#I initially pictured Ed here

[wickedcriminal]

I have been rotating aria of pride and deceit by @asthmaticbee in my head like rotisserie for several days and I'm still crying over this little angel in a red coat and his ungodly demon (affectionate) of an older brother

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

hey sex witch, you’ve talked a lot about porn addiction on here but I have some other questions if that’s ok.

I go to Christian highschool and we often have discussions about porn addiction.

my teacher says that most addicted people start consuming porn at around 9. And that even seeing one naked person or one porn or whatever on the internet can put you at higher risk of developing an addiction to porn.

does absolutely any of this have a base in science? Or is this all fear mongering and what not?

hi anon,

first of all, I just want to say that I think it rules that you're seeking information outside of what's being taught at your school. learning how to question what you're told and seek out answers from other sources is a really important skill that can be VERY hard to even begin if you aren't given the resources to easily go looking for information, and I think it's great that you're taking the initiative of seeking out other perspectives :)

now, let's break this down: the concept of "porn addiction" is one largely discredited by psychologists. while people can certainly develop maladaptive coping mechanisms around sexuality, porn, and/or masturbation, this isn't strictly the same as addiction, and several studies have found that the people who are most likely to identify themselves as porn addicts are people who harbor religious or cultural shame about sexuality and porn use, rather than people who use porn more than the average person. it is, largely, a matter of perception.

while access to smartphones means that many people first encounter pornography at a young age - the current average age is somewhere between 9 and 13, depending on the study - and that can be confusing to a child who isn't given the proper framework to understand what they're seeing, it's also not a new phenomenon. in my role as a sex educator I also get to talk with a lot of parents about their early sexual experiences, and many of them recall encountering printed pornography as children when they find it in gutters, the woods, the bedroom of parents or friends' parents, or even stowed in farm equipment. these adults tend to remember being intrigued and excited along with a little confused or alarmed by this first brush with sexuality, but crucially it did not define them as people. as evidence by the fact that they've grown up to send their children to queer-friendly, sex positive, nonjudgmental sex ed classes, early exposure to porn did not stop them from growing into curious, thoughtful, and supportive parents who want to encourage healthy attitudes toward sexuality for their children. porn alone does not have the power to determine the direction of someone's life.

just seeing a naked person or pornography on the internet also cannot immediately make you an "addict." as you've already guessed, this is what we call fear mongering, using information in a way that's exaggerated to make people nervous to even engage with a topic. fear mongering about sex is common among adults and education systems that don't want to young people to be curious about their bodies; another common one is "teaching" young people about sexually transmitted infections by only showing them pictures of untreated cases that have become drastic and painful while insisting that no STI can ever be treated, which is definitely not the case. but the facts don't matter; the priority is trying to make sure teenagers are too scared to have sex until they're adults and the school system is no longer responsible for them.

(and it doesn't even work; states with higher rates of abstinence only education are CONSISTENTLY among those with the highest rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.)

when presented with absolutist statements like this, it's worth poking holes in the logic. for instance, if seeing any naked figure is bad, what about classical art? do nude marble statues put you at risk of being a porn addict? what about other artistic depictions of nudity? or anatomical illustrations? what about real people just changing clothes in a locker room, or young siblings bathing together? does it not count for people who are nearly or partially nude, like someone wearing a bathing suit or athletic clothes? people changing in a locker room together? what about young children being bathed together? and what about all of those depictions about Jesus on the cross wearing nothing but a loincloth? what's the line between "good" and "bad" nudity, and who's deciding where that line is? can such a line even really exist at all?

the truth is that people are undressed or partially undressed in all kinds of situations, and none of them are a corrosive influence on your brain. just looking at something is not enough to completely rewire your brain and permanently change your behavior. ultimately, you are responsible for your own actions.

I hope this has been a helpful answer, and that you stay curious about what you're being taught.

[patricia-taxxon]

So, I watched that response stream that DeadwingDork made about my furry boinking video, here it is if you're curious.

By some accounts, this gentleman seems like he means well, with regards to pronouns he pulls the "when in doubt, they/them" gambit, which is partway there. If he finds this, I'll politely let him know I don't use they, just she & it. Thanks!

I have good reason to believe he began this journey in good faith, but over the course of the video he slowly gives up being charitable, and it's very frustrating to watch. There's a few key moments of miscommunication I noticed that I'd like to clear up.

DeadwingDork and I got off on the wrong foot very early on, and part of that's my fault. I start the video openly lusting after Garth Alphandomega, and this put him on edge. This might be an ideological difference we can't get past, he says that Garth is "Just a wolf" when I personally think he's quite different from a wolf. After that, I do the joke where I say "If the opportunity presented itself I would fuck my-" and cut to The Flowers of Robert Mapplethorpe, but he didn't have the context to understand what I'm saying by cutting to that album in particular, so he thought I was jokingly saying I would fuck my dog. He spends the rest of the stream with that initial impression of me lusting after what he perceives as literal animals, it's kinda the initial rock that starts the avalanche and closes him off from understanding basically anything that I'm saying, until the end, where he's convinced I've just spent 43 minutes coming out as a zoophile.

This might just be a difference in artistic philosophy, like he interprets Alpha & Omega to be about wolves whereas I interpret it as being about people through the aesthetic lens of wolves. Metaphor isn't just for abstract art movies, after all. Garth walks on 4 legs, but he has enough obvious persistent human-like traits both visually and behaviorally for me to understand him as a person delivered via wolf. For the same reason, he is disturbed by my lusting for Shoukichi Pompoko, because he interprets that movie as literally being about tanuki. I think this the main reason the concept of a character being "simultaneously human and inhuman" completely whiffed on him. He skimmed over my segment on how Leo can be both a wolf and hispanic & didn't understand the relevance, because I don't think that contradiction can be resolved in his head.

The most frustrating part of this stream is the way he clearly picks up on a lot of the overarching subtext that I'm putting down, but by that point in the video he doesn't have enough faith in me to interpret it as being put there intentionally. He treats the connection between my special-ed dog training and my current animal identity as an unintentional self-report, when it isn't. There's this *maddening* segment where I talk about Pom Poko for the first time, and he... honestly quite accurately picks apart the picture I'm illustrating about alienation, but he handwaves it away in favor of his horrible mangling of the exact literal sentence I am saying at that moment.

He says:

"There's clearly a story here, but it's being buried. There's a lot of stuff that's leading towards... 'oh, you watched this movie and this movie and your parents did this and your fuckin' teachers did this, and that's why this is happening.' That's like the fuckin' undertones of this video, [but] the main takeaway is supposed to be that this movie... I dunno, makes you f.. is supposed to feel like how fuckin' animal people feel like they're... whatever, I don't, I don't... whatever."

He grabs at the subtext, the story I'm obviously telling with the surface level anecdote of my experience seeing Pom Poko when I was young. I say obviously, because he and his chat both understood it. But then he discards that, assumes it was unintended, and importantly, he doesn't have a good answer for what I'm actually saying divorced from that. Because... what's even left after you remove the subtextual story I'm telling with this anecdote? The anecdote itself? Of course he's empty handed.

Other notes:

He can't decide whether I'm an over zealous recruiter trying to call everything furry, or that I'm a gatekeeper trying to force robust definitions of 'furry' into the general lexicon. This isn't very important, it's just kind of funny.

He is dismissive of me saying I won't report news if my only source is Kiwifarms, but he doesn't really give a good reason for it. I am having trouble summarizing his argument for why I should have referenced a website whose users doxxed me. He hilariously suggests that I should negotiate with them to have my address taken down, as long as I'm not a "lolcow" about it. I'll be charitable and say that I don't think he's thought this through very much.

He hates that I "compare autistic people to animals," when that really just doesn't mean anything on its own. A comparison is a comparison, a follower of mine pointed out to me they could say that trans people are like cockroaches & it could either mean they are doggedly resilient in the face of harsh circumstances or that they are pests that need to be exterminated. I meant something specific by using an animal metaphor to describe my autistic identity, and it transcends the literal reading of "calling autistic people animals."

