#and it didn't feel difficult at all because i was Going Somewhere(TM)

[rackartyg]

it truly is so much easier to get out and move if you're Going Somewhere(TM). feels like a cheat code.

[torchickentacos]

You know what? Solidad rant time (again). GOD I WISH THEY DID MORE WITH HER. She has so much potential. Long post but I'm having a weird day and won't apologize for self indulgence /lh. Really trying to remember that this is my blog, my house, my rules, my free time, my hobbies, and you guys actually did follow me for this stuff. Anyways.

Let's take a look at what we know about Solidad. She's from Pewter city and is friends with Brock. She beat Drew in his first ever contest and accidentally made him cry about it. She does this to May, too. Canon: Solidad makes children cry /joking.

But like, that's... kind of it? She's also old friends with Harley? So, her history is almost blank, and entirely tied to other characters (Brock, Drew, Harley).

So, let's look at what we get of her on-screen. All of her pokemon are from Kanto (Lapras, Slowbro, Butterfree, Pidgeot), so are we to assume she's never been to other regions until The Johto Arc (tm)? (ALSO Johto January will be happening. Work in progress.) Or is her bond with her first home-region pokemon all she wants? She seems to be an experienced coordinator. We know she beat Drew in his first contest, so that means either Drew did contests in Kanto OR more likely, Solidad did contests in Hoenn and interestingly just didn't catch any pokemon there. Maybe she's had this same team for years and likes to stick with what works and what she knows well? I wonder how she'd keep her appeals and strategies fresh and new.

We also see that she’s very calm and patient, and can get along with anyone (Drew and Harley are her two main friends that we see on-screen. And Brock, I guess. I like to think she's like my aunt, who knows everyone. She'll be in Trader Joe's and talking to the manager about his daughter's cousin's friend's wedding that she attended).

What else do we have? Not much. She exists almost purely to explain Drew to us a bit more and to win the Grand Festival. We can take from this, though- her explaining Drew. One of the main things she says is that Drew has, quote, 'feelings' for May and, ignoring that on its own (side tangent demons, go away), we can take her actions there and extrapolate. BUT LIKE, the thing about the side tangent demons is that they're unavoidable BECAUSE SOLIDAD DOESN'T REALLY EXIST OUTSIDE OF MAY AND DREW! And Harley, I guess? But back to extrapolation, I don’t imagine Drew gave her the green light to say that, so we can assume Solidad is someone who sees HER IDEA of the best thing to do and just goes for it regardless of other opinions, or regardless of if it's even her business at all. Extrapolation: If Solidad sees somewhere she can help, she WILL help regardless of if it’s even her place to do so.

This is actually supported by the Absol scene (of which I have... opinions on)- Drew's having an anxiety attack or whatever canon wanted us to think that was (him just being mean to his pokemon? something he chides other people for? Drew, who is shown to dote on his Pokémon? Sigh. There’s in-character ways to show flaws or move the episode forward, or whatever that scene even accomplished, that aren’t just making a character be mean to their Pokémon, but TANGENT DEMONS I will get stuck on this if I don’t move on). ANYWAYS Drew’s being difficult, so what does Solidad do? She explains how he feels like he failed in front of May (arguably the single worst person to have been present for this), Ash, Brock, Max, and (unknowingly) Harley.

Now. An ounce of forethought might get you to the conclusion that when someone is anxious/agitated/having a bad time, digging into them in front of their friends (or, uh, whatever Ash, Brock, and Max are to Drew) (or whatever MAY is to Drew at this point, for that matter, though Solidad did sort of outright tell us in the previous episode) might be a bad decision that makes it worse, actually, especially when that person pointedly and intentionally decided to go be alone, away from people. But Solidad saw an opening to attempt to help and she took it, regardless of if it actually helped or made things worse. I think she’s someone who is incredibly oriented towards helping and understanding people, but in an incredibly stubborn way.

This isn’t a bad thing, though. I showed a couple more or less negative examples, but it’s a strength to be so steadfast in your morals and beliefs. I truly believe that more times than not, she WOULD be correct in how she tries to help, but it's a strength and a flaw wrapped up into one.

The thing is... I half-made this characterization of her up. I extrapolated the hell out of a couple cherry-picked scenes that supported my conclusion (Which is not how proving hypotheses should really work by the way), because there's just not much there. She was in three episodes and was mentioned in a fourth. She showed up at the VERY end of AG and existed purely for other characters or the plot.

