#i'm getting war flashbacks ���

[sophsun1]

9-1-1 – 8.06: Confessions

[animatedjen]

One thing I find jarring when playing Fallen Order and Survivor back-to-back, is how Cal goes from having very dark, coal grey eyes to bright green eyes in the span of five years. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on why Respawn made this change, and if you prefer one eye color over the other.

Love this question! There's a few things that impact the design changes between FO Cal and Survivor Cal.

The biggest change is how the two games handle their overall color. Cal's eyes have always been somewhat green, but Fallen Order's visual design is a muted color palette with darker shadows. That "look" fit the story Respawn was telling, and Cal spends much of FO exploring darker spaces like scrapyards, tombs, ice caves, and Imperial facilities. Very few of the game's cutscenes take place in well-lit spaces.

Cal's character design also includes a strong brow, and because of how Fallen Order renders light, his eyes are often in shadow. Add in stylized environmental lighting (the red tint of Dathomir, the blue-green of Zeffo tombs) and the iris quickly loses its green-gray tint.

Survivor has a more vibrant color palette and more complicated lighting, including how Cal's eyes catch and reflect light. More of the story takes place outdoors, and indoor spaces generally have more lighting. Also did I say vibrant?? Just look at how bright the SU poncho is compared to its (almost navy blue) FO counterpart.

Visual design is also influenced by time and technology: AAA games have changed a lot between 2019 and 2023, and the methods of rendering light/color/texture in real-time are growing exponentially.

Comparing a similar environment (the couch on on the Mantis) makes the color/lighting changes really obvious. It's easy to say new = better, and from a strictly technical standpoint that may be true, but I appreciate the thoughtfulness of Fallen Order's color and how the color stylization served the story. But that's probably a whole separate post.

TLDR; the design difference is likely a mix of technical advances and intentional color choices by Respawn's art teams. But I do like the bright green eyes! They look more green-blue in shadow and gold-green in direct sunlight, which is a neat effect.

[mistressemmedi]

Lewis vs MV in the wet in BRAZIL

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

I need a series where Yangchen/Kuruk/Kyoshi/Roku/Aang/Korra (from their respected novels/shows, guess Kuruk is an outlier tho) and their companions all gather in Korra's timeline and just....react to things. TT0TT Like kfljask;dfla I mostly want it because I think Kyoshi's reactions would just be 90% "WhAT?!/*absolutely flabbergasted*"

Yangchen: Let's go to my island! Kuruk: I'm sorry Yangchen, I sank it Yangchen: How do you sink an island? Kuruk: ...........you forget to cherish- Yangchen: Why couldn't you have destroyed some of my statues instead? >_> Aang: How about we go to Kyoshi's Island? Kyoshi: ????? I have an island??? Why do I have an island??? Korra: Kyoshi, you made it. Kyoshi: ????!!!! What???! Aang: Well more like moved it Kyoshi: ???!! WHaT?! Roku: Though you did make the Kyoshi Warriors! Kyoshi: ???? I did??? Why??? Why that name??? Am I a narcissist???? Aang: *sigh* she also made the Dai Li.... Kyoshi: THE FUCK IS A DAI LI???? Aang: Secret security police for the Earth King. Kyoshi, a known criminal: I DID WHAT?! Roku: Should we tell her she lived to around 230? Kyoshi: HUH??????! Wait. no. That tracks. Kyoshi's companions: WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT TRACKS???? Aang: On second, let's just go to the Northern Air Temple. Yangchen: Oops, can't, I'm banned from going. Aang: ????! WHAT?! You're an Air Nomad, how do you get banned from an Air Temple???? How did YOU get banned, but NOT Kyoshi???? Kuruk: She got a tad bit silly. Roku: Oh let's go to Ma'inka island then! It's suppose to be amazing. Kyoshi, war flashbacks: FUCK NO! You can't make me go back there! Yangchen: Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm not welcome there either. They hate my guts. I kinda fucked them over. Aang: What is the matter with you two? Korra: Can we just find a place to chill out where Yangchen isn't banned, and Kyoshi isn't having a meltdown?

[kanansdume]

I've recently been watching these very interesting Star Wars video essays on YouTube (yeah I know, a rare breed) and it brings up these comments Lucas has made about how he views Star Wars as almost like a silent film in terms of how important the visuals are to him in comparison to the dialogue. But this essay also points out how important Lucas finds all of the "rhyming" moments in his trilogies and the way he utilizes them to remind you of something else for emotional or thematic reasons. And there's so many of them, both in visuals and in dialogue, and it's interesting to consider how important this is to him, the repetition for a purpose as well as the storytelling through visuals above everything else and then to look at Star Wars since the Prequels came out and realize how little has really been able to match up to those ideals since then.

