#but recontextualizing it into new forms

[captainkingsley]

gay dads in dumb cosplay and their teenaged son who makes fun of them

[f1-unpopularopinions]

drop those papers on the ethics of rpf bestie

Thank you this is my favorite thing! Not nearly a comprehensive list but a decent starting point. Let me know if access is a problem

References:

The Intimate Fandoms of Men’s Hockey Real Person Fanfiction by Mari Elise Vist

The Affective Power of Intimacy: A Case Study of a Men’s Hockey Real Person Fan Fiction’s Literary and Social Contexts by Lina Vermeer

The Real K-pop idols of fanfiction: reclaiming "real person" fanfiction as K-pop industry practice by Sooyun Hong - a thesis

Real body, fake person: Recontextualizing celebrity bodies in fandom and film by Melanie Piper

How real are people? : sports-centric real person fiction between mainstream and fanfiction by Judith Louise Tuffentsammer

Reading real person fiction as digital fiction: An argument for new perspectives by Judith Fathallah

Finding the Path Through the Ethics of Fanfiction by Victoria Fidler

Chapter 8: ​​”In the End Its All Made Up The Ethics of Real Person Fanfiction” by Jennifer McGee in Communication Ethics, Media & Popular Culture (Vol. 9). Peter Lang

Fanfiction, not just RPF

“Write the story you want to read”: world-queering through slash fanfiction creation by Diana Floegel

The Alienation of Gaze — the Construction and Gender Practice in the Fanfiction by Xuan Yu & Yu Han

"Slight dub-con but they both wanted it hardcore": Erotic fanfiction as a form of cultural activism around sexual consent by Milena Popova

An Inexhaustible Source of Magic: How Fanfiction Turned One World Into A Thousand by Taylor Pernini

Culture and Community Online - How Fanfiction Creates a Sense of Social Identity by Reshaping Popular Media by Kellye Ann Guinan (this is a longer thesis but really interesting!)

Television and Fanfiction Online: Finding Identity, Meaning, and Community by Erin B. Waggoner

Loving Fanfiction: Exploring the Role of Emotion in Online Fandoms by Brit Kelley - this is a fascinating book, got access through the public library

The Erotics of Fanfiction: Queering Fans, Works, and Communities in Modern Internet Fandom by Alexandra Garner

Writing Oneself into Someone Else’s Story – Experiments With Identity And Speculative Life Writing in Twilight Fan Fiction by Sanna Lehtonen

[ifishouldvanish]

The idea of Olrox being from Cholula specifically makes me so insane. Like would he have identified more as Mexica? Or as Tlaxcaltec? Would he have been loyal to the Tlaxcaltec and allied with the Spanish only to get screwed over like his Mohican lover did in the colonies? Would he have done so thinking he could get the upper hand in the end just like Mizrak/Emmanuel thought the Order could with Erzsebet?

"He thinks the devils he manufactures will be enough to destroy her when the time comes. What do you think? Do you think he's right?" - S1E4

Even after the fall of Tenochtitlan, nobility from all over the region would have been sent to Cholula to get the blessing of Cholulan priests for their legitimacy. How might this have fueled his disdain for nobility?

Olrox: "I prefer my blood blue."

Drolta: "Maybe you do things differently in the new world, but over here we don't feed off the wealthy. The locals will start to grumble." - S1E5

As a Mexica citizen, this disdain could come from resentment toward sumptuary laws, the increasing lack of socioeconomic mobility during Moctezuma's rule, and frustration with how he handled the Spanish... But as a Cholulan sympathetic to Tlaxcala, there's so much more???

It could come from frustration with leadership that defected from the very people who helped them elude Mexica rule in the years before the Spanish conquest. Anger at a decision that economically obliterated the Tlaxcaltec, who became completely surrounded by Mexica member-states? Regret at how much it cost them to 'overthrow' the Mexica? Grief at how this kind of political/military opportunism helped lead the wider indigenous population to its demise?? Like the latter is so much more thematically ripe for a show tackling colonialism and imperialism imo???

"This one? He was just an opportunist, following the Messiah because she's powerful." - S1E4

I mean!!?? Think about how the implications of all of this... *gestures wildly* stuff would lead him to adopt such a cynical, morally ambiguous worldview? This sense that it's all doomed, that he's not strong enough to fight it? Resist and fall to your enemies, or work with them only to lose parts of your identity in the process? Think about how the brutality of the Cholula massacre recontextualizes eurocentric perceptions of the brutality of flower wars and ritual sacrifice??? How it would leave you with anger and pain and an unyielding need for justice?

"Little boy Belmont. I know that feeling. That pain, that hate, that burning, unendurable need for retribution." - S1E1

Think about how the Mexica Empire had adopted Huitzilopochtli (war, sacrifice) as their primary patron deity, and the Tlaxcaltec Mixcoatl/Camaxtli (the hunt, fire)... Yet Olrox's form seems to be based on Quetzalcoatl (wind, knowledge, rebirth, among other things)–the deity the great temple at Cholula was dedicated to.

A handful of mesoamerican deities are associated with serpents/have names ending in '-coatl', but Olrox's serpent form clearly has a feathered crest—the 'quetzal-' in Quetzalcoatl.

But Olrox's abilities also seem to include lightning/thunder, which are associated with Tlaloc, who the Cholulans seemed to have adopted as their central deity some time before the Spanish conquest.

Quetzalcoatl is only associated with storms sort of tangentially, through his aspect as the wind god, Ehecatl. The Florentine Codex refers to Quetzalcoatl-Ehecatl as sweeping the roads to make way for the rain and the thunder.

Think about how in Tlaxcaltec accounts, Cholula–being a sacred city–had no real military to speak of and depended on their gods to protect them???

Mizrak: "There's only one God. Just one. That's the only thing I'm sure of. And I've spent my whole life serving him, fighting for him. That hasn't changed, and it never will." Olrox: "One god... And you think he can protect you?" - S1E4

Like... What does it all mean???? 🫠🫠🫠

Agshsjdkdkfll *screams into a pillow* I am so excited for season 2 but whatever happens Cholulan Olrox is canon in my heart y'all

[directdogman]

Dogman, how do you write SO WELL!?!? I love all your characters and I need to know what/where you find inspo from...

Ha. Every writer is just someone who apes the creative processes of their inspirations. For video game writing specifically, there's two answers for me.

Toby Fox is always gonna be a huge inspiration for me. I've written plots and characters before and had to abandon ideas after realizing I'd accidentally written part of UT again. Even some of the ideas I used were undeniably inspired by UT in a subconscious way and ofc, I included several explicit references to UT in my last series. Toby's a very clever guy who likely pays very close attention to the art he consumes and tries to figure out how to maximize how much his work connects with his audience. Whatever his process is, it works.

The other answer is a lil funnier: Scott Cawthon, but specifically the legend, not the man. For context: Back in the earlier days of the FNaF fandom, people had a hyper-inflated view of Scott Cawthon's writing skills that largely came from how little of a presence he had back in those days. In the vacuum of Scott actually explaining his own process in detail, people got caught up in his genuinely creative way of hiding exposition in his games using cryptid and (then) unexpected methods, and a narrative formed (one that he's since refuted.)

While he never implied it tmk, fans broadly believed that he constructed these sweeping and complex narratives with tons of cohesive moving parts, with the games essentially acting like the mere tip of his lore iceberg. People even thought he wrote so much that he had whole games worth of lore outlined from the beginning! In the first Dawko interview he gave, he clarified that this wasn't the case and explained roughly what his process was (basically just outlining rough theme ideas + aesthetics for future titles.)

