#also his entire aesthetic is cowboy based

[a-gay-little-cat]

In the past year I've played this game I've not actually had a "V" but now its my turn so meet Vito, local narcissist who only cares about himself and getting to the top. As long as he gets eddies at the end he will do it. Also his ass is around 50, he had many ambitions in life but never quite made it so eventually he said fuck it and moved to Night City to go crazy and delve into merc work

[milkcos]

redesigns!! ft. an entirely new style

more abt my choices behind the read more

maka: pretty much superficial stuff, gave her a cloak-like coat to replace the trench coat and updated her look a bit more? i wanted her to have more of a grunge vibe mixed with a prep look. so she’s got mary janes and a half tucked shirt

soul: he’s very much a grunge hipster based on canon aesthetics, so i changed his jacket into a quarter zip and gave him some baggier pants. also i feel like he would be that person perpetually carrying headphones

black star: he gets platforms!!! i feel like he would persist being stupid short for the rest of his life. otherwise his outfit remains pretty similar with just added bracers. i also incorporated more blue into his outfit and got rid of his dog cone collar.

tsubaki: unsexualized your girl, and then makes her more cool. no more tiddy window, but i did keep her slit just bc i feel like it’d give her more movement. she’s got shorts now and those martial artist slippers? for increased traction. and then yk pouches bc a girl has to have some sort of storage on her

kidd: i kept his suit style, but gave him a zoot suit instead. it gave him a more personalized look and kept him more on theme with the other redesigns. also skull bolo tie which fits the suit and his aesthetic. plus i like putting male characters in heels so he’s got heels on his mock dress shoe converse

patty: desexualizes and cowboys your girl. she’s got shorts in the original so i just made them longer and added a big belt buckle + bolo tie + cowboy boot + cowboy hat combination.

liz: desexualizes and cowboys your girl pt 2. since she’s got pants originally, i feel like boot cut jeans would make a lot of sense fr her? she’s got that kinda older sister y2k vibe. matching w patty also w her accessories too <3

[lazysunjade]

story inspiration tag | on sunlit tides

tagged by: @catamano

rules: write up a blurb or make a visual collage of the people or characters (from books, TV shows, movies, etc.) that inspired your story and/or OC, either visually, personality wise, or just a general vibe

the story of OST wasn't based on much of anything. I got inspired by Island Living when the EP was released to do a story in Sulani with mermaids, and naturally, every mermaid needs a pirate. I repurposed older sims (who were going to be part of a different sim story based on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) into Naida and Ven and thus On Sunlit Tides was born. The name being wordplay of PotC: On Stranger Tides and the Sims 3 island world Sunlit Tides.

Ven's character is an amalgamation, but he is primarily based on Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop. There's a line in the anime where Spike mentions that one eye can only see the past. Whether this is actually literal or simply metaphorical isn't made clear to viewers, but I was always struck by it, and thought the mechanism was particularly fascinating for a character to actually suffer constantly see the world through two entirely different lenses simultaneously. Ven also has many of Spike's lackadaisical mannerisms, while also having a similar backstory. In Spike's case, he's ex-yakuza, in Ven's, it's ex-military. Emrys is Ven's equivalent of Vicious; a partner/brother-figure from his past he now deeply despises and knows he will have to inevitably face. The two characters follow similar paths and have nearly paralleled resolutions, as well as other minor commonalities such as personal philosophies, aliases, etc.

To a lesser extent, Ven also incorporates certain elements of both Jack Sparrow and Howl, with the scene where Naida first uses her magic being directly influenced by the Howl/Sophie hair color changing scene. The overall OST aesthetic (quite obviously) borrows heavily from Pirates of the Caribbean (with Artrice being my interpretation of Tia Dalma) and League of Legend's Bilgewater. Naida has less tangible inspirations, though her magic and overall connection to the moon (as well as aspects of her appearance) were influence by Yue from ATLA.

[ofallthingsnasty]

Cowboy croco?? 👀👀

Omg imagine him trying to wife up a cute fat darling 🙏🙏 hot

The thing is, to me he's either some ultra slimy, wicked business type who exploits people ruthlessly and gets them with debts/gag contracts or he's a Dutch Van der Linde (rdr2) guy with his own little group of outlaws (and has his fingers in pots the others do not know about...) - or maybe more like Colm O'Driscoll, but I digress...

Oh, but him having a little crisis - he is cunning and strong, has money and smarts and loyal men and all that, but he also can tell that he's in his mid-40s now. People in that line of 'work' (people in general, back then) aged worse - and I don't mean aesthetically, I mean physically. For all he knows, it's entirely possible for him to be dead this time next year; and he can feel the phantom pain in his lost hand whenever the weather changes more and more with every passing winter. 20 years ago, that quick way of living, that uncertainty didn't bother him at all, no, it added to the thrill of everything. That was the spice his 20s and 30s were made of - when the world was his oyster and the next big thing right around the corner. But now? He's richer than before, more crafty; he knows people and how they work, knows so much yet feels so empty... Going out in a blaze of glory would have been appealing just ten years ago, now it feels shallow and vain. It's not that he wants to settle down either, it's just-

Something is missing. Between almost 30 years on the road, the street, in the wilderness, the reeking towns and cramped cities and him lying and cheating and gunning his way through it all, he has been nothing but made of red-hot iron and fury. Suddenly he's more mellow; his evil oozes more than it spurts and he feels himself longing for something - someone. Someone to apply his little ointments for him, someone who cooks for him, someone who is a base for him whenever he returns from his exploits and so much more. He suddenly finds himself yearning for the comforts a wife provides, those little joys and genuine warmth money can't buy. It's strange, really. Utterly strange and out of character for a man like him. But age turns the best of them into sentimental fools and he doesn't seem to be an exception. He finds himself conjuring up someone in his mind whenever he lords over his whiskey or stares at the moon with a cigarette in hand; how nice just another presence would be, how he could afford a wife, how having someone to adore him might be more tempting than cold metal and gems in his hand. He could have both, he reasons, and experience a sliver of peace his life has never given him so far. He has heard many old men lament the loss of a woman; decades shared toiling together, building together - it never bothered him one bit before; now he wants what he can't have.

So when he spots you - widowed, all out on your own and desperate for money, fat with luxuries your dead husband could provide for you but that are now sorely missing, he sees an opportunity; someone to take advantage of. You're perfect, just made for him: desperate, soft and sweet, with years of homemaking and pleasing underneath your belt. Oh, he'll blind you. Deceive you with a front of charm and expensive clothes, with the promises of a home of your own and food on the table. You'll buy his lies hook, line and sinker - won't question him when he evades your inquiries about his work, won't even have the time to think about just where his rings come from when every day on your own just gets harder and harder because your money is running out. You've got a sweet face; the body of a fat little wife and are worn down enough by misfortune that you cling to him like a drowning cat. You'll only see that you married the devil himself after it's all said and done; that you've been dragged into the life of a horrible criminal who'll leave you widowed again - and with the wolves to come once he's been shot like a fucking dog, someday soon.

[gust-jar-simulator]

I have written too many posts referencing goth Vio and not enough posts actually describing goth Vio. I should fix this.

I need everyone to know that Red is really supportive the entire time, drags Blue into it, and Blue and Vio 100% do the lesbians-doing-their-makeup straddle pose thing at least once. Blue is the best at eyeliner and he is personally offended if one of his counterparts has uneven wings when he is Right There and could have just done it in the first place.

Eyeliner is not a common makeup practice in Hyrule, it is extremely Gerudo, so we’re off to a great start actually. While the mines we know about in-game are mostly connected to Mt. Crenel, volcanoes in general, etc, given the blatant Egyptian references with the Gerudo (pyramids) as well as the general theme of making them Pretty Ladies, they deserve to have makeup and the mineral resources for it.

(I have vague thoughts about the Goddess of the Sands as a kind of Hathor/Sekhmet figure, but that’s irrelevant here)

I tend to base a lot of fashion and culture ideas in the Minish Cap era on Scotland/Ireland/Wales, though I think the climate in that version of Hyrule is a lot warmer considering the proximity of Mt. Crenel and the Desert of Doubt, so maybe a bit more like Galicia in Spain? I’m getting sidetracked.

When I think about dressing Vio, I tend to automatically fall back on archers and archery garb throughout history. Archers were an insane tactical advantage, particularly on horseback, so pants would be my go-to. Heeled boots were also useful to give you an advantage when standing in the stirrups, actually. Overall the boys seem to hoof it everywhere, pardon the pun, but in places like France heels were adopted so nobles could be a little taller than everyone else. In Ancient Greece they were used to denote the most important actors on a stage.

I’m getting sidetracked again. Point is, Vio in heels would be fun, but to be honest I could see Legend wearing them more often. Sometimes Time. And Twilight. That’s what cowboy boots are, you know.

