#basically there’s so much there for a really layered and good story with interesting aspects to explore and they deserve that

[kartsie]

Todd brain rot (and Sheila too I guess)

[zahri-melitor]

so i'm reading certain nightwing volumes from '96 - 02 for my current reading run following NML (shout out to @havendance, cannot thank you enough 🫶🏾) and while some aspects of how he's written is very compelling and interesting to chew on, for the most part it's been pretty....boring?? like i'm gonna keep reading it so i can have as much context as possible, but it feels more like a chore 😩

anyways, i read your response on that “who’d you choose to write nightwing” poll and i’d love to get your opinion on what nightwing runs/writers to read outside of those 8 volumes. i really wanna get into dick grayson’s character and personality! also, if it’s cool with you, anyone else please feel free to add to this!

-dominomasc

Hey, dominomasc. Unknowingly you've just raised one of the fundamental incongruities of how comics work.

Comics are about layers of stories providing depth to a character and about dozens of different interpretations more than they are about a single amazing run. (Some characters have That Run! But on average, most don't). Dick Grayson, a character that has existed for 84 years, has some very fun stories from all sorts of writers. His title, Nightwing, is also an excellent example of how a lot of long running titles often don't really have a stand out section that's head and shoulders above the rest.

I promise, you are never going to run out of stories to read about Dick Grayson (Comicsvine has him at 9,593 appearances as I write this). So yes, this is going to be about two things: advice on finding stories about Dick that vibe for you; and advice on understanding Dick alongside other storylines.

Taking into account what's listed above and the fact I'm moderately obsessive, I have compiled a discussion of most of the major writers who have written Nightwing runs, or who have written major titles that Dick also prominently appears in.

I am at heart a 'Dick belongs to the Bat Office' person and my expertise in most characters starts with COIE. On that basis I'm not going to dip into pre-Crisis here.

Marv Wolfman & George Pérez: New Teen Titans (1980-1993ish). I am not going to explain all the title names here; you're going to have to go get more detail from someone who treats NTT period as their special interest. Wolfman and Pérez are the architects of Nightwing as a character, separate to Robin, that Dick grew into. Read this period if you're interested in Dick as a young adult among the other Titans going through the transition into adulthood and independence, and his relationship with Kory. Basically it's a superhero young adult soap opera. It can be quite uneven in places, particularly towards the back end, and there are approximately a thousand discussions over which storylines are good and which should be fired into the sun. I am not a subject expert for this period.

Because of the state of the Titans titles in the early 1990s, the Bat office demanded Dick Grayson back under their control. Exactly when they got him back is slightly debated, but it would be fair to say Batman #500 (October 1993) marks his transition back to being a Bat character (around the start of Knightquest); by KnightsEnd and Prodigal (July 1994-January 1995) Dick is once again firmly a member of the Batman set of characters, and has remained so to date.

Prodigal, by Chuck Dixon, Alan Grant, Doug Moench: (Batman #512 to Robin #13). Use a reading list here as the stories are spread across multiple titles. Prodigal is 12 issues about Dick's first time being Batman, with Tim as his Robin, and his feelings about returning home to Gotham as an adult. Robin #13 in particular is possibly the most important issue of the story, as it's the foundation of a reset in Bruce and Dick's relationship with each other and how it is going to be characterised for the next decade or so.

Chuck Dixon: (Nightwing #1-70 1996, Nightwing: Alfred's Return, and a bunch of other one shots) So Dixon is probably DC's most prolific writer of all time, and is the architect of what's been treated as 'default Nightwing'. In this run, Dixon creates Bludhaven and the situation of Dick being its protector, out of a desire to be his own man apart from Bruce. He sets up an extensive Rogue's Gallery for Dick, the most famous of which is making Blockbuster one of Dick's main enemies. He has Dick working at a cop bar and then decide to enter the Bludhaven Police Department in an attempt to investigate it from the inside due to the levels of corruption. This is also the run where Dick and Babs get together as adults. Basically, everything about 'default' Dick that you probably know comes from this run. Dixon's great for character interaction, for world building, and and particularly at making various titles tie together - because he was writing at least 1/3 of DC's entire line for a while there he's the king of crossovers, giving a lot of depth to friendships because characters just pop between titles he's writing. His actual plots however vary between middling to occasional flashes of greatness. I'd consider The Hunt for Oracle (#45-46 and BOP#20-21) and the Shrike story (#55-58) to be the standout storylines in his Nightwing run; for individual issues I'd also point to #6 and #25 for his relationship with Tim, #16 for Dick building his car, and then his crossover issues in events tend to be quality.

Chuck Dixon and Scott Beatty: (Robin: Year One 2000, Batgirl: Year One 2003, Nightwing: Year One - Nightwing #101-106 1996) I am separating these three out from the rest of Dixon's work as they're quite important as retcons over Dick's backstory. Robin and Batgirl are well regarded rewrites of events; Nightwing is less so, partly because it's a solid example of the Jason personality retcon, and partly I think because a lot of people reading this were still well across the two 1980s versions of Dick's transition from Robin to Nightwing. I highly recommend Robin Year One, particularly with the Shrike storyline of Nightwing, as they are interlinked.

Devin Grayson: (Nightwing #71-100 & #107-117 1996, Nightwing/Huntress 1998, Gotham Knights #1-11 & #14-32, The Titans #1-20 1999) Oh, Devin. Devin Grayson is a Dick Grayson superfan (she uses Grayson as her surname because of Dick). She is really good at character introspection - Gotham Knights #1-11 contains some amazing character work. She's also not shy about establishing her own headcanons on characters and retconning their backstories. Devin's biggest contributions to the Dick Grayson lore are in establishing him as Romani and actually writing Bruce adopting Dick. Her run on Nightwing is best understood as a whump, break-the-cutie run, where Blockbuster sets out to destroy Dick's life, and in the process gets Dick fired, breaks up Dick and Babs, burns down Haly's Circus (for the first time), blows up his entire supporting cast, chases Dick out of Bludhaven and leads to Dick going under cover in the mob essentially to punish himself (also not the only time). Dick's also sexually assaulted in Nightwing #93 but I really beg people to read this in context of the rest of the run; this should be looked at as PART of the whole flow of whump, rather than as a separate situation. Grayson also had the title taken off her before she got to the 'comfort' part of the extended hurt/comfort storyline she was writing. It reads a lot better if you think of this in a more transformative fandom, ficcish manner of story rather than as a more standard run. If her Nightwing run is too grim for you, I highly recommend Gotham Knights and her Titans run; Devin Grayson is honestly best when she's writing a constellation of characters around Dick more than when she's writing Dick himself. She adores his friends and family. Standout issues to get a sense of Devin include: Nightwing #100, a self-reflective issue on Dick's history; Nightwing #81, where Dick's in hospital and Cass goes after Slade for him; Titans #15 1999, where the Fab 5 go on a camping trip together to get back to their roots and deal with a lot of tensions in the group; and Gotham Knights #8-11, Transference, where Dick and Tim team up to rescue Bruce, who's been brainwashed by Hugo Strange.

Jay Faerber: (The Titans #21-41 1999) Honestly Faerber's run on The Titans is not that Dick Grayson focused. It's entertaining if you want to read some solid Titans dynamics, but the standout characters you read this run for are Roy and Donna. Seriously, if you're into Roy, Cheshire and Lian drama I highly recommend Faerber's work; otherwise it's not an essential run for Dick.

Judd Winick: (Outsiders #1-25, 34-49 2003, Batman & Robin #23-25 2011) Winick tends to write an angrier and darker edged Dick Grayson, and he has a bunch of really common tropes you see pop out in his writing. These are no different, and thus include an awful lot of violence and characters having sex (so much sex). He can be quite funny as a writer, but honestly his Outsiders run does not have much of that humour. The Batman & Robin story is basically Winick finding some space to tie up his Jason Todd plot before Flashpoint obliterated it, more than an actual story about Dick. If you want a good encapsulating issue to get the vibe of Winick about Dick, take a look at Outsiders #21, which has a good chunk of Dick and Roy AND Dick and Bruce in it, though it's helpful to remember that this issue is set very shortly after War Games and so Dick is in a massive guilt spiral.

Bruce Jones: (Nightwing #118-124 1999) It's One Year Later! Bruce Jones moves Dick back to New York City (as Bludhaven went boom due to Chemo in the lead up to Infinite Crisis) and theoretically sets up Dick's status quo out to Reborn. So. The story Jones is most famous for is the first 4 issues of the run, which are generally referred to by fans as the TentaTodd story. Jason Todd turns up to run around annoying Dick by ALSO dressing up as Nightwing and committing crimes. He also turns into a tentacle monster for a bit. It is certainly a story that exists, but it actually is pretty in line with Jason and Dick's relationship up to Flashpoint: Jason turns up to be a brat who wants attention, does violent things, and Dick exhaustedly kicks the shit out of him and gets him locked up while despairingly going 'why is this my life'. Because of Jason running around killing people as Nightwing, the NYPD get mad at Nightwing and start trying to hunt him down. Jones is for the completionist.

Marv Wolfman: (Nightwing #125-137 1999) Lacking any better ideas, Wolfman gets a run on Nightwing. It's not Wolfman's finest work, to put it bluntly, and it's very obvious that Marv hasn't actually read any of Dixon or Grayson's runs. Marv does set Dick up working as a gymnastics and trapeze coach, which is always a decent job for him. If I had to pick one story from Wolfman, read Nightwing #127, where Dick gets buried alive and digs his way out of the grave.

