#i mean; what makes sense to me is to structure it as a recap of lexis/vocab. 4 words; let’s recap our spelling and pronunciation

[stelladoesstuff]

Ok

Okok

Hi hello

Loki episode 5 spoilers below because I have THOUGHTS

This is a lot of theorizing and just straight up rambling but who knows maybe you’ll get something out of it

Help me

The fact that one of the recap scenes TWICE this season has been Kang stating that he controlled every moment leading up to the moment is what’s making me think here. Because think about it- O.B. had to write the time manual in order for Victor Timely to create his temporal loom. And while O.B. stated that his work was based off of the work of Victor Timely, creating the whole chicken and the egg scenario, that first tempad prototype was because Loki gave him the TVA manual that HE wrote. He inspired himself. It’s a loop. Just like Loki pruning himself. Loki had to prune himself in order to go back in time just like O.B. had to write the manual in order to create the TVA.

And yes, he doesn’t remember this. But that’s because all of the TVA’s employee memories are said to be wiped when they entered. By Kang. Kang, who was Victor Timely, who had to read the manual written by O.B. to create the loom. But Kang can’t have O.B. remembering that O.B.’s manual was the basis of the entire TVA, so what does he do?

He makes O.B. believe that O.B.’s manual was based off of Victor Timely’s work. O.B.’s work was NEVER inspired by Timely. He just thinks it was, because that’s what he HAD to think in order for the series of events to proceed as they did. For the entire TVA to proceed as it did.

Also- notice how the room O.B. is in on the timeline is VERY SIMILAR structurally to his room in the TVA. Because that’s where it all originated. That was the foundation point. Kang couldn’t wipe all of O.B.’s memories from when he was on the timeline, because if he did, then O.B. wouldn’t retain the knowledge he had of making the tempad, or anything he read in his own book. O.B. had to retain some of that knowledge in order for everything to work.

So Kang specifically wiped specific memories. Memories that Loki had been the one to hand him the book. Skewed a few things- O.B. wrote a book. He remembers writing a book. So Kang took that knowledge and applied it to the handbook. O.B. remembers writing a book, and handbook states that he is the author, so obviously the memories align and his memories are skewed to apply the memories of writing his sci-fi book to writing the TVA handbook.

But then it’s a paradox. Because O.B. had to see the book to retain skewed memories, and so the book had to be written at some point… but when?

And so we’re back to the chicken and the egg. What came first, the TVA or the manual?

Also. We’re jumping topics.

Loki gathering everyone in one place. If you think about it… why did he have to do that? To figure out how to control the time slipping, sure, but… why did Marvel specifically make him run around on a wild goose chase getting everyone together?

Because he had to. Because it’s part of Kang’s plan.

Bring them all together. In order to do that, the tempad had to be made. The tempad which requires O.B. to read the manual. Which in turn leads to the creation of the TVA. Which means the entire group’s memories are wiped, and they are then TVA employees.

It’s a loop. As demonstrated by the beginning scene. Loki walked in, saw himself reading the manual, jumped back, and then was reading the manual and got called out by himself.

Same idea.

Loki went back in time to give the manual to O.B. In doing so, he sparked the entire creation of the TVA. He brought a group of people together who would become the TVA’s employees. And because he did that, every event of seasons 1 and 2 thus far could occur.

So in a sense, Loki created the TVA.

But still

WHAT CAME FIRST THE CHICKEN OR THE FUCKING EGG-

[artsyjesseblue]

Whenever I feel like I’m losing my skills in drawing the human body, I always go back to the basics and start studying again. Especially hands, those seems to always fade faster from my drawing memory. I wanted to share my process of drawing hands, because I’ve heard many of you raising similar issues.

There are many drawing techniques out there and lots of pose reference sites; a very simple technique is to view all body forms as simple 3D geometric figures. Yes, that is a good way to establish the general forms and their proportions in relation to each other. But my recap does NOT start off with this:

Instead, this is my go-to method:

The old, classic anatomy… The hardest to master, but once you understand the skeletal structure and how the muscles and tendons overlay, then the drawing starts to make much more sense. This is the foundation for best art.

Halloween just passed, but some of you might still keep outside those fancy skeletons. Some of them are anatomically quite accurate. If you’re looking for a way to learn to draw, you might discover that it’s been there all along. 😉

Wondering what those red arrows and lines mean in my above drawing? Those are anatomical landmarks. They are my clues to where everything is situated underneath the skin.

Without entering into crazy bone names like scaphoid, lunate, capitate, etc (which I used to know by heart a long time ago - but reciting their names doesn’t really help me with actually drawing them), just know that besides the finger bones (the phalanges) and the metacarpal bones that make up the palm of the hand, there is that cluster of tiny bones right at the base of the hand. These guys basically create the connection between the hand and the bones of the forearm (radius and ulna). Depending on the angle of the hand, they give lots of reference points to an artist, along with the radius and ulna extremities, which form the base of the joint (top two arrows on the drawing).

The anatomical landmarks are the key to mastering human figure drawing.

One important thing to remember is that no finger bone is like the other. If, when you’re drawing a hand, you begin to “count” the fingers like twigs, instead of drawing them as unique elements, that’s a sign that you lost the anatomy of your drawing. Each finger is like a different person. It has a different character. Sure, they’re all related, like siblings in a family. You won’t see a hand with two pianist fingers and three lumberjack fingers. They have common traits, but they are not quite the same. And that’s because the bones underneath the skin are not the same. In the drawing above, I highlighted the way the knuckles and the joints of the fingers align in concentric arcs (which are not necessarily parallel). They don’t align in straight paths. Whenever you draw a hand, keep that in mind.

Below, I added a few pics of my own hand as a drawing reference. Although my hand is not the best at depicting anatomy since I don’t have very evident joints, there are still discreet changes in the contour lines that indicate where there are bones underneath the surface: the ulna, the radius, the metacarpal joints, etc.

Here are some more pics with various angles. Notice, again, the subtle transitions, suggesting the bone structures underneath.

There are as many hand types as people on Earth. Not one is like the other, and that’s determined genetically and by the amount and type of physical activity - because the bones underneath are reshaped by the pull of muscles and tendons. So studying a hand is basically like studying a portrait.

A good way to practice learning how the bones align underneath the skin and muscles is to study x-rays of hands. You can understand the relationship between the outer shape of the hand and the internal structure. Sure, there are muscles and tendons that further refine the shape, but the bone landmarks will always be right where they are supposed to be. Draw, draw some more, practice a lot, repeat. Study the differences in bone length from one hand to another, from one finger to another.

No plastic skeleton model? There are some really cool apps out there; I’ve never used them, in fact I just downloaded one today to play with it and it’s really cool. Search for “anatomy 3D” and you’ll find lots of apps, some of them include body movement.

So here are three steps (I won’t say they’re easy, because anatomy is complex) to get better at drawing hands (and by extension, the whole human figure):

Best is to start with basic images with the palm laying flat, like the x-ray image above. Draw the bones and the outer shape of the hand. Examine the ratio between the length of the fingers and that of the palm, the width of the palm vs the height, etc.

Then transition to more complex models, like the anatomical 3D models I mentioned before, so you can see how the bones look from the lateral view, and so on. Draw from many angles, see how the bone shapes look in perspective.

Last step is to use a real-life model (your own hand is the easiest), and knowing where those anatomical landmarks are, start practicing. Again, simple poses first, more complex afterwards as you get better and better. NB: there are lots of landmarks on a hand. I pointed out the less obvious ones. There are also the knuckles, the finger joints, and I have not discussed at all about the palmar side landmarks (the inside, or the palm of hand) but you can find them in the apps I talked about. As a rule of thumb (pun unintended), there are landmarks wherever there are joints between two bones, or where the bone has a protuberance. Some are discreet, others are more evident. Palpate your own joints to better understand what is underneath the skin.

I hope this helps others too! Whenever I���m stuck, I return to this routine, and it helps my rusty drawing get back on track. I focus on whatever body part I need to re-learn, and then zoom out to the whole human figure. Knowing these landmarks will make your drawing look natural, the shapes will flow coherently.

[booksandchainmail]

Pale Arc 10

So I gather that Pale has finished. In a way, this takes some timing pressure off of me: while I have not been liveblogging at a particularly speedy rate, I've been aware that more Pale kept being added faster than I was catching up. Now any time I read a chapter I'm actually catching up, as opposed to losing ground! I would love to say that I'll be picking up the pace from here on, but I said that last time and it was blatantly false, and also I think work will be busy for the next few weeks.

I've also been going back and archiving my liveblogs locally, just in case, which has reminded me how different my format was for the first arcs: I switched from end of chapter recaps to live reactions in early arc 4. No wonder I was going through chapters so quickly back then!

And I have a favor to ask if anyone wouldn't mind: I know there are stats floating around about Pale's length, but I'm worried about running into spoilers. Could someone let me know a) how many arcs there are b) what the total word count is and c) what the word count is as of where I am?

Housekeeping aside, thoughts on the arc:

Interesting structure, reminds me a bit of Worm's Sentinel arc

Really effective at building my knowledge of and engagement in the various new Kennet Others

Lots of reveals: Toadswallow's interlude blew my mind from a worldbuilding perspective, and Edith's unwrapped another layer of the mystery

Snowdrop and Avery! No thoughts, just feelings.

So now we know that Edith was for sure involved in the murder (which at this point was obvious, and has been pretty clear since the beginning). But then there's the immediate twist that she's not running it, or even seemingly part of the main group of this scheme. I do like this structure, where there's an obvious suspect from the beginning, it turns out to have been her, and it feels like a bit of a letdown, only for there to be another twist. I think a lot of mystery novels/tv shows do this probably? But on the scale of a single book/episode, not something as sprawling as Pale.

Actually, going back to those early arcs where I was doing a lot of theorizing, one of my guesses on how someone could arrange the Carmine Beast's death without having to reveal or lie about it was "There is an obvious killer, but they’re a fall guy acting on someone else’s behalf". Which it looks like it is! Edith is suspicious from the beginning, has no way around hiding her involvement while being honest and open, and the plan was probably for her to get caught from the start (I mean, maybe the real mastermind(s) didn't think the girls would get this far, but it does feel like Edith was expendable).

But now we're back to trying to figure out members of this conspiracy, knowing that Maricica is involved. There are three basic options for conspirators: 1) original Kennet Others 2) new Kennet Others (hid their involvement from the start and used recruitment to come in) and 3) people outside of Kennet.

I can't think of anyone outside of Kennet we've met who makes sense for that, so that idea might come down to "new character", which seems unsatisfying, so I'm going to skip theorizing about it.

Characters I don't think are involved: Tashlit, John, Alpeana, Toadswallow, Nibble and Chloe, Crooked Rook, Miss, Guilherme. We've seen inside almost all their heads, Edith and Maricica seem opposed to them in private conversation. Putting a caveat on Guilherme because Faerie.

Matthew could go either way, he's been involved with Edith's hostility but clearly doesn't know everything.

Charles is suspicious to me based on vibes and ability to lie, Bluntmunch seems to not be trusted by Toadswallow, Cig is working with Edith but it seems like a recent arrangement, Montague is very convenient to the conspirators but seems friendly, no idea about Lis, Ken, Jabber, or the new goblins.

[djservo]

january lasted 100 days and nights and now february has practically flown by BUT i returned to hallowed ground (tumblr) to get your reading recap! did you make room for any romance reads what happened i’m all ears

surprisingly not really any romance specific reads though I think love was sort of the implicit/explicit thread stringing these all together so in a way it was still kinda fitting!! I did watch Touch of Pink (2004) on Valentine's Day which was a silly + sweet (if not slightly troubling) time!!

