#especially after the reveal | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bonefall · 4 months

Note

what’s up with BB! Puddleshine? been having thoughts about him recently lol. i find it funny that rowanstar grabbed this random child from the nursery and was like ‘bam here’s our brand new doctor and spiritual leader everyone’

(*shaking twelve year old in the background*)

You know what's pretty cool about AVoS, buried underneath the slog of it all? The thing I keep going back to about this arc, in spite of how annoying it is to be forced to say in ThunderClan as everything interesting happens off-screen?

The way that so, so many young warriors are horrifically traumatized by both the structure of the Clans, and the Kin that they turn to.

It's a shame that the Erins were so committed to the idea of the Clan social structure NOT being the problem, because this whole arc is a perfect time to show how flawed it structurally is. LET these kids have a point, that maybe they were rebelling against something broken, but Darktail was a malicious actor who exploited their naivety to serve HIS ends.

A recap of what's happening in BB!AvoS before I explain my intentions with the Puddy Boy;

The big problem that I want Rowanstar to display is a problem that ALL the leaders of this time period also have. Commitment to Clan rivalry.

After Firestar was killed in AVoS by Dark Forest warriors, Bramblestar considers diplomacy secondary as a tactic. "ThunderClan will not be bullied any longer. We have been too soft with the other Clans for too long; and they have humiliated us by taking advantage of our kindness." (Note: Harespring and Breezepelt being part of the assassination patrol is not revealed until TBC. For MAXIMUM drama reveal.)

He escalated a border dispute that Firestar had worked closely and intimately with ShadowClan to resolve; a fight for a knoutberry patch on their border, just before Winter.

After Russetfur died in this painful battle, Blackstar backslid hard from his redemption arc. This caused the Thunder/Shadow alliance to dissolve towards the end of OotS, ending a friendship between the two Clans that had lasted through all of Po3.

He was open to Sol's manipulation, and while Tawnypelt was trying to fight the Dark Forest trainees who took over ShadowClan in the meantime... Rowanclaw became deputy by organizing a patrol of cats to remind Blackstar how much he means to them.

So Rowanstar inherits the Clan with this in mind. ShadowClan solves SHADOWCLAN'S problems. "ThunderClan had a quarrel with WindClan, but decided that we were their enemy. Leaving ourselves open for betrayal was a mistake; if we cannot handle our own problems, we will inevitably succumb to them when our so-called 'allies' don't come to help." (Note: he isn't completely wrong. His words are borderline prophetic for what's about to happen.)

Onestar has a smug chuckle at this. Since taking leadership, he's been appealing to the strongest, hardest members of his Clan. Those who once tried to kill him for his "weakness" in the Civil War. The "lesson" ShadowClan learned is one that he's known since the day Onewhisker died and Onestar was born, on the night of that sabotaged muirburn. "That so-called peace was always a farce. We are warriors of the four Clans; it was always going to come down to honor, and putting ourselves first. My WindClan isn't foolish enough to pretend like ThunderClan ever acted in anything but their own, hidden self-interest."

And Mistystar respects the direction Bramblestar has taken his Clan in, and approves of the "honesty" that the Clans are now showing. "As the branches of the honeysuckle fight and win the light for themselves, sometimes there are beautiful flowers that die in the shade. We can mourn the end of an era, and prepare for a future that will be made all the sweeter for our shared struggle. This is the way of the Clans, and StarClan's solemn light shines upon us all." (Note: god I love writing Misty's speeches)

In the family tree reworkings, Rowanstar is now the brother of Littlecloud. Sons of Brokenstar, honor-sired for Newtspeck.

Littlecloud... is suffering from early onset Alzheimer's.

He didn't want to choose an apprentice after Flametail's horrible death, heartbroken and stressed out, especially when he couldn't reach his nephew through contact with StarClan.

He can't remember, anymore, that Flametail was freed. He keeps forgetting this, over and over

He keeps ending up in different times of his life, where he's best friends with Cinderpelt and still calling Leafpool by her pre-Honor Title name, where he's inventing a mobility device for Wildfur, where he's still escaping the plague and before he knew his mentor caused it, where he's on the Great Journey...

