I know you don’t like c*ellie (me neither) but I’m genuinely curious to see your thoughts on why they aren’t a good match.

obviously better suited as friends is the big one.

other reasons i think they have better pairings, they tailored ellie to fit with craig the equivalent to a jigsaw puzzle and forcing and jamming in a piece that doesn't fit, writing her into the band and shit, the whole thing where manny is involved, ellie is in the band since when she drum? like invented drum playing interests gtfo?, incompatible romantically, she wouldn't leave it be and he sees her as a friend/confidant why ruin that?, why run into a trainwreck literally like you know his track record in romance is bad he would end up hurting you somehow ellie like its pretty much set in stone, um hello?? ellie says i love you and to get him help in what it feels like to be a ghost and he finally tells her i love you and he kisses her but only because he wants her to enable him? like wtf run girl, like that lil scene at the airport when ellie gets him some help is sad bc i think she cries or something bc like he *is* her friend but he hurt her and used her feelings against her for his own agenda like wtf craig idk why i was surprised by him initially like ugh, he was better off single.

that's it.

I don't know if you know blue eye Samurai, but I hate how people talk about the protagonist.

I'm a non binary Trans man, and I actually identify a lot with Mizu (the protagonist), but I go here on Tumblr and I see a lot of posts that say: "I know everyone can see Mizu however they like, but I want everyone to know that the right interpretation is that she is a woman pretending to be a man... but everyone can think whatever they want, not forgetting that she is a woman of course."

And it's a bit annoying because when I see explanations of why is "wrong" to see Mizu as a Trans man, I see people going "Why can't there be representation of gender non conforming women!?" And "she wouldn't pretend to be a man if it wasn't for the society she lives in!"

The last one makes me especially angry, because of how many Trans men get erased from history with that same argument.

I don't know, I think it makes me mad because that fandom feels like a micro cosmos of the anti Trans masculinity a lot of Trans men have to face.

And it's not like I think it's wrong to see Mizu as a woman, but when everyone goes "of course she is a woman, why would she want to be a man for anything other than necessity?" I don't know how to feel.

I'm gonna steal my own words from that post about jeanne d'arc:

And the best part is, we can say all of this and also see her as part of women's history! Because women's history, too, does not have to be exclusively about woman-born or woman-identified women. It can be about a larger cultural experience. And Jeanne d'Arc suffered because of transphobia which is always fundamentally misogynistic. I would argue it even makes sense to say her death involved transmisogyny in a very literal sense. The thing about transfeminism is that it can free us from the need to view personal identification with the role of "woman" as vital to feminism. Being a woman, in whatever sense, is certainly not unrelated to feminism, but one can be a feminist and have any kind of personal or communal relationship with womanhood. Anyone can be inspired by the story of Jeanne d'Arc and her bold defiance of both misogyny and transphobia, no matter how she may have personally understood her gender.

People have this idea where if a character or historical figure (or even currently living person) is anything but a woman, then any kind of Feminist Story falls apart. Especially when it comes to misogyny! People act like someone being a trans man means all their experiences with misogyny are like. gone? Or the story is now, essentially, about a cis man being mistaken for a woman, and thus women are Not Allowed to feel any connection at all.

All of this on top of the fun hypocrisy that is "we can't say this person/character is a trans man because they wouldn't have that concept, but we can say they are a cis woman because those are both the only options and ciswomanhood is a natural and universal concept we can apply regardless of any other context :)"

& with Mizu its like. you literally can see her as a GNC woman. people calling him a trans guy or transmasc or genderqueer or anything else are not taking away your experience of her as a GNC woman. Transmasculinity is not just Negative Womanhood, the idea that transmasculinity is something which saps away representation/power/dignity/identity/value from (cis) women is like ATM 101.

But the whole way people treat trans men and misogyny really annoys me, I guess because the assumption is that for women, having to dress as a man to get respect inspires anger at one's position in society, but trans men are incapable of having any complex feelings about that. Like trans men must fully enjoy not being able to have sex with others, or go to a doctor, and having to live in fear of being outed and facing the brunt of transphobia and misogyny, and trans men also couldn't possibly be angry about misogyny that they experienced, and also nonbinary people don't exist and no transmasculine person could possibly be anything but fully comfortable being seen as a cis man all the time. Sure, some trans men are perfectly happy passing as cis men, but like. there is more than one trans man. & ignoring all other transmasc experiences besides The One is a form of erasure, it just passes as something else because technically you are acknowledging A transmasc existence.

But what about health?? Fine, let’s talk about The Health. Here’s everything I think some of you should know and keep in mind when it comes to health: SOME MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS: - You can’t know someone’s health just by looking at them. You just can’t. And it’s probably not any of your business. - Size is not a reliable indicator of health. There is currently no evidence that being fat in and of itself is bad for you. - Health is not a moral category. - Your body doesn’t need to be The Fittest It Could Possibly Be. What matters is where you need it to get you in life, not some theoretical physical potential. SOME STUFF NOBODY SEEMS TO GRASP: - Health is SO individual. Bodies are complex and incredibly diverse. They come with all sorts of needs and limitations and these fluctuate depending on so many inside and outside factors. We do not all need the same number of calories, the same number of steps, the same amount of rest. And we’re not all supposed to look the same. - More stuff than you probably think is genetic. - Mental health is just as important as physical health, and the two very much impact each other. - Our health is impacted by an array of societal factors beyond our individual control. - Some people will never be healthy for whatever reason, and that doesn’t make them less valuable in any way. SOME STUFF THAT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT HEALTHY: - Hating yourself. Fat people are constantly encouraged to fight against our weight and size, and it’s statistically a losing battle. One that wreaks havoc on our mental health. - Starving yourself and shutting out your body’s hunger cues. - Minority stress. Discrimination, marginalization and exclusion is not good for you. It impacts you both physically and mentally. In other words: shaming someone does less than nothing for their health. If you’re shaming people because “you worry about their health”, you are actively causing the kind of damage you claim you want to prevent. - Seeing doctors that don’t know enough about the body you have and how symptoms manifest in it. A very real occurrence for many black people, trans people, fat people, disabled people - the list goes on. - Not having universal health insurance SOME THINGS THAT ARE INDEED HEALTHY: - Eating regularly. Eating a variety of foods and food groups. You should find and eat food you like if possible. - Some level of movement regularly. A lot of us already get it at work et cetera. You should move in a way that you enjoy, that does not cause pain. - Staying hydrated. - Getting enough sleep. The amount will vary from person to person. - Resting when you need it. - Brushing your teeth. Wearing sunscreen. - Not overdoing it with drugs and alcohol. - Fresh air. - Being - and feeling - safe. - Love and community. - Being kind to yourself. NOTE: not everyone has access to all of this. People are busy. People are poor. People are sick. People lack accommodations they need. People live in dangerous areas. People are abused and controlled. The world around us has a huge amount of power over our health.

Okay okay forgive me if this is incoherent I don't rant very often. I've been seeing a lot of posts shitting on Husk for Loser, Baby, saying he was being an asshole and he was in the wrong or whatever, and that Husk and Angel Dust are bad for each other and toxic and yadda yadda yadda.

And you know? Maybe it wasn't the standard sunshine and rainbows way of going about it. But the show already took the time to show you that Charlie's way, the way that would make these people happy, wasn't going to work! Angel's fucked up as shit. So is just about everybody else in hell. The NORMAL way of going about things isn't gonna work because everyone is jaded, distrustful, and cynical. Hell's denizens think about things differently than we do because their experiences are vastly different and worse than ours. They have to be distrustful to survive.

Ultimately, it comes down to this: the same approach isn't gonna work on everyone because everyone is different. So is it strange and fucked up? Yes. Was it the only way for Husk (who is strange and fucked up) to get through to Angel (who is also strange and fucked up)? Yes.

