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stardustizuku · 3 months

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Unfortunately I came across a very strange and misinformed video about Black Butler.

It’s not good. Don’t watch it. Unless you wanna ruin your day, in which case have fun.

Despite it all, I watched it. What left me wondering, however, was how off the mark the person who made the video was on, well, everything.

From their insistence that the Book of Circus Arc theme or point is non existent, to reading Ciel’s character so badly they genuinely thought the Green Witch Arc did nothing for his character development.

While baffled, it also made me think on how someone could read Black Butler so badly.

Sure, you can say that there’s no real way to read or interpret something “in the wrong way” but interpreting The Hunger Games as a pure battle-royale action story would make you believe it’s bad.

“Why are we focusing so much on how the capitol preps them?” Or “Why isn’t Katniss winning everything?” Or “I wanna know more about the rebellion” All questions that miss the actual point of the story - which is criticizing (not solving or ignoring) the way that media distracts us from violence via spectacle.

The same thing applies here. While there is no “right” way to consume media, there’s things that the author makes clear they wanna focus when creating a story. Things that, if you understand, make the story you’re reading actually make sense.

And in Black Butler there’s three things that you have to understand to properly get what Yana is saying.

Sebastian is the protagonist

Ciel and Sebastian’s relationship IS the story.

And that relationship is, fundamentally, a positive one.

A quicker version of it would be:

Black Butler is a love story from the POV of Sebastian, and you have to ship it to get it

- but that’s not entirely true.

You can still look at it as a complex but ultimately positive rship and get in broad strokes of what it’s conveying. It doesn’t have to be romantic. Although, it helps much more than a platonic framing.

(That said, interpreting their rship as father and son, still isn’t the best way to go about it. Mostly because by its very nature of “soul consuming” their relationship is extremely sexually charged. And hey, if you’re into that I don’t judge. However, if you’re desperately trying to interpret their rship as NOT romantic to the point you fall back on heteronormative patriarchal ideals of nuclear familiar as framing device, I don’t think this interpretation bodes with you)

Now, having all that ground work:

Why do I say these are the key components to understand BB?

Okay so, first,

1. Sebastian is the Main Character. The protagonist.

There’s a lot of people who wanna argue against it, claiming he’s either the villain or the antagonist. Both wrong.

He does not function as an antagonist. Even if, and an emphasis on if, you consider Ciel to the protagonist, Sebastian isn’t a narrative antagonist.

If you wanna go back to Creative Writing 101, be my guest. An antagonist is directly defined by the protagonist. It’s the opposing force. If the protagonist wants A, the antagonist wants to stop them from getting A.

Sebastian’s catchphrase is “Yes, my Lord”. He never opposes Ciel, in fact quite the contrary. By the mere fact they’ve created contract, it means that they’ve both agreed in the inevitable outcome.

People want to frame Sebastian as the villain, because Ciel having his soul taken by a demon, would be a BAD END in the context of their moral compass. They see Ciel as a frail victim of abuse, who’s being tricked by Sebastian, who wants Ciel’s soul.

Which is an. Interpretation. A bad one. But still one.

The narrative (and whether the narrative fits your personal moral compass and lack of critical thinking is irrelevant) treats Ciel as an agent in his own destiny. The abuse he suffered was the moment in which he had no control. It’s only after he meets Sebastian that he can rid of both his guilt and his despair, and do what he wants.

In this case though, it’s revenge.

The famous “Asthma” scene shows this. If Ciel is taken back to his past, he becomes helpless. Swarmed with pain and memories that make it so that he can’t even react. Sebastian is his saving grace. If Ciel didn’t have him, and the power he wields to rebuilt what’s broken, he would crumble once more.

If Ciel has a panic attack, because of all the pain he has, Sebastian picks him up and says “you are not a helpless child anymore, you are not a victim anymore, you have the power to do anything. So, what do you wanna do?”

Ciel’s answer is to kill them.

A proper analogy would be to say that, if Sebastian offers a gun, Ciel pulls the trigger. They are both at fault. Sebastian, strictly speaking, is not here to directly cause Ciel’s downfall, but as a tool Ciel uses to plunge into the abyss.

If, again if, you were to frame Ciel as a protagonist, Sebastian falls closer to the “Voice of reason” character. Not a literal voice of reason, but a literary one. If you have a protagonist and an antagonist exchanging ideals, the Voice of Reason serves to engage with the protagonist on their own ideals.

That said, Ciel isn’t the protagonist. The story quickly falls apart if you interpret it as such.

Things such as Ciel’s character arc being…shall I say odd?

It’s not that his character arc isn’t there, but it’s never lineal. His goals stay the same, the only thing that happens is that we start to peel back the “why”s of his goals. Throughout the series it’s never about Ciel understanding himself better, he knows who he is, he knows what he wants, he knows why he wants it. He doesn’t ever need to uncover these, but simply remember them. Because it’s always about the audience understanding Ciel.

He knows he wants revenge.

In the Circus Arc: He knows that he needs Sebastian because without him, the pain of the abuse he suffered would be too much to bear. But WE are introduced to it.

In the Book of Atlantis: He knows that with this new lease he does not want happiness and peace, he wants revenge. The one being told this is the audience.

In Green Witch Arc: He knows that their revenge isn’t for his family, the real Ciel or guilt. It’s because he wants it. He’s angry, he’s upset, and this is entirely for him. The one being told this is the audience.

Except. Not really. The one either discovering or remembering these key moments - is always Sebastian.

Sebastian is the one who reassures him that he now holds the power of a demon to override the pain. Sebastian is the one who remembers that to override that pain, Ciel wants revenge. And Sebastian is the one who discovers that that revenge isn’t built out of grief or guilt, but for himself.

We are witnessing it all, through the eyes of Sebastian.

This is why we have an extremely vague idea of who Ciel is, Sebastian does not have the whole picture.

If you haven’t been reading this manga with your eyes closed, you’ll realize we have a better grasp at Sebastian’s character than that of Ciel. We get a lot of insight on how he thinks and what he values through light hearted dialogue he has with the servants. You even see the character development in these little interactions.

Think about how when he first arrived to the mansion he magically created food with no regards to taste, but when he meets Bard he states that food is created to see whoever will eat it, smile.

That is character development, more than you will be able to see from Ciel.

Because Ciel’s character, while not static, doesn’t go from point A to point B. Mostly, cause it doesn’t need to. He went through that when he lost the real Ciel and got Sebastian. Everything we are watching is the falling out.

Now, given the fact that I’ve told you that it makes more sense for Sebastian to be the protagonist/main character, and that he 100% isn’t either a villain or antagonist in ANY of the interpretations you can get:

Do you believe me?

If you don’t, you’ll probably believe Yana herself.

This is from the first Volume, where Yana herself describes the process of making Black Butler. The primary idea behind the creation of BB was a butler as a “hero”.

If you go back to the introductory chapter, you notice that Ciel is barely mentioned. He’s simply the one to give Sebastian impossible tasks and standards that Sebastian must find how to overcome.

Ciel is properly introduced until the NEXT chapter. The second chapter has this formula too, introducing Lizzie as a problem to overcome. Although, to Sebastian the best way to “get rid of the problem” is simply to indulge her.

The issue here being that the problem isn’t as simple as a business meeting but something directly tied to Ciel and Ciel’s past. Each time that Sebastian has to solve a problem, it chips away at Ciel. While with Lizzie he shows a persona, once he’s alone with Sebastian he acknowledges the toll it took on him. It serves to build Ciel as Sebastian’s master, and how some problems aren’t as simple as discarding a tablecloth.

The third and the fourth, are a unified narrative, with a similar premise to the first chapter. Ciel gets kidnapped and Sebastian must find a way to retrieve him without raising suspicions.

If the first chapter is to set up what Sebastian must do as a butler, the third and the fourth serve to set up what he must do as a demon.

The entirety of the volume, and up to Book of Circus Arc, is about how Sebastian tries to follow the increasingly absurd orders that Ciel has - it is not about Ciel trying to solve them.

That’s how they work, we follow Sebastian for the most part, because he’s the one having to come up with the solutions.

If anything, in early Kuro, where the emphasis was more on a slice of life conflict, Ciel is the antagonist. He’s the one creating problems for Sebastian to solve.

What’s more, in the second volume, the very first chapter is one from Sebastian’s POV. So far, we hadn’t gotten an entire chapter from Ciel’s POV. In fact, I would find it hard to point to a single chapter where Ciel is the POV throughout. The reveal of real Ciel and the flashback is the closest contender.

But once we move past early Kuro, and into Book of Circus, this set up changes.

It’s fairly easy to assume that Ciel is the main character, because from this point on the conflict of the plot sorta surrounded him. We spend a lot of time with him and with his story. The enemies start being people directly tied to Ciel and Ciel’s trauma. Rarely, if at all, we get to see Sebastian before he met Ciel.The framing device for the story, is Ciel.

This is where point 2 gets intertwined.

2.- Sebastian and Ciel’s relationship IS the story.

The story begins at the point where Sebastian and Ciel met. Who Ciel was before he met Sebastian, informs why he’s the way he is when he does. You have to know all he went through to understand why he’s a brat, why he lashes out. However Sebastian’s past doesn’t matter…because Sebastian himself doesn’t care much for who he was, before he was “Sebastian”. That’s also part of the narrative.

Unlike Ciel, he doesn’t seem opposed to revealing information from before the contract. He talks about how pets from where he is from are gross, he talks about how he knows how to dance because of other places he’s been to, and alludes to the life he's lived before.

Just that, to him, they're footnotes.

He makes allusions to a very bland, uninteresting life, up to the point he meets Ciel.

That’s why we don’t know more about his past.

As for why we focus on Ciel’s story…okay maybe we need Creative Writing lessons 102

I studied Dramaturgy for about 3 to 4 years. And something you notice is how play-writing is the quintessential story telling. It’s making it work with the bare bones of a story.

Some other mediums have more finesse, more depth, or more spectacle - all amazing things that work for whatever they’re created for. But understanding a play, how and why it works, helps understand the fundamentals of any derivative story telling medium.

Particularly, conflict.

Conflict is dialogue and dialogue can take many forms. A story, in its essence, is a dialogue between two opposing ideas.

Take Batman, for example, who embodies the ideas of justice and order. On his own, he’s not a well rounded character.

If you ONLY present him, in a vaccum with nothing else, you don’t have a character. You have a list of characteristics that you’re supposed to know.

You only know who he is when you have dialogue with another character.

I say Dialogue, but it doesn’t necessarily mean spoken language at one another. Dialogue can mean fist fighting, playing tabletop games, talking to other people about the other, or even just a competition. The idea is to simply to compare and contrast both ideas.

If you want an example on how tabletop games serve as dialogue, watch the video “Well, Someone Had to Explain the Liar’s Dice Scene” by Lord Ravecraft

Another example, were we to retake Batman, you have him fight Joker. Who’s the embodiment of chaos and randomness.

In the following picture, you get far more information than the one previously shown. While the Joke fights with daggers and fake guns, Batman only uses his fists. He doesn’t use the tricks that Joker does. His serious demeanor, contrasted with Joker’s glee at the dangerous situation. The fact that Batman has a deathly grip on Joker’s shirt, while the Joker doesn’t, which shows a desperation to catch him.

You are being shown, through a dialogue, who Batman is.

It’s so much easier and much more effective to explore a character through another character.

This is the reason why Shonen has a tendency to make incredibly good gay ships. If you want to explore Naruto’s personality, and his feelings of inferiority, you HAVE to have him interact with Sasuke.

If you wanna understand Hinata’s passion for volleyball, you have him enjoy himself the most with the only other crazy motherfucker who’s as obsessed with volleyball - Kageyama.

And I think that originally, Yana had this problem.

Sebastian was the protagonist, but she had little room to develop him as a character in the confines of the manor, dealing with random enemies.

She likely tried to create Grell as someone of the same stature as Sebastian. Someone who could be this other person to engage dialogue with and show or allude to his past a bit more.

The problem being that Sebastian didn’t care for his past. Or really, engaging with anyone. He sees everyone as below him, but when confronted with Grell who isn’t below him, he doesn’t wanna talk to her.

So you’re stuck in conundrum.

How do you have dialogue with a character, that as a character trait, doesn’t really wanna have dialogue?

Well, Grell also solves the problem. Because only the moment she gets him to start any semblance of a dialogue - is questioning why he’s serving Ciel.

And this is the moment when it’s perfectly cemented that the focus of the story is their relationship.

Why is Sebastian here? Why does he stay? What did he see in Ciel that made him want this extremely convoluted contract?

THATS the dialogue.

THATS the conversation we’re having in Black Butler.

We need to know Ciel because understanding who he is, let’s us know WHY /Sebastian/ is here.

Then slowly, with the introduction with the Undertaker, we find out Sebastian’s conflict.

Which is…

He’s scared of losing Ciel. It becomes apparent with the constant imagery of the Undertaker taking away Ciel and at some point even obtaining r!Ciel’s body, that he’s worried it might happen.

But he can only be worried that Ciel might be taken away if he wants to stay near Ciel.

And that’s his character arc.

Realizing that he actually likes Ciel, cares for him and the role he plays a butler that he doesn’t want this to end.

In the first chapters, he doesn’t feel a need to protect Ciel anymore than what’s strictly necessary. Just don’t die, that’s about as deep as his involvement in chapter 4 gets.

But by the Green Witch Arc, he feels a need to protect Ciel from ANY harm.

