SO i've been wondering. what do flowers do, or like what are they in society? are they like a minority species? considering every non-corrupted character other than lythorus has been a shape and the only thing the flower citizens have done is get corrupted and take the role of evil boss minions, including george, that most likely means they have no abilities in and of themselves AND that flowers live separately from shapes
i would also have guessed the population is small if lythorus is said to be the leader of them, as in them all and not an area or town or something, but then we're shown like a billion corrupt flowers during the tree monster fight?
would there be discrimination between shapes and flowers, especially because lythorus seems to be the ONLY flower with abilities [and we've never seen the tree of life be relevant to flowers in any way – unlike how shapes with abilities have a fragment of the tree. maybe this implies lythorus has a tree fragment too? was he born with it?]
ok this is the first time in a while I've gotten something new to think about worldbuilding-wise in such a long time I'm gonna CRY my brain is FINALLY GOING WITH THIS SERIES AGAIN ABOUT WORLDBUILDING STUFF /vpos
What do they do?
I think flowers for the most part would be the same as shapes. The center of Paradise with the Tree is their home, similar to how the Kingdom of Spheres exists; it's specifically, but not exclusively, for them. They live there to take care of the grounds the Tree of Life is normally on under the express guidance of the Sun; now in anticipation of heroes, caretakers, and groups arriving.
Are they a minority?
I would think so, yeah. Despite there seeming to be so many of them, I think shapes would still vastly outnumber them overall considering how much more land there is which is populated specifically by shapes. We've seen overlap of shapes in "flower areas" but have seen nothing vice versa, leading me to believe that while it's not impossible flowers might live elsewhere, many if not most simply choose not to.
However this does not take population density into consideration, only potential density based on land quantity. Not to mention land quality being a crucial factor as well. The communities of shapes we've seen so far, while decently sized, still seem to be pretty small. So who knows, maybe flowers are the majority!
Would there be discrimination between Shapes & Flowers?
I wouldn't expect there to be; there seems to be no root purpose for it. You look at the discrimination happening between groups of people today, and there's normally some sort of systemically traceable purpose. Such as keeping the poor in poverty because the rich want to stay rich & get richer. So they stigmatize them to hell and back so people don't try to help them, thus keeping rulers ruling. There's nothing significantly different enough between flowers & shapes that could lead to genuine discrimination from what I can tell. Perhaps some hc history would be necessary for that.
Abilities? Leadership?
Considering we see Lycanthropy with abilities, and Cube specifically states that he's sparred with Lythorus before, it isn't too farfetched to assume that flowers absolutely can (and do) still receive abilities / fragments. However perhaps instead of being placed in groups, they're placed in or adjacent to leadership over the rest of the flowers. Hence why Lythorus is in charge.
Circling back to the question of discrimination, perhaps there's less flowers with abilities by comparison to shapes, leading to tension over one side "pulling more weight" regarding the protection of Paradise than the other. This could have furthered any potentially preexisting divide, hence why we see Cube owning a house near the Tree's island, but why we don't see flowers (unless corrupted) outside of central Paradise. Aside from this I cannot think of any reasons for tension between the two. Perhaps I'm too optimistic about groups of individuals' views of each other though.
ok usually i dont really like iris that much, but i went on the TPC fandom wiki and found that someone theorised that iris is plural since he acts different sometimes. i'll do y'all one better: iris has BPD. he's shown to have a black-and-white mindset, he was probably splitting which is why he was caught off-guard by circubit being corrupted, he's defensive over who and what he loves and cares about, he rarely tries to negotiate a solution, and holy shit yeah he probably has bpd
(btw i say this as someone with bpd myself ^^)
-circu/🎧
aside from the ones I've already talked abt in great detail lemme think uhhhh
Spheer & Rincle will randomly start pointless beef with each other for no reason besides that they think it's funny. They never get serious about it; it's always light-hearted fun. But those who don't know them might think they're actually genuinely fighting. That is, before the laughing fits ensue.
Something that I've touched on before but wanna talk abt again: I think Iris & Pentellow are total bookworms. I'd like to think that they have an extensive personal library somewhere in their house, considering the house looks fucking ginormous from the brief clips we've seen of it. If it's a particularly slow or sleepy kind of day, they'll just sit around and quietly read in each other's company. Oh and they try to read the same books so they can geek out abt them together.
Aside from his borderline unhealthy obsession with plants, Cintagon is scarily well-versed in astronomy. He could probably draw you a star chart at a moment's notice if asked, and label everything on it too. With flawless accuracy no less. He's owned at least 3 telescopes over the years. One of which I get the feeling Circumsphere accidentally fucked around and found out with. He very promptly replaced it, don't worry.
Pyrare regularly writes letters to friends. And when I say regularly, I mean regularly. If you don't get a letter on time, either you majorly fucked up, or you can assume he's dead. The letters are always written in illegible grandparent cursive as well. Iris is the only one (aside from Gold) who can actually read his handwriting though. Just comes with being a royal previously surrounded by suffocating amounts of different flavors of cursive from everyone in the castle I guess.
Post-corruption, the heroes agreed they wanted to meet up every once in a while. So they'll meet at a different caretaker's house each time they do. Although that does mean Iris & Pentellow's house gets visited twice. They don't mind it though, they like having the heroes around. So this in mind, every so often the caretakers can expect to just randomly find 2-3 extra children in their house at any given time.
Cube drinks and enjoys black coffee. He just doesn't see the need for additives. He's given at least 5 other people in his life a heart attack when they realized what he was drinking. Iris in particular was mentally fucked when he realized. Because I get the feeling that he isn't a coffee guy. At all. He's a tea person through and through. So not only does his friend who's 5 years younger than him drink coffee, he drinks it fully on its own. And likes it. Iris still has yet to recover from this fact.
