#btw I tried to do some symbolic stuff with this

[harbingersecho]

Lasombra fashion show?

Now how did you know I've been meaning to draw fashion 'shows' for all the clans…?

But! Here's some Lasombra fashion stuff for you!

+ bonus because I love bullying Lasombra abt their tech issues (:

[staticvn]

the foxes : random headcanons (because i need to let it all out somewhere)

• Renee & Matt are both huge fans of atla and the pjo series. Dan likes it as well but not as much as they do. They also tried to convince Allison to watch it with them and despite saying it’s “not her thing” she really likes it.

• Renee keeps her own garden. Mostly plants and flowers though. She tries for some veggies as well but they never grow right

• At some point, Andrew would stop smoking completely. The withdrawals are crazy and he’s cranky as hell through the whole thing but yeah.

• Renee would definitely love visiting churches and cathedrals in different countries. Not only cuz she’s religious but also because she loves the architecture and art a lot.

• also also Renee would keep the coolest looking patterned stuff. Fox shaped & cat paw carved ceramic mugs, knitted sweaters with a lot of patchworks and so on.

• Renee taught Neil ASL. For no particular reason just that it’s a good thing to know. After that she also tried teaching some of the other foxes but mostly just the basics.

• Kind of surprise to everyone, Aaron would be really good at chess. Neil and Matt on the other hand… very much not. He sometimes has chess matches with Kevin but Kev always loses which genuinely drives him mad.

• Aaron knows latin- not just the medical terms that med students have to know but like the language. So you bet that whenever someone gets him angry he starts to yap at them in latin just to make a point of some sort.

• Andrew would like those old/retro gameboys

• Andrew always beats everyone in mario kart with Nicky often being either close second or complete last - no in between.

• Nicky is the #1 pancake maker. He was kind of awful at it at first but after many many tries he perfected it for the twins

• Kev is also the #1 cook in healthy but completely flavourless prison-looking meals (though it is not his fault. i blame the nest.)

• if the foxes would ever have escape room night best believe Neil would be the first to figure it out and in record time as well.

• Kevin is a mosquito magnet and won’t stop complaining about it…like ever. (had to google synonym for bitching btw)

• to fight off the “eboy Andrew” allegations im fighting back with “absolute loser Andrew” where he wears too big sweaters, reading glasses, has crooked teeth, and searches through different cryptid or internet mysteries- related sites for too long (…projecting but still)

• Neil hates coffee. his favorite tea is peppermint or earl grey.

• the monsters watch cartoons in the morning if they don’t have classes i said what i said

• Neil definitely got into photography (or sketching or both) at some point. there is just something so symbolic about that i just can’t wire up my brain rn to figure out why.

• Kevin listens to podcasts instead of music while working out because he is simply that type. sigh

ok im done

[pwippy]

hi. what is this. 4th hand post? idk. anyways. reaching out in alien stage! literally and metaphorically! i had to cut out a lot of stuff because i reached the 30 image limit

mizi

she doesn't put on an act when she performs. the way she reaches out to sua is the same way she performs, but without! a glass wall separating them! she's first to reach out to sua and holds on tightly. she also reaches out in self defense (aka beating up luka or that cool gun scene I COULDNT FIT IN.) or in love/anger. for the anger part check out this cool thread @crustyfloor and @ivanttakethis analysing how mizi couldve been attacking sua as well

sua

once she connected with mizi she held on TIGHT. before mizi, she was treated as doll. just an object. with mizi (codependency) she actively reaches out, placing flowers in mizi's hair and reaching for the light. the light, being artificial, could represent false aspirations? she hopes for a better future but knows its doomed. alternately shes reaching for heaven. (SORRY I HAVE TO QUOTE IT- rage rage against the dying of light OK IM DONE) also mizisua picked up the 2 hands outstretched from each other. its like theyre halves of a hug its so cute

ivan

man. where do i even start with him. besides the beating up scene which was more reciprocation? ig? hes actually kinda lowkey and gentle with how he reaches out. i cut out the club scene which would be the most obvious example but yeah !! he reaches back for till in the meteor scene. he does a hand twirl (which someone analysed on pinterest), he reaches out again when he's dying, closest thing we'll get to him opening up, in any collar scenes he like barely brushes tills neck. how does he know how to open those btw. in his 2 other freaky scenes he's. distracting till?? idk i've seen arguments for him distracting till by doing that blood thing but till did like. pay attention to him. he responded to wtv ivan said. idk it might be an unreliable narrator moment. ALSO THE WALL. THE SCRATCHES IN THE WALL. not sure if he's scared or interested or something else but hes holding back something man. idt he'd interfere tbh

till

he reaches out for mizi most of the time. its always indirect tho! chasing the flower crown. literally held back by glass. reaching out for fake mizi. AND most importantly reaching out with his music. i think the guitar fingering counts. he always can't or doesn't want to approach mizi. he straight up doesn't reach out to ivan besides the meteor scene. might be symbolically implicative of his fear of emotional connection!

hyuna

she reaches out to people to help them!! when she was younger she reached out to luka (theres also that one part in all in where shes brushing her fingers against his face) and acted as some support for him. despite her brother being audibly creeped out by luka she brushed this off and treated both of them like younger siblings (despite luka being older). she also picked up(???) the fist in the air thing from hyun woo! outside of anakt she looks like she wants to strangle or shoot luka. when she tried to stab him and was sent off stage she saw a hallucination of hyun woo but couldn't reach out since she was in handcuffs. she helps mizi out now too!! assists her in navigating around the alien stage premises (helps her up onto the scooter + gives her a gun) and distracts her from a mental breakdown

luka

off stage he's usually curled up (the official art rahh) but on stage he takes as much control as he can. illusion of freedom! he goes straight for the neck or for his opponents emotions and purposely gets into their personal space. the way he reaches out is like a taunt or a lure. towards the alien audience, his chest is bared to them. "i was made for your entertainment." etc.

also i think its interesting to note anyone who reaches for the sky is immediately cooked

[drconstellation]

The Assistant Book Seller

Edit 1 Dec 2023 - added missing information on the "ribbon pattern."

Edit: 3 Dec 2023 - correct information about middle pattern from creator

GABRIEL: Greetings! I'm Jim! It's short for James, but I don't need to keep telling everyone that. I'm an assistant book seller.

I'm sorry. Before I do anything else, I need to apologize for something I need to write further in. I didn't plan to write it, I just kind of bumped into it and, well, I can't ignore it. So...sorry. It's said. Forgive me for what needs to be done.

Although he arrived with nothing but a cardboard box and Rodney the Stunt Fly, Aziraphale made sure Jim was clothed in appropriate raiment while under his protection. We'll forgive him that he took a step back about, oh, fifty years or so to the 1970's, as Jim's overall look is a nod to the famous old sitcom "Open All Hours." So if he looks a little bit out of place, or, a little bit familiar, even, that's why.

While we are used to seeing angels in overcoats, it's Jim's vest that is the particular feature here. But I will take a moment to comment on the overcoat - not just the colour but its lapels. Aziraphale has obviously given him a colour with an earthly connection and one that indicate that he has bought Jim under his protection, but the lapels look quite neutral, with one up and one down. (Muriel is the same in their Inspector uniform, btw) This is the first indication they are between two things at the moment.

Onto the vest.

