#lup loop | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jocasta-nightstrider · 7 months

Text

Um. Them <3

31 notes · View notes

fuckin-flip-wizard · 1 year

Text

The <3

91 notes · View notes

thetiniestkotorfan · 1 year

Text

#critical role #the legend of vox machina #the adventure zone #taz #cr #dnd #dungeons and dragons #lup loop #lup taz #lup taaco #taako adventurezone #taako taaco #vexhalia #vaxleth #vex #vax critical role

76 notes · View notes

cinnamoncandyy · 1 year

Text

I am sad and things are rough but drawing these two has been making me feel better so. Here you go?

#my art #blupjeans #barry bluejeans #lup taaco #the adventure zone #i drew this while drinking song for the socially anxious was playing on loop #which feels fitting #barry and lup are the amazing devil coded or something

238 notes · View notes

zero-is-nebulous · 2 years

Text

OK I'm starting a movement

In season 7 AND season 8, grian started a chain of promoting mumbo into high authority positions in his absence/without his knowledge (As I've recently learned lol)

This season, I say we make him KING. we need a leader head for the resistance, after all. A new king, better leader. A coup, if you will. A TAKEOVER if you must. The resistance needs a king for their cause, a replacement authority, and I think Mumbos the man for the job, personally

#MUMBOFORKING

77 notes · View notes

eliias-bouchard · 1 year

Text

you ever think about how lup went to phandalin to fix her mistakes and then 10 years later barry also goes to phandalin. actually you could probably make the case that /every/ ipre member went to phandalin at some point (pre story and song i mean)

#i love these guys. they get stuck in a time loop and once theyre out immediately commit symbolic anachronism.#taz #taz spoilers #taz balance #taz balance spoilers #taz lup #taz barry #lup #lup taaco #barry bluejeans #i imagine lucretia was following thb and ended up in phandalin (or maybe was trying to do some recon about the phoenixfire gauntlet)#davenport .. hm. maybe he was just with her when she did that idk

15 notes · View notes

somelazyassartist · 11 months

Text

ooooooooooooh loud thunder :]

#pausing my 'listening to music and thinking about Lup Loop' to enjoy the thunder :]#I wish my phone wasn't absolutely fuckin busted rn cuz I've got so so SO many Lup thoughts rn lol #made a whole music playlist just to think about her. I've got other playlists for the rest of the Birds too but it's Lup time right now.#except for thunder she's on pause for the thunder

3 notes · View notes

17-million-years-of-pining-poll · 11 months

Text

BEST LONG-TIME PINING SHIPS: ROUND 4/SEMI-FINALS MATCH 1

(The blupjeans art was made by @herbgerblin !!)

Reasons to vote for each ship underneath the cut!

Blupjeans: fantasy nasa astronauts stuck in a functional time loop together spend 47 years slowly falling in love which culminates in them playing a beautiful duet with stunning narration about learning how to care for each other and be cared for (and then a couple more decades after that they rip their souls ouf of their still-living bodies to become terrifyingly powerful undead abominations together for eternity and it fucking rules) >:) Also Lup is canon trans so that rules too Royai: these two. they've been pining since they were (probably) teenagers and since then they've gone off to be war criminals together and then military bureaucrats and then revolutionaries in an attempt to atone for all the war crimes and they STILL HAVEN'T STOPPED PINING because overthrowing the country that made them war criminals is more important and I Couldn't Possibly Fraternize With A Superior Officer and If I Show Affection She Will Be A Target (she's a target anyway Roy good job) and he trusts her to be the one to shoot him if he goes down the slippery slope and they're still in the same command chain at the end of the series and are about to be even busier so they NEVER STOPPED FUCKING PINING

#round 4 #semi finals #polls #blupjeans #barry bluejeans #lup #taz #the adventure zone #lup the adventure zone #taz balance #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #fma brotherhood #fmab #riza hawkeye #roy mustang #royai #roy x riza

1K notes · View notes

jerreeeeeee · 9 days

Text

Balance fic recs

some of my favorite balance fics. various ages, popularities, and lengths. i’ve been wanting to do a rec list for a while!

caramel by nevereverever

The first time Taako is left alone, it isn't pretty. But their lives are stuck in a loop and people come back and die again and again and he wonders if there will ever be a time when he doesn't have to fear being left alone.

2.7k, Taako & Lup Lup dies one cycle and then, years later, she dies again. But she always comes back. Hurt/comfort of the best kind.

