#also white voice actor = more options for different designs

[potato-lord-but-not]

Followed you a long time ago for just how cool your art looks, finally decided to look into the podcast characters you like to draw! I just saw one ask asking if the character Oscar is POC, and I wonder are characters in those podcasts usually unclear in ethnicity, and the fandom can freely headcanon? Like I know if info is clearly very mentioned in the original work or there is official concept art then it would be easy, but I'm really scared if I headcanoned something that is completely different from implied canon info I didn't pick up/ info that showed up in an obscure interview. Do you have any advice in navigating information in podcast fandoms?

Usually with podcasts, you can go off of official art and or descriptions from the podcast. In the case of malevolent, hardly any characters, aside from the eldritch monsters that John likes to describe in detail, have a solid description of their looks. that’s why you get so many different variations of Noel and Oscar. Ofc there are context clues that can help you inform your design choices (or just context. like Oscar’s Scottish accent and the Butcher’s Irish accent. he may even have been described as being Irish but idk that’s besides the point, you can tell).

But even then you can play with it, like how I made Oscar mixed Scottish and Jamaican. And honestly! sometimes you can ignore it! like with Gordon from red valley, who I already had a design I liked before he was described as being pale and even implied to look white. but like I said ! you can have fun with it !

I also sometimes check voice actors, because in some instances you can’t tell someone’s ethnicity from their voice alone, and I’d hate to misinterpret their character because I couldn’t pick up on that. that’s more so a concern when the voice actor is POC tho. With malevolent tho it’s all done by Harlan, who is white, so I think headcanoning characters as different ethnicities is more important, and also way more fun.

Oh also! fandom wikis are a good place to double check. cus they’d definitely have something like that you may have missed- like something from an interview or the character’s full name, which can sometimes indicate their ethnicity ( like Parker Yang from malevolent, only shows up as a corpse in the show but important enough to Arthur that he’s still a fan favorite to make content about)

ghugh I’m rambling- I’d say the majority of the time you’re free to do whatever, just be open to change your design if descriptions come up later on (I’d say more importantly if they’re described to be POC, cus like with Gordon I think my design for him with more Afro centric features looks way cooler and feels more like him than anything I could come up with that would be more canon compliant). Also you can go off common fanon designs, but those are just mutually agreed upon and it’s not wrong to go against that. Like with the Magnus Archives there are no official designs and they let the people make whatever designs they please.

OKAY IG TLDR- do what you want, keep your ears open for character descriptions when listening, double check with character wikis or their voice actors, don’t be afraid to make more POC characters even of the cast is played by mostly white people because the more diverse cast the more fun and interesting your art will be.

[northoftheroad]

Dick Grayson’s Nightwing suits, Part Two

The return of the fingerstripes, design by Bruno Redondo, 2021. (First seen in Nightwing vol 4 # 88)

Dick’s original Nightwing suit in a version where he could zip up the deep v-neck and with a wrist-band firing tech. Tales of the Teen Titans Annual # 3. Writers Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, art Gorge Pérez and Dick Giordano. (1984)

Nightwing as an action figure and in a tv and comic cartoon. New Titans # 93. Writer Marv Wolfman, art Tom Grummett, Adam Hughes and Al Vey. (1992)

Elseworld Nightwing in New Teen Titans Annual # 10. Written by Marv Wolfman and Louise Simonson, art Scott Lee, Martin Griffiths, Kevin Conrad and Dan Davis. (1994)

Rebirth suit with glider wings. Nightwing vol 4 # 6. Written by Steve Orlando and Tim Seleey, art Roge Antonio. (2016)

Nightwing vol 4 # 39. Writer Sam Humphries, art Jamal Campbell, Phil Jimenez, Matt Santorelli. In a flashback, the first version of the “discowing” suit is made of Dick’s old workout gear. (2018)

Which artist doesn't love to be able to make new suits for their heroes...? At different times in future-timelines of Future State, Dick was shown wearing several different models. 

Future State: Nightwing # 1. Writer Andrew Constant, art Nicola Scott. (2021)

The Future State: Teen Titans story takes place a few years after Nightwing, but there's also a flashback with Dick in a suit that looks a lot like his current, but with a T on the belt. Future State: Teen Titans # 1. Writer Tim Sheridan, art Rafa Sandoval and Jordi Tarragona. (2021)

Teen Titans Academy # 1. A prequel title for the Future Staten Teen Titans that, honestly, I don’t expect will ever come to pass because I don’t believe a comic book company will or can tie their main comic book line to a future set in stone...

But anyway, it’s pretty much the current (2021) suit and the same as seen in the Furure State flashbacks. The old Titans have a T on their ordinary suits. Writer Tim Sheridan, art Rafa Sandoval. (2021)

The Man who Flies. in Batman Black & White (2021) # 5. Story and art Jamal Campell. A version of the Rebirth suit with glider wings – and it's probably those wings which gives the suit stripes on the side of his torso in a lighter colour.

Titans United # 1 (2021), a comic tied to the tv- show Titans. 

Nightwing in the Fanon-friendly Webtoon Batman: Wayne Family Adventures (2021). Episode # 7. Writing CRC Payne, inks Starbite, flats & rendering C M Cameron. 

Young Justice: Phantoms, season 4 (2021). 

In the Fantasy AU comic Dark Knights of Steel (2021). # 1, writer Tom Taylor, art Yasmine Putri.

Nightwing in the 2021 animated Injustice movie, where he of course dies and becomes the new Deadman.

Nightwing dress uniform in Teen Titans Academy # 9 (2021).

Nightwing in the third season of the animated Harley Quinn on HBO Max, with Harvey Guillen as voice actor. (2022)

Batman: Gotham Knights – Gilded city # 2 (2022), a tie-in prequel comic to the game Gotham Knights.

A number of costume options for Nightwing in the Gotham Knights game (2022).

Matching biker jacket in Nightwing vol 4 # 93 (2022).

Another version with glider wings in Nightwing vol 4 # 94 (2022).

Nightwing vol 4 # 104. (Dick gets a temporary new suit when he is tempted by a bad guy with the powers of Superman.)

In Batman Superman: World’s Finest # 21 (2023), main universe Batman and Superman visits Earth-22, known from Kingdom Come where Dick was called Red Robin. Here, he is called Nightwing and the artist Dan Mora wrote on X/former Twitter that this takes place before Dick became Red Robin. So there appears a retcon of Dick’s history on Earth-22 has taken place. 

(At least, it would make his daughter’s codename Nightstar more logical, if her parents were Starfire and Nightwing rather than Robin/Red Robin. And in the comic The Kingdom: Nightstar from 1999, a younger Dick is seen with a Nightwing-like suit.)

New Titans Annual vol 1 # 7 (1991) A confusing story, but I guess this is supposed to be Dick… (from a time when the title was long past its glory, if you ask me…) It’s supposed to be future Dick, in a time where the other original Titans are lost and Dick is fighting with a new group. A time-travelling character sees this future by touching an unconscious Dick.

Batman: Dark Ages (2024) # 6. By Mark Russell and Michael Allred.

Boy Wonder # 1 (2024), by Juni Ba.

Batwheels, with Cassandra Cain as Batgirl.

Se also Dick Grayson’s Nightwing suits, Part one:  

https://northoftheroad.tumblr.com/post/618292087194025984/dick-graysons-nightwing-suits

[kimkitsuragi]

Final Cut News!

All right, so, by now most people are probably aware that we got a glut of new information about Disco Elysium: The Final Cut yesterday. However, so much content from so many sources can be a bit overwhelming, so I’m making a roundup of links to all the new articles, art, music, and videos I can find, highlighting the details that I personally find interesting.

(under a read more because this will be quite a long post!)

To start with, new official art of Harry and Kim has been released! This art was created by Anton Vill, who did the art for the in-game Thought Cabinet.

ZA/UM's Head of Publishing, Mikk Metsniit, also posted art of Martinaise in the official Disco Elysium Discord. This art has been shared in lower quality before as part of a promotional image for the collector’s edition of Disco Elysium, which will include it as an “illustrated fabric map”. The file Metsniit posted is named “Martinaise Revitalization ‘48.″ In-universe, a design studio previously made an attempt to restore Martinaise to its pre-war state, but ultimately failed. This piece appears to show the planned development of Martinaise--except it’s being swallowed up by the Pale. Fun!

Along with the first piece of art come two new songs by British Sea Power, which will be featured in the final cut:

Advesperascit, named after the city in Vesper-Messina where Dolores Dei was crowned Innocence in-universe. Apparently the name is Latin and roughly translates to “evening comes”

Ignus Nilsen Waltz, named after a prominent communist figure in-universe.

I think these songs will likely be tied to the new political vision quests, which are four new questlines that are each associated with one of the game’s four political ideologies. More information about them, along with other details, can be found in the following articles and videos:

Disco Elysium - The Final Cut Is Like Going From A Black-And-White Movie To Color, article from GameSpot’s Phil Hornshaw. In this article, voice over director Jim Ashilevi talks about adding full voice acting to the game and says that The Final Cut will feature 59 voice actors from countries around the world, chosen to reflect the backgrounds of Revachol’s diverse inhabitants. Lead artist Kaspar Tamsalu speaks about the political vision quests, saying that they will allow the player to meet new characters, learn more about the existing ones, and dive deeper into the politics, secrets, and history of Elysium. Tamsalu also says that The Final Cut will add the ability to fast travel and include Twitch integration, allowing stream viewers to vote on streamers’ decisions and even influence the build of the protagonist.

Biggest Changes In Disco Elysium - The Final Cut, video from GameSpot’s Phil Hornshaw, accompanies the above article. This is a fairly short overview of The Final Cut’s new features as detailed in GameSpot’s article. It includes samples of new voice acting, clips of new animations from the end of the game involving the protagonist and his coworkers (1:47, 2:05), a scene showing a new area added by one of the political vision quests (1:57), and a particularly funny voiced line from Kim (3:22)

‘Disco Elysium: The Final Cut’ comes out March 30. Here’s what’s new.  Article from The Washington Post’s Elise Favis. Includes more details about the political vision quests. According to developer Kaspar Tamsalu, these quests may be started after one in-game day, and are mutually exclusive so that only one may be completed in each playthrough. Jim Ashilevi talks more about the challenge of recording all of the game’s dialogue--more than one million words in total--without outsourcing the work to other studios. Ashilevi also says that he sees ZA/UM as an “art collective”, and “compares his team to the Wu-Tang Clan, in that each person has other creative endeavors, both personal and professional, outside of creating video games.”

