#first time drawing literally every character in this post so they may not look 100% correct sorry chat

[str4wberry-goblin]

Boyfriend shirt boyfriend shirt 💥💥

Some bonus doodles ⬇️

[tickldpnk8]

Winter’s Edge: Death, A Winter’s Tale

A long time ago (in Tumblr years), folks were discussing Death’s character, and asking me to weigh in. (@rey-jake-therapist do you remember tagging me? this has sat in drafts for precisely that long) Coincidentally, I was writing this post during that time and ended up sitting on it due to reasons I'll get into below.

The next issue in my Sandman Reread is A Winter’s Tale. So today, we'll be discussing Death as a character and what she says of herself in this issue. And it was really hard to write this because the story is pretty short and is essentially the monologue we hear from Death in the TV episode for "The Sound of Her Wings". So from my perspective, there wasn't a lot new to explore in this issue.

But since I started this post, we've been talking in the Sandman Bookclub posts about how the Endless really are their concepts. And I ended up not posting this and completely rewriting it. So without further ado, my thoughts...

First up, I loved the art in this: simple black and white pen and ink sketches are overlayed with watercolor backgrounds. I love the use of paint bleeding across the paper to give a background. The loose sketches give it a fresh feel.

As for the premise, the whole issue is basically what we hear in Sound of Her Wings as I mentioned above. Death talks about how in the beginning, folks were excited to live and die, but then things took a dark turn and she started to hate her function. She ended up quitting for a while and not ushering folks to their afterlife until an individual came to her and showed her what she had done. Then she goes through a period where she's kind of hard and cold until a small girl puts things into perspective. Here we learn that Death takes a day to live every 100 years so she can experience life and death.

So back to Death as a character and a concept. It's interesting to me the journey she goes on. What would make Death withhold her gift? What would make her become cold and brittle? What would make her chose to live among us for a day? If I think about this whole tale as a metaphor, I'm not sure I can come up with a good explanation or story for it. (if @poobtato or @writing-for-life have any good takes on what would be the backstory here, I'd love to hear them.)

However, I do think there is a good parallel between the way that death has been perceived by folks and differing cultures to the different feelings She attaches to her function. Death is indiscriminate. She can be cold and unfeeling. Untimely. A relief from terrible circumstances. Compassionate. Loving.

And I think that ultimately, it's so easy to see her as a character who is a friendly face. Who is a loving sister. And because of that we tend to look at her as a human and forget just what she is: the end. The end of a life, of a story, of a perspective. She's comforting, but she's still an end. And no softening of her character can negate that.

She and Morpheus may have a lot in common. There is a conceptual overlap between sleeping overnight and the final rest we all take. Hamlet's soliloquy even ties the two together ("To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub: For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause...") Not to mention how we've all joked about La petite mort here on Tumblr. It's easy to view the 2 of them as simply two siblings who are close.

However, I do think there is something to them being close and Morpheus drawing closer to death as he gets closer to his sister. They can't help being what they are. So if Death is a bit insensitive to Morpheus' depression/suffering, she can't really help it. She's not human: she is literally Death. Death doesn't really care what leads you to her: she's there waiting for you in the end regardless. To be close to his sister, is to be close to death itself. To be comfortable with the idea of it. To seek it out. Even if she is the one who finds him at the park. She extends the invitation to come with her, and he follows. I love her, and yet, I want to shout at Morpheus to keep his distance.

If Sandman is a tragedy and a story about grief, this issue sums it all up from her perspective. Death is all of the above: it's a fact of life and it touches us all at some point before it's our time. I like that ultimately, Gaiman chooses to embrace a friendly face at the end. Rather than leave us with a colder, meaner end, he gives us a Death who is that friendly face. Who will walk with us to whatever lies beyond. Who is a comfort. It's given me a lot to think about, and I've decided that I want this to be the end that awaits us all.

[phantaemon]

artfight this year was, in terms of VIBES, utter dogshit

But at the same time it was the best artfight I've ever had. I've never gotten as many attacks before, just like I've never attacked as many people. I got so much more confident in my art and I genuinely had fun, and since I had improved even before it started I was able to get so many ocs on the platform, ocs that lacked art and that I wasn't confident enough to post on the platform before otherwise. They didn't all get art (most of it went to my sona lmao) but it's nice. Even got in a pretty high effort mass attack last minute- which was relieving considering everyone went paranoid about those in the beginning (for fair reasons sometimes)

I think just randomly selecting OCs from the recent page, and attacking mutuals was the best choice here.

This year's social media coverage was insufferable too. Some of my mutuals refused to join at all due to this, not just the odd tiktok trends and the entitlement, but also the "OH YOU NEED TO PREPARE 30 REFS TWO MONTHS IN ADVANCE, AND MAKE YOUR PROFILE LIKE THIS OTHERWISE NO ONE WILL ATTACK YOU! AND LOOK AT THE ATTACK RATIOS! AND DON'T FORGET TO POST THE CARD IN EVERY SINGLE SERVER YOU'RE IN! AND YOU NEED TO DO THIS THIS AND THIS BECAUSE I DON'T EVEN LOOK AT PROFILES THAT DON'T DO THIS AND THIS"

Oh my god. Way to discourage beginners from an event that's supposed to be FUN. I wasn't affected by this due to having enough motivation to draw on a daily basis for a while now, but artfight is NOT supposed to be stressful like that. YOU ARE MAKING IT STRESSFUL. Sit back. Upload one fullbody of your character, heck even a halfbody works in some cases, my friend has a character like that and she still got attacks. If you have a big, detailled ref, good for you!

You don't even need a profile besides your boundaries because unless you 1) subscribed to someone 2) attacked someone and they want to revenge you or 3) go out of your way to link your profile everywhere, people will NOT see it, they'll just see your character through tag search or recent and EVEN IF PEOPLE SEE YOUR PROFILE you only need simple boundaries which can be put in your character warnings ANYWAYS!

Same thing for OC profiles you can have literally the least amount of lore for your OC people will still draw them, you can even just link an external profile (with proper warnings) if you don't wanna copy and paste the bio and layout or something

Don't get me started about the ratio, caring too much about them is overly punitive and utter bullshit, you cannot keep up a 50+ ratio without burning out in most cases since you cannot control when people revenge you unless you're doing a chain or attacking 100% revenge profiles. Holding people to higher standards or refusing to attack people because of their ratio defends the entire purpose of artfight, and is, quite frankly, an asshole move.

To enjoy AF you literally just need to upload some random ocs and draw some random ocs. Now I know that not getting attacks feels like shit. But artfight is about giving first and foremost. It's the first thing you see in the beginner's guide. You give free art to people who MAY give you free art in return. It is free art. You are not entitled to it, though I wish everyone could receive something at the end of the day no matter what.

Do not look at social media. Don't join the discord unless you need server uptime/downtime info. And it will seem way more calm.

Artfight has not gone to shit this year. It's a loud part of the community that has. I may not be posting this with any # as to not start discource but anyone seeing this I urge you to take the positives and take a step back from everything else. First week was stressful as hell for me, until I decided to just draw as if no one was telling me to make my account and ratio perfect. As we may say "Artfight is fun when you don't have a bitch in your ear telling you to fix your ratio".

[tohisprettyc00l]

Hello! I never did this, but can I get a romantic/platonic match up with a toh character?

-I am 15 years old.

-I'm bisexual. (More leaned towards boys. Its like 65% boys and 45% girls.)

-I am a November Sagittarius.

-My MBTI is ENFP 7w6.

-If I play D&D I'm always a bard,no question asked.

-Being someone with an ADHD is very interesting (thats me,hi).

- I'd say I'm hardworking and determined,but I have a low motivation.

- Sometimes I feel like I don't have any self-esteem at all (being always the weird kid has its effect for the long run.)

- I feel that I am sometimes the smartest person in the room and the dumbest the same time.

- I love memes,dank memes and overly people say I am a fun person to be around.

- Being the oldest daughter I love to care about people who deserves it.

- I love listening to peoples dreams/what they want from life or just rambling about anything.

- My hobbies are listening some music (any kind really), writing fanfictions,reading and drawing.

- I love dogs,cats,raccoons,reptiles, bees really anything. Even spiders. Just don't jump on be.

- I am easily scared by loud voice or jumpscares. I hate horrors :c

So thats it💛

And thank you for ur work.

(And sorry about my grammar,english isn't my first language)

I romanticly match you with: Luz Noceda!

-Luz loves D&D and no one can convince me otherwise. She would 100% play with you if you wanted.

-Fun fact: she also had ADHD! (like canonically) So she can relate to you when it comes to that.

-She literally moved dimensions because she was seen as "Weird" and that definitely contributed to her season 3 self-esteem issues. So with that being said she can be and is a great help with boosting your confidence.

-You'll wake up to like 50 texts from her and they're all memes.

-She may not be the oldest (Vee's a year older) but when she cares it is clear. She goes all out showing her affection.

-Bro if you are okay with listening to rambling get ready to know every detail about The Good Witch Azura. You'll know just as much if not more than people who have read the whole series.

-Girl loves writing fanfic and reading it! If you're in the same fandom as her and you post your fanfic she'll happily be your beta reader.

-If you think you like animals like spiders or things people don't usually like you've seen nothing yet. The weirder the animal the more Luz likes it.

I platonically match you with: Vee noceda!

-She would love to play dnd with you.

-Yeah Vee can relate to the motivation thing :/. So I mean y'all can talk to each other about it.

-Vee loves memes tbh. But she doesn't really understand any of them.

-Vee doesn't really think about her future. Mainly because it gets overwhelming for her because she isn't used to a 'normal' life. But being able to talk about to someone even if it is a one-way conversation.

-She cares for animals a lot, she finds them very neat.

-Vee likes spooky stuff but in a more fun way. But if you don't like that either she's fine not looking at spooky stuff when you are around.

I hope you like it!

[solitaryandwandering]

Top Nine Favorite TV Series

I was tagged by the incomparable @wen-kexing-apologist to list nine of my favorite shows, thank youu!! <3 This is a... daunting task. I'll do my best.

They've already listed/mentioned a number of shows in their own post I would include in mine (Avatar: The Last Airbender; I Told Sunset About You; 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us) so I will not be including those, to my absolute despair!! I'm only including stuff I've 100% completed, so that automatically excludes stuff like Orphan Black, Penny Dreadful, Derry Girls, Barry, or Russian Doll.

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

[ID: TV poster. Background is busy with sketches of an urban sprawl, with buildings and flying ships clashing with natural elements. Three teenage girls flail with maniacal glee in the foreground. On the right is the tallest of them all, glasses perched on her head and wearing an astronaut's suit with a jet pack. On the left, a girl in an orange jumpsuit is riding a flying carpet. In the center is a short girl with a round head, clutching animation paper in her hand. She is being jettisoned by a propeller around her waist.]

It took me forever to discern what was happening in that poster, my god.

Anyway, this show!!! Exactly what I needed at the time I watched it. So full of joy and creativity with no cynicism or guile to be seen. Pure, unfettered fun but still delivered moving characters and story. It's literally about three weird teenage girls who decide to start an animation club at their high school. Doesn't sound like much but is absolutely PASSIONATE in every sense of the word, in every way you could possibly apply it practically in its creation. It's so obvious everyone had fun making this little show. This is the kind of art that makes you hug yourself with tears of happiness. Or is that just something I do?

Give me more stories about weird girls being fucking bizarre!!! I need it!!!

Tldr; Hilarious, full of heart, reminded me why I love art, why I love stories, and what I love about life. An absolute 10/10 for me.

Batman: The Animated Series

[ID: TV poster. Batman is silhouetted against a black background, drawing his cape up around his body and staring at the viewer through narrow white slits in his bat-like mask. Batman's head is backlit by a bright red sun.]

Oh, you think I'm just adding this for pure nostalgia? WRONG. B:TAS absolutely stands up to scrutiny even without nostalgia glasses. I rewatched this relatively recently and was completely blown away by the complexity in its storytelling and characterization. Yes, I was obsessed with this show (and the rest of the DCAU) as a kid, but as an adult I can find very few flaws. B:TAS may represent one of my first forays into noir, which is potentially my favorite genre across all art-forms. It certainly represents one of the first times I fell in love with a superhero story.

Tldr; Kevin Conroy IS the best Batman. 10/10

Breaking Bad

[ID: Photo of four major characters from Breaking Bad. From left to right: Gus Fring, a Chilean man wearing round spectacles and a collared shirt with tie; Jesse Pinkman, a white man in his mid-twenties wearing a black T-shirt; Walter White, a bald white man with a full mustache and extended goatee, wearing large glasses; Mike Ehrmantraut, a bald white man with a bulbous nose. All four look into the camera with expressions of tired determination.]

Ah yes, the show that seems to make it to every "favorite shows" list made by everyone else in the universe. I really do love it though; it has incredible, complex, morally-gray characters, a gripping plot and story, phenomenal thematic development, GORGEOUS cinematography and production design, and bonkers acting. It really deserves all its accolades and praise. Add to that a disabled character played by a disabled actor and you've got me singing your praises all the way to the grave!

Tdlr; Virulent toxic masculinity LOSES and we all cheer! It leaves lasting trauma and devastation in its wake and we all scream in agonized recognition! 10/10 fried chickens

Over the Garden Wall

[ID: TV poster. Two young boys are wandering in a wooded area, approaching a darkened alcove of trees and vines. The taller of the two is wearing a red conical hat and blue cape with golden buttons. He looks into the dark woods with worry. A shorter boy scampers excitedly ahead, balancing an upside-down silver teakettle atop his head and hoisting a large green frog under his arm. A bluebird flies at their side.]

My best friend and I watch this show together every year. I am such a sucker for good sibling stories and this one takes the cake. The way Wirt and Greg love each other is heartbreakingly realistic, and to set the growth of their relationship against a confusing and bizarre backdrop is so satisfying. And what a backdrop! I loved fairytales as a kid and this show scratches that itch. Besides the great little vignettes what brings me back to this story again and again is the attention to nuanced relationship development between ALL characters. Wirt's character growth hinges on learning how not to inflict loneliness on himself, to instead accept love and care from others, even those he considers too good for him. Me likey! Great music and one of the best-designed monsters/villains I've seen in any children's animated show, and you've won me over.

Tldr; Goofy kids, goofy problems. Potatoes and molasses. 10/10, would be spooked again

Bad Buddy

[ID: TV poster. Two young college-aged men are standing close together in a yellow-lit room in front of a window. The man on the left stands with his arms wrapped around the waist of the other man, looking fondly into his eyes. The man on the right looks worried, one finger over his lips as he presses his hand against the other man's mouth.]

I was hesitant to start watching BL. Nothing about the genre appealed to me beyond the romance and happy endings. But then KinnPorsche lured me in with promises of attempts not to shy away from queerness. As I was in the midst of watching that I decided to check out this show as it had been trending on Tumblr with one person I follow rabidly enthused about it. Looked super fun (and was a Shakespeare adaptation!) and free on YouTube, so I took a peek... and the rest is history. I credit this show for keeping me around. I was SHOCKED at how queer-positive and forward-thinking it was and excited to learn of P'Aof's existence. BL was being created by IRL gay people?! And they're conscious of what they're making?! Consider me seated! This show became the first BL I ever completed and I am so glad it did. This fandom is the first where I've felt relatively safe to express myself and has opened me up to so many other like-minded people, willing to watch fun stuff but also critique it in the same breath. I'm so glad a show as good (if imperfect) as this one brought me here.

