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unsafepin · 3 years

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Optical Illusions: A Study of Aesthetics in Activism in Two Accounts

There’s been a particular thing bothering me about social media for a while. I should probably get a cool editing app, write it in a few bullet points and post it on Instagram. You know what I’m talking about, right? The goddamn infographics. If I have to sit through another slideshow explaining to me another military conflict, another societal issue, another existential unfairness on a baby pink background in a cheery font, I might combust. But the cognitive dissonance of aesthetics in activism has been a problem for a while, hasn’t it? So today, I want to examine the effect of focusing on aesthetics over content, or, on the flipside, not considering the optics of your activism enough, and what it does to the consumer of your content by picking apart two local activist-adjacent media projects, Tetraedras and Giljožinios.

Firstly, I want to make my own bias abundantly clear. I am personally acquainted with the teams of both projects, so obviously there will be innate personal bias involved. I highly encourage anyone reading to check both projects out themselves (@t3traedras and @giljozinios on Instagram, as well as Giljožinios’ YouTube channel) and make their own conclusions on the matter. I believe that while my familiarity breeds deeper knowledge of my subjects, it also makes me more vulnerable to assumptions about individuals involved. My insights come from the perspective of an observer, not an expert. Welcome to the circus.

The use of the word “optics” in a metaphorical political sense sprung up in the 1970s to describe the way major political decisions would not necessarily affect an average citizen, but how it would appear to them, e.g. 'U.S. President Barack Obama temporized for weeks, worrying about the optics of waging war in another Arab state after the Iraq fiasco' (Toronto Star, 19th March 2011). However, it’s become increasingly relevant in our age of social media, an age of perceptions over substance, of shortening attention spans and increased barrage of information one has to stomach daily. Social media is the great equalizer - a random person off the street can theoretically hold as much influence as a politician - thus it is becoming increasingly crucial for the average Joe posting on the countless apps owned by Facebook to be as familiar with PR terms as a firm with a six figure salary. Or at least that would be nice, seeing that more and more average Joes are becoming actively involved in politics and education, seeking to influence their newfound audience.

So, let’s see how successful average people with no media or politics degrees are at balancing their image. Both Tetraedras and Giljožinios lean into their 2010’s social media project optics: millennial pink themes, bold names, young teams. But that’s where the similarities end. Tetraedras’ brand is safety. The shades of color on the profile are calming, the illustrations are youthful and playful, their more serious posts are interspersed with more relaxing content (poetry, photoshoots, etc.). Giljožinios is confrontational. The colors electric, posts loud and to the point, they’re what it says on the box - a leftist project - and unapologetic about it. This might help to explain why audiences react as differently as they do to these two, on the surface, similar accounts. Because while you might’ve stumbled on Tetraedras organically while browsing, them having almost two thousand followers, Giljožinios crashed into the educational/political social media scene by being featured on the goddamn national news, that’s how controversial the project is. And obviously I am oversimplifying the issue, Tetraedras slowly built up to posting more opinionated content, while Giljožinios came in guns blazing accusing USA of imperialism, but you’ll have to let me explain. Tetraedras, in its essence, is a welcoming environment. They explain complicated problems in short bullet points with accompanying comforting visuals, their mascot is a inoffensive geometrical figure and their face is a beautiful girl, make-up matching the theme of the post. Giljožinios is named after a revolutionary device, their profile picture is a monarch being beheaded, their host quite infamously sat in front of Che Guevara memorabilia in their first and (as of writing) only video. It’s a lightning rod for angry comments by baby boomers, no matter what comes out of their mouth. In fact, I would argue that, if presented accordingly, the idea that the US is conducting a kind of modern imperialism is just a simple fact and personally can’t wait until Tetraedras posts that with a quirky illustration of Joe Biden to introduce the concept to the wider public.

