#writing rocket raccoon

[raccoonfallsharder]

Hi! I just wanted to say I've been reading through Window Across the Galaxy - inching forward but reading it - and the way you write Rocket is so damn good. Though maybe I'm biased to hell and back because that is also exactly how I pictured pre-vol. 1 Rocket, haha.

The switching perspectives offer so much. I love how much they are misunderstanding each other.

Your work is inspiring me to want to work on my own wip OC fic. I've only just finished reading chapter 2 but I'm so hooked on Jolie and Rocket's tale. I love all these little snippets we get about her and her career as an artist/appraiser/restorer is so interesting.

A few questions, I know there are a lot of little references to the comics here and there, some I recognize from my own forays into reading those, and when I don't, I look it up because honestly, you add so much flavor and life to the worlds you write that I feel the need to know more. For the stuff that isn't a reference or at least a direct reference (as in a product from a known planet), how do you decide on names and other specifics? I personally long to do that in my writing but struggle with thinking things sound believable.

My other question is do you have any tips for writing Rocket? I know technically he hasn't said anything yet where I am in the story - semantics really, lol - but even through his thought process it sounds so much like him.

friend. sunshine. dewdrop. every time i see a comment or message or ask from you, i get giddy as a six-month-old puppy. you are SO kind and generous and I appreciate your words & support SO much

i’m gonna (try to) answer your questions behind the cut because I am a wordy bitch. also these questions are hard because i don’t often think about HOW my brain works so i will do my best.

but first i wanna say that i am SO excited & honored to have encouraged you to work on your own oc fic! if you end up posting here pleeease tag me ♡ and if not that’s okay too. when i started Window i thought it was going to be just for me and honestly it freed me up to do whatever the fuck i wanted, at my own pace, and that is part of what has kept it fun for me.

K BUCKLE UP THIS IS LENGTHY

so in terms of the shit I just make up (Glortho’s Equation, Spartaxian sugardrops, various fruits and foods and soap and recycling-compressors and other general NONSENSE). this is a layered process.

Almost everything I make up, I try to root in a canonical environment/planet, and I want it to make sense for the characters to HAVE it.

so eg, recycling-compressors came about because, like, they just need a practical way to store or get rid of trash. Are they jettisoning it into space every cycle? Dropping it on a landfill planet? Rocket’s comics-canon disdain for Earth + mentions of intergalactic human lifeform rights policies that Earth doesn’t honor leads me to belief that MOST space-folk embrace more sustainable practices. could be a recycling planet, but i didn’t want them needing to travel there every eight rotations or whatever so i decided having a compressor would allow them to have longer gaps between unloading. but like, you could do ANYTHING. maybe most intergalactic packaging is made from products that can be burnt as a clean universal fuel or something ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

similarly i wanted my best raccoon boy to have access to fish. but since he’s a broke-ass bounty hunter 90% of the time, it’s gotta be something inexpensive/accessible (or stealable) - which means it’s probably a cheap export from a planet with a lot of water. Hello, Morag (and the resulting Moraggian moonfish). Sometimes I’ll reference something already canonical in connection to something I fuckin made up just to increase the sense that all these things interplay with each other (zargnut-crusted moonfish sold by a street vendor on conjunction).

Sometimes I do the opposite. I try to imagine what a product from a planet would look like. eg Indigarran beeswax. I thought, what would Indigar export? It’s this gorgeous planet with a cathedral/palace/place of devotion made of glass. if i - an aesthetique lol - had a glass cathedral, I’d want that shit lit up with candles. Can you imagine how gorgeous that would be? Glimmering everywhere. That’s how i spent too much time dreaming up Indigarran beeswax ceremonial candles for a throwaway line somewhere deep in Window I think ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I also figure because of Kree imperialism in this region of the galaxy, a lot of shit is probably Xandaran. Relatedly if it’s a product associated with wealth, I’ll use Xandar or Spartax (also Atraxia but I think I made that planet up lol). I’ll use Asgard occasionally too but less often because it’s supposed to be at the other end of the galaxy. So if I’m referencing a luxury item, it USUALLY comes from one of these places.

For writing Rocket. I think @aliasrocket recently wrote something about this and I agree with like, every flawless thing they said. I listen to a lot of Rocket clips. I try to hear each spoken line in my head in his voice. Some verbs will end in a hard -ing, and some in a soft hanging -in’. I might also use a conjunction (even if it’s not a “usual” conjunction). Sometimes I use something like a liaison in French (I don’t know if there’s a word for it in English, but I basically smush two words together). Moreover, I’ll go back through Rocket’s dialogue on reread and just make sure I don’t go more than like 1-3 sentences without some kind of word-softening. Some examples:

“What’re you laughin’ at me for?”

“Why d’you wanna do that?”