The ONLY thing that's come out since the Prequels that I think really hits these two things the same way is, in fact, Andor. One of the things I noticed about the way people discussed Andor as it was airing in a way I haven't really seen for any of the other shows or films was the visual SYMBOLOGY. So many times I saw people noticing the Imperial cog everywhere, from the aerial shot of Narkina 5 as the prisoners escape to the architecture of Mon Mothma's house. There were people picking up on the use of items in Luthen's shop that are familiar from other things to give this idea that Luthen is from another time, he's attempting to preserve this world he lost, that if you're not looking closely enough you won't notice what he's really saying or doing with this shop. The color choices for the different locations and people got analyzed because the people involved spoke about how they intentionally utilized color to SEND A MESSAGE about the characters and the world. We know that the people who made the costumes and sets really worked hard to treat Star Wars almost like a period drama and study the history of the franchise as if it were a real place so that the things they came up with felt like they belonged in this world everyone knows so well even if it's completely new. And of course there were all of the myriad references to things from Rogue One, the constant repetition of "climb", the sunset on the beach, etc.

Nearly EVERY SHOT in this show was created with so much intention behind it in order to say something meaningful about the characters, the world, this specific story they're in, and the overall saga of Star Wars itself. It's insane how much greater impact this show was able to achieve through the incredibly careful usage of visual symbols and thematic repetitions, much like Lucas did before them. It feels like they didn't just study the history of the galaxy far far away, but they studied the history of STAR WARS and what Lucas was trying to do and say with this story. They peeled back his onion a bit more and were able to create something that really has that same visual feel even when it's not created for a child audience. It also is experimenting with its narrative style through its structure and through Cassian's character being allowed to be somewhat more reactive than proactive, and while that didn't work for everyone, it does feel like it's following in Lucas's footsteps of experimentation through Star Wars. Push the boundaries of what Star Wars is and can be and what you can say with it.

But this only works because they peeled the onion back enough to TRULY understand all of the messages Lucas was sending with it. They got the heart of Star Wars and despite its lack of space wizards, despite the lack of most major characters in the Saga, this was a show that honestly got the message more than just about anything else Star Wars has put out since the Prequels. The choices between selflessness and selfishness, the themes about how you always HAVE to make a choice even when it feels like you don't have any (sometimes ESPECIALLY when it feels like you don't have any), and how important it is to make sure to choose the path of compassion above everything else. The themes of connection to others, the symbiotic circle and the impact even the smallest person can have on world around them, it's RIGHT THERE and it's CENTRAL to Andor's storyline.

So yes, it experiments a little with narrative structure, but it's possibly the most Star Wars thing to exist Revenge of the Sith because it honestly truly GETS what Star Wars was about, both in its themes and in its filmmaking. A lot of people said that Andor didn't feel like Star Wars to them, usually because of the lack of space wizards and the fact that it's not a story aimed at children. But to me, Andor is EXACTLY what Star Wars is and has always been. They're stretching the boundaries of what Star Wars can be, but it's saying the exact same things Star Wars has always said, it's just saying it slightly differently. This doesn't feel like fanfiction to me, not really. Unlike things like the Mandoverse or the books, Andor isn't just taking some of the toys out of the sandbox and going to play with them somewhere else. Andor is IN that sandbox. It's building a slightly different sandcastle, but it's still within the sandbox, using the same sand that Lucas did.

[piko-power]

Every time I encounter a ship war with Sonic and Amy or Shadow, etc, I just smile to myself and believed that I'm the only smart shipper in the fandom because Sonic is bisexual and I'm the only person who knows that. 😎

[vaguely-concerned]

I don't know what I love more, the fact that as rook you can make a statement in NO uncertain terms that you are NOT responsible one way or the other for the theological implications of the shit you're discovering in the 'regrets of the dread wolf' memories. not my jurisdiction. quite simply none of my business. not my chantry circus not my chantry monkeys. irrelevant to the matter at hand here we'll kill that god if we get to him he can get in line. or if the best thing about it is seeing the lone little 'lucanis approves' that pops up right after choosing it. corvid with a knife about to commit deicide keeping it real and sensibly, pragmatically, wilfully agnostic with me here in this magical lighthouse today

