#But its done badly

[moccimu]

Quick In-N-Out run after a successful night stoppin' crime

#powerpuff girls #ppg #buttercup #bubbles #blossom #i cannot explain how badly my art block has been #ive been sitting on this since July #thank goodness its done #im not sponsored by In N Out #but i could be #cha ching

[justarandomart]

silly kids

#shadow the hedgehog #maria robotnik #sonic the hedgehog #sth #hes learning #they are just children! how could it end so badly! :( #i spend too long on this dumb thing to not post it #shadow #idk if its been done before if so. sorry #sketch #comic #sorry for all the random sonic doodles #i watched way too many lore videos #NRart

[tomatoart]

the raw guy

#vinny vinesauce #vinesauce fanart #vinesauce #what if i told u i was very embarrassed to post this #rlly badly done low effort sketch studies of him bc fun fact my computer deleted the og file the other day so i just. redrew it all wihtout #caring too much the second time around BUT I WANTED TO DRAW HIM it was sooo fun still ddont know how to draw him too well but ill see. #need to watch more of his streams sorry guys im from jerma nation but i like red vox so thats why im crossing territory #queue are lovely #i added to ita flags bc its funny and also i am so used to putting a flag SOMEWHERE . my brain

[kabutoden]

if aradia's death was just in-character for a long roleplay, what's the deal with tavros and terezi's disabilities? did vriska have anything to do with them?

She Did Do Those Things. vriska no!!!!!!

#im insane that vriska is a roleplayer #its so funny to me i love roleplaying jokes #for those not in the know: 'i was just acting in character' is a common phrase used by people Behaving Badly #vriskas like OOOOOOHHH you want me to break the carefully crafted and lovingly acted personality of marquise spinneret mindfang? you monste #listen!!! im playing as my spidersona!!!!! its what she would do shes a spider you want me to not act like a spider??? #vriska. you threw the boy off a cliff screaming and cackling to yourself FLY PUPA FLY #thats not '''''''in character''''' marquise spinneret wouldnt have fucking done that you bitch!!! you just got bored and started #causing problems!!!! #her glasses details had to be shifted around because vriska saying to terezi 'its harder for me. i lost 7 eyes you only lost 2' is so fucki #oh my god vriska no. NO. VRISKA #but yeah she did still do those things. i wasnt sure how to handle this but i decided to go this way. a vriska is a vriska #vriska #homestuck #bugstuck #vriska serket #One time I got a death threat in the middle of an in-person roleplaying game. That underclassman just looked at me with hatred in their eye #a panic attack #then later after THAT they began openly weeping.

[jaydarino]

"Rebirth."

#ITS FINISHED #I CAN FINALLY LEAVE #MARTHA #I'M COMING HOME SWEETIE #I spent like a month planning and redrawing and revising this BASTARD #i wanted it done so badly but it did not want me #trueform suku second set of arms WHEN I CATCH YOU??? #anyway onto the next one LMFAO #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jjk fanart #sukuna #ryomen sukuna #true form sukuna #blood #mild gore

[kagooleo]

johto’s champion and chronicler for the deity of the ilex shrine, it’s lyra!🌿

this one took me a while due to trying out different techniques (studying a Lot of art nouveau) and making a couple changes to her outfit (the details help), but I’d like to think she’s learned a lot in her journey and wanted to reflect her experience more in her champion fit

her specialty would be in fairy types and her meganium’s divergent evolution is grass/fairy 🧚🪷

and a bonus w/ the johto gang after the photoshoot!

#kagarts #trainer lyra #meganium #pokemon hgss #get ready for a bigass tag wall again HYAH #her team picks are meganium (grass/fairy + shiny!) azumarill togekiss alola ninetales gardevoir and clefable (mega evolves for fairy/steel) #terrains and high sp atk + statuses galore + her dino can cause a stronger confusion (like toxic w badly poisoned but its w/ Bad headaches) #i'll probably make changes as i go design wise for meganium but colors were inspo from sampaguita flowers #the flower's associated with true friendship and utilized in medicines or given as good gestures in various traditions and celebrations #and also bc she's 🇵🇭 babey!!!!!!!! i'm slapping all my favs w the pinoy beam and not even the dinos are safe >:] #since her dino is shiny a lot of the colors are just a few color diffs where the little orbs are + warmer tones. gotta make a ref sometime #not sure if I should tag the others bc the focus is on her. but the quartet always pulls thru for each other #i like thinking silver gets comfortable enough to be the friend that's “s'cuse you my Friend asked for No pickles” #silver in line picking up her food like “yeah yeah i know her and btw that’s CHAMPION lyra to you. YES she ordered a strawberry shake” #both of their meganiums are Best friends and silver likely uses his dino when you rematch him (and his would beee grass/dragon) #calling this piece Done though oh my god this semester has been nuts. don't wanna take any longer on a single piece or i'm eating tree bark #tumblr's gonna kill the quality on it but idgaf im Done. i need to tidy up my sheezy now

