus this is such a ridiculously long series i am so so sorry go to part 4!!

[appledotcodotuk]

why the hive fckin suck at its job: a rant

spoilers for tgwdlm ahead!

first of all, it's important to consider what exactly the hive's job is. my answer is... who the fuck knows. literally. what is the hive's aim. what do you want Paul? more like, what do you want hive? let's find out!

it kinda evolves, as the play progresses. the intial aim of the hive, and one that does actually remain consistent is the constant burning need to grow and devour and gain more and more (insert capitalism metaphor here).

however, this is distorted by the people it possess who influence that aim, as we'll see later.

also the fact it crashes into a theatre displaying Mamma Mia gives the hive the motive it need to fit the world around it to the structure of the musical. having no originality of its own, the hive instead just picks up what is given to it. kinda like an evil baby.

it wants uniformity, that is indeed its ultimate goal and desire, no duh. it thinks it can achieve that through musical theatre, shame that the hive is dead wrong. cause the hive fucking sucks at its own job / aim / ultimate purpose / one concrete goal that motivates all its actions.

can't maintain control over its subjects

okay, so, the hive wants uniformity. it wants everyone to be dancing to the beat of its own tune. right? yeah. shame it literally can't keep its own possessed subjects in line at all. at the risk of sounding like the 10th doctor waxing lyrical abt humanity for the 50th time, humans are really difficult to control cause we're not really motivated by an altruistic allegiance to one primary good. we've got icky emotions that often move us to do stupid unpredictable stuff way more. it makes me wonder if the reason the hive wanted to use musical theatre to try and persuade ppl was cause it seems to think that is how theyll get emotive humans; through emotive songs. anyways. let's look at some examples shall weeeee?

Mr Davidson:

so, Mr Davidson. funnily enough, he's the guy whose in part acting as the hive trying to figure out what it wants through his interactions w/ Paul. every person it possess gives it just a bit more humanity and curiosity abt the world it is currently taking over. at least I think so. hence why as the musical develops u get character's like possessed!Alice wondering 'why does it hurt to love?' - the change in music and mood to something much more introspective really suggests to me that the hive is beginning to question the thoughts and emotions of its human hosts.

Mr Davidson is a family man through and through, he loves his wife Carol. she's his muse, his source of light. his feelings for her are not concrete or easy to explain and solve - hence why his sudden ahem demand of her is so hilarious and also jarring. it completely clashes with the 'I want song' which is simple, and often pushes forward a wider cause. not so with Mr Davidson, he just really loves his wife man. enough to break a frickin alien possession.

tbh I think its hilarious that (at least to me) the hive has to force him to forget and continue with the song, like, he straight up is just talking to his wife in that phone call, talking, not singing. so, no possession until he reverts back into song. ergo, the hive cannot maintain the uniformity it wants. even from the get go when theoretically its control should be stronger cause it has less ppl to co-ordinate. bad. at. its. job.

Paul:

this one hurts folks. yes, I know it's generally agreed, though somewhat debated that the state of Paul by the end of the tgwdlm is not purely possessed. I agree. once again, the hive is unable to truly enforce uniformity.

at this point, the motives of Paul and the hive are kinda just mixed, neither fully human nor fully alien. hence the constant shifts between pleeing for her to get away, to hide, to stay safe: 'what if the only choice is you have to sing to survive' and just full on old style hive nastiness 'let me puke in your mouth and just open your food bin girl' (so romantic 🥰 /j).

the hive has gone away from its original aim, and become something... different. no longer stuck to just one type of genre or style of song, it's really clever to show the developing complexity of the hive by showing how it is now juggling lots of different motifs with references to all the old songs from before recontextualised in a new way - its learning. evil baby... no longer uniform.

general miscommunication:

there are several instances of the hive not fully having uniform control over its subjects. for instance, right after not your seed with the three teens having to like... calibrate. they aren't just completely connected then?? also, this is a very small thing, but uhhhh at the end of inevitable when Paul is about to say the apotheosis is upon... the chorus interrupts him with USSSSSSS. interruptions??? not very in sync of u hive.