[bornuntohimself]

reading row chapter 54 again (fork spotted in kitchen etc) and this part is genuinely so brutal. like. renarin lost his mother, who he was very close to, at a young age, and was treated pretty poorly by dalinar – his only remaining parent – for the majority of his childhood/teen years. and it clearly means so much to him to see how hard dalinar is trying now, how he's making a real concerted effort to get to know renarin and be a better father – imagine how devastating it must be to finally build a relationship with a previously neglectful parent and truly experience having a loving and attentive father for the first time in your life, only to find out that he was the one who killed your mother. how do you come to terms with the fact that your mother died a horrific, painful death and your father, who you're only now finally getting to know as a real parent, was the one who made it happen?

and even the language he uses to describe it is so telling: "she hadn't lived" and "odium had seen her killed" are both technically true statements, but they're also very passive. he's not acknowledging the actual core of the issue here, which is that dalinar is the one who killed her. it wasn't intentional and he was being influenced by the thrill, but ultimately, he still did it. of course renarin can't look that fact directly in the face; it's not just that he would lose his father, it's that he's finally learned what it's like to actually have his father for the first time in his life and if he truly acknowledges how angry he is about his mother's death he'd lose him again

[crow-posting]

"I know [Osiris] feels guilt when he tells me that he stopped looking for me. But I am proud of him. He felt such sadness, and shame, for losing me. But he did not use those feelings to harm others."

Saint, I love you, but your boyfriend built a time machine that scared even the Drifter, and we're dealing with the reverberations of that up until now. Just because Osiris wasn't as obsessed as Maya for that particular venture* doesn't mean his feelings "didn't harm others," my guy.

*Osiris was just as obsessive as fellow Vex enthusiasts like Clovis and Maya and Asher, let's be real. Something about the Vex attracts obsessive personalities. 🤐

[veneskaa]

as on-the-nose as some of the dialogue is, the portrayal of the jedi as a destabilizing force is sooooo compelling. individual jedi can behave more or less well or badly and we're free to evaluate them through that lens, but for the acolyte's purposes the order is more fundamentally the other half of multiple binaries: light rather than dark; orthodoxy rather than heresy; (republic) law and order. the jedi represent one side of that polarity and cast the brendok coven as the other. their influence doesn't create the fractures but exacerbates them; it prevents people like mae and osha from living too long in the in-between. magnets pushing and pulling, circling each other, making the middle a hostile place.

[backpackingspace]

thinking about how for like the first two years of obi wans apprenticeship qui gon did not give a fuck what obi wan did (or even really what happened to him) before snapping out of it and realizing he was actually very much responsible for this child and course corrected into being a helicopter parent and how obi wan always read this as mistrust instead of concern and guilt.

[lacatose]

I can dislike and not support some creators from dsmp all I want but the year 1970 will be staining my memory till I die

[cedarw00div]

redeemed Gort au....He gets tadpoled instead of durge....hregrgrggrr...

[allthegothihopgirls]

hiding away in a dark dark corner where no one will find me ever again

[dameronscopilot]

i've been waiting so many years for thunderbolts that i'm going to be absolutely insufferable when i'm finally seated in a theatre watching bucky barnes on the big screen again :'''''')

[dootznbootz]

Hiiiiiii I just saw the character ask thing :))))

Can you tell me about your NOTP, random headcanon and unpopular opinion about Helen of Sparta?

Thank you so much!!!

I'll save the one that'll get me crucified last! 👍

Random headcanon: Both Odysseus and Penelope were given a "photographic memory" by Athena. When Athena had "forsaken" Odysseus it was taken away. Makes it nice because a lot of the more fucked up parts of the Odyssey are a bit more "fuzzy" for him. And he hates feeling "so out of sorts". He gets it back though.

Also Athena technically took Penelope under her "wing" like, one month before Odysseus.

Unpopular Helen Opinion: In MY FICS, (It's okay if you don't agree!) She is built like Rose Quartz from Steven Universe. She doesn't have a perfect "hourglass figure". She's got some pudge on her tummy. Girl is TALL (Demigod) and CHUBBY. One of the important components of Helen and Menelaus' relationship is that they are both strong enough to lift each other. Also she's the most beautiful woman in the world and chubby women are hot af lskdjf She also SUCKS at singing. She's good at wrestling and spear work. (Sparta. I also love athletic women. Plenty of chubby women are also athletic af. If you think otherwise, literally look up women's Olympic sports participants.)

Homies, know that my NOTP can be YOUR OTP and that's okay! We can still love each other and be friends! Ignore the rest if you just don't want to see that, but know that while it kind of will be in my fics, it's probably not in the way you want it to be.