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut even gives your horrific necktie a voice. Very brief article from PCGamer’s Fraser Brown. Not much new information in this article, but there is one interesting tidbit: apparently the Horrific Necktie’s voice will be provided by Mikee Goodman, who is one of the game’s voice over directors. Goodman also provides the voices of the Ancient Reptilian Brain, the Limbic System, and several other characters.

Disco Elysium is getting even more political, a long article from PC Gamer’s Fraser Brown. Lead writer Helen Hindpere talks more about the political vision quests, which she says ZA/UM was inspired to add based on fans’ enthusiastic reception of the game’s existing political themes. Hindpere says that the new quests can change the game’s map itself, allowing the protagonist to leave his own mark on the district of Martinaise. The quests will also allow for deeper and more serious exploration of the protagonist’s political views, which were often taken to humorous extremes in the original game. Each quest is different, with some being more wordy and some more visual. The Ultraliberal quest will allow the player to “build a personal brand”, while the communist quest “inspires you to begin a movement”. One quest also adds a new urban location to the game, which Hindpere says reminds her of Berlin. The quests don’t just revolve around a single topic, though; according to Hindpere, "You'll be talking about love, sexuality, hope, ambition, and even about certain geological features specific to our worldbuilding. There's an opportunity to get close and intimate with characters who have thus far seemed unapproachable. Let's say that once you share the same ideology many barriers disappear, allowing you see a different side of many important characters." There will also be a significant amount of new dialogue with Kim Kitsuragi related to these quests.

Disco Elysium PS5 Gameplay - 5 Things You Need To Know, fairly long video from PlayStation Access’ Ash Millman. This video provides some basic information about the game’s premise for new players and shows what the game will look like on PlayStation 5, with a user interface redesigned for the console. The video also includes clips throughout that show some new content, presumably from the political vision quests. Three of these clips seems to be connected: in the first of them, wires are shown that run from the battery of the protagonist’s crashed car to radio equipment set up on and around the statue in the center of Martinaise; in the second, Soona, the radiocomputer programmer from the church questline, can been seen climbing the statue itself to set up some more equipment; and in the third, Soona, Harry, and Kim stand near the modified statue, talking about attempting to contact the flying warship Archer via radio. There are also two other clips: in one, the statue has been splashed with multicolored paints, while in the other the protagonist is seen talking to Idiot Doom Spiral, a local drunk, about hiring him for an unspecified job. Millman also talks about the three different settings that will be available for the game’s voice over: “Classic Mode” will play the same as the original game, with only a few lines voiced, while “Psychological Mode” will provide voice acting for all characters except the protagonist’s internal monologue and skills. The last option, “Fully Voiced Mode” is, well, exactly what it sounds like. There’s also a brief clip that provides a sample of the Horrific Necktie’s new voice (1:26).

DISCO ELYSIUM - The Final Cut (Cuno Voice Example), YouTube video shared by developer Mikk Metsniit. Video is age-restricted. This video includes new voice samples for Cuno, a few of the skills, and Kim. Due to COVID-19, Cuno’s original voice actor, Dot Major, was unable to return, so Cuno is now voiced by Oli Dabiri. Lenval Brown, the narrator of the English language trailers, acts as the game’s general narrator and voice of all 24 skills. Jullian Champenois remains as Kim.

[scope-dogg]

Some new SRW 30 info dropped on Famitsu.

In addition to the Huckebein 30 which is the original protagonist mecha, there’s also this new original battleship to serve as the player’s flagship. V, X and T all had cameo space battleship entries as part of the licensed cast (Yamato in V, Nadia in X, Harlock in T) but 30 doesn’t, and from my knowledge on the series that are in (at least the ones I’ve seen) the potential choice of battleships is pretty sparse. The Ra Cailum from CCA is a high likelihood to return unchanged from T, as is the NSX from Rayearth (thought that’s probably a mid-to-late game acquisition.) The Argama from Zeta and the Reinforce Jr. from Victory Gundam are both potential options but I doubt they’ll want to go for more than 1 Gundam battleship (and Captain Gomez’s voice actor apparently died a fair while ago now.) The third Code Geass movie is listed as a units-only entry, meaning that the Ikaruga’s a potential addition but it only appeared very briefly in that movie and not at all in Lelouch of the Ressurection so I doubt it. I know there’s a spaceship in Majestic Prince but from what little I’ve seen it’s more or less just a transport for the main cast’s robots and from what I can tell it doesn’t have any real armament. In light of all that it makes sense for them to add an OG battleship. Apparently it’s called the “Dry strager” or something that sounds like that, I’m sure the spelling will be different in the official translation.

For what it’s worth I love the design. It has a bunch of smaller launch bays for the small-mid size robots and apparently that big disk in the centre mass is meant to be the launch gate for the biggest super robots. It’s always been a point of inconsistency (and occasionally humour) in the older SRW games that there were battleships from the likes of the Gundam series and Nadesico that were having to play host to mecha that were way too fucking big for them, and this at least seems to be making an effort to sidestep that.

In terms of other roster announcements, it’s mostly just new screenshots of stuff that we already saw in the trailer, with two exceptions:

The Betterman portion of Gaogaigar vs Betterman isn’t being left out, Lamia has made it in as a playable character. I definitely don’t recognise this Betterman form though, it must be one that’s exclusive to the manga. I need to get round to reading that (or what’s been translated so far,) but I think I definitely need to rewatch Betterman first, the lore for that is really wild and I don’t remember it that well. Honestly that was the last series I was expecting to have to rewatch when preparing for the next SRW entry.

The other, less exciting new confirmation is that the White Ark from Victory has made it in, shown here getting bullied by Zoltan and Sinanju Stein.

Otherwise the article’s mostly talking about the new, more free-form mission structure. I’ve got some slightly mixed feelings about that, I think allowing players a lot of freedom in choosing what order to play missions in might necessitate having the plot be less tightly constructed that previous entries, but it’s potentially exciting if it’s pulled off well. Assuming your moon-roon deciphering abilities are as feeble as mine, here’s the video I watched where a guy looks over the article and gives his commentary.

[lizardrosen]

National Theater Live King Lear

Hello, here is a ridiculously long review of this production! I just had a lot of feelings and thoughts!

Setting/Staging/Mood

I really loved the sound design for this one. It’s hard to describe, but the chords gave it a real presence and sense of motion. It was vaguely reminiscent of horror movie music in the way the chords lingered and didn’t blend in seamlessly, but I wouldn’t call it horror music exactly. The BELL tolling while Lear zips up his folder was such a good first image and bit of sound. And there were drinking songs, which I always love to see in a play. Put that Epic Theater technique straight in my mouth!

The circle in the middle that’s red in the first half and white in the second was a really creative detail, and the actors used that space effectively, especially with overlapping exits and entrances to make it feel that scenes happened in different locations while still being thematically connected.

The opulence and ceremony of the  first scene gradually gives way to the more sparse and modern staging of act five — formal military dress to fatigues

I love how Lear raises his hand in prayer and command, compelling everyone else to follow suit to show their devotion and allegiance (and is there a difference between their king and their gods in this world?) even when they’re unsure about whether he’s right to be so cruel to Cordelia.

The recurring imagery of money changing hands really fits in well with the theme of love as currency that’s already in the text!

The single tree in the background of act five gave me Waiting For Godot vibes, which works SO WELL with the absurdism and nihilism of Lear.

Thoughts about specific characters under the cut!

Edgar! My SON!!

Luke Thompson is the reason I’ve wanted so badly to watch this production; ever since I saw his standout performance as Laertes in the 2017 Almeida Theater production, and found out he’s also played Orestes and Edgar, I’ve just been rabid about it!

It’s neat to see him actually at the ceremony of the first scene, with Edmund already Literally in his shadow.

He’s a little less hapless and distracted than most of the Edgars I’ve seen, a little more watchful. In 1.2 he’s actually pushing back against Edmund’s insistence that he’s in danger, and then in 2.1 there’s a long moment of just Looking at Edmund’s knife before he flees.

Similarly, his decision to become Poor Tom felt a bit more calculated. It’s not that he isn’t scared and lost and desperate, because he definitely is, but the plan itself doesn’t seem to grow out of that feeling as much as he (sort of) calmly looked at his options.

Of course, he doesn’t stay calm; that agonized scream when he actually cuts himself, and later on when he sees his father blinded and screams “World, world, o world!” really feels like he’s letting something out, and more than usual he seems to have been holding this part of himself back for a long time.

The counterpart to that is the self that does the watching — it’s a part of all Edgars that makes him a really compelling character, with his self-aware asides, but it’s particularly pronounced here — there’s a moment where he says “Bless thy five wits!” in his normal voice, and then catches himself and has to reassert the role he’s playing for his own safety.

At times he’s very impatient and frustrated while leading Gloucester, but he also cares about him a lot and is so terrified that he’s actually died when he “fell” from the cliff, this poor boy’s entire body is trembling!

He instinctively moves to protect Gloucester from Lear when he gets more violent and unpredictable with “find these son-in-laws and KILL KILL KILL” and it was a good moment

Gives into his own viciousness in the fight with Oswald, and then, Hamlet-like, lugs the guts into the neighbor room.

Edgar doesn’t seem to know if he wants his dad to recognize him or not — he puts Gloucester’s hand on his face, but then as soon as he seems about to realize who he is he very quickly takes it away again and gets them moving

He’s even more desperate and reckless than Edmund in their duel, but then once Edmund is fatally injured, he’s right by his side, holding his hand, helping him through it!

He needs Lear to recognize Kent, he needs Lear to not be dying, he’s so sincere, but then he decides if he can’t save anyone here he can at least help Albany to help the country heal and pledges himself to the future.

Lear

Awful but also very pitiable, more like a human losing his grip and knowing it, than just a Vessel for themes that are echoed in other characters.

Lashes out at himself more than at other people, but he definitely still does both.

“But they shall be the terrors of the earth” is just a man who’s terrified to be losing his words.

He has bad knees and everyone knows it but he keeps trying to kneel, and sometimes it feels like he’s mocking his daughters — look how much I’m suffering for you even though you’re ungrateful — and sometimes it feels like he’s forgotten his own body’s limitations.

Spends a lot of time offering physical comfort to other characters, since he can’t be a dad for his real daughters.

His flower crown scene was Just ophelia, and I think that’s beautiful.

aaaaa, his helpless grief for Cordelia! He moves the noose from her neck to his!! and then he takes out a handgun and threatens everyone away from him, but he’s just so helpless and sad!

