#I don't understand why I chose to color this scene this way

[king-crawler]

HEY HI HELLO

Sorry for the random message here In the asks, it's ok if you don't see this or answer it since you probably got a lot already and I understand if you don't see this!/gen

But first of all, I just wanna say

I CANT BELIEVE I HAVENT WATCHED YOUR ANALYSIS VIDEO SOONER IM SO FUCKING LATE MAN

It's so well done and so fucking funny, I was literally smiling and cackling through the whole thing, it's shocking how similar our humor is

NOT TO MENTION THE END SCENE AREE YOU KIDDING HOW DID YOU MATCH THE LYRICS SO PERFECTLY TO THE FUCKING LORE ITS INCREDIBLE 😭💜/GEN, POS

It's insane how much dedication is put into it, let alone singlehandedly feeding turbo fans as myself

Genuinely thought it's so nice seeing more content for a hyperfixation I've had since 2012, and the fandom coming back along with this video Genuinely brings me so much joy as someone who's loved this movie since I was a kid

Sorry for the ramble but genuinely thank you for making that video, I can't wait to see what other stuff you do, wreck it ralph or not I WILL be tuning in/gen, pos

Okay second of all

The main reason why I'm sending this is because of sometning I noticed while rewatching a scene in the movie

Now, this might be me over analyzing as I usually do but it feels TOO. OBVIOUS.

SO

IN the kart bakery scene where vanellope and ralph go to bake a kart, they obviously make their way into the building and into the main room

You see all the Karts of course, and It pans to the one vanellope chooses

Which, at first glance you wouldn't really pay too much attention, especially when watching it for the first time, she's just picking the model she likes

..but looking back at the scene

Vanellope's kart model, how it was supposed to look, looks very

Familiar

Because the kart she chose..

...is a red and white kart

With stripes down the middle, with a very similar shape to a..certain persons kart. Now this might just be nothing, it's probably just like I said, and over analysis on my part

But the kart the chose looks WAY too similar to turbo's, not to mention the stripe is down the middle, just like turbo's car on the cabinet art of him

And vanellope could've chosen ANY kart

But it was that specific kart she chose, out of any of the karts

Not to mention in some of vanellope's concept art...

(Art made by Lorelay Bove)

..Vanellope's concept design and turbos designs strike SCARILY uncanny resemblances to each others designs

From the helmet and colors

All the way down to her GOGGLES having the SAME. YELLOW. TINT. that candy's have in the movie, which have the same effect here. There's no way that this didn't have the intent to mirror turbo purposefully

So with that in mind, the kart vanellope chose in the kart bakery scene being turbo foreshadowing, wouldn't be too out of place, nor would it be too far off

Turbo's foreshadowing was always prominent, even in the smallest details you wouldn't focus on, just like he's infecting this world as a virus, little by little, everywhere. You. Turn.

Aaaand that's basically all I have to really say

Sorry for the long ramble, I've been thinking of submitting this for awhile now, especially after I told a friend about this and they mentioned that this should be submitted to you

So I decided to go ahead and just do it, no matter how wild my comparisons might sound-

Anyways, I hope you have a good day, night, or what time it may be, and keep being awesome! I can't wait to hear back if you see this! Bye-bye! ❤️🏎🏆

P.s

I've been quoting these since I watched the video and haven't stopped

Thanks for destroying my humor even more-/pos

Okay bye bye now-

-skitters away-

NO YOU'RE SO FUCKING RIGHT OH MY GOD VANELLOPE WAS ALWAYS A TURBO PARALLEL??? CHAT IS THIS TRUE. IVE NEVER SEEN THAT CONCEPT ART OF HER TEEHEE THANKS FOR SHARING

also God. This is 99% just a coincidence with zero merit because its such a common gesture- but Ralph and Vanellope doing their thumbs up.. maybe Turbo parallels ?? and like the EXACT same poses too:

Vanellope having one hand on the steering wheel and the other doing a thumbs up while facing the camera.

Ralph hunched over doing the double thumbs up with the visor tinting his face yellow. EXCUSE ME HMMM?? WHAT THE FUCK??

NOW COULD I BE CHERRY PICKING? PERHAPS. but when Turbo has barely a minute of screentime, there's not a lot i can pick from, and things SURE ARE LINING UP... (I'm cherry picking)

SO SHHHHHH... ❤️❤️❤️❤️ LET ME HAVE MY LITTLE CONSPIRASCY

[frenchkisstheabyss]

♡ Wearing Baggy Clothes Around SKZ {Chubby Babe Edition}♡

♡ I was asked to explore how these cuties might feel about having a girlfriend who wears baggy clothes 24/7 because it makes her comfy, not because she's insecure. So let's get into it... ♡

Pairing: ot8!boyfriend!skz x chubby!fem!reader

Genre: fluffy fluff ♡

♡ Bang Chan ♡

Your choice to wear baggy clothing isn't something he's ever given a second thought to

Duh, he thinks you have a beautiful body but it's 100% your choice if you want to show it off or not

It's actually really nice having a girlfriend who has the same fashion sense as him because he doesn't feel pressured to dress more revealing either

Whenever companies offer to send him free stuff he makes sure he asks for a size that works for both of you that way you have a few items that you can share/wear when you miss each other

♡ Hyunjin ♡

Being fashionable to him has never translated to having to wear tighter clothes so he still finds what you wear to be quite cute

When he goes to special events he likes to take you with him but he'll never get upset with you if you choose not to wear what's "in" at the moment

He puts a lot of effort into helping you pick out fashion week worthy outfits that keep you looking as gorgeous as you do without compromising comfort

If anyone ever says anything rude to you about it they're catching some major side eye from him coupled with some colorful language

♡ Changbin ♡

This is it. Dwaekki's chance to talk you into wearing matching gym clothes even when you aren't even kinda sorta heading to the gym that day

When I say matching, I mean matching. Whatever he has, you have the women's version of and it will be worn when you're together. I don't make the rules here

If you ever decide to change your mind about how you want to dress he'll support you 100% in rocking something tighter/more revealing

But he'll never pressure you into doing anything you don't want to do. The most important thing to him is that you're happy, whatever that looks like for you

♡ Lee Know ♡

Outfits that have too much going on agitate him when it comes to what his stylists put on him so he understands completely why you wouldn't want to deal with that

He pretends that he doesn't want to be touched around other people but he really likes cuddles and your clothes make cuddling better for him

Every time Soonie, Doongi, or Dori make biscuits on the dangling fabric of your clothing he thinks it's super adorable. Best cat step-mom ever

Has a habit of always rolling your sleeves/pants/etc up for you when you're about to do something that might be messy so that they fit snugly in the right places

♡ Felix ♡

At first, he asks a lot of questions to make sure that you aren't doing this because you're insecure about your body

It's not done to imply that you should be. He just wants to know if you are so that he can remind you more often that you're beautiful and that anyone who says otherwise can bite you

After that though, he lets it go and starts to do things like slipping into your hoodie with you even though there's no way he's getting his head out of the other end

Ultimately, he encourages you to go even bigger because how can he be properly attached to you at the hip if there isn't room for two all the time?

