Tumgik
#might add more details and their designs later
monarchamos · 7 months
Note
I know nothing about ur pokemon au tell me about Chuuyas team pls- i wanna know the poke-parallels between his team and Dazais
Ah!!! i'm glad you asked!!! :D
In this AU, Dazai is the strongest of Yokohama's Gym Leaders. He specializes in Ghost types! His team consists of a Dragapult, a houndstone, a spiritomb, a froslass, a mimikyu, and a lampent! here's so fun(debatable) facts about his team!
he used to be an admin for the Port Mafia, so he still has like. a big fat kill count. So that's where the Spiritomb comes from. yeah.
Dragapult is usually the one dragging dazai out of his attempts. It's been with him since even before Dazai joined the mafia, so it's his signature pokemon
His mimikyu likes playing with children. Dazai often leaves it with Kyouka and Kenji to play with whenever the gym leaders get together
Dazai found Lampent when he visited Lupin after Oda's death. It was hanging around the alleyway, and he decided to catch it.
froslass is always freezing him. yk like james in the pokemon anime with all of his pokemon. bc he's pathetic like that. Dazai caught froslass on a mission with Kunikida, shortly after becoming a Gym Leader. (yes this froslass is the nightmare of all of his challengers).
Chuuya tried so hard to convince Dazai to catch a Greavard. Dazai eventually relented, but only because he could name it chibi. eventually he got actually attached to it and evolved it to Houndstone
Chuuya, on the other hand, is still an admin for the Port Mafia
His team consists of flying types. This is because, as his brother Verlaine is French from Kalos, got Chuuya super into sky battles. he prefers sky battles, but he's obviously just as formidable in normal battles. In Chuuya's team he has a corviknight, a skarmory, a honchkrow, a mismagius, a talonflame, and an oricorio (sensu style)
Honchkrow is his signature pokemon! it's been with him since he was in the Sheep
the oricorio, believe it or not, is actually from Kouyou and not Dazai, despite the ghost typing. its usually the pokemon to drag chuuya away when he's overworking himself.
the talonflame was gift from Verlaine! yk. as an apology. for killing the flags. Chuuya raised it from an egg. Verlaine battles with it every once in a while to see how it's doing. the battle's just an excuse to spend time with his little brother though
Corviknight was a gift from Adam as well.
Mismagius used to be Dazai's, but he left Chuuya its pokeball when he left the mafia so its his now :P
Chuuya had to add skarmory to his team during the DHC but ended up bonding with it and now its a staple in his team
Back when they were in the mafia, soukoku were often paired up for double battles on missions.
21 notes · View notes
venterry · 2 years
Text
growing more interested in joining artfight this year but i need!!!! to finish character profiles i need to draw
10 notes · View notes
mewmew-dream · 3 months
Text
Tumblr media
uh, is it too late to make slay the princess long quiet (and narrator) designs..? the voices designs will get designed soon! ((narrator design is basically a spoiler for those who haven't seen or played to the end of the game so beware!)) theres more info for the design and the narrator's design below along with the full image!! - - - took me so long to actually start drawing out my design tbh! mostly a mix of procrastination and other things honestly!. anyways! you may notice how my design differs from what others designed the long quiet as and the official vague renderings of him! this is very much on purpose if you couldnt tell as there is an explanation for this. - (sorry in advanced for the very odd and choppy explanation, im not very good at explaining things so i'll probably draw what i mean later to compensate) - the long quiet in the first loop(s) looks like this, but with each new part to that specific loop he'll start transforming, looking more bird like (like what we have to go off of from art from the game) each time. this also happens in the void area! (i know its called the long quiet also but i call it the void.) the design was my first idea of the game before getting the game and knowing what happened but i kept the design, just not the reason on why he looks like this! basically my thought process on this before was basically " guy who was sketchy to begin with got cursed? cool! but he has to slay a princess due to him being an outcast and his curse? better!! " it doesnt hold up when you know what happened / happens in the end though but yeah.
Tumblr media
the narrator is based off what we get from the mirror when the player obtains 5 vessels for the shifting mound, except with all seeing eyes i guess.. he stays near the long quiet to observe in each loop yet out of sight. of course his voice is in the long quiets head so distance isnt accounted for when he's talking! he of course can see the voices as well with those big ol' eyes.
Tumblr media
aaand heres the full image! shoutout to anyone who can see the very visible but suppose to be hidden details! (they where very last minute..) also ignore the odd neck feathers, i was gonna add more to the chest but forgot up until now but i might fix it later!!
378 notes · View notes
godbirdart · 8 months
Note
Looking at your recent commissions, those backgrounds are soo pretty!! Do you have any tips for backgrounds? I always struggle with them :>
aAA many many thanks!!
backgrounds can absolutely be a struggle but they don't have to be! they just require a little more creative planning~!
whether it be a commission or a personal drawing, if I'm building an elaborate art piece i focus on establishing the background First.
the background is the stage for your character! planning the background first will make it easier to tailor the character's actions and how they interact with the environment around them.
planning the background first can be the difference between your character standing awkwardly front and center with the setting going on behind them, or actually participating in their environment.
Tumblr media
if i'm super stumped for background ideas, i browse stock image sites to get inspiration. sometimes it helps to doodle on an image to generate some ideas - kinda like you're playing with JPEGs like dolls.
that said - while i'm pinpointing WHAT i want to draw, i keep the ideas loose. i don't want to focus on the itty-bitty details until i've got the overall aesthetic and layout in mind, as i might get inspired to add something in later!
Tumblr media
THUMBNAILING
if you're planning a big piece it can be helpful to break it down into something bite-sized before you go all in and start lining or painting. these are "thumbnails" - fast little sketches that establish the scene in a way that doesn't consume a lot of time or effort. it's also great as a little perspective exercise as a treat.
here i decided i want to draw a character walking home in a back alley street. with these photo references in mind, i can plan a layout and how the character will act in the scene. is this a candid shot? are they posing cutely? are they looking down at us in a tense way? there are many ideas to be had!
Tumblr media
after you've chosen the layout / vibe for your idea, you can scale up your thumbnail to your preferred canvas size and start fleshing out the details. be sure to keep referring to your reference images to get additional ideas, such as storefronts, items, props etc!
3D MODELS
If you're trying to create a unique environment that photo references simply cannot help you visualize, 3D models exist! This gives you that ability to rotate / scale things for better visualization. Clip Studio has a vast catalogue of 3D models to download For Free that you can fiddle around with. i know there are many 3D builder sites out there as well, though i've never made use of them so i'm afraid i cannot recommend any off the top of my head. hell, you can even use the Sims game to design a setting and go from there!
also if anyone is going to come into my house and say 3D models are cheating: they are not. using a 3D model to better grasp an angle or get a better idea for perspective is not cheating. using 3D models to help plan the environment in your art is not cheating. they are no different than brushes; these are tools made to HELP YOU. use them!
PERSPECTIVE
perspective and angles can make a HUGE difference in the art piece. there's nothing wrong with static long shots! if that's what you want to draw, do it!! there's no right and wrong here!
but if you're finding your work to be a little robotic and stiff, slap an angle in there. consider an overhead view. these same techniques are applied to photography and film! nothing wrong with wide shots, but every once in a while it can help to throw in a dutch angle.
Tumblr media
if there is one note i'd like to leave off on, it's that your backgrounds do not have to be 100% accurate-to-life to be Good. unless realism is something you're really striving for in your style, don't feel compelled to nitpick every brick and leaf in your art. us artists can tend to over-prune our work until our art looks a little bare and soulless. flaws can give your work character, and that's often a lot more appealing than how accurate the scale ratio between background building A and building B are [again, unless you WANT to go for that realistic look then you can fuss over those details all you like].
i hope this helped a little! MY APOLOGIES FOR MAKING IT SO LONG AH
606 notes · View notes
Note
could you tell me more about spoonflower? i'm interested in uploading my own designs, but i'm not entirely sure how it works or how much it pays. thank you!
Sure! When you first upload your design, it'll look like this.
Tumblr media
The standard DPI for printing on all the fabric sites I've seen is 150, and since I made this pattern at 200 DPI that means Spoonflower will print it bigger than I want it unless I change it here. So I click on the "change DPI" thing, type in "200" and click "change". Sometimes I find it doesn't save, so I always go back later to check and make sure it did save the right DPI.
Tumblr media
(You can avoid this by just changing your image to the right DPI before uploading, but sometimes I want the option to make it a bit bigger, just in case.)
If you want to make multiple sizes of the same pattern available you'll have to upload a different version for each one and change the size individually. For example, I drew my Bathroom Dinosaurs pattern pretty large and at 150 DPI, and left that as is for the big version.
Tumblr media
But I wanted a small version too, so for that one I changed it to 670 pixels per inch so it'd print much smaller.
Tumblr media
You write in the title, tags, and description, and you can put any links to other pages or references in the "Additional Details" section.
Tumblr media
(Leaving links isn't usually necessary, but sometimes it is, like how I wanted to leave a link to the original 1760's teapot for my crinoid fossil pattern.)
At this point, you can order things printed with your design, but nobody else can yet. You have the option to show the design publicly, but I like to keep it private until I've ordered my proofs and can sell it.
Now, to order proofs! DO NOT GET THE CUT SWATCHES!!! They are SO much more expensive than getting a fill-a-yard, because cutting and packaging all the little pieces is a lot of extra labour. Wether you have a few designs, or a lot, just get a fill-a-yard.
To make a fill-a-yard you first need to make a collection. Collections can be either public or private, so I keep a private collection called "new designs to proof", and I put all my new designs in there until I've ordered them. You can also add other people's patterns to a collection, so if you have extra space to fill up or you want little bits of a bunch of other people's patterns for a quilt or something, add whatever you want to your collection.
On the collections page when you hover your mouse over one you'll see a little patchwork symbol show up in the middle along the bottom edge, and you click on that.
Tumblr media
That'll take you here, and you choose a layout and a fabric.
Tumblr media
For some reason the fabric options here are a bit limited and vary depending on the layout. I like to get either the 1 yard/42 designs in cotton poplin, or the 2 yards/48 designs in cotton sateen, but there are plenty more you could try.
I'll click the latter for this example. (The squares in this one are the perfect size for pleated face masks, and I have a few made from mine and my friend's fabrics.)
Tumblr media
Then you just click on a design and click on however many squares/rectangles you want it to fill. It usually takes a few seconds for them to show up.
