#also i can just very much appreciate a good black and white character design

[slasherflicks999]

I am the only one remembers Crosshatch Creepypasta. Look her up, I felt like she is one of most forgotten Creepypasta characters. I do miss some digital and gaming creepypastas. TwT

She is like female Ben Drowned lol.

i swear i feel like i saw her on amino once in middle school or something she looks SO familiar but not enough to confidently say i knew who she was before now

SHE DOES LOOK SO COOL THO i appreciate i appreciate :o any BEN adjacent character honestly gets an automatic nod of appreciation tho LOL

if you have ever played or heard of the game OFF…. her design reminds me a lot of it

so hyped for that game to come to switch btw TOBY FOX IS GONNA BE ON THE SOUNDTRACK IM DEAD /POS

[digitalagepulao]

My sincere Black Myth: Wukong review

Full disclosure! This is from a recent but earnest fan of JTTW as the original novel, as well as all the social, cultural and religious layers of it. I've seen my fair share of adaptations and derivative media, from shlocky to silly to grimdark to cutesy. I'm a bachelor in visual arts, with an interest in the field of game development since high school. I am also, white and brazillian, and have talked with other jttw fans, both Chinese and not, on this game. If any of these are for some reason motive to not read further, then fair enough. Hope you have fun and continue to enjoy the game, do not let me or my opinion stop you!

Now to the review proper <3

First things first, let the obvious not remain unsaid. This game, is supremely gorgeous. In every sense of the word, and I mean this fully, it's a work of art. The sound design, the character concepts and execution, the animations, the voice acting, the visual effects, the UI design, the cinematography, the 3D scanning of actual historical artofacts and heritage sites throughout China, and everything beyond and between, are phenomenal, full stop.

This was never a debate, I'm sure, but I don't think I can in good conscience not praise them for their work. It's no news that Asian talent, not just in China either, have been often hired to supplement projects on the West, and we can all agree it's about time they got to shine in their own AAA project. My issues with the international game industry notwithstanding, I hope this brings some much needed acknowledgment and appreciation for Chinese culture and arts, both traditional and modern!

Now, from this point on, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, so proceed with caution!

(word count: +1.8k)

I also deeply enjoy their choices in arcs to revisit. Some like the Flaming Mountain arc are classic picks to adapt but still a very good match to the whole Six Senses throughline. I don't think you can do a JTTW 2 electric bogaloo without bringing up Niumowang and his family in some way (um, put a pin on that), but the other arcs like Yellowbrow or Black Wind Mountain aren't as explored imo, so it's nice to see them being given a bit of a spotlight.

(speaking of the Yellow Ridge arc, whoever made the executive decision of Lingji Bodhisattva being a Xaanxi singer is, genius!!)

I'm also kind of in love?? with Bajie's design and role in the story overall?? Gameplay wise he sticks around just enough to not feel lonely, but not too long to be a nuisance or overstay his welcome. He's no Atreus (GoW) or Ellie (TLoU) of course, but he doesn't need to be, and most importantly, he isn't trying to be, which I feel is admirable of the devs. Given the visible inspirations from the recent God of War games, it would have been easy to lean a bit too hard on it, but I'm glad they didn't overreach.

Him having a more complex love life is also a nice touch imo. It explores more his womanizer ways in an interesting way, and I appreciate it. I love when people complicate the pig! Also, the way he treats Xiaosheng (Destined One) like a nephew?? The scene on the Huaguoshan throne??? I'M GONNA CRY!!!

I think, I've run out of positive things to say.... time for the spicy takes.

I, kind of detest the premise by default. I'm not a big fan of "Superman is Dead" plots, cus it's usually either done for shock value, or taken so lightly that the weight is totally lost. I have such a love-hate situationship with the introduction cutscene because of this. On one hand, it's phenomenal cinema, and seeing Wukong stand up to the Heavenly armies in glorious 4K high fidelity graphics is delicious. On the other hand, the whole debate they are having has me going "?????", not because I don't get it but just, why?? Why did this have to be the premise?? (put another pin on that)

Also the set up and call to adventure is kind of blergh.

Now is as good a time as any to talk about the gameplay. It's, okay. If you enjoy trying to figure out the most stylish combos, or to mash buttons, then you'll definitely have fun. I was sorely disappointed that I pretty much have been going through the bosses rather easily. Chapter 1 it was mostly the struggle of learning the controls, but I never stuck to a boss for longer than seven tries (Whiteclad Noble, the snakeman that you are). Chapter 2 I only struggled on Tiger Vanguard, because I was sorely underleveled and had missed a pathway to explore before him. After that I second tried him. Chapter 3, I have and I'm not joking, gotten halfway through first or second trying every boss.

Mind you, this is not being some godtier gamer or whatever, I'm pretty average and only a recent player of soulslike games too (maybe playing Lies of P made too OP, but I sincerely doubt it lol). No, this is me saying that if you do explore the game and not rush through it, you won't struggle nearly as much as some people have and still are. Most of the final chapter bosses can be trivialized with the chapter's Obsession Realm gimmick artifact, which isn't in itself a bad thing, just feels like an odd choice personally.

Which leads me to, the level design. So far? Preeeeetty lame! It's very pretty and fancy, but so chockful of invisible walls that it feels stiffling and discourages exploration. I can never tell what is meant to be a path or just fancy scenery, and I never know when a jump will get walled or send me to my death by fall damage. When it's not being confusing, the level design is either a bunch of looping circles, or straight lines. And so far, besides a few interactables and loot, there is not much else to look at. That is, bad level design, plain and simple.

Also, the animations are glorious, but what is the point if I can't see the enemy?? That camera is my true nemesis, and I mean that. the fact that a boss can be beyond my field of vision at ANY POINT when I'm locked on and it strifes sideways, is dreadful. GameScience, FIX IT. It is also, very hard to tell what parts of a boss will damage me if I collide with them or not. The Kang-Jin Long fight was baffling on a design point of view, same for Captain Lotus-Vision. Some clearer hitboxes would be swell.

This is the point where I say my main issue with the game lies: it's very pretty, and adoringly crafted, but it lacks substance design wise. I feel like it needed to cook more, the level design polished more so I wouldn't get lost every five minutes, and clearer.... well, everything. Mechanic explanations, level progression, gimmicks, etc. It all needed to be less murky and convoluted to understand.

It also needed more meat in between bosses. I have yet to run into common enemies that give me actual trouble, so it ends up being just a jolly waltz from boss to boss. Boss rushes are fun and great, but not as the base game experience (for me at least). I had to stop one boss away from completing Chapter 1 cus I was just so exhausted. And I had been playing for like, an hour and a half?? That left a sour taste in my mouth, I'll be honest.

Okay, I'm gonna pick open those pins now.

#1 the Flaming Mountain Arc. I'm gonna be very real here chat, that was so cringe. What do you MEAN, Red Son wasn't Demon Bull King's biological son, and Princess Iron Fan was forced to drink from the Childbearing River??? And Red Son hates him????When I watched that cutscene, I had to pause and walk away for a moment, legitimately. This plotbeat is SO WILD to me, I got nothing to say. Just, why??Soooo bizarre. And that the Flaming Mountain Keeper has such a presence in Iron Fan's life is also, weird?? Not bad weird, just Weird, but that's like a nitpick more than an actual criticism. Ping Ping is fine though, I like that Bull has a daughter with Princess Fair Fox, that's cute and interesting. Wish she was in a better plot and adaptation but lol

And #2, the premise. Now we are getting to the meat of it all.