Back on topic, Vio has the advantage of being able to make his own jewelry. Drawing wire in particular takes a kind of focus Blue may or may not have, and that’s not even getting into the detail work. Plus, as evidenced by BOTW, it’s good for enchantments. Considering Vio’s fanon fixation on dark magic, I could definitely see him experimenting with earrings that shield you from sunlight, or light magic in general, for whenever he finally resurrects his boyfriend. Vio quickly starts becoming extremely pale after that because he keeps forgetting to take the earrings off (they’re dark and cold and feel a little familiar, he doesn’t want to).

In that same vein of thought, I am genuinely not sure if whatever his body is made of can take tattoos, or how it would work when they recombine, but if you’re going to research necromancy you might as well tattoo ancient and ominous runes on yourself the same way you inscribe them into jewelry. Why augment items when you can augment yourself? They’d have to be carefully chosen and very carefully done, mathematically precise, but Vio’s up to the research necessary to make his own body into a conduit for dark magic. Considering the major sources of darkness in LOZ are the Gerudo and the Sheikah (and the Twili who might be both), the aesthetic is probably unmatched too.

I definitely think he’s got a little ruler tattooed on his finger specifically to make sure he gets his summoning circles right.

Depending on how you want to write the rules of necromancy his clothes could go a few ways, but I’ve been rolling around the Egyptian idea of no materials from the dead. No leather boots, for example, because you don’t want to offend the spirits by bringing the unclean presence of death before them, etc. If we want to get really wild with it, I would love to play with the idea of Vio doing some magic experiments buck naked just to remove that variable altogether. There are a few reasons to do something like that- respectfully showing you’re of lower status than whatever you’re summoning, an attempt to be more in tune with the nature around you, so on. There is some comedy potential for Green walking into the basement, seeing Vio naked and covered in runes, and walking right back out.

While the Era of Light probably doesn’t have a convenient goth scene or even a decently moody bar, I feel like I would be doing a disservice to the subculture if I didn’t mention music. Music is a massive part of the Legend of Zelda experience, and an argument could be made that raw magic- and the ancient language of the gods themselves- might be music. In English, the words incant and enchant both have their roots in the Latin incantare, “to sing”. In Skyward Sword, Fi sings, and both of the sword spirits seem to dance to channel magic. Don’t get me started on Ocarina of Time.

As such, no decent aspiring necromancer worth their salt could neglect the possibility that an understanding of music, particularly funerary songs and the like, might help in resurrecting a dead boyfriend. If there is a spiritual aspect to burial, surely there is an equal and opposite spiritual aspect to unburial. Given how I tend to utilize Gaelic mythology when I think about Minish Cap, there’s topics like the banshee caoine to consider. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Gerudo had professional mourners. Vio is 100% experimenting with the technical side of writing music for ritual purposes and simultaneously writing little heartfelt pieces to go with the grief-filled love poems in the back of his journal that no one gets to read.

That’s all I have for now, but there will be more.

[theteethofgod]

Week One of Random Horror.

Stream of consciousness reviews below (heavy spoilers)

Insidious: Chapter 2.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/3

Typical that our first spin would land us on a sequel - luckily I watched the first one all the time as a kid so I’m pretty familiar with both plot and characters.

I’ve got to be honest, the majority of my enjoyment of this film came both from how damn good it looks and its commitment to being a Ghost Story™️. The lighting is wonderful, especially for a Blumhouse horror which typically either under light or simply take no creative direction with it whatsoever.

Narratively it’s above average. I am a sucker for a sequel that expertly fills in the gaps from the original and the scenes of Josh in the Further recontextualised without really uprooting some of the best sequences from the first film. Also a big fan of the comic relief of the two idiot ghost hunters trying to contact their dead boss via haunted dice - honestly kinda giving Shakespearean comedy in some places.

Despite some strong scares early on and a very clear love for its neo-gothic aesthetics the film falls flat in the third act. I remember a lot of discourse around whether or not a cross dressing serial killer is transphobic but honestly the bigger crime here is that they do nothing with him. I appreciate the attempt at the twist that the ghost isn’t actually “evil” just desperate to relive a stolen childhood but nothing interesting was done with it and it did feel like the film decided that it was time that you understood that and dropped everything else in favour of conveying this singular idea.

Was it scary? No

Was it fun? Yeah.

Would I recommend? Watch the first one, if you like it keep going.

The Blob (1988 Remake)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

The fact that I have gone my entire life without seeing this is outrageous. I believe that I naively dismissed it due to the ridiculous title (I have never seen the original either). Turns out that this is a properly nasty film. Characters are introduced, fleshed out, made funny, gentle, awful, or just irritating and then all are dissolved in a screaming, writhing mess of stunning practical effects. This film has no regard for horror conventions when it comes to violence: children are dissolved on screen and the sheriff off - his acid eaten body floating past the woman he was on his way to rescue in her final moments.

I can only assume that the twist would have been even more effective had I seen the original - the “alien” turning out to be a US government biological warfare experiment feels uniquely post-Vietnam. Even without the impact of the original story being subverted, it was a great reveal that breathed some brand new tension into a second half that could have fallen flat once the blob had used all his tricks (there’s only so much “oh no he’s on the ceiling” a film can make fun).

Was it scary? Kinda.

Was it fun? Fuck yes.

Would I recommend? Yes absolutely it is on youtube go watch it.

Bone Tomahawk

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

I literally watched this film for the first time like a week ago so of course it would come up immediately.

I don’t know why but the first time I watched this I was absolutely convinced it was a lot older than it is. Maybe it was the first kill where they just bash a totally stiff mannequin around. Maybe it was because I just don’t associate the 2010s with 2 hour long horror western hybrids. Either way, this film is a lot of fun. I’ve read plenty of debate around whether or not it qualifies as a horror film but I think these people are too caught up in base aesthetics. Monsters come to town and kidnap the doctor, a cowboy, the sheriff and his deputy (who defo have something going on, it can’t just be me), and a sketchy outsider must hunt them down and get her back. The film uses the classic western formula but supplements the Cowboys vs Indians model for Cowboys vs Other, whilst maintaining the native presence as kind of mediators - aware of both sides and choosing, fairly, to say fuck that we’re not getting involved.

That’s not to say it’s some kind of radical colonial horror. Instead I think this was simply included to acknowledge the issues of writing a genre that inherently requires the Other in a period of genocide and displacement.

Mannequin kill aside, the gore is fantastic. There’s one scene in particular that is just absolutely sickeningly brutal and I loved it so much.

Not all that much to say about this one - it’s a slow burn character drama against the backdrop of western horror. It’s fun it’s gross there’s cowboys.

Is it scary? No

Is it fun? Yes

Would I recommend? Yes!

The Omen

⭐️⭐️1/2

Full disclosure: I have tried to watch this film many times and this was the only time I managed. Nothing about this really resonates with me. There’s two main subgenres of horror that never really move me, religious and children/family. I was raised not only atheist but completely removed from any form of religion, genuinely believing that Jesus was kinda like santa in the sense that it’s something you tell kids to make christmas more fun. The idea that people genuinely believe in souls and hell and the like is something that I really struggle to empathise with, no matter how much I’ve tried. I also can’t think of anything worse than being married with kids so the whole Desecration Of The Nuclear Family also falls totally flat. Luckily for me this film combines the two and then goes on for all of time. Damien is not threatening, his nurse is not threatening, the dogs are not threatening. The baboons were kind of scary but not exactly the antagonist.

The priest and photographer both had insanely good deaths - the latter felt a little cheapened by how impressed the film seemed to be with it, but good all the same. The graveyard scene was beautifully lit and I was briefly engaged when he got his arm impaled on the fence.

I don’t like this one. It’s boring and I have nothing to say about it. I hope I never have to watch it again.

Is it scary? No

Is it fun? No

Would I recommend? No.

Hatchet

⭐️

I hate this fucking movie. Perhaps unfairly, but hear me out. 2000s horror is perhaps one of the most cohesive periods in the genres history. The post-9/11 practical effects torture porn dirty warehouses rusty metal and that awful brown/green diseased colour scheme that feels like it infects everything it touches. Controversially I do not attribute this to the classic Saw -> Hostel -> Worthless Derivative Imitators that every History Of Horror book will. Instead I think that we do not pay enough attention to the 2003 Texas Chainsaw remake. Tobe Hooper’s OG commentary on the meat industry finds new thematic relevance in the wake of mass loss of life - especially an event such as 9/11 which saw people trapped amongst the dying and the dead, knowing it was only a matter of time. What is that if not the experience of the slaughterhouse. “Torture porn” (which is a whole discussion in itself) was not about the act of killing, it was about the knowledge that you will die. Combine this genuinely compelling emotional foundation with some of the most ridiculous chinese-whisper warped tropes from the classics (sex being thematically important -> some of the horniest shit you’ve seen in your life, for example) and you get the weird offputting hybrid of the schlocky and the cliche with the genuine zeitgeist of the destruction of the body and sudden outbursts of violence.

