#i also plan to color a panel of link eventually!

[midnapanda]

I hadddd to give the siblinks dark hair. Heavily inspired by my friends :> it just makes sense!

Also here's my personal headcanon: they have varying amounts of hair dye!

Green has a streak of strawberry blonde. Red has half of his hair dyed banana yellow. Blue's hair is bleach blonde with the roots growing in. And Vio has the tips of his sideburns frosted.

I also made Green's tunic a notably more yellowy green, to distinguish him more from Link. Plus, I just really like warm shades of green. Link wears the same shade of green shown in the colored panels of the Legendary Edition.

[detailtilted]

NEW Enhanced Edition - CHICON 2010 - Mishalecki Breakfast Panel

Direct link to video. Link to YouTube channel. (15 videos available.)

My latest video is up! This is a rare U.S. Jared and Misha panel. They have a fun dynamic with Jared's playful humor and Misha's dry sarcasm. If you haven't seen my posts before and want more details about what I'm doing, see the bottom of the post.

92% of the footage came from the video AgtSpooky sent me. It was already on YouTube, but not properly credited to her. Most of the audio came from a different source, and I used a few other sources to fill in small sections of both video and audio. All sources are credited in my video description.

Video Quality Notes

As usual, the breakfast video quality is lower than the main panels. AgtSpooky's video came out the best and clearest overall, but the quality does fluctuate. She also had a more sideways angle, so we don't always have a clear view of their faces depending on which direction they're facing. The other videos with a more direct view were usually quite blurry, so I mostly stuck with AgtSpooky's because I thought her clearer profile view offered better visibility than a blurry direct view. There were a couple short clips with good quality and a direct view, and I cut to those when I could.

The main panels have much better quality and a more direct view, so my next set of videos will look better.

Subtitles

Many of you know that I subtitle Jared and Jensen in red and blue because those were their mark tape colors on the set of Supernatural. When I tried to find Misha's mark tape color, I found this post which has photos indicating it was probably yellow.

I've used yellow to represent the fans at the mic during the main panels since I started this project. At the time, I hadn't thought ahead to the likelihood that I'd eventually subtitle Misha too. Since my YouTube statistics show that nearly half my viewers watch with the subtitles turned on, I don't want to cause confusion by switching up my colors after all this time.

I did want to give Misha's color some symbolism that fans would likely recognize though, so I subtitled him with orange in honor of his apparent penchant for wearing orange underwear.

This video was more difficult to subtitle than most I've worked on so far, so you may see more than the usual dreaded [inaudible].

What's Next

I've started working on the main panel from this same convention. It starts off as a solo Misha panel, then it becomes another Mishalecki panel, then it becomes a J2M panel. I plan to split them up into 3 videos, the same way I treated the Jared/Jensen/J2 panels that ran one-after-the-other at other conventions. This will keep them a more manageable length so that it won't take me an eternity to publish a new one, and it allows people to more easily watch just the video(s) with the actor(s) they're interested in.

Although my project is more focused on Jared and Jensen, I do plan to do the solo Misha panel. I had promised a while back that I'd probably do Misha's solo panels if I happened to have any good-quality, mostly-complete videos of his panel that I could use at the time I was working on other videos from the same convention. That probably won't happen often, but in this case I have a video like that from AgtSpooky.

Before/after Comparison Photo

A recap for anyone not familiar with this project…

In December 2023, I started this project to enhance old convention videos. I'm upscaling the videos and making other visual improvements, adding extra content to clarify various references, and adding human-generated, color-coded subtitles so you can better understand the sometimes-chaotic audio. The subtitles can be auto-translated to other languages via YouTube.

My goal is to publish the best, most complete, and most watchable versions of these older convention panels yet seen, but this is only possible thanks to the fans who captured the footage in the first place and were generous enough to share it with other fans. My video descriptions on YouTube will always credit my sources.

If you have any old convention videos you'd be willing to contribute to this project, please message me! I can also be reached at DetailTilted@gmail.com. Even if your videos are on YouTube, the original files, if you still have them, may upscale much better. If I can get them to upscale, I'd happily send the upscaled files back to you for your own collection whether I use them or not.

[wavytam]

Nami, Sanji and the Sky - Part 1

For a while now, I noticed a strange symbolism that both Nami and Sanji share throughout the story of One Piece, and since the manga is coming to an end, I feel like this symbolism is becoming more evident and could eventually have an important role for the conclusion of the story.

Rather than a theory, this post is more of an analysis (and compilation) of the connection both Nami and Sanji share with the element Sky.

I will be writing two more posts: one listing every content I found about sky (specially the ones connected to Sanji and Nami) while reading the manga, I will also include some video analysis/theories I found talking about that as well (those theories will be properly linked); and the other will be my conclusion as to what all of that information could mean.

For now, I do have a feeling about what it is, but I decided to read the manga from the beginning first to see what else I could find before making up my mind.

So:

In Part 1: I will bring up every symbolism evident in Nami's and Sanji's storylines, what the Sky itself symbolises to the Universe of One Piece and what it could mean to Nami and Sanji.

In Part 2: I will make a compilation of every manga panel that talks about the Sky (it will be edited as I read through the manga).

Part 3 (last part) will be my theory on what the Sky Symbolism could imply to Nami's and Sanji's storylines and the end of One Piece - this part will take a while to be finished, as I plan to read the entire manga first.

WARNING: Although I intend to write about the characters individualy, I will make romantic connections between them as well. So you have been warned it will contain SaNami.

So let's get started.

So the first thing that is interesting to note (and everyone already knows) is that every important character in One Piece, especilally the Straw Hats, are linked to multiple symbols at the same time; be it through their names, the Devil Fruit they ate, their roles in the crew, or even the numbers assingned to them, Oda made sure that a lot of his characters had a rich background, and that is one of the reasons that we love them so much.

There is even a One Peace Wiki page that registers every symbolisms Oda created and talked about in his SBSs. And we do know that there are even more hidden symbols he leaves around the manga and color spreads and doesn't talk about or avoids to answer when questioned.

For the sake of keeping this part short, I will use three of the Straw Hats as examples (besides Sanji and Nami).

Luffy:

Monkey (SBS) and Tiger (colorspreads)

Red (SBS)

Numbers 1 and 5 (Go) 6 (Mu) (SBS)

Sun (God Nika) (Manga and colorspreads)

Crown (Pirate King)

Sunflower (SBS)

Meat (manga, SBS)

Zoro:

Tiger and Shark (SBS)

Green (SBS)

Swords/Steel (SBS)

Hell (King of Hell)

Number 2 (SBS)

Beast (manga)

Demon (manga)

Onigiri (SBS and manga)

Earth (his mother's name means Earth SBS)

Robin:

Flower - Hana Hana no Mi (manga)

Purple (SBS)

Demon (manga)

Number 7 (Na), 8 (Ha), 2 (Ni), 6 (Ro) (SBS)

Crane, Falcon (SBS)

There is, of course, many other elements related to each of these three characters alone, but let's keep it short.

This means that Oda does give a lot of attention to those details, and it might not be far-fetched to analyse the symbols he linked to both Nami and Sanji in the manga, colorspreads and SBSs, with more depth.

Now, as a shipper, I am biased to say that this could imply a romantic connection, but even if it doesn't, I feel like there is something between these two that are worth giving a look, both for them individualy and together.

So let's see the symbols Oda assigned them in SBSs, Color Spreads, and Manga (that we know of):

Nami:

Numbers 7 (Na) 3 (Mi)

Oranges (manga and SBS)

Crown (colorspreads)

Weather and Climate (manga colorspread)

Cat (SBS)

Lightning (SBS and manga)

Zeus/Clouds (manga)

Waves and sea (her name means waves)

Mermaid (past with fishmen pirates and her mysterious connection to Otohime) (manga and SBS)

Sunflower (manga)

Lions (manga and colorspread)

Money and Treasures (manga and SBS)

Sweden (SBS)

Sanji:

Numbers 5 (Ko) 9 (ku) 3 (San) 2 (Ji) (SBS)

Three o'clock (his name) (manga and colorspread)

Duck and Bighorn Sheep (SBS)

Cigarrette (manga and SBS)

Mermaid (lighter and hyper fixation with mermaids) (manga and colorspread)

Blue (SBS)

Sky (his move Sky Walk and his mother's name literally meaning Sky) (manga)

Fish and seafood (SBS)

Sea (All Blue) (Manga)

(Stealth) Black (Leg) (manga)

Fire (manga)

Demons (Ifit/Diable) (manga)

Spirals and Devil Fruits (manga and SBS)

Science and Technology (manga and SBS)

France (SBS)

Spirals (manga)

I think we can already see how many of the elements of the list they do share in common. In this post, however, let's focus on the sky elements.

Lightning

Zeus/Clouds

Weather and Climate

Sky

Down below, there are image examples in the manga and colorspreads.

So, why is it that I am focusing on that? I mean, why do I think it's worth pointing this out?

Because throughout the manga, Oda has made it clear how important the Sky is, along with three other symbols: Earth, Sea, and now the Sun.

I think you know where I am going at.

So, it's a known fact that Oda used the name of three Greek/Roman Gods (who also happen to be the name of planets) to name the Ancient Weapons.

And it has already been brought up that weirdly, Luffy's three strongest nakamas (after himself) are connected to each of these symbols.

Pluton-> Pluto (Roman name)-> Hades (Greek name)-> God of the Underworld (Hell)-> Underworld->Earth-> Zoro: King of Hell, son of the Earth (Tera) - Zoro is also connected to Wano, where Pluton is located

Poseidon-> Neptune (Roman name)-> Poseidon: God of the Seas-> Sea-> Jimbei: First son of the Sea - Jimbei is from Fishmen Island where Poseidon is located.

Uranus-> Father Sky, the personification of the Heavens (before Zeus took over)-> Sky-> Sora Vinsmoke and Sora, Warrior of the Sea -> Sanji

(Weirdly, besides Black Leg and Mr. Prince, Sanji doesn't have any other alias, much less one connected to the Sky... yet?)

(Also, since Jimbei and Zoro came from the places where the Ancient Weapons are Hidden... could it be that the Kingdom of Germa once ruled over the place where Uranus is hidden? Maybe they also had a previous connection to the Ancient Kingdom? Hmmm, theory for another post)

BUT it's important to coment that we were only able to make these connections NOW, after 26 years, because only now Oda has revealed: Zoro's mother's name, Sanji's mother's name, the name of the last Ancient Weapon, and that Jimbei (Knight of the Sea) would be part of the crew.

So why only now?

To me, it's because One Piece is coming to an end, and these elements will play a pivotal role in the Great War to come.

Following that idea, in my opinion, this also means that the connection Sanji and Nami share with the Sky is not only important to their storylines but also to the conclusion of One Piece.

And, because Oda is finally revealing more about the Void Century and the main character's backstories, only now are we able to connect the previously missing dots.

So what about Nami?

Now, if Sanji alone had a parallel to the god of Heavens, the post would end here haha but weirdly Nami also is deeply connected to it, just as much as Sanji, maybe even more than him, actually. However, we still don't know much about her... yet, so we only have small crumbs to make this relation.

First, Nami's past is still a mistery to this day. Even after 26 years of One Piece, the only thing we do know about her is that Nami and Nojiko were found in a village called Oykot.

And I have this feeling that it's because Nami's past will be a huge spoiler to the end of One Piece and is directly connected to the Void Century. I will not get into much detail as to why here because I do plan to make a post focusing only on Nami and the weird hints Oda left about her in the manga and colorspreads.

So back to her connection with the Sky.

Before, Nami's connection was related to the weather and the seas (weirdly, Sanji also has a big connection to the Seas) but, recently she acquired Zeus and, if we look back to her story throughout the manga, we can see that there were also hints of her connection with the sky through her abnormal knowledge and love for navigation (they were just a little bit hidden).

As we know, Zeus is also the God of the Sky and Lightning and... wait, what is his Roman name again? Jupiter (hold that thought)

Another interesting connection Nami has with the Sky is where she was sent by Kuma to train: a sky island named Wetheria, where wizards studied the science of weather. Isn't it weird that it's a Sky Island that has one of the most advanced knowledge in weather whilst Nami has always had this pull to learn about it ever since she was a child?

And let's not mention how in the Skypea arc, Nami was the only "disciple" to almost follow Enel to the moon (of course, she was only trying to survive and not be killed by him, but the fact that Oda chose Nami to be in that situation might be an indicative of something).

Now that we saw how the Sky is connected to Sanji and Nami individualy, let's bring up some interesting moments in the manga where the Sun/Sea/Earth/Sky symbolism appears, besides the Ancient Weapons.

There is one that caught my attention the most (although the Sea does not make part of it):

Big Mom.

More specifically, the three weapons of her own choice and creation. Who are they?

Well, we have:

Prometheus (Sun/Fire)

Napoleon (Hat/Sword)

To me, they are worth taking a look since it's very strange that Oda keeps on bringing up these same symbols again and again.

Zeus (Cloud/Lightining)

Now, I know that many might not agree with me in this, but, in my opinion, those weapons are again a direct parallel to some of the Straw Hats, but not in the way you think.

So...

Prometheus (Sun/Fire)-> Luffy (Sun God Nika)

Napoleon (Hat/Sword)-> Zoro (Swordsman)

Zeus (Cloud/Lightining)->???

You might ask: Why did I put the question marks for Zeus and not just write Sanji's name? I think that, by now, you can guess why...

My first choice would have been Sanji because, since they are seen as weapons, the only one left to symbolise Zeus would be him - and I do think they fit in many levels (the reason being what I already listed above)... but not all. Why?

Because Zeus is also connected to Nami. And that's where my confusion started, and I didn't really know who to assign Zeus to.

It gets even more suspicious if you notice that Nami got Zeus first during the Whole Cake Arc, where we also learn Sanji's mother's name, creating another big connection between him and the Sky.

And there is, of course, the servant moment (LMAO)

Which kinda implies that Sanji is also a servant for Nami, like Zeus...? Lol

Anyway, because of the Nami/Zeus interactions in Whole Cake and Nami's conection to weather and thunder clouds, we can imply that Nami would be a much better candidate to the Sky symbolism in relation to Big Mom's trio weapons and, maybe, to what it could imply to the end of One Piece.

Until Wano.

That's where I got even more confused???

You see, to everyone who read/watched Wano knows there were moments dedicated to the development of Nami and Zeus's relationship.

Zeus abandoned her because of how scared he was of Big Mom, but then he (kinda) overcame his fear and chose to be with Nami. That's another parallel he has with Nami since, in Oniagshima's arc, Nami also overcame her fears, and even at the threat of death, acknowledged that Luffy would be the Pirate King.

To me, the message Oda wanted to give was how sometimes we must overcome our fears to stand for what is right and for what we believe in, no matter the odds.

So, Nami->Zeus, right?

Well, kinda. Because in this same arc, Big Mom (with Prometheus' suggestion) had the great idea of creating a substitute for Zeus.

