#thematic contrasts

[anthurak]

So here’s something interesting:

Did anyone else notice that despite his concern for and wanting to reconnect with his sister, at no point does Blitzo try to apologize or otherwise take ownership of whatever it is he did that clearly HURT Barbie Wire so much in the past?

Which I think makes for a very notable and interesting contrast to how Moxxie handled his relationship problems/screw-ups this episode.

Like I’m starting to think that the M&Ms posing as siblings this episode wasn’t just setup for a joke, but also so they can act as a foil to how Blitzo is handling, and screwing up, his own relationship/family issues.

#helluva boss #helluva boss analysis #blitzo #helluva blitzo #barbie wire #moxxie #helluva moxxie #millie #helluva millie #character foils #thematic contrasts #its feeling like a pretty consistent trend that the M&Ms serve as a foil to Blitzo's relationships

[98chao]

sorry

#anybody wanna be thematic contrasts together #cookie run #cookie run kingdom #crk #pure vanilla cookie #shadow milk cookie #i dont even know what their ship name would be. #shadowvanilla #vanilla milkshake #my art #clip studio paint #2024 #sorry if the proportions are off im not a cookie run fanartist #im more used to drawing actual people (cry) #1k

[canisalbus]

hello! i've written a short little machete fic, and i wanted to share it with you as thanks for all the incredible art and generous question-answering you've been doing these last few months. i hope that if you give it a look, you enjoy it. <3 keep up all your amazing work! archiveofourown [.] org / works / 50945128

✦ A Voi ✦

#wake up honey new fic dropped #feeling blessed #eating this out of your hands like a baby deer #it's so good you guys treat my lads so well #and write so beautifully and vividly and eloquently #I rambled about this in length in the fic's comment section so I won't repeat myself too much here #but in this one Machete has a little breakdown and gets lovingly bathed like the sad and stunned dog he is #really captured his neuroticism and endless uneasiness #excellent Vittorio content augh I adore him #I'll definitely come back to this later and draw proper actual fanart because some of the scenes are so thematically and visually strong #I need to be able to see them with my actual eyes #dangit I forgot the cut on his lip #had a minor crisis over the color of Machete's robe but maybe it'd be white like the rest of his sleepwear #as a contrast to the usual blacks and reds #fic A Voi #doomcountry #own art #own characters #Machete #CanisAlbus #blood #I said this before and I say it again #if you read the thing and like it it would be very kind and appreciated if you left a small comment to doomcountry as a thank you #you don't need an ao3 account and you can do it anonymously

[vapidlemon]

something something the friend that summer took away something something look only at me something something i want to be possessed by you so bad

i happened to get really into shoujo rei just before i started reading so i did a quick study with them when i was a few chapters in. bc the song wouldn't leave my head

#they're not that close thematically but it's interesting to compare and contrast #the summer hikaru died #hikaru ga shinda natsu #i totally lied in the last post i drew this before that. wanted to clean it up but i dont think ill have time #fanart

[spiraling-trap]

spiraling-trap lawlight drawing tutorial

#it took me a bit to figure out how i wanna draw them but i have it to a science now #their eyes contrasting the rest of their face is Thematic #art is a wip also #death note #l lawliet #light yagami

[rambrandt-the-painter]

been having an ehhhhh time with art and this isnt great but i think shes really cute when i draw her like this

#i draw her chubbier and with my proportions when shes chill and having a better time in life #partly because it makes me happy and partly because she has a history of getting depressed and not eating enough so thematically #it makes sense for her to get chubbier when shes chilled out and having a good time #this is contrasted with how shes gonna appear in the comic where shes slimmer because shes dealing with a lot of shit

[movedtodykedvonte]

The fact that Jevil is a jester but has an active refusal to make others laugh and simply lives for his own merriment and amusement compared to the fact Spamton canonically hates clowns and jesters yet has a burning desire to be loved and adored with/through the express purpose of catering to others.

#yeah im thinking about how their very existences parody and contradict each other and how they kiss about it #what of it #this isn't even really spamvil just something I noticed #i love contrasting people who #hate each other but thematically are one in the same #utdr #spamton #jevil #spamton g spamton #deltarune #undertale #deltarune analysis

[jackdaw-and-hattrick]

Still obsessed with @starry-bi-sky ‘s Childhood Friends au so here’s a quick ghost design I did for Danny and Jason as teens.