Peter J. Tomasi: (Nightwing #140-157 1999, Batman & Robin #20-22 2011) Tomasi loves Dick Grayson, and particularly loves Dick's connection to his friends and family. Let me put it this way; in the lead up to Final Crisis and Blackest Night every title got an Origins and Omens short story on the back of an issue. Most books used it to write creepy or introspective reflections on awful stuff especially deaths that have happened to the characters. Tomasi used his to have Dick take Barbara skydiving for her birthday, and echo a bunch of themes from his first issue. I think this is one of the most mature and grown up looks at Dick prior to Flashpoint; Tomasi treats Dick as a grown adult with an adult relationship with Bruce. I love Freefall. Read Freefall to see some really interesting meta on Dick's relationship to the concept of falling and to the concept of catching falling people, a theme that's frequently present in his stories.

Grant Morrison: (Batman & Robin #1-16 2011) Astonishingly given how much of Reborn was designed by Morrison, they don't actually seem to care that much about Dick as a character more than as a prop to set Damian against. Dick's extremely focused on Damian in this title but also does not actually appear to like Damian very much. If I were going to recommend one story out of it I'd probably point to Batman & Robin #7-9, because Dick gets to be a giant hypocrite in them and tries to resurrect Bruce. It goes badly, for all involved.

Scott Snyder: (Detective Comics #871-881, Gates of Gotham, and like every Bat event during n52) The Black Mirror is probably my favourite piece of Dick!Batman storytelling set during Reborn. It's just elegant in terms of how hard Snyder pushes Dick and how his reactions are very much not those that Bruce would have. This is helpfully extremely obvious in that The Black Mirror and Gates of Gotham are actually part of a trilogy, the third act of which is Court of the Owls and due to Flashpoint Snyder had to rewrite CotO quite extensively including swapping Dick out of being Batman and having Bruce as the lead. Read The Black Mirror for Dick having a minor breakdown while solving a complex case with links to James Gordon and Babs. Read Gates of Gotham for incredible Dick & Tim & Cass & Damian fourway storytelling that shows the dynamics of every pairing out of the four.

Fabian Nicieza: (Nightwing #138-139 1999, Batman #703 & #713, parts of Battle for the Cowl, Nightwing #51-56 2016) The thing about FabNic is when he's on, he's very much on, and when he's not it can be painful. I actually almost would have skipped him on this list, but he very much deserves recognition for writing the Nightwing issues of Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul, which alongside the Robin issues portray exactly how far Dick will go for Tim; and for Batman #703, which is the only issue prior to Bruce's resurrection that actually puts Dick, Tim and Damian on page together as heroes. He also got saddled with writing the start of the Ric Grayson saga under the script of Scott Lobdell, which, well, is definitely at the 'not well regarded' end of his oeuvre. FabNic is again a writer that is really good at character interaction, and I tend to find whenever I'm reading events where there's heaps of writers involved and he's there, the issues I really enjoy are the ones he's had a hand in.

Tony S. Daniel: (Battle for the Cowl, Batman #692-699 & #704-707 & #710-712) Oh, Tony Daniel. Why. Daniel's stories are probably the most classic-Batman of the Dick!Batman stories. His stories revolve a lot around drama at Arkham Asylum, with Harvey and Gilda Dent, and with the Falcones. On balance I think you could probably actually trade Dick out for Bruce in half these stories and it wouldn't make a huge amount of difference. If I were going to suggest one to try, maybe go with #710-712? It's Harvey focused and it has Kitrina Falcone and doesn't actually depend on the whole Jeremiah Arkham thing.

Kyle Higgins: (Nightwing #1-12, 0, & 15-29 2011) For a reboot of Dick Grayson down to his fundamentals, and working within the requirements of the 5 year time line, I like Higgins' work on Nightwing. Sure, I could have done without him burning down Haly's circus, again, and all the Court of the Owls revelations, but some of that was clearly dictated to him, and they way he gave Dick time as a teenager with relationships with other characters at Haly's before his parents died worked quite well. If I were going to cite a favourite part of this run it's probably the last section, #18-29 when Dick moves to Chicago and tries the 'strike out as my own hero with my own city, screw you dad' thing for the first time in the new timeline. Higgins put in quite a bit of cast building work and it's a shame none of it ever got used again between Forever Evil and then Rebirth just ignoring everything during this period.

Tom King and Tim Seeley: (Nightwing #30 2011, Grayson #1-20) I'm going to treat these two together here as I can't actually easily subdivide the run between them. This is the longest period Dick goes undercover working as a spy because his life has just gone to shit. He is both spying on Spyral (for Bruce) but also his job within Spyral is as a spy and special agent. Think James Bond, except Dick also gets to be the focus of the objectification camera. Some people enjoy it as a change of pace, some people can't stand it because it's just a very weird story for Dick and Dick's generally personally unhappy when he's stuck undercover, and it definitely is a highlight in the 'did you know Tom King worked for an intelligence agency? Tom King is working out his feelings about working for an intelligence agency again' oeuvre. If you want to try an issue, I recommend Grayson #5 as probably the best character and storytelling piece in the entire run.

Tim Seeley: (Nightwing #1-34) Good stuff I can say about Seeley's run includes that he used Rebirth as a impetus to rebuild Dick's status quo. He did quite a lot of world building for a new version of Bludhaven, he got Dick back into Nightwing and back into a blue V costume for the first time in 7 years, he's interested in looking at the Grayson family and not so much in terms of the Court of the Owls stuff. He likes Dick and Damian's time as Batman & Robin. Seeley's also a fan of a lot of character beats in terms of Dick's characterisation that were pioneered by Devin Grayson - particularly in terms of Dick being easily attracted to women, being impetuous and hot headed at times, and in the Romani retcon. I don't necessarily see eye to eye with Seeley on all of his characterisation and story choices, but he does a lot of repair work on getting Dick back to being Nightwing, including things like repeating beats from the Dixon and Grayson runs so that Dick has that backstory again, and what that means for his character. I might suggest Nightwing #8 2016, because it revolves around Bruce and Dick and the concept of falling (I'm a sucker for a good falling metaphor) or #9, which is literally a discussion of the changes between n52 and Rebirth with both of the Clark Kents, and in which Clark points Dick to return to Bludhaven (in a sort of re-encapsulation of Clark originally giving Dick the inspiration for the name Nightwing, but this time pointing him to what people treat as his default 'home'). If you like the shape of Dick as Bludhaven's hero from fic, you probably will find Seeley's run has stuff to enjoy.

Sam Humphries: (Nightwing #35-41 2016) So Humphries' storyline is another good example of what a lot of the current run of Nightwing contains since 2016 - reinterpretations and new versions of old stories. In this case, it's an adaption of the Hanging Judge storyline to have taken place in Bludhaven in Bruce and Dick's past. I don't mind it as a story, but it's definitely there to remind you of old story beats.

I haven't yet read Benjamin Percy's run, or any of Ric Grayson yet (which is a combination of Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza and Dan Jurgens), or Tom Taylor's run, so I don't want to give you too explicit opinions on these.

In general terms from experience on other titles and what other people have said: I really loved Benjamin Percy's Detective Comics #35-36 story in n52 and I suspect his Nightwing writing is a perfectly acceptable fill; nobody particularly likes the plot surrounding Ric Grayson, and the fact Scott Lobdell had a hand in plotting it seems to me to explain a bunch of the aspects of the scenario premise that upset a lot of people; Dan Jurgens is a DC workhorse who can turn his hand to anything; and Tom Taylor's run has been described as many as 'rewrite the arc of Devin Grayson's run but make it light and fluffy and free of consequences'. I honestly think if you haven't read much Nightwing yet, Taylor's run may be a good transition run to try to see if he's your vibe; I keep getting the impression he probably makes a good intro for new readers.

If you have any other writers you would like my impression of, please ask specifically; as I've said, Dick's been written by a LOT of people over the years.

[ca-suffit]

I don't get why some people refuse to accept that Louis was abused. Him having been a victim to Lestat doesn't negate his grief. He's clearly still grieving Claudia, and from what we can tell of S2, we WILL see that too. No one is saying he's a saint either - he did fail Claudia. Him being a victim doesn't overshadow his grief or make him a saint.

And as you said, this isn't just some cheap story of abuse for shock value either. I wrote a whole wall of text about the complexities and layers of the abuse here but that would have been too long of an ask ajdhwj. Basically, there's the race aspect (which converses with the other aspects), there's that Louis couldn't leave him for many, many reasons, there's the emotional aspect, there's the power aspect (in more than one way)... I'm probably missing something, but this is very good portrayal of abuse and also something that happens irl.

This is also something that loustat will have to touch on in the future and will make for a very interesting story (again, as you said).

His arc is different in the book because the show has a different version of Louis with added struggles that book Louis didn't have (mostly due to his race and era, but also the dynamic that is shown with him and Lestat, if I remember the book correctly - partly also due to the former). Grief is still a part of his story, though.

Sorry for the long ask, it's just that reading that really made me go "??"

thank u for all of this!! I am not ignoring all u wrote but I wanted to elaborate on one point specifically tho and it's gonna be long. thank u for everything u wrote in full tho, I appreciate it. "I don't get why some people refuse to accept that Louis was abused."

they did it when he was white. it's because he's black now and lestat remains white. the vampires mention shit like slavery outright to each other when it's all white ppl, but it suddenly holds a LOT more weight once u make the "fledgling" a black person. AMC has done nothing but enhance what was already there, ppl just don't want to empathize with a black man.

anne rice fans are not critical thinkers but they like to think they are because they're proud they read a lot of books at prbly young ages. books they felt were rly "adult" and "mature." they've never grown up and taken a second look. anne rice's encouragement of parasocial relationships made that worse too. most of these ppl can't separate themselves from these characters and now feel bad seeing themes brought more to the surface about these relationships. they have to blame the writers and keep looking stupid instead of getting some self-awareness.