In third-person narration from Rocket’s perspective (non-dialogue) i still try to use these sporadically, but nowhere near as often because I am trying to separate narrative voice from speaking voice just a little.

I also try to consider rocket’s frame of reference for everything from his perspective. What does he know about because he’s seen it? Heard of it? How did he see or hear it? did he learn about it from a fellow prisoner in the Kyln? Someone he did a job for in Conjunction? An alien refugee on earth? Iron Man? Did he steal it? Make it? Buy it? Was it given to him and by whom and why? How trustworthy is his source? How trustworthy does he think they are?

…

OKAY. wow if you made it to the end of this novel you are IMPRESSIVE and I hope it was at least a little helpful. if you have any other questions I will be flattered and happy to answer them and I’ll try to less fuckin wordy. ♡

you are a gem & a blessing & I hope your fanfic-writing brings you JOY

[mischievous-thunder]

Flashback scenes? More like a cry your heart out session

[sincerelykarai]

I love how gotg is such a big movie but with such a small fandom on tumblr 😭🙏

Like a majority of the fandom is me, @raccoon-coded @sunllghtt @retrobr and @incorrect-starbula (let me know if I missed anyone)

Also just received the biggest honour of my life bc me and @retrobr are now moots 🙏🙏🙏

[sunllghtt]

Hi are you up for a messy scene analysis thing

Ofc it's this scene who do you think I am

I've been wanting to do this for God knows how long but I never had the balls and neither the words to (still don't) but I wanna try to properly talk about this scene. My primal instinct is to sit here and tell you how much this 30 second scene changed the trajectory of these characters in the next movies, how it made their friendship grow and develop and how much of a storytelling lesson it is (oh the so so deep understanding you need to have of your characters to have them say things so vaguely and still express exactly what they mean). I could also go down the emotional and subjective road and ramble about how much it means to me and how I resonate with it, but I've done that at least 837382 times and I think everyone knows it by now 😭 so!!! Let's get to the real thing

(I'm trying to keep it as analytical and straightforward as possible but please note that this is my favorite scene that's ever existed so neutrality is not really a possibility)

Rocket is a brat. He's restless, he's loud, he's always puffing up his chest and yelling at someone and picking fights with the wind cuz it was blowing in a way he didn't like and he's just an overall bastard. In this scene, though, we see him inside out. His head is low, his shoulders are slumped, he has his tail between his knees and he looks tired. He speaks quietly (curiously like he doesn't want anybody else to hear him), he's not deliberately insulting anyone and he's just..... defeated??

Up until that point I don't think we ever got to see Rocket like that. From what the movies have shown us he'd never had to. But in the past few days that led to this, Rocket had stolen batteries for no apparent reason (which we'll later learn why💀), ruined their ship, got literally kidnapped by Ravagers, blew up a creepy planet-guy-thing and oh my god attended his friend's dad's funeral. At least half of these things were directly or indirectly his fault and he knows it.

I don't think he ever doubted it was (we see it earlier in the movie when the Guardians leave to "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac and Rocket scowls and winces like he either stepped in a pile of shit or got hit in the face by regret), but he still argued with Peter even knowing he was in the wrong just to keep up apparences or hold on to a little thread of pride when he was already feeling ashamed for being caught red-handed stealing shit he didn't need AND destroying their ship etc etc, and he just kinda fucked up big time. And I think that's (besides the general exhaustion of parenting a tree and fighting a planet and Yondu's death) is what got him so devastated in that scene.

Ofc Yondu played an extremely important role in that. He was the one to open Rocket's eyes, to give him some sort of reality check and show him the only thing isolation is ever gonna bring him is regret and bitterness (or, in other words, Yondu). Rocket is most of all hopeless and tired and just sad like that because he knows he hurt his friends. He knows he's chasing them away, that he yells at them, that he's always mean and that he steals batteries he doesn't need. He knows he's not awesome to put up with and seeing what happened to Yondu and his former friends probably made him terrified it'd happen to him and the Guardians too. He's stuck in this cycle of pushing them away with everything he can (and we could get into all his trauma regarding betrayal and death and literally endless other things but it's all very clear at this point) and he knows patience doesn't last forever. He's just scared, he feels bad and he's tired.

Now on the other hand we have Quill. He's also destroyed, he lost two fathers (3 if you count what Ego could've been, what he wanted him to be), basically relived his mother's death and had to watch literally every single one of them die. He's also scared and tired, yes, but all he has left is this unstable family of weird idiots who are learning how to show care and he's... pretty much fine with it. He wants it.

And when what Rocket's saying clicks, when he realizes who he's talking about, Quill, who's usually all smirks and teasing and bickering and name-calling, looks at his best friend like this,

because

(From vol 2 script!! Won't even try to comment on that last part before Quill's last line but I also really like that Peter just "shakes his head" over and over like he's just barely listening until he realizes what Rocket really means cuz it also shows a lot about his character. He's naturally a little slow and downright stupid when it comes to this kind of hidden emotional thing and he's also exhausted and depressed from everything that happened and STILL he stops and just. Sees Rocket, and sees Yondu.)

