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lizalfosrise · 1 year ago

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Hey Rise, it's AK favorites time again. Give me your best defenders. Gameplay, personality, aesthetic, whatever.

Alrighty! Let's place this under a cut:

Launch Faves:

Spot - I see full kemono in Arknights I black out and go feral good yes very nice. That healing smokescreen remains very helpful, and he's just a real solid bro. His VA caught my eye too, since I was watching Raildex that year so I'd been hearing him quite a lot.

Cuora - Roaming baseball turtle is Fucking Invincible. HOMERUN!! Her module lore story was pretty nice in a sledgehammer-to-the-heart kinda way given it was her memory issues + her baseball&bat's origin. Incredibly solid and the first elusive 4-blocker saving our asses and storing up Pure Gold Ingots in the Factories. Homerun indeed.

Croissant - Really cool and fun character (we got her southern US drawl back hooray) with the interesting gimmick of being the push-stroker(they can never live this naming scheme down) defender. Problem? S2 says yeet 'em! No problem boblem. Niche and therefore undervalued at the earlygame, but Integrated Strategies with the Force+2 manual obtained must've made some fun shenanigans.

Gameplay:

All the Fortresses, honestly. They're great in character, in aesthetics and I greatly enjoy having their long-range bombardments. Firewhistle's brought us Burn procs and it's delightful to watch the bonus damage pour in. I can be trusted with the Londinium Self-Defense Artillery cannon emplacements.

Don't use 'em enough but they're fun: Duelist and Sentinels - Aurora is cute and has access to Cold proc manipulation tactics (plus that claw-shaped staked, slim tower shield is a work of art); Liskarm has been a faithful SP battery pistol-shooting down aerial threats while Blitz has the flashbang spam going for him.

Guardians are lifesavers, of course. Gummy's frying pan bonk stuns every third hit can actually be incredibly useful. Blemishine is a far better pick than Nearl due to her Sleep mechanics and yknow, 6* bulk/Skill 3 (she's cool to borrow as a support unit but I don't have her fully invested). Saria is pretty solid here and with regards to character&story, but at the same time I never actually E2'd her until mid-Dorothy's Vision because I finally experienced her Skill 3 and needed her to be beefier for a map clear (or several) that event.

General:

Horn - "YOU WANT TO TOPPLE ME?! BY WHAT?" Episode 9 was so great, and then we suffered a Manfred to the Self-Defense Artillery. That CG towards the end of Ep9 with a heavily-injured Horn pulling the S3 glare at Mandragora after auto-rocketjumping Bagpipe away was phenomenal. Incidentally a major part of why if you have taste you'll understand that Horndragora is the superior toxic yuri pairing rather than suffering that watery tart of a catgirl. I'm more enamored with that heavy-duty shieldcannon though, naturally. The Victorian Army gets all the cool gunlances eh? That VA olive green drab is a wonderful colour scheme too, really. The overheat flame vfx during S3 are a delightful detail on the chibi sprite and for that reason though I'll get that (somewhat mismatched) Lady of the Lake skin, I won't equip it often. But S1/S3 were absolutely outstanding during IS2.

Asbestos - The most tsuntsuntsuntsuntsuntsuuuuuundere foulmouthed foul-tempered vkei-ass Aussie salamander is just so iconic, bless her. Funky and rad design, personality and until Shalem appeared, the only Arts-shotgun shielder. Trying out her Skill 2 in IS2 was pretty fun since I only rarely used her prior honestly. The details gone into fitting her entire theming around asbestos are so so good.

Mudrock - Initially I wouldn't use her due to the 35dp cost buuuut I reached the point where 'This is fine actually' after a while of wanting to properly invest in her and yeah. Fucking incredible with sneak-healing via Perfumer. Spin2Win is forever relevant! We need a skin that brings back the full hazard suit towering over most other chibis though. Really good as a character, her parts in Twilight of Wolumonde were what made that event remotely bearable to me.

Her fellow Juggernaut companion Penance is likewise extremely good in aesthetics, character and as a unit.

Eunectes - Same deal as above, I actually haven't used her so badly she's not actually E2 yet. But I think she's incredibly gorgeous and a very cool Forgemaster. The Acahualla Trio are very, very fun! Summoning her upgraded Raging Ironhide must be a real lovely feeling given how much of a nuisance it is to fight.

Nian - Unemployed. Commando. The only Sui fragment I have at E2. Fellow spice fiend. Many noteworthy things can be said. I greatly enjoy her. We need to see more of the situation with training up Purgatory now going forwards in that storyline. Love that her E2 splash shows the(or at least, her) bestial Sui form has a maw in the chest.

Shoutout: Ace - He would've been male 6* Defender, absolutely, the way he tanked Talulah 1v1 during the Chernobog Exfiltration long enough for every surviving RI Operator to redeploy disengage & evacuate. Legendary guy. There's no Elite Operator covering the Defender class as a Temporary Recruitment in Integrated Strategies, so personally I feel like that's where he might've been.

#arknights #arbellas-bakery #defenderknights #perhaps still not as comprehensive as it could be but yeah wall of paragraphs k

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spacefinch · 1 year ago

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Finch’s ramblings: Magic School Bus

This is a franchise I essentially grew up with. I spent hours reading the books in the classroom, and watched the entire classic series.

I used to own all 20 MSB chapter books. Each one was narrated in the first person from a student’s point of view. “Space Explorers” (narrated by Carlos) and “Penguin Puzzle” (narrated by Phoebe) were my favorites.

The first MSB episode I remember watching is “Goes Cellular”— aka the one where Arnold turns orange.

Phoebe was by far one of my favorite characters in the show. She’s kind and caring, and has red hair, just like me! Even better: she shares her name with one of my favorite birds. Naturally, I was very disappointed that the reboot excluded her.

For my 9th birthday, I had a Magic School Bus party— specifically rainbow themed. My friends and I walked around in a big cardboard bus, and we did lots of colorful activities.

I was more used to the show and the books published afterwards, so it came as a bit of a surprise when I read the OG books by Joanna Cole. Here were the main eight students, plus more that I still can’t keep track of.

Another one of my favorite characters (and possibly my first childhood crush) was Carlos. It’s partly thanks to him that I took an interest in telling jokes. (The other part that influenced my joke telling was my mom.)

The friendships in the show are the best: to this day, I’m still looking for those kind of friends.

Dorothy Ann was yet another favorite character of mine. I could definitely relate to her: always ready to infodump, and never comfortable without at least a few books on hand.

I found I could relate to pretty much all 8 students:

Arnold’s nervous/cautious personality and love of rocks

Ralphie’s imagination and energy

Keesha’s perceptiveness and common sense

Phoebe’s love of animals and her quiet, yet fierce spirit

Carlos’s sense of humor and stubbornness

Tim’s love of art and film

Wanda’s sense of adventure and unwillingness to back down

Dorothy Ann’s book smarts and curiosity

When I was 12, I had a seizure, which resulted in a bad fall and a stay at the hospital. It took several days to recover, and MSB was one of the things that kept me going during that time. While I did enjoy getting to watch multiple episodes in a row, I never want to have to go to the hospital again for a seizure. I’ve only had a few of them, and the only thing stopping me from having another is my prescription medication.

Looking back, I really appreciate the representation in the show.

