#sorry for the essay in the notes

[neptunesenceladus]

thinking about Themes and Motifs and how Tone can be conveyed through the layout of the page

#in other words: #thinking about dress rehearsals by Madison Godfrey #i want to say it’s really post modernist #in how it explores the self and how it conveys that with more than just prose #brilliant book if you ever feel like some poetry and prose that will rip you apart #i feel like rus and rowan would both enjoy it #many of the pieces are written in fractured lines which perfectly show in a visual way the feelings #photography teacher had us do an essay on wether art is defined by the artist or the audience #and i feel like godfrey does a really good job of telling you what they feel and mean by it #and then letting you decide what it makes you feel and means to you #so you get two definitions #the artists and the audiences #and each audience would have a different definition of it cause the stories it tell won’t apply to anyone #because of the theme of performing womanhood and sense of self #so some people will be looking through a window while reading it #while others are inside the room #which them makes me think of a room of one’s own essay/speech #which i need to reread #sorry for the essay in the notes #it’s cause i’m not confident about my own words to write and actual essay #en thinks thoughts #also this was supposed to be about how the work is typeset but i got so sidetracked #this is why my literature essays were never an a grade #i get too sidetracked

[starrysharks]

shiver doodel

#splatoon #splatoon 3 #shiver #im too tired to add tags brah sorry #shapes. symbolism according to shapes. essay focused on my incredibly specific stylistic choices in the notes that nobody reads etc

[leonardcohenofficial]

hello i would love to hear your general thoughts re: tenmartha if you feel like sharing them

okay so many thoughts about dr. martha jones and the doctor but one of the main ones is that despite popular (misogynoir-driven) belief, martha's character as written is much stronger than people give the series credit for. i think so much of her very strong character development and arc (based in her growing into her self-sufficiency, which was always there from the start and demonstrated in her constant analysis and questioning in the search for the most info to make the right decisions) is overshadowed by fandom racism, too much focus given to the unrequited crush storyline (which is also key to her arc, but is also something that she very distinctly and importantly gets over!), and general "she's not rose" sentiment. i think it's really interesting that unlike rose or donna whose narrative arcs need them to become super-human, martha essentially becomes the doctor's equal by the end of her run, if not surpassing him given the fact that as a human, she doesn't have those same otherworldly powers as him.

while i think the narrative of season three ultimately lets her come out on top, i think there is a big cost to that, for both martha the character and for the viewers. even separate from fandom racism there are so many moments of racism in the series that i don't think actually do anything to further the storytelling (literally fuck the whole human nature/the family of blood storyline) and that puts a damper on much of that whole year for me despite loving the characters. i also understand why the doctor (via the writers) is constantly comparing martha to rose, but the moments where martha calls him out on it—while they are certainly there—aren't always enough. i think that fact that martha also begins as fairly dependent on the doctor's validation (which like. makes total sense, she has no idea how all this works and is getting thrown into insane scenarios with no info from the jump) gets reduced to calling the character "needy" which just simply isn't true. this is also something that i think people focus on a bit too much rather than seeing how that particular character trait shifts throughout her season.

all this to say, when tenmartha is good, it's fantastic. freema agyeman and david tennant's chemistry is so on point, and that saves a lot of otherwise mediocre-to-bad writing. from the jump martha is shown to be so SO fucking smart, self-reliant, willing to take risk, and uninterested in the doctor's bullshit; when the doctor isn't just whining in the post-rose hangover or treating her like crap, he recognizes how powerful she is AND how much potential she has to continue to hone her skills, which is why he trusts her so inherently and ends up leaning on her so much during that season. the fact that he manipulates her emotionally to me is equal parts hard to watch and based writing-wise in a lot of the aforementioned -isms AND interesting character development from him because we haven't really seen that type of messy fucked up (human) behavior from the doctor. and then martha leaves on her own terms, which no other companion has gotten to do (clara's storyline feels different in that regard to me). she realizes she doesn't need him, arguably becomes his equal (or surpasses him) in terms of skill, and makes it out alive. imho that's a pretty big accomplishment.