Since I Laid My Burden Down by Brontez Purnell

if I disembody my adoration for Brontez as a person and try to see this as just any other work of fiction, I could see the kinda jumpy/non-linear structure and casualty not working for me, but because it's Brontez and because I've adore him for years, it's impossible for me not to read this in his voice and demeanor specifically + thus get such a kick out of this!! in fact I'd say the casualty and rough edges are such a big component to its charm + narrative voice. reflective in such a real + funny way without pretension, and I think really indicative of his roots in zines and peak early internet blogging era (at least from my first introduction to him)

Punks by John Keene

poetry! really great when it was good but kinda cliche when it was weak which was disappointing. I'm not a big fan of repetition poetry (? not sure if there's a specific term for it) and there was just one too many in this collection for me to take seriously. could've cut down on a few poems which I feel like I've never thought about any poetry collection before so maybe that's actually a testament to Keene's generosity on not skimping on page count lolol. still I appreciate the good parts for what they are - love letters and testaments to simply existing as a gay man during a time of so much death and strife, proof of life as impossible as it seems to confront sometimes

I Love Myself When I Am Laughing... And Then Again When I Am Looking Mean And Impressive: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader edited by Alice Walker

admittedly added to my tbr way back mostly bc of the name alone (which may just be the greatest book title ever) and somehow didn't realize this was a reader/anthology? I knew it included her famous 'What White Publishers Won't Print' essay so I just assumed it was just a collection of essays ANYWAY. I wondered if I would've appreciated this more had I already read the entirety of the works featured (aside from Their Eyes Were Watching God, the only one I've read) or if this was actually an ideal way to get a better sense of Hurston's variety of writing. I'm leaning towards the latter since I really enjoyed just about every piece and genre - folklore and memoir and fiction - and getting to witness the similarities in how she writes each form and also the background context of her life/controversies added so much to the experience. simply love a woman with capital "A" Audacity and it's so clear from the intro alone (amazingly done by Mary Helen Washington) that there was no end to it!! inspiring!!! I also adored the afterword of Alice Walker's journey in trying to weave together Hurston's legacy with varying accounts + recollections of her life while trying to find Hurston's unmarked grave, which honestly could've been its own book bc it was that engrossing. loved this

Sula by Toni Morrison

buddy read this with one of my best gal friends which I think is the best way to read this ugh so damn good I barely have the words. The Bluest Eye floored me and set such a high expectation that Sula somehow surpassed and now I'm finishing up Song of Solomon which has been soooo ??#$?!!? IDK how Toni does it each time, not even just consistently amazing but somehow sharper than before. and with a vengeance!! I love stories about how friendships shift overtime with differing life outlooks n values to the point where you're wondering how you were even friends in the first place, and to create such a rich and complex net of characters and histories in less than 200 pages? just unbelievable. highly highly recommend this one

[butterflydm]

wot on prime rewatch: 1x5 - blood calls blood

spoilers through the end of season one of the wheel of time. I will do a reblog of this soon after I post it, with additional book-related spoilers. 

1. We open on the funeral for the fallen and I just love the bookends that this episode gives us. Lan is the one who bury the fallen king (appropriate!) and Stepin is the one to bury Kerene. Stepin also takes Kerene’s ring with him (to take back to the White Tower. In this burial, they go straight into the ground, with a shroud covering them. And Lan also puts a hand on Stepin’s shoulder to comfort him. Lan and Moiraine share a wordless moment after Kerene has been laid to rest. The way the burial site is structured as a wheel really plays into the theme of the Wheel and reincarnation. I love how often we get nods to the importance of the Wheel of Time in all of the customs of the westlands. It really does make the world feel so grounded in the metaphysics of how their world works.

2. And now we get our “one month later” time skip. This is the real place where I mourn Rafe not getting ten episodes (*shakes fist at amazon*), because I feel very sure that we would have had at least one episode set here during what is currently a big time skip of everyone traveling towards Tar Valon. But, to recap how their journeys are going: Nynaeve, Moiraine, & Lan - solemn but uneventful, with pretty much everything put on hold until the White Tower; Perrin & Egwene - chill and uneventful, company and dances and plenty of hot food; Rand and Mat - hellish trauma-bonding nightmare where Mat is constantly getting worse and worse and they don’t dare get to close to anyone lest that person get murdered by the Fade that is chasing them. Everyone else kinda gets to take a break during the travel to Tar Valon, but Mat and Rand are going through an extremely traumatic month together. Extreme prolonged trauma can literally rewire the way your brain works; just something to keep in mind for the future!

3. Now that he isn’t a channeler anymore, Logain isn’t being transported in a cage, only on a horse with a noose around around his neck. He is chained up, but it’s clear that he’s not being taken seriously as a danger anymore. And he looks so empty and blank here.

4. Lan and Moiraine have a brief conversation on the meaning of home -- Moiraine says that she views her life traveling with him as her companion as her home, not Tar Valon. We also get a brief update on Nynaeve’s status: eating every night at the Warders’ fire but not having any deep conversations with anyone. And probably avoiding the Aes Sedai as much as possible, lol. We also,know, from what Nynaeve said in episode 8, that she stops being able to ‘hear the wind’ after her burst of power at the end of episode 4, so she’s probably also struggling with that right now. She’s basically lost her ‘sixth sense’. But Lan can tell that Nynaeve is worrying over Stepin and his reaction to losing Kerene.

5. Something of interest to me is... the emptiness of losing an Aes Sedai kinda feels like it parallels the emptiness of an Aes Sedai losing their connection to the One Power? I guess it feels like Stepin and Logain have similar vibes right now -- they’ve both essentially lost their will to live, because of much of that will was tethered to this greater purpose that they’d had.

6. Next we check in on Rand and Mat. And, boy, Mat looks ROUGH. He also snaps at a child who accidentally runs into him, which of course worries Rand because Mat is so good with kids and very gentle with them, so this is majorly out of character. Rand worries over Mat and Mat tries to brush him off. It’s confirmed that they’ve spent “a month without a warm bed” during the time skip - they’ve just been on the run the whole time. They also lost their horses at some point  -- possibly traded so that they would have money for food and for the cloaks that they’re wearing over the clothes they had before, because I don’t think we saw those before.

7. When Rand sees Dragonmount, he feels struck by it, as if he’s seen it before. Another gorgeous landscape shot that shows us Tar Valon and Dragonmount behind it. Then they enter Tar Valon itself. I love this shot too. We can see the mountain in the distance again and the city itself has so many different people going on (camels! parrots!). Rand tries some of the sample street food, but Mat says he’s not hungry. Instead of going to the White Tower directly, Rand leads them to an inn that Thom told him about. We know from what Rand tells Nynaeve later that this is mostly due to worrying about what the idea of going to the White Tower might mean with Mat displaying so many symptoms of potentially being able to channel.

8. I do think we’re getting a big heap of “Rand in denial” during this episode. Mat is so visibly sick and so visibly not himself that it’s probably easy for Rand to believe that all this must mean that Mat is the Dragon, and that any oddities about Rand’s own past are just that - oddities that he can dismiss as important. Deep in the back of Rand’s mind, he’s worried that it has to be him, but Mat is just so CLEARLY unwell.

9. Oh! Fainspotting! I actually did notice the whistling first, and then you only see him from the back, but he’s watching as Rand and Mat make their way through the streets of Tar Valon. Given that Fain DOES use the dagger at the end of the season, I’m thinking that he did go through Shadar Logoth during his search for the kiddos? I must once again be a touch sad that we were lost the episode 8 Mat-Fain standoff that was likely written in the original, pre-covid version of the episode. I love the 7th & 8th episodes, but I definitely agree that they likely would have been even more epic if they hadn’t needed to do emergency re-writes for everything that they lost due to the covid delay (as a reminder, they lost: a whole entire main character actor (Mat); an important secondary character actor (Ingtar); an entire set location (the Blight); and their entire Trolloc stunt-team (which meant they needed to be CG instead of practical). It’s astonishing that episodes 7 & 8 are as good as they are, given how much they needed to scramble and replace. The fact that Rafe was able to do so well in such incredibly adverse circumstances made me MORE inclined to trust his hand on the tiller, not less. That is some tough showrunning to wrangle! Anyway, back to Fain -- guessing that he was called in by the Fade that Dana called? Rand and Mat’s group is really the only ones who are isolated enough that they can be spied on this way tbh.

10. They get a room for the night (which Rand notes is more expensive than a whole month would have been at the Winespring Inn back home), and Mat immediately lies down on one of the two beds, with Rand’s worry just radiating off him. Mat asks for reassurance from Rand, to tell him that he didn’t kill the family/the little girl back on the farm, and Rand reassures him that he didn’t. Mat is so full of self-loathing here and Rand is So Soft (amazingly enough, this still wasn’t what made me ship them, though I am completely heart-eyes over it now) when he tries to comfort Mat and tell him that he didn’t kill that family. It’s clear that Rand has needed to reassure Mat on this point many times over the course of their month together.

11. Moiraine and Lan escort Nynaeve into the White Tower. She’s going to be staying in the Warders quarters. I am, again, loving this thing that S1 has set up where Nynaeve clearly feels a much strong bond (lol) to the Warders than to the Aes Sedai. Love it. Moiraine tells her that this is the safest place for her to hide from all the other Sisters, and Nynaeve breaks in to tell her that she doesn’t care at all about Aes Sedai politics - she cares about the missing kiddos. Moiraine says that she has eyes-and-ears in the city itself, so she’ll know when/if the kiddos arrive. Nynaeve, though, doesn’t trust that Moiraine will actually tell her and, tbh, she probably would not have. Moiraine warns Nynaeve to be careful around the Aes Sedai in the Tower, and that the Aes Sedai will want her to be a novice.

12. Moiraine tries to bond with Nynaeve here and Nynaeve is Not Ready for this bonding experience. It really is kinda funny here how obvious it feels that Moiraine definitely has become fond of Nynaeve and that Nynaeve really doesn’t see it at all. 

13. Perrin and Egwene as they travel on with the Tuatha’an. Perrin is still trying to poke holes in their life philosophy. Perrin says they’re being hypocrites by preaching non-violence but letting their dogs eat meat; Aram says that they don’t deny that violence exists - they accept it. Egwene is so bubbly and happy here. Even though some things were adjusted so that Egwene HAD to go rather than choosing to go, we do see here her delight in engaging with another culture and getting to go on an adventure. It’s pretty clear that Egwene has had a relaxing and enjoyable month. We also get a fun wolf joke here “One more turnip curry and I’ll be joining the dogs”.

14. They are in sight of the White Tower and Egwene reaffirms to Perrin that she’s sure their friends will be waiting for them (and she’s being very cute here, jumping on Perrin and then holding his arm). But! They are now about to face their own trauma after getting to have a relaxing month: Whitecloaks are blocking them. But not just any Whitecloaks, but the ones that they met back during episode 2 - including Valda, who promised that he would remember all their faces.

15. Valda spots them from a distance and orders them to be brought to him. The Tuatha’an stand in the Whitecloaks way to give Perrin and Egwene a chance to get out of there. The Whitecloaks get violent with the Tuatha’an but Aram reassures Egwene that they won’t KILL them, only hurt them. Unfortunately, despite the Tuatha’an best efforts, the Whitecloaks do capture Egwene and Perrin.

16. Just an easter egg at this point, but Rand is looking at the Prophecies of the Dragon right before he meets Loial. We see that Rand is on a hair-trigger as well, not just Mat. There’s also an interesting canon change here where Ogier are unknown by the general people of Tar Valon. Poor Rand is just deeply confused by Loial and a bit put-off by Loial’s insistence that he’s Aiel. I’m also fine with how they made Loial look -- it’s much more cost-effective to have practical make-up than CG for his ears, etc, so it will hopefully mean we get more scenes with him in S2 & the future. Loial has already decided that he likes Rand, because Rand is an oddity.

17. We got a bit of nostalgia from Egwene in the last episode, and now another bit of it from Rand here. But then he spots Mat outside the window and dashes out to keep an eye on him. Mat climbs up to sit in a window to watch the official procession of Logain being brought back to the Tower (now back in a cage). They are basically pretending to the city that he can still channel and that they’re doing things The Proper Way. People are jeering at him and throwing vegetables. Mat is watching with quite a lot of melancholy.

18. I really love this scene between Rand and Mat so much. The Promise (TM). The worry that Rand has towards Mat, and the muted worry that he has about himself as well. You can feel Rand’s affection towards Mat so strongly here. But the focus here is on Rand’s worry for Mat, and not on himself. Given what we see in the PoV, I do think that Logain does ‘actually’ laugh here, but he doesn’t press his face against the bars. But, yes, this moment between Mat and Rand is... just so good. Mat desperately not wanting to end up like Logain and Rand trying to reassure him about it. And Rand’s hair is so fluffy and curly here. And, also, the contrast between the way Mat reacts to literally anyone else vs how he reacts to Rand.

19. More of the show fleshing out the Warders! I love it! We do get confirmation here that white is the funeral color in at least some of the countries in the westlands (possibly all?). I like getting to hear Stepin’s backstory, because it tells us more about what sort of people end up becoming Warders. Kerene became friends with Stepin before she asked him to become her Warder, which I really like. The show seeds in a LOT of useful information here, too -- that bonding another Warder could help Stepin with his feelings of loss, but that he doesn’t want that. I also love the Warder Hall in general.

20. And this entire thing where the rings for the new Aes Sedai are made out of the rings of Aes Sedai who have died? Galaxy-brained idea. Fits so perfectly into the reincarnation cycle.

21. Then we have that gorgeous wordless scene afterwards where Lan goes to Moiraine in her room and they silently comfort and grieve with each other and think about the task ahead of them. Beautiful, beautiful scene.

22. The scenes with the Whitecloaks are well-done but I’m not sure I can talk much about them. Valda is awful, the Questioners are awful. But this storyline leads both of them to embracing their respective powers (Egwene channels and Perrin communicates with the wolves to get them to help). Egwene and Perrin are great in these scenes but they are tough to watch.

