#DO NOT judge the quality of my screenshots thanks :)

[heroofkvatchofficial]

[thesnazzysharky]

Analyzing and reviewing some more stuff in the SOUP update for SJSM

So, in my last post talking about the SOUP update, I missed out on some things that I want to comment on. Obviously this won't be as long as my previous post, but I hope you enjoy regardless.

Miscellaneous Stuff

The funny red gummy worm mfs have 3d models now and judging from this still screenshot they'll actually move like worms. I really dig this change because not only will it make the pink and yellow room more surreal when you step into it, but it also makes it more clear that the worms are... well, worms, since that wasn't really made obvious in the original version where they were just 2d red lines moving across the floor. Very nice.

The bones that we see throughout the mansion will also be getting 3d models. A small but very great improvement. Always thought it was a bit lame and odd that the bones were 2d images. Especially since the skeleton of the Romantic Victim was a 3d model. Now all of them are 3d and will add to the atmosphere instead of looking out of place.

And there's this pic of Ringu showing her sharp teeth. Not much to say other than it looks cool.

Before we move on, I just want to talk about Beef Demon's redesign again. In the last post I kinda dunked on the dude, but after seeing him move around a bit and realizing he doesn't look as skinny as I originally thought thanks to that little showcase video Hoolopee posted on Twitter, I think he actually looks pretty cool and unnerving. I especially like the texture on him. It kinda makes him look like he's made out of meat, something I think the original model should have implied more. I think I'll start to prefer this model to the older once I get used to it. I think Jenbobby explained it best. The trailer just did my boy dirty.

Specimen 9

So, another design that I'm a bit mixed on. My guy do be looking like a cranky ass old man who just got woken up from his nap, but on the other hand, I do like how they lean more into the "disembodied head made out of clay" aspect. He actually looks like he's made out of clay here, which is pretty cool.

But, he just looks a bit odd to me and isn't as creepy as the original model in my opinion. I feel like the neck plays a factor into this as well as it looks a bit too long. Decent model I suppose, just think this one will take some getting used to.

As for his boss form, the redesign here is... decent. I think he is too brightly colored and his head and jaw looks odd which makes him look less creepy to me, but it's a solid model.

Specimen 13

Originally I thought Specimen 13's model wasn't changed at all, but they actually did alter it a bit. Her hair is now slightly shorter and has changed a bit in appearance. Her fish body has went from blue to a more teal looking color and the end of her tail is a more triangular shape rather than looking like a typical fish tail. It also seems like compared to her original model, her breasts got a bit of a buff... nice so have fun with that.

Anyways, I do like this model, but I think the textures could've been done better. Comparing the models, her hair and the scales on her fish half look lower quality on the new model, which is odd. I also don't like how the end of her tail went from resembling the tail of a fish to... I don't even know what it's supposed to be anymore. Again, the model is pretty great, but it unfortunately gets brought down by the textures and tail.

Specimen 7

Wow... now this... this is a glow up. I already enjoyed Specimen 7's design before, but holy shit, this is amazing. The faces look like they're in more agony than ever, overall detail has been improved, and it looks more scarier overall. I don't know what else to add other than that this redesign is similar to how Spooper's redesign was handled. Do exactly what you did before... but just better. Move over Old Specimen 10 Eel Thing, because THIS is EASILY the best redesign from this update hands down. Specimen 7 fans are eating 100%.

Anyways, that's about it really. Not much else to say other than although it seems to be pretty controversial so far, I'll be gladly waiting for the SOUP update despite its faults I'll never forgive them for what they did to Bab though.

One more thing though...

You're telling me the mf behind the redesigns in this update is the same mf behind this? A-am I the only one shocked?

[scooby-art-by-tyne]

I know i havent posted for a while but i have to get this off my chest, towards people who have similar intrests.

HBOS NEW VELMA SHOW AND THE HATE TOWARDS IT

Ive seen so much hate about the new velma show THAT HASNT EVEN CAME OUT YET. To the point where it seems compelatly unfair. The show hasnt even come out yet i dont feel like its fair for people to be judging so harshly already and getting upset at it.

This is what reboots and remakes of series do. They switch stuff around, they add new things, they change stuff up. And if you want to like movies and tv, you are going to have to suck it up and get used to that. But people are unfairly judging the show without even seeing it yet

Examples of comments off of JUST ONE POST

(Source @ scooby_news on instagrams post of leaked screenshots from episode 5 https://instagram.com/scooby_news?igshid=OGQ2MjdiOTE= )

Like just tell me you hate diversity already? I know straight up thats why you dont want to watch the show if your talking like that 🙄

I think this series has serious potential. If executed correctly it could be really good. And i am really excited to see the show.

(Altho i am worried about the fact its intended for an adult audience and im worried that based on what ive seen (the leaks with the shower scene) that it will be sexualizing minors, (the scooby gang are litterly minors in 90% of the series' they are in) which seems really creepy to me, hopefully there isnt much of that in it)

And in my personal opinion ive felt disappointed with the quality of the past couple movies (everything after shaggys showdown) because personally i feel like most of those movies were stuffed to the brim with content that was irrelevant to the main plot and had too much going on and was aimed at a much younger audience with a lower attention span.

Whilst the scooby content before (shaggys showdown and everything before that) was aimed towards an audience of the whole family. So the whole family could sit and enjoy.

But seeing as the age raiting is higher for this show im hoping it will be less like that.

Conclusion:

Im have my worries about seeing the show in the fears that it has the chance it could be bad (like any upcoming movie or show could be) but aleast im excited and greatful that we are getting more scooby content and not automatically going "THIS ISNT THE SAME AND I HATE IT." Without actually seeing the show, like many of the 'critics' that ares preading hate about it are doing. Because you have to understand that they have to change and adapt stuff in the film industry every once in a while to keep people entertained and thars how it works. Whiether you like it or not, thats how keeping franchises alive and not going broke works in the film and tv industry. I think this series has potential, and im hoping its good. But if not thats fine, i still intend to be respectful to the all of the creators and people who made this show. And be thankful they are still putting out scooby-doo content.

If anyone actually read that, thank you, i don't actuallg expect people to read this, but just know if you do i appreciate it <3

-ty

[screamingaboutaceattorney]

liveblogging the great ace attorney: the adventure of the great departure-trial part 3

hoo boy. been a while, huh? sorry about that, i don't have an excuse. however! i'm here now, for an..... admittedly stupid reason (i saw a compilation of this game's prosecutor objecting and needed to know if it was real or not)

again, sorry for the shitty quality, i can't transfer pics off of my switch for shit. i did add image ids this time though!

reactions under the cut! also i won't have screenshots for all of my thoughts cause i took like a hundred screenshots and there just isn't room

oh shit women weren't allowed in the courtroom unless they were testifying (or on trial probably)? did not know that but also i'm not a lawyer irl nor do i want to be one it kinda sounds like hell

ma'am did you steal this (also love how everyone's crowded behind the defense bench it's very cute)

also apparently susato is sixteen, which means no forced heterosexuality! yay!

something about curare, continuing the long tradition of ace attorney giving fictional elements stupid names (except atroquinine, but i am deeply deeply attached to aa4's characters and story so i might be biased)

edit: i’m an idiot and curare is a real thing. thank you for correcting me @addicted-to-12th-intro!

will you just shut the fuck up

man this poison is like a really fucked up way to die? goddamn

sorry for pics of auchi twice in a row but that's not. there are no rules about this shit

oh she's racist yuck (this might not be a new thing idk it's been over a year since i last played the game)

I'M????????????? MA'AM WHAT THE HELL

AND THEN SHE'S FINE? WHAT THE FUCK

phoenix's true ancestor istg /j

do you think about me being a lawyer often? gayass

bro WHAT

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

GOD THAT'S SUCH A FUNNY SPRITE HOLY SHIT

alright i'm sorry i just had to share that

HOSONAGA WHY AREN'T YOU DOING ANYTHING THIS IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM

AND THEN SHE JUST FUCKING DESTROYED THE EVIDENCE???? WHAT

yeah i can't excuse that actually that was really fucking dumb of you

okay i hate to agree with auchi here i really do but the thing about ryu "just remembering" the bloodstain is pretty out there

hosonaga apparently is here to save my ass and be really. pretty weird actually

like thanks for bringing the evidence but maybe care about what your superiors think of it

also is this a regular occurrence cause if so maybe. do something about that.

cackling at the judge calling hosonaga "man" that's really fucking funny

god okay this next part took me FOREVER cause i didn't realize i could examine the evidence while presenting it and i was down to my last badge before i figured it out it was awful but! i did it!