How the FUCK do you fail at parodying that. By the time Hatchet came around (2006) these themes had become so codified that if you ask anyone about horror, even now in our “elevated” era, they’ll probably default to describing them (aside from maybe the classics, but that’s a given). Hatchet fails to nail down a single piece of commentary on the genre aside from “sexualised girls” (who incidentally are the funniest part of the film for this exact reason). The villain is cool looking and the practical effects are genuinely outstanding but for a horror comedy that consistently seems desperate to reflect on itself it ends up creating nothing more than a below average replication of the genre with perhaps one or two jokes funnier than your average bottom tier slasher. The whole time I just wished I was watching Scary Movie.

Was it scary? No

Was it fun? No

Would I recommend? No

[thatgaiagirl]

Hello yes I made an entire new Twisted Fate design in like a week instead of focusing on other things because brainrot, and now I’m gonna make a long-ass post about it

TLDR; He doesn’t look enough like a pirate so I tried to make him look more like a pirate whilst sticking to the spirit of his OG design because it’s not BAD, I just feel like it isn’t Bilgewater enough. Also forgive the lack of rendering and basic-ass spell effects I was more focused on the design aspect so. Flat colours it is. And my art style is very different from the League style so there may be whiplash there too but I digress. And, of course, this is all based on my personal opinions and biases in what I think looks good, your mileage will vary.

Ok now for more design specifics so click if you want the full low-down on my thought process here.

- Each individual aspect of Twisted Fate’s original design can equally be replaced by a more ‘piratey’ version without significantly changing his silhouette or general design: riding boot to pirate boots, cowboy hat to a tricorn (even though this hat isn’t actually a tricorn but shhhshsh), duster to a pirate coat, etc. I also (obviously) took some elements from Cutthroat Twisted Fate - makes sense as it’s both a lore skin for a younger version of him as well as an honestly great example of Bilgewater fashion.

- The shoulder pads are a common element in Bilgewater, especially in the Ruined King game with characters like Malik and their Miss Fortune design, so I emphasised them on his coat with the characteristic gold detailing that ties them to the Bilgewater aesthetic. I also continued the gold detailing throughout the rest of his coat and on his boots, for a reason I shall elaborate on below

- Twisted Fate is explicitly written as someone that cares about his appearance and appreciates the finer things in life. He’s found success and is a little bit materialistic about it with a fine coat and a ‘dandy’ hat etc etc, so the gold is meant to look a little ostentatious since it’s associated with riches and luxury, but also… I don’t know about y’all but I think having braided and decorated hair is a MUCH better visual expression of effort being put into your appearance than base Twisted Fates hair. So, I struck a middle ground between the Cutthroat braids and base twisted fate by having his hair partially braided. The half-up half-down style is also because I just. Like it. Looks nice. LOOK I AM NOT IMMUNE TO DESIGNING THINGS BECAUSE THEY JUST LOOK NICE. This is also the reason for the red sash around the waist - not only does it tie him better to the pirate aesthetic but it’s a little bit of showy finery - it’s not practical, but it looks nice and it’s a fine piece of fabric, so of course he’s using it for fashion purposes.

- He’s described as having tattooed hands in his colour story so I expanded to full tattooed arms because tattoos rule. I started by mimicking the style of his cards (something that’s still there in the wrist detailing and the eye design), but the final style that mimics river water just felt better to me. As a character, his past as a river nomad isn’t really addressed, but to me it always felt like he’s still connected to his past life given the fact that his literal calling cards were inherited from his family on the river, so the tattoos can be a visual element showing he still has a connection to the river by getting those designs permanently inked on him

- Yes I blatantly stole the better card designs from the Legends of Runeterra cinematics, I could NOT find a yellow card design for the life of me (even though I thought there was one, idk if I Mandela Effected myself or what) so I took a crack at it. It looks e n o u g h like the other two, and I did my best to incorporate the eye imagery into it, but I was just driving myself insane with it and eventually I went ‘good enough’ and just left it. Feel free to make a better one yourself, please, mine is just… passable. Same with the back of the card - The weird-ass ornamental card hand thing on the brim of TF’s original hat just didn’t work with this version (not a Tricorn, I went with a hat with a shape closer to his original in the end) so I settled on a card tucked into the brim. At first it was explicitly a Blue card, the implication that TF is carrying a get-out-of-jail-free card on him at all times visually speaking, but I though it made more sense for someone like TF (who IS smart at cards, and literally only cards) to hide his intentions and hide what the card is. Now it entirely depends - is it a blue card? A red card? Gold? Is it some new special card he’s saving as a hail-Mary? Or is it completely ordinary and used for decoration alone? Only Twisted Fate knows, and a writer can 100% use that to their advantage and wring a bad-ass or tense moment out of forcing Fate to use that card

- Finally I did end up adding some smaller details like the little sun spots because he is running around Bilgewater chaotically in the sun all day, and even if he’s wearing a hat now he wasn’t back in his Cutthroat days, and the earrings because 1) self decoration makes sense for him and 2) further boosting the pirate aesthetic.

Anyway that was my extended explanation, obviously I could’ve pushed this much harder but I honestly chose not too because his base design isn’t actually bad in my opinion, just unfitting for the region he’s supposed to be a part of. Part of this is because he’s an OLD champion who’s Visual Update focused more on refining his original design and bringing him up to speed than re-orienting him in the games lore - there was a balance to be struck there and in the end he just doesn’t look Bilgewater enough in my opinion. Graves has the same issues, but honestly he’s far less egregious IMO - a few small changes to his coat (maybe add a big collar on there?) and he’d look perfectly Bilgewater. But, I just wanted to convert Twisted Fate’s design as accurately as possible to pirate fashion, and I think I did that well, so. Enjoy!

[theveryworstthing]

So over on patreon Trevor asked for my take on the Addams Family and I grew up LOVING the Addams family movies so here we are. Instead of doing a straight up style interpretation, I decided to do a full on design challenge, using the characters as bases to make a black southern gothic Addams au. I actually drew the kids first, using the character bases of Wednesday and Pugsley to create some delightful kiddos I'm calling Sunday and Blanche. I of course then redesigned Gomez and Morticia into Carlisle and Mortesha.

The Addams have a very specific high aristocratic goth aesthetic (they've got a butler and nobody really works among other things) so in this re-imagining I wanted to go with vibes that run a little more middle class/upper middle class.  I thought it would be interesting to think about what would be considered weird and off-putting in an entirely different culture, and how being a big ol' goth is way less controversial than it used to be.

I tried to keep this short (HAHAHAHAHAHA) so I didn't spin off into an essay about villain coded families, black people in the horror genre, and normalcy as it pertains to social survival, but just...bits of that are in these designs and lore. Keep that in mind.

Also I made the kids twins because they've flip flopped in age so much in different media and also twins run in my family (i'm the daughter of one). And let's face it, I'm pulling a lot of their southern gothic traits from living as a southern goth so *shrug*.

10 thousand pounds of lore incoming loooooooooool.

The Parents

From the moment he saw her he knew that there was a 50/50 chance of him either never making it out of that swamp alive or marrying the figure that was creeping out from under the distant willow tree in a black cocktail dress. The third time she found him trussed up in one of her traps, he complimented her rope work and asked if she'd like to go out sometime after his head wound stopped bleeding.

Or while it was still bleeding.

If she was into that.

Some kids and a mysteriously burnt down Piggly Wiggly later, their love is still as strong and inescapable as a bear trap in a sink hole.

Carlisle Guillermo (now Addams through marriage but I wanted to give him two first names for a name since Gomez has two last names) makes a vaguely described living practicing ‘law’ around town. A loophole king, people come to him from miles around with contracts signed in blood, fights over chunks of hair buried in their rivals’ yard, dehydrated primate hands, memories that seemed like dreams until the evidence of their happenings became too real, and other regular Legal Items asking for counsel which he is all too happy to give. For a price. Sometimes that price is a homemade pie and sometimes it’s a million dollars, depends on who you are. Whatever you’re asked to pay it’s worth that price, and if you try to scam him out of work or he just plain doesn’t like you? Well. He knows how to twist a contract better than anything at the crossroads.

And he always gets his due.

He doesn’t just serve the local (living)humans though, there are many things that need proper legal representation in this day and age. You wouldn’t believe how many city councils try to build on sacred burial grounds even after he lets them know that his ghostly clients are totally gonna haunt the FUCK out of the ensuing shitty condos and curse their families for all eternity. At least 50% of his energy goes towards dealing with real estate bullshit.

