#who is also the strongest fusion

[solarjaya]

Halilintar : My taste in men is the one who wear gold-

Taufan, turn to Beliung : Is this enough gold yet?

Halilintar : My taste in men is the one who is strong-

Thorn, turn to Rimba : Am I strong enough now?

Halilintar :

Halilintar : Can you defeat Gempa or Solar?

[such-scary]

I got 5/10 right 😭

Hey everyone! I made a "fun" "game" to torture my friends with! Which is weird because surely everyone knows what Goku looks like? Should be pretty simple?

Reviews:

"got i think one question in and went Ah fuck. SHIT"

"what do you mean one of them is actually called gohanks i thought that was a joke"

"THIS IS NOT OKAY"

[flawseer]

Your thoughts on the wof characters have been really interesting and I'd love to hear your take on Starflight (your assignment of him being the 'designated sufferer' of arc one is both hilarious and tragically accurate). I've always liked him, cowardly though he is he still acts when he really needs to and the dynamic between him and Tsunami is super fun (the whole outwardly combative but inwardly just wishing to be as strong/as smart as the other).

I like Starflight and I relate to him a lot, as a fellow chronic worrier who annoys his friends with constant blathering about stuff only I find interesting, and often finding myself paralyzed in the face of decisions.

It’s funny how the story puts forward a black dragon, which in media are usually portrayed as mysterious, ambiguously malevolent harbingers of doom, and makes him into this adorable dork.

He’s also the plot’s chew toy, which I am at times less enthusiastic about. Especially when jokes are made at the expense of his misfortune.

Wings of Night and Sea

Starflight’s and Tsunami’s friendship is very engaging because, in a sense, both of them complete each other. For each, emulating the other serves as their last resort when faced with a personal crisis. Whenever Tsunami encounters a situation she cannot overcome with her usual blunt and direct approach, she asks herself how Starflight would resolve the situation. When Starflight becomes overwhelmed and too scared to move, his mind conjures an image of the strongest, bravest, most unstoppable thing he knows, which is Tsunami. Though either would be reluctant to openly admit it to each other, they both rely on each other’s strengths to cover their own weaknesses.

Through this you get the sense that, while their opposite personalities annoy each other to no end—if you locked both of them in a room for three hours, they’d be strangling each other when you open the door again—at their core they have only the deepest respect for each other. It becomes especially apparent when you realize that both of their stories in their respective books have them compare themselves to the other unfavorably.

If these two ever did a DBZ-style fusion dance, the result would likely be one of the most capable and balanced characters in their series.

Starflight's misfortune

CW: Discussion of blindness

One thing I have noticed (and have alluded to a lot in previous posts) is that the plot really likes to kick Starflight in the teeth. His own story arc puts him through the wringer, but he is not even safe in the two arcs past that, where he is largely out of focus. Most of the things that happen to him in arc 1 seem to occur for the sake of the story, but past that... it sometimes feels to me like the world has it in for this guy.

I started writing a list of every bad thing that happens to Starflight over all three arcs, but it got way too long, so now I’m just going to talk about a few select things instead.

One thing that stands out to me is that every other protagonist in arc 1 gets a specific moment. That kind of scene where they enter their tribe’s biome for the first time or connect with a particular part of their culture/physiology, and are overcome with a sudden burst of euphoria or deep resonance with their own nature. Clay gets it when he submerges himself in mud for the first time and then later again when he finds his siblings, Tsunami when she sees and smells the ocean, Glory when she’s in the rainforest and feels the sun, and Sunny when they go through the magic tunnel and end up in the desert. Starflight is the only arc 1 protagonist who doesn’t get a moment like this; when he enters his tribe’s home for the first time it’s a giant craphole that makes him feel upset. It only gets worse from there.

Then there is the big one; the misfortune that happens to him at the end of his book. I struggle to talk about this because... uh... How do I put this?

I opened this post by saying I relate to Starflight on a personal level. I wouldn’t consider myself as studious or well-read as him, so it’s not a direct comparison, but I do like to draw, write and dabble in visual artistry. This is a major part of my life; how I define myself as a person and what I think makes me “me”. The thing about this though is that all of this is tied up into one thing: my sense of sight.

It follows then that what ends up happening to Starflight is the realization of the one thing I fear the most. Thinking about the possibility of losing ones sight is deeply, personally horrifying to me. It messes me up internally just to consider it happening to me.

This, the subject of becoming blind, is a very difficult topic for any story to properly engage with. There are many pitfalls you can fall into and come off as insensitive, or ignorant. The way Wings of Fire deals with this subject is to... well... it doesn’t really. Starflight is blinded and then the story skips over most of his reaction to it because the next POV character gets separated from the group while they sort it out.

In a way, this is a good thing. I don’t know how this series—which often rushes through these really uncomfortable, harrowing events—would be able to show a realistic reaction to this development. Like, losing ones sight would be a horrifying prospect for anyone, but for Starflight especially this completely uproots not only his entire life, but his sense of identity. Everything he likes doing, everything he is and wants to be in life is rendered virtually impossible by this.

Consider who Starflight is. He is a thinker, and a worrier who is always inside his own head. He dreads and fears, he seeks out worst case scenarios, I daresay he is inclined towards pessimism. Whenever his neuroticism gets him too stressed, or emotional, or worried, he has one immediate response: bury his nose in a scroll. When he arrives in a new place, he usually asks where the scrolls are at. When he is under threat of being abducted or attacked, his first instinct is to go grab his scrolls to keep them safe. Like with me and drawing, reading is how he unwinds, how he balances himself. It is what keeps him sane and functional through dealing with adversity (and he's Starflight, so he deals with a lot of adversity).

Then this happens to him, and suddenly the one thing that makes this poor, battered boy happy, the one thing that never hurts him, is taken away forever. If I was in his place, if I learned I was suddenly blind, I would fall apart. I would cry, then scream, then cry AND scream and probably flail around in a panic. Clay would have to hold me down and restrain me so I don’t end up falling off the platform in a frenzied fit. Or worse.

So yeah, I get why the plot had to look away. Seeing this happen to Starflight—him going through this kind of anguish and then sinking into quiet despair as his world crumbles around him—would have been heartbreaking. In the end, we go on Sunny’s solo adventure and when she returns Starflight is already conveniently past the screaming fit phase and has adjusted to his new life circumstances—enough to talk and joke as if nothing happened. He then goes on to dedicate himself to bringing the wonders of literature to other blind dragons, which is a noble goal and good trajectory for his character—even if it’s a bit abrupt and I would have liked to SEE him do that instead of just being told.

Anyway.

This next one isn’t as notable because it doesn’t happen TO him, but I want to point it out to back up my claim that Starflight Ls can and will happen even in story arcs that have very little to do with him. In book 6 Moonwatcher and Darkstalker have a conversation where they discuss the concept of Nightwing powers and how they relate to the moons. The story very pointedly draws attention to the fact that Starflight nearly was born under three full moons and would have become the most powerful Nightwing of his generation if his inept caretakers had not decided to hatch him underground. While I don’t think getting these powers would have been good for Starflight in the long run, it is a bit sad considering he spent most of his childhood thinking he was born wrong because he didn’t have powers, and then Morrowseer further gaslit him about it throughout the arc.

And then we don't talk about what happens in arc 3. I am not the right person to discuss it.

My take on Starflight

I was asked to give my take on the character, so...

I already went into how I think he’s very introspective and prone to worrying. I see him as an introvert, which is something he has in common with Glory, and contrast him with Sunny, Clay, and especially Tsunami. He enjoys reading but also other activities where he gets to use his brain. He likes puzzles; I imagine he got very excited when they had to figure out the murder plot in book 2, or when he caught Blister in a lie. If he had a computer it would be full of adventure and puzzle games, and he’d hog the resident DS to play the Professor Layton series all the time.

When they found the academy, it is implied he teaches a literacy course and gives out writing assignments. That is right up his alley, but I’ve always felt he also has strong math/natural science teacher vibes. There should logically be a numbers class at that school and I can’t imagine any other character who would be more suited to teach it.

If I were asked where I would make changes to his story, I guess I would nix the part where he and Fatespeaker hook up in book 5. I have nothing against their relationship, it’s actually grown a lot on me over time. But I never liked how it started. Starflight gets rejected by Sunny and then immediately hooks up with Fatespeaker. This is really undignified for her because it takes their potentially intriguing romantic relationship and turns her into Starflight’s “rebound chick”. You really need to give yourself some time to move on from your previous attraction; rushing like this creates doomed relationships.

The original story implies that about half a year passes between the end of arc 1 and the start of arc 2. I like to pretend this gap is actually a bit longer, by like 2 or 3 years. It gives the old protagonists a bit more time to settle into the roles they’ll occupy during the next arc, and makes it more plausible to me that they could build and outfit an entire school, write the curriculum, designate roles, etc..

In that time, with things being more calm now, Starflight has opportunity to get lost in his own thoughts again. It turns out, now that the dangers of the war are no longer distracting him, he finds it difficult to cope with his blindness and sinks into a depression.

While this happens, Fatespeaker is there with him. She sees his condition worsening by the day, but refuses to give up on him. She reads to him; they talk, and they bond. Though serious self-searching and hard work, together they manage to pull out of the darkness eventually. This is how their relationship starts, and it’s also how Starflight gets the idea to invent the dragon-equivalent of braille.

