#i think white anime fans should die in general actually

[wasted-women]

The Trope of the Day is Women in Refrigerators

Welcome to the wasted women tournament, a tournament to figure out what was the worst female character death!

If you don't know, women in refrigerators is a trope originally coined by comic writer Gail Simone in the 90s in response to the death of Alexandra DeWitt in the Green Lantern comics. She had been the Green Lantern Kyle Rayner's girlfriend who had been killed by the villain Major Force and her body stuffed into the refrigerator for Kyle to find. Since then, "fridged" has become a verb to refer to female characters who are senselessly killed in order to the male protagonists sad or angry without much regard to the woman herself. While originally referring specifically to comic books, the terminology has started to spread to any media.

There are typically two ways that women tend to be fridged:

A female character is written specifically to be fridged. The loving mother/older sister or the disposable love interests are both examples of this trope. These characters typically have very little agency or inner-world outside of the male protagonist— their relationship with the male character is essentially their whole role in the story.

A female character who is a character in their own right— they DO have their own inner-world— but then is killed off to affect the male characters or for plot convenience.

With all of that said, here are the rules for for submissions. Please make sure you read them all before you submit.

The submitted character has be a woman. ABSOLUTELY, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, DO MALE CHARACTERS COUNT.

(Women in refrigerators is a trope about the senseless killing of female characters because they are thought of as more disposable by nature of being female. While some male characters are killed off for problematic reasons—see bury your gays or the black guy dies first tropes—this blog isn't about them. However, feel free to combine tropes by submitting queer women or women of color, as they are often killed off at higher rates than cishet or white women.)

For the most part, no resurrected characters. By that I mean no characters who die but later come back to life. However, if you think your character should still count despite their resurrection, feel free to make your case to me in the ask box. If you convince me, I will count them.

No characters who are injured or incapacitated but do not die. However, just like above, you can make your case to me in the ask box and if you convince me, I will count them.

Trans women are women, so feel free to submit trans characters. ABSOLUTELY NO TERFS ALLOWED ON THE BLOG— YOU WILL BE BLOCKED ON SIGHT. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE.

No nonbinary characters unless they also identify with being a woman. Nonbinary people ≠ women. There aren't many nonbinary characters in media in general so I do not think this will be much of a problem but I wanted to specify just in case.

If the woman was killed off for a reason other than making male character(s) sad or plot convenience, then it does not count. This trope is not just any woman who died—there are plenty of ways to kill off a female character in a well-written way!— it's specifically unnecessary or gratuitous killing of female characters in a badly-written way.

I reserve the right to reject a character if I do not think they were actually fridged.

I reserve the right to reject a character if I am not comfortable including them.

I think this goes without saying but no real people.

No unofficial or small media (ex. fan media, OCs, a comic on someone's Tumblr, etc.) as I feel like that could encourage bullying on individual people. Stick to comics, TV, movies, anime, etc. etc. etc. Even if they are smaller but "official" in some way it can be included.

Submissions will be open until December 1st, but if I get a lot of submissions early on I will close them early.

SUBMIT HERE

[disneycritical]

Hi! I really like your blog and I would like to share some of my thoughts about Wish with you.

First of all, I really do wish (ha) Star’s shapeshifting, including human form, was used in the final movie, along with ACTUALLY DECENT WRITING. However, I don’t like that most people are depicting him as a bland Hot Young White Boy #893648382 when his human design could have had far more potential than that. Yes, I know that many of the concept art depicted him sort of like that, but I feel like his human form should be more creative, cool, and mystical than just a Jack Frost-Peter Pan expy.

Second off, I really don’t like how the soundtrack is generic radio pop when I feel like a traditional, more Broadway-like, more Renaissance-like style would’ve fit right in more with the movie’s aesthetic and time period. With this, and the new Wicked movie’s trailers seemingly pop-ifying the musical’s original songs, I’m just really worried that studios are abandoning Broadway-style show tunes in order to appeal to everyone. I know that many people dislike that style of song, but it always resonated with me so much and I’ve always found it cooler and more fascinating than pop. I get that pop can work sometimes, I just don’t want typical show tunes to die out. Let them be where they work.

Lastly. Back to Star-boy. Once again, while I would’ve liked to see him with the right execution, I am not keen on the idea of him being in a romance with Asha. I’m not anti-romance, and I do feel like they could have a sweet platonic bond, but the idea of a romance doesn’t click with me. I dunno why, but I find it to be kinda strange and wishy-washy. Maybe because she’s a normal human and he’s a genie-like magical entity.

As someone who actually thought Wish was alright, just could have used some tightening in places, I will say most of the songs were a bit lacking. You're right, the problem here was that the songwriters primarily had experience in pop singles and not musical numbers. (At All Costs and Knowing What I Know Now can stay though.)

I could take or leave Star Boy. I've seen some cute fan content, but I also just feel like a lot of people are putting way too much stock into the concept arts and some of the deleted scenes? It's a little hard for me to explain but I see people saying "It'd be a much better movie if Star Boy was canon" and I just think You don't KNOW that, though. On the other hand, while again we honestly don't know if AshaxStar was supposed to be a thing, I will say Wish is yet another WOC-led Disney animated movie with no love story, which... ye a h.

-K

[aleniksimmer]

Miraculous the movie

Final thoughts:

-if you watch it alone without any prior knowledge of Miraculous it feels extremely random, the characters are flat, the powers blurry, their objectives kinda lost in the songs, which are there but don't really clear the situation or move the plot forward

-if you watch it knowing the show it does make even less sense, the powers are completely fucked up, sometimes the suits protect them, sometimes not, the characters feel a very faded copy of what they're supposed to be and most of the times the plot doesn't plot, things just happen cause it's fanservice and "a laugh for the kids", it really feels like a fanfiction in which the author was focused in a couple of scenes and then tried to connect them together even if they don't work. Conflicts starts and are closed at random, there's zero build up, as I said before it all feels like it happens because the "author" wanted it to happen but not because the story makes sense developing in that way through the characters (as it should be with a well written story)

In the end, I enjoyed some visuals, I enjoyed some 3d models, but in general it's not something I would want to watch again, it feels uneventful and it does feel like you just have to be a casual/passive spectator. There's no foreshadowing, no messages between the lines. They tried to make the line "save a life, save the world" meaningful but it really gave nothing.

Last very personal opinion, as a hardcore fan of Frozen movies and shorts, it feels like the animations/camera angles/songs were heavily inspired by that and classic Disney in general instead of focusing on the canon material. I get they wanted to retell the story in a shorter format but it didn't quite deliver the intended result for the mentioned reasons.

Spoilers

So I finally decided to watch the movie cause I need something lighthearted rn, and a few seconds in I'm hating how they are presenting the miraculouses "they were only given to heroes but the butterfly is the most evil one cause evil butterfly ohhhhh" like the fuck did you just smoke Fu? Seems like Zag didn't really watched the show and had this vague idea that the butterfly miraculous is EvIL. It would be a long watch. I will edit this post each time I have to say something.

-

I'm a DIE HARD fan of musicals, like half of my songs on Spotify are from musicals, I have playlists of Disney songs. But this?? Seems Zag watched more Anna from Frozen than the actual show. I know Mari was very insecure in the beginning, but this is all over the place, and the dialogues, they are so detached (and I don't want to shit on the animation, but for fuck sake she wants to be a fashion designer, her whole room is pink, her sketches are colorful but the best she can imagine is a gray smoking and a white dress?? Not even a hint of color?? And she stops in front of a white dress?? For frick sake she's Marinette not "I love a sterile environment with bland people" Gabriel Agreste). And I'm 5 minute in. God save me

-

At least I can relate to the flute scene. What a vile instrument c_c

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Ahh I don't know how to feel about them using that tune and those scenes that resemble so much the parts of the show that make you heart skip a bit in a context that feels so less deep. I think I'm missing the build up to the crucial point.

-

The long hair?? Gabe with the long hair?? I'm crying 😂😂

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Oh come ooooonnnn. They give Nooroo a fuking bad reputation like this. And it doesn't make any sense design wise. If the butterfly is the worst of the worst why does it have a random place in the circle of secondary miraculouses. I hate it.

-

And now the jewels fly. Okay. OK. I need to forget about the show.

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Ok. Now I'm 100% certain that Fu is high on something.

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No Tikki, the butterfly is lost due to Fu and you perfectly know what it is capable of? Otherwise you wouldn't call it the eViLlllll.

-

So, what did we learn today. The gargoyle is there to do nothing, no objective, no plan, no correlation between the emotion and the akumatized result. Gabe should want their miraculouses but apparently the akuma is just trying to play with them through the city? Why sneaking behind? Why attacking CN at random and then going around? Why staying in Notre Dame and just make noise in the beginning? Second, the yoyo is doing all the work, God forbid Mari learns how to use it. Just make the yoyo do the job and LB is just there like a sack of potatoes. Everything is so random.

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Who needs heroes when you can crush the akumatized person with a train, right?? Also that poor akuma got fried to death just to make the batman symbol.

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He keeps making fun of her, treat her like an inferior but he's in love?? I'm face palming hard right now. Also, a fucking God of destruction apparently has a digestive system he can't control. Nice. Really really nice. So funny. Ha ha. 😑

-

He really went for that disney villain vibe..

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I NEED a figurine of them on the moon.

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I am weak for Ladynoir, ok? Ok. Don't care much about the song but how they interact now it's adorable. They're dancing. My poor heart. 😭

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Really, hawkmoth decided to become batman.

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And now he's a Jedi, ladies and gentlemen!

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Oh, the flying superman shot was really missing now.

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Physically and canonically everything doesn't make any sense but okay. God feels like a fanfiction.

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Show Gabe would have laughed maniacally and grabbed that ring without any second thought. Oh well.. This is anticlimactic.

-

So.. Are we finally going to see a lucky charm at the end of the movie ooooor... Nope, just some dust and Elsa building skills.

-

NOT EVEN THE KISS??? YOU DIDN'T EVEN GIVE US THE KISS??? YOU REALLY WANT TO MAKE A SEQUEL OF THIS?? Like what, Mayura and the other 3 heroes? Oh for God sake. I would prefer this investment in the quality of the show animation than in this.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

for the violence ask game: 1, 12, 19!

Choose Violence Ask Game

1. the character everyone gets wrong

I feel like this is fairly low hanging fruit because this is something I complain about a lot but the darkling!! I feel like softening him far too much was always a fandom tendency but after the show basically overtook all fan interpretations it’s gotten real bad 😂 like he’s just not interesting if he’s a crybaby sad boy who’s never done anything wrong in his life?? why is that even something people want from this character??

he can be sympathetic and horrible at the same time! that’s simply more compelling!

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

also a fairly basic answer but I’m a die hard alina defender at this point. this character gets treated so poorly by canon and fanon alike.

I guesssss I can get people disliking her but she’s usually treated like she’s a blank slate generic protagonist and I think that’s simply untrue! I really like her just being so sour, recalcitrant, and snarky, especially next to the darkling’s grandiose fantasy villain monologuing. she’s such a like normal dumb teenager, and I think that’s fun!

19. you’re mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like…

agshdhff I’m struggling a bit here because I have no shame

generally I guess my taste is very predictable! if characters try to kill each other I will ship it. if there’s a villain/hero dynamic I will ship it. also just anything with like lol questionable boundaries or any sort of fraught dynamic.

it’s also a little frustrating because I’ll almost never like dynamics where the romance is the point and meant to at all be endgame. I tend to only be interested in relationships if the fraught aspect is narratively genuine and meant to frame the characters as like off limits to each other.

anyway trying to think of questionable things. like eye think the funnest alarkling moment is when he threatens to skin her rip. I read bear and the nightingale recently and couldn’t be bothered to care about the actual romance because the fucked up dynamic with the priest was too much fun. I reread twilight last year and skipped right past the actual love triangle and was instead very very intrigued by the possibilities of bella/carlisle.

oh also like if there’s any sort of trope falling into the typical “white/blond haired anime boy ruins one person’s entire life” I’m probably into it! so like jonadio, griffguts, ryokira, the list goes on.