#danny phantom #dp x dc #jason todd #dead on main #childhood friends au #Idk I just love the idea of them having highly contrasting aesthetics just vibing together #Jason is heavily bird themed #with sorta burned broken wings #and little burned feathers caught through his hair #then when he gets high emotion they start to glow and eventually burn #I’ve been bouncing the idea around of him not being able to fly #which would of course be a real issue in the GZ #but the thematic symbolism tho

[aboutmercy]

thinking about how dongsik and joowon are the inverse of each other. thinking about joowon's journey realizing that blood is not thicker than water, ties can be severed from abusive family members (no matter how painful that is) and that among many things, his father's cruelty is what took away and destroyed dongsik's family who actually were a positive force in his life. many things about beyond evil appeal to me, but i mainly want to put a pin on the central themes of the show, particularly the failures of adults and parental figures, how that ripples through the lives of their successors in an especially vicious and self-destructive manner. this is a commonality found between multiple characters in the show (minjeong, joowon and jeongje) - but i want to put emphasis on joowon's struggle with this because his path to freedom was walked to completion, in comparison to minjeong whose life was cut short and jeongje who we part with carrying the painful knowledge that he may never achieve absolution, as his journey has only begun.

the show, technically starts at the beginning of joowon's journey/arc. unfamiliarity and discomfort force him to adapt and self-reflect, because the only way joowon was able to free himself was by breaking every rule his father set for him, going beyond his selfish confines and breaking down the walls he built. joowon is unable to get his physical body dirty, he is emotionally closed-off and is incapable of understanding why the people in manyang, particularly dongsik, would look out for anyone other than themselves. he is selfish, rigid, guilt-ridden and bashful; but it is exposure to dongsik's unwavering faith in and patience for others (for jeongje, for sangbae, for the people of manyang that have wronged him for years) that erode his harsh edges. dongsik, although not without flaws and contrary to what his outer appearance and manner of speech radiate, is kind and forgiving. that kindess, that forgiveness, as well as joowon's own guilt and shame is essential to getting him to a point where he is comfortable bloodying his hands, his clothes, and his face to protect dongsik (+ jihwa and her partner. to protect his friends).

dongsik recognizes joowon's pain too ("i know what it's like to be blamed for something you didn't do"). he sees his guilt, it's not inordinate to what joowon's done per se but a large portion of it brings so much shame to joowon ("please, stop doing unnecessary things out of guilt.") how could i have been so self-righteous when the man who bore me is responsible for so much misery? how do i rectify this, how do i absolve myself from the guilt? all dilemmas joowon grapples with, and dongsik, knowing pain and shame all too well does not grant joowon mercy when he is bowed down, forehead to cuffed hands while joowon's own are also cupping dongsik's, begging for it. mercy is letting joowon go, it's lifting the burden of responsibility off his shoulders - but instead, dongsik’s final request ensures that joowon truly atones ("i ask you to arrest me" - "no, how could i do that? i have no right") by informing him that the only way to live with guilt is to try and do right by the people who expect something from him. "joowon-ah", dongsik says as he softly picks up joowon's clenched fist, the look they share informs joowon that going through with the arrest is how he'll do dongsik right. it's what dongsik, his now friend, expects from him. that's what their final scene as partners is all about, in my opinion.

and something good does come out of dongsik's firm but tender confrontation. joowon gradually becomes a better person who seeks community and whose life, in return, is enriched by the friends that forming community gave him. dongsik and joowon's parting is bittersweet, but in letting joowon know that his actions matter to others and that he is wanted and expected by others - (jihwa, as part of the larger collective whose feelings towards joowon are influenced by dongsik's, texts him and checks in - that expectation to show up and empathy for when he does not respond is an invitation letting him know that there is a place for him if he chooses to occupy any) - dongsik sets him free.

#god im sorry i dont meta on here often but i physically needed to let all of this out. #user aboutmercy is obsessed with the thematic idea of granting and denying mercy? oh im SURE #also. joowon was such an ass in the beginning lmao i love him so much...... #if dongsik was any less crazy and any less generally patient and kind as a character trait then it would've been so over for joowon #the contrasts i've noted between jwds are abusive home/loving family - kind/really mean - confident/insecure.. #i'll perhaps find more on a rewatch. but it's so interesting how different they are yet so fundamentally broken #that they couldnt have resisted being drawn to each other. #ds to jw: 'the depressed and obsessive man in me sees the depressed and obsessive man in you' #beyond evil #lee dongsik #han joowon #jwds #also. sorry if this is bullshit i’m just……. filled with agonies. bc i love han joowon #jtbc beyond evil