[fuedalreesespieces]

Inuyasha & Demisexuality

i think halfway into writing this i thought about just cramming all my thoughts into a semi-coherent rant due to a combination of a.) lack of access to decent translations of the manga and b.) paranoia about over-analyzing scenes and coming off as delusional (i think by now it's probably too late to thwart that claim) buuut this headcanon in particular is near and dear to me so i want to try and get as in depth as possible.

what is demisexuality?

in simple terms, demisexuality is when an individual doesn't experience primary attraction - that is, the sort of attraction based on immediate observable (often physical) characteristics - and instead only experiences secondary attraction first: the type of attraction that forms after the development of a deep emotional bond.

inuyasha and kikyo

this aforementioned term perfectly describes inuyasha and his relationships with the only women he's ever loved romantically. you could make the claim that his inability to feel primary attraction first stems from his trust issues and not inherent sexual orientation. and to that, i would disagree - he and kikyo develop an emotional bond despite an unspoken lack of trust, which may have improved had naraku not meddled in their lives. still, both find solace in each other's similarities, loneliness, and "outlier" status (though the similarities are in isolation only, if i'm being completely honest) and establish a connection that persists post-revival.

inuyasha eventually did start to feel primary attraction to kikyo during their time together - in the second chapter of the manga, when he compares kagome to her, he states that kikyo "looked pretty."

[source - viz. i haven't been in this fandom long, but what i've gathered is that there are a lot of mis-translations of this manga, even from viz. since i have yet to buy physical copies of the manga and don't have an account for the site, i'm going to be using fan-scans for the rest of these, which hopefully won't really affect what i'm trying to convey since i'll be looking at character expressions rather than dialogue for most of them.]

i'd also note the order in which he lists those traits: kikyo looked intelligent and pretty. her intelligent appearance is the first part of her he remembers, which i think underscores his priorities in this regard. he values things like intelligence and companionship - facets that come to light when developing secondary attraction towards someone - more than aspects of primary attraction.

inuyasha and kagome

as mentioned before, demisexuals don't feel physical attraction before establishing a tight emotional bond. the most blatant examples i could think of this were any instances in which inuyasha sees kagome nude and his difference in reaction - in particular, during the yura of the hair and togenkyo arcs, which are roughly seventy-three chapters apart. there are two new moons in that time, and from that we can say at least two months have passed.

chapter six: yura of the hair

kagome's bathing below him, and i'm sorry, but this expression literally screams "zero fucks given." he does not care in the slightest. not a blush. not a spot of red on his cheeks. not a sweatdrop. not a tee-hee. if i were to describe what he's feeling in this moment i would say "extreme ire." when she uses the sit command on him, it's on the assumption that he's "peeking," but kaede understands that it's actually because inuyasha is trying to steal a shard of the shikon jewel.

"huh?" - he sounds genuinely confused that she reached that conclusion, even though he was quite literally peering over the cliff's edge in what obviously has very perverse connotations. it's almost like he doesn't understand why kagome would think his actions come from a place of sexual attraction because that sort of thing just isn't on his mind at all, and he doesn't get why it would be in the first place.

