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narutocharacterpolls · 9 months

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SEMIFINALS

GAARA vs SENJU TSUNADE

Reasons for submission under the cut

Gaara

he overcame his incredible loneliness and childhood trauma with a lot of grace

he acknowledged the people he may have hurt (rock Lee) and did everything in his power to build up from there

he was always very caring (like when he brought the girl he accidentally hurt an apology gift when he was a child)

he was someone who understood Sasuke and shed tears for him

he motivated an entire army of shinobi that were fighting amongst each other, and he did it purely with love for Naruto, showing how powerful his kindness is

serial killer turned babushka. Quite possibly the sweetest and funniest character transformation [submitter]'s ever seen

he enjoys succulent and cactus gardening, based as always

his gardening outfit is the cutest shit ever seen

he has cat eyes which are very cute

nothing but respect for my goth teenaged president 🫡

he's so polite,,

his character development is amazing, he went from being a crazy murderer, to gaining the trust of his whole village and becoming the Kazekage

despite how drastic his character development was, it still feels understandable due to how badly he was treated as a child, and how deep down he always wanted to love but was simply punished for it

eeeing him recover from his trauma thanks to Naruto is really heartwarming

one of the best redeemed villain characters ever imo

very cool character design

storyline that made [submitter] cry like a baby three different times

he's so full of love

has a cool transformation

enjoyable demeanor once he got the help he needs

nice to see a quiet but social introvert succeed in life, overcome his trauma, and learn his self worth

he was an edgy 12 year old who talked like shadow from shadow the hedgehog (2005) how can u not like that

he's funny

he's pretty cool when he's older, a good leader

his arc is [submitters] favorite in the series

lovely to see how far he came and how hard he worked to overcome his demons

Tsunade

milf….

was the best hokage

the regulation she created to include medics on every team saved so many lives

she's funny and a complex and interesting character

is a bad bitch

probably THE most competently written female character in the entire series

she has a very rich history that plays into her character's actions and motivations

wanting to be the best medic-nin possible in order to save more lives because she lost her love Dan, and also change the way ninja squads operated to always have a medic to save more lives did so much for the better during the war to reduce casualties

after being broken down by so many people she cares about dying, she dips and leaves behind ninja society, which has taken everything from her (including wiping out her clan)

because Tsunade is also one of the most legendary/strongest ninja alive, no one could really stop her or chain her down. It takes the conviction of a child who wants her to save the village and heal his friends to get her back to Konoha, despite the all the trauma she's endured

she's a medic with a fear of blood that overcomes that to fight her own teammate and beat his ass so Orochimaru stops killing and maiming people

she steps up to be a leader because it's what the new generation need and someone has to fix all the stuff broken by her selfish teammates and old teacher

the strongest female character both in physical strength and the strength of her writing. It's like she was written first as a character versus most of the other female characters being written first as Girl and Love Interest

Tsunade is vain and a chronic gambler and drunk, she is really brash and abrasive, she is traumatized. But she's also deeply caring, an incredibly accomplished woman, one of the smartest people/medics in the world, and a great leader

she's multi-layered. She is a woman, but her entire character isn't just Woman

finally finished the job on Jiraiya on previous poll

strong arms

she is strong and smart and quick as a whip but still soft and caring when it comes to her loved ones. Characters with rough exteriors who are mushy inside are very good

#kage vs kage #bestnrtcharapoll #naruto #polls #gaara #sabaku no gaara #senju tsunade #tsunade senju #id in alt text

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batfamhyperfixation · 18 days

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I know we constantly talk about Jason being a classic lit person, but most people only use P&P and exclusively Jane Austin novels, like yeah my homie she is great but I wanna see more content where Jason’s niche is purely books that people think are related to his death but also not at all related to his death: Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Why people think Jason loves Frankenstein: he relates to the Creature, being born again after death but not quite right, rejected by father figure, causing a separation between him and all the humans, thus plunging him into isolation, highly literate but not taken seriously because he doesn’t have a degree from an accredited school (basically self taught)

Why Jason actually loves Frankenstein: it is written through letters!! There are like 4 stories going on at once all embedded in one another, like that’s so fuckin cool! He actually relates to Robert Walton, as he travels the world only to form the outlaws, taking these misfits with him, like how Walton traveled to the North Pole only to find and befriend Victor Frankenstein, taking him with

Why people think he likes the Metamorphosis: Jason relates to Gregor because he turns into something nonhuman overnight only gaining consciousness again after the transition period and although he still feels the same, everyone will forever fear him as something other, just like Jason after the pit which seemed like it changed him overnight as he woke up something othered

Why Jason actually liked the metamorphosis: Kafka didn’t like metaphor so he made the transformation something literal, and he subverted the expectations of transformation at the time as usually transformations were done to give the character some upgrade but in metamorphosis it was a downgrade, ruining Gregors life instead; not to mention for a story about a man being transformed into a bug, not a lot actually happens in the story nor does Gregor actually do a lot, it is less a narrative in the traditional sense and more a stream of consciousness kind of writing which helps it feel different, also I think he would relate to Grete, always trying to help adults around him who were self-destructing a lot of the time, probably especially his parents, I mean he died by trying to save his mother only for her to turn on him, he was fighting crime to help Bruce, etc. Grete was still a child who was helping her brother stay alive when no one else would, she tried to protect her parents from having to deal with Gregor in his transformed state, she even got a job to help the family (similar to Jason becoming Robin to help Bruce)

Why people think Jason liked the picture of Dorian gray: the theme of fleetingness unless intervened through supernatural means (aging painting keeping you young forever or being reborn again despite original life fleeting) only to eventually cause your untimely demise (likely how others view Jason’s perception of himself)

Why Jason actually liked Picture of Dorian Gray: it has so many takes on society that even if you don’t agree with all of them, it at least forces you to think about your own stances and understanding how you view the world around you, it puts a high value on the arts and takes them seriously, it has very well-developed and deeply flawed characters that are fun to read about, and the novel has an interesting history of it being used as evidence in Wilde’s criminal case for being queer

#look I’m just saying that there are tons of books I think Jason would like beyond just Jane Austin #even if you exclude it to only classic lit books I think there are others and I think we should expand it beyond just Jane Austin #these were my examples of other classic lit novels Jason would like so please for the love of god give me some other books for Jason cause #by this point those who say he likes classic lit then exclusively state Jane Austin are starting to sound like they have never read any #like I’m begging on my hands and knees just give me something other than Jane Austin like his parallels to other classic lit books are so #clear yet no one wants to even talk about it cause he is only allowed to exclusively like Pride and Prejudice #like hell I would even accept Jason talking discourse about different classic lit novels as long as he is seen reading other things #idk I’m probably just rambling; but overall there are other novels and I think we should utilize them more #cause I’m tired of every Jason book post I see only citing Jane Austin #jason is starting to sound like those dudes who read exactly 1 book and somehow convince everyone around them that they are a huge bookworm #jason todd #jason todd headcanon

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creature-wizard · 8 months

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Toxic Individualism In Modern Witchcraft

The modern witchcraft movement is very much a product of the 20th century, and one thing it picked up from that was a pretty individualist way of thinking. This isn't all bad, since it helped normalize people being allowed to do spirituality in a way that truly resonated with them, rather than following whatever an institution prescribed for them.

But as many of us know, western individualism comes with a lot of really toxic shit, encouraging and even enshrining apathy, cruelty, and social Darwinism. This, unfortunately, is very much an attitude you occasionally see within modern witchcraft.

