#but i hope i got my point across?

[bixels]

Scary Sunset.

I'm concepting things way outta order in this story, but I'm sure you can piece things together. Context is for a storybeat where, after defeating and capturing Adagio (thus having all three sirens in her possession), Sunset enacts her revenge plot to release the sirens on Canterlot as Thea discovers she's been manipulated. In a confrontation, the two scuffle and fight over the siren orbs while Sunset struggles with her conflicting wants and emotions.

[broadwayfangirl222]

I don't ship Vox and Alastor but I adore the idea of it as this one-sided thing. Like Vox is, on some level, low key into Alastor. That his side of the rivaly, outside of the obvious old vs new debate they have, is kinda like that old, stupid stereotype of the asshole kid pulling on their crush's pigtails (as well as just being pissed off 'cause he got rejected) Meanwhile for Alastor, he just genuinely hates Vox and has fun messing with him

[quillpokebiology]

//You know how the pokemon world doesn't have animals (anymore), but still calls pokemon things like "the fox pokemon" or "the owl pokemon"? My headcanon for that is that those names are specific genuses the pokemon fall into, not actually just a specific animal. Like, how owls are called Strigiformes, but everyone just says owl instead. So in the world, people would look at pokemon like hoothoot and say, "Oh, it's an owl!" but referring to its genus, not so much its species. You understand?

[pasteilian]

Do you have a recommendation when designing a black character? Or tips, or maybe pages you visit for references?

Suck at explaining stuff but I’ll try

‼️ Ethnic Features ‼️

So, the art world is in a very weird place when it comes to ethnic features. The conversation was about how using POC ethnic features as an insult in media was damaging and needed to stop, and that somehow morphed into people being scared about drawing people with those features.

Black people have big ears, big noses, and big lips. That's not the problem. The problem was that media was using it to make us look like giant ape, monkey, monster creatures. It's okay to give them these defining features.

Also, remember that brown people have lighter pigment under their feet, hands, and bottom lips. 🌸 (didn’t really know where to put this but drawing mix people is basically a spin the wheel we come in all different shapes and sizes and features. There’s really no wrong way to draw a mixed POC.)

‼️ It's Just My Style ‼️

I'm so goddamn tired of hearing this goddamn excuse. A style does not mean you can't properly represent POC. I would even go on to say that if your style is stunting you so grossly that you can't draw a proper black person, you have a bad art style. Sorry—not really.

Media has shown us that style does not stop representation. The only thing stopping that is your ignorance and refusal to improve. Great examples of ranging styles still being able to represent different POC are "Adventure Time," "Disney's Soul," "Proud Family," "Afro Samurai," etc. I'm just saying this because I've seen this excuse be more prevalent in the art world, and it's just better to nip that in the bud.

‼️ Whitewashing + I Don't Know How to Use the Color Brown ‼️

I've seen people make the excuse that the skin color is lighter because they use a pastel style, but they never bring up the fact that the only color in the art that's lighter is the skin tone. 💀

Also, the whole thing about people saying they don't know how to shade and color brown palettes is just completely bullshit. I would even say that trying to shade pale colors is harder than shading darker colors. Additionally, there are multiple artists and tutorials showing you exactly how it's done. You have no excuses other than you just don't want to.

YouTuber Sinix has a great video on painting skin tones!

‼️ Black Hairstyles ‼️

I love dreads. Dreads are a very pretty hairstyle. However, we have more hairstyles other than dreads. If you're going to draw black characters, I would encourage you to branch out and explore beyond dread heads. There are so many unique black hairstyles out there. We need to move on from just focusing on dreads.

YouTuber Ari has two wonderful videos on black hairstyles in video games. I would recommend checking them out.

‼️ References ‼️

I love referencing old black media such as "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "The Proud Family," and "Little Bill" (before all the Bill Cosby stuff came out). I also appreciate how "House of the Dragon" implemented black people into the lore. Other references include "BOTW/TOTK Rottmnt," etc.

Some artists I reference all the time are Mohammed Agbadi, who doesn't do many art tutorials anymore but often discusses black characters in media, and his art is still amazing. Ethan Becker has a very interesting video on the racist triangle that I recommend checking out.

