#I don't know what to make of all of them XD

[katerinaaqu]

What's your opinion on how Telemachus was handled in Epic (so far) ? I'm curious 😀.

And what is different from his Odyssey portrayal ? Not counting the fanart that infantilizes him, I'm strictly talking about the musical itself.

Hahahaha you guys definitely wanna put me against a wall one of these days! XD But I absolutely LOVE this question! Hahaha okay here goes;

Absolutely I wasn't gonna talk about the fanart and all that is part of the designing process and arguably that is part of every person to do. They could easily choose the depiction more Odyssey-accurate and still use the musical sound so yes you do well to mention it because yes I myself wouldn't touch the design part in this ask

Anyways long story short; I don't like it.

Storywise it is overly-simplified and shows only one portion of his possible emotions; the one that tries to connect with his father. That part is genuine and I see where the portrayal such as the song "Legendary" came from. Arguably Homer himself also touches the subject of glory through one's deeds and I see where the musical came from when Telemachus says what he says but the song was too bbbly, too naive portrayal of Telemachus and in a way completely disregarded the true depth of sadness and depression in Telemachus.

In the Odyssey Telemachus never connected to his father because his father was never there. To the point where he was even doubting whether he was his son or not. He basically says that "everyone calls me that but how can I know? The dude was never there. Possibly never will be here again". His whole energy was the total opposite than Epic.

Epic portrays Telemachus in a manner that reminds me of Disney's Little Mermaid in "Part of your world"; a bubbly teenager who dreams to start his life or to be making a legendary name for himself like his father and in childish naive energy says "bring me all these monsters to fight them!" while in his childish naive nature was also making him afraid or worried to face the bullying of the suitors (the way the suitors were portrayed as if Jorge wanted to make them EVEN MORE evil also had me cringe like Antinous calling Penelope "tramp". Antinous called Penelope more or less "divious" because of her scheme against them but that was all. In here they are competing for her hand while calling her names without reason? Yeah right....). He seemed like the average teenager that needs the adult to get him to realize video games is not the life and that he needs to do something about his future! Does he also seem low-key sad? Yes. But just like Ariel in the Disney movie was pictured as a dreamer that wanted escape from his confided situation through bubbly and childish dreams.

Odyssey Telemachus was both emotionally and psychologically exhausted; his mother was taken down by grief and endless waiting and had confided herself in her chambers, trying her best to avoid the suitors that were at her home for FOUR YEARS, constantly crying at this point. Telemachus also saw his grandfather lose his mind in sorrow and his grandmother melting away by desperation and sadness and dying or potentially killing herself by it. The last thing he wanted was "to be legendary". In fact Telemachus gave me the exact opposite energy than a dreamer. He was very down to earth and his main goal was to get out of this nasty situation, trying to grow as a person to set himself free from this torment. He had so much in his plate that the last thing he wanted was to dream. In fact he gave me the impression of a person with no more the luxury of dreaming. He almost seemed crushed to the point of breaking himself almost like every other member of his family. (He gives me the impression of a person that after spent years of trying and fulflling their dreams now they are forced to work in a work they hate for survival and think that "dreams are for fools. No luxury for them!")

Like I said Menelaus described Telemachus as a spitting image of his father including his eyes, which is something I find the most important. Menelaus compared Telemachus's gaze to Odysseus; a man that fought a war with him! A man exhausted by the evil he saw and caused. Telemachus's profound grief was so intense that his look was equivalent to a man Menelaus fought a war with! He was the opposite of what we see in Epic! In fact we know that Telemachus was also very much silent and tried to keep a low profile so he didn't need to face the humiliation of the men that were literally plundering his wealth and harassing his mother and himself. The last thing he had in his mind would be to "be legendary". He was also plundered by the fact that not only was he doubting that Odysseus was his father per se but also he was in doubt that this Odysseus that everyone named his father would be alive or dead. He didn't know that. He was actually almost certain that Odysseus was dead but that part in the back of his head was not yet leaving him in peace which is why he needed Athena's guidance

