#also the last screenshot is from a promo pic from hbo

[silveryinkystar]

On the subject of this week’s episode, which really set me straight on how much I will cry in season 2, I really adored the details on Iorek’s and Iofur’s armour.

I’ve already spoken about the Svalbard bears’ armour in this post but I wanted to point out a few more things:

Firstly: The Helmets.

[Note: screenshots not mine]

Iorek’s helmet was clearly made after he was kicked out from Svalbard. The book (I think) goes a bit more into the significance of the armour which also answers Lyra’s question in the latest episode, “How can bears make their souls?”

More importantly, it tells the audience that Iorek had to make entirely new armour for himself after he was kicked out, and the way his helmet is crafted is a fine way of showing it. It’s rusty, dented and scratched, clearly put together from pieces of sky-iron that he found. It also fits perfectly around his head and is incredibly durable, so points to Iorek for resourcefulness and expertise.

Iofur’s helmet, meanwhile, is incredibly elaborate. The picture doesn’t fully show it, but there’s a metal plate in the shape of a plume, in a very familiar Roman style. It also covers Iofur’s face more fully, with eye holes and protection over the jaw (in the shape of a snarling maw with fangs!). It’s very fancy (dare I say impractical) and so very human.

Which, in the end, is the point. Iofur wants to be human so bad, he starts incorporating it into the way his armour is made. The helmet itself speaks volumes.

Another detail I liked was how the sentry bears in Svalbard don’t have this much detail on their helmets. Their armour seems more practical than Iofur’s (image below).

Second: The rest of the armour

(Apologies for the quality, also the last image is not mine)

There are a few similarities in both Iorek’s and the sentry bear’s armours: the layered plating, what I’m going to call the breastplate. This makes a lot of sense given the way they move - they’d need the armour to move with them, not hinder them.

The shoulder pads and greaves, though, are missing on Iorek’s armour. One could assume that he didn’t have enough metal to make them all, but the engravings on the greave in the last picture make me wonder whether they were even originally part of the armour. Greaves and gauntlets are a very human thing in armour. Bears, who use their paws all the time, would probably not immediately think of them as necessary components of armour. Also, why would they even need shoulder pads? Those would only restrict movement (considering that they’re bears).

However, what interests me most about the differences is whether the panserbjorne already had armour that looked this smooth and well-made, or was it Iofur who brought in these changes? I can kind of guess on the helmet ‘plume’ and extravagant engravings on Iofur’s own, but the rest seems vague enough.

[tessaxjanelle]

Janelle Monáe and Tessa Thompson: 2015-2018 Timeline

2014/2015:

Tessa's dad introduced her to Janelle's music. 

Janelle and Tessa officially met while auditioning for a part in the movie Joy.

April 13 2015:

Tessa was featured in Janelle’s music video as a background dancer for “Yoga” (x)

May 30 2015:

Janelle performed at the MOCA charity gala in LA  - Tessa attended as well. (x)

August 22 2015:

Issa Rae, Justin Simien, Tessa, Janelle, and Angela Bassett hang out backstage at the Eephus Tour. (x)

November 7 2015:

Janelle received the “Equality Award” at the 18th Annual Women’s Event hosted by the Center in New York (NYC’s LGBT Community Center). Tessa presented her with the award that night. (x) (x) (x)

November 20 2015:

Janelle surprised Tessa on the red carpet at the Creed premiere - the film that really launched Tessa’s career. (x) (x)

November 27 2015: 

In an interview, Tessa talked about Creed and her favorite singers. She talked about Janelle first: (x)

“I’m going to give a shout out to my friend Janelle Monáe. She is fantastically talented. I got the chance to give her an award. She sang her a capella rendition of “Smile” in a room for some friends, and she just killed it.”

December 2015:

Janelle, Tessa, and other friends took a trip to Mexico for Janelle’s birthday. 

For the most part, Janelle and Tessa were very quiet in 2016, most likely due to the fact Tessa was on location for most of the year filming Thor: Ragnarok and Annihilation.