And, alas, we have Hera, whose name is based on ZEUS'S WIFE?

The interesting thing here is that it was Prometheus who asked for a girlfriend, but then Big Mom (and Oda) decided to give a name that connected her and Zeus romantically?? Lol

So now, we have a female cloud, and she has the same powers as Zeus, so... does it mean Hera symbolizes Nami? The thing here is, Hera's design has a... very weird resemblance... to Sanji (?????)

(I know I'm reaching, but hear me out...)

First, if we look at the manga, she has the right eye covered by a mass of clouds that resemble hair, and she also has some swirls in her "hair" to resemble curls. Until here, it could just be a coincidence... but then we find out she is also blonde?? What??

And it gets me thinking about the entire Prometheus/Zeus/Hera dynamic as well.

In short: Prometheus doesn't like Zeus. Zeus betrays Big Mom. Prometheus wants a girlfriend, so he incentives Big Mom to get rid of Zeus permanently so she can create a girlfriend for him. Big Mom creates a substitute for Zeus, named Hera (who is the wife of Zeus in Greek mythology, but has NO RELATION to the Sky besides being married to the God of the Sky himself). Diferent from her God counterpart, Hera does not have any romantic interest.

Could this be some type of foreshadowing? If it is, of what?

Maybe Sanji or Nami will leave/betray the crew (it's funny because, in a way, both of them already did)?

Why did Big Mom decide to create those weapons exactly? And what is the point of this entire stoyline anyway?

Those are just some questions that got me thinking, but the important thing to take away from this is that now, we have four weapons, while two of them have the exact same function, although one was cast aside... so:

Prometheus (Sun/Fire)-> Luffy (Sun God Nika)

Napoleon (Hat/Sword)-> Zoro (Swordsman)

Zeus (Cloud/Lightining)-> Nami (?)

Hera (Cloud/Lightning)-> Sanji (?)

Now, even if we take away the romantic connotations in the Hera/Zeus dynamic (only because of their names, and it doesn't really mean that much), it doesn't take away the fact that Oda created two weapons with the same function.

-

Another group connected with the Sky (and that could relate to Sanji) in the World of One Piece are the Gorosei.

A lot of people already noticed the weird similarity that the Swordsman and the Blond Goroseis have with the Wings of the King of the Pirates and that it could imply that, in the near future, Zoro and Sanji, would face them.

The funny thing, however, is that, when we finally found out the name of the first Gorosei (Saturn), a lot of people theorized that the Blond Gorosei could be Venus (because he looked like Sanji's relative and Sanji is a very... loving individual) and the Swordsman could be Mars (because he is always carrying swords).

And those were on point theories, in my opinion (I also believed that was the case), but Oda had other plans.

Shortly after, he revealed their names and... the Swordsman Gorosei is the one actually connected with Venus. And he is responsible for Finances (??)

However, these reveals still create interesting connections with both Sanji and Zoro, since Venus there is a theory that Venus stole the Gold from Wano (link to the theory) which is where is supposedly from and the Blond Gorosei, Sheperd, controls agriculture (food).

But what I want to highlight here is the planet that represents Sheperd: Jupiter.

As I mentioned before, Jupiter is the Roman counterpart of Zeus. So if he really ends up being Sanji's rival... he will have another connection with the Sky.

Now, after all of these interesting hints, what could they mean?

I honestly am not sure yet (lol)and that is one of the reasons I decided to first read the entire manga and write 2 more parts for this Analysis so I can have more data and a better understanding of the meaning of the Sky for One Piece as a whole.

So in part 2, I will collect every single moment related to Sanji/Nami/Sky I find in the manga.

Once it's done, in part 3 I will be writing my conclusion and theory about what it could mean to the One Piece storyline.

Phew! That's it for now! It got longer than I expected! I'd love to know your opinions on the matter, and if you ever find something interesting relating to the Sky in One Piece, feel free to contact me!

[whennnow]

Embroidered Regency Reticule

June 24, 2019

[Image ID: a photo of a blue satin bag with white embroidery, two white tassels, and a white cord drawstring]

A year or so ago, on a trip to JoAnn Fabrics, I stumbled upon some nice fabric in the softest classic-Disney-Cinerella blue. The fabric was 100% polyester, unfortunately, but I had already fallen deeply in love with the color, and it was a decent price, so I caved and bought some. I knew immediately that I was going to make pieces for my Regency wardrobe with it, since it was already shaping up to be a very blue wardrobe.

I knew I wanted to make a reticule with it, for sure. Using my Pinterest boards as a starting point, I looked at common shapes and decorations. I eventually settled on this late 1790s-early 1800s bag from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston as a guide (I can't download a decent image of it, so I'm afraid the link will have to do). I wasn’t looking to replicate it, just use it as inspiration. I decided over the winter that this would be one of my semester sewing projects, to work on during my desk shifts or during other down time.

Materials-wise, I used less that a quarter yard of the polyester fabric for the outside, roughly the same amount of white broadcloth from my stash, some white cotton thread, most of a yard of white spiral cording, and two white tassels (though i picked up six total, and may have lost one somewhere). For tools, I had scissors and needles, of course, and a small embroidery hoop and my awl.

I drafted a simple shape on graph paper to use as a “pattern,” based in part off the example bag, and scaled to make sure I could fit my hand through the opening. Once I had everything cut out (two in the blue and two in white for a lining), I sewed the lining up and used colored chalk to rough out the basic shapes of the embroidery on one of the blue panels.

Now, looking back, this was an ambitious bit of embroidery for someone who has never really embroidered before, but it would have been a boring project if I didn’t learn something! I used a chain stitch for the vines and stems, and everything else is bullion stitches, satin stitches, and some knots of some sort. I really love the texture the knots gave the bit in the middle!

The embroidery took me most of the semester, so it wasn’t until after I returned home (and unpacked) that I finished it. I ironed everything, sewed up the sides of the blue panels, added the cord and tassels into the seam, put in the lining (easier said than done - it took me awhile to figure out and now I’ve forgotten how I did it), and added the drawstring and casing.

Then I took lots of pretty pictures of it because it’s very pretty, and because I was terribly pleased with myself. It even matches with my copy of Sense & Sensibility, which I haven’t finished reading yet.

I’m hoping I have enough of the fabric left to make a spencer, but we’ll have to wait and see. In other Regency news, I’ll have a short post up soon about what I’ve affectionately dubbed my “portrait shawl,” and I’ll soon (hopefully) be re-remaking my chemise. I’d also like to draft (or pick out a pattern for) and mock up my quintessential white regency dress, so I may do a post on the research I’ve done, the patterns I’ve found, and what my plan for it is.

Stay warm, stay safe, stay dry.

[Image ID: the same blue and white bag as above pictured with white leather gloves and a copy of "Persuasion" with a blue patterned cover]

[youkaigakkou-tl]

The Kyoto Arc Analysis Post (Part 3)

This part covers a look at the magic circles used, more manga geoguessr, and what exactly soul-Haruaki's plan was

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

Magic Circles

A lot of magic circles came up this arc, so this is a good chance as any to look at them.

The one that shows up most frequently is this one Byakko uses.

I believe this is based off a luopan, a chinese compass used in fengshui divination. The words match, as well as the compass degree markings in the outer ring.

If it’s an existing asset online, then I haven’t found it, but it’s probably a custom design.

While it doesn’t often have the yin-yang symbol in the center (that’s where the compass goes) there are some designs that do feature it in the center.

Haruaki has actually had 2 versions of his pentagram, from vol 1 to 8 there was a pentagon inside the circle, and from vol 9 onwards it’s just the star.

However, the star has gotten more detailed this arc! Specifically, you can now see where the lines cross over. (Idk how to explain this just look at it)

(When used by white haired Haruaki. You can also see the principal’s kuji-kiri in his barrier.)

Interestingly, the star doesn’t show up at all when Haruaki was summoning the four gods, instead it’s just the luopan design.

Double interestingly, Seimei has a totally different circle!

(Note the big dipper design in the middle. Or maybe little dipper? The handle is bent the wrong way again! Tanamai sensei do you know the two dippers are different….)

Also, this cloud pattern also shows up on the mark on principal's face.

But when Douman uses it, it’s the star overlaid over the luopan design?? What does this all mean?? Don’t get me started on the rest of that scene. Rest assured that comes later in this essay.

I think this panel in ch 22 is the clearest we get to see Sano’s magic circle. I think the letters are siddham script, used in buddhist scriptures, but I’m not sure what the letters are exactly. This combined with the lotus imagery on the ch 43 cover page means… idk??

There’s also this variant, which is just wacky circles I think.

And then there’s the ones from this arc. (They’re ever so slightly different, I think)

That one in ch 90 actually seems to be the same one as ch 80.5.

What are the words at the top of this color spread?

This is a good time as any to talk about this. The characters over the four gods’ are just the directions they represent, in order, east, west, south and north.

Albeit, they don’t look like typical kanji, because these are in fact the chinese pictograph versions of them, which eventually developed into the chinese characters now as well as kanji. Specifically, they’re the jiaguwen versions.

Geoguessr part 2

You see, there was a 3 day gap between the JP raws for ch 90 releasing and the chinese tl to come out, during which time I was bored as hell but also couldn’t do anything else because I was busy refreshing the chinese tl site every 5 seconds.

Clearly, the sane thing to do in this situation is to look at every street near Kinkaku-ji to find where this panel happens.

(Although, this is after I cleaned all the sfx from the JP chapter, but then I had to do it all over again for the CN pages anyway since it’s higher quality and I can’t just paste in the JP blurry raws)

I was originally going to also try to find the previous panel, where Rintarou and Ebisu are hiding under a fan, beside a vending machine, but I couldn’t find where that is.

Anyway, by god did I find this goddamn street.

But you see, dear reader, there’s a twist. This is not one street. This is two sides of the same estate, in other words, the left and right halves of the image are two different streets.

Here’s the link to google maps street view, if this is hard to visualize.

Look at this. What the hell is this. geoguessr impossible difficulty

(Thank god I don’t live in Japan I would have gone there on foot just to check every street)

What Was Soul-Haruaki’s Plan?

If you think about it for one second, his plan doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Why is he using his power if it doesn’t work on his body? He’s not stupid so what is it?

But if you think about it for two seconds it actually makes sense. Without powers (and even with powers), Haruaki is Just Some Guy. If 1/5 of him starts trying to kill him, what’s he going to do? Run about it? This guy can run just as fast!

The real goal of this maneuver, besides getting Haruaki here, was also to gather the youkai who could possibly help him in one place and knock all of them out. The only reason that didn’t happen was because the principal was there, and Haruaki didn’t know about him before all this anyway.

Also, a translation note/explanation for the term “anti-youkai power”. This is just what the official translation chose to use since the start, since it worked in the moment (and most of the time really). But the japanese word doesn’t actually specifically say it’s “anti” “youkai”. The word is “退魔の力” (taima no chikara), and a more conventional translation is probably “exorcism power” which you may have noticed I use sometimes. The “力 chikara” part is without a doubt “power”, so this is about what “退魔 taima” means. If you were to take the meanings of the two kanji separately, it would be “dispel magic”. The word “魔 ma” is also often used as a prefix for magical beings, so maybe that’s where “anti-youkai” comes from. Anyway, with the “dispel magic” definition, it should be pretty clear why his power works on both youkai and gods, given they’re both magic-based.

Also, as for why this power works on the four gods both times (when Douman stole it from Seimei, and then when soul-Haruaki used it) when it’s never affected Sano very much may be because the four gods bodies are magical constructs summoned into a piece of paper, whereas Sano’s physical body is just here.

(Or maybe also because both soul-aki and Douman were gunning for the kill, and Haruaki is never gunning for the kill ever. could be multiple factors.)

Where is Mount Ooe?

In case you forgot, Mount Ooe has the youkai town where Miki’s family lives. You’d think this is pretty close by, considering it’s repeatedly mentioned that it’s “in Kyoto”, and also Haruaki went there as a kid somehow.

The thing is, (maybe you knew this already and I’m just stupid) Kyoto PREFECTURE is fuckoff massive and Kyoto city is only a tiny tiny part of it.

So Mount Ooe is on the other side of Kyoto from where the city is. This is in the mountains, nearly 80km from the city! My new question is what the hell was 10 year old Haruaki doing there??? How did he get there?? Who let him do this?? Mamaaki and Papaaki watch your goddamn son!! Is this what kids in Japan do?? Fuck off 80km into the mountains??

Image limit again, part 4 will be the last! (Finally!)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

[makeste]

an index of Horikoshi Kouhei interviews

these are organized by date, oldest to newest, and I’m including a brief bullet-point summary of each to make it easier to look up specific interviews by content.

also, please note that although I haven’t spoiler tagged this post, the interviews from roughly 2019 onwards include some spoilers, so please watch out for those if you’re anime-only or otherwise not caught up with the manga. that said, the other interviews I think are all good.

putting this below a cut to keep things tidy.

interview with Horikoshi Kouhei and Kishimoto Masashi, May 2015

(note: this is not the actual interview word-for-word, but includes the highlights)

Horikoshi talks about being a fan of Naruto when he was growing up

Horikoshi says he was inspired by the way Kishimoto shows emotion through drawing hands, and that he loves drawing hands thanks to Naruto

Horikoshi mentions that Gaara is his favorite character and that he really liked the Chuunin Exam arc

Kishimoto praises BnHA and says he knew it would be a hit when he read the second chapter

they talk a bit about the worldbuilding and the process of creating a story where 80% of the population has superpowers

they discuss Naruto and Sasuke’s rivalry and Horikoshi mentions that he found it “frustrating” and that he really liked the Valley of the End and thought it would be the end of the series. he says it was very emotional

they talk a little about the stress of writing manga and about the toll it takes on mental health

pre-anime interview, April 2016

talks about his reaction when he found out BnHA was getting an anime

talks about how the series originally came about

says that BnHA is the story of Izuku and All Might and that their story is the “vertical axis” which runs through the main story

says there is also a “horizontal axis”, which is the side characters and quirks and all of the other elements that he considers to be the “fun part” of the story which mellows out the darker aspects of the vertical axis

mentions that he really likes drawing and writing Bakugou

mentions Deku vs Kacchan 1 as one of the early highlights in the series for him

talks about Ochako being someone who has a more cheerful relationship with Deku, which balances out some of the heavier aspects of Deku and Katsuki’s relationship (again, horizontal vs vertical axis)

mentions that if he could pick any quirk he’d pick a “no need for sleep” quirk

talks about reading Dragon Ball as a child

mentions that he really likes American comic book heroes, especially Spider-Man

mentions Goku and Spider-Man as the two that come to mind when he thinks about heroes and what it means to be a hero (specifically, that Goku is the “win” aspect and that he brings reassurance to everyone, while Spider-Man is the “save” aspect who helps other people)

talks about hearing Deku and Bakugou’s voices in the anime for the first time, as well as Ochako, Iida, and All Might’s voices

another pre-anime interview with konomanga.jp, April 2016

(note: this interview is in Japanese, but Google translate does a servicable job with it)

talks more about Spider-Man, including his favorite costumes and comic artists

gives some American comic book recs

mentions that he likes Godzilla and Gamera and always goes to see those movies

talks about his Star Wars influences

talks about his favorite manga as a child -- Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Naruto

talks about becoming a manga artist, and about some of his influences

says that he likes drawing monsters, creatures, and villains, and says that he really liked drawing the panel where Tomura made his first appearance at USJ

talks a little about composition and frame movement in his work, and about the challenges of drawing a weekly manga

mentions that he knows what the story ending will be, but hasn’t yet figured out how to connect the dots to that point

interview with Horikoshi Kouhei and Umakoshi Yoshihiko in BnHA: Ultra Archive, May 2016