This is why I also said

3.- Their relationship is fundamentally a positive one.

In broad strokes, Sebastian to Ciel is the person who allows him to survive. He’s not worried about giving up his soul since he’s already dead. While Ciel to Sebastian, is someone who’s making him have fun. He’s slowly becoming more and more attached to Ciel and the life he has with Ciel.

Their relationship is not that of just a predator and prey, but also of master and pet.

In the terms that Black Butler itself would call: Sebastian is a wild wolf acting like a collared dog.

Ciel is aware that the wild beast will eat him at the end of the day, but if he clings hard to leash for now, he might just be able to have Sebastian maul his abusers.

Sebastian as a dog, currently finds that he enjoys being a chained dog.

(This is demonstrated in the Green Witch arc where he quite literally says, he doesn’t wanna be a wild beast and prefers to be a butler)

And much like the actual DOG Sebastian, Ciel constantly interprets his attempts to get close and protect him, as an act of aggression.

This push and pull of Ciel’s perception of Sebastian and Sebastian’s true motives is what feeds the story.

And the briefs interludes were that isn’t the case (what other people call the “plot”, but I would refer to as the connective tissue) such as Sullivan and Wolfram, the other servant’s past, the grim reapers and the like, serve as a parallel to Ciel and Sebastian relationship. Either to signify how they care for each other, highlight their weaknesses or fears, or explore how they feel.

It’s no surprise that Sullivan and Wolfram are parallels to Ciel and Sebastian. A sheltered sickly child who seeks the protection of a cold hearted machine that only knew how to kill, but who eventually found he cared for her genuinely.

Undertaker and Claudia’s relationship being heavily paralleled with them, even though we aren’t 109% sure what they had but heavily implied it was a romantic attraction from the undead supernatural creature and a Phantomhive.

Everything is a parallel.

That’s why, like the approach of the terrible original video, is flawed.

Trying to interpret Black Butler as action scene after action scene, with mystery after mystery with the only connective tissue being the mystery of who burned down the mansion - is missing the trees for the forest.

That’s not the point.

And if you’re too much of a prude to engage with gothic horror in its gothic horror game, I see little point as to why you even bother to engage with it at all.

A lot of people, including the person who create the video, simply refuse to acknowledge Black Butler IS the story of Sebastian and Ciel as a close and positive relationship, romantically and sexually charged. The reason for it being that they’re “put off” by it.

Part of me wonders how much that is genuinely true, and how much is just performative outrage. It’s like ignoring the fact that Cersei and Jami are in an incestous relationship and try to frame it as “platonic love”, because the idea of it is THAT off putting.

But regardless of that, if you don’t like the fact that it’s as canon as canon can get, I would reccomend you don’t engage with the story at all.

As I’ve explained, the entirety of the series is about them. If you refuse to see Sebastian and Ciel as, at the very least, a duo that cares deeply for the other - you aren’t reading Black Butler.

I have no idea what you’re reading.Perhaps your own biases and subconscious stigma with British aesthetic. At that point, watch the fucking British Royalty Gossip Magazine. You’d find more substance there.

Just don’t be like the person in the video, please? Don’t play dumb. Don’t ignore the fact that Yana is a Shotacon, don’t ignore the fact Sebastian is a hero, don’t ignore the fact that the entirety of the story is based on Sebastian and Ciel’s dynamic.

Because if you do, you are ashamed. You are ashamed of what this story is about. You don’t wanna engage with the text, you want to engage with yourself. You wanna project into Ciel whatever traumas and experiences you have, for the sake a vanity project, where you come out as the morally superior.

You don’t wanna talk about Black Butler, you wanna talk about how good YOU are. How you “don’t sin” by watching it “without all the gross unholy stuff”.

Which is the exact opposite of what BB is about.

So, if you don’t want to, save us all the humiliation fetish and leave.

#Kuroshitsuji #black butler #sebaciel #essay #loli speaks

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holllandtrash · 9 months

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i forgot that you existed | lando norris (6 to 1)

part of the lover x 6 to 1 series | lando norris x leclerc! reader

it isn't love, it isn't hate it's just indifference

takes place 3 months after part 12 of 6 to 1 (immediately after london boy in the lover series tbh) vote for the next part here

I forgot that you existed takes place three months after lando and y/n started dating. I can’t make it fit into the real f1 2023 timeline so here we are, in our own delusional 2023 world.

The door to Charles’ flat swung open and your brother greeted you with a hug, despite having seen him not too long ago.

It was rare that he was home during his birthday, especially as the F1 calendar kept extending, but it worked out in his favour this year and on that Monday, October 16th, he had his friends and loved ones over for a quick celebration before everyone needed to hop on a plane for Texas tomorrow.

“Twenty-six,” you laughed, squeezing his arm, “You’re getting old.”

Charles opened his mouth to rebuttal but before he could say anything, a recognizable French accent could be heard behind him.

“Don’t say that. How do you think I feel?”

You glanced over his shoulder and saw Pierre pouring himself a drink, a humorous smirk on his face before he raised his eyebrows, his version of greeting you. You kept it together and didn’t roll your eyes at him, instead looking back at Charles.

“Really?” You asked, voice dropping to a whisper.

Charles shrugged, “He’s my best mate.”

“Who fucked your younger sister and then talked about it around the paddock like it was an accomplishment,” you harshly pointed out, knowing Charles hated to be reminded of that and also hated confrontation. “Pick better friends, maybe.”

You walked inside the flat, dropping the bottle of wine on the counter and purposely avoided Pierre’s watchful gaze. You wished Lando was with you, and you knew he’d be here soon, but you just felt better when you had his hand to hold and him to turn to to make comments under your breath.

Arthur called your name from behind you and you turned and said hi to him and his girlfriend, Carla, offering to pour them a glass of wine. Arthur declined, but Carla raised her empty glass and gave you a bright smile, politely asking for another.

You found a few glasses and opened up the bottle, all while ignoring Pierre who was still standing in the kitchen. You smiled as Joris was next to walk through the door, greeting him as well, but before you could join everyone in the living room, Pierre called you out for giving him the cold shoulder.

“What, no hello for me?” Pierre asked. His faint scoff and the narrowing of his eyes told you that he wasn’t kidding. He looked at you like he was truly offended that you had shown everyone else here attention and not him.

And you had kept your mouth shut around Pierre for a while now, months really. There was tension, but you were civil because weirdly enough, Charles was still his best friend. Charles as well, kept his mouth shut. All of you just silently agreed that if no one said anything, you could all move on.

But you could only bite your tongue for so long.

“I’m sorry,” the sarcasm dripped off your tongue. “I forgot that you existed, actually.” You eyed him over, practically challenging him to respond.

And obviously, he did.

“That’s unlikely,” he said, voice dripping with the same bitterness you had.

You missed the way Charles and Joris exchanged a worried glance, both of them knowing that you hadn’t actually talked to Pierre in months unless it was to exchange a casual ‘hi’ ‘bye’. Both of them also knew that you quickly grew to despise the French driver.

Even though you were never dating Pierre, the one night you spent together made your skin crawl when you really started to think about it. Him going around and telling other drivers about it after the fact was one thing that you still had issues with, because he didn’t seem to understand it from your perspective, but the real issue at hand was that you were 20 when you slept with Pierre while he was 27.

20. Barely old enough to make the right decisions, barely an adult, barely someone who should be trusted with a few bottles of wine and a man over seven years older than her.

Pierre knew you were inexperienced, young, easily manipulated at that age. He showed you the right amount of attention at that dinner and you were swept off your feet, not even thinking about how wrong this was on so many levels.

The age gap, the seven years between you, wasn’t what bothered you. You had friends who were happily in love with partners with an age gap like that and then some.

It was the fact that Pierre knew he could take advantage of the situation, make you think that he was what you wanted because he was older, smarter, he had known you for years, made you think he knew you.

You trusted him. At least, that night you did. You didn’t think anything bad would come from it, especially since you decided to keep it to yourselves. It wasn’t a mistake, you both agreed, it just shouldn’t happen again.

God how wrong you were, about it not being a mistake.

Of course it was. You slept with Pierre Gasly. The same Pierre Gasly who was known around the paddock for hooking up with new girls every race weekend, for leading women on and then leaving them high and dry only to brag about to whoever would listen.

Being sexually active wasn’t the problem, the way he acted was.

Like he was too good everyone here, like he could get anything he wanted if he just batted his eyelashes. Pierre was cocky, egotistic, arrogant. At one point you thought it was just self-confidence, an admirable trait. You knew now it wasn’t.

The door to the flat opened again and even though you were in a vengeful staredown with Pierre, you loosened up immensely as you heard Lando’s cheerful ‘Happy birthday Chuck’ greeting when he walked inside. He patted Charles on the back and started to make his way towards you, only to see that he was about to walk into the middle of something.

“I don’t want to get involved,” Lando whispered to Charles.

“I’m not getting involved,” Charles shook his head. “It’s my birthday.”

“She’s your sister.”

“And she’d break both of my legs if I tried to interrupt. You’re probably safer than me.”

Probably, being the key word.

Lando, reluctantly, approached your side, hand finding your waist. He glanced at Pierre, but Lando as well didn’t have much of a friendship with the French driver anymore either. Not condoning his actions nor the way he treated people. Pierre had a horrible attitude, but he just never saw it until you pointed it out.

“Let’s go on the balcony for a bit, yeah?” Lando suggested.

Lando draped his arm around your shoulder and you nodded, starting to turn with you under his arm.

He, for one, was happy you were taking the high road. He had seen you absolutely livid before and he thanked his lucky stars that it was never directed at him.

But Lando was ahead of himself. He trusted you to keep walking and move on, but he couldn’t say the same for Pierre.

“So that’s how it’s going to be now, huh?” Pierre asked, calling after you before you could slide open the patio doors.

You had just turned your back on him. Lando felt you tense beside him. Your shoulders tightened, body stiffening. He whispered for you to just keep walking, to just go outside, but as much as you wanted to take the high road, you were also not one to stand down.

You pivoted on your heels, ignoring the way Lando tried to grab your hand, one last attempt to stop you.

“This is exactly how it’s going to be,” you retorted, your tone had him and Lando flinching. Thank god there was a kitchen island between you, but the way you slapped your hands on the marble surface had Pierre stepping backwards anyway.

He raised his eyebrows, “Excuse me?”

“Did I stutter?” You eyed him up. “You’re a prick, Pierre. A conceited, self-centred, misogynistic fucking asshole who only goes after girls younger then you because any girl your age would be smart enough to know not give you more than two minutes of their time. I didn’t know better and I stupidly trusted you and then you ran your mouth around the paddock because apparently you think that since you’re not a good enough driver to score points you have to brag about your sexual achievements to feel like a fucking man.”

Silence.

Absolute silence.

From Charles, from Lando. From everyone in the living room who had assumed tonight was just going to be about having a casual hang to celebrate Charles’ birthday. Now the conversations had stopped, the stares were on you.

More importantly, though, Pierre’s lips were tightly pressed together, unable to come up with a response to match that, to attack you the way you had him.

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” you grabbed one of the glasses of wine you had poured. “I would very much like to just celebrate Charles and go back to forgetting you fucking exist.”

You took a sip as you turned and stepped past Lando, heading towards the balcony like you had originally intended to.

Sliding the door open, you welcomed the autumn air and left the glass open a crack, knowing Lando would follow you out, he’d follow you anywhere. As you stared down at the scenic view of Monte Carlo, arms resting over the concrete barrier, you slowly started to hear the conversations pick back up again.

After another sip of the wine, it took everything in you not to look over your shoulder when you overheard the mixed voices of Charles, Lando and Pierre. If you had to assume, Lando was apologising for your outburst on Charles’ birthday while also pointing out that everything you said was in fact correct. When Pierre raised his voice, you didn’t catch what he said but you could hear the offended tone.

And then Charles was clear as day, “Mate you never actually apologised to her and meant it.”

Shortly after, the door slid open again and you turned to see Lando joining you. He closed the door this time, muting the voices inside completely. He didn’t stand next to you, instead behind you and wrapped his arm around your stomach, pulling you into his chest.

Lando kissed the side of your head, only to chuckle immediately after.

“You were a little harsh back there.”

“I meant every word.”

“I know you did.”

Lando swayed side to side, taking in a deep breath of contentment. It was peaceful out here, quiet. You knew when you went back inside you’d be forced to deal with Pierre and the words that were spoken and you wanted to avoid that for as long as possible.

“Do you hate him?” Lando asked you and part of you wanted to say yes but that just wasn’t true.

Hating someone was time consuming, it was tiring, it was draining and you just didn’t have the energy to put those type of angered feelings towards Pierre. He infuriated you beyond words when you saw him, especially knowing he didn’t care about what he had done, but you didn’t hate him.

“I’m indifferent,” you answered. “Really, it’s been lovely not talking to him at all these last few months. It’s like a breath of fresh air, not having in my life. He’s-” your words were cut with a sigh and Lando hugged you tighter. “He’s not a good person, and I think part of me has always known that. I’ve seen how he’s treated girls before, the little respect he’s given them but I just always brushed it off because he was Charles’ friend. I thought I needed him in my life too but I don’t.”

You turned in Lando’s grasp, putting the glass of wine on the edge of the balcony so you could rest your arms around his shoulders, your fingers connecting behind his neck.

You shrugged, “I’m just going to forget about him.”

“What if you see him in the paddock?”