♡ Han ♡

This is absolutely going to turn into a lengthy conversation about how a lot of women in the old school hip hop scene chose to dress this way too

He's bound to get sidetracked talking about certain artists who wore things he thinks you'd look cute in. Some of it might be hideous. Just nod and smile

It's cool because he gets to be as physically affectionate as he wants to be with you in public without worrying that he'll make a wrong move and something slips out

The day will never come when it isn't adorable to him that you can curl up in your clothes like a lil cat. Just this cozy, warm ball of cuteness

♡ I.N ♡

It's in his spirit to take advantage of the fact that baggier clothes make you easier to grab

Meaning, if you try to run away when he's inevitably doing something to get on your nerves he'll catch you immediately and you'll be trapped with him

This isn't a bad thing because, even when he's torturing you, it's impossible not to see how much he cares about you

The other guys tend to tease him about how smitten he is with you and how cool he thinks you are but that'll never stop him from acting that way

♡ Seungmin ♡

Your face is what he spends most of his time staring at anyway so it's no big deal that you don't wear revealing clothing

It's kind of a good thing that you don't because he can be a real brat when other guys are staring at you and you aren't sure how long he can resist the urge to poke their eyes out

Of course, he can get over that jealousy so that you feel supported in switching it up sometimes

Though he will playfully tease you about being his "other girlfriend" when you switch back and forth because being a menace comes with the territory

[thiriann]

The Ascension and the sexual implications of it

We all remember the post from a few weeks ago that circled here. I didn't go through with the Ascension from a purely game sense "this is clearly evil " standpoint. I didn't really understand why it's evil or even more why it's sexual. Some analyses have floated around here and tumblr that mentioned it's because "vampires are a sexy fantasy". Well, yes but you're getting a vampire either way, aren't you?

I didn't manage to connect the dots until I started looking into possible ways for him to walk in the sun. It seems the only reliable one is a “Wish” spell. But that seems to turn the vampire mortal again. Now, that didn't sit right with me. If Ascension was changing him, this was even more of an "I'll fix him" situation. But I thought, would he even agree? He's so power hungry probably giving up on being a vampire would be the last thing he'd agree on. But the more I thought about it, the more it became clear to me that he actually has a strong dislike for being a vampire. If you tell him his reflection is a small price to pay for vampire powers he answers "To you, maybe." He loves seeing the sun again, all the colors. He can't see or remember his eyes, which if we take into literary view, eyes being the windows to the soul we could say it shows his disconnect with his soul, with his humanity. He absolutely hates the hunger urges that come with vampirism, saying they make him pathetic and it's the worst version of himself. And of course, the sexual part. He hasn't actually seen any perks of vampirism, just that it makes you an object of desire, a thing used only for sex. That is the only side of vampirism he has managed to experience and that is what he connects it with.

The point in the story that clearly connects his vampire nature to sexuality is the talk with the blood merchant. She is a drow, her society already views men as slaves good for one thing. But she doesn't ask him for sex, she asks him for a bite yet it's just as sexual. It shows the player that vampires are sex objects yet again. But whatever is left of him, of his soul and humanity is very separated from his vampire form. He doesn't take being a vampire as an identity but separates himself from it, calling it an affliction, or condition. So why push him further into nature that he doesn't accept or enjoy?

At many points he mentions there's almost nothing left of the man he was, whatever little is left of his soul, etc. He believes he doesn't have much to offer, especially after sex is off the table. That is why it's so important to remove sex from your romantic relationship for him. While obviously, it's a time for healing, it's also a time to actually connect to the person behind the vampire. The person he used to be before he became a sex object.

And that is the same if you choose his spawn romance ending. You pick the man he managed to remain despite everything that happened. That's why his post-scene at the grave is basically a rebirth of him, of his humanity. While the romance post-scene of the Ascension is a rebirth of you. You chose to reduce him to a vampire, to an object, and even went as far as to objectify yourself as well by accepting the vampire nature. And ultimately, that's all that's left of him, the vampire. The person he was is gone completely.

I'd just like to add that a lot of people like to bring up that they let the other characters make their own choices but that's a weak point. Shadowheart's choice is very influenced by your choices/approval and let's not forget she would actually kill Lae'zel if you don't get involved, you literally have to choose if you sell Wyll's soul or not, and Lae'zel would kill you if you don't stop her.

Also, there is the argument that he wants this. And for that, I can only guess based on my speculations, that despite all the power hunger brought from whatever feelings, survival, fear, selfishness -until the very last moment he hadn't made up his mind. He even tells you this before you enter Cazador's chamber. He won't know what he'll do before he faces him. His turmoil is obvious. You can tell him this isn't him, not really. And he responds that it should be, he doesn't want to be pathetic.

The choice for the ascension never was his, as it never was for him. He himself saw no way out, just like when he was under Cazador. And the temptation that was obviously present at the idea of being just like Cazador. The choice there was for you.

For the player, whether it'd be as a lover or a friend.Do you want the man or the vampire?

[luckiestplartt]

For my Literature class i was allowed to make a short comic adaptation of a literary work that influenced me, so I picked Demian. If you want to read my explanation of why I picked it and made certain decisions, you can read it under the cut ! :)

[It is 862 words. I only needed to write 2 paragraphs. I... really like this book LOL]

I chose to adapt Herman Hesse's "Demian" because it's a very influential book for me. I saw myself in the protagonist, Emil Sinclair in how he worries about what other people think of him as a kid, leading him to tell different lies to different people. His struggle to rationalize what is "good" or "evil" is rooted in his religious upbringing, and his first step towards discovering himself and his own values is from someone (Demian) telling him a different perspective, and inviting him to think for himself. I felt seen in how Sinclair wants to be guided by others, but feels unable to teach others, and seeing him eventually reach independence makes me want to reach that point too. He starts off the book seperating things into binaries like Man and Woman, Good and Evil, but over the course of the book those concepts start to overlap and gray for him. He admires Demian and Beatrice for being a boy with feminine features, and a girl with masculine features, and when he eventually meets Frau Eva, he loves how handsome she is. The scene I adapted, where he sees himself in his own painting, not visually but emotionally, really connects with me as an artist who puts themself into their work, and gets a slightly better understanding of myself when I first step back and look at it. I don't want my pictures to look like a mirror of me, but still reflect me somehow. And with my experience with gender, I see myself in Sinclair's idealization of androgyny, even if those sorts of words would not be used at the time. This connection I felt with the book helped move me to read more classic literature and see myself in them.

I decided for the first page to not have a lot of narration because I felt that it could be told through pictures. The scene starts with the sun "slanting red through my window" during sunset, and "Inside my room it was dusk", which gave me my color palette for the comic; reds and warm purples. Sinclair is not very detailed in the first page because I thought it would feel more atmospheric, and to emphasize the self discovery on the second page. The three panels on the bottom were repeated with subtle changes in expression to give the feeling of time passing as, in the narration, "For a long time I sat oppposite it even after the picture had faded out." He blends in with the light of the painting because of how much he's taking it in; the last panel's sudden contrast is the moment of realization leading up to the next page. The painting's sudden detail is partly because I got too into drawing it, but is so important that it should be in substantially more detail; it is a catalyst for Sinclair, and it is symbolic of his connections (and future connections) in the book. Besides Sinclair's emotions, it is the most detailed description in that scene, and the way he describes it radiates joy and excitement.

The first panel of page two has vague drawings of Beatrice and Demian, with Sinclair sparking with recognition. I wanted him to have a similiar feeling as the painting, glowing with color, because this is an important moment for him. Beatrice is not very detailed because he has never talked to her; she is someone who he saw on the street and admired, and at that point, he had not met Demian in years. "But myself" is split from the sentance to give more emphasis on his revelation. The second panel's narration is split but tied together to make it feel more floaty and slow, to emphasize each point, and to help direct readers to the next panel with Demian (the lines in the last panel are also supposed to help cheat with that). The text around Demian purposefully switches alignment and leaves extra space to 1) help connect the flow of narration from the second to the fourth panel, and 2) because it conveys Sinclair's semi-divine view of Demian (masculine and feminine, youthful and mature). The woman in the fourth panel (who he later realizes to be Frau Eva) has especially split narration because he doesn't know her yet, and she is a dreamy "ideal" to him; she isn't concrete in his world yet. For panel 2 and 5, there is an egg cracking and a bird flying off as a reference to a motif later on in the book; "The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born first must destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas." This quote has found its way into media inspired by Demian, and influences how people see the characters, and it's an especially touching quote because of how strong and confident it feels. If the bird (Sinclair) is not able to break his egg (the sheltered world he grew up in), he will never "hatch" and fly to Abraxas (self-discovery). It felt especially important to me to include this motif even if it hasn't technically appeared in the book yet, because it is a perfect metaphor for growing up and for Emil Sinclair.

