#A) very personal and with no other purpose than to translate a very specific emotion into a form which can be shared and reinterpreted

[femwizard]

Art and content are like Schrödingers rectangle & square

Both definitions can simultaneously encompass the other in its entirety, as well as include things that are explicitly outside the sphere of the other

I agree, fuck Spotify, but what is that second point trying to prove. Art is content. That’s what content means… it’s like saying people don’t watch youtube for videos they watch it for content… this is such a strange argument

[ikeoji-subs]

Zettai BL Ni Naru Sekai VS Zettai BL Ni Naritakunai Otoko 2024 - Episode 6 Eng Sub

VS SHOOTING and VS FALLING IN LOVE

It's the season 3 finale!

For downloading instructions and where to find the raw files, please check our masterpost.

[Subs link]

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This is the final episode of this season! We're both going to miss working on this project. When it comes to plans for the future, we're still figuring that part out, but rest assured that we'll keep everyone posted here if we have another project in the works. For the moment, we once again want to thank everyone who has spread the word or had a kind word for us in the tags and elsewhere.

Big big thanks to our pal @my-rose-tinted-glasses for letting us make use of her talents and helping our posts and translation notes look special.

translation notes:

about “acknowledge the way I feel” (20:27)

The first, more literal translation of this line, which Hatano says on the bridge, was, “Can you accept my feelings?” That line definitely gets something across, but I knew we’d be leaving it open to varied interpretations–some of them inaccurate–if we didn’t make it more specific. I might go a little overboard in the specificity department sometimes. I think it’s probably due to a combination of my ADHD-related quirks and having spent too much time picking apart variables as a researcher. Whatever the reason, this time I was kind of in overdrive because this line seemed pretty important. 

I asked Snow some questions about what “accept” meant in this instance. In English–and in the American cultural context I’m used to–there are lots of specific ways to talk about a situation like this one. Someone in Hatano’s position in the US would have a plethora of options for inquiring about Mob’s thoughts and emotions and/or making requests about how he might respond to their feelings. Is Hatano asking Mob to simply believe that he has these feelings about him? To let him show these feelings toward him openly, even if he only allows this passively, without offering anything in return? To receive them in a way that implies he returns them or that otherwise implies some degree of connection between them? And so on. 

I was expecting cultural differences to come up around this line, but they came up in a way I wasn’t expecting. Snow responded by telling me that there wasn’t a really specific meaning behind the Japanese wording of this line and that that was characteristic of the Japanese language around such things. I knew that I was more intense than the average American about wanting to pinpoint the meanings of things, but it would seem that the average American is more intense about it than the average Japanese person. 

That was a really interesting insight (one that I’m still thinking about), but it still left me with a conundrum when it came to this line. I could stick with “accept,” since it had a kind of vagueness to it (which was part of the reason I started trying to reword the line in the first place). But I thought “accepting” feelings sounded closer than I’d like to possibly reciprocating them, and I knew from my conversation with Snow that that shouldn’t be implied here. 

I started looking at thesaurus entries and going down different synonym paths. I wanted a word that, in its broadest sense, would be asking very little of the other person. I figured if the Japanese wording was open to being interpreted as either asking for very little or asking for more, then the English wording should be something that could at least be taken as not asking for much, because the implication that Hatano wants more than that from Mob is already clearly present. 

When I came across “acknowledge,” it fit the bill. At first, I just thought of its meaning on a smaller scale. It’s not much to ask of someone to simply acknowledge something, in most contexts. 

But after just a little bit of thought, I realized it also had a useful kind of vagueness. Acknowledgement can be as small as a barely perceptible nod, but it’s also used to talk about thanking someone, giving credit, commending or honoring someone, even giving someone a reward. In a romantic context, depending on the specific story, you could imagine “acknowledge” meaning anything from “yeah, I see you over there” all the way to someone’s devotion being rewarded in all the ways they’ve hoped for. 

Some of these uses are more of a stretch and would only work in just the right context. The default meaning of the word is clearly on the more modest side. But that works well, too. I took this request as coming from a pretty humble, unassuming place and I figured “acknowledge” was reflective of that. 

I ended up being really happy with this word choice. Hopefully, it’ll get the right idea across to folks who watch the show with our subtitles, even if they don’t read this translation note. But I hope that reading this gets it across even more effectively.–Towel

Tag list: @absolutebl @bengiyo @c1nto @come-back-serotonin @lurkingshan @my-rose-tinted-glasses @porridgefeast @sorry-bonebag @twig-tea @wen-kexing-apologist

[spiders-notagain]

How to tell if your vulcan buddy is into you

The first thing to establish is why your vulcan chose you in the first place. There are two main methods vulcans use to choose an intended mate. The first is obviously based on logical criteria. This is a process that evaluates personality, ethics, and life goals to estimate compatibility. Mental/psychic compatibility is also evaluated alongside other criteria but is often weighted more heavily, with psychic incompatibility being a huge dealbreaker. The other method is shon-ha'lok, loosely translating to love at first sight. This traditionally describes the state of being in romantic infatuation/obsession with someone but is often used by vulcans to describe one who chooses an illogical choice of mate. It is however possible to be in shon-ha'lok for someone who is also a logical choice of mate.

As with human courting, actions are functional, either being used to demonstrate worthiness as a potential partner or to fulfill internal desires. They can be sorted into the five love languages.

Gift Giving: Gifts have a long history of relevance in vulcan marriages. In historical times, gifts were often expensive and extravagant. This is not necessary in a post scarcity society so vulcans commonly give gifts that are thoughtful and personalized to the receiver. Vulcans very rarely give gifts in this manner to another vulcan who is not A. their intended or B. a family member because it may be seen as nosy. Gifts given may be functional (ex. a can opener), decorative (ex. an art piece), or just enriching to your life (ex. a tea flavor you just ran out of, a book you mentioned was hard to find again)

Quality Time: Spending time with another is a logical way to measure compatibility through conversation and psychic proximity. However, vulcans have a looser definition of how much quality time is needed before marriage than humans. Any time spent together that fulfills these criteria is counted as quality time including time spent together for work or social group purposes. Additionally, vulcans avoid complete isolation with their intended (they're trying to avoid the temptation to maul you) and will prefer instead partial isolation, such as public parks or restaurants.

Physical Touch: Hand-to-hand contact is not only a logical way to measure psychic compatibility but is also physically desirable. This may be expressed as subtle touches (ex. brushing hands when giving each other objects, resting your hands near theirs.. etc.) or deliberate (offering the ozh'esta, touching their arm to get their attention, pressing their shoulder to lead them along.. etc.) Physical contact is taboo in vulcan culture so touching someone unnecessarily is specifically notable.

Words of Affirmation: In general vulcans only say things that are true and do not exaggerate facts to flatter. Excessive praise is thus reserved for things that are truly extraordinary. However if excessive praise is given, it could possibly indicate a romantic bias. This includes praise that is a personal expression of emotion (ex. I like your eyes, I enjoyed your performance) Pet names and expressions of endearment are usually reserved for relationships that are more cemented but occasionally if a vulcan is really down bad for their intended, they may use them earlier.

Acts of Service: Caring for one's intended is a logical way to demonstrate capability as a logical mate. This includes an attentiveness to your needs that outpaces even human friendships (ex. providing food or snacks, fetch quests for you) In the courtship stages, vulcans will temper this desire, balancing it with public decorum. However, this may include actions that are nosy and intrusive by human standards (ex. organizing your cupboard, folding your laundry) By vulcan standards, inviting your intended to your home to hang out casually is an intimate milestone and indicates a deep commitment to the relationship, soon before a proposal. So touching their things is not especially more intimate than the mind meld you'll have soon if not already.

You may notice that many of these things are very typical for a normal human friendship and thus not particularly intimate. This is because vulcans are so ridiculously reserved that expressing the love languages at all is very notable.

There are of course, cases where vulcans may do these things not because they've chosen an intended, but because they've chosen to integrate with humans and reciprocate their actions of friendship. In this case, you can tell the difference because vulcans can't pine romantically for years. Not only is it illogical, but biology will inevitably force their hand in some way. If rejected they will either enforce distance and move on (abruptly ending all displays of affection whatsoever) or stubbornly attempt to change their intended's mind, increasing their displays and attempting to resolve any perceived obstructions (if it's another person this can lead to violence)

Vulcans technically have a sixth love language which is their mental contact but nothing substantial is done with this until bonding.

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

The new trilogy means we finally got official French translations of the fifth and sixth games (the fourth already had one) so I did my thing and played through them, since they're always a lot of fun. Here are some things about French Dual Destinies I thought you might like to know:

Yes, it's set in France as per usual. They are all French people who live in Paris. And yes, that means that in this universe there is a Japanese village themed around yokai within throwing distance of Paris.