Carl is an excitable and good natured(?) man who loves his family, cigars, dancing, and his many knife-based hobbies. People find him very charming once they get past the feeling that they’re talking to a sultry gator badly disguising itself as a human. I didn’t put a ton of deep thought into designing him, mostly I wanted to make a middle aged dude who looked like he would have been voted ‘most likely to smooch the literal devil’ in high school. Tbh he probably has, but no demonic ex’s can compare to his lovely wife~

Mortesha Addams(her name was already perfect so I just tweaked it)is a woman of many talents. A self proclaimed homemaker, she prides herself on a greenhouse full of Concerning Foliage, a beautiful wasp apiary, and a coop full of what are probably chickens that she keeps for what are probably eggs. She’s also an avid creator of the outsider art that can be seen around the estate. She has taken on the family business of selling her homemade goods in a little stall by the road just outside the swamp with her mom, and makes pretty good money doing so. A surprising amount of poison gets bought in quaint southern towns.

Speaking of poison, people who come out to the edge of the swamp to buy it are usually carrying a lot of secrets around, and Mortesha knows most of them. It’s not like she pries the truth out of people, it just so happens that many nervous hellos eventually turn into the tragic backstory power hour if she’s alone with a client for long enough. She supposes that’s just how people are. Despite the fact that the Addams are very active in the community (whether the community likes it or not) she especially, as a direct descendant of the first Addams matriarch, is seen as…Well not an outsider because the community feels A Certain Way about outsiders and despite it all the Addams are their people, but maybe something like an exception. They feel like whatever weirdness they’re hiding can’t be weirder than any given Addams, so they get a little loose with their words.

This is amusing to her, since Addams’ don’t naturally keep the kind dramatic secrets that their surface level prim and proper neighbors do. It’s much more fun to openly talk about those things.

Do they have a sadly decrepit yet terrifying grandma up in the attic? Yeah, like three. They got a tv, all the creepy porcelain dolls they could want, and they’re close to family. Where do you keep your gram-grams?

Any bodies buried on the property? Yeah some, but most are thrown to the gators.

Any creeping through the balmy summer night with ill intentions? Yeah dude, everyone loves a nice family stroll.

What about dangerous forbidden love? If an adult Addams isn’t incorporeal then they’re either queer or in a torrid romance with some person/thing mysteriously drawn to that awful swamp. Sometimes both at the same time. Most times actually.

Mortesha would know.

The current head of the Addams family is just as outgoing as her husband but a lot quieter and harder to read. She never really seems to get mad about much and always has a genteel smile for everyone whether they deserve it or not. A seven foot tall human shaped “Oh, bless your heart”. A perfectly composed Lady even when she’s, oh I dunno, burning down a Piggly Wiggly. You know. A regular southern mom. Chat her up at the hair salon for 50% off a jar of wasp honey with your next purchase of a mysterious but foreboding packet of herbs.

Designing her was pretty easy because I just drew a lankier Grace Jones and called it a day. I had some problems with her outfit simply because if we were going HARD southern gothic then she’d probably be wearing a white/cream dress with a fuller skirt but I thought keeping the silhouette and the black was more important. She’s supposed to be an anti southern gothic southern gothic character anyway. A woman who looks like she has a million secrets who is actually the most open person you could meet. For better or worse. The red hair came from a coloring error that I really ended up liking (my mom had red hair her whole childhood that only darkened up in high school so I can buy that an Addams can be naturally fire engine red) and the veil was to get more of that classic Morticia silhouette in there.

The Children

Sunday and Blanche are the twin children of Carlisle and Mortesha Addams. Some say the Addams clan got their cursed homestead when a wealthy local businessman made a deal with the devil and lost, leaving his grand mansion to his least favorite maid and cutting his losses once he realized that the swamp would do everything it could to drag the house into the water and take what was owed with its horrible curse. Others say that the family has just always squatted there and no one really cares because man, fuck that particular swamp. Have you been in there? Absolute horror show.

Anyway.

Blanche is the more outgoing sibling and quite the engineer/mad scientist in the making. He started going grey at 2 weeks old but considering he was also rocking some extra fingers, toes, and a tiny tail (he takes after his dad), his parents just put it on the 'not life threatening' pile and decided not to worry about it. He's the kind of smart that teachers find utterly infuriating, less a dog eagerly learning and obeying commands and more a hyena who keeps teaching itself how to pick locks. He has a few friends in his school's robotics club (which they honestly allowed him to make so the school could contain his... creations) but mostly hangs out with his sister exploring the swamp. They find all sorts of neat things in there! wedding rings, suspiciously lumpy garbage bags, cloaked cultists who can't read private property signs, it's an adventure every day!

Blanche is all about experimentation with his creations, his look, and his tether to this mortal coil. Is lipstick a cool thing to try? Let's find out. Can he get out of a strait jacket fast enough after being pushed into the depths of the swamp by his sister? let's find out. He's not dead yet and confused local doctors can attest to the fact that he's rarely attained more than a bad bruise so he's pretty set on continuing to kiss rattlesnakes on their cute little heads and have his sister practice her knife throwing at him until that fact changes.

Blanche is very much a country goth. Cowboy boots (customized by his mom), knife, and lighter are daily accessories. He likes to wear the crusty swamp jewelry they find (the rust adds a splash of color!) and despite appearances he does try to keep himself neat. He's just got  natural Grunge Colors and a tendency to wear clothes he likes until they fall apart. Pugsley always seemed the most modernly styled to me (which might just be because little boys clothes have been the same for a long time) so I wanted Blanche to be the most purposely fashionable Addams. Everyone else is goth by nature, but he's the only one truly familiar with goth as an alternative fashion.

I got really into designing Blanche because honestly, I find Pugsley to be the most boring member of the family. And he was hard to design! I had to mess with his vibe a lot to get him looking how I wanted. I know he's supposed to evoke an " 'evil' little boy next door who's parents never reign him in", but that's just goth Dennis The Menace.  I's 2020. We can at least go queer goth Calvin.

Sunday was much easier to design. Wednesday was my favorite as a child (of course) and I really wanted to keep the spirit of her look while adding things like billowy sleeves (it gets HOT down here), big poofy twists instead of braids, and a nice tie. She's a professional after all, been running the local pet cemetery since she was 6 and the previous groundskeeper met with an unfortunate accident after telling her that tarantulas don't have souls. Her specialty is creating beautiful naturalistic animal funerals similar to those that Maquenda (https://linktr.ee/artofmaquenda) makes, and she takes pride in creating miniature dioramas of her subjects after each burial which she uses as a kind of 3D catalog for future clients.

She really wants to try out her skills on humans one day. Well. Publicly try out her skills. Lotta random bodies float into the swamp. None of them have turned down her requests for diorama models so far. Most seem downright flattered. Plus, she usually figures out which graveyard/crime scene they floated over from and gets her parents to give them a lift back. She'll even help enact terrifying revenge from beyond the grave on whoever put them there if she's not, y'know, busy.

Besides arts, crafts, and pet based funerary arrangements, Sunday is an avid lover of archery (any ranged weapon really), books where little fantasy adventure animals die dramatic deaths, and history. She is That Kid who eagerly raises her hand when asked who Christopher Columbus was and ends up being sent out of class after 15 minutes for making 'a scene'. Her favorite party trick is just picking an item in the room and talking about how it relates to either some obscure historical figure with a buck wild life or a horrible disaster. At least one charity pancake breakfast ended with children in tears after her vivid description of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919.

Social-wise, while Wednesday is the girl that people ask to smile because they think she'd, "look so pretty", Sunday is rarely asked anything at all. People just kind of assume from her quiet nature (in between horrible history facts) that she's angry all the time and that she hates everyone. This is untrue. She hates some people but she's ambivalent to most everyone else and even downright friendly if you bother to talk to her like a person instead of a terrifying cryptid. Like, she IS a terrifying cryptid but she's also a little girl.  

That’s about it for now. One day I might do the other family members but for now I’m happy with the four I’ve redesigned. Making an au! Lurch in a family that doesn’t do butlers could be interesting. Over on patreon I put forth that he could just be Motesha’s mute little brother (similar bone structure) but Amy Crook had the nice idea of quote: “ a mysterious "cousin" that "helps around the house" whose origins are both long in the past and faintly unsettling. He's good for lifting heavy things, like that tank of propane you're about to throw into the burning Piggly Wiggly... “ which i now consider canon. Who's kid is he? How old is he? Not important. Anyone willing to commit arson with you is family.

Annnnyway.  This challenge was a lot of fun! I love indulging in AU’s.

[codgod-moved]

im gonna give you my list of empires and their alcohols so far (may change in the future)

Dawn - mead (a honey wine that was traditionally made by the vikings, is incredibly sweet and a very unique drink)

Goblands - vodka (he feeds his pigs with potatoes and i remembered that you use potatoes to make vodka)

Pirate empire - rum (its the traditional pirate drink and thats really all the explanation here)

Stratos - dark red wine (Stratos is heavily based off of ancient Greece and one common type of offering to gods was dark red wine also its for the aesthetic)

Evermoore - ale (the traditional clothing of witches comes from women who brewed ale in the medieval times, most notably their large hat was worn so people could spot them in crowds and come to buy some ale)

Chromia - neon fruit-flavoured cocktails (it just fits with his entire vibe + its colourful)

Animalia - none (alcohol is toxic to most animals, especially cats!)