[proudfreakmetarusonniku]

like i see people say stuff like “rei is a deconstruction of the idea of like the perfect girl in a male gaze-y way” and and i'm ready to agree until they go “it’s because she’s creepy and weird and bad!” like no. rei's a deconstruction of misogynistic ideas of womanhood because they’re ideals forced upon her that damage her, not because she’s in any way “creepy”. like, the fact she’s a fourteen year old girl who was basically used as a substitute wife by her father bc she looked like his own dead wife is not something that is meant to make rei look bad like holy shit.

like both rei and asuka are very obviously like. showing fantasised and misogynistic ideas of an idealised woman don’t work irl yeah. shinji's misogynistic view of them is wrong. but that’s not because rei and asuka are bad people it’s because like. “fourteen year old who's flirty and seductive” and “fourteen year old who's a quiet obedient object” are major signs of abuse and trauma and anyone actually acting in those ways at that age clearly isn’t normal. asuka is desperate for attention in any way she can get it, even unhealthy and dangerous ways. rei is at the very least I has a weird pseudo-incestous enmeshment filled abusive relationship with her father, even if she's not actively being sexually abused. asuka is seeking support, rei is a grooming victim. these are not things that are flaws in their character the entire point of subverting the expectations is to show how those expectations are unhealthy to rei and asuka like. god.

#like. negative fucking media literacy. #like. rei and asuka show signs of abuse in ways very normal for teenagers #every one of the Children in Evangelion is a victim and they react in messy ways #the point of that isn’t to show that they themselves are bad. it’s to show how trauma fucks you up #like none of them are bad people! they do fucked up shit bc it’s normalised to them! #people will just centre rei and asuka’s trauma around shinji and then call the show misogynistic for that like. #woah pal. there’s issues in the show yeah but i think that’s more an issue on your end buckaroo. #like their trauma interacts with him. and his trauma interacts with them. bc the show is literally about human's influences on each other #like the human instrumentality project isn’t there to just be funny it’s a thematic conclusion??? #and also like. it’s comparing and contrasting all threes trauma to understand exactly how they got shaped the way they are. #just. think about the show you’re watching. please. #rei isn’t creepy she’s a schizophrenic abuse victim who's probably done the least screwed up shit out of the main cast #shinji isn’t a loser he's a heavily mentally ill young boy cracking under the pressure of toxic masculinity and having his boundaries erode #until he's unable to even respect the boundaries of others and recreates his trauma for a desperate attempt at control #asuka isn’t like. okay i mean she IS a bitch but literally so is every thirteen year old ok. #and it’s bc she fucking despises the vulnerability being kind shows. she despises herself and is overcompensating bc she’s scared and 13 #like. god.

[raayllum]

9.2k wordcount for chapter 3, featuring more set up, some heavy handed chess and apple symbolism, and burgeoning plot progression

The Associate Crow Lord brought the mail in breakfast, which was an overall normal occurrence. Most of the time, none of them received any mail except for Ezran, which Opeli would swiftly put in a stack off to the side to be addressed post-meal, but occasionally there had been a couple of letters for Callum, largely in communication with officials from Xadia about certain texts or magical items he could get his hands on for studying purposes. A few times there had been proposals from other noble families that had snuck through, but those had been returned unopened even before Rayla had come back, and he certainly wasn’t going to open them now.  There was the usual assortment for Ezran, maybe a few more than usual, and then the Associate Crow Lord nervously held one out to Rayla. “For you, uh, my Ladyship.” It was a title that had been bestowed only after the wrongful arrest, and Callum knew the only reason Rayla didn’t scoff was because she was too surprised. “For me?” “Is it from Evenere?” Callum asked. The seal looked Lux Aurean gold, not Evenerean green. “No.” Faint, familiar light emitted briefly from the parchment as she opened it. “It’s from New Aurea.” “Already?” Ezran inquired. “We just wrote them yesterday—” Rayla shook her head, eyes quickly scanning the letter. She went paler with every word and Callum did his best not to stare; he’d never seen her like this. Fearful, yes, but not frightened . “No. They’re... they’re asking me about a Moonshadow folktale. It’s nothing.” It was not nothing, but Callum wouldn’t push it. Not in front of everyone.  “If you say so,” Ezran said a tad uncertainly, sighing when he turned his attention to the stack of scrolls in front of him. He looked to Opeli. “Nothing from any of the elven representatives of the dragons yet, either?”