This is sometimes expressed through a "let 'em sink or swim" attitude. For example, you might see people bristle at the idea of warning people about dangers such as toxic plants; "well, they should know to just research this themselves, if they get hurt, that's their own faults." Never mind that most of us live in a socioeconomic environment where "natural" tends to be equated with "safe," and few people were taught any real amount of research skills. (Most people don't know how to research beyond "type a thing into Google and click the first link" or "watch a video on YouTube and follow the algorithm.")

There's this sort of idea that witchcraft and the occult is this kind of Darwinian proving ground. You're either just born having what it takes, or you're not. Supposedly, there's no need to warn people about red flags, fascist rhetoric, pseudohistory, or anything, because supposedly, the "worthy" will just be able to find their own way on their own. Anyone who doesn't make it? Anyone who ends up poisoning themselves or falling down the alt right pipeline or abused by a predator? Couldn't be helped; they were never "meant" for this path anyway. It was simply too much for them. Why, if you really think about it, it was their own faults for daring to reach above the station they were born for, anyway.

This is a completely irrational view, because it's simply not how things work. People aren't born having research skills, critical thinking skills, or knowing the difference between real history and pseudohistory; they're taught these things. And some people are statistically much less likely to receive a good education than others. There are a few people who beat the odds and end up better educated than most people in their socioeconomic status, but this doesn't mean that they were born with inherent greatness; it just means that they were curious and lucked out in finding the right materials.

As many of us also know, Victorian-era eugenicists believed that members of the upper class were just inherently better. They had the genes for intelligence and strength of will. (Yeah, that whole modern occult fixation with willpower has some dodgy origins, too.) They just ignored that whole thing where they lived in a socioeconomic system designed to keep most people in poverty. If they ever saw someone beat the system, they attributed it to that person being born exceptional for some reason. I would highly recommend that anyone who hasn't done so already watch Shaun's video, The Bell Curve, which criticizes the book by the same title that effectively tries to argue for Victorian-age eugenics, to get a better picture of this whole thing.

Toxic individualism also encourages thinking of individuals as main characters on some kind of hero's journey, where every pain they suffer and every mistake they make is a vitally important part of their journey and growth; so much so that any effort to prevent them from making mistakes or suffering harm is hindering their personal growth.

Sure, people do often gain valuable insight from their mistakes and suffering. But it's absurd to claim that this is always the best way for people to learn and grow, especially if there's a risk of serious harm for themselves or others. Certainly it's much better to learn from a friendly Tumblr post that essential oils can give you chemical burns or harm your pets than experience it first-hand. And it's much better to learn what far right rhetoric looks like beforehand so you can recognize it when you first see it, rather than get drawn into some far right belief system and perpetuate harm on vulnerable minorities for any amount of time. (This whole thing of acting like you're life's main character and other people are basically just NPCs on some hero's journey that you imagine yourself to be on is so immensely fucked up.)

And finally, if anybody out here finds themselves thinking, "but nobody should expect help from others; after all, I didn't get any!", I'm gonna tell you: it shouldn't have been that way. You didn't not get help because that's just how the world works; you didn't get help because that's how modern western socioeconomics are created to work. Toxic individualism is a construct, and it's one that we can dismantle and replace with something better.

#witchcraft #eugenics #social darwinism #spiritual eugenics #spiritual darwinism #victim blaming #individualism #toxic individualism #anti communal behavior

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iraprince · 3 months

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Any ttrpgs (including/especially yours!) that you recommend to get the oc wheels turnin’? Or especially fun as oc design tools/inspiration?

as an overall recommendation for this, from the perspective of design tools, solo journaling games are often excellent for this -- you can browse the entire solo tag for the physical games category on itch and find TONS!!

moving on to specific recs: not for characters specifically, but for general worldbuilding one of mine i can recommend is lamplighter's festival! it's about building up the history and culture of a location by developing a ritual or holiday that's celebrated there, and i think sometimes creating a location with a lot of intention and thought will of course naturally get you thinking abt the ppl who live there. (i think this is also a great gm tool if you want to bring your party somewhere special!)

divined journey is a game about outlining a character's story in detail using tarot cards -- i've had a lot of fun using this to flesh out existing characters and imagine plot arcs that are different than the ones i'd come up with on my own, but i think it could absolutely start u running on a brand new character too. often the order ppl go in is make the character, THEN put them in a story, but forming a character BY putting them through the story (i.e. keeping them more malleable and considering events the primary development vs "backstory") can be extremely cool

on the more... i don't wanna say "traditional" but like, "narrative tabletop games as we know them" (vs solo journaling stuff/things that lean towards being design tools):

time to drop is a game about pulling one last heist (again and again and again, in a timeloop). i often find that games with a really specific premise/setting kickstart tons of fresh thought; as much as i love just doing the exact tropes i already like ad nauseum (being completely genuine there), restrictions and a narrowed focus are GREAT for getting the brain churning. and trapping a bunch of criminals in a time loop is a great way to develop necessarily juicy oc dynamics :3c

sapphicworld is a game that has gotten me SUPER revved about ocs (up to the point where i once planned out a 12 course formal dinner menu for a campaign finale.....). it's still in development, but you can get a pwyw glimpse at the ashcan here (kind of like a tasting platter of the style and mechanics of the game, which the dev describes as a dream about sapphicworld), and get access to the entire wip game on the darling demon patreon for five bucks. it's worth a billion times that. i love sapphicworld lol

in general i think games that have playbooks and picklists always get me going, for that same "narrowed focus" reason... at first ur urge might be to push outside the picklists, bc u have a different idea or none of the stuff on the list exactly matches what u had in mind for the character, but forcing urself to adhere and then branching out from that is something that i think creates a lot of really fun combinations. for this reason i think that a lot of PBTA stuff fits the bill -- i realize that doesn't narrow things down at all lol but it DOES mean u can browse the pbta tag and then just snag anything that seems to have a setting/tone that you're in the mood for!

i feel like this is a woefully small selection but it's all i have time for today, and ttrpgs are just so broad....! i would love if ppl gave more suggestions in the reblogs + replies!!!

#ttrpgs #indie ttrpgs

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darkbluekies · 1 year

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Blue, do you have any facts about any of your characters that you'd like to share. Habits, thoughts, info, etc. Basically anything. This is your opportunity to info dump lol (if ya wanna ;3)

(I'm new here btw, love your work)

🥀anon~

Warnings: murder, suggestive indications,

Silas:

— gets clingy/horny/vulnerable when drunk

— is a good cook

— barely has ant contact with his parents

— likes children (not in a creepy way smh)

— he can't keep his hands off of you normally (imagine when he's drunk) and loves to hold you close to him

— he gets jealous really, really easily and can't control himself when he does get jealous

— loves to mark you up, because ... jealousy and possessiveness

— a bit of a husky voice, a bit deeper, he drags out some syllabels (almost like whining)

— nationality: greek

— age: Around 35-38, birthday season: late fall

— has to work out a lot to keep his muscles (googled the different types and he resembles a ripped/athletic build) so he drinks more protein shakes than he'd admit

— height: around 189 cm

Dr Kry

— secretly wants to become an author

— he's an only child

— grew up in a very strict household

— he's amazing at turning on/off his feelings and act professional unless it's you

— frowns often

— a honey smooth voice, not very light, not very deep. Clear pronounciation

— was the smartest kid in his class

— age: 33-36, birthday season: winter

— never cries

— nationality: swedish/norwegian

— he doesn't eat much, mostly chicken in all forms, but drinks a lot of coffee (he has a caffein addiction)

— has a habit of finishing your sentences when you don't want to talk

— height: around 187 cm

King Edmund

— his parents were murdered when he was around 16 which made him the youngest king in their history

— gets someone to taste test the food the two of you eat to make sure no one has poisoned it

— has a sword with your name ingraved in it

— powerful, dominating voice, when he speaks it sends shivers down everyone's spines. He almost always sounds "angry", but he can force it down to a sweet mumble when he's with you.