Tumblr media
You can have just one little sample of each, or you could make half the fabric be one design and fill up the rest with little samples. (That's what I did for my brown monster waistcoat - I printed juuuust enough of a fill-a-yard to cut out a waistcoat from, and the rest was other samples.)
Tumblr media
You can change it around if you want. Once you're happy with it, put it in the cart and buy it!
Tumblr media
I'm not going to order this one since it's an example with designs I've already proofed, but here's what my monster patterns looked like when they arrived.
Tumblr media
Also, I want to point out that you could VERY easily make some really fun pride flags using the fill-a-yard! You might have to have it be only part of the fabric, depending on the number of stripes, but you could make it be any texture or pattern you want. Here's a quick example I did with other people's patterns by searching "(colour) marble texture".
Tumblr media
With only 4 stripes I'd have to fill the rest of the space in with something else and cut it off, but it would still be pretty big! (The edge of that purple stripe looks jagged in the preview, but they print perfectly straight.)
I have not done this, but someone should! Just wash it, trim the blank edges off, hem it, and you've got a flag!
(Don't do this with the 2 yards/4 designs option though, it looks like nice stripes in the thumbnail but it's made for infinity scarves and there's a gap and dotted line down the middle for cutting. Bleh.)
Anyways, once your samples arrive you can make the designs available for sale! If you have any changes you'd like to make, to the size it prints at or the pattern itself, you can make them now.
I found the small version of the Bathroom Dinosaurs print was too small when I first got my proofs, so I just reduced the DPI a bit.
And you can replace the image with a new, edited version by clicking "upload revision".
Tumblr media
So when my brown coffin pattern printed really washed out and grey, I replaced it with a more saturated version and was good to go, no need to order another proof.
Down at the bottom of the design editing page you can now click on the options to list it publicly, and to sell it on fabric and/or wallpaper. I make all of them available on fabric, and some on wallpaper if I deem them to be appropriately large.
Tumblr media
They'll pay you 10% of the sales price of the fabric, or slightly more if you sell over a certain amount in a month. There's a whole page of questions and answers about it.
Tumblr media
You also get a 10% discount if you order fabrics with your own designs. (Although, personally, if I'm ordering my own designs on fabrics for me then I'd prefer to get them from somewhere like ArtFabrics, since they use reactive dyes instead of inks, so their blacks actually print black and don't make the fabric stiffer like Spoonflower's do. And also because they're here in Canada so there's less shipping cost. Sadly they don't have an option to sell your designs though.)
Spoonflower also has weekly design contests which are announced a few weeks in advance and have pretty big store credit prizes (the first place one is 200 USD), and I've entered a few times, but I don't vote often because Spoonflower is such a huge site that there are frequently over a thousand entries and it's really time consuming to scroll through them all.
Ok, that's everything I can think of! I also put all my patterns on sone things on Redbubble, since they have options for repeating patterns on some things.
2K notes · View notes
moiraimyths · 1 month
Text
Tumblr media
Howdy, fateful friends! Are you an artist or illustrator with an interest in visual novels?
If so: Moirai Myths, creators of the visual novel The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe), are in need of guest artists! More specifically, we're looking for up to two artists to help us with the content graphics ("CGs") for Maeve and Shae's upcoming routes. All of the details will be listed on our application form (linked below), but here is the gist:
This is paid work with 20-30 business day deadlines per piece!
Complicated revisions in the post-sketch phase are compensated!
You will be prioritized for future guest artist opportunities!
You will be featured/credited on Moirai Myths' website and in the game itself!
Sound interesting? If so, apply here:
Click under the cut for some F&Q 👇
Who are you? (I'm new here!)
Hi! We're Moirai Myths: a small, newish visual novel company based out of Canada. We're making a game inspired by mostly Irish mythology, which was funded on Kickstarter in 2023! Our game's got fairy politics, a diverse cast, a Gaeilge-to-English translation tool, and routes that can be played either romantically or platonically! Also horses. An ungodly amount of horses, really.
If that odd pitch sounded intriguing, perhaps you'd like to play our demo! It's free on Steam & Itch.io.
Why are you looking for guest artists?
When we originally launched our Kickstarter, the plan was to have our three in-house artists collaborate on the CGs in the same way our header image was. However, we quickly realized that adding CGs, even if they're done collaboratively, onto the existing duties of our artists was a tall order. Add to that the departure of our original sprite artist (who has since been replaced by our graphic designer), and we determined that having our in-house team work on CGs was simply not possible if we still wanted our first release to happen in 2024. So, rather than omitting CGs or adding them in at a later time, we came up with the idea of hiring guest artists. Overall this means our CGs will be a bit more varied in terms of art style, but we like to think of this as a positive! NDM's development will take a number of years to complete in full, so we hope our CGs will allow us to feature a lot of artists either within the VN/indie dev community already, or artists who aspire to work in gaming and are looking for entry positions.
How long will applications remain open for?
This application will be open until Sunday, March 24 at midnight (EST)! If we intend to extend past that deadline, we'll make an announcement about it.
I can't apply right now. Will you look for more CG guest artists in the future?
Definitely! As mentioned, NDM will take a while to develop in full, so this is by no means your only opportunity to apply. That being said, we suspect we're going to end up shortlisting a number of artists over the course of this application period, and we intend to keep a list of all the runners-up. So, even if you won't be able to participate this time, it might be a good idea to apply anyway just to remain in our contacts! Either way, this will not be the last time we have apps.
Will you be looking for guest artists outside of CGs?
Maybe! We already have two guest artists (Nefukurou and Madi Funk) working on sprites and CGs respectively, so it's always possible that we'll have other artistic needs later down the line. Likewise, we may also reach out to past guest artists for future work with us, whether it's on this game or something else!
You say we need to sign an NDA. What does that entail?
The non-disclosure agreement essentially means you will be legally unable to publicly disclose any confidential information you become privy to as a result of working with us. This would include personal information about the developers, as well as spoilers from the game itself. In addition do this, you will be expected to sign over the IP and copyright of any artworks you produce for us.
Can I still use my artworks in portfolios, even if I don't own the copyright?
Yes! We'd only ask, if your portfolio is a website, that you wait to do so until after your art has been made public by us, either on our social media or via the publication of the game. Our first release is anticipated to happen later this year, most likely mid-autumn.
How do you guys feel about AI? Do you intend to use it, or would you ever train an AI off of the artworks whose copyright you own?
No.
Making a game is expensive and time-consuming, but AI is no replacement for human artistry. We fundamentally believe that any advancements in AI should be used for the purpose of giving people more time to make art, not take away opportunities for it. Moirai Myths will never, ever use AI or train an AI off your work.
***
If you've got any more questions for us that we didn't think to include here, feel free to send us an ask!
187 notes · View notes
artastic-friend · 5 months
Text
Some things I love about DJ’s sound design and animations in Help Wanted 2:
Every time he makes a bigger movement that requires shifting of its weight you can HEAR IT- It creaks and you can hear hydraulics inside of him WHICH BTW IS SO COOL IN SO MANY WAYS BC (tangent): it makes sense as to why he needs hydraulics being so huge and heavy, but also because the way real spiders extend their legs is like a natural form of hydraulics!! They pump their hemolymph(basically bug blood) into their legs which then allow those legs to be filled with more pressure that causes them to extend! This is why a dead or near-death spider’s legs go into the curled position (the death curl) :(
The sTOMPS I always loved the stomps even in base sb but there is just something so cool about hearing them around you as he is so close!!! It all just adds to the feeling of his weight and size 😫
HIS GROWLING?? AND MORE ANIMAL-LIKE SOUNDS??? In the past we would hear a little bit of it when he was sleeping in SB, but now we hear more examples of it and just like- closer and more noticeably 😳 it’s almost like you can hear it breathing at times and it is so cool and uncanny in the best ways :D
Ok the SNAP?!? The way he snaps his fingers and the sound reverberates all around you?!? And the way the light ring of the outside of his tunnel turns on at the same time??? I don’t really think that DJ is actually producing the snap sound from the snap alone, as with the synthetic materials its gloves are made of probably can’t produce that crisp of a sound, BUT THAT JUST MEANS THAT HE MAKES THE SOUND HIMSELF WITH ITS SPEAKERS OR SOMETHING AND SO HE’S DOING IT 100% FOR STYLE POINTS AND I LOVE THAT FOR HIM
The sound of its teeth clanking together to the beat of the music, that’s just a neat feature I like very much
Ok movements now, THE WAY HE SWAYS HIS HIPS(?) TO THE MUSIC!?! especially when it is doing that little happy dance of his or pointing at the player when it’s their turn to play. I LOVE THAT LITTLE DANCE IT’S SO CUTE
Ok the way he leans in reaaal close before settling back? He’s probably just doing it as it shifts its balance to lean back, but like, I wanna believe he’s also sorta doing it on purpose a little 🤭
Speaking of which, the movements for him going from leaning towards you to shifting his weight back and getting into that badass cross-armed pose?!!? Love it 😭 I love it sm- once again, the recoil and the followthrough of his movements just emphasize its size and weight so well I am just obsessed
OH AND HIS LITTLE FINGER TAPS WITH HIS MIDDLE RIGHT ARM THAT’S ON THE FLOOR?!? It’s a smaller detail but I am so glad they included it because it’s just so neat!?! I don’t know how to explain why I like it but it is so neat and adds to his vibe so well
OK I JUST NOTICED THIS BUT WHEN IT IS DOING THAT LITTLE DANCE AND POINTING AT YOU WHEN YOU GOT EVERYTHING RIGHT: he like, Bops his head a little and with each head bop his headphones bounce a little as well!! Idk why that is just such a neat little detail to me!
Ok this one I probably should have mentioned sooner since it’s one of the first things it does but the way it climbs out of the tunnel and grabs the sides like that with his middle set of arms? 😫😫✨ Idk what to tell y’all but that is the most attractive shit I’ve seen!!! Y’all need to step up your game if you wanna be like him XD /j
His head tilts. Need I say more? They’re adorable.
THE JUMPSCARE??!?? Dude I know it’s probably meant to look like he’s coming in to bite/eat you or something??? But to me and my DJ-Simp corrupted brain it just looks like we’re boutta make out 😁😁😁
OK THAT’S ALL I GOT FOR RIGHT NOW, but I might possibly add to this later???? If I notice anything else that stands out to me.