[kukuandkookie]

I was going to reblog this just as usual and maybe just share my thoughts in the tags, but…

A potential shounen yuri anime—or should I say shaonian baihe donghua?—may have just come out on Bilibili:

Its name is Shadows of the Void and it will be free on Bilibili’s YouTube channel while airing, whereafter the rest of it will likely be locked behind a paywall:

I described it as potential baihe in my donghua and manhua recommendations list because it’s focusing on the eventual close bond between the two female protagonists (a move that was already pretty surprising to me, especially since this is an action sci-fi).

Specifically, I first picked up on those ~vibes~ when watching the character PVs, since one of the main characters’ PV involves her trying to kill her future partner, while said partner’s PV features that character who first tried to kill her now seemingly asking her not to die. 👀

Oh, and they hold hands in the ED!

And if nothing else, it’s still a potential relationship to be read as queer in some way even if you view it as platonic.

*Note: Chinese media faces different levels of censorship on a spectrum, and donghua is perhaps the second-most censored after cdramas when it comes to depictions of queer relationships, but Chinese creators still put in a lot of queer-coding. So for a series like this that isn’t clearly originally meant to be a baihe, the friendship can still 100% be read as queer/romantic if you so wish it. Chinese media isn’t black-and-white in that way. Additionally, this means Chinese media can’t really afford to queer-bait, and there’s a general trend of less fan-service than in anime, so even what feels like fan-service will be toned down, and you can worry less about blatant fetishization or sexualization.

There’s also another series that’s been ongoing for a while now that has baihe vibes, and that is Soulmate Adventure aka Spirit Wind Elegance aka Sunflowers:

And we’re getting a donghua adaptation (eventually) of an actual baihe novel, called Jing Wei Qi Shang (Clear and Muddy Loss of Love):

The above two series are historical (with the former probably falling under the wuxia (Chinese martial arts) genre, which involves battles and fights and all that good stuff, so that’s why I also counted them as potentially shounen/shaonian.

I don’t think they’re quite as blatant about targeting a shaonian (young male) audience as Shadows of the Void is, but yeah! They can still definitely count. And I mean, this kind of labelling isn’t clear-cut anyway, especially in China where shaonian or shaonü isn’t the established categories they are in Japan (although Chinese romance stories marketed to young girls are far easier to label as shaonü than all the other donghua out there, which may all feel shaonian in some way).

In general, I find the way women to be portrayed in donghua generally to be easier to stomach than in anime. Now that’s not to say that donghua is perfect about it, but for the most part it just feels like women have more to do, are pretty capable of fighting alongside their male counterparts, and generally rock pretty cool designs that—even when kind of sensual, aren’t made into fan-service quite the same way anime women may be, and there’s a lot less focus on whether these women need a boyfriend or on say, whether their body is considered attractive etc (like as funny as that could be, I remember that being a thing a lot in Naruto Shippuden akdjfksjs).

Examples I can think of include from Scissor Seven; White Cat Legend; You Yao; Fox Spirit Matchmaker; Quan Zhi Gao Shou; Fog Hill of Five Elements; Ling Cage; Yi Ren Zhi Xia; Shaonian Ge Xing; War God System! I’m Counting on You; Blades of the Guardians; and so on.

(Kind of random but the video above is still one of the “hottest” or like, most attractive action sequences/displays of power I’ve ever watched. 😆🙈)

(This last clip is cut weirdly and has MTL subs but what can you do HNGKSHD. I address why I chose the videos in the next paragraph:)

*Note (again): I did choose clips that feature some form of “badass action” sequences, but many of these women get more spotlight than just a few cool fight scenes, even if they’re not the main main character of their respective series. Still, I chose these clips for a number of reasons, including the fact that it’s actually quite hard to find donghua clips on YouTube (rip), that at least these show them being badass without spoiling much, and that hopefully it also demonstrates my point about their character designs.

Even Xi Yang Yang, a franchise for children, started trending toward less stereotypical depictions of their female characters when the show shifted direction. Every season after Mighty Little Defenders has showcased quite a bit of action, and the female characters get to take part in their own ways—like they’re still feminine, but not useless.

I always admire how they let Mei Yang Yang grow and have her own arcs and also partake in cool battles in a way that felt true to her character, especially since she was first shown in the show to be the initially token female character who boy characters may fawn over, who she herself may think of boys, who hated getting dirty and liked pink and fashion and all stereotypical girly things, and who could come across as shallow or boring. But now she and other female characters like her are way more interesting than they’ve ever been!

Now again, donghua and China are not perfect by any means when it comes to how women are treated, but I still found it to be a bit refreshing in not being as bad. So maybe some shounen anime fans might feel the same way. 🙏

I had a scientific theory I needed to sketch out.

[quiveringdeer]

sweet nat I would like ur thoughts on one toji fushiguro!!

Thanks for this Mar! I dunno why I originally saw the post as separate ask prompts when I sent you the Gojo one, instead of answering them all about a character, my bad!

If anyone else wants to send an ask for this feel free!

Why I like them:

I'm always a sucker for a powerful antagonist lol Especially when they have heaps of trauma built in too, and Toji has that for sure! The way he was outcast by his family but used his heavenly restriction to overcome so much and become a notorious assassin is just peak character to me

Why I don't:

There's not really anything I dislike about him tbh 🤷🏽‍♀️

Favorite scene: 

To thirst over- In the anime when he catches the fish in his mouth and then the way his tongue sticks out after releasing it??? 🥵🥵🥵 Mappa had NO RIGHT --plus the backflips in the air with his shirt riding up juuuust enough to give a peak at his back - Chefs's kiss /CINEMA/

In general- The moments of flashback where he recalls his first wife's words about taking care of Megumi and then ends up offing himself to protect Megumi from himself. 

Favorite season/movie:

Second season of the show and every single scene involving him if im truthful

Favorite line:

 “I don’t go by Zen’in anymore. I got married and took my wife’s name. I go by Fushiguro now." -mans loves his wife TO THIS DAY! 

Favorite outfit: 

The classic tight dark shirt white slouchy pants combo

OTP: 

Toji x Mamaguro OF COURSE! Gosh what I wouldnt give to have some slice of life info from Gege on how they met, fell in love and the little time they all spent together after Megumi was born 🥹 Their love story is so important to me, like she's the G.O.A.T. of "I can make him better" uuuuugh 

BroTP: 

Uhhhh him and the worm lmao The fact the official fanbook says: "Toji was able to establish a friendly relationship with his inventory curse by earnestly training it like a pet." makes me giddy

Headcanon:

I dunno what's canon, fanon or simply conjecture since i havent read the manga but- I dont believe Toji ever /actually/ forgot who Megumi was in part 1 of Hidden Inventory. I think he was playing it up to downplay Megumi's importance to him in order to keep him safe. I think nearly every decision he makes is to try and keep Megs safe. Naming him a traditionally girl's name to potentially keep the rest of the Zenin clan off their trail since they dont value women no matter their cursed techniques. Finding a wealthy second wife to link himself to so that Megs wouldn't grow up destitute with just him ((even tho i read Toji and Tsumiki's mom apparently "ran away together" and spent up all the inheritance? i dunno i still wanna believe okay)) The way he saw his first wife/first love tbh- in Megumi when they were fighting in the alley and he flashbacked to her telling him to keep Megs safe. I also think that regardless of if it turned out Megs had ended up with the Zenins and taken their clan name after his first death- or the current timeline of him remaining Fushiguro, that Toji would have killed himself to protect Megumi in that last moment. I think the fact that he still had the Fushiguro name let him at least die more peacefully this second time. 

Unpopular opinion:

It's hard for me to read certain Toji x Reader content because of how integral I view his relationship with Megumi's mom. I'm not a fan of erasing her from his story/life or having reader be that person for him. I dunno why this is a sticking point for me of all the things I read and write lmao Still love reading shameless smut and also sometimes fluff with him that doesnt dive too deep into things but for deeper dives I feel like any Toji x Reader should be mainly one sided, unrequited romantic feelings for him 

A wish: 

More backstory for him! There was a fan mockup of sequel focused on him as a kid and growing up and I wanted it to be true sooo bad! I mean we all know he's Gege's favorite so if Gege didnt hate us they'd make it happen, but alas 😩 For now I make do with the adorable art by DDub1618 on twitter!

An oh-god-please-don't-ever-happen:

n/a

5 Words to best describe them:

geeze this feels hard for some reason hmmm: The Greatest of All Time 😎

My nickname for them:

Daddy 😏

[unclewarwick]

spend an unhealthy amount of time on a drawing, your limbs became numb during the creation of it, it's something you have wanted to draw for a year and you're very pleased with how it turned out, especially since you've been experimenting with colour lately and your skill is improving in that regard. nobody cares, because it's fan art of some mainstream characters being fags and it's awkward for them to spend even a moment in your twisted mind. you spend less than an hour scribbling animals in black and white. barely any details, not much thought was put into it. people immediately erupt into applause, offering you marriage proposals and doxxing you just so people could thank you in person for making such beautiful, meaningful and passionate art, some people even leaving huge sacks of money on your doorstep and running away because they want to get a big back tattoo of it but are too shy and daunted to ask for permission so they just brought a shitload of coins and paper monies to make up for it. you don't know what to do with your life so after months of losing artistic motivation from people's clear display of pathetic biases and a very underdeveloped artistic sensibility, you use the worthless mountains of money sacks to hire a hitman to kill you. you told them to make it long and slow and deliberate. when you meet in person you are so excited to die and be gone from this world, but they just stand there for a while being quiet, then let out a sigh and they finally say that they have been watching you for years and you just happened to come across their killing business, and they have been following your art all along, since the beginning, and they refuse to kill you because they respect you too much. you're stunned into speechlessness and just scoff in disbelief a little bit, not sure how to respond to such a compliment. they seem to have read your mind because they say to you, "hey, you don't have to say anything... how about we... go to dinner? is that weird? i don't know. but i have recently come into money (haha), and am feeling a bit generous on this very evening. would you feel so inclined as to partake in some supper? or perhaps dinner? you can say no if you want to. i care a lot about Consent and i really respect it if you don't Consent to eating dinner with little ol' me."

you Consent to eating dinner with them. at the table in a lowkey restaurant, they mention how cool they think it is that you had it/its pronouns listed in your social media bio and that they use exclusively he/him pronouns. you wish you should go back, option + command+ F your memories (find and replace for all you non-mac users in the audience), and replace all the times you thought of him as a "they". while you were lost in your thoughts, he had pulled an accordion file out of his coat and started pulling out pieces of cardstock. he looks at you expectantly, but not in a desperate way. which is awesome because all those other people who were "fans" of you were acting like starved wolves whenever you were confronted by them. you finally register what is on the pieces of cardstock. it is faithful recreations of dvd cover art. you look back up at him. and he shrugs. "i haven't showed this to anyone before in my life, but my secret passion is renting movies and then drawing the dvd cover art as accurately as possible. but i hide some little secrets in them. like in this one for so i married an axe murderer, i changed it so that mike myers' head is tilted back 16 degrees more than it is on the actual thing. watchya think?"

you feel kind of put off by him asking for your opinion, and much more so by his choice to spend so much time on something related to that movie. “i think your dedication to your craft is commendable,” you say. you hope he can’t tell that you’re being kind of dishonest. he nods and says, “thanks, man. oh! do you Consent to being called a man? i know you’re a guy, but the pronouns throw me off a bit and i don’t want to mess up anything.” you shrug. “i think your fixation on framing everything as an issue of consent is a bit disconcerting. it’s not that big of a deal. yes, i’m a man, i get called a man because i am a man. it’s quite simple.” you don’t know what caused you to get annoyed enough at him to have a bit of an outburst. you don’t have enough time to feel apologetic, though, because he pulls out a gun from his coat and holds it in front of your face. “do you still consent to dying, you piece of shit? what if i shoot you right in the face at this very moment? what then?” your brain is overloaded from so many questions in a row and you can only think to say, “hang on, let me think,” not being very aware of where the conversation is now. “would you mind repeating that?” you ask. “it’s just, i have adhd and whatever, and it causes me to have some issues following what people are saying.” he takes a deep breath and sets the gun down on the table in front of him. “yeah. yeah, sorry, i got ahead of myself. jesus.. listen, i’ve had a long day and this didn’t really go the way i thought it would, so. if you don’t mind. i just wanna go home. i’ll even refund you.”

you jolt up in your seat. “no way am i taking back any money. the familiar serial numbers on the bills would remind me too much of your inadequacy as a hitman, and i hate the stinking things anyway. money…. ugh .... god, why did the one fucking hitman i hired have to be you?”

he looks mournful, almost like a dog who has been yelled at. “listen, uh.. i’ll hire a hitman to off you with the money you gave me, alright? it’s the least i could do. i just need to know—does it have to be tonight? i’m not sure it could happen on such short notice, but i’ll try my best.” you look away from him to glance down at the gun on the table, and around the general vicinity of the restaurant. how does nobody notice or care? “yeah, it’s fine,” you say without giving it much consideration. “wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.”

a week later, you are sitting on a bench in the middle of a park. you’ve been going out in the open as often as possible, waiting for the hitman to kill you, providing endless opportunities for your murder. something across the fountain catches your eye. a familiar coat. it’s the hitman. the one you're acquainted with. he looks equally surprised to see you, and gives a little wave. you wave back. suddenly, a completely unrelated human being drops down from a tree branch overhead and tackles you on the bench. they are holding a knife and they stab expertly into your neck, killing you instantly.

