dryflesh

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Hello. To you, I am dryflesh. No more and no less.

☆ I'm an avid writer, currently attempting to publicize my fanfiction without experiencing some of the worst second hand embarrassment known to man. I also like to share headcanons and blatant nonsense.

☆ While I like a lot of different media, I currently write for Cranium Command, Murder Drones and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. I’ve also done anonymous work for Invader Zim.

☆ Do not interact with me if you post real photos of graphic NSFW / fetish content, are prejudiced in any way or enjoy starting pointless shit.

✎﹏ https://archiveofourown.org/users/dryflesh

I totally get why his personality would lead to a well-constructed AU like this, but I personally can’t see it based on how I interpret the character.

Cortex absolutely strikes me as someone who’s emotionally fragile. He undoubtedly carries a lot of anger regarding that replacement, but instead of taking it out on others, he seems like the type to take it out on himself.

An example of his severe distress and self-blame when faced with failure is actually in the demo audio, when he’s under the impression that he got Bobby in trouble with the principal. If you listen closely, his voice breaks and he sounds like he’s about to start crying. You can hear the exact moment that cocky, confident front collapses, and I built a lot of my characterization for him based on that. (More text under the video)

Cortex talks so much trash about the corporation in my AU, but what does he actually do to take it down? Nothing. He concludes that he can’t do anything out of fear (which he isn’t wrong for), and that wrath and sorrow end up psychologically harming him, and him alone. If he were to execute a revenge plan on Buzzy, I think something similar would go down.

"It's pride month, Chuzzy. You know what that means." General Knowledge said.

"Huh" Buzzy responded in confusion.

"Do you want us to make. Like. Gay brains or something. What"

"Look behind you" said the General, smirking as he walked away.

Buzzy turned to see Left Brain and Right Brain kissing.

"Oh"

(Meanwhile)

"Wait, Cortex. You went to college to become an engineer, right?" Sito asked the captain.

"Yeah. I've still got that talent, if I do say so myself." Cortex boasted.

"Well, it's pride month. You know what that means" The brunette said, starting to walk off.

"Huh? Do you want me to make. Like. Gay robots or something" Cortex tilted his head.

"Turn around." Sito said.

Cortex looked behind him to see Robot Butler kissing Hypothalamus on the cheek because Hypothalamus has no mouth.

"Oh"

AND I CHEERED‼️ LET’S GOOOO‼️‼️‼️

I really love the idea of those two being close friends. Present day Figment knows a thing or two about loss and neglect, the real-world parallels between him and Buzzy (as well as Dreamfinder and Hypothalamus) are seriously so sad. As a result, it actually makes a ton of sense for him to have the understanding and compassion needed to successfully seek him out.

I’ve always been under the impression that it took place in an alternate universe that’s an amalgamation of different time periods.

How I see it, adventuring, the plague and activity reminiscent of those cartoonish pirate stories from the Renaissance were all occurring simultaneously. Thus, it merges the 1600s-early 1700s and confirms the stories later told in the early 1900s. The show deems that activity normal for the time period and just satirizes it as a form of historical ridicule.

Nonetheless, it’s canonically up to interpretation and I really love that. I’ve heard so many good theories and ideas over the years, it’s great.

———————-

I really want to rewrite how Jax handles grief once the finale comes out, but the current state of the fanbase leaking stuff terrifies me and I don’t know if I want to get involved with it in such a large way just yet.

I accidentally clicked on the tag last night and went down a rabbit hole (funny) where I found out a lot of stuff about Jax’s overall character that I never thought of before. While I want to focus mostly on his/her relationship with Ribbit and Kaufmo, I also want to eliminate some things he/she has done that I strongly disagree with and adds nothing to the intended depiction of complex mental illness.

100,000+ words later, my main AU for Cranium Command is finally complete.  I do plan to add more of these in the future, whenever I think of something at random (like I always do). However, with this, all my ideas for the main storyline have been turned into a reality. If anyone has any questions or statements regarding anything, feel free to reach out through my ask box.

All of their scenes happen extremely fast. Sito speaks three times, and Trousdale twice. “Burton” has one line and was named by me, whereas “Neo” has a singular gesture…yet I gave her a name and a plethora of lore.

Still, I adore how much you get from them based on such little time. Thanks to those three lines, Sito is immediately established as someone playful and snarky in her free time. Trousdale upholds an externally serious demeanor, yet sports life is known to be beyond chaotic and full of parties.

On the other hand, however, there are so many opportunities left untouched. We don’t see Burton get into a craft, why not? Did Neo know Buzzy prior to takeoff, or was she just annoyed by his reckless enthusiasm?

Answering these questions and creating Neo in particular has genuinely been so gratifying and cathartic. She’s not the most likable character ever, but she’s a product of my mind nonetheless. They all become indirect products of my mind when they’re inside of that one shot collection.

The way I see this show is so heavily influenced by 90% of the stuff that I’ve made up. Of course the attraction’s not that deep (nor was it ever intended to be), but to me, it IS. With the inclusion of Buzzy and Cortex, these are fleshed-out characters that have existed in my mind for so long, I’m so happy to finally get to share how I’ve seen them for years on end. They really do deserve love and attention.

Below is a photo of one of the signs that hung up in the Cranium Command queue (courtesy of Disney Indiana on flickr). Obviously, the mention of Cortex is a central focus, but what really has my attention here is what’s underneath that.