December 7 2016:

Tessa posts a pic on instagram and Janelle comments with hearts emojis (link is broken).

February 25 2017:

Tessa and Janelle both attended the annual Oscars Week “Sistah’s Soiree” at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. (x) (x) 

February 26 2017:

The night of the Oscar’s. (x)

August 6 2017:

Tessa posts a picture on Instagram, and Janelle comments a heart eyes emoji. (x)

August 22 2017: 

Out with Rowan Blanchard. (x)

August 24 2017:

Boots Riley out with Tessa, Janelle, Carrie Brownstein, and Nate. (x)

August 26 2017:

Tessa and Janelle at Ava DuVernay’s birthday party. (x) (x) (x) 

September 9 2017:

Tessa and Janelle at an outdoor music/film event in LA. (x) (x) (x) (x)

September 15/16 2017:

Tessa tweeted about Janelle. (x) 

Later it was found out that Janelle did an impromptu performance and said the line Tessa tweeted about. You can see Tessa off to the right in the second linked video around the 1 minute mark. (x) (x) 

September 16 2017: 

Tessa and Janelle attended the annual Equality California Awards (EQCA’s), an award show that honors individuals who work to help create a more equal society for the LGBT community. (x) (x) (x) 

September 17 2017:

The pair were seen cuddled up at the HBO Emmy’s after party. (x) (x) 

Janelle later posted about it. (x)

October 4 2017: 

Tessa quoted Janelle birthday wishes on Twitter. (x) 

October 5 2017:

Tessa posted on Instagram pictures of the flowers she received for her birthday. Janelle just so happens to send flowers exactly like the ones Tessa posted about. (x) (x)

October 8 2017:

Issa Rae threw a last minute “Lemon Pepper Kickback” house party in Atlanta - Tessa and Janelle attended. (x) (x) (x) 

Earlier in the night, Tessa, Janelle, and Amandla Stenberg attended a Nick Hakim concert. (x) (x) (x) 

According to another concert go-er that attended Nick’s show that night, Tessa and Janelle were touching each other a lot and were calling each other baby. (x)

October 12 2017:

On Instagram, Janelle posted a screenshot of a conversation between her and “the love of [her] life” and referred to this person as her “partner”. She deleted quickly. 

Many think Tessa sent the message because she had used the same phrasing regarding the Time’s Up movement in an interview (specifically the word endured), and worked closely with the Time’s Up movement that year. 

Also from other receipts, we know they call each other baby/babe a lot.

October 20 2017:

Twitter user __theluckyyyone tweeted: @janellemonae is definitely next to @tessamaethompson.

October 22 2017:

Someone verified received an email from Janelle. Janelle mentions Tessa in the email. (x)

October 27 2017:

Janelle and Tessa were seen with friends for dinner, sitting next to each other (links are broken).

November 8 2017:

Janelle tweets about Tessa, her "talented friend” (x) 

December 9 2017:

Out with Lena Waithe. (x)

December 14 2017:

Some mentioned that Tessa was in Atlanta.

December 15/16 2017:

During these two days, Janelle tweeted a lot. However, the tweet linked was the only tweet Tessa liked. (x)

Nobody is knows exactly when Tessa left ATL, but she was in LA the 17th for West World’s season 2 wrap a party. 

January 3 2018: 

Tessa was spotted in Atlanta. January 5 2018:

Both spotted at a café in Atlanta. The Twitter user who posted about it now has their tweets protected so I can’t link the tweet. 

January 28 2018: 

Janelle gave a Time’s Up speech on The Grammys stage, and a tweet storm from Tessa “supportive gf” Thompson followed. 

January 29 2018:

Tessa and Janelle were seen at the Black Panther premiere together. (x) (x)

They later left together as well (you can see Janelle by Nate in the first video, and then Tessa running to catch up with Nate in the second video). (x) (x) 

January 30 2018:

They were spotted having dinner together. (x)

February 5 2018:

Janelle and Tessa went live on Instagram.

