#which is also why its slots style

[eliotlime]

Heyo! I know the bug style comms are sold out, but if we want them in the same duo sketch bust portrait, would we tack on an extra $10 to the ko-fi comm request for the duo sketch? I just want to make sure just in case! If it’s not an option due to being sold out, no worries at all!

Yeah, you can absolutely do that! Just describe what you want in the description box and send a reference, alternatively if you want to have a conversation about it my DMs are also open.

[girlcockholmes]

repeating my mantra of i will not get angry at my dad for getting me a toaster. pray for me

[centrally-unplanned]

FLCLick Noise - Archival Scan

We should be a go!

[Internet Archive Link]

FLCLick Noise is a book published in 2010 that is a deep dive into the production of and creative influences that went into the 2000 anime FLCL by Studio GAINAX. Framed as a conversation between FLCL director and series lead Kazuya Tsurumaki, and FLCL character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, the two creatives watch the show together and record their thoughts episode-by-episode, alongside a prologue and a “bonus track”. It is in Japanese, with primarily text and screenshots from the show for use as conversational reference, though there is some art as well (almost all of which is available elsewhere).

FLCL is pretty infamous as a show for its free-wheeling compositional style and loose production process; everyone involved was able to throw in visual ideas, dialogue, plot concepts, and so on. Additionally, FLCL slots pretty clearly into GAINAX’s “Otaku commentary” oeuvre - it is very much anime, *extremely* anime, it would be ludicrous to suggest otherwise; but in addition to being anime it was also a vehicle for the creative team to put in ideas and influences that they believed the anime industry was not utilizing at the time, such as its rock-album concept soundtrack or its josei/seinen manga inspired-character designs.

It is this backdrop that makes a book like FLCLick Noise simultaneously more valuable for understanding FLCL than most other shows, and even possible to exist in the first place. Much of it is fun asides, many of the creative decisions are personal whims, but there is so much to those whims that it is worth reading a book about them. If you want to answer the question “why does FLCL exist the way that it does”, this book will answer that question in more detail than any other source will.

Alas this is a complex and large book - I will aim to translate it someday, but I cannot guarantee neither the timeline nor the quality of that translation as I am by no means a professional in that regard. If you want to get a sample of what the book contains, anime-youtuber-extraordinaire Hazel quasi-coincidentally just released a video essay on FLCL that has an entire section on this book and its contents (I learned of this book from her tweeting about it during research for the video, so the timeline is not pure kismet). If you want the highlights and so much more, it is an amazing video. Meanwhile, I do hope to post a “raw text” version of the different sections somewhat soon, to assist those who do want to read it themselves and would find that would help with the translation.

As always, I hope this is a valuable addition to the ‘akashic record’ of 90’s-era anime history, and gives something special to the FLCL-heads out there like me.

(I'll tag @flclarchives for the two-for-one this week, if they don't mind! And I apologize for the scan quality here - I wanted to do it non-destructively, as this is not a large print run book, which meant my typical flatbed was a no go and the new overhead setup I used was a comedy of errors. Fortunately this is a book about reading text, and despite the errors it's all perfectly readable.)

[mariacallous]

When Angela Merkel stepped down in December 2021 after four terms in office, many Germans wondered how on earth they would cope without her. An entire generation had grown up knowing only this reserved woman from the east as their chancellor. She had brought them prosperity, something they took for granted, and stability, something they regarded as indispensable.

Weeks later, as Olaf Scholz and his three-party coalition were still finding their footing, Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. All the assumptions that voters had made about their country and the world came crashing down. And so, soon after, did Merkel’s reputation.

Three years into her retirement, having said almost nothing about her record, Merkel has finally had her say. Her much awaited and heavily marketed autobiography, titled Freedom, hit the shelves simultaneously in dozens of languages in November and revealed … very little. It is a stunning disappointment.

Celebrity interviewers from several countries were given 30-minute television and radio slots to speak with Merkel. Selected newspapers were given extracts. Yet no matter how hard they tried, the best they got were a smattering of predictable thoughts about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and a few other crumbs from the table. As for the book itself, some of the episodes that Merkel recalls are tamer than those already in the public domain.

Despite the slim pickings, these 700 pages of recollections do provide some insights for historians and political scientists. The tome is not an entirely fruitless endeavor for the general reader. It provides an insider’s guide to most of the major global events during Merkel’s 16 years at the top, with sometimes amusing snapshots about her interlocutors.

The tensest negotiations are recounted in a contemporaneous style: She describes her refusal to loosen the European Union’s and Germany’s fiscal rules surrounding the euro, to the consternation of the Greeks, as well as her refusal to give early and immediate NATO membership to Ukraine, to the frustration of the Americans.

In these cases and more, however, Merkel provides only the most superficial explanations for her actions—she confines herself to saying that she feared the demise of the single currency and that she feared that Russia (a nuclear power, as she keeps on repeating) would respond violently.

Her relationship to Putin has long been considered the most complex. As I wrote in my book Why the Germans Do It Better, she believed that she understood his mindset better than any other world leader could. That was by virtue not just of language (both his German and her Russian were fluent), but also by shared communist upbringings.

Apart from letting it be known that the Kremlin leader has a penchant for Radeberger beer and—in a needy “don’t you know who I am” kind of way—likes to keep his interlocuters waiting, she reveals nothing else of particular interest. The infamous January 2007 incident of Putin bringing his labrador Koni into the room during a meeting, despite reportedly knowing about her phobia of dogs, has been told many times—and, in fact, is more sparsely detailed in her account.

Given that Merkel describes Putin as a pathological liar and says that she has never been under any illusions about his obsession with grievance as well as his contempt for democracy and the rule of law, then why did she cling to the belief that mutual economic dependency (the two Nord Stream gas pipelines being the most egregious case) would make him behave better?

“Two decades of mutual encounters lay behind us, an era during which Putin, and with him Russia, had changed from an initial position of openness to the West to one of alienation from us, culminating in a total hardening of its stance,” Merkel insists in the new book. “With hindsight, I still believe in spite of everything I was right to make a point, to the end of my tenure, of preserving our contact with Russia.”

Merkel gives only the most perfunctory answer to the central question of why her accommodation of Putin, and pursuit of cooperation with him, was a defensible policy—she suggests that to have done anything else would have enraged him further. Plus, it was good for German business; plus, it provided cheap energy, and nobody in her cabinet was arguing for any other approach. Is that the extent of the analysis, after all the time that she has had to ponder further a question that has become her country’s most vexing?

At least as egregious is her unwillingness to engage in discussion of the big decisions that she took—or didn’t take—on the economic front. Germany’s lamentable digital record, its refusal to diversify and modernize much of its industry, the failures of the auto sector, and the overdependency on trade with China barely merit much more than throwaway lines.

Perhaps I’m being too harsh. If so, it is because I have always held Merkel up as an exemplar. Even when her reputation went from hero to zero, I still regarded her type of rationalist, deliberative politics as better than all the others that were on offer around the world.

And I still do. Indeed, as the narrative sweeps the reader from one global crisis to another, almost on a weekly basis, you understand better just what Merkel faced and how so many of the other leaders came to depend on her calm.

Of all the challenges that she confronted, the one that—by Merkel’s own admission—defined her chancellorship was the influx of refugees in 2015. Curiously, she devotes an extended section to quibbling with journalists’ use of her phrase wir schaffen das, “we can do it.” She writes that this was not meant to be interpreted as a catch-all statement of national self-confidence.

Yet Germany did do it. It displayed an enviable mix of compassion and organization. Its record of assimilation of refugees—and the proportion who are in employment or training—is far better than it is portrayed in the orgy of retrospective denunciation in the increasingly fickle media. In any case, as she points out herself, what else was she supposed to do? Germany did not have legal standing to shut its open borders; nor, for reasons that do not require spelling out, could it build camps.

The rise of the far right and population flows from poorer to richer countries are here to stay. And they cannot be reduced back to this one moment in history. In my view, irrespective of the clamor of post hoc denunciation, 2015 was Merkel’s finest hour.

As I write this, I wonder whether I’m doing a more passionate job than she did in defending her legacy—or at least, those parts of her legacy that deserve defending.

Why, I wonder, does she manage to be so pedestrian in her attempts at explaining her actions? One prosaic explanation is the book’s style—it has all the hallmarks of a ghostwritten narrative, ironed out incessantly to remove any creases, thereby removing passion.

Another possibly more interesting explanation is that this was Merkel’s chosen approach to shaping the narrative. She quotes the late British queen’s nostrum, “never complain, never explain.”

Maybe it has more to do with psychology and her early political life. This is where her memoir is at its most revealing—the young, unassuming woman scientist from the communist East Germany maneuvering her way to the top job, to the consternation of her predecessor Helmut Kohl and the physically domineering men around him. Once there, she had to put up with incessant, if low-level, condescension. Perhaps she has not been able to shed the restraint that she felt required adopt throughout.