At the beginning, before Husk calls him a loser, Angel's clearly miserable. He thinks Husk is gearing up for some "Things suck now but they'll get better! Things aren't as bad as they seem!" speech á la little miss Bleeding Heart, Charlie. He thinks he knows what's coming, and he's kind of just waiting for Husk to get over with it and shut up.

"You think your life is wrecked. Well let me just say that you're correct!" Husk has intentionally subverted Angel's expectations, using surprise to get through to him. You can see Angel is annoyed for a little bit while he's trying to figure out what Husk's trying to say. He's starting to think Husk only came out here to make fun of him.

And yeah, Husk sings for a little while about how Angel is a loser. He's not trying to tell Angel that his life is okay or things get better or some 100% positive but ultimately meaningless pleasantries. They've both probably heard shit like that before, like "I hope it gets better" "Things aren't as bad as they seem" whatever. They both know it doesn't mean anything, even if it's well-intentioned. It means nothing to Husk, and since he understands Angel, he knows it wouldn't mean anything to Angel either, so he doesn't bother.

Slowly he starts singing more about how he and Angel are similar. "You're a loser, just like me." "You're a power bottom at rock bottom, but you've got company!" "There was a time I thought no one could relate to the gruesome ways in which I'm damaged." He's not trying to exclusively shit on Angel, he's trying to acknowledge the true shittiness of their situations and how they're similar. He's doing it in a fucked up way because they're both fucked up and it's the way they understand.

This is where Angel is starting to understand what Husk is saying.

Husk: "We're both losers, baby, we're losers! It's okay to be a-"

Angel: "Coked-up dick-sucking hoe?"

Husk: "Baby that's fine by me!"

Husk is accepting Angel for who he is and the situation he's been forced into. They've both made very similar, very terrible decisions that have led them to their respective shitty predicaments, and Angel is realizing just how similar they really are now.

Both, singing at the same time: "You're a loser, just like me!"

Husk has managed to break through Angel's shell and get him to open up. They're friends now! I could go on and on but I'll skip to the end because I think I've made my point.

Ultimately, Husk's point is "We're both kinda pathetic and in terrible situations, and we may both be losers, but there's no need to hate ourselves or self-destruct or pretend we're anyone but who we really are." And he goes about it in a way that may not make sense to normal people, but makes sense to each other because of how similarly they're fucked up. It works.

It's really annoying when I see people who think you can't like a flawed character or a relationship (friendly or romantic, doesn't matter). Like oh no, the weird little freaks are doing weird little freak things and understanding each other in weird little freak ways. I don't really get what their point is anyway. So what if they're weird? So what if Husk is kind of an asshole about it? Nothing else was gonna work. Real people who are scarred as much as Husk and Angel are usually sick of the sunshine and rainbows bullshit anyway, many of them would much rather hear the truth and receive support than be hit with the Charlie approach. I'm not shitting on Charlie because I love her and her approach is great (and also normal) but as I said before: the same approach won't work on everyone. Hers worked on Vaggie and Sir Pentious but didn't work on Angel Dust, hence why Angel's character development was really kickstarted when he became friends with Husk.

I think these people are just chronically online and media illiterate tbh. Anyway, sorry if this was long or drawn out. I have too many opinions about people who don't exist and they're very disorganized.

Like we're gonna die young

Warnings; drink and alcohol abuse (getting clean) angel dust being angel dust, the Vs

Parings; Alastor x fem reader

Part one of ?

(I blasted so much early 2000s/2010s pop with a sprinkling of punk, playlist here

You didn't think you were a big deal. You were just some pop star from the early 2000s who ended up in hell. You just liked to keep the party going. When you showed up in hell you found yourself with animalistic features.

Your already wild multi-colored hair be wilder and longer. Your legs now looked something akin to a wolf's. You have two large wold ears. Shrugging you did the only thing you knew how, party. You walked into the nearest club, got too drunk and broke out into a Kesha song. Next thing you know, your a social media hit.

It's been a few years since you came to hell and became an overnight hit. You went to the same bar, acting as some kind of unpaid performer if you were on enough drugs or drunk enough.

You were in a booth, sipping on something someone handed you a while ago, scratching your arm. You were withdrawing, trying to go clean on your own. You knew that you couldn't do alcohol on your own, you would need to get medical help for that one, but drugs? You figured you could do it.

You were three days, you found that scratching your arm seemed to work for now, but it wouldn't quench the hunger that was there. It's been two days and you already wanted to relapse.

You were irritated, only made worse by a new presence at the club, the Vs. All three of them, sitting in the vip section. You gulped as you watched them all take a seat, and the owner of the club, Rina walked over.

Rina had animalistic traits just like you did, only instead of wolf like, she's more fox like. Rina has skin that's more akin to fur, cunning jade colored eyes and long well kept black hair. Rina looked at you with sympathy. She's the only one who knew you were at least trying to get clean.

"(Y/n) I hate to ask, but do you think you could preform tonight? I know you don't work here but the Vs are hear and I'm panicking!"

You nodded agreeing and standing up. You quickly swallowed the rest of your drink while Rina looked at you thankful. The two of you were close, friends. Yet you refused to work under her. You were thinking leaving your empty glass on the bar as you leaned against it.

You snapped your clawed fingers as you knew what song you wanted to do, your fluffy tail waving back and forth to the sound of the music that was already playing.

Before you could even start a second familiar face walked up to you. You recognized her. Cassidy had short black hair cut in a bob. Her eyes inky pools of black with white. She dressed as if she fit into the club crowd, but you knew her better and knew she would much rather wear something else. She snaked an arm around your shoulder and pulled you close,

"(Y/n) I need a favor~ I promise I'll get you whatever ya want if you do it"

Cassidy asked quite straight forward. You nodded your head so she continued,

"Get Vox to talk about himself for me, I've got a hunch he's been up to something"

"Cassie, you know he already does that-"

"Yeah yeah I know but I hear he's been doing a little cheating~"

You raised an eyebrow. Now this was interesting. You always thought Vox and Valentino were an item, apparently they weren't exclusive if they were. You had no idea Vox had even gotten himself into a relationship, let alone knew anyone who would openly date him. You felt bad for whoever he was with, that is if what Cassidy was saying was true.

"Ya got proof?"

You know Cassidy usually doesn't talk to you about things like this unless she has proof. Both you and Rina gasped as the picture Cassie held up with a smirk.

Sure enough it was Vox with a man, making out in a back alley. You smirked, having just the song to push his buttons the way Cassie wanted you too.

As the three of you conversed on a little plan, Angel Dust, Husk, Cheri bomb, Nifty and Sir Pentious walked in the club. Charlie and Vaggie were in Heaven for a meeting about the extermination and Alastor was out for an overlord meeting. Charlie had asked Cheri bomb to take them all out on an outing while the three were away and they ended up at the very same club you were.

The bunch took their seats, Angel Dust making sure to keep an eye on Nifty and making sure she wasn't drinking too much, ending up placing her in Husk's care as she played with his feline like ears.

The music in the club was quickly replaced by yours. (Link here to song) people started cheering as they realized they you were finally singing for the night.

Your foot thumped against the ground as the song started, tail wagging with excitement. As you opened your mouth to sing you cringed, you sounded tipsy. Shaking the thought from your head, the show went on.

Angel Dust and Cherri Bomb realized right away who you were from the start of your performance.

"Holy shite it's (y/n) she's here tonight? Fuck yeah!"

Cheered Cherri Bomb as the group now watched you. While everyone but Nifty, she was busy playing with Husk's wings. Husk raised an eyebrow as Angel Dust pulled out his phone to record the performance.

Meanwhile Rina had taken the picture from Cassie and use her abilities to shift her appearance. Her usual fox like features turned to a more hellborn like one, choosing to look like an imp from lust as that would fit in more. She took the picture from Cassie and set off behind you.

You sang and made your way over to the Vs. you smirked, wanting to get under their skin, but not enough to the point where they would kill you.