The underlying premise of the whole plot, including the true ending, is flawed by default. The premise runs on what is sometimes called as a "conspiracy theory plot", as in, "what if the gods were bad actually??". It's reddit movie theory content in very short terms, and while it had a place during the 00s grimdark years pre-Marvel, it's become quite a jaded and boring take nowadays. Now you may say that it comes from a genuine desire to show distrust and critique to insitutions and the powers than be, and I can see that.

There is a hiccup in that though.

In JTTW, Wukong is the Mind Monkey because of the religious text and subtext of the stories. Its interwoven in the whole thing, and makes it cohesive. It still offer critique and mockery to institutions, without entirely invalidating their foundations. Not only for genuine fear of prosecution, but because, shockingly, religion and belief is a major component of human society in general. But going back to my point, JTTW is *already* a critique of institutions and the power that be. Adding further layers into it feel like angst and edginess just for the sake of it, and that feels hollow to me.

To go further, this intent also clashes with their own plot. See, they bring up that Wukong's Mind, his Sixth Sense, died. Thus they need another Mind to guide his other senses and reform him, so that he may be reborn.

For one, that is such a convoluted way to do a reincarnation plot, it feels complicated just for novelty sake. Secondly, Wukong being the Mind Monkey, as I said, implies a tie to the underlying themes of the Journey as a person's path to enlightenment. If enlightenment itself is flawed because the gods are flawed/evil, then both themes are clashing. By making a "what if the gods were evil all along" plot while also going by the laws and order of said gods, then what are we even fighting against? What is the point of this whole rebellion between Erlang and Wukong??

my friend @ryin-silverfish said it best a while back, and I'm paraphrasing here (do pitch in or correct me if needed! <3), but the issue with these conspiracy narratives is the inherent anti-religion of them. They don't believe in anything, and thus they cannot properly retell the story of JTTW through a postmodern lense, because they refuse to engage with the religiosity that runs throughout the story.

It also leaves a sour taste in my mouth, because this game will likely be many people's first genuine experience with the JTTW mythos and story, and I tend to be concerned for how much this will "sour the pot" in the conversation. The novels are sadly innacessible enough as it is; the sheer size of them scare many people away, not even to mention the amount of underlying cultural context you'll miss out without proper footnotes and commentary. Most people will not engage with them directly, and certainly not most gamers.

While the narrative of someone embodying Wukong's spirit is not new in itself, I do find that it coexisting with such a poor premise and spin on it will be a sore first experience for new fans, and I can only hope that them meeting fans of the OG novels won't cause much friction in the fandom (we have enough as it is imo).

It also concerns me that, sadly, people and gamers in particular, get too swept up in the ooh-aah beauty of flashy sfx and highly detailed graphics, and fail to notice some of the underlying issues in game design. As I said, this game is a work of art, but it has flaws, and I don't think people are speaking of them enough. No, the issue is not "lack of diversity" or whatever the hell.

It runs deeper than that, and it's an issue I've come to see in recent movies as well. I'm aware it might just be different cultural expectations of the pacing and span of a story, and it may as well be! But I think if there was more care given to the bones of a media, it would bring much needed longevity and weight to these wonderful artworks.

All this said, I wanna see what acolades this game gets and see what the devs are cooking up with the DLCs (they said at one point the game was supposed to have 12 chapters and my god, that game would be TOO LONG. So glad it didn't get like that!), and further more see how this ripples in the eastern game dev scene. While this is a flawed game with a flawed story, it can be the first on a genuinely wonderful wave of new creations, not just by GameScience, and overall I'm hopeful for what might come next!

[creatingblackcharacters]

Hello! Sending it here again:

I play an mmo game which recently had a big character model update, it's still not perfect but we're getting there! They're sharing behind the scenes work on curly hairstyles, for example, which just... weren't there for the longest time. Oh the beauty of scandinavian white-centering... (sarcasm)

anyway, I'm from eastern-central Europe, I play on eastern Europe servers. Seeing someone with a character that's not white is... pretty rare, honestly. So rare that when I do see someone using a character that's clearly meant to be a POC, they're very often roleplaying. Recently I saw a player whom I know for a fact is white, as I know them irl (we're not friends, don't even talk much but I know what they look like) and their character used to be white too before the big update.

So my question is, does that count as digital blackface, and what even is the consensus on digital blackface as a whole? I used to be in a facebook group about unlearning racism (used to because it got deleted after some admin drama, I think? If anyone knows a similar group, let me know please) and there, most Black members agreed that if someone is white, they shouldn't be using Black emojis for example (the topic of mmos never came up, I think). I don't remember the exact reasoning but I think it was the same explanation as actual blackface. But then there were some Black people saying it's going too far and we should be focusing on "actual issues" instead. I know that's to be expected, I'm trans and I know all too well that a community is not a monolith. But seeing the player reminded me that I don't actually know that much about it, and I've seen you educate people before. I hope it's okay that I'm asking you, I'd love to do some further research as well though (I love learning things, I just also don't yet trust myself to find actually good sources).

I hope this ask makes sense, english is not my first language and all. So if I wrote something wrong, please assume I meant well, as I still don't know how to word things properly in english sometimes.

Thank you for doing what you do, btw. I really appreciate having someone compile everything like you do here, it's one of my favorite creative blogs on here.

Okay so I sat on this one for a minute to make sure my answer wouldn't change.

1) there is no one consensus. White people don't agree on everything, neither do we 😅. This would just be my opinion.

2) I definitely don't think you should be using Black emojis if you're a white person, no. That's overt Blackfacing. DEFINITELY don't pretend to be Black if you aren't!!

3) for me, I think designing your characters as Black for online play can be okay in theory, as long as you're coming at it respectfully. Like, I'd have to trust that you actually wanted to learn how to play as someone that didn't look like you, that you actually cared about Black character features and presence in games as a whole. Especially on a game where you get to design the character, versus when you're forced to play as a Black person. It's hard to trust the intentions of white people online, especially when far more often than not the good intent is just... Not there 😅. So for me, if someone asks you why you designed your character, be ready to answer, answer truthfully and answer well! If you're playing as a Black character design because "big tough guy" or "big dommy mommy" yeah you're just digital Blackfacing amongst other racist issues. But if you actually have good intent, and are willing to learn, then you'll be able to stand on that when confronted.

And again- that's just my opinion! I would listen to other voices on it as well.

[feroluce]

So I spoke somewhat about my thoughts on Emanator Sampo here, but I never really thought of it from a design point of view or what kind of powers he would have until just recently. But I actually kind of love leaning into it from a "stage hand" perspective?

Because like. Aha's body in THEIR official art is completely black, giving attention to all the fun brightly colored things around THEM. And that's so fitting for Sampo! He usually prefers to be a side character. He likes to act from the shadows. His is a much more subtle hand.

So I wonder if as an Emanator, a lot of his clothes are actually very dark? Not necessarily plain, still extravagant and needlessly detailed in things like cut and quality with lots of different fabrics and textures and ornamentation, but dark. Or maybe even his skin itself becomes blackened further down his body; his hands in particular are dark, as a sort of sleight of hand reference.

The motif of a lot of straps wrapped around him like in his canon design is still present, but they're all loose and flowing off of him like paper streamers now instead of restraining him or holding him together. He is no longer contained! Or maybe they're still a bit more rigid/heavy, but just draped more like red stage curtains!