(note: Umakoshi is the anime character designer for BnHA. also, this interview was part of the Ultra Archive character book, so you’ll have to scroll a bit through its other contents in order to get to the interview.)

they talk about the process of creating the BnHA anime and sketching out all of the character designs. Horikoshi says the anime character model sheets look just like how he draws them

they talk about Horikoshi’s obsession with drawing hands lol. Horikoshi mentions that the way Mike Mignola (the creator of Hellboy) draws hands was a big influence

they talk a lot about art and drawing in general

Horikoshi talks about Ochako’s character design a bit

they talk about the differences between drawing manga and doing animation

Umakoshi talks about his first impressions of BnHA

Horikoshi mentions that he still has a lot of ideas for characters and quirks that he hasn’t been able to implement yet

they talk about the different character designs and which ones they find easy, difficult, and fun to draw

they talk for a fair amount of time about Iida’s character design

Umakoshi talks a bit about other anime he’s worked on

they talk about the character of All Might, and Horikoshi ominously says that All Might’s future will be “a fairly sad affair”

interview with Natalie Comics, June 2018

talks about the 4th anniversary of BnHA, and the release of BnHA: Two Heroes

talks about the Basement internship arc and mentions that it was challenging for him to write

talks about the question “what is a hero?” and how he defines heroes

mentions Mina, Sero, and Shouji as characters he would like to/plans to feature in the future, and mentions that he already has a story planned featuring Shouji

talks about the popularity of the series

talks a little about Koike-san, his first editor

talks about Two Heroes and its development and story

talks about club activities at U.A., and which clubs Deku and Katsuki would be in

talks about his mom and about some of his childhood experiences which inspired scenes in the manga

talks about why he became a mangaka

talks about what percentage of the series is completed, mentions the original planned length was about 30 volumes but that it has obviously surpassed that

mentions that he has an idea of how the last arc will be planned out

interview with Horikoshi and Eiichiro Oda, August 2018

Horikoshi talks about being a fan of One Piece and mentions he even sent artwork to Oda which was included in one of Oda’s galleries

they talk more about OP and about favorite arcs and how it’s influenced Horikoshi’s work

Oda compliments Horikoshi’s art and they talk about cover artwork and coloring (Horikoshi mentions he uses Photoshop)

Horikoshi talks a bit about BnHA Two Heroes

Horikoshi again mentions that he originally thought BnHA would be about 30 volumes (Oda says he should shoot for 50 but Horikoshi laughs and says he’s not sure he can do ten years)

they talk about how fucking long OP is and how manga stories tend to expand once the story starts taking off

Interview with Anime News Network at SDCC, August 2018

talks about his love of American comics, especially Spider-Man, and says that American comics are a lot more mainstream in Japan nowadays thanks to all the superhero movies

talks about how he got started as a manga creator

talks about being inspired by Dragon Ball, and that All Might in particular was inspired by Goku

talks a bit about the process of creating characters

talks about Bakugou’s popularity and that it took him by surprise at first

mentions that he doesn’t have the stamina for BnHA to be a long series like One Piece

interview with Cinema Today Japan, December 2019

(update: here is the link to @hanashimas​‘ translation which is more accurate)

talks about Deku and Bakugou’s characters and their attributes

mentions that at the start of the story Bakugou thinks Deku is above him, so he tries to act intimidating and superior to overtake him

(ETA: apparently this is a mistranslation; he actually says that he intended for Bakugou to be a character who was “above” Deku so to speak, who Deku would eventually surpass. he then goes on to talk about his realization that Bakugou could actually have a much more interesting character arc, which of course we have since seen play out.)

mentions that he planned to have Bakugou and Deku improve on two separate vectors as they entered U.A.

mentions Deku vs Kacchan 1 as a turning point where he had some realizations about Bakugou’s character that humanized him for him

mentions that he always knew Bakugou wouldn’t turn evil and “would never lose to the darkness”

says the scene where Katsuki takes Kirishima’s hand at Kamino was bittersweet because it showed Bakugou’s growth, but also showed the ongoing gulf between him and Deku because Deku knew that Katsuki wouldn’t take his hand

mentions that Bakugou still needs to apologize to Deku

says that Kirishima, Kaminari, and Mina are among the easiest characters for him to draw because they take the initiative and get the other characters excited and help pull the story forward

mentions that he always hears Nobu’s voice in his head now when writing Bakugou

talks about the characters being high school kids still, and that when he expanded on their families he was conscious of that -- “I wanted to show that these protagonists are still children after all”

interview in Volume R (booklet that was released along with Heroes Rising), December 2019

talks again about his manga influences and what inspired him to become a mangaka

talks about the experience of getting his first manga published

talks about what inspired him to write BnHA

has an interesting quote where he talks about the vaguely desperate feeling of “trying one last time”, which was weighing on his mind when he created BnHA, and which also played into Deku’s motivations in the first chapter

mentions All Might as being a character that he’s attached to

talks about his reactions to the anime, the overseas popularity, and the first movie

talks about his heavy involvement in the production of Heroes Rising

talks about designing and creating the bad guys for Heroes Rising

talks about the creation and character design of Hawks and mentions that the original character design was going to have a bird head lol

mentions that Hawks will have a relatively big influence on the story in the future

talks about how the ending of Heroes Rising was his original planned ending for the series

talks about Bakugou’s character development which leads up to that moment

talks about the conclusion of the series, and that all of the characters will come together in the end

interview with all of the past editors of the BnHA manga, March 2021

(note: this is another interview that’s not translated word for word, but summarized. also this interview was with just the editors, not Horikoshi himself.)

they talk about the early reception to the manga, and Horikoshi’s reactions

they talk about the individual moments early on when they realized that the series would be “amazing”

Yoritomi mentions that Horikoshi came up with the designs for most of the Billboard Top 10 pro heroes at the last minute lol

including Hawks (all Horikoshi had decided on prior was that he was going to be “cool” and would be a spy)

everyone praises Horikoshi’s character designs in general

they talk about the start of the anime and that whole process

they mention that Horikoshi cried watching both of the movies

they talk about the overseas popularity of the series

each editor lists their favorite episode of the anime

they talk about Horikoshi sacrificing his original manga ending to be used in Heroes Rising

they talk about that one ending theme song in season 4 that showed the pro heroes’ childhoods, and that Horikoshi had the anime team change Hawks’s to match the backstory he had planned

they talk about the upcoming season 5 and send final messages to the fans

interview in the MHA Drawing Smash Exhibition Pamphlet, April 2021

Horikoshi talks about the art in the exhibition and about the process of creating the artwork

he mentions that the piece with Deku rescuing a falling Ochako took the longest to draw

he says the drawing of All Might was the most fun to draw for him

that’s pretty much it, this one is very short lol

interview in Jump GIGA Spring 2021, April 2021

talks about which characters will play an important role in the final act. specifically mentions Hawks, Ochako, Shouji, Shinsou, Monoma, and Sero

“many characters’ actions will converge into a single one, so maybe the best way to say it would be ‘keep an eye on all of them!’“

says that for Hawks’s flashbacks and the Todoroki family’s past, he was influenced by Sion Sono’s works

mentions that the drawing of Deku and Ochako from the MHA Drawing Smash exhibit isn’t directly related to the main story, but that while drawing it he kept in mind how their relationship would develop if he explored it deeper

says he had the final act (or at least the chapter 306 reveal part of it) vaguely planned for a long time, but started to think about the specifics in volume 21 during the Endeavor vs High-End fight

says he’s already decided on the ending, and that “the path to it has been longer than I initially expected, but the main elements that I’ve decided before starting the series are still the same”

Q&A trivia from Vol. W World Heroes’ Mission, August 2021

(and alternate translation by aitaikimochi)

talks about All Might not having many friends among the pro heroes (but says he’s become “slightly attached” to Aizawa since he started teaching at U.A.)

describes what Bakugou, Tsuyu, and Mineta’s rooms look like

talks about Jirou and Momo’s relationship and the kind of things they like to talk about when they hang out together

says that Shouji’s face will eventually be revealed, and that he is “not sure” about Hagakure’s :’)

talks about the types of YouTube videos Shouto watches (pretty insightful answer which is equal parts sweet and sad)

says that Midnight’s classes were the most popular among the students

says U.A.’s robots once rebelled against their creators (lol wtf)

says his three favorite movies are Akira, The Ring, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. he says Akira in particular is his bible

and that’s it for now, but I will update this post with future interviews as they are posted, and if anyone has links to an interview I’ve missed please let me know.

[the-lone-witch-and-secret-room]

I’m looking for artists willing to collab with me for Locked Out

Okay, so... hi!

Some of you may know me as EleenaDume on Ao3, and I’m the author of the Owl House fanfiction Locked Out—for anyone that may not be following me here and would like proof I am who I claim to be, please check out the end notes of the story, you’ll see that this account is linked under “owl house tumblr”.

Lately, I’ve been contemplating including more art in the story and am now officially announcing that I’m looking for artists that like the story and would be willing to collab!

What do artists get out of this? A shoutout on social media when I post a chapter they’ve worked on, as well as a permanent hyperlink to a social media account of their choice in the end notes of the story. There will also be a link to their account directly below the piece(s) they’ve worked on, as well as a chapter featuring all credits at the end of the fic.

Please just note that I cannot link back to anyone’s Ko-Fi/PayPal etc. in the fic itself, as this is forbidden via Ao3 guidelines.

Artists retain all ownership rights over their art—should you, ever, at any point, want your art removed from the story, it will be. Just let me know. You won’t even be required to give me a reason.

You’re working with me on a voluntary basis. You may drop out at any point. You may also reject a scene based on personal preferences and will get a different one in that case. You will only work on a chapter of you have the time. If you’d like to work on one chapter and don’t have time for the next three, but would like to stick around for another one in the future, that’s fine. You’re free to stick around for however long or short you want. If you only want to stick around for one chapter, but eventually decide you’d like to do another one, feel free to fill out the form again.

I’d like to keep it one scene per artist per chapter, so you won’t be working on multiple art scenes for a whole chapter, but rather on art for one specific scene.

What kind of art is preferred? Your art can be digital or traditional, and whether it’s one panel or a comic, full-color or black and white or anything in-between is fully up to you.

You will be given a scene of a future chapter ahead of time. Unless it’s the sneak peek scene, this scene may not be discussed with anyone until the chapter itself is posted. Posting the scene beforehand, may it be in a server, a group chat or on social media, will get you removed from the project permanently.

You may post a cropped sneak peek of your piece on your social media before the chapter itself is posted, just please check with me first. The full piece can be posted once the chapter is uploaded to Ao3.

Whether or not I may repost the art on my social media accounts is up to you—if I do, you will of course be credited. Otherwise, I will just share your post.

If you’re okay with your art being added after a chapter is already posted, you won’t have any time limit.

Otherwise, I will give you your scene as early as possible and will wait for a limited amount of time before posting the chapter.

If you cannot complete a piece for a chapter in the time we agreed on for whatever reason, that’s okay! Please just let me know and we’ll figure something out.

Since there is a limit to how much art I will include in chapters as I don’t want to disrupt the reading flow too much, and since not every plot is covered in every chapter and you can choose the plot you would like to work on, please be aware that you won’t be working on art for every single chapter. You may be given a scene that’s more than one chapter into the future if your art requires a lot of time—provided you want that, since there would, of course, be spoilers.

You will get little to no input when it comes to how I write the story. Small tweaks may be suggested, but I have the whole story planned out already and will not be changing it up a lot.

If you’re interested in collaborating, please let me know by filling out this little questionnaire I made!

Before this scares anyone out of collaborating, please rest assured that this is NOT an application form. Everyone that wants to collaborate will be accepted. The questionnaire just exists for the sake of planning because I want anyone that agrees to collab with me to have the best possible experience and to be able to work on the things they actually want to work on.

If you have any questions, feel free to DM me!

You don’t have to reply immediately, take your time to contemplate, the questionnaire will probably remain open for replies for the foreseeable future, and if it closes temporarily it will eventually be reopened.

Reblogs would be extremely appreciated! Thank you!

[acupofcocoa]

Fool's Gold - With Great Expectations come Great Disappointment

I am the Precious Daughter of the Greatest Villain in the Fantasy World

I'm a sucker for the doting father trope and I was so excited when I saw the cover for this. I loved everything from the flowers, to the wand she's holding, and the way her father is looking at her so sweetly! But nope. I wouldn't be writing this if that was the case.

The summary on Bato.to:

"I thought I was reincarnated as the daughter of a wealthy family, but it turns out I was born as the child of the greatest villain in the fantasy world of martial arts. My father doesn’t care about me, I’m ostracized by the others, and I’ll eventually be murdered as a side antagonist by the male lead, after suffering from my one-sided love.

Even worse, this is a world where the weak are the prey of the strong, conceited antagonists.

So, before it’s late, I need to learn martial arts and escape!

However, there was a fatal flaw in my plan…

Because of my notorious father, there were too many people who sought to end my life.

“Wahhh! Dadda! (Daddy!)”

…Will I ever be able to escape safely?"

There will be some spoilers beyond this point so read at your own discretion.

Let's start with chapter one. Which MC spends the whole time crying. In complete hysterics. Now honestly, her reaction was justified since she is a baby and confronted with her homicidal demon sect leader father, and the ML who was also who killed her in the original story. So not too bothered by that.

What caused me to become frustrated was her behavior and thought process in chapter two. Let me summarize what happened in a span of 10 consecutive panels.

At first she wants her dad to leave as soon as he enters, then becomes upset he's staring at her? But suddenly she SPITS ON HIS FACE. To make him go away. Is then flustered he evaporates said spit because her "deadly attack" failed, and is still disturbed that he continues to look at her. Before deciding to appeal to him with her pretty face and is flabbergasted?? That he moves away from her?? Personally, he probably thought she would spit on him again.

She even says, AND I QUOTE, "Usually, in this kind of story, even if the dad isn't interested in his daughter, he slowly softens up and takes his daughters side."

Because he didn't immediate start loving and doting on her, after she a) cried so badly he was going to execute her nanny, and b) spit on him, and c) was probably visibly uncomfortable when he was around. She says, "Fine. The nursing plot is already ruined."

THIS FOOL.

