#in which I struggle to incorporate a background

[heyclickadee]

“Where’s Tech?”

“Outside. Something about aiwhas and a comm recorder—”

“What about aiwhas?”

“I…think he said they might talk.”

I sort of have a headcanon Tech’s interest in sounds, recording, and language started when he was pretty young, and that it started because he had some trouble communicating and being understood. Wanting to connect ended up naturally leading into curiosity about how everything else tried to communicate.

[lemonlimestar]

she needs to fight!!! here’s my redesign for anita :)

i felt like something was lacking in her costume and i wanted to take a stab at redesigning her so! here she is!

explanation will be under the cut :]

when i started this redesign, i knew i wanted to incorporate her cultural background a lot more. she is implied (i don’t believe they outright specify it) to practice specifically haitian voodou & both of my parents practice african traditional religions. so, i talked to my dad about different ways to connect that to her costume and he brought up west african masquerades.

i was sent many, many videos (thank u dad 🫡) of masquerades as well as celebrations of junkanoo, which is a festival that started in north america rooted in west african festival traditions & they both have bright colors & masks that i felt really lent itself to the empress costume

i knew i wanted to keep her general silhouette, but i tweaked it to better suit the masquerade & festival costumes e.g. her glove and boot cuffs being flipped.

the stripes were a common aspect, and i based the masks more on junkanoo than masquerades just because of the important meanings behind masquerading that i am not qualified to apply to a dc comics characters ajhdjsja. i also made her under armor a lot more yellow to have less people confuse it as her skin? which i’ve seen a few times.

speaking of, now onto her actual appearance. i think anita has a very cute design, but like many non-white comic characters , it is a bit of a struggle. but! that’s an easy fix.

first, i gave her knotless french curl braids, bc all the black vigilantes i draw have to have protective hairstyles apparently lmao. but also it’s a nice mix of the braids she wears in yj sometimes and her usual hair. yippee

(+ i just made her empress hair a wig, bc it’s very much more convenient & plays into the festival costume aspect)

and, finally, i made her skin tone a lot deeper bc, especially compared to her white teammates, her skin is super gray 😭 which is common for a lot of brown comic characters unfortunately. i could’ve just made her og skintone more saturated but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it’s a free country.

and that’s a wrap :^) ty to anyone who actually sat through my rambling! if anything came off unclear i’ve open to questions about it. bring back anita fite 2k24

[ohsoconfused]

transschizospec if you haven't already?

TRANSSCHIZOSPEC TIPS 𖦹

i am also transschizospec!!

i will separate this into categories: delusions, hallucinations, behaviors, emotions, and thinking

keep in mind these are all just symptoms and not every schizospec person experiences them all!! most probably dont experience all of them!!

delusions:

- a delusions is simply a fixed belief that doesnt change despite contradicting evidence. let your imagination run wild and then just gaslight yourself. eventually youll believe it.

- if you need more guidance, some common delusions are grandiose delusions (which i experienced), paranoid, erotomaniac (parasocial), somatic, and many more you can google.

- paranoia is very very common!! incorporate it!!

- look at the “how the delulu girls“ trend on tiktok!!

- whether or not you choose to talk to people about your delusion is up to you

hallucinations:

- honestly, make them up to gaslight yourself and/or manifest them

- draw whatever comes to mind and tell yourself its your hallucinations

- get sleep deprived!!

-watch things that make you anxious!!

- listen for small background noises and tell yourself its a hallucination

behaviors:

- periods of catatonia!! catatonia is a state where someone is awake but not responding to other people or maybe their environment. it may occur in the form of repetitive odd gestures, holding strange positions, mimicking others, or not moving at all. not every schizospec person experiences catatonia!!!!

- disorganized speech!! this is pretty much just word salads but with whatever and also with some garbled speech so ill make an example of this one no thank you i dont have the free time for that but yournrnnn you cna ask ted..if you wnt because hes to contamnnated to do that (but do that while talking)

- do repetitive movements and do things in patterns

- be impulsive

- schizophrenics tend to socially isolate

- be disorganized!! wear mismatch clothes (thats a thing with schizophrenics), have a messy room, etc.

emotions:

- apathy is common among schizophrenics and interestingly enough, so are heightened emotions!! sometimes just not react to things and SOMETIMES REALLY REACT!!

- anxiety is also very common

- paranoia!! what if everyone can read your mind? what if they know youre a terrible person? there are people watching you. where are they?

