#i think with another evening i'd do some nitpicks and shit but honestly! i had fun and i love a practice!

[gordonfreemanspussy]

@scienceteamtober day 2: passport?

this is pretty straightforward interpretation but i really wanted to do my own take on this sillay passport???

BEAUTIFUL BENRY PORTRAIT BY @perigostodick !!!! full image below. (and oh my god shout out to @black-mesa-passport-department for hlvrai passport reference. life saved forever.)

Look at him.

[phoenix-before-the-flame]

not a hc but can you rank lucy's stardresses?

A fit rank huh? Sure I can do that. Just gonna preface n say that obviously this is my opinion and whatevs and that I won't be includin any of the ones introduced in 100yr because I don't care about the sequel :]

Alrightie lets get into it! This gonna get long tho, so imma put it under read more so I don't murder ppl who are scrolling.

Aquarius Stardress

This one honestly might be on the lower tiers for me. Like for the first stardress shown its rather, boring. The colour choice of green and yellow is weird, and visually disconnects it from Aquarius (like seriously? No blue anywhere?). The wrap skirt is cute and I do love how she has Aquarius' collarbone tattoo. That's fire. But the basic bikini top is meh. Overall its serviceable, 6/10 on the Phoenix scale.

Leo Stardress

Honestly can't go wrong with a nice black dress. I really would've preferred a pants suit for this one but the dress regardless is fun. I has a nice shape with the asymmetrical skirt and I like the ruffles all over. I also like how the anime gave her stockings

If I had nitpicks i'd say to get rid of the center line down the middle of the chest, the two under the bust are enough and get rid of the purple hair clip, it feels tacked on and just tosses in a random colour to the palette. I'd also maybe change the yellow to something more orange so it pops more (maybe even make the interior of the dress something eyecatching to add some extra oomph visually when she's kicking.)

But good fit, 8/10

Virgo Stardress

Well, it's about what you'd expect tbh. It's a maid outfit lol. There ain't much here to say cept that its cute. 6/10

Tauros Stardress

Oh hell fuckin yea. HELL YEAH

Unabashedly this one is one of my favourites solely because of the uneven pants. It's so fun and stupid. I also like how she and Tauros have matching belt buckles.

The basic ass bikini top does bring it down though (sorry i'm a bikini top hater. If you're gonna put a character in a bikini top at least make it a different style! There's different types of tops that can be both sexy and interesting!!!!). It also looks wack at certain angles.

My chest hurts lookin at this.

Apart from that I don't think the double buns works best with this dress, I think it'd work better if swapped with the double braids of the capricorn dress. Also I just think it'd be cool if this dress gave her an axe, like how the cancer dress gave her weapons.

but because of how much joy the stupid pants give me, 9/10.

Sagittarius Stardress

Another banger stardress despite a glaringly obvious issue.

This shit's great to me. Good colours, fun patterns, i fuckin love that its backless and the high ponytail is great here. The issue?

That deep ass coochie cut.

On god it just looks so uncomfortable. The anime tried to even it out by giving her tights but that just tossed in another colour to the palette and just unbalances it. A simple fix would've been just to make it white leggings under there. Skin tight, sexy and still practical. Apart from the coochie cut the only nitpick I have is that I think the boob window should've been star shaped and i wish her sleeves also doubled as archery gloves.

Apart from that and how much the coochie cut haunts me, its a 9/10

Aires Stardress

Now I have no idea why, but I was never exactly big on this one. Like it's not awful, all the stardresses have a baseline cuteness to them. The alternating pink and white tiers on the dress is nice, but the cut under the bust kinda kills the uniform pattern it had goin on. Likewise the leggings don't feel coherent to the rest of the fit. Like still cute, but the stripes and the introduction of black makes the whole thing feel busy and plain all at once. Though ironically when it's in the manga and purely black and white i think it looks better.