“I’ll keep walking.”

“At family events like this?” Lando knew that he was still going to be around your personal life.

“I don’t need to talk to him,” the answer was simple.

Lando nodded, it was the sort of response he expected. “Do you think you’ll ever get back to a place where you are friends?”

Your lips curled upwards, “Maybe. If he ever grows up.”

At the same second, the door behind Lando slid open and you pulled apart out of respect for whoever was about to join you outside.

You thought maybe it would be Charles, or Arthur even.

You certainly didn’t expect Pierre.

He glanced at Lando, and then at you and then back at Lando, “Mind if I steal Y/N for a second?”

“Why don’t you ask me if you could have a few seconds of my time instead of looking at Lando for some sort of permission?” You shot back. Lando hid his snicker fairly well and reached down, rubbing your arm quickly for encouragement, or maybe it was a gentle reminder to at least try and be nice.

“I’ll refill this for you,” Lando’s excuse was a poor one as he reached for your wine glass that was still more full than not. He squeezed your hand before stepping past Pierre, but knowing better than to completely shut the sliding glass door all the way.

At least if you two started yelling at each other, someone needed to be able to hear it and put a stop to it.

“I’m not apologising for anything I said,” you told him before he could get the wrong idea.

“Not even for the way you spoke to me?” Pierre asked. This was not off to a good start.

“I don’t understand how everyone in this flat is younger than you, but outrageously more mature,” you scoffed. “I’m not apologising for anything. Especially not since you haven’t either.”

“I did,” he retorted. “In the paddock!”

“You didn’t mean it, you just hated that I snapped at you in front of other people and you felt obligated to react.”

Pierre’s jaw clenched, a telling sign that you were definitely right and he just didn’t want to admit it.

“I’m-”

“Save it,” you shook your head. “I don’t want anything from you now, let alone a few empty words. What you should do, Pierre, is a little self reflecting, maybe some growth. And come back to me when you know how to treat people with respect.”

You didn’t want him to get another word in, instead choosing to step by him to head back inside. You spotted Lando leaning against the kitchen island, chatting with Arthur and laughing about something. He caught your eye through the window, sending a wink in your direction as you slid the glass open fully.

He treated you with respect. He showered you with love and adoration. Lando cared so deeply for you, going out of his way time and time again to prove that to you.

You looked at Arthur, at Charles, you knew Enzo would be arriving soon and you also knew your brothers would do anything for you. Despite the bickering and sometimes screaming matches, they had your back.

You thought about your friends, the ones in Monaco, in Spain, from all around the world. They loved you, they would drop anything for you. They wouldn’t go around and talk about you behind your back, they wouldn’t use you.

And you loved all of them. Your family, your friends, Lando. You held your loved ones close and cherished any second you had with them. Your relationships were a huge part of your life, they always had been.

You no longer had one with Pierre. There was no connection anymore.

You turned back around, only to see that Pierre had now replaced your original spot and was leaning against the balcony, looking at the streets below. His back was turned to you, probably having assumed you walked back inside by now and you should have.

Instead you were thinking about how gone were the days where you would be cheering for his points, watching his races like his other friends would. You wouldn’t dare set foot on a trip with him ever again, the friendship was gone.

And you would have stuck around, had he just apologised and meant it. If he just owned up to being a complete prick, admitted that he was in the wrong for once. If he had done that, you would have still been his friend, you would be there for him instead of walking away and leaving him standing there alone right now.

Did he know that?

Did he know you wished it hadn't come to this?

Did he know now the mistake he had made, and was he hopefully going to learn from his actions?

You felt a hand wrap around your wrist as you were dragged back inside by Lando. He kissed your cheek, once and then once more before handing you the wine glass that wasn’t any more full now than when he had snagged it to refill it.

“All good?” Lando asked, unsure what even qualified as good at this point.

You nodded and Lando didn't quite believe you but he didn’t push. You said what you needed to. Hopefully, your point got across to Pierre, but he wasn’t your problem anymore. As far as you were concerned, Pierre Gasly no longer existed in your life.

vote for the next part here

#lando norris #lando norris au #lando norris instagram edit #lando norris social media au #lando norris fic #f1 requests #f1 #f1 fic #formula 1 #lando norris x y/n #lando norris x reader #lando norris x you #holllandtrash #6 to 1 series #6 to 1

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your-next-daydream · 2 years

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Wade Wilson x equally chaotic reader hcs 👀

AH MY FIRST ASK! Thanks for requesting bro!

Ok you didn't specify if you wanted platonic or romantic? Soooo imma do both😃

Reader has no specified gender

Platonic hcs

Oh? Do you want to leave the house without a warm Wade Wilson goodbye? No, you're going to get a hug that smells of cocaine and weed. Upon finally leaving, you hear, "Bye kiddo, make sure you get in trouble for Papa!" With an over exaggerated kiss blown your way.

"Hey kiddo, have you seen my katana...kid? Why is my katana in that guys stomach right now?" He said with a hand in his hip. "I don't know. I got bored, and he was conveniently placed there."

Chimichangas for breakfast and dinner. Lunch is a healthy dose of some sort of drugs or killing. There is no in between. Desert is rom-coms and tears don't forget to say hello to his unicorn.

You help blind Al around the house but for fucks sake quit making so many sex jokes around that poor lady.

please...clean Wade's suit... it smells horrible

"Hey Wade, want to go TP and throw eggs at the X mansion with me? Colossus pissed me off again." You muttered, grabbing some of Al's eggs promising you'd pay her back later. "Umm fuck yeah I want to! Just don't hit pinky pie or teenage angst they'll have my head...well they kinda can, I can just grow a new one!"

You joke about getting avocado lotion for him. "Hey, Deads, I got this avocado scented lotion for you. Maybe some pheromone shit will happen, and you won't look like a dumpster fire anymore." He whipped his head around, grabbing where his heart is and stumbling around,"wounded"

You cut Wade's arm off once just to give it to a bad guy asking, "Need a hand?" While Wade came up behind that person killing them.

he takes you to the bar with him, and you both get on Weasel's ever loving last nerve. I mean, he's both of y'all's arms dealer. Why not mess with him?

there was a fight Wade started in the bar, once where he broke his leg off and just started beating people with it.

Romantic hcs

What's personal space? He's always touching or hugging unless you specifically tell him not to.

you reassure him that he's still a handsome man. You lightly pick on him for being an old avocado, but that's about it.

he gives you his unicorn and whatever else of his you want before he leaves for a mission.

there was a time when you came with him and you both got captured. You're actually the one who figured out how to escape...he was just gonna cut himself up to fit through the bars.

sex jokes? Oh yeah, all the time. You can't stop this man he's hitting on you like you guys are at the bar, and he's trying to take you home. You shock him if you return the same energy.

makes sure you're asleep before he even thinks about going to bed himself.

you and him took a pole dance class so he could show off, and he wanted to see you move like that.

he had a funny idea to put his mask on you during a mission, and it was funny watching another version of himself walking around killing.

Do you know those hugs where you get picked up and are just held there for a while? Yeah, that's him, except his face is in your chest no matter what it looks like.

Colossus has walked in on you both making out and out of embarrassment. You attempted to cover it up and say, "You wanna join?" But Wade went along saying "Yeah big boy, wanna have some funnnn?" You hit him on the head.

Pizza and movie dates. It doesn't matter where y'all are you guys are going on a date if he can help it. He thinks it's cuter when you set things up.

Oh, someone hurt you? They never existed. He knows you can handle yourself he wanted to take care of it.

He'll buy you Deadpool themed merchandise ALL. THE. TIME. You like are running out of space for it at this point.

There's a hoodie with his logo on it and he's definitely fucked you in that hoodie before.

He probably would like running a knife or a gun down your sides. The gun is never loaded, but you don't know that.

knows he could get out of it, but he thinks it'd be fun if you tied him up.

Oh, I'm definitely thinking about his stamina and strength...

After y'all do have sex straight to the bathtub or shower to get cleaned off. He could care less, but he knows you want to be clean.

CUDDLE SPOONING KING

He'd like to be little spoon sometimes. Other than that, he likes laying between your legs with his arms around your waist to make sure you can't leave in the morning.

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bey0nd-1he-stars · 1 year

Text

Not right now - Five Hargreeves

Pairing: Five Hargreeves x reader

Word count: 1658

Warnings: crying

Summary: After Five returns back to his family after living in the apocalypse you ask him how he’s doing.

Five stood in front of you, putting the slices of bread for his sandwich on the table before blinking to get some marshmallows from a cupboard. Vanya, Allison stood on the left side of the wooden table, Diego and Luther on the other side while Klaus had opted for placing himself on top of said table. You were sitting on a chair beside Vanya, your gaze set on Five. His suit was way too big and it wasn't the usual academy uniform, but that was the only signs visible from his disappearance.

"Where did you go?" Diego asked, however he sounded pretty uninterested in the answer. But the question had to be asked, you all knew it. Five, who was getting some marshmallows, didn't miss a beat before he answered.

"The future," his spacial jump back to the table caused a pause in his answer, "it's shit, by the way."

"Called it!"

You rolled your eyes at Klaus but kept your gaze at Five. It was odd seeing him again, and it was even more odd that he hadn't changed a bit since last time. He was still in the same, young body, the same haircut, the same movements as he'd had then. He looked just the same. Just the same as the portrait above the mantel place. But he had another look in his eyes now. Before he'd disappeared, it'd been determination and a will to prove himself. Now it was something else. It was like a gray layer had placed itself upon his green eyes. Like someone who'd been through way more than they should.

Five gave a sight as he continued making his peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich, "I should have listened to the old man." He opened the refrigerator to retrieve some peanut butter, "you know, jumping through space is one thing," he threw the refrigerator door shut but it stayed open just a glimpse; he didn't acknowledge it though, "jumping through time is a toss of the dice." He paused and looked up at his siblings, his gaze sliding over all of you before landing on Klaus' attire for the occasion, "nice dress."

Klaus lit up, "oh, well, danke!"

Vanya cut him off at the last second and returned the attention to Five, "Wait, how did you get back?"

"In the end I had to project my conciseness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time."

Diego had his gaze locked on the floor, trying to process whatever the hell Five just had laid out on the table for them. He frowned slightly and shook his head, "that makes no sense."

"Well, it would if you were smarter," Five deadpanned and completely ignored Diego when he quickly stood up, taking offense in Five's answer. Luther quickly held out an arm to stop Diego from doing anything more drastic.

"How long were you there?" Luther still looked as confused as he'd done when they all first entered the kitchen. He'd just been standing there listening to what Five had been saying, trying to get the puzzle pieces to fit together.

"Forty five years. Give or take." Five's answer got both Diego and Luther to sit down, completely taken back by the answer. It clearly wasn't what they'd expected. Neither of you had expected it. And Five spoke so easily about it that it almost irritated you that he didn't take it more seriously. Instead he took it with a peanut butter - marshmallow sandwich and a shrug of his shoulders.

"So what are you saying? That you're fifty eight?" Luther's curiosity and his need to understand everything had started to kick in and you could see that it started to get on his nerves. He explained with his teeth bitten together that "my consciousness is 58. Apparently my body is now thirteen again."

"Wait, how does that even work?" Vanya questioned with a shake off her head. You'd given up on trying to understand how it all fit together. None of you were as smart as Five. You'd never been, and you'll never be. All of you had come to term with that. At least you had. Five had turned away from you when he answered, "Delores kept saying the equations were off," he took a bite out of his sandwich, "bet she's laughing now."

"Delores?" Vanya wondered out loud, but Five ignored her. Instead he looked down at the newspaper where Reginald Hargreaves were on the cover. Or at least the news about his funeral.

"Guess I missed the funeral."

"How'd you know about that?" Luther asked, eyebrows furrowed and a questioning look in his eyes.

"What part of the future do you no understand?" Five deadpanned and looked up at him. You shook your head slightly at the banter, it was just like old days. It was like everything was back to how it was seventeen years ago.

"Heart failure, huh?"

"Yeah- no," Luther quickly changed his mind.

Five clicked his tongue and voiced what you'd been thinking about just seconds before," nice to see nothing's changed." He dropped the newspaper on the table again and started walking away. When he almost made it to the exit, Allison spoke up. She'd been quiet the whole time but reality finally struck her.

"That's it? That's all you have to say?" she turned towards him, disappointed when he didn't slow down his determined steps.

"What else is there to say? The circle of life." His steps echoed until they faded away completely. The kitchen got quiet as everyone tried to grasp what had just happened. Allison was the first one to speak up again.

"Well that was.. interesting." Vanya and you nodded in agreement, meeting each other's gazes and silently asking each other what was happening with the world right now.

"I'll go talk to him," Luther decided and stood up to go search for Five. Your gaze snapped to him and you stepped out in front of him when he started making his way to the stairs.

"I'll do it, just, lay low for now," you said quietly. All of you knew that out of everyone you'd been the one with the best connection to Five through the years you'd spent together. Luther opened his mouth to argue with you but you just quietly shook your head at him, silently begging him to stay out of this for once. He raised his hands in surrender and sat back down at the table with the rest of the siblings. You gave him a nod and walked out of the kitchen and climbed the stairs to go search for Five.

You found him in his old childhood room. He had changed out of the oversized suit and was back in his old academy attire. The clothes fit him perfectly and it looked like he wasn't a day older than 13. On the bedside table was a prosthetic eyeball, but you decided it would be best not to question it. Five sat on the edge of the bed, arms resting on his knees and his face in his hands. Your light knocking on the half-open door made him look up. A look of distress covered his face and he pulled a hand through his hair.