If left corrupted for long enough, there can be permanent effects even after fully uncorrupting. It can manifest in different ways, whether mental, physical, or a mix of both. Cube sees quite a few aftereffects, usually showing through habitual behaviors or speech patterns Cubic used popping up from time to time. That and his scar can temporarily turn slightly purple for a bit (mix of blue & corrupt pink).
I'd like to think ever since Circumuscle started his personal journey towards "cube-level strength," Rincle started joining him to train every so often. Considering the only ability we've seen from Rincle thus far was "use non-descript orb to punch a twink" I think she'd have some extra regard for her physical strength & fitness as well. They're not necessarily gym rats, but they're definitely on it when it comes to fitness. They work towards their individual goals together while keeping each other in check and holding each other accountable. ✨ They balance. ✨
Speaking of Cee & Rincle, there is a particular phenomenon which occurs when they're generally around one another. They both have at least one braincell; they're functional on their own. But the moment you put them together somewhere the braincells cancel out and suddenly there is dumbassery and shenanigans galore. It is wonderfully chaotic, and Spheer very much enjoys watching from their front-row seat on Cee's shoulder as shit goes down.
Despite not having the brightest of moments, Tsavorite is actually really smart. He just prefers cruising over hardcore critical thinking. He's quite literally Gold's opposite in that way.
yeah that's all I got for now
here's some links to more hc stuff I've done if ya want :]
actually, more on the discrimination! would there be some kind of societal class difference between shapes who have abilities and shapes who don't? if we go with the "made with fragments from the tree of life" thing, that does literally mean they are born better and more capable than other shapes
and are shapes with abilities sort of obligated to be part of a group, or just obligated to protect others, or neither? for this one i think it depends on the area, but is it something like all shapes with abilities are destined/fated/supposed to do that or can they live completely average lives
ooo this is interesting okay lemme do a big think
There could be! I don't think it would be super widespread, but it definitely could exist. Perhaps it could vary per area.
For example:
Poly Forest is objectively the most diverse quadrant of Paradise thus far in the series. Due to seeing large differences in natural abilities/advantages (cubes' strength, pentagons' physical immunities, etc.) they likely would view groups & shapes with abilities as good protectors. In turn, groups view the protection of the masses as their responsibility. They quite literally take the "with great power comes great responsibility" approach, and embody it fully with no exceptions or ulterior motives to that role.
Whereas perhaps in an area such as the Kingdom of Spheres, with their history being steeped in the relevance and power of the royal family (and the singular "higher power" in general), those with abilities might view themselves as "more than" the average shape. The masses might view them that way, too. By comparison to Poly Forest: they don't see a range of natural abilities. Everyone and their mother has exceptional speed, and that's it. That's normal to them. And they see nothing different outside of that. For someone to have more than that is exceptional.
As far as obligations for shapes with abilities? That heavily depends on whether they exist OUTSIDE of groups! Thus far, we have yet to see a shape who has an ability who isn't a group member, caretaker, hero, or an individual case (as a relevant character), such as Lythorus, Circubit, et al. (Monster shapes do not count, as it seems natural for them to have certain abilities not explicitly tied to having fragments. They are a bit of an enigma in this case.) I have no clue what's up with them in canon, but taking it at face value, it could imply that there are, in fact, those with abilities outside of groups. Considering the purpose and social construction of groups, I can only imagine what those not in one, but still possessing abilities, might be expected to do. Maybe it's like the "you look like an employee, you should help me" dilemma in grocery stores. They've got an ability, so they must be a group member, and must be here to help, right?
I realized I have a few too many hcs for a few too many TPC characters so I wanted to post about them. so yeah enjoy this impromptu list of all the perceptions I have of certain characters ranging anywhere from normal to "what the fuck did I just read". Starting with:
Pentellow's love language is physical touch. Not just in romantic situations; I think it's just her way of showing she cares. I see it in everything from her running up to Iris and giving him a hug the second she sees him to her taking Cube's hand while having known him for less than 5 minutes as he's mid-mental-breakdown.
Iris hates dancing. It just kinda brings him back to when he was stuck in the palace. To him, it always felt like it was some forced chivalric showcase that, at the end of the day, meant nothing. His exception for that is Pentellow. He found some inner healing from getting to dance with someone he actually cares about with no expectations attached.
Cintagon has been in the middle of at least one barfight. He didn't participate, of course, he just watched shit go down. And may or may not have used the surrounding chaos as an excuse to find out what breaking a bottle on the edge of a counter like in the movies feels like.
I'm calling it now: Circubit listens to Queen. I'm being so deadass rn he gives me those vibes and I cannot shake them.
Also I'm willing to bet Circubit has a ginormous collection of inline skates hidden away somewhere. No one knows where he gets them. He just does.
Cube is really good at singing. He's not mainstream celebrity levels of good, but he has a kinda cozy singing voice, if that makes sense. His stage fright is so immense that he never does it unless he's alone or with people he trusts (aka Lythorus or Cyan). On occasion, if he's in an exceptionally good mood, he'll start humming a tune and the others will get just a little quieter to listen.
Squadril has done some borderline illegal shit. Cus for right now, he'll shuffle the deck and guess your card, but for his next trick he'll make your right kidney disappear.
Spheer is giving creepy-crawly enthusiast. Like they'll point at some random fucking entity on the ground and go "friend!11!1! :D", will lecture you about the 36 different ways it can kill you, and then proceed to pick it up and carry it around for the next 10 minutes.
I think that should be good for now. Might share more of them later, we'll see.