you do not fucking have one bestie you're like. an english major i'm pretty sure don't quote me on that it's been a while

auchi says i wasn't invited, which i'm fairly certain is incorrect something tells me i was in fact invited to my own trial

in a truly shocking turn of events, the witnesses from the very beginning are back! and when i say "a truly shocking turn of events" i mean "i didn't think anyone cared enough to bring them back after like nineteen hours of the trial"

so see a chiropractor? (sorry)

the witnesses come in and are kinda funny? maybe? idk this trial has been going on for a very long time and my brain is melting out of my ears

hosonaga wants to say something! which thank god he's like the only reliable witness in the courtroom. maybe he's misinformed sometimes but goddamn it seems like he's doing his best

he was at the restaurant looking for a thief which he maybe said before? again this trial is LONG

nosa is apparently the thief of la carneval! which isn't. too surprising tbh that was going to be one of the witnesses and brett is obviously the killer while there's no reason for korekuta to steal from himself

nosa is trying to pin the blame on his infant son which. is quite a choice. a really funny choice, but still. a choice

oh he has a breakdown! it's pretty entertaining tbh i don't really have anything against it

oh fuck this is actually kinda sad

like he just wants to provide for his son and he's not paid hardly at all i feel bad for him

i do kinda wish he wasn't here cause the stuff with him and korekuta is just dragging the trial out longer than necessary but aside from that? i have nothing against this choice

also i love how his mustache is all crumpled after his breakdown and then stays that way for the rest of the trial jgkalsjglkasjg

don't make a persona 5 reference don't make a persona 5 reference don't-

brett wants to leave and like fair enough this whole trial has been going on for way too long i want to leave too but goddammit let me indict you please i'm so tired

didn't phoenix say this to apollo in turnabout trump in regards to the ace /j

brett is going to have tea with the minister of justice which like. how the FUCK do you know them you're studying chemistry or whatever just because you're british does NOT mean you know that guy i'm going insane and losing my mind

GET HER ASS

nosa says he does not have the balls to ask brett if he can hide a stolen item in her food which. fair i wouldn't either and she one million percent killed a man

also why are you shoving you baby back behind your shoulder everyone is aware of him by now

but there was time for snappy naming, apparently

brett is trying to eat her mask now, apparently. doesn't seem like a particularly healthy meal to me but go off ig maybe it's different in britain

the other steak has blood on the plate! hooray! i've won! probably hopefully please god

WHAT THE FUCK THAT SWAN IS ALIVE

goddamn that's a breakdown and a half

is that what you call it

did i call her having a place for a gun in her outfit? i'm so certain i did. it being under her skirt tracks though it's not like anyone could look without. issues.

ma'am this is not a misdemeanor you fucking murdered a man

KAZUMA WHAT

did this bitch just draw his sword in a courtroom and cut off the prosecution's topknot from across the room

AND THEN JUST FUCKING SAY THAT? SAY YOU'RE A HOMOSEXUAL AND GO, SIR

what the fuck is this mission that the judge is talking about

don't like that expression!

oh ryu's on the witness stand for the verdict, that's cute

FJLKASJGLAKSJGLASG AUCHI HASN'T FUCKING MOVED SINCE KAZUMA CUT HIS TOPKNOT THAT'S REALLY FUNNY

post trial time! apparently kazuma's sword is a family heirloom or something. idk what does it mean when someone says "this is the spirit of my family clan"

he's bringing the sword to britain? good fucking luck with that bestie

oh this man is GAY gay huh

ah. brett's not gonna face consequences for her crimes. fuck

oh susato's so nice and helpful and i appreciate her doing my paperwork for me thank you ma'am

idk, mia, belief in your client?

oh shit i was right

wait. wait fuck. wait fuck the next case is case two how bad are these parallels gonna be shit

i'm already attached too FUCK

yeah that's not gonna be a thing for another hundred years or so idk when this game takes place

oh boy kazuma wants to ask me a favor and ryu has already basically agreed so they're clearly dating (please god let me be wrong about the mia parallels)

again, i am an english student or. whatever

she was in the courtroom for five minutes sir

LMAO THE HOSONAGA DISS

and that's the end of the trial! hopefully the next case won't take nearly as long to get out, but we shall see! until next time!

[llycaons]

3, 7, 8 cql or tgcf! your choice :)

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you’ve seen on tumblr

cw: domestic abuse mentions

haven't seen a lot of tgcf bad takes tbh so I'll go for cql. this one is really hard since I don't venture outside my circle very often anymore and most of the bad takes I see are on ao3 now but umm many months ago there was this drama with a user who wrote this whole long post about how madam lan and her her husband must have been SO in love because lwj and lxc were so good and how difficult and painful everything must have been for them and people had to be like 'what the fuck are you talking about? just because lwj and lxc are skilled cultivators/good people that doesn't mean their parents' relationship was healthy or they they were in love, there's no correlation there' and someone had to step in to explain the concept of prohibiting a parent's access to her children (AND LOCKING HER UP) as a form of domestic abuse, it was MESSY. I've seen a fair amount of bad opinions over the years here (mostly about jc) but I don't want to go near people who genuinely defend madam lan and qhj's relationship. at least I somewhat understand most of the bad opinions on here but for this...how much of an abuse apologist and misogynist do you have to BE

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

this has actually never happened to me! I genuinely feel like fanon may influence my perception of a character to a point, but I'll always judge them based on canon because I feel like fanon has no bearing on their inherent qualities. that's external.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

for cql this one is hard because it's so broad and I've seen at least one person with my exact view about almost everything, and I follow people who agree with me about most things...I think a pet peeve I see in fics is when they have a whole rigamarole about getting together post-cliffside reunion. I've written many posts about that. they're literally already there. everything has been put in place. they're getting together if not in the next five minutes, at MOST in the next few hours. but people want to drag it out and put a slowburn on top of a story that is ALREADY a slowburn that WAS RESOLVED. it's so frustrating!!!

for tgcf, this is a low-hanging fruit but hc's attachment to xl comes from a place that makes it impossible for him to be normal about xl so like. his single-minded fixation from a young age is honestly kind of unhealthy and before they got together they maybe should have talked about that ¯_(ツ)_/¯

thanks 😄

choose violence ask game

[asknarashikari]

[this is one of the purposes for that screenshotXD]

Kadoya: Oi, Hino, what the heck were you doing here?

Eiji: I know you've seen the Blu-ray for my supposed show in the world where we are fictional characters, Kadoya.

Eiji: So you know why I was in that position.

Kadoya: You're no fun.

Kadoya: I expected a few denials.

Kadoya: And a scream.

Emu: Onore Dikeido!

Emu: There are literal children in this chat!

Sakura: Somehow, I feel like this refers to me.

Hikaru: And me.

Aguilera: And me

Tamaki: And me

Sougo: It does.

Takeru: And it also refers to Sougo and Me.

Gou: Aren't you happy, Myokouin that we were kind enough not to label you a baby rider?

Haruto: Don't worry.

Haruto: Geiz and Tsukuyomi are also part of that little group.

Geiz: We are all literal adults here.

Haruto: Same reason as why Sougo and Takeru are still considered baby riders.

Shinnosuke: Regardless.

Shinnosuke: Kadoya, what in Gaim's name possessed you to post a screenshot of Hino-san in a compromising position?!

Touma: Does he need a reason? Remember this is the same person who destroyed a plush toy because he was annoyed.

Aruto: This is the same person who placed Isamu on bed floating at lake Biwa.

Nitoh: What's with the 1000 on your pantsu, tho.

Eiji: I don't know.

Eiji: Apparently, we were doing a 1000th episode special.

Eiji: In hindsight, it probably has to do with the fact that there have been 1000 episodes of Kamen Rider in that dimension.

Kouta: you know...I'm thankful that the numbers weren't written on your chest, Hino-san.

Geiz: Please, can we just forget about that particular photo?

Kadoya: Like this?

Geiz: For the love of Gaim!

Kouta: Onore Dikeido!

Yua: Technically speaking, the numbers aren't on their respective chests

Izu: The numbers are written on the men's abdomen and not on their chests.

Izu: Therefore, this photo is an incorrect assumption of the criterion presented.

Emu: I give up.

Emu: Onodera-san, please contact Natsumi-san.

Yuusuke O.: She's already been informed.

Kadoya: Wait, what?

Shinnosuke: That's what you get Kadoya.

Philip:: This is interesting

Shoutaro: Philip, No!

Philip: I do not think that having 1000 episodes on air warrants a special episode.

Yuusuke O.: Oh, that's because this episode was released on the 40th anniversary of Kamen Rider in that particular dimension.

Yuusuke O.: The episode was meant to be an homage of how Hongou-san became the first Kamen Rider.

Yuusuke: Looks like Natsumi-chan found Tsukasa.

Hiromi: Somehow... i think this would have been something George would do and he'd be a director.

George: Actually, I would have made something for Kuuga.

George: Kadoya was kind enough to lend me the DVD set for Kuuga.

Hiromi: Hai, hai. Just leave us out of that fan film, you fanboy.

Yuusuke *sweats nervously*: Should I expect what he makes to be good, or...?

Hiromi: Judging from the quality of the video he put together to "jog my memory"... don't count on it.

George: 凸(￣ヘ￣)

George: I thought we were friends, Hiromicchi!

Emu: You let him use a Driver that sucked out his life force, you're lucky he didn't punch you, you bastard.