— age: around 19-22, birthday season: early summer

— nationality: his own kingdom BUT if he had a real nationality, it would be most likely German

— you're the only one he's nice to, but he's a big fan of discipline and will correct you if you do something he isn't liking

— he doesn't feel much regret or empathy when doing something bad, since he's the king and gotten to do everything he wants, he hasn't developed a lot of those kind of emotions

— height: around 184 cm

Jerry:

— likes tattooes, probably has one inspired by you

— trains boxing

— she likes night views, for an example sitting on a roof top to watch the city lights or sitting on a dock to hear the waves late at night

— quite a strong, clear voice, not very raspy, but a little husky every now and then

— age: 24, birthday season: late spring

— she wishes that she could let her guard down with you, but thanks to everything she's been through during the years, she can't let herself

— nationality: korean

— she's the type to go: "you're great sweetie" without looking at what you're doing.

—jerry loves alcohol and melts inside when you get her favorite beer for her

— she watches over you when you sleep and doesn't let anyone come close to you when you're that vulnerable

— will mock you if you say you like something, but then it'll mysteriously appear in your bedroom in large amounts

— height: around 167 cm

Hedwig:

— her voice is sweet like honey, very feminine and delicate!!

— age: around 18-19, birthday season: late summer

— BIGGEST sweettooth, she loves everyhting sweet

— wants an idyllic family life

— nationality: british

— dream job: model

— a big fan of photographing ... you

— hedwig loves to spoil you, you'll always have new clothes, perfumes, jewelry, books, etc etc

— clingiest motherfucker you'll ever meet

— LOVES to show you off

— doesn't like horror movies and if you force her to watch one she'll hide under your shirt every time she gets scared

— always smiles when you talk to her

— height: around 173 cm

#yandere thoughts #yandere oc #yandere doctor #yandere #female yandere #yandere talks #yandere headcanon #yandere x reader #yandere oc x you #yandere x you #yandere ocs #yandere oc x reader #🥀 anon

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nilboxes · 14 days

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I didn't know who to say this too but i was about to explode thinking about this and you are one of the few people in hsr fandom that i trust to understand ratio so my apologies to be dumping this on you all of a sudden but... I think Ratio's technique is so interesting in a way and speaks more about him than people give it credit for. Like...creating a fake version of himself that aggros the enemy is already very meta of how hsr fandom tends to see him, esp with the number of people that started hating him after that "betrayal" scene in 2.1 xD And it makes me wonder about his voiceline where he says something like "im fine with showing my true self if it helps me teach students/cures patients but i find that doing so is counterproductive most of the time"...wdym "true self" sir...and why are your character details completely devoid of any details from your own pov...and why do you get so evasive when anyone tries to ask about your past (going by that one interview when someone asked him what he was like as a child and he's just like "what a silly question, i was a normal boy")...it seems to me the princess is hiding something...

Thank you for your ask OP! It's really interesting to think about your question, and I'm humbled by your trust! I hope whatever I cook can satisfy you in some way. It's going to be a bit long!!

Let's start by saying I do operate under the belief that we know a lot about Dr Ratio and at the same time we only know what he wants us to know, which I find incredibly interesting to his character.

It can go many different ways. A lot of people use this mysteriousness to hint at the following:

1. something sinister (I am not necessarily saying you are doing this)

2. suggesting that he is more than who he is, like he may be more than who he presents to be (may or may not be evil in alignment but just more)

3. he really just thinks divulging further personal information about him is pointless and he values his privacy as an individual rather than a prominent figure

Let me now unpack the most wrongest [sic] take, number 1, which I find to be antithetical to his character, because Dr Ratio has always been aligned with doing good. He isn't your typical good person, but he is morally pushing for good (eradication of ignorance, people finding and reaching their potential etc), and he rather he reminds me of a very stern but nonetheless kind educator who genuinely demands good be brought into the world through one's aptitude and ability (just like himself) and not relying on others to solve problems for you

Number 2 is a little tricky, since we cannot really confirm nor deny that Ratio is no longer truly following Nous after he realizes he will never be acknowledged, he may be aligned to another Aeon or none entirely! I personally dislike the Mythus/Fictionologist take, because again it is antithetical to who he is as a character. Fictionologists will rewrite history and twists facts in order to create the possibility of uncovering more, but this is akin to something called accelerationism, which is in plain words to incite chaos (bad) in the slim chances that from the chaos a great good might emerge/ be produced/discovered etc, a practice and ideology I feel Dr Ratio as he is characterized now would be extremely against. Now I do subscribe to the fact that Dr Ratio may not be following an Aeon at all or we aren't privy to who they are yet, but this is a possibility that there is a facet to Dr Ratio we have not seen yet and will down the line so...

Number 3 is where I am at now, I really, genuinely think Dr Ratio just thinks of himself as some guy who was gifted with the equivalent of 8 genius brains but it isn't anything exceptional. From how he acts, he feels like some guy who had a rather normal childhood (if not really lonely, which I talk about in my twitter thread here) and grew up to be exceptional except in all the ways he wanted/was taught to want/thought he might want.

So I operate on several headcanons about Ratio just genuinely being so smart in a planet that is presumably the remnants of the civilization in the Laurel Wreath Galaxy where a Philosopher King/Philosopher Union was mentioned. This headcanon is heavily colored by this excellent theory a fellow fan made and I have to admit I can scarcely distinguish between mine and theirs while I turn him around in my brain so do give them/their thread a read too when you can, but I do also subscribe to how Ratio must have been exceptional in a civilization that prizes scholarship and enlightenment.

Knowing this, I presume he grew up with a lot of expectations placed upon him, particularly that of gaining the gaze or glance of Nous and ascending as a genius society member or more! That is a lot to place on an individual, especially someone like Ratio who is very much hinted to have grown up very fast due to his vast knowledge and while it's a stretch to say he was forced into growing up fast, because he def wasn't, he was nevertheless seemingly not really given much opportunities to be a child, as the push for him to start university very early could suggest that his aptitude and potential were so valued that it overridden any other needs he may have. If we wanted to ask about his childhood, he would have very dull things to say too, so to speak. I imagine it wasn't eventful at all, but filled with just studies.

Where am I going with this about his statues? They are called Mold of Idolatry! Idolatry meaning the extreme adoration or love of someone. That Dr Ratio makes the statues of himself never seems like the narcissistic sort, that would imply he holds himself in an extremely high regard to the detriment of others, but Dr Ratio isn't narcissistic, he would be a vastly different character if he was. The key to narcissism is that there is a great need, to the point of detriment, for admiration.