Edmund! my other son!

I was a little surprised to see that this actor is James Corrigan, because I recognized him as Roderigo in the RSC Othello, and he’s sort of the anti-Edmund, so I was excited to see the contrast, but honestly there wasn’t as much of a contrast as I expected. He had many of the same cringing appeasing mannerisms, but in a way that makes it clear that he’s aware of his unfair situation in a way his Roderigo really isn’t. Despite being a bastard he has a lot more social power and mobility than Roderigo so he doesn’t seem nearly as pathetic.

Other Edmunds are composed and precise in their soliloquies because this is the one place no one will see them planning things out, and this Edmund is babbling and overwhelmed because this is the one place no one will see him feeling things, because feeling things is dangerous.

He’s so! scared! of his dad! It’s painful to watch, and it’s almost as painful to watch how he’s still looking for approval and respect from Gloucester. Someone save this boy!

He gets in WAY over his head, and it feels like he’s scrambling at every turn, but then at some point he just levels up and strides with confidence, and it’s really good to see.

oh my god, oh my god, he saw everything that happened with Gloucester! After everyone else leaves he comes out from his hiding place looking just devastated. He hated his dad, but he never hated him that much, and by the time he couldn’t stomach it any longer there was no way for him to escape, and then he’s still processing it when he sees that the Fool was also there, and he has to kill him because no one can know he was there. I SCREAMED when this moment happened, it was so good!

WOW, he’s so smooth, it’s no wonder both the sisters want a piece of that! It’s more of a power play with Regan, and a little more courtly with Goneril, and he just knows what each of them want and need from him.

When Lear and Cordelia are captured, Lear says “As if we were God’s spies” and he’s still kingly enough that the soldiers drop to their knees and lift their hands in allegiance, and Edmund has to rush in to make one of them stand up while saying “Take them away” sort of impatiently, and then he immediately checks the order he’s written for their deaths, because he’s just seen how dangerous it is for these two to be kept alive. aaaaa, and then when the captain hesitates, he holds a gun to his temple on “Either say thou’lt do’t, or thrive by other means” !! I love that line and I love the sheer range of deliveries I’ve seen for it!

The wonder in his voice at “Yet Edmund was beloved.” is really good! He’s so desperate to do some good by the end, and I love! Edmund of Gloucester!

Kent

Having Kent played by a woman does some really neat things to the character, not least of which is crossdressing Caius! She sort of feels like she overperforms toxic masculinity to fit into the culture of Lear’s retinue. Other Kents seem to be allowing their latent desires and bluntness to emerge with this role, but this Kent isn’t suited to it, and sometimes she gets a little carried away or makes missteps like beating up Oswald, but she has to see it through, for Lear’s sake.

Kent also doesn’t feel Big In Love with Lear, but she’s definitely devoted to him — and even more than that, she’s devoted to the image of loyalty itself.

Her genuine affection for Cordelia, and pride to see how she’s doing as a queen, is really sweet and good!

After she’s been banished, she rushes out of the throne room as Burgundy and France enter, covering her face like she’s desperately trying to hold back her tears.

She’s with the French soldiers looking for Lear, and is the one who tells him “You shall have anything!”

At the end she’s not exactly surprised that Lear doesn’t connect her with Caius, and she’s not upset (about that part of it anyway, plenty of things in this scene are upsetting), but she’s definitely feeling something.

ahhhh, she picks up Lear’s handgun and sort of cradles it to her side when she prepares for her final journey! sweetheart!

Gloucester

he’s just! a terrible father!! simply the worst!

A lot of the time Gloucester isn’t a very good dad just because he’s friendly and careless and just not paying attention to how he’s treating his sons; this one is actively awful and I actively hate him!!

From the very first scene he’s so scornful and dismissive of Edmund and hitting him for no reason, and then turns around to show off photos of Edgar, and that doesn’t even really benefit Edgar either, because he’s held to an unfair standard he can never live up to.

It really shows in how both of them are touch starved but also extremely cautious about being touched. Someone save them!!

(In fact, in the serial killer Claudius AU, a certain Earl does get himself murdered when Edmund is sixteen)

Not a Bad Dad thing, but not really showing Gloucester in a good light: he does think Lear’s age and reverence should be respected, but his motivation seems to be a lot more based in his indignation that Regan and Cornwall have taken over his home and order him around. For this Gloucester it seemed to be less about feeling sorry for Lear, and more about reasserting his sovereignty.

But because this is Lear I don’t just hate him, and he’s not just a bad father, you also feel for him a lot after he’s been blinded and his legs are just trembling and he’s so scared and lost.

Even after he’s blinded he keeps turning to his photos of Edgar in his wallet, and it’s sad and regretful instead of showing off.

He had a really good cliff fall! He goes up to what he thinks is the edge, and then turns around and braces himself to fall backwards, and then Edgar has to rush to catch him, and lay him gently on the ground, and panic that maybe he’s actually died.

Lear Sisters

No one was prepared for Lear’s announcement and the way each of them responds informs so much of how they act through the rest of the play!

Goneril is startled and unsure and fumbling, and I really felt for her and her “hateful life”, and the way she’s stunned in the wake of Lear’s abuse, but then needs to pull herself together again when he returns. For so much of this play she feels small and adrift, but then she’s so happy for once whenever she’s with Edmund. Albany really does seem to care about her and he’s trying to be good for her, so he takes it when she yells at him, and then stays behind to pray for a bit. He’s a little less nice later on but to be fair she is cheating on him and not bothering to hide it very well.

Regan! With her fake tears and her constant flirtiness, and the way she’s always twirling and showing off! She is a hot mess, and she only gets hotter and messier as the play goes on, but she and Cornwall love each other a lot, and she wants to be suited to torture the way her husband is, but she gets into it by the end of that scene. And then!! her hand on Edmund’s throat! W o w

Cordelia is calm and sure and knows exactly what her sisters are, and in that first scene she comes so close to reaching her father and getting him to change his mind about disowning her. And that carries through to the rest of her performance — she’s competent and precise and loving, and France is smitten with her and listens to her and respects her. When she’s reunited with Lear she wants him to wake up, but also isn’t prepared for it to actually happen, and then she’s so surprised when they say she should be the one to address him first.

Cornwall

I first saw Daniel Rabin as Reynaldo in the Almeida Theater Hamlet (ask me about how Reynaldo and Laertes are half-dating whenever he follows Laertes to France, because I have Opinions), and his Cornwall is SO different

He’s not just manipulative, but violent and enjoying his violence, but he’s also sexy and possessive and commanding, and it’s no wonder Edmund falls for him as hard as he does!

TYING HIS SCARF around Edmund’s hand after he wounds himself for love and validation!? The soft tender look of surprise that Edmund gives him in response!? wow! wow, what a MOMENT!

And then he shoves Edmund into the room after he’s been shown Gloucester’s letter, he has to punish the messenger and assert his position. And after “Thou shalt find a dearer father in my love” Edmund HUGS him, and he’s startled at first but half-returns it (and probably thinking about how he can Use this) (and then cornwall/edmund/regan happens, shhh)

Like Daniel Rabin’s Reynaldo, his Cornwall is very Watchful, just stepping back to observe what’s going on, and then quietly making his judgment before he says anything — and when he does speak he absolutely has the other person’s number.

Good commanding headtilts!

Oh, the laugh right before he uses the hook from the slaughterhouse on Gloucester is just terrifying and compelling, and he’s so turned on by this. Good for him because then he gets to die, and he’s so disgusted and vicious when saying the first servant should be thrown onto the dunghill.

Miscellaneous Moments

Lear puts his jacket on Edgar, and Kent puts her jacket on Lear, and then he immediately takes it off and puts it around Edgar’s shoulders and ties the arms together, but while he’s trying to take off his shirt too, Edgar’s already getting on the ground and letting the jackets fall off of him. Just! Jackets and touch as a form of affection!!

When Gloucester comes out to find Lear, he and Edgar see each other, and there’s just a moment where they’re frozen, Edgar terrified that his father will recognize him, and Gloucester perhaps feeling there’s something familiar about this madman but having no idea what.

While Gloucester is telling Kent about how he had a son he loved who betrayed him, Lear and Edgar are in the background sharing a long hug that almost feels like a beautiful dance! It was such a striking moment, I loved it sooo much.

the HUG with Edmund and Cornwall!! Not over it, never over it.

when Cornwall tells Edmund to leave with Goneril, he gives Goneril his jacket and she’s just quietly surprised and pleased, and it’s cute, and I want her to be happy!!

[project-paranoia]

Live Watch: Guardian  Episode One, Part One

It's Guardian!  The show that got me interested in this genre!  I love spooky things and I love mysteries and fantasy!  I simply adore it so much!  When I can't sleep I just put on a playlist of Guardian in the background.  I was aware of censorship before - every country has some version of it, but to some degree this was my first deep dive into how it might effect a piece of media.  Guardian is exceptionally acted and incredibly written, as well as suffering from obvious dubs where the dubbing voice actor sounds nothing like the previous actor and odd cuts that are disrupted.  In some ways it's the little drama that could fighting its way past their studio going bankrupt while they were filming, reshoots, and being taken down and altered several times.

In some ways Guardian's struggle fits the spirit and aesthetic of the show. Worn in like an old pair of jeans but still making an effort.  Putting emphasis where things count and hoping the kindness of the universe will make allowances for the rest.  Attention to detail where the story really matters.  It has the charm of a community production put on out of love with actors and crew who would not be anywhere else in the world for any amount of money.  That feeling of love comes through, and whether or not I'm barely literate I have so many words to share.

Part of why I love it as well is it has that feeling of 80s and 90s fantasy, like Moomin, Xena or Condor Heroes. Everything feels lived in, nothing's been spit shined except for Shen Wei's suits. It's an old city street of a show, it has history and character built in. 

*After all that I don't know that I have a tonne to say about the intro.  It's very good but it's also full of spoilers.  I think having the intro song be in English does make a difference in making it appealing to English speaking audiences as well as standing out as different and interesting, which the show is. Speaking of Spoilers!  Spoilers below!

* The obligatory beginning narration is beautifully animated, I have another post that will be done some time before the heat-death of the universe talking about the fascinating world building options.  Unlike some Make It SciFi plots, this one has legs and implications.

* Remakes rarely are able to meet the original on equal ground - and I struggle to believe the actors would Fit as well - but part of me really wants to have a chance to have the Dixingren worldbuilding really leaned into.  The writing is good enough we get implication but no real follow through.  I want fifty episodes of how Dixing functions, give me more pseudo-science behind the mutations, what are the biological differences.  I'm hungry for more!