As you placed your finger under what you would consider to be Vox's chin, the firm flat metallic edge of his flat screen tv face, Rina walked up, setting down the picture Cassie took.

You take your leave, hips swaying as Angel Dust watches closely, eyebrow lifted. Rina leans over the table and slides the picture to Vox and also takes her leave.

Angel dust focuses his camera on Vox, whose screen glitches for a moment as Val raises an eyebrow before moving it to Rina who shape shifts back into her regular form, before locating your form once more.

You're dancing on the bar, shaking your hips, hands in your hair, enjoying the rush of the show. Angel stops his recording and turns to the group, motioning for them to head back.

The group makes its way to the hotel where Angel makes the mistake of leaving his phone open, with the video up and playing on the main table, having been called over by Charlie for something.

Alastor comes waltzing in after his Overlord meeting, looking over at the miniature picture box he so detested. He raised his staff, about to break it, when he watched your interaction with Vox. The way you looked at him with a slight smirk on your features followed by the picture being slid over almost made him feel something.

Was it admiration? Was it respect? He didn't really care to find out quite yet, all he knew is that he found you quite interesting. He paused the video as it zoomed in on you, smile wide on your face, clearly drunk, but enjoying yourself.

Yes he didn't quite enjoy seeing how drunk you were, but it still didn't change the fact that you had managed to get under Vox's skin with nothing more than what seemed just like a photograph.

He may not have knew how he was feeling but he did know

He just positively had to get his claws on that photograph

---------------------------------------

@slytherin4ever @iheartpieck @luzzbuzz



Would LOVE that essay on combat in dnd because full agree. But not even just for people watching live play, like, combat is an essential feature of dnd as a game system and it endlessly frustrates me when i see dms be like “yeah combat is just too complicated and no fun so i dont do it in my game :)!” Like i guess thats your right, but any non-caster class is gonna be miserable in your game. I saw a video recently talking about how dnd has kind of become the default ttrpg and is marketed as the perfect system for everyone and any style of play which is just. So not true. Combat in dnd is equally as integral as roleplay is and theres really no argument otherwise. Very valid if you hate dnd combat, it sure isnt for everyone, but in that case maybe play a different ttrpg where the characters arent constructed around combat abilities, i promise you’ll have more fun.

So this is one of those things that touches on maybe 99% of my feelings on Experiencing Fiction in general and actual play in particular; I apologize in advance for the length and digressions within this response.

Here are the reasons I have seen or I surmise why people don’t like D&D combat, either in actual play or in home games:

It can get crunchy and involves a lot of rules

There are long stretches in which individuals do not necessarily act (not exclusive to combat but I think this is a factor)

It contains violence

There is a potential for character death

Now, it’s fine if you aren’t interested in D&D-style combat, for whatever reason, when you play ttrpgs. It’s just that this is a core feature of D&D. As you say, this is what the martial classes are structured around - and, frankly, no small number of casting classes/subclasses as well. By avoiding it when you play D&D, you’re avoiding the bulk of the game, and there are plenty of ttrpgs that permit open RP that aren’t combat focused that would probably fit your needs better (eg: PbtA and Savage Worlds are both generic systems that can support a heroic fantasy like D&D without the emphasis on combat skills). I happen to love and prefer D&D, but that is specifically because I love combat, and yeah, there are other games and people should seek out those games if they don’t like combat.

When it comes to D&D actual play though…skipping combat is just straight-up stupid. And to be clear I mean fully skipping it and not watching it at all; while this is piggybacking off my post about spoilers, it’s fine if you are the sort of person who needs to know how combat ends in order to enjoy it! That’s just a personal preference that I respect even if I don’t share it.

D&D combat isn’t just an inherent part of the game; it’s an inherent part of the story. The idea of D&D being split into combat and RP is a false dichotomy. There is RP and crucial story within combat scenes, and you simply do not achieve the same effects by reading an after-the-fact summary. To use examples from Critical Role, consider one of the most famous RP moments from Campaign 1, when Scanlan uses his 9th level counterspell in the Vecna fight. The weight of that moment derives from mechanics and from the fact that it is in the midst of combat and well into a climatic final battle. Or for lighter examples, there’s a ton of Beau/Yasha and Fjord/Jester mid-combat flirting running through much of Campaign 2 that informs those relationships. Molly’s death? Caleb going into a fugue state when he kills humanoids with fire? Yasha destroying Obann? Fjord dying mid-deep scion fight? Those are all moments that have deep character weight and meaning that are within the context of combat, and you cannot divorce them from that context and hope to retain the same effect.

This is what dovetails into a larger discussion of Experiencing Fiction which is a (in my opinion) worrying tendency among some people to truly believe that you can cut up media into the palatable bits and pieces and push all of what you see as icky vegetables to the side of your plate. I fucking hate this. I think it’s what drives a lot of things including a distaste for combat. This is how you get, for example, people who dislike combat because Violence And Death Bad, which, do I think that in the real world violence is most often a thing to be avoided? Do I think that in the real world death is heartbreaking? Yes, but this is fiction. There’s that great Brennan Lee Mulligan quote about how TTRPGs like D&D allow people who usually must be conflict-avoidant in real life to let out their anger and frustration in a place where it is safe and harmless, and I believe that whole-heartedly. I want stories about death because I want to know I'm not alone in how I feel about death. I want stories in which people can express their rage in ways both healthy and unhealthy, because big same. (I also think it’s absolutely not coincidental that people who believe they are ‘protecting’ people by circumscribing what is acceptable in fiction tend to be strongly associated with either bigoted, violent policies in real life, or harassment and doxxing online; maybe enjoy a fucked up movie, as John Waters once said, and you'll calm down.)

This idea that you can cut up media and only consume what you like is also what I think is behind some of the really ill-considered and overly granular timestamped content warnings I’ve mentioned previously. It is fine if there are things you don’t want to watch or which will be upsetting or even triggering to watch! It’s fine if you as an individual don’t like violence! But I think there’s a problem when people believe they are entitled to be able to watch whatever they want and have it mold to their exact wants and needs (and that it’s a failing if it doesn’t), rather than taking on the responsibility of seeking out media that already fits the bill. Actual Play D&D will nearly always have violent encounters. If this will be an issue this is not for you. It is not gatekeeping to say “you can come through this gate, but the gate is in fact here for your specifically requested protection"; and yet people think that instead, gates should be placed around everything else. So (to give an example) this is why the warnings for D20’s Neverafter strike me as a symptom of this larger problem - if you have discomfort with violence towards animals and children, that’s fine, but you are watching a D&D horror series in which over half the player characters are either animals or children. This is not something where you can skip a few seconds of a flashing gif that might be a migraine or seizure trigger, or a case where an exceptionally rough scene of gaslighting can be read instead of watched; this is inherent to the show, and if this is not for you, you need to go elsewhere.

To give one last example, I was looking for fanart for Worlds Beyond Number, and came across a picture of Suvi with a caption of “Suvi but without the imperialism” and like…Aabria has said in interviews that this engagement with the empire is extremely deliberate; that Suvi is intended to be tied into the political structures of this world as an intentional contrast with Eursulon’s status as an outsider and Ame’s role at the smaller, community level. Suvi without imperialism is not identifiable as the same character and it throws the entire story off-kilter; she is of this empire and that is the fucking point. Any story worth telling is not just items thrown haphazardly into a bowl; they are combined and mixed. Someone is giving you a plate of brownies and you are acting like it’s physically possible to take out the cocoa powder without fucking the end result, and buddy, it’s not.

