Christ Im So Autistic About Vampires

one of my favorite things to come out of the book of bill is bill basically canonically being slapped with a 60 y/o man so he cant look like a fetus anymore which means people are drawing middle aged human bills with facial hair and i love it so fucking hard

pass the olive garden breadstick to your followers 

Why are Vanitas no Carte and Owari no Seraph so similar????

So, like any idiot who likes vampire manga/anime/any media, I watched/read The Case Study of Vanitas but that wasn't enough so I watched/read Seraph of the End and it's always itched my brain with how similar they are. Are they both based on some other story or something? Because a lot of the character archetypes are the same and in the same places. First we got Mikaela and Mikhail which I mean the similarities are already there between the names and they both have lighter color palettes, and then they both have a "family" character with a darker color palette (for Mika it's more of a found family thing in the same way as TOH because I mean. Him and Yu are so fucking gay) that goes apeshit. And THEN there's the archetype of ageless god figure who is visibly feminine but also described as a man (and in The Case Study of Vanitas Luna is described as a "he" in the beginning, referred to by Mikhail as "Father," and referred to by Vanitas as a "woman" but uses they/them pronouns) and then they are also widely blamed for the existence of the main problem of the series (malnomens in Vanitas no Carte and demons/horsemen/angels/vampires in Owari no Seraph) I know it's really just a couple archetypes but they feel so similar and if anybody can tell me if they're related somehow (like based on a different story) I would be really thankful

I had a dream like a month ago where a super skinny, black figure with four eyes that was taller than my doorway was standing slightly hunched over in front of said doorway. In response, dream me asked him if he wanted to sleep in my bed. He then came to my bed, climbed the ladder... and proceeded to cuddle me. So I guess it works sometimes?

question: what happens when monsterfuckers try to seduce their sleep paralysis demon? does that ever work out for yall?

i just fucking rediscovered the movie that was my monsterfucker awakening???? like damn little me was onto something because the tall skinny nervous dude archetype still fondles my brain TO THIS DAY

(the movie is Strange Magic (2015) btw and I just watched it for the second time in my life because I only ever saw it when it was first in theaters and then proceeded to forget it existed)

to me the appeal of pathetic vampires is similar to the appeal of stupid cats. you have the teeth and claws to rip through flesh to your heart's content, but here you are. paw stuck to a quilt. staring woefully with eyes the size of saucers to get someone to help. same goes for a vampire failing miserably to use a touchscreen because his fingers are too cold.

based on a doodle i did in class. might come back and add a background but wabam. ryley robinson

shapeshifting robo bf ☺️ orb -> android

inspired by a post by @/kunchim2 on twitter

does anyone else ever

Let's speculate about Architect Society!

I think there are some misinterpretations about how Precursor society works. It makes sense considering how vague a lot of the canon information is, but let me provide some of my perspective and interpretations on what we get in canon.

Architect society definitely deserves more speculation beyond just characterizing them as a race only focused on progress. The current information we have about how Architects operate is underrated in terms of how interesting it is. They definitely aren't a stereotypical hive mind. How Precursors perceive themselves is different from how they actually appear to function. AL-AN's answers don't lack bias. He is an unreliable narrator and often withholds information, so it's crucial to look deeper into the information given and to read between the lines. Especially as not everything is explicitly stated.

Architects exist as a collective—data points in a network—but people often forget that they do not only strive for efficiency. What they do is try to optimize themselves to perform tasks in the most efficient way possible. They strive to achieve and progress their society. This doesn’t mean that they lack culture. They are certainly more streamlined and orderly than humans, but they do have cultural aspects that impact the way they view things.

Some examples of Architect culture:

Architects produce art as seen by the statue in the Koppa mining site and the statue in the Deep Lilypad Caves Body Cache. Even the alien carving from the first game is an example of Precursors producing art with subjectivity.

Architects cultivate plants in greenhouses even though they do not need to eat. Also, of course, they have the Ancient Ornamental Plants that they cultivate for aesthetic purposes.

They hold pride in maintaining and improving a vessel for a long time. If a storage medium gets damaged, they wouldn’t opt to immediately make another vessel—even if it would be the most efficient.

They don’t all use the most popular format for their bodies; there are certain Architects that opt for different styles of storage medium.

Architects consider it rude to duplicate themselves.

All of their technology has similar aesthetic characteristics and design.

Precursors are cybernetic and composed of biotechnological components, yet they start out life as organic beings. They choose to incorporate biological tissues in their vessels suggesting they hold some sort of social ties to being organics. They actively make the choice to incorporate organic components.

Precursors potentially carry some nostalgia for their pre-civilized bodies, considering they model their vessels after them.

Architects have a concept of prestige. AL-AN is noted as the lead scientist for the Kharaa research project.

They have special training for certain young Architects and a Temple of Research that they are inducted into if they are distinct enough from other broodlings.

So, Precursors do not necessarily always do what is the most practical. They can and do practice certain things for subjective reasons. They have emotions that influence their actions. These emotions may not equate to human emotional behavior, but they certainly have them. AL-AN himself expresses shame many times.

While Precursors are a hive mind, they aren’t entirely unfamiliar with the concept of an individual. AL-AN merely says that they don’t see themselves as distinct. However, it is acknowledged at many points that a mind within the collective can have its own traits. Perspectives that either come with a body or ideas and needs that a mind has. They are able to act autonomously. The biggest example is AL-AN himself ignoring the network.

Though a mind having its own ideas doesn’t negate Architects being a collective. Especially when those minds work in conjunction with thousands of other minds to support the needs of the whole. AL-AN is just a very rare case where an Architect gets the opportunity to act as an individual. Even then, AL-AN expresses that being disconnected from the network is lonely and uncomfortable. Aiming to regain connection despite what he did in the past. AL-AN only uses the singular because he's present with Robin.

Precursors being so advanced makes things a little more complicated when trying to discern aspects of their species. We can't push human ideals onto a race so separate from us. Architects—being connected by the mind—do not have the same social structures as humans, so it's unfair to anthropomorphize them with our standards. We can only speculate on how they might work. Just because one mind can have differing traits doesn’t seem to make them distinct enough to classify as singular (within their species’ definition anyway). I'd love for there to eventually be more information given to us about their society.

Besides, all of this isn’t even considering the many unused voice lines that remain in the files that I’d love to go over…