Icon from a picrew by grgikau. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
my new favorite hobby is coming up with speculative anatomy for fictional aliens - i think it would be cool if Cardassians were a little more snake-like since their silhouette was meant to emulate a cobra, and also it would funny if cardassians had tongue-flicking and gaping behaviors like snakes and lizards do. only, they’d probably have a ton of weird etiquette rules and hang-ups about it, lol.
i am going to talk aboyt my cardassian gender theories to you all and prove that garak and ziyal are both transgender and you cant deny it because my theory is sound. okay so. you know the blue that appears on cardassians foreheads/neck ridges? i actually dont think its makeup but actually is part of their skin say like how male peacocks are brighter while the females arent its like that kind of thing so the women are more colorful ANYWAY. WHEN seska returned to her cardassian self halfway in voyager the ridge on her forehead had a blue coloration when there was absolutely NOOOO way tht she would have access to like. makeup and stuff on a cazon ship so it has to simply be just how their skin is so onto why garak and ziyal are trans when we see ziyal she has NO blue on her forehead ridge and you may say “Well uhm its because shes half bajoran” youre WRONG because when seska transitioned from bajoran to cardassian she only made it halfway and yet the blue was still there so ziyal SHOULD have it but she doesnt which is why. she is transgender mtf. ALSO in the way of the warrior we see garak with what looks like a very translucent blue on his forehead ridge which i theorize is peeking out because he forgot to cover it up with makeup so we see it one time wwhich makes him also transgenderbd. you can not deny my theory. thank you
@tirlaeyn no I don’t think he’d get something he hates I think it’s literally just to Look Sexy
like it wouldn’t even be a design of a person or object, it would be more like. Some fancy line art or geometric design? @mullroy has also theorized about carving little channels into scales and putting metal filling into them, etched designs filled with gold or silver or bronze (NOT in the context of the ass tattoo specifically, I feel like I should mention for the sake of his honor. This was general cardassian tattoo talk)
and yes he’s a spy and tattoos aren’t necessarily ideal for that profession but I also feel like medical technology has advanced enough that removal would be easy and straightforward so he can get an impulse ass tattoo or etching. As a treat
OMFG KINTSUGI-ESQUE CARDASSIAN TATTOOS!!! I love it!!
I like the idea of a geometric pattern for the ass tattoo, but he is so sentimental. I feel like it would have to mean *something*. Might be a very abstract concept tho that would only make sense to him XD Sounds about right.
Ok, but what do you think Cardassians swim in? Do they swim with their regular clothes on or do they
because showing shoulders=slutty?
I picture them in 1800s-type men’s style bathing suits, but the first option opens up so many new possibilities! Maybe that’s like the speedo of swimsuits - slutty but technically socially acceptable.
Cardassians swim naked.
Well that could make for a hilariously awkward hollosuite date with Garak just stripping without warning leaving Julian all flustered.
Excellent either way
this idea wouldn’t leave me alone so i wrote some fic about it at 3am
flustered Julian & nonchalant Garak under the read more
i did a parafin wax treatment on my hands the other day & it made them so ridiculously soft.
it got me thinking that cardassians might have a similar spa treatment, especially if we’re rolling with the headcanon that they go through periods of shedding. maybe not so much for getting rid of the old scales, but for the new ones when they’re still soft and fresh?
or maybe it’s just a luxury self care thing they do, who knows, but either way i can see them really enjoying the heat & relaxation effects.
I know it’s probably just altered but I like to think that Garak has two versions of this outfit with different necklines.
I hope his closet is full of variations on the same outfit arranged by how much neck he wants to show on any given day.
It’s also the same with his yellow and purple suit
And his watermelon suit
It looks like with the watermelon suit that the collar is adjustable from an undershirt layer. The other ones look like they’re entirely 2 separate suits.
Maybe he needs the different collar lengths too for when his neck ridges are swollen/puffing out.
Or maybe he wants to show off that as well?
My headcanon is that – after being super slutty the first time he approached Bashir (in the watermelon suit without the undershirt) and then toning it down – he lowered all his necklines between seasons 3 and 4 either (1) because he started sleeping with Bashir or (2) to try to get Bashir’s attention because the, er, “subtle” approach wasn’t working.
Just saw a post saying it’s a sin we never got to see Data with his shirt off. Which I agree!
But also this is how I feel about Garak. Sigh. Idk why he would have been shirtless in any particular scene, but did Jim Kirk ever need a reason? I rest my case.
On the one hand? I agree. But on the other hand there is the problem of lizard aliens probably not having tits, thus making a shirtless scene played by human actors (humans, of course, being b'tiddied), and the makeup team being likely to just hand-wave it, which would make me very sad. So I find it nice that they never tried bc that way any shirtless scene in my head won’t be spoiled by a bad one that actually happened
This is a fair point. Altho! They are mammalian reptiles as I understand it, so they do have breasts.
Exhibit A:
Plus they at least have to be able to have children with the obviously mammalian Bajorans, which seems much more likely if they are a sort of mammal/reptile hybrid. Which honestly, is only our attempt to apply Earth terminology to an alien species. They really aren’t mammals or reptiles because they did not evolve here.
But the argument that it would put undue stress on the makeup artists and the actors is valid and likely the reason we never see shirtless Cardassians. But I still want it, because I am selfish and greedy lmao And no matter how much excellent art I see, it would be very satisfying for me personally to see how they would look in canon.
EDIT: To add that I totally get not wanting a headcanon spoiled by subpar canon. That is absolutely valid.