The Merkel memoir and the Merkel record are cast into a particularly sharp light with the advent of a renewed Trump administration and his second and more dangerous wave of populism.

In December 2015, as he prepared to depart the White House, then-U.S. President Barack Obama went on a short farewell tour. Over dinner in Berlin, Merkel told him she was thinking hard about standing down. I was told by her close advisors (and have subsequently written it several times) that he begged her to stay. With Trump preparing to enter office, the Brexit movement gaining steam, and France’s Marine Le Pen on the horizon, Europe needed a grown-up in the room. (Strangely, her version of the story is more limited in its recollection).

Whatever Obama actually said, Merkel concluded that she needed to carry on. And when she did finally leave, she recounts the Nina Hagen song about East Germany, “They Forgot the Colour Film,” that she requested as one of the songs for the military parade that marked her departure, and the meatballs and potato salad and sparkling wine that she shared with friends before being driven away into retirement.

It was this final period of office, between 2016 and 2021, that would be her undoing. This is the era that is now retrospectively so denounced: the continued insistence on the Nord Stream pipeline, the continued line of communication to Putin, the continued trade dependence with China, and the continued inability to meet NATO defense spending targets.

Had she left office at the time of the previous election, her place in history would have been altogether different. So might have been any book she had chosen to write.

[scatterbrainedart]

Made this in 2022 with the intention of doing every series, but I just. Got tired trying to work out double life and gave up. And then it's been rotting in my drafts ever since. So here is as far as it went, because I still think it's kinda fun.

Life Series lives markings concepts!

I like the idea that the lives a player have left are visualized as marks on their body, so this is my approach on it! I also decided to handle each season a bit different, and here’s how:

3rd Life

So, for 3rd life specifically I think it’d be pretty cool to have the lives running along their throats (this doesn’t work for last life since the people who ended up with like 6 lives absolutely will not be able to fit them all on their neck, but I’ll get into that later), simply because I drew my life series sona like that and now I’m attached, and I have decided to simply deal with it.

Generally I like the idea that the Murderous Intent™ of the red life is visualised as red vines (or, corrupted veins. A sickness in the blood, making them crave bloodshed. That could be pretty cool) taking control of the player and corrupting them. That would also be the same for latter boogymen, albeit a lot more subtle since it’s all canonically sneaky and invisible and whatnot.

Another general rule of the markings is that once you lose a life, a scar takes its place (preferably somewhat reminiscent of how that life was lost. Got blown up? The scar looks like an explosion. Got shot? Perhaps it looks like it’s shattering or something, I dunno. I haven’t quite thought that far ahead, but it could be fun to play around with).

Last Life

Now, as for last life, the design got a bit more tricky to figure out as, like I said, six lives would not be able to fit on someone's throat! So! I figured putting them along the spine would look really neat, so that's exactly what I did. Behold!

The greens go darker the further up they go, and I also have them shine. Why? Because style, that’s why. Anyways, not all people start out with six lives. So, what does that look like?

Boom! Grayed out hearts. This would be Grian after gaining that one life from Scar. I’d imagine, if the player has some empty slots, that’s where the extra life would end up (what about when they don’t have empty slots then? Like, if someone already has six lives, or if they have used up six ones? I’ll get around to that shortly. First, let’s mention red lifers and boogeymen).

Red life, and the second chance. Just like in the 3rd life version, there’s these red vines or veins corrupting the player, except this time the player can be healed if they’re gifted a life. This is what that would look like. Like I said, the extra life fills up the empty slot and avoids the scar tissue, sort of like a lighting bulb turning on and then breaking once that life is spent. As for boogeymen,

The red life shines far brighter, and is starting to corrupt. The corruption is not yet deep enough to leave scars when healed, and should simply retract once the boogey is cured. If the boogey is cured. Now. About what I said earlier about that seventh extra life.

I’d reckon there’d just pop up a new one under the red life, and if there were even more they’d just continue down. I doubt there’d ever be an issue where someone would have too many lives to fit all their markings, so I don’t worry too much about that tbh. Oh and one last thing before we move on from last life onto everyone’s favourite romantic comedy drama (which will not happen. Curse 2022 me's positive thinking). I think it’d be kinda cool if the neck scars from 3rd life stays. Simply for angst reasons. Tho, they’d be a lot more faded than the scars from the current season ofc, but they’d still be there. Just enough to remind the players of the past lives’ bitter ends. Of the betrayals and the regret, the guilt and the weariness. Because why not.

(Might update with the other seasons. Hmmm)

[dnangelic]

-Comes out of nowhere with no warning- I've always been really curious about this, but what would Dark think about a place like Penacony's Dreamscape world?

@guhamun

WOAHHH GUERILLA SHI IN MY INBOX alkadk this one actually isn't too difficult to answer but i will disclaim that i haven't played HSR in such a long time and penacony was around where i started falling off, so my HSR lore might be a bit fuzzy. anyways, that aside, one of the most important manga arcs (imo) is baku's (as in a dream eater baku) and their whole thing is veeeery similar aesthetically to penacony's dreamscape in some regards. dark gets a face full of it by surprise at first meeting and here's his reaction

'no good, it's too tacky, what the hell is this?? it’s pissing me off.'

it's somewhat ironic that the phantom thief who's meant to be part 'magician' in occupation finds the more surrealist/light-hearted 'circus' aesthetic gauche, but it's also completely true to his character; he craves class and mature, sensual elegance, he wants confident, grounded subtlety that seductively catches the eye, and not the sort of harsh, las vegas style neon-noise that penacony's filled up to its corners with. between all of the flashing lights and slot machines, the creepy mascots worshipped everywhere, the talking food and walking billboards, the drunkards puking literal rainbows, everything to him is 'too much' and therefore unbearably annoying. to him, it's all forcefully trying to snatch for attention (which he hates!) and fundamentally feels like it's trying to distract from the uglier parts of the city, which are the sorts of places he knows (that as a criminal!) he's going to have to crawl though and thereby witness the absolute worst of. dark is not a gambler or an easy addict, he's not an escapist, (just an escape artist,) he's not even an unjaded innocent --- which is why it's only daisuke who would look at penacony with oblivious wonder and think it was amazing (at least at first,) just like with baku ^ up there.

anyways, back to dark since this was supposed to be mostly about him. he's always the more suspicious and guarded half, but his senses are still good. there'd be a constant deep nausea and malaise that he couldn't shake off (yet couldn't quite name) inside of the dreamscape. for him, something bad is definitely lurking, and not even the quieter rooftops he'd take refuge upon can dispel that feeling. penacony at its base feels hollow and inverted; dark would be sharp enough to realize that he's pretty much a bird in a fishbowl or a fish in a bird cage, penacony itself being a repurposed prison (and a literal portmanteau of 'penalty colony') iirc. the controlling families within it don't bother him, he deals with people like those all the time and has his own pride as a solo thief, but it's hard for him not to feel something else --- just a drop, of pity, a little hollow and apathetic snideness, for the rest of the people wandering about the dreamscape. the ones who wholeheartedly love it, who gave up their real lives to live in a dream, the ones who don't want to face anything and only want to enjoy themselves, the small avoidances that can so easily turn into deeper problems. to quote his watching everyone during insomnia arc:

'they're gonna live like that forever. i don't know whether that'd be fun or not.' for dark and likewise daisuke, they can always leave a place like penacony as readily as they arrive. the only real 'rule' is that because it's a dream, daisuke's form becomes even more flimsy and 98% of the time he's going to be dark since dark himself is daisuke's dream. dark alone wouldn't want to say any longer than they ever had to in a place like penacony, though--- for him the whole place is just one long eldritch-escher nightmare. it fundamentally offends just about all of his aesthetics and his personal character!!

[stormofbats4224]

This has been sitting in my drafts for a month bc I WAS gonna draw examples (and I’m halfway done with them, so they might still come) but if I leave it I’m Going To Explode

So

LETS TALK ABOUT TEEF

Side note: I’m using design and place ideas from several different continuities for two reasons: I like those versions best, and not all of these bastards are in RiD or Prime.

Other side note: some headcanons were built from reading specific fics, either by roundabout or directly correlated to, and will be credited at the end of the relevant section. Highly recommend them all, tho they are all just straight up porn😅

As it stands, there’s five groups I like to put fang types in (six if you count combined outlier types like Tarn and my Jeep Axle, but we’ll get to that later): Tetrahexan, Velocitronian, Warframe, Rodionite/Dead Ender, and Beast.

These are just where the style is seen most prominently, and most fanged bots from other places fall into one of these categories so it didn’t make much sense to split them any further. If there’s any offshoots you’re curious ab, feel free to ask!

Starting off with the smallest group, we’ve got:

Tetrahexan!

The nearly dead warrior race with a single canon representative gets its own type, why? Bc I gave him and my gal Cross Brace really cool teefers, and I think it separates them very nicely from the rest in more ways than one. Double why?

DOUBLE FANGS. AND SELF-SHARPENING.

Double fangs? Like, a set on top and a set on the bottom?

