thinking about the period of time between the mechanisms performing DTTM and their deaths actually occurring...

thinking about how the mechanisms know how they die but they might not know when they die or in what order.

thinking about them trying to prevent each other's deaths. none of them wants to be the last to go.

raphaella begs the others not to leave marius alone on the ship. tim refuses to leave ashes's side in the hopes he can stop the accident from happening. brian pilots them around pockets of temporal instability and away from backwater asteroids. marius pleads with ivy not to retire. nobody talks about how they die in front of the toy soldier. they don't want to make it sad.

jonny selfishly seeks out bar fights, hoping this time it will finally be the one, and he won't have to watch his friends disappear one by one until a milllenia has passed since the last time he laughed. even if the others mourn him, he doesn't want to still be alive when the rest of his crew are all gone.

none of them know for sure who dies first, but they all know who they don't want it to be, and they all hope it's themselves instead.

got sick again everythings a million times more emotinal im sobbing so fuckungg hard over dttm again

Round 2 Part 4 Poll 4

Propaganda

Ged's a wizard he's bisexual and he loves his boat so much. He's sailed around the world on his beloved little boat and learned everything about sailing even though he could've just used magic because it brought him joy. I just like him a lot. Also he talks to dragons

Jonny is an immortal (die and come back, regenerative immortality) pirate who commandeered the Aurora for himself and the woman who made him immortal. She proceeded to make several other people immortal, who all joined the crew, until they threw her out the airlock (several times. She left of her own free will as a result of this). Jonny declared that, as the original member, he was captain now. Everyone decided to ignore him. He introduces himself as ""your humble captain"" every performance, and every performance Tim (another crew member) and usually the entire audience yells "first mate!" He once said "so she came to the closest thing we have to a captain: myself" only for it to cut to the situation in question to show that he had no control at all. Even the starship doesn't see him as the captain (she's sentient. Also a lesbian! I love her). Captain struggles aside, he's so fun. He once committed every single crime on a planet (except the sex crimes). He had an arrest warrant out with the reason "just arrest the fucker". He has a whole post-patricide harmonica solo. He's fantastic

Listening to OUaTiS again, and once again I am reminded of just how well Nastya is able to play Jonny like her viola. The convo in The Aurora Strikes starts with Jonny already upset, and she continues to tell him things that upset him, and yet he still ends up happy. Because she knows exactly how to tell him. So we start with:

N: We’re not going to argue about this. (Fact)

J: I don’t understand it, Nastya. We’ve been watching billions die for the last three decades, and we’ve been having a great time! (Defensive, doesn’t want to give up his comfy spot)

N: I know, I know. (Placating, not fighting, just like she said, letting him say his piece)

J: And now you want to go white knight over a science project with a broken snooze button? I don’t buy it. (Here I have a theory that he breaks out “white knight accidentally cause he likes being the white knight [though he would never admit it, even tho Nastya knows], and he knows that’s not Nastya’s thing at all)

N: W-well, you see, Jonny, that is because I have not been telling you the whole story! (A story! There’s a story, Jonny! We have a story here! A sure way to catch his attention) It is, uh, not actually me who is complaining. It is, uh, Aurora. Our starship. (You could argue with me, Jonny, but would you argue with the ship herself?)

J: Fuck the ship! (Fuck you, you know I wouldn’t dare)

N: I do. (Sibling moment here, also something to distract Jonny from his clinging to anger)

J: Ew! (It worked)

N: Anyway, Jonny, I am merely informing you out of courtesy, uh. You see, I’ve already told Brian to lay in the coordinates. (I told you we’re not arguing. The ship wants to go. We’re going. BUT what’s crucial here is that she keeps her tone very light, never confrontational. She’s just passing along the message)

J: Brian! That insubordinate piece of brass! (Only angry at Brian, maybe Aurora, but not Nastya, who was only passing along the message)

N: Yes, yes, I know, and we are on our way. (Very placating, very ‘I’m just updating the captain’ instead of ‘I fully hijacked the ship and crew’)

J: …well. I suppose that there’s no real danger… (I am fully in love that he actually does take the crew/ship’s safety into consideration here considering who they are. But also, here’s where he starts sliding down the slope Nastya prepared for him)

N: No there isn’t. (Confirming, gently leaning in)

J: For the ship or us. (Thinks of Aurora first, the non immortal crew member. Doesn’t have anything to do with my point. I just love that)

N: No… (letting him ease himself down the path she made)

J: And it has been a while since we’ve had any really good violence. (There’s a story here. Nastya brought up a story, this could make for a very good story)

N: It has indeed. (Says Nastya, who’s solution was to kiss the princess, and mock the idea of violence to computers)

J: Alright. [audible smirk] Let’s go.