Tldr; Excellent Shakespeare adaptations are my catnip. Product placements didn't scare me away so you KNOW it's charming. An ending so perfect it made me tear up. Fandom so lovely it made me stay. 9/10 warm and fuzzies

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

[ID: TV poster. Two characters from the show face off against each other. On the left is a cat-like humanoid, Catra, with thick brown hair and different colored eyes: blue and yellow. Her right arm is raised in a defensive stance against the girl on the right, Adora, blonde with a large golden headdress. Her golden gauntlet clashes with Catra's arm, creating a bright burst of light.]

I just recently watched Nimona (WONDERFUL) so felt like I should shout out this show. In making this list I've further realized just how much I attach to animated shows I needed to see as a kid. She-Ra kinda takes the cake in that aspect. Multi-dimensionally queer with badass characters defying gender and relational conventions?! Fun, cheesy action with real stakes?! Anti-colonialist messaging?! Hell yeah. But most of all, this show has one of my favorite fictional characters of all time in Catra. ND Stevenson seems to have a knack for writing characters my inner child relates way too much to. Abused, neglected, shunned, bulled, traumatized kid who is visibly and invisibly different to those around her. Lights up as soon as anyone seems to respect her talents and see her potential, only to be manipulated. To crash and burn and grapple with self-hatred as a consequence. THEN she finds love in people who see her for who she is, know what she's done, and give her a chance to do better! Her character arc is so important to me. Not only that, but the ending kiss/confession between her and Adora is INCREDIBLE both as a narrative culmination and as a production win. Talk about a hard-fought queer kiss.

Tldr; Important and powerful. Good queer fun. TERRIBLE theme song. 9/10

Black Sails

[ID: TV poster. Tagline above the title reads "WAR AGAINST THE WORLD". A bald white man with soot and blood streaked across his face stands in the foreground. He is wearing an outfit typical of a pirate, holding a cutlass in his right hand. He is ankle-deep in water. He looks over his shoulder; a fleet of ships burn in the background. A large, tattered Union Jack waves behind the man's head. He is Captain Flint.]

Whenever someone asks me what my favorite show is, this is the one that pops into mind. It has EVERYTHING. Complicated, at-times intensely unlikable protagonists, queerness out the ears, great costuming, pathos, meta-upon-meta commentary on itself, the source material Treasure Island, the modern and historical world it's set in and the concept of fiction itself, EVERYTHING. You want strong themes? This show has THEMES. It's hard to find a show about rebellion or anarchy that ACTUALLY feels revolutionary. I think this show is it. This came out around the same time Game of Thrones was big so caved to some pressure in the first season to make itself appeal to a similar audience (thanks Michael Bay) but wow did they make that season pay off in a big way in retrospect. It only gets better, more assured in itself as it goes on.

Tldr; A story about stories. Straight-baited in season one, off-the-rails queer in seasons two to four. Madi deserved better. Anne Bonny: childhood hero to queer crank on TV! Me: in love. 9/10

Gravity Falls

[ID: TV poster. Three people set forth on an expedition through the dark woods. Leading the pack is Dipper, a young boy wearing a white and blue cap with a blue pine tree on the front. He is reading an old hardback tome with a gold hand on the front with the number "3" on the palm. Behind him is his twin sister, Mabel. She is grinning at the viewer, showing off her braces and harpoon gun. Her sweatshirt bright pink with a multi-colored shooting star on its front. Bringing up the rear is their Grunkle Stan, a grumpy old man wearing a red fez with a golden fish eating a smaller fish. He holds aloft a gas lantern. Behind them all is the Mystery Shack, with a triangular window lit by a yellow glow and a weather vane in the shape of a question mark. In the lower left-hand corner is a bearded gnome looking at the viewer, holding a finger in front of his open mouth.]

Oh, you think I'm just including for nostalgia reasons? CORRECT. But I do think this show is great, regardless. I think it's easy to tell at this point that I really enjoy speculative fiction. This show fires on all cylinders in that respect, hitting up the supernatural, science fiction, fantasy, horror, alternate history, and adding a splash of the gothic just for me. Add in there great familial and sibling dynamics, fun animation and a GREAT villain... that's my jam! This is the show that my best friend and I watched together and bonded over as freshmen in college. They got Mabel's sweater and I got Dipper's cap; this piece of personal history makes the show more special to me.

Tldr; Send kids to the woods and let them figure it out. Makes for some great television. Great friendships, too. 9/10 lumberjacks

Fleabag

[ID: TV poster. A white woman with short, curly brown hair and a large nose poses in a pastiche of a Christian saint. The poster itself is stylized like a Renaissance-era painting or religious effigy. A halo encircles her head as she stares off in the distance. In her hand, the woman holds a guinea pig emanating a soft glow.]

A masterclass in creating a miniseries which feels expansive and fully-contained. Might be the culmination of many things I've touched on in this list. Weird, off-putting protagonists/women, darker storylines with plenty of comedic heft, themes of grief, self-hatred, loneliness and hope, complicated sibling/familial relationships, and mental illness. Who knew? (Me.) Above all else, I love stories about love. This show manages to complicate the conversation about love - self-love, love as obligation, love as devotion, love as obsession, love as healing - in eternally satisfying ways.

Tldr; It'll pass. 9/10

[garlculean]

@yukikorogashi Asked. HELLO MY FRIEND! ❤️ Before this year ends, I just wanna start by saying-- MAN! I'm just so, so glad that I got to meet your wonderful self??? I will say it's certainly one of my highlights during these last few months, meeting a fella as splendid as yourself!

I already mentioned all of this before to you through our IMs, but you bring so much life to my boy here, and just do him so, so much justice! And I thank you, with my hands holding yours, for giving him the love that he so long since deserved! And of course, I absolutely look forward to him and Itsuki interacting, in developing their hilarious lil' Looney Tunes relationship, overtime! It's gonna be so fun, and another thing to look forward to this coming year!

You are just such talented individual too, Mt Beast, like omgoodness??? Your writing, your art, your graphics-- not to mention the fact that you have been such a pleasant chap to get to know. You really are a marvellous bean, and again I'm so glad I found your blog when I did, and look forward to interacting with you more in the near future!

May next year treat you well, my friend. As you so rightfully deserve! Here's to you! 🍷 AUEHAUWHE!!!!

↳ 2023 is almost over! // 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆

      𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐎𝐅𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐇. Y'know, I do not think there are even words to describe the amount of joy and gratitude I felt when reading this. I am SO VERY glad I had the pleasure and opportunity to meet you too Yuki⸺ I can say with much certainty that the feeling is absolutely mutual!

      I can't even construct my words right but just that I'm literally grinning from ear to ear! WHWUAHAHA Hearing you say that and think that for my interpretation // portrayal of Wario means so much more than you think it does for me. It's honestly an honor to hear that I am doing him justice. So thank you⸺ Thank you VERY much. I too cannot wait for Itsuki and Wario to interact. I still think about the plot in my head and the things we spoke about with their possible bond, depending on how things go in RP, but it kills me EVERY time. I may not KNOW who Itsuki is, but shoot I dont think I need to. All I know and need to know is you make her an outstanding joy of a character! You give her such personality that if she acted any other way I don't know if I'd enjoy it as much as I do when she's in your hands HWUWHAHAA!

      I appreciate you enjoying my writing and my art, I do take a great deal of time in it, especially my writing. Drawing comes more naturally for me so to speak its a lot less brain power as opposed to writing. So to know you favor both and not just one over the other is an honest to god best compliment for me to hear If I'm being honest HAHAAHAH. Also I must give credit where credit is 1000% due, @sangdelune did my graphics, I'd commissioned them to do it. They brought my ideas to life in ways I cannot describe. I do not know the floor from the ceiling when it comes to photoshop or anything remotely in that area, I cannot do that. I'm a writer and an artist--NOT a designer. Best editing I do and can do are my reaction icons. THOSE I DO edit. But that's just the most basic bare minimum knowledge one needs to know to edit the reactions; its nothing supreme or outstanding I'd say. I actually plan on bringing them up in a near future post; once I hit my 100+ follower's count ( which seems to be nearing...) give them a segment because since I was/am so new here in this RPC, I felt me doing it with not much of a following would make them go unnoticed. i.e. no on taking the time to go back to read my first post(s) I made here about them. But for anyone who DOES need anything with graphics GO TO THEM. They were a blessing to work with, I had very VERY specific ways I wanted things done and created to really emphasize how I viewed and seen Wario and I wanted my blog to really exert that. So even if you dont read my writing, you still get the FEEL // aura, per say, that Wario emits when youre on my page and they hit it all on the nail and BLEW my expectations away. Very communicative, quick with getting back to you, good with keeping you in the loop of things, and is just an INCREDIBLE designer and an amazing person to work with. I honestly am grateful and LUCKY to of found them.

      SALUTI MY FRIEND! I cannot wait to see what the year to come brings, but I hope whatever it is, it brings a lot more interactions with you!

[lynaferns]

I wrote this so it could be about any hobby or life skill but I was actually thinking about the art community so I'm adding onto that.

It IS good for artists to learn new art skills but not everyone has the same learning capacity and process as YOU. The fact that you can perfectly draw a specific hairstyle, body type, dog, whatever, and you learned how to do it in little time doesn't mean it's fast and easy for everyone else too.

Even if we have access to the internet, not every advice we find here is going to work for everyone, we have no clue if the advice we get about things we are not familiar with are reliable sources of not.

We base our art on what's closer to us, the first thing we use as references is our surroundings and our own selves. Of course this artist draws a lot of white characters; they're white themselves and everyone around them, of course this artist draws a lot of chubby/fat characters or gives fat features to their favorite/popular characters; they are fat themselves they're their closest reference, of course this artist always draws the hands this way or the eyes or legs or literally any feature of their characters; they have those features themselves.

We cannot shit on people for reasons like this, even less when the artist is actually trying to get better and they aren't automatically good first try. This is one of the reasons we get scared of trying new things or show our practice/process or even ask for advice. There is always someone who's going to judge and call you out for the way you draw even if art isn't a thing you want to get good at and it's just a pass time. And I'm tired of being scared to ask for advice or to post my characters because of what those people may say (among other things).

I know I have a problem with drawing only pretty, skinny people and that I don't have much variety in skin color, body types, ages, face features, etc etc. But I'm learning how to expand my skills to draw more variety. Yes, it took me years but I'm finally starting to come out of my comfort zone because I'm in a community that has inspired me to do it. It's not going to look good at my first try, it could take me 3 trys, it could take me 100, but I'm going at my own pace, in my own way, by myself. That's how I learn, that's what works for me.

But not everyone can look at objects and break down completely the structure and just draw it, other people may need a guiding hand (or just human to human communication) and the advice they get is "learn" "get good" "go learn it then" "just search a tutorial" and, wow, could there be more shittier advice? Literally saw these on Instagram under a comment saying they don't know how to draw curly hair and it always ends up looking wavy at max, the responses were like 10 different people one after the another saying "learn" and others being mean for no reason. And like-

When you find someone saying "I don't know how to draw [circles], I can only do [triangles] and [squares]" I'm 90% sure that's a call for advice and instead of giving them a lazy response such as "learn how to do [circles] then" give them actual resources. Recommend tutorials, recommend pages, videos, books, anything that can encourage the person to look it up and have a guide. Don't scare people away from learning.

TL;DR: Not everyone has the resources to learn new art skills or know how to get better. Instead of telling them to "go and learn" give them actual advice that can help them get into improving and encourage them.

(Also, not everyone wants to be an art pro so don't be mean to them just because.)

It's pretty funny when I encounter someone giving free advice for people to learn a new skill and then the next person posts about the same thing but this one is demanding people to learn that skill, like it's your obligation to know it and if you don't learn it you are a disappointment.

The internet can be so motivational and so discouraging at the same time

[littledreamling]

An Analysis of Power Dynamics Through the Ages (Part 1)

Part 1 | Part 2

Okay I said I'd do it and I can't sleep so here's my interpretation of the power dynamics in very date centennial meeting between Hob and Dream. Please keep in mind that I'm not an expert on historical clothing, psychology, body language, or literally anything I'm talking about here, it's just what I'm getting based on vibes and the little research I'm willing to do for this post. This is also not a shipping post. Nothing in this will about Hob and Dream in a romantic context; this is entirely about the exchange of power and control between the two of them as characters. Anyway, without further ado, part 1:

1389

The very first meeting. Let's start with clothes. Hob is dressed in the standard of the time; dark cloak covering about four months worth of dirt and grime (bath houses were common in the 1300's, but he was a soldier, and many of the bath houses were nothing more than fronts for prostitution), long hair, even longer (and dirtier) beard. He's not looking his best and he's not trying to, he's just out for a pint with his friends. Dream, on the other hand, is dressed to the nines; a buttoned-up, dark coat that looks tailored to him, especially in the shoulders (the fact that it has defined shoulders alone sets him apart from about 90% of the tavern's patrons). His collar is high, covering about half of his neck; he's already exuding an air of secrecy. He has a big ass ruby around his neck, definitely the biggest Hob or any of his friends have ever seen. He looks rich. He looks like royalty.

And then we move on to what actually happens. For starters, Dream walks up to Hob, he's the one to initiate the conversation. He's standing while Hob is sitting; he literally has the high ground. He has the ability to look down on Hob while Hob has to crane his neck to look him in the face, especially because Dream stands so close to their table. He even tilts his head back slightly to look down his nose at Hob and his friends. It's very obvious who's in power in this situation and it's not Hob. Add in the fact that Dream has a wealth on information that Hob doesn't, both at the beginning and end of the interaction, and he has control over every facet of this conversation.

1489

The second meeting. They're on more even ground. They're both sitting, which automatically levels the playing field, and they're dressed very similarly, both in cloaks of similar cut, though Dream's is far more tailored than Hob's and is (of course) black, compared to Hob's standard and signature brown (as a side note, if you don't think brown is Hob's symbolic color, please go back and re-watch it because the color brown, symbolizing steadfastness and dependability, is his constant companion). Hob is dressed nicer than he was in 1389; he has a real job now, down at the print shop, and it may not pay much, but it can afford him some comforts that 1389 Hob Gadling didn't have. He probably spent hours painstakingly getting dressed that day, weighing whether or not he was actually going to show up at the White Horse, whether or not the mysterious stranger was actually going to show up too. The outfit he has on is probably the nicest one he has. Still, Dream is dressed far better. His cloak is open, revealing his plain black shirt underneath, and his collar is much lower than in 1389; he's prepared, at least a little bit, to open up to this human.

We don't see who approached who for this meeting, but in terms of body language, Dream still has the high ground. He's sitting up straight in his chair, giving him several inches over Hob, who is slouched, out of confusion and apprehension at first, then out of relaxation as he slowly relays the past 100 years to this stranger. Dream sort of shows his hand a bit (little playing card pun, just to make 1489 Hob happy) by leaning forward, mirroring Hob as he draws out the suspense before gushing about new advances in technology, showing how eager he is to hear about Hob's experiences. This is about the closest that Hob gets to having power during this meeting. Dream, then (again), is the first one to leave; he stands immediately after getting his answer (Hob's little breathless "oh, yes" gets me every time) and confirms their next meeting from that place of power. He also still has (and always will have, even right up until 2022) the high ground in terms of knowledge, though he's given a few scraps to Hob during this meeting, at least enough to assuage Hob's poor Catholic anxieties. He even walks away without answering Hob's final question, proving once and for all that he, once again, decidedly has control over the situation.