* I love the cameos of later characters, and the way there was some effort to be discrete with spoilers.

* It's Ya Boy!  I love Shen Wei.  With that music cue and that sinister turn around they really set him up as dubious.  I wish they went with something a little different with the intro so his character wasn't spoiled.  The writing, directing, and acting was so good and spoiling who Shen Wei is kind of took the teeth out of that.

* Also cheers to the costume designer who outfitted Zhu Yilong so well and made him look jacked with the fit of those clothes.

* Also you can tell this is a real university because the staff has to sit in tiny student chairs.  I'm not joking, please be warned if you're going into academia.  Unless you have tenure life is An Adventure - and even then.

* Also shout out to Shen Wei's Prized Cabbage and the Queen of our hearts, Li Qian.  Why is this actress not in more things?  She has such an expressive and lovely face and she really goes all the way in with her acting.  I respect an artist that acts from their chest. Also that windbreaker, white skirt combo is chic and fun all at once, it draws the eye and makes her melt into the background all at once - perfect for the character.  I love her so much.

* Here's another one of Shen Wei's coats, it's a lovely color for him but it also is so thin that it looks like it crinkled up just from being worn.

* I'm being distracted by details and missing plot stuff.

* Story of my life.

* I love Li Qian hovering along behind Shen Wei like a duckling following their mother.  A) Mood and B) it quietly informs their dynamic.  Shen Wei has like one person he can trust but no one he can really confide in and it's the same for Li Qian. A ship will find a port in a storm and Shen Wei has Big Da-ge Energy. My fanfic heart hopes they found comfort in the pseudo familial relationship with each other while it lasted.

* Even in episode one we receive foreshadowing, we love and respect some excellent writing.  For those of you who missed it - Professor Ouyang is talking about Lin Jing who I love partially because he's so outrageous large but has the total opposite of intimidating energy.  

* What did they feed you Lin Jing? He is so tall and wide, but they do a lot with camera work to try to make him not quite as big.  Side note, I would really love to see the actor who plays Lin Jing (Liu Minting) both in more dramas but more specifically in a role where he was like a minister or scholar - someone intellectual.  I think the combination of being such a big gentleman and also someone who like plots or plans would be really dynamic if it was written well.  

* Also I like the exchange where without a word Professor Ouyang indicates he has one last thing to say, it's private and that he would like Shen Wei to ask Li Qian to leave. That's What You Can Do With Good Actors!

* Li Qian is just so pretty and the actress emotes so well!

* Shen Wei totally understanding what's going on with this shady research immediately and wanting to stay as far away as possible.  We see one of the first examples of him being aggressively polite to remove himself from a situation.

* "i'M jUST aN oRDINARY sCHOLAR." No one buys it Shen Wei.

* Angy Thinking Face

* One thing the show is really good at is using establishing shots really well so you always know where everything is and everything is going

* Guo Changcheng, all around good boy and angel.  We stan a nervous legend

* Zhou Yunlan Arriving.  Why is everyone on this show an Absolute Legend

* Guo Changcheng protecting himself with his certificate is too cute.  This young man is trying his best and I support him.

* Also that coat is Young, Pure, Stylish; I love it

* Zhao Yunlan, what's wrong with you? You are amazing!

* His irreverent style and disregard of usual policy makes him fit in really well with his band of misfits and special cases

* Guo Changcheng's OO face is too good, elastic face

* Da Qing my love!

* Jin Ling, I think he has an all seeing eye on his hoodie thing. Illuminati Confirmed.

* Also they filmed the shots so well, so you always know where everyone is in relation to everyone else

* Our Prized Cabbage!  I love her!

* Great handheld work: shaky and unhinged, but not migraine inducing

* Foreshadowing in the form of a shadow and reaching for the necklace

* Da Qing's cat behaviours. I really want behind the scenes of the actor discussing how cat was he going to cat

* We get our first real example of how Zhao Yunlan doesn't feel safe emoting negatively and so he uses a super sunny mask to hide his feelings, except with Da Qing who he lets his anger show with because he trusts him.

* I'm not even halfway through and I've written so much, peace and blessings to the readers of this.

* Zhao Yunlan's swagger, after his childhood having a little power must feel comforting and good

* I love how Da Qing is talking as a cat less than a meter from the medical examiner.  Does the examiner not care or does he know?  Is he deaf?

* Harassing Guo Changcheng is the new team sport

* Zhao Yunlan Realises Something Music

* Also, Lollipop Measurement

* It's nice to see Zhao Yunlan just being himself with Da Qing, he's able to really be honest and genuine with him

* Slow Look Moment

* This moment is so fascinating!  Shen Wei doesn't know what's going on yet.  He just sees an old friend who winces when he sees him and disappears.  We mostly see things from Zhao Yunlan's point of view, but from Shen Wei's perspective this is a first part of just some Odd and Confusing Happenings

* This cat though!  I love him!

* The delicate way they’re both feeling each other out.  This must be so confusing and startling for Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan is trying to figure out if this teacher is going to bust him or what.

* He forgot to let go, way to set off Zhao Yunlan’s suspicions

* “Mark Stewart” Is he though?  Who picked out that English name?

* Li Qian!  I love her and I love that striped blouse. Fashion.  Got to look good when you’re resisting a mental break. *Also she hears a meow and looks around at eye level, I love that for her.

* Zhao Yunlan!  You can’t take pictures of young ladies without their permission.  What is wrong with you!

* I love Da Qing’s very cat attitude of I Will Have Vengeance for These Wrongs

* Two for one! Shen Wei meets two faces from his past.

* Also, I get a little frustrated about people making a big deal about the 10,000 years versus 1,000 years age thing with Da Qing.  a) He has amnesia and b) the thousand years refers to the amount of time needed to cultivate to a certain stage in Chinese mythology - usually by absorbing energy from the sun, moon, or depending on the animal other sources.

* I feel so bad for Shen Wei, who knows what he thinks.  Were his friends brainwashed?  Did they forget?  Can they not say for some reason?  What is happening?

This review is getting a little long, so join in tomorrow for Part Two~~!

[everandevermcre]

»  lake wright townsend  «

hey look, it’s lake wright townsend! they’re twenty-two years old, they’ve lived in shrike heights for eleven years, and they’re currently working at art murmur. i heard they’re pretty flakey, but i think they’re so confident at the same time. can they make it out alive?

»  before shrike heights  «

lake wright townsend, birth name to forever be unknown, is a success story told by two white, wealthy californian artists that had found love and the desire to be parents too late, ultimately adopting lake and giving her a life that she wouldn’t have known without them.

lake didn’t know moments of wanting to know her birth parents, having put the thought out of her mind entirely due to the simple fact that she always felt like she BELONGED, a less than easy task for a baby found abandoned at a fire station, for a person of color learning and growing in a white community, for someone who’s always known and practiced fluid sexuality. yet somehow, this has been lake’s story of finding belonging no matter where she is with the support of her loving, overly empathetic and understanding parents that rarely projected their own toxic traits onto her.

for the first ten years of life, lake wright townsend grew up in the canyons of los angeles that attract artists, musicians, writers, actors, and folks representing an astounding variety of spiritual pursuits, including her family.

the townsends lived in topanga canyon, california, where there is a remarkable concentration of creative energy shot through with a general sense of good vibes. this looked like wild, wide-open spaces; enforced solitude; and an atmosphere that teeters between insular and inspiring.

there was time to write, time to paint, time to take in the short mountain sunsets and time to think about what it all meant. it was a direct view of her family life and the values that had been instilled in her from a young age.

it was very important to the people there that they respect nature and not try to change the small, creative community that thrived there amidst the trees.

whenever lake came to learn about the green monster that came with going to school with malibu’s elite, her parents reminded her that they were not one of the designer beach town inhabitants. “don’t try to change topanga,” they would tell her when she wished it was more like where her friends lived in malibu, “let topanga change you.”

a bottomless well of privilege, however. struggling artists still struggle. your average poet or painter is going to have a tough time scraping togeer the bread to buy in a market where median prices are in the millions.

when lake was on the verge of her eleventh birthday, jobs, money, things that eleven year old could never understand, had her family uprooted across the country to the suburbs of shrike heights, colorodo.

topanga canyon was like an aging hippie that refused to wash off its natural character, harboring the same famous aesthetic it held in the seventies and before. similarly, lake refused to wash off the parts of malibu and topanga that shaped her, even if it meant standing out in shrike heights.

and as fate would have it, lake learned that she loved to stand out.

»  in shrike heights  «

there was a certain learning curve that came with being the new kid, but lake’s outgoing personality, harbored confidence, different sense of style, and creativity had her making friends in no time.

most friendships made were lost over time, lake being the type to jump around from friend group to friend group, finding whatever mold fit her best at the time.

post high school she tried live and work in denver as an artist, but the city life proved not to be for her.

after a while she made her way back to shrike heights. it was no california, but it was a closer life to the one she idolized in her mind growing up.

now she works in art murmur as your whimsical art supplier. in the evenings and sometimes the late nights into early mornings she is painting her colorful mind onto a canvas in hopes of fulfilling the same dream as all those left in topanga canyon: making a sustainable living, perhaps even a luxurious one, from her art.

»  personality  «

lake is both an empath cry baby and a feminist that takes zero shit, stands up for others, uses her voice as needed, and isn’t afraid to be LOUD or show you what she’s feeling.

she is overly affectionate in a way that often means nothing other than this is how she is. shoulder touches, cheek kisses, she likes to make people feel good.

confident is an over statement. the person she loves most in this world is herself and she has no shame in it, having been raised that there is no other way to be, and she would ultimately fall apart if she ever let that self-love slip from her grasps.

she has solid posture that commands a room and when she’s sitting she’s often “manspreading” and taking up space, actively nonconforming to the idea that women ought to make themselves small.

she CAN BE professional if and when needed, but much prefers to be herself, which means she talks with her hands, has big expressions and reactions, and uses a lot of urban slang.

as mentioned about her going around from friend group to friend group, lake’s a bit flakey. despite being an empath, she’s a me-first person, always aiming to please herself first and foremost. this means that if a better option comes along, she’ll try to remember and cancel with you, but she won’t hesitate to do so.

her most toxic and exhausting trait can be her argumentative nature. she is open minded and open to learning new things as well as actively seeks them out, but also has an immature knack for needing to be right.

is bad at prioritizing her work.

she loves to party, go out, be social and has an affinity for being the center of attention.