He derisively calls Echo a "gay furry sex game" when it simply is not. I'll forgive him for this because he hasn't played it, but Echo isn't porn, it's a horror game. There's sex in it, and it has the framework of a dating game, but it is far from the main appeal. I'm not saying this to elevate Echo above the degrading label of "porn," because Adastra is definitely porn and it's almost as good, just not as easily recommendable to outsiders.

He thinks its commendable that Sean Booth bought my album, which is nice.

Overall, I don't think DeadwingDork is outwardly hateful, but he is quite gullible. He accepts hate speech at face value and buys into narratives useful for hate movements. There's echos of trans groomer panic, that old "you're the reason people are transphobic" chestnut, and of course, using Kiwifarms as a news source. He said he came into the video knowing nothing about me and had no reason to be approaching me in bad faith, but he clearly doesn't trust me enough to think the main rhetorical thrust of the video was intentional.

bad stream lol

[pumpkinpaix]

Spotlight 1:

"Introduction: The Single-log Bridge"

(interview questions answered by Alberto)

What drew you to this topic?

When we realized this would be the first scholarly book on The Untamed, we wanted to prioritize writers with lived experience and cultural backgrounds most pertinent to an initial discussion of it!

Was there anything you were surprised to discover while researching?

For me personally, I was surprised to see all the records that The Untamed kept setting as we wrote, revised, and submitted the collection! Some of the sources cited here were added quite literally the week before our deadline.

Did researching/writing your chapter change how you saw the text, the fandom, or the media? How so?

We had to pull together conversations on a lot of different topics for this introduction, and it was very neat to see the big picture coming together.

If there’s one thing you hope the fandom takes away from your article, what would it be?

I hope that English-speaking fandom in particular comes away with a better sense of how complex production was and how much nuance there is to the show. I've seen a lot of discussions that try to read CQL in the way they would a show made in the US or EU, and that just misses so much of what this show is doing!

What is your MDZS/CQL origin story? (i.e. how did you come to this text?)

I (Maria) started watching CQL after seeing it all over my dash and getting rave recommendations from friends in a wide variety of other fandoms! From there, I branched out into the novel and other danmei texts, both webnovels and dramas.

Favorite adaptation, if any?

The live-action drama will always hold a special place in my heart because this is how I first encountered these characters!

If you were isekai-ed into MDZS/CQL, what sect affiliation would you choose and why?

This is such a tough question XD I think I'd have to say Qinghe Nie because I admire their leadership and I'm most drawn to their style of cultivation!

What’s your favorite fictional trope in MDZS/CQL?

Soulmate tropes will always get me! Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen are my very favorite characters and that relationship is so compelling to me: I also love how Xiao Xingchen forms a little found family in Yi City for a time, later on :,)

Chaotic one-sentence pitch to get your friends into MDZS/CQL?

Picture this: disaster gays reunite after dramatic death and reincarnation, then have the slowest slowburn while dealing with post-conflict politics!

If you could ask anyone who worked any adaptation of MDZS/CQL one thing, who would it be and what would you ask?

To any cast member, I would be so curious whether they anticipated how big and visible the show became!

If you could ask MXTX one question, what would it be?

What do you think of how popular your work has become?!

What is one (1) book/media you would recommend to a MDZS/CQL fan? Tell us about it.

Word of Honor, in case there's anyone hasn't seen it yet (heart eyes)

Anything to say to potential readers of the collection?

On behalf of myself and co-editor Yue, we truly hope you enjoy it!

You can find Maria on Twitter/X @MariaKAlberto.

(FAQ) (all posts on Catching Chen Qing Ling)

[hoshinasblade]

Professor!Hoshina thoughts.

Like I instinctually think he’d be an English teacher who does higher level courses specializing in Japanese literature and poetry. The kind where the class size is like 20 people or less.

On the other hand, I can also see him teaching gen ed literature for entering freshmen and just being a super chill guy. He’d be all “I get that the majority of you don’t want to be here, but you gotta so let’s get through this together.”

Regardless of type of course, I think Hoshina would know exactly how to motivate (oo la la~ lol) his students. He understands people have lives outside of his classroom. He’s attentive during one-on-one conferences, and has great office hours. General student consensus is that he’s strict, but fair.

Also glasses. Like reading glasses. He doesn’t wear them while teaching, but he does in his office for grading and doing computer work. Idk if this is what you’re looking for l, but yeah

if i could make out with this ask, i would have 🥹 this is a bit long so buckle up.

quick trivia that i am an english major; that's why i mentioned in my post before that i am biased on making vice-captain hoshina an english professor if i am going to write a fic where he is a teacher. it just fits his character, i would agree. it's also canon that he reads poetry so there's that too. personally i agree that he would be someone who teaches something esoteric as this parallels his role in the manga/anime. might be slightly off-tangent but this assumption of mine relates to how hoshina is portrayed as someone who is stubborn and proud. it was clear in the beginning that his own father thought that use of blades is already obsolete, but what did hoshina do? he persevered, earning a spot beside the highest ranking official in the third division. i would say something similar would happen when hoshina decided to go down his own path of being a professor - he comes from a well-off clan, i suppose he can choose any other profession if he wants to, but he stands by his decision to be a part of the academe anyway.

now off to the good stuff. NSFW AFTER THE CUT, MINORS DO NOT INTERACT.

hoshina is strict within the four corners of the classroom because he values his principles and his reputation. he can be friends with a few of his students outside school but during class hours, he carries himself as serious and businesslike. which is why i arrived at two scenarios if we are going to discuss anything nsfw involving professor!hoshina:

professor!hoshina x student!reader has a very slim chance of happening but you will be able to make it happen because hoshina sees himself at you. of course you being hot and attractive also helps out your case, but what takes the cake is that you aren't scared to speak your thoughts and fight for them. i can imagine a classroom setup, a heated argument about a required reading, and you find yourself on the opposite side of the discussion from hoshina. usually a student would be afraid to disagree with a professor's opinion, but not you and that gets his attention. having learned that you are in his class not because you ran out of elective program to enrol to but because you actually like the specialised course, i see hoshina getting impressed at how much you respect his field of expertise. the thing is i don't believe he would proactively initiate a sexual relationship with one of his students, but one after-class consultation leads to another, and the farthest he is willing to go with you is... sexting. he is already gambling with his life here, but he thinks this is the safest the both of you can go where losses will not be much. you don't send him nudes right away because you know him better than that - the pictures you send him are just enough to provoke something inside him: a shot of you wearing a black lace bra that barely covered your nipples, or a skimpy skirt that showcases your ass. his response would be him telling you in explicit detail what he would like to do to you once you are not his student anymore. when you got your clearance to graduate, he celebrated by asking you to sit on his desk, commanding you to show him your pussy and finger yourself for him as he jerks off his cock in front of you, watching. he will most definitely fuck you on top of the desk after, and to hell with the papers and documents atop his table, he won't stop his thrusts until he gets to cum inside you for the first time.

professor!hoshina x colleague!reader where hoshina is rightfully hesitant on starting anything at all because he thinks workplace affairs are tacky and impractical. but you make him laugh, and you are not bad at your job too (he's interested at the fact your students are fond of you despite the fact that your program has such a high rate of failing students). he commiserates with you on the struggle of being an effective class facilitator and he is surprised at how you and him have so much in common - you are both into poetry but hates superficial verbiage, you and him believe that a professor's role is not only to teach, but to make sure that students are learning - sometimes those two can be different things - and that although you prefer less sugar, you and hoshina are into coffee. when the literature department spent a friday night drinking at the local bar, you were stuck in the streets during the late hour, and hoshina being a gentleman, offered to take you home. which he did - take you home, just with the worst intentions. maybe it's the alcohol that made him cockier than usual, or maybe it was him catching a glimpse of you undressing so you can change into a more comfortable blouse, but he took the leap of kissing you first, shoving his tongue in your throat, his palm roaming on your chest. let's just say that you were lucky it was the weekend the morning after, because it would have been embarrassing to be walking funny in campus.