#tdp #the dragon prince #fic: teach me how to name the bigger light #broyals #rayllum #we're going to pretend how many scenes in this chapter end with a character hoping someting is #for thematic contrast of callum's unsteady confidence amid everyone else's more measured but dramatic doubts

[anthurak]

So after my last post on the topic, I’ve been doing more thinking on the potential dramatic fallout of Blitzo acquiring an Asmoadean Crystal at the cost of I.M.P.’s use of the Goetic Grimoire, and with it, his relationship with Stolas. Particularly how it could also potentially ripple out to create a major blow-up with Loona, since with an Asmodean Crystal, Loona’s actual job at I.M.P., using the Grimoire to portal the imp crew to Earth and back, would be nixed and leave her with nothing to actually do at the company.

And I just had WILD idea as to where this could end up leading.

Imagine if Loona’s anger at Blitzo effectively trading I.M.P.’s use of the Grimoire for an Asmoadean Crystal isn’t just about Blitzo unwittingly taking away probably the one thing Loona felt useful doing at the company, but also because Loona doesn’t have access to the Grimoire anymore?

What if Loona has actually been secretly using the Grimoire without Blitzo’s or the M&M’s knowledge? Maybe she’s been operating her own business routing to Earth on the side? Maybe she’s been taking her own assassination contracts without Blitzo’s knowledge? Or perhaps Loona has simply been using the Grimoire as a retreat, a way to get away from her problems in hell for a while by just hanging out on Earth?

Whatever the reason, Loona wants or even needs the Grimoire that Blitzo has now ensured they won’t be able to use anymore. Not that she really lets this slip to Blitzo or Moxxie and Millie during her big fight with her father. Instead, we learn about it through more non-verbal means.

Imagine if after her fight with Blitzo and storming out of the I.M.P. offices, we see Loona pause, and draw a large circle on the wall. Placing her paw in the center of the circle, Loona’s eyes glow with magic, making it clear she is attempting to open a portal herself. But alas, she cannot. Further angered and frustrated (and perhaps punching the wall), Loona pauses to weigh her options, and then storms off down the street. A helpful camera pan-up revealing the Goetia manor far-off in the distance in the direction Loona is going.

I imagine this is starting to sound familiar to some people…

After this, Loona proceeds to break into the Goetia manor in an attempt to get the Grimoire back… and ends up running into Octavia.

At this point I imagine this is sounding VERY familiar to some people.

In short, what ensues is a meeting between Loona and Octavia which both heavily parallels and heavily contrasts the reunion between Blitzo and Stolas that we saw in flashback during The Circus.

Just like her father before her, Loona is trying to steal the Goetic Grimoire for her own use and is found by Octavia, just like her father before her.

But whereas Blitzo and Stolas spent their reunion on entirely different pages as to what the other actually wanted, Loona and Octavia are VERY much on the same page as to what’s going on. In contrast to her father, I imagine Loona would immediately come clean to Octavia as to why she was there and what she wanted the Grimoire for. If for nothing else than to simply vent her frustrations after the fight with her father.

Because unlike their respective fathers, Loona and Octavia are actually already pretty close after Seeing Stars and actually understand and relate to each other on what is likely to be a close, personal level. So rather than some awkward interaction while not really understanding (or caring in Blitzo’s case) what the other wants or expects, Loona and Octavia have an open and genuine heart-to-heart and bond over the problems they’re going through. This could show a natural follow-up and role-reversal to the pair’s previous meeting, now with Octavia being the one to hear out and provide emotional support and closure to Loona.

And to further the contrasts, this whole scene ends with Loona and Octavia establishing a kind of ‘contract’ of their own. Not one based on some weird, vaguely defined transactional relationship and sex acts like their fathers did.

But simply one based on them being friends.

This is really one of the big reasons I’m so interested in where the show will be taking these two, and why I think much of the fandom’s fixation on Loona and Octavia simply being ‘sisters’ is really selling these two short.

Because ironically, I think it’s very easy to envision a scenario wherein Blitzo’s and Stolas’s relationship falling apart actually brings Loona and Octavia closer together. We already saw in Seeing Stars that Loona and Octavia deeply relate to and empathize with each other over their respective struggles with their fathers. So as Blitzo’s and Stolas’s relationship continues to deteriorate, which in turn ripples into causing problems with their other relationships, namely with their respective daughters, I think it’s all too probable that Loona and Octavia would turn to each other for understanding and support.