1589

The third meeting. This one is probably going to be the weirdest one, not because they share power, not even close, but because Hob is so powerful in every other area of his life yet so desperate to hold that same power (or at least, for the first time, be on the same playing field) during his meeting with Dream that it creates an odd dynamic. But first, clothes. This is the first time we see Hob in something other than brown and it makes sense; he's lost some of his steadfastness, some of his groundedness (that's not a word, but if Will Shaxberd can make up words, so can I). Instead, Hob is wearing gold, highlighting the main focus of this meeting, his fortune. He's done well for himself, exceedingly well. He has a nice haircut and a well-groomed beard and a pierced ear (if you missed it the first time, go back and watch; your life will be infinitely better when you realize that almost every single character in the 1589 scene has a pierced ear). He's looking good and he knows it. He's dressed to impress. His collar is high, higher than we've ever seen, and maybe it's the style of the age, but it screams fake and indeed, this is the fakest we ever see Hob. He's completely buttoned up, not a single inch of skin showing save his face and hands, which are often behind his back, and almost every move is designed to give an air of elegance and sophistication, the same air that his stranger has been exuding since they met. Likewise, Dream is also very sleek-looking. The first thing to notice is that he's wearing all leather (which is... a choice), and it's very tight leather, too (again... a choice). His hair is slicked back, showing more of his face than Hob has seen before, and his collar is a little higher than in 1489, though still lower than 1389.

What strikes me immediately about this meeting is that, as soon as Hob sees Dream, he stands and calls out "my friend!" and Dream responds to it. He doesn't protest to being called Hob's friend (I'll get back to this when I talk about 1889, because we all know where that particular train of though is going). Anyway, Hob calling Dream his friend is yet another attempt to even the field; he wants to be friends, he wants to be seen as an equal to this stranger. In this time, he thinks he is. He's a knight for God's sake! The standing, too, is important. This meeting actually starts with both of them standing, and Hob pulls out Dreams chair for him. It's a show of friendship, but also of subtle deference. And then, when Dream sits down, Hob (and I can't emphasize this enough) stays standing. He stays standing. It's the only time we ever see Hob standing over Dream. Hob also bows to Dream, though it's a sort of mocking bow, not one that Hob would actually use in the face of royalty. It's a bow designed to show off, especially as he does it at the same time that he introduces himself with his full (knighted) title. It's a very clear shift in their power dynamic and Hob is almost immediately given a slap on the wrist for it. Notice how I say almost immediately, though, because for a second, Dream almost seems to be amused by it, as though he can't believe this human would deign to presume himself on the same level as Dream of the Endless (never mind that Hob has no idea who he is). From the very beginning of the meeting, Hob flaunts his wealth. He mentions the expensive wine, his knighthood, and shows a blatant ignorance for those beneath him (the 1500s weren't a good time to be a peasant in England, yet he acts as if everyone on Earth has liquid gold pouring through their fingers. He seems to have forgotten where he came from, or maybe he thinks he's outgrown the grime and grit of poverty, and he gets an exponentially worse slap on the wrist for that, too). He's focused solely on himself because he's proud of himself and he wants his stranger to be proud of him too. Even after he sits down, after getting on Dream's level, he's still pushing that wealth and status; he tries to get Dream to eat (and for the first time, there's food on the table. Lots of food, yet again showcasing his fortune), he calls for the servant to get more wine with a callousness that I think modern-day Hob would cringe enormously at, and almost his entire recounting of the last century revolves around money. He's a bit rude and Dream is rude right back; he goes so far as to quiet Hob with little more than a raised hand and Hob complies, revealing probably more than he wished to about exactly where he lies in the social hierarchy with Dream.

I could go on for at least two more paragraphs about this meeting because it has such complexities, especially regarding Hob's mention of his family and how he had always dreamed of a heaven like this, but this is getting long, so I'll cut it short. Dream, as always, is the first to leave, rather memorably, to spend the rest of the evening with Will Shaxberd, therefore reasserting his power over the situation. He's quite literally saying "I set the terms for these meetings and they end exactly when I say they do." Interestingly, this is also the first meeting where he doesn't ask Hob whether he wants to keep living or not, but I don't really think he has to; the answer is plain and clear in front of him. Hob has everything he wants and more. There's nowhere to go but up.

1689

The fourth meeting. Ah, 1689, my beloved. For the first time (that we know of) Dream is the first to arrive for their meeting. Hob keeps him waiting (and by the tone of the woman who talks to Dream right before Hob arrives, he's been waiting for a while), which would've been a show of power, if not for the... waves hand vaguely at the rest of the scene. But first, of course, clothes. Dream is dressed nicely, as always, in his all black. His cloak is buttoned at the very top and his collar is high again. Like always, his clothes are well-fitting and clean, a contrast that has never been more stark, especially after Hob shows up (and what an entrance it is). He's back to his long hair, let loose without any ribbons or ties. His clothes are also looser than the leather (but let's be real, anything would've been looser than the leather). The entire ensemble is much more relaxed, much more real. And then Hob walks in. I won't even talk about Hob's clothes because he's literally in tatters. His clothes are little more than scraps hanging off of his body. There's absolutely no questioning who appears to have more power here.

This is immediately confirmed by the start of their conversation. The only reason that Hob is even let into the White Horse is because Dream allows him to be. He commands the staff to let him in, filthy as he may be. Dream has absolute control here; the meeting wouldn't have taken place at all if he didn't wish it. Hob tries to regain some sense of dignity as he approaches the table, but (I have to emphasize) he's wearing tatters. There's not much he can do to help that, and he responds (at least at first) with anger. He's trying desperately to regain something, anything, and he knows he's failing. So he gives up. He knows his stranger is watching him, judging him, but he's to the point where he doesn't care. He's too hungry, too thirsty, too tired to care. He then has to go through the humiliation of admitting that he lost everything he'd been so proud of during their last meeting. It's the ultimate humbling of Hob Gadling. He has nothing, not even his pride. And while it's clear that Dream has all of the power, it's softened by his sympathy for Hob, perhaps the first time he's had any empathy for this human at all. You can actually see his heart break a little bit at the thought that Hob would crave death, that this might be their last meeting. Likewise, you can see his utter fascination at Hob's steadfast dedication to living because while Hob might've lost everything, he never lost his hope. We don't see the end of this meeting, so we don’t know who left first (or, as I've seen many joke, who paid the bill, because it sure wasn't Hob), but I think it's safe to assume that Dream has the very clear control here. (Another sidenote, Hob's "Now can we order? Because I'm about to eat the fucking table." kills me every single time, 10/10 line delivery, Ferdie)

1789

The fifth meeting. The sluttiest meeting. For this meeting, Dream and Hob are dressed incredibly similarly. Dream, in his customary all black with his hair tied back, is vaguely reminiscent of his 1589 leather ensemble; very tidy, very buttoned-up. Hob is also wearing black (for the first time) with gold accents, perhaps a nod to his prioritizing wealth over his usual reliability and care for his fellow man, and his hair is also tied up. For once, in their sartorial choices, Hob and Dream are evenly matched. Neither of them is trying to impress the other, at least no more than the other.

Their body positions are interesting in this scene because they're not actually facing each other. In fact, they're tilted slightly towards each other, but for the most part, they're both facing the door (probably to make the fight choreography a little easier, but still). Every look they give each other is out of the corner of their eyes. They also have a private room, which is less about either of them having power over the other and more about both of them having power over everyone else at the White Horse (can anyone from the good omens fandom say "we're on our on side now" with me? because that's the vibe I'm getting here). For the first half or so of this meeting, I'd even go so far as to say that this is the closest to even ground as Hob and Dream have ever gotten, right up until Dream gives his opinion on Hob's line of business (everyone say "thank you, Dream"), which definitely reads as slightly condescending, even if it is warranted. I think it's the first time he genuinely judges Hob for his decisions, going so far as to offer him advice to change his path. There's a definite shift in the dynamic towards Dream in that moment, especially as he uses Hob's full name in his chastisement. Hob then, of course (as everyone does when they're feeling judged), gets defensive, but quickly backs down in the face of Dream's logic. Changing the subject is an olive branch, even if it is to a slightly touchy subject. Hob is trying to regain some footing here, and it works, right up until he runs smack into the brick wall that is Dream's inability to give out even a single morsel of information about himself. And then Johanna Constantine rudely interrupts and all hell breaks loose. But even still, the power dynamic is rather evident. Hob keeps glancing at Dream, gauging his reactions, using him as a guide for his own level of involvement in the skirmish. And as soon as he deems it necessary to fight, he defends Dream. That's important. He doesn't defend himself, he defends Dream. For a soldier turned knight, that's the ultimate act of deference, to put himself in danger in the defense of someone else. And then Dream uses his powers and once again asserts his power in the situation; he didn't need Hob's help, but he liked having Hob's help. It's important here to note that Dream is the one to end the meeting (despite Hob's request to find another tavern) but they both leave at the same time. Neither of them is left behind; they're quite literally in-step. (It's also the first time that Dream refers to the two of them as a "we" and shows concern for Hob's well-being, a vulnerability that he's never shown before).

And because this post is getting out of hand length-wise, there's a part 2

[she-who-fights-and-writes]

How would one write a realistic argument?

How to Write a Realistic Argument

Everyone argues.

Whether it be with a friend, sibling, parent, or coworker—arguments usually break out whenever there’s a stark contrast in opinion over certain things, which can happen a lot.

There are a variety of different kinds of arguments involving a wide range of people with different tempers. Because of this, writing arguments can be a bit difficult, but fear not, for this post is here to help!

1. Know The Writing Style of an Argument

For a very serious argument, the characters probably won’t stop and listen to what their opponent has to say.

It’s quick, choppy, and broken—each character shoving their emotions at one another and trying to get their point across without bothering to understand the other side’s opinions.

There should be a lot of em-dashes and italicized words for emphasis, and if it’s between two people, you want as few speech tags as possible; because there’s going to be a lot of back and forth, speech tags can serve to trip up the flow of the argument rather than help them.

When you do want speech tags or if there are multiple people arguing at once here’s some examples you can use:

Roared

Screamed

Yelled

Bellowed

Barked

Hissed

Shouted

Accused

Interrupted

Growled

Snarled

Spat

Screeched

Shrilled

But you also must know that your characters won’t just be standing stock still and yelling at one another; they’re going to be moving around, so here are some things you can describe your character doing during an argument

Expression contorting

Eyes narrowing

Speaking through clenched teeth

Baring their teeth

Lips twisting (into a sneer/into a snarl)

Hands balling into fists

Trembling

Breaking things/knocking stuff over

Pointing accusingly

Shoving

Spittle flying from their mouth

Stamping their feet

Face getting hot

Vein in forehead popping

Blood roaring in their ears/heart pounding

And if you want, to build tension you can put it in a dangerous place, like at the edge of a cliff or something—so you know fully well that if one of them goes too far it may end up with the other’s accidental death.

2.Know Your Characters

The most important factors of your argument are the characters participating in it.

You should have your characters’ tempers established beforehand so you know if they’re going to be hanging back while others argue or if they’re going to be throwing hands every other chapter.

Your characters’ tempers will shape how much tension the argument causes.

An argument with someone who is usually chill and slow to anger will be a whole lot more impactful and important than an argument with someone who is a known hothead, but it wouldn’t make sense if the argument happened over something minor.

Here’s a list of some of the tempers your character can have, ranked from lowest to highest on how much tension an argument with them causes

 (Just so you know, these aren’t rigid categories; most people are usually a mix of everything!):

–Hotheaded Character–

Fights with a hothead hold the least tension. 

Hotheads will fight over anything and everything, their quick fuse making them easy to irritate and anger. Their words can hurt people who aren’t used to it, but usually bounce off of close friends who are used to it and know that the hothead usually doesn’t mean it.

Arguments with hotheads have a high chance of turning physical, because their rage explodes in bursts rather than a slow buildup (the definition of going from zero to one hundred), and in any situation, hotheads are usually the ones to throw the first punch.

 Because a hothead could get riled up about a spilled drink just as quickly as they can get riled up about a friend dying, just having a hothead getting angry during a moment of severe tension won’t bring you the umph that you’re looking for.

However, your hotheaded character can serve as an instrumental character in triggering more serious arguments, one of their mindless snide remarks going too far with a level-headed or shy character.

Examples of hotheaded characters:

Stanley Kowalski, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

Lt. Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, Top Gun (1986)

Anger, Inside Out (2015)

–Aloof Character–

These characters are a lot like hotheads, but the many, many fights that they pick don’t involve them getting raging, screaming mad.

They’re cold, calculating, and cutthroat, and they couldn’t care less about what you think of them.

Their anger is a lot less “loose cannon” than the hotheads’. They say what they mean and mean what they say, and it’ll take a long time to recover from the tongue-lashings these people can dish out.

The greater tension, however, comes from when the aloof characters raise their voices and start shouting—their schooled, uncaring façade fades away and they’re left truly and undeniably angered by whatever tipped the scales.

It’s not too tension-building because these characters were just bastards to begin with, but it’s still unnerving and shocking to see a normally collected character lose their cool.

Examples of aloof characters:

Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Prince Cardan, The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Alex Stern, The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Sherlock Holmes, Most Media Types

Tony Stark, The Avengers

–Nonchalant Character–

These people usually don’t engage in meaningful arguments because they literally don’t care enough to bother. 

When another character tries to pick a fight, a character who is more nonchalant will sometimes roll their eyes at whatever accusation is being leveled at them rather than retorting. This can go either way, perhaps escalating the tension or diffusing it by not offering up a reply.

Kind of like with the aloof character, they don’t have any emotional attachment arguments that they start or are dragged into. They’ll argue for the sake of arguing, but they really don’t give a fuck about it. 

The part that draws the tension, however, is when the characters do give a fuck. A fight they get into turns heated, and a character’s normal devil-may-care attitude may morph into something else altogether.

Most nonchalant characters also may exhibit some hotheaded tendencies, which shows how muddles these archetypes can be.

Examples of Nonchalant Characters:

Han Solo, The Star Wars Saga

Deadpool, Deadpool (2016)

Angel Dust, The Hazbin Hotel

–Level-headed/Stoic Character–

These characters are the cool cucumbers of the group. They’re very, very, VERY slow to anger, and usually exhibit more maturity than their peers, almost never starting arguments. 

They’re the masters of diffusing arguments with a few words, and hardly ever raise their voices.

Sure, they may serve as backup to someone else and may jump to their aid with a bit of heat behind their words, but this hardly happens when the argument is their own.

Many hotheaded or aloof characters may try teasing or pushing these characters in order to act out, but it rarely works.

On the few instances that a level-headed character is angered, it is pretty serious.

Either one of the other characters poked fun at something they shouldn’t’ve—their dead parents, something they’re self-conscious about, etc.—or a member of the group makes a terrible mistake with dire consequences, and the stoic character has had enough.

This causes a lot of tension because “oh shit, the calmest person in our group just went off” and can usually signal a breakdown of the group because their strongest link is snapping.