»  wanted connections  «

high school friends.

art friends.

best friend, confidante, partner in crime.

customer turned banter buddy.

lgbtqia+ community friends.

flirtationship.

love affair.

friends with benefits.

friends that call her out on her shit.

friends that she would die for.

unrequited crush.

unlikely pairing.

party friend.

friend she makes art with in her down time.

a night owl she hangs with when pulling all nighters.

heart to heart - someone she opens up to and vice versa.

[foreficfandom]

Mystic Messenger - Wedding Headcanons (Bride! MC)

--- Zen ---

Zen's a surprisingly down-to-earth man, and he wanted the wedding to be a modest, but gorgeous affair. It’s a rooftop wedding, where everyone gets to see the two most beautiful people in the world get married amidst a bright, morning cityscape. Zen creates an amazing set of custom vows that make him cry, and it ruins his makeup but he doesn’t care. 

It’s all paid with his and your own money, which isn’t a whole lot but enough to afford a very put-together package. Zen insisted on catering from a famous brewery, and there’s a very nice open beer-on-tap bar.

There’s also a very important scheduled evening dance, of course. Your new husband asks for your hand like you’re royalty, and the two of you begin a very romantic slow-dance with a specific playlist in the background. When that ends, the music picks up and everybody starts getting a little wild. That delicious beer must have kicked in.

Zen’s arm rarely ever leaves your waist for the rest of the evening. He begins to refer to you as ‘my SPOUSE’ to everyone you have a conversation with. His face is literally glowing with pride.

By the time the two of you get married, Zen’s a very established actor, so its a celebrity wedding that attracts reporters and curious starwatchers. The two of you graciously (you more than Zen) accept Jumin’s gift of security guards to keep them off the venue.

The honeymoon is a beautiful week spent in the Maldives, enjoying the therapeutic beach life. Paparazzi end up hounding the two of you a little bit, but nothing can truly ruin this bliss. This perfect love.

--- Yoosung ---

He’s been dreaming of this day and its finally here!! He almost can’t believe it, and spends a lot of the planning just kinda fanboying himself. He can’t decide between themes and packages ‘cause it all seems wonderful to him. His parents end up helping quite a bit, especially on the parts he finds particularly confusing, like booking a venue and managing costs.

The two of you eventually settle on a garden-like wedding, taking place in a beautiful park. He loves the vintage lace look of your dress, and matches with an old-hollywood-style suit. Thanks to the advice from his family, the two of you avoided purchasing entire wedding packages and instead sourced everything from different retailers, which required a lot more research but saved money. 

The two of you said your vows underneath a gazebo lined with flowers, and then walked back down the park to the reception area while everyone tossed bucketfuls of petals upon the two of you. Yoosung was tearing up pretty badly from happiness, and almost tripped twice. By the time you guys made it to the dining tables, Yoosung’s glasses were fogged and he couldn’t stop smiling. 

The reception lasted longer than planned ‘cause everyone was having so much fun. You two had hired a pizza truck that carted their wood-burning oven on-site, along with a massive snack table and colorful cocktail dispensers. Yoosung asked to dance once, twice, and maybe five more times. You had to take off your heels to keep up with him, which just made the moment that much more beautiful.

The honeymoon had to be short, but it was a peaceful five days spent in Shanghai. 

--- Jaehee ---

One of the first things planned was going to local fashion shows and shopping for dresses, since according to Jaehee, it was this season that designers begin to shell out the good stuff. Jaehee settled on a cream-colored silk trumpet dress with an embroidered veil. You chose a dress embroidered with gold-colored thread to match hers. 

And that set the tone for rest of the wedding. Gold decor, pearly-white chiffon, and dots of warm red embellishing the tablecloths, bouquets, and plate settings. Jaehee was always the one on the phone with the planners, since she had That Business Voice which made everything go so much more smoothly.

You married in a temple, an hour away from the city. Jaehee and you met at the altar simultaneously, and held hands over vows. You could see her tearing up for the first time ever. 

The reception was held in a small park nearby, where a light catering was offered underneath a large tent, along with several chocolate fountains and bottles of expensive champagne. Jaehee really wanted to avoid a huge social event, since her past job at C&R required a lot of boring business events. So after speeches were delivered and everyone had their fill of chocolate and wine, you all barreled into your cars and zoomed back home for the afterparty, which was a lot more casual and involved blaring Zen’s musicals on the flatscreen while everyone played drinking games.

The two of you had a long and indulgent honeymoon spent traveling between Greece and Italy, doing everything from spa hotels to skydiving. You ended up with two album’s worth of pictures to remember it by.

--- Jumin ---

You might have thought he’d be pulling out all stops when it comes to the wedding, but the man’s a devoted Christian - even if he doesn’t show his religious side often, it was important to him that his holy union wasn’t too ostentatious. 

But he’s still Jumin, so everything’s designer. The outfits, the catering, the decorations, the transportation, even the invitations sent out were on luxury emboss paper lined with real gold leaf. So your wedding actually begins a few days before it even starts, with a visit to a celebrity spa for a red-carpet all-over treatment, and then you spend hours getting your hair, makeup, and nails done. 

Both the ceremony and the reception are held in a large, lavish hall. There’s a huge crowd of guests for business reasons, along with reporters and other representatives from the press, plus even some politicians. When Jumin takes your hand at the altar, there’s a literal spotlight shining on the two of you while the room grows dramatically dark.

So your wedding is kinda a publicized business event, which isn’t super ideal but Jumin tried his best to keep it as special as possible. He deferred to you when it came to almost all the decisions, such as the color scheme of the decor, and what kind of menu you wanted. Almost everything was based off of your preferences, which is what Jumin wanted. He desired nothing but you as his spouse, and that’s what he was getting. 

Jumin rarely ever gets overly emotional, including at his own wedding, but for the rest of the evening he couldn’t keep his eyes off you, and whenever you turned your head your new husband was smiling, absolute adoration in his eyes.

The honeymoon is a worldwide tour, of course. With cruises, five-star hotels, attending operas, and dining at the most famous places.

--- Saeyoung ---

He’s free from the agency and Mint Eye both, and he has you with him. He never been be happier, or feel more free than he ever did. So the wedding reflects it; it’s held outside, by the sea, lightly managed so there’s almost no schedule to adhere to. 

It’s super important that he makes his vows to you under god. So it takes some digging until he finds an actual church that’s within a short distance from a gorgeous beach. The two of you marry under brightly lit stained glass windows before hopping into one of his sports cars and race to the reception area. The other guests have to catch up.

He cries at the ceremony, of course. He eventually leaves his glasses off because his eyes keep welling up. He recites from the bible. You can feel his hands shaking. 

And at the reception, it’s p a r ty time. There’s music playing and a very important playlist is playing that the two of you made beforehand. The catering is seafood and barbecue. There’s very little alcohol, and lots of dessert. 

It’s a smaller crowd of guests, but that’s what made it so special. You all played at the beach with spontaneous games of badminton, or dunked yourselves into the beach then running off laughing, and joked amongst yourselves for hours, long after night came around and the area was lit up with Saeyoung’s jacked lighting system.

The honeymoon is spent in South Korea, in Jeju-do where the two of you go on sunny car rides along the cliffs, go spelunking in gorgeous caves that light up like the universe, and stay in a traditional bathhouse. 

--- Saeran ---

Saeran will always and forever adore the ‘princess’ aesthetic on you. When you two first met, his Ray alter embodied and obsessed over it, but nowadays he simply enjoys the magical romance of a fairytale love story. It reminds him of his longing daydreams when he was younger, and how it all eventually came true.

It’s an evening wedding, held in a hotel banquet hall, planned and catered by an expensive company he and his brother both shelled enthusiastically to purchase. He didn’t really know anybody aside from the RFA and you, and only made like one or two other friends since beginning recovery. So you invited all your friends and family you knew would support the two of you, and it turned out to be an intimate but loving crowd.

SOOO many flowers. Bouquets dot the walls, sit at every table, and line the isle. And Saeran beforehand prepared your bridal bouquet himself. It was a very carefully crafted arrangement that masterfully relayed a thorough message of love, commitment, and family.

Saeran’s quiet but surprisingly calm. It’s just ... pure happiness. He’s every bit a prince when he takes your hand at the altar. This wedding marked more than the beginning of your union, it was evidence that his life was good.

He wasn’t super enthused about traveling anywhere for the honeymoon, and wanted to spend the time alone with you at home, where its safe and familiar. But you convinced him that an extreme change of scenery can do wonders for his depression and anxiety. So the two of you spent an amazing twelve days in Canada, where he got to experience a world he’d never seen before. He took really well to hiking, which turned out to be a great low impact exercise option for his frail physical health. 

--- Jihyun ---

The reception’s held outside, by the Suncheon Bay area - a beautiful national wetland park with amazingly unique scenery and wildlife. The ceremony beforehand is held inside, and its short and sweet with custom vows.

He’d want a Catholic wedding if it’s okay with you, or if not, a fusion wedding where the vows aren’t religious but its overseen by a pastor, or something like that. 

As a photographer, he’s surprisingly anal about the timing of the event. There has to be the perfect amount of natural sunlight during the wedding. So the ceremony is held in the late morning, then he quickly urges you outside where beautiful pictures are taken of the two of you standing amidst gorgeous nature. 

There’s a surprisingly big crowd. Jihyun is a popular man, so aside from the RFA there’s his various art friends, his other friends, his older friends, not to mention your own friends and family. His father does show up, but it’s sadly stilted.

He’s worldly and artsy, so the banquet is multicultural, with lots of his personal favorites he’s experienced from around the world. You notice a lot of french bread.

And don’t forget, he’s a rich boy! So everything’s quality stuff. You don’t have to worry about expenses with him. He’s not ostentatious to the level of Jumin, but he’s still got a packing wallet.

The honeymoon is spent touring Central America, which he particularly loves for its blazing sun and colorful culture. You split the trip between luxury all-inclusive resorts, and countryside roughing it.

[snowfianna]

Fable IV rant:

I'm so pumped up for the 23rd because everything has led me to believe that Fable 4 will be announced this year and the game's existence has been confirmed for a while anyway it's just a matter of time of when will Fable 4 show itself. It's a badly kept secret tbh.

So to those who don't mind a big rant or wish to add on to my rant- here we go!