This leads me to my next point, because despite what’s been previously suggested, I’m not here to solely sing Giljožinios’ praise. There is a cognitive dissonance in both of these flavors of social media activism, but while I can understand Tetraedras’ on a PR level, I’m kind of personally insulted by Giljožinios’. While purely personally I find aspects of Giljožinios’ radicalism distasteful, I appreciate the honesty in the youthful maximalism, of coming in strong and not backing down, but from the guys that made a communist Christmas tree once I almost expected something more stirring than “military industrial complex bad”. This leads me to ask: who is your content for? Your average breadtube-savvy twenty-something already heard this a thousand times, because they consume similar english-speaking content and I doubt any minds of the vatniks that came by to fume in the comment section are being changed. I’m obviously harking on a newborn project here, the team of which has already been bitten by authorities censoring their content, but so far there has been a lot of optical bark, but no substantial bite, especially considering the team seems to be in a safer place now. And the inverse is true for Tetraedras, while I can understand wanting to be visually interesting yet inoffensive, their visuals are sometimes laughably, morbidly light for the topics they discuss Sexily posing in Britney Spears-inspired outfits while discussing the horrors of her conservatorship springs to mind (funny how Britney’s conservatorship leads her to have next to none bodily autonomy, including her public costume choices). And, once again, your target audience is teenagers. They understand English, they’ve seen the news, they don’t need you to translate infographics filled with statistics and information that’s locally completely irrelevant. There needs to be some kind of middle ground between aesthetic cohesion and common sense, because this all signals to the viewer that the content is meant to be mindlessly consumed first and to educate second.

Which leads me to ponder what kind of consumption accounts like these encourage, which will surely lead me to an early grave as I drink away the existential dread of how social media rots all of our brains. Because yes, actually, producing funky visuals to convey an idea way too complicated for an Instagram post is fun. I myself got distracted multiple times during writing to make the first slide for my own post. Meta, I know. This is obviously more of a problem for Tetraedras, who seem to fervently resist injecting their content with a few more paragraphs and a tad more nuance, but even with Giljožinios choosing a more appropriate long-form format to educate, I still pray everyday they don’t get lost in the revolutionary reputation their group built up and forget to make a point, not just talking points.

Because what all this all inevitably leads to is misinforming the public. Again, this seems to be less of a problem for Giljožinios, as the amount of critical eyeballs they have on them leads to them being corrected on every incorrect numerical figure and grammatical mistake, I just hope all this harassment, once again, doesn’t get them all caught up in the optics of a revolution against all the Facebook boomers and forgetting to do their due diligence to the truth. As far as I know, the only factual mistake is miscalculating how much Lituania invests in NATO and there’s still a historical debate in their comment section about the existence of a CIA prison in Lithuania, if anyone’s concerned. Tetraedras, however, is safe. And safe content goes down just like a sugar-coated pill, you don’t even feel the need to fact-check it. And fact-checking is what it sorely requires, or else you’re left with implying that boxing causes men to become rapists and citing statistics of every country except the one in which, you know, me, the team and the absolute majority of their followers live in.

So what’s my goddamn point? Burn your phone and go live in the woods, always. But in the context of this essay, if you are a content creator that aims to educate, inform, incite, whatever, you need to put aesthetics on the backburner. And, more importantly, we as consumers need to stop tolerating content that puts being either pretty or inflammatory first instead of whatever message it’s trying to send, because the supply follows where the demand goes. Read books, watch long-form content made by experts, not teenagers on the internet chasing followers out of not even malicious intent, but almost a knee-jerk reaction. Because while the story of those two accounts cuts especially deep, expectations for local-, even friend-made content being much higher than that for some corporate accounts shooting their shot at activism, the problem is entrenched deep, thousands of accounts exhibiting the same problems racking up millions upon millions of followers. Having said that, my attention span is barely long enough to read the essays I write myself, so maybe do burn your phone and go live in the woods.

Also, pink is actually my brand so both of these accounts are being contacted by my lawyers and the rest of you don’t try any shit.

#unsafe pin

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dafukdidiwatch · 4 years

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U.S.S INDIANAPOLIS: MEN OF COURAGE

Nick Cage mixed with WW2 and sharks. What can possible go wrong?