... i feel like i yapped too much, so im gonna stop now lol. if you have more thoughts, my inbox is always open. :)

EDIT: just an addition because i think i missed the last part of your ask - YES, GLASSES ON PROFESSOR!HOSHINA. i already came up with a scene where you took his eyeglasses off because you already wanna eat his face and he's like "you know i can't see you that well without my glasses right", and your response will be "that's fine, i can take the lead". my brain is melting with all the ideas, someone help me 😩😩😩

[fatuismooches]

At first I wasn't wild about Arlecchino's ponytail, but then I opened my third eye and considered... Arlecchino and her lover are in bed and her lover just stares at her hair and before Arlecchino could even ask why they're staring, they pull Arlecchino close, remove her hair tie and run their hands through her hair to enjoy how soft it is.

The bed was warm, but never warm enough. No one ever became truly warm in Snezhnayan weather. But Arlecchino was always warm. You were initially surprised but it was comforting, especially when she held you in her arms.

Arlecchino was also always awake before you. No matter how much you tried to wake up before her, she was always conscious. Some days she was already gone, her side of the bed cold. Some days she was still there, such as today, basking in the quietness as she waited for you to wake up.

Sometimes you wondered if she ever got bored of simply lying in silence with you on her sparse days off. Arlecchino was such a busy woman - she could probably be doing much more productive things instead of wasting her time here with you. You remember offhandedly mentioning it to her, but she quickly narrowed her eyes and told you not to be foolish, which was reassuring.

So, on rare days like this, where the first thing you saw when you woke up was her face instead of the empty space, it was very precious to you. Already awake, as per usual, she immediately noticed the slow opening of your eyes, considering her hand was now stroking your cheek.

“Good morning, [Name],” her voice echoed throughout the completely still room, save for the snow beating against the window. It took a few seconds for you to process that your lover was still here with you, the warmth from her body seeping into you, her voice repeating in your head. You looked at her blinking, taking in her smooth face, X-ed eyes, and pink lips all directed toward you. At first, she didn’t question your staring, as you were usually bleary and still adjusting to the light in the mornings. You sleepily wondered what she thought about as she studied you. 

In no time you realized that she was actually here with you, especially when she placed a soft kiss on your cheek, quickly waking you up embarrassingly enough.

“Arlie… good morning. It’s nice to see you,” you murmured as you snuggled into her chest, enjoying the attention you were getting.

“You as well,” she responded, and silence reigned once more. One did not need to speak during these moments. Sometimes more is shared in the quiet than with words.

You peered back up at her, and that’s when you noticed that Arlecchino had exchanged her usual fancy hair clip for a regular hair tie so that it was more comfortable in bed. Though right now, her hair wasn’t the neat, orderly ponytail it usually was. Some wisps of hair bordered her face like a picture, while other locks were thrown over her body.

Arlecchino’s hair always fascinated you. It was beautiful, to put it simply, but simple wasn’t enough to describe it. Pure white that rivaled the snow of Snezhnaya, black locks trickling down that challenged the darkness of the night. And finally, it flowed into red curls that clashed against the white and matched her eyes.

Your internal marveling at your lover’s hair gave you the sudden urge to run your fingers through it. You had done it a few times before, and you enjoyed it immensely. Arlecchino seemed to not mind it either. So you decided to indulge yourself, and it was now that she noticed your endless staring. She was just about to question you when you suddenly pulled her closer (although it wasn’t much of a pull when your bodies were already touching each other) and tugged off the hair tie, allowing her hair to spill out and onto your waiting fingers.

The first touch of the softness against your fingers was heavenly. It was always astonishing how nicely her tresses rubbed and tickled against your hand. Hair both pretty to the eye and touch, something many people would be jealous of, including yourself. But you had Arlecchino all to yourself at least.

Arlecchino had not uttered a word during this. She had raised her eyebrows the tiniest bit at your sudden boldness, but soon returned to her poker face, allowing you to do as you pleased. Secretly, she had always found this activity to be quite relaxing and endearing, as well as finding the expression on your face cute. She wondered if you enjoyed this more than her sometimes, considering the funny things you did with her hair.

You twirled a whole lock of her hair around your finger, and let it go to see it bounce and then fall flat. You let strands flow between each of your fingers, and let it fall and brush against your arm in the process. You even combed out some tiny knots. It was always the mundane things that were oddly the most delightful, you thought, lost in the way her hair danced in your hand.

You weren’t sure how much time had past, but it was then you realized on every occasion where you played with her hair, you always asked explicit permission. Sometimes, there were days when she didn’t want to be touched, which was completely understandable, so you always made sure to ask. So now you were anxious about if you were internally irritating her.

The more you thought about it, you were worried that she would get annoyed at your continued stroking, so before you could get too lost in the motion, you began to pull away. But she hastily caught your wrist, only speaking a few words from there.

“You may continue.” You were surprised at her request but also happy and relieved, obeying her as your fingers returned to their rightful place, entangled with her locks of hair. It was then that she amazed you even more. Arlecchino’s eyelids began to droop, slowly but surely, until her multicolored eyes could be seen no longer. You knew she wasn’t asleep - she only fell asleep after you did - but this was simply incredible for you.

Your heart pounded fiercely at the sight, as though you’d just run a marathon. Even as Arlecchino’s lover, you rarely ever saw her as vulnerable as she was right now. She was surely a sight to behold. Ruthless and cruel to soft and comforted.

You didn’t utter a single word, not wanting to ruin this perfect and tender moment. And so the two of you continued to lay there in peace, her locks of hair gliding through your fingers effortlessly, and a very tiny, content smile on the Harbinger’s face.

[cbrownjc]

Some spoiler thoughts for episode 2x05

I haven't done a rewatch yet, so these are just some initial thoughts on the episode (spoilers):

Daniel was so not let go after those 3 days. Bank on it.

Daniel already said it -- the drug den thing was a fabrication of his memories being rewritten. But, more to it, Louis' memories of that time were also rewritten. Between that as well as his extensive burn? Who knows what Louis even remembers of the 1970s either.

Neither Louis nor Daniel remember a damn thing of what happened during what would be the Devil's Minion period! (Particually because who knows how long it took Louis to even heal. With those types of burns, I'm going to say a few years at least.)

The show left things extremely open-ended for both Daniel and Louis' characters at the end of the flashbacks which can be filled with whatever the show writers might have ideas about that time period over how many whatever seasons. They haven't locked themselves into one single thing going forward leaving it open-ended that way.

Yeah, even if they want Louis and Daniel to have had sex sometime later. Because again, they both don't remember anything. 😏

But Armand -- Armand does. He remembers all of it. And oh you dear, f-ed up gremlin, I really did think you might not have been responsible for Daniel's memories, but now I'm starting to wonder . . . .

Louis, in 1973, doing what he does in Merrick. Because it was remembering Claudia -- how she manipulated him -- that sent him running into the sun. And even though he tried -- and failed -- to do it in 1973, he's going to fully remember it in the present day too IMO and, this time, he'll succeed at doing it.

Because yes, in Merrick, Louis actually succeeds in killing himself. It's only because of how vampire blood works, and a lot of it being poured over Louis' body, that he is revived. And I really think we are headed toward a "rule of three" wrt this. I think Armand clocked Louis was close to killing himself sometime directly after Paris because of maybe almost really trying so, and that is why Armand put a veil up over Louis' mind.