another extremely blatant example can be see in miroku's introductory chapter: chapter 51, the delinquent priest:

do i even have to say anything. this scene also further emphasizes my previous point - before, the only reason he was there was to try and steal kagome's jewel shard. if his true intentions had been driven by primary attraction, this would have been an opportune moment to "peep." in his words, however, he just isn't interested. note that he could have said something along the lines of "i wouldn't do something like that" (which, if he was attracted to her in that way from the start, wouldn't have done anyway) but specifically i'm not interested. the primary attraction is not there in the slightest. at least, not until:

chapter eighty two: fateful night in togenkyo

the scene i'm talking about needs no introduction, but for context: kagome's half-freaking out after having woken up in a sake bath. inuyasha breaks down the door to come and rescue her, accidentally seeing her naked in the process. well, i'm sure his reaction won't be that dif-

...it's only one panel-

okay, two-

i think at this point it's fairly obvious that primary attraction has developed. besides the fact that he's spent three panels trying not to look like he's having a quasi allergic reaction, it's been approximately two months since they've met, and by now they've definitely formed the deep emotional bond required for him to begin feeling any primary attraction at all. in fact, the chapter where he tells kagome "there's no replacement for you" - that chapter, where he's vulnerable and honest and opening up to her, strengthening their bond further, (ch. 78, a tender smell) is directly before the togenkyo arc begins, and, thus, just before these scenes occur. these chapters have all been building up secondary attraction, and now that primary attraction is just starting to show up.

several chapters later we have this iconic panel from 173:

this is such a look of awe, as though he's gazing up at a goddess. jaw dropped, eyes-wide, words trailing off awe. he's entranced. fully head-over-heels in love, feeling both primary and secondary attraction in regards to kagome, and this trend only continues throughout the entirety of the manga.

conclusion + extra thoughts

my belief in this headcanon comes from not just the evidence depicted above, but because i just related a ton reading those scenes. i found myself just nodding along (as someone who's demisexual themselves!) plus, since ace-spectrum representation is so rare, it's nice to see it reflected in a character whose story and relationships i love dearly.

tags: @nightshade-lullaby

#sorry this is formatted badly lmao #anyway we should totally make this a fandom consensus guys trust me #i realize i could have done this during inuvember's pride day #but i STILL haven't finished reading the manga (excuse: university) and wanted to give this post the more detailed explanations it deserve #honestly i'm ass at analysis but i hope this makes some sense #inuyasha #inumeta #inuyasha headcanons #inukag #inukik #i suppose #kagome higurashi #inuyasha x kagome #inuyasha a feudal fairy tale #inuyasha anime #inuyasha manga #demisexual #ace spectrum #next analysis: me crying about the jineji chapters and its impact on inukag #u dont understand how FERAL those chapters make me

[cybertron-smash-or-pass]

TF One D-16

#poll #maccadam #transformers #smash or pass #request #d-16 #tf one #look. listen to me. i want the movie to be good. i want it to be good so badly. #but i simply do not trust it. its giving marvel movie and that has me Incredibly Fuckin Worried #because i do not want this franchise to turn into generic safe crowd pleaser action comedy allergic to genuine emotion generator no. 6483754 #i do not want cliche heavy low effort lowest common denominator movie afraid to do anything even slightly weird beyond surface level #like. look. as much as i dunk on bayverse. as much as i voice my distaste for the designs and everything micheal bay has ever done #i respect the hell out of them for letting those robots be fucked up aliens #with weird nasty unfamiliar biology #and for having intense and serious and deathly somber moments #even if they butcher the characterization of some of the bots #cough cough give me your face ill kill them all optimus #im also not crazy about it looking like optimus and megatron come from the same place in the bottom of society #its so much more compelling for megs to come from the very bottom and be hyperaware of how bad everything is #whole orion has more of an everyman position. a cushy library job. not afforded luxuries but not rotting at the bottom #because then they learn from each other. orion piecing together hiw bad things get while megs picks up how in the dark the mid caste is #also genuinely truly if i have to hear bumblebee say 'well that just happened' im walking through the space bridge into a vacuum #welp. that turned into an essay. dont mind me being a hater 💖

[dinoserious]

ichor, and the fated end

#pokemon #arceus #giratina #poke mythos #eyestrain #giratina wounded arceus badly before it was put away #palkia and dialga were forced to give arceus an ultimatum: either giratina was killed. or it was sent away somewhere untouchable #this was not given in a cruel manner or as pure merciless logistics #giratina was something to them too. a sibling they watched grow. but they knew not anything else that could be done #the choice that was made spared them all something #anwyays. ehem. back on this. this ones pretty edgy folks #idk does this need like. a cw tag. its pretty stylized+idk what to even use. just lmk i guess

[haunted-xander]

BBS is a tragedy in many ways, but one of the things that gets me is that the catalyst, the one big thing that caused this mess to begin with, is so avoidable.