NO

Four true fangs on top, none on the bottom, made for the sole purpose of ripping through heavy armor with brute force. All four are thick and slightly hooked to better do their job, and so well sunk into a bot’s “gums” that it’s more likely to tear their own helm off than break one.

Thinking comparatively on the self sharpening, the other types of fangs are like needles or swords —needing some kind of outside source to keep them from going dull— but Tetrahexans have their own built-in sharpeners attached to their lower jaw.

Depending on the bot, it can either be a set of false lower canines that sit neatly between the front and the back fangs when the mouth is closed (Cyclonus, his false fangs are decently worn and curved outward a bit), or a set of indents that the teeth rest in like a knife block (Cross Brace, she’s absolutely terrible at not getting her lip stuck between her teeth and the slot). Both sharpen the fangs naturally as the bots open and close their mouths.

Like I said, there’s really only Cyc and CB to use as examples, but it works out bc they have the two different types split between them.

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/54813724">Listen, they deserve a ridiculous amount of Teeth</a>

Moving on, we’ve got:

Velocitronian!

Bc I believe the zoom zoom bastards deserve them, as a treat. Also bc KO exists. He will be lending his service to us today alongside my lovely, spindly asshole, Coast.

The main thing that sets Velocitronians apart is they are what we would consider the baseline. They’re your average two on top, two on the bottom set that most would assume when thinking of fangs. Except that they’re really, really fucking sharp, and the rest of their teeth are basically just incisors, making their whole mouth like one of those guillotine paper cutters.

If guillotine cutters were made to chomp through as much thin plating and tubing as fast and clean as physically possible, which they Are Not, but these bastards are!

The fangs themselves are catlike, fitting together like scissors, and about average as far as fragility goes. Their purpose is simple: take as big a chunk off in as little time as possible without sacrificing momentum.

While most speedsters are built to be light, they’re also made to be aerodynamic and even, most importantly. Chomping off even a little too much from a competitor has the chance to give someone an edge, and while it’s technically not a legal move in racing circuits, you’d be hard pressed to find a bot that doesn’t do that shit.

Knock Out, unsurprisingly, is the textbook for Velocitronian fangs, well-maintained, sharp to the touch, and neat; my little whack job Coast, on the other hand, is all the way on the other end of the spectrum: crooked, chipped, and she doesn’t care as long as they’re sharp.

Moving away from city categories, we have a build type instead:

Warframes!

You love ‘em, I love ‘em, they’re great for size differences, and who better to use than THE Warframe, Megatron? Also, Blitzwing is here because this hc is ENTIRELY his fault.

Unlike Tetrahexans and their cannibal rumors (they weren’t), or the measures Dead End Rodions turn to for survival (more on that later), Warframes are actual bot-eaters. Or, at the very least, they’re designed for it.

Paired with a tank system that can break down just about anything and convert it into fuel and frame repair, Warframes have teeth that are built to kickstart the process.

Like molars mixed with sharp gears, Warframe teeth crush without care and interlock neatly for maximum crunch and proper mouth fit. Their teeth sacrifice sharpness, but it doesn’t really matter in the end when even the strongest plates crumple under the highest psi and thickest teeth of any other fang type (teeth tend to make up almost or more than half of a Warframes mouth).

While Megatron was the textbook average for Warframe fangs at the height of the war, years of getting his aft beat ended up warping his helm just enough that they never quite sat right, and after the war he ended up getting the edges flattened down to a less intimidating shape, though they’re no less dangerous.

Blitzwing, on the other hand…

Blitzwings teeth are just weird. The front’s fine, there’s nothing wrong there, but where the molars would be on a normal set, his teeth move. They’re set on a short track that churns them backwards like tank treads, adding to the level of rip-crush-tear he’s capable of.

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24332080?view_adult=true">The Inspiration</a>

Shifting back to cities, we’ve got:

Rodionites!

Plus their Dead End counterparts! Bc this is the best example of circumstance changing the fangs use. Drift was obviously first pick for examples, and Sweeper ended up tagging along bc I wanted more lore to give him.

By far, Rodionite fangs are the weakest type one can have. They’re long, thin, and shallow-set in front of the canine position like vampire teeth, more for show than anything. They tend to be so long, in fact, that it’s not uncommon for fangs to need special pockets in or below the lower gum line to properly fit. Due to their removability, they’re seen as highly customizable frame parts, sort of like body jewelry.

The one thing they are useful for, though, is piercing lines.

I’m sure you can see where this is going.

Dead End Rodionites do what they can to survive, and if it means sometimes siphoning energon from the already deceased (or still alive, depends on the bot) to keep going, it’s a price to pay. Other than that, most will either sell their fangs for a quick shanix, or lose them in any number of ways (fights, deterioration, thieves, what have you) over the course of their functioning.

Drift was one that managed to keep his —abnormally long— fangs from the start, and not even he is quite sure how that happened, considering both his history in the Dead End and the frame rebuilds, but he’s appreciative nonetheless. Sweeper, by contrast, quickly replaced his fangs with a shorter pair. He found long, needly teeth more a pain than anything (plus dust kept getting lodged in the resting holes) and changed them out not long into his first job.

Lastly, we’ve got my personal favorite:

Animal Based!

Not only does this encapsulate beastformers, but also whatever the RiD ‘Cons had going on, and will be explained as such by my beastformer and a RiD ‘Con, Richter and Steeljaw.

The main trait of this category is that it’s far more fluid than the others. If their frame is animal-inspired, their teeth will imitate said animal within reason, and with few exceptions (the exceptions are usually bug based). Their purpose is the same, function changing with the animal, and it’s all around a rather simple category to wrap one’s head around.

With Steeljaw, he’s got the standard teeth that a wolf might have and uses them in a similar fashion, they’re just more compact and human-looking to fit better in his mouth. Likewise with Richter, though his Sabertooth fangs are the ones he uses in alt, and stick all the way front to back through his helm instead of ending in the gum (they’re also technically removable, but leave an uncomfortably large nightmare hole through his head).

The unofficial Mixed category is a group of bots that, for one reason or another, ended up with two or more kinds of teeth in their mouths. Representative species are Tarn, bc I wholeheartedly believe that man would reshape his mouth hole to better imitate Megs (his original Velocitronian-type fangs and Warframe everything else, but it was a little shoddily done, so they don’t lock together properly.), and Axle, who…technically kept their —normal-sized— Rodion teeth, just added Warframe teeth to the mix in an attempt to ensure a meal at the cost of their frames nervous system and a few non-life-sustaining bits and bobs, but they’re fine. Probably.

I wish I could say my reasons for spending so much time on this were warranted, or that the length was reasonable, but no, all this shit came from a late night fic binge and my longstanding fascination with teeth and fangs. If you read this entire thing, know I am extremely appreciative ❤️😅

[blububblgum]

Arya stark: bloodhunter, order of the ghostslayer.

Once again, reasoning in incredible detail under the cut

Ok for arya, i once again wanted to subvert obvious expectations (and play more in the dnd space) so instead of the rogue subclass (with either thief or assassin as her subclass) i settled on bloodhunter for her class. First, to be clear on why not rogue; its not really that different from how she is in the actual world of asoiaf, and if i'm committing to an au then i might as well branch out (the same reasons stand for why not fighter). Bloodhunter is a class that was created by matthew mercer for campaign 2 of critical role, and it is deeply interesting to me (as well as being suited to arya)

Bloodhunters are a martial class that is based around the use of blood magic in order to destroy evils in the world, while resisting giving into the dangerous magic they work with. The subclass that i chose for arya is Ghostslayer, which is "the oldest of the bloodhunter orders" and they focus on everything around death, with an obsession with ridding the world of the undead. While the House of Black and White is not like, focused on ridding the world of undead, it does align well with how she could have come into these powers/fighting style. Beyond the House of Black and White, arya herself has so many personal vendettas that work with the motivations of ghostslayers (especially when you think of the white walkers, though i know she doesn't know about them).

Though ghostslayer (and bloodhunter really) have some magic, it doesn't really give the specific power of changing appearance, and that is kinda crucial to what arya learns in the House of Black and White. So!! In order to make this work, i think dnd arya is not a human (or at least, not a human anymore). Instead she is a shifter, which is descended from a were-creature. The shifter option that suits arya best is swiftstride (which isn't the one that is recommended for werewolves but whatever), since it gives extra movement/increased speed, and matches how arya fights. However, arya still can't change her faces, so this is where feats come in. The Eldritch initiate feat allows one invocation (something that warlocks get as part of their deal) and though arya is definitely not a warlock (though i did think about hexblade for her, i just couldn't figure out what her patron would be), the Mask of many faces invocation allows the character to cast disguise self at will, which works as a dnd take on changing faces. If she were higher level then Master of myriad forms makes more sense (it gives the spell alter self at will, which actually changes the form of the caster, whereas disguise self   is an illusion spell) but i decided to plan her at about 8th level, so whatever lol.