Examples of Stoic Characters:

Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher

The Mandalorian, The Mandalorian

Spock, Star Trek

The Doctor, Doctor Who

Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird

–Timid/Shy/Quiet Character– 

An argument with a timid person causes by far the most tension out of everything, to the point where I call it “The Snap.”

Someone who is timid, shy, or quiet would rather not argue at all because they don’t have it in them to retort.

They may care a whole lot about the situation under contention, but for one reason or another they don’t want to start too much trouble. These people actively avoid conflict and usually try their best to diffuse situations before they start, whether it be by conceding, walking away, or pulling the nonchalant route and not saying anything.

However, unlike the stoic characters, they might be much more emotional; it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for a timid character to cry when being berated by the others, and they may even be outwardly livid, but they always back down in the end.

 However, they can only hold it in for so long.

 If you have a character who spends the entire book meekly accepting the verbal (or perhaps physical) harassment of other characters, you should most definitely put a “Snap” somewhere in the story, a point where the character has had enough and fights back.

 The timid character’s pent-up rage and sorrow explodes into a raging argument that will most definitely frighten the other characters.

 The tipping point may be the death of the loved one or just a simple, ordinary jab from an antagonist—the straw that broke the camel’s back.

 Unlike with the hothead’s quick bursts of anger like snap fireworks, the anger of a quiet character—much like with a stoic character—is like ten thousand pounds of dynamite with a very, very long fuse.

A quiet character will almost never have a contained argument once they’ve snapped; it will be like a category five hurricane, and God help the poor bastard that set it off.

Examples of timid/shy/quiet characters:

Carrie White, Carrie by Stephen King

Amélie Poulain,  Amélie (2001)

Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein

3. Know The Rhythm of An Argument

An argument isn’t just 0 to 100 and then back to 0. 

The tension levels look more like a squiggly line than a single spike; the tension peaks and ebbs on various levels throughout an argument, especially if it’s a long, important one where both characters are snapping over a novel’s worth of building tension.

The argument can come in like a freight train or it can build up slowly, a character storming in after a realization or a single snide remark that snowballs into something much greater.

Then comes an accusation. Both characters brace themselves and realize that this argument isn’t just going to putter out.

More back and forth words exchanged. “I don’t like that you do this, this and this,” while the characters’ tempers flare even further, pushing them to say more extreme, hurtful things and working each other up into a rage.

A physical fight may break out between the two, throwing punches and insults.

The climax should be a huge, shocking exclamation or accusation. “I hate you!” “If you were never born, Mom would still be alive!” “This is all your fault!”

The tension ebbs. The characters stand in silence, bitter and ashamed of themselves.

They may agree on a few things, their tempers start to die down. They may come to some understandings or storm off with the tension unresolved. The argument ends.

This is the basic format of an argument; however, there are usually several levels of accusation-buildup before the eventual climax.

The whole point of an argument is that it leaves the characters’ relationships much different than they’d been before; they either understand each other much more, or they’ve become much more wary of one another.

If your characters’ relationship doesn’t change after an argument, then there was no point in writing it.

I really hope this helped! Happy Writing!

[year2000electronics]

good morning. so every member in team bleck has a member that sort of ‘parallels’ the five member ensemble of the heroes and tippi. bleck parallels mario as the leader, mimi and peach are the girly girls, o’chunks and bowser are the muscle, and that leaves the last two-

(long post incoming)

the fact that 8-3 and 8-4 have luigi and dimentio paired off with eachother pretty much implies that he’s intended to be luigis parallel, and that nastasia and tippi are also parallels. not to be overly thorough again but i’m gonna spell out a lot of the ways both these parallels work

luigi and dimentio:

- have matching colour schemes (luigis inverted green and blue becomes purple and yellow, and vice versa)

- have the obvious parallels thanks to moments like in 6-1, 8-3 and 8-4 where dimentio and luigi/mr l have extended dialogues alone

- on the topic of mr l and dimentio, both of their major design traits are their masks and how one can’t be recognized with it on, and one’s true intentions can’t be recognized thanks to their mask always smiling

- carson mentions that dimentio was turned away once by the count before seeing that he had potential, much like luigi wasn’t allowed to come on adventures in pm64 until mario saw him handle himself in ttyd (this ones a bit of a stretch admittedly)

and just overall the fact that luigi and dimentio are the only remaining pair means they’re obvious parallels

tippi and nastasia:

- have mirroring but similar form transformations (tippi from human to flying creature, nastasia was implied to change from a flying creature to a humanoid)

- both are from blecks past, but only one of them was his love

- both of them sacrifice themselves in the name of love for the count (nastasias may have been platonic or familial), but only nastasia lives to see the end of the ordeal

- both are the one ‘non playable’ character in the group- you cant REALLY play as tippi and nastasia doesn’t get a boss fight

- pretty much the ‘brains’ of the group, the one that speaks on behalf of bleck/mario a lot of the time

HOWEVER. what if i told you i could also make the argument that THIS is also an equally valid interpretation.

now obviously the game pretty much confirms that luigi and dimentio are parallels through their fights but i could also argue that luigi/nastasia and tippi/dimentio have some parallels of their own, and why i wanna highlight this i’ll talk about later

tippi and dimentio:

- unlike the other parallels, tippi and dimentio are actively made so that dimentio can’t be tattled. he is literally the only miniboss or major npc like this (aside from maybe nastasia as she has no true overworld encounter)

- at the beginning of the game, both of them are the characters with the most mysterious pasts, as in little to no information is given (tippis gets given later, again i’ll come back to this)- dimentio is the only bar story that doesn’t help out much in terms of his past or lack thereof

- both of them have teleported a character to the safety of flipside in the events of the story (tippi in ch 4 and dimentio in the ch 2 interlude, though teleporting is part of his niche in general)

- have elements that may or may not hide a “true” face (is dimentio’s mask his face or is he just like that?)

- tippi and dimentio’s “moments” together are a bit fewer and far between compared to the others, like her strange out of place “i know you. you’re that...” and the fact that she’s the only one who survives dimentio’s ch 7 nuke (when he tells her directly he’s her enemy) and the fact that despite luigi being onscreen and PLENTY mouthy in his actual fight with dimentio, TIPPI is the one who talks back to you in dimentio’s optional game over

- this ones a bit of a stretch as it’s heavily based on theories that i don’t even believe myself but if you believe dimentio is the magicians son then both tippi and dimentio have a pseudo connection to pixls

luigi and nastasia:

- both are seen as the ‘right hand’ or ‘number two’ for their respective ‘number ones’ (mario and bleck) and generally play off of more subdued versions of their designs (nastasias glasses vs blecks monocle, her white clothes vs his beige cape and hat, her light blue vs his dark blue, luigis proportions being a bit more average compared to mario and a more subdued green colour scheme)

- both have a deep affection for bleck/mario and this is largely in part due to their pasts with them, where seeing their ability and kindness made them believe bleck/mario was truly brilliant (nastasias lines and backstory imply that she was around to see bleck as blumiere which would imply she knew him just as long or longer as tippi did), they also have spent more time by bleck/marios side than the others, comparatively

- both almost never have things on their own, their escapades are mostly ‘side stories’ (but they still DO happen: i’ll give tippi and nastasia the fact that they do hover around mario/bleck more than luigi hovers around mario BUT nastasia isn’t always around bleck, does her own thing, and is even in a meeting when bleck isnt vs tippi only ever leaving marios side when she’s forcibly removed)

- much like luigi and dimentio have their moments, nastasia and luigi also share moments (mostly in the first part of the game, keep it in mind): the most pivotal part of the direction luigi goes in this game is when he gets caught by nastasia, and nastasia is the one who tells him not to mess with the wedding

- in addition, many times throughout the game nastasia details to count bleck each minions defeat, often just telling him the messages they relay or punishing them herself, but specifically when it comes to mr. l’s disappearance, she says she’s the one at fault

- you could also make another design argument that mr l’s mask could also be a parallel to nastasias glasses as a large part of her character also comes from her glasses as they do the fact that mr l can’t be recognized- theyre her weapon (the red rims are also a bit of a gut punch when it comes to that)

- both of them wind up ‘taking count blecks place’ (as the final boss, and as the one to get hit by dimentio’s fatal blow) (interestingly this also puts them both out of commission for the final boss)

- this ones a big stretch but nastasia is seen openly sobbing at the end and luigi is the one of the four heroes who’s the most prone to tears (according to tv tropes at least)

so with all that being said, Why. why did i make this post. i’m sure i could draw comparisons to fuckin uhhh luigi and idk BONECHILL if i had the time on my hands. well the reason why is because i wanted to think about... what if we all looked at spm like this.

in the beginning, nastasia and luigi are in fact eachothers parallels, nastasias logic vs luigis emotion nastasia being the villain to defeat luigis hero yadda yadda yadda. but as the story goes on more and more of the luigi/dimentio parallel begins to happen. and this is because starting with chapter 5, dimentio begins to show his hand- to the heroes, but also to the audience. more of his plan is succeeding, and as count bleck grows more reluctant, this story becomes less and less about how to defeat him and more about how to stop the chaos heart from doing its thing.

we all know how that story goes though, how dimentio usurps the count and takes luigi with his little pizza hands. but i’m thinking that luigis parallels, luigis villains are really supposed to represent the arc 1 villain and the arc 2 villain- both nastasia and dimentio are the ones who are trying to make the man in green choose the dark prognosticus as the true prophecy, it’s just that as the story goes on, dimentio is the one who seizes control of the story. even to the effect that he’ll shift the very structure of the team around so that HE will do battle with luigi. so that HE is the one who is the obvious representative of the ideal host for the chaos heart.

cos who ELSE would it be, right??? :o)

*and here comes the obligatory disclaimer that obviously i’m not trying to say that THIS is concrete 100% what the writers meant. i just think this is an interesting interpretation i’d like to explore

[sabugabr]

Why the Clone problem in Star Wars animated media is also a Mandalorian problem, and why we have to talk about it (PART 2)

Hi! I finally finished wrapping this up, so here’s part 2 of what has already become a mini article (you can find Part 1 here, if you like!)

And for this part, it won’t be as much as a critic as part 1 was, but instead I’d like to focus more on what I consider to be a wasted potential regarding the representation of the Clones in the Star Wars animated media, from the first season of The Clone Wars till now, and why I believe it to be an extension of the Mandalorian problem I discussed in part 1 —  the good old colonialism.

Sources used, as always, will be linked at the end of this post!

PART 2: THE CLONES

Cody will never know peace

So I’d like to state that I won’t focus as much on the blatantly whitewashing aspect, for I believe it to be very clear by now. If you aren’t familiar with it, I highly recommend you search around tumblr and the internet, there are a lot of interesting articles and posts about it that explain things very didactically and in detail. The only thing you need to know to get this started is that even at the first seasons of Clone Wars (when the troopers still had this somewhat darker skin complexion and all) they were still a whitewashed version of Temuera Morrison (Jango’s actor). And from then, as we all know, they only got whiter and whiter till we get where we are now, in rage.

Look at this very ambiguously non-white but still westernized men fiercely guarding their pin-up space poster

Now look at this still westernized but slightly (sarcasm) whiter men who for some reason now have different tanning levels among them (See how Rex now has a lighter skin tone? WHEN THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN KKKKKKK) Anyway you got the idea. So without further ado...

2.1 THE FANTASY METAPHOR

As I mentioned before in Part 1, one thing that has to be very clear if you want to follow my train of thought is that it’s impossible to consume something without attributing cultural meanings to it, or without making cultural associations. This things will naturally happen and it often can improve our connection to certain narratives, especially fantastic ones. Even if a story takes place in a fantastic/sci fi universe, with all fictional species and people and worlds and cultures, they never come from nowhere, and almost always they have some or a lot of basing in real people and cultures. And when done properly, this can help making these stories resonate in a very beautifull, meaningfull way. I actually believe this intrisic cultural associations are the things that make these stories work at all. As the brilliant american speculative/science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin says in the introduction (added in 1976) of her novel The Left Hand of Darkness, and that I was not able to chopp much because it’s absolutely genious and i’ll be leaving the link to the full text right here,

“The purpose of a thought-experiment, as the term was used by Schrodinger and other physicists, is not to predict the future — indeed Schrodinger's most famous thought-experiment goes to show that the ‘future,’ on the quantum level, cannot be predicted — but to describe reality, the present world.

Science fiction is not predictive; it is descriptive.”

[...] “Fiction writers, at least in their braver moments, do desire the truth: to know it, speak it, serve it. But they go about it in a peculiar and devious way, which consists in inventing persons, places, and events which never did and never will exist or occur, and telling about these fictions in detail and at length and with a great deal of emotion, and then when they are done writing down this pack of lies, they say, There! That's the truth!

They may use all kinds of facts to support their tissue of lies. They may describe the Marshalsea Prison, which was a real place, or the battle of Borodino, which really was fought, or the process of cloning, which really takes place in laboratories, or the deterioration of a personality, which is described in real textbooks of psychology; and so on. This weight of verifiable place-event-phenomenon-behavior makes the reader forget that he is reading a pure invention, a history that never took place anywhere but in that unlocalisable region, the author's mind. In fact, while we read a novel, we are insane —bonkers. We believe in the existence of people who aren't there, we hear their voices, we watch the battle of Borodino with  them, we may even become Napoleon. Sanity returns (in most cases) when the book is closed.”

[...] “ In reading a novel, any novel, we have to know perfectly well that the whole thing is nonsense, and then, while reading, believe every word of it. Finally, when we're done with it, we may find — if it's a good novel — that we're a bit different from what we were before we read it, that we have been changed a little, as if by having met a new face, crossed a street we never crossed before. But it's very hard to say just what we learned, how we were changed.

The artist deals with what cannot be said in words.

The artist whose medium is fiction does this within words. The novelist says in words what cannot be said in words. Words can be used thus paradoxically because they have, along with a semiotic usage, a symbolic or metaphoric usage. [...]  All fiction is metaphor. Science fiction is metaphor. What sets it apart from older forms of fiction seems to be its use of new metaphors, drawn from certain great dominants of our contemporary life — science, all the sciences, and technology, and the relativistic and the historical outlook, among them. Space travel is one of these metaphors; so is an alternative society, an alternative biology; the future is another. The future, in fiction, is a metaphor.

A metaphor for what?” [1]

A metaphor for what indeed. I won’t be going into what Star Wars as a whole is a metaphor for, because I am certain that it varies from person to person, and everyone can and has the total right to take whatever they want from this story, and understand it as they see fit. That’s why it’s called the modern myth. And therefore, all I’ll be saying here is playinly my take not only on what I understand the Clones to be, but what I believe they could have meant.

2.2 SO, BOBA IS A CLONE

I don’t want to get too repetitive, but I wanted to adress it because even though I by no means intend to put Boba and the Clones in the same bag, there is one aspect about them that I find very similar and interesting, that is the persue of individuality. While the Clones have this very intrinsically connected to their narratives, in Boba’s case this appears more in his concept design. As I mentioned in Part 1, one of the things the CW staff had in mind while designing the mandalorians is that they wanted to make Boba seem unique and distinguishable from them, and honestly even in the original trilogy he stands out a lot. He is unique and memorable and that’s one of the things that draws us to him.