However, that legend made younger-me's mind run wild and any time I wrote a story, it became very difficult for me to not keep writing down ideas while completing the grunt work that followed me finishing my scripts. When I finished DSaF 1, I already had DSaF 2's draft written and by the time 2 was done, I had enough lore for a 3rd game on paper (and a lot more stuff that I didn't use.) By the time three was out, I had pages upon pages of unused concepts/story ideas and more or less just had to decide to call it quits or else I'd be pumping out entries forever!

That's why if you go back to those older games, there's references that directly refer to future plot-points in pretty casual/easy to miss ways. (Like Henry's mention in DSaF 1, Dave being heartless in DSaF 2, Jack being soulless in 1, and even Blackjack being Jack's soul in 2. Most of 3's major plotpoints are implied somewhere in 2 and some of 2's in 1.)

DT is much the same. By the time I finished writing it, I had fairly detailed drafts for arcs for each of the characters, some early material ended up getting completely recontextualized (and even modified in small ways to not conflict with the wider ideas I came up with.)

I get really into writing my stories/characters and I always wonder exactly how things ended up where they are, what characters think about but don't say, etc etc. This is why I have an obscene amount of Crown lore that I have very little to do with rn (since he impacted the whole world so deeply.)

This extra stuff also includes plenty of sequel material ideas, though I didn't think I'd even get a chance to use them since DT performed pretty meagerly before the big release and I was expecting to have to move onto something new. Though it turned out that Scott didn't actually write his games this way (by his own admission), it's the correct answer for what my core writing inspiration for writing game narratives is.

Hope this helps!

[monjustmontemp]

I think there's an aspect to which Spirit Away is a story about the struggle of dependence and independence, the value of transactions vs. emotional connections.

Chihiro is a child, is dependent on her parents, and thus cannot control much about her life. She is leaving her previous life behind through no choice of her own. If her parents go down the creepy entrance, she cannot go anywhere else except with them, or stay lonely in the car. Staying is, of course, a choice, but for a girl so young and scared, it does not feel like it.

Chihiro is then dependent in the system of the Bathhouse, she must work to survive, which is very much simply capitalism with an extra layer of supernatural threat, and a criticism. Chihiro is immediately insulted, loses her name, and her sense of identity, but also gains a new level of confidence. Living in this hostile environment makes her surer of her capabilities, even if she would be unable to use those capabilities for herself without the connections (Haku) that remind her of herself.

She then uses those capabilities to free herself, her friend, and her family from this system.

So she goes from being dependent on her family, to being dependent on a system, to being reliant on her friends, to then her friends and her family depending on her. At the end, she even calls her boss, Yubaba, granny. She recontextualizes her whole relationship with her, with this being who harmed her spiritually, who would not have let her free, who turned her parents into pigs, but gave her the means she needed to survive in this spirit world. This makes Chihiro view the whole experience, perhaps, somewhat nostalgically, like a learning experience more than a tribulation. Chihiro leaves with a new wealth in emotional connections.

The movie presents a problem, and then a solution. Capitalism will commodify you, objectify you, but you can remain human by building up your community, through which you will find and protect your identity. You can imbue non-monetary value into the world that surrounds you. Very much a No Man Is An Island message.

In there, I think, also a warning about consumerism. Chihiro's parents are changed by consuming carelessly, made entirely dependent and beholden to Yubaba, made into animals, into property (because capitalism turns living beings into objects.) No Face sees other people seek things, and so he seeks things, he consumes and consumes, but this does not make him feel fulfilled. If anything, he is sickened by it, and can only heal once he receives emotional care, in the form of Chihiro sacrificing something for his well-being (which literally makes him vomit away that which he consumed.) The workers of the bathhouse are made into meals, sell themselves out, when they take No Face's gold. The take-away there, if I had to define it, is that this attachment to things rather than people... makes you more dependent, more vulnerable, and more isolated.

I think it is easy to relate to Chihiro's fear, at both being alone and being presented with unfamiliar challenges. I find it especially easy to understand the disconnect to oneself when one is doing that which is not for oneself but due to obligation, and that finding that balance where work can be meaningful, where you can help others with it, like with the River Spirit, is the key to a self-fulfillment that also means being in harmony with society.

Like all of Studio Ghibli's movies that I've seen so far, this movie seeks to help maintain emotional health in our materialistic and hectic world. It tells us how to survive intense work cultures (like Japan's is often described as) but also tells us to escape them, which is truly universally relevant.

[markrosewater]

Hi Mark! In the planeswalker's guide, there is a really cool description for the "Glitch Ghosts" that explains why they appear they way they do and it makes no mention of tech at all. In my opinion, that snippet of world-building is in-line with some of my favorites of other planes you've made. It gives a reason why the ghosts have the same aesthetic as modern horror tropes, but recontextualizes it as a form of magical phenomena. It's really really stellar. I love it. Please give a high five to whoever came up with that.

But, when I see that Duskmourn also contains random TVs and computer screens, it cheapens that explanation. Why come up with a magical explanation for the Glitch Ghosts at all, if you were then just going to include the other technology anyway? Why not just have the description of the Glitch Ghosts be something derivative like "these are ghosts made by corrupted/possessed tech"? It's way more boring, but now that's all I'm going to be able to associate with them.

I guess my complaint is that by including more mundane objects and technology in Duskmourn, it makes the actual magic and worldbuilding of the plane feel less magical to me.

Magic started square in the heart of high fantasy. Over the last thirty plus years, we've tested where we can extend the feeling of the game, and the feeling of worlds where magic plays a role. I don't think magic has to be tied to the past and there are a lot of cool properties that combine modern day elements with magic.

Any time we try something new, perhaps this is the change that's a bit too far (we do know we're pushing boundaries here), but what we've learned this many years in is that Magic is at its best when it embraces all different kinds of aesthetics. When it shows people that magic can encompass a whole slew of different types of worlds.

Yes, Duskmourn is different, but different is kind of where Magic excels.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Sorry if this seems confrontational, but for the life of me I can’t get into your “Chloe has no growth” point when the show itself retracts growth from everyone and is inconsistent with everyone. You saying “The show just lays down basic character traits in Chloe” doesn’t make sense when her basic character traits are supposed to be her being selfish and spoiled.

S2 built off of that and despite what you say, had Chloe doing things that in S1 she wouldn’t have done. She apologized multiple times to the people she wronged, she willingly put herself in harm’s way to help the people she cares about and she was openly vulnerable to Ladybug in “Malidiktaor”. Something S1 Chloe wouldn’t have done. If there’s a distinct difference between a Chloe back in S1 and a Chloe in S2, then growth HAS taken place. But it doesn’t stay because of the formula (and the writers just don’t want her to keep that growth)

So what I’m asking is…what do you mean “Chloe doesn’t have growth”?

I can understand the “No arc” argument because an unfinished arc feels like there’s no arc at all (even though they are fundamentally not the same)

I wouldn't say that the show retracts growth from everyone. It's more that no one is ever supposed to grow. Every episode resets the cast. That's just how pure formula shows work and Miraculous is being sold as a pure formula show. The characters are meant to be static (one of the writers literally compared Miraculous to Dora the Explorer).