On Instagram, I love the art of Jojo.Dreamie, Chibichanga12 (holy shit, love their art), Bruniosktch, and Caw.Chan. I also just reference my family a lot. 💀

This is a lot of rambling, but what I’m gonna say is don’t stunt yourself by tricking yourself into believing that your art can’t include POC 🌸🌸‼️💌💖💌💌🎀💕💘‼️🧁

[genderfluidmormon]

Gender is eternal. This is true.

But it doesn't mean what the leaders of the lds church assume it to mean.

You may say gender is eternal to try to convince me that I'm wrong about being genderfluid. If gender is eternal, then how does my gender change? I must be wrong about my gender.

Not so.

Eternal does not mean "unchanging." If that were true, then how could we, as human beings who are always striving to be better and more Christ-like, achieve eternal life? Are you the exact same person you were five years ago? Ten? Twenty? We have already changed so much in our lives. How could we be eternal, then?

Because eternal doesn't mean "unchanging." It means forever. It means sacred.

My gender is sacred to me, no matter what form it takes. My gender will never be static, but it will be eternal. Whether I am a man, woman, both, neither, or anything in between, my gender is sacred to me and is an eternal part of me. No amount of hatred disguised as concern can change that, or the fact that I know my Heavenly Parents know and love me, and that They understand my relationship with gender.

[unicornpopcorn14]

Dazai and his (dis)association with Guns

It's interesting to me how Dazai conically wields no firearms on him, neither in the PM nor in the ADA.

I mean, taking how dangerous both jobs are into consideration, and how he isn't as physically capable as the strongest ability users out there, you'd think he'd at least ensure a safety measure with him at all times.

But every gun he wields in the series is someone else's.

Every. single. one.

Even the handgun he wields in the Azure messanger arc, despite belonging to the agency, he doesn't constantly use:

While in Stormbringer, Dazai uses a tazer gun before meeting Adam and relying on him:

I've had many speculations regarding this pattern (feel free to add onto them), one of them being that Dazai thinks he doesn't even need guns, since strategies are his weapons, his hands alone are his weapons. In a world of crazy abilities, and users completely relying on said abilitis, being a nullifier might be considered the biggest threat, and a pretty sturdy weapon to rely on.

After some thinking, however, I found that while this might be part of the reason, it isn't enough to just disregard firearms as weapons entirely. Dazai's plans/predictions aren't foolproof, and as he'd explained, they are full of uncertanties, contrary to Fyodor's plans.

And Dazai's ability can't be relied on all the time. Having to touch the enemies/maintain proximity in order to activate it is definitely a hindrance. Besides, some enemies can be physically competent without their abilities, some might not even have abilities, but are formidable. Firearms in these situations would be extremely useful, given their range, and a good precaution.

Aside from combat, tw: suicide Let's not forget that a shooting oneself is subjectively the most painless way to die. So if anything, Dazai should be eager to have one on him and even attempt with it. But he doesn't, he never even seems interested in using guns at all in his suicide methods, hence he would have succeeded long ago...

So if it isn't out of unnecessity, then what might be the reason? I mean, having to count on your enemies to have guns in order to use one is rather inconveniet, right? Why can't he just carry the agency's gun or, before that, any of the countless PM's firearms? Well...

Here is what I think: Killing with guns is triggering for Dazai

Let's rewind a little...

15!Dazai is the earliest we see him using a firearm, and one of the few times he does shoot with said firearm, resulting in this fiasco:

He's clearly having a mental breakdown, spiraling, can't stop, and most importantly: can't think straight. This is Dazai's lowest moment in the whole series.

Thing worth mentioning: in the manga/lightnovel, Dazai does stop after shooting the man one time (basically killing him) and pauses, before he continues again and again and agian...

So I believe the triggering factor is either the death/corpse itself, or how the recoil felt.

We can't exactly determine what it might be, since remember, this is before Dazai even joins the Mafia. He's known Mori for mere weeks at this point. Whatever Dazai's going through in this moment has to related to his past prior to the mafia that we have yet to (or might never) see.

