#❇️ queen! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

celticrune · 2 years

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Very tempted to copypaste the entire ask list as revenge but I'll behave. 🌌✂️👑📎 for Temperance, 🚆☁️ for Tanwen and ☄️❇️🌈❤️ for Keiji! And maybe even 💚🎡🪤 for Val.

:3 reblog an ask meme with many questions, get punished with curiousity. and starting with temperance, smh, i see you like the evil ones

also yeah uh. long. good luck. plus the usual warnings that temperance is Not A Good Person

Temperance

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

I made Temperance in concert with Val, so you're going to get a double whammy on this one haha. Val came to be because I was talking with friends about evil DnD campaigns and we ended up making a trio of evil characters, who grew into their own setting with a main city where they do their evil. I really like characters who are living weapons of a sort and I love playing with identity, so I quickly settled on the idea of a conman with a thousand faces, who ends up disappearing behind the masks. Who has no name, is nobody noteworthy, someone you would never spare a second glance if you saw them on the street, but who because of that can steal any face and fit in anywhere. That's still a core part of Val and what makes them scary, though actually writing it and exploring it can be a bit of a pain. But! We're here to talk about the queen bitch herself. IIRC, what first gave me the idea of Temperance was a specific suggesting in the Player Handbook entry about the Conman background. Correction: It was the Charlatan background. "I owe everything to my mentor - A horrible person who's probably rotting in jail somewhere". A living weapon style conman who struggles with identity and an awful teacher who made them into what they are and who they equally resent and thank for that?? listen this is catnip to me. how could you expect me to resist. So this is where Temperance came into being. I quickly ditched the idea of the mentor being in jail, because I wanted the option of her being an active threat. Then as time went on and the other two characters in the evil trio got more fleshed out, I wanted someone more... "actively evil" to match those two. Val is a follower, and I needed a leader. Temperance, then, is everything I love to hate. She is all about facades and pretense, about fitting into society and using their prejudices against them to get ahead. She sees pawns, rather than people, and only truly respects two (2) total people. also she's a hot dangerous lady who doesn't usually do her dirty work herself, now that she is rich and established enough she doesn't have to, but she still would poison you and watch with a pleasant smile as you choke on your own vomit so. like. i'm gay i'm not blind. hope you're not regretting your questions yet as i am incapable of being concise and it will probably not get better :D

✂️ SCISSORS - what is the “last straw” for them to cut someone out of their life? how easily do they let go of people?

Haha. "How easily do they let go of people" extremely easily. Val was her most succesful project and arguably someone close to her and now that they've ran, she would still kill them without a second's thought for betraying her. If you want to be in Temperance's life on her terms, there are two rules: Adore her, and obey her. She tolerates no less, and she will not hesitate to drop you for a more willing toy if you don't have a secondary use for her. There are some rare exceptions, mainly Chal (one of the two OCs in the original evil campaign trio), but baseline? As much as lovebombing is a major facet of her emotional abuse, Temperance only cares about one person and it is herself. Anyone else is simply a means to an end and will be treated as such.

👑 CROWN - what does your oc want to be remembered as? why?

A queen. She is aware that will not happen and has settled for being a shadow queen, pulling her strings behind the scenes and watching everyone who thinks they're in control dance to her tune, but what she wants deep down is for everyone to know. To see her and see power, see influence, see control, see someone who will never ever be disrespected or fucked with.

📎 PAPERCLIP - a random fact.

I get to use a basic fact about her as a random fact cause you don't know her that well yet, score. Temperance is an albino (in her native setting, an albino tiefling), usually with a light pastel pink hair. She is also the reason Val still panics when they see someone with pink hair in a crowd or from a distance.

Tanwen

On a much nicer note! My darling ray of sunshine.

🚆 TRAIN - what is their answer to the trolley problem?