Like, the story starts primarily because Terra starts to fear himself (because of the darkness he has unwittingly 'used') and this causes a spiral of doubt and obsession. A spiral which he could've escaped from or maybe not even started if he just 1) had been taught the balance between light and dark properly (that darkness is more than just unquestionable evil, that light is more than unquestionable good, that they can and should co-exist in balance), and 2) had consistent socialization from more than the same 3 people.

Like. BBS is a cautionary tale about what happens when people aren't exposed to a wide enough variety of people and, therefore, end up naive and overly trusting because they never learned that people have ulterior motives. Terra is consistently manipulated and used by people literally everywhere he goes, because he can't see that they might not have the best intentions! He can't see the red flags because he doesn't know there are red flags to look for!

Xehanort knows this. It's why he targeted Terra to begin with: because he would be susceptable to his words. The main reason he couldn't use Aqua is because she was too confident in her own values, she didn't have the seed of doubt that Terra had. It's the only thing that prevents her from being used the same way he is, even though she is just as naive and trusting as he is.

Ven probably has it the worst socialization wise. Unlike Terra and Aqua who, presumably, has/had a family and life outside of the Land of Departure prior to beginning training there, Ven doesn't remember anything before then (not that he had much he'd be happy to remember anyway). And since he's the youngest and most 'fragile' one (due to being in recovery for most of his time here), he gets somewhat coddled and shielded by everyone else. Not to mention the way Eraqus completely forbid him from leaving and never intented for him to ever see worlds outside the Land of Departure. Sure, Terra and Aqua aren't typically supposed to leave either, but at least they'd be allowed in certain situations. Ven wouldn't.

Ven isn't allowed to interact with anyone outside of home. He's not allowed anything that involves the outer worlds. (He and Naminé are a bit alike in that sense. Though at least the people he's stuck with are nice to Ven and do genuinely care for him, unlike Naminé...)

BBS happens largely because Eraqus failed as both a teacher and a parental figure to all of them, but Terra most of all.

#started bbs again and had feelings. not sorry #so much of the story in general (but ESPECIALLY terras part) happens the way it does bc eraqus was a flawed man with flawed values #he taught his pupils a rigidly black and white worldview that doesnt work when put to practice #and he isolated them from the outside world meaning they lack so so much necessary knowledge and exposure #its why they were so much more susceptable to manipulation and misdirection than someone like sore #who is also largely trusting #but he has had proper socialization and exposure to different people as he grew up #that he can tell good and ill intent apart #but its also like. #at the point where the story starts its already too late #because the damage is done #they cant undo the flawed teachings and under-exposure in an instant #eraqus failed to see the consequences for his teachings- that by demonizing darkness he makes it a source of fear #and as he himself said: fear leads to obsession and obsession feeds the darkness #and obsession he unwittingly stoked by creating said fear #also just to be clear this is not meant as eraqus hate he is a complicated man who made mistakes #but nevertheless meant well and could never have forseen just how badly his teachings wouldve made things #OUGH its a complicated situation and none of them are really at fault! #(except xehanort) #(he is very much directly at fault) #terra #aqua #ventus #eraqus #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts birth by sleep #kh #kh bbs #xander rambles

[hinatabestie]

#naruto #sasuke #boruto #sns #SORRY THIS ISNT CREATIVE...But i wanted so badly to do it. and now its done #my art #just pretend i drew the back of buritos headband

[juni-ravenhall]

sso loading screen text "remember that knowledge is power".... imagine the power if the writers knew the lore of the game