Anyway, I know this post is a million years long since I put in the whole scene transcript + my notes, but I can’t listen to that part without imagining Nastya and Aurora having a conversation in the hall outside Jonny’s room being like “I know, I’ll just play it cool, not argue, keep his hackles from going up” and “ooh yes, good idea, make it sound like it’ll be good for a song, I love it” and “oh yeah, go tell Brian where we’re going so I can tell Jonny we’re already on the way. How is he gonna stop us? Is he gonna fight you, the ship??’

Anyway, I love these space pirate siblings who know each other so well they can have each other wrapped around their fingers when they need to

So I wrote an entire essay comparing Loki from The Bifrost Incident to Loki from the Prose Edda for my Medieval Literature Class, and I figured I'd post it here in case anyone wanted to read my analysis on her character

Essay Under Cut--(my formatting got fucked up by the hellsite but what can you do?)

“Is this truly me? What have I left behind?”

A look into how The Bifrost Incident interacts with its source material

Title from “Losing Track” by The Mechanisms

In the early 1200s, Snorri Sturlson wrote his famous collection of Norse mythology called The Prose Edda. In this compilation, we met many gods, goddesses, and creatures, including one who is arguably the most popular Norse deity--Loki, the god of mischief and general shenanigans. The Prose Edda presents Loki as dishonest, violent, at times incompetent. Recently though, about 800 years later, Loki has attracted the interest of many modern writers who have adapted Loki’s story to explore contemporary problems. One particular adaptation, The Bifrost Incident by English steampunk band The Mechanisms, imagines her to be just,  intelligent, and loving. There are many striking differences between these two versions of Loki, the most significant being gender, mortality, and how their stories end. This is important because this album re-examines and redefines Loki’s identity, and how we view this Norse deity in a modern context.

To fully delve into how The Mechanisms’ adaptation works, I think some context for the band is necessary. The Mechanisms were an English steampunk band, self-described as “Storytelling Musical Cabaret'' that operated from 2010 until 2020. The Band members themselves were in character at all times as the immortal pirate crew of the Starship Aurora. They also took on the roles in the tales they told. So for example, Tim Ledsam was the guitarist for The Mechanisms, but when he was onstage he played Gunpowder Tim, Master at Arms on the Aurora, and when the band performed The Bifrost Incident, he voiced the character of Loki. The Mechanisms were best known for their clever reworking of mythologies, creating queer narratives and telling queer stories, and their love of tragedies. In their last concert (recorded as a live album), Death to The Mechanisms, Jonny D’ville--the band’s first mate/lead vocalist. played by Jonny Sims--and Ashes O'Reilly--the band’s quartermaster/bassist, played by Frank Voss--had a conversation that encapsulates the crew's relationship with unhappy endings: 

[Jonny]

"We happen to stumble across tragic situations where everyone dies. I mean, obviously there are stories where people live but we just choose not to tell them."

[Ashes]

"Yeah, 'cause they're boring."

[Jonny]

"Yeah…”

The fact that this conversation happened during some technical difficulties in the song “Terminus”, the finale of The Bifrost Incident where the entire star system is consumed by a Lovecraftian Cosmic Horror, only adds credence to their claims. 

With that bit of explanation out of the way, let’s discuss the similarities between Sturlson’s work and The Mechanisms’ adaptation of it. Loki from The Prose Edda and Loki from The Bifrost Incident share many important similarities. These similarities are important because they make the character recognizable, giving us a reference point and allowing the audience to connect the new version to the original. The Mechanisms play on the audience’s knowledge of Norse Mythology, creating an insider audience. Listeners feel like they are in on the joke, as they understand what myths or details are being referenced. The Mechanisms also use these similarities to create puns, as they often do in their albums. For example, in The Prose Edda Baldur is killed by Mistletoe, and in The Bifrost Incident Loki kills Baldur with Missile 2 (the second missile).  

Another thing The Mechanisms’ adaptation has in common with Sturlson’s work is how they develop ideas through music. The Bifrost Incident is a musical album, with each song continuing the story, much like the soundtrack to a musical. It alternates between spoken narration and songs, weaving music into the fabric of the tale. The Prose Edda does this as well! We have evidence that the original myths were probably put to music, connecting this modern work to its source. 

This being said, there are significant differences between the Loki of The Prose Edda and the Loki from The Bifrost Incident. I’ve selected just three to discuss at this time, the ones I think are the most important. The first is gender. In The Prose Edda Loki and Odin are firmly male, using exclusively male pronouns. There is a specific instance in the text where Loki turns into a mare and gives birth to Sleipnir, Odin’s eight-legged steed. This is seen in a negative context, as a way to shame or punish Loki. In The Bifrost Incident, however, Loki and Odin are gender-bent, using exclusively female pronouns. Loki’s gender expression in the album is further complicated by how her character is voiced. Gunpowder Tim, who as far as I can tell is a cisgender man, voices this specifically female character. The use of a more masculine-sounding voice actor for a character that not only uses feminine terms and pronouns but also is married to another woman in the album introduces a new, interesting layer of queerness to the narrative. Because of this casting decision, it’s a commonly held belief among fans that Loki is a trans woman in the album. These choices help the audience explore modern queer themes through the lens of Norse mythology. And it creates a contrast to how gender, sexuality, and queerness in general, were talked about in Snorri Sturlson’s time. 