If anything his actions show that he cares. Other characters note that he frequently visited the main character, to the point her mother (which had been absent up to that point), came to find her to FIND HER FATHER.

This isn't an issue of pacing, it's the fact that the MC doesn't understand why people don't fall in love with her and follow her every desire and whim. She acts in certain ways to get certain results. Just because her dad doesn't automatically accept her actions (which arguably he did, considering his personality), she feels that he's the bad one.

I'm honestly in awe. I don't remember if it was ever mentioned how old the MC was before she transmigrated, but I'm tempted to believe she was either a middle school or high school student. She's self-centered and naively "adorable". Very clearly lacking life experience.

On one hand she's aware and trying to plan for her future, on the other hand she's stubbornly focusing on things she read from the story instead of actively trying to understand her situation.

The artwork in this was gorgeous and I persisted up to about chapter 15 before I just couldn't go on. The clothes and colors used in this are distinctive, pleasant, and the translation was great. I love the side characters that were introduced including the nanny, and various sect experts who are demons but also doting uncles and grandfathers.

There's so much potential in this story from the misunderstandings of the original plot (of course) to the world building that the author slowly reveals. But I honestly can only drop this story.

Personally, I'm not fond of MC's that are more mindless and passive. There's one scene in chapter 15 where the MC and ML are fighting against assassins who broke into the sect. The MC doesn't want to leave the ML alone but he tries to buy her time to escape. She runs away only to stop and realize that she had explosive beads given to her by one of the sect elders. Extremely. Powerful. Explosive. Beads.

So she runs back to help the ML. Wait. Let me correct that. She runs back to TALK to the ML about the beads, instead of just throwing them as a distraction. I get that she's not familiar with the items in this world, but its been at least 10 years by this point. It feels like she's given so many advantages that she doesn't utilize properly, so either she'll develop as a) traumatic event that forces her to grow, or b) becomes typical heroine that doesn't contribute much and passively moves along as the plot develops itself.

I didn't even talk about the ML, but this has gone on long enough. He mostly spends the chapters agonizing on the fact he's falling for MC which conflicts with his goals.

This could end up being amazing but I will never know, since I'm just not fond of the MC and can't get invested in the story.

If anyone is interested, I've linked the manhwa above. Please support the translators and their hard work but also the original author and artist if you enjoy the story they've shared with you.

[just-like-playing-tag]

2020 creator wrap

Rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (or so) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

I was tagged by @bluelricart. Thank you so much for tagging me honey 💕💕 I hope you're doing great!!!

This was pretty hard because besides from the timeline project, I don't remember anything that particularly stuck with me? My favorite edit I made this year is still in my drafts so I don't think that counts ////

2020 Krone's birthday edit / gifset!!!!

C'mon this edit turned out so good!!!! Was totally worth spending my own birthday on it lol.

2020 Emma birthday edit

This edit turned out pretty! It's not easy for me to add colors to edits, but this one turned out kinda good!! So much hair to redraw, but I think I handled it pretty well, especially that big part on the second image. Hopefully the edits for the boys' birthdays will turn out as good *sweats*

Gilda + blank glasses

It's not perfect and I later noticed a bunch of panels were missing but I mean. Look at all these Gildas. How could I not love this post.

The Apollo Ray AU!!!!!

I don't know I'm just really fond of this AU!!!! I like how the plot took shape in my mind (I already have plans for the Royal Capital arc!!), I like to reflect on how different Ray is from Norman, I like to make this darker side of Ray emerge, I just... I hope I'm not sounding pretentious, but I find it cool, I like this AU a lot :')

The Timeline Project. Obviously.

I've spent more than six months over it and I'm so proud that I somehow finally managed to finish it; and even better, I'm actually pretty satisfied with how it turned out!! It may be because I'm an history nerd, but I really like looking at all the events, neatly organized in chronological order; it gives a nice insight of how the story takes place during time. I also enjoy how everything is meticulously cured, with notes for every manga passage, omake or author statement I took for reference- which is, together with notes that explain the calculations and reasoning I made to come up with the not explicit dates, a way to expose as clearly as possible the data, in order to make it easier for critical readers to find eventual errors, or to come up with more precise data. Even though I don't think many people found it interesting (my favorite posts are always the ones with the less notes LMAO), that post is still my pride and joy!!!

Notable mentions because I don't feel like leaving them out, sorry??? I find these posts as worthy of being mentioned as the ones above, so I would feel bad leaving them out

Isabella and her children edit

I mean I spent 13 hours on this how could I leave it behind????? So many redraws??????

RayEmma world travelling headcandons

I love the edit at the end SO MUCH. And the headcanons turned out to be kinda cute! Love us some fluffy rayems ahah. It's still terribly hilarious how my personal favorite posts always go nearly unnoticed- that post has literally two (2) reblogs akdbjskabajak

The seven oldest GF children + name meanings

As I mentioned I'm not really satisfied with how this came out, but it still deserves a shout-out for taking me out of my comfort zone :'')

Again thanks Blue for tagging me, it was nice to make!! I'm tagging @stray-tori, @seafoamhue, @wheatormeat, @notelectrictigerart, @h0lymanteca- and whoever feels like doing it!!! To those who were tagged, don't feel any pressure to do it :)

[rokutouxei]

the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

ikemen vampire: temptation through the dark theo van gogh / mc | T | [ ao3 link in bio ]

The challenge seemed pretty simple: to try to befriend the university bookshop’s most sour employee, Theo van Gogh. As a literature major with a boatload of book recommendations on her back, it ought to be a simple task indeed. But as she uncovers what lies between Theo’s pages, the more she finds it harder to become closer to him without having to put the feeling directly into words. What can she learn from Theo about what it means to stay—and how can she teach Theo about what it means to let go? | written for ikevamp big bang 2020!

[ masterpost for all chapters ] 

CHAPTER 22 OF 22 [ END ]

But the world is strange and endings are not truly endings no matter how the stars might wish it so.

-"The Starless Sea", Erin Morgenstern

--

Like a reversal of fate, everything else goes according to plan afterwards: much to Theo’s delight.

After the expectedly but also overwhelmingly successful two-week long exhibit at the gallery, Vincent—after years of indecision—finalizes his documents and portfolio, submits a stack of photos and a long, written document detailing the exhibit to the graduation approval panel. The following month is the longest of the brothers’ lives, but the committee approves Vincent’s submission, and a few weeks later he’s finally marching down the aisle to claim his diploma. (It was a beautiful affair, Theo would always say about it, but in truth he was unable to see anything more than a few smudges of color, due to how hard he was crying. Thank god for photographs.)

Freshly-graduated Vincent takes on various jobs while submitting to various institutions both locally and abroad, and finally persuades Theo to finish his bachelor’s degree, promising that he’ll always be facing forward into the future. The following semester, Theo enrolls for a final time at the university, taking his last units to write up his thesis.

Theo doesn’t quit his job at the bookshop, but eventually as things get busier he can only take so many hours until he’s barely there at all. They get a new employee named William—Theo doesn’t really like him. Arthur gives a little show of crying when Theo reveals he can only work weekends now, treats him to dinner and some alcohol at the end of it, so maybe it isn’t that bad. Theo, of course, still forwards all his book requests to the bookstore, and, much to his disgust, continues to spend Saturdays or Sundays (or both, if he’s unlucky) as “quality time” with Arthur, as the latter has called it. It’s not much, but more than enough for his “begrudging” best friend.

As Theo is working on his thesis, Vincent finally receives an offer for apprenticeship at a rather renowned fine arts gallery a few hours away, and Theo feels all his dreams are coming true.

And it’s time to get a new one.

He’s finishing a degree, bracing himself to enter a field he’s always long wanted to be in, to help support his brother but also to begin the long journey of a little hope he’d long kept in his heart, the one he hadn’t ever dared to say, fearing he wasn’t good enough for it—of being the director of a museum.

He might even be able to take a master’s on the side, if he finds a company that’s willing to get him trained both on the company floor and in an institution—and his grades and a few recommendation letters will get him there, he’s damn sure.

And next to him, or well, miles away, his brother is getting steadier and steadier on his feet, near-sprint towards a future with art he’s always dreamt of as well, this time with no one putting him down. Theo’s going to make sure that stays the same for all the years to come, too.

It feels like the beginning of everything good, and Theo walks around the town with a smile on his face.

All that’s left to do is wait.

He has faith that everything will settle into their proper places, like they always have.

And they do, because just as she always does, it’s 2:00pm on a Sunday, and she comes, in a long, plain cream coat over a sweater, a short plaid skirt over dark leggings, high black boots, because it’s fall now, starting to become cold. She’s looking around her with stars in her eyes, like she hasn’t been here in a long time. And she hasn’t.

Theo spots her first, and then, like she feels the touch of his eyes on her skin, she turns to him. Her face brightens with a grin that makes Theo’s heart stop.

And then she runs with a speed unexpected for the shoes she’s wearing. Theo braces himself as she jumps into his arms, but they still topple towards the ground.

THUNK!

“Oh my god, I could have killed you!” she says, but every word is stuck in between fits of laughter. Curls of hair hang over the sides of her face as she pulls herself up on the palms of her hands and her knees. Guiltless, as she always is.

Theo crinkles his nose, raises a hand to brush off the curtain of hair. “You have an accent,” he says. It’s not derisive, not an insult, just an observation, the same way he’d say something about a work of art.

And, just because she doesn’t run out of ways to take his breath away, she laughs and presses a kiss on his lips, her mouth warm, his face suddenly hot. She smells like strawberries and sour things and home.

She pulls away and breathes against his trembling lips, “I missed you so much.”

“Talk’s for later,” he half-growls, pulling himself up into a seated position before taking her lips in his once more—his fingers in her hair, her hand on his shoulder, seated on his lap. The kiss doesn’t deepen like she expects it to: instead it’s just a series of small kisses exchanged between the two of them, passed back and forth to each other like a shared breath. His hand squeezes her waist and—

“GET A ROOM!” someone shouts from across the street, followed by a burst of laughter, random onlookers to a long-awaited reunion.

“God, I sure miss being home,” she chuckles, making light of the call-out, chewing on her lower lip in embarrassment, turning her eyes away from him.

The word home hangs heavy between the both; but a good kind of heavy.

But for now, he’s not having that, not when they’ve been waiting for this for the longest time; he reaches out to cup her cheek in his hand, only to feel the damp trail of a tear slipping down.

It’s his turn to snort, rubbing a thumb up underneath her eye. “Don’t cry, liefje.”

She pouts. “…‘I missed you too, baby,’” she says mockingly, but wipes the tears that fall out with the back of her hand anyway. The two of them stare at each other for a long moment, like confirming each other’s existence, like making sure the other is really there.

Then, she breaks the silence with a laugh, like she always does.

His heart feels more than just full. It’s always more than with her around.

“I kept all your letters,” she says softly.

“And I kept all your postcards.”

That makes her laugh. A sound he wishes he could listen to forever. “Ah, we sound like some kind of rom-com protagonists. So silly.”

“That’s not so bad though,” Theo says, taking her hand in his the way he’s always wanted to but has always been afraid to do.

“No,” she says, leaning against his warmth. Pressing their foreheads together. “Not at all.”

 --

And because her friend’s been bugging her throughout her entire first year at the university while she was gone, said friend decides to get back at her by holding a little surprise party to match the little surprise arrival she had made for Theo. She, Theo, her friend, Dazai, Arthur, and a shifty-feeling Isaac—she will have to figure out the details for that later—end up having dinner together at a place that opened while she was gone, talking about all that she’d missed, stories that may as well have already been told but feel different when they’re told face-to-face.

They all go home flushed, half with drunk and half with joy. She hasn’t really checked into her apartment complex quite yet, but Theo shoots down her friend’s offer for her to be driven back to the city in exchange for getting her to sleep at his place. The van Gogh residence has been home to one for quite a bit now and Theo… well, he’d like some company.

The two of them are walking home side by side, swaying a little as they pass through flickering streetlights. There is so much to talk about, to catch up on, so many things hidden in between the lines of letters and messages that are better sorted out in person, and Theo feels each question rising up his throat clawing their way out.

Was coming back worth it?

Won’t you regret it?

Did you find what you were looking for out there?

But they have time—they have so much time now, so instead, he settles for the gentle quiet they’ve always known each other for. Instead, he bumps the back of her hand with his, and because everything is more than with her, she takes it as an opportunity to intertwine their fingers together.

There’s mischief in her voice.

“Hey.”

“What?”

“Say ‘I love you.’”

Theo stops in his tracks. “What?”

The shock makes her laugh. Pulling at his hand to get him to start walking again, she explains, “You’ve never told me you loved me, you know.”

“I have.”

“Not in person!” she argues. “Not even in call. You wrote it, but that’s different.”

Theo can feel the words on his tongue already anyway, but he continues to prolong the inevitable. “What’s all this all of a sudden?”

“Nothing! I just haven’t heard it, and well, I wanted to hear it? Please?”

“No.”

“C’mon, you’re not fair. Tell me.”

“No,” he says, pulling her by her hand and pressing a kiss on the back of it. Chaste, and yet so deep with hunger it makes her knees wobble just a bit. “I’ll tell you later.”

She flushes a deep red.

--

After all this, their friends will not stop joking about how they’ve had one of the most intense courtships in the history of their friend group—and likely their university—but the two of them both rigorously deny that, saying that there are likely to be more complicated ones they just don’t know. Besides, at this point, it doesn’t really matter how long it had taken them to get here—

Just that they had gotten here.

And what a good story that journey was.

Just fit for a literature major.

But stories are stories because they flow into each other, and so even if that chapter has ended, that just means another one has begun and—there is so much plot to be done. She and Theo have a talk about their relationship—this time in person, and this time for real—somewhere in between their last semesters in university. Their friends are, well, still their friends, ever so patient even now that they’re together, especially after all that happened before they got to this. And the future is wide and the world is out there waiting and—

They can’t wait to see it together.

Like flower facing upward to the sun daring itself to see what the world has for it out there before deciding it wants to stay, deciding to grow its roots, deciding…

Right here is okay.

Like blossoming in reverse.

When she and Theo move in together to their own little apartment, away from the university, long after shared books at the rooftop of the physics department and Dragon’s Hoard and Little Owl, Vincent sends to them a moving-in gift: a series of three canvases, a triptych depicting the two of them at that most vulnerable part of their romance. The start of the most beautiful part of it. On the opposite panels, she and Theo; sitting in front of their respective windows, looking out at different cities, different times of the day. And in the middle, a humble little paper airplane made of envelopes, with their blue and red marking, the stamps, the smudged ink, crossing the landscape without care for distance.

They hang the paintings in their living room, above the sofa, the first thing they see when they enter their little shared home.

Just another one of many shared things that will continue to grow.

And today, they’re not yet done unpacking and they’ve only gotten out two sets of dinnerware just enough to be able to eat—but there is so much time. So it’s two in the afternoon on a Sunday, music playing lowly from cheap Bluetooth speakers, and their next-door neighbors are hammering something in the wall but it is still beautiful. Standing in the middle of the living room on the carpet, the TV and the books still in their neatly labeled boxes stacked against the wall—they hold each other close to the slow beat of the music.

