#either way i liked it a lot. they made a point to specifically highlight it etc

[amelikos]

That scene in the new ep when Amethio's reaction was highlighted when Liko said she wouldn't give up.

[kianamaiart]

I just wanted to tell you that I love idwtbamg and am especially blown away by the character designs for aika and zira!!!!!! their colour palettes compliment each other really well and are soft while still having some contrast and I would love to know how you came up with the designs or if you don't feel like sharing that, your favourite parts of their designs and what you're most proud of? Good luck with the pilot, by the way!!! ^^

Aw thank you so much! Character design was initially what I wanted to do when entering the industry so I love whenever I'm able to do it~

I talk about my process for picking colors here a bit!

Design process under the cut (loooong post ahead)

Whenever I'm designing a cast of characters I always start with the main character and build off of them. I started specifically with Aika's normal girl design. I wanted a star theme, and the star hair was the first thing I knew I needed. With her hair being the most eye catching and important part of her design, I wanted to make sure whatever else she had going on wasn't gonna distract from it too much. So I went for a more top heavy, but simple look with a big tshirt, small black pants. Aika was initially fully blonde but the stark black pants was starting to pull the eye. That gave me the idea to use the stark black in her hair (for the bottom half)! Made her hair even more eye catching and highlighted the star pigtails in a nice way.

For her magical girl design, I wanted to make it feel over the top and overwhelming to contribute visually why Aika wouldn't want to be a magical girl. Big poofy dress, ribbons poking out everywhere for a crazy silhouette and tall, tall platforms. I also wanted to give her longer hair in this form so I went with goddess locs! I was able to do an easy shorthand with it (long thick strands with lil curls at the end) I like the kinda biblically accurate angel look she has. My favorite part of this design was the ribbons in her hair that make the star pigtails look like shooting stars heehee

With Zira I knew I wanted her to be opposite to Aika. So sticking with the space thing, I gave her a moon motif and that was my jumping off point. With Aika having high pigtails, I decided to give Zira low pigtails and give them a vaguely crescent shape (like crescent moons get it?). Continuing with the opposites thing, I wanted to make Zira's design bottom heavy as opposed to Aika's top heavy one, and also color-wise, go on the opposite side of the color wheel from yellow for its complimentary color, purple! I didn't want Zira to feel too stylish (she's a loser after all) but also didn't wanna make her design ugly. I tried toeing the line of out of style but lowkey trendy with the grungy skirt, jeans combo. Also went with the stark black shirt under the tshirt to lean harder into the 2000s look. On top of that it helped tie her design to Aika's more (this is where I decided the stark black was gonna be an essential part of the design language of this show). My favorite part of her design for me is the mangled ends of her pants. It's a small detail but I think it says a lot about her as a character (she drags her feet, she's a little careless, kinda messy, etc.)

Hoshi is star. There's not much more to their design haha. I did give them wings to mirror Aika's dress ribbons. With their human design though, I just knew I wanted to make sure that they'd be able to make a star shape with their silhouette. Thus the hoodie and stubby limbs. Gave them the stark black pants (again at this point, it's part of the design language of this show). I tossed around the idea of giving them eyes that matched more with Aika and Zira, but it just didn't look like Hoshi so I stuck with the same face in their star design and I just thought that was funny hehe. My favorite part of Hoshi's design is just the overall fact that I managed to make them look like a star in their human form still haha

Eclipse was the hardest design for me. You would not believe how long it took me to decide whether I wanted to make him a boy or a girl. Eclipse was also gonna be named Void (and DeVoid was gonna be Eclipse) but it didn't feel quite right. I knew I wanted him to ALSO be opposite from Aika, but in a different way that Zira is. Looking at it that way helped me land on the name Eclipse because I thought it'd be fun to give both Zira and him moon motifs (as Aika's love interest and alleged love interest respectively). Similar to Zira I wanted to have purple be in his design to contrast the yellow in Aika's design. Due to his name now being Eclipse, I figured going dark with his design would make the most sense but my friend/roommie Bri @/ghostbri (who is a professional painter/color designer) suggested going pastel instead and it worked perfectly. It matched his personality and also plays on the fact that he cares more about theatrics and aesthetics than actual villainy. He completely misses the point of being the servant of darkness. He's heavily inspired by Tuxedo Mask. I wanted to make it feel like he saw a cool character once in a tv show and he decided to make it his whole persona. So he's got the suit, he's got the cape and he's got the mask. My favorite part of his design is his cape, intended to also have a crescent moon shape but then also have that stark black on the inside so his silhouette really pops against it. It's funny bc it ended up being like a reverse eclipse where the light is blocking out the dark.

DeVoid was the easiest for me to come up with the design for LMAO. Like obviously. I wanted to make her feel slick but prickly but also slightly over the top like a lot of old school magical girl villains. I thought it'd be a difficult balance to strike but it actually wasn't too bad! I gave her a sort of form fitting cocktail dress and at this point the stark black was a must so it worked out that the "void" character would just be in that all black look. It really helped her feel slick like I wanted (also gave her the slicked back hair for this reason). To give her some edge, I gave her the giant pointy shoulder pads, giant pointy horns, pointy ears, sharp nails and bat wings! Oh also worth mentioning she's the one main cast character I didn't use Aika as a jumping off point for. I designed her to look good next to Eclipse since they'd be the ones interacting the most. I made her wings white to contrast with her black dress (opposite to how Eclipse has a black cape but then mostly white outfit). To ensure that her design wasn't too dark and that her arms would read against her body, I gave her those bright silver bracelets~ While her design was easy for me to come up with, my god figuring out what color to make her hair was killing me. Tbh I was avoiding pink/red like the plague. I didn't want her to look toooo much like Jessie Team Rocket LOL. I tried white, I tried purple, I tried a more pastel pink but none of them worked well in a lineup with the rest of the characters. Bri helped talked me through all this haha. Pink/red worked the best especially there was no pink/red in the entire lineup. The Jessie influence is still there but I feel like she looks different enough! Favorite part of her design is her big ass horns)

Finally Miss! Miss was an interesting case because I designed her as I was storyboarding the pilot. She was intended to be an incidental character that we'd only randomly see once in a while. She had a veeery generic teacher design in my first pass but then as I was hiring VAs I got the idea to cast Michele Knotz to play her and that was enough for my brain to start going and come up with a backstory for her and a role that could tie in with the rest of the cast in a more meaningful way. Because of this, I designed Miss to the voice I imagined Michele would use for her. She does a great groggy and tired voice so I gave her those tired eyes, she has a darker color palette, her posture's a little more sluggish, etc. Her design still felt bland in the board so I gave her a couple piercings which helped. But then! The stark black! I gave her the half dyed hair which worked phenomenally and is probably my favorite part of her design. It leans into the tired feel (too tired to dye her roots) and also was a nice way to get the black in her design without just having to give her black pants or a black shirt or something. I'd only figured out her color palette way later and after recording Michele. The VA announcement image was the first time I'd fully drawn and colored Miss. I went with green since there was no green in the lineup! Also green's my favorite color so I had to.

PHEW that's it! Hope it was an interesting read and look into my brain.

[zeichannnnn]

⚠️ In regards to the natlan controversy (and Sumeru by proxy)

Do NOT accuse people of being racist just because your skin colour cannot be found in a game. Learn to know that people don't live in the same situation as you.

Please read this fully for the reality of things I'm sorry for getting political, skip if you don't want to interact

I’m kinda sad at the fact that a lot of people are quick to hate, judge, and scrutinise Hoyo without understanding the situation.

With recent teaser of Natlan characters, people are rightfully upset at the fact that the characters shown to hail from Natlan… don’t exactly look the part. With characters lighter than my own skin tone (I’m a Chinese Southeast Asian by the way, heya) people are calling hoyo bullshit and accusing them of being a racist for failing time and time again at giving us characters with POC shades of skin. Now I’m not here to defend Mihoyo for their actions, or to tell you to stop being mad at the situation being the way they are. No, I’m here to shed you some light of how life is as a game company under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Xin Jin Ping (XJP cause I won’t be bothered to type his whole ass name)

I've highlighted points of each section

Any pages that requires translations, I recommend using DeepL instead of google translate because you can check the meanings of specific words and it's translation are better (imo)

Skip to the last part if you just want a summarised version

Before we get into the nitty gritty that is Genshin drama, I'll give you a run-down on what and how China works.

check the part "In relation to Genshin's design choices and how China's beauty standard influences it" if you want to go straight on to the point

People’s Republic of China

is a Unitary Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic. This means that China is under a one-party (Chinese Communist Party) rule with communism ideology on how they rule and govern the country and socialist standards for how they manage their economy and everything else. [.]

The CCP holds a very nationalistic view

[.] which is commonly used as propaganda [.] for them to garner either sympathy or control over the people of China. These nationalistic view, in its raw and most rudest form, simply states that Chinese people are pure by upholding traditional Chinese culture (that's not even traditionally Chinese, more or less more catered towards communism and the CCP's ideologies which are that they're great and everyone else is wrong) and not mixing themselves or tainting themselves with things that are not pure (i.e. anything that isn't Chinese, from China, belongs to China) This nationalistic views, which glorifies China and detests anything foreign (i.e. culture, language, people, etc.) have led to a lot of xenophobia being built and nurtured inside of China's society [1] [2] [3]

Aside from the CCP's nationalistic views,

China's society is very censored and monitored by the CCP

[.] Google, YouTube, or more specifically, the internet itself is heavily banned by the government, electing the people to use the CCP's private internet that allows them to be monitored 24/7 through IP location and private information. [1] [2] [3] [4] Aside from heavily monitored and controlled internet access, people in the real world are also actively being watched and monitored through CCTV with facial recognition features and an AI that can predict people's action (yes, exactly like the akasha, and yes, Sumeru arc is based on reality, I won't talk about it here but feel free to read between the lines and compare it with the sources and news articles I'm about to drop on you) [1] [2. Behind paywall] [3] [4] [5]

With its censorship in mind, let us talk about what brings us all here:

the gaming censorship in China.

