#(is literally the one who made and designed them)

[genericpuff]

The Derivative Fashion Sense of Lore Olympus

So I'm usually out here going Gordon Ramsay on Rachel's ass about her writing and art, but for this unsolicited essay I will be wearing a different hat.

Yep, we're going Miranda Priestly today. Specifically the Miranda Priestly who talks fashion, not the Miranda Priestly who abuses employees lmao (though rest assured, I'm gonna have a lot of curt words throughout this).

Disclaimer: I am not at all an expert on fashion, these are just my thoughts and observations from studying fashion styles as part of my own artistic journey, so as always, take what I have to say with loads of salt. I also realize the irony that I am addressing the derivative nature of Lore Olympus when I, myself, am creating a derivative retelling of Lore Olympus.

Alright, enough small talk.

There's this general misconception in runway fashion that all those "impractical outfits" are meant to be worn by the average person, people such as myself who see these outfits and go "what the fuck do you mean Lady Gaga wore a dress made out of meat?!" When we see these crazy fits, our first impression is often "Why would anyone wear that?"

Well, because they aren't outfits. They're art pieces.

And not only are the outfits themselves art pieces, but the people wearing them are the canvases. These outfits aren't designed for just anyone to wear, especially not your average Joe, they're designed both with the artist's vision as well as the model in mind. A lot of thought, expression, cultural influences, and personal messaging is sewn into these designs.

Think about it this way, you couldn't take that aforementioned Gaga meat dress and put it on Taylor Swift. Not only would it not be physically tailored to her, but it wouldn't align with Swift's brand of music. Gaga, at the time of wearing that dress, was making a statement that came about from a collaborative effort between herself, the canvas, and her fashion designer, the artist. The meaning would be lost if you put Swift, Katy Perry, or any other musician into it, because the fact that Gaga is the one wearing it is part of that meaning.

What would happen if you did take the meat dress and put it on someone else? Well, that's how you get the controversial 2022 Met Gala when Kim Kardashian wore the sequin dress that Marilyn Monroe wore for JFK back in 1962.

Not a replica. Not a re-interpretation. The actual literal dress that Monroe once wore. This was a very bold - and in my opinion, reckless - move on Kim's part, because not only was she forcing herself into a dress not tailored to her (and yes, there has been deliberation on what damage was caused to the dress on account of this) but rather than working with a fashion designer to come up with a fresh new interpretation of the same concept, she just went "yeah I'm gonna wear the exact dress", in what many interpreted as a disrespectful power move to artificially put herself on the same level of prestige as Monroe. But she still isn't on that level of prestige and it speaks volumes that she thought carving out her own legacy would be as simple as just taking someone else's. The wolf wore the sheep's clothing with the intent to fool the sheep, but it was still a wolf.

But okay okay, WHAT does this have to do with Lore Olympus?

Well, Rachel released a new interview clip.

I will say, these seem to have all been recorded at once probably when she was back at NYCC and they're probably going to be released daily leading up to the free release of the finale. Why they're hyping up the free version rather than hyping up the FastPass version that actually generates income, I have no clue, but I digress.

As always, the transcript is as follows:

"I really like looking at like, uh, vintage clothing and silhouettes that are... y'know, timeless. I mean, obviously it's really hard to future-proof work that's set in the modern setting because of course the times are gonna change, like, rapidly and there's not a lot you can do about it, but in terms of, like, fashion, there are just some silhouettes that are always going to look very classy, so... I try to put things that will not age. Like, I think there was a chapter recently where she [Persephone?] had like a very vintage Dior look which I really liked, um... and I feel like that will always look nice, like in 10 years time I'll be like, 'She looked good'. But there are some outfits which are more modern where I'm like, 'That probably won't look good in 10 years time'. But, y'know, we still got the inspired vintage Dior outfit so that's good, that's safe."

There isn't much to say about the actual transcribed text itself, but I do think it's very telling that Rachel tries to upsell her sense of fashion sense in LO when... much of it is just flat out derivative. At best she's often referencing real life people (mostly Hollywood celebrities) and at worst she's usually just grabbing stuff off Pinterest inspo boards without any consideration towards the influences or who she's putting into them.

That said, I do think she told on herself quite a bit in that final line of the interview clip - "that's good, that's safe."

I can understand wanting to play it safe in terms of knowing your limitations and not wanting to create something that would be dated in a few years.

But fashion... isn't about playing it safe. Because ultimately, how something ages in the long term isn't something that you, the artist, can control, and like many art mediums, you need to be focused on what to create next, not on how well your old art pieces still hold up in the present where they've been removed from their original context.

And I think this rings true for a lot of Lore Olympus, beyond just the fashion. It's all just a little too safe. We see it in the fashion, we see it in her uncommitted writing decisions, we see it in how often she's willing to retcon things just to write herself out of corners.

And I think that's really Rachel's biggest weakness as a creator at the end of the day. As much as she's tried to put on the persona of "screw you, I'll do what I want", her actions are always the opposite of what she says. She says that the fashion in LO is very vintage, but I can count on one hand how many outfits were actually vintage. The vast majority of them are a lot more modern, with a lot of Western influences, and sometimes with a boob window thrown in.

