#I've also never had any issues with the paint cracking but I don't think my layers are thick enough for that

[sheirukitriesfandom]

I must say the best piece of advice I can give people wanting to start with oil paint is:

Lose the respect for the medium.

When I started with oils I thought "ooh it's the pinnacle of painting so I have to be super careful, plan everything, get all those tools and additives and... And..." — Bullshit!

Oil is the most of forgiving medium I've worked with so far. Thin it down, thicken it up, blend it on canvas if you want and if you don't like something? Let it dry and paint over it. You can't really do that with most mediums. Even charcoal and pencil are potentially harder to correct.

Tl;dr: Stop fussing, get yourself some paint and fool around 😃

[moosekateer13]

My Regin Ends

Part 3 of You're Losing Me mini series

Warnings:  Angst, Mention of Breakup, Cyberbullying, Harassment,  Self Loathing, Medical Issues, Alcoholism, Death

Summary: After visiting her daughter who shut down her attempts to reconnect with her. Now Y/N's only has a bottle as her company. As her time runs out. She reflects on all her mistakes that led to her being alone.

Inspired by Taylor Swift's Castle's Crumbling Down

My foes and friends watch my reign end. I don't know how it could've ended this way. Smoke billows from my ships in the harbor. People look at me like I'm a monster. Now they're screaming at the palace front gates, used to chant my name.

Now they're screaming that they hate me. Never wanted you to hate me.

Oh how far I've fallen from royalty in the media industry to someone when people don't give a damn about. I'm here sitting in my mansion wearing a worn blue dress. It's the dress I wore when I pushed away the love of my life. I didn't see what was right in front of me. It's something I've been regretting recently. I stare at the coal-black walls reflecting on my life. It feels like I’m drawing in a pit of self-loathing. This place hasn't felt like home in a long time; it's just somewhere to lie down.  

The limelight wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

I started off as a young child star. I got caught up in the glamour of the limelight. I couldn't see the damage it was doing to those around me.

My boyfriend Jared broke up with me. I don't blame him. I was never home and never really looked after our daughter. Delia she hates me and she considers someone else mom. Well, I don't blame her Genevive raised her with Jared. Like an idiot, I signed my rights away and chose fame instead. I've got a grandchild on the way but they'll never call me grandma even if I was still around to see them grow. Jared's wife earned that title. I know I don't deserve it. It's good to see Delia is thriving though. She is a successful artist in both music and painting.  I'm proud of her. Thanks to her upbringing she is the complete opposite of me. I'm just washed up.

After getting trapped in the stereotypical role of heiress. I started to internalize that they were rich, entitled and spoiled. Unlike them, I didn't have any money to fall back on. So I sought comfort in the bottle and have remained in a drunken haze since. If I'm not drinking I'm caught up in an endless amount of flings.

All the stuff I've done to myself caught up with me. I have heart ischemia and don't have long left. Hence why I tried to make amends with all the people that I'd done wrong.  But as usual, I was pushed aside and locked out. What goes around comes around as the old saying goes. 

When I was diagnosed with heart issues. I also found out I had a rare condition called Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. According to the doctor I have had it since I was in my 20s. Since it was left untreated my perception of the world got worse.  The syndrome itself impairs my brain's processing of sensory input. The disruption alters my perception of the size of objects and my own body's feel or appearance. It can also warp my perception of reality. Ding, Ding yup that sure sounds like me I thought to myself when I was first diagnosed. 

I think back to when I was forced into fame by my father as a child. He never cared about my well-being, just saw the dollar signs.

I remember one particular day when I had a fever and he still forced me to work when I was a teenager.

“Come on Y/N you aren't sick. You just don't want to work. Now get your lazy ass into wardrobe.” Dad said

I tried to get more words out but I knew he wouldn't listen so I headed back to wardrobe.  My mom died during childbirth so he's been punishing me for just living. Well, it feels like it anyway. I hope one day I can be a good parent.”

The apple didn't fall from the tree and I ended up not being a good parent.

My head is pounding. I can't think anymore. All I keep hearing is the mob outside my mansion screaming that they hate me. It's been constant for years now and the police stopped coming.  Also, no security company wants to work for me. My reputation for treating people like shit caught up with me. I was never nice to my coworkers and just pushed them away when they tried to talk to me after work. Well, when I had a job anyway. I haven't worked in years.