Warmth by noxic

"It was a well-known fact among the residents of the Starblaster that Lup, Barry, and Taako slept in the same bed more often than not. It was one of those things that they just did without really talking about it."

2.1k, Barry & Lup & Taako The BLT fic of all time. Quality platonic adult sleepovers.

Taako the Matchmaker by @fantasysamsclub

In which Taako tries to set up his sister. Events take place during Stolen Century.

11.1k, Blupjeans & Taako Taako tries to set up blupjeans. Miscommunication ensues. Very sweet and funny.

red fishing line by @anistarrose

A routine performance of Sizzle it Up goes nightmarishly wrong, and at Lup’s bedside, Taako feels helpless. And when a red-robed guest appears before him, Taako doesn’t know how or what to feel at all.

3k, Barry & Lup & Taako Also the BLT fic of all time. Excellent subtle Taako characterization, and my favorite depiction of the familiarity-but-not of being voidfished. Warning for major character death.

Sunny-Side Up by @barry-j-blupjeans

And the world? The world loved Taako. For once in his gods-damned life, people loved him. They didn’t care about all the flaws, they didn’t care where he came from or who he was before. They loved his food and they loved him. No one would ever quite be at Taako’s level and that was something he thrived on. There would never be anyone who could measure up. Taako deserved this happiness. He worked for it. He wasted his fucking life away for it.

5.7k, Taako A wonderful character study, revolving around the role food plays in Taako's life. Fairly minor but impactful characters like Sazed and Taako's aunt are utilized in a very meaningful way. So well-written and warm. Warning for brief suicidal ideation.

On the Deck of the Starblaster by @papergardener

“What the… what are you all doing? We have work to do!” It’s a justified reaction, Lucretia thinks, to finding your entire crew literally lazing about on deck not an hour into this new cycle. “This one's on me,” Taako says. “It’s a new trend I like to call: taking a fucking break.” Cycle Nintey-Five. Everyone’s maybe not doing so good and could use a little warmth.

6.5k, Lucretia & Taako Near the end of the century, Lucretia is feeling rough. Taako pulls her out of her funk and initiates a much needed rest. Fantastic characterization, of Lucretia as a whole, and the loyal, warm side of Taako. Warning for mentions of a suicide attempt and suicidal ideation.

leaving, as an injustice by @anistarrose

When Mavis is eight, she starts finding her Dad asleep on the couch in the morning. Sometimes, he’s even all the way out on their tiny patio, with his head slumped onto a pillow atop the chess table, and bags beneath his eyes. In one of their following games, he tells her about tactical retreats.

4.7k, Mavis & Merle A study of Mavis and her relationship to Merle. Incredibly insightful into criminally underrated characters. Excellent Merle characterization.

Permission by vaguenotion

She’d been doing this on and off for the last hour, as if daring the men to catch up to them. Daring them to fight her. Every time seemed like a final stand. Here is where I will meet them, her shoulders said, hiked up around her ears. Here is where I’ll make them pay for what they’ve done. But then Taako would grab her hand, and she would turn and see the bruising on his throat, the blood drying on his brow, the tear in his shirt. And she would grip his hand in hers and together they would keep running.

12.6k, Taako & Lup My favorite depiction of the twins as children, both in character and realistic. Beautifully atmospheric, with so many small details that make the setting feel so real. Warning for assault and harm to children.

Come Hell or High Water by @nillial

“Taako,” Hurley asks, “where’s your magic umbrella?” Taako looks behind him. He had tossed the Umbrastaff in the path of a neighboring vehicle, which was beginning to catch up to them. He sees them now, far in the distance, and he sees his Umbrastaff, too, lying dangerously close to its wheels. As if on cue, he watches the tires crush it to pieces. “Whoops,” he says. - Lup is trapped. And then she isn’t. --- In which Taako breaks his umbrella during the Petals to the Metal race, unknowingly freeing Lup, who is almost immediately captured by Kravitz. After becoming a member of the Raven Queen's retinue with Kravitz as her trainer, she has two missions: 1) find her family, and 2) ruin Kravitz's afterlife. A story about enemies becoming friends and lost families finding their way back to one another.

197k (currently), Lup & Kravitz Incredible characterization. I love the way Lup is written. Hilarious shenanigans, sweet friendship-building, and terribly sad sometimes, because it dives deep into the reality of Lup existing in a world that's forgotten her.

