#this is a great post and articulates this so well op

[yourdyingwish]

Hi! I saw your post about the blue curtain thing and I was wondering what was wrong with their interpretation. I haven't taken an english/lit class in years so a lot of it has slipped my mind, and the way they explained it seemed to make sense to me (especially because I tend to intentionally do something similar for imagery in my own writing).

I just posted a pretty long explainer a second ago about this because obviously I was being flippant when I posted the original screenshot, but basically: there's nothing inherently wrong with using an author's biographical details to inform an interpretation of a piece of literature. Death of the Author is something else entirely. Some people who have never read Barthes' original essay and have maybe only heard the phrase or concept seem to think that Death of the Author is a methodology in which you ignore the author's life in favor of your "own interpretation," which is somehow always right. This could not be more wrong. But to step back, let's talk about why that original post was limiting to the practice and art of criticism (I'm going to use this instead of 'wrong') because that was your question. At the core of that original post is, in fact, basically the same limited line of thinking present in the post I was talking about. (Btw no shade to OP–I care more about the 40k people who seem to agree with them, they might have changed their mind or not articulated themselves well, I've been there). Let's look at the original curtains are blue post and this post side by side.

Putting the rest of this under a cut because it gets long

The left is a version of the original idea in the "curtains are blue" post, and the right is the post I had an issue with which seems to basically be saying that real academic literary analysis doesn't actually try to match color symbolism to meaning, and instead focuses on autobiographical details of the author's life.

If this is true to OP's experience or the experience of those reblogging the post, I hope they high-tail it out of whatever program they're studying in. The issue with both of these posts, besides their general anti-intellectual undertone, is actually their emphasis on "correct" or "real" interpretation of a text, or one that is understood as "right" by some kind of invisible cabal of criticism-theory referees who all want to tell you "what the author really said." This is, among other things, a very juvenile approach to criticism. I think the reason that this type of sentiment is so popular on tumblr is that, frankly, a lot of people on this website are in high school or early college, and have an adversarial relationship to their English teacher/professor, who grades them on how well they can analyze a text based on sometimes arbitrary criteria. It makes sense that they would see themselves being graded on their criticism as "right" or "wrong" and interpret that there is such a thing as a single interpretation of a text that is "right" or "wrong."

However, that's not really what is or should be happening in upper-level/higher education. A high school English teacher trying to teach their students about color symbolism in the Great Gatsby is simply trying to impart one possible methodology of criticism to their students and enable them to repeat the same basic critical moves that one critic, at one time, has made, because grasping the basic ability to adopt a methodology and employ it is a foundational skill for analysis. However, public schools in America can't and don't take the time to explain that this is a methodology, so many students who are tumblr-aged walk away with this idea that their English teachers or even their professors have an extremely narrow view of what is "true" in a text. Often, exposure to one methodology will leave them with the idea that this is the correct methodology, when what they should have been taught first is that obsessing over what is "correct," especially related to truth from the author, is the one thing you shouldn't do. This is why the second post is just as bad: it says that actually, it's not symbolic interpretations from the author that matter (as in 'the author meant for the curtains to just be blue'), but an author's biography which, buried under psychoanalytic layers, can be revealed as a generator of meaning (as in 'the author's mother died in a room with blue curtains'). Both of these things are irrelevant because they, probably through the above process of intellectual alienation caused by grades I mentioned above, are focused on what the author intended as being a source of truth within a text.

This is what Death of the Author makes an attempt to deconstruct, and why I mentioned it in my original post. Barthes wrote his essay at a time when theory and criticism in general was undergoing seismic shifts following two major world wars & a huge variety of other cultural undercurrents in middle of the 20th century. Many things that had been taken for granted up to that point were suddenly being reconsidered, in particular the idea that texts, art, or even language itself has a central "truth" or meaning. Massively simplified, this is one of the core tenets of post-structuralism, and you can definitely say that Barthes was a post-structuralist thinker. When Barthes wrote that the death of the author is the birth of the reader, he was simply pointing out that the assumption many centuries of Western criticism is built on–that the author is the primary meaning-maker within a text, simply because they wrote it–is wrong. I believe this is true. Some people say death of the author is a "methodology" of criticism, but to me it's actually more like a door you have to walk through in order to do really good criticism. If you free yourself from the idea of a "correct" interpretation of a text driven by authorial intent, what you're left with is the really thrilling, life-giving work of criticism: drawing connections from within and without the text, and treating it as a living document whose meaning changes over time. What I think people don't realize is that poststructuralism, either formally or in practice, is the basis for most of the literary theory we embrace and consider valid. That is NOT to say that some French dude in the 1950s invented feminism or post-colonial theory, or even paved the way for it. Instead, you could easily say that marginalized people were already approaching critical analysis in a variety of ways based on their lived experiences, and it was the academy which had to catch up. There are a lot of more complicated theoretical thoughts people have had on this, which aren't relevant here really. But I think it's worth pointing out that Death of the Author is, by my measure at least, very good to do, and is VITAL to do if you've spent most of your adult life having weird, watered-down versions of symbolic, biographical, or psychoanalytic theories of interpretation pounded into your head by overworked English teachers. I feel like I should make it clear, BTW, that what I'm saying about why I think Death of the Author is a useful text or concept and what Barthes is saying about authorship in the essay itself are two slightly different things. Barthes' investment in overturning authorship at least within the confines of this brief essay is a lot more related to him proving out his theories of poststructuralism in general than it is to opening doors to totally new forms of interpretation. In the essay he is essentially saying that the nature of texts is the nature of language itself, which is that they are completely constructed, culturally determined, and therefore open to endless interpretation. This is a beautiful idea and one I embrace fully. A lot of Marxists, queer theorists, and others rail against this at least in part, because if you stop there, you're still functioning within a very limited paradigm. You've probably heard it before, the move is basically: "everything is a construct, so nothing matters" as opposed to the feminist, critical race theory, queer theory approach, which is to say "the things we consider to be true are constructs; what narratives or modes of being exist to disrupt those constructs?" or a more Marxist/materialist approach which is to say "this is a construct, and someone constructed it because it benefitted them to do so."

But I think the original essay really is beautiful. I'm going to quote from it here:

Once the Author is distanced, the claim to "decipher" a text becomes entirely futile. To assign an Author to a text is to impose a brake on it, to furnish it with a final signified, to close writing. This conception is quite suited to criticism, which then undertakes the important task of discovering the Author (or his hypostases: society, history, the psyche, freedom) beneath the work: once the Author is found, the text is "explained," the critic has won; hence, it is hardly surprising that historically the Author's empire has been the Critic's as well, and also that (even new) criticism is today unsettled at the same time as the Author. In multiple writing, in effect, everything is to be disentangled, but nothing deciphered, structure can be followed, "threaded" (as we say of a run in a stocking) in all its reprises, all its stages, but there is no end to it, no bottom; the space of writing is to be traversed, not pierced; writing constantly posits meaning, but always in order to evaporate it: writing seeks a systematic exemption of meaning. In summary: the reason I think we should engage with texts at all is not to find a single meaning. It's not to prove out what the author said or what they didn't say. Instead, when we engage with literary criticism, our goal should be to simply say something as clearly as we can, based on the methodologies available to us. To ask "What is this? What is it doing? How is it doing it, and why do we care?" is a fundamental, beautiful question and the source of pleasure to me as a reader. Art isn't autonomous, and exists in our lives criss-crossed with social and political forces which change over time. When we can untangle the knots around a work of art, we discover ways to articulate ideas that might be impossible in other contexts. To only untangle the knot of authorial intent does ourselves, and the text, a disservice.

#mouseiero

[uncaught-coolfish]

The following post is a RWDE rant that is long, angry and non articulated. If you don’t like that, don’t read it, and leave me be. Thank you.

Warning for mentions of racism, bigotry, genocide and slavery. 

RW//BY, as a show, is… I’m going to say it, actually really racist. Is it the most racist thing ever? No. Fuuck no. Not even close. But I’d daresay at least half of it is riddled with some of the most appallingly ignorant shit I’ve seen in any webseries, and yet… some people will go out of their way to harass any who dare to criticize it. 

Remnant is not real. The characters I am about to discuss are not real. But the writers who wrote these characters and the world they inhabit are very real, and the shit they wrote fucking disgusts me.

so. Rant begin. 

Something the crazies of the fandom will say (I say crazies because, the fandom isn’t all like this. many of you guys are chill and cool as fuck) in defense of RW//BY’s many problematic aspects, particularly the criticism of “75% of the show’s POC and minorities are villains”, is that “well, there’s a lot more POC and minority’s on the GOOD GUY side now! Hooray!”

And they’re technically right. I like Elm and Pietro and I love Maria (in V6 especially she was fucking golden) and Marrow. Them and all the other POC they’ve added in as of V6-7~ are, in my opinion, mostly great additions to the cast. 

The side cast. 

The thing that isn’t usually pointed out is that these characters… they are side characters. Pietro and Maria are side characters. The Ace Ops and Happy Huntresses, while playing a decent role, are side characters. 

Hell that extends to pretty much every POC character we’ve gotten aside from Oscar. They’ve been side characters. Many of whom, we likely won’t see again (Until Volume 10… if RT lasts that long)

But I want to mention one thing. We didn’t start getting characters that weren’t blinding white until the end of V2 and the start of V3. 

One of these characters in question I’d like to point out, Flynt Coal. 

I like Flynt. He’s fine. I think his design is cool. But to deny that his character isn’t extremely racist is ignorant.

One of their first. Black characters. Was basically named… “Dark rock, Dark Rock”…

and his weapon is a TRUMPET😭

Not only that, but he and Neon fight Yang and Weiss in the tournament. Let’s talk about Weiss actually. She is the second oldest child to the megarich Schnee family, whom owns the SDC, which she is heiress to. Earlier in the series she acted extremely racist towards characters of an in-universe minority group, and never really apologized on screen. Instead, we’re given justification for why the rich girl is racist. She’s scared because of the White Fang! Poor little German name “White Snow.”

Anyways, back to the fight. Flynt mentions how it was the SDC who put his father’s own company out of business in their monopoly. Does this go somewhere? Nooooo he’s a side character, who’s beaten by Weiss and her bestie by the end of the battle. 

How come they made one of their first black characters fight and lose a battle with their whitest richest character? (Obs not implying he should’ve won, just asking why they chose him in the first place) How come they named him after black rocks(which is in reference to how, in a minecraft letsplay, one mentioned the name “Flynt Coal” and another replied “He’d have to be a black guy!”)? 

Who knows. But surely this is the last time they’ll make a (minority) character be positioned oppositely from our mains. Surely they won’t ever write one as a villain! 

Surely she won’t be the Lakota girl, either!

Ilia as a character was a big stepping stone (at the time) in terms of RW//BY’s representation. She was the first canonical, on screen LGBTQ+ character. She was a member of the White Fang who, before joining, was able to “blend in” with humans due to her Faunus trait not being as noticeable, being spots on her face and along the rest of her body. Ilia was orphaned due to her parents dying in an SDC mine collapse, and when she saw her school friends laughing about it, she “punched their teeth out.” 

Hell, overall I really like Ilia. Her design is adorable, as LGBTQ+ rep I think she’s good enough (though the fact they wrote their first lesbian character to be… a villain, is a talk for another day), and overall I find her decently written on her own. Plus, she’s fun as hell to write. Love her dearly.

On her own. Because in the story, the more I think about it… the more I’m sad, and mad, about how she was handled. 

Firstly. Her name. Apparently it’s supposed to mean “Butterly Rainbow” (again, naming your first lesbian girl “rainbow” lol)… but nope. They got the name Amitola off a baby named website, when it really means something closer to “Like a blue sky.” From my understanding. Typical RT shenanigans. It gets worse :3

Ilia was also one of the very few villains in the show to be redeemed. How was she redeemed? 

By being told by the much-more privileged, whiter minority girl whom she had a crush on that what ilia was fighting for was Bad. How Ilia was fighting for it was Bad. The White Fang? Baaaad. How dare the MINORITIES FIGHT WITH NEEDED VIOLENCE for their basic living rights against the POOR WIDDLE OPPRESSORS! It’s THEIR fault they’re oppressed, because they’re making the humans uncomfortable and angry! They need to just keep their dirty mouths shut and be good, presentable minorities. 

And upon being redeemed, Ilia is immediately put on a bus. Shelved.

And let me remind you again. Who was redeemed through being told by her much whiter (I say whiter in a way not to demean Blake btw, as privileged as she is she is still a minority obviously. Just… stating facts) friend that “a minority Shouldn’t use violence against their oppressors for their rights. It’s Their fault the humans are still so racist towards them. The Faunus should stop being so aggressive and be peaceful”? 

Not only the lesbian character, but…

The indigenous girl.

The.

Indigenous.

Girl. 

I’m sure I don’t need to point out how fucked this is. Let alone the fact this whole show is written in fucking Texas. 