220 notes · View notes
nerdranttheories · 9 months
Text
Okay I’m going to geek out about Toshinori’s costume designs because I’m an English major and analyzing tiny details in text is what we do and also I love??? The designs! And each one tells us so much about All Might and his focus during each costume.
Costume 1 (Young Might):
Tumblr media
So first off, despite young All Might’s longtime dream of being a hero, his suit is mostly black. A stark difference from comics books and his later self which tend to be bright primary colors. The few dashes of primary colors he has are desaturated, even in the second instance where we see this costume. This would have likely been the only costume Toshinori designed himself, as David became his designer in college.
Obviously, others have pointed out the similarities to Nana’s suit, just like how Izuku copied AM’s, so I don’t think it will be necessary for me to point that out. But this suit is also very practical. Something the flashy All Might isn’t really known for, but let me point the details out. He has boots, gauntlets, as well as what appears to be protection for his upper torso, and even for his neck. A decent balance between more protection and more weight, which would slow a hero down. Also, unlike Nana’s suit, his extends completely down the arms. The only skin surface available is that of his hands, something that stays the same through all of his costumes and as such, must be something he personally insists on. In media, gloves often represent someone with secrets, or a guarded personality. All Might not wearing gloves shows how open he is, not just with his friends but strangers too. And it’s humble, too. It’s not an unfeeling, covered hand extending to you when you’re in danger, it’s the bare-handed reach of a friend, and I fully believe that’s why Toshi goes without gloves. Also it’s possibly a sensory thing for him as well, which goes with my canon-supported theory that this man has ADHD, but that’s a nerd rant for another time.
The colors are important because while obviously they mimic Nana, you can practically see through the color choice that Toshinori is not in his right mindset here. While later the oversaturation of colors serves to show how his own heroism has made him into something Else, and outside of his own head, leaving the man inside to shrivel away, these muted colors show that Toshinori has not yet blossomed. Also in the brief scenes we see of him when he is younger, Toshinori is very solemn. The one scene we get of him smiling when he’s young is when Izuku is comparing them at the same age, and even then, it’s more of a smirk as opposed to the signature All Might grin we all know and love. Black also is just a reasonable color for something like crime-fighting. Black shows the least grime/dirt, so he could reasonably spend more hours out in this costume without having to come home and wash it/trade it out. (Which is something that I love that this series includes, by the way!)
Costume 2-ish:
Tumblr media
Toshinori adds some shoulder pads for the fight with AFO, probably expecting to stand side-by-side with his mentor. I could give a more full-body image but this is really the only difference I could pick out.
Costume 3 (College Might):
Tumblr media
This is the first costume of All Might’s that is designed by David Shield.
First off, props to David. He’s an awesome designer. He not only made a new design, but incorporated several choices from AM’s previous suit, and definitely conferred a lot with Toshi on how he wanted his suit to look while still ensuring its functionality.
Black is traded for a dark, unsaturated blue, giving AM a more peaceful look, as navy blue is considered to be a calming color. (Even Endeavor wears it! But maybe copying AM and not wearing it for the same purposes?) All Might’s cape is also changed from red to blue, taking away the dark look and making it the color of the sky, again adding to that Symbol of Peace idea that is Toshinori’s dream. The gauntlets and boots remain, but the chest-piece has been removed, offering up more mobility. The yellow of his belt has been brightened, and added in place of the blues on his gauntlets and boots, giving him an overall more friendly look as opposed to the more subdued one he had before with the blue accents. The red has been removed as well, and by moving it to his body, it gives the impression of veins and the blood that is pumping away through the heart of this hero, which is fantastic for someone who cares as much as Toshinori does. White was also added vertically on the sides of the suit, thinning out the very intimidating form of Toshi and making him more approachable, while adding a more pure look to his overall form. This appears to be in part, a stylistic choice on David’s end that follows through to the other suits, though it’s hard to know if it remains on the Bronze Age Suit as well.
Overall the brighter colors telegraph that Toshinori is doing much better mentally at this point. He now has A Friend, and for the time being, is safer from the troubles at home, until he has to return.
Costume 4 (Bronze Age):
Tumblr media
We don’t even get a full look at this suit, indicating that its time in use was likely short-lived. As I’ve seen others suggest, it seems very likely that when All Might returned to Japan, he went straight down to business and began doing vigilante work as he tried to track down AFO. However, possibly due to a combination of not finding him and All Might’s rising popularity, he seems to abandon this track and move on to a different form of heroism, which his suit symbolizes. I’ll briefly point out that Toshinori returns to the primarily black suit he had as a teenager, as well as the shadows of his face that add to the idea that as soon as he got back to Japan, he reverted to the mindset he had when he left.
Costume 5 (Silver Age):
Tumblr media
This suit indicates to me that this period was All Might’s prime, despite his later suit being considered the Golden Age of All Might. (And even though it’s my least-favorite design.) He has the typical cape of a hero, and the bright colors are now fully of typical comic book style. The circular design on his chest indicates a target, but with being cast in white and surrounded in red, gives the impression that he himself is not the target, but the villainy around him is. Or at least, that is likely the thought process for this design. Other than the dashes of white here and there, the colors are very solid, possibly indicating a more stable, but single-minded train of thought, something AM is notorious for. No offense to Dr. Shield, but I would have mixed the colors better in here, and the cape connection is too bulky for someone who’s as jacked in the shoulders as Toshinori is. Alas, I am not the designer. We shall move on.
Costume 6 (Golden Age):
Tumblr media
I love this suit. Plenty of analysis has been done on it already, but I think it’s a fantastic representation of how Toshinori’s been crushed under the very image he had originally wanted to create. His shadows are darkest and most severe here, reminiscent of how body-builders dehydrate themselves to get the best appearance of their musculature. His posing is also more inward, as opposed to the silver age, with the angles of his elbows being less directly out and more in, and instead of appearing confident, it’s more of how a cat puffs out its hair to make itself appear larger when it’s scared. I had a long bit to go with this but it was eaten by the Tumblr gremlins. Basically I believe this suit was made post AFO-battle. All Might is declaring he’s not finished yet, all while knowing his time is running out. This suit has several callbacks to the original suit David designed for him, with the navy, though more saturated base and the red lines running throughout the form, though the gauntlets and boots from before have been integrated into the suit itself. This could reflect David’s mindset as well, as he reminisces about the days when Toshinori was healthy and happy, when now Toshinori’s health is rapidly fading.
Anyway, here’s my costume analysis! I think it adds a little more insight to Toshinori’s mental state and situations in the years outside of the show as well as in them, and I hope you enjoyed this read! I’d love to hear other ideas too, if anyone has them!
436 notes · View notes
Note
You put a lot small visual elements and details in that I never seem to notice on my first read, and it always makes rereading exciting. What’s a detail from the comic that nobody ever seemed to notice? I’m sure there are things that nobody has mentioned, especially from the early chapters, that you’d want to talk about
Oh man.........that's a great question.
The thing is, there are a lot of details that people don't pick up, but there are definitely eagle-eyed readers that also do! There are also details which most didn't pick up until someone posted about it, and now everyone knows!
There are also details which are actually... yet to be revealed as relevant! That's a secret tool that'll help us later. :)
But most of it is plot relevant decisions I make which make the story more full, but are not necessarily NECESSARY for full enjoyment.
For example, in the very first comic, when Earl approaches Steven....
Tumblr media
Her eye isn't white! That was a fully deliberate decision. She didn't actually approach Steven because he wanted her to. That was a decision she made on her own!
Most of the white eye shenanigans in Season 1 were deliberate, albeit not very explicit. I suppose that worked out okay, though. Plus, many people DID catch on!
Also, this part in the Kindergarten comic:
Tumblr media
...which people assumed was a power separate from everything, is actually just the first instance of Steven's Command power. The thing is, I hadn't settled into how to portray it at the time, and also - the gem is Corrupted! It doesn't respond to Steven's commands the same way normal gems do. I planned to explore that earlier initially, but in the end, decided to tie it into much later plot.
In Season 1, EP 38, Steven asks Earl to write her name.... and she does! But in gem, not English, because she doesn't know how to write in English.
Tumblr media
She designates herself as White Pearl, putting the dash over the top diamond. It was at the time when she was still anxious about making Steven - White Diamond - angry with her.
And to add to the eye thing - during the Season finale of Season 2, when Steven wondered if Earl only came to see him because he forced her to - the comic where she finds him in the water proves otherwise!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Immediately when she grabs him and swims up, her eyes aren't white! She's doing it of her own accord.
Also, in Season 3's opening, when Rose is angry at what she THINKS is White Diamond, she almost has a slip of the tongue when talking about the past.
Tumblr media
There's a very pointed reason that panel of Earl is right there next to Rose's cut-off 'My...'
Also, when Rose leaves Steven in the Containment Sphere - the Baby Jail Bubble - she unlocks it to leave, and you can pretty clearly see an interesting detail.
Tumblr media
(which Steven, of course, doesn't notice.)
There's also a bit of a narrative tongue in cheek line-up which is accidental on Steven's part but still rings true:
Tumblr media
(TVTropes editors caught this one! Hey TVTrope editors!)
Also, this very famous Seaglass foreshadowing:
Tumblr media
The first instance of Steven connecting to tech was in the beginning of this season!
Tumblr media
When Steven has a bad dream after fusing with Earl and forming Bleached Coral, there's a hidden detail in this reflective text from Nightmare Rose:
Tumblr media
(It might be easier to read if you mirror-flip it.)
Another fun thing I enjoyed doing before I got busy with other stuff is gem language! Earl writes Steven notes in it to help him learn, and now signs with her English name,
Tumblr media
In the Cluster Experiments comic, if you look at the panels before stuff starts to Happen, you can find a few Experiments hiding in the background. :)
Tumblr media
In Amethyst's room, there is a Japanese stopsign and a d20 in the background.
Tumblr media
In episode 25 of season 4, Steven is playing Moonlight Sonata!
Tumblr media
In episode 33, the ship Steven connects to displays a bisection of the earth which showcases its lumpy core! Or rather, the megastructures that are hidden deep inside the mantle.
Tumblr media
It also showcases a few geothermal coring sites made during the colonization.
And by the way, the drill Pearl built was actually a repurposed ship hull which was used for the Space Race ship in the original show!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
And man there are actually... many more! But I had to skip over them because they are alluding to things which have not yet been explicitly revealed! :D
But even with this, I'm sure there are other ones I'm missing. If you think you have one that should be listed - throw it on a reblog or in the comments!