He's not doing well. He's probably sore and hurt and sad and miserable and yet he takes his sweet time to look down at Rocket, let go of his resentment from before and see right through him. In order to understand this scene it's important to remember he most likely doesn't know what Yondu told Rocket at all, he doesn't know anything they said to each other and how Yondu showed him they're mirrors. He doesn't know any of that. He just knows his best friend and his father and how much they resemble each other. He puts up with Rocket's bullshit because he knows how to deal with Yondu.

He could've just ignored him or pretended he didn't know what he was talking about. He could've made Rocket swallow his pride and "teach him a lesson" by making him say what he means without hiding behind metaphors and vague self-deprecation, because Rocket was probably vulnerable and defeated enough to be honest in that moment. And yet, he just looks at his friend, who's usually a loud and mean and restless brat, and is now staring at the floor with his ears droopy and his tail between his knees, and just says, as a form of reassurance and tenderness that's just as subtle and shy as Rocket's insecurities, "Well, of course not."

(The kind and soft and sweet DETERMINATION on his face tho like no!!! No we're not ditching you even though you suck I'm!!! Serious!!!!)

[abrielarnold]

The room starts to spin and he’s glad he’s lying down. He shuts his eyes and turns his external imaging devices and motion sensors inward, cocooning himself in the darkness and warm hum of his machines.

The only part of himself that he allows himself to interface with is the blades in his shoulder copters turning slowly in time with the slight draft in the room. He drapes his mind around them, giving the spinning, dizzy feeling a place to exist that isn’t his stomach. His louvres flutter like gills, directing his exhaust-filled breaths away from his fuel lines and processors.

You Can't Save Everyone, But You Can Try by JustAnotherGuest.

watched generator rex for the body horror, stayed for the giant robots, decided that there could have been MORE body horror and giant robots, and here we are.

[ohfugecannada]

Do you guys think Rocket ever told Groot ii about the og Groot?

I like to imagine he occasionally learned some tidbits about him growing up around the other guardians. I.E. Drax telling him he was a formidable warrior and friend, Quill talking about how he was wise and the only person on the team who had a clue, gamora talking bout how kind he was etc etc. but it was nothing too deep since they didn’t know him long.

Rocket, by contrast, despite knowing og Groot a lot longer compared to the rest of the guardians, never mentions him. At all. And anytime the subject comes up he dodged questions or tries to change the subject. Maybe the pain of losing him still hurt, similar to his trauma of losing batch 89. Or maybe he feels he wasn’t truly og Groot’s friend due to how much he pushed him away and called him an idiot, and thinks he cant be the one to tell his story to his son. A bit of both?

Whatever the case, perhaps Groot ii either never learned about og Groot from Rocket, or at the very least, it took Rocket a long time to do so. Only opening up to Groot ii later when he was a teen or adult.

[eflen-n-reegee]

Flip Rocket Raccoon Headcanons (Guardians of the Galaxy Trilogy)

Heads up: these movies contain death, illness, animal cruelty, arguable body horror, violence, fighting among friends, swearing, and trauma.

As a Caregiver

All his nicknames for you are… unconventional. “Pipsqueak”, “little turd”, “brat”, etc. They sound harsh, but he always says them with affection.

He causes explosions in different colors so you can enjoy the pretty lighting.

He swears CONSTANTLY, but gets hilariously horrified if you do the same.

He frequently steals little things for you. And occasionally big things. One or two huge things. He loves stealing, he loves you, you deserve stolen stuff.

He invents new cool things for you to use. Low-gravity suits so you can float around, vacuum-sealing blankets so you can feel swaddled even when you’re alone, a plushie with multiple embedded weapons in case you get in trouble…

As a Regressor

He loves slapstick comedies and fail videos. Anything that features someone being hurt has him rolling on the floor with laughter.

He’s a big fan of chase games, although he does tend to get the tiniest bit over competitive…

He has mixed feelings about animals while he’s regressed. He is curious about them, but he gets frustrated that they aren’t as smart as him. Cosmo becomes one of his best regression friends since she’s an animal who can actually talk back.

He loves escape rooms, and he often creates his own. It’s now a rule that he has to WARN people before he locks them in.

When he’s regressed, he really loves head pets and scritches.

[somewhere-on-knowhere]

I've written Rocket Raccoon's name so many times that when I finally used the word "rocket" as a noun my phone automatically capitalised it.

[raccoon-coded]

I wanna see Peter and Rocket getting sh!tfaced and singing / dancing their hearts out at a bar.

Like they meet up one day and they're healed and they're hanging out like the old times and letting loose and just being the best friends that they are.