Case in point, the most recent outfit of Persephone wearing a practically-nude sparkle dress?

That's Rihanna's Swarovski dress that she wore in 2014.

Now, to Rachel's credit, she did find a way to personalize this to Persephone by removing the cap and giving her a rose-shaped bun, but the outfit itself is still just copied directly from Rihanna. Not only is there not a whole lot of Persephone's influence beyond her being literally made out of roses-

-but there isn't anything calling attention to the fact that this is a Greek myth retelling. And this isn't just a problem with the Swarovski dress callback, this is a problem EVERYWHERE.

And of course, that's not even touching on the fact that Hades and Hecate are forced to wear suits constantly. Because, according to Rachel, the fashion inspiration for Hades and Persephone only went as deep is "he's the groom and she's the bride"-

Rachel plays it safe by sticking purely to the inspirations she consumes from modern American media. The "modern twist" on the myths in LO is literally just "it's Greek myth but it's set in Los Angeles". She doesn't seem to want to put herself out there and actually consume Greek content any deeper than what she can find on Google, and it shows in how little Greek there is in this Greek myth comic.

There is, ironically, as I've been told by community members in ULO, a fashion collection called Persephone created by Paolo Sebastian, and in it you can see the actual Greek influences in these outfits far more than what you see in even Persephone's most visually stunning outfits:

These are dresses and yet Paolo uses them as an opportunity to tell the story of Persephone, somehow even more faithfully than an actual written adaption of The Hymn to Demeter. Because fashion, too, can tell a story - and Lore Olympus' fashion, like its writing, has no story to really tell, at least not in Rachel's hands when she's just pulling whatever she can find from what she treats as a pile of "stuff" on Google.

And that's not even getting into how the writing plays it safe much in the same way as the fashion influences and artistic choices. A good example is that S3 premiere sequence, in which Hades and Persephone are pulled away from each other so that... they can get washed down by their family and peers.

Rachel doesn't really do anything to re-contextualize this reference for the context and setting and circumstances of LO, she just goes "I liked that bath scene from Beauty and the Beast so I'm going to put it in LO."

And of course, it doesn't work as effectively as it did in Beauty and the Beast, because the whole original point of that scene was to showcase the big and scary Beast being washed down like a dog by his servants-turned-into-furniture while he stresses over how he's going to win over Belle. It's a comedic subversion, artistically by showing the ferocious beast reduced into a wet dog, but also on a narrative level by showing through his dialogue and actions how nervous he is to impress Belle because his own fate - as well as the fates of his servants - depend on her falling in love with him. He can't afford to mess this up.

But in LO, it's two naked people who we already know love each other and are committed to each other, we've already seen countless scenes of them being sweet on each other and showcasing that they're into each other, and by all accounts they've already gotten their happy ending, so it makes no sense for them to just be like "OMG SHE LIKES ME?? I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE LIKES ME!" "should I seduce him?!?!??" because this seems like a no-brainer and there's zero actual stakes riding on this the way that there was with Belle and the Beast. Plus the people washing them down aren't their servants who are in the same situation as them, they're random gods from the Pantheon whose affiliation ranges from "family" to "never even had a conversation before". One of the women washing down Persephone has literally never spoken a single line of dialogue to her; another one of them was literally dumped by her partner because he wanted Persephone more than her. Who are these people and why are they enthusiastically appearing to give her a bath? Why is Hades being given a scrub down by his own brother?

And that's really the most striking difference between inspired references and derivative ones. Undertale was a game created by a guy who was in love with retro games like Earthbound and Megaman. Stardew Valley was a game created by a guy who loved Harvest Moon and used to play it with his girlfriend. Content that's built on the foundation of another is natural and the basis of inspiration, but you have to go further with it than just going "yeah this thing existed and I'm taking it", otherwise you miss the purpose of why those inspirations were created the way they were.

And when you don't actually explore how you can re-interpret those influences and add your own voice into them, that's how you wind up writing like Rachel whose writing is about as inspired as a cheap character swap cutaway gag from Family Guy.

Rachel's great at referencing, but that's not at all an impressive thing to do as proven by Peter Griffin. She's not at all re-contextualizing or expanding on what inspired her... but she still claims that she's exactly what she's doing because she calls Lore Olympus a "deconstruction". But her deconstruction only ever goes so far as "well what if Aphrodite left Ares for Hephaestus instead of the other way around?" and then just showing that question and never answering it or delivering on the potential of what that could cause. At best, she'll ask a "what if?" but then never actually show us the what if, it begins and ends with the question and the question itself doesn't provoke any thought deeper than "huh, yeah, that would be neat I guess." Episode's over, next scene. What if we showed that clip of Bill O'Reilly freaking out on set, but like, replaced it with Stewie Griffin and changed nothing else about it except for that? That's the joke, next scene.