You'd get why Dazai, a person whose greatest ability is his mind above all else, would never wish to go through a moment where he can't keep his thoughts in check. Where he'd lose control.

And you know what's crazy? Dazai seems to avoid that outcome since then, as This is the only moment we see him actively kill someone with a gun in the series.

18!Dazai, through his (abusive) teaching moment with Akutagawa, shoots three times in hopes the other finally uses his ability defensively. There is a cause, and a motif, that a gun has to be involved in. And he knows Akutagawa is going to succeed in repelling them, he knows that won't kill him. Which is why wielding a gun is safe along with shooting it.

While in the ADA, in the instances Dazai wields a gun, he doesn't even shoot:

And that checks. Each one of these example were mere empty threats, but now I see that, as much as it's a threat to whoever he's pointing the barrel at, he's also under the mercy of it. Which means that every time he's used a gun since fifteen was a means to scare and not kill, if only to avoid the worst outcome which is losing control.

Dazai's sanity is on the line whenever the trigger is at the tip of his finger...

So why would he carry guns when he never even plans to shoot? When properly putting them to use threatens to send him into a breakdown, to overthrow his entire line of thinking?

One moment out of control might cost him his plans, his objectives, his subordinates, the lives he wishes to protect. And unless there is a motif for the gun (other than of course, killing) using it is a threat looming over him.

[angelshizuka]

Yes, Stolas is priveleged when it comes to whealth and being high in the hierarchy, and doesn't understand the struggles that come with paying bills and making sure there's enough food on table. Though, even with that, Stolas is at risk of losing it all thanks to Stella and Andrealphus having it out for him.

But in that same breath, Blitz doesn't understand the struggles of being forced into a loveless abusive marriage (with a woman as a gay man) with royal responsibitlies and expectations from "your sort" that treat you like an outcast weighting you down.

I have zero tolerence for comparing traumas, so I'm not even going into that. My point is that Stolas and Blitz both have completely different life struggles, from the completely different lives they've lived, but that doesn't invalidiate any of them.

Differences or not, struggles are struggles and trauma is trauma.

[maddydoodlestrash]

I could write a whole article on why chubby Marie makes more sense from a character design point of view, I just always really liked the idea of the squid sisters being contrasts within their weight to reflect their character and their method of exercise. I’ve always liked the idea of Callie being skinny and lithe because when I think Callie I think of cheetahs, she’s presumably a splat roller main and they run a ton! To be speedy is to be lightweight, when you look at a cheetah they have skinny legs and a broad chest. I like to apply this thought process to Callie. Marie reminds me of stereotypical jazz club singers or pinup girls who tend to have a curvier appearance, and I feel her having the weight makes more sense with her being into chargers— they sit in one place a lot. There’s also a bit of off-comments from her in JP splat 1 where she is concerned about not being skinny enough and even compares herself to Callie (idol beauty standard effects on a 17 yr old :( ) so showing her gain weight in 2 and beyond is important to me in showing her progression of character— maturing and not worrying about her weight as much.

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

just got home from seeing miles and oh my GODDDDD. so much to unpack. SO MUCH. i’ll do a proper post tomorrow when my brain is remotely coherent again, but for now the headlines: he is (as always) absolutely fucking incredible live; i had not one but TWO super awkward run ins with him before the gig even started; i will never recover from hearing shavambacu; there was a VERY interesting moment when he was introducing “see ya when i see ya”; and, in the least creepy way possible, i may or may not now know what it’s like to be spat on by miles kane mid performance ���

[honeyspotpie]