Which, one one hand, so does Drew. He exists only around May and, semi-adjacently, Harley and Solidad. We know so little about his backstory or, well, anything. The thing is that IMO separates him from Solidad is that he appeared often enough to give a strong personality, interesting actions, and just a good, solid presence. Solidad unfortunately wasn't given time to do this. Harley is similar to Drew. Very little backstory or individual focus but enough of a general focus to leave an impression.

HAF probably helps, too.

But Solidad DID leave an impression. I know people who are shocked when they hear she ONLY showed up for the Kanto Grand Festival and that she wasn't a recurring rival. People REMEMBER and LOVE Solidad despite her shockingly underwhelming presence. I think that the gaps in memory filled in with that potential I mentioned at the beginning.

Do I have a conclusion here? No, not really. This is by no means a well thought out character essay, it's just me talking in pure, unedited stream of consciousness. I'm always looking for ways I can expand on her when we weren't given much to expand upon. I love Solidad, I really do.

But even when writing her, I notice I fall into the same pitfalls I chide canon for- having her only exist tangentially around other characters or as a supporting factor. But she deserves more than that, truly. I don't have any ideas right now, but one of these days I want to really mess with SOLIDAD. As herself. Not as an older sister figure or as a friend or as a coordinator or as a rival, but as herself, whoever that is. Because canon never showed us.

[seoafin]

weirdly off topic (but on??? not sure)

what were your intentions/goals when making rip!mc?

and what are the differences between satosugu and rip!mc x gojo? (as ships ig)

like for me, when i think about satosugu, i always get an outer worldly, heavenly feel to it, if that makes sense? like both satoru and suguru were quite separated from everyone else (more satoru but u get it). they were soulmates, the were always linked to each other, from the beginning they complimented and contrasted each other perfectly (satoru's birth strengthening curses all over the world, suguru having to digest these curses). even their names 😭

with rip!mc x gojo, they feel so... earthly ? or more homey (i don't even know if im being coherent right now). gojo requires work to be with her, he's kind of "forced" to be a better person because of her. she also has to realize that she can be loved and she can love too!

like suguru highlights how godly satoru is (being the strongest together with him) and rip!mc highlights how human he is. she views him as he is, the same guy she met in high school. just satoru.

(this is kinda like choosing to either date the handsome god that would do absolutely anything for you or that really sweet guy next door that you have incredible chemistry with 💀)

not sure if i got this all right but im so interested in what you would have to say!

honestly i just didn't want gojo to have an easy love life. i also dialed up the pining by 1000x bc i love when strong men have pathetic love lives

i'd say you're spot on and named all the main differences yourself!! rip!mc and gojo definitely have much more of a power imbalance and uneven relationship dynamics which really shine through with gojo's whole 'i'll take care of you' spiel which i've written a whole post on somewhere. i think being with geto is so effortless because on a level they understand each other while gojo being with anyone else is going to face a bit more difficulties. it's absolutely not a new fandom interpretation by any means that gojo would be a difficult partner, i just think combined with rip!mc's denseness and own mental issues things become a bit more convoluted and harder especially when gojo has to articulate his desires in a way that he's never really had to before. he's always just pretty much gotten anything he's wanted in life and geto just always got it (tm)

when gojo's with geto i think they're both kinda stuck in this sphere of invincibility, while with rip!mc gojo's back on earth, right next to her and reminded of all his vulnerabilities. and like you've said rip!mc has never seen gojo as a god. god-like at times maybe. but to her he'll always be that guy that kept the gravure magazines she bought for him on his birthday just because she gave it to him. and the guy that jumped off one of the school buildings just to show geto he could really do it!!! and the guy that always lets her sleep on his shoulder. like. gojo was once a stupid teenager and once you see that and know it i guess it just gets really hard to reconcile that image with this all powerful god even though you know it in the back of your head. like that's just your lame friend who got drunk off a cocktail and soda and fell asleep in the wrong bed.

i personally don't like human god dynamics unless they're level, equal in some way. and it doesn't need to be strength. i can't fathom calling my significant other with honorifics or bowing to them or prostrating myself in some way. like im calling them by their first name period. im not bowing either and they shouldn't expect it!!!! it's just a personal preference though. i'm all about that give take in a relationship.

i feel like i've answered this question in more depth somewhere in my ripverse relationship meta tag so you can peruse that if you want!