514 notes · View notes
sunshiinebeetleart · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
getting gilly with it (establishing my gillion design, might add more details to the clothes later on)
IDs in alt text
Tumblr media
162 notes · View notes
nostraightheadcanons · 2 months
Note
What would a Genre Swap between DJ Subatomic Supernova and SAYU be like?
Tumblr media
Introducing D33P S3A and SGR! The genre swaps between Sayu & DJ Subatomic Supernova!
Co designed and drawn By Mod R and Mod Nine We came up with a few things regarding them both! Read below because it gets a bit lengthy
SGR:
- Sayu is no longer a virtual mermaid but a runaway alien from a planet far out of the Milky Way, she crashed landed onto the outskirts of vinyl city in her escape pod where a group of teens found her during their annual stargazing trip. (the sayu crew!) they found a mysterious lump of brightly coloured pink and blue goo inside this mysterious pod and when Tila was the first to open the hatch the goo formed to resemble someone like her. (The hair, the baggy clothes etc) The only sounds she could make at the time were her own alien language and the word Pi. The crew later named her Pisces taking inspo from the constellation - The SGR crew run a radio station that focuses on space exploration and are a Nu Disco band named SGR. (Which means Soft Gamma ray but later was changed to Star Girl Radio) The crew end up housing Pisces and try and hide the fact they have a literal wanted alien with them. She soon turns into their mascot and the lead singer for their band. Tila taught her to sing and they both sing lead. Whilst Dodo / Sofa / Remi add their own respective styles to the music. So their music is a whole mix of flavours that culminate into one groovy intergalactic disco. They’re the charters of Cast Tech; They only found out Pisces could groove once she was messing with the turntables in their studio and her goo like hands got stuck on some records on the deck. Cue impromptu groove session - The SGR crew have a way more prominent roll and influence here; They help make Cast Tech into a hub for citizens that a bit more out of this world that they let on. If you get my drift. - Personality wise she’s more than she lets on; though bubbly and curious about this new found world around her she’s actually pretty smart and strategic. She’s helping SGR build new tech and devices and is low-key their mechanic at times. Being an alien has its advantages when it comes to tech. Although music is a new addition she isn’t familiar with. She’s a bit quirky, loud and kind of out there but she means well - Mod Nine
D33P S3A: - Personality wise he still follows the canon djss arrogance. In this version D33p S3a might be more ignorant than arrogant, caring about himself and his work more than being better. Ignoring a lot that doesnt benefit or impact himself directly. This would also explain why he is the last on the leaderboard and not caring about it. - He will boast about sea and it's creatures, calling bbj amoebas and plankton's on many instances. Instead of space manipulation, he is capable of manipulating water. The ability to change size still retains and is using it in the boss battle through the phases, just like djss. - His battle goes from the shore where you meet him up into deep deep waters. In each and every phase the background gets darker and harder to beat, up until the final phase where everything seems to be almost pitch dark, safe for some visuals to fight. D33p s3as jacket seems to be have some glowing details, putting him into the spotlight. (It also seems to be reversible and have webbed hands) - His occupation is marine biologist, a well known and respected one. He spent majority of his life learning about sea. His occupation as an artist was just a side hobby, that gotten out of hand and landed him in this position. He uses the status that came with it to fund his research - Mod R
65 notes · View notes
fiepige · 8 months
Text
My concept for Venom!Hobie
Okay here goes
DISCLAIMER: I CANNOT DRAW
I've made another post where I mentioned it as well but I'll reiterate it here:
I don't think Hobie would ever canonically accept a symbiote due to his history with them and how they're used in his universe.
Now with that out of the way let's speculate!
Tumblr media
This is my concept sketch for Venom!Hobie
Before I go into details about the design and the possible way he would work in universe:
I wanna give the world's BIGGEST shoutout to @levionok for being the coolest person ever and actually make some AMAZING drawings of Venom!Hobie:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
(Like how cool is this!?!?!!! I love these so much!! aaaaahhhhhhhhh<3 <3<3)
Okay so, first I wanna talk about his design and then I wanna speculate about the most "realistic" ways I think Venom!Hobie could come into existence/what his personality would be like.
Design:
I wanted the symbiote to exaggerate some of Hobie's physical features so I kinda went with the idea of Venom!Hobie being even lankier and spikier than regular Hobie/Spider-Punk (since the symbiotes seem to take more after the actual suit when it comes to their design I based most of their looks around how Hobie looks as Spider-Punk)
Since Hobie is already tall I of course imagine Venom!Hobie as being even taller/lankier.
Though due to his longer limbs he has a bigger tendency to walk crouched down on all fours (sixs technically?) as beautifully illustrated by @levionok above. (and less beautifully illustrated by me in the top right corner of my drawing lol)
Since Hobie also incorporates spikes into his looks I did the same for Venom!Hobie and added even more! He now has more rows of "mohawk" spikes, his choker spikes become longer and the same goes for the spikes from his jacket + he gets extra spikes along his back. He also gets spikes along his wrists! - He's a spikey boy!
Also all the spikes are made from symbiote "teeth" and could in theory be moved around on his body if he wanted to (though they mostly stay in place).
The "running mascara"-look (Idk what to call it lol) also carries over from Spider-Punk's mask and is once again even more pronounced in Venom!Hobie.
Now one of the more noticeable traits are the arms! I haven't figured every detail out yet, but so far the idea is that his arms split into two at the elbows but he's able to "fuse" them back into one arm if he wishes to (which he rarely does).
Also to get the idea across that it's his arm being split up I tried to add some symbiote goop between the two parts of the arms!
I kinda like the idea of him being able to change his "design" (changing his spikes and arms as he pleases) so to say, kinda referencing to him not believing in consistency and how he changes "filters" in his animation style! Though I picture him as looking like in the concept drawings above most of the time.
I'm also kinda toying with the idea of giving him barbed wire like webbing since I remember reading somewhere that Hobie apparently has used barbed wire instead of webs in the comics from time to time.
But I also headcanon Venom!Hobie as being more animalistic and more likely to just use brute force instead of webs.
He is fast when he's down on all fours (again sixs? idk lol)
Of course he also gets most of the classic Venom abilities and weaknesses (I haven't read the comics so I'm going off memory of the Venom movie which I've seen once like 5 years ago so please bear with me ^^')
The most noticable weakness being sound! I'll take a closer look at how this affects Hobie when I get to his personality/origin.
Okay that's all about his design for now, I might come back and add more stuff later if I come up with anything as this is still a new concept I'm workshopping (and inputs are greatly appreciated!)
Now we're moving on to his personality/origin as I feel like these two are very intertwined. Cause I feel like the way Venom!Hobie originates will affect his personality too! Let me explain:
So far I've come up with two possible ideas/reasons for Hobie to even bond with a symbiote in the first place and depending on which version you choose I feel like it would end up having different effects on his personality/how he handles the situation:
Scenario 1:
The symbiote is passed onto Hobie without him knowing!
Possibly from an encounter with the cops where a symbiote manages to latch onto Hobie as he kills its former host.
(Or maybe a villain manages to plant one on him somehow).
This would lead to a slow gradual "fusion" between Hobie and the symbiote as it would be very aware that Hobie is NOT exactly a fan of it and would do whatever he could to get rid of it/kill it if he found out about it.
If I recall correctly Eddie also wasn't aware of his symbiote in the beginning and only found out about it when it decided to make itself known. -(referencing the movie)
So I'd imagine a similar scenario here but instead of making itself known, the symbiote hides its presence from Hobie as much as possible while making small gradual changes to Hobie to prepare for an eventual fusion/take over.
Like slowly Hobie starts getting migraines whenever he plays his guitar or listens to loud music so he does so less and less without being even consciously aware of it.
At some point he even stops bringing his guitar with him on missions since he never uses it anyways and hey why did he even bring it in the first place? - I like to think that the symbiote is somewhat able to manipulate Hobie's thoughts over time to make him more susceptible to it.
Going to concerts also becomes a no no.
Hobie also changes his diet; the thought of going to the community garden just not appealing to him as much anymore for some reason. So he visits it less frequently until he also just completely stops going (affecting both his diet and his social life- the symbiote would want Hobie to be as isolated as possible to make him easier to manipulate).
Hobie doesn't realise it at first but he starts craving meat more and more and as time passes he also prepares his meals less and less until he basically eats meat raw. (I'm once again thinking about the movie and that lobster scene, though his symbiote would have to be a lot more sublte for him to not notice what's going on).
At this point Hobie would have to be almost completely isolated and under the influence of the symbiote for so long that it would finally feel "safe" making itself known, preying on his hunger (having been homeless Hobie has known hunger before but I imagine that the hunger that comes with a symbiote is its own unique thing and that it's rather extreme) and his declining mental health.
While a part of him would still very much hate it, Hobie would begrudgingly accept the symbiote and chaos would ensue.
And then of course the Spider-Gang would try and stop/save him cause they know that Hobie would never want this. Wether they're gonna be successful or not is up to interpretation.
Now personality vise I imagine this version of Venom!Hobie is gonna be mostly taken over by the symbiote and thus being more feral and animalistic. It most likely wouldn't talk a lot and mostly be focused on feeding (and like in the movie, its favourite food is gonna be humans. Hobie would try to make sure they only target cops but sometimes the hunger would win over reason).
I know this is pretty dark but I really can't imagine a positive scenario where Hobie would willingly accept a symbiote so this is my first "solution". (Though I also feel like his friends would intervene before he reached this point but still, I kinda like the idea of the slow corruption and the person not realising it until it's too late)
You still with me? Good, cause it's time for:
Scenario 2:
I'd wish that this one would be more positive but I guess that sadly isn't the case
In this scenario Hobie would have reached his breaking point.
He would have been through an experience so traumatic that he feels like a symbiote is his ONLY option.
(If I recall correctly he's reffered to himself as a "suicide machine" in the comics and this would really come into play here).
He'd become way more reckless and not really caring what happens to him in battle. He views this as his last resort.
Like maybe there's a new kind of symbiote that isn't weak to sound or fire and Hobie has no other way to defeat them than to get one himself.
The only positive is that Hobie would be more mentally in control as he's fully aware of the symbiote and how it can influence his mind.
He'd still have cravings for raw meat but he wouldn't have been as mentally unstable and only target cops/other symbiotes becomming kind of a double cannibal.
Once again his friends would try to stop him and he'd definitely be more resonable in this scenario than in the first one.
But he'd still push them away both to protect them and out of shame over his situation.
