#disguising

[girl4music]

Dark Girls in Art/Entertainment / Identity VS Nature

What does hiding, disguising and performing all have in common? They’re all about putting on a show of being someone you’re not. Someone you don’t want to be for whatever reason that may be. Perhaps you’re ashamed of or insecure about your true face - true self - and so want to cover it up and hide yourself behind a blank slate. Or maybe you feel like hiding yourself isn’t enough. You have to fashion yourself a whole new persona - a character to play and perform as to distract your perceivers - your audience - from the real deal. And so your disguise - your costume - if you wear it long enough eventually becomes your identity. It’s all people ever see of you now and so it’s more natural to you than authentically being who or what you are.

The only thing is - just how long can you keep it up? And if you can’t keep in character - how is that going to effect you when you’re so desperate to disappear and crawl out of your own skin? How are you going to react when you realize it’s over and there’s no fooling them anymore? They can’t be convinced of your act and you no longer have control over their perception.

Dark girls (or guys I guess) are all about this. It’s what makes them such compelling characters. Because they’re so unpredictable. You don’t know what they’re going to do next or who they’re going to be next. They keep you guessing and therefore keep you enthralled. They never show up authentically. May not even be aware of who they authentically are in the first place. Yet they play the part as if they know who they are. And perhaps it’s because they’ve played it too long why they aren’t aware of their authentic selves. And so they go on an existential journey of discovery as if who and what they are already isn’t them and isn’t enough. As if parts of them are missing and they have to search those parts out and retrieve them. It’s like a dog trying to play fetch with its own tail in a way. At some point they will stop circling around themselves and catch whatever it is that they believe they’ve lost.

But I think the thing that’s most intriguing about this characterization is that the person they are and want to be is always one in the same anyway, and so there was never really any need to go looking for it. But it’s always in the looking for it that is what shows this to be true. That is what tells that character that it is true. And that’s always more compelling if that character happens to be a dark girl (or guy) because it often comes with a shift in tone as well as perspective. Hence the term “dark” as the adjective for them. You’re not merely watching some character development of consciousness. You’re getting the whole fucking package all in one. All their evolution emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually at once. And that’s why they’re constantly changing identity. Because they’re the embodiment for CHANGE itself.

They’re not ever authentically who they are precisely because they’re ALWAYS authentically who they are. And I know that’s contradictory. But somehow - when it comes to art/entertainment - it just fucking works! To have a character who’s entire characterization is essentially identity vs nature hot potato - in a constant fluctuation that they never settle on any one solitary specific identity in their entire character arc - that’s honestly the most authentic a person can be because what it represents is that identity isn’t solid or isn’t a permanence. It’s just a costume that we wear for the time being until we find something else that is more appropriate or better fits us. And sometimes that “something” doesn’t even exist and therefore has to be created. What we eventually come to realize through the journey is that what we believe is “missing” or “lost” in us is always with us as part of us. But you can’t ever come to that realization without going on the journey and believing that it isn’t and never will be. Thus the journey is important to go on even if pointless because the journey of going missing or getting lost is what brings us the realization that nothing was ever missing or lost in the first place.

When characters in art/entertainment go on that journey either out of their own volition or they’re forced into it - there’s something profound to be learned from it that’s akin to that old but effective method of spiritual masters advising you to seek enlightenment. All ways are the right way always.

Even if they’re wrong. Especially if they’re wrong.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

ὅτου τις ἄρα δεινὸς φύλαξ, τούτου καὶ φὼρ δεινός

- Plato

One is a good thief of whatever he is good at guarding.

[cani-bal]

evil

[spaceistheplaceart]

more ford and mabel bonding because i said so :)

bonus ford under the cut:

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

Of the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept 11 attacks:

15 were from Saudi Arabia (a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

2 were from the United Arab Emirates (also a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

1 was from Egypt, 1 from Lebanon.

None of the hijackers were from Iraq.

None of the Sept 11 hijackers were Iraqi.

None of the 9/11 hijackers were from Iraq.

[ohnoidontexist]

[phantomrose96]

Thinking about Edward Elric as the Amestrian Military's specialest little unfireable boy

State alchemists can be fired for underperforming. We know this up front from the likes of Shou Tucker. And this makes a ton of sense from the homunculi's standpoint since the state alchemists are sacrifice candidates, and the homunculi would want to cull the weakest candidates and focus only on cultivating the strongest ones who stand the best chance of opening the portal.

........Then there's Edward. Who's already opened the portal.

There's no need to cultivate him. No gamble taken on whether he's good enough to open the portal. He passed the final test already. Graduated 4 semesters early.

And as such, has a free pass to do Absolute Fuck All.

And I'm imagining how funny this is from like an outside perspective.

Some newish state alchemist who'd only ever read up on the stories of Edward Elric, ready and excited to start their career of being paid handsomely with endless freedom to research and travel and do anything they want in the pursuit of science... surprised and confused to find themselves put on probation their first month for things like "ignoring orders." Which is, as best they had thought, a famous Edward Elric pastime.

Roy showing a slight bit of stress about his yearly state alchemist report, and Ed just snorting and rolling his eyes at Roy because every year HE just hastily does his on the train ride over (canon in the manga, a travesty it was left out of the anime) and it gets rubber stamped. Ed not realizing that other alchemists' reports get genuinely scrutinized and torn apart while Ed is free to turn in whatever absolute bullshit he thinks of 36 hours ahead of time. One year his report was about whether alchemy could be done via dance (conclusion: no it can't) and no one cared. Roy WANTS to tell Ed there's some kind of unknown favoritism around Ed making him literally bullet-proof but Roy has no way to phrase this that doesn't sound like he's just in denial and mad at how good Ed's train-reports are.