Rowanstar is in a lot of pain, watching his brother forget so many things, scared and confused half the time. He doesn't want to believe that this is really the end, or that... many of these cats are now so young they can't recognize the various eras that Littlecloud is finding himself in.

Puddleshine and Slatefur are going to remain in Pinenose's litter. Either Lion or Birch MIGHT get shuffled to another one; and ALSO the shuffler might survive the Kin. (SO voice which one you want to survive, if you have a preference!)

SO, Violetshine has either two or three adopted siblings... plus another.

Pinenose's oldest surviving child is Happypaw. Happy is the half-sibling of Puddle/Slate-- the death of Weaselkit in the Great Battle caused his parents (Pinenose and Owlclaw) to break up.

(this is why I'm thinking about just reducing the litter to Puddle/Slate, so Violet has three major adoption-siblings to remember instead of four.)

And now we're ready to talk about Puddleshine.

He isn't the first young cat to be shoved into an extremely high-pressure position because of a Cleric becoming incapacitated. Kestrelflight was also forced to become the holy speaker of his people when he was far, far too young, after Barkface died in TNP. He dealt with this obediently, with only Jayfeather ever really being able to get him to think about it in a different light.

Unlike Kestrel, Puddlekit did voice that he was interested in becoming a Cleric, in BB. But he was too young to be properly making that choice, to know what he was getting into. He mentioned it practically offhandedly, and BOOM Rowanstar had rolled him into the position.

But Puddlepaw has a deep sense of responsibility. "Wise beyond his years"-- likely because of how tumultuous his home life was.

His mother's oldest child, Happypaw, was openly a bully of his half-siblings. Pinenose distanced herself from him as a result, causing Happy to be closer to Owlclaw, who was still not over Weaselkit's death.

But Puddle's Ba Spikefur is not a cat who handles his kit's emotions well. Instead, he encourages ambition, tells him to get back at his half-sibling by being more influential than that twerp could ever be.

Puddle will often go to Violet, the new POV, to vent about these things.

And one thing he mentions to her is how amazing Kestrelflight is, when he gets to meet him at the half-moon conferences. He learns SO MUCH from him, it's like he GETS what he's going through...

Puddle doesn't even feel sure that Littlecloud knows what he's doing anymore. If he's learning the right information at all.

But Rowanstar won't DO anything about Littlecloud-- and he CERTAINLY isn't about to let Puddlepaw go train under someone else's Cleric.

As a result of this, Puddlepaw becomes a VERY important member of Sleekpaw's little group. He wasn't one of their friends to begin with, buuuuut...

When he sits to chat with Sleekpaw and Needlepaw, with Happypaw good and far out of earshot, she makes a lot of sense.

A LOT of it.

ShadowClan is run by old men who don't know what they're doing. Rowanstar is too emotional to make good choices. Puddlepaw, barely even old enough to begin apprenticeship, is running all the medicine for an entire Clan.

And, sure, he doesn't have much in the way of a connection to StarClan, no, just a little more spiritual than the average cat...

But who can point this out? If Littlecloud is slowly losing his mind anyway?

"It's not right, how much pressure's on you," Sleekpaw growls, "And it wouldn't be this way if we could challenge Rowanstar. You should be training with Kestrelflight right now."

"But we're dealing with the shells StarClan dealt, and the Clan is looking to you now," Needlepaw points out on behalf of her friend, "You have much more sway than you know."

This time around for BB, Sleekpaw starts as a young hero. She's right. Rowanstar should be challenged, his emotions are affecting the ENTIRE Clan, and Puddlepaw is in a bad position because of it. Needlepaw is like her best diplomat, surely to become her deputy someday.

They would have made an excellent set of leaders for ShadowClan. But they trusted the wrong person, and were exploited. When Darktail and The Kin came to the lake, they were swept up by it, and WindClan began an embargo.

