#this could still probably use some tweaking but i think it's pretty solid out of all my attempts
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#anise#murasaki#kioshi sakamoto#my ocs#scribblins#i've been trying to do a portrait for kio for so long godDAMN#this could still probably use some tweaking but i think it's pretty solid out of all my attempts
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So we have part 2 of stylized Cookies, pretty much all from today other than bird girls
I feel like I did better yesterday, but also I haven’t seen yesterday’s drawing since yesterday, so I don’t really remember if it was
I was planning on drawing the Hollyberry family, but because I got stuck on Jungleberry (I deleted her so you can’t see), that didn’t end up happening. Funny enough, I was also like “I have no clue what to do for White Lily and Pure Vanilla so they’re probably not gonna be drawn for a while”, but what got me to draw more today was ideas for White Lily, and Pure Vanilla came along later
To be honest, White Lily and Pure Vanilla probably still need some tweaking before I color them. I’m still not really sure what I’m doing with White Lily’s hair, and for Pure Vanilla I feel like I haven’t done enough outside of the eyes and the hat. Maybe it’s because I gave him an oval head? I wasn’t really sure what head shape to give him other than it not being one I already used
Speaking of their eyes, White Lily’s are supposed to be pink with white irises, and Pure Vanilla is supposed to have no irises, but solid yellow and blue. Which when I was drawing looked somewhat unsettling, which is funny because since I draw so many Cookies, that’s usually normal now
Also also, I now want to make a purelily kid that combines their features, aka White Lily’s half shadow face and Pure Vanilla’s small non iris eyes. They’d look like the comedy mask. And probably also somewhat like Shadow Milk
As for the Hollyberry family, I think Holly herself looks good, and the other two look alright. Princess probably needs more tweaking. I wanted to give them a running trait of not just dot eyes, but leaves in their hair. I’m thinking that every Hollyberrian has leaves in their hair, since they’re berries. I am struggling with Royal Berry and Princess’, since the best place to it their leaves is where they have something else, aka their crown and heart pins
To be honest I want to make it so that Princess is half berry half candy, so that maybe she could not have to have the leaves, but I like Jungleberry and don’t want to get rid of her or turn her into a candy, so oh well
I drew Red Velvet because I was struggling with White Lily and Pure Vanilla. I gave him a triangle head because someone somewhere on my first page said something about Golden Cheese having a triangle face because the Cakes, so why not give the half cake Cookie a triangle head as well?
Also with Red Velvet I definitely took liberties in redesigning him, like with the hair and horns, but I don’t think he looks necessarily bad? As least not by the end
I also drew him with Dark Choco because darkvelvet is a thing I know. Though to be honest, while I draw it, I’m not sure how much I like it. Like in theory I like it, it’s not bad, it’s just that I don’t think I get it. Like as far as I can tell they can only be doomed by the narrative because Dark Choco leaves, but maybe I’m interpreting Red Velvet’s character wrong. It’s been over a year since I watched his story. And also I’m not sure what draws people to the ship? Like darklico for example I can get for various reasons, but I don’t know about darkvelvet
Oh yeah, Licorice is here too. Forgot about that. Well I tried to make his head oval shaped because it’s sort supposed to look like a skull? Or a cartoony skull. Same with his eyes and mouth, they’re supposed to be somewhat skull-y. I didn’t draw his actual skulls though because I’m lazy and it’s a small drawing. I think he turned out pretty good though
I think maybe next page I should focus on more random characters outside of the Ancients. Maybe that’ll help the creative freedom
Anyways yeah, I think that’s it for now
#one thing fun about doing these is that when I redraw the characters#I can make it so I don’t have to draw what I don’t want to draw#sorry I’m somewhat distracted right now#my brother was just telling me about something that happened with our dog#and my mind’s somewhat still on it#anyways#cookie run#cookie run kingdom#stylized cookies#golden cheese cookie#black raisin cookie#licorice cookie#hollyberry cookie#royal berry cookie#white lily cookie#pure vanilla cookie#red velvet cookie#princess cookie#my art
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Hello! First off, i wanna say that i really like all of your content! The oc's that i like the most are probably Kaita and Victor, they're pretty funky, funny quirky and stuff.
Now, onto the actual question; Do you plan on making versions of the Team Chaotix members for your hanging out AU?? And considering that Vector has a crush on Vanilla in the canon games, since idw is like canon, how would that work since vanilla is a vampire and stuff? I imagine they like bond over being single parents or something like that LMFAO.
Last thing, i would love to see in what direction do you take Espio on, he's my favorite sonic character ever!!!!
Hey, first: thank you for appreciating my ocs! Second: Good question!
Unfortunately, I made no specific plans for them, because they're already written like how I would write sonic characters if I had to come up with a trio from scratch. The only plan I kinda had was Charmy growing up to be a competent teenage investigator, but I kinda wound up rolling those ideas into Sticks. Maybe he's still a detective though, but has kept some of his zanyness. I think he'd solve crimes with Cream.
As for Espio... unfortunately, again, he's perfect as-is. At most I wouldn't Change him. Instead, I'd actually just make him do things in actual stories. A dude who larps as a ninja but is actually a ninja but is still very dorky and not always the most serious in terms of what he does but always carries himself seriously.. what could I do to that premise that'd make it better?
Similar to Vector, he's pretty solid as-is. I'd really just tweak the design to reflect the 7 year timeskip Hangin Out takes place in, and from there have him act... mostly the same. Seriously, Espio isn't used in canon enough as a character for all that's going for him. He's almost like a cooler but nicer Shadow written with his ridiculousness in mind.
EDIT: Forgot to answer your middle-question; I rarely touch on shipping in most stuff I do unless it's commissions. I think there could be something there, but execution-wise it would be identical to idw/sonic x, except maybe with funny vampire shenanigans Vanilla gets into that Vector would be dragged along for.
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Hei there demons. It is I, ya boi
A while ago I considered making a trivia-like video about the assets I've made for Killer In Purple 2, and maybe show off unused content as well as asset details you probably don't see in-game. Instead I'm posting here!
Part 1: THE VERY FIRST MODEL
I was approached by the dev of Killer in Purple 2, GoldieEntertainment (GFC) after showing off some voxel art I've made in a mobile app called Fancade, and invited to join in on helping expand on Killer In Purple 2. I was like heck yeah let's get this bread!
I downloaded a mobile voxel app called Mega Voxels that actually lets users export their creations, which is exactly what I needed! All set!
My first task was making a new model for the kid NPC that was being used in the game at the time, which was made by Goldie... on Blender according to him, if I recall correctly?
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It was also the only kid model in the game at the time.
Looking at it and the rest of the game at the time, I tried to stick to the "blocky aesthetic" it had going on. I started with the head/face.
(don't mind the ads, you can't escape them nowadays.)
When I showed it to GFC he pointed out its "soulless stare" 😂😂😂 And I was not fully satisfied with the result either. So I went on from there.
I decided to retain the blockiness but also making use of more color shades in order to smooth the edges and give it more personality. After some back and forth of experimenting and tweaking, this was the final result:
The little kiddy face we've all become familiar with! If you pay attention you'll see the eyes are still pretty much a square, with a tiny bit of different color shades surrounding it to give the illusion it's rounded, plus different pupil placement to curb the "soulless stare."
The hair is basic, based off GFC's original model while also drawing slightly inspiration from the sprites of Crying Child from FNAF 4.
"But Jelly," you ask, "what about the rest of the model, like the body? That's just a head." Well, I say: DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD! We're about to get there! (im funny i swear)
The body was surprisingly very straightforward; I tried to keep in mind where the original model was segmented and tried to stick to the same segmentation with the new body. I tried to keep the original clothing when coloring as well.
And here we have one (1) full boye, asserting his dominance!
(The solid green spots were to help GFC see where the different pieces connect, which he could easily color over once they served their purpose.)
Keep this fine young lad in mind, y'all, since he'll go on to also become the base for just about every other child character in the game. I made such choice to make things easier and faster for GFC; that way he could apply pretty much the same rigging and animations to them with minimal modifications, to save time.
Giving the characters different expressions was something that came only later once GFC figured out a way to do it, but it was something I had already been thinking about. He asked me to give the kids a small select of facial expressions; aside from the pre-existing neutral smile, I was also tasked with giving them a scared face for when they see William with the knife out or witness a kill, and a dead face for when... well, when William gives them the ultimate BONK on the head, I guess.
Scared is pretty straightforward, but what would be a dead expression? There are many ways one could go about it. So rather than making one, I made several dead faces with different designs, and left it up to GFC to pick up the "winner."
First is the default neutral smile, second is scared, and all remaining ones are different dead expressions.
I went for combinations of blank faces, empty/hollowed out eyes, tear marks matching the well-known children spirits in FNAF, as well as the cartoony X'd out eyes, which wound up being GFC's pick.
And with that we wrap up for now. These were my first steps in helping Killer In Purple 2 slowly become what it is now and my first contributions to the game (with the exception of the different expressions which we went for after a substantial amount of work.)
It all started with this little guy and his former soulless stare!
Stay tuned for whenever I decide to make new posts talking about other assets! ❤
#fnaf#fnaf fangame#killer in purple 2#kip2#jellycream art#jellycream speaks#voxel#voxel art#3d#3d art
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Ignoring the older art. I got another silly au I might possibly write a fic about… but no idea on how to start it. Anyways. Futuristic AU where Both Viggo and Hiccup are partners to an organization that is essentially like a police force, though in a lot of cases it is ran more like a mafia. There’s been accounts of people going missing, people dying, all with the intact calling card of a once-close companion (and lover) of theirs that had supposedly “died” in the line of duty a few months-years back.
The only problem… the fact that the man on the security tapes is mostly machine, and while he’s of a similar stature to said man, he seems very. Blank. Very robotic. As the crime rates escalate, there is a trace back to Bludvist Engineering, a corporation that supplies quite a large amount of robotics to their faction, noted that this is where Hiccup got his prosthetic too, and the prosthetics that the duplicate(?) the automation has are eerily similar, minus the control tubes at the bottoms of the things legs (most likely full of fuel or drugs.)
Hiccup weasels Viggo into a situation to set a trap. They find that it is Krogan… but what is left of the man’s humanity remains for the most part in his face. In his mind, which has now been quite addled by some newfound drug (akin to Deathgripper Venom) Known simply as Crimson Tide, or Crimson, for short, which came be used to completely overhaul one’s mind to do someone’s bidding or dirty work, as well as give some pretty pleasant effects, for what accounts to months, if not years.
As Krogan comes down from the high for the first time in months, he finds himself surrounded by his lovers… but it feels wrong. It feels wrong because he’s not himself. He lacks, for the most part, anything remotely human; no genitals except for some small artificial glands to help keep his Pravin hormones balanced, to eat he needs to be fed a completely liquid diet because anything solid makes him vomit, and he has had his ability to feel pleasurable touch has been completely severed on top of that- and while they could probably restore it, his world feels very dead without the drugs.
Hiccup, Viggo and the others do keep him sane, though his hissing and whining gears and muscles tend to make him stressed over the fact that he can hear his movements when he walks.
I still have to think of other things after the fact… like omg… the idea of prosthetics for his more sensitive regions? How would those work? I figure with how advanced tech is, they could probably get something that functions well enough for more private things, but for the most part at first once Krogan gets his positive touch feelings back he’s going to be doing a LOT of cuddling instead of other things… and Viggo might have to get new furniture because Krogan weighs well over 1000 pounds with all that metal he:s made out of. Hiccup could perhaps make some tweaks so that his claws are retractable, with Viggo maybe making some other tweaks so that their code is perfect and that the prosthetics actually work properly.
