#and they got out than god

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

so in an attempt to actually use positive thinking, anytime i fuck up and my brain reacts as if ive cause a minor apocalyptic event, i compare my fuck up to the 4 minute fuck up committed by the crew of the uss william d porter.

and only today, as i was having to explain what happened to my mom when i was explaining the whole comparison thing, did i realise that most people dont know about it and ive decided that needs to change because its objectively hilarious.

...which is a weird thing to say about an event that occured on a warship in 1943, specifically november 14th.

see the uss william d porter was a fletcher-class destroyer but you dont need to know what that means, just that she had guns that went bang bang and that she was escorting another ship, the uss iowa, to cairo.

while they were on their way there, they performed some gun trials like testing the anti-aircraft guns or the torpedos. and while they were running a torpedo drill, the crew of the porter managed to fire a live torpedo straight at the iowa which you know, in terms of a list of things to do while escorting a ship, shooting a torpedo at them is not on that list.

especially if the president of the united states is on board.

yeah so fdr was on board and the gun trials were actually his idea, and part of the trials was that they were conducted under radio silence.

and that means the crew of the porter couldnt just call the iowa to be like "move out the way, we accidentally shot a torpedo at you."

but they did have signal lamps and you know, the signalman on board was trained to signal this exact kind of message.

...and uh never mind, the signalman did manage to successfully tell the iowa that a torpedo was coming toward them but wasnt as successful when it came to the direction the torpedo was coming from.

not all hope is lost though because the signalman could still use the signal lamp to correct his previous mistake and-, never mind, he announced that the porter was reversing, which she wasnt.

yeah so at catastrophic mistake number 3, they broke radio silence to warn the iowa and she managed to turn out of the way just in time which meant no one got hurt. and even though the inquiry into the incident led to chief torpedoman (fantastic job title btw) lawton dawson being sentences to hard labour, fdr intervened and waved away his sentence, saying it was all an accident.

but yeah, so thats my new measure for "how much did i really fuck up?" and when i compared accidentally picking up a pencil case without a tag on it in wilko, turns out it was a very minor fuck-up. yes, the cashier had to ask another worker to grab a duplicate so they could scan the barcode, but i didnt nearly kill the president during wartime via accidental friendly fire

#kai rambles #so like #i enjoy ships and learning about them and looking at them but like #i dont really care for warships #i dont hate them viscerally like i do cruise ships but i never really care for them #apart from the ones that were just like either ridiculously designed like the hms captain or the vasa or the novgorod #or the ones where just insane shit happened like with the william d porter #like this isnt even the extent of the porters unfortunate incidents like shr was sank by a kamikaze attack that MISSED #but somehow ended up below the ship and exploded and just like yeeted the porter out of the water #william d porter #uss william d porter #ww2 #world war 2 #world war ii #warships #again warships are really not my thing but god some of them are so fucking funny #uss iowa #fdr #franklin d. roosevelt #this suddenly got so many notes in like less than 24 hours what the fuck #shipposting

[mobius-m-mobius]

#my man was NOT subtle 🤣😉

+ bonus: message received 😅

#mobius #loki #lokius #mcuedit #lokiedit #marveledit #loki spoilers #owen wilson #tom hiddleston #one look at loki like well the kids need a stepmom 😂 #running on alarmingly little sleep feeling like i dreamed this entire episode lmao??? #my man don out here smoother than the god of stories you love to see it 😭😭 #probable jet ski salesman of the year got the potential ruler of the multiverse down badder than imaginable we live in the best timeline #don #owenwilsonedit #marvel #dianagifs #loki s2 spoilers

[leo-bandito]

something something gman tommy something something gordon in stasis. you know how it is.