Here are some of the best moments in gif form. (x) (x) (x) (x)

Zoe Kravitz also spilled some tea. (x)

February 5 2018:

2 Dope Queens premiere. (x)

February 11/12 2018: 

Tessa posted Instagram stories with Janelle and Nate. No one saved the video.

February 13 2018:

Tessa and Janelle attended the Annihilation premiere, and were photographed with on another on the actual red carpet. (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Lip readers were able to decipher some of what they said to each other on the read carpet. Note the the gif where Janelle says sorry babe. (x) (x) 

February 16 2018:

The trailer for Dirty Computer was released. (x) 

Here are two clips from it: 

February 20 2018:

Janelle’s cover spread for W Magazine dropped. Jordan Peele directed, and Tessa approved. 

February 22 2018:

Janelle released her first two singles off of Dirty Computer. Make Me Feel has been coined a bisexual anthem (Tessa’s words, not mine), and up until this point, it had been the closest thing we’ve seen to a coming out from Janelle. 

Tessa also stars in the music video: 

Credit for the next two gifs (x)

Credit for the next two gifs (x)

Tessa posted about it as well. (x)

February 23 2018:

Tessa did an interview with Entertainment Tonight, and in that interview she pretended she didn’t know what shipping meant, even though we know she’s familiar with different Internet lingo.

She was also heavily stumbled over her words before she was able to get a "we’re really good friends" out. (x)

February 24 2018:

Janelle tweeted about Annihilation. Peep Wondaland liking the second tweet. (x)

February 26 2018:

Janelle tweeted something romantic the same day they both attended the Wrinkle in Time premiere (no pictures were taken together). 

Here are the tweets: (x) (x)

February 28 2018:

Tessa and Janelle both attended Alfre Woodard’s 2018 Pre-Oscars Soiree (x)

March 2 2018: 

Tessa attends Janelle’s Fem the Future event. (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Janelle went live on Instagram, and it appeared throughout the whole event that wherever Tessa was, Janelle was right by her. 

March 3 2018:

Janelle and Tessa attended the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Event.

Pictures: (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Janelle revealing how her and Tessa first met. (x)

Janelle interrupted an interview Tessa was doing on the red carpet (and proceeded to hold Tessa’s hand) and presented Tessa with an award.

Watch Tessa try to contain her smitten smile from 2:25 and on after Janelle walks away... So cute. 

March 10 2018:

Tessa was in Miami for VCCarnaval Event.

A instagram story was posted that showed she was talking about Janelle with her friends. (x)

She left Miami that day. 

March 13 2018:

Tessa tweeted about "Paddington 2 and chill."

Janelle was in London at the time doing promo for Dirty Computer, and later we found out that Tessa was also in London at the same time. (x)

March 18 2018:

Janelle wants her own Josie Radek (Tessa’s character from Annihilation). She later deleted the Instagram story. (x)

March 19 2018:

The twitter page @tessasgoats comes to life, and both Tessa and Janelle follow it. Janelle was liking many of the pictures the twitter page was posting.  March 25 2018:

This is more so speculation, but there was an article/interview about Janelle that basically said that Janelle was the truth. After a short time, Tessa tweeted "the truth is so cute" - Janelle liked. (x)

There's also a response to the tweet too from Tessa. (x)

March 30 2018:

Tessa commented on Janelle's Instagram post with a rose emoji. Janelle replied to Tessa with a rose emoji. (x) (x)

Tessa also liked this picture within 3 minutes of Janelle posting it. 

April 1 2018:

Tessa posts about an artist. Janelle followed it. (x) (x)

April 3 2018:

What Janelle’s Twitter page looked like that day. (x)

April 6-8 2018:

Tessa went out of her way to be at Nate’s birthday bash in Miami. She left the 8th, and tweeted about delayed flights. 

April 10 2018:

PYNK dropped and Lena Waithe commented on Janelle’s Instagram, “That’s how you feel? Perfect.”

