3 Below - Tumblr Posts
Drawing a character for pride everyday, day 11: Steve and Eli from The Tales of Arcadia series - Bisexual (+ trans) [headcanon]
I love the Tales of Arcadia series and it’s such a shame Rise of the Titans never came out and never got the chance to ruin the entire series /j
I am simply going to pretend that movie does not exist, thank you very much
Stuart from 3below!!! I really liked this character, hes cute and fun. I can’t wait for more of Tales of Arcadia
Arcane Order!!!
(they’re on a hike and can’t read the map right :/) ANywhoo! Lets get started:
First up is Bellroc. I didn’t change too much about them except for some skin and clothing details. Also the “de-clothed’ part is more-or-more what they lounge/sleep/whatever in so thats a heads up. They aren’t too keen on fashion and how certain clothes work so you’ll pretty much find them wearing over 6 layers of clothing and mix matched socks and shoes..
Next is my favorite ice cube Skrael! I changed up their outfit a bit such as the strings and coat(because they did him dirty with the most bland outfit of the three smh). Most inspiration was taken from the concept art. For his disguise I took the same excuse with Bellroc, but he wound wear a dress since it kinda correlates with his robe(also hear glasses cuz why not?).
And finally Nari. I added more of a creature/animal style too her because I felt that the horns kinda weren’t enough? But I made her fit more neater than her older siblings since she’s been hanging around Douxie and he shows her some drifts of modern fashion. I liked the horns but they didn’t fit my design of her in a way, so I redid it!
(bonus drawing)
gotta hate fathers who created you then left you for more than 3 billion years smh😒
Aighty then, these might be my last sheets so im going to make them count!
First up we have Zoe and Douxie. I made Douxie a little darker since he spends most of his time outside(especially during his stay in Camelot). A did redesign Zoe a lot, especially her uniform. We don’t see any looks on the uniform except for one scene. And I wanted to make em look more punk since they just look emo smh.
Next up is Krel(my bbg). I wanted his future design to incorporate Gaylens Core(since I fucking LOVE that theory). And I was also thinking of giving him longer hair. But so far nothing changed, but the future design has cuz Aja got one and Krel didn’t smh
Finally Aja. Though not really my favorite I didn’t wanna do her dirty unlike the writers. I gave her shorter hair to kinda differentiate with her brothers. And I made her look the same as her brother in the human disguise!!! She looks much better tbh
some ramblings about the mess that was Rise of the Titans....
first of all. those character deaths were not only unnecessary but they were BRUTAL and far more intense and painful to watch than they needed to be. as a movie that largely targeted for kids and family and is only rated G, did I need to see Nomura shattered into a thousand pieces, Strickler get blown up, Nari turning to ice like that, and Toby literally getting crushed and dying IN FRONT OF JIM?!?! im not saying there couldn't have been emotional moments but the brutality of those scenes just went way too far. not to mention that there ended up being no point to this anyway bc now they're not actually dead?? either way it was awful to watch
second. If they wanted Toby to become the Trollhunter, why not just have the new amulet choose him?? That would have been such a good twist. instead of going to jim, the new amulet flies to toby who saves Jim from Bellroc. It's a great twist, it'd be great for Toby, gives the inspiring message that anyone can be a trollhunter, and it's a good conclusion to Jim's arc as he no longer has to be the trollhunter after going through so much.
which leads me to three. AFTER GOING BACK IN TIME WHY WOULD HE GIVE UP THE AMULET AND HAVE TOBY BE THE TROLLHUNTER???? we spent three seasons explaining that Jim was CHOSEN for a reason. he had to be the trollhunter. now how are they going to defeat Gunmar, Morgana, etc.
which of course is four. going back in time like that was stupid. it erased every single thing we've watched. essentially the series ended with "it was all a dream." seriously, remove the part about toby finding the amulet and that's exactly how it ended. every single relationship? gone. every character arc and journey? erased. no closure was given to anyone. we didn't get to see where they ended up at the end of the series. there WAS no end. claire lost all her sorceress powers, douxie lost all his beautiful development in wizards, aja and krel??? we dont even know what's gonna happen with them now. they even half assed strickler and barbara by just having jim set them up. sorry how is that gonna work out if we don't see strickler's whole arc of changing to be one of the good guys?? would he even do that now if jim wasnt the trollhunter??? ARGH I HATE THIS ENDING ITS SO STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!
and finally. the movie was just so anticlimatic. after the first battle scene, so many characters were underpowered. Douxie literally fought the Arcane Order in Wizards and now suddenly he's being thrown around like a ragdoll. Claire is suddenly just like "sorry ive exhausted my powers" at like 5 different points in the movie. she never even got to have an insanely badass scene like she deserved. what was the point of even bringing up jim's dad? we know he's irrelevant, who cares?? archie and douxie separated after being together for centuries and just being like "oh well, hope he's happy" like ????????????? what the HELL was the aja/steve shit??? that was just stupid and uncomfortable and took up screen time that couldve been used for real development and plot.
in short, this movie was terrible. I've loved this series so much and I used to consider it flawless. the characters are amazing and the story was so good. i'll always love the tv shows so much but i genuinely hope to forget this movie even exists. I'm just so disappointed by what should've been an epic conclusion to this wonderful series.
Lost in the music
Also like. Can we PLEASE talk about 3Below more? I love chef knight and wizard musician stuff, but 3Below had so much to its narrative about the importance of family, the effects of war on different groups of people, trust, responsibility/duty, and immigration and refugees.