Tumbletown - moonshine (its the cowboy drink so it fits!)

Sanctuary - tequila (i wanted to go with a latin-american alcohol due to the latin-american inspired design & archetecture of Sanctuary and tequila is from Mexico)

Pixl's empire - cacao wine (one of the oldest forms of alcohol i could fine in a 5-minute google)

then i dont have any for glimmergrove or false's empire yet and all of these are subject to change (Sanctuary is the one im least confident in right now)

oooo i like these, especially chromia’s. that seems like something i would actually drink lol

[saevus-brutalis]

2, 7, 13, 20, 23 for Vincent? :cat_cheer: (me desperately trying not to send 10+ questions :sweating:)

WELL YOU SHOULDVE SENT ME 10+ QUESTIONS!!! :YAOcato: 😤

2. what was your original concept for this character? how did playing them change that concept?

(replied to this already but here’s a slightly different version :))

he started out as a base, emo version of V, around his mid-20s, black buzz cut, black eyes, neck tattoo, piercings (all vanilla). pretty much followed the original streetkid lore, met all the NPCS, got the relic etc. born to lower/mid class family, abusive home life, ended up on the streets pretty early, got into cage fights to survive pretty standard boring backstory back then 🤷‍♂️

the best decision ever made was to scrub that entire timeline, make him 3 times older and turn him into an old ex-military grump we now all know and love. from a V character (even though the name stayed out of nostalgia) following the original events of the main game he became a full fledge separate being with his own original backstory and doesn’t follow the canon, and if he does (still working on that timeline) it’s different from what happens in the game.

essentially from a young hotshot merc he became a veteran, lone wolf, tired of being a merc as he’s been in the business for over 20 years now, outliving most of the young mercs in NC due to high mortality rates of this occupation, became a legend sitting on top of the Afterlife food chain

7. there’s a magic item (or technological innovation, or special resource) made just for them—what is it?

a custom-built, bulletproof military full-body armor-suit with a masking device that can be activated in whatever environment, eliminating the need for a ghillie suit. the built-in camouflage allows the user to blend in with their environment, kind of like a chameleon, turning invisible to a naked eye, only being seen as a lineless blur if you squint hard enough. only way to spot the person wearing it would be using infrared cameras.

13. what are some motifs you associate with them? did you intentionally bring in those motifs, or did it happen over time?

i never really thought of any motifs for him, but maybe the journey motif? both in the literal sense and metaphorically – a journey within one’s self. he went through a lot, underwent many changes, made many mistakes, learned from them, outgrew certain things, realized other. he’s pushing 60 so he’s journey was pretty long, and still continues to be as his story isn’t quite over yet.

but also he’s constantly looking and searching for something that’s just out of reach, despite being on top of the world. the Sisyphus motif could partially work as well 🤷‍♂️ found family motif too maybe? can’t think of any more motifs shshsh

20. what attracts them to someone—platonically and/or romantically, anything counts.

intentionally or not, all of the people he associates with tend to be very dark individuals – tall, shady-looking, dark hair, dark clothes; generally speaking — people who you would usually avoid at first glance. the less unapproachable you look/seem the bigger chance of Vincent actually being interested. emo cryptid, punk-like aesthetic, dark, freshly pressed-suits is what will grab his attention rather than flashy, neon colors and neokitsh fashion. he tends to feel a pull towards people similar to him (vibe, aesthetic, look, similar views on things), he’s not gonna go for a young, loud, happy person wearing all the colors of the rainbow at the same time – so a typical NC resident – but for someone more quiet, calculating, sad and depressed, someone who stands out with how little they stand out. also very much helps if you’re a rockerboy, some emo singer wtvr or a cowboy nomad yeehaw.

23. in what moment did they consider themselves to be “grown up”?

first time would be when he entered his “rebellious era” after being sent to a boarding school in his early teens, of course he considered himself all grown up, knowing better than anyone else. but life later made him realize he wasn’t all that grown up to begin with.

so probably the actual moment he considered himself to be grown up was after his army days and what happened in Siberia after he went MIA. he learned many valuable lessons, seen too much death and realized certain values that before meant nothing to him. it’s when he formulated a creed of sorts for himself, set of rules to abide by in his life to not lose himself and end up like those who perished while serving with him (both in the Marines and the Siberian SIDS Program). you could say all the trauma made him grown up considerably fast too.

[st-hedge]

“...after i tell u my thoughts i want to know urs.” Alright, bet, I owe you this much for the ask krbrjrb 👀👀 My thoughts on the AUs Au and the fantastic trio you provided are kind of scattered. It’s hard for me to place exactly where I think they would be because I’m worried I don’t know them as well as you do so they may not align entirely. (Note: some may seem a bit odd, I’m worried my thoughts on Zelda may trigger people so TW: Embalming/Taxidermy)

Link: I think link is one that could be more interesting, I wasn’t sure about occupation but I was thinking some of the tattoos may be a leading point. Since everything in the ancient AU is more entwined around the Devine and mechanical aspects of the world (I believe) it would be easy to workshop things like that. In truth I can see him being more alternative in aesthetic choices, I can see him dropping out like you suggested based off of other games and work king on farms and stuff. It may be my own bias but he strikes me as someone who definitely would have had that “edgy teen” phase depending on the AUs past and seeing how dramatised he has a tendency to make things at times (from reading some of the writings you so graciously put out there) it seems like he could have had a more troublesome modern past. Tattoos are a form of self expression and if tattoos couldn’t be more complicated then in the AU with the guardian vibes he seems like someone who would have a sleeve of all his fascinations. I can see him being more of a nature person too, someone who hikes and pulls dangerous stuns when he can afford it (taking courage into account for every Zelda-verse). In BotW and other games he does seem to have a good relationship with animals but while I can’t see him as a full fledged cowboy with his attitude, I think he would make a good farm hand if anything else he aspired to be didn’t work. (Depending on when/if he met Ganon he probably would have been promoted to bad ass house husband while given more free reign to explore those personal interests he probably had to ditch early in life.)

Ganon: To me Ganon does seem like he would have grown in a more strict household and he would have more of a firm feeling about him. He would have grown really wealthy or really poor, I think he would have had the smarts to have gotten into a decent school and finish up but I think he would have pushed himself to be more then what he was told his family may have been? I can see him getting so high up in tanks by the time he was in his 30s that he may be some CEO. Since we obviously love our Ganlink here (👀👀👀 bless our queer hearts), I can 100% see he and Link meeting in the most awkward situation ever. If they were teens when they met, Link probably tried to steal his wallet at one point or if they were closer to their 30s you can bet Gan discovered a very sudden interest in horses (or did he?? ;3c). I feel like for Ganon I would need a more complete understanding of his childhood to say more. I like the idea of him having pushed himself to go from rags to riches though.

Zelda: As for our lovely Zelda, she obviously has big brains but I can’t see her leaching off her family for her whole life? I think she would have certain privileges but she also seems obsessed with fulfilling her duty in your AU? I can see her having contemplated being some sort of psychologist for a while, but if I remember correctly she has a prosthetic in this AU (I could be wrong again but I’m pretty sure it was ancient and not calamity)? I think after some sort of accident she would have strayed from being a psychologist because the weight of carrying her patients on her shoulders alongside her own mental health would have been too taxing. But I think she would have wanted to do something for people regardless in a less taxing way, I think being a mortician and focusing on embalming would be better because she could work in peace while still providing for others in some way that is (possibly) less emotional for her at times since she would be preparing bodies. It’s kind of out there but I think it would also be an interesting way for her to get into taxidermy with animals as well and i feel like it would be fuelled by what inner chaos she does have while fulfilling whatever mental duties she feels she has to complete. I feel like depending on when Ganons mother passed as well, it would have been a very unique way for them to have met somehow and despite any strangeness maybe Ganon still found that likeable interest and thus Ganon ties the trio or something.

IM ABSOLUTELY YELLING WKSJDJJDJEJEJSJSJSJSJSJJSHS

I went down a very boring and realistic route and held myself half back on some random details but u just went for it and I applaud that

I have to say u have read all of them very well. I did the most fuckin goofy heart eyes when u said link being a house husband djdjfjfhf he absolutely did have an edgy teen phase in the (pardon me) "canon" so u are on the right tracks

I’m only adamant that ganon would end up being some sort of a scholar cuz to me he has that vibe. But like link i also feel like he would have had an edgy teen phase *nudge nudge* stemming from his childhood of being directed down a very narrow path of options that would have been approved. I think that at least the older generation of his family holds themselves at very high esteem and they want him to continue that legacy which he is uncertain about

Zelda would have definitely not spent her life leeching of her parents (i decided to cut my answer short about that). I feel like she is someone who builds from the ground up and her being someone very social with a huge circle of friends why many skills i feel like she would have pulled them together to create something great (what? I’m not sure). Ur take is super super interesting, i would have not even thought of that 👏 i dont even know how to fit her injuries into a modern au considering she would not be fighting unless as a sport and there was just some sort of a freak accident. Hmm

[markodragic]

👀 Can I get a nemesis

Ok uhhhhhh about me, in terms of rdr I'm (unfortunately) a John stan, even though I named my cat after Arthur. I also think Shaky from rdr1 is the best thing to come out of the whole series and he deserves his own game. I also changed my whole aesthetic into cowboys after I played this game bcus I can't just enjoy something without absorbing it into my whole personality.