Sure, they may have been idiots about this but—they have the rest of their lives to make up for lost time

And so Theo presses his forehead against hers, smiling when the gesture makes her laugh. Nothing makes him feel as warm as she does, and no metaphor, no literary reference will be able to truly put into words how he feels about having found her at just the right moment.

How they crossed that near-miss.

And how lucky he is to get to keep her.

Arm wrapped reverently around the small of her back, one hand on her waist, the other with its fingers interlocked with hers—he presses a small kiss on her knuckles, eyes sliding shut. Everything goes dark: the music shushes into silence, the room collapses, the only thing is him, and her, and the long eternity.

“…And this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart,” he whispers, quoting a poem from a poet from a book from a bookstore from what seems like a million years ago, sighing when she squeezes his shoulder, “I carry your heart—”

Tilts his head upward with her finger, oh, she has him wrapped around her finger, always has.

He looks back at her and her heart dips into the deep blue of his eyes.

She kisses the words onto his lips, “I carry it in my heart.”

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thank you for reading this! longer A/N on ao3!!

[minnochu]

Lustrous (pt. 15)

Hybrid!Kook x Fem!Reader AU

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4 | Pt 5 | Pt 6 | Pt 7 | Pt 8 | Pt 9 | Pt 10 | Pt 11 | Pt 12 | Pt 13 | Pt 14 | Pt 15 | Pt 16 | Pt 17 | Pt 18 | Pt 19

Warning: Suicide attempt/thoughts

Note: Hi! A little shorter this week! I didn’t know how to go about writing the beginning so I apologize if it’s a bit of a mess or something! But hopefully y’all enjoy!!

Also, when I find time this week, I’ll try to update links!

..

Jungkook felt sick to his stomach, unable to enjoy the hot porridge without him retching and desiring for something else. Setting the tray back on it’s previous place at the nightstand, he slumped with a loud exhale. To his right, beyond the closed glass panels of the window, he could smell the different creatures residing outside. It didn’t help it when his stomach gurgled for food, and he could practically taste the blood of the unsuspecting deer prancing through the forest at this moment. 

Yoongi had left him alone when he refused to speak, only glare. The pre-teen could smell it on him, another werewolf like him. Or he was. But he was not in any mood to be social with anyone. What he wanted now was his family.

But he couldn’t have that.

Junghyun, he thought along with the images of his parents, before they morphed into his last glance at his family; all dead. His elder brother bleeding from the eyes and mouth, jagged gashes running over his face from the rejection. His parents’ mangled bodies from his own claws. They called to him. Did they blame him? For being the only one to survive? For being the one to ruthlessly murder his parents?

He sucked in a breath, he couldn’t do this. He didn’t ask to be turned into a complete monster. Why didn’t he just die along with his family?

The wolf continued to simmer in his depressive state, mulling over the events at the warehouse, his survival, and his memories of his family back at their home. Where was the point in living anymore? No one was there to care, was there? No. He’d killed them. They were gone. And he was alone. 

The more he sat in that room, glaring at his pink stained fingers, it felt like he was suffocating. It hurt to breathe as the walls of the room seemed to draw closer and closer towards him. He would cover his ears, palms clamping harshly over the sides of his head when he couldn’t stop hearing the shouts of his parents and the cries of his sibling. The indistinct noises turned into morbid shouts of his name, blaming him, criticizing him.

It’s wasn’t that he hated vampires. Sure, there had always been an unspoken rivalry between the two races. It had always made him wonder how mixed societies even survived with different species coexisting. Besides that, this was  not something he wanted. He didn’t ask for this. Moreover the fact that he blamed himself for the death of his parents, he blamed it on him turning in the first place, the vampiric blood multiplying his anger and desire to kill.

The thoughts hit a break point. 

Jungkook would sit in the dark, holed up in that room still, and you had to watch on as the boy extends a single claw from his index finger and run the sharp tip across his forearm experimentally. Time and time again the wound closes immediately after the fact, no matter how deep he attempts.

Figures, he thought glumly, the blood heightened his healing ability. 

And then he experimented further. You screamed, but no sound left your mouth as Jungkook kneeled over the mattress, inhaling and exhaling before he raised his clawed hand. Eyes burning blue and amber, he grunted as he impaled his own chest. Breathing heavily, he gasped at the searing pain, blood pouring from the wound and onto the linen. 

And then fear struck across his once void eyes. 

As his claws grasped at his heart, he knew he’d reached the threshold of life and death. Extracting his heart now would mean instant death and that scared him.

Jungkook didn’t want to die.

Tears fell as he cried in anguish, wanting to end his suffering but also wanting to live.

It was only a matter of time before the other pack members would smell his blood and despair, and soon enough the tell-tale loud thuds of footsteps thundered outside the door before it was blown off its hinges and across the room. The wooden structure hit the wall with a crash, crumbling to the floor in pieces as Yoongi stands at the doorway with three other teens. 

To your surprise, Yoongi clamors silently onto the bed and glares down at him as he looks up through blurry eyes.

“Do it.”

You suck in a breath.

“Do it, you fucking won’t.”

“Min Yoongi!” One of three reprimands, when you look over as he stomps over to yank at the wolf’s shoulder, you recognize him as Hoseok. Those heart shaped lips, gentle mocha eyes, and lean body with the carefree way he carried himself. Although, he seemed frazzled at the situation, face scrunched in alarm and disapproval of Yoongi’s baiting. 

“What?!” The elder hisses, “If he wants to die so bad, then he can just do it.”

“Why are you crying?” He scrutinizes the younger with hardened golden eyes, “Don’t you want to die? Isn’t that why you’ve got your claws nearly tearing out your heart?”

Jungkook shakes his head, body trembling from both pain and fear, “I… I don’t want to die…”

“Then what do you want?” Yoongi asks, “I don’t know what you went through… but I’m sure there has to be something inside you keeping you from wanting to die. You wouldn’t be crying and hesitating now would you?”

“There’s nothing here for me... I’m alone... I have nothing... but I don’t want to die.”

He eventually relents with a sag of his shoulders, letting his heart go and retracting his hand. Kim Seokjin introduces himself before healing the boy with a whispered spell to quicken the rate of his healing ability.

Yoongi heaves a sigh before taking the boy by the back of his head and pushing it towards his chest, “No need to tell us now, but if you need a reason to live. Let us be your reason. Family, am I right?”

Jungkook’s eyes widen at that, his heart warming at the offer, looking up between him, Hoseok’s bright smile, and Seokjin agreeing with a gentle quirk of his lips.

Before he can say anymore, a tall ash blonde boy strides over, interrupting the touching moment between the future pack mates.

“You’ll die if you keep resisting your hunger,” Namjoon says bluntly, tossing the pack of pork blood onto the youth’s lap, “You might hate it now, but this is what you’re going to have to live with. Get used to it.”

The vampire’s taut lips turned up into a slight smile, “Please cherish your life as much as possible. Love yourself, you’re one of us now.”

Mom, Dad, Junghyun. Please watch over me. He thought as his eyes welled up with another round of tears. The boys watched as he tore the corner open and downed the contents before sobbing into Yoongi’s shoulder. 

It’s delicious. And despite the fact that he hated that he enjoyed the deep wine colored liquid, he knew he had to keep living. It would be what they wanted for him, and looking around at the four older boys, he may be able to live a little while longer. 

You watched tearfully as life went on. Jungkook would observe the pack, deeply intrigued by the dynamics and how the group was able to get along like a real family would when the group comprised of a warlock, a vampire, and now three wolves. Not too long after Jungkook had integrated himself into pack life and went back to school, attending the middle school in the suburban town bordering the forest, another wolf and vampire were accepted into the pack. They went by the names of Park Jimin and Kim Taehyung respectively.

The two were balls of pure energy, easily adapting to the mixed environment and soon becoming close friends with Jungkook. And it surprised him. They were merely a group of different races and yet they were nothing short of brothers. Each had their own story leading up to their gathering as a seven-membered pack, and everyone had been accepting. 

So he decided it would be time. 

He told them. When he was comfortable enough, he asked Namjoon to arrange a pack meeting where he would open up about his transition into a hybrid and his murder spree before he had met Yoongi and the pack. The vampires of the group couldn’t blame him for his hatred of his vampiric side. They took the information in with open minds and comforted him with open hearts and grilled lamb skewers, his favorite. 

Later, Jungkook learned to suppress the vampire blood, only letting his wolf gene remain activated with the help of Seokjin. He didn’t crave only blood and he returned to eating like normal with small increments where he had to replenish his desire for blood. A year passed, there was no problems, then eighth grade came around. 

You watched as the hybrid attended his last years of middle school when Jungkook became attracted to a girl. Almost immediately, you recognize her as Hyejin, gasping loudly as Jungkook can’t help but sneak shy glances her way and try anything and everything to impress her. Everything seemed to connect when your world shifted so suddenly, as though someone were yanking you back from the collar of your shirt. 

Dizzy, you fall back, hands releasing the hybrid’s head as you breathe heavily from the exertion of being shoved out of his brain.

“S-sorry…” he sighed with his hand running down his face in exasperation, biting back the pain in his heart at the absence of your touch, “I didn’t mean to show you that...”

The areas on his temples resonate with your lingering heat, his wolf whimpering at your distance between you both.

“When were you planning on telling me then?” You ask, although you were unsure why you were even upset in the first place. In the first place, you already figured that something had gone down in the past if Hyejin was always adamant on staying away from just Jungkook. They had a past, but you didn’t think it was this kind of past. Realizing the bite in your tone, you shake your head and offer an apologetic smile, “Sorry, it’s not my place… whatever happened between you and Hyejin is not my business.”

He doesn’t respond, gazing down at dirt underneath him in tense silence. “Besides that…” You continue stiffly, rubbing your arm in an effort soothe the goosebumps from remembering the rest of what had happened into memories he’d shown you, “I’m so sorry about your brother… and your um…”

“Parents,” He finished with a grimace, “Don’t be… I… er at least you know why my eyes are blue…”

But it did not answer what he was keeping from you about him and Hyejin. In effort to change the subject, you bite your lip and ask, “So… what’s this about a she-wolf? Imprinting and all that?” You offer a meek smile, mentally preparing yourself for his answer. 

Fuck.

“That was something my parents told me… about wolves imprinting on their fated soulmates…”

“Mm… That’s cool… lucky her then right?” What were you saying? You inwardly screamed at yourself as you rose to your full height and turned to go home. By now, noon had gone and passed and the sun was beginning to set in the west, ducking it’s bright rays behind the tall trees of the forest. “It’s getting a little dark… we should go home,” you conclude with a forced smile.

Jungkook felt a painful pang in his chest, as though he’d been stabbed a million times each step you took away. Gasping, he doubled over and wished that you wouldn't leave him.

“What’s the difference between Hyejin and (Y/n)? What sets them apart?”

Yoongi’s “food for thought” has his mind racing, eyes wide.

Hyejin was Hyejin. She was the past. An old flame but not his… his… 

He sucked in a breath.

His soulmate. 

Thinking back to his father’s explanation of his parents’ fated relationship, he knew what you had to be. It was more than just his present. You were his future, and eternity. It was cliche but the moon had chosen for him the perfect match: you. It was widely rare for wolves to imprint on species not their own, and that made the uncertainty of the future even more bleak when other species didn’t understand the way imprinting altered the world for the imprinter, meaning a non-wolf imprintee had the power to reject them or not. Unlike wolves, they did not spatially feel that pull towards the imprinter as full-blown as a wolf would. That fact did not change what you were to him. Fated. Soulmate. Everything. He wanted nothing more than to make you happy and protect you. Fuck the imprinting, he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to fall for you fate or not. You were accepting, caring, fucking adorable, and a complete badass. He pushed you away not out of revolt or contempt, only out of fear of hurting you physically and emotionally if he could not control his vampiric urges and if you thought he didn’t really feel something for you genuinely. 

But that’s the thing, he thought. There’s a reason he would be drawn to you. You are his match. He could not find another woman like you, everything is deemed inferior to you. 

Seizing you by your wrist, you jolt with a start and look back at him with furrowed brows. When he meets your gaze, his eyes are shimmering a gorgeous shade of blue. Quickly, he grows shy as he looks away and is unable to meet your eyes anymore. 

“U-um… I… i-it’s not only wolves that we can imprint on…” he stammers as his cheeks burn and his front teeth chew on his bottom lip. An action you find cute before you stand straight and reprimand yourself for staring at his lips. 

“Then what else Jungkook?” You ask, feigning impatience.

“It’s rare, but werewolves are able to imprint on other species as well…”

“And you imprinted on Hyejin?” You blink, frowning at the clench in your chest at the thought.

A pressure on the back of your head pushes you forward, your lips colliding with Jungkook’s, shutting you up effectively with a chaste kiss that has you nearly collapsing right then and there. The world dips below your feet, almost as though the world has disappeared and you’re merely existing in a space with only the two of you. The lines blur and all you can see, feel, and smell is Jeon Jungkook. The way his lips caress your own one last time is nothing short of gentle before he pulls apart with a pained frown. “I imprinted on you, dumbass.”

...At least that’s what he’d like to do, he thought helplessly as you walked away. Most likely fuming over the idea of his past with Hyejin and fated. Lone figure retreating back the way you both came from. 

He just could not do that to himself or you.

A frustrated growl emitted from his chest, ruffling his hair before he sensed it. You must have sensed it too as you turn to look at him for a split second and he’s too late to grab you when large meteor sized balls of dark flames come smashing into the ground in front of you. They crush trees and decimate the ground, debris flying as your body is shot backwards from the impact.

..

Tags:  @twilight-loveer @reinyrei@mistytail@mygukandonlyficrecs@xanny91@unpocodesoledadywisky@xxqueenwxtchxx@lildemonangele@gukworld@sunnyoongles @zamirayinyue13@hannahdearr @serendipity-secrets @ilaria-np @jules-park @treetops68 @mischiefmakerliesmith5 @jeonkooksgirl @coffeeismylife28 @nshitae @bookoffracturedescapes @ellsbells72

@tiredjedi

[introvertguide]

The French Connection (1971); AFI #93

The current movie under review  is one of the biggest award winning police action dramas ever created, The French Connection (1971). The film was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and won 5 Oscars in 1972 for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Gene Hackman), Best Screenplay, and Best Editing. The story also includes Roy Scheider prior to his Jaws fame as a buddy sidekick. In fact, this movie was part of a string of great “buddy” movies that included In the Heat of the Night (1967), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Butch Cassidy NS the Sundance Kid (1969), The Sting (1973), and All the President’s Men (1976). The French Connection has a lot of interesting Americana connections that I want to discuss, but first let’s go over the plot. Of course that means the usual:

SPOILER ALERT!!! LEGITAMATELY!!! A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THE GENERAL STORY AND PROBABLY THE PLOT OUTLINE WITHOUT EVER SEEING THE FILM!!! CHECK OUT THE FILM FIRST AND THEN COME BACK TO AVOID SPOILER DETAILS!!!