Now, look over to how Dr Ratio presents himself to us in his 1.6 quests. He wears his plaster head as not to be recognized by others, to remain incognito if you will, and is content to sit at the sidelines nudging things along in the background rather than swoop in and take the credit as the hero when Duke Inferno was trying to wreak havoc on the Space Station. His heroic deeds are never realized by the people he saved from being spaced, that is not an action of a narcissistic man who would gloat about saving other people. No, he sees his job is done and he walks away without fanfare, without even so much as seeking a thank you from the people he saved. That's one of the clearest and most well-thought of character introductions/demonstrations in the game and a solid proof that he isn't a narcissist (again self-centeredness is different!)

With that in mind, what does the statue imply?

Dr Ratio operates by redirecting attention not to himself so he can freely move in the background. That it looks like him in funny poses speaks to a silliness I feel he never really gets a chance to let loose too often, so his "art" is his outlet. That it directs enemies to attack that instead of him, I can't help but feel like there's a sense of "look at this 'image of me' others have built up, pour your love/expectations/wants/aspirations (and the extreme opposite of that maybe?) to that likeness of me instead, and let me be free from that to be who I could be without all of that baggage"

tl;dr -- it's not that deep but it is?? I feel like Ratio just wants to be left alone to do his thing and that's what the Mold of Idolatry represents.

I hope that satisfies you, anon! Thank you for your question, since I do have more insights to Dr Ratio now. I think I'll also find a way to condense this into a Twitter thread sometime.

#honkai star rail #dr ratio #dr ratio analysis #asks #thank you anon <3 #hsr dr ratio #dr ratio hsr #dr ratio honkai star rail

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nordickies · 1 year

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What's your opinion on SuFin?

I do like SuFin! Though only a very specifc kind... It took me a while to get on board with it (the Finnish spirit in me said hell no), but they're an adorable couple I have to admit. I wasn't a fan of how the fandom initially treated these two, but thankfully as the fanbase has matured and so has the view on these two! Though it's still wild to me that out of all the possible relationships we could have in Hetalia, they're a thing in canon (like really, Finland and Sweden?? In what world lmao) But sometimes I feel like these two take the spotlight away from other Nordics, and we never see the dynamics they would have with other characters. Like where is my Denmark and Finland content? Or Norway and Sweden?

I do still have nasty memories from earlier fandom days when Yaoi culture was rampant in the circles. I did not like how Finland was always made into a small "woman" of the relationship who was legit terrified of Sweden. It's a big yikes, just no. Or when people don't make Sweden into his own person but someone who lusts over Finland 24/7, that's not great either. But their current widely accepted dynamic is entertaining, and they have lovely moments in the canon! Actually sweetheart Sweden vs. Actually unhinged Finland just has endless possibilities.

Some people make it too ideal in my opinion, while some say it's inherently toxic based on historical context - which is incredibly misleading (this fandom has a lot of toxic relationships but SuFin is not one of them). But explaining their relationship from a historical and cultural standpoint would require a whole different post, and I am not sure if people are interested in that/we have been over this already. Unsurprisingly, Swedish and Finnish histories are my specialty and one of the historical topics I have studied the most. I do have a very specific view of their relationship, which I like exploring sometimes, but I am not sure would most people agree with it, heh

In summary: It's cute! I like it! Just don't overdo it and don't defy these two solely based on their relationship. They have a life beyond each other

#hws finland #hws sweden #sufin #ship art #my art

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vidavalor · 9 months

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Hello! Thank you for visiting. Armchairs and blankets and snacks are over there. *points* Stuff about my blog is here. Please read. Thank you. 💕

Hi there! Below please find some stuff about the content of my blog under the cut.

Feel free to say hi anytime, tag me in a post or to throw something into my Ask inbox thingamajig. I live for messages. As always, message me if you have any questions or comments.

You can find my masterlist pinned to my blog.

Content Info:

-I don't have an age rating on my blog as we all mature at different rates but I'd say some of the stuff is more adult than others. There is cursing and frequent discussions of sex. High school age or above should be fine here.

-Infrequently, a post may discuss characters who have a history of domestic and/or sexual abuse. All of these posts will contain individual trigger warnings so you will know before you read them and can make the choice as to whether or not that is something you would like to read.

-I don't TW posts for religious trauma in general because I write a lot about it (this is predominantly a Good Omens blog, after all...) but if the abuse veers into anything related to physical or sexual violence, anti-Semitism, racism, any type of queer-phobia or anything of any of those types of horrible natures, I will add a TW for it at the top of the post.

-This is queer-friendly space, as is a lot of Tumblr, thankfully. If you are a jerk to me or to anyone engaging with me here, you will be blocked and, depending on the situation, likely reported. In the words of David Lynch as Gordon Cole in Twin Peaks:

-I write a lot about Good Omens and some of what I write about is centered around analysis pertaining to Crowley & Aziraphale's relationship, which I see as being both romantic and sexual in nature and going back a long time. I believe that engaging with art means being open-minded and curious about how others see things. It does not mean demanding that my way is "the right" way and I don't expect everyone to agree with me.

I say this because Good Omens has a sizable fanbase that identifies as asexual and/or aromantic and for some people of that community, the idea of Crowley & Aziraphale as a sexual and/or romantic pairing is not appealing. My point is that if that is you, how you see this show is valid, too. We may disagree on some details on this one particular show but we do not disagree about how much there needs to be more overall representation of asexual and aromantic life in the arts. I have your back on that and if you would like to engage with me but are hesitant to do so because you see that I write a lot about a different kind of interpretation of Crowley & Aziraphale, please do not hesitate! I love seeing everyone's different ideas and creative works.

Thank you for reading & I hope you're having a great day. 💕

#ineffable husbands #good omens #crowley #aziraphale #aziracrow #good omens 2 #good omens meta #good omens theory #good omens s2 #crowley x aziraphale #ineffable husbands speak

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jesncin · 10 months

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Sons of Mars refs and nods pt1

I put a lot of references into Sons of Mars and I thought it'd be fun to have a post detailing all the nods and research from the comics there are!

The title is a spin on the Martian Manhunter solo (written by John Ostrander and drawn by Tom Mandrake) collection title.

We pulled the idea of J'onn and Ma'al going on a pilgrimage as a form of revisiting their origin story from the first issue of the "Son of Mars" collection, Pilgrimage. This line is lifted more or less from the comic (we even wanted J'onn to be talking to Clark like he does in the source material).

Double Stuff the cat is from Action Comics #1037 Martian Manhunter: A Face In The Crowd (written by Shawn Aldridge and art by Adrianna Melo)

This line about memories being passed down as a form of history is from In my Life (pt 1) (written by Ostrander, drawn by Eduardo Barreto). We pulled most of J'onn and Ma'al's relationship from this comic, since it goes into a lot of detail about their origin.

The general look of Mars (from the martians to the environments) largely pull from Martian Manhunter 2019: Identity (written by Steve Orlando with art by Riley Rossmo). I really like that they clearly took their time to develop a unique visual language for Mars, especially the organic look of the buildings and the fun shapes of the spaceships. Rossmo does not get enough credit for creating such a fresh take on not only the environments but the martians as well! All the martians look unique and have different outfits, which we wanted to do as well!

Our only rule for the environment was that we didn't want any pyramids. Because ancient astronaut theory is racist garbo and I don't want it in my Martian worldbuilding!

This page with Sha'sheen and M'yrnn is a direct homage to their page from In my Life. Idk how it happened but the parents look very t4t in our version lol

Another homage to In my Life. I wanted to imitate the color scheme and the martian outfits here too.