Thoughts. Brain loud. So many possibilities:)
Ahahahah yesysysy Oml I’m in love with his claws msjsjsjsjsjdj!! Him just gently trying to stroke through Hiccup’s hair without scratching him sudndiendj! Also yes love the idea!
lol the amount of chairs he would brake rip! Poor Viggo’s bank account. I think that after he is ready for more intimate touch they would have a lotta fun with some,,,,very cool prosthetics ;) but yah it would probably take a lot for him to be able to feel things with his prosthetics too.
I’m not really knowledgeable about it but how it actually works would be so interesting. Cause if he could control everything robotically, presumably there would be connections to his brain and some sort of replacement nervous system, so using that kinda stuff maybe they could give him some sort of touch back. I’m not very knowledgeable about it but actually feeling something would be different to just controlling it and the people who gave Krogan this body probs wouldn’t care to much about how he interacts with the world and his senses but Hiccup and Viggo would, so somehow being able to give him feeling back would be so sweet! But damn that’s actually so interesting to think about I’ll have to look into it sometime cause all I have is my neuro course and year 10 bio and I remember basically nothing from them. But i don’t know if he’d have reflexes cause if you don’t have touch receptors idk i feel like that would mean there’s no chance to trigger the neurons and stuff to fire so maybe they would have to come up with a way to actually do that. I think it may be the somatosensory cortex that handles touch and reflexes and stuff but I’m not entirely sure about that so if that was intact maybe they could just find a way to tap into that. Regardless not having reflexes would be pretty good for a war machine lol. Anyway that’s kinda irrelevant but it got me thinking lol.
But ahahahah there’s so much adaption he’d have to do and Hiccup and Viggo helping him would be so sweet! Plus like the dangerous of the corporation and maybe even Hiccup’s inner struggle with using a prosthetic from that company for years after seeing what they did. He could start his own company once he and Viggo make better things lol.
Just a futuristic robot type of deathgripper venom is so cool, I’ve been watching The Boys and it kinda reminds me of compound V lol! And yes the addiction side of it would be so cool to look into, especially depending on how long Krogan has been taking it too cause assumably it would be pretty strong even from the first dose! Like the challenge of keeping Krogan in check and in control when he feels he needs it would be so heartbreaking! Even just losing things like not being able to eat would be so hard to adjust to and lacking feeling on top of an addiction djdndjdj that would be horrible!
Also I just love the inner struggle of ‘what is human’ for him to battle. Like it’s such a literal version of what I think would be a possible struggle for a more canonical Krogan. Cause he’s a weapon which naturally takes away some of his ‘humanity’ (from his perspective) and his ‘self’ and then this is like a literal and metaphorical stripping of those for him! Very cool!
#love au’s like this especially from a psychological ‘what is human’ perspective jdndjdj#httyd krogan#hiccup haddock#viggo grimborn#kroggo#vigcup#Krogan/Hiccup#httyd#rtte#losing limbs#addiction#drug mention#tw drugs#angst#Krogan whump
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Hark! The Rains SofTEN, or something.
One of these days i'm going to have to bite the bullet and stop trying to work TEN into my titles. But not today.
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These levels took me _all_ the way back, no lie. The cream of the (at least English speaking-side) LBP crop putting together a set of levels to teach folx how to get logic to work in LBP1, back when everything had to be done wiv physical objects.
A lot of these techniques still work fine, even if they can be a little fiddly to set up, and have been completely obviated by the addition of microchips and logic gates in 2. i think the only one i couldn't get working was the non-dissolve permanent switch from the Advanced Pack. i built it just like the object from the copyable level, same tweaks, but it just wasn't staying on. Everything else tho', it all works just like it says on the tin.
i played a lot of these tutorial how to logic/build a level levels, and the way they made this one into an actual environment, wiv nods at a story, really made it stand out. Most times it'd be an empty create mode environment; which, to its credit, that style _did_ allow for more to be put in a level. There were some Jside levels i've played that did, at least, make a level-level to play as you learn.
i wonder what happened to all the tutorial levels. i mean, you still see a few in the wild, and they were never the most heavily represented level-type, but even still, it feels like i barely run into them any more.
To come back to these levels, and there's a break in the Intermediate Pack, so you can't see how they carry the framing device from it to the Advanced, and that just gets my goat. i wanna know why we've gone from this nice office/factory in the woods to getting airlifted into what looks like a warzone.
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Ratalsoni1 has been a really nice creator to stumble across this late in the game's life cycle. We looked at Climbing the Mountain a couple(?) weeks back on LittleBite-sizedPlanet, and that was a real winner. This as a follow up is, like, yeah, this kid's not just a flash in the pan.
Using the hairdrier is a bit fiddlier, and it does make the first run through a bit to get used to; but i found when i gave it a few plays to really get familiar wiv it that it really is an enjoyable level. And dang, but does it look nice. The environment, in general, is spot on, but there's also a really solid set of material choices here, and the use of layers really gives things a sense of depth. The whole thing manages to avoid that sense of emptiness in LBP3 levels that we talked about in the last TEN spot. The only fly in the ointment is dealing wiv those springbolts. It's more an on me thing, but i have _never_ not struggled at least a little navigating them, and adding the hairdrier to the mix... the first time through was _just a bit_ of a pain in the arse.
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Why is Hillary Clinton in this level, tho'? Like, when the aliens are all "let's distract them wiv an attractive human female" and they put a picture of Hillary Clinton on the screen, and it's just... i mean, i get the dig, only weirdo aliens would find her attractive kind of thing, but... it's such an odd little joke to find at random in an LBP level. i should look up where she was in the public consciousness in 2009.
Otherwise, this is a really neat level. Setting it up as a simple "shoot down these waves of enemies" style level, and then elaborating it out into an escape the base type of deal where the level would typically end was super cool. It's chonky (a little bit to its detriment, really. i was pretty ready for it to be over by the time it was over), and there's a pretty solid set of things to do along the way. You can see some of the LBP2 specifics added in the repub, but most of this was just straight-forward LBP1 building, and this one really shows just how big some of those levels could get.
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i want to go back and thank past me for hearting Sci-Fi World 2 back in the day, 'cause i probably never would have run into it again otherwise. Also i want to tell her things will be ok, 'cause she was dealing wiv a lot.
i love how you can see the progress in level design and presentation over the course of these levels. Like, just in presentation, you've got an environment in 4 that is much more of itself than the one we see in 1. i do have to say i cottoned to the setting in 1 a little more, but that's very much a me thing. The downside of that progress is the techniques mdaj learns and employs are very much dependent on the fiddly physics of LBP1, and, well, that just leaves 4 broken. 3 isn't even up on their planet anymore, so i have to imagine something went sideways wiv it after an update, and it just never got repaired/repubbed. Shame that. Still, what we have left is an absolute hoot.
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Another mdaj jam here, and unfortunately another that's not been well served by changes to LBP's engine. The lighting is just **so** bright in some places, like glaringly so. Also the bit at the end that's just broke so you can't progress. Hate that. Watching the video and i was, like, bitch you can just drop down and forward a layer and get out that way. i felt like such a goober, i went and played it again, and thankfully, no, you can't actually get out that way, it just looks like you can. Even wiv the level being broken, it's still worth a quick play just to see mdaj's sculpting and presentation skills. Those dragon-y dinosaur-y things are super cool looking.
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Dang, that is just a really solid set of levels there. Not a one of them is crummy. Spoilers: this trend will not, unfortunately, continue.
i'm feeling really torn over all this bullshite going on wiv YouTube recently. Like, if it works out that adblocker is rendered non-functional, i _can_ just stop watching videos. i'll be pissed that i can't directly support other archivists like @soupum and Myravrax, but aside from the LBP side of things, and @alicerulerofwater 's Gemini podcast, YouTube videos haven't been more than bgm for me for awhile now. But, like, how i can continue to put up my own videos on a site that i'm not willing to watch? That feels sketchy as heck. i honestly don't know, what things are going to look like going forward, and this puts a lot more on my mental plate than i really needed at the moment. i guess all i can do is keep an eye on the situation, and hope that uOrigins can manage to get things to a point where i don't need to be changing my filters and fucking around wiv things every twelve hours. What a fucking mess this whole thing is.
#littlebigplanet#little big planet#lbp#lbp1#lbp2#lbp3#LittleBite-sizedArchive#LBsA#fuck YouTube#Youtube
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how much has nonco changed over the years? have any of your characters gone through major changes?
It's changed quite a bit I think. Funny, bc I was thinking about this the other day...by major changes I would say in terms of plot and character personality/demeanor YEAH most of them had significant changes throughout the years. Design-wise they're pretty similar to their original concepts still. This is gonna be lengthy so sit tight:
I started compiling ideas for Nonconformity back in 2017, but this was when it was just a one-off character idea and not a coherent story. I had Jade for a while, I made him for an 80s superhero RP and he had crystal formation powers. I decided to give him some friends in his backstory so I went with a rock cycle theme for them & made Grant & Clay. It's always been intended that they were a rock band, and that Clay formed the band to impress his crush, though the idea of who his crush is has changed a few times. My brother created a character for that purpose: She was meant to be his crush since childhood, and Clay would find out she's a lesbian. The idea was that he'd accept it and move on but befriend her. Clay was my least favorite character back then and it shocks me so hard how quickly he became one of my top faves. Here’s concept art of the first time I drew Jade, and also Grant & Clay (Grant had a different name at the time)
In late 2017/early 2018, I played with the idea of a Battle of the Bands RP group for my friends. The idea was public school vs private school. The only character to stick around from this concept was Floyd, who would've been the frontman of a band from the private school. He didn’t have a design at this time, but his concept is pretty solid. A friend pitched some ideas of adding rock & roll demons to it, and that part of the plot would be that the bands played so intensely that they got sucked into a rock & roll dimension and had to figure out how to get back to their own world. This is where Riff came to be. The band with Clay, Grant, & Jade existed as its own entity still at this time (band was unnamed iirc), but the Nonco STORY came from this RP concept.
Later on in 2018 I took an independent study art course, so I decided to create an idea for a fake cartoon, so I took "Nonco" (Still not Nonco for reals yet) and fleshed it out more. I wanted to focus on the Rock & Roll Nightmare Dimension idea, so I tweaked Riff's design and made a band for him. I bounced some ideas around with my professor and when we got to what I wanted to title it, I wasn't sure what to call it. I considered something related to "Core" bc of the earth's core, so I further developed the idea that they live inside the earth, leading to conceptualization of Nonco's Mantle Dimension (for those who don't know, it's basically like the Nether from minecraft). I eventually came up with the name "Nonconformity" but even then I didn't think it fitted my project! I think think it was very fitting for Clay's band though, and that was when they got the name. I thought it'd be interesting to combine the project idea & the rock band together, mostly so that I could use the title "Nonconformity" for my project and that was what happened I guess lol
While that was going on, I was a part of another RP group, one that took place in the 90s. This was where I created Cal, I took an old character and completely rebooted him, & for his new design I was really inspired by some pink calcites I saw so I made him based on calcite. Gave him a whole tropical theme and everything. Putting 2 & 2 together, I realize Cal & Clay could probably share a universe since they're both rock themed (I thought they looked cute together) The funny part around this time is that bc they were constrained to the dates of their respective RP-verses, Clay was originally older than Cal by 2 or 3 years iirc. Their dynamic was also A LOT different. Clay was still the same grumpy guy and Cal the annoying flirty guy, but I had written that Cal had a crush on Clay, and that Clay gave him guitar lessons. Then Calsey happened and that idea with Clay & Cal never saw the light of day ever again.