And as we all know, both Boba and Jango and the Clones are played by Temuera Morrison — and occasionally by the wonderful Bodie Taylor and Daniel Logan. And Temuera Morrison comes from the Maori people. And differently from the mandalorian case, where we were talking about a whole planet, in this situation we’re talking about portraying one single person, so there’s nowhere to go around his appearance and phenotypes, right? I mean, you are literally representing an actual individual, so there’s no way you could alter their looks, right?

(hahahaha wrong)

And besides that, I think that is in situations like that (when we are talking about individuals) that the actor’s perspective could really have a place to shine (just the same as how Lea was mostly written by Carrie Fisher). In this very heart-warming interview for The New York Times (which you can read full signing up for their 5-free-articles-per-month policy), Temuera Morrison talks a little bit about how he incorporated his cultural background to Boba Fett in The Mandalorian:

“I come from the Maori nation of New Zealand, the Indigenous people — we’re the Down Under Polynesians — and I wanted to bring that kind of spirit and energy, which we call wairua. I’ve been trained in my cultural dance, which we call the haka. I’ve also been trained in some of our weapons, so that’s how I was able to manipulate some of the weapons in my fight scenes and work with the gaffi stick, which my character has.” [2]

The Gaffi stick (or Gaderffii), btw, is the weapon used by the Tusken Raiders on Tatooine, and according to oceanic art expert Bruno Claessens it’s design was inspired by wooden Fijian war clubs called totokia. [3]

And I think is very clear how this background can influence one’s performance and approach to a character, and majorly how much more alive this character will feel like. Beyond that, having an actor from your culture to play and add elements to a character will higly improve your sense of connection with them (besides all the impact of seeying yourself on screen, and seeying yourself portrayed with respect). It would only make sense if the cultural elements that the actor brought when giving life to a fictional individual would’ve been kept and even deepened while expanding this role. And if you’re familiar with Star Wars Legends you’ll probably rememeber that in Legends Jango would train and raise all Clone troopers in the Mandalorian culture, so that the Clones would sing traditional war chants before battles, be fluent in Mando’a (Mandalore’s language) and some would proudly take mandalorian names for themselves. So why didn’t Filoni Inc. take that into account when they went to delve into the clones in The Clone Wars?

2.3 THE WHITE MINORITY

First of all I’d like to state that all this is 100% me conjecturing, and by no means at all I’m saying that this is what really happened. But while I was re-watching CW before The Bad Batch premiere, something came to my mind regarding the whitewashing of the Clones, and I’d like to leave that on the table.

So, you know this kind of recent movies and series that depicted like, fairies in this fictional world where fairies were very opressed, but there would be a lot of fairies played by white actors? Just like Bright and Carnival Row. If you’ve watched some of these and have some racial conscience, you’ll probably know where I’m going here. And the issue with it is that often this medias will portray real situations of racism and opression and prejudice, but all applied to white people. Like in Carnival Row, when going to work as a maid in a rich human house, our girl Cara Delevingne had to fight not to have her braids (which held a lot of significance in her culture) cut by her intolerant human mistress, because the braids were not “appropriate”. Got it? hahahaha what a joy

Look at her ethnic braids!!!

One of the reasons this happens might be to relieve a white audience of the burden of watching these stories and feeling what I like to call “white guilt”. Because, as we all know, white people were never very oppressed.  Historically speaking, white people have always been in privileged social positions, and in an exploitative relationship between two ethnic groups, white people very usually would be the exploiters  —  the opressors. So while watching situations (that every minority would know to be very real) of opression in fiction, if these situations were lived by a white actor, there would be no real-life associations, because we have no historical parameter to associate this situation with anything in real life — if you are white. Thus, there is less chance that, when consuming one of these narratives, whoever is watching will question the "truthfulness" of these situations (because it's not "real racism", see, "they're just fairies"). It's easier for a person to watch without having to step out of their comfort zone, or confront the reality of real people who actually go through things like that. There's even a chance that this might diminish empathy for these people.

Once again, not saying this is specifically the case of the Clones, majorly because one of the main feelings you have when watching CW is exactly empathy for the troopers (at least for me, honestly, the galaxy could explode, I just wanted those poor men to be happy for God’s sake). But I’ll talk more about it later.

The thing is, the whole thing with the Clones, if you think about it, it’s not pretty. If you step on little tiny bit outside the bubble of “fictional fantasy”, the concept is very outrageous. They are kept in conditions analogous to slavery, to say the least. To say the more, they were literally made in an on-demand lab to serve a purpose they are personally not a part of, for which they will neither receive any reward nor share any part of the gains. On the contrary, as we saw in The Bad Batch, as soon as the war was over and the clones were no longer useful as cannonballs, they were discarded. In the (wonderful) episode 6 of the third season of (the almost flawless) Rebels, “The Last Battle”, we're even personally introduced to the analogy that there really wasn't much difference in value between clones and droids, something that was pretty clear in Clone Wars but hadn't been said explicitly yet.

In fact, technically the Separatists can be considered to be more human than the Republic. But that's just my opinion.

So, you had this whole army of pretty much slaves. I know this is a heavy term, but these were people who were originally stripped of any sense of humanity or individuality, made literally to go to war and die in it, doing so purely in exchange for food and lodging, under the false pretense that they belonged to a glorious purpose (yes, Loki me taught that term, that was the only thing I absorbed from this series). Doing all this under extremely precarious conditions from which they had no chance of getting out, actually, getting out was tantamount to the death penalty. They were slaves. In milder terms, an oppressed minority. And again, I don't know if that was the case, but I can understand why Filoni Inc would be apprehensive about representing phenotically indigenous people in this situation. Especially since we in theory should see Anakin and Obi-Wan as the good guys.

(and here I’d like to leave a little disclaimer that I believe the whole Anakin-was-a-slave-once plot was HUGELY misused (and honestly just badly done) both in the prequels and in the animeted series  — maybe for the best, since he was, you know, white and all that, and I don’t know how the writers would have handled it, but ANYWAY — I believe this could have been further explored, particularly regarding his relationship with the Clones, and how it could have influenced his revolt against the Jedi, and manipulated to add to his anger and all that. I mean, we already HAD the fact that Anakin shared a deeper conection with his troopers than usual)

Yes, Rex, you have common trauma experiences to share. But anyway, backing to my track

As I was saying, we are to see them as good guys, and maybe that could’ve been tricky if we saw them hooping up on slavery practices. Like, idk, a “nice” sugar plantation owner? (I don’t know the correct word for it in english, but in portuguese they were called senhores de engenho) Like this guy from 12 Years a Slave?

You know, the slave owner who was “nice”. IDK, anyway  

No one will ever watch Clone Wars and make this association (I believe not, at least), of course not. But if we were to see how CW deepened the clone arcs, and see them as phenotypically indigenous, subjected to certain situations that occur in CW (yes, like Umbara), maybe some kind of association would’ve been easier to make.

I mean, come onnnn I can’t be the only one seeing it

You see, maybe not the whole 12 Years a Slave association one, but I don’t think it’s hard to see there was something there. And maybe this could’ve been even more evident if they looked non-white. Because historically, both black peoples and indigenous peoples went through processes of slavery, from which we as a society are still impacted today. And to slave a people, the first thing you have to do is strip them from their humanity. So it might be easier to see this situation and apply it to real life. And maybe that could lead to a whole lot of other questions regarding the Clones, the Republic, the Jedi, and even how chill Obi-Wan was about all this. We might come out of it, as lady Ursula Le Guin stated in the fragment above, a bit different from what we were before we watch it.

Maybe even unconsciously, Filoni Inc thought we would be more confortable watching if they just looked white (and because of colonialism and all that, but I’m adding thoughts here).

And of course I don’t like the idea of, idk, looking at Obi-Wan and thinking about Benedict Cumberbatch in 12 Years a Slave or something like that. Of course that, if the Clones were to play the same role as they did in the prequels, to obediently serve the Jedi and quietly die for them, that would have been bad, and hurtfull, and pejorative if added to all that I said here. But the thing is that Clone Wars, consciously or not, already solved that. At least to my point of view, they already managed to approach this situation in an incredible competent way, that is giving them agency.

2.4 AGENCY AND INDIVIDUALITY

So, one of the things I love most in Clone Wars is how it really feels like it’s about the Clones. Like, we have the bigger scene of Palpatine taking over, Ahsoka’s growth arc, Anakin’s turn to The Dark Side, the dawn of the Jedi and rise of the Empire and all that, but it also has this idk, vibe, of there’s actually something going on that no one in scene is talking about? And this something is the Clones. We have these episodes spread throughout the seasons, even out of chronological order, which when watched together tell a parallel story to the war, to everything I mentioned. Which is a story about individuals. Clone Wars manages to, in a (at least to me) very touching way, make the Clones be the heros. 

Can you really look me in the eye and say that Five’s story didn’t CRASH you like a full-speed train???? He may not have the same amount of screen-time as the protagonists, but his story is just as important as theirs (and to me, it might be the most meaningful one). Because he is the first to break free from the opression cicle all the Clones were trapped into. 

His story can be divided into 6 phases.

1 - First, the construction of his individuality, in other words, the reclaiming of his humanity. 

2 - Then the assimilation of understanding yourself as an individual of value, and then extending this to all his brothers, not as a unit, but as a set of individuals collectively having this same newly discovered value.

3 - This makes him realize that in the situation they find themselves in, they are not being recognized as such. This makes him question the reality of their situation.

4 - Freed from the illusion of his state, he seeks the truth about it.

5 - This then leads him to seek liberation not just for himself, but for all the Clones (it's basically Plato's Cave, and I'm not exaggerating here).

6 - And finally, precisely because he has assimilated his individuality and sought freedom for himself and his brothers, he is punished for it.

His story is all about agency. Agency, according to the Wikipedia page that is the first to appear if you type “agency” on Google, is that agency is “the abstract principle that autonomous beings, agents, are capable of acting by themselves” [4], and this abstract principle can be dissected in 7 segments:

Law - a person acting on behalf of another person

Religious -  "the privilege of choice... introduced by God"

Moral -  capacity for making moral judgments

Philosophical -  the capacity of an autonomous agent to act, relating to action theory in philosophy

Psychological -  the ability to recognize or attribute agency in humans and non-human animals

Sociological -  the ability of social actors to make independent choices, relating to action theory in sociology

Structural - ability of an individual to organize future situations and resource distribution

All of them apply here. And this is just the story of one Clone. We know there are many others throughout the series. 

Agency is what can make the world of a difference when you are telling a story about an opressed minority. Because opressed minorities do exist, and opression exists, and if you are insecure about consuming a fictional media about opressed minorities, see if they have agency might be a good place to start. So that’s why I think that everything I said before in 2.3 falls short. Because the solution already existed, and was indeed done. Honestly, making the non-agency representation of the Clones (the one we see in the prequels) to be the one played by Temuera Morrison, and then giving them agency in the version where they appear to be white, just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

And honestly, if they were to make the Clones look like Temuera Morrison, and by that mean, take more inspiration in the Māori culture, maybe they wouldn’t even have to change much of their representation besides their facial features. As I said in part 1, I am not by any means an expert in polynesian cultures, but there was something that really got me while I was researching about it. And is the facial tattoos. More precisely, the tā moko. 

2.5  TĀ MOKO

Once again I’ll be using the Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand as source, and you can find the articles used linked at the end of this post. 

Etymologically speaking,

“The term moko traditionally applied to male facial tattooing, while kauae referred to moko on the chins of women. There were other specific terms for tattooing on other parts of the body. Eventually ‘moko’ came to be used for Māori tattooing in general.” [5]

So moko is the correct name for the characteristic tattoos we often see when we look for Māori culture. 

These ones ^. Please also look this book up, it’s beautiful. It’s written by  Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, a New Zealand academic specialising in Māori cultural issues and a lesbian activist. She’s wonderful. 

According to the Tourism NewZealand website, 

“In Māori culture, it [moko] reflects the individual's whakapapa (ancestry) and personal history. In earlier times it was an important signifier of social rank, knowledge, skill and eligibility to marry.”

“Traditionally men received moko on their faces, buttocks and thighs. Māori face tattoos are the ultimate expression of Māori identity. Māori believe the head is the most sacred part of the body, so facial tattoos have special significance.”

[...] “The main lines in a Māori tattoo are called manawa, which is the Māori word for heart.” [6]

Therefore, in the Māori culture, there’s this incredibly deep meaning attributed to the (specific of their culture) tattooing of the face. The act of tattooing the body, any part of the body, is incredibly powerful in many cultures around the globe. The adornment of the body can have different meanings for these different cultures, but all of which I've come into contact with do mean a lot. It’s one of the oldest and most beautiful human expressions of individuality and identity. 

And in the Star Wars universe, the Clones are the group that has the deeper connection to, and the best narrative regarding, tattoos. In fact, besides Hera’s father, Cham Syndulla, the Clones are the only individuals to have tattooed skin, at least that I can recall of. And they do share a deep connection to it. 

For the Clones, the tattoos (added to hairstyles) are the most meaningful way in which they can express themselves. Is what makes them distinguishable from each other to other people. Tattoos are one of the things that represent them as individuals.

And I’m not BY ANY MEANS sayin that the Clones facial tattoos = Moko. That’s not my point. But that’s one of the things I meant when I said earlier about the wasted potential of the representation of the Clones (in my point of view). Because maybe if it were their intention to base the culture of the clones after the polynesian culture, maybe if it were their intention to make the Clones actually look like Temuera Morrison, this could have meant a whole deal. More than it’d appear looking to it from outside this culture. Maybe if there were actual polynesian people in the team that designed the Clones and wrote them (or at least indigenous people, something), who knows what we could’ve had. 

Even in Hunter’s design, I noticed that if you take for example this frame of Temuera from the movie River Queen (2005), where we can have a closer look at the design of his tā moko

Speaking purely plastically (because I don’t want to get into the movie itself, just using it as example because then I can use Temuera himself as a comparison), see the lines around the contours of his mouth? Now look at Hunter’s. 

I find it interesting that they choose to design this lines coming from around his nose like that. But at this point I am stretching A LOT into plastic and semiotics, so this comparison is just a little thing that got my attention. I know that his tattoo is a skull and etc etc, I’m just poiting this out. And it even makes me a little frustrated, because they could have taken so many interesting paths in the Bad Batch designs. But instead they choose to pay homage to Rambo. And I mean, I like Rambo, I think he’s cool and all that.

Look at him doing Filipino martial arts

But then, as we say in Brasil, they had the knife and the cheese in their hands (all they had to do was cut the cheese, but they didn’t). Istead, it seems like in order to make Hunter look like Rambo, they made him even whiter??? 

2.6 SO...

Look, I love The Clone Wars. I’m crazy about it. I love the Clones, I love their stories and plots. They are great characters and one of the greatest addings ever made in the Star Wars universe. They even have, in my opinion, the best soundtrack piece to feature in a Star Wars media since John Williams’ wonderful score. It just feels to me as if their narrative core is full of bagage, and meanings, and associations that were just wiped under the carpet when they suddenly became white. It just feels to me as if, once again, they were trying to erase the person behing the trooper mask, and the people they were to represent, and the history they should evoke.

I don’t know why they were whitewashed. Maybe it was just the old due racism and colonialism. Maybe it was meant for us to not question the Jedi, or our good guys, or the real morality of this fictional universe where we were immersed. But then, was it meant for what?