Somewhere during that time, I also imagine Glory has Tamarin escorted to Jade Mountain so she can help Starflight adjust to his new situation and learn how to navigate his life without needing to rely on others. Perhaps this is what motivates Tamarin to attend the academy later.

What else is there to say? Hmm...

I think Starflight is really fond of hard candy. Jawbreakers are his favorite especially. Though given how prone to misfortune he is in the story, I’m hesitant to put him in proximity of anything with a name like that.

[silvergreenseraphim]

The significance of Hojo training/testing Sephiroth’s combat ability, as well as Sephiroth’s statement in chapter 1:

….cannot be understated. Hojo does not engage with the other SOLDIERs, not even Hollander’s “second-rate” projects. This means that to test the limits of SOLDIER’s abilities, only Sephiroth would be a worthy candidate.

I am writing a long post on it, but the hint that Sephiroth was indeed Hojo’s favorite lab rat for testing the limits of SOLDIER is a confirmation of ancient fanon, if true.

Zack experiences hints of what Sephiroth was likely raised doing in Crisis Core, when the player chooses to complete quests for Hojo.

These quests include the disposal of monsters in the lab cells, testing combat ability against extremely dangerous specimens, and painful physical enhancement inside Hojo’s famous fusion pod.

(I will go into detail in my other post, but if these hints are intentional, my theory on why Sephiroth has a visceral, violent reaction and immediate willingness to associate the mako-infused humans inside the Nibelheim reactor pods with his own self and creation could end up being bolstered. This would also explain his sudden pain and memory in the Halloween event).

While some of the experiments of Hojo are portrayed as almost funny because of Zack’s light-hearted (but naive) enthusiasm and his unusual level of endurance, there is something disturbing in the implications of how Hojo conducted his research on SOLDIER combat ability. Most likely all on Sephiroth.

”Sephiroth, next test. I want to see your fighting strength when working in a team.”

It becomes more disturbing knowing that there was no consent from a child raised by Shinra to be their strongest warrior and put in the public eye. It’s similar to Deepground, but in this case, the child was somehow told or taught to not speak of the unethical manner in which he was raised.

How did Shinra achieve this so flawlessly? And will Sephiroth find a way to share his experiences with Angeal, who was in a small way, with him in spirit at one time?

[missypanther]

Power levels

I took this video, like I could have taken any other. I simply couldn't disagree more with this list.

I'm not too fond of power scales in shonen or in any kind of superhero work or similar, because I feel that they always end up becoming completely subjective balances of who makes them. But, I suppose, Dandadan is no exception.

Chapter 61.

In all the rankings I see Momo MUCH BELOW what I consider to be Momo's real power. Momo has the potential to alter reality. No, she hasn't reached that power currently, but she has the potential. And although I know that many times Momo is put very low just considering her strength and ignoring her strategy and quick reaction, that doesn't happen with Okarun who only beat Evil Eye because he is smarter than him. Okarun to this day has not shown any hidden potential and is still limited to using the turbo special hit 2 or 3 times. Or, at least, it was like that when he still had them. Evil Eye can use his powers unlimitedly even while inside Jiji's body and the same is true for Jiji himself when Evil Eye gives him control of his powers.

Chapter 173.

On the other hand, the fact that characters like Kinta or Vamola are not positioned at practically the same level is insulting. Yes, they are strong and big, but they are completely dependent on technology. Kinta without the nanoskin is directly a teenager with less skills than average and Vamola is something similar but they take away her armor. There are so many ways to beat them without having to get into a fight… Although Kinta can make incredible things, he was defeated not long ago by a well-placed baseball bat. You don't have to try too hard to knock it out of the game.

If we go to the fights that have been adapted in the anime so far. Momo is the one who wins in these fights or, at the very least, the essential piece to make the fight go in her favor. Let me explain:

Episode 1. Momo and Okarun vs Aliens and Turbogranny. Although Okarun tries to do something, he cannot help Momo. She is able to unlock the powers herself, save herself and Okarun, and dispossess Okarun's body even though the curse is still inside. If the turbo had not used the curse to teleport to the ufo, it would have finished off Okarun without him being able to defend himself.

Episode 2.

Momo and Okarun vs Flatwoods Monster. Again, Okarun tries to contribute something, but the thing is that if it hadn't been for the fact that the seal would have burned Okarun's body, Momo would have won the fight with extreme ease. If anything, we can say that he borrowed a little power from Seiko, as the talisman is what makes the fight end. But Momo's strategy is too good not to give her credit for it.

Episode 4.

Momo and Okarun vs Turbogranny, Earthbound Spirit Crab & Spirits. Obviously, without Okarun's powers it is impossible that they would have left the city unscathed, but Momo could have just let it go in the first place as Seiko suggested. The strategy of the entire combat depends on her, in addition to her powers, they are capable of containing the turbo in fusion mode. She wasn't strong enough to beat her, but she was strong enough to stop her until she broke through Seiko's barrier. Yes, Seiko was also important. But at that point in the fight, Momo not only had to endure a very tough fight, but on top of that she had to carry an unconscious okarun.

Episode 6 & 7.

Momo & Okarun vs Acrobatic Silky. Okarun was the first to be devoured. Although in the second part of the fight he was able to intervene something else and even delivered the final blow to the acrobatic, the rest of the fight depended on the strategy and powers of Momo who, on top of that, was tied up.

Episode 8 & 9.

Momo, Okarun & Aira vs Serpos, Mantis & Nessie. The target was always Okarun. Every time the enemies took advantage it was because Momo was not in the fight or because she made mistakes and got distracted. Errors that serpos take advantage of to use fusions. The final strategy is once again Momo's, her powers are those that destroy the arms of the fused version and she is the one who manages to revive Aira when she is knocked out. It is evident that both Aira and Okarun are necessary for them to win. But they don't succeed until Momo is able to focus and coordinate the entire fight.

[zivazivc]

What kind of nu metal music fits Les's band?

First of all I gotta clarify that I sent this ask myself because I accidentally lost the original through constant editing and drafting. I realize I could just make a regular text post but I'm quirky like that, and a question is a nice little attention grabber for those who are interested.

Anyway...

It's hard to point at one song and say this is their sound, because A: I'm picky, B: the band's style changes over time, and C: I don't know what I'm doing lmao

This answer is very long uhh I don't seem to be able to form short responses, mi scusi 😅

Back at home the brothers' music and then also the first year on the road with Flea the band sounds like the albums Music and especially Grassroots by 311. (Grassroots is such a banger of an album, I listen to it all the time, really recommend.)

Hed's the main influence on the band's sound because he's the main vocalist, songwriter and overall the most invested in the band succeeding (Les's main concern is making ends meet, and Flea is just enjoying the ride lol). At the start Hed and Les have had basically no contact with Rock Trolls so even though they're both more metal/punk than regular rock, their "rock side" is softer at this point. Hed also grew up with hip hop because of his peers so there's a lot of rapping in his lyrics. And he also incorporates reggae into his style a lot because of his favorite uncle, Kymani (one of the guys who live with Ish) who is a Reggae Troll. Hed is pretty much a sponge when it comes to music, much like Floyd. The closest I can come to describing his genre is a fusion of Rap Metal and Reggae Rock which are both already fusion genres jskksdjsk

(The band 311 has two singers and oddly they both sound like Hed and Les to me. SA Martinez (the higher of the two voices) sounds 100%, exactly like how I've imagined Hed's voice in my head. For Les I have a different voice claim because Les's personal style of music is much different from the band, but Nick Hexum (the lead vocalist here) is still in the second place when it comes to voice alone. Imagine my enthusiastic surprise finding voices for both brothers in the same band 😄)

examples from the two albums:

...

While driving around and performing small gigs they come in contact with the alternative and nu metal scene and meet a lot of Rock Trolls (mostly various Metal Trolls) and other mixed trolls, and in the following couple of years their sound gradually becomes heavier (Hed rediscovers screamo lol) and they go from rock to metal.

A year into their "touring" is also around the time Hed meets and starts dating Liv and gets her to join the band. Liv's genre has the heaviest sound of all of them (Industrial/EBM), which influences Hed and the band too. And with Liv on the drums, Hed takes over DJ-ing and is also able to put more focus on the vocals, which also makes Les step down and only sing backing vocals with the rest of the band if needed.

The band in this era sounds like the album Revolution by Insolence and to some degree Introduction to Mayhem by Primer 55.

examples from the albums:

...

Two years into the bands existence is when Floyd runs into them. At first he's more just standing there, observing their practices and performances warily, because he's had bad experiences with Rock Trolls in his one year alone and metal music still kinda freaks him out at this point. But he soon starts joining in in melodic parts and then it progresses into him singing longer and longer segments because he has the strongest vocals of everyone. And once he saves enough of his earnings for a guitar he starts playing the rhythm guitar too. (The guitar he took with him when he left the Troll Tree got stolen before he met the band.)

I guess I should clarify: Flea is the lead guitarist, Les is the bassist, and Liv and Hed switch on the drums and DJ-ing depending on the track. At one point they also get a keyboard.