#GOD TUMBLR ATE THE FUCKING QUALITY. JESUS CHRIST. #This is a lil rough lookin cos it’s uhhhh . One it’s like a month old and 2 it took me like an hour w no real thought or effort #Anyway #I Feel Normal . Im normal. It’s whatever #THIS IS BASED ON NOTHING . other than this has been haunting me. The hypotheticaaaallllllsssssss aaauuughhhhhhbhhh #hl2vrai #hlvrai #tommy coolatta #should. I tag ol gordon here ? #I dont. Know. I don’t wanna Fuck up th hl tag #whatever. #hlvrai 2 #gordon freeman #gordon feetman #hlvrai gordon #hlvrai tommy #If they do do smth w stasis it’ll fuck me up so bad cos. ONE . #that means Gordon never got to go home. fucked up. Fucked up #TWO . It’s so. AUIUHGHH. It’s one thing w like. in the hl2 canon of Gman this like. Mysterious freak fuckin around w Gordon #Where it’s just an uncaring omnipotent Guy taking you in and out of limbo as he pleases #but with like. Dr coomer specifically tryna contact Gordon and TOMMY BEING GMAN. FUCK. it’s like. Now it’s your friends. #now it’s your friends who need you and are trying to help you along. putting you into place. THERES SO MUCH MORE WEIGHT THERE #this might be me reaching but it’s like. ohhhh my god #wgatever. What the fuck ever #EDIT: SOMEONE JST POINTED THIS OUT AND THIS WASNT ON PURPOSE I SWEAR TO GOD. HES KINDA IN TH FUCKED UP VR CROUCH POSE. FUCK . FUCK

[clouvu]

Save me french yuri... Save me

#genshin impact #arledrone #sandrone #arlecchino #haha remember when we all thought that sandrone and arlecchino would both show up in fontaine and be gay together? #good times.... good times #jk i'm ready to end it all actually #I KNOW WE HAVE LIKE ONE LAST MAJOR FRENCH PATCH BEFORE NATLAN BUT IVE JUST ABOUT LOST ALL HOPE #the way that literally every wlw arle pairing got fed so well following arle's drip marketing EXCEPT for arledrn... hate it here so bad #anyways shipping aside HOW is it possible that the frenchiest of french harbingers with heavy ties to machinery #and like two major world quests tied to specifically to her lore and is even MENTIONED of being present in fontaine #also being one of the first harbingers ever mentioned dating back all the way to the description of chode's teaser trailer #just???? doesnt show up?????? #Sandy enjoyers are stronger than any us marine because my GOD are we struggling out here #anyways ignore the fact that I completely forgot to draw sandy's wind up key it was hard drawing through the tears #(actually it was cause i half-assed this doodle but we dont talk about that)

[forecast0ctopus]

danbert sketches

#the bicycle one isnt danbert but whatever #ty friday for the prompts + watching amvs woth me :] #i love putting men in situations #danbert #reanimator #re-animator #reanimator fanart #re-animator fanart #danbert fanart #herbert west #dan cain #these are even messier than the sketches i normally post lmao #blue sketches….. got me thjinking of blue (armed with love) wham! #god i lovw wham! #that making out sloppy meme image is so funny to me. #anyways sorry i was feeling homosexual today. so #also sidenote if anyone knwos any re-animator discord servers.. lmk please…… i would like to join………..

[cuddlytogas]

So I accidentally almost got into an argument on Twitter, and now I'm thinking about bad historical costuming tropes. Specifically, Action Hero Leather Pants.

See, I was light-heartedly pointing out the inaccuracies of the costumes in Black Sails, and someone came out of the woodwork to defend the show. The misunderstanding was that they thought I was dismissing the show just for its costumes, which I wasn't - I was simply pointing out that it can't entirely care about material history (meaning specifically physical objects/culture) if it treats its clothes like that.

But this person was slightly offended on behalf of their show - especially, quote, "And from a fan of OFMD, no less!" Which got me thinking - it's true! I can abide a lot more historical costuming inaccuracy from Our Flag than I can Black Sails or Vikings. And I don't think it's just because one has my blorbos in it. But really, when it comes down to it...

What is the difference between this and this?

Here's the thing. Leather pants in period dramas isn't new. You've got your Vikings, Tudors, Outlander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Once Upon a Time, Will, The Musketeers, even Shakespeare in Love - they love to shove people in leather and call it a day. But where does this come from?

Obviously we have the modern connotations. Modern leather clothes developed in a few subcultures: cowboys drew on Native American clothing. (Allegedly. This is a little beyond my purview, I haven't seen any solid evidence, and it sounds like the kind of fact that people repeat a lot but is based on an assumption. I wouldn't know, though.) Leather was used in some WWI and II uniforms.

But the big boom came in the mid-C20th in motorcycle, punk/goth, and gay subcultures, all intertwined with each other and the above. Motorcyclists wear leather as practical protective gear, and it gets picked up by rock and punk artists as a symbol of counterculture, and transferred to movie designs. It gets wrapped up in gay and kink communities, with even more countercultural and taboo meanings. By the late C20th, leather has entered mainstream fashion, but it still carries those references to goths, punks, BDSM, and motorbike gangs, to James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Mick Jagger. This is whence we get our Spikes and Dave Listers in 1980s/90s media, bad boys and working-class punks.