Pixel you are cruel. First answer and the aftermath: Cry, feel immensely guilty, panic, feel more guilty. She would choose to save more people but it would absolutely gut her and she would feel deeply personally responsible. Depending on the exact situation and the aftermath this is something that could break her as a character, or at least ruin her very very badly and take a long time and the right support to recover from In a philosophical classroom context: She honestly wouldn't be able to answer. Would be deeply uncomfortable with having to consider it too, and she would have to be very hard pressed to stop dodging it and actually pick one.

☁️ CLOUD - a soft headcanon

she fucking deserves one after that

As a child she made a lot of bead bracelets and she would gift them to anyone nice. The town she’s from isn’t that big, so at one point almost everyone walked around with a colourful, Tanwen-made bead bracelet.

Keiji

☄️ COMET - what do people assume about them? are they right?

When he’s lucky: Exactly what he wants them to. That he’s annoying, that he’s an idiot, that he’s a little shit and he knows it. That he’s down to fuck, when they’re hot.

Keiji tries very hard to give off an air that he’s untouchable, and he does that by leaning hard into being a bit of an asshole. He likes riling people up, likes getting a rise out of them, loves making fun of people who actually have morals and ideals. So he comes off as all those things, and he comes off as a guy who’s fun to get drunk with but not much else.

If you have an experienced eye you might spot how easily he keeps his balance even when wasted, or how alert he is to exits and entrances and anyone close to him, or how his slight build doesn’t quite hide the lean muscle, but to most folks he looks like nothing more than a small guy with a big attitude and a bigger mouth. He’s very happy to keep it that way right up until he kicks out their kneecaps.

❇️ SPARKLE - what is their most prized possession? what do they value?

okay now, see. i hate you. Keiji doesn’t really have material attachments. He likes stuff, he likes nice things, when he has the time and space to stay in one place for longer he immediately fills his whole bed with pillows. But in terms of a prized possession? There’s one thing that I suppose does count, and that’s from his native DnD verse. It’s an amulet with a symbol of Pelor, the sun god the monastery is devoted to. He claims he still carries it so he can scam believers into giving him free stuff, but a part of him can’t bear to toss it. It holds the weight of a home he loved, once, where he thought he belonged and where he thought he had value, and even though all that is now ruined and broken and he should know better and he should just fucking toss the thing, he can never bring himself to.

Oh! And bonus round for GW2, in the main verse where Tahir is the commander and Keiji is his right hand (and eventually husband): When they were newly dating Tahir gave him one of his own leaves, encased in amber. Keiji wears it as an amulet and was wearing it when he was killed by Balthazar. It came with him into the realm of the Lost, and it is what reminded him of his name and his memories. In the physical world it split down the middle when Balthazar stabbed him, but when he comes back the amulet heals over too, and it now glows a faint blue to match his scar.

In general: Keiji doesn’t really value possessions. He tends to live lives where he can pick up and move at any moment. When he gets attached it’s to people

🌈 RAINBOW - what advice would they give to their younger self?

“Don’t be a fucking idiot. Don’t believe a word they say.”

❤️ RED HEART - their love language(s)?

Words of affirmation and physical touch. The former to receive, the first to give. When Keiji falls he falls hard, but it’s hard for him to show it and harder to say it. It's easier to watch what he does. See where he stands in a room, see how he'll keep finding excuses to totally casually touch the person he likes, how he can't sit on a couch next to them without laying his feet in their lap or how he can't make a joke without looking to them first to see if they laughed.

Receiving physical touch is good for him too, but words are what makes him melt. Tell him what he means to you, tell him you care and he matters and he just fucking dies. It feels surreal and impossible and he can't bring himself to really believe it and that's what makes it all the more powerful to hear. Contrary to that, though, is that the immensity of it also makes him really likely to try and squirrel out of it. Deflecting compliments, sassing to distract attention away from the sweet thing they said, anything he can manage.

