Chris Fischer
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surlybydefault.bsky.social
Chris Fischer
@surlybydefault.bsky.social
230 followers 120 following 1.5K posts
Curator of @Tikitrocious.bsky.social. On here & Mastodon.Social as @SurlyByDefault. https://linktr.ee/christopher.fischer
[Twitter/X Locked Jan 2025]

A middle-aged white guy who is casually into the fandom/gamer/myth & folklore/HeyScoops spectrum.
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surlybydefault.bsky.social
Dusk Widow Venusta
Arachnos Widow: Fortunata Training - Fortunata Teamwork
#CityOfHeroes
A woman in a tight green spandex looking outfit with gold colored shoulder pads and other accessories. She is wearing a diadem or sorts. She is holding a datapad and standing next to a soldier in chrome and white (an "Arbiter"), on some large metal grated surface. The text within the image reads as follows: Dusk Widow Venusta Fortunata Training - Fortunata Teamwork The problem with wanting to be an Arachnos Arbiter is, for a job that requires absolute loyalty to Arachnos over "petty factional politics," you have to survive all of those politics to prove you are Arbiter material. At first Venusta used prison tactics to survive: keep your head down and don't take favors. Establish working relationships, but don't confuse them as friends. Then she began to play a game with the Arbiters. She sucks up to them, stays in eyesight, and is willing to let them see she's standoffish to the factions. She's playing a different brand of politics. They know what she's doing. She knows they know it. She's never outright defiant to the power players in Arachnos. Venusta spends far too much time sidestepping their little traps and games. It's slowed her official career advancement. But there is no faction, no patron as important to her as being an Arachnos Arbiter.
June 3, 2025 at 4:11 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
Eclipse Zenith
Warshade: Umbral Blast - Umbral Aura
#CityOfHeroes
Image of a purple man in black and blue spandex, and lighter blue boots and gloves that fold at the ends. He has a purple and black filled circle log on his chest. He is standing on wooden docks, with crates stored under a ramp in the background. The text within the image reads as follows: Eclipse Zenith Umbral Blast - Umbral Assault There are maybe a dozen honest souls on Striga Isle, and Samuel Wren wasn't one of them. Everyone must be a little corrupt--that's just the way the world works. His few virtues were working hard when the pay was right, and not mouthing off when drinking. He worked for smugglers on the docks, shifting cargo quickly and doing odd jobs. Sam doesn't know how the Council left the crate behind, and still can't say for sure why he opened it, but something sped out and sunk into him. It was the fragment of a dark energy being, a Nictus, barely conscious, with no previous history of hosts. It should not have been viable. He briefly considering supervillainry until he found a support group. Older Warshades gave him sobering warnings. Now Sam's trying to set an example for his symbiote... pet? ward? partner? That's forcing him to be a better person and he's not thrilled about it.
June 3, 2025 at 4:05 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
"Squeegee Board"
Sepia-toned image of a Ouija Board on the wooden floor, and a window cleaning device in place of a planchette.
May 30, 2025 at 11:18 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
"Spider-Man (Again)"
The text "Dad Can we see Spider-Man again?" next to a modern Marvel iteration of the Iron Spider armor (with extra arms coming out of the back). The the text "No, kids. We've got plenty of Spider-Man at home." followed by images from the Japanese Spider-Man show, the Turkish Spider-Man ripoff, and the 1960s cartoon.
May 30, 2025 at 11:18 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
"Charlie Sheen's Drug War"
Image of Charlie Sheen looking either intense, angry, a touch unhinged or all of the above. Added caption in the style of pop-up video facts featuring a mound of white power and the text "This man confiscated all the cocaine from Club 57 and Area 51."
May 30, 2025 at 11:18 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
"Ominous Warning"
Someone posted an ominous warning sign from a ramble in England, an international sign suggesting a falling danger from unstable cliffs. I added medieval sun and demonic hand to suggest a figure caught between two supernatural forces.
