#-made in the Capitol-

[pollinarys]

- All the colors seem artificial, the pinks too deep, the greens too bright, the yellows painful to the eyes, like the flat round disks of hard candy we can never afford to buy at the tiny sweet shop in District 12.

[befuddled-calico-whump]

thinking about a whumpee on a forced march through rough terrain

hands tied in front of them, on foot while their captors are mounted, sleeping out in the open, forced to beg for adequate food and water

maybe they're barefoot, a captured royal in silken robes

maybe they're in a torn suit or soldier's uniform

maybe they were stripped at the start, increasing the exposure to the elements, the humiliation

are they a terrified mess from the beginning, or do they try to endure with dignity? how long before they're stumbling, barely putting one foot in front of the other? how long before they fall?

[mur-art]

It’s my first Nevada Day living in Nevada; I had to draw *something* epic! (As if I don’t also draw Nevada for the other 360-odd days a year 😂)

I’ve had this idea for awhile but finally got around to it. Sunglasses reflecting the duality of the state: the darkest of skies and endless miles of remote desert wilderness…vs. Las Vegas, bright lights, crowds, the chaos of the city…

Nevada is the definition of:

Song lyrics are from this song:

The song itself doesn’t (literally) scream “Nevada” like some of their other songs so, but that part specifically really sums up the state to me:

And if I pave my streets with good times, will the mountain keep on giving?

This is actually a great summary of Nevada’s history (in this essay I will—): The mountain (mining industry) gives and takes, in an endless cycle of boom and bust. But “paving the streets with good times,” a.k.a. legalizing gambling, prostitution, etc, etc, ensures that the prosperity doesn’t end.

[world-of-ezraprisc]

Guys, hear me out

This might be crazy but...

President Mark Fischbach and Vice President Matthew Patrick.

/j

[fictionadventurer]

Yes, President Snow tried to make the people of Panem focus on Katniss and Peeta's love story to keep them from focusing on the rebellion. But that doesn't mean the love story doesn't matter. The irony at the heart of the Hunger Games trilogy is that the Capitol thought the love story was pointless, but it was actually the entire point all along.

President Snow tried to frame Katniss and Peeta's act of love--trying to die for each other--as something irrational. No sensible person would do anything so stupid and rebellious! They only did it because love puts you out of your right mind! Emotions make you irrational and unpredictable, a danger to yourself and others! Falling in love turns you into a fool--only following the rational ideas of the Capitol will keep you and your families safe from the irrational effects of love.

Unfortunately for him, the audience begins to see that the foolishness of love is wiser than the Capitol's wisdom. A society where emotions can flourish, where people can act selflessly, where children are cared for, enemies are honored (or at least treated as people), and other people are worth dying for, might require more trust, might require you to risk yourself, but it makes for a much more beautiful world than the rational oppression of life under the Capitol's rule.

Snow thought that a love story would prove to the people how important their society was. He thought it could distract from revolution, because he couldn't see the deeper truth.

In a society built upon the principle of kill-or-be-killed, love is the revolution.

[satisaranea]

so anyway when anyone holds the belief that the career kids were evil and were natural born killers you are equally dehumanizing them like the systems of training they were put in. you are adultifying children who were brainwashed and forced to learn the ways of slaughter for sake of glory. we could talk about their parallels to war also, but the main thing here are these are children taught that in order to appease their district they must kill ruthlessly and without second regard for anyone else in th equation. their win and their path of success only, even if in the end they're still cannon fodder like all other victors. like how many time does it have to be said that the careers are VICTIMS. not villains like they're portrayed as by the narrative.

[pumpkinrootbeer]

The majority of sejanus analysis I see falls into this trap of simply critizing characters for not being completely rational actors which happens a lot with media analysis. Think "they both could have fit on the door!" brand of almost cinema sins-esq story analysis.

Which I could get into how I absolutely hate that style of media critique because it so often boils to asking "why is this story happening at all!?"

"Why does gothel keep Rapunzel so close to her kingdom why not run away to a different country" because then this story wouldn't be happening at all, man. I don't know what to tell you.

But to keep this focused on Sejanus and how so much criticism is just "he's too irrational" I think miss completely miss the mark. Obviously I think there's a lot of misinterpretation of characters (their motivations, emotions, intent and so on) due to Coriolanus beings an incredibly unreliable narrator, and people tend to just skim over how young and vulnerable Sejanus is. (He is 17-18 and actively suicidal to say the least.)

But Sejanus isn't irrational, or well, he is, but no more than anyone else in the story. I often see "he should have changed the system from within" as a critique for his character, and sure you can absolutely think that. But the issue wasn't he wasn't thinking ahead or that he was just too emotional and irrational to see the merit in that. Thinking he couldn't understand the value of playing along fundamentally misses what asking to play the long con is asking Sejanus to do.