That static nature is why pure formula shows normally avoid giving their good-guy characters major flaws. It's the wrong medium for that type of thing specifically because the characters cannot change in meaningful ways throughout the show. They can learn little lessons that don't really change them and maybe have big change between seasons via a special or movie, but that's about it. Thus things like the season four conflict working so poorly. It's just a terrible choice for a formula show! The conflict is literally not allowed to develop properly because of the chosen format.

But sure, let's talk about Chloe and why I will die on the hill that she never demonstrated meaningful improvement even with the issue of the inconstant writing. In fact, seasons-one-to-three Chloe is one of the most consistent characters in the show. For this discussion to work, we need to start off by discussing character development and the two main forms it can take: character establishment and character growth.

Character Establishment

When the audience meets a character, they know nothing about said character. It's up to the writer to guide the introduction process. To choose when to reveal already existing elements of the character's personality, skills, and backstory. This is called character establishment. It is the writing telling you who the character is on a baseline level. Those reveals don't need to happen at the start of the story, though. They can be - and often are - held back for when the time is right.

When these reveals are delayed, it's important to remember that these elements were always part of the character. The reveal isn't changing who the character actually is. It's just changing how the audience views the character.

For example, we spend a good chunk of season one uncertain why Gabriel is doing what he does. Then, in Origins, we learn that it's all for Emilie. This is new information that adds depth to Gabriel's character, but it doesn't change him in any way. This is who he always was. We just know him better now and can recontextualize past events with our new understanding of his motivation.

Character Growth

Character growth is when writers take a character's personality or world view or even just their skills from point A to point B, allowing the audience to watch the character change and become a new better - or lesser - version of themself. This is usually part of a larger character arc where all the moments of growth add up, but it can take the form of small moments of growth that don't fit into a bigger picture, too. I'd probably still call that an arc, but we'll use the word "growth" a lot in this post, so let's just call it growth to be consistent.

Miraculous doesn't really have either arcs or growth because - once again - formula shows don't allow characters to meaningfully change, so I'm going to have to make up an example here. I'll use one that illustrates how character establishment and character growth can and do intertwine as that's an important thing to acknowledge to help guide this discussion.

Let's say that we have a character who lost their family at a young age. We'll call this character Mary. Mary's loss guides her character throughout the entire story, but the other characters and the audience are never told that this is what's going on. We just know that Mary acts in seemingly illogical ways at times and that she trusts no one.

Throughout the story, Mary learns to trust her costars, leading to a big, dramatic scene where she finally tells them - and the audience - about her past. This big dramatic scene is both the culmination of a character arc and a piece of baseline character establishment that allows us to understand Mary's character better no matter what part of the story we're reading.

Because these combo growth and establishment moments are so common in stories, it can feel like character growth when we learn new things about a character in a dramatic moment, but that's not always what's happening. Sometimes dramatic moments are just there to reveal what was always there by forcing a character to act differently than they usually do through the power of extenuating circumstances. These extenuating-circumstances moments are not character growth because, once the moment is over, the character resets to their normal self. The moment wasn't there to let them grow. It was there for the sake of the plot.

This is actually a really important thing that writers need to know how to do. Figuring out what circumstances will make a character say or do a thing they generally wouldn't say or do is part of how stories work. I have started stories with characters acting wildly "out of character" because I put them in the a situation where the behavior suddenly was in character!

Oh, you don't want to talk to this total stranger because you're an introvert with social anxiety who has yet to learn how to love yourself and open up to others? That's nice. Your leg is broken now and you're stuck in the middle of nowhere. What you gonna do sucker? Lie there in the dirt or talk to the nice lady who wants to help you? Your choice! (Spoiler: he talked to the nice lady. He even let her physically support him when he'd usually never let a stranger touch him!)

As soon as that scene was over, the character reverted because it wasn't growth. He didn't become a more open person. He just did something he normally wouldn't do because the situation demanded it. It was extenuating circumstances so that the freaking plot could start.

This is what happened with Chloe in season two. Everything that people call growth is really just extenuating circumstances that reset by the end of the episode or even by the end of the scene.

Let's Talk About Chloe

Chloe does not have a character arc, aborted or otherwise. She is never taken on a journey where we watch her change. All we get is delayed character establishment via extenuating circumstances, but it's given in ways that make some people feel like she was being given an arc. Let's talk about why that is.

Season one Chloe is a one dimensional mean girl. She has almost no depth. She's just here to be petty and cause akumas. She is not a fully realized character.

Season two takes those traits and keeps them, but also gives Chloe a lot more depth to round her out and make her feel like a real character. She's just as petty and mean as she always was, but we're finally allowed to see her in some moments that make her feel like a well of potential to become something more, which the writers basically had to do if they wanted to let her be a hero. The audience needed to feel like Chloe could be good in the right situation.

The feelings evoked by her newly discovered depth are why people go "oh, she had a character arc! My feelings about her changed in a big way!" But she didn't have an arc. You just got to know her better by seeing her in moments where she was forced to be vulnerable. That's not growth. Growth is meaningful, lasting change, not situational change. Everyone changes based on the situation! It's why the "True Selves" stuff is such nonsense. It implies that there's one set way that we're supposed to act in order to be authentic and anything else is some kind of lie which just isn't how the world works.

Let's look at some examples to drive home what I mean.

Season one established that Chloe idolized Ladybug. It's why we get things like this moment from Evil Illustrator:

Ladybug: Fine! You stay! Later! Cat Noir: What do you mean later? Ladybug: I mean, you're the one who wants to protect her, so you don't need me. So, later! (swings away) Chloé:(looks over balcony) Ahhh! Ladybug! Text me! OK!

And this confession from Antibug:

Ladybug: [Chloe] pretended she was me?! How often does that happen? Armand: She idolizes you.

So Chloe adores Ladybug and wants to impress her/be her best friend. Cool. Got it. That never goes anywhere in season one because season one doesn't see Chloe and Ladybug interact much. The most we get is Ladybug saving Chloe from akumas, which doesn't allow for deep conversations. I don't think that they're ever alone in a moment where they can actually talk.

That changes in season two. In season two, they get to interact a lot and it's often in moments where there's a big threat and no one else is around, letting us see a new side to Chloe. But that's not Chloe changing. It's just the writers revealing that Chloe has more to her than the mean girl stuff because of course she does! Pure mean girls don't exist. Everyone has depth. We simply never saw that depth before because Chloe was never put in a situation where she needed to be open. We can't say that season one Chloe wouldn't confess things to Ladybug or chose to sacrifice herself to let Ladybug win because she never had the chance to do those things!

In fact, I'd go so far as to argue that season one Chloe probably would have done the same things as season two Chloe because season two Chloe doesn't really contradict season one Chloe. Antibug showed us that Chloe was pretty desperate to be loved and welcomed the way that Ladybug is loved and welcomed:

Chloé: Jagged Stone! Jagged: (thinking she's the actual Ladybug) Ladybug! What are you doing here? Chloé: Um… when I find out you were here, I knew you'd wanna see me! I had to come say hello. (Sabrina waves at Jagged)

and Chloe has always been a stubborn girl who stands up for what she wants even if what she wants is something bad. Antibug also showed us that Chloe can be genuinely nice to the people she cares about. Her and Sabrina's relationship is shown to be complex with them often having a lot of fun together.

Similarly, Origins sees Chloe showing her father genuine affection after she's saved from Stoneheart:

[Image description: Chloe and Andre hugging and looking very happy to be together]

Origins is the baseline episode that tells us who the characters are on day one, so I never once doubted that Chloe loved Andre, but Andre didn't get akumatized because of Chloe's actions in season one. He didn't even get akumatized for something that Chloe had nothing to do with! His first akumatization is in season two, so it's not shocking that we don't get a Malidiktaor type scene until Malidiktaor.