The second difference I’d like to discuss is Loki’s mortality (or lack thereof). In The Prose Edda Loki is a god, an immortal being that could affect the world around him and cause problems on large scales. This allows many myths to happen, most strikingly the ones where Loki transforms into an animal to either cause problems or fix a problem he caused. Now this is complicated by the fact that Snorri Sturlson did not believe the characters in the myths he was compiling were gods. He lived in a Christianized world, trying to compile stories to save them for poets. Either way, Prose Edda Loki is an immortal deity. But in The Bifrost Incident, it is important that all our characters are mortal. It intensifies the tragedy of Loki and Sigyn, their sacrifice and Odin’s demise. It helps us relate to the characters in a way that we don’t get if they’re immortal. In the narration “Cold Case”, we learn that Loki was thought to be dead, and in the song “Sigyn” we get the heartbreaking reunion between Loki and her wife, Sigyn. But the reason I cry every time I listen to “Sigyn” is because of how heartrendingly happy Sigyn is to see her wife, alive and in front of her, and then see that relief ripped away as she realizes that Loki doesn’t recognize her. The humanity, the fear and permanence of death, of losing those you love, is one that we as an audience can easily relate to. 

My final difference, and possibly the most important difference, is the ending to Loki’s story. After killing Baldur in The Prose Edda, Loki is chased down by the Aesir and eternally punished: He is imprisoned below the earth, tied down with the entrails of his sons, and has a snake set above him to drip poison into his eyes. His wife, Sigyn, stays with him by choice, holding a cup above him to catch the venom, but the vessel can only hold so much before it must be emptied. So when Sigyn has to empty the cup the venom gets into his eyes, and his thrashing is the etiological myth for why earthquakes happen. Eventually, Loki is destined to escape and kick off Ragnarok (the end of the world), where he fights against the Aesir--sailing in on Naglfar and fatally injuring Heimdall before dying himself. These all add up to an ultimately evil view of Loki, even if he is a bit sympathetic. He turns against the gods and his children are the cause of much destruction. However, the Loki of The Bifrost Incident has a completely different characterization. After her memories are returned to her, she leaves Odin to her madness and goes to find Sigyn. She tells Sigyn what they must do to delay the eldritch train as long as possible, keeping the end of the world from happening for 80 years-- 

“They uncouple the [train] carriages behind [them] and Loki lays upon the altar. Sigyn pushes a single line into her wife's heart and holds it tight. All she lets through is a drip drip drip, flowing through the glyphs and gears. When Loki's heartsblood is gone, the train will arrive, but until then, they are together.”

Loki chooses to sacrifice herself to stop the end of all life in her star system. This is almost directly opposite of how Loki acts in The Prose Edda. She is noble, in contrast to his cowardice. 

I think it’s important to consider why these changes were made. Some are more obvious--The Mechanisms always committed to the bit at full throttle. It’s evident from their stage presences that they cared about the storytelling more than anything else. So many of the more minor changes are to keep to the aesthetic choices the band made--setting it in space, steampunk and cyberpunk imagery, and the puns we talked about earlier. Some choices were made to turn the original myths into queer stories. Making Loki and Sigyn a lesbian couple, as well as having Loki use feminine terms and pronouns while being voiced by a traditionally masculine voice actor, fall into The Mechanisms’ commitment to telling queer stories. Many of the band members themselves are queer, and the vast majority of their fanbase identifies as LGBTQ+. And finally, The Mechanisms only tell tragedies. We discussed this at a few earlier points, how the change from god to mortal fed into the tragedy of the story they were trying to tell. 

So why does this matter? Why should we care about a Steampunk concept album written in 2017 that no one has ever heard of? The Prose Edda was written to preserve poetry, religion, mythology, and meaning post-Christianization. Why was The Bifrost Incident written? I believe that it’s a commentary on corrupt government systems, as seen with Odin, as well as a cautionary tale about the dangers of pushing too far without the proper safety precautions. It’s also just a fun retelling of myths that most are fairly familiar with in a fun, new setting we never would have expected. The Bifrost Incident takes stories written hundreds of years ago and creates a modern narrative that is as enjoyable as it is thought-provoking. And I hope this paper, if nothing else, convinces you to listen to the Album.