(Truly, I was not joking when I said this is like, the load-bearing pillar of most of my complaints about fiction consumption patterns in general. This is about how people will deny the flaws in characters even though any reasonably intelligent ten-year-old, and I know because I fucking was one once, understands that person vs. themself is one of the core conflicts and overcoming one’s flaws is in many cases the entire story and if you start out perfect there is nothing to be said. Like…I think a lot of people genuinely just want to watch a nonstop Monterey Bay Otter Cam of their sufficiently sanitized, focus-group-tested blorbos baking cookies together, and are affronted when people with the tiniest sliver of empathy and/or curiosity want a story with plot and character growth, which in turn require conflict.)

Anyway. I think the takeaways here are that there’s this awful entitlement people have in which they think that they can simply consume anything and it is the failure of that media if it doesn’t cater specifically to them, rather than a failure of them to seek out that which they would enjoy (and I could go on this rant indefinitely; it is truly the most constant theme among Takes I Think Are Dumb); and also I really want to bake something right now, given my choices of metaphor. Combat is part of D&D as a game and as a storytelling medium, and it is incumbent upon people who do not like combat to find something that doesn’t have D&D combat, rather than try to pull out the vital organs of the story.

I can't believe there is a "Cursed Cat Alastor Controversy" and that once again I had to have the evil lepreconartist who lords over the fandom making his gold off of Medrano's despair explain to me in order to understand what the fuck is going in on the fandom, yet again ... But I kind of hate you all so here's my hot take...

It's actual petty bullshit.

It's the equivalent of a fanartist calling out an AMV maker for "art theft" and demanding that a video they worked hard on be taken down because they used a piece of fanart for a character in an AMV tribute to the character that both the fanartist and the AMV maker (who is already an artist in their own right) already do not actually fucking own. Like, regardless if the AMV maker gives the fanartist credit. Instead of being honored by it, when they should know better that neither of them ever actually even own the shit to begin with, yet they still demand "credit" for fanwork.

I once saw a popular Asian artist in the svtfoe fandom demanding a boycott of the popular fan run merch store TheMysteryShack just as the beautiful fan made artbook Tales of Rebel Princess was about to launch exclusively through there because she alleged that the shop owner had stolen one of her friends fanart designs on a goddamn fucking Steven Universe tarot card pack of all things but I still really liked her Star fanart, so when I tried to respectfully explain to her that I wouldn't be boycotting the shop because of Tales of Rebel Princes launching and how I thought it was personally in very poor taste to not just contact the shop owner privately about the matter and instead making a big stink in public about boycotting his shop when she knew that one of her other artist friends that we knew she had also collaborated with in the past was just about to debut another big collaborative art tribute book dedicated to Daron and Star vs. there through this guys shop! And essentially it would be sad to see her knowingly taking business away from her other friend like that and demanding others in her following do the same and over something as small as a deck of Steven Universe cards, especially in understanding how little love svtfoe gets, since she was also a well known svtfoe fanartist ... All I got in response was "Well I'm happy for my friend but I'm Korean and you're just a Filthy American who couldn't possibly understand how disrespectful something like this is in my culture and blah blah blah if you instant on further harassing me about this I'll block you!"

And I was basically like "suit yourself being fake and having a stick up your butt honey I'm still getting my Star vs. artbook!"

And then she blocked me.

Good riddance. As if Miss Heinous would honestly ever head bang to Ruberiot...

But I guess what I'm trying to get here is that like...Oh, I'm sorry? You wanna make fanart for western cartoons? You gotta play by western rules then. Like it's late night here and I'm sorry if that sounds harsh. But it's true.

If Aurelio Voltaire honestly deserves to have a deal be cut in my opinion so he can finally officially own his share of the "Vampair" series after Daria Cohen stole his voice to make it (half dry humor, half serious here, to be quite frank about this) then coma0423 deserves to cut a deal so that Amir Talai can have a bit of financial comprehension and his percentage of whatever kind of (I'm guessing financial) ~"credit'~ that Coma is now demanding from other fanartists who make Cursed Cat Alastor fan merch since Talai , after all, did design the original concept sketch that would become Cursed Cat Alastor that Coma saw and then decided to just runaway with when they made the meme ...

Listen to me... Fanart belongs to everyone and no one by nature of it being made by fans and no one can truly own a "fan concept" expect for the true creator of the thing that it's based on. Unless that thing is already in the public domain. And if it is it becomes Schrodinger's Cheshire Cat.

Schrodinger's Cursed Cat Alastor belongs to everyone and no one, babe. He belongs to The Hazbin Hotel Fandom and The Hazbin Hotel. If he actually becomes canon in the show somehow, then he'll belong to Amir and Viv, actually, maybe Coma will get proper credit then, but the concept won't even really be theirs anymore, just as it even isn't really officially theirs now, even if they officially do get hired.

First you're telling me that I'm not allowed to fuck the radio demon ... Now you're telling me that I'm apparently not even allowed to kiss a cute wittle kitty cat plushie of him between the space on his head between his ears if said plush wasn't crafted by or sold explicitly by the fanartist who again, stole the concept sketch of him from Amir Talai in the first place?

No. This is nonsense.

Stop making all these petty dramas off someone else's work that only feed the evil leprechaun more gold off of someone else's work or start making you're own original work from your own original concept that you can actually claim your own copyright to I'm exhausted.

Ever hear the phrase once something leaves your brain it belongs to everyone, not just you anymore?

This goes triple for anyone making fanart of someone else's work and that's a fact. Especially if it's only ever an extremely memed up version of an already canonically existing character that you were only so lucky went viral.

Stop the bullying. No one fanwork is that special. Just do your best to honor the source material and be flattered by other fanartists imitations of your fanartist imitation... It's the circle of cursed kitties and it feeds us all. *smacks paw down*

hello! if it’s not a problem, can i ask for some headcanons of sting with a veeeryyy hot headed BF who’s also not a wizard? both sfw and nsfw if that’s okay :)

you’re very good at writing and i love how you portrait all the characters so well

Thank you!!!

Being a wizard and using magic is so normalized around Fiore and especially within Sabertooth that Sting's kind of surprised to meet a guy who doesn't have or use magic, let alone date one.

Hot-headed matches well with Sting, especially if they have that upbeat spark that he's got himself. You guys obviously started out arguing or competing against each other, maybe fighting, and you know how Sting loves to prove himself.

Granted, these traits do match up badly with the fact that Sting near-exclusively hangs out with wizards otherwise. Sting has just enough wherewithal to pull you back if you start trying to beef with Orga or Minerva or some shit, bc without the magic, u ain't Natsu and ain't gettin up if they clap you.

If you aren't a fan of wizards in general or don't keep up with wizard culture, then it ends up kind of refreshing for Sting. It probably tripped him up a bit at first, expecting you to know who he was, illustrious guildmaster of Sabertooth and all, and floored him to hear "who the fuck" back.

He's SO DISAPPOINTED AT FIRST like him boasting about killing dragons has never failed to earn a reaction but pretty soon he gets excited about showing you what being a wizard is like. It's even better if you uno reverse card him and drag him into whatever world you're coming from, be that non-magical guilds or just everyday life where people use electricity and shit.

You two probably met at a gay bar. Bonus points if you were the bartender. Double bonus points if you were the bouncer.

Since Sting is so eager to defend or just fight alongside his man, many fights you'd otherwise struggle with get one-shotted. Which probably irritated you after a while and he was asked to back off. He sulked about it for a week.

Unless you are yourself a high earner by some fashion, odds are Sting is richer than you by a good margin. He is a pretty capable wizard who regularly goes on difficult and high-paying missions, so the good news about that is you get treated often. Anything you want, you get without a second thought, you're pretty spoiled.

Rogue vanishes the second you appear, not because he doesn't like you, but because your energy and Sting's energy put together makes him need a nap very badly.

Sting does his best to hype you up the way he would any boyfriend, and he's good at it, only he sometimes lets people think you're a wizard for the fun of it. He's had a lot of fun lying to people about what kind of magic you use and how it can make people's heads explode or other outlandish tales.