Some bonus thoughts (i know i have already rambled a lot oopsies); her fighting style is either duelling or two-weapon fighting, depending on whether she uses exclusively needle or if she also fights with a dagger. Her crimson rite damage would be cold, as a little nod to her stark side. For her blood maledicts (bonuses that are useful in fighting) i decided on the Blood curse of the Eyeless which lets her temp blind people (fun!) and Blood curse of Binding which reduces peoples speed to zero for a bit (good for just fucking sprinting away). Since i'm thinking of her as 8th level, she can have another feat (which is more interesting than an ability score improvement) and i decided on magic initiate (wizard, since its intelligence based), which gives 2 cantrips (spells that don't require spell slots) and 1 first level spell. For the two cantrips, mage hand and booming blade would give some helpful bonuses to her both in and out of combat. For the one spell, i thought find familiar would be fun! Find familiar doesn't have wolf, but if you just  use cat stats for wolf then that's fine, find familiar is cool cause the caster can look through the eyes of the familiar when they are in range, and they can be summoned in a different form when it is recast. Lastly, i think her stats (highest to lowest) are: dexterity, intelligence, constitution, wisdom, strength, charisma.

Again, if you read all this, thank you!!!! I hope it made sense and lmk ur thoughts.

[hello-there-cyarika]

Hive Trooper Cicada explains helmets :]

After sitting on the floor for far too long I think I've figured this shit out!!!! Everyone please bee nice say hi to my OC Cicada (CT 3301) he's shy about being a model :,)

More info below the cut <3!

First of all, Cicada is technically a Special Ops/Stealth Trooper, so he'd actually have a slightly different style helmet, but for the sake of demonstration he's wearing standard trooper kit!

Fun facts about Cicada: he has two stripes shaved into either side of his hair because ✨fashion✨ and although you can't tell because he's in uniform, both of his hands from just above the wrist are cybernetic prosthetics! (he got got by a baddie with a lightsaber rip) ((betcha can't guess which one))

He's also specially trained in bomb defusal and communication encryption

If you saw my other post about the technicality of hive trooper anatomy and equipment, then you know that he's Milo's batchmate!

LISTEN IF YOU KNOW WHY CICADA'S CT NUMBER IS 3301 YOU'RE MY FAVORITE

anyway

more about helmets

As I said above, the helmet splits into the mask and the shell, and snap together with an airtight seal, including around the antennae bases

How is it perfectly airtight, you ask?

It just is my guy *waves hand in star wars science*

Does the hexagonal pattern on the visor serve any purpose?

Lol nah its just pretty and on brand <3

I mean it could serve a purpose I just don't know what that purpose is... any suggestions lol?

The antennae slots still allow for movement of the antennae, which is very important for the beepers' coordination and proficiency with certain skills

Other than the antennae slots and the separation of the mask and shell (and the cosmetic visor change lol), the helmet's functions are just the same

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE!!!! This is obviously majorly inspired by @mothask and their original design for this type of helmet! Please go give them all the love and support that their work deserves!!

<3 I do not give my consent or my permission for my art to be re-posted or reuploaded on this or any other website <3

[the-dye-stained-socialite]

@fallenlondonficswap @alexis-royce I had a lot of fun writing up this fic for your secret swap!! I also had to trim it for the word limit

Mr Pages takes the Ex-Disgraced Academic out for a night at the theatre. Something is being planned.

Rating: Teen

No Warnings

Word count: 2,016(fic) + 398(oc credits) AO3 Link

It was later than typical when the letter arrived at the door. Mr. Cards had just changed out of its robe, and back into the Ex-Disgraced Academic. They were preparing to work on their Correspondence when it had slid through their mail slot. 

If neither the distinctive seal, nor name, had not indicated the sender, the address would. It was sent from the tower apartments directly above their own. Those which belonged to Mr Pages, Cards' greatest rival. The Academic broke the seal on the overstuffed envelope eagerly. Their good eye flew over the dense verbage contained therein. It posed no challenge to them, and they quickly deciphered the meaning of the letter. It was an invitation to a play. And yet, did the Academic not recall Mahogany Hall being closed that evening? Oh, something clicked. Rumors had been circulating in Bohemian circles for many years about a forbidden play, performed only with explicit permission from Mr. Wines, against direct order from the Ministry of Public Decency. So why would the Master of censorship, the very one who, if rumors were to be believed, tried to stamp this play out at every possibility, decide to take them along?

The best way to find out was to go. They would send confirmation in the morning, but through the night they would prepare for any likely schemes.

~

They agreed to arrive seperatly to avoid being seen together in public. A theatre box far above most was... still public, yes, but easier to mistake features in, or to not notice at all. So when the Academic arrived at their reserved box, Pages was already waiting. At least, they recognized it as Pages as soon as it opened its mouth to wish them an "Enjoyluminating" evening. The loquacious master was not wearing its usual ink-stained robes. It seemed to have even ditched its bandolier of pens and inks. Or, judging on the suspicious way the oversized robe fell, perhaps it was simple under the cloak. The cloak which, based on style and size alone, clearly did not belong to it. In fact, it looked as though it had stolen a spare robe from Mr Apples. It was ill-fitting on the current Master. Pages looked about to burst when the Academic did not immediately ask why it had shunned its typical robe. They took a seat to one side, and then took the bait.

"So, my eloquent acommpanyment, why the change in attire?"

Pages arranged its own chair. "You are possilikely aware of my disgustred for this... play. Thus, you are also aware of my multinumerous attemps to blot it from the history books. As such, the only actors that would perform in it at those with ireverice towards me."

"Ah, so if it were known that is was you... you would be rather unpopular for the night.

"Precisorrectly."

The red curtains raised up, and the audience turned their attentions towards the stage. 

An actor strutted onto the stage. Their costume was composed of deep blue and black feathers, contrasting nicely with hair the color of dark cinnamon. Flickering candles lit the stage. The light danced along the costume's wings to bring the iridescence to life. This was the role of the Raven.

Pages leaned over to whisper to its companion. "Jamie Awnings, a Poet-Laureate who writes the most horrendful poetry. How they were chosen I do not know, but I have had to step in many times to keep their work from the public."

The academic raised an eyebrow. One did not typically become Poet-Laureate while being horredful at the art. 

The actor's talent with words and meter became evident quickly however. The round Raven began to sing an aria, but the words had not matched entirely with the Academic's research. If it weren't for the research, they wouldn't know that any of the words had been changed. They had, however, but it was well keeping with the original intent, and far better suited to the rhythm and rhyme of the piece. 

Pages' attention was rapt and fixated. Pages was also clearly becoming inebriated by the music. Even the Academic was being affected. Still, now was the perfect opportunity to enact their plan. From a hidden pocket of a sleeve, they carefully slipped out a notepad, and a fountain pen preloaded with violant ink. The Academic has chosen their seat strategically, putting their writing side as far from Pages as they could, to hide their work. It was known for forbidding this play, and it was likely to try something tonight. Naturally, they could not be blamed for taking a transcript in shorthand.

The Raven continued their aria, setting the scene to fill in the minimal scenery. Something, however, caught the Academic's notice. Their box provided a good view of the stage, and importantly, the lightest of views into the wings to the side of the stage. The absence of visible stage crew told the steward that there was either a stage crew composed of only the actors, or that what crew there was knew well enough where to avoid walking to be seen. Perhaps both. So when someone in the Ministry uniform nearly stumbled onto stage partway through the song, it was an immediate tip off. Something was indeed going on behind scenes, something Pages had been planning. The rest of the song was performed without a hitch however. In fact, the Official seemed to be avoiding messing anything up as much as possible. Shouldn't he be trying to stop things? Still, perhaps the Academic's plans were compatible with Pages'. The music was working in their favor. It would addle the Curator's thinking, making it less likely to notice the gentle, soft scratching of pen on paper. They were a minute or so behind, but the Raven's personality had imprinted the details onto their mind quite nicely. It would make reconstruction easier later. A new character enters, their costume black and ragged. Tattered strips of cloth are woven into the spokes of their chair, and a shredded train follows behind them. Their stubble and bun were both intentionally left messy and unkempt. The overall effect was reminiscent of a wedding dress that has been dashed upon the zhoreline. A sense of love-sick duty weighed them down. The Messenger's sadness laid like Lacre on the stage. The Raven had been bragging about their singing not a moment ago, but as the raggedy Messenger approached, Raven deferred to the song of the Messenger. Pages scoffed. "That one has never been fond of me, always mooning for another. They have... circumvented my plans on multiple occasions." ~ The scene changed, with no sign of interference. ~ The play progressed, with no one noticing what had transpired, save one. Pages continued to interject comments at odd moments. The Academic continued to respond as well as they could while paying attention to the play and writing it all down. Suffice to say that it was rather difficult, and there were many unfortunate moments lost to Pages’ chattering. They wondered if it was deliberate, but that would require it to know what the Academic was hiding.

The Messenger, now played by a tall actress with manicured facial hair and a tattered groom’s suit, was holding council with the Owls. The Principal Owl had pale, tawny feathers that stood out from his dark brown skin. His head covering had baubles and trinkets that made a light sound as he trembled with fear.