You're reblogging some fantastic stuff about The Mechs (coming from a tma fan) is there anything else you can tell me about it? I'm deadly curious and very interested in seeing more of Jon Sims' work

hello!!!! I am so normal about the mechanisms (lying) but am not good at describing things so if you want, like, The Intro Post To The Mechs than @x-ca1iber has it and that’s much more fine tuned but I shall try my best! This may be… a bit of an infodump, and not very concise.

base content warnings for mechs, not this post but the mechs as a band and their stories: violence, so much violence, lots of death, war, general tragedy, British people (ew)

okay. So. The basics! The Mechanisms were a 9 person folk cabaret band who told stories in their albums and songs that were based on mythology and stories (more on that later)

Outside of these stories they played individual characters, a space, steampunk pirate crew of immortals roaming the universe aboard a sentient starship named the Aurora and finding tragedies to tell through their albums. They're, as I mentioned, immortal, through a mechanism (not to be confused with The Mechanisms, the name of their crew lol. They weren’t very creative with that) A mechanism is a replacement for a part (or in some cases several parts) of one’s body made of metal and shit, that causes regeneration if you die. And this shit isn’t light, it is totally possible to regen from being, for instance… shoved into a sun for a century. so basically, crew of immortals making stories they witness into albums and playing the roles of people in those stories.

For a fan of tma, the most recognizable part of this is 4 people in the crew (though only 3 are major characters in tma) Jonny Sims, of course, plays Jon in tma and Jonny D’ville (he/him) in the mechanisms. (He is… perhaps not the most creative with naming his character) Jonny D’ville is the first mate (NOT captain. Though he would say he was) of the Aurora, and his mechanism is his heart. He was the first person in the crew, and the first to become immortal. He’s also the lead singer, and plays harmonica. Frank Voss plays Basira in tma, and in the mechs plays Ashes O’Reilly (they/them) an arsonist crime boss, ship’s quartermaster, whose mechanism is their lungs! Jessica Law plays Nikola Orsinov in tma, and in the mechs she plays The Toy Soldier (it/its) The Toy Soldier is… a bit of an outlier, in that it wasn’t ever mechanized, wasn’t ever “made” immortal. It is simply a sentient clockwork toy, with a voice box stolen from a human it had been in love with. (Somehow jess is typecast as an unsettling dollike entity twice in a thing created in part by Jonny sims) Its role in the crew is… really nobody knows. Occasionally it’s called mascot. It’s just kinda there and whenever it’s kicked out it finds its way back. It’s very charming, and simply happy to be involved! last, and kinda least in the context of being a tma fan, is Tim Ledsam, who plays the exterminator Jordan Kennedy in tma and Gunpowder Tim, (he/him) master-at-arms, in the mechanisms. His mechanism is his eyes.

others, who I’m not going to go into detail about, are Nastya Rasputina (she/her) engineer, Ivy Alexandria (she/her, actor uses he/him) archivist, Drumbot Brian (he/him) pilot, Marius Von Raum (he/him, actor uses they/them) and Raphaella la cognizi (she/her)

two, the albums! This is gonna be pretty quick because it’s just an overview, but there are 4 main story albums that tell self contained stories, 2 that are a collection of songs that tell single stories, and 1 EP thing that tells its own little ballad. Then there’s a live recorded version of their final show ever, death to the mechanisms. They’re all very tragic, and *very* queer stories.

first, once upon a time (in space) a story based on fairy tales, tells the story of a war through the stars. second, Ulysses dies at dawn, a film noir style telling of a dystopian world based on Greek myths. third, high noon over Camelot, a cowboy western ballad about Arthurian legend on a space station. fourth, the bifrost incident, a rock ballad about Norse myth, lovecraft eldritch horror, and one person being really fucking horny for a train (Dw about it) the other albums are a mix of myth and story retellings (Frankenstein, the story of Prometheus, a rhythm based video game called crypt of the necrodancer) and character backstory songs for the Mechanisms.

random ass fun facts because I’m out of base info and I think the mechs is really funny for something supposed to be tragedy

-one of the crew, Nastya, is in a loving romantic and sexual relationship with the starship

-there are creatures called octokittens that are half octopus half kitten. I love them.

-Jonny is Texan. Yeah. (Well technically New Texan, because he was born on a planet called New Texas, but whatever)

-I’m not going into this because it’s more complex lore but the person who “created” most of the mechanisms was a vampire named Doctor Carmilla and was a (very disfunctuonal) mother figure to at least most of the crew. They kicked her out

-Doctor Baron Marius Von Raum, one of the other crewmates, is neither a doctor nor a baron. His real name is Byron. He psychoanalizes people for fun.