Chloe was vulnerable with her personal hero when her beloved parent was in danger, but not before? Shocking! Who would have guessed?

Me. I would have guessed. I didn't even realize that people were reading it as some sort of character growth because it clearly wasn't. Malidiktaor didn't feel like something new for Chloe's character. It just felt like the writers were leaning into things that we'd always known about Chloe and using them to better establish her character as someone who genuinely cares about select people. She just doesn't show most of the time.

The same thing goes for Chloe's sacrifice and apology in Zombizou. Chloe only sacrifices herself when there's no one left but her and Ladybug. When the choice is to let the terrorist win or take the hit and let you personal hero save the day. Brave? Sure, but also not growth. Chloe is team Ladybug for all of seasons one, two, and three! She wants Ladybug to like her! Plus even a petty brat can have moments of goodness where they pick a hero over a literal terrorist.

This honestly would have been a damming moment if Chloe didn't sacrifice herself. She functionally had no other choice here. The entire episode builds itself to the self-sacrifice moment so that Chloe is forced to make that choice even though she's been her petty bratty self throughout the whole attack. It's genuinely solid writing.

Then, in the heightened emotions directly after the Zombizou win, we get this:

Miss Bustier: But I hurt a lot of people... Chloé: No... I did... I forgot your birthday, once again. And when I saw everyone had prepared a gift for you, I totally lost it. Because I, too, would've liked to offer you something. I'm sorry, Miss Bustier. Miss Bustier: Thank you, Chloé. Those words are the best possible gift you could ever give me. (hugs Chloé) (Chloé hugs her back, forgetting herself for a moment.) Chloé: Huh?... Uh, yeah. Okay then, we're all good.

A brief moment of vulnerability that quickly ends and does not stick around because Chloe's change was situational, not true growth. The next scene of that episode starts with Chloe being her usual self:

Chloé: Me? You want me to apologize to the entire class? Ridiculous! They should be thanking me for saving everybody.

And ends with the reveal of Chloe's gift to Miss Bustier, which was given in private via a note.

Once again, nothing new for Chloe's character. She acts as she always has, being mean to everyone while having moments of vulnerability when things get tense. Remember that hug between her and her father that we talked about earlier? Same concept. She had just almost died from an akuma attack and so she needed some emotional support, leading her to act more openly loving than she usually does when he's around. Once the moment is over, she reverts to the petty mean girl default.

Giving gifts to placate people is also something that we've seen before. A pretty similar thing happens at the end of Evil Illustrator, it's just played less sympathetic towards Chloe because the writers weren't giving her depth back then:

Sabrina: Too late. Chloé and I are doing the project together. Marinette: You mean, you're doing the project? Sabrina: Well, of course! After all she's been through... Marinette: Ughhh.... Nice new beret, by the way. Sabrina: I know, right! Chloé lent it to me. She really is my BFF! Chloé! Your geography homework's ready!

For any of this to be character growth, we need to see Chloe act differently over time. For her to be put in similar situations and get different outcomes, but we don't see that in part because Chloe didn't change and in part because season one didn't do much to develop Chloe's deeper side. We rarely see her alone or in moments of extreme vulnerability, but you need those moments to show her depth. That's why Despair Bear had Chloe crying alone after Adrien threatened to end her friendship and not before. Chloe is very reluctant to openly show depth. You have to force it out of her, which perfectly fits the character we met in season one.

Even her standing up to Hawkmoth and rejecting the akuma isn't character growth in my opinion. Chloe has always stood up to authority and demanded whatever she wants. She has wanted to be Ladybug's friend and be seen as a hero since season one, so it's not shocking that her extremely strong will would allow her to defy a terrorist. If there is anyone in this show who can stand up to a terrorist on shear "no!" power alone, it's little miss I-always-get-what-I-want. I could see a variation of this happening at any point in the show, just change Chloe's reason for defying Gabriel to match the situation. Rework these lines to be about a party that she wanted to go to and I'd still totally buy it:

Chloé: No, Hawk Moth! I am a superheroine! I am Queen Bee! Ladybug will come and get me when she needs me! I WILL NEVER JOIN YOU! (throws her photo onto the ground as the akuma exits it... and pants)

Chloe acted like a hero here because she wants all the perks of being a hero and can't believe that Ladybug would actually bench her. That's impossible! Ladybug wouldn't do that!

As soon as Chloe accepts that she won't be a hero again, Chloe stops acting heroic because acting heroic wasn't growth. It was her playing a part the same way she played a part in Despair Bear. She was doing what she needed to do to be Queen Bee again and not because it's the right thing to do. This would only be real growth if she rejected the akuma after accepting that she wouldn't be Queen Bee again, but that's not what happens. As soon as she accepts that she's out, she no longer has any reason to play nice. She never grew into a character who did what's right for the sake of doing the right thing. It's always been about getting what she wants or being seen how she wants to be seen. Until that changes, she hasn't changed.

So no, Chloe didn't have an aborted arc. They didn't start to redeem her and then change their minds. All they did was make Chloe one of the most complex characters in the show only to then not do anything with the character they wasted our time establishing, ignoring the complexity they gave her while also cranking her mean dial up to the point of absurdity where she's not even fun in her original role anymore.

I get why it feels like she had an aborted arc. The fact that the character establishment was delayed makes it feel like something shiny and new about Chloe. There's also the fact that the character establishment we get in season two is the kind of character establishment that you'd do if you were setting up for a redemption arc, but that doesn't change the fact that it was all establishment work. None of it was a true arc where we watched Chloe grow. We just saw her put in situations that revealed hidden depths.

Her showing depth is not her growing because when in the world does she show off this supposed growth? She only acts differently in the type of scenes that we've never seen her in before or around characters that we've never seen her truly interact with before. When she's around the established teen characters or in her usual scenes, then she acts the same way that she always has. We never see her be genuinely nice to Marinette or something like that. She's only nice to Ladybug and she's still rude to Chat Noir. That's not character growth! That's character establishment that can then be used to guide character growth!

Same thing goes for the stuff in Despair Bear. We learn that Adrien can push Chloe to be better, but he never does it again and she reverts as soon as he lets her off the hook, so it wasn't character growth! It was just Chloe establishing that she can play nice when she needs to. This means that she could grow if the story chose to take her down that path because we've established that she knows what being nice looks like. Fake it til you make it plot go, go, go! But the plot never went, went, went so meh?

Add in the fact that season one was a bit of a test season with lots of elements that got dropped and the fact that characterization in this show has always been wildly inconsistent from episode to episode and I'm really not seeing a strong argument for Chloe having an intentional arc that somehow got aborted. People just saw the potential for her to have one and argue that potential is the same as an aborted arc when it really, really isn't.

To give an analogy, Chloe's story is like walking into the kitchen and seeing grandma laying out the ingredients for her famous chocolate chip cookies. We get excited because, hey, cookies! Then we come back an hour later and there are no cookies. Nor is there some other sweet that uses the same ingredients. There's just ingredients, sitting unused in their original packaging, making us wonder what the heck grandma was up to. At the same time, she never really started making cookies. She just set out ingredients. They're still there, totally unused, waiting to be made into something, so we can't call them a failed cookie attempt. That implies a level of commitment that was never there. She didn't even say that she was making cookies! We just assumed she was because we, understandably, wanted cookies and wanted to believe that grandma had a purpose to her actions.