[coolmanjohnny]

SAW: (unrated) rant

Okay. I just watched the unrated version of Saw (2004) in theaters. So for some reason, they alter the ending for the unrated version of Saw. I have no idea why they chose to do this. I didn't see much discussion going over the details so I thought I'd go over it and why I think its inferior to the original cut. (Forgive me if I seem nitpick-y, I just love the original film so much haha. Totally fine if you like the unrated ver., I'm just sharing my thoughts here.)

To start, the unrated is advertised as a version with more gore/blood, which it does fine on that part. There are a few extra seconds of shots, for instance, the scene where Amanda is sifting through organs, some of the crime scene photos, and the wire trap maze is slightly longer. Here is a good article that goes over the Director's Cut with more details if you are interested. (I believe the Director's Cut is the same, if not very similar, to the unrated version? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.) Also, I think the colors are also less blue? I can't confirm this though. I believe there may be a few other details changed as well, but they're not super relevant. Feel free to share any ones I'm missing just for fun though.

These extra shots are fine, thumbs up emoji. My problem starts and ends with the final moments of Saw (unrated). This is Tumblr. You all know the ending to Saw and are probably obsessed with it. It's incredibly impactful and angsty. Its one of my favorite ending sequences of all time. I still think about Adam being left to die alone often. RIP.

Now, lets go over what's changed in Saw (unrated)'s ending:

Some of the final lines are cut out. (Why???)

For some reason, they cut the line where Adam asks, "Am I gonna be okay?" and Larry turns back and says, "I wouldn't lie to you." Why would they do this? I don't know. I can only speculate. Maybe they thought that it contradicted with Lawrence's character, since he is in fact a liar/adulterer? Maybe they thought it was too "hopeful"? Homophobia? (joke)

I think that it's really a shame, because it makes Larry much more likable imo. This one moment is representative of his character development in the film. There are a lot of complex emotions tied with that one line. For once, Lawrence isn't lying to Adam. He truly does want to help. At the same time, you can tell that he feels uncertain. He doesn't know if he actually will be able to make it back in time (if even at all).

Notice how he responds to Adam's question in a roundabout way. He doesn't know if Adam will be okay.

In a way, Jigsaw's trap did work. Lawrence learned empathy. LMAO. It is also makes Adam so much more tragic, any last glimmers of hope he had left get ripped away as soon as he realizes that Jigsaw isn't who he thought it was. They are both fucked. (Ignore that Saw 3D exists for a second here, lol. I definitely think that the original implication here was that Larry is screwed. Either Kramer gets to him, or he bleeds out.)

Here is the original scene for reference:

2. The end credits are changed.

Saw ends with Adam's haunting screams bleeding into the end credits. There's about 20-30 seconds of silence/very subtle music. Then, it leads into the song "Bite The Hand that Bleeds" by Fear Factory. I just LOVE the angst.

Now, lets see what the unrated version is like. (I had to really dig to find this lol.) Obviously, there is no longer licensed music. It instead plays the "Saw theme". (I believe Hello Zepp/Overture is the official name of the song?)

It's...fine. (Once again, forgive me for nitpicking. I'm starting to think that I may be overreacting a bit, lol.)

I sort of understand why they would change the licensed music. It makes the first film feel more "connected" with the sequels; now they all have matching theme songs. (Another idea is that they simply didn't get the rights back to the original song for the re-release. I'd have to do more research on this.) However, it still makes me sad, lol. I just love how edgy and aggressively 2000s the original end credits feel. It matches the film's tone so well imo. The filmography of Saw reminds me a lot of early 2000s nu-metal music videos (unique colors, over-edited to hell, etc.).

I want to really emphasize the importance of film preservation in this post. Thankfully, the original theatrical cut of Saw is pretty easily accessible. (However, this isn't the case for all films. Star Wars is probably the most famous example.) I am just a little saddened that some first-time viewers will end up watching this version of the film without being aware of these changes. I love Saw so much you guys

[respectthepetty]

Of course I’m very grateful to all the wonderful smart people on here who analyze shows!! 🙏🏽 They really help me understand them on a deeper level than I would get just by watching by myself. I have to thank you for the explanation of Art’s performance in The Sign tho! I always miss the colors, for some reason I can’t seem to notice them! 😩 I guess I’m just too wrapped up in trying to understand what they’re saying that I’m not paying attention to what they’re showing. (Also I’m just really bad at understand art in the first place 😅) but I am noticing all the birds (eagles?) around Phaya! I’m trying to learn to be more vigilant 🙈 - Katros

Katros, I have the opposite problem. I only notice the colors and miss what is being said (which is why I'm fine watching Pit Babe without subtitles, and a majority of my shows on mute). Characters, and therefore dialogue lie, but the colors don't, so I trust what I'm seeing over what is being said.

Which is why the performance piece in The Sign was so intriguing because it connected Art's story and the colors he was using so well with the opening lines from Paulo Coelho he was reciting.

Performative art includes the audience, and The Sign greatly leaned into that showing how the elders were confronted by the performance, while Phaya looked longingly for and at Tharn and our future-ladies-in-love comforted each other.

The words Art spoke said the destined lovers would find a way to be together, but his piece continued, without words, and instead showed us a different ending, one where the lovers don't end up together.

Actually, one died.

Red, blue, and yellow are primary colors. ALL colors can be made with those three colors, yet Art chose to depict a basic story with a foundation of white and no use of yellow, which very much speaks to his story.

The visuals in this show are a complete narrative on their own.

Like how Art created this version of his lover who, in reality, was broken and hallow.

The images are constantly telling a story.

We are supposed to be viewing the art through this lens.

The visuals are telling us that, repeatedly!

So there is a reason Art started his performance staring through that hallow man at the bigger art piece.

This was his love story on display for the world to see without the audience being aware of it.

Which is why I found it odd that Chalothon seemed to already know it, like he was reciting it. Look at his mouth, as if he is speaking the Thai word for "love" as Art says it.

Which is why I pay attention more to the visuals than the words being spoken.

Because characters hide the truth.

Even as they are speaking.

But visuals the colors don't.

Which is why I, once again, think Chalothon is playing a much larger role in all of this than we are giving him credit for.

Because who else would arrange a meeting near a body of water while it's raining with dark green highlighting the scene? Look closely at her eyes.

They are green.

Wouldn't be the first time he has tried to drown a man, now would it?

No.

[moralesmilesanhour]

I'd love to hear what fundamental issues you have with spiderverse... 🎤

Hm I'm just gonna rattle off a few from most to least important before I forget (note: some of my issues with spiderverse are less about the concepts or characters themselves but more about how the writers or producers chose to handle them, or even just exploring the possibilities of what could've been. I still think it's a really excellent movie and complex story.)

If you're someone that skims through longer paragraphs a lot, I've also put my most important points in italics so that you get the gist of what I'm saying :)

Making Miles' story about everyone else but Miles. I understand that Miles' whole thing in Spiderverse is that by defying the odds, he inspires the people around him. But there's a certain point where the story become *about that* and the other characters more than him and his interiority. In its efforts to focus on his growing into the mantle of Spider-Man, the films only kind of allude to the fact that he has a life outside of the mask. His mental health and relationship to his community are pushed to the wayside so much that even Ganke is only on-screen for a few minutes at most.

