robots kissing

Let's go home (Again).

-Speedpaint-

luz dying and getting revived the day before easter and then the anniversary of that being on the eclipse... her reach

Now, that look like something my old auntie taught us how to make when I was a tyke. Some folks call them bird traps. Old auntie told us they were devil nets. You put them around the bed, catch the devil before he get too close... I always just though it was something for children to do. Keep them busy. Tell them stories why they're tying sticks together.

The reason why the toh fandom can have such wildly diverging interpretations of the Wittebane story is because the show did not do its job. How old was Philip when Caleb left? Did Caleb truly believe in witch hunting or was he just playing along to what the town expected? Did Caleb ever tell Philip anything? Did he ever talk to his brother and try to change his mind? How long was Philip searching for Caleb? How did he get cursed? How exactly did the knife fight start? Did Philip kill Caleb accidentally or on purpose? Did he kill him only because he married a witch or because he left him? Or both?

The fact is, we don't have definitive answers to any of these. We only have educated guesses based on portraits barely glimpsed in the show that lack any context, Masha's barebones version of events, and Belos' self-justifications. Casual fans shouldn't have to be knee-deep in fandom just to get the main villain's backstory, especially when said story is the literal basis of the whole plot.

Plus, if you're going to spend the final half of your last season barely exploring the villain's origins, only to completely ignore it in the series finale, then you've written a bad ending.

Update: This is getting some notes so I'm including additional thoughts to the original post. The rest will be under the read more:

Just to add onto this because some folks argue that we don’t need his backstory because we already have the essentials or it’s not really important to the plot. The thing is though is that Belos’ story launches the entire plot of the show, his character and motivation are the direct result of actions that happened centuries before the main characters were born. It needs to be depicted and not largely inferred. 

His story is important to creating a more fleshed out character and can strengthen the themes of the show (the rivalry between Eda and Lilith and Luz struggling to fit in at home are parallels to Belos). Instead the show gives little kernels of his story and character that make him more interesting than just Evil Emperor (the fact that the brothers became witch hunters to fit in, the fact that Belos worst memories are of killing Caleb and making grimwalkers are never touched on again). The first (and last) time we see Caleb in a full scene is in For the Future and it has huge implications for the dynamic between the two brothers. But again, nothing is done with it. It seemed like the show was building up that Belos’ lies and self-justifications would lead to his undoing but it doesn’t. So him dying with his ideology and self-delusions intact feels empty.

The worst part of how the Wittebane story is handled is that since it’s largely inferred and you have to be pretty involved in fandom to have a more nuanced take of it, a casual fan can easily just accept other characters’ views on the matter. Masha says “looks like little bro was jealous of big bro” and it undercuts the story of the Wittebanes (to say nothing of the tonal whiplash). The Titan dismisses Belos as only caring for himself and to be the hero, which while technically true, misses a lot of context and makes it easy to dismiss Belos as a whole as simply being evil and crazy instead of a more layered villain. And it can’t be argued that these are just the characters’ perspectives and we shouldn’t take it at face value because there’s nothing really in the show to pushback against that. 

Now, yes, it is fun to imagine how the Wittebane story played out and in hindsight, it’s probably better that the show didn’t depict the entire story because they probably would have botched it. But the point remains that the handling of this storyline was a mess (and don’t give me the cancellation excuse, the show learned early on about this and wrote all of 2B with it in mind). The Wittebane story and Belos as a whole showcase why setup and payoff matter. You show the villain feels guilt about their worst deeds? What’s the payoff to that? The villain was originally an outsider who tried to fit in and conformed to a town’s toxic ideologies? What’s the payoff? The villain continually lies to himself and commits atrocities to justify his actions? What’s the payoff? 

If you’re going to raise interesting and thought-provoking questions then don’t give the audience a simplistic answer.

Ya know I forget cause I'm so deep into Prohibitedwish stuff that fucking,, most FAC fans are into Petrigrof, Bubbline, Gumlee, and Winter King shit lmaooo

Like there's a good number of us, but we aren't the fan favorite-- Prismo, Scarab, and Cosmic Owl fans are a subsection

safety cape

for @dariusowlhouseweek

day 5: mentor

“She’s a snakeshifter!  Her name is String Bean... and she’s PERFECT!”

YOU ARE MY HEADCANON TEREZI

The fact that I am getting this ask in the year of our lord 2024 fills me with such glee thank you so much

So, I've just finished the first season of the Owl House, and i don't understand why people like Eda and call her King's mom when she is so mean?!

In the first episode alone she pokes Hooty in the eye, and says Luz is more valuable to her alive (than dead) even though Luz is clearly scared. And she tells Luz she will only allow Luz to return home if this 14 years old helps her first. Luz clearly doesn't understand the world and its dangers, yet Eda brings her and an 8 years old Kind to a prison without even explaining the tyrannical regime and the existence of the capital punishment. Idk, the vibes are really fishy there? She doesn't even want to free the prisoners in the Conformatorium and flippantly jokes about the Warden tormenting 'some tiny creature'! The impression is that she is at best a rather uncaring and apathetic person. And, as we know, there is no such thing as character development and characters always stay the same as their first appearences, so Eda doesn't value community and hates children forever.