It’s no secret, as much as some try to make it be, how horribly Native Americans and indigenous people have been treated throughout history. The oppression they have faced stems back centuries. Their land and home was stolen from them. 

Their own culture was all but forcefully eradicated. 

Men, women, children, were all genocided. 

To this very day it’s all they can do to fight for not only their own rights as people, but the very lands that were stolen from them. 

So for this show to write… it’s Indigenous

WOMAN

‘s character being “redeemed” by learning “Peaceful protest is good, violent protest for your living rights bad!” is… sickening. Genuinely. Fucking. Sickening. 

But maybe that violent protest WAS bad! Maybe, it was going nowhere and really causing the problems. Who the hell would ever try and implement that? Who leads the White Fang? 

…You wanna know? 

Don’t bother. 

Sienna is a character we see for. One. Scene. One scene and she’s GONE. dead, stabbed, thrown down some stairs. We know very little about her, but we know a lot of her actions. 

Under her rule as high leader, she got shit gone. Through her use of violence against the oppressive humans, she did in five years what many before her couldn’t in decades: Her methods were working. Her people were being given rights.

But noooooooo!!!!!!!!! We can’t have the Woman of Color in power be CORRECT. Her methods were WRONG, MONSTROUS! How dare she end slavery and fight against oppression?! She should’ve just asked NICELY! Just like Blake told—

Wait… Blake? BLAKE?!

BLAAAAAAAAKEEEEE!!!!!

Blake is one of 4 main characters in RW//BY, and she was easily my favorite. Fierce and a bookworm, an ex-freedom fighter who was quick to call out Miss Rich “White Snow” on her bullshit. She was fun, strong, and like the show said itself, she was Feisty.

I miss that Blake, tails. I miss her a lot. I’ll be back. 

Nowadays, that feisty personality she has has been diminished so she can be all meek and quiet and sweet for her white human friends. 

(and just now in v9, she’s completely fine with being referred to as an animal. Sienna in honorary heaven: she would not fucking say that.) 

White fans and likely the writers themselves were too uncomfortable having to face that all majority people still benefit from a society built on and from deep systemic racism, so they wrote Blake to be an All Lives Matter doormat so she was more palatable Blake saw the error of the White Fang’s ways and how their justified acts of violent protest against the privileged majority were making the humans SCAWED🥺, so she stood before them all and put her status as literal Faunus princess to good use: telling all those like her who’d suffered beneath the humans’ oppression that they were wrong. How could they fight back violently? They did this to themselves. They brought the oppression, the enslavement, the bigotry and cruelty upon themselves because they just didn’t play nice enough. 

Fuck, even when she’s in the “City of Racism” Atlas, she’s too busy being uwu sad and nervous and having to rely on others (funny how instead of ever empowering her again, they write Blake as this submissive docile flower baby immediately after hey reveal she was an abuse victim. Real fucking funny. Laughing my eyes out of my skull with a toothpick.) except for when she jokingly comments how rich the Schnees are and how they own basically everything. 

Past Blake wouldn’t be laughing about that. She’d use it against the Schnees, rightfully. 

But we can’t have that. She’s the good minority, who keeps her mouth shut tight and looks pretty for the camera. 

But… about that bigotry. That oppression, that racism… do we ever see that? 

lol fuck no

We hear of how horribly the Faunus people are treated. Controversial labor forces that keep them as slaves to the SDC. Treated like dirt and beaten and killed and lynched. 

We hear. We hear of that. 

In the show, we get… a No Faunus sign put out in some background places. And the equal opportunist bully bullying a bunny girl.

That’s it. Background shit. Background shit that could easily be interpreted differently, or missed completely if you fucking blink.

There has only been one point where the true extent of this oppression is shown to us. One point which… 

we’ll fucking get to. 

But there’s one thing I’ve mentioned rather frequently throughout this rant. Two, technically. The Schnee family and the SDC. 

Let’s talk. Let’s. Fucking. Talk. 

*sighs*

So this show demonizes it’s fictional worlds only freedom fighting organization, so surely they do the same for the oppressive Amazon company that has a chokehold on the economy of an entire—

In the early volumes, Weiss, another main character, was extremely racist to those who were Faunus. She was also the daughter of the Richy Rich Bitch Family of “CEOs of Racism”. Her older sister was a cop, her younger brother out of the picture until V4, her mother a neglectful abusive alcoholic (she is a victim too but neglect. is. abuse.), her father a racist abusive asshole who looks like I could break him like a bendy straw. But her racism isn’t her fault at all! No, the dirty minorities in the White Fang who were terrorizing the richest of the rich were what made her racist. It was never her fault, only the scary minorities. 

How dare the marginalized be so evil.

But she apologizes off screen and is no longer racist! Yippee! At least we marked “Racist” off her “Racist Blood Purist Rich White Weiss” card! she’s White Savior Blood Purist Rich White Weiss now! Now we can make fun of how much shit her family owns. 

But before all that, she and her girlfriend battle… a black man! Gasp! Who… says before the fight, her family’s company put his family’s business OUT of business! 

A throwaway line before he and his bestie get beaten. Also just realized as I type: not only did Weiss battle a black character who was affected by her family company’s monopoly, but… a Faunus. Another one for the jar.

B-But Blake knows Ilia was affected by the SDC, too! It orphaned her, because in their mines Faunus weren’t given nearly as much safety. Surely she can tell Weiss and have her see—

*Ruby voice* nope. Nope! Ilia was being violent for equality, and that’s no good. So she learns that all their oppressors (likely including the SDC)are really just SCARED of them! So she’s redeemed and becomes peaceful. The Lakota indigenous girl is turned “good.”

But maybe once they’re in Atlas—

Jokes are made about how FUNNY LOL XD it is that her family owns so much, and they’re appalled by how… literally fucking normal Mantle is, as if it’s just an utter travesty to their eyes. She doesn’t want to outright abolish the corrupt SDC, which basically rides on Atlas like a parasite, but instead free it from the dirty-blooded clutches of her father, and return it to the Pure Blooded Schnees, who will use it righteously, in Santa Schnee’s name!

She’s the granddaughter of a hero, after all. A hero who monopolized and capitalized the world’s resources and began a chokehold on an entire kingdom with how vital the Resources became, all the while implementing minority slave labor.

Because we can’t have our pretty princess Weiss face any consequences. We can’t have one of ours mains face consequences. Realize her privilege and try and do something. We can’t make our writers uncomfortable!

And this extends to Winter, too! The woman as racist as Weiss was, but without the “”excuse””, who is also a cop, and who… punches, kneels over one of the characters who is both an in-universe minority of a Dog and easily the darkest skinned character, and tells him; “You want a collar? Fine.”

But the Pure Blood Schnees are good. They’re beautiful and powerful. Even if Weiss has that scar, it’s as tiny as can be so to not ruin her pretty face. Let’s give the rich white family all the angelic imagery. Let’s show Weiss with wings. 

Twice. Twice with white, huge and glowing angel’s wings. 

Looking pure and holy. Pure. And. Holy. 

But Angel imagery? Surely there’s a contrast. Demonic imagery: like the horns, black and red, something to do with darkness and the moon, who should that belong to? If the rich, white, blood purist main girl Weiss gets the angel wings, pretty face and princess aesthetic… who deserves to be the demon of Remnant? 

…Oh, I know the answer to this one! It’s—

Throughout this whole post, there’s been one character I’ve purposefully neglected mentioning by name.

 Adam.

We didn’t see the guy much. Black trailer, V2, V3, V5, V6. And he was really only reoccurring in V5, which… 😶

But from what we did see, we saw the Face of the White Fang. We saw someone who did bad things for the right causes. We saw someone who despised his oppressors, but who seemed to care for his fellow Faunus. We saw…

a fucking lie. A headcanon, perhaps. Badum tss.

What Adam REALLY WAS was an abusive cruel irredeemably evil monster jerkface asshole creep bitch who NEVER cared about his own people, NEVER cared about his people’s rights, NEVER wanted anything more than glory and power and to be lionized. 

The minority character, by the way.

Why did the writers decide to make this guy the hatesink? Why did they decide to make Adam suddenly not care about his fellow people’s rights? 

Why did they decide to make him laughably cruel to his own people whom he seemed to genuinely care for before (like in that scene in volume 3, where he only agrees to go along w/ cinder after she starts KILLING FAUNUS, but maybe that scene was a headcanon too, all in le head)

Why did they decide to make the goals of one of their in universe minority characters to be wanting nothing but fame and power?

Why did they also write him to be a former child slave?

Volume 6 is one of my more liked volumes, with it (for me) easily being the best looking, and the horror stuff was great. Also, Maria. 

But then they threw Adam in last minute. One last kick of that dead bull. 

He comes back in his finest NieR: Automata cosplay and starts spouting some of the most embarrassingly bad dialog this show has had while fighting Blang (basically that one fucking hilarious “Boobs in my mouth please please please hello You’re nothing” post as dialog), and it’s in this that, after 6 volumes, we finally see his face. 

Adam was branded. I’m not putting that shit lightly, Adam was fucking branded. 

And the brand is used to show how evil HE is. He was hurt more by his gf leaving him than ANY scar ever would. Who cares about all the trauma he surely went through in slavery, he sure fucking doesn’t! Okay, Cameraman Mike, be sure to focus a whole bunch of shots on his brand, which is still blood red and grotesque, to really hammer the point in how much of an asshole he is. 

Never mind it’s a brand of the SDC, of which one of our main character’s family owns. Who cares if this is literally the only time we’re shown the true extent of racism against Faunus? 

It’s swept aside! Because the same episode we’re given one of the most honestly depressing reveals for a villain yet is the same episode that villain dies. 

Dies with the brand facing the camera. His death. Entirely. On. Screen. 

Thank fuck Adam was written as an irredeemable monster of a villain(/j), because they literally wrote, animated, and voiced a scene where we the viewers watch a former child slave, branded and blinded over an eye, have his death be entirely on screen. A slow death, entirely on screen. 

Adam, a former slave to the SDC who, sometime during his childhood was branded and permanently blinded, died more slowly… more gruesomely… than Jacques fucking Schnee did. 

Even died before him, too.

But notice one thing. I keep referring to him as having been a “child slave.” Emphasis on child. 

Don’t blame me. Blame your fucking writers. 

I want you to read this. Read this paragraph. Twice, if you have to. As many times as you need to to get the fact into your head that THIS IS FUCKING VILE.

This is in the writers commentary track for volume 7. They tiptoe around with their words, but I’ll translate it to the best of my ability. In it, Miles shared a particular headcanon: in which the 

FUCKING VILLAIN HE WROTE TO HAVE BEEN A CHILD SLAVE TO THE SCHNEE DUST COMPANY GOT HIMSELF BRANDED FOR BEING TOO MUCH OF A LITTLE SHIT TO KEEP HIS DIRTY TRAP SHUT. 

SO THEN ONE OF HIS CAPTORS HELD THIS CHILD DOWN TO THE GROUND AND JAMMED A CATTLE PROD DOWN WITH THE SDC PROPERTY LOGO ONTO HIS EYE.

THAT LITTLE BOY SURE HAD IT COMING, HUH? HE’S ALWAYS BEEN SUCH AN INSUFFERABLE LITTLE PRICK, EVEN AS A CHILD IN SLAVERY. HIS CAPTORS REALLY LET HIM HAVE IT!

LET. 

HIM. 

HAVE. 

IT. 

THEY WRITE AND HEADCANON A FICTIONAL CHILD SLAVE BEING BRANDED IN THE EYE AFTER HE STARTS THE FIGHT. HE STARTED IT. 

THEY WRITE AND HEADCANON A FICTIONAL CHILD SLAVE BEING BRANDED IN THE EYE AND GROWING UP TO BECOME A HORRIBLE, DISGUSTING DEMON.

THEY WRITE AND HEADCANON A FICTIONAL CHILD SLAVE BEING BRANDED IN THE EYE AND HIS CAPTOR JUST “LET HIM HAVE IT.”

“LET HIM HAVE IT,” NOT IN REFERRAL TO A MINORITY BEING HATE CRIMED.

“LET HIM HAVE IT,” NOT IN REFERRAL TO A MINORITY SLAVE BEING PERMANENTLY SCARRED. 

“LET HIM HAVE IT” IN REFERRAL TO A MINORITY CHILD SLAVE BEING BRANDED AS PROPERTY IN THE EYE BY HIS CAPTORS.

And I think this says it all. From the white and the black, blue and the red, oppressor and oppressed and angel and demon, Weiss and Adam almost mirror each other. 

Just look at their scars. Theirs are on the same side. 

But while Weiss’s is the smallest, prettiest scar of all,

The brand of the SDC all but covers half of Adam’s face, in all it’s grotesque, blood red and hideous glory.

I’ll let you guess the implications. 