[red-riding]

Tolkien Elves Clothing Headcannons

Please read: These are only my headcanons, meaning my ideas and interpretations of what Tolkien's elves would have worn based on the text, my clothing knowledge, and imagination. I am in no way claiming this is how it should be. Also I own none of the photos used in this post. 

Also this is obnoxiously long and wordy, so if you skip to a section that interests you, I won't judge. I may have went ( A lot ) over bored ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Also I just want to say thank you so much for all the support I got on the post asking if I should do this, I hope it lives up to everyones expectations. 

Sources

Okay so in going on this journey of research, I ran into an issue. What culture or cultures to base the clothes off of. My first thought was to have each elven group take ideas from different human cultures. Which makes sense to an extent.

I feel elves would all dress more similar than different across Tolkien’s universe. My reason for this is all the elves started out in the same place (the awakening) and were all exposed to the same things. I believe their clothing would be strongly influenced by the Valar due to Orome’s influence in the beginning and since elves are immortal this influence would not die out as generations go on (I talk about this in the trends section of this post).

If you look in human societies throughout history, they are often unified culturally, despite being far apart, by a religion and I'm applying this to elves. They would emulate the Valar’s clothing in my mind.

Okay now that I narrowed down that I want to use one culture mostly, what culture to pick? There honestly is no right answer to this I feel, but i'm going with European influence (Which is super general I know) since that is where the concept of elves originates from and Tolkien was English. Elves started making their way into stories and poetry in around the 1500s, so that gives me a general area and date to start forming my headcanon. I'm also going to take quite a lot of liberties and take influence from the Lord of the rings films, and general fantasy aesthetics as well to form these headcanons.

Fabrics

When talking about clothes the first place to start is what they are made of: the fabric. What kind of fabric would the elves use and have available to them. When coming up with this I considered two main things, One how durable the fabric is and two could elves make it.

I think durability would be extremely important to elves. According to the International textile association, the average regularly worn garment will last two to three years. Imagine how short of a time period that is to elves! This is why I believe durability would be extremely important to elves, they want something to last. especially the less wealthy elves because they can not afford constant new clothing.

I am only going to list clothing I think the elves could realistically make, so no polyester, plastic and chemical based fabrics.

Considering these two things I have come up with this list using this website as reference. 

Canvas

Cashmere 

Chenille 

Chiffon 

Cotton

Georgette (Silk variety) 

jersey (Silk and cotton variety) 

Leather and Animal Skins/furs 

Wool (And all its woven variants) 

Muslin 

Lace

Satin 

Silk (And all its differently woven Variants)

Taffeta 

Velvet 

Silhouette 

Note: We are looking at shape/Silhouette in this section, don't mind the colors or fabrics in my reference photos. 

So if you study fashion history and culture at all you know the silhouette is one of the defining things of a culture and era. This brings on the question of what the Silhouette for elves would be. I think elves would share one general silhouette with similarities between the male and female silhouettes but have differences as well. This also applies to elves of different lands. They may have the same general silhouette with slightly different things.  

For Elleths

For the common elleth silhouette I am going to say one thing SLEEVES. This is taking inspiration from both the LOTR movie and 1500s european paintings and fashion. long graceful sleeves is something I think would be an elven stable on formal/evening gowns. I feel there would be different styles of sleeves however the most common would be something like this. However I will say for casual work wear they would yield unhelpful. 

Another thing I feel most elleth dresses would have is a waist seam. This is one thing I strongly dislike about the LOTR movie dress, a majority of the dresses at their base looks like a modern slip dress or a night gown and im not a fan. I understand this was probably a stylistic choice to represent how refined and ellagent the elves were, but to me it just looks like an ill fitted fast fashion nightgown. Here is a link to a good example photo if you want to look. Almost no dresses until the last hundred years lacked a waist seam like this. Some cultures don't have a waist seam in woman clothing but will almost always have a belt like garnet if there is no seam. And I personally think waist seemed gowns, look far more elegant. Plus 1500s european gowns all had waist seams so we are adding a waist seam. 

Now the skirt, I feel it would be simple and more on the flat flowing side. No hoop skirts or bum roles for the elves. I do think in some gowns they may add some under lawyers to add volume and or warmth. 

For Ellons 

I actually really like the LOTR movies interruption of elven male robes for formal situations, Here is an example. I also think similar styles but shorter would be worn by either younger ellons or ellons wanting to branch out in a different style for a formal occasion. Here is an example. 

For General Elves 

I feel something both genders would share in their formal and non formal clothes is the use of capes in very versatile ways. The cape could have a function like keeping one warm, or just be purely for show and drastic flare as one descends from their throne *cough* Thranduil, Feanor *Cough*. Here are some examples: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3. 

Now onto the talk of practical clothing. No matter how graceful elves are they can not wear gowns and robes when training or horse back riding. I imagine simple slacks and tunics would be a common site among elves who do physical activities. What Legolas wears in the lord of the rings, is perfect I feel. Practical and rather similar to what humans wear. Here is the example. 

Colors

I feel the elves would have clothing of all colors overall. depending on a couple things. Elves' clothing colors would be different depending on the environment and what dyes they have available in it. As well as what colors function best in an environment, so a lot of greens.

I don't think elven royals would enforce any laws that limits what colors an elf can wear depending on class like most royals throughout human history have. I do feel that certain elven houses, or elves would take on certain color themes. For example I believe Feanor and his house would wear a whole lot of reds, and blacks. While Finarfin and his house would be wearing more blues, whites and silver.

I think plant based dyes would be the most common among elves, making their clothing fall more on earthy toned down colors, opposed to bright synthetic ones we are used to (See mood board above). I do think some brighter colors could be achieved by dying a garment multiple times or using a rarer material like minerals. However I feel majorly would be as I said earthy and natural.

Embellishments 

I believe elves would dabble in all forms of embellishments on their clothing, I mean they have so much time on their hands so why not? I think embroidery would probably be the most common, Little swirled designs on hems and such. Bead work probably would be reserved for more formal garments, due to it being done with crystals and gems and taking lots of time.

I think what designs elves created would mostly be inspired by nature. Different flowers, birds, and stars being the most common.

I think some elven royals would have robes glistened with sewed on diamonds and jewels, to draw attention to themselves and show status.

Environments 

(Note: The way I arranged this mood board above is by environment. So Beach/tropical first row, Temperate forest middle, and snowy cold place third row.)

I feel the main thing that will be changing between different environments and temperatures is what materials they use. Fur and wool lined cloaks and robes for cold places. Light breathable fabric, decorated with sea shells for tropical beach environments. And cotton and medium warmth clothing for forests. I also feel for hunting clothing elves in forests would wear green, and in snowy areas would wear white furs.

I believe elves would still maintain the same general silhouette in different areas (Go to the Silhouette section for more details) just adding on layers and warmer fabrics in colder places.

Trends

So this section does not get a mood bored because I could not think of what that would be.

Trends are something extremely prevalent throughout human culture, often decided by those in power: Celebrities nowadays and in the past royalty. I don't think elves would have trends like we do, for two main reasons.

Reason one is as I said, trends in the past were decided by royals and oftentimes when a new royal took throne fashions would change in their image. However elven rulers don't die of old age like humans, they live forever. making the constant change of trends not occur with each new ruler because there is not a new ruler often. When there is a new ruler it is most likely extremely tragic because that means the past ruler died, and the next  (Most likely a child of the old ruler ) would probably not want to cause a drastic change in clothing out of respect.

Reason two being age groups. Trends often times change as new age groups move into the prime of their life and old generations die out. However elves are immortal and don't die out. I have no doubt younger elves would dress somewhat differently but there would be no massive clothing changes, In silhouette or fabrics due to the older elves pushing back against it. As well as the elves wanting to continue emulating the Valar.

Everyone who asked to be tagged and I want to show this too: @psychostatic, @deep-space-elf, @bitter-sweet-farmgirl, @tiefliing, @animallover81, @softnessfrommyheart, @xmarchwarden-of-lothlorienx, @hardinginhightowns, @xirinofarvada, @gossip-girl-of-middle-earth, @brannonlasgalen, @most-random-blog-with-stuff, @aduialel, @a-dragon-under-the-stars, @proffyaffle, @estel-means-hope, @eldritch-gilthoniel, @tsuyu-sama, @lady-of-black-roses, @perhaps-iwilltry, @lady-latte, @allinwonderlands , @saviorsong, @entishramblings, @rowandor, @halfwaytheremama, @tran-khuetu​, @tolkien-fantasy​

[themousefromfantasyland]

Fairy Tale Laws: How Fairy Tales and their Worldbuilding work

Who follows me knows I'm mega into mythology and folklore. One of my favorite pieces of folklore and fantasy literature is the Fairy Tale. Since I was a child I was always draw to the magical world of Disney films and their darker literary counterparts.

I love fairy tales, yet in my opinion they continue to be one of the more misunderstood and neglected genres out there.

So, as a Disney fan and avid fairy tale reader, in this essay I show how the genre itself generally works and which principles rule their whimsical world

Fairy Tales, Myths and Fables

The thing that fairy tales, myths and fables have in common is that they all find their origins in the oral tradition.

They were fantastical tales, not told specifically for children but deeply enjoyed by them, that were transmitted through generations.

Both fairy tales and myths don't follow real world logic, instead following their own dream-like logic, in a sequence of weird and fantastical events, that are magical and intriguing to the listener, but essentially normal to the in-universe characters.

Often than not there aren't any explanations of why these events happen and their impact of those in-universe societies, they just happen. Animals talk, mythical creatures live along with human societies just fine, inanimated objects come to life, people seem to turn into animals all the time, etc, and nothing of that seem to ever change the status quo.

The thing that differentiate the fairy tale from the myth, is that the myth is supposed to have happened in our world, but in a far off past. They are supposed to explain how our world came to be, and they have a very strong religious importance. The fairy tale on the other hand is not supposed to be took seriously. It's a fun story that the older generation tell to the younger generation. It can pass deeply important life or religious values, but that's not their main point. They are fairy tales, not fables.

The point of the fable is to transmit a moral. The point of a fairy tale is to transport the listener into a fantastical journey.