Puddlepaw eventually oversees the Yellowcough Outbreak, and at first just thinks it's Greencough. He has no idea about strains, or the special types of Color Cough that Clan cats have historically dealt with. Even when he finally does learn it's not JUST Greencough, he's powerless to do anything about it. A lot of cats die because of the lack of mullein.

After that, with ShadowClan so weak and the Kin so strong... he's one of the cats who calls for the merge. The most important one, in fact, leveraging his position to say that this is StarClan's will.

Sleekwhisker and Needletail were right all along, and he's happy to stick it right into everyone's faces. Onestar's tantrum of an embargo killed his Clanmates, Rowanstar stopped him from properly training, he's been under pressure from the time he was small with Littlecloud not fit to be a mentor, and he's ready to welcome in ShadowClan's new era as something that is not a Clan.

...unfortunately, it turned out to be the wrong choice. Not because his thought process was wrong. But because Darktail had other plans in-mind.

#Also I did decide on it being early onset alzheimer's for BB!Littlecloud specifically #It means a lot to me... my great-grandmother had it in her last days. And it's very likely I'll get it someday too #and the line that leads from her down to me #it scares me. So I want to explore it. For myself #especially in such a terrible situation like this #BB!Puddleshine #obsessed with all of these children making big choices for their Clan and the way it's going to make them turn on their IDEAS #They were right. They were right to be mad at what they were mad at #But it was a bad actor who ruined it.#If I have to deal with a born-evil foreigner in BB. Then I'll lean into it. I'll reveal he wasn't such an outsider after all.#And I'll show that the xenophobic backlash was the WORST possible route for all of these cats to take #and yet... they do. They attack the one thing they felt they had control over #When the truth is that it wasn't their fault.#BB!Rowanstar #Better Bones AU #BB!AVOS #Their biggest mistake was being mislead. I hope Puddsy realizes that when he looks at Shadowpaw #Kindness for himself through kindness for another.

99 notes · View notes

snudartchaikovsky · 9 days

Text

YAMI WITH HAIR DOWN >>

#KINDA EMBARASSING BUT I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO ADD HIS FACIAL HAIR UNTIL AFTER I FINISHED THE LIGHTING AND EVEYRTHING #SO IF IT LOOKS WEIRD THAT'S WHY #BUT HONESLTY THIS WAS SO FUN TO COLOR #ESPECIALLY THE HAIR I REALLY LIKE HWO IT APPEARS PURPLE #THIS WAS DONE DURING MY STUDYINF ARC BUT IT NOW WILL REVEAL ITSELF #BLACK CLOVER #BLACK CLOVER FANART #YAMI SUKEHIRO #MU ARY

40 notes · View notes

fandoms-and-salt · 10 months

Text

The main problem with Ruby gillman movie is that it sends a message that "bigotry is actually justified and your racist grandparents are right". The second, closely related problem is it's villain.

Firstly, if we look at the film without the spoiler-y marketing, Chelsea/Neressa is written as a twist villain. Like Hans Frozen type twist villain, with little foreshadowing and those "sympathetic" scenes that actually don't amount to anything and might just as well be a lie. Even with the marketing, i think the movie still tricked people into thinking that Chelsea might be a misunderstood villain or have a redemption arc or what not. And twist villains could work well, usually if their turn to villainy makes sense with their preestablished goals and personality (eg. Disney's Atlantis). Or a liar villain could work well if the audience knows of their malicious plans, but the heroes stay in the dark (eg. Scar from Lion King). In general, if the twist or reveal makes the story/conflict less interesting and/or didn't have proper foreshadowing, viewers are bound to dislike it.

Secondly, Chelsea is our only mermaid. And she is, well, evil. It would have been better if we had other good mermaid characters, but she is the only one, which, coupled with Gramamah's generous description of mermaids, makes it seem like all mermaids are as evil as she is.