[syndrossi]

Will the dynamics between Jon and Rhaegar change much in the Restoration AU when Rhaegar analyzes everything? He has to look at many events from a new angle (The way Jon reacts to the Trident/Baratheons, how Jon asked what Rhaegar would name him, how fiercely he protected him, etc.). Will he become more protective of Jon? Or will he feel Jon needs tenderness and comfort from him, especially after realizing the atmosphere Jon grew up in? And how will that change his relationship to W!Jon? Will W!Jon realize that one of his little brothers/uncles is trying to adopt him?

His determination grows to protect Jon as more of an equal (vs Jon's attempts to make it a one-sided thing), but at this point, they've known one another as brothers for two-plus years, so they're pretty settled in that dynamic. I expect Rhaegar is busily cataloging every trauma and little hurt, recontextualizing them and sort of triaging--which can he help with, how can he atone for what he suffered?

If you think about it, the situation is not entirely unlike Daemon's agony over not being there when the twins were little-little, except that it was nineteen years for Jon, rather than eight.

I could see Rhaegar struggling with wanting to blame his original counterpart a great deal for Jon's pain. How could he be so foolish in dealing with Aerys? How did he not know that their father would respond so poorly to anything unexpected? Did he not foresee the Vale fostering relationship forming the basis of a powerful alliance? What exactly were his plans for his existing family?

(The shock of what Tywin Lannister's forces did would really shake him, too. He remembers Joanna and his mother being close, and Tywin generally being supportive of him. That the man would orchestrate the violent murder of his future wife and their young child would be a harsh realization.)

And it's hard, because he doesn't have all the pieces to know why his future self acted as he did. (And canon!Rhaegar, or at least Jon's Rhaegar, wasn't Resonant!Rhaegar. Their experiences differed, with Resonant!Rhaegar explicitly a PTWP, which makes canon!Rhaegar similarly difficult to fully understand.)

In terms of what to do, at least with his Jon, Daemon's fathering is a pretty high-intensity beam of parental love, so that's not the issue, aka Jon doesn't need another father. His issue with mother figures is gonna be in much sharper relief, as well as the self-worth/self-sacrificial tendencies and what they're rooted in (believing himself to be a bastard, of lesser value than his trueborn siblings).

So again, he probably just tries to step up as a peer for his Jon, and offer to tell him anything he'd like to know about his childhood, to give him whatever glimpse he wants of og!Rhaegar to give him the closure he needs.

For Winterfell!Jon, he'll do more caretaker-ing, which W!Jon will find by turns adorable and bewildering, since they are both still very much in little-siblings territory for him, even if they're technically his uncles. I could see Rhaegar trying to figure out what he most needs and giving it to him.

(And Jon's fear of things happening to him will be even more clear. Before, there was the obvious "he lost siblings before, especially Robb, who was the same age." But the fact that he "lost" Rhaegar in some form before, and that that is a huge source of his fear, at least gives him something else to address.)

[tannnnblogs]

Your New Vegas comics are peak! Seeing the game being played out/recontextualized in comic form is just crazy good!

Thank you! Im excited to share more :DD

[ghostlythinglady]

Something I haven't seen a lot of people talk about is how a lot of Chainsaw Man can be read as a critique of nationalism as an ideology.

When we are first introduced to the boss of the Yakuza, he couches his motivations in prototypical nationalist ideals. Using a demonized outsider in the form of foreign gangs as a boogeyman and trying to recontextualize his actions as being for the well being of other Japanese citizens.

Katana also gets in on this as well, trying to posthumously (and unsuccessfully) paint his father as a model citizen

and yet...

It's all just nothing but talk, there actual actions make it clear that they just view non-Yakuza as an exploitable resource at best and disposable cannon fodder at worse. During the Control devil arc, we get this scene with the president. He opens by elevating the US as the last nation standing against Makima and begins by apologizing in advance for taking a year of the lifespan of every American, which aligns with the worldview espoused in a lot of propaganda.

And what does the Gun Devil end up doing as it tries to kill Makima?

He'll apologize for taking a year off the lives of every American, but he doesn't give a shit about instigating a mass murder as long as foreigners are dying.

In part 2, the Aging Devil makes an offer with the Japanese government.

And who is the first person to accept the offer?

He tries to justify his decision with nationalistic language, seeing an aging population as a threat to Japan as a nation.

But as time goes on, it becomes clear the contract is more about saving himself, symbolized by giving authority to aging and becoming their new throne

Through out all of this series, it's a reoccurring theme that characters who try to justify their actions through nationalism are ultimately revealed to have selfish motivations.

[lordkingsmith]

Still working on the fan power rangers show lol. It’s in its like. Seventh rewrite.

Max, the nonbinary hybrid orange ranger is, lovingly, my problem baby and I can’t decide what species mix they are. To be honest there’s too many gorgeous costume monster species designs and just one Max.

I have come up with a plausible reason for why rangers are letting the monster kids do the current rangerdom, and also have more fleshed out line up for the baddies.

The Z-Wave didn’t happen until Rito showed up again, so a lot of deaths and general plot has been a bit recontextualized and remixed. Rita decided she’d had enough of the villainy life and left siblings Thrax and Selena with Rito without a word-faked her own death. At the time she did this, Thrax was seven and Selena was three. Rito wants revenge but he’s mainly letting Selena and Thrax handle it while he does what he wants. Turn the moon into an amusement park. Because it’s fun and hey everyone loves fun right? And take care of the rangers he’s mind controlling because after the z-wave he’s more motivated by protecting “his kids” than actual revenge. Will throw down with Rita if needed, however.

Thrax has skin and so does Selena. Nobody looks flayed alive. Both of them greatly resemble Rita. Thrax is the one responsible for the giant version of their monsters, and as Val’s the one that often volunteers, this has led to teasing by Selena. Selena’s a lot like a spunky, smarter version of Rito. Thrax is more serious. Selena being the one who likes looking human most is often the one going down to earth to spy and cause trouble. Sometimes with Rito. Thrax prefers endless sulking and staying in more monstrous form, which is similar to Rito’s form. Keeps his opinions to himself, but is generally disgusted he got left behind while both parents decided to abandon him and Selena. Selena is also pissed but she holds out hope there’s a reason their mother abandoned them. Also more protective of her older brother. And her uncle. Is not afraid to kill. Nobody’s finding the bodies of those who hurt her family.

JJ when he was undercover had a fling with a woman in Skorpina’s gang, had a baby with her and they were briefly married and divorced…who came back as Quaxo. Think of this as the messiest custody battle in history. JJ, when he finds out, is…Not Pleased. Rito, Thrax and Selena don’t know who Quaxo really is and she’d rather keep it that way. Her son, however, does and has not been happy with the situation since. Flirts with Rito, though Rito has enough sense to recognize this is wholly because he’s the most powerful member of the group and generally acts extra ditzy to get her to leave him alone. As hyper as ever, as bone headed as ever, but this time he’s also a bit angry and the anger acts as just enough of a grounder to keep him somewhat dangerous. He does genuinely like the rangers, all of them, and much of his tension with his team and the human rangers is mutual misunderstanding based. Quaxo hasn’t quite understood this yet, and thinks it’s a game he’s playing. It’s not. Rito’s just Like That.