Because even back in 1973 it's clear that Louis actually didn't remember the bit about Claudia until he drank Daniel's drugged-up blood! Between that and Arman directly saying "She didn't love you!" (which yes, was a line taken directly from toward the end of the IWTV book that Armand says to Louis about Claudia), whatever cloud Louis was actually under in 1973 lifted for a bit . . . enough for him to run out into that sun and almost succeeded -- which I feel we'll learn/see was actually his second attempt.

His third (and final) attempt will be in the finale. And that time will be the one that succeeds. (And then he'll be resurrected/reborn).

"Am I going to be on suicide watch for the next 1000 years?" Yeah, Armand, it looks very well that you are -- will be.

I loved Luke as young Daniel! And I feel very sure we're going to see more of him. He and Jacob had such a bouncy chemistry.

And oh, the scenes between him and Assad as Armand -- so creepy and sinister! Just what it should be at this point in time between Daniel and Armand, at the beginning of things. They even had Daniel held prisoner in the house for three days, the same length of time he was held in the cage in the books. But everything Armand did to Daniel here was so much more unnerving, particularly the chair thing.

So . . . Armand really didn't know the Talamasca was watching then? Hmm, okay show but I'm side-eyeing that one. Because really, he should have IMO.

Though I did notice that Daniel strategically didn't show Louis the pictures of him and Armand taking Daniel out of the house. Which I still don't think makes any freakin' sense, them doing it the way they did, even with Louis being hurt like that. I supposed Louis wanted to make sure Armand didn't hurt Daniel still, but . . . .

And oh, Armand. I can see any and all attempts to defend you wrt what is coming have really slipped away much after this. I know why you are doing all of this, I get it I do, but . . . *sigh*

You should have told Louis that Lestat was saying, "I love you." But you are still so scared of being alone . . . this is all going to bite you back next season Armand. So, so much.

Would I say it's my most favorite episode of the show ever so far? Not yet. But I known it's the one of Season 2 that I'm going to rewatch over and over the most so far. Yes, I love it for the beginning of Devil's Minion that it gave us, of course. But I love that it also really started to show the friendship and trust that Rolin Jones kept saying last season was between Louis and Daniel. Louis and Daniel just being friends is something I never expected going into the show and has become such a favorite dynamic of mine too.

So yeah, it was a wonderful episode. I do think it was hyped up a bit too much in the "most disturbing thing I've ever seen" department because I actually did not find it to be all that disturbing in the horror department. But as far as character development and dynamic building goes it was stellar and revealed some great things, so I can ignore my little nitpicks.

[sgiandubh]

Context, always the context

After we had gagging fun - and some, a small and unjustified heartbreak, too - with the newest 🎪 pic, let's put it a bit in context. I confess I am more and more immune to these: they are aimed at this fandom, of course - just to fuel further web wars and talks: never forget Xmas is round the corner, too. But they are also aimed at the Casuals, who still can't place McIdiot on her map and do not really care, to be honest.

So, what exactly do we have, here?

This:

After more than ten years in showbiz, our C still needs a pointer to tell ignoramuses like me where exactly she is, on that picture?

How odd. How unfair. But let's imagine I am from Mars. I have no idea who these people are, including to each other. The legend tells me nothing: just C and T and zero details. They could very well be co-workers, acquaintances, friends...? Oh, she's married to him. Oh. Ok. For sure, they ooze bliss and happiness. For sure. I've seen broomsticks act more convincingly than this.

Also, the photographer. As a very trusted friend pointed out (thank you, forever indebted to you), this Bennett guy was all over the place, yesterday. According to Getty Images (https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/search/photographer?photographer=Dave%20Benett&assettype=image&sort=best&license=rf%2Crm), he attended at least seven other high profile London events yesterday and was paid to cover them, too.

Their list immediately places this minor happening in its right context and at its right place:

"Leave The World Behind" - UK Special Screening and afterparty. The one she attended with McIdiot.

Hackett London x David Gandy Wellwear Launch Party - Savile Row tailors, established in 1983. Huge success story from a humble Portobello Road clothes stall to a 160 shops global network and a part of LVMH group (remember? LOL). The one she did not attend with McIdiot.

"Femme" - Gala Screening - After Party - UK thriller, premiered at the Berlinale last spring. Will be released tomorrow in the UK and IE. 95% approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes. The one she did not attend with McIdiot.

Skye McAlpine Celebrates The Opening Of Tavola's Christmas Pop-Up Shop, in Knightsbridge (along with Fitzrovia, my favorite London spot). Tavola is a high end tableware collection, carefully curated by Skye McAlpine - celebrated British cookbook author and an expert in Italian cuisine and fine dining. You should think two gin entrepreneurs would be thrilled to meet her, at another event she did not attend with McIdiot.

A Reception By The All Party Parliamentary Group Honouring Elton John For His Dedication To The Global Fight Against HIV AIDS. No further comments needed for this very, very posh event she did not attend with McIdiot. I doubt she has this type of connections.

The Anti Slavery Collective Inaugural Winter Gala at the Battersea Arts Center in London. Attended by royalty (yeah, ok: Fergie - but also, her two Princess daughters!), aristocrats (Count Nikolai von Bismarck comes to mind), showbiz people (Ed Sheeran - hello?) and of course, the press. But this is another very high profile event she did not attend with McIdiot.

Longines Dolce Vita Exhibition and after party - aimed at the high end luxury crowd. Another event she did not attend with McIdiot.

Smirnoff Celebrates New 'We Do Us' Initiative In Partnership With Tilting The Lens And Sink The Pink. Smirnoff, that legendary vodka which story started in Tsarist Moscow and now continues as part of the behemoth Diageo spirits group. Mhm. Now with an event tailored for the well-heeled LGBT+ and Generation Z crowds, organized in partnership with Tilting the Lens,  Sinéad Burke's consultancy firm with an absolutely spectacular client portfolio, featuring Gucci, Starbucks and -hey, nice to see you! - Soho House. LOL. You would think they could have grabbed a black cab and do anything to at least drop in and say hi. You would think they would be interested to meet with the other, less obvious, partner of this event, Stonegate, a major player on UK's hospitality scene. What a pity this was another event she did not attend with McIdiot!

Make no mistake. London is a real global metropolis. Une ville-monde (a World City), a notion coined by one of my masters, the wonderful French historian Fernand Braudel. As such, it currently stands at the epicenter of all that is trendy, new, exciting and expensive and it offers an endless array of opportunities for the brave and the bold. That was but a very incomplete sample of a Wednesday night on the London scene, busier than usually with all those end of year events. Out of the other seven of this sample, she had a profitable and realistic choice between at least two or three other events. She could have even coupled that after party with at least another one of those, if she had the right network to attract an invitation.

It is also plain to see, by now, TMcG is by no conceivable means the successful, multimillionaire businessman and entrepreneur. He is nowhere to be placed on this very rich, very diverse event scene. He does not attend any events by himself, whereas she carefully attends events all alone and does it very well - wouldn't that be because she has a name in her own right, too? He apparently does nothing, he apparently is Nobody. You should think a successful, multimillionaire, ambitious businessman would be proud to be seen just about everywhere with his up-and-coming actress wife, isn't it?

The sad truth is this clown only makes it to a cursory mention in a Daily Fail picture gallery when dragged along by C. At an event she most probably managed to get an invitation via Rami Malek, her co-star in The Amateur:

That, my friends, is not C playing her Greta Garbo. That is C squandering every shred of sympathy capital she ever managed to acquire, with absurd determination.

But sure, keep on screeching, Stans. Keep on screeching. All of the above are cold, hard FACTS your queens carefully keep out of your reach. God forbid you come to the realization.

[erinelliotc]

I watched the Eene movie and teared up at the end. I'm totally normal and fine

I wasn't ready for Eddy to be humilated in front of everyone, even after he had been such a little rat for so long

The movie was so goodddd

Yeees! I looove Big Picture Show and every time I make edits of it I want to watch it all over again. This movie literally gives me goosebumps in pretty much every scene (I get goosebumps just rewatching the scenes while making my edits). It was the most perfect way to end the show and I'm so glad we got it because it was originally going to end in season 4 with "Take This Ed and Shove It" and I think it would've been kinda lame and even scary.