And this is like. Fully self-indulgent, but I love inhuman designs, and there's nothing in canon to say I can't do this, so screw it! Go for broke!! Maybe it's not visible to normal people, but Sampo having a second set of arms would be really cool, as further sleight of hand reference. One set is almost normal looking, but his hands are a bright, attention-drawing white, and the other is dark, set almost in the shadows of the first arms, to act less noticeably.

He also has something of a broken heart design to him in canon (the front of his black shirt with its jagged shape down the middle; his coat looks like a full heart shape in the back), and I actually like him keeping that element as an Emanator, because I think it suits him. Sampo says his taste in aesthetics and views on Elation involve human dignity,

and the story he helps create in Belobog involves the long and winding road of resistance and survival and eventual triumph in the face of some very adverse, oppressing odds. (I'm pretty sure I heard he once called Wildfire "artless" though, plus the man acts like he thinks Shame is some kind of dessert, so like ndkdjzjskkd) But the point being!!

I think Sampo is someone who can appreciate heartbreak and angst and tragedy in a story, because it makes the victory at the end all the sweeter. And this would be another thing he shares with Aha, because I think THEY did bless the Mourning Actors partly just to be a little shit, but also because Aha does recognize tragedy as part of THEIR Path, too, and you can see it in some of the game. So a broken heart motif can still suit him, and I like him having elements of both comedy and tragedy. Like his clothing having a happy sun/sad moon (like the moon in Aha's art) or him having both of the traditional comedy/tragedy masks in his design.

And as Emanator, Sampo can maybe play with the stage settings environment, too. Like lights sometimes behave strangely around him, appearing blindingly bright to someone or dramatically dark. Sampo wills it and suddenly there seems to be a metaphorical spotlight right where he wants everyone to look. And when he doesn't want to be noticed, his face seems to be cast in shadow, he seemingly just fades into the background, no one notices or recognizes him and he sneaks away easily. He can create smoke or fog literally out of thin air without his bombs now, too, the air will just suddenly thicken until his stage is obscured, and Sampo can set the scene as he pleases or disappear without a trace.

And in line with being a stage hand, Sampo can direct attention like no other. He was already extremely good at this as a normal mortal, and becoming an Emanator only took it up to 11, past human limits. Sampo points, and all present feel compelled to follow his fingertip. He looks away, and they all follow his gaze. He can even affect the mood of an audience; he can influence everyone to be calm and placid or he can whip them into a feverish frenzy. Sometimes a crowd will start to become unsettled, agitation stirring until it boils over, until it incites a full on violent mob.

And in the middle of all that chaos will stand one perfectly calm figure, face cast in shadow, until they quietly slip away out of sight.

[burr-ell]

If it's alright, can I ask why you like the Golden Deer house more than the Blue Lions or Black Eagle houses? Like, what caught your eye about them over everyone else?

So I actually got into FE3H through a friend of mine, @dar-draws, who I already knew through mutual good taste (Dickkory), and fanarts like this one, this one, and this one plus the way she talked about Claude and Claudeleth caught my attention. I watched a couple playthroughs of the Golden Deer route on YouTube and absolutely fell in love (before finally getting a switch just to play it myself, for which I was violently bullied here). So like, I was already going into the game biased, which is part of why when I got it I went ahead and played through Golden Deer before doing all the other routes in turn; it was genuinely important to me to personally see all sides of the story. But even as I've played the other routes and replayed SS and AM and gained even more of an appreciation for them, I'm still always sort of drawn back to VW and the Deer.

I think it's ultimately vibes-based, but I'll try to articulate it. I'm not really a big fan of "cozy" sorts of games—I've played and enjoyed ACNH, but the things I most enjoyed about that game were finding things to do and goals to complete, like completing the main quest line or filling up the museum. So it's not so much that I find the Golden Deer to be cozy so much as adventurous. They're not inherently personally invested in the conflicts of White Clouds (they don't know Lord Lonato or Miklan, and their house leader isn't [gestures generally]), but they're also not just ping-ponging through the story. They go through the same events as the other two houses, but they're coming at it from more of an outsider's perspective, and their choice to get involved and react and respond feels more active.

The Deer also don't have any real reason to follow Claude, either, and in the early game they make sure he knows it; none of them are really all that concerned that they're speaking to the future Grand Duke of their country. Lysithea snaps at him, Leonie shoots the breeze with him, Raphael is jovial with him, Lorenz undercuts him, Hilda is blase with him, Marianne tries not to talk to him, and Ignatz gets into theological debates with him. Over the course of the game, they develop the same loyalty to Claude that the other house members already have for their leaders almost by default, and it feels a lot more earned because we see it happen. And that in turn makes scenes like the one at Myrddin, where Claude reveals his true goal of opening the border with Almyra and embracing foreign cultures and the other Deer are surprised but trust Claude and follow his lead, that much more satisfying.

I was a little surprised, when I played through the other three routes, that aside from the designated talking-with-the-cast scenes every route gets, the characters who aren't house leaders or retainers don't really have all that much to do in the story. On Verdant Wind, you pretty consistently have members of the Golden Deer appearing in other cutscenes and giving their two cents; there's even a unique scene where Lysithea realizes there's something up with the Empire's mages because of her backstory and approaches Claude and Byleth about it. It's nothing too obtrusive—they do still have to accommodate the potential for character death—but it's those small details that make a difference to me. Every house has a particular dynamic with odd silly quirks, but the Deer being just that little bit more integrated into the story really helps sell the idea that they belong here and they're making this story their own.

There's also the matter of where specifically their adventure takes them. I respect the choice to focus on Dimitri in Azure Moon, because it does handle his character and arc very well and I think also does the other Lions justice (with the exception of Dedue), but it's also focused largely on Dimitri's personal arc and the Tragedy of Duscur and doesn't really follow through on a lot of the events of White Clouds. (Which some Blue Lions stans have been okay with because they think the Agarthans are bad villains, which...that's valid, but stories still have to like, address plot elements they set up.) Verdant Wind, by contrast, does actually pull back and try to figure out the real impetus behind the whole conflict, and it ends with them beginning to properly lay Fodlan's true problems to rest.

So while the route isn't flawless and I do think there are issues with how characters are written that are part of larger trends within the game and the series as a whole, there's a very specific kind of fantasy adventure energy with the Golden Deer that I enjoy. I think the stories I'm most drawn to are the ones that keep their eyes on a specific goal but still make you feel like the characters would bring that same energy to goofing around with each other, and I think that's something Verdant Wind does very well.

[beevean]

I decided to break down down this absolutely beautiful poster because I love it and there is some interesting content to notice <3

Starting from the big character portraits:

The Hecboi being his usual badass self. You can spot his earrings which I love, it's such a cute detail <3

Isaac practicing his "step on me daddy" routine. yes sir i get it your boots are fabulous and your pants can't contain your d

I find highkey underrated how Kojima associated him with skulls in official artwork. I wish it didn't get lost in time lol.

Trevor, my friend Trevor :) much more serious than the sass master he is in the game lol

Julia taking care of Hector's Innocent Devils :)

Side note, while I love most of their designs in the game, I find Kojima's idea of what Hector and Isaac's Devils could look like very fascinating. I like how she draws dragons.

The big man himself, St. Germain standing in front of a clock, and Zead holding a four-leafed clover for good luck (+ Isaac again lol)

Now, the more minute detail, going anti-clockwise:

Not only we can see Dracula's Castle, but the figure in the center is the Devil Forgery lab in the PtR manga:

Another underrated detail of lore :)

Oh, this one is just. juicy <3 It took me ages to understand what's going on, but with some help I finally realized it.