- inappropriate emotional responses!! such as laughing when something bad happens or crying over something really small. this ties in with heightened emotions.

thinking:

- disorganized thoughts!! this is pretty much just word salads but with whatever and also with some garbled speech so ill make an example of this one no thank you i dont have the free time for that but yournrnnn you cna ask ted..if you wnt because hes to contamnnated to do that (but do that while talking)

- memory issues!!

- inability to process social cues!! that means not getting the hint when someone is talking to you or not getting the hint someone needs to be comforted, for example.

- attention deficit!! struggle to focus on things and zone out a lot

[a-roguish-gambit]

Behold, the Brotherhood of Mutants for my turn of the century au!

You can tell I had the most fun with pietro and wanda’s designs. They are based more on upperclass wear of the time. Sadly, there was no punk going on, but you can see that in rebellion Wanda has bobbed her hair, which was incredibly controversial before the year 1920.

I based the outfits of the brotherhood boys on some different working class designs. Lance has some factory gear to help protect him from his own power. You have probably noticed that they don’t really have super suits or armor at this point in time that’s because a lot of it has not been invented yet or is almost exclusively used by military. Spandex will not be a thing for a couple more decades, and most non natural fibers right now are dangerously flammable, so they are mostly wearing clothing that suits them rather than super suits. also, you will notice that yes some of the characters have visible injuries, especially todd. They grew up in the 1900s which was an especially difficult time to be an orphaned child. This is part why they all end up being willing to stay with mystique and Irene, who have set up a “shelter for wayward boys” which in actuality is a way for them to train children for magneto (will design him later having trouble figuring out how to incorporate his helmet lol). It’s free room and board with food so they don’t have to worry about any exploitative jobs at this point in time. And all they have to do is go on missions for her which is somehow significantly safer than an up to code factory floor. being former Street kids, or in Fred’s case, a former sideshow act, they have already been a bit embittered to the world, especially to the X-Men kids who they see as highly privileged, even though several of them came from similar backgrounds of poverty, struggle, and familial loss, someone was just willing to reach out a hand to them before mystique.

Both Irene and mystique are faking being widows, living together in part of a way to claim the estate as their own, but also as an excuse to hide their relationship. The brotherhood kids could honestly care less about this thankfully because they’re loyal if you feed them, and they’ll never leave because well they need the food…mystique is not sure if that last part is good or not but its comforting to know their secret is safe with these kids. Shes still not a great caretaker for them but at least they have a roof over their head, fresh clothing, and 3 square meals a day, which is more than what they had.

[radioactive-dragons]

How 2 win a fest skin contest on dragon neopets

Hi! So I've seen some discussion on fest skin contests, mostly about how some people just keep winning. I'm not here to discuss about whether anything should be done about that, or whether that's unfair. I'm here to share some tips for people who struggle to get any fest win or honorable mention in.

Some background info: I've won a decent amount of contests so far. I don't win nearly every single time I enter a contest, but I do at least manage to land an honorable mention most of the time at this point. So take this post with a grain of salt, I'm not perfect, nor the best, just here to share what I've noticed from my festival winners as well as others.

So here we go!

Tip 1: Stay in theme

A lot of entries I see don't quite fit the idea of the flight that staff is looking for. Stick with the flight's general theme. For light that tends to be the color yellow, orbs and ancient Greece inspired ruins.

Some flights have very broad themes. Like water ranging from deep sea horrors to sandy shores, or nature both having a feral, wild aesthetic as well as a tropical, flowery one. But other flights, like wind and light, have a more narrow theme.

I've talked with some other skin artists about specific contest entries in the past, that we really wished would win, but doubted they ever would. Not because the art wasn't interesting, but because they fell outside the general themes we see in that flight. Sometimes we're surprised, and they win anyways, though!

Tip 2: study the masters

We're in our 12th festival cycle, which means there's 11 previous years to look through. This is a really valuable resource. Go through the previous years, especially the more recent ones, and take a look at what the previous winning entries were. You'll probably spot some common themes for each flight, as well as specific elements that reoccur in each fest again and again.

Whenever I sit down to make a contest entry, I look at the previous few years. Both to gather inspiration but also to study them. I don't just look at these skins, I pick apart their art style, the composition, the themes that they've used. And then I go ahead and bring my own spin on it.

Tip 3: Make it yours

Okay, yes, I know I just spent a while talking about staying on theme and referencing existing winners, but hear me out. Most of the winning entries I see (as well as most of my own fest winners) manage to walk the tight line between staying on theme as well as adding their own creative twist to it.

This is the part where I'm going to share some of my own examples, since I think some of mine show what I mean pretty well.