More In my Life homages! This time it's the manhunter training montage.

Telescope romance scene is from MM 2019: Identity! The color scheme and the vibes were already great, I didn't change much haha. M'yri'ah's characterization, J'onn geeking out about other planets, and J'onn's parents' disapproval of M'yri'ah as a partner are all from Identity. I really liked how that story fleshed her out as a character.

I also based M'yri'ah's design off of her Identity true and public forms. I went for less pixar-mom hourglass shape and more buff and built since she's a fighter in our version. We wanted her to be as much a renaissance man as J'onn is often depicted as.

M'yri'ah refers to Earth as Thu'ulc'andra and Mars is referred to as Ma'aleca'andra in our comic. This is a continuation of Ostrander referencing CS Lewis' Space Trilogy for how martians named other planets. However! In Ostrander's version he named earth Per'elandra, which is what Venus is referred to in the Space trilogy. This was later changed via community poll by Orlando for Identity.

Kind of a homage to In my Life (pt3): Earthfall, but really I found an opportunity to continue the tradition of showcasing martian boinking that always happens in J'onn's origin story for some reason.

Not a Martian Manhunter reference, but more a new spin on White Martians. Inspired off of the Draag from the French film, Fantastic Planet. I love colossal set pieces~

More In my Life parallels :>

That's all I can fit into one post for now! Pt 2 coming soon :)

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3

#martian manhunter #sons of mars #dc comics #j'onn j'onzz #justice leauge #jlu #jl remix #ma'alefa'ak #ramblings #watch me geek out about martian comics

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wof-reworked · 5 months

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dragon religion is an idea i think that is rlly awesome. i hope tui goes over it in the guide, anyway. if u have any specific religion ideas / hcs for dragons.. would they have jobs ?? like dragon priests orrrr idk tbh. sorry if this question is annoying im obsessed w the idea of dragons having religion and religion-based jobs

Originally I had like. a whole "series" of like. ideas for each tribe's religion and mythology, but in the interest of actually replying I'll do like. quick bullet points here and I'll try to fill in more later on ^^;;.

I have like. a lot of abstract feelings n concepts because I've always found it interesting how,,, little religion there is in wof at all. There's barely even really "magic", with only really animuses. wof's characters are occasionally superstitious, but all their superstition is based in like- historical events, like Darkstalker or Queen Oasis's murder, and not like. magic. so I want to keep some of that true because I think it's really fitting for a setting of dragons (who have historically usually *been* the gods, rather than the worshippers !!!) and it's also a rare opportunity to like. get into society without religion (this is a hostile zone for the great ice dragon, I'm sorry I Do Not Care About You and your One Off Mention, God Bless)

ANYWAY. Posting this under the cut bc it's kind of massive, read at ur own risk lol (cw for talk of death/funeral rites but that's really it)

Skywings:

Skywings for me have always been the clearest as like. focusing on historic figures as "saints" (though ik that's a pretty christian concept and word, just hang in there I prommy it goes places)

Point being- I've written about it before here, but for Skywings, the sky is alive and holy in its own right. They view it as the foundation of life and believe themselves (and all dragons, though the other tribes abandoned their way of living) as children of it, originally like birds.

It has some slight. monarchist overtures to it with how the sky itself is like an omnipresent parent, and its moods and shifting currents can be seen as a reflection of Skywing culture. When the sky is angry and casting out its children, there is a lesson that needs to be learned, and it is the collective punishment of all Skywings until the problem is fixed.

But past that, Skywings who achieve remarkable things can be recognized as local guardians and figures of protection- when Skywings die, they return to the sky in the form of clouds. Some Skywings also believe birds to be reincarnated Skywings, especially the spirits of those who rebuke the sky and strike off on their own (which is not an inherently bad thing, but a symbol of independence in its most neutral)

Some Skywing patrons I was thinking of were: the patron of duty- the first Skywing soldier, the patron of children/joy- the first kitemaker, the patron of guardians/parents- the lamplighter, and the patron of Skywing excellence/patriotism- the stormchaser.

Miners who die in Skywing tunnels also achieve something akin to a martyr status- spirits of those who bravely sacrificed their time in the sky to keep the caverns safe and protect those who would follow them. Not one patron, but the collective protection of spirits trapped underneath the ground

Sandwings

Sandwings are similar, but different: where Skywings have patrons who have been given a certain holy power, Sandwings have two kinds of spirits: the family spirits and folk heroes

I swear to god I wrote a Sandwing headcanon post, but I genuinely can't find it at all I don't know where it went. FOUND IT WHILE LOOKING FOR MY ICEWINGS POSTS. READ IT HERE. anyway tho starting with house/family spirits: Sandwings tend towards multigenerational homes, moreso than many other tribes, and remembering your family becomes increasingly important when there's so many of you

Most Sandwing houses keep a small shrine or altar for their dead relatives and their family history- some households have patron animals or spirits that they invoke for a little extra boost of fortune but these aren't like family crests as much as your family's,,, collective mythos

The Sandwing creation myth involves the First Sandwing tricking each animal into giving them a piece of themselves- the stinger and venom from scorpions, the quickness and wit of jackals, the resilience and scales of the lizards, and finally just snatching the wings and size from dragonbite vipers who used to rule the desert, who were reduced to their small snake status and have hated every Sandwing since. So if you want to pay special homage to your family being intelligent, the jackal might be your patron

This creation myth varies WILDLY- it can include many different animals or different exact retellings on what the original Sandwing tricked the animals into giving them, so patrons can vary and can be very house-specific

(I have a little draft, somewhere, of Thorn teaching Qibli her family history post-adoption/rescue and it being one of the moments that Qibli really starts to view her as family and not just the next Cobra)

Sandwing folk heroes are also super varied- I subscribe to Sandwings having a heavy oral storytelling tradition and general,,, art culture, so I'm not gonna write every single possible story you could tell with Sandwing folk heroes, but most of them embody those original Sandwing virtues- resilience, intelligence, and quick adaptability to come out on top

Mudwings

Mudwings already have their own dedicated post !!! yippeeeeee !!!! you can read it right over here :>

Mudwings are also big big oral storytellers but unlike Sandwings the gods are a more active part of these stories and the focus is rarely on individual Mudwings as much as the dynamics of the gods' dynamic as a sibling troupe.

Rarely,,, "worshipped" in the way Skywings will venerate their patrons or Sandwings will maintain their shrines, but passively appealed to and celebrated as like. the broadest encapsulation of what it is to be a Mudwing- the way they're moved by the seasons and their families moreso than anything else

Icewings

I wrote more lists originally about Icewing superstitions, which are right here, and I stand by basically all of that. I don't really know how to incorporate gods into that but I think a lot of Icewing superstition is just. vague cultural paranoia about Things Out There

Icewings have the strongest death beliefs/rituals out of any of the tribes imo- Icewing bodies need to be properly buried or the souls don't get to return to the soil, and become stuck on the ice.

Icewing funerals depend on if you live inland or on the coast- burials at sea are common for Icewings on the coast to allow the body to be taken by the water and allowed to disperse that way (though only when the ice isn't frozen over, as otherwise it may become trapped), and Icewings inland prefer open-air/sky burials that allow the body to decompose in nature.