So this is essentially the moment where Hector went to Dracula and was like "hey boss, would you mind if you stopped to order me to kill humans? dunno if you noticed but i'm human too and it feels weird. thanks", and Dracula was like "hmm. let me think about it. no. have a nice day :)".

In the PtR manga, it was depicted like this:

With Dracula threatening Hector with his extended claws, and then throwing him off the castle keep. i don't know what you were expecting, man

But in the poster, he's straight up holding Hector by his throat and stabbing him with the fingers of his bat wings! So much that you can see blood dripping from his mouth! Ouch!

This only proves my headcanon that Devil Forgemasters are superhuman and can withstand wounds that would kill a normal person.

also, between this and his sippy attack in the game proper, dracula sure likes to manhandle hector a little too much.

the besties going to work <3

You have no idea how much this little drawing pisses me off. This is the closest thing I have of a canon depiction of Hector and Isaac working as Devil Forgemasters.

I need to see them slaughtering humans together in my bloodstream D: not even NFCV had the courtesy of depicting a villain Hector actually doing villain things D: guys. guys the potential-

Aside from that, this also incidentally proves that PtR's interpretation of Isaac's fabulous outfit (being what is left of his normal Devil Forgemaster outfit after Hector destroyed it) is retroactive. My man was apparently already going shirtless just because he felt like it. Imagine being killed by Dracula's most loyal soldier and your last sight in life is his tiddies. King shit.

also

yeah it's stupid but that's the vibe i get lol

I get it, Kojima-san, you love your blorbo. understandable

A bit more seriously, I really appreciate how much Isaac doesn't have the certified Kojima Pretty Man face, he's instantly recognizable. I like his big nose :)

Hector practicing Devil Forging, a smaller version of this panel from the PtR manga:

I like how in the poster it looks like a typical yin-yang symbol, but also closer to the black-and-white motif of the Devil Forging crest :) they look like two lil dragons chasing each other.

why does isaac look 150% more naked without his shoulder armor

It's hard to tell which even this is supposed to represent. I guess it's his defeat at Hector's hands, if we take the black splotches on the ground as his outfit being slashed. Notice the crest on the floor, similar to the intro of the game!

The worsties fighting. Hector is pissed and Isaac is a troll, must be a day ending in Y. they're flirting

The End! Hard to tell if it's Hector's golden Devil or Abel, but it looks awesome <3

This one... puzzles me. I can tell that Hector is being attacked by some little devils and he's defending himself. But why is he using a small pumpkin as a weapon??

(what if this is him trying to defend rosaly from the mob who accused her of being a witch :<)

Hector angsting. Sadly I'm not sure of what kind of flower that's supposed to be, perhaps a dandelion? I wish it was a lily of the valley like in PtR.

Our friend Trevor again. Interesingly, in the full poster, Isaac and Trevor are directly mirroring each other.

Trevor being like "bruh are you for real" after whipping Hector's ass black and blue. (i hate his second fight so much...)

I would say "Hector's revenge", but actually it looks like he's bleeding and in pain. So... I think this the moment when Dracula nearly clawed Trevor's eye out.

Trevor and Isaac fighting! Love that scene in the game :D

isaac how are you even twisting yourself. what are you doing. you're showing off, aren't you.

Not sure about what location these ruins are supposed to be, but fascinating detail of the skeleton holding a scale of justice. It's close to Zead...

tl;dr i want to eat this poster because it's just so fucking good and a great way to summarize the game

[not-she-which-burns-in-it]

Ok, my fixation on the Magnus Archives isn’t going away any time soon, and I don’t want to jump into Protocol yet because I’m not ready to say goodbye to Jon and Martin. And I don’t want resent some fabulous new characters just because they’re not my boys.

Instead, I played one of my favorite games. Turn on an album and use my theater brain to figure out how I would stage it. I had a 3 hour drive for an out of town gig, so I listened The Mechanisms all the way there and back.

Each album got 2 listens in a row, one for vibes and appreciation, and one to dissect and take notes.

I think I like The Bifrost Incident the best. The songs are so good. A train set would be totally reasonable to build. Utterly destroying it a little bit harder, but I was thinking of a large scale regional production (something like Papermill, ART, La Jolla) where automation/projection/special effects aren’t an issue - so we could explode a train.

The problem is that it’s a train … In Space!

Outer Space and Theater feels so deeply incompatible. Not that people haven’t tried, I’m just not sure I’ve ever seen someone do it successfully (sorry Jonathan Larson) But that’s fine. This is a reimagining, it doesn’t have to be an outer space train, it can just be a train traveling through the BiFrost.

Ok, then I started thinking of design, maybe more of a steampunk aesthetic to go with the train. But hey, wait a minute, a pantheon of gods, in a tragic story about a doomed train, singing a little jazzy-folky, cabaret tunes.

Oh. Fuck. We’ve just invented Hadestown. 

And every design and staging idea, I’ve been mulling over for the past hour drive vanishes in a puff of smoke. Nah, I can’t do a big intricate metal spiral staircase. That’s too fucking close to Hadestown.

It’s even got the narrator that pretends to be neutral, but is actually deeply emotionally invested in the story. And while I like Jonny’s vocals very very much it’s just mean, - for any performer - to allow the audience to draw a direct comparison to Andre DeShields.

So it’s with a heavy heart I put The Bifrost incident down and try the Snow White/Rose Red album Once Upon a Time (In Space). And unfortunately, I think we’ve hit market saturation of gritty warlike retellings of Grimm’s fairytales. I’m sure this absolutely fucking slapped in 2012, but in 2024 Disney’s Once Upon A Time has ruined the possibility for everyone. I tried so hard to imagine a design, but all I could see was either that or the new generation of Disney live action remix. Or even that one Huntsman movie with Kristen Stewart as Battle!Snow White.

I kind of love, weird, obscure shit, though, I could totally see this, finding a home in fringe circuit. Unfortunately, you need those institutional dollars if you want highly stylized, long wigs and battle armor and spaceships. It’s the intrepid black box theater troupe that gets a show that looks like this:

But with less tailoring.

So with a great sadness, I put Once Upon A Time In Space on the reject pile for my fantasy new musical development workshop.

The next time I have a long drive I’ll try out Ulysses Dies at Dawn but unfortunately, that would be a race against time since there are about four different odyssey themed musicals in development right now. One of which, epic, is getting a lot of traction online. And another will be coming to one of the LORT theaters I mentioned earlier. (Fucking call me back [Redacted] am I working on [redacted] or not UGH)

So, I’m about three years too late to win that game. [inset joke about Gatsby vs Gatbsy here].

All this is just fantasy of course, even if I did strike gold I would still need to convince actual-human Jonathan Sims to engage in a years long, time consuming, deeply frustrating development process, on the wrong continent. So for the absolutely microscopic overlap of my followers, who are both invested in The Magnus Archives/ The Mechanisms and also Musical Theater, I’m sorry to disappoint.

But it is nice to think about New Ideas tm for theater while making my yearly sacrifice to the gods of freelance employment and do another year of The Nutcracker. Oh well at least I’m not Christmas Caroling this year.