[tinygumdrops]

I read all your Kagehina fics and I'm a HUGEE fan of your writing

If you don't mind how much time does it take for your research? Or could you give some tips to make writing flow easy without it looking deliberately wordy? If you don't mind...

And Omg you are watching one piece hope you enjoying it!! You might be able to catch up and experience the final stretch of it weekly!!

Hello there, anonie! :D And *cries* I'm not sure if I can properly convey how happy I am to get this message, but thank you!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to read all of my work, considering how utterly verbose some of them are ;-; I'll try my best to tone down on the story length without compromising on quality (though judging by the progress of my latest fic, the plot is running away from me again *sobs*).

Honestly, I don’t think I’m qualified to dole out writing advice, but I can share with you some of the things that personally helped me out. I also answered an ask once about my writing and gave my super messy step-by-step process. If you're interested, you can check that out here! :D

For research, as soon as I get a plot bunny, I start compiling every resource I presume will be valuable in the future. I use padlet for this since it’s simple to use and pretty easy on the eyes. I keep an outline of my fic on Evernote or Google Keep, whichever is accessible to me at the time I have an idea I want to take note of. And during the outlining process, whenever I think of a scene that might need some significant background/setting checks, I look up references and highlight them and store screenshots of it on padlet. Here’s an example:

I usually take a week or two of research to solidify where I want the fic to take place and what the characters will be doing. But I also do research while I’m actually writing---the amount of times I get interrupted from typing a scene just to look up the kind of vegetation that grows in a swamp is between me and my sacred Google History lmao. Research is a staple and never-ending for me, and I think it’s a sentiment almost every writer shares.

As for tips on making sentences flow easily… hmm, I don’t think my sentences flow as easily as I want them to tbh. But I do keep authors like Ernest Hemingway, Neil Gaiman, and Eowyn Ivey as references in mind! Hemingway for the succinctness, Gaiman for the worldbuilding, and Ivey for the imagery. Hemingway and Gaiman are pretty obvious choices, but I particularly love the way Ivey writes. Here's a passage from what I believe is her seminal work, The Snow Child:

“All her life she had believed in something more, in the mystery that shape-shifted at the edge of her senses. It was the flutter of moth wings on glass and the promise of river nymphs in the dappled creek beds. It was the smell of oak trees on the summer evening she fell in love, and the way dawn threw itself across the cow pond and turned the water to light.”

It's so elegant, isn't it? My writing style could be called an inferior copycat of hers, yet I'd still be fucking proud of it. She's just flat-out amazing.

I know it’s not apparent, given my fics’ usual word count, but I like shortening things. If it doesn’t fit in the overall theme of the story, or if it doesn’t make sense that the character will say such a thing, I’ll weed the bastard out. If it sounds shitty when I say it out loud, then I'll toss it out to the astral plane.

Here’s an example. There was a passage in the first chapter of thirty-three days of mist and mountains that I intensely tinkered with because it was so awful at the start:

Bodies age and tire, but Tobio, with all the brashness that came with youth, had thought he was exempt to that experience. Volleyball was good for masking the loneliness that clung to him like a heady scent. When he was younger, it used to be enough.

It seemed… well, okay, when I first wrote it. Then when I came back a few days later, it sounded fucking terrible. And most importantly, it didn't sound like Kageyama at all to me. So I played around with it and spliced it and used other words to make it sound better, until I finally ended up with this paragraph:

Bodies age and tire. And so do minds and hearts. They can weaken and let things in. Volleyball is good for staving off the haunting sadness that creeps into his days. When he was younger, it used to be enough.

It sounds better. Not perfect, but definitely not as icky as the first one.

In my penpals fic, I took out 7k words worth of scenes and dialogue. I know I worked hard to vomit all of that and I worked even harder to trim out all the fat and stuff, but upon my third reading, those scenes felt disjointed to me and were, frankly, unrelated to the ~themes~ I was going for.

In my Sengoku Period!AU fic I was even worse. I had to shelve a critical plot device and rewrote the entire second half of Act 2 because I eventually realized that it made my main character more of a passive actor than an active one. I probably rewrote 15-20k words worth of scenes.

I’m not sure if this will work for you, but for me, getting comfortable with cutting shit loose was kind of a game changer. If I start to feel that a turn of a phrase seemed odd, I cut it out before it grows legs.

Ohh, I’m also a rabid consumer of all kinds of media, and I think it helps with dialogue construction and worldbuilding! My latest obsession (as you’ve noticed!) is One Piece, and I’m getting a lot of inspiration from it! I’ve already caught up with the manga /sobs/ I can’t believe after powering through 1000+ episodes and chapters I still want more! I’ve also been watching walkthroughs of God of War, and christ on a cherry, whoever writes and screens their dialogue deserves a BAFTA. Literally not a word in their dialogue seems misplaced, it’s fucking inspirational!

I’m also a frequent watcher of late night shows—I’m not American, but I eventually got a sense of how Americans talk and what sounded funny to them by watching those. I got to know about Japanese people and culture after watching a ton of NHK documentaries and their morning dramas. For European stuff, I’m subscribed to DW Documentary and Sky News on Youtube, and for South East and South Asians, well, I have my local television for that lol. You’ll eventually pick up stuff just by watching/reading, so it’s not bad to diversify once in a while!

This was such a lengthy answer lol but I hoped this helped! Don’t hesitate to drop an ask again if you need clarifications or something :D

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

I'm very curious to hear your take on Zuko as a disabled character? All of your analyses of disability in fiction have been very interesting to read so far, thank you for sharing your thoughts/expertise.

Thank you!  Follow-on from this post about Toph.

What I mean by saying Zuko is a disabled character: the social model of disability basically states that disability is any bodily difference that gets problematized and/or treated as abnormal by society.  This definition includes facial differences, AKA any scarring, skin marking, and so on that leads to staring by nondisabled society or other forms of stigma based on the person’s appearance.  Part of the reason for this inclusion is about complicating the disabled-nondisabled dichotomy; facial difference and facial scarring are identities within that framework.  Part of the reason comes from the U.S.’s history of Ugly Laws, which literally made it illegal for people with facial differences to appear in public in some cities as late as 1974.  Part of it is the huge overlap between ableism (giving more privileges to the nondisabled) and lookism (giving more privileges to the normatively beautiful).

Avatar: The Last Airbender has some high-quality anti-ableism in showing Zuko’s story, including how other characters respond to Zuko and how Zuko’s appearance informs but does not define his characterization.

One of the ways this comes out is by turning nondisabled characters’ gaze back on them:

In “The Serpent’s Pass,” Jet says to Zuko “You know, as soon as I saw your scar, I knew exactly who you were…” and then goes on to describe his almost hilariously wrong conclusion that Zuko’s a Freedom Fighter waiting to happen because Zuko’s village was presumably also destroyed by the Fire Nation.  We get to see Zuko’s moment of terror that he actually has been recognized turn into incredulity as he then gets invited to join a guerrilla force opposing everything he (currently) stands for.  Jet looks stupid for jumping to conclusions based on appearances.

In both “Zuko Alone” and “The Cave of Two Lovers,” that same jumping-to-conclusions works in Zuko’s favor, because both Song’s mother and Li’s parents assume that anyone with a burn scar must be a veteran of the fight against the Fire Nation.  Again, the emphasis is on the fact that the people judging Zuko based on his appearance are wrong.

In “The Chase,” Azula becomes the only person we ever see mock Zuko for his appearance, when she covers her own left eye to draw out the “family resemblance” for Aang.  The moment gets a horrified reaction out of Aang — Zuko’s his enemy, but Aang also realizes that this is a nasty thing to do — and helps to establish Azula as not just a villain, but a sadistic one.

In “The Beach,” Zuko blows up at Ty Lee for commenting that stress can cause breakouts.  His response is unnecessarily mean-spirited, but it also draws attention to the relative level of privilege (the biggest skin problem she has to worry about is acne) that informed her careless comment.

In “Crossroads of Destiny,” Zuko assumes that, when Katara calls him “the face of the enemy,” it’s a way of calling him frightening to look at — and it’s Katara who looks like a jerk for implying it, even accidentally.

The other big way that this comes out is clapping back at the implied treatment of disability as demanding explanation, or the “But why are you like this?” form of ableism:

The show makes it clear that Zuko does not owe anyone — not Song, not Li, not Jet, not his crew, not his friends — an explanation for why he looks the way he does.  None of the Gaang ever ask Zuko what happened, and the few characters who do (Li, Song, Lieutenant Jee) don’t end up looking good when they do so.

“The Cave of Two Lovers” clearly underlines the show’s theme of “my body, my business” in the scene where Song tries to touch Zuko’s face.  The tone (including literal musical tones) signals that Song is being inappropriate and invasive.  It’s understandable that she wants to make a connection, but it’s also emphatically not okay to touch body parts of strangers one has not received permission to touch.