"What do you want?" he asked quietly. His green eyes met yours and it was as if you could see the memories he'd made while being gone. It all played over and over again in head and looking into his eyes was like watching a movie roll.

"Are you alright?" your voice was soft and the care that it held made Five wince in his seat. He hadn't heard that in a long time it did something to his heart. He was home again, with his family. With you. He pulled at the tie, trying to make it easier to breathe. He shook his head at you.

"Please, leave me alone, I can’t… I can’t take it right now."

Your eyebrows furrowed.

"Take what?" you wondered out loud.

Five looked away from your gaze and loosened the tie. He frustratedly pulled a hand through his dark hair, getting it out of his face, only for it to fall back again. Tears had gathered in his eyes and he picked at his cuticles.

"Being asked if I'm okay."

You sighted softly and walked over the threshold, shutting the door close behind you. Five slid down from his bed and positioned himself on the floor, back resting against the bed and knees pulled up against his chest. Tears fell from his eyes now and he furiously wiped the away, looking away from you to avoid meeting your gaze. You sat down on the floor with him, resting a hand on his arm, your thumb softly stroking across the material of his jacket.

"Hey, Five," you said softly, trying to get him to look at you. Pulling a gentle hand though his hair and softly titling his chin up so you could see his eyes, he finally looked up at you. The care in your eyes and the gentleness you showed him had more tears falling down his cheeks but this time he didn't bother to wipe them away. He let them fall, the cold tears making his cheeks wet and then fell down on his shirt before getting soaked up in the material.

"It's okay, you'll be okay," you mumbled and wrapped your arms around him, gathering him in your embrace. He fell into your arms, letting himself relax in just a few moments before the world was due to end. He gasped for breath, his sharp inhales and shaky exhales were all that could be heard in the room. He clung onto you, holding you close to him as if you would disappear if he didn't hold you close enough.

"You're not alone anymore." That's when he lost it. Those four little words whispered to him against his dark hair was all that it took for him to just let all the walls fall in. He let himself get lost in your comfort and your closeness. The hard floor under you both was making your legs ache and the position was awkward, but Five didn't care. You were here, right beside him again and he would let himself enjoy that as much as he could. You pressed him into you, falling into him just as much as he fell into you. And it was enough for now. Even with his gasping breaths and desperate hold on you, it was enough for now, for this little moment. For these few minutes.

#the umbrella academy #the umbrella academy x reader #five hargreeves x reader #five hargreeves #five x reader #five hargreaves x you #five hargreaves fluff #five hargreaves x reader #the umbrella academy imagine #tua five #number five

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the-scooby-gang · 1 year

Text

Character assassination and delayed puberty: VelmaHBO mishandling of Fred Jones

As I write the "I watched Velma HBO so you don't have too" reviews for episode 1 and 2, I decided to post this thought process I had regarding Fred's mischaracterization and, specifically, about the choice of giving him delayed puberty.

In the show, Mindy Kaling's self insert (because that ain't Velma in this or in the next life) comes to the conclusion that Fred is such a "spoiled white privileged brat" that his body didn't see the point of growing up at all.

First of all: Fuck that

Second of all: Whose brilliant idea (we all know who, but lets pretend for a second here) was it to turn FRED JONES: cheerleader; net lover; circus enjoyer; himbo friend; golden retriever sunshine boy and "I love my friends and my van so much you guys" into THIS?!?!

Is it because he is white, blond and has blue eyes???? Because it would be easy to make him into a caricature of white supremacy???

Yes. That's exactly why they changed Fred. Because it was easy.

I will go deeper on this in the full review of episode 1 and 2 (god help me) but this whole show is written in the most lazy way possible with jokes that would have fit perfectly in a edgy early 2000s show, where characters become those straw men versions of liberals conservatives IMAGINE exist.

Where people of color complain all the time about white supremacy but don't go deeper into it, its just complaining for the sake of complaining;

Where they bring genuine arguments people make but with zero nuance or though behind them, instead the writers put what THEY imagine it is about and, 99.9% of the time, they attribute it to people being "tOo sEnSiTiVe" and " tRiGgErEd SnOwFlAkEs"

Where people blow things out of proportion and accuse people left and right of being fascists (when they call Fred "Hitler" the background character says "he looks like Hitler. And I'm not just saying that because we call anyone Hitler nowadays") completely disregarding the WHY people in real life are calling out fascist behavior when they see it. Hello rise of fascism happening on the world, how is the INVASION OF CAPITOL IN AMERICA and THE INVASION AND DEPREDATION OF THE PLANALTO IN BRAZIL going for you?!;

This show is Family Guy. I would say it's worse than Family Guy even.

Third of all: Delayed puberty is an Actual Thing That Happens To People. It's something that can happen at random or it can be a genetic disorder shared in the family. It can be a symptom of something way more serious or something benign.

Many people that suffer from delayed puberty suffer from low self esteem because they have to watch their friends grow and develop when the same thing's not happening to them. They may feel like they're never going to catch up.

People are bullied over this, people develop depression.

And now these people are the punch line of this mean spirited joke.

I can even envision a better show where Fred still has delayed puberty, but instead of being the butt of jokes where people keep commenting on the size of the penis of this HIGH SCHOOLER, they treat as the constitutional delay it is. Fred is a late bloomer. It may be caused by a pattern of growth and development in his family, it may be a chronic illnesses he has. Can you imagine Fred with something like asthma or diabetes?

Lets go with that, lets imagine a Fred with diabetes, who is not receiving a proper treatment for said diabetes (maybe because his parents subscribe to that style of parenting where they are more concerned about appearances than the well being of their kid. "No, he has no problem. He is a perfectly healthy Jones."

Or they are the kind that say shit like this: "He doesn't have blurry vision he is just a lazy student, that's an excuse," or "You would stop going so much to the bathroom to piss if you stoped drinking water all the time" or even "I told you to not stay awake all night on those weird net making websites, now you're tired in class. What kind of mother they must think I am..." "But I didn't stay up all night, I swear–" "Don't you lie to me Frederick") and as such the side effects and symptoms are left unchecked.

So the Fred Velma, and we the audience, are introduced too is the heir of this fortune... who can't stay standing because he is constantly tired, has completely given up on trying to apply himself on school because he can't see the fucking board his vision is so blurry, has passed out at least once in gym, drinks water like he lives in a dessert and is so self conscious about his body that even his girlfriend hasn't seen him shirtless even once. The swim team hasn't seen him shirtless even once, so there are these whiplash inducing photos in the year book where is a bunch of guys in speedos nest to this one dude in an early 20th century striped swimming suit.

In episode 1 itself Velma's vision of Fred can start biased, after all from a distance a person that doesn't know Fred personally can chalk his behavior to "rich dramatic boy that knows he doesn't need to put effort into learning since he already has a fortune guaranteed for him after all this, so he is just sleeping and vibing and being dramatic through high school" but as the episode progresses and she gets to know Fred, she notices that the image doesn't fit. Fred, who has such in depth knowledge about physics and mechanics, who clearly loves his girlfriend very much and feels bad about the murder of this girl he considered a friend. The image of "Rich guy that doesn't care" is not fitting.

I want it to be a Velma and Daphne epiphany. About Daphne talking about all these things Fred has told her or that she noticed about him to Velma as they look for clues and it hits Velma as a she connects all together. The tiredness, the pissing, the thirst, the blurry vision.

Daphne may have not seen it because she is too close but with Velma's outside perspective the pieces fall into place.

Now lets imagine that instead of cop lesbian moms, Daphne could have lesbian doctor/nurse moms. They take him to them and they give him what he desperately needed:

"No, dear. You're not lazy, or broken, or an attention seeker, or any other bullshit your parents called you. You have diabetes. Type 1 to be precise."

After Daphne and Velma hug a crying Fred until he has no more tears to give, the series progresses with Fred now treating his diabetes as one of its recurring plot lines.

I want Daphne to have extra insulin in her purse, I want Shaggy to help Fred with his new diet, I want Fred and Velma to go exercising together and have deep conversations about body image and how they deal with it (Fred with his delayed puberty, Velma with her extra weight)

"Mature" and "Adult" content doesn't need to be edgy sex-violence-and-drugs.

It can be simply a story of a high schooler having to deal with diabetes in a country were insulin is expensive as fuck, some parents are more willing to let their kids suffer than offer any kind of help or even admit that there may be a problem in the first place, of dealing with body image and things that are out of your control.

Just a thought.

This is a post by The-Scooby-Gang, thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

#scooby gang #scooby doo #hbo velma #fred jones #velma dinkley #daphne blake #shaggy rogers #velma by me #this also applies to my rewrite ideas for this show #i watched velma hbo so you dont have too #gih says #long post

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dutchdread · 1 month

Note

Have you read the rebirth Ultimania? If you did, was there something you considerd interesting?

Nope, as far as I know the rebirth Ultimania won't have an english release, or atleast not any time soon, so all I've read are unofficial translations, translations that paraphrase the meaning, and a few translations I've done myself to check if something was accurate. But that's only for small parts since Japanese isn't exactly my native tongue or anywhere close to it. If it turns out that there won't be an english version forthcoming I will probably buy a japanese version though since it would be good training. Problem is people aren't allowed to just post fully translated pages for the ultimania, they're pretty serious when it comes to copyright concerning that stuff. Nothing I've seen so far has really surprised me though, it's basically the same stuff Clotis have been saying all the time. The most interesting thing that has come out to me is that they were hesitant to add an affection mechanic to rebirth. This may seem like a pretty throw-away line but it's actually pretty meaningful. For one it really hammers in the idea that you're not supposed to see this story as a choose your own adventure, they want it to be a single coherent story. And if they were already hesitant to add it to this part, where I think it makes by far the most sense to have one in there, then it gives me hope that there won't be an affection mechanic in part 3. And lets be honest, who do you think has more to fear from there not being an affection mechanic? Us or the Cleriths? I think that in their hearts Cleriths are secretly begging for the existence of an affection mechanic, while Clotis are openly hoping that there won't be one, that really tells you everything. Something that has gotten a lot of attention are the quotes surrounding the dates, where Cleriths have been jumping for joy at the idea that the dates aren't canon, and trying to twist that in something good for Clerith. This has been both intriguing and hilarious to watch. For years Cleriths have rallied around the date in the OG, and prior to the ultimania releasing they've been desperately trying convince the world that the Clerith date is canon and the Tifa kiss is meaningless fan-service. And now that the Ultimania has confirmed they are all equal they're suddenly trying to use that to undermine anything to do with the date XD Meanwhile Clotis went "actually, I think none of them are probably canon, more informative 'what-ifs' that are meant to illustrate Clouds relationship with the different characters". And when the Ultimania said essentially exactly the same thing Cleriths actually took that as a good thing. It's amazing how they can twist anything to fit their narrative, or rather, to not totally disprove it. These people actually took a quote talking about how all dates are equal, and tried using it to prove the dates weren't equal. The most fun part of this entire debate is to watch how over the years it slowly changed from Cleriths trying to attack, to Cleriths desperately trying to defend and explain why "we're not quite dead yet, we might be able to still make a move." It's no longer "Clerith is canon, here is why", no, now its "well, no, the kiss is optional, you don't have to see it, he also held Aeriths hand you know!!!!" They've been checkmated a dozen times already and are now just illegally jumping their king around the board erratically, pretending that they haven't lost.

#ffvii #ffvii rebirth #cloti #ffvii remake #cloud strife #ff7 #shipping #ff7 rebirth

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apollosgiftofprophecy · 4 months

Note

i love thinking about apollos anatolian origins 😵‍💫

It stews in the back of my head too :3

There was this really good podcast on Spotify I found about Ancient Greece, and I listened to his Apollo episode first (because I honestly can't stomach the ones who paint him as 'terrible assaulter'/'epitome of the patriarchy'. Can't stand it. Seriously, there was this so-called 'feminist' mythology podcast i found and I Noped out of there as fast as I could - she didn't even mention Eros's involvement in the Daphne myth! She immediately went 'Apollo: the man who doesn't know the meaning of No' and I was like I'M OUTTA HERE.)

(It's very hard to find good Apollo content out there when you have educated yourself on what he's actually like :( )

(At least you immediately know those people didn't do their research shrug)

Thankfully, this one had a really good, really in-depth discussion about Apollo; his origins, his domains, his myths, ect!

COMPLETELY FREE OF BIAS TOO! HE JUST GIVES YOU THE FACTS, THE SYMBOLISM OF THE MYTHS, HOW THE CULTURE INFLUENCED THEM, ECT!

On my first (and only rn) listen I was like "damn i need to take notes on this sometime" that's how in-depth it is!

Here's the episode link if anybody is interested, btw!

What's cool is that he said that before Apollo came along, oracles and the like weren't as common in Greece - they existed, because Gaea was a thing - however, when he was imported in (possibly also with Leto! She has Anatolian origins too!), oracles became more of a thing as Apollo's popularity skyrocketed!

If you look at the number of Oracles Apollo had, you'd also notice that a lot of them are in Anatolia (Turkey today)!. Didyma, Miletus, Claros, ect ect! I think this just adds to the theory that Apollo's main origins come from Anatolia! When he moved to Greece, oracles came with him!