[popcultureoverdosed]

Blood Blockade Battlefront is New York at its Finest

NYC often gets a bad rep. Most people either see it as a smelly hellhole filled with crime and crappy attitudes or a breeding ground for hipsters and vapid socialites. People only see what they want to see without looking at the whole picture. This makes Leonardo's all-seeing eyes of God all the more important. Instead of lumping NYC into a box, he sees it for what it truly is; a chaotic blend of volatile elements.

The storytelling of Blood Blockade Battlefront is pure chaos from beginning to end. Leonardo is thrown into a world of highly deadly scenarios with very little breathing room in between. Each episode focuses on a moment in the character's life. One episode will focus on Leonardo befriending an amnesiac monster who loves burgers and another will feature a brigade of Charlie's angels-esque spies who happen to be invisible werewolves. It's the type of show that always keeps you on your toes because you never know what to expect. Some have criticized the show for its lack of an overarching plot and treat it as if that's inherently bad. Blood Bloockade isn't the type of show that needs a complex narrative. Its biggest appeal is simply seeing its eccentric cast interact with each other. Its episodic nature made watching it a breeze since viewers are never overwhelmed with too much information.

Worldbuilding is done at a casual pace where background lore is only given when it's relevant to what's currently happening. Since most characters are already well familiar with the lore, they usually cut the small talk and get straight to the action. In this way, the narrative mirrors New Yorker's aversion to beating around the bush. Show don't tell at its finest. We need more shows that just get to the point. Rie Matsumoto, director of season 1, feels a bit different about the story than I do, though. She inserted two original characters, Black and White, a pair of siblings who share a character arc that Intersects with Leo's. Under normal circumstances, this would have been an incredibly bad move. Filler in anime tends to feel pointless and just detracts from the story. Luckily, Rie Matsumoto made sure that the filler didn't feel like filler. It was fun watching the mystery surrounding the sibling duo unravel with each episode. It eventually culminated in a finale that was nearly an hour long. Matsumoto took a huge risk with her bold decision, but she definitely stuck the landing.

The production values of the show are also top-notch. Pretty much every episode is a reminder of why studio Bones is such a beloved company. They seriously put their key animators to work in both seasons. The fluidity of the fight scenes always left me impressed. Character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto did a great job at bringing Yasuhiro Nightow's art to animation with his iconic style. I love how even when Toshihiro is adapting someone else's character design, his style still shines through.

Special mention needs to be given to composer Taisei Iwasaki because he really killed it with this soundtrack. It's an eclectic blend of jazz, RNB, hip-hop, rock and more genres that perfectly captures the vibe of a busy New York City. Each track is a different flavor of the city and made me feel at home. The soundtrack truly embodies the chaotic feel of the show and captures its occasional serene moments perfectly.The true musical highlights are the openings and endings. BBB is one of those shows where you feel compelled to watch the full episode because the opening and ending are too good to skip. They're all incredibly upbeat songs that make you wanna stop everything and dance. Sugar song and bitter step is one of my favorite anime endings because of it's colorful animation and cheerful aura.

Blood Blockade Battlefront is the type of show that can really resonate with native New Yorkers. We see all the highs and lows of the city almost every day and you have to be just a little bit crazy to appreciate NYC for what it is.

[penny-the-pissed-poltergeist]

So I was going to do Volume 4 episode 1 on the 20th, like I said I would. I forgot I had a thing with my non fandom friends that night...

So here's my first watch through thoughts on the volume 4 Character short as a consolation prize, I had a lot more to say on this then I thought I would've, and it's new for me!

.The intro is genuinely sick and slick as hell, definitely feels like they're trying to imitate the first 4 trailers and it does work pretty well. It also makes Ruby's new tattered cape look nice, I'll get to the rest of her design latter....

.Her jumping into the town off of a Nevermore be cleaving it's wing is both an awesome way to get into the city and good way to show her growth because the last time she tried this back in volume 1, she fell right off

.Yeah Ruby, fuck that statue UP

.Her being in a falling town really reminds me how little the main heroes save or help average people directly. We don't really get much of them being motivated to fight in a way that isn't at least a little personal . And the average people we do see are shuffled off screen most of the time or get treated like NPCs.

.I don't like Volume 4 Ruby's design TBH, I can appreciate the Penny references with the sleeves and barely seen backpack and I will reiterate that the torn cape is cool >

.But the ripped thigh highs and random new boob window make her look less protected when she's supposed to be on a dangerous quest. The cream color really should have been white or maybe black IMO, and I can't tell if I love or hate the excess of belts.

.On the other hand Grimm have never looked better, Beowolfs went from kinda dumb looking to bestial and swift. I know it is kinda just the alpha's design from volume 3 with a few tweaks... but it's still a straight upgrade, tell me that the volume 1-3 ones are intimidating, you can't!

.while I said this is trying to be like the color trailers, it's nowhere close to the near perfection of the Red trailer. The choreography isn't as tight, Ruby's high pitched grunts are a little distracting, and the music is a kinda giving generic D&D background music instead of the heavenly sounds of Red Like Roses at least in the first half.

.Is a Grimm using tools I see? Yes throwing bricks counts in my book.

.First time we've seen a Beringel and it looks damn nice, I really love the scars and missing eye. Makes it feel like an individual instead of just another Grimm. It also wreaks Ruby's shit.

.It's really striking me how much they went straight into high fantasy with some tech in volume 4-5, of course Weiss's parts are still very high tech but outside of the Screens, guns and Yang's bike and arm, everything that volume is something that would pop up in an average fantasy RPG. You'd expect this town to have some cars or even just bikes (Not talking about motor bikes, just regular bikes) but no. IMO I'd prefer if they'd kept more of the modern semi-futuristic vibes through out the whole show, it stands out from the crowd a lot more.

.Okay, THERE'S the RLR motifs to go with Ruby's comeback of BUSTING OUT OF A CLOCK OF A CLOCK TOWER. It's not a full new song, I wouldn't expect them to make one just this one short but it doesn't make me an less salty it took 8 volumes just to get RLR part 3.

.I wish Ruby leaned more into the super speed wind stuff, I like the twister move she does here as much as I liked wind tunnel she did in the food fight.

.WOW that is a shape for her cape to make, gives me Randy Cunningham vibes.

.I think not showing the final blow on the Beringel was a mistake, makes it a lot less satisfying then it should be.

.Ren pointing out smoke makes me wonder how everything started burning in the first place, did a Grimm figure out arson?

.The shots of the other team RWBY members make me wish they kept the hair shines for the actual show, because this short has them and only this short for some reason.

Overall, pretty good, I really liked this. I kinda already said everything else there is to be said so... go watch it if you've forgotten to or haven't already, it's only like 5 minutes.

[trebol-negro]

What type of angel was Crowley before he fell?

This is going to be a longer post, but researching this during the past few days has been a fun mental exercise and I wanted to share my conclusions with you.

Before I begin, please remember that English is not my first language and that I just started researching this topic recently. Any corrections are appreciated, as well as other people participating in this post. Don't be afraid to share your ideas!

I'll be using this hierarchy, as it's implied to be the one used in the series

What we know

Aziraphale

Thanks to Furfur's book, we know that Aziraphale is a principality. Both his personality and appearence fit the description of principalities.

Principalities are the ones who protect the different groups of people. Their main trait is their knowledge.

They have a human body with one pair of wings

We also see that when he and Crowley interact during the creation of the stars and Crowley asks him for help, he doesn't question him at any point and won't stop holding the plane (?) with the stars until Crowley tells him to. This plus the fact that he introduces himself while Crowley doesn't makes me think that Crowley is above him in the hierarchy. So we can discard archangel and angel.