[traumasurvivorshelpingsurvivors]

I don't a hundred percent think it's valid to call myself traumatized by the clinical neglect and possible gaslighting I went through since I was a child but also I know denial is a thing tm

When I was young, like really little like seven or so, I was misdiagnosed, so I was given the wrong meds for eleven years that once even interacted with antibiotics and nearly killed me, other kids didn't exactly like hanging out with the kid that talked about going to psychiatrists on the weekly and to a therapist after school, I used to think if I couldn't buy my meds and take them everyday I'd just idk blow up or something, worst of all the incongruence of having the wrong label on me and going through all the shame and ableism without the treatment part made me start gaslighting myself, I never felt suicidal but it was like everyone else expected me to be and somewhere a long the way I was just expecting to die young anyway even if I had anxiety attacks whenever I read about the statistics and never really pictured any way in which it could happen I'd just think of how little people would mourn me and say fuck them I'll be here for as long as I can just to prove them wrong while still expecting to lose some kind of abstract fight that people projected on me

Now I got the right diagnosis and it is such a better fit, the pandemic made it really easy to test with certainty where my brain would go if left by itself and it was stability like I was told I could never attain. Since then I'm happy I'm thriving every self esteem issue I used to have is gone every guilt over expenses I used to feel is gone I have a solid support system and it's been that way for a couple years now

I just see the effects still linger in some small things. I still don't drink when my friends do even if I know it wouldn't actually mess me up that bad, I don't really know how to begin imagining a future past thirty or so for myself and changed career paths already due to it, I never thought I could have any romantic relationships despite wanting to until now and I find myself so scared something will happen to me and I'll die a virgin, people that grew up around me still show up sometimes via mutual friends or social media or attending the same college and I so desperately wish I could explain myself or that they could know me for who I actually am because I'm also curious about them in all honesty but I know in their minds I'm just the poor crazy kid and there's no way to suddenly approach them without reinforcing that, me and my classmates needed the institution to intervene in our class the other day and they sent us directly to a therapist to explain the situation and it wasn't even about me and I wasn't even alone but being there again after so many school counselors office that did the opposite of helping me I couldn't look the guy in the face even when he wasn't an old white dude and actually helped us it still left me unresponsive and jumpy when someone else I barely know got too close and needing to hang on to a friend's arm and I got dizzy and had my thoughts on loop for hours and barely got home being able to properly speak again and I kept shortly saying I was fine and trying to steer away from the others (which I never do) just because attention at that moment would be awful

And I still think it was just me trying to fool myself into making my existence more interesting than it is, like a kid pretending to be a tragic tortured soul, like I was acting out so all my friends there would pity me despite the fact I usually hate being looked at like a fragile little thing that needs help

It's difficult for me to believe the doctor would be stupid to the point of not noticing every atypical factor in matching me to that first diagnosis, the age especially, but also pretty much everything about my personality, he was either fucking arrogant enough to believe he molded me into "one of the good ones" or he did it on purpose because it's easy money when you lie to family so they think they'll have to go to you forever. I moved out of my parents as I cut contact with him and I still remember how invested he seemed in vetoing my decision and insisting that leaving me alone was a terrible idea like he never wanted me to be independent and if we asked I'm sure he'd make it seem perfectly sound and well intentioned

My mom still says I should understand they were doing their best with what they knew, that it's not their fault gender discrimination is a thing that may have weighted in favor of the wrong diagnosis in the past (even if they show no indication of growing out of those views), and wanted to help and worst of all she said that I should be grateful. I don't want to be grateful I want to stay spiteful and never have to talk to someone that looks at me like that again

I'm thinking of changing therapists to one that shares my neurodivergence and understands this stuff, part of me thinks I should work on this repulsion of being a patient and giving someone authority over my mental wellbeing ever again, and another part want to cut the cost entirely, glad to be bitter and dodgy of medical professionals forever as petty as the reason I have for it may be

I mean this in the nicest most genuine way I can but I don't know how I'll feel reading a copy paste you're valid response either It'll probably just reinforce me thinking I'm full of shit and trying to feel special if I had to guess

Hi anon,

I'm so sorry about what you've been through.