Killing off a WOC in power the very scene she’s introduced. Showing the Lakota girl the “right way to protest”. Painting the oppressors in a more positive light than ever showing the oppressed be oppressed. Showing your hatesink character had been branded in the eye the same episode he dies on screen. And this is what broke me. 

They’d read in the history books of children forced into slavery slaves being branded

and they’d see the backstory for a villain.

Because we can’t write the minorities fighting against their oppressors to be justifiable!

We can’t face how a member of the majority will almost always benefit from an oppressive system!

We can’t write the pretty white rich family of Fantasy-Amazon owners as wrong for their horrible practices both past and present!

We can’t let the WOC be right about violent protest!

We can’t let the native girl be angry and fight back against her oppressors!

We can’t have a shred of sympathy for the ex slave who was branded while he was a boy!

Because they did this. 

Faunus. 

#rwde #seriously long post #image heavy #long post

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

Ayyy honeymoon :D!!

Ooh vlog style :o

Ope o.o

Uhhh xd nah something sus is going on lol

Um o.o

Nope y'all nahh xd

UH OH UM

Nah creepy masks a i n ' t i t .

Aww ay hey guys :D love them :)

Ooh backup 👀👀

We love getting to see some of the others as well :DD

Uh oh guys this is not good o.o

YOO they're actually gonna come yess :DD

OHH GOSH

Y'all cannot just have one normal thing can you xD

Poor babies 😭 they goin through it as always xd

At least it wasn't some terrible big scheme on their wedding itself lol

Just random stuff and a small bad thing xD

OPE GUYS O.O

Okay, that's the last of my promo thoughts, now it's time for the. . .

REVIEW

Not quite as fancy as my 911 or tgd ones lol, more like the normal ones, just with the end of a liveblog as well :).

I made a post about this before coming back to this one, but happy 100th episode all!! Lowkey forgot this was the 100th anniversary lol. But it makes so much sense and it was a GREAT 100th episode :D.

I love that everyone had their little moment (at least): James with the music, Wesley with Oscar, Luna with her college classes, etc :). And just Randy, Chastity, Oscar, and Henry BEING there lol. Though to clarify Oscar was not at the wedding xD. But seriously, I really loved all the cameos and little character moments this episode :)).

Also CHENFORD AAAHHHH!!! Their MOMENTS this episode y'all I was losing it xD. I do kinda wish it hadn't been that Tim isn't supporting her despite thinking he is, though? Because the vibes last episode were just really on Tim's side, I guess, and now they're just tossing him into "bad guy" a bit. But, I think it'll work out in the end. I'm also glad Chastity brought up that Lucy could also be scared! I think that's a real possibility :). Anyway, they were ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE and whether it was the first time in universe or not, WHOOO FIRST I LOVE YOU!! And it was so cute :'D. Also the dance 😭😭😭❤️ stop I'm not okay :').

BAILEY AND JOHN ARE MARRIED!!! WHOOOOOO :'DDDD!!!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🎊🎉🥂🎂🥂🥰❤️❤️🥰. I'm so happy for them :'DD

They might not be my favorite couple on the show but I still love them and this has been a long time coming. I'm also glad that despite all the issues they still had the wedding and everything was okay and beautiful 🥰🥰. Thank goodness they actually had it and we saw it lol (looking at you Wopez - still mad at the writers for that). Also I'm SO EXCITED for the next episode with their honeymoon :D.

I felt so bad for Celina and Aaron this episode 😭. Aaron because poor boy is going through it and misreading signals/situations xd, and Celina because she's trying to be there for him and do what's best and she as also, you know, kidnapped and beat up xD. But, I think they'll make it through it :).

Really though Aaron you need to talk to your therapist 😭. It's dangerous going out when you know you're not healing :(. Hope he learns it soon D':.

I loved all the togetherness moments this episode!! The bachelor and bachelorette parties (y'all I can't articulate it beyond loving individual characters and them all hanging out but oUAGH chomping on it)/last minute preparations xD were SO GOOD!! And the wedding, especially the dancing :'D. AUOGH, I love them <333. And of course the final mission at the end - they slay together :DD. Also, I'm glad Celina's okay :')).

Don't even get me started on the Wopez/Wesley angst. Y'all I'm about to have so many thoughts about them moving forward (even more than usual/always xD). Like! AUGH! OSCAR!! SITTING ACROSS FROM HIM!! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE WAITED FOR THIS

Where's the panic attack Rookie <33

Where's the panic attack writers 🥰🥰 where is it :))

I'm kidding xD kind of lol. But seriously, the angst thoughts are turning (the wheels are turning) :DD. And don't forget about Angela either lol

Anyway! Everybody slayed this episode and I REALLY enjoyed it :D. I'm SOO excited for the next one :)). Also, again (mentioned it in the liveblog or just before), I don't know that I've ever gotten to watch it live before, so this was the perfect episode to get to do it :D.

Loved the episode!!!

Happy 100th Episode guys 🥂🥰🥰. I love this show and you all so much :DD.

See you next time!!

#the rookie #oasis's the rookie chatter #oasis's rookie chatter #the rookie 100th episode #the rookie 6x02 #loved it :DD #honestly such a good episode #and loved the hunor throughout all the drama :DD #honestly despite everything it was mostly humor and I really loved that :)) #it was needed lol #not like in a yikes 😬 way but just to get right tone across I think :)) #especially because bailey and nolan's storylines are usually (at least) a bit silly anyway so it really fits them :)) :D #anyway I love them so much and I'm so happy for them :)) they totally deserve this 🥰🥰🥰 #see y'all later for episode 3 :D! #happy 100th episode 🥳🥳🥂🎂 #I love you all :DDD ❤️❤️❤️❤️!!! #byeeee :))) 🥰🥰🥰 <333!!!!

[poodle-anon]

☔️ for the ask? I love hearing about concepts! Especially the ones that’ll never hit the paper.

-miniscrew

OH BOY this took a minute to think on but I think I got one @miniscrew-anon

For the life of me I can’t figure out how to write it, but I really really want to explore Wild’s relationship with his dysphoria/lack thereof. I’ve genuinely tried putting it to paper more than once, but each time I can’t seem to get the vibe quite down in a way that resonates with what I enjoy about it in my head

Under a read more because it’s long, and has to do with HRT, gender dysphoria, panic attacks, discussion of needles, and trans!Wild having an overall Bad Time for a day within a 99.99% positive experience being trans otherwise. 

As a disclaimer upfront, I am transmasculine nonbinary myself, and feel that I have a right to depict explorations of that experience in combination with binary ftm experiences. Also, this is NOT a story about detransitioning or “forced feminization,” do NOT get it fucking twisted or I will hunt you the fuck down. I will find you. This is about euphoria and dysphoria and happiness with one's body but clothing/presentation causing issues.

So for background, in my headcanons, I’m pretty convinced that Wild normally doesn’t experience dysphoria at all - something that very much separates him from Champion, whom is a very binary trans man. Wild woke up in a very masculine post-transition non-op body, Champion had been very satisfied with himself and his transition, having begun it as a teen with access to puberty blockers prior to hrt, so he never went through estrogen puberty. Wild is at first pretty bad at keeping track of and administering his hrt shots, something that Champion was very strict about and pretty much never failed to keep up with. At first, the other guard boys had to help him with them when he did remember because the anticipation of a shot is TERRIBLE for wanting to get it done when you have adhd and it’s something you don’t really think matters in your own personal upkeep. Eventually, Wild just kinda gives up on it with a happy shrug and carries on his merry way in his very androgynous body, transness usually being a fun afterthought for him. Even when he starts retaining fat differently, and growing breast tissue through lazy estrogen puberty, he’s having fun with this new experience! Heck yeah more gender fuckery, he’s having a great time being a man while doing it. Nobody in his life invalidates his gender over it. Period.

However.

There is an idea that I must credit to Stormy for sparking but has been making me lose my mind (/pos) over ever since, wherein at some point Wild goes to the mall with one of the other boys (possibly Hyrule, possibly Wars and Sky, never been able to figure that one out) to shop for higher end lingerie. (I see this fic as separate from and kinda irrelevant to the second puberty concept, so disregard that point for now and play with me in this space.) And he picks out some really cute finds! He's very happy with some lacy little numbers that he knows will go well with his eyes or whatever, but you know how they make lingerie that comes in pairs with bras that are equally as cute? Well, he goes to try one on, and standing there in the changing room, looking in the mirror, the world kinda stops.

There’s this overwhelming sense of badwrongbad while looking at himself in a bra. He doesn’t recognize the person in the mirror, he doesn’t like that person, and has no real way of articulating it to himself why.

Now, bear in mind, Wild very technically is a dissociative fugue state initially brought on by a severe concussion, which is a WHOLE OTHER can of worms I hope to explore one day. As thorough of a personality change there is though, he’s not as stable of an existence as I think he presents

So something about how he feels about seeing this sets off a dissociative panic attack that is probably the closest thing that he’s ever come to Champion surfacing into active memory, bearing some resemblance to the one in The Brave that was set off by Time playing the ocarina.

But is the bra too small? The wrong material? Who knows. Doesn’t matter. He’s suffocating. His skin itches like hell. He needs this thing off now.

Once he exits, the guys he’s with immediately notice a shift. He’s uncharacteristically serious for a beat or two, maybe even recognizable if he’s with the guard boys, but if he’s not nonverbally putting stuff on the reject rack, Wild laughs it off as nothing being wrong. Either Wild or someone else points out they can go get a smoothie after Wild decides he’s not buying any clothes, and his day gets a little better. The temperature of it maybe makes his nipples a little hard and Wild doesn’t know why he’s so aware and uncomfortable with that right now, but the others might also notice that he’s still periodically itching where the band and straps were until they get home.

By the time they leave the mall, he’s more or less fine and all of the Overwhelming Dread has passed. That night though, he puts a blanket over the mirror in his room. And when he curls up in bed, there’s this shuddering sigh that leaves him. That kind where you're just on the edge of crying but don't.

Anyway thanks for coming to my TED talk :) 

#POODLE ANON ANGST REAL??? #For the record digital footprint has champ as cis because that was before it was retconned in stormy fics #townhouse au #hsh wild #hsh champion #st0rmyverse #cw dysphoria #cw needles #cw panic attack #cw dissociation #poodle barks #ask game #DAMN this got long #hope it makes a lick of sense and is actually enjoyable to read lol #shit i forgot to tag miniscrew srry #the twilight bark

[satellitesoundwave]

Long ask Jazzwave anon here and you articulated my thoughts on inter-Spec Ops dynamics to a tee. In general, I think they’re a bit closer than the other autobots due to the shared nature of their experiences/skill sets, but let’s not forget who they are. It’s a group of individuals whose job is to lie, manipulate, and betray and asking them to trust each other and be vulnerable seems almost counterintuitive to their nature. That being said, they are on the same “side” and I think the reasons you brought up to why Jazz specifically can’t be more vulnerable with them are very apt. As TIC, he knows feeding into a separatist notions would cause a fractions to the movement and he’s well aware of what his team is capable of. As command, he’s truly isolated like OP, but not in the same sense. OP is the figurehead and arguably garners equal fervor/following from the autobots as the cause, where as that respect/trust isn’t at the same level with Jazz. OP is infallible, but Jazz makes himself “trustworthy”/friendly to the extent he keeps up his facade. But in all honesty, I do enjoy the camaraderie and bits of fondness/respect Jazz has for his team. Like I feel like there’s real opportunity for him to build long lasting relationships with them but only truly in a post-war context. From DwtD, I can’t imagine them ribbing Jazz the same way the cassettes rip on SW for their mutual crushes, but I can see a bit of teasing, especially from Mirage. Jazz is so uncool regarding SW that he certainly couldn’t hide it from his team lmao. Which is always fun, especially bc you get them vibe from Jazz from the opening of the fic :P Us vibing on the wavelengths makes me feel like your Jazzwave fic will hit all the cravings I have for these two! I have constant thoughts about them, but rare pairs are hell for the slim pickings of people equally obsessed about them. Also the word building and premise have me drooling (Swindle is also one of my fav characters by the sheer ridiculousness of The Hustle).

I can see a bit of teasing, especially from Mirage

i had to jump straight on this bc lmao yeah, and also i have been turning over thoughts about this a bunch recently for Networking. i wanted to keep the scope of Deal with the Devil focused down on that one location and set of events so there wasn’t room to include it, but boy i very much did think about Mirage ribbing Jazz over his crush (while also quietly being a bit concerned, bc yes Jazz makes sport of dangerous games but this one is particularly perilous). Networking is going to have the space for me to indulge in having lots of Jazz & Mirage friendship focus (act 2 especially, which’ll be from Jazz’s pov). i’m not sure i want to reveal too much about the angle i’ll be taking on it yet, but i think there’s a lot of interesting room to play around with Jazz, Mr Popular himself, being close friends with Mirage, who’s defining traitTM is him being such a social outsider people will readily jump on the suggestion of him being a traitor at the drop of a hat

i mean i do hope it’ll satisfy your cravings! Networking is the next instalment of Fics Powered Entirely By Self-Indulgence, but what i’ve been learning from putting (Re)Experience and Deal with the Devil where other people can see them is that self-indulgence often scratches an itch for a lot more people than i initially expected, so there is hope :3

also i never know what to count as rairpairs in tf fandom lol. Like jazzwave’s got nothing on the juggernaut ships, but i’ve also seen ships with just like a single person doing the lords work of dedicatedly creating content for them, the spectrum is vast.   