April 11 2018:

Ava DuVernay gave us some good tea when she posted this on her Instagram story. (x)

April 26 2018:

The day before Dirty Computer dropped, Janelle came out as pansexual the Rolling Stone. (x)

April 27 2018:

Dirty Computer’s emotion picture dropped. In Janelle's note to Tessa in the album booklet, she called Tessa her muse. (x) (x)

April 28 2018:

Justin Simien (creator of Dear White People) made a post on Instagram where he called them "wives" with a screen-cap of the PYNK video. He deleted it, and uploaded a new one with different caption.

May 2 2018: 

Janelle arrived in Philly for Michele Obama's College Signing Day. Tessa was in Philly filming for Creed II. 

They were spotted by 2 different people late at night. (x) (x)

After Tessa came out, this receipt dropped from that night as well. (x)

May 5 2018:

They were both in NYC but were staying in different hotels. Janelle was at The Mark, and Tessa was at The Bowery. 

This was also the day of Janelle's 'Dirty Computer' NYC album release party. They arrived separately, and Tessa stayed for an hour. (x) (x) (x)

May 7 2018:

They both attended the Met Gala and the after parties. They were by each other the whole time. (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

May 9 2018:

They went to see the play Angels in America, and had dinner at Chez Josephine restaurant. (x) 

People tweeted about it. (x) (x)

May 15 2018:

Janelle followed @thombrowneny (the guy who designed Tessa's outfits for the Met Gala). 

May 17 2018:

Janelle followed Marc Anthony Thompson (Tessa’s dad). (x) 

May 20 2018: 

Janelle was seen in Philly.

May 21 2018:

Janelle tweeted about Sorry to Bother You, and Tessa retweeted it. (x)

May 23 2018:

Tessa posted a birthday video to her dad on Instagram. Janelle commented with a heart and Tessa responded with a rose. (x)

Janelle also commented on Tessa’s dad’s picture. (x)

May 24 2018:

Janelle posted a picture on Instagram with Michelle Obama, and Tessa commented on it. Jane replied with a rose emoji. (x)

May 25 2018:

Tessa being supportive on Twitter. (x)

May 28 2018:

Tessa’s friend’s dog dancing to PYNK on her story. (x)

May 31 2018:

Speculation so make what you want of this - While in LA (where Tessa lives) Janelle posted on her story saying "it's just not the same without you.” (x)

While in Philly shooting Creed II, Tessa then proceeded to post on her story, "misery loves company" while fake crying. (x)

Janelle then deleted her story after Tessa posted her’s.

June 3 2018:

Janelle liked a drawing with both of them from PYNK on Twitter. (x)

June 8 2018:

Spotted in LA. (x)

June 11 2018:

Janelle’s tour started in Seattle. 

Tessa posted flamingoes on her Instagram story before it. (x)

June 14 2018:

There was a special screening of Sorry to Bother You in LA. Janelle came straight from Portland (she had a show there the 13th) just to support Tessa. (x) 

There was an Instagram story (that no one saved) where you can see Janelle and Tessa by each other mingling at the after party. Janelle apparently also greeted Tessa with a hug and kiss on the cheek before she went in to the viewing.

June 15 2018:

Janelle tweeted about Tessa and Sorry to Bother You. (x) (x)

June 19 2018:

Tessa liked these pictures of Janelle on Instagram. (x) (x)

June 20 2018:

Tessa was in NYC promoting Sorry to Bother You, but two days later Janelle unarchived a photo where she’s wearing the same outfit Tessa was wearing while in NYC. (x) 

June 26 2018:

Tessa put a pride flag in her bio on Instagram. (x)

June 29 2018:

Tessa came out as bisexual in an interview she did for Net-a-Porter. (x)

She also said this about her and Janelle: “We love each other deeply, we’re so close. We vibrate on the same frequency.”

