probably won't be finishing this anymore than it already is for the art blog so i just post it here. did this a while ago for discord. taro's eyes are notably, form a distance, almost black--with a slight purple tint. it's only when you look a little closer that you can see the rings that make up a lens structure. these rings can constrict and expand depending on what spectrum they're looking through. you can even sometimes see the vibrant chemical blue of their blood flowing through the fractals, on occasion.
the old chart to tell which they're looking through!!
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taro smells like bleach and copper, especially that clean pool smell. the copper especially is pretty prominent given it's one of their main components when making them. then that chemical smell is just ... you can't remove them from that, and they are quite literally filled with a potent acid that, when exposed to air is so pungent it can sting the nostrils and skin. most of the time though!! it's a light smell, akin to walking past a clean pool.
what do your muse’s hands feel like?
taro's hands, feel like glass. they're segmented, constructed of interlocking plates that are surrounded by an ever growing persistent crystalline structure. they feel like a mechanical porcelain doll. like a puppet that's a little too heavy for how it looks. fragile, but sharp, with added sheddings of what feels like plexiglass every time a layer of that 'glass' sheds off. it's smooth, almost soft, but bites at the corners.
when they're wearing their gloves, you can barely feel the crystals beneath unless you squeeze a little together, or focus on the details. the inconsistencies of what a person's hand should feel like inside a glove.
does your muse have a good singing voice?
technically, yes...but they don't sing, and it's only by technicality. taro is able to sing because their voice isn't exactly ... theirs? if they were to "sing" with the voice they usually use, it'd be almost uncanny the longer you listen. something's wrong about it because it's being made from other voices. singing and melodies start to show the flaws in the amalgamation of their voice.
does your muse have any bad habits or nervous tics?
kinda-- but they're intentional. taro does a lot of little things, especially fiddling with their hands or messing with the fabric around the back of their neck as a way to make them seem more human. sometimes they'll glance around, or tap their foot, but ultimately they have to intentionally be doing that or they just will stop. if you ever had the opportunity to see taro when they don't think they have any eyes on them, they just go suddenly very still like a statue.
what does your muse usually look like/wear?
big puffy clothes. oversized jackets and hoodies. anything to cover their actual silhouette. the only exception is their pants, taro does wear thick fabric pants, but they usually wear something that is a little more tight. sometimes they'll wear sweatpants, but it depends on the day.
is your muse affectionate? how much? how so?
not really. they can be, but they don't really know how to. they've observed people being affectionate, but they haven't spent too much time trying to mimic that due to never being in a situation where they need to have those mannerisms. eventually they might be, they just aren't right now.
what position does your muse sleep in?
most often, taro just kinda sits there. they sometimes perch, but on the whole they just sort of find a spot to sit and they shut down like that. this comes from just how they slept ... the majority of their life. which was sitting down on the ground in the middle of a glass box. taro didn't really ever use a bed and given their weight they can't. really use most beds. nor do they really want to. there's no reason for them to use something that they can't really feel due to how their nervous system works.
could you hear your muse in the hallway from another room?
if they wanted you to, sure! or if they're talking louder as a way to mimic the other person they're talking to. it really depends, ultimately, on what they're talking about and who they're talking to. taro usually ends up being on the shy or quieter side--but there are times where they increase the volume of their voice as a way to mimic the other person they're talking to or based on the subject matter of what they're talking about.
no here's the problem. taro knows they're a robot. they know that, as a machine, they basically can't die without all of their circuitry being fully destroyed. they're like YES self preservation important but also i could learn so much and i can always just recover. it does not help that they cannot feel anything, so they can't feel fear; and pain doesn't come across to them the same as it does with human--there's no permanent mental trauma. it simply briefly is, then fades, and is gone. it doesn't linger.