This time more of Hobie's personality would shine through but it still wouldn't be a very positive version of Hobie as I imagine any scenario with him having a symbiote would really have a negative impact on his mental health.
But still there's room for a happy ending if the Spider-Gang manage to get to him in time!
So yeah, both of these scenarios are kind of a bummer for Hobie (to put it mildly lol) but I honestly can't imagine a positive situation where Hobie would willingly accept a symbiote! (I'm more than happy to hear any takes you guys might have that prove me wrong though!)
Okay, I think that's everything for now!
I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions of Venom!Hobie!
Also let me know if there's anything you want me to elaborate on! Or of you just wanna talk Hobie or Venom!Hobie in general <3
If you made it this far you are honestly a champ and deserve all the gold stars in the world. As I sadly can't give you that have a GIF of Hobie smiling to cheer you up!
Tumblr media
Also I wanna give another huge shout out to @levionok! Both for the amazing drawings of Venom!Hobie and for giving me the courage and motivation to share my concept of him! <3<3<3
also have another Venom!Hobie cause I can't get over how cool she made them look! If you haven't already you should really check out their tumblr! They have made some AWESOME ATSV art there!!!
Tumblr media
134 notes · View notes
mightyflamethrower · 2 months
Text
What's a Little Creepy About the FBI's Arrest Warrant for a Blaze News Reporter
We have another instance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation going off the reservation. A Blaze News reporter who has done a couple of stories on the January 6 riot, which embarrassed the Justice Department, will be forced to turn himself in on Friday. Steve Baker has cooperated with the Justice Department, which has had Baker on their radar for months.  
The creepy part about this story is that this reporter doesn’t know what charges he’s facing. The FBI has instructed him to wear clothing that suggests he’ll be forced to wear an orange jumpsuit. However, the Justice Department told Baker and his legal team that misdemeanors were the only charges facing the journalist. The outlet had all the details about the legal drama in a lengthy post, including the stories that might have painted a target on Baker’s back 
youtube
"They didn’t have to go this route," Baker told Blaze News on Tuesday evening. "We have been told that my charges are only misdemeanors. And my attorneys have been assured that this will be an ‘in and out’ affair with 'no intention' to detain me. But rather than issuing a simple order to appear, they went the 'arrest warrant' route."  What's more, Baker said he still does not know what the charges against him are, noting to Blaze News that the powers that be won't tell his attorney about the charges because they believe Baker will post them on social media.  Baker's Dallas attorney, James Lee Bright, added to Blaze News that withholding the nature of the charges against his client is a "really unusual" move. Bright also said he's hoping to get a copy of the complaint against Baker as early as possible Friday morning.  […]  Bright told Blaze News that he's "disturbed" about what's transpiring with his client, especially given that Baker has been "in full compliance" all this time. Bright also said the federal government "three-plus years later going after people who were legitimate functioning journalists that day" appears designed to have an "absolute chilling effect."  […]  Baker added that when he asked his other attorney, William Shipley, why the federal government is treating him like this, Shipley replied, "You know why. You've been poking them in the eye for three years" 
Baker's first Jan. 6 analysis for Blaze News came last October, following countless hours in a House subcommittee office looking at frame after frame of Jan. 6 closed-circuit video — and it had him wondering: did Capitol Police Special Agent David Lazarus perjure himself in the Oath Keepers trial? 
Soon after, the slow pace of getting an unrestricted look at everything recorded on video prompted Blaze Media editor in chief Matthew Peterson's appeal to House Speaker Mike Johnson to release all the videos. On Nov. 17, Johnson did just that. 
Baker's investigative efforts also resulted in two additional analyses, both focusing on Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn: "January 6 and the N-word that wasn't" and "Harry Dunn's account of January 6 does not add up. At all." 
In December, Baker alleged he uncovered major irregularities involving Dunn, Capitol Police, the press, and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland). 
In January, Baker asserted that just-released U.S. Capitol closed-circuit TV video clips from Jan. 6 show Lazarus gave false testimony in the Oath Keepers trial. 
Like Michael Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi, and Alex Gutentag, Baker also touched upon the curious case of the January 6 pipe bomber and the alleged targeting of the Republican National Committee, wherein new evidence suggests that the RNC was not the target. The FBI might have misrepresented the location of the supposed explosive device, which a then-FBI contractor discovered. 
The FBI has harassed and targeted pro-life activists, so going after reporters who have questioned their narratives about some highly politicized stories isn’t shocking. The Obama CIA and DOJ colluded to manufacture a fake narrative about Russian collusion against Donald Trump. The FBI made up evidence to justify an illegal FISA spy warrant against Trump campaign officials. The FBI and the Secret Service appear to be engaged in a cover-up regarding the ever-elusive pipe bomber who cannot be found. They can find hundreds who entered the Capitol building that day, but not this guy.  
92 notes · View notes
scribbling-dragon · 3 months
Text
a gift, from me to you
summary:
“Pray tell, then, what is it you want me to do?” “I want you to make this.” The Sheriff taps on the design detailing the measurements and everything else he wants. “Please,” he adds, seemingly remembering his manners. “Mm.” Scott pretends to consider it. “I’ll see what I can do for you, lover boy.” [Or: Jimmy gets a hat for Tango]
(ao3 link)
(5,157 words)
Jimmy pauses, frowning as the sound of shouting outside only continues to increase in volume. He had hoped that ignoring it for this long would be enough for the simmering flame of a fight to die down. That fight has apparently sparked into a blaze, as a fourth voice joins the fray.
He casts a mournful glance over towards Tango, hoping that his partner and newly promoted second-Sheriff might take initiative and attempt to solve the problem.
“I'm not their beloved Sheriff,” Tango says, not even looking up – he’s not even doing work! He’s tinkering with some little…metal thing, poking and prodding at it.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t need to,” Tango glances up at him for a moment, eyes alight with amusement as he takes in Jimmy’s appearance. He looks back down a second later, pulling a copper-redstone wire between his claws, before poking around in the metal thing’s insides.
…Maybe it’s better for his safety to go and defuse the argument. Outside. Away from the potentially explosive trinket that Tango has brought to their office this time.
He sighs and stands up, feeling far more tired than he reasonably should be – the sun is only beginning to descend from its zenith and the cooler air should make him feel more energetic.
He doesn’t.
Instead, he fumbles around, reaching for his hat where he’d tossed it off earlier. Only to frown as his hand comes up empty, landing on cool wood instead. He turns his head, already frowning as he tries to figure out which corner of his desk he tossed his hat onto this time.
It’s not there.
He stands there for longer than he’d like to admit to, simply staring at his empty desk – okay, maybe not empty with all the clutter littering his desk. But he can find everything! It’s an organised chaos, and sure, things go missing temporarily but he always manages to find it in the end.
The shouting outside reaches a new peak, and there’s the sound of something heavy being overturned.
“Tango, have you seen my hat?” his voice comes out a little bit panicked, mostly because there seems to be actual destruction going on outside, but also partially because his hat has gone missing. What is a Sheriff without their hat? Not a Sheriff at all, that’s what!
“Mm.” Tango still sounds amused, which isn’t unusual but is maybe a little inappropriate right now. Another thing crashes and he winces. “Why don't you tell me?” Tango’s voice is pleased, something that makes Jimmy’s sixth sense (specifically related to Tango and him doing something that he shouldn’t be) light up, prickling along the back of his neck.
He turns back to face Tango. Tango, who is still tinkering away with his little trinket, poking around in its insides. Tango, who is currently wearing his hat.
“Ah,” he frowns. His hat is a little too big for Tango’s head, and he’s got it tipped too far forward so the brim is drooping over most of his face. “Can I have it?”
Tango tilts his head back, far enough that he looks like he’s going to tip out of his chair. The sounds of destruction outside have died down for now, at least. He’s still anxious to get out there and resolve whatever petty conflict escalated this far.
“Please,” he adds, noticing Tango’s raised eyebrow.
“Of course, dearest.” Tango says, but he doesn’t offer the hat out for him. Nor does he take it off. “Can’t have the darling Sheriff spotted without his hat, hm?”
Tango’s eyes shine teasingly, and Jimmy understands just what Tango is angling for as he steps forward and that pleased grin curls up even further. He sighs, shaking his head in fond amusement as the sounds of argument die down into a more civil discussion. He still needs to figure out what they’ve managed to damage, unfortunately, even if they seem to have resolved the argument by themselves.
“Thank you,” he plucks the hat from Tango’s head, completely missing when tango snakes his arms out, wrapping around his waist and pulling him forward. That, coupled with Tango’s tail wrapping tightly around his legs means he almost falls directly onto his partner.
“They’ve resolved it themselves,” Tango tells him, even as Jimmy rights the hat on his head. Where it belongs. He continues to hold onto him, thumbs resting just above his hip bones, trinket seemingly forgotten about, discarded on Tango’s desk. “There’s no point in running out there and demanding answers, hm?”
“I need to find out what they were tossing about. And why.”
He doesn’t even bother to try and free himself from Tango’s grip. The man is like an overly clingy octopus on some days, reluctant to release Jimmy and let him go about his day without a shadow following his every footstep. He had thought today was one of the days where Tango seemed to forget anyone else existed other than him, but he seemed to just be biding his time until Jimmy got close enough to be captured.
He sighs, though he cannot deny it’s overwhelmingly fond. If any of their friends were here right now, Jimmy is certain they’d be gagging and turning away, as though they were doing something far worse than hugging.
“C’mon, I’ll be back in a second.”
Tango pauses for a moment, then hums once and releases him.
“There, see? Look, I’ll even give this to you to look after until I'm back.”
Before he can think any further on it, before he can think enough to decide it’s actually a bad idea, he takes his hat off again and plonks it onto Tango’s head. He then turns and escapes the office as fast as he can, ignoring Tango’s confused little sound and resisting the urge to look back and see what expression he’s pulling.
He then gives in and sneaks a glance.
Okay, maybe giving the hat back was more for his own benefit than Tango’s. Sue him! He didn’t realise that Tango actually suited a hat, alright?! How could he, when the only time Tango has worn a hat before was in the dark, and Jimmy was far too preoccupied with getting said hat back from his partner’s sticky fingers.
His eyes linger a little longer than appropriate on Tango before he forcefully turns himself around and marches into the street to sort out whatever stupid, petty argument someone’s had today. One that warranted shoving someone’s cart hard enough to topple the whole thing over.