May 30, 2025 at 11:18 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
"Patton" (for some reason @pattonoswalt.bsky.social made a comment asking for edits or something. Too many years ago for me to remember what I was doing and I'm not going back to the eX-screaming-bluebird site to find out.)
Image of Patton Oswalt in a mostly empty mall, wielding a sword and looking like the post-apocalyptic survivor in a cheap 1980s movie. The image has been distressed and added crinkles to suggest a badly preserved poster. The text added is "From the makers of Matt. Patton. This time, he's funny."
May 30, 2025 at 11:18 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
"Lie Back and Think About Butter!"
A takeoff of all the weird margarine brands, the top lid shows icons of butter churns. The product name is "Lie back and think about Butter!" It is "Recommended by the Broken Heart Association," "5400 calories per tub," and "Made from 55% broken dreams/45% vegetable oil. Get used to it because it's all there is left. Net weight 45 oz (2 lb 13oz) / 2.7 kg"
May 30, 2025 at 11:18 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
"Mando Blooper"
Image of the infamous blooper from the Mandolorian where a stagehand in jean shorts was half-viewed in a dramatic science fiction gun fight. Here that stagehand is replaced by the mascot Gritty.
May 30, 2025 at 11:18 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
"Feck Off SIgn"
Wooden sign hung by thick twine. Burned into the wood is "Feck off Fascists and Pisspuffins (all others welcome)."
May 30, 2025 at 11:18 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
"Critical Gonzo"
A screenshot from Critical Role, doctored so that Gonzo the Great is sitting where Liam O'Brien normally sits in that campaign.
May 30, 2025 at 11:18 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
"Epic Colin Crawl"
One of the Colin long rambling stories in an Animaniacs episode rendered in the style of the Star Wars opening narrative crawl.
May 30, 2025 at 11:18 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
"Advent Colander"
Image of a stainless steel bowl and a cordless drill.
May 30, 2025 at 11:18 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
A thread of some miscellaneous images I've thrown together over the years. They're usually a quick photo edit thrown together in under half an hour. They were posted to the eX-screaming-bluebird site.

"Cracker Bard"
Image of a fantasy bard with weapon and floppy hat kneeling down and leaning against a barrel. In similar font to a certain restaurant is "Cracker Bard."
May 30, 2025 at 11:18 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
Both.
Historic image of an act with a person dressed in half-man persona in tails and top hat, half-female persona in frilled dress, dancing with themselves and holding themselves.
May 25, 2025 at 4:18 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
You can tell it's a bootleg because they just took images from the promotional material and slapped it on a t-shirt. What sort of low morals and work-ethic would you need to have to do that?
Image of a T-shirt, front and back. The front says "The Whisp Sisters and the Soggy Sepulchers" and the back has chibi or little people (humans who have one of the possible types of dwarfism) representations of Ossea and Claret, the emo and goth twin sisters.
April 29, 2025 at 4:35 PM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
Katie Kludgework
Corruptor: Psychic Blast - Electrical Affinity
#CityOfHeroes
Image of a mottled grey robot hovering near a much larger, copper and black robot. The text reads: Katie Kludgework Psychic Blast - Electrical Affinity Primal Earth calls her home dimension "Crey Corporate Earth." It's where Corps have even more power, and Crey pulls even more strings. The majority of super hero or villain activity falls under one of the corps. On Crey Corporate Earth, it was the Crey Troubleshooter Blue Shield that slew the Clockwork King. Unlike Primal Earth, he did not survive. Even Crey Corporation, with its meticulous dossiers, with its chemical, biological, and broad-spectrum energy analysis of any metahuman activity, underestimated the Clockwork King. While they understood he was a strong tele- and psychokineticist, they presumed it was the limits of his power. They neither appreciated he was one of the world's strongest psychics, nor that he had forged friendships with a number of psychics around the world. And in the moment of his death, his power reached out. Fading by the moment, some reacted. They built.
April 15, 2025 at 4:47 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
I'd better bring out the rest of them while I'm thinking about it, then.