The Clones were a metaphor for what? 

(spoiler: the answer still contains colonialism)

Thank you so much for reading !!!! (and congratulations for getting this far, you are a true hero)

SOURCES USED IN THIS:

[1] Ursulla K. Le Guin, 'The Left Hand of Darkness', 14th ACE print run of June, 1977

[2] Dave Itzkoff, 'Being Boba Fett: Temuera Morrison Discusses ‘The Mandalorian’', The New York Times, published Dec. 7, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/arts/television/the-mandalorian-boba-fett-temuera-morrison.html (accessed 15 September 2021)

[3] Bruno Claessens, 'George Lucas' "Star Wars" and Oceanic art' , Archived from the original on December 5, 2020, https://web.archive.org/web/20201205114353/http://brunoclaessens.com/2015/07/george-lucas-star-wars-and-oceanic-art/#.YEiJ-p37RhF (accessed 15 September 2021)

[4]  Wikipedia contributors, "Agency," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Agency&oldid=1037924611 (accessed September 17, 2021)

[5] Rawinia Higgins, 'Tā moko – Māori tattooing - Origins of tā moko', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/ta-moko-maori-tattooing/page-1 (accessed 17 September 2021)

[6] Tourism New Zealand, ‘The meaning of tā moko, traditional Māori tattoos’,  The Tourism New Zealand website, https://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/ta-moko-maori-tattoo/ (accessed 17 September 2021)

[i8jisoo]

𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐘 𝐊𝐈𝐃𝐒 ⇉ skz with pregnant!reader

felix x reader | part six of dad!skz

↬ genre; fluff

↬ warnings; pregnancy, slight relation to sex, birth

↬ notes; this took so long lmfao i just had it sitting but i’m finishing up seungmin rnnn 🤓 i’ve been doing requests whew i just have EVERYTHING coming at once

u guys r really surprised 

u two had been in a relationship for four years now so this was inevitable as u two were putting off the pressure of marriage for awhile now

“woah, i’m gonna be a dad!! does this mean u have to call me daddy now?”

0_0

u r s e n s i t i v e

felix first notices this when he gives u a kiss in the morning n ur crying like two seconds after

:((

“why are you crying??!”

“you just leave so early and i miss you!!”

felix skips the day, not rly caring he just wants to cuddle u 🥺

speaking of cuddling u two r so cuddly together now

u guys just cant get enough of each other

ur at practice less often just bc of media and he thinks the house is safer for u

so the boys come over a ton more to the dorm just bc they wanna see u and spend time with u

he is so cute, whenever he sees you he’ll instantly be on his knees to kiss your baby bump and leave u with a light kiss on ur lips

u guys go to ur scan at the beginning of the second trimester

its hush hush and ofc felix has u with the best doctor hes heard of 

his hands are clammy asf, hes smiling and so dazed while he stares at the ultrasound

“look at that!! baby a and baby b!!”

felix is like, 

“oh im gonna pass out”

now he gets these corny ass JOKES like

“wow lix has really GOOD swimmers!!!”

“felix knows his way around the bedroom!!!!!!!!”

poor baby jeongin :( they are POLLUTING HIS MIND

he doesnt but this boy is scared shitless now, two babies?? thats a lot to handle

he likes to shop, a lot. 

for some reason everything is dog themed, puppies on everything and he’ll come home with bags of baby stuff everyday

lix is just so in love with your body

sweaters, t-shirts, hoodies, anything he owns, he 100% wants you to wear it

he might be a little excited at the thought of u in his clothes, it was usual but now u pregnant, he was a little MORE excited

abnormally this guy worships your body 100% 

he loves how easily you can just unravel, to the point of tears and have u begging for him to stop

ok lemme not ill start writing shit type smut anyways chile yes lix loves u A LOT in and out of the bedroom

mmm he’ll always be brainstorming names

aeygo for the babies 🥺

tons of kisses he has plenty to go around

he acquires a new skill called cooking 😣

ur his new favorite taste tester

he’ll read books for them both

tons of research on expecting twins and what to do

“hey, okay.. so i bought a pregnancy pillow, and like, i wanna use it?”

felix has this smirk, holding the huge pillow that is supposed to be a maternity one, but he much prefers himself using it as a regular pillow

he actually goes public with this, knowing that the fans adored u after being his girlfriend for so long nd u soon became a favorite for them

some shit like ‘stays meet your new members’ 😣

this guy has a knack for painting, his newest canvas is your large baby bump, doodling little flowers n hearts or animals on it, sometimes painting characters on it or whatever it may be

u two have this rly cute vlive together which consists of him painting ur baby bump, plenty of fun while he asked stays to tell him what to draw on ur bump :v

“ooh!! a ladybug!!”

he posts the finished project in nice high quality on their official instagram, showing off the many things he had painted

the dreaded bed rest comes into play

u are now nearing seven months, which meant that u should be experiencing labor or maybe labor pains soon

he takes his paternal leave, now indulging in ice-cream and gummy bears with u, rather than working out and drinking nasty smoothies

guess who has that sympathy weight 

(jk he just uses it as an excuse so he can just give up on his diet)

sleep all day

sleep all night

u two are honestly so tired for WHATEVER reason

lix is there to be a cuddle bug, pulling ur back close to his body, ur legs entwined and his hand on top of ur own that was on ur bump

its rly cute just try and picture it for a moment

u guys r trying everything to hurry and get to the end of this seemingly forever pregnancy

he’ll def buy two yoga balls instead of just one for u and he’ll bounce on them with u

who cares ab trying to hurry up y’all are having so much fun regardless of the fact u have to pee every ten minutes

u both forget the thought of it and just go with the flow

making a deal to go with the names for whomever u claimed aka baby a or baby b

i see ur guys timing to be during the summer so its miserable in ur house

its hot n stuffy

u two r just lounging n u both have popsicles, then ur just like

“oh! oh.”

it was a steady gush of fluid between ur legs and that was when the nervousness set in

u two just look at each-other in shock

“oh! we’re having a baby- um.. wow!”

he is abnormally good at keeping calm, helping u keep ur breathing steady and getting everything together 

felix is a pro.

u guys r kinda chilling in the parking lot just quiet and sort of nervous that the next time ur walking out of there you both will have not one, but two babies

“i don’t know if i’m ready yet.”

felix groans, grabbing ur hand

“ur right, ur more than ready. look at us!! parents of two in at least the next twenty-four hours!!” 

his hands r around u in a second to help u up and there to help u walk in

u two honestly decide to play games on ur phone to kill time

felix crawls into ur bed, seeing as how u looked extremely lonely, letting his arms and legs wrap around u n he’s just playing with ur hair

its honestly adorable

u two are really tired for whatever reason, falling asleep like this before u would be consumed in the late nights of being parents

these nurses wake u both up and are just like

“let’s see if we’re ready to meet ur babies!!”

felix is kinda scared but nonetheless he’ll grab ur hand and hold onto it with a smile

10cm woo!

if he wasn’t hyping u up before he is hyping u up right now

ur somewhat laughing and crying while in pain

yall r so weird

felix is there to wipe ur face with the wet cloth, or to give u a sip of water, rly whatever u need he is on it

poor baby just wants to be of help

“here’s baby a! it’s a girl!”

u two have at least a moment with her, taking in her small appearance, felix holding her out for u to see

abruptly cut off by baby b needing to make an appearance

“i don’t wanna do this again.”

“it’s alright, shh. we’re going to have two babies, two perfect ones. we have one little girl, let’s get ready for the next one, yeah? our two babies, you’re doing so good.”

they take away ur little girl while felix does what he already did beforehand

“here’s your second one!! we have a pair of sisters!”

u and felix are so overjoyed at this news, literally sobbing, u two r a mess

both r brought over to u, felix taking in the fact he’s a father of two girls, such small girls

ur both smiley while u kiss them n cuddle them, getting the nurse to take a picture of u two

ur obviously tired, felix emotionally worn out but having the brightest smiles on ur faces while u hold onto ur pair of newborn girls

he’s so proud, he’s the definition of a proud father

lix is holding onto one and he comes over to you, the other one cooing

“that’s it, my three girls.”

©️ maysdiors 2020 :: all rights reserved. do not repost my work on tumblr or other platforms.

[surlifen]

i dont waste energy hating closed species And You Can Too!

alright you asked for it

Claim 1: “Closed species limit creativity in the art community by locking off certain concepts.”

No, they don’t. If you believe that, then you also must believe that copyrighting in general-- or just generally the fact that making a design exactly like someone else’s is viewed as kind of wack-- are stifling creativity. Why? It’s easy to accidentally make a concept that is similar to someone else’s, because there are literally just not that many Things That Exist. There will ALWAYS be repeats. Generally, if a design coincidentally looks like another, there will be a mixture of backlash from people who believe it was an intentional ripoff, and total acceptance from people who understand that it was an accident. Ultimately, the correct way to live is to understand that 1) these coincidences can happen and should not be punished, but 2) intentionally ripping off someone else’s work is wrong. It isn’t black and white, you must process 2 or more concepts at once.

Species owners understand this. I have never seen a species owner come after someone for accidentally making something similar or inspired. This is a myth. Species owners are busy as fuck, generally Normal People, and simply do not have the time or energy or desire to moderate things outside their community. Please talk to literally any of them for more than two minutes and you will discover this. Every species owner I have met is friendly and kind and I’ll go into detail on exactly how bullshit this stereotype of them chasing people down for similarities is later.

So, given that some randos will get upset and harass people over harmless inspiration/coincidence but most will not in ALL cases of accidental over-similarity: this is NOT a species-specific problem and happens just as often--if not MORE often, because of how much people fucking despise closed species-- with non-closed-species characters.

Secondly, species owners do not create a closed species with the goal of closing off a concept from use. They do it to create a community they can manage and share a concept they have created. 

Take the world of Nephfei, created by the artist Queijac. The closed species of Nephfei are called Spinxyn, and they are very much sphinxes. They are not a brand-new concept Jac is claiming to have come up with, they are intentional and very direct references to sphinxes. What sets them apart is their species LORE, WORLD, and COMMUNITY.

[image ID: a screenshot of the Spinxyn species guide on deviantart, created by queijac. Text reads “IMPORTANT NOTE: Spinxyn are a species OF sphinx. Yes, they are sphinx, and yes of course anyone can make sphinx characters and designs using similar appearances! I claim no ownership over design aspects! Spinxyn as a CS community, however, which offers social art related activities, world building, themed events, etc., to use the characters in, simply relates to my own PERSONAL WORK and how i want to enrich peoples experiences with it! Please understand this, thank you!!!”]

This species is not closed so that Jac can copyright the idea of a sphinx. It is closed so that Jac has some control over the world and lore they have created. Were anyone able to create a Spinxyn without an approval process, not only would the community become too large to manage too quickly, but all sorts of Spinxyn with aspects that don’t fit the lore would pop up. 

[Image ID: screenshot of a message from Queijac in the nephfei official public Discord server. Text reads: “theres just a total disconnect that 99% of ppl making closed species are making. a Group...... its about.... the community....... and building the community around One concept that someone makes and puts rules in place for so that they can actually. U kno. MANAGE THINGS... and make a cohesive group experience....... the reason CS have so much popularity is because they come with a community, not because theyre 100% unique never before seen or heard of concepts”]

Jac explicitly acknowledges that sphinxes do not belong to them and even says that borrowing some spinxyn-specific appearance details is okay!!! The ONLY thing off-limits here is a WORLD, COMMUNITY, and LORE.

Except it isn’t. Because Nephfei also hosts not one, not two, but THREE open species of intelligent beings, plus NINE official species of non-intelligent animals, so that anyone can participate.

Claim 2: Species owners harass and police people who make similar concepts.

I touched on this already re:species owners are busy as fuck & Jac openly encouraging people to make sphinx characters and even borrow spinxyn-specific traits, but this note from ground-lion/seel, the creator of Chimereons, really does it for me.

[Image ID: a DeviantArt note from ground-lion to me. Text reads “hello, thank you for showing me this! we don't actively do anything to police offbrands, since it causes more trouble than i think it's worth. i like to avoid drama wherever possible, and it seems like most people who participate in offbrands are just looking to press people's buttons so we can't/won't do anything to these people, i think it is best to just try and ignore it and move on.”]

Here you have the owner of one of the arguably most shit on and hated species saying outright “we don’t bother doing anything about intentional ripoffs”. For context, this WAS 100% intentional, I had noted ground-lion about a user I saw posting adoptables that were LABELED “offbrand chimereons” (so if anyone was hArAsSiNg PeOpLe oVeR SiMiLaR cOnCePtS here, it was me, calling attention to intentional and stated copying). 

Sidenote: I think it’s shitty to intentionally steal a concept. Ground-lion has also said there is no issue with making anthropomorphic chameleon characters, just that chimereons were inspired by a set of traits, a word, lore, a desire to create a community, and their own personal stylization of anthro chameleons. It’s fine to take inspiration from how someone else stylizes an animal, but the degree to which people do it-- just outright copying every aspect of Seel’s work-- rubs me the wrong way. Not enough to say anything because that is only my personal opinion and because I do not have time for that shit.

The Dainty mod team + owner (Pajuxi-Adopts) also have a section stating that to make a design no longer a Dainty, all that’s needed are the following changes: 

[image ID: screenshot of Dainty species ToS. Text reads “ Visual edits must be made for discontinuation, here is our standard discontinuation options: - remove the stockings completely and give them fur like an actual satyr - keep the stockings and give them human legs - make them an anthro - keep the stockings but they MUST start at least a quarter to halfway up the bottom portion of the deer leg with a clear divide between the stocking and leg with fur poking out underneath - you are free to suggest your own edits as well! “]

This may be speaking specifically about discontinuing a former Dainty due to the context we found it in, but this means that a design is not considered a dainty if, for example, its stockings show fur underneath and are not part of the body. That’s it. That’s all they ask. Pajuxi is not saying “this is my closed species of SATYRS WITH SOCKS and if you DARE make a satyr with socks i will COME FOR YOU!!!”, they clearly state that satyrs with socks are an acceptable Not A Dainty. I personally think the lore behind the stockings being physically part of the body and all the specific rules they entail is interesting and original and I do not think it’s such a wild ask to say “hey, please respect this and if you see it, don’t rip it off on purpose. You can take inspiration in all these valid ways but I want to have some control over the concept I came up with”.

Claim 3: Species owners are rich elitists making small artists suffer.

Species owners are small, independent artists. Artists being hated the instant they get even moderate success (that’s still usually BARELY A LIVING WAGE) is its own huge discussion and internalized issues + capitalist brainwashing you all have to deal with on your own damn time, but I want to emphasize that someone making a living or even comfortable wage from their art is Good, Actually, and is something we should all be happy to see and want to see more of. 

Furthermore, no one is being taken advantage of. CS characters are a luxury item. You do not NEED one. If you absolutely will die without a sock deer, make one where the sock isn’t part of their body. If you will die without a chimereon, make an anthro chameleon and use your own ideas. If you will die without a sphinx character, I’m overjoyed to inform you that fucking nobody ever asked you not to make one. CS involvement is voluntary. If you don’t like them, don’t participate in them, but keep in mind that someone saying “hey, please don’t blatantly copy this design concept I spent time creating” is The Same Thing as someone asking you not to copy their individual character designs. You could live without stealing character designs. You can live without making something exactly like an existing CS. 