To be clear, taking people’s ostrich-horses is also not okay, Zuko, but Baby’s First Grand Theft Auto helps drive home just how thoroughly Song has let her curiosity and rudeness sour a budding connection.  It also shows that, while she’s right that she and Zuko have some things in common, she has privileges he lacks because she doesn’t have to disclose her scars if she doesn’t feel like it.  Plus, that moment contrasts to Katara and Mai both touching Zuko’s cheek — Katara just after they’ve shared a moment of vulnerability, Mai just before they start smooching — because they’re both doing so in a way that’s respectful to Zuko himself.

When he wakes up from a dream of turning into Aang, the first thing Zuko does is touch his left eye to make sure he’s still himself.  It’s part of his identity, and the only time we see adolescent Zuko without it (earlier in the dream sequence) it’s a way of showing that Zuko isn’t truly himself.

Zuko grapples with the fact that he’s always going to bear evidence of having survived abuse, and a big part of his character journey is concluding that he’s free to make whatever meaning he chooses of that scar, regardless of what Ozai might’ve intended.

There are other elements of Zuko’s story the Avatar writers do well.  He bears a superficial resemblance to the thousands of villains (especially in SF) who become villainous because they incur facial scarring, but of course his story is infinitely more humanized and nuanced than “skin bleached in a vat of acid, might as well go rob banks now.”  His appearance incurs very different reactions depending on his current wealth and political power, emphasizing the intersections of disability and imperialism.  He discusses the possibility of a cure with Katara, but also goes on to live a long and fulfilling life without one.

Maybe there’s no clearer evidence that Zuko counts as disabled in the sense of “society treats your body as a problem that needs to be solved” than the way that adaptations of AtLA treat the scar.  They tend to minimize, hide, or otherwise avoid it.

[Image description: Sepia-toned image of the Gaang from a Legend of Korra promotional that appeared on the Nickelodeon website.  Zuko has his head turned and his hair swept forward in such a way that none of the left side of his face is visible.]

[Image description: Screenshot of Zuko from the 2010 adaptation The Last Airbender.  Dev Patel has a very subtle amount of makeup meant to convey minimal scarring around his left eye.]

Like I said: facial difference counts as a disability because society treats it like one.  In the social model, that’s what counts rather than, for instance, how much peripheral vision Zuko does or doesn’t have.

I’m not linking to any of many works of fan art that depict Zuko tilted to the right, occasionally even when other characters are presented facing directly ahead.  Nor am I going to link to any of the equally-plentiful works of fan fiction that keep most other elements of canon the same but specify that Zuko’s face is unscarred.  (A similar number, it’s worth noting, also make Toph sighted.)  This isn’t a callout.  It’s an explanation of how Avatar does an effective job of showing how Zuko’s facial difference informs his identity without making that difference the sum total of his identity.

[violett-writes]

Monotone Donations

"Are you and Dream dating?" Your monotone slightly British text to talk reads off the $10 donation from alexiscarter3215.

You laugh, blushing slightly at the question as you continue to build your trusty restaurant on the Dream SMP server. You and Dream have been friends for about a year now. You had built a small friendship with George when he introduced the two of you, claiming you to be the 'woman version of Dream'. And it's just skyrocketed from there. You were introduced to Sapnap, who complained at being the last one introduced in the Dream Team. Then Tommy, Tubbo, Wilbur, Niki, and so many more people. It made your head spin, honestly. You jumped from being a semi-small streamer to having a solid fanbase.

"Thank you for the dono, alexiscarter3215." You smile at your facecam, holding up a little heart. The chat goes wild, whizzing past too fast to read but you're sure they're upset that you didn't answer their question.

You had to think about it for a second. You two sure acted like you were dating. Between the constant guest appearances on each other's streams, the twitter flirting, and the Minecraft beds next to each other on his server, you could see why others would be confused. But you weren't dating. You mean, you two did facetime every night and he did know all your secrets. But you don't even know what he looks like yet and....

Shit. You have a fat crush on Dream. The realization that you finally admitted it to yourself making you pause slightly before your phone buzzes, a notification from Twitter. You spot Dream's username and pause your game. "Let's find out what Dream tweeted folks." You tell your stream, planning on ending it soon anyways so this was the perfect segway to wrapping it up. You're thankful for the distraction as you weren't even sure what you were going to say next.

!TWITTER!

Dream @.Dream

proud to say i haven't lost no simp september 😤👏🏻 but can't say the same for @.nightmare

You read it aloud, blush covering your face and you thank your shitty camera quality for once. Hopefully your small face cam in the corner of the screen was too tiny for your viewers to see the pink tint to your cheeks.

"What do you think I should reply, guys?" You ask your stream, leaning in to see the chat. Most of the suggestions were either to profess your love for him or were to meme him. You chose the later, as you weren't 100% sure if he liked you back.

"Okay, okay, we'll meme him." Your fingers expertly move across the screen before you press tweet. "Go blow it up guys." You set your phone down and make your facecam the only thing viewers can see on the stream.

"That'll be the end of my stream for today! Thank you all for joining and remember, don't you dare lose no simp september to block men!" You wave goodbye to your viewers, raiding Sapnap quickly before leaning back in your chair, sighing loudly. You hear another ding from your phone.

Dream @.Dream

proud to say i haven't lost no simp september 😤👏🏻 but can't say the same for @.nightmare

Night @.nightmare

no ❤️

Dream @.Dream

:(

You giggle at his tweet, liking it as a text from him quickly follows.

dweam

how dare you not simp for me?

night

I should say the same to you Big D

You giggle, stealing Tommy's nickname from him. You watched enough of Tommy to remember all the different names he has used for Dream.

dweam

okay, pls lose my number

night K.

You giggle, biting your nails slightly as you wait for his reply. Instead of a text, you get an incoming facetime from him. You decline his call, choosing to keep the bit going. After a few moments, you get a facetime from Sapnap. You answer it, confused as to why he would be calling you out of the blue.

"Answer Dream." Was all he said before hanging up. You laugh loudly, covering your mouth so as to not wake your housemates before deciding to take the bit to twitter.

!TWITTER!

Night @.nightmare

i hate men. dhmu. only the real ones know.

Dream facetimes you again and you pick up sniffling slightly.

"(Y/N)? Are you okay??? I didn't mean it. I saw your tweet, please... I didn't mean it." He says, concerned as he hides his face from the camera.

You finally break, laughing loudly as you put the camera down so you can hold your stomach, wheezing. "Dream, bud. I was just joking around." You hear him let out a sigh of relief.

"You should come to Florida." He suddenly states, making you choke on the sip of water you were drinking.

"Uh..." You pause for a moment.

"I mean if you're uncomfort-"

"Yes." You cut him off, smiling into the camera brightly. "Yes, I will come to Florida."

The next two weeks were a blur, Dream insisted on paying for your ticket to fly to Florida. And when the boys found out that you were visiting without asking them first, they were super jealous. So jealous, in fact, that they both booked flights that phone call. They were nice enough to give you two days alone with Dream, but only after an awkward amount of silence and a lot of text notifications where you're pretty sure Dream threatened to leave their ass at the airport if they didn't come later. Your knowledge of this only coming from the screenshots George sent you of Dream's threats.

The day of the flight, you were incredibly nervous. You had picked a soft plum colored sweatshirt with simple black leggings and converes. You wanted to dress up a little, but you also knew that you would be uncomfortable the whole flight if you did. Hopefully Dream didn't mind you dressing down for the first in person meeting with him.

night

leaving now for the airport. wish me luck

You send the text and shut your phone off as you enter the uber. A short 30 minute drive later and you're walking through the airport. You smile slightly, airports seem like they exist in a different dimension all together. You don't judge someone having a drink at 9 a.m. at an airport, because well... they're in an airport. You buy a water once you get past security, drinking it nervously as you wait for your flight to be called.

After a 30 minute wait, your flight is finally called. You finally reach your window seat and check your phone.

dweam

i hope u don't die.

night

how kind of u. we're leaving now :))) see u soon!!!!!

You smile and turn off your phone, leaning back and closing your eyes as you drift off.

The kind old lady seated next to you shakes you awake, telling you that you're landing soon. You flush red, not realizing that you slept through the whole flight. You probably looked ridiculous.

Once you land, you quickly pull out your phone and turn it on. You notice that you had 3 unread messages from Dream.

dweam

i'm so kind

but fr i hope u have a safe flight.

text me when u land. i got here a little early... guess i was just too excited

night

we just landed!!!

You blush at the connotation of his text. He was genuinely excited to see you? When everyone was finally able to leave their seats, you grab your overhead luggage and make your way off the plane. You make your way to the baggage claim and watch the bags intently, waiting for your polka dot bag to show itself.

You feel a tap on your shoulder and you turn around, coming face to face with a very tall blonde man.

"Oh- sorry, am in your way?" You mumble, moving over for them to grab their luggage.

"(Y/N)?" He asks you, his voice unsure and hesitant.

Your eyebrows raise in shock and you turn around again, looking at him closely. You cover your mouth in shock, "D-Dream?" You ask for a moment, unsure if this is real.

He nods, laughing and you throw yourself at him, wrapping your arms around him in a tight hug. Tears start to come to your eyes as he hugs you back tightly. You pull back so that you could look up at his face, but still keeping your arms wrapped around him. "Dream!" You sniffle, your voice a little scratchy from holding back the tears.