There is so, so much work and thought put into this vest! It was a one-off commission for the show, and the creator, Sandy Higgins, has said she is not allowed to give away the final design pattern. I have tried to contact her, and I'm waiting for a reply, so in the mean time I thought I would ask my keen knitter of a sister-in-law about one of the patterns I'm not sure about. "Well, that's Fair Isle knitting," she said, but she knew nothing about the individual line pattern I was interested in. Hmm, I kind of know that already, its in the notes that are guiding me for this meta, but hey, why not do a broader search and see what comes up?

So once I got back home I did. "Fair Isle knitting patterns" hmm...Wikipedia page for starters...what on *earth* is that at the bottom of the page...? YOU ARE. FRIKKING. KIDDING ME!!!!!!!

"See also: Gumbys"

oh ffs

I am so sorry that needs must make me mention Monty Python yet again, but here we are. And we must mention them, because this link is just too...unbelievably, deliciously good.

If you aren't familiar with the Monty Python catalogue, and don't recognize the mention of Gumbys, they were a set of characters that dressed and spoke in a certain way but the main points to take away were they wore woolen vests in the Fair Isle knitted style and their catch-phrase was - wait for it - "My brain hurts!"

I think we've heard that somewhere before?

CROWLEY: When you first arrived, you said you were here because they were planning to do 'Something Terrible' to you. So you remembered it then. Remember it now. GABRIEL: It hurts to remember. My head isn't built for that.

Right. Now we've got that out of the way...back to the serious stuff.

The colours used in the vest are not your typical angel colours. There is a base of angelic off-white and there are some bits of purple for his royalty around the shoulder area - sometimes you need to look carefully for it. Otherwise it is dominated by vintage shades of red and green. Well. Who's an agent of change driven by love, then?

The horizontal stripe pattern is partly to remind us of the classic biblical robes with stripes that ran along them, much like the style of Crowley's black and red robe in the Job minisode, but is also part of the traditional Fair Isles pattern work. And each row only has two colours, but up around the shoulder area we do see purple start to sneak in as a third colour.

On to the incorporated symbols! I'm going to go from bottom to top.

On the lowest two we feature Crowley and Aziraphale. We have Crowley's demon satyr tail from the Good Omens logo on the lowest stripe - the double-headed arrow.

The next stripe is Aziraphale, with a variation of the classic OXO pattern ("hugs and kisses.") The X is meant to represent his angel wings, and the O is modified to mimic the "o" with a halo in the Good Omens logo. I've highlighted all three in the image on the right.

The third row up is a Sumerian Star pattern that represents one of the flowers associated with Gabriel, the lily. They are supposed to represent the purity of Mary, mother of Jesus, as he had one in his hand when he visited her during the Annunciation.

The row above that is what I believe to be a Byzantium pattern, and is included to show "an Angel's ability to be timeless."

The next three rows are still under a bit of a question mark as I write this. I plan to come back and edit it in if I find the answer.

The bottom of the three is the Duke of Buccleuch pattern, "to celebrate the long and necessary contribution that the cottage industry of hand knitted items."

The middle one - ? (perhaps you, the reader, know? It looks like a spiralling ribbon if I stand back, but that isn't sparking any connections, either.)

Edit: @noneorother tells me in a reblog (below) that this pattern represents the shoelace from the magic incantation Aziraphale uses "Banana Fish Gorilla Shoelace." So it is ribbon-like! This then points to the Second Coming, as it the shoelace references the end of the book, and the last paragraph of the book references Yeats poem "The Second Coming" as well as the novel 1984. To me it is then also telling us there is a cycle occurring, or a cycle that needs to be renewed. This fits in with some other clues other meta-writers have been picking up.

Edit 2: Turns out none of that was correct - I heard back from the creator herself and it's actually the double-ended satyr tail pattern again! It just seems to make a bit of an illusion of a ribbon or shoelace.

The pattern below is a modified OXO pattern.

The top one looks like two rams horns facing each other. A hollowed out rams horn can be used as a trumpet, and is known as a shofar in Jewish religion. Gabriel was traditionally known to carry a trumpet.

The ancient meander pattern would be recognized by most people, included as another classic timeless pattern found all over the world. For some it symbolizes eternity and endless flow.

The wheels here appear to be Michael's ophanim wheels, that would have eyes around the rims.

The hourglass is to remind us that time is running out. Memento mori - "Remember that you die." It is a major theme in both series.

Right up high, just before we lose the rest of the vest inside the overcoat, we get a glimpse of a large diamond-shaped icon. I wonder if this is another stylized set of angel wings, like we saw in the Job minisode on Aziraphale's golden collar.

To finish off the outfit, he is wearing dark gray trousers with sneakers! I'm sure that's so he could keep sneaking up on Aziraphale in the shop, haha. His shirt seems a little too large for him and the tie is knotted too high and is not settled along his centerline. It's all at odds with his previous neat and sharp appearance as Supreme Archangel Gabriel.

I'd like to say a big thank you to @aduckwithears for helping me with information on the vest and finding the creator's other social media sites. You can see their two posts about it here and here.

[that-cartoony-villain]

after that agatha finale i have many thoughts about rio as death and all the symbolism behind her actions so beware of spoilers for the whole series also in no particular order its gonna be stuff i remember so I'll be jumping around

I'm going to start with the last agathario scene that we gays were hoping The Kiss™️ which is kinda obvious about a kiss from death which is very common in literature and it symbolizes dying so that part was very direct, idk if this means they never kissed before or not but in that moment agatha had a clear goal of getting rio's power for herself and they both knew it would kill her as she said in the first ep... this does imply that she probably tried to do this before but rio stopped her when they were in love all those centuries ago

which kinda goes into a theory that maybe their first entanglement (whatever that implies) created nicky, cause agatha says she didn't do a spell or incantation to create him, he was made from scratch, and rio being The green witch™️ deals not only with death and decay but the cycle of life and death, creation and destruction, so it makes sense that he is their child, created from their love, which is why it hurt them both when she had to take him away, he was also something that challenged the balance of the universe, like billy, and rio allowed agatha to keep him with a timetable that nobody knew

and that takes me into the witches death that agatha killed to keep her son alive, she knew that giving bodies to death would allow rio to turn a blind eye to her child, and it makes for great symbolism with the sentence "death follows wherever they go" because it wasn't that agatha wanted to kill people, she had to so nicholas could survive, because death *was* following her wherever she went, they fell in love and rio had to make the tough decision of leaving her so she wouldn't take away agatha's most prized possession, their kid, and once she did have to do it she still kept following agatha because now she was actually killing witches just to have power and stay alive, she was grieving and murder became her go to (not a good thing) but death kept following wherever she went

and that is possibly why rio never got over her, she was always pursuing agatha and she didn't have time to let go, so at the end when agatha makes the deal to give up billy in exchange of rio letting go of her it had both the meaning of allowing her to be immortal and to forget about agatha, she was tired of having death follow her and they both knew the only way that could happen was for rio to give up her feelings and stop wanting to be with her

another thing is the whole tarot symbolism of death, as a major arcana in most decks death means the closing of a cycle, it isn't a bad card even though people see death as a bad thing, but the whole lilia ep was about showing how her cycle was about to finish (not necessarily meaning her death btw) and through all of the road each of them had their cycles closed, alice managed to get rid of her curse, jen got her power back, lilia finally understood her timeline and organized her thoughts to save her coven, billy found more power and possibly where his twin could be, agatha got the power she wanted for a bit and rio finally put agatha on the ground

also i could talk about how lilia might still be alive but that's a different rant that will come some other time

anyway i just really loved all the death symbolism throughout the whole show and how well they portrayed everything, aubrey did an amazing job as rio and i do hope they use her again in the mcu since we've had so many deaths and there will be more and how she deals with some of the things that don't necessarily follow the natural order of things (just please don't make it comic death cause rio is a lesbian she would never fall in love with thanos)

[mysterialistic]

Over-analyzing the Yingdu Chapter [PART 1]

This is just an analysis and theories based on all the stuff we've seen so far for this chapter. It's a long one so bare with me please!