Solarium (brightshine 2019) | Starwood Monarch (starfall 2022) | C.A.C.T.U.S. (thundercrack 2022)

These ones still stay relatively in theme, but they also incorporate some of my own twists in it. Solarium's idea was a window to the sky, surrounded by gilded sundial-esque elements. Starwood Monarch is a pink arcane crystal butterfly. And C.A.C.T.U.S. is... well, cybernetic cacti tied into the dragon with some thunder clouds.

None of these are a carbon copy of the flight's themes, but instead incorporate the flight's themes into another concept altogether. Sundial sky, arcane butterfly, robot cacti.

And you can go pretty wild with this in some scenarios.

Fast as the Wind (mistral 2022) | Sunlit Streams (brightshine 2024)

Both of these incorporate something you really wouldn't expect from its flight. Cheetahs and koi fish respectively. I'm actually really surprised Sunlit Streams won since I felt it strayed too far away from light's general theming.

Fun fact, for C.A.C.T.U.S. and fast as the wind I actually came up with the name first, then based a skin around that name. I don't always do it but it's nice to get a cohesive package.

Tip 4: Keep it readable

A common thing I see in festival winners are that it's really easy to tell what they depict at an immediate first glance. A lot of entries that otherwise would be really good candidates fall victim to one of the following pitfalls.

They don't tint the lines and shadows

They don't have any line art separating objects from the dragon

They use a very soft brush for things that should appear more solid

Number 3 I see a lot with artists who are rather novel at (digital) art in general. This isn't a bad thing, but it does make the overall picture blurred and difficult to read.

For number 2, the fix is mostly to add clearer separation between the dragon and the object. The dragon base is a gray, but lighter and darker dragons exist. Having no (or very unnoticeable) lineart will make any very light color blend in with lighter dragons!

As for number 1... please tint your lines and shadows. Often they can be a noticeable deal lighter than what the default PSD has them as. Set your lines to multiply also, to make life less hard on yourself.

This means your art doesn't have to be perfect to win. My first two festival winners make me die inside every time I look at them.

Twilight Oracle (brightshine 2016) | Cinderleaves (flameforgers 2016)

I could list a bunch of reasons as to why I think these aren't too great, the shading being just one of them. But hey, they still won. And that's likely because they still follow these four principles at their core.

Bonus tip: have fun!

It's real cliche to throw this one in, but I mean it. If you're solely making fest entries to win, then not making it into the selection feels incredibly awful. It's art after all, draw what you love to draw. This is just my two cents on how to improve your chances at winning a contest.

I hope this isn't an unreadable wall of text and that someone actually got something out of this, thanks for reading!

[shysublimecoffee]

Look this is just an opinion not a fact don't get into such a tussle over a stanger opinion on a book of all things which are meant for entertainment. How I view this doesn't effect you nor do you take it as fact in fact youre free to disagree don't care.

It fucking says a lot about Shen Jiu as a character and the fandom as a whole in fanfics when the majority of them make him in fanfics having a better turn around in his life is always when a respected man is attached to hip usually( Liu Qingge) or acts as a voucher for people to even see him past his shell or his lies about the true reason he goes to the brothel goes out the window because otherwise he's a liar, a no-good and lecher and scum villain and because he's so emotional and volatile people do not respect him as a peakleader at all. He doesn't have a voice like it's telling me he's so female-coded cause ladies knows how dangerous people giving character assassination at your person could do tons of damage to your future prospects in future life and honestly I really like even though the ficwriters don't outright say it cause it subtle how majority every man and person in his life have taken away his autonomy and I find the most egregious example SY not actually giving a fuck about the person of the body he's inhabited and him not emoting at all when he saw the OG being abused and still validating LBG like if even the modern man from another era doesn't give a shit either someone who has to have sensible morals in society and even he doesn't care . This dynamic reflects a lot how society often undermines individuals who don't fit its norms, stripping them of their autonomy and dignity. SJ's struggle for respect and recognition in the story mirrors real-world issues of power and validation.

Everyone prefers SY. I'm not going to act as if I'm better though in real-life same I'd like him more too but his martial siblings barley tried. If they dislike him whatevs, but you guys are not at all suspicious about the 180 change in behavior how the kid he used to hurt and abuse is now being loved and pampered wtf??? Don't you guys owe him that much to investigate.

They could have tried to dig deeper aside from the one time they test him for possession but they didn't because they prefer the new and improved him". It actually so telling how the author chose someone of such a rich and idle pampered background to be transmigrated to the villain who's origin the very opposite of that and yet seemingly integrated himself better and incorporate better relationship with them then SJ.

The cultivation world, as well as the characters within it, reflect deep-seated classist attitudes. SJ's rough background and survival tactics make him an outsider, whereas SY, coming from a more privileged background, can navigate and be accepted more easily.