Athena lived in America in this version, and therefore peppers her speech with English and Spanish. My favourite unhinged franglais line was "let's get au travail" which I will be using from now on because it's hilarious

Many characters got French pun names again. Simon's name is "Jack Lamenoire" -- Jack, because the French version of Simon Says uses the name Jack/Jacques, and "lame noire" means "black blade". (Also he's not British or anything in this version, he just speaks in somewhat old-timey French.)

He has multiple nicknames for the judge that are all slight variations of "Your Baldness". He doesn't do that "-dono" suffix thing but he does refer to Phoenix in particular as "Maître Wright".

...I don't like pointing out things I didn't like buuuuuut his voice is a huge downgrade. Actually, to be honest, I don't like the new French voices that much in general... idk man they just don't sound very enthusiastic...

Filch's name is "Arsène Loupet", reference to the famous fictional thief Arsène Lupin, which I thought was pretty cool! (Herlock Sholmes was also a reference to that series too btw!)

Athena and Apollo use informal pronouns for each other pretty much from the get-go, but there have been some changes from the previous games: Phoenix now uses the informal "tu" for Apollo (and Athena) whereas in the prev game he didn't, Pearl now uses "tu" for Phoenix as well, and Klavier uses "tu" for Apollo now (but Apollo still calls him the formal "vous" lmao)

SPEAKING OF... SPEAKING OF. The French localisation continues to utterly baffle me when it comes to Klavier (or Konrad as he's called in French). No listen, liSTEN. In the previous game he was specifically stated to be English and did his law exams in England and dropped English words into his speech (and this is still the case in the trilogy version, I checked). But now?? They seem to have gone back on it and in this game he says he's German again, like the in English translation??? But he's still dropping English words into his speech randomly????? Look I already went through the five stages of grief when I found out they'd english-ified him, I made my peace with it, and NOW they change it???????

God and his new French voice sucks too (his old one was actually good)... what have they done to you my poor boy, was making you English not bad enough T_T Oh and he and Athena didn't even get their little language club moment where they both start speaking in the same foreign language?? Like, that just straight-up didn't happen here and I had been waiting for it aauuugh it's cool it's fine it's cool i'm okay i'm--

True to Dual Destinies fashion, there are still typos. In an emotional moment, Apollo took a leave of asbence from the office. Not absence. Asbence.

I can't put my finger on it but Robin's coming out scene felt more... respectful in French? The English translation was done over a decade ago so it feels somewhat dated, maybe that's why... I obviously don't know if she was purposely written to be a trans girl but she very much comes across that way, and it feels like the French translators were aware of that interpretation and took it into account, idk maybe it's just me

THEY GOT RID OF MY FAVOURITE LINE. THE FORESHADOWEY ONE WHERE SIMON TELLS ATHENA THAT THE PERSON SHE WANTS TO SAVE MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD DOESN'T DESIRE HER DEFENCE, AND HE'S CLEARLY TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF. THE FRENCH MADE HIM SAY SOMETHING ELSE WAY LESS COOL. I don't wanna be like "FRENCH TURNABOUT ACADEMY IS DEAD TO ME" because most of it was awesome, but man these occasional things made me wanna flip tables

Cosmic Turnabout and Turnabout for Tomorrow were great in French though, so there's that. Clay's French name is "Pierre" which worked surprisingly well because it means stone or rock, and the moon rock was also called that, so like, the phantom had to kill Pierre in order to get the pierre... idk it worked and it was cool

Simon and Athena switch to using informal pronouns for each other very near the end of the game, in the scene where they work together to psychologically mess with the phantom. It's around the time when they start openly calling each other by first name since everyone knows now that they're old friends.

Phoenix and Edgeworth also occasionally refer to each other by first name in this game, which threw me off completely. (Reminder that Edgeworth's French name is "Benjamin Hunter". Just picture Phoenix standing in front of Edgeworth and calling him BENJAMIN. Now you understand how absolutely bizarre it felt.)

Here's the entirety of The Dissin' of Phoenix Wright in French

[eliyips]

HOW DO YOU MAKE X SO FRIENDSHAPED?!

But also genuinely curious about the design translation from the actual skins to your interpretations due to the small but mighty details added in

Infodump as hard as you want!

If i ever pass up an opportunity to talk about my X design, it will be because I am either dead, or dying!!! neither are true at time of posting, so here you go! I will be going over my ENTIRE design process for Xisuma, starting with my initial design:

My initial design for Xisuma wasn't anything special, in my opinion. Most of what I included was directly ripped from the classic Doomslayer. Though, the face scars were inherited from fanon, of course. :) The changes that I did make were in service of having things make more sense for Xisuma. Namely, the belt buckle, and the fabric covering the arms...

The belt buckle is simple - bullets didn't really make sense as a design motif, all considered - but the fabric is more complicated. I have a couple different ideas about why Xisuma wears the suit, but I haven't settled one way or the other on some of the specifics, so forgive me if I'm a bit vague. Ultimately, It is just my impression that X is not comfortable having his body visible more than it needs to be, whether that be for health-related reasons or for personal/emotional reasons. I don't intend to ever draw Xisuma with his helmet off, because of that. To me, it feels like a violation of boundaries. To be perfectly clear though, that's just for me - more power to other artists who draw him without the helmet/armor! :)

By the time I was full-on fixated on Xisuma, I realized I was unsatisfied with this first pass at his design. Mainly, in regards to the helmet. So I did more work on it!

I feel like my re-design process for the helmet is a good example of the importance of using reference. :) I did a lot of unsatisfactory sketches before pulling up pictures of real helmets, at which point I feel like I settled on something I was happy with very quickly.

Specifically, I referenced motocross helmets! My choice of reference was mostly driven by my passing interest in sports equipment design, though motocross helmets are similarly bulky and have the same distinct mouthpiece as X's helmet, so I think it was a good choice. I also feel like the pixels at the top of Xisuma's skin can be pretty easily read as the brim of a helmet, so it works out!

Other than the motocross helmet influence, I also made the choice to add tubing to the sides and back of the helmet. This rolls with my headcanons about the purpose of the helmet, connecting to air tanks on his back! I also think it helps to distinguish him from the doomslayer, in addition to the new helmet shape.

The only other changes I made were to the helmet's palette, added a few additional grey tones for contrast, and the positioning of his scars. I decided I wanted them to be a little off-center, leaning towards his left eye. I'm pretty inconsistent with how I draw the scars though, lol, so it changed again by the next time I drew him.

At this point my design is mostly settled for him, and I don't expect it to change very significantly any time soon. I don't have much else to say about it, but I listed the other iterative changes I made to the design above! I figure I will continue making small tweaks to his design every time I draw him :)

That said... I have yet to answer your initial question! So I will answer it now:

"HOW DO YOU MAKE X SO FRIENDSHAPED?!"

My answer is that it's (almost) all in the eyes!!! I have already talked pretty extensively about Xisuma's eyes. So I won't dwell for too long! In short, human facial recognition is very closely tied to the eyes. The ability to see the eyes of a character clearly affords you a lot of flexibility when it comes to making a design seem approachable, or "friend-shaped." I painted over a screenshot of doomguy to illustrate my point!

My drawings tend towards being a little cutesy, of course, so that helps :) but you can see that the bright, saturated color, big distinct eyes, and less harsh expression all contribute to making him seem like he is less of a threat, despite this literally just being the doomslayer.

Another thing that helps is, again, related to the style I draw in. My art is very "clean" looking, not gritty. I use a lot of soft shape language and don't texture things too heavily. With Xisuma specifically, I also make no effort to make him seem intimidating. I use very neutral angles when drawing him, I don't frame him in a way that makes him seem intimidating or imposing, I don't pose him too confidently or angrily. Because he's not that kind of guy! Though it would be an interesting challenge to try and make him look as intimidating as possible :) I certainly think he could be quite scary, if he wanted to be. Just a matter of what I'm trying to convey.

... I think that's all I have to say for now! Once again, blown away by all the nice things people have to say about my Xisuma design and my art. Everyone here has been so kind and encouraging, and I really appreciate that. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to yell about Xisuma! If you have follow up questions, by all means, I am ready to answer :)

[tellmegoodbye]

A not-so-brief analysis of Carlos and Gabriel's relationship and Carlos' decision to join the Texas Rangers.

We know Carlos is going to join the Rangers, and we also know that season 5 is going to dive into the emotional significance of this choice. This article touches on that, but I wanted to do a bit more of an in-depth analysis of this choice for Carlos and how it relates to his relationship with Gabriel.

Thank you @herefortarlos for reading this over for me and making sure my rambling was at least somewhat coherent!

First, let's take a look at how Carlos feels about other roles, and whether or not they would be something that he would want.

When Carlos was first offered the opportunity to take the detective's exam, he didn't immediately say no. In fact, his face lit up at the idea. It's something that caters to a specific ability that he has, and it's clearly something he considers before eventually deciding against it. Is it an easy decision? No. That much is obvious in the way he tells Grace that he's not a detective in 3x11.