[also, english isn't my first language. Excuse my bad grammar.]

Ok, first things first: the synopsis. I'll leave the image with the official plot for the Yingdu Chapter because it'll help make things a bit easier to understand.

To me this synopsis makes two things very clear.

Number one is that we're going to see how Cheng Xiaoshi died, aka, probably starting the season with the whole context of this scene from season 2 (one of my theories is that CXS died during a dive, but that's for another post lol):

And, of course, this scene right here too:

We're finally going to discover what's the photo LG uses. Given the fact that the synopsis mentions "back to the begging", it's probably a picture of LG and CXS when they met in high school or when they're in college, which, I must point out, they're still attending during the time they go to Yingdu. For the photo to be from their college years makes more sense if we take this into consideration.

Now, the second thing that the synopsis makes clear, is that this is Lu Guang's first attempt at saving Cheng Xiaoshi. Why? Well, for that we need to get into the recently released teaser.

The teaser shows us that Lu Guang is having some sort of nightmare. Some believe that this is a real thing, but to me it seems way too abstract (also it makes sense considering all the drowning symbolism they've shown us). The nightmare could possibly start with the flashback of Cheng Xiaoshi's death, leading to Lu Guang falling into the water, sinking as he's surrounded by photos (btw, the pictures have pieces of the postcard with a building that CXS places on the table during the teaser, but we'll discuss that in a minute), then he appears in this weird place with a clock and the word "Bridon" written with red strings (threads of fate?)

Lu Guang once again falls into the water and then he sees a white light, tries to reach it and Vein appears saying: "you want more punishment?", which aligns with this text on the teaser:

Lu Guang wakes up scared, extremely nervous, very different from the composed LG that we know. To me this reaction is due to this being his first attempt at saving Cheng Xiaoshi. He doesn't know what to expect, he just broke his rules and someone knows it. Even worse, someone wants to punish him for doing so.

Now, let's go to another interesting point of the synopsis: "However, a photo with clues about CXS's parents appeared at the photo studio". This right here is tricky.

The "however" to me implies that this is something that has never happened before. A mysterious deviation of the "path of fate" that Lu Guang "retraces" (like the synopsis says). Now, what is this picture that contains clues? Apparently, it's this one:

It's a building)? And this probably also contains some sort of letter or note with information about Cheng Xiaoshi's parents, specifically his dad who's name is mentioned by Liu Xiao as he interrogates the grown man.

Another interesting thing to point out is that one of the texts on the teaser says "HE may be in Yingdu!" I'm pretty sure it's CXS talking about his dad.

Something that caught my attention is that in this section of the teaser, where they show CXS placing the postcard in the table, he and QL are fighting)? Is she maybe suspicious about this sudden clue? Does she have a bad feeling?

Ok, Tumblr doesn't let me put more images, so I'll continue in PART 2

[sushisocks]

DO U HAVE ANY ANGSTY SEAN HEADCANONS??? OR ANY AT ALL??

DO I HAVE ANGSTY SEAN HEADCANONS???!? Is my tumblr url sushisocks??? I'm including just a couple non-angsty ones that are v important to me bcz we're here to have fun, after all lolol

Lets start out with a light one; Sean absolutely has ADHD and dyslexia. Everybody knows Sean can't read, but nobody asks WHY Sean can't read despite frequent opportunities to learn. Based on the camp interactions with Lenny, we know he has been willing to attempt to learn, but has given up. This reads a lot more like learning disability to me, than it does laziness!!

In a similar vein; Sean taking frequent naps/falling asleep a lot is because he's a light sleeper - he has had a hard time falling asleep and staying that way ever since his father got murdered in his bed by the law. Left an impression Sean can't really shake even when surrounded by friends and allies - it's easier to nap when it's light out and people are awake in the area. Combine that with the ADHD and suddenly he's sleeping when he's not supposed to - like on guard duty.

Btw Sean has REAL BAD nightmares so that doesn't help at ALL either

Sean's mom probably passed when he was very young - he doesn't have any tangible memories of her in the same way he does his dad. Telling stories about him is how Sean keeps the only real family he had alive.

SIMILARLY I imagine it was just the two of them fleeing to America together; Sean was right there when Darragh got killed in his sleep - I imagine him waking up to a gunshot tbh.

In previous posts I've talked some about Sean's parallels and similarities to Arthur. Consider; Sean having similar self-esteem issues as Arthur, but instead of being quiet and disparaging about it, Sean covers it up by boasting and talking a big game. Nobody tries to talk Sean up because they all think he has a big ego, and it sort of just feeds into the insecurities Sean already has & is trying to avoid thinking about.

Also; Sean is generally an open book about his feelings, but he struggles a LOT with being truly vulnerable or getting at the deeper stuff. He'll also always downplay and make a joke out of truly traumatic and desperate situations he's been in. Though he DOES tell you what happened, he's chuckling and acting like it's nothing. (This isn't even a headcanon, he actually does this very consistently. It's why Karen is so mad at him in that one camp interaction after the party lol)

The only times Sean feels comfortable not being The Camp Clown is when Dutch isn't around, with a limited amount of people to witness. He still feels weird about the fact that he did actually try to kill him, when they first met, like he actually pulled the trigger (I feel like people are prone to forget this abt him), and he's never sure if Dutch might resent or distrust him a little for it. Same goes for Hosea.

A MacSummers one I came up w on discord literally yesterday; Sean has a Claddagh ring heirloom he got from his late mother through his late father. He gifts it to Lenny at some point, who doesn't realize the symbolism, just the sentimental value. Lenny wears it on a chain around his neck.

The previous one could work for MacJones too but tbh I think it hits harder for MacSummers lol (im biased)

Sean blocked out a lot of what he experienced while holed up at Ike Skelding's; the teethpulling and the burned feet were probably some of the lighter things he had to endure.

Sidenote the fact that his feet were fucking burned being as brushed off as it is makes me fucking insane. How bad were they burned Sean? Are you in pain atm? Should you be walking?

[fitzrove]

Every time i look at 1992 uwe tod i come away thinking that tod just..... should be weird. We can't be having normie tods running around... I want him to be this completely inhuman figure who tries to get close to humanity (because how do you personify death??) but deeply misunderstands some things, especially things like human behaviour and emotions. Máté is good at this too, he just did it in a different way, but after those two the effect is never really potent enough again. I mean, there is something to say for prods with humanized or gentle etc tods, at least theyre doing something else than mrak seiber, but it's not quite it for me at least. He needs to be weird because Elisabeth is weird and, dissatisfied with her life, craves a poem in the flesh.