NS/FW:

There are two possible outcomes here: One, you put your money where your mouth is and get Sting in Slut Mode pretty easily with that surefire aggro attitude of yours...or Sting discovers your bark is worse than your bite and you get a free domming out of your man.

The 69ing. Good looooooord the 69ing. Y'all be makin' each other dizzy.

Sting's filter is only half what yours will be. If you talk about sex lightly, then he's gonna be ready to brag to everyone around him how good you are in bed. If he's not too hoarse to speak.

So many nudes. You get new snaps daily, always after some attention, because you know he loves that attention.

Sting hates getting dressed after the fact so be prepared to see him walk around in the buff once he's got his breath back.

PR ANTICS PART 1: Team Real/Team PR's tactics, the use of haters in a PR strategy and the purpose it serves

Team Real and Team PR: 2 sides of the same coin pursuing the same objective

I have already defined who “team PR” and “team Real” blogs were in my pinned post. You can check it out if you want.

Their disrespectful, condescending and downright insulting tone is usually a good enough hint to recognize those plants whose purpose is to push certain narratives. But they actually are two sides of the very same coin, as they pursue the same objective even if they sometimes use opposing strategies. Each side is meant to “gain the upper hand” at some point, before the other gains ground again. And so forth. By using the oldest trick in the book that is the good old divide and conquer tactics, their goal is to distract from the truth, drive more traffic and keep people’s engagement to a maximum. Although, I do suspect people’s patience might very well be wearing thin at this point. 

Why do people (still) give them the benefit of the doubt…

I have already explained how each Team has lost any credibility at this point. However, both have gotten away with it and sometimes even continues to do so thanks to two things: 

They sometimes have legitimate information that could only come from Chris’ or Abba’s team (a Team Real blog had the exclusive for Chris and Abba’s wedding with Renner and Hemsworth’ presence for ex)

They sometimes point out obvious lies coming from the other team

Those two things still provide them with an audience that listens to their wild speculation or blatant lies, as people keep hoping they will catch a glimpse of the truth or get the ultimate evidence that they are looking for, as it will prove them right.   

Similar and opposing strategies used by either Team

Each Team uses a nice mix of actual facts, real observations, speculation, lies, hateful comments and trolling. And both of them show no sign of actual integrity and keep attacking other people who have an opinion that differs from them.

I was recently attacked by one of those Team Real blogs in my private DM who wrote to me and I quote: “Chris and Alba are married! I know someone who works with his sisters and their marriage is real.” But as I said, I know for a fact that Chris and Abba are exclusively PR because my mailman’s third cousin removed is best friends with someone who knows the assistant of Chris’ mother’s dermatologist. I am obviously joking. I am not privy to any private information but you get the point… 

The inclusion of haters in PR tactics…

It’s important to note that trolls and haters are part of the strategy used by a PR team. Those hate accounts basically work as a controlled opposition. They can serve various purposes. First of all, they can work as bait to get a pulse of what some people might really think of someone, of their RS, of their actions etc. They can also help shape a narrative or help discredit one.

For example, when certain mods called Chris a groomer or a pedophile for dating Abba, they were achieving two things. First they were selling that those two are a real couple. But also by voicing such a false and extremist opinion, they help discredit any kind of concern the public might have looking at them. Indeed, the age difference between them is pretty vast but the optics are even worse given that she looks like a teenager. Some of those mods miraculously became shippers afterwards, which is another sign of them being plants placed here to sell a narrative, whatever that may be and using whatever strategy they see fit. 

Also, if my memory serves me correctly, a hate twitter account got the exclusive for the infamous Walt Disney pics and then claimed they got those pictures via Chris’ sister’s private account. If you actually believe that… It is much more realistic to believe that this account was fed those pics or is actually working for their team. But I am speculating of course. 

The alleged hate relationship between the two and how it helps Chris’ image…

There were hints and breadcrumbs that were designed to help sell the narrative that Chris and Abba actually hate one another. The pictures of them on the stairs after their first papwalk were comically bad and Buzzfeed threw actual shade with their “romance” headline. His mother liked a tweet calling her a racist. Her best friend and soulmate liked a tweet calling Chris “a cheap version of Leo but without the talent”. Of course, Chris and Abba might dislike one another. Or… this could also have been manufactured as well. We will never know for sure.

But what we do know is that this narrative helped achieve a couple of things. First it kept the discourse between Team Real and Team PR very much alive. Because how real can they be if they hate one another? 

But it also helped save Chris’ image with the people who are aware of her problematic stuff. If his fans actually believed that he really fell in love with a Nazi sympathizing yacht girl, he wouldn’t have many fans left. So this narrative served not only as damage control, but also helped him gain sympathy from the people who pay close attention. How sad is it that he is forced to be in a PR RS with a girl he hates? Poor Chris!

I personally think they don’t like one another. He has done the absolute minimum to sell this and his whole demeanor point to it. But again who knows?

I will share more of my thoughts on those PR tactics in my next posts.  

Careful on that last post there's tons of proshippers in the notes blindly praising him

oh hon, are you lost? i really don't hide what i write!

i'm going to take you in best faith and assume you meant this as a kind heads up. i also want to assure you that this very long post is not meant to make you feel bad and please don't take it as me starting an argument with you personally. it's just something that's been on my mind lately and you've given me an excuse to articulate it!

seriously. it's not you, it's me.

i think the labels of pro/anti-shipper are very stupid and they're a very fandom-centric thing. not because people don't get up in arms about what professional authors write, because of course they do, but because when they do, they don't identify themselves as doing so exclusively on the basis of the romantic pairings in the work.

you wouldn't get someone saying "jamie x cersei writer george r r martin is bad because he wrote incest", you'd get someone saying "game of thrones is bad because it contains incest, graphic sex, rape, gratuitous violence, fantasy themes" or whatever it is they have problems with. or they might say something along the lines of "game of thrones is immoral". and that judgement is based on the work, not on martin as a person.

pro/anti is not based on a person's creative work, because people identify with these labels when they've never created fanfic/fanart. it's a personal identity. "i believe it is bad for someone to create/consume works with romantic pairings based on x" or "i believe people should be allowed to create/consume whatever they like". the "x" in that is usually incest/age gap/power inbalance of some kind, but people can come up with all sorts of things to fill in the blank.

"antishipper" is a convenient label because it isn't defined. it's like saying "moralshipper", where you never say what the morals are. those on the outside of the label are automatically bad, and those on the inside get to be anxious about whether any of their actions or thoughts are going to be called out.

it's the equivalent (and there's a large overlap here) of having a pinned post saying "freaks dni" or "dni if you're a, b, c, or any of the other bad things". it's the safe thing to do, because you can't get called out for forgetting to publicly declare that you don't want racists to interact with you, but it's also an exercise in anxiety.

not for the people who label themselves as proshippers or gladly fly the freak flag! those people either block (sensible) or argue (pointless) or hatefollow (genuine self harm), but they don't panic about the fact that they're being excluded. they might feel sad and they might have anxiety over the potential of being included on a blocklist or callout post, but they know who they are. no, those posts--and to an extent the label of antishipper itself--create an "in" group. and wherever there's an "in" group and those inside hate the "out" group, those inside either Don't Think About It or they live in fear of being kicked out.

and the same is probably true of some proshipper circles. some people would view a member having a personal squick as a betrayal of the group.

by putting a label on it, you're making it into a club.

that's my criticism of the labels. there is some horrific bullying behaviour on both sides, so i won't bother to criticise that. if you think it's okay to tell someone they should hate themselves or they should be harmed due to their opinions, i don't want to be your friend. i don't think that is ever productive. the only thing it does is make the person saying that kind of thing feel that they have done their civic duty. it doesn't change minds, it doesn't soothe victims, it's just nasty.

in terms of what the labels represent, here are my main criticisms of antishipping (because proshipping is defined as "not antishipping" so is useless to talk about). and i'm focusing on incest here because it's easiest to choose one thing rather than go broad:

it implies that it's impossible for a work of fiction to be about a topic without also condoning it.