(This is a long one sorry) Spiderverse as a movie doesn't seem to know for sure whether it likes cops or not. It presents the literal police and policing as a concept as something that is inherently neutral, likening it to the mantle of Spider-Man where they simply have power that they have to use responsibly, and that there are just "bad apples". But the way that Spider-Society operates quite closely parallels how policing and criminality work: you have a bunch of spiders go out and detain people and send them where they're "supposed to be" under the guise that a) the order of things will essentially fall apart if you don't, and b) there is a specific way that your story is supposed to go, and you should be willing to sacrifice lives to maintain that status quo. There's also the categorization of those who break those rules as an Other (anomalies), and the fact that Spider Society reacts to the presence of the anomalies instead of addressing the thing that created them (the collider. HELLOOOO). With all that being said, Miguel and the rest of Spider Society are clearly framed as anatgonistic forces by the film and even has a punk anarchist character calling them out and being right about it. The movies simultaneously critique policing metaphorically through Spider Society while trying to justify it in the real world.

Girl where is Pavitr. His character is literally perfect for Miles to interact with, but we don't see him again until the very last scene. Same thing with...literally everyone we just met. The movie is over two hours long, where did all that time go--OH WAIT

Gwen and the scene with her dad take up wayyyy too much of the movie's runtime, I'm sorry. We spent the entirety of the beginning of the film learning information about Gwen and her dad that could've been quickly conveyed in much less time. Not to mention that, apparently, Mr. Stacy literally gets fired in the comics for letting Gwen go, so that whole plotline didn't even need to happen. Why change that? To say he's a 'good cop' that does his job? The trauma of losing Peter would've been present in her story either way.

The art style. No, this doesn't mean what you think it does. I do not have an issue with the 3D and 2D hybrid style of animation obviously. Spiderverse has literally revolutionized the field, but there are some limitations to it that were made especially clear once TMNT:MM came out. You may or may not have noticed, but isn't almost everyone in Spiderverse...kinda gorgeous? Hear me out here. Someone has pointed this out before me, and it really changed the way that I look at aesthetics in animation. In Spiderverse, everything from the environments to the way that things are shaded and colored is extremely stylized and pushed quite far...until you get to the main characters. Yes, there is diversity in features the likes of which we haven't seen 'till recently, but I'm purely talking about the style in which they're drawn. Compared to everything else, they look closer to something Disney or Pixar might produce. This is not inherently problematic or "bad", but I do wonder how much cooler and cutting-edge and comic-y we could get if it wasn't so pre-occupied with beauty. You can disregard this one, it's just a thought. Apparently the idea that not every cartoon character you see on the big screen has to be hot makes people very angry.

I think those are all the big ones. I'll reblog with new additions if for some reason I come up with new things to complain about lmao

[mikuni14]

Pit Babe - Ep 13

I don't have much to write about this, because with the exception of Way and his potential partners, nothing else really interested me in this series. And it's good that people who know the novel were throwing spoilers left and right without warning, because thanks to this I could mentally prepare for what will happen to Way 😶 Thanks to the fact that Way in this episode just stood there, then jumped, and then died, making it all about Babe anyway, and thanks to spoilers, his death didn't really affect me. It was oddly funny tho, when I thought wistfully again how great Pavel and Nut are together and how I wish they were together as a pair (this is my unfulfilled ship in this series). I watched for a bit after that scene, hoping that maybe Way had somehow survived, hehe, but it was a vain dream 🤡 I honestly chuckled in disbelief when PeteWay was reduced to Pete's little sadness and a montage of some 4 of their scenes, and when I realized that they didn't even have Kenta there to mourn his brother. Tbh I skipped through the rest of the episode, and since I wasn't interested in the rest of it in the first place, that was the end of my adventure with Pit Babe 🥳 Despite knowing the spoilers, I had quite high hopes that Way would survive, because he was actually VERY popular in the Pit Babe fandom, and killing off a fan favorite is always a risky move. Way could have been punished for what he did in many ways, he could have left the team, cut off contact with Babe, left the country, anything. Even go to jail, like in History 3: Trapped! And yet they chose something so final. Nobody even called an ambulance for him....

I liked that it was Kenta who ended The Tony problem, and that he wasn't overwhelmed by his own actions, didn't lose control and stopped Tony when he tried to hit him. It was actually my fav part of this ep. (and the whole Winner and The Boys scene lol) As I understand it, Kenta didn't have any more scenes after that? Even to cry over Way? Am I wrong? I ask, because maybe he did appear after all, and I have missed him by skipping scenes.

If you are a Charlie fan, don't read this part: Even though I'm allergic to Charlie and CharlieBabe, I forced myself to watch their scenes at the beginning because I was curious how Babe would deal with the fact that Charlie was alive, he lied to him in a most fundamental way, broke his heart in the worst possible way, sending him into mourning and a destructive need for revenge. Babe handled it with flying colors like a model grief stricken patient 👌 Can't help but wonder, why there was a ENTIRE episode about the grieving Babe when he acts now like Charlie came back safe and sound from visiting his mean family during Christmas. I don't know if I could be with someone who actively chose the most cruel way to hurt me but "for my own god", I certainly couldn't just forgive it, but that's just me 🤷‍♀️ Babe was used, abused, hurt, never asked for his opinion, for what HE wanted by everyone around him, over and over again, and everyone knows it and everyone continues to use him and hurt him because they know they CAN and there won't be any consequences. When Charlie, beaming happily, announced the reason for faking his death and traumatizing Babe, and Babe was liked, oh ok, I thought to myself, haha, ok, guys, you know what, I actually envy you this simple life of yours. This scene confirmed only one thing for me: yep, Charlie and this pairing irritate me just as much now as at the beginning 😏

I don't know if I understood correctly, Jeff had a vision and knew that Way was going to die? As I recall, he tried to stop his previous visions from becoming reality, and now he did nothing? Can someone confirm this for me or have I missed something here?

So. PeteWay and PeteKenta have carried this series for several last episodes, these ships have been heavily promoted by the series and the show's cast. The ending of these ships with Way's quick death, which is not even about him but about Babe and the disappearance of Pete and Kenta from the plot, in my opinion, is an insult to their fans who have invested their time, energy and emotions in this series (this is not about me, I mean all those people whose hard work I furiously reblogged, I love you besties). It sort of looks like baiting now , I thought Thai BL series of all were above that 😄

Sending hugs and kisses to Pit Babe fans and fans of things that could have been 😘 As for me? I hope there will be a lot of content with Nut from now on 💖

Pretty pics from @infinitelyprecious

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

What interests me most in Quaritch’s and Spider’s relationship is The Tragedy. Quaritch is an asshole who wants to kill Na’vi but he also has nothing else going for him, so he does what he’s told because without the mission he has no purpose. Spider is a kid who was neglected by EVERYBODY and never had an adult care for him. Then BOOM, they meet and are forced to work together. The movie had not given them a lot of screen time but the fact that Spider felt safe enough around the recoms to crack jokes and be playful says a lot. The scene where he teaches Miles Na’vi and puts a hand on his knee, unafraid of physical contact also shows that they’ve grown quite close in the past months.

And then Quaritch fucks it up. He goes back into his old ways and only cuts corners out of fear that Spider will hate him until the end of days, but he already does so because after months of camping out in the forest and having their Disney found family arc, the poor kid is confronted with the fact that his not-dad-dad had not changed in any way that matters. The only thing that changed about Q is the fact that he now has one (1) person he cares about. Spider got taken away from his home, somehow experienced what it was like to be loved (even if said love was the bare minimum) and then was brutally reminded that the person who loves him is an actual demon.