Which is so cool because in my drafts I currently have a picture of a webchart I made of Apollo's (many) domains, and I narrowed down the ones I think are his Big Ones - and Prophecy is one of them.

Very cool that Prophecy has always been part of him <3

Also, Apollo has many cities he is the patron of in Anatolia - Troy is obvious, but the island of Tenedos was his too (his son Tenes founded the city there), and he was the patron of Miletus (the city where he met Branchus btw for my Branchus fans out there)!

And going to Leto real quick, her migration from Anatolia religion to Greece's is probably represented in the Hymn to Apollo! Sometimes myths about wandering from place to place were meant to symbolize the importation of a god (Aphrodite floating ashore of Cythera, for example), and Leto...well, she was doing a lot more than the typical wandering in the hymn, but it still fits!

Some versions say she was guided to Delos by wolves from Hyperborea, others say Boreas helped her escape Python, still others claim a rooster was present when she finally was able to give birth and thus became her sacred animal (also she apparently gave birth to Apollo as a wolf? I don't quite remember which version says that but it's something I've heard XD).

Also Delos was very self-conscious about Apollo being born on it because it was afraid he would judge it for not being up to typical island standards XD

Moving to Apaliunas now! He's a Hittite god, but I haven't been able to find out of what :( The main piece of evidence we have of his relation with Apollo is Troy - Apaliunas was the god of Wilusa, who has been found out to be another name for Troy! There was a treaty signed between Wilusa and another city, and the representative of Wilusa's name was commonly translated to "Of Ilios" - and Ilios was another name for Illium, aka Troy.

(Fun fact: The son Apollo had with Ourea was named Ileus, after Troy! They are but a footnote in mythology but I made them Important in my Troy fic XD)

Plus, Apaliunas's name was connected to the Hittite reflex of Apeljōn, which scholars have theorized to be an early form of Apollo's name - remember Apollon? :D

Apollo also has connections to various other deities - the Italian Etruscan god Apulu (Aplu), the Celtic god Grannus, his Egyptian equivalent is Horus and his Phoenician one is Resheph! He's also been identified with Baldur from Norse mythology.

Apollo be wearing that trenchcoat, and he is wearing it well XD

#the oracle speaks #ramblings of an oracle #apollo #apollo deity #greek myths #greek history #greek myth #greek gods #greek mythology #ancient greece

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ganondoodle · 6 months

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so its part of a way longer post i made some days ago but i want to highlight this part of it:

"i cant stop thinking about the devs saying sth like "after botw zelda wondered if the kingdom of hyrule needed to keep existing the way it had been before the calamity, but then totk happens" bc it just feels like they realized too late that botw naturally led into questioning the status quo and they scrambled to fit it back into a flat and boring road we have seen so many times before (or even worse really) with totk zeldas character naturally leads into her questioning and reexamine their history and set of rules? we gotta teach her a lesson of why she is importante god given monarchy girl that has to keep it bc what if evil brown man shows up again for no reason maybe im grasping at straws here but looking at it this way the sonau .. make more "sense"; the shiekah were a group that was under the rule of the royal family, and misstreated before (oh no look soemthing interesting) so they dont lend themselves well to be used for teaching zelda that lesson- the sonau however are tailored really to be just that; they are a supposedly godly race from the literal sky that founded this version of hyrule, that had tech even more advanced and better than the shiekah, she gets put in the past to meet the perfect god king of goodness personally, also his very fridgy wifey that zelda later replaces in a way, shes put there and treated like family and then gets to see just how evil that evil big man from the desert is, sonia is falcon-punched to death solely so zelda can feel obligated to take over her role, have her new, better 'family' hurt by gan; similarly so raurus sacrifice, look what a noble and good king he is, he payed the ultimate price to lock that evil man away, now zelda you cannot let their sacrifice go to waste, rebuild that divinely good kingdom like it was!!"

bc it feels like i finally "cracked the code" of why the sonau feel both like a reskinned version of the shikeah .. while also not at all to me, so shoved into every single corner of the game and its history (not even the forgotten temple being safe from them sure is .... also something, like them being spread all over hyrule, not just the undergound, but the surface AND sky as well isnt weird enough, the shiekah at least were integrated into the world and by far not as idolized as the sonau)

seeing the sonau like this ""better"" and more """perfect"" version of the shiekah bc they are untainted by any possible complicated relationships with especially the royal family (the sonau ARE the prefect, idyllic royal family of the past after all) makes them make so much more "sense" to me, they are a bad mix of OOTs and botws structure, sure, but the way they were done in the game i cannot for the life of me see it as that being their sole problem

(also looking at how shiekah tech was downgraded to some side gimick of purah ... idk if they ever even call it shiekah at all anymore, and if "all sheikah tech just vanished" like the devs said then ... how does any of that still exist huh? it doesnt add up at all except if you see it as the sonau being the ""better"" version of the shiekah with none of the "problematic" parts or history or conenctions (which would be .. interesting) bc they are supposed to represent that idyllic past zelda should feel obligated to recreate now, to uphold that sweet status quo ..

sidenote: someone on the post i talked about his before said its also dumbo that there is supposedly no connection at all between the shiekah and sonau, and yes! that was something i ranted about while i was still playing the game back in may even (most of my later gameplay at some point devolves into a rant about how stupid it is that there is no connection and instead its all just ... gone) bc its just ... so dumb

its also how i chose to integrate the sonau better into the world in my totk rewrite stuff, that they were once there aand had high tech but its by now only crumbs left with nothing funtcioning anymore but you discover that at the time of the ancient shiekah finding it it was still researchable and they build their tech based on the sonau ruins even if the sonau stuff is nothing but dust anymore- which i find a super ... obvious way to give the sonau a better connection to the existing world, keep the shiekah, expand upon their mystery while also still keepign them as such-

.... anyway, there beign no connection at all somehow also fits even more into my theory of the sonau, again, being there solely to represent the idyllic, perfect past zelda needs to feel obligated to rebuild while the shiekah are nothign but a funney gimick of purah now while everything else "just vanished" somehow bc we dont wanna deal with the shiekahs imperfect past so they really should be just a a helpful helper of the rocals (and the yiga a side note as a little threat to be different from the usual monsters but thats all that there is :)))) -

this is getting too long again .. feel free to add your two cents on it and if seeign the sonau like this makes them make more 'sense' to you too

#ganondoodles talks #ganondoodles rants #zelda #totk #there was a super neat thing i wanted to write out but then got distracted and forgot #aynway #maybe im overthinking it #but given how the game and its story goes #.............. doesnt feel like im reaching tbh

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dont-justdont · 6 months

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here is a list of things that i so wish would happen in s2 of iwtv but im not really sure they will (im manisfesting it into being, sue me) :

- the europe trip before louis and claudia come to paris. i absolutely love that part of the book because in canon, louis and claudia do not know whether or not other vampires exist, and there's this desperation of are we alone in this world and can we go on knowing that? except in the show 1) claudia has already met killer so they know they're not alone so that desperation is not as palpable and 2) with everything that went down last episode and with rashid being armand i feel like it would drag things and not fit as well in the story to spend a whole episode before paris both for the viewers but in the perspective of story telling as a whole

- this does not happen in the books but just imagine : claudia and louis come into armand's rooms for the first time, louis is enamored with armand but claudia is looking around and armand has all these gothic horror looking things around including a pair of hands that kind of look like a statue but are also too gruesome and look too real to be made of rock and armand just says something along the lines of "you know how violinists can be" and changes the subject but i just want, no i need armand to have nicki's hands as a decoration somewhere i feel like he would definitely do that and it would just be a nice easter egg to put in the show (please mr producer please)

- lestat clutching claudia's dress in the theater after she dies and louis seeing him. THE DRAMA is just unbelievable and i absolutely love that scene, it's one of the things im mad they didnt include in the movie and i just hope with all my little heart they will include in the series. just imagine: feral louis who just got buried alive, armand in the back SATISFIED WITH HIMSELF (he is so manipulative i love him) and lestat just small and weak clutching a piece of claudia's dress while louis is both relieved but also terribly mad at lestat for being alive and just???? i love the entirety of this please make it come to life

- daniel fucking malloy requestioning the veracity of the entire story and just him being like was it raining louis?!? everytime louis speaks. i mean this is obviously going to happen but im so ready for it

- additionally, armand questioning daniel (cue devils minion? please pretty pretty please mr producer?) about the last years because i am convinced devils minion happened after the first interview but daniel doesnt remember/doesnt want to remember and i just NEED armand to torture him with that (not literally, or literally as well im not picky) and i need to see them together please

- lestat being seen through armand's perspective. now hear me out : sam has said multiple times that while he was playing lestat, he was playing him through louis' perspective of him, and he'd go like "nope that's not what happened" and bla bla bla. except now we get narrator!armand so im asking the question (and praying we get the answer) : what does lestat look like from armand's perspective? how does he act and how does that version of lestat contrast with louis'? DO THEY SEE THE CONTRADICTIONS BETWEEN THEMSELVES AND FREAK OUT ABOUT IT?!? (because i will) daniel you better call out their bullshit or i am coming for you

this is already a long post so ill leave this as is for now but i might (will) come back with more eventually, please tell me your hopes for s2 i cant wait!!!

#iwtv #interview with the vampire #iwtv s2 #louis de pointe du lac #armand #lestat de lioncourt #daniel molloy #it's brain rot season

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eonian-nightmare · 1 year

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Why I think the character Kayne from the Malevolent podcast is Nyarlathotep.

Okay, so obviously Malevolent follows lovecrafitan logic. So let's look into that Lore.

*Spoiler warning up to episode 31*

Malevolent is heavily inspired Lovecraftian lore. With a heavy focus on The King in Yellow, as well as minor influences from The Black Stone, The Dream Cycle and others, the supernatural of the world generally has roots in HP. Lovecraft's universe. So, when it comes to unknown characters such as Kayne, listeners can't help but dissect the entity in hopes of figuring out motives as well as possible plot progressions. Following this mindset, one can only hope but wonder what it might mean to draw comparisons to Nyarlathotep. Nyarlathotep (aka the Crawling Chaos) is one of the primary antagonist in the Lovecraftian universe. He doesn't really have a reason for his "villianry", apart from having an amoral perspective, a sadistic personality, and a desire to manipulate those around him, he generally just follows the will of his father, the blind god, Azathoth. However, in his spare time he is often seen manipulating and deceiving humans for personal pleasure, often choosing to toy with them or drive them insane. Although Kayne seems to fit this bill, being the epitome of toying with people and unhinged insanity let's talk specifics parallels.

Seven Million Voices & Two Heads

In episode twenty, in a joking maner, Kayne hands Arthur (the protagonist) a coin, and states the following: "Look, I often wish I had two voices in my head Instead of, like, seven million? But when all is said and done, you can always flip a coin. Two heads and all that." At first, this sentence may seem like just another deliriously random thought spewing from Kayne's mouth but upon further investigation, we can assume that this quote is some foreshadowing into future plot points or a Nyarlathotep reveal. It is important to note in art and imagery it is not uncommon for Nyarlathotep to be depicted with two heads. This displays interesting connotations because it implies that Kayne was acknowledging that his human form is not his true form, and instead a disguise which like Nyarlathotep he often wears. This is important knowledge as Nyarlathotep is the only "other god" (powerful lovecraftian beings) that can wear a human mask. Furthermore, Nyarlathotep is also able to create avatars/minions to follow him and he communicates with them telepathically. This would likely feed into Kayne's numerous voices in his head.

Travelling the Planes

Unlike most gods, both Kayne and Nyarlathotep alike are easily able to travel through dimensions/worlds/planes. Nyarlathotep often is depicted as being able to exist "beyond the archetypal infinity", existing across every and any plane at all times. Kayne follows this pattern as we see him both The King in Yellow's city, found within the dreamlands in episode twenty, and in the mines on earth in episode twenty-eight, despite it causing other gods like The King in Yellow to break apart and split.

Biblical Imagery

Its important to note that althought unintended, Nyarlathotep is often seen as a the twisted version of Jesus Christ, or even depicted as the devil. This is because as Sigmund Freud states, interpretation of the text belongs to the reader, and offers a psychoanalytical insight into ourselves by what we understand from it. So, existing in a predominantly Christian dominated world, it makes sense that critics and fans alike have made the comparisons.

Nyarlathotep is the son of the blind God; Azathoth, sent to be his messenger and do his bidding on Earth, similarly to how Jesus was sent to earth to do the biding of his father. It's quite easy to bounce the idea of Jesus and Nyarlathotep off one another, with Nyarlathotep being to destruction as Jesus is to being a saviour. Looking at Kayne, the same can be applied, we can acknowledge the destructive nature of his being but also compare the significance of his appearance. Walking around with bare feet and hands, drenched in blood that would not stop, could easily be seen as a direct parallel to Jesus' own injuries post crusifiction. Plus there's the fact that in response to John's "Jesus Fucking Christ" swear, Kayne responded with "Present and accounted for!", something that could have been just a delusional quip but in light of everything else seems suspicious.