I can see how this misdiagnosis has had a huge effect on you, not only your social life but how you feel about yourself. I'm so glad you were eventually able to get the correct diagnosis, that must be so relieving. But of course I can also see how this diagnosis doesn't undo the effects of the misdiagnosis, and how there's still things you're struggling with. Particularly, with growing up not expecting to live long, it may feel unfamiliar or overwhelming to think much farther ahead in your life, or even know what to expect.

I also understand that want to be closer to the people in your life, and to not only feel like you know them on an intimate level but that they can truly know who you are, what you've been through, and how those past experiences shape the person you are today.

I feel that if you believe your friends think you're crazy, then perhaps you deserve some new friends. You deserve friends who are patient and understanding, especially after what you've been through. I can also see how your mom's outlook on the situation is damaging to you, as she seems to be trying to justify things that don't need to be justified.

It makes sense why you may want to change therapists, it can be good to have someone who understands your experiences more personally and can thus answer you from a more accurate angle. But I also understand why you may be hesitant about trying, because you've had negative experiences with medical professionals.

The thing is that trauma is defined not by what happened, but by how you responded to it psychologically. In other words, if you feel traumatized by what happened, then it's trauma. It does matter what happened, but it doesn't determine whether or not you're "allowed" to be traumatized.

I hope I could help. Please let us know if you need anything.

-Bun

[inchronicpain]

(i have too many wips as it is but fuck what about a—)

@iwigyousub

Billy Hargrove Lives + Tokyo Ghoul-esque AU + Everything Gets Worse Before It Gets Better wherein (excuse my messy rough outline which may change in the future and meh writing):

(( violence , self-harm below the cut! take care, darlings ))

the Mind Flayer injects a little bit of itself in Billy everyday but it's incomplete so, when Hopper and Joyce close the gate, Owen's people found out he's still alive, heart slow and loosing too much blood, but alive.

Max, tears dripping down her face, suddenly surges up to the closest medical officer, demands for them to 'save my brother!'

they did.

(but once Billy wakes up, two weeks later, he wishes they didn't, a fucking tentacle coming from his back--)

(Billy hates, hates, hates how he became a monster, in the end, his worst fears becoming a reality)

Billy, panicked and still convince he's still under him, lashes out and destroys everything his--his--the things can reach

Wakes up with a sobbing Max and a shaken El, the Chief and Harrington blurry figures behind them

Max reassuring him over and over, as he sobs in the middle of the night in a shitty hospital bed that first week after he wakes up, that 'no, you're not a monster, you may have done shitty things but you're not a monster, you're my brother, okay-'

El going to his hospital bed every day and telling him how he 'saved her, saved everyone that night,' and that he's 'a bitchin' hero--'

the fucking Chief of Police checking up on him whenever the doctors make Billy take tests for the--the fucking things behind his back

Harrington stumbling inside and honest-to-god rambling about nothing and everything all at once

(he doesn't tell them how he stabs at the things with a pen a nurse had left behind, watching with blank eyes as they healed. he both welcomes and loathes the pain, proof he's changed to this)

Which makes Billy want to hurl and scream and cry whenever he sees the four of them coming back because can't they see he's a monster now the voice that had whispered inside his mind was right--

(and i noticed how it got long so. yippee, shortened version!!)

Billy struggles with these new appendages, slowly grudgingly painstakingly mostly-accepting them because he'll always loathe how he got them from it

El helping him control them with Max, the Chief, and Harrington in the background, coaxing him to take breaks in between and calming him down (the other nerds joining in after he apologizes to them, to Sinclair most especially)

(oh and Neil was flayed too because fuck him)

(and Heather [<3] wasn't flayed! [i'll add her in here somewhere because we need more of her])

He doesn't like using them so, once he can properly move them, he tucks them away

(until he sees a cat stuck in a tree, like a fuckin' cliche--! and, before he knows it, the furball's purring up a storm clutched in the tentac--)

(and the shitnerds going 'awesome' which. okay. makes him feel better, not by much but. okay. he's okay, tension he didn't he had loosening from his shoulders)

Billy, Steve, and Robin starting to hang out, awkward first but then Billy learns Robin has good taste in movies and Steve has shit taste and movie night at Steve's happens every other week

Once, he's out of the hospital, he's given a small trailer beside Max's new place

Susan, who looks like a weight had lifted from her shoulders once Neil was gone, cries her sorries and prepares him food when she's not at work