(Swindle is great isn’t he. He won me over with the “The name’s Swindle, I’m what you might call an intergalactic arms dealer” bit in tfa. A real 'oh, this guy’s fun' moment)

#satellite speaks

[tavern-aa]

Lmao little silly XD. Idk why I thought it was on my end but anyway. Can I request floof prompt #1 with naruto x male

A/N: Leviathan here!! I will gladly take a fluff prompt from you dear, and yes...I admit I am in fact a little silly. I’m still sorta new to Tumblr so I didn’t know what I was doing but it is all fixed now thanks to our lovely Teddy <3<3<3.

Warnings: cursing, fighting, bullying, tsundere tendencies, post sippuden before the last

Word Count: 2.7k

x Male Reader

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Naruto Uzumaki: Meant To Be

Fluff Prompt 1: “you know we’re meant to be”

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It was much too early in the morning for Y/N to be up and about. Maybe not for everyone else in this god forsaken village, but for him, the sun wasn’t out yet so he didn’t want to be either. But of course, missions always had to start just before the sun rose, something about being inconspicuous or something like that. It didn’t really make much sense to him, most of the ninja in the village wore such brightly colored clothes, they stood out even if they were trying to be unnoticeable. 

Y/N’s hair swayed around his head as he stood crouched in a tree above the village hidden in the leaves, waiting for his team members to show. He knew from the moment the Hokage gave him the assignment that something was bound to go wrong. He was assigned to work with team Kakashi for a covert mission. He didn’t know why team Kakashi though, they weren’t known for being too covert, or even remotely good at being sneaky like ninja were supposed to be. But, he had to do it so there was no use complaining. 

He knew Kakashi was notorious for never showing up on time so he decided to perch himself on a branch high above the gate out of the village, surveying people as they bustled around. The scene wasn’t necessarily busy at this hour, but there were a few early birds moving to do their business. Y/N puffed out a breath of air as he waited for the team to arrive not noticing the brown haired ninja materializing behind him out of the very tree he crouched on. 

“Are you Y/N?” a gruff voice asked from behind Y/N causing the ninja to jump up, spinning around with a kunai in hand ready to strike. His eyes met the image of a slightly older man with brown hair and weirdly shaped eyes, his leaf village forehead protector extended to guard around his face as well. 

“My apologies, sir. I didn’t sense you coming, you’re Yamato, right?”

“I am, I’m sorry for showing up a little late, I was attempting to get the others out of their homes. Kakashi won’t be joining us for this specific mission, so I guess I’ll be in charge.”

“Of course,” Y/N bowed in respect to his superior. His gaze flitted away from the man’s face though as he rose from the bow, sensing three other presences approaching where the two gathered. 

In seconds there were three ninja below the tree, one in red attire with bubblegum pink hair, another in black and gray attire, and the last...shit. In Y/N’s momentary blunder, he forgot just who comprised team Kakashi. 

Naruto Uzumaki stood alongside his companions grumbling about the others being late or something along those lines. Y/N’s heart pounded in his chest as he stared down at the ninja below, his thoughts racing trying to form an excuse as to why he suddenly had to leave the mission to the other four. 

“We should get going now, Y/N.” Yamato then jumped down from the branch landing beside the younger ninja. Y/N’s teeth gritted in his mouth before he released a breath and jumped down from the tree. Immediately the attention of the others was on him causing him to cringe. 

“As you said, Yamato...We should get going. Remember, this is a covert mission, don’t go running into it all willy nilly, no matter what you may hear,” Y/N grumbled at the three, not once sparing a glance in their direction. Naruto huffed in annoyance at the ninja’s attitude but something was off. He could tell, something about this guy seemed almost...familiar? No, maybe it was just because he had a high and mighty attitude and it reminded him of Sasuke.

Y/N didn’t give the others a chance to respond as he started to walk off towards the gates to the village. Sakura gave Naruto a glance and then a look to Sai who seemed deep in thought before shrugging it off and heading after their teammate. Naruto huffed in annoyance at the retreating male before jogging after Sakura.

~

The mission was only supposed to take at most a week, so tell me why Y/N is sat in front of a camp fire, tending to his wounds while glaring at Naruto. The two were alone as they had been separated from the other three about two days ago due to a screw up on Naruto’s part.

“Would you stop glaring at me like that, I already said I was sorry,” Naruto grumbled, throwing down the stick in his hand.

“I don’t care, this is all your fault, I even said when we started the mission not to go running about all stupid, but oh no! ‘I’m the great Naruto Uzumaki, savior of the entire world, I can do what I want!’ And now look where we are, stuck in the middle of the forest, we don’t know where we are, and it’s because you couldn’t keep your big mouth shut!” Y/N’s breathing had picked up in his rant due to his anger which caused Naruto’s frustrated look to soften into one of concern.

“Look, I’m sorry, but you need to calm down, you’re injured and getting riled up isn’t going to help much,” Naruto spoke, rising from his spot and crossing to where the other shinobi sat. Cautiously, the blonde crouched in front of the seething male and took the cloth he was using to treat his wounds, rinsing it in water and gently applying pressure to one of the large cuts on Y/N’s abdomen.

“I wouldn’t be injured if it wasn’t for you.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

“Hmph,” Y/N looked away from the other ninja, though his heart was hammering in his chest due to their proximity, he kept his angry persona up not wanting to give in to the pure bliss of being this close to Naruto. 

“I don’t really get something though, you’ve been extremely hostile this entire time and I don’t even know you. You’ve been against me even since before the mission started. Did I do something to you?” Naruto questioned, glancing up at Y/N, the glow of the fire dancing across his face causing Y/N’s heart to swell. 

“I-no, I just...I just don’t like you! I don’t have to tell you anything!”

After saying that, Y/N rose from his seated position hurriedly startling Naruto into falling backwards. Y/N towered over him, staring down at the blonde before spinning around and retreating into the trees to rest. 

Naruto let out a sigh, confused and somewhat frustrated at his team mates attitude. What had he done to deserve this treatment, he was sure he hadn’t done anything to the shinobi, so why was he treating him this way. Has he met Y/N before? Wait...

Naruto’s eye’s widened in disbelief, his head snapping in the direction that Y/N had gone.

“It can’t be...”

“I don’t get this...can you help me?”

A younger Y/N looked up at a blonde boy around his age as everyone in the class bustled around to sit with their friends for lunch.

“What don’t you get, Naruto-kun?” Y/N questioned, holding his hand out for the paper and pencil the blonde held in his hands. Naruto grinned, handing the paper to the other.

“This problem is really confusing and I don’t really get how Iruka-sensei explained it.” Naruto stared at the other boy in awe as he started to explain the problem in much simpler terms that their teacher had, “woah! That’s a lot easier than I thought! Thank you, Y/N!”

Y/N smiled softly to the blonde, “you’re welcome, Naruto-kun...do you wanna eat with me?”

Naruto’s already large grin spread wider across his face as he nodded enthusiastically.

“I’ll be right back, let me grab my lunch!”

Y/N watched as the boy ran across the classroom not once letting his eyes wander from the form of the boy he had been crushing on since their first year in the academy. Much like Hinata, he was too shy to approach him himself, but he was so happy that he came to him for help.

As Naruto approached him once more, one of the other students in the class tripped the blonde causing him to drop the contents of his lunch on the floor of the classroom. Naruto stared in shock at his food before looking up at the bully, ready to start a fight before Y/N cut in.

“Please don’t fight Naruto-kun, it’ll only make things worse, come with me and we can share mine. As for you guys,” Y/N’s face grew dark as he turned to the group of students who caused the incident, “I hope you guys enjoy your lunch on the floor, it’s yours now. You better eat it.”

The boys shivered in fear of the other boy, glancing down at the food on the ground before looking back up at him.

“Did I stutter? Eat your food.” Immediately the boy’s were on their knees, scooping up the food that Naruto had dropped. 

Naruto watched in awe of the other boy, usually he was so soft spoken. He never would have expected this, especially to defend him. 

A month later, Naruto sat in class waiting for Y/N to arrive, but he never did. Iruka entered the class, his gaze falling on Naruto with one of pity. 

“Excuse me everyone, I want to announce that Y/N will no longer be taking classes with the rest of you, he has been promoted and will now be training alongside the Anbu Black Ops special group,” Iruka announced. Naruto felt his heart drop into his stomach. His only friend, gone. 

Later that day, Naruto spotted Y/N’s mop of hair walking down the street and quickly ran up to him, grabbing his arm.

“Huh?” was Y/N’s quite articulate response to the action. “Oh, hey Naruto-kun!”

A grin had settled on the shorter boys face as he looked back at the blonde.

“Why didn’t you tell me? We’re friends right? So, why didn’t you tell me you were leaving school?” Naruto interrogated. Y/N’s smile dropped and instead was replaced with a frown.

“I wanted to...I’m sorry, Naruto-kun. I just didn’t want to upset you,” Y/N said, awkwardly rubbing his arm as he fully turned to face the blonde, “But we can still hang out after school, right?”

“No! I don’t want to hang out with you anymore! You didn’t tell me you were leaving so how do I know you won’t just leave again, I’d rather be alone than be with a liar!”

Y/N flinched away from Naruto’s words, his heart clenching in his chest, “But, you said-”

“I don’t care what I said! You’re leaving me just like everyone else, so I don’t wanna hear it! You’re a jerk!” was the last thing the blonde said before storming away from where Y/N stood. The shinobi felt tears start to pool in his eyes as the blonde walked away.

“You’re the jerk Naruto,” he whimpered before quickly making his way back to his home.

Naruto’s memories flooded back to him like a tsunami. He knew he was being childish back then but what did you expect, he was a child and he was hurt. That’s still no excuse though, he didn’t want to mess up the chance he had been given, or at least mess it up any further than he already had.

“Y/N!” he called into the trees, not expecting a response but wishing deep down that the other would. After a few seconds of silence, Naruto sighed and pushed himself up onto his feet, “Fine, I’ll just go look for him then.”

Naruto entered the expanse of trees beyond their little camp before he heard the sounds of battle emerge from the distance. 

“Shit! Y/N!” 

He quickly took off towards the sounds that echoed through the trees before he approached a clearing where he saw the other male fighting three larger men clad in dark black attire. He burst into action, summing two clones and creating his rasengan in his hand and jumped at two of the attackers sending them flying across the field. 

“Y/N! Are you okay?” He called, watching Y/N dodge an attack from the last enemy.

“What does it look like idiot?” The other called back slashing his kunai at the large ninja. 

“Would you like some help?”

“Preferably!”

Naruto smirked slightly as he ran up to help Y/N take on the rouge ninja making it ten times easier for the two of them to take him down.

“You know Y/N, I realized something while you were gone...I’m sorry.”

“You already apologized, it doesn’t even matter anymore.”

“No, no, not for that though I am sorry for that too I guess. Anyways, I’m sorry for being a jerk...when we were younger.”

Y/N tensed up where he stood, turning his head to face the blonde.

“What are you talking about?” He asked cautiously, his eyes scanning Naruto’s face in an anxious attempt to read the boys intentions.

“I was upset and I took it out on you, it really wasn’t even you’re fault, you were just really smart and really skilled. I should have been happy for you, instead I was being selfish and blamed you for something that wasn’t even you’re intention.”

“Naruto stop talking-”

“You were my only friend back then and I ruined our friendship by being childish and selfish and I’m sorry. I was and am an idiot...could you ever forgive me?”

Y/N’s heart skipped a beat in his chest and he saw the sincerity in the blonde’s eyes.

“I-I...”

“I think I get somethings now that I didn’t get back then either...there were a lot of emotions I was feeling then and I guess I felt betrayed? I don’t know, but there was always something that I felt for you that confused me. But fate has brought us back together, Y/N. I’m ready to accept my fault, and I hope you can forgive me for being stupid.”

“Naruto...you idiot.” Y/N felt a singular tear escape his eye as he stared at the other male, his hand quickly wiping it away, “of course I forgive you.”

Naruto grinned, approaching the male and carefully pulling him into a hug, trying to be mindful of the old and newly sustained injuries on the boy’s body. Y/N tensed slightly at the contact before fully relaxing into the taller boy’s embrace.

“I think I understand my feelings a lot better now, Y/N...” Naruto muttered into the shorter boy’s ear sending a shiver down Y/N’s spine.