I think this inability to exert uniformity is also shown in the contrast between genre of musical theatre. my alien abomination cannot decide whether it wants to be the more modern edgy rock musical (join us (and die), not your seed ) or super happy go lucky old style musical theatre (lah dee dah dah day, and inevitable). it tries to do both, even while trying to encourage union, and sticking to one thing. hypocrite!!!!!

2. aims are guided by the people it possess

so, I mentioned this a bit already, but the hive isn't only mutating the humans, the humans are mutating the hive right back. this is more an interesting observation than any actual analysis but let's goooo.

greenpeace girl:

I think it's very likely that greenpeace girl is one of the first to be possessed. This is probably easily debunkable but whatever this analysis is flying by the seat or its pants anywayyyyy. why? cause where else would it pick up that whole 'this planet needs fixing' thing? it's interesting too, cause it morphs from expressing the desire to join hands and sing together, unity and peace with no actual action behind it. this then goes right to the other end, with the hive going 'fine I'll do it myself' and trying to save things by enforcing a dictatorship on the world. it develops and changes, and strays from its original means of accomplishing its aims! speaking oooooof...

3. inconsistent in means of accomplishing aims

okay, ur an evil hive mind. u think musicals are the way to win over these silly humans cause they're all weak and emotive and seem to respond to them. but, wait! schwoopsie! you haven't realised that for emotional depth and growth to mean anything, you need there to be established development and well... growth. otherwise the sentiments are as vague as the ones expressed in What Do You Want, Paul?

this show has genuine emotional moments, just not really during the musical numbers WITH EXCEPTIONS. any strife is smoothed over quickly, and so the development and change that would have to go into such growth is just gone. (see, You Tied Up My Heart) all so it can achieve its own desire to grow and grow and grow, maybe a metaphor for art being killed under late stage capitalism??

what actually matters is the impact the songs have afterwards, in causing a death - because we have a bond and care abt these characters. those short scenes between Paul and Emma are actually way more resonant than any song. except... inevitable, and also not your seed a bit. at this point the hive has learnt a thing or two, and can actually twist human emotion a little. but for it to do that, it has to reject the uniformity it prizes, and be adaptable. point towards being more human than it first thought? methinks so. and yet it's just not enough...

it's also why let it out, to me, feels really ingenuine. Paul has expressed himself in much better ways already. what they're doing is clearly paining him, and hurting the guy. he's terrified bless.

you can't force someone into being emotional vulnerable, man.

it's why all the deaths for the characters who are forced to express themselves are really violent, involving them being ripped open - literally forcing them to expose themselves from the 'inside out' as Alice reflects in Not Your Seed. you can't force genuine emotional connection, it has to be fostered, shown in the much more affecting relationship of Paul and Emma. the only reason the hive actually has power over our characters is because of these genuine emotional connections, which it tries and often fails to take advantage of, resulting in just resorting to brute violence. messy hive, very messy.

at the core, the musical's a kinda attack on that toxic positivity mindst: trying to force people to reach the sort of easy solutions by sharing feelings in a way that feels pretty invasive and deciding you are instantly fixed. the problems these characters face are jarringly not really what you'd expect a character in a musical to face, cheating, a lot of it, mid-life crisis. problems that are bland, or wayyyy too real. this is purposefully done, to reveal just how silly the hive's aim to use musical theatre to solve everyone's problem is. life is more complex than that smh.

4. a human can write a much more expressive, and genuine song than they ever could lol

u know which song I'm talking abt. what more is there to say. so much for making persuasive songs to tempt people over.