#no offense to the likely 1 sse employee doing their best with actual lore but the way they changed bonnys writing was insane and #all the retconning and random shit like when scott was randomly generic evil man in some josh quest #and the shitty dialect things in general like rowan bc that shit doesnt even translate to other langs well its both badly written and not - #- even a good idea whatsoever for a multilanguage game that isnt just in english from the start. but also its just stereotypical and bad #bonny was written charming and interesting and it was really unnecessary to retcon her into this scottish stereotype dialect #and while sometimes they do bring proper stuff from the existing lore like devils gap and turn it into something... theres still- #- a million things that couldve been done better both in the current writing and the old writing as well! it was always a mess #like the ice wraiths of golden hills or whatever theyre called. the dino valley yeti and witch stuff being hinted but abandoned. etc #but they shouldve gotten someone to *read* all that and take notes and try to turn it into something good and more complete. #rather than getting ppl going lol lets change lots of stuff around it will be great (proceeds to make it worse) #disclaimer idk whose fault all of that is but i blame johan sjöberg for being a bad manager of this games potential and #also the whoevers that have had any power to direct and plan and manage shit at that company

[enden-k]

its still so hot here despite my fans running and lounging in shorts n stuff and since i get sleepy from heat im just half dozing in my chair with my ipad over my knees and all i managed to draw so far is just al haithams tits.

#im trying to draw for hours but all i managed is his mighty chest for no reason. im sleepy ever since i woke up bc this heat is killer fr #me sleepily finishing the beautiful curve of his left tit as if im a master about to finish a year long work: finally it is done #behold my masterpiece! #*shows you the sketch* #*its just a badly scribbled ω with two dots as nipples* #babbles #tbd #anw my work here is done #i shall get more popsicles and play ts4 until i continue my hard work with two more lines and die again from overheating

[themanwhomadeamonster]

The 1999 combat theme and its foreshadowing because the autism got to me and I spent too long trying to figure out this soundtrack

Jumping off from @brokenjardaantech's WITW music analysis post here - go check it out, it's very insightful and lays the foundations for what I'm about to talk about! And thanks to @theterribletenno for the burst of inspiration by giving me a massive oh shit realisation in the most chilling way possible LOL

Spoilers under the read-more; TL;DR at the end :'^D

To preface, the soundtrack is structured in an ABC structure with bridges between A and B, as well as another between B and C that borrows from A. The key starts in Cm, briefly modulating to Gm in section B then back to Cm during the second bridge, and settling on Em for section C. In-game for WITW you most likely will only hear up to the first bridge since the Technocyte fight only goes for around a minute long

Sections A, the bridges and partially C feature genre similarities to grunge rock with fuzzy guitar chugging, whammy bar, and palm muting, while the drums are notably sharp snares (except for the first bridge, which are clean bass kicks that gradually distort transitioning into section B's style). Musically, it sounds like a typical fighting soundtrack meant to hype you up - the melody is confident and likes to push and pull its rhythm. But in section C it notably become emptier in its layering while keeping the distorted drums, placing emphasis on the lyrics (which I'll get to below lol). Heavier syncopation and polyrhythms are also introduced.

Section B however is the main outlier. This section is where it most strongly resembles industrial rock: rhythmic synth layers begin to accompany the melody (a pedal point line that plays every semiquaver/sixteenth note), synth drums replace acoustics and the guitars drop the fuzz that is characteristic of grunge and steadily strum every quaver/eighth note. Compared to the push and pull rhythm of section A, this section is steadier, less chaotic than the other sections, it wants you to focus on this section.

Notably, the lead guitar introduces a familiar leitmotif: This is What You Are (which @brokenjardaantech goes more in depth regarding its use in WITW). Here, though, its second chord becomes flattened (Dm -> D♭m) and introduces a diminished, dissonant sound. To me this was the first hint that the song may actually be about Arthur's downfall. This is What You Are is a musical leitmotif that recurs in moments of vulnerability, especially when someone is at risk of losing their sense of self, their identity and what they are. It plays during The Second Dream when we discover the Operator, during the New War when Eidolon!Lotus just lost herself to Ballas and can't recognise the Tenno, and in WITW during the Vessel "fight" when the Tenno is forced out of their Warframe.

I was prompted to actually dig more into the lyrics because I saw @theterribletenno bring up something really interesting

In this specific song, the leitmotif is diminished, it's corrupted. "Surrender to the corruption" - this is what Arthur is afraid of. I brought up earlier that section B had a genre shift. The contrast of the music is important, it's highlighting something, and together with the musicality of the leitmotif, it's making a sense of urgency and danger. The leitmotif is a warning to Arthur.

Section B sings these lyrics:

Break it, break it, Break it open!