But I dunno, i think this one actually might be my least favourite. 4/10

Gemini Stardress

Ok. I like the alternating blue and white all over. That's cool. But, that headdress on top of the already busy outfit feels like its a lil too much on top. Also the random gold baubles on the outfit itself feels sorta thrown on. The belt can stay I suppose but nix the tassels near the collar and trade in the boob window for a deeper neckline.

We can just get rid of the headdress altogether and change her hairstyle to like, crown braid with a hanging blue and white ribbon on either side to keep with the alternating colours and we golden. 5/10

Scorpio Stardress

Gonna start this off to say, not a big fan of the bottom (the leather panty thing with the chain on it? Dawg idk i don't like it lol). and the chain on it looks so silly and not in a fun way. If anything I think she should have a bigger tail, not as big as scorpio's but defs something bigger that what she has currently. And as much as I like backless fits I don't think it works here, the deep cut boob window can stay though. I do like the headband and how her hair frames her face but overall its another 5/10.

Also here's a scorpio stardress redesign that I like. Doesn't fix all my issues with the og but it's still pretty dope.

Cancer Stardress

I like this because it looks cool and gives Lucy weapons. I don't like it because it doesn't connect well with Cancer the spirit visually. But Cancer's design sucks and I like this better than Cancer himself. Truly a design with conundrums for me. 6/10

Capricorn Stardress

I don't like this dress! Not one bit! Why is it a bdsm tit dress! The hair is cute and I like the shades and the horn clips with the bows but the dress!!!!!!!! Why is it so visually disconnected from Capricorn the spirit! Why isn't it a skirt suit with sexy fishnet leggings like in the concept art!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why isn't this the canon design!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tragic/10

[disventure-rewrite-takes]

okay, I just finished watching the finale, so here are all my thoughts plus little rewrites. also Trevor is officially transfem in my brain so she's Tatyana now, idk I don't make the rules.

Tomjake: I dunno I still don't like the ship nearly as much as I did when i first watched dvsc, I think it's got far too much screen time and precedence over the series. but it does make sense for their spinoff, and honestly, their closing arc wasn't terrible. as always, found it overly rushed, but with the emotions I guess it could make sense...idk if anything I'd just slowburn that shit. make it worth watching!!

Tom (Himself): I'm sorry but when the hell did he get WATERBOARDED? this show I swear to god...that isn't slapstick comedy ONC 😭💀 that's some serious shit why hasn't it come up at ALL?! like come on!! I would give Tom some discomfort around water, and at least a small discussion about it, ffs

Ally: idk if this is a rewrite but "you can have your yaoi moment later" is on par with "thank you I'm going there" and I love it. she needs more one liners

Gabellie: RAAAAHHH let's go lesbians!! sad Gabby got bit by the tiger but the screen time they get is everything to me, they needed more of this and I would so add that if I could

Tatyana and Emily: as always I love her, she's so silly to me and very dear to my heart. I love that she's still kind to Emily but also calls her out on her shit. kinda building on what I've talked about with Emily but I'd love to have Tatyana be her voice of reason when she's living in this revenge and rage filled part of her mind. in a rewrite I think I would definitely have Tatyana talk Emily down before the scorpions so she isn't hurt, and Tatyana quits, Emily doesn't go to prison, Emilyana is endgame and I'm happy <3

Riya: not pleased she won, I doubt most people are. but unfortunately it's probably the most satisfying end to her arc. I like that even Krystal isn't happy with her winning, and Connor finally is done with her. the only thing I'd change is that Eesha doesn't call her, so she really has no one except her fame.

Alec and Fiore: AAAAA I love them so much, Fiore caring about him, Alec finally adopting her, the bus scene and him carrying her, this is literally my lifeblood and my soul rn. I wouldn't change a damn thing, it's amazing <333

Krystal/Other Staff: I love the way her arc ends with deciding to change the way she's gonna do things, quitting DSVC and letting in new hosts. another very satisfying end for me honestly. if I had anything to nitpick, for the scene on the plane, I'd put her in the dress she's wearing in the S2 finale, just because it's pretty and I think it helps her come full circle as a character, plus it suits the trip to Cancun!