In late 2018 and the entire duration of 2019, I started designing random rock characters to add to the universe cuz I thought that was pretty fun, and also they are really good for helping me remember different rocks & minerals for class. I believe this was when I came up with “James Hutton HS”, named after the “father of modern geology”. Here are some early designs:
I tried making all the characters connected to either Clay or Cal in some way, they felt like they were "main characters" & I realize how fun it was to write a whole story out. At the time, I still thought high school stories were fun to write because of the cartoons I watched so I aged down all my characters to be teenagers (I didn’t realize how restricting it was til later). I changed up the idea of Clay's crush, mostly bc if I wanted to write my own story, I'd want to use my own character so that I'd have full control. I began conceptualizing Juliet, I wanted a character that was opposite in appearance to Clay. Clay was gritty and rough, as a rock it is just dull. So his opposite would be a gem, or jewel. That's where the name Juliet came from (not to mention lot of songs in Clay's playlist mention the name "Juliet" so I thought it was very appropriate. The idea for Nonconformity now is that Clay meets Jules at a rock show (Rock Show - blink-182) & forms a band to impress him, but Cal is in the way with his rival band Carbon Dating. After watching Tenacious D The Pick of Destiny, I had the idea for Clay & Cal to each wield a guitar pick that was meant to be attached together. Riff became relevant in that he'd possess Clay to perform on stage because of Clay's stage fright. So now Nonco goes something like: Clay meets Jules at a rock show and wanted to impress him so he forms a rock band with his childhood friends, but his actual problem was he hates crowds. He accidentally summons Riff by shredding his bass, and Riff hands him a guitar pick that would help Clay out. He eventually comes face to face with Carbon Dating & Cal, the town’s most popular band, who challenges Nonconformity to a Battle of the Bands. The battle would get so intense that it tears space & time, and a portal to the Rock & Roll/Mantle dimension would open up taking everyone in. They had to find their way out.
Also Clay & Cal emerged in my brain but their dynamic is more insane now and what it’s like today.
Then I created Desmond. He was always meant to be a former love interest for Cal, but fell apart due to drama between the 2 (and how Cal’s guitar pick fell into Desmond’s hands). Researching more on diamonds (bc I knew jack shit about diamonds at the time) I learned how they were formed/brought to the surface and that further inspired how to write the falling out between Cal & Desmond (and Jules.). I’ve always hated diamonds, so I wanted to make the most messed up character ever, wanted to work with how unstable real diamonds actually are. He became the true antagonist of Nonconformity, at least for this version. He really wanted to get Clay’s guitar pick. To get like, super powerful or something. That idea was still very vague to me.
In 2020...where the insanity all truly began....a little before lockdown, was when I started kicking everything in Nonco into gear. I got a grasp of what Jules' design should be like, that his rock would be kimberlite (bc they carry "jewels" to the surface), and that bc he's part of the falling out he should have a history with Cal. I figured, if kimberlites are associated with diamonds, what if Jules & Desmond actually secretly worked together. Also worked on strengthening characterization of other main characters like Jade & Grant, and also Floyd (he was a minor antagonist at this time). I also did a lot of world building during this time. The lockdown gave me a lot of time & opportunity to develop Nonco, but also I was heavily pressured into making a webcomic about them, not something I was very enthusiastic about, but it did get me to develop Nonco a lot more. The story remained pretty much the same other than the thing with Jules. Think this was when I started playing with the idea that everyone loves Jules bc it’s funny to me.
Diesel also came around at this time as a guy who drives trucks and was probably a retired rock star. I began conceptualizing Desmond’s family since Diamond Records is own by the Adams family.
Around 2020 was also when I started having ideas for “Nonco 2″ taking place in their 20s bc there were a lot of ideas I couldn’t keep in Nonco that I still really liked, so anything I didn’t keep I just threw into Nonco 2 to work on later. Here are some very early ideas:
Made some breakthroughs in 2021. Unfortunately a lot of the fun stuff I did for this year is “spoiler” (idk why I mean that when I’m not releasing anything, but ig it’s just more private info I don’t want to share - it’s nothing weird DW, it’s just backstory stuff among the main characters that are very......OP sounding or more personal to me.) Made Floyd’s dad more relevant and he became an antagonist/major villain. Nonco was broken up into 3 parts at this time, without Nonco 2 (just existed as an epilogue) Worked on a lot of concepts this year. ALSO, many of the background characters ended up having their own story too, so Nonco is now just the main Rock Recs story, and other ones exist in the same universe.
The final Battle of the Bands even still seemed pretty unclear to me, I was struggling a lot with it. I knew Diamond Records played some big part in it. I did my final research for university on kimberlitic eruptions and then everything clicked for me. I made Diana (Desmond’s older sister) the CEO of Diamond Records and gave her a funny absurd reason on why she was looking for the guitar picks (reforming Pangaea) because she is also a mad scientist. Eventually I decided that she definitely had history with Diesel, and that he used to be signed under Diamond Records.
Currently, in 2022, I would say I did the biggest story overhaul due to some crucial parts being unclear to me or difficult to write, like the final Battle of the Bands and where Riff is physically relevant. I made Barry the main antagonist in Nonco 1, and split the story into 2 parts again. Riff is now cursed and trapped inside the guitar pick, and Clay either finds it somewhere or was gifted it. This changes the sequence of some things that happen early in the story, but it all fits nicely now. Also they send Barry to hell (The Mantle dimension) and that’s how Nonco 1 ends and wraps up pretty nicely. Nonco 2 is when Desmond & Diana reveal their true intentions.
This is the current line up of main/important and reoccurring characters in Nonco:
Pretty happy with it right now, more than I ever was in the past, but I’m looking forward to see what more I will develop in the future.
All of this sounds sooo serious but Nonco as a story is told with absurd/surreal humor and differs greatly from the backstory. Anyways...hope you enjoyed that, thanks for asking! If you have any thoughts just let me know
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Counter Your Blessings: Full Commentary
Hey everyone! This was a fun contest to judge. I always enjoy counterspells, and there were a lot of cool submissions for this contest. I’m especially a big fan of cards that let you copy/steal from your opponent, which there was a lot of this time around. All in all, pretty cool stuff!!! Let’s get into it!
Spell Snatch by @piccadilly-blue
I love these “punisher” style effects that give your opponent a choice, and this is a cool choice to give. What you have to remember though is that they’re a downside. Your opponent always gets to pick the better of two options. Which basically means this is a worse cancel for one more mana, which really isn’t a great deal. I also think it could use a less generic name. “Spell snatch” could be a lot of different spells. But a great name for this card (based on the flavor text I’m assuming this is prismari) would be something like “Share with the Class”.
Luminous Runebreaker by @tyrannosaurusrekt
I think the counterspell ability should line up with the ward more. “When ~ enters the battlefield, for each spell and ability you don’t control that targets a permanent you control, counter that spell unless its controller pays 2.” Or something. Other than that though, this seems good! Board protection is a good spot for a green white card, and ward does a good job of protecting without being too obnoxious.
Gale of Qal Sisma by @yd12k
I think this has good potential as a solid card. A weak counterspell/removal, that upgrades itself with a set mechanic? Sounds great. The current version of it just feels a bit clunky though. I think it would feel a lot smoother if the normal version could hit any nonland permanent OR spell, and the upgrade lets it hit one of each.
Desperate Alliance by @targnarthegnoll
I’m skeptical of a colorless counterspell in general. Counterspells are, generally, kept in blue cause they’re a necessary function for the game but not especially fun for many players, so limiting them to one color limits the impact. So a colorless counterspell is playing in dangerous territory. I also think the counterspell effect is doing little for the flavor. It helps by pointing out what they’re allying against, but I think for the most part just the creation of the tokens gets the flavor across well enough.
Venser, Reality Shaper by @hiygamer
This is a very cool card, and definitely a Venser. The one thing I don’t love is how prescriptive it is. Part of the fun of planeswalker cards comes from the choices they present to you, but this really doesn’t present a choice. It’s basically always gonna play out the same- it enters and counters some spell, probably something expensive. You +1 it the first time it gets around to your turn, and then you -4 it next turn. This changes a little bit if he gets attacked by adding more +s, but it’s still quite samey, which just feels off for a planeswalker. I think this really wants a third loyalty ability of some kind to switch things up, but the way it’s currently set up it might be difficult to find one that would actually be used. Maybe a second, different plus ability? Or maybe change the +1 to a +2? That way, Venser will survive -4ing if he’s not attacked and that gives you more room to play around with things, and give this a third ability. That or turning the -4 into a -X where X is cmc? This is a very cool card but it feels like it’s missing something at the moment.
Spirited Rebuke by @bread-into-toast
I realize the distinction is pretty thin, but this feels more like a kicker card than a cleave card. Generally speaking, kicker is used to add an upside, while cleave is used to remove a restriction/downside. Nitpicking aside, I think this is quite a neat design that just needs a few tweaks. Three mana for three 1/1 fliers (even at sorcery speed, let alone instant speed) is probably too strong, and this has the added functionality of being a counterspell. I also think the mana they have to pay is way too much, it’s probably never getting paid once let alone once for each creature and enchantment. I’d tone it down to 1 per. And finally, I feel like this is kinda backwards? To me, it would make more sense if it was always a counterspell, and could be upgraded with more mana to give you tokens to make it a more efficient counterspell. But that’s pretty subjective, and would make it not qualify for the contest, so I don’t think it’s a huge deal or anything that you didn’t. It’s mainly the power level that has me worried here.
Coup in the Dungeon City by @i-am-the-one-who-wololoes
This seems like a card that would have a very difficult time existing, cause initiative and monarch fill very similar roles in a set so it seems unlikely there would be a set with both. If there was a set where both of those mechanics were used, I could see something like this exist I think. I doubt it needs the extra blue in its mana cost though, I’d just make it a flat 3UBR. Counterspells do usually have double blue, but a card that already requires three colors doesn’t really need it.
Spell Plagiarism by @squeezyboi.
P-L-A-G-I-A-R-I-S-M. How’d I do? Cheating cards into play directly from the library is always playing in somewhat risky territory. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it, it just means you gotta think carefully about the ramifications of doing so. Randomness like this card is often used as a limiting tool for these effects, which makes sense. One of the biggest potential problems is making games play out the same too often. But when you’re playing with randomness in a design, you gotta ask yourself “what’s the best way to work around the randomness to make sure it does what I want?” And often, that’s eliminating the randomness by only having one viable target. You did something here that I’m a big fan of. By limiting it based on what your opponent casts, it’s quite hard to actually do that. I suppose you could have one big Blightsteel Colossusesque card and assume they’re probably going to cast a creature at some point (or in blightsteel’s case, a creature or artifact), but I think it’s janky enough that it’s not too much of a problem. I’m a big fan of counterspells like this, where you care about some element of the card you countered to do your own thing. In this case though, I think mana value would work better. While even caring about card type probably isn’t gonna cause problems, this card has enough limitations, I think mana value would really perfect it. It’s really difficult to line things up in a way where you only have one card for a given mana value but can count on an opponent casting that mv. So it turns this into more of a toolboxy card which I think is good space for this to be in.
Unesh’s Riddle by @curiooftheheart
Sure! I’m a fan of this. It’s absolutely a design I could see existing. In fact, it basically does exist, with Draining Whelk. But I even with that card existing, I could see this card existing. For one thing, Draining Whelk is just kinda weird flavorfully. Who even knows what a whelk is? So I could see something like this existing if the effect is needed but you can’t reprint whelk for whatever reason. Plus, the the fact that it makes a token could be useful, if you have some populateesque effect and want blue to have a big token to populate. Overall, this is a card I absolutely could see existing and that’s fun to play with, and really what more could you want?