Claim 4: CS put concepts behind a paywall and make them inaccessible.

Again, these are a luxury item. Most closed species MYO slots cost $10-$45. That is not a ridiculous amount to aspire to. Closed species owners WANT people to participate in their species, so there are a ton of ways.

- Chimereons hold First-Time Owner flatsale slot raffles every single month to ensure people who are new to the community have a greater chance of nabbing a slot than existing participants - Dainties have an art prompt every month, which rewards every participant regardless of skill level one prompt point (the art can be visual or written). Six prompt points can be used to buy an MYO slot for free. If you desperately need a dainty and are flat broke, you can get a free one by writing 150 words a month for six months or doing one drawing each month. Skill level doesn’t matter, ALL participants get a point if they follow the rules. - I joined a raffle for a free pre-made Spinxyn. I did not win the raffle. Jac randomly decided to give out 7 MYO slots too, one of which I won. I entered a raffle that DID NOT HAVE MYO SLOTS AS A PRIZE and got one for free anyway. CS owners want people to participate, I promise. - Dainties just had a 24-hour turn-in event (that they warned about a month in advance so folks could prepare designs), meaning every single person who submits a design in that 24hr time frame gets a slot. Normally slot sales are limited in number and sell out in seconds. - Jac sporadically draws quicker, messier Spinxyn designs which always cost $5 and raffle-flatsales them on Discord. $5 is not a gatekeepy price. - Tomoyokis recently had a free-for-all event where everyone could claim either a free common slot or a $10 uncommon slot. These are just specific examples I remember of easier or free ways to get CS. Non-specifically:

- art = reward systems are common, so again, just writing or drawing enough can equal a free MYO slot or entry into a raffle for a pre-made design - many many species that are relatively new have FREE turn-in events or giveaways to build a community - free FTO slot raffles - paid but discounted FTO slot raffles - random free design giveaways - trading art for a CS character or MYO slot (I’ve gotten a dainty and two dainty MYO slots this way, and I realize not everyone’s art gets accepted, which is why this is a whole list of ways that don’t require artistic skill whatsoever)

So getting your hands on one isn’t the worst thing in the world. You might need a little luck (as in, you have a completely fair chance that is equal to everyone else’s) or a little dedication (6 months of wanting one, or having to have a design ready within a limited time for a free turn-in event).

Also, there’s a reason CS prices cannot change much: this causes issues with the value of all existing CS characters. Dainties will ALWAYS be $35. The MYO slot price will NEVER increase. If it did, all previous dainties would be worth less, or would have to have their worth increased, which is logistics hell. Inflation doesn’t affect CS the same way it does everything else.

Claim 5: ok but legally nothing is stopping me from making one lmaoo

That is true. It’s also true that there’s not really any effective laws in place to protect artists when they say “Hey, please don’t quote retweet my art on Twitter” or “Hey, please don’t repost my art even with credit”. Sometimes, we just respect artists and do what they ask because we are Nice Fucking People, but apparently, species owners are a whole different thing, evil, and do not deserve the same basic respect.

IN CONCLUSION

Talk to a CS owner. They’re reasonable and kind people. There’s an exception to every rule, of course, but what I’ve found overwhelmingly is that they’re literally just people like you and I who were excited to make something cool and share it with people. The emphasis is HUGELY on community. I used to dislike the idea of CS too, but since participating in them and talking a ton with the owners (who are super down-to-earth and active in their servers-- Jac helped me with a confusing horse video game and gave me a Free Horse in there), I’ve realized that the caricature of CS owners as greedy and bitchy, laying claim to basic concepts like A Cat With Wings, is just bullshit. The stereotype that CS community members are an angry mob who will roast you over a fire if you draw a chameleon on two legs is bullshit. The idea that CS are impossible to get, are for the bourgeoisie, and cost thousands of dollars is bullshit (I bet you’re thinking about scarfoxes right now. Hot take: I think it’s great that an artist is selling their intellectual property for that much. I think we all should be able to. I think if someone chooses to spend that much on a design they think would make them happy, that is literally not a fucking problem, and since it was their choice and their money no one is being taken advantage of unfairly. Let people buy the shit they want to buy, I promise you will fucking survive).

I like CS, I think they are neat, I wish people would give the owners a break. They are just independent artists like me. They get lied about and stereotyped over this stupid drama bullshit and they’re so tired and saddened when the subject comes up. They literally do not police anyone-- they don’t have the time or the desire, and it wouldn’t work anyway.

I won’t post CS content here anymore. But I like participating voluntarily in these communities. I don’t understand why that’s something YOU get to have a problem with.

Stay out of my inbox. Thanks.

[thebadchoicemachine]

Yall want some MYCT Magnus Archive Headcanons I may or may not draw? (Pt 1?)

I will try to include individual trigger warnings at the beginning of each explanation as much as I can think of. They may seem a little overboard but better safe than sorry. Remember, TMA is a horror podcast. 

(ALSO, EVERYTHING HERE IS /RP. EVEN WHEN I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT A ROLEPLAY VIDEO PLEASE KNOW I’M MAKING UP A CHARACTER BASED OFF THEIR CHANNEL AND AM NOT ACTUALLY ACCUSING THEM OF BEING A SERVANT TO A MALEVOLENT FEAR ENTITY.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Philza 

1. An End Avatar (TW, Numb/Apathetic Mindset)

He’s a reaper. An immortal. You only live once but life’s become, not meaningless, more like desaturated. He doesn’t care in a cheery “oh well” way. He’s pretty chill about it. He’s extremely chill about it. He is disturbingly chill about it. At first it seems great, he’s just a nice chill guy! No evil schemes or vicious plots. Just spending time with him seems to calm your nerves. And then you spend more time and you begin to understand why, things aren’t as important as you make them seem. You catastrophize a lot. Then a catastrophe happens and you’re not... upset. Why... why would you be? It doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t. It won’t in a hundred years and it doesn’t now. would end the same anyways. And then he starts to be less and less relatable. Why is he so happy? Why does he bother to go meet people and smile and eat or laugh or frown. You can’t belive you ever complained that he was so mild about everything, any amount is more than is worth. Why bother? Why... bother...

2. A Vast Avatar (TW, Heights?)

He just fucking tosses people into the sky instead of being upset with them. Do anything he doesn’t like? SWOOSH. It’s to the point it’s not even a malicious thing, it’s just routine. He gets up, goes to the store, picks up some groceries, sends a person who cut in line to a void of dusk with swirling black clouds where you fall so long you can’t tell if you’re flying up or down or left or right, maybe gets some mints, goes home, puts groceries away, does the dishes, etc. 

(the rest of the cast below the cut)

Tubbo

1. A Corruption Avatar (TW, Body Horror Surrounding Lungs, Swarming Insects, Implied Murder.) 

He has bees in his lungs and he loves them very much. If he ever gets something stuck in his throat or has water go down the wrong pipe he will FEAK OUT. He often has to cough up honey (and sometimes bees). It’s... a process. He just sits over a bucket or jar and hacks his little heart out. He sometimes saves the honey and offers it to people. Amazingly, his friends never take him up on the offer. Unsuspecting people who don’t know the.. supernatural origin of the honey find they have some... unpleasant side effects. (Bees. The side effect is bees. Specifically ones trying to fly down their throat.) Oh well, being a part of a hive isn’t for everyone. The really unfortunate ones make good fertilizer for his flowers, though! His lungs are literally a hive. If you tried to listen to his heartbeat you’d hear buzzing. He will sometimes hold flowers over his open mouth to let the bees get some easy pollon. He doesn’t usually actively seek out “prey” but when he is trying to feed on that good old fear he’ll act super sweet, too sweet, and then open his mouth and let the bees fly out. It’s very creepy but to him it’s just funny. (Also, all of the bees have names and he has a funeral for every single one that get’s killed.)

Quackity

1. A Spiral Avatar

I- I mean have you seen a single one of his videos?

2. A Stranger Avatar (TW, Unreality Depersonalization )

He mocks people as their own reflection, hopping from pond to mirror to camera to scream at them (sometimes literally) that they do not know who they are. It starts off subtle (Wasn’t your hair a bit longer? Weren’t your eyes a shade lighter? Did you always have that birthmark?”) but grows and changes until it gets to the point you stand in front of a mirror and every time you blink you look completely different. You feel your face, you look at your hands, but it’s no help. They change too fast. Your pictures change too, every single post on all your social media looks like different people posted it- wait... did you always have this platform? You don’t remember ever using it before. You have so many posts... none of them match up. You throw your phone away, noticing you never had the case on it. You turn to real photos for help but they are none. Of course not. You feel like just giving up as you shuffle through photo after photo, you don’t know what you really look like, so what? But then something catches your eye. A photo of you in the 5th grade concert. You don’t remember going to that school. You’ve never played an instrument, have you? Something screams yes and no at the same time. You throw the box down and grab your phone. You need to call someone. You pace throughout a house you recognize less and less searching for clues, reminders, as the phone rings. Your best friend answers. You throw the phone down again. You don’t have a best friend. You’ve never really been one for friends. No, that’s not true, you had a few really good ones but you’ve grown apart. No, that’s not true, you only have one real friend, your boyfriend. No, you don’t have a boyfriend, just a close friend. No, you have many friends just none that are close enough for this bullshit. You stop. No. No you don’t like swearing, do you? Do you? Who are you? Who are you? Your reflection laughs. It’s eating popcorn and making you do a stupid dance. What a bitch.

3. A Flesh Avatar (TW, Body Horror Surrounding Faces and Skin)

You’re a piece of meat, he’s a piece of meat, everyone’s meat. Like Chicken Nuggets.He’ll steal your face right off it’s skull and dance with one in each hand. He’ll put words in your mouth like you’re a puppet with bones. He’ll make you say the dumbest shit because it’s funny. Even when it’s obviously not YOU talking. 

Technoblade 

1.  A Hunt Avatar (TW, Stalking/Genocide) 

Many people have suggested a slaughter avatar but I don’t see it. Yeah, he kills (blood for the blood god and all that) but I don’t see it. The Slaughter is about the moment. The unplanned snap. The sudden outbursts. I don’t see that in techno. You know what I DO see that also involves quite a bit of bloodlust? The chase. The planning, the target, the unstoppable dread and panic that overtakes his victims once they realize who is after them. The power. Calculated genocide of victim after victim. The HUNT. My two pain points of evidence: His potato war videos, that time he took over the world, and his stalking speech to Quackity. Go watch an animatic of Technoblade chasing down Quackity and tell me he is not a Hunt Avatar. 

Wilbur

1. A Desolation Avatar (TW, Abuse/Torture)

Everything he touches burns and hurts. Sometimes it’s on purpose, sometimes on accident, but either way he’s caught up in enjoying the drama. I’m gonna be honest, my main inspiration was the Villainbur aesthetic but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. Look at nearly any of his 100 player videos; designed to create maximum pain for hs enjoyment. Even the Dream SMP where he was mostly a good guy and more tragic than anything else fits. Maybe that Villain Arc was his first dabble as an avatar of destruction and pain. Even making his own father kill him could have been along the lines of “how can I milk as much despair out of this as possible.”

TommyInnit

1. A Slaughter Avatar (TW, Straight Up Murder)

Now HERE is a character right up that slaughter’s alley. No thoughts, not plans, just unbridled passion and rage and violence. He just stabs people whenever he feels like it (which is often) sometimes just with sticks. Like a rabid raccoon just jumps straight at people’s faces out of nowhere, always starting shit and stoking fires to make people angry at each other. 

2. A Buried Avatar (TW, small tight spaces)

Tunnels and caves and sticks and spots. He’ll burry you under a mountain, he’ll lock you in a tree. Dirt man. His usual MO is trapping people under an avalanche of stones and rocks and rubble. Basically just lava casting your bones. Everything he makes is ugly but not just in a ”that’s literally a pile of rocks in the middle of the road” way in a bit of an indescribable “looking at that makes me feel like I’m breathing in straight gravel.” 

Bonus: Ranboo as a Dark Avatar/Victim. He is not a willing avatar like Jude or Helen, he’s more along the lines of Oliver and Jon.

[obeiii-mee]

Hi there! If its okay, could i ask for headcannons of the brothers finding out MC is an Artist? Something like, finding there sketchbook or napkins w doodles on them jfjdjs Or maybe they catch MC glancing at them alot while trying to draw them? hfjd Ty!! Your writing is really good~

Of course it’s OK! I’ve always liked the idea of MC having a really interesting hobby and teaching the brothers about it. I feel like all the brothers would be very supportive of them, even if they all had various reactions to their hobby but I really love writing wholesome moments like that. Sorry this took longer to come out, I made them really long to make up for it!

Also thank you. Your compliment means a lot :)

————————————-

The Brothers’ reactions to MC being an artist:

Lucifer:

-Well if you’re going to glance at him every two minutes, he’s bound to notice

-I mean, you’re pretty damn obvious

-Lucifer got pretty used to you whipping out your sketchbook whenever you could

-So for you to start doodling in his office while he worked wasn’t exactly unheard of

-He caught you staring at him before looking back down at your drawing, continuing your series of furious scribbles

-Now you piqued his interest

-“You seem very focused there love. What are you drawing?”

-Scared the crap out of you because he rarely ever talks when he’s working

-You were reluctant to show him but Lucifer has his insisting face on

-When you passed him the sketchbook, he momentarily froze

-Your drawing was so detailed and full of emotion, capturing him slumped over his desk, exhausted but determined to finish the work he’s been assigned

-He was so surprised and stunned, for a second, he forgot to breathe

-“It’s not exactly one of my best drawings yet but-“

-“You never fail to impress me MC.”

-He suspected you were drawing him but he wasn’t expecting this much effort to be put into it

-He would definitely keep all your drawings of him

-Loves all your work but secretly adores your sketches of him best

-Lucifer would occasionally look over your shoulder while you sketch, taking a peek at what you’re drawing and smile to himself

-He’s never felt this much pride for someone else before

Mammon:

-Was pissed you would rather spend time with an object rather than him

-It annoyed him at first because he couldn’t tell if you were listening to him or not while you had your nose stuck in your sketchbook

-Basically, he was jealous of a sketchbook

-You can’t do that Mammon, that’s Levi’s thing

-So one day he decided to see what the fuck was so great about that giant notebook you always have with you

-He turned your entire room upside down searching for the damn thing before finding it

-He flipped through it and I’m sure the entire House of Lamentation could hear his gasp

-You drew him for pages and pages in all sorts of positions and styles and he was a flustered tomato going through them

-You willingly drew him? The scum of a demon who could never do anything right unless it involved money? You put your time and effort into these sketches and doodles despite him being condescending and a dick at times?

-Excuse me but this man is already head over heels in love with you, you can’t keep giving him reasons to fall for you

-He was so engrossed into your work that he didn’t notice you behind him

-“Mammon why is there a mess in my room-“

-“HOLY SHI-AHHH!!!”

-Too embarrassed to even think of an excuse for going through your shit

-“Ah those...I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have drawn you without your permission Mammon-“

-“Are ya kiddin’ me? MC, I feel insulted that you didn’t tell me about this sooner. Can...Can I keep some of ‘em??”