Who would want to hire me anyway? I'm a mess. I get up to get some pain relief for my headache but I don't make it. I feel the world go black.

My castle's crumbling down And I watch all my bridges burn to the ground And you don't want to know me I will just let you down (just let you down) My castle's crumbling down You don't wanna know me now

Narrator P.O.V

I turn up the TV to hear the latest breaking news. 

Local Texas news reporter Genevive Padalecki was there to report the death of former Y/N Y/L /N. It looks like her medical issues or the bottle caught up to her. Maybe it's sad how far she's fallen. No one was there in her final moments. Well maybe if she treated people better she wouldn't have been all alone. We will bring you more information as it becomes available.

As an online news reporter. I want to check on the latest scoop. So I  decided to look online. There are no kind messages about her. I notice no RIP on social media. They just said she got what's coming to her. It's sad really but she stirred up all the hatred with the way she treated people. I close the tab on the page not wanting to read anymore.

[alexinyell0w]

ME COMPARING MIKE WILL AND EL TO ME, MY GIRLFRIEND AND MY BEST GUY FRIEND.

note: everyone is different. everyone would act different. yet I noticed our dynamics were pretty similar and I wanted to explain how I think mike feels the same way will does for him from my real life perspective. this does not reflect on canon relationships in anyway, i just think it's a quite interesting thought.

sometimes I compare things Mike and will do to be and my girlfriend, then turn around and compare it to me and my best guy friend since I'm an autistic lesbian and he's a cishet guy. I'd never grab his hand if he were shaking. to many romantic connotations. I'd side hug him and maybe rub his arm if he were shaking that bad. he's my BEST friend. my girlfriend is ALSO my best friend. I would grab her hand. if she was shaking I'd grab her hand or hold it with my arm around her to let her know im still there holding her in more ways than one. if I was a shitty friend for having out with my gf to much, I would probably confront my guy friend and apologize and have awkward eye contact a few times maybe crack a couple jokes and tell him I'd hang out with him more and set a date. if I were hanging out with my guy friend to much I'd confront my girlfriend, ask her how she felt apologize and probably make the most eye contact I could to let her know I genuinely care about her and how she feels. if I had painted for my guy friend (which I often do) I'd show it to him with GREAT excitement. if i had received something of the sort, I'd awkwardly smile and thank him profusely. I'm bad with gifts but I love them. (something I see in mike) if however I made my girlfriend something I'd want to show it to her, explain what it is and why I made it. (obviously I have different relationships with my friends. I'm dating one of them and the other I could never be attracted to) if she had made something for me, I'd be speechless. this has been an occurrence before since she likes to write and has written me several poems. I would never sit and stare at my guy friend like that. ever. I probably couldn't make eye contact or I'd be looking at whatever he's made me. he likes to write music. in the past he has written me some songs that I quite enjoy listening to. I thank him and tell him how good it is, how good he is at writing and encourage him to do more. with my girlfriend, she doesn't talk much and gets her a lot to but she gets excited giving me her works. so I listen and watch. I respond occasionally but only when she asks questions besides that I don't know what to say. noticing Mike's actions you can tell that he's listening closely to what will has to say there in the van.

ALSO by any means would I ever in my life worry about losing my girlfriend then proceed to never tell her I love her. it's a personal opinion but I think it'd tell her more if that makes sense. I love my girlfriend so much. i have for forever so why would I worry about a STUNT in my love for her? I've always loved her and I hopefully always will. I'd never refrain from telling her. when I get worried about losing her or her feelings for me, I sometimes wait for her to tell me or bring it up. yet I've never done that. it makes no sense unless you really don't love someone like that.

I love my best guy friend. I really do. he's helped me through so much and even helped get me and gf together so yeah I love him. I'd never struggle to tell him. I wouldn't get jealous if he wrote a song for someone else. he's written songs for my girlfriend and I couldn't care less.