In order for a game to be published in China, whether it's made by an indie or a multi-billion dollar company, the game has to go through a complicated preliminary test made and assigned by the CCP to play, test, and go through your game before publishing it anywhere in Chinese media [.] This test includes you company's paperwork, your game's paperwork, the things you're displaying in your game, and the story it's trying to tell. There are not that many rules on what should and should not appear inside of your game, such as: polyamory, the undead (in both graphic and non-graphic manner), etc. That should be considered tame and should cause no problem, however, we do have a problem with one of the rule given which is: Emphasizing Cultural Sensitivity.

Emphasizing Cultural Sensitivity

in the article I've mentioned before, describes it as "Games should impart “correct” information on politics, law, and history, as interpreted by the authorizing agency." Now what does "correct" information entail? Who fucking knows because truth is relative. Facts, when in the eyes of the CCP, are relative to what they believe is to be right and what they want us to believe is right.

Now with that out of the way, let us get into the main deal.

MiHoYo

(not to be confused with Hoyoverse/Cognosphere which is their international branch) is a is a Chinese video game development and publishing company, founded by three classmates from university Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei, and Luo Yuhao [.] That means that Genshin Impact's development, ever since it was at its infancy, first-established days, and updates until the near future, are all subjected onto that game censorship law that I mentioned earlier. Now you might all be wondering, what does all of those rules have to do with genshin characters having dark skins? To that I point you towards the fact that MiHoYo and the CCP are and have been actively working together ever since around September 2021. [1] [2]

Cooperation between MiHoYo and the CCP

Ever since Genshin Impact's massive hit both nationally and internationally, its massive fanbase has hit the internet no one has ever seen before. It is the first ever Chinese game that has gotten world wide acclaim and with that, new eyes begin to look upon China. It is no surprise to anyone that Genshin is very particular about showing and promoting Chinese culture to the outside world. Genshin has somehow become the face to Chinese culture in just a year, with limited events such as Lantern Rite and Moonchase festival to showcase China's cultural beauty. With world-wide acclaim comes a price, wherein the CCP no longer treats Genshin as "another game" but a tool that they can use to promote and advertise themselves into the global population.

Begin the censorship and micro-manipulation of things in Genshin

New gaming censorship dropped after the Genshin Impact became a hit in the industry, with even Venti and Gorou as examples of characters that should not appear in media published in China (effeminate man) [.] In additional to the list I've linked in the "the gaming censorship in China" section, a lot more additional rules have been added to that list, such as: queer representation, morally grey character, but I what I want you to look at more is the section where "historical elements, including characters, maps and clothing, should conform with mainstream accounts." in addition to that, a self-regulation pact was made between game companies and the CCP that bans any and all content that is deemed "politically harmful" and "historically nihilistic." Now focus more onto that "historically nihilistic" point, what does that mean?

Historical nihilism

is a term used by the CCP and many Chinese scholars to describe research or discussions deemed to contradict an official state version of history in a manner perceived to question or challenge the legitimacy of the CCP [.] TLDR; it's a term used for when what you're saying clashes or goes against what the CCP said. Why is this important you may ask? It's because that now, at this point, if anything Genshin does something—whether that'd be plotline, design etc.—that the CCP thinks shouldn't exist or be represented, they have the lawful right to block or stop it from reaching the final product. Now this, this is what happened to Genshin's Sumeru and Natlan cast.

In relation to Genshin's design choices and how China's beauty standard influences it

white has always been a predominant part of modern Chinese beauty culture, for some reason (I don't know and I'm not going to go that deep into it, research it on your own if you're curious) In fact, it's not only China but also Asian culture in general. White skin has always been hailed as pure and beautiful here in Asia, where the line "as pale as the moon" is a common compliment to give to someone. Skin colour that are tan or even darker are connected to being dirty or stinky. Despite the younger generation not really adhering to that view, the older generation (calling out the CCP here) upholds that standard till this day. Pin straight hair, round eyes, pale white skin, and a thin figure are the standards put upon those born as female. Their male counterpart are not that different, with lean and fit being the preferred body type rather than big muscles or bulky forms.

The reason behind why this is the case is because of Asia's strict social code in rules and appearances. We must appear prim and clean, that means no dyed hair, no tattoos, no piercings, and minimal make-up. Anyone that goes against those rules are regarded as delinquents or deviants that usually break the rules and do criminal activities (despite it not being the case) Having a bulky stature also applies to that list, regardless of what gender you are, and especially for men. You're regarded as dangerous, criminal, bad influence if you look like that in public (this is why we don't have that much bulky characters gang and why we were robbed of heavy muscles Itto orz) (he deffo was very bulky in the original design, probably similar to the Nobushi but it got nerfed in final product)

Given all of that in mind, it's no wonder that Sumeru's and and Natlan's casts are mostly white... but were they always that way?

The original skin colour design for Natlan cast might've been darker than what we have in the final product.

As a lot of people have mentioned (especially with the many beautiful edits I'm very fond of) the character designs for Natlan's new up-coming rosters looks better with darker skin tone. Take for examples this edit right here:

taken from @ rarepairz on twitter [source]

Their designs (with darker skin tones) seem to pop more, giving highlights onto their clothes and accessories in comparison to the original design. Here are more examples of this happening:

taken from @ Wabs_nabs on twitter [source]

It is especially clear to anyone with basic colour theory that the colour used for designing the clothes and accessories and highlights in the hair look better with darker skin colour. There is *intent* on making it this way in comparison to woeful ignorance of making them look white as hell. If they were to intentionally to make the characters look white, they would've chosen a better colour for the clothes, less bolder ones and eye-popping ones to contrast with the already luminescent light that's emitting from the skin.

And this is not the case for only Natlan, by the way! The same thing happened when the Sumeru cast was first leaked. Case in point this:

taken from @ animuswonder on twitter [source]

and my personal art of Cyno and Nari:

Look at how much contrast there is between their colour palette or how much resonance there is, with Cyno his more cold-colour attire and hair, in comparison to his deep dark warm skin or Tighnari that's the epitome of a "spring girl" like come on man. There's INTENT in those designs, to have more darker shades than they are in the game. Sadly, they just can't do it due to censorships. Why? Because, as I have mentioned before, darker shades of skin are represented as dirt here in Asia as we glorify pale skin more.

The representation of uniqueness and differences in Chinese game is not common due the fact that most Asian countries are homogenous, which means they prefer everyone and everything to be the same, to look the same, and follow and do the same things. They do not advocate for uniqueness, they do not advocate for individuality, they advocate for us to conform and to follow like a sheep in a herd. Because of that, most people spend their whole life trying to whiten up their skin, keeping them light, and those who are darker than most are shown prejudiced and scrutinised.

Mentioning again the fact that MiHoYo and the CCP are working closely together, Genshin Impact is currently being used as a cultural weapon by the government. With MiHoYo showing numerous time that they've donate and support Chinese cultural heritage, the CCP is using that fact and holding control over Genshin as a way to promote and advertise sympathy towards Chinese culture and the Communist regime by proxy. It's like how your parents are getting you to eat broccoli brownies in hopes that you'd eat normal broccolis and other vegetables by proxy. Everything and anything that Genshin shows in its game are now under close inspections of the CCP and colourism especially will not fly-by their radar.

In conclusion

Your anger and hatred towards the new characters’ designs are justified, however the person you aim those anger and hatred should not be towards Mihoyo, or Liu Wei, or any of the staff members but towards the situation and the laws and the local government MiHoYo has to adhere to.

We're already lucky to have MiHoYo even wanting to represent and shpw different cultures from different parts of the world, telling us engaging stories, and incentivising us to think more and to be be more of us instead of following the crowd and to judge those in power (if you are literate and have the ability of a 6th grader, you know the theme Genshin Impact is showing in its story). In a world where they aren't able to live as freely as people outside of mainland do, they shouldn't have to put their life at risk by creating a game that goes against the CCP's laws that will lead to a deduction to their social points (yes, those actually exist, WAKE UP). Yet they do, they update every month, telling stories, creating characters with many characteristics that goes against Chinese gaming laws, just for us to enjoy.

Do NOT accuse people of being racist just because your skin colour cannot be found in a game. Learn to know that people don't live in the same situation as you.

You are right to be mad, you are right to be upset, but do not condemn them for something they hold no power to. It's between their lives and your fantasies and if you choose to value your delusion over their livelihood then that just shows what kind of a person you are.

Where's this conviction towards other game companies aside from MiHoYo? Where's the rightful air when it comes to companies that breathe much fresher air? Do they not have the same responsibility? Or is it because you actually do not care and merely want to point your unbridled emotions towards something or someone? If so, you're pointing at the wrong person.