Very cold water on a very hot day by @keplercryptids

Sometimes a family is a nerd who can't swim and the crunchy-haired watersport inventor who teaches him how. Surfer lingo required.

3.1k, Barry & Taako Deep dive into the beach year. Excellently in character, well-written dialogue, and a beautiful depiction of their growing friendship.

Children of Atlas by @papergardener

They’ve survived the apocalypse and now as far as they know, they’re the only ones left. Perhaps it was inevitable that they’d consider… repopulation. Lucretia writes up a weekly schedule to try and address that. Absolutely no one is happy with this.

76k (currently), IPRE crew The premise for this one is incredibly offputting, but I'm so glad I gave it a chance. The characterization and quality of writing is absolutely wonderful. I also love the attention to detail of the realistic difficulty of just surviving. Fantastically atmospheric, this fic dives deep into the uncertainty and fear of the first cycle, when the crew are all strangers, and the love that turns them into a family. Warning for extensive discussion of sexual assault.

Emissary Davenport by DragonWrites

A series of stories where Captain Davenport is secretly an emissary of Garl Glittergold, Gnomish god of pranks. And when you're a serious-minded captain on a mission to save all of reality, having a cheerful trickster god as your unexpected patron can get a little strange...

300k, Davenport A series of four works set in an AU where Davenport is an emissary to the leader of the gnomish pantheon. My absolute favorite depiction of Davenport, ever. The first three works are explorations of Davenport as a character and the relationships between people and gods in a DnD world. The last, Lost Gods, is the best fanfiction I've ever read. I can't express how good it is. The attention to detail among myriad plot threads, the building of themes, the characterization across just about every single character in Balance, all come together to create 223k words of a genuine masterpiece.

#apparently theres some kind of comment thing going on and people were making fic rec lists so i wanted to throw my hat in the ring #bc a few of these are very underrated #yes theyre all gen. i don't care for shipping. sorry #mine #taz #taz balance #the adventure zone #taz: b #taz fanfic #taz balance fic #fic rec

232 notes · View notes

dogs2shouldvote · 9 months

Text

in contrast with my last post, in my latest relisten of taz balance i also recorded a bunch of quotes that felt like a punch to the gut (with zero context mostly). here’s some that made me a) cry or b) freak out because foreshadowing

MAJOR taz balance spoilers ahead; if you haven’t already listened to this amazing show, you should!

- “you can’t kill robbie, i have some big franchise plans for robbie”

- “you found her?“

- “one of you isn’t a lich, are you?”

- “tell julia i said i love her”

- “your staff, you lost control of it, and you blasted the letters L U P into the wall”

- “you look familiar too. have we met?” (this one i did put context for, it’s ren speaking to magnus in the eleventh hour during one of the early loops)

- “is there anything else you can edit in our past?” (this one also had context, magnus to istus i believe)

- “you’re going to be amazing”

- “there’s a long span of time that’s just not there” … “while you’re looking through these memories… there is something about the memory is a little bit off. there’s parts of it that are a little bit staticky.”

- “i named my fish after him”

- “he didn’t want to be a hero. it wasn’t his desire.”

- “Do you remember the last thing you said?”

“I said ‘I love you, Jules.’”

- “lup. they don’t trust me. i cant do it anymore, lup. i’m sorry”

- “the hunger is almost here. and when it arrives, the world will be lost.”

- “and it’s an incredibly familiar face, because it’s your face, magnus. this figure in the red robe is you.”

- “why are you doing this, taako?”

“because i’m worried no one else will have me”

- “you see this red robe put a single skeletal finger to its nonexistent lips”

- ”i’ll be having my body back you undead fuck”

- “trust barry. love barry. taako… it’s me… it’s *static*”

- “when there was trouble, you took the big hit. didn’t you, bud?”

- “and taako you remember lup now. how could you forget lup?”

- “are we just gonna burn every world that we can’t save just to keep the hunger from getting its hands on them? how does that make us any better than them?”

- “this is where we get to decide who we are”

- “show them the duck. it’s a good duck. i think they’ll like it!”

- “your journey could have ended anywhere… but it ended here. and you’re so grateful for that.”

- “sometimes there aren’t right decisions. sometimes there’s just decisions.”

- “back soon”

- “as his body falls further and further down, you realize you don’t know who that is.”