Compared to the desperation in the other lines, these two lines are sung mockingly. The Infested are trying to break Arthur, and are succeeding. Their voice is becoming his. But there are actually two vocal lines in this section - you can also hear muted backing vocals in a much less aggressive and lethargic tone warning that "Disillusion". Arthur is trying so hard to keep his own voice and stay clear-minded but it's being drowned out and he's nearing his breaking point, and Albrecht, based on the Codex Fragments you find, is well aware of this.

In section C, while the layering is less intense it's noticeably more heavily syncopated and polyrhythmic, and introduces new (accompanying) echoing and dissonant synth layers reflecting the confusion and disorientation that Arthur begins to feel (these synth layers are actually introduced in the second bridge, but are more easily heard in section C). Section B and C also keep the synth/distorted drums that section A and both bridges lack (at most it's a reverb in those sections); the industrial sound of the song becoming associated with the increasing influence of the Infested over his humanity.

So I tried deciphering more lyrics for each section; I haven't figured all of it out and most of it could very well be wrong because of how heavily clipped the vocal line intentionally is so I don't want to make anymore assumptions than I need to, but I can understand enough of it to realise that the song is foreshadowing Arthur's corruption to the Infested. In green are the lyrics I'm confident are correct:

A:

Sting it, sting it, sting it! Sting it, sting it, sting it in the flesh!

Bridge:

I don't understand! It brings more disease!

B:

Break it, break it, Break it open! (Disillusion)

Bridge:

Sting it, sting it! Sting it in the flesh!

C:

Who's dreaming? Who's the [???] It's a vision[?]!

TL;DR: the grunge/industrial genre hybrid represents Arthur's humanity/Infested respectively, and the song becomes increasingly industrial as the song progresses, most noticeably through the increasing distortion of the drum sound. Section A sets the stage, section B serves as a warning to Arthur that he's losing his sense of identity as the Infestation drowns out his "voice" while a dissonant version of This is What You Are plays, and section C is him experiencing confusion and disorientation as the Infestation continues to corrupt him.

#i'm assuming the last section might be about the tenno transferring to arthur since the singer brings up dreaming specifically? #please correct me if i misheard any lyrics the auditory processing do be processing badly #wf said we took the themes of grief compassion and identity and are throwing it back at you tenfold #warframe #warframe spoilers #warframe 1999 #wf arthur #audio #music #i haven't done musical analysis in a long time so i've forgotten some terminology especially with audio mixing rip... #but yeah idk i enjoyed this soundtrack it's musically simple compared to wf's other stuff but a lot of thought went into it thematically #i love when music tells a story in itself through its sound rather than lyrics #bc even without the lyrics the intention behind this song's composition is still very clear

[bidokja]

I was joking a while back that the actor they have playing KDJ for the orv movie was too handsome for him and a friend who's read orv was like "KDJ is actually secretly attractive!!" And I just felt my soul leave my body right then

SIGHS...

Okay. Buckle in. I'm gonna finally actually address and explain and theorize about this whole...thing.

I'm not gonna cite any exact chapters cause it's like 11:30 and I've got an 8 hour drive in the morning but I'll at least make an approximate reference to where certain things are mentioned. Also, this post is just my personal interpretation for a good bit of it, but it's an interpretation I feel very solid about, so do with that what you will. Moving on to the meat of things:

There is one (1) instance in the web novel that I know of which describes specific features of Kim Dokja (especially ones other people notice). This takes place when members of KimCom are trying to make Kim Dokja presentable to give his speech at the Industrial Complex (after it's been plopped down on Earth). This is when they start really paying attention and focusing on Kim Dokja's appearance since they're putting makeup on him; I still don't think they can interpret his whole face, but they can accurately pick out and retain more features than usual. If I remember correctly they reference him having long eyelashes, smooth skin, and soft hair. These features can be viewed as (stereotypically) attractive.

Certain parts of the fandom have taken this scene and run with it at a very surface level, without realizing (or without acknowledging at the very least) that this scene is not about how Kim Dokja looks. This is, in part, due to not realizing or acknowledging why Kim Dokja's face is "censored" in the first place, and what that censoring actually means. I think it's also possible that some people are assuming the censorship works like a physical phenomena rather than an altered perception.