When it's deep enough in the relationship he can actually be made to sit down and listen and accept it without running, but that takes time. Before that, it takes some mild force or finagling. Am I talking about literally tying him up and distracting him with sex until he's soft and floaty enough to let his guard down and you can swoop in with the praise? Maybe. It's not an underhanded tactic if it works.

Val

💚 GREEN HEART - what things make your oc feel comforted? hugs, kisses, food?

The best thing you can do for Val is be there. Be close but don't crowd them, don't touch them unless they ask or initiate it, and always leave them an open room to escape. Talk, give them something to listen to and quietly chime in with when they start to feel better. Physical contact sometimes helps, but they'll ask for it if they want it and then it's usually sitting with their shoulder pressed against yours, or resting their head on you.

The one exception re: touch is their dog, Kaylie, who is very good at grounding them when they dissociate or start to. Do they sometimes also hug Kaylie pretending she's the human and wishing they could just be normal and hug the person they care about without feeling trapped? maybe.

If we're talking self-soothing, or things they do for comfort, there's baking. When they were still with Temperance, on very rare days where they had time off and there were ingredients to spare they would make cookies for the younger girls and those are some of the rare actually treasured memories they have. They still like baking cookies, and it's both a ritual and a comfort thing for them and what they tend to when someone they like is going through a tough time and they're not sure what they can do to help. When in doubt, make friend's favourite cookies and gift those.

🎡 FERRIS WHEEL - are they someone who wants to kiss at the top of the ferris wheel?

there may in fact be a fic about that wait shit no it's N that gets the kiss at the top of the ferris wheel and not F. also this means nothing to you because it's Wayhaven related and not gw2 but shhh.

Actual answer: Yes, they'd find it charming and romantic.

🪤 MOUSE TRAP - what will always lure them into certain danger? a loved one in danger? a promise of something they are always searching for?

A loved one in danger, absolutely. They try not to but they can have a bit of a self-sacrificial streak because, well, they can handle pain better than most people and if someone needs to suffer, it is better it's them than the people they love. Children being in danger or being mistreated too, there's no way they can stand by and watch that happen without trying to interfere.

#ocs #asks #temperance #tanwen #keiji #val #did i have other tags for this #ask memes #there it's probably fine #anyway #i complain but this was really fun thank you <33 #and thank you for caring about my fool children #they're my darlings

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nyoxt-was-here · 1 year

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I posted 6,055 times in 2022

That's 6,055 more posts than 2021!

16 posts created (0%)

6,039 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@violet-amet

@skullchicken

@raemanzu

@queen-tabris

@antiqueanimals

I tagged 861 of my posts in 2022

#dragon age - 278 posts

#shadowrun - 87 posts

#star wars - 39 posts

#the owl house - 24 posts

#fallout 4 - 24 posts

#body horror - 22 posts

#pathologic - 20 posts

#shadowrun hong kong - 19 posts

#oc ask game - 17 posts

#video - 13 posts

Longest Tag: 97 characters

#maybe i should just start something and sit through it no matter how low quality it will come out

My Top Posts in 2022:

Sorry I'm bad at drawing but your Ram headcannons are too sad. He has now been adopted and the hugs will continue until morale improves.

AWWWW that is super sweet, thanks! Morale-improved ! Also HA hug back! >:]

7 notes - Posted September 18, 2022

Emoji ask for Ram the Man! If you like of course, not obligated to. I want to read the juicy detes! 😨 FEARFUL,🍰 CAKE SLICE, 🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL, 🔫 PISTOL. Feel free to answer these however you like! And pick and choose whatever you prefer to answer the best! Thanks for the many asks before, it's so much fun to share oc stuff with others! Have fun~!

Yeeeee, thx a lot for the ask! :3

😨 FEARFUL - when scared, do they go into "flight" or "fight"? When he was a kid he used to run away and hide from things that scared him. Or completely freeze if escape was impossible. In adult life he's hard to scare and prone to "fight" response. But some situations still can cause him to freeze or become unresponsive.