#sorry ben this turned into more of an essay than i meant but. i love martha so much!!!!!!!!! #also on the personal note it meant a lot as a kid to see a black companion and i just always liked her #doctor who #martha jones #ten #tenmartha #majorbaby

[pizzagame4000]

we all know human vigilante… but what about… slightly human vigilante

#pizza tower #pizza tower vigilante #the vigilante #vigilante #the noise #pizza tower au #if i was made of cheese i would probably stress-eat my hair too #ily vigert ebenezer lantte #some design notes: #vigi will always be short and fat to me. anything else just feels off for some reason #also as we all know #the way indigenous people are shown in this game is Horrendous #so as a native person i was like #hmm. native codes your vigi #it’s subtle cuz it’s not plot important or anything #it doesn’t rlly change anything except flipping the cowboy movie stereotypes #so i thought it would be fun #the turquoise bits on his outfit are inspired by Diné jewelry and metalwork :3 #the braids are just cuz it looks cool not cuz braids = native lol #also holy fuck epiphany: native vigi speaks to the mixed experience #HEAR ME OUT HEAR ME OUT #you are native in the sense that you have native family and community u grew up with #but you are also #made of cheese #something decidedly incredibly not native #bc the entire concept of dairy was imported to the americas by europeans #you are mixed native and white👍 #he’s literally me fr #ANYWAYS. don’t take any of that very seriously but it is an interesting metaphor #sorry for the essay in the tags. it will happen again

[ct-multifandom]

I don’t usually make posts like this, but I’ve been seeing a lot of anti-intellectual junk lately, and I really think we need to put the word “pretentious” up on a shelf until people learn what it actually means.

It doesn’t describe someone who likes artsy-fartsy deep meaning media. People who are pretentious are fake. They’re posers trying to be sophisticated and unique, not like other girls. They pretend to only like stuff they think will make them sound cool when they talk about it. They want to act like they know something you don’t, and they want attention for it.

By definition, if you genuinely enjoy something, you can’t be pretentious. If it resonates with you, and you analyze it, and you don’t care what people think, that’s the polar opposite, actually. If you love obscure experimental prog music, if you watch underground high concept indie films through English teacher eyes, if you spend hours in a modern art museum reading each piece as a vessel for storytelling, if your backpack’s full of poetry books that inspire you, if you play underrated games that were someone’s passion project, if you have an interest in studying the classics or the masters, you are not pretentious.

Of course, some people just don’t like some stuff, and that’s fine, but that’s not what this is about. Don’t let anti-intellectuals shame you for enjoying things just because your interests are inaccessible to them, because they refuse to be brave and put effort into critical thinking. You’re not stuck up for refusing to overlook the craft of artists.

#anti intellectualism #media #movies #books #music #critical thinking #my friend who primarily listens to one very popular band once said that people who listen to obscure music are annoying and pretentious #which rubbed me the wrong way because 1 she knows that I listen to obscure music and 2 it’s such a cowardly consumerist take. anyone can #make music and hey a lot of the people who do make GOOD music. and this goes for all *obscure* media #this post was mostly inspired by people talking about Barbie and those anti pick me girls like the pick nobody girls who insist thinking is #for boys and having fun with an empty brain is for girls. Greta gerwig is an artist. I haven’t seen the movie yet but I know it has a deeper #message than haha cute pink! I’ve seen the summaries about the true meaning. the pinkness and popularity doesn’t negate the narritive. #though in the notes I saw a lot of tumblristas comunistas shitting on the film for being one big ad that people *fell for* which tbh is #tbh almost as anti-intellectual. don’t get me wrong they milked this film to sell hella shit but I don’t believe kids who play with dolls #are the target audience as these people claim. Barbie is a culturally iconic symbol almost archetypical of societal expectations for women #you say barbie people think unblinking perfect plastic pink girly. reminds me of the poem The Last Mojave Indian Barbie. yeah yeah you all #hate brands but this one carries undeniable significance and makes for a powerful literary device. it’s been used many times before #sorry for writing a tag essay about a film I haven’t even seen but I’m tired of internet people focusing so much on proving others wrong #that they end up oversimplifying everything just as much as the other person. god I saw people doing this to Nimona saying transphobes were #looking too deep into her character and they’re reactionary clowns for making that jump. like for once the transphobes are right. she is #trans. it’s a queer story. and irl the first people who notice queerness are the bigots who can tell you’re different. sick owns telling #them the story’s not that deep is harmful and it’s like they’re ignoring the real message on purpose. okay enough rambling hehe! thanks #barbie #nimona

[twd-obsessed-bitch]

Thinking about Rick calling Michonne his wife,

And about how he doesn't know he has another son, he kept talking about his wife and his daughter but he doesn't know about his son