Billy’s Clone was located and brought back to life, and is making this everyone’s problem. He’s the one who made Rito’s Rangers their new morphers and he’s the one lowkey trying to get the other four killed by “accident” so he can take their power for himself. Guy goes by William. He’s responsible for Tommy, Jason, Trini and Udonna’s deaths but passed it off to everyone as accidents. Only person onto him is the new recruit, Valentine

Valentine “Val” Draven was directly affected by Z-Wave, losing his parents and aunt and uncle to it. He and his cousin Iva were spared by being in another dimension for a birthday party and while Iva’s fairly certain they wouldn’t have been destroyed or turned human anyway…Val’s less certain. He’s angry but he doesn’t know at who. He wants revenge but Zordon’s dead and Rito’s not a bad guy. Val’s also got the fact the color Fuchsia chose Iva, who happened to be in the room at the time, over him, who’d been asked to do this. He joins Rito because Rito makes sense. And the second he heard about Quaxo and William….well. He’s not a bad person. Not really. Someone’s got to make sure Rito’s Rangers are protected, and he’s not sure if Rito Thrax or Selena really understand how to keep the superpowered group safe. Plus, he might be a vampire but he’s got a sweet tooth. And he was promised unlimited cotton candy. Also a little bit sweet on Thrax but..who’s counting, really?

-

@augment-techs @skyland2703 @pinkrangerv

Just because I think you’d be interested lol, but yea it’s coming. Slowly. Working on first episode’s script, I shall keep you updated if you’d like :)

[capsizedskeleton]

epic the musical live review over a few days ft. getting high during storm saga

TROY SAGA thunder bringer was one of the first songs i heard so going to the horse and the infant and hearing don't make me do this please don't make me do this!!! i didn't know that was a callback reminds me of pathologic is great and here's why, where hbomberguy points out child murder is such a taboo and it's that game's opener (depending on the character) here it's the musical's opener fffuck okay ruthlessness was also one of the first songs i heard so "600 men under my command" after i know it will become at least 43 then 0 is hghhhhh. esp when they're similar melodies, the first time the number is mentioned in full speed ahead

CYCLOPS SAGA so i watched a few animatics of these as well before troy saga just bc mmm animatics and oh recontextualized w the last two songs of the saga thats. hm. IIIIII AM YOUR DARKEST MOMENT all the uses of die with the last sound stretched out emphasizing the eye sound oough remember them. remember us. remember me OOHHH ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT THAT. ARE YOU SURE

STORM got up to the first few animatics i ended up watching. by now i might be able to categorize the animators? gigi as Action, Cinema, wolfy as a few lines seeming delicate and shape so solidly, nealillustrator as the GOAT (ok im biased they've only got thunder bringer but it's really good and i know them from bnha animatics ok), ximena as line. color. solid expression fav things from various ruthlessness animatics: poseidon being a shadow horse with front-facing eyes, a spiky merman but tentacles on bottom, literally water that could form into different things, only his hair being water, a horse, a guy, the stageplay version, everyone having different amounts of frames and different styles, like every!! time i watch an animatic i spot a new good take, beauty in everryy style, all the goregous water animation, capturing odysseus, submerging him, putting him in a whirlpool. that man is now a truly soggy cat am i insane or is there wind blowing in the last verse of that. after what have you done. maybe ive just had shit earbuds before. brutal

i got caught up in listening to done for even though that was skipping ahead. i am going to eat gigi's animatic whole. the corresponding basslines for each character how ody's replaces circe's?? now watching there are other ways. the two together as a beautiful story in 6 minutes is amazing

CIRCE normal now i like done for and there are other ways a lot more than puppeteer. this seems to be a pattern in which songs i like in each saga eury's bit leading up to "a woman" reallyyyyy sounds like hamilton wouldn't you like beat drop??? done for and there are other ways are fucking brilliant they're a whole story like i said before. ill say it again. absolutely entrancing. love the take that circe's about to kill ody before he rejects her and starts going on about his wife. also the transition after "that prophet is dead" bungggg and then the backing track hghh i am going to eat the melodic motifs i am going to swallow the chords whole AAAAGHHH

underworld again. weaker start, but oooh full speed ahead a bit of a reprise moment there and ody's mom i did not expect that. left for too long wandered too far gods REPRISE OF I SEE A SONG OF PAST ROMANCE HELLOOOO halfway into no longer you and OOOOOHHHH FUCK this shit HITS despite everything it's NOT you

NO MONSTER THE SLIP INTO CORRUPTION gigi i would die for you and this sequence. you know the one

THUNDER suffering is so good (normal sentence) i love the back and forth the you know im too shy the tone change at the lair of scylla listened to different beast on the train (first time listening to a song w/o animatic at first) and oooh the switch up!!!! we're in it now! DIFFERENT BEAST NOW HE'S A DIFFERENT BEAAST NOWWWWWW scylla.... oho the harmony. mutiny ok the opening i fw but why tf is eurylochus upset about the six men sacrifice when he was the one who suggested with circe that they just leave the men behind. also luck runs out callback i love my reprises why is helios lowk brushed over like i wouldve expected odysseus or eurylochus to talk about heyyy dont anger the gods like we did before thunder bringer slay. we already know. the bumping beat from the horse and the infant we knowwww. it's a little funny mutiny is RIGHT before thunder bringer like. hey crew you just stabbed him you should be a little less surprised he chooses to sacrifice yall. not even chosen. not even zeus was surprised by odysseus' immediate reaction

MISC. THOUGHTS

talked to a few friends while making this, wrote the sentence "i can feel the old greek mythology elementary/middle school neurons firing up again" because i CAN feel them god and it's also like watching musical animatics after school except im not 13 and deeply lonely this time. decided to write a fic of what happens between each saga and in a bit of wondering for that decided to look up the actual story of the odyssey (shmoop is not perfect but it is decent) and wow that's a lot of changes made from the original that contribute to a well-characterized musical! god it's such a good time. is this what dracula daily people felt like, reliving an old (relative to present) story and relishing in the Themes?

FAV SONG(S) FROM EACH SAGA

the horse and the infant

survive, remember them

ruthlessness

done for

no longer you (the OPPOSITE of that undertale quote)

different beast, thunder bringer

TLDR

excited for wisdom saga !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[50books50movies]

Nosferatu (2024)

When I listen to a cover version of a song, I want to hear what the artist is bringing to the tune. (It's part of the reason Glee was so successful.) I might even hope that the cover version unlocks something that the original couldn't have accessed, an act that redefines whose song it is. (Otis Redding's 1965 version of "Respect" seems like a footnote to Aretha Franklin's version after 1967.) 

So, when Robert Eggers announced that he was adapting Murnau's "Nosferatu" and Bram Stoker's "Dracula," I was hoping for something more than Gus Van Sant's frame by frame remake of "Psycho." Eggers recenters the film on Ellen, make Thomas less passive, and expand the cast by adding more characters around Ellen and Thomas. To accommodate these additional characters and their storylines, the film grows to more than two hours. This comes with the additional cost that the film has to remind us in its lethargic second half things about Count Orlok's shadow and its connection to the plague and the conflict between scientific modernity and "the old ways." 

Eggers also tried to bring his special, research-driven touch by writing Count Orlok's dialogue partially Dacian, a predecessor to Romanian reassembled for the film by Florin Lazarescu. And he tried to raise the stakes by adding nudity and violence, which previous versions of Nosferatu could not have included.

I just wish the film, beautiful as it was, didn't leave me so bored and unsure what Eggers was attempting to say about the need for a woman to sacrifice herself for the good of the community. 