Fairy Tales vs. Oral Stories

Although many folk stories became immortal fairy tales, not all fairy tales came from oral tradition. Actually, some can be traced back to specific authors.

The Little Mermaid, the Ugly Duckling and the Steadfast Tin Soldier are all considered immortal fairy tales, yet they were all created by famous danish writer Hans Christian Andersen. A lot of his stories are authoral, and all are considered true fairy tales.

The term "Fairy Tales" actually comes from the french "conte de fées" and was coined in the 17th century by Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy, the Madame d'Aulnoy, a french writer who wrote about a world where love and happiness came to heroines after overcoming great obstacles.

These stories arise from the Préciosité, a French literary style in the 17th century, from "les précieuses", intellectual, witty and educated women who frequented the salon of Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet. Themes presented in these stories are the ideals of feminine elegance, etiquette and courtly Platonic love, all hugely popular with female audiences, but scorned by men.

Telling fairy tales was a popular préciosité parlor game, and they should be told as if spontaneously, even though they all were carefully prepared. This style served as influence for Charles Perrault and Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve.

Villeneuve herself was the original author of Beauty and the Beast, and although the story is heavily inspired by older legends like Cupid and Psyche, it still is an authoral story.

Even the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault, who were famous for being collectors of tales from oral tradition, gave their own twists and embellishments to their tales. For example, in many Cinderella tellings it's her mother's ghost who helps her. The Fairy Godmother is Perrault's invention.

So more than been just stories from the oral tradition, fairy tales as a literary genre are the reinvention of the old tropes found in the folk stories under a more sophisticated polish, for a new public.

Fairy Tale as a literary genre

In a way I consider the Fairy Tale a sibling genre to Magical Realism. As TV Tropes puts:

"In Magic Realism, events just happen, as in dreams. [...] Magical realism is a story that takes place in a realistic setting that is recognizable as the historical past or present. It overlaps with Mundane Fantastic. It has a connection to surrealism, dream logic, and poetry."

Both use a surreal, almost poetic internal logic with little to no explanation. Magical Realism is the occurrence of a fantastical event in a realistic setting, in a fusion between the mundane and the magical world.

Fairy Tales are similar because they often deal with very domestic topics and subjects. The protagonists often are normal people with very mundane goals. They don't want to save the world, they want to save themselves and their loved ones.

Cinderella and Snow White for example, are more concerned with escaping from their abusive families than being cultural or legendary heroes like in the myths. Hansel and Gretel are trying not to die from starvation, and Red Riding Hood is trying to visit her sick grandmother. Regardless of class status, these are people with their own problems that find in the fantastical events a escape from them, or a even worse danger.

This is not a universal rule, as some characters are more heroic and there's more in stake, but generally the heroes are domestic heroes and it's only their lives that are in stake.

The difference between the Magic Realism and the Fairy Tale, is that while in the Magic Realism you can easily point where the realistic setting ends and the magical one begins, the fairy tale goes even further, and the lines between the worlds are way more muddled.

Worldbuilding in Fairy Tales

Now, that's the most important part. Fairy Tales are a sub-genre to Fantasy, but while in the other genres the magic world is described in the minimal details, often with rich details about the in-universe cultures and their rules, the Fairy Tale maintain the magic world as vague as possible. That's because it uses what I call "soft-worldbuilding".

Part of the appeal of the fairy tale is to transport the reader in a fantastical journey, but in order to do that they use as little details possible, allowing the reader to try to fill in the gaps. That's in order to avoid the magic world of feeling too real or too close to reality. The reader needs to have a sense of wonder and intrigue, and if you started to describe your world in all its details, it will become too grounded, and the wonder and the intrigue will be lost.

Said that, you need some basic rules, otherwise everything will be incredibly incoherent. You reader needs to understand how the magic world works and their rules, but they also need to be slightly lost, discovering all the details along the way and be amazed by them, lost in a mystery that they will never find all the answers.

To illustrate this, look at the differences between the Middle-earth and Narnia. One is a standard fantasy world, the other is a fairy tale world. J.R.R. Tolkien drew inspiration from the epics, C.S. Lewis drew inspiration from fairy tales and childhood stories.

The Middle-earth is grounded on its own rules, with their own races, cultures, languages and myths. Narnia is a playground were everything magical is allowed. Greek mythology creatures? Okay. Roman gods? Okay. Father Christmas? Okay. Jesus? Of course!

One is worried about all the small details, the other wants everything as vague and simple as possible, as to ensure the wonder and the intrigue will never be lost the reader.

When you're dealing with a fairy tale world you have way more freedom than the standard fantasy world. You don't need to think too deeply in the details. You can use the Rule of Funny and the Rule of Cool as much as you want, as long as it's minimal consistent and coherent

Fairy Tale Laws

This are some basic rules and principles that I believe rule over the fairy tale genre

Establish rules of how the world works. Keep it consistent and coherent. That's your base

Not every fantastical event needs a deep explanation, and magic is not allowed as an universal explanation

Keep it simple. Don't worry too much about the small details.

You don't want your world to be too grounded in reality. A little escapism is key

Poetic logic and surrealism reigns

Have fun with all the weird and magical things that crowded your world. "Rule of Cool" and "Rule of Funny" reign

Never reveal too much to your reader. They need to constantly feel as if there is something more happening off the limits of your story

Domestic heroes (As Narnia and the old dragon slayer stories show, this is not an universal rule)

The overall tone can be darker and edgier, softer and lighter, or somewhere in the middle

[phoenixtakaramono]

Character Design Thoughts for Shen Yuan & Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky in ‘The Untold Tale’

(This is a Follow Up to This Post)

Hello, @averydrearydiana! Loved reading through your tags! I’m excited that you’re excited! Since I’m also seeing comments on AO3 speculating about how our transmigrators are going to appear as in The Untold Tale, I might as well give my current thoughts and have this archived on tumblr for future reference.

A fun fact about TUT is that a lot of the imagery in the story is inspired by Chinese PVs and popular C-dramas and literature. Since TUT is conceived as a lovestory to SVSSS, one element that I’d wanted to incorporate is playful attempts at satirical genre deconstruction. With that comes with me playfully poking fun at some clichés or things I’ve noticed in Chinese works.

Shen Yuan’s Celestial Design

Before I talk about his mortal appearance, I have to give a lil context about his celestial design in the story. We already know what he looks like as the celestial fortuneteller in TUT’s cover art that I’ve already posted on tumblr. As everyone knows, I was heavily inspired by this Chinese PV:

(TUT ch1 - Excerpt)

Among the things I’ve noticed are the fictional characters with white hair. We have a whole subculture of fans liking male character designs with white hair in anime and animation. Taking that a step further, they’ve even shown up in C-dramas, i.e. Teng She from Love and Redemption (technically more blond than platinum white, but shhhhh, just let me have this), Dong Hua Dijun from Eternal Love of Dream aka Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (rest assured, I’m aware of the source material’s controversy, but let’s not get into that here), etc. One of the tags for TUT is Opposites Attract. Luo Binghe’s color coordination is aligned with black and red mostly. Now, visually speaking, what’s the opposite of that?

The yin yang symbol.

Fun fact, besides black vs white, green (SY) is the complementary color of red (LBG) on the color wheel. Now taking everything I’ve said, to take it even one step further, my thought process at the time was, “why not go the extra mile then and just have SY be albino? Within context of the Heavenly Realm, that character design makes sense.” TUT is me subtly riffing off what I can (for the good ol’ meta humor), but making the content come across as a legitimate story experience. As Protagonist A and Protagonist B, LBG and SY have to look visually striking together. With all that said, let’s talk about....

(In reference to the original tumblr post)

Shen Yuan (Mortal)

I’ll keep some elements of his albinism from his celestial form (light sensitivity and pale skin mostly), but SY’s mortal form is essentially SY pre-transmigration but within context of the xianxia genre.

For his appearance, let’s just keep this Author’s Note^ and TUT’s summary in the back of our brains. This is the fanvid I was originally inspired by for SY’s mortal appearance:

(TUT Summary - Excerpt)

For what he wears, I’m currently feeling very heavily inspired by this PV:

His mortal appearance wouldn’t be considered as “strange” or “otherworldly” compared to the “ethereal fairy-like beauty” SY retains in the Heavenly Realm, but as a side-effect of the 【PROTAGONIST’S HALO】 and his +20 CHARISMA stat, he would still be considered attractive to people even when he takes on a mortal appearance. (Mainly, I like the idea of Bing gē taking large shots of vinegar seeing SY turning heads no matter which appearance SY takes on, and Luo Binghe glaring at these “insects” for even “daring to lay their unworthy eyes on his fated person.” The thought of it just makes me laugh.)

What I mean by how SY’s mortal form being very much based on how SY appeared pre-transmigration but in the xianxia genre context, I mean he’ll have his dark hair (but longer), a “scholarly air” (as a nod to his novelist background), dark eyes, and even his glasses technically (the divine monocle mentioned in ch3, which is also a subtle nod to Sha Po Lang and a riff on men wearing monocles in other Chinese works andit’salsoforeshadowingbutshhhh).

(TUT ch3 - Excerpt)

Shen Yuan originally was an author in his forties pre-transmigration, so I like the idea him having a mature air about him in the Cultivation World as well. So for both our Protagonist B’s celestial and mortal appearances, the idea is that you can look at him and immediately recognize him as a protagonist of the danmei setting. My only two prerequisites are that his appearance screams “hello, I’m Protagonist B” and that he appears in “scholarly” attire.

Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky (Mortal)

Keeping in mind the original tumblr post where I wrote my thoughts on who I’m transmigrating him as, currently I’m thinking it’s a combination of these two PVs for his mortal form:

As a nod to him being a successful novelist, I wanted him to also appear scholarly. A scholarly crown prince, if you will. For his attire, imagine all the C-drama clothing you’ve seen actors wear in period dramas, and you already have a good idea already of the direction I’m heading down.

As the prince of the cannon fodder emperor, I very much like the idea of Airplane perhaps having a baby face and brown hair (as a small nod to fanon!SQH from SVSSS) but with a great body (a huge source of inspiration are clothing worn by Prince Yu and Prince Jing of the three princes from the C-drama Nirvana in Fire). Since Airplane will also be able to select his Character Creation stats like Shen Yuan had, one thing I’m fairly certain is that he will max out his CONSTITUTION—because “game logic” and not wanting to die. (For those who don’t know, the CON stat in tabletop RPs essentially indicates a person’s overall health, wellbeing, and vigor checks...so him maxing it out is equivalent to him being as invulnerable as a cockroach. A high CON means overall healthiness, which means your character probably is full of energy and vitality, can heal rapidly, and will rarely get sick—if ever. Low CON usually means a higher susceptibility to sickness and disease, wounds that fester and linger, and a general fatigue would haunt you, etc.) Like how SY zeroed in on his CHA, Airplane would have prioritized +20 CON (+5 modifier), especially knowing the fate that’d await him as a prince and the vicious environment that is expected for palace intrigue plots (the harem is a big factor, with concubines and consorts and even the empress sabotaging each other—just to win the favor of one man). Against poison or whatnot which is a cliché in palace intrigue plots, rather than relying on luck, you typically stand a better chance of passing the CON check if you have a high modifier aiding your checks. He’s basically become impervious to illnesses, most poisons (probably being able to spring back quickly), and is considered the healthiest prince in all the mortal imperial line. <- This could be taken both seriously and humorously simultaneously.

Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky (Deity/ Celestial)

For Xiàng Tiān Dà Fēijī’s “actual divine body” that is currently asleep and won’t be awakened until Airplane completes his mortal trial to “regain his cultivation powers,” the face should obviously be similar but, as Xiàng Tiān Dà Fēijī, he would appear regal and dignified as a god of this world:

Imagine something along the lines of mortal Airplane as the man on the right, celestial Shen Yuan in the center, and deity/ celestial Airplane as the man on the left. I envision a respectable appearance that would knock the air out of Mobei jūn and make him recognize Airplane despite any visual dissimilarities, and in a way we have the Four Beauties of China: Luo Binghe, Shen Yuan, Mobei jūn, and Xiàng Tiān Dà Fēijī.