-they’re all horrible people, the Mechanisms. They kill and burn and destroy and manipulate unrepentantly and take pride in breaking every law they can find (though we have explicit canon confirmation that Jonny flat out refuses to commit any sexual crimes) It makes them fun, though

-there are *so* many photos of the bandmates in character and a good part of fandom activity is just passing around those photos within the fandom like they’re Pokémon cards

-last, and very much not least, it’s quite important to note that Jonny Sims didn’t “create” the mechanisms, not like he did tma. It’s a collaboration between a bunch of great storytellers and musicians that started out as a uni band

here is a photo of the mechanisms as a whole group, because why not

Anyway I’m going to see so many glaring issues with this as soon as I post it but I hope it makes at least some sense! Check out x-ca1iber’s post for it if something doesn’t make sense… yeah. That’s it.

Jonny d'Ville (The Mechanisms)

He was killed somehow and a vampire mad scientist who he was friends with fixed him by replacing his heart with a mechanical one. The mechanical heart keeps him alive and immortal.

The first of many cyborgs in the crew of the starship Aurora. Jonny was from a planet called New Texas, where in order to repay his father's debt to the casino owner, One-Eyed Jack, he has to kill his father. After the deed is done however, he is approached by Dr. Carmilla who offers to help him. With both his father and Jack dead, he leaves with Carmilla who Mechanizes his heart and begins the cycle of mommy issues that everyone likes to use as angst fuel

You should all vote Jonny he's literally the most creature ever. he's a cannibal and canonically every time after he eats human meat he asks if it counts as cannibalism since hes not human. he spent his spare time "de-populating" a city. he's an immortal space pirate. he killed his dad. (DTTM mention) he died in a bar fight on some "backwater asteroid". he committed every single crime except the sex ones. he won the crew's sentient starship the Aurora through a game of russian roulette that was rigged because he's fucking immortal. he killed his dad for this guy named one eyed jack and then jack offered to be his new dad, so he shot him and burned down the casino jack owned. he has a mechanical heart & that's the thing keeping him immortal. conclusion: vote jonny (here are some pictures to convince you)

.

So these drawings are from around the time I was first introduced to the mechanisms.

I had started listening to the band, and made my way through the four main story driven albums and some of the other mechanisms albums.

And I thought to myself, what do the, immortal villainous canabalistic, time traveling, dimension hopping, space pirate crew of the aurora do when they are not having fun! Violence…. Violence.

When there are no tales to be told.

What do they do then?

So I drew that!

Mischief what else?

Johnny being impatient when gunpowder tim paints his nails because Johnny has less coordination with that.

Brian and Ivy realizing that they have left the toy solider somewhere on some market planet when it got interested in some shiny trinket or weapon or what not.

NOW! to the main part. so bottom picture from the first image, and the large picture at the top of the second image. this was my solution to part of the questions on what they get up to in those more boring or sluggish times of existence. they hibernate... Wait! I actually wrote something for this! wonder what mindset I was in when I wrote it? I'll share what I wrote after the main post. it is mostly just fluff (???)

the next two images are stacked onto of each other one is of Johnny being absolutely awful at chores as he breaks all he touches. below that one is the toy solider braiding hair.

the final picture in the second image is that of Ashes scolding Brian, Johnny and Tim about tricking the Toy solider into doing their chores, mostly by that it follows any order. (now that im more familiar with the characters I think Brian was the wrong choice for this picture, perhaps raphiell or Ivy would have been a better choice, but this was one of my first pieces of mechanisms fanart.)

the final picture is of The toy solider painting a portrait of itself on a mirror because it has trouble with internal visualization.

along with the first planning and world building this (/pc) mess of an AU:

Alright as promised, I'm going to share the messy little thing I wrote about the mechanisms taking a nap. better context to the picture, whole found family in some twisted way.

(also I do in fact misspell all the names)

The mechanisms, domestic reprise. Featuring: Johnny De’vill (captain), Gun Powder Tim (explosions expert), Ashes O’reilly (quartermaster) Raphael La Cognizi (scientist), toy solider (itself), Ivy {red} (archivist), Nashtya Rasputin (shipwright), Drumbot Brian (pilot), Marious von Raum (“doctor”), the sentient starship auroura.

Ch1 (Johnny) there’s this rather interesting thing that happens when you are an immortal space faring pirate, it’s called downtime, never been much of a fan myself, but its unavoidable. Space is vast and sometimes it just takes a dame long time to get anywhere. Other times it’s just that the mortal people out there aren’t doing anything interesting, no wars, no disaster, no nothin’. I mean there’s technically something always going on, but that something doesn’t always involve us. the absolute atrocity.

So it is here we find ourselves on occasion…

Ch2. That time the mechanisms took a nap. (Johnny) Bein’ immortal and all we really don’t need to sleep, gee some of us like the toy solider, can’t. though things that it can’t do has never stopped it before and the same thing can be said about sleep. (Toy Solider) very true.

(Johnny) so even though none of us need too, on occasion we will still fancy ourselves for a nap. Some of us more than others.