I know the fight does not happen in the books but I've seen enough passages from book IWTV to know physical and emotional violence between louis and lestat is v common. I've seen parts of lestat's books too where he's also violent to other partners. it's in the character, they've just been too busy wanting to fuck him the whole time to notice ig. that's what it is too. lots of this before the show was a sexy game to ppl and now they're mad u have to think about the story and consequences for things so much, mainly in ways that interfere with lighthearted shipping stuff. anne rice didn't ever talk about anything in depth so they're used to having awareness of topics but never exploring them. they feel stupid in many, many ways now and somehow that's everyone's fault but their own. it's practically *two years in* and they're still doing all this instead of doing some self-reflection. they keep reapplying the clown paint and then want to say it's ppl like me "ruining" it for others here like that's even remotely true lol.

anyways, u are welcome to visit my inbox any time and write whatever u want on this btw! I'd luv to hear it all.

[caernua]

re: your arcana post - i literally don't even go here but i live for drama.... if you were ever to do a video essay or even just a write up in a post about the situation.... i want to know what happened, can't resist 👀👀

oh my goodd it's so eerie to explain it to someone who wasn't involved but this silly little mobile dating sim was just an initial passion project from a small team of employees of an indie game developer that was basically given six weeks to turn in something completely self-indulgent and it quickly got a backing on kickstarter around 2016-2017? beyond that it was quite a classic case of a project becoming more famous than its creators expected and it turns into a bit of a mess bc of their lack of experience. and by that i mean they got very close to the fans, and that's bound to open a can of worms. they used to make weekly q&as and you can't imagine what an exciting event that was, oh my god literally everyone was in a discord server losing their shit bc the devs had opened the askbox and we could ask the stupidest questions in the world about their characters and they would answer bc frankly they were very funny and the characters were all like... established in a funny enough way that it was so easy to make good jokes about them.

and i think what makes it very interesting is that the fandom was actually pretty small, but it felt HUGE. those q&as seemed like the most viral posts you could run into when you logged on tumblr but really most of them had a couple thousand notes at best, even when the arcana was at its most popular. it was literally like living in a small village where everybody knew EVERYBODY. if you posted something, high chance everyone in the fandom would see and reblog. it was like a hive mind.

also part of the reason why it felt so huge was bc everyone was churning out fan content like CRAZY, i don't think there was ever any fandom i've personally been in where i've seen so many people create so much damn stuff and frankly i think it's one of its strongest features. idk what it is about this game but everytime i revisit it inspires me so much, suddenly i wanna pick up my tablet after months, i wanna try writing again, etc. it's just wonderful at urging you to create and i have no idea how one even achieves that.

but yea the fandom slowly disappeared partly due to controversies, some of the creators were found to have been into some questionable stuff back in their not so olden days and they stepped away from the limelight, afterwards i believe a lot of the team stepped away from the game altogether. but it was weird because the controversies were constant, not just towards the creators but also within the fandom itself 💀 and given the huge volume of them they of course ranged from reasonable criticism especially regarding the representation of the characters of color, or the absurd microtransaction to stuff like 'his eyes are drawn bigger in this cg so the artists wanted to make him look like a child so this game caters to pedos actually' dkjgdkfj i saw some CRAZY takes and the bad faith criticism definitely overshadowed the reasonable voices in my opinion, it was not balanced at all. they stopped doing the q&as, the posts they made on their official tumblr became way more sanitized, and actually in a way so did some aspects of the game, and little by little it grew quieter.

and now it's... silent. but it's so near and dear to my heart, i think it's an absolutely wonderful game and what i love about it the most is how much it inspires people to create. and i think the reason why is bc unlike in many games like this (at least i think, i'm not sure cause i haven't played many) your character doesn't just suddenly meet every love interests. they have a connection to some of the love interests and a past they don't remember so it's very interesting to peel those layers back, BUT because it's your character the story stays quite vague about the past. so it's incredibly fun to speculate, to create a backstory, etc! that's i think one of my favorite things about it and it's not a coincidence that arcana went on to inspire some fans to venture into the visual novel genre as creators themselves.

and yea overall it just felt like a close positive community (well. mostly really, we are talking about a fandom on tumblr here so) and a super creative and inspiring one. the jokes were super fun, the art was top notch, the writing was also good. so yea i kinda miss it and it's sad to see how empty it seems now? like i see people from 2020 onward go 'ohh i just discovered this game' and i'm like... MY SWEET SUMMER CHILD... YOU HAVE NO IDEA.... YOU HAD TO BE THERE.... and ig i didn't really answer your question bc i kind of glossed over the drama but i went through the whole phenomenon bc i think it was. really interesting to witness 🫡

[nekropsii]

I just wanna say i love your analyses. im not even into homestuck that much and really only pay attention to like 2 characters and the classpect system, but your analyses on the characters and the story are always so interesting to read, and its nice to see someone who is just. so aware of it, especially of the more problematic aspects of homestuck (like its antiblackness, ableism, and the infantilizing of characters like mituna and kankri within the fandom). as a blk person its refreshing to see someone acknowledge it because most of the time i feel like these things are so swept under the rug, especially by other nonblack fans...

besides that, id like to ask. what are your thoughts on sylphs as a class and how sylphs who are doom, void, timebounnd (you know, aspects that are normally seen as "negative") interact with their aspect? i feel like out of any class, they're the ones that are difficult for me to understand. id just like to hear your thoughts!

Aww, thank you so much! This is an absolute DELIGHT to hear. I'm glad my work has held so much value to you!! It really does mean a lot. Glad I'm doing something right in your eyes. :)

Homestuck has been a deep passion of mine for years now, and I find that it's physically impossible to earnestly and completely tackle it without directly confronting the layers of bigotry that Hussie was operating under while writing the comic. The comic is so overtly caked in it that it affects even the most basic meta of it all- foundational parts of the story are infested with it like termites. Classpecting is an example. Even the magic system isn't free of it! I don't see very many people bring that up, but then again, I don't see very many people bring up literally any of the Anti-Blackness in the comic, like... Period. It fucking sucks. But that's what I'm here for, in part. If no one else will do it, then I will- and gladly so, because it really ought to be discussed more.

And, to answer your question about Sylphs of Doom, Void, and Time...

Sylphs either Mend or Create, depending on circumstance. They largely intend to maintain stability of their Aspect within themselves and their session, and are eager to speak about their own perspective + experience with their Aspect, should you let them do so. The presence of a Sylph tends to imply an excess of their Opposite Aspect.

Doom is, largely, the Aspect of Rules, Restriction, and Sacrifice. The job of a Sylph of Doom is to keep these things in check- Mending where it's needed, or Creating where it's needed. To use Sovereignstuck as an example, a Sylph of Doom could take on the role of a Game Patcher/Moderator, making sure the active session follows whatever set rules were given... Perhaps a little too strictly. Void is, largely, the Aspect of Obscurity, Nothingness, and Oblivion. Mending these may require active deceit... Though that's not necessarily a bad thing. An excess of Light is a frightening thing indeed- though largely seen as a positive Aspect, Light is about Chaos and Uncontrollability, and even the slightest amount of unchecked excess of it can snowball and tank a session. Time is, largely, the Aspect of Entropy, Fate, and... Well, Literal Time. The job of a Sylph of Time tends to imply the stabilization and restoration of Timelines. They maintain linearity- keeping the threads of Fate from getting tangled into a terrible mess. Not to bring up Sovereignstuck again, but we also have a Sylph of Time, and she aids greatly in keeping the timeline- and therefore the narrative- straightforward. A Sylph of Time would prevent the story from becoming as much of a tangled mess as Homestuck proper is... Dave was never good at keeping things clean.

I hope these explanations were adequate! Feel free to ask for any clarification you need, thank you for valuing my opinion, and I hope you have a lovely day!

[chatxkilluaxnoir]

Man, I really regretted looking up Undertale Characters and Undertale Sans analyses on this here site:

Like, there is a reason I avoid doing that more often than not on tumblr (and some other sites), because a lot of the time I just across takes/analyses/etc. that I just really (personally) don’t agree with and/or like.

Even by creators that I can, have, do, and/or did like, and seemingly “well-liked”/”well-accepted” and/or “popular” takes.

Disclaimer:  If you like or agree with any these takes or similar ones; that is fine, we all have different opinions.  I just tend to not really like these takes.

The takes in question.  These are just UT/DR takes and ones I have mainly come across today and fairly recently (some of these takes are actually done by fans of these characters; that doesn’t mean I like or agree with them still though (putting the rest under a “read more” cut, because this gets pretty long, and in case people don’t want to read about these takes):

“Toriel is homophobic” (just uggghh, no.  Just no).

“Sans is useless and/or serves no purpose (in the game, battle, narratively, thematically, and/or etc.)” (basically) (this, just isn’t true at all, and I really, really (like, just a lot), hate this take/these takes).

“Sans is weak” (also hate this take).

“Sans is just some guy and/or a nobody now”, because he now can’t be a badass and cool and powerful and smart (which, he is), while also being dorky and edgy and vague and a generally nuanced and a flawed person with layers.  I guess.  Not allowed.  Talk about fandom over-correction (imo).

“Toriel is just a Mom and basically has no other character traits or flaws.” pretty much (Just no and is a huge oversimplification of her character).

“Chara is abusive/Chara abused Asriel” (Chara, who is also, just a iteral child.  And someone who was probably traumatized and hurt in the past.  Chara wasn’t perfect, but to say this, I just can’t agree with it really).

“Papruys is now the strongest character in Undertale” (he is strong and powerful in his own right, but this is just unfair to the other characters, and is kind of over-stretching stuff imo.  Like some Sans take(s); I also mostly blame this on fandom over-correction).