It's also not that long before Hed and Floyd start actively writing songs together, sharing each others notes, and they start to split the singing parts more evenly. Hed even teaches Floyd screamo techniques, because he thinks Floyd has a great voice for them (He is correct, Floyd has a mean scream 😁).

During this time the band still pretty much sounds like Revolution by Insolence but with more melodic singing parts from Floyd (and screaming/shouting lmao). I think Verge of Umbra is another good band to compare, it sounds more clean and Floydy but still Hedy. (Man, I should write scientific research papers skjdkjf)

↑↑↑ song with the lyrics from the drawing at the top

From here on out I'm a bit unsure how the band's sound develops, but I'm pretty sure Floyd would unintentionally infect them with a mild case of radio friendliness (Pop trolls can't help their in your face nature lmao 😞). So for now I'm stopping here...

This took me days of searching and writing so I would appreciate to hear any thoughts you have if you've come this far and given some of the songs a listen. :)

[autisticsupervillain]

FTF Monthly Matchups!

Ranking: The Beta Trolls from weakest to strongest!

It took me.... a long time to decide how I was going to rank this. I'm going to be ranking each of the Beta Trolls based off of how powerful they are at their strongest. So for characters with multiple forms, that would be whatever their strongest version is. God-Tier Aradia, Ancestral Awakening Vriska, etc. I will usually discuss how strong I think their weaker iterations are when I get to them anyways.

I will be analyzing their Alpha Timeline counterparts specifically, as while we see a lot of doomed timeline counterparts that have reached God-Tier, we aren't really given any context to measure their abilities off of. I will also be completely ignoring feats featured in non-canon works. No Homestuck^2, no Epilogues, no Pesterquest.

Finally, no Sprites. I'll be restricting this to just the Base Beta Trolls. Sprites are fusions between multiple characters and if you want to go down that road, Lord English is a fusion involving Gamzee and Equius, so......

The criteria is as follows. The characters ranked highest are those who could most consistently defeat everyone ranked below them in a one-on-one fight with no outside interference. This does not necessitate that they can kill everyone ranked below them. If character A can incapacitate Character B but has no way to finish them off, that still counts as a win. This is to keep the immortal characters from winning by default against everyone who can't kill them. Not that they strictly need that boon to rank fairly high regardless.

With all that out of the way, let's begin.

12. Karkat Vantas

Yeah, you all probably knew this was coming. Despite being one of the best characters by a mile, there's just nowhere that the crabby friendleader can reliably place on this list higher than dead last.

Now, in his defense, Karkat's a very strong fighter in his own right. Despite being an ordinary mortal for the entire story, Karkat survives the longest out of nearly anyone in the entire main cast without dying once, only finally getting put down in Game Over by Jane and Gamzee respectively. That's nothing to sneeze at. He's a survivor for sure, but his strengths simply aren't suited to a one on one fight.

Positives first, Karkat's ability to unify his team was instrumental in ensuring they all survived long enough to beat the game, successfully keeping them all from killing each other even in dire circumstances until the dire straights hit critical mass. He also has a unique counter to probability manipulation. His luck is so terrible that it is able to counter out an opponent's good luck abilities, allowing him to fight opponents like Clover who are literally untouchable due to their sheer superhuman luck.

Besides that.... he doesn't have much. A lot of Karkat's best arguable showings come from things his friends would already having going for them by default. Surviving crash landing to Alternia in a meteor? Battling against the armies of Derse? Fighting against the Black King? All things other members of his team participated in to degrees to esceed him.

Karkat is a Blood Player. He's built to maintain friendships. His most impressive showings are him talking people down from fighting him by befriending them. But since Karkat already is/was friends with most of these people to begin with.... that doesn't really help him here. If one of your most notable skills combat wise is how much your luck sucks.... that's not a good look.

Given all the shit he's gone through, Karkat is genuinely a good fighter in his own right. Just not when compared to everyone else on his contacts list.

Maybe Karkat can just seduce them. Everyone loves flirting with this little shit.

11. Tavros Nitram

You might be surprised that Tav isn't in last place here, but I think this toreador has more going for him than meets the eye.

I've already covered Tavros vs Karkat as a matchup in more detail in its own post, so I'll be brief here. While Karkat is remarkably dexterous and nimble in his own right, he doesn't have a means of countering actual flight, which Tavros has with his rocket wheelchair. Moreover, Tavros has slightly more combat experience owing to his time spent in Fatal Live Action Roleplay. It's just like normal LARPing, but the Players actually try and kill each other. Which is doubly humiliating for Karkat because Tavros can say "I'm a better fighter than you because I'm a LARPer" and technically be right.

But, the thing most heavily carrying Tavros here are his animal communion powers. This telepathic ability allows him to communicate with and control animals and similar creatures, even if they are entire universes away. This ability expands to First Guardians, nigh-omnipotent, reality warping gods, so long as they are also animals in some way.

If Tavros uses this ability to its full extent, he has the potential to beat characters much higher up on this list. The issue is he's not very often going to be in a scenario where he can make the most of it and, even if he is, calling on a First Guardian would be outside help. Besides, it's pretty out of character for him to make a God wish you out of existence.

All that said, it's still pretty funny that Tavros technically has the means to likely solo your favorite universe so long as Bec is lying around somewhere. And even without that, his ability to fly away and sic the whole animal kingdom on you makes him an opponent you'd be loathed to underestimate no matter how you look at it.

10. Nepeta Leijon

Nepeta earns her spot on the list by being demonstratably much stronger and more skilled than either Karkat or Tavros. Unlike those two, who are either relatively bad at or actively dislike having to fight anyone, Nepeta is a proud Apex Predator. She's a huntress who fights the horrible beasts of Alternia for fun and is able to sleep through the vivid nightmares that Trolls get when they try to sleep without sopor slime simply because she views them as thrilling memories of the hunt. Certainly more impressive than glorified deadly LARPing.

Key difference being Tavros is such a sweetheart that he hates fighting, while Nepeta is a sweetheart who happens to deeply love fighting. While Nepeta can't fly, her experience in fighting deadly beasts should make her more than capable of slicing through almost any animal Tavros could through at her, reducing his flight to a stall tactic that drags out the fight more than anything else. Her biggest problem would likely be hesitating to hurt Karkat due to her crush on him.... which would be minor in comparison to his reluctance to hurt her because of his survivor's guilt over her death, so it all balances out.

Notably, she's one of the few characters we see actually being able to stagger her moirail Equius, even knocking him off his feet at one point. Given Equius's complete inability to control his own strength and the sheer ridiculousness of his own feats, that's impressive all on its own. Far moreso than anything Karkat or Tavros could manage.

Nepeta is only held back from placing any higher by her relative lack of screentime compared to everyone else. The fact that Gamzee was able to snap her wrist and kill her offscreen without much effort doesn't help. But for all her shortcomings, Nepeta called herself a mighty huntress for a reason.

9. Equius Zahhak

Here's someone I was going to place a lot higher.

The second half of the Meowrails duo is frequently hyped up as being one of the strongest members on the team and for good reason. This is the same guy who can bend and shape metal bear handed, punch the heads off of giant monsters with ease, and jump into the stratosphere in a single bound. He's even survived getting beaten down by Aradiabot. The same kind of beating that killed Pre God Tier Vriska outright.

Equius combines his freakish strength with a genius technical mind, frequently building and rebuilding training robots for him to spar with. He's the genius the built Aradiabot's body to house Aradia's soul, after all.

Needless to say, he'd handle Karkat and Tavros simultaneously with ease. The question isn't if Equius can beat them, it's if he'd kill them accidentally, as Equius notoriously can't control his strength. Equius frequently breaks people's bones just by touching them and can't properly wield a bow because he accidentally snaps it in half.

As a hoghblood much farther up on the hemopectrum than any of there characters prior, Equius has a lifespan hundreds, if not thousands of years longer than a normal human and he's incredible resistant to psychic influence.

Resistant, but not immune. When Gamzee first prioritized Equius as a target in his rampage, his psychically influenced his mind to make him unwilling to fight back because he knew Equius's strength would provide an issue. Given what Gamzee himself is capable of himself, the fact that he rated Equius highly enough to be cautious in dealing with him speaks highly to the threat Equius can pose.

8. Feferi Piexes

The heiress to troll kind and the future would be Empress, what Feferi lacks in direct feats and screentime, she more than makes up for in scaling. She can haul around whale carcasses under the ocean with ease and replicate Equius's feat of souring high into the atmosphere, hinting that they should be at least at a comparable level. Even the Condescension herself seem to consider her as a viable potential threat to her in line for the throne, as she would've killed Feferi herself by now if Gl'bgolyb wasn't actively protecting her. That's far more billing than Equius ever got. Equius is freakishly strong by the standards of his caste, but the Condescension is one of the strongest of all trolls period.

As the highest troll on the Hemospectrum, Feferi is completely immune to all forms of psychic influence, including those from the Horrorterrors. Gl'bgolyb, whose shouts can drive all of troll kind to extinction across the galaxy, has no negative effect on Feferi. Furthermore, she's biologically immortal. Just like her ancestor before her, she'll live for centuries and still be in her prime. Or rather, she would have if she wasn't cut down before her time.

Luckily, her connection to the Horrorterrors allows her to help her friends even in death, convincing them to build an afterlife for her friends so they don't cease to exist after death.