Can you imagine how good the graphics would be for this game, we've all seen modern games, surely, and they're all bloody fantastic looking. Fable Legends is technically the most recent Fable game despite it being a free to play online game

and that it's cancelled

but it also had a gorgeous look to it all! And the character models did great justice to the concept art and honestly that has my hopes real high because I love the concept art of Fable, specifically from Mike McCarthy, so exaggerated and recognisable- yet in all the games I can confidently say they did not do justice to his character design, specifically for Reaver. Sure, he looks stunning in the third game, but not quite what he looks like in his concept art sadly.

But also, since Fable was made in Unreal Engine (I'm pretty sure at least) we've seen examples of what can be done in Unreal Engine now and it's absolutely breath taking!

If you haven't seen here are some examples and they're so life-like.

Moving on from graphics!

Since Playground Games is behind the development of Fable 4, they would be spectacular at an open spaced world, judging from the Forza games.

I always loved the open world feature added to Fable, it made things more adventurous and you could do so many things that weren't at all related to the main quest to progress the story and it was just thrilling to see there were other things going on! I'd love to just have my dog companion running through fields, fighting enemies left and right and finding buried treasure or forgotten chests.

Run into strangers who request aid in something silly or rather serious and it would be up to you with how you go about the quest or if you even accept it to get renown or gold. Cause a massacre in towns and villages, running off with low morality and plentiful loot- oh one could fantasise of this all day.

Story, characters, writing and voices.

Fable has always had a fun environment of fantasy and a rather good story (despite the curse of mundane or pathetic boss fights in which I hope Fable 4 breaks this cycle) but the one thing that's always kept me on my feet in the games is the writing and the characters. It always just tried not to take itself too seriously, throwing in absurd quests that probably requires cheese or a really weird-looking outfit. It always kept my attention rather than just pure edge and seriousness of life or death.

The characters are a given, the writing done for them all is perfect in my eyes, I love hearing the variations of how characters of NPCs interacted (enough so that I even bought two of the Fable books written by Peter David). Despite Fable 3 not being the greatest at it's time, I found myself absolutely enjoy the characters for how they were- I even cried over Walter's death because it genuinely felt like I lost somebody pretty close (RIP Walter🙏). The writing and the chosen voice actors were superb and I'd love more of it.

I hope this time we can receive a full story instead of how Fable 2 and 3 were where plenty of plot points and such were cut out due to time constraints- thanks Microsoft, very cool. I'm still in anguish when listening to the Developer's Diary 3 of Fable 3 hearing lines that were just never said in the final product and it was definitely not just additional lines that weren't required as it seemed to mention entirely different things that weren't in the game; i.e. Reaver talks about his pirates in Bloodstone and how he misses them- in the final product he never mentions it and it's even shown that he's tried to completely bury his pirate past for whatever reason.

The pacing in Fable 3 was rather strange too, it felt like the revolution should've lasted longer.

Another hope of mine is to have choices that aren't so painfully black-and-white because it's very obvious which is the good or bad option to a scenario- personally for me I'd like to be morally grey rather than pure good or pure evil.

They better have kept the mechanic of your actions affecting your appearance too to the point where you grow horns and get cracked magma-like skin or this slight glow and aura around you and this flawless skin. It kind of died down in Fable 3, only looking more tired or have completely black eyes and the good- eh yeah not much I can say for when you're good. Purity and corruption seemed to also vanish in Fable 3 (at least I think) since you couldn't really change prices of the homes you were renting out, unless I've been a big goof who didn't arrange the rent prices in the game because I didn't know how.

Combat

Combat in all the games was rather straight forward, especially in Fable 2 and 3 where everything was just easy to beat or you could get overpowered around the start of the game. I'd hope the combat improves greatly this time and even bring back real consequences to dying instead of immediate revival with some lost experience and a scar. We need more serious consequences to your actions (this can be applied to all decisions rather than just if you die in a battle) even if it's just having to reload the last checkpoint. Makes things more challenging this way.

Another thing is to make boss fights less repetitive and simple- sure I can forgive it if the boss is from around the start but if they had phases you had to keep ontop of and didn't rely on summoning a bajillion other enemies to strike you, I'd be ever so grateful.

And if there's other characters fighting along side you, I'd hope they'd genuinely be helpful and keep up to speed with the player. I'm sure the AI in the past was the problem for this as AI wasn't at its best during that time so characters fighting by you didn't do too much or just did whatever that wasn't helpful. Now though, AI has improved immensely (I mean look at The Last Of Us 2, the AI is👌) and due to this, I'm sure characters would make battles more fun and the characters be more involved with the fight and even story.

Mana should be brought back as well, in Fable 2 and 3 mana just ceased to exist so you could just endlessly and repeatedly use the same spells and it just gave you too much power and the enemies barely stood a chance.

We need challenges people- CHALLENGES!

Medieval times? Yes.

I love Medieval fantasy and as much as I like the Victorian era too, I didn't think it quite suited Fable, as fascinating as it was to see fantasy turn industrial, it kind of took away from the Fable feel that I so crave. If they have indeed brought the game back to medieval times it means more creatures and enemies are back rather than driven away or limited to the same handful of enemies.

We can all also agree the guns were overpowered, though I did like receiving the Red Dragon late in Fable 2 to absolutely mow down enemies, it was satisfying to say the least. However, guns were far too powerful for the game, so I demand the bows and crossbows back thank you very much- or even throwing knives- I'll take what I'm given.

I'd love to see more of the natural landscape rather than towns or buildings that took over once entirely natural areas (Millfields/Bowerlake). However, I won't object to ruins of old buildings taken over by nature.

Skeptical with Playground Games? Don't be.

Are you worried that Playground Games wouldn't do justice to Fable since it's not Lionhead Studios? Don't be, it's been noted that Playground Games has hired several ex-lionhead workers and plenty other skillful workers to ensure we get the best product. I have high hopes and expectations for Fable 4 even if it's developed under a different studio, I've seen great things from them and I will believe they'll deliver us only the best.

Side note to all this

I will crash and burn if I don't see a crumb of Reaver or Jack of Blades in Fable 4- I don't know how true any rumours are of Fable 4 with time travelling and Jack returning, but we'll just have to see. Reaver still remains as my absolute favourite character of all time and I'd love to see more of him, even see him before he was 'Reaver'.

Jack too, more of his lore is stated elsewhere rather than in the game itself and I'd love to see it all be brought into light and really expand on his lore and make it known- rather than have ever-loving Fable fans like me dig around for these rather delicious bits of canon information.

That's my big rant, feel free to share your thoughts and what you'd look forward to!

Have some accidental art leaks from a Playground Game concept artist- believed to be for Fable 4👀

[snowdice]

The Horror of Stereotypes (Part 1)[Dice Roll 6]

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Remus/Logan/Patton with Remus/Logan focus (more pre-romantic considering the situation), Remus & Roman, Logan/Patton (established, but not at the forefront for most of it)

Characters:

Main: Remus, Logan

Appear: Roman, Patton, Deceit (but blink and you’ll miss it)

Summary: There had always been a certain stereotype about people like him for as long as anyone could remember. After the Heart War of 1963, those stereotypes had been legalized and places like this had been created to enforce the universal truth: everyone had a soulmate. One soulmate. No more and no less.

At least they were supposed to.

When Remus’s brother gets arrested because of his two soulmarks, Remus risks everything by infiltrating the facility he legally should be in as well due to his own two soulmates to save him. There he meets Logan and it turns out they have a lot in common: they both got hired this week, they both have two soulmates, and they’re both here for the same reason.

Oh. And as it turns out, they’re each other’s soulmates too.

Universe: Soulmate AU

Genre: Horror (Yeah, it’s a fun combo. The horror vibe is mostly contained to chapter 3 though. It’s all still horrifying, but that specific tone is pretty much only there.)

Notes: Torture, Torture of a main character, Dystopian, Blood, Guns, Gunshot wounds, Leg wounds, Mentions of Desecrating an Animal Corpse by a Main Character, Imprisonment, Mentions of Cannibalism, Genocide Suggested, Sexual Innuendo, Fear, A tasteless but not serious incest joke, Medical procedures.

...

Goodness my tags were already horrifying enough because of the darkness of this universe and concept of this AU and then Remus started talking...

This is part of my Roll the Dice Event which is where I do random ships, universe, and genres for the Sanders Sides fandom. For more details see this post. I posted a few days ago my results from this dice roll here.

In which I once again do a dice roll that ends up not being a one-shot like it’s supposed to be... This is going to be 6 parts...

Getting into the building had been easy for Remus. Remus had a special set of skills that he’d never really thought of as skills until he was sitting in a little office right outside the main gate of this facility spouting off every one of his worst possible thoughts in extensive detail during a job interview. They listened to him for less than half an hour before deciding he was perfect for the job and two days later, here he was.

His tour guide chatted and chatted happily to him seeming not to question his contentment with his surroundings. She’d probably gotten a peak at his file after all.

Remus had always been… a weird child at best and the “bonkers evil twin” at worst. Almost everyone in his life tended to give him a wide berth since he was younger. Honestly, you hang one dead cat you found on the road on the middle school flag and suddenly you’re a pariah. It’s not like he’d killed the cat. In fact, he’d loved Senior Bitey when he’d been alive and knew for a fact that it was the type of funeral the feral little thing would have wanted. It was one more chance to put terror into the hearts of all the children in the school. He’d attempted to explain his reasoning to the school counselor. He didn’t think he’d done a good job at that.

Later in life he’d been “guided” toward more “productive” outlets for the dark thoughts that sometimes rattled in his head. He was given a pen and told to write down stories. Remus had taken to this suggestion with gusto and quickly learned not to let anybody read them. His high school biology teacher had been a bit weirded out by how enthused he was about dissection days, but he scored well on the AP test and got the highest marks, so she was willing to write him a letter of recommendation that helped him get into college with a biology major. He’d thought about becoming a coroner or forensic scientist, but when he’d turned 18 and his soulmark… well, soulmarks he guessed… had shown up, he’d decided that he really shouldn’t be doing anything that would put him in such close contact with law enforcement.

So much for that, he thought and glanced at his tour guide. “And last I’ll show you the upstairs housing!” she was telling him. “It’s for the multis who have already gone through processing and interrogation and are now on work detail.” When they walked into the next building, Remus did his best to pretend to look without actually making himself look. For all his notebooks full of bloody stories and horrifying abstract musings and his memories of dissected frogs, cats, and pigs, actual human suffering was not something Remus relished. Yet, he still smiled at the woman who was gaily guiding him through the prison that legally Remus himself belonged in.

See, there had always been a certain stereotype about people like him for as long as anyone could remember. After the Heart War of 1963, those stereotypes had been legalized and places like this had been created to enforce the universal truth: everyone had a soulmate. One soulmate. No more and no less.