🍰 CAKE SLICE - favorite cake flavor? are they specific about types of cakes? Every cake flavor! He is probably oblivious to the fact that cakes have "types" and just enjoy whatever is offered or sparks his interest.

🙈 SEE-NO-EVIL - whats a side of your oc that they don't want to show other people? Ram is literally terrified of showing others(and himself tbh) his anger. And he's got a loooot of it pent up. Duncan is an exception though, because Ram knows that Duncan is not afraid of him and won't think of him less for a bunch of harsh words or a heated argument. In the same manner Ram is afraid to show others his violent side. That's partly the reason he build Beartrap- to try and relocate his violent impulses into the machine. (but since I love the trope of "local sunshine is enraged, deranged and covered in blood" too much, you can be sure that situations where he lost it and teared someone into shreds- happened >:]

🔫 PISTOL - do they trust people easily? how easily will they turn their back to someone? have they been backstabbed before? will they betray someone if given an ultimatum? He's been backstabbed a number of times! Most painful betrayal was by his parents, and the most impactful one was by a friend who got him into some corporate mess and ended with him in prison. So yeah ✨trust issues✨ And since Ram is perfect at hiding his true feelings- he usually pretends to trust someone completely but internally he's prepared for the worst outcomes. But once his trust is genuinely earned- he is infinitely loyal and it is almost impossible to convince him to betray that person.

7 notes - Posted September 13, 2022

☄️ COMET & ❇️ SPARKLE for the oc emoji ask for Ram? :]

Heeeeeyyyyyy thanks for the ask! :D

☄️ COMET - what do people assume about them? are they right?

Ram knows how to keep himself to appear as non threatening as possible, so most of the time people assume that he is a chill easy going and social dude. Which is true except sociability . On the sadder side- people usually think that he is having everything under control and handling pain and stress very well, but in reality he is just very good at hiding his negative emotions.

People with biases or enemies usually assume that he is stupid, lazy or weak- which is as wrong as it could get buuuut he prefers to be underestimated

Also people tend to assume, that he is very huggable and it is absolutely correct this man is a perfect hug-giver XD

❇️ SPARKLE - what is their most prized possession? what do they value?

On the moment of the plot- it's the Cat-thing!

That's a little custom drone he feverishly constructed right after he was let out of prison. It is objectively not good, made of cheap parts, runs on pirated software for a house companion drone (guess which animal XD ), breaks easily and can be quite annoying sometimes. Ram often remarks that he should take it apart for spare parts or throw it in the junk "where stupid thing belongs", but he fix it every time, looks worried if it's not around and absent-mindlessly pets it even though it can't feel touch

It is like accidental emotional support animal. And Ram refuse to acknowledge that he value Cat-thing despite the obvious

8 notes - Posted September 10, 2022

so, what was Ram like as a kid? ^^

Aw, thanks a lot for the ask :3

Izak's (since he didn't get his neat street name yet) childhood was unhappy to say it lightly- he came from a town, where the population of goblinized people was minimal, so he got unfair share of bullying from other kids and adults alike. Also his (human) parents wasn't happy to suddenly get a troll baby, and treated him as a "trial from God" or a "curse". He tried desperately to be The Perfect Child to get some droplets of positive attention, but to no avail. Sooo he was smol, lonely, traumatized, terrified of almost everybody, avoiding conflicts at all costs and had no self-esteem whatsoever And for the appearance- I got some sketches, which I apparently, never posted before : purple boy in times of smallness :]

See the full post

14 notes - Posted August 15, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

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17 notes - Posted August 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#long post #tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review

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mapsofnonexistentplacesremade · 2 years

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❇️🌪️😨🍟🎂 For umm umm Olzhas Isel and Freya smile

EVIL SMILE my specialest guys....