In a straight fight, I favor her over Equius due to her more impressive accolades and due to the fact that she can actually control her iwn strength. Equius literally can't even use his weapon properly because of his. Even in the event that the caste worshipping Equius would be willing to give his all in a fight with the Heiress, I see Feferi taking it more times than not.

7. Sollux Captor

Sollux is where things really begin ramping up in the feats department. Sollux is where a vast majority of the good feats for the mid-tiers comes from. As the Descendant of the Psiioniic, the most powerful telekinetic in Alternian history, Sollux has inherited an incredible amount of power. The same power that could move spaceships across entire galaxies in hours is his to command.

Sollux can push a meteor the size of a moon into the Furthest Ring at speeds bordering on light. Given the sheer weight of the moon, that would generate kinetic energy equivalent to 0.8 Foe. Nearly as much energy as a supernova!

He can reach across entire universes with this sheer telekinetic might, capable of destroying machines that are in another universe entirely or deflecting meteors that orbit around the Incipisphere, which is roughly 45 million times larger than the universe, traveling at 6 quinvigintillion times light speed.

Source:

In other words, these greasy hacker could more than likely solo most of your favorite universes just off stats alone. To compare to his fellows, Sollux has the unique ability to hear the words of the soon to be dead and he's treated as one of the most freakishly powerful characters on the team in general. He stalemated Eridan during their clash in the game and he's the only member of the team to survive a blast from Eridan's wand during Murderstuck. This puts him directly above Feferi, who was taken out in one hit. Not to mention his ability to telekinetically fly away and spam eye lasers from a distance would easily allow him to snipe Equius and Feferi from a distance before either could do anything to close the gap.

Noteworthy, though is the fact that this blow did still blind him and knock him out. The only reason he survived was because Eridan assumed he was already dead. Which should indicate pretty well who exactly is going to rank right above him.

6. Eridan Ampora

The genocidal seadweller prince arrives to close out the middle half of this ranking. Despite his ambitions of bringing about doomsday for everyone without gills, Eridan does not live up to his own grandeur. Though he's still one of the most dangerous people Alternia has to offer regardless.

Eridan proudly sports the laser canon known as Ahab's Crosshairs, a powerful beam weapon capable of punching holes in building sized monsters and matching blasts with Sollux Captor pound for pound. As the one tasked with killing Lusi to feed Gl'bgolyb, he has plenty of experience using it, even managing to slaughter an entire planet full of angels with it. His real ace in the hole, however, is his wand.

Despite being just a regular stick, Eridan's latent Hope powers empower this tool into a genuine magical artifact, completely capable of making mincemeat out of the rest of his team. He was able to one shot Sollux, Feferi, and Kanaya in quick succession and would've posed a genuine threat to both Vriska and Gamzee afterwards if he'd gotten that far.

Unfortunately, he's kept from placing any higher by his limitations. He's a massive glass cannon without his two major weapons, to the point that he'd likely place far lower on this list if he didn't have them, and he's not nearly as smart as he thinks he is.

Slaughtering all the Angels in his path was something he convinced himself he had to do out of paranoia, turning all of them permanently aggressive against him when they would've been completely friendly otherwise. Not to mention that, before the game, he got curb stomped by Vriska so many times that she got bored of his antics and left him. He makes it to this spot more despite himself than anything, as I consider a few who came before him to be much better at actually fighting.

Even Sollux vs Eridan is a bit more up in the air than it seems. If you throw current Sollux with all the experiences he's had throughout Homestuck into that same situation and he could easily just yank the weapons out of Eridan's hands. But that doesn't change the fact that, in a death match where both were at their best in story, Eridan still explicitly won.

5. Kanaya Maryam

Darling Kanaya brings us into the top five. This chainsaw wielding, zombie fighting fashionesta was a force to be reckoned with already, but upon becoming an undead Rainbow Drinker, she became a one woman army.

Upon resurrecting, the very first thing she did was interrupt the impending three way brawl between Vriska, Gamzee, and Eridan by solidly dunking on all three of them. She decked Vriska hard enough to send her flying, kicked Gamzee in the dick so hard he went soaring into the abyss, and snapped Eridan's wand in half like a twig before carving him clean in half.

As an immortal undead of the day, Kanaya is immune to otherwise lethal sunlight of Alternia and is immortal, continuing on even despite missing her stomach cavity completely. She long as she feeds some multicolored blood, she'll keep going even through otherwise lethal injuries.

I do think a good argument could be made for placing her even higher on this list given the threat she poses to Gamzee. Every hit she's ever landed on the clown has been absolutely devastating. But, there are a few things that hold her back from this in my opinion.

Firstly, we don't really know how the first encounter would've played out had the fight continued. Despite the truly devastating groin attack, Gamzee got right back up and both were raring up ready to continue into round two before Karkat intervened. Secondly, Gamzee still wasn't dead after Kanaya chainsawed him in Game Over. There's no Dead text we see whenever a troll dies, even though Karkat gets that treatment from dying in the lava moments earlier. As such, Kanaya gets vaporized by the Condescension before the fight can continue.

This means that, despite these two clearly being in the same league, they've never really gotten to fight on even ground before. And in that circumstance.... I'd have to favor Gamzee slightly.

Hear me out. While Kanaya is entirely capable of chainsawing him up and leaving him incapacitated like in Game Over, she has no counter against Gamzee’s mind manipulation. Whenever Gamzee has to fight someone who possesses an actual threat to him, he resorts to either mind manipulation or emotional manipulation. See Equius and Terezi for example. And given their history, Gamzee would absolutely see her as a massive threat. So, more likely than not, he'd mind control her in a similar vein to Equius in order to avoid that issue entirely.

That said, she's still and absolutely massive threat to him and the amount of characters who can actually force Gamzee to take them that seriously are few and far between.

4. Vriska Serket

Vriska Serket. The myth, the 8itch, the legend has climbed her way to the top, much to no one's suprise. I agonized a lot over where I wanted to order these next three characters and it might suprise a lot of people to see her put this low relatively speaking. But, rest assured, the Spider Pirate Queen will be getting her dues.

Vriska is one of the most experienced, versatile, and ruthless characters on this entire list. With a body count in the thousands before the story even starts, Vriska is cruel, brutal, and vindictive when provoked, be that mind controlling you to jump off a cliff or mind controlling your boyfriend to vaporize you utterly. As a Thief of Light, Vriska has a knack for lore finding and a tendency for luck. Her passive ability to steal and manipulate luck to her favor amplifies her fighting style, allowing her to use her dicekind for anything from putting you to sleep to decapitating you with a guillotine. Her going God-Tier only amplifies this further while giving her a healthy dose of immortality.

As a literally God, Vriska gains the ability to fly and is gifted with complete immortality. So long as she doesn't die in a way the game deems heroic or just, Vriska will be resurrected from virtually any kind of death. Some God-Tiers have resurrected even as reality was collapsing about their heads even.

But, even this is far from Vriska's full strength. If she so chooses, she could land a perfect roll with her dice and tao into her Ancestral Awakening form. With this strength, she can even match the power of a First Guardian infused Bec Noir, who could singlehandedly destroy universe.

Of note, universes in Homestuck are in all actuality composed of infinite timelines and infinite iterations of themselves, making them functionally infinite multiverses. And while Vriska ultimately died in the timeline this fight happened in, she went down as an even match against Jack.

The only thing keeping her from placing any higher on this list is her own shortcomings and weaknesses. Namely, her massive ego, which singlehandedly got all of her friends killed when she went to battle Bec Noir. For all of her claims of having "all the irons in the fire" her idea of a plan is usually to just use her powers to cheat. Certainly not a bad strategy, her body count speaks for itself, but Terezi is moreso the tactician of their duo than her. Vriska is not the master manipulator she fancies herself as and her deep seated vulnerability has been used against her on occasion.

Such as when, uh.... she was groomed into a romantic relationship by Meenah. Meenah was 19... and Vriska was 13. That's a college student and a middle schooler...

Vriska refuses to acknowledge this more vulnerable part of herself even exists most of the time, frequently grappling with the guilt and lack their of that she feels for her actions. Truth be told, she struggles to admit to herself that she doesn't actually want to be a bloodthirsty killer like her glorious ancestor. And against the following two in particular, that's a very glaring vulnerability to have.

3. Gamzee Makara

You can't the clown down. Or out of the top 3 for that matter.

It suprised me to consider that Gamzee could be considered to be in the same weight class as Ancestral Awakening Vriska, but it was while researching these characters again that I discovered something interesting. Recall Karkat's retelling of the fight against the Black King. Specifically, the part where he notes that Gamzee did more damage to the King in one attack than everyone else on the team could manage at the time.

Including Vriska, who we know for a fact used her Ancestral Awakening ability during that fight.

Combine this with the fact that Gamzee has canonically soloed everyone else on this kist by himself in at least one alternate timeline and it's safe to say we know why he ranked this high.

The biggest issue with ranking Gamzee is that he cannot die. Ever.

There is not a single timeline in the Homestuck multiverse where Gamzee Makara has ever died. No one on this list can kill him.

He's survived getting sucked into a planet sized black hole, endured a brutal beatdown from Caliborn, who himself tanked a solar system sized black hole, and has been craved clean in half and melted in lava. It did not kill him. Gamzee has literally plot armor ensuring he cannot die.

