Creative Almonds

18+, She/her Keep it civil and decent please I like all TMNT (keep that tcest OUT!), My Hero Academia, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Epic: the Musical, Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Miraculous Ladybug and tone of other things

[tathrin]

Hey, who wants a little bit of random Celebrimbor/Narvi angst that popped into my head tonight while I was finishing dinner...?

"I do not understand how your people can find joy in such a thing," Celebrimbor groused. "Oh, I will smile and give my congratulations on the morrow, as is right and proper for the Lord of Ost-in-Edhil to do, Narvi, have no fear; but to you here now I will admit, that I do not understand it. The remarriage of a widow to another? No, such a thing is not done in elvish circles—nor should it be."

"Part of loving as a mortal, and not as an Elf, is loving while knowing that someday, you will have to part and go on into whatever follows without one other," said Narvi gently. "We do not go on forever, Khell; and we do not come back. Mortals, when we part, know that we must part for good; and those who have the pain of outliving one with whom they have shared their heart must learn to live—and even love—again without them. That is the way of mortal love; and is the way in which mortals must be loved, as well."

"I know," Celebrimbor said. "But that is not how Elves love."

"Yes, I know that now," said Narvi, in a voice that had gone soft and small. "I wish that I had known it sooner, that I might have done otherwise with you, my silver-heart, than what I did in my ignorance of your people's ways."

Celebrimbor felt his heart clench inside his chest, battering like a broken sword-blade against the hollow cage of his ribs. His arms gripped tight around Narvi's broad shoulders, clinging to his craft-partner like his uncles would have clung to the jewels of their Oath, horrified by the thought of ever letting go.

"You would wish that you had never loved me?" Celebrimbor asked, his voice a broken thing, raw and shattered on a pit of rocks.

"No," Narvi said, and cupped Celebrimbor's tearful face in warm and steady hands. "No, never; not even Mahal himself could ever make me regret my love of you, Khell. No," Narvi said again, and kissed him.

Celebrimbor's fell into the kiss, and his tears flowed down into a beard of luscious black streaked liberally with silver, as though Varda's starlit sky itself strove to quench his sorrow—but not even the whole of the firmament was a tapestry wide enough to soothe away such pain.

"No, Khell...but I might wish that I had known the ways of Elven love in time to prevent the forging of your love for me," Narvi sighed.

"I do not wish that," said Celebrimbor, his words so hot and fierce he nearly snarled as he spoke them.

"You do not wish it now," said Narvi heavily. "But what happens when I am gone, Khell?"

"Still I will love you," insisted Celebrimbor. "Still I will wish for nothing else; for I will love you, heart-half of my soul, forever. You are the other whole of me and always will be, Narvi. There is no other love that could ever take the place nor fill the absence of my love for you. Not in all of the days of all of the years of the world to come."

"I know," whispered Narvi. "I know, and I am sorry for it."

[mediumsizedpidegon]

I was talking to @isekaiprotagonist and realistically, the reason Madara as an antagonist doesn't come into the plot sooner despite his narrative role being 'mastermind' is that Kishimoto was pulling the end of naruto out of his ass.

But. However.

HOWEVER, the fact that Madara wasn't making any moves towards the infinite tsukuyomi until Obito got crushed implies some weird things in universe. Why wait? What was he doing in that time– it's been decades! The problem can't be a lack of power– he's Uchiha Madara! Surely if he used genjutsu he could be capable of subtly.

So the only thing left as an explanation is a lack of ambition.

Consider Madara's upbringing. He was born into a blood feud so old and caustic the original offense has been lost to time only for his forefathers to continue to carry it instead of letting it go. The bloodshed defining his life is simultaneously caused by the war and just cause to spill more blood, both sides of the conflict cosmically stuck in a cyclical sunk cost fallacy because the violence is all they've known; the blood on their hands blinds Senju and Uchiha, blocking the possibility of any other paths, their generations-long hate perfectly matched. Peace in these conditions is a pipe dream, no, it is laying down your weapons and inviting the wolves in!

Madara is the son of this ancient grudge, heir to the charnel house. And by some painstaking miracle, he is the one who says enough, with the strength to convince his family to follow his lead into the terrifying unknown. A man wanting peace is faceless because it could be anyone, everyone– but a man who can prioritize the benefits peace would have for the living in the present and future even when the metaphorical wolves eat his last brother, and convince his constituents to do the same, is a very singular force.

Meeting Hashirama as a child may have been the spark allowing a idle dream to become a real future to work towards, but Madara's iron will is all his own. Hope born from rage and true, sincere belief in a better world is nigh-indestructible.