And some of the above "historical" design choices clearly build on these meanings. William Shakespeare is dressed in a black leather doublet to evoke the swaggering bad boy artist heartthrob, probably down on his luck. So is Kit Marlowe.

But the associations get a little fuzzier after that. Hook, with his eyeliner and jewellery, sure. King Henry, yeah, I see it. It's hideously ahistorical, but sure. But what about Jamie and Will and Ragnar, in their browns and shabby, battle-ready chic? Well, here we get the other strain of Bad Period Drama Leather.

See, designers like to point to history, but it's just not true. Leather armour, especially in the western/European world, is very, very rare, and not just because it decays faster than metal. (Yes, even in ancient Greece/Rome, despite many articles claiming that as the start of the leather armour trend!) It simply wasn't used a lot, because it's frankly useless at defending the body compared to metal. Leather was used as a backing for some splint armour pieces, and for belts, sheathes, and buckles, but it simply wasn't worn like the costumes above. It's heavy, uncomfortable, and hard to repair - it's simply not practical for a garment when you have perfectly comfortable, insulating, and widely available linen, wool, and cotton!

As far as I can see, the real influence on leather in period dramas is fantasy. Fantasy media has proliferated the idea of leather armour as the lightweight choice for rangers, elves, and rogues, a natural, quiet, flexible material, less flashy or restrictive than metal. And it is cheaper for a costume department to make, and easier for an actor to wear on set. It's in Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Runescape, and World of Warcraft.

And I think this is how we get to characters like Ragnar and Vane. This idea of leather as practical gear and light armour, it's fantasy, but it has this lineage, behind which sits cowboy chaps and bomber/flight jackets. It's usually brown compared to the punk bad boy's black, less shiny, and more often piecemeal or decorated. In fact, there's a great distinction between the two Period Leather Modes within the same piece of media: Robin Hood (2006)! Compare the brooding, fascist-coded villain Guy of Gisborne with the shabby, bow-wielding, forest-dwelling Robin:

So, back to the original question: What's the difference between Charles Vane in Black Sails, and Edward Teach in Our Flag Means Death?

Simply put, it's intention. There is nothing intentional about Vane's leather in Black Sails. It's not the only leather in the show, and it only says what all shabby period leather says, relying on the same tropes as fantasy armour: he's a bad boy and a fighter in workaday leather, poor, flexible, and practical. None of these connotations are based in reality or history, and they've been done countless times before. It's boring design, neither historically accurate nor particularly creative, but much the same as all the other shabby chic fighters on our screens. He has a broad lineage in Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean and such, but that's it.

In Our Flag, however, the lineage is much, much more intentional. Ed is a direct homage to Mad Max, the costuming in which is both practical (Max is an ex-cop and road warrior), and draws on punk and kink designs to evoke a counterculture gone mad to the point of social breakdown, exploiting the thrill of the taboo to frighten and titillate the audience.

In particular, Ed is styled after Max in the second movie, having lost his family, been badly injured, and watched the world turn into an apocalypse. He's a broken man, withdrawn, violent, and deliberately cutting himself off from others to avoid getting hurt again. The plot of Mad Max 2 is him learning to open up and help others, making himself vulnerable to more loss, but more human in the process.

This ties directly into the themes of Our Flag - it's a deliberate intertext. Ed's emotional journey is also one from isolation and pain to vulnerability, community, and love. Mad Max (intentionally and unintentionally) explores themes of masculinity, violence, and power, while Max has become simplified in the popular imagination as a stoic, badass action hero rather than the more complex character he is, struggling with loss and humanity. Similarly, Our Flag explores masculinity, both textually (Stede is trying to build a less abusive pirate culture) and metatextually (the show champions complex, banal, and tender masculinities, especially when we're used to only seeing pirates in either gritty action movies or childish comedies).

Our Flag also draws on the specific countercultures of motorcycles, rockers, and gay/BDSM culture in its design and themes. Naturally, in such a queer show, one can't help but make the connection between leather pirates and leather daddies, and the design certainly nods at this, with its vests and studs. I always think about this guy, with his flat cap so reminiscient of gay leather fashions.