It’s already been added previously, but this receipt came a day after Tessa came out. It has to do with the dinner date they had in Philly back in May. (x)

July 14 & 15 2018:

Janelle continued to promote Sorry to Bother You. (x) (x)

July 22 2018:

Tessa posted two stories on Instagram showing the crowd going crazy over her being featured on the screen while Janelle performs PYNK. (x) (x)

July 27 2018:

The two songs Janelle was featured on for Sorry to Bother You were released. (x) (x)

July 31 2018:

Tessa posted two flamingos on her Instagram story. Flamingos are gay symbol, specifically a symbol for lesbian marriage ( I’m not saying Tessa and Janelle are married). Flamingos also mate for life. 

August 4 2018:

Janelle liked the last 3 pictures Tessa had posted (at the time) and unarchived an old picture of them with Zoe. (x)

August 22 2018:

Janelle’s hairstylist posted a picture of Janelle from her spread with Bustle. Tessa liked it. (x)

September 4 2018:

Tessa liked Janelle's video on Instagram. (x)

September 9 2018:

Tessa liked Janelle’s tweet. (x)

September 11 2018: 

Tessa attended Janelle’s first show in London. There were a lot of tweets about her and Janelle. (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

People were also reporting that Tessa cried. (x) (x) 

On TLC, an anon who was at the show posted this:

So I was in the London crowd tonight and had a pretty good view of both Tessa and Janelle. What a night! Really didn’t expect this. Tessa seemed to stand on top of a step or something so she was pretty visible. Nate was maybe 4 meters away from her by the mixing booth. A couple of things I noticed:

Tessa did not look at the screen when the audience cheered for her video clip appearance during PYNK. She kept looking away during moments like this throughout the evening. A couple of people took selfies with her so she must have been aware of people watching. She laughed a lot during I Got the Juice, particularly when Janelle told the crowd: ‘If I point at you - you will come on stage and you will dance!’ … 

Tessa seemed to giggle and repeated Janelle’s pointing motion followed by a simulated lasso into Janelle’s direction. She was on the phone throughout the rhythm dance intro in the beginning of Make me Feel… We all know what happened next - she must have gone live soon after

There were a couple of moments where she was flat out beaming.

Tessa was laughing really hard when Janelle did the microphone dildo pose…

Note how Janelle snuck in an 'I see you baby’ at the end… Not sure if she meant the crowd or someone particular there  

Tessa was watching the whole thing with her bright, beaming smile - that was definitely one of those moments when you could see that they have a connection. It was a great thing to see the two across from each other.

I remember watching Tessa’s reaction to the 'If I’m gonna sin it’s with you line’ and she was definitely singing / speaking along with the lyrics… and then Janelle inserted 'London’." 

September 13 2018:

Tessa, Janelle, and Zoe caught dinner at Sketch (a restaurant in London). (x)

September 14 2018:

Janelle traveled to Berlin, but posted an Instagram story showing her new flamingo rings. (x) 

A couple of hours later Tessa posted an Instagram story with a picture of a flamingo as well. 

September 17 2018:

Janelle’s a Revolution of Love documentary was released on Youtube. It included bloopers and unseen footage from the PYNK music video. (x) (x)

It also featured Tessa talking about what she loves about Janelle. Kehlani, who’s friends with Janelle, liked the tweet. (x)

September 26 2018:

Janelle retweeted Tessa’s tweet regarding the Creed II trailer that dropped the same day. (x)

October 2 2018:

The night before Tessa’s birthday, Janelle tweeted this. (x)

On the 3rd (her birthday), Tessa posted a video on her story of her dancing. 

October 3 2018:

Janelle started the day off by posting two images of flamingos on her story.

Janelle then proceeded to post this.

Lastly, she commented on Tessa’s post.

October 4 2018:

The day after her birthday, Tessa tweeted this in direct reference to Janelle’s tweet on the second that said, “Dance like a goat.” (x)

Dance like a Goat ended up being an actual song that Janelle and Wondaland created specifically for Tessa and her birthday. (x)

Janelle commented on Tessa’s post of her dancing. 