I know, we're digressing hard off the fashion here, but the fashion itself is just a symptom of a much bigger problem that expands even beyond Lore Olympus - Rachel plays things way too safe. Even her responses in her interviews are painfully subdued, often resorting to the same tired answers that we've heard 823190589320 times before to the same hand-picked questions that are undoubtedly chosen ahead of time to ensure she doesn't have to answer anything too complicated. And when she does say "I have thoughts about xyz" she never actually... expresses her thoughts. She just says she does and then moves on without any further elaboration because she can't wholeheartedly commit to whatever thoughts she has going on.

Granted, I'm sure that part of that is owed to the fact that she might feel like she can't say anything while the critics are breathing down her neck. I can understand that. But it's gotten so chronic that it's now bleeding into the work itself and it's led to even more criticism of her work. Need I remind you that this is the same person who copy pasted the definition of "xenia" from a first result Google search into her comic instead of naturally writing it into the script:

Rachel played it so safe that she basically treated her own audience like kindergartners by explaining what a scene meant even after explaining it in the text:

As true as it is in fashion, writing stories and making art takes risks. That doesn't mean you have to completely throw caution to the wind, but if you don't take risks, you do yourself the disservice of writing something that can truly be called unique and special to you. If you don't use your influences wisely, if you don't analyze and re-analyze what's influenced you over the years, you're going to wind up losing a lot of subtext in those influences and missing out on the opportunity to add your own voice into the re-interpretation. Rachel does take a lot of risks in LO, but they're not calculated risks, they're not risks that actually have any meaning behind them, she's sort of just throwing stuff at a wall and seeing what sticks, and worst of all, when it doesn't stick, she herself doesn't stick to it, she backpedals, she cowers away from the decisions she's made.

Rachel expressed her worries about depicting fashion that would become aged, but Lore Olympus is already aged through her own inability to commit to her decisions, take risks, and find her voice. It's aged itself through its poor interpretations of the myth, it's aged itself through its reliance on Tumblr tropes that have already been replaced tenfold, and it's aged itself through Rachel herself riding off the initial innovation of creating Lore Olympus and then never continuing to challenge herself or raise the bar for herself.

It proves true the discussion around why Lore Olympus became popular - at the time, it was groundbreaking, drawn in a style that we hadn't seen much of before, with fresh new takes on the myth; now, in 2024, its 'takes' feel tired and half-baked, and its art style has become a corporate-scrubbed shell of what it once was. And yet, Rachel is still rewarded for it all the same, so settling for comfortable mediocrity has become the name of the game.

Rachel may be trying as hard as the Disney life action remakes and Kim Kardashian to put herself on the same pedestal as the greats of yesteryear simply by copying what they did, but in playing it this safe and refusing to find her own voice out of the voices that influenced her, Lore Olympus isn't timeless. It's soulless.

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lore olympus

[aguinhaac]

Miraculous is an old cartoon, And I mean really old, so it's no surprise that through the years of development, the creators removed a lot of stuff from it. But one thing that I will never understand why they removed was the powers outside of cataclysm and lucky charm.

There were lots of ideas for superpowers (mostly for ladybug) and you can clearly see that the team was trying their best to make the powers

a) match the animal

b) match the concept of the miraculous.

c) not be too overpowered

Well not be too overpowered if we exclude the sword, no, really who gave the Idea of ladybug having a sword and Grenades?

The powers of a superhero can show much more than just a pretty light show, it can also show a bit of their personalities.

batman has lots of gadgets instead of powers, showing he has to be smart enough to know how to use them, and they are all black, the color of bats and grief.

Spiderman is depicted as a teen/young adult most of the time, and his design alone shows that, he also has webs which he made himself, showing he isn't just a lucky guy who got powers one day, he is one of the best of his class.

Powers match the heroes personality, which is what I think the show was trying to do first.

Marinette/Marineta/Bridgette was creative and a fast thinker, with a soft side, Who was also very Clumsy and unlucky.

And as such she becomes ladybug, the hero of good luck, as the show has this thing of Opposites attract each other, if she's unlucky, her superhero contrapart is lucky, and also shows to the viewer why she would like to be ladybug.

She can use her yoyo (which was a purse before but let's just call it yoyo) in other ways that isn't just throw it at the enemy

She could spin it and use it as a shield, open it, make a staff, heck at some point she even had a jumping rope.

And it also showed more of her soft side with things like: the yoyo could become a secret diary.

Not only did it make the battles more interesting but it showed her problem solving skills better than: yoyo gives her a magic object, she has to find out what to do with it.

I'm not saying that we should just put all these old powers onto the heroes, (some like making a staff, hypnosis or fucking grenades are too overpowered) but some powers like, ladybug being able to fly, or chat noir and his black storm thing could make the battles much much better, and I don't understand why the creators didn't roll with it.

Was it cause having too many powers would make the kids not be able to remember them all? Naruto is here to prove that this is completely false

Was it cause the show couldn't show all this cool powers in 20 minutes per episode? Again, Naruto, avatar, and many other shows also have 20 minutes but we're able to put lots of unique powers, and it isn't like miraculous didn't have that many episodes to show off these powers like the owl house for example.