23. We can hear the wolves howling in the distance as Valda tortures Perrin. He also tries to set them against each other, by basically saying “well, one of you is going to die no matter what, so let’s see who cracks first by giving me what I want”.

24. Stepin goes to Nynaeve for more of her herbs that help with sleeping, and we get to see more of how difficult it is for Warders to deal with not having their Aes Sedai. Nynaeve has a very good bedside manner with her patients which is... not always the case in the books, lol. But it works well here. And then she goes wandering in the Warder Hall and who should pop up but Liandrin, ready for another try at trying to bond with Nynaeve.

25. Nynaeve pokes at Red Sisters not having Warders, and we get to hear some of Liandrin’s justifications for her path in life. Again, I really like this. Liandrin was not a terribly fleshed-out character in the books and she feels so vivid and real in the show.

26. Nynaeve goes to the White Tower gardens, runs into Loial, who recognizes her as “a woman from the Two Rivers” and brings her to Rand (assuming she was the woman that Rand was talking about in the library aka Egwene; “I found the woman you spoke of”). It is definitely a convenient plot beat but this city currently has three ta’veren in it. There should be convenient plot beats (I’d love the show to talk more about ta’veren next season; they only briefly mention it in S1).

27. Nynaeve’s reunion with Rand and Mat here is so wonderful! Her tight hug with Rand <3. I love the super-sweet moment of surprised joy that we can see on Mat’s face when he realizes that Nynaeve is alive and here. I’m really glad we get that moment before we get the reaction of him snapping at her, so we can see the contrast. Outside the room, Rand tells Nynaeve about his worries -- he’s worried that Mat can channel, he’s not sure he can trust Moiraine, he’s worried that Mat will end up like Logain. And Nynaeve does a wonderful job trying to reassure him here, both about Mat and then about Egwene.

28. In an effort to try to convince Egwene to simply let him get killed by Valda so that she can be let go, he confesses to her about accidentally killing his wife in the heat of the battle. But, yeah, this is so much more emotional and more effective than “I killed two Whitecloaks in self-defense”. And, in the end, Egwene is able to trick Valda, while Perrin (accidentally) calls wolves, and they are able to escape. Sadly, Egwene does not kill Valda but she does stab him in the shoulder. (I am okay with Valda getting freaked-out by Perrin’s color-changing eyes; that is outside his experience in a way that Aes Sedai are not). And then the wolves cover their escape.

29. Liandrin lets us know that Moiraine has been gone from the Tower for the past two years. Liandrin continues to have Weird Vibes with people. Here is the first place that I think the show confirms that Yellow Ajah does healing. Liandrin is wrong that Nynaeve has any inclination towards Red Ajah, but Nyaneve DOES want everyone to follow her rules, lol.

30. Another big lore drop here -- Stepin is doing offerings “to ward off the Forsaken”. Stepin namedrops “Ishamael; Father of Lies”, which the show already mentioned in episode 3 -- Dana notes that Ishamael “brought the Dragon before the Dark One” in the last Age and is still famous now. We’re told that they were sealed away by the last Dragon but that they had sold their souls to the Dark One for eternal llife.

31. Now we have a conversation between Alanna and Moiraine about Warders. Alanna has offered to take Stepin on as a Warder, but she’s not certain if she’ll accept. When Moiraine wonders about the possibility of the bond being released, Alanna tries to reassure her that she doesn’t have to worry about dying anytime soon. Moiraine sidesteps the conversation to ask why Alanna is visiting her now. We get the news that the Amrylin has returned from Caemlyn (!) and is going to be summoning their group to answer for gentling Logain without a trial.

32. We get another reminder of Moiraine’s relative strength in the Power and also how ~mysterious~ her goals are to everyone around her. I do really love this relationship between Moiraine and Alanna in the show. They’re friends, but Alanna isn’t within her secret heart. I love that Moiraine goes and looks at the picture after this, too. But I’ll talk more about the picture next time. <3

33. Stepin and Lan talk, and we get another nod at being queer being considered more accepted here, as Stepin casually talks about the idea of being with Ivron and Maksim ‘when’ he bonds with Alanna (though this is a bit of a ruse on Stepin’s behalf, of course). But this is a nice quiet conversation, where Stepin tries to encourage Lan to explore his feelings for Nynaeve if he gets the chance (but then becomes bittersweet as we realize that Stepin drugged him because he’s about to go kill himself). Heartbreaking.

34. And then we get a Warder funeral to mirror the funeral at the start of the episode. This bookending of the episode with two funerals worked really well for me and it still does. It really, again, does a good job to ground the Warder culture by showing us that they have their own traditions, separate from the Aes Sedai (though there are Sisters present, presumably to support their Warders). The giving of a role of an official mourner who expresses the emotion for the rest of the group works effectively here as well, for me.

35. Ultimately, I really loved this episode expanding on Warders and Warder culture so much, and I feel like it will pay dividends in the future as well. We also get some strong trauma-bonding with both the Mat&Rand and Perrin&Egwene pairs. I really wonder how that argument in episode 7 would have shaken out with Mat present too.

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: February 2023

Okay I didn’t watch any movies this month BUT I’m very excited for the D&D movie and I watched plenty of youtube.

……….TELEVISION……….

Arcane (Episode 1.01 to 1.09) It took a few episodes for me to get invested (and a few mid-season eps that felt like a CW series...only young beautiful people allowed) but by the end I was into it. I know nothing about League of Legends and to the show’s credit, I couldn’t tell when there was fanservice. I’ll check out season 2 if it happens.

The Great (Episode 2.01 to 2.08) Loved the first season and currently love the second. Still a few eps left but it’s kept me guessing the entire time. Stellar characters, very funny, and the world continues to walk the edge between whimsical and dangerous.

Spy x Family (Episode 1.01 to 1.07) Super fun premise and very funny. I’ve only just started but I hope we get to see more of Yor’s world. It seems to be spy-centric and psychic-centric (which, based on the name and current plot, makes sense) but I hope it can start weaving in more of her role in the future.

Cunk on Earth (Episode 1.01 to 1.02) Sure I’ve only seen two episodes but both were very funny. Something about her timing and delivery just works every time for me.

……….YOUTUBE……….

Chronically underwhelmed? This might be why... by Daily Mindtrap A concise reflection on why we’re not having as much fun as when we were kids. Touches on a lot of thoughtful points though my hatred of subscriptions does make me a little biased. VIDEO

The Decline of Tim Burton by Broey Deschanel One thing that scares me as an artist is that I’ll get stuck in a spot and start copying and reiterating on my own work to the point that it becomes caricature. Just a random thought and totally unrelated to this video. VIDEO

How To Analyze Movies – Film Studies 101 and What Do The LOONEY TUNES Mean In 2023? by Patrick Willems Both really great in their own way. Film studies 101 is fairly universal as a lot of the topics apply to all art. And the Looney Tunes share a room in my mind palace with the Muppets: concepts I love but haven’t connected with anything of theirs in the last 15 years. VIDEO (Film 101) VIDEO (Muppets) 

……….READING……….

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Death Pedlar by Jimmy Sangster (Complete) The cover was so good and the write-up pitched it as a comedy that I took a gamble on a thrift store find. Swing and a miss. Comedy is difficult in your own time let alone 50 years after being published. Are the offensive bits a sendup of the time, or have they just aged poorly? Comedy that requires context doesn’t land for me so this whole thing fell flat. Anyway all this is to say I’m a sucker for a good book cover.

Confronting Capitalism by Vivek Chiboer (Complete) An easily digestible primer on Capitalism and it’s...faults. It really gave a lot of insight into the structural problems with politics in a capitalistic system and for that alone, I recommend. I wish the last chapter (talking about how a society moves past capitalism) was a little more robust, but hopefully I can find some other books to fill in those gaps.

Batgirl/Robin Year One by Scott Beatty, Chuck Dixon, Marcos, Martin, and Javier Pulido (Complete) Great introductions to both characters and the perfect balance of fun and dangerous. It feels like there are real stakes while not getting too dark. I’d love if a Batman movie could strive for this sorta tone, you know?

……….AUDIO……….

Paranoid by Black Sabbath (1970) One thing I appreciate about getting into Girl Talk years ago was it introduced me to bits of really great albums. And I somehow missed that Ozzy Osbourne was the lead singer. Anyway filling in a lot of blind spots here and War Pigs holds up so well. The whole album really. 

……….GAMING……….

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The group is unearthing some underground tunnels and playing the political game as well. If you want to read more of the recaps, they’re over here!

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Mof1 group is busy making plans and saving Pirates. They recently acquired some protective suits so they’re now exploring the iron mines and its fluctuating temperatures!

And that’s it. See you in March!

[yurisorcerer]

So, I've been sick the past couple days. This led to me watching the Code Geass compilation movies. I don't know, the brain works in mysterious ways.

God, Code Geass.

This was another one of those anime things that was just omnipresent for a while in the late '00s. I think it's held up a lot better than its one-time sort-of-rival Death Note, but that's a very low bar to clear (I do not like Death Note at all). Code Geass, or at least the refracted form of it presented here in these recap movies (and going off of my own memories of the original show), is a series I like but don't really....respect. I don't personally get that feeling super often, usually it's the other way around.

It's hard to pin exactly why that is. It's not the campiness---I love that stuff---and it's not the characters, most of whom I genuinely really like. I think it's down to the narrative and what comes out of that narrative. Code Geass' themes and *especially* its political ideas are very....haphazard? They're definitely there; the idea that power corrupts, the question of what it means to deceive, political ideas about war, genocide, colonialism, and so on, but they feel surprisingly incoherent for a show whose central premise builds off the fact that it's taking place in an occupied country. There's a very strong FEELING of there being a big struggle between ideas, but I think that feeling is mostly illusory. The show's characters end up being defined more by their personal connections. Even the proposed duality of Lelouch as the pragmatist and Suzaku as the idealist seems to exist mostly to be taken apart over the course of the story.

On the other hand, maybe that's a good thing? Maybe---intentionally or not---that's what we should be taking out of this, that big ideals tend to falter in the face of the much more immediate pull of the people we love and hate? I don't know, that feels like giving the series a pass in a way I'm not sure I'm totally onboard with.

I'm spending a lot of time criticizing it here, but I do actually like this series. I think for its faults it works really well on a moment to moment level and it hits just an absolute ton of my personal buttons; big mecha fights, rapidfire mind games, and a generally theatrical sense of characterization.

The movies also change a few things from the original series. Mostly these are for the better; Shirley survives the entirety of the recap films, for example, and the entirety of Mao's character and plotline are---thank fuck---ommitted. Some of them I don't really get; Nina is less driven by being a Crazy Lesbian TM which is a good thing for sure, but also the motivation that makes up for that (mostly just being a hysterical racist) clunks off the narrative in a really uncomfortable way, since the series doesn't really address it. Ech.

Also the pacing of the three films both individually and in aggregate is absolutely horrible, like, people complain about pacing in stuff *all the time* but this is some of the worst I've seen in a modern anime production. An advantage the original series had was that, for all its weird detours about, say, Kallen's mom being a fantasy-drug addict or whatever, you got to spend more actual *time* with the characters, so they felt a bit more fully realized. This is definitely a case where the recap films do expect you to be familiar with the original despite making some of those changes. Which is itself fair enough in of itself I suppose, they are called RECAP films after all, but it did make me cognizant of the fact that like, it mostly sort of smears over the reasons people got super attached to characters like (again) Kallen, or Jeremiah. They both get plenty of screentime in these movies and they're absolutely great in what time they do get (and this is the case for a number of other characters as well), but the sheer difference in how these things are structured vis a vis the original show does reveal a few shortcomings of the format. IDK, I feel like I'm writing in circles at this point and again am coming off as more critical than I want to be.

Let me talk about something I think really shines in the movies. You know who's great in these films? This fuckin guy.

Lelouch is, to me, a hysterical fucking character. Bundle of contradictions, impossibly cool loser, gay as hell but always ends up with a woman because Reasons. When I was a youngish teen and watched Code Geass for the first time I had zero idea who Char Aznable was, but, like, this is pretty uncontroversial, right? Lelouch Lamperouge is the millennial Char. He is our forefathers' accomplishments handed down to us as farce. I absolutely hate him, and I hate that I still think he's as super fucking cool as I did when I first watched this story at age 14. My favorite scene in all three movies combined was when he got stabbed in the heart and died, and many of the other scenes I really liked involved him doing something extra. I'm going to bet his death doesn't stick, given that the sequel film to this trilogy (which is an original story!) is called Lelouch of the Re;surrection. What is that semicolon doing there. I'm the last person on earth who should be talking about semicolon placement but come on.