“This week’s special - 2- LOBE COUPE.”

“2-lobe” can refer to the bilateral lobes of the brain.

There’s a chance that “coupe” stands for “coup-contrecoupe”; two (2) traumatic brain injuries that often present together. A “coup” is defined as when the brain strikes the skull immediately upon a blunt impact, whereas a “contrecoupe” is “a contusion to the brain that occurs at a location distant from, and typically opposite to, the site of impact to the head.” (Natural Library of Medicine).

Obviously, the sign was played for laughs; it’s a damaged brain being sold off at a high price in “perfect condition”. Still though, after all the slop I put together in my AU, the discrete worldbuilding here is absurd. The implication that CORTEX’S CRAFT WAS THE ONE WITH THE HEAD INJURY is so, so good. It would explain why he was scrapped as well. Very interesting stuff to speculate on.

For my final presentation in creative writing, it was obvious so many people used it to write their pieces. I’ve noticed that in fiction, statements like, “that landed”, “there was a beat” and the extreme usage of “—” are heavily accredited to the machine, only truly made evident when you see them in specific places throughout multiple works. The professor literally called out how odd the frequency of it was, yet chalked it up to a “generational thing”. It’s concerning.

He DOES come close to getting it, only for his palm to be turned incorrectly. Even though it’s easy to miss, it adds so much to his character having him completely blow it.

(Something about Cortex’s little head tilt here is oddly cute, yet so bittersweet)

Buzzy

-Buzzy listens to whatever’s on the radio. He always asks Bobby’s parents to turn it on in the car, and makes an effort to say something good about everything that plays. He really likes what they did with hyper and indie pop in the 2000s and he has a great time playing certain songs on repeat.

The only thing he doesn’t really like is loud music, yet he’ll tolerate it if someone he cares for wants to listen to it.

Cortex

-In the ‘90s, Cortex was ABSOLUTELY listening to dad butt-rock; and when I say “listening”, I mean, “face-down in the command center, sobbing to Nickelback and Creed”.

In the early 2000s, however, someone dropped an MP3 player with My Chemical Romance’s debut album on it in the queue. The second he got his hands on it, it was over. The emo / post-hardcore phase was immediate.

(His favorite song since 2018 has been “The Ghost of You”)

Sito

-Extreme metal. She doesn’t do it to look cool or dupe unsuspecting others into listening to it, it’s genuinely something she enjoys and appreciates. She prioritizes instrumentals over lyricism, so those distinct riffs are primarily what keep her coming back to the genre for more.

Surprisingly, she also doesn’t mind country music in the slightest. Despite being raised in Texas, she never got tired of hearing it. She really appreciates the acoustic guitar and people who know how to play the banjo correctly.

Trousdale

Trousdale is a massive EDM + club remix person. It reminds him of his days spent piloting frat boys, where he spent weeks on end going to raves, toilet-papering houses and crashing random parties. Play him some Skrillex and he’ll probably start doing backflips.

(Unbeknownst to his comrades, he’s also a DJ. He doesn’t have anywhere to demonstrate his abilities when he’s around them, so he doesn’t see the point in bringing it up.)

Neo + Hypothalamus

-Neo and Hypothalamus both listen to classical + orchestra music akin to that one Samsung ringtone almost every single person over 70 has (https://youtu.be/k9_We6518SE).

Hypothalamus is very reserved about it, and is extremely well-educated regarding the genre as a whole. He knows what he’s talking about, and is often respected for it. On the contrary, Neo boasts and brags about it like it’s the best thing ever and all other music is trash.

Burton

-Burton listens to everything because he’s Burton.

Mainstream pop, hip-hop, classical, rap, rock, R&B, bachata, J-Pop, K-Pop, folk, throat singing, chanting, country, yodeling; you name it, he likes it, and he’s always willing to discover more. If anyone appreciates art on the Cranium Command, it’s him.

General Knowledge

Music distracts him from getting his work done, so therefore he finds it annoying.

However, this doesn’t mean he’s against it as a whole; he’s very glad it exists and is fully aware of the amount of talent it requires; that is, until it’s the Cranium Command marching band (Which IS a thing in my AU; that’s where the pre-show chant came from).

Introducing, the one and only, LIVER.

He’s similar to The Ventricles when it comes to threatening morbid outcomes every time Buzzy gets on his nerves. Agitate him once and Bobby gets jaundice; can confirm that’s not fun.

(Jimmy Kimmel can play him to compete with the Jimmy Fallon Universal attraction or whatever, I don’t know shit about late night TV)

I feel like it’d depend on the situation established and how they’d bounce off of each other personality-wise.

General Knowledge dislikes his granddaughter primarily because she’s the independent, “I-do-what-I-want” antithesis to his definition of structure and order. She literally went into endocrinology with the government name NEURO LOGICAL, that was the nail in the coffin for Gramps.

I personally see him as someone with zero interest in romance, so he strikes me as the type that would adopt to pass his legacy down first and foremost. Therefore, because he took in a kid out of his own free will, it’s more likely that he’d try to bond with them. I think he’d make a bigger effort (albeit a stern one) to get them to stick around and follow his path when opposed to lashing out or shoving them to the side if they refuse a few times. It’s a closer familial relationship than just a granddaughter, so there’s more leeway.