He would have to stomach going along with the games, staying silent, working in a city with slaves, and watching every year as children get massacred. Asking him to wait it out until he has enough power is asking him to not just stomach capitol cruelty but actively participate within it. Sejanus doesn't make choices out of just pure emotion but a sense of right and wrong. He is a character completely guided by his morals, and one that is constantly punished because of it. People say "He should have used his money to change things" He tried to, in the story, explicitly. And Coriolanus killed him for it.

Yes, using only his morals as a guiding light resulted in his death. Yes, if he played along he might have been able to change things for the better. But what it really comes down to is this, Sejanus refused to play the capitol's game, refused to let them make him something he's not. And he died for it. Kind of reminds you of another character in the franchise huh.

[lostlavenderer]

I too would love a Haymitch POV, but you know what POV I'd love to see in sunrise? Haymitch's mentor.

Allegedly, at least according to the Capitol, there's no previous victor of district 12, so I'm assuming the mentor must be Capitol-assigned. However, other districts like 1 and 2 will have had countless of winners after 49 games, in fact I'm guessing most districts will have victors as mentors. But not district twelve, not yet.

I wonder how it would feel, as a Capitol citizen, to be so excited to be assigned a mentor position, to dress up all flashy for it and to then sit in a room filled with anxious, deeply traumatized people watching what you consider the Eurovision of your youth as they quietly despise every second of it and watch in horror as you laugh and clap. It must be so strange, so isolating and uncanny, so unlike everything you've ever known to hear these victors' snide comments towards the gamemakers, their ungratefulness for what they've gotten from their own victories and their unfiltered hatred that hides behind the famous, glorious personas you know them as. Every second in the training center with your two tributes, in the moments shared with your fellow mentors as they gear up to talk to sponsors as if they're readying for battle, it all leaves small cracks in the worldview you've gotten so comfortable with for all your life.

Yeah, I truly wonder how that mentor must feel.

[moreespressoformydepresso]

What if the "weird" district names in the Hunger Games only sound like actual things because the Capitol mispronounces them? So "Mizzen" is a part of a ship, sure, but the name Mizzen is actually pronounced in a different way than the word mizzen. Maybe the i is more of an ai or ie sound and the e is more of an a sound. Coral could have emphasis on "ral" with a longer sounding a or the Cor sounds more like cure and stuff like that. Bobbin and Wovey could have emphasis at the end of their names with a vaguely French tilt to the pronunctiation, whereas Velvereen could be pronounced more like Velvyrean? Facet could be ay instead of a maybe? And the one that started this all: Treech, pronounced with a rolling r and an ey sound. There are so many possibilities and I'm having so much fun.

[lanadel-heyyy]

peeta mellark really the king of manifesting

[mostofthingsmostofthetime]

Hey, so I know it's been a long time, but I suddenly felt inspired to make some Annie Cresta Picrews. So here you go & I hope you like her as much as I do.

Pre games

Parade outfit

1st Interview

Training

Games

Victory interview

District 13

Post war

[aashiyancha]

Alice and Scarlett wedding skit finale

(Shockingly managed to get this done despite the insanity of boop day haha XD)

Here's the masterpost link for the rest. Oh and a03 link if you prefer that.

[districtone]

i have finally read that sotr summary and see that suzanne is going to go for the most straightforward perspective, i.e. following haymitch from reaping -> post victory. i am readjusting my expectations.

rip plutarch pov 2024 - 2024. you were fun

[meekmedea]

Asteria: Don't be ludicrous. Ludius, completely straight-faced: I'm not, I'm Ludius. Asteria, stunned: ...did he...did he just make a joke? Ludius actually smiling for once: heh.

[pagesofkenna]

As a reminder, Wednesday the 19th we're starting our preview of Skyjoust– our sports anime inspired jousting competition series– on the Campaign feed. It will be two months of weekly episodes! As we get ready for that, let's meet some of the teams! (via twitter) The Burning Tails The Barmwhich Perrymen The Frog Princes The Jolly Ganders

I don't think the Campaign pod has been promoting Skyjoust on Tumblr yet, so I'm going to do it for them (hope thats ok lol)

y'all have no idea how hype I am about giant bird joust sports anime podcast!!! First episode previewing on the Campaign: Skyjacks podcast feed on the 19th!!

[iliveinprocrasti-nationn]

on one hand, the met gala is an important fundraising event, and the money raised does go to the metropolitan museum of art’s costume institute. on the other hand, the met gala has become an show of wealth that feels completely divorced from reality, and it will probably continue going out of favour with the public unless it pivots to some sort of other format