But what about the devil? Surely a character of evil nature should be attributed to him and well yes, while Nyarlathotep is also depicted as the devil, its interesting to instead see Lucifer and Jesus as two sides of the same coin, or as Kayne earlier said; "two heads". I could dwell on philosophy, discussing the significance between cultural understanding and the tradgey in Lucifers tale, which depicts him more as a victim that a villian, but that tangent would take me far to much of track so instead I skip to the parallel with the devil. In the bible, Earth was called lucifer's domain. He had primary influence, and as such the heavans took drastic measures to ensure there were ways to combat it. They realised fighting on his turf was to strong, so god sent his only son to create a gateway out of his domain without the cost. This had to happen because Lucifer walked amongst the humans when others could not, he would whisper into their minds, corrupting them to sin and puppeteering them into madness. When it comes to lovecraftian lore, Nyarlathotep essentially did the same. He was known to have the most powerful influence over earth compared to all the other gods, he whispered into their minds and constantly drove humans insane. This is something that Kayne implicated he had the power to do. Kayne stated that compared to John/ The King in Yellow, He is more powerful, especially using mortal understanding. He was able to exist on earth because it was his domain and considering his relationship with sanity, it hardly seems unjustified to do this comparison.

Also its important to note, Lilith is refferenced as having a close relationship with Kayne and in Lovecraftian Lore. She is Nyarlathotep's daughter.

Faustian Comparisons

Apart from Lovecraft, Malevolent takes inspiration from many other sources such as Robert Frost, William Ernest Henley and most significantly Faustian folklore. With the podcast following a similar premise to the tale (man with a dead wife, drowned child, combats irredeemable guilt by making a deal with a demon), it makes sense that Kayne and Nyarlathotep would hold comparison to the main demonic being; Mephistopheles. All three entities maintain a chaotic, trickster based personality, inspired by their willingness to play and trick humans. Mephistopheles takes this further, using contracts and deals to delude. In the episode Coda, Kayne mirrors this by offering Arthur (Our Faust counterpart) a deal, allowing him to retrieve part of The King in Yellow for himself. As the deal-maker Kayne manipulates Arthur, pressuring him into a deal in which the fine print is hidden just as Mephistopheles does to Faust. So we can only presume Arthur will meet a similar demise at Kayne's hand as Faust met at Mephistopheles.

TLDR: All in all, if Kayne is supposed to Nyarlathotep, who is essentially the antithesis of Jesus Christ. I reckon we have an interesting story ahead of ourselves. Especially considering the Faustian inspiration practically guarantees tragedy

#nyarlathotep #lovecraftian #hp lovecraft #malevolent podcast #kayne malevolent #the king in yellow #religious #religious imagery #lucifer #comparison #mini essay #azathoth #Mephistopheles #harlan guthrie

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silverfoxstole · 10 months

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It’s done!

After ten days of work (and another three for a waistcoat I’m not that happy with; see below), the NotD coat is finished! Woohoo!

Overall, I’m really pleased with it, which is just as well as it’s taken so much time (and grief!). I worked out that if I’d paid myself minimum wage for all the hours I put in the labour alone would amount to about £500. One of my ex colleagues used to suggest I set up a dressmaking business and wouldn’t believe me when I told her it wouldn’t be cost effective as the amount of labour involved would make everything too expensive.

Anyway, I have taken quite a lot of photos, so you can see how it turned out:

This got long so I’ll stick the rest behind a cut.

I ended up adding some extra fabric to the tails, as they were sticking out at an angle and didn’t look right. It means an extra seam but it’s not that visible and I much prefer it this way, with more fullness at the back (and it properly covers my bum, which is very important!):

Though it looks fine on the dummy when I put it on I’m not convinced I didn’t raise the back waist seam a bit too far, but it’s sitting on my waist so… *shrugs* I don’t often look at myself from behind so it probably doesn’t matter that much.

After sewing on the two back buttons I changed my mind and went with the covered ones in the end, deciding on reflection that those I bought last week were a bit too pale. They would have fitted better if I’d made the binding more of a contrast (which I’m glad I didn’t as it would have been more obvious that it’s not exactly perfect in some places). I had to make the buttonholes manually as there was no way the automatic buttonhole foot wouldn’t get caught at some point. I haven’t sewn any that way since I first started out six years ago and was using my mother’s old machine! All the ones I’ve owned have had an automatic function so I had to practice a bit to remind myself how to do it. Thankfully they’ve turned out well.

I also solved the problem of the gap between the collar and lapel by stitching them together. It works a treat!

Though I’ve made a miniature version for Eight Bear, this is the first time I’ve tried to replicate an existing garment for myself (the Dark Eyes coat was an interpretation rather than a direct copy), and I am actually really proud that I’ve ended up with something that does look pretty much like the original, as well as Steven Ricks’s recreation, which has been a definite influence!

That said, while the coat has turned out well I’m not massively pleased with the waistcoat. I decided to make another one on a whim as I had a more accurate pattern and saw what looked like an ideal fabric but I don’t like it all that much now it’s done. It was hell to put together because the satin just started disintegrating and still is; I’ve had to sew up holes in both the pockets because the seams have just frayed straight through and I’d put them together before I thought of stabilising the edges with interfacing. It’s another men’s pattern and I should have made some adjustments but after doing so much to the coat I really couldn’t be bothered and just put it together as it was; I should really have added some length, which is ironic given the amount I had to remove from the coat, and perhaps levelled it off at the front. Consequently it’s not a great fit and sits really awkwardly on Stella as you can see, though that may have something to do with the fact that I put the buttonholes on the wrong side out of habit:

There is a watch on the end of the chain this time, because the pockets are real! I quite like the look of the waistcoat undone when I put it on, but done up not so much. There’s a lot of spare fabric in the front for some reason, which I tried to hide by smoothing it under the collar and then stitching the collar down. It hasn’t entirely worked, and it doesn’t help that the brocade is such a bouncy fabric and doesn’t press well.

Putting it all together I do think it looks better on Stella than me, but that’s probably because I rarely wear so many layers! I wish I had a better backdrop than the bedroom but it’ll have to do:

Maybe I could unbutton the waistcoat and untuck the shirt and be Eight having a casual day? I love the coat but I do feel much more comfortable wearing it over a t-shirt and jeans!

Now I just have to wait until some cooler weather to be able to put it into use. My only gripe is that there are no external pockets, either on the original or the pattern I used! Surely you’d think the Doctor would need pockets?

#sfs’s adventures in sewing #night of the doctor coat #doctor who #eighth doctor #8th doctor #costume making #sewing #dressmaking #frock coat #waistcoat #there’s a very good reason i never wear tops tucked in #i have next to no waist #definitely prefer it with jeans!

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freddy-and-friends-au · 2 months

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The band’s all here! (WIP)

I still haven’t finished their new endoskeletons yet, but I think I have their suits mostly down!

Feel free to ask any questions you may have in the inbox!

EXTRA INFO AND SCREENSHOTS UNDER THE CUT!!!

At first glance, these are obviously inspired by the traditional Chuck E. Cheese x Rockafire Explosion suits, designing them more like sports mascot costumes and having very little of the endoskeleton showing at all times (say for Foxy, of course). This was not only for more realistic world-building, but also to optimize animation, as we now have less moving parts that are actually showing, and therefore, less to render.

You might be wondering “if you wanted a more realistic approach to the suits, why not take a more realistic approach to the masks, like a more ShowBiz Pizza style?” And to that I say: everyone does that.

Okay, that isn’t entirely the reason. I like the idea of basing the designs more off of the canon models than something that already exists, because I like the idea of FazEnt having their own style of making animatronics. The ShowBiz style isn’t the only way to do animatronic masks, and these masks are how FazEnt would go about making them. Even when FazEnt does use the trademark ShowBiz rubber-face masks on the Junior models, they don’t do it the same way that ShowBiz does it.

Something interesting I want to do with Freddy & Friends is to set narrative moments apart from the moments meant to be passed off as real footage. The designs shown above are for the latter, meanwhile the narrative will use more artistically stylized suits textured to more so resemble a comic book, sort of like Into The Spider-Verse (except instead of going for a generalized comic book feel, the Freddy & Friends style is gonna be more reminiscent of the Batman: Year One comic). The designs will be more reminiscent of how I draw them on paper, as opposed to being faithful to the canon.

Here’s some extra info as to how I came up with the designs, as well as some extra renders and concept art!:

Original concept art from September 30, 2020.

Freddy was a little obvious to design, probably because everyone seems to design him like this when making more cartoonish versions of him. A more defined tuxedo complete with a collar and cuffs with a red stripe around his hat. It just seemed like the right direction to go in.

Bonnie was initially intended to wear a vest, though I was holding out for something else so that he could be differentiated from the evil rabbit (the evil rabbit wears a vest). I asked my friends what I could change it to, and one of them said “Try a cardigan”. Honestly, that fits Bonnie’s personality so much better, both in terms of spirit and cartoon.

You might also notice that Bonnie was supposed to have buck teeth, as well as more squared off teeth. That was originally part of his V1 model, but when I tried applying that to the new models, literally any way I tried to arrange it made Bonnie look like so much like an insufferable asshole that I wanted to punch him in the face. Ultimately, I ended up ditching the buck teeth and just gave him his classic teeth.

Chica was a little hard to do something unique with at first. I initially wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with her, but when I modeled her V1, her little chef’s hat was a last minute addition to her design. I’m also thinking about changing her bib into an apron, per the toon designs that Henry posted a while back.

Foxy was probably the most fun to design. Obviously, his final model has a lot of details inspired by the FNAF movie, but when I was designing him 4 years ago, I really just wanted to go crazy with his design. I wanted him to have a beard, I wanted him to have a peg leg (I really liked the idea of animating him with a limp). Unfortunately, I don’t know if I’ll keep the peg leg, because it might be a little too hard for Henry to animate with the tech that he has.

As a cheeky little reference to the roots of the FNAF fandom, I wanted Foxy’s hook to resemble the hook seen on the Splinks Foxy model. ;)

Endo01 - Version 4 WIP

I’ve done a few different versions of the endoskeleton. What I’m trying to do for this new one is to assemble him modularly, allowing me to make each component a recognizable component (they’re also actually modeled after real components).

I’m not gonna go into detail about the functionality of this guy, because I eventually plan to make a Freddy & Friends Instructional VHS series centered around being a mechanic for FazEnt. However, what I will say is that these designs are intended to have plausible functionality, especially using the technology of the 1980’s (which is not restricted to pneumatic technology, because making an animatronic walk with pneumatic actuators while maintaining the traditional complexity of animatronic endoskeletons is simply impossible).

EXTRAS:

The original Version 1 designs

My failed attempt at giving Bonnie buck teeth (I wanna punch him so bad…)

Fixed Foxy

???

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synergysilhouette · 2 months

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Rewriting some of the Winx Club villains (for fun)

I actually had a fun time with rewriting the Winx, and it seemed to have gotten positive reception! Thus, I thought I'd do rewrites for some of the Winx Club villains. Just like with my last post, this is NOT a "what would've made them better" post, but just my own interpretation of the characters based on the show (mainly the first 4 seasons as applicable) and some of the comics. And since I never did a post about recasting the villains (I only did so with the Winx and the Specialists), I'll include my dream voice cast here. Enjoy!

Ancestral Witches--In my rewrite, there's only one ancestral witch; I feel like it fits the primordial vibe more, but this is also because the witches don't have distinct personalities, and the Trix claim descent from all three of them, but this feels like they were moreso their reincarnations than their ancestors (though it could be both). This sole witch would be named Carabosse, named after the wicked fairy the Ancestral Witches are based on. She is created by Darkar as the first evil mortal (albeit with an extended lifespan due to magic, both hers and Darkar's), but she isn't his servant; she's his consort, and they exist as a twisted version of Hades and Persephone from Greek Mythology. Rather than having the same powers as the Trix, Carabosse has the ability of corruption, being the first mortal queen in the magical dimension (and ever, probably), and seen as doing her husband's dream of spreading evil throughout the world. The descendant of the holders of the dragon spark, Oritel, formed the Company of Light to defeat her, but they only managed in destroying her physical body, with her spirit still lingering. She is the first witch, as you may have guessed, and even in death, we are never truly rid of her, due to her divine marriage and long-forgotten magic that makes her influence permeate the most evil parts of the magic dimension.

I'd imagine she dressed in dark blue/black with orange-red gems and patterns, almost like she's made of lava. My ideal voice actor for her would be Colleen Wheeler, who did an AMAZING job of playing Mystique in "X-Men: Evolution."

The Trix--No need for introduction, the sisters of the Ice Kingdom are the most persistent villains in the series. In my rewrite, their realm wouldn't be known as the Ice Kingdom (since it kinda discards Darcy and Stormy, but Distorsione, Italian for distortion), said to be the base of Queen Carabosse. You'd think that being descended from her would offer the Trix some leverage, but the royal family has much closer ties to her while the Trix are distant relatives. The people there are reserved and standoffish, but not necessarily evil, though the Trix essentially ruin that perception and now it's a demonized location in the magical dimension. It's confirmed that the Trix are triplets and were abandoned by their family for the perceived threat they could pose in the future, and upon discovering this, they vowed to take over the magical dimension and retake what they believe to be their birthright. And it's worth noting that for most of the first season, no one knows who they are when they attack the winx; they have a "Superman" thing going on because of the makeup and clothes change; when in disguise, they dress similarly to their fairy disguises in issue #123 of the comic.