[daylighted]

hey guys! i’d like to start this off by saying that with this, i am not trying to seek sympathy or pity. never once has me speaking out about this been for either of those things, but for the fact that i’m genuinely scared at this point and for good reason. not just for myself, but for anyone that has gotten wrapped up in the web that is smarties’s absolute madness. also throughout this, i will not be referring to them by name, because it is a known fact that they stalk their own tag & their name, and especially my account itself. if you want to know who, there is a link in my pinned with the name and the details. i am also not putting tags on this.

there have been a lot of things regarding smarties since the last time i had to talk about them. in the time since, they have been spreading misinformation about me, placing blame onto me for all of their wrongdoings, still stealing my ideas and the people closest to me’s ideas, harassing others in their attempt to make them believe them & earn their loyalty, taking no accountability, and has been unable to keep my name out of their mouth for even a second.

i apologize if this is all over the place and incoherent, but like i said, it's reached a point where it's really gotten me afraid. people close to smarties have confirmed that they have been obsessed with me, and that is the catalyst in all of this. this is not something that i didn't know, but hearing it from people that used to be close to them & making it feel that much more real is a completely different thing than worrying over the possibility.

i started this blog five months ago. four of those five months i have spent at the center of a stalking campaign, something that stemmed because i did not sit back and let an account bigger than me at the time take my ideas and try and play them off as their own. there have been three accounts made by smarties to do this: the main, the first throwaway with a different identity called bella-andthe-ball or some variation like this (it's been deleted since christmas, so there is no way for me to look it up), lillisrambles (also deleted), & the iamresponsibl3, now also deleted. the first, they had changed their user and their name in an attempt to escape the bed that they made for themselves, the second was made to specifically seek out my group (they only liked our posts, sent some of us asks, and only followed a few of us, all blatantly evident when you went to that account), lillisrambles which was pretty much was used the same way as the previous, and the fourth was made in an attempt to divert the blame from themselves by making another cover-up story regarding the "hacker."

the hacker story, which is entirely falsified, before iamresponsibl3, was that smarties cut all times from the friend that allegedly did all of the harassment. and then the blog was made, and the story was that smarties met up with said "ex-friend" to force them to sit down, make an entire throwaway blog, and apologize. this makes zero sense logically, especially after smarties said that they cut ties from this friend, so there would be no way that a friend smarties dropped would want to meet up and be "forced to make a blog to make a public apology" on a site they used, allegedly, only for a month to harass me. please keep in mind that never once have i gotten a personal apology. it has all been publicized, clearly with the intent for people to look at them and be like, "look! i apologized! can you guys like me again?" if the hacker story was real, why wouldn't smarties have made them just come directly to those who they hurt instead of publicizing it and victimizing themselves further? none of us knew about that account's existence until some anon (who was probably smarties themselves) sent me the link asking if i'd seen it, which of course i hadn't, because i wasn't even tagged in an apology allegedly made for me. i am not even bringing this up because i want one, but to highlight the fact that all of these charades have been an attempt to persuade the public.

nothing smarties has said or done has been out of the goodness of their heart or their genuine guilt. it has all been to try and clear the name that they soiled themselves. this is evident in the fact that every chance they get, they are fabricating a story about how me and my friends are the ones not letting it go. none of us have said shit since my last post. they are the one going into their friends' & moots' dms making up lies about "some people i was involved with in a hacker incident" and how we "STILL haven't let it go." for some reason, it seems to be a common consensus that i want this to happen, and that i am dragging this out to personally attack smarties, as if i have even thought about smarties at all in this time frame except for the things they keep bringing up. this all keeps me up at night, knowing that there is someone so adamantly praying on my downfall that they are spreading lies to every person, EVERY PERSON, they interact with about me & watching my every move to copy what i make & do in an attempt to be me. please keep in mind that everything smarties said to the person whose messages were quoted in this was unprovoked, and simply after a quick "hi, how are you" exchange.

again, all of this is stuff that i have managed on my own, though it's not stuff that i want to be dealing with, i have been. i bring all of this up now to try and highlight the danger of this person, because things have progressed beyond what i said in my previous posts on this, and into more scary territory. i am not naming anyone in this, like i haven't before, because i am the one smarties has issue with, and the last thing i want is for other people to endure any of their harassment like i have. they are innocent and victims too. people have come forward to me many times about the weird & deranged behavior they have experienced in interactions with smarties, but the most recent one i've gotten is so much worse than anything has been yet, which is terrifying that not only is smarties undeterred, but they are willing to change their identity again to someone six years younger than themselves in an attempt to breach my friend group, starting with a lot of you.

the person who came forward revealed to me a second blog that smarties made to "get out of this toxic place everyone put [them] in." thinking this was just another refresher of their current blog, just moved to a new location, the person said okay if that was what smarties wanted to do, but instead, smarties made an entire account with a new identity. the account is br!akin!dish!es without the exclamations, but again, i am trying to keep from having this attached to me more than it already has to be. on there, smarties is pretending to be a nineteen year old person from ireland, six years younger than their actual age. this is terrifying on its own, but it is made even more scary when you realize that they have already reached some of you through their posted fics, that some of you have liked. i have reached out to a good bit personally to warn you, but there are far too many that i follow that have interacted with it, and are none the wiser to this manipulation they are trying to successfully pull. smarties has sent asks to others pretending to be this new person disconnected from themselves, and when confronted with the discomfort this brought on to the friend, smarties promised to abandon the blog because it "made [them] feel bad being there," and yet has been consistently active.

none of this is said as a call-out, but a warning. i have never once cared if anyone believes smarties over me, because it's never been something about "sides" or "teams" to me. this is just me spreading information about a terrifying harrassment & stalking campaign that i've been enduring, and trying to warn people about what this person is capable of.

i urge all of you to please take this into consideration. people that thought smarties were a friend and gave them loyalty are victims, too, and i've never blamed those people ever for what smarties has put them through, and i still don't. i can do nothing to make people see the manipulation in front of them, and it's not my job to try and convince them. all i can do is spread the information that i know and hope that it saves people from the same harassment and obsessive behavior that i have endured.

and to the people who say that this is "just fanfiction," you are right - and that is why it is so scary. all of this started over fanfiction, and has progressed to this. that is the point i am trying to make. this started because this person tried to get away with copying something i made word for word, and when confronted, it snowballed very quickly in a four month span to all of this. so yes, it is just fanfiction, and that is why all of this needs to come to an end. i cannot be scared off of my own blog no matter how many attempts are made to make me, but that does not mean i should have to sit back and let all of this happen to me, which is why i'm coming out again at all. please take caution with the people you let into your bubbles, and let this act as a warning that if someone seems too nice or something seems off and you can't place it, to trust your gut instincts, because it's probably right.

[felassan]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard info compilation Post 5

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

[There are also a series of 'lil snippets' posts where I was just chucking together bits and pieces that I saw at other times: one, two, three, four, five, six]

Post is under a cut due to length.

There is a lot of information coming out right now about DA:TV from many different sources. This post is just an effort to compile as much as I can in one place, in case that helps anyone. Sources for where the information came from have been included. Where I am linking to a social media user’s post, the person is either a dev, a Dragon Age community council member or other person who has had a sneak peek at and/or played the game. nb, this post is more of a ‘info that came out in snippets from articles and social media posts’ collection rather than a ‘regurgitating the information on the official website or writing out what happened in the trailer/gameplay reveal’ post. The post is broken down into headings on various topics. A few points are repeated under multiple headings where relevant. Where I am speculating without a source, I have clearly demarcated this. if you notice any mistakes in this post, please tell me.

For notes in here on community council things in particular, I recommend to listen to the vid directly, it's always better hearing things first-hand ^^

Character Creation

"The diverse body and gender options make it an industry leader by a signifcant margin" [source]

"BioWare was keen to highlight the hair strand technology that looked very similar to that seen in FIFA and EA FC, also made under EA's roof" [source]

"Fine tuning sliders that allowed for microscopic adjustments of nose angles, it was clear that a lot of options exist to get the smallest possible body parts exactly right" [source]

"There's no specific genital customisation to be oversold as CDPR did but, much like Saints Row, there is an option for bulge customisation" [source]

Pronoun choice, gender identity, body type, and voice choice are 4 separate options, not tied together [source]

Height is customised on a slider [source]

Size is customized on a triangle like in Saints Row: the 'points' are fat, slim and muscular [source]

The different lighting options are 4 different settings: clean, bright, dim, sunset [source]

In CC you can also try out what Rook looks like in their starting rags, in typical mid-game armor, and some level 50 gear (class appropriate for each one) [source]

There's a way for you to modify your character's look once the game has started if you want to make some tweaks [source: the official Discord]

You can be any class and choose any backstory/faction, any race, any gender [source]

Story and lore

On meeting Neve in the opening, if Rook chooses to say the positive dialogue option (I think this is the thumbs up one, "You rescued yourself, I see") they say something like, "It looks like you're doing pretty well by yourself huh?" [source]

According to someone who played the game at SGF, the game has a Mass Effect 2 Suicide Mission feel to it [source]

The Shadow Dragons are kind of an anti-Venatori faction, sort of. [source] A freedom force. [source]

The Mourn Watch are kind of like the police for the Grand Necropolis [source]

The Veil Jumpers are kind of like weird magical investigators, weird magical nerds [source]

The moment right after the gameplay video ends is 👀❗❗...? [source]