Personally, I find the inevitable aging and loss of youth to be a rather heavy topic, so I thought it was bold to bring it up in a kid's cartoon, especially the way they did it. I think the way the episode approached the subject wasn't the best because it didn't end well, Eddy woke up and he was still old and depressed about it (I appreciate that at least they removed the part that shows that they would be married to the Kankers). I think it was supposed to be a tragicomic ending and not necessarily real (to me it was definitely Eddy having a hallucination caused by his anxiety and fear of getting old, even though the ending suggests that it was actually real, but to me that was exclusively for comedic purposes), but I honestly wouldn't have been happy with that, and I think it's kinda hard for a kid to process what happened (maybe I'm exaggerating here, maybe I'm just too sensitive). I don't get a good feeling from this episode and I think making it the finale would've been too creepy. I also think about all the moments we got after this, and thank goodness we got them! The specials, season 5, season 6, Big Picture Show, Raven Molisee working on the show... Imagine if we hadn't got all these things? I even get a little nervous thinking we almost didn't get them!

I think they nailed it by giving the show a more serious and mature tone. As time went by, Eddy's backstory became more apparent, and this seemingly confident and unwavering character began to reveal more of his secret insecurities, low self-esteem and poor self-image. Giving him a redemption arc and character development was the cherry on top of the show's cake. I think the movie is the most serious and mature moment of the entire show, and that's perfect since it's the end. It's when our beloved characters get more development, when they talk and open up about things that have been bottled up and hidden for a long time. Even if it wasn't their initial intention, adding the whole context of Eddy's brother and the abuse Eddy suffered fit perfectly as if it had been planned, and everything Eddy said about his brother in the first seasons made perfect sense in the ending. I'm quite fascinated by the themes of family issues and abuse, so this movie adds a lot to me and I love analyzing it. Big Picture Show is without a doubt the part that completes and ends the story.

I think it's great that we have a comedy cartoon here that also addresses serious issues, which, although they're not the focus, end up being important topics that convey some messages and lessons, and don't make it just another show just to have a few laughs.

Ed, Edd n Eddy is very remarkable in many different aspects.

[sitmeaculpavivo]

Diary Entry (Part 1):

I hate being so short! Because I look so unbelievably chunky in my clothes. Huge motivation to keep 🌟ving though!!!

These are a size 14 shorts that I am wearing, in US sizes. I started from a 20/22 (that isn't waist size, but the size of the pants... aka plus size). I am so close to being out of plus size sizes for good. My initial goal was to fit in my size 11 hot hot pink, and light blue Jean all glitter shorts, (not the pink shorts I have on right now though), which are size 11. But now I don't think I will look good in them anymore. Here are the sparkly shorts... size 11.

I initially started gaining weight on purpose because I had just gotten out of an abusive relationship. Part of the abuse was him forcing me to go to the gym every day for 2 hours, and if I missed, I had to go 4 hours the next day. If I didn't, well... I paid for it in other ways.

These were pictures of me all throughout a 3 year abusive relationship. And the reason for me always having to go to the gym was because my arms were fat! Like no matter what I did, I would lose weight, but my arms would stay fat. And it embarrassed him. My thighs were always big, all muscle, because I played soccer for years. This is where my athletic legs come from and why I want skinny feminine legs. This is going to be the hardest part of my ED, 🌟ving long enough for my muscles to eat itself lol

This was the last time I was confident in my body, when I moved to TN from OH, and gained some weight back. The pants were waist size 36, I don't know what that translates into pant sizes, but these pants were so expensive. $100 from The Buckle. This was my first trip back to OH since I had moved, and I wanted to feel sexy with my added weight because I knew I would see my ex. I wanted him to leave me alone and see me with a bigger body so he would stop stalking me. He knew where I moved to in TN (he was a cop/private investigator), and he always let me know. It is also the reason why when I kept gaining weight, I didn't care because in my mind, the more weight I gained, the more likely he would finally leave me alone.

But in the south, it's hard to stop gaining weight once you do because the food is so good you don't want to stop, you clean your plate!

[softavielovesithard]

PINNED POST. READ IT. BITCH. [In process of updating!!!!]

[Minors. Ageless blogs, blank blogs, and anyone discovered to be doing predator shit will be blocked (and reported, in a few of those cases]

Don't worry, I'm not gonna do that early tumblr thing where I type in all caps and call you a motherfucker every other sentence.

Hello, all! I'm Avie, a 31 year old nonbinary, switch, polyamorous, futchy dyke with raging AuDHD and Problematic Kinks ™️. This is a hard kink blog. Some of the contents *will* make you uncomfortable. And that's okay! If it's too much you can block me, I'm not worried about it. That being said, what you're not going to do is send me asks telling me that I'm a danger to "real lesbians' and you hope I get raped for real. Yeah, it's happened, and if you're someone who thinks that's okay to do, you need to take a long look in the mirror and ask yourself what the fuck is wrong with you. Kink is kink. Kinks between enthusiastically consenting adults are fine. If you can't handle that, don't call yourself kink positive, and don't enter kinky spaces because you're clearly not mature enough to be there.

Now that I've said that, let's jump into some of the kinks you'll find on this blog. Some of these I'd like to explore in a kink setting some day, others are strictly fantasy. Which is my business, don't assume:

Orientation play - Could be anything from being gay and trans to being ace, though I'm not into the "being fixed" flavor. Not into misgendering/detransition kinks.

CNC - soft and hard

Rape play

Ageplay

Age gaps (I like older people. Reminder that I'm *31* so like, 40+ is very hot to me)

Incest play (older brother, father, uncle, grandpa? Maybe?)

Forced to cheat (this is new and I'm still figuring it out)

Being made to enjoy forced stuff

Piss!!!

Breeding and creampies

Gentle, affectionate degradation/pet names

Public sex, especially on public transit and in nature

Intox play

Monsterfucking - werewolves, tentacles, and ghosts being the big ones, but not the only ones.

Size different/size queen shit

Fucked while on the phone

Fucked by customers (long-suffering retail worker), doctors, older friends/bosses, anyone who has some authority over me.

Autism-friendly play (see * on Hard No list)

As you can see, some decently hard shit. Again, if you don't like, just block me. Despite these kinks, I'm a pretty soft person. I like it when forcing me to feel pleasure and enjoyment in things I shouldn't is at the root of these kinks, not hate or degradation. So here is my list of shit I'm *not* into:

Harsh/mean degradation

Being called worthless, stupid, etc. Lovingly saying I'm going dumb from pleasure is okay.

Misogyny, patriarchy, white supremacy.

Cutting, bruising, face slapping, beating, choking, suffocation via head until water, burning/branding, knives or guns, genital mutilation...you get the picture. The only pain I'm into is the pain of an initial, too-big stretch, but even that needs to end in pleasure. I live with chronic pain, I don't want to deal with pain in kink, too.

Scat, vomit, spit, swallowing semen

Total loss of autonomy

* anything like being forced to look you in the eyes, sensory overstimulation, taking advantage of me during meltdowns, removing comfort items, making me eat/taste things I'm averse to.

Weight/food/ED stuff

Pregnancy! Pregnancy risk is hot, breeding is hot, but actual pregnancy kink toward me is a Hard No

Bloggers beware: pro-ana/pro-ed/fatphobic blogs will be blocked immediately

Basically, I like hard kinks coming from soft places. Is that a contradiction? I don't really think so.

I welcome and LOVE talking to others! I like being a slut! That being said:

I prefer asks over dms. I repeat, I PREFER ASKS OVER DMS.