Answer: Everything

Nick Cage has just an attraction to me. I have known him for so long since I was little, I can’t tell if he is a good actor or if it was nostalgia. All I know is if there is a Nick Cage film, it is going to have that Nick Cage charm. And BOY HOWDY, this movie has it.

Let’s go with backstory first.

This movie is based on the incredible and horrific events that happened to the U.S.S Indianapolis, a Naval Ship during World War 2. It was sent on a secret and dangerous mission to deliver parts for the construction of the Atomic Bomb. However, on their way back a Japanese Submarine sunk it with a torpedo, leaving the survivors stranded alone in the middle of the ocean for 4 days filled surrounded by sharks who would attack the dead, injured, and living. Out of the almost 12,000 sailors aboard, only 300 would survive, making this the worst naval tragedy in U.S. Navy history.

And they made this movie.

Not going to lie, I was stupidly judgy through this movie. I mean, I tried goddammit, to watch and enjoy it straight. But I couldn’t help it. I care about this history. I’m fasinated by this bit of history, the horror and pain the sailors when through. This is THE Greatest Shark Attack in history. I was judgy because I wanted this movie to respect the event and tragedy that had happened, to do the survivors justice. And they tried.

God did they tried.

The problem is that they didn’t do it well.

Let me start with the good things about this movie.

1) Nick Cage was pretty Good

He plays Captain Charles B. McVay of the Indianapolis. There is still a bit of hokiness that comes from Nick Cage being Nick Cage. One is him talking to himself while writing a letter to his wife in the weirdest way possible. Another is the fact that his sunglasses makes it look like his eyes are closer to his forehead. But he does the role well I think. He makes sure to show that Captain McVay cared for his men, put their safety ahead of his own, did everything he can to help. I thought he did a good job.

2) They were respectful in the representation of the Japanese Submarine Crew.

The movie could have just not even show the submarine until the ship sinks, but no, we actually get to see the crew. We see the Captain Hashimoto dealing with the struggles of fighting their side of the war. How he cares for his crew, and how they will lay down their lives for the fight. The ship was sunk by Kaiten Torpedoes, basically an underwater version of Kamakazi pilots. They were manned torpedoes, so you see the men loading themselves in to be launched. So while the main focus is on the Indianapolis, it is nice they tried to be empathetic to the Japanese crew as well.

3) The side-characters were interesting enough.

With a historical story like this, the best way is show the movie is to let the audience see all the possible people that were serving on the ship. You see two best friends fall in love with the same girl. Two guys who were enemies and in jail together. A guy with a gambling addiction. The lovable engineers that you see up above. The brand new green commander who is a bit of a dick. My favorite one is the writer sailor. He writes what he sees and tries to bolster people up with his stories. Like, there is a lot of characters so even if you don’t like one plot-line, there are others you can enjoy. They may act goofy/overly dramatic at times, but the actors did a good job for you to root for them.

With that out of the way, things I didn’t like.

A) The cgi was too basic and shit in places

I wish, I WISH I can find a better picture to show what I mean. When we were watching, even my sister were going back and forth on whether it was good or not. Everything that was cgi was just weirdly too smooth. Like really look at it. It looks more like graphics for a video game. Which, is passable. But you can’t have passable for a movie. This movie came out in 2016! We have the technology for a hell of a lot better images than template models. At that was the better cgi. Because when the cgi is bad, it is glaringly obvious bad.

B) The Editing Kills Me.

They have a weird sense of pacing in this movie. When you hit the middle part of the movie, it’s fine. Decent moments of the sailors goofing around, hving drmatic romance, fights, struggles. But there are some parts of the movie where someone in the editing room was like “Oh shit, the people watching this won’t understand. Quickly! Put out that exposition as fast as you can!!”

An Example: the first 3 minutes of the movie. Minute 1: BATTLE! Ok, good, see our historical men in action. Minute 2: We are in a war council room where the Indianapolis has been chosen for a secret mission. “You mean the atomic BOMB?!” -> Basically the line used. And this was BEFORE meeting ANY of our main cast. So it felt like the movie was putting more emphasis on the ship rather than the sailors.