"(Y/N)! Are you crying?" He asks, laughing. He is so much more attractive than you could have ever imagined. You sniffle, wiping your nose on your sleeve as you hit his chest lightly.

"Don't make fun of me. This is easily the best thing that has happened in my life." You giggle softly, looking back at the conveyer belt to see your bag. You quickly rush to grab it before it disappears on you.

You turn back to Dream, your bag trailing behind you as you pull it along. Dream grabs your carryon much to your complaints.

"I got it, (Y/N), don't worry." He chuckles, his deep voice making butterflies appear in your stomach. As the two of you walk to his car, chatting excitedly about what the plans are for the week, Dream grabs your free hand, linking your fingers together. Blush creeps up your neck as you pretend nothing is different. Once you reach his car, Dream grabs both of your luggage and puts them in the trunk as you get into the passenger side.

"So, I don't know if you rented a hotel room or something..."He trails off, tapping the steering wheel nervously.

Your eyes widen slightly, you didn't know he wanted you to. "Oh! I, uh, I totally forgot. I can book one right now, though. No biggie." You quickly pull out your phone, panicking a little as you search hotels near me.

Dream pushes your phone away, chuckling. "No, no. (Y/N), you don't have to. I didn't mean it like that. I just wasn't sure if you were comfortable staying at my apartment."

You let out a sigh of relief. "Of course I'm fine with that you dork." You punch his arm softly, "I thought for a second you didn't want me there!" You tease him.

Dream feigns being hurt by your punch before gently grabbing your hand again. "Of course I want you there." He mutters softly.

The words set your stomach aflame as your intestines tie themselves into a knot. He wanted you there.

[nordleuchten]

Hello! From historical figure questions, could you answer number 9,13,14,15 about La fayette?:) Thank you!

9. Who, if any, portrayed them the best in things like musical theatre, movies, television shows, etc.?

I absolutely loved Sam Neill as La Fayette in La Révolution française. The movie series was incredible and Neill did a really good job in my opinion. I loved his costumes (I could even take screenshots from the movies and put them right next to contemporary portraits!), his dialogues and his overall portrayal. There was this one scene where La Fayette was in bed when some courier told him that the King and Queen had fled. I do not know if that was intentionally but this bed-scene just fitted perfectly into the historic context for me. La Révolution française represented La Fayette in a balanced light. My only complaint would be the end of his story arc. His arc ends with a valet of the King telling Louis XVI that La Fayette had fled to Austria. This in and on itself is not true - he was captured by the Austrians, furthermore, La Fayette’s flight and imprisonment was widely debated in France and especially in Paris. I would have loved to see this debates featured. Also, I wish they would have incorporated him more into the balcony-scene … but then again, the movies/episodes were already quite long and the producers had to fit in an enormous amount of history into a short time frame.

13. Who is your favourite historical figure’s bestie? Who is their arch-nemesis?

La Fayette had many besties. Most of them were in France, England and America. Among them was George Washington, together with many (if not most) other generals in the Continental Army, politicians (and former army members) like Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe and Thomas Jefferson. In England, they were mostly former opponents from the American War of Independence and politicians such like famous opposition leader Charles James Fox. In France they were extended family members and in-laws, politicians, fellow nobles, members of the court and in general people that wandered in the same circles as La Fayette did. If I had to narrow it down to La Fayette’s absolute besties, I would probably go for George Washington and Charles César de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg.

14. Did your favourite historical figure have any favourite past times or hobbies? If so, what were they?

La Fayette was quite often very busy but in his spare time, he liked to be sociable and spend his time with friends and meeting new acquaintances. He also liked to read and had a rich correspondence with all sorts of people. He further liked riding (and had some absurdly expensive horses), carriage racing (with emphasis on racing) and hunting. Later in live he liked to wander around his farm and he was also not above spending some quality time with his children, family and grand-children. He furthermore had mistresses … does they count as a favourite past-time?

While La Fayette travelled quite a lot for a person from the 18th century, most of these travels were “business trips”. He allegedly enjoyed the opera (and theatre) but was not artistic himself. He did not play an instrument, was not noted as a good singer, did not paint and as far as we know never really tried his hands on poetry.

La Fayette was not the greatest fan of the French court and was quite happy to stay away from the court, nevertheless, he experienced some enjoyable days there, especially in his youth and especially when his friends were at court as well.

15. Who is one of the people that they were friends with that you don’t really like?

I think there is actually no one that would fit in this category. First of all, I am not good enough acquainted with every single one of his friends in order to judge them. Secondly, when I say I “like” a historical person it is more about expressing my interest in their life and their character and not necessarily about judging their personality. There are many people, related or unrelated to La Fayette, that I “like” without really liking them … if that makes any sense.

I hope you have/had a lovely day!

[rennybu]

Since you're one of my favourite artists I was wondering if you had any advice on art block? Each time I sit down to draw I just stare at my tablet screen and feel completely blank on any ideas even though I want to make something. Everything I've started on I start to either hate or feel like anything I do with it just looks horrible and I dont know how to get over this feeling I've been stuck in for months. I was wondering if you had any tips for getting out of this kind of thing :') thanks in advance and I hope you have a great day

sorry about the wait on answering this!!! art block is a tricky thing to deal with even when you think you have a handle on it.. i had to sit and think for this LOL. these r some things i try to keep in mind, and a bit about how i think of creating in general!

i think to start with, try to make a habit of keeping everything you make. put it in a drawer or folder instead of the trash or deleting it. sometimes when i have that itch to create but have no ideas, i’ll go into my “junk” folder and pick out an old sketch that wasn’t as bad as i thought it was when i first started it in the thick of an art block. Or, months will have passed and I can see now where the mistakes are, and just that fresh perspective is a boost to get me working on it.

another thing that helps me out of art blocks, specifically the gross kind where i hate my own process and don’t like looking at my work, is to start a drawing with zero intention of posting it anywhere, and use a completely different tool or brush than I would usually use. Just let yourself doodle, a body part you think is pretty, random shapes, a pet, a character from memory, keeping it super simple and fast just to move your hand.

re-drawing game or movie screenshots is good practice and can also be a good idea substitute when your brain isn’t giving you much to work with!!

ultimately uhh. sitting with yourself and reflecting on what you want out of drawing, what qualities you enjoy from other people’s art that you judge or are harsh about in your own, could be really helpful overall to just lighten that pressure of “oh god this looks nothing like how i want it to”.. no one has your same eyes or technique, and mistakes you see will be invisible to other people, or will be sources of interest or appeal to other people.

if art block really has a vicious hold on you, its okay to take a break from creating. i have notes of art pieces i haven’t started yet because i don’t feel “ready” to, skill-wise, but i don’t want to forget the ideas. taking breaks is Allowed, there will always be pencils and paper to pick up again later!!! try to look at and critique your work as if it were someone else’s (HARDER THAN IT SOUNDSKLDFJ), ALWAYS with encouragement and help in mind. Don’t tear your work apart, don’t tell yourself things that you would never inflict on someone else - this goes in line with my first point, limiting how much of your work you delete or throw out.

there will always be creative low points... its ok to hold hands with it and let yourself rest. sometimes trying to brute force through it will only burn you out

[silver-wield]

body language analysis: tifa and cloud train scene!! go!

Oh, Nonny, you made my morning with this!! I mean, it's not like I haven't touched on Cloud and Tifa's body language in gif reblogs, but an actual post dedicated to one of the best moments of the game? YAY!!

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven't played (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it's gonna be a long one so prepare to scroll.

Also, this is one person's interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that's cool and we'll agree to disagree.

You're also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I'm grabbing them from Youtube and it's frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Other analyses if anyone's interested.

Shinra HQ vision scene (Cloti/plot analysis) 

Chapter 3 (Cloti reblog) 

Tifa character analysis 

Aerith Resolution (plot analysis) 

Train graveyard (not really an analysis, but I got some sweet screenshots of Cloti) 

Now, strap in and enjoy the ride.

So, the corkscrew tunnel scene – or clotiscrew tunnel as I've seen it called – begins with Avalanche caught by the sensors on the train. After a timed fight – which, yes, it's possible to lose, but it's also clear this is a “bad ending” where you've made Cloud look like an incompetent dick who can't even handle a few drones – we see Barret mustering his courage and leaping from the train (he's so damn cute sometimes, I'm gonna have to do a post about his development with Cloud at some point).

The action then cuts to Tifa, frozen in front of the door, too afraid to jump (you can hear her whimpering). Cloud calls her name, deals with the last drone and comes over. Now, in the OG, obviously they all jump one after the other because polygons and popeye arms would've just looked like a total mess and Square admitted they neglected Cloti to highlight all the relationship development between Clerith since she dies later.

Cut to 2020 and we get this. Damn, Square, if I didn't already love you for pretty much my entire life already I'd have fallen for you all over again. In fact, I think I probably did.

Ok, I'm done gushing. Kinda.