Pages seemed particularly incensed by this scene.

“What do you do among my spires?” questioned the Messenger.

“Why, great master, we watch, we wait, we consume” he responded. “You watch, and wait, and consume, you say. And yet, is there not one who will consume you as prey?” On cue, another Owl stalks out from the shadows.Their hair is stark as fresh blood, the beak of the mask sharp. Their cane makes little noise as it lurks around the others. Their large feather tufts reveal their true nature. They are a Great Horned Owl Hunter. “Great Master, protect us so we will be free from their shrieks always, and we will serve you loyally the rest of our days!” She adjusts uncomfortably. There are many beats of conflicted silence, until she speaks again with a sigh “oh, were it only my unfettered choice. But alas, I owe them their hunts and the joys of their voice.” She left, and the Owls were left alone with the Hunter, who grinned behind their mask. Most of the actors were on stage at this point, distracted by the hunt. Another enforcer! Behind the curtains, nearly tripping on something, and carrying a large stack of papers. The Academic could not get a closer look however, for when they tried to shift closer, an ink-stained talon came to rest on their thigh. The intermission began, the curtain smothering any other chance. With its other hand, the Master made a sweeping gesture to the stage. Ice blue eyes turned towards their box from across the auditorium. Wines, who had bribed the Ministry to allow the play for the night. Their attention snapped back to Pages. “-these actors perform this play as an act of rebellion against me. They revel in this illegalbidden display. It is done to spite me, and undermine my authority”. It spat the sentence with less-than-figurative venom. “I will ensure they acknowledge my position as Paramost Poet and Auteur. And you” it turned towards them with luminescent eyes. They slid their writing out of sight. “You shall bow as well, Mr. Cards”. Was the blood rising to their face from anger? Or from the darker, more intense emotions that often defined the two of them. Those emotions had become so entangled of late. The Academic had been thinking of a clever retort when the brief intermission ended. With a personality that filled the stage and beyond, the Phoenix would not permit distraction from their soliloquy. The reflection of candle flames danced across their round lenses. Instead of the Phoenix's typical dress, this one opted for a tuxedo with the train of a peacock and the color of their fiery hair. “I am so very tired of flames, I will drown myself in snow and emerge in perfect serenity. Or not at all”. “What’s that? You have no more use for flame?” the Messenger reappeared and rolled towards the Phoenix. The scene went without hindrance. Even the final ‘immolation’ of the Phoenix in ice went as planned. It aroused the Academic’s suspicions. ~ When his cane made contact with the stage, it cracked like thunder, and reverberated against the proscenium arch. The gray streaks of his bright hair conjured to mind the storm clouds of the surface. His expression held little pity for the Messenger. Though she was taller by far, her presence was miniscule next to the Dragon. “You again,” she whimpered. “Yes. I remain the servant of you Master, as must you. He awaits the delivery.” “Do not! I beg you, do not! He cannot hear the message yet, he cannot hear what i have to say!” her voice turned frantic, fervent. The Dragon’s voice had little care. “You have a little time yet. Should this place fall, two will remain”. The booming of his cane grew distant as he left. She fell to her knees with a wail. ~

The play ended as it always must, message undelivered, crimes judged, and with Time devoured. The curtain fell, and then rose again for the final applause. “So, why did you invite me to see this play? Should you not have stopped it?” Pages stood to loom over them. It swayed slightly. “Have I not already stopped it? It would be rather difficult to perform without a script!” “The cast could perform-” “Oh certainly! Alone in their cells of New Newgate!” With gritted teeth, the academic stormed off. ~ They found Mr. Wines, and with pulled string, favours, and promises, convinced it to stop the Neddy Men from making arrests. The scripts however, were still missing. ~ Weeks later, new scripts of the Seventh Letter entered circulation. Lines and music had to be reconstructed from memory and missing gaps, but it was rather accurate. Most importantly though, Mr. Pages had not managed a score over Mr. Cards. ~~~~ OC CREDITS.

CURTAIN RISES. The last to ENTER is the PRINCIPAL OWL, with the MINOR OWLS FLOCKING behind him. He has dark brown skin, and near-black hair. He is still wearing his head covering. He is short and slight. He is The Theological Caregiver, created by @moonstruck-stormy. He bows with pride, then MOVES STAGE RIGHT.

The HUNTER ENTERS next. A step forward, ready to extend and ki- a pause. They had forgotten to leave character. A shift, and it is once more Harper Faraday. Light-olive skinned, with spectacles, and hazelnut shell hair. Their cane is light and practical. They were created by @the-insouciant-scientist. They bow, sheepish, MOVE STAGE LEFT. The PRINCIPAL DRAGON ENTERS with the presence of a rumbling Storm. His cane clicks are distinct and pronounced. He hais fair skin, large round glasses, and hair like a cloud rimmed sunset. The PRINCIPAL DRAGON is played by Orsinio Elderwood. He was created by @house-of-mirrors. The MINOR DRAGONS EMERGE from the WINGS to FLANK him. They bow together, then MOVE STAGE RIGHT.

The PHOENIX ENTERS from the East. At first look, they are similar to Orsinio. They share glasses and skin tone and hair color. On second look, they are different. The Partial Performer is taller, and has no cane. They were created by @thedandy-detective. Their bow has been practiced, with calculated flair. They MOVE STAGE LEFT. ENTER the RAVEN. Tonight, he is a stocky actor with russet hair and many freckles. They are short and fair-skinned. This is Poet-Laureate Jamie Awnings, created by @thedeafprophet. He makes a grand, sweeping bow, and MOVES STAGE RIGHT. The two halves of the MESSENGER STEP and ROLL to CENTER STAGE. They clasp hands. The MASCULINE HALF is tall, thin, and pale, with a well maintained mustache and goatee. Her hair is dark and short, and she wears glasses. She is Irving Merritt, created by @the-insouciant-scientist. The FEMININE HALF uses an elegant wheelchair. They have long hair, dark but greying, in a bun. They have stubble, and small glasses. They have fair skin, and are plump. They are Elias Leroux, created by @the-dye-stained-socialite. They bow with much drama. The CAST MOVES towards CENTER STAGE and form a solid line. They JOIN HANDS where possible, and raise them together. They swing forward into a final bow, then slowly raise back up to applause. CURTAIN FALLS.

[hidingoutbackstage]

Okay I’m STILL procrastinating watching s15 bc I’m SCARED so here’s my extremely biased ratings/opinions on the episodes of s14 to help me procrastinate (episodes which are multiple parts of a single story will be condensed into one slot)

Room Zero: SO cute and good, I LOVED the animation style, it was simple and short but really well done with great colors, fun alien designs, and fluid animation, and I just like seeing the guys go on missions like that. It's a shame that the animated show never got picked up bc I would've adored seeing more of it. 10/10

From Stumbled Beginnings: Very cute and funny origin story for Simmons and Grif, and I love that they were p much always together since they enlisted lmao makes their dynamic rlly good and the humor actually got a couple laughs out of me. 8/10

Fifty Shades of Red: Sarge's humor never quite landed with me like is has for some people (my boyfriend lmao I literally have to pause episodes sometimes so he can stop laughing. Anyway) but it was a very humorous and in character origin for him as well. 5/10

Why They’re Here: Less interesting than the previous two, obviously just meant to fill in plot "holes" and to also show us the origins of the other characters. Also I am completely ignoring that one line from Tucker in the interview, just gonna chalk it up to the "edgy" humor it does not exist to me. 4/10

The Brick Gulch Chronicles: WONDERFUL stop motion, very fun and cute and entertaining, very wholesome and still in the vibe with what the show itself is. I appreciate the willingness to do stop motion for most of it. 10/10

Red Army Unit FH57’s Adventure: It was kinda interesting and kinda funny but I found myself kinda tuning it out cuz it just felt kinda whatever. The combo of the different animation styles was cool though and I thought the ship misunderstanding them was funny. 5/10

Locus and Felix: Okay I'm gonna be a black sheep for a second and say that I rlly don't care that much about Locus and Felix. I don't think Felix is a secretly deep sadboi whom I'm gonna spend an unnecessary amount of time thinking about, I don't think Locus as secretly good all along, and I don't care that much about their partnership and what they were like before Chorus. That being said, the animation here is absolutely gorgeous, this is probably my favorite animated story in the whole season, it looks awesome. The plot is nothing special but who cares like I said it's beautiful, 6/10

Fight the Good Fight!: VERY funny and well-executed propaganda video, short and sweet and nothing more to it. It does its job. 5/10

Meta vs. Carolina: Dawn of Awesome: Another one I really don't care for because literally everything leading UP to the fight between Meta and Carolina is a waste of time. Maybe some people really care about their weapons and stats, but I don't. And even then, you kinda know Carolina is gonna win the fight, the question is just how. 4/10