It also didn’t help the movie Felt like it ended when the survivors were rescued, but didn’t Actually end for another 20-30 minutes longer. I appreciate them going in for historical accuracy of showing the actual aftermath to Captain McVay, but by that point I was so done and bored that I didn’t really care.

Plus they keep using the same periscope tracking shot 7 times! Seven! In the same scene. TWICE!! When the Japanese were firing in daytime, we see the same daylight periscope 7 times before launch. Then when they fired a torpedo at night, LET’S DO THE SAME THING since it went so well the first time.

B) The ship sinks titanic style, the fuck is that??

Not going to lie, while I am facinated by the Indianapolis, I do not know everything about what exactly happened. One of them was how the ship sank. But I am pretty sure the ship did not sink in the Exact Same Way as the Titanic. Where one side is lifted up, then got cracked in the middle, and so it was split into two parts. It was, it was bad. Because this tied in to the whole repeating shots thing, because I saw the same man holding onto a pole trying not to drop 5 different times. The Same Exact Scene. No difference. And I’m sure he fell in the exact same way as in the Titanic Movie shots.

(Note:The jail cell sailors during this part were very good, but I still have No Idea how the hell they got out. Let me know if you figured it out)

C) The Sharks were S H I T!

This is basically where the whole meat of the story should have taken place, nd it was AWFUL! Trash! They were stupidly inaccurate, trying to go for Jaws Chomp factor instead of being anywhere near historical. The sharks were all Great Whites, which wasn’t a thing. Because the sharks that historically attacked were Oceanic Whitetips.

But ok, you could get pass. The sharks look similar enough at first glance so it would be an honest mistake. Except that sailors were specifically talking bout “Great White Sharks” with colored pictures of great whites, (which think about that for a minute) so that was bullshit. in making the audience think Great White.

But ok, so what, who cares, the sharks still does it’s things right? Why should we care if they got the type wrong or not?

^Because of Shit like This!! This movie decided to try and shittily mimic Jaws and the Jaws ripoffs by having crappy cgi sharks launch itself out of no where to stupidly chops on the nearest sailors. God you could make a drinking game out of it. Take a shot for every shark you see. Which won’t kill you, because there were NOT ENOUGH SHARKS!!

^The sharks should have been like this. The sailors literally should have been like waist deep in sharks. There were a lot of fucking sharks. And yet! There weren’t any. The sharks only decided to freaking rocket launch themselves out of the water when it’s time for a jump scare, on any old person they can fine. And maybe the reason they decide to throw themselves to the nearest pound of flesh instead of going for the closest dead body is because

D ) THERE WERE BARELY ANY SURVIVORS!!!

Seriously! When the ship sank there were 800 sailors left in the water, We only see 60. TOTAL! Not even random background sailors. It was just Nick Cage’s group, then a separate group of 30 people, and random boats here and there. God how could they have fucked this up! I don’t know if it was just, not in the budged to hire more people or what, but you can still get somebody. Show the survivors dammit!

It pisses me off because this could have easily solved their shark problem. Because if there were more people, you can see the sharks eat/take the dead bodies. Then when there is a ton more sharks, see them go after the injured and dying. Like, having screams constantly while sharks pick people off left and right, even if it is just background characters, would build so much more tension than just “guys have a good laugh, talk, and support each other, send the shark for the jumpscare.”

I will give the movie this though: While I feel like the majority of the ending was unneeded, I do respect that they have little end-cards for what happened to the character’s historical counterparts, as well as come footage of some of the survivors describing the experience.

Overall: Don’t watch it. If you wanted to watch it for the actual historical event, watch something else. They made note of smaller historical facts while completely screwing up the actual main event with the sharks. You can find better documentaries Here, Here, Here, Here, and Here. The last one has a clip of the special that I I saw originally and while you do have to pay to see it (Here), it is very well done.