-Now he insists that you draw him as often as possible and would even pose for you (he loves the attention let’s be real)

-He wants to see all of your drawings and will endlessly support you

-Thought about using your skill as a way to make money because art can be very expensive

-But in the end, he dropped the idea

-Why would he sell something so precious to him??

Levi:

-He probably has a sketchbook too

-You guys draw Ruri-chan together in your own styles

-Levi always insists that you’re much better at drawing than him tho

-Your talent makes him a little jealous but at the same time he’s fascinated

-Was so surprised when he found out you were into sketching

-Levi was even more surprised when you showed him all the drawings you’ve worked on for your favourite anime and video game characters

-OK but how come you’re so perfect? Not only are you a lovely person that is willing to watch anime with him without insulting his opinions but you can draw? W...h...a...t...?

-He requests several sketches of ‘The Tale of the Seven Lords’ characters and will actually tape them to his wall

-Some of them are right on his Ruri-chan shelf

-“Hey normie, do you...do you mind teaching me how to draw? I want to learn.”

-Is 100% determined to learn how to properly sketch from you

-You started drawing him as well, usually while he games

-You better stop, he’ll have a nosebleed if you keep being so nice to him!

-Draw him as an anime character and he will start fangirling

-“Phew. OK I’m finished.”

-“What did you draw?”

-“Hentai.”

-“This. Is. A. Masterpiece.”

-Will proudly show your work to his brothers (usually the same drawing more than five times)

-What did an otaku like him do to deserve you??

Satan:

-He found out you were an artist fairly quickly

-I meant he found tissues with doodles you left behind everywhere

-He kept all of them

-It was so refreshing for him to see you so invested in your drawings the same way he is in his reading

-You’re still under the impression you’re being sneaky by drawing him while he has his nose in his books

-You ended up finally gathering enough courage to show him one of your portraits of him

-He had a reaction similar to Lucifer’s really

-Praise!

-He made your drawing into a bookmark

-Idk how but he did

-You leave him a few doodles of you and him being all lovey dovey and he absolutely adores them

-Will lose his marbles if anyone says anything remotely negative about your style or talent

-Draw him fluffy animals pls he will literally have them framed and fixed up in his room

-Also if you draw any of his brothers (specifically Lucifer let’s be real) in a silly way he will actually start snorting with laughter

-You sketch him pretty damn often and he can’t really complain

-It’s really peaceful when you two are in the library and you’re working on your doodling while he reads aloud to you

-Buys you equipment like pens and pencils and even sketchbooks when he knows you’re running out

-He’s really delighted when you come over to show him your drawings

-Once he caught you staring at a cat as you started sketching it

-He actually didn’t think it was possible to love someone this much

Asmo:

-Noisy little fucker that he is and in need of drama, he looked through your sketchbook

-Thought it was a diary at first but nope

-Imagine his surprise when he found pages upon pages of drawings of his brothers and him

-Except his weren’t really a surprise

-He’s gorgeous of course you would want to draw him

-But oh my God, do you realise how much he values art??

-I know he looks as if he only thinks about sex but he definitely has a thing for creativity and art like painting and photography

-“MC darliiiing~? Why didn’t you tell me you can draw?”

-He actually shrieks at how well you’ve captured his beauty

-He insists that they look like actual pictures of him

-Takes several pictures of all of them and posts them on DevilGram

-A bit salty when you drawing anything else but him

-However, he can’t deny that you’re one of the most talented individuals he ever met

-He comes up to you every day and lractically begs you to draw him

-One time you came in your room to find him naked and asking you to draw him

-Is actually kinda good at drawing himself

-Specifically people

-He has enough experience exploring the human body so he surprisingly enough, knows a thing or two when it comes to body proportions

-“MC draw me like one of your french girls~”

-I’m sorry I had to do that

-He also likes the attention he’s getting when he poses for you

-He may think he’s the most beautiful being in all three realms but he definitely thinks you’re the second

-So he often offers to draw you too

-He likes having cozy chats with you while you draw

Beel:

-You left your sketchbook behind in the kitchen with him

-Mammon needed your assistance to get down from where Lucifer hanged him after one of his failed money schemes

-He knocked a glass of milk nearby it and had a panic attack for a minute

-Legitimately thought he ruined the whole thing

-Was actually about ready to cry because he knew how important your sketchbook was to you

-Looked through it just to make sure there were no splotches or anything

-To say he was relieved when he realised it was fine would be an understatement

-He was kinda drawn to your sketches, most of them carefully drawn and expressive, even some of the ones you scribbled out

-One specific drawing caught his eye though

-You drew him and Belphie together, with his twin brother’s head resting on his shoulder while Beel ate

-He was mesmerised by your talent and by your thoughtfulness

-Beel felt bad about it but he kept looking through your sketches, enchanted by everything in it

-You drew him and his brothers several times

-It’s safe to say the discovery of your drawings brightened his day

-Gave back your sketchbook later

-He apologised for going through it without your permission more than he needed to

-You had to accept his apology because he looked like a kicked puppy

-Feels very honoured whenever you let him look at your work

-Is more than happy to pose for you!

-But that might be a bit of a problem seeing as he tends to move around a lot

-“Whoa, that looks just like me! The food I’m eating looks really realistic too...which is making me hungry. Let’s go to Hell’s Kitchen, you can finish this there!”

-Supportive bean

-You gave him a family sketch of him and all of his brothers once

-Normally, he only likes gifts he can eat

-But he treasures that drawing more than food at times

-“This...this is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me! Thank you MC! But uh, someone’s missing in this drawing.”

-“Ah shit, who did I miss?”

-“You.”

-If anything ever happens to Beel or his happiness I swear to Lord Diavolo-

Belphie:

-OK but you left your notebook just sitting there right next to him???

-How do you expect him not to look through it?

-Belphie doesn’t care much for privacy

-And he doesn’t exactly have morals either

-He didn’t even know you were into drawing

-Which to be fair, wasn’t scandalous considering he sleeps 20 hours a day

-But he wants to be more involved in your interests so that’s why he took initiative with your sketchbook

-Idk what he was expecting but definitely not a sketch of him staring back at him

-His heart skipped a beat but I don’t even know if demons have hearts

-The cheeky little shit took pictures and may or may not have made on your drawings of him his wallpaper

-Most of the drawings were of him sleeping, surprising...absolutely no one

-“So that’s what you’re up to whenever I go to sleep huh? So cute~”

-But besides all that, he is really touched

-I mean, if there’s anyone undeserving of your love and respect is the piece of shit of who tried to kill you

-Yet here you are, continuously showering him with affection and now this

-Probably spent hours looking at your sketchbook while you were at R.A.D

-Didn’t say anything to you when you came back except handing your notebook back to you

-Though he was less of a smartass and more affectionate for the rest of the day

-Next morning, you took the liberty of waking up before him and sketching him again

-He grabbed your arm halfway through your doodling and grinned at you from under the covers

-“Drawing me again huh? You won’t mind me doing this while you’re at it then right?”

-Now he’s sleeping in your lap

-Whenever you show him your work, he makes a small approving noise but he’s seriously impressed

-Draw Lucifer or Lord Diavolo in any offensive manner and he will actually start giggling

-Gets all huffy puffy when you draw his brothers instead of him (we all know Beel is the exception)

-I may have a thing for Belphegour

Al~

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Okay I was gonna do another SG:WoT post anyway because we’ve got a new King interview but THEN, he released the cover to issue four so you KNOW I gotta geek out about this.

(Sorry that this blog is all SG:WoT, all the time now, but I am just. Insanely excited that Evely is drawing Supergirl. Feel free to block/mute these posts as needed. XD)

Okay, so!

First! The interview!

It’s on (ugh) screenrant so I’m not gonna link, I’m just gonna nab the interesting bits:

On the different direction of the book, and if he wanted to go back to the original Adventure Comics vibes: “So, the idea of this thing was to strip her story down, because Supergirl has a majorly weird history in terms of continuity. At least 13 writers have rewritten her origin over the years. Her dad has 13 origin stories; sometimes he's evil, sometimes he's a robot, sometimes alive, sometimes he's dead. She's changed dramatically in the last 10 years, between coming back to life to the New 52 to Rebirth. She's gone through so much that it's hard to get a hold of her. Not to mention in the '90s, when I was coming up, she was like an ectoplasmic space angel. There's so much there, and I just wanted to take all that stuff off and get to the core of the character; get her out of her normal environments and her normal conflicts. It seems like all our stories are about her dad or her relationship to Superman. Instead, let's see the purity of that character.”

On starting the book the way he did: “...I wanted to start out with a very human moment of a person turning 21 and getting drunk. And a person who is getting drunk because they want to be alone, and they just want to forget about the shit that's happened in their past. That's such a human moment. And the fact that she's Supergirl, so she waits till it's legal - because these super people, they follow the rules. She waited, and now it's legal and she can have this moment. She goes off by herself, with her dog that always follows her, and she has a moment where she can be free. For a lot of people in the US, whether you've been drinking since you were 14 or started that day, your 21st birthday and the day after are days you remember for the rest of your life. It's a day of freedom and consequence, and I wanted to show Supergirl going through that.”

On rising to the challenge of helping Supergirl perform better, sales/popularity-wise: “ When I first got on this book, I called Steve Orlando, who had just written a Supergirl run. And he was the one who opened my eyes to how good the character is. He had such insight into her. He was like, ‘There is a difference between Clark and her, and what she's gone through.’ He just laid it for me.”

On starting the book off with Ruthye’s journey, and gradually building to Kara’s: “ I was like, "Okay, this is going to be from the point of view of someone under Supergirl." And so I switched the point of view to this new brand new character, whose name is Ruthye. And we went from there: we start with Ruthye's story, we see her discover Supergirl, and she's our audience. She's our way in, the way Robin has always been the way into Batman.”

On whether or not other characters will show up, outside of Supergirl and Ruthye: “It's like my Superman: Up in the Sky, where it's a distillation of the character. You'll see other characters, but the focus of every issue will be on Supergirl. And it's something where at the very end, you can be like, "Why is Supergirl great? Why is she important to the DC Universe? What is her future in the DC Universe? Here, read this one trade that can answer all three of those questions at once."So, there will be other characters in the Super universe. But the focus will always be on her; on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. It's her finding out about herself and her own strength.”

On Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow vs. his other titles: “Supergirl is my first 2021 book, or my first book of the 20s. That wrapped up my books of the teens, and now we're in a new generation. God willing, from the moment I started this book, I was like, ‘I'm gonna take a risk, and I'm gonna write books that are a little brighter.’ I know that's coming from me, and it's not to say we're going to avoid conflict or we're not going to explore the depths of the human soul. All that stuff will be in there. But these books are made from a place of joy, not from a place of anger; from a place of hope, not from a place of despair. It very much contrasts to those other books, in my mind.”

On how he thinks folks will react to the Krypto cliffhanger: “I mean, they're gonna think it's a good cliffhanger. That's how I think they're going to react. They're going to say, ‘I want the next issue.’ That's literally my job as written in my contract. Something where at the end of an issue, someone says, ‘I want more.’ So, that's how I hope they react.”

As mentioned, this is not the full interview; the whole thing can be found on screenrant, and I think Tom King shared a link on his twitter. 

And now, as always, SOME THOUGHTS:

I love that he brings up the fact that so many Supergirl stories focus on Zor-El and Clark, and how he was like, ‘let’s not do that.’

That’s my big gripe with modern Supergirl comics; they are trying so hard to make a statement on why we need both a Supergirl AND a Superman, that they end up spending ALL THEIR TIME talking about Clark, instead of, you know. Telling a fun Supergirl story.

Same thing with Zor-El! I know folks love Rebirth--I like it quite a bit myself--but I think the nostalgia goggles prevent folks from remembering that the whole first arc of that book was re-doing the ‘Cyborg Superman’ garbage from the Nu52. 

Speaking of Rebirth, really like that of all the recent SG writers he coulda talked to, he talked to Steve Orlando.

Like, if ya can’t get Gates on the phone, get Orlando.

(I get the sense that Gates doesn’t like this book, actually, based on a vague tweet. But don’t quote me on that.) 

Looks like Ruthye is gonna be our POV/audience insert character for the whole run. I’m...mmmm. I don’t love it, but I understand the logic here. Especially since he compared it to Batman and Robin--how you use Robin as your entry point for a bat book. 

And you know what? Kara’s supporting cast needs some help, so. Welcome to the Superfam, Ruthye.

I also love the explanation behind the drinking thing, as well as the fact that Kara waited until it was 100% legal for her to drink because OF COURSE SHE WOULD.

I am so worried that Krypto is gonna die b/c of what we saw in Future State. I’m over here with my Pepe Silva board like, ‘Well, what if Kara agrees to help Ruthye because Krem MURDERED HER DOG?!?! WHAT IF THIS IS JOHN WICK IN SPACE?!?!?!’

So I am DISMAYED that King does not reassure us AT ALL.

Thus I am forced to cling to this tidbit here: “ But these books are made from a place of joy, not from a place of anger; from a place of hope, not from a place of despair. It very much contrasts to those other books, in my mind.”

Killing the dog would not be joyful. XD So, like. I’m REALLY HOPIN’ HE’LL BE OKAY.

AND LASTLY, (Except not really)

I have some additional, miscellaneous thoughts unrelated to the interview b/c I’m me and I’m loving having a Supergirl comic back on the shelves, however polarizing it may be.

Something I realized, when details started to come out regarding the book, and that other folks have now noted as well: Kara was 16 when Rebirth launched in 2016; she’s just turned 21 in 2021, making her one of the extremely few comic characters to age in real time.

I don’t think that was planned, but it is cool.

It occurred to me on a re-read that Ruthye never calls Kara Kara in her narration, only Supergirl. And I was a little sad! But then I remembered that Kara wouldn’t necessarily reveal her identity to people she’s helping, she would just be ‘Supergirl’ to them. 

I really do love how, so far, there has been NARY A MENTION of Kara angst-ing over being in Clark’s shadow, or being Superman’s cousin.

It appears that her drinking alone on a remote planet is more related to trying to forget her trauma/grief related to Krypton. MAYBE. We don’t know yet.

The Clark thing could still come up. I hope it doesn’t. 

(Interesting to note! Kara recently appeared in Action Comics, helping Clark and Jon investigate some Kryptonian refugees; IDK how closely these books will necessarily ‘work together’ in terms of continuity, but! It’s possible that the discovery of those mysterious refugees was triggering, thus sending her on her way to her own solo title.)

(Well. That’s gonna be my headcanon, anyway. XD)

AND LASTLY, (for real this time)

ISSUE FOUR COVER!!!!

Okay, some immediate thoughts:

GOOD LORD IT’S STUNNING.

I loooooove the fire motif, reminds me of a part from the Rebirth run, where Kara met the Super-Man of China, and they visually referenced All-Star Superman, having the Kryptonians kind of...become the sun.

Also STAR CHART?!?! PIRATE MAP!?!?!?! 

The VIBES I tell you, the VIIIIIIIBES.

Also I love that it’s just Kara.

Don’t get me wrong! I like Ruthye just fine so far! But yeah, yeah, give me some more solo-Kara focus, even if it’s just in the art.

Just realized that once this thing gets collected as a TBP, we might get some Evely art backmatter. OhHhhHHhhH YESSSS. 

Anyways, the long wait for issue 2 begins!