- “magnus. i’m going to find a place for you to be happy. it’ll just be for a little bit. i can do this. i love you magnus. i love all of you *fading into static*”

- “you *fucking took everything. from me*.”

- “i needed to say goodbye to someone

- “i don’t expect you all to forgive me…”

“i run over and hug her”

- “there’s magic in a bards song. they call it is inspiration and it tells the listener what they need to hear when they need to hear it… and you hear johann’s voice and it says: ‘you’re gonna have to fight… and *you’re gonna win!*’”

- “how does magnus die?”

- “and thus ends adventure zone balance. the story of four idiots who played dnd so hard they made themselves cry.”

#taz balance spoilers #taz balance #the adventure zone balance #mcelroys #taz #the adventure zone #taako taaco #magnus burnsides #merle highchurch #barry bluejeans #lup taaco

206 notes · View notes

thatgirlonstage · 8 months

Text

man the way Magnus entrusted his relic to Jack and June because they were good people with rustic hospitality and it turned an entire town into a place of betrayal and coups and distrust and finally an inescapably looping nightmare for years where death was perpetually an hour away and the way that the town was ultimately saved with kindness to animals through reuniting the purple worm with her children and the self-sacrifice of the town's self-appointed protector

and the way Merle's relic took love that had bloomed from rivalry and twisted it into a desperate need to prove oneself capable and better, to become unto a god, the way it drove Sloane to run away from everyone she cared about rather than reach out to them for help, and the way it was only stopped with peacemaking, with reaching back for her still when all hope seemed lost, with Hurley leaping headfirst into silverpoint knowing full well she would be killed but doing it because she cared about the person inside even at her worst, even when she was irredeemable, even when no one else would think to find anything human left in there at all

and the way Taako's relic was put to the use of science and exploration and used, for a while, successfully, but with too much greed, with too much selfishness, with too much focus on Maureen and Lucas's goals and too little trust of other people's word on how dangerous these relics are, the way it ultimately became the tool of a creature trying to claw its way back to the life and loved ones it knew and had lost, a creature that had long since lost its sense of self, that had merged with others just to survive, and the way familial love was necessary to stop it, the way Lucas got to his worst out of love of his mother and the desperation to do anything to get her back, the way he got brought back to his senses by that same love and the realization of how badly he'd failed her, the way he was still an untrustworthy dick at the end but they let him go anyway and he came back when it mattered

the way Lup's relic was locked away for a decade and ultimately uncovered and reactivated by Gundran's desperate desire to reclaim what once belonged to his family, the way it was not stopped, the way the loss of Phandalin haunts the narrative, a reminder of failure and of people the boys couldn't save

the way Davenport's relic gets caught up in a game of smoke and mirrors while on the harsh time limit of the end of a journey, the way part of Jenkins' ploy is that he seems utterly unthreatening, the way Hudson's death and the loss of his head in particular is practically collateral damage, the way the train could not be saved but this time the people were

the way Barry's relic is in the hands of two liches who are very obvious and intentional foils to him and Lup, but even more than that, the way it's so buried in the suffering of losing everything that makes you yourself, over and over and over and over and over, the way Wonderland is designed to make you eventually dependent on this cycle of loss just to stay alive, the way it's only beaten by changing the rules of the game

and of course the way Lucretia's relic stays glued to her side, the emblem and reason for her loneliness, isolating her in a bubble of her own making, until, of course, she lets her family back in, and as raw and painful a reunion as it is, as it has to be, because you can't stay safe from your mistakes forever, the seven of them together find the solution she could not find alone

#taz #taz: balance #i am drawing narrative parallels in the sand #some of these. particularly the later ones. are obviously intentional #but some of them definitely WEREN'T and yet they work so beautifully anyway #sometimes you don't know what story you're telling until you've finished it #and you look back and find it isn't all just loose threads trailing behind you #you have in fact woven them together even if you didn't realize it

192 notes · View notes

barry-j-blupjeans · 6 months

Text

TAZ NC Day 2: Fake Dating

@taznovembercelebration

"It's bad, Taako," Lup said as soon as the car door was shut. "It's real bad."

Taako had to be honest— he had no fuckin' clue what was happening anymore. He and Lup had never gone to different schools before and it was weird being out of her direct ring of things-that-are-happening. It was for the best, 'cus there was no way he could have survived trying to get a science degree. And he knew Lup loved cooking, but culinary arts was not for her. Ever. Keep her away from the building, thank you very much. Yeah, sure, she'd kill this degree, but it was the principle of the thing.