And If you want to watch a “so bad it’s good movie” then maybe it fits the bill, but I just honestly don’t think it’s worth it. The editing and pacing will give you whiplash. The CGI takes you out of the zone. Nick Cage tried his best, but not even his enjoyable presence could save the film. They make for a great movie to rag on, but having it be on an actual historic event like this just leaves a bad taste in my mouth

#dafukblog #dafuking films #uss indianapolis #uss indianapolis: men of courage #men of courage #shark #sharks #navy #week 4 movie

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annaswrites · 6 years

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Tag Game | Meet the Writer

I was tagged by the super @silverscreenwriter . Sorry it took me ages! I’m catching up on tags today. (And hopefully soon I’ll actually work on my book...I’m in a slump in all things.) Rules: answer the ten questions, ask ten questions, tag ten people.

1. Why did you start writing?

I’ve always written, actually. My mom is a published author (kind of a niche market, she’s LDS (aka Mormon). She writes LDS fiction, but also historical fiction that’s christian generally. In case anyone’s interested her name is Anita Stansfield. She’s also got some books published under the pseudonym, Elizabeth D. Micheals. <-- I did the cover art for the books under the pseudonym. Go to the Amazon if you’re interested. Anyway!) My mom was always (still is) writing, and I think I inherited the need to do so from her, though our styles and subject matter vary drastically. (I’m not a Mormon, for example! My books have made up gods etc.) I always had stories in my head and I remember writing even when I was VERY young. I took creative writing classes in school and have just kept on all through my whole life!

2. What do you use as inspiration for your stories (websites, music, photos, videos, places, etc)?

All of the above. I have two playlists on spotify for my overall series, and then playlists for individual characters or pairs. I use photos for face claims, and I do my own art of my characters. I have pinterest mood boards for them and for my worlds. And there are certain TV shows that inspire me even though they’re not the same thing? (I kind of feel like my set up is slightly unique.) But Firefly totally has a vibe to it that inspires me, so does Game of Thrones. (Yeah, I know... what? Those two shows are PRETTY DIFFERENT.) I’ve also gotten inspiration though from random places like Legend of Zelda, Pirates of the Caribbean, Doctor Who . . . they all get my creativity flowing! Also other fantasy novels. I love reading. Especially Branderson’s Work.

3. If your protagonist and antagonist each had a song, what would those songs be?

Well, I have 5 main protagonists... so you get them and my antagonist.

Protags: Roary: Arise by Flyleaf Jolene: Glory and Gore by Lorde Avalette: Suddenly by Superchick AND Castle by Halsey Ja’ek: Iron by Woodkid and Dragonborn (Skyrim Theme) by Jeremy Soule Selnam: Soldier by Fluerie Antags: Nazlanga: Castle by Halsey AND Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Lorde Cover)

4. Where is your favorite place to write?

In my room at my computer. All my stuff is together here and my room is kind of my safe haven. <3

5. What books and/or authors have influenced your writing style?

Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight Archive, Elantris), Mercedes Lackey, (lots of them), JK Rowling and a REALLY LONG LIST. I read a lot of different things by different people.

6. Is there any specific way you deal with self doubt or writer’s block?

I normally just shove through it. I learned to just keep typing as it were as I’ve gone through NaNoWriMo a few times. Lately though I’m in a bad slump in all things as I’m putting my horse to sleep next month and I don’t know when I’ll get back to writing. However, really, just keep typing. It might be garbage but I can work with garbage! Putting words on the page is hard, but I’ve gotten good at just doing it. I can fix it later! As for self doubt, I haven’t dealt with a lot of that over my writing. More with my artwork. And that’s a work in progress. I’m learning to turn my thinking around and counteract negative thoughts. THERAPY IS COOL! (seriously 10/10 would recommend.)

7. Out of everything you have written, what work is your favorite and why?

Well, that would be Solar Kingdoms, the main original thing I’m working on. Really the only original thing I’m working on. I wrote a lot of pirates fanfic before that and I liked them. I still RP Jack when writing with friends. But that’s different. Haha!