it states that liking or disliking a work of fiction is a moral action. by liking something, you are actively doing something bad. by disliking something, you are actively doing something good.

it specifically fixates on the ship--i already mentioned this, but it bears repeating. two siblings kissing is not allowed; explicit torture is, so long as it's not tied to a romantic relationship.

it talks about "normalising" concepts, and to normalise is apparently to make them acceptable in wider society. which is ridiculous:

because if incest didn't exist before supernatural shippers, we wouldn't have had a word for it;

because fanfiction is not something that the majority of wider society is aware of, let alone consuming;

because there are 33,509 fics in dean/sam (supernatural) as of the time of posting, and i promise you that none of those authors are kissing their siblings because they enjoyed writing about fictional brothers kissing. i promise you. because ...

because incest is a very real and very illegal and very fucking bad thing. the vast majority of incest is paedophillic and rape. the vast majority of the offenders are not reading fanfiction. they did not learn that incest existed because of fiction and decide that it was an okay thing to do to someone else. the argument that they would is fucking insane.

it can be comforting to say "people who consume this kind of media are bad, and i don't consume that media so i'm not bad."

it can be comforting to say "i don't associate with anyone who consumes this kind of media, so i am not in danger of being hurt."

it can be comforting to say "by saying that i'm an antishipper / proshipper / terf / terf hater / whatever in my bio, i am signalling to those on the outside of my group that they are unwelcome on my blog and unwelcome in society. i am cleansing my space and the world of those people."

and it's all bullshit.

it doesn't matter.

here's a list of things that you can do that do have a positive impact in the world:

plant a tree. call your mum. smile at the baby in the line in front of you. attend local council meetings and advocate for equality. start a book club. compliment someone's art and reblog it. learn how to say thank you in your country's sign language. buy your mate a coffee. assume people are trying their best. put your pronouns in your email signature. take your dog for a walk. write a story that will make someone feel something.

just be kind.

Younger Old Creak meeting his demise in the hands of conquest-hungry knights and their Towering King.

Birthday art inspired by recently deceased Dan Hillier's forest artwork. Please zoom in on the thousands hatchings i done here 🙏 this was very time consuming but also therapeutic to do

OC lore under the cut:

Old Creak is basically an ancestor/predecessor of Woodkid, but went through a lot more pain, hate and fear- especially under the constant invasion of Towering King- that his sense of self eroded and he became a malevolent being that kills human indiscriminately in order to protect the far-reaching forest he's in. Even to Woodkid, he can be quite volatile when provoked.

This is what he looks like in present story:

He used to be able to talk, feel, and even goof off like Woodkid in his early days but now Old Creak exclusively haunts and trudges along the expansive forest. Legends said that his colossal size was because he "ate" the Towering King and his knights in act of revenge, since the infamous band disappeared soon after their victory but those tales tend to be refuted because why would a wood-based being eat meat?

Then again, nobody really knows how a decapitated being can spring back to life so anything could've had happened...

Now my random commentaries for him:

i reused Woodkid's old head design for Old Creak which is a pretty tragic implication, and i'm allll for it 🫠

For Woodkid, Old Creak is an omen of self; the possibility that he too can lose his personhood and become nothing more that a mere pawn of the forest, a force of destructive nature.

Instead of making the Wood Boys (lmao) deities or whatever, i now think of them more like personification of the forest. I dont have any name for the Forest yet, but it's an expansive domain in this world, segmenting big nations and stuff, and definitely quite mystical in how it works.

In time of aggresion and extreme pain, Old Creak becomes the Forest's rage. He's pretty much isolated and has little to none positive interaction with humans even before he transformed into the mindless malevolent being that he is now. But after decades and more of trudging through the forest, hurting and killing every human he stumbled upon while accompanied by nothing but hate and fear, i imagine the Forest long for warmth and kindness.

Enter, or rather exist, Woodkid. A subconscious desire of the Forest to reconnect to the world, to mend his trust to human and regain companionship with someone, anyone. Yet the Forest is still (rightfully) wary of human so both Old Creak and Woodkid exist at the time.

Andddd that's the gist of my guy Old Creak.

If you have any advice or critique, feel free to send it my way! Creating OC content can be incredibly lonely so i appreciate any feedback hehe 🥲👍

Have you seen the argument that SnC can't be pulling away from the fans on social media because their 'social media stars' and that their entire job is social media so they are required to give fans tweets and instagram posts etcetc?

My opinion is no they're not social media stars anymore, they are YOUTUBERS, Instagram, twitter, tiktok and snapchat are just extras that these days they could stop if they so wanted. Their job is to create youtube videos, everything else they give us is given to us by their choice, they don't have to do any of that. They could if they wanted just use their social media accounts to promote only their videos and merch and nothing else like a lot of other youtubers do. They CHOOSE not to because in the past they have enjoyed the social side of things, but with their fans being assholes they are allowed to pull away from socials as they are not social media stars, it is not required of their job anymore. They are YOUTUBERS.

What are your thoughts?

it is very funny to hear ppl say this, especially when for years i thought the general consensus was that snc need to take a break and they deserve one. but now… no one wants them to have one. how weird.

first off, the main problem with this argument is that fans expect something for staying so long when we've never been guaranteed anything. i've been here for years, i don't expect snc to do dick all except give me content occasionally that i enjoy and continue to post on xplrclub where i pay to be/get exclusive content. that's all i'm owed. anything else is an added bonus.

fans that think they are owed something just bc they bought the most amount of merch or have been here for years or whatever other reason need a reality check. you are mistaking a past time of yours as a job. you aren't getting paid to be here. you can leave whenever. if you are no longer entertained, go.

snc haven't been consistent posters in years. like, yeah, there was a period of time from like 2015-2017 when snc were constantly posting on insta or twitter or snapchat or youtube. but it has not been like that in a very long time. snc don't have to put in that kind of work bc they have blown up already and now it's quality over quantity.

the problem i have with all of this is that snc have made it abundantly clear why they have started pulling back. EVERYONE IN THIS FANDOM IS AN ASSHOLE. what's not to get??

colby can't read comments anymore and has admitted so, he gets emails and loses followers over him growing facial hair, has been picked apart for years over his choice in gfs, got a terrible death threat a couple years ago that made him basically leave twitter, has gotten constant and dumb hate on there for years, got made fun of for being "fat" when it really him being sick with undiagnosed cancer, literally questioned even telling the fandom he had cancer in the first place bc he knew how they would react if he went bald, plus a mirade of other shit i can't get into. and even sam, the miracle child who rarely has ever had to face consequence for anything he's done or said, is now saying that fans are mean and words can hurt. so you KNOW it has to be bad for him to say something.

and they both said that they put too much of their personal life out there for everyone to see and it wasn't good for them, that they regret doing that.

this fandom thinks it "can say whatever it wants" without snc seeing it. or at the very least, they don't care if snc see. and in what universe would the idol want to stick around when it's fans are shitting on it?? you tell me. they're pulling back bc you all fucking suck. and when they eventually remove themselves entirely bc you want to bitch about their gfs or their face puffing up or whatever random other nonsense you deem worthy of a tweet, i don't want to fucking hear a peep. shut up, for once.

(none of this directed at you anon)

Squid Memes Squidbeak Splatoon (part 2)

Part 1 Here

More Harbor because he gave me Brain Worms

Born and Raised in Littol Beeg Bluff (yes the same Littol Beeg Bluff from "The Ballad of Dusty Grumpton" in the Factory Reset AU. I'm allowed to re-use my own ideas if I damn well please)

Comes from a blended family, and his stepmom and younger siblings (twin boy and girl around eight) are actually Koopa Troopas of all things.