Was it because the creators didn't wanna spend that much money having to animate cool shots? Well now that I think about it.. probably, it seems very in caracter for them to do that.

And now instead of cool anime battles, where the characters get new powers as they grow on the story, we get magic cheese/macaroons which also affect chat noir, so ladybug being able to fly isn't that unique anymore, and we got the characters in season five get a little help from the script which made them have infinite cataclysm/lucky charm because the writers want to convince us that they changed throughout the show.

And that's why I rather read archive of our own, as literal teenagers can do a better job that grown ass adults.

But that's all I wanted to say, thanks for reading this until the end, imma read mlb pv in archive of our own, byeeeee

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #mlb #ml #miraculous salt #mlb salt #miraculous pv #mlb sucks #miraculous ladybug salt #ml salt #mlb pv #ml pv #ladybug pv #miraculous ladybug pv

[chrisbangs]

i finished thesis, won an award, and have graduated.. hello 👋🥸

#i'm not coming back but :') hello #i forgot i even had tumblr still on my phone djdkdkdkdk #i just opened it for the first time in ??? 5 months or smth i think idk for sure #life is weird :') #remember when i said i wanna drop out every day of my life :') bc i suck at design #welp i won an award for my design thesis :') #jsjdjdkdkdkdj #turns out having friends kinda changes your life 🫂 #having friends at school has actually :') made me a happier more normal person lol #i haven't been miserable?? i haven't wanted to kms ... i have been so happy and yes school was shitty but i wanted to go and try hard bc #my friends motivated me to stay and try and that's crazy :') idk #felt really loved and like i belonged somewhere for the first time in my life 🫨 like woah ppl like me and wanna be my friend? me?? #:') i'm really happy... isn't that weird #i used to want to kms every other day hsjdndkdkdks lol 😭 #now i'm like 😭 every day i look forward to waking up bc i'm happy and i have ppl who love me and i wanna see them again and i wanna spend #time with them again and play games with them again :') #literally stayed up till ??? 4 am yesterday talking to one of them like #😭 #god jm djjdkdkdkd idk :') #my life is good... #???? IM NOT MISERABLE IDK GUYS #wild af #even winning the award was such a shock like 🥲 damn . who ? me? #ppl from like :') this big design thing in toronto we're praising it too like djdjdodjdkdj #:') it's kinda crazy.. i was super ! #man.. i cant believe how 5 months ago i was gonna kms 🥸👆 and now i'm like erm actually maybe we do need to live #:') anyway #i hope ppl on here are doing good 🫨🔨 #it is sad to not be here as much but also 👋😌 i'm happy to be free at the same time so ✨

[camellcat]

was rewatching some drawing a ____! by tennelleflowers to help myself get inspired, so here's some more kitty!companions doodles

tbh idk if these two would get along but I like to think, once they had their sarah jane vs rose moment, they'd be just fine

#saying off the bat no I did not forget her gold specks! I like to think she got them after the whole Bad Wolf fiasco #waves hi hello @ferdieinceladoncity my numero uno supporter and new catified dw bestie hope you enjoy this batch #god I fuckin love drawing these two #I have tried to design the rest of the crew so many times but I got these two down literally first try and no one else has even come close #like amy is very...almost regal looking. sleek. flowy. I designed her with her title of “the girl with a fairytale name.” she's *pretty* #or rose who is more stout and round with softer features cause she's sweet but her fur is still sharp to show she's not just some pushover #I could go on uhmm maybe forever on my choices for them so I will stop there but I hope you get the point #I don't get any other character apparently but these two? UNDERSTOOD. EASILY made into cats EASILYYYY #I can't even draw the doctors you guys nine's design was just somethin quick bc I wanted to draw rose LOL #rose tyler #amy pond #doctor who #doctor who fanart #doctor mew #my art: oil paint pawsteps 🐾

[keeps-ache]

today! on the agenda we have [tears paper away to reveal the single word 'do'] ...

#just me hi #today on the agenda i've added the words 'draw' and 'make valiant efforts' so >:3👍 #//vv has sent me an ask and the sketching. oo it's sketching alright hfhs #am i going to make full character designs for these? probably i have no control in that aspect Hbfhvsfjs #if there is ONE thing i can consistently go all the way with it's character design. i literally could not tell you why that is lmao :3 #there are nights where i design whole casts of characters and then Forget About Them ?????? like dude. why did we do all that hbfvh #really i made a cast of like 10 characters one night they all had their signature colours clothes jobs hobbies dislikes and personal #relationships and then i......... never thought about them again hhhfhsh #[holds them up like a wet cat] does anybody want a strange half-baked story with a cast of about 12 people who are all clones of one guy #who's trying to kill them. cuz man hfhsh #//anyway all the sidings from that i think i'm coming out of the Saute Mode #what's Saute Mode? well you see it's when i've already taken out the ready-made good stuff in my brain and now i need to put in new #ingredients and let them get hot and ready again. Saute Mode :3 #sure it might just be artblock but i think i need an artbreak sometimes so loll #plus Saute Mode means i get to play viddy games without feeling guilty so YAY :33 #but Saute Mode does Also mean i sort of don't. talk to anybody out of my own volition HH #it's the side of the coinage. you understand hfbvhs #//annnnnnywhoodle back to my sketching :>> #posing my wretched beloved.. you are strange and impossible to understand hbvhfs #/:3 toodles !