5. make me sad cause they took some perfectly nice ppl and funked them up 😭

this was a stupid point lol. basically I'm just bitter that this hive took a bunch of perfectly okay ppl and gave them hive brain. screw u hive. I swear I'm gonna watch Black Friday soon, cause I'm sure it's gonna completely destroy every thought I've had so far, but whateve,,, just take this as a look at tgwdlm like it's a stand-alone piece.

these guys are supposed to all be 'individuals' on one level, but also 'appendages of a much larger organism'. there's a little too much individualism and fracturing to be cohesive enough to do that I feel. the hive to me is not an infallible, unstoppable force, in fact, every human it takes over only brings it closer to understanding us. so that's maybe a slight positive note??? idk ?! I just have lots of thoughts and feelings abt this musical even if this doesn't make sense I'm proud i wrote it down hehe.

[thweatted]

Canadian Thanksgiving is before Halloween? That’s Un-American!

My suitcase was packed so tight I could not have fit a scanner and lightbox in there if I wanted to, and I prefer that over cintiq clean-up. More scribbles it is.

In my head Tesh defaults to a sweater vest most often outside of his uniform now, which is weird to me because I feel like a sweater vest is not his style even though he dresses up in a vest and wears layered clothing. Initially that outfit and the side-part was his cousin’s and Tesh pretended to be him by wearing pale makeup and a similar thing, but I liked him in it so I let him have it. That’s how I see him out and about running errands during the daylight hours but not when he’s just relaxing or whatever.

Speaking of cousins, Sidmund’s taller, leaner, younger cousin Marten rocks his slacker outfit squid hoodie which I think would look kind of KKK if I ever colored him in it since he’s white-ish. I don’t particularly like or dislike any Sid and Marty Krofft shows or know anything about them but had paired the names together anyway. Marten is a sushi chef who gets himself caught up in and working for the fish-themed mafia. Things of course get worse for him when he tries to get out. He lives on 10Fin Island, where Tesh grew up. Their moms are sisters who are originally from another country and have foreign accents. Their father's life, love, and lady is the sea. They are brothers as well. They are not that close, like they’d see each other a few times a year growing up. Still Marten tracks Tesh down so he can crash at his place in 3Han to hide out.

Marten has a long list of food allergies, most things that aren’t sea food, that trigger different swollen and bumpy krakken-like transformations that he would take on and then destroy certain businesses that didn’t comply with mob. It would be mistaken by the public as attacks from sea monsters (why not, there are sewer monsters). He’d be treated afterwards by a mob doctor and have to recover. He gets to a point where he can’t take it anymore, not so much morally but physically. Marten has so many allergies, even non-food ones, that Biesel is convinced that maybe he was meant to be a sea monster and is living a lie. In the end everyone, except Marten, ultimately agrees and they set him adrift in the ocean on tiny wooden raft with nothing but the clothes on his back, but once a few toxic waste barrels start surfacing they figure they might be making things worse, so they just lock him up.

Since very early on Tesh has lived in a bachelor apartment in an old building downtown. I saw it as a dark place but with huge windows, like the lights were always off and it was lit from outside. There’s artwork on canvases stashed in a corner and one wall decorated with large abstract ink splatter paintings. Sometimes I’d picture Tesh sitting clothed in a bathtub full of his own ink. Later on I went more into his past/childhood where the ink would start to leak out of his hands so he’d have to drain them every once in a while to prevent that from happening. Since he already liked to draw and paint he began painting with his ink the avoid the buildup. After becoming a cop he also started using it as a projectile instead of the gun he was issued. He still carries a gun, he just doesn’t use it.

Tesh doesn’t have a car for a long time but eventually gets a purple pickup truck with huge wheels. He is the primary driver of the tiger-faced paddy wagon. He can also operate a motorcycle but doesn’t own one while Denny has a couple.