I will say I currently have an idea of making Airplane have “golden” eyes in both his celestial and mortal forms. (Spoiler alert: in my notes, I’d written down to give Airplane yellow eyes as an Easter egg to Yanxi Palace, I believe, where there was an episode where someone of the imperial harem schemed against the empress and almost had the newborn baby killed because that and the yellow skin was an inauspicious omen. We later find out through a timely intervention that the true reason was due to jaundice—because of the diet/ pregnancy cravings she ate for a period of time which resulted in her son’s symptoms. With Airplane’s high CON and another trope I’m bringing in which’ll have to do with the Medicine King’s Valley/ Valley of the Medicine King, his yellow eyes are the only side effect that lingered from that traumatic event which would have killed him had they gotten away with their scheme. A lot of palace dramas have to do with the vicious harem plots, so this would potentially be one such example.) The reason being that this is the identifying marker for MBJ to clue in that they’re the same man he will have loved. And I think that has romantic potential.

Misc.

Now addressing the other tags, yes, essentially speaking, Mobei jūn might just very well experience his very own Big Damn Reunion trope that Bing mèi had suffered from SVSSS. Poor MBJ. He’s in a tumultuous ride of his own with him considering Airplane as his own fated person, hahaha. But for the Moshang dynamic, I want him—a demon—to find himself taken with Airplane in his mortal guise—and subsequently his true celestial appearance once he finds out. I very much also want SY to jokingly snark to his fellow transmigrator-and-writing-colleague about him getting in a relationship with his own “creation” (MBJ). And Airplane would jokingly snark back about SY “ruining his ‘first son’ as well” (LBG). If you can read between the lines of that, then kudos. I’m glad to hear you’re looking forward to the palace intrigue.

I’m especially very happy to hear you’re looking forward to the descriptions! I personally love worldbuilding in the stories I consume I’m an interior designer and realtor irl, so I’m glad my love of house details and landscape, etc shows in TUT. For the pseudohistorical vibe, in the Mortal Realm, I will be referencing the Forbidden City of our Chinese history and a couple popular period C-dramas. Take the settings of period C-dramas like Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace, Yanxi Palace, and Nirvana in Fire as examples for what will be awaiting us when we finally meet Airplane in his mortal body. In the Heavenly Realm, the descriptions will be heavily referencing shows that contain aesthetics such as those of Ashes of Love, Love and Redemption, and Eternal Dream.

Take this with a grain of salt just in case I change my mind later on, but in the chapter when we meet Airplane for the first time, I probably won’t say which character he is in the first scene. I’ll give plenty of hints in the first scene so that you all can make your guesses before the big reveal, but I’m fairly confident you all or most of you will be able to pinpoint who he is among the cannon fodders. We’ll meet the emperor, who is discussing with his sons about the matter regarding the approaching calamity that is Luo Binghe. Then when we transition into the second scene, we’ll know exactly which “royal prince OC” it is that our beloved Airplane has transmigrated into, hahaha.

(*Keep in mind, for everything written above, some details are subject to change. Nothing is official until it appears in the story, or I’ve actually drawn my ideas out and posted online to both my tumblr and twitter. These are just my current thoughts.)

A goal of mine for TUT is to make the story widely accessible, meaning it doesn’t matter if the reader is new to the SVSSS fandom or aren’t familiar with the Easter egg references or meta jokes or subtext or even the Chinese culture, or even if English is not their first language. Having knowledge beforehand might help someone notice more hidden details in TUT, yes, but it is a humble wish of this writer for her esteemed readers to be able to dive into the story and get the enjoyable feeling like they’re reading a genuine danmei novel. It really makes me smile whenever I hear feedback that I am able to emulate that experience.

Very exciting developments indeed are in store!

[rein-ette]

Are you still working on your Commonwealth study? Do you have any thoughts on Arthur's relationships with his colonies apart from Canzuk + US?

Not properly, unfortunately with exams and then work I haven’t had mental/emotional capacity to do real research (and probably won’t for a while 😔). But I have continued to think about and develop certain relationships, and I think I also have old hcs I’ve never shared, so I’ll put those down!

Born into the Empire

Australia

@oumaheroes has already done such great hcs on him idk what I can add, but basically he was a little bit of a rowdy child, always breaking windows and shattering fancy pots, never able to sit still. I think rainbow once mentioned that Ken (short for Kenneth, my name for Aus) was a lot like England as a child in his curiosity and energy, and I wholeheartedly agree. But I think Arthur’s intensity was more inwardly directed, pushing him to pursue and master new talents and learn whatever he could, while Australia is a little more carefree in his love for the outdoors, exploring, jumping around and off things, little wild animals. Unfortunately for him, he was born in a period of the empire when Arthur was very serious about his kids education, and therefore often praised those who studied hard and learned fast, which really just wasn’t Australia’s cup of tea. Australia took this kinda hard and thought he was the “dumb” one in the family that Arthur was always scolding, but in reality Arthur knew and appreciated that Australias interests lay elsewhere — he was just a frustrated, tired, parent who really wanted to give his kids the best while also holding his empire together, two goals that were never going to fit well in the end and would completely exhaust him.

As Australia’s grown older he’s realized a bit of this (not entirely, though) and also that 1) he really did break a lot expensive things and cause general mayhem 2) scolding us Arthur’s way of showing he cares, if he didn’t he wouldn’t have payed attention to him at all 3) despite being a penal colony, he was still one of Arthur’s more “legitimate” children (being white and a boy) and was therefore still incredibly privileged — never having to question, for example, why it was that Arthur was his dad, if it should be this way, or if he had a seat at the family table at all (more on this later).

New Zealand

Zee, from birth, was a clear favourite. Obedient, calm, quietly intelligent, he would also later develop a blistering sense of humour which combined with his appearance made it overwhelmingly clear who’s child he was. If Ken questioned his place in the family because of his poor academic record and others did because of their appearance/race/other complications, Kaelan never had such problems; his siblings called him the “prince.” Zee, however, also had a charm that, like Matthew, endeared him to his siblings and mostly protected him from jealousy, though he certainly still had issues with being called a try hard, daddy’s boy, bossy, arrogant. Certainly as a child Zee was a little prideful and, under that unperturbed demeanour, willful, but he grew out of it by the 20th century and became one of those most trusted by Arthur, second only to Matthew. He’s also always been inseparable from his brother Australia despite their differences, and today they both have one of the healthiest and most amicable relationships with Arthur of any nation, let alone former colonies (family road trips, every summer).

Bermuda

I absolute fell in love with this girl after reading about here, once, in this fic by @shachaai, and after that my mind just ran away with me. For me, her human name given to her by Arthur just has to be Ariel — for the little mermaid reference, yes, symbolizing her connection to the sea and stunning good looks, but also because:

1. Ariel is a biblical name, meaning lion of God. This makes sense to me, because Bermuda began as a Portuguese trade post, so Arthur definitely consulted our resident bad catholic Port before naming her.

2. Ariel used to be boys name. This also makes sense, because I hc Bermuda was and still is a tomboy. Bitch is fierce, takes no prisoners, and has zero filter. Her letters to Arthur, which all the colonies sent so Arthur could keep an eye on things, were full of shit like “I swear to god if the Spanish don’t get out of my waters I might eat one of them,” and “father, I asked you for destroyers two months ago, and yet you sent them to Hong Kong — could you explain this most unusual occurrence, surely it’s not that you forgot”, and “thank you for the harpoon on my birthday, I caught a small shark a couple days ago and have sent you some of its teeth for your collection.” Arthur tolerates this attitude because he’s weak when it comes to girls; he absolutely spoils his daughters (and flushes like a 16 year old when a woman so much as bats her eyelashes at him). Yes, p*ssywhipped Arthur is a hill I will die on.

3. It also suits her because? Ariel? Shakespeare? The Tempest? Bermuda Triangle? Shipwrecks? Daughter-like figure of powerful and vengeful sorcerer? Yeah. And this girl is a fire spirit — she is so lively, snarky, clever. As she’s grown older she’s mellowed out a little, but still: a no shit taken, no fucks given type of gal.

4. Speaking of growing up, she’s also become quite the beauty. Shacha, if I’m remembering correctly, described her as dark skinned, wavy-haired, and green eyed and that image has been burned onto the back of my eyelids ever since. Those Iberian genetics really be pulling through for her, that’s for sure. Engport love child if I’ve ever seen one. Definitely one of the prettiest in her family.

Singapore

I’ve already mentioned this to needcake, but I’m not too big a fan of canon Singapore, so this is my oc version. Singapore is fascinating to me because it had only a very small local population before it became a colony (The original settlement had actually been destroyed by the Portuguese about two centuries before the British started building a port there.) So nation-tans like Singapore and Bermuda really are Arthur’s children in the most direct sense of the word. And yet, Singapore is mostly ethnically Chinese, with Malays being the second largest group. Growing up Asian in a white, Victorian era family surely cannot have been easy and more than once Singapore probably wondered if there hadn’t been some mistake. To make up for the constant fear that he wasn’t “really” British, Singapore studied ferociously and had a truly terrifying work ethic. I’m not sure if this is common knowledge outside Asian circles, so I’ll mention that this hc comes from the fact Singapore is well known for having truly exceptional students and some of the most prestigious schools. Singaporeans score highly in literally everything and they have an advantage with good English learning environments, a highly desirable trait in Asia, but these results come from brutally long hours — and its really saying something that they’re known for working hard, considering the studying ethic of students in Korea, Japan, and China aint nothing to sneeze at, either. To me this actually fits really well with Singapore’s upbringing in Arthur’s household, because Arthur himself prizes intelligence and hard work above all else, being a workaholic himself.

As for their relationship, it was probably the best when Singapore was young and peaked in the 1930s with the massive naval base the British built at Singapore, at the time the largest dry dock in the world. Singapore was a well-behaved child, not necessarily introverted but not rowdy either, and all the way into his teenage years he truly admired Arthur and was proud to be a part of the British Empire, despite his lingering unease and insecurities. The British defeat in World War II, however, was a massive turning point. He had worked his ass off to be a good son, a good brother, to contribute to the only family and system he had ever known, and he had thought by the 30s he was finally on his way to becoming a fine adult. And suddenly, the British surrender brings his entire world crashing down. He had followed the rules faithfully thinking it was his destiny, but suddenly it was clear that all rules were made up. Of course, his insecurities exploded. If the empire was a ruse, what the hell was he? A part of the illusion? He couldn’t have a truly Asian identity, because many of the old East Asian nations shunned him for his Western upbringing, and he could not entirely understand their values either. So he was a kid who kinda had to figure out late and very very suddenly who the fuck he was and wanted to be.

And, well, he’s done pretty well for himself, hasn’t he. After having a total crisis and questioning everything, I think Singapore slowly started to realize that just because the British Empire as a political entity didn’t last forever, that didn’t mean that his entire childhood and identity weren’t real. The love he gave to his siblings and the love he got back, the hard work he put in, his bond with Arthur and the safe, happy childhood he had — those memories and feelings didnt have to be diminished by what came after. Essentially, he learned the lesson all nations have to learn, which is that one needs to be able to discern between duties as a nation and feelings as a human being, and to some extent keep them separate to protect both.

Whoooooo ok I’ll stop there because this turned into a dissertation, sorry. Let me know if there are any specifics u want me to elaborate on or anything I missed, but I’ll leave this here for today :)

[dontmindmyshadowhunting]

Dru meets Ash (Fan Fic)

This is Chap 6 of “Welcome to Faerieland”, a sequel to my Kitty Fan Fic "To never being parted" although it can be read as a standalone story.

Dru meets Ash (again, although she doesn’t know they have already met) in this Chapter.

AO3 Link here.