I want to scream, TWD universe makes me want to scream

#twd #the walking dead #rick grimes #michonne #the ones who live #im taking mental damage everytime i actually think about how rick lost carl. “died”. was kidnapped by the crm #and then was told he was never allowed to see his family again. and then SIX WHOLE YEARS GO BY #meanwhile his daughter who was a TODDLER is now a preteen. he has a WHOLE NEW CHILD that he doesnt know about. and despite trying FOUR TIMES #they still wont lwt him leave #on declaration of death if he does manage to actually escape and get back to his family #AND HE DIESNT EVEN ACYUALLY KNOW THEYRE STILL ALIVE #im writing an essay in these notes im sorry

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

the thing is that Kintsugi Kid is a very good example of what the band has described as SO Much (For) Stardust's combination of nihilism and hope. and it's also a good example of the frickin... Dune litany against fear type thing of acknowledging a feeling ("I spent 10 years in a bitter chemical haze and I miss the way I felt nothing") and letting it exist instead of trying to A= get rid of it or B= suppress it and like... what does the litany thing say?? let it flow through you and then only you remain?? that thing. the song ends with Pete's youngest kid screeching in joy because she gets to be a rockstar on a song (I'm not kidding. look at the Genius note.) the whole album is basically a case in this, in saying... yeah. this is the honest truth about how I'm feeling. but it isn't the end.

#it's also a subtle example of the guts thing being referenced again which effs me up personally because #it is very much a song About addiction. in many ways. you understand?? the chemical haze could be drugs or mental illness #or some combination of both. but it is About that #''on the bright side got the wrong insides'' is. oh my GOSH. when you think about that #sorry #lftos essay #been thinking about this for an hour ough #fob #fall out boy #smfs #going on main bc I have most of my essay notes over here 🤷‍♀️

[oatmealcrisp-freak]

How do you feel a female Light and Saiki K would be like?

In my fanfic Deus Ex Saiki I proposed percussive maintenance as a way to solve the Kira problem.

I expect if they were girls it'd go the same way :3

thank you for the ask!!!

#saiki like 'gimme 2 hours to pvp enable' #freaks doodles #thank you for the ask!!!! #saiki k #death note #sorry if this wasn't what you were expecting but i am too brain empty for essays atm quq

[atanxdoesstuff]

I saw this in a Yakuza vines vid and HAD to draw this

(read right to left)

#i originally had a whole essay in the notes about how nishiki murdering dojima doesnt make him evil #but then i realised that prob belongs in a seperate post on main #holy shit this took me longer than i thought apparently almost 2 and a half hours #nishikiyama akira #yakuza #digital art #yakuza fanart #rgg #sketch #kiryu kazuma #i still struggle to draw him #sawamura yumi #dojima sohei #i also played YK1 immediately after Y0 so I already still wanted to murder Dojima on Majima and Makoto's behalf so I might be biased lol #also idk how to draw guns and i cant be bothered to learn sorry XD

[darklight-owl]

Do you think Hershel and/or Phoenix would be able to solve the Death Note Kira case?

*cracks knuckles*

I made a post about this months ago but I think a lot of what I said there was really dumb bc it had been a while since I'd played either series so I'm gonna take this opportunity to correct my past self's wrong and bad opinions:

(Oh also I uh. May have included a few Death Note spoilers in the last paragraph of Phoenix's part sorry. I needed it to prove a point)

Hershel:

Definitely like no question. I originally said no on the basis that he isn't the type to take supernatural things at face value, but in reality he does seem to approach even the weirder cases with an open mind. Most games start with Luke being like "Professa do you really think there could be a notebook that kills people? :o" and Layton answering like "haha I'm afraid I can't really say Luke =|:-)" so I think he'd examine everything from every angle and eliminate every other possibility. He would take his sweet time since getting him to accept the Death Note as a real thing wouldn't exactly be easy, but once he's convinced then the rest would come naturally.

The other question is if he could survive, though. Obviously he would have the tact to hide his real name based on the possibility of Kira's power being real, especially if he's with Luke (which I don't even know if he would bring Luke along for this one considering how dangerous investigating Kira is). He does tend to appear a lot on british newspapers but since Light is in Japan then he wouldn't know about him beforehand. Regardless, Light has found out the names of his pursuers before and if he had Misa with him he could just ask her to write his name down. BUT ALSO. Layton has a tendency to not show his hand until the most convenient time, so odds are that Light won't even know he's pursuing him until it's too late.

