#character orientations

[naradivision]

Happy Pride Month!

I saw many divisions making a post to explain their characters’ romantic and sexual orientations in this month last year (and also this year), so I kinda want to follow suits even if it turns out to be this late (´∀｀；)

To be honest; although I’ve spent quite a time doing some research, I’m still not so sure about them! Anyway, I hope y’all enjoy my assumptions and my greatest apologies if I unintentionally offend someone.

—Yuuya

Heteroromantic Demisexual 

Despite being a good friend towards any gender across the spectrum, Yuuya has pondered over his feelings multiple times before coming to the conclusion that he can only see romantic potential in the opposite gender. Thus, he doubts it may stem from his strong attachment towards his big sis and his mother in his childhood.

And although he is certain of never looking at his older sister in any sense of romantic way, he still couldn’t shake off the fact that it’s a high chance he might definitely pursue for her semblance in his significant other —That’s also a part of many reasons why he has shied away from dating unless he could get over his own complex soon. Besides; the idea of getting attached to someone again scares him a bit. He’d always be happy to help his friends get together-together though.

On matters of sex; even if he knows the basics from various sources, he isn’t so enthusiastic about it as others around his age. He has yet to engage in one as well. To him, establishing the mutual understanding is a must before delving into another level of intimacy. Yes, kinda old-fashioned but he wants to ensure his relationship is going to be in the long run so that’s it.

—Asahi

Panromantic Questioning 

Asahi loves any topic about romance and everyone knows it! He may be a bit clueless but he is definitely a curious soul who is highly interested in meeting new people and likes exploring their perspectives about love. 

However, his impression on romance is likely to be through a rose-colored lens than the realistic way owing to many novels and manga he has read. He also has never been in any relationship before. Right now he seems to enjoy himself taking the role of a passionate supporter rather than to have a real part in one.

And to anyone’s surprise; when it comes to sex, his twenty-year-old knowledge regarding this matter is no better than that of an elementary kid —To the point his two teammates (and even one being younger than him) have to question just how sheltered his grandmother has kept him until these days.

—Saigo

Demiromantic Graysexual (Sex-Neutral)

Because of his trust issue, Saigo is undoubtedly skeptical whenever it comes to making connection with other people. He is also known for turning down everyone his family tried to set him up with in the past. Having said that, deep-down he acknowledges the existence of love but doesn’t believe relationships will just work out for everyone. And just as he is currently chill with his alone life while still prioritizing his privacy, he isn’t eager to seek a partner anytime soon. 

Moreover, he thinks people have rights to be whoever they want as long as they are conscious of their own choices and decisions.

On matters of sex; he is neither completely interested nor thoroughly disgusted by it. He might be a bit more curious at his younger age, but now he holds little to no interest in it due to his daily stresses on many things. Normally he deals with those whimsical feelings by just ignoring them or keeping himself occupied with something serious (e.g. work) until they die down.

Happy Pride Month everyone! You matter and who you love and who/what you identify as matter as well! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜💖

[bixels]

April-Jacqueline angry expressions.

[marbledtaiga]

Cats eyes 🌕

[qiinamii]

muses and ittonations

[batshaped]

wane, little crescent, and i'll be the moon

[bastart13]

How did you go about redesigning the clothes in you remaster?

Ooh great question! I'll go into more detail below, but the gist is that I broke down each character into their vibes and general aesthetic and tried fitting it to my design biases.

I tend towards more grounded designs than the original JRPG-inspired armour and clothes, so I referenced a lot of medieval fashion for the setting. You'll usually see me covering bared skin in battle outfits or toning down extra details I struggle to draw

Then, using those references, I'd try to thumbnail basic shapes and colours to figure out which works best

(More specific character notes below)

For some characters like Iseul, I didn't feel much need to change his outfit so I mostly toned down the detail to suit my style. I shifted the colour scheme to something warmer and removed the fur and extra armour to serve his image as animal-loving and battle-avoidant. This serves as great contrast to his timeskip outfit where he then commits to being both a warrior and a prince, with more ornamentation and practical armour

I designed Helena and Alain as contrasts. They have very similar themes and designs, so I decided to smooth Alain down into the picture-perfect metal knight while Helena's wilder and asymmetric. I referenced more realistic armour for Alain but overall I wanted to keep his clothes similar.

For Helena, my design style is more practical and thematically I want to avoid Helena baring skin and vulnerability so I extended her corset into more of a chest armour and covered her other thigh. To add to her duality of magic and metal, I gave one arm armour and bared the other to show off magical scars.

August and Altea's designs are where I start to venture off into more vibes-based outfits. August is humble and traditional, a knight with proud loyalty to his Lord and family, so I gave him medieval colours to represent both on his tabard. The armour is still there, but it's less focus on metal and more on "cheaper" materials to serve as a contrast to his timeskip where he becomes a proper knight in shining armour. For that reason, I took away the cape and other unnecessary decoration.