“To make Paps interesting we now have to make him edgy” basically (less a statement, and more a trend I see sometimes).  There are many ways you can make a character interesting for instance.  And 2nd of all; why try to make a non-character edgy, when we got more actual edgy characters like Sans, Chara, Flowey/Asriel, Gaster I guess, Muffet, I guess, heck, maybe even Toriel, and/or etc.?  Not saying Paps isn’t interesting btw; he is.  Just saying some people seem to only think they can make him interesting by making him edgy.  Not even against edgy Paps completely; I’m not.  Just trying to say there are other ways to do things/you could do things.

“That somehow Flowey/Asriel (and in the case of some fan stories; Gaster too), is a better person than Sans is” (don’t get me wrong, Sans is a morally questionable/morally grey character (and I love that about him).  But the amount the shit he gets sometimes, while arguably, characters who are just as bad, worse, and/or (more) ill-intentioned than Sans get more of a pass is just like, “what?”

“Flowey did nothing wrong” basically (this comment kind of goes hand-in-hand with what I say in the previous paragraph.  I do get he is technically a child still, and he is a good character.  But like, he still did many, many things wrong).

Not really a character, just a take I didn’t agree with at all, “Undertale’s meta aspects and time travel isn’t needed and basically make the game worse, and game would have been just as good, if not better without them”, (and I am like just "????”, about those things.  Those things are so important to Undertale man, and they don’t make the game worse, they make it better.  Like, what do you even mean?)

Etc., etc.

So yeah, really didn’t like these takes at all.  And I mean, AT ALL.

Welp, at least the somewhat sour taste these left in my mouth hopefully helps me more careful while searching for and/or looking up analyses, metas, etc. on tumblr and/or etc.

I have hopefully, learned my lessons now.

[gerardpilled]

would you share some beach boys lore with us?!

I know this is extremely vague, but past the actual music on pet sounds I truly truly know nothing about them

p.s. I just looked them up on spotify and smiley smile is wild

HA! I gotcha! Okay so there's actually a decent amount of stuff that i'm not sure is necessarily interesting on its own or just interesting with the background knowledge of Brian Wilson's life and story. Basically what kinda enamors me to them most is the contrast between how modern people without a knowledge of music history* view them and the behind the scenes reality. Their legacy has kinda been defined to the general public by their appearances and work in the 90s which really pushed the whole "beach! fun! surfing! babes!" aspect of their earlier work while completely ignoring what made songs like "fun fun fun" and "I get around" classics to begin with. Brian Wilson. Which is where the contrast kinda comes in for me. you have all these songs that surface level seem simple and dumb, but even those have artistry to them that made them stand out because someone like Brian Wilson was behind them!

Brian's story is incredibly sad and tragic at times and can be hard to learn about especially as a neuro-divergent person. He made such beautiful and sad sounds while dealing with mental health struggles that society of the 60s were not kind to. He has auditory schizophrenia which inspired a lot of work from pet sounds onward. he eventually had a mental breakdown while attempting to finish smiley smile (ps, he re-produced it 40 years later so go listen to SMiLE sessions instead). A lot of his life and work after that was controlled by his conservatorship under his abusive psychologist.

Anyway yeah i guess that's the starting lore that i find really important. I know it's a person's real life experience, but there's something so tragic about Brian's story and how his art has been bastardized by Mike Love (his cousin and co-beach boy) in the years since leaving the band that kinda hits me hard. Everyone attributes so much to the Beatles when it comes to rock and roll influence because the beach boys were just some silly dudes! I think I heard someone say once that in the Beatles an artist like Paul McCartney had an artist like John Lennon backing him up. In the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson had himself.

If you want a quick and well-made overview, the 2014 biopic Love and Mercy is actually really good! Also if you haven't, listen to pet sounds front to back and really try to hear all the layers and sounds and tiny little details. it's considered one of the best albums ever made and it commercially tanked when it came out. Also Also give a good hard listen to good vibrations. it's the song Brian considers his masterpiece (though i think his favorite is Don't Worry Baby which i would have to agree with) it took actual months to make and i think it was recorded in like 4 different studios because he believed they all specialized in different acoustics

*not an insult to those people i don't expect anyone to know this stuff

[creation-help]

Hello! How are you doing? Hope you’re doing well! I’m not entirely sure if you have gotten the same ask before but: I need help on writing character development. I’m not sure where to start and how to start. It’s something that’s been bugging me for a bit as I write lol.

Thank you so much! =]

What a wonderfully polite ask! Haven't had this asked from me yet so it'll be interesting. I had to think for a bit but this is how I'd go about doing it :]

Firstly: Figure out your character. What kinda character is it, and what's their personality? What part do they play in the story? To make a vague example, if your character is extremely self confident and oblivious to their flaws, to the point that it actively sabotages their life, an interesting character development would be to shake up, or shatter that image. See how it would impact the character. What would make this happen? What would need to happen for them to start questioning their capability in themself? And what kind of experience would get them to realize that, no, they're not as infallible as they think? Again, each character to their own but I used that example for the possible thought processes you could go through. The point is to just figure, and map out, where this character would be interesting to take, and what are your options, realistically. For this part it's important to consider the themes of your story, aka, ideas and concepts that show up often in the story, and/or something you want to tell with your story. Like, what's your story about but not literally. This can greatly help in deciding, for example, whether you should develop a villain for redemption, or towards defeat.

Remember, character development doesn't always need to be about said character becoming a better person! Character development just means that the character undergoes a gradual change through the events of the story, and by the end, you can compare the two versions and see how they're the same person who's just been changed by their experiences. Personally I think it's really important to keep the core soul of your character the same, so it's not them basically just transforming into another person. It's about the interest of putting a character in a situation, that would be so major that it makes them reconsider things or have feelings about something so much that they change. And most importantly, how this particular character would react to the situation in their own way! Whether they themself caused the situation that incites this change, or if it's caused by another character, is also something to consider! If the character themself causes their own character developing incidents, it'll be good to get some self reflection from said character. If it's caused by another character, this can help in exploring their opinion perhaps changing about this other character. Or being questioned.

Another big tip I'd have is to remember the pace and subtlety. Obviously there can be one major event that causes a character to undergo change, but it can also be multiple different occurrences that each have an impact on the character over time. Try not to make the change too sudden (unless your point is to show how dramatically this Thing changed your character. Still, I recommend approaching it with a certain layer of finesse). Obviously pacing is important in any aspect of a story, so remember to space out the character development appropriately to what you want to show. Give them some time. Change can take time, and that's okay.

To recap so far: You need to know your character well, so you can know 1. Where you want to take them, and 2. What would cause them to start developing into one direction or the other. Got it? Good! Now..

How??? - Obviously this varies depending on alot, but. Start with having a certain amount of time establishing who your character already is, before their development. If you want to portray them growing (or corrupting) over the course of the story, it's important to know where we started. Helps to really feel the change and difference ykno? Once you feel that your character has been established, and the real adventure starts to pick up (whatever that may mean for your story/character), you can start to chip away at them. Here's some generic examples of how your character might start changing:

They see/experience something that contradicts with something they never thought to question, or they are angered by something so much that it inspires them to do something, or they are traumatized and shocked by something, or they set out to do something but it doesn't go quite as expected, or they meet someone new who really gives them something to think about, or they learn something new about an already familiar person that gives them something to think about, or they find some interesting place or item, or they have relationship conflicts, or something strange happens that starts changing them (physically) so their self perception is challenged. And so on.

Once you've started with what first shakes the foundations of your character, give it a bit of time to simmer. It can be a long time if your character is stubborn and slow to change, or it can be short if the opposite is true. Explore the possible thoughts and feelings, and conflicts this change may cause in your character. You might have intense denial, or confusion. You might have missteps where the character thinks "What am I even doing?". You can have relapses, a sort of "No no, this is how things have always been, it doesn't change anything!" thingy. You can have revelations and realizations. Learning. Trying and failing. Lots of thoughtfulness. Doubt. Baby steps or attempts at doing something differently. Rewarding experiences for doing something differently. Punishing experiences for doing something differently.

Remember to keep feeding new experiences to your character at a consistent pace to help fuel their development. This may be because the character itself now seeks more of whatever might be causing their development, or because they're just thrown into it. For example if a character is spiraling into a corruption where they just get progressively worse, you need to have events that justify this for the character. If you think a certain experience would have the character react in a way that doesn't make sense for the development you're going for, change the approach. I know it can be hard to figure out more specifically for your particular character but I hope any of this helps to start thinking about it.

It's kinda like mixing paint. You start with one color and think what color you need to add, to make it a different colour. It heavily depends on what color you start out with, and you need to know what color you want to end up with. Then just, add accordingly.

Remember to use other characters for help! They can assist in reflection, talking about things, having their change affirmed or denied and how that impacts the characters, and so on. Other characters, props, places, supernatural aspects occurrences, conflicts, relationships..

Additionally, on the How? part. If you want the development to be gradual and nuanced, take your time with it and little by little, show your character taking different actions, or thinking something new, or whatever else to signify their change. Little by little. Maybe for now, they'll try something new but the next time they feel safer leaning on their old self. Perhaps they try too many new things at once, get overwhelmed (or worse) and retreat to reconsider. Maybe this changes what kind of character they end up developing into, if they had different ideas about that. Any number of ways can do, just remember to have something to show for how your character might be changing. Use it to make the story more interesting!