This plays nicely into his Rage powers, ensuring he gets stronger the angrier he gets. Sooner or later, he will be strong enough to kill you in turn as you fail to kill him.

Gamzee combines all of this with a frightfully efficient tactical mind. He's very good at using his mind powers in subtle ways to get his opponent to do what he wants. Convincing Terezi of Vriska's guilt while building up to their confrontation, negating Equius to keep him from fighting back, and influencing John's entire life throughout his childhood with nightmares, having him vandalize his own room in ways he couldn't even perceive.

Gamzee uses this to be as emotionally devastating to his foes as possible, playing on Terezi's grief following her killing of Vriska to trap her in an abusive relationship and keep her ineffectual, even leveraging their relationship at the crucial moment of the Game Over timeline to reduce her to tears.... before suplexing her through a bridge.

Combine this emotional ruthlessness with Vriska's weaknesses discussed above. Vriska is not a match for Gamzee in a battle of telepathy. While Vriska can at best put humans to sleep, Gamzee can manipulate them for their entire childhoods without them ever knowing. This is amplified by Gamzee’s telepathy specifically targeting emotional vulnerabilities like traumas and fears, as Vriska has a basket full of those that she refuses to acknowledge. Simply put, the immortal clown is almost perfectly equipped to take her down.

This may seem strange. Vriska is usually identified as a key component in keeping the Retcon timeline on track and keeping Gamzee from being a legitimate threat, right?

Well, the credit there can go moreso to our next contender....

2. Terezi Pyrope

Despite being the only ordinary mortal remaining on the front lines by the time of Act 7, Terezi is by far one of the most capable in the entire cast.

Above all, Terezi arguably is the best strategist of anyone here. For as much as Karkat postured about being the leader, Terezi and Aradia were really the ones calling the shots tactically. Terezi's plans can frequently span entire timelines and all of them almost always go up her way. Exploiting the Queen's hatred of frogs to keep her from transforming, manipulating John to his death so that Dave could travel back to become Davesprite, giving John detailed instructions on how to undo the Game Over timeline, and even manipulating the nigh-omniscient Doc Scratch into doing her dirty work for her to get back Vriska. Terezi is a consumate Magnificent Bastard and I have read her book.

For as much as Gamzee emotionally devastated her throughout Act 6, Terezi shows full well why he had to focus that much attention on keeping her in check. Because without the grief of personally murdering her best friend/worst enemy/Scourge Sister/girlfriend to save everyone else, Gamzee cannot take Terezi in a straight up fight. She hog ties him down as soon as she catches wind of what's going on together she and Vriska make sure he never sees the outside of a fridge for the next 3 years.

Between shutting Gamzee down completely, helping fight the Condescension on the front lines, and having knocking John on his ass while he was empowered by the Treasure, Terezi really is Hussie's favorite, isn't she? For as much crap as Gamzee and Vriska get for getting away with things they absolutely shouldn't have, Terezi is an ordinary mortal boxing against Gods.

Abilities wise, Terezi's most notable aspects are her precognition, which she uses for maximum effectiveness in her sprawling plans, and her superhuman sense of smell and taste, making up for her blindness by smelling the color of the blood in your veins and tasting your appearance. Not as impressive as some Abilities on here to be sure, but her established scaling alone would give her plenty of ways to muscle through all the competition that came before her.

But, for as much as I hesitated for the prefinal slots, there was only ever one choice for top spot....

1. Aradia Megido

Aradia is the strongest troll in Homestuck and it frankly isn't close.

Even as Aradiabot, she's admitted she could snap God-Tier Vriska's neck with a twitch. As an actual time goddess herself now, Vriska wouldn't stand a chance.

The first thing Aradia did upon being reborn a God-Tier was freeze Bec Noir in time, before making her escape by traveling through the portal in his body in a split second before he could react. This is despite the fact that Bec Noir can travel in the Furthest Ring. Where time does not exist.

Aradia froze time on someone who can move faster than time and then escaped before he could react.

Not only that, but Aradia can freely summon time clones of herself from other points in time, allowing her to overwhelm her enemies with an endless army of herself. These two abilities alone would freely allow her to just.... shut down anyone lower than her on the list. Stop time and dog pile. Easy. Aradia backs this up with tactical ingenuity, having been pulling the strings on her team the entire time to keeping them from dooming the timeline and prevent them from entering no win scenarios. Every situation that someone on this list has been in is a scenario she's examined or been through to make sure nothing goes wrong. She's really only rivaled in the planning department by Terezi.

But, finally, she's the only one on this list who could harm Lord English himself. The invincible demon who was destoying the entire Homestuck cosmology. Not just harming him, but riding him like helpless tamed bull with her whip.

Next to everyone else.... Aradia is just in a league of her own.

[evenmorefatallyobsessed]

Mentally healthy burgundy would be That Bitch(tm). for some reason i imagine her having a british accent. But yeah shed be too powerfull. like even goodwitch would have trouble going against her because how she tends to dominate every place she goes. shes the kind of person that doesnt ask, just states what youll do. its never unreasonable, and understanding, the moment you step out of line because of foul reasonings and the offending party wishes their mother had swallowed them instead

Yeah Ironically of all the fusions I have planned she's up there with the strongest.

Thryha is just insanely powerful but would lose because she's better at spread damage while Burgundy is nimbler, quicker and more precise.

Yara (Yang & Nora) Would be overkill but really what can you do when you piss someone off and they turn into a living breathing clamaity spewing fire and lightening.

Reiss might be able to counter just because Ruby and Weiss as a fusion feels like it would be nearly as harmonious as Thryha but with Weiss's Nimblness and Semblance to counter and Ruby's speed and ability to break down into petal

Ironically the only fusion stronger without a doubt then her who I had listed also has Pyrrha as a component. And that'd be Glynda and Pyrrha fused... Wish I had a name for her.

[audreyscribes]

What powers do you think a Child of Hera would have?

Oh man, this question. This is kind of tough since compared to others, a demigod of Hera or Hera in general doesn’t have a very explicit power involved so here we go!

Power of Blessings: Given Hera has shown to give blessings those under her domain or those she favours to, the idea you can people blessings of minor effects or one major blessing as a thing. Like you could give someone a Major Blessing of Protection or several minor blessings; such as minor protection, minor good health, minor stealth, etc.

Power of Curses: It’s pretty much the same thing with Blessing but with curses, given Hera is also known to curse to those who break their vows and those who anger her (i.e. all the women that Zeus has been with) so it stands to say the child of Hera can curse (no not like that). 

Power of Unity: Using the concept of marriage; where you bring two things together in harmony. I wouldn’t say it would be like fusion, as cool as that would be, but it would be more of the mental and spiritual form where the the child of Hera can synergize two entities. Maybe it would be keeping two people together which they will always be connected so you can always find each other, maybe its feeling what the other feels and thinks.  If you really want the power of Unity to be their strongest (sole) ability, I guess they could fuse stuff as Hera did create Argus, the hundred-eyed giant as her servant but it wouldn’t be a permanent creation unless they constantly feed their energy to maintain its lifeforce. If they’re going to attempt it thought, it would be best to use in-animate object then…actual living parts lest they live a real life Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” with the child of Hera facing the responsibility of Dr. Frankenstein of creating Frankenstein's monster.

ANYWAYS-

Ability to talk to Cows/Bovines, Cuckoos, Peacocks: This is pretty self explanatory. They’re all Hera’s sacred animals so the child of Hera can talk to them. Though the only specific one is Peacocks because the peacock is very specific to Hera. Though I would say these animals wouldn’t respond on the same level to the child of Hera, like how horses are to Percy because Poseidon is the God of Horses whilst Hera’s animals are only her sacred animals.

 Minor Power of the Sky/Air: Since Hera is the Queen of the Heavens/Sky, there is a chance the child of Hera can manipulate the air. I wouldn’t say they could control the weather or be able to fly on the same level as a child of Zeus, but just enough to create gusts of wind or float a little, maybe the sky responding to very extreme emotions of the child of Hera. 

Overall, these are the powers I think a child of Hera would have. Whoever feels inspired to use this as a guideline for their OC or story can choose whichever they feel please. Though some of these powers can be very powerful and dangerous which adds to the child of Hera being susceptible to danger to monsters and gods. So choose at your discretion. 

[mysticstronomy]

METHUSELAH STAR IS THE OLDEST STAR IN OUR UNIVERSE??"

Blog#357

Wednesday, December 13th, 2023

Welcome back,

The vast majority of astronomers accept the Big Bang — the theory that the Universe began about 13.8 billion years ago in a fiery cataclysm. However, this idea is not accepted by everyone. Some Big Bang skeptics claim that the Universe is about 6,000 years old, while others claim that the Universe is eternal. Despite their disagreement with each other, they both agree that the theory of the Big Bang is wrong, and one observation they point to is the existence of stars with an estimated age that is older than the Universe itself. If such a star existed, indeed, it would be a death knell for the Big Bang.

HD 140283, more colorfully called the “Methuselah Star,” is most certainly old and is generally accepted to be one of the oldest known stars. A paper published in 2013 estimated its age to be 14.45 billion years old, with an uncertainty of ±0.8 billion years. This is older than the most precise estimate that we have for the age of the Universe, 13.797 ± 0.023 billion years.