Explosive Showcase by @azathoth-the-bored
I can see why you chose to make this only trigger off artifacts, since blue/red isn’t great at blowing up most types of permanents, but it seems a little too specific. Assuming you want to keep this in blue/red, I think I’d prefer it if you cut the removal entirely, and just focused on the damage. “If an ability of a permanent is countered this way, ~ deals damage to that ability’s controller equal to that permanent’s mana value”. In fact if you like, you could bump this up to five mana and have it also damage based on a countered spell’s mana value, but I think that might be too wordy.. The flavor would have to change slightly, from an explosion to more of a recoil type deal. But I think making this card less specific is really where it wants to be.
Mistmeadow Spelljar by @demimonde-semigoddess
I’m not sure this needs to be 4 mana, to be honest. This seems like the kind of thing that could easily cost only three mana, since we get cancel with upside all the time. Of course, that would make it not qualify for the contest, but an important part of the contest is finding an upside worth paying a premium on your counterspells for. Other than that though, this seems like it would play absolutely wonderfully. It’s not groundbreaking by any means, but it’s a solid card for flicker decks. I’m a big fan of finding “generic” effects like counterspells, or removal, or card draw that play more into your deck theme. I’m not sure this needs to be white, but it doesn’t need to not be white either, so eh. I think it’s fine.
Spell Silencer by @gollumni
Like many other submissions, this seems like a solid card I could see being printed. 3 mana seems about right for a 1/1 flash deathtouch, with enough room for the kicker upside. And 5 mana is definitely a lot for a counterspell, but this has flexibility and giving you a 1/1 with deathtouch isn’t bad at all. I do wish the timing of this worked out better- it’s difficult to take advantage of the fact that this is a flashy deathtoucher as well as a counterspell. Cause normally, you’d flash it in in response to blockers but many combat tricks are best played before blockers, so it’s gonna be difficult to take maximum advantage of all parts of this card.
Spell Refraction by @snugz
Oh. Oh wow. This is a very cool card that I’d love to play with. I love stealing stuff I love copying and frankly I love the converge mechanic. The issue is, I think it’s wayyyyyy too strong. Even if it only copied the spell once, the minimum this could do, it would still be a pretty reasonable card. That’s just Aethersnatch. And this can copy up to five times. I definitely feel this needs some additional limitations. And/or it needs to cost like, nine.
Sun-Cloaked Savior by @grornt
White doesn’t get tons of counterspells, but this seems like a reasonable one for it to get. It’s really more of a protection peace than a true counterspell. And even with a counterspell as limited as this, a 3/3 flier is more than enough upside to be worth playing. In fact sometimes, you’ll even play this with nothing to counter. All in all, I think this is costed well and fills a solid function. I’m a big fan.
Bolt from the Blue by @railway-covidae
This feels like two separate cards stapled together. I like the idea of a wheel that can change the amount you draw based on your instants and sorceries, but I’m not sure why it’s attached to a counterspell. And the flavor isn’t really helping me out here, the name feels kinda nondescript.
Aether Conductor by @simsarwel
Aether Drain!!!!! It’s mana drain for energy!! This is an effect I’m honestly shocked we didn’t see first time around in kaladesh block. I also like the effect you chose as an outlet for the energy. It’s weak enough that you’re likely to use your energy for some outlet on another card, but strong enough that it works on its own. It’s a nice balance. As a bit of a nitpick, I think the flavor text could afford to be a little less descriptive. It feels a bit too much like an excerpt of a history textbook. Maybe something like “Mages who emerged after the fall of the Consulate suddenly find themselves hunted once again by Baralist extremists” or something.
Stormqueller Mage by @pocketvikings
Sure! That’s honestly most of what I can say here. This seems like a fine utility card that’s good at what it does. Maybe even a little too good, to be honest. Since this is best in a situation where it’s dealing with lots of spells and abilities, I’d bump the cost they have to pay down to 2 or even 1, to make it more likely they can save something. And I think that would still be reasonable, coming on a decent-sized body like it does here.
Aethershrike by @nine-effing-hells
None of the other mutate cards trigger on ETB, so I don’t think this one should either. You generally want a pretty good reason to break the mold like that, and I’m not sure this does it. It also seems odd to have an effect like this that can trigger multiple times, but probably won’t have any effect beyond the first time. So what if this had something like “You may cast spells that target ~ as though those spells have flash” or however that should be worded. That lets you mutate onto this repeatedly to counterspells. And normally, repeatable on-board counters are problematic but since this one relies on hidden information (usually), I think it could actually add a fun little bluffing dynamic. It might be too strong even then though, if you just fill your deck with a bunch of mutate cards. I’m not sure.
Fuam’s Replication by @minopug
Oh wow, this is quite cool. There’s a few minor templating notes I’d adjust. 3 should be three. Instead of “copy it”, say “copy that card”, since the antecedent of it could be Fuam’s Replication. And it should be “Exile target spell and put three replication counters on that card”. “Exile target spell with…” could sound like the spell has to have counters on it. Other than these small things though, I don’t really have much I think should change. There’s a lot of cool stuff going on here.
Divisive Subversion by @izzet-always-r-versus-u
There were several submissions with the general idea of “counter their spell, then copy it some number of times”. And it’s a space I think is quite fun, so I can see why. There’s a lot of appeal to literally one-upping your opponent. I think the cost of copying here is just too low though. I like that you added a nonmana cost, but I think even with that it should cost two to three mana per copy.
Abjurer’s Recanting by @thaneofstuff
I think I generally prefer counterspells that scale up with mana value rather than scale down. Here, the counterspell effect is secondary, and you’re probably playing this more for the card draw. You don’t care as much about what you counter as long as it’s cheap, you aren’t using this to stop a threat. It just all feels kinda backwards.
Snatchcaster Mage by @deg99
Once again, this seems like a solid design that has its place. It seems a little on the strong side, so if you want to tone it down one way to do that would be to have it so it can only counter instant/sorcery spells. But I’m not sure if this needs that. Really depends on the environment- for a standard set, I’d probably recommend it, but for a commander deck or something it might be fine. And speaking of environment, I also don’t think this really needs the red but I could see this being a blue red card in the right environment. So basically, there’s a few things here that are worth thinking about changing, but without knowing more about the context this card might exist in I can’t really say whether they should. It seems like a pretty clean design though! All in all, I’m a fan.
Insidious Infusion by @starch255
I like this as a control card, it seems to have an effect you’d want without being too annoying to play against, which is a good spot for a card like this. And it does seem worth the 4 mana you’re paying. I worry that the UUBB cost is a bit much, but I don’t know if 2UB would be too little.
Enact Silence by @reaperfromtheabyss
I like the idea, but I think this is quite overcosted honestly. Even if it only made your opponents’ stuff lose their abilities, I don’t think this should be more than 4 or maybe 5 mana. I’m also unsure if this should hit lands? You can just float your mana, so adding “nonland” wouldn’t really be much of a functional change, but floating mana isn’t gonna be obvious to all players.
Shadowmage’s Epiphany by @fractured-infinity
Six mana is a lot for a counterspell but hoodoggy, this packs more than enough punch to make up for it. In addition to being a counterspell, it’s a double removal spell, and discard. And then you get nearly a whole hand’s worth of cards to cast. I think this is honestly a bit too strong. I think it might be better if it was only 4 mana or so, but had escalate to scale up more. I think this could really use the extra knobs. And I also think this could use the “You may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast” thing, like most cards that do this kind of thing these days.
Thank you all for your submissions!!! Good luck with this week’s contest! Maybe we’ll have another week with only three nonblue submissions, who knows?
- @loreholdlesbian
#mtg#magic the gathering#custom magic card#inventors' fair#expensive counterspell contest#commentary#original post
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my dragons dogma 2 character creator review:
the system in place for face presets is interesting and you can get some pretty solid presets out of it, but it makes making a good face really hard to do on your own.
beastren are very cool, they are exclusively felines though and the ear options are pretty mid. you have to do a lot of tweaking in the nose area to get the face to proper snoot territory but it can actually be done. they are pretty clearly just a human with some fur on them though, 7/10 new faces meshes next time please and thank you.
hair options are wildly lacking and i'm not sure why since i feel like dragons dogma 1 had some pretty solid options in both long hair and short hair categories for both male and female characters. but there are a couple cool options wrt curly hair for black characters, and they actually look good in my opinion which a lot of games absolutely do not have good looking tight curls at all. too bad theres like only three face presets for black characters, hope you're good at sliders.
hair color options are also lacking but that seems to have carried over from dragons dogma 1 wholesale so i cant really say i'm surprised. however in dragons dogma 1 you could kind of make your hair a sort of teal blue, you will have no options for fun colors in this one so close your eyes with me and pray for mods. i went in expecting to be able to give a girl some green hair, did not materialize for me regardless of fiddling.
when i say making a human face look good is hard i do mean it's really hard, be ready to spend 40 minutes playing with sliders to get something that still kind of looks off. my advice, spend a lot of time picking your base head because you will be married to it once detailed edits starts. try to pick one which needs the least amount of fixing.
i think they did that thing where they scan a bunch of real peoples faces in and use those as meshes... i don't love it, but the presets do look like real people which i guess might have good appeal to people less set in the genre like i am, maybe we can get some skyrim bros playing this? i'm guessing this one will do well with souls fans, probably.
the graphics were very impressive to me, and the fur on beastren looks surprisingly good.
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series 12 ranking list
please feel free to discuss and share your opinions on any of the episodes too! also please feel free to ask me any additional questions on my opinion of any specific subject!
ranking scale
good - a decent episode of doctor who.
okay - give it another draft and this would also be a good episode of doctor who.
bad - not great, noticeable flawed, needs a good fix up.
awful - downright dreadful or insulting to watch.
doctor is explicitly racist tier - does what it says on the tin.
i switched this round from my s11 ranking so this ranking is based on the ch*bnall era alone, not as the whole of nuwho.
looking back at my s11 ranking and i feel like it may have come across as a touch harsh. for clarification my big criticisms boil down to the lack of character work and obviously in s11 it was just pretty lacking of decent character work and characterisation which is probably why i ranked them all as bad and below. the same criticism of poor character still exists in this season, maybe not as bad? idk, still no where near the standard for actual good television. of course my opinions and rankings change depending on how/ what I am basing an episode on so this is none of this is concrete as such.
haunting of villa diodati - pretty good. if only all of ch*bnall’s episodes lived up to this standard, it might have actually have been good.
nikola’s tesla night of terror - solid episode, pretty reminiscent of an rtd era historic. i feel like the villian could have been a tad stronger and then it could be moved up to good.
spyfall pt1 - a solid start, sacha is a delight, definitely could used some a bit of tweaking to tidy it up.
fugitive of the judoon - ranking this episode in isolation and it ends up being middling. i feel like the fugitive plotline could be a lot stronger rather than leaving it as ✨a mystery✨. the subplot of the fam meeting jack could be a lot better and more engaging. could be worse but also be a lot better.
praxeus - the location hopping is an awful trope of ch*bnall designed nothing more than to show off the budget rather than be utilised to showcase a good story. also annoying side characters which barely add anything and only exist to become extra tag alongs.
ascension of the cyberman - gets put into the awful tier mainly because of how dull it is. a 50 minute build up for the second part (and yes I know this technically applies for all two parters but this one takes the piss). completely dull and unengaging.
revolution of the daleks - this one is perhaps harsh and it’s positioning could change based on my mood. i just don’t care for it at all honestly.
the timeless children - did no one think to stop this man when destroying 57 years of canon? yes fandom will be completely happy with this im sure(!)
spyfall pt2 - the second part falls apart. the plot is abandoned to become a run around episode, extremely bad moral decisions are made and the resolution literally happens off screen.
can you hear me? - insulting to mental health and completely wastes its fear aspect because all the main characters are severely underdeveloped.
orphan 55 - whatever was the original intent of this episode, the final execution of it is abysmal. a terrible episode of doctor who.
additional comments:
9 of out 11 episodes this series takes place on earth, with over half being set in the present day. THIS IS A SHOW ABOUT TIME AND SPACE TRAVEL. where did we lose you with this concept ch*bnall? wish we could ban earth stories for at least a season or something.
the companions still just exist for the majority of the runtime, occasionally given something to do but nothing of any consequence and are still never key players in the stories they are in. the addition of jack is pure key jangling in an attempt to get a boost in figures.
timeless child bad. destroying gallifrey again actually infuriates me more than the timeless child and i will be ignoring it as canon.