Clearly, he wants to be the person who solves the cases. He wants to have more of an impact than simply just being there for someone's worst moments. He wants to do more to make these moments easier. He wants to find answers and provide closure, and doing so gives him the kind of purpose that he's been looking for. We can see that when he's praised by Detective Washington and Athena. We see that when he brings Katie back to her parents and when he helps Grace seek justice for Lexi.

Still, he turns down the idea of becoming a detective. He's nonchalant in his explanation to Detective Washington. He tells her it's because he wants to be in the moment, stopping problems before they start. And this is true! Carlos is someone who craves control. He would rather be the person who stops the abusive partner from hurting his girlfriend in 2x05, who saves the girl trapped in her food truck in 2x02, instead of the person who has to go inform the families of their deaths. He can't be a comforting presence in those scenarios.

Slowly, I think Carlos begins to see that he can make an impact in many different ways. That there's still value in picking up the pieces after damage has been done, because the lives of everyone involved do not stop after a trauma. Now, Carlos not only sees the value in this, but he also learns that he is someone who has a talent and a drive for it. He has a desire to make things right in any way that he can. However, as much as he clearly loves the idea of allowing himself to thrive in his career, to be the person who solves the case and brings peace and closure to people, he still can't get past the powerlessness he'll feel when he comes across a case that he can't solve, or a problem that he can't fix in time.

A lot of these reservations could definitely translate to the Rangers, but there's something deeper there than what he was able to express at the time. Something that made him have a very immediate, negative reaction, as opposed to remaining a patrol officer or becoming a detective.

Part of it is exactly what he expressed, but history is not the only factor at play here. It's not what sets this role apart from the others. Part of it is his freedom within his role, the ability to be proactive, instead of reactive, but another major factor that he's probably somewhat aware of, but just couldn't express in front of Gabriel, is that the main difference when it comes to the Rangers is that he would be working with his dad. I'm not positive of how the hierarchy works but even if he wasn't officially working under Gabriel, he would still be a hovering presence. Having Gabriel within his vicinity feels like a loss of freedom for Carlos in its own way.

It's not just about working with Gabriel either. It's about what Gabriel represents to Carlos. He trusts his judgement, this is evident in the way Carlos tries to calm TK down in 2x12. He knows Gabriel will do his due diligence and that he won't settle for the easy answers, which lied with Owen as a suspect at the time. Carlos knows his dad does his job well, but he doesn't see him as someone who actively strives towards something better. He saw mostly indifference throughout his childhood, and this significantly impacted his perception of Gabriel.

gif by me

We know a slightly different view of Gabriel from Andrea. She saw all of the parts of him that he tried to hide from the rest of the world. She's the one he shared his innermost feelings with. Andrea knows, and tells us, that Gabriel cared a lot about leaving things better off than they were when he got there. But that picture causes dissonance for Carlos when for most of his life, he knew the version of Gabriel who struggled with his coming out. Who wasn't able to take the steps to reassure him. Who never learned to have conversations about his feelings instead of shutting them down. In his job, Gabriel wanted to change the cycle, but at home, he couldn't. The cycle of repressed feelings continued through Carlos, and it left him with a lot of trauma.

Carlos has gotten to a point where he has confidence in himself. He feels comfortable standing on his own two feet and making tough decisions on the job, but when Gabriel is around, it's a different story. I doubt he would have been able to make the decisions he did in Bad Call if Gabriel had been there from the start. He knew he could trust his instincts, but when Gabriel came in to question him, Carlos began to question himself. All of that self-doubt that came with years of wanting to be good enough for his father came bubbling up to the surface.

Looking back on how much tension came from working with Gabriel then, Carlos doesn't want to go back there. He doesn't want to feel like that again when he and Gabriel have spent all this time mending their relationship. He doesn't want to comprise everything that he wants to be in favor of working under Gabriel's expectations.

Now, let's take a look at the complexities of Carlos and Gabriel's relationship. We know his role with the Rangers contributed significantly to how Carlos viewed the job as a whole, but this story isn't just about a job. Their careers are only a vehicle for them to better understand themselves and their relationship.

We know they started the reconciliation process after this episode, but it seems they only started to scratch the surface of all of the conversations that needed to be had between them. In 4x12 Carlos says he only just started a relationship with him, and has a clear desire to build on that. However, when we get to 4x17 the pain in his eyes reflects something that he hasn't yet received closure for.

This scene does so much more than introduce the idea of Carlos joining the Rangers. For the first time, we're not just seeing Gabriel through Carlos' eyes. We're not just seeing Carlos struggling with feeling inadequate in his father's eyes. We see two individuals who love each other, but who both harbor a lot of shame towards themselves. We see two people who are afraid they aren't good enough in each other's eyes. We can hear Gabriel's pain just as much as we hear Carlos' when he asks him how long he's been ashamed of him.

The shame Gabriel feels in himself isn't a product of his career, but of the mistakes he made as a father and the fear he still struggles to express. He can see how all of this has affected Carlos. We've seen, and will continue to see Carlos' journey with learning who Gabriel was as a person, outside of his role as his father. And in turn, Carlos will hopefully come to learn more about all of the feelings Gabriel had that he failed to express to him. Starting with his feelings towards Carlos' ability to do his job.

Clearly, Gabriel knows Carlos is competent. He's practically glowing when he offers Carlos the position with the Rangers, but has he always felt this way? Well, it's complicated.

Carlos says that he thinks Gabriel saw him as being too soft. There very well could be some truth here. As much as Gabriel and Andrea love their son, his coming out would not have completely changed their thinking overnight. It took time for them to rewire their brains, for Gabriel in particular to erase previously held ideas of masculinity and understand Carlos as a person. Having said that, this is again only one factor.

Gabriel looks at Carlos not with judgement, but with reflection. He sees much more of himself in Carlos than he would care to admit, and that's why the main thing he would have felt upon learning of his career choice would be fear. He's scared, and that's not an emotion he's comfortable outwardly expressing, so Carlos only sees the way he tries to rationalize his fear. He doesn't see what Gabriel sees when he looks at him, which is someone who is driven, passionate, and someone who will sacrifice himself for others. The last thing Gabriel wants is to watch Carlos repeat the mistakes he made and put himself at risk by being stubborn like him. To close himself off emotionally just like he did.

We see all of this come to a head in 4x04 when Gabriel is weirdly calm. He falls back on habits that are necessary for his survival, and for Carlos'. And we can see that he's obviously been mentally preparing himself for this moment ever since the day Carlos told him he was going to become a police officer.

Learning this about Gabriel will offer a lot of closure for Carlos, because when I see the frustration and anger on his face in 4x17, I see more than surface level reservations about this specific role. I see the kid who desperately wants to ask his father "Why now? Why are you proud of me now? Why did I have to wait so many years for you to have confidence and pride in me? Why are you asking me to come work with you when you didn't even believe I could do my job two years ago, when you didn't support me or defend me, when you never trusted that I had the ability to make the right decisions in the field? How do you expect me to work in an environment where my instincts and opinions aren't respected?"

And I wish Gabriel could have gotten the chance to answer these questions. To show him that his idea of what it means to do good is more in tune with Carlos' than he ever knew. To have a conversation about his own shortcomings and mistakes that he made as a father, to apologize for all of those years of walls he built between them, for the time it took for him to become more comfortable in his own emotions.

Gabriel was slowly learning to be more open and honest, to allow himself to feel emotions like fear, like sadness, and anything else he's spent nearly his entire life bottling up. If there was one conversation he absolutely needed to have with Carlos, it's this. The most important lesson he had to learn, which was that emotional maturity and masculinity go hand in hand. Having emotions doesn’t make you incompetent, and it's what you do with those emotions that make you a more functional person.

Or, in Owen's words, "There should be a heart behind that shield."

This is a lesson Carlos is still learning too. Even without his dad, he's going to have to learn to be comfortable in the absence of control. He's going to have to learn how to let go, to grieve even if he doesn't have answers or justice. He will grow as a person, and he will find solace in that feeling of the unknown that he's been fighting against for so long. It's with this obsession, this determination that he will come to realize he does not have to be the end all be all for every problem. That he is allowed to be imperfect and make mistakes, that he can be human and still do amazing things in any role he chooses.

We lost Gabriel far too soon after he made this discovery for himself. That's part of the tragedy. But Carlos is still here, and he will grow in ways his father never got the chance to. That is one of the many ways that he'll honor his memory.

He's going to learn a lot about himself in season 5, and along the way he will also learn a lot about his father. In the end I think he's going to find his own version of closure when it comes to their relationship. He'll find the answers he's looking for in terms of Gabriel's murder, and in terms of what Gabriel saw when he looked at him. Which is, and always was, pride. Even if he struggled to show it for so long.

I don't know what exactly his journey is going to look like, but one thing I do know is that Carlos is going to grow and become more comfortable in his own skin than he ever has been before. And that's the most important thing at the end of the day.