If it's a sudden, dramatic change, still, remember finesse. Mostly I mean try not to get corny or cliche with it, even sudden changes have their own connotations and consequences. For example, show how your character feels about this sudden thing, and just as if not more importantly, how other characters feel about it. How does this change their perception? Does it cause relationship conflict? Dive into it. How does it psychologically affect your character to change so suddenly like this? Does it cause missteps, doubt, or maybe inspire newfound confidence and strength? Remember to have them also think about their previous state of being, if the development is sudden. Have them reflect why and how they ended up here. Compare. You can use the suddenness of the change for some shock, or angst, or to really drive a point home about something. You can use it for positive things too, depending on what the development is and what environment fostered it. Just remember to show how this change happened, what it causes, and how the character could compare now.

Final recap: 1. Who are you developing into what? 2. What causes this development? 3. Show how the development happens 4. Show effects of development

I also hope you're doing well! You're welcome :]

[animehouse-moe]

Skip and Loafer Episode 4: Tingling and Scraping

P.A Works and Skip and Loafer are doing it again, and again, and again. They continue to deliver interesting and unique direction and visuals that pile on a delightfully warm sense of comedy and friendship, and is complemented by thoughtful commentary and exploration of the most challenging aspects of being a high schooler. Today, that topic is regrets and expectations.

But who wants to start with the heavy stuff first, I like the cute and fluffy pieces too! Thanks to this episode's direction though, we get a lot of very beautiful scenery. There's a really strong focus that almost separates environment from characters, and lets you soak both up in copious amounts.

It's just so damn beautiful, but the characters can do a good job of distracting you from it. Take, for example, the use of CGI vehicles in the following scene. Unless you're looking at them they don't do anything other than populate the scenery, they just blend in so well with the lighting and color palette. To that end, I feel like P.A Works' use of CGI throughout the series so far has been really well managed. It fills up the layouts and adds life to the background of it all, but isn't enough where you're forced to look at it.

Anyways, moving on, the overall direction. I like it, it walks a fine line, but I like it. It's an episode that focuses far more on the internal pieces of characters so you get a good few close ups, but they do a good job of molding those pieces so that they fit within a "first person" perspective. It's very hard to explain, but basically the way they frame and block characters within a scene is to have viewers look through the eyes of a character, instead of the lens of a camera. It's a subtle piece, and I feel like they could do it better in some other areas, but there's quite a few pieces that stand out and really sell that first person feel.

Just simple things, like this scene of Mitsumi watching the old TV Drama that Shima-Kun acted in. The FoV is more stretched and there's the slightest visual effects to make sure viewers understand they're looking at a screen.

Or scenes like these pairs place us directly behind a character's line of sight (second image is a follow up cut that shows the pair in a single scene).

Stuff like this shows the strong awareness of today's episode director. Without these follow-up scenes, the direction (even though the initial scenes are still creative) can come off as typical or "standard", but the concept of that first person perspective is framed by seeing just how you saw the previous scenes. Really great work that's apparent through the episode.

Speaking of apparent through the episode, the comedy! I love that Takamatsu-sensei found a vehicle for their (non-deprecating) humor and ran with it. The adaptability of space, and its relation to Mitsumi is really felt in this episode. Thanks to that, I've got a newfound appreciation for the comedy and the sort of daydreaming aspect. It's so fluid and creative, and no matter what it finds its roots with Mitsumi which is really nice.

And just to round it out, the technical work on the speeds and movement of the background layers in this cut is so well done. Such a great mimicry of how it actually looks.

Alright, onto the story now! It's really lovely. I appreciate how it tackles the issues so much. It refuses to look at them as an issue that faces a single character, or one that characters can share, and instead brings the sentiment to a more macro scale and portrays it as something that every high school student deals with.

Shima-Kun has regrets, Mitsumi has regrets, Takamine has regrets, even characters like Kanechika are faced with regret and its challenges. And that's what this episode ends up all about, facing those expectations and staring down regret and what you might regret later down the road.

I feel like the above image really puts the whole episode into context quite well. What does it mean to have no regrets? When will you know if you'll regret something in the moment? They're questions without answers, and the curiosity possessed by the teenagers within the series does well to really sell it.

They don't have a real answer to it, nor can they quite put it into words, but instead they can experience it. They can understand how to live without regrets and how to find happiness in every corner in life. Like this scene of Takamine as she looks out the window of the bus

. She's regretting her decisions, she's beating herself up for losing and wasting time. But one little moment with Mitsumi wipes it all away, because the view was worth it. Such a simple thing as a landscape was enough to ease Takamine, and I think it's great. It's not the big moments that make that difference, it's the little ones you might not otherwise experience.

And god do I love how Takamine and Mitsumi are played off each other. They exist as polar opposites in the most important moments, and show how impactful each is on the other to strike a balance between the two lifestyles. Stuff like Takamine studying while Mitsumi eats candy and watches the scenery go by, just really simple pieces that establish that fundamental rift between the personalities of the two.

Surprisingly, something this simple is actually an incredibly important piece of symbolism that ties to an earlier conversation that Mitsumi had with Shima-Kun. Mitsumi used to have expectations and regrets weigh incredibly heavy on her, so bad that it was to the point that she wasn't eating while studying for exams. But one person was able to help carry that weight and let Mitsumi be free.

That's what's happening with Takamine and Mitsumi, an implicit conversation telling Takamine that it's okay to betray expectations and have regrets. That you can fail and not get into the middle school of your choice and still have a wonderful life. It's a really wonderful piece for reassuring people with their whole life ahead of them that they have just that. There's no rush to fill your schedule and do everything possible every waking moment to make sure you get to where you're going. It's all about the journey, or in this case, the bus ride.

And just to top it all off, Takamine really changes quite quickly. What's best about it though is that they show it as a subconscious change before they express it as a thought. They used to have nightmares about being left behind by the bus, but that gets replaced with a wonderful little dream sequence that takes Takamine through the stars.

It's just so... good. It does everything right and wonderful and bubbly and cute and sweet. It takes Takamine's desires and feelings as a high school girl and lays them bare to the viewer in what amounts to a fluff sequence.

And why you might ask? Well, like I said earlier it's a subconscious piece of Takamine, so there's lots of things within it. Take the cat, an amalgamation of the cat Mitsumi picked up earlier and Mitsumi herself. And then there's the idea of looking out the window of the bus at the scenery, and within that there's even paralells/similarities to how Takamine saw Mitsumi when she was looking out the bus.

Okay I promise to tie it off here. After her experience in her dream, we see her cutely mistake Mitsumi for the dream cat, before she follows it up with expressing to Mitsumi that she's not the girl that she thinks Mitsumi thinks she is. I think. But yeah, it's a great little scene that shows the confidence Takamine finds in herself from yesterday's experience to face today head on, and create a deeper relationship with Mitsumi in the process.

Even though we're already this far along I feel like there's a world of things to take in. Like how Shima-Kun speaks to expectations and how family bearing down on you can squash happiness and passion as you strive to live up to expectations and earn their affection. Or how thoughtful Mitsumi tries to be at times like not bringing up Shima-Kun's acting career to him. Or how Mitsumi's come to Tokyo to try and change a foundational issue with rural underpopulation in Japan (really, it's a pretty severe issue these days). It's such a diverse and deep story that you can hardly fit all of the good parts into one post. But you can summarize it with a single sentence.

Skip and Loafer continues to prove that it has incredible understanding and nuance in regards to high school life and how it affects students, depicting a wonderfully romanticized story that continues to stay close to the ground and provide important commentary and messages to viewers.

Though I guess that's more like a paragraph, isn't it?

[demcnsinmymind]

@innerwar and @handtame sent : 💡 What inspires you to write the muse? | Mun talks about the Muse meme | Accepting

Oh, there are so so so many things to say here. Two very specific ones come to mind though.

1 - His relentlessness/optimism or however one might call it that he's got going on for himself.

He didn't give up in canon. He kept going. And going. And going. And going. sure enough, we got to see him break down. More than once. A character as stubborn, douche-y and headstrong as him. Yet by the end, even he cried. He was so severely done and undone. But even then, he kept going. "I don't really need the light anymore. I just keep walking straight. I could walk in the dark for hours. It's kinda like a game. How long can you go?" That's one of my favorite lines from him and just sums up his character so well. You can deprive him of everything. The situation is utterly dire. He's starving. He's alone. He's lonely. He's tired and done, but turns out he can still keep walking, so he does. Even then, makes it a bit of a joke. Wonders how long he can keep going. And canon shows that he can. For quite a while. Making him heroic and yet not.

Which kinda leads me straight into the second point.

2 - He's such an enigma. On so many levels. It fascinates me that he's a character where you really cannot quite tell where he'll end up. Sure, you get the idea that he's like a cockroach and that he's not gonna die. Yet he can go in either direction but also in neither. He has the potential to become a real heroic good character. The more GE1 progressed the more you could see that. But GE2 also showed his potential to become a villainous selfish bad character. You start out immediately hating him at the beginning of the first movie and by the end of the first movie and franchise, he end up rooting for the guy and loving him. He's both and neither, but not in a way where it's not fleshed out or poorly written, he feels real.

It fascinates me that even after so many years of writing him, I still cannot tell you his definite path, an ending, the shape of his character. The creators of the movies once called them a story about the deconstruction of his character. Dismantling him. Lance is both a character and a real person. And it is about peeling away layers upon layers of the character until the real person is shown beneath. Raw and at his most basic instinctual behavior and thoughts.

He's a character you have to explore, whom you have to get used to, see things through his perspective and it's entirely dependent on the situations he's thrust into. Even he himself explores his own thoughts and character in canon through his various logs and writings. Making sense of not just situations, but himself in them. And more and more I'm beginning to realize that this is exactly what he's also doing on my threads and what I'm doing with his character too. That doesn't mean he's a shallow character without depth or meaning. He has core aspects in there that won't ever change and just make sense and are there. But other than that? He's in constant flux into genuine personhood. One step at a time away from a caricature/character.