Grey vs. Gray: I don't know or care about the Game Grumps and the entire thing felt like a short gag that went on for way too long with a predictable ending. 2/10

Caboose's Guide to Making Friends: Again, ADORABLE art style and very cute having a story be told from Caboose's perspective. 7/10

Head Cannon: Kinda funny I guess. I wish we'd gotten it spread out more equally among the heads Omega jumped into. Ik he didn't spend equal time in there but who cares. Whatever, still funny. 5/10

Get Bent: I LAUGHED PROBABLY THE HARDEST AT THIS ONE AND THAT'S MOSTLY BC OF LESBIAN DONUT IT CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD AND IT WAS HILARIOUS (also hello, bisexual church?) 9/10

Red vs. Blue: The Musical: it was fine. it was creative. The dancing was well animated. Enjoyable. 5/10

Mr. Red vs. Mr. Blue: I haven't seen Reservoir Dogs but Kaikaina was in this which automatically boosts it to a 8/10 (I also like that they have movie nights it's cute)

RvB Throwdown: Fine but mostly forgettable. 3/10

The Triplets Story: REALLY interesting concept (y'all know I love the freelancers) that felt like it dragged on too long and only gave Ohio something to do. 4/10

Immersion: The Warthog Flip: I loved the costumes and the actual Warthog and it got a couple laughs out of me. 5/10

Red vs. Blue vs. Rooster Teeth: This was made for the fans/themselves. As someone who is neither, none of it was funny and I just kinda waited for it to be over. At least the animation of the armor irl looked rlly good

[codecicle]

Swag, tell me about your BG3 character, I’m curious about what you play !! :D

rubbing my hands together evil style. wampus you have no idea what you've unleashed

this is my bastard son: Samuel Alastine :D he goes by Sam but everyone calls him Sammy ^_^

his personality is like if you combined chip jrwi + sokka atla and made a really sappy fucked up love child. he's such a sarcastic little bitchboy at all times who loves being a bastard and charming his way into and out of situations (the consequences of his actions). he really focuses on the actions of the people and how they treat others as a sign of if he should trust them or not, when asked by Withers the question on how much a single human life was valued i had his answer READY lmao he was instantly responding with "it depends on the person's actions." he definitely has a weak-spot for kids though, he went through a rough childhood, but he doesn't consider it "important" and he trys to keep it as close to his chest as possible.

he's a tiefling sorcerer and i decided to make his sub-race a dragonborn tiefling so he could get the specific type of spells i wanted. i think my plan for progressing him is to focus my general skill-tree to be skewed towards how his personality would fight instead of whats most practical, and for him that definitely means wiping out multiple people in one flashy go with ZERO back-up plans. the amount of times he's had to get one of the other party member to revive him is insane, so he tends to leave that part out of the big flashy tales about his adventures. he loves showing off and bragging so much genuinely again think sokka atla just an absolute loser bastard who tries to take credit in a loving way. he would kill and die for his friends he just shit-talked as beneath him and side characters 5 seconds ago, and if someone else tries to also talk bad about them he's throwing hands and swinging on them in an instant with his whole 8 strength

speaking of which i skewed by skills so badly by putting the free +2 modifier to charisma to give him a 17 bro i coulda blanced his skills a little more and made all of his attacks do more than a grand total average of like. 2. maybe 3 if youre lucky but i DIDNT because im not a COWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!! so now he just flops over if he gets breathed at wrong or is out of spell slots like god intended. but at least he knows how to flirt GODBLESS

also also i definitely think his current party is going to remain his favorite and most trusted for the whole game. he's adventuring with Shadowheart, Wyll, and Astarion right now and they fit him so perfectly its actually insane. he loves how forward thinking Shadowheart is and is willing to follow her, and respects her for keeping her secrets while still letting him make fun of how closed off she is. (realizing now that my playful banter i try to give him might be the romancing options. but like. yeah he would try and do that she would never go for it though.) ((maybe)) and he absolutely adores Wyll's heroicism and looks up to him in a way, full of nothing but respect for how selflessly he acts and how he fights with confidence. he's an especially big fan of how he treats kids, knowing he never would have gotten that same kindness and it was nice to see the cycle be broken and someone make a change. and astarion he just wants to fuck LMAOOOO he loves the conversations they have and while astarion saying "oh yeah btw how do you wanna die when that worm in your brain spreads. like do you want poison or a knife" should normally be offputting thats EXACTLY his kinda humor and flirting. he said knife btw ^_^ purely because at the beginning where astarion jumped him he pinned him to the ground and held a knife to his throat and he really wants that to happen again but you didn't hear that from him. nuh uh.

anyway im having so much fun playing this game fully in character i see why the council did it that way now !! this is so silly goofy and fun i love going "oh wow any normal self respecting person would NOT say that to the random person they just met. i dont want to pick this option but youre not gonna believe this chief, its What My Character Would Do" every 5 fucking minutes for a new dialog this game is awesome im gonna go die in a combat now goodbye [vanishes into the woods] [the camera very clearly shows me hiding behind a tree thats too skinny for my body asking someone off screen if he's gone yet]

[hellomynameisbisexual]

This week, rapper Cardi B had to defend herself from a Twitter user, who accused her of being one of few “[c]elebrities that came out as bisexual but never dated someone of the same gender.” In responding to this charge, Cardi B said she’d been with women before, even revealing that she’d had a girlfriend in high school. But the fact that she had to answer to this charge with details about her life at all speaks to a culture of bisexual erasure online and offline — where claiming any kind of queer identity necessitates performance or disclosure in order to be validated. Billie Eilish is similarly subject to intense scrutiny for possibly being bi — one that is guided by expected norms that doesn’t just undermine her privacy, but further contributes to bisexual erasure by subjecting it to misplaced assumptions. A confluence of celebrity culture, internet culture, and even the history of queer struggles have ended up failing bisexual people — in ways that harms the queer community itself.

Demanding that queer people make their entire dating histories, sex lives, and preferences publicly known is a form of bi erasure — one that an internet culture bent on being vocal about identity has fostered. It implicitly implies a sense of ownership and entitlement that the general public has over bisexual people’s bodies — and joins the ranks of other ways through which bisexual women are commodified, like unicorn hunting. Remember Obama famously admitting to reading Foucault and Virginia Woolf to pick up the “ethereal bisexual”? It’s an innocuous observation but it speaks to not just a vibe that bisexual people are presumed to have, but a gaze they’re subjected to, making them objects of scrutiny and surveillance both within straight and queer communities. And in the age of social media and hypervisibility, it makes coming out as bi messy, fraught, and harmful.

The critique of Cardi B, moreover, sounds a lot like an accusation of queerbaiting, but “…there’s something off about accusing a person of queerbaiting based on how they express themselves publicly,” as The Swaddle noted earlier, about how Harry Styles was accused of queer-baiting. Incidentally, Styles was among the other celebrities called out along with Cardi B for never publicly dating someone of the same gender.

But bisexuality isn’t easily slotted into existing forms of understanding queer culture, as a whole. Contrary to perceptions that bisexual people are “both straight and gay” or are merely “experimenting,” research found that bisexual individuals have a distinct, implicit bisexual identity that’s different from how gay, lesbian, or straight people perceive and identify themselves. This means that Internet culture demanding a certain performance of queerness from queer folk homogenizes very distinct identities under the same umbrella. But Internet culture merely inherited a culture of erasure from what preceded it: a cultural struggle to define queerness and mobilize against pain, marginalization, and harm. While it became necessary to draw clear boundaries, those who complicated those lines remained sidelined not just politically, but also culturally. But this doesn’t just harm bisexual people — it undermines queerness itself.

“Unlike sexuality, that might seem to allow for clear distinctions of categorization, sex remains unruly… Unpacking queer, naming its constitutive parts and the ways these situate us in relation to social harms and privileges means being much more explicit about what, who, and why we do what we do sexually, as a way of investigating how sex functions as a regulatory force, and it means getting way more specific about what behaviors, communities, identities, and politics get subsumed, interrogated, or championed under the banner of queer,” notes gender studies scholar Juana María Rodríguez.

When we interrogate celebrities who’ve publicly already come out as bisexual, we impose sexuality as a regulatory force, demanding that they conform to a set of expected behaviors and rules, or risk being invalidated completely. By extension, anyone else who identifies as bisexual, too, is expected to conform to the same norms.

“Bisexuality is an often invisible identity. Heterosexual and homosexual communities contribute to bisexual erasure, acting in concert to protect a binary system that is complicated and disrupted by the possibility and presence of bisexuality,” notes another analysis on bisexual erasure — not only in mainstream media, but within queer communities too.

Over time, cultural anxieties around sexuality have culminated in a situation where a person is either presumed heterosexual, or homosexual, based on their overt behaviors and signifiers. “Bisexuals in relationships often blend into the sexual orientation dictated by that relationship, rather than retaining their status as bisexuals,” the study had noted. And this is the assumption implicit in social media call-outs of celebrities: if they’ve only been seen dating the “opposite” gender (itself a misnomer), they must be straight — and, of course, lying. But the argument goes the other way too: when celebrities signify queerness, they’re accused of straight-passing, or accessing the privilege of heterosexuality.