There are undeveloped strands of criticism of modernity (for all of the pride that Dr. Sievers has in his era's medical sciences, it still seems barbaric to our contemporary eyes, and technology in the form of a gun is no match for Orlok's eastern, supernatural power) and capitalism (Thomas's employer sends him to Orlok's estate in Transylvania to secure his job, and Thomas agrees to a contract he cannot understand earn a commission). There's even a small critique that remarks on how the rich react to quarantine during a pandemic: to look out for their immediate family and break quarantine with no regard for the welfare of others. However, these strands are not the film's primary concern. 

Eggers spends the film's energy on building Ellen as a character, but he isn't able to create new ways to express Ellen's agency. In Murnau and Galeen's version, Ellen makes the choice to sacrifice herself to save everyone else. That choice is built into the story, so Eggers cannot claim credit for making Ellen's sacrifice an active choice. On the other hand, Eggers places the blame for Orlok's coming on Ellen because she and Orlok acknowledge that she had summoned him. 

Eggers also adds another scene that muddies his attempt at feminist recontextualization. Thomas witnesses what he thinks is a Romani vampire hunt at the inn, where a nude virginal woman is led on a horse as bait for the local cemetery's vampire. The woman there is bait, just like how Ellen has to be bait to entice Orlok to destroy himself. The old ways, represented by the Romani peasants, and the embodiment of the modern world's attempt to understand the old ways, Professor Von Franz, both agree: the woman has to be sacrificed for the good of the community. In Ellen's case, we can add some Victorian prudishness to it, since she must be punished for her interest in sex by allowing Orlok to ravish her body. 

This cover of Nosferatu is very pretty. I just wish Eggers was clearer about what he's trying to explore in making Nosferatu now.

[inusmasha]

InuKag's contrasting backgrounds and the challenges they face in their respective worlds create a fascinating duality.

Kagome is a teenager who's juggling 2 equally important forces; Her life in the modern era and her life in the feudal era.

It's like she's in a constant transitioning state. She has to stay adapting and recontextualizing her sense of identity bc it's different day to day. She's the master archer with sacred arrows that need to shoot the bad guys... But she's also that constantly absent student taking the make up test in the back, don't bother her right now. In the past she's often mistaken for "Kikyo" if it serves the plot. What's a Kagome anyway? Tiktok audio She's just a girl in the world.

In contrast, Inuyasha grapples with his half-demon, half-human heritage, representing a different form of duality, albeit in a more physical sense.

This is why I adore the opening of the series! There's nothing quite like witnessing the initial setup. You're paired with someone, and you have to rely on each other in order to navigate this unfamiliar terrain (and like..not die lol). Each brings unique skills and perspectives to the table, necessitating observation and learning. In the process, they grow and evolve together.

Inuyasha observes Kagome as she forges connections wherever she goes, allowing them to form a powerful team capable of confronting their adversaries and establishing a new home. Simultaneously, Inuyasha offers protection and combat prowess honed during his solitary childhood survival. It's the perfect partnership between the most unlikely pair.

I just love a mirror.

[umbrvx]

i like ur art. its great and interesting!! i really like your artstyle and i really like the way u draw hsy, yjh, and kdj. you captured them so well in terms of vibes/character. also i was wondering do u have any advice to improve on drawing anatomy/poses/faces?

wahh thank you so much...!! i feel like im still trying to figure them out in a lot of ways but i do really like ironing out my visual interpretations of them so im really happy to hear if people like what im coming up with

also anon you super activated the part of my brain that cant help but yap about art theory... i spent some time writing as many tips as i could think of. unfortunately i dont think i have the time currently to do a fully illustrated guide, but ill still try to include some visual examples:

[incoming wall of text lol]

ANATOMY:

to preface i think that like 100% of the time you should reference a real life photo for anatomy rather than other artwork or drawn references. the best way to learn the body is by… well, actually looking at the body! but also artwork is informed by a person's own artistic ability/stylization choices/sense of idealism, so while looking at art can help give you an idea on how to break down forms, i think you would be best served observing real life references. i labor on this point because i do think that having over relied on drawn reference material and avoiding photographic references on the basis of not being interested on realism hindered me as a largely self-taught artist as a kid, so i want to encourage live or photographic reference since anatomy is one of the foundations from which everything else is built on. that being the case, all of my doodles i'm doing for this are going to be for the sake of example rather than to strictly say how you should or should not be drawing something

-> when you are doing a study of a photo, just try copying it as best as you can. pay close attention to the natural lines and shapes of the body -- the S-curve shape of the leg, the triangular shape of the forearm, the trapezoid shape of hips/thighs when they sit, and so on. note where the body folds or squishes or pulls; how mass will shift to accommodate a certain position. if a form is hard to visualize, focus on the negative space and carve that out, rather than strictly drawing the positive space.

don't expect to get it perfect the first time. in fact, iterate on it multiple times to build understanding. try doing it to a timer of 15, then 10, then 5 minutes. doing this will force you to have to prioritize the most important shapes. you can help reinforce this by using a thicker brush or a brush with no pen pressure (no joke ms paint works great for this) to force you to be loose and not become preoccupied with details.

-> pinterest is a great resource for finding and compiling photo reference material

-> organic shapes are curved, so embracing/emphasizing that (particularly for the extremities) can help make your drawings look more natural or fluid

POSES: -> it all begins & ends with contrapposto… you've probably heard of the line of action, which is related. if you're offsetting the shoulders & hips, it: makes poses more natural, more dynamic, and helps the pose sort of "draw itself" -- the legs will follow the direction of the hips, and you can use the arms to reinforce the angles

-> context is key. don't ask: what pose should i draw? instead ask: what do i want this character to convey? what does happiness, anger, sadness, and so forth look on this particular character? how do they express that? consider these drawings: these are both ostensibly the same pose, but look at how changing just the shape of the spine recontextualizes it.

for more on pose design i recommend watching Tracer & Pose Design 101 - The Animation of Overwatch by New Frame Plus (i promise this is a genuinely super informative video).

to expand on this, in general, all of the components of a piece (background, composition, pose, etc.) are best considered in conjunction rather than separately. it is difficult to choose a pose and then choose a background because they are missing the context that would make a piece cohesive. when you are planning a drawing, try to begin with your general concept/idea/prompt and then do several thumbnails -- small and quick doodles that should take no longer than 5 minutes each -- developing it: you may find that the pose and bg will naturally fall into place.

-> silhouette: the degree to which you need to push this varies by style but generally speaking the pose needs to be readable; i.e. instantly recognizable. try to keep important elements of the gesture outside of the silhouette. for example, if the character is pointing, keep that arm out of the interior of the body. the same pose can be more or less readable or dynamic depending on where the character is pointed in relation to the viewer

-> exaggeration!! goes along with the previous point. push the pose as much as you can (and what makes sense for your style) to communicate your pose as clearly and as intensely as possible.

FACES: -> i highly recommend the app Handy Art Reference Tool by Belief Engine for all things related to drawing hands/heads/feet. its on both android and ios. it isn't free -- it costs around $3 -- but that is seriously such a small price to pay for the amount of utility you get out of it: the hands models are fully poseable (there's also pose presets), you can rotate the head models however you want, and there is 3-point customizable lighting. it is really helpful for getting those super tricky and hyperspecific head angles that you just can't find a real life reference for. that being said given that there's only a few different head model variants, bear in mind how differences in features can affect what exactly a face will look like in those angles.