Icy has an on-and-off romance with Darko throughout the series (it's implied that they could've been something positive, but Icy is too focused on power and is willing to mistreat Darko, who, despite having his own issues, cared about Icy but is now mainly just courting her for potential power that he could wield as her consort). She also has a distaste for Bloom, given their powers are polar opposites, as well as the fact that Bloom was automatically revered for her potential while Icy was discarded for it. She also takes particular interest in tormenting Flora and Ariel (my rewritten version of Roxy), since I'd canonize the 4kids statement that she derives power from dead planets, and the fact that she doesn't really have any particular respect for animals and plants. I'd probably base her design on Taylor Swift, particularly during her "Reputation" era. I know the Trix weren't based on celebrities, but I thought it'd be a nice touch. I'd I'd like her to be voiced by Salli Saffioti, since I really liked her performance as Cleo de Nile on Gen 1 and 2 of "Monster High," albeit something a bit less regal. As usual, she wears shades of blue, though I like the idea that she keeps the lighter/brighter tones for her witch look that she does in her civilian clothes.

Darcy is the middle triplet, and is quite interesting due to her relationships with others. While Icy is somewhat conflicting with how she feels about others, sometimes abusing them and sometimes praising and adoring them, Darcy cares about others but believes that abusing them is the best way to show it (influenced by her abandonment and the fact that she's been lied to a lot by people who claimed to care about her growing up). She's attracted to danger and doesn't really understand the typical concepts of love and care, which Icy jokes is influenced by her power over darkness, which will prevent her from ever seeing the light. She often takes delight in torturing Stella with darkness and causing friction between Musa and Riven--she even tells Musa that they can share Riven; Darcy takes the evil half and Musa takes the good half, even going as far as to offer splitting them into two separate people, but Musa points out the unethical boundaries of that (duh) and how her love for Riven meant that she loved him in spite of his flaws and wanted to help him improve on his faults, but only if he recognized them as so. This perplexes Darcy, who has a similar corrupting power to Carabossa (albeit much less powerful) and she believes that she must change those who don't like her or think like her. I'd base her appearance on Olivia Rodrigo, and also have her voiced by Tasia Valenza, since I enjoyed her performance as Poison Ivy in the "Batman: Arkham" video game series, and I feel like her deeper voice captures Darcy well (4kids bias).

Stormy, being the baby triplet, is often left the hand-me-downs of her sisters and is the most mysterious, despite sharing her sisters' interest in chaos and power-seeking. Unlike the more composed Trix, Stormy is much more upfront and aggressive, not usually bothering with manipulation unless she thought it could stir up an immediate reaction. She doesn't really have a love interest, but she does note that if things fell apart for Stella and Brandon, she could pick up the pieces and "see which way the storm blows." I'd also see her as the Trix member who's most likely to choose physical violence (in contrast to Icy, who's most likely to rely on her magic), and feels like she has the most to prove, insecure and afraid that she and her sisters were discarded because of her (being the only one who's powers were apparent and uncontrollable from a young age). She also has it out for Aisha and Tecna, as storms know how to stoke an ocean's ire, and can cause blackouts. I'd base her appearance off of Tate Mcrae, with her voicework being done by Selah Victor, AKA Chloe Bourgeois from "Miraculous Ladybug."

Diaspro--Just to be clear, I'm keeping the "Sky and Brandon swapped identities" subplot, but this lie is revealed BEFORE Bloom and Sky get together. It's also revealed that both Sky and Diaspro are political pawns; they were childhood friends, and when it was revealed that Diaspro was a fairy of gemstones (what's with "the"? Can't there be more fairies like her?), she was betrothed to Sky under the belief that her wealth would enrich Erakylon. While Diaspro submitted to this--being from a poor family and "encouraged" by her relatives to accept the betrothal--she became cruel and callous due to the political games she had to play, as well as never wanting to go back to poverty. She had a crush on Sky, and the betrothal heightened this, but she failed to realize he didn't feel the same, as he became more withdrawn when the betrothal became official. Since he was doing his duty as a prince, he tried to submit to his family's wishes, but rebelled when he developed a crush on Bloom, as well as making friends with the Winx and the Specialists. Diaspro misinterprets this as his friends talking him out of marrying her, and she lashes out at them and tries to tear them apart. Sky is the only one who has sympathy for her at first, and eventually all his friends realize she was dealt a bad hand in life. Until it's revealed Bloom is a princess with the power of the dragon flame (she's originally just said to be a fire fairy to protect her), Sky and Diaspro go through with the illusion that they're engaged. When it breaks off, Diapsro's family has been compensated and rises to the noble ranks, but they still want more. Diapsro informs Sky of their plotting, and she pretends to continue to be villainous to her family and other villains, acting as a double agent for the Winx and the Specialists without turning anyone against her. For her design, I'd base her on Ariana Grande (for obvious reasons), and surprisingly have her voice by Ellen Wong; I think her sweetness as Knives Chau would be great for Diaspro's vulnerability, and it'd be fun to see her act stuck-up. I'd also give her an outfit reminiscent of blue labradorite (you'll recall with my rewrite of Bloom I'd give her a black base with colorful accents reminiscent of the cosmos).

Darkar--Much the same, the dark dragon that contrasts with the great dragon that created the world. I'd make him a bit more nuanced, with his nature being chaos rather than outright evil. In fact, to make him different from other Winx villains, I'll make him lawful evil--which is the Dungeons & Dragons way of saying he's a bad guy who follows the rules. These "rules" would essentially be the laws of nature, that light cannot exist without darkness and vice versa, but one can reign over the other. With his wife gone, he sees the Trix as his daughters/granddaughters (and they are his descendants) and attempts to teach them his ways--though they are puzzled by his lack of unecessary cruelty and restraint, as well as his respect for those who align with good. He reveals that his wife was not constrained by the rules that governed him, and that is likely why the Trix act they way they do. He's also known as the "shadow phoenix" because he'll always be reborn, and there will be an age of darkness once more, and Bloom's descendants (or another descendant who holds the dragon flame; Bloom's extended family is sizeable) will fall into their grasp. Plus Bloom's witch heritage makes her fall into his distortion, bringing out the duality of the dragon flame, both light and shadow. I'd love for him to have a larger-than-life deity appearance to him, and taking inspiration from X-Men's "Dark Phoenix" arc feels natural--thinking on it now, they may have already done that. For his great voice acting as Trigon, I'd love for Kevin Michael Richardson to play him--though Paul St. Peter is a close second.

Valtor--He's iconic as-is and the greatest Winx villain (partially because of how involved he is in every episode, in contrast to previous villains), I'd make a change to his origins; instead of an older being created from the dragon flame and raised by the Ancestral Witches, he's the biological son of Darkus and Carabossa. Similar to Diaspro, he was used as a pawn all his life, and is only slightly older than the Winx and Specialists. He essentially does everything the same in my book, but there is a sympathetic angle; he was designed to bring about the age of chaos Darkus foretold, and thus has been emotionally, psychologically, and physically abused by his caretakers (since his parents weren't physically around to raise him) until he became a beast of darkness. However, due to the fact that light cannot exist without darkness and vice versa, in a similar way to Bloom being made into Dark Bloom, Valtor is capable of love and light, albeit in a very standoffish, aloof way. Bloom recognizes his loneliness, and for a second it makes her reconsider wanting to be reunited with her own family, who she only knows through second-hand sources. With the power of the Winx, Bloom defeats Valtor, but instead of killing him, she uses her divine abilities to take some of the darkness in his heart and accept it into her own, giving him some of her light in return, knowing that he didn't choose to be who he became, though he's still imprisoned with the Trix in the Lightrock Monastery due to his crimes. It's implied for the rest of the series that he's an antihero, though he tries to be discreet due to the legacy he created. For his voice actor, I'd love for him to be voiced by Neil Newbon; the Astarion parallels are too delicious to ignore.

(NGL, Valtor is a great villain, but I did feel bad for the circumstances surrounding his creation, thus my sympathetic take.)

Tritannus--Due to his repetitive nature in season 5, I'd make Tritannus a supporting villain in season 3, helping to give more focus to Andros as well as keeping his goals streamlined. For a good deal of the season, the merpeople are curropted, with the pandemic eventually reaching King Neptune and Queen Ligea. Nereus also becomes infected, leaving Trittannus to rule the seas. However, when he welches on his promise to help Valtor take over the magical dimension, Valtor pollutes the ocean, transforming Trittanus into a monster. He then helps Valtor in order to regain his original form, as well as having a thing for Icy (who admires his evil tendencies, but his newfound appearance makes this a manipulative relationship only, as she sees a great deal to gain by becoming Queen of the Seas, this being one of her off periods with Darko). His family eventually defeats him, and he is banished to Oblivion, though both his siblings hope to release him from there with time, given his young age and their merciful natures, though Aisha remains skeptical.

I'd probably want him voiced by David Gallagher; I could totally hear RIku's voice when I see him.

Cassandra and Chimera--Amazing side villains, and pretty underrated winx villains overall, Cassandra is the new wife of King Radius and Chimera is her daughter, and both of them treat Stella cruelly and put a spell on Radius to make her resent her. I'd include them a bit more, and make Cassandra seem a bit kinder than she really is, with Chimera viciously tearing down Stella and Cassandra passive-aggressively trying to cheer her up, only to make her feel worse. I'd also make it less obvious that Radius is under a spell; since Stella argues with him frequently following the divorce and now with his surprise marriage, Stella believes that Radius thinks she's turned against him and wishes to take the throne by force, possibly with her mother. Radius IS under a spell, but it's easy for Stella to buy that after all their arguing, it's affected her father's perception of her, especially since his new wife and stepdaughter appear demure and submissive. They're still vain and spoiled, but they know how to curry the kingdom's favor in order to make themselves likeable, craftily working with Valtor to stain Stella's image as a selfish, entitled princess, and convince the nobles that her behavior could result in a coup that could destroy the sun kingdom, convincing them that Stella has become a puppet to Luna (and that Solaria itself could become a puppet state).

I'd base their appearences on Gwen Stefani and Jenna Ortega respectively, with Cassandra being voiced by Jennifer Hale (using a voice similar to her Bayonetta performance) and Chimera being voiced by Diane Guerroerro (since she has "evil Isabella Madrigal" written all over her).

Wizards of the Dark Circle--In my rewrite, they wouldn't be present villains (not that I've written the whole thing out, but that's my current headspace), but instead beings of legend, with their own unique backgrounds. Two of them are fairies, so I guess "Lords of the Dark Circle" would be a better title.

Ogron--Nicknamed the Stormy of the Wizards by the Winx and the Specialists, he's moody and quick to anger, but when he is in his element, he's calm and collected. As a child, he was a precocious wizard who surmised that fairies were the most powerful beings in the magical dimension (outside of the dragon creator), and realized that no matter how powerful he'd become, they'd always win, inspiring his quest to destroy all fairies on Earth, becoming so powerful that he became the Wizard of Negation, capable of stripping powerful creatures of their abilities (which varied by creature, of course). Despite his rage against fairies, he seems to have love and care for other beings, including his fellow wizards. He was eventually defeated by non-Earth fairies and sealed in a stone statue in Gardenia, and with his defeat, no more wizards were born on Earth. Similar to the Winx, I'd give the WOTDC celebrity inspirations, mainly celebrities who were (arguably) at their most famous decades ago, but are still widely respected now. For Ogron, I'd base him off of Johnny Depp and have him voiced by Mark Hamill (he gives me Ozai vibes, what can I say?) I'd also change the group's color scheme to be more individualistic, making his a mix of reds and oranges in a sophisticated, upper-class style rather than his punk aesthetic in the OG version.

Anagan--I'd make him the most "likeable" of the lords; he shows respect for others, flirts, and socializes, being known as the life of the party. He is known as the Wizard of Time, which allowed the wizards to stay ageless and find the Earth fairies (he joins this quest because he sees fairies as inferior to wizards, and not deserving of their power). It's implied that he can also time travel, and that the Winx may encounter him one day, or that they may already have. Due to his skill at seducing fairies, it's stated that he's sired many descendants, but due to Ogron's petrification, no magic came of his descendants, wizard or otherwise. While he escaped the fate of his contemporaries, it's said he's lived a lonely life without them, being known as the shoulder they could cry on and an expert secret-keeper who they consulted. His celebrity inspiration would be Usher, and I'd make his clothes trendy and have a stained glass style and multicolored, highlighting his colorful personality and friendliness (just not to fairies). Keith David would be a fun voice actor for him, in my opinion.

Gantlos--Originally a wizard of destruction, I'd rewrite him as the fairy of memory, and thus the one responsible for erasing Earth's recollection of magic ever being real. He also is the most protective of the group, throwing himself in danger to keep the others safe and being akin to the Pied Piper of Hamlin due to his mesmerizing flute playing. He was ignored as a male fairy within his family, lacking the ability to progress to different forms (likely because he was sheltered and thus could never overcome his insecurities or make a sacrifice), and took on a dark fairy transformation, giving him a new form, but locking him out of the forms other fairies have. Being raised by a rather strict, traditional family, he doesn't share compassion for animals, making Ariel detest him as she learns more about him. However, he does have affection for the elderly. When trying to wipe the entire world's mind of fairies, he became overwhelmed and it destroyed his mind (and failed, thus why we still have fairy tales), making him the second of the Lords to fall and thus buried in a magical crypt by Ogron and Anagan. I'd base his appearance on Leonardo DiCaprio, and have him voiced by Zahn McClarnon, since I enjoyed him as Olrox in "Castlevania: Nocturne." His fashion sense would be very similar to Dante from the "Devil May Cry" video game, albeit blue.