More overtly, though, Blackbeard and his crew are styled as both violent gangsters and countercultural rockstars. They rove the seas like a bikie gang, free and violent, and are seen as icons, bad boys and celebrities. Other pirates revere Blackbeard and wish they could be on his crew, while civilians are awed by his reputation, desperate for juicy, gory details.

This isn't all of why I like the costuming in Our Flag Means Death (especially season 1). Stede's outfits are by no means accurate, but they're a lot more accurate than most pirate media, and they're bright and colourful, with accurate and delightful silks, lace, velvets, and brocades, and lovely, puffy skirts on his jackets. Many of the Revenge crew wear recognisable sailor's trousers, and practical but bright, varied gear that easily conveys personality and flair. There is a surprising dedication to little details, like changing Ed's trousers to fall-fronts for a historical feel, Izzy's puffy sleeves, the handmade fringe on Lucius's red jacket, or the increasing absurdity of navy uniform cuffs between Nigel and Chauncey.

A really big one is the fact that they don't shy away from historical footwear! In almost every example above, we see the period drama's obsession with putting men in skinny jeans and bucket-top boots, but not only does Stede wear his little red-heeled shoes with stockings, but most of his crew, and the ordinary people of Barbados, wear low boots or pumps, and even rough, masculine characters like Pete wear knee breeches and bright colours. It's inaccurate, but at least it's a new kind of inaccuracy, that builds much more on actual historical fashions, and eschews the shortcuts of other, grittier period dramas in favour of colour and personality.

But also. At least it fucking says something with its leather.

#everyone say 'thank you togas' for not including a long tangent about evil rimmer in red dwarf 5x05 #Our Flag Means Death #Togas does meta #and yes these principles DO fall apart slightly in s2 and i DON'T like those costumes as much #don't get me wrong they're fun and gorgeous - but generally a bit less deep and more inaccurate. so. :( #I'm not sure this really says anything new about Our Flag but I just needed to get my thoughts out #i hate hate hate Gritty Period Drama costumes they're so boring and so ugly and so wrong #god bless OFMD for using more than 3 muted colours and actually putting men in heels (and not as a shorthand for rich/foppish villainy) <3 #looking at that Tudors still is insane like they really will go to any lengths to not make men feel like they've got bare legs XD #image descriptions in alt text #and yes i DID just sink about two hours into those so you'd better appreciate them

[girlbogg]

hey has anyone else noticed that totk looks a lot like princess mononoke sometinms (<- guy who has never had an original thought)

#loz totk #zelda #ganondorf #tloz fanart #tears of the kingdom #tloz crossover #tloz au #i drew this back before i got very far in totk and i was convinced that the zonai would turn out to be dragons somehow #which wouldve made the game 150% cooler #i imagine eboshidorf would be kinda windwaker-esque #more like. reserved and genteel than totk dorf #trying to make a better life for his people but willing to kill gods and destroy the world to do it #meanwhile zelda lives in the forest and was raised by the gods (zonai) #and she meets link when he leaves his home village to find a cure for the gloom that is sapping everyone's health and nearly killed him #do you see my vision #my art

[enthyrea]

someone’s possessive 🙄

#enthyrea art #icemav #me??? posting suggestive stuff??? it’s more likely than u think #feel like i’m boutta get reprimanded by the tumblr gods #this was a warmup that got out of hand #inspired by many possessive ice fics i’ve read #top gun #top gun maverick #top gun fanart #pete maverick mitchell #tom iceman kazansky #iceman kazansky #maverick mitchell #maverick x iceman #iceman x maverick #top gun iceman #icemav fan art

[hg-aneh]

I think it was about time I introduced tumblr to my book Crowley... who eventually became a walking love letter to Latino culture lmao

(You can think of him as a Book Crowley who spent way too much time in south america)

Language wise, he's an amalgamation of all latin american spanish dialects (+pt-br) so,, have fun translating some of the things he's saying

#good omens #crowley #aziraphale #ineffable husbands #good omens fanart #aziracrow #book omens #my book Aziraphale is fuckinh HUGE btw #he's taller than show Crowley #also I'm from Peru and of indigenous descent so shhhhhhh to the ppl who could see this as problematic #its happened before and im paranoid #latino crowley #my beloved #sorry to the brits but we re kidnapping your child and raising it as our own #that first and last ones are old #aneh draws #also i just wanna say he didnt start off this way #i literally just wanted to make him physically OBVIOUSLY indigenous #and then everything got out of hand in the best of ways #god im nervous sorry #aneh wont shut up