At least they were supposed to.

But for a universal truth, different things happened at a surprisingly high frequency. There were people who didn’t fit the mold. They were broken. Like Remus.

There were people who grew up to not have any soulmarks. Since soulmarks appearing were the cut off for adulthood, legally these people never became adults. Once they turned 18 and no soulmark presented, they had no legal right to basically anything. They couldn’t own property or make decisions for themselves. They weren’t allowed to attend school anymore, and they couldn’t get jobs. Their parents could decide they didn’t want to deal with them anymore, and if they did so, the soulmarkless people were either put into a shelter or left to die on the streets. Remus wasn’t sure which option was better honestly.

Then there were people with multiple soulmates. They were monsters. They were selfish, immoral, and deranged. For most of his life, Remus had accepted this as fact. He probably would have gone on believing it even after he got two soulmarks himself on his eighteenth birthday. After all, people had been telling him all his life he was a monster.

Then his brother had gotten two as well.

If Remus was the evil twin, Roman was the good one. He was kind and enthusiastic in his love for other people and the world around him. He’d become an EMT during the day and was an actor on the side. His creations brought people joy and happiness. He was everything good in the world. Everything Remus could never quite be.

And he had two soulmates. Just like Remus.

So, fuck the world, honestly. In particular, fuck tour guides cheerily guiding him through the first level of hell who would have definitely run away from him if she’d met him on the street. Would she have jeered at him that he was crazy and disgusting all through middle school? She may have been right, but at least he knew it. He could draw the line between the evil in his head and what he put into the world. Her though? Her head was probably clear as white snow. She probably just followed orders and didn’t think about it. Her brain probably skipped right over the sights and sounds before her and never lingered. Remus thought dark thoughts, but he also didn’t ignore them when they came to life.

“This of course isn’t where you’ll be working,” his guide went on with a grin. “The people up here don’t know anything or already gave up what they do know. So, you’ll really not have much to do with it. You could use it as a reward offer though if you ever want to play good cop.”

This was the reward, Remus wondered with disgust. It wasn’t even a prison. It was a pig pen at best and a slaughterhouse at worst. Human suffering was pouring off these cement walls and, though Remus talked a good game and kept a smile on his face, it turned his stomach.

His brother was probably in one of these pens somewhere and that was the best-case scenario. You’d think, Remus though grimly, that the brother who was an actor would have been the one able to pull off the lie the longest. But no.

“Anyway, that’s the end of the tour. Well, except the two floors downstairs. You’ll need to wait for your pass to get there. It’ll take about two to three days.”

“Can’t wait,” Remus said.

She smiled at him and swiped her keycard to open a door into a much cleaner area before leading him down a hallway. “So, now, I’m going to introduce you to your team. It’s actually a very fun thing!” Fun. “You should be excited to be a part of it. We’re expanding the facility and we’re thinking of separating them all out by class. You’re going to be tasked with helping design a whole new wing for the 4 and ups.”

“Fantastic!” Remus gushed. “I’m surprised you’re letting the new guy in on it.”

“Well, the higher ups wanted fresh ideas for this, so we went out and got people in the tops of their fields specifically for this project,” she explained. “Most of your teammates have been working for us less than a month except for your boss Gavin. He’s been working with us for almost five years and was transferred to this office specifically for this project. Speaking of,” she said swiping her keycard at a door so it opened into a fancy looking office space. “Gavin!” she called. “I have your new interrogator here!”

A man turned and his eyes flickered to Remus. There was something off about him even more so than the sickly-sweet guide who ignored the horrors happening around her every day. He paused for just a moment too long before he gave Remus a wide, predatory smile. “Hello,” he said, his voice smooth and low. He walked over to them. “Gavin,” he introduced himself, his eyes studying Remus intently.

Remus plastered on a smile. “Nice to meet you,” he said with a wink.

Gavin chuckled a bit. “Thank you, Beatrice. I’ll take him from here.”

‘Beatrice’ apparently (Remus hadn’t bothered to learn or remember her name before.), nodded and quickly left the office back the way she’d came.

After that, Gavin showed him around the office, introducing him to normal looking people doing normal looking things. That more than anything he’d seen today make a shiver go up Remus’s spine. They all acted like normal people, but any one of them would happily annihilate Remus on the spot if they learned about the soulmark he hid on his back in addition to the one on his forearm. They’d likely helped harm his brother in some way in the last two weeks over the coffee and donuts in the corner of this very pretty office.

Once Remus had seen most of the office and been introduced to most of the people in it, Gavin led him into a different room off to the side. This room was something out of a science fiction movie. It had a giant screen across an entire wall with a 3-D blueprint pulled up of a building and a bunch of text scrolling down the side. At the console in the center of the room stood a man in a dress shirt and tie.

He turned emotionless eyes on Remus and Gavin as they came into the room. Remus barely kept himself from tensing to run. This man looked dead inside, like someone had stolen his soul and left him an empty husk.

“And this is Logan Berry,” Gavin introduced. “He’s the head architect for this project. You two will likely be working closely for a lot of this venture. Logan, this is Remus Prince. He is an interrogator who will be consulting with us.”

Something flickered across the stoic man’s face, but it was gone in an instant. “Salutations,” Logan said, sticking out his arm.

“Sup,” Remus replied, reaching forward to shake his hand. The moment that they touched, Remus felt warmth bloom across his lower back where he knew his hidden soulmark was. He met Logan’s eyes which were suddenly wide and not nearly as emotionless as they had been just moments before. Terror had immediately broken through whatever mask he’d been wearing. Oh, Remus thought. Remus had just met one of his soulmates, and clearly, he also had more than just one soulmate as well judging by the fear in his eyes. Remus swallowed and pulled away his hand. “Nice to meet you Nerd,” he said with a careless shrug, “or whatever.” He saw Logan take a small breath and then the mask slipped back into place.

“Likewise,” he said, voice impressively monotone.

Gavin clapped his hands once, not seeming to notice anything off. “Well, we have a lot of work to do today gentlemen. Let’s get to it!”

Want to read more? Click below!

AO3 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

[frostiifae]

I remember - recently enough to be a vivid memory but much longer than I’d think - I remember a time when the Internet was a place where we all collectively laughed at “those assholes who get mad over nothing”. You know, the self-centered pricks with no perspective, whether it was about politics, friendships, fandom, you name it; the people that had some kind of Problem and just wouldn’t shut up about it until you made them. 

I was never one to go after people, to seek out insecure folks on the internet for thrills - doing that just makes you the asshole, after all! - but seeing those people throw a fit only to get mocked into obscurity always came with a sense of morbid satisfaction. It was cathartic to encounter a bad actor, someone whose only motivation was to control or overpower others, and to collectively disarm them and put them to the side. 

As you get older, you get better at spotting these people. You start to learn their playbooks, the tactics they’ll use, the words they’ll hide behind, desperate to get you to take them seriously. And you learn how to twist these deceptions inside-out and to reveal their true natures. This was, I feel, the true artform of trolling - a sort of emotional judo, taking someone’s incoming self-righteous ego and deftly flipping it on them, demonstrating the futility of that ego, forcing them to choose between embarrassing themselves further or publicly admitting defeat. Some tried to use this power only in self-defense; others, blinded to its true potential and its dangers, used it to entertain themselves, and gave the rest of us a bad name. But that was fine. That was the way of things, sometimes; it didn’t need to bother us.

But it’s been a good few years since the golden age. Things have changed. On the one hand, “trolls” have regressed. What was once an elegant, if also crude, form of verbal combat has now just turned into outright violence. Social media has turned small communities into huge shouting matches, and it’s become so incredibly easy to just ignore voices that don’t agree with you... which is sometimes good, and often very bad. The old ways have lost refinement; there’s rarely any need for a one-to-one argument, so trolling has lost its purpose, and the cultural identity of the internet has been reduced to its hateful vocal few and a bunch of people who either don’t know better, or are too desperate to belong, or both.

On the other, though, trolling served a very important purpose online: it was a social trial by fire. If you wanted to make friends on the internet, you needed to learn how to engage with other people, and if you didn’t learn quickly, you’d be ripped apart - forced to find a new community, or at the very least, to start over with a new name (and hope you aren’t seen through). With the old arts being lost to the sands of time, it’s become easier and easier to simply assert your presence online, refuse to acknowledge your own interpersonal flaws, and to just... be here, because no one can tell you no. 

There are so many people I’ve encountered on tumblr that would be bullied out of their communities entirely about a decade or so ago - not because they’re weak, not because their communities are cruel, but because they themselves are assholes. Because we had quickly realized that the only sure way to deal with an idiot is to openly humiliate them, no tip-toeing, no sugarcoating. Because you were entitled to no one’s attention - no one was obligated to host you or to tolerate your bad manners. You could do anything you wanted on the internet... but so could everyone else. If you weren’t the sort of person other people liked having around, then you would find yourself alone, and you would either learn... or you wouldn’t. 

Things are different now, but I don’t think it’s as different as it seems. Culturally, sure, we’re a bit different. A lot of us, even the younger ones, are more responsible. We’ve learned a lot as an online culture, and grown more tolerant. And a lot of us want to put the warring behind us; it was petty and childish and we’d like to be remembered as better than that, or at the very least just to be left alone. And I think that’s all well and good. But I don’t think these people by themselves have dissolved the Internet-as-a-crucible. I think it’s largely the way sites are designed now. Online communities used to be user-driven, which meant that even large sites were run by people whose primary focus was building and serving that community; it was in their best interests, as hosts, to enforce a certain amount of order, and to curate people who weren’t willing to play by the rules, for one reason or another. 

But then Web 2.0 happened, and now all that really matters is that people are talking. It doesn’t matter what they’re talking about, or whether two people in a conversation are even talking about the same thing, or why those two people are talking to each other in the first place; all that matters is getting as many people talking as possible, as often as possible, and it turns out that contriving conflict and making resolution difficult makes conversation happen a lot. 

We - or at least I - like to call the old days of the internet the “Wild West”, in that we were self-governing, that there was no sense of law and order except the rules we agreed to abide by on our own. But the Internet back then was so civil by comparison. Nowadays it really is “everyone for themselves”. If some asshole comes into your tag and starts spreading hate, what options do you even have? There’s no moderators or administrators to turn to, to say “hey, this person’s making our experience miserable, please remove them”; god forbid you try to actually report them to Tumblr, as if Tumblr gives a shit. Your only form of collective action is having everybody block that person, and that’s the best you’ve got - hoping that they can’t find anybody else to harass, and feeling powerless to actually... y’know... stop them from being an asshole. Maybe, just maybe, if you’re brave, you can try to help other people understand what’s going on... 