Duman--Also a fairy in my rewrite, he was a fairy of shifting (ie he could shapeshift). He often downed himself as a loser, not strong as other fairies and eventually fell in with the wrong crowd, making his way into the Wizards of the Dark Circle. He strives to be useful, and due to insecurity, almost never appears as himself unless he's with the other lords. Unlike the other lords, he acknowledges that what he's doing isn't really ethical, but is fine with being bad because he has community. He's quite lonely, and it's mentioned that if he never met the wizards, and thus the lords are like family to him. He has a tendency for gambling, and it's noted that after being tricked by a clever fairy, he was forced to give up his magic power. The lords erased his mind of them, deciding to spare him the pain, and he married a human woman and had a family, which they knew he always wanted. His legacy in the magical world was not forgotten, but the mortal world never knew of him. I'd want his appearance inspired by Brendon Urie, as well as being voiced by Noel Fisher (who I know as Toad in "X-Men: Evolution") would be perfect for this. I'd probably keep his punk aesthetic, though I love him wearing green.

Hope you like these takes. Lemme know what you think, and if you ahve any questions. Next post for this will be the specialists!

#winx #winx club #trix #valtor #darkar #diaspro #wizards of the dark circle

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antianakin · 4 months

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Do you think you’d like Mandos if they were more like Vikings? I think I heard from somewhere that’s what they were based off of. If they were anything like the TV show Vikings I would be behind them 100%. Imagine if they made Boba more like Ragnar instead of the Feloni version.

I can't quite tell if you're asking me if I'd like Mandalorians if they were written to be more like actual real life vikings or if they were writing more like the way the characters are written in the fictional TV show Vikings, but my answer is going to be similar either way. I don't know enough about either regular viking culture or the way the show Vikings chose to depict them to really be able to answer either way.

The thing I think you're remembering is that I believe it's been said that Lucas chose to bring in Mandalorians as a concept into TCW but changed them up to be more like "pacifist Vikings" (which is why they look the way they do in TCW) because he found that an intriguing concept despite how little it had to do with the way Mandalorians had been depicted in Legends up until then. And that concept mostly seems to come across as like "a group of people who were known for being very violent and doing a lot of pillaging and raiding and fighting in their past but it got to the point where they were so violent that they nearly destroyed themselves and their new leader has enforced a pacifist lifestyle in an effort to keep them from going completely extinct." I don't know that it necessarily took a lot from actual viking culture or traditions beyond that.

The reason I dislike the Mandos is more about the way they're written and the way fans tend to interpret them (especially in relation to the Jedi) than anything else. There's also the issue of like... the contradictions between Legends Mandos, Lucas's Mandos, and Disney/Favroni canon Mandos. People have tried REALLY REALLY HARD to fit in Legends Mando stuff with Lucas's canon Mandos, which leads to this idea that while Lucas shows Mandos as like... very black and white with Death Watch being the more traditional violent version and Satine being the modern pacifist version, there is actually some sort-of in-between that can exist. This is where you get the "True Mandalorians" and characters like Jaster and Jango and even newer characters like Din and, to some degree, Bo-Katan. There's this idea that you can be a violent person who works in something like bounty hunting and still be a good honorable person. Din is someone who does not CARE who he kills so long as he gets paid to do it when we first meet him (his whole catchphrase is "I can bring you in warm or I can bring you in cold" which tells his marks that he doesn't care if he has to kill them to get the job done), he's even initially fine with child trafficking being a part of his job description and BARELY ends up turning around to rescue Grogu after he's already been paid. And while I understand that this can make for some interesting character work and that a lot of people really enjoy the more morally ambiguous nature of this kind of character, these flaws and nastier choices often get brushed under the rug by their fans to try to portray them as better people than they are.

And of course, this often also ends up leading people to represent these characters, these "True Mandos" as the epitome of what a person should be. That these are people who truly understand honor and love and family, often as a direct contrast to the Jedi specifically. Even though these are people who hunt and kill others FOR A LIVING and are still choosing their leaders based on who can fight well enough to acquire one specific weapon. This is still a culture based primarily around violence, towards each other and towards the rest of the world. This doesn't mean these characters cant' be INTERESTING or ENJOYABLE, but too many people sit there and act like Mandos, especially "True" Mandos, are some sort-of mystical better than everyone else beings instead of the IMMENSELY flawed people that they are who would honestly be much better off if they were more like the Jedi.

This is one of the reasons I initially liked Sabine so much in Rebels, because we see how she has to learn a LOT of Jedi lessons about patience and mercy and sacrifice from Kanan that she's able to then apply to her Mandalorian heritage so that she can recognize which parts of their traditions are worth holding on to (the armor that's been passed down for generations and holds a lot of spiritual meaning regarding connections to their ancestors) and which are not (killing your enemies instead of showing mercy, being forced to be a leader just because she happens to be wielding this one specific weapon even though she's not ready or interested in the position). Notice that the things worth keeping about her culture are the things that are specifically NOT VIOLENT IN NATURE.

I think people also regularly overestimate how important and competent Mandos even are, True, New, or otherwise. We ROUTINELY see Mandos get their asses handed to them, by Jedi, by the Empire, by Rebels. There seems to be this pervasive idea that Mandos could change the course of the galaxy, that Mandos are the BEST fighters in the galaxy and if only they were around to help, they would be able to beat everyone else, and it just. Isn't true. They're good at BEING VIOLENT, sure, but this doesn't actually equate to being a better fighter than anyone else. They're so good at being violent that they keep just... exterminating their own people out of sheer stupidity to the point that they're not a real threat to ANYBODY. They destroy their own planet to the point that it's practically uninhabitable, they refuse to have a civil discussion with a group that is clearly outgunning them and then act surprised when this ends up with all of them fucking dead, they make themselves neutral in a galactic civil war and then act surprised when that means trade dries up, they lead two Sith lords and FOUR crime organizations onto their planet and then act surprised when they end up ousted out of their own leadership and instead accidentally end up with a Sith lord as a leader because he beheaded the Mando guy. Mandos IN GENERAL are just reckless, irresponsible, arrogant assholes, no matter which flavor they come in. They can't even help THEMSELVES let alone the rest of the galaxy.

And to some degree, I think that's part of the point of the Mandos in Lucas's canon, that they're just... total flops most of the time. They're an intentional foil to the Jedi in that they are a culture that RELIES on violence as a cornerstone of their behavior and worldview and never see peace as an option whereas the Jedi relies on peace always being an option and violence is just a last resort as a recognition that many other people don't share their desire for peace. The whole point of Mandos in Lucas's canon and even in Rebels to some degree is that their way of life is BAD and not one that SHOULD be preserved the way that it is. If the Mandos don't figure out how to change, they ARE going to just die out, not because anyone sees them as a threat and wants them eliminated, but because their own arrogance and stupidity is just inevitably going to cause their own end. The Mandos are a CAUTIONARY TALE more than anything else.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that that isn't true about the vikings in the Vikings show. You're clearly rooting for them, so I have to assume that you don't view these characters and the culture they're representing as a cautionary tale about what NOT to do or be like. And that's fine, that show is clearly doing something very different with its story and the themes and messages it's sending than Lucas was doing with Star Wars. And I think shows like The Mandalorian are trying to do something similar by making their sort-of violently morally ambiguous character and his culture something you root for rather than a cautionary tale. Which... fine, in the vacuum of the story we had within the first two seasons of the show, that worked out okay. But as it's expanded outward into the greater Star Wars saga, this has become more and more of an issue because the Mandos AREN'T characters you root for in regular Star Wars. They just aren't, especially the variety that Din and Bo-Katan tend to represent. They're usually villains or antagonists for the more genuinely heroic characters, there to either be an obstacle or to represent the consequence of selfish choices. But Filoni and Favreau are SO insistent on making the Mandos the heroes AND on making them like the Legends Mandos they grew up on that these messages are getting flattened and lost entirely.

So I guess my answer to this question is that no, I don't necessarily think that the Mandos would be more enjoyable if they were more like the vikings, either the real ones or the fictional ones, because they just straight up aren't the heroes of this story and their entire culture as per Lucas's canon, the one based around violence as a first answer to everything, is intended to be a cautionary tale rather than something we root for. I think that the Mando culture as we know it isn't something that can be glorified and romanticized and still feel like it remains within the themes of Star Wars.

#star wars #mandalorian critical #mando critical #mandalorian culture critical #mando culture critical

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anniflamma · 13 days

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so…I spent like hours thinking hard on this and I can’t believe I came up with this..mind you this is my own Crackhead theory so don’t take anything I say seriously but it goes.

me and my aunt were eating dinner and talking about mythology and I told her about a really Christian man coming up to me and saying “because you don’t believe in god and Jesus you will go to hell” and my Pegan but said “cool ima go pet a three headed dog” and then my aunt told me “well Christianity doesn’t really makes sense to me because where the hell did it come from because the first prominent religions were ones such as Greece and Roman beliefs”

and that got me thinking, so I decided to do some thinking.

and I got some connections so Chaos is like the lord right? The very first and most powerful, and he created the primordials, that created the titans and so on, and then Zeus came along and screwed everything up right? Then a few hundred years later Persephone or what mortals at the time called her Core, and after our lovely goddess of spring starting taking care of all of the mistakes, such as taking care of the rejected children of Zeus and others, so I was like who the hell is her dad because she has the power of nature from Demeter but where did she get her chaotic power from? Her father can’t be Zeus because she doesn’t have any power of the sky, and it can’t be Posiden because she has no power of any body of water..

then I remembered Demeter prayed and begged for a daughter..and the fates are directly tied to Chaos so Chaos gave Persephone to Demeter..CHAOS IS PERSEPHONE DAD!! It makes sense to me when I think about it really hard..

and I also realized because the oldest version of Persephone was so feared..but because of *cough* Christian writers a lot of those stories changed because of that. Sadly I don’t think a lot of people know that.

I DO NOT HATE THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION BUT YA’LL BE CONFUSING AS HELL, and also please understand THAT NOT ALL WITCHCRAFT IS BAD I SWEAR I HEAR THAT ALL THE TIME.

okay enough of my rant I hope that shines Al title light in my head.

That is an interesting take and connection! To be honest, syncretism and the evolution of religions and cultures are my biggest hyperfixations. Well, I grew up Christian and now hyperfixate on the Bible with a more historical and cultural perspective. So I'm not really as confused when it comes to the Christian religion. If you have any questions, just ask, and I will try my best to answer them!

The thing with European religion is that almost all of them stem from Proto-Indo-European mythology. And that includes the Abrahamic faith (which makes many people feel very uneasy). This is why the planet Venus is almost always female and the sun is male, and so on and so forth! Many people don't know that the Hebrew Bible starts off as henotheistic (believing that many gods exist but worshipping only one of them, while it is acceptable if other people worship other gods). Then it rapidly becomes monolatristic (acknowledging that many gods may exist but only worshipping one of them, and it is not acceptable if other people worship other gods) and then ends with being purely monotheistic. Of course, the Bible has been edited and changed to make it fit more with the monotheistic view, such as removing acknowledgments of the existence of other Canaanite gods. And removing the goddess Asherah, God/Yahweh's wife, and replacing her name with "the grove" or just the Holy Spirit. And the Christian faith did get syncretized with Roman/Greek pagan faith. There is no hell in the Bible, but there is an underworld! It's called Sheol, the "land of gloom and deep darkness." But there is no deep dive on what Sheol really is or how it was in the bible. It was just the underworld where all the dead people went. However, Sheol pretty much got paired up with Hades in the New Testament because both of them were the name of the underworld, so it just made sense, right? But the Greeks also had Tartarus, which is the place in Hades where you get tortured for eternity. And that is where the Christian hell pretty much stems from, it's just Tartarus but with Satan....

This is just a rough generalization, and the whole thing is more complex than what I have brought up here!

I don't think, though, that it was the Christians who changed Persephone. Kore (Persephone) was already really old before Christianity became even a thing. It's a really young religion compared to the Greek gods. 😅

But the concept of Christian saints was created in a way so it would be easier to convert pagans. Instead of removing the traditions, ceremonies, and celebrations, the god they worshipped was switched with a saint that could fit the description of that said deity. So Saint Sebastian is pretty much just the Christian version of Apollo. A twink God of archery, sports, healing, plagues, and gayness was replaced with the twink saint of archery, sports, healing, plagues, and accidental gay awakening. A COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT!! This is my crackhead theory!!!

And about witchcraft. Even the Bible thinks that not all witchcraft is bad. What I understand is there is good magic and bad magic. Necromancy is one of the bad ones. King Saul performed necromancy and brought Samuel's soul back, and that pissed Samuel off so much that he cursed Saul's whole family. But then we have good magic, like I dunno Jacob makes some weird unclear stuff with his sheep, and they become really healthy. I think the only thing Jesus said about witchcraft was like: "yeah, you can use your magic for good, and that is a good thing, but you don't need it if you already believe in my Father"!

There is a whole weird rabbit hole on Christian syncretization with the Greek gods....

Then we have the ancient history of where exactly God/Yahweh comes from. There is this popular theory that scholars think Yahweh most likely comes from the ancient Mesopotamian pantheon. And around the economic collapse during the Bronze Age, the worship of then Yahweh became isolated, which created the ancient Hebrews. Essentially, it started with an ancient warrior-storm god that became a god of the whole world. And I'm not even going to start with Gnosticism! What is like Christian Polytheism but with steroids!

I'm gonna stop here! Sorry I kinda derailed!

#I am not a historian or a professional! Just a nerd! If here is something I was wrong here please bring it up!#asks #syncretism #long ish post #rambling time!

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