Guy from the Internal Amestrian Affairs sector who's responsible for auditing other internal military personel for any suspicious activity hitting about 1 million red flags for Edward Elric, issuing a STRONG and URGENT recommendation to suspend the alchemist pending further investigation into things like "literal bunk-buddies with two members of the Xingese royalty (enemy nation)" and "spent $10,000,000 of his stipend on a librarian to make her re-copy (what he seemed to interpret as?) military records in some extremely transparent effort to unearth state secrets (it was a recipe book but he was literally asking her about state secrets)" and "literally has never once obeyed an order, ever, not even once in his career, and is on public record having said 'I do not care about the goals and protections of the Amestrian Military. I am in fact only pursuing my own interests several of which are diametrically opposed to the safety and well-being of the governing body of Amestris'"

The issued recommendation is intercepted before it even reaches its intended desk. President Bradley himself has taken issue with it and denies it before a single set of eyes has seen it. The President's veto stamp is a terrifying hammer, used rarely, and it is now sitting on the auditor's desk.

The auditor sleeps with one eye open from then on out.

[wishingsparkjar]

For the Transformers 40th anniversary, have a collab with studio TRIGGER and Bump of Chicken

[feligayzed]

fuck that blacksite noise, it's party time!!

[sunderwight]

Imagine you're Lan Xichen. You've spent the past decade+ worrying about your younger brother who, according to your own perspective on things, fell wildly in love with an evil heretic cultivator, kinda betrayed your sect for him, got punished within an inch of his life by your elders, and spent subsequent years in mourning when said evil heretic cultivator got killed.

You're starting to think that your brother is never going to get over this, is always going to be holding onto a certain amount of grief and anger and lonesome distance.

But then one day, he brings another guy home! And, yes, this guy is not perfect either. He's also a heretic cultivator and a notorious lunatic, who is in a bad position with your own situationship. But! Maybe Wangji is finally starting to move on? Even if his bad taste persists, this one is at least more manageable. How fortuitous that your stubborn, obsessive brother should finally find a new yeah no that's Wei Wuxian, isn't it?

It's just Wei Wuxian again.

[user-needs-new-hyperfixation]

Book One San Lang is so funny. He put his whole ghostussy into his human disguise -- every palm line and fingerprint in place, every strand of hair perfect -- but then he's just so blatantly Weird™. Like sure this teenage nepo baby wandering around on a whim because he was fighting with his parents will definitely take all of this Scary Supernatural Stuff in stride with no more than a very transparently flirtatious "I'm sca-wed gege. 🥺" Sure, he definitely just has casual encyclopedic knowledge of gods and defunct kingdoms going back almost a millennium and featuring details that aren't available on Wuxiapedia, and he can read dead languages. Of course he exhibits random carpentry skills. He stabs a guy with a chopstick and then shrugs when he deflates like a skin balloon. He cheerfully ties venomous snakes into knots and very evidently explodes them with his mind. Just Normal Human Kid things!

[goblinhoursinsomniaramblings]

dc x dp prompt: Jack Fenton is a long lost Wayne... sorta

Bruce hears rumors of a cousin he hasn't seen in decades, Jackson Wayne. Except he's changed his name, started some sort of ghost-hunting scam, and is hitting all the items on Bruce's checklist for 'obvious theme supervillain.' Clearly, this needs investigation.

Meanwhile, Jack Fenton mainly remembers high society being boring and stifling, picking his mom during a messy divorce that had them leaving Gotham city altogether, and going all in on ectoscience, which resulted in the few members of his gotham family that still spoke to him cutting him out completely. He has absolutely no idea Martha and Thomas Wayne, the famous murdered philanthropist Waynes, were 'Aunt Mar-Mar' and 'Uncle Tommy', and is totally oblivious to lil' Brucie up and disappearing for a few years. So when Brucie calls and wants to reconnect, well, that sounds like a fine idea! Bring the kids! Sure, all of them! Yes, ALL of them.

Bruce was not expecting this. The trip ends up extremely surreal as a result.

[cozylittleartblog]

what if there was a plague doctor that was so so so cute (and was also secretly a bird themself)

[egophiliac]

finally got some time to finish these guys up! which is sort of ironic considering I started these because I wanted to draw Malleus with a Dragapult, and then I just didn't for a million years!

Malleus has the aforementioned Dragapult, except it's a super special non-canon color Dragapult (like an anime-only form that you could get in-game exclusively through some limited-time event where you have to show up in-person at a specific location in Japan) (it has some wacky overpowered exclusive move/form and the OT is listed as Malleus) (so like that kind of ridiculous specialness) (Leona is extremely salty about this). also hoards and hoards of Dreepy. Dreepy LOVE Malleus. they take naps on his horns inbetween begging him to throw them across the island at mach speeds.

Lilia has a Drampa and a bunch of Woobat that he hasn't actually caught, they just follow him around in swarms because they sense a kinship with him. (also breaking my own rule again to say that he had a Mawile in the past, because...I just really wanted to give him a Mawile...)

Sebek has Sandile for obvious reasons, and also a Pikachu that bullies him relentlessly. :(

Silver has a shiny Corvisquire; I really went back-and-forth on also giving him an Aegislash, but...hm. those pokedex entries though. he can stick with just one for now.

(I hadn't planned on the shiny for him, but after I'd decided on the Corvisquire line and was looking it up for reference, I realized that shiny Rookidee is gold and then turns silver when it evolves and I lost my entire goddamn mind)

[wolfythewitch]

one last job

[eppujensen]

What an ingenious way to hide a detail you don't care for, in this case, an ugly bathroom vanity light. It gets hidden behind a lightweight foamboard valance. Tutorial by Chas at Chas' Crazy Creations.