And for me personally (this is not me saying gender non conformity is weird or inhuman btw, it's not, it's just hot and looks good) i want back the mayerling dress and all that, and the actors should be styled accordingly, if he's not going to put on eyeshadow and blush and get dolled up to kill rudolf then don't fucking cast him?? There are enough musical actors out there who like straying from the mold, the overlap between drag performers and musical artists is not insignificant. Hell, if despite your best attempts macho guys are still the only guys you can find, then cast a woman (trans or cis - for a trans woman the role might be easier/not require rewrites, because of vocal range), cast a nonbinary performer. You don't really have to change stuff in the script, someone who's not a man can still be a "prince" if the styling is androgynous. It really is that simple...

also this should maybe be a separate post but 1992 is so iconic for portraying mayerling as a romance, rudolf running to embrace tod, twirly dancing, Big Damn Kiss (rudolf barely notices the actual act of shooting himself, he's so busy making out) - up until the very end, when rudolf is dumped unceremoniously on the floor. symbolism. It's such a better deeper way to tackle the subject. Suicidal ideation doesn't just beat you over the head violently, mental illness/depression lures you in with promises of a "solution" but actually only offers a miserable nothing.

This is also why it's so important for Elisabeth to get dumped on the floor as well - there's more care in that than in how Rudolf is treated, Tod is obviously distraught, but that's the point and the tragedy of the show!!!! Freedom is fleeting, dreams are fleeting, emotion is fleeting, but yearning for them is what makes us human!!

If he carries her away the moral of the story becomes "if you die you get a hot supernatural partner that's obsessed with you!!!" No!!!!!!! The romance narrative is a big lie, suicidal ideation is a big lie, history is a big lie, it's all connected, but we always cover shit up with kitsch because some people prefer a simple romantic reading to the degree that they warp the rest of the story around it. I stg people have just replaced sissi movie trilogy fairytale prince FJ (1950s) with elisabethdasmusical fairytale prince modern peugeot king mark seibert leather tod (2020s) or insert whatever other boyfriend death you prefer

[ronsenthal]

Part five and final of Jess Reads Fierce Valor as we reached his post WWII military career, his retirement and last years of his life

Notes: Please read the book and take your own conclusions if you can, this is my view and my own clonclusion from my experience reading it

okay now really not much happens, he got married for a second time, stayed in the army, got divorced again

he came to the veterans reunion in 1947 and then never showed up again until some 50 years later

he made his final combat jumps in Korea, he had like 4 which was like a LOT

btw do you guys remember Albert Blithe from the series right? Right! the guy lived after recovering from his wounds and actually served in the 187th Infantry Regiment, guess who was the company commander? thats right! our very own bald man

ok so he worked and had time studied Russian and became the governor os Spandau, at this time there was already some cold war shit going on

speaking of shit, his german was shitty (so is mine!!!) so he couldn't quite undestand the prisioners but played chess with one of them??

Ah yes got married and divorced again

trained and organized some stuff for the the Royal Lao Army and some more army duty??? but nothing interesting is said really

he was then Lieutenant Colonel and worked with the Pentagon, it says that his army duty came to an end in 1964 but his name came up in army records in 1965 at a special division, so he had some function? was he a spy? we will never know for sure

okay now he is retired, married again (the man was a machine), had some health related problems and had to do some heart surgeries, like 5 of them or even more

at this point he was really introspective over his life, then the Ambrose book came and old man was PISSED because guess what??? Ambrose didn't even bothered to actual fact check his book and Speirs felt that he did dirty to his first ex-wife and even to himself

Dick became his biggest advocate and tried so many times to reunited him to the last members of Easy but he couldn't, he even begged Speirs but remember he is a Taurus so he said no again and again

toward his late years and after the release of the book he was afraid some n30-naz1s would come after him for some kind of vengeance so he asked for his name adress and personal info to be removed so Dick was the only one who knew hot to contact him

then there was the reunion for the screening of Band of Brothers and he finally showed up after his last wife made him show up and it was really emotional, Matthew Settle just watched the real Speirs and Dick watching the first ep and then Matthew showed up on his door and asked him to sing his cast, cause he got hurt his feet somehow

oh right forgot to mention that he loved his poodles, he was really into square dance (I don't know what the hell this is don't ask me), had some weird hobbies like pan for gold on rivers??? also normal ones like playing golf and he was also a nice elderly to his grand-sons and great-grand-sons, nephews, nieces and stuff

he had really bad PTSD specially while sleeping ans even after being retired he couldn't relax while sleeping and always eat his food fast.

he wouldn't let people kill spiders, like black widow spiders because of the William Wallace story and because he served in a company that the symbol and nickname was one

also he didn't talked about his army life like AT ALL, he said it was harder for him to remember things since he spent great part of his life om the army while the other guys served like with one company and that was it, for me it's clear it was bullshit he was so hard on himself and self critical on the basic stuff he didn't so one can only imagine how he dealt with the heavy stuff

his final years he was losing his strength, already loss great part of his hearing and was so ashamed of it and was really frustrated and miserable

after his death this one person of his family took his ashes and spread somewhere in a beautiful lake near the Canadian border where he rests today, quite emotional really

Okay so overall this was such a great reading, it's really a testament to how complex, mysterious and sometimes twisted his character really was.

I loved how the authors didn't pushed any agenda or narratives, I feel like they did a good job because they didn't tried to justify any of his actions, they just wanted to bring as many facts to the table as they could so we, as readers, could come up with our own conclusions

Mine is: He was crazy indeed, he did some questionable stuff and it took it's toll on him during and after the war, but also really cared for the man on his side, he sure could be cruel, flawed, cold blooded, impetuous and a true killer, but at the same time protective, respectful, really smart and incredible skilled as a leader, so much that everyone respected him for it, some loved the man dearly, some despised and that it was what truly amazed me by

A big thank you to everyone who followed my dumb takes during this reading, it was really fun to do!!!

taglist: @mads-weasley, @mutantmanifesto, @love--persevering, @gorgeousundertow, @grumpy-liebgott, @wexhappyxfew, @latibvles, @1waveshortofashipwreck and @executethyself35

[forestcat000]

Sooooo

This was a comment in response to me wanting an excuse to ramble about my Targaryen's survive AU so thank you @celerieth for this opportunity and thank you for the follow (:

Btw I am sorry to everyone who only follows me for aphmau content because I keep posting game of thrones stuff.

Warning, long post

So I've mentioned my AU and it's concept on my blogs before. The premise is basically all the Targaryen's survive the rebellion and kill the Baratheons, Starks, Arryns, and Tullys for their treason. Aerys remains king but I kinda stall his madness for the sake of story telling so Jaime does not kill him.

My fic starts at the same time as the Canon books except it basically only (so far) takes place in kingslanding. All the Targ kids (Aegon, Rhaenys, Daenerys, Viserys, Jon) get their own chapters, Rhaella and Elia, get them as well. Rhaegar is the only one so far without a chapter in progress.

The story mainly follows the more domestic drama and relationships between the characters so far, with everyone having to endure Aerys. But I do add in a lot of fluff for the Targ kids so it can be sweet.

Aegon is the picture perfect prince, smart, funny, kind, good looking but he has a few problems. Aegon has some pent up hatred towards Rhaegar for abandoning the family during the rebellion, this results in Aegon being more critical and distrustful of Rhaegar, viewing Rhaegar as mad for chasing a prophecy. This extra tension since Aegon is the child who Rhaegar views as the prince who was promised and thus pays extra unwanted attention to Aegon. Aegon is very close with his siblings, and mother, feeling extremely protective of them.

Rhaenys is an intelligent, witty, charming girl. Rhaenys shares Aegons feelings towards Rhaegar for the rebellion but she's much calmer and more lenient with Rhaegar, mainly because she doesn't talk to him often, he's distant and often in his head so neither cares enough to reach out. Rhaenys is loving towards her family and often tries to keep them in line, especially Daenerys. She has a slight rivalry with Daenerys but it's largely loving. She is the only one of her siblings in a relationship, she is secretly courting Willas Tyrell, heir to Highgarden.