Winter deaths are seen as bad luck, and are given extra caution and work (which also ties into Winter's role as a black sheep in the family- it's a bit of a dark name to give your child, especially as the youngest/least wanted heir of the family)

Great Ice Dragon,,,, I have no ideas for, I imagine just the source of all Icewings and their father who ensures that, despite it all, they can survive.

Seawings

least religious lets goooooooo

Seawings are just. straight up vibing. They're the most down to earth about being alive in the sense they're just animals like everything else (though they still have their own mixed feelings about dolphins from canon)

Seawings do put a lot of stock into destiny and fate though- almost as much as Nightwings, and they have a healthy stargazing culture and track the changing of seasons and time through the stars more than anything else.

Some Seawings think of themselves as fallen stars- scales still glowing from their core of starlight. Seawings who die return to the sky and come back in the form of comets, it's especially good luck to be born under a meteor shower.

Another common superstition is a Seawing's personal star- this can be as serious as knowing exactly where it is in the sky, or as lax as pointing to one and declaring it yours. This is the star that determins your destiny and is your personal guardian, you can look to it for good luck (plus if you pick right it can be a neat way to teach your children how to navigate).

Seawings LOVE tall-tales though. Almost everyone has a story of the time they 10000% saw A Sea Monster or a dolphin spoke to them in riddles, etc etc. Half the words out of a Seawing sailor's mouth are lies, and the other half are exagerrated beyond all reason (except of course,,, for the ones that are true)

This drives other tribes insane btw, especially the more devout ones like Skywings and Icewings. How are you going to make that shit up every time pls be serious for one moment (never)

Nightwings

The other least religious, but this time for complicated cultural reasons of. well. volcano.

Nightwings love science until they don't, essentially. Everything has a reason except the things we don't understand which are mysteries from beyond the pale that we just have to hope will one day become clear.

TL;DR: SO MANY GHOSTS. EVERYTHING IS HAUNTED.

Nightwings are like the closest to a lot of real world agnosticism- it could be real, but we just don't know yet. Lots of ghost sightings though and subtle signals from the universe. It's a bit of a collective coping mechanism for the loss of their powers + the amount of dragons, like Fatespeaker, who were born under the full moons but without a clear sky and thus only left with confusing powers.

(slaps the side of the canon Nightwing art) These bad boys can fit so much victorian ghost fear in them <3

Mastermind has and 100% would again drink absinthe to perform a seance to Nightwing seers of the past, prove me wrong

I think in older Nightwing mythology, there would have been lots of smaller gods and domains- complicated webs of connected esoteric spirits who each vied for power over the material world through their domains and contact with dragons.

The heart of it all is the Moons though- the three sisters of chance/luck, destiny/death, and soul. Something akin to the three fates but each in collaboration with each other over life.

In ye really olden days, some sects thought these spirits worked through scavengers. These guys are pretty broadly considered a strange cult though, and the history is scant at best.

Clearsight and Darkstalker would've grown up aware of these gods but given special privilege due to their powers- mostly as people exempt from the gods due to their connection to the moons as something surpassing the petty whims of spirits. Priests and priestesses would be preferred as powerless, as a clear head is needed to communicate with the gods fully.

Rainwings

Souls !! lots of souls !! Rainwings believe everything has a beating pulse and could be slash is alive in their own unique way.

The Rainwing gods are serpents- wingless but capable of moving through the trees as though they were flying, their scales a constant mass of brilliant colors. Names and identities are a WIP for me, bear with me as I flesh out these guys ;U;

Rainwings are big storytellers as well, and tend to create their own ideas and religions, in a sense. Being a puppeteer and performer especially is the closest to being a priest that a Rainwing can get- by embodying other things you are essentially changing your soul to align with them

Rainwings also aren't. super religious as much as just committed each to their own truth over a collective myth or story. Each Rainwing builds their own unique sense of mythology from the rainforest.

No gods no masters only fruit >:3c

I have some wips for each of these, some of them fics, some of them elaborations and continued myths, but I hope y'all enjoy them !!! All feedback welcome, as always.

#wof reworked #wof headcanons #wings of fire #wof #sunny speaks #skywings wof #icewings wof #nightwings wof #mudwings wof #seawings wof #sandwings wof #rainwings wof

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canmom · 6 months

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How aren't mediums fungible? Any art history class would teach you they very much are.

what, has 'the medium is the message' gone out of fashion now or something?

but to explain what I'm trying to get at, since there's a good chance I misused the word >< - each medium brings its own set of affordances and emphases. if I see a CG animation I pay attention to different things than if I see traditional animation or stop motion or what have you.

for example, we could have a look at the animation of Hiroyuki Okiura - say, the introduction to the Cowboy Bebop movie, or his work in Magnetic Rose. Okiura is one of the most renowned realist animators, someone whose drawing style, camerawork etc. hews very close to live action film. his exceptional sense of perspective and space is remarkable in traditional animation. by contrast, you 'get it for free' in CG and stop motion - you will always have perfect linear perspective unless you go out of your way to break it. however, CG rarely captures the exact qualities of Okiura's animation, which come from the sense of drawing principles - how to simplify shapes, 2D spacing etc. and by making it something constructed, the way characters move through space, the way a drawing can suddenly feel 3D, becomes foregrounded - it's no longer incidental but now a core part of what Okiura's animation is expressing.

so, 'live action into anime' is kinda what the AI style transfer tools are going for. in the technique from the recent paper, you start with a static drawing of a character and some animation data (likely mocap), and the program will generate an animation. that's similar what Corridor Digital attempted a few months ago, using a neural network finetuned on Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, and applying 'style transfer' to live action footage they shot. the results were, viewed as rotoscoping, kind of hideous, with shapes constantly flickering and turning into mush. the new paper I linked offers some techniques to improve the temporal consistency of this type of AI rotoscoping which should make it look a lot less bad, though it remains to be seen whether it works in situations other than 'well-lit fullbody shot'.

still, even if Corridor's video was a lot more technically solid (and give AI development a few years to iron out the kinks, I'm sure it will look downright quaint), it doesn't provoke the same response in me as Okiura's animation. the process of drawing something involves a lot of artistic decisions about what to capture, simplify, emphasise; for all that it is 'realist', Okiura's animation likewise has a particular feeling to the way characters move, the way they interact with light, the use of line, etc. which in some large part arises from how it is produced. so much of that is all but impossible to capture in words.

but also - knowing a bit about how it's made, and having my own experiences of animation, gives me an angle to appreciate what Okiura is doing. a drawing of something is a way of drawing attention to the specific details of the subject. two people drawing the same subject will never draw it the exact same way. one of the joys of going to life drawing is seeing how many different ways people can approach the same subject in the same ten minutes - inflected by different media like charcoal or watercolour pencils. one of the great things about anime is the space it gives key animators to bring their own sensibility to a particular shot.