Asks can be about anything! Scenarios, fantasies, questions, anything. Again, I like openly being a slut lol

If you dm me "hey," if we're talking and I'm doing all the work to maintain the convo, if you ask me for pics (I'll give them out if I feel like it, not on request), if you're younger than 25, if you violate my boundaries - depending on the situation I'll ignore/delete it or possibly block you.

You're allowed to send pics and vids at any point, no need to ask! Also in looove with piss gifs/videos, but if you're going to send me one (yes please) I'm begging you to drink water first. Hydrate, babes!

...okay, I think that's everything. Sorry for the long as fuck post! Once more, if it's clear you haven't read my pinned I'm gonna block you. You need to learn how to respect boundaries if you're going to do, well, anything in life, but especially being in kinky communities. If you can't even read one post, you don't belong here.

Have fun, send me naughty shit!!

~ Avie

[pancake-breakfast]

Trigun Book Club! Trigun Book Club! (@trigunbookclub)

Way back in the mid-2000's, a young Pancake Ray was working their first job out of college at a local Giant Chain Bookstore and discovered that no one else working the store cared if they spent their breaks sitting on the floor in front of our rather impressive two and a half bays of manga we had and just... read them right there. Much manga was read, and among the titles read were both Trigun and what was available at that time of Trigun Maximum.

I remember very little from that initial read aside from 1) confusing fight scenes, and 2) enough deviation from the anime (which I had recently watched) that I didn't really have a place for at that time. The anime had wormed itself into a very special place in my heart, so between the differences and just not being in a good place spiritually to handle some of its more religious themes, I wasn't really sure what to do with it. It probably didn't help that, back then, the manga was nowhere near finished.

I still read every volume we had, because gods, I read anything that looked even remotely interesting on the manga shelves at that time.

Now, an older and (debatably) wiser Ray is going to be reading these along with the rest of the Trigun Book Club Denizens. But first, I want to start of with a quote from the notes in The New Oxford Annotated Bible (3rd Ed.) in their prelude to I Kings, which is what I'm currently studying:

There is, on the other hand, no neat correlation between sin and judgment in Kings, largely because of the compassionate character of the Judge who accepts the repentant sinner, who does not desire final judgment to fall upon his creatures, and who is always ready to find cause why such judgment should be delayed or mitigated.

It just seemed like something to keep in mind when thinking about the character of Vash... but YMMV.

Onward!

Stream-of consciousness thoughts for Trigun Vol. 1, Chapters 1-3 below. (More detailed thoughts will be their own posts.)

Trigun Volume 1 Covers

Ok, first off... I love the alternate covers Nightow did. The stark contrast between the serious cleanliness of the covers and the crazy tongue-in-cheek alternate version really sets the tone.

LOL, "Deep Space Planet Future Gun Action!!" Yep, that's it. That's all it is.

How have I never seen Meryl as Luke Skywalker before??

Chapter 1: The $$60,000,000,000 Man

This poster says "Appearance: Unclear," but it also has a picture of him. I'm not sure what to make of that.

Vash's face is so goofy. It's like if his world isn't ACTIVELY ON FIRE, he doesn't know how to be serious. I do like the belts. When watching S1 of Stampede, I missed the belts. I hope S2 has more belts. Something something fetish gear.

I love that there's actually a tally of all this on a wall somewhere. SEVENTY FREAKING TWO MURDER CASES.

Kid: "Mom, I want a gun." Mom: "You already have a gun at home." The Gun At Home: *only shoots toy darts when you, a child no older than 8, are living in the Space Wild Wild West and think you need real bullets*

I love how quickly Vash goes from "OMG FOOD" face to SERIOUS EATING FACE.

And it's immediately followed by this CLOSE-UP ASS SHOT. WHYYYYYY???

I don't know who this cloaked guy who's cocking his shotgun by shaking it vertically is, but I love his stupid hair.

Yeah, you don't get to kill the protagonist THAT fast....

WW isn't even here yet and Nightow's already filling panels with man-tiddies...

LOL, he counted ALL the bullets in that page that was... just... it was just bullet fire. Somehow he counted them all. For every gun. And now everyone else has to leave stripped down to their boxers.

I love that someone, somewhere decided they needed to have a pinball machine all the way out here in nowheresville.

Ah there are the girls. Milly looks so worried about the catcalls, but Meryl? Meryl looks bored.

Chapter 2: Looney Tunes

Ok, first off, this chapter title just makes me think of ep 12 of Stampede when So-and-So starfishes his way out a window before floundering in the air for a second of hangtime and then falling.

Exposition! Huzzah!

Population decline slowing = humans adapting to the new environment. Resilient little buggers.... I know someone who probably HATES that statistic.

So, basically... before July, Vash was small beans. Or going by another name.

Aaaand straight into his goofy poses. This man is made of rubber, I swear.

LOL, why is he talking in French?! I guess a guy's gotta have his hobbies....

But Meryl... I'm with Milly here. Is it really that dangerous??

Ah, yes. The ol' "they'll understand me better if I just speak louder" trick. A favorite of Americans traveling in non-English-speaking countries when said American hasn't bothered to learn even the tiniest bit of the local language.

Current favorite Vash Chaos Pose:

LOL, "MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES FOR INTERRUPTING THIS CONFUSION." This feels like such a Japanese thing to say. It's like, "I know you're all engaged in frantic chaos right now, and because you're engaged in it, it must be very important to you, so I, the intruder, must offer my sincere regret for interrupting it."

I wonder how this version of Milly will merge with a Milly who was crazy enough to volunteer for the position of Meryl's partner in Stampede.

This Vash is definitely not so keen on being caught, even in the face of suffering women and children.

But here he is, protecting the very people who had guns in his face a second ago.

Chapter 3: Hard Puncher

Current favorite Vash Serious Pose:

Ok, I have thoughts here.

Sooooo many shonen speed lines....

Current favorite Vash Action Pose (That intense side eye is *chef's kiss*.)

Man, poor Gosef. But Vash standing over his prone form looks badass.

LOL, the Insurance Girls finally have everyone's attention, and.. they look like they don't want it anymore.

Hahahahaha, there goes the bounty. Can't put a bounty on a natural disaster. The federal government has officially labeled him "not human." *pats Vash*

Actually, he looks kinda happy about this. I guess not having a bounty on your head anymore might do that.

He can still have the head-pats.

The difference in his expression when greeting Meryl versus greeting Milly....

For as terrible as Mr. Nebraska himself is, I always appreciated how much he seems to genuinely care about his son in his own weird way.

Gods, I'm glad every other version got rid of his gun legs, though. That's... a Thing, and I don't like this Thing.

And just like that, Vash goes from "concerned about these girls constantly being around him" to "mildly intimidated by them." Beautiful.

(Thanks to @trigun-manga-overhaul for their translations and making this series accessible!)

[yurisorcerer]

I don't know, man. I think I kind of really like this show.

On the face of it, ATRI depicts a fairly difficult situation. Its two main characters, Atri herself and her human caretaker Natsuki, aren't exactly the most likeable of people. (Although Atri, who is merely clumsy and loud, is so more than Natsuki, who is sometimes outright nasty to her.) But something about these characters, and their world, compels me. I think it's a fairly common thing to feel (even if you don't necessarily think it rationally) that we are living in the end times of some sort, so post-apocalyptic fiction like this takes on a specific resonance in the modern day. But it's more than just "the show is good because it depicts people getting by after a climate collapse," which I think would be oversimplifying it.

I think I was closer on the mark with the AIR comparison I made last week than I initially realized. In addition to the obvious similarities---both take place in a coastal town, both have a heavily summer-drenched aesthetic that is a key part of the show's visual and aural appeal---the general setup is fairly similar too, both in depicting a young (or at least young-seeming) girl and her male caretaker and their strange relationship that doesn't neatly fall into any single category.