Thirdly, yes, stories for young children about pure good fighting pure evil are generally fine, it teaches them right and wrong, so they can later consume media with more complex lessons. But in those stories the good guys are usually the underdogs fighting an oppressive evil. In mermaid vs kraken conflict, it's actually mermaids who are at a disadvantage. Krakens are big rulers ("protectors") of the ocean with superpowers. The characters themselves admit that Granmamah is a warlord. Mermaids are small, weak and need a magic trident to even match the power of krakens. Their only "advantage" is being popular with humans, while krakens are feared and hated, but humans have no effect on the story or the conflict. If the story was that mermaids are actually more powerful rulers of the ocean, or the kraken family were the just rules but got conquered/overthrown by evil mermaids, or if both species were of equal power ruling their own parts of the ocean and mermaids decided to go and conquer the peaceful kraken kingdom. Then the good vs evil conflict would have looked less like "how dare these evil inferior minorities challenge the rule of our superior race".

Speaking of which. Ruby's first instinct, even after finding out that "mermaids are actually evil" from her granma, is to judge Chelsea as her own person and assume that mermaids can't be actually evil. Which is, you know, a pretty fair and mature response. When she hears that mermaids suffer from terrible conditions, she actively tries to fight what she sees as injustice. But what lesson does she learn? That she should never question her elders, since they do know better. The story is fighting for the status quo to stay the same, while Ruby is punished to trying to change and improve it.

That's all i can say for now. Other complaints i have are:

humans are virtually useless to the story (including the love interest, tho he had some cute moments), they are just damsels-in-distress and trophies for Ruby to save and get approval from. This movie just as well could happen all under the sea with some minor tweaks.

The human designs are weird and uncanny. Otherwise the visuals are fine.

Ruby's arc is kind of all over the place with her main arc being the classic "believe in yourself", which she mainly gains through hanging out with Chelsea. But isn't Chelsea supposed to be the villain who "leads Ruby astray" from being a good citizen who is not skipping school, lying to her mom or ignoring her friends and crush? Make it make sense, movie.

#for the record i don't really care for Chelsea/Ruby ship (especially after that reveal)#or Chelsea having a “misunderstood mean girl” redemption arc that fandoms obsess over for some reason #sapphic fishgirls would be nice but i care about a good story more #damn that's a long post #ruby gillman teenage kraken #chelsea van der zee #ruby gillman critical #i guess #lovin rambles

151 notes · View notes

ineed-to-sleep · 9 months

Text

I'm watching Berserk and I may or may not have hyped myself up to turn my vampire ocs into dark fantasy characters. mmaybe

#sketch tag #so uh. pepper is kind of a guts basically jdjgkckkc #they're both in an army and they butt heads a lot bc pepper is big and stronk but very impulsive and reckless #but there's no griffith situation or anything like that it's just that vince worries abt her #and he's way more restrained as a fighter and a strategist. maybe a commander or second in command #and just like in vtm he's very paranoid and afraid of change. so he worries abt her and is also unhappy in the army but too scared to leave #so he broods a lot and mopes around and gets on her ass abt her recklessness #and just like in vtm pepper is impulsive and has a lot of pent up frustration and she uses the battlefield to release all of it #sometimes overexerting herself and nearly getting herself killed #she also wants to leave bc she's not sure she believes in what they're fighting for anymore. but then she loses her coping mechanism #things change when they have an argument where he reveals he cares abt her sjfjjfkf YES very cliche I am thriving #and she's dismissive at first but after being alone for a bit his words start sinking in #and when they're on a battlefield again there's a moment where they have to retreat and she's about to absolutely not listen to that #but then she has a change of heart bc she remembers what he said + she cares abt him too so she doesn't want him to be hurt by her actions #neither by him getting worried nor trying to come to her aid and putting his life at risk #so she retreats #and he's very happy abt that he thanks her later for what she did #and then she's like yeah sure I guess I didn't die but also guess what. I'm bored #everything she wanted to release back there she just didn't. so she's still frustrated and especially bc she had to admit defeat #and she's an extremely proud person. she's irritated #and he's like aight. I'm gonna fight you then #and she's like what. and he's like yeah #so he picks up a sword and throws another one to her and there's a *sexual tension play-fight* hell yeah babey #I'm having sm fun w this au can you tell jejfjckckkc #eventually they do desert the army they're in bc things get worse and pepper decides she no longer wants to be a part of it #and in a fight or flight moment she pushes vincent to make a decision and he leaves with her #and like the story is only getting started there bc then there'll be some big misteries in the story they're gonna uncover #which. I haven't figured out what they are yet #but either way akhhdskfha I'm having a lot of fun w this #sleep.txt