Why wouldn't it take decades for Zetsu to break Madara to his will? Crimes of passion, sure, that's easy enough, especially in light of the Greater Uchiha Family Instability (the sharingan is magic eye C-PTSD, which is its own separate post) but inciting a violent paranoia meltdown is very different from indoctrinating someone into believing and furthering the plot of your very specific and stupid apocalypse-derived heaven.

I cannot emphasize enough: if you ignore what people say and only look at what is being done, Zetsu is a fucking idiot. Kaguya's hatred birthed him, not Kaguya herself, the whole person, and this.... makes a lot of retrospective sense, because Zetsu is stupid. All evidence points towards him being stunningly short sighted and incompetent. He's existed for at least a millennia and what results does he have for his evil plan portfolio? NOTHING. He's spent however many centuries fucking around in Fire Country inflaming the conflict between Senju and Uchiha only for Hashirama and Madara to meet once and that's all it took to end it! We have no evidence of Zetsu brainwashing people to work with him before Madara, and while I know the authorial reason for that choice, I am choosing to say that Madara was the first because it Zetsu is so stupid it took him a thousand years to realize that his original plan (incite enough bloodshed + drive the Uchiha insane = ???? + more manipulation = profit????) wasn't working, and he needed a real human person with an understanding of human motivations on his side. Thus: the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan is born.

So Zetsu is great at pushing people past their breaking point and being a psychosis-inducing sleep paralysis demon. But all signs point to his long term manipulation sucking so badly, and Madara, as we have discussed, has principles of fucking steel.

That empty space in canon? Those fifty years where Madara is presumably in a cave, scheming but not committing to any action because Kishimoto never originally planned him to come back? I have recontexualized it. Madara is doing something, namely, going through a corruption arc. The way it would go is this: Zetsu pushes Madara off a mental health cliff, inciting the first Kyuubi attack and the Valley of the End battle, but once the adrenaline passes and the urgency fades, Madara isn't a guy who can be forced to do anything he doesn't want to. The one person who could, Izuna, is dead. Now, Zetsu is in between a rock and a hard place. Zetsu has revealed himself, Madara survived the battle, and he's proving to be frustratingly moral, poking holes upon holes in Zetsu's plans. Zetsu isn't converting him as fast as he wants, but he can't let Madara go because he could go back to Konoha if only to alert his clan that there's a malevolent venus fly trap in the wilds.

So Zetsu sticks Madara in a cave and spends the next fifty years slowly radicalizing him, convincing him Hashirama and his clan never loved him, bending (bending! not breaking! because you cannot break Uchiha Madara's drive for a better future without gutting his soul) that iron idealism until it aligns with what Zetsu wants.

And when Madara can't remember why he wasn't on board with the moon plan, there's a cave in at Kannabi Bridge, a young Uchiha pinned under the rubble. And Zetsu, watching, blinks. He thinks, two has to be better than one, picking up Obito to repeat the process in a matter of months instead of decades now that it's Madara's charisma eroding Obito's view of reality, just as Zetsu eroded away Madara's.

[blumineck]

Christmas Archery

[whispering-about-the-tmnt]

Does anyone have a layout of the 2003 Turtles’ Central Park / pump station lair? I need it for… literary reasons.

[springsodas]

I regret to inform you that while I technically do have artwork of the Central Park Lair, it's specifically the version seen in Back to the Sewer, not the earlier version from Seasons 4/5

[emeraldhonour]

The BttS lair confuses me. I can't figure out where any of this is meant to be in relation to the layout we saw in S4 and 5...

So, I've elected to ignore it XD

Here's what I could glean from screenshots from S4 and S5, working mostly from this screenshot:

(Please forgive my awful floorplan! I am no architect! Also, the scale is most likely way off)

Loooong explanation below the cut (with links to screenshots to what I'm talking about, since I couldn't include them all in the post)

As far as I can tell, the overhead walkways (crosshatched areas) are the first thing we see of the Pumping Station lair, in Prodigal Son. Figure 1 is the doorway Leo, Don and Splinter first enter by. It looks like we've got at least one door off to the side room (figure 4). I can't tell if there's one on the other side, hence the '?', but I assume there is.

The Turtles and Splinter start out on these upper walkways, then move down below (somewhere) by the end of the episode.

Figure 3 is their living room area, directly below the overhead walkways. We zoom in here at the start of the last episode of S4, so I know it's here. You can also see that there is a staircase leading up to an unknown area here (figure 2).

Figure 4 is the large room off to the right of the living room. I expect it's too floors, as it has one door on the upper walkway, and one door below. We never see directly inside any of these rooms, so I don't know what they're used for. Figure 6 shows the computer area.

Figure 5 is the room on the other side of the living room. It has a partially broken wall, which we can see a staircase inside.