*****

Jaime and Dru landed a little away from a clearing where a revel was being held. Jaime hastily slipped the Eternidad back into his pocket. He would give it back to Cristina eventually, but in the meantime, he knew she had no trouble being escorted in and out of the Unseelie Court whenever she wanted to. Perks of being the King’s girlfriend. 

Jaime and Dru had both dressed in faerie clothes, in order to blend in. Dru was wearing a long azur blue dress that brought out the color of her eyes. It fell just above her ankles, revealing high-heeled boots (conveniently hiding a few daggers). An upturned collar and long sleeves covered the marks on her neck and arms, though the low-cut neckline would inescapably draw anyone’s attention to her cleavage. Her dark brown hair was efficiently pulled into an elegant bun. Where Jaime and Dru’s skin showed, both had covered their marks with concealer. 

As they walked toward the revel, and the music grew louder, Dru turned to Jaime. “I have to go find a friend of Nene’s. She may help us locate Ty and Kit. It’s better if I go alone, she knows the Blackthorns very well but she’s a bit wary around other Shadowhunters. Don’t stay too far, though. And of course, I don’t need to tell you not to drink or eat anything.”

“No, you don’t,” Jaime answered a little harshly. Blackthorns knew a great deal about the Fair Folk, but so did the Rosales, he wanted to remind her.

When they had finally joined the party, Dru waved at a faerie woman with blue hair and purple eyes who was standing next to a tent, in deep conversation with a kelpie, and left Jaime to stand awkwardly at the edge of the forest. 

He had not been there five minutes when a fey swooped in to offer some refreshments.

“No, thanks,” he replied immediately, lifting one of his hands reflexively to prevent the fey from coming any closer. 

“Are you certain? Mundanes are particularly fond of this one,” he said, pointing to a blue drink, “it makes you look younger. Not that you need it, of course.” 

“Huh. Is there a drink that makes you grow like two years older, without altering your appearance?” The faerie stared at him aghast. Jaime couldn’t blame him. “Never mind,  very  stupid question,” Jaime mumbled.

Dru appeared then, her eyes glowing in excitement. She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the forest. 

“So... any information on where we could find your brother and Kit?”

“Have you ever been to a revel before?” She replied, ignoring his question.

“Hum. No, but Cristina told me a bit about them…”

“Come over here,” she said as she drew him further into the forest. She stopped in front of a tree, put both her hands on his chest and pushed him against the trunk. His back hit the wood with a loud  thump  but it was mostly drowned by the sound of his heart beating in his chest.

Her gaze was intense, dark eyelashes batting seductively over her blue-green eyes. Jaime swallowed.

“Er- Dru, what are you doing? Aren’t we supposed to go hunting for Ty and Kit?”

“Relaaax. What happens in Faerie stays in Faerie, doesn’t it?”

She bit her lower lip and he gasped.

“God, Dru, those lips…” Jaime choked. His thoughts were becoming more and more incoherent.

“Can I… kiss you?” she asked.

“God, yes. Please.” Jaime slumped against the tree trunk, feeling all the tension leave his body at once.

Dru closed her eyes and he did the same. As she pressed her full lips against his, he could feel blood burning through his veins like wildfire.  Yes, yes, finally. He could be struck by lightning - he probably would - he didn’t care. He would die a happy man.

She bit his lower lip and he could taste his own blood, but he didn’t mind.  Feisty  little Dru. He brought his hands on either side of her face to cup her cheeks, but instead of soft skin he felt a very light... stubble. He pulled away immediately and found himself staring into a pair of bright blue eyes, the colour of a summer sky. Kit Herondale was smiling at him, his grin as mischievous as ever but somehow it looked wrong.  All wrong.

“What does your heart truly desire, little Shadowhunter?” he said, cocking his head, and it was not his voice, but a woman’s voice.

From one moment to another, Kit’s blond hair and blue eyes were replaced by a faerie woman with gray fine hair drifting around a pale face, her skin smooth and ageless. He was staring at a  leanansidhe. He cursed himself. What  a fool  he had been.

He stepped back, feeling sick, and hit something hard behind him. He was about to turn when he was dealt with a blow on the head. His sight blurred and he barely had the time to blink before he fell into unconsciousness. 

****

As she was talking to Nene’s friend, Dru saw Jaime disappear into the forest with a faerie.  What the hell was he thinking?  They weren’t here to have fun.

She thanked her contact, who unfortunately didn’t have any information, and moved to where Jaime had vanished inside the forest.

The tree trunks were spaced, but their branches leafy and close enough that it was difficult to see beyond a few feet.  She cursed Jaime silently as she got deeper inside the woods, the sounds of the revel now receding and being replaced by the sounds of nocturnal animals and insects. She thought about all the horror movies that warned you from doing just that.

If it wasn’t for her years of Shadowhunter training she wouldn’t have heard the soft footfalls behind her. She stepped further into the forest until she was at an advantageous position for a fight and whirled to face her stalker. It was a very tall faerie knight dressed in elegant velvety clothes. Probably gentry and part of the King’s guard. He smiled at her and she kept herself from shivering from the coldness of his grin. 

“What are you doing here all alone, little girl?”

He probably thought she was a helpless mundane with the Sight. Admittedly, she didn’t look like the Shadowhunter women type, with her curvy figure.

“Minding my own business. As you should.”

“Do you know there are dangerous creatures lurking in these woods?”

“I definitely do. And let me tell you a secret…” She cupped her hand around her mouth and spoke in a stage whisper. “I am the scariest one of them.”

The faerie knight laughed.

“I am Ruadhan Fairburn. I used to be one of the best knights of King Kieran’s guard,  and I have met him personally once. I am also acquainted with Gwyn ap Nudd, of the Wild Hunt. You certainly don’t frighten me.”

Oh, no. He did have a reputation as one of the realm’s best fighters, before King Kieran had suggested he retire, probably due to his attitude.

She mimed checking her watch (although she wasn’t wearing any). “Oooh, so it’s already time for a bit of name-dropping? Sorry, none of these ring a bell.”  

No need to tell him she had seen Gwyn cry in front of  Love actually  a week before, on Friday’s movie night, and that she affectionately called King Kieran  Kiki. 

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. When I am done with you,  my name will be printed in your memory.”

“Hmmm. Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll pass.” She started running her hand through her hair casually, intending to pull out her hair stick made with adamas. It was a gift from Jem who had it made by Sister Emilia.

The faerie’s expression turned furious. “I am not really giving you a choice,” he said in a clipped tone.

An audible sigh had them both whip their head toward the general direction of the sound.

A few feet away, up a large tree, a boy - or rather a young man judging by his frame and the length of his long limbs - was lounging on the thickest branch. He was reading, holding his book high, so Dru could not see his face, only white blond hair tucked behind pointy ears. He was dressed in stunning finery, all black, his collar turned up. He was wearing dark silk gloves and his long fingers were splayed across the cover of his book. He was most certainly part of the gentry, or even royal blood, Dru thought.

“You heard the lady,” he said in a bored voice, and Dru could not help but startle at the sound. It was a beautiful, lyrical voice. “She is not interested. Now, move along. Go hump a tree or something.”

“Excuse me?” the faerie knight spluttered, his delicate features set in a mask of shock. “Do you know who I am?”

“I don’t know who  you are, but I know  what  you are, and that’s enough to convince me not to develop our budding relationship any further,” he answered, turning a page.

The knight started to advance on him, but the blond faerie didn’t even lift his nose from his book. With a flick of his hand, he had the faerie knight hauled away like a puppet, as if a giant invisible hand had grabbed him from behind.

“Don’t move any closer. What did I just say about me not wanting to develop our relationship further? Have you never been taught how to take no for an answer?”

The faerie knight was seething but he backed away, walking in reverse, before he whirled and disappeared inside the deep forest. 

“Thanks, I guess.” Dru said, relaxing her stance. “Although we could have avoided the drama. I had the situation quite in hand before you intervened. I could have knocked him out before he had the chance to spell out the word  asshole.”

The faerie laughed, and it was a beautiful chime sound.

“Ladies shouldn't have to dirty their hands,” he said, as if she had not just uttered the word “asshole”, disqualifying her as such.

“What century do you live in?” she asked, shaking her head. “Anyway, I am a Shadowhunter, dirtying my hands is part of the job description.”

She saw his whole body suddenly tense. Slowly, he brought the book down, just enough to reveal a pair of green eyes under delicate blond eyebrows. As soon as he caught sight of her, his eyes widened in surprise and he let the book fall on the ground, the resulting  thump  muffled by the grass.

In a single swift and elegant motion, he had jumped from his tree and was standing a few feet away, facing her.

Up close, she could see his eyes were a clear emerald green. It made her think of grass fields glowing under the spring sun. His features were sharp and ethereal, his white blond hair tousled as if they had caught wind. Physically, he was the opposite of Jaime, all pale white and thin silvery curls where Jaime had brown golden skin and dark thick hair. They both had a lean figure and a debonair manner, but where Jaime was almost gangly, the faerie was all graceful moves and regal stance. 

He is  absolutely gorgeous, Dru admitted reluctantly. And he was watching her as if he knew all the secrets of her heart, as if he had always known her and was merely returning to her after leaving for a short while. 

Although she was almost certain she had never met him, something about him struck her as oddly familiar. She was idly wondering whether her mind had conjured up one of the princes of her books. Maybe, he was the product of her own fantasy and he would disappear from one blink to another… But no, she had not been the only one to see him.  Get a grip, she told herself.

“It’s you,” he breathed. 

Dru tried to regain her composure. She straightened up as she answered. “It’s definitely me.” She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night,” he whispered in a daze.

By the Angel,  his voice. Everything about him ensnared your senses, enticed you to love and worship him. But Dru knew better than to let herself be fooled by men’s - especially faerie men’s - spells and enchantments. 

She swallowed and answered in her most detached voice. “Shakespeare. Romeo meets Juliet. Act I Scene 5. Already bringing out the heavy artillery, I see. Do you always quote other people’s work to make yourself interesting? Or do you  actually  have a personality?”

The strange prince was taken aback for a second. Then, slowly, a grin spread across his face. He was breathtaking when he smiled. 

“Oush,” he replied, miming a sword stabbing through his chest. “That went straight through my heart.”

“This line may work its spell on the naive and gullible girls you usually manage to sweep off their feet, but it definitely doesn’t work on me.” Dru sniffed.

The fey cocked his head, as if he was inspecting a strange wild animal. 

“You assume that I am trying to seduce you?”

She rolled her eyes and whirled, avoiding to stare at him for too long. He was quite intimidating. And she needed to find Jaime. 

“Don’t be a jerk, in addition to being a  cliché,” she said without a backward glance, as she walked away. She could hear the sound of his laugh behind her, echoing in the forest like ringing bells.

****

Tagging @gabtapia sorry I’ve been so busy lately but I am definitely back now with more chapters.

[silvadour]

Attack on Titan: The End of an Era - Final Chapter Review

Disclaimer: This blog post contains MASSIVE spoilers towards the ending of Attack on Titan as well as the greater series. If you wish not to be spoiled on certain story aspects and character revelations, I kindly suggest reading the manga or waiting for the 2nd half of the Final Season to be released in Winter 2022. Furthermore, if you are not caught up with this and read this post anyway, kindly refrain from spreading information presented here as not to spoil the experience for other readers and watchers that have yet to see the very end of the story.

And now without further ado, let is begin with the blog post.

Well, we’ve reached the endpoint, we arrived at that scenic view. Attack on Titan’s story has finally ended and if I’m being frank with you…I’m satisfied with it.