113 notes · View notes

spacedace · 1 year

Text

WAIT I JUST HAD ANOTHER THOUGHT FOR THE DISASTER MEET THE INLAWS DINNER:

okay context: so in this AU, Danny and Dan are the only ones who don't know the batfam secret. Jazz figured it out when they first moved in next door to Jason. Damian told Elle after she trusted him with the truth about being a halfa. Elle didn't tell anyone else since it was a secret Damian trusted her with, while Jazz & Jason assumed that everyone else in the Nightingale family knew and never really brought it up.

It just completely sailed over Dan & Danny's heads. Even though part of the deal the family worked out with the Spirit of Gotham is to help protect her Bats and Birds (that's why Dan ended up in Bludhaven, to help keep Nightwing safe) and they regularly (secretly) follow the batfam around during patrols and fights to help make sure nothing bad happens to them.

Which brings us to the disaster dinner where, after things have almost calmed down from the chaos and embarrassment of Elle and Damian's power point & movie, everyone is actually almost getting along. Turns out, getting horribly roasted by the two gremlins helped break the ice a bit. It's kinda hard for the Bats to hold on to as much of the suspicion for the Nightingales as before when they just watched a supercut of everyone’s most embarrassing moments from the past five years with color commentary from the Chaos Duo.

Which is to say Danny is feeling comfortable enough - with some edging on by Elle - to reveal his conspiracy theory about who Batman is, to Bruce.

Just looks Bruce straight in the eye and with his whole heart and soul asks, "So, like you're for sure Batman's sugar daddy right?" -

Tagging for those who asked: @screamingtofillthevoid @stargirl1331 @mnemovoid @malice-of-the-sunrise @bathildaburp @autumnwulf @revnantdpxdclover @coruscateselene @writer-extraodinaire @idfk-man10 @fluffen-spooky @frostedthroughghost @akikkobara @unadulteratedsoulsweets @phoenixdemonqueen @overlycaffeinatedsuperwholockfan @gin2212 @emotional-otter @lexdamo @dixiwoods @wildbacon @ashleysmshly @that-random-fangirl @satanicrutialspecialist @lazy-bouqet @treepainting @busterkeel @gin2212 @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit @jaggedheart11 @introvert-even-on-the-internet

#dp x dc #dc x dp #batman #danny phantom #gotham's favorite psychiatrist jazz au #batfam #danny fenton #dan fenton #danielle fenton #dani fenton #jazz fenton #damian wayne #several miles away Clark fully just falls out of the sky laughing and nearly breaks his phone trying to text Diana what he just heard #when everything is revealed Dan argues that there's no way Dick can be Nightwing because Nightwing is taller #Dick realizes he may be a moronsexual after that #Jason: I fully came home wearing my Red Hood gear two months ago you SAW me take my helmet off #Danny: I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A REALLY GOOD COSPLAY #If Sam & Tucker find out Danny knows they'll never let him live it down #especially not after all the hours of agonizing over his dual crushes on both Red Robin & Tim #Damian was filming the entire interaction for the purpose of it being the opener of their next embarrass the family movie event #He and Elle have decided to make it a tradition out of utterly roasting their collective family #Dan & Danny proceed to then give an impromptu ted talk on all the reasons they think batman is fucking ever rich guy in gotham for money #Jazz contemplates if murdering her brothers or faking going into labor will be the better option to get her out of this hell #Jason is having the time of his life

397 notes · View notes