On the timeskip, the Community Council were told that they were going to make it about the same amount of time in-game as the amount of time that passed in real life from the time most people would have last played DA:I [source]

Rook's faction is also referenced outside of the intro segment of the game [source]

In the gameplay reveal video that we saw, some of the Evanuris statue assets at Solas' ritual site are doubled up in error, i.e. some of them have the wrong heads. This is not supposed to be the case, they are supposed to each have a different head (bear in mind this was an early build and isn't the final build of the game) [source]

Characters, companions, romance

Go [here] to see some DA:TV doodles of the characters that a dev drew this year and last year. :> the hidden doodle is a version of Rook, hidden as they have not yet shown any of the possible hairstyles for Rook outside of the gameplay reveal video. [source]

It is Lucanis who has the purple wings [source]

His name is pronounced "Loo-khan-ess Day-ah-MORT-ey" [source]

Lucanis is hands-down "the sole dumpster fire of the crew". Mary "wrote him specifically to be a bisexual disaster of a human. You're welcome." [source]

As a name 'Rook' is closer to 'Inquisitor' than 'Hawke' [source]

The Community Council highly requested there to be 4 voices for Rook. They kept bringing it up [source] (there are 4 voices for Rook)

The Solas face model has been tweaked "a hundred times" [source]

Gameplay, presentation, performance etc

Rook can jump [source: the official Discord]

Rook can sprint [source: the official Discord]

Warrior gameplay (or at least one build of this) involves doing the right parry timing to lead to a certain attack [source]

Warriors have a dropkick ability, enemies can be dropkicked off cliffs using this [source]

According to someone who played the game at SGF said that the game ran smoothly and didn't have any bugs [source]

Companions can have an ability that heals Rook even when they are not mages [source]

Sword and shield warrior's ranged skill is like, boomeranging their shield over there [source]

In terms of the 'the game isn't open world, it's mission-based' stuff, it could be likened to Trespasser in this regard [source]

The first time the Community Council played, they asked if there is a photomode. BioWare said no, and the Council were like 'aw that really sucks, we really wanted one'. The next time that they went to play it, BioWare introduced them to a dev and said "Okay, we have photo mode, all thanks to this guy". "So there is one particular dev we all need to be kissing the feet of" because he figured out photo mode. [source] [nb, more on the Photo Mode situation here]

The current build of the game is not the final build of the game. A few things are currently being vigorously worked on [source]

Other

Someone who played the game at SGF was told that all of the choices and consequences were in the game, and that basically the team are just polishing things up right now [source]

The number of community members on the Community Council is in the double digits and they are from all walks of life. They don't have any contracts which say that they can only say positive things; they can be as negative as they want about DA media. Not every member of the council has said publicly that they were part of the group, there is nothing mandating them to do so [source]. They have not played the full game [source] and they tested it on consoles [source]. A lot of them ended up liking the gameplay [source]. They played some of the main story but they don't know how it ends. At one point they did three days of playtesting from like 9am-4pm daily. "I liked the quality, I liked what was going on, I was very invested. I did have some worries from the first playtest that were completely resolved in the second". "If you are someone who is into the story, I think we're safe, in the clear, I think we're okay. What I saw, I was really enjoying, I'm really excited about" [source]

The name change also surprised the community council. They aren't keen on the 'the'. There are a lot of things that they said to BioWare which, sometimes things just cannot change as it's too late. [source]

They did not see the finished game trailer before it released, and at that time it might have had a different song in it. They fed back that the version of the trailer that they saw was fine (what they saw was a bit different) [source]

BioWare have data on the percentage of people who used tactical view in DA:I and it's in the single digits [source]

Upkeep of the The Keep is a lot and it goes down like once a month. There have been times when it was down for weeks at a time [source]

[gamerbot-22]

Whenever you have time, and of course if you’re comfortable, I’d love to hear some yandere headcanons for Trigun characters!

And if you want my help 👁️👄👁️ you know where to find me

Oooo this is so exciting! I had my first time writing Intentional Tsundere a little while ago, and now we got Baby's First Yandere Rodeo!

Trigun Characters as Yanderes

TW/CWs: Yandere (but you knew that already <3), mentions of stalking, no explicit details about any damage done to "the competition,” maybe a bit OOC but fuck it this is the space we ball in, Nai talks some shit in a backhanded compliment way, written with no specific versions of these characters in mind, barely proofread but I appreciate spellchecks!

Characters included: Vash the Stampede, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, Millions Knives/Nai

A/N: Please let me know if this is any good! I've been spinning the yandere concept in my mind for a good while, being someone who already adores a protective LI, but I've never actually kicked back and played in the space outside of a few concepts with you lol. And I feel very clever for using a GIF of flowers in a vase for this instead of a field to highlight the possessive/protectiveness of our lovely subjects towards their Darling <3 Also, I have some suggested listening for this post, if you so choose :3c

Likes and Reblogs appreciated, Requests are Open, and it’s all under the cut!

The dividers in this post were made by @/strangergraphics ☆

🥀 Vash the Stampede

Oh honey. Oh baby. The clingiest yandere out there. Like you’re never more than a couple feet away from each other at all times.

And I do mean all times. Vash likes keeping tabs on his Mayfly. I do think he tries to be like… “polite” about the stalking keeping tabs, but however you slice it it’s still an invasion.

Like you’ll think you’ve said goodbye for the night and will go to sleep on your own but he’s already in the process of scaling the nearest building so he can watch you through the window.

You’re just so cute and he knows you aren’t going to be around forever so he wants to make the most of the time you do have. Ain’t that sweet?

He still holds to his no-killing rule and generally tries not to hurt anyone, but oh god, does he feel like it sometimes.

Like if you’re traveling with him and you catch a stray? Even if it just grazes you or doesn’t hit you at all, there’s a dark part of him that, for the briefest of seconds, considers sending a bullet of his own right back. See how they like it, huh?

But no. He doesn’t give in like that. Besides, if your attacker was dead, there would be no way to spread the word about the Stampede’s Darling, would they? They have to know you’re off limits! That you’re protected! That if anyone comes close to hurting a hair on your precious head again, everyone will know why Vash is called a Stampede.

🍭 Nicholas D. Wolfwood

Okay so Vash is decent at covering for himself. Wolfwood is too but it’s in. A different way?

Vash will fall over himself with excuses. Wolfwood makes it sound like he has a point. And to an extent, he does. He knows better than most just how goddamn dangerous Gunsmoke is if you’re not ready at every single moment to fight for your life. And he’s lost enough.

You don’t get the illusion of privacy here. It’s like you’ve got a leash on him, keeping him at least five feet from you at any given moment.

And he looms over you, regardless of the height difference (The Punisher makes up for it anyways,) staring down anyone who looks at you for even a second too long.

He insists you share rooms when you stay at inns, and if you’re slumming it out in the desert, he’s either in the same tent or has his right next to you all night. He insists on keeping watch, too. Big guard dog energy.

A lot of the danger comes from him, he knows that, but he can make it up to you more than twice over if you’d just let him. He’s good for it. You’ve seen him fight.

Hell, he can be gentle too. He’s not used to it, but he can learn. For you. If you ask. If you’re patient. And you should be, because again, look at all he’s done for you. Because of you.

🔪 Millions Knives/Nai

Oh you’re not allowed to do. Anything. Like even a little bit I don’t think—

Like if we’re gonna play in this space of Nai being a yandere, you look me dead in my fucking eyes and tell me he doesn’t treat you like some china doll he wants to keep perched by his piano at all times.

He pampers you but it’s very much part of like. A flex in a weird way? Like the doll thing is barely a simile, he idolizes you so hard that you best keep your mouth shut for risk of disappointing him.

But don’t you dare think he neglects you. You’re always in finery, and you’ll never want for anything. And if you’re ever bored, he’s more than happy to play you music. And he even has a little shelf of books for you to read!

He talks about how his Darling is almost entirely perfect. You’re the closest thing to an angel a human could possibly be. Your spirit is too divine for your body! If only you weren’t so fragile as to break if he tried to free you.

If anyone so much as looks at you for too long he gets very defensive. His most devoted followers know to avert their gaze, and newcomers learn fast or are never seen again.

Honestly, he should be grateful. Those with wandering eyes… they’ll make good offerings for Good Doctor Conrad’s experiments.

[noxiatoxia]

I don't know if this is common knowledge, but Komaeda's talent in Japanese is not "Ultimate Lucky Student". It is "Ultimate Good Fortune" (or good luck).

I know the word "lucky" has connotations with being good luck, but "luck" itself seems neutral to me at least.

I think the fact Komaeda is praised for, and has his talent be centered on, his good fortune is a very important nuance. People only see the good that happens to him. People keep telling him what happens to him is "good luck". His parents dying and getting kidnapped end up being called "good luck" in the end. I think this reinforces his pattern of thought more than people just saying he has extraordinary luck (good and bad). It's a minor difference, but it adds a lot. I have been thinking about this for a little bit now.

Because of the fact it is good luck specifically, I wanted to find parts where Komaeda specifically talks about bad luck. Lines such as "my awful luck/dreadful luck..." doesn't make much sense in the context of his Japanese talent. It made me wonder if those English lines even existed or if it was a "Luke, I am your father" situation. I don't have either the English or Japanese script memorized.

I checked the Freetime Events because of this, and found an interesting thing. There's a number of mistranslations, or simply translation choices I don't really agree with.