I just keep falling back to the word 'potential' all the time. He has so much potential and so many avenues he could take, and that's what makes him so interesting and incredibly fun to write.

[catty-words]

i’m indian, and i also think that des was so necessary this season. i think there’s some cultural nuance that may go unnoticed for people who aren’t (which is totally not their fault!) but i definitely had pressure on me growing up to befriend and even date indian boys. i’m sure my parents’ reasoning was different than mine, but i honestly really appreciated having someone who Got It. my ex was indian and it was very validating to be with someone who understood the things i was going through and had experienced them with his parents.

there’s also something very specific in how indian moms treat their sons versus their daughters, and rhyah was (unfortunately) a very good representation of that. it's kind of a Thing in indian communities, the boys are such momma's boys and get completely coddled whereas the girls are kind of forced to grow up much quicker. the way my mom treated me and the way she treated my brother were very different. which then leads into my dad being the one to really understand me and ride for me, so looking at it for devi... makes losing mohan impossibly more devastating, as was addressed in season one. but i think the scene in 3x09, an indian mom standing up for her daughter, is huge. there's also the added layer of the community and how gossipy and judgey and nosy they are, and how what nalini did would've definitely gotten out to them. s1 nalini was worried about how she was being seen and talked about (ganesh puja) but s3 nalini cares far more about protecting her daughter and validating her experiences even if it may get her talked about. this also contributes quite beautifully to the finale, where devi wants more time with nalini and nalini doesn't want her to go. des may not have been necessary to reach that point, but his inclusion in the story does make it hit so much harder for me.

i'm so sorry this turned so long! and of course i'm aware my experiences aren't universal and other indian people may completely disagree but i just wanted to share my perspective :) i love your analyses so much, you are truly a gift to the nhie fandom :)

thank you for this ask, and for the compliments! i have Thoughts on all of this, and i’m so sorry in advance for how long this will inevitably be. but your perspective lights up my brain, making me wanna talk about devi/des and nalini and devi & nalini’s dynamic and the role community plays in their lives and i’m kissing you on the forehead.

let's start with devi/des because, as the show itself recognized, they make an exceptional springboard for the exploration of themes!!

i’m indian, and i also think that des was so necessary this season. i think there’s some cultural nuance that may go unnoticed for people who aren’t (which is totally not their fault!) but i definitely had pressure on me growing up to befriend and even date indian boys. i’m sure my parents’ reasoning was different than mine, but i honestly really appreciated having someone who Got It. my ex was indian and it was very validating to be with someone who understood the things i was going through and had experienced them with his parents.

(disclaimer: before we really get into it anything, i do not wish to invalidate your experience as an indian person watching this show, rather build upon it with my findings as an academic mr. abed, but definitely read my take with the grain of salt that i'm a whitey white person and - aside from a handful of novels over the past couple years - nhie is one of the few indian-made-about-indian-identity pieces of media i've consumed.)

here's my hot take: des himself actually offers devi very little in the way of deeper connection to her culture.

a prominent aspect of devi’s fractured identity, of course, is how americanized she is in comparison to the rest of her family. she eats meat and complains about having to wear saris and would rather vacation in aspen than india because it’s the playground of the rich and famous! she shows basically no interest in bridging this divide, either, because any and all participation in hindu culture only makes her feel further away from the picture of high school normality to which she aspires. this exchange from 1.04, for example, is especially relevant to our discussion:

so, it’s telling about the show’s intentions for the relationship that devi and des meet in an episode where devi’s forced to straddle her high school and her hindu identities, with her forced participation in navarathri getting in the way of her doing damage control on her post-paxton image, only to have des help more with the high school damage control than devi’s disinterest in her culture. his callout of her shallow understanding of her own community aside - you’re one of those indian girls who only likes white guys and thinks all indian dudes are computer geeks or cheesy club rats who wear too much cologne - des unwittingly pulls devi closer to that picture of high school normality she’s chasing by being the one to suggest they make paxton jealous. their chemistry overshadows any serious discussion of devi’s mild racism.

this is consistent with the show’s treatment of the relationship across the board, too. on the surface, by merit of being weirdly sort of a combo of [ben and paxton] if [they] were also indian, des is better suited to devi than her past boyfriends. in actuality, he reinforces the shallowness of the ideal devi’s been reaching for this whole time because, for devi, to be with him means to escape out from under herself.

that being said, it’s obviously very relevant to the plot and to devi’s emotional journey that des is indian come 3.09. i think it’s, once again, telling, though, that, after she gets to experience the high of dating a guy out in the open and with her mom’s approval, that feeling of normalcy is quashed under the nuances of participating in indian culture. namely, the special brand of misogyny you outlined so well:

there’s also something very specific in how indian moms treat their sons versus their daughters, and rhyah was (unfortunately) a very good representation of that. it's kind of a Thing in indian communities, the boys are such momma's boys and get completely coddled whereas the girls are kind of forced to grow up much quicker. the way my mom treated me and the way she treated my brother were very different. which then leads into my dad being the one to really understand me and ride for me, so looking at it for devi… makes losing mohan impossibly more devastating, as was addressed in season one.

there’s so much to be said about the show’s relationship to indian-specific misogyny, it probably deserves its own post, so for now i’ll just say this - the fact that something culture-specific drove devi and des apart highlights, in my opinion, the way des fails to provide devi a deeper connection to being indian.

now, let’s switch gears for a moment to talk about nalini. a prominent aspect of her characterization is that she’s secure in the way her culture shapes her identity but feels disconnected from that culture in such a way that brings about an inversion of devi’s own fractured identity. you mentioned ganesh puja, and that episode is the perfect example of the push and pull in nalini’s life where her culture is concerned. she doesn’t have any close friends within the sherman oaks community so showing up to puja means nonstop scrutiny with no refuge from rehashing her still-fresh loss, but it also means spiritual enrichment. for example,

there’s a reason this is a) one of the most emotionally-impactful closing shots of an episode and b) one of my personal favorite moments in the show, and the reason is that nalini’s whole world feels immediate and peaceful - her girls in the close space of the car with her, all of them touched by and processing pandit raj’s words. it represents everything nalini wants. namely, to feel the strong ties to her family facilitated by participation in her culture.

since nalini spends season one so insecure in her ability to rebuild any meaningful sense of family or community in the wake of mohan’s death and devi actively resists inclusion in the community for the way it makes her feel like a loser virgin, nalini and devi find themselves harshly at odds over the cultural divide. both 1.04 and 1.09 feature significant moments of tension - so disappointed in you and i wish you were the one that died that night, respectively. their needs and wants are too antithetical for them to ever find common ground.

then nirmala (my beloved) shows up and provides nalini some security. she both connects nalini and devi back to mohan, as well as makes nalini’s home in india feel closer without uprooting devi from hers. and - not to take away from what you said here -

des may not have been necessary to reach that point, but his inclusion in the story does make it hit so much harder for me.

- because, yes, devi having her first mom-approved boyfriend is a significant turning point in both devi’s journey and devi & nalini’s relationship and he would never have been nalini-approved if he weren’t indian, but !! the hugeness of nalini standing up for devi can and should be traced back primarily to women!!

specifically, the way the four generations of women coming together and fostering a deeper understanding of each other facilitates reflection on what parts of their culture actively harms them and on how participation in the culture could be molded to fit their lives instead of them trying to fit the mold as dictated to them by the culture. there are unreasonable expectations to navigate and harsh and impenetrable social structures in place, but there’s also a safety and comfort in having a community that prides itself on its ability to knit its members closer and closer together.

all that’s to say, i do think des provides something to the story by merit of being indian that no other pre-existing character could have and is, as you put it, necessary to the season. but it’s also essential to my understanding of the show’s themes that he’s not the one who bridges the cultural disconnect in devi’s identity. instead, nalini, nirmala, kamala, and - most important of all - devi herself will be responsible for defining what, exactly, being indian means to her.

[dolliecworpse]

Aaaa I just discovered this blog and it's really interesting! I don't know too much about xenogenders/neopronouns since they kind of get me very overwhelmed due to my need to Absolutely understand everything and categorize/label stuff when I'm in a community (ex: fandoms, archetypes, tropes) so this might be a dumb question but.. what exactly are titles and what are they used for? And how should someone go about when making a gender-system? I'm asking because I plan on making one for a story and don't really know how to go about it.. anyways, so sorry for this dumb ask! I hope you're well and have a amazing day or night!!! Keep up the great work!!

there are no dumb questions here!! i’ll put the two explanations under the cut since it’z kinda long. sorri abt that! the gender systems i mention have alreadi been created, and i’ve linked them where i mention them if you wanna check them out!!

okk so titles are basicalli a name that describes someone or a certain aspect of them. does that make sense? it’s kinda like a name or pronouns in that they can give someone euphoria and they’re a way of describing a person. like a realli simple one that’z used outside the mogai communiti bc it’s an actual like position would be the prince!! more creative titles that aren’t used in day-to-day life might be “the creator of the heavens” or “(pronoun) who creates life.” these are more creative and descriptive than just a “job” title (i put in quotes bc i’m not sure if being a prince is considered a job LOL. but a more job-like one would be the baker). but yeah, they’re p much used as one would use a name or a pronoun, which is to address people.

as for gender systems, there are a few things that are considered sort of…gender system etiquette, shall we say?

1) think of the concept you want to convey. do you want a gender system where one’s gender is decorated with smth (genderdecorated)? or maybe one where one’s gender is related to certain fonts (genderfont)? then take that idea and turn it into a single word. most gender systems don’t have commonli seen gender endings like -ic or -gender, but just the word. am i making ani sense? i hope so 😅

2) take that word and put gender in front of it!! like with genderdecorated and genderfont. people will replace the word gender with the concept (or with genderfont it’z the font name) name of their choosing. like for example, if they want to coin a gender under the genderdecorated gender system where one’s gender is decorated in cuteness, it would be known as cutedecorated.