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Hi! I don't know if you actually know this, and it may be a stupid question, but could a different show actually make Destiel go canon again, like we've been joking about? Would they be allowed to say 'Castiel and his human got married' (or something along those lines) given that WB still owns the characters? (I know Lucifer had a throwaway line about Cas, but this seems like a different situation.) Thank you :)
Never any promises in media, fam.
I'll break this down one last time.
WB owns the rights to the IP. Jensen somehow got license to use that IP, via Chaos Machine.
Chaos Machine replaces any "pop up" studio via the production company (WB). "Supernatural studios" as run by WB doesn't return. Just like when Walker ends, Stick To Your Guns dies with it. Jared might be able to get a job as a producer in a different situation like that (another CW show also with a hand-in from the WB for example)
Chaos Machine is its own independent agency in production, essentially bookending the way the team will be in control of the content.
We don't know really if Jensen has _license_ to use it in the purest terms of having purchased the property-- or more _lease_ to use it, since while Chaos Machine is independent, they have an exclusivity deal with the WB (are you guys starting to get a feeling Jensen didn't tell Jared a LOT for A LONG TIME about this, actually?) Meaning they'll only produce WB content. But that probably comes with a good chunk of money.
Chaos Machine's individual branding has been very LGBTQ oriented, and then we're hit with the presumingly straight concept of John and Mary as narrated by Dean. But here's the thing, depending on how they engage the WB it still might have been "No, we don't want that" at a few others. This is unclear. Jensen claims it's just the first one he wants to tell, so if we take that at face value, it's probably the first one he pitched, but gay shit or not he still probably had to have a pretty damn solid pitch to sell them on. But the fine details of how that handles along the way?
Investors. Chaos Machine is its own entity and therefore can have its own investors. Hence, for example, strong LGBTQ marketing trying to pull in LGBTQ corporate sponsors--or EXTREMELY rich people but it's mostly gonna be corporate rainbow capitalism to some extent--to invest in this and yet still announcing this John and Mary Spinoff.
Then Jared Padalecki throws a mantrum all over twitter because he wasn't invited to a story he has next to no relevance in, despite I'm sure Jensen having been previously considering ways to hook up cameos for the pals and the fans both.
Where that lands investor opinion, hard to say. But either way, if you think about it like the WB as a bankroller, sure, but also CM able to bankroll itself for the most part and not being heavily reliant on handouts from daddy company--daddy company gets a lot less say.
That's something Supernatural Studios never really had. They had... Robert Singer essentially signing them on to be a production company arm for years that pretty much singlehandedly floated their child network used to crank out content enough to get syndicated and/or digital to make residuals into eternity.
Yeah okay so now that we have that cleared up. If this blatant attempt to revive the dying CW actually arrives in time to save the network, which has a script commitment with them (wherein if they don't take it to order they pay a penalty, which they can't afford right now). This means it WILL get belched into our TVs, so what Jensen seems to do is make HIMSELF the middle man, but then raise his status up with investors to essentially counter-invest the WB and do what he wants within his reach. Whatever that looks like.
But beyond that, it goes
Writer > Production Studio > Network > Production Draft
Robbie Thompson is the announced writer so far. The studio is Chaos Machine. The network is CW
So Robbie > Jensen > CW > ...Jensen?
He gets to bookend influence as needed and if for any reason CW tinkers with the content or makes demands -- since he has his own rainbow capitalism investors -- and can take strong stand in early pass, and really breaks the line of daddy demands from WB, which just leaves Pedowitz shoving it out onto air eventually. They might tweak shit early on but then with Jensen recording narrating and probably directing on occasion, he can literally apply an art well learned from Robert Berens and Dick Speight (who, bet money, will be back eventually, adding to Team Heller), subterfuging it by passing it one way and taking liberty to change another way. Then the studio (Chaos Machine) will approve final product and then push it to Pedowitz, who now can't change it because we're at deadline. Yeah, he'll stop fighting if he has any that wasn't direct hand-in-influence from WB.
So where they go from there, chances? It seems to just be whatever Jensen chooses to do with it, as long as he plays a little business chess on occasion.
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Marinette’s Best to Least
Adrien, Alya, Nino, Kagami
I kinda miss doing these.
OK, here’s how its going to work. People can have miraculouses that fit them best (can immediately pull them off with little to no issues), then there’s 2nd best (which is middle gruond, not ideal but doable), and then the least (struggles with most). Best can range from 1-3 depending on the individual. Those who have 3 best are pretty uncommon, and are more along the lines of miraculous prodigies, of the 5 none are actually a least fit, there are just two that are 2nd best.
Peafowl power is essentially the canon but tweaked so it’s power is making golems exclusively through the user, no reaching out to another and doing something based on what they’re feeling. And how complex and elaborate the golem is will depend on the user (specifically if they’re capable of feeling and thinking). At the core, the golem exist to serve whatever purpose it was made for and won’t deviate from that. Also golems are not made through little feathers but by a section of the fan, one quill = one golem. You can have multiple golems but you won’t end up with much of a tool.
So now that that’s out of the way, let’s get this latest version of Best to Least going!
Starting with Marinette.
Marinette at the core is a dualistic character, who can either be direct in how she handles things, or prefer to do things from the background with less attention on her and can be underhanded in her initial choices (examples seen in Refleckta, Mime, Copycat, and Anansi; to name a few). She is actually ruled by both her head and her heart, which has her rely on logic and facts that allows her act as necessary, but also makes her a huge people pleaser who will go above and beyond for others.
At the core, canon is setting her up to be a miraculous prodigy, so many of these she should get down pretty well, though some she may struggle with more than others.
Her best are Butterfly, Fox, and Bee, who all meet how she works and she can use either of them quite well from the immediate start. As these work off her strengths, depending on what she has can shape her growth and which she would wind up leaning more towards.
Starting with Butterfly, we can see that Marinette is good at recognizing potential in people, know their strengths and what they can pull off. Actually as we see, her first thought process when she got Tikki was to pass her on to someone she thought would be more fitting, thinking Alya would a solid hero (which she is right about). She’s also open and eager to reach out to others for help and is a big team player. This miraculous also leaves it open if she wants to be a leader or not. This does also play off her nature to assist others with their problem, and her willingness to give them a needed boost if needed, any sort of boost they may need.
Growth wise, this would have her learn to be open more to the idea of asking for help and reaching out to others, learn that she doesn’t have to shoulder everything herself. It can also be good to help her learn to put some distance between her and issues, that sometimes people need to be given a chance to solve those problems themselves without her helping or trying to make it better.
She and Nooroo would be a very sweet pair together as both are very considerate and ruled by their heart. And this being a more emotion related miraculous, Nooroo himself would be quite good in helping Marinette deal with any emotional issues.
Fox works off her observation skills, her capability to step back and take things in and consider her options, and her able to come up with complex, elaborate plans that secures their win. It also matches her inclined moments to help from the shadows and use underhanded tactics. While she’s not an outright deceiver, she is a good manipulator and is resourceful and creative enough to work things into her favor. She can also match Fox as a risk taker, for this is a daring animal that will take risks that they believe they can win. It’s not often that she will, but she is ready to try her chances.
In terms of growth, this miraculous would lead to her relying more on underhanded and crafty tactics, and settle herself more into a background role. She still has good leadership potential and could direct a team if required, but as this miraculous is more being a background manipulator, she’d wind up less inclined to have attention on her and rather influence situations and people subtly. This can really help her grow in terms of resourcefulness, cunning, and how well she can work/manipulate things into her favor.
Marinette and Trixx would actually be a solid match up, as what we see, while Trixx prioritizes duties and responsibility, they’re observant enough to pick up on their user’s feelings and can address said issues. And playing headcanons that Trixx is more morally grey, can allow Marinette to not be inclined for “the greater good” all time. There are times that Marinette is more inclined for underhanded tactics (Refleckta). And observant and sharp herself, Marinette can mentally be Trixx’s equal, and won’t be solely guided/influenced by the kwami. I see this as an equal and engaging partnership that could be fun and have some interesting conversations.
With Bee, this works off Marinete’s strength as a leader, her capability to be direct and aggressive (when required or when she wants to be), and to be a capable teamplayer as she is fine not always being the leader and is content to be a follower (hence her largely following after Alya instead of taking the lead). And if you want to factor in symbolism and traits, of the 5, Bee matches her most. Actually outside her color coding, everything about her screams Bee: being a creator, being team oriented, leadership potential, a source of nurture, warmth, and support, being a gardener, a source of assistance, being an active multitasker and busy bee, and capability to fight back but often as a last resort/response than starting something herself.
In terms of growth, this miraculous would have her embracing the strengths of her being more direct and involved, and can add onto this idea to restore order and happiness for others and fix problems herself. It could allow her to truly bloom into herself as a leader, multitasker, defender, and provider for those around her.
Kwami wise its not as ideal (though everything about canon Pollen is incredibly problematic). Canon wise, Pollen would be a good source of support and encouragement, and with Marinette being engaging with her kwami and considering them more her equals/friend than a servant, can prompt Pollen to start growing mentally and emotionally. Unlike Trixx, Pollen would be more morally uptight, though I don’t see her having the same intensity as Tikki in that moral uprightness. And until Pollen grows in wisdom (which takes experience), Marinette will largely have to figure stuff out herself, which potentially could be for the best (as Tikki will voice her concerns and then rely on Marinette to figure out a solution). This is a partnership where I see Pollen having more to gain than Marinette (though she’ll have a very loyal and supportive kwami which will be nice).
Marinette’s 2nd best choices are Turtle and Peafowl. These technically do match her and she has aspects to her character that can allow her to use them well, but they aren’t exactly matching to the entirety of who she is and there are better more immediate matches. These do however offer alternative growth potentials for her.
With Turtle, this matches Marinette in her need to step in and assist others, take the brunt of the problem herself, matching her nature as a more direct supporter. The issue though is that Marinette is more the sort to go and address the problem than hang back as a protector for others. This can also count as a miraculous of self-protection, which can be a good thing for Marinette to learn to be more conscious for her own safety (not just physical but emotional and mental).
Growth wise, this largely will help her learn self-care, and to put distance between herself and a problem, allowing others to handle it while she focuses on those who need immediate support. This miraculous will also strengthen her drive to be a protector and helper to those in need, but learn to pick her battles better and that she can help in other ways than directly addressing a problem.
Of the kwamis, she and Wayzz are actually closest in similarities and would get along very well. Wayzz, like Marinette, wants to address problems quickly but smartly. He is also adaptable and observant, will pick up on personality quirks of his humans, and adjust himself to meet them so they can get along better. As such, he’d learn quickly that he can be a good source of calm for Marinette, offer up logic when her imagination runs wild with her overthinking things. He would add onto the want to involve one’s self in issues and probably both wind hovering close by if there are any issues. He may spark off a tea addiction in Marinette.
Peafowl would work off her creativity, imagination, and ingenuity. If there is an issue, she will know just what golem to create to address said problem. This is another miraculous that leaves it open if Marinette would like to join the heat of things or not, either leaving it to her golem alone or joining her golem in a fight. Like Fox, this is also a miraculous more designed to play by the user’s own rules, and Marinette has her tendencies of playing by her rules. Biggest struggle though is that golems made serve a purpose and her creations can end up more closed off to other things around them. I can also see Marinette regarding her more complex creations as “alive” when they aren’t truly.