Billy doesn't know how to feel about that so he avoids her (which is not that difficult because he mostly crashes at Steve's place now because he didn't want to be alone--)

Max and El start having sleepovers at La Casa Harrington, the other gremlins joining soon after they learned this new development

Steve is Exasperated TM (but Billy notices how Steve seems less tense when other people are around)

But, when he goes back to the trailer, Billy notices Eddie from across the street in the trailer home park, nods to him once in a while because he's blasting Metallica and Ozzy during some of the afternoons Billy's there

aaand i'm stopping here sghf i know the general outline for this now tho!! i just need time and motivation to write it sdfjg

[rabbitmagic]

I saw someone post concerns about the game being punishingly difficult... FEAR NOT FRIENDS!

I have my final session in the network test tonight, so let me give you some of my insights.

It's actually way easier than any other Souls game, I have one more session left tonight in my network test and I've already beaten all the bosses and explored all the dungeons, the whole time I was playing I was thinking... I wonder if they're going to rebalance this? But this is just one tiny sliver of the tutorial area, so no need to rebalance in a game like this. It felt good to be able to play a swordsman without dying every 5 seconds like I usually do, till I can brute force my way to enough experience, grind for enough gear, and upgrade the right sword to be a badass. I could just be a badass!

Now, any fight you're having a problem with is no longer mandatory. Walk away! Go around! Check a different dungeon, they're really different from each other and there's going to be a billion.

It looks like there's no longer, a true, OP class you MUST BE if you are "Bad at Game"(TM). Usually to walk around feeling like an unstoppable God in a souls game with the least amount of experience, skill, and time investment required pyromancer. A low-level pyromancer could pretty much walk through their games going... And I'm going to put fire on you, and now you're going to be on fire, and some fire over here! * Insert mad laughter here* Which is why I'm delighted to tell you with this game...

I was just some dude! I was the bloody wolf because it reminded me of the abyss walkers / artorias style and I hope it would play like that, and did not disappoint. I didn't have any magic, just a big sword, a pack of wolves that acted as a summon (You can purchase and find summons! They help you in battle and if you have a hard time, the three wolves is great for distracting your enemy so you can WHAIL on them unnoticed.)

Is that enemy on the open world map giving you a hard time and even though you could avoid him, you just need to kill him to deal with some of your repressed anger? Equip your lance, get on your horse, and then barrel spin around them. Congratulations! You just figured out how to destroy even big intimidating enemies without having to "git gud" and it's so much fun. You can even kill the big dragon this way, it takes longer, but it's much safer as your horse has its own separate HP pool and you can keep feeding it restorative items that you make in your crafting area in your menu from common berries that you can just tap triangle to pick up as you rush through the world.

I really don't foresee at this point them doing any major rebalancing? I play tested for Nintendo for a while and I feel like at this stage that is definitely not what they're focusing on, since it was a network test. we're stressing the servers, is basically our job, and we had a few really bad slowdowns which was the only time a group of high level enemies destroyed me like eight times and that was just me helping test the issue. But this was the exception, and it was also caused specifically by slowdown, the crabs would have a super lag, and then six of them would all of a sudden be surrounding me bashing me with their claws. I repeated this till the slowdown was over and then I destroyed them like usual, with no issue.

I never had to take on a boss over and over and over and make myself miserable, I did try to kill the dragon too many times in a row but I knew I was way underleveled for it and it was just me, my horse and my sword. There are special statues that are so small you don't even notice them, and they will automatically respawn you somewhere close if you want, instead of back at your bonfire, so you can get right back into the action if you're killed! I was having so much fun with the mechanic, not having to slog my way back to an enemy to challenge it, that I thought the dragon over and over but not in a grindy, or exhausting way. I was doing it because I was having fun! I came back later with a better understanding of how the wolf summoned worked as a distraction, I absolutely destroyed him.

I feel like with all of these changes from software has finally put an easy mode in their game, Because you never have to be frustrated, you never have to beat your head against a wall, you can do something else, you can do whatever you enjoy doing while leveling up and getting more skills, more experience, and casually strolling your way to being OP, while you take your own path in the game.