And people say she is a great teacher, but she doesn't even want to teach Luz in the first episode. She didn't even try to think whether Luz would be able to learn magic before making a promise to teach her. And then in episode 2 she cruelly mocks a 14 years old for believing herself to be a chosen one - even King, who is a child, lately admits it was cruel - and she never learns from her mistake because in episode 6 she claims she would never trust Luz again if Luz messes up, causing Luz anxiety to the point not only Luz but also Willow and Gus believe Eda would hurt them at the end of the episode! Yes, she says she only wants them to clean her house but why did she need to pretend to seriously threaten them?

And she never truly apologizes or [verbally flagelates herself] explains how and why she changed her mind, so I am not saying you must hate her, but we can appreciate the person she becomes later, while [only focusing on imaginary bad things about her] acknowledging all the shitty things she's done! Such as: She constantly physically and emotionally (through neglect) abuses Hooty in front of children, endorses child labor, uses wages against an elementary schooler and brags about humiliating King in episode 3, cruelly mocks Gus, Willow and the Blight kids. She even said she would let the twins die by Sleetherbeast to save herself! And kinda suspicious how she knew Odalia and Alador and so must know that they are bad parents yet doesn't try to help the Blight kids. Seems like she had been complacent in their abuse for years, don't you think?

And i am not saying that i am completely against mama Eda either, but to enjoy anything involving her and King everyone must first admit that she has been emotionally negletful and physically abusive towards King. Because King doesn't even know he is a child - that's super fucked up, right? And he doesn't have any friends and thinks demons are underappreciated - and obviously it's because Eda made him feel that way, and he acts older than his age, probably because he had to act as her personal therapist. And, yes, Eda is physically abusive too, since in the episode 4 she says she would break every bone in King's body for stealing the elixir, and that can't be an unfortunate writing choice, because we must look at the scenes in isolation and chose the worst possible interpretation of the character, and if you don't see it that way that means you can't deal with admiting your fave has flaws! Also she literally ate someone in episode 2.

But don't worry, you are alowed to like Eda as long as you are agreeing with all the bad faith interpretations of her and want her to self-flagelate and every character to hate her and talk down to her. And she must experience over the top guilt that no other character has to experience, including begging for King's forgiveness on her knees. Oh, and don't forget that you absolutely must crawl into the notes for any silly fanart of her with King to whine how she 'needed to be nicer sooner' and put your Eda bashing fics in her tag while laughing how 'mama Eda stans' must hate you now! Anyway, i am going to go make a fanwork about older King realizing what a shitty parent Eda had been and he isn't sure whether he would be able to forgive her, but it's ok, she is allowed to become a one-dimensional comfort provider as long as it brings the notes in.

[i know people in the fandom looove to be obtuse so i will spell it out: this is a parody of the way toh fandom talks about Darius (and pre-season 3 Camila too, but i based it on Darius because i look into his character tags more often). I will make a serious post, but later since i don't actually want to post too much negativity about Eda.]

robots clanking their heads together as a kiss. you agree

owlie contemplation

Skara: “If you put a milkshake in one yard and crack open a cold one in another yard, which yard would the boys go to?”

Willow: “Schrödinger's boys!”

Hunter: “Fuck!”

Viney: “What about cracking open a cold milkshake?”

Gus: “As we all know, the milkshake brings the boys to the yard. The presence of the boys is a prerequisite for the cracking open of a cold one, but cold ones do not have any inherent boy-attracting abilities. Milkshakes, however, do. All else being equal, the boys would proceed to the milkshake yard. While it is possible to announce the presence of cold ones in the hope of attracting some boys, the pull of the milkshake is much more powerful by comparison.”

Skara, Willow, Hunter, Viney: “.....”

Gus: “Mind you, all of this nonsense hinges on whether or not the boys are back in town.”

Doctor Who crossover where the 15th Doctor gets flung into the universe of Spider-Punk and helps him prevent a catastrophic canon event from happening (that is one of the Doctor’s specialties, after all). Hobie and the Doctor hit it off and play electric guitar together. All is well.

You know what? FUCK YOU

*UN-TRAUMATIZES YOUR HUNTER*

hoot is that? 👀 🦉

that is a fully upcycled plush made from scraps. i cut 3 old pairs of socks into 'tshirt' yarn n made the body out of tht. the eyes are made from actual pieces of old tshirt made into tshirt yarn. it's stuffed with some of the remaining yarn from the socks and scrap fabric chipped up. the only store bought yarn used is for the beak and that's leftover yarn from another project. im obsessed with it! also it's heavy bc it's stuffed with cloth. it's so much fun to hold eek! it will soon undergo a naming process.

free pattern used