“O-oh? And what’s that?”

Naruto pulled back though he did not break the embrace.

“Well...I’m sure you know this too...you know we’re meant to be,” he whispered softly, leaning forward to hover his lips over the others.

Y/N was shocked to say the least, his chest felt like it would explode, his face was hotter than hades, and his body felt like it was going to melt into the ground.

“Naruto...”He breathed, his breath brushing across Naruto’s lips. Both boys stood still for seconds deciding whether or not this was something that they both wanted and if this was something they were ready to commit to.

A groan from the ground startled the two out of each other’s embrace as they realized where in fact they were. Y/N’s face flushed an even deeper red if that was even possible as he moved into action, tying the three rouge ninja to a near by tree.

“We...we should get back to camp and try and find the others in the morning,” he suggested, turning his head away from Naruto’s burning gaze.

“Hm, we could do that...or,” Naruto stopped in the middle of his sentence, once again pulling the shorter boy into his arms, “we could continue what we were about to do before, hm?”

Y/N swallowed thickly before nodding his head slowly in agreement, “That would be nice,” he squeaked out, his voice having raised a couple of octaves. Naruto’s chuckle sent vibrations through both boy’s chests before their lips finally locked in a sweet and soft kiss that told the other exactly how they felt. 

They stayed like that for a few seconds before a man cleared his throat. Once again the two were interrupted from their loving moment as they jumped apart.

“Well...it seems we found you two,” Yamato stated, chuckling at the disheveled state of the two boys, “glad you seem to be getting along better now.”

“Yeah...” Y/N muttered, hiding his face in his hands, “I’m gonna head back to the camp.”

Naruto grinned at the embarrassed boy’s retreating form before looking over at Yamato, giving a big thumbs up.

“Believe it!”

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A/N: wow, I hate it. I’m sorry it sucks I’m so tired I pulled three all nighters this week and I just, ugh, I really hope you like it I did actually try hard for this one even though i was sleep deprived. 

#naruto #naruto shippuden #naruto x reader #naruto x male reader #naruto x gn!reader #naruto x gn reader #naruto x gn! reader #naruto x m!reader #naruto x male #x male reader #x gn reader #x gn!reader #x gn! reader #x reader #naruto x you #x male

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Yuukoku no Moriarty  Op.2 -A Scandal in the British Empire- 「我こては神 第一章」piano cover w/sheet music

finished making an arrangement for the 22nd song -「我こては神 第一章」  from the 2nd yuumori musical. did this song first since it was the easiest for me to break down the notes for. 

sheet music is available through the video description and is free to use though i’ll ask that you credit me if you use/modify it... misc notes below if anyone cares to read them lol.

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(im in a complaining mood)

honestly... I despise making piano sheet music (I hate everything about it aside from the finished product... though i don't really have much of a choice aside from making an arrangement myself since there’s no way the official score would ever get released  -.-]). While breaking down the notes of a piece is a normally time-consuming process that I don’t mind doing (however, it does take way less time when the notes repeat like they do in this one), I absolutely hate taking what notes I identify and putting that onto a score because of how much time that takes and how aggravating it can be to line up all the notes properly so that they play at the right beat for the entirety of the original song... which is the main reason why i never have the motivation to make sheet music... and why i usually take weeks to throw something together lol.  

Still, I’m a bit annoyed at how it took me about 35 minutes to identify the notes in this song but most of the last four days to actually make this arrangement, though I will admit that really does help that this piece is meant to be played on piano, which is in contrast to most of the other stuff ive made sheet music for (the main hakumyu song i’m working right now uses drums, an electric guitar and other Japanese traditional instruments which makes making sheet music for a piano exponentially more difficult). 

well, i do plan on making more sheet music from this particular musical in the future because of how much I love the music (also there are a few songs from the first yuumori musical that i would like to make sheet music for [and am in the process of identifying the notes from a number of said songs], but on principle, i don’t post music stuff publicly unless i have the names for the songs I make arrangements for... and i only have the names of the songs that were in the musical’s promo video so meh lol).... but since im not a professional musician (quit after rcm gr 8 because i hated piano then and just did that for the music credit) please excuse any mistakes I might have made (im not great at identifying chords unless they’re octaves or unless its from a piece that has multiple versions of it that ive heard hundreds of times), how i got lazy with pretty much all of the dynamics and articulations, and how the lyrics I put down for this piece might not be completely accurate since I wrote those out based on my interpretation of the vocals in a way that i would have no problems reading them since I am not Japanese and do not formally know Japanese. 

also, none of my stuff is meant to be profited off of. 

#yuukoku no moriarty #moriarty the patriot #music post #morimyu

[occasionalsnippets]

Escapism AU Reader

This post is about what I’ve thought of for mc’s stand and vague parts of her personality? Not quite sure what I’m doing with her personality yet but I’ll probably figure it out. This is mostly in a random order so my apologies if it’s confusing!

Escapism AU M. List

Stuff under cut:

So, mc technically has 2 effects for her stand

The first of which is the nullification of other stand effects

Yeah it does sound op I know

The only reasoning I have for this is universe bs and the fact she’s from technically our universe and is still bound by the rules sometimes

The nullification of other stand is only via touch but she passively nullifies any effect on herself

She can nullify one effect at a time when she’s using it on other people

And she can only nullify one person at a time (not including herself)

For example, if Prosciutto was using his stand, mc wouldn’t be affected because of passive nullification however, other people would still be affected

If she were to touch someone and nullify the effect, that would reverse the ageing but if she were to let go, the effect would take hold again

She can choose to not nullify the effect of a stand on herself

Also, if she were to touch the stand user, she can cancel the effect of their stand in general

I’m kind of debating whether her passive nullification should work while she’s unconcious

Because on one hand, anything harmful would be nullified if she’s unconcious but, on the other hand, healing stands wouldn’t be able to heal her unless she gave permission before hand

The second effect of her stand is she’s basically able to phase through anything or phase things through other things

So, she can walk through solid matter

If she’s holding onto anyone/anything she can phase them through things too

She can also leave things half phased through

For example, if she were to have a ruler and a box, she could make the ruler go halfway through the box

If she left it there, the areas that were phased through each other would be combined if that makes sense

It would be impossible to seperate them because they’re a part of each other now

It’s like... melting them together? But not really? It’s kind of complicated

Technically, she could half phase someone into a rock and leave them to die or phase her hand into someone and rip out their heart

Mc does get a killer migrane and may faint if she uses her stand too much which is why she actually walks through doors instead of walking through walls and doors on a daily basis

Mc actually knew about the nullification part of her stand prior to time resetting to 1999 after she unfortunatly made the bad decision to go to Rome when Cioccolata was attacking the bucci gang

It was only after she was stabbed by the arrow did she gain the second effect of stand

This leads to a sequence of events as she figures out how to use it

It goes about as well as you’d expect

She learns about it on the job! Experimentation with her stand? Do it while you’re on the run!

I named the stand Escapism in reference to the Steven Universe song

Also why I called this idea escapism au

I haven’t settled on an appearence for her stand yet

As a side note, she can’t nullify someone while also using her phasing ability

Mc ends up having to deal with stand buisness way too often since she can nullify any potentially dangerous stands

Her stand isn’t a secret but she doesn’t openly disclose what it does either

Most people don’t realize she can nullify stands until it’s too late

And when people have info on her stand, they either think it’s nullification or phasing through things but not both

If they bothered to look into it more, they’d know it’s both

She doesn’t actually summon her stand that often since she can nullify and phase through stuff on her own

But she does sometimes if others wish to see it

Mc thinks that the whole “stand users attract stand users” thing is bs

That’s my general notes for her stand

Now, on Escapism mc in general

uhh

Mc is a reckless person

This is because she knows she has to save everyone

She can’t afford to lose anyone. Prior to meeting them, it’s because universe stuff but after getting to know them, she’s gotten attached and she doesn’t want to lose her friends

Mc very nearly dies a lot

But in her eyes, it’s fine because the people important to her (and the plot) are alive aren’t they?

This leads to a lot of people yelling at her to stop being to reckless and value her own life for once and mc yelling back that they should stop almost dying so often

She’s kind of self destructive but every idea I’ve ever had always had my mcs being self destructive

She’s trying her best okay

Mc is either “I haven’t slept in three days because I have essays due and I’ve been getting missions back to back” or “I slept for 12 hours and I feel great”

She’s really tired

She views her life as unimportant because she was never meant to be involved with any of this in the first place so she would gladly sacrifice her life

This is why she gets so confused when people tell her to stop risking her life

When it comes to people outside of plot though, she’s lowkey ruthless when it comes to her mission

If they aren’t important, she doesn’t care if they die because it’s her job

On a side note, even before the events of Vento Aureo, mc has been good at predicting events so there’s a running joke that her stand is the ability to see the future

It isn’t but it’s a fun joke

I think that, at heart, mc is a kind person with too much responsibility lumped onto her

She’s trying her best with the way fate is played out

She’s kind but not soft

Kind enough to care for innocent bystanders and the team but uncaring of those she deems unnecessary

She’s the type to dish out compliments at random with absolutely no follow up

It’s always in like a off-handed compliment way before either the topic has already changed or she’s gone

Personal thought but I think she likes lavender!

Mc actually has way too much information on Passione as a whole

Aside from outside knowledge of the show, she’s worked with several departments (ie. intellegence/information department) and she’s done some digging around on her own

She can write down important info on her phone (which she does have!)

She knows way more beyond what was shown in the show

Basically, she knows way too much but people don’t realize just how much she knows

She’s an asset but a dangerous one

Mc, physically, is pretty fit 

Largely in part because it’s more convenient to break someone’s arms than use her stand all the time

And should she not have time to activate her ability (either on herself or someone else) she can take several hits

Mc dresses like a normal person most of the time because she doesn’t want to dress like a stripper like the rest of the mafia

Sometimes, this leads to her being mistaken for a civilian

Fun times

"How do you know who's the enemy?" 

 "Whoever dresses the most like a stripper," she answered. "It's never failed me before." 

Mc can't articulate a dramatic line on the spot so you can bet she's thought of what she's going to say like 5 times before delivering a suitably dramatic one liner

She has to practice to fit in with the anime aesthetic

This concludes this post, thanks for tuning in

#Escapism AU #jjba #jjba x reader #jojo's bizzare adventure #jjba golden wind #golden wind #jjba vento aureo #vento aureo #jjba part 5 #I hope to make mc at least somewhat likeable? #Oh i'm actually going to have to organize this idea aren't i #dang #writing #reader #reader insert #headcanons #next post will.... uh #*throws a dart at a board* #don mc! #basically and au of this fic idea #x reader #my writing #vento aureo x reader

[whitleyschn33]

Caution: Rambling - most of this probably won't make sense, I just want to rant.

Hehehehehe....

Fuck. Just... fucking hell.

Alright, some pros. I like the Maiden affects on Winter. They looked good, I liked that the particles looked like powdered snow. Winter makes a very regal and kickass maiden maybe she should been from the start instead of resurrecting a character just to recycle shock value and grief idk. Winter also shows Ruby how sister grief should be done. I don't know why RT didn't go this hard for Ruby, they clearly can, but whatever.

Cinder is also the best she's been since V3 - like, I was blown away by how entertaining she was in these last two episodes. Kudos. A bit too late considering what a dead weight she's been for 4.8 volumes, but I'm trying to be positive for this section.

Uhhh... Weiss shooting Blake's gun and using it to support her rapier was cool. Makes me think that a weapon swap training exercise would have been cool so Weiss actually knows how to shoot it. The episode score was nice. There was this one part I remember thinking "oh, I really like that", but I can't remember what it was. I think Atlas falling with Qrow/Ace-Ops onlooking, but I'm not rewatching to find out.

I didn't expect Jaune to fall, so at least they didn't spoil that in the damn opening. Weiss/Jaune/Penny team up would have been cool, and I'm sorry we didn't see more of it. Oh! Weiss actually used her sword as a sword... but the wrong kind of sword.

We might be getting into African folklore/fairy tales/myths - not sure if that's a pro, but I know some people will be happy. The tree in the end credits scene looks like an African species, though I wouldn't swear to it; I'm not a botanist. Honestly, my first thought was Yggdrisal, but the style of the tree makes me doubt it. I'll have to see if there are any significant trees in African fairy tales.

.....

Cons time.

Penny. Why the hell did you resurrect her, do nothing interesting with her despite the multiple set-ups to interesting concepts, and then just murder her? Much like everything else this volume, it didn't need to happen. It was an ultimately pointless diversion before eventually getting back to what was orginally going to happen anyway. It's an attempt to get the same rush of emotion and grief from V3, but it utterly fails to do so because we've been through this already. How many times are we going to see Penny die? And I love Penny... I'm just... not okay with this, and I can't articulate how very well. Expect a lot of posts reblogged that I think say it better than I ever could.