Kind of a soft-looking Tesh and a hard-looking Monty, methinks. I imagine that whenever Tesh and Marymont get to arguing Biesel’s off to the side somewhere going,“Get a room.” Monty’s in what I call his shopping clothes, where he’s got winged shades on and is trying to live life a bit more modestly instead of strutting around in a suit and top hat like when he is in rich snob mode. Monty becomes less of a snob over time, but it still seeps in occasionally. His sister, Mistra who he calls Misti, continues her life of crime and frivolous spending with zero regrets. Their butler, Ooncle, fills Mistar’s shoes as her partner in crime while he is out playing good cop. Ooncle’s a fairly old character, he didn’t even start off with an animal theme, yet I think I’ve only drawn him maybe twice in all these years. Well I guess he wasn’t as important early on since all he did was butler stuff and wasn’t Mistra’s suck-up friend and accomplice yet. There’s a ton about characters that has gone unsaid since I only did the one comic many years ago. Maybe I should fill my blog with character spotlights as a creative outlet, hopefully with more color and less sketches.

[kendrixtermina]

Voltron Cast vs. Personality types

Feel free to add & correct

Lance

Very Clearly ESxx. He’s practically “Extrovert problems” incarnate, poor boi, just wants to be liked & accepted.  

I’d say he has some Fe there but the degree of inappropriate jokes vs value judgements/policing suggests tertiary rather than dominant. ESTP then. 

Pretty much that common Fi PolR/ Fe tert problem of not realizing your own inclinations & opinions of yourself “count” & therefore  looking for external validation a lot. Adding to that is his crazy aim & knack for planning sneaky strategies on the fly, also he once mentioned he has a hard time sleeping if he gets all pumped off, having so much energy it needs to be burned off is a common Se dom issue, as is his concern with looks, status & “finer pleasures” & his competitive streak.

He’s an inert subtype, and enneagram wise he’s such an obvious 3w2 someone who never saw the show could tell just from me reblogging posts about him. He keeps making up roles for himself to play (”cool ninja sharpshooter”) & hoping they catch on with the others, though there’s also an angle of wanting to contribute & be needed. 

imma venture soc/sx but im not adamant on this.  Sanguine classic. 

Also very obvious oldham Inventive with sprinklings of Devoted and Dramatic. He’s also a dead-ringer Mercury-Venus. Also probably Thunderbird.

Gryffindor or Hufflepuff tho? There would probaby be hatstall, but ultimately I feel he would be a “grow into it” Gryffindor. 

The Red Lion only takes them Gryffindors BTW. Come on. Bravery? honor? No self-preservation? Likewise, the green Lion only takes Ravenclaws and the Yellow one only takes hufflepuffs. The recipe is probably more complicated with the other two tho. 

Hunk

The most obvious ISFJ to ever SiFe. 

He’s cautious & prefers the familiar, a good judge of character & may need to see things with their own eyes to grasp their full scope, but also has a big heart cares a lot. Hasthat “inferior Ne panic reaction” too. 

You kinda also see the “dexterous/practical” side of Si with his being a mechanic. The makers have described the contrast between him and pidge as the “figure it out & think it up” side of engineering vs the “buid it & make it work” side of it  which is basically N vs. S in a nutshell. 

Inert Subtype. Pudwudkie Hufflepuff. Nuff said. A 9w1, probably, though with a notable 6w5 fix. sp/soc. Phlegmatic. Venus. Clearly has some Sensitive style in him but he’s not all that shy & fluttery so there’s probably some stabilizing influence there. Not wholly sure if it’s some Leisurely or something else

Allura

Preddy much ESTJ. Brave, dutiful, action-oriented, bossy, fortright, yells a lot, can be rigid sometimes, we know the drill.   

Contact subtype. Mars-Jupiter af. srly that’s just a holistic sumup of her character.  Choleric. (ChlorSan prolly) 2w1  soc/sp? I do think soc  is right & she does have that “politcian-y” quality.  

She’s ever the altrustic helper ready to put her life in danger, insists they answer every distress call,  and has this ‘diplomatic important organization leader’ thing going on that social 2s do.The w1 also manifests as back & white or oversimple thinking at times.

Oldham wise it’s hard, something of a pronounced mixed/intereference pattern with both Self-Sacrifcing and Aggressive in the mix.