In the end, a happy ending was never meant to be. They are enemies, and could never support the other’s cause and yet they still love one another, and they fucking hate that they love one another, which is my favorite part. In separate interviews, both Slang and Jack had confirmed that both characters have a mighty soft spot for one another, even if they resent it. The bond they have built is there and not Spider, nor Quaritch can shake it off.

I've let this sit in my asks for a while now cause I knew I would get fired up. Yeah from the get go in your post you are already being extremely charitable to Quaritch in a way that sits really poorly with me.

-"Quaritch has nothing else going for him if he's not fulfilling his mission and killing Na'vi." I don't understand where you guys fabricate this tragic past for Quartich from, in the first movie he literally says he chose to extend his tour on Pandora because of his hatred for the Na'vi. He was going back to Earth, where who knows who was waiting for him? Saying he has no family or friends is entirely made up, especially when we know he had a girlfriend and a child at the time.

-"They were forced to work together" HUGE fucking reach dude. Spider is sure forced to work for Quaritch. But Quaritch kidnapped him, took him as a prisoner of war, brought him to be tortured for informatin, uses him as a forced teacher and translator as he burns down and threatens civilian villages. These are all decisions he makes intentionally (not forced!) and are all fun little war crimes.

-I think calling Spider playful around the recoms for that one scene where he mocks Quaritch's Na'vi is rather crazy. Saying they've grown quite close, that they've had a 'Disney family arc,' I really hope you are really young and you'll mature. YOU CAN'T DEVELOP A GOOD AND HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEONE UNDER DURESS. Spider is a prisoner! The entire time! Any relationship basis is stockholm syndrome, because every interaction is colored with the fact that any of the recoms, Quaritch, could hurt him or kill him at any time. They could take him back to be tortured. He can't do what he wants. He cannot leave. So every action that isn't harmful feels ten times better because he knows it COULD BE and might be at any second. It's why the cycle of abuse is so powerful, when the norm is pain, kindness feels so unexpected and undeserved. It's really harmful to paint these relationships as good.

-"Quaritch has changed because now he has someone he cares about." Well fuck me, I guess Spider didn't matter when he god damn existed in the 2009 movie??

-The bond that is built is a toxic one based on abuse and manipulation. It's stockholm syndrome, it's lima syndrome. It will definitely be interesting, but you are right about that one thing: it will never work out.

[lookingfts]

I LOVE your Kanthony work!!! I love how you sometimes put them in uncomfortable situations and still have them find their way yo love. I was reading a fic by a different writer and had this thought. I have been consuming Kanthony fiction like it’s a drug and I might have read 90% of it already. In everything that I read, I had not read anything that is canon compliant with a satisfying version of how Anthony apologized to and reconciled with Kate, with the right amount of angst. The show was pure gold but I wanted something more. I wanted him to own up to his mistakes and not necessarily grovel, but. acknowledge his mistakes and apologize to her and prove his unwavering devotion and loyalty to her. Wondering if that’s something you’d be interested in exploring?

Thank you so much! Glad you're enjoying Kanthony fic!

I don't read very much regency (I've just never been a period piece girlie - Bridgerton was one of my rare exceptions). But I think quite a lot of authors have tackled Anthony confronting his mistakes and working through things with Kate, probably much better than I would.

Firstly, I'm just generally not invested in the narrative of Anthony apologizing repeatedly. Of course, I think there's a scene offscreen where he has to explain why he initially chose Edwina and his fears around love. But he would apologize and Kate would probably understand better than anyone and they would move forward together. Anthony would prove his loyalty to her simply by doing what he already wants to do: care for her, shower her with love and affection, be a steady and trustworthy presence in her life. Actions, not words.

Secondly, I think it can be hard when we have very specific headcanons. You may not find a fic that matches up to what you imagine, because our headcanons are all very different, often colored by our experiences and our preferences in relationships. This is why people write the fic they want to see - and I certainly encourage that if you feel comfortable!

Thirdly, I just don't enjoy writing canon-compliant fic. I have a few exceptions (mostly drabbles or smut one-shots), but I will always tend toward modern. Plenty of writers create very rich, detailed regency worlds, and I'm happy to live in theirs rather than create my own.

[hopefull-mindset]

Hello. I had another question. Would you say the way the relationships/interactions are written between the characters in BSD would be considered queerbaiting?

Technically by definition I would personally say yes, however there's usually a negative connotation that comes with queerbaiting that's related to harming the queer community so I was wondering if you had a more nuanced approach to the topic.

Queerbait… ah my worst enemy of a term has struck again. Mind if I add the Queer Coding discussion into this as well? Because when I see one person denounce the idea of Queer Coding in BSD, another person goes “oh yeah, it’s actually Queerbait”. No offense, but nobody knows what they’re talking about with either term and I understand why. I have my hangups about how they've been used and the blur between them causing this confusion.

I didn’t even realize this was something people argued about because I didn’t think there was enough to argue queer intent anywhere. I’m generally used to vague queer representation getting these types of arguments, so I blanked out with confusion.

For those who don’t know, Queerbait is a term coined to refer to marketing strategies that use the “implied” queerness to market their content to an audience who are interested in that to view their content. Of course, they don’t actually follow through on that “promise” for the sake of their viewership not being disturbed. Maybe they'll put some hints in their little show, and then kill them off when the time is ripe.

That’s where most of its negative connotations come from: Taking advantage of a marginalized group’s need for representation to improve their ratings. People use this… very incorrectly, usually when someone is clearly using Queer Coding in their work and get accused of Queerbait when they don’t follow through with an explicit romantic relationship.

Queer Coding is when a creator writes subtextual hints into their writing that a character or relationship is meant to be read as gay to bypass censorship or stigma within the media they’re writing in. Usually with signals that a gay audience can catch onto or romantic references in plain sight. While technically not the greatest example since MDZS is a danmei, the Donghua wasn't exactly allowed to fully present their relationship for what it was. Surprisingly, they added a scene where a move of Wei Wuxian’s colored both his and Lan Wangji’s robes red to resemble Chinese wedding garments.

I only chose that example because I think it's a great representation of details in plain sight. But then there's the other way I've seen Queer Coding get used and that's in queer analysis where we read a narrative or character as gay because of their distinct traits or plotline that resonates with LGBTQ+ audiences. It gets confusing when people use it both ways, but fandom usually uses it the first way.

I'm a bit bitter when I talk about these two terms because of how often the overlap confuses audiences, and god knows how loosely Queer Coding gets used to describe some vague, homoerotic friendship while the other side starts accusing the author of Queerbait. Then you start questioning if the author was really trying to take advantage of the community, wanted to explore sexuality without commitment, or literally didn't realize what they wrote could be interpreted like that because of how it chooses to write intimacy. It gets messy FAST.

Ah, how do I say this… I get the outrage of not having explicit representation more often, but when Queerbait starts getting used to describing the writing itself rather than just the promotional marketing, it starts losing all meaning to me and becomes a scab on my back. It generalizes the intent of the writer and assumes them in this box of malicious motivations. Then there's the whole argument of whether or not real people can “queerbait”, which is also stupid to me.

The examples people bring up don't even hold up (starts using t.A.T.u in your examples for once because… wow) and a majority only apply this to fictional content because of the super-secret rule to Queerbait. Usually, it can't work because then that assumes the sexuality of the person in question and they fully well could just be non-disclosed queer who's exploring their sexuality, but then what makes the writer a problem? What's stopping you from confusing Queer Coding with Queerbait?? It's different when it's obvious that they're using the queer identity for a quick browny point, but Jesus.