[ruporas]

kiss the pain away

#vashwood #trigun #trigun stampe #vash the stampede #wolfwood #nicholas d wolfwood #ep 10 was crazy bc vashwood was literally the plot goodbye #i like how the most intimate moment between these two was in the goddamn sewers #i feel like that alone symbolizes so much in their relationship. im half joking BUT ITS JUST LIKE #the SPONTANEITY the PRIVACY they get in such an open Space while being literally chased / hunted after.... #and vash is out here showing his scars.............. and ill always lose my mind that they gave this spotlight to wolfwood instead of #meryl and milly like in the previous versions. i dont know how else to read this other than that wolfwood is the romantic interest of stamp #it makes sense even aside from this scene. u know. wolfwood was technically the damsel in distress in ep 5-6 and vash saved/helped him. #and who stayed in the bedroom with vash................. #who rushed to his side when he got shot...... with that worried ass expression.... #i dont have anything smart to say at all im just gushing over vashwood thru stampede bc its just so blatant. and its great that its blatant #bc it was blatant in trimax too. like so blatant. the romance was written in every chapter they showed up together #god #ive never witnessed a pairing more canon without being spoken as such its soooooo much theyre so much #ruporas art

[saturdaysky]

a little divine appreciation

-

God Gale is endgame for Mayhew, and Mayhew couldn't be more pleased 😌

their mutual wizard disease brought them to some pretty low lows, but hey, ignore the tragedy, they're gods now! first order of business is a little worshiping at the altar 😏

Here's the sketch, which I also like:

Got majorly inspired by these lovely photos, one of which I used as a pose reference.

#mayhew #will have a different godly form once i settle on some details. and finish writing the fic about this #but may i just say i adore god gale? he's the worst version of himself and he'll never see it and i love that for him #plus i really love gods of volatile neutral traits like ambition that could amplify good and bad acts by turn #mayhew's portfolio is similar - curiosity. no way that could go wrong when paired with ambition! they're the questionable judgement duo #but mayhew's got an enormous heart so on the whole more good is put into the world than bad. ...usually. #can't take the wizard out of a wizard #anyway hi hello to all the god gale fans out there. there will be more fanart for sure #also can you tell I adore drawing body hair? i hope you can #my art #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #gale x tav #gnome tav #gnomeposting #galehew

[muzzleroars]

Lucifer, at his Fall

Having been consumed by his own flames of adoration, Lucifer has been left a hollowed husk of ash and cinder. Until the end he maintained to his angels that God would rejoice in their rebellion against Hell, that this test was meant to purify them in fire to come out as flawless gold in the strength of their convictions. Only once he plummeted from Heaven, agonizingly devoured by his own fire, did he realize how deeply, irrevocably wrong he had been. He never believed God could hate, and now he was the subject of his unmitigated wrath with the angels he had dragged down with him. Here, in a last plea for mercy, he reaches out not to God in his perfect hatred, but to his fellow angels, that they might deliver him from such evil. Soon after, however, he would be cast down to Hell with all his followers, with only Michael coming to bind him.

#fallen lucifer (non-dragon form. im still working on it uwahh) #he feels utterly responsible for all the angels who believed in him #because he told them over and over that they were doing the right thing and god would reward them #i wanted to very much keep his silhouette the same #but now with a body that looks like ashen wood #and black smoke billowing out continuously in place of his flames #he's got little sparks though. trying to light his flame and forever drifting up to heaven #he makes me very sad.... #lucifer #ultrakill oc #sort of? he's canon ig but hakita will come up with something much cooler than me!! #doodle tag

[ninemelodies]

y’all ever think about how small ten looks without his jacket on that roof with donna? like.

idk i guess what sticks with me is that it’s the ONLY time (so far in nuwho) that we see the doctor take off his suit jacket. like yeah he goes places without his coat, but we NEVER see him without his suit jacket. its basically his armor.

and then, for this woman he barely knows, who yelled at him and insulted him and slapped him, because she’s shivering on the edge of a roof and disappointed about missing her wedding, he just. gives her his jacket. doesn’t even stop to think about it, he’s unbuttoning it before donna even sits down fully.