In terms of growth, this miraculous could help her learn to focus on one thing at a time, while she is a skilled multitasker, Marinette does have issues of taking on more than she can chew, and this is a power that’s more about focusing on one issue at a time. She can make multiple golems, but could ultimately end up weaponless as each golem is made through a piece of her fan.
Of the little we see of the restored Duusu, I will presume that she and Marinette would get along as we see Duusu is affectionate, chatty, and very open. She has an amiable personality that Marinette can get along with.
Between the Cat and Ladybug, Marinette is actually good with both. She has the creativity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness for the Ladybug. For Cat, she has the reflexes, instinct, and the willingness to take risks and be direct with issues. She can pull both of them off incredibly well. And as a creator, Marinette is capable of using both, as Ladybug creates and Cat destroys, and destruction is a form of creation. But between the two, if she had to have one, I’d actually vote for her to have the Cat instead. Not only is there an appeal of a creator having destruction, as she as a creator will know how to best destroy something (for when creating, you are destroying an item’s current form) but...
...A big part of this stems from the kwamis themselves. Tikki has been good at building up Marinette’s confidence in the end and does has helped open Marinette’s eyes to alternative choices and actions. Unfortunately, she is incredibly morally upright, to a point she can be overly critical and nitpicky of Marinette and is adding onto a developing Atlas complex that Marinette is starting to have. Tikki also has issues of prioritizing others over Marinette, and pushes for Marinette to be more considerate of others and putting them before herself. Which in itself is not bad, but self care is important too. Canonly, Tikki is no longer a good kwami for Marinette to have.
Plagg though, in terms of personality, actually would’ve been a better match for Marinette. Not only is he calmer but also more lax and lenient. When her imagination runs wild and leads to freak outs, he can calmly offer logical counterparts to it to bring her out of the anxious episode. Nor will he pile more responsibility onto her that she herself is uncertain of adding. Like Trixx, he is along the lines of morally grey and won’t discourage underhanded tactics that Marinette wants to intitially try. Plagg is a kwami that actually prefers having his humans figure stuff out, and this works in his favor as Marinette is the sort to figure stuff out on her own. He will offer the smallest call outs and she will factor it in and change tactics. Plagg also will not be prioritizing Marinette to put others before herself, she will do that on her own and he will be a reminder to consider herself as well.
She does incredibly well with Ladybug and is a solid Cat, but between the “two most powerful”, I’d lean more Marinette having Cat instead.
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snake primary (lion model?) + snake secondary (rapid fire bird model)
I am pretty sure I am a snake/snake sorting, with my primary (burned snake) as a rock solid certainty. I am not doing so well on figuring out how models work, and if I have them. It makes me doubt my secondary sometimes. Let me give you a few examples:
Last autumn, I was making a lot of soup from scratch. I started with recipes, but pretty soon I was just throwing things together.
Definitely sounds like an improvisational secondary.
(I'm a Badger secondary, and my baker friends make fun of me, because I treat recipes like spells I follow them so exactly. I only recently learned that the reason you put put in salt in water is to make it boil faster. I'd been doing it, but I might as well have been putting it in there to banish the bad spirits.)
But I always made sure I had some kind of home-made broth to hand, and some kind of soup magic stuff (heavy cream, milk, cream cheese, etc.)
This could be rapid-fire bird (or a rapid-fire bird model.) You feel comfortable improvising, but only because you already know a lot about soup.
I only went back to recipes when I wanted something new or specific. Then I went and posted a kind of improv instruction for soup making (take some meat, any meat, sear it and and pair with some veggies, any veggies, etc.).
So far, I'm agreeing with you. Improvisational secondary, maybe some kind of bird model to give extra structure and support.
I train new colleagues. When I start with a new group, I like to have all the prep-work done so I can concentrate on the social aspects and not get bogged down finding the right worksheets, or shit like that. I plan my first few words, and if there is no better opening, I use them and go from there. I have a general structure of what I want to teach them, what methods to use and in what order. It is adapted from experience, and the more rigid guidelines we are given by our client. I am constantly tweaking it when I'm not training. If I feel my group needs something different, I will abandon the plan, let them guide me on a detour, and bring them back when it feels right. Somehow, it still works out 95% of the time, especially now that I have found my confidence and know it works^^
This sounds exactly like how I teach. And for me, what is going on is the bird model prepwork making me comfortable enough to just vanish into my Courtier Badger. I've only recently been learning that I can... relax on the prep, a little. That sometimes too much prep gets me in my head, and sabotages me a little. Like I can just trust myself in the moment, and things work out just fine.
I have found the shc system a week ago, and I have been obsessed ever since. I got curious because a friend mentioned it. They were really into it, and I like sorting people if the system makes sense. I dug in, got hooked, and finally found words to describe everything I had figured out so painfully about myself in the last few years. Especially my snake primary was such a surprise and relief, let me tell you.
It's a good system. And it's... uniquely able to talk about certain kinds of things.
I am thinking there is at least some sort of bird model here, giving my improv some structure?
Took the words out of my mouth.
I was flirting with rapid fire bird as a secondary, but now I have put it into words, not a chance. I like my (contained) chaos too much^^
So far, I don't have too much to add. It's all very well laid out, and well understood. I do like the dramatic structure that happens when someone writes in convinced their a Lion and I start going into why they're actually a Snake but hey. This is nice. This is mellow.
Let's talk about badger secondary model instead. Just to get the elephant out of the room: I hate hard work, it feels slow, dull, and like there should be a better method somewhere. But I know that sometimes, you just have to do it if you want to build a reputation, or you know you need to rely on the goodwill of your community in the future.
This is so like... Rapid-fire bird processing Badger. Just the grudging respect of SURE badger secondary can be a useful tool I GUESS.
I feel awkward keeping shallow contact with my colleagues, I forget if they have kids, and I have been experimenting with discreetly taking notes on what they value.
This is so Bird.
It's not very successful because I can never remember them when it's necessary, so I nod and figure it out by asking "knowing seeming" questions, anyway.
This is so Snake.
What does resonate with me is the part of "becoming what they need" making myself into the tool I need, making myself seem reliable by being relatable. I mostly start a one-on-one conversation by mirroring the other person's mood.
Courtier Badger and Snake secondary can look very, very similar - especially from the outside. This right here could be a description of either.
It is only recently, and only with people I know well, that I have found the seductive power of railroading them instead. I can now cut short a friends whining by summarising what they're saying in a blunt and charming manner, and make them smile instead. Not always, but now I know it works, I use it more and more often.
... but this could only be Snake. Doing this sort of thing consciously and on purpose is so huge and so key. Courtier Badgers do have to believe it, and so they have a way of vanishing that Snake secondaries don't.
And I think I am exaggerating my "go and figure shc out, and be loud and open about it on tumblr" part, because it's what feels right at the moment, but also because the friend who got me into it is a burned lion secondary. They like me charging in, taking it for myself, and they admire anyone who can be honest and vulnerable in public.
Very Double Snake. Using a specific approach, specifically for your friend. Also you say your primary is burned... but I'm not getting burned primary from you. But you're also not really writing about your primary, so.
I guess I am making myself appealing, not just relatable like before.
What a perfect way of describing the difference between Snake and Badger secondaries.
Huh. Fading badger performance as snake gets confident? With another badger performance for work that I do grudgingly.
Performance is right. Just a shallow thing you wear over the top, that barely seems there anymore. You work like Bird, not a Badger.
Now lion. Well, lion is... difficult and easy at the same time? I have to take charge, be the boss, and make split-second, straightforward right-and-wrong decisions when I am leading my group: Call out anyone who doesn't play by the rules (though I usually don't care much if it is not annoying). Decide on, and hand out, the appropriate punishment for someone being late, again. Deal with brewing conflict in a head-on manner. But that is something I am still learning, and I am not very good at it.
Some of this is primary stuff - WHAT you do "be the boss, hand out punishments" versus HOW you do it. It's sounds to me like you're building a Lion primary model over your Snake primary, which is normal. Snakes with safe people almost always model something else. (And I already know you've got a friend that's a Lion primary... Snakes do like to match their People.)
It's possible that you're also building a Lion secondary model, or that one of your Snake secondary masks looks a little like a typical lion secondary, but my take is that most of this is coming from a primary model.
I tend to let conflicts slide, trusting they will work it out among themselves.
I feel that this speaks to the water-like nature of the Snake secondary, and a desire to always go around the problem.
or at least be professional about it and not bring it into the training. Definitely a lion performance here, and one I get frustrated with fast because I am not very good at it.
I have my lion moments, like I described with my way of being open and vulnerable about shc here on tumblr. But I wouldn't do it if it didn't feel right, or more specifically like something I need to heal and get better. I know I need to be vulnerable to heal, and it's relatively safe here, in the anonymity of my internet persona.
Hmm. Interesting. I'm not getting Lion from you... if this is a healing exercise, maybe you're practicing existing in your Neutral state?
I have to write it all out, and some of it just happen to come out as advice for other people's asks. It would be nice if I get some recognition for it in the community, and I love the fact that my friends reads it and tells me they like it.
My take on that sort of thing is going to be annoyingly Badger, so I apologize in advance. For me it's all about consistency. Lay a foundation and then build, one brick at a time.
Now that I have written it all out, I think it's probably the most snake way of arguing myself out of any secondary model I could come up with^^ I guess I don't have one, or if I do, I am dismantling it because I need things to be simple for a while. I am tempted to post this on my own blog, but I know it will get a bigger audience with you.
Yeah, no Lion secondary here.
and maybe help someone in a similar situation. So I will be patient, and I thank you for inviting us all to use you as a sounding board for our own shc issues. I have to stop going through your likes, I'm ruining my obsessive fangirl/shc vibes tumblr with beautiful rl-things and creative human interactions^^
I do what I can. I hope I help. :)
Thankyou, @sevilemar for the submission.