Some other thoughts:

When I was in high school I got into an argument with a friend over whether Kallen's knightmare frame (god, the mecha are fucking called knightmare frames), the Guren, was the coolest giant robot of all time. I don't stand by that assertion itself, but I do think its big hand weapon the Wave Surger is one of the sickest fucking things in this or any mecha series

For being in large part about how colonialism sucks, this series sure isn't in a hurry to visit any part of the world that's actually affected strongly by it IRL, huh? I get that there are Watsonian reasons for this but c'mon.

Kallen and Lelouch's romance in this is even less convincing than it was in the original series which is honestly impressive

Opposite of the above, I find Lelouch / C.C. a little more believable this go-around. Not sure how much of that is it being meaningfully different here vs. me just changing as a person as I've gotten older vs. who knows what else

the entirety of the World of C stuff is still so fucking bizarre to me. it's been years and I still cannot figure out for the life of me why that was how they chose to resolve that whole thing. It feels deliberate, though, because it's not really altered in any major way here and Gorou Taniguchi did something similar in Back Arrow (it kind of fit better there because that show is just weird as hell to begin with, but still, the similarities are striking).

the battles in this are really grandiose and cool and carried the movies for me when the plot did not

I love Kallen so much you guys, you don't even understand

the above bullet point again but about C.C. this time

I miss the gratuitous Pizza Hut advertisements so much. I don't know why. The fact that I do feels like a sign that something is deeply wrong with me.

They cut The Table Scene. Because of Woke, I assume.

god this got long for me just basically being like "I like this but it has a lot of problems." Whatever, no one reads these LOL

[ghenry]

2023 YouTube channel recap!

It is now the end of the year, so now I'm looking back at the videos I managed to release in 2023! There weren't too many, but they were all challenging in unique ways. So let's take a look!

Hi-Fi Rush | As Basic As Things Can Get

So, this video is pretty polarizing. And I knew it would be! Hi-Fi Rush received endless praise when it was released in January 2023. Being fairly dabbled in both action platformers and hack-n-slash games, I had to see how it was for myself. And the water of mediocrity splashing at my face was cold enough to convince me I needed to vent about it in video form. I took this video as a lesson on exercising absolute honesty. I feel like I have been holding myself back with a lot of video projects because I was afraid of coming off too strong. But this time I didn't care. I let out my most raw, uncouth feelings about this game because I want to be more comfortable with my voice and assertiveness. In that sense, I think I succeeded. The split ratio would say otherwise, though.

The point of the video: Hi-Fi Rush took advantage of having this specific art style that not a lot of high-end companies really tackle, and that carried it throughout waves of praise, despite having middling game design and lack of confidence in what it actually succeeds in. It underplays its own strength--the hack-n-slash combat-- and pads the game out to a high degree suing boxy platforming with only character dialogue attempting to make it drag less. Games like Devil May Cry and Bayonetta have similar structures where it showcases awkward platforming that isn't very fun to perform, but they both go elbow-deep with their pure combat (which takes up the majority of their campaigns) because the developers were confident in the hack-n-slash gameplay. Tango did not have that confidence, which is why the majority of the gameplay is boxy platforming that lacked any sense of urgency or challenge.

Also, the writing sucks complete ass and Chai is a terrible example of writing an unlikable protagonist. Nothing will ever convince me otherwise. I'm so sick of everyone trying to make their own Spider-Man.

I don't regret this video, even a little bit. I don't care how many people unsubscribed, if they're not here to take in my thoughts and feelings, what are they here for? Because that's all I'm doing and will continue to do with my channel.

Crime is Crime | The Silver Case Analysis

This was something I've wanted to do for years, but prioritized Travis Strikes Again as well as No More Heroes 3. Even so, The Silver Case was a daunting project. I'm not a professional writer, I never took any elective courses for it throughout my school career. I don't consider myself even remotely smart, never-mind 'an intellectual.' I'm not even that familiar with philosophy and such, so part of me was thinking "Do I even have the capacity to analyze this game?" literally every single second I was writing, capturing, and editing the video.

Regardless, in the end, I think I got a good grasp of the story and was able to dissect a lot of it in a satisfying manner.

The point of the video: Crime will always exist, but what's more interesting is the source of it. The motivation of an individual, a society, or even a corporation. The game also showcases a lot of elements and even narrative quirks that would be prevalent in Suda51's future directing gigs. I think he and his crew have some fine critiques on things like capitalism, police justice, and what it means to be a part of a controlled society. It doesn't give any answers in how you can change the worst parts of a society, but it isn't really meant to in any real way, it just isn't that simple.

Analyzing Henry Cooldown | The Devil In the Details

What started out as a little defense piece for Henry in No More Heroes 3 ended up much longer and more in-depth than I initially planned. While looking over his dialogue, appearance, and overall design, I realized there is so much more to this living plot-twist.

The point of the video: I think Henry represents the devil for Travis Touchdown. And this further accentuates what I've pontificated in my full analysis of NMH3, that Travis is stuck in this eternal form of hell. While Suda has never explained --and probably never will-- what he was trying to say with games like NMH, I like to think having Travis be cursed with eternal battle, eternal recognition, and eternal brand potency (like many video game icons) was something he was considering, at least by the time he was making NMH3.

And, sure, I've analyzed and described Henry to mean different things, but so what? He can be more than one thing. Nothing is certain, a lot of this will remain open for interpretation. That's art.

Grasshopper's Translator | James Mountain Interview

Earlier this year I got to have a nice, long chat with James Mountain, the main translator/interpreter of Grasshopper Manufacture! I wanted his input since he was the sole individual given the task to translate the entirety of The Silver Case from beginning to end. I ended up learning a lot about him as well as the process of such a dense job that is interpreting a visual novel completely by yourself. I also thought it'd make a good exercise if I ever want to release videos like this again. I had fun learning how to make audio visualizers as well as including visual context during our conversations.

The point of the video: There was a lot of debate (and bickering) in regards to the English interpretation of the game, and I figured who better to clarify their process of the whole thing than the interpreter himself? I had a lot of fun conducting this interview, and there were a lot of bits I didn't use for my analysis video, so I figured it would make a nice bonus for everyone!

That's everything from this year! I'm really proud of how all of these videos came out, and I'm itching to keep going, expressing myself to my best ability! But I think a little break is in order. Thank you so much if you have read up to here! Have a great rest of your holiday, and I'll catch you in 2024!

[kinetic-elaboration]

April 2: The Expanse 1x08

I don’t think this was my favorite episode of the show, although I will give it credit for getting interesting toward the end and finishing on a high note. The whole first half was just wandering around the ship, though, which I’m sure was supposed to be mysterious and suspenseful and a little horrific, and I did want it to be, but which struggled to hold my attention. I kept zoning out because I couldn’t really see anything and didn’t know what I was looking at. Also, I feel like this show could really benefit from a ‘last time on’ style recap. The art of the recap has definitely been lost in the age of streaming but like not everyone binges everything all the time. And even if I were binging this, there are details from episodes 1 and 2 that are now coming up again in episode 8 and like… how am I supposed to keep track of all of that?

Anyway. I’m really starting to enjoy the energy Alex brings to the crew. He has the vibe of the tech guy in the heist: he’s not breaking into the bank but he’s out in the inconspicuous van with his super computer and his headset, mic’d into everyone’s ear, saying things like ‘there you go beautiful’ to a lock he’s picking remotely through the use of binary code. And I’m into it. That’s not really the role I thought he was going to have but here we are. Almost makes you wonder if Dr. Feelgood would have become less annoying with time, but here we are.

I do really love Eros and the thought and detail that goes into these sets. It’s another way-way-out-there space station but it feels totally different from Ceres. Like, not just Ceres but worse. It has a different mood, different color scheme, and I definitely got that ‘jewel of the Belt fallen into disrepair’ vibe I think they were going for. The hotel was sort of 70s, the people were sort of all giving ‘secretly in the Mob’ vibes. The shoot out felt like anther genre sticking its head in all of a sudden, like 70s exploitation flick, but not in a bad way. The thuggish security felt oppressive, and notably different from Star Helix, even before Miller’s friend started explaining more about them, right from the landing of the craft. We’ve been teased for a while that this a Really Bad Place and I feel like it’s living up to its reputation.

It’s of course exciting that the different threads of the narrative are coming together: that we’re seeing Miller and the Rocinante crew in the same place, and finding out that they are both looking for the same person. The thing is that I don’t remember enough details to really know what I’m watching here. I can see the structure of threads coming together but I can’t get any more specific than that. They’re after the same McGuffin, but… why again? Absolutely no idea what Fred Johnson wants with Julie or if we’re supposed to understand them as working together or not. I get that the Thing at stake, the thing on the level above Julie, what she was maybe searching for or maybe using/transporting or maybe trying to destroy and definitely killed by, is some sort of weapon, probably bioweapon, and it likes light or warmth or something. But who created it, who has it, who knows about it, who wants it, and how it relates to the reign of terror that’s been following Holden and friends around this whole time is like complete question marks for me right now. It’s like I’m reading a story in a language I’m not quite fluent in: I can get a lot of the big picture and get a general sense of things, but I lack a lot of vocabulary. The noun did verb with the noun to the noun.

Julie is still very mysterious and confusing to me, and I hope that in the next couple episodes we find out more about her. She seems more mystery than person a lot of the time. I’d like to get real answers so she can feel more like a human and less like an object or plot device. But—I hope I’m not sounding mean or harsh because I am still basically just along for the ride and having a good time on it—I feel optimistic that I will.

[mariangrosa]

Hey there! In our Information Management 1 class, we're diving deeper into the world of SQL and how to use it effectively. Join me as we explore the ins and outs of this powerful tool and learn how to implement it like a pro!

Before we delve deeper into the complexities of SQL, let's take a quick refresher on the basics. In my previous blog, I briefly introduced SQL as an acronym for Structured Query Language, which allows us to easily access and manipulate databases. As a quick recap, SQL is an essential tool for managing and organizing large amounts of data, and it's used in a wide range of industries from finance to healthcare.

Guess what? SQL isn't just any ordinary language—it's THE standard language for accessing and playing around with databases! And you know what's even cooler? It's passed the super important ANSI standard. Hold up, what does that mean? Well, it basically means that SQL has been officially recognized and adopted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Talk about legit!

Why is this ANSI recognition such a big deal? Well, it ensures that SQL is implemented consistently across different database management systems (DBMS). That's right, whether you're using MySQL, Oracle, or any other DBMS, you can count on SQL to work its magic. This standardization also brings a whole bunch of benefits like portability and interoperability. In simple terms, it means you can easily move your SQL code between systems without any major headaches.

So, next time you're tackling a database project or trying to make sense of all that data, remember that SQL is your trusty sidekick. It's the language that keeps things running smoothly, ensuring your data is accessible, manageable, and ready for action. With SQL by your side, you'll conquer the database world like a pro!

SQL (Structured Query Language) is an incredibly powerful tool that opens up a whole new world of possibilities when it comes to managing and manipulating data. Whether you're a developer, data analyst, or business professional, SQL is a must-have skill that can revolutionize the way you work with databases.

So, what exactly can SQL do? Let's dive in!

SQL can execute queries against a database

SQL can retrieve data from a database

SQL can insert records in a database

SQL can update records in a database

SQL can delete records from a database

SQL can create new databases

SQL can create new tables in a database

SQL can create stored procedures in a database

SQL can create views in a database

SQL can set permissions on tables, procedures, and views

In conclusion, SQL is a game-changer in the world of data management and analysis. As the standard language for accessing and manipulating databases, it has proven its worth by passing the ANSI standard, gaining recognition and adoption by the American National Standards Institute. This achievement ensures consistency and compatibility across various database management systems, allowing for seamless portability and interoperability.

With SQL, you have the power to retrieve data, modify records, create and manage databases, perform calculations, generate reports, and ensure data integrity. It's a versatile tool that empowers developers, data analysts, and business professionals to efficiently work with data, extract valuable insights, and make informed decisions.

By investing time and effort in mastering SQL, you unlock a world of possibilities in harnessing the potential of your data. Whether you're crunching numbers, organizing information, or generating reports, SQL is your go-to language for efficient and effective data manipulation.

So, don't hesitate to dive into the world of SQL and take your data management skills to new heights. With SQL as your ally, you'll navigate through databases with ease and discover the true power of data-driven decision making. Embrace SQL, embrace the future of data!

[fingertipsmp3]

I’m either doing this completely right or completely wrong and I have no idea which it is

[audreydoeskaren]

History of Chinese standing collars (part 3: post republican era)

Quick recap: I was debating with myself whether “Mandarin collar” should be a thing because standing collars throughout Chinese history looked different. I went through the Ming and Qing dynasties in part 1 and the republican era in part 2, now I’ll look at what comes after that. I numbered the styles in parts 1 and 2 but they’re only guidelines so you don’t have to remember anything.