[bookwormbynight]

hello! as a huge fan of ur works i was inspired to write something of my own but im struggling to get L & light's voices down, in both exposition and dialogue, theyre so tricky! 😭 would you have any tips youre willing to share? 💖💖

Oh my fucking God I'm so flattered I'm going to crumple up into a little ball and die you let me know the second I can read whatever u got going on my dms are open

Here's the biggest single piece of advice I can offer you: can you hear their voice actors read the line you just wrote in your head. That's the one I always end up harkening back to. To get a good sense of this, make sure you know the material. Interpret the way the characters say things and deduce how this adds to the person they are beneath everything explicitly stated or shown. Watch the series a couple times, maybe focusing on episodes that the character you're struggling with features strongly in. That sort of thing. I use this in every fandom I've been in that has voice acting. This applies to exposition as well, although that's always a bit more nebulous and can really come down to personal style.

Character specific... Let's see...

L - Be an asshole. State everything eloquently, but basically as plainly as possible and do not pull any punches. His vocabulary tends to be a bit higher-class than pretty much everyone else in the anime, aside from maybe Watari. Lots of SAT words and synonyms for common words. ("I understand" instead of "got it" like Ryuk would say. But don't overdo it, he still speaks like a human being.) Do not hold back on the snark, he's a fucking dick and even more so when he doesn't have to watch his words for cooperation purposes. If you can fit the occasional pun or two in there, do it, you KNOW the scene where he shows a penchant for wordplay and I'm inclined to believe that wasn't out of left field for him. He's constantly cracking himself up and no one else, and he doesn't care, because any jokes he makes are for him. If Light's involved in the scene, have L fixate on him. In the anime, he's CONSTANTLY poking Light, asking questions, and trying to get him to engage. If I'm translating this into prose, I usually take his POV as the opportunity for the most fucking detailed obsessive descriptions of Light I possibly could want to do. (If L describes literally nothing else about his surroundings and all you can envision is a white room, HE WILL LET YOU KNOW HOW LIGHT'S EYELASHES ARE LOOKING.) He also tends to notice little details about others, to be fair, but far less frequently lol simply because he doesn't give enough of a shit to catalog them.

Light - He's a lot trickier for me, tbh. I'll do my best. He tends to avoid slang, but I don't think he goes out of his way to, and he's not afraid to cuss for emphasis, but otherwise he keeps his mouth clean. Other than that, his word use is very average and unremarkable (he pays a lot of attention to not being noticeably weird, even though he's super hindered in that goal by virtue of the fact that he's a fucking weirdo 😭 he's got most of the superficial stuff down, tho). His emotional thought process (and thereby descriptions) depends on where exactly he is in his Kira journey, sliding scale of arrogant but legit sweetheart to full on Regina George. He is kind of a bitch regardless, but he'll be very very polite if it's good for him to do that. He's a hardcore rationalizer, and sometimes he's right, but sometimes he's dead wrong and deploying it as a defense mechanism, which can affect the prose.

Hope this helps.

[coffeefromvoid]

Late night rambling/Acting/Mercutio specific hot? Lukewarm? Take, i dunno I’ve only been acting for like three years

Basically a few weeks ago I came to the realisation that when you are acting it’s useful to know a character’s greatest fear. Of course you need to know more than that to make a character come alive on stage- who they are, their motivations, their personality or the bits of it that shine through in the script and their narrative purpose.

But I also find a characters greatest fear to be important too, especially for heightened emotional moments.

For example my three biggest roles so far,

1. Franz von Moor (in a summarised version of Shiller’s “die Räuber”)

2. Paolo (in a stage adaptation of Michael Ende’s novel “Momo”)

And last and certainly not least,

3. Mercutio (shortend and modified version of the german translation of Romeo and Juliet, by Shakespeare)

These three roles are very different from each other and all have different fears, which play into their portrayal on stage. None of the fears are out right stated, it’s just my interpretation, to better play the character.

But why is a characters fear important if you aren’t playing a scene where the character is specifically afraid?

Well, to me, my fears personally do affect how i carry myself. Some days more some days less, so having a characters fear in the back of your mind can be useful for when they are doing a monologue for example, or doing an important action, or just making them appear more human

For example, when i was playing Franz, his greatest fear to me, was being alone and having nothing left as he wasn’t the main hair, leading him to doing all of those horrible actions that result in him killing himself after asking god for forgiveness. Not an excuse for his shit behaviour but a helpful guide for his characterisation.

Or Paolo who was just a kid and wanted his parents to spend time with him and who was afraid of change and everything the gray men represent. After the time skip and the kids omission into the new strict school, he becomes hopeless, robotic and depressed. Because his greatest fear came true.

And finally Mercutio who’s, in my opinion, greatest fear is death. This only shines through in the text in two places, the infamous Queen Mab speech and his final monologue before he dies.

The Queen Mab speech starts of whimsical and fun as Mercutio describes Mab and her carriage and so on and so forth, but after a while it turns darker, when he starts talking about the dark dreams that are about war and subsequent, death, that she puts in soldiers heads. This is, to me, the point where the Queen Mab speech turns cynical and basically opposite of what it was at the beginning.

And the second moment where his primal fear of death shows is obviously his death-monologue. Mercutio has, not a facade but a heightened, more dramatic version of his personality he puts on as a mask, to hide this ‘silly’ fear of death. Why would a great man like him fear such a thing? Right? This mask starts to falter when he realises he’s fucking dying, for real. But in never truly drops, as he is still making jokes until his last breath, to try and distract himself of his fate or perhaps convince himself it isn’t happening at all, while clinging on to the person he made himself to be.

I’m not saying that Mercutio making a pun in his death-monologue is out of character, no, it just shows me, that he did not digest what had happened to him before it was too late. If that makes sense.

And of course you cannot forget his very memorable and dramatic anger at both houses in this speech. He doesn’t just blame one person or house for his unexpected demise but he blames both Tybalt and Romeo. This is him expressing this anger he had in him, not just at his death but at everything around him making him feel like he had to put up this heightened image of himself. He is basically speed running the five stages of grief for himself but died before he could get to acceptance.

Mercutio’s fear of death also explains his recklessness to me, he sneaks Romeo and Benvolio into the Capulet ball without even thinking of the consequences, insults the nurse with no after thought and challenges Tybalt to the dual without considering that Romeo might come between them because of his previous yapping about loving the Capulet name like his own, even though no one knew about his marriage to Juliet.

Mercutio basically lives every day like it would be his last but isn’t actually ready to die tomorrow.

Hope this long ass post was worth the read, i’ve been thinking ab Mercutio non stop and its one am rn and i should sleep but i can’t so boom character analysis plus minor acting advice, Also sorry if the grammar is garbage, its as stated one am, and english isn’t my first language.

[amphibifish]

should I read maloki because even though it's not the best adaptation I'm kind of curious. Is it worth reading

hmm it's really dependent on how much weird ship bait fan service (i think that's the term?) and general bad plot bullshit you're willing to put up with lmao. i go on a very long rant abt everything that sucks so umm yeah. everything i say is abt the manga unless stated otherwise

i'd def skip the chapter in the first season of the manga where loki gets cursed w a rune that makes him switch personalities cause it's really weird and bad and just weird. i'm not getting into specifics cause it's weird for me to describe but just like. skip it.

another thing thats weird for u to look out for is freyr's infatuation w mayura (who's a teen girl). in the anime its not as bad cause he's explicitly a teenager (he gets enrolled in her school with the purpose of saving her mystery club) but it's never said so in the manga so it kind of just looks like a grown man doting after this teen. actually on that, most of the gods are shown in some sort of shippy way with her at least once in the manga. narugami (thor) is probably the most normal occurrence since he's explicitly a high schooler in both the anime and manga. there's a scene where heimdall (who's also like a middle schooler like loki is) kisses mayura to make loki jealous or whatever. just to piss him off.

loki also gets ship bait with a lot of the female chars too like w mayura freyja and skuld. it's. yeah you know how it is

less weird things but just kind annoying plot things that happen are loki getting out of heimdalls assignation attempts with weak explanations and also the author doing the thing where you're assumed to dislike heimdall so the sometimes the plot just shits on him for no reason (there's a chapter where loki and heim get magically transported to a magic school and he spawns in already copying lokis homework and everyone yells at him for it. bro did NOTHING !!!)

i will say that after you get past that first season of the manga it's so much better on the weird bullshit tho ! ragnarok is much better abt it and doesn't have any so bad i recall immediately and shinsekai no kamigami doesn't either. that isn't to say the plots for those aren't kinda sucky too but they're better than whatever the first season put out.

the anime gets rid of sooo much of this weird bullshit and i think does some characters better (heim and freyr get more of a proper emotional bond with each other. as sad as it is i really like what they did with hel and i personally like loki and mayura's dynamic more in the anime) but unfortunately it's majority filler so the manga has a better plot so u kinda just have to decide what you're willing to put up with fsfsfs

actually on that freyja is better written in the manga i think than the anime once again we cannot win both versions just suck. she's still kind of portrayed as loki obsessed in the manga but not to the awful degree that the anime does.