The End Photos: I also love that, love seeing Lill and Nick a bit, all the cute little end story pieces for the characters. I'd just add more honestly, I love the idea!!

y'all should see the notes I took while watching this finale honestly, I was going feral– I kept screeching and talking out loud 💀

- 🎃

love all your thoughts pumpkin anon, emilyana is real to us and we all love fiore and alec. also ur not alone in screeching and talking to yourself cuz i genuinely had to repress a scream at all those fiore & alec scenes. i love you grumpy middle aged man adopting a quirky little girl trope

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

Took me a few days to realize I sent this Ask to the wrong blog, but I'd still love to hear from them if they answer!

But this was definitely meant for you --

How much thought do you think actually went into the writing in terms of character creation?

Bc they all have allusions, right? Like where they at?

Yang seems the most away from her allusion, if that phrasing makes sense. Her hair is the only thing really tying her to Goldilocks and the 3 bears. I'm being nice when I take that small fight in V1 against the Ursa into account. (Also that character short for V5 which was technically pre v1 but still)

I've been told Weiss, Blake, and Ren are based on Disney princesses. I hope to gods the writers didn't just watch the movies for them.

But it makes me think they did just that for Jacques Schnee considering he's supposed to allude to Jack Frost. The only money hungry Jack Frost I've ever heard of is that blue fker from The Santa Clause movies.

And these bitches at CRWBY really gonna tell me that after 8 volumes Neo isn't one of those porcelain dolls from Oz or even Cheshire Cat like a lot of ppl believed, but Hecate??

What's your opinion? (This probably could've been a thing for Nitpick November)

Honestly....it kind of depends on the season. Earlier seasons seem to have more care put into the illusions in some cases at least but as the seasons passed it feels like fewer and fewer characters have any care put in at all. (More below the cut because I get rambly)

For example, Penny's illusion works really well and they have fun playing around with it. Pinocchio loses his stings but Penny is killed by hers. The scarecrow stumbles around because he's a scarecrow and Qrow stumbles around because he's drunk.

I also initially loved how James's illusion was used as the general he buried his heart because he felt like he had to but in this case the tin man always had a heart but the world thinks he doesn't. It's his close friends who can see the heart he desperately tries to bury and knows its their and are the one's to remind him of that instead of Oz.

But the show also fails a lot of their illusions as well unfortunately. Like later on with James they screwed up spectacularly by making him lose his heart or with Penny by turning her human, even if they didn't kill her. And especially new characters just don't get the same care as earlier one's like for most of the Ace Ops I couldn't even begin to guess who their illusions are supposed to be. And the one's we can figure out....they're very surface level like Clover is the luck of the fisherman, he has a luck semblance and uses a fishing rod type weapon. Surface level. Nothing interesting or creative with it.

But as you said even in early seasons before the illusions went to shit some just failed. Like Yangs is similarly very surface level and not much being used for it. Glynda is also fairly surface level as well in just name and semblance being a reference to her illusion and her personality and actions not really tying into hers at all.

Regarding Weiss and Ren (I already mentioned who Blake is supposed to be). Weiss is supposed to be snow white and Ren Mulan. All of team JNPR is supposed to be gender swapped of their illusions, with Nora being Thor, Pyrrha being Achilles, and Jaune being Joan of Arc. Ren and Jaune really don't have many connections to their illusions and generally we only know who they are supposed to be because of over the top color pallets with Ren or because we where told with Jaune.

In general I suppose its very hit or miss and just how much the writers could be bothered to care about putting any effort into their illusions.

I honestly don't know what's been said about Neo and her illusion but I wouldn't be surprised if it is another extremely superficial illusion. With Jacques....well he's another one that is hard to really pin down because his character is hard to pin down. He starts of as a calculating manipulative asshole but in Volume 7 he's....pathetic is the best word for it. Even if we're going with the whole SC version illusion it still doesn't work for how Jacques is developed which is a shame because he could have been a very interesting character.