Then Altea is flashy, wealthy, and bright. I kept the focus on light armour, with scalemail as the only obvious protection. I've mentioned before but I took inspiration from south east asian fashion (mostly cambodia and malaysia) as a grounded but ornate basis for her magical girl theme. Here the colour scheme and fabrics are what mostly connects it to the original

Similarly, Lennox is where vibes rule and the overal aesthetic changes quite a bit. He's often described with "choir boy" hair, so I wanted to combine choir robes with ornate priestly outfits to sell him as a vain cult-leader. I kept the symmetry, long coat, and lack of obvious armour, but I wanted him to look less modern and stick with less structured outfits.

One thing specific to the generals, is that I wanted to give them more of a variety to colour palettes to sell that while they're working together, they're not exactly happy about it. While they all have a focus of blue and silver to keep them cohesive, they each have a motif: Alain - silver, Helena - pale blue, Jinhai - brown, Lennox - dark blue, Magnus - turquoise

[ultrainfinitepit]

Oriented Aroace Angel - final version. Flat colors, transparent background, linework under the cut.

Pledge to the campaign: Pride Angels

[taranza69]

im a sozoposter now. lamb loves sozo :)

[kescalis]

I have more centaur designs, but these are inspired by actual cultures. I remember having fun with the 1910s designs, so I pondered what I could come up with now. It always vexes me how weirdly proportioned foals are btw

[itsnicsalad]

little oc animation :) i dont think jenna's ponytail has a definitive length, it tends to change everytime i draw her haha

[princess-of-morkva]

i just had this vision of arthur constantly glaring at anyone who tries to flirt with merlin

and people assume he must be in love with him or whatever

but in reality merlin is aro and arthur is adorably supportive and doesn't want him to feel uncomfortable

[lostyesterday]

I’ve seen a lot of joke posts about how Kira is a lesbian because she has short hair but, like, Kira’s appearance is the last reason why I generally read her as a lesbian. DS9 clearly intends to show that Kira is attracted to men, but I have always found this attraction to feel forced and artificial.

As one example, when Kira gets together with Shakaar in Crossfire or Odo in His Way, both episodes focus solely on Odo’s and Shakaar’s feelings toward Kira. Their perspectives are explored extensively, and their romantic feelings toward Kira are very explicitly depicted. Neither episode does anything whatsoever to explore Kira’s perspective on either of them. In fact, before Shakaar and Odo confess their love to Kira, there is absolutely no indication whatsoever that Kira has romantic feelings for either of them. Obviously there are Doylist explanations for this (namely, sexism), but what comes across from a narrative perspective is the implication that Kira suddenly and spontaneously developed feelings for both men after they said they were in love with her. Which is obviously possible – I know some people do experience attraction this way. But it also could read as extremely lesbian. I did the same thing several times when I was younger and thought I was straight. If someone tells you they have romantic feelings for you, and you genuinely like them and enjoy their company, it can be very easy to convince yourself that what you feel is romantic love. And you want to convince yourself, because you want deeply to be connected to other people.

When Kira breaks up with Shakaar because the Prophets let her know they weren’t meant to be together, part of me can’t help but imagine that she might feel relieved deep down. There’s no need, now, to wonder if she truly feels the same way toward him that he feels toward her. There’s an excuse, now, to go back to the way it was before when she didn’t have to interrogate all of her emotions in search of the ones she was supposed to feel.

When Kira tells Odo she loves him enough to let him go in Chimera, and when she truly lets him go in the finale, I imagine what part of her she feels she is losing. Odo is one of her closest friends – one that survived one war and then the next and in the end she lost him anyway. And she has lost so much, and so there can be no relief in this, but maybe in some small way it is still easier to pretend you loved someone the way they loved you once you’ve lost them.

And I compare Kira’s interactions with these men the show describes her as being in love with to her interactions with Jadzia or Keiko or Cretak, and I just find her chemistry with women so much more convincing. There’s no effort behind it – just connection. I don’t think what I’m saying here is the “correct” way of interpreting Kira as a character – it is simply my own interpretation based partially on my personal experiences. But I do think that it is a valid interpretation.

[shadow-von-vamp]

never really thought about it much but yeah i can’t see eggman being straight

[marbledtaiga]

Motya sneezing for your viewing pleasure

[carrotkicks]

gotham sirens doodle

[catalvarezs]

"roy kent shouldn't have asked keeley who the video was for" and "roy kent is still a good person who i personally think should end up with keeley this season" are truths that can co-exist, just as "jack choosing her image and privilege over keeley is something very in character for a rich, white woman" and "ted lasso's representation of lgbtq+ characters has been phenomenal" are also truths that can co-exist