I'd like to mention around the time I started liking my girlfriend I told her how I felt and I instantly became an awkward mess, I stopped holding her hand, hugging her, etc but she immediately caught on and hugged me back after a while of awkward hugs and horrible staring contests. I've never had an issue hugging my guy friend. why would I? o hugged him mere moments after I asked out my girlfriend. I practically tackled him. I'm not very comfortable with touching sue to sensory issues but I've never had issues hugging my friends unless I've liked them or secretly didn't like/trust them.

let's also be clear. (I keep changing everyone's roles) my best guy friend like feminine presenting folks and women. this gain way for him to grow feelings for me. I could never reciprocate and I'd be fine with it, yet he doesn't have feelings for me. I dont have to question that. with his actions I know he's straight and I know because he's told me that he's cis. if there was a possibility of him liking guys I'd be the first to know. we've known each other since we were kids. yet I don't act as a romantic interest to him. I'm more of a friend. I don't have to question being his best friend I know I am. I don't flirt. we don't have intimate moments. we might have moments of clarity or times where we open up about our feelings but I wouldn't consider it intimate. not exactly just clarity and closeness between two friends. I don't imply to him ever that we're just friends because he and I both know thats just what we are and that's all we'll ever be. I don't struggle to show him affection cause I know he won't take it as romantic. I hug him all the time and lean on him all the time. but I don't hold his hands or anything.

my girlfriend. Mike was funny for singing that song I'd do that two but I'd never shove my gfs arms off of me infact I kinda want them there. if she confessed she loves me which we've already said, I'd immediately say it back. you wouldn't catch us in a room, her walking away eyes shut in anticipation, awaiting an answer from me. I'd say it back before she could kiss me. hello, I'd say it when she asked what I said. sure it would be awkward but if I meant it than I meant it and whatever comes after would come after. I'd also tell my girlfriend if her dad didn't want me around but that's just me. she loves her dad but I'd totally have an excuse and need it whether she believed me or not. if my gf went to hang out with her friends, I'd let her go and watch her the whole time but I like to think I pick up emotions well. if she wasn't enjoying being around them I'd know. she's a very visual person. just like el. whose feelings are on her face in the rinkomania scene and Mike ignore it. ignore will. blames it on him even. I'd never blame my guy friend for my girlfriend not telling me something. I'd blame myself for not being there for her to talk too. I'd be to wrapped up in finding her too even speak to my friend even if I was mad about him "moping" since now is not the time. yet Mike seemed to care so much about will moping than to find his girlfriend?? mike? don't be a shitty boyfriend and go find her why don't you??

I'm just saying that the way that Mike acts is so similar to things I've done, my girlfriend has done with me and her. not me and my guy friend. this also gives way to implying that since i would never do these things with my guy friend since I'm not attracted to them that Mike does view will as a love interest regardless of feelings. again none of thos is actually canon, it just makes zero sense to how he is acting and I wanted to write it out to understand it better.

time for the counter argument

however my guy friend does 3rd wheel all the time. I'm sorry Aid, I love you please come to our park date I need you to drive I still didn't get my license. that's all. I also just really like him being there since he's my best friend but if I wanted to go on a soul date with my girlfriend, I'd call her up and have her drive us. seriously I could. we're just a happy group of 4.

going back into the full argument.

wait 4? my gf, aid, me? and my female friend who I am not dating and am not romantically attracted to to make the perfect 4 group. now that she is a woman and I have every ability to be attracted to her, let's set in. would I ever grab her hands? no I never have. I dont have a problem hugging her or holding her when needed though, since we walk side by side most days and she's an easy arm rest which is hard to come by. she doesn't come on our dates cause she can't drive but if she did she and aid would hand out. I wouldn't worry about her moping the whole time I'd probably ask her what was wrong instead of blaming her. maybe I'd be a little pissed if she was a jerk to my girlfriend but other than that I'd want to hear her side. she is bisexual. I'm a lesbian. we could be attracted to each other. we however are not. if I made her something (which I have) I'd present it to her in a jokingly honoring manor and joke and laugh about it the whole time. she's also autistic so she'd say thanks, I'd understand and we'd move on (this has happened many times) she's an artist and makes stuff for me. sends it online cause she hates confrontation and is a digital artist. I send an all caps thank you paragraph and we move on. I do love my gal friend obviously. she's amazing and I adore her. I'd never have a problem telling her I care just like my guy friend and my girlfriend. I love her just not like that. we're also very touchy people but I don't do more than sling my arm around her shoulder every now and then. we do have moments but not exactly as much as me and my guy friend, but definitely moments of clarity. but mainly not normally we don't really talk we just enjoy each other's company. we're a happy group of four and I love us. anyway that's my friendship dynamic and I see it that way. if anyone wants to know whose roles I've assigned for casual usage here