What I think is earlier volumes we didn't care if the illusions where surface level or not because in earlier volumes it was just a fun slice of life school story that was very small scale and just fun in general. As time went on and the story became bigger and the show tries to claim important character arcs happen because of their illusions, its easier to want to be more critical of illusions because of the writers claims on how important the illusions are claimed to be for certain characters and only certain characters.

CRWBY both tries to hard and doesn't try hard enough and it infuriating with its inconsistency. You could argue technically it keeps the audience on their toes but....it doesn't in a fun way because it makes it unfun to theorize because sometimes illusions matter and other times they mean jack shit. Characters can change how they act and their illusions affect them at the drop of a hat and make the character unrecognizable from how they acted before. Crwby tends to care more about a cool looking scene then making a coherent story that makes sense and it really harms the enjoyment of the show.

[coinofstone]

3x12 The Coming of Arthur pt 1

The title is such low hanging fruit I feel bad cracking a joke about it.

It's a quest episode! I love a quest episode. Srsly feel free to send me any and all Merthur quest fics. I can't get enough 😂

This is the episode responsible for the lovely Leon fanon headcanon that he's immortal. Always handy in an Arthur Returns fic.

Uther: you must go on this mission alone

Arthur: *brings Merlin*

I do love Merlin being being a smart alec and nagging Arthur while packing. Excellent banter.

Arthur said

Arthur threatening a young boy like this is such an ugly and uncharacteristic action it makes me angry.

Merlin tending to Arthur while he's sick and injured 🥺

Also I'm sorry but Merlin shows fuckin Gilli his magic but he's hiding it from fuckin Gwaine while Arthur is suffering? Silly.

Cenred's massive army makes me wonder if it's a result of his tolerance of magic or lower standards than the knights of Camelot, or some combination of both.

Poor Leon, though. He's just got back from near death in that forest and Uther sends him right fuckin back in 😂

Looks like they snuck in to Camelot via the dragon's cave. I doubt that was the intention but I still approve 😂

Knowing he's on a suicide mission, Arthur gives Merlin an out, knowing he'll never take it, knowing he doesn't even want him to: he still presents him with the choice.

How come literally everyone else gets a crown that fits them but Arthur walks around looking like he's wearing hand-me-downs?

Morgana might be evil but she looks damn good on a throne.

3x13 The Coming of Arthur pt 2

There's a post going around Twitter about ppl who nitpick at TV shows... this comment falls into exactly that category 100% but I'm sorry, I cannot just ignore the fact that Morgana's got these massive banners and an entire army's worth of uniforms, I mean look:

Every guard with the sigil on his uniform and half a dozen banners in the council chambers alone. That's to say nothing of the ones outside. I mean look at the sheer fuckin size of these things:

Look how tiny the ppl are next to em! They've gotta be at least 15 feet long, at least. Where did they come from? Were they all magicked into existence? Who designed that sigil? What does it represent? Is it Gorlois' banner? I HAVE QUESTIONS.

Leon isn't someone I've ever been particularly attracted to, personally, but his defiant shout of "Long Live the King" in the face of Morgana's threats, is sexy as hell.

Depressed Arthur is such a mood.

So. Gwen. Originally in 3x12 when Morgana essentially invited Gwen into the fold (insofar as a Queen's servant can be), it seems to be a set up, because Morgana has been treating Gwen like shit for ages, why would she suddenly want her friend back? Especially since Morgana knows something is going on between Gwen and Arthur - there's no way she believes that they were actually under the spell of some random sorcerer, that just doesn't make any sense. So you kind of assume - or at least I did - that Morgana is keeping Gwen close knowing that she'll be useful as bait or a hostage, just essentially as a person of value to Arthur. She's known Gwen for too long to actually believe she'd cross Arthur, there's just no way someone as machiavellian as Morgana doesn't see Gwen's 'loyalty' as a simple survival tactic. All of this is to say, when Morgana and Morgause eavesdrop on Gwen's conversation with Sir Leon, Morgana is just like, 'welp, she's betrayed me. Guess I'll kill her in the morning.' as though she was actually expecting Gwen to do anything else?!?! Like, why? It would've made so much more sense to just cut that line entirely and go straight to something like