Which brings me to the next part; Athena In Epic Athena appears to...give Telemachus the boost to fist-fight the suitors for some reason and mind you he still gets his ass handed at him! It made it seem as Telemachus's only problem was that he didn't have the guts or skills to fight the suitors and Athena gave him a solution! (potentially a message to stand up against bullies for teenagers? Perhaps but still I felt it massively undermined Telemachis's situation in the book) As I have answered to another person around here, Telemachus's problem was that the suitors claimed the law of hospitality and named themselves ODYSSEUS'S guests. Telemachus could not yet take over as king and he had no power to send them away. Plus he was plundered by doubt about his own inheritence. What Athena did was not to make Telemachus a fighter for he already was (we see how well he stands against them at the side of his father in the Odyssey) she came to encourage him to find out on his own.

Arguably the trip of Telemachus was a mirror counterpart of Odysseus's but instead of a trip that makes you lost like Odysseus was lost, it was a trip for self-discovery. Mind you, both the trip of Odysseus and the trip of Telemachus are cognitive trips; both characters learn in them and come in contact with places. Psychologically the trip allows Telemachus to escape this boarderline toxic grief in his home and explore the world. Also find out on his own information about his father. Now, arguably he never really finds out about his father's whereabouts for certain apart from Menelaus's vision but there is something he definitely gets out of his trip that is not talked about enough;

He finds out he REALLY is the son of his father and he gets information about what kind of man he was!

He hears from friends that fought with him how similar he looks to him; not just from his closed and secluded environment but of people outside his circle and his known people that he looks like him and they also give him information about him. No more the random comments the suitors he hated say or his sad mother who could either idealize his father to escape her grief or the loyal slave Euryclea who adored the family naturally like a mother; now it was also friends and known people of Odysseus that speak about him Telemachus is double-checking his information! Thus coming home much more confident on his inheritence and his own destiny and duty

Arguably the Odyssey is as much Telemachus's story as it is Odysseus's. Telemachus was in one way a spectrum of Odysseus; fighting a different type of war; losing himself in a different type of sadness. His story was a story of coming of age not a story of a goddess that teaches him how to stand up against bullies. Telemachus already does that in the Odyssey by calling the council. Arguably he was alays standing against the suitors but his position did not allow him to do something drastic! I think just like many things Epic missed this by a mile; reducing Telemachus's profound grief, sadness and uncertainty to an average teenage escapism story rather than the fact that Telemachus had no luxury or energy for escapism, Athena's advice for self-discovery to the average "raise your fists and fight your bullies" story ignoring the deep cultural details that led Telemachus to that tight spot in the first place and of course it completely abandoned the importance of Telemachus's trip which could be a subject of a movie on its own! (Quite frankly Telemacheia covers more chapters in the Odyssey than Odysseus's own flashback! It covers 5 rhapsodies of the Odyssey while Odysseus's story covers 3-4)

I hope this answers some questions! I will be happy to elaborate more.

[nalissia]

Abandonware, Google, and DDoS...

i just found out merriam webster has a time traveler feature that tells you some of the words that were “born” the same year as you. it’s pretty neat yall should do this

[rapidhighway]

gonna vent for a sec but im so tired of this "don't wanna be an inconvenience", people pleasing shit ngl.....do people who do this know that they just come off as really rude and like... it just feels insulting each time

[lieutenantselnia]

You ever get that feeling like you're f/o-ing characters by proxy? Like, you don't necessarily want to f/o them yourself, but you still want them to be f/os to someone and see other people self ship with them? Well, because I think I do ...