It’s possible to headcanon all the main characters as neurodivergent.

Not one, not two, not three, but FOUR redheads (Ms. Frizzle, Arnold, Phoebe, and Janet.) And it’s some of the best rep I’ve seen.

I also liked how the POC students (Keesha, Tim, Carlos, and Wanda) were portrayed. They did have key trademark personality traits, but those weren’t based on stereotypes. Instead, you have: girl who’s super perceptive and good at getting to the bottom of a mystery (Keesha), guy who really likes to draw and photograph things (Tim), guy who tells the best dad jokes (Carlos), and a girl who’s more of a daredevil than any of the other students (Wanda.)

The disability rep was another plus. As I mentioned, I already consider the majority of characters in the show to be autistic or ADHD. I also enjoyed seeing Carlos’s little brother Mikey, even if he was in only two episodes. I like the fact that Mikey is a wheelchair user, but that isn’t his only personality trait. Given what I know now, I’d consider his personality to be: combination of Scotty from Star Trek TOS, Peter Parker from Marvel, and Hiro Hamada from Big Hero 6.

Other things I liked:

All the color! From the Friz’s dress designs to the kids’ outfits to all the places they explored, there was no shortage of color.

The references to other well-known things. By far my favorite is the entire “Out of This World” episode. The bus in its spaceship form looks just like the USS Enterprise, and the kids get to wear Star Trek style outfits. If you are a Trekkie, I would recommend you watch this episode if you only have time to watch one.

Well, it’s getting late, so I’d better turn in for the night. I hope you guys like this look at a key part of my childhood, and a tiny bit of personal lore.

#about me #magic school bus #finch lore #god I need a consistent tag for when I drop stories about myself

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fostersffff · 2 years ago

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The Big Gundam Watch, Part 10: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

As mentioned at the end of my post about the second half of Gundam Wing, the word on the street was that the sequel movie was Actually Good For Real. Naturally, I was skeptical: even with the context provided in response to that post about the nightmarish production schedule and sponsor requirements the series had, it was still the least good experience I've had with a Gundam show to date. The theatrical format can also be a double-edged sword if you don't know how to budget your time wisely, and quite frankly, I didn't have much faith in the Gundam Wing production staff to make a cohesive 90 minute movie after they had so much trouble with a 49 episode TV series.

I'm happy to report that Endless Waltz was, in fact, pretty damn good. In fact, I'd actually go so far as to say that of the Gundam movies I've reviewed in this format- the others being Char's Counterattack, Narrative, and Hathaway- this was the best! Not only was it a solid action movie with some terrific animation setpieces, it also addressed most of the problems I have with Gundam Wing, making both the setting itself and the movie much stronger.

THE STUFF I LIKED:

FLASHBACKS. Number one with a fucking bullet: I now have literally any understanding of the motivations for these main characters! And they were all pretty well executed! Trowa's a child soldier! Duo was trying to prevent the original Operation Meteor! Heero is suicidal and traumatized because he botched an attack on a mobile suit production facility and got civilians killed! Wufei... had one too!

I was a little worried about how much money this was going to have, because it was originally a series of OVAs. But that got put to rest when Noin and Sally launched the ITANO CIRCUS PODS followed by reaction shots of Taurus dolls moving at 800 frames per second trying to escape.

After spending the whole series bitching about how much the Gundams clash with original suits designed for the After Colony timeline, I think the redesigns they got for Endless Waltz finally made me stop being a hater. Especially Wing Zero; who cares how impractical contoured angel wings are, it looks fucking cool, and lends itself to that gorgeous activation sequence.

On the subject of mobile suits; the Tallgeese III isn't as cool as the Tallgeese- they really fucking nailed that design on the first take- but I was thrilled that when Char Quattro Zechs Milliardo Wind showed up to the fight, it was in a Tallgeese and not the Epyon.

And speaking of redesigns; Trowa got fuckin' yolked. Fuckin' Final Fight Mike Haggar looking motherfucker. I assumed they just bulked up all of the boys, but then one scene later Heero is as scrawny as ever, so they made the conscious choice to have Trowa buff as shit.

Dorothy showing up for five seconds to insult a bunch of random civilians for being cowards in order to rile them up and haul them over to the site of the conflict to protest Mariemaia's regime in a convoy led by her solid gold truck was perfection.

A brief return of my favorite version of Heero- sociopath Heero- when Mariemaia tries to taunt him over how indestructible the bunker is and he just goes "okay." and fires the Libra-annihilating gun down at it three times.

I thought Mariemaia and Dekim made a really great and complementary pair of villains. It makes perfect sense that 10 year old would be like "why hasn't anyone just tried being a perfect dictator" before you even factor in the grooming, and Dekim neatly introduces and ties up the whole "Operation Meteor was originally just a space supremacy ploy" idea that was introduced in the last episode of Wing, enhancing it with the added wrinkle that the Barton family were the equivalent of the Zabis in the Universal Century.

If you read my last post, you may think I'd be down on Relena abandoning her position of Total Pacifism. Instead, it actually feels like a natural development: the formation of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation was a unilateral agreement by all mankind that peace was what they wanted, so her goal of Peace via Pacifism was effectively achieved! But in the face of a group that would threaten that accomplishment for the sole purpose of self-interested domination, there's literally nothing to do but resist. And it's still optimistic because it flies in the face of the conventional, cynical wisdom of "good times create weak men create hard time create strong men create good times...", which is what Dekim was counting on.

THE STUFF I LIKED LESS:

The role of “Big Boss from Metal Gear Solid, but fucking stupid” is now being played by Wufei, who I literally groaned at when he appeared to defend Dekim from Trowa. I get it; they needed to have a cool mobile suit for Heero to fight against since Mariemaia and Dekim weren't pilots, and Wufei fits the bill since it's totally believable he's not over his tsundere mancrush on Treize, but the fact that his Category 6 MUH JUSTICE moment is stopped by Heero reminding him that civilians exist was just too much.

The idea that the Gundams were at a disadvantage against the horde of regular grunt suits because they were going for non-lethal takedown was charming, but also, like... Duo says that and then it cuts to Heavyarms fucking unloading. But maybe they were rubber bullets so it's fine, it's fine, don't worry about it.

Lady Une once again uses her unaddressed space-time warping powers to gain access to Mariemaia's neigh-upon impregnable underground bunker just in time to save her and Relena from falling rubble. I actually scanned back through the video to make sure I didn't miss something: we see her outside meeting with Zechs as he lands the Tallgeese III, and then the next time we see her she somehow made it into the compound and disabled every guard in one of the rooms. How?

Listen, Endless Waltz is a very elegant title and should make sense to basically everyone if they think about it even just a little bit. It was not necessary to explain it out for the audience.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS:

There were a number of lines and scenes in this movie that gave me a hearty, sensible chuckle, so I'm just gonna run down the ones that really stuck with me:

The way the dub narrator says "at the end of an... intricate battle" is the funniest and most polite way to describe the conflict of Gundam Wing.