His heart isn’t really in reprimanding them, even if they look like a pair of guilty children than have been found painting the walls. Instead, he’s far more focused on the beginnings of an idea that are coming together in his mind.
===
Scott appreciates the quiet nights. The ones that have plenty of patrons, but none of his more rowdy ones. The ones that like to cause trouble, the ones that come here looking for trouble. Most of them have been identified and given to the staff so they know to be wary when those customers come knocking.
He could just outright ban him – the Sheriff has pleaded with him several times to just ban them rather than forcing him to ride all the way from the mesa because they’ve decided to start a fight and Scott cannot be bothered to sort it himself. But a paying customer is a paying customer, and most of them have the good decency to go outside before they start fighting, greatly reducing his expenses for replacing broken glasses.
Perhaps it was his own fault for even daring to utter ‘quiet’ in the privacy of his own mind. Maybe there’s some god out there that read his thoughts and decided to shove this particular problem in his direction, for him to deal with, just for the gall to enjoy a nice, slow evening.
His first warning of the incoming visitor is when someone hurries into the tavern on near-silent feet, but every single one of his shadier patrons perks up at her entrance.
Scott watches her too, well-aware that there is often some kind of lookout watching for any kind of law enforcement when some kind of deal is going on. He grits his teeth. Which means that someone is doing deals in his tavern without his permission.
He sets the clean glass down on the counter and raises a singular eyebrow at the group highest on his suspect list.
He’s had issues with them in previous months, where they didn’t want to pay the pocket change they owed him because he let them make dealings inside his tavern. He charges a fair price for the business he allows behind closed doors, for someone to even attempt to scam him? They're lucky he didn’t do something worse than what he did.
He jerks his head towards the door, keeping his eye very firmly fixed on the leader of that group. The entire table vanishes, scrambling out the door.
A few other patrons leave as the news about the Sheriff’s impending arrival reaches more and more ears.
He watches them go, more than a little bitter that the Sheriff is chasing his business away. Whatever he wants, it better be good.
He raises an eyebrow when the Sheriff finally enters, clutching something close to his chest as he makes an immediate beeline for him. Several pairs of eyes follow him across the tavern, people beginning to relax once they realise that the Sheriff is here for Scott rather than any of his patrons.
“Good evening, Sheriff.”
“Scott,” the Sheriff greets, not even having the manners to return his cordial greeting. “I need you to do something for me.”
“Oh?” He blinks as the Sheriff slams whatever he was clutching down onto the bar countertop, spreading the paper out so Scott can see the scribbles on the surface. “I wasn’t aware you were interested in leatherworking.” Slightly ironic, seeing as the Sheriff has a tiny relation to the same animals this leather is taken from. Not that it seems to bother him, what with the leather hat and leather jacket.
“I'm not.”
“Pray tell, then, what is it you want me to do?”
“I want you to make this.” The Sheriff taps on the design detailing the measurements and everything else he wants. “Please,” he adds, seemingly remembering his manners.
“Mm.” Scott pretends to consider it. “I’ll see what I can do for you, lover boy.”
“I- what did you call me?”
“You heard me,” Scott grins. “Of course, I'm assuming you're going to pay me for this, yes? My skills with…this are much sought after. I wouldn’t want it to come to light that the darling Sheriff was…extorting his friends, hm?”
“Of course I’ll pay you. Name your price.”
“He really does have you wrapped around his finger. You, my dear Sheriff, are an absolute sucker.”
The Sheriff ignores him. A valiant effort. “When will it be ready for me to pick up?”
“Give me a week.” He holds his hand out, “Half of the payment now, and half then. Have we got a deal?” He wiggles his fingers teasingly, waiting for the Sheriff to take his hand and seal the deal. He gets a sour look instead. Ah, too smart for those tricks, it seems. He lowers his hand again, only mildly disappointed.
“How much do I owe you?”
===
“You're acting weird.”
“What?” Jimmy says, in a weird, not at all normal voice. “No I'm not!”
Tango stops and stares at him. He hopes his face correctly conveys enough of the what the hell and you're joking, right? sentiment he was going for. Jimmy winces and looks guilty, so he’ll call that a mission success.
“Did you break something?” he asks. Maybe Jimmy went poking around in his workshop again and found something – it wouldn’t be the first time that he’s accidentally broken one of Tango’s projects, and it probably won’t be the last time.
He can’t find it in himself to care when Jimmy does break some of his inventions, either, as he can just piece them back together. What’s the point in making something that he wouldn’t be able to fix if it broke? Plus, most of them are hastily cobbled together from scraps when the inspiration struck him, and then promptly abandoned.
“Ah, no I didn’t break anything.” Jimmy shakes his head hard enough that Tango momentarily worries that it’s going to unscrew itself and fly away. It doesn’t, thankfully. “I just…have a surprise for you.”
“A surprise?”
He loves surprises. Especially ones that he gets to find out immediately – the suspense kills him every single time, meaning if he has to wait for longer than a few hours, maybe a day at most, to find out what it is, he might just combust. Sometimes literally.
“Yes,” Jimmy laughs, his eyes squinting shut. Tango grins up at him, not caring that Jimmy’s giggling at his enthusiasm, because the laugh isn’t mean, just excited and endeared. “It’s at home.”
“And what is it that you’ve gotten me?”
“You have to wait,” Jimmy pushes at his shoulder. “That’s the point of a surprise.”
“But you could just tell me now, couldn’t you?” Tango teases. “I'm about to find out in a second, what’s the point of waiting – I’ll have the same reaction all over again when you show it to me, I promise.”
“Just go look,” Jimmy says with a laugh, pushing him through their front door.
“Alright, alright…” he stops. And he stares. And stares…and stares a little more. “Huh.” Is what he manages to say when everything seems to have resettled in his mind, clicking mostly back into the right places.
“Do you not like it? It’s fine if you don't, I just thought that-”
“Shut up,” Tango tells him, and then decides that’s not enough and kisses him instead. “Thank you,” he says when he pulls back. He would normally linger in a moment like that for longer, but his hands are itching to pick the hat up and run his hands over the leather.
“I love it,” he tells Jimmy, when the hat is comfortably resting on his head. It has little leather dangling bits around the brim which sway back and forth when he moves. He wobbles his head, just to make them swish. “I love you.”
“Ah, Tango!” Jimmy covers his face with his hands. “Gods, warn a guy before you say something like that next time?”
“But you go so red every time I do! How can I resist!”
He wobbles his head again, just to watch the tassels swing. Damn. He can see why Jimmy likes his hat, this thing makes him feel important.
===
Time is the best solution for any malady, just…leave something alone for long enough and everything should sort itself out all nice.
So why is it that he still dreads the flight up to Stratos? It’s a short flight, one that barely takes a few seconds, one that starts in the village flourishing in the shadow of the citadel above, and ends with his hooves touching down on the grass outlining the main pathways of the island.
The gold of the citadel is blindingly bright this early in the morning, everything turning molten in the sunlight. The quartz reflects the light equally bright, and it forces him to squint his eyes against the light.
He’s going to blame his shoddy landing on his half-closed eyes, attempting to not blind himself this meeting. He stumbles, the tip of on hoof catching on the very edge of the island and sending him forward, grasping for his balance again. Tango catches his elbow and pulls him back upright, thankfully before he can make even more of a fool of himself and do something stupid like fall on his face, though it’s not done without a snicker.
“Sorry, sorry,” Tango looks away, tilting his new hat down over his face so Jimmy can’t see it as well. He can still see well enough to spot the barely repressed grin, even as the leather tassels drift about his face and cast an even deeper shadow. His ears flick a few times as the leather strips bump into them, brushing over the short fur, Tango obviously still unused to wearing the hat and all the accessories that come with it. “I'm not laughing. Promise.”
“I can see you grinning.”
Tango’s apology would have been far more convincing if he couldn’t see the way Tango’s ears continue to tremble, even after the leather strips stop irritating them, shaking with the repressed giggles that Tango is biting back.
“No, you can’t.” Tango turns his face even further away, warm hand slipping away from Jimmy’s elbow as he tugs his hat down, lower over his face. His tail continues to flick back and forth, betraying his continued amusement at Jimmy’s expense, flames sputtering in time with his silent laughs.
“It’s really not that funny,” he complains. And maybe he’s whining a little bit, but it makes Tango turn back to him, amused gleam continuing to shine in his eyes. “I don't make fun of you for hiding from the rain!”
“You don't, you don't,” Tango huffs out a laugh, then turns to properly face him once more. “C’mon, best we get this over with, yeah?”
Jimmy clicks his tongue at Tango’s blatant dislike for Joel. “We’re allies now,” he reminds. It’s a tentative alliance, for sure, but it’s an alliance nonetheless. He doesn’t have many of those, and having a god (no matter how egotistical that god is) on his side – their side – is comforting. Even if it means getting up at the worst possible times because the god seems to rise with the goddamn sun.
He pulls Tango back when he goes to walk away, ignoring the confused, inquisitive noise that Tango makes when he pulls him around to look at his face.
He stares at Tango for several long moments, hand resting on the juncture between Tango’s shoulder and neck. He brushes his hand up and adjusts Tango’s hat, so it’s not covering his face so much anymore.
He can’t help but linger for a moment, the back of his hand grazing against Tango’s cheek. “There,” he pats Tango’s cheek, “much better like that. Now,” he takes the lead, “remember to be polite.”
“Oh, you wanna talk?” Tango scoffs a laugh, turning to chase after him. Jimmy’s face still feels a little warm from staring longingly into Tango’s eyes for several long moments just seconds ago. And…maybe Tango’s a little right, yeah, maybe most of their trade agreements and whatnot are spent trying to figure out what petty jab to use next, and when to use it for maximum effect.
Tango’s told him several times that he should be the bigger person and not to return the jabs, that only encourages him! But Jimmy has also watched Tango, the biggest advocator for maintaining a professional persona while working and also the biggest hypocrite he knows, make several rude and aggressive gestures at Joel’s back the moment the god turns away.
…He’s beginning to see why most of the times he managed to arrest Tango was after he had been ganged up on by other bandits.
“And being allies,” he continues, ignoring Tango. “Means that we need to be courteous.”
“He’s not here yet,” Tango says. “And just you wait, you’ll be eating your words the moment ‘toy’ drops out of his mouth.”
Jimmy doesn’t have a responding argument for that. Mostly because Tango is right and also because they’ve just arrived at the arranged meeting spot. The arranged meeting spot where Joel is already present and ready, probably preparing to shame them for being late by three seconds, or something equally stupid.
