also on the whole ‘unstable highblood’ thing that people tend to fall back on-
that’s basically empire propaganda. i mean, come on. from what we’ve seen, trolls are no more violent than humans. yes, they come from a society that praises ruthlessness and weeds out the weaklings, and uses a caste system that oppresses a huge portion of the population, but that still doesn’t stop trolls from being able to feel compassion toward each other, or feeling platonic pity toward others (see: tavros, nepeta, kanaya, karkat, feferi, etc etc etc). the highbloods are in control of basically everything. what makes you think they’re not the ones spreading that bullshit so they can get away with murder? so they can manipulate lower-caste trolls into pitying them or excusing them simply because they “can’t help it”?
(the whole romance system plays into that, too. what better way to control your subjects than to make them fit their emotions into restrictive little boxes? signless was so dangerous to the empire because he loved and pitied trolls in general and not just individuals close to him, and showing his followers that they were capable of the same)
gamzee didn’t start eating sopor to control his murderous urges, he started eating it so he didn’t have to deal with real life. that’s basically his response to everything difficult in his life: hide from it so he doesn’t actually have to confront it head-on. he’s been a manipulative asshole from the start, and i have a feeling he retroactively orchestrated his and karkat’s moraillegiance in order to stop the others from killing him. he probably didn’t have a plan at the time, but after the fact he went back and made sure it happened.
but i still like gamzee. like, a lot. he’s one of my favorite characters, because he’s so fucked-up. you don’t have to make justifications for his actions because you like him. all you gotta do is own up to why he’s so terrible, realize that he’s the one to blame for that, and go on with your life.
Carapaces are chess pieces made through some kind of weird cloning. They live on the moons and battle each other under the direction of their King and Queen. We saw the cloning labs on the meteors, John and Karkat both used one for ectobiology.
Imps are a subset of underlings; the cyclops(?) Rose blinded in the beginning is another. The Hero defeats them for grist and to level up. They work under the Denizen, who makes them as part of the deal they made with Derse to help fuck up the Lands.
Well, yes, but all are Game constructs 🙂 What interests me is the morality of it and what that implies about the level of personhood and realness quotient each has. By Game logic killing imps and ogres must be ok because you’re rewarded for it with grist – and also because they’re attacking you. Even though imps, like carapaces and consorts, are people, or behave like people, in cowering from ogres with John, getting high with Gamzee, watching movies with Jade and John. Because they’re not attacking any more, apparently, does that make it no longer ok to kill them? Or would killing an imp on the Party Boat for the grist haul be an act with zero moral consequences because they were designed as Game enemies?
Mostly, though, I just like imps, I think they’re endearing as hell and I want more scenes where they get to watch movies and less where they get hit with hammers.
Just had the BEST conversation with @rollerskatinglizard discussing the concept that troll hair floofs up like a cat’s when they’re excited/agitated/angry. Which is even more fun if you imagine it as a latent psionics effect like they just accumulate a lot of electrical psychic energy around them when they’re emotional and it statics into their hair. Plus this means it works with all hair lengths and can manifest in fun and varied ways for diff characters. Anyway, I promised I’d write up some of the headcanons we brainstormed b/c I am seriously invested in this xenoanatomy concept now and I need this on my blog.
Feferi: All of her hair floating up and whipping around her in unseen winds like some kind of eldritch horrorterror. The Condesce’s hair could probably actually eat you. And a low key floaty mermaid effect for Fef when she’s EXCIT—–ED.
Gamzee: Poofs up suddenly and dramatically when he’s startled, surprise hair explosion. Also picture him when he’s agitated with his voice starting to rise and fall and his tendrils of hair are starting to get more disheveled and poof out around him and it is very clear how close to the edge he is and eeeeek alarm bells.
Karkat: Permanent angry floofball. Small angry cloud. Bristly hedgehog.
Nepeta: Bristles like a cat/wolf, with the hair going up in a ridge like it would along the spine of an angry, dangerous animal. Silent threat. Very effective communication. People pay attention.