Scholars have noted that the insistence on maintaining the heterosexual-homosexual binary in this way is a social construct — if bisexual people aren’t visible, it’s not for a lack of numbers. Kenji Yoshino observed that an “epistemic contract” between people who are straight and gay ensures that sexual orientation remains a stable category, sex is still an axis of identity, and monogamy is upheld. The existence of bisexuality threatens all three assumptions, making its erasure in popular culture one that’s designed to maintain the status quo.

As a result, bisexual people become an easy target for accusations of “fence-sitting” or “duplicity” by straight and gay people, both. “[Q]ueer identity politics has necessarily involved constructing definitions of queer identities whose content is characterized by the reversal of constructions of heterosexuality. While this has facilitated coherence among queers, and an oppositional stance toward heterosexism, it has also had the effect of closing off certain avenues of inquiry into queer sexuality,” notes scholar Stacy Young.

More troublingly, it speaks to a larger culture of disbelief around bisexual people’s experiences — and their own articulation of truth. “In publicly avowing one’s gender identity (or, on my view, their sexual orientation), they are staking a social claim — they are authorizing how they want to be seen and treated in the social domain… it is an ethical matter that bi-identified people and others have the ability to determine and disclose (or not) their sexual orientation. Being denied this constitutes a violation in a morally significant way, insofar as it amounts to a violation of autonomy, and a violation of their ability to determine how their sexuality will be understood in the social realm,” writes Heather Stewart, cutting to the heart of what makes bisexual erasure so harmful.

It not only disavows the truth of what an individual chooses to disclose — it also actively demands a performance that may not conform to their identity, and sacrifices privacy to “prove” the validity of their speech.

[jellyfishvibes]

hi jelly! what's your favourite headcanon about flora?

Oh god i have so many, you will be getting a Flora rant

Ok so love me a classic super nerd Flora, absolute grease monkey that girl, would casually rip off the back of the slate and fix something in there without pausing her sentence, I'd also pin her down as a sewing nerd, not just cause she was the one who made all the champions clothes but cause i think she has like a 3d puzzle brain, and both mechanical problems and clothing construction slot right into that perfectly (i have ideas about all the zelda's being some flavor of fiber art girlys but that's an aside thing)

I also!! love dragon traits!! on Flora!!! which is why i've be hesitating with her redesign cause my brain is struggling to figure out the engineer-draconic design marrying without it getting way too busy

Shes totally got autism, her and Wild got that opposite autism disease, he's strong silent very non verbal and shes a massive chatterbox that cant help herself but explain everything, he's super hands on with everything, can't help himself but touch to figure out what stuff is and shes super squiked out by texture and wears her gloves so she doesn't feel any bad sensations, i imagine she whacked off her hair cause she couldn't stand the feeling of it long but like put up with it because of her father/for the princess image? (also maybe inspired Riju to cut her own hair shorter, i love Riju and Flora being besties) Wild loved braiding her hair as a fidget thing and grew his own out cause he liked hers so much, I think she began to understand why he liked that so much when she cut her own and used her hairstyling knowledge on him, it's way more fun to do it to someone else then to wear those styles all day you know?

If she keeps some form of scales after totk i think she picks at them as a nervous habit (and probably gets multiple slaps on the wrist from Wild to not pull them for research Zelda please-) i also really like the idea of her like, back spike guys? being like fingernails, it that she still has the crystalline spikes back there and so she can still lie down on her back Wild helps her chip them down to like flat crystal discs on her back, they still probably grow and they need to be cut off regularly but she probably has a tonne of the crystal lying around and makes stuff out of it, also the antler horns! (this is not from my love of scott empires rivendell shut up) she keeps the antlers! and they have actual deer antler stuff! like they will just randomly fall off! and they will be super velvety when they regrow! the image of the soft velvet falling away to reveal like glowing holy crystal underneath is a sick af image and also its horrifically gorey looking cause the velvet has alot of blood vessels in it, i dont think its painful? it just looks like a horror movie lmao

I have some stupid ideas around both Wild and Flora having adhd, in the sense that Wild had the inattentive type and Flora the hyperactive type before everything, Wild being a knight spaces out very easily, is terrible with organizing his personal quarters, boredom is a mind killer and find focus on instructions and tasks near impossible, Flora as the princess with the weight of the world on her shoulders struggles with fidgeting and standing still, being impatient and acting out of turn, by 17 she had social rules all but beaten into her and is kind of living in a personally design hell, but after Wild comes out of the Shrine of Resurrection and after Flora wakes up from the 100 years of sealing Ganon and the millennia being a Dragon, they both now have the combined type lmao, being trapped for so long outside of time has made focus for Flora hard and fucked with her attention span, she also now spaces out alot, i think it would also have the exact opposite effect, and she would seek out excitement and desperately avoid boredom and quiet

I also think shes got echolalia! her stims are mainly vocal and she will absently repeat fun phrases she hears, Purah is a terrible person for her to hang out with because of it, she has called Wild 'Linky' without realising multiple times and he doesn't have the heart to tell her About Purah, her and Flora get on like a house on fire and its terrible for everyone around them

I personally love some exploration of botw/totk and the power/wisdom/courage goops, i'd think flora would put alot of research into the blue shiekah energy and canonically she was looking into the malice/gloom, i'd love her looking into the green Zonai energy and the purification chamber that mummydorf was being used as a battery in and the conversion between the 3 goops (i need to stop or i will start ranting about gods and divinity speculation again) all this to bring up the fun images in my head of her using the glowy blue water in like attacks and animations an stuff like Wilds ascend, if you've seen the kda more music video the little glowy finger trails would be cool for her or even like full steam punk mechanical stuff with tubes full of the stuff, considering that the blue stuff stores information and how she uses her own tears as a dragon to store her memories a collaboration with the Zora and Sidon specifically who can control water to make a more robust storage system that cant be destroyed in a calamity style cataclysm would be cool, like Monomon's archives in Hollow Knight if you know of that, you could even crystalize it to be like the Zora history tables?

I really like the idea of Zelda needing like reading glasses? maybe some lingering weirdness from the dragon eyes or she just reads too much, she has a pair of glasses she doesn't wear very often for reading and for looking at small machinery components, maybe some form of prescription goggles made by Purah? I think she probably has needed them for a long time but only actually started using them recently, i think shes a thin wire frame with smaller rectangular ish lenses kinda gal, very perched low on her nose while sitting reading in bed

I'm going to force myself to stop here cause if i don't this will forever sit in my drafts as i think of new things to add to it

[mincedpeaches]

Man.... earthspark 2A episodes post

*shaking Earthspark by the shoulders* I want to like you so bad but you are making it so HARD.

Nothing I have been complaining about has changed, and not only that, the things that make the show the most interesting have been removed.

I am absolutely baffled by with what happened with Ghost. They "disbanded"? And now the Autobots just get all their stuff, no questions asked? And when the Decepticons made their huge super-villain style lair in the timeskip AND then later in this season a huge fuck-off sized transformer bursts from the ground, the collective of humanity and the U.S. military was doing what exactly? Sitting around with their thumbs in their asses? Like okay sure Ghost disbanding - but what is alternative? Because it shouldn't be nothing.

The thing about Ghost was that not only were they handling the transformers "threat" in terms of keeping Decepticons locked up, they were doing PR for the Transformers that were left. Because of that entire war in the 80s. In the previous season, secrecy mattered because dealing with humanity in the form of Ghost was a consequence. Which was interesting. Now the Maltos are the ONLY ONES fighting the baddies. Why?

Like I get it, the kids are the protagonists and we're here to sell toys. But its so BIZARRE when the new framework of the season is operating more like a TFP-style "these kids are the only one that can help because they're the only ones that know" when, hello, all of humanity knows. And what's more, now they (by which I mean other humans) seemingly have NOTHING to say about it. The first episode there's a highway chase with cars whizzing by and when one of the Malto kids deflects one of the baddies, they crash into another baddie, which EXPLODES while pedestrian cars dodge it. Hello. What. The Maltos go to a carnival and the Terrans are just there among humans. Okay. Considering the history of TFs in this show, I would at least think this should be some kind of public spectacle. (Side note, the whole "there was a war in the 80s and the transformers have comics in universe" was already such an off thing that just felt like weird and bad "fan service" in S1, and it feels even more off here where it has even less of an impact to the plot and more of a hindrance to a coherent plot.)

At minimum if they just let Schloder be the kids' "Fowler", where Schloder is their liaison to the U.S. government. SOMETHING. Come on. WHY WAS SCHLODER JUST A CAMEO AT THE CARNIVAL. And then maybe also have the Decepticons NOT in some incredibly obvious looking base that the army could missile strike from the sky. Is all I'm saying. Aforementioned giant transformer comes from the ground and humans understandably interacting with panic and maybe also like. A fighter jet or two whizzing by and taking ineffective pot shots. SOMETHING. Please.