Viserys is much nicer and calmer than in Canon since he never had to go through the trauma of being on the run and having his family die. Viserys is a loving older brother and uncle. He's a mama's boy, he tries his best to support his mother while she deals with the abuse at Aerys hand. He has a slightly odd relationship with Aerys. Aerys spared Viserys a lot of the abuse that the other family members suffered because Viserys is his favorite son, while he was saved from the physical and mental abuse he developed a guilt of sorts, feeling guilty that while his family is hurt he is safe. This guilt causes Viserys to be a bit protective and he tries to remove his family members from the area when Aerys get violent and loud.

Daenerys is reckless and chaotic but loving. She has a complicated relationship with her father. Aerys goes from doting on his daughter in every way to yelling and screaming at her at an instant, as a result Daenerys tends to avoid being around her father unless necessary. She's extremely close to Viserys with him being her safe person, kinda seeing him as a father or a caretaker more than a brother.

All the family members that have POVs are the main characters but Jon (Aemon in my rewrite) has the biggest one planned out. Jon is the last known member of the Stark family since he's Lyannas son. Jon is raised as something similar to a prisoner, being a symbol of the war and all the people the Targaryens demolished. Jon is antagonized by Aerys frequently to the point Jon loses sleep every night over the possibility of being murdered and having dreams of being burned alive by Aerys. He feels something similar to survivors guilt, believing he didn't deserve to live, and viewing his birth as the cause of the rebellion (will alaborate if needed)and as a result the cause of death of everyone who died in the rebellion, including all the Starks and his mother. Jon is extremely paranoid and fearful. Hes so paranoid that he went mute because he was scared of saying the wrong thing and being killed, his fear is intense that he can't talk if he tried, he created a mental block to stop him. he is rarely away from Aegon who he is close to, if Aegon is in a room Jon cannot go in he'll wait by the door for Aegon to come out. Jon is close with Rhaenys as well, often going to her for comfort.

That's base info, I know there's a lot, and that's just the stuff that I'm posting, I have pages of lore I'm waiting to implement.

If anyone is interested in any of this feel free to ask questions. Also thank you Celerieth.

[tubbytarchia]

jim strim. theyre doing a trial chamber today

jimmy has inherited olis property. honestly there isnt a lot of it but he inherited it. its like a little platform on the side of the disc. notably its right near sausages house

the gang today is jimmy cpk sneeg and martyn. surely this wont go wrong

jimmy has like 9 stacks of eggs in his inventory for some reason so he throws all of them at scotts house. "take that scott smajor. thats what you get. for not being a dischead. for being a donut. take that."

jimmy runs back over to martyn. he asks if theyre a team and martyn says every man for himself. martyn if u dont team with him.. but then sneeg interrupts them by throwing eggs at them. cpk comes over too and they start joking about making a podcast. they switch from bit to bit so fast idk how to summarise it.

the trial chamber isnt that far away so they find it and start digging down. sneeg IMMEDIATELY gets lost so cpk goes back up to get him while jimmy and martyn start raiding the chamber.

jimmy starts talking about the new blocks and martyn asks him to repeat himself so hes like "i always think theyre like-" then martyns like "IT DOESNT MATTER WHAT YOU THINK!" and they both laugh (he immediately apologises) then jimmys like haha that actually made me really upset :(

jimmy uses a vault and gets a bad omen bottle and he drinks it almost immediately. keep in mind hes not even in full diamond yet btw. not enchanted.

jimmy gets down to 3 hearts. then 2 hearts. sneeg gives him a golden apple. he manages to heal up so its all fine. they get their ominous keys. sneeg gives him more gapples. while the others are opening their ominous vaults jim crafts a diamond helmet and boots so now hes in full diamond :)

both cpk and jimmy get the "take aim" achievement while in the chamber. ??

jimmy tabbed out for literally a few seconds to ask people to like the stream and cpk started mining the floor under him. for funsies.

sneeg hits jimmy with his bow and apologises. which IS important. to me. sneeg and jimmy can be something so wonderful.

cpk got the mace. jimmy doesnt care in favour of sneeg getting the ominous trial exclusive music disc

they get one of the banner patterns and they. try to test it. on a white banner with white dye. then get confused as to why it doesnt work.

they head back home to drop off some stuff then go to the next chamber. turns out they arent that far apart

fwhip joins the server. they invite him but he is in iron armour. so he doesnt come along.

new info on the deaths, oli died to a creeper on stream and aimsey died in a bastion off stream (but there is video of it? apparently martyn showed his chat earlier)

they play for a bit then jimmys audio fucks up so he has to relog. turns out flick jumped onto his pc and just disconnected a bunch of cables

honestly the rest of the chamber is the standard everyone having fun sometimes making fun of jimmy in a nice way. martyn and sneeg start making fun of cops out of nowhere which is based. jimmy can do a really good mickey mouse impression?

jim tries to leave the trial chamber to log off but he gets lost for ages so just logs off in it. new video tomorrow. yayyyy

Sneeg... I have faith in you Sneeg.... giving Jimmy golden apples and apologizing for accidentally hurting him... Sneeeeg you can make a difference Sneeg.......... Jimmy also ignoring cpk to help Sneeg is awesome. Wow this is so symbolism to me (everything is symbolism to me)

side eyes cpk though. AND MARTYNNN aoughhhhh that "It doesnt matter what you think" bit is SOOOOO property police. This is just Evo property police. The fact that they both laugh about it too. BUT THEN JIMMY?????? UGHHHH please be gentler with him... I know how you are Martyn but you can do better I have faith...

Also them not understanding that white dye does not show up on white banners is really funny. Good job guys

[bottombaron]

for some reason every time I tried to add this to the tags of my last post about the Vampiric Transmogrification Ceremony, BUMblr had a fit and wouldn’t show my post in the official tags and I had to delete and re-post it, like, 5 times

most of this stuff I have been sitting on since the finale aired (like the alchemical symbols, thank you FMA), but here's some additional thoughts on my research journey for The Transmogrification Ceremony (part one):

startingggg with...

how Nandor knows how to read and write Ancient Persian Cuneiform…which would have been out of use roughly a THOUSAND YEARS before he was born 👀 👀

(not for the first time I have a very small suspicion of Nandor being older than he says he is…)

and he definitely knows what the basic alchemical symbols are b/c there’s no way he put the accurate corresponding cuneiform letters spelling english words for those elements on top of the symbols by accident!

the fact that the banners are all properly labeled, with the possible exception of one, is quite frankly both Doylistly and Watsonianly amazing

Nandor knowing at least the basics of alchemy isn’t actually that surprising. The Middle East, specifically Bagdad (which is located on the Tigris btw), was the foremost center of cultural and scientific knowledge (including big developments in alchemy) before the Mongols sacked Bagdad 4 years before Nandor would have been born.