Not in terms of rdr I'm a fan of 80s new wave music (like talking heads 👀) and uhhhhhh I'm currently working on a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle that is kicking my entire ass

your nemesis is: Bill

based on your love of john, the fact that you are a cat person and the fact that you appear to have plentiful braincells, bill would be your nemesis. and as a fellow fan of talking heads, I think you deserve the gift of shooting bill right in his rancid rancid face someday

[mitsybubbles]

UhhhHHH here is me describing fashion headcannons for companions but, badly lmao  Arcade: He once read Frog and Toad are Friends and decided to base his entire fashion sense off that. Dad fashion meets Cottagecore. He wears pretty much the same few colors (green, brown, tan, grey, and sometimes blue or yellow) and patterns because he likes them and doesn’t want to try anything else.

Cass: Lots of diff types of pink/warm color tops and demins. She dresses practically and tries to fit in the cowboy aesthetic but not too much y’know? Likes patterned button ups (she probably has more variants of her top in canon but with diff patterns). She’d probably enjoy the 90s. 

Boone: His closet is full of white t-shirts and plain cargo pants. Occasionally he’ll spice it up with a military jacket on top. The beret always stays on. Always.

Veronica: Very big on fashion. Likes to experiment with different dresses and lots of warm colors (mostly orange and yellow). Tbh I feel like she’d prefer clothes from the 60′s than the 50′s? Would try to implement parts of her armor into a femme style. Would love Mori Kei.

Lily: Grandma Fashion ofc. Also shawls and big hats.

Raul: Whatever’s comfy lmao he doesn’t really give two shits but he’ll talk like he does. “Boss, I’m not going to wear that I have taste unlike some people” Two hours later he’s siting on the sofa, sipping a nuka cola in that outfit.

[dweemeister]

Melody Time (1948)

Disengaged and disinterested, Walt Disney was adrift at his own studio in the late 1940s. The studio’s modestly-budgeted package animated features were designed to save it from financial ruin. Yet, they required artistic and storytelling compromises that Disney was loathe to make. In this period, Disney shuffled personnel around the various departments – whether due to personal conflicts or dissatisfaction with their artistic approach on a certain film. Melody Time’s segments are of varying quality and limited experimentation, reflecting the organizational tumult within the studio. No standout moment exists in Melody Time, even though it is more energetic and looser than the preceding Fun and Fancy Free (1947).

The modern Walt Disney Company has advertised Melody Time as a film, “in the grand tradition of Disney’s greatest musical classics, such as Fantasia.” Audacious comparison to make, but functionally inaccurate. Fantasia, as imagined by Walt Disney, Deems Taylor, Leopold Stokowski, and the studio’s animators, was crafted so that its animation would empower the music (in cinema, the reverse – where music serves the action on-screen – is almost always a filmmaker’s approach). The reverse of that relationships holds here. Melody Time contains these seven segments, or “mini-musicals”: “Once Upon a Wintertime”, “Bumble Boogie”, “The Legend of Johnny Appleseed”, “Little Toot”, “Trees”, “Blame It on the Samba”, and “Pecos Bill”. Some of these mini-musicals are more watchable and more artistically interesting than others – although that standard is relatively low in Melody Time.

“Once Upon a Wintertime” is based on an overused Disney narrative template that never ceases to be a bore. A young couple are out and about, flirting and flitting, all while the woodland animals scurrying back and forth mirror human courtship. The segment, however, is partially redeemed by Frances Langford singing the segment’s title song (composed by Bobby Worth and Ray Gilbert) and the unmistakable influence of Mary Blair (1950’s Cinderella, the “It’s a Small World” attraction at Disneyland in Anaheim) in its aesthetic. With any piece of animation involving Mary Blair, one can expect an eye-catching use of color and her modernist art style. “Once Upon a Wintertime” is like a holiday card brought to animated life. Unlike a picturesque and meaningful holiday card, though, it overstays its welcome. But the stereotypical treatment of the young women appearing in “Once Upon a Wintertime” is, to put it mildly, clichéd writing at best. Hackneyed, too, is the fact that the woodland animals come to the human’s rescue.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee is one of the most recognizable (and overplayed) pieces of Western classical music, even to those folks who go out of their way to announce their distaste for classical music. Given a jazz rendition by the Freddy Martin Orchestra, “Bumble Boogie” is a thankfully brief three-minute foray. Here, an insect (that does not seem anything like a bee) flies through a series of surreal images – mostly parts of musical instruments (piano keys in particular) – that it must avoid. The segment is visually entertaining to watch, even if it must have been the easiest to prepare, design, and animated for in all of Melody Time. If placed in either Fantasia or Fantasia 2000, it would easily be the weakest Fantasia segment ever produced.

Third in the film is a segment that feels most like a classic Disney production. “The Legend of Johnny Appleseed” is Disney’s glorified and sanitized take on the eponymous American pioneer, nurseryman, conservationist, and missionary. Walt’s personal ideology and perspective on American history included the fulfillment of Manifest Destiny and the taming of the nation’s wilds as among humanity’s greatest achievements. These are notions that Walt – through his films, theme parks, television shows, and public and private remarks – never questioned. Narrated and with Johnny Appleseed voiced by Dennis Day, there is a sincerity to Johnny’s characterization not present anywhere else in the movie. Again, Mary Blair’s artwork – this time, her forested backgrounds – appears as if heaven-sent. The umbrella-like canopy of the apple trees and “untamed” forests are inviting, and attract one’s eyes upward – towards the apples, paradise.

The title song (sometimes referred to as “The Lord is Good to Me”) featured in the opening moments of “The Legend of Appleseed” is one of the earliest – and one of the few – mentions or depictions of religious faith in a Disney animated work. It reinforces the mythos that surrounds Johnny Appleseed (and, by extension, the belief that white men are divine heroes for civilizing the lands west of the original Thirteen Colonies) to the present day. I was not raised in any of the Abrahamic religions, but it difficult to deny the simple charm of the title song and this segment – even if it endorses a troublesome perspective on American history. “The Legend of Johnny Appleseed” is the best segment of Melody Time – from its unassuming storytelling and wondrous animation. It is the only Melody Time segment that I could possibly envision as a decent feature-length animated film.

Based on a 1939 children’s picture book of the same name Hardie Gramatky, “Little Toot” is a chore to sit through. The segment shares similar narrative and aesthetic tissue with Saludos Amigos’ (1942) “Pedro”, which concerned an anthropomorphic mail airplane that thinks it could. Along the Hudson River in New York City, Little Toot is a tiny tugboat who aspires to be like his father Big Toot. Just as in “Pedro”, this is a case of an anthropomorphized vehicle child who attempts to assume adult responsibility in order to prove that they can perform tasks as well as the adults can. Given that Little Toot is a meddling prankster playing tugboat games, it is difficult to feel much sympathy when he finally faces the consequences of his actions – which probably includes calamitous infrastructural damage and human casualties. Of course, Little Toot is eventually redeemed through some heroic deeds. All of the tugboats will love him, as they belt out with glee that Little Toot will go down in history. The segment is grating, including the novelty title song sung by The Andrews Sisters. Aside from some fascinating water effects, there is not much that “Little Toot” offers in the way of animated interest. Otherwise, it is least interesting segment of the film.

The palate-cleanser is “Trees”, a four-minute segment based on Joyce Kilmer’s poem of the same name (music composed by Oscar Rasbach and performed by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians). Its aesthetic harkens back to a few seconds near the end of the “Ave Maria” in Fantasia, but otherwise “Trees” is distinct from anything else that has appeared in the Disney animated canon. When setting to work on “Trees”, layout artist Ken O’Connor (1941’s Dumbo, 1987’s The Brave Little Toaster) found himself enamored by the concept art, and endeavored to be a faithful to the style set by the concept art as possible. To do this, O’Connor frosted cels before drawing pastel images onto the cel. Before being photographed by the studio’s multiplane camera, each cel was laminated in clear lacquer to prevent the pastel from smudging. Thanks to O’Connor’s experimentation, “Trees”, however fleeting, lays claim to some of the most beautiful animation among all of the package Disney animated features.

“Blame it on the Samba” sees a reunion of Donald Duck and Brazilian parrot José Carioca (Saludos Amigos, 1944’s The Three Caballeros) are walking about, depressed, directionless. Suddenly, they encounter the Aracuan Bird (who debuted in The Three Caballeros), who whisks them inside a cocktail that introduces them to the rhythmic pleasures of the samba. The segment’s title song is based on Ernesto Nazareth’s polka Apanhei-te, Cavaquinho, sung by The Dinning Sisters with adapted English lyrics, and accompanied by organist Ethel Smith (who appears as herself).