It takes "aliens trying to fit in with people and learn about Earth" to:
"Aliens- as in undocumented people, immigrants, refugees who DIDN'T WANT TO HAVE TO LEAVE THEIR HOME- trying to find a place to stay and regain their footing; while society hunts and perpetuates them for doing ANYTHING other than what is expected of 'native' people, for embracing their culture and heritage, EVEN THOUGH these 'aliens' are willing and want to try to learn about living in this new place too."
Y’know there’s something tragically poetic that the only few explicit poc protags that toa have has a storyline aspect where he’s often forgotten/ignored by most of his classmates and teachers, only to then have that conveniently applied towards the writers themselves by refusing to give him further development after their own installment and relegated him a side character, and then have that still be applied towards the fandom in being the one out of four protag that gets the least amount of content about them.
Yes I am referring to Krel Tarron thank you very much.
i think that it's really important how krel faces the majority of human racism during 3Below. he's visibly a latino and has darker skin than aja. krel also has the same quirks as her. but it's her quirks that are seen as cool and his that are seen as weird.
he's also a math genius, and it's constantly called into question how he is doing so well, with the racist man is season one claiming that he cheated solely because 'everyone knows people like him aren't good at math'. even the bounty hunter weaponizes this in the next episode.
there wasn't really a point to this post, but i think that it's really important that in a kid's show, the latino boy is shown to be accused of cheating simply because he doesn't 'look' smart, and the show explicitly calls this attitude out as wrong and does not give it any excuses. and the latino boy is given shades and dimensions to his character and allowed sympathy and rage for his losses. you know, the way all people should be allowed.
everyone shut the hell up they’re so fucking cute
commission me!!
The end of 3 Below, and the culmination of Aja and Krel’s opposite arcs, will never fail to make me tear up.
Aja, the girl who hated being a royal and was so scared of ruling, as well as embraced earth and fit in there, returns home to be a leader.
Krel, the one who struggled to make connections and acclimate, finally makes friends and decides to stay.
It’s beautiful. And depending on your personality type, I think all viewers can relate to one of the two.
I wish we got more 3 Below content. And more content with Aja and Krel in general that isn't rise of the titans
i’m not one to tear down a successful queen ever, but there are moments throughout 3below where aja genuinely needed to get off the screen and let krel actually exist as one of the co-protagonists of the show, and allow me to drop some helpful examples:
the fight with halcon (1x07)
not saying that aja should be erased from this completely, but something that always pissed me off about this is that instead of letting krel help and fight alongside aja, he just gets knocked unconscious. which, okay, sure, stun him for a second like halcon did to varvatos, but when he comes to he can help! but then when he DOES wake up, he’s… instantly knocked out again, like literally instantly. what the fuck. not to mention, when halcon first attacks, it’s on krel (and ricky) alone (one of the rare moments that krel’s part of something without aja involved), so you’d think they’d give krel some stake in the final fight against halcon. and i’m not saying he needed to be the one to get the dramatic final blow on her either, in fact i love how varvatos just wakes up and one-shot blasts her to pieces in the sky. i’m just saying i think krel should’ve been an active part of the fight.
the battle of the bands (1x12)
this one’s not really as major, but it only slightly annoys me because i’ve always felt like most people were cheering because of aja’s vocals/dancing rather than krel’s music (save for eli and seamus who directly compliment him, they’re real ones) especially when krel literally has to clarify that HE’S the main act when someone in the audience cheers for aja. again, not the biggest deal, just a silly music competition, but it feels weird for the show to frame it as krel’s major legacy moment when moments earlier he was still being sidelined by people in favor of his sister.
rescuing varvatos (2x02)
this is by far the one that pisses me off the most. as we see in both 1x12 and 2x01, krel is VISIBLY more emotional and affected by varvatos’ betrayal being revealed. to the point where tears ROLL down his face, and he ALMOST EXECUTES varvatos on the spot, and his emotion in the season 2 premiere coming out in apathetic anger, but then we see him curl up and break into more tears when finally confronting his feelings on what happened. it’s literally HIS IDEA to go to the moon to save varvatos anyway. only, when the plan gets enacted, it’s… aja who gets to free varvatos from his cell. so where’s krel? playing dress up in the space tavern’s main room and getting hot-potatoed between dozens of bounty hunters. this makes me unbelievably upset. you show that krel is massively more affected by the events than aja is, but then he’s not even granted the courtesy of the 1-on-1 that aja and varvatos get as she frees him? say what you want about anything else i’ve mentioned, but this is a moment that 110% should’ve belonged to krel and not aja. also the fact that krel doesn’t even really speak directly to varvatos for the remainder of the episode once he’s freed. if anything, they kind of just gloss over krel’s internal conflict of being angry at him vs wanting to rescue him, another flaw in the usage of krel as a character.
also keep in mind that this is in no way meant to come across as anti-aja or anything like that, especially when she’s my 2nd favorite protagonist and 3below is my favorite show in the trilogy by a long shot. i mainly am just trying to criticize the show’s handling of its one and only dark-skinned protagonist and how him going severely underused in his own show and look at things through nuance, because there were plenty of moments krel could’ve been a part of things where he wasn’t, and it sucks that in both canon and fan spaces he goes so criminally underlooked. this has just been my two cents. this is longest tumblr post i’ve made in a while actually.
the blanks are SO underrated