I have to say it’s always a weird feeling of coming to face the truth that a story you like and have invested many years reading has finally come to an end, there’s just an underlying feeling that you wanna deny the reality of it but you also can’t deny that sense of closure you gain from it either. While the series started way back in the year 2009, I did not get invested in the manga’s story until late 2013 when the anime’s first season finished airing. And my experience with AoT has been a strange one. As a young teen, I was impressed by the action on display so much that I began craving more of it like a crack-headed squirrel; this, in turn, led me to read through internet message boards and forums for possible new information on the stories developments which unsurprisingly led me to find spoilers of later events (particularly the case with Reiner and Bertholdt’s identities) However, even by the time I reached that revelation in the story in the existence of the Coordinate plot element came into play, I was aboard for the dramatic thrill ride ever since. And by the time I was reading it and the story shifted from fighting humanoid monsters to actual humans in the Royal Government/Coup d’etat arc, I started thinking of Attack on Titan as a rather niche series that only a few people could understand even with its ridiculous surge of popularity in the early 2010s, and I never could have anticipated back then on how emotionally attached I would be to this series nor how well it portrays a morally grey story where both participating parties of an ongoing war suffer from the circumstances of their character and nature.

The opening page to the series

As a modern monthly shonen series, I can say that it’s certainly a step above other manga of its type in how it re-frames familiar shonen archetypes in much more grounded and grim settings, and I find that it’s because of that grounded feeling found in its writing and setting that Attack on Titan has garnered such a large following for the elements in the story make themselves easier for audiences to distill themselves in similar situations, the narrative creates a sense of audience inclusivity that allows readers to imagine themselves in situations of survival. However, once I heard the series would end at 139 chapters apart of me was wondering if the series would have enough time to address aspects of established lore and give character arcs a fitting conclusion, and suffice it to say, the series accomplished that though some feelings on them I’m still processing. So knowing this I think it would be best to tackle the ending of Attack on Titan by discussing each of the established themes and characters one at a time, starting with the theme of freedom and liberty.

“To either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain”

Freedom and Liberty:

One of the major recurring themes in the story of AoT is that of the nature of finding true freedom. Freedom as a concept is described as the ability to speak, act or think by one’s own accord; freedom can be individual yet it can also be shared with various individuals. The story always made the best attempts at portraying both the positive and negative aspects of freedom in a morally grey manner. While the idea of wanting to do something of your own will, it all becomes a different story altogether depending on what the actions initiated from that free will end up being. One person’s freedom would naturally come to blows with the freedom of a collective group and trying to determine who is more rightfully just in their expression is never given a clear cut answer, case in point Eren’s yearning to be free of a world where he and his people aren’t demonized or viewed as cattle comes to blows with the antagonists’ (the nation of Marley) yearning to freely put him and the other Subjects of Ymir in their place as the two parties eventually engage in a long-standing war that has spanned for centuries. In an essay by John Stuart Mill, he presents an argument for the nature of human liberty that frames it as a double-edged sword; while it may stand as a tool to defend oneself from oppression and tyranny, it in of itself can be used as a tool to enforce other individuals into compliance and agreement should they not initially comply to certain established schools of thought. The expression of freedom is never displayed in an absolute black and white morality as each of the opposing parties have valid justifications for their expressions of personal freedoms (the nation of Marley’s long history being under the terror of the old Eldian Empire, and the island of Paradis being constantly invaded by Titans from Marley due to their history), rather the expressions freedoms are made due to self-interest.

Zeke describing Marley’s plan of action in order to ensure its future as a world superpower.

This is seen numerous times throughout the series, Ymir (104th Cadet) being used as a scapegoat for the cult that took her in, Erwin’s planned scapegoat execution during the royal government arc to ensure the original monarchy’s total rule over the population within the walls, the world nations following the bandwagon of Eldian discrimination as a political tactic of gaining advantages for the development of their nations through the extortion of the many Eldians around the world. Even with the characters that are standing on the “good” side still hold feelings of seeking self-interest as they are allowed so, solely due to the fact to want and something and act upon is part of their birthright just like any other human; case in point Eren and Historia at their most standout moments before the time-skip which would eventually coalesce with Eren’s meeting of the Founder, Ymir Fritz. This now brings me to the man himself, Eren Yeager.

Eren Yeager/Ymir Fritz:

When I first got into Attack on Titan, my opinion on the writing for Eren, especially in the manga’s early run, landed generally around middling. However, over time as I got further invested in the TV adaptation, I made attempts on doing retrospective rewatches to see whether my opinions on certain aspects of the story had changed; and during this time I found that my opinion of Eren changed to that of a more positive one. Throughout the series I saw this driven teenager coming to terms with his situation as a potential key for his people’s future, learning to quell his anger, as well coming to face the reality of his various failures all to eventually crack under the weight of the expectations he has placed onto himself, finally re-discovering his self-worth through the relationships he’s made with people closest to him only to have his reality crash right into his face when he finally discovers the truth of the world which bruises his idealistic nature.

To many of the fans that have seen Eren’s exploits in the latest season, his change in character might have come as a jarring shift since he has shifted to focus on eradicating the Titans to now eradicating the invaders of his home island. While the shift to different targets might seem like a strange change on the surface, fundamentally, Eren Yeager is still relatively the same character he was initially portrayed as, the only difference is that some of his more notable traits such as his anger, his battle tactics, and self-expression have just been more hardened due to the nature of his and homeland’s circumstances.

Eren is a prime believer of freedom, that any person is entitled to live free without feeling as if their freedoms are being imposed by others, solely on the basis that they were born into the living world. Should someone pose a threat to his freedom, he will not hesitate to steal freedom from others. And from the beginning till the very ending of the series his character writing remains consistent. Eren is a man lashing out against a prejudiced world that views him and his people as pure evil, he lashes not just for the sake of his freedom but for the freedom of those he cares for. However, throughout that lashing and emotional hardening he becomes something different from how he initially perceived himself.

For most of the manga’s final arc, Eren’s detached demeanor he presents onto his friends serves to highlight how he faces his challenges; he is more of a person that suppresses his grief and other vulnerable emotions because he has no choice but to appear strong and move forward when he cries out the world for something he wants, as a person ostracized by the world, his actions are indicative of the world telling him that he is not allowed to be viewed as a human being. His repeated fighting against Marley and the other allied nations can almost be interpreted as a cry for help. And throughout these actions, Eren was always consciously aware of his actions and the consequences that would be brought upon them, but he would never reveal his true feelings until he reached his two final goals, Ymir Fritz and his ultimate fate. When Eren first encountered Ymir Fritz he saw her as the absolute ruler of the Power of the Titans and wished to use her to finally make his true ambitions become a reality, however, during that process Eren realized that Ymir was so much more than a divine being. In his embrace of the Founder and in seeing her past through the Paths realm, Eren came to realize that Ymir was simply a human that much like him was ostracized and forced to harden her emotions out of fear of being further abused for appearing as weak; who trapped herself in ethereal realm due to her misguided understanding of “love” she had for her abuser, Karl Fritz I.

In recognizing her as a human, Eren sets Ymir free to finally act upon her own will for the first time in over 2000 years.

Personally, in this particular moment of Eren embracing Ymir with a hug and telling her the words she always wanted to hear “you are a human being”, I feel as if those words themselves are what Eren wanted to hear from someone who truly understood him and his reasons for going as far as does. Eren fights because he wants to end all fighting in the world, but he doesn’t know any other method besides fighting, much like Ymir, Eren needed someone to free him from himself. I find that Kenny Ackerman’s final words resonate with this scenario very strongly in retrospect: “We humans, are all the same…every last one of us. All of us had to spend our lives drunk on something or else we’d have no cause to keep pushing on. Everyone was a slave to something” (S03E10)

Eren’s “freedom” upon reaching that scenery he foresaw in his future visions.

At the moment of that embrace, Eren was fundamentally just like Ymir, a human child unable to cry due to repressing their emotions, Eren was only able to reach his external and internal goals in the final chapter through his relationship with Mikasa and Armin in their final interactions in which he imparted his freedoms and his dream to the two people he cared about most in the entire world. That being said in his fight for obtaining the ideal freedom for himself and his people, Eren only realized in his very last conversation with Armin that the freedom he sought after wasn’t only his. Armin’s final heart-to-heart made him re-acknowledge that the weight of his dreams for an ideal world shouldn’t be his to bear, even if ended endangering him and his loved ones. By refusing to entrust his dreams onto others, Eren was becoming a slave to his ambitions (in fact his appearance as the Founding Titan portrays him as a marionette), only to be finally set free (and possibly reincarnated as a bird, a common symbol of freedom in literature) by his best friend when he comes to understand him and offer him peace for all he has done for the sake of his people.

In his final meeting, Eren’s true self as the boy who lost all things he cherished in the beginning of the series confides with his best friend Armin on the actions and choices he has made, as well as finally reciprocating Mikasa's feelings of love.

Closing thoughts:

Overall, I find that Eren’s motivations and his character arc met my expectations of how I somewhat imagined the series would end. It didn’t end on a completely misanthropic note, but rather a bittersweet hopeful one. As even though the island of Paradis establishes a new military under Eren’s splinter cell faction, the Yeagerists, there is hope found in Armin carrying out the role that Eren always saw him, a hero and a purveyor of peace, as he, Jean, Connie, Annie, Reiner, and Pieck now taking on the role as ambassadors for the remaining population of Earth, embark to Paradis to begin peace negotiations. Whether the treaty succeeds is left entirely to the reader’s imagination (or Isayama adding more context in the volume edition of this chapter), but what I find truly beautiful about this ending of a series with clearly morally gray divisions, is that the people of those same divisions finally came to the realization that they are simply just people. They are not devils or angels, they are simply just people; not that much different from one another and willing to try and exist in a better tomorrow with each other. And what I love about this ending, even more, is that it finally bookends some goals and declarations that were said in the first half of the series: Eren wanting to eradicate the existence of Titans became a reality, after Eren’s death Armin took responsibility in claim he killed in turn that leads him to be viewed as a hero and purveyor for peace, Eren wrapping his scarf around Mikasa, all of these character declarations coming back in some unique form makes me love this series even more.

Your heart and soul to the cause.

Some may complain that this ending is not that great for it still doesn’t explain certain aspects of the story such as the nature of the Power of the Titans or the identity of Historia’s baby daddy or just general lack of presence in the final arc, but personally, I am content in not receiving a clear answer to some of those aspects, mostly because they either don’t matter or are already narratively complete, plus their open-ended-ness just offers me more chances to think about some aspects of the story and promote discussions around it. And while the use of mental time-travel ala Seers from Game of Thrones that were displayed by Eren’s use of the Attack Titan’ innate ability in the Paths realm, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t unsure or somewhat conflicted by the existence of mental time-travel; especially when time-travel as a narrative concept is INCREDIBLY easy to mess up. However, aside from these minor gripes, these were my overall thoughts towards the ending of Attack on Titan, we have reached the end of the story where Eren, Mikasa, and Armin’s respective character arcs came to a narratively true and satisfying conclusion. This is definitely a notable end of an era in the world of manga and pop culture. And without much left to say, all I can do is offer a salute to the author Hajime Isayama for his dedication to this story.

Thank you, Hajime Isayama.

[madmachaca]

On Pisces Aphrodite:

Originally I was just going to make a post saying that, much like Deathmask, I consider the way Aphrodite is portrayed in Saintia Sho is the best (Chimaki Kuori really did a great job with the golds), but then I remembered I wanted to make a post dedicated to the most beautiful saint in Athena's army...so here we are now

One of the biggest problems with Aphrodite is not the character himself, but how he is one of those character whose interpretation and general characteristics about his personality recognizable among fans, are mostly fan made. And it bothers me a little because, though I don't mind comedic takes and memes on a show or a character (actually you may have realize I don't like taking things seriously now and then), there will be a momemt when we wouldn't remember who the character really is.

(I should mention that I mostly blame the Abel movie for solidifying the idea of an overly vain Aphrodite. I don't particularly like how he is pictured there...but that didn't stopped from making a meme...because it was funny)

So who is Aphrodite then?

Let's begin with his personality.