[cosmocove]

birthday doodle dump

#bonk.png #undescribed #<- its like almost 1 am as i type this tag im not adding ids to them atm #first image was drawn literally as i was turning 19 to pass time n to lament that i cant go to lesbian bars yet #second image is from september i drew the red doodles when i first downloaded the app im now using on my phone #n the first one i drew there was two match melodys (the one with a square head n line on her face) the second og match doodle is covered by #cordelia cause she is what the text says (cause i just drew her shape n then didnt draw on clothes cause my battery was low) #then theres a raz doodle my psn oc aster (still havent fully worked out her design) another match melody n then kucumber (green haired girl) #who is also the first doodle in the third image so nice i drew her twice anyway most of the doodles on the third image are cause #i was feeling nostalgic n looking through my deviantart gallary (i dont remember my password n its been years since i used it) #so theres kucumber willow (the two red doodles one of which is mostly covered up) n then redraws OF redraws #first is doggirl i redrew her more based off of her og design than her first redesign cause i liked the colors there more #the green horse is sour tart whos a redesign of one of my very first ocs (og name lightening heart. she was a nothing burger. sad ✌️) #n then ''cordelia'' again the second horse is positioned there cause i didnt like the rest of the doodle n then i remembered that i could #just delete the lower half so i did that 👍👍 #second horse is speckled sweets they n sour tart are besties and are also both next gen fcs 😭 sour tart's parents are undecided atm #but shes an apple n speckled sweets is the kiddo of pinkie n sunburst (pinkie n cheese have an ever expanding polycule for design fun) #fourth image has mallow (cat girl also from my deviant) drew her entirely from memory so her design n colors are slightly off #nervous girl who is just a half redraw of a character i made in the pastel friends(?) app #and neptune whos from like a half story i made back in like 2020? n its like one of my older stories that i look back at n makes me go #''hey. whats ur problem??'' while still mostly remembering what i was thinking making it cause it wasnt that long ago #so! neptune's story thing is like a weird supernatural phenomenon happens while shes driving n causes her to crash #n once she wakes up shes like invisible to everyone n is confused as hell cause when she walks to get help (cause her phone was broken in th #crash n she has no noticeable injuries) no one responds to her cause yknow invisible until one person does who is. her psychic ex she had a #falling out with. not great but saturn is the only person who can see her n unintentionally causes neptune to freak out cause oh shit only #SATURN who is a PSYCHIC can see me rn am i dead?? but no shes fine neptune is just like halfway between the human plane n ghost(?) plane #they have like a weird thing going on cause neptune is stuck at their house n theres no solution to neptune's situation #cause saturn is like the weakest of the psychics in their family n the rest of their family is off all over the place dealing with the #varying fallout of the phenomenon that caused neptune's situation (she was the only one who got like halfwayies) #so saturn n neptune are stuck together alone waiting for one of saturn's family members to come home

[unvexes]

half of my heart is in your chest

#drew rhis while listening to a fnaf song. peace and love #my art #oc #original characters #original character #oc tag #mill’s run #owen griffith #jacqueline griffith #lyr are from mama’s boy by dominic fike #no owen doesnt really remember her yes he does look exactly like her. do you know how insane that makes me #(is literally the one who made and designed them)

[sco07ut]

i prommy i’m still trying to make hero/villains content but unfortunately whenever i make contact with my bed this happens

have a snippet from a possible sequel to Alternative comedians exploring our resident insufferable poet’s motives as compensation <3

In truth, Thomas didn’t want to hurt anyone, nor was he particularly good at it. He knew that, of course, his waifish frame and gangly limbs weren’t fooling anyone; his only real advantage was his power, and even that only protected him to a degree. More often than not he wondered if he was actually cut out to be a ‘villain’, but when Francis came to him with a new endeavour, one that would put money in their banks, keep a roof over their head and protect their little shop on the highstreet from bankruptcy, well, he found it harder and harder to say no.

#bbc ghosts #ghosts!hero/villains #jsut as a sneak peek for anyone lurking in the tags: i’m throwing together a shoddy animatic #and some of the villains r getting designs ! or at least one of them is. someone who hasn’t made any appearances yet :) #full disclosure im literally just making this post to peer pressure myself into finishing the animatic #i also say ‘possible’ to the fic sequel bc honestly there’s only a 50/50 chance of me finishing that too

[sanstropfremir]

what would you do to fix kep1er? idk if you c a r e about kepler but, thats pert of the problem,,, no one cares about kepler all that much? what went wrong? there are countless video essays explaining how the concept isnt well thought out. the music is lackluster. the other produce groups have become so popular that kepler is pushed aside. personally, i dont even think all the members fit the concept that well.