So he had only been getting outside reports of whatever was happening over at Neverwinter University. But apparently, it was a lot. While Taako was over here, blissed out on weed brownies, Lup was doin'… something. Again, he didn't really understand what was happening anymore. But Lup didn't even wait for an answer before continuing.

"I asked him on a date," Lup said, buckling herself in with more force than necessary. Taako took the car out of park (look at him! He could drive! Take that, driving instructor one through five.) and attempted to maneuver his way out of the parking lot.

"That sounds like a good thing?" Taako said.

"It's not," Lup said. "It's not a real date."

"A- and that means??"

"It's not a real date," Lup said again. "I fuckin— well, first off, Greg fucking Grimaldis—"

"Fuck him," Taako said.

"Yeah, fuck him— but he was very loudly promoting his fuckin'… casino or whatever that he's inheriting. And he so graciously invited us to an event that's being hosted there about— god, I'm too angry to remember what the stupid event is for. But he was like, oh, don't bother showing up without a date though, it's a couple's event, like I fuckin' know whatever that means—"

"It just sounds like bait," Taako said. How the hell did he leave this parking lot again? He felt like he had been turning left for like, three entire minutes.

"And then I was like, "of course, I have a date". And he was like, "oh yeah? Who?". And Barry was right there, so—"

Ah, Barry Bluejeans. Taako had heard way too fuckin' much about Barry Bluejeans. Lup kept trying to deny any romantic feelings she felt towards him, but Taako knew better. Or, well, Taako had eyes and ears and the way Lup spoke about Barry Bluejeans left nothing up to the imagination. Normally Taako would have liked to meet the man that his sister had fallen in love with but honestly, he's in a place in his life where he gets assignments about spaghetti so it's not like anything makes sense anymore.

"So it was less like you asked him and more like you are going to force him—"

"I asked!" Lup said, sitting up in her car seat. If she had noticed the several loops Taako had taken around the parking lot, she hadn't said. "After, I mean. I asked after. And y'know how Barry's like, he's gonna say yes to everything 'cus he feels bad about saying no. So I had to clarify that we weren't actually dating to, y'know, make it seem better— I don't wanna seem like I'm using him, Taako, I just— babe, if you had seen Grimaldis's face when I said that. And Barry fuckin' backed me up, too!"

Taako slammed on the brakes as someone tumbled into his car. And then onto the ground. Lup froze. Taako froze, too. And then started slowly backing up.

"Taako, we gotta— we gotta check—"

"Yeah, yeah," Taako said, pulling the car back a few inches. He shifted back into park and undid his seat belt. Lup was out of the car before him and when he opened the door, he caught the end of

"-arry!"

Aw, fuck.

"Oh, uh." Taako rounded the car, coming face to face with the new voice. It was a short man with concerningly thick glasses. He was wearing an honest-to-god sweater vest and bluejeans of all things. Lup was holding his hand, looking at the scruffed up flesh on his palm. He didn't look super injured or concussed. Taako had been going to stupid five miles and hour that this parking lot demanded of him. "It's— it's fine, Lup, really—"

"My guy, you just got hit with a car—"

"It was five miles an hour," Taako said, leaning against the driver's side door. "Nice to meet'cha, Barold."

"Uhm." Barry blinked a few times, looking between him and Lup.

"You're not concussed," Taako said. "We're twins."

"Uh," Barry said, eloquently. Man, this is the guy Lup was planning to fake-date? Good lord.

"You might be concussed, though," Lup said, turning Barry toward her. "Did you hit your head?"

"No, uh, no I'm good," Barry said. "Just, uhm— surprised! Haha."

This was awful. The worst part is that if Barry wasn't concussed, this was just his regular way of talking. Taako felt himself getting a headache. But Lup gave a smile that was all goopy and warm and, ugh. Taako kinda wished he had been going faster. He got back into the car, watching with a scrutinizing gaze as Barry and Lup talked.

And talked.

Taako got out his phone, pulling up the group chat he shared with Magnus and Merle.

Gonna be late to game night, boys. I've got Lup and Barry Bluejeans existing in the same place.

Magnus sent back a saluting emoji.