So I started rewatching Star Wars Rebels a few weeks ago and oh boy I think my dormant Star Wars hyperfixation is no longer dormant but instead coming back full force - AND NOW I WANT TO SEE THESE DORKS GETTING KISSES GODDAMMIT

These are just the first few that came to my mind but there's more (it's just that it's half past 5am and my brain is soup), but I'd love to see some self-inserts (or OCs) being shipped with them! And even if you don't like Imperials you could also just make them defect with/for you😌

In oder: Lieutenant Yogar Lyste, Commandant Cumberlayne Aresko, Minister Maketh Tua, Admiral Kassius Konstantine, Agent Alexsandr Kallus, Grand Admiral Thrawn

I wasn't quite sure about including Kallus (bottom left) and Thrawn (bottom right) in this list, because 1. they're not nearly as underrated as the others (although I haven't really seen them around in the self ship community), and 2. I also very much ship Kallus with Zeb (I'm rarely crazy about canon x canon pairings but those two are really cute), and well Thrawn is also on my own f/o list anyway xD (I usually don't mind sharing though)

Bonus: Admiral Yularen, however I prefer his look in The Clone Wars, but he makes an appearance in Rebels too!

(I really want to rewatch TCW as well once I'm finished with Rebels it's always been such a joy to watch when I was younger😭 I hope I can get my sister to watch it together with me like we used to)

[longagoitwastuesday]

I have learnt things about Geto that I wish I could unlearn

[megumi-fm]

.

[roz-ani]

I can excuse gory murders, but I draw a line at selfishly lying to your patient/"friend"

Y'all ship these two? Smh...

[yuriyuruandyuraart]

it's finally here!! my actual fem dream version! >:'Dc

i had such a hard time deciding for the colors and overall design istg

(and even then i'm not entirely sold on the final result tbh so do expect some changes in the near future possibly!)

dream belongs to jokublog

these designs are mine :D

[damnation-if]

If the LIs were deities what would be there domains, favored animal, & weapon? Suchebh & Twilit, sweetcheeks (sweetcheeki?) you’ve been evicted, gotta get new ones, sorry :(

oh, this an interesting thing to consider... i wasn't quite sure whether you meant deities within the world of the game, or more something related to real-world deities, so i might try and give an example of both? i will admit that weapons is a bit hard, though, i'm not sure all of them would use specific weapons haha (adding a cut here for Length)

Arianis

Arianis would be extremely Put Out to suddenly be made a deity, but not particularly Surprised... within the game's universe i think the most likely thing they would be made a deity of would be quite unflattering, something like... Parasites. or Decay. there isn't a terrific real-world equivalent but i assume they would be perceived in a way similar to Pestilence from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, more or less. somewhere between Pestilence and Nergal, anyway - not as Purposefully Destructive as Nergal, that is to say XD

the animal used to symbolise them would probably be a wasp. if pressed to assign them some kind of weapon it'd probably be something like a gnarled and twisted staff of rotting wood.

Heluur

what he would be worshipped for in the game's world kind of depends on the context of... whether or not there's any growth in understanding of the demons and who/what they are. the most positive light i think he could be painted in would give him something like New Beginnings, while negative portrayals would view him more as Corruption. in both versions he'd be strongly associated with time, and viewed as a catalyst of great change. Kronos is probably the closest real-world equivalent, or somewhere in an admixture of Kronos and Aion.

Heluur's animal symbolism will always be a serpent; he generally is not a weapon guy, but i could see something like the Asclepian rod or caduceus being associated with him.

Lithiana

there's probably not a lot of ambiguity in what people would worship Lithiana for - Lust and Sexuality, probably with Sex Work thrown in. unfavourable portrayals of her might add Temptation or Control or something as well. there are a lot of real-world deities that are sort of similar but also a weird amount of them include things like war (Ishtar and Freya for example) so i guess the closest equivalents would be like. Aphrodite or the Mesopotamian Nanaya.

like Heluur, Lithiana's animal symbolism is fairly set - it will always be a shark. the particular type of shark i have in mind when i think about her colouring is a mottled grey kind of wobbegong. and i think for various symbolism-related reasons i'd have to give her a whip or a flail as a weapon.