I'll address that last point first. The censorship of Kim Dokja's features is not something as simple as a physical phenomena. It's not a bar or scribble or mosaic over his face. If that were true it'd be very obvious to anyone looking at him that his face is hidden. But his face is not hidden to people. They can look at him and see a face. If they concentrate on his eyes, they can see where he's looking. They know when he's frowning or grinning. They see a face loud and clear. But what face are they seeing? Because it's not really his, whatever they're seeing.

No one quite agrees on what he really looks like. And if they try and think about what he looks like, they can't recall. Or if they do, it's vague, or different each time. We notice these little details throughout the series. Basically, Kim Dokja's face is cognitively obscured. Something - likely the Fourth Wall, though I can't recall if this is ever stated outright - is interfering with everyone's ability to perceive him properly. This culminated in him feeling off to others; and since they don't even realize this is happening, they surmise that he is "ugly."

Moving on to the other point about what the censorship means: To be blunt, the censorship of his face is an allegory for his disconnect from the "story" (aka: real life, and the real people at his side). The lifting - however slight - of this censorship represents him becoming more and more a part of the "story" (aka: less disconnected from the life he is living and the people at his side). The censorship's existence and lifting can represent other things - like dissociation or depersonalization or, if you want to get really meta, the fact that he is all of our faces at once - but that's how I'd sum up the main premise of it. (The Fourth Wall is a larger part of the dissociation allegory, but that's for another post).

So you see, them noticing his individual features isn't about the features. It's not about the features! It doesn't matter at all which features got listed. Because they could describe any features whatsoever and it would not change the entire point of the scene. Because the point isn't what he looks like. The point is that they can truly and clearly see these features. For the first time. They are seeing parts of him for the first time. Re-read that sentence multiple times, literally and metaphorically. What does it mean to see someone as they are?

This is an extremely significant turning point dressed up as a dress-up scene.

---

P.S. / Additionally, I'm of the opinion that Kim Dokja is not handsome, and he is not ugly. He is not pretty, and he is not ghastly. Not attractive, nor unattractive. Kim Dokja isn't any of these things. More importantly, Kim Dokja can't be any of these things. The entire point of Kim Dokja is that you cannot pick him out of a crowd; he is the crowd. He's a reader. He's the reader. Why does he need to be handsome? Why must he be pretty? Why is him being attractive necessary or relevant? He doesn't, he doesn't, it's not. He is someone deeply deeply loved and irreplaceable to those around him, and someone who cannot even begin to recognize or accept that unless it's through a love letter masquerading as a story he can read. He is the crowd, a reader, the reader. He's you, he's me. He's every single one of us.

#orv #orv analysis #orv meta #orv spoilers #mine #ask #there's also the meta that he is described with these (stereotypically) pretty features as they are about to try and 'sell' him to a crowd #which feels to me like a very pointed way to convey how 'beauty' is commodified. how audiences like 'attractive' characters more #note: made some edits to add in a couple of sentences my brain forgot in the moment so make sure u reblogged those if u do #tag edits for further commentary that isnt strictly relevant to the point i was making: #do i think that this face censorship was executed as well as it could have been? nah. #not that it was like. done Badly. it's followed through to a certain point. its established enough for me to make this post at least. #but i do think it is the one thing in the web novel that SS didn't capitalize on. #like. they still stuck the landing but it was not as picture perfect of an execution as the rest of the metaphorical stuff in orv #also. this (not the face censorship specifically but the 'hes just some guy' point of it all) is one of the big reasons i think that- #-visual adaptions of orv can never quite work. they can do the best that they can with that medium but a lot of nuance is lost- #-simply by virtue of it being a visual medium #i personally think the only way a visual medium could work would be one where they commit to the power move of not showing kdj's face #(until a certain point (of view) that is) #his face is always facing away or out of frame or hidden by someone or something else in the way #commit to the fucking allegory or simply perish

[marblellous]

girl help i love a minor npc

#high rollers dnd #altheyaTDE #rowan #gabrilla tintoes #and some other friends.... #marblellous art #idk how to draw backgrounds- you know what that means- drawing them badly B) #its not perfect but it is done which is even better #dont think ive spent 10 hours on a canvas in a while #anyway this whole conversation was so sweet i love gabrilla and rowan and his love of rocks