#taz november celebration #taz nc #taako #lup #barry bluejeans #blupjeans #taz #mine #ise cube writing

109 notes · View notes

why-is-it-always-autumn · 1 year

Text

(I didn't include Bluejeans to avoid skewing the poll for people who headcanon her taking his name)

#the adventure zone balance #the adventure zone #taz balance #taz balance spoilers #taz #lup

275 notes · View notes

doberbutts · 6 months

Text

It does always throw me for a loop when people look for a moral reason not to like something. You can always just. Not like something. And even be normal about your dislike of the thing!

I've said it here before (not recently, see above point and also the one I'm about to make) that I don't really like the McElroy brothers. Not for any particular reasoning, I haven't heard of any particularly heinous wrongdoing as of this moment. I just think they're largely unfunny and outside of a single podcast of theirs I listened to [The Adventure Zone: Balance] I don't knowingly consume any of their media. I liked Balance, but I've also heard that's their best one, and there were pieces of it that were *too much* of the unfunny humor I dislike about the rest of their stuff [Crystal Kingdom my beloathed], so if that's the best one I'm not really willing to try again with anything... "lesser".

(and I only listened to Balance because I saw Cool Art of Taako and Lup and wanted to know more about these trans-and-gnc elf twins, much like I'm only [slowly] listening to Mighty Nein bc I saw Cool Art of Essek and Caleb and wanted to know more about purple elf and ginger wizard)

However knowing that I'm really not their biggest fan, I also... don't go looking for dirt on them? Don't blog incessantly about how much I dislike them? Try to find a moral justification for my lack of interest? I think their brand of comedy is Incredibly Annoying. That's it.

Now for all I know there might be Something they've done that I've just missed by actively refusing to pay attention to them. Or there might not. I don't really care either way- finding out that there is a valid moral reason to not engage with their stuff changes nothing because I already don't like their stuff and so am already not tuning in. Finding out that there's nothing nets the same result, I'm not interested for a completely mundane reason and so they could be the most morally pure content creators out there for all I know and I still wouldn't pursue anything of theirs.

It's not even to say there's not stuff I dislike due to moral reasons- there's a reason I'm not into HP or MCU anymore- just that it's weird to me that people try to look for one. You can always just not like something. You don't even have to justify it. "I didn't like it" is a totally normal reaction that doesn't need further explination.

63 notes · View notes

umbraastaff · 2 years

Text

The alarm goes off. Barry sits up immediately, surprising the figure buried in the sheets next to him. Groggily, Lup shifts the covers to squint up at him, watching as he puts on his glasses to check the smaller date display on the digital clock.

"What's up with you?" she asks, stretching.

"Time loop," says Barry, setting the clock down and putting his forehead in his hands. "It's, uh, it's full-on Fantasy Groundhog Day for me."

"Aw, shit," says Lup, because he doesn't seem like he's joking, and because they've both dealt with more than their fair share of time-looping shenanigans.

She finally sits up, more awake from her concern. "And you're not already up-n-attem trying to find your way out of it? What cycle is it?"

"Seventy."

"FUCK!" she yells instantly, and he starts laughing. "Shit! You mean I missed number 69? This sucks!"

"If it makes you feel any better, we actually, uh, we really tried to end it on that one. Had a great idea got all our planning done, executed it perfectly. It just, uhh, didn't-- it didn't work, apparently?"

"That does make me feel a little better, weirdly. Even though that also sucks, big time, and I'm so sorry."

And she locks her hand in his and stands up.

"Alright, babe, let's do this. Gimme the list of everything you've tried."

#mine #taz balance #lup #barry bluejeans #blupjeans #groundhog day #the adventure zone #balance #barry #barry lup #writes

928 notes · View notes

taakosleftshoe · 1 year

Text

Closeup look of my Umbrastaff!

I made it myself, using a broken umbrella (that I fixed with just a lil hot glue) I found in my school's lost n found. It wasn't theft, if they wanted it back it would not have been sitting there for seven months.

I got the fabric from JoAnn's Witching Hour collection, it's stretchy and black with kind of a cobblestone pattern with an iridescent rainbow shimmer that absolutely sparkles in the light! It reminded me of The Hunger so I knew I had to get it. I hand sewed each piece on around the frame, and though it is... messy... it adds character. The lace was also from JoAnns, and it has an iridescent shimmer that immediately drew my eye. I sewed on each length after the main part of the umbrella was complete-- I thought it could use some flair :)

As for the ribbon, I actually found that at a thrift store? It has some pieces of silver tinsel(?) weaved into it. The belt loop to secure the umbrella closed I honestly just stole from one of my belts. Umbrastaff > holding my pants up

That brings me to the part I am MOST excited to share; the charms!