The only playable Agent to both know and like his parents

Seriously Habor's moms are fucking awesome. Everybody in the NSS loves Harbor's moms

About 80% Humboldt Squid (aka Jumbo Flying Squid), which is why he's so fucking tall. It also means that he's really fast in swim form, to the point that he could probably outswim someone who'd filled all the slots on a piece of gear with Swim Speed Up without any Swim Speed Up investment of his own. (this is inspired by Lucky, another, very different version of Agent 4 made by EikaPrime on Ao3)

Eight

Yes she just goes by Eight. She was a little self-conscious about it at first but then she found out about SMG4 and the other SM64 Blooper Youtubers and no longer gives a shit

If she remembers her old name yet she's not mentioned it

Obviously doesn't remember her parents, but given the Domes are the kind of place where you can Start Training to Become an Advanced Military Hardware Engineer and Elite Soldier at Fucking Nine Years Old, I imagine she wouldn't have many memories of them even without the Amnesia

Contrary to popular fanon, my version of Eight doesn't have a scar from the Test Failed Bomb. This is because Respawn Pads (as long as they're fully functional) completely erase whatever the fatal injury was, leaving no trace apart from maybe some phantom pains if it was particularly nasty

She does, however, have plenty of scars from all the other shit she went through in that hellhole

Managed to complete every single test before she escaped

My version of Eight is a single year younger than Marina canonically is when they meet so I'm not going the Off the Hook Adoption route for this one (maybe in another AU with a more lose interpretation of Canon, but given this AU is specifically meant to adhere to Splatoon Canon as much as possible we're out'a luck this time), though she does still become very close friends with them

She's got Craig literally right there for any potential adoption attempts anyway

Very rarely speaks, but is expressive enough that most people can tell what she means anyway (you know Ferb? It's the exact same thing as what Ferb does)

Doesn't have a weapon preference. She's comfortable with any weapon she gets her hands on

Except Splatanas

She fucking hates Splatanas and everything they stand for

Configuring Frye's Palette in the Memverse was legitimately harder than dealing with her own Palette's stupid "Hacks or Chips, you can't have both" Gimmick Bullshit

Andi Finn

Has no fucking idea who her parents were and does not care

Actual supergenius who could probably build a functioning replica of Grizz's rocket out of scrap metal from just her memory of fighting on top of it. Never learned how to read before the NSS got ahold of her because she lived alone in the desert

Swears more than Bob

Can't remember where she learned Salmonid from

Somehow even the homeless kid has better hygiene than Paige

Made up her last name on the spot when she was signing up for a Turfing License (if you're wondering how she managed to sign up for a Turfing License when she couldn't read; With Great Difficulty)

Figures she probably isn't a full Inkling given her weird beartrap beak but doesn't give enough of a shit to take a DNA test about it

Yet

Paige dragged her home to their apartment almost immediately after the final battle against Mr. Grizz and she never left. It's not an official adoption but that's only because Paige is a bit oblivious to their own feelings on the matter and Andi doesn't know that paperwork is supposed to be involved

Almost exclusively calls Paige "Cap" even when they're out of uniform. I mean, she can't very well call them "Mom" or "Dad" since they're nonbinary, now can she? Paige has no idea that's what she means by it and just thinks it's a nickname because Andi gives everybody nicknames. Usually as insults

It took her 333 tries to get through "Splitting Crosshairs" (I legitimately Cannot beat that stupid kettle no matter how hard I try and want her to share my frustration but also want all four agents to have 100%ed their respective adventures so I'm just having it take her a comically long time to do)

Mains Explosher because it's the closest she can get to a Turf-Legal grenade launcher (for now...)

The Eternal Hunger, Devourer of the Bear

Is fine with people using Crabcake instead

Uses It/Its exclusively

Officially designated Agent 5 I will die on that hill

Was "The Eternal Hunger, Stabber of Ankles" before going through Return of the Mammalians

Will stab anyone who points out that it didn't actually eat Mr. Gizz, he just exploded

Extremely eloquent, but most people can't speak Salmonid so it just sounds like it's making the same gurgley noises as every other Smallfry

Once looked Marie dead in the eyes and said "No one will ever believe you" in perfect Inklish while they were alone. Has never said anything else in anything other than Salmonid where someone can hear it

Andi and Crabcake fucking hated each-other for the first third of their adventure before bonding over kicking Frye's ass and now they're inseparable

Actually gets its own uniform after everything's said and done. It consists of a little high-rez safety vest (like the one on Paige's field uniform), an earpiece (suction-cupped in place since it doesn't have external ears) in the same style as Andi's headset, and a clean black-with-thin-yellow-racing-stripes-on-the-sides pants...wrap...thing

It also got a new switchblade from Sheldon (the old one got lost in the space battle after it turned into Hugefry) with the same kind of black-with-blue-LEDs aesthetic as Paige's gear and a blade made of Sardinium

Also thinks that it and Andi are already adopted by Paige but that's for Salmonid Culture Reasons instead of Not Having an Education Reasons

Got separated from its swarm during a Run a few months before Return of the Mammalians. It wasn't too fussed about it and figured it could handle itself in the desert for a while and then either reunite with that swarm if it ran into them or join a new one if it happened to come across one. Because Salmonid Culture

Considers the NSS its current swarm

Two Bad Choices

Hiccup is aboard a Dragon Hunter ship and afforded two bad choices by Viggo.

The darkness was comforting. It offered assurance that whatever he opened his eyes to would be worse than it. 

He opened his eyes anyway, or tried to. It was more difficult than he was used to. He was in a ship’s cabin which swayed gently with the waves underneath. A desk bolted to the floor held maps, charts, and dragon bones. A banner hung on the wall behind it, depicting a flaming fist. No one else was in the room, and, most unusually, Hiccup found that he was not bound in any way. He was slumped in a corner of the quarters, divested of his sword, his leg, and his shoulder armor. His neck ached, both from its unnatural angle, and more acutely on one side.

Footsteps thudded outside the door, then it burst open. Ryker stormed in, glared around, and found Hiccup. His eyes narrowed. “Why isn’t he bound, Viggo?” Hiccup’s fists clenched, but his limbs felt leaden. Why couldn’t he move?

Viggo appeared in a more leisurely fashion behind his brother. He smirked at Hiccup before answering. “No need, brother. The elevated dose of sedative in his system has rendered him quite, aha, helpless.” Hiccup’s face burned. Drugged. Of course, that had to be the reason. No wonder they didn’t have to restrain him, he couldn’t even lift a finger. He could barely keep his head up.

Ryker squatted in front of him. “Helpless, eh? I’m sure my men would like that.” Hiccup’s mind went white with panic and Ryker smiled.

“Now, now, brother,” Viggo snapped, settling himself at his desk. “No need for that.”

Ryker snorted. “What? He’s sunk and killed enough of my men that the rest of them deserve to beat seven kinds of hell out of him.”

“Be that as it may, we have other plans for our guest.” Ryker grumbled and sat down. “Is the Night Fury secured?”

“It was, up until about ten minutes ago,” Ryker snarled. “That damn rider girl blasted a hole in the cell, got on the Night Fury, and rode off. Her Nadder, too. I’ve already punished the lookout on duty for that.”

Hiccup’s heart leapt. Astrid had rescued Toothless! They knew he was in trouble! 

“No matter,” Viggo said with a wave of his hand. “It would have been nice to keep them both, but I am more prepared to deal with the loss of the dragon than its rider.” He smirked at Hiccup again. 

“Don’t see why this runt is worth more than the last Night Fury,” Ryker grumbled. “For a mug of piss-poor ale I’d’ve shot that girl out of the air.”

“Patience, Ryker,” Viggo intoned. “He is more valuable than you give him credit for. The Night Fury cannot fly without him, for one thing. I need not explain to you why this is a benefit to us. Those other riders are followers, not leaders. They cannot conduct an effective attack on us without Hiccup, especially if we are using him as a bargaining chip.”