Figure 8 is the large central walkway we see over the waterway, that connects the station from one side to the other. There are steps leading down from this on either side. Figure 9 is the large pool at the bottom of the waterway. Figure 7 is another room we don't know the use of.

Figure 10 is the view of the other side of the station, as see from Figure 8. There are more raised walkways here, suggesting they go all the way around the outside of the main chamber, and 2 sets of steps down to the catchment pool area (a third is later added). Figure 14. is some kind of large doorway or connection of pipes, I can't quite tell.

Figure 11 is where Leatherhead, Leo and Splinter are gathered at the start of Good Genes. It appears to be an office/library type space. 12 and 13 are tunnels that lead off from the pool level. It's also down here that Raph hangs his punching bag.

Mikey looks up from what appears to be a kitchen area along the side (Figure 15) and looks back towards area 10 where Don's containment tank is. There appears to be doorways/tunnels off to the side here, so I'm guessing the layout is probably mirrored on the other side.

Figure 16 is the unknown room that seems to be access from the upper walkways above area 11. There's also a doorway into it from the computer area (6).

I don't know which doorway leads off to the garage, but I think Don's workspace/lab is here. It's a large, mostly empty room, with some kind of raised platform (1a). 1b is the workspace and parking area, with steps up to a doorway in the walkway. 1c appears to be Don's workspace/ possible new lab?

The only other room we see into is Splinter's chambers, by again, I have no idea how they connect to the rest of the lair. All I know is that they seem to be entered by a makeshift tunnel behind where Splinter sits.

Again, sorry for my terrible floorplan ^^; I did my best

[the-march-hair]

The Professors. (aka I do have more than one fandom… sometimes)

Draco and Harry in the future AU where they are the Potions and Defense professors at Hogwarts. (Whether you ship them or not I do enjoy them having a future tempestuous friendship!)

Harry’s design is inspired by the idea that his adult look evolved from “carbon copy James” and take into account the other people who helped define him (Sirius and Dumbledore specifically. He has quite a few questionably coloured robes in his wardrobe.)

Also the idea is that he looks very unimpressive. Anyone who meets him expects an image of a powerful wizard and end up with “that’s Harry Potter? no way!?” vibes. His students like him because he’s that cool professor, not because they are particularly impressed that he’s Harry Potter. Bonus he very much enjoys driving Professor Malfoy insane with his extremely casual appearance, often with additional Weasley jumper.

All in all he looks like he got dragged through a hedge backwards. If his hair was unruly before it just gets worse as it goes.

Draco however is never seen with a hair out of place. He’s a professional don’t you know? Unlike some professors.

[jewishdragon]

I mean. Your Harry does look like he took inspiration from someone who helped define him and that someone is Hagrid.

[mahtaniel]

Thank you so much everyone for your kind comments on my Greek pottery inspired silm piece!! <3

Here's close ups of each of the scenes in their own post:

Central panel: Morgoth as Gorgon

Scene 1.1: Feanor Smithing

Scene 1.2: Feanor and the Silmarils

Scene 1.3: Finwe's death

Scene 1.4: The Oath

Scene 2.1: Beren Finds Luthien Dancing

Scene 2.2: Thingol's Ultimatum (Melian, Thingol, Beren, Luthien)

Scene 2.3: Luthien Ensnared (Celegorm, Luthien, Curufin)

Scene 2.4: Luthien and Huan

Scene 2.5: Finrod's Last Stand

Scene 2.6: Luthien and Beren Steal the Silmaril

Scene 2.7: Carcharoth

Scene 2.8: Luthien Pleads Before Mandos (Note: Namo's upside-down torch is a symbol of the Greek god Thanatos, which represents the flame of life extinguished)

Scene 3.1: Death of Thingol

Scene 3.2: Second Kinslaying (Curufin, Dior, Celegorm)

Scene 3.3: Third Kinslaying (Maglor, Maedhros, Elwing)

Scene 3.4: Elwing Jumps

Scene 3.5: Elwing and Earendil

Scene 3.6: Earendil's Star Rises

Scene 3.7: Maedhros and Maglor Attack the Host of the Valar

Scene 3.8: Fate of the Silmarils - Earth

Scene 3.9: Fates of the Silmarils - Sea

Scene 3.10: Fates of the Silmarils - Sky

You can see all my references here.

And for folks asking about scale, here's a pic of me holding the piece!