Verdict: yeah he'll do great put him in the Task Force 👍

Phoenix:

It highly depends on the circumstances. Phoenix catches killers in court, so we're assuming someone already got falsely accused of being Kira. Light has a lot of followers who would gladly take the fall for him (namely Misa or Mikami) or alternatively lie their asses off to let him walk free. Everyone who's played Ace Attorney knows that you can't really lie to Phoenix without getting exposed though, so yeah.

Regarding the Death Note mechanics... honestly Phoenix works with a spirit medium channeling his dead teacher all the time so I don't see how he would have such a hard time believing shinigami with murder notebooks exist. (Edgeworth would be a completely different story but that's another case altogether.)

Problem is: he wouldn't so much as step into the court before suffering a heart attack. Not only does he not get a chance to hide his name thanks to court proceedings, but Phoenix is a pretty prestigious lawyer and even if he was only locally famous like Layton it wouldn't take long in the trial for Light to realize that this guy is bad news for him. Best case scenario he would try to debate away the accusations thrown at him, then when he realizes he's getting his ass kicked he'd desperately try to write Phoenix's name in that little slip of notebook he has in his watch. That's what he tried with Near, except this time he has the chance to hide what he's doing behind the witness stand and no Matsuda to stop him in his tracks.

Verdict: He could catch him but he would die in the process 💔

#you asked and I delivered ✨️ #sorry it took me ages and ages to write this essay but I didn't have time to write it until now 😭 #i... really like Death Note jfkdjdkd #mutuals #zakaria/evil-city #death note #professor layton #ace attorney

[oakfern]

why does consuming content destroy me. i am so bad at this. why can't i just read books and play video games like a normal person

#e #i'm sorry for this but i never make posts with essays in the tags so bear with me for once #every time i find a new Thing it eats me alive until i can forget about it #after i finished earthbound i cried for 2 days straight. u think i am exaggerating but i am not... it was scary. i could not stop bawling #when i read the locked tomb series i was literally emotionally destroyed for a whole ass month #while i had the books out from the library i just kept reading them. and rereading them. and rereading them #and i read really fast so i probably read each book like 5 times at least. and the emotional parts i read over dozens of times #anyway this time my Thing is lore olympus. i read all of lore olympus in two days and now i don't know what to do with myself #(ok to be fair i was caught up in like 2021 but it's been a while so i had to start from the beginning again) #side note: i can't wait for alecto to come out so i can be completely destroyed for the rest of my life

[marsbotz]

Saw your tag saying FSM haters come fight you. Here I am! Frankly I'm not so much of a hater as I am just of the opinion "wow this guy sure Started All This Shit" but I'm absolutely willing to hear your view of the matter if you're willing to share! Love some Friendly Fandom Discourse (it's healthy tbh) come at me bro 👊 👊 👊

HI LOL.... my personal opinion is that the FSM gets a lot of hate for similar reasons to wu (which i also think are unjustified but that's a different post). like you said he gets a lot of the blame put on him for starting everything that's to come in the show, but i don't really feel like he intended to do any harm.

the FSM was born into a war. when he was still a very young child, he was forced to choose one side of himself, of his family, and destroy the other. and so he ran away. but this world he runs to is chaotic and dangerous. and so again, he is forced to fight for the right to live in peace along with the inhabitants of this world.

but even in this new world, he wasn't safe: the oni followed him, determined to bring him back to fight for them. and after them, the overlord. his whole life, especially when he was younger, he had been fighting, or running from forces that aimed to destroy him.

i believe the FSM was incredibly paranoid throughout his life, worrying that at any moment everything would be ripped away from him. this can be seen in how secretive he was, how much of his history is hidden away. the mech used to win the war against the overlord was sealed away where it could never be found. he granted elemental powers to select people to help keep him safe. even in his death, he hid away, in a place that even wu could not find.

this paranoia carries on through his sons. he taught them both to fight, to protect themselves, when they were also very young. one of the earliest moments we see of them is them fighting with swords! and though he loves them, they are not immune to his secrecy, or his fears. when they steal the scrolls and enter the serpentine territory, he never fully trusts them again. when garmadon gets bitten and starts to turn to evil, he's desperate to cure him. and i don't fully believe that the FSM intended to make garmadon feel broken or "wrong"... just that his fear has so consumed him at this point that he can't see the damage he's doing to his children.

it's also worth noting that despite garmadon's corruption, the FSM never truly hated him. he was left to protect the golden weapons alongside wu, he recieved the same protective enchanted gi, and was left the same clues to find him after his death. it's just that garmadon was unable to see this through the corruption (which is another post).