And despite the stupidly early hour, Joel is lounging casually and drinking something from a crudely made mug. It’s a far cry from the things Joel makes for himself, let alone deems worthy enough to be used by his holier than thou hands.
The words trip out of his mouth before he can even process anything else about their surroundings: “Did you sit on that mug halfway through making it?” The mug really does look quite squashed, wonky, and with a far too large handle. The handle is larger than the rest of the mug. “Why’d you still stick it in the kiln looking like that?”
It’s meant as an insult. A small thing designed to irritate the god and make him eager to get them out of Stratos as soon as possible. A short meeting with the god is the most desirable kind.
What he didn’t account for, however, is the small child sat just beside Joel. Though, instead of sitting in a chair, he’s seated on the lush grass. Hermes pauses what he was doing – some kind of drawing in a little sketchbook, so similar to the one that Joel carries around with him – to look up.
“Does my mug…look like someone sat on it?”
Shit.
“Not at all.” Joel stares at him, but even the unrelenting gaze promising a slow and painful death doesn’t manage to pull Jimmy’s eyes away from the child’s face, and how Hermes looks as though he might burst into tears at any second.
Shit.
He’s floundering, lost amongst a sea of words and grasping for literally anything that might save him from his fast-approaching death. One that Joel is already constructing in his mind’s eye, raising the executioner’s axe in preparation for the first tears being shed.
“Oh no, no,” his saviour is not some half-baked excuse and apology rolled into one that he managed to come up with to smooth ruffled feathers and assure the child of his incredible pottery skills. Instead, his saviour comes in the form of his wonderful, fantastic and stunning partner stepping up – quite literally.
He crosses the grass in a few strides, shawl flapping around him and flames curling with anxiety. He crouches down beside Hermes, not quite touching the demigod child, but his hands remain hovering over the child’s arms.
“What the Sheriff meant to say,” Jimmy winces, “is that your mug is wonderfully unique! I’ve never before seen such use of angles and lines, and the colours too…”
Tango’s voice trails off, though his mouth continues moving, without words. It takes Jimmy a few moments to process that it is his hearing that has failed him, not that Tango’s silver tongue has given up and left him fumbling for more words to continue comforting the child in front of them.
All that filters through his head is muffled, as though he has dunked his head underwater as everyone else continues to talk around him.
He watches as Hermes brightens beneath Tango’s praise, his uncertain frown transforming into a beaming grin as he begins gesturing wildly, hands flying all over the place. His drawings are abandoned, seemingly forgotten, as he focuses instead on speaking with Tango.
And the latter nods along attentively. If Jimmy’s ears were working properly he’s certain he would hear the way Tango normally hums along when he’s listening to something – he can almost hear the sound, can feel the vibration of it within his own chest, familiar and comforting in its cadence – and he’d be able to hear Tango asking questions, keeping the child engaged and distracted from Jimmy’s earlier shoving-his-foot-in-his-mouth moment.
“Hm,” he tries not to startle at the sudden return of his hearing and the even more sudden appearance of Joel beside him. He didn’t even see the man stand up, let alone make his way over here – get it together Jimmy! Tango might look incredibly endearing and loveable right now, but if this was any other occasion such distraction could be fatal! …Oh, who was he kidding. If this was a lethal situation and Tango revealed that he was good with kids, Jimmy would be a dead man.
“I wouldn’t have thought Tango was so good with children.” Joel echoes his own thoughts exactly. “Did you know this?”
“…No?”
Joel side-eyes him. “You don't sound very certain of yourself.”
Well, not all of us are self-assured, egotistical maniacs.
“Well, I've never seen him interact with children before,” Jimmy says, incredibly diplomatic compared to his original thoughts. “And, apparently,” he gestures at the scene in front of them helplessly, unable to communicate further.
Tango’s gone from kneeling in front of Hermes to sitting beside him, watching as the child flips through his sketchbook and narrates every brushstroke to him.
“Hm.” Joel responds.
It’s an unusually concise response from the god, but he doesn’t have much to say either today, stunned to silence by Tango’s apparent ability to comfort and then entertain a child for longer than five minutes. He’d thought Tango’s skill with children extended to his abilities to deal with babies – non-existent.
“He’s good with kids,” Joel says. “I’ll give him that…say, how much d’you think he’d charge for a babysitting service?”
“You're not paying my partner to babysit your kid. He has more important things to be doing.”
“Haha, I'm sure he does.”
“Don't be disgusting, Hermes is right there.” Joel doesn’t flinch as Jimmy jabs him in the side, only giving him an unimpressed look that just says: you think that would hurt me, mere mortal? Or something equally pretentious.
“I was talking about the obvious signature of getting promoted,” Joel side-eyes him again- seriously, would it kill him to actually look at Jimmy properly for once! “What were you talking about?” He has a grin on his face that Jimmy knows means Joel knows exactly what it is that he was implying, and Joel knows that Jimmy knows this.
He, very maturely, does not rise to the bait.
“You mean the hat.”
“It’s an interesting little thing. You commission Scott to do it?”
“Yeah.” He pauses. “How could you tell?”
“A guess.” Joel glances over at him from the corner of his eye. “Mostly because I know you're an absolute sucker for him and would settle for nothing but the best.”
“I am not a sucker for him-”
“Oh, look,” Joel interrupts him. “He’s letting Hermes try the hat on.”
What?
He looks over to the scene he’d momentarily dismissed in order to argue with Joel properly, pausing as he takes it in. He watches Tango laugh when the hat slips over Hermes’ face and makes it disappear completely.
His eyes go all squinty as he laughs, the creases around his eyes only increasing as Hermes lifts the hat to glare at him from beneath it, having to brush aside the leather tassels to actually see him.
It’s an unfairly attractive quality of Tango that Jimmy hadn’t even realised existed until a few minutes ago.
It distracts him throughout the rest of the meeting, especially when Tango chooses to remain sitting on the ground and entertain Hermes for the duration of his and Joel’s discussion over the gunpowder prices, during which Jimmy has to explain why his prices are higher than the unethical creeper farms found on the edges of the mesa – most of which he's working on wiping out.
A few have inevitably fallen through the cracks, but he makes Joel, unwillingly, hand over the details of their locations so he can go hunt them down when he has the chance.
It's a relief, really, to have someone that entertains Hermes throughout the meeting. Where he would normally be sat on Joel’s knee or tugging at his toga for some kind of attention, now he’s content and docile, happy to sketch Tango in that wobbly and rather ugly way that only a child can achieve.
Tango still coos over the drawings Hermes shows him, acting as though he’s been gifted the most precious treasure when Hermes offers out one of said drawings at the end of the meeting, half-hiding behind Joel’s leg as he does so.
It’s only then that Tango manages to reclaim his hat from the child, settling it comfortably back on his head.
“So,” Jimmy says as they touch down into the village below, slowly making their way back to the village stables to collect their horses. “Good with kids?”
“I'm really not,” Tango scoffs. “What, you think I’d tell him to just shove off? You almost made the kid cry, dearest.”
“I didn’t think you’d sit and let him draw you.”
“The kid’s a budding artist,” Tango shrugs. “Who knows, maybe one day he’ll be incredibly famous and this drawing will be worth thousands.” He waves the small piece of paper around. The sketch on it is only recognisable as Tango because of the cat-like ears and the flame-tipped tail. “See, he’s signed it and everything.”
“That is barely legible as his name.” Jimmy says, though he does so with a smile.
“Uh-huh, alright, you wanna talk about you and Joel then? I thought you hated the guy but I look up and you two are laughing together?”
“I don't hate him, I just have a healthy dislike for him,” Jimmy protests. “I wouldn’t ally myself with someone I actively hate! And anyway, I was laughing at him not with him.”
“Sure, sure,” Tango nods along, speaking in a way that means he’s not at all convinced. “Only, I could’ve sworn you two looked like you were friends?”
“We’re not friends!” Jimmy’s protest this time is much louder, gaining the disapproving looks of many nearby villagers. He clamps his mouth shut, ears going hot with embarrassment. “I still don't like him.”
“Okay, alright,” Tango laughs. At his expense! Laughs at his suffering! “Not friends, got it.”
He’s still smiling like he knows something Jimmy doesn’t, though.
Most unfortunate of all is the look Tango sends him a moment later, grin flashing amongst the dark shadow of his hat over his face, eyes glinting dangerously; teasingly.
===
“It’s so stupid,” he bemoans, possibly for the third time, maybe the fourth. He hasn’t really been paying attention to how many times he’s complained, but it’s a few. More than one, at least.
“Uh-huh,” Scott couldn’t sound less interested if he tried. As it is, the tavern is almost completely dark around the two of them – the only two people left inside the building. Correction: only awake and mostly sober people left inside the building. “You’ve mentioned it.”
“And it’s your fault,” he accuses, pointing a finger at Scott’s back. He’s cleaning his glasses – all the man does is clean the glasses behind the bar, it’s like he has nothing better to do!
“My fault?” Scott turns around, cloth and glass still held in his hands. “How is it my fault? I made it all to your specifications, Sheriff. If anything, it’s your fault that Red looks so good in that hat.”
“Noo,” he slowly sinks down to the counter, resting his forehead against the cool wood.
“Shut up.”
74 notes · View notes
atamascolily · 6 months
Text
Looking back over my screenshots again, I noticed something that bothers me: "Walpurgisnacht" is a name supposedly given to this witch by magical girls (and not what she calls herself, unlike the other witches we encounter), and yet that name appears in heavily stylized runes on her countdown signs in the original series. Why is that? Am I missing something?
Tumblr media
The same runes are also in the Eternal movie, although they are a bit more legible. Nothing else appears to have changed overall, although the shading/contrast on the ring and "peacock tails" (probably stylized lotus flowers common in Buddhist mandalas?) is switched up.
Tumblr media
The art style here is reminiscent of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century European woodblock prints during the time of the original witchcraft trials. This movement was stoked in large part by the widespread proliferation of lavishly illustrated printed pamphlets, which detailed witches' misdeeds in lurid detail, and popularized many archetypes we now associate with witches, from brooms and black cats to deals and dances with the Devil.
Tumblr media
Witches dancing with devils, featured in The History of Witches and Wizards (1720).
Similar woodblock prints, likely representing primary sources, can be seen in the background in Homura's apartment as part of her research into Walpurgisnacht, including several with dancing figures.
Tumblr media
These figures can be seen as Walpurgisnacht is ultimately broken up in the final episode.