The freetime events heavily misrepresent how often Komaeda uses the word "luck". He uses both 不幸 and 不運 an equal amount I'd say. Maybe the former more. The former means "misery" "sorrow" or "misfortune". The latter means "bad luck" or "ill-fortune".

Likewise, 幸運 means good luck, but it also means good fortune. It's the word used in his talent as I described above.

Now, that's not to say I think Komaeda's "talent" should not be referred to as luck, nor am I saying he should never use the word luck. I think good and bad luck is a perfectly apt English word to describe his experiences. I just think the English translation overuses it. It wouldn't have killed them to make him say "isn't that just awful" or "what a tragedy, right?" instead of "isn't that such bad luck?" every conceivable moment. Maybe I'm just nit picky.

Now, onto the free time events. I want to talk about them.

I'll be talking about them in order as they appear. Also, I am only going to talk about the 3rd event onward, after Komaeda's chapter 1 reveal.

Freetime event 3

A minor nitpick, but "friends" is not the word I'd use here. It's true you can translate it that way, but considering everything else about Komaeda, at this point in the game, he wouldn't readily call Hinata his friend. Especially considering the connotations that holds for him.

That's precisely likely why he, in fact, doesn't say "friend" in the Japanese text. He uses 仲間 which like I said, while can and does translate as friend when used in that way, it just means people of a common thread. Like, a group, I guess.

My TL:

Because we both share the common goal of seeking out hope!

Freetime event 4

This is a really bad translation IMO. Hope is never said once in the original dialogue. I don't know why they put it there.

My TL:

Hinata: It's pretty ironic that you got wrapped up in this shitshow considering your "Ultimate Good Luck". Komaeda: It's not ironic at all! This is no doubt just the beginning of the good things to come my way! Komaeda: Um, let's just say the "good luck" I was born with is a little less straightforward [than the name would suggest]... Komaeda: once this is all over, I'll be rewarded with good fortune of the highest caliber.

And though this next one isn't much of a "mistranslation", I want to offer an alternative translation that highlights my criticism of "overusing the words good/bad luck".

My TL:

Komaeda: The greater the misfortune I experience before hand...the greater the good that comes my way afterwards! It completely cancels out everything before it!

Freetime event 5

I sadly cannot find in-game pictures of this since it's one of the wrong dialogue choices, so here's the script file text for it instead (sorry)

I remembered this line in English specifically because I always thought it sounded weird for Komaeda to say - "It's rare to hear you give such a half-assed answer".

While not a mistranslation totally, I think the tone is a bit off.

I would write it more as, "Ah ha ha! That's quite the answer, Hinata-kun!"

It literally translates as "for Hinata-kun, that is a very suitable answer!" but it's clearly supposed to be teasing/sarcastic. So he means to say "oh, wow, Hinata-kun, you're answering with that?" but in a lighthearted tone.

Freetime event 6

Almost didn't include this because it's the mistranslation we all know and hate, but it's worth mentioning in case people don't know.

My TL:

Please, just one last thing...don't ever forget...that from the bottom of my heart, I love y...I love your hope that sleep dormant inside you.

Though he does just say "please, don't forget", he uses どうか which is a pretty polite turn of phrase for Komaeda. It also is a way to emphasize a request, as in please do this to the benefit of me.

He backtracks pretty heavily. The verb comes at the end in Japanese sentences, so giving an exact one-to-one would be hard, but I'll try to explain it.

ボクはキミを... キミの中に眠る希望を心から愛していると。

Boku wa Kimi wo... Kimi no naka ni nemuru kibou wo koko kara aishiteiru to.

の/no = possessive. Such as, "Lucy's cat" "David's car".

を/wo = verb particle. There's no real English equivalent but you use it to signify some verb is being done onto something. Such as, "I kicked the ball" ("ball wo kick") or "I pet the cat" ("cat wo pet").

は/wa = topic particle. Commonly translates as "is/am" but that is NOT what it means. It just signifies everything that comes after it relates back to what comes before it. It's most accurate to think it as "as for the topic of..." Such as, "my damaged car wa had to go into the repair shop." After wa, "had to go into the repair shop", you ask, "what had to go into the repair shop?" you can find the answer in the topic, which is before wa: my damaged car. (or... me no damaged car.)

So, with this knowledge, let's break down the sentence.

Boku = I/me.

Kimi = you.

So this would make Boku wa Kimi wo in it's most literal form: as for the topic of me (aka, speaking for me), I, onto you...

Then he trails off. wo becomes no.

I, onto your hope sleeping inside of you...

and then we return to wo:

from the bottom of (one's) heart, love [the hope sleeping inside of you].

One could easily see it as Komaeda quickly changing the wo to no to add extra steps to not make the confession so head-on. Because if we remove everything after no and just continue where the wo leaves off, we get:

Boku wa Kimi wo koko kara aishiteiru to.

As for me, I, from the bottom of my heart, love you.

Now...one could also read it as him not backtracking, but adding. Saying I love you and the hope that lies dormant within you. Both are equally plausible. Listening to the audio it can go either way, but the way he quickly and softly drops off when he gets to the first wo makes me feel like it's a backtrack. Or maybe the background music is just too loud haha.

Well, that's all I got for now.

[lu-is-not-ok]

Any particular thoughts on Fanghunt Hong Lu?

Yes, one very specific thought in fact.

Fanghunt Hong Lu is the most violent Hong Lu ID we have had thus far, being one that not only revels in violence like Tingtang Hong Lu or Hook Hong Lu, but also one that is actively shown torturing his victims in some genuinely stomach churning ways.

He is also the one Hong Lu ID which, while mentioning his Family, is one that doubts the very nature of what a family even is the most clearly.

This, to me, highlights a very noticeable pattern among Hong Lu's IDs.

When a Hong Lu ID is shown to be actively under his Family's control, he's either completely uninterested in violence (such as Liu) or so bored with the role he's forced into that violence is the only way he's able to push back against that boredom (K Corp and W Corp).

On the other hand, a Hong Lu ID that seems to be heavily disconnected from his Family is often one that is actively enjoying the violence he inflicts and is notably kind of fucking unhinged (Tingtang and Hook).

Fanghunt Hong Lu adds another nuance to that spectrum, being an ID that still has contact with his Family, but one who isn't specifically in a position chosen by them and who is led to doubting what a family even is by his experiences.

He shows us a possible outcome of a Hong Lu who has to actually reckon with reality and doubt what he knows about his circumstances, and the results are not pretty. After all, like I said earlier, Fanghunt Hong Lu is the most violent and most hate-filled Hong Lu we've seen up to now. He pulls out a guy's fucking teeth one by one for fuck's sake.

...And this made me think a bit. We actually have quite a few Hong Lu IDs with a Wrath Sin Affinity by now. However, Fanghunt Hong Lu is only the second we have with a Wrath Skill 3. The other one being, of course, Liu Hong Lu.

Both Hong Lu IDs with a Wrath Skill 3 seem to be to some extent aware of something being wrong regarding their Family, in very different ways that lead them into reacting to it very differently.

Liu Hong Lu seems to be aware of the fact he has no real control over what happens when he's under his Family's watchful eye, leading him into being the least violent Hong Lu of them all. He's aware of what his Family is doing to him, but he's unaware of it being abnormal.

On the other hand, Fanghunt Hong Lu seems to be unaware of the specific horrors of his Family. Rather, he's become aware that Family itself is a concept that he can't quite understand. He's seen Bloodfiends who abandon their previous families to be with their new Bloodfiend families, and it's a point of focus for him. What even is a real family?

...This, I think, is where Liu and Fanghunt Hong Lu differ the most. Liu Hong Lu knows he's being hurt, but he doesn't see any way out, that it's just how things are supposed to be, so he simply tries to live through it.

Meanwhile, though Fanghunt Hong Lu doesn't have that piece of the puzzle, he does have a different one - the seed of an idea that he could escape. Proof that one's "Real" Family doesn't have to remain their only family. He just doesn't yet realize what he'd want to escape from, so he channels the feelings he's experiencing because of that information against the immediate source of it. Instead of using that idea to free himself, he directs his anger towards those that actually tried it and succeeded.

I don't mean to keep pushing my "Hong Lu will go apeshit in Canto 8" idea, but like... The more info we get about him, the more likely that possibility becomes. After all, Fanghunt Hong Lu is a clear example of the fact that a Hong Lu aware of an escape route from one's Family could become extremely violent. That added onto the potential of Lorenzo's story told by the Priest being a parallel to Hong Lu, and the fact that the Sapling of Light Hong Lu is likely going to parallel is Chesed... It's all a lot.

[letters-of-libertas]

Building confidence as a conventionally unattractive woman part 2 [with context]

In the first part I spoke about why it's important to build confidence as a conventionally unattractive woman & briefly touched on why low confidence can be caused and this post will focus on how to build confidence despite being conventionally unattractive that goes beyond ✨️just glow up✨️

Summary here

Know that this is going to be an uphill battle, saddle up partner - this wont be overnight work and will require consistency.

Speaking of battles, learn to pick the worthy ones - confidence is not about fighting everything & being the big girl. Sometimes the most confident (+ beneficial & safest) thing you can do is leave people in their delusion, their words don't determine you.