Even after the sack, that knowledge and cultural need for learning didn’t just immediately dissipate and it would have still been an important city. Nandor, probably being born into a noble or middle class family, would have been educated in the sciences which would have included Alchemy. and if he wasn’t, as a ruler he would have had access to teachers and books to learn from. Nandor has always been curious, studious, and likes to read.

transmogrification is an actual alchemical term (webster's dictionary quote: transmute implies transforming into a higher element or thing. convert implies a change fitting something for a new or different use or function. transmogrify suggests a strange or preposterous metamorphosis) there's significance that can be read into this as the chosen title of Nandor’s made up ceremony if you’d like (other than it just sounds funny)

I was really impressed that the crew used actual Old Persian Cuneiform instead of the more popular Sumerian or Akkadian Cuneiform. technically Old Persian is just written with cuneiform-style symbols (much like modern Persian using Arabic-style symbols for their alphabet) and isn't cuneiform proper since it has it's own independently developed alphabet

a little disappointed that the cuneiform translated, not into Persian words, but to a rough spelling of English words for the elements already represented by the alchemical symbols (Earth, for example, would be būmiš = 𐏏, and instead here is just the symbols for 'I-A-R-T/th'. there is no 'E' in Old Persian cuneiform so 'I' substitutes)

tho I was delighted by the discovery that the cuneiform on the 'WATER' banner is close enough to اتر or ‘etir’, Persian for ‘ether’, that I don’t care if it’s a coincidence, i’m taking it

and you may be asking yourself if all the other banners just have rough phonic spellings of the elements the banner represents, why can’t ‘A-T-I-R’ (𐎠𐎫𐎡𐎽) just be a funky 'WATER' without the ‘W’? To that I say: yeah, maybe. There isn’t a corresponding cuneiform symbol for ‘W’ in Old Persian and the substitute of ‘I’ for ‘E’ is also used in ‘Earth’, so that isn’t a huge stretch. However, why not then use a ‘V’ 𐎺 or 𐎻, for 'W' instead of leaving the sound out completely?

Personally, I find the fact that the cuneiform translates more cleanly to an actual Persian word, and one that has huge significance to alchemy and the basic elements, too delicious to ignore. Unless wwdits crew clarifies that (which I would go feral for the opportunity to interview for all the little beautiful details and great work that they do), I’m going with the 'WATER' banner having ‘ETHER’ in cuneiform instead

(and yes i’m aware that ‘A-T/th-I-R’ could just be ‘E-T-H-E-R’ on it’s on and have nothing to do with the Persian word ‘e-t-e-r’ but why ruin the fun?)

I'm using a very loose interpretation for Ether = The Soul which also describes it as the 'Fifth Element' (insert Multi-Pass joke here), or quintessence, and kind of develops into a 'heavenly spirit' kind of essence later. Strictly speaking Ether describes a 'void or nothing, is the material that fills the region of the universe beyond the terrestrial space' but describing it as The Force isn't as significant in the wwdits universe than representing Guillermo's soul

in mythology Aether is the 'pure, fresh air that the god's breathed', different from the air mortals breathed. In Greek mythology he is the son of Darkness and Night and is the primordial personification of the bright upper sky. In Orphic cosmogony he was the son of Time and the brother of Chaos, and he was basically pregnant with the Great Cosmic Egg, of which Phanes the 'First Born God of light and goodness' came from

so there's...that

the use of the cuneiform symbol for ‘new word’ ( 𐏐 ) in front of ‘A-T-I-R’ is interesting and i’m not sure of the significance of it. In cuneiform there is no space between words, so each new word is signified by this symbol, but obviously there is no use of the symbol when each banner only has one word each. and there isn’t any other cuneiform symbol that looks like it either (which makes sense since it’s used for clarification not create typos). it’s an interesting little bit that i’m fascinated with

i did check to see if the (𐏐 ) symbol has a phonic sound to it that might have represented the ‘w’ in Water, but found nothing.

my reading is that it’s being used in the spirit of the meaning and is signifying that the following cuneiform is not related to alchemical symbol of water, like the other ones are. which would track if the cuneiform is translated as ‘ether’ instead

Old Persian cuneiform is read left to right like english, unlike modern Persian, that is read right to left. so that originally confused me, especially since I started with 'AIR' which is backwards to begin with lol

the banner for 'AIR' being backwards is literally only noticeable by the cuneiform symbol for A being inverted 𐎠 (it's the last symbol on the right and has the triangle head starting from the right instead of the left). The same symbol is seen in the 'EARTH' banner turned right. There is no symbol in Old Persian cuneiform that would look like that and sure enough, when flipped, the translation only makes sense as 'AIR'.

that was either a mistake by Nandor, the crew. or on purpose by Nandor, the crew. or some combination thereof. (alchemy having significance with things being backwards does not make that choice easy tbh, but what that significance would be if on purpose ??? idk)

if you’re wondering, I did check to see if anyone else had their bondage-rope-capes-things tied into a bow around their necks like Guillermo. from what I can tell only Nadja and Derek do? Nadja has a big lovely bow which would have been tied by her husband and I’m assuming the awkward limp bow Derek wears is tied by himself. everyone else does not have the Shibari rope completely tied around them. i’m assuming there is wire around the collar holding the shape of them. again, looking into that little detail, if we are taking the Suspiria bondage costume more literally, tracks as Nadja has her loving husband Laszlo to tie her in a beautiful piece, and Derek with his s&m collar, is the picture of a sad sub tying himself up because he has no one else to do it for him

Most importantly however, is that Nandor does not have a tied knot, which confirms to me that he dressed himself without any help from Guillermo and that makes me sad. but then also adds significance to Guillermo being tied in so lovingly:

Nandor makes every last detail here about Guillermo and not himself. it’s almost too much, with how selfish Nandor is in the previous seasons. season 4 especially, what with that ‘you have to make everything in my life about you’ line from Guillermo. but here Guillermo is the special one and Nandor makes sure that every single bit of theater is for, and about, him.

the symbols that I think Nandor is referring to when he says he doesn't know what they mean, are the top symbols, which I will be getting to in my part 2 👍

[mabelbun]

▪ another redesign of Roger / S.I.M.O.N that I never shown last night about his Fursuit I've wanted to make his eyes like X's Symbols Ever since Given the fact Look oddly different than the rest of my characters

▪ He's an Lost long old brother to Nick where he never seen him before at all in his Life but only a delusion memory of his mind

▪ His Bandaids wrapped around His left leg is what he used to heal himself by the scars and Wounds when he was younger teenager who either gets himself a lot of trouble by the student bullies during his ChildHood

▪ he became manipulated neither by M.a.l.H.a.r.e where the time he had met up L.u.c.a.s To be a part of their killing spree Criminal Groupster

▪ Roger still acts as a mystery character who never listen or usually have to be told to do something is not right or wrong which his Personality been changed up Soonly as his Killing methods never let anyone capture him or anything like that

▪ another doodles of him with Expression page's I've been testing it recently I might redrew it again hopefully Soon I dunno by any means <3

▪ A close up image so possibly you all can see it/pos

▪ I've thought giving him a vintage looking old rabbit mask could suits him better for a male character y'know so yeah

▪ More Stuff about Eddie/J.U.L.I.E And his suit design likely previous Silly Gremllim Bunny killer who likes to cause Chaos and Troubles around when he came across the Town in Utah alongside B.o.b.b.y (Technically Stella I presume)

▪ I've felt like His Fursuit would look Similar to Actual Homemade Toy Rabbit's that either presented in Early late 9000's to 8000's would fits him a lot better that has Fluffy fur made of Cotten's When you pull it off instead it rips straight almost as if was a real thingy btw

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▪ More #2 Expression Page's I've made once again since He deserves much attention/srs

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▪ the Voodoo Doll Button eyes supposed to be inspired from Tim Burton's style?? Bc I've wanted to take some inspiration from him it suits them a lot anywho

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▪ close up image of the second ones barely i am not really good at doing some fangs but at least I tried istg..