So in this post we’ve kind of reached the end of the era where fashion consisted of a single silhouette in any given year and all hell ran loose. I’m having a lot of difficulties classifying things as Chinese or Western because the distinction is really blurred, and I also ran into problems explaining why certain historical European things looked so similar to Chinese ones so there will also be a lot of confusion. 

1950s & 60s Chinese application

Summary of 1950s fashion, mainland and others.

Because of the communist victory in the Civil War, fashion in the mainland was different to other (capitalist) areas populated by the Chinese diaspora such as Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan etc.. Let’s look at capitalist area fashion first; I’ll be referring to Hong Kong because Hong Kong was the center of cheongsam making at the time.

Collars on 50s Hong Kong cheongsam grew taller on the basis of collar style 10 but retained the rounded, tapering edge, resulting in a v shape gap down the middle that weirdly recalls collar style 6 from part 1 and part 2. It’s basically completely identical to collar style 6 but stiffened and extremely form fitting. It’s usually closed with one pankou at the base but because of westernization, 50s cheongsam often had no visible pankou----everything is closed with snap buttons, zippers or hooks and eyes/bars. An important aspect of collars of 50s and 60s Hong Kong cheongsam is that they left out the binding around the neck. All cheongsam prior to this point were bound around the exterior edge, the side closure, the slits and the collar seam (on the bodice not the collar), 50s cheongsam collars purposefully neglected the binding at the collar seam for some reasons. This makes the collar look like it’s one continuous piece of fabric with the bodice, which it isn’t. A lot of modern representation of cheongsam or any Chinese inspired clothing (in video games, books and anime etc.) do this, even if the character is from before the 1950s. It REALLY bugs me. If you are an artist or writer and designing costumes for Chinese characters prior to the 50s, please include binding/trimmings on all three seams, it’s an easy way to bump up historical accuracy. With that said, completely plain collars without any binding or trim was actually the most common. Let’s call this collar style 13.

Source here

1954 photograph of Li Lihua and Clark Gable. Collar style 13 with stiffening and no collar seam binding. You can see how firm and neck hugging the collar is, contrary to a lot of modern cheongsam collars which are saggy and loose.

The popularity of collar style 13 continued into the 60s. When the cheongsam fell out of popularity, it ceased to exist as well.

Source here

60s cheongsam with collar style 13. I’m really not a fan of the nude/light lipstick trend of the 60s, like, as a person with no lip color definition it makes me look like a potato.

Now moving on to mainland collars. In the 1950s, cheongsam with the 40s collar style 12 were still occasionally seen, but the fashionable collar shape also became taller and was similar to the Hong Kong collar style 13. Interestingly, some 50s mainland cheongsam retained the binding around the collar seam, making them look more “traditional” in a sense. However, collars both with and without collar seam binding existed and it was just a matter of personal preference.

Source here

1950s photograph of a mainland lady in cheongsam. The collar is taller and closes with one button, much like Hong Kong collars of the era, but the neck binding is present.

Aoku robe collars from the 1940s onward mostly had the 40s style low collar, although in the 50s and 60s they rose in height very slightly.

Source here

1964 poster showing a girl in aoku, the robe has a low, rounded collar.

However, garments with a standing collar became worn a lot less frequently in the 50s and 60s in both mainland and non-mainland areas, since a lot of people adopted Western fashion.

Source here

1950s photograph of a group of mainland people wearing jackets of Western construction. Some of them seem to be wearing informal military jackets, commonly known as “Mao suit” or “Zhongshan suit” nowadays, with folded collars.

Source here

1950s photograph of some women in Malaysia, some in cheongsam and some in Western New Look dresses.

Western application

I think it’s also quite important to discuss how Chinese standing collars were perceived by Western designers, because the Western fashion industry does hold a lot more power globally and also reverse influenced Chinese collar designs in the post 1960s era. So, in the 1950s and 60s Western designers thought cheongsam was really cool and produced a lot of affordable sewing patterns for their versions of cheongsam. I think this is also because pre-1950s cheongsam didn’t use the Western construction method and patterns needed to be individually drafted so it was difficult to make mass produced sewing patterns. From all the sewing patterns I have seen personally, the super tall standing collar popular in Hong Kong was not really appreciated by Western designers at all?? Western cheongsam sewing patterns all had the very low 1940s style collar, combined with an hourglass silhouette New Look bodice and skirt, looking rather anachronistic. These collars also didn’t have binding/trim around the collar seam, in line with fashionable Hong Kong cheongsam of the day. 

Source here

1950s Advance sewing pattern for cheongsam. The collar is low and has rectangular edges, something about a decade out of fashion in Hong Kong and Shanghai. No collar seam binding.

Source here

1950s Simplicity sewing pattern for cheongsam. Likewise with super low 1940s collars. Collarless cheongsam died in China in the mid 1920s, yet it lives on in the imagination of Western designers. By the way, the frog closures with a quatrefoil shape are not Chinese, I’m gonna write another post about this. I love the look in the middle it’s very glam.

1970s and later

The post 1960s era is what ultimately created the confusion around standing collars nowadays. Around this time Western and Chinese fashions started to merge and become one, and garments made completely in the historical Chinese method were more and more difficult to come by; Western construction techniques reigned supreme. 

From the 70s onward, most “Chinese collars” had the 40s rounded edge shape but were either medium low or medium height. The lack of collar seam binding persisted into the current day, which is something I kind of lament because without this binding collars easily read as Renaissance doublet... (more on that later)

I usually avoid calling any standing collars from the 1970s onward Chinese/Mandarin because 1) standing collars were never a uniquely Chinese thing to begin with 2) since cheongsam was no longer fashionable among actual Chinese people, designers who made cheongsam pulled all kinds of shenanigans without any historical precedent whatsoever. Also, since clothes with structured/stiffened standing collars stopped being a staple in the average Western person’s wardrobe, white people started calling everything with the most remote hint of a standing collar Chinese to further stir the pot, emboldened by the cultural appropriation craze of the 60s and 70s. Ok that’s very loaded, but it’s true that in the 60s and 70s there was a lot of Western clothing designs that took inspiration from other cultures without permission. Westerners could totally design and wear Chinese style clothing given that the intention is respectful and they know about the garment in question, but a lot of times the accuracy of the designs leaves much to be desired. There was also a lot of Orientalist inspiration in the 10s and 20s but the borrowing back then wasn’t so... literal. When I look at so called cheongsam sewing patterns from the 70s onward, I sometimes seriously have trouble identifying if something is meant to be Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Polynesian or any other region/culture...

I’ll just find pictures of Chinese inspired clothing from the 70s onward with a “Mandarin collar” label and point out their source of inspiration.

Source here

1972 Simplicity sewing pattern for cheongsam. It’s the same Western collar from the 50s and 60s just slightly taller. Oh and the closures used on the two designs in the middle are again likely not pankou. After the 60s, this neck design with a oval shape keyhole cutout became quite common and that persisted to the current day. Don’t know what the purpose of that was, just because you show 5 square centimeters more skin doesn’t mean your cheongsam is sexier?

Source here

The description of this 70s Simplicity pattern says “Mandarin collar” but the source of inspiration is obviously Japanese military/school uniforms, AGAIN. The collar’s height and rectangular edges, combined with the placement of buttons above the waist on the bodice, everything about this reads as Japanese. The frog closures on the left are once again European and not Chinese pankou (sheesh I really need to make this other post). The original designer probably meant for it to be Japanese but the seller mistakenly labelled it a Mandarin collar design. 

Source here

70s Teresa Teng (rest in power legend) in a theatrical cheongsam with a similar collar, either a stretched version of the 40s collar or a shrunk version of the 50s/60s one.

Source here

Google search result for “Mandarin collar dress”. Same Western low collar from the 70s. A new problem with modern mass produced cheongsam is that the collar oftentimes doesn’t fit the wearer and appears too baggy. Or maybe it’s not mass production, just that people nowadays are very unaccustomed to wearing tight fitting standing collars so they assume there needs to be some extra space? As someone who wears stiff standing collars on a regular basis I have to say it actually isn’t uncomfortable at all and elongates your neck a lot better. This is what most cheongsam collars nowadays look like, even the self proclaimed “traditional” ones, they literally originated from 1950s/60s Western sewing pattern companies’ interpretation of contemporary Chinese cheongsam collars.

Source here

Baidu search result for “Mandarin collar suit”. This, is, literally, almost a replica Japanese uniform. The seller is also using the tag Zhongshan suit lmao (I’ve explained in my 1950s mainland post what a Zhongshan suit is not supposed to look like), delusion is not a fragrance I guess. Why is it so hard to let Japan be Japan and China be China??

Conclusion & afterthought

Another thing I need to mention is that standing collars are by no means unique to Chinese historical dress; they were also widely used in European historical fashion, long before standing collars became worn with uniforms of “Mandarins” or Chinese officials, which further proves my point that “Mandarin collar” is not a valid term. Also, standing collars in Europe have always been stiffened/structured, whereas Chinese collars only started to become stiffened around the 1890s, possibly due to European influence as well. For example, the 1950s collar with rounded edges and no collar seam binding reads as European Renaissance doublet very easily. To be fair though, a lot of the collar shapes seen in early 20th century Chinese womenswear had been done before in European Renaissance fashion and during that time period in China only the OG Ming Dynasty collar mentioned in part 1 was used sooooooo

Source here

1630-40 English doublet. The collar looks mighty similar to 1930s Chinese women’s ones. I know next to nothing about Renaissance fashion so I’m not sure how it’s constructed, but it proves the point that collars like these were not a uniquely Chinese phenomenon.

Source here

Meanwhile the Mandarins in China. He’s wearing a crossover collar robe underneath a round collar robe, no standing collar here.

Source here

1780s French men’s coat with a standing collar.

Standing collars were also commonly used in Victorian and Edwardian women’s everyday fashion without any connection to China whatsoever.

Source here

1860s fashion plate for a gown with a low standing shirt collar peeking underneath. 

Source here

1887 fashion plate from the Journal des Demoiselles. Bustle gowns with standing collars.  

Bonus rant

I have come to the actual point of this series of posts, to answer the question: should “Mandarin collar” be a thing? In which case I’m gonna have to go with no. In the three posts I made on the topic I categorized a total of 13 collar styles, each distinct from each other and some being inspired by Western clothing, and showed that the use of the term “Mandarin collar” nowadays is very vague and ambiguous. I don’t understand why people in the fashion industry give my ancestors all the credits for a design feature as basic and common as a standing collar... Maybe it’s a marketing gimmick like how Sternhalma (a German board game) is advertised in the US as “Chinese checkers”?? Or maybe it shows that a lot of fashion designers lack a basic understanding of historical fashion? Either way it makes no sense. I think the concept is also slightly offensive since it simply ignores the diversity of actual historical Chinese standing collar designs, kind of reinforcing the racist stereotype that non-white fashion histories are static and never changing.

If I do have to pick a most traditional/iconic style of Chinese standing collar, I would go with either the original Ming Dynasty soft collar with metal buttons or the 1940s short collar with collar seam binding used on aoku, cheongsam, changshan and magua. In the mainland Chinese countryside, the 1940s style collar was preserved and actually still made today, but in the post-Mao era it became increasingly seen by the mainland population as 土 (a derogatory term for Chinese folk stuff meaning tacky or cringy) compared to the exciting new Western fashions being imported at the time. As a result, more traditional items of clothing like aoku for women, changshan and magua for men were neglected in favor of more westernized cheongsam designs, leading to some cursed contraptions.

Maybe this is a hot take, I personally really don’t vibe with the concept of 土 because it’s very loaded and usually the gateway drug to massive internalized racism. I’ve heard so many people bash aoku and magua constructed in the historical method and put post-60s Western inspired cheongsam on a pedestal even though the former is grounded in history and the latter is an Orientalist mess. There is nothing wrong with making aoqun, aoku, magua, changshan, cheongsam or any other historical item of clothing in the historically accurate method, they’re charming in their own ways and don’t need to be “modified”. In my opinion, the puckering under the armpits caused by the lack of a shoulder seam and the rounded shoulders are what makes historical Chinese clothing beautiful to begin with :3 I think there’s something inherently modern and authentic in the pedantic, antiquarian pursuit of historical clothing, like you know how whenever a revival happens it actually brings something new to the table? It’s not problematic to wear modern cheongsam designs per se, it’s just important to keep in mind that it doesn’t have much to do with actual Chinese history and represents more of the status quo of Chinese fashion nowadays.

Ok I’m going off the collar track but it’s time to finish this post. Thank you for reading, and as I mentioned, the next post will be about Chinese pankou. I’m almost finished with that one as well and I’m really excited with what I have planned next :D

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

THE BOX IS NABOO

That’s it, I’m doing it, I’m writing that stupid meta I’ve had in the works for two and a half years, I’m sharing it with the world. I promised it for last Thursday, my poll was forever ago, but whatever! I’m writing that freaking thing.