AND THEN. AND THEN. he didn’t even take the sonic out of it first. and like the doctor is the doctor no matter what tool he uses, but the sonic is one of his BEST tools, one he never goes anywhere without. and he just. gives up his jacket with the sonic in it again to this woman he hardly knows.

and like yeah, it’s RIGHT there. he can just reach over and grab it, but idk that says a lot to me about ten, especially when he JUST lost rose and has been thrust into saving donna.

idk i’m probably reading way too much into it, but i’m mentally ill and i can’t stop thinking about him looking so small and vulnerable on that roof next to donna. he gave up his armor, his tool, for a some essential stranger who needed his help.

#doctor who #donna noble #tenth doctor #10th doctor #ugggggh sorry i got really stoned and rewatched runaway bride in a daze and i had to get this out #god i just care about them so much someone please help me #long post #kinda? better safe than sorry anyway

[feralnightwing]

the only show where i am okay with fanon completely overshadowing (lol) canon is danny phantom. like we took this at best pg-13 cartoon about a ghost boy and his adventures and turned it into a horrifying story of tragedy and pain.

the portal accident? let's expand on that: he was electrocuted to death and had a portal to another dimension open on him. the agony he felt as he died is something horrific and unforgettable.

his parents are ghost hunters that hunt his ghost half haha! no. his parents are ghost hunters that are hunting their dead-is-he-dead-is-he-alive? child. they want to capture him for study. danny is constantly living in fear of parents because they want to "tear him apart, molecule by molecule." he is afraid of his parents discovering his secret: would it be better if they didn't know he was their son as they vivisect him? or knowing and doing it anyway?

14 year old superhero! boom pow he punches bad ghosts! so fun! wrong. he is a 14 year old atlas, stuck underneath the weight of protecting his home and the people in it. there are people who hate him, but it's okay because... because. he fends off anyone and anything that tries to harm those under his protection at the cost of himself. it hurts and he hurts but what else can he do? he gives up on his dreams of seeing the stars as phantom takes him away from school, so can continue fighting and keep people (except himself) unharmed.

the giw are so funny because they're so incompetent. but what if they weren't? what if they managed to catch him? what if fenton goes missing and phantom is never seen again? stuck in a tiny cell; he's not human. he is lesser and thus it's okay to tear him apart and put him back together over and over again. he is a shell of himself, truly dead despite being alive.

i could go on and on and on. my point stands: this fandom has developed something so intricate from a cartoon that would've otherwise been lost to time. we saw ideas and concepts that could be fleshed out into a truly engaging and gruesome story and did it! that's crazy!

this show by itself wouldn't be anything great, but fanon just made it so much better (by A Lot). danny phantom fanon is better than canon, and that's the truth

#i got rly into it at some point #whoops #but im being so fr #danny phantom fanon #is so much better than #danny phantom canon #WES ISN'T EVEN A REAL CHARACTER #BUT PPL HAVE FLESHED HIM OUT SO WELL THAT WE FORGET HE ISN'T CANON #i mean cmon #ghost king danny??? #corpse au??? #death days??? #anti-ecto acts?? #ghost hunger??? #ectobiology??? #LIKE HOW MUCH IS THERE THAT WASN'T EVEN CANON IN THE FIRST PLACE #all this to say #ily phandom #y'all are doing god's work fr #danny phantom #danny fenton #fanon vs canon #danny phantom fandom #phandom #(sry if this ends up on d&p tumblr we have the same name)

[mobius-m-mobius]

Benoit Blanc you will always be famous

#daniel craig #benoit blanc #knives out #glass onion #submitting the above to declare him a character of all time <33 #god imagine getting even one of these lines but ALL of them? delivered in the most impeccable of accents we could ever be blessed with?????? #listen i finally got around to rewatching knives out and nearly keeled over when he said the truth falls at his feet he's so powerful 😭😭 #the way i love him more than life itself... #edited the last gif bc i hadn't realized 'vainglorious' was a word but am so very glad it is and will be peppering it into conversation asap #movieedit #dcraigedit #glass onion spoilers #dianagifs

[shikai-the-storyteller]

I've been thinking a lot about Leonarda's not-death ever since it happened back in April.

("What death?" you might ask, to which I say: "EXACTLY!")

Back in mid-April, Vegetta and Leonarda were mining together in a one-block wide tunnel. A mob (a Petriman) got between the two of them, and Vegetta told Leonarda to step back while he took care of it. At this point, they'd spent enough time together that he trusted Leo to listen to him.