perhaps all he did was to protect his sons. that seems to be how wu sees it, at least. because wu repeats this same behaviour with the ninja, even if unintentionally. he brings these kids into a war because that happened to him, and his father before him. maybe he doesn't even realise it's wrong. he hides things from them not only because because he's ashamed of his past (again, another post lol), but because his father always hid things from him. it protects wu, but it also protects the ninja.

i don't believe the FSM was a flawless person. hes one of many grey characters in ninjago, and to boil down everything he did to "good" or "bad" is a disservice. maybe you see him as someone who only ever ran from problems instead of truly solving them, maybe you see him as a cruel and neglectful father. and maybe those are both true. but he's also someone who always tried to fight for peace, for himself and everyone in ninjago, and someone who truly loved his sons, despite the damage he did to them both.

so that's who i think the FSM was. an immortal, all powerful godlike being, yes, but also a scared child who just wanted to live peacefully, and would do anything to prevent another war. and maybe he is, in some way, indirectly responsible for every bad thing in the show, but i think this is more of an after-effect of the countless wars and conflict. he did the best he could, and considering all he went through, i think he did alright.

#also like. he died thousands of years ago so the fact that its only recently things have been kicking off is quite impressive LOL #ninjago #the first spinjitzu master #fsm ninjago #SORRY THIS IS SO LONG.... hopefully it makes sense i rlly didnt wanna spend ages on this but theres soooo much to say #its hard not diving into hc territory too LOL.... #like always my thoughts on ninjago are complex and weave into each other... so its hard to make them coherent but hopefully it comes across #i have two other big essay posts im working on rn so yeah i didnt wanna spend.. AGES on it haha #if u disagree or r confused come argue w me pleasee i love sharing opinions abt this shit. its so fun. jsut dont be rude thats all i ask :] #asks #also i didnt know where to put this but worth noting: wu and garm entering the serpentine territory risked starting Another war. #so him being mad is fairlyyyy reasonable i think. even if he was extreme abt it #smth else i didnt know where to put: the theory that the overlord is the manifestation of fsms oni side/inner conflict over his identity #issue upon issues.... #anyway. i think its a little unfair that ppl always talk abt how awful it is that the ninja had to fight so young and stuff #when the exact same things happened to wu garm and fsm

[bagel-boy-sama]

Astarion Baldurs Gate 3 Isn't A TumblrSexyMan™, He's Just A SexyMan™

I've seen a large number of people, most of whom are in the Astarion Disliker/"I don't get it" camp most who are not on this particular hell site, cite Astarion as Tumblr's latest sexyman. Today, I will be explaining why I do not believe that to be the case. That instead, as the title states, he's just a sexyman.

No real knowledge of the hell site is required, I'll explain things for the new people.

Setting The Definitions

First, definitions because this is now Intro to Writing and Rhetoric. A sexyman would be anyone, usually masc or a man, who is concidered sexy by a wide range of people. Fascinating.

A Tumblr Sexyman, on the other hand, is a thing - usually fictional entity - that is incredibly popular on Tumblr.com to the degree it escapes it's fandom sometimes, in the most extreme of cases, becoming far more popular than it's original fandom. It is characterized by a few major characteristics. Ranging from Twinkism* (be it the character or fan interpretation), generally unconventionally/perceived to be unconventionally attractive in a non physical sense (character traits that wouldn't otherwise be desirable, like absurd behavior or generally evilness), to impeccable drip (either in the original media/design, or done by fans in fanart).

*note: Twinkism (which I did just throw in on the spot this is entirely bullshit for my own amusement) is the phenomenon of skinny, young looking, pretty/feminine white boys who are within media. This is different from twinks, who are understood to be young and skinny - being pretty, popular, or white is not connected. All those who participate in Twinkism are Twinks, but not all Twinks participate in Twinkism.

Does Astarion Baldurs Gate 3 Fit The Definition?

First rule: must be at least a twink. Is he?

No. Yes. Kinda. In a way. Many people would describe Astarion as someone who's gone through "Twink Death". No this is not because he's literally undead. Twink Death, in it's simplest form, is when a twink no longer looks young and/or feminine. Astarion has aged. His crows feet and laugh lines, while beautiful, do not make him look 18. For some this would disqualify him from being a Twink. So perhaps he has failed at the first step.