Reactions and voice acting. There are so many points, practically in the first quarter, where I'm like "why is this character doing this/not doing this/pulling this face?" Weiss pushing Ruby away from a fire trap but not bothering to move herself. Weiss's voice acting sounding completely phoned in. Ruby looking almost bored and annoyed by Neo's approach. Still no good reaction to Yang's death from Ruby. Weiss reacted better to Ruby and Blake's death by shooting at Cinder through tears. Hell, Jaune reacted better to Penny's death, he at least screamed. And oh, I cant wait for the gender related takes on that, because they're going to be horrific and I can't decide if I'm going to cringe or laugh - Dimitri vs Edelgard was bad enough. There's just so much weird animation where the characters seem to forget they have lightning fast reflexes or should be emoting a certain way. We've seen Ruby deflect bullets, you're telling me she can't dodge an obvious trap? Also, Ruby using her semblance effectively multiple times this episode is just... really rubbing in how bullshit it is that she didn't even try to catch Yang - AND HER EYES. Use your damn eyes, you could have blown Cinder back at any point, but no, the writers don't want to have to actually be consistent with that so they can have their precious fall. It's not quite as bad as V5's finale, but I'm getting those vibes. Too much standing around, slow movements, characters not utilizing their abilities - I'm just disappointed.

Why is Willow's hand gorilla-flued to Whitley? It's getting creepy now. Stop it. Let him be a character, don't lump him in with Willow as "Weiss's redeemed family".

Everything with Qrow/Ace Ops/Robyn/bomb. Shit plot point put tacked on at the last second, has no impact on the audience since we're not supposed to actually care about the AceOps, and Vine wasn't one we actually got to have any scenes with before his death. Oh, and Robyn's not dead. That's a con, I'm sticking to it. She is the most annoying, infuriating, and pointless character in this history of RWBY, and I want to stab her repeatedly.

Also - not sure if this is a pro or con - I liked Qrow's reaction to realizing, hey, my nieces might be totes dead, but it comes so late, like an after thought, like why weren't you concerned with this before now? Do they even know if people were evacuated?

Where the hell are Pierto and Maria? Dead, I guess, since they just floated away offscreen into the freezing cold, but Qrow Co will probably pick them up next volume. Oh, great, another split volume, 3 ways this time. Qrow and Co, the Vacuo people, and RWBYJ.

Ahhhh, can't they have just killed the bomb crew? Or hell, have the void actually kill. It would be a ballsy, gut punch of a move, something no one would expect since I've seen literally no one (including most of the characters) react like the characters are actually dead. Seeing Winter react to Weiss's death, seeing her grief and resolve as she floats out of the portal - I realized that I want more of that. I would much rather see the side characters take on Vacuo, see how they pick up the pieces - hell, I may actually keep creatively acquiring RWBY just to watch the Vacuo sections. I like Winter, Whitley, Oscar, Ren, and the HH that aren't Robyn - I'll watch a show with them trying to keep together two cities worth of civilian refugees in a place like Vacuo. And hey, Sun and Neptune. I like Sun, and maybe without Blake there, he can connect with the side characters and not be horribly mistreated for the sake of the ship that shall not be named.

There's honestly so much more I could say, but I'm tired and hungry, so I'm just going to leave it there for now. Please don't try and argue with me in the notes about how wrong and stupid I am. This is a vent post, not an invitation to debate. I'm just really disappointed and I'm not sure how to feel about it.

#rwby #rwby8 spoilers #rwde

[miraphoenix]

Thinking about my family; cw for medical abuse, ableism, attempted murder of a child. I don’t go into details, but just. Heads up.

Was reminded of the existence of this post. And I know the OP will never see this, but I. I’m real grateful for them? I’m glad she did that for that kid, and I hope the kid’s had similar luck going forward in life.

I’m thinking about my uncle, too. Uncle David (z”l) was autistic, and disabled, and born in a time and a place that was unspeakably cruel. He was nonverbal for a lot of his childhood, but started to chatter a little out of enthusiasm for seeing dolphins. But that wasn’t good enough for this fucking planet apparently, and the medical people who were supposed to be helping with his physical disabilities (all of his organs were flipped, and he had some chromosomal duplications that made some of his organs not function as they should) press-ganged my grandparents into trying to “fix” him. They nearly killed him in that hospital, and when he left? He never tried to speak again. (I’m. Leaving out large parts of this because they’re upsetting, but. It was a lot.)

Which isn’t to say he didn’t communicate, because he absolutely did. You always knew what David wanted, and there was a rapport. He and I didn’t get on great when I was a kid, because my rhythms weren’t his rhythms, but once we learned about each other, we got on fine. But, he lived in Florida and I live in NY, so we didn’t see each other much. The last time I ever saw him, I was in the fifth grade.

David died a few years back. I didn’t get to go see him before he did, and I... I am still sad and on some level angry about that. The hospice was kinder than any medical institution before, and the last picture of him that exists is from one Chanukkah where he got to light the candles; I can tell by his face that, although he couldn’t speak, he was humming.

I guess the whole point to this is that I... I really wish his life had been kinder. And when I see stories like OP’s, I. I’m just so happy for the kid, and so sad for my uncle; I don’t want anyone else to suffer as he did in the hands of a system that didn’t care and that wanted him dead. He should have been able to have a happy life. It’s not much of a point and it’s not articulated well, but it’s late and I’m crying already

#phoenix sounds #medical abuse #ableism #Big feelings tonight

[miraculousfanworks]

How To Analyze a Character

Have you ever been reading a fic and found the character is not recognizable that causes you to say “I don’t know who that is in that Marinette suit but that’s not Marinette.”

Or when you’re writing there’s that one character you need and you just can’t get inside their head to save your life. 

This essay is going to delve into how to analyze characters and how they work in stories. It will help you both articulate why you do or don’t like a particular character or their interpretation, and help you in your own writing of that character.

Characters, as well as other elements of a narrative, can be broken down into collections of  recognizable elements often called “tropes.” (For the comprehensive taxonomy see tvtropes.org.) These commonly recurring literary and rhetorical devices, motifs or clichés can be combined in unique ways. They exist as recognizable and namable concepts because the same patterns are used over and over again in the creation of stories. We can use named tropes to describe what we are seeing in one story and relate it to other instances of the same phenomenon. 

The advantage of recognizing the tropes that describe a character means that we can import into our understanding of them all of the other instances of that trope we have come across, and then compare and contrast these characters. 

For example, both Chloé and Adrien exhibit the “Well Done, Daughter/Son!” Girl/Guy trope, desperately seeking the approval of a distant and withholding parent. (Faramir in the Lord of The Rings and Shinji Ikari in Neon Genesis Evangelion are also prime examples.) Knowing that they are both participants in this kind of relationship we can see how it plays out differently. 

Gabriel seems like a deliberate ass, but occasionally manifests approval as when he played the duet with Adrien before sending him off to  the Kitty Section concert in Capitan Hardrock.  Audrey is entirely un-reflexive in her horribleness, dismissive rather than demanding and only ever recognizes Chloé’s worst feature as admirable. Kagami is also a “well done daughter!” girl and it informs how she relates to Adrein, Chloé, Marinette and Ladybug, providing both for character connection and thematic contrast.

On the production side, tropes can be used deliberately to construct a character to achieve a particular purpose. Adrien was created using the standard tropes of the fairy tale princesses beauty, musical talent, kindness to all creatures (even Chloe), kept looked up by an unloving parental figure. By creating a stereotypical Disney princess but swapping the gender it causes us to think harder about the assumptions we make about Princesses.

Symbols work the same way. We use symbolic images and language in media because it allows us to reference all the other ways and places that symbol is used. It becomes a shorthand for much bigger units of meaning. Pure originality would be completely unintelligible.

For example, Marinette displays two flower motifs on a regular basis. One is the cherry blossom spray across her shirt. Commonly this is associated with both love and passion, as well as purity and transitory beauty. In China, the last three are more closely associated with the Plum blossoms that decorate her purse, chair, and diary. Along with the additional significance of  perseverance and hope, we can see that her dreams for the future, however heard she works for them, may not turn out as she plans. 

The cherry blossom, in China, is a symbol of passion, strength, and feminine power and sexuality. As Marinette has this symbol peeking out from behind her jaket on the left side of her shirt, it represents how her civilian persona hasn’t fully come into the power she displays as Ladybug. Adrien’s kwami was chosen to be a Black Cat specifically to call up all our associations with them and bad luck as a counterpoint to Ladybug and her Lucky Charm.

Pikachu, I Choose You!: Artistic Decisions

You would think this wouldn’t need to be said but remember, remember, remember: these fictional characters are not real people. Why does that matter? Because everything you see on the screen or on the page is the result of a choice made by the writer or artist. 

Images and dialogue may be selected deliberately, thoughtfully, thematically, instinctually, carelessly, haphazardly, or stupidly, but they are there because the authors and illustrators and creators selected them to be there. 

Remember that the characters only exist to serve the story and everything about them ideally should serve to move the story toward its conclusion.

This is especially pertinent in an animated–and especially a computer animated–show because everything has to be made specifically for the show and they are expensive to make(MLB costs ~$460,000 an episode). That’s why you get only one outfit for most of the characters, except when absolutely necessary.

Saving their production budget for other things is  why Theo Barbot has all of the odd jobs in Paris, there seems to be only one cop, Sabrina’s dad, and Alec and Nadja are the only people on TV. If you take a look in Bubbler, the first episode aired in the US, you can see that the school, the bakery, the hotel, and the Agreste Manor are all within one block of each other.

CallMeDale posted this to the Miraculous Fanworks Discord. Source unknown. Image originally from Bubbler.

What this production cost means for analyzing a character (or anything else) is that everything we see in a visual medium is important. Everything about a character has been picked for some reason. How they look, how they move–even how they stand says something about who they are as a person, who they are in their relationships, and who they are as an element of the story.

I did a fairly comprehensive essay on Chloé as a character so I want to walk through some of the things I looked at in order to write it.  

Character at First Sight: 

First impressions are vital. Because Marinette is picked to be our eyes as the OP starts (“In the daytime I’m Marinette,”) we know she is supposed to be our heroine and point of view.  Everything that happens after that is to be judged in relation to her. The first time we see Chloé in the show is a whole 5 seconds into the opening, when she and Sabrina walk past a face-planted Marinette. Immediately afterwards, Chloé runs back in to glomp Adrien and push Marinette out of the way. 

From these few brief seconds we know that she is both rich and domineering, Sabrina is walking just behind her with a huge designer purse and bookbag, obviously in a subservient role. Chloé laughs at Marinette, which establishes her as an antagonist to the Heroine. Chloé pushing Marinette out of fram when she comes back shows that she exists in part to block our Heroine from Adrien, our Hero, whose expression shows he really doesn’t appreciate the attention.  

Not even three seconds of screen time and we already know who Chloé is in relation to three people: Marinette, Adrien, and Sabrina.

How much time a character gets in the beginning of a story also sets up how much brainspace  we allocate them and our expectation of their importance. This is one reason I prefer Bubbler as the “first episode’’ (US viewing order) over Stormy Weather (South Korean/International Viewing order). Stormy Weather spends the first few minutes on Aurore, Mirielle, and Alex before getting to  Mari, Tikki, Manon, Alya, and Adrien. Bubbler in the same first minute sets up Marinette, her parents, Adrien, Alya, Chloé, and Nino and all their relationships.

By choosing your descriptions carefully you can get the reader to think of other things without directly mentioning them. Ladybug’s costume, mode of travel and name all callback to Spiderman (she even does the upside down hang in Dark Cupid), and even though the iconic phrase “with great power comes great responsibility,” is never stated its influence is felt in the persistent characterization of Ladybug as ‘all business’ in fic, even though she is more playful in canon. Master Fu is modeled after classic inscrutable mentor Mr. Miyagi from the original Karate Kid movies, it gives him an air of perhaps more wisdom and knowledge than he actually possesses.

Come on Let’s Vogue: How the Look of a Character Informs Us

Now let’s look at what we get from the elements selected for Chloe’s character design. Slender, pale, almost-white blonde hair, sunglasses on the top of her head, lots of blue eyeshadow, yellow jacket over a black and white striped shirt, white capris and black and white flats. All of this says she is the top of the social heap at her school. Combined with her glomping and trying to kiss Adrien and we can guess she is–or at least wants to be seen as–romantically “experienced”. Yellow is a happy color, it’s what makes a printed picture look bright. Often, though not always, it is associated with success and general goodness (i.e. a heart of gold) so she is initially portrayed as a person who doesn’t have any cares. White jeans and shoes point to both her status as someone who doesn’t have to work and a certain level of naivete. 

But she also has this very gothy studded belt around her hips. It is very obviously not holding up her pants. This hints at the darker emotions and experiences at her core. The black and white stripes of her undershirt hint at the way she is held prisoner by her past. 