Each point of the umbrella (there are 8 in total) has a charm secured to it that I made. I held an eyepin over a candle (with jewelry pliers. i am not here to get burnt.) and melted it into the plastic knob at the end, then secured with superglue. Then, separately, I made each charm out of wire, which I added beads to, and looped at both ends and the middle, so that I could attach it to the umbrella and the 2 charms I prepared for each.. hangy.. thing. They each have a charm I either made or selected to represent their respective bird, which is lowermost.

The Twins

For Lup (left) and Taako (right), I wanted them to match. I bought these little hummingbirds from a cute treehouse themed bookstore on my trip to Oregon, and after adding an eyepin, painted them over to resemble a calliope hummingbird and lucifer hummingbird, respectively. I thought hummingbirds were a good representation of the twins because of their constant need to move and the energy they have. Plus, their plumage is beautiful while still blending in to their environment. Lup got a sun charm (which I got from someone who does garage sales for a living?? one of her suppliers had a bunch of broken jewelry pieces so score I guess!) and Taako got a wizard hat, which is a repainted lego piece!

The Lover

Barry's bird was perhaps the most obvious choice for me. A bluejay. Not only are they BLUE! J! but they are incredibly intelligent and have tight family bonds. This charm was made from the same material as the twins', as it was a miniature by the same company, but he actually started out as a cardinal! I may or may not have bought a 6 pack variety bag specifically to obtain him... jury's still out on that one. His charm is a flying bird since I thought it could symbolize his role as the lover, especially with his long search for Lup.

The Protector

Look. I couldn't NOT make Magnus a wood duck. It's right there. This is a male wood duck's "eclipse plumage," in which they lose their bright colored feathers in favor of duller ones. I painted this a duck figure that came in a big bag of other animal toys that I bought at a thrift store specifically for my craft reserves... Good thing I did! The sword is a lego piece. My friend was heavily distracted by the fact I had a lego sword on my umbrella. Personally I found the wizard hat on my head to be more distracting but to each their own.

The Lonely Journal Keeper

I know, not the most flattering angle. Believe it or not, this Great Blue Heron used to be an ostrich! With a little paper mache, paint, and imagination, Lucretia came to be. Coincidentally, on my trip to San Diego for the TAZ liveshow, we went to the zoo, and there was a great blue heron chilling in the penguin exhibit! I asked the zookeeper if it was theirs, but she said he just showed up same time every day (around lunch time...). The book on this charm I made from scrap felt (hat material) and paper. It was originally a lego book that I repainted, but that seems to have gotten lost when the charm fell off earlier-- some lovely folks dressed in Amnesty cosplay handed me the bird after it fell. Thank you guys for that cause I would have been devastated<3

The Peacemaker

Ok so merle is doing a little worse for wear here. The texture of the owl toy (flea market baybeee) I painted probably isn't best suited to that without some prep work. For Merle, I chose the eastern screech owl because they are small and a little angry but still have the owl angle. His charm is a butterly (thought it does not show up great in this photo), though it WAS an angel before that one got lost somewhere. Oh well, still works with his nature thing!

The Wordless One.

Davenport is so tiny compared to the rest!! I guess it's fitting, but it made him hard to paint. I chose the Atlantic puffin for him, because of their coloring and the fact that they're social migratory seabirds. His charm is a key (lego, yes yet again) because I felt it made sense for his character. I'm not here to stretch the analogy, it writes itself.

The Voidfish

Finally, we have Fisher! Like Barry and the twins, this started as a minifigure of a jellyfish, before I painted it over with some iridescent blueish paint and sparkle varnish, to give it that magical feel. The charm is an abstract metal series of rings, which I felt fit the whole mystical thing the voidfish has going on.

In conclusion, I spent a lot of time on this project, and am extremely proud of the results, however flawed they may be! I am also very glad tumblr changed their image limit lmao<3

#sierra speaks #a sierra original #cosplay #taz balance #taz lup #taz taako #taz cosplay #the adventure zone #the adventure zone balance #the adventure zone cosplay #taz fanart #the adventure zone fanart #the zone cast #idk what other tags to add lol #anyway this was so much fun and ive been waiting to share it for MONTHS!

237 notes · View notes