I've seen a lot of people deride the show as a rote male fantasy (in the vein of the many girl-with-a-quirk romcoms I've discussed this season) and while I'm not going to deny that there's definitely at least a little of that, I don't think it's remotely the entire picture and seeing people write this off entirely because the main character is kind of a dick annoys me. Especially since I think his being a dick is part of the point of the series. (Hell, we get a very straightforward motivation for that here; when the ocean started rising, his dream of becoming an astronaut and helping with a climateering project fell apart and he hasn't had any motivation to do much of anything since. It's pretty understandable that this would turn someone crabby.)

I also like Minamo, one of the island town's few remaining schoolgirls. (Going by the OP there are just two others, all of whom attend an overgrown high school that's fallen into disrepair. Who exactly is teaching them I do not yet know.) There's a very pronounced melancholy to almost everything she does, and she and Atri have a nice conversational scene together in her house---also half reclaimed by nature---in this episode where we learn her father evacuated to the mainland, and she chose to stay behind despite his wishes. That's interesting! And when Atri visits her school at the end of the episode she seems to have some kind of weird flashback thing, which is also interesting.

The series has a lot going for it. In addition to everything I've just said, and also its deeper themes which are only just starting to take shape (persisting in the face of loss, even massive loss, is definitely going to be one), it's also pretty funny! I can technically imagine how Atri's antics might grate on someone but I find them endearing, and it's hard not to when the character animation is so expressive.

Unrelated to the show itself, I want to briefly talk about the OP and ED and specifically the songs used for them. The OP is just an absolutely gorgeous thing and I really recommend watching it for yourself even if you have no interest in the show.

But the ED is actually even *more* interesting to me despite the fact that I like it less. Because it's by 22/7. Yes, *that* 22/7, the idol group tied to the multimedia project of the same name, including its profoundly disappointing anime from a few years ago. These guys.

Yeah, they do the ED, which is significantly cheerier than most of the songs I like by them. But it's pretty good! To be honest I'm just sort of shocked that they're still around, although I think a good chunk of the original members have since departed (not that odd with idol groups, and I can't imagine there's much incentive to stay in 22/7 specifically).

It will be very odd if they end up soundtracking one of my favorite anime of the summer, but they well might!

I've given people some grief elsewhere in this post for dropping Atri but to be honest given the strong season there's no reason to waste your time on things you're not enjoying. Me personally though, I am determined to see this one through to the end, and am a little sad I won't be doing so with more company. Notably though, I didn't feel like that when when I finished the first episode at all. So I wonder what I'll think of episode 3 and beyond? Watch this space to find out, I suppose.

[sugar-free-tearsx]

P I N N E D / N A V I G A T I O N:

hi! Im a and this is my blog :) (i dont want my full name so im just using an initial!)

I have a side blog!! its @ana-l0ves-me! its for any tips/workouts/recipes i find on here that i either want to try or find helpful! i made a side blog for that so its not too cluttered with both all of that and all the random things i post and reblog here!

D N I I F:

not an ed account, bigots in any way, accounts with no pfps/posts, etc.

W A R N I N G:

this blog WILL contain mostly eating disorder content, so if you dont want to see that shit click off now. block dont report because i really dont want to go through the effort of making a new account.

i will follow anyone back if you have a pfp picture/have similar interests or post similar things as i do.

this account is a vent space for me to safely talk about the disorder that im struggling with when i cant anywhere else.

Thank you for reading this!!! 🩷🩷

N A V I G A T I O N:

foodspo:

grosspo (my fav one rn)

thinspo:

handspo

random thinspo

random thinspo 2

stats

t a g g i n g s y s t e m:

🫀a's blog - mostly anything

🌷 ed things - anything ed related

🩸 vent - vents/ triggering content

🪵 repost - any reblogs

🦢 original - original posts

🪽 angel - suicidal/self harm/self-destructive thoughts or rants

🐳 ramble - me just rambling about random things

❤️‍🩹 thinspo - any thinspo (original or reposts)

[sabrinatvband]

A Simple and Incomplete History of Comic Rough Layouts Before Computers

I made a previous post here [Warning: NSFW] that briefly discussed doing rough layouts for comics. I mentioned that doing rough layouts has become increasingly common over time, and that it wasn't very common in the past.

[This picture has nothing to do with layouts; I just needed something before the page break.]

[Note: Apparently Ed Piskor is a massive creep. This was not public knowledge when I wrote this post, and so apologies for all the references to Cartoonist Kayfabe.]

I also included a link to a great Cartoonist Kayfabe video [embed below] on layouts which included a few examples. I believe the oldest example in the video was some roughs done by Harvey Kurtzman in the 50s.

Anyways, this introduction is getting a little gnarly and inelegant . . . but I'm basically going to repeat myself again, for everyone who isn't looking at the old post, but with a lot more detail and elaboration.

In the past, it was less common than it is today for artists to do rough versions of a page before making their final version. Most artists did everything "on the board" as they went along for a variety of reasons, the biggest one being a lack of time.

Back when residuals and sales bonuses didn't exist in the comics field [up until some point in the 80s], most professional artists were drawing at least two 20~ page comics a month. Prolific artists like Jack Kirby did even more than that, and most artists who worked for Marvel or DC couldn't make a living doing only one book.

Guys working at DC, and most other comic places, worked using "full scripts". Which is to say, basically a screenplay, but for making comics. Since most DC books used conventional and strict grids, and all of the pacing had already been worked out by the writer, there wasn't much reason for a confident journeyman to do any layouts.

The guys at Marvel, who worked using the "Marvel Method", basically had to plot the stories themselves off of a simple, often verbal synopsis of what the plot would be. [If it sounds like the comic artists also basically wrote the comics themselves, you'd be correct.]

Some comic artists were natural intuitive storytellers, like Jack Kirby. Others, like Gene Colan, had trouble pacing their work. The stories would flow just fine initially, and would then conclude with a few 12~ panel pages as the issue started to reach an end. Even Jack Kirby, when ending his Madbomb Captain America opus, had a few awkward overstuffed final pages to wrap things up.

[From Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. Image source. Upscaled for readability by me.]

These Marvel artists probably wished that they could do rough layouts in advance, but the aforementioned time restrictions usually prevented that. John Romita Sr. produced the thumbnails above for Savage Tales #1, published in 1971. Romita Sr. was an artist with a notably clean look to his work; he eventually became the art director of Marvel. Just for fun, I've included a side-by-side layout/finished page comparison below.

Going into the 80s, some smaller independent publishers like Eclipse and Pacific started to emerge that let comic artists own all of their work, get the bulk of profits on their books, and receive residuals. In response, Marvel and DC started to give residuals to artists [but obviously not ownership over any new characters they created].

I believe it was at this point that it became a lot more common for comic artists to devote more time to roughs, because this is also when it became more common for an artist to only do one book a month. This is simple and reductive math, but basically, 30~ days to draw 20~ pages.

I mentioned Harvey Kurtzman as a guy who was doing layouts in the 50s, and it's not a coincidence he seems to have been a particularly early guy to do them. Kurtzman was very valued by EC Comics, and subsequently Playboy Magazine, and so he was paid a lot to write comics in layout form, mostly for other artists to do the final artwork on. Here are two examples of his layouts:

Scott McCloud was doing intense layouts back in the 80s with Zot!. He describes his layout process as being excessive, but it honestly doesn't look too far removed from what a lot of artists do these days.

[From Tips From Top Cartoonists by Eclipse Books. Photo credit TotalEclipse. Upscaled for readability by me.]

In the illustration below [from Understanding Comics, an essential text] we can see that Scott McCloud kept a two-page layout above his drafting table on a clipboard. I've seen other comic artists do this in a handful of old photographs; I imagine that somebody at the Marvel or DC offices came up with this and it spread throughout the industry, much like Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work.

The 22 Panels were a tool that, for a time, was taped to an upper corner of every comic artist's drafting table in America. This allowed artists to draw by the seat of their pants with a little more style. The 22 Panels aren't super relevant here, but Wally Wood was doing layouts in the 60s for Daredevil. It's possible he started doing layouts because he worked from Kurtzman layouts back in his Entertaining Comics days. It's also possible that he hated doing revisions, and made these layouts to get an all-clear from Stan Lee before starting his work [Wood inked and pencilled].