Faux-vintaged image of a canal in stone catacombs. Accompanying text reads: "Mr. Ailts should like to remind all of our staff and committee members that the subterranean canal is reserved for living passenger traffic on Tuesdays. "(Federal holidays excluded." In a faux-vintage image is a table, on which is what may be a regularly sized terrarium/glass tank with a miniature hedge maze. Accompanying text reads: "Due to an unfortunate incident, all activities in the Blue Room are suspended while repairs are underway. "Mr. Ailts reminds us all that handling the Fiji Minotaur is not a right, but both a privilege and a responsibility." (Apologies to S. John if he's reading this.) Image of a formal library, alternating large glass windows with bookcases. In the center of the room is a writing desk and an impressive chair. Outside the windows appear to be entirely oversized albino fish. Accompanying text reads: "Mr. Ailts requests that whoever borrowed his sterling silver pen return it. He should also like to announce that whoever took the jade inkwell is now its owner for all purposes."
April 2, 2025 at 1:16 PM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
A vintaged image of a solarium at night. The shadow of a bat is seen in the upper-left corner. Text on the image reads: "Mr. Ailts claims he is under strict instructions to allow the bats free roaming of the solarium between midnight and dawn. "I believe the instructions come from the bats."
April 2, 2025 at 12:44 PM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
Rusted Rook
Brute: Psionic Melee - Electric Armor
#CityOfHeroes
Image of a coppery metallic robot standing amidst mechanical contraptions known as the Clockwork, on a decrepit bridge in a ruined city (Boomtown). The text reads: Primal Earth calls his home dimension "Crey Corporate Earth." It's where Corps have even more power, and Crey pulls even more strings. The majority of super hero or villain activity falls under one of the corps. Blue Shield brutally slew the Clockwork King of that reality, but unlike on Primal Earth, that was the end of him. Crey collected the body and, years later, used it for their "Project Parthenogenesis" program. They were not impressed with the results. Subject 390-43789-2 was the closest to success, but he was a pale copy of the original. Some environmental factor was missing. The personality training didn't take well. The subject was incinerated. Trauma, and the desperation to survive, unlocked Rusty's powers. The Subject leapt to a new clockwork body and destroyed the lab. He fled, taking the biological samples from the original with him. He now calls himself Rusted Rook, and obsessively seeks out artifacts associated with the original Clockwork King.
March 9, 2025 at 5:35 PM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
Insomnia sucks but it gave me the chance to swoop in and take a picture while you were on a break.
Heroes in the basement of Portal Corps
January 21, 2025 at 10:34 AM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
January 19, 2025 at 1:59 PM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
I can make out my character's name, but the costume choice and the power special effects totally blurred her out.

Screenshot by the event organizer (@Anyad on CoH: Homecoming. Original post discord.com/channels/572...)

#CityofHeroes
Very busy battle scene where the earth superheroes are using snow and ice powers (or their special effects) against the invading aliens in what looks to be an amphitheater but is actually a concave portion on top of their mothership.
December 25, 2024 at 12:41 PM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
<croons> I'll stay home for Christmas...
Close up image of Rumplemintz peppermint schnapps, dark and milk chocolate cocoa mix, mini marshmallows, and spray whipped cream.
December 24, 2024 at 4:36 PM
surlybydefault.bsky.social
So I don't lose this on the the eX-Screaming-Bluebird site.
Image of an alternate social media site's posts from me. Post 1: "Dagon was a wonderful film. Totally ripped off Splash, though. A protagonist, who by conventional measures should feel is successful and fulfilled, wants more out of life. By the seaside, he meets the woman of his dreams, but society tries to keep them separated. (1/2)" Post 2: "At the end, he discovers she was a part of his life all along, and in true love they escape to the ocean's depths. (2/2)" Post 3: Left Image: Daryl Hannah as "Madison" in "Splash." She has a red and gold mermaid's tale and is lying on the beach. Right Image: Attractive woman in a carved wooden bed. her bottom half all tentacles. Feel about that as you will.
December 12, 2024 at 12:13 AM