Please don't hate me and know I don't hate you or think I'm "correct"!

It's OdyDio.

These are the reasons why so avoid them if you don't want to read that! :'D This is the only time I will ever be on the "Odysseus hate train" because he's such an asshole to Diomedes.

I feel so bad about it. 😭 I'm a freak who likes Odysseus/Menelaus (Big BROTP) I think it's because Odysseus is just... SO MEAN to Diomedes. And when he's not mean, he's just neutral. There is not really any "Diomedes, you're the best guy!". Especially when have Sthenelus and Diomedes saying I love you to each other To ME, they are like co-workers who work GREAT together on the battlefield and on missions, but never do anything outside of that.

When Diomedes asks for help, Odysseus sprints away from battle. When Diomedes compliments him before the night raid, Odysseus literally is like "Dude, you're not the only person who knows I'm good at stealing. Let's go."

Odysseus, that long-suffering, godlike man, replied: “Son of Tydeus, don’t over-praise me, or censure me. You’re speaking to the Argives,                           who know everything about me. Let’s go. Night is passing quickly. Dawn approaches. The stars have shifted forward. Most of the night                   has passed, two thirds of it, with one third left.”

(Ian Johnston, Book 10)

Odysseus is an asshole but he's still so mean to Diomedes! 😭 ESPECIALLY WHEN DIOMEDES IS SO FUCKING NICE TO ODYSSEUS!!! I know that's what probably makes them so compelling to so many lovely folks but I love fluff BECAUSE I'm so tired of toxic relationships irl. I don't...I don't see how I can make OdyDio fluffy 😥 With OdyDio, I feel like I'm watching my bestie (Diomedes) get back with their toxic ex who mistreats them (Odysseus). Diomedes is actually quite polite to the others. Even when Agamemnon scolds him, he tells Sthenelus to think nothing of it. He compliments Odysseus! He listens to the gods when they tell him "Hey stop fighting!" and listens to Athena! Like he's violent and a killing machine but he's respectful! He's a traumatized, respectful, killing machine! He bitches at Paris but everyone has done that! That's something everyone partakes in /j

It bothers me even more because when Odysseus is with Penelope, he's so wonderful and loving? And that the Odyssey, literally Odysseus' story/Epic, doesn't even really mention Diomedes? That goes to show how little Diomedes means to Odysseus.

And since Odysseus runs away from Diomedes when he asks for help, it boggles my mind that books earlier, he goes into a rage when his friend gets killed!

[...]but hit Leucus, a brave companion of Odysseus, in the groin,                                           as he was dragging Simoeisius away. His hands let go. He fell down on the corpse. Enraged at Leucus’ slaughter, Odysseus strode up, through the front ranks, armed in gleaming bronze. Going in close, he took his stand. Looking round, he hurled his glittering spear. As he threw, Trojans moved back, but the spear found a mark. It hit Democoön, Priam’s bastard son, who had come from Abydos, where he bred horses for their speed.                                    Angry for his friend, Odysseus speared him in the temple.

(Ian Johnston, Book 4)

Odysseus, you prick!!! You go on a rampage when your buddy gets killed but sprint away when your STILL ALIVE BUDDY asks you for help?! ASSHOLE

They ARE kind of friends/frenemies during the end of the war but it's a weird thing where Diomedes cares about Odysseus but Odysseus tolerates him. Like he left him to die. I love Odysseus. He's my special little guy but he treats Diomedes, another special little guy, like shit 😞

They also have a fairly large agegap, (Odysseus being one of the older kings while Diomedes is the youngest. If you bring up pederasty, you will be smited.) and have very little in common other than them both being Athena's pets. Odysseus is a fucked up lil warrior trickster who loves his wife and child more than life itself while Diomedes is a young child soldier boy who is incredibly duty bound and war is where he feels most comfortable.

Also just...Most of anything about OdyDio (fanart/fanfic/etc.) it's of them fighting or bickering or betraying each other or being very sexual. Even OdyPenDio STILL feels very "OdyDio... + Penelope in the footnotes". I already plan to write Odysseus (and Penelope) as Aspec CODED and so I...just really don't care for that??? There's barely ANYTHING of them being soft. BECAUSE THEM TWO TOGETHER just aren't soft... I personally don't like couples that are mean to each other 😭 (I'm not even including the whole "betrayal with the Pallidium" because it makes me sad to think about. I don't consider it canon.)

Menelaus though?

I have plans 😌 These two bring me comfort and are a special brotp