(super duper long post, press j to skip)

Enter my rabbit hole.

First thing to establish: the Box makes no sense whatsoever in-universe.

((EDIT: Something I forgot to mention. IRL, the premise of a giant murder cube and the aesthetic - wall patterns, light designs, etc - of the episode come from the 1997 horror movie Cube, (see the episode’s wookieepedia page). However, while the two are very closely linked visually, the Box does not follow the movie structurally or narratively, as you can verify by simply reading the movie’s summary.))

Recap of the context for the "Box" episode (s4e17): Palpatine is planning his own kidnapping. It was never meant to succeed, and while the plan would obviously benefit him (making the Jedi look bad, pushing Anakin closer to the Dark Side, making Republic citizens more afraid -> more docile, etc...) his actual goal is never explained, and it’s weird that he’d go to such extreme lengths for results so minimal that we’re never told what they are.

So Palpatine asks Dooku to kidnap him at the Festival of Lights on Naboo. Dooku hires Moralo Eval to design a giant box-thingy to test bounty hunters to hire the best of them to kidnap Palpatine. Moralo then gets arrested to alert the Republic that something is afoot, and hires Cad Bane to break him out. Obi-Wan - undercover to learn Moralo’s plan - goes with them. They evade capture and go to Serenno, and Bane and Obi-Wan have to pass the box-thingy test. The level of brainkarked logic here... Truly on par with Megamind, Gru and Heinz Doofenshmirtz.

Setting aside the insane plot holes and utterly nonsensical behavior of the villains, the Box itself is moronic from a plot perspective. It’s insanely complex, obviously incredibly expensive and would have taken months (more like years but it’s a short war) to make when it’s not even needed for the dastardly plot! Just hire some guys who have already proven themselves against Jedi! Throw cash at Bane and Embo and a few others! Maybe attack them with your saber and see how they do! 

And after all that, Dooku still ends up trying to kidnap Palpatine on his own. I can’t even... 

So why does the Box exist? Well, apart from being a nerdy callback to Cube, giving us a good thrill and being generally awesome to look at, it has actual narrative purpose within the SW universe.

The box is Naboo.

What the Box lacks in plot relevance, it makes up for with its heavily symbolic meaning. It very closely follows Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon’s experiences on Naboo - but only certain parts, which I’ll explain later.

We start with clean, sterile environments, SW’s favored way of showing villainy.

Then we have the protagonists locked in a room as dioxis, a poison gas, pours in.

And then they escape... this way.

(Okay, here the shaft is down, not up. And it’s not a ventilation shaft per say, it’s the designed escape route. Same difference).

We then skip most of TPM (namely, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon discovering the droid army, finding Padmé, leaving Naboo, landing on Tatooine, going to Coruscant, etc, etc) to come back to Naboo and go directly to the lightsabers and catwalks.

(Note: in both scenes, Obi-Wan has to propel himself from a catwalk.)

In TPM and TCW, the catwalks are immediately followed by ray shields

And we finally end with the last scenes. Now, they don’t look the same but they are structurally identical. 

Obi-Wan is faced with a challenge unsuited for his abilities (facing Darth Maul // shooting three moving targets when he’s far more skilled with a blade than a blaster) on a narrow space above a melting pit/pit of fire. 

He first watches someone die failing to complete the task...

 ... and has to do it himself, faring much better than expected (holding his own against Maul // shooting all the targets easily). 

He then almost falls to his death and gets saved unexpectedly.

And then there’s the final showdown.

In both scenes, Obi-Wan is angry. And in TCW Dooku eggs him on, banking on his anger. (More on that later.) In both cases though, he centers himself and is able to overcome both his opponent and his own unbalance. But in TCW, he doesn’t go for the kill, because he doesn’t need to. 

The Box, as a literal character-explorator ex-machina, thus shows us Obi-Wan’s growth.  

In TPM, Obi-Wan follows Qui-Gon’s lead. In TCW, he is the leader. He identifies the gas, makes the plans. He doesn’t fall from catwalks anymore - he runs atop moving ones. He doesn’t stay stuck behind ray-shields, he finds the solution. (Btw, how did Moralo know what blood type Derrown the Exterminator was? There was a 50% chance of him dying - thus killing all of the bounty hunters. Was that an acceptable outcome? TCW I need answers!) He doesn’t slay his foes, because he’s become powerful enough, skilled enough and wise enough to survive (and win) without needing to kill.

He’s grown - and, even more interestingly, he’s also stayed the same. In the previous episodes, we see some of the dark aspects of Obi-Wan. How he - like all Force-wielders, all people - could lose himself if he stopped maintaining absolute control.

But in the Box, surrounded by the worst criminals of the Galaxy, the most ruthless, worthless people, he’s still kind and tries his best to keep them alive.

The Box is a reminder and a reassurance for the audience that Obi-Wan Kenobi is still there under Rako’s face. He hasn’t lost his compassion, his restrain. He’s still a Jedi. And he’s an awesome, badass one. 

And now, for what it tells us about Dooku! 

It’s much shorter, don’t worry. Basically, Dooku considers that the best way to pick “the best of the best” of the deadliest people in the Galaxy is making them go through what killed his Padawan. There, I’ve broken your hearts, you’re welcome. 

More seriously, Dooku is a manipulative ass. It’s pretty clear that he knows Rako is Obi-Wan, or at the very least suspects it. 

He has an interesting reaction upon learning Rako’s identity, he keeps praising him despite his usual distaste for low-lifes, he smirks secretively after Eval says “I’ll show you who’s weak” (not included there because it’s a close-up of Dooku’s lips and no one wants to see that) and he tells Rako he’s very disappointed when he doesn’t finish off Eval.

[Later]

(Look at this smug asshole - I can’t. YOUR GRANDSON IS THE BEST, WE KNOW, STOP ACTIVELY RUINING HIS LIFE ALREADY.)

(Dooku... why...)

Now obviously Dooku couldn’t have made the Box specifically for Obi-Wan, because it would have to have been designed months before the Council ever decided to send Obi-Wan undercover, but he has no qualms trying to use it to push Obi-Wan to the Dark Side. Ffs Dooku, making your spiritual grandson relive one of the most traumatic events of his life on the off chance that he’ll join you (and desecrate his Master’s memory in doing so) is not okay!

Final tidbits of analysis: I mentioned that not all of TPM is mirrored in the Box. What’s omitted is the droids (even though Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon fight B1′s and droidekas between the dioxis and the ventilation shafts) and anything pertaining to Sidious (all the political stuff on Coruscant). You’ll also note that the fake lightsabers are orange.

=> The Box distances itself from anything that connects Dooku to Naboo. Red lightsabers are the trademark of the Sith, so they’re not used. The bounty hunters will be facing Jedi, so logically the fake sabers should be green or blue - and yet they’re orange, the color closest to red without being red. It fits with Dooku’s special brand of dishonesty - he always tells bits of the real story but twists them just enough to absolve himself of any fault and to justify his choices. 

(”We can destroy the Sith” -> could maybe destroy Sidious with Obi-Wan, but fails to mention he’s a Sith Lord himself; “the Viceroy came to me for help, that’s why I’m attacking the Republic” -> political idealism is a small part of it, but fails to mention he’s Sidious’ underling and is playing the Viceroy like a fiddle; “Qui-Gon would have joined me” -> maybe, still fails to mention he’s working for the man who ordered Qui-Gon’s death; “I told you everything you needed to know” -> debatable, never said that Palps was Sidious; “Sifo-Dyas understood, that’s why he helped me” -> partly true, doesn’t admit to killing Sifo-Dyas right after getting his help)

So we have a twisted version of Naboo, droid-free (as droids are now irrevocably associated with Dooku, even if that wasn’t the case in TPM) and with sabers that aren’t quite red. Keep in mind that Dooku had already fallen by TPM. (We know this because he killed Sifo-Dyas and created the Clone Army - part of Sidious’ plan - when Valorum was still Chancellor, as per the episode The Lost One.) That means Dooku was (in)directly complicit in Qui-Gon’s death. And the Box doesn’t (=refuses to?) acknowledge that. 

(Also omitted in the Box are the Gungans and Tatooine. It makes sense, because Dooku probably wouldn’t have the full details regarding those parts of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan’s missio as they weren’t as public, and would see them as irrelevant if he did. He utterly despises Anakin, and Gungans are the type of people he always dismisses out of hand). 

Anyway, that’s my two cents about the Box. To quote Lucas...

“It’s like poetry. It rhymes.”

Thanks to @lethebantroubadour @impossiblybluebox​ @nonbinarywithaknife @ytoz​ and @kaitie85386​ for voting for this one. Next up is a compilation of the Jedi being casually tactile with each other (because they’re a warm and affectionate culture, dammit).

Also thanks to @laciefuyu​ for giving me gifs I ended up not using ^^; you rock anyway!

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High: The Seven Ep 1

Meet the Maidens

It is back to school baby, both for D20 and, funnily enough, myself as well (something I hope will give me more time to get the recaps out in a timely manner fingers crossed). 

As I’m sure you all know if you’re reading this, this season of D20 takes place in the world of Fantasy High but with a focus on Aguefort’s OTHER most badass adventuring party who we’ve so far only seen on the sidelines, the Seven Maidens! You’ll recall, they’re made up of the seven girls who were captured by Penelope and co. to fulfill the prophecy that would let Kalvaxus rule the world freshman year. And, in fact, we start with a flashback to freshman year so let’s just jump right in.

We find our seven soon-to-be heroines chained in the Red Waste in front of what we know and they will shortly learn in Kalvaxus’ lair--a crucial part of the prophecy that was the subject of season 1. The structure of this episode is sort of like 2 rounds of introductions--first here with the maidens meeting each other for the first time and then again at home with their families a la the first episode of Freshman Year so I’ll be glossing over certain things that we’ll get to later in their second intros.

Anyway, the first two to wake up are Danielle (aka Yelle: half-elf, druid) and Zelda (satyr, barbarian as we know). Zelda is her usual, adorably nervous self in contrast to Yelle who is no less sweet but in a super chill, granola girl, fuck the system kind of way. We actually learn that Penelope had her on board with the plan for a hot second when she thought it was just “overthrow the government” but didn’t know about the “install a just as bad if not worse evil dragon overlord” part. 

Ostentatia (dwarf, cleric) wakes up next and is, as Izzy--her player--describes her “Jersey Trash.”, all blinged up with jewelry that she secretly made herself and didn’t buy. She wakes up pissed and ready to bodyslam Aelwyn which are both extremely valid emotions as much as I love Aelwyn. By the way, all of the girls recognize each other as girls who go to their school but none of them are really friends though they very quickly start throwing the label around because that’s what you do when you wake up chained with 6 other people in front of a dragon’s lair in a place called the Red Waste. 

Katja (half-orc, fighter) wakes up and immediately cares about nothing more than the status of her beloved horse, Cinnamon and declares that if Cinnamon dies, she’ll die. This is a fantasy world so Ostentatia and Danielle are a little concerned that might literally be true via a soul bond or something but it’s more that Katja just really, really loves that horse. Danielle tries to cast a spell to locate the horse but can’t get the somatic components quite right with her hands manacled. 

They all get into a discussion about the fact that everyone for a fact knows they’re all virgins now (you know, the real issue here) and what exactly counts as “virginity” for the purposes of this prophecy (like, does second or third base count or only traditional home runs using the baseball analogy) when Penny wakes up and is, just so excited to be here gang! Penny (halfling, rogue), who is one of the girls who has been kidnapped the longest, is adorably and honestly a bit concerningly exuberant to be surrounded by all these new friends, totally disregarding  the fact that they are clearly in some deep shit. Zelda mentions that Riz, her old babysitee, knows they’re kidnapped and is trying to help and she lights up. 

Next up is Sam (water genasi, sorc/bard) who immediately starts thrashing to get out of her chains and, when she can’t get free, is devastated by the fact that her ex betrayed her (!?) Finally Antiope (human fighter/ranger) wakes up all out of sorts having started her growth spurt while in the crystal and also having needed to pee right before she went in which becomes a problem all over herself (which Sam helpfully cantrips away).

With all of them awake, the stones they’re chained to light up and some of Kalvaxus’ minions (the ones who tied them up) show up to do minion speechifying. Yelle does a horrifying Animorph style morph into a waterbear (a tardigrade if you wanna get all Bio 101) to get out of her bonds but then Sam who has a serious one track mind re: getting out of here (Correct) and has exactly zero patience for these guys casts Tidal Wave and just knocks them off the cliff. Yelle frees Ostentatia who frees everyone else with Animate Object on their chains. Hands free, Yelle also casts Locate Animal and tells a very pleased Katja that Cinnamon is doing a full Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron down the highway searching for her. 