(Nashta) We’ve in-fact made a rather nice room for it, deep in the bowls of the ship. With her permission of course.

(Johnny) of course.

(Brian) Yeah, made a good space too, stole a bunch of mattresses and jigsaw them together to cover the entire floor, threw some comfitures, sheets and pillows atop it.

(Ashes) Yes, it is quite cozy. The ship did have crew cabins at some point.

(Nashta) When we do sleep, we sometimes do it individually, though usually we do it as a group.

(Ivy) Quite rare actually for all of us to sleep at one time, the common thing for us is that half of us or a few more sleep, sometimes just three of us.

(Ashes) Though sometimes all of us just sleep together. Keep your mind out of the gutter Johnny. Either way we are all fixing to take a nap here soon.

(Johnny) O’reilly you flatter me, my mind is always in the gutter and you know you love me for it.

(Ashes) phfht, Shure if you say so.

(Brian) how long of a nap are we thinking this time?

(Ashes) a year or two.

(ivy) -looking at a book- our records is fifty years.

(Brian) Rumors say those where some of the most peaceful -if tense- fifty years the galaxy had known in a long time.

(Ivy) I for one am looking forward to being cozy. Ash makes a great pillow.

(Raphael) Agreed.

(Ivy) you also make a nice pillow. several of the other long naps were nice too. 

(Ashes) It did get much comfier when we decided to leave our weapons by the wall and not bring them to bed.

(Brian) yeah, I’d fancy not getting shot in the face by a misfiring again when we are supposed to be sleeping.  

(Tim) -walking in- yup, try getting shot three times by Johnny’s trigger-happy finger even in sleep.

(Johnny) Ah, well Tim, you liked it did you not?

(Tim) I…I’ll…

(Raphael) Oh! Oh! Remember that one twenty-year nap?

(Ivy) which one?

(Raphael) that one where all of us actually slept, even the toy soldier was doing it’s best pretending to sleep. (Marious) ah yes, the one where we were interrupted just a bit more than halfway through? (Nashta) Fools thought  Aroura was abandoned, just because something looks empty, dose not make something a piece of junk! (Ashes) Calm yourself Nashta. (Nashta) they were going to sell her for parts! (Ashes) yes, yes, but they are a red spot across the wall, can’t hurt aurora any more.

(nastasiya grumbels) (Brian) Also why we stay up in shifts now, that and to keep Toy Solider company. (Toy Solider)Yes! (Raphael) Don’t you get lonely toy solider?  (Toy Solider) No! of course not, I have all of you around me. Your presence keeps me company. (Tim) you ol’sap (Toy Solider) all of you also agreed to let me braid your hair as you sleep. (Ivy) *monotone* you also braid the hair of corpses on the battlefield. (Johnny) ‘bit of a curiosity if ya’ ask me. (Toy Solider) If I have nothing to do, I join you in sleep.   (Johnny) well you try. (Ashes) Toy Solider tries its best to pretend to sleep (Toy Solider) I do. (Tim) Yes, yes, Are we ready yet? I for one am eager to sleep, where’s a pillow? (Johnny) all the preparations are ready? (Marious) Finishing touches captain’ (Tim) *cough, co-captain, cough* (Jhonny) Ah Tim (Tim) what? (Johnny) Want to go a few rounds before turning in? (Tim) hmmm…ah Sure why not? (Johnny) Anyone else? (Ashes) Nah. (Toy Solider)… (Ivy) I’m good (Brian) next time by me (Raphael) Busy with marious preparing the nest. Giddy* (Marrious) Odd way to phrase it Raphe, I’d accept but as she stated. (Nashta) busy with the aroura  (Johnny) suit yourselves, come on Tim. (Ivy) I think a year nap will do us some good. *places down a handful of books. (Brian) I think so too. (Toy Solider) Agreed. (Ashes) we ready then? (Johnny) We were, once me and Tim finished our rounds we joined in the warm group, this was how we showed our greatest trust, we turned in. once we did the aroura dimed her lights and slowed her speed, as if she too joined us in our sleep. Of course, I don’t personify the ship. I’m not nashta, the dork.