“He’s pretty smart for a person who was elected democratically”

"I wouldn't be surprised if one day he starts saying that his lack of effort is the reason there's no air in outer space"

Zech's little book he's reading while waiting for someone to pick him up:

Not meant to be funny, but I love that the emblem of Mariemaia's regime is just "what if instead of an eagle holding a swastika, it was an eagle holding an M stylized like the one on Super Mario's hat":

Choosing to show Zechs and Noin reuniting and riding off to Mars together to start a new life as unromantically as possible by just having them play chess:

Speaking of Zechs and Noin going to Mars: I enjoyed this so much I looked at a summary for the sequel to this, the light novel series Frozen Teardrop, and then determined I will not be looking at anything else related to Frozen Teardrop.

Amogus.

IN CONCLUSION:

This was an incredibly pleasant surprise. Taken as a complete package, Endless Waltz seriously elevates Gundam Wing. It does so much groundwork for that series that I think you could make a compelling argument to skip Wing altogether and just watch Endless Waltz. Personally, though, I would just amend whether or not I'd recommend Gundam Wing to "if you're going to watch it, you absolutely MUST watch Endless Waltz, too, no matter how you felt about it".

Next up: I'm taking another break, as in the time it took me to watch through all of Gundam Wing I added a ton of other anime (and video games (and model kits)) to my to-do list. But when I do come back to this, we're going backwards and then sticking to chronologically-by-release order, starting with Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket.

#Gundam #Mobile Suit Gundam #Mobile Suit Gundam Wing #Gundam Wing #Endless Waltz #The Big Gundam Watch #anime #long post

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witchesoz · 2 years ago

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What we know about Oz: Book 3, The beginning

The third book of the Oz series is known by many as "Ozma of Oz" but its actual full title is "Ozma of Oz: A record of her adventures with Dorothy Gale of Kansas, Billina the yellow hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, and the Hungry Tiger ; besides other good people too numerous to mention faithfully recorded herein". You get why people prefer to use the shortened title.

This third book saw the rebirth of Oz as a series rather than a place designed for one-shot stories. Most of the elements popularized about the literary Oz start here, making the first two books retrospectively bizarre: this is where all the rules that would dominate in future Oz books started, rules precisely designed to ensure a good continuity, a status quo perfect to write more Oz books, and that Oz would become a "safe place" for quick and easy to write stories (unlike in the first two books, where Oz was a much more "realistic" and complex setting for self-contained stories). Anyway you will see it by yourself.

However, the paradox here is that the majority of Ozma of Oz does not center either on Ozma or on Oz: the bulk of the book is taking place in the country of Ev, and Dorothy is actually the main character. As a result, Oz and its lore only pop up twice in the book - and we will explore here the first time it does, at the beginning of the story, when the Oz characters get involved in the Ev plot.

# This book changes Oz's location. Before, the implications were that Oz was somehow located at the center of the United-States, or at least that outside its desert borders it was the regular "civilized" world in which Dorothy lived in. Starting here, Oz is now part of its own "fairy-continent", as we see that the land beyond the Oz desert, Ev, is another fantastical realm, and this time to reach it Dorothy has to fall into the sea and be washed ashore on its banks. We also have the very important point that Dorothy's falling into the sea was during a trip leading her to Australia. So Oz must be somewhere between the USA and Australia - the fairy continent could be somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

# It is also by extension the first time Oz is referred to as a "fairy country" or "fairy land". We also learn a new rule - apparently most animals from the regular world that arrive to the land of Oz (or any kind of fairy-land) learns the ability to speak like a regular human. This rules applies not to just to Oz but to Ev too, and we see here being exemplified by Dorothy's pet yellow hen, who starts talking as she is in the waters by the coast of Ev. Of course, Dorothy also highlights an important fact (though obvious): there is no sea-shore in Oz. This is how she identifies Ev as not being Oz but a "different fairy country", but it also stresses how Oz's culture is based and formed around being an in-land country with no access (maybe not even knowledge) of the sea, given they only have rivers and lakes.

# After discovering Tik-Tok, Dorothy, Billina and the robot have a conversation about Oz. Dorothy mentions notably that she thought the Scarecrow was just as a good as a thinker before he received his brain - highlighting what was originally just implied in the original book. Tik-Tok reveals to actually have knowledge of Oz - apparently, people of Ev knew of the existence of this fairy-land beyond the great desert bordering their land, though Tik-Tok insists he only heard about it of course, and from what he learned the Land of Oz is a "wonderful fairy country" where "anything is possible" - visibly it is much better than Ev.

But what comes off as really surprising and strange is that Tik-Tok is apparently aware of the current politics of Oz, as he is the one dropping the bomb on Dorothy that the Scarecrow isn't king anymore, that there was a revolution by General Jinjur, and that Ozma is now queen of Oz. How in the world did an Ev inhabitant learned all that? Especially since we know Ev people don't go in Oz due to the desert (though Tik-Tok dismisses this as just a "broad desert" so maybe it isn't so much fo a threat) ; but more-over, Oz people don't know about Ev the slightest since previous books proved them unaware of what was beyond the desert. This seems all to be too much of a bizarre inconvenience and Baum just using Tik-Tok as an information provider despite how little sense it could make.

But similarly the Scarecrow, right upon arriving in Ev, also shows knowledge of the land - notably mentioning the Wheelers despite never having seen one in his life, so how could he know the critter? Mysteries...

# Oz really starts to get more in the party after Dorothy is kept imprisoned by Langwidere, and an Oz party comes to the rescue.

Dorothy is looking at the desert, which she describes as a vast sandy desert stretching further than the eye can see to the west of Ev, and she remembers how no one could ever manage to cross this "dangerous waste". She also mentions something she explained prior in the book: the silver shoes that make her "fly over the desert" are now lost because they fell somewhere in the sand while she was travelling, and thus can't be used anymore. [Which is... a bit illogical because how could she keep flying if the shoes fell off mid-fly?]

But as she looks at the desert she sees a group of Ozians cross it on a magical carpet. The magical carpet itself is broad and green, "unrolling itself upon the desert" so that the group on it can walk forward, but rolling itself up again once the group passed, so that there was "always just enough of it for the procession to walk upon". And this is done to, I quote "that their feet might not come in contact with the deadly, life-destroying sand of the desert". Oh yeah because I forgot to mention: this is the book when the desert goes from "uncrossable" to "deadly". Yep turned out the sand the witches were walking in quite fine before (remember the chase scene from the end of Book 2?) is in truth now deadly poison.

The procession in itself consists of several characters: twenty-seven soldiers of various body types (lean, fat, short, tall are the four body types describes) dressed in handsome uniforms "of various designs and colors, no two being alike in any respect" [Huh... curious... does it mean this is a multi-community army? The multi-color and the four body types mention make me think maybe there is something to do with the group being of soldiers coming from different corners in Oz? This is also the first time we are explicitly told about "tall" Ozians, confirming what was suggested in Book 2, that the time of "all Ozians are short" from Book 1 is over]. This group is led by the Tin Woodman, aka Nick Chopper, "with his funnel-shaped cap tipped carelessly over his left ear, his gleaming axe over his right shoulder and his whole body sparkling as brightly as it had ever done in the old days". Note that this is the first time the Woodman is described with a "funnel-shaped" hat - it was actually originally an invention of the Oz book illustrators, invention that was popularized and liked enough that Baum included it in his work. There is before them the Scarecrow, riding on the Saw-Horse ; and at the head of it all Ozma herself. Ozma is described as a beautiful girl "neither older nor larger than Dorothy herself", clothed in "flowing robes of silver gauze and wearing a jeweled diadem upon her dainty head" - in one hand an ivory wand splitting at the top in two prongs, one with the letter O and the other with the letter Z (both letters in glistening diamonds) [clearly Ozma's scepter as queen of Oz], and in the other hand the "satin ribbons" leading her chariot. Oh yes, because she is on a chariot, a magnificent golden chariot according to the book - but instead of horses, it is pulled on one side by a great Lion (that in truth is the Cowardly Lion), and on the other by an "immense Tiger" that Dorothy doesn't know.