While the Methuselah Star is not unique (meaning that there are other stars that are similarly old), it is the oldest star for which the quoted uncertainty is relatively low, and thus it is considered by those individuals who disbelieve the Big Bang as supplying the strongest case against the theory.

Astronomers believe that HD 140283 is old because the star has a very low “metallicity.” Metallicity, for astronomers, is a measure of the percentage of the chemical makeup of a star consisting of elements other than hydrogen and helium.

When the cosmos began, the Universe consisted nearly entirely of hydrogen (75%) and helium (25%), with a tiny trace of heavier elements (~0.01%). (Those percentages reflect the mass content; when simply counting atoms, hydrogen was 92% and helium 8%.) This also was the elemental composition of the earliest stars, which formed perhaps as early as 100 million years after the Big Bang. These stars, which astronomers call Population III stars, were much heavier and brighter than the Sun, and in their hearts, stellar fusion cooked the first types of heavier elements.

Population III stars lived only a few million years before exploding in supernovae, which blasted their heavier elements across the cosmos.

The heavy elements mixed with hydrogen and helium gas, forming Population II stars, and the process repeated itself again, with these later supernovae adding even heavier elements to the cosmos. The result was Population I stars, which have a relatively high composition of heavier elements. Our Sun is a Population I star.

However, the Methuselah Star is a Population II star: a cosmic relic from the very birth of the Universe. It has far less oxygen and iron than, for example, our Sun. Astronomers use a combination of a measurement of the brightness of the star, the observed percentages of non-hydrogen and non-helium elements, and sophisticated models of stellar evolution to determine the star’s age. And, as mentioned previously, in 2013, astronomers estimated an age older than the Universe. So, is this a real problem? Is HD 140283 a death knell for the Big Bang?

Originally published on https://bigthink.com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, December 16th, 2023)

"WHAT'S A DARK STAR??"

[noroi1000]

Beautiful Curse

Geto x fem. Curse reader

Requested on Wattpad

Summary: You're a curse that could be a dragon.You've been living peacefully for years. You didn't have to fight. You didn't kill people.You wanted to live nice and quiet.Until suddenly you met a man who consumed you.And he even gave you a name...

Your life has been very peaceful.

You lived in the forest. Near Mount Fuji. People called you a curse.

Because you were born from negative emotions.

It was true. You were born that way, and you've been living that way for some time now. Since your birth a few years ago.

You can admire how you look sitting by the stream. But you also don't understand what you're doing.

You don't feel hungry, you don't feel thirsty. You don't have to eat or drink. You have nothing to do all the time.

You are a curse, you recently found out that according to people called sorcerers you are a grade 1 curse. You're not the strongest, but those who came to defeat you, there was none who could.

And you didn't want to be aggressive. But if they attacked you, you had to protect yourself from them.

You are a dragon curse... You have a humanoid form. But you can also be a dragon.

Bigger or smaller.

However, as you get bigger, your energy drains faster. And you fall unconscious.

You don't want to be everyone's enemy. You live away from people and you're okay with that. You don't like that you could live among people. You are not a mindless curse.

But you know what your nature is.

According to what you're supposed to be from the start, you're supposed to be a murderer. You are to kill people.

However, you don't remember that you ever killed a man.

You live in a forest where there are no people.

That's why you doubt you've ever killed a man.

You just don't think a man died at your hands.

That's why when you found out that people want to kill all curses at all costs, you started to wonder why...

Why would they kill you if you haven't done anything wrong to anyone?

But basically, you were safe in this desolate place where you now lived.

And now looking at this dark-haired man you see as if this is the end of your life.

Sorcerers are said to travel the world. They were wherever the curse was found.

Your hands trembled as you sensed the aura of hundreds of curses from him... If not thousands of curses...

As a curse you saw so much cursed energy. You were made of cursed energy. But still you had a human body...

But this man's aura was different. Like putting you tiny surrounded by other curses. You, with no way to beat them all.

You'd sooner run out of energy than win.

Does this man have that much intimidating aura? Or maybe it's something else.

"Compared to other curses, you're pretty." He said and you took a step back.

Your thin tail from under your kimono appeared in front of your feet with traditional Japanese sandals.

You looked like this when you were born.

No man has seen you before.

"I thought the curse from the suicide forest in Aokigahara would be different."

"...Who are you..." you murmured softly as the flowers on your kimono changed color to a less colorful one.

"I didn't switch... Geto Suguru. Special grade sorcerer." He bowed slightly with a smile. "Do you have a name?"

You nodded your head to the side.

You didn't have a name...

You were just a curse... Cursed spirit...

Besides, you didn't know how to speak... You felt the pressure of death.

"As I thought, you're not a mindless spirit that's going to try to kill me right away."

You took a step back from him.

"Don't be afraid. I'm not attacking you."

Always that smile of his...

"You are the cursed spirit of Aokigahara. A dragon created from the fusion of a Chinese Jade dragon from the mountains. And also from Japanese. You live on Mount Fuji and in the suicide forest. A curse born from suicides and also from the confessions of people who go here on pilgrimages."

You widened your eyes as you looked at him.

"For now, I want to talk." calmed you down.

But you still took a step back.

The flowers on your kimono are slightly grey. Because you can bring flowers to life or take their lives.

He noticed it.

Because when you're threatened, the floral pattern on your kimono turns grey.

"You're a curse born from the goddess of Mount Fuji, right? Konohanasakuyahime? Goddess of transience and delicacy? That's why you don't attack me. And you have also lived all these years without the interference of sorcerers. You are a cursed spirit that is gentle."

He smiled as he suddenly sat down on the grass a few meters in front of you.

"I really want to talk. Before I take you."

"Take me?" You asked surprised.

"Even if you fight back, as a grade 1 curse you shouldn't be able to handle me. Your skills are unknown. Despite this, you show the ability to bring flowers to life or to destroy them. And you are also a dragon. You look really nice. I do not want to hurt you. I just want to take you."

"Where?!"

"To me. I want a curse like you. Well, you see... I collect curses."

A black hole suddenly appeared in his hand, and another curse hand came out of it, which then suddenly disappeared.

"I am a user of the curse manipulation technique. In theory, I came to take you. However, he doesn't want to hurt you to do that. Could you not try to protect yourself? And just give up?"

You suddenly ran away from him.

But as you were jumping between the trees, he suddenly appeared in front of you, grabbing you by the waist.

"You are very skillful. And I still don't deny that you're a beautiful curse. I promise I won't hurt you. I just want to have you. I won't even use you to fight."

Hitting his leg with your tail, you used your strength to transform into a dragon and fly away.

However, when you were above the trees, you saw him riding a dragon bigger than you.

"I'm impressed. Can you be bigger? Because my dragon is bigger. However, I would prefer you."

You suddenly changed back into your human form, falling to the ground only to leap into the air and try to kick him.

However, the tentacles of the octopus caught you.

You turned into a dragon again, and the floral patterns on your tail sparkled as you tried to strike it.

But before you could, his dragon began to wrap around you, merging you in a spiral.

You wasted a lot of energy. And he was just using his dragon.

Is that a special grade sorcerer?

His hand was suddenly placed on your head and his fingers moved over your delicate scales.

"You are truly wonderful." He said as he tried to be so very gentle with you.

A black ball appeared in his hand and sucked you in. But at the last moment you changed again. Falling out of his dragon's grip.

As a tiny dragon, you crashed into a tree and hid there.

You looked more cute than scary.

You hoped he wouldn't find you.

But at some point you felt your body being lifted.

And you were placed on his lap as he ran his fingers over your back.

You had no wings. You were a Japanese dragon.

And your connection to the jade dragon was small. But still it was.

You felt how gentle he was with your little body as he sat on the branch.

"Just like that. Be calm. You'll be fine," he said. And then you were sucked into that ball again.

It wasn't a pleasant feeling at all.

Because you felt like you died...

A quick and painless death.

His mouth opened for the smaller ball he put into his mouth.

Was expecting a terrible taste.

However, you tasted like cherry blossoms...

His hand was extended so that he could open a small portal. And then you appeared, sitting on his lap as he held your body.

You felt the feeling that you had to obey him, no matter what he ordered you to do.

However, his hands wrapped around your body.

"It wasn't so scary, was it? How am I supposed to call you? You really don't have a name?"

You shake your head, denying him.

"So how about (y/n)?"

You looked at him with sparkles in your eyes.

Did he just give you a normal name?

The tip of your tail wrapped around his knee, which was hanging from the branch.

And your head was laid on his shoulder.

(y/n)? It's a nice name...

And this has been given to you by man...

And you don't want to leave this man. You are bound to it because it has consumed you. However, he showed you tenderness.

[indiestsnake]

I’m gonna try to explain Transcendent power in Grace and Fury, and how it works. Wish me luck lol

So. At some point, Summum says “Sentience is achieved through union into one. Transcendent energy is achieved through peace between two.”

That’s the core of it. The more separate the two fusing beings are, the more powerful. But the more combined they are, the more sane they are. This is why Duality is… uh. You know. And why Edda and Aven are the perfect foe, because they are two fully separate consciousnesses who fight together nonetheless.