ALSO. a great benefit to writing taro emotionless is the possibilities when they're interacting with characters pretending / trying to be emotionless. as well as like—and its something that i think about a lot when i am writing taro—the idea of how many times can you humanize something before it doesn't matter that it isn't human? it's— i can't quite find the words properly.
but even though taro can't feel, they pretend to feel ... and those emotions often feel so real to people that it becomes a matter of, from an outside looking in, how much does it matter when peoples' denial of what is becomes the truth. to taro nothing changes, they aren't sentient, they can't feel. but to someone who keeps denying it, perception is everything.
everyday i write taro and talk about taro and emotions i'm like man maybe i should make them sentient and then i go no its way more interesting this way.
a friend brought up the fact that so often there are robot characters who start out acting like they feel nothing then by the end of the story, you realize oh they can feel oh!! but there really aren't many stories that play with the idea that no, they can't. or that something starts out thinking it can feel just to realize it can't. it's an interesting lens to play with and as a writer it is so fun and [emotionally stressful] to write a character who is doing everything Not for emotion or morals or will, but for code. it's fun to go through the thought exercises of trying to find reason for why something like taro would do the things they do or act the ways they act based on their directives.
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okay here's a very very rambly thing on my umbrax / ultraviolet lantern canon and also about my critiques about the actual canon etc etc.
okay this is going to be my ramble that is just my thoughts. i.e., i'm going through the comic and grabbing the stuff from the actual comic and going to talk about it because i'm insane. i will make a much better and more understandable post later. this is more so that there is at least a post describing it beyond the very vague sentence or two in my carrd.
starting off here's some things i'm going to talk about in no particular order:
umbrax
ultraviolet lantern corp
the allegory of a cave
the fourth world / the source [specifically the source wall]
analogous evolution (kinda)
justice league 2018
cosmic entities logistics
okay so let me start out with some context here. i had no idea what umbrax was, i was already kinda planning to tie the lanterns in some way to taro have a talk with my some of my wonderful mutuals who made the connection way before i did [shoutout to m for saying that hey it would make sense if taro's light powers had some connection to the lantern stuff; shoutout to quarters for being that last push for me to actually go crazy go stupid]. i vaguely knew about the ultraviolet corp's existence from something, funny enough, ic where taro asked about all of the colours and got a mini explanation about all of them, including ultraviolet! i was a little curious, but mostly just slid it into the back of my mind.
i really started to look into it when i was expanding upon a rework of taro's dc verse involving, specifically, the fourth world. since, now, that is a huge part of how and why they exist! apokolips, their influence. it got me back into looking into the lantern connection, into possible concepts i could use or play with. and thus...i found the thing that has a total of like 6 appearances, and i read all of the issues that mention or involve the corp and the entity of umbrax itself and i was left. super disappointed!! i don't really like :') the original concept. i think it's boring and doesn't have the potential it very well could go into when expanding on an idea of something like unseen light. so. lets start with just a run through of specific things that make me go OH!!! from the comic itself.
okay so first of all the idea of unseen forces is really interesting at it's basis. also this idea of inherent knowledge, or this expectation that comes upon someone just by laying their eyes on it. there's very little explanation for why this happens, it simply is. it's as if seeing something that is not meant to be seen is inherent to the mind to go--this has to be hidden, this has to be sealed. it's something of the phrase, some things are better left unsaid(or in this case, unseen). also this idea of total destruction is like oh god!! this is a threat, but we don't really know it's nature beyond that. i like umbrax's introduction. i like how they introduce it, it's a very like. cosmic thing!! which makes sense, because it is, and even when we see it later; it's not a person or something that even seems conscious. it's represented by this ... planet, that just sorta appears. i think that's at a concept, really fascinating. in my mind it's like this looming shadow that's ever present, unseen, but always there. like a thing that lingers in your peripheral but when you try to look directly at it, it's not there.
so here's where i get kinda :/ !! like i get where they're coming from with this, and the idea of it could be neat. this idea that umbrax is something that is unseen, it's those unseen emotions ... but ultimately it just comes across as it's negative emotions on a whole which-- granted!!! i'm still learning lantern lore. i don't know all of it. but that feels like it's already been done. when they introduced umbrax, it feels more like a force that is distant, but ultimately held within everyone in the same way everyone has a shadow. and it would make sense given the whole ... umbrax name, umbra. shadow.
i'll talk about this more later when i get into analogous evolution, but there is an immediate something i really like that i lean into heavily with my canon of what umbrax is. that is this idea of umbrax being similar to the entities of the other lantern corps ... but not being the same. but again, i'll get into this later, i'm just going in order of what shows up in the comic.