-- I do believe my writing has improved slightly since this, but regardless this is fun for me. I also remember

au where instead of getting fucking eated (rip 💔) Sasha just ends up on the starship aurora and the mechs are just “yeah okay guess we have a new crew mate now” and Sasha is just “yeah this might as well happen why not” and the not-them still takes her place at the institute but now she has immortal space pirates on her side and I just need her to be okay. please :(

JWDJAKNSA

"okay so the mechanisms are a narrative band who travel various galaxys (HAVING FUN, VIOLENCE, ADVENTURE, VIOLENCE, VIOLENCE,) in their starship (the starship aurora < 3) and write albums and songs about the stories they watch go down and sometimes are part of (i.e: drumbot brian being in camelot during hnoc) and their last album being a mix of their other albums . once upon a time (in space) is based on fairytales , ulysses dies at dawn is based on greek myths and gods , the bifrost incident is based on norse mythology , high noon over camelot is based on arthurian legends, death to the mechanisms is about the mechanisms' final deaths and is a mashup of their other albums (mostly the bifrost incident) . the mechs themselves are almost-immortal space pirates who died once and got revived by doctor carmilla , being "mechanized" aka having a mechanical version of the organ (or organs) that killed them the first time replacing said organ, and each member has a TON of lore and backstory but im not gonna talk about all that right now . the band consists of jonny d'ville (the ship's first mate who calls himself captain since doctor carmilla got pushed out the airlock, but always gets corrected by the other members) whose mechanism is his heart, gunpowder tim (master at arms , blew up the moon one time) whose mechanism is his eyes, drumbot brian (pilot, was the hanged man/merlin in high noon over camelot, got thrown into space twice) whose mechanism is everything except his heart, baron marius von raum (ships' "doctor", neither a baron nor a doctor) whose mechanism is his arm, the toy soldier (role N/A, a wooden toy soldier brought to life, canonically uses it/its) whose mechanism is everything except its voice (which it stole from someone else), ashes o'reilly (quartermaster, burnt down a whole planet once) whose mechanism is their lungs,... ...uuhhh ALSO MARIUS WAS ALSO IN BIFROST INCIDENT PRISON I FORGOT anyway . raphaella la cognizi (science officer, was in prison during the bifrost incident) whose mechanism is her wings, ivy alexandria (was also in prison during the bifrost incident, so autistic it could kill, remembers her backstory in dreams and forgets when she wakes up) whose mechanism is her brain, nastya rasputina (threw herself out of the airlock before the bifrost incident, was dating the starship aurora before she got airlocked) whose mechanism is her blood, and doctor carmilla (mechanism N/A) who mechanized most of the mechanisms (implied nastya did instead to some of them) and got pushed out of the airlock , implied jonny pushed her (also theres a fiction on the mechs website about the crew interviewing eachother after it happened, its Who killed doctor carmilla? and it has MORE CARD SYMBOLISM. I AM NORMAL.) and i could keep going on abt their backstories and the albums and etc but i think ive written . enough for now. sorry i am usual over this band (LYING)" - me, 2023, in the fucking splatoon roleplay discord server

Round 1 Part 4 Poll 8

Propaganda

No propaganda for Blaubär yet

Jonny is an immortal (die and come back, regenerative immortality) pirate who commandeered the Aurora for himself and the woman who made him immortal. She proceeded to make several other people immortal, who all joined the crew, until they threw her out the airlock (several times. She left of her own free will as a result of this). Jonny declared that, as the original member, he was captain now. Everyone decided to ignore him. He introduces himself as "your humble captain" every performance, and every performance Tim (another crew member) and usually the entire audience yells "first mate!" He once said "so she came to the closest thing we have to a captain: myself" only for it to cut to the situation in question to show that he had no control at all. Even the starship doesn't see him as the captain (she's sentient. Also a lesbian! I love her). Captain struggles aside, he's so fun. He once committed every single crime on a planet (except the sex crimes). He had an arrest warrant out with the reason "just arrest the fucker". He has a whole post-patricide harmonica solo. He's fantastic

For those of you loving the new take on fairy tales that Brennan is weaving in Neverafter, and the mixing of stories and blending of cultural tales, I highly recommend Once Upon a Time in Space by the Mechanisms!

The Mechs are a band a crew of immortal space pirates, traveling the galaxy/universe/time aboard the starship Aurora in search of adventure, violence, and if they’re lucky, both! They then craft musical performances to tell tales of the things they’ve seen!

OUaTiS is the tale of a great, galaxy-wide civil war, as a rebellion broke out against the tyrant, King Cole! The music is primarily in the style of (or literally rewrites of) sea shanties and folk songs for this album, and most roles are played by Jonny D’Ville, the ship’s Captain First Mate, and the Toy Soldier, who’s also here (later albums feature other crew members and more musical stylings).

It’s also queer as hell (Rose and Cinders have the best tragic love story, Nastya [ship’s engineer] and Aurora [ship] are girlfriends, and that’s just a start!).

Their other albums include: Ulysses Dies at Dawn (jazz noir Greek myth), High Noon Over Camelot (space punk western Arthuriana), Bifrost Incident (lovecraftian murder mystery rock Norse mythos), Frankenstein (very fun single with an AI monster), and of course, Death to the Mechanisms (the album where the immortal Mechanisms die. Yes I do cry, why do you ask)

Eddtober: hey! Pick a song for what you’d like to make! Any song! have fun!