The girls decide to explore the cave which has recently had most of its treasure moved (it’s currently in the gym for the Prompocolypse fight which is currently happening). Penny and Sam (who are in insanely different emotional places) find all these broken mirrors which Sam takes as a cue that they need to GTFO (which is what she was already doing) and Penny thinks would make a great material for friendship bracelet making which she starts doing as Sam physically pulls her away. Sam hears someone doing post-cry sniffles and is like, “Not today Satan,” still trying to leave. However, Penny sees that there is one mirror left and, inside, sees a ethereal looking human with flowing, preternatural, black hair who senses their presence and asks if Penny is someone named Anima. She asks for their names though she declines to give hers (hmm, feels very fae) and the girls give the fake names of Kelly and Cecelia which the figure says she will guard and not misuse. The figure says she is looking for her sisters (who she says when Penny asks are at Aguefort which...hmmmmm) and, all of a sudden, Sam and Penny are having a bad feeling about those mirror shards. 

They ask her a question about the mirror and she gets really aggro when it’s referred to as “her” mirror as she would very much like to be out of it. The woman really wants to get out and says she can give them lots of power if they help. Sam pulls out her compact Mirror of the Past (magic item that does basically what you’d expect--shows you info from something’s past though in a cryptic way usually) to try and get some info on this thing and just barely avoids losing her mind in the process because this thing is ancient. Like eons old. She also learns the woman’s name (or maybe title): The Ending of Things (will be calling her Ending for now).

Yikes!

Right around now the other girls come in and can see at the angle they’re looking at her at the woman in the mirror is Not Really A Person and Antiope points at her and reflexively casts a ranger sense spell to try and clock its weaknesses and stuff but Ending grabs the spell energy like a lasso and tries to drag her into the mirror. She does however find out that she’s stacked with hella resistances (total immunity to necrotic damage and non-maj weapons, resistance to most elemental damage, and more).

Sam briefly considers using Lightning Lure to pull Antiope back before deciding on a much less ouchy Counterspell. Unfortunately, it’s not strong enough and now she’s being pulled in by her spell energy too. Yelle casts Erupting Earth which has some pros and cons.

Pros: Antiope and Sam are saved! Yay!

Cons: The mirror breaks and whatever was in it is fully freed. Not yay!

Shortly after (but not before Penny gives everyone their new friendship bracelets), someone calls into the cave looking for them--it’s Fig’s mom, Sandra-Lynn (with new art)! She’s happy and impressed that everyone is OK (also, Katja and Sam both have little lines that foreshadow their ~parental issues~ for the season--Katja being very moved by the simple act of Sandra-Lynn showing up for them and Sam saying that in her experience moms can be very evil).

As they all leave the cave, they all do checks and get some info:

Ostentatia: The mirror was kinda like a palimpsest (the crystals they were trapped in) and whatever this thing is is ancient and powerful. 

Yelle: Gets the above info and the fact that when the thing left it wasn’t quite a bad vibe, just the vibe that something big and important is at play.

Penny: On an Arcana check she knows that what Danielle did 100% saved Antiope and Sam’s lives from whatever and wherever was on the either side of the mirror but the contact marked them in some way. 

Katja: With History she sees some Primordial writing which is the writing of elementals (one of the things Ending has resistances to which might be relevant; also Sam reads Primordial but doesn’t get to read what it says)

Antiope: She knows that she and Sam are connected to Ending now somehow but it’s a two way connection which means they can also use it to their advantage. 

Ostentatia casts Mending on the mirror shards which I think was to reconstruct the mirror but what it actually does is someone link their friendship bracelets. Cute!

And, with that, we cut to the present a year and a half later (which is Jr or Sr year for everyone). 

We hop from kid to kid as they get ready to head in to school and get glimpses into their homes lives! Let’s do a quick rundown for each girl:

Antiope Jones

We see that Antiope is the youngest of five in what is essentially a military family full of basically every kind of fighter (she says she basically lives in a “Crossfit box”). There’s an 8 year gap between her and her sister Corsica who is the second youngest so her parents are kind of already living like empty nesters. When she comes downstairs she is promptly handed a protein smoothie and told two pieces of info: (1) from Corsica she learns that she overheard at school --where she teaches--that Aguefort needs to talk to her for some reason but she won’t say why which annoys the crap out of Antiope and (2) her parents lined up an internship for her at the Ministry of Adventure. She and her mom verbally spar a bit about them being all up in her life and how stressed she is and how she likes what she has going now with the Seven but her mom wins ofc because she’s a Mom and also a master tactician with a deft hand for loving mom guilt. On the way to school her bros (who include a gunslinger and an eldritch knight cause they run the whole gamut of fighter classes) Facetime her like, “Yikes Ant, heard about what happened with Mom, this is why you don’t fight her lmao.”

Sam Nightingale

This is a heavy one so strap in. 

We check in with Sam who isn’t at her own family’s home but at Penelope’s family home which is off the bat eyebrow raising. It’s an upper middle class house and, on the way down, she has to pass Penelope’s bedroom which is conspicuously empty. Downstairs she’s greeted by Penelope’s human mom Rebecca who she learns is moving out soon because her elf husband is both cheating on her while away in Falinel and starting the divorce process. Sam clearly sees Penelope’s mom as a surrogate mom (for reasons we’ll learn in a second) and goes full ride or die assuring her that her ass is better than the ass of the woman he’s cheating with and offering to help burn his stuff even though drowning is more her specialty (she’s so cool). She also is a little stricken at the thought of Rebecca leaving her in the house alone but Rebecca says she can come with if she wants, she just didn’t want to disrupt her school life.

She also tells Rebecca that her bio-mom called recently which immediately sets Sam off. Through the convo we learn a couple of things:

Sam used to be an actor it seems.

And it seems like she was kicked out of the house after she transitioned or something similar which is why she lives with the Everpetals. 

Now that it’s more “fashionable” to to be trans (her mom’s words, not mine) she wants Sam to talk to her so they can get her back in the game.

Sam is having none of that and tells Rebecca to just delete her mom’s number. Then they have a cathartic session of burning her cheating husband’s shit before Sam leaves in Sebastian--her sentient, seafoam blue, self-driving car with a very hot male voice which I am extremely jealous of. She picks up Zelda on the way to school and they commiserate a little and have a heart to heart about adults and change and how much Zelda wants to body slam Sam’s mom. 

Penny Luckstone 

Penny’s house is a whirlwind of activity and her harried parents get her and her 19 young siblings ready for school (no wonder she’s such a good babysitter). We see where Penny gets her type-A ness from as her mom and dad both have this cheerful but overworked energy of “EVERYTHING IS FINE” like that Good Place sign. Her mom spares a second to tell her that she recently got a letter for The Society of Shadows which is like a super secret rogue college (which her parents assume is legit even though they haven’t heard of it cause they’re Mumple people and also, if you've heard of a rogue school, how good could it really be?) Penny is excited except that it would mean she’d have to move and leave her party. Her mom is like “hey it’s a full ride and there are 20 of you guys so just take that into consideration but it’s ultimately your decision” before she dashes away to get to work because it is always Go Go Go with the Luckstones. She texts Sam for a ride and Sam swings by to grab her. This is not plot relevant but she has a booster seat in the back of Sebastian with her name carved into it and it’s important to me that you know that. 

Katja Cleaver

Next up is Katja who lives in a Richie Rich style mansion and comes from very old money as she is descended from one of the first adventurers in Solace. She is in the barn with Cinnamon and the bugbear farrier they have employed (her name is Gertrude and a farrier is someone who does horseshoes). She eats the same breakfast as Cinnamon (hot dry oats and berries baybee) wo she loves so so dearly. Cinnamon is a magical horse--basically like a Find Steed spell that’s on all the time. She’s modeled the horse in her fave book series--the Babysitter’s Horse of course. Lockwood, the staff’s hobgoblin butler, is also there and they get a fantasy Zoom call from Katja’s dad who is in the middle of the insane 20th level adventurer stuff which he says might make him miss her graduation. She is extremely disappointed but just barely hides it from her dad (who seems to really care despite his not being around). She can’t hide it from the staff or Cinnamon however and Cinnamon offers to give her a ride to school via the scenic route. 

Note: We also learn two sad facts about Katja from the conversation with her dad.

Her mother is Disney Princess dead* and

She wears one half of a friendship necklace and it seems like she’s waiting for someone to give the other half to. It’s implied earlier that the way Penelope got her was by promising to be her best friend. Sad!

*Edit: Well, she’s gone and we’ll leave it at that until next recap. 

Ostentatia Wallace

Ostentatia wakes up and goes downstairs to have a very high energy in both directions interaction with her very fantasy-Italian mom and grandma. Her grandma is concerned her beard isn’t coming in--not knowing she shaves it on purpose which her mom is like, “Listen it’s fine but don’t tell grandma it’ll kill her.” She clocks very quickly that her dad isn’t there and his mithril working tools are gone. Her mom tries to play it off but she knows she’s being lied to and her mom relents. Her dad is at a meeting with the other workers of the shut down mithril factory and negotiations have ceased. It looks like he’s gonna be long term out of work. That explains where her dad is but not why the tools are missing. She decides to go do some investigating on her own and ambushes her dad in his car where, with the inaugural nat 20 of the season, she realizes he pawned his tools to get her 5 revivify diamonds. She's upset by this and he’s upset that she’s, in his eyes, questioning his ability to take care of his family. She’s like, alright, you did a thing for me, I’ll do a thing for you and she casts Animate Object to make his stuff steal itself back in a sequence that involves an animated crowbar using another crowbar which is just wild.

Danielle Barkstock

I’m gonna be real, Danielle’s life is exactly how you assume it is based on Who She Is As A Person so this one will be real short. Eco-friendly off the grid geodesic yurt. One super chill peace and love elf sorc mom and one rough and tough human ranger mom. She also knows and helps the Cubbies with their anarchist machinations because yeah, duh. She gets some messages from school on her crystal--one being a message from the principal saying that she and the rest of her party have first period off to meet with him and the other being a newsletter from the school showing, among other things, a photo of the Druid class doing a project but she’s not in it for some reason. She texts one of the other druids to see if she can figure out why she wasn’t invited but fully gets left on read. Brutal. Of course, she hasn’t messaged that person in 6-8 months so maybe that’s why.

Anyway, with that, all seven of our maidens make it to school and are all exuberant to see each other in a very teen girl way before getting to the principal’s office and learning that their party will be broken up at the year! 

Bad!

Superlatives 

I wanted to do something a little different for these recaps than the Bad Kid ones so instead of Honor Roll/Detention we are doing Superlatives and the inaugural one goes to...

Sam: Most Like To Survive a Horror Movie

Man she woke up chained in a ritual magic circle and she was Ready To Go Immediately. You will not catch this girl doing horror movie victim BS like exploring the spooky house or giving the creepy obvious ghost the time of day. She is hyper-competent and her goal is making it out alive and dragging her friends with her. Love her.  

Random Thoughts

The season immediately starts with a bang or I should say a bing with Izzy trying to say “bling bang” and accidentally saying, “bling bing” and immediately getting roasted by everyone. I love the authentic girl group vibes (which include everyone clowning on her then immediately hyping up Zelda to the max after being way more awkward). 

Handshake meme with Danielle and Moonshine from Naddpod. Also, Cinnamon and Horse from Centaurworld. 

I love that Rekha and Erika just straight up were like, “Our characters are Asian”. Like obviously, make your characters Asian coded in your fantasy world--all my D&D characters are black like me--but it’s funny that they completely disregarded the, “There’s no Asia in this world so I guess they’re this world’s equivalent to--” Nah just, “I’m a half-elf and I’m Asian.” You love to see it. 

I absolutely LOVE the choices the cast made to flesh out their characters based on the little info Brennan had about them, none moreso than rich horse girl Katja. Rekha is a genius. 

“I only want one thing and he’s working” KATJAAAAAAA

Man if I was in that flashback I would have been wilding out so much with my flashback plot armor. 

I appreciate that the first thing that Aabria has Antiope do is extremely uncool. I love it when players aren’t concerned about just being cool and on point all the time. Sometimes (read: often) that’s the less interesting choice. 

But on the exact opposite side, she’s a ranger and an arcane archer which I think is extremely cool. Lmao also I didn’t mention in the recap but she HATES dragons now which, understandable. I’m guessing they're her favored enemy. 

I can’t wait to see another group of kids interact w/ madman Aguefort. 

Also, as a known Aelwyn-stan, I am very excited for the possibility of the Seven interacting with her cause as much as I love her they are under no obligation to acknowledge her redemption arc and I would love to see them throw hands. 

I love the Greek myth naming scheme of Antiope’s extremely cool family as with her on the spot nickname “L-Cab” short for long caboose since she’s the youngest by a mile. 

Also this is out of character not in character but Sephie is an extremely cool nickname for Persephone. 