I, however, am not satisfied with that. Moving on, is Astarion - or would Astarion - actually be considered conventionally unattractive in any way that is disconnected from his appearance? I argue no. Vampires are considered very well, normal to lust after. They're right below succubus on the "This isn't considered weird to find attractive" scale. You aren't romancing The Emperor here. Outside of that he's well groomed, shown to be muscular in game (headcanon does often disagree and while I wish it was true we are working with facts for this specific discussion), and an elf. In personality, while not for everyone, he's the pretty standard fruity sarcastic gay who's a bit selfish. We all know a fruity sarcastic gay who's a bit selfish, and they get laid. So it can't be considered that bad. Probably.

I feel important to note here that I am aroace and have no idea what I'm talking about right now. This is an educated guess.

Astarion has lost now, two for two. He's barely a twink, even going off of his model he's more a twunk. He definitely doesn't fit the Twinkism phenomenon. He's not weird to find attractive, I assume, so what else is there? His drip? I'm sorry, but his base outfit is a bit well Goofy to say the least. Much fanart leaves him in this outfit or a simpler version because drawing ruffles is enough to make anyone want to willingly jump headfirst into the underdark, so he fails the drip test as well.

His final hurtle: is his popularity Tumblr™. In this context Tumblr™ is different from Tumblr. Tumblr™ is the fandom side, where a sexyman would flourish and find their own fandom. Importantly, this fandom needs to be very insular to the site. It's a *Tumblr* sexyman after all. So that begs the question, is Astarion highly liked by mostly or purely Tumblr people/those who have the vibes of a Tumblr user? No.

Astarion is well loved by many people of various vibes. He has affected (previously) straight men on Reddit. Few can escape him and his 10 charisma.

Conclusion

Astarion is just a sexyman. He's just a fictional character that many think is neat and attractive for a variety of reasons. He's the Ryan Reynolds of crpgs. He's some dude, who's generally considered attractive by a lot of people who you both would and wouldn't expect to find him attractive.

#This only matters because when he's inevitably included in a Tumblr sexyman thing that's probably not even on here I'll know that I spent #30 minutes writing a weird essay thing about why he isn't really a Tumblr sexyman #look forward to receiving this link poor souls who decided to be my friend. ive converted all of you to Astarion fans so actually youll like #it probably. im such a good influence #astarion #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 spoilers #purely because i mentioned the emperor #astarion ancunin #baldurs gate posting #im so sorry to anyone who actually read this genuinely why. if this gets more than 2 notes im going to be homicidal #also F for my followers who dont care about bg3 sorry besties.

[echoequinox]

More Zelda Theories, about the Depths and the Statues!

BIG SPOILERS. DO NOT READ AHEAD UNLESS YOU HAVE GOTTEN THE MISSION "DEFEAT GANONDORF". FOR REAL, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

That said, this is a lot of theories about the Depths and more specifically the Bargainers, who seem to be a very prominent and important figure in this game, almost like the Zonai were in Breath of the Wild!

We'll start with anatomy, because there's a lot of interesting things to go off of there. As far as we can tell, the statues in the Depths of Zora, Rito, etc. are mostly unexaggerated and straightforward representations of the races they portray. But the Bargainer statues are...

Let's just say they're big.

They are confirmed specifically to be Bargainers by the map marker, namely the one of this picture: the Bargainer Cliff Statue. This implies that it is, in fact, a representation of the group.

Some other interesting things about the anatomy you can somewhat see here: no discernible feet (potentially wearing shoes or armor) and hands that each end in three blunt fingers.

The other interesting part that we can see is their face.

(Also this is a partial view of their upper half as well, which seems to be particularly hard to photograph)

Their head appears to be conical in shape with four eyes that feature prominently, especially due to the first real mission where you speak to the Bargainers and must throw their eyes into the chasms. (Also notable are their streak-like markings beneath the eyes, almost like Tears)

My two primary theories on the face is that it is either 1. A mask of some kind, with the eyes as a recurring motif and possibly some sort of symbolism, or 2. The Bargainers are constructs HEAR ME OUT

Evidence of it being a mask comes from the Hood of the Depths from the outfit you get from the Bargainers. It is shaped very similar to the head of the Bargainer statues, but the face is instead shrouded, the hood obscuring only one eye, and the rest of the face covered in the same wraps that cover Link's arms and legs.

It is POSSIBLE that the Bargainers themselves have four eyes, and using this hood structure only reveal one at a time, perhaps to keep other races from becoming unsettled, or maybe some sort of ceremonial reason. It is also possible that this is a lesser Bargainer outfit, and the ones the statues are built from have the four-eyed masks, and the statues are proof of reverence of those greater Bargainers.