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The movie starts in France where an undercover detective is following a heroine smuggler named Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey). This detective is then followed home by Charnier's hitman, Pierre Nicoli (Marcel Bozzuffi), and is assassinated. Charnier plans to smuggle $32 million worth of heroin into the United States by hiding it in the car of his unsuspecting friend, television personality Henri Devereaux, who is traveling to New York City by ship.

Flash to New York City, where we see detectives Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo are staking out a club trying to nab a perp. They get a tip that some low level mobsters are part of a deal to sell a bunch of French heroin to gangs in America. Out at the Copacabana, Popeye notices Salvatore "Sal" Boca and his young wife, Angie, entertaining mobsters involved in narcotics. They tail the couple and establish a link between the Bocas and lawyer Joel Weinstock, who is part of the narcotics underworld.

Popeye goes to a bar that seems to serve only black patrons and shakes down everybody there. He secretly has an informant in the group and learns that a massive shipment of heroin will arrive in the next two weeks. The detectives convince their supervisor to wiretap the Bocas' phones. Popeye and Cloudy are joined by federal agents Mulderig and Klein, both of whom Popeye is not a fan of.

The drug car arrives in New York City. Boca is impatient to make the purchase—reflecting Charnier's desire to return to France as soon as possible—while Weinstock, with more experience in smuggling, urges patience, knowing Boca's phone is tapped and that they are being investigated.

Charnier realizes he is being observed. He "makes" Popeye and escapes on a departing subway shuttle. To avoid being tailed, he has Boca meet him in Washington D.C., where Boca asks for a delay to avoid the police. Charnier, however, wants to conclude the deal quickly. On the flight back to New York City, Nicoli offers to kill Popeye, but Charnier objects, knowing that Popeye would be replaced by another policeman. Nicoli insists, however, saying they will be back in France before a replacement is assigned.

Soon after, Nicoli attempts to shoot Popeye but misses and hits an innocent bystander instead. Popeye chases Nicoli up on a roof and eventually onto an elevated train that Nicoli makes and Popeye does not. Popeye commandeers a car and races to the next stop while barely avoiding traffic. Realizing he is being pursued, Nicoli works his way forward through the carriages, shoots a policeman who tries to intervene, and hijacks the motorman at gunpoint, forcing him to drive straight through the next station, also shooting the train conductor. The motorman passes out and they are just about to slam into a stationary train when an emergency trackside brake engages, hurling the assassin against a glass window. Popeye arrives to see the killer descending from the platform in an attempt to escape. When the killer sees Popeye, he turns to run but is shot dead by Popeye.

Popeye and Cloudy have a lengthy stakeout of the car that connects all the mobsters and has the opportunity to impound it when some gangsters see it and attempt to strip it. He and his team take it apart searching for the drugs, but come up empty-handed. Cloudy notes that the vehicle's shipping weight is 120 pounds over its listed manufacturer's weight. They remove the rocker panels and discover the heroin concealed therein. The police restore the car to its original condition and return it to Devereaux, who delivers the Lincoln Continental to Charnier.

Charnier drives to an old factory on Wards Island to meet Weinstock and deliver the drugs. After Charnier has the rocker panels removed, Weinstock's chemist tests one of the bags and confirms its quality. Charnier removes the drugs and hides the money, concealing it beneath the rocker panels of another car purchased at an auction of junk cars, which he will take back to France. Charnier and Sal drive off in the Lincoln, but hit a roadblock with a large contingent of police led by Popeye. The police chase the Lincoln back to the factory, where Boca is killed during a shootout while most of the other criminals surrender.

Charnier escapes into the warehouse with Popeye and Cloudy in pursuit. Popeye sees a shadowy figure in the distance and opens fire a split-second after shouting a warning, killing one of the feds, Mulderig, that he had been partnered with. Undaunted, Popeye tells Cloudy that he will get Charnier. After reloading his gun, Popeye runs into another room and a single gunshot is heard.

Title cards note that Weinstock was indicted but his case dismissed for "lack of proper evidence"; Angie Boca received a suspended sentence for an unspecified misdemeanor; Lou Boca received a reduced sentence; Devereaux served four years in a federal penitentiary for conspiracy; and Charnier was never caught. Popeye and Cloudy were transferred out of the narcotics division and reassigned.

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So this film has some of the most well known scenes in cinema history and I say this because they are copied a lot. The first scene when Popeye and Cloudy are on a stakeout, Popeye is disguised as Santa and receives a knife wound in his hand. This came back years later in Hot Fuzz! when Simon Pegg, as a police officer, was stabbed through the hand by a man dressed as Santa. In the Jackie Chan film Rush Hour, Chris Tucker goes into a bar pretending to shake down the group when he actually knows the group and jokingly asks his informant questions. 

Maybe one of the biggest aspects of the realism of the movie that director Friedkin insisted upon, was that the two cops that Popeye and Cloudy were based upon were in the movie. Jimmy Doyle was based on a cop named Eddie Egan and Buddy Rosso was based upon his partner Sonny Grosso. Egan and Grosso broke up the actual French Connection back in 1951. A book by Robin Moore that shares the name of the movie details the bust and this is what the movie was based on. For extra realism, the two real cops played the chief and one of the feds. Well, I say promote realism although Friedkin did not like the book and didn’t follow it as closely as he claims. There was no chase or shootout in the book. That was all there for drama.

The ending title cards were very interesting because it reminds the audience that 1) Friedkin cut his teeth with documentaries 2) the movie wasn’t going to show the whole seven month drug bust and 3) all the bad guys got away or got slaps on the wrist and the two cops were transferred out. This was a huge bust that didn’t really work out (although it stopped the trafficking) allowing the mobsters to escape and putting a stop to two careers. It is what I like most, however, because I don’t want to see a realistic movie in which the only interesting scenes are the ones that are not based on any facts. 

So should this movie be on the AFI list? Yes. It was the basis for gritty TV cop shows like The Streets of San Francisco and Starsky & Hutch. It has one of the greatest car chase scenes in cinema history. It won many awards and is known by those who haven’t seen the film. It is definitely AFI material. Would I recommend it? Well...not to kids. It has a ton of overt racism that is pretty uncomfortable to watch as well as some pretty terrible police work. The two cops were on set and they were OK with this? The film claims to be based on a real bust and the only cinematic parts of interest were made up. These white cops keep going into black bars and knocking everyone around but just chase after the French guys. White men are all detectives and assassins and mob bosses while anyone of color are just props to be knocked around to move the plot along. I would watch it again as a piece of cinema history and it is a progenitor of the 70s cop dramas, but I wouldn’t show it to my students because I don’t want them to think that it is OK for the police to rough up any number of black people as long as it might bring information about a mob boss. It is a good story with a bad message that needs some maturity to recognize the faults.

[aire101]

Ferrum Chapter 5

LINK TO FIC MASTER POST

A/N:  Well, I'm definitely not winning Nanowrimo again this year, but I did get a chapter out earlier than previously, and hopefully I'll be updating again soon. Also, this chapter I attempted to briefly show different perspectives on the game being cleared, and both were based on what my own feelings would have been at two different points in my life, so don't come at me about it please. Take care of yourselves, and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

---

The Town of Beginnings had changed remarkably from three weeks ago.  Sure, the buildings and streets were all the same, but the mood and tension in the air hung like a thick blanket over nearly every person within the walls.  In sharp contrast, the NPC’s on the street continued to merrily hawk their wares and interact with those in the street, most of whom seemed to be ‘out of towners’ like themselves.  From windows above, you could occasionally see a face peering down before a drape would be pulled closed again.

All in all, it was distinctly unsettling, but exactly what Tony had expected.

“I knew some would hole up in the starter town, but this is a bit more intense than I imagined,” said Peter, as they made their way towards an inn.

“Kid, almost two thousands people have died since this game began—two out of every ten people who started.  In all honestly, I’m surprised how many of us have hit the ground running,” said Tony.

“I know, but turning into a complete shut-in seems a bit extreme.  Its not like anything is going to attack you within the city’s Safe Zone…”

“You say that, but that assumption is born from an inherent trust of the system.  A system that has already been previously hijacked and altered to trap us all here on the whim of a asshole with a god complex.  Considering that, who do you really think is crazy?  The ones who can’t bring themselves to trust the system to protect them, or the ones who do?” asked Tony.

“I guess when you put it that way, I see your point.  But still, we’re probably going to be here for a while.  Are they just planning on staying in one room for the next however many years?”

“I imagine some of them will eventually venture out and find their own niche in the world, even if it isn’t battling the local mobs.  Some will start fishing, or hunting, mining, cooking… the skill list for the game is extensive.  Some entrepreneurs will probably start opening player run businesses and establishments.  But I doubt we’ll see much of that until the Level One Floor Boss is found and cleared.  These people are stuck in the dark without a light, believing the system is rigged against them.  They need to see proof of what’s possible, a light to guide them forward, before we’ll see any real progress here.  And even then, there will still be some who never go further than the walls of this city,” said Tony.  “The amount of specialized therapy everyone in this game will need afterward is going to make some psychologists rich.”

Ahead of them, Tony saw a sign for an inn and turned to Peter.

“You can go ahead and get us set up for the night.  I’m going to go and find a tool shop and a smithy, see if I can add a durability upgrade.  Do you need anything while I’m out?” asked Tony.

“Um… Maybe some more potions.  I used the last one back in the West forest.  Though god those things taste like dirty socks,” said Peter, checking his inventory.

“You know, if you stopped doing dumb crap like jumping between me and attacks you wouldn’t have this problem,” said Tony, with a dry tone and a distinctly unsympathetic expression.

“What’s the point of having each other’s back if I don’t guard it?” said Peter, completely unrepentant.

Tony threw up his hands as he turned and walked away, calling over his shoulder, “Potions it is!”

He didn’t have to look back, he could feel the boy’s eyes roll into his head.

As Tony worked his way towards the central market, he took in the graystone streets and buildings with ornate windows and battlements.  Every so often he would come across small barren plazas with lovely fountains and flora, nearly empty cafes and brightly colored vendor stalls. Even an occasional vista located just perfectly to allow someone a majestic view of the city and the surrounding area. Tony sighed, thinking of what could have been for this city that many had spent years of their lives developing.

The Town of Beginnings would have been a beautiful city without the miasma of despair that clung to its inhabitants.

It got him to wondering exactly what had come of his AIs, the ones Argus had requested.  He had almost had one completely coded at the time of their last meeting.  She had been a sweet one.  But since he had woken in the game, he had seen no sign of her.  Did they end up including her in the Cardinal System at all?

Maybe he should start poking around the GM user panel in earnest, see what he could find out.  So far, he had mostly kept away from delving into it, afraid of catching Kayaba’s attention.  But if there was something he could do to help, he would damn well try.  

Up ahead he saw a sign advertising a blacksmith and item vendor.  Eventually he wanted to try and open a smithy himself.  Peter seemed set on throwing himself into harms way (per usual), and if he was going to do that, Tony wanted to make sure he had the best equipment available to do so.  So Tony started learning how to do what he did best— make weapons and armor.

But to do that required a blacksmith’s forge and anvil.  And to get that required a hefty amount of Cor.  So for now, he rented an NPC blacksmith’s resources every now and then in order to improve and repair their equipment.

A bell jingled as he opened the door, undoubtedly triggering the customary NPC interaction.

“Welcome to Varden’s Smith and Sundry!  How may I help you today?” called the man behind the counter.

“I would like to buy potions,” said Tony.

“What quantities would you like?”

“Ten.”

“That will be 1,500 Cor.”

“Ugh…” Tony broke the script to groan.  He didn’t begrudge the purchase, far from it.  But seriously, the kid needed to stop getting hit in the first place.  His heart really couldn’t take this, and neither could their pocket book.

Who would have guessed he’d finally learn the concept of budgeting in his fifties?  And boy did it suck.

Tony opened up his inventory, removing the required amount to place on the counter.  As soon as it hit the counter, the bag of Cor flashed and disappeared.

“Thank you for your purchase!  Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Yes, I’d like to rent your forge,” said Tony.

“Ah, yes!  Come!  Follow me this way…”

—

As Peter entered the inn, he glanced around the first floor tavern where various parties sat around rough hewn tables over pub fare and pints.  At the bar, several others sat, conversing casually, though a little less intimately than those at the lower tables.  Making a decision, he approached the bar.

“What can I getcha?” asked the barman as Peter sat.

“Whatever today’s special is and a pint,” said Peter, setting the typical meal cost in Cor down on the counter.

The barman nodded, accepting the payment and placing a full pint down in front of Peter before turning to finish the task.

As he waited, Peter took sips of his drink and listened in on the conversations around him.

“Word is they’ve finally found the entrance to the dungeon, as well as a new town relatively close to it called Tolbana.  Hopefully within the next week or two they’ll find the boss and the first floor will be cleared,” said a woman to his left.

The girl sitting on the other side of her shook her head.  “But how many more will die clearing it out?  There’s already almost 2,000 names crossed out in the Monument of Life in the Black Palace.”

“What else are we supposed to do?  We either die trying to get out or die of old age stuck in a virtual world.”

“Would that really be the worst thing, though?  In the real world I’m in constant pain from my condition, some days I can’t even make it out of bed for more than the absolute necessities.  Here I can live without that.”

The woman next to him sighed, “I’m sorry for that, and I understand why you would consider the option of living within the system.  But some of us can’t.  When I dove, I told my husband it would only be for a couple of hours, then we could take our five year old son to the park.  They’re waiting on me to return.  I want to be able to see my child grow up.  So its a risk I have to take.”

The other girl nodded, “I get it.”

It was at that point the barman set a plate of what looked and smelled like chicken and roasted squash in front of him.  Peter thanked the man and began to eat.

“God that looks good…” said the girl a couple seats down.  “I haven’t eaten a proper meal in a couple days.  The black bread is cheaper, though its dry and doesn’t last very long.”

“You really should try and go hunting.  You’ll never make enough Cor or skill points to survive comfortably unless you do.  Even if its just around this area,” said the other woman.  “Going hungry for the next few years would be pretty miserable.”

“Sorry if I’m intruding,” said Peter, “but I’ve been curious about something— how often and how quickly do you get hungry in here?”

“Well, I haven’t really left the city, so I don’t make much Cor to buy food with,” said the girl.  “So I kind of just stay hungry throughout most of the day.”

“When I’m leveling I tend to press through instead of stopping to eat,” said the woman, “But when I am eating regularly, I’d say I start feeling hunger similar to how I would in the real world, about every four to six hours.  But I’m not sure if its tied to our real world feelings of hunger or a virtual schedule.”

“Might be a little of both… I tend to get hungry a lot in RL, but in here its spaced out a bit more,” said Peter, taking a bite of chicken.  