Malkorath

like Heluur, Malkorath's domains would depend heavily on perception of them and demons in general; in the best light, they'd probably be regarded as representing Individuality and Freedom, and in the worst, something probably more like Death and Calamity. both versions would have overtones of boldness, victory and the hunt. as far as real world equivalents go, probably the most applicable is The Morrígan, though that aligns more closely with the negative aspects than the positive... you could maybe weave in someone like Artemis in that regard.

animal symbolism for Malkorath is kind of tough since they're made up of a bunch of different types already... a falcon, maybe, or a panther. some kind of swift predator. i do think there's not much chance of anyone associating a weapon with Malkorath other than their own natural weapons though lmfao

Suchebh

Suchebh would be fairly universally considered as a deity of Hedonism, Revelry and Excess - negative depictions might add a few things like Madness and maybe Pain, but i think they'd fare more or less the same otherwise. as such, the real-world equivalent is probably quite obviously Dionysus, with a pinch of Pan thrown in for good measure. maybe if you could combine those two with Zeus/Hera at the same time you'd get the best approximation.

as for what kind of animal symbolism people would use for Suchebh, that's a bit rough... peacocks are kind of obvious. birds of paradise, maybe? something flashy like that. for a weapon, they would want something like Zeus's lightning bolts. for the Drama of it all XD

Twilit

most probably Twilit would be worshipped as a deity of Transformation and Metamorphosis. certain people might associate them with Chaos, but they'd personally be offended by the notion that they bring it anywhere themself, so i guess that'd be an argument for priests to have lmfao. it's much tougher to find a real-world equivalent for them... there's Proteus, an ancient Greek god who constantly changed forms and apparently refused to answer questions honestly, but there's also primordial beings of chaos like Abzu and Tiamat, whose forms were too nebulous to be described and represent anarchy and upheaval, which are probably about the best available.

Twilit will always stay as a moth as far as symbolism is concerned. they also almost certainly wouldn't use any weapons, but i can imagine art depicting them holding bones in the way that someone else might hold a weapon.

thank you for your ask! i sure hope this manages to answer your question XD

[qsmprambling]

I was starting to write an essay but long story short:

The safety systems currently in place for the Eggs were created in response to the injury, threat-to, and death of previous eggs, and none of the current islanders will every quite be able to understand the old islanders fears/concerns.

[fragmentedblade]

Also, Ruan Mei was the one who lent the Phase Flame to Ratio, wasn't she?

[blushblushbear]

Me: omg I'm so good at art I guess I still got it huh

Also me: *stole literally every aspect from that Iris drawing from studying blush blush art and also am purposely not looking at the hands*

[victorluvsalice]

-->And Roxana did, going straight for a $3 cone of ice cream! Which, to my surprise and delight, prompted Smiler to gain a special Confident moodlet about selling ice cream on an extremely hot day, “The Coolest Vendor In Town!” XD Plus a separate moodlet for selling excellent-quality food. :) And, as usual, once one Sim had bought something, all the others in the area were eager to check things out! Notable sales included:

I. A guy named Asa trying out the mushroom waffles

II. Someone named Finley also going for a cone of chocolate ice cream

III. Roxana coming back for something more filling and also trying the mushroom waffles

IV. A guy named Mitchell taking a chance on the seafood pizza

V. Someone named Desmond deciding to go for a BOWL of ice cream, because why settle for a cone

VI. Don Lothario showing up and being convinced to buy a slice of Curious Pizza because I thought it was funny

VII. And my very first Sim ever made, Geeker McTest (in this save file a minor celebrity), showing up and also grabbing a bowl of ice cream. :)

Not bad at all, huh? The day’s profits weren’t amazing – $233 for five ice creams, four waffles, one slice of seafood pizza, and one slice of Curious pizza – but the gang doesn’t need the money, they just do this so people have good things to eat that they might not be able to get in their home worlds. :) Plus it’s just fun!