“Blame it on the Samba” feels like it should have been featured in either Saludos Amigos or The Three Caballeros – and that was the intention exactly. Intended to appear in Saludos Amigos, “Blame it on the Samba” was animated and completed in time for it to be incorporated in The Three Caballeros. Given Donald Duck’s lust for human women in the second half of the latter movie, “Blame it on the Samba” might have otherwise been a serviceable penultimate number in that film. The segment is an explosion of color, a kick in the rear for a movie that feels much longer than its seven-five-minute runtime might suggest. And yet in a segment for a music genre innovated in Brazil and popularized by Brazilians, the performers and the performance lack any discernible Brazilian influence or roots. This is not samba music. Instead, it is the culmination of what a white American might think samba music sounds like. This unfortunate development probably would have been avoided entirely if “Blame it on the Samba” appeared in those two aforementioned films instead.

“Pecos Bill”, based on the Texan folk hero of the same name, makes reference to American Indians in ghastly ways. Simultaneously, its absurd humor and lack of fidelity to sensible human behavior and physics make it a delight to watch. The segment also boasts the presence of Roy Rogers and the Pioneers (and Rogers’ horse, Trigger). Child actors Luana Patten and Bobby Driscoll, both of whom had just starred in Song of the South (1946), make brief appearances in the segment’s hybrid animation/live-action introduction. Rogers, then contracted to Republic Pictures, was one of the quintessential stars of the singing cowboy subgenre – singing cowboy movies were almost exclusively made by the “Poverty Row” studios including Republic, and they were extremely profitable against their barebones budgets). “Pecos Bill” all begins with the atmospheric, moody “Blue Shadows on the Trail”. “Blue Shadows on the Trail” describes and, through its spare instrumentation, reflects the emptiness and desolation of the American West. It is a beautiful ballad, and could easily be placed in any Western (singing cowboy movies or otherwise).

Once the hybrid animation/live-action introduction concludes, “Pecos Bill” steams forward with comic hyperbole followed by another comic hyperbole. The title song (music by Eliot Daniel, lyrics by Johnny Lange) doubles down on the exaggerations. Those exaggerations include the segment’s constant gunplay – escaping censorship from the Hays Code: a risqué gag that includes Pecos Bill’s guns going off because of love interest Slue Foot Sue. At least Melody Time ends brashly and riotously, but any impressionable children watching will require a discussion from a trusted adult. Its depictions of American Indians and men-women relations are deplorable, but after just over an hour of inconsistent quality, I found myself enjoying “Pecos Bill” more than I imagined.

Shortly after the release of Melody Time, Walt Disney embarked on a three-week cruise to Hawai’i. Walt rarely went vacationing, and he spent these weeks fully concentrating on his family and escaping from the minutiae of managing his studio. Even after returning from Hawai’i, Walt did not spend much time in Burbank. Walt invited animator and fellow train enthusiast Ward Kimball on a trip to the Midwest. Together, they attended the 1948 Chicago Railroad Fair, visited the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, and stopped at other locations close to Walt’s childhood in the Midwest. Through the end of 1948, Walt spent more time constructing the train set in his backyard than paying attention to the animation and live-action movies his studio was producing. What seemed like idleness to many (including New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther, who believed that Disney was a cinematic genius wasting his time on quixotic projects) was a major inspiration for a draft sketch entitled “Mickey Mouse Park”, dated August 31, 1948.

The package era at Walt Disney Productions (now Walt Disney Animation Studios) was nearing its end. Every film during this run – Saludos Amigos (1942), The Three Caballeros (1944), Make Mine Music (1946), Fun and Fancy Free (1947), Melody Time, and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) – faced the same narrative of Walt Disney’s personal indifference to the projects, a lack of direction and motivation among the animators, and audience and critic dissatisfaction when compared to Disney’s Golden Age movies. A return to non-package animated features would be imminent, in spite of Melody Time’s mediocre performance at the box office. The Disney studios would attempt to begin a period of renewal with a tradition that inaugurated their animated canon – with a fairy tale.

My rating: 6/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

[ronnytherandom]

I forgot to watch content all week so i wrote about games ive been playing

9/2/2021: The Truman Show

You should fear your fears but embrace them and use them to guide you into the unknown, to explore and experience what life has to offer. Fear stands between you and the fullest experience of life so you must pass through it to better yourself. Heed not the walls built about you and the chains made to hold you. Though the architects insist it will preserve your life, containment is anathema to life. Do not take in faith the benevolence of powers that be; instead trust those who would support and liberate you, guide you through fear and into life.

As best I can lay it out, I think this is the philosophy of the Truman show but there is so much more to read into it also. There is critique of systems of commodification and celebrity (i.e. capitalism) reducing human beings to a consumable good as well as encouragement to find and pursue your goals despite adversity and even sensibility which is also tied to the illusion of economic responsibility. You can’t put a camera inside a human head, you can never “know” them without being an active and intrinsic part of their life, but also there is need for reciprocation. If one half exists with ulterior motive then the entire relationship is rotten; sincere humanity is what creates real connections. Without such your world is fake. A world built around one person is a world where no one can truly live. All these actors have given up basically their entire lives for the sake of watching Truman have his life built around him by outside forces, have allowed themselves to be commodified and dehumanised for the good of one man, Christoph. The man at the top has delusions of grandeur and thinks only of his own bottom line, he cares not for his subjects but simply wants them to do as he tells them because it benefits him to commodify their lives and interactions. Even then he cannot stand to lose control and in seeking to demonstrate Truman’s “realness” he structures his life so thoroughly that eventually there’s no reality left, only a script and adverts. But the people watching still empathise with Truman because everyone in the working class understands what it is to be trapped because real life is our own Truman show and one day we must all pass through fear, step out of the dome and create a real life for ourselves outside of the system of commodification which consumes everyone’s life and removes all realness and sincerity and emotional catharsis from it.

I unreservedly love this film.

14/2/2021: Assorted Game Reviews

Horizon Zero Dawn (Unfinished due to technical issues, 45 hours inc. parts of Frozen Wilds): This game is really cool and really fun. I think it is defined by its incredible setting which somehow creates a fresh feeling post-apocalyptic environment. Said environment creates intriguing alt-future lore and some very interesting environments to explore. I love the machine designs (especially tallnecks!) and was very sad to hear one of their contributing artists passed away recently but I’m glad their work lives on in this visually stunning game. I’m a sucker for Ubisoft-style open world games simply because it tickles a certain kind of itch and somehow this non-Ubisoft game has outdone Ubisoft on their own formula, which is hilarious, but also good for me as running around this world exploring and clearing map markers is engaging fun. Not least because of the combat. I have a minor criticism here that the combat feels slightly awkward on mouse and keyboard, the arrows never seem to go where I’m aiming, but aside from that the experience of fighting is a grand one. Enemies never lose their threat and I love the weak spot system the game employs which makes every tool useful in niche circumstance and rewards curiosity. It specifically manages this in a way that I feel the Witcher series could learn from if it ever returns; by making head on assault less viable and encouraging tactical hunting. I do feel this system makes hunting robots so fun that by contrast hunting humans becomes a chore however, though I noted this improves in the dlc with the addition of humans with elemental weaknesses limited in number as they are. I cannot speak for the story in entirety but what I encountered was pretty good, though I feel as if it was only just really getting going at the point where I could not continue. I find Aloy to be a compelling and well portrayed protagonist and though I can guess about her origin and the ultimate end of the alt-future apocalypse I still want to see how it plays out on screen, so will return to this as soon as I’ve fixed it.

Rimworld (122 hours. Familiar with but do not own Royalty Expansion):

Rimworld is one of those super special games that I don’t think I have a single problem with. Fair warning it can be brutal and is heavily dependent on RNG but this allows it to create truly unique and interesting scenarios on a constant basis. In the wider perspective it could be described as formulaic, with regular cycles of managing the settlement between raids and random events, but the devils in the details. Colonist traits, health and skills dictate how you play and sometimes you’ll be forced to adapt as some colonists simply refuse to perform some tasks. The depth of health particularly amuses me, in that each little part of someone’s body is modelled in a way. If you’re in a firefight you may take a single bullet which grazes your finger and you’re fine. Alternately it could pierce your human leather cowboy hat, your skull and kill you instantly and the game will tell you exactly what happened. The risk/reward element is addictive enough, and that’s without accounting for just how cool it is to see your colony slowly expand. Establishing more and more options for crafting is fun and shows off the full range of different items in the game which is fucking extensive. Between clothing, weapons, armour, sculpture and drugs to name only a few you have the opportunity to create many varied production lines either for your colonists or to trade for money and there is a lot of fun to be had here as well as it is quite satisfying to see psychoid you have grown personally become the cocaine your colonists snort to help them stay awake on limited sleep. From an archaeologist’s perspective it is especially cool to look back over your base and see the hints of how and why structures were built and remember the history of your limitations and development through structure. I think the lore of the universe is really cool too, a very 40k-esque kind of place except with far less order, somehow. But the universe does an excellent job of feeling alive and moving constantly on both a planetary and interstellar level. You can fully believe that while you build wooden shacks to shield yourself from terrifyingly low temperatures there are simultaneously rich pieces of shit living it up on the glitterworld that’s one system over. The music does an excellent job of creating the wild west frontier atmosphere the game cultivates to great effect. Ultimately, for just being a grid with a series of different numbers attached, this game does a fantastic job of creating a compelling, brutal and very real colony management experience. I dont think I can properly put into words the grandness and scope of this one. I didnt even mention the modding scene, which is expansive and tailors to basically any need you could have. The Rim is a terrifying place but theres so much fun to be had.