Now. The sanity part is not a pure switch, on or off. It is mostly correlation, because… well, gaining a mind is a difficult process. As shown by Aven’s quadruple-stacked self hatred for dark reasons and Edda’s blackouts of light-being rage for light reasons.

Summum is an extremely complicated exception, and I’ve considered retconing some of his backstory, but in short his fusion was so full he was very weak but extremely smart. bro hit the ground in the form of a lil salamander and saw the secrets of the universe

This is why Yin-Yang is… a bit crazy. The light has power over dark, but at the end of the day, they are only one being, and they are terrified and unwilling to accept their dark parts. Also why their beams are so powerful and destructive.

Duality is the second strongest transcendent entity on paper. It’s complicated. In regular form they are two separate minds, even if their bodies are fused, and that gives a massive power buff from having a type of union. But they. Uh. Completely despise each other, and only feel comfortable in their skin when fully transcendent (the green form). Thus, they have convinced each other they’re only one mind, and take extreme offense to any notions to the prior.

Adaptation isn’t that complicated. They a pretty good jack-of-all-trades, not too crazy and not too powerful. They’re shit scared of everything obviously, since they’re literally just a fire wisp and a frost wisp that transcended. But not much else. The defensive systems are just forms it takes, and it is only one mind, it simply channels dark and light based on form.

Quimera I… haven’t thought about much. They’re canonically a mixture of a light spider and dark spider, so I have more to go off of at least. I’ll figure them out eventually.

And of course, Edda and Aven just so happen to be perfectly compatible to fall in love, and therefore achieve union. Thus, becoming the strongest being(s) in existence. Get trashed, TOFA.

Should be all of it. Hopefully. Don’t ask questions I have no answers/silly. But yeah this is pretty cobbled together so apologies if it’s incoherent. Hope you enjoyed :)

[susartwork]

Underwizard alternative timelines:

Like 90% of these are angst timelines and the other 10% are self indulgent ones, sorry not sorry

Pacifist (the original one)

Future (the original but post barrier)

Genocide

Neutrals I don't think we need a list of all of them, do we?

UWU Infection Never add a U to UW. This is a post barrier timeline where a UwU virus spreads terrorizing Ebott's Town. Frisk, as the monster's ambassador, will have a lot of work to do to ensure everyone's safety from the cute virus.

REDress Previously known as the "Amalgamate" timeline, now it was completely rewritten. The families of the amalgamates took revenge on Sans and Alphys, injecting them too with Determination, melting them into amalgams as well...

War Rewind Flowey and Sans mess with the resets, mistakenly send themselves back to the time of the war between humans and monsters. Flowey dies, but Sans, adopting baby Chara to save them from their fate, allows Asriel to survive in the future and become king. Now all humans who fall underground will be treated as friends. This timeline was fairly inspired by Timetale! And also by my chats with @ask-dcf :3

Hopeless Timeline Flowey grows bored, and decides to torture Sans with Save Files and Resets to see how far that would go. The story then starts to take interesting turns as I RP it. This timeline is somewhat important so here's the latest ref sheets: [Hopeless UW!Sans] [Hopeless UW!Frisk] [Hopeless UW!Dwerby] Here's a chrono link to read right from the start! But pls note this.

Underground's Insanity Previously known as the "Hopeless Queen Alphys Timeline" (the name was too long). The genocide (?) version of the Hopeless Timeline. It begins as a Queen Alphys ending, to then take a Horrortale-like turn, with some angsty Salphys who has to face Frisk, the strongest hunter wizard to ever exist.

Playbackwizard Playbacktale x Underwizard Too spoilery to UW's story talk about it now 👀

Helioswizard Heliostale x Underwizard

Something Magical Something New (Killer!Sans) x Underwizard

"What if...? OC" My UTMV outcodes swap backstory with the UW crew: Basic - UW!Sans | Alphysis - UW!Alphys | Clone - UW!Frisk | Quasar - UW!Papyrus & Flowey | Kyria - UW!Undyne

° FANMADE ALTERNATIVE TIMELINES ♡ °

Disbelief UW!Papyrus Disbelief Papyrus x Underwizard

Horrorwizard Horrortale x Underwizard

Axewizard Axetale x Underwizard

Dustwizard Dusttale x Underwizard

All of these above were made by @alittlegreenghost!

Underwizard alternative versions:

Wizardfell Underwizard x Underfell (planned remake)

Wizardswap Underwizard x Underswap (planned remake)

Overbeast All the events of Underwizard but reversed...? Hunter wizards -> beasts (aka monsters with human souls)

UnderWoZArD The crappy version of Underẁ̶̙i̴͈̚z̸̼̾-̴̢̄-̷̨͗ ̶̹̂A̴̺͂L̵̥̽L̶̗͆ ̸̛��H̶̝͛Ä̶͔Ḭ̷͗Ļ̸͝ ̵̛͈W̴̭̚O̴̺̍Z̷̺͝ ̷͕̊T̷̋͜Ḧ̵̨́Ẻ̷̠ ̶͉͑E̸͎͛M̸̮̕P̷͈̍Ḙ̷̎R̵̲̆Ŏ̴̯R̴͇̆

Inversowizard Inversotale x Underwizard

Tartaroswizard Tartarostale x Underwizard

Wizardchess Underwizard x Chesstale Frisk and Flowey are stuck in a endless chess battle to decide the fate of the underground.

Zombieverse A mix of many AUs characters, such as Underwizard, living in a zombie apocalypse

A L I V E x Underwizard Idk what to call it. It's basically the UW crew but with the backstory of the ALIVE crew. Sorta. ALIVE's story is difficult to apply to UW.

Wizardnovela Underwizard x Undernovela

° FANMADE ALTERNATIVE VERSIONS ♡ °

Planet Flash - by @yanair25 Fusion of a series whose name I forgot (sorry) and many other AUs, such as Underwizard

Hopeless UW!Sans x LN (Bucket) - @axmoth Hopeless in Little Nightmares

UW!Aine x LN (Breach) - @parniathedevil Aine in Little Nightmares

XWizard - by @parniathedevil Xtale x Underwizard

Edit: I have deleted some timelines/versions from this masterpost because I don't find them interesting or important.

[wordy-little-witch]

I was minding my own business distracting myself from my brain, just scrolling on reddit looking for Buggy content and I am FROTHING

Screen shots from the reddit post under the cut, then I will be going feral

I'm losing it. I am LOSING my mind. Because if you like. Really think about this, I am. Oh my gods i am spiraling.

Oden, from Wano, who returned to Wano, who served Whitebeard and later Roger, who knew Buggy and knew his powers and could read the poneglyphs and HAD to have known, in some capacity, what Pluton was, where it was, and had Suspicions.

Buggy who fell ill before Raftel, before that final island and had to be left behind due to it, where the greatest treasure laid in wait, where the end of the world is at, surely as it may be -

Shanks, who, by and large, seems to know more than he necessarily SHOULD, who had that secret conversation with Roger that resulted in clinging, in crying, in heartbreak-

We know Poseidon is an ability, is currently in Shirahoshi, and that Luffy, for whatever reason, could hear the Sea Kings- Luffy who is Nika, who is the Sun, who will be King and carries the Will of D in his veins and voice and vivid demeanor.

Luffy has reason to be connected there. Thematically, it makes sense for an old, overarching plot.

But Buggy "could be the strongest if he trained"; Buggy served as a cabin boy on Rogers ship; Buggy is a fool and a fraud and keeps fucking up into success, confusing the hell out if the people who KNOW him; Buggy who has the Chop Chop Fruit, uncuttable and slitable at will, and who also has a CANON history of loving topography and who makes BOMBS-

And Pluton, the most destructive ship in existence, so much so that the blueprints were kept hidden and held carefully to avoid the schematics falling into the wrong hands - and after the 3D2Y movie, after the Groseade, while it may not be canon, it does sort of put things into perspective - especially when you think on how Franky and Iceburg were flabbergasted by the blueprints, were stunned and confused, when Pluton is under Mt Fuji and would need the WALLS REMOVED AND TORN DOWN to be released and retrieved.

And the Groseade needed a Devil Fruit user to BE as dangerous as it is. And Pluton is bigger, badder, stronger.

Not to mention that it's PLUTON - Pluto - Roman God of Death, the same deity in Greek mythology known as Hades, a name so connected thematically with the afterlife that calling the very land itself by the name Hades is understood in some cultures.

And Buggy, sweet Buggy, crazy Buggy who makes an Olympic sport out of narrowly avoiding death and failure and lucks out to comical effects - he's in hello kitty roller skates on a damned tightrope when it cones to that.

((Also, Hades/Pluto is also associated with wealthy (coughBuggycough) and fortune (CoughCoughBUGGYCoughCough), psa))

Now did you know that nuclear energy is fucking. Potent as HELL. And it's generated with nuclear fission, nuclear decay, and nuclear fusion. It's a meticulous process, but it quite literally boils down to Splitting, Breaking Down, and Putting Together Again.

And if Buggy's Devil fruit could awaken, if he could impose those properties on things OUTSIDE of his body, wouldn't that be more than possible? Wouldn't that be completely feasible, with his history in making WEAPONS, in making BOMBS? The chemical knowledge to do that would be wild, the physics and mechanics alone would be absolutely insane.

But Buggy could damn well be the key there.