3) before we go ani further, check to see if the gender system alreadi exists!!!! look up gender_ in the tumblr search bar, and if nothing comes up, you’re probabli good to go!!

4) the next step is creating the flag template. try to make a unique flag template outside of just straight stripes, if possible. if you’re not sure how to do that, check out this quick tutorial here. if you have ani questions regarding this step, feel free to send in another ask!! below is the greyscale color palette i use for my templates. ik it looks boring, but people will use the template as a base and recolor it! this is commonli done w the bucket tool, but there’s probabli other methods. aniways, here’s the palette. simpli put an image layer into your canvas with this as an image and sample out the colors so that you can use them in your flag!!

ignore the colors above and below the greyscale line, i could onli crop it sm </3 keep in mind that you don’t need to use all of these colors in your template!!! they’re just there if you need them.

5) craft the definition, adding in blanks for people to fill in with the concept they want. for more info on what i mean, check out the coining posts to the gender systems i’ve mentioned above (dw, they’re linked!!) or check out any of my gender system coining posts, which can all be found linked in the pinned post of @bloodygendersystems !! sorri that i’m not great at explaining this part. it’z probabli just best to look at examples.

6) this part is optional, but it’z helpful for people who may want to coin under your gender system. upload your flag template(s) to deviantart!! when saving flag templates straight from tumblr, they get a bit blurri, making them harder to recolor. if this has ever happened to anibodi reading this, dw!! i got you. upload the flag you’ve saved from tumblr to this upscaler website, click the highest upscale option available to you, fill out the captcha, click download, and voilà! it should be readi for you to recolor!! ik the website name is kinda weird, but it’z upscale power is unmatched. i’ve also seen other people use it without issue so it should be good!!! i think it’z also an app, but i’ve onli ever used the website.

7) post your gender system!! if you plan on coining ani genders under your gender system, add the names of them into the post so people know not to coin those ones!! you could say smth like “planning to coin x, y, and z, so please don’t coin those unless i get overwhelmed and say you can.” some people might reblog with genders they’re going to coin as well, so make a mental note not to coin those ones.

i think that’z everithing? lmk if i’m forgetting ani important steps 😅

[metaregress]

umineko noodling part 1

I don't think tumblr has specific spoiler-hider stuff? so uh umineko spoilers below the cut

I'm reading Umineko and I'm in that awkward place where I'm really invested and interested, but can't look up anything online because it feels like any meme or fanart has the possibility to be a spoilery deathtrap. It's gonna be a long journey but I gotta keep my head down until the end.

So to alleviate some of that loneliness, I thought it would be fun to keep a kind of journal where I can record my thoughts on the story as I progress, and can theorize in real-time and then reflect on what came from it. This in itself feels weirdly like a move inspired by the game and its love of logic and inversions; I can’t ‘take in’ information about the game because it risks giving things away, but I can ‘put out’ information, because it will only be reflecting my very-limited understanding of things in the current moment.

The game (story? I’m not sure how to properly refer to it) has been interesting so far though. It definitely does have some of those mid-aughts anime vibes (I think it came out in ‘07) with the honorifics being translated directly (George-aniki) and some of the characters feeling a little like stock tropes from that era, though now that I’m deeper in it seems like they just used those tropes as a jumping-off point, or rather that the tropes were deliberately misleading in order to hide the characters’ real depths.

I’ve also been interested to see what the VN format brings over just having the story presented in prose. I’ve seen a lot of this before with other VN-adjacent games, but the gameplay could often distract from them so this is an interesting case of being able to totally focus on games as a text-presenting medium. Music has been maybe the most striking aspect so far; the game’s music is good, and used to good effect to punctuate certain scenes or set different moods - especially right when a mood swaps the the music kicks in to highlight the new vibe. Sound effects and being able to pace the appearance of text can create cool effects as well; they help the text ‘come alive’ in a way that can be difficult when it’s just a wall on a page or screen. You can replicate characters’ speech speed, or have words appear one at a time for extra emphasis. Or you can have page transitions accompanied by sound effects to help really sell tension or impact, like a door creaking as it opens before the text appears describing what’s happening in a room. This is also something that shows up in a lot of games, but gets to really take center stage in a VN.

And of course there’s the ‘visual’ portion of it; character images and backgrounds. I’ve been enjoying the ‘original’ character illustrations; they’re less polished but have a personal charm as a result. I also like that they're framed much closer compared to the updated art - it feels a bit more personal to me and less like abstract concept art. Particularly a fan of Natsuhi-with-a-gun.

But just being able to see characters as they speak, or see their expressions change in response to things helps create a new layer of engagement in the story.

I enjoy its Zero Escape-style long digressions on random topics, like the whole thing about Maria being in her growth period to explain why she’s such a weird little gremlin about black magic because she’s trying to create a sense of individuality so she can stand out from her peers. Basically it was a small dissertation on chuunibyo as a concept. And I just like when media was clearly made by someone with an intense interest in something that almost can’t help but spill over, like the antiquing mini-arc in HunterxHunter.

It is also quite good at sticking the landing on its logic-puzzles and reversals, very reminiscent of Phoenix Wright in that regard. ‘Spinning the chessboard’ even kind of evokes the idea of a ‘turnabout’ from Phoenix Wright. I like that it’s non-interactive though because I think that lets them be much more elaborate with their puzzles since the player solving them is not gating progression. If you want to engage and reason about them alongside the characters you can, but if you just want to know what happens you can do that too. I’ve enjoyed trying to get stuck in alongside them, which is part of why I want to have this record of my thoughts and impressions about the various puzzles being presented.

Oh also one fun thing is that you can swap freely between Japanese and English. I imagine for a game whose primary function is rendering text, this was pretty easy to implement, but as someone trying to learn rudimentary Japanese it can be fun to look at certain passages to see how things are rendered, like finding out that when Battler refers to the killings as a 'game' with rules, he uses the katakana for 'game.' I think that's a really common thing in Japanese (eg calling arcades 'game centers') but it was fun to be able to poke around in the original to confirm, or to see if he was maybe using some other figure of speech originally. I was also curious about the translation of Maria and the servants explaining to Battler that Beatrice " 'exists' " - it turns out they were saying " 'い'る" which is the verb for 'to exist' but with an added emphasis. It's just neat to be able to satisfy my venal curiosity like that!

Anyway I've got another writeup for the first ~10 hours of the story that I'll post later. This was fun though.

[psychelis-new]

Hi lys, how are you?

angel, melody, silk, rose, film, gorgeous, diamond, valentine, parchment, oasis, sweater.

Hope you're doing great!

Hey :) I had a bunch of complex days (let's say) since leo moon but it seems I'm starting to do better now. Thank you for asking! How are you? Everything's good?

angel; is there anyone you’d do anything for? Right now I'm trying to do anything for me. I know it may sound selfish, but it's not: it's about giving me my self worth back, which is the same worth of anyone else on this planet. I am trying to focus more on how I can take care of myself and how I can make myself happy: if I am not doing this, who will? I cannot depend on others, it would be so wrong. I wanna do anything I can especially for my inner child: they deserve it so much. They deserve to experience real magic for once.

melody; favorite artists? It depends on the type of art. For example I can mention Aivazovky in painting, Erwitt in photography, maybe Nolan as a film director and Idk, there are so many good inspiring artists! It's hard to mention even just a bunch (I cannot do this in music and writing)

silk; what outfit makes you feel confident? Any type of outfit, it depends on my mood. I more commonly wear comfy clothes and shoes but I also like to occasionally dress up. It really depends on how I feel

rose; favorite flower? I'd say white flowers, especially white tulips but tbh I just saw pink roses so... yeah, those too

film; favorite movie/tv show? Since I don't know which movie to choose among my favs, I'm gonna mention one I watched recently: "When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit" and it's basically about children and the shoah (it's based on a book, js).

gorgeous; what do you like in a person? Generally their heart, their mind, their passion/drive to reach their goals, seeing them experiencing what they like and makes them happy, their will to make themselves better. Everyone of us is made of different aspects/layers anyway and I think, each one of us, has at least a part of those layers that is so interesting and loving. And I like that.

diamond; favorite color? Uh.... Black and white? Grey? Blue, purple... Occasionally green. I tend to be attracted by all of these but more often to black, grey and white (especially if it's clothes/items. I rarely get anything red, pink or yellow... despite I have)

valentine; best gift you’ve ever received? This weirdo guy in the bnw pic here on the left. Actually I made the final choice (there were 3 puppies) but he was/is/will be still the best gift I ever received by all means. Thanks to my family, especially my granny.

BUT if we wanna joke a bit more around the answer to this question and talk about the unexpected (never thought I was gonna say what I'm going to say here but yeah, let life surprise you ig): these funny slippers on the right, which Idk what animals are, make a very terrible squishy sound at any step I take but I can't use to knock on doors (long story...), and make me walk about like Krusty the Clown. But are SO warm and I am appreciating them sm these days in which my feet are SO cold. Thanks brother. To be fair, there was another part of the gift (Xmas 2023) which is a Bambi wool-filled sweater that makes me look like a green dwarf with Bambi's ears when I wear it (it has a hood and it's like... oversized?), but that makes for another story.

parchment; favorite book? I haven't been reading for long now and I feel like I may always suggest the same old ones (the few titles I can remember, moreover) so... Okay, let's mention one: "The impossible lives of Greta Wells" by A. S. Greer. And "Silence: in the age of noise" by E. Kagge (so very inspiring and suggested)

oasis; dream destination? Atm, among the many other destinations I'd like to reach, I want to go see the Northern Lights in Iceland (not like right now cause it's still early but yeah...)

sweater; do you prefer loose or baggy clothes? And non-English native speaker me thought they were synonyms lol anyway I tend to prefer and wear loose/comfy clothes. I had my baggy-style period but it apparently ended long ago. Except for the Bambi-sweater. That is like... more than baggy I guess. But yeah.