Instead, she was killed by the same sweeping edge bug that killed her siblings.

-

Vegetta's reaction here is what's really interesting to me. Unlike most other parents on the Island, there are no shouts or tears – only a very brief "Hmm" and then silence. He very quietly takes stock of the situation, saying "Vegetta, no" and wondering aloud why Leo didn't defend herself. In chat, Foolish says "It was a bug, right? LAG" to which Vegetta slowly responds "Yes, lag. Bug." (Despite this, Foolish still asks "WHAT HAPPENED" in chat, though Vegetta doesn't reply).

Instead, he creates a slightly wider space in the tunnel where Leo's body is. He continues quietly taking stock of the situation, wondering why Leo didn't defend herself (which is what necessitated his intervention). She'd been lagging a lot that day, and he figures that must be the cause, and eventually when Leo re-appears out of thin air in the middle of the cave and collects her stuff, she confirms that the lag got to her and that's why she didn't fight the mob.

Now here's where things get interesting:

Vegetta checks the tab list. Online, it's just him, Leonarda, Roier, and Foolish. He quietly tells Leonarda "The body has already disappeared, and without a body, there is no crime. Nothing is happening. Did you die?" Leo shakes her head, and Vegetta shakes his head too, and in the kind voice he uses sometimes with Leo, he says: "I believe you have not died. Where is the body? It isn't anywhere, no mija. If it was a mistake, it was a mistake."

Leo says: "I saw Diosito (God) pa, and I was scared. God, what am I doing here?" and Vegetta laughs, telling her it's alright. Leo says "No pasa nada (don't worry / nothing happened)" and Vegetta says: "And the people who are watching us have not seen it either." To Foolish and Roier, he messages: "Secreto."

And the funniest thing about this is it worked.

Not a single person spoke about it. I saw this entire event go down live and I didn't see a WHISPER of what transpired among fans. I can't even remember if the QSMP official accounts talked about it (they sure didn't mention it in Vegetta's recap of the day). We could discuss this in meta terms of course– Leo was having known lag issues that day, Vegetta's beloved by the admins so of course they're willing to turn a blind eye rather than slap a "?" over Leonarda's life on the Eggstatistics, but meta talk isn't what I'm interested in here.

I'm interested in q!Vegetta, the weird "god-adjacent" aura he's got, and the way the universe bends to his will.

Before he took a break from the server, Rubius seemed to be a caretaker for the Eggs who died (for example, he was present when Maxo, Quackity, and Mariana & Slime said their final goodbyes to Trumpet, Tilin, and JuanaFlippa). Because of his role as an "angel" and some of his dialogue during the early days of the server, it's not a stretch to say he probably came to collect any Egg who lost a life. I can imagine he did the same when he saw Leonarda die – that is, until Vegetta said "And the people who are watching us have not seen it either." Realistically, we know Vegetta was saying this to Chat (and possibly the admins as well), but again, we're looking at this from an "in-universe" perspective.

I wonder if Vegetta was aware of Rubius' role, and this was his way of telling Rubius "No. I won't allow that to happen." We know Rubius has a soft-spot for Vegetta (and we also know that Rubius was cast out of heaven several months later) so it makes me wonder if these two instances are connected.

Either way, this isn't the first time the laws of the QSMP universe have bent for Vegetta, and I certainly don't think it'll be the last.

Rubius or no, Leo didn't die that day.

Vegetta made sure of it.

#i talk #QSMP talk #AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA #I FOUND IT #I wrote this post TWO MONTHS AGO #MAYBE LONGER!!! #I had clips and links prepared but I have no idea where those went #I'm not gonna bother saving this as a draft and risk losing it again #I have nearly 70000 drafts on my main blog but by some miracle this got saved in my art blogs' drafts instead #than the stars #Anyways. Leo was killed by a whale a few days later because Foolish was in the bathroom lmao #''powerful god-adjacent man who bends the laws of the universe'' vs. ''man whose entire life is a series of sitcom episodes'' #I still really want to write out that ''QSMP genre'' thought I had ages ago. It's still relevant and always will be relevant #but anyways #I wrote this months ago on very little sleep but DANG. It's a banger. #I miss writing analysis stuff I wish I was in a headspace where I could do this more like I used to #QSMP analysis