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hello king may I bother you for sum michael hcs
that is all
Oh hell yeah it’s mr bimbo time
He doesn’t have a great sense of who he is as a person
I think he’s a classic romantic and really really wants to fall in love, but he finds it hard to connect with people on an emotional level
He’s an introvert that everyone thinks is an extrovert
He knows how to play guitar. He’s not great at it, but he’s pretty decent
He has an ok singing voice too, in a kind of rough and airy kind of way. He used to sing Sammy to sleep when he was younger
Brief mentions of drinking and drug use under cut
He’s been a straight C and D student throughout school, even though he always tries hard, and though he wants to go to college, he knows that’s probably not an option since his chances of getting a scholarship are basically zero
He wants to do something with his life but there’s nothing he wants to do
He basically just expects to go into the workforce or go to trade school or something, since those seem like his only options
I get the vibe that Lucy was already sort of a single mom when she was still married to Sam and Micahel’s dad, in that their dad was busy with work or just generally out of the house a lot, so when Lucy was working it usually fell to Michael to be the adult
He sort of grew up faster than was probably healthy because of that, since he always tried to help out around the house and support his parents and Sammy
He got his first job when he was 14 mowing his neighbors’ lawn regularly, and picked up odd jobs whenever he could after. He worked at a movie theater for awhile, as well as a retail store and the local county fair. He usually didn’t tell Lucy about these, since she already had a lot on her plate
He bought his bike when he was seventeen
He learned how to fix it on his own so he wouldn’t have to pay extra for someone else to do it, and likes the busy work of tweaking and adjusting things
He gets good at it too, and has fixed friends’ and acquaintances’ bikes before for extra cash. This is really the only thing he thinks he might want to do as a career, but at the same time he enjoys it more as a hobby
He likes to take rides when he needs to think or calm down, usually at night where he can pull off somewhere remote and not be bothered for awhile
He doesn’t get cold easily
The one person who’s always guaranteed to make him smile/put him in a better mood is Sam, and he can never really get or stay seriously angry at him for that long
The first inklings of his sexuality crisis surfaced in early high school when he was briefly on the football team. He left pretty quick though and has never really gotten into sports since, though he does work out in his spare time
He’s never really had a solid/close friends group until he meets TLB, and they’re also what really bring him to the realization that he’s bi
If he could he’d just live with his family and ride around and live life, but that’s not really an option if he doesn’t want to be a financial burden
He showers twice a week at most, mostly because he forgets
He and Sammy have movie nights every Friday where Michael picks up some cheap snacks from the store and they settle on the couch and Sam shows him whatever new thing he’s interested in
One of them always falls asleep before it’s over (usually Sam, in which case Michael will carry him up to bed)
He likes red vines and hates twizzlers
He has really rough hands, lots of callouses, and he usually keeps his nails pretty short
He’s always kind of gone with the flow and expectations of people around him, so he went to parties in high school and got wasted and dated girls here and there and shit, but it never felt right, like he never really felt like he was enjoying it like everyone else was
He has really bad bed head
He has kind of shit taste in alcohol and more often than not just gets some cheap beer from the store if he wants a drink
He’s also a lightweight, but he knows it
He’s basically a tired, broke, young adult who loves his family and is having a bunch of personal issues on the side
He’s not great at talking about his feelings
One time, while hanging out with TLB, he’s a little buzzed and they’re hanging out around a beach fire, and he laughs at something Marko says and just... realizes he’s never felt this at ease before
David is his first guy kiss
He’s very protective of Sam and has stood up to other kids that pick on him multiple times
He firmly believes in the five second rule and will also eat food he finds on the floor if it “looks fine”
He’s dairy intolerant but both doesn’t know and doesn’t care
His favorite color is blue
He doesn’t cry when he comes out to Sam, but does when he comes out to Lucy, and he doesn’t know why
He gives really good hugs and really likes being hugged
Even though he’s kind of tall he prefers being the little spoon
As far as physical affection goes, he loves gentle kisses, they just make him melt
He’s really out of touch with pop culture and doesn’t get half the references Sam talks about. He’s picked up a few things just from being around him so much, but he’s not really into any media on his own
No matter how old he gets, he still lets Lucy kiss him on the cheek when he leaves the house in the mornings
Headcanons masterpost
#michael emerson#the lost boys#the lost boys 1987#the fruit is talking again#the fruit is answering again#the fruit is headcanoning again
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Yet another fan tweaks up TLK 2 and TLG: The Squeakel.
Im bored and in a lil pain. time to jot down all my personal ideas/headcanons for how I'd polish up TLK 2 and TLG to fit with the first movie a bit better, and create something more cohesive since like only about 3 people on the TLK2 and TLG teams paid attention to the first movie. I've seen a lot of hedcanons and AUS and whatnot in my day so I've kinda got a good idea of what i like and what I think might work better. Veteran TLK creators please interact with me and gib feedeback on my sick tricks
Uhhh TW for abuse and cub death
So...while there's TECHNICALLY nothing I'd change about the first movie, as it's pretty much done and solid, I wanted to play with my ideas for Zira's backstory.
YES in my version it'd be a one-sided love, kinda like how DemiiDee on dA and Silver-Wolf-17/@mask-of-prime see it, Scar knew she was obsessed with him since the day she met him as a cub, and took advantage of that. After he became king, he wanted loyal lionesses just in case Sarabi, Nala, Sarafina and the others got wise and rebelled. Zira and her pride sisters were all starving, and he knew that. He welcomed them in, promising food and comfort in return for their loyalty. Zira didn't hesitate to agree, and Scar loved her blind adoration of him. He WOULD have liked it if someone like Sarafina was so blindly in love with him (Scar had a gross unrequited obsessive crush on Sarafina growing up, and he constantly held it against her after she chose to be with Nala's father Mega instead. This is another reason why he was so hard on the hunting parties. He used his position as king to get petty revenge on childhood bullies and the like). Scar decided Zira would be his queen but like...ONLY because Sarafina had already made her choice. Zira didn't care, and knew she'd make Scar proud and produce a lot of wonderful heirs for him, in order to repay him for ''all he'd done for her'' (A very thin and insincere ''all'' if you ask me). So, Zira gets pregnant with who will eventually be Nuka, but...Rafiki takes a look at her and sees she's very weak and will probably only have one cub. Oh well. Let's just hope this one son is a suitable heir in Scar's eyes.
....Well-
Nuka's born. Weak, unfocused, and not at all what Scar wanted or was hoping for. He TRIES to teach Nuka and raise him as an Heir, but...it just doesn't work. Scar believes he was destined for greatness and for a prosperous, strong lineage. Nuka is none of those things, and it seems Zira will never be able to give him another heir (I KNOW the ''This woman can't have kids'' trope is icky but HOLD ON wait until you see where I'm going with this) Scar disowns Nuka and scolds Zira for disappointing him. Zira begs for his forgiveness, and swears on her life she'll find a way to make things worth Scar's while.
During this time, several of the male cubs who were born around the same time as Simba are being exiled. Scar doesn't want any males around to threaten overtaking him, and nips the problem in the bud before it ever becomes an issue. Many pride sister saw him doing this, and while they disagreed with it...it DID offer one bonus: Trustworthy males were leaving for better lands. They could take the new young cubs with them, since none of the sisters wanted their children to be raised in Scar's Pridelands.
Surprisingly, one of these lionesses trying to save her cubs...was Zira. Within the last few months, she'd...began to realize perhaps she was looking at Scar with rose-colored glasses. She was beginning to wonder if perhaps she was wrong to worship him the way she did. The thoughts were still kinda...new, and she wasn't sure what to do. But, during all her confusion, she DID happen to meet another male lion. Mpendwa, (Swahili for ''Honey'') was an old friend from her teenage years who was a wanderer by nature. Zira was VERY happy to see him again, after all these years. She met with him in secret, when Scar and the Hyenas weren't looking, and began to fall in love with him. REAL love. Mutual good love, where he loved her for who she was, and NOT what she could give him. Even Nuka seemed to like him, too! And...by some miracle, Zira and Mpendwa had a secret litter together! Four beautiful, healthy little cubs! It was perfect. SO perfect. Perhaps the problem had lain not in Zira, but in Scar the entire time. It served as more confirmation to Zira that...perhaps she was in the wrong to love him. Mpendwa asked her if she and their four cubs would come with him. Somewhere far and somewhere safe, where they could be happy together. Zira...was hesitant, afraid of disappointing Scar further, and even more afraid to leave her pride sisters behind. They were in this because of her, and...there were so many of them that it'd be impossible to get all of them out without Scar seeing something was up. Nevertheless, she knew she had to think about the future of her cubs, and NOT about Scar. She agreed, and plans were made for Zira and Nuka to meet Mpendwa at the border with her four cubs. In the dead of night, they'd leave using the rest of the evacuating males as a cover so they could make a clean getaway.
....Well...to make a very heartbreaking and gruesome story short...Scar knew about Mpendwa the entire time. And of course he saw Zira was pregnant. He overheard their plains to escape, and prepared accordingly. Mpendwa and three of Zira's cubs were killed as punishment for her disloyalty and attempt at mutiny. He lets her keep the youngest one alive as a reminder of her shortcomings, but ONLY if she'll swear her loyalty to him once more. With nothing else left to do, she swore her allegiance to him, and returned to the Pridelands with only Vitani and Nuka left of her family. In the coming days and months, Scar turns up the charm to further entice Zira, making sure she and Vitani are given the best of everything and taken care of, to ensure she feels terrible about what she did and she never acts out again. Sadly, it works, and Zira falls back in love with him, realizing SHE was the one in the wrong, and was an utter fool to betray Scar. Things are....steady for a while. Not bad, not good, but...steady for Zira and Scar. He of course ignores both cubs, and Zira has to reach out to him pleadingly if she wants to connect with him. Zira works as a willing mouthpiece to spout propaganda tot he rest of the pride, assuring then Scar is a GREAT king, their ONLY king, and that he will usher in a new golden age for them all. It pleases Scar and he is sure to...ever so slightly reciprocate his gratitude to her. If only to keep her totally convinced to stay with him. Zira can see he's...flaky and not too sure about her, and decides she MUST act fast to show him she is worthy.
She MUST somehow produce him a viable heir. And quickly. But with all the other males gone, there's not a whole lot of cubs being born. And her beloved Mpendwa is long dead. So...she has to figure something else out. One day, while hunting for Vitani and Nuka on her own, she runs across a skinny dark brown lone lioness taking a dead zebra somewhere. She tells Nuke and Vitani to wait, and begins to stalk this female, named Jibu (''Answer'') Jibu takes her kill to a secluded spot, and Zira notices she's having trouble catching her breath. It doesn't take Zira long to see...Jibu is pregnant. VERY pregnant, and close to giving birth. GIVING birth, actually! She's going into labor. Jibu cries out for mercy, knowing she is alone and there is no one around to help her. Zira, in a moment of maternal instinct and compassion, helps her. She, along with Nuka and Vitani, stay by Jubi's side as she gives birth to one little brown cub. Then, Zira gets...a really really REALLY terrible idea, just looking at the little cub. Calmly, she tells Vitani and Nuka that Jibu will need some water, and that they need to bring some back for her in some fresh moss. It's a big job, and the cubs are BOTH very willing to help. Vitani and Nuka leave on their big mission, and then Zira, Jibu, and the new cub are left alone.
Zira is quick about it. Merciful, even. By the time Nuka and Vitani get back, Jibu is dead. Zira sorrowfully tells the cubs that...the birthing process was simply too much for a weak and skinny loner like her, and that there was nothing at all that could have been done. Nuka asks what they're going to do with the cub, and Zira says she SUPPOSES they could take it back to the pride, as well as the zebra Jibu just killed. They return to the pridelands with food, and...Zira presents the cub to Scar. She tells him that his mother gave birth on the edge of the territory, before succumbing to her dehydration and fatigue. Scar looks the cub over, and is overjoyed. He declares THIS cub, this Kovu, WILL be his heir.
So, time passes, and before you know it, Simba returns. The TRUE Pridelanders rise up and reclaim their land. In the wake of his return, Zira's pride sisters see the error of their ways, and oppose the hyenas in battle. Scar is overthrown, and Simba takes his place as King. Zira is of course horrified, outraged, and...filled with a turmoil of emotions about it. Some part of her feels...free that Scar is gone, but the rest of her was so twisted by his words that she doesn't want to admit she's happy he's dead. She chokes those feelings down, trying to sit still and look pretty for Simba as he moves in. Nuka, Vitani, and little Kovu are doing well, and...as a mother that's all she should care about, really. But...deep down inside, there's a growing, growling, burning need for revenge in her soul.
As Kovu grows a little bigger and the pridelands heal more, Simba and Nala announce the birth of their OWN heir.....Kopa. Yep. Yes. That's right, I'm a Kopa theorist. Upsetting, I know. But like....it makes sense. Look at how overprotective and suffocating Simba was to Kiara in TLK 2. Almost like he'd dealt with tragedy in relation to a cub before, and vowed to never let it happen again. Huh. If YOU'RE reading this and you have no idea who Kopa is and the drama behind his very existence, first of all God I wish I was you, secondly, go here to learn what then entire TLK fandom is divided over:
https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Kopa
Anyway, Kopa is begins to grow and learn as the next king of Pride Rock, good friends with Nuka and Vitani, and even their cute little brother Kovu. He's not...VERY old right now, but he'll grow and be able to play with them one day! Their mom, Zira, seems....a little upset about stuff. She always watches them from afar, never engages with the rest of the Pride, and doesn't seem to like Simba. Kopa, as a young kid determined to be a great king, takes a note to keep an eye on this. She might be really old, but she's part of his father's kingdom. Everyone else is happy and healthy, she should be too, right? Simba and Nala seem...worried about her as well. For different reasons, but yeah.