I've been playing Dark Souls Remastered between network sessions for comparison and I was just so stunned finding all these bottlenecks even as a level 95 character where it just wasn't able to go without difficulty. A lot of difficulty. I had to throw myself at the painting guardians over and over because I couldn't spawn anywhere else because of a bonfire issue, and I couldn't run through them, and it was just such this big frustrating thing to try and get back to a bonfire so I could just get back to playing my game. My game. I realized I didn't experience that once in Elden Ring, this feeling of unfair frustration.

To close this out, please enjoy a picture of me and my best friend my cow horse!

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

I'm watching the entire series of Game of Thrones for the first time. I've made my way to season 3, making sure to watch as many commentaries as I can. Last night I listened  to the Set Design / Costume Design commentary for S3 Ep 4: "And Now His Watch is Ended".

I know most historical costume Enthusiasts / Critics either don't touch, or make exceptions for Fantasy productions and on the whole I agree with that. But something about the Game of Thrones costumes (and how the show's popularity has impacted costume design on productions actually set in the medieval / Renaissance time period) has just really been bothering me.

(Perhaps you see what I mean here with Contessina De Bardi in Medici: Master's of Florence and her sneaky mini structured neckline)

It may be a couple of things, but lots of the ... insights from Michele Clapton shed some light on this for me. I have a few questions.

First: North of the Wall, we spend some time in this episode with The Night's Watch at Craster's Keep. Of Craster's wives, Clapton said [Disclaimer this is not an *exact* quote because I couldn't find a transcript anywhere and my sister sent back the Netflix DVD and I do not have an idetic memory - but the important parts of the comment are, in my own estimation, accurate] : "With Craster's wives I got this idea of them just having bits of rabbit, whatever they can get, woven with grass..." this raises in my mind, SO many questions.

Firstly - we ARE north of the Wall, yes? Where,  as we have seen, the ground is just about ALWAYS covered in snow, or 90% mud. So where is the grass coming from? And also what they are wearing is so clearly not grass?

This also provides a segue into my second question.

Do sheep exist in Westeros?

Why is it that this show has such an aversion to wool? Every man wearing protective clothing is wearing Leather (or rather I should perhaps say "vegan leather"). Every Hearty Weave (TM) appears to be an attempt at Linen; and every Fine Lady is wearing Silk satin, or if you're Olenna, silk brocade (in obviously hot weather, because naturally elderly ladies benefit from heat stroke).

I've not seen one woollen cloak. Not. One wool... anything really. I ask myself "Why?"

100% natural wool is wondeful. It's naturally flame retardant; it keeps you warm; it breathes well; it's soft in a light weave; it's strong in a heavy one; its water repellent. So what is with this endemic erasure of wool? Even productions like 2018's Mary Queen of Scots have had costume designers like Alexandra Byrne who, when searching for a durable fabric for cold and rainy Scotland, came out with a wardrobe comprised entirely of DENIM. Which,  as we all know is the WARMEST AND MOST COMFORTABLE of fabrics when damp. Now we all know Byrne's real reason for using denim is because it's cheap. The problem is Byrne tried to justify it by saying all of that guff about wanting a fabric that wears well in rain (Which,  I cannot stress this enough- denim does not) and, of course because denim would be "ReLaTaBLe". But I digress.

All that aside, perhaps the things that bother me most are components and composition. Which is where we get into the wooly (heh) area of me being a person with interest in HISTORICAL costume, critiquing a FANTASY series.

So let's just get this out of the way: I'm not saying that anything that the costume Department did with this series was "Wrong" [with one exception, but we'll get to that when we get to it]. I'm just going to say that I don't like the way it was approached, and my reasons on WHY. 

I think I have a modicum of justification for my opinions here because, fantasy is fantasy, yes but the concepts of "Fantasy" and "Medieval" have become so strongly connected that the line between them has become so blurred in the modern mind as to be almost non-existent anymore. We're in a strange cycle here. "Fantasy" was directly inspired by Medieval and over the years took more and more creative wiggle room because, the great thing about fantasy is, you can make it whatever you want it to be aesthetically. But as Fantasy and Medieval have become so intertwined, more and more creative license has been taken with the latter, so that the original inspiration has become beholden to imitate the art it inspired.

But I'll save my pontification on the modern eye and Medieval fashion for another post, and try to keep on track only as far as this affects my feelings on Game of Thrones.

My justification is that GoT is not just inspired by Medieval England/Europe in the broad sense that most Fantasy of the Sword and Sorcery variety is; it was SPECIFICALLY inspired by ONE ERA of English History, The Wars of the Roses [15th century] (with character inspiration from other eras, as recent as the 16th century).