-> i still recommend doing studies of real people. as with anything else, learning generalized proportions is important, even if you are going to later on bend or break this depending on style

-> as for my own approach... it kind of depends on the style i'm doing at that particular time. for my paintings (what id consider my main style) i approach a character with a few real-world features in mind and then apply them to the best of my ability. it usually will take a few iterations to land on an interpretation i really like as i try out different things. a lot of the face also gets developed during rendering rather than through my initial sketch too, as i adjust for lighting and correct proportions on the fly

(look how much this image changes between sketch and render lol)

if i were to recommend anything, i think it would be to nail down your most distinct features first -- the ones that will make your character's face recognizable, and could apply regardless of art style. in my case with kim dokja, i knew when i first started drawing him that i wanted to give him a longer face and down-turned eyes. when i decided to do the disco elysium inspired set, in which i was breaking out of my comfort zone by letting go of any idealizations focusing on conveying characterization/making them feel "real", i landed on some more specific traits (defined lower lids/perpetually tired eyes/eyebags(?) the crease there idk how to describe it) which i continue to try to evoke even if im drawing something much more cartoony

(pictured are my first kdj -> disco elysium style -> my post de-style kdj)

as a side note, this very same process changed yjh much more dramatically

(^ that first guy is mad someone else)

those handful of key features will be the thing that you can then take into a simpler style and simplify or exaggerate to whatever degree suits you. you can also play with shape theory (square = sturdy/solid, circle = natural/smooth/welcoming, triangle = energetic/dangerous). shape theory doesn't necessarily need to be so rigid -- you can combine shapes as you please to convey whatever vibe you're going for -- so please think of it as a tool that may help rather than a rigid law you must abide by.

-> expressions: exaggerate them. thats kind of it!! make it big!!! you wanna be able to really feel those emotions. the principles of squash & stretch help here: think of how the muscles move when you, say, open the eyes or mouth really big. as one side of the face stretches open, the other side squashes to accommodate it

even without changing the position of the jaw here, moving the nose and scrunching the eyes will sell the expression

you can also play with squash/stretch to break proportions to sell a feeling more

since expressions are just, well, poses for the face, everything else for poses applies here (and facial expressions & pose should also be considered in tandem). while the term contrapposto itself just refers to the offset of the shoulders & hips, the similar principle of asymmetry also carries here as that will help make the expression a bit more dynamic.

and i think... that's it!! all i can think of at least. i hope it helps anon!!!

[quetzalpapalotl]

do you have any transformers fic recs? i started looking for fic recently but found it hard to find stuff i liked, and you seem to know your stuff, so... any faves you wanna shout out..?

Hi! If by knowing my stuff you mean being extremely pedantic and having strong opinions on lore and contiuity mixing and characterization (especially regarding Optimus) the yeah.

Always love to shout out my faves. Since you didn't specify anything you want, I'll just try to give you a wide range in hopes you like something. But let me know if there's something in particular you're looking for. I haven't been reading TF fic lately, too focused on TGCF fic, so maybe I also need recs, but here are some from the top of my head!

Remember to check tags and warnings before reading.

the land of the living series by @megatron-fucks was a vague G1-ish continuity that got soft retconned into being strictly IDW1 that only diverges in how the Cybertronia presence on Earth went. Anyway, the first fic Lesser Evil is about the Matrix forcing a sparkbond between Megatron and Optimus and them dealing with the aftermath of this horrible violation and figuirng what it means for the war. Not usually a fan of sparkbonds, but I really love how it's used here to create conflic and even in its sequel Peace is a Dead Rat, it's not used as a get out of jail card to solve conflict. Ruin's prose is great and she has a way of portraying Megatron that's hard to describe, simultaneously pathetic and irrational but also a force of nature so sure of himself that seems to make perfect sense. And her Optimus!!! I love him so much, she really manages to capture all aspects of him, the good and the. Series also includes a really good Pharma fic.

Read everything by Ruin, really, but I also want to mention a new and dreadful form, which is about the megops eating Primu's spark to adquire the power to defeat Unicron, they bleed, suffer, are transformed and have pnp sex while they're at it. Again, the prose is amazing and the fic hits all of the right spots for me.

The Art of Kneeling (and Stabbing Yourself in the Back) by @soundwavereporting a fic about how IDW1 soundop are tragically suited to enable each other's worse traits. There isn't much stuff out there with them, but this fic makes up for it by sheer quality and Getting It.

Escape Velocity byt trajectory. A fic that explores the IDW1 Combaticons dealing with their shadowplay and Blast Off's betrayal post-canon. Really thoughtful characterization, the sort of very questionable relationships where it's like, this is the best we can expect from this people. Oddly heartwarming and a great way to fill fulfilled after that storyline got cut short.

leave my lips charred by oriflamme. The IDW1!Arcee fic. Ok it's more like IDW1 to the left, but still, it explores Arcee's past and I have added so much of this fic into my personal headcanons. Especially love the portrayal of her relationships with Galvatron, how despite him being... Galavtron, he was there and it contextualizes Arcee's canon complicated mourning.

Keep It Secret, Keep Him Safe by not_whelmed_yet. Backstory Chromedome fic that seeks to answer what was Prowl trying to blackmail him with that. It's satisfactory without completely recontextualizing the CDRW relationship the way the scrapped plot of CD knowing about Dominus and needling Rewind would have. Also featuring Chromedome's previous conjuxes and it makes sure you really feel for them before their deaths.

To anyone stupid enough to actually think the war is over by @polyhexian. Absolutely fascinating interaction between Prowl and Brainstorm. Two guys that hate each other, but have surprisingly many things in common and Chromedome to link them. Also Nate has written a lot so really check out their stuff, especially if you want more CDRW, they've done like, 1/4 of all of it. And omg, their Whirl fics.

Half a Same Mind by @honestlyvan When I say no one gets TFP Bulkjack and Wheeljack like Van, I mean it. Read all of their stuff while you're at it, but the tension and reward of this fic is aaaaaaaaaaaaaggggh. It's so carefully constructed, the soft melancholy, the they both know that they know where they stand but still remain mmmmmm, just read it!

Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me? by @sroloc--elbisivni. I'm always reccomending this fic as my absolute favorite portrayal of TFP!Orion. Just how Megatron realizes that there is more to him than he previously gave him credit for while you the reader can actually see how this is a person that will one day become Optimus Prime, the soft doomed megop and that end that shows Megatron does get Optimus better than anyone.

A Miracle Opened Wide by neveralarch. Vague G1-ish continuity where Ratchet offers to spot Jazz so he doesn't hurt himself while trying kink. Jazz fails at communication and it's really cute, I love him, his overcompetence backfiring and making him too paranoid. Also I just love everything it does with not-sticky truly robot sex, always good to read. Also, it's hot.

Right now I'm following Rhinestones in lieu of Diamonds by fowo which I'm really loving!! Vague continuity where Megatron having lost his sense of meaning now that the war is over end up in a support groups. Then Optimus shows up and naturally, he can't be chill about it. Optimus tries to be the bigger person ofc but he is also weird about Megatron. Absolutely adore the characterization and there's hardly anything I love more than taking the war away from these two and having them deal with the subsequent crisis.

You should also read Come here, baby, tell me that I'm wrong by me!!! A fic about IDW1 Optimus and Whirl having a... complicated relationship. I think it fucks hard. Also completely canon compliant bc it's me we're talking about. Also also, you can look at my tf bookmarks from my Ao3 and see if there's anything there not mentioned here that interests you (tho I always forget to bookmark alas OTZ)

Have fun and let me know if this was helpful, if you want!