Wampus.  I see why someone might say Slytherin but I’m sticking with Gryffindor for now.

Pidge

This one is kinda easy.

INTP 5w6. Ravenclaw. Horned Serpent. Lunar. sp/soc. IDK bout vertical subtype but she rambles/blurts more than she snarks/criticises so I’m saying contact. 

Less sure ‘bout oldham though there’s probably some Vigilant, though not, like, sharp excess.

Imma run with melancholic b/c she’s definitely not pure Phlegmatic or Supine. MelPhleg perhaps. 

Shiro

Apparently there has been a case of “the fan-favorite is always INFJ” (TF?) but I think most of us will agree that he has Te - he’s goot at handing out tasks, managing people, coming up with courses of action...

He rocks that tert Fi too in that he’s a good listener & tries to further the other’s personal developement. 

We often think of natural leaders as extroverts but ISTJ is prolly the introvert most likely to become head-of-state. He just fits the overall patterns of ISTJ: Dilligent, put-together (when he can help it), great integrity, perceptive with details & able to use comparision with past experiences to kick butt in the present (Like when he timed the Sentry Drones’ rounds), though he does’t have the elbowy agression/striving of other TJ-types, and he’s a morning person too. 

He’s probably a contact subtype. Temperament wise he’d be one of those few where I’d be tempted to call ‘balanced/Leukine’, but if I didn’t I’d say ChlorPhleg comes the closest.  1w9 af, prolly sp/soc with a degree of both personalperfectionism & mentoring others present, and also feeling overly responsible for everything. 

Oldham wise an obvious conscientious type. 

While he’d sure have some gryffindor potential, his firm belief in teamwork & humility would probaby land him in Hufflepuff.- Think Cedric Diggory who was also a sort of prodigy. Though he is probably also very much a Wampus.

Also, he’s a classic, archetypical pure Saturn type. Actually, I believe at least partially saturnyne personalities are the Black Lion’s thing. Still not sure how Blue’s could be quantified, apart from possibly favoring extroverts, but that’s probably by design. 

Keith

Mai Spicy Boi! . 

I’m just gonna flat out say that he cannot be anything other than a contact subtype Se auxillary. Just look at all that Se! That’s about as much of the stuff as you can possibly cram into an introvert. 

He’s got sharp senses & reflexes, often reacts to opportunities, observations and impressions in the moment (and very often it’s a deliberate risk that works out - he’s not just “hotheaded” or “not thinking”, but he’s thinking about things to do or investigate, not so much what happens next. ) & improvised, didn’t really have longterm plans after flunking out, He also very much has the ‘decisive’ and agressive side of Se though I wouldn’t call him dominant. 

And I’m saying ISTP over ISFP b/c the Se itself seems a sufficient explanation for his reactive nature,and then there’s general lack of people skills, solitary mode of operation & difficulty with group work (not a shred of Te not even inferior) 

Also, when he’s actually thinking rather than just waltzing in guns blazing, he very much has task-oriented, detached impersonal reasoning  “But can we afford to save the princess? It’s not about the glory. The cause is bigger than any of us.” He’s also very much the cynic of the group or the one most inclined to see things in shades of grey rather than black & whites. 

I doublechecked this to make sure I’m not just assuming him to be a Ti dom b/c he’s my fav character, but ‘ISTP’ really seem to summarize his character & much of the metas written about him very well.

Soo... is he a cp 6? a sp4? An 8? Probably all of those, they don’t call that the “tripple reactive” tritype for nothing but coretype wise I’d put him very much in the action triad as a 8w7, that’s not even all that uncommon for ISTPs. He’s also very distinctly soc blind,(which may explain why he doesn’t really manifest the dominant part of the 8, but he’s very much got the every-man-for-himself, rely-on-no-one rebel part of it, as well as the characteristic problem with backing down/shelving arguments though the other fixes, again, don’t help.  ) not sure if sx/sp or sp/sx, on the one hand he’s...tempestuous, on the other he spent a year as a desert hermit and found itpleasantly calm, at least in part, so if pressed I’d go with sp/sx, also because of his tedency to hold himself apart from the group somewhat without much indication that it’s a conscious choice. 