[pizza-990]

"A Letter From Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" PLEASE READ IT THIS IS MY FIRST FAN COMIC EVER I BEG YOU 😭🙏🙏

I hope you read it all, and enjoyed!! Please share your thoughts about it, this is the first comic i ever made and i'm VERY excited, so your opinions mean A LOT!!! Also, I'm new on using Tumblr, so I'd really appreciate if you could share this in Tumblr terms (if you really enjoyed, of course 😊🙏)

[mynamewess]

On my sad bitch hours with this one /jjjj This is a scene in the same are as the doodle page with Endeavor, Shoto, Momo and Shirakumo! The audio used fit basically to a t T with the scene depicted so i had to make an animatic with it!

While the pmv never left the sketch stage, i ended up making formal wear concepts for Aizawa and Shirakumo that i could reference!

[mynamewess]

Im still really proud of how this animatic came out i love it so muchhhh

[mynamewess]

Aaannddddd this is the latest au art i have for yall in the moment! This was started a few years ago, but i decided to finish it for Aizawa's birthday this year!

[choraa]

so where’s the remastered version of this game?

[beansketches]

Anyone else feel like the 03 turtles should have been written to know Japanese?

Splinter in that version is an immigrant and given how much he tried to impress upon his sons the cultural values he has, not just in the teachings of ninjitsu, I feel like he would at least try to teach them when they're younger.

I feel like Leo especially would have embraced learning the language

[emeraldhonour]

I think the 03 Turtles do have a working knowledge of Japanese, or at the very least know more of it than the average 1990s-2000s American.

There are little bits and pieces of Japanese sprinkled throughout the show.

In the very first episode Things Change, Splinter uses the term 'kage' meaning 'shadow' while talking to his sons.

In The Way of Invisibility, Casey butchers the term 'bushido', and Leo immediately corrects him.

In S3 The Lesson, young Mikey comes up with the nickname 'Gorogoro-sama' for young Casey (his translation is a bit off, but he's a little kid, so we'll let it pass).

In Samurai Tourist, Donnie translates for Casey (seeing a theme here) when Gen calls him 'saru'.

And in S5 Demons and Dragons, the Ancient One prompts Leo to translate 'tatsu'.

There's probably more, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

All that suggests to me that the Turtles are at least familiar with Japanese, enough to translate it casually for their American friends.

There's also the theory that Leo is most likely speaking Japanese the whole time he's in Japan in The Ancient One. We as the audience just hear it all in English because it's more convenient and less trouble than accurately translating the script, adding subtitles for the western viewers, and teaching the VAs to speak Japanese (or at least read the lines with the correct pronunciation 😅). There's also the episode Fathers and Sons, which again takes place almost exclusively in Japan, so it's likely the whole family were speaking the language while there. (The tots don't speak much, so maybe they're still learning the language?)

Usagi's world, being that it so heavily references fuedal Japan, probably speaks Japanese as a primary language too, so again, Leo was most likely speaking it during his time there. The same is likely true for the Battle Nexus, Daimyo, Gyoji and Ultimate Ninja, so at least some of the family's time there was likely speaking Japanese.

If you therefore follow that reasoning, it's likely that the Ninja Tribunal's library is also in Japanese. Which makes it interesting because, although likely fluent at speaking Japanese, Lap of the Gods implies that Leo struggles to read it. Donnie, on the other hand, can, and this leads him to unlocking his mystic powers first.

(Or, the Ninja Tribunal being centuries old means their books were all in old Japanese, so reading them was probably similiar to reading Shakespeare. Which kinda makes Donnie's feat even more impressive 😅)

[prehistoricterrapin]

The only reason we don’t see raph use any Japanese is because he would swear in it.

[68spidey]

A new adventure without your brothers, Leo? How fearless of you.

Post Donovan second mutation and Shredder's attack dog era, he's getting some outdoor therapy and might accidentally bond with an ancient spirit dragon. Oops?

[egberts]

just a public reminder we got two buttons down there for everyone to practice clicking. it's good to be in the habit of clicking buttons in case you ever need to make a phone call in an emergency so this is actually really helpful

[1ncend1ary]

my boys, my lads

[kurool0ver]

ITS DONE!

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[talekinesis]

Hc that Merry and Pippin are Fíli and Kíli reincarnated

I think they have a sort of 'Adventure Time' like relationship, where they're destined to be together in every lifetime, and I think it's an intentional design by Eru

They've been dwarves together, they've been hobbits together, they've been humans together, etc.

Their bond is as close as it is because they've literally never been apart

And there doesn't even have to be some big reason behind it, Eru just saw that these two spirits were inseparable before they even started their lives, so he just made it so they'd always be together as friends or siblings

And I think Gandalf found this out after a while, and that's why he gives Merry and Pippin that look when they're dancing together, because he knows exactly who they are, even if they don't remember it themselves, they're just happy to be together, as they are in every life

Do not tag as ship or I will individually pluck every hair from your body, thanks

[1ncend1ary]

rereading fellowship rn