gf: mike

me: will

aid: dustin (they both have a bone disability so it's mainly a joke. I spend half my time bullying him and making your mom's jokes about his mom)

rah (gal friend): lucas

and IN CONCLUSION I've decided that Mike is in love with Will the same if not more than Will since his actions clearly speak louder than his words in the case of "I love yous" I'm not getting into his whole I love you speech and how it was copyrighted from other people's speeches and how I'd never use my best guy friends speech to tell a girl I love her but oh well. I guess I'll write that later. but based on our actions and the characters actions I've concluded that they are infact in love. this has no grounds and holds absolutely zero facts pertaining to the show and you just read me bragging about my 3 bestfriends (one a love intrest) all for nothing since this genuinely proves nothing and moves the plot zero inches further.

[bobasheebaby]

100 Buffy Prompts

I had a lot of fun compiling this list. I was cracking up more than once and now I want to binge Buffy. If there is a show you want let me know because these seriously help me shut of my brain during this covid hell.

1 “NAME, your mouth is open, sound is coming from it. This is never good.” – Buffy Summers

2 “I just want to be alone and quite in a room with a chair and a fireplace and a tea cozy. I don’t even know what a tea cozy is, but I want one.” – Buffy Summers

3 "They were supposed to be my light at the end of the tunnel. I guess they were a train.” – Buffy Summers

4 “I don’t know what’s coming next. But I do know it’s gonna be just like this – hard, painful. But in the end, it’s gonna be us. If we all do our parts, believe it, we’ll be the one’s left standing.” – Buffy Summers

5 “I don’t handle rejection well. Funny, considering all the practice I’ve had, huh?” – Xander Harris

6 "Just because you’re better than us doesn’t mean you can be all superior.” – Xander Harris

7 “I’m leaning towards blind panic myself.” – Rupert Giles

8 “Since the picture you just painted means that I will never touch food of any kind again, you’ll just have to pick it up yourself.” – Rupert Giles

9 "With all the rubbish people keep sticking in my head, it's a wonder that there's room for my brain." – Spike

10 "Oh, I don't know. Looking in the mirror every day and seeing nothing there...it's an overrated pleasure.” – Angel

11 "Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping, waiting, and though unwanted, unbidden, it will stir. Open it's jaws, and howl. It speaks to us, guides us. Passion rules us all, and we obey. What other choice do we have?" – Angel

12 "Anyway, for real now, I'm gonna ask you something, and you gotta promise you'll be honest and not spare my feelings just 'cause I could kill you. You promise?" Faith

13 "You gotta give me something to do. There's no way I'm sleeping. Don't you need anyone dead? Or maimed? I can settle for maimed.” – Faith

14 "You know, I honestly don't think there's a human word fabulous enough for me.”- Glorificus

15 “I’m cookie dough. I’m not done baking. I’m not finished becoming whoever the hell it is I’m gonna turn out to be. I make it through this, and the next thing, and the next thing, and maybe one day, I turn around and realize I’m ready. I’m cookies. And then, you know, if I want someone to eat m — or enjoy warm, delicious, cookie me, then that’s fine. That’ll be then. When I’m done.” — Buffy Summers

16 “Seize the moment, ’cause tomorrow you might be dead.” — Buffy Summers

17 “The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live.” — Buffy Summers

18 “No weapons. No friends. No hope. Take all that away and what’s left?” “Me.” — Angelus & Buffy Summers

19 “Don’t you have an elsewhere to be?” – Cordelia Chase

20 “God! What is your childhood trauma?!” – Cordelia Chase

21 “Gee, can you vague that up for me?” – Buffy Summers

22 “I laugh in the face of danger. Then I hide until it goes away.” – Xander Harris

23 “I don’t know what your problem is, what your issues are. But as of this moment I officially don’t care.” – Xander Harris