Because we have been set up to see Chloé as the spoiled,rich bitch with everything she could want, when the facade cracks and we see just how awful her mother is it hits all the harder for us. Chloé’s invulnerable image is destroyed.

“What’s in a Name?”: Tagging as Character creation

Names are also a good starting place for getting into a character. 

Bourgeois comes layered with the connotations of wealth, but not too much, and shallow conformity. Chloé is derived from the Greek Khlóe, or ‘young green shoot’ (of a plant), which can also be interpreted as meaning 'blooming.’ Khlóe is an epithet, or nickname, for Demeter in her aspect of the Lady of Summer. We know the writers know and are thinking of these meanings because of these lines in Sandboy.

Nightmare Adrien: Marinette, for your birthday, I’m going to buy you flowers—

…

Nightmare Adrien: —hortensias, roses and Chloés. (Marinette shrieks)

Not only does her name sound like that of a Homecoming Queen/Cheerleader/trust fund baby, but it also indicates she is immature but with potential to become something more.

Queen Bee is also laden with meaning as it is a term used to describe girls in their teens who are at the top of their social pecking order (see Queen Bees & WannaBes). It perfectly describes bothe how Chloé acts but also how she perceives herself.

The Things You Do to Me: Character Action

Characters in a story are what they do and more importantly why they do what they do. If Marinette becomes Ladybug for the first time because someone needs saving (first Ivan, then Alya), and Adrien becomes Chat Noir in order to escape the gilded cage that is his house, Chloé dons the Bee miraculous in a desperate (and unsuccessful) bid to catch her mother’s attention. 

Attention seeking is part of every subsequent time that her hero persona appears in the story. Consider the implications of the fact that the signal on her roof is a Bee signal, not a Ladybug signal. The gestursal tic she has of always examining her nails, often with the other arm folded over her chest, is a visual shorthand for both her self-absorption and that her unpleasant personality is a defence mechanism. 

Dialogue clues are also important, especially things that come up more than once. Chloé’s persistent lack of remembrance of the Concierge’s name (Jean-whatever) shows her to be dismissive of the people she believes to be “beneath her” which becomes horribly ironic when we find out her mother doesn’t seem to remember her name. That Marinette is always  Dunain-Cheng, emphasizing her parents status as tradesman and that Marinette is not pure French operates as a persistent put down.

Chloé is a Hero with an F in Good, primed by the writers for the Face–Heel Turn which happens in Miracle Queen. They telegraph this event by the choice to echo her “once a monster always a monster,” line from Stoneheart, in the S3 midseason Stormy Weather 2. There she mocks Aurore with “once a villain always a villain.” Highly ironic given the number of times Chloé has been akumatized and prompted it in others. Her bad heroing serves to show that actions and motives are not always aligned and to highlight the selflessness of the other heroes. 

A great example of showing character through dialogue is Nino’s conversation with Gabriel in Bubbler. Nino was given a very distinctive, persistent, and casual speech pattern (“dude” in English), It’s so distinctive that Alya immediately recognizes that he is Carapace. The fact that he makes an effort to suppress it when he is trying to persuade Gabriel to let Adrien have a birthday party shows how much he cares about giving Adrien this gift. It’s part of what establishes him in our minds as such a great friend for Adrien (King of Bros!). Giving characters individualized vocabularies and speech patterns is one of the best ways to help distinguish them in both your, and the reader’s mind.

All Together Now!

As you read and experience more stories, you will recognize more and more common elements across the characters, places, events and ideas that make up the stories you read. As you recognize these building blocks, and how they can be combined and manipulated, they will help you understand better why certain characters do what they do in the story. You can then deliberately select them as you create your own stories to highlight desired themes, set up conflicts or call cultural resonances to your readers’ minds.  Remember what you write is a conversation between you, your reader, and the world around you. The more of the world you can bring into your writing the deeper it will impact your readers.

#tag: guide #tag: submit #submission

[jaxsteamblog]

Let’s talk about fanfiction, wish fulfillment, and self inserts.

Specifically, I’d like to talk about my fanfiction.

This is a long post, so I’ll put it under the cut.

But TL;DR: If you take the advice and write what you know, you might end up with some Mary Sues, Self Inserts, and Wish Fulfillment. And That’s Okay.

I always forget that my entire life isn’t up for viewing to the general public. Weird, I know, but I have a problem with reality. Anyway, I want to explore something about my writing that might help out other writers. Especially ones who are just starting out.

I’ve been writing for a long time. Well, sorta. 

Growing up, I didn’t have the best home life. So, like most traumatized children from the suburbs, I retreated into books. I remember reading Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy and wishing I could find another world like Will. I started reading Poe at 11 and found a place where pain had meaning. The "Old Kingdom” series made me realize women could wield power.  Harry Potter came later, and suffering became a potential for something greater. 

But in high school, I found anime and cartoons. 

My friends were tearing through Gundam smut before I even knew what Sailor Moon was. But I was quickly brought up to speed. And I fell head over heels in love with Vampire Hunter D.

Oof, what gay, non-binary messed up white kid didn’t love VHD?

I really wanted to be a part of something magical and be someone that mattered. I wanted to be special and important.

And in 2004, at the tender age of 15, I started writing fanfiction. You can read the fics that survived the Great Cringe Purge here under my early pen name Nicolai Reh. How cringe is cringe? I took my first boyfriend’s last name.

And guess what? Natalie, Annia, and Spider are all MARY SUE SELF-INSERTS.

I can’t explain how badly I wanted to be loved. How I wanted to prove I could do something great. At that point in my life, everyone was telling me how worthless I was and there were already doubts that I would graduate high school. It was devastating. But I knew who I was on the inside! (At the time.) And guess what? I was amazing enough for someone like D to love!

I wasn’t on the internet much during this time and I’m thankful for that. The cringe shame didn’t soak into me until I was in my 20s and that was mostly the usual stage many 20 year-olds go through on their own. I wanted to be a Real Writer.

I started writing two “serious” novels that I hid and rewrote constantly over the next ten years. (From high school into my 20s.)

“Serenity” was about a woman who falls in love with a vampire, only to have him betray her after he slaughters her town and she spends years hunting him down. At one rewrite, she ends up being sent to the future by two of the vampire’s fledglings. Here you can see I was super into Anne Rice and Samurai Jack.

There was another story whose title is long gone. It’s about a woman who is given god-like powers to create a new world after she and her fiance are victims of a hate crime. But she ends up obsessing over it and by the time she goes back to the “real” world, her fiance thinks she’s dead and has moved on with his life, having a wife and child. This one was mostly to sate my horrific love of world-building. I created a really great world!

And yeah, self-insert Mary Sues with CLEAR wish fulfillment. Both women are pursued by a character that is thematically the same and I even gave him the same name. 

The chemistry never worked out, and it wouldn’t be until I was in my late 20s that I figured out why. The woman protag was my self-insert, to a point. The male was my closeted gender identity that I was desperately seeking but also denying.

Point? Writing taps into our psyche. Professional writers, I’m assuming, are able to use their craft to create stories that can be separated from them. But I will bet money their early works are about them working through their own internal mess. 

When I finally started to get back into writing, it was after I had my child. I was 21, homeless, and just started to go to college. I wrote a novel in 2010 that I attempted to publish online in 2017 but, it’s personal.

You can see some of my original work under another early pen name: Lizaveta Demarkus

It includes the first two chapters of “Lucid.”

Having a kid, going to school, and then getting into the most emotionally devastating romantic relationship of my life destroyed my ability to write. I tried to do NaNoWriMo, but it never really worked out.

Then I met my friend, who we’ll call Smol Fury because that’s her nickname.

We love Avatar: The Last Airbender and we would talk shit all the time about it. We both shipped Zutara, but most of our conversations were about plot holes and the disaster that was Korra. 

There I am, heartbroken, living with my parents, newly diagnosed with a series of mental illnesses. I was alone and I was lonely. I was struggling with coming out as non-binary and transmasc.

I remembered my old writing and I flipped through the binder with pages printed out almost twenty years ago. 

I had lost a lot of joy. A lot. I couldn’t write a novel in this stage. I couldn’t think critically enough to think about inciting incidents and mapping out plot points. Foreshadowing, world-building, show don’t tell, said versus shouted; there were a million arguments to be had in creative writing. 

So I wrote about Zuko loving Katara. I gave Zuko the personality from that one male character from my youth and I made him once again have to pursue a broken woman who couldn’t face the truth. I didn’t have to worry about world-building because it was already done. I could just focus on the emotions.

To anyone just starting out, please don’t take the trite criticisms to heart. My main series, the one that keeps me up at night because I ache over it, it’s not that great. It’s not that popular. But I love it because I’m finally, FINALLY getting the words out. I’m finally working through the pain I tried to articulate in 2004. 

If you write because it’s a story you want to read but can’t find, do it. 

If you write because you want someone like Zuko to love you, you have the right to fall in love.

If you write because you want someone like Katara to love you, get in line.

If you want to be the most OP, broken, Mary Sue, multi-bender who rivals all the Avatars combined, go for it!

You are not the only one who wants a story like that. Every story, after all, shows us that we’re not alone. 

I’m not Pullman or Nix or R*wling (thank christ) or Poe but I am a regular person that goes through similar things as a bunch of other people. I write what I know and what I want.

Don’t let anyone stop you from doing the same. 

Please keep writing.

#jax speaks #thoughts about writing

[icyxmischief]

There is a post going around, mostly directed at people who didn't like Ragnarok like we are stupid for not seeing it for the "great" movie it is, and I was wondering if you wanted a link to it in case you might want to respond to it (you don't have to)? I want to respond to it myself but I don't think I'm articulating myself well enough and the post just makes me angry the way it is so dismissive of people who had issues with the movie.

//I think I MIGHT pass right now only because I am very very low on emotional and physical resilience and I am proctoring final exams for four different large classes.  However if you want me to reblog some posts that I already made addressing some of those points, and you want to link to my meta when you write YOUR  reply, and direct this cantankerous OP hither, lol, then that is cool with me.  

At this point, people who engage in an all or nothing attitude about any work of creative fiction, made by people, who are inherently flawed and biased no matter how good their intentions may be (and Waititi had some good and some bad intentions, as much as I dislike this particular film), are people that I think are past your or my capacity to …..not “win over,” exactly, but at least ask to reconsider their absolutist stance???? 

I would in fact tell you and anyone reading this, you are valid and wonderful and it’s okay to dislike a popular work of fiction for making you uncomfortable about genuine real-world issues.  It is OKAY to feel the way you feel. And maybe the aggressively nasty post that’s circulating is beneath your energy and time. Maybe you and I shouldn’t be asked to justify ourselves at all

Hugs to you.

#ooc #exactlyonewerewolf #ragnarok critical //

[eldritchsurveys]

784.

Have you ever worn those Drunk Goggles? >> I vaguely remember seeing those as like a gag gift at Spencer’s or something, but I’ve never worn any. I’ve been drunk, though, so I think I’ve got the experience of wearing Drunk Goggles well covered.

Which decade before the 90s had the best makeup trends? >> I don’t know anything about makeup trends before the eighties, now that I think about it.

Can you agree to disagree, or usually get upset over conflicting views? >> I can be upset sometimes, especially if the thing being debated is something I have a particular personal investment in. But I have learned how to be upset by myself, and not make it anyone else’s problem. (Which leads to a lot of unresolved feelings, I’ve also learned, but hey.)

Does it bug you when long socks are constantly falling down? >> I don’t wear long socks, and that’s one reason why.

Rodeos – entertaining, or cruel? >> I don’t know anything about rodeos and therefore do not have an opinion.

Why can’t politicians debate politely? >> Because it’s assumed that the general public will not remain engaged unless there’s some sort of drama. ...Honestly, I can see where they get that impression, but it can also be alienating for those of us who aren’t looking for entertainment from our politicians.

Who is the best female rocker? Why? >> Floor Jansen is one of my favourites. So is Skin, from Skunk Anansie.

Can you even taste a difference between Cheez Its and Cheez Nips? >> I don’t know, I’ve not had both of them.

What about between Pepsi and Coke or Sprite and 7Up? >> Yeah, I’ve tasted differences between both of those and I have preferences.

Do you care what kind of toilet paper you use? >> Yes, I care. I don’t like either extreme (too rough or too soft).

What color of roses do you find the prettiest? >> I’ve never given it any consideration.

Which celebrity has the cutest butt? >> I don’t know. But Sarah Snook, who plays Siobhan Roy on Succession, has a pretty eye-catching booty.

Do you still have any decent arcades nearby? >> Not to my knowledge.

After a holiday, do you go to the store to get candy on sale? >> No, but I might get some for Sparrow.

Did Marilyn Monroe look better before or after cosmetic surgery? >> ---

Bullfighters who get gored kind of had it coming, right? >> I mean, yeah.