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[edupiii]

🦇The Cryptic Tales of Coppersfield Update!!💛

Now I’m not entirely sure how many people on here actually read my fic The Cryptic Tales of Coppersfield, but incase you do I just wanna give a small update!

I’m more than halfway through finishing Chapter 10 as well as beginning Chapter 11, however, I am in the middle of final exams and essays for my first year of uni so my attention is focused on that stuff. I checked the other day and realized I hadn’t posted a new chapter in a while so I just wanted to put out this PSA incase any readers were wondering what was happening.

I’m also finishing up the designs for Lizzy and Khan, and sketched out Alice and Beau (even though they aren’t gonna show up for a while, I wanted to draw them). I think I’ll be making a new design for Uzi and possibly Thad since they were the first ones I made and looking back I think I could do better on them. To thank you for your patience and understanding, here is the intro to the next chapter!!

(Uzi uses she/they pronouns interchangeably btw, just a heads up incase you get confused reading)

TW: mention of body horror

Chpt 10, Game Plan

It was getting closer, she was sure of it. They couldn’t hear it over the sound of her own laboured breathing and the crunching of fallen leaves underneath their heavy steps; but they knew it was coming. They had been running in the dead of night for…she wasn’t sure on the exact amount of time, but a long time would suffice for an answer.

She stopped in the middle of a clearing and spun around, feeling the distinct fear of recognition growing. She had already been here. They’d gone in some type of messed up circle. But how?

Without warning, the sound of whatever was chasing her had caught up. They could hear it’s own heavy breathing and it’s snarling grin as it approached the small, tired figure. She begrudgingly turned their form to face their enemy, feeling her gut twist as the moonlight glistened off its torn and broken flesh’s

The creature cocked its head while making some sickly attempt to laugh at its preys reaction. It looked like it could have at one point been human, but its length and height were far too unnatural of any persons. Where Uzi assumed its eyes would be was covered by greasy hair while its mouth hung open. It’s not that it was opening its mouth, it’s that it no longer had a bottom jaw to close its ever gapping gob.

Long, spindly arms helped it crawl its thin yet heavy body closer to Uzi, her feet trying to move but unable too. Finally this thing stood over the terrified teen, drool dripping from its hanging maw onto Uzis hair and face. Its head drew closer and closer, its features becoming more prominent with every passing second.

The filthy hair covering its eyes slanted as it smiled down at Uzi, allowing her to be able to see the creatures face. As they looked in horror, a tinge of confusion began to swell. What gazed back at them were not eye’s necessarily, but two sagging black sockets. In the middle of each empty hole was that strange three pronged symbol Uzi had seen so many times before. They were glowing yellow and shaking sporadically.

Uzi snapped out of their trance as the thing inched its putrid face ever so slightly to her own, causing them to try and retreat. But they couldn’t. She looked back up and gazed at the beast whose warm breath incapsulated their face.

“Wha-what the hell are you?” they asked in a shaking voice. “Some kin-kind of eldritch monster?”

The thing reared back slightly, almost like it was in shock. However, this feeling quickly faded away as it brought its face right back up to Uzis.

“It hurts our feelings you don’t remember us.”

Uzi tried to pull away once again while looking at the things mouth. “How can-can you talk!? Some psychic link! You don’t even-“

“Easier to assimilate then explain.”

A large claw seemed to almost emerge from the shadows, its skin black with webbing between the talons. It rose up quickly and came back down on Uzi who readied for their painful demise, when suddenly-

———

AGN!

AGN!

AGN!

AGN!

Uzi shot straight up from their sleeping position, her alarm clock blaring it’s awful symphony. The noise hurting her very being, Uzi wasted no time scrambling over and slamming a shaking fist on the old electronic. It finally shut up.

Leaning back slightly, Uzi began to notice how much they were shaking. Their breathing was incredibly heavy with her heart rate sending small tremors throughout her body. She also began to notice how sweaty they were (gross! i hate waking up sweaty)

However, like the past week of restless dreams, it’s memory quickly faded from her mind. They couldn’t recall any of it. At least…they’d like to not recall any of it, because the one thing that stuck in her head were the unnerving words that were spoken to them before they awoke.

Spoken in that god awful, familiar monotone voice that chirped in their head.

______

[eshithepetty]

Ahh so, lately, I've been slowly (emphasis on slowly) working through another animatic.... so while I'm doing that I thought it'd be fun to share some thought processes i had while making Juliet (which you can watch above)!! I'm obviously not gonna analyze all of it, as a lot of the lyric matches and like, color meanings, for example, you can understand just fine on your own, but some stuff maybe might not be as obvious? So yeah, this is just gonna be me inanely rambling, in case anyone is in the market for thinking too deep into symbolism and character analysis hdgdhd

0:07

Starting off with the intro, the big flowers here are hydrangeas :) I intentionally tried to pick a color between blue, pink and purple, as the meanings for all three apply here. Blue hydrangeas symbolize understanding and gratefulness, and remorse and apology, sort of as 'I understand where I went wrong, and I'm sorry for not treating you fairly". I think this would fit well with Shigeo's feelings towards Ritsu,, pink, however, symbolizes heartfelt emotion, romance, and true feelings, which I thought was great for the Tsubomi side of things, especially in regards to the last arc. And purple symbolizes understanding, and gratefulness, without as much of the negative connotations. Sort of like a positive inverse of the blue ones' symbolism - a 'thank you for sticking with me'. Which is relevant for all the platonic relationships in his life, all the friendships, and, well... as I see it, also his relationship with himself - between Mob and ???% :')

Also I think the other flowers were lilacs, but. Tbh, i don't remember anymore.. their symbolism wasn't as relevant in my mind i think hdhfg (though i'm sure you could still extrapolate something from them if you really wanted to (which, in my country, they're often associated with students and graduation, so like, learning and new begginings/endings.... also i carry many memories of trying to find 3 leaved buds in them, for good luck, so take from that what you will ig! ^^;))

***

0:15

Here, I intended to use a dark red outline as to not make it immediately clear that Shigeo was dripping blood. As when you hear the lyrics "I need to cry," one would immediately picture tears, right? I'm not sure if I succeeded (especially with the blood tw right before), but that was the idea. Along with how then, of course, the lyrics continue with "but I can't get anything out of my eyes," and the gruesome scene reveal, making it clear it's not tears at all... yeah. Also, I just want to mention the lyrics "did I die?" because they make me emo. In a way, a part of Shigeo, the old Shigeo, did die that day....

***

0:46

not as much to say here, though I definitely drew this with the feeling of stagnation in my mind... like. Mob is growing physically, yes. But emotionally? He's festering, and only growing more, and more, stuck.... notice how the color dims. Blue is a sad color. But at least it is a color at all.

***

1:14

Oh boy, lots.... of things to say here. Or, well  maybe not say. Idk how to explain the symbolism in this one? It was more subconscious... Something about Mob trying to reach out and understand himself, only to get distracted by Tsubomi, and set his eyes on her instead. And ???%, in the mirror, turning to him judgementally... I think it's reflective of how Tsubomi also was part of the reason for the split, and how, in his yearning for Tsubomi, what he was seeking after the most was acceptance, even if he couldn't see it.... something along those lines <3

(Also, god it bothers me that i messed up the lighting in his reflection's hair hghdgd,, might fix that someday)

***

1:56

"With two corks in his eyes", the two corks in this case being a dumbbell, and a book on social cues (which, btw, he canonically has).... I wanted to portray the things that he finds lacking in himself, and thus makes into roadblocks towards his path of self acceptance. Thinking of that line said by ???% about how, in his effort to join and train with the body improvement club, he was really just 'trying to make a new self', and wasn't really 'seeing' ???%. Trying to escape himself, the part of him with powers... and then s1 ep3, and how in it, Mob implied that he and his autism (dunno how else to put everything about that djghfh, it was just.. autism) are destructive... Yeah.