The way fandom uses it is not in these really obvious moments, but in ambiguous writing. I don't understand any of this when we start straying into this territory and I'm trying not to get mad when I'm currently talking about this right now. I am already mad, I failed. Maybe it's just a personal feeling, but I really don't like this term for these reasons. It's useful, but kind sucks. I can go on forever about Queerbait and the misusage of it, and even the way I think its used currently is bullshit anyway, but I digress.

Right right, this is about Bungou Stray Dogs. As you could guess from my rant, I don't think Asagiri is queerbaiting us if you mean it in the “queerbait writing” crowd. So what about Studio Bones?

Bones, well… I mean it's really common for animation studios to draw official art like this and since Queerbait is more of a Western concept, this is understood as just fanservice I think. You can technically count this as Queerbait if you'd like, but you should always consider the fact of a different community always having a different relationship with queer concepts.

Studio Bones's official art of Soukoku is hilarious to me. There’s another one promoting some brand and they're at a fountain dating spot. At least these are not as bad as the official art for Mecha animes in the 2000s lololol.

Moving on, the argument for Queer Coding when it comes to Soukoku tends to rely on these arts. I don't recommend doing that because relying on side content that holds no purpose other than to rile up fans doesn't make a strong enough case. Subtext is the most important part to making a point, so if you can't even point in the direction of the main text, then…

Dazai and Chuuya is a bit bottom barrel of what can be considered Queer Coding. I like Soukoku as much as the next guy (maybe not in the same way) and think their relationship is incredibly fun, but one vaguely homoerotic scene in Dead Apple does not convince me anything of the idea they should be seen in a romantic context. Trust me, I've spent a long time back proofing my arguments as to why my long-term OTP should be understood as gay. Soukoku doesn't impress me in these lines of understanding.

I personally think the way some SKK fans approach their relationship from a purely romantic view and are entirely insistent on this one-note understanding of Dazai’s feelings for him ruins most conversation on the topic of Dazai, Chuuya, Age 15, and his inclusion in Stormbringer. They're very important to each other, but some need to step back to appreciate what they have in canon and then apply romance?

I have no idea why people talk as if Dazai joking around and saying “That's what makes me like you” really meant anything. Makes me doubt half the time if it's just people seeing the panel out of content and have never read the actual novel.

Fyodor and Nikolai shippers are like this too. They take the importance they have to one another (at least for Nikolai, idk what Fyodor thinks of him) and then inflate that into just romance. What they have isn't really Queer Coding, it's just fixation that is seen as romantic. They have their official art, but that doesn't mean much since it's anthology art.

Rimbaud and Verlaine hm… sometimes when an author depicts real people who were in a relationship, they avoid that detail by calling them “brotherly”. The relationship of the real authors shouldn't be pointed at as proof at all because the characters are not the people. I would not recommend romanticizing their relationship either since it was um, I don't think chaotic cuts it. The age gap was disastrous, Rimbaud moved in with him and his wife at some point (obviously making the marriage worse), one of them got slapped with a fish, Verlaine tried shooting Rimbaud, etc.

So me saying that there was no Queer Coding shouldn't mean you can't see them as queer, I just mean there's no proof of Asagiri having that intention. That is all. I think Verlaine and Rimbaud had something going on, but that's purely from my own amusement and appeal.

That's my take on that I guess? I don't see it either way. It takes a lot for me to believe there was an intention to write them a certain way. Even if you asked me, “Do you think Akechi and the protagonist from Persona 5 are meant to be gay?” I'd giggle and consider it from what the p5 royal content was like, but I'd tell you no, unfortunately.

[zorkaya-moved]

❛  you didn't hear a word of what i just said, did you?  ❜ from kaveh !

@avaere

"An incorrect assessment. I heard your words loud and clear, Kaveh. I always do," she answers right away, words spoken with clarity and volume high enough to prove she was paying attention. "I understand your frustration with my silence, but give me a moment. I'm thinking."

Did she hear him? Of course, she did, but it doesn't erase her genuine confusion over his words. Did she hear him? Yes. Did she listen to him? She is trying. The difference between hearing and listening is too vast when the past puts walls between worldviews.

Kaveh is someone - from her point of view - too good for this world. It's not a joke or belittling of the architect, but a simple factual deduction based on the company she kept behind the curtains. There isn't anyone who shines as brightly as him, but there is also no one more human than he is. At the very least, in her biased gaze of ichor as she studies him without wishing to interrupt his words.

If she is a fool when it comes to his worldview, she is welcoming this dichotomy with open arms solely because it is him. Once again, biased views come into the prospect as she wouldn't have given anyone else the time of the day to try and change her approach to certain situations.

The issue is... she may hear him, but does she listen to him?

There are still stubborn notes in her mind, thorns laced with poison that dig too deeply into her flesh. A reminder that this world is not kind. Just because Kaveh is doesn't mean that everyone outside would be as well. Her cynicism is a cruel sharp sword that cuts deeper than anything else, not allowing the brightness of colors to seep into her being. The architect may call her out on that far more often than others do, seeing behind the curtain calls and actions by now. The deductions, the calculations, the way she sits on the windowsill with a smoke pipe and a stack of documents to read as one leg hangs down. Kaveh knows the cold and sharp looks she can give behind the scenes, judgement obvious to him as the light of the Sun shines upon the beast's nature, exposing its fangs under radiant golden light.

"I hear you, Kaveh," she says again, sighing softly. She does, she really does, but she cannot understand. It's a road to learning, a journey to understand him and his words, feelings, and reasons. She doesn't understand this selfless kindness nor does she understand more of his being, but that begets the wish to learn. But the study of Kaveh is a far more tumultuous study that she'd ever wishes to dive into. Not unwanted, oh no, most wanted but still thorny in its newfound confusion. "I hear you but I don't understand. It's easier to pretend that I do, but I don't want to lie to you."

How can one know warmth of someone outside her family when the world had never been kind? How can one believe in kindness when it was always used as a weakness within the dense forests of snowy Snezhnaya? How can she not doubt everyone but Kaveh in their approaches? She chose him, she will always choose him, but it means she won't truly believe anyone else outside of the chosen ones. Perhaps, this is why she isn't truly willing to bend the knee to trust other people and listen to Kaveh's words. It's all about business when it's not touching him, her family, and her small circle of friends.

I hear you, but is it truly enough?

[linhmiu201]

Okay so I decided to screw it, just be a bitch if you have to, and so I got the Judge Ending... But why is the last episode Forgive?! I chose one wrong choice, only one!! OTL

My brain tells me 'reset' to make it perfect, but my heart says 'no'. I love hoarding HGs, I'm really reluctant to spend some more... Do I truly, absolutely need to waste another 100 HGs sniff? TvT

I'll go reading it and make a comparison post between the 2 endings after farming to get back the sacrificed 280 HGs...

I took a peak at the end of the route though, and see that the CG lying in the bed(?) with V is more appealing to my eyes? I get to see V's face up close so it's all good. At least I don't need to be a mama at my 20s. :)

And I find a need to comment about this. ↓

No, Rika, it's not what I wanted. I want you to go to jail, and a mental hospital, not go into a vegetative state or have this sudden enlightenment and become a good person. Because you are excused from criminal responsibility either way. I kind of understand you but never in my wildest dream will I love you.

______________

Edit: Okey I read Forgive Ending again and it's implied that she's in jail now. They should just show us, idk, the result of her trial on the news or something. (But that would give us a scene where Jumin's heart the heart that Jumin doesn't know whether or not it exists is broken hearing the news cuz apparently only Jumin has a TV in his home lol)

P/s: In V's route and his AE Cheritz taught us not to see things as just black and white, there are also gray and other colors too, but why do they force us to either be super bitchy or really nice almost like a saintess to Rika? Cuz V the Saint is eliminated so now MC is the new Saintess?