[Image source]

I particularly like this rough / final comparison because there are some notable differences between them. Wood realized that having the final panel part of a three column row didn't give it enough space, and so he shifted around the preceding four compositions, one of which was discarded and replaced entirely.

May as well earn the "Mature: Sexual Themes" rating I've given this post. Here's a later rough / final comparison Wood did for a porno comic.

[Image source]

Don Simpson was doing layouts as far back as the early 90s, and presumably much earlier. As noted in the image below, the initial sketches were done on 8.5" x 11" sheets and enlarged to bristol board size [more on this momentarily.]

Don Simpson has a lot of great information about his working methods on King Kong on his blog; here are two especially relevant posts [warning: some NSFW stuff] Link 1 Link 2

Artists were able to enlarge their work back in the day using a photocopier, something that I had assumed wasn't possible to do with consumer equipment before computers existed.

[image source]

I assume that the percentage needed to enlarge a full 8.5" x 11" page to bristol board size was always the same, but for enlarging random isolated sketches for implementation in a comic a proportional scale could be used.. From what I've gathered, it was very common for comic artists to draw complex perspective stuff at a smaller size and then basically trace an enlarged version for the final comic. [For the unaware, it takes a lot of space to draw 2 or 3 point perspective stuff that doesn't look noticably distorted.]

As I've been watching Cartoonist Kayfabe and their "artist edition" videos lately, I've been discovering that artists had ways of working around the limitations of drawing without layers back in the day.

The relevant stuff in this video is the amount of alterations he did to his art as he went along [there were many creative differences with inker Klaus Janson], stuff he seems to have lightboxed or photocopied off of drawings done on scraps of paper, etc.

Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns had a creative process about as labor intensive and fastidious as you'd expect, considering the 4x4 grids used throughout the book. Miller claims that he illustrated about 100 pages of rough material for every 48 pages of TDKR, and that he cut out individual panels and presumably pasted them onto a page of "master rough bristol board", which he then possibly lightboxed or merely referred to while drawing [possibly using a setup similar to the one Scott McCloud had above his own drafting table].

[Text from Comics Interview #31. Image source, upscaled for readability as usual.]

The trade I own of TDKR says that the first two issues were full-scripted, and Miller did the last two issues using detailed synopses he wrote. When this is considered in conjunction with Miller's comments above, some questions are raised [he was in the middle of issue three when doing the interview above.]

It's possible that the full script included further refinements that weren't in the rough layouts, acting as a penultimate draft. It's also possible that the full script was created mostly for dialogue-related additions.

Below is the first page of a "Marvel Method" style text breakdown Miller used in some capacity for the last issue of TDKR. Unlike the Stan Lee Marvel method approach, which usually consisted of a brief verbal prompt or a few sentences of text, Miller provided himself with a very comprehensive document [I often wonder what guys like Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway gave their writers]. I do wonder if this was meant for editors moreso than Miller himself, and I wonder when he made this document during the creative process; he includes some sketches of Batman that look nothing like the Batman that would appear in the final book. [Certain elements of this document notably deviate from the finished story.]

You're probably wondering why I have such a fascination with this stuff. A big part of it is that I'm a comic artist myself, and so any kind of process stuff is very interesting to me. It's inspiring and frequently educational, because the solutions that old masters used often still have some relevance today. Any modern comic artist who doesn't know what creators did back in the day attempting to do everything "on the board" directly is going to have some trouble.

The other reason is that I think the iterative creative approach a lot of newer comics use is what makes them more enjoyable to read than a lot of manga, but that's a discussion for another time.

Anyways, to hopefully end things on an interesting note, here's a rough from an old comic I never finished. Every panel was drawn seperately on sketchbook paper, photographed, and the final layout was assembled in software.

[startledstoat]

i’m literally just pointing out that people in the fandom have noticed that the apparent standard in their fanart is hourglass figure, 0% body fat, massive thigh gap lol. i am obviously not hating on those bodies (that is literally what i look like!!!), just wondering why none of their characters have any sort of meat on their bones, especially regulus who canonically looks to be at least mid-sized

with what you said about remus - i agree! my favourite fics are the ones that delve into his body image and eating disorder as a result of his lycanthropy. with regulus, i don’t like it as much, mainly because people (cough cough jegulus writers) use it as a way to be like “well yes he was a massive racist prejudiced death eater voldemort fanatic but he had an eating disorder :((((( so it isn’t his fault he needs jamie to come save his wittle self :((((“

anyways thank you for your nuanced response i do appreciate actually debating with people on here instead of people just going “SKINNYPHOBIC AND MEAN LMFAO” which is like. yes maybe i am mean but skinnyphobic?? 😭

Love that you responded nicely!

When I think of Reg with those HCs I think of the EDs going along with the trans Reg idea, stemming from his body dysphoria and also having to do with him being raised with the pressure of being an upper-class pureblood "girl" who was expected to be the picture of flawless beauty, which would've been a very toxic beauty standard for someone in that position during that time (flat stomach, thigh gap, hourglass waist, full hips and chest). This is definitely not a HC that works for everyone, expecially those who don't HC Regulus to have been abused in his childhood or don't HC him to be trans.

The addiction is a separate HC and I'm not saying your take on it is wrong but my thoughts on it are a bit different. It's more what I think would have come around the same time he started realizing that he was on the very wrong side of the war and wanted out but couldn't see a way that he realistically could get out bc Voldemort isn't a dude you just go up to like "yeah man listen we had a good run but now I'm realizing that this is so much more fucked up than I thought and now I don't wanna be part of it anymore". (I like to think that he didn't betray Voldemort just because of what happened to Kreacher, but more like his doubts and fears were building up for a while and Kreacher being tortured was just the last straw)This guilt and self loathing that would likely have ensued would have been a very slippery slope, especially when paired with the pressure of being the new heir following Sirius being disowned and their father dying as well as the trauma from his potentially abusive childhood, I think he could have turned to things like calming draughts and dreamless sleep to initially calm his nerves and moods, but then fell in too deep. And it's fine that you don't like that as much! As long as you're being respectful to the people that do, because it's not a HC that's harmful to any real life people.

His redemption arc, both the canon and the fanon parts, definitely don't just erase the fact that he was a death eater that likely tortured and killed people, but the fact that he tried to do the right thing in the end does count for something. Not to mention that he was literally a teenager that was raised in that environment and was taught nothing else until age 11 when he went to hogwarts. 11 years of one type of propoganda being taught to him, during his developmental years no less, doesn't just go away. Yeah he was 18, and as a 19 year old myself I can say that he was both old enough to have learned right from wrong as he went through school, but still young enough that it's perfectly normal for him to have been terrified of turning his back on the family he knew and outright defying a genuinely horrifying maniac that killed people for fun. 18 is still a child in so many ways even if it's also an adult in some other ways.

It's unrealistic to think that Sirius and Andromeda didn't struggle themselves with nature vs nurture when they first started being taught other things in hogwarts and started hanging around other people, even if we wanna say that they were morally perfect right from the beginning and didn't have any internalized prejudices to work through.

I got off track lmao but anyway

I've actually noticed that more artists now draw plus sized characters than there used to be, and maybe that's still not a lot, but it's not a change that's going to happen overnight. It's like the difference between white james in older fanarts and indian james in newer ones. HCs come and go, and I do really hope more people get on the plus sized characters idea because I think it's great, but even people who do share that idea are still going to have different ideas of which characters it fits based on their own HCs.

The most important thing is that characters who are plus sized in canon stay that way in fanon. Characters who were never given a specified body type in canon (or maybe were specified to be skinny but not given a real reason to be skinny) are fair game for however people want to think of them.