He is a very calmed person. In contrast to Deathmask, who he is normally associated with, he doesn't have aggressive outbursts of laughter or yelling. Not that he can't lose is temper or anything like that, but he seems to be among the calmest saint among the 12. He also doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeve as visible as some of his companions. But this doesn't mean he holds back his opinion or that he cannot be cruel. This may be an stretch but he did told Shun that Seiya was going to die right before reminding him he was supposed to be looking for revenge (whatever it was done in a mocking way or not is up to debate)

This could be with the intention of shaking his opponent core and ability to focus. Though he would be able to stop Shun if he had tried to run and help Seiya, it would be easier to defeat an oponent who is emotionally invested (in theory, look at tbe battle between Deathmask and Shiryu to see how emotion can turn a fight around).

Aphrodite is proud and considers himself above other in terms of power and hability, but this isn't a feature exclusive to him. All gold saints KNOW they are on a different league, and Aphrodite is not someone who is constantly pointing it out... that would be Shaka...for example.

The way Aphrodite does patronize Shun is by calling him "child" or "naive" (which he arguably is). Not by being particularly self absorbed.

Now let's talk about his philosophy.

Aphrodite believes that the strong carry justice. He thinks that if someone is strong and powerful enough to vanquish their enemies, then they would be strong enough to look after others

His perception of the world is not black and white. He understands that in order to accomplish peace and prosperity, sacrifices need to be made. Justice may sometimes seem as cruelty in the eyes of those who don't know how complicated the world could be. He didn't became a traitor because he was evil, he saw how small and fragile Athena was and eventually realized she wouldn't be enough. We may understand this better if we consider that even by the time Saga's rebellion happened the santuary was already getting ready for the holy war, they didn't know if it would come the very next day, or 13 years later, but they had to be ready anyway.

It was maybe there where Aphrodite realized that a baby couldn't do much, and after Aioros and Athena supossed death happened, he convinced himself it was for the best.

Saori's more passive take and overly kind attitude may would clash with him and his views of justice, but he would had follow her anyway. After all he has been shown being very respectful to authority.

Fighting style

By the way he fights,we can tell he falls more into the "silent assassin" type.

His attacks are discrete, fast, lethal, and elegant. As far as I know, roses were (goddess) Aphrodite's flower, and the pisces constellation is directed tied to her for it tells the story of when she and Eros transformed into fish. Given the origin of his constellation, and the deity he's tied to, it makes sense beauty would be found not only on his face, but on his fights as well.

Saga even acknowledged him as lethal.

Yes, he doesn't like losing (but who does, really?)

During his fight with Shun we see Aphrodite go from calmed and even patient, to confused and surprised.

When he had the higher ground, he even advice Shun let things be

It seems like he acknowledged Shun lack of experience in real war, it can also be that he didn't consider him a dangerous enemy, after all, he was just a mere bronze saint. The panel above shows Aphrodite trying to spare Shun from further suffering. Little he knew Shun's cosmo is unexplainable strong

Later, he got desperate. He used an attack he never needed before, but it was too late. Shun's strength along with Athena's blessing, signed Aphrodite demise

(Before going to the next point, I have to say that in the manga version of Hades saga, he didn't beg for his life like he did in the anime. He just watched in silence until the very last moment, when he asked Radamanthis to stop)

His views on beauty

Honestly, I don't know what he thinks about his own looks... he never speaks about it.

So, please repeat after me:

APHRODITE DOES NOT PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO HIS OWN LOOKS

Whenever his looks are brought up is by someone else. He doesn't really seems to pay much attention to them. The only instance I can remember he addressing the issue was not in the manga or anime but in the awakening game which so far had kept them all in character

"Since I first arrived here, everyone praised my beauty, but they never acknowledged my strength".

So, it's the Saintia Sho take really that good?

I humbly think it is perfect

[sketch--booked]

Awesome ninjago dream time!

I had a dream like, 10 minutes ago and hell it was cool. It had Echo, Zane as a focus but included the rest of the ninja too which surprised me. Except for Jay, he just wasn’t in the dream,,, I don’t know why--

From what I remember, Kai, Cole and Zane were separated from the rest, and were in this tower lookin’ place, think Donnie’s lab from RotTMNT, but darker.

The center of the room was just brimming with blue and white electricity, and as they walk in, someone walks out from behind the column of static. It’s Echo, but he’s not copper or gold, he’s a purple-ish grey silver (the sides of his head and hair was darker than his face and his eyes were gold, straight gold, they stood out against the blues and blacks). Ngl, looked kinda like Ultron.

He comes out and I remember Kai and Cole look to Zane and Zane just looks conflicted, scared, confused, concerned. Echo says something, probably about knowing Zane or how they’re totally related, and it makes Kai and Cole real mad, and the two of them start to fight Echo. Zane is not fighting and instead stands back as he watches, what looks like, himself fighting his friends. The battle continues and Nya and Lloyd (without Jay?? Jay just wasn’t in this dream) join in just as Echo pushes some button, directing the lightning to Kai and Cole, and they disappear.

They do not die, and in fact are teleported to a jungle island(?). They get thrown out of what looks like a wormhole, and immediately assume they were banished to another realm (understandably) and Kai of all people begins having an unexpected panic attack to which Cole comforts him and they choose to wander along the edge of the beach to map out their surroundings (my dream gave me a reason for them leaving, thanks brain).

I think it would be fun to mention that this dream all happens in a stylized animated way, that’s generally how my dreams look, but with Kai and Cole’s “scenes” it looks like the minifigs, and I would love to point out that Cole has a bandanna and man bun and tore his black trousers to resemble shorts, while Kai ends up tearing his gi to look like a crop vest with no arms and has light brown trousers instead of red... It was a cool design honestly, I’m proud of my brain.

Back to Lloyd, Nya and Zane. Echo ends up beating Lloyd and Nya pretty badly and directs his attention to Zane, still having a mini freak-out, and tells him all about how Zane was the one that was loved, Zane wad the son Julien wanted, Zane got cool powers and made friends. While Echo was a copy of that, Julien didn’t want echo, he wanted his real son, Echo didn’t get powers, Echo didn’t get friends of love, he didn’t even get his brother. So now he was gong to take that all away, so Zane could know exactly what Echo felt.

It strikes then that Echo is his brother. And tries desperately to talk to Echo, while Echo is continuously attacking Zane. Eventually , Zane places himself on an Ice podium to escape Echo’s barrage of attacks and Echo takes this as an opportunity to play with Zanes head. He begins to talk about how he’s always been above the rest, pointing to Nya and Lloyd, and how he’s the one that gets the attention since he’s “oh so special”. Zane uses logic to negate everything Echo throws at him, throwing in his line “I am built to protect those who cannot protect themselves” and it is that sentence that throws Echo off the edge.

Echo is yelling, screaming at him, throwing all his emotions into one big pile and telling Zane everything he’s felt and done because he just wanted what Zane had. Echo doesn’t know that through this, he’s crying and Zane’s lowered himself from his podium to stand in front of Echo. Echo looks up to see Zane also has tears in his eyes. And in an unspoken attempt to make things up, Zane hugs Echo, tight, and hold him close, Echo is tense at first but softens into the hug. Echo’s sobs are drowned by the cracking and popping of the machine and the two just sit on the floor together in a brotherly embrace.

My dreams don’t end happy though and it all goes wrong! Sirens emitting from the computers and warnings cover the screens. Echo pulls from the hug instantly and looks around frantically, landing his eyes on Zane and Zane looks in confusion. Echo dashes off to one of the computers close to the previously mentioned button. Lloyd and Nya, with their weapons still drawn but not prepared, move up to the brothers. Lloys asks what’s wrong and Echo states that the machine technically isn’t ready and that first blast actually could've destroyed them all. Echo did not equate for the recharge, and throughout their squabble the machine was just getting more and more charged.

Echo states the best way not to die, would be to teleport them all to the same location, since there would be no time to escape the blast radius. Lloyd and Nya are adamant that they could make it and just when they are about to leave the tower (which i’m realizing at this point is probably the lighthouse prison), when Zane puts his hand on Echo’s shoulder and says “I trust him”. Promoting a disbelieving and hopeful look from Echo and a hesitant glare from Nya to Lloyd, who states “If Zane trusts him, so do I”.

Nya is still hesitant but believes the same. The four stand together as Echo slams down on the same button, sending them all to the same location through the wormhole. Just as they do this, the Lighthouse combusts in a striking explosion of blues and purples. The lighthouse is no more.

When the four get thrown out, they appear at the same beach. Nya is okay with the location because there’s water. Lloyd is asking Echo all sorts of questions. “Why are you evil? Are you still evil? What was your main goal? Where are we right now? Are you honestly Zane’s brother? Are you even listen--” He’s not listening, and instead is looking away from them, ashamed. 

Zane comes over, while Lloyd is still asking questions, to comfort him again. They have a conversation about how Echo thought this was the only way to get his attention and the only way to make him understand how he felt and Zane tells him that it’s okay to feel however he feels, what’s upsetting is the way he went about those emotions. Echo remarks that being a nindroid doesn’t help all to much and Zane laughs in understanding, saying “You will understand when you are older”. 

Nya pulls Lloyd aside to point out two pairs of footprints in the sand. Lloyd calls Zane over who confirms that that is Cole and Kai’s shoe sizes, and Echo confirms that this is the location he intended to strand Zane on, realizing how bad that sounds out loud he looks away. Lloyd recommends they follow the prints to see where the two went and see if they can catch up. 

This is where we go back to Kai and Cole, who are still traveling through the jungle, the beach cornered off into a cliff and Cole didn’t want to disturb any potential threats, so they continue inwards. (I’m writing this whole bit out exactly as I saw it, Cole getting upset)

Kai is cutting away at the leaves and sticks while ranting about how “When I get off this island, I’m gonna pin that little squirt to the ground and make him wish he was never built!”.

Cole reminds him that “If that ‘Little squirt’ really is Zane’s brother like he says, Zane probably wouldn’t be to thrilled with you smashing him into scrap.”

“Zane wouldn’t care! That twerp is clearly evil, did you see the way he zapped us?” Looking back at his friend.

Cole raises an eyebrow at him “...Evilly?”

“Exactly! Wait- yeah, evilly.” and Cole sighs “Besides, Zane knows better then to get friendly with villains, we’ve seen enough of how well that tuned out with-” He cuts himself off.

“You know Zane doesn’t like ‘that’ being mentioned, even when when he’s not here.” Cole reminds him calmly.

Kai paused “I-I know, I’m just--Mad! How can someone, supposedly your family, turn on you like that! It’s-”

“You did the same thing,” Cole interrupted. Kai stopped mid-swing and stared wide eyed at Cole, anger clearly starting to build. “What?” He prompted Cole to continue, carefully.

“You’ve fallen for the same trick as both of them, dude. Lloyd says you were persuaded by Chen’s staff just the same as Zane was by that Vex guy and the scroll,” He moved from following behind Kai to standing beside him.

“You also attacked your parents, thinking they were traitors, according to Nya. Of all of us, you should be able to see both sides clearer than the rest,” He takes one of Kai’s swords from it’s sheath on his back and begins to cut more bushes in his way.

“I guess that just makes you more blind to it then us instead.” He looks back, only to continue on his way. Kai is stood still for a few more moments, his arm frozen in the air like a game on pause. Soon though, before he loses sight of the Earth master in the brush, he jogs up to him, putting his own sword in it’s sheath allowing Cole to lead on. His words do sting and bore into his head. Recollection of both those events hurt by themselves, but with this new context, Kai couldn’t help but feel like Cole was right. Maybe he is more blind to how the “brothers” felt that he should be, or was that just him denying his own emotions?

AND THAT WAS IT--

That was my dream, and now there will be nothing done with it because LEGO are already doing a jungle adventure. My dreams are wild man, it’s like my brain is showing me a movie, it’s so cool--

I do like this concept, I love it in fact. But unless I want to change the entire vibe, I don’t think I would be able to make it a fan season. If season 14 wasn’t a jungle season-- I WOULD.