❇️ SPARKLE - what is their most prized possession? what do they value?

i cant think of anything olzhas would own, e's not sentimental in terms of keepsakes... closest thing i can think of is like. the ribbon e wears around eir neck which was a gift from freya, e's had it for literally less than a year but e honors it as representative of their friendship :+)

isel has a bunch of authentic vinyls which are kind of hard to get in the 22nd century.... most of them are queen ones LOL its a collection hes carried around for years and he's worked to keep them all in pristine condition....

i was gonna say freya's tough to think about but NO she absolutely has an ipod shuffle loaded with shitty midis and vocaloid covers of hardcore death metal. her most prized possession

what do they value is too vague a question and too silly for the above answers so im leaving it unanswered....

😨 FEARFUL - when scared, do they go into “flight” or “fight”?

olzhas honestly has like a weird fear response wherein anytime e gets scared e also gets extremely angry. so for em definitive fight LOL with freya i think its both somehow. like she'll just throw in a punch and get the fuck out. with isel its usually flight just because he's usually lethargic and doesnt want to tire himself out more

🍟 FRIES - do they order food often? or they prefer to cook their own food?

i think before the train olja and isel kind of lived by way of takeout and freya usually just ate with her family... in train times though olzhas is beyond adamant about cooking things emself and freya usually swings by often enough to take a serving. they usually like to eat together and chat and stuff :+) sometimes isel joins in but hes usually just in his own room summoning treats for himself, he himself doesnt really cook per se...

🎂 BIRTHDAY CAKE - when is their birthday? do they like celebrating it?

isel's is on april 6, freya's is on may 22, olzhas' is on july 31 :+)

isel likes his birthdays but he never really does anything extravagant for them... theyre usually just an excuse to relax for the day. freya shares the sentiment but she's a bit more spirited about it and usually likes going out and whatnot. olzhas on the contrary used to fucking hate eir birthday because e despised the passage of time but e's become ambivalent about it... e was particularly dreading turning 30 but once it happened e was just like. whatever. i take a sip of wine

saved tornado till the end because pictures.

🌪️ TORNADO - what is the biggest change you’ve ever made to them? how have they changed from their original version?

simply going to post earliest draws compared to their current refs. insane shit

#my ocs #ccs.text

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aqqleshiqqing-archive · 2 years

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OK OK i have a borderline difficult one 👀

Larry and Tom for the Venn Diagram game hehe

I GOT EXCITED FOR THIS ONE THANK YOU I love me a good challenge >:DDDD!!!!

girl i was hoping larry had an ex girlfriend named susan it would've been so perfect

#im giggling like an idiot you know what they did during christmas which. in their universe had a great effect LMAOAOAOAOA #i actually thought about these two in case someone asked me im so glad you did thank you <33333 #HDHFHSHDS THEIR HAIR THOUGH ITS THE SAMEEEEE HEHEBDHEBF #venn diagram game #🍀 inbox #tom.rom #🍁#but in actuality they're super different larry is an absolute disaster i love him #yes i immediately hit the wikia just to see if larry had an ex named susan. but had a gf named katty tom so im like. o h #LAMAOOAAOAOAO #TYSM QUEEN we need more larry attention here thank u #❇️ queen!

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wild-wildwasteland · 2 years

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Ask Emojis for Chell (or anyone >:D) 👁️ 🍩 💓 ❇️

The love of my life..... in MY ask box????? thank u my QUEEN

👁️ EYE - what colour are their eyes? do people notice their eyes? is there anything special about them (shows emotion easily, literally magical…)?

The first thing people usually notice about Chell are her eyes! They're an unnatural color, somewhere between orange and gold, with black dots under her pupils, as if they were meant to form into vertical slits but never got to.

🍩 DONUT - favourite sweet treat?

Chell, indulging in an enjoyable snack??? unheard of...... sweetrolls

💓 BEATING HEART - what gets their heart racing?

Fighting dragons, exploring ancient ruins, and you won't hear this from her but occasionally her love interest

❇️ SPARKLE - what is their most prized possession? what do they value?