-->Ah, but what were Victor and Alice doing while Smiler was getting their sale on? Well, Victor ended up helping Alice with the ribs (by standing around and chatting with her, because he couldn’t do much else), then they each had a plate (chowing down with Roxana as she enjoyed her waffles) before heading over to the chess tables to play a game! As they both had a want to do so, you see. They spent their time chatting and flirting while Smiler worked the crowd, with Alice ultimately winning the match. All that time spent in Looking-Glass Land must have really made her a chess queen! (Literally – she does indeed get a fancy crown and everything at the end of that book. XD)

-->Once the food sale was over, it was time to start taking care of everyone's needs! Smiler, who was thirsty, went over and chatted with Roxana, learning a bit more about her (“she/her” pronouns, dislikes pop music and fitness) before convincing her to let them have a drink, while Victor and Alice, meanwhile, both used the toilet (with Victor nearly getting walked in on by KATRINA! Caliente – decorum, woman!). Alice then had a brief cloudgaze while Victor went around the side of the building to privately practice Untamed Magic, getting the “Necrocall” spell (which lets you summon ghosts from their gravestones) in the process (and a cute little message from Darkwing saying “New spells are fun!” :) ). I then tried to have Alice and Victor build a sand sculpture together to wrap up the day...

Only for Victor to just stand around supervising while Alice and SMILER ended up building a sand cowplant out the front of the park. O.o Well, I guess that’s one way for them all to participate? It was starting to get a little late, though, and I didn’t want the food in Smiler’s inventory to go bad...

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

see sometimes I try and think about it all more logically. what if it was all happening to a friend. my friend!! you completely forgot to feed your kitten his wet food for five days? you haven't drunk water for a couple of days? you didn't shower or change your clothes for four days? you've only eaten two actual meals in the last two days? your average sleep in the last week is around five hours? my friend, you need help.

since it's me, I don't need help.

[lieutenantselnia]

Finally finished my anniversary piece, even if it's a couple days late :')

The 14th of January was mine and Heinz' third anniversary! He's been with me since 2021 and seriously, he's made my life so much better. Things haven't always been easy, but imagining that he's by my side helps me so much whenever I'm feeling down or stressed. Falling for him took me completely by surprise, and I never expected my love for him to grow so strong, but here we are. I love all my f/os, but he still earns a special place among them. He's my everything and my heart belongs to him❤️

I hope I can draw more of him and me/Selina in the coming year, since I actually have so many ideas! I want to show more of their story, I want to draw funny and cute moments between them, I want them to be happy and completely and utterly infatuated with each other. Here's hoping for many more good memories together <3

Also an alternate version under the cut because I couldn't decide whether I wanted an actual background or not (but decided in the end that the characters should be more in the focus)

[longagoitwastuesday]

I am liking Jujutsu Kaisen, way more than I imagined I would, but I foresee it will let me down and it's keeping me from enjoying this as much as I could haha

I think the characters and dynamics are well set, and I think many of them have an incredibly good and deep potential, but I would be willing to bet they'll not get a proper development, enough for them to really hit. A well assembled set of gears is not enough to make the movement go, you have to wind the clockwork.

I think Gojo and Megumi have a fascinating and very complex dynamic, but I doubt it will be given the time and care that imo it needs to actually work. And it is going well enough for now! One could see the intimacy between them was deeper than the one Gojo had with, say, Yuji and Nobara ever since the very first few episodes despite the fact Fushiguro too was a first year. But the pieces forming what they have are extremely complex, and it just wouldn't be realistic if it doesn't show, even if in a not showing way, or if it doesn't have consequences or implications.

It's one of those dynamics that shape one's life, the way one regards the world, the way one establishes or not relationships with other people. It's one of those dynamics that could be full of fondness, gratitude, resentment, admiration, trust, and that imply intimacy, the good kind or the bad, even if in just the knowledge of someone who's been a constant through your life. It could, and would, imply a myriad of feelings, and probably in such a mix it could imply contradictory feelings too. Even the nothingness would weight, even the nothingness would be significant and meaningful.