Tumblr media
Just for some fun visual parallels, compare to this shot from the recap movies that wasn't in the original TV release. The main difference is that all of the figures of Homuras are the same, whereas the ones in Walpurgisnacht's circle seem to be different.
Tumblr media
The woodblock print in Homura's apartment depicts all the dancers as identical, while the later shot makes them look more like Walpurgisnacht's individualized familiars--which they might well be. Comparison to the Clara Dolls--a large number of familiars repeatedly described as being a match for or counterpart to magical girls with individualized designs--is also inevitable.
Ironically, the Christian saint Walpurga was supposed to protect against witchcraft, but her saint's day (April 30-May 1) ended up being conflated with the witches because it occurred at the same time as Hexennacht (German for 'Witches' Night'), when witches were said to dance with/in honor of the devil on Mount Brocken--and thus when people were most in need of St. Walpurga's protection. Goethe draws on this tradition in Faust, Part One (a major influence on PMMM) for the scene where Mephistopheles takes Faust to the Brocken in order to witness the celebrations--which is also one of the texts depicted in Homura's apartment.
Tumblr media
Another sheet reads "Ein Narr"--German for "the fool", another recurring motif associated with Walpurgisnacht (and also Homura).
Given the accuracy of these documents, these woodcuts are presumably based on eyewitness accounts (possibly magical girls, since ordinary people see Walpurgisnacht as a storm) where Walpurgisnacht appeared but was apparently not permanently defeated. Combined with Walpurgisnacht's ability to appear--and presumably disappear--without warning, and the fact that she's large enough to show up on radar as a storm, this suggests to me that Walpurgisnacht might be a time traveler or possess a similar ability to "exit the stage" and only reveal herself at the most dramatic moment(s) possible. Not only would this fit with her cog/stage motif, it would make her an even more fitting narrative foil for Homura, and add yet another parallel between them.
For both witches and ordinary humans alike, Walpurgis Night is traditionally celebrated with dancing and bonfires. Not only is Homura's name is a homonym for 'flame', Rebellion is chock full of ballet motifs, and she is last seen dancing alone in the moonlight late at night--presumably during the "witching hour" (which, depending on the source, is either between 3-4 a.m., or the hour immediately after midnight. Given the earlier scene of Homura becoming a witch as the clocks strikes midnight, I lean towards the latter interpretation).
Even more suggestively, Homura is now diegetically the Devil and appears to have taken on Kyubey's role as a contractor. If so, this strongly implies that she (and/or her double?) will have a personal relationship with magical girls as the one to whom they sold their souls to gain their power, just like historical witches were said to do with Satan. And given that these historical witches supposedly gathered on Walpurgis Night to honor the Devil... well, that does put Walpurgisnacht's likely (re)appearance in a new light, doesn't it?
...and if the 'Walpurgis' of Walpurgis no Kaiten is indeed the same Walpurgisnacht we saw before, then some timey-wimey/reality-bending/fourth-wall breaking shenanigans are afoot.
It's funny because "what were YOU doing at the devil's sacrament?" is usually meant as a tongue-in-cheek joke, but if PMMM continues to take these references seriously, we might actually get to find out!
83 notes · View notes
cryptids-and-muses · 6 months
Text
Post canon homestuck crew play Dungeons and Dragons
Karkat and terezi
Co dms
Unstoppable when actually working together
Terezi will get sidetracked messing with karkat
Karkat trying to write a deep and well fleshed out campaign that’s thematically resonant vs terezi’s desire for chaos and traps and trying to “trick” her players FIGHT
Terezi believes in karma and will make the world bend to this
Karkat is trying to set up romance arcs and argues about how it adds to the theming
Dave draws them fanart of their characters. Terezi loves it while karkat argues about accuracy before admitting yes he also appreciates it
Calliope also does fanart and karkat praises her skill and accuracy unlike some people
John
Arcane trickster rogue
Forest gnome
Just a goofy little guy!
Mostly just playing to have fun, starts off with a fun but simple character who develops over time
Ends up SUPER invested and taking this so so seriously
Karkat worked a dramatic reveal into the, in his words, “bare ass bones two paragraphs that a fucking wiggler could have written backstory” and John did not see it coming and loved it
Goes head to head with terezi a lot on her various traps she designs for them. She is getting more and more absurd with it. Karkat had to talk to her about breaking the world building with things she’s introducing. He is the only rogue. Send help.
Rose
Drow warlock
Tries to justify picking drow as anything other than she just thought it was cool
Nearly went old ones for patron but settled on archfey for story reasons
Has a 10 page lore document detailing her tragic past and her toxic relationship with her patron
It became 15 pages after going back and forth with karkat for a bit and adding even more
Only her and one other person are taking the romance arcs seriously and they become karkat’s favorite players
Tries playing morally ambiguous but terezi can be annoying about that and claims it’s just “the consequences of her actions”
Her and karkat both get very very into the scenes between her and her patron, the drama! The acting! Dave is uncomfortable and karkat brushes it off, it’s not like him role playing as his sister’s abusive girlfriend is weird. It’s in fact very important to the plot Dave
Has written fanfic of the campaign
Jade
Dragonborn barbarian
Path of the beast
Don’t ask me I just know
Her GLEE when she says “I’m gonna rage :D”
ANIMAL COMPANION! She nearly went ranger just for that but knew she wouldn’t have as much fun. Found a way to get one anyway.
It was harder naming her animal companion than her character
Having fun and likes the problem solving side of things, but likes breaking things with her massive strength just as much
Terezi likes to throw stuff at her, both traps and encounters, and finds it funny if she can just wreck her way through
“See John that’s how you deal with a pressure plate trap”
Takes the rp side of things very seriously
Once argued with Karkat over if her favorite npc would do that and cursed him out
Has read roses fanfic of the campaign
Dave
Plays a teifling with grey skin and orange horns
“What are you talking about karkat this is just my dude, don’t you like him?”
Hellus Jeffus
He’s a valor bard, eventually multiclasses paladin
Starts out just trying to mess with people but like John starts getting into it, though he tries to down play it
Have hellus more of himself than he realized and it’s making him face things about himself
Eventually hellus self sacrifices to save the party in this deeply intense moment. There were tears, Dave was wrecked, they went on a whole quest to revive him. It was touching and karkat is smug
Dave might have worked through some things
Jane
Halfling cleric
Her and John are small buddies!!!
Started out life but wasn’t having a lot of fun with it so with terezi’s permission switched to war or tempest with later s few levels in fighter
Her John and Jade are the biggest front liners, John’s character ends up really close with both of them as it’s easier for the rogue to bond with the person giving them sneak attack
Jade and jane’s character have an in game arm wrestling match
Took a bit to get into the rp side of things but eventually got the hang of it
Roxy
Tabaxi, easily, it’s so obvious
After much deliberation settles on glamour bard (though wizard and rogue were tempting for the joke, she wanted to branch out)
So many horny bard jokes but very little actual follow through, karkat gets frustrated by this as she’s all this talk but isn’t pursuing any of the romance options he’s giving her
She has SECRETS! She is HIDING THINGS!! Her cheery persona is a FASADE!!!
Cue complaining to karkat about how hard it is to wait to tell the others about her secrets and him threatening violence if she tells anyone before the in game reveal
She tells jake
Lots of egging on Dave and helping him with his fucking around
The BOND between her and Dave!!! They are the duo to end all duos. Team rocket type shit. There is nothing stronger than the bond between the bards of the party. My theory is it has to do with trading bardic inspiration.
Dirk
Half elf Druid circle of spores
Wildfire seemed fun to him but wasn’t as good
Wasn’t originally planning on being a Druid but after going over all the classes he liked all the customization and decisions that go into Druid like prepared spells and such
Didn’t really think about his backstory much, just improved something. He keeps improving new additions and it’s getting more and more elaborate and complicated. He has multiple hidden and long lost siblings by this point. Still doesn’t write any of this down. If he messes a detail up he justified it with more improv.
Yes his character has spiked up red hair and sunglasses. Don’t question how the Druid got sunglasses karkat.
Really likes the tactics side of things, he’s even pitched a few things to terezi she updated and later worked in
Sometimes works on plans and strategies out of game or making a million back up characters that play off the others in interesting mechanical ways
Is considering becoming a dm some time
Jake
Needed some help making his character, he just didn’t know where to start
Eventually after much discussion settles on a teifling bladesong wizard
Wanting to get away from his usual adventurer style Roxy helped with the backstory and they came up with this evil scientist raised in a cult who’s good hearted but was never taught right and wrong
He gets very into playing him and his moral struggle but can lean a little too good for his backstory, karkat points this out and Jake swears to get better at it
Dave pitched a lot of names for them and it was eventually settled on “Bernard Gunn” even though he has a sword. Jake just likes how it sounds
“Why is he blue jake?” “…..uhhh” “why is he blue?”
Calliope
SHE LOVES THIS SO MUCH
Teifling Druid with a focus on healing
Circle of shepards
Not a troll color pallet like Dave though, honestly it might get a bit trickster
Beautiful backstory that she coordinated with one of the others to make joint. The most obvious choice is Roxy but I think it was actually jade, Jane or John.
She gets so into it you guys, like so into it
Gives at least one dramatic speech completely on the fly
The other character who takes karkat’s romance arcs seriously and his other favorite player
Has also argued with terezi about world building and consistency. This may put her above rose in karkat’s eyes
Was also allowed to read rose’s fanfiction and offered full on reviews
Also considering going into doing but for the opposite reasons to Dirk
Vriska
Fairy artillerist artificer with a dip in war magic wizard
Min maxxed to hell and back
(Technically there was a better race, but fairy has its own advantages and she couldn’t resist)
An elaborate backstory too with some secrets of her own, I’m thinking full on lost princess
Yes she is That Player, you know the one
Has nearly been kicked multiple times and now won’t leave on principle
Not the best at sticking with the party and not just doing whatever she wants, but suprisingly Dirk has been able to talk her into it with his talk of tactics and playing smart
Second most effective is John who just looks at her like “vriska you’re not making this very fun :(“
Kanaya
Fire genasi ranger
Really tried to get into it but this just isn’t her thing so eventually decided to leave the group
Karkat came up with a fun story reason for her to leave and eventually brought her character back as an Npc
Did help rose make a cosplay of her character, after which John, Calliope, and Roxy wanted to make ones too
Vriska eventually tried to “manipulate” into helping her make one for her character
121 notes · View notes