Another interesting detail is that, right upon reaching the end of the desert and the land of v, the magic carpet rolls itself together and disappears entirely. The carpet they used to cross the desert just vanishes... How are they going to get back? Mystery!

# Ozma's entry in the palace of Ev is... not unnoticed. Of course the palace is in a poor state, but still: after arriving in the country and hearing about Dorothy's situation, Ozma just barges into the palace, not even letting the maid properly announce her, going straight to Langwidere's apartment, with the twenty-seven soldiers making so much noise and clatter they terrify the poor maid - no wonder Langwidere is pissed off as seeing this "rude invasion of her palace", we are in a diplomatic incident here.

And if you thought this was forceful , oh boy, wait until you hear what Ozma says to Langwidere, her first words to the ruler of the land... With a smile and quietly, she says that Langwidere must listen to what they have to say, that she is the ruler of the Land of Oz, and that if Langwidere tries to imprison them in any way "I am powerful enough to destroy all your kingdom". Damn your first contact with a foreign land and you immediately threaten complete genocide? Way to go Ozma! Though she also clarifies promptly that she does not come here to "do harm" - rather she and her friends arrived to Ev on a rescue mission, to free the royal family of Ev from the Nome King, due to her hearing about what happened.

Again : HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? Oz has been cut-off so far from the rest of the world, and yet here it is retconned that apparently Ev and Oz know very well about the politico-situation of each other. And on a more moral and realistic take, we also see clearly that Ozma's actions are quite rash, impulsive and unthought - she is clearly invading and politically interfering in a land she made first contact with, and while Langwidere promptly agrees to her plan (since she doesn't want to rule), we later see through Ozma's confrontation with the Nome King that she is blissfully unaware of the legal situation of the whole "Nome King kidnapping people" - the Nome King notably tells Ozma that no, he doesn't hold his prisoners in slavery like she heard (which is... technically true), and he also highlights the fact that he actually bought the family legally through a fair and honest deal with the king, and that he has all the right to their ownership without any criminal activity. As it turns out, the most lawful and informed of the three rulers in this book is the Nome King, while Ozma seems like a hot-headed, act-before-thinking queen here. A bit different from the clever and cautious boy that used to be Tip.

# On top of a ruthless political intervention, we also have some bizarre "inferiority and superiority" talk between the Scarecrow/Tin Woodman and Tik-Tok (a recurring theme with those two is that they keep judging who is better and who is worse than them based on their attributes). Notably the Scarecrow and the Woodman promptly concludes that Tik-Tok as a simple machine is "inferior" to them, because he doesn't have a heart or conscience (unlike the Tin Woodman) and because while he has a brain, it needs to be wound-up, unlike the Scarecrow's. The Scarecrow even thinks of pulling apart the robot to see how he works inside - only stopping himself when he learns Tik-Tok is "useful", because as he admits he is a very poor mechanic and couldn't put him back together.

Invasion, genocide threats, racist classifications, cruel experiments... Are we speaking of an Oz book or of World War II? Though if Oz is a stand-in for the USA, it does fit very well for the time X)

# Dorothy also greets the Cowardly Lion, finally back after his absence from book 2 - and with no mention of his possible status as king of the southern forest from the end of book 1. Here he is back to being just a Cowardly Lion "scared of everything little thing", his heart beating faster in front of fear - and despite Dorothy remembering him being brave, he insists that it was all misinterpretation, because every time he was in front of danger he was "scared". (Yet again we find the usual dilemma with the Lion, who thinks the very act of being afraid means he is cowardly, when in truth it is just normal - the same way the Scarecrow thought he wasn't intelligent just because he didn't have a brain of flesh like humans, and so was oblivious to his own cleverness). The Lion is also added another little detail taken from the book's illustrations, that wasn't in Baum's original text: he now sports a "big bow of blue ribbon" on the "long hair between his ears" (his mane) - the bow actually matches his companion pulling Ozma's chariot, the Tiger, who is also said to have a bow, though his is red and tied to the tail "just in front of the bushy end". [... a bushy end huh? Must be a peculiar type of tiger].

# Speaking of Tiger, this is the new Oz character Baum introduces us to - a brand new character that we never heard about before, and whose backstory we will never learn! Hooray! (Though people have suggested it might be the same Tiger that appeared in the original book, as the spoke-person for the animals of the forest terrified by the giant spider).

The Cowardly Lion introduces the Tiger as a "new friend" of his, whose full name is "the Hungry Tiger". Aptly called because the Tiger is constantly hungry, and no matter how much he eats he is never satisfied - or rather he thinks he is constantly angry because "eating is of no use as I get hungry again" (which Dorothy points out is something she also experiences, and that's just how being hungry works). But the Tiger highlights the difference between Dorothy and him: Dorothy eats "harmless things" while he, as a "savage beast", he hungers for "poor little living creatures, from a chipmunk to fat babies". In fact the Hungry Tiger has a certain obsession with fat babies - they sound delicious for him and every time he speaks of them he licks his lips. But he never ate any and will never - because as he explains, he has a "conscience" which tells him it is wrong to eat fat babies, because in doing so he would have just sacrificed a poor baby for nothing as he would eventually be hungry again. And so due to his conscience, he declares "Hungry I was born and hungry I shall die, but I'll not have any cruel deeds on my conscience to be sorry for".

Dorothy admires this decision and thinks he is a very good tiger - but the Tiger has the very opposite view. For him, this conscience is a handicap because while he is a "good beast", he is a "disgracefully bad tiger" - "for it is the nature of tigers to be cruel and ferocious", and thus in his refusal to eat harmless living creatures, the Hungry Tiger is considered shameful - which leads to the closest bit of backstory we'll ever have for him: in shame he left "the forest" and joined his friend the Cowardly Lion, another similarly disgraced beast.

Beyond that the appearance of the Tiger is quite frightening, as he is just as "huge" as the Cowardly Lion, and he is described with "two rows of terrible teeth and a mouth big enough to startle anyone". In fact his later interaction with Billina the hen displays his full character in just one dialogue: he comments that the hen looks delicious and makes his mouth water, greed in his eyes ; he ponders aloud that she would taste good if he crushed her between his teeth - before immediately reassuring the hen by saying he will not eat her because it "wouldn't be right", because it would only appease his appetite for a moment, so it "isn't worth to eat you". But after promising to remember not to eat her, he adds creepily "... But I'm a little absent-minded, at times".

# A last word about the soldiers of the group - actually what I suspected was right, the Tin Woodman leading the group is because the soldiers all answer to him - they are not Ozma's group but the Tin Woodman's (who is probably still ruler of the Winkies, or rather their Emperor). The Tin Woodman also explains his bizarre military logic (Baum liked some military jokes): the 27 are almost all officers, with 8 generals, 6 colonels, 7 majors, 5 captains... There is only one private that is for all the others to command. The Tin Woodman commands that he wants to promote the private because he believes (no private should ever be in public life", and he also noted that the officers usually "fight better and are more reliable than common soldiers" - plus "the officers are more important looking, and lend dignity to our army". Again, we see a trait clearly established of the Tin Woodman: his great vanity and his care for appearances.