Thanks a lot for sending, have a great day/night and take care<3

[staringdownabarrel]

Anyway, here's some broad thoughts on the initial Riftwar trilogy.

I'm not really sure if it's really correct to describe this as a trilogy in the strictest sense. Yes, Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon are two parts of the same story, but broadly speaking, they're more like a sequel duology to Magician than they are parts two and three of the same trilogy.

I know there's probably going to be people who read that and point out that a trilogy doesn't need to have an overarching storyline, it just needs to have the same set of characters, and that's fair enough. I don't really agree with that sentiment in this specific example though because everything, or at least almost everything, that Raymond E. Feist has written that's come since this initial trilogy has had that overarching storyline within the duology/trilogy/quadrilogy.

Really, I feel like a better description of this trilogy would be Magician, which has the titular rift war in it, and then the Great Uprising duology (e.g., Silverthorn and A Darkness At Sethanon). That'd be a better description of what the actual stories being told across these books are.

I think it'd also be a better reflection of the actual authorial intent on this point. Initially, Magician was written as a standalone novel, and then Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon written because Feist felt he had more to write about this world. (This is also why it's described as a trilogy, despite my current diatribe of contention about this.) These two books are a sequel story, so it'd make sense to describe them as such.

Still, that's a very nitty gritty point and I'm not really sure anyone else is ever going to care enough about this to really strongly agree or disagree.

My other nitty gritty point of contention is really just a point of contention with the specific editions of Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon more than anything else. Usually when a chapter ends and a new one starts, there's a page break at the end of the chapter. Every other book I own does this; so do most of the other books I've ever borrowed out from a library has done this.

My editions of Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon don't do this. When one chapter ends, the next one will start on the same page. I guess there's nothing specifically wrong with doing this, but I'm not really a fan of it and I just think it's visually better to start a new page when you're starting a new chapter.

In terms of what this trilogy does well, I think it is good that the latter two books start to move away from the very basic fantasy world that Magician set up. Yeah, it's still kind of generic and it never completely gets rid of that mantle even in later books, but I think it does eventually do a good job at building on the foundations.

I am a little bit disappointed that it's just a generic fantasy setting, especially given that I thought the world of these books when I was in high school.

I think a lot of my response to these books now is based around how everything is expected to be this super layered take on its genre that deconstructs this or subverts that or reconstructs something else. Raymond E. Feist has never really been interested in doing that. I forget what interview he said this in, but he did explicitly say that he just ignores genre expectations and writes the stuff he wants to write, which is fair enough.

The other thing influencing this is that I tend to now really like it when a story touches on deeper themes. It doesn't always have to be the most thorough exploration of the themes known to man, or even more than a "Hey, this is a thing that's necessary to make this story work the way it does; read into it what you will" kind of thing.

This wasn't so much the expectation that I had when I was fifteen or sixteen. Back then, I was much more wiling to accept a story on face value, even if it never got into the nitty-gritty of how certain aspects of its setting work, or at least provide enough detail you could extrapolate chunks of it.

Nowadays, I just find it a little bit frustrating when a story doesn't do that as much. I get that some people just want simple escapism, and sometimes all I want is a bit of escapism too, but I think it's possible to do both escapism and have some stuff you can read into.

For the most part, Raymond E. Feist does the escapism part well, but not so much the stuff you can really read into. In fact, there's times when he actively tries to avoid having that kind of stuff in. Slavery, for example, exists in the Kingdom, but it exists only among the same kind of lines that exist in the US's thirteenth amendment (actually stricter--Kingdom prisoners only get enslaved for a life sentence). Free speech is more or less legally guaranteed, except for when a mad king and the villainous duke whispering in his ear try clamping down on it.

So while he does encourage the escapism part, his response to what the Kingdom's government is like is to hand wave it away and say, "Don't worry about that. The people have most of the same rights you do, except the right to vote." I have some issues with that, and I probably will get into it once I work out how to fully articulate my issues with it.

I understand why people would want this, and fantasy does have the reputation of being the escapist genre, but I think it is possible to have it as an ongoing thing that there's certain ongoing political problems that never fully go away, despite everyone's best efforts. Feist has already proven that's he's capable of doing that with the Empire trilogy.

I think I probably would enjoy this more if I was able to switch my mind off a little more and just enjoy the escapism. I can't really do that anymore, unfortunately.

It's also been interesting to see how much Feist's writing style has influenced my own, even after over a decade of not reading his books. Obviously I don't write fiction that much anymore--I mostly write lengthy rants about whatever media I've been consuming lately now--but there are certain stylistic things he does that I've been doing for years.

For example, he has this thing where when he starts a new chapter, the first sentence will be its own short paragraph, and then everything after will be a proper paragraph. This is something I've been doing for years. I'm assuming I probably initially did it to explicitly emulate him because I actually was genuinely a big fan of his books when I was in high school and in the years immediately after, and then just forgot this is where I picked it up from.

There's also times when there's been very specific features of a chapter that I recognise as something I also did in the dogshit short stories I was writing in high school. There was this one point in A Darkness at Sethanon where Arutha and company notice some features of Armengar's fortifications, speculate on their purpose, and then later have them explicitly confirmed by Guy du Bas-Tyra without having brought them up to him.

This is the kind of thing that I used to do as well. I vaguely remember having short stories I wrote in high school where that kind of thing was a part of the plot to characterise someone as particularly perceptive, or even occasionally just to pad out the word length for no reason.

Stuff like that has definitely gotten a "Huh, that's interesting" response from me. I don't necessarily know if I'd go as far as to say this kind of thing is bad writing, especially now I've admitted that it's influenced my own at various points in my life, but it is interesting to see how it has. Usually when I think of books that directly influenced me in some way when I was sixteen, I usually think of the Mortal Instruments trilogy, which actually did influence me both in ways I can explicitly describe (e.g., I drink my coffee black because Clary Fray did; I have a cat named Chairman Meow because Magnus Bane did) and ways I probably never will be able to fully explain.

It's not exactly surprising, though. What'd be more surprising is if this series, which for years of my life I considered to be one of my favourite series ever written, hadn't influenced me at all. I just didn't quite realise the ways in which it had until the last month or so of my life.

Anyway, that's all I've got for now.

[icancdramahanfu]

Hello! I am looking to cosplay wei wuxian and/or xie lian(from the donghua) can you please describe the layers of their clothes, I have zero experience in sewing clothes or pattern making and I have no idea where to even begin. Thank you very much!

Hello there, Sorry for the slow reply, I've been distracted by real life and my continued PT for my wrist. But I can type much more normally at least now. As far as Wei Wuxian, I haven't really looked at his outfits seeing that he's got so many different versions in the live action CQL/The Untamed and in the MDZS donghua and manhua as well. I'm not a huge fan of MDZS, so, I can admit I haven't paid much attention to it. I think like most MXTX characters, he relies on a heavy black/red color palette and is pretty open to interpretation. I think focusing on the donghua would be your best bet since when you have to animate someone you would simplify their outfit, but the drama might have more realistic clothing to draw from since and actor wore it. Xie Lian is considerably easier since he wears many layers of white. I think the main thing to realize with all these outfits is that you have a foundation layer and then multiple layers over top with great variations.

The foundation layer (zhong yi) is usually the skin layer in white (cotton/linen) that it is breathable and washable. It seems for a more dramatic effect a character like WWX will have this as black. This is a top and pants combo, but I was lazy and skipped out on pants for my Wen Kexing b/c it was very warm already. I don't use Taobao sites (no Chinese skillz here) but it might be worth your while to look at some of the hanfu retailers to see how they construct their tidy little package outfits.

Like Hanfu Story which has a very good website and plenty of english language descriptions. Even though the colors aren't plain white, this one has a very close match to what XL wears. It has the skirt with the slight pleating like XL and simple sleeves and cut.

It is interesting to note that many of these outfits only sell the top layers, not that base layer.

When it comes to determining the exact layers just look at the neckline, that pretty much lets you know what else is on top of that base layer.

If this is your first time sewing and drafting a pattern, I would enlist the help of a friend who may have more sewing experience. Also, since many of these outfits don't reveal the full aspect of all of their layers, you have to guess what you think is underneath - that is what I did after lots of screen shots from as many angles as possible - or hoping for a zhong yi late night confession scene (as in Word of Honor) which allowed me to nail the sleeve shape for all the layers. I'll do and example with XL since his outfit is much easier.

As we can see here, he's only got two layers.

The inner layer is more form fitting in the torso, with wide-ish sleeves. The skirt portion appears to be pleated, which is why we get a ripple effect in the front. It appears the outer layer is a simple straight hem robe with wider sleeves that he wears very loosely since it flares back. You can't tell from this picture but the left side should also have a slit that runs along the left side of his body to allow for easy movement - it isn't a full rap around robe structure. He has a narrow belt that is tied off with the cyan colored cord and his bandages and basic hat. I haven't watched the donghua for awhile so I can't remember if he also has pants on underneath the pleated skirt. I'd go back and refer to the scene where San Lang notices the shackle on his ankle to see what he's wearing then.

When it comes to picking a layer to draft first for the pattern, it really doesn't matter. You will need to make a mock up and adjust. If you want it to be the inner layer it will need to be the same length but less wide than the outer layer. I just made a pattern and tested it out - it was terrible but hey, I knew where to go from after that. Good luck and hope this helps!