I want to see them happy and finally living life to the fullest. ❤️

[writings-of-a-demigod]

"What the hell is that thing?" Rocket pointed at the screen.

You were bored and while you were rewatching old disney movies you got to Pocahontas and you saw Meeko, and the thought of showing Rocket the animated virsion of him came to mind.

"That's Meeko he's a raccoon" you said looking down smiling at him “You know like you.”

"That thing does Not look like me" Rocket crossed his arms over his chest “and wipe that smile off your face”

You felt Groot coming from behind you and you were right because he said.

"I am Groot"

Rocket looked over at him angry "What? Oh come on we're nothing alike" he complained putting his paws over his face.

You leaned over to him a little "You two could be cousins" hiding a smile.

"Hahahaha very funny Y/N" Rocket mocked.

“I’m just saying if one day you went missing and he showed up no one will be able to tell the difference.” You shrugged “Oh wait he doesn’t talk” you added lost in thought.

“Okay you know what I’ve been insaulted enough for today.” He got down from the chair and walked out of the room, you and Groot watched him go.

“I am Groot”

You turned to look at Groot pointing at the screen of your laptop, you saw what he was pointing at.

“You’re right that tree does look like you Groot.” You looked up to him smiling.

[raccoonfallsharder]

thinking about writing a fic where you (try to) teach rocket how to do tim tam slams

[starmunchandthefunkybunch]

okay as someone who has been in love with their best friend i feel qualified to speak on this subject.

GOTG3 SPOILERS

quill makes a VERY distinct difference when talking about rocket in GOTG3 than talking about anyone else. Nebula calls Rocket family, Drax calls him brother (pretty sure), and Mantis is Quill's sister. Everyone has a term for them that falls within family (like brother, sister, etc, in Groot's case talking to Quill and Rocket, dad, i know best friends can be family, just stay with me here), and yet, Quill, time after time, puts emphasis on best friend, when talking about Rocket....why?

Because he knows that Rocket can't be his brother, it doesn't sound right. I've been there. You feel something for them, and yet you don't really know what it is. It's more than a friend, you know it's more than a friend, and they really, really are, your best friend; they mean soo much to you, so much. So...what's after a best friend? Well family right? But they can't mean family because that doesn't feel quite right either, thats not entirely...accurate...so....best friends, yes very best friends. That's what Quill is going through. That's why he NEVER calls him brother, or family or anything like that but doesn't correct anyone else when they do, because Quill...loves him, he's in love with him.

That's why he doesn't correct Drax at all when he refers to himself as Quill's best friend because well, Rocket is more than that.

[sincerelykarai]

Random drop of the day guys;

So I was doing some research (because my silly brain got bored and ofc gotg is the main topic of the day) and while raccoons don't hibernate during winter they do go into a semi-hibernation that's called 'torpor' if the weather gets too cold.

A raccoons metabolism also slows down so they develop more fur and pretty much get more thick and fluffy to stay warm during the colder months of the year

I'm assuming that since the Guardians travel a lot Rocket wouldn't really have this problem apart from these two cases;

The Guardians stop off at a super cold planet so I'm assuming rocket would probably be more sluggish and tired?

Knowhere might change temperatures throughout the year? So I guess while it's winter on Knowhere Rocket would a) possibly gain more weight or just become 10 times more fluffy and/or b) Rocket a lot more tired/sluggish and just all-round sleeps more often once the temperature drops below a specific temperature

Anyways the point? None I just wanted to ramble 🤷‍♀️

(P.S I made a new tag called "Karai's ramble time" and if u search it up on my profile all my silly rambles will be there ^^)

[sunllghtt]

This is extremely specific and useless and tiny but it always gets to me for some reason. In Vol 2 when the Guardians are about to go off with Ego there's this 2 second little scene of Gamora giving Rocket a free pass to shoot Nebula if he has to or smth and he's SO UPSET 😭😭 it might be the fact he's usually loud and restless and crawling up the walls and thats why the contrast is so evident but this time he's just quietly fixing the mess he's made of their ship and just answers whatever they say with "Uh huh" "yeah" and it makes me feel so bad for him??? He knows he fucked up and it's his fault and it's clear they're all mad (especially Quill) and he doesn't know how to apologize or act around them. Idk man he just looked so off and defeated 😭 it's always the little things and the body language yk

I spent the last 40 minutes looking for the clip but I can't find it to save my life so here's the script to back me up lmfao

[blueberrysquire]

rocket artists. It is your time to shine.

...in december-

[lwitch7]

6 chapters have gone through revision in Stars in the sky, and one other thing I want to add is one of these Alternate Rocket illustrations but I'm not sure where to put him.

Once a is done I'll post next chapter (which will have a very nice talk between Rocket and Peter)

I don't know whether to add the flat colored or the "shaded" one, would like to hear some thoughts.