Whereas Blitzo’s and Stolas’s relationship has been this messy, vaguely and ill-defined fling based on transactional sex for favors wherein neither are open about how they actually feel about each other, I think it’s all too likely we’ll be seeing Loona and Octavia develop a platonic, emotionally-intimate friendship based on their relating to each other.

In other words, I think Loona and Octavia may very well become a VERY interesting platonic foil to Stolitz.

#helluva boss #helluva boss theory #helluva boss rambling #Loona #helluva loona #Octavia Goetia #helluva octavia #blitzo #helluva blitzo #stolas goetia #helluva stolas #stolitz #character foils #relationship foils #thematic parallels #i think pigeonholing loona and octavia into 'sisters' has led to people really sleeping on the parallels/contrasts they have to stolitz #trying to get my backlog of HB posts out before the next episode drops

[layalu]

hey guess who just finished EotE and is feeling So Very Normal about it

#i wanna paint this properly at some point but i needed to get this out of my system #my art #id in alt #outer wilds #outer wilds eote #outer wilds spoilers #(idk if this says anything without context lol but i'll probably ramble in the tags so imma give it a spoiler tag anyway) #i will admit i only watched a walkthrough instead of playing bc i am a wuss :') #would def recommend playing over watching any part of ow but still. hhhhhhhh #the thematic contrast & parallels of the strangers is so gooood #also the atmosphere (it is great in the entirely of ow but i love how eote keeps it up while making it distinct from the main game?) #also also solanums and the prisoners theme together is the best thing. btw. so pretty but it makes me cry #but ye. i love how it starts with one eye and then every species that gets involved has progressively more #which idk if there is supposed to be any meaning to that lol but it sure is cool for Imagery TM

[ghostinthegallery]

Me (then, foolish, unenlightened): I don't understand shipping two characters who have never met in canon, I mean what is there to even go off of?

Me (now, wiser, cursed with knowledge): I need Anrakyr the Traveler and Thaszar the Invincible to make out right this second or I will explode

#necrons #wh40k #anrakyr the traveler #thaszar the invincible #no you don't understand #the thematic parallels and contrasts #two exiles one chosen one forced #one a wanderer one returned #um...they are both good with machines #and fly around on ships #Idk what Thaszar looks like but Anrakyr is dressed like the heroine on a harlequin romance novel cover and Thaszar is a pirate king #think of how hot the art would be

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

connection between "the poets are just kids who didn't make it" -> "I went to sleep a poet and I woke up a fraud" -> "I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead"

also a branch off there that ties Hand of God with TMOTM but that's actually a lyric comp I'm planning to make soon more than an actual note

#lftos essay #I'm just posting notes now. apparently. I'm trying to write out an outline rn skfnskngsk #EDIT the connection between hand of god and tmotm is the fraud/liar bit #hand of god is very eh whatever about it. hand to my heart gun to my head swear to God I'm through with this - I'm the worst liar I know #tmotm is CONCISE and DIRECT and SPECIFIC. I went to sleep a poet and I woke up a fraud #which. idk when tmotm was written exactly. patrick wanted it on the album proper instead of dark alley and champagne #but the song released in march 2006. I'm just saying that in a lot of ways hand of god feels like a draft almost #and MUCH of what it says both literally and thematically is transfered into tmotm #the contrast of the 2nd verse of hand of god vs the clarity and precision of ''went to sleep a poet and woke up a fraud'' ? #um.... hm. I won't conjecture #especially not on main. but....... I do have An Emotion about this ngl #ok that was just for my own notes ignore me. pencil in hand I'm just trying to make this work #moving on.

[ifellbecausegravity]

idk if the fandom has a consensus about what lies outside of motorcity but I find it fun to imagine it's fuel for a lot of crossovers. it could be mostly an uninhabitable wasteland like Kane said, but MC/DD is completely isolated so theoretically that creates space for any other vaguely post-apocalyptic cyberpunk story, especially in a (semi-)isolated setting

for all we know Blade Runner is happening out there, or Wall-E, or the whole story actually takes place in the world of yugioh 5d's so the rest of the world is playing card games on motorcycles and Kane specifically sealed off his city to keep those weird magical trading cards out

#personally i think it would be funny if the original cyberpunk novel neuromancer was happening at the same time for the thematic contrast #motorcity #detroit deluxe #mijn zooi