Oldham wise he’s got some adventurous & some vigilant but also some sort of more emotionally juicy counterpoint to that without which he’d have a lot more hostile unconcern. He’s not clingy enough for Mercurial tho so I’m vaguely at a loss. 

He’s got some more maturity to acquire there but I do think there’s very much a Saturn-Mars underneath it all. Certainly NOT as thought-through as a pure saturn and with no shortage on the action but he does have momentzs of somberness and nuanced understanding.  Very much fits both the archetype of the ‘rugged doer’ and the ‘powerful, cause-oriented person’. though he still has some work to do on the ‘inspiring others’ part. 

Gryffindor, no 2 ways about it. (Some have suggested Slytherin because he’s the “edgy” one but honestly I don’t see that at all. He has zero interest in personal glory or the ‘in-group’ & doesn’t seem to think of himself as special though he would very much have the grounds to do so.) 

The real question is: Wampus or Thunderbird tho?

Coran

Clearly has both Ne (wackyness and quirkyness) and Si (storytime! “Proper” Traditionalist), and too much for either to be the inferior. 

Since he doesn’t seem like a Ne auxillary, that leaves us with ESFJ by principle of exclusion, like he kinda has the chattynes & is always helping with everything & taking all the duties. Probably a contact subtype. 

Hufflepuff for similar reasons. IDK bout Ilvermony but he does have an adventurous side that did shenanigans with the previous paladins, so probably Thunderbird. 

Out of the enneagram types that commonly occur in ExSJ, 9 seems the likeliest, he’s nor dramatic enough for a core type in the emotional triad. I’d say he also has a 7w6 fix somewhere. Also he’s probably soc-first... and in hindsight actualy acts alot like a textbook social 9, working a lot to support the community while not taking the spotlight himself. 

Oldham wise I’d postulate a Dramatic-Devoted mix.

Essence type made me think for a bit i had several inconclusive kneejerk reactions but imma stick with Jupiter for now.

Zarkon

Well, another ESTJ, prolly an inert subtype tho. 

Pretty much your standard evil overlord/ Te dom villain, though he’s more an enforcer than someone who does a lot of lecturing like when he does it’s usually to-the-point, plus he was sorta repressed in his youth & seemingly a strict traditionalist. 

Also a very obvious Aggressive type (complete with the comon constellation where the spouse can deal with & accept that that but the kid’s can’t & regular teenage rebellion ends in dramatic estrangement), like, he would not be questioned even by his best friend even long before he went nuts enough to randomly murder ppl for talking back to him.

You could deem him an  8w9 and a Saturn for similar reasons though he evidently incorporates the more negative aspects of that... though he did have a “protective-responsible” side before things got too sour.

Ovsly Slytherin (& wampus), methinks the whole imperial family would be one those dynastic Slytherin families for all their differences. 

Haggar

I found her hard to get a read on for the first two seasons, but with the backstory reveal I think I can conclude INTx, see the whole lightning speech & the whole “Think of the Potential!” attitude, also her being a misanthropic cat lady & sassing Alfor to his face (”customary gesture”) way before things went all sour.

I am less sure here, but out of the two options INTP is more likely because I think I see more indications for SiFe than for FiSe. Her present day self is markedly more cautious than she was in her younger days. She minimally toys with her victims for effect (Poor Shiro) and has this pretty honest devotion & concern for Zarkon, though she seems content subordinating herself to him, though she has this dourish Si-Ti bubble-popping, “Yeah sure but be cautious” attitude especially in interaction with Lotor & Zarkon.  