Muriel

When Muriel leads Crowley to the folder with Gabriel's information, they mention that only a throne or dominion or above is able to open it. Since Crowley could, we can assume he fits Muriel's conditions.

Archangels vs archangels

Neil commented on his blog that in Good Omens there is a difference between Archangels and archangels. See post here

This would put Archangels above seraphim, but just below the Metatron.

Crowley

We know, thanks to what he tells us during the creation of the stars, that while he wasn't the one who designed them, he "worked very closely with upstairs", meaning that he isn't on the top of the hierarchy. So, we can discard Metatron (obviously) and Archangel.

Possible choirs

Seraph

Seraphim comes from the word saraph, which in Hebrew means "burning". Saraph is also used to describe a "fiery flying serpent".

Appearence:

- Three sets of wings. The first to cover their faces, the second to fly and the third to cover their feet.

Function:

-To sing and hail God's glory.

Neither their appearance nor their function matches Crowley's.

Cherub

Appearence:

- Four faces of different animals. A lion (wild animals), an ox (domestic animals), a human (humanity) and an eagle (birds).

- Straight legs, with the soles of their feet like the hooves of a bull.

-Four wings.

Function:

- To guard God's Throne, His Chariot and the holy places that the Lord indicates. They also were the ones who watched over the Tree of Life.

Neither their function nor their appearance matches Crowley's.

Throne:

Appearence:

- Great wheels with many eyes.

Function:

- They observe the fulfilment of divine justice.

- They announce judgements or resolutions to humanity's problems

- They function as the chariots of God

- Characterized by peace and submission

Neither their function nor their appearance matches Crowley's.

Dominion:

Appearence:

- Human body

- One set of wings

- Often depicted wearing jewelry and white or green tunics.

Function:

- They coordinate and organize the angels belonging to the lower choirs.

- Associated with the step between the spiritual and material world.

- Also associated with healing and medicine

This is where Crowley most likely belongs based on his appearance and his job.

Now that we know where he belongs, let's see how that fits with his character.

Crowley is a dominion

The number of wings he has matches the number of wings a Dominion have

We see Crowley wearing a white tunic when he's an angel

Dominions are associated with healing. The snake is the animal that represents medicine.

Dominions dress with white and green. The opposite is black and red, Crowley's main colors.

While Crowley doesn't wear much jewelry, we can see him putting more care than Aziraphale into following fashion trends, changing outfits frequently instead of using the same one over the years.

Implications

It makes sense that he was asking for Aziraphale, an angel from a lower choir, to help him in the beginning of season 2. His job is to coordinate the lower angels.

He fell because he questioned God. While this was likely seen as a bad thing coming from other angels, given that dominions are the ones who supervise and lead the lower choirs, he could have offended God by implying that God belongs in a category below him.

[nextplayerup]

what I assume about you based on your favorite ghost and pals song

happy days, appetite of a people pleaser, hyperdontia, or chattering (2019): you're in middle school

novocaine or the distortionist: you most likely call them hot and you scare me. probably also in middle school tbh

candle queen: you're not really a ghost fan you just know this one song

honey i'm home: you're either genuinely a fan of the lyrics and themes or you just like charon and/or charon x norman

reckless battery burns: good taste this song is very well produced and the pv is cool BUT. I know you care more about tamari

aura: you like women.

star of the show: you like women. and you're the "me and the bad bitch I pulled by being autistic" meme as a person

the things I deserve: you ALSO like women and you're either really going through it or this song got you through it

amygdala's rag doll: you either know it from the animation memes or you're overcome with a boiling hot rage every time someone calls it trypophobia

rotary dial: you probably relate to henry unfortunately

black & white: you have bad taste (it's okay, me too I love this one) but you're genuinely so sweet tbh

housewife radio: you're correct and probably sympathize with nancy. also more than likely you can or have done a full analysis of every little detail in this song

colorbars: you're into glitchy and digital aesthetics and you much prefer this design over his broadcast illusion one. if you're a. certain way. you might simplify him down to Gay but cmon people we are past that it is 2023

anything from nothing perfect that's NOT perfect nothing: you chose the "i'm not like other girls" option but that's okay because it's an under appreciated ep

perfect nothing: you think you chose the "i'm not like other girls" option. banger song though

those who carried on or two of a kind: I am in love with you. dystopian stuff is your vibe and you're really curious about the pv wip characters/wish it wasn't left unfinished

spider on the wall (2018)(my fav): you scare me. objectively bad taste (affectionate)

spider on the wall (2022): you scare me worse. objectively bad taste (DEROGATORY)

in iolite or chelovek: do you exist (HI I LOVE YOU) if you do you love it when ghost does stuff that's actually different and cool

uncanny, adapertio, or I had to die to survive: you'll cling onto any oc or relationship ghost drops and you probably had theories about uncanny and adapertio when you saw the similarities

culpability or pierre janet's criminal defense: you stuck around during the slow period/hiatus and I will, for some reason, assume you're an older fan

entomologists (2019): I don't think you exist either but I love you. a lot. really into the "bug" part of industrial catholic bugcore

scapeg♾️at: you relate HARD to this song. want to see your abusers in the GROUND. probably a real petty person but I admire that

deathbody: nobody seems to really like this one for some reason? but if you DO I assume you're an older fan who related to foolish and/or ttid in your youth

end world normopathy: be honest you're here for tamari

[scrybird]

NEED 2 KNO BOUT UR FUCKED UP SONA LOR LIKE ASAP!!!

I have to say, this is a first for me.

Matter of fact, I didn't even know what you were referring to at first since that bit has been in my bio since forever, collecting dust.

I appreciate the question and the enthusiasm, though! I will oblige.

I've always been a fan of narrative storytelling through character design (who would have thought that actually looking at someone tells you stuff about them?), which is why I employ it quite a bit.

A good example is Lazav, I think, which I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's who you saw on your feed. A mixture of things, mongrel, half-breed, he would call himself a peacock but he's far from recognizable as one.

This mostly stems from his family tree, a jumble of different species and extramarital affairs from a mildly wealthy family of ice mongers (was an actual job a few hundred years back). Once the profession of ice farming got outclassed, the family started bleeding money generation by generation; so much so that poor Lazav can't even be considered a Nepo baby.

This comes through in the form of his usual attire- boots instead of dress shoes, dress pants but with patches on them, among other things.

With no real discernible skills, Lazav has made a name for himself by just beguilling and lying his way to the top. This is Lazav's main character point, his very core.

He's a peacock but doesn't look like one. His white feathers -the opposite of what the very colorful peacocks are like- even make him look like an owl to some.

He's a bird- but has sharp teeth.

He wears a black sweater, which almost blends in with his plummage. Thus you don't know where the clothing ends and his body starts.

The only part of his body that's not monochrome, are the eyes, bright orange, like a warning almost. And almost like a mockery, the buttons on his jackets and coats are eye themed as well.

The point being, Lazav is so inherently rooted in deception and trickery that it's noticeable from far away, so long as you can see the cues. It's a bit of a kindness to anybody else, if anything, "if you recognize me for what I am, you are smart enough to not be decieved by me anyway".

A bit of an alternate version of Lazav, is when I get him drawn with a priestly attire. The driving narrative point this time being that he's still a liar, yes, but this time not to others but rather to himself. A man so afraid of death and being hurt that he'd go to the worst of places, striking pacts with the vilest of beings just to be safe. Unaware of the irony of such deals. In the most unlucky scenarios, his own flesh has been warped (always following the teeth and eye theme!) to a form that is most grotesque but also! The most resilient and "safe."