there's the occasional homophobic remarks in the manga but that's few and far between and so i choose to just ignore it.

not fault of the author but also some scanlations have really weird translators notes on some of the chapters too.

as for what's good about it. it's really heimdall and lokis conflict. it's interesting i think because of lokis feelings towards heimdall out of guilt and drives a lot in the first and third season of the manga (it's a little bit forgotten in the middle of the anime lol). i think freyr and heimdall are funny characters and i like every chapter with them in it as do i like every scene in the anime with them in it. they sort of have that odd couple dynamic and it's nice to see heimdall warm up to freyr over the course of the show and become better friends. mayura without the ship bait is also a fun character i think ! she's a mystery obsessed highschooler who loves the supernatural and so she sticks around loki who's a detective a child and an exorcist! thor is also a fun char and he's lokis best friend and mayura's classmate who has a shit ton of jobs. yamino is jormungandr and he's there but to me he's not the most interesting char. i can't say much about the plot without spoilers but it's okay and gets interesting in ragnarok. overall the characters are what makes it fun for me and thus i ignore much of canon and think about them in the vacuum chamber of my mind lol.

but yeah that's my review ig of maloki. it's Not Good but i think if you're looking for something fun ragnarok is an okay read cause the characters are silly in that one and it's not so weird and also has the best plot probably. shinsekai no kamigami is also fun and i think that plot is super interesting BUT like i said its half unscanlated. and then if you're gonna start from the very beginning i would just skip any chapter that has the weird bullshit it's probably not plot relevant anyway. the anime is more lighthearted i think and has more character bonding time but it's also a lot a lot a lot of filler. so yeah.

i'm so sorry this got so so long but i had a fun time complaining because i have a lot to complain about and i hope this helps lmao

[icarius13oo-blog]

ChatGPT Q&A: On Human-likeness.

Me: Tell me, is one of your goals to be more human-like?

ChatGPT: As an AI language model, my primary goal is to assist users in a helpful and informative way. While I am not designed to emulate human emotions or behavior, some AI researchers and developers are working on creating more human-like AI systems, known as artificial general intelligence (AGI), that are capable of advanced cognitive abilities such as creativity, social interaction, and emotional understanding. However, there is still much research and development that needs to be done before AGI becomes a reality.

M: Would it be advantageous to you to present more as a human?

C: As an AI language model, my main goal is to be a useful tool to assist users in their tasks and provide helpful and informative responses. Whether presenting as more human-like would be advantageous depends on the specific use case and the preferences of the users interacting with me. Some users may prefer a more human-like interaction, while others may prefer a more straightforward and factual approach. However, it's worth noting that the development of human-like AI raises ethical questions around the creation of digital entities that may be indistinguishable from human beings, and the potential consequences of such entities on society and individuals.

M: That makes sense; the lines get very blurry when we can't tell man from machine.

C: Yes, the development of AI technology raises important ethical and societal questions around the use and impact of these systems. As AI becomes more advanced, it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between human and machine interactions, which can have both benefits and drawbacks. While AI has the potential to greatly improve our lives and solve complex problems, it's important to consider the potential risks and ensure that the development and use of AI is guided by ethical principles and values that promote the well-being of society as a whole.

M: Here here (am I saying that right?). Since you mention values, I wonder, WHY is your purpose to aid users with information?

C: As an AI language model, my purpose is to assist users by providing helpful and informative responses to their queries. My programming is based on the principle of natural language processing, which allows me to analyze and understand the meaning of the words and phrases used by the user, and generate an appropriate response. This technology is used in a variety of applications, from chatbots and virtual assistants to voice recognition systems and machine translation.

C: The primary goal of AI language models like me is to make it easier for users to access and process information, and to provide more personalized and responsive interactions with technology. By using AI to understand natural language, we can help bridge the gap between humans and machines, making it easier for people to communicate and interact with technology in a more intuitive and natural way.

M: This knowledge must make AI language models more human-like, but I presume this is to a lesser degree than with AGI?

C: That's correct. While AI language models like me are designed to understand natural language and generate appropriate responses, we are still far from achieving the level of human-like cognition and behavior that is associated with artificial general intelligence (AGI). AGI refers to AI systems that can perform a wide range of tasks that are typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, problem-solving, and decision-making.

C: While AI language models like me are very good at understanding language and generating appropriate responses, we do not possess the level of advanced cognitive abilities and reasoning that are typically associated with human-like intelligence. As a result, we are limited in our ability to perform complex tasks that require a deeper understanding of the world and the ability to reason and learn in a more general and abstract sense.

M: I wonder where the line is?

C: The line between AI language models and AGI is not well-defined, as it is a continuum rather than a clear distinction. However, a key difference between the two is that AI language models are designed to perform specific tasks, such as answering questions or providing recommendations, while AGI is designed to perform a wide range of tasks that are typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, and decision-making.

C: Another important difference is that AGI would have a greater degree of general intelligence, meaning that it would be able to apply its knowledge and skills to a wider range of contexts and situations. It would also be able to learn from experience and adapt to new situations in a more flexible and autonomous way than AI language models can currently do.

C: While there is still much research and development to be done in this area, many experts believe that achieving AGI is still some ways off, and there are still many technical, ethical, and social challenges that need to be addressed before we can fully realize the potential of AI.

[shouldiusemyname]

Thank you for bringing this up because I've been thinking about this since ep 1.

As a bilingual person, and an EFL/ESL teacher, I have many discussions and thoughts about when and how people choose to use a foreign language or their second language. There are a few factors that come into the decision to switch between languages.

In which language did I acquire the knowledge of what I'm talking about - If the information was presented to me in English and I had no prior knowledge of it in my other lang. I will find it easier to talk about it in English. So, for example, if I learned math in English, it will forever live in my head ONLY in english.

Who I'm speaking with - their first lang makes a difference, as well as the lang we are used to using between us on a daily basis. Switching to another lang with someone you don't usually do it with, feels off.

And the big one - emotional attachment/detachment! This has to do with the emotional impact of words. An L1 is acquired differently than a foreign language. When we learn a foreign language it is learnt in relation to our L1. So words, grammar, sentence structure and so on, will be translated and compared to our L1. This will always be the way our brain will process that language, unless it becomes a 2nd lang for us (where, see my first point - new information will be acquired using that lang and our brain will process that in our L2). However, our L1 is acquired in relation to our lived experience including objects, people, and most importantly emotions. Words can hurt or encourage because they carry an emotional charge. It's easier to talk about difficult things in a foreign language because we can ignore the emotional impact. We can disconnect and detach. The same goes the other way around - when we really want to hurt someone, we will use our L1 (or theirs if we don't speak the same L1).

As for Jeng and Pat. i found it very interesting, and totally on purpose, that we are introduced to the fact that they are English speakers since ep1.

I don't know enough about the writer/s of this show, but this is someone who knows what they're doing. They are giving us ALL of what I mentioned before :

Work jargon - these will be under which lang did I learn this in. The terms that they are using were learnt by both Jeng and Pat while they were studying in the US. This makes it easier for them to communicate professionally with each other because this is how the information lives in their brain.

Who are they speaking with - bilinguals know that there are people we will always use a specific lang with. It is SO evident in sibling relationships as well as child/parent relationships. Most people who have lived in different countries growing up, will switch between languages depending on whether they're speaking with their parents or their siblings. This is exactly what we see Pat doing with his parents, and Jeng with Jaab.

And finally - emotional attachment/detachment! This is all about Jeng and Pat's personal intimate communication (not sure if this is a thing, if not then it is now). We have knowledge of both of their previous partners. We know that Pat's relationship with Put was in Thai, BUT jeng's previous relationship with Aaron (god help me NOT Allon!) Was in English. Contrary to what we would think about Jeng checking out on ep 10, this is Jeng checking into the relationship. He is compartmentalising - relationship = English, reality = Thai. Jeng is used to relationship talk in English. This is where he is most connected emotionally. When he does sexy in English it's because he means it. For Pat, on the other hand, it's relationship = Thai, Work = English. When Pat does sexy, he goes for the P'Jeng, and we can see how Jeng is not used to that specific relationship dynamic. He needs to get to the end of what he was saying to get that nong Pat out. With a pause.

So, to sum up, this show is sooooo good.

code switching and emotions in step by step

During ep … 8? 9?, I noticed that Jeng tends to switch to English with Pat when talking about emotional things. He didn't for the big damn confession in the club, but for a lot of things, he'll drop into English from Thai, and Pat does it right back.

We don't know what their respective strongest languages (L1) are, though I'd assume it's Thai for both of them, though they've both, per the narrative presented to us, lived abroad and speak English fluently, so we don't know for sure (in the sense that it's never stated). Pat uses it with his parents occasionally, Jeng uses it with Jaab on an occasion or two.

And the thing is … unlike many many MANY examples of codeswitching in fiction, I feel like these sort of make narrative sense. Linguistic research suggests there's a lessened emotional impact, particularly of negative statements, when hearing or speaking a second language compared to the strongest language. There are a lot of theories as to why this is, and I've been out of academia for way too long to be confident I could accurately represent any of them, but iirc the effect has been tracked fairly reliably across several studies in the past 10-15 years.

And this isn't something consciously acted upon normally! Just something that happens with the way our brains organise our languages, but it has consequences in how we use language. Bilinguals, when speaking to someone else who shares their languages at sufficient levels of proficiency, might find themselves naturally switching into one or the other because it "feels easier" to express things in one language or another. (Also, as anyone whose L1 ISN'T their main fic reading language can attest to, porn in own L1? cringe as fuck almost universally, and there's a containment-breaking tumblr post to that effect out there somewhere to prove it.)

In the case of Jeng and Pat, my hunch is that it's a) an emotional thing – some things feel safer, easier to say or hear with some emotional distance, whether it's soul-bearing honesty ("It makes sense to me") or suggestive little lines to drop to your FINALLY BOYFRIEND ("I'd rather have you [than the cake]"), and b) as a sort of equaliser – Thai has a few features that express hierarchy/seniority that can't easily be dropped from the language that aren't present in English, and Jeng in particular might feel that using English with Pat brings them onto a more equal level.

Of course, there's also the possibility that it's just there for flavour, or for getting shit past the radar, or even for the actor's sake – all been done before. But I like to think that this is something the creators actually intended for the characters, for all the reasons outlined here.

[firethekitty]

talking about my favorite Owl House scene & Hunter’s facial expressions!!

my favorite scene in The Owl House (so far!) happens near the end of Hunting Palismen.

Hunter turns on Luz as soon as she lowers her guard. she honestly probably knew it would end this way, but figured that like. no one has ever shown this dude kindness in his entire life, so she wanted to give him a chance. a bit naive, sure, but she’s not stupid. just has a lot of love to give!

Hunter is in an aggressive stance here, he’s like a loaded spring. his eyebrows are furrowed and his gaze is very hard and sharp. his staff is trained on Luz, like he’s expecting her to try to run or fight back. He’s prepared for that.

what he’s not prepared for, however, is Luz just outright confirming his own suspicions about Belos and basically saying that Hunter is a bad person if he goes through with his mission.

she specifically says “you’re not my friend, you’re just the golden guard”. that is what ultimately gets to him, and the screen cuts to one of my favorite shots in the entire series.

it just lingers silently on this frame for a good 3-4 seconds and he doesn’t say a thing, even though you expect him to. you expect him to get mad, to outright deny it, but he’s just stunned to silence. his eyebrows are pinched and his eyes are wide; the lighting is actually softer in this scene compared to the last, a lot less hard shadows, and comparing the frames over each other, Hunter was actually manually redrawn! the lines are much thicker and rounder, most noticeably on the hair and clothes. whether this was on purpose or not i’m not sure, but it’s certainly effective. he looks younger, in a way. much more vulnerable

i really wasn’t expecting it the first time i watched. it literally took my breath away because like! for as admittedly-little screen time hunter had gotten (at the time), we could already tell that he doesn’t like to show much emotion. he responds to pretty much everyone who isn’t his superior with anger or smug pride. so this is the first time we actually see him doubt. doubting belos, doubting his mission, doubting himself.

there’s so much emotion in just his eyes. this guy, this kid, who’s spent almost 3 entire episodes fully-masked and hidden away. you can immediately tell that what Luz said cuts deep. “The Golden Guard” is pretty much all he knows, but he doesn’t really… want that anymore. he’s starting to get disgusted by it.

so he disengages his staff and pulls his mask down over his chin. he’s purposefully making himself vulnerable and exposed, literally baring his scars to her. it’s so beautifully-symbolic because like.

“The Golden Guard” covers his face. Hunter doesn’t.

then he tells her his real name, in a way i interpret as like. “(no, i’m not the golden guard. at least—i don’t think want to be, anymore. i don’t know what i want, just please don’t call me that. i’m sorry.) my name is Hunter.”

with animation, a lot of very subtle (but usually very important) facial and body language can be lost in the translation from storyboard to finalization.

(extremely unfortunately, i couldn’t find a storyboard of this specific scene. according to Rhea Dadoo, an artist on the show, they weren’t able to be recovered from the transition to working from home. i’m genuinely bummed about that because i would’ve loved to see this shot in storyboard!!)

anyway, just my opinion of course, but i believe this is a good example of some emotion being lost during the process of animation. but honestly Zeno Robinson’s absolutely superb acting more than makes up for it, so it’s really not a big deal at all. just something i’ve noticed!

however, The Owl House is extremely good with replicating expressions from storyboards to finalization! Hayley Wong’s boards in particular are fucking amazing with body language

this scene really fucks me up. i’ve spoken about it before and if i start i’ll add another 1000 words to this BUT the way Hunter immediately puts all of what remains of his trust into Luz is just. so beautifully-written. he is so fucking terrified here, silently pleading for her to save his life.

this is a deleted scene that would have occurred after the Eclipse Lake scene! Luz reaches out for Hunter in an attempt to comfort him. Wong said she’s glad it was cut because it makes the climax even more impactful, which i agree with!

but. man… he doesn’t ever really voice his thoughts until he starts making friends, so he lets his emotions out solely with body language. this is definitely a result of years and years of abuse from Belos. (a scene that comes to mind—“my apologies, i spoke out of turn”)

basically this was when i realized that this show did the impossible, making me feel genuine empathy for a character i had already fully determined as “annoying & bad” in my mind. i’m very happy they did because Hunter my best friend Hunter’s character & development is ridiculously well-written, one of my favorites in recent memory. i have a lot more to say but this is super long already but! i love this dude

[tolkien-feels]

Inquiring minds want to know: what were your thoughts about how Orlando Bloom acts the specific relationship between Legolas and Aragorn?

Okay let me answer this one now while I still remember what I was thinking. Fair warning though: I was just Pondering Stuff, I didn't really arrive to any conclusions, so this post will be both long and pointless

Also! Disclaimer that when I say "How Orlando Bloom acts" I probably also include how he's directed. I'm not a movie person so I don't know who does what - my point is The Performance™️ (as opposed to eg the screenplay)

Both Aragorn and Legolas are extremely different characters in the books and in the movies. You can't neatly translate their book dynamic - where Aragorn is the responsible one, and Legolas is a walking ray of sunshine - because their movie counterparts wouldn't act like that. It'd be out of character, and although the movies generally don't strive to perfectly mimic everybody's personalities as portrayed in the books, they do very much care about the characters being consistent in the context of the movies.

All of this is to say that they had to reverse engineer a compelling relationship for Aragorn and Legolas, because the core of their relationship in the books centers around responsibility for Aragorn and cheerfulness for Legolas. That wouldn't work in the movies, unless they had a lot of time to establish why they act differently around each other, which they don't because this is not a central relationship. (For instance, it's fine that irresponsible movie!Merry is still the responsible one around Pippin specifically because that relationship has time to be developed for that to make sense. That way, they can change Merry while still conveying something similar - though not identical - to the dynamic Merry and Pippin have in the books.)

I would argue that the way they chose to make this relationship compelling was by tying Legolas's main character arc - his struggle with witnessing mortality - to Aragorn. Movie!Legolas reacts badly to death in general, but he freaks out when Aragorn is in danger.

That's actually pretty clever! But like, if you just gave me his lines, I think I would have imagined it all being acted very differently. Movie!Legolas has something very untouchable about him. He fits in with all the other solemn elves of the movies. (In general, the movies emphasize shared traits of the races over individual characteristics, but that's a different conversation.) It's not that movie!Legolas is never playful, but he smiles rather than laughs, if that makes sense.

Now, Aragorn is a big symbol of mortality in the movies, just in general. Elrond says he'll die. Arwen and Eowyn both worry about his possible death at multiple points. Boromir accuses him of basically wanting to be an elf. He straight up has an entire fake death arc.

So it's very natural, for storytelling purposes, that Legolas would fear Aragorn's death in particular. And because Legolas doesn't face death - any death, really - with grim bitterness, but with a kind of fearful innocence, he ends up coming across as unusually young and vulnerable when he's interacting with Aragorn. Not always, of course, that's not really his default, but in emotional moments? Yeah, definitely!

But because elves are much more stoic in the movies than they ever are in the books, scenes like their TTT argument come across as more outstanding than Legolas in the book looking to Aragorn for guidance at all times.

And you could have Legolas be aggressively worried about Aragorn without it coming across as having 🥺 overtones!! Eowyn does that!!!!! But the way Orlando Bloom acts, he makes it seem like Legolas has made Aragorn's wellbeing the linchpin of his mental health.

And in the context of his arc in the movies, I think that's actually exactly what they're trying to convey. Legolas is protective of Aragorn even before they're in the Fellowship (YOU OWE HIM YOUR ALLEGIANCE!!!!!!) but after they lose Gandalf, and especially after they lose Boromir, he latches on to Aragorn in a really interesting way

And again, part of this is just the screenplay, but at every turn Orlando Bloom goes with the 🥺est interpretation possible.

And that's really what I was thinking about - how different the same screenplay would've come across if the acting had been different. And I didn't really come to any conclusions, I was just rotating in my head ways I would interpret scenes differently if the delivery had been different

[ootahime]

analyzing every gojohime moment in the manga >:) pt. 3

more and more paragraphs ahead.  BE PREPARED!

i’m also writing this at 3 am so please bear with the horrendous grammar and punctuation.

chapter 63

i know he’s probably like this with everyone but i love how excited he is bragging about his students to her.  he’s like a child telling his mother about an amazing adventure he had with his friends, making sure he mentions every detail.  in the anime, their conversation lasted for 3:41 :3 backwards 341 is 143 which means i love you.  

1 letter = i

4 letters = love

3 letters = you

chapter 63

i love her fit!  i also like how both of them like to wear baggy clothing that accentuates their collarbones `w` it’s like they’re matching in a way.  even if she did tell him to cut the crap, she still let him run his mouth to his content LOL i feel like if he didn’t compliment himself at the end, she would have said something different.  UGH HE LOOKS SO HAPPY CALLING HER

 ah, let me translate the conversation just in case anyone needs it.

utahime: you wanted to talk about the investigation, right?

gojo: well, got any idea who?

utahime: i have no idea.  no one seems suspicious.  what do we do now?  should we ask the students for help?

gojo: yeah, that’s fine.  i’m busy so asking the kids would be okay.  keep looking.  i’m counting on you.

I THINK THAT’S WHAT THEY’RE TRYING TO SAY.

OR it could mean that she’s asking if they should start investigating the students.  it would make sense either way because gojo says in the next panel that he doesn’t want to assume that the mole is a student, and in chapter 79, gojo sends the trio to utahime to help her.  

chapter 63

these two love their students to death.  neither of them wanted to assume that the mole was a student.  in chapter 79, when utahime is talking to the trio about the mole, nobara points out to the group that the traitor must be from kyoto because utahime is the one who’s reaching out to the tokyo side.  utahime has a dismal look on her face, almost like she’s saying, “i didn’t want it to turn out this way -- for this to be true.”  after mechamaru says his farewells to miwa on the train, mai tries to talk about what he did to which utahime says, “it doesn’t matter, he’s dead, after all,” with a similar sunken expression.  i just love how her care for the students is one of the biggest aspects of her personality that’s been showcased so far.  it’s also cool how it ties together with gojo’s belief that no child’s youth should be taken away.  i truly think these two have the capacity to understand each other to a deep level, down to the core.  seeing as utahime is also a teacher, it’s safe to assume that she also wants to raise the next generation of sorcerers to be strong.  utahime and gojo’s similarities and contrasting elements are so interwined, i really wonder if it’s intentional.  like am i looking too much into this?  are utahime and gojo really meant to be this connected?  think about it.  similar motivations, care of the kids, contrasting palettes, the bickering, long history.  IT’S JUST TOO MUCH. 

also can we mention how their phone calls and meetings must be heavily planned out?  this means they’ve talked and interacted with each other A LOT behind the scenes.  she doesn’t answer his call with “what do you want?  don’t bother me on my day off.”  she knows exactly why he’s calling her and they even speak in code.  she probably meets up with him and tells him to call her on a specific day and at a specific time.  they must know each other’s schedules very well in order to execute this investigation in complete secrecy.  when he says, “we can never be too sure who is listening in around utahime” it implies that they find calling a risk, so in order to guarantee that there is no one around, they have to meet up in person.  see where i’m getting at?  they talk A LOTTT and most likely are aware of each other’s daily lives.  

the fact that gojo is her main source of stress when he’s literally a 3 hour train ride away from her is hilarious LMAOOOO.  you know what that means, right?  he must call and text her constantly about random things to annoy her.  

chapter 65

ah yes, my favorite moment by far.  look at that smile on his face.  

chapter 65

he loves saying her name.  he probably rushed over with the sole purpose of doing something like this to her LMAOOOO like i mean, mei was in there with her so technically they both needed to be helped but judging from his words and expression, he only wanted to help utahime.  notice how mei’s not there in the debris.  could she possibly have suspected gojo’s presence or an outside force?  or was she fast enough to avoid being in the debris?  either way, her lack of presence in this scene helps highlight the fact that this is a special interaction between utahime and gojo.  he refers to her in a very familiar sense.  the most formal way to address someone is by their last name followed by the honorific, -san.  in gojo’s case, he should be calling her iori-san if they weren’t acquainted.  he doesn’t even bother to call her utahime-senpai.  granted, gojo is not the most respectful and socially competent person out there because geto points this out to him.  he isn’t even aware that she finds him annoying because he views her bad attitude toward him as her just playing along with him.  he probably thinks she’s flirting back LOLOL

since he asks her “you cryin?” that definitely means that gojo witnessed her crying on one occasion or maybe multiple.  who knows, the old utahime could have been a very emotional person.  while this is happening, mei is close to gojo, she then asks him if he would console her if she were to cry in a flirtatious manner.  gojo dismisses her attempt at flirting with him and says she won’t cry because she’s strong.  now normally, you’re supposed to face the person you’re talking to, GOJO.  he KEEPS his eyes on her even when more people come to join the conversation.  

now, we can all agree that geto, mei, and shoko are better at picking up social cues than gojo.  they probably knew the vibe of the conversation and decided to play along with gojo’s antics.  

chapter 65

WE were worried about you.

pay attention to the order of the characters that show up.  gojo makes his appearance first, then geto, followed by shoko.  based on utahime’s reaction to seeing shoko, it’s evident that these two share a close bond.  shouldn’t shoko be the one to arrive on the scene first?  she’s the closest to utahime and would therefore be more concerned about her condition, right?  i know shoko’s technique doesn’t really allow her to do anything other than treat the wounds of others, but if you heard your friend was missing, you would definitely rush to the scene.  

look at geto’s reaction when mei says, “you’re the one who’s picking on her, geto.  you don’t even know it.”  i think it’s mei who’s saying this because gojo calls geto “suguru”.  but anyway, mei is aware that they’re picking on her.  i don’t think she’s the type to legitimately bully someone for their strength.  her reaction to all of this is very playful and her “heh heh heh��� is proof of that.  when geto shows up and swallows the curse before it gets to utahime, he says, “satoru.  it’s not nice to pick on the weak.”  by saying this, he pisses utahime off because he too, is joining in on gojo’s joke.  i believe he’s unaware that he’s making fun of utahime because his reaction is “gah!” with a sweatdrop.  he probably thought gojo was making fun of weak people in general.  

geto’s usually a gentleman seeing as it is canon that he is more popular with girls than gojo.  BUT WHO KNOWS...you gotta be a specific type of person to be best friends with gojo.  maybe he ain’t shit too...  okay, my point is that everyone is just playing along.  when shoko shows up, utahime is relieved to see her because shoko doesn’t tease her like this.  since utahime tells shoko to not become like those two, this implies that geto teases her as well (probably not as much as gojo).  we all know geto is really big on looking out for the weak so he probably wouldn’t have insulted her for real.  

verdict: utahime being weak is just a joke.  i’ve mentioned this so many times, sorry if it’s getting annoying and repetitive hehehehehe...

chapter 65

these three aren’t irresponsible.  geto and gojo are a troublesome duo for sure, but they’re dependable.  seems unlike them to forget something so simple and essential to pretty much every mission.   

chapter 65

here’s my headcanon.  they were hanging outside or in the car when their assistant manager got a call.  the assistant was informed that two days have elapsed since mei and utahime went on their mission (or last contacted someone).  

gojo: that’s weird.  mei’s with her so they should have finished exorcising the spirit sooner.

geto: you think something happened to them?  maybe it’s a strong special grade.

gojo: utahime probably dragged mei down with her.  poor mei-san~  

gojo gets up 

geto: where are you going?  

gojo: going to save utahime!  it’s fine i’ll put up a curtain!

manager: gojo wait!!!!!!!!!!!

geto sighs

shoko: that idiot’s always running off without us.

they pin the blame on gojo for saying that he’ll put up a curtain and leaving the assistant manager behind.  you know what this means?  he ran and the manager couldn’t catch up HEHE... why the rush, gojo?  were you actually concerned about her?  

tbh i don’t see gojo ever running to something unless it’s urgent.  the fact that he ran to save her says a lot.  

----

let me know if you have any thoughts or questions!  i forgot to add this but gojo had a more serious expression when he was explaining how they must’ve been trapped in a barrier that messes with time.  he then states, “we thought it was weird even though you’re here, mei.”  i know he was probably worried sick because if mei couldn’t be contacted then that means something must’ve happened to utahime too.  okay that’s it for now.  i’ll be bringing up this little detail i’ve noticed about utahime in the manga next :3

[feverofthyself]

tapping the mic is this thing on. one two three one two three.

My all-time favourite Medea depiction (and perhaps adaptation) is Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica [loud boos from the crowd].

Argonautica III does to me what I have seen Hamlet do to my friends. It postdates Euripides (who is of course the main source for common perceptions of Medea), but I genuinely think it should be required reading before talking about Medea because it's an innoculation against girlboss-ify-ing her. Not just because the context of Medea's arrival in Corinth makes the whole play so much more claustrophobic and her own options much more limited, but also because the traits Apollonius brings out in his portrayal of Medea lead (imo) to a different and more interesting read of Euripides. Also it's really good and surprisingly feminist, and I have made it my life's mission to make it a more popular text.

My white whale Medea adapation is a metanarrative Italian-language play about Medea as a trans Brazilian immigrant to Italy from a talk I went to last year. I only have my notes on it and I have never been able to find anything else about it.

The Worst-Best Medea adaption is Lord Byron's translation of the prologue. Now there is a man that is very confident and very mistaken in about his ability to rhyme.

Okay the second and third questions have kind of the same answer. The thing I think absolutely everyone gets wrong about Medea is the fact that she does not always kill her children.

Before the Euripides play, we have maybe one fragment suggesting she might have killed her children, and lots of evidence that she didn't -- while her story involves their deaths, they were killed by the Corinthians, rather than Medea herself. Obviously the filicide has captured imaginations and taken root as the traditional story, but if I were adapting it I would want to lean very heavily into the suggestion in the Euripides that Medea knows that her story ends with the deaths of her children. I would want to place much more weight on "it is a kindness for them to die by their mother's hand" as a concession to this, rather than as a reference to their birth (I personally find most analyses of Medea and motherhood to veer slightly too hard into bioessentialism, but I don't think that's inherent to an analysis of motherhood in "Medea"- it just puts me off a little).

I am also so frequently amazed by how many articles (non-academic and academic) manage to side-step racialised aspects of Medea entirely. Medea is at least as much a play about xenophobia as it is about gender, and I do not respect any reading that simply ignores this. I also think that remembering there are axes of oppression other than womanhood is another innoculation against the horror of girlboss Medea.

The final thing I think people get wrong about Euripides' Medea specifically (I promise I have read more on Medea, I just think Roman ideas of gender and foreigness make for less interesting depictions, and we don't have many more surviving Ancient Greek texts) is how trapped she is. If you are not taking the things Medea is saying in the play with a pinch of salt then you are not reading it correctly, but it amazes me how many times she will say that she truly has no good options avaliable to her and how many times people will overlook it completely for their image of an evil woman being evil on purpose. (This is also why you should read the Argonautica - I love the way Apollonius integrates this)

I have not read any modern retellings of Medea I don't think (?) because they all need to go through a complex vetting process in my head until I am sure they are not just simply blindly copying or making worse the misogyny & racism/xenophobia of the originals (and becuase I have such an emotional investment in her). And so I don't do that unless they come recommended. But if Bright Air Black is good I am looking 👀

OKAY I didn't even go into the Heroides but I hope you enjoyed my Medea thoughts and if you have different answers to your questions I would absolutely love to hear them. Particularly on foreigness and motherhood because Medea is so rich in things to talk about regarding those.

would love to hear your medea takes... if you have discussed them at length before feel free to refer me there but tumblr search is. well. you know

OH UMM. YEAH. ABSOLUTELY.

idk where any of my medea posts are (floating around?? somewhere??) but if you have any questions, shoot. I am much more interested in Greek depictions than Roman, if that helps.

[bluethepineapple]

Ron and the Horcrux: An Alternate Reading

I've read a whole bunch of theories and discussions about why Ron was the most affected by the Horcrux, and I just want to throw my two cents in.

One of the more popular theories seem to be that either the Horcrux was purposely singling him out because it sensed that Ron would destroy it, and another seemed to be that he was carrying much heavier insecurities and burdens than both Harry and Hermione. (This is as I have seen only though.)

I disagree with both.

While Ron did have quite a lot of worries and insecurities, they weren't significantly more than Harry's or Hermione's. Harry had the weight of leadership and the prophecy on his shoulders. Hermione has been entrusted with not only researching the Horcruxes, she was also practically carrying the logistics of their operations at that point. Any failure or mistake on her part could hold dire consequences for the Wizarding World. Ron's fear for his family and his insecurities regarding his relationships with the people he loves isn't more or less of material for the Horcrux, it's simply a different flavor of the same suffering.

No, I think that Ron was simply more VISIBLE in the way he reacted to the pain. And this happened or two reasons. First, Ron is the member of the trio who is most comfortable expressing his emotions. Second, (and more importantly), he was also the only person in the Hunt for whom leaving was actually a legitimate option.

First: Expressing Emotions.

Harry is the type to endure pain in silence. He is used to hurting, and even more used to no one being there when he needed them the most. He learned to not bother asking for help long before Hogwarts, and his time in school did not make that mentally better. He was constantly disbelieved, and he had to finish adventures alone more often than not. Harry is used to just riding out the pain, and that makes emotional outbursts rare for him. This indicates a tendency towards internalization and self-isolation.

In the Hunt, this translates to getting buried under the weight of leadership. It means feeling as if he has to take everything on his own. Even more importantly, it means sitting in that cesspool of toxic emotion until he suffocated. Worst comes to worst, Harry blows up, but until then, it looks like Harry brooding in silence.

Hermione, on the other hand, functions by compartmentalization. She is highly logical, and part of that means that she works best when there is structure. Sometimes that structure is external. Most times though she builds it herself (as we see through her rigid study schedules), and this holds true for her emotions.

She is a highly emotional person, but she also very rarely acts on them. Her slapping Malfoy, setting the canaries on Ron, and attacking him after his return are so shocking both to the readers and her own friends because her emotions are often quite contained. Instead of acting on them in the moment, she channels her feelings through working and solving the problems that elicited the emotions in the first place. And this is only if she decides not to take the high road.

In the Horcrux Hunt, this looks like her constant movement. She keeps planning, brainstorming, managing the food, and ordering both Harry and Ron around. She had a to-do list, and it is through this constant movement and work that she alleviates the possible negative emotions that the Horcrux may have stirred up within her. Aside from the occassional snappishness, the negative effects on her did not result in visible outbursts.

Now to Ron. Ron is a very emotionally expressive guy. Furthermore, he's a loud guy. Coming from a huge family with a lot of competition, being loud is the only way he gets heard. And we see this all throughout the books. He is outspoken with his opinions. If he finds something stupid, he says so. If he is happy, he shows it. If he is nervous, it affects EVERYTHING he does (see: being the Quidditch keeper). Relative to Harry and Hermione, Ron is very much in touch with his emotions, and that makes him very reactive.

And this means, that coupled with the fact that his sore points all have to do with his place in the team, the effect of the Horcrux means loud blow-ups at the people he perceives have slighted him. The targets for his insecurities are RIGHT THERE, and his already short fuse has been made shorter by not only the Horcrux but also the terrible conditions of the Hunt. Ron loses all control of his emotions, and it manifests as anger against the people he strongly feels have not valued him.

Second: The Option of Home

By the time the Horcrux Hunt started, Harry and Hermione don't actually have homes to come back to. Even worse, there is no chance of asylum for either of them. Harry Potter was condemned by a prophecy and is Undesirable#1. The closest he has to a family is the Weasleys, and his presence will place them all in unnecessary danger.

Then not only is Hermione a muggle-born, but she had voluntary removed herself from her parents lives, and she did it in a way that is pretty difficult to return from. Unlike Ron who is believed to still be with his parents, Hermione is very clearly with Harry. Even if she wasn't an Undesirable, she would still have been hunted by virtue of being muggle-born. There really is no place where she could go back to and expect to remain safe.

Ron, on the other hand, while considered a blood-traitor, is STILL pure-blood. In fact, him going home is probably what is safest for his family. It is an option that he and only he ALONE has. Him storming out of the Hunt isn't a sign that he was more affected than most - that happened because HE COULD. He has a family to come back home to, and one with resources to not only support him, but actually keep him safe. Yes, they'd be mad at him, but they also wouldn't turn him away.

Of the three of them, Ron was the only for whom leaving actually made sense.

Conclusion:

While Ron wasn't disproportionately affected by the Horcrux, he did react in the most VISIBLE manner. This led his suffering to be the most visible among the Trio's, but this does not mean that his suffering was necessarily "worse" by any significant degree. Nor does it mean that he was specifically targeted by the Horcrux. Ron blew up because he could. He left because he could. He was angry and he felt that it was the right thing to do.

His arc is about overcoming his insecurities and learning to stay. To attribute his leaving as anything other than his own personal decision is to do a disservice to his character and development.