***

2:00

"and a bully in his head"

Just want to note... obviously, the lyrics imply that ???% is the bully here. But, if you pay attention, ???% here actually looks rather.. anguished. And Mob looks almost angry... just thought I'd make it clear the situation is a little more gray than that! :)

***

2:19

While drawing for this part, I couldn't stop thinking about this one analysis in youtube comments I had seen about how s2 ep1 was crucial in Mob taking that first, real step towards opening up emotionally, and how in the process, he's exposed to a much wider world morally as well. That's why I put the ghost family scene directly after the scene with Emi - he's beggining to consider his emotions, all the 'colors' he hasn't allowed himself to see, and that leads to him realizing his own autonomy, which leads to him considering his decisions more, which leads to the ghost family scene, where he's starting to consider the autonomy of spirits as well, instead of blindly following Reigen on these matters (who, as we know, doesn't know shit about that side of the world, and I would say... kinda allowed Mob to separate himself from his psychic side even more, with him mindlessly using his powers as a tool for work and nothing else). "I wanna be so much more."

I... actually have a lot of feelings, on Mob and his relationship with spirits and how that intertwines with his powers, but that's something to write it's own post about, not ramble about here, so I'll leave it at that i think jfgfh

***

2:33

The relevancy of the lyrics very much stretch on into the instrumental for this one.. "I hope that she looks at me and thinks, "shit, he's so pretty." Something I can't believe," And then him flashing to blood on his hands, and a sequence of moments he's probably felt not so proud of,,, just wanted to note that in case it wasn't obvious. Also, I have feelings about hand symbolism in this show, too, especially when it comes to moments where Shigeo has looked at his open palm, but that's also a post for another day just as in the previous point jdgdhh (in short: all of those moments can be traced back to how he views the power he posseses)

***

3:46

The two corks, in this case, are the spirit world, and the human world ^^ also notice how one of the figures among the spirits wears Mob's uniform... is that lord psycho helmet, or ???%...?? idk!!! You decide :)

Also the "bully in his head", this time, becomes not ???%, but the trauma of the incident... just wanted to bring that back to front and focus before the final chorus. Cause,, that really was the even that kickstarted it all, huh?

***

4:00

Not an analysis, just wanted to say, I greatly enjoy the juxtaposition of "but i'm really just a kid," laid over top Shigeo bleeding on the ground. Mmmhmmm,,,, pain.

***

4:11

I knowww I said I wasn't gonna be talking about the color meanings, but I just had to for this one. Obviously, I portrayed ???% menacing here, as they are menacing in this arc, but... notice how their aura is rather pink? I had finished this before the finale aired, so I didn't know it would be red in canon, but even knowing that, I would have returned to this. Because, with the pink... well, red does fit them better overall I would say, but in this case, I wanted to take the obvious choice, the color that is so commonly associated with danger, and... shift it to left a bit, make it a little softer. To emphasize the affection ???% holds for Tsubomi, the protectiveness they hold over Mob, the gentle side they show to Ritsu. And to bring us into their point of view even more, the red is instead relegated to the edges of the frame... a creeping vignete, that represents how they view the world around them is the dangerous part in all this. ..I hope all of that makes sense ;^^

***

4:07 and 4:22

Anddd the two corks become the seperation between Mob and ???%, and Ritsu and Tsubomi... those really were the focal points in this animatic, the building blocks for who Shigeo is, as I see it.. and how reconciling with both Ritsu and Tsubomi, leads to him being able to reconcile with himself, too. Of course, there is Reigen as well... but I just wanted to focus on these 3 for this one. Also, I just wanna say that the panel of Ritsu, Shigeo and Tsubomi holding hands in the air is one of my fave panels ever and I loved being able to depict it.. it just makes me feel things. The yearning for childhood, and connections, and the feeling of being whole again of it all,,,, augh

***

And. To end this sleep deprived ramble....

Notice how the animatic became more colorful over time? :)

Of course, part of that is just that I improved my style along the way, but... it was also very much intentional. A sort of reflection of Shigeo's journey, and how he rediscovered those colors along the way. Also was very much intentional from me for the final 2 frames to be the only ones where Shigeo's colors are actually accurate instead of just being symbolic - and that was to symbolize that,,, he was finally grounding himself in reality, and seeing himself for the whole, real person he truly is :')

The flower imagery wasn't as planned however, I decided on it as to make it match the intro that I made later and thus for it to come full circle, and I think it ended up adding to it!! Think of it meaning something along the lines of,,, just as in happiness, so in sadness, the flowers bloom. Or something like that.. idk jhgjdhgh

So yeah!!! Dunno who even read this far, but if anyone did, thank you for listening to my brainrot, I hope it was relatively interesting!! aanndd with that im also going to sleep, buh byeee u_u have good days/nights everyones <3

[ratuszarsenal]

btw, the tournament I'm running requires me to do research before every round, so here are some random curiosa that crossed my path this time:

CEEOL! aka the Central and Eastern European Online Library - a treasure trove of articles and publications as well as a very convenient jumping-off point for further research. go check it out!

then we have this publication, which I am dying to find in its entirety somewhere online. (the title translates to something like 'Forest Churches. Places of Secret Evangelical Liturgies in Beskid Śląski'). I found it in this document, which is apparently a lesson plan about Lutheranism in Poland and it has many other sources like this one in its bibliography. very cool!!

speaking of religion-adjacent stuff, did you know what Matejko's largest painting is? because it's not the Battle of Grunwald! it's this:

that's Dziewica Orleańska, aka Matejko's take on the Joan of Arc! the painting was intended by the old sod to be his magnum opus (it measures up to 47 square meters ffs) but it premiered to a very cold reception from both Poles and Frenchmen. oh well!

the wikipedia article for that painting mentions that one 'hrabia [count] Wielkopolski' was one of Matejko's models - believable, given that the nobility and intelligentsia sometimes lent their faces to the great artist's works. but the guy in the hyperlink was count Aleksander Wielopolski, a statesman who died 7 years before the model-recruitment process started, and someone who would have had his hands rather full to be posing for paintings - since he was the target of Two assassination attempts in the January Fucking Uprising

why? well, he was a conservative politician who sanctioned violence against the rebellious populace, hunted the anti-Russian underground and tried to bring Poland even closer to the Russian empire than it was. makes sense why they would want to stab him! twice! however, he is also to be thanked for making Jewish people equal before the law and he worked staff public offices with as many native Polish people as was possible, to counter-measure the abuses found in Russian-run bureaucracy. an extremely mixed bag if there ever was one. as an aside, you may know his name from Malczewski's painting, Hamlet Polski. Portret Aleksandra Wielopolskiego:

which symbolically depicts a man's conflicted views of his own homeland - but curiously, it's a portrait of the 1860s Aleksander's grandson by the same name, who didn't have a long history of double-loyalty like his ancestor, and that's the point: the titular Hamlet refers to the entire generation of the fin de siecle, who would soon be faced with the same dilemmas as their forefathers

anyway! that was a bit grim. look at this hilarious portrait of stanisław august poniatowski: