Thinkin'bout Shroud only allowing Sonar on his side to fuck with Robert. Making the Megabat a collar to use him as an attack dog. Feeding him people, and drugs that help him transform and keep him coming back if he starts to doubt why he's there. 😋
yes this gets a more thorough post because i love him lol. here's a list of all Toxic's tattoos (as near as I could make them out) (with some asides about his design, characterization, and background as they pertain to what we're seeing)
(pictured: his beautiful smile :)c and that buzz cut fade that looks 100% more stylish with those two little parallel lines at his temple/hairline. toxic who is your hairdresser you can't be looking this good you're gonna have people acting up)
The short version can be summed up in an excerpt from my upcoming toxicshroud fic:
Toxic's collection of tattoos are as eclectic as a spent sheet of child's stickers: chevrons, crosses, seemingly random letters and symbols, skulls and ill omens haphazardly litter his skin without discernible rhyme or reason—as if each one was made without any consideration toward the others.
And without further ado, let's enumerate them in greater detail still!
Facial tattoos:
(Tumblr only allows 10 images per post, so I'm trying to stick to close-ups. some ink will be clearer in other shots)
"Remnants", in what I would tentatively describe as an 'ornate Gothic font'; spanning diagonally from the right temple to nearly the center of Toxic's hairline
A dark red star; on his right cheekbone, near the corner of his eye
Either a cursive "W" with a flower-like flourish at one end, or a butterfly with a loop-de-loop flight path; on his right cheek (at a glance there seems to be a line extending from the flower or butterfly, but upon closer inspection, this is his cheekbone!)
What appears to be a horseshoe, a capital "U", or a capital "V"; right between his eyebrows
Three equidistant black dots; centered on the bridge of his nose
Two parallel vertical lines, about 1/4 of an inch thick; starting level with his eyeline, extending nearly to his jaw; these are perpendicular with the parallel lines of negative space cutting into the hairline of his buzz cut on his left side. The outermost line has one break, while the innermost line has two breaks, all of which are above his cheekbone.
Neck tattoos:
A capital "M" with some abstract swirls and spikes? Like someone doodling in a sketchbook?? It really seems like his tattoos are just "yeah just do whatever man, I'm just here to be in pain for two hours lol"; located on the right side of his neck, just above his neck augment (which, incidentally, is lit up while Robert is interogating him, but NOT when they meet up again at Llewellyn Steel Works—though the once-glowing ring and a smaller circular bump beneath it still protrude visibly from the skin, even when the light is inactive)
Literally just squiggles, zigzags, and nonsense on the left side of his neck. I can kind of make out an "E", maybe an X?? This section is the one that looks the most like "some shit out of your sketchbook", lmaooo.
What looks like an "XO"; on the left side of his neck, close to his spine? 👀 Toxic?? Is that where you like to receive your kissies??? 😳 Bottom spotted... 🫵
An open mouth with top teeth and tongue, and stylized shaded lips; above his left collarbone? Toxic?????? How much do you love neck kissies, my dude????????? This tattoo just SCREAMS "give me open-mouthed neck kisses here, please 🥺" unbelievable...
Alongside which is what appears to be a very small iron cross, a symbol used for military purposes by Germany since the 13th century—including in Nazi Germany, though its usage there was not unique, and the imagery has since disseminated through the American punk/biker/rebel subcultures (you also find it on skateboards and generic off-the-rack punk fashion). My take? Probably not a Nazi symbol—it's too small, and there's no swastika in the middle; located where the neck tendons meet, above the collar bones.
Incidentally, a marksmanship badge in the American military also resembles an iron cross. However, I don't really think this is sufficient grounds to definitively claim Toxic was ever in the military. Moreover—
I don't know how the misconception that Toxic is wearing dog tags spread as far as the Dispatch wiki, but we can clearly see in these screenshots that he's wearing a ring on a chain, not dog tags.
And this isn't even verifiably a dog tag chain (which would at least lend credence to that interpretation, if we supposed he ditched the tags but kept the chain), because this chain is made of segmented disks, whereas a dog tag chain is made of segmented beads.
(I would believe that he was obnoxious enough to be one of those soldiers who declared his religion to be "Jediism" and have that printed on his dog tags, if he ever were in the military. Not that I think he was, but for everyone who prefers that interpretation you can run with that if you want lol.)
It's possible he wears the ring around his neck for straight up fashions, or because he's worried about sustaining a ring avulsion injury, which could indicate he works direcly with the heavy machinery involved in Shroud's weapons/prosthetics/augment production—or, because the ring is too small for him, indicating it's a keepsake from someone else (he has a tattoo on his left elbow which says "I love you Mom" so, possibly it's Mom's? or a wedding ring, as this is a common way to safeguard wedding rings for those with jobs that could cause ring avulsion injuries; he doesn't strike me as the settling down type, but uh... you never know i guess?) Personally, my money's on it being a replica of the One Ring, because it pleases me to imagine Toxic being that big of a nerd, lol
Last but not least (for this post), Toxic's chest tattoo:
Toxic's chest tattoo probably says "SPIRIT". His propensity for one-word tattoos (the Gothic "Remnants" on his face, the "DEAD" on his right hand, the cursive "Outsider" on his left forearm near the elbow) lead me to believe this piece is probably NOT part of a longer phrase concealed by his shirt. But like, why "spirit"??? Does he think of himself as someone who has "spirit"? That WOULD mark it as one of the few unambiguously positive descriptors among all his tattoos, when compared against Remnants/Outsider/DEAD, and the largest for taking up his whole chest, indicating it could be the most sincerely felt of all those descriptors—yet one he feels the need to conceal. Or does he just really like the Disney movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron??? 🤨
In conclusion Toxic's tattoos all feel so impulsive and carefreely gotten? This guy chooses tattoos like an old-school forum user who changes their username and avatar once a week who's still trying to figure himself out—except Toxic commits those temporary phases to indelible ink, like he doesn't give a damn if they still apply to him a couple years down the line. waow... he's so secure in his own changeability 💚 Like, some people intend for their tattoos to be deeply personal and meaningful to them—and maybe one or two of Toxic's are like that, but I get the distinct impression that he doesn't care about that, that he's just hear for the love of the game (and the pain)
I'd remark also upon how much money this canvas of ink must have cost (easily $50-$300 apiece depending on the size of the tat at a licensed tattoo parlor) as representative of his commitment to looking like the margins of some edgy middle schooler's composition notebook—but I wouldn't be surprised if he got most of these at home or in prison, where they would ostensibly have been free or traded for cigarettes, or something.
Thank you for reading if you made it this far!Part 2 will cover his arm tattoos, and probably get into his relationship with Shroud. idk because i haven't written it yet lol but trust it's gonna be great ✌️
check back here or in the reblogs for part 2 soon! :)
Rough translation of the parts in Spanish to English:
Pag 8:
Abel: "TURN THE BIKE ON, MALENA!!!"
Malena: "Was everything that expensive?"
Abel: "I'M BEING SERIOUS, ASSHOLE"
Pag 9:
Malena: "Buee, what's up with you?, crazy"
Malena: "Opaa, Those are some killer knockers"
Abel: "They are literally killer knockers, so turn on the bike!"
This is a very experimental comic, the first three pages where made kinda improvised, the rest's actually more decent bc I made sketches, used references and put the pages together a little more appropriately
so yeah, almost a week straight of work on this and I'm satisfied with it :)
Thanks to my bestie for featuring in the comic as my partner in crime and supporting me through my obsessiveness @pepitero
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