Trudy Trout you are so important to me. For a show that's been specifically about the trails and tribulations of parenthood from the perspective of father figures and viewed from the lense of said fathers only, it's so refreshing to have a main MOTHER character who is as painstakingly tragic as Trudy. Because yes, her character is a commentary on the negativity of tradwife values - but being a "tradwife" doesn't exclusively mean being a perfect lover for her husband, but being a perfect mother to her children as well - and I feel like a lot of people are forgetting that and not acknowledging it nearly enough. Women, especially in that time, had to pretty much carry the entire burden of shaping and properly raising their children into functioning human beings, being their singular caretakers. Trudy (or the husk of the person who is Trudy now) having to properly shape and form the minds of her children when she herself is not properly shaped and formed. Raising them to be ready to face the great wide world out there, the same world that she struggles to face herself, the world that kicks her down everytime she gets up. There's so much potential to explore, so many poignant points to be made. Like look, I'm as fascinated by her relationship with Tucker as literally everyone else, but I do hope that at one point in the narrative the focus shifts to her relationship with Tuck, Tina and Timmy. Make Trudy realize how much her motherhood is intertwined with her personhood, and let us watch her grapple that.

[dootznbootz]

that WHO in no longer u oh my GOD

YESSSS

Like, yeah, Odysseus is like "Yandere" (joking but also not) because kills all who even go near Penelope and Telemachus and he's very protective of them AND jealous.

But I think this "WHO?!" is also a desperate plea as to who is this dangerous man who is near his wife? A warlord? A conquerer? A man who would not even care about Penelope for who she is and mistreats her?

Because even in the Odyssey, Odysseus asks about Penelope to his mother.

Tell me of the wife I married. What are her thoughts and plans? Is she still there with our son, keeping watch on everything? Or has she been married                            to the finest of Achaeans?

(Book 11, Johnston)

There's not even much resentment in his question. There could be but Narrator does not say. The use of "the finest of Achaeans" almost is a "Did she at least marry the best man? Did she at least marry a GOOD man?"

In "No Longer You", when he hears of this dangerous man NEAR his wife, he is SCARED. It could be jealousy but I feel it's more of concern. As it is in the Odyssey.

"I understand if she would remarry, it pains me but I did tell her that when Telemachus finally grows his beard, she could. I will love her always but is she at least happy? Is she safe?"

And she's not safe. She's not happy. He is terrified.

Psst. The reason why My Odysseus takes a long time to grow his beard is because of that line. He's hoping that his son will take after him and take forever to grow a beard like he did (as he doesn't really have one even when he first leaves for Troy) because he would try forever to get home. Penelope even teases him that he still doesn't have one so that's a silly request and that's the point. "I will never stop trying to come back to you. He and I will likely remain beardless forever." (it's a little funky for him when he finally grows one by the end of Troy. He's thinking "...Shit. Telemachus, stay baby-faced for your dad please.")

ANYWAYS.

I mean we all know that these two are obsessed with each other in the Odyssey and in Epic. They are likeminded and are so integral to who they are. They mean everything to one another. I think Odysseus genuinely does want Penelope happy. As even in the Odyssey with him simply asking for another bed, shows how much he loves and respects her. He could've been like "get in it" even though she had rejected him at first but he LISTENS BECAUSE HE LOVES HER. Only breaking down into a sobbing mess when he believes she destroyed their bed.

"Heaven made you as you are, but for sheer obstinacy you put all the rest of your sex in the shade. No other wife could have steeled herself to keep so long out of the arms of a husband she had just got back after nineteen years of misadventure. Well, nurse, make a bed for me to sleep alone in. For my wife's heart is just about as hard as iron."

(Book 23, Rieu)

Please note that this is his attempt to insult her in a way and yet he still talks about her being from Heaven 👀 SIMP

But even though he's deeply hurt by her rejection (poor guy would've probably sobbed himself to sleep) He still asks for another bed. After sleeping on the floor and in the dirt since he's been on Ithaca, refusing beds unless it's his own marriage bed, he takes her 'no' because he values her happiness and comfort over his own. He takes a lesser bed so she can still sleep in their own luxurious one.

I mean we know how fucking awful the suitors are. Hold Them Down is a disturbing song. (as it should be. As they are not good men) He does not even know how bad these men are yet. If his future self could speak with his past self, he'd probably be like "Yeah, don't worry about the guy who kills a bunch of people, they had it coming. ;) " or something.

That "WHO?!" is a mix of jealousy AND fear.