[whateverthedragonswant]

One of the things I love about this last battle scene from season 3 is all of the connections being displayed. Between Homelander and Soldier Boy. Between Butcher and Soldier Boy. Between Hughie and Annie. Even between Maeve and Soldier Boy.

Here is where Butcher tells Ben that Ryan is his wife's son. I love that they waited until after Ben proves he's willing to kill Homelander, that they reveal this information through this scene between the two characters.

And then of course we get:

And to me, this is so important. Not only is it a truly heroic exit for Maeve, not only does it bring her story full circle (because when we meet her, we see she's anything but a hero though she hates that), but we also get the one LGBTQIA+ figure aka progress taking out/removing the toxic/sexist/racist original Supe aka the old. And that's important because we saw:

"Show Our True Colors" plus multi-color stripes shown reminds me of "These Colors Don't Run" with American-color stripes. Very purposeful imagery showing Maeve to be the antithesis to Soldier Boy in every way. Even wrapping these contrasts in subtle parallels like both of them picking on Hughie. Granted, Maeve hasn't liked Hughie since she met him and Ben has his own reasons for not caring for Hughie, but it also plays into the whole Starlight connection as well. Maeve saves Starlight (and company) from Ben, while he went head to head with Starlight. Maeve even thanks Starlight for saving her later on. Contrast and connection.

Maeve represents progress for Vought (more appropriately, they use her for it thanks to Homelander outing her) and the world so it absolutely made sense for Ben to not only see her picture, to see the poster of the movie Dawn of the Seven, but also to see this gay couple walk past him.

Because in Dawn of the Seven, Maeve's character is in love with a woman and this film is then used by Vought to promote their open embracing of modern times (while also used to to give a story on what happened with Stormfront).

And you can even see this type of connection in this scene:

You have two women, one a WOC, and a Black man being the ones to hold Soldier Boy at first.

And then you have:

Maeve making the choice to protect the next generation, which is also compiled with her coming full circle in her own journey because she wasn't able to save that little girl on the plane. Here is where she's redeemed while also being the one to oust Homelander (to an extent) who is basically the modern Soldier Boy and Soldier Boy all in one. For her to have Starlight looking at her in that moment and then for her to see Butcher and then Ryan, she makes her choice.

Which is also why it's so interesting to see the contrast in her decision regarding Ryan compared to Soldier Boy's decision when his grandson reacts to him about to hurt his dad.

Out of everyone, they both share wounds on the same sides of their faces, both from Homelander and Butcher respectively, who both have heat vision. Because not only do Homelander and Butcher have their own connections and parallels as well as contrasts, but all of that stuff for the characters are present during this sequence.

And even going back to Butcher's reveal to Soldier Boy about Ryan being Homelander's and Becca's son, to me, that line of "Wait, Homelander fucked your wife? And you want to save the brat?" is very indicative of old vs modern/progress. Butcher isn't Ryan's biological dad but he's protecting him because of a promise to Becca (and it's strongly implied that he's come to care for him in his own way). Granted, Soldier Boy doesn't know the circumstances of Ryan's conception but he most likely thinks Homelander and Becca had a good old fashioned sexcapade so to him this is a big no-no and why he can't understand why Butcher wants to protect Ryan. You touching another guy's wife isn't cool but a child conceived from that, the husband wasn't expected to raise that kid.

So it all makes sense why they chose Maeve to be the one to save everyone from Soldier Boy and sacrifice herself, not only for her exit and so her story could become full circle. She also represented progress and the modern day for Vought Supes compared to the first and oldest Supe and the outdated past.

So many connections throughout this scene, this season, even when it comes to the contrasts between certain characters. Love it.

[ernmark]

I get where you're coming from-- I'm faceblind, so prominent features like hair color are things I use to differentiate people, too.

Typically, quality-based names like these are given to strangers, often because a person didn't learn the other person's name, doesn't want to learn their name, or can't remember it. And instead of their name, they're reduced to a single very obvious quality that specifically sets them apart from other people ("redhead" wouldn't be a very useful differentiator if everybody in your school had red hair, for example).

Depending on the quality that stands out enough to garner an epithet, that can be really uncomfortable, because it's a constant dig at the way in which they're othered, and a way to reinforce the fact that they're not one of the in-group. (Again, pulling from "redhead", that nickname can carry wildly different connotations for someone living in a community with strong anti-Irish or antisemitic attitudes.)

They'll also sometimes be an indicator that to the speaker, the nickname-quality is the most (or only) important thing about them. In the notes people have pointed out how frequently a person's race is used as their primary identifier, or their visible disability, etc, and how incredibly uncomfortable that can be.

Epithets and feature-based nicknames can also be an indicator that the subject is not worth the effort of remembering their name. This is where you'll frequently see a racist person giving someone an "easier to remember" nickname when the other person's name is "unusual" or "hard to pronounce".

If you've gotten people reacting with offense when you refer to them by a feature instead of their name, there's a good chance that they assume it's because of the above. They have no way of knowing your intentions, and if they've been mistreated in the past because of the quality you pointed out, they have every reason to think you intend to do the same.

(This is a big reason why I tend to be fairly upfront with people that I'm terrible at remembering names-- I don't want them to think that when I forget, it's because they personally are beneath remembering. Similarly, when I'm pointing out a person whose name I don't know to another person, I make a point of using something the subject chose for themself as a descriptive reference point-- the color they dyed their hair, or their shirt, or their purse or something.)

Now the thing is, that isn't a universal rule or anything. Epithets given to strangers can, with time and affectionate use, become beloved nicknames. But at least among neurotypicals, that's significantly less common than just using the person's name after they've been introduced (Notably, this is different in specific situations like bootcamp or a pirate ship or whatever, where nicknames are an inherent part of the in-group culture. But those tend to be separate from the kind of epithets I'm describing.)

But I think it's incredibly important to point out that my post was not about how people think of or talk to each other-- it was about writing.

My post was about ways to take a common thing and use it in a way that effectively evokes certain responses-- and also to help people understand why sometimes they find themselves bothered by epithets used in certain ways in writing.

What's more common in writing, and in fanfic writing in particular for a number of reasons, is that it isn't consistent or deliberate, and is instead often the product of a writer getting self-conscious about using the character's names or pronouns and consequently reaching for whatever identifier they haven't used recently, which can confuse and even undermine other characterization that they've tried to establish. Frequently they'll accidentally imply that the point-of-view character is bigoted, or that the character considers the other person in the scene to be a stranger.

In writing, epithets ("the taller man"/"the blonde"/etc) are inherently dehumanizing, in that they remove a character's name and identity, and instead focus on this other quality.

Which can be an extremely effective device within narration!

They can work very well for characters whose names the narrator doesn't know yet (especially to differentiate between two or more). How specific the epithet is can signal to the reader how important the character is going to be later on, and whether they should dedicate bandwidth to remembering them for later ("the bearded man" is much less likely to show up again than "the man with the angel tattoo")

They can indicate when characters stop being as an individual and instead embody their Role, like a detective choosing to think of their lover simply as The Thief when arresting them, or a royal character being referred to as The Queen when she's acting on behalf of the state

They can reveal the narrator's biases by repeatedly drawing attention to a particular quality that singles them out in the narrator's mind

But these only work if the epithet used is how the narrator primarily identifies that character. Which is why it's so jarring to see a lot of common epithets in intimate moments-- because it conveys that the main character is primarily thinking of their lover/best friend/etc in terms of their height or age or hair color.