Either suggests that the Bargainers are humanlike in nature, potentially a culture of their own similar to how the Sheikah are technically of the Hylian race (as seen in parentheses in the Character Dossier in ToTK).

It's also possible that they were a subculture of the Zonai, and Link's difference in outfit is due to it being an acolyte outfit rather than the outfit of a true Bargainer. It isn't, after all, called the Bargainer set, but the Depths set. It's possible that Hylians who worshipped the Zonai - and specifically the Bargainers - as gods wore these as some form of worship or ceremony.

My other theory, I personally think, holds less water, but it is interesting to pursue. Below is a spoiler for the Spirit Temple and the lead-up to it.

This is Mineru's construct body after she's resurrected by Link. There are a couple notable things here that do, in fact, relate to the Bargainers.

First, the fact that the Construct Factory is in the Depths at all, which is an area seemingly mostly kept up by Bargainers in general. Second, the anatomy does admittedly seem to line up. Longer arms that reach the knees, the shape of the legs, the codpiece and the strange segmentation of the arms, which do end in three nubby fingers. Additionally, the "head" of Mineru's construct is an owl-styled mask similar to the one we see Rauru wearing around his neck, or on his face in the trailer.

The more I look at Mineru's construct, the more I begin to think that the statues are built after them, but story-wise, it has a lot of holes. It would imply that the Bargainers are, perhaps, sentient constructs. Would they be allowed free reign of the Depths? Allowed to create statues of themselves, in some form of robotic reverence?

The alternative is that they are, in fact, possessed constructs, similar to Mineru's. Interestingly, it does start to line up when you put it in that light. While the Bargainers have you collect Poes in the underground, they don't look like Poes from any of the previous Zelda games. Instead they look like Spirits, specifically those from Twilight Princess. They're said to be the souls of those who haven't yet moved on to the afterlife, and the Bargainers are able to shuffle them on their way.

Mineru, the Sage of Spirit, would be uniquely qualified to have followers who relate to spirits and souls. Putting their bodies into constructs as well wouldn't have been a huge challenge and - in fact - if the process was willing and not one of necessity, it would make sense that they would build statues of their new, superior forms.

Moving on from anatomy, we can briefly cover the abilities the Bargainer Statues seem to have.

The Bargainers are able to speak to Link in the same way many other creatures are: the Koroks, the Goddess Statues, the Horned Statue, etc. They are also able to not only take the souls that Link collects and move them to the afterlife, but compensate him for doing so. They can produce things like Dark Clumps or outfits designed to plumb the Depths. They're also able to reach out and find their "brethren" for Link to seek out and speak to. The more of them Link finds, the more they're able to work together and create better armor and gear for him.

The one on the Great Plateau says he "inhabits" the Goddess Statue to speak to Link. It feels almost as if the Bargainers are spirits themselves, able to possess objects, which is in line with the possessed construct theory.

There are two other interesting notes to leave this on, as I don't really have a conclusion for my theory at the moment. The first is about resources. Zonaite is found most prominently in the Depths, although some is found on sky islands as well. It's possible (or even probable) that the sky islands were ripped from the surface of Hyrule, or even below it, and that's why it's available on them. But Zonaite being found deep underground, and yet powering all of Zonai tech such as the Zonai Charges.

The other is about the name itself: Bargainers. Searching through the Zelda wiki for other instances of the word "bargain", only one primary entry comes up: The Statue's Bargain. This is the quest in Breath of the Wild in which you find and bargain with the Horned Statue. A dealer of life and wealth. A Bargainer, if you will.

It's possible that their powers originated not from a secret stone, like Mineru and her Spirit Sage powers, but instead from a god. Whereas Hyrulians worship Hylia and her encompassing light, it's possible that these Bargainers - maybe even the larger Zonai culture - instead worshipped Her opposite. Deep beneath the ground, away from sunlight and prying eyes, perhaps they did dealings with this strange, bargainer god. Wealth for life. Perhaps trading away your last heart for money, allowing the god to take all of your soul, would trap it permanently, forever adrift beneath Hyrule, as a Poe.

Maybe the Bargainers themselves are trying to atone for what they did, the lengths they went for riches and power, and what it took to become the monolithic figures they revered in statue form. Hylia, as we know, saw the dark god and trapped him forever within a statue. Perhaps his followers were not so different...