(Though later we see his system completely fail, as the officers all prove to be cowardly and they use the chain of command to put all their duties and all the danger on the shoulders of the poor private).

# When Ozma holds a council to determine the plan of action to save the Ev royal family we learn a bit more about the whole situation.

We discover that Ozma came here because the "noble and illustrous Ruler of Oz" heard that the wife and ten children of the former King of Ev (Evoldo) have been enslaved by the Nome King, and so Ozma decided, as the benevolent soul that she is, to free them from their imprisonment. [As we latter learn, Ozma never knew about Evoldo actually selling his family away, she was under the mistaken idea the Nome King had taken them away]. Again, how does she know about Ev? Mystery. In fact this is Tik-Tok that informs her plainly that the Nome King has done no wrong due to the King selling his family - when Ozma learns it, she said that it is "news to her", and she says she thought the Nome King was "all to blame" - but it doesn't change her resolution to free the royal family, because in her words it is a "great wrong to imprison a queen mother and her ten children". She is so determined she decides to use a loophole in the Nome King's contract to justify her crusade: as the king's suicide means he did not get the long life the Nome King promised him, and so he must give up his prisoners as the deal is null.

Ozma also mentions that she knows of the Nome King, and here is her knowledge of the Nomes in general: they are "queerly shaped but powerful sprites" that labor at the furnaces and forges of their king to make gold, silver and other metals, that they then hid in the crevices of the rocks so that the living being of the surface can only find them with "great difficulty". They similarly create and hide gems and precious stones such as "diamonds, rubies and emeralds". She adds that the Nome King is the "Ruler of the Underground World" to her knowledge, commanding "the rocks and all that the rocks contain" - and that he is not fond of the surface-dwellers due to them "often stealing his treasures" (in fact Ozma here admits that the surface beings DO steal what belongs to the Nome King, without any shame) - and that this is why he never appears among other people, and to see King Roquat of the Rocks, on must go to his own country, where he is "all powerful" and thus very dangerous. Quite an impressive knowledge, though it keeps highlighting the "colonialist empire" mindset of Oz here, since we learn they steal proudly from resources that they recognize as not theirs.

But again, Ozma has a lack of knowledge concerning the Nome King - as it is Langwidere that informs her about how the Nome King turned the royal family into "ornaments and bric-a-brac to decorate his room" [How does she knows that? Is it something well-known by people of Ev?) ; and it is also Langwidere that tells Ozma about the Nome King living under a great mountain north of Ev.

# Ozma is even more ruthless when Langwidere declines the joining of the rescue mission, she literally says "We do not need you for, if with the aid of my brave followers I cannot accomplish my purpose, then it would be useless for you to undertake the journey". I mean... she is right, a rescue party with Langwidere would be doomed to fail, and Ev is in too poor of a stat to fight back - but still, she presents herself as an all-powerful hero here, rejecting the help of the people actually native from the place.

#We do get to learn about the origins of the magic carpet the group used to cross the desert: Ozma actually went to Glinda the Good to seek her help in rescuing the Ev royal family, and it is the witch who offered Ozma the magic carpet that unrolls itself between people's feet, making a "comfortable path to cross the desert".

Correction: while the soldiers do obey and answer to the Tin Woodman, they are actually from all over Oz, as I correctly suspected. Indeed, Ozma tasked the Tin Woodman to prepare an army for the rescue mission, and so the Tin Woodman chose "bold warriors" from the "finest soldiers of Oz".

# We do get another scene with the Hungry Tiger showing his character: after kindly asking the maid if he can eat her because she looks "delicious", and meeting a refusal, he yawns frightfully (the Hungry Tiger yawns a lot) and asks for his usual meal: thirty pounds of tenderloin steak, cooked rare, with a peck of boiled potatoes on the side and five gallons of ice-cream for dessert". [Yes, there are ice-creams in fairy lands]. The Hungry Tiger even mentions that the size of his appetite is propably too big for his body, as it fills it whole, "from the end of my throat to the tip of my tail".

# We actually do learn of the backstory of the Cowardly Lion in a thrown-away line: he was the ruler of the great forest as the "King of Beasts", just like in the end of book 1, but he only learned of Ozma's existence after her access to the throne, and upon hearing about her visit to the Land of Ev, he decided to go to the Emerald City to beg her to take him with her - and he brought his friend the Hungry Tiger too.

# Fun fact: the only private in the army is very proud of his situation because "it required so many officers to give him orders" that it means he must be quite important.

- - - - - -

Note: I am deeply sorry if some words are mis-written or missing letters. I tried to write directly into DA instead of writing in a Word document and copy-pasting... but DA is not a good place to write directly stuff as it bugs and removes letters randomly. If you see words mis-written please warn me in the comments so I can correct it, and next time I'll use Word first to avoid this inconvenience. NOTE 2: I think I corrected most of the mistakes and gosh there were plenty... I am never writing anything directly in DA's writing system again. Never. As you can see here, Baum clearly understood that after the success of the two first Oz books (and their musicals), he had to prepare the Oz world to become a continuous series, and so that is how he started to add new rules and change the nature of things - starting with this book, Oz turns into the magical status-quo fairyland we know from other books. In fact the changing of rules even contradicts previous things established in the original texts - here notably, the fact all animals gain the ability of speech in fairylands contradicts how Toto was still barking like a regular dog during his first trip in Oz (and later Baum adding the rule of people being unable to die in Oz contradicts the fact that people actually die in the first Oz books). And it is quite a paradox that Baum prepared the terrain to expand the Oz books into a series (while his first two books were self-contained stories), but at the same time he is clearly getting a bit bored of Oz and thus tries to have a story set in another land, with Oz itself being just a secondary location for the book. This will announce the trend of the two following books, who have the same formula of "Exploration of other magical lands, with Oz being the end goal when everyone "returns home". In fact, it is quite funny to note that Oz originally was for Dorothy the "land she must escape from to return home", but in the following books it becomes "the land she must reach to end her journey".

#oz #what we know of oz #the land of oz #ozma of oz

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eldritch-muppetshow · 2 years ago

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so a while back some of my friends and i held a watch party for the muppets wizard of oz because i wanted to see if it really was as much of a trainwreck as a lot of people say it is. here is me finally documenting my thoughts

- the r&b opening number has made a home in my brain and will live there forever because i had to listen to it repeatedly when i was trying to get the movie set up

- this movie is weirdly horny for a muppets production. and i know the muppets have made plenty of risqué jokes before, but it was pretty uncomfortable to experience in this adaptation of a children’s story

- miss piggy plays all three witches, which could be funny but the movie takes this plot point weirdly seriously and it never really makes any jokes about it

- there’s a moment where dorothy has to carry toto (played by pepe instead of a muppet dog, he’s not even dressed up like a dog he’s just pepe), but ig his puppet is p fragile because dorothy carries him like (to paraphrase my thoughts on the matter) “he’s delicate groceries instead of her beloved pet”

- gonzo/tin thing is the best part of this movie, because he’s gonzo and he’s got a pretty cool puppet design

- this movie features its own original music instead of anything from more popular oz adaptations, but the only two i can remember are “the witch is in the house” (because it’s the catchiest song in the movie, fight me on this) and the opening song

- there’s a scene where johnny fiama and sal are supposed to be parodying apathetic film directors but (because they’re trying to film dorothy getting her feet cut off for the slippers) accidentally come across like they’re making a snuff film. what made this even more awkward is that this was at least one of my friends’ introduction to them as characters.