I wonder why Brennan didn’t let Sam read the Primordial in the cave. He just glossed right past her saying that she speaks it and she didn’t push it. Would it have solved his entire plot in the span of a flashback or was he just keeping things moving?

Sidenote, if I was married to an elf man and worried about aging like Rebecca, I would simply become a druid (or a monk or up my wizard levels so I could learn True Polymorph or Wish or something). 

I wonder what the deal with Ending is. She seemed relatively sincere in the mirror but that doesn’t mean anything. She could be sincere and also Very Bad News. 

There is an offhand comment by Brennan about how the dwarf forge god gives spells but doesn’t talk to his followers which I think means that Ostentatia is gonna be getting a direct god call soon enough. 

Also she mentions that her dad is doing some criminal activity on the side which seems like a Problem for later. Honestly all of the kids have some pretty rich parent drama happening which should be interesting to see explored. 

No nat 1s this ep and 1 nat 20 as I mention from Ostentatia. 

[s1utspeare]

DID SOMEONE SAY BODY LANGUAGE COMPARISON???

I heard the sweet, dulcet tones of acting meta on this post and could not resist her call, so @xcziel, @foxofninetales, this one is for you.

THE LIU CHANG DMBJ CHARACTER META: WANG CAN vs LIU SANG

So first of all lemme just say I love these bitches, and what’s interesting about Liu Chang is that he plays them on opposite ends. There’s not much he can do about the fact that, y’know, he’s the same-ass person, but there are some very distinct differences between Liu Sang and Wang Can, which we will be talking about now.

Liu Sang photo cred: @foxofninetales

Wang Can photo cred: @xcziel

Jiang Wu photo cred: me screenshotting @xia-xueyi’s Moonfall Echo subs (ep. 13)

PART ONE: BODY LINES

I’ve talked about body lines before! But now we get to look at it from the same actor in two different characters! As a recap, straight lines are strong, sturdy, confident, and straightforward; curved lines are weaker, but more interesting and more dynamic.

For example!!

We got our bitch Wang Can here!! This is our first look at this slimy man, and look! He’s like a square!!! All straight lines, all ups and downs. Him body a square!! The costume people also do a great job of boxing him up bc of the tailoring of his jacket, and the two neutral color palette. There’s no embellishments, no decor. This is a straightforward man!! He’s not hiding anything except exactly how much of a bitch he is

(Also notice that his hands are showing and in fists. This will be important in a minute.)

Next, we have our favorite boy Liu Sang, showing up for the first time (ignore the differences in angles):

Oho! He’s a curvy motherfucker!! Aside from the fact that his clothes are now tailored correctly to demonstrate his natural curves, this mans is also curving himself! His arms! Are loose! And bent!! His head and neck aren’t nearly as emphasized! And! AND!!!! His hands are in his fucjing POCKEEETTTSSS. That indicates FURTIVENESS! That indicates MYSTERY! We’re going to find some things OUT about this boy and we’re gonna like it!!!

In comparison, look at Jiang Wu:

LIU CHANG U BEAUTIFUL BITCH. He fucking BENT HIS ARM. He kept one straight and BENT THE OTHER!!! Oh joyous occasion!! We have a DYNAMIC BOY!! but not too dynamic—peep that hidden hand! Also I love this bc it was TWO DIFFERENT LIU CHANG CHARACTERS IN THE SAME SHOW!!! :D see!! Here’s Liu Sang again!

THIS IS A CONFIDENT LIU SANG!!!! He is CHANGED! He is capable of expressing emotions now! Look at just how much body language he has going on, while in comparison, Jiang Wu and Wang Can are like creepy Wood Baby Puppets. His body shape is boxy again, but that’s bc he’s the protagonist of this one. The plot hinges on him, he’s gotta be sturdy.

WHAT WE HAVE DETERMINED SO FAR:

Wang Can is straight lines, no hidden agenda (which is funny cause he’s a Bad Guy)

Liu Sang is dynamic lines and movement, and alludes to mysterious ✨secrets✨

Jiang Wu is a mix of the two and also a dumb dork (that’s not from the body language, I just think he’s funny)

PART TWO: HAIR, BABY!

Once again I owe my life to costuming people. Someday I’ll write that Mystic Nine costuming meta but today we’re focusing on Liu Chang and, specifically, his HAIR PEOPLE!!! I love them and would die for them literally

Once again, ladies and gentlemen and all my glorious they/thems, Wang Can:

OOOOOH I hate his slimy RAT FACE lemme AT EM. Ahem. Regardless, let’s take a look at this BITCH, shall we? We have: straight line face angles!! Very standard shape, BUT this is all accented by the fact that his hair is S C R A P E D back to within an inch of its life, like. Ahem. Sir. Please. Also this man’s got CONTOUR on. If u look at literally any pics/videos of Liu Chang out of character he is NOT this angular. His head is just as rectangular as his body, and the pulled back hair emphasizes his face, which is interesting as he doesn’t do a whole lot with it.

Alternatively, Liu Sang:

This is a nice boy!!! This is a nice soft boy!!! Look his face has CURVES that are emphasized by the glasses (which also draw attention to his eyes, which is good bc that’s where he does the most work, which we’ll get to later) and the HAIR!!! His hair is soft!! It’s flowy! It’s curvy! He conditions!!! This boy is approachable and will Not shoot you One Million Times with a Machine Gun. This also works with the Liu Sang Signature Ponytail, as he leaves thick-enough bang pieces out to also give the illusion of curves around his face. Also his nose and cheekbones are NOT as strongly contoured, so the angularity of his face is softened as well

WHAT WE HAVE DETERMINED SO FAR

dmbj hair and makeup people were doing the absolute most

Wang Can’s hair gives us the most access to The Face, giving him a slick, straight look, and also something else which we will discuss next

Liu Sang is Soft and Curved bc of the hair and glasses, primarily

Oh speaking of fucking which you know who else is soft??? Huang Junjie. That’s the softest man I have ever seen. His xiaoge is my favorite bc it’s perfectly believable that he’s Butter Inside based solely on his Cheeks (again, it’s the hair people doing the Lord’s work)

PART THREE: IT’S ALL IN THE FACE

The face is the actor’s best friend, and Liu Chang definitely uses his well. We know him as being sort of stoic, more on the Xiao-Ge end of things than the Wu Xie side, but if u compare Liu Sang to Wang Can, LS is going HAM with the facials.

Let’s take a look!

Fuck me UP!!!!!! Look at him!! This is one of the earlier episodes too so we haven’t even gotten to the real good stuff but!!!! Look at his eyebrows!!! Look at how wide his eyes get (once again, the glasses are jumbotroning the peepers)! Look at his unhappy lil mouth!! That’s a whole REALM of facial expression, and so early on in our journey!

Meanwhile, Fuckboy Prime:

(Pardon the garbage screencap, my laptop broke on me this week and I am Suffering)

This is at the very end of Wang Can’s time with us; he’s fighting and he’s going to die and he KNOWS it, but this bitch doesn’t even draw his eyebrows together. Mcwhomst???? Bitch u GOTTA give us more than that I’m BEGGING u

The other interesting thing about their differing facial expressions is that Liu Sang emotes mostly with his eyes, and Wang Can emotes mostly with his mouth. This is very obvious in the clip @xcziel posted, esp when he starts doing the whole gesturing-with-his-chin thing, but it’s prominent throughout.

These two screenshots were taken like fifteen seconds apart. He does a whole face journey, but only with his mouth. His eyes stay fixed; they move, sure, but they don’t get any wider or anything like that.

Liu Sang, however is always doing stuff with his eyes. For example (I couldn’t find an image of it quick enough but I know that @kholran has this gifset), the sacrifice scene where he looks up at Wu Xie with the biggest, most pleading and questioning eyes imaginable?? Kills me. The DEPTH in those bad boys. Fuck me UP.

This also checks out when we remember the glasses. Since they emphasize the eyes, we’re drawn to that part of Liu Sang’s face, so it makes sense that the majority of his expression would happen there. This is also prominent with his hearing abilities; whenever he’s trying to focus them (or get us to focus on him), he not only turns his eyes away, he SHUTS THEM, which means we as the audience know that there’s something going on underneath the surface, and really highlights the fact that this is an unusual and cool power!

With Wang Can, however, the structure of his face and absence of Hair Curves directs the eye to his mouth, so we watch that to tell what’s going on in his head. It’s all about directing the eye, and Liu Chang is very good at knowing where people are going to be looking!

SO: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

Liu Sang, Wang Can, and Jiang Wu are all very distinctly characterized through their body language

The same actor becomes different characters by using their toolkit (the body) to its full potential

Hair and makeup people are Wizards

Wang Can is a Whole-Ass Ho and I do not miss him even a little bit

Liu Sang’s body dynamics change over time and I love that for him!!

I’m a giant nerd the end

[chicken-choice-judy-vevo]

COUNTDOWN ANALYSIS DAY 1 OF 8: TULIP

we’re almost there folks! we’ve hung tight for a good couple of months during the wait ‘til book 4, and we’re almost a week away! i thought i’d do a recap of what we’ve seen so far, focusing on analyzing the protagonists of each book and what it can teach us about narrative structure and storytelling. note these analysis are my personal thoughts and opinions, and i’m not stating them as objective fact.

today we start with the Perennial Child: Tulip Olsen.

Problems. Every passenger has a problem. Tulip’s in particular is her failure to look beyond her narrow worldview, leading to making poor decisions, getting stuck, and reluctance to accept help from anyone. The way her journey is approached within the narrative structure of the show sets up a sort of three-part act that shows us how to characterize a complex psychological problem starting from the outside in.

->Act One: The Distress Call

The distress call is what I’d like to consider the point at which any one passenger’s specific problem has become so prevalent that the train has to interfere, before they hit their ‘Point of No Return’. However, the distress call is not the problem itself, and is meant to say something deeper about what the passenger is dealing with.

Tulip attempting to run away and make it to her camp as planned is indicative of her reluctance to accept the reasoning behind other peoples’ actions; In her mind, she’s supposed to be at camp, and if her parents understood that, she’d be on her way already. Her decision to try and make it by foot in the snow... Intrigues me. You would think that Tulip knows this ‘solution’ is bound to fail at best and deadly at worst, and I think she does. This is the beginning of a clear pattern; an inability to ask for help and let someone else’s worldview into her mind. When children do drastic things, it’s more often than not an indirect way to ask for help, and I think her mindset here is, ‘My mom will know I’m missing, and she will come and get me, and then I can get to Oshkosh.’

This is the ‘surface layer’ of her characterization. The show starts by showing you the most drastic manifestation of her deeper psychological problems to show you the most essential parts of her character, so as you head deeper into her mind, you begin to understand her initial decision just a bit more.

-> The Inciting Incident

A little bit into the story, the show doubles back and shows us what brought Tulip to the point of her distress call in the first place. The Inciting Incident is what brings someone’s tendencies to the surface as their problem begins to fester.

Tulip’s Inciting Incident, as we’re shown, is her parents’ divorce. In the Cat’s Car, we see her push aside both her own feelings and her parents’ reasoning for the divorce to accept some easier-to-digest ‘reality’. This is not how her family is ‘supposed’ to be in her mind. This incident is so distressing to her, that she arranged her memories to fit in with the idea that things were ‘perfect’ before her parents decided to ‘change everything’. That makes logical sense, right? If something big hurts you, that must mean had it never happened, you would have been just fine.

This is the second layer of characterization; The justification for her running away and a reinforcement of the flaws she’s shown in the episodes leading up to this. However, this is still NOT her ‘problem’. She might think it is, and the audience might think so as well, until it’s all brought together in...

-> The Revelation

The Revelation is the point at which the story asks you (and Tulip) to look beyond the Inciting Incident, and lays her problem out in the most clear terms it can.

What better way to learn the limitations of her worldview than through her own reflection? In the Chrome Car, she’s confronted with someone who has completely separate views and opinions from her, despite having lived the same life; Lake knows Tulip better than anyone else. Through Lake, she’s offered the opinion of an outsider that she can’t deny, and has to come to terms with the fact that the most logical option (getting her reflection back where she’s supposed to go) isn’t the best option (it would deeply wound another person). Since Tulip can’t claim that Lake doesn’t understand the situation the way she does, she has to admit here that she’s wrong and do what might seem impossible; Free her own reflection.

This isn’t the end of her character arc; Rather, it’s what allows her to finish her character arc. Without the Revelation, I have every reason to believe Tulip might not have been as understanding when entering Amelia’s tape. If Tulip had not been confronted with the fact that her worldview isn’t objectively correct, would she have had the talk during their fight that shifts Amelia’s worldview?

tldr;

Tulip is a great example of how to approach a character’s deeper flaws from the outside in by first showing you their most drastic action, then the reason it happened, and then the root of the problem that lies underneath it all. Through this three-part approach to uncovering a passenger’s problem, the culmination of Tulip’s arc feels natural and impactful.