There's not much that Chell calls important, especially possessions. That being said, Lucien Flavius is the most important person in her life. Though she'd rather be stabbed a thousand times than admit it.

#chell

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cannibalkissies · 5 months

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❣️; ❇️ ; ♠ for Hannibal n Ettore :o) ily hi

THANK YEW!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm so excited because i have a playlist FULL of songs for this kinda ship <3333

A song that reminds you of your f/o:

Honeywell by Clem Turner!!

It's so "I'm a therapist and I only know you professionally but I'll crawl into your mind and be the only thing you can think about" OUGHRJKGRG

youtube

A song that reminds you of your s/i:

I'M GONNA WIN BY ROB CANTOR

oh my god... literally the lines "till I'm bloody and bruised, till i've broken my bones, till i won't be abused, till i'm laughing alone" is part of Ettore's description on simply plural ... it's so encouraging yet so depressing

youtube

A song that reminds you of your relationship:

Cannibal Queen by Miniature Tigers

I don't think I need to explain!!! It's so cannibalism and so clingy <333

youtube

#fo: hannibal #si: ettore #ask #THANK YOU SO MUCHHHH #i love thinking about them....#especially hannibal #i love love love him so much

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typicalcommondandelion · 9 months

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💛 please please tell me about any of your ocs - 🕷️ SPIDER, 🌌 MILKY WAY, ❇️ SPARKLE, 📎 PAPERCLIP ::]

🕷️ SPIDER - what is their biggest fear? do they have any irrational / mundane fears?

Let's start with... Petromy Phelmer!!! He's got 2. His no.1 fear is his irrational/mundane fear, which is that he's a germaphobe, essentially. He doesn't like what he can't kill with a bigger weapon or more wounds. It's doubly worse with parasites, viruses, fungi, and bacteria, because to him (a baby god who hasn't grown into his ephemeral and/or supersized form(s) yet), those tiny life-enders are competition to him, and he's got a lot to stand to lose.

Putting the rest under a read-more.

[Ask meme src]

His other no.1 fear is his mother ("Agnatha", "Agnes", "Agatha", or "Nathan" depending on who you're asking). Lol. Lmao. He's a momma's boy and her opinion means everything to him (especially since he wants the inheritance lol)

Aside from those, he's also horrifically body-shy and body-awkward, and will do everything in his power to both appear big and powerful, while also not show a single inch of skin or face (which mostly manifests and being in a diver's suit 99.8% of the time. Yes this also helps with the whole germaphobic thing).

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

OH MAN. OKAY. LIGHTNING ROUND? LIGHTNING ROUND.

Petromy Phelmer - He was my Sunless Seas captain OC/self insert. He has direct inspiration from Lamprey. First thing I decided about him was probably that he was an asshole who found abusing humans amusing.

Barbatos Osswenbower Langermann - Petromy's (stand-in) captain, because I needed someone to take over the role of captain since Petromy hides as an engineer. She was inspired by bearded vultures.

Rhodian - I just wanted to play a centaur in D&D lmao. The first thing I decided about him...? Was probably that he was a paladin.

Mackenzie - I drew a cat-helmet biker once (probably bc Celty Durarara was in my brain), drew her a couple more times, and now in my mind she's the wildcard "Rat Queen", "Cop Killer" of a stereotypical cheesy dystopian futuristic metropolis. First thing I decided about her was her helmet design.

Cornelius - I took a uquiz that told me I was a centuar rogue, so I picked up the challenge and made a centuar rogue. First thing I decided about her was that she was a performer.

Loveday - I needed to come up with an Eberron character. First thing I decided about her was probably that she has prosthetic legs.

..."lightning" round.

❇️ SPARKLE - what is their most prized possession? what do they value?

Petromy - His ship (the SS Calliope) is his darling!! Which is also his body/shell half the time. He values money, power, brute strength, and bigger weapon/army diplomacy.