- a crowd of muppets beats up/tramples scooter for no good reason

- the poppy fields are replaced by a nightclub that serves drugs. i’m only barely exaggerating for comedic effect

- there’s a cameo from quentin tarantino that comes right the fuck out of nowhere and implies that this movie is all an in-universe movie pitch. it never comes up again.

- tbh the most fun i had while watching this movie was playing “spot the obscure/rarely-used muppet”

- oh i almost forgot the part where kermit and gonzo get dismembered. they’re fine because they’re the scarecrow and the tin man, but it was horrifying to watch even when i knew to expect it

#shitpost #muppets #the muppets #n//sfw #drugs cw #ask to tag.

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lserver362reviews · 1 year ago

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Previous review:

The amount that I could take off this score, because I don't think it's perfect (certain Gerwig-isms that grind my gears are present), are so slim that it really doesn't affect the overall 5 stars out of 5! This movie was made for me! I've been a Barbie-head for the majority of my life, and an existentialist. Phenomenal casting, music, set design, direction, and themes. I don't think this movie quite found equilibrium but the fact that it touched me and entertained the hell out of me is enough. I could go on and on but I won't! Ryan Gosling is a gift. This is the Maximalist film of the year (Elvis taking 2022's title)!! (& That's my doctor!)

Update:

This really is even better on a rewatch! Everything that hit me as off-putting or took me out of the first viewing went down easy on the second go. The feminist rant Gloria goes on to existential crisis stereotypical Barbie felt really natural and I appreciated how this is actually how people talk. It hit different for whatever reason, and this audience in the packed theater broke out in snaps for that part which surprised me. Maybe I was just being susceptible to the very thing they point out, which is that once you name something you can engage with it better. It doesn't make contradiction go away but it can shift your framework. I still teared up at the first sight of Ruth Handler, who in my first viewing I figured that was her, but I did wonder for a moment if, based sewing machine, it was Carol Spencer. I'm not sure why seeing Barbie interact with Ruth hits me so deeply but it really does. I first learned about Ruth and her daughter Barbara, and formally about Barbie, as an 8th grader for some social studies project. I hated projects and my teacher basically suggested that the conclusion of my project was that Barbie warped girls self-image. He didn't know he was talking to a day one Barbie defender. I think it hits me as the perfect reverence to motherhood, but also as reverence to having a creator (cue Nearer my God to Thee) to walk with. I think my existentialism will always fall to religious or spiritual thinking. What was also special about this viewing is that I went with my mom, which sometimes her reactions to things just crack me up. I'm glad she really really liked it and came away saying how it was funny and fun, but she did miss P.J. (her coveted doll) and Stacie. She also said that one doesn't have to be so serious about this film. (Sorry mom for the rest of this review!) The other day, after my first watch I tweeted, "It cannot be understated: the phenomenal job @lizzo's work on #BarbieTheMovie does to bring us into the world, to set the tone, to set us up for the story ahead. All the music was so well used (ty Mark Ronson) but the fact that it was Lizzo who brought me into it was everything." I still stand by this point and a second watch only made me notice more fantastic music cues and just how much Billie Eilish's What Was I Made For? is used. What a beautiful theme for this film. Once again I wear my undergrad philosophy hat by recognizing the Nietzschean "Yes" Barbie utters after grounding herself in feeling and thereby channeling her existence as a human. Barbie becomes the ubermensch. I really wish that I could teach a feminism and philosophy class with this as the primary text. I think there's also much of the messaging of the Wizard of Oz in that scene where Ruth Handler is a mix of The Wizard and the Good Witch Glinda, helping Barbie to realize that what she wants, and where she belongs, is deep within herself already. She's ready to leave a fantastical place because she loves her humanity and own soul that experiences all that makes life alive. It's very Dorothy Gale and a character that I'm deeply touched by. Barbie loves humanity, she wants to embrace her agency, just like all of us. In the wise words of FrankNFurter from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, "Don't dream it, be it" (or something more contemporary, Top Gun: Maverick, "don't think, just do"). Ken also learns that all he really needs is to decipher what he's feeling, communicate it, and know that he's (K)enough. Ryan Gosling really just knocked it all the way out of the park with this role. The Ken dance number on the sound stage makes me think of the way dance is used in Footloose and how a good dance in an abandoned warehouse can really clear the mind and heart. This is a deeply humanist film delivered to us in the most maximalist way. For that, I give Barbie the Maximalist Film of 2023 Award. This award is given in my head and past winners are Elvis (2022). To quote Harry Styles, "You know, my favorite thing about the movie is, like, it feels like a movie. It feels like a real, like, you know, 'go to the theater' film movie."

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stew-chan · 2 years ago

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Prologue Days 1, 2, & 3!

this is my first time playing through the bonus stories they added in so the first 4 days were all new to me :) This weekend we got booked by a company for their anniversary which Dana tells you about minutes before you open. And the first company man to greet you?

dog company! they can talk through their collars that translate their thoughts and they all wear tuxes! Jill (the main character you play as) really doesnt like them but these guys had me smiling all weekend :)

i also really love their names. they can speak but theyre still dogs and their owners apparently love to give them unique names. heres some of the good ones.

(theres also a wyvern lover too but i apparently forgot to get a pic of him?? )

theres a bunch of them and they kinda pop in between talks with customers. speaking of which we get to meet our first person on day one.

This is Deal! He's one of the sentient robot race called Lilim. theyre fully sentient AI that are treated just like organic people but they have their own unique culture involving how they age/mature and their differences from humans that come up from being machines. Deal is their designated driver for the night so only non-alcoholic drinks for him for now.

we also get to meet Dorothy! but only for a little bit :( she's back later in the main story so no worries :)

one big thing i noticed is that the prologue days assume you've played the main game because theres no hand holding on drink mechanics like mixing vs blending and BIG drinks or making two drinks or vague "gimme something sparkly" all on day 1 alone. its not hard if you know how the systems work but if you dont you'll probably blunder through a lot of these but its ok because theres no money or anything in these bonus stories.

day 2 we meet the other humanoid at the dog toy company.

this is betty. she's the company vet and very tired. Betty is usually seen with Deal and the two of them make a really great pair. Betty likes to complain and be tired. seeing her by herself always feels a little weird.

day 2 is short. we chat with betty a little and more dogs.

hey yall :) typing this up a bit late but I had time this weekend to start the day by day play through of va11halla back on the 9th! As of today when im starting this post (12/12) the Anna Demo is complete and the main game starts tomorrow so I'll try my best to post up my thoughts of the prologue and anna demo in one chunk since they all take place before the main game.

the game has been out a few years now but if you care about spoilers feel free to block this post. ill tag it #va11halla2022

#va11halla2022 #ill finish up day 3 later typing these up and snipping the screenshots took longer than i thought and its bedtime :')