SO. just gonna send these first.
OKAY here's what i like. i really like the idea that this thing--umbrax--has it's origin in the source, specifically the source wall. and this is where i really start to diverge from what's canon and start to just kinda hyperfixate on a couple details and go crazy with just that.
for starters. umbrax being born from a literal splurge of anti-life breaking off a fragment of the source wall. that's the basic concept i got from this and kinda go with when it comes to how it exists. and then we tie in the allegory of the cave and the name of it being umbrax and we're getting somewhere!! i'll expand on this in a second (this is a rambly post, i'm so sorry jIODSFJIOSDF there's a lot to talk about)
there also being an idea that, like a plague or a dark shadow, umbrax traverses through planets and literally spreads ... seemingly something akin to anti-life. which would make sense!! especially if it were connected or born from a fragment of the source, or the wall.
it is the idea that umbrax itself is unseen, it literally can't be seen through the visible light spectrum because it's ... literally not in that spectrum, it's ultraviolet. it's invisible!! it's the shadow--the umbra--of the fragment that it can be visualized through. that shadow being created by the source--the light as it's sometimes called--being directed at the fragment of the source wall ... and creating the visual of the umbra, umbrax. umbrax itself probably looks different or can't even be comprehended, but through the light of the source, it can be visualized in one way or another. i would say the actual fragment of the source wall is this thing. which is literally no bigger than someone's hand.
this thing is umbrax! or at least, it's shadow is the visual of umbrax, and umbrax itself is ... either inside the fragment, it is the fragment, or exists manifested against it. either way, this is the closest thing to physical we will get to umbrax.
it is sentient in the way that ... sentience is what makes sense to the mind, to something that goes on and consumes, but doesn't exactly feel as it doesn't have feelings. rather than taking the idea that umbrax is this unseen feeling sorta thing, it's ... okay here's the way i see it! and we're gonna get into the analogous evolution part. more metaphorically but it works nonetheless.
( also huge note. i'm still learning lantern lore, so some of this might be inaccurate or vague </3 i'm still learning and reading BUT!!! )
umbrax is meant to be represented by ultraviolet. ultraviolet is not. even a colour. like yes there's the idea of ultraviolet as a colour ... but ultraviolet is a WHOLE ANOTHER LIGHT SPECTRUM. it's a same category to visual light. visible, ultraviolet, infrared, x-ray, gamma, etc etc. these are categories. they are similar, but in my mind as reference to the lanterns they are whole other categories. in my mind, umbrax and something like ... ion. resemble each other from an outside view, but that is all the resemblance they actually have. they aren't born from the same thing; not inherently. they aren't related in anyway except for visual. they share similar potential, but they aren't the same thing in the same way ion and adara are.
it's that way that the "ultraviolet lantern corp" isn't actually a lantern corp. it's looks like a lantern corp, it shares similar traits, but it isn't actually something that is even related to connected to the rest of them. it isn't visible light. it's a whole another thing. it is mentioned in the same breath as something like the green lanterns not out of accuracy, but out of it being the closest thing that resembles it.
now this is also important to remember and think about. some of this doesn't even matter. FJIODSJFIOSDJOIFSDJOF LIKE!!!! these are logistical things that make me insane but ultimately, it doesn't matter. :') kinda. to an extent. i think it's fascinating LMAO
it's also something to be said that in canon, umbrax isn't born from the source wall being fragmented, the brief break in the source wall only reveals what was already there. in a way that still sorta applies. i think umbrax, in my canon, existed at all times; but it could only be released from the source wall when the fragment was broken off. sent through space--out of the fourth world--to become a drifting shadow that may influence the universe wherever it casted it's shadow.
i don't know :) i think it's interesting. also the idea of the allegory of the cave tying into it in a loose sort of fashion but nonetheless in a way that makes me pretty insane. i.e., umbrax literally being the shadow that draws people in to watch while not being able to comprehend what is actually being casted. the idea that umbrax isn't exactly intentionally doing anything, it's simply that it being casted upon the walls drives the human mind to it's own lulling of security. that it may manipulated to drive people to madness.