24 “You’re really campaigning for bitch of the year, aren’t you?” – Cordelia Chase

25 “I mock you with my monkey pants!” – Oz

26 “Funny how preparing looks an awful lot like sitting on your ass.” – Spike

27 “That’s fairly freaksome.” – Oz

28 “Do you have any tact at all?” – Giles

29 “I’ve known you for two minutes and I can’t stand you.” – Spike

30 “Great. Now I’m gonna be stuck with serious thoughts all day.” – Cordelia Chase

31 “You didn’t happen to take a lot of drugs, did you?” – Willow

32 “I’ve seen honest faces…they usually come attached to liars.” – Willow

33 “Can I be blind, too?” – Xander

34 “Gee, I hope I’m not interrupting anything really depressing.” – Riley

35 “And you just accepted that? I only said that because I thought that’s what you wanted to hear.” – Anya

36 “This is the crack team that foils my every plan? I am deeply shamed.” – Spike

37 “We’ve got to face it, we’ve changed. Well, not you—you’re still sadistic and self-centered.” – Giles

38 “Sometimes the most adult thing you can do is ask for help when you need it.” – Giles

39 “Did everybody have their Crazy Flakes today?” – Xander

40 “Do you love me?” “What?” “Do you?” “I love you. I don't know if I trust you.” “Maybe you shouldn't do either.” “Maybe I'm the one who should decide!” — Angel & Buffy

41 “Six a.m.!" NAME cried. "I know that's a number on my clock, but I've never actually been awake to personally witness it!” — Xander

42 “Bored now.” — Vampire Willow

43 “We’ll go be heroes.” — Spike

44 “You have a plan?” “I am the plan.” — Giles & Buffy

45 "Strong is fighting. It's hard and it's painful, and it's every day. It's what we have to do. And we can do it together." — Buffy

46 "I make it through this and the next thing and the next thing, and maybe one day I turn around and realize I'm ready." — Buffy

47 "You have to take care of each other. You have to be strong. NAME, the hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live, for me." — Buffy

48 "Make your choices. Are you ready to be strong?" — Buffy

49 “Weird love’s better than no love.” — Buffy

50 “The who having wha with huh?” — Buffy

51 “Whatever you choose, you’ve got my support. Just think of me as… as your… You know, I’m searching for supportive things and I’m coming up all bras. So, something slightly more manly, think of me as that.” – Xander

52 "A lot of things that seem strong and good and powerful, they can be painful." Angel

53 "To forgive is an act of compassion, NAME. It's-it's... it's not done because people deserve it. It's done because they need it." — Giles

54 "In the end, we all are who we are, no matter how much we may appear to have changed." — Giles

55 "I don't have time for vendettas. The mission is what matters." — Buffy

56 "I don't want to protect you from the world. I want to show it to you." — Buffy

57 "Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?" — Buffy

58 "Recognizing power in another does not diminish your own." — Joss Whedon

59 “Out. For. A. Walk… Bitch.” — Spike

60 “You can’t see the stars, love. That’s the ceiling. Also, it’s day.” — Spike

61 “Is everyone here very stoned?” — Spike

62 “I feel safe with you.” [Chokes] “TAKE THAT BACK!” — Dawn & Spike

63 “I love you.” “Oh, my god.” “Hey, no. Look at me. I... love you. You're all I bloody think about... dream about. You're in my gut... my throat... I'm drowning in you, NAME. I'm drowning in you.” — Spike & Buffy

64 “Just... give me something. A crumb, the barest smidgen. Tell me maybe, someday there's a chance” “NAME ... the only chance you had with me was when I was unconscious.” “Oh, wha-“ [screams, then shouts]  “What the bleeding hell is wrong with you bloody men/women? What the hell does it take? Why do you bitches torture me?” “Which question do you want me to answer first?” — Spike & Buffy

65 “You can't deny it. There's something between us.” “Loathing. Disgust.” — Spike & Buffy

66 “Could do without the laugh track, NAME.” “But it's so funny. I knew... before you did. I knew you loved the NAME. The pixies in my head whispered it to me.” — Spike & Drusilla