there are two kepler songs that i like, and those are mvsk and le voyage, so i would not classify myself as actually caring about them, but it is an interesting thought experiment! i know pretty much nothing about them, including on whatever their concept is, but that doesn't really factor into how to fix them, because the best way to fix them is to 1) kick the minors, 2) actually train them properly, 3) reassemble the group with proper attention paid to talent distribution. "concept" is not actually a dependable thing that will draw people to a group, you need to back that up with BOTH tangible skills and - this is extremely important - people that actually know how to work in a group together. concept is a set dressing that is meant to hook people, but it doesn't keep people, what actually keeps fans is a combination of personality and ability. and composition and teamwork are very important to help establish that. survival shows in general are not built to make groups that have good composition; how on earth do you expect a cohesive group to be made of kids who are literally fighting each other for popularity points??? you think fans understand how to assemble a balanced kpop group????? survival shows are basically an extended training period, and when you make the goal of that training period trying to catch the attention of fans as an individual and not actually forming a solid understanding of how to perform IN a group, you are going to make groups that sure, they have very popular individual members, but they have no depth or flavour as a whole because they don't know how to.

not to gas up tan or wild idol again BUT if you want an example of how to make a survival show that actually builds a cohesive group, it's literally right there. limit intake trainee size, have them do challenges that are focused on teamwork, leadership, and practical skills idols have to be able to do, and also cut down the trainees fast so there's a smaller group that spends more time together. wild idol cut the entire 45 trainee group down to 16 in the THIRD episode, so that in the rest of the episodes they could actually focus on building the working relationships between the trainees and not have them constantly fighting over popularity. and also, perhaps even the most important point: LIMITED FAN VOTING. the fan voting was a very small percentage of their final score, so each of the members that made it into the group actually made it via being judged on their merits. when a group is made of popularity contest members and only on a short term contract, they don't have any incentive or ability to actually try and truly form a group.

#unironically i think everyone should watch wild idol bc it's SO interesting to see how they plan everything out #like they literally engineered a perfect group by making guys flip logs and run around outside #and the way they settled who was going to end up being the leader was SO fascinating #and also very important to note that the guy who actually won the show (changsun) is not the centre #he won because he displayed the most well rounded skills and he knew how to be a leader. so they made him leader #also the outcome of wild idol was so predictable (by design) like there are literally no other combinations of people that would have worke #bc of all of what you had seen up until that point #kpop questions #kep1er #i got distracted talking about tan but my point is that kepler doesnt actually feel like a group yanno #theyre a bunch of girls together bc of a contract #and i think they fell off really hard bc mnet made them show their asses during queendom #and everyone saw that they are not really prepared to be a functional idol group #also the fact that one of the girls is already tapped to go into another group when the contract is over? #that does not smell like they care that much #text #answers #there's different degrees of caring obvs like im not expecting any of the girls to give their firstborns for kepler or whatever #but you do have to care and be invested in a group in order to make it succeed #i occasionally watch a music show stage of them and they just do not have a group vibe at ALL

[emcads]

i didn’t mean to get so heated about dresses today but a general rule of thumb is always: if male commentators are mad about something women are wearing,  it’s probably fine

#like. only exception i can think of off the top of my head is the dress fabrics made with literal poison or lead makeup #that's not fine don't do that #women like looking nice and being comfortable through the ages just like men. shocker. #✘; I HAVE SEVENTY TWO EXAMS AND I HAVE NOT STUDIED FOR ONE ( ooc ) #i will add a caveat that it is important to think about who was making and designing these garments who were in fact men a lot of the time #which becomes more of an issue later especially with high heels #but things don't become popular if women don't feel nice in them and admire the appearance of other women in them #generally #<-- and also the original disney animators were mostly men #but then you have to remember too that women had a place in the studio as concept artists (designing the shape and feel of garments often) #and as designers and seamstresses making the garments for reference footage #so it's not an uncomplicated issue of 'this is what men think we should wear' it's. not that. most of the time

[astrxealis]

sometimes i think abt my enstars faves jun and natsume and how they both. just kinda make up G’raha Tia

#⋯ ꒰ა starry thoughts ໒꒱ *·˚ #dw i love them as their separate selves but in terms of Why they are my designated favorites. it is funny i love it #jun same voice actor !! also they just have that vibe . precious vibe. okay i can't explain but i love it so much #natsume ... red hair ... magic ... !! also cat :> raha is literally a miqo'te. catboy. hello #anyways that's all i think abt this kind of often and haven't posted abt it even though i've wanted to multiple times #⋯ ꒰ა ffxiv ໒꒱ *·˚ #⋯ ꒰ა enstars ໒꒱ *·˚ #i doubt they'll see this but to that one ffxiv artist that made me discover 'deep eclipse' by eden and made me perceive jun as same voice #as my number one favorite character of all time who btw is literally the best. thank you so much

[dravidious]

-

Yep, guess who completely forgot that Lucario, of all pokemon, has aura powers.