8. In your current WIP, is there a character you identify with more than the others?

Avalette, which actually makes her the most difficult to write. I feel her though, if you know what I mean?

9. What is the best writing advice you have ever been given? The worst?

Best: Write what you would want to write, write what makes you happy.

Worst: FOLLOW ALL THE RULES TO A T. (No. Some of them are shit, let’s face it. Rules are made to be broken. If you break them properly, then you’ll have gold.)

10. If your WIP became a movie, what actors do you see playing your main characters?

HAHAHAHA, oh man. Okay. This is hard. Because I have face claims for them but that doesn’t mean that they’d actually work as the proper person to act them. But I’ll try. Roary - I see Simon from Firefly, only blonde. It’s the way he talks in that show and the shape of his nose. It’s so Roary. (Can you say sassy sarcasm anyone. “My sister is incorporeal possessing a spaceship. We had a rough childhood.” and “Right, I’m sorry if she tipped anyone off to your carefully concealed herd of cattle...” Omg. So Roary.) He’s probably too old now though. But someone similar to him. Avalette - I have no idea. She’s vaguely Kate Winslet looking in my head but that’s not quite right. And Kate is too old by now. I need Kate Winslet and Kate Blanchet to have a baby that’s short and tiny. She’d have to be short and bloody brilliant. I need someone who has incredible control of their micro expressions and can exude power AND anxiousness like a pro. Possibly Emilia Clarke? Ja’ek - I need Charles Messure, Jason Momoa and Johnny Depp to have a baby. Realistically, Jason Momoa has the look I need. But Ja’ek is shorter and Jason would need some prosthetic on his nose to give it the weird shape Jack’s has. It’s important okay, his nose. I don’t know why. But it is.

Jolene - Jessica Chastain maybe? Although I’d like someone English to do it. She probably could pull it off though. <nods> Selnam - Someone similar to Omar Sharif. Only I’d like his skin a bit darker. Even though he’d be covered in burn scars. An actor of color for sure, Selnam’s world is kind of based on middle eastern stuff. Nazlanga - Probably Stephanie Beatriz. The character is from the same world Selnam is from and I think Stephanie would be PERFECT for her. She’s the villain, yeah, but she’s got serious depth and a pretty great story arch that’s all her own. I hope I can write her to do her justice. I think Stephanie could act her and do her justice!

And the 10 people I’m going to tag are: @teacups-and-tealeaves @stephrawlingwrites @karsawriter @dreamswithadashofspice @leapwriter @writebruh @ruinedambitions @incipientwrites @biblio-fiend @bethanywritesbooks

MY QUESTIONS: 1. What’s your favorite genre to write? 2. What are your top five favorite songs to write to? 3. Which if your characters is the most difficult for you to write and why? 4. What do you do when you have writers block? 5. Who is your most supportive ‘fan’? (Friend, teacher, parent etc?) and why? 6. What are your favorite types of scenes to write? 7. What Author(s) have most influenced you? 8. How do you plot your work? Or do you not? 9. If you have face claims for your main characters who are they? If not, describe them physically for me! 10. Which of your characters is most like you personality wise?

#tag game #writeblr #get to know the writer #have fun!

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jawblade-a-blog · 7 years

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REALLY LONG CHARACTER SURVEY. RULES. repost , don’t reblog ! tag 10 ! good luck ! TAGGED. by myself TAGGING. all y’all lovely people GIMME YOUR IN DEPTH CHARACTER HEADCANONS

BASICS.