“That’s more like it,” Ryker said. “What are we demanding? Gold?”

Viggo laughed. “Don’t be so small-minded, Ryker! Gold and treasure, while nice, are not exclusive to the riders. We can make them catch dragons for us.”

Hiccup’s stomach sank like a sundered ship. Oh, gods. They’ll be forced to capture dragons and deliver them to certain death, afraid they’ll kill me if they refuse. I have to get out of here.

“What about some sort of tithe?” Ryker was musing. “I wouldn’t mind clipping Berk’s wings. A thousand gold pieces a month, do you think?” Already sunk, Hiccup’s stomach clenched. And they’ll bankrupt Berk at the same time. I’m not worth it! 

Viggo chuckled. “All in due time, brother. Hiccup, are you awake enough to join us?”

Hiccup didn’t reply at once. He wanted to spit fire in their faces, but the drug still held him down. “They won’t do it,” he managed, raising his head with effort. “They won’t hunt for you.”

“But will they hunt for you?” Viggo asked. “Ryker, bring him.” The other Grimborn approached and lifted Hiccup bodily from the corner. Hiccup hated how his limbs flopped, but he could do little about it. Ryker set him in a chair facing Viggo, one with armrests and a curved back that kept him from sliding to the floor. 

“They’ll get me out of here,” Hiccup said. Anger and no small amount of fear was making it easier to function, despite the drug. “You’ll regret all of this. My friends aren’t stupid. They’ll see through your blackmail!”

“Not blackmail, in point of fact,” Viggo said, raising a finger. “The word is ransom, dear Hiccup. We are demanding a ransom for you. It is not something that you or they are in a position to refuse.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be the smart one?” Ryker chimed in nastily.

Viggo permitted himself a smile at the insult. “That being said, Hiccup, hostages are ordinarily kept incapacitated. I see that your dose of sedative is wearing off, and we cannot have that. I will, however, give you a choice: Another dose, just to keep you weak, or restraints. I must say, it’s not as though you could run.” He tapped Hiccup’s leg on the desk. “So, shall Ryker fetch the bottle or a rope?”

Hiccup gritted his teeth and glared at Viggo. Two bad choices. He hated being tied up and helpless, especially without his leg, but he knew that being unconscious and at the mercy of a ship full of dragon hunters was worse. “Get the rope,” he snarled.

In response to you asking for headcanons as to why Blitz decided to adopt: Based on what we've seen in the show so far, and what I think fits his character most, this is my headcanon!

I personally think Blitz's main motivation for adopting Loona was maybe that initially, he just wanted to go find a hellhound to act as IMP's muscle or bodyguard. But after seeing how miserable she was in the shelter, he maybe saw a part of himself in her. He knew what it was like to not only have an abusive parent, but also to completely lose one (or maybe even both, since I don't think we currently know what happened to his dad). He'd also lost the love and trust of his sister and childhood best friend, so he knew what it was like to feel so alone in the world, and to feel like no one cares about you. He didn't want Loona to have to go through that all as well, so he decided to adopt her, but would end up treating her less as an asset for IMP, and more as a true daughter. I really like the idea of Blitz initially having cruel or selfish motivations for things, but then having his true feelings of kindness and his desire to help others shine through. It makes him feel like such an interesting and complex character to me. (And it's why I hate how Loona is such a dick to him so much 😭)

That would be such interesting development. Maybe it’s why Mills always calls Loona the hellhound. Or “our only hellhound”

Ooh I do like the idea that Blitz acted on stereotypes at first. Implicit bias is a tough nut to crack. Yknow I’ve always found it interesting, that he’s never shown disrespect to hellhounds the way others have, even Millie. Thinking back to spring broken—The fact he used to be a bodyguard could definitely be the reason, because hellhounds are usually bodyguards. So he doesn’t assume Loona wants to be in on the violence. In fact he keeps her as being the receptionist to keep her away from it. Which she resents. I think she shines in the human world. He treats Tex as an equal too, he still doesn’t like him being too chummy with Loona. And because he replaced blitzs job. And like Millie, B grew up exclusively around imps, so meeting hellhounds was a new experience.

It’s definitely a possibility that this was his opinion before he actually got the shelter. Something in him changed? I wonder what 🤔

Though if I remember correctly he was looking at puppies at first and said they were cute, I think the employee there said “here’s a strong lad for whatever work you need him for” and he replies that he’s looking for someone more family friendly.

Going. Back to your question ^^;

Pretty sure Cash is alive? No reason to think he’s not.

I knowww that’s his appeal right there. It’s why I haven’t given up on him he can be so sweet and kind to people like Loona, Via, Barb, Moxxie, Millie, Fizz, when he just lets go of the unwarranted harshness.

“(She’ll) never amount to anything much” :((

That’s what really got him I think.

A message from your friendly neighborhood Appalachian Latina:

Okay so today being the day that it is and me being the person I am I heave decided to talk about Appalachian heritage and culture vs what a bunch crappy people have tried to make it. This is all my experience not universal also some will be funny and totally fine to laugh at.

Im starting on the more serious note here because I feel these things really need to be addresed and as a Appalachian woman of color I often have felt that people dont think that both parts of this identity are compatible.

Things that are not Appalachian:

- Being racist

-being xneophobic

-Being homophobic or transphobic

-Flying a confederate flag (most of Appalachia was border states if not fighting for the Union side)

-Drinking shitty beer

- Licking the boots of cops and corporations

- being against higher education

- being an anti vaxxer

- glorifying the coal industry and the lives it has cost and is still costing

- hatred towards indeginous people

-Supporting a toxic or abusive family dynamic

-denying woman human rights

- shaming poor people

-Intentionally making your truck stupidly loud

-Union busting, and being against care and support for the disabled and elderly

-Poaching (Appalachian people value our resources and nature) WE hunt to eat not just to kill or destroy

Moving onto some lighter stuff, now these are some of things I love about being Appalachian and part of this culture and community.

Things that are actually Appalachian:

-Running from cops (seriously its like a whole ass thing)

-Fighting for Unions and Workers rights (The actual origin of Redneck, that term is not for racist fuck heads, it originated from red bandanas worn for Pro-union rights

-Being completely and terrifyingly unphased by coyotes

-Making your liquor

-Ignoring the screaming in the woods because that aint your problem

-Folk magic and traditions and superstitions rooted in Paganism and some indigenous magic

-Being part of the underground railroad (The appalachians made a ton of safe houses and protections pre and post civil war for people fleeing the south)

-Hunting to control Deer population and for food

-Knowledge of homesteading, useful herbs, and homeopathic remedies

-Strong sense of community and family

-Ignoring whatever is moving in the corn feild because you arent a white guy in a horror movie

-Women forming safe houses from abusive husbands or from other types of danger

-Valuing and appreciating the land and the connection we have with it

-Fist fighting God in a coal mine

-Weird ass folk tales and cryptids (see MothMan)

-Not letting your commuity go hungry

-caring for the old sick and vulnerable not out of pity but out of compassion and respect

-Fighting for your rights and the rights of others

-Resilience and strength in times of adversity

-Knowing at least on person who’s grandmother was some kind of witch with psychic abilities

-Knowing when the woods is silent something is wrong

-Screaming back at screech owls to assert dominance

-verbal history

-vibrant stories and music

These are my experiences as an Appalachian woman of color who loves both parts of her heritage and desperate wants to discourage the narrative that Appalachian people are rude prejudiced and uneducted. We are a resilient and loving people, we are full of stories traditions and a melting together of the new and old worlds. We are people with a murky history, yes, but we are full of acceptance love and strength.

To all my fellow Appalachians who hear these mixed narratives, know that we are the authors of our story. TO all my fellow people of color know that this mountainous region is not built exclusively on hate. Know that you belong, that your cultures are valid and that progress is not about rejecting your culture but about adaption to embrace new perspectives and beginning new stories