Gojo took Megumi and his sister under his wing, the son of a man who murdered him, because of both selfish and selfless reasons. Megumi looks like Toji. What does Gojo feel about this? How does Gojo deal with this? How does Gojo go about taking care of Megumi? Would he walk him to school? Make him breakfast? Celebrate his birthdays making him blow candles? Did he take him to the zoo? Does the relationship between them feel professional or is it something more? Gojo appreciates his students, but is Megumi to him just another student? When Gojo faces Sukuna in Megumi's body, did he see the kid he raised, or does he just see Sukuna in one of his students' body? Did he have one faint wavering instant? And how does Megumi feel about this? Is he resentful of him? Resentful of the situation? Of the selfishness behind his actions? Does he feel like a pawn? Is he grateful? Does he resent feeling grateful? Would he rather not? Does he love Gojo? Does he feel nothing about him other than what he could feel about a teacher that sort of annoys him but knows he's reliable in his strength? Does he think it unfair, cruel or unfeeling that Gojo is close, closer perhaps, with Yuuji or Yuta, considering their story? When Sukuna slices Gojo in two, does the remnants of Megumi's soul tremble?

And not just Megumi and Gojo. Yuuji and Nanami, Gojo and Nanami, Yuuji and Fushiguro, Nobara and the boys, or Nobara and Maki, Todo and Yuuji or Yuta, Gojo and Yuta, Megumi and his sister. Gojo and Geto, even! If the pieces are well set, the dynamics are intriguing, interesting, and have potential to be deep, but then the characters have like two plot relevant scenes that punch you hard, but little more, it's not nearly enough. Especially not nearly enough for the enormity that is shonen dynamics and situations. And the potential existing at all, and then not delivering, makes it all the more frustrating when you're left with something mediocre that could have been so good.

The development of dynamics through not only a few plot relevant gut wrenching moving scenes, but also the smallness of life, is important. The friend who recommended this to me said that those things were just unnecessary filler, but I disagree. I think there's a big difference between a large amount of anime-only filler episodes whose existence is based on the fact they had run out of manga chapters to animate, and moments of quietness. The low stakes character-driven moments of quietness can be so telling and so insightful, and they are so satisfactory when brought back later in higher stakes situations. My friend teased me there was no scene of Gojo making breakfast to Megumi, that it would be an idiotic idea, but it would be so telling. How he makes breakfast, what they eat, if he tries hard or if it's all mechanised, if they have personal bowls or if they use whatever, if he just buys them some pastry on the way to school, if the way they have breakfast changes through the years, or if he doesn't make them breakfast at all! All that would be very insightful on their dynamic and its evolution. All that would give a glimpse on how they regard each other and why, even in the present. All that could become meaningful in tense situations and high stakes scenes.

These moments also let the plot breath; if a lot is happening all the time, if every character is always experiencing trauma after trauma, the entire story is so emotionally draining that at some point you don't even care all that much. Besides, these nothing moments or low stakes plot arcs, besides deepening and developing dynamics, also let some in-world time pass, which would make the intimacy and bond between characters more believable imo; between Yuuji eating Sukuna's finger and their last confrontation in December how much time has passed? A few months? Am I truly to believe these characters are so everything to each other in only a few months?

Without some smallness, some repetition, some daily life, some low stakes not plot-centric development, the dynamics don't hit, they don't truly feel fleshed out, and dynamics as complex as the ones Megumi and Gojo have, or as supposedly meaningful as the one Megumi has with Yuuji or his sister, should be fleshed out if they're going to exist at all. Otherwise they'd risk making the writing feel awkward and fake. Besides, if the dynamics felt well fleshed out and realistic, they would shape the way the characters interact and act, and how they deal with situations, thus being plot relevant.

The shonen genre has so much happening all the time, the stakes are so high, the dynamics are so rooted in big events and the relationships carry enormous weight and implications. Yet they barely get developed, and it feels so stupid, so plain, the absence of something so important noticeable like a constant void, a shapeless nothingness present in every scene. It makes the characters feel like cardboard figures. Jujutsu Kaisen is already getting a better job than many, but I doubt it will do enough for what I've heard, and I fear I am bound to feel let down, and bound to feel unmoved.

After all, if not enough time and care has been given to develop a dynamic, I am not going to feel pressured by the high stakes; if not enough time and care has been given to develop the dynamic between Megumi and Yuuji, as good potential as it has I am bound to feel little for this last confrontation between Sukuna and Itadori, and his effort in getting Megumi back.