Rhodian - His most prized possession is probably his cult's crest, since it marks him as a member, and it's also his spellcasting focus. He values fairness, his family, and also his bugbear bestfriend, Gibbs.

Loveday is an artificer and easily loves her alchemy pack more than she loves herself.

📎 PAPERCLIP - a random fact.

Rhodian's a seal brown draft horse standing at 7 feet tall, who trims his hoof hair. He also has a weak constitution to drugs, a mild-to-severe case of motion sickness, and he wont eat apples, oats, or sugarcubes in front of other people.

Petromy's name is Petromy, but he thinks it's too diminutive and will say his name is Petrom.

Mackenzie circles her lowercase "i" dots but also won't draw the line body, and abbreviates her name as "Mcknzie", so when she writes it, it ends up appearing as "Mcknz°e".

#dreamy answers #speedruntechnically #oc;petromy #oc;barbatos #oc;rhodian #oc;mackenzie #oc;cornelius #oc;loveday #you havent even seen my huge list of 2 generations of warrior cat fanclans #or my list of “guys i made with friends” whp have so much lore behind them #gideon green and his 4 brothers. the entire vehicular family.#ough...

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angeleirene · 7 months

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Watching Hairspray (2007) is a roller coaster.

Like, I love the musical, I love the movie musical. I think the cast is stacked. Zac Efron (you cant not mention him) James Marsden, Michelle Pfeiffer, Amanda Bynes, Christopher Walker, Elijah Kelley (who had the second best voice holy shit this man), Jerry Stiller. It had Queen Motherfucking Latifah (the best voice in the entire cast)! It introduced me to Tayla Parx’s Little Inez (and she’s relevant here, we’ll get back to her), and it had John Fucking Travolta wearing a dress.

This cast was more stacked than Edna Turnblad.

And honestly? I bop hard with the songs. Special mention to “New Girl in Town”, specially the Dynamites. “I can hear the bell”, “I know where I’ve been”, “Run and tell that”, “Big Blonde and Beautiful”, and “You can’t stop the beat”. They slap and some I got more to say but I’m not the person who should say it nor is it the point of this post.

Also some of the direct depictions of the racism is on point. “The white direction”, way to say the quiet part out loud. Also for some more blink and you’ll miss it parts: the sponsor for ‘N-word’ Day is a product for “stubborn hair”, for fixing stubborn hair. And how Maybelle just forced the prompt out of her mouth so done with life. For fucks sake! Also the Dynamites! Velma was so pissed at Maybelle for ‘picking the same song’ and the only response is an incredulous “they wrote it”. This movie did good on this. (Also little pearl, she’s known as Motormouth Maybelle Stubbs. She’s legit perfect).

BUUUTTTT! This is also where it didn’t.

Because as much as I love Tracy and Nikki, she stands out as a sore white thumb in this movie. I do love her, I do, but it feels oddly intrusive to have this self admittedly ignorant white girl (never pays attention in history class, not that 1960s history class in Baltimore would teach much about social issues and racism) be the centre stage and driving conflict in this story about race. Yes there’s a point to be made that Tracy sacrificing her role in the CC show was brave and a very meaningful act of goodwill as someone who’d dreamt of being in the show; sacrificing it for the objective greater good.

[There’s also a point to be made that Tracy’s a more problematic character in the race storyline with her dumbass hitting the police officer, but that’s a whole other rant that I’m on the wrong side of Pantone 723 to be the one to make it]

However this is where what I said about Inez becomes relevant again because she really should’ve had a bigger role. Because like Tracy she had the dream to begin the CC show, except with a much greater barrier to make it. And with the movie making her winner of the pageant when she’s barely allowed to have a role in the movie at large... it’s tragic.