If he trained, if he developed his skill and control, he could be the strongest - maybe not literally in a one on one battle royale of brute strength, but he could essentially pilot a nuclear reactor of a giga-ship, the likes of which even FRANKY balked at.

I have... so many thoughts rn and I am LOSING it bc AAAAAAAAAAAA

[sepublic]

Again, another Metroid episode pitch; When Samus is infected by an X and is undergoing the life-saving procedure, one of the scientists has the idea to save her with the Metroid vaccine. They of course note that there may be unexpected side-effects, but at this rate, they need Samus and can't ask for her consent either way. So they go through with it, Samus' body initially rejects, but then it stabilizes as the X begin to disappear.

But with all the stuff going in on her body, and Samus' note that she was reborn after the operation? Let's do a psychological fever dream episode, where Samus reflects on her guilt in the worst ways possible.

Poetically, a big part of her dream is being a Metroid; We see 'Samus' hatch from an egg, imprint on her doting Queen mother. The Queen makes sure to feed Samus, absorbing energy from the environment before transferring it to her and other infants.

Eventually, Samus grows old enough to leave on her own. She is accompanied by an older Alpha, who helps protect and guide Samus; She feeds enough to become an Alpha herself, guiding another larva as she herself had been guided.

Samus becomes a Gamma, adjusting to the increased weight and the impact it has on her flight abilities. Then she becomes a Zeta, a bit sad to no longer fly; But the lithe speed and agility she has in this new form! Finally she reaches the Omega stage. Samus accepts a challenge from another Omega Metroid, but in the end it's clear this is not a serious fight, actually; Just play.

Samus is enjoying her life, being a wild animal without any duties or obligations, feasting on whatever life she comes across; She has no fear of starvation, and enjoys the hunt, lying in wait for a nearby prey to pass; This is Samus' enrichment. She is content knowing she is the strongest animal on this planet and cannot be hurt by anything.

And then it appears; The Hunter, a cold and quiet, unfeeling death automaton. Samus has a vicious battle with it, but is left wounded and only forces the Hunter to retreat, for now. Samus heals herself easily, but as she tries fretfully to sleep in a cave, is confronted by an apparition of... Dark Samus. Dark Samus confronts the state she is in, saying aloud the questions Samus, as a conventional Metroid, cannot say: Will she be able to kill the Hunter, or will she be killed? Maybe she wants to be killed???

Dark Samus is here, because Samus is about to become like her; A ‘Humetroid’ hybrid. Samus is facing a doppelganger, both in the dream, and later in real life; Here's the OG. Dark Samus started off as a Metroid who roamed SR388, although she was kidnapped by the Federation before she become an Alpha. Maybe Samus' dream is the life (and death) Prime would've had... Or the life (and death) the Infant would’ve had. Likewise, Prime has already haunted Samus as a ghost and voiced her fears before.

And of course, this foreshadows the SA-X. It's karma in Samus' eyes to be a Metroid slain by it. And her being an Omega alludes to an Omega Metroid being the final boss of Fusion, too! The Metroid dream ends with the Hunter attacking the Queen, only for Samus to take a blow for its mother, who avenges her; A callback to the infant’s death, because maybe it was inevitable. Likewise, the Queen Metroid slaying the Hunter could be Samus’ feelings on what should’ve happened on SR388. And an Omega Metroid proving the undoing of the Hunter, allowing someone with the Queen trait to finish it off, is also foreshadowing.

The dream also has other phases to it; Such as Samus on trial... I did have this idea for a prior 'Ridley trial' episode, where he gets captured by the Federation and is forced to go through due process. The judge is a member of his own species named Racklas, as a reference to this one obscure comic.

Samus is on trial for her genocide of the Metroids and other crimes, like the murder of Rundas, Ghor, and Gandrayda; The destruction of Phaaze and Zebes. The judge, if it's Racklas or someone else, pulls apart the logic behind Samus' defense, acting as Samus' own feelings on the matter. Stuff like "It was self-defense" or "It was euthanasia to keep the galaxy healthy" all that stuff. By that logic, weren’t the Space Pirates justified as performing preemptive euthanasia on humans who might grow into Federation soldiers? Other incidents that bear on Samus’ conscience are also brought up.

The courtroom becomes a dark version of itself as the jury, judge, and audience are replaced by Ing who confront Samus over the fact that she murdered them. If what Samus did was self-defense for the Luminoth, then are the Ing not justified as well, because they were also in the same position: In order for one to live, the other must die, and co-existence will lead to both dying anyway. Why did the Luminoth deserve to live more, why would Samus choose them over the Ing? Because the Ing are ‘monsters’, like the Metroids? We see a Dark Metroid to further reiterate this point.

There's a twisted scene where Ridley is fighting an armored Gray Voice... He's about to die, but then Samus comes to Ridley's defense. She's also clad in Chozo armor, but is killed by Gray Voice. Ridley, who's had the opportunity to fight back, is able to finish off Gray Voice and 'avenge' Samus.

This scene is meant to represent how Samus is starting to reevaluate her relationship with the Infant Metroid; As essentially, what if Ridley had adopted me, and I grew to love and care for him as a parent without once considering or being told what really happened, to my real family. And I even ended up giving my life to save his. It's a twisted reflection of Super Metroid's climax.

Samus had been saved by the Chozo; In this other timeline, she was saved by Space Pirates, perhaps. Given her role as the Infant, it hearkens to how the Space Pirates would've technically 'saved' the Metroids on SR388 had the Infant been left behind; While it was an armored Chozo who left only one survivor. Given how Beyond plays out, we could see a callback to Sylux having a Metroid imprint on him, after 'rescuing' it from the Federation, and a parallel to Samus' relationship with the Infant. A fully-fledged Sylux flashback might happen later in the Fusion arc, after Samus learns of the Metroid breeding program.

Eventually, the fitful and nightmarish dreams end with Samus coming to, tears in her eyes behind the visor; Surgeons trying to calm her down, alert her to the fact that she's about to be very different. Samus calms down a bit, and finally gets the chance to realize her new form, with a strange sense of awe, uncertainty; Not outright terror or panic. Just sort of wondering about this, an apathetic acceptance because she knew deep down, during the dream, what the operation had done. And whatever this is, it might be karma.

[paragonrobits]

an SU thought but one almost constant recurring thing I've heard from literally everyone who watched Steven Universe is that not only do we see Rose Quartz's story in reverse (the seemingly perfect heroine who secretly grappled with a lot of personal self-hatred who was created as a fundamentally destructive being who chose to defy her function), just about every single person initially thought of her as an afterthought, mostly regarding her as a presence towards the cast without much thoughts on her as a person, and we only gradually realize anything about her, and the most stand out example is how its initially not clear just how big she is.

Early episodes make it clear how important Rose was to the cast, and how much they miss her and the grief that has scarred them, but we get very little information on Rose herself. We see that Greg is (at first glance, before we see how emotionally intelligent and kind he is) a wreck destroyed by her death, and we get hints of everyone else, and Steven's own fears about being unable to live up to her legacy, but her legacy is the entirety of her early character.

She's functionally a ghost. We hear things ATTRIBUTED to her; her kindness, her power, that the gems mourn her, but we don't hear much about her, and we specifically never see Rose clearly. We see her painting, and photos of her, but she always has her eyes closed with a gentle, distant smile. She's never looking straight at us, and we never really see her around other characters in a way that would tell us her general look, just hints about it. We hear things she did, and what people think about her, but Rose herself is a complete mystery.

The relevant bit is this; at the time, Garnet is the biggest and strongest Gem, and at the time it wasn't clear that she was a fusion, just a particularly big and strong Gem. She was an absolute powerhouse who singlehandedly was the most overwhelmingly powerful of the Gems, especially at a point when Steven's power was unpredictable and his true nature as a defensive protector had yet to be displayed. Garnet was so big that she visibly struggles to fit into doors, and much like the shadow Rose later casts, her size reflects her significance as the team leader.

Then we see Lion 3, which is the FIRST time the show ever clearly shows Rose at all, has her actually speak and directly address anyone at all. Before this point, we hear opinions and hearsay from others, but never see her speak for herself, and crucially, in comparison to others.

And Rose Quartz is goddamn humongous. In her first true on-screen appearance in a video she made for a son she knew she'd never meet, she is the single largest non-fusion Gem in the show; she's even larger than Garnet, towering over Greg. As big and powerful as Garnet is (And at the time, while it was speculated she was a fusion, it wasn't confirmed until later), Rose is even larger and, we hear very strongly implied, even more powerful than Garnet.

And its interesting that before this point, we never see Rose clearly. In photos and paintings, she is either posed by herself or in a way that her actual stature relative to others is obfuscated, and this is the first time we see her in person, both in personality and size, and this seems relevant.

It's a few episodes later we see Jasper, whom is broadly the same type of gem as Rose (a quartz), and not only is her sheer power a stark reveal that puts Garnet's seemingly limitless power into perspective, and by proxy implies how strong Rose must have been, this also gives us a hint on how powerful Rose was, because a ferocious warrior like Jasper comes to Earth SPECIFICALLY for the chance to fight her; in sudden short order we're given a lot of retrospectively REALLY big hints about Rose's character, after having spent the entirety of the first season as virtually a non-entity that most people barely thought about, and we get a LOT of context for her, REAL FAST.