Poor Lazav, little by little, wound by wound, scar by scar, he's learning not how to stay alive. But rather, how to live.

There's more of course but this is what I could gather from my notes at 1:30 am. I could have waited but you did specify ASAP.

A pity that you asked anonymously. Otherwise, I'd keep bothering you about it.

[creatingblackcharacters]

Hello! I wanted to ask your opinion on a fanart character design I'm working on 👉👈 It's for a book called Incarceron, & like a lot of stuff by white ppl, none of the characters have canon ethnicities so I'm having to work that in myself.

There's one character I'm struggling with, but the context of my issue is Incredibly convoluted (since its a fantasy book) so forgive me for how long this question is 😭 if it's too complicated or you don't feel like answering it, no pressure at all! I will figure something out<3

So the setting is this apocalyptic world divided into a massive sentient prison (Incarceron) and Outside. There is only 1 person who ever Escaped named Sapphique, and he is this elevated, almost Jesus figure who people look up to and pray to. He only appears on page in visions to people, but he is THE embodiment of hope. I have chosen for my Sapphique design to be Black bc I think it adds a lot of meaning to him as a person and embodiment of Freedom.

He's not my question though (unless you have notes on my choice for him), where I run into problems is with another character named Jared. Jared is Outside & a wisdom-keeper working to liberate Incarceron. Jared is repeatedly described as looking similar to Sapphique (or his statues at least), and in my first designs, I had wanted Jared to be SWANA.

However at the end of the 2nd book Incarceron creates a body in Sapphique's image to try and Escape itself. Sapphique appears in a vision to Jared telling him to stop Incarceron from using his face, so to thwart the Prison, Jared does magic to essentially take the body for himself and steps into the role of Sapphique to return to the Prison and liberate and free the people. It’s a bittersweet ending treated like an ascension to godhood almost.

So LONG story short I'm no longer sure abt Jared being SWANA since he does physically take Sapphique's visage. Would it still be uncomfortable if I made him Afro-SWANA? Should he just be Black?

I do have other Black and SWANA characters in my design lineup, but Jared is a fan-favorite and his symbolic becoming of Sapphique is a really cool scene, so I want to be particularly cognizant with him.

TYSM for reading all of this 🙏again so sorry for the length. I really appreciate you and your work so much and I hope you're having a good day!

I would immediately see someone named Sapphique as Black lmao now that's just me but like. Come on now. I'm also pronouncing it like "Saafiq", which, tying into your question, would definitely be Afro-SWANA to me 🤷🏾‍♀️ you can very much be Black and from that area.

Otherwise, I don't really know how to answer this. If in the story he gives Jared permission to take his visage, it might not be such a big deal. But also, if they look that similar already, then when the change happens there could be slightly different details so that you know when it's Jared. Like, if he wears his hair slightly differently or wears different colors. Different symbols so that we are aware that while we are gazing upon Sapphique, we are gazing upon a new reincarnation of him. God comes in any and all forms 🤷🏾‍♀️ but that's how I'd take it. Idk if that helps.

[synergysilhouette]

Remaking 1995's "Pocahontas"

This is definitely one of Disney's most controversial films, and I wanted to take a stab at remaking it, stripping back historical associations so it could be a fantasy film that Disney could release in the 2020s without too much concern for offending Indigenous Americans. Please let me know your thoughts!

Part 1: Reference Panel/Designs

When making Pocahontas as a character, the directors drew upon Native American, Asian, and Black women to create her character, though it'd obviously be best to use Native American women if we were creating her in this time and age to show more cultural appreciation. In this specific case, I'd imagine using models like Ashley Callingbull and Quannah Chasinghorse as inspiration for Pocahontas. Since this is an original story, I'd wonder if they'd adhere to something similar to her blue concept art, her 2013 redesign, or something new altogether. Both designs are beautiful and avoid the sexualization of her original incarnation in the film.

In my mind, the love interest for Pocahontas would be a cross between John Smith and John Rolfe, having Smith's taste for adventure while still keeping Rolfe's academic intellect and skills with diplomacy. While overcoming racism is a big deal for Smith in the film, I feel like it'd make him too unlikable, as with Rolfe's sexism in the sequel. While I can see him having ignorance and preconceived notions, I feel like it's better to show him as someone new to the colonizing game and have a fresh, Thomas-like mentality (albeit slightly less innocent). This new love interest would have one of John Smith's earlier designs. I could definitely see him being inspired by Captain America: dutiful and loyal, but open to new ideas and perspectives. Honestly, his character would be a lot closer to Captain Phoebus from Disney's "Hunchback of Notre Dame."

Part 2: Story Changes

New Setting. As I mentioned before, I'd be making this a 100% original story, so this isn't set in America, the cultures that the two sides come from are fictional, and we use different names.

2. Different varieties of colonists. Aside from the traditional white settlers, we'd also see other Old World colonists, hailing from Asia and Africa. I know some people would think this just a minor shoutout for diversity, but I included this based on African slaves that came with the Europeans as well as Asian migrants that came to America during the 16th and 17th centuries.

3. We see more of Pocahontas' family. It's mentioned that historically, she had several half-siblings, so giving this fictional version of her three or four siblings would be neat, especially so you can see how tied she is to her culture. I'd probably also make Nakoma one of her sisters, since they have a sisterly bond. I'd also consider making the fictional version of Kocoum her brother instead of her betrothed, since I feel like it makes the audience care more about him and it'd explain why he's so protective of her. Expanding on Pocahontas' mother would also be awesome.

4. Thomas is John's brother. At first I thought this simply because in this version they'd both have red hair, but I thought about how Thomas was trying to make a good life for his family as well as how John Smith looked out for him like a little brother. Since I'm removing John's colonizing experience here and Thomas would be more likely to listen to Radcliffe if he and John weren't related, I think it makes sense that John influences his thoughts and decisions the most about the new world.

5. There's more of a cultural exchange. In part 1, Pocahontas mostly tells Smith about her world, while in part 2, Rolfe mainly tells her about his world. I'd like to combine the two so they can get to know and understand each other very well.

6. The fantasy aspect--it's easy to forget I'm not just changing controversial elements. Perhaps it's due to my thoughts on "Avatar: The Last Airbender," but I do like the idea of the colonists and Natives being able to use magic; not only is it entertaining for the audience, but it can also be symbolic for several situations, ie the colonists bringing diseases to the Natives, and the Natives' spiritual connection to nature while the colonists' being much more "modern" and less elemental.

7. This happens over a period of years. I feel like this is great to let Pocahontas and John's relationship grow organically (since some think her and John Smith's relationship was rushed and encouraged by passion), as well as showing us how the relationship between the Natives and the colonists fluctuate.

Hope you like my ideas! Lemme know what you think or if you have any questions. Would this have made you enjoy the film more?

[rubykgrant]

Finally finished touching my picture of a re-design for one of my super hero characters! On paper, I used white paint to blend the colors of the markers, and it looked very vibrant... until I scanned it, and the colors were muted. It took a while to fix it in MS Paint, but it is done!