[yellowaugustnights]

1 ep of Nong Last

Probably now I can be described by this picture:

A series that has been waiting for almost a year. Not as long as it seems at first glance, but it's only at first glance. I'm trying to put my thoughts in a bunch and I'm not quite getting it.

This series is definitely about hope, about chance, about acceptance and about love in general. So when I saw it, I was already starting to disappear.

We immediately get acquainted with Day and his badminton past under the 25th frames of photos from Sea's childhood. The accident as a fact already happened before the start of the series, so at the beginning of the episode we already see the consequences of this - the process of vision deterioration has begun. We are introduced to August and I am pleasantly surprised by Ohm. He's so determined, so cocky. Their dynamic with Day is very dangerous. These two are resolutely ready to cover each other, support and win. They also show a tribune with Day's mom on it, but no Night. I wonder why he couldn't come? I will return to the brothers later, as this will be my main topic of conversation until the 12th episode. Mork rolling out from under the car - here I started giggling like an idiot, because they even put the same clothes on him as in the pilot. Equally well wielding a monkey wrench, a lighter (guy, you're just sex with a cigarette) and a "rose", but completely unable to choose friends. I was glad to find out later that the "friends" no longer contacted him. The fight reminded me of Bad Buddy. To be honest, P'Aof is a genius in many ways, but fighting is not his strong point, and editing fights too, well, okay, let's not talk about it. I liked the editing of scenes where Mork is looking for a job. Driving music, divine gluing of frames. The first half of 1/4 and 2/4 is very generous with humorous experiments: fixing a chair, questions about Day's interview with a man in gray, all candidates in conversation with Day, where he threatens to vomit under funny faces.

But despite the humorous parts, we came for the drama and of course we will get it. And now I will return to the topic of siblings. To be honest, I don't understand how you can fuck with a nail salon. Maybe I'm not good at this topic, but you can go broke with a cafe faster than in the beauty field, despite the competition. Well, okay, I'm really picking on it. Perhaps P'Rung is not strong in advertising, or her masters were not the best, or she chose the wrong area for the salon. It doesn't matter, I really find fault. The important thing is that now Mork is trying to cope with his overwhelming sense of guilt through his sister's abdication. This is her car, she wanted to pay for my studies, she decided to die. She is to blame for everything, so Mork says, but also his sense of guilt for not being able to help her, if not financially, then morally, for not being able to notice how hard it is for her and just try to talk to her so that she doesn't do what she did. The debts that remain are also hers, and, as far as one can understand, he will still have to repay them.

Here the theme of 180 days slips by, at the end of which Mork must buy his sister's car and finally come to terms with his guilt, learning to live with the past.

Next, Night and Day.

I already adore their relationship and will defend it in front of them. I confess I cried in the scene with the car, continued to cry in the scene with the library in AC, and blew my nose in a hoodie when the scene with the car continued. This is funny, considering that in bts for this scene, Mark and Sea were joking (Mark refused to let Sea into the car until he begged in a sweet voice). Fucking Lord, what a strain! Right away I want to notice the color correction in these scenes, it's very dark in the car, you can feel the impending danger, you can feel the thunderstorm hanging over the brothers, and between the scenes in the car we have a scene in the library where there is a Mork, and in this scene very warm bright colors. Looking ahead, all of Day's scenes when he is with Mork are light, and the scenes in which Mork is not present are dark.

I took a lot of screenshots, but I won't be able to post them all, because I will immediately reach the limit of 30 images, but believe me, the microexpressions of Mark and Sea touched me to the point of wheezing in my throat, I swear.

Do you see this pain in the eyes of the Night? I can feel her inside. This is his beloved younger brother, whom he always took care of (this is hinted at by the children's photos at the beginning of the episode). All his micro-movements are aimed at protecting Day, even if Night himself eventually turns out to be a bad guy (protect him from Mork at the interview, cool Day down before he gets into a verbal altercation with Mork, put on a seat belt, bring Mork back because Day wants it). He is tired, we understand this, and at such a moment we can tell our loved ones what we don't need to say, which has just accumulated somewhere inside just because of fatigue, and not out of a desire to cause them even more pain. Like the Day. He is tired, he feels like a burden, so he tells his brother that he is driving his car, trying to take his place, that he would rather die than accept his care. They are both vulnerable because of the situation they find themselves in, but they still love each other despite harsh words. I love them madly.

I really like to observe family relationships, which is why romance often fades into the background for me. But coming back to this anyway:

I like the confrontation between Mork and Day. I liked the interview scene in AC. It was fervent, with a twinkle. Day behaved like a spoiled little prince, Mork is a fucking Fox who will later become a Rose (I will never discuss the scene with reading the Little Prince or I will start crying), Night was on guard, watching his brother, mom mentally tried to order Mork to leave the room. Great dynamics, chin-holding, insane instrumental music that I haven't been able to find yet, a bright warm frame. Everything is fine. The scene in the association library is also filled with light despite the heated atmosphere between the brothers, Day looking for a CD and panicking, Mork thinking about something while looking at the brothers. Was he thinking about himself and his sister at that moment? Or was he thinking about Day and how this kid is living now? Maybe it's in the novel. In any case, it's interesting to talk about this scene. I can't help but mention Sea. I'm just proud of him. Without further ado. I'm very proud of this guy. And while I'm not back to discuss Sea and Mark in this scene, I'll say again that they're great. The scene of the rescue from cars. What was Mork doing there? Day and Night are far away… Okay, let's not talk about it. I just liked it. Again without further ado. This panic on Day's face, in Day's eyes (!). Sea was told not to use his eyes, but he still managed to do it! This guy needs more acting jobs to reveal himself, believe me, he has insane potential. The interview scene in the house is not discussed because of the Little Prince. I just like putting a frame in front of a picture with faces. The guy returned the reader's ticket to the other guy (okay, I'll say this: it's like stalking, you're already interested, aren't you? his money, of course, not by himself, no, of course not). In a couple of places I caught crazy vibes of Puen and Talay. I even heard whole phrases that sounded in Vice Versa and I feel like a sick bastard because of it.

I'm going to listen to these instrumental songs until blood comes out of my ears. Francis Wells - April Will Be Cold, Alan Ellis - A Rising Sun, Jon Bjork - The Lifeguard, Balm - Peter Sandberg.

I'm also waiting for On to show up. He and Day have no less cool dynamics. Oh Lord, who doesn't Day have a cool dynamic with?

I also want to see a scene without a shirt that migrated from the pilot. That is, you stink of cigarettes, okay, I'll take off my shirt, I'll push you away now, why the hell am I groping boobs. Yes, Day, it's so weird (no).

This is only the first episode, but I'm already happy with everything I see. So far there has been a good balance of humor and drama. I liked the muted color correction. Well-chosen instrumental music. Good, hallelujah, not a ragged montage. The actors' acting is beautiful (and I put aside my love for JimmySea and rate them as an outsider). Sea has done his best, and I want to see further episodes to praise him even more. Also Jimmy. Knowing that he went through seven circles of hell to reincarnate as a Mork is a great result. The introductory first series looks easy and fresh. I hope that gmm was not mistaken by putting the series on Friday evening, because I watched it in the dead of night and the number of views is saddening me so far. I don't even want to think that JimmySea will repeat the situation with Vice Versa. The Queen Vice Versa is greatly underestimated, but Nong Last cannot repeat her fate, it is unthinkable at all with the work of so many interested people who created the series with all love and respect. In addition, Nong Last received only two advertising blocks, which is ten less than Vice Versa. Everyone should watch this series or I will have to blame people for stupidity and lack of taste, because fucking it's no match for such a slag heap that often goes on TV.