Beyond that, i’d say that she is a very clearly an inert subtype, a Serious-primary and probably some fashion of 5w6 (by principle of exclusion). Slytherin & Horned Serpent. What else would a mad science shadow empress space witch possbly be? Might be Lunar but don’t really have a good read there

Lotor

Some kind of NF, ENFJ if I had to guess. Not his father indeed, though still quite ExxJ. He has the charme, he has a planning, analytic quality underneath, but while he had ambition the more fundamental motivation seems to be to enarn recognition to prove himself.

sx/soc 7, glorious, extra with lots of plumage, certainly very self-interested when it comes down but you could totally picture him just chilling with his henchladies & preferring a ‘personal’ environment/inner circle though he can totally work crowds like clay. 

Self-Confident with a tinge of Exuberant perhaps. 

Slytherin Thunderbird. 

Perhaps what an antagonistic Solar Type looks like. He’s got charme, he’s got loftiness and big goals he works hard to accomplish and little hesitation to put his own person out on the field  but he’s sorta the very opposite of naive, very much a planner and going all road runner on poor Keith. Come to think of it,one could make a good case for him as a Solar-Saturn. 

As for the Generals/henchladies we’ve only seen bits & pieces of them so far all we can really tell is that Narti and Acxa are introverts while Zethrid and Ezor are extroverts, but Imma risk a guess based on rough vibes/ intuition:

Ezor: ESFP Narti: ISTP Acxa: ISTJ Zethrid: ESTJ

[ulfwolf]

The Art of Dying

Shoot Her

In Swedish, the verb “skjuta” means both to “push” and to “shoot”—an unfortunate double-meaning, to which this story bears witness.

This story will also possibly explain why, when we were kids, my younger sister Lili-Ann did not uniformly look upon me with the kindest of eyes.

It all started with my mom asking me to keep an eye on her for an hour or two—Mom busy with something or other, most likely baking. This, of course, is the scenario that in a later decade would give rise to the expression “cramping one’s style.” I’m ten or eleven, so she’s five or six, and dragging her around in the snow definitely limits one’s freedom of movement and range of options.

Shackles, ball and chain, leash, such implements come to mind.

But there was little or nothing for it, Mom had asked and Mom had a way of making her wishes bear fruit. So, off I went, the little one (bundled up in god knows how many layers of winter clothing) trudging behind asking me every so often to wait up, would I.

I would stage a token wait then set out again, leaving her farther and farther behind until the next token wait—and so, eventually, in long, slow stages, we made it across the gently up-sloping, snowy (knee-deep) field to our nearest neighbor, Karl’s house. I had planned (before asked to cart little sister along) to go see Karl, the closest I had to a friend at the time, and I figured I might as well stick to that plan, even with Lili-Ann in tow.

Karl, by the way, was what we in Sweden call a “Sladdbarn”—literally a “Skid Child” (a child resulting from loss of vehicle control—a very apt way of putting it, methinks) meaning a child who is born way later than any of his or her siblings, say a decade or two—which was the case with Karl. His parents were ancient: mother probably in her mid-fifties (though she looked like seventy), father most likely in his sixties (though he also looked in his seventies). So, not planned then, our Karl, for when he was eight his nearest sibling was a sister nineteen or twenty, and he had sisters far older than that. Yes, the consummate sladdbarn, Karl.

I knocked on the front door and Karl, who had seen us coming, opened it right away, dressed and ready to join us.

Now, Karl and I had built a sled of sorts from an old, wooden, apple-box and some rusty runners from an old dilapidated kick-sled. Not of amazing construction or anything, but—according to our calculations—it should still obey gravity and head downhill if given half a chance.

We had not tested it yet.

And here’s where Lili-Ann comes in very handily. Neither Karl nor I would actually fit very well in the apple-box that was the housing (so to speak) of this sled. The same could not be said of my sister who was the perfect size.

So, we pull the sled across the road and up a nearby hill (called Risberg, by the way, meaning “Mountain of Sticks”), now nicely covered with old and icy snow, perfect sled surface in other words. Lili-Ann is trudging along twenty or so meters behind, but eventually makes it all the way up to where we stand waiting, Karl and I, for our little (still-to-be-informed) test-driver.