I think the first thing I have to point out is that Cloud, at no point, needed to do this. He could have verbally encouraged Tifa to jump without the need for physical support at all. After all, the train's slowing down and she was fine in the OG, so who's to say she wouldn't be fine now, too? By calling her name and fixing her attention on him he's actually stalling her jump.

You'll notice that Tifa doesn't take her eyes off the tracks (before this screen obvs since I can see that’s her feet, work with me here), which is fitting since she's zeroed in on that fearful moment and actually can't move without help. Cloud's face in this is displaying typical tension you'd expect in a high energy scene. He's concerned for Tifa, but he's also focused on dealing with the mechs, which he does very quickly. Now, you could argue he did that to get on with the mission, or you could argue he did that because he saw Tifa needed him and his focus shifted to her. And watching the seconds following him turning to look at her, I'd say there's evidence towards the latter because he's actually lost focus on the last mech and it attacks him first causing him to block and parry.

This is the first instance of touching in this scene, and until this point, Tifa hadn't moved or acknowledged Cloud. He needed to physically draw her from her thoughts and you'll hear a surprised exhale from her as she turns to look at him, showing she was lost within herself until he drew her out. Cloud is obviously looking at the tracks, judging his next move. He's already planning what he has to do to keep both of them safe, which is clear from his decisive nod, along with a reassuring, but grim, smile, before pulling Tifa out the door. Remember, I said he could’ve verbally got her attention. He didn’t. He chose touch.

See what I mean about janky quality? Anyway, this is clear concern about Tifa's safety, but also, remember, Cloud is on the mission because Tifa said she felt trapped and he's related that back to their promise that she needs a hero. He's being her hero.

Okay, we're getting to the meat of things now.

First, fucking ouch, he definitely looks pained, meaning that whole manoeuvre wasn't as smooth as he pretended. As they slow down, he puts a bracing hand against the ground to prevent him rolling onto Tifa (because he's a gent and also toting a sword that weighs more than Barret lol).

What's interesting is where his left hand is in this. Make a note: middle of her back. Tifa's head is tucked into Cloud's neck – safety move, so nothing big there. I've seen some people note Tifa's leg is between Cloud's, but I'm gonna discount that as the way they've locked together during the roll. It's unintentional.

Oh, but this isn't! Cloud has absolutely no reason to put his hand back on Tifa. He could leave it lying flat on the ground. You could argue he needs both to help her get off him, but she's on top. She can do that herself. He has no further need past the initial save to have his hands on her, unless that's what he wants. Obviously we can't see his face in this because of Tifa's hair, but this, combined with the next screen tell a very definite story.

He moved his hand! That left hand, he didn't need to move it up in such a caressing gesture. Coupled with the very intense gaze he gives her, I was swooning like a maiden wearing a too tight corset lol

Now, you could argue he's just concerned, it's a high tension situation. Well, I argue that every single trope using this kind of scene results in sexual tension/flustered characters and/or a kiss. Remember, right at this second, he has no reason to still be lying with her like this. In fact, him moving his hand further up her back is a bracing gesture that would keep her close, not release her. Tifa's fists are balled against his chest, which signifies she's protecting her hands – she's a hand-to-hand fighter remember -- but her face is relaxed. She's not feeling awkward or eager to escape.

Eye contact!! Can I just leave it at that? No? Cloud isn't actually the type to keep prolonged eye contact. Oh, did you think I was about to say something else? Well, for literally anyone who hasn't paid attention to him, Cloud often looks away when he feels awkward, flustered, unsure, basically any negative emotion. The only time he looks anyone in the eye is when he's confronting them or at ease. Remember, even when Jessie teased him about smiling during chapter 4 he looked away, embarrassed. Cloud doesn't handle eye contact well. Which is why this is such a huge deal. He's keeping prolonged eye contact with Tifa. He doesn't look away from her eyes when he asks if she's ok. And that question – ah my heart! So soft and tender. You can hear the care and concern in his tone. It anchors the entire scene from start to finish. Everything he just did was because he cares about Tifa and wants to look after her. He wants to make sure she's ok, even if it means he suffers for it. Pretty sure some people will disagree with this, but the damn man wore a dress and went through a humiliating dance routine – humiliating for him, I fucking loved it – just to save her. His first words in Wall Market are he wants to save Tifa, but Aerith cuts him off before he can finish the sentence.

These are the moments that I have to go back over a million times to catch. Check the tiny eye narrowing and uplift at the corner of his mouth. She said she's ok and he's happy about it. He's her hero – in not so many words. Tifa's shaky reply and pale face confirm her shock and fear, but also you can see an easing of the tension in her. There's a subtle softening of her muscle definition and facial expression that displays the trust and belief she has in Cloud that he'd look after her. This is a very mutually appreciative moment between them. Definitely not one sided.

And then the moment is over, without any flustered blushing or stammering, and thank God there wasn't because that would be so ooc I just can't with it. Cloud, despite being an awkward af dork who doesn't know how to deal with women hitting on him, doesn't turn into a flustered 14 year old trying to tell his crush he's leaving Nibelheim whenever they have contact. We've already seen smooth!Cloud giving Tifa a flower and complimenting her like a cheeky bastard. He can handle being around her because he feels comfortable. He can compliment her because of that, too. He might be slightly separated from those childhood feelings, but they're in there and they're motivating him to be outgoing towards her. To show her the cool SOLDIER he became that's worthy of being beside her.

But, yeah, back to the point. The moment is over. Or is it? Because that is some very further prolonged eye contact between them when there doesn't have to be. Tifa moves back, Cloud moves forward, they're both getting up and yet, they're both looking at each other. I don't know about you, but I find it easier to look where I'm going when I've fallen on my ass and need to get up. I sure af don't stare longingly into someone's eyes like I can't bear not to.

And now it really is over because right after this the mechs arrive. But before that, some more prolonged eye contact. There literally is no need for them to do this at this point. Tifa looks pensive, but I think that's her default tbf. Yet, at the same time, there's an intensity in her gaze like she wants to say something – maybe it's just a thank you, that would turn into a flirty conversation of some sort “you didn't need to do that,” “I wanted to” kind of deal – so it makes sense they're interrupted because Square said they didn’t want to overdo the amount of Cloti content they added and this is already a very charged scene.

Meanwhile, Cloud is looking at her like she's his entire world and he's just waiting for her to realise it. There's an aura of expectation in his pose and face. They're both crouching in mirrored poses, which as some of you may know is what you do when you're trying to build rapport with someone. It's basic body language building blocks. Toddlers do this. They're both on one knee, slightly leaning forward. Now, if there was no rapport between them, if they wanted to end the moment, one of them would stand up, breaking the mirrored pose and cutting off eye contact. This would put one above the other and show an imbalance in their relationship. This doesn't happen. They both turn at the same time, rise at the same time and fight pose at the same time.

Conclusion:

Seriously? After all that you can't draw your own?

Ok, I'll be fair to the other side. Let's take away Cloud's history with Tifa – since that's the biggest argument for them: the childhood crush trope.

If Cloud and Tifa weren't friends, just colleagues on a mission, this scene would still be hella charged with sexual tension and implication that Cloud has a thing for her. Even if it's just basic sexual attraction, that's still attraction and a marker on the pathway to a relationship.

But, they are friends, so moving on.

Tifa is the more reserved one in this dynamic. She's naturally shy – it's canon – but even with that, she's affected by Cloud. She holds that eye contact. Her voice is equally soft as his. She mirrors his pose. She doesn't try to get away the second they stop moving. Cloud is the one to move things along, without awkwardness because he's comfortable with Tifa. He's not out of sorts having her lying on top of him – which you can argue means he's not interested, but I literally just pointed out all the ways in which he is into her. Being comfortable in someone's company doesn't mean a person isn't attracted to them. If I had to stick a pin in Cloud's sexuality I'd say he's on the demi scale, meaning he needs to have a deep emotional connection to whoever he's with before he falls in love with them. He's not a love at first sight kind of guy.

This fits with the childhood crush trope. Cloud's known Tifa for years and developed an attraction to her that still lingers, making a reconnection between them easier. He's not slobbering over her because he's Cloud and very stoic – I know people say his true self isn't like this, but it is only with more insecurity and desire to prove himself. He's still a very reserved guy with a dry sense of humour. He's prone to melancholy and self doubt, which is why his friends bolster his confidence so much.

Point is, everything in this scene showcases a deep and meaningful relationship between the two of them at its best, while at its most shallow it shows Cloud is sexually attracted to Tifa, which is something that could develop into a more meaningful relationship later. Either way, it's a marked moment in their interactions that Cloud's non-optional choices led to it. There's no either/or within this. It happened.

[coreastories]

Corean Awards Night: Was the queen hidden in plain sight?