Ever the hunter and woman scorned, Zira has been...studying Kopa. He's young and naive, but...eager to learn and take over for his father. He's studious and intuitive, often finding trouble without meaning to, because he was trying to solve a problem or get involved in pride politics. Of course, all the other lions and creatures love him, and are eager to see him grow into a fine future king. There s NO doubt he's a jewel in his family's crown. But...he is still a cub. Zira remembers how devastated she was to lose Vitani's three siblings, and knows that Simba and Nala will be equally devastated if....something happens to Kopa. She knows exactly how she's going to avenge Scar now.
Simba and Nala were out on a little moonlight hunt together one night, like they enjoyed to do together. They were coming back to Pride Rock afterwards, only to hear a terrible commotion. Zazu rushed to meet them, telling of something terrible that had just happened: Zira tried to assassinate the young prince. Her pride sisters were now in arms against Sarabi and her pride sisters, trying to stop an attempted uprising. Simba and Nala quickly joined in to fight, Simba finding Zira with Kopa in her jaws. He stops her, and Timon and Pumbaa are quick to get Kopa to Rafiki for healing. Simba and Nala face off against Zira while she gives her side of the story. telling about how she's tired of being docile and pretending her heart isn't broken after Simba and Nala both took everything from her. Simba and Nala both see she's still...terribly twisted by Scar's words, trying to be patient but firm with her as they attempt to talk her down. She won't have it, and leaps at Simba, Nala gets involved, and they fight her off. Simba calls for her banishment, and she is thrown out of the Pridelands with the rest of her followers, and her three cubs.
During all of this, Rafiki is attending to Kopa and his injuries. They're...bad, but not fatal. With time, he'll be just fine. Zira left him blind in one eye, gave him a terribly ripped ear, nearly tore his tail off, and he's got a deep throat scar that will alter his voice quite a bit. With time he'll be alright physically, but...I'm not so sure about mentally. Kopa has...a LOT of PTSD over it. blaming himself for how he thought Zira was a friend he could help, wondering if he was stupid for never seeing her anger sooner. He begins to question his abilities as a future king. Yes, he's still young, and accidents happen, but...this event has left him a bit jaded all the same. Simba and Nala see it, and...want to do the best for their son. They can see the enthusiasm in his eyes to one day be king fading. It's devastating. And...while Simba isn't about to give up on him, he doesn't want to force Kopa into something he...clearly doesn't want to do anymore. On top of that...Simba fears Kopa may not be safe in the Pridelands anymore. Zira and her followers ARE in the Outlands, but...Zira is bold and full of hate. There's no telling what she could do next. After a lot of deliberation, meeting with Zazu, Nala, and Kopa...the king comes to a conclusion. He strips Kopa of his title as an heir, and sends him to live in the Oasis with Ma, Uncle Max, and the rest of Timon's family. He'll be safe and well-fed there, far away from Zira. It'll only be for a while, until the trouble with the outlanders settles down, and until Kopa is ready to return home. Kopa agrees to the idea whole-heartledy, and departs for the Oasis as soon as he's fit to travel. It's...painful and hard, but it's the best option for their son's mental health. Simba and Nala do visit often, and are glad to see it DOES seem to be working.
Okay. So Zira tried to kill Kopa in the name of Scar, got herself booted, and the origins of her three cubs have been dealt with. That's all the Zira/Scar and Kopa backstory stuff done and dealt with. I'm gonna cut it right here since this is gettin awful lengthy, and continue with TLK 2 and The Lion Guard in a part 2. Keep an eye out for that one.
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Can we talk about Barty Crouch Jnr?
This tweaked bastard has been living in my head, rent free, since I read the Goblet of Fire - in 2005.
Think how much rent that is!
You see, this malevolent set of cheekbones is not only a brilliant portrayal of a true psychopath, but he’s also somewhat responsible for Voldemort’s death. And it all comes down to one, beautiful, sweet, doe-eyed glow-up baby -
Let me lay out fifteen years of thoughts here for you.
1. Is he a psychopath?
Well first let’s define psychopath. I’ve spent much time toiling over this conundrum for my Masters (not as long as Barty Crouch Jnr but enough). Hollywood has made the image of a psychopath synonymous with Hannibal or Patrick Bateman, but let me assure you - that is a very, very small percentage of what would actually be considered a psychopath. According to the DSM - V, there is no such thing diagnostically as a “psychopath”. This is for two reasons: law and philosophy. Philosophically speaking, the MindBody Problem is still at the forefront of conversations about the conscious, and so when faced with the paradox of a psychopath, the MindBody problem freaks the fuck out. Briefly, this problem is that we as neuroscientists and psychologists can map most - if not all - the ‘hardware’ of the brain. So the mechanical actions like moving your arm or drinking some tea. The hard problem - the actual problem - is we haven’t got a fucking clue what the Mind is. It’s all a bit... ineffable (that is legitimately how we academically put it, Neil Gaiman = God). Religion says that the Mind is the soul. Science says - we haven’t got a fucking clue what it is; it’s qualia, its unquantifiable experience that effects your entire worldview and make you wholey unique from everyone else on the planet.
And we can’t fucking find it on a map - hence its a problem.
Now this ineffable, unquantifiable mind, soul, conscious whatever you want to call it, is the thing that directs your moral compass. Psychopaths seem to present behaviour that does not prescribe to the moral code that we, in our relative societies have agreed upon. There is evidence to suggest that they do not feel guilt, which is a key ingredient in Moral psychology (I direct you to the research of Jonathon Haidt). Within the law, internationally, individuals with psychopathic traits are perceived as being predicated to criminal behaviour - therefore, exempt from taking any insanity defence. Now within psychology, because of the law and philosophy, and the mindbody problem - IT’S VERY FUCKING HARD TO DIAGNOSE A PSYCHOPATH BECAUSE WE CAN’T DECIDE WHAT ONE IS, because of all of the above. It’s all very... grey.
But what we can agree on, is there is a list of qualities that you would usually find in a psychopath, these are measured on the PCL-R (Hare 2003) and the PPI-R (Lilienfield and Widows 2005):
Machiavellian Egocentricity
Rebellious Nonconformity
Blame Externalisation
Carefree Nonplanfulness
Social Influence
Fearlessness
Stress Immunity
Coldheartedness
Early behavioural problems
Lack of realistic long term goals
Juvenile Delinquency
Parasitic Lifestyle
As you can see, Voldemort was a psychopath, but I digress. Barty, not so sure, and this is earmarked with the fact that we don’t know the entirety of his character. By the time he’s outed the first time, he has a seat on the Wizengamot and Crouch Snr is all shocked - like he never saw this behaviour coming. It can be inferred that a) Crouch Jnr is a excellent liar, capable of manipulation those closest to him with machiavellian behaviour; b) probably quite a well behaved young boy. So I would disregard the idea of juvenile delinquency and early behavioural problems.
And this scene stands as evidence that Crouch Jnr is capable of Rebellious Nonconformity as well as Blame Externalisation. We know that he was a politician prior and well liked, so I will again infer that he had Social Influence. I will also infer that he had a predilection for Stress Immunity given he was outed infront of the entire court room and his reaction was this:
Not screaming and running for the high hills. I’ll raise you the fact that he was undercover as Moody for an entire year, rubbing shoulders with Dumbledore, and seemed pretty chill about the whole thing given that he was acting in, what I can imagine to be, was a very stressful situation.
So as you can see, a fair argument could be made for Crouch Jnr to be diagnosed as a genuine psychopath.
And yet we come to the reason why this has bothered me for fifteen years.
2. The Character Development of Neville Longbottom
It’s a well loved narrative that Neville goes from the bumbling bucktooth first year, to the Gryffindor God slaying Nagini in the Battle of Hogwarts.
...deceased.
Anyway, years 1,2,3 Neville is still treated as the weakling: he’s forgetting books, he’s leaving Common Room passwords lying around so that they’re stolen by nefarious Kneezles who let in escaped convicts etc etc. Come forth year, we open with Neville stepping in the trick-step that everyone knows to miss and yet bumbling Neville, still doping along. At this point, you’re like, ‘na this kid is gonna die because he trips over his own shoelaces or something.’
And then that fateful Unforgiveable Curses lesson happens.
For those who need reminding, here Neville offers up the Cruciatus curse to which Professor Moody - aka Barty Crouch Jnr, tortures a spider using it as a demonstration. Neville is stricken by the whole event because of his parents. After the lesson, Hermione hurries Ron and Harry (who haven’t really realised that Neville was that effected) to find Neville who staring at a wall in a side corridor or stairwell - I can’t remember which. Neville’s shellshocked, saying he’s fine but keeps talking about dinner. He’s in full trauma.
Then Moody Crouch comes along.
3. The paradox
Moody Crouch then takes a traumatised Neville to his office, gently reassuring him, offering him tea and calling him ‘laddy’. Here, he tells Neville that Professor Sprout was singing his praises in Herbology and gifts him the book on African plants, I think it was. This book is what Harry and Ron see him avidly reading later. This is the start of his love of herbology, which then leads to him being the one to get Harry through the second challenge, which then allows Harry to go on and touch the portkey Triwizard cup. Whilst also setting Neville on the path of having confidence in himself. By book 5, Neville’s braver, he’s no longer forgetting things, and this only improves by the time we get to the Battle of Hogwarts where he becomes a literal Hero from a Greek Myth.
So, Psychopathic Machiavellian behaviour would say, he needs to get Harry on side. You do that by showing that you care. So you go over-board punishing the known bullies and enemies:
Whilst being nice to Harry’s friends (Neville with the book). He could have deliberately orchestrated the Unforgiveable curses lesson, in the attempt to traumatise Neville so that he could then be the Hero and be seen looking after him by Harry. Then you use the friend as a means to ensure that Harry is able to get through the second challenge, by setting him on the path of plants. Ergo, you complete you mission and your year long con. You got Potter to the graveyard, to the Dark Lord - you’re the best little psychopath and nobody suspected you the entire time.
BUT. He was nice. He was caring. He was tender with Neville.
And if you remember, psychopaths also have a tendency to have a Lack of realistic long term goals, and have behaviours that display Carefree Nonplanfulness and Coldheartedness. Getting Harry to the cup had to be a sure-fire thing. The plan had to be solid. It is my belief that Moody Crouch had a plan in place for every trial, but I do not believe he was the puppeteer pulling the strings. The aforementioned plan has too many if’s and but’s. Too much causality. Too much left up to circumstance. I think if Neville hadn’t done something, then Moody Crouch would have, but it was never the intention for Neville to be his tool - just a happy accident.
While he can be ascribed to portray some true psychopathic behaviours, I don’t believe that Barty Crouch Jnr was a psychopath. I think he was just rebelling in a really hard way from his Stiff, Loveless Father. Because this moment of caring, was a product of guilt. This was where Moody Crouch’s moral compass kicked in and he began to mentor Neville throughout fourth year (like a father) thus inadvertently setting Neville on a path to defeat Voldy-bollocks.
Thus the paradox: the best teacher Neville Longbottom ever had was a Death Eater.
And that just fucks me up.
Thank you for coming to my ted talk.
#harry potter#harry potter theory#neville longbottom#david tennant#moody#mad eye moody#mathew lewis#nagini#voldemort#death eaters#death eater#herbology#barty crouch junior#barty crouch jr#psychology#psychopaths#law#insanity defence#philosophy#forensic psychology#putting my education to good use#profiling#character profile#paradox#character development#ferret#draco ferret#draco malfoy#good omens#neil gaiman
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