Edit: I absolutely forgot the fact that the Construct Factory steward mentions getting receipts and orders from Dragonhead Island, implying more than one construct needs to be built (which, I mean, they're factories and depots so of course). We see Mineru's earlier design in the Spirit Temple, and one hijacked by Kohga at the end of his storyline, so we know that there were at least several in circulation, but it makes sense that if the Bargainers were a race that inhabited construct bodies similar to Mineru, that it would be mass-produced like that.

#i like ending posts on a dramatic note #anyway sorry this is a full ass thesis essay #i have a lot of feelings about them! a lot of theories and questions! #tears of the kingdom #totk #tears of the kingdom spoilers #totk spoilers #the legend of zelda #tloz #zelda bargainers #theory #totk theories

[gncrezan]

I love your unhealthy clingy famous MC you don't understand how feral I'm over him

THANK YOU I LOVE HIM SO DEARLY TOO!!!!! the backstory with absent parents and just. everything about seven... i think makes a lot of infamous ocs potentially lean into this?? or at least there are a ton of choices that just made me go "oh yeah. that's him" . idk there is an element to how infamous is written that really helps with characterising him, including how customisable it is, and i do love that about this IF!!!!! crying about him below the cut <3

aki kind of navigates the world worried his loved ones will leave him and is a little too clingy because of it. he also has been playing those worries off by being charming, flirty and funny. like he can somehow project this hyper-extrovered version of himself and try to make people love that !!! he drops that more around his bandmates/friends, but not in front of people he's just met (please guess who accidentally escalated the bed fight on the tour bus)

aki also hooks up with people a lot, just cause he likes sex but also because he enjoys the no-strings-attached. because of those attachment issues, when he gets something that feels black and white to him, something one-and-done and he leaves in the morning, he can just. take feelings out the equation. he knows its not meant to last so he can just walk out (leave! hit da bricks!!! walk out!!!!!)

committing to a romantic relationship . you can imagine. is a little complicated due to all this LMFAO he just overthinks and worries before even getting into it, regardless of if it's reciprocated or not. between the one time he's actually into someone (seven) and how that ended (...badly) + the fact that deliriously avoiding commiting to anything except hookups = very little (none at all) actual dating experience. aki has no idea to deal with it and will balk. yeah this is immature of him but i have plans to make this guy character develop so hard throughout the course of infamous that he may implode

i love the genre of character where they're just going "i know i have a few issues, who doesn't, but honestly i think i'm well adjusted!!" <- they are not well adjusted. in fact they're worse than they think

also no one asked for the orionmance essay i sent my friend but here it is <3

#the seven not-a-breakup can actually completely hinder your mc too <3 #aki just internalises it. OF COURSE not blaming seven for feeling abandoned and then leaving. literally they get voted out #regardless of if the pc votes for or against. but aki never expected seven to walk out of his life and it adds to his issues #i am very much leaning towards the valenreign poly and orion because of the aforementioned tho #vic and him have so much like. common ground in that projection and performance . g's drive and passion is i think the same #also g /picking/ him. vic enjoying his music. that means everything to him. to be seen for what he values in himself #very fun and very chaotic but they fall into place . i dont think aki would have expected it but he wouldn't change it #orion i think nudges him constantly into being a more. true version of himself. like just more genuine #also has something about him that makes aki just. blurt out the truth of how he feels. LOL. #akihiro yasumi #so so sorry for the essay anon. this ask was the equivalent of a free pass to talk forever to me #on that note. big fat mouth arlie is in his playlist. 'that comment wasn't funny/just wanted you to love me' dear god. #also oc aki that exists outside (and existed before) infamous is so much less. like This #him in infamous is a lot of his personality dialed up to 11 bc of the circumstances he's in (almost-famous lead singer) #and also a result of the pre-written backstory and how he'd react to that #he's literally just a hairdresser. his best friend is a office worker. they are each others wingmen. they will die embarassing each other #he also has siblings but infamous kind of drags him out of a doting older brother figure and directly into #.... well. the pc's parents. sorry aki #answered #anon

[lord-shitbox]

dont repost to other sites without asking me first

here's a shitpost i didn't mean to spend nearly as much time as i actually did on. this was actually a random discord rant i sent to a server and then formatted as a slideshow (with images lifted directly off of browser image search!)

#shitboxposting #vanitas no carte #the case study of vanitas #not tagging this shit with anything else actually i want like 20 notes on this max. i halfassed the whole thing so theres probably like #poorly worded phrases that imply shit i dont mean or something. sorry if the alt text is dogshit i halfassed that too #anyways the papers oughgghghggg the fucking papers are due fuckkkkk you KNOW i put a couple hrs into this slideshow just2 put off th essays