FULL NAME : Takashi Shirogane ( 白銀隆 ) NICKNAME : Shiro AGE : 25 BIRTHDAY : October 21st ETHNIC GROUP : Japanese NATIONALITY : Japanese-American LANGUAGE / S : English, Japanese, bits of Altean and Galran SEXUAL ORIENTATION : asexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION : aromantic RELATIONSHIP STATUS : single HOME TOWN / AREA : Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Honshu, Japan CURRENT HOME : Castle of Lions PROFESSION : Black Paladin, leader of Team Voltron

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: deep black and cut short, the sides and back of his head shaved into an undercut. one long patch is left at the front, a forelock that hangs down over his forehead, reaching down just shy of his eyes. while this forelock used to be the same black as the rest of his hair, it’s now white, the colour lost under the severe stress he faced in Galra captivity. EYES : a dark grey in colour, sometimes looking from a distance to be a deep brown or black. long eyelashes. FACE : strong, sharp jawline, high cheekbones, long and straight nose, thick eyebrows. LIPS : average, perhaps leaning on the thin side – often quite dry or cracked. COMPLEXION : pale, but in a sickly, unnaturally caused kind of way, caused by complete lack of sunlight and possibly other events from his time in captivity. eyes often have dark circles beneath them. BLEMISHES : none SCARS : most notably, the lateral scar running across his nose, gained in a gladiator battle. the rest of his body is littered with scars, of all different varieties. large, jagged gashes, thin but deep lines, claw marks, sword slices, burns – just about anything you can think of. the placings are all very random, all clearly gained from battle, some overlapping. none of it is a pretty nor attractive sight, one of the many reasons he always has so much of his body covered. as well, there is a great deal of scarring on the bicep of his right arm, where skin meets the metal of his prosthetic. TATTOOS : none HEIGHT : 6′2″ WEIGHT : 182 lbs. BUILD : muscular and fit. chest and arms particularly toned, though his legs aren’t lacking in muscle mass. FEATURES : Galran cybernetic prosthetic arm. ALLERGIES : none, as far as he’s aware. USUAL HAIR STYLE : kind of just how he wakes up. the only hair he really has that can be styled is his forelock, which is generally left alone. USUAL FACE LOOK : clean-shaven. USUAL CLOTHING : not a lot of clothing variety in the middle of space. outside of his armour and his usual outfit though, he’d stick to long sleeves. lots of sweaters or shirts with long sleeves. his style always used to be very casual and comfortable.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR / S : loss of those he cares for. isolation. captivity. the possibility that he might not be a good person, that he’s every bit a monster that the Galra are with everything he’s done and is capable of doing. loss of control. panic attacks. flashbacks. ASPIRATION / S : defeat Zarkon and free those who have been under his control or enslaved by him. keep the other paladins as innocent as he can/they should be at their ages. keep the other paladins alive and get them all home safely. find and save matt and commander holt. work with keith to develop and show him his capabilities. POSITIVE TRAITS : loyal | supportive | patient | reliable | practical | observant | compassionate NEGATIVE TRAITS : represses feelings | paranoid | pessimistic | solemn | on occasion can let emotion direct him to reckless action | self-sacrificing MBTI : DEFENDER ( ISFJ-A ) ZODIAC : libra TEMPEREMENT : melancholic SOUL TYPE / S : leader, helper, caregiver ANIMALS : sable VICE HABIT / S : jaw clenching, finger tapping, biting the inside of his lip/cheek FAITH : none GHOSTS ? : doesn’t believe AFTERLIFE ? : doesn’t believe REINCARNATION ? : doesn’t believe ALIENS ? : i mean. he wishes they weren’t real sometimes. POLITICAL ALIGNMENT : vol…tron?? whatever being against zarkon is. EDUCATION LEVEL : high. graduated the Galaxy Garrison at the top of his class.

FAMILY.

FATHER : doesn’t really remember or know much about him MOTHER : deceased. SIBLINGS : Keith Kogane, adopted brother EXTENDED FAMILY : n/a. NAME MEANING / S : 隆 ( takashi ), meaning “noble, prosperous”; 白銀 ( shirogane ), meaning “silver” HISTORICAL CONNECTION ? : n/a.

FAVORITES.