[butchxenomorph]

the first step you can take as an ally is to accept that acknowledging that you have systemic privilege is not a personal failing or an insult, nor does it imply that you are willingly an oppressor. it is merely a way to understand social dynamics. the truth is you most likely hold privilege over someone else wether you like it or not. i think the reason why so many people on here are incapable of being good allies is because they love being in the victim position, and they refuse to acknowledge the fact that they can cause harm, and that they benefit from someone else’s oppression. i see this specifically coming from usamericans who don’t want to acknowledge that they hold power over people from the global south, from my fellow tme people who don’t want to admit that we have privilege over transfems, and from people who grew up middle class and above not wanting to accept their wealth privilege. the moment people on here recognise that fact that they can have power over others, the easier it will be to be allies. you can’t be an ally to someone without acknowledging how people like you can hurt them. you can’t help someone if you don’t understand the situation they’re in and how their pain benefits you.

(edit under cut)

edit: i'm making this edit cuz i think a lot of people are misunderstanding what i'm saying, specially with my point about trans issues. im not trying to imply transmasculine people don't suffer. i'm transmasculine myself. im not trying to cause 'infighting'. in fact, i believe understanding that we have different experinces is needed for trans unity. of course everyones experiences are different, but i am talking about the trans community as a whole in this post, and it would be silly to say that transmasc people don't have any priviledge over transfems, specially with the huge transmisogyny problem in this website (in a way i feel like jumping on me to talk about transmasc experiences the moment i try to center transfems shows that). this post is not meant to be an attack on anyone. i made it because i strongly believe in trans allyship and i'm sorry if anyone felt like this post was mean-spirited. that is the complete opposite of what i meant to do. 

edit 2: a lot of people are also assuming i've never experienced violence for being transmasc. i have. i've been threatened with conversion therapy. ive been verbally abused. ive had threats of physical violence. but i won't use my experience to diminish those of transfems

[leronboi]

Its getting colder so why not snuggle into the jacket of your mech bodied killer partner? Surely nothing will go wrong :D

[reuben-7991]

Octavian’s treatment is one of my least favorite things about HoO because it isn’t his character, it’s his lack of one.

We COULD’VE had an excellent character who was a look into what could truly go wrong with blind devotion like Octavian’s, drawing an excellent parallel to Luke’s blind hatred in the original series (Percy even says Octavian reminds him of Luke).

We COULD’VE had a fantastic contrast into a follower’s descent into insanity after making empty promises of power whilst under the influence of a massively elder being, thus leading to said follower’s death.

What makes me especially mad is that Octavian has no backstory. This is a problem with a lot of Roman characters, but Octavian especially. He doesn’t even have a last name. All we know is:

- He’s a legacy of Apollo.

- He used to be sane and probably very charismatic, due to Reyna stating she used to have a crush on him in TTT.

That’s it! One of Rick’s gold stars is that his human characters are just that: human. They have motivations and flaws, deeply personal origins and ideals that affect their actions and their outcomes. None of the villains are just plain villains, evil by birth. They have motives to back up their actions (now weither those motives make sense or not, that’s another story, but they’re still there.) There’s Luke, Medea, Lityerses (who is an entire other can of worms), Circe, Loki, Gunilla, Randolph, hell, even Kronos and Gaea. All of them have reasons for the shitty stuff they did. Octavian is a glaring exception. We know he’s power-hungry, but we don’t know why. We know he’s violent, but we don’t know why. We know he hates the Greeks, but we don’t know why. You may argue ‘oh, he’s a minor character, he doesn’t really get a reasoning’ which is just blatantly untrue on both fronts.

1: Octavian is NOT a minor character in the slightest. He has major roles in the plot throughout the books.

2: Him being a ‘minor’ villain wouldn’t have anything to do with his motivation. Chris from the OG series has stated motivation, and he’s way more minor than Octavian.

Another thing is that Octavian’s insanity is played off almost comically. He’s relatively well put together in SoN, only being super dramatic and reportedly blackmailing Hazel and probably other legionnaires, but by BoO he’s absolutely broken. He’s utterly obsessed with being a hero to the Romans, with being Pontifex Maximus, with killing Gaea and almost proving himself to Apollo (who is utterly disgusted by him), but it’s all either framed as ‘hate this guy more plsplspls’ or brushed away to the side.