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sys-garden · 3 years ago

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Here are some Gender bent Tintin designs! This was super fun to do since I love history and I love fashion so looking up the History of Fashion was just *chief’s kiss* I also got to practice drawing from a reference without tracing and alot of these drawings came out really good and simliar to my refs (maybe you recongize what reference photos i was using!). Im Gonna explain the choices under the keep reading

For anyone curious Tintin’s designn was based off roaring 20s fashion since tintin in the land of the soviets was published in 1929 and the most dated aspect of tintin’s orginal design is the plus fours pants that came into popularity in the 20s. Luckily the fashions of the 20s woman were perfect for the type of tintin i wanted, Boyish, free spirited and feminist. Tintin does strive for a respectful but practical look, showing that they are simultaneously the most polite and unhinged people to exist and neither misogyny or concusions will stop them from saving the day. The masculine aspect of the boyishness of 20s fashion shows that Tintin’s open mindedness and strive for change while also exploring gender as a lesbian since I ship haddotin and being sapphic gives you a interesting relationship to gender when so much of feminity is centered around men and your life isn’t centered on men. And the youthful aspect of the 20s fashion shows a carefree spirit and connects to how the youthfulness of tintin made him such a beloved character and relatable character for children despite being an adult. the exceptions to the 1920s fashion were the tintin inspired by tintin’s new 70s look in tintin and the picaros on the top right and the tintin to the left of it inspired by this one drawing herge made of tintin where he was wearing 1680s clothing.

For fem Haddock I didn’t deviate much from their original design because I wanted her to have a Butch and more mature energy which the mainstream fashions of the 30s and 20s didn’t have. When designing her I was inspired by lesbian director Dorothy Arzner, photos from lesbian bar Le monocle and a drawing for a lesbian focused issue of an old french magazine (I espeically took infleunce from the picture when designing haddocks’ formal wear)

For the side character I think Chang is the one I’m most proud of, they came out so cute, giving off a humble gracefulness that is true to chang’s character. I was inspired by 1930s women’s fashion in china, after the loser clothes of the 20s the 30s went back to clothes that huged the curves and showed off femininity a bit more and this applies to the qipao in china, when fashion trends pass and are replaced with something new they often are replaced with something that is the opposite of the trend they are replacing. So Chang’s more feminine tight fitting clothes are almost opposite of tintin’s boyish loose clothes and I love the opposite attracts look it creates between them. But Chang’s adventous spirit is still shown in the modernity of their clothes, the striped textile made easily possible by modern texile manufacturing techniques and the knitted cardigan combinding western aspects to a tradtional chinese outfit. It shows that although Chang is a bit more sentitive than tintin they share the same open mindness and taste for new experiences while visually telling a story of China history when it comes to modernity that was visible in the fashions of the Chinese women of the time.

For Abdullah I was inspired by the fashion and modesty expectations of Saudi Arabia since Khemed is suppose to border the red sea so I guessed by that and a panel in Tintin in the land of black gold that features a woman that Khemed was possibly based on Saudi Arabia. Girls don’t tradtionally start wearing modesty clothing until puberty But since some people do hit puberty at nine years old (like i did (isn’t it interesting that abdullah is one of the only characters with a spefic age he is 9 years old) I drew Abdullah in a Niqab and Abaya, Alot of Abayas are plain black but I added some simple geometric shapes to it to add a sense of nobility (hey this kid can afford patterns and other colors) without being ostentatious about being nobility. Abdullah is a very expressive character but the niqab covers most of the face I tried to show in body langauge and eyes that abdullah is a kid that will ruin your day and laugh about it. I don’t get to draw muslim characters alot so this was great practice for future character designs!

Men’s fashion isn’t as diverse as women’s fashion especially back then because toxic masculinity is like “men can’t have fun” but I decided to subvert that for Bianca’s design. Bianca’s design is probably the 3rd design i’m most proud of because I wasn’t even planning on doing it because I thought it would be boring. But I decided to look at the classic fit fitting with lose pant legs tuxedo’s of the 1930s and spice it up with color of Bianca’s classic dress and jewerlly. Even as a man Bianca would be dramatic and want to stand out from the crowd so while many men were turning to more simple clothes and still wearing boring colors Bianca would try flaunt wealth and personailty where ever they went.

You know how Caclulus’ design is basically just scientist Auguste Piccard? While for this design I decided to make their design basically just Marie Curie but with caclulus’ classic color scheme and trying to keep the shape of caclulus’ original shape. Caclulus’ original outfit doesn’t quite fit into the fashion of the time with being just a tad too formal and too bright. And the marie curie inspired dress does give this caclulus a vibe of being an eccentric older person as he did before, and the hairstyle also gives calculus a vibe of not only being too busy to care if their hair is out of place, but also not caring if other people think their hair is out of place or if other people think they dress weirdly. Calculus is smart, eccentric, unhinged, and free from social anxiety and I hope I communicated that with this design.

Nestor was simply inspired by a tradtional maid outfit with the added yellow stripes as seen on nestor’s orignial design. And their the only character I added makeup on because the simple eye and mouth design of most of the male characters made putting makeup on them feel weird. But since Nestor has this eye design that is hooded I felt comfortable adding black eyeshadow to the ensamble.

Thompson and Thomson were difficult because I couldn’t look at female cops of the time to be inspired by because there were none. But I decided since this is before cops had uniforms so they just had to buy simple cheap clothes to wear on the job (such as a black suit) I wanted to go with a simple black and white outfit inspired by 1930s fashion. I also had to not make them too fashionable because I wanted them to have a older vibe to them and make it so they look really simliar but there is something keeping them apart. I decided on wide long collar, a belt for a more form fitting outfit, long skirts, bell shaped sleeves, a classic slouch hat and short wavy hair for aspects of 1930s fashion to intergate into their outfits and I made the dresses soild color as many afternoon dresses at the time where, making them acturate to the times but luckly the fashion trends did give them the mature vibe I wanted since 1930s fashion seemed to go mature and feminine where the 1920s were young and boyish. I decided to make the dominate color white instead of black because something in my character design brain was like “if thats way too much black in this outfit” but im still debating if that was a good choice. The things to tell these two apart is that one has glasses, the other doesnt and one has a curl at the ear the curls inward and the other one has a curl that curls outward...though I’m not sure which one I made thompson and which one is thomson

#thank u if u read through my fashion ramblings #the adventures of tintin #adventures of tintin #tintin #fem! tintin #genderbent #captain haddock #thomson and thompson #dupont et dupond #chang #chang chong-chen #tchang tchong-jen #Abdullah #bianca castafiore #nestor #haddotin

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sayaberry · 3 years ago

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finished magireco s3 and while i liveblogged it on my twitter i tried to summarize my thoughts here if you didn’t want to scroll through that (spoilers under the cut obvs)

the good:

they actively fixed the hospital tiro backstory so it not only flows better (ex: instead of alina showing up randomly when ui was turning into a witch she showed up bc she was hunting down kyubey bc he kept info from her) but it actually makes more sense now

animation was solid as per usual

speaking of animation the new transformations? great

i liked how even after remembering the whole truth touka and nemu still went ahead with their plan in order to save ui/iroha specifically, i think this was more in character for them compared to in game where they stopped the entire plan once they remembered

the mifuyu scene was really well done and thematically perfect for her character, as she is based on the bird catcher from galactic railroad, so what better way to showcase that by her saving the “birds” (magical girls) she lured into her “net” (magius) by “turning them into candy” (purifying them/giving them hope)

the stuff with mitama as well was really good too

OH and the rena/kaede stuff was great i love how rena finally found the words to tell kaede what she means to her (only took 3 seasons lol)