BOOK : a brief history of time by stephen hawking MOVIE : n/a – he needs to pick a new one because all his old favourites are sci-fi and those are a lot less fun after you’ve lived it. 5 SONGS : n/a ( forgive me, i’ve not settled on his favourite music yet ) DEITY : n/a HOLIDAY : new years MONTH : september SEASON : autumn PLACE : his home – the one where he grew up and lived with his mom after moving from japan when he was very young. the home where he watched Keith grow up. WEATHER : cool, but not cold. sunny, but with clouds in the sky and the chance of rain. SOUND : wind blowing past leaves in the trees SCENT / S : rain, freshly dried laundry, mom’s tonkatsu TASTE / S : subtle flavours, most things fruity FEEL / S : anything that isn’t metal. soft, anything that screams ‘comfort’ ANIMAL / S : wolves NUMBER : 11 – his favourite time is 11:11 COLORS : he’s been rethinking these, since a lot of his favourites now remind him of not so pleasant things these days.

EXTRA.

TALENTS : leadership, knowing the right thing to say in most circumstances, combat – particularly hand to hand, picking up on and memorizing patterns, improvising, observation – particularly of people and their behaviours, ticks, etc. BAD AT : handling his own emotions, seeing his own value TURN ONS : n/a TURN OFFS : n/a HOBBIES : exercising, sparring, reading, distracting himself from his thoughts and anxieties, avoiding sleep, spending time with those he cares about, cuddling TROPES : Broken Ace, Awesome by Analysis, Team Dad, I Am a Monster, 100% Adoration Rating, Not So Above it All QUOTES : “ If you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great. ” “ Patience yields focus. ”

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1 : if you could write your character your way in their own movie , what would it be called , what style would it be filmed in , and what would it be about ? A1 : uhhh i mean, since he’s a very main character, i get quite a bit of what i want from canon ngl. buuuut i’d love some full backstory of his life prior to kerberos, plus everything that happened while the galra had him prisoner. Q2 : what would their soundtrack / score sound like ? A2 : oh god, idk. music with deep, heavy lyrics, but ultimately with optimistic messages? Q3 : why did you start writing this character ? A3 : okay so i’m a big red vs. blue fan, and i was seeing all kinds of people talking on tumblr about how shiro is so much like wash, who happens to be my favourite character and my biggest, oldest muse. finally caved and watch voltron, and… shiro ticks like, all of my boxes for a favourite character + character i can relate to on some levels. he’s complex, he’s broken, he struggles a lot internally but holds it together and helps others, he’s team dad, he’s self-sacrificing… i could go on, i really could. Q4 : what first attracted you to this character ? A4 : oh. uhm. see the answer above. i heard he was v much like wash except more chill and much less jaded, and also who could escape hearing him referred to as ‘space dad’. i’m weak for space/team dads. Q5 : describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse. A5 : holy shit nothing. i love him and his strengths and his flaws. Q6 : what do you have in common with your muse ? A6 : mm… we both believe more in others than ourselves, both v supportive of those we care about… there may be more??? but those stick out to me the most. Q7 : how does your muse feel about you ? A7 : “Please stop playing on my fears” basically Q8 : what characters does your muse have interesting interactions with ? A8 : everyone??? i love getting to explore the older brother/dad dynamic he has with the rest of the paladins, and how it differs between the four. also love the dynamic between enemies, particularly those who put him on edge, or worse. Q9 : what gives you inspiration to write your muse ? A9 : honestly i tend to wake up with inspiration bc he’s become my strongest muse, right up there with wash, buuuuut rewatching canon, having intense discussions about canon or AUs, and doing character analysis all give me an extra boost of inspiration, for sure. Q10 : how long did this take you to complete ? A10 : like half the fucking day, holy shit. granted, my focus is shit and it’s not the only thing i’ve been doing. multitasking.

#ᶤ ᵗʰᶤᶰᵏ ᶤ ˡᵒˢᵗ ᵐʸ ʰᵃˡᵒ ( about. )#ʷᵃᶰᵗᵉᵈ ᵗᵒ ᵇᵉ ᵃ ᵇᵉᵗᵗᵉʳ ᵇʳᵒᵗʰᵉʳ ᵇᵉᵗᵗᵉʳ ˢᵒᶰ ( headcanon. )

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