Not to mention the weird side affect this has where since there are no other human groups dealing with TFs, the Malto parents now look inconsistent with any "no kids its too dangerous" bits. Fighting three Deceptions on a freeway? Fine. But a Quint Executioner? Too dangerous.

Also on that topic the Quint lore drop and lack of follow up for episodes on end like WHAT are we doing here Earthspark. Mo just stumbling into the plot not ONCE, but TWICE in the form of these random ass ruins. WHY IS NO ONE INVESTIGATING ANYTHING. THIS IS LIKE THAT DAMN COCAINE BEAR ALL OVER AGAIN. The only thing even semi-interesting with all that was the implication that Quintus might be kind of a dick. I hope they follow up on that, though my hopes are not high...

I'll say the best episode was without a doubt the one where Robbie and Hashtag lose Optimus's trailer. In a show where you have the PRIVILEGE of 20+ episodes a season, these are the kind of fun slot-in-anywhere one offs we should be getting. The second best episode was the carnival episode but ONLY because of the villain. He was giving tfa-villain to me and I loved it. *bangs fist on table* More monsters of week! More villains of the week! More fun one-off episodes!

The third best episode would have been the one with Jawbreaker and Aftermath, EXCEPT for the ending, because IT DIDNT HAVE CONSEQUENCES. Aftermath stole all the cave water, oh no! What will the Terrans do for fuel now? Will the Maltos be reassuring Jawbreaker that his choice to try and befriend Aftermath was the right one, even though it resulted in them not having fuel, and that they will work together as a family to find some alternate solution? No! It never comes up again!

It was the same thing for the one little "character" bit that carries from the first episode to the last: the whole "family comes first" line. In the first episode of the season, Robbie reaches for the ember stone but Twitch says the line family comes first and gives up the stone to save him. Then later in the episode he says the same thing and gives up the stone again. Wouldn't it have had more impact if the first time someone made the selfish choice instead, sees the consequences of that, and then later in the episode choose family? Like you know, they learned something? And then later in the finale of these episodes, it would be a callback to the lesson that Robbie felt he learned in the first episode when Robbie chooses to save Alex, rather than just the Malto's ridiculously on-the-nose family motto being hammered home constantly. I know its for kids, but come on, we love putting in lessons for kids right.

ALSO, not the ending to this batch of episodes being basically the same as the S1 finale 😭(All the OG bots being incapacitated, Robbie and Mo holding the stone and feeling their feelings to save the day.) I'll say too while the idea of the Autobots running their own base and mission while the kids and Terrans are doing their sidestuff sounds good in theory, the way they intersect here with the trident weapon (I forget its name) make the Autobots look like CHUMPS. They lose it so easily.

Speaking of the Autobots doing their own thing. The lack of OG bots. Oh my goddd. The worst its been. Did Bumblebee even have a single significant line. MEGATRON HAD LIKE. SIX LINES AT MOST. PLEASE. I WANT TO BE HEARING HIS BEAUTIFUL SCOTTISH TWANG. SO BADLY. The OG bots should ALSO be getting fun one off episodes! For a balance. (Again I point to the trailer episode.) Bumblebee and Breakdown start fighting once and they don't say a SINGLE word to each other. My heart hurts. Them seemingly not actually hitting each other if you look real close is NOT THE SAME AS CHARACTERS TALKING. rip. (I'm not even gone get into how Megatron is starting to fall into the same pitfalls as mtmte!Megatron. You can deduce my implication there.)

Also on the topic of Breakdown and all the other Decepticons. What HAPPENED. With the nuance. Bruh. Opening the season with Breakdown as a lackey and eager to smash shit. WHY are all these bots following Starscream. It's SUCH a jarring pivot from last season. And then the new Chaos bots were so whatever. They served their purpose. But didn't do anything exciting for me.

Finally, the show didn't even LOOK as good. The Quint Executioner was UGLY AS SIN. Ugh. RIP.

One other positive thing I'll note as a P.S. is that I think I laughed more than any other batch of episodes. Like I don't remember the show being particularly funny in S1. But there were some solid chortles and guffaws here. Some of them might have been more baffled guffaws at the things the shows writing was doing, and some of it might have been that I was watching the episodes while on an airplane with only four hours of sleep. But. Guffaws were had. Like good example the oddball Aftermath and Breakdown father son gag. Out of place and weird but hell if I didn't laugh.

Tl;dr: Much potential from S1 blown away by removing unique plot elements and character development from the first season. Problems from the first season still here, and many of those problems even worse. Earthspark. What happened.

[nondienary]

i saw this post sharing designs of the infinights in GL2 and it inspired me to share my own! enjoy (i guess)

and obligatory spoilery rambling warning because character design makes me so happy

starting off strong with kyborg!

details i enjoy- his blue hairties and gold ear cuff are inspired by the ones he has in the picture on the home page of the stinky dragon wiki. im especially happy with the ear cuff because it turned out way better than i expected.

i also really like the arm (and yes i know he doesnt have the diagem in it anymore but it needed some pizazz! said pizazz made me temporarily hate myself because it used up his 4th face accessory slot but i don't even remember what other face accessory i wanted for him anymore :P)

also his boots. idk why but i like them

his hair!! i went through a bunch of styles and chose this one and i'm glad i did because this is a pretty accurate representation of how i imagine his hair, including the color! his mom was a redhead so ya boi is a strawberry blond (ish)

details i do NOT enjoy- the fact that gl2 doesnt have a hip quiver :( because i had to add the quiver to his back but that took up his second cape slot so he couldnt have his cloak of many fashions. and also even if i could give it to him w the back quiver i would still want a hip quiver because i imagine him with a hip quiver! because you can't do somersaults barrel rolls with a quiver on your back!

anyway

i probably should have made these separate posts but oh well you signed up for rambling and rambling is what you get!

next up: mudd!

loml

details i enjoy: his cloak, i spent ages on it because i was overthinking what to do with his cloak of billowing vs his cloak of the secret garden (?) but i'm very happy with what i settled on

the detail in the undercut drove me crazy because again, characters are limited to 4 cace accessory and i was using one for the runes in the undercut. which i obviously changed but that brought me so much pain and misery /lh

im so happy with how his face, especially his eyes turned out because again, i struggled with them for some time. but now his face is SO perfect. except the lack of sideburns.. maybe something with the side hairs? i keep forgetting that's an option in this game

the little daisy earring. spur of the moment addition, so glad i did it.

details i do NOT enjoy: his outfit :( for all the others i knew what i was going for but with mudd i had no clue other than the cloak. it's based off his puppet outfit because i legitimately couldn't think of what he'd wear. i like the shoes and choice of belt but between this and the sideburns mudd is definitely next in line for a redesign

ok someone who was just redesigned is gum gum!

details i enjoy: his face. that is such a gum gum face. wish i couldve added bigger tusks though. and the lil smudge of dirt on his cheek!!!

silly almost easter egg i added is that each of the colors of the rainbow is in his design at least once because dia's whole thing is rainbows and light and stuff. at first i just had it in the accessories and his whole outfit was blue pretty much but i looked at bart after completing all the accessories and i was like GODDAMMIT he has all the colors. and it's actually incorporated into the outfit AND it looks really good.

the fact that vee and i both designed his hat nearly exactly the same completely independently of each other is so epic.

i originally came up with the shoulder flower while working on mudd but i was like "oh wait gum gum's the flowers guy mudd's the animals guy." and gave it to him instead. and i'm very glad i did it fills in that space in the cloak very well.

speaking of the cloak, i very much enjoy it

things i do NOT enjoy:

honest, nothing comes to mind! maybe it's because he was the most recent to get revamped but its so wonderfully gum gum.

and last, and maybe least in stature but not in much else, bart!

things i enjoy about this design: the little thigh dagger. bart is totally the kind of man to strap a dagger to his thigh instead of just attaching the sheath to the belt like a normal person

i made him VERY visibly part dragonborn because it's honestly hilarious. because gum gum has known bart since he was a baby, he knows bart's just Like that. kyborg hadn't interacted with another person in like 30 years before he met them and mudd had probably never seen a halfling in his life, and even if he had, he wasn't just gonna have his first conversation with the guy be "i don't believe you when you say what race you are." tbh mudd's probably applies to kyborg as well. and bart assumed its just because of the different subraces of halfling. he's a stout halfling, alleve is a lightfoot halfling, no wonder she doesn't look like him!

also the hem of the pants is so fun and piratey and i love it and it's perfect.

i also gave him a crystal resembling his diagem, i haven't decided what's going on with that yet. i didn't give mudd one because no way in hell am i trying to make a ring WITH a diagem in it. how about no :3

things i do NOT enjoy: gl2 doesn't have enough curly hair options, specifically for rear hair. so bart's hair in this is not as accurate in this to my mind's eye as the others. its alright it does look good regardless

and that's all ive got in terms of commentary, please enjoy me talking about my silly little hyperfixation guys. byebye!