Carve a safe loving environment/space for yourself - Tough but most crucial advice here. When you're younger you have less control over your environment but as an adult you have slightly more control over where & who you want to be around. Gravitate to spaces that see you beyond your looks, stay away from negative places/people. Contrary to popular belief, strength & confidence doesn't always come from abusive environments but loving, safe, and secure environments. You're used to a level of standard so you're not going to be willing to accept less. Being in spaces where you're loved, defended, and appreciated can improve your confidence. You wont take shit knowing it doesn't have to be that way. I remember seeing a reddit post on a guy who tries making this attractive woman feel bad bc she wont date him. He brought cookies to an event & didn't give her any to make her feel left out but other people offered her some & she refused. This only made him feel worse. Bullying & toxicity only thrive in environments that allow it so if you're in a place with high amounts of negativity - find another place or build your own. There are always options.

There are always options - Following from the above. Know that there's always alternatives. Other people, other places, other environments, another choice, etc. Dont feel chained to a specific place, easier said than done but keep it in mind you dont have to take crap from places. Give yourself permission to explore.

Work on coming to terms with trauma you've endured due to your looks - Learn to handle your trauma either by therapy or another means because your trauma is going to keep interfering with your life when you least expect it.

Come to terms with being unattractive - If you own it, it can't effectively be weaponised against you. Traits of confident people isn't that they're perfect but they own their shit & know others aren't perfect either.

Learn to do things on your own/upskill - before the community commies come after me like iTs NaTuRe tO fOrM cOmMuNiTy; 1. I address a lot of this in this post but I'll highlight one point which is that whether you like it or not you're not going to have community. You're not going to receive support anyways. Dont waste time on others, focus on yourself. You only have yourself so give yourself what you can.

Be comfortable being the villain - Dont aim to be liked or disliked, have a purpose; stand for something and focus on that instead. Other people don't have to understand you anyways. It sucks but people will view your actions in a bad light (opposite to the halo effect) no matter what you do so own your shit instead.

Understand the impacts - The world aint kind to many but it's especially cruel if you're deemed conventionally unattractive. Know the impacts of this (such as more of your actions being perceived negatively) so you can navigate them better.

Be less apologetic - Truth is, when you're physically ugly all of your actions will be seen in a bad light no matter what. Made a mistake? Got a partner? Helped someone good? Did something good? Got an achievement? Got a good job? It will be seen as negative anyways and at some point with this constant negativity some will feel apologetic about their very existence. Instead, don't be apologetic & turn the spotlight back to them. You did xyz, so what? They can shut up & stay seething.

Learn to be witty - Many people are going to try and humble you or start shit with you even as you mind your own business. You'll be more confident when you're able to own your shit & shut others down.

Be adaptable - Being able to wing it & wade through situations will boost your confidence. Most things in life aren't planned, the more you're able to adapt the better you'll get at handling thing which can improve your confidence.

Accept & realise some most things are out of your control - this sucks but can also be an advantage. You can do everything right, have powerful cards and still lose. However you can also do everything wrong and still win. This takes me to the next point.

Learn to detach - Tying yourself too close to things or people leads to dependency which leads to anxiety. Learn to do things without attaching yourself too much. Do things for a higher purpose than the individual or just purely for the hell of it. Get used to doing things (either positive or negative) without attaching yourself to the outcome.

Dont take things personal - 9/10 times people will treat you based on factors you cant control. This isn't to say to not feel a type of way about how people treat you feel but try not to internalise it. Internalising it only knocks your confidence down. It sucks but it is what it is.

Find a source of strength & confidence - This will be your answer to why you SHOULD be confident. Why you should speak up. Why you should put yourself out there if you want. Why you should be okay when you get push back, etc.

Be okay with silence. Pause - You dont have to respond to or acknowledge everything especially if it doesn't serve you.

Study & mirror traits of confident people - Self explanatory, fake it till you make it & doing this will point you in the right direction.

You don't have to always justify yourself - This is important to bear in mind cause when you're conventionally unattractive your actions will always be seen in a bad light. It doesn't matter what good you do it's the opposite of the halo effect. When you dont care to be defensive & justify your actions, people have less ammo against you. Over explaining and trying to make people understand will do more harm than good. If people want to understand you they will, if not they wont & nothing you do will help.

Focus on the now over what was or could be - Mindfulness gets a lot of hate but a degree of it is honestly helpful for some situations.

Turn the spotlight back on others - As mentioned nobody is perfect anyways. If it comes to it, dont justify yourself focus on others instead. Take the focus away from whatever they're trying to highlight on you. I remember when a woman posted on twitter & people came for her size, she obliterated them by insulting their life circumstances over justifying her size. After this happened with a couple selfies she posted, trolls greatly reduced.

Move with purpose - Have focus and deprioritise the rest. When you have no solid concrete purpose you're prone to caring about everything including irrelevant stuff.

Own your shit (even if you're wrong) - People can tell when you're not confident & will take advantage of that in most cases. Also learn how to present a confident fromt until your confidence actually improves.

[sunnycitymac]

omg idk if uve posted an explanation for transmasc chase but if u havent id LOVE to hear?!?!?! im trans and i love house so :3:3

I've never made an explanation, but here's my list of headcanons:

as for my explanation, I believe he struggles with his masculinity in a uniquely transmasc way. People that headcanon him as transfemme will notably say that he's "performing gender", overcompensating to portray a sense of masculinity that he doesn't feel internally. But I disagree (for one, he's not hypermasculine in any sense that could be construed as a performance). This is because he has to actively work to be perceived in a masculine manner, and be treated as a man within the structure of the society he lives in, which would almost always come automatically if he were cis (again, he's white, "straight", well off in the beginning of the series, and able bodied. these aspects should put him at an advantage he clearly doesn't have). While there aren't any particular examples, you can clearly tell that characters like House, Wilson, and Foreman really aren't being perceived in whatever way Chase is. He's almost treated like a woman in the context of the series, particularly by House. He's always being described as "pretty" (by everyone) and a lot of House's jabs come from this perception. And this is clearly something he's uncomfortable with. I believe if he were to be a closeted transfemme this would either ease into comfort or become more uncomfortable around season 6 when he does become much more visually masculine (buzz cut, stubble, etc). While he was in no means comfortable at this point (Cause, you know), it clearly isn't discomfort in his identity, it's the natural discomfort of being freshly divorced from a whirlwind marriage. His relationship with Cameron also highlights his transmasculinity. Obviously, Cameron has her dead ex husband. Chase struggles with the fact that Cameron will never view him in the same way as she did her ex husband, like he'll never be the same to her or even enough to her. Especially enough as a man. I think the choice to show Cameron's attachment to her ex through his sperm specifically is a very interesting choice. There's the easy route of going "haha get it he doesn't have his own sperm", which is valid, but sperm and using it to produce children was something that at the time was largely unique to men and traditional masculine gender roles. Showing Cameron keeping her ex's sperm not only conveys that she wouldn't view him as a good and adequate husband, but more specifically as a good and adequate man, which puts a serious strain on their relationship. The show could have just as easily used something else, like a ring, and would be just as cinematic. The choice of sperm specifcally is interesting to me. And killing Dibala, which leads Cameron to end their relationship, was another example of Chase's relationship with masculinity. Dibala tells Chase, who is clearly uncomfortable around him, that "real men stand up for their values", which leads to Chase killing him. And this still isn't enough for Cameron. His relationship with his father is another signifier of his gender. Clearly, his father doesn't view him as a son, going so far as to cut him out of the will. And his religious trauma again gives him a uniquely transmasc vibe, but I can't put my finger on it.

And I hate to bring this into it because I believe you don't need to look a certain way to be a gender, but yeah, he does have some pretty feminine traits physically (soft hair, baby face). But these traits do slowly disappear throughout the show, signifying him going further into his transition (although in reality Jesse Spencer is a cis man and this is just the natural aging process, however Chase is meant to be a few years older than Spencer). Also, Jesse Spencer is transphobic and headcanoning him as transmasc is, to me at least, a great way to reclaim the character, and I view it as fitting much better into the storyline and his character than him being transfemme (I do believe that only a small portion of the fandom actually does view him as a cis man). So yeah. I didn't mean to go on a total yapathon, nor did I mean to invalidate or be malicious to anyone with a different opinion. These are just my thoughts on the subject.

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

I've occasionally come across the opinion that Bad Batch is lacking in character development because there isn't significant "tension" between all the main characters - to be more specific, when people sharing this opinion give examples of what could have been done better, the examples seem to boil down to thinking Hunter and Echo and Tech and Wrecker and even Omega all should have butted heads more often, and because they didn't there wasn't much in the way of character growth.

While increased tension and conflict between all the CF99 members certainly could have been used as a way to drive development and could have made for some interesting dynamics/storylines, I don't think this narrative direction would have improved the story or the character growth (probably wouldn't have made it worse on balance, either, just different).

In my opinion, the fact that the squad is and largely remains such a tight-knit, cohesive group of brothers is CRUCIAL in highlighting both the depth of Crosshair's betrayal and explaining why the majority of the group sticks together in the aftermath of the war. Not only that, but the fact that the brothers DO generally get along so well together despite occasional spats/bickering and differences of opinion ultimately reveals a lot about their individual traits and personalities and loyalties.