I’m torn on his death scene, because it’s a good scene overall but too much of it is humorous in my opinion. Between Will calling Octavian an ‘anemic loser’ (which like. what.) and Leo describing his screams as a little girl’s, it seems almost too light for such a pivotal point in the story. Octavian has truly lost himself to madness, ranting and raving and insisting no, HE has to be the one to kill Gaea, HE has to be a hero.

His death is horrific, yet it’s framed as a silly oopsie.

What the fuck.

Overall, Octavian is a shining example of missed character potential. We could have gotten the Riordan special and made to empathize more with our villain, like what happened with Luke or Randolph from MCGA, but all we get is a crazy blond kid, character so shallow he could count as a tide pool. It infuriates me to no end how in a sea of good, properly motivated antagonists, Octavian is the outlier.

It’s a real shame.

[worrynoodle]

I think that there's a certain level of freedom Crowley has by already being fallen. That's what gives him the freedom to 'go along with hell as far as he can' because in the grand scheme of things, the worst has already happened to him. He's already a demon, he's already unforgivable, he's already experienced Hell. So he can say "Great, pustulant, mangled bollocks to the great blasted plan" because what is God gonna do? Damn him? He's already damned. Discorporate him? The world was ending anyway at that point.

But all of that freedom and confidence gets a wrench thrown right into it when he falls in love with (or at the very least, starts to care for) Aziraphale. Because now he has something to lose. That all that happened to him could happen to Aziraphale and he doesn't ever want that.

At the same time, I think after Aziraphale defied God to protect Job's children, he found that it's a bit easier to bend the rules a bit. Which is why he eventually agrees to the arrangement. But he also has something beyond himself to lose. He could lose Crowley. Crowley could go through Hell or worse, and he'd never see him again. That it would likely be his fault because of their fraternizing.

Aziraphale would go through Hell for Crowley and Crowley has already gone through Hell and wants to keep living for Aziraphale.

[rikashmoonsword]

what makes me like Jonathan and Alanna's relationship/friendship so much is just the fact that they're peers.

There's a lot to be said about our beloved Tammy and her penchant for deeply questionable age gaps, but I won't say them because despite everything my ideal of love remains daine/numair and thus I can't criticise them to save my life. but to Alanna, all of her loves are older than her. George is 17 to Alanna'a 10, Liam is 34 to Alanna's 19/20, Jon is 18 when Alanna is 14.

George is a teacher as much as a friend, he teaches her to pick locks, wrestle, use a knife, pick pockets, how to walk among thieves and keep her purse on her and how to know who to trust and who not to. He shows her unselfish love, he shows her how gentlemen treat their ladies, he treats her like a friend and like the most beautiful woman alive. George is a Teacher.

Liam teaches her how to hold her own without a weapon in her hands, shows her how nice it is to flirt and flit without sneaking about. He also teaches her to never sever a part of herself to suit a man, and that love is important but if the love isn't for all of you it isn't love at all.

and then she's home with Jon. Jon who she couldn't look into the eyes of as a page but who she would chase him to the realm of the black god if she had to, Jon who fought Gary to get her as a squire, Jon who held her when she was afraid and who was the first one to show her love.

Jon who acts like a child when things don't go his way, who would flirt with a crazy girl to get on her bad side, who has a temper that can rival her own.

When Alanna is with Jon, she isn't with a teacher, he isn't older and smarter, he's as young and foolish as her. he rages and throws fits and apologises sloppily and he loves her just as much as she loves him.

Jon is never truly something bigger than himself with Alanna, because she was the one who saved his life from his cousin, because he is the one who dragged her into a death trap of old gods and survived, because she is the one he disregarded direct orders to save from tusaine, because they're best friends more than anything else in this world and not even screaming matches and world ending spats can break them.

That's why i love them so much, because they're peers, and that friendship makes them stronger than any other champion and king in history.