This year, the Corean Awards Ceremony was held in the winter palace in Pyeongchang 

Usually held in Gwangyeongjeon Palace in Busan, the awards ceremony relocated to the mountains where the queen is currently recuperating from the car crash that shook all our collective knees on November 13

Ahjummas still haven’t recovered and there was talk whether or not the awards ceremony for November 29 would be postponed to a later date

But new invitations have not been issued

The Royal Public Affairs Office announced instead that the media and nominees are cordially invited to the winter palace for the Corean Awards Ceremony, with every change in transport and accommodation for this to be satisfied by the palace 

Who'd complain? 

Exclusively televised by the the Corean Broadcasting Service, this humble reporter didn’t really have to do much but enjoy being there

Gyeoulgungjeon, literally “winter palace,” was completed in 1926, a royal gift for the current king’s great grandparents on their wedding. It served as a recovery hospital during World War II. 

Security protocol doesn’t allow me to post photos of the palace, and you’ll find no aerial shots of it anywhere. For international readers who haven’t seen the televised broadcast, you can look at the Pillnitz palaces in Dresden so you have an idea of what Gyeoulgungjeon looks like, nestled in the snow-covered slopes of Pyeongchang. 

Gyeoulgungjeon has the same Baroque style, though more gracefully situated in the mountains, with a charming rustic landscaping to match the scenery rather than Versailles-formality

The Corean Awards Ceremony was both luxurious and casual. It was black tie, and almost all the men were in tuxes, but the king himself wore a simple black suit and tie rather than any of his grander uniforms and coats. 

We were seated in round tables with glittering candelabra. The banquet hall left plenty of space for camaraderie, and people were on their feet, switching tables, and mingling in a friendly atmosphere. It was an evening among colleagues and the best people in the fields honored in the Corean Awards, but there were no huge egos walking around. It was delightful. 

We were served delicious makgeolli, which I’ve been told was made right there in the winter palace. Aside from the sumptuous Corean and continental buffet, I also had a whole year’s serving of carbs in irresistible hotteok and bindaetteok. Gods. 

The new Corean Laureate in Medicine: Chae Song-Eun Seonsaengnim

We’ve mentioned before that more than half of the nominees were under 50. Many of them won. Every Corean Award winner was decided by the most renowned in their respective fields around the world. 

Go here for our coverage of the Corean Awards Winners 

Dr Chae Song-eun, the queen’s OB, won the Corean Award in Medicine for her pioneering work in in-utero surgery. The award was presented by Dr. Fouad M. Abbas, one of the top doctors of the world specializing in oncology and obstetrics-- one of the judges of Corean Award in Medicine, and among the special guests that night. 

In her speech, Dr Chae announced the prize money of 2 billion won is going to Daesang Medical Group, to support international surgery missions to countries and patients in need.   

DMG has the queen as patroness, and is headed by Dr Chae’s husband, CorGen Chief of General Surgery, Dr Lee Sok-jun. 

Dr Lee Sok-jun: “I’m very proud of her. But then she always amazes me every day. This is nothing new.”

Congratulations, Dr Chae! On your Corean Award and your husband! 

Confirmed: The Prime Minister has been staying in the winter palace

Rumors have been circulating, of course, because the PM is supposed to be in Seoul but she  hasn’t been there. She wasn’t in Cheongwadae either. 

We can now confirm: The PM has been working from the winter palace for the past week.

This too-close tie between the palace and the government has drawn some raised eyebrows from the international press (and some local dissidents from the Jinsun Party, but no one listens to the parties). Within the kingdom, however, it’s just an accepted and beloved fact that the queen and the prime minister are friends. 

They work together to the benefit of the kingdom, and these two are always in lists of the most powerful, most admired women of the world. 

The PM worked closely with the king and queen at the palace. It seems Their Majesties are tying up loose ends for the year and for the next, with the PM expected to take over some diplomatic duties until well into July next year. 

While we weren’t able to get a comment from Her Excellency, we did see her power walking in one of the palace’s service halls in her half-tux, half-tartan skirt outfit. Hmm. Not crazy about it, but not too bad either. 

After flashing that mischievous grin like the proverbial cat with the canary, she was both friendly and curt, and we didn’t press her. She did tell us she was leaving after the Ceremony.  

I would love to be a bug on the wall for the past week. I want to know the dynamics between those three! 

Speaking of three…

The royal love triangle was together again-- although one party wasn’t aware of it

Part of the fun and anticipation of the Corean Awards was seeing Gong Shin and his blatant crush on the queen. 

My assistant was shaking too much when she took the photo for this to turn out any good, and we’ve enhanced it as much as we could.

We met him on the way to Pyeongchang, and the Corean star was all smiles, saying he was looking forward to the evening with Their Majesties, and he was really glad the queen was well. 

I was quite sad for him that night. 

Before the sun went down, we were treated to the sight of the king arriving amid the Royal Guard. 

No queen until evening fell and the lamps lit up the palace. Shortly before the ceremony started, it was announced the queen was not attending. 

You’ve all seen this photo of Gong Shin with a flute of champagne in what looks like a dressing room in Gyeoulgungjeon. His expression does look a little forlorn.

Ahjummas are speculating it’s because he was disappointed about not seeing the queen. 

Now we have these low quality photos of the king, in a different room, in a different suit, with a different expression, looking rather amused and gleeful. And we know very few people who can make the king look so happy. 

The same ahjummas awww-ing over Gong Shin awww-ed over this, and speculate that the queen had entered that opulent room, or maybe the king had been told something good?  

The king seemed in good spirits during the evening. We have this breathtaking photo from the Royal Public Affairs Office, of the king now in the suit and tie he’d worn that evening. 

I feel like we've published the same photo before, but it's not the king's fault he looks the same bright eyed happy king he always does, is it. 

And along with that photograph, we received one other: 

Her Majesty the Queen, Corean Awards Ceremony, Gyeoulgungjeon

The label is succinct as always. So it looks like the queen did attend the Awards! We don’t know how they’ve managed to hide the queen, but the palace can be terrifyingly efficient like that. I’m just glad to see her even in this photograph. 

And of course it’s her right to watch without being obligated to present an award or be there for the guests. It’s Her Majesty’s prerogative. And perhaps Gong Shin is smiling at the discovery that the queen saw him present the award for the Corean Award in Film, yes?   

The Royal Public Affairs Office assures us the queen continues to mend. She will still be in a sling for another 2 to 4 weeks, and she has started therapy. I’m sure the queen is snug and absolutely getting the royal treatment-- pun intended. 

Now if only the Royal Public Affairs Office could add something to their labels to elucidate why the queen was hidden away, hmm? 

Ahjummas have weighed in on this, and said it was perhaps the old tradition of keeping the expecting mom away from the public as she goes past the first trimester, to protect her from jealous bad spirits. 

After that car crash, I can get behind that!

Stay safe, Your Majesty!  Stay tuned, dear reader. 

------------ With thanks to @ms-interpretation​ for the screenshot of the king and the Royal Guard. :)   If I added a watermark on a photo, it means I did some hard work on it that ate time, so the conceit of adding a watermark. Argh. Lol.

[aliciavikander]

Hi Szabina! I wanted to ask you a somewhat technical gifmaking question but it's totally okay if you don't want to answer, i simply don't know if you answer these kinda questions or not.

You are one of the few gifmakers I follow who has really quality edits --regardless of color settings etc, which is sth personal i think. I really like gifs that similarly look like when we're watching that scene, sharp but like smooth sharp. Like a 4k quality of tumblr idk.

I'm new to gifmaking game, and i've found some people kindly sharing tutorials, and i've been experimenting on ps too. But i haven't quite figured out that 'smoothly sharp' thing. I had a 4k video, and it looked really shitty --like pixels-- when i sharpened it so edited it without sharpening settings but it still didn't look the way i hoped, and i'm not sure if it's about coloring or contrast etc either. And at this point i guess adding grain woulf make it even worse? Idk

So I was wondering if you could have any advice on that or perhaps you know some people here who have tutorials on that kind of details. I'm constantly trying stuff myself but i'm one of those people who best learn with some guidance so i thought i just asked.

Thank you for yor time in any case ✌🏻

Hi! Thank you for your nice words, and let me start by saying I'm really bad at explaining stuff, so I apologize if I say something confusing and feel free to send me an ask again if that happens <3

First, there are a few questions that popped in to my head: which version of PS are you using? (i have cs5) Do you use clips or frames? And how do you normally sharpen your gifs?

You usually don't really have to sharpen 4K clips a lot since it's already pretty sharp and clear. But when I do work with them I just sharpen them with my regular sharpen settings (put it under the cut) and then I adjust the opacity if it's too sharp.

What I've noticed over the years that the more adjustment layers you use the more "grainy" or "lossy" your gif will be. It could be that you have a lot of adjustment layers? Idk if you use brightness/contrast layer but too much of that will also have a negative effect on your gif. I usually use exposure or levels instead.

Since I don't see your gif it's pretty hard to tell the root of your problem tbh. If you want to, you can come off anon and send me a link/screenshot to it or something (I will answer to your privately and I promise I won't judge or anything <3).

[belovedstill]

hi!! i have a question... i saw your reblog about freewriting and i wanted to try it myself cause i have a hard time with writing because of my anxiety but i'm not sure i understood 100%. what do you actually write while you freewrite? is it related to what you're working on at the moment, like do you freewrite a scene (kind of like sprinting in a way) or just random words/thoughts in your head?

hi <3 i understand you 100% because sometimes (most of the time) when i sit down with the intention to write, my brain subconsciously goes "okay, the pressure's ON, everything i write must be useful for the fic" (and then i go "wait, @ brain, what fic? i don't even know what fic i would write, i just want to write" and brain says "it must be useful for the fic" (which btw doesn't help, thanks @ brain but no thanks))

i will start by honestly saying that while I've been doing this for many years, I've never had a word for it. If my memory's right, then I've never heard the term "freewriting" before. I'd either call it stream of consciousness or messaging a friend or word vomit or scribbling

(i'm going to share some photos & screenshots as examples because i personally appreciate examples for things i don't know how to even start doing; i'll include content warnings above the photos wherever applicable. These things were not meant to be seen by other people, obviously, so not all of them are neat, not all of them are in English or spelled correctly, and not all of them make sense, some might not even be Socially Acceptable (i'm very anxious as well, you see, so I ask people to be kind if you do take a look at the examples and decipher what's written), but that's the whole point of these: you let your mind go without worrying about where it's going)

I'm sure every person who does freewriting does it differently but here are several ways i do it (under the cut because it got very long as i pretty much (ayyyy) freewrote it):

test a pen/pencil! you know when you get a new pen and write down the most random thing on a piece of paper to see what the ink looks like and how it feels to write using that pen? for me it's usually a single word or a phrase from a song (my go-tos are hello, wait, Beloved (my MC's name, shhh) and other fictional characters' names or Why you gotta be so mean? from Taylor Swift's song "Mean", don't ask me why because i have no answer)

writing down the lyrics to a song that's currently stuck in your mind and living there rent-free, and if you forget the next line or if something else pops into your head - let it take you over

write on random pieces of paper! the less it reminds you of a notebook/blank page, the better! sometimes that means what's left of printer paper or post-it notes. actually, most of the photos of paper pages in this post are from my poor quality notebooks - the paper is too thin or not smooth or the pages are yellowish, so i don't feel bad """wasting""" the notebook for doodles, random scribbles, etc.

a diary entry? a diary entry, except there doesn't have to be depth to it, no journaling type of reflection on your feelings, on your experiences, on the Daily Journaling Prompt necessary--unless you want to. in my case it's mostly complaining about the pen i decided to use or the quality of the paper but!!! because i let myself write anything and everything on one page, at one point it feels natural to write some random story sentences on the other page

CW: implied past physical abuse

brainstorming! here's where, for me, the "messaging a friend" name came from. i have a very vague idea for what i want to write or a very small detail i want to write about, but nothing else. i set up a timer and write everything down (the screenshot is taken from my very own personal discord server, it's just me and a writing bot. at one point i realised that whenever i was brainstorming or writing cheer up ficlets in my friends' discord DMs, writing went super easy because my brain didn't register it as writing, but as chatting. At first, I formatted a new google doc so it looked exactly like discord's dark theme, but ultimately decided that just creating a new server just for my writing process/practice/etc and stuff is easier)

CW: harmful & discouraging stuff asexual people face

"I don't know what to write, I don't even think I want to write an actual story, it's not going to stop me" kind of writing. Anything goes and I mean anything. The sentences aren't connected. There's no actual idea or story behind the sentences. You're just writing a word after a word after a word. Sometimes a question appears in your mind, so you write it down. The question leads to more questions, or maybe an answer, or maybe you realise you like the feel/sound of one word so you write it again and again. After you wrote the word three times, tiny ideas form in your mind, things you relate to that word. Then you lose track of the thought so you write "I lost track", then a piece of dialogue floats in your mind that's probably inspired or part of a song lyric you wrote earlier

CW: unconventional/controversial lovers

if your writing anxiety is caused by fandom wank regarding some topics, tropes, themes, or even genres, know that if you freestyle about the thing you're worried somebody would judge you for, nobody else will read it. you can delete the doc afterwards. you can password protect it. you can tear the page out of your notebook and shred it to pieces. i won't include a photo example of this one (anxious, remember? also, it's nsfw) but i did this with smut-specific words and phrases. i got a blank piece of paper and wrote--first, just words (nouns for genitalia, verbs for action, etc. let me tell you - i was alone in the room and even trying to write the first word was difficult, in my head i kept thinking back to people's conversations on how "problematic these words are" etc etc etc and that fed my anxiety even further because "oh god what if they knew i was about to write this, what would they think of me"), then the words combined into phrases, then common smexy phrases that characters in smut say, and so on and so on. no punctuation because it's not a story. you know what happened after i put that first word on the page? nothing. i felt silly, sure, but i repeated the word several more times and still no People From the Internet barged into my room to ridicule & judge me. during that session, freestyling for that genre got easier and easier with every word.

Two posts that helped me realise that warming up for writing (and anything creative) is a good idea:

Writers need warm up sketches too (my way of warm up is usually either freewriting or using a typing speed website)

The anatomy of a pen/pencil etc

...and I think that's all from me 💕 apologies for how long this is but I hope it helps you in some way *hugs*

[trashcatsnark]

I’ve decided Scout would mostly wear a mask, in an attempt to be taken seriously within the commonwealth, so people don’t underestimate her for the baby face. So, have some mask + outfit combos; plus an unmasked down time pic. 

All mods shown are listed and linked beneath the cut; it’s a long list, cause I’m a mod fiend, thanks to all who’ve shared their beautiful creations without them I probably would have thrown the game out five seconds in. 

Black Widow Armor and Pipboy by DeserterX  with Bodyslide Conversion by SilencedSkies: I love this mask so much no joke, the mask with the armor is pictured in image 7

Cross_2077 by Niero: specifically the headset; while not it’s intended purpose, this helped fix an issue with the black widow hood making her neck invisible when paired with another outfit, it looks natural, despite some clipping issues and with the holo mask enabled it adds a red oni overlay with devil horns that I’m into. 

Premium Pip-Boy Black HD by JackWall: now what kind of edgelord bean would Scout be if her pipboy wasn’t a slick black color? Jk, I’m the edgelord who likes the color black too much. This is so slick and cool; especially when you pair it with red text to live the ultimate Shadow The Hedgehog fantasy.

Overboss Outfit by DeserterX  with Bodyslide Conversion by docteure: I love love love the aesthetic of this outfit so much, it’s just so nice and I love the jacket and just throwing it over any other outfit. 

Eli's Armour Compendium by Elianora: another set I just fell in love with; you can see that Scout is in Ellie’s shop within the screenshots, image number four is the road fury outfit, my personal fave, and image five is the skimpy raider armor cause I’m a whore. 

Femshepping and SootDirt's Female Wanderer Fashion Collection by...well you read it: There’s two images of the armored shorts set, the second and sixth image, and one of the wandering sniper set, image eight; I fell in love with these outfits the second I saw them, they’re just way too cool. I adore them. 

The Wandering Scavver Collection by guidethisonekalaheria; one of the alt looks I believe is pictured in image three, I’m a whore for two very crucial looks on characters; leather jackets and flannels. You fucking offer me an open flannel over a crop top, I’m jumping on it, that’s facts. 

tschutschi's wardrobe II - cbbe - bodyslide: The Toothless outfit is in image nine and god I fell hard for that outfit when i saw it, just chefs kiss. 

Usable Cigarettes by Wenderer: how i got the shot in the last image, I love characters who smoke, why? I don’t know, but here we are with like all but one of my ocs being a smoker, and the one who isn’t a smoker...dates a smoker. 

Dlx Clothes Pack by darklynxxx; lots of cute seperates in this, I used one of the tops in this for the final image. 

Vtaw Wardrobe 6 by well Vtaw; the shorts in the final image, very cute and while a lot of their outfits are a little uh hit and miss for me, there’s always some quality pieces that are worth the download. 

Asian Face Enhanced by alan81512: Used to get Scout’s baby face

Ponytail Hairstyles by Azar: Scout has one of the short hairstyles in this package, the one that I believe??? is meant to be like Chloe’s hair from LiS which is hella nice cause I love that blue haired lesbean and she’s had way too much influence on my ocs so why not. 

Caliente's Beautiful Bodies Enhancer

Bodyslide and Outfit Studio: Along with CBBE these are basically required if you don’t want the standard vanilla body. Scout has a custom bod , tbh I’m still on the fence about if her current bod will stay as a part of me still feels it’s too uhhhhhhhhh unrealistic? Her boobs always seem way to big compared to her waist to me cause I’m bad at doing anything

Daylight’s End by Deku78: finally the last mod seen in these images, I thiiiink???, it’s the background and where she is in some of these pics. I really like this little new settlement and quickly decided it’s not really a settlement but Scout’s home away from Sanctuary where she doesn’t have to worry about Preston giving her more work (she loves him, but sometimes she needs a nap) or Marcy bitching at her. She’s free to drink and smoke in her underwear with only Dogmeat and her five other adopted dogs there to judge her.