Kanaya: Studio Ghibli effect, her hair lifts up around the sides of her face when she’s angry. She’s so even temepered this happens very seldom. Kind of understated. Her face is very calm. And when it happens everybody in the room is like HOLY SHIT, run. Also she ruffles like a parakeet when she’s flustered by Rose. :33
Sollux: Keeps his hair short specifically so he doesn’t have to hassle with it and all his psiionics all the time. It would get in his electronics while he’s working. Does get bristly when annoyed.
Aradia: Also does the eldritch-being floating cloud of hair. You do not want to see her coming at you with her psioniics all around and death in her eyes. Also just general springiness and poof when she’s excited, which is most of the time. Like a bouncy sheep.
Equius: He’s got that long, smooth hair and its an outward statement of how strong his bond is with his moirail because he stays so calm and in control and his hair is always so settled. And he does try so hard to manage his emotions all the time and be in control and not hurt people/break things. And honestly, it’s still kind of hella intimidating because he just KNOCKED DOWN A WALL and he DOESN’T EVEN LOOK MAD.
Terezi: Spiky bristles everywhere muahahaha. She knows exactly how to do it for maximum intimidation and dramatic courtroom effect.
Tavros: Hahaha his mohawk stands on end when he’s angry/alarmed and then poofs out everywhere when he’s really freaked out. He’s also spent so long being low key alarmed and put upon that he rarely floofs b/c uh, this kind of seem like, not that big a deal, yet? And people often don’t notice this for quite a while but when they do they are impressed b/c he STARTLINGLY more mellow and confident than he appears?
Vriska: Her hair fluffing up around her in a static cloud when she’s mad. Also, her hair going all bristly and frizzled and disorganized when she’s flustered/caught in a mistake, and making her look like a cat that is trying to pretend it is not freaked out and has not been caught off guard and meant to do all of this.
Eridan: His little purple hair plume standing on end. Oh my god. You know that thig cockatoos do? Eridan is a cockatoo. All his hair floofs up and forward like a little fan around his face. And he’s flaring out his fins, too so it’s a damn display. Also. Can you picture. Eridan trying to act all cool and calm and collected and he’s all massively fluffed up like an alarmed bird.
A huge contributing factor to Bro Strider becoming an abusive douchenozzle is L’il Cal–obviously growing up with a demon that is part sexist fuckwit with a hateboner for you whispering in your ear is def not conducive to being your best self–but I also think Bro’s fucked-upedness has to do with when and where his meteor dropped him. i.e. america in the eighties.
Because Dirk may also be a hyper-aggressive, competence-obsessed control freak, but growing up 400 years in the future means he dodged a bullet. Like, nowhere in Dirk’s mind would liking dick cast any doubt on his masculinity or martial prowess. And, as anybody who grew up queer in the late 20th century knows, for Bro it almost certainly would have.
So what does Bro do? He becomes ironic. He applies his extensive intellect and talents toward never meaning anything he says or does. He becomes a puppet-loving, anime-shades wearing, rapping pornstar. He never shows emotion or weakness. He represses bits of himself that don’t jive with his image, and instead channels it into making phallic plushies and aggressively controlling his little brother. He shoves all his no-homo toxic masculinity bullshit on to Dave. He, like so many of us, is a product of his environment.
Not to say this excuses any of Bro’s behavior–he’s still a shitbag, and Dirk’s Worst Self. But important as it is not to deny that he was abusive, I think it also does his character a disservice to just chalk it up to him being inherently evil. I think what Dave told Dirk about Bro is spot on–he was a smart, deeply fucked up dude who should not have been allowed anywhere near a child.
He didn’t try to send anything, just sat there, trying not to think. Karkat’s mind prodded at his, more to see if he’d move than trying to get in.
Ahhhh, look at my sad little fanart for Battlefield Terra by Askerian. This picture does not do it justice, not at all. I plan on doing better fanarts in the future, though, and not a wimpy speed doodle. uwu; I really wanna draw John in his Warhammer mech~
Cheloneuniverse 