Me: Haha entirety of Ulysses Dies At Dawn and The Bifrost Incident go brrrrrrrrrrr

So while I’m back at it again with my any% speedrun of Eddtober, I decided to combine prompts 15 and 16 into one while listening to the Mechanisms and make an Eddsworld AU of them, so meet the Eddchanisms!

For the most of you who DON’T know The Mechanisms, originally a backing band for the space-travelling vampire Dr Carmilla (who uh, “fell” out the airlock), they are/were a British steampunk cyborg time-travelling cabaret space-pirate band of (not-so) immortals who roam/ed across the universe in the starship Aurora, looking for violence, adventure, violence, and bittersweet and gruesome stories to tell. And they did!

The type of stories they tell/told are mainly sci-fi takes on fairy tales, folklore, and mythologies to the tunes of sea shanties, folk songs and hymns, and all of said stories are very gay and actually tie into lore of the Mechs themselves! (And their songs are actually, unironically bangers.)

My personal favourites are, as stated above, ‘Ulysses Dies At Dawn’ and ‘The Bifrost Incident’ (Greek myths in a gritty sci-fi noir and a train-based mystery with Norse Myths on board respectively). But ‘Once Upon A Time (In Space)’ (fairy tales corrupted into a sci-fi war epic) and ‘High Noon Over Camelot’ (sci-fi western interpretation of Arthurian legend) have been pretty fun too!

They released four main albums and two volumes of smaller stories before going out with a bang on the ‘Death to the Mechanisms’ concert, where… yeah, they died. That being said, their works are still around on bandcamp and youtube (with some filmed concerts even!), and their website is still up, with the fan channel TheVoidSings compiling whole lyric playlists of their music into one easy place. I recommend first listening to be one of their many, many versions of ‘Drunk Space Pirate’, their closing song from every concert.

Before I get carried away, let’s shift back to the Eddchanisms: a spinoff four-man band who, upon building their ship off old fragments of the Aurora, set off on their own adventures after being Mechanised by the original Mechanisms (mostly). They tell their own stories, but sometimes they come to a world still suffering the effects of the original Mechs, and so they may occasionally retell the Mechs’ own too. So let’s meet the Crew!

Edd: Design inspired by Baron Marius Von Raum and Jonny D’Ville, as well as regular Future Edd. The Captain of the ship, lead vocalist and storyteller. His drawing hand is the mechanised one. He claims his hand is impenetrable and unbreakable, but he will deny the story of it breaking when he once punched Jonny D’Ville in the face. It’s perfectly fine, it doesn’t need repairs.

Tom: Design inspired by regular future Tom and Jonny D’Ville (though I will admit, it’s up to change). vice-captain First Mate. Under tutelage from Ashes ‘O’ Reilly, is the bassist of the band and another vocalist. Confirmed to be a friend of the Void— wait a sec, is… is he even meched? Nobody’s sure, but a bassist is important.

Matt: Design inspired by Marius Von Raum and a vampiric vibe. Obviously. Ship’s ‘doctor’, his skull is mechanised. Often switches between lute and guitar as well as another vocalist. A sired vampire, possibly due to his naivety to sneaking into Dr Carmilla’s lab?

Tord: Design inspired by Drumbot Brian and The Toy Soldier (but it’s really up to the most change in the future). Ship’s mechanic, said to have his vocal chords are mechanised, but it’s suspected that he’s really mechanised elsewhere. Playing drums and banjo as frequently as Drumbot Brian did as well as being a vocalist. It’s ALSO suspected that he could have been an experiment of Dr Carmilla’s (or really, a blend of Marius and Raphaella la Cognizi’s), since there’s evidence of a strange combination of the Toy Soldier and Nastya’s abilities regarding his Mechanism.

My time has come.

So! Drumbot Brian (the guy you said you wanted to learn more about) is an immortal space pirate and the pilot of the starship Aurora! He's immortal due to his metal body, with his heart being the only flesh part of him left. He was made mechanical by a vampire scientist named Doc. Camilla, (who also mechanized most of the other crew members, not including Raphaela la Cognizi and Marius von Raum) after he was found floating, near death in the depths of space.

He's got a morality switch as well which switches between ends-justify-means (ejm) or means-justify-ends (mje.) On ejm, he doesn't care what he does as long as he reaches his goal and on mje, he doesn't care what the goal is as long as the actions taken to get to it are morally sound.

He's the 'drummer' of The Mechanisms (the band the whole crew is in) but he usually plays the banjo or fiddle. Would highly recommend the band and not just because they've been rotting my brain for several months now!

Hope this makes sense!

//I don't often answer out of character, but that's so rad!!! His backstory is so cool, plus his design is gorgeous! I'll have a gander at the band, and hopefully -if you wanted- looking forward to seeing some shenanigans with him in the future :D