October 5 2018:

Dance like a Goat finally dropped! (x)

News that Janelle had been cast in Disney’s ‘Lady And The Tramp’ reboot was announced as well.

When it was announced that Tessa was going to be in the movie she tweeted the following:

When it was announced Janelle was going to be in it as well, she tweeted the same: 

Janelle had initially tweeted “woof woof” but then deleted it so she could match Tessa’s.

October 6 2018:

Some of Janelle’s likes regarding Dance like a Goat.

[attract-mode-collective]

With A Name Like “Skeleton: Smell of Death”, How Can A Game Go Wrong?

It’s finally here! Tho not just talking about Halloween; it’s starting to feel like fall, at long last. Hence why scenes like the one above, specifically the colors, are becoming a bit more common.

It’s by geographyofrobots, BTW/FYI. But it is Halloween, so how about a modest round up of stuff that has to do with today? Kinda/sorta.

Like this gathering of pixelated ghosts (via mendelpalace)...

What’s spookier than ghosts? Yup, skeletons, and for the past few, Classics of Game has been showcasing snippets of assorted spooky titles...

Not so much spooky but eerie are the target practice dolls that the E-102 uses in Sonic Adventure (via sonicthehedgeblog)...

Ever wondered what a Skulltula looks like IRL? It’s as creepy as one might imagine (via nintendocafe)...

As creepy is the idea of exploring an abandoned… rom hack? Like one for Castlevania 2? Brick By Brick has the details, and some lovely screenshots…

Speaking of creatures of the night, the following stars a wolf… not a werewolf, just a wolf… nor is it particularly Halloween related. Yet this music vid for Glockabelle feels appropriate to post nonetheless...

Back to games, it’s hard not to find recommendations this time of year, though if you want to play something a bit different, how about Trick Parade? It’s kinda like Earthbound, but also kinda like Wario Ware (via alpha-beta-gamer)...

Though if you’re into something more traditional, like a ghost story, there’s also Yurei Station (via freegameplanet)...

obscurevideogames is here to take us back to a time in which the box art often sets the expectation for the actual game a bit too high and mighty. As is the case with Skeleton: Smell of Death. With not only a name like that, but with such box art to boot…

… Bet you weren’t expecting a Space Invaders clone, huh?

We’re also reminded of how even the most obscurest of games has its fans (and fan artists)...

So I haven’t seen the new season of Stranger Things, though I recall a promo image of the kids dressed up as Ghostbusters for Halloween, which kinda bugged me. Cuz sorry, but in my day, this is what costumes looked like (via beerandrobots-blog)...

On a related note; am assuming the aforementioned Ghostbusters attire are homemade, hence why they look so good, and speaking of… now here’s a vid that’s not exactly video game related, but behold BitHead1000, aka host of “the greatest video game program in the history of human civilization”, making a CASE costume from the Interstellar anyway...

The best time of year for VGJUNK is this time of the year, though perhaps my fave article from this month has been this one for Drac’s Night Out, if only for this image…

Was hoping to update the previous post, starring the @RuiReiChannel family, with maybe a vid of everyone walking down the streets of Tokyo in their Super Famicom get-up, but none has been uploaded at the time of this writing. So instead, here’s another pic from the previous year, taken before a big Halloween meal…

[UPDATE] And here’s this year’s!

And speaking of families, time for another video from Tyler Esposito, whose father is often the topic of conversation. Though this one is a bit different; he was apparently a filmmaker? And here we have a short that he produced, which naturally taps into his love for video games, circa the early 80′s. Apparently this aired on HBO back then? Anyone out there remember seeing it?

Alright, it’s getting late, time to wrap things up, with an illustration by Bruno Moraes (via it8bit). Don’t get into too much trouble tonight, everyone...

Don’t forget: Attract Mode is now on Medium! There you can subscribe to keep up to date, as well as enjoy some “best of” content you might have missed the first time around, plus be spared of the technical issues that’s starting to overtake Tumblr.