The thing about being interested in Historical Fashion is, once you know it, you can't UN-KNOW it. For example, my understanding of the medieval approach to clothing composition is "Cut as little as you need to because sewing is tedious". You don't want to have to sew more than you have to because what's the point of that? Practically no clothing in the medieval period was tailored because why bother doing that when you can just sinch it with a belt, or lace it up the sides? Is any of that applied here? Nah. Because when we look at Sansa's dresses, look at those obviously machine stitched, perfectly pristine seams. ~whistles~.

I'll never throw shade at a costume department for using sewing machines, but I will shade them for not bothering at all to make clothing for a universe that has no sewing machines look like it was made in a universe that has no sewing machines.

  I can agree with not holding Fantasy series to historical standards - to a point. To wit: as long as it's believable IN-UNIVERSE.

AS FAR AS WE KNOW, the GoT universe doesn't yet have Mechanized looms. Now I know that they make some pretty unreal lace in Myr, but I just can't think of any in-universe justification for the texture of Danny's blue number in season 3.

Another thing that bothers me is the proliferation of corsets and how those corsets are approached.

Here are some historical corset facts.

• the term 'corset' wasn't widely used to refer to structured undergarments outside of France until the late 18th century (1700's). Before tart they were called "stays" (16th-17th century) or "a pair of bodies" (15th-16th century)

• structured undergarments first appeared in the 15th century, as the bodice of under-dresses(kirtles) were lined with reed or Buckram to provide back and breast support and provide a smooth surface for the gown worn over it. It also provided a foundation for multiple layers of petticoats, so the waistbands wouldn't dig into your sides.

• Structured undergarments that existed independent of a kirtle or petticoat aren't in evidence until the 16th century (Elizabethan/Renaissance) and aren't widely used by all classes until the late 17th century.

• Most 16th-17th century boned foundation garments had straps, since they didn't reach down much farther than the natural waist,  unless they were designed with a high back.

• Corsets, stays and other structured undergarments were never worn without a shift/chemise/slip underneath because...

• Corsets chafe.

• Corsets are difficult to clean, but shifts are easy to launder. Shifts protect your skin from chafing and protect your very expensive corset from the oils produced by your skin

(Reproduction example of 15th century style kirtle, from Prior Attire. Source video here)

(Sansa's... corset here has this bizarre low back and 18th century style tabs on the bottom? It also seems to lace only down to her navel. Not quite sure what's going on here, it really doesn't seem to be supporting her at all.)

The reason I hate, hate, hate the way Sansa is costumed under her...  very suit-like gowns is  because she never ever is shown (so far) wearing anything under her corset; her gowns are all long-lined, flowing and loose fitting; and show only wears (usually) one petticoat under them. So in short, I dislike that Sansa wears a corset because Sansa has NO REASON to be wearing one.

◇◇◇◇Another Thing◇◇◇◇

I want to spotlight on a little thing from the commentary that really hits on one of my larger problems with the aesthetic interpretation of this show in general.

During one of the scenes with Stannis and Melisandre, Clapton mentions that they made Melisandre's hair a darker shade of red in season 3 than it was previously. She says the phrase "sort of makes her more earthy".

Yes. Let's make the FIRE priestess more EARTHY. LET'S JUST DO THAT. AS OF THIS SHOW ISN'T "EARTHY" enough.

There's this fantastic quote I read somewhere by GRRM about how he loves fantasy because it's colorful, where real life is gray and brown and olive and dull. Melisandre is arguably the most colourful character in the show/series. In the books, EVERYTHING about her is Red. And not just red. She's scarlet and crimson. When she's introduced there's this fantastic description of her wearing flowing robes of scarlet silk with slashes in it revealing a darker, blood red fabric underneath.

That was passed up for a monotone, very simply cut red gown and I can't stop asking myself why a designer would scrap something like that without even trying to pay homage to it.

This show just sort of takes everything colourful in Martin's world and MAKES it gray and dark for the sake of Gritty Realism (TM). I suppose that's part of trying to appeal to a wider audience, but I just find it increadibly visually uninteresting.

◇◇◇◇ONE MORE LITTLE THING◇◇◇◇

Is this the sofa from the Study in Clue?

???