67 “Damn right I’m impure! I’m as impure as the driven yellow snow.” — Spike

68 “I love you.” “No, you don’t. But thanks for saying it.” — Spike & Buffy

69 “This with you, it’s wrong. I know it. I’m not a complete idiot.” — Spike

70 “You always hurt the ones you love, pet.” — Spike

71 "When I say ‘I love you,’ it’s not because I want you or because I can’t have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I’ve seen your kindness and your strength. I’ve seen the best and worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are." — Buffy

72 "I’m just gonna go home, lie down, and listen to country music. The music of pain." — Buffy

73 "I have feelings for you. I do. But it's not love. I could never trust you enough for it to be love." — Buffy

74 "Weird love's better than no love." — Buffy

75 “People don’t fall in love with what’s right in front of them. People want the dream — what they can’t have. The more unattainable, the more attractive.” — Buffy

76 "Trust is for old marrieds, NAME. Great love is wild and passionate and dangerous. It burns and consumes." “Until there's nothing left. Love like that doesn't last." — Spike & Buffy

77 "This isn't some fairy tale. When I kiss you...you don't wake up from a deep sleep and live happily ever after" — Angel

78 "I love you. I try not to, but I can't stop" — Angel

79 "If I may suggest, ‘This time it's personal.’ I mean, there's a reason why it's a classic." —Oz

80 "Well, to the casual observer, it would appear that you're trying to make your friend NAME jealous, or even the score, or something. And...that's on the empty side. See, in my fantasy, when I'm kissing you, you're kissing me. It's okay, I can wait." — Oz

81 "NAME’s our friend...except I don't like him/her.” — Xander

82 "What am I gonna do? I think about sex all the time! Sex ... Help! Four times five is thirty ... five times six is thirty-two ... Naked girls. Naked women ... Naked NAME ... Oh, stop me!" — Xander

83 "Man, NAME! My whole life just flashed before my eyes. I gotta' get me a life!" — Xander

84 “NAME. You're really campaigning for bitch-of-the-year, aren't you?” “As defending champion, you nervous?” — Cordelia & Buffy

85 "Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass." — Cordelia

86 “Oh please. Like shame is something to be proud of.” — Cordelia

87 “I’m going to give you some advice: get over it.” — Cordelia

88 “Oh, and you’re welcome.” — Cordelia

89 “I’m not a sniveling little cry-NAME. I’m the nastiest guy/girl in PLACE history. I take crap from no one.” — Cordelia

90 “I think it. I say it. It’s my way.” — Cordelia

91 "I don't like spiders, okay? Their furry bodies, and their sticky webs, and what do they need all those legs for anyway? I'll tell you - for crawling across your face in the middle of the night." — Willow

92 "I don't want danger. Big 'no’ to danger.” — Willow

93 "Let's get this straight. I don't understand it. I don't wanna' understand it. You have gross emotional problems. And things are not okay between us." — Willow

94 "NAME, I got so lost." "I found you. I will always find you." — Tara & Willow

95 "But you like him/her, and when you think about him/her, you get that good down-low tickle, right?" — Faith

96 "You hurt me, I hurt you. I'm just a little more efficient." — Faith

97 "Just relax ... and take off your pants." — Faith

98 "I am, you know." “What?" “Yours." — Tara & Willow

99 "I don't have time for bondage fun." - Buffy

100 “It's fine, I don't need to be snuggled.” — Willow

[massive-mythopoetic-mashup]

I hope you don't consider this too prying, but are you strain_of_thought? If so, I love what your doing with RWBY. I've always thought the strongest thing about RWBY were how the allusions played into the characters and story, but I always thought it didn't really use them as much as it should. All of your ideas paint the idea RWBY is using them far more effectively than I thought you could! One question, where do you look for allusions? You make some connections I would never think of.