To this day I’m not sure what on earth I could have promised her to make her agree to this daring test run, but agree she eventually did, and so climbed in with a little help from her friends (Karl and I).

Okay? I asked. She looked comfortable enough.

Yes, she said.

All right then, I said, looking at Karl. Her goes.

And so, I pushed the sled over to the steeper part of the hill then down she went, picking up speed, gravity doing its thing, and very well at that.

And picking up more speed.

And more speed.

Until the unforeseen bump which rendered the sled not only airborne but tiltingly so with the obvious outcome that out she came, landing at speed and rather awkwardly and smashing her shin against a rock that peaked through the snow just waiting for something to injure.

And injure (as in break) something it did, though we had no idea at the time.

The idea we did have at the time was that Lili-Ann’s wail was an obvious exaggeration, a way-beyond-reason one. And then she wailed again (as if in severe pain—which, of course, was very much the case). And again. And then the tears, and then more tears and more crying and wailing about how much it hurt.

Oh, don’t be ridiculous, you could not have hurt yourself that much. It’s only snow for heaven’s sake. And stand up will you.

She tried, and that apparently was more painful than ever (yes, her shinbone was now cracked, not a pleasant state of affairs). More wailing and now it was for Mommy and she wanted to go home, now.

Karl and I looked at each other. No way she could be hurt as badly as she made out. Lili-Ann is still sitting down, cannot get up. Hurst too much, she says, cries, screams.

Karl and I look at each other again. Well, if you can’t get up, you can’t walk home, I inform her. I don’t think she tried again, just claimed (so very unreasonably) that she couldn’t. All right then, Karl and I agreed, we’ll have to put her back in the sled and push her all the way home.

Here’s where the word “skjuta” comes in. We’ll have to “shoot” her home is what we said and agreed, but what she heard between sobs and waves of pain was that we were going to have shoot her.

Now, the reason the unfortunate and now imminent end to her young life actually made some sort of sense to her was that her leg was obviously badly hurt and since she loved and knew a lot about horses she also knew that when a horse breaks a leg they often have to shoot the poor creature. Yes, it did add up: she was in effect done for. Broken leg: she would be shot.

She cried and moaned and wailed all the way home, apparently not looking forward to going the way of hurt horses.

Mom must have heard her wailing as we approached our house for she came running out and wanted to know what on earth. We told her that Lili-Ann (who would not stop crying) had fallen out of the sled going downhill and had apparently (me stressing apparently) hurt her leg.

Well, Mom would deal with me later, she informed me—as I noticed Karl slink away and back to the safety of his own house. Mom then piled Lili-Ann into the car (a blue and white Volvo Duett, by the way) and took off for the hospital just to make sure.

At this point, Lili-Ann is convinced that the upcoming shooting will take place in the hospital (since most shooting of horses is done by veterinarians who work at horse-hospitals). I cannot even imagine what the ride into town must have been like for her.

Three or four hours later Mom returns with the test-driver, now sporting a big cast from knee to ankle, keeping the shin-bone in position to heal. She had sustained two hairline fractures forming an X, and not a small one either by the X-ray (pun not intended) that Mom made a big point of showing us (especially me). Look what I’ve done to my sister.

Well, I didn’t mean to, if that’s what you’re saying.

Well, she knew that. But even so, you shouldn’t have put her in that stupid apple-box sled and pushed her down the hill.

Well, I didn’t mean to, if that’s what you’re saying.

For the next six weeks (I think it was), while the shin bone healed, Lili-Ann more or less ruled the house, waited on hand and foot by Mom and sometimes, very reluctantly, by me.

And this is why it’s not a stretch by any means that Lili-Ann had no serious objections to my parents tossing me off the Sand Island Bridge to my death a year or so later—see: Let Him Live.

Our blessed childhood.

::

Back to: Intro :: Fresh Legs