This is one of the character I've had since 8th grade, and has thusly gone through SEVERAL changes; initially I had a character with wind powers and feathered wings as their whole theme. First it was a crow, but then I decided to go with golden eagle feathers. The character evolved as well, and eventually, I thought it was just too type-cast-y to have a Native American character with nature/animals powers... but I didn't want him to NOT be Native American anymore, that wasn't what needed to change. I shuffled around powers between other characters, and finally had something better! Now with energy abilities that projects as physical forms of colorful light, the character became Vivid! The light can change into shapes that work as force-fields for defense, stairs for climbing up high, or simply as energy blasts for attacking (I gave the wings/wind powers to a different character, still golden feathers, but with more of an "angelic" theme for the whole look)

Who the character is, just as himself, is mostly the same, because I love this kid; Rodney is an easy-going friendly guy, a little bit socially awkward, but with an open and kind attitude that makes him easy to relax around. He's sensitive and considerate, and really smart as well. He previously went to a school for gifted kids, but the atmosphere there was too competitive and harsh. He finally convinced his family to let him go to a regular school with the friends he has (a handful of them become super heroes as well), and it is a relief to chill academically, and grow more into who he is. Sometimes Rodney worries too much about being annoying, and tries too hard to be helpful or avoid confrontation by keeping his comments to himself... his friends help reassure him- he doesn't need to be perfect, he deserves to speak-up, and they aren't going to stop liking him over disagreements or because he's "weird". They're ALL weird!

Rodney has the chance to get into different types of art, and he appreciates many things that are surreal, both whimsical and horror. While he was good at memorizing facts for school, he's also incredibly creative, able to figure out complicated puzzles and recognize patterns other people don't notice (he's got a whole galaxy-brain mandala-universe going on in there). In his every-day life, he wears his hair down, but pulls it back for the hero look (during formal occasions, he braids it). Some elements from his super hero outfit comes from different sci-fi sources, but I wanted to keep it simple and easy. I like to imagine the kids made their first outfits from clothes they had, and up-graded to to proper hero clothing later, but it still isn't too complicated. The undershirt and leggings are bright colors- orange/yellow, teal/green, blue/aqua, purple/pink. He has a large short-sleeved shirt with a high collar (but it's loose, not tight around his neck). The shirt is dark, but not quite true-black, and specifically doesn't have too many details with the wrinkles or creases (like an optical illusion, it seems almost like a solid object even where it over-laps). He has matching boots as well. He also has a visor that works as his mask to hide his secret identity (and it's a bit inspired by Garnet's cool look~). Rodney's a bit of a string-bean, but he's not "scrawny", and he has soft shapes to his features

[supercantaloupe]

Magic Flute Thoughts

i liked nathalie stutzmann's conducting a lot more in this than i did for don giovanni. granted i am much less familiar with zauberflote than i am with don g so i'm not like hyper picky about tempi or whatever yet but anyway i liked her

flute soloist! glockenspiel soloist! FLUTE SOLOIST!!!

i just like lawrence brownlee man idk what to tell you. i think he's neat. i think he's singing something here in the winter and i'll definitely try to get tickets to that if so

i really liked erin morley as pamina! actually i thought all the main cast did a good job no one stuck out to me as being particularly Amazing or Bad. kathryn lewek got a HUGE applause (and standing o) tho and i mean kudos it was her fiftieth performance like damn.

interesting choice to play the queen as physically frail as she did; i think it works and the performance is very good, although the heavy age makeup sticks out a bit on hd cameras lol

the queen's three bitches. i'm free on friday (twirling hair)

also i hope those three kids who played the old men get to borrow their outfits again come october because they have the funniest possible halloween costume opportunity in the world now

VERY funny to me that papageno's costume makes him look like he's drenched in bird shit

okay speaking of costumes. do i 100% Get It with the like suits and colors and everything....not really but i don't think i can say that i Get a lot about this opera tbh. what i did get was the very obvious dark/light symbolism going on with pamina and tamino wearing white and the queen and her cronies wearing all black. and i think zauberflote does benefit from some heavy handed symbolism bc what else is this show about actually without that....then again the fact that sarastro and his priests or whatever are all in dark colors too kind of undermines that a little so 🤷‍♀️

same thing with the whole reason vs superstition thing too like...sure you can claim Truth And Reason as good all you want sarastro but the constant invocation of isis/osiris and Mysterious Rituals kind of undermine what you're going for there lol. i think my point is that i don't feel like i really Get what zauberflote is like...going for, thematically. i mean i get the Themes but not a clear Point. maybe if i was an enlightenment era freemason i'd get it lol but alas i am not

that said......i didn't go into this one expecting a rock solid plot and honestly who does....it's zauberflote....it is very obviously not designed to work or be interpreted on a literal level and i appreciate that it never tries to ground itself in reality. that its plot and characters exist in a completely fantastic realm works and it works with the weird plot and its vague theming.

which itself is of course accomplished through good design and holy SHIT. this is truly the shining strength of this production. the design is INCREDIBLE.

the orchestra isn't totally onstage but they are raised up in the pit to the point where they are fully visible the whole show. i love an onstage orchestra so this made me very happy. and it allowed for actor/orchestra interaction which i also love!! like tamino coming down into the pit to hand the eponymous magic flute to the flute soloist and bring him onstage with him (i was wondering during the overture why the flutes and oboes were swapped places seating wise -- it's so the flutist can easily get onstage! delight!!), or when papageno brings his glockenspiel to the percussion soloist to play (the player being 'missing' at his last solo, making papageno play by himself, and he enters late with a cup of coffee...lmaoo). also stutzmann giving a big ol grin and thumbs up to papageno during his duet with papagena at the end. so sweet

also blocking around the orchestra seating of the audience and up the aisles! so much fun we love immersive theater

the set itself had this big flat platform in the center hoisted at each corner by a cord so it could raise/lower/tilt in any direction. made for some very neat staging with levels and slants and i enjoyed that, especially since the production forgoes any kind of traditional set pieces

papageno's birds were done in such a beautiful way omg...they have an ensemble in black wandering around stage and following him about when he's doing stuff and they each have a 'bird' made of a folded in half piece of paper that they flutter about stylistically (some of the orchestra members have some too that they flutter during his entrance aria). description does not do it justice, this was a beautiful way to stage it...so simple and evocative.

the designer was saying in the interview between acts that this production was meant to combine the high and low tech aspects of theater to connect present performance practice with the opera as it was originally done (hence the visible orchestra) and i looove that philosophy. and it worked here really well i think

THE FOLEY AND PROJECTION ARTISTS. STARS OF THE SHOW. i am not joking

they get to be onstage (albeit off to the sides) the whole show too and i love it. i love that the cameras on the broadcast kept cutting to them periodically to show off their work.

the use of live projection art was really well done -- he managed to make Writing On A Chalkboard captivating!!

and the foley. the FOLEY!!! i've done sound design and a bit of live foley before so i have a soft spot but wooow she did an amazing job and it was SO much fun to see all the props she played with to make the scenes come alive sonically. plus her little interactions with papageno were very funny. give her a tony award

i do think there were a couple of small moments here and there that didn't entirely work for me or a scene or two that dragged out longer than necessary but overall it was a joy to watch. the beautiful and whimsical design of the whole thing totally makes it worthwhile even if the plot itself is a bit lacking.

easily THE coolest production design i've seen the met do yet, and the best lighting and projections from them for sure. when it comes on demand i am forcing anyone i can to watch it with me bc that SET! the LIGHTING! the SOUND! the STAGING! it ticks all my boxes it hits all my buttons it was MADE for ME SPECIFICALLY