Morgana: it's as we suspected, she's betrayed me

Morgause: yes, now she can lead us straight to Arthur

And it would've made so much more sense than the weird sort of purgatory they've implied where Morgana changed her mind about Gwen very suddenly the night before she took the throne. It's not a super important detail in the overarching story but it's another example of how carelessly their story has been handled.

Me rn:

I do love that they made Freya the Lady of the Lake, and that she kept her promise by telling Merlin how to defeat the army of the dead.

How Merlin really sees Kilgharrah:

Gwen really is the smartest of all of them.

I do love that Merlin's first undead kill with excalibur is entirely an accident lol

The subtext between Morgana and Morgause is really gross. I haven't said anything before because I generally don't approve of ship shaming but the not so subtle subtext gives me the heebies.

This is such a great shot

Everything about it, his woman at his left and his man at his right, his romantic rival opposite him on his wife's side, as directly opposite her as possible at a round table with an uneven number of placements. It's a really beautiful shot, fitting for an equally beautiful scene. It's a very moving scene, the music really adds the exact emotion you'd expect for this moment we all recognize... and I feel like the knights' oaths are very well matched. The snarky part of me wanted to make a 'call me maybe' joke about Percival, but he's so sincere I just can't do it. The moment of levity added by Merlin's banter with Arthur is really, really well paced. Honestly I think it's probably the next perfect, iconic scene since Gwen and Arthur's first kiss. Hats off to this crew.

(Don't worry dear reader, I'm sure I'll get back to complaining shortly)

Santiago is so dreamy. I'd share his bedroll any day.

I like that despite all the talk of equality and doing the thing Uther wouldn't approve of, Gwen still worries about the company seeing her and Arthur kiss. Like, he's planning an insurrection with a bunch of commoners and two dudes who've been officially banished from Camelot, but she's internalized the classism and the rules of royalty so deeply that even amongst friends she instinctively keeps their relationship hidden. I'm not sure how intentional that was but it's brilliant.

The fight big fight scene with Merlin just barely missing the cup while the knights are cornered, and Gaius showing up like the brilliant deus ex machina that he is, honestly makes the previous budget-slashed episodes more bearable. Because this really is great, even knowing it's great at the expense of those others.

Morgana's screeching is eerily similar to Aithusa's.

I wonder if they knew they were getting renewed for a fourth season when they wrote this. Because you know, it really could've worked as a series finale as well. An open-ended series finale, but a series finale all the same.

As a Queens kid, I cannot explain to you the joy it gives me to watch Arthur and Merlin just chillin on the steps to the castle as tho it were a stoop, which I suppose, in a sense... it kind of is. Ahhh youthful days.

Commentary is Jeremy Webb and Julian Murphy.

And this kids, is why we're watching with commentary! They've just explained that Morgana's sigil is supposed to symbolize the Rowan tree that's supposed to be at the heart of the Isle of the Blessed. That suggests she designed it herself, so there's at least one of my earlier questions answered.

They talk a lot about how Emila Fox was very pregnant when they were filming her in this season, and they shot entirely around it - and I can't help but feel anger toward Joss Whedon and his 'handling' of Charisma Carpenter's pregnancy during S4 of Angel.

One of them called the round table scene 'curiously moving' and I think that is really fitting. They'd had this in mind for about two years, which is probably why it's so extraordinary. That's a great gestation period for a scene as iconic as this.

One final tidbit: the sword in the stone was filmed in France, and made it back to Wales intact. I guess nobody wanted to take it out. That's kind of an interesting thought, like a little set superstition or something. It's kind of cute.

The DVD extras/special features will get a separate post if I feel I have comments worth sharing.