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the girl still looking wistfully at his food.  

“Sir, I’d like to order a second plate, but give it to her,” said Peter, nodding in her direction.

As the barman nodded and walked off, the girl started waving her hands.

“No, you shouldn’t do that.  Save your Cor—”

“It’s alright, I promise.  I’m in here with—”

Shit.  What should he call Tony?

“…Imagine being stuck in here with your dad.”

“Er— my sort of Dad, and we’ve been doing pretty good with the mobs.  So I can afford it.”

She looked for a moment like she was thinking of arguing still, until the plate was set in front of her.  She eyed the food before her eyes teared up a bit, and she nodded.

“Thank you.  I really appreciate your kindness.”

“It’s not a problem.  I’d do the same in the real world.  And what I would do there is what I should do in here,” said Peter.

“Those are wise words,” said the woman.  “And you are uncommonly kind.  I hope you are able to keep that, but don’t expect everyone in here to share your mindset.”

“I won’t, but just because others choose to not do the right thing doesn’t mean I have to.  We all have the power and responsibility to choose to do good,” said Peter, and he felt the intangible feeling within him that he had been wrestling with since the beginning calm.

It wasn’t that the responsibility was no longer his without his powers, it was that the power and responsibility was everyone’s.  

Perhaps it always had been.

And just like in the real world, there were those who used their power for good, those who used power for evil, and those that never used their power at all.  Most thinking they had none, just like the girl a couple seats down.

But if they worked together…

Peter felt his resolve form.

He was going to the front line.

—

As Tony stepped back out onto the street, he considered his options.

Obviously he needed to head back to the inn.  Afterward they could probably head out and take a look around town, seeing as they hadn’t really done so on day one.

But the memory of a café he had passed was singing its song…

He really missed coffee.

Surely they had some digital variation in this game.  If not he was lodging a complaint.

The café was just as vacant as when he passed earlier.  There were a couple people sitting at a table outside, but was otherwise empty of players.

The customary tinkle of the door as he entered prompted the NPC barista to smile and wave.  On the wall behind the counter was a blackboard with various items written— sandwiches and what Tony suspected were types of teas, and in a bottom corner there was a selection of drinks called ‘Kaf.’

“Bingo!  I’ll have a black kaf,” Tony looked at the pastries on display off to the side, spying a familiar donut shape with pink frosting, “And one of whatever you call this.”

A minute later he was sitting at a table out front, facing away from the two other patrons with his visor moved, taking a drink of the weirdest tasting ‘coffee’ he had ever tasted.  If he had to describe it he would say it was more like a tea, with floral and berry notes and a touch of honey, but with a darker color and consistency of a french press coffee.  It wasn’t bad, it just was not what he had been expecting.

Oh well, the donut was a perfect reproduction of a strawberry frosted Dunkin Donut.

“Man, if I make it out of this alive my wife is going to kill me.  She’s been super anxious since the Blip— not that I blame her, you know— and this whole thing was definitely not something she was very confident in to begin with,” said one of the men sitting at the nearby table.

“Damn… you were one of the ones caught up in that?  I lucked out I guess… I’m not really close to anyone and the ones I am were spared,” replied the other.

“Yeah, I know the Avengers ended up saving everyone in the end and I’m thankful for that obviously, but everything is still such a damn dumpster fire.”

That caught Tony’s attention.

The Blip?  Bit of an odd name for an Avenger’s battle.  How were the Avengers even a thing?  Last time he checked Rogers and his merry men and women were still considered war criminals at large.  The ‘Avengers’ consisted of himself, Vision and Rhodey.

“No joke.  Almost every economy is still tanked at the moment.  And I’m pretty sure half of upper New York State is a crater.  Glad that fight was over there and not in my part of the world.”

The bottom of Tony’s stomach dropped out at those words.  

“There was a battle… you won, but you took a lot of damage.  You’ve been in a coma ever since.”

Peter had never said anything else about the battle, and Tony hadn’t pressed.  But if a giant chunk of the state had been completely destroyed because of the battle surely he would have mentioned that?

Wouldn’t he?

Obviously a lot more happened in that battle than Peter had led him to believe.  Tony eventually being taken out of commission in a fight was one thing, but from the sound of things this was on par with the Battle of Sokovia.

So why hadn’t Peter mentioned it?

“It was good to catch up, we’ll have to do this again when I’m back this direction.  Or maybe on another floor if the rumors of the first floor dungeon door being found are true,” said the first man, standing up.

“Sounds good to me, though I’ll probably be pretty busy soon.  Some of us around here have started organizing to try and provide resources for the people here in town.  Some of them are players who don’t want to chance dying in the game, but there’s also some kids who are way younger than what the minimum play age was supposed to be.  A few volunteers have taken up residence with them in a church in town and we’ve been supplying them with food…” said the other man, as they both walked away.

Damn… that wasn’t something he had thought about, but of course there would be kids who either snuck in on a parent’s account or who were allowed to lie about their age to play the game.  Jokes about eight year olds talking crap on Call of Duty were a dime a dozen and everyone laughed about it, but here…

Maybe he should look into that, see what help he could offer.  Though unlike in the real world, simply throwing his money at the problem couldn’t fix it.  Mostly because he didn’t have any money.  Ugh…

Speaking of kids though, he’d need to decide what to say once he got back to his kid at the inn.  

Tony took a few deep breaths, trying to loosen up the hold his anxiety had started to take.  

Obviously whatever had happened had been huge— Avengers assembled (with or without Rogers and co?), massive property damage, Iron Man out of commission, every country feeling the economic backlash.  But unlike what had happened with Sokovia, despite the damages it seemed like the general public opinion after the fact was positive…?  

That was unusual.

Most importantly at this point, whatever had happened had affected people across the globe, but especially one young man from Queens.

Had he been at the battle?  Tony had initially offered the kid a spot after the whole vulture debacle, but after he had actually slept on it a few hours (the first time he’d slept properly in a few days) he had come to the realization that Peter turning the position down had saved them from what had been an awful idea in the first place.  And that was BEFORE May Parker had shown up at the complex in an unholy righteous fury.

So Tony could not imagine having called Peter into a fight, and if it had taken place at the compound like he suspected, Peter shouldn’t have been anywhere near there.

He wanted to go back to the inn and wrangle the details out of Peter.  Who was the fight against?  What was it about?  Was Rogers there?  If so, how was Rogers involved?  Why was public opinion seemingly in their favor for once?  Had anyone other than him been hurt?

Oh god… What if something had happened to Pepper…

No.  Peter would have told him that.  He wouldn’t lie to him about Pepper, and he had told him weeks ago that she was fine.  She was safe.

Tony dropped his head into his hand.

He wanted to ask all those questions, needed those answers…

But even if he got his answers, what could he do about any of it?

And was it worth potentially driving Peter away from him?  His kid.  The only person he knew and could dare to trust with the truth of his identity in this world?

No.  No it wasn’t.

He would just have to see what he could find out from others.  And hopefully Peter would eventually come around and open up about what had happened.  He trusted the kid with his life, he would trust him in this, too.

The walk back to the inn seemed much quicker than the one to smithy due to Tony’s preoccupied mind and nerves.  He was still unsure what to say when he got to the room.  He needn’t have worried though, because Peter fixed that problem.

“I want to start fighting on the front line.  I’m heading to the dungeon tomorrow.”

“Wait— excuse me, what?”

[wikipediaredoengl199fa20]

Nicolazzo - Wikipedia Rewrite for Overpopulation Page

Edits are in bold. The original page can be accessed here. 

Current population dynamics, and cause for concern

Further information: Population dynamics

As of December 8, 2020, the world's human population is estimated to be 7.836 billion.[10] Or, 7,622,106,064 on 14 May 2018 and the United States Census Bureau calculates 7,472,985,269 for that same date[11] and over 7 billion by the United Nations.[12][13][14] Depending on which estimate is used, human overpopulation may have already occurred.[citation needed]

Nevertheless, the rapid recent increase in human population has worried some people. The population is expected to reach between 8 and 10.5 billion between the years 2040[15][16] and 2050.[17] In 2017, the United Nations increased the medium variant projections[18] to 9.8 billion for 2050 and 11.2 billion for 2100.[19]

As pointed out by Hans Rosling, the critical factor is that the population is not "just growing," but that the growth ratio reached its peak and the total population is now growing much slower.[20] The UN population forecast of 2017 was predicting "near end of high fertility" globally and anticipating that by 2030 over ⅔ of the world population will be living in countries with fertility below the replacement level[21] and for total world population to stabilize between 10 and 12 billion people by the year 2100.[22]

The rapid increase in world population over the past three centuries has raised concerns among some people that the planet may not be able to sustain the future or even present number of its inhabitants. The InterAcademy Panel Statement on Population Growth, circa 1994, stated that many environmental problems, such as rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, global warming, and pollution, are aggravated by the population expansion.[23]

Other problems associated with overpopulation include the It has been theorized that continued global population growth would lead to increased demand for resources (such as freshwater and food), starvation, malnutrition, consumption of natural resources (such as fossil fuels) faster than the rate of regeneration, and a deterioration in living conditions.[24] However, there is evidence to suggest that alleviating the effects of these crises (which already exist without Earth’s population passing any sort of “overpopulation” threshold) lie outside of population control, but rather, in an equal redistribution of resources from corporations and wealthy individuals (those in “the 1%”) to populations currently affected by these issues. Certain critiques of economic structures such as Capitalism suggest that the encouragement of endless growth for the economy is more damaging for the future of natural resources than individual impact, and therefore efforts do not need to be centralized around population. Moreover, there are certain ethical issues around the concept of overpopulation - mainly, which populations are being controlled, and who makes these decisions. While fears of overpopulation are not the outright cause of atrocities such as forced sterilization or eugenics (enacted against communities of color as opposed to white communities), the concept could easily be appropriated as a justification for the eradication of non-white populations, so an oppressor would not have to reveal their true intentions behind population control (or other policies such as immigration control). 

 Wealthy but densely populated territories like Britain rely on food imports from overseas.[25] This was severely felt during the World Wars when, despite food efficiency initiatives like "dig for victory" and food rationing, Britain needed to fight to secure import routes. However, many believe that waste and over-consumption, especially by wealthy nations, is putting more strain on the environment than overpopulation itself.[26] This relates back to the prior argument, suggesting that the idea of overpopulation incorrectly shifts the blame of climate change to individuals rather than the social systems in place globally. Focusing on the concept of carbon emissions alone, the sheer output of multiple corporations would far outweigh the impact of most human populations. Again, the impact the 1% has on carbon emissions is simply further argument for the redistribution of resources, rather than the focus on reducing one’s own “carbon footprint”. 

(261 words)

Essay and Sources:

For this Wikipedia editing assignment, I decided to edit the Wikipedia page for “Human Overpopulation”, or the concept that the world will eventually no longer be able to sustain human life due to extreme population growth. I approached the subject from the angle of recognizing that humans are depleting natural resources at an alarming rate, while also acknowledging the fact that a specific number of humans are contributing to the depletion of these resources, making the issue of population size less relevant. Therefore, while reading this article, I quickly realized the pervasive viewpoint suggested that individual humans are largely to blame for issues such as climate change as opposed to the output that corporations produce or the lifestyles of the 1%, and that a smaller population size is absolutely necessary for the survival of the human race. Arguments similar to the one I discussed were confined to one or two sentence afterthoughts, with no section for the various questions surrounding topics such as “Who exactly is controlling population growth, and why? Would it be possible or ethical to regulate this (outside of reproductive rights and family planning, which is both ethical and necessary)?” I do not believe this exclusion was a case of explicit bias and deliberately withholding information, but this lack of information instead displayed implicit bias and a lack of foresight. 

Since the article was extensive, I focused on revising a subsection titled “Current Population Dynamics, and Cause for Concern”. I altered the first sentence of a paragraph to reflect the fact that the term “overpopulation” itself has a vague definition, and added more information to this paragraph to express the opposing viewpoint more clearly. I summarized the various sources I read and included the relevant articles in links throughout the paragraph. The second paragraph is mostly a continuation of the arguments presented in the first, using one of the only examples of a differing viewpoint in the article as a starting point. This paragraph also had more of a focus on environmental issues in general, while the first paragraph addressed a variety of other topics. 

Most of the articles I researched addressed similar topics and expressed discontent with the popular narrative surrounding overpopulation. The articles written by Lyman Stone, Heather Alberro, and Peter Wells and Anne Touboulic focus on the economic argument, tackling the issues of natural resources and supply and demand. As previously mentioned, those who are concerned about overpopulation will cite the impact humans are having on the environment as an example that the human race is living beyond its means. In fact, a small population of humans are living beyond these means, and manufacturing products that simultaneously use up and pollute the earth’s resources. Alberro, in the article “Debunking ‘Overpopulation’”, cites the statistic “The consumption of the world’s wealthiest 10 percent produces up to 50 percent of the planet’s consumption-based CO₂ emissions, while the poorest half of humanity contributes only 10 percent” (Alberro). This shifts the blame back from the individual consumer to the capitalist system which produces more than it needs, then hordes the surplus and says the population needs to decrease for everyone to get their share. The article by Erle C. Ellis takes a more personalized approach to the subject, citing first hand conversations with colleagues about overpopulation and the misconceptions around the subject. 

There is one article, written by Robert Fletcher, which not only addresses the economic arguments surrounding overpopulation, but also has a detailed explanation of the link between eugenics, race, and the idea of overpopulation. The article “Barbarian Hordes: the Overpopulation Scapegoat in International Development Discourse” discusses how the idea of overpopulation can be used as a justification for atrocities such as eugenics or forced sterilization:  ...the state’s concern with nurturing life applied primarily to its own population, conceived as an organism in competition with other national populations for limited resources and living space…” (Alberro). The fear of overpopulation is not an excuse for these actions that oppressors use against an oppressed group (generally white against communities of color). It is important to challenge the narratives surrounding overpopulation to ensure oppressors are not able to hide behind this idea. 

In short, I did not think the wording of the Wikipedia article outwardly displayed a bias. However, the glaring lack of a counterargument was an example of implicit bias. The fact that overpopulation is being used to blame issues such as food scarcity on individuals instead of corporations needs to be addressed. Also, the usage of the concept of overpopulation could encourage oppressors to attempt to disguise eugenics as an attempt to solve the aforementioned issues of climate change, food scarcity, and others. If these changes were to be implemented, I would hope that this perspective allows readers to think critically about the concept of overpopulation. 

Works Cited

Alberro, Heather. “Debunking ‘Overpopulation.’” Ecologist, 16 April 2020. Web. 

https://theecologist.org/2020/apr/16/debunking-overpopulation

Ellis, Erle C. “Overpopulation is Not the Problem.” The New York Times, 13 September 2013. 