On that note, here’s a few more changeling cards:

#asks #i chose literally the one pokemon who would be able to recognize changelings on sight #actually not even on sight #from half a mile away #woops #out of the hundreds and hundreds of pokemon #i chose lucario #anyway the changeling's shift card was made because i really wanted a green card to complete the initial cycle of cards #i'm not sure if 'can't become tapped' is a valid effect #but it's supposed to prevent changelings from using their abilities #AND prevent non-shapeshifters from being tapped to activate changeling abilities #it protects you :D #but then i realized the 'can't become tapped' made it not work with lucario #so i added the sacrifice effect #also lucario's ability is designed to work exactly like how the story went #they saw mudkip and snivy taking off their pendants together #and was like 'hmm suspicious' #and then jamie couldn't feed anymore #and then lucario tried to murder them #also wow you made this fast #also also i'm shocked that no one ever noticed the lucario plot hole before

[birlwrites]

re: the post i just reblogged, here are my two cents on passive content consumption in fandom:

i work MUCH harder on writing i'm planning to post than i do on writing i'm just doing for myself. there's a lot more labor that goes into anything i'm sharing with other people, because i want other people to enjoy it too. if i didn't, i wouldn't post it - and there is a lot i've written that i haven't posted for exactly that reason.

i'm lucky enough that a lot of my writing gets a decent amount of interaction (which is partly from writing for large fandoms, and partly from stumbling across a few amazing people who are incredibly consistent about commenting). that gives me a sense of reciprocity in fandom, like i'm part of a community that appreciates my effort and my contributions.

so, naturally, it follows that if that effort isn't appreciated, or doesn't seem appreciated because people are consuming my writing without interacting, i'm not going to want to invest that extra labor and effort that is being wasted. i could use that energy on writing more things for myself.

tl;dr: reciprocity matters

#literally the ONLY reason that i write long fics is because people show me that they're invested in them #otherwise i'd probably just be throwing one-shots into the void #everything long-form or even slightly ambitious would just stay on my computer #like i was thinking about that post i reblogged before comparing kudos rates w/ digital marketing #(i also happen to work in marketing) #and i think it's a good benchmark for understanding the rate at which people engage with content #but i also think that a lot of marketing (esp corporate marketing) feels. impersonal? #like who gives a shit if you interact. right? that was a post made by a marketing team #usually designed to contribute to the company's goals of getting more money #and fanworks are not like that. fanworks are people putting in a LOT of effort #usually individuals #for the sake of creating something they think other people will genuinely enjoy #not for the sake of generating clicks and revenue #so ultimately i think they're very different #and i think that people treating fanworks the same way they treat corporate marketing #would represent a serious dehumanization of fanartists and fanwriters #who are doing this because they love it and not because they're earning money or anything #like. the time sink is real #usually on top of MANY other obligations #it's not our job to persuade consumers to click on our thing #like. there are people behind the ao3 usernames and tumblr urls

[ibuprofenlesbian]

every time i listen to ugly death no redemption i go fucking insane about ice the last generation again

#sucks bc it’s one of my favorite albums lmao #for those who don’t know. ice is a really shitty post apocalyptic yuri ova #it’s made by the creator of the zeta gundam not like tomino but the mech designer #it’s also really anti men like there’s no men they all died and it’s between the two factions of like militant science and fuck it we ball #and the fuck it we ball people just have gay sex and do drugs #the militant one also has gay sex but only the leader and she has like slaves for it???? #also the leader of the fuck it we ball one is part jellyfish bc her mom did genetic experiments on her to figure out how to make children #without cock #that’s one of my favorite parts of it the one scene where that’s discussed is really cool #there’s a weird age gap between the two love interests though i think they’re both adults???? #but one of them was like at least in her twenties when the other one was being born?????? #it makes me really uncomfortable which is why i haven’t gotten super into it otherwise i think i would go insane #also there’s some weird time travel esque stuff at the end and i think it might be implied that the love interest gave birth to her partner #through virgin birth like jesus style #before any of the plot even happened #or maybe the love interest is just there when she’s giving birth???? she dies in the main timeline and then her object that she gave her #partner is in the hospital room (in the past) #but also the person giving birth is technically different than the love interest bc all we know is that she has been hallucinating this lady #bc she hasn’t slept in literal years #and that’s the lady giving birth in the past and she might be the love interest and she might be giving birth to her partner #fucking insane shit there are parts that really interest me and i want to take for my own projects and stuff #do not recommend it at all but also i kinda do but like dont go into it seriously go into it to see a weird as fuck shit show #anyways ugly death no redemption uses a lot of samples from it!!!!!! #oh yeah humans have also evolved to only be able to eat processed foods and if animals eat it they turn into flowers that’s a cool scene too

[impostorsshow]

Sometimes you just listen to a TikTok audio and get the need to make a post about a self destructive cycle your in only to never acknowledge the post again yknow

The song is Don't Smoke by Mitski, specifically the TikTok version is the Audiotree Live version