Black character by and large suffer from this. It’s like they’re fighting their own internal battle for equal value in the film. Seaweed (who is a travesty got to sing only twice) was “Penny’s boyfriend”, his relevance to the story came contingent on Penny, with her being a critical component of his relevance to the plot and of both of his songs. (Which also feels more like the movie reducing them to each other’s partners on some extent, and while I do appreciate the interracial relationship point it felt rushed. Too rushed.

Inez was even reduced further by being an extension of other characters. She had to share her solo in a song with Seaweed, then she was frustrated to the side, then she was Link’s dance partner and then she won. Apparently. Maybelle was the only one who got to have more of an individual character. (Serious tho, Inez got like 2 verses and her singing fucking slaps. This is theft).

And so watching the movie I’m like, “I love you sweetie, and I know you’re trying but my god there’s just a few blotches I’m dying to fix”.

Imagine just how much cooler it would be if she had more of a role, if she got to be the (or a) driving force in fighting for her dream. Because she didn’t get to do this, it was just handed to her by white showboat Zac Efron.

You don’t even gotta shaft Tracy either, instead reduce the love plot with Tracy and of Tracy’s parents, and let Inez be the second protagonist of the film. Play the story of both fighting through their adversity for their dreams. Inez gets more of a spotlight early on, maybe watching from the sidelines during “N-Word day”, and practising with her mom as hard as she can till she can finally go on to the CC show. Meanwhile Tracy is doing her thing she already does in the movie.

Then Tracy gets sent to detention and they both meet. Seaweed does the introduction and then Trace and Inez are the ones dancing together and sharing their goal to go on the CC show together when Link walks in and gives Tracy the idea to take over. On the dance floor, when Trace asks them to dance with her, they refuse for the same reasons but it’s both encouraging her. And she does and she’s in.

So then when Edna is cheering to see Trace in the show, and when Tracy says she wishes Negro day were every day she can get a kick ass solo of wishing that too, of wanting that dream too, then scene change to New Girl in Town. Or vice verse, Trace gets her spotlight, then NGIT, then after the Dynamites steal the show, Inez who was watching from home gets her solo. Wishing to have been on that day, looking at Tracy merch and being happy for her but still wishful for herself.

The march happens (which Tracy also went for in support of Inez) and Inez is there with Seaweed to free Penny, the latter informs them Tracy is down below and she saves her. A cute “you made it, I’m not letting you loose it” moment where they all hatch the plan together. The plan being to get Tracy back on the show, with no argument from Inez who at this point is only focused on protecting her friend.

So when everything reaches the climax, Link jumps to dance with Tracy in ‘You can’t stop the beat’, and they do, they kiss but then Tracy insists they ‘switch partners’ and runs to get Inez “I made it, now you will too”. So she gets that reciprocation value, and link gets to showcase he’s not an ass by playing along happily and helping her show off.

The finale performance continues as scheduled, Inez wins, and when Maybelle’s called to sing, it’s a mother daughter duo. Because just like it was Inez’s dream to be on, it was Maybelle’s dream to see her daughter on the show. They get a cute duet moment, and by the end when the crowd takes over they circle round the back for when she gets crowned and Tracy also gets her kiss and close scene and out.

*Little on the spot brainstorm rant but the point stands*.

Inez is such an absolutely fantastic character and every time I watch this movie I can’t stop thinking of just how little love she got when she deserved more. She deserved a bigger spotlight. Like, that’s the conclusion, Inez is critically unappreciated and should’ve had a much bigger spotlight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvQ14w_SfIQ

Just watch this video, watch her be a Queen and know it. Yes this is an Inez Appreciation PSA.

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#Hairspray #Hairspray(2007)#Inez Stubbs #movie review #movie critique #tracy turnblad #Maybelle Stubbs #Tayla Parx #zac efron #Queen Latifah #appreciation post #Seriously I love this child #I wanna give her every god damn thing she wants #and listen to her sing it’s ❇️ cheff’s kiss ❇️#she was robbed #this movie robbed her #LOVE. HER.

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