Web. https://my.vanderbilt.edu/greencities/files/2014/08/overpopulation-is-not.pdf

Fletcher, Robert. “Barbarian Hordes: The Overpopulation Scapegoat in International Development Discourse.” Taylor & Francis Online, 2 October 2014. Web.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01436597.2014.926110?casa_token=DHJuHTs76sUAAAAA%3AsHy3C0NkWG8qnMvxIiGJgMQbOrk1ONGSBuZbe3HW7Pk_hzcxKsaZ-ifpXNKj_8i-q1KjDNtaklBO

Stone, Lyman. “Why You Shouldn’t Obsess About ‘Overpopulation.’” Vox, 11 July 2018. Web. 

https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/12/12/16766872/overpopulation-exaggerated-concern-climate-change-world-population

Touboulic, Anne and Wells, Peter. “Rich and Famous Lifestyles are Damaging the Environment in Untold Ways.” The Conversation, 23 January, 2017. Web. https://theconversation.com/rich-and-famous-lifestyles-are-damaging-the-environment-in-untold-ways-71641

Wikipedia Contributors. “Human Overpopulation.” Wikipedia, 8 Dec. 2020. Web.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_overpopulation

[wellyoucantliveinfear]

There’s Something Rotten in Las Vegas (It’s Clexacon)

Hey y’all, I’m back again with my feelings about Clexacon. This is my 3rd year going to the convention, and sadly it’ll likely be my last. This will be a longgggggg post, so I’ll be putting it under a cut. So if you want to hear about my experience at Clexacon 2019, here you go:

Show! Me! The! Money! (No Seriously, Where’s it Going???)

One of my biggest concerns (among the many that I have) is how this convention is now an opportunity to grab as much money as it can from its LGBTQ audience. I’ll start with the con itself, and then work all the way through to its “affiliates”.

If you wanted to do anything at Clexacon that was not the actual convention itself, you were required to pay an additional fee. I personally went to the Academic Lab, which was an additional $75 on top of the regular $160 3-Day Pass ticket price. The Creator Lab was also the same day and was also an extra $75. Ascension, the Saturday night party, was $50. There was also a comedy show, and unfortunately I don’t have the info on how much that was. And sure, you might say, “Well Morgan, those are all extra events that are optional, so maybe paying for ‘opting in’ makes sense!”. Okay, sure, but there are also plenty of conventions that have additional, “opt in” events that are free for attendees.

Let’s use Dragon Con for example, as I live in Atlanta and am the most familiar with that one currently. Dragon Con has a TON of extra events, including a wrestling show, a burlesque revue, and dance parties. Most of these events are completely free as long as you have your convention badge. The events that aren’t free? An awards banquet and a HUGE ball with celebrity guests. There’s even an academic track for panels, which is also free. And okay, yes, Dragon Con is gigantic and is already established in the convention circuit. There are even smaller conventions that are doing free events too. I lived in Cincinnati for years and went to the Cincinnati Comic Expo, which is much smaller but still runs free events for attendees. So it is doable.

There also needs to be attention drawn to the fact that every organization attached to the “Clexacon” name is ran/owned by the same handful of people (NOTE: The two people in question will not be named here as I do not want to open myself to them potentially taking legal action. However everything stated here is either my experience, the noted experience of others, or easily accessed through organization websites, particularly the website for The Visibility Fund). Those people own and operate Clexacon, DASH Productions, and DASH Photos. They are also on the board for The Visibility Fund, a non-profit organization that gained funds from the Cocktails for Change event hosted at Clexacon this year. Prior to the removal of the Clexacon staff page online (which was removed promptly after the convention ended), the names of people from Tellofilms were also included as staff for the convention. It is deeply concerning that all of the money is being funneled in/through a small number of organizations ran by a small number of people. When I teach Media & Culture I always warn my students of the dangers of a small handful of people owning the means of creation. Often when that occurs, the limits on what the audience is able to see get smaller and smaller, focused on the wants of the corporations and businesses. It seems that Clexacon is moving in that direction.

Who’s Running the Show?

The organization of this year’s Clexacon was a complete and utter mess. I’ll start with the mismanagement of the Vendor Hall. While there was more space in the Vendor Hall this year, this did not lead to better promotion by the Clexacon staff. With the Photo Ops being moved upstairs, the hall was not as cramped, but it did remove a large source of foot traffic for the vendors. A logical next step would have been for Clexacon to tweet something about the Vendor’s Hall to push that foot traffic back into the space, but that did not happen. Instead, the traffic continued to flow upstairs and into the large panel room, with people only coming into the Vendor Hall through word of mouth or to get autographs. As someone who was in the Vendor Hall this year and last year, I noted a significant decrease in foot traffic, and other vendors I talked to noticed it too. This doesn’t even take into account the issues concerning the inconsistent pricing of vendor tables. I cannot speak further about this as I wasn’t involved, but there are multiple tweets in the #clexapocalypse hashtag with more info.

There were also issues with volunteers checking badges and other forms of “security” during the weekend. There were multiple instances where I walked into the Vendor Hall and no one checked my badge. There were instances where I walked into the Vendor Hall without a badge on, and no one questioned me. Bags were rarely being checked. I’m not advocating for more security at Clexacon. I’m against having heavier security or “police” in a queer space, especially a space where queer folks of color are present. However, there at the very least should be volunteers present to make sure that people without badges can’t walk in. Why on earth would I buy a $160 badge if anyone can just walk into the space?

Photo Ops were also a disaster. My friend and I bought a Photo Op for Chantal Thuy and Nafessa Williams. Not only was the picture very washed out, but when we asked about getting an extra print for one of us, we were told by volunteers that extra prints wouldn’t be available, and if we wanted them we’d have to “wait for the digital print and get it printed at a Fed Ex or something”. Y’all, I’ve been to multiple conventions and not once have I not been able to get another print at the con. They also said that it would take nearly two weeks for us to get the digital print, as “it’s just one person processing all of the images”. WHAT. That’s completely unacceptable. Other folks I spoke to at the convention cited similar issues, including being charged for Photo Ops that they didn’t get and poorly shot photos.  

Finally, there’s the issue of leadership for this convention. In the previous section I outlined an issue with the heads of Clexacon running multiple organizations connected to Clexacon, which appears to be fairly well known on the internet. What might be less well known is that after last year’s Clexacon, those people pushed out one of the original organizers for the convention. This person questioned the concerning direction the convention was taking and not only were their concerns invalidated, they were given no choice but to walk away from staff and were asked to not return to the convention this year. (Note: slight edit made to previous sentence based on new information) After the removal of that person, the convention morphed into what was presented this year. As you might have noticed on Twitter, many of the Clexacon staff resigned from their positions through each of them sending a public statement tweet. Of my knowledge of the situation, this was due to the management issues concerning the heads of Clexacon, as well as problems with how their labor was used (or misused) by those heads. When multiple people exit their jobs within an organization, that signals an issue with how that organization is run. I hope people will look deeper into this issue than what I’ve outlined here.  

I’m going to move on now to more “identity based” issues. I wanted to get all the money bullshit out of the way first because I have a lot of fucking Feelings about how people were continually marginalized at this convention and I didn’t want to run out of anger steam before talking about the money.

Concerns About Accessibility (I Have Them)

HOLY FUCKING SHIT, DO I HAVE CONCERNS. First, let’s review what occurred before Clexacon happened. Multiple people contacted Clexacon with issues attached to their unclear accessibility policy, with many getting poor responses or no responses at all from the staff. Eventually the outcry on Twitter prompted the staff to issue a new statement about accessibility, which was initially done so through an image on Twitter…which was not accessible to those with screen readers. They later reissued the statement through multiple tweets, but this would be foreshadowing of things to come. They stated they were talking to people well versed with ADA compliance knowledge, but it’s clear that either they didn’t do that at all, or they did and then chose to not follow them. This showed at the actual convention itself.

First was the issues with obtaining the program itself. They didn’t have any paper programs available this year, instead telling everyone to use the app. Well, that app was only accessible half the time because getting wifi was impossible, and cell service was horrible in the con space. Also, having the programs through the app only meant that they were assuming everyone had a cell phone and were able to use it throughout the entire con. I’ve been to conferences/conventions where they’ve had digital programs, but there’s always the option of getting a paper program if that works better for you. Not having those options got in the way of people being able to plan what events they were going to. 

From just my experience at Clexacon, there was not enough accommodation made for attendees who were deaf or hard of hearing. There were multiple panels, including panels in the large room, that did not have an interpreter present. There were also clearly not enough interpreters available for the number of attendees who needed them. Moog ( @wayhaughtt ) talks more about this in their vlog, which I’ll link here. It is completely and totally unacceptable (not to mention illegal) for Clexacon to not have enough people available to assist attendees.

Along with not having enough interpreters, the space is just totally not accessible for anyone who has mobility issues. Small panel rooms are all the way at the back of the con space, making it hard for people who cannot walk long distances. Aisles were not wide enough for people with mobility devices to use. While there were some things in place to assist with having to stand in line, it was still difficult for many people who couldn’t stand for long periods of time. The elevator on the bottom floor near the Vendor Hall was out of the way enough that I didn’t notice it until Sunday. The Quiet Room shouldn’t have even been called that, as it was sandwiched between the Photo Ops and the Film Festival, making it impossible for people to achieve the quiet they were going there to find. And sure, you might say, “Well that’s not their fault, it’s the fault of the Tropicana”. But at the end of the day if you are really committed to making your event accessible to everyone, to create this “safe space” that you continually advertise, then you will make the effort to not only actually provide people with adequate accommodations at the very least, but also find a venue that will be accessible for your attendees.

The Unbearable Whiteness of Being (At Clexacon)

Okay, so, I’m really annoyed that I basically have to write the same thing I did last year. I was really, really hoping that white people wouldn’t fuck it up again and would show up, but apparently the small amount of faith I had in my fellow white fandom people was too much. It was very clear AGAIN this year that white fandom will only show up for shows with white characters. I did notice an increase in the amount of people who attended the One Day at a Time Panel, and that’s great! But there were so many other panels with queer folks of color that were either a quarter or half full. I was hoping more people would attend the Black Lightning panel now that they were an established show finished with their second season, but nope, it was maybe half full. The Vida panel had a good number for attendance, but it was in a smaller panel room, so I can’t really gauge it with the other large room panels, but that room was not full. The Queer People of Color Representation panel, a really great panel with an important discussion, was about a quarter full. WHITE FANDOM NEEDS TO BE HEARING THESE CONVERSATIONS. Us not showing up and not putting in literally the minimum amount of work is fucking ridiculous, and shows everyone else where we stand.

There also, again, was a noticeable difference in the length of autograph lines for white actresses verses actors and actresses of color. Jes Macallan’s line was wrapped around the autograph area. Even though this is their third Clexacon, Dominique Provost-Chalkley and Kat Barrell’s lines were long as well. Caity Lotz’s line was also pretty long. On the other hand, Nafessa Williams was sitting at her table with no line for a significant chunk of her autograph time, as was Chantal Thuy and Lesley-Ann Brandt. Just that visual alone makes it abundantly clear who white fandom is willing to give their time and money to. So many of us complain that there’s not enough LGBTQ representation, but then refuse to put in the work when the characters are people of color. Saltygaysianpowerhour on instagram has a great post about this, which I’ll link here. White fandom, if we’re not putting in the work, we cannot complain when we feel there’s not enough LGBTQ representation. We’re part of the problem.

Lastly, I noticed that the Clexacon space was extremely white. When this happened, we as white fandom should have been aware of that and been better allies for attendees of color. That did not happen. I’ve heard so many stories of attendees of color who felt othered or additionally marginalized by both attendees and con staff in a space that should have been just as much theirs as everyone else’s. This convention is not a “safe space” for queer people of color, and some very, very significant changes will have to be made for it to get even close to that.

I Can’t Fucking Believe I Have to Write About TERFs

Just like the fucking subtitle says, I CAN’T BELIEVE I HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT TERFS. The complete and utter failure to make this con a positive and safe space for trans folks is honestly stunning. Literally so many people I know got repeatedly misgendered at Clexacon, and so many people didn’t even care to find out what people’s pronouns were. Volunteers misgendered multiple people, which is a problem staff should have addressed at the very beginning. I heard many people say they encountered TERFs at the con and I don’t think I need to mention this, but like, if TERFs think your con is a safe space then that’s a huge problem. I honestly think there were more cishet men on main stage panels this year than trans folks. That’s a problem. This con should have had some way to signify your pronouns on your badge, whether that be a ribbon, button, or even a fucking sticker for people to fill in. I feel like if you’re running a convention that claims to include all LGBTQ people, then you need to do basic things like that. Otherwise change how you market the convention.

What Is it Good For? (Actually, a Few Things)

Okay, now that I’ve aired all my grievances (or at least the ones I can think of), I do want to talk about the good things this con can bring. This con does offer a space for people to create community. Sure, we can do this online with Tumblr or Twitter, but it’s not the same as seeing a living person in front of you. It’s not the same as talking to someone face to face and being excited about whatever media you love. It’s not the same as getting to hug your favorite people. And with all its faults, Clexacon does create a space for this to happen in real time. I know people who have met some of their closest friends at Clexacon. Hell, I met my current girlfriend at the first Clexacon. But that doesn’t erase that this community is currently toxic, and if we want to keep going we’re going to have to deal with those toxic parts or it’s all going to rot. Unfortunately I’m not going to be attending Clexacon in the future unless the current management is removed and significant changes are made. I’m lucky enough to have other places that create positive LGBTQ community like @tgifemslash. I’m not going to shame anyone for going to Clexacon next year, especially if that’s the only community you have. I just hope that in reading this very long post (and thanks if you’re still with me!) you reflect on what Clexacon is and how it can be better. We’re already marginalized by broader society, we don’t deserve further marginalization from our own “community”.

[sugawaras]

hi! sorry to bother u but do you maybe have some tutorials or tips on coloring manga? your edits always look so nice!! sorry if you’ve answered it before

hello anon!! i initially wanted to respond to this with a direct link to a new tutorial, but then i kept forgetting to actually make one lol, so im v sorry to keep u waiting for so long!! here's my newest tutorial, and also my old one if youre interested!

some general tips:

if you’re new to coloring, don’t worry about establishing a “style,” just have fun experimenting around with brushes and layer modes, and eventually you might find a way to color that you enjoy the most!

 always resize your images before you start coloring if you plan to post on tumblr! tumblr automatically resizes images that are too big/small and it seriously downgrades the quality, so if you want your coloring to not be super blurry then resize it (540 px width for one image, 268px for two images next to each other)

it’s totally ok to find inspiration in other people’s work! there’s so many amazingly talented gfx makers on here, and without them id have a lot less inspiration/motivation to make gfx! 

 if youre looking for good manga panels to color for certain characters, go to the character’s wiki page and then their image gallery! theres usually a lot of panels to choose from there w that character in them

finally: ik it’s a really nice feeling to have a post get a lot of notes, but don’t let notes get in your head! ive gotten tons of notes on gfx that i didnt rlly like, and very few on ones that i worked rlly hard on. the # of notes u get is never a true dictation of the “quality” of your work; what matters is that you’re happy with it and having fun!!