#pink bowtie is the only person here whos design actually represents someone #to clarify since like art is of the beholder right but i find drawing to this song specifically ironic #because i am very aware that i have a pattern of blocking people if they're nice to ms #im being the mean one here; im being mean to my newly ex friends and myself #but this time i actually tried to keep friends and my mental health has been the worst it has in years #so i guess i just need friends that are worse than i am to keep my mental health stable?? #whatever its just interesting #this is also the first and hopefully the last vent art ill ever draw for a few years #vent art #vent #art #i literally JUST made a post on my other ask blog about my ibis constantly crashing #and it IS BUT i also have feelings. i can work through crashes to get my feelings out alot more than i can for silly dsaf men #the good thing about tumblr is that the people this is about this time wont ever see it since they dont have tumblr or dont follow me #the bad thing is that i DID do this like. 3 times to the sam and max community and like. thats almost all of my followers whoopsie daisy #and like “oh if theyre blocked then they wont see the post” i didnt actually block them since i like seeing their posts. from afae #i just block them every time they follow me #actually that one sam and max server would be surprised to hear that one creepy dude was the person that kept reconnecting me to the server #whatever. i need to stop editing this post for the tags and go to sleep #funny thing is my partner wont see this post despite following me. you would think a partner would care but. ig not thats okay #my partners the only person i think is better than me who i've kept around #but that might be because they dont show. any interest in anything im interested in #im so tired of being the only person to put in effort to keep the relationship alive and be interested in the things they enjoy #but i guess i also do vent to them alot; i only talk about like 10% of my life but having mental disorders will do that ig #i need to stop typing/venting and go to sleep. or at least stop listening to this damn song

[monsterblogging]

"I know JK Rowing is a terrible person but her books are so good-"

You sure about that?

I mean, just for a start, have you taken a good look at her fantasy creatures lately? A whole bunch of them are straight-up based on malicious and dehumanizing stereotypes about actual people.

Remember the werewolves? And being a werewolf was made into a kind of metaphor for having AIDS?

And you know how AIDS was first associated with gay men? And how conservatives back in the day were claiming gay men were preying on children in order to convert them to gayness?

Remember how Fenrir Greyback preyed on children in particular? Yeah, she put that subtext in there. She was an adult in the 90's. She knew damn well what she was doing.

Remember the house elves? Remember how most of them loved to serve and needed to have a home and a master or else they just wouldn't know what to do with themselves?

Did you know that's literally what slavers in the American South said about the Black people they kept enslaved? Go look up the happy slave myth.

Do I even need to get into the goblins and the antisemitic tropes they're based on? No, folkloric goblins were not gold-hoarding bankers waiting for their chance to stab humanity in the back.

"But the characters are so good!"

Are you kidding me?

Most of her characters are pretty one-dimensional, including Harry. Her idea of making a morally complicated character is giving a tragic past to a bully. Numerous characters are little more than stereotypes. (Looking at Fleur right now.) Literally anybody, including you, can easily make dozens of characters just as good, if not better. (It doesn't exactly take a lot of character designing skill to go, "hey, actually, having a sad backstory doesn't make it okay to bully children" or "hey, maybe I should not base a character on the first stereotype that pops into my head.")

"But the rest of the worldbuilding!"

Sorry, but her worldbuilding is just as basic as her characters. Magical castles and secret passages are stock tropes. Magical people who keep their true nature secret from humanity is the premise of pretty much every White Wolf TTRPG. Most of her fantasy creatures are just common European fairy tale and folklore creatures with shitty stereotypes projected onto them.

I'm not saying "basic worldbuilding bad." I'm saying, you could do just as good, if not better, with minimal effort.

Also there's her magical bioessentialism, where only Harry's abusive blood relatives could provide him with supernatural protection from Voldemort. Rowling thus effectively declared that non-biological family isn't quite real family, and that abusive biofamily can give you some essential thing that a loving, supportive family that isn't related to you just can't.

The Hogwarts houses are one of the most insidious elements of her worldbuilding. The idea of being sorted gives you a little dopamine hit because wow now you have a li'l niche where you belong!

But the actual function of the houses and sorting system and the House Cup is teaching children to see each other as rivals, and ensure that the most toxic views of the upper class get passed on to every new batch of kids sorted into Slytherin.

Hogwarts effectively prepares children for a dystopia where magic serves to distract its citizens from how nightmarishly awful it is. Economic inequality is so bad that people like Arthur and Molly Weasley can barely afford to put their kids through school, casual sadism is just an accepted norm in everyday society, and non-humans are second class citizens. Rowling sorta acts like she thinks this is a bad thing with certain lines she gave to Dumbledore, but in the end, her special boy protagonist becomes an auror; IE, a defender of the status quo. So.

If you've never seen it, Lily Simpson's video goes into even more detail on how the worldbuilding of Harry Potter is actually incredibly fucked up, and how it betrays small-minded attitudes on Rowling's part. There's no separating the art from this artist, because Rowling's rotten values pour out of nearly every page.

Yes, there are many things in Harry Potter that evoke feelings and inspire people, but there's absolutely nothing in it that this series has a monopoly on. You can find those same experiences in much, much better media.

#harry potter #jk rowling #Youtube