Take, for example, the minor tension we are shown between Tech and Wrecker in "Aftermath" during the battle simulation. Wrecker moans about hand signals, Tech points out that Wrecker should memorize them, Wrecker says Tech should do it himself, Tech says he already has (duh). Now, this argument very well could have escalated, ending with Wrecker feeling hurt and angry for Tech belittling him and Tech being irritated that Wrecker apparently won't push himself to know something as critically important as hand signals; but it doesn't. Instead, Tech explains the plan in terms Wrecker will understand, Wrecker instantly is on board, and the battle is won with no grudges being held or even alluded to thereafter. Not only does this show how professional the squad is in battle, but also shows that off the battlefield Tech and Wrecker, opposites of each other in so many ways, both love each other enough and are both low-drama enough that they don't allow these personality differences to drag down their relationship. The same principles of using the characters' synergy/cooperation instead of conflict to highlight their personalities and growth apply to Hunter/Echo, Hunter/Wrecker, Tech/Echo... The list goes on.

Now, I do believe the show could have afforded to be much more explicit about the impact Crosshair's departure had on the squad, which would have helped make some characterization and development more apparent - the hints are there, but they tend to be TOO subtle. And don't get me started on how Tech's fall was handled (that will likely always be a sore spot for me, especially since it is such a glaring oversight in an otherwise brilliant story). But I don't think the story would have been "better" if the impact of events such as Crosshair's betrayal and Tech's sacrifice had involved the squad becoming dysfunctional, fighting amongst themselves more often, and falling further apart as a family.

Basically, I think the show establishing Clone Force 99 as a squad/family who, despite the odds, actually finds a way to work together (generally speaking) and help each other and respect each other's decisions even when they disagree serves as an excellent way to emphasize the growth that comes from all the other conflicts they have to navigate.

[cosalphonse]

i recently was gifted some 03 merch that i haven’t seen online and wanted to share! the two artworks on the left are somewhat transparent, i’m not sure what they’re intended to be but they are super cute! and i’m going to share some photos of the character collection below the cut - this will be a little long and photo-heavy! and disclaimer, i don’t have a scanner nor can i read japanese, so i’m just going to be sharing the pages most visually / conceptually interesting to me

our boy ed gets several pages dedicated to him, no surprise, but i really like this little collage of images with the episode numbers displayed. it also includes the iconic “love is love” thumbs up which is funny to me

al similarly gets a lot of pages dedicated to him, but this one stuck out to me as a cute comedic page - i wonder if the little red and yellow text bubbles under ed and al in the middle of the page are what they say in the scene or something original?

i really loved this collage in winry’s section! it highlights her outfits and, just like ed’s, gives us screenshots with episode numbers behind her

riza’s section has an entire page on her relationship with black hayate, which i just found delightful. i love that they include the crude sketch of him as the little thumbnail for the section lol

interestingly, hughes' section ends with this all-red page focused entirely on his death. this made me wonder, what do the book creators consider spoilers? they don't exactly shy away from the more spoilery characters later on and they pretty much document nina's story in its entirety, yet at the same time we don't get a lot of information about hoenheim, envy, or ANYTHING about the other side of the gate. so what's the cutoff here? the last ten episodes? either way, i just found it interesting

my girl sheska gets two whole pages dedicated to her! that's more than breda, havoc, maria ross, and most of the homunculi. good for her.

while i can't read what this says, i found it interesting that they put dante and lyra's pages together. i don't know if they give away the twist, but either way, they clearly knew what they were doing - even if the excuse is that they put lyra with dante since she studies under her

scar gets two whole pages!! DESERVED!! i love that they include so much of his story, especially his relationship with his brother and lust

speaking of, lust is the only homunculus to get a two page spread! they even gave us some scarlust crumbs....

just wanted to include pictures of the 03-original homunculi, it's interesting that they were put together! and once again, this brings up my questions of "what is considered spoilers"

rose also gets a two page spread!

and possibly most baffling is... CLARA gets a two page spread too? for a character who only shows up in one episode this is mind boggling to me. a lot of the 03 original characters get small highlights - archer, the tringhams, etc - but clara gets the largest spot. maybe her episode was more popular while this was being made, or the creators just really liked her, idk

well, those are all of the points of interest i wanted to highlight! if anyone has any suggestions on what they want me to share - specific characters, index information, or anything else - feel free to send me an ask! i'll put all the information under the tag #03 character collection

[morganski-19]

The Buck and Tommy break up scene

I think this scene was telling in a lot of ways, specifically about Tommy's character. This is just one part of my thoughts, mainly analyzing what Tommy said in the conversation and how that hurt Buck. I'll be doing another post about what Buck said in the conversation, and what that means for him.

Tommy knew that this relationship with Buck had an end date. He knew that this relationship wasn't going to go anywhere other than heartbreak, so why go into it at all? In that speech he gave Buck, it sounded like he knew, no matter what, there was no way he was going to be what Buck wanted. What Buck was going to choose to be with forever. And I think in that moment, when Buck asked him to move in with him, he knew that he had to take the mask off.

I think this is really complicated, and shows that both Tommy and Buck were kind of deluding themselves that this could work. In that scene at the restaurant, we see how little they know each other. Tommy gets Buck Lakers tickets, a sport that Buck doesn't even like. And Buck doesn't get Tommy anything, because he wasn't expecting anything either. It just shows how they were on different pages, and highlights their incompatibility.

Then there was the Abby reveal, which brings back a lot of feeling for Buck, making him spiral. Making him do something big and impulsive. And making Tommy realize that he can't keep going in a relationship he knows is going to end.

He decides to hurt Buck before Buck could hurt him. But, in doing that, he never gave Buck the chance to prove him wrong.

It's also very telling in the way Tommy addresses Buck. He has exclusively used Evan in reference to Buck, even though the audience knows that Buck does not identify with that name. There are only select people that can use that name, and even they use it sparingly. So, in his final goodbye, Tommy addresses Buck as Buck. He finally recognizes who Buck is, and that he isn't this image he had in his mind.

However, it further shows just how much Tommy doesn't know Buck. He thinks that Buck is in this because it's new and exciting. And while that is true, it's not the whole of it. Buck has admitted to caring about Tommy, about being attracted to him, and about wanting to make this work. He's doing what he thinks he needs to in order to make it work, and instead of recognizing that and talking about it with Buck, Tommy leaves.

It mirrors how Abby left so much. Abby left Buck with the promise that she was coming back. Tommy stayed even knowing that it had an expiration date. They strung him along until they could make him the bad guy. Him the reason it didn't work out.

If Tommy had even a little faith that this relationship with Buck could work out, he would have went about it in a very different way. He would have still declined the invitation to move in, because it was way too soon, and have a mature conversation about his fears. About Buck's fears. They would talk about it, and move on together.

But instead, he got insecure and left without giving Buck the chance to explain himself. To defend himself.

It further shows just how incompatible this relationship was, and why it needed to end.

(Also, that comment he made at Abby was super misogynistic, and in turn further proves that he hasn't changed that much as a person. I think a lot of people are mad that Buck wasn't the one to break up with Tommy, especially after this comment, is justified. However, a point to consider, Buck is the living breathing walking definition of wearing rose-colored glasses. He's ignored many red flags in his dating history.)

[skydigiblogs]

Digimon and Nostalgia

i have a habit of just kind of passing by in the tags sometimes even when i'm quiet, and i'm realizing i don't know how much i've talked about the thought behind why we decided to revisit digimon last february from start to finish.

okay so fair warning, this is gonna be rambly and a little bit semi-incoherent because i feel like absolute dogshit today but the brain worms on the subject aren't leaving me alone to rest.

i am putting it under a read more for all our sanity

so there's this category of post i always see in the tags that seems to come from a place of either not engaging with enough digimon media or not engaging with the media.

that first one is a bit easier to explain. sometimes people will talk about things they want to see in the digimon franchise, and it's kind of clear that they have a very narrow scope of what they've actually seen from it.

i'm trying to think of an example that doesn't put recent posts i've seen on blast lmao (because that's not the point of this post), but also i think some of the points brought up by this post by @starwardking (pardon the tag) highlight the complexity of the first kind of issue, because it both is and isn't the kind of problem that can be fixed by just finding the right digimon media.

when i saw this post, my first instinct was to point to series like savers and appmon, where a majority of the plot takes place in the human world and allows for a lot of mundane shenanigans. i also think a bit about the earlier episodes of tamers.