it's also this idea that i don't think that ... umbrax is sentient in the same way people are. i don't think it intentionally does. anything, not right now. it's that idea of emptiness, or of the unseen! in the way that the emotional electromagnetic spectrum is ... emotional; umbrax, ultraviolet--that doesn't have the same property as corps do because they aren't. emotional. it's unemotional.
which ties into taro. in that taro is literally meant to be a ... sorta contain for umbrax :') because taro is emotionless, they aren't sentient, they're literally this stable thing that can act as the new "seal" for umbrax. how did that exactly happen? well that ties into apokolips and gets into another hell rant that i don't know if i should get into because this is already 1,700 words jFOIDSJDIOGDG BUT!!!! basically, you took that original fragment of the source wall, you found it, you cut it into a buncha little pieces, and put those pieces into each attempt.
this is actually why taro is still connected to all of the deceased attempts. because they're all linked together by umbrax. it's in that way that the "ultraviolet lantern corp" exists. in a way, taro and the rest of the attempts are the corp. not in the same way that the green lantern corp is, but it's close enough in visual that the comparison still works in it's own way. taro is sorta the :') sole member of the ultraviolet corp, because they're the only one that's still alive.
also this should be said that given this is the case, the actual EVENTS OF JUSTICE LEAGUE 2018 INVOLVING UMBRAX / ULTRAVIOLET ISN'T APART OF MY CANON ... because if it were it really wouldn't work and make sense LMAO. but i take the concept as if the events never happened. which is pretty much fine for most people since prime earth really is a hit or miss sorta thing :') i like the concepts, i'm taking the concepts, and i'm ignoring the plot.
that being said.
this is really cool and i love the idea that umbrax is there and always is there, it's just waiting for the light to shine and reveal itself. it's that umbrax exists and is always sort of present...it just takes the right light to shine and see it. it's why it connects to taro so well in that ... taro is literally a manipulator of light. they are the fire to shine upon the action to create the shadow--to create umbrax as a visible. it's !! i don't know :) it's really fascinating. there's no intention to umbrax, umbrax simply exists and by it's existence there is shadow, there is the emotionless that drives people to madness.
i think that's something that kinda makes me go. i like the idea of umbrax encouraging the "unseen emotions" or whatever that the comic was trying to push ... but i don't like the execution in that. the reasoning behind it--in my opinion--should be due to the fact that people are emotional. and their emotions react to umbrax in rage, in sorrow, in these negative emotions that drive them to acting out of control in one way or another.
this is also why taro is the only attempt to live ... taro was the only attempt that didn't have emotion. ultimately, anything that contains umbrax has to be emotionless, has to lack sentience, has to lack conscious thought, to be able to properly contain it. otherwise, umbrax being comprehended will cause it to falter, to fail, and to spread it's shadow wider.
the only part of the panel above that i don't like is the last bubble of "and earth just joined its ranks!" but that's just because in my opinion i think :) it's already there, it's just waiting to have a light to shine over it, to cast it's shadow.
but anyway. summary. umbrax is like the entities of the lantern corps. but it isn't one. and ultraviolet corp resembles a lantern corp, but isn't one. umbrax was born from a fragment of the source wall breaking off. that fragment's shadow is the visual representation of umbrax. the fragment was found by apokolips. stuff happened. i didn't talk about the deo in this post this post isn't about the deo. a fragment got of that initial source wall piece got put into every attempt they tried to make a weapon with faux lantern ring powers. and then all of them died. except for one. and that one, is this fricken rat:
who by the way doesn't even know because they literally can't feel anything and as i've mentioned before in this post, emotions are most vulnerable to umbrax, and those that can't feel anything. are perfect containers for umbrax.
anyway. pats taro. this thing is so full of anti-life entity. i need to stop writing. i hope you enjoyed this rant. if you got to the bottom. ily :) i hope your brain did not turn into soup while reading this. i promise it makes sense. kinda.
head empty but smth smth the trope of a robot caring about animals despite not feeling anything. like do they actually care about animals. no. but something about how they act specifically around animals just has the gentle and care to it that makes me crazy.