I _am_ Strain of Thought! I also go by Karma Chimera in some places. This blog was supposed to be for posting concise, thorough, and well-formatted explanations of allusions I’ve found in RWBY, but unfortunately I’ve really had very little time to devote to it over the past two months due to crazy life events. Also, my thoughts on how the big theory should be organized and presented have been constantly evolving, largely as a result of having nice people who humor my attempts to explain it to them, and that’s somewhat held up producing finalized presentations. Most of the G.U.N. theory has been informally described in back-and-forth conversation over on my Discord server, but it’s very, very long and a mess to slog through.I want to be clear, before I get into this: the stuff I talk about on reddit and here and on the wiki and the RT forums and on Discord is not stuff I figured out overnight. I was a passionate but casual fan of RWBY who wasn’t into RT at all and didn’t even start watching the series until late summer of 2016. I was deeply haunted by Pyrrha’s death after finishing Volume 3 and dwelled on it for several months without finding any understanding of it; I wasn't even able to bring myself to watch Volume 4 until the last episode had been posted. Then, about five months ago, I had a sudden epiphany about one character- which in short order lead to another, much much _much_ bigger epiphany about another character that completely changed my perception of the show; since then I’ve been tearing the show apart piece by piece with an obsessiveness that still hasn’t really abated at all. At this point, I have spent many hundreds of hours researching the allusions in RWBY. So please don’t feel bad for not having immediately caught all of the things I point out. I had to _work_ to find them, and I didn’t begin to see them for a long time.That said, let’s talk about that first epiphany.The basic method I use for looking for allusions in RWBY is something you might call the “Cast of Characters” method. First, take a RWBY character who has an overt literary allusion that you're certain of- let's say Penny. Then list all the important supporting characters in the story of the inspirational character who the RWBY character alludes to. For Pinocchio that would be Geppetto, The Blue Fairy, Jiminy Cricket, The Puppet Show Master, The Fox and The Cat, The Coachman, Lampwick, and The Terrible Dogfish. Now, you can’t really tell the story of Pinocchio without having all of these characters also represented in some capacity. RWBY does have some characters who appear to overtly play some of these roles: Penny’s ‘Father’ is Geppetto, Ciel Soleil is The Blue Fairy, and Ironwood is the Puppet Show Master. But other important characters are conspicuously missing- Jiminy Cricket, for example. So go down the list and ask: “Who is playing this necessary role in order for this story to be told?”Doing this successfully often requires a lot of familiarity with the work in question, which means you often have to go back and actually _read_ something you’ve only picked up on through osmosis or adaptations. Sometimes you’re going to need to sit down with some 19th century children’s literature for a few hours before you’ll be able to pick up on the subtle cues that are hidden in RWBY. Reading material _about_ the work, such as Wikipedia articles on the individual characters, can also be hugely instructive.Getting back to Penny Polendina and the search for Jiminy Cricket- who is Penny's conscience? Who tries to answer her difficult questions and guide her morally and keep her out of trouble? Who is a Christ-like figure, especially in their purity of heart? (No, seriously. ‘Jiminy Cricket’ is literally a bowdlerization of ‘Jesus Christ’. Carlo Collodi never named him, simply calling him ‘The Talking Cricket’, so Disney named him after a clean expletive.) Who is repeatedly separated from Penny and ultimately fails to keep her out of trouble but nevertheless provides an example that inspires her and helps her become a much better person in the long run? _Who can jump really high?_Realizing that Ruby Rose is Jiminy Cricket, and that the writers had snuck that right past me in plain sight, was the first forehead slap that made me suspect there was much more to RWBY than what meets the eye. You can take the “Cast of Characters” method and systematically run every character in the show through it; if you do, some startling connections can jump out at you fairly quickly. Also, for RWBY characters with mythological, legendary, or historical origins, there’s often a wealth of supplemental information to be found about their supporting characters outside of their source stories themselves.For another example: Has it occurred to you that there might be important supporting characters in _Joan of Arc_’s story? Reading up on Joan of Arc, you’ll find that she consistently described her visions as always containing the same three saints: Saint Michael, Saint Margaret of Antioch, and Saint Catherine of Alexandria. We can read up on these three saints in turn, and in doing so we learn some interesting facts:Saint Michael is actually the Archangel Michael, revered by military orders as a soldier who is the leader of God’s armies and battles demons, but also paradoxically strongly associated with medicine and tranquil, healing waters. He’s an angel of mercy: he repeatedly prevents deaths, and is