(i think to some extent ghost game has a bit of domestic life shit going on, but seeing as it is also a horror anime, part of it is about the dissonance between "Normal for Digimon" and "Normal for Humans." but you also get episodes about little hideaways digimon live in in the human world so they can drink tea and share snacks. you also have digimon that just hang out in libraries and shit like that.)

at the same time, this is also an issue i think that isn't fixed by finding the right digimon media. the comparison to pokemon is what makes me consider this, specifically because of something like pokemon amie. it may have just been a minigame, but it's also something that, especially in the video games, i don't think we have a clear parallel to. i do agree that it would be nice to enjoy a bit of domestic fluff with your digimon!

but then i also recognize that i myself have also skipped over games where i could tell there would be some of that. i couldn't finish survive because it has elements i just can't handle either playing or watching. what i do remember in survive is that you have quite a few scenes early on in the school that are about resource management (figuring out how to digimon survive, as it were). this is done while you're also chatting with your human and digimon friends.

which i think segues better into the second kind of issue, being that sometimes i see these posts and they come from an angle where it seems someone hasn't exactly made an effort to engage with digimon as it is. there's a phenomenal video essay by deep dive on youtube, actually, that talks about this with regards to ghost game.

on the most abstract level, are you trying to be cognizant of your biases going into a piece of art when you take it in? what experiences make it difficult to engage with the text in a way that it wants you to engage? can you even see what the text is trying to say, even if it's ineffectual?

this is also why i wanted to tie this in with the reason i decided to make a blog to track my revisiting of all the different series.

nostalgia is killer, and not in a good way.

one of the things we regularly do with media we enjoy enough to praise is revisit it. if it's been over a year since i've watched something and i am trying to hype it up to someone, i want to not rely on my own memory, but also the text of that individual piece of art.

the second form of this issue comes about when an individual has an Idea about digimon, and they post with a very firm stance on what digimon is or is not. it's a retreading i think of the same reason anyone is willing to not consider appmon part of the digimon franchise (despite the "digimon universe" title).

again: what are your biases coming into a piece of art? do you have certain ideas about what digimon is supposed to look like? do you refuse to give other digimon media a fair chance because of it?

this form is more likely to get me to just block someone so i don't have to keep scrolling past them in the tags tbh. there's a mixture of "it was better in the old days" combined with a blatant lack of media literacy when "attempting" to engage with newer digimon media. you see this in a lot of franchises, to be fair, but it is always frustrating.

like i could also be biased because of my own background, being that i have an english degree, but there's something so... disappointing, i suppose, to the latter form of this criticism. if you're going to have a take, i want to see you articulate it. it's not a school assignment, sure, but what in god's name is making you come to that take?

i think the most painful series to see this with for me are savers and appmon, if only because i did rewatch them to better understand why i love them (and also what i really hate about them!).

savers especially is a show i watched because i was interested in seeing if the "MIB but if the aliens were Digimon" series could handle making any statement about the nature of law enforcement! and surprise surprise, it fucking did!

people probably feel the same way any time i post about frontier, which is a series i've been vocal about my dislike about (though i respect anyone willing to try to make frontiers better through their own art and writing). it's been a struggle to rewatch that series, but i also don't want to make strong judgments with firm backing because i know i have not seen it in years, nor have i seen the original sub.

i don't think i have a nice clean conclusion for this. it's an observation i keep having, and i don't think there's any particular solution for someone like me who just wants people to try a little harder to pick apart the things they like. i want people to understand how stories tick, and the things they both explicitly and implicitly say. it's the english teacher in me, i guess.

[azuresins]

What character do you think is most misunderstood by the fandom or casual watchers/readers?

Agni. *Edit: the people he assaulted weren't actually dead, that's my mistake-- But the point is he should have been in jail, and our!Ciel and Sebastian "redeemed" and pardoned him in England. * I'm of the opinion that newcomers or people who want the full picture of what's going on in the story, need to disregard SI entirely and are better off just reading up until Book of Circus. I don't feel like SI makes the events clear enough. In fact? I'd go as far to say SI FUCKED up the curry arc immensely? And chapter 23 never got animated the way it was supposed to. Bits and pieces but not the way it should have been, we missed the best parts. Even in Book of Circus! It's such a shame! It's one of my favorite chapters and so many people are missing out. Agni post-events of the curry arc DESPERATELY tries to turn himself into the police to atone for his crimes because scotland yard is in the manor at the same him he and Soma are, ... and Sebastian literally wont allow it. Some highlights:

A lot of casual watchers and readers I find get really, really confused and somehow miss the point that during the Curry Arc, Agni was betraying Soma and going behind his back to protect his well-being and his feelings, yes, but... he was willing to go SO FAR to do that, that he went back to his first "sinful" nature (before meeting soma) in order to do so and dirty his hands again... And yet, Sebastian still considers him an excellent butler and sings nothing but praises. Regardless of why, Agni *assaulted, stripped, humiliated and hung people-of-import upside-down on display on the East End, and was one responsible for a lot of tension between Indians and British at the beginning of this arc. Even though he accepts he's guilty and in a sense "relapsed" back to his old ways and betrayed Soma (and his own culture and race), someone who he considers god-like in his eyes. ... he's given a second chance, but not only that, Sebastian (and Ciel) go out of his way to try to protect him. Of course it's under the guise of "Don't inconvenience us!" but they COULD have turned him in, and they didn't do that. I know a lot of people chant HE'S A CINNAMONROLL AND DID NOTHING WRONG (and Sebastian is one of those people) but I sincerely think it's beautiful that even though he "fell" and "betrayed" Soma and went back to "Sinning"... he still possesses his right hand and is forgiven and seen as good, he gets his second chance and not only does Soma consider him still a good person and declares him "redeemed" but this time, our!Ciel does the same thing for him and declares him "redeemed" and covers up his crimes, too. To me that's a really big deal?... but I rarely if ever see people talk about it, and when I talk to new readers or anime-only-watchers they seemed to miss that he LITERALLY assaulted those people and should be in jail, he didn't merely "help" or was running errands or anything like he ...literally committed a string of crimes in England for Soma because he was being blackmailed. Not just any people either, specifically British Lords of import that had come back from India. -- The East End is also Lau's territory, and one very final and important detail that never got animated or talked-about in the anime was that Lau and Ran Mao KILLED Mina and her husband, Harold West Jeb, because of what they were doing... and also, curiously, Lau spared Agni even though he was the one who was actually physically did the crimes and made problems for him. Agni got not a second-chance but a third-chance and I think it's very beautiful in the most tragic of ways that he continued to spend his life protecting Soma ... but it's also very, very sad because unfortunately... it makes a case for Real!Ciel's bizarre doll, because if he was truly 'watching' as close as he claimed the entire time and knew what Agni had done, all he has to do is say "He shouldn't have been allowed to live anyway he was anti-british a trouble maker, violent and terrible person! 💕" prompting me, personally, to jump into the manga like steve from blues clues and strangle him myself,,,,, But you get the point, basically what I'm trying to say is Agni is even cooler than he seems and more complex and I think people miss it.

[dangerliesbeforeyou]

ok so i just watched the wicker man (the original one ofc not that awful nicholas cage remake with the bees lol) and rather than making a post about it i ofc am gonna talk about mr king, aka the in9 episode that people kept saying was super similar to the film lol because if i cant relate everything to my hyperfixation then what is the POINT lol?!

first thing i will say is i absolutely LOVED the film!! i often find classic horror films either to be hit or miss (halloween sucked but the exorcist was amazing lol) and this was definitely a hit imo!

and it's super interesting thinking back to mr king and the things they chose to pay homage to from the original! creepy kids, masks and rituals, emphasis on sexuality and the harvest, even the outsider acting as a 'well-meaning coloniser' trying to 'educate' the natives lol

but i think it's in the changes that make mr king super interesting to me (and why it kinda bugs me that people keep just saying it's a remake of the wicker man... like it bugged me BEFORE i watched the film and even more now because they are v different lol something being inspired by a thing doesn't mean it's copying it smh have y'all never heard of a homage!?!?... anyway)

changing the setting to wales was SUCH a good choice imo, a place that is only really recently beginning to properly reclaim some of it's old culture after literally centuries of english colonisation (if you weren't aware, there have been recent pushes for various welsh landmarks and places to be referred to by the welsh name and not the english, which i wholeheartedly support tbh! you can't pronounce yr wyddfa? skill issue lol), and moving the focus from religion to environmental factors also made so much more sense for something set this century!

i also found it interesting the way both deal with the weaponisation of sex and sexuality... in the film it's when the landlord's daughter (willow) tries to seduce the sergeant in order to expose his hypocrisy (and ironically in not giving into it, he sealed his own fate in the end lol), and in the show it's the young girl who lies about alan being sexual towards her (in turn leading towards the whole photograph scene and, ultimately, his own grizzly end lol)... both in a way are responding to the culture of their respective times (the film commentating on the 60s/70s free love culture, mr king responding to the wider #me too movement of the last 10 or so years)

and continuing on from this, part of the horror in both speaks specifically to the audience's discomfort with open discussions and displays of sexuality, and the power that that discomfort holds over us still... and ofc in the film this manifests itself with the idea of christianity vs paganism, highlighting how both are a lot more similar than either side would like to admit to lol...

mr king is a little more murkier, since the emphasis is on environmentalism. in a way it deals a lot more with the concept of rationality (as in, science and the like) vs irrationality (as in, paganism and mysticism) than the original! though in the end the message is the same: that regardless of what or who you believe in, it ain't gonna stop you from being murdered lol! it also positions that in the mr king universe, the sacrifices aren't just the town trying to come back from a bad harvest, but instead a super important yearly ritual that, presumably, is actually working lol?? so what we may perceive as 'irrational' is actually the other way around lol...

one of the big changes from the film is the mystery element. in the film sergeant howie's whole deal is that he's gone to the island to find a young girl... in fact the town's people specifically use the fact they know he will stop at nothing to save her (even by the most degrading and invasive ways possible) as a way to trap him. alan is completely different in this regard, in that he has come to rural wales in order to escape his old life... he's not trying to save anyone, effectively he's running away! and even the mystery of the previous 'mr king' is only really something he looks into to save his own skin... both characters are selfish in the reasons why they end up in their positions, and naive to think that their positions as men in positions of authority would save them!

idkk i just think there's a lot of super fascinating stuff in this episode and how it plays with the aesthetics and themes of the film it was inspired by that i've just kind seen brushed aside just cos the 'twist' at the end was super similar to it lol??