SPIN OFF CAMEOS I ACTUALLY YELLED SEEING TART AND KAZUMI

kuroe’s witch design is cool

i liked the speech iroha had with her doppel about hope (although i do wish anime iroha had more of game iroha’s development carried over as its less impactful, i don’t think its bad which is why im putting it here but i think it could've been better if she had it tbh)

i got my karin cameo :)

“NEO DOROTHY MOTHERFUCKER”

i was so absolutely right about godoka cameo-ing wow

the bad:

kuroe im so fucking sorry but im also not very surprised you got done dirty for what was ultimately sub-par character development for iroha

no seriously why was kuroe even THERE?? was her character only there for this moment of angst for iroha?? if so then wowww

why is momoko dead. no actually why tho. mifuyu i understand that i saw coming from like s1 but momoko??? why

why did alina’s plan change. like what was the point

i cannot believe they went ahead and killed the hospital trio, like touka and nemu i get BUT also ui?? wow

they kept holy alina (well. kinda) but no magical artist ost my biggest F

homura gets so screwed over in the end like actually tho im making another post about this (edit: i made the post here)

the ???:

touka is just like that bc she doom scrolls on twitter too much, incredible writing decision

“I AM THE RAGE OF MAGICAL GIRLS” bby ur 12 with a god complex

i find it extremely funny how now every spin off has been acknowledged before different story (excluding comedy spin offs and wraith arc for obvs reasons) what kinda monkey paw bs is this

given the final shots of the show im assuming that the anime is supposed to be the ‘bad’ end while the game timeline is the ‘true/good’ end? if this was the intention then props to shaft for having the balls to try and execute it (prob couldve been done better considering all the jp fans i saw giving out magireco app download links LMAO)

what the hell is going on with iroha at the end of the series no actually tho (EDIT: NEARLY 2 MONTHS LATER HERE IT IS)

#magia record #magireco spoilers

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kosmikowboj · 3 years ago

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somehow managed to finish the first prompt for @spnprideweek before the day was over! I wish this could’ve been longer but alas, I have awful time management. it was still fun to write tho--it’s my first time ever writing Mary’s character, let alone from her POV, and I had a good time :,)

day 1: coming out / flags

friends of dorothy

[read on AO3; word count: 900ish]

Mary didn’t expect things to be how she had left them.

She couldn’t, not when she had been gone so long—decades, written clearly in the lines creasing her child’s face. Soft cheeks she had once pinched between her fingers had solidified into a square jaw, completed by a half-frown set stubbornly into a five o-clock shadow. One of the first things she’d noticed was how little Dean seems to smile now, softening only in the presence of the Biblical angel that has apparently taken root in their bunker. Sam and Dean had seemed to think that would be the part that threw her off the most—the angel named Castiel who lives with them and likes to critique the Food Network—but if she lets her mind go enough, that part makes the most sense. She knows what a life of hunting does to someone, and she also knows how much it means to have someone to hunt with.

Looking at the designer bags under Dean’s eyes, she can only hope Castiel is a better “with” than John was.

The eyes shift as Dean casts an uneasy glance in her direction, swallowing, and it’s then Mary realizes she’s been blatantly scrutinizing him for the past several minutes.

“Take a picture,” he says. “It’ll last longer.”

She sighs, swinging her gaze to look back out the window. On the insistence of Castiel, she’s accompanying Dean to the grocery store, and awkward silence has marked the entirety of their journey thus far. It doesn’t help that she knows she wasn't Dean’s first choice of company; he had wanted to take the angel, to no one’s surprise, but Castiel had insisted he spend some time with his mother to “work things out.” Then he had handed Dean a post-it note that simply read “macaroni with cheese.”

“Look, De—Dean,” she corrects, wincing internally, “when I last saw you, you were four years old and had pigtails. I need some time to adjust.”

“You can adjust without starin’ at me like I’m a two-headed cow.”

“I’m not—”

“You are.”

Mary lets out a dramatic huff and turns back towards Dean, who is staring pointedly at the road. “Can you give me at least a little credit? It’s not like I’m not trying. Between the angel in your TV room and the fact that the 80s are long over, I’ve just been dealing with a lot.”

Dean lets out a slow, heavy sigh, guiding the car through a turn before finally saying, “I know, mom. I know.”

The awkward silence settles again, thick and stifling over the leather upholstery. It almost feels like it could stick, and Mary searches desperately for something to bond over, a sliver of anything that would make this easier. She worries a particular thought back and forth before deciding to chance it, breaking the stillness again.

“Can I ask a different question?”

Dean looks at her warily.

“Go ahead.”

“Are you a homosexual? Is that related at all?”

Dean chokes on his own spit, face going bright red as he struggles to get his breathing under control. As the hacking ebbs, he manages to rasp, “What?”

“You and Castiel. I figured there must be...something.”

“He’s just a friend, ma,” Dean chuckles out half-heartedly, but Mary clocks him immediately. She knows she doesn’t have particularly sharp mothering instincts—she never did, and with her kids suddenly in their late thirties she’s even more out of her depth—but there’s something in the careful lilt of his voice that gives him away even to her.

“Cheryl a few houses down was ‘just a friend,’ too,” she muses, watching as the trees outside fall away and are replaced with fields. The soft, strangled sound next to her makes it clear the implication isn’t lost on Dean, and she turns her gaze back to him. “It’s difficult for me, to understand. To have died with a daughter and be resurrected with a son. But what’s even more difficult for me to understand is how you could possibly think ‘just friends’ look at each other like that.”

“I’m not sure I like this line of interrogation much better,” Dean mutters, cheeks flushing. “So, what, you’re a lesbian?”

Mary laughs at that, shaking her head. “I see you get your tact from me. Or lack thereof.”

“You brought it up.”

“You’re trying to change the subject.” Beat. “I don’t know. I did really like Cheryl. More than I ever…” Mary swallows, looking down at her lap where she’s fidgeting with the fabric of her shirt. “It was complicated. I did like your father, of course I did, but—what I wanted, what I really wanted, didn’t exactly matter then.”

“It should’ve,” Dean says. “Matters now.”

Mary looks up at him, slightly stupified by the simplicity in his words, and smiles. “I suppose it does, doesn’t it? Well, I’ll tell you what: I’ll ask out a girl when you ask out your angel.” “Not happening,” he replies instantly, but there’s something about the relief in his shoulders that tells her he’s lying.

“Look, if I can somehow flirt my way up someone’s skirt before—”

“Aaand this conversation is over. Not talking about this with my mom.”

Mary laughs again. “I suppose at least some things stay the same. Though change...can be good too.”

For the first time since her return, Dean turns that soft smile on Mary.

“I can’t argue with that.”

#spnprideweek #my writing #this was so much fun i wanna write more mary #i have another mary ficlet planned for transnatural week let's see if i actually get it done haha #supernatural #spn #dean winchester #mary winchester #trans dean #bi dean #lesbian mary

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