If you make surveys, do you care what people rate them? >> I don’t make them, but if I did, that wouldn’t be a concern of mine. The only time I’m tempted to make a survey is because there are questions that it surprises me that no one ever asks, and that I’d love to answer myself. So I’d be making it for my benefit, primarily, and if anyone else enjoys it then that’s just icing on an already-good cake.

Have you ever accidentally found porn when looking for something else? >> Yeah, but it doesn’t happen much nowadays.

Ever run into those ‘celebrity lookalike porn’ blogs? >> Long time ago, yeah. You know, before tumblr changed its policy.

If you’re not religious, is the Bible basically just an old collection of short stories? >> My understanding of the Bible is that it’s a collection of laws and writings -- stories, poetry, letters, op-ed pieces (lol). The New Testament in particular seems to be just a bunch of letters appended to four different accounts of one dude’s birth and early life and concluded with a really dramatic callout post for the Roman Empire. I am very fond of this giant mishmosh of opinions and dramatically-recounted stories, tbh, it’s really interesting from both a historical and mythological perspective.

Do you think religious leaders just like to manipulate people? >> Of course.

Why do so many fans with OTP’s insist that their ship is real? Even when the writers (or real people that they ship) tell them it isn’t? >> I don’t know. I’ve never really delved into why that’s so important to a lot of fans, although it does intrigue me. I think it might have something to do with the varieties of ways in which people interact with and understand stories, but I’m not able to articulate exactly what I mean right now, I don’t have the words all organised in my brain and ready to go.

Do you draw fanart of anything? >> No, I don’t draw. I write fan fiction.

Do annoying city kids ever loiter outside your library and harass people? >> I’ve never witnessed any harassment outside of a library around here. That seems more likely to have happened in NYC, though.

Do you like to hang out at your local library? >> Occasionally. I used to basically live at the library when I was in the City, because I was homeless. I think I don’t go to the library as often anymore because of that -- it’s registered in my mind as “the place you go and sit in all day because you can’t go anywhere else” and it disorients me if I do it now.

On that subject, do you like the smell of books? >> Some books.

What’s on your Reading List, so-to-speak, right now? >> I’m between books right now. I’m still debating whether I want to try to finish The Denial of Death or whether I want to give it up for now, and the fact that I’ve been debating that for like a week most likely means that I should give it up. I can always pick it up again at a later date.

Read any great non-fiction books lately? >> Sure.

What do you like on your burger? >> Lettuce, onion, bacon, mustard or bbq sauce, some kind of cheese (preferably pepper jack). Jalapeño peppers can be good too.

What do you NOT like on your burger? >> Mayo, sometimes tomato (I go back and forth, it just depends on the day).

Do you like ‘loose meat’ sandwiches? >> I’m not sure what that is, but the name isn’t too enticing, let me tell you.

Have you ever heard of the restaurant Maid Rite? >> No.

What is the best thing to put in a grilled cheese (other than cheese)? >> I don’t even remember what things I like in a grilled cheese, I haven’t had one in ages. Oh! HopCat sells one that has honey and apple in it and that’s pretty good. I do like “weird” grilled cheeses.

Homemade tomato soup, or just out of a can? >> Not out of a can, that’s for sure. There are some premade ones that I do like, but they’re never canned (usually they’ll come in cartons).

Favorite thing to see in museums? >> I like sci-tech museums, so, that stuff.

Have you ever seen an unwrapped mummy in person? >> No.

What things have people shamed you for? >> The kind of music I like, the kind of people I think are pretty, the way I look, the way I behave/my idiosyncrasies, my emotional responses, my needs... I mean, basically almost anything you can think of.

Do you always reply to private messages? (On any website) >> I usually do.

What device do you seem to always be buying batteries for? >> I don’t think anything I currently use takes disposable batteries.

What’s worse – snow, or all the mud after it melts? >> Definitely the latter.

Are there any 'adult stores’ in your area? >> Probably. Not in this city proper, but like... around. Somewhere.

Have you been inside of them/shopped there before? >> I’ve been to a lot of them in NYC.

Do you watch The Masked Singer? Any theories? >> No.

Favorite Alfred Hitchcock film? >> I don’t have one.

Do you like Funko Pop figurines? >> Meh. The novelty wears off pretty quickly.

If so, do you have any? Which ones would you like to have? >> Yeah, having a few is how I know the novelty wears off pretty quickly, hah. I have two Marvel!Heimdalls (from two different movies), a Roland and a Walter from the Dark Tower movie, Jesse and Cassidy from the Preacher TV show, Lucio and Reaper from Overwatch, and Vivec from The Elder Scrolls. I actually had to go looking in the living room because I’d forgotten I had that many. That’s another few items for the donation / giveaway bin...

Which ones do you think they should make (but haven’t yet)? >> At this point, I think they should stop, lmao. There are so fucking many.

#surveys #survey #random survey

[thepioden]

This is hypothetically in response to @nyarnamaitar‘s post about the power of the Valar, but I as ever am incapable of shutting up for like five seconds and I went off on my own rambly birdwalking essay that is only passingly related to the original post. So like OP, if you feel we’re kind of just talking past each other and this discussion is non-productive, go ahead and tell me to fuck off and there are no hard feelings from me because we are reading the source material from entirely different directions. I generally don’t take any of the Legendarium at face value and I lean heavily on the fallibility of the in-universe narrator; i.e., everything we see is filtered through the lens of the in-universe author (Pengolodh, Bilbo, whomever) because I think treating the source material as not-a-primary-source is fun. 

ANYway. I think my main question of the veracity of any statements to the tune of ‘Melkor was the mightiest of the Ainur’ or ‘Manwe is mightier than xyz’ or what have you is the actual metric by which they are being measured. Like. What is ‘might’?? I feel as though it is used in the narrative in the same way Tolkien throws around ‘great’ and ‘fair’ as measures of worth, in that these are kind of subjective and amorphous terms and are subject to interpretation and the biases of the speaker (see also: Feanor, Finarfin, Finrod, and Galadriel all get to be the ‘fairest’, for example). 

It seems disingenuous to the spirit of the text to assign the idea of ‘might’ a strict mathematical value and then fuckin’... hold up a scanner to Manwe like

But at the same time, I feel like we need a definition of 'might’ in order for any comparison to be meaningful. 

If I had to commit to an actual yardstick to hold the Valar up against, I think the best I can do is define ‘might’ as ‘the authority, capacity, and willingness to enact the will of Eru on Arda’ which is cumbersome but I think fits neatly with the narrative-as-written. Like, Melkor has the capacity but he is unwilling and therefore his authority was revoked, which by this standard diminishes his ‘might’ even though he’s still a terrifying eldritch monstrosity that can go toe-to-toe with the rest of the Valar combined - there’s nothing ‘mighty’ about breaking the toys so the other kids can’t play with them. When you see ‘might’ in concert with an evil character, it’s usually paired with a fall (frex, Melkor was the mightiest but he rejected the will of Illuvatar, and now it’s Manwe; the Great Kings of Numenor were diminished in turning away from the Will of Eru (and got their shit super duper wrecked for it), etc.). In the same vein, Manwe, who has the greatest comprehension of the will of Eru, is mightier by virtue of his authority, capacity (i.e., understanding) and willingness, even if, say, Varda is more physically scary or Mandos can pronounce those inviolate Dooms. Moreover, Manwe, as the Elder King, is granted his authority by those over who he rules, in that they are willing to listen to him, which is also part of it? (There’s a point about the Fall of the Noldor and the subversion of Manwe’s authority and how it’s actually handled in a pretty nuanced way when you look at it but like fuck can I reasonably articulate it, argh.)

BASICALLY like, to quote Pratchett, "but at the essential moment, see, your genuine kings throw back their cloak and say 'Lo!' and their essential kingnessness shines through." Might, in the sense that Manwe is the ‘mightiest’ of the Valar, is more about Aragorning on a cosmic level than it is about who wins in a fight, or who does the coolest and most dramatic things, if that makes even a modicum of sense. It’s the same kind of power that JRRT is communicating when he calls things ‘great’ or ‘fair’ or what have you. And again, a lot of this comes back to how good a character is at being an agent of Eru’s will, or overall plan, or whatever it is he’s up to. There’s also a whole other essay in this about the  Divine Right of Kings flavor in Tolkien’s works, and it’s weird tautological meritocratic mechanism, and the textual and metatextual fallibility of Eru Illuvatar, but that is even less of The Point than the rest of my noodling.

I’m personally not... super jazzed about the entire underlying conceit of defining ‘might’ like this, and a lot of it is my Weird and Complicated feelings wrt religion and Christianity/the Christian God in particular, and so I tend to shy away from it. This also I think leads to my tendency to be waffley about actually ranking the Valar by power, because I feel more comfortable thinking about ‘might’ as a more contextual thing based on impacts and domains rather than adherence to a cosmic plan where insufficiently remorseful/subservient deviance is punished. And also because I tend to pretty dramatically abstract the Valar away from individual personhood and interpret the presentation of the Ainur as heavily anthropomorphized by the in-universe authors, which like, if you’re reading canon as Canon, means I’m kind of just making things up. But that’s also where I’m coming from when I say that while Canon says Manwe is the mightiest of the Valar, and of course it does, Pengolodh, our supposed source for the information in the Silm, was raised in an appropriately pious Amanyar culture and actually lives with the Actual Valar, but if you asked one of the Sindar or the Avari, they might say that it’s clearly Elbereth, what has that Manwe guy ever done for me? 

With Varda specifically, I strongly feel that her meta-textual elevation in ‘might’ is a pushback against the second-fiddling the Valier get - the Aratar are three to five, and Nienna is a very passive entity in the text (and you do get some of this with her as well, in fandom, and for I think similar reasons!). There’s enough textual support (such as Varda’s role in forming the Lamps, the Trees, and the Stars and the narrative emphasis on Light as salvation, Melkor’s canonical fear of her, etc.) that’s it’s not, I think, unreasonable (even if it is not strictly canonical) to elevate her for a little more gender parity. 

#g'damn sorry this is long #also not fully formed contextualized or edited #please argue with me about the Valar I'm trying to figure out and articulate my opinions on them #and idk if my First Take is even remotely coherent let alone Right #TEAL DEER the concept of divinely granted authority! makes me uncomfy! and monarchy isn't great generally overall!!

[antimonybouquet]

Plague Project: Day 1

//At long last, as I have waited for the USPS man to come with my base, the day is upon us. I’m so excited, let’s op-

oh…okay… (this wasn’t staged, he legit came out of the box like this)

Anyway he is here! This is a dummy doll I got off Ebay used (I never use NIB, aka New-In-Box, dolls for customs) a Porter Geiss Monster High Doll. He doesn’t have all his accessories, and his hair’s free from gel, so he was destined to become a custom. Now, let’s take a look at what we’re working with here.

A long, lanky, green boy. (Watch Tumblr flag this post) He’s got this interesting green color to him where it’s not quite translucent, but has almost this glow-in-the-dark look to him (he does not glow in the dark, sadly, but that would’ve been cool though.) This’ll work really well for Plague’s skin. He has articulation in the wrist, elbow, ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, and a head that rotates 360 degrees so he’s a great candidate! However, his hair and face aren’t up to snuff for what I envision, so they’ll have to go. We won’t be needing his clothes he came with except maybe the shoes as placeholders, so those will be going into my spare bag to either make them into patterns for other things, or to use later. I really like his shirt a lot, I just may use it for a Modern Plague outfit…

So, we have the base, now what? Well, anytime i get a doll off Ebay that’s not NIB, I do what I always do.

We wash them! Really though, he had a lot of makeup residue on his face and smelled like cigarettes so that had to be fixed. (Note: I won’t be posting pics of EVERYTHING I do, because this will be long as hell, but I WILL post what I find to be necessary. This isn’t meant to be a tutorial, more so a How I Did It and stages of transformation type. If you wanna know how to do doll customs, there’s a lot of really good vids out there to teach you!)

So now our doll is nice and clean, we need to get rid of the factory paint and hair. I use 100% pure Acetone (Nail Polish Remover) to remove the face as well as get off any stains on the vinyl. Here we can see how nice the head sculpt is. That’s what I like most about Monster High, they have some of the prettiest sculpts. I then clean the head a second time with warm, soapy water to ensure i get the excess acetone off so it doesn’t eat away at the face.

Now that he’s faceless, it’s time to get rid of his old hair. I use nail scissors to cut the factory hair as close to the scalp as possible. Then I use hot water to dunk the head in for about 30 sec. to soften the vinyl and pop it off the neck peg. Then I carefully use needle-nose pliers to scrape the inside of the head to get all the glue and plugs out.

Gross. Day 1 has come to a close with a fresh, clean base, and he’s ready to become the explosive knight we all know and love! Until next time!

-Witch

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#Hee Hee That's Me! (self) #Diagrams (my art) #PlagueProject #plague knight #doll custom #WIP #long post