I certainly accept that is inevitable that mediums will evolve with time. anime looks very different today than it did 30 years ago. part of of that is evolving sensibilities, partly the slow-motion collapse of an overstrained industry, but also a lot has do with the fact that every studio has switched to digital compositing and digital background painting. it's possible through painstaking effort to fairly closely imitate the look of cel animation on a computer, but you really have to go out of your way, and it's rare to do that.

and I do feel like something has been lost with the death of cels - qualities of line and colour, the difference between digital bloom and backlight animation. but something has been gained at the same time: maybe we've gradually lost the traditional skills for drawing layouts because the conditions of production made it so that skills weren't passed on to the current generation of animators, which sucks, but we have simultaneously gained the ability to merge 2D and 3D animation with tools like Grease Pencil, to use the camera-like digital compositing effects of directors like Naoko Yamada and Makoto Shinkai. it's not better, just different.

this isn't to make the boring argument that AI art is soulless, or lacks the magic human touch, or whathaveyou. it's just a different medium. nor would it be right to say that there are no connections between media - literally right now I'm modelling an arm, and my experience of drawing arms is directly influencing how I break down the forms and all of that. AI generated images derive in obvious ways from traditional animation and CG and photography and all that, AI engineers study these media in great detail as they develop their programs; our knowledge of those media can inform how we respond to AI.

honestly, CG that aims to replicate the look of traditional animation, such as in the games of ArcSystem Works, or the works of Orange like their Houseki no Kuni, is something I actually find very interesting. not because I think it could or should replace traditional animation; it just reveals fascinating things about both media. the same can be true of AI, I think. like what do you learn from what a neural network is able to capture, and what it isn't? and what does studying neural networks tell us about human brains?

if the development of AI and the accessibility of new tools leads to a flourishing of interesting new animation, I'll be happy. I just don't see it as a replacement for traditional animation and 3DCG. if anything the future of animation will probably look like a hybrid process taking advantage of the best features of all the different media we've invented - insert the usual spiel about Arcane and Spiderverse here. AI is currently very immature, we're still figuring out what it's good for and the hype drowns out everything, but I'm sure it will find a comfortable place, and I'll be interested to see how it all shakes out.

but what I meant with 'not fungible' is that, if you try to replace one medium with another, you will inevitably change the qualities of what you make. nowt wrong with that. like, just because you can adapt books into films (and vice versa) doesn't mean books are obsolete. some things are easier to express in prose, others in film. you can have prose that's informed by film, and film that's informed by prose. everything's talking to everything else, it's great! but the tools you choose are meaningful, and interesting. not just an irrelevant detail to be swapped out when "superior" technology comes along.

#ai #this is all from a very pie in the sky art perspective - not even touching on the implications for industry. labour. etc.#because we don't get free choice of media. nobody will fund a cel animation film now.

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demigirlravenqueen · 10 months

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Historically ever after part 5

Darling Charming 2 New And Improved!

I wanted to do an updated version of this post because, it was really just my second attempt at doing something like this so it's not really the best and I've learned quite a bit more about 18th century fashion since then and I'm not really satisfied with that post anymore. Darling was the fist character that I decided to make these posts on because everybody kind of knows that her design was 18th century inspired. I think that it's just one of the recognisable historical styles .

Starting with the dress, it has an open front showing another layer underneath like most styles of dresses from the Georgian period which usually had a petticoat underneath as well as a matching stomacher if one was worn. The robe robe a la francaise is, I think the most iconic for this look. The robe a la francaise also featured large box pleats at the back and were commonly worn over side hoops which gave the iconic wide hip look.

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I think that darlings dress more closely resembles an English gown or robe a l’anglaise which is more fitted and less often worn with side hops therefore usually having a more round skirt shape.

Either way it doesn't really matter as I doubt that the people designing these outfits really had this in mind. But I'll leave this article by the American Duchess which dose a good job explaining the different styles of 18th century gowns if you're interested.

We also have those lovely elbow length frilled sleeves which were common on fashionable gowns.

The print on her dress really resembles some of the floral patterns common during this period, such as these ones I found in the Met's online collections.

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the underlayer's pattern is more subtle and and resembles these silk woven fabrics.

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Her hair is swept back and curled in a way that's meant to reference the large fancy hair styles iconic to the period, mostly around the mid 18th century. Feathers, ribbons and jewellery were all pretty common hair pieces.

Her hair is also verry light which is again a reference to white powdered hair.

While were talking about hair I'd also like to mention that we plenty of primary sources indicating the use of blue and pink hair powder during this time. I don't know a lot about that (or just historical hair in general I'm trying my best), but Abbey Cox did a great video the history of coloured hair, and after watching that I was able to find portraits showing it. It's such a niche fun fact that I don't think that it was intentional and they probably just chose blue to go with the colour scheme they already had but it's still cool.

Her jewellery was interesting to look into, full disclosure I don't know much about jewellery outside of the Victorian era and even then my knowledge is pretty limited so I was mainly digging through the V&A archives and comparing them.

Her necklaces are I think the most similar. You got the jewels arranged in a circle around another jewel and the elaborate patterns.

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I think her bracelet is more armour inspired I'm not really able to get a good enough look at it to notice much detail.

dangly earrings sort of like hers I've seen a lot of but rather different.

With her flower shaped ring I was either expecting to either find nothing or something similar but smaller which they made more bulky for doll production. I didn't find a similar ring, most were verry simple in shape, but I did find this broch and gasped verry loudly when I did because it was so similar.

I might do another one on her dragon games outfit, but I don't really think there's anything there, and this post is getting long, nothing compared with what I have in the works for Lizzie but... I have homework to do and this has already taken up enough of my time.

As always, feel free to add on or correct me.

Part 0.5 Part 1 (original darling post) Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

#eah #ever after high #darling charming #eah darling #fashion history

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literary-illuminati · 9 months

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Book Review 46 – The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

Okay the month of August was essentially a write-off for...a lot of things, but non-web serial reading among them! Now trying to claw my way out of the pit and back on the horse. So, some high concept genre fic full of queer people and war crimes, just what the doctor ordered.

The Spear Cuts Through Water is the fantasy epic and love story of a pair of warriors – one a generally despised one-armed checkpoint guard, the other a positively reviled princeling – as they escort the moon goddess in her attempt to escape the prison her sons had trapped her within as they tyranize and empire that spans a continent. As told through a dream/vision of the Inverted Theater, where shades throughout time are called while they sleep to witness a performance put on by the favoured child of moon and sea. Intercut with the same tale as told through out POV’s grandmother, along with vignettes of his life as the son of a failing cloth merchant centuries in the future as the world goes through its equivalent of WW1. All this metaness and layering is either the book’s strongest point or it will make your eyes roll back into your skull so, you know, make an informed choice here.

Being entirely honest I don’t remember exactly how this book ended up on my radar – I believe I was first pointed towards after I expressed some dissatisfaction with this year’s Hugo nominees as something that would have been a more deserving inclusion on the short list. Certainly I’d never heard Jimenez’s name before picking it up. Entirely happy I did, anyway – whoever first rec’d it yes, this does deserve a Hugo nod way more than some of the other nominations.

The plot itself is quite well done, but absent any of the stylistic flourish wouldn’t really have been anything that memorable. The layered framing devices – and the way that they intrude on the narrative in a hundred different ways, switching from depicting the action to saying how it was staged and presented or how the narrator heard the tale told – are really just fantastically well done, enough that even when it got all meta and self-referential I was still enjoying it more than enough to just go with it.

Not that our heroes aren’t fun in their own right. They’re both at times profoundly unlikable, and other times utter idiots, and always totally and completely incapable of intelligibly expressing their feelings. It’s great, love them. Even if on occasion I also wanted to throw rocks at them. The main supporting cast – or at least Defect the tortoise and the moon/empress herself – are even better, really.

Though as far as characterization goes its the extras where the book really shines. It has a trick I really, really like where little snippets of the internal monologue or history of some fellow traveller on the road or sentry being gutter from behind are interspersed into the action in italics like this. Diegetically this would be the chorus in the theatrical performance, but regardless it does a shocking amount to make the world feel like it’s full of actual people and not just mannequins forming a backdrop for the characters who matter.