specifically named as the angel who provided the ram to prevent Abraham from killing his own son Isaac. Most remarkably, Michael is strongly associated with Christ, and many protestant traditions have held that Michael actually _is_ Christ in his heavenly, pre-incarnation form.Saint Margaret of Antioch was the daughter of a demon-worshipping pagan priest, who abandoned her as an infant when he had a vision that she would become a Christian. She was raised by a Christian nurse who took her in, and became a shepherdess as a teenager. As she grew up she developed a fanatical, virginal devotion to Christ that bordered on romantic fixation. She resisted worldly temptations by a pagan lord who saw her herding and was captivated by her beauty, and she kept her faith through being tortured by him after her rejection. Eventually, she faced and was swallowed by a demonic dragon, but was able to escape from its belly because the cross she wore irritated the dragon’s stomach so much that it vomited her up.Saint Catherine of Alexandria, lastly, is an absurd Mary-Sue even by biblical standards: she is not just a saint but also a martyr, a brilliant scholar, and a _princess_. She brought _herself_ to Christ through study and boldly appeared before the emperor of Rome to rebuke him for his cruelty. The emperor summoned _fifty_ pagan philosophers to argue against her, and she defeated them in debate one after another _and converted them to christianity_, prompting their immediate executions. She was whipped and imprisoned, but hundreds of people came to visit her in the dungeon and she converted all of _them_ as well, including the emperor’s _own wife_. The emperor attempted to use torture upon her, but every torture device used upon her magically broke, including a massive breaking wheel she was strapped to that was specially built to kill her. Even when she was finally beheaded, her body was carried away by angels and placed upon Mount Sinai where God spoke to Moses; there her body remained fresh without rotting, her beautiful hair never stopped growing, and she continuously issued a ‘stream of healing oils’.Are you seeing any patterns here? Can you think of three people in Jaune’s life who exhibit some of these traits? I hope you can! Now understand: I knew basically _nothing_ about Joan of Arc when I started this other than the basic “Hears voices, drives the English out of France, gets captured and burned at the stake.” bits that you can pick up through cultural osmosis as an American. I vaguely remembered her liberating Orleans entirely because of a campaign mission in Age of Empires 2. You ask where I look for allusions- my answer is, I pick a character and just start reading things about them until I feel like I’ve exhausted the resources I know to look at, and then I move on to the next one. Then later I end up coming back for additional passes with a fresh sense of what I’m looking for and what to read, and a better sense of how the show is written, and find even more connections. RWBY has given me ten times the education in western literature that college did, and even if I’m wrong about everything, I still want to thank the creators of the show for that. They couldn’t get me to read the _Iliad_ in school, but I cracked it open and tried my level best for Pyrrha.Not only does taking the thorough approach and investigating seemingly less promising character allusions like Joan of Arc allow you to find layers to the show you’d likely never pick up on otherwise, but finding who _else_ a RWBY character is drawn from besides their overt, top-level allusion often becomes very instructive in understanding them and the ways that they differ from that top-level character. I’ve repeatedly had my perception of a RWBY character completely changed by discovering some lower level allusion that recontextualizes them, and I’ve found paradigm-shifting revelations in sources as diverse as black-and-white 1950s American western films, the works of Dr. Seuss, and episodes of _Sesame Street_. I’ve generally found that the top level character allusion informs a RWBY character’s personality more (and obviously their appearance) but the immediately underlying character allusion has a much bigger impact on their story and character arc- and sometimes there are third and fourth and even _fifth_ level allusions with major impacts on a character. In one case, the layers of significant allusions go down to a _dozen_. What took me almost all of the past five months to realize is that RWBY characters are designed exactly like RWBY weapons: they’re crazy awesome mashup combinations of multiple completely different things that externally _appear_ to just be extra cool versions of one thing, but then at critical moments they perform dramatic, spectacular transformations to reveal other essential aspects of themselves that have existed within them all along.For all the reasons I’ve mentioned already, if you want to be able to perceive the allusions within RWBY, the most important thing is to just experience the world of literature it’s drawn from. In the interest of helping fans do that, I’ve started a regular weekly online film viewing group where RWBY fans can watch and discuss films together whose stories RWBY alludes to. The group is open to everyone and based from my Discord server. If you want to learn more, or maybe just watch some good films, come check it out:https://discord.gg/PMNSfhK