Factorio (86 hours, mostly 1.1): Having completed a game of Factorio I can tell you reliably that this is one of the best games ever made, thoroughly addictive and fun. If you like numbers, logistics, TRAINS, its gonna be your thing. Not to mention its probably the only documented case of a game with no bugs (so far as official forums are concerned). Strictly speaking this games combat is not the most engrossing thing but good lord do you feel it when you acquire a flamethrower. The way each aspect of the game (production, research, logistics, combat, upgrades for everything therein) feeds into the next is a really well constructed balancing act such that you must experience the full game in order to complete it and I always appreciate this kind of design. I think its one of the best tenets of factory game design especially as its something present in Satisfactory too. Beyond all of this generalised good the game is also excellent in its intricacies, the architecture necessary to build a maximum efficiency base, the level of planning and organisation that can be employed is mind-blowing. Not to mention the mod community, factorion is already an extensive experience and some mad bastards have seen fit to complicate it further, hats off to them. This really is a great moment in gaming.

 Destiny 2 (198 hours, all expansions, played some post Forsaken release, mostly Season of Arrivals onwards, spent roughly £20 on microtransactions):

This is a very interesting and enjoyable experience, but I must say it can be a bit controversial at times. What its does particularly well is moment to moment gameplay and design in all aspects. The game is stunning; between environments, cosmetics, shaders ships and ghosts there’s a vast range of incredible things to see, all rooted in the “pseudo-magi-science” aesthetic it’s got going on. The class design is excellent and you really do feel like you embody this rampaging madman / agile gunman / space wizard archetype, whichever you choose to play. The abilities, especially supers, are very satisfying. Everything has heft and power behind it which can be felt in all aspects of design; sound and animation is top notch. Movement is cool, you can feel how fast you move both on foot and in vehicles and the navigation has a little fun subtlety depending on your class jump, even if you can bounce unpredictably occasionally. But for the love of god why is the wall kick in there? It has only ever served to push me from a ledge into a bottomless pit. You're looking to remove antiquated content? Start there. Some guns are not so good to shoot but there’s such a great range of guns that are fun its like complaining about one drop in an ocean; and enemies are fun to shoot at, each faction distinct in meaningful ways and presenting an effective challenge. Speaking of oceans, that’s one way to describe the lore. I haven’t dived too deep but it keeps going down forever and everything I’ve read is intriguing. As a former Elder Scrolls lore nut this is something I could definitely sink my teeth into, though its much more of a pulpy sci-fi vibe than a pure nonsense vibe. I do think the game has a bit of a loot problem, primarily in regards to the conflict between high stats and looking good. This should never be a conflict, and yes you can apply ornaments to any purple gear but that’s not enough when I spend the entire time grinding power levels and thus must change armour and weapons on a constant basis to progress. This game needs a true transmog system and if not that, rethink how gear power level works. Perhaps rather than earning new instances of gear you always possess a version of it and the loot you acquire in missions just upgrades your instance to your current overall power level? This would serve to do away with the current upgrade system which I think is a needless additional grind. Perhaps it could be retained in using enhancement cores to empower gear as present but necessitating a whole upgrade module to keep your favourite weapon on hand is kind of painful honestly. There is also at present the issue of sunsetting gear, mildly controversial to say the least. If it’s necessary to streamline the game and make it function moving forward so be it but surely loot pools should be adjusted so you can actually get useful loot from older locations? And why sunset personal instances of gear which can be acquired at the regular power level anyway? I had to throw away my favourite bow and hunt down a new version of the exact same weapon for… what reason? I do think destination navigation leaves a little to be desired also. I get that having a physical hub world is meaningful but Destiny does not have a very extroverted community; I can count the times someone noticed me in the tower on one hand. And its not even like there’s fun activities to be found in the same sense as say Deep Rock Galactic, which really does take advantage of its hub. Perhaps for players who simply want to go about their business all of the vendors could be set into a menu system where just clicking an icon takes you to their menu from anywhere in the system rather than, per se, having to go through an entire loading screen (Which takes you to orbit and back) to reach a location which serves simply as the front for four menus. These are established player problems. As a dedicated PvE player I can say that this game is immensely fun in combat and growing in power does feel really good. It’s something I recommend getting into, there’s just some very large creases that need ironing which the Bungie should really take the time to address rather than pushing out new in game content every three months.

[gaycatastrophe]

20, 29, 16, 6 for the ask meme!

20. What is THE destiel song?

oh god okay so you've just picked the question that I could write an entire thesis on and unless you picked this one because you've seen me rambling in the tags about it I am SO sorry because this is about to become a really long post.

THEE Destiel song has to be Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode. It encapsulates the Too Muchness of their dynamic because the song is fundamentally about putting all your faith and devotion into one person as if they were your God. "Someone to hear your prayers/ someone who cares." As I said in the tags of this post,

Like Dean the faithless man prays to Castiel only and Castiel angel of the lord lets this man take the -el suffix meaning "of God" out of his name and chooses Dean over Heaven again and again and even literally decides to become God. For Dean. I know this has all been said before but literally guys (gn), they are each other's Personal Jesus, cmon.

The song is also specifically referenced in the show, by Dean. So in 5x02, the episode immediately preceeding Free to be You and Me, Cas has to call Dean's cell to learn where Sam, Dean, and Bobby are and then when he meets them in the hospital Dean says "since when do angels need to reach out and touch someone?" The hook of Personal Jesus is, of course, "reach out and touch faith," but it's plausible based on that alone that the reference was unintentional. But like. "Feeling unknown/ and you're all alone/ flesh and bone by the telephone/ lift up the receiver/ I'll make you a believer" -- the song's narrator is asking their love interest to pick up the phone. In the most god-complex-y way imaginable. (And a split second after Dean asks this as Cas is starting to explain, Bobby interjects, "enough foreplay!") Imagine if Cas had understood the reference at the time.

This makes me feel insane because if you think about it for even half a second it's so horny. Like I just can't wrap my head around any watsonian explanation for Dean making this song reference thats not either (a) he's flirting intentionally or (b) his brain is making a subconscious association between Cas and this song. And the song, particularly with the music video is so horny in specifically such a Dean way. The video is in a southwest/Spanish setting (technically it was filmed in Spain but aesthetically they’re clearly aiming more for southwest American cowboy), there's horses, it's implicitly supposed to be set in a brothel according to the Wikipedia page, and the members of Depeche Mode are all dressed in cowboy hats and leather.

I mean the music video was released in 1989, watch this and tell me you can't imagine ten year old Dean glued to a shitty motel TV completely entranced by this video and young enough to not be sure why he likes it so much. Why was this reference written in to the episode if Dean is straight? I mean it's queerbait I get it but it's a pretty subtle line if you're not extremely familiar with the song already, so. Why?

29. Was Dean going to say "I love you" to Cas after the purgatory prayer?

Hooooooooo boy. Good question! That scene hits either way, is the thing. I don't think Dean was going to say the exact words "I love you" there, but I do kind of think Cas stopped him from saying more in person because of the Empty deal. Dean's prayer in that episode - the fact that he begins it with "I hope you can hear me" - he's not sure as he's praying that Cas is even still alive.

I think Cas was guarding both their hearts by preventing Dean from repeating that emotional vulnerability, because even if he wasn't going to say "I love you," a repeat of that sort of raw unguarded apology and forgiveness from "still beautiful" Dean Winchester, but this time face to face, coupled with the relief on Dean's features from knowing Cas is alive and okay, mightve done Cas in anyway. : )

16. Which fanfic trope would you force onto Dean and Cas in a canon episode?

Cas possessing Dean. I promise I only want this the normal amount. No further comment. :P

ok ok ETA you don’t understand, it fits the themes!!!

6. Which character should have never died?

Yeah I'm gonna have to copy your answer here and say Charlie, that one really hurt and felt so pointless. Kevin, on the other hand, should have been brought back to life and left alive and well after that. >:(

[spn asks]