The book fits into the honourable tradition of modern SFF with cool-eyed and unsentimental portrayals of feudalism/imperialism, war crimes and general oppression (including in this case very plot-relevant and character-informing ableism) but only a vague and attenuated sort of 21st century homophobia, if that. Like all modern queer genrefic it’s also at least kind of in conversation with the looming shadow of Burying Your Gays, with a bait and switch tragic heroic sacrifice that seemed very conscious and pointed.

The framing devices lend themselves well to the book being written in a kind of mythic register, which I very much enjoyed. The epilogue felt like an intrusion of history on mythology, and I do mean that as a compliment, full of messiness and ambiguity and short on heroes and golden ages or utopias. Overall very much enjoyed the book, perfect reading for being stuck in a waiting room for a passport renewal.

#the spear cuts through water #simon jimenez #sff #map fantasy #book review

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swearyshera · 9 months

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Alice,

I've loved being able to read Sweary She-Ra through the years. I happened upon it only a few months after finishing She-Ra (I was late to the party due to not having Netflix, oops), and it gave me so much wonderful content to keep my excitement for the series alive.

The way you explored the characters, especially Catra's mental health and her relationship with Shadow Weaver, helped give me a new understanding and greater appreciation of them. I bring up Catra specifically because, I'll be honest, I wasn't a big Catra fan for awhile. I liked her well enough, then kinda didn't in season 4, but grew fond of her again around season 5. But you helped me understand her thought-process, and I came to like her more because of it. I really like that you also handled her in a nuanced way, where, as you've said many times, you explained her behavior without excusing it, and that made all the difference.

One of the things I really appreciated about your take on She-Ra was how apparent your intelligence was, as well as your writing skill. It wasn't just "Catra says fuck and Glimmer has killed dozens," even though it could have been--you went the extra mile (or kilometer, since you're British :P) and gave us a variety of jokes, as well as mood shifts from comedic to tragic to dramatic to hopeful. All of the characters felt like themselves, even though they were pushed up to 11 and had some creative liberties taken, such as Frosta being a demon and Hordak's Geordie accent. You had a good handle on all of them, which can be very hard to do with a large cast, especially one written by another writer.

I also really appreciated that you took the time to answer asks and build a community here. It gave us lovely jokes such as Bob (that's right, I haven't forgotten about him), Catra's age, and Entrapta reading our comments. I've always been very shy online, but seeing you having such nice interactions with fans helped me open up, and I'm glad I did! I used to ask anonymously from time to time (yes, my first ask was about DT, all the way back during your start on season one, what else would it be? XD), and I'm glad I've gotten to chat and joke with you, as have the rest of us.

I'm so glad that you stuck with this and created such a wonderful fan-series. We never got a movie, but this was just as good, in my opinion. It was like watching SPOP for the first time all over again. I'm excited to see what you create next, be it SPOP-related or not. I hope the future has great things in store for you.

You brought us laughs, tears, and spectacular Glimmer-swears, and your blog means so much to so many people. You mean so much to so many people. I hope you find success in your future endeavors!

FOR THE HONOR OF GAYSKULL!

What can I say, it's truly been an honour (of Gayskull) to write something that I had no idea brought so much to many people. I'm genuinely quite humbled by the reaction.

I always wanted to be fair to all the characters, to show their reasons without necessarily validating the invalid stuff that they've done, and that particularly came across with Catra. It's no secret that I see a lot of parallels between her and my own history, but I've applied the same take-no-shit but be kind approach that I took with myself over the years. And I've learned a lot about mental health during that time, so I could give that sometimes painful realism, but also know just how to make fun of it in the right way.

In some ways, I feel like the characters I've written have taken on their own personality that's very distinct from the original, and that's probably why I think there's a little more mileage in them yet. Both in terms of original stuff (my pilot script Snowflakes has almost 1:1 versions of DT and Perfuma!), but also in the possibility for creating more Sweary stuff, and that is slowly taking shape - although I am taking it easy for a bit, I've already outlined a story which I'd love to make into an audio drama. Currently workshopping it with a couple of people, so watch this space...

It has been a joy to get so many asks from people, yourself included, and my inbox will always be open. I'm not going anywhere for a while! You were very much my DT-asker-in-chief, and I'm super glad you enjoyed their scenes (heck, you even got them a cameo at the end!). So thank you immensely for the support.

I'm happy I've been able to contribute to a wonderful fandom in such a way, and I'm eager to keep on giving back to a community that has given me so many amazing friends.

FOR THE HONOR OF GAYSKULL!

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animehouse-moe · 5 months

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The Weakest Tamer Began A Journey To Pick Up Trash Episode 1: On A Journey Alone

Now, if I didn't already know about studio Massket's history, I wouldn't have batted an eye at this series. I'd think it's well done, somewhere towards the top end of the midrange for anime in a season. It's got pretty art, fun designs, and good-slash-consistent animation. But I do know about Massket's history, and I know that this is their first ever anime. And they did a better job than a lot of established studios out there, so I have a lot to chat about!

I think the strongest and most consistent aspect of this first episode is certainly the art direction and backgrounds. It's a lovely style and it really pulls the most out of the fantasy genre. Really bright, rich colors that fill the screen to the brim give the world a wonderous feeling.

Conversely, I think the closeups in the episode also really help sell the level of detail, which is very high, that Massket is gunning for with this series.

They really pulled out all the stops in the art department, and that includes character designs too. Ivy's design is really solid, and animates impressively well despite the level of detail in it. I mean, she carries around 4 different bags and they still find a way to include sequences of her running, or falling down a hill, or even just putting those bags on. The consistency of these animations is one thing, but their quality is totally different. This is the kind of work that you expect from an experienced studio, not a first timer.

And even then, there's really not much inconsistencies in the character designs. Of course there's a few moments that have slipped through the cracks, but the largest moments with her character remain intact, as evident by the number of close up shots on her in the episode.

And funny enough, these closeups are a pretty good segue into my only complaints within the episode- simple inexperience. The boards for the episode are pretty great, amazing even in some sequences like the one below. But at times they can be awkward to follow and give off the feeling that you're missing something in between. It's not anything terrible in terms of quality of the studio, but does speak to some of the inexperience of the staff.

And the only other real area that I can point my finger towards is composition. Yeah, a little odd considering how good it is in the majority of the episode, but it's more about the consistency of low level aspects within. Shadows not appearing in certain scenes, colors remaining flat or out of sync with the environments, feeling the presence of layers in a scene. Just little things here and there that feel more like lapses than they do failures. And truthfully, the vast majority of these struggles manifest exclusively in brighter environments. When there's less light and more shade in a scene, the composition always does considerably better.

So all in all? I'm deeply impressed if this remains the quality for Massket's first anime. This is a level of polish that some studios aim for. Sure, there's dips in quality and other issues like I just pointed out, but almost all of them come from a place of inexperience rather than an inability. We've been shown what good and great look like from Massket, so I'm not too worried about lesser areas that will certainly see improvement.

#the weakest tamer began a journey to pick up trash #saijaku tamerwa gomi hiroi no tabi wo hajimemashita #最弱テイマーはゴミ拾いの旅を始めました #anime and manga #anime #anime reccs #anime recommendation #anime review

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