...But it’s so easy to misunderstand or misinterpret a wayward message, especially on Web 2.0 sites that are designed to remove you from context as much as possible. Even this post, as I read it with older and wiser eyes, has its flaws. What’s the difference between “trolling” and “hazing”? Where’s the line supposed to be drawn? Ironically, because we have to fend for ourselves so openly now, we’re so acutely aware of how the vulnerable can be affected when people aren’t careful. Depending on how old a person is, a scolding and mocking tone may be exactly appropriate, or completely uncalled for; depending on their background it maybe proper to rip into them for a misleading or unrealistic portrayal of a group’s struggle, or it might turn out you’re the asshole for policing someone’s way of coping. And even if you are in the right, what happens when the other person cries foul, finds or fabricates some kind of offense you’ve made, and passes it around to bystanders with no other stakes in the conversation? Now what? Do you just decide you don’t care what the general public thinks? It’s much harder than it used to be to just ignore people, after all. The only way you can protect yourself is not to play, but you can’t call it a winning move. There are no winning moves anymore.

It’s just so funny to me to look at all of the snobbish, entitled white adults in American society - and worldwide, I’m sure - and to draw connections between them, and the bratty upstart children on the internet that, anymore, we’re powerless to do anything about and just have to ignore and hope they grow up. Because they probably won’t. They will probably grow up to be the assholes we’re seeing on TV, protesting masks during a pandemic, demanding other people take them seriously, without a trace of self-awareness. Just a good few years ago, just for a little while, we as an online society were empowered to deal with those people; we couldn’t fix them, but we could prevent them from harming us, and a lot of the time we could even reform them and help them grow.

And then the big money came along and Capitalized the internet, and wouldn’t you know it, those people have gone back to being protected and enabled by the system.

[ever-searching]

what are your favorite icons for each muse? (I don't actually know what this question means. So, I am curious to see how you will interpret it! lol)

In some fandoms, roleplayers use icons (i.e. small cropped images) when doing Tumblr RP. I’m not sure if that’s a relic from LiveJournal, where a single blog could have several avatar icons which could be changed between posts, but as I haven’t done much Tumblr RP - and especially not in a while - I don’t have any icons for my characters.

Instead, I’ll list the anime/game characters whom I could use as icons for my FF characters, whether due to their looks, personality - or sometimes a bit of both!

Cain: Ren Amaki (The Rising of the Shield Hero)

I like to think that Ren Amaki is pretty much what Cain would be like if he'd been given a sword and told that he was a hero a few years before his adventures actually began. They give me similar vibes, as vague as that might sound.

//Edit: In hindsight, Alto Saotome (whom I've gushed about separately) from Macross Frontier might be an even better option despite the different colour schemes.

Lumien: Julious (Angelique)

While Julious is quite a close match to Lumien when it comes to looks and colour scheme, their personalities are fairly different due to Julious being self-assured and somewhat stiff and Lumien being timid and a bit sensitive. 

Storm: Doppo Kunikida (Bungou Stray Dogs)

Kunikida’s appearance bears (at least some) similarities to Storm’s (original) character design, and while Kunikida has no chill and Storm has a lot of chill, both of them have a strong moral code which others may consider naive.

Narangelel: Rei Ayanami (Neon Genesis Evangelion) & Zelgadis Greywords (Slayers)

Nara gets two characters because although Rei feels somewhat similar to Nara (acting rather quiet and subdued despite being a soldier), I haven’t actually watched enough Evangelion to make proper judgement. Zelgadis, on the other hand, is much more familiar to me; he acts differently and is male... but he was a notable source of inspiration for Nara’s looks, admittedly.  

Merces: Allelujah Haptism (Gundam 00)

Very serious? Check. Backstory which involves questionable scientific shenanigans? Check. More or less considers himself a human weapon? Kind of check. They also look somewhat similar.

Haldswys: Faris Scherwitz (Final Fantasy V)

Haldswys was partly inspired by Faris, which can probably seen from her purplish hair colour and the pirate-related bits of her backstory (although Haldswys herself isn’t a pirate; her mother was).

Chaz: Haseo (.hack//G.U.)

In addition to somewhat similar hairstyle, both Chaz and Haseo can be considered whiny and snarky at times - and are capable of wielding double daggers. I could also imagine them sharing the same voice actor(s).

Missing: G’ilas, Sasameru, Brenda

G’ilas’s looks were created by playing with the character creator, and his personality simply combines traits from a few OCs and things my characters usually don’t have.

Sasameru started off being a Merces expy, believe it or not, and then went on to develop in a fairly different direction.

Brenda is/was... something of a self-insert, only with white hair because Red Mages in Final Fantasy I had white hair (and I like Red Mages a lot for Reasons(TM)).

[iphis24]

thoughts on Locke and Key (netflix)

spoilers, obvs. evaluation under the (highly idiosyncratic and unapologetically biased) headers of: audio description; queer content; romo stuff; women’s rep; some not-fully-articulated thoughts on representation of race, mental health, and neurodiversity; worldbuilding; and how scary it was.

CWs: suicide, death, violence, accessibility, faceblindness, race, cisnormativity, poly stuff, guns / shooters, sex / dating / high school culture, demonic possession, motherhood / family, ableism, crime, fiction, Coraline by Neil Gaiman, videogames, body horror, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, fandom

audio description

this was the first time I watched a show using the audio description track the whole time, and I have to say that really improved my experience. 

as I keep telling my friends, “the nice voice tells me who the white people are”: it helped sort out the character recognition problems I have because of faceblindness

it also really helped me to catch body language/facial expression stuff that I would otherwise have missed: this show seems to have a lot of “glistening eyes” and “trembling chins”? I really never would have picked up on those on my own

it was a slightly odd experience because I was watching with both subtitles (which remained necessary because the actors don’t enunciate their lines in an even volume in the way the audio description reader did) and the audio description, and the scripts were almost mutually exclusive: the audio description would talk when there were no subtitles, and the subtitles would come in when there was no audio description. nevertheless, the combination really improved my experience of the show.

I was glad I could understand the audio description even without subtitles; the pacing, enunciation, and even volume really worked for me. the reader’s voice felt clear and catch-able.

the audio description also helped reduce the tension I felt because of suspense - it often came in a little earlier than the action was actually shown, which cut through some of the scarier moments for me. I appreciated this because I’m not really into the horrory parts of horror, but your mileage will almost certainly vary.

queer content

I was promised nothing and still disappointed. 

there’s an uncle who seems to have a partner named Brian or Bryan or something. the partner is mentioned maybe two or three times and never appears on screen. the uncle himself never explicitly talks about or references being non-straight. this is breadcrumb level rep.

there are a bunch of jokes about a “demon” villain character who shapeshifts into personae of different (binary) genders - other characters refer to this character as “he/she/it”, at one point even saying “I don’t know the pronoun for demon-nonbinary”. “they” is never considered as an option. nonbinary is never mentioned as an option for nonvillain characters or human characters. disappointing.

romo stuff

there was a nice moment when a character who is romantically interested in two other characters suggests they both date her at the same time. this doesn’t work out, but I did appreciate that

a male character is consistently good about a female character not wanting to date him. that feels markedly nonstandard even though I would like to believe it’s a bare minimum. in a show marked by the spectre of the Isolated White Gunman, I appreciated the presence of at least minimally mediated masculinity.

I honestly still have no idea what the age of these characters is. it felt kind of odd that there was so much dating and kissing and sex having going on, but shrugs.

women’s rep

two intimidating and beautiful women are (possessed by) demons. this disappointed me greatly, especially considering that one of the reasons I was originally hooked was I was hoping for some nice wlw subtext and an ao3 archive full of f/f.

kinsey was a fun character though. jackie had some good moments but it just took me a really long time to remember her name and what she did outside of those moments so that’s something. ellie and nina were certainly present too, but it felt like their job was mostly Being Moms and sometimes Struggling Inspiringly with The Past.

race

we see a Chinese man kill himself at the start of the show and like. he’s pretty much the only Asian character with a name who’s important to the plot and the main thing he does is kill himself.

other than that, a whole bunch of white people and a few black people. even ellie manages to live in a house which, other than her, is full of white people. it feels kind of weird that they seem to have used adoption to shy away from having the autistic boy be black, but maybe his birth parentage will be important later idk.

mental health and neurodiversity

the way the plot dealt with these felt weird and uncomfortable at times. a woman in a mental institution has her situation explained with magic. mental health days form the basis of a throwaway joke. an autistic boy’s mother uses his “meltdowns” as an excuse to do crime, while the boy himself is shown to be a sort of gentle giant friend to a much younger child.

BPD was also used to try to explain the shooter figure, which was kind of gross.

worldbuilding

I was originally really into about three things here: the “hidden objects game” aesthetic, the “Coraline” aesthetic, and the “hypersaturated fantasy world” aesthetic.

hidden objects game: I really loved how the title cards promised and then outlined how the keys played into stuff. that was great. love the aesthetic of the keys. love the weird sideways shit the keys do. the keys r just So Good. I want to hug them.

Coraline: there was less like,, Horror Of The Body than I expected based on the “keyholes in flesh stuff”, but plenty of Plucky Children. possibly more of a Coraline Laika movie feel than a Coraline Book feel, given the presence of Friends. an unexpected resonance I kept feeling was to the Baudelaire children from ASOUE, but like, the unfortunate movie version. these children r v white and not v specialised.

hypersaturated fantasy world: I wanted more of the surreal bullshit. loved the Dad Memories Candy Shop and the Kinsey Brainmall. show me more of this stuff. I want colour!! flying nonsense !! really smart and quirky design choices!!! please,,, 

how scary it was

I made it to the end but felt worried about the presence of shadows when I left my bed to get a drink. this show at least temporarily made me fear the dark.

on the bright side, it was mostly not very gory. the main fears presented seemed to be the figure of the lone (white male socially isolated Mentally Ill) gunman, and the violence that “normal” and “good” people might be forced to wreak in response. also, shapeshifting genderswitching beautiful demons.

overall thoughts

I want more gay, more gender, more grounding in the body, and more surreal hypersaturated interestingly designed worldbuilding. also, possibly more women, possibly of the non-evil variety. I haven’t decided yet whether I want this badly enough to fill the fandom gap on my own but it seems at least a little bit possible.

depending on the art style, I might try reading the comics. see how.