What does that actually say exactly that someone of a better background get along with the peaklords but not SJ because with our SJ he's a fighter and biter, he plays dirty to win in their eyes, he a lecher every inconceivable things is literally placed onto him just based on their perception of him. Is it that unconsciously they could tell SJ is not of of them or am I looking to deep haha??? The cultivation world is very classist is not news to anyone and that being the exploration in MXTX next book and how WWX background being how he literally met his end because of it says an actually lot how she took the things from this story and incorporate it into her next book.

The entire story had me retrospectively think hard how SJ voice is silent and yet to me at least he stills haunts the narrative because of it then when you get to the reveal about his backstory it makes you fucking think of him as an actual person and not just an object as a vehicle for the main character to just insert himself in because no matter the nature of a person it stills their body.

Like i've seen some fans even reflect this saying it not his fault that he transmigrated or he deserved it's technically his body and that he's a better person than SJ. At first, I agreed but then I took some time to process this. I don't care about SJ actions and his nature if it at the expense of his fucking body. SY can live for many many years but he's not SQQ unless he reincarnated like Airplane like it makes me want to me want to debates about transmigration. SY is his own person an adult with memories he has his own thoughts and feelings so when he transmigrated he took over the manual controls but that doesn't mean he's actually SQQ because he's not he's a pampered millennial.

In Otome Isekai (OI) stories, the original souls often face bad endings, while the transmigrators, who are modern characters inhabiting and thriving in these disliked bodies, desperately try to avoid such fates. They manage to charm the original male leads and are so focused on changing the story's trajectory that they can't accept its original path. This comparison to OI highlights how these characters' actions mirror Shen Yuan's (SY) predicament. The original person's identity and struggles are dismissed for the sake of the new character's journey, leading to the erasure of the original identity.

I don't vibe much with Shen Yuan because he seems very indifferent. The world revolves around him and his bias, much like many other transmigration novels where the MCs are similar. I find it hard to connect with a MC whose actions, even bold, lack a genuine foundation with other characters because they continue to see them not as people but character roles they're supposed to fulfill. He does everything to save himself, not from the sincere intention. His reaction to the death of GXY was cold af.

I don't like transmigration stories for this reason. They're often treated more as reader-inserts for fix-it fanfiction. We rarely learn about the characters' past lives, so we end up thinking of them as the person they transmigrated into, rather than who they were before. All we know of before was he was cyber-bullying and harassing the author and a troll so an asshole, basically.

If you guys don't know about OtomeIsekai basically we have bunch of modern day Koreans jumping into european white women bodies and inhabiting their bodies and living vicariously through them basically wish-fufillment bullshit trash . 9/10 nobody notices because this is a person who is widely disliked and despised and because no-one cared for the OG soul it easier to just go under the radar hell even the MC don't give a shit to so we have another MC that become so beloved in the eyes of the ML and how she bewitched everyone into loving her.

Transmigration is literal horror. " His Present" a short story I read from novel-updates where it literally based on this very concept where his loved ones preferred the imposter ugh made me bawl.

It makes me think about transmigration. Does it truly matter if the person who took over lived much longer than the original soul does that make them "THEM" ? I actually do appreciate SJ backstory being added but like now with transmigration just popping off on internet novels where the concept is everywhere where the original soul is discarded and the new one is celebrated, kinda adds a layer of tragedy and ethical dilemma to the narrative. It questions the validity of the new identity and the consequences of such an erasure. I'm always biased for the OG souls maybe that why a lot of SJ fics make him the character who is most suppressed by his role as scum villain succeed in making him heard to be listened to and mattered.

Imma nap lol this rant was loooong!!!

[highfantasy-soul]

Katara: NATLA Edition - Waterbending

In the Netflix show, Katara's main teacher was the world - she observed, she learned the spiritual side of bending from Aang (and a little from Jet), and she learned from opponents she fought (including Pakku)

This is SHOWING Uncle Iroh's lesson to Zuko in Bitter Work (book 2) about learning as much as you can from everywhere even if they aren't directly doing your own style of bending. By learning about everyone's cultures/styles/philosophies of the world, then you have a more rounded view of the world and can incorporate new things into your own bending.

I think an important distinction people are missing when they compare LA and animated Katara is that in the animated series, we see Katara WATERBEND more, but in the live action, we see her PRACTICING waterbending more.

In the animated series, she's already doing very useful things with her waterbending (lifting a fish, throwing water and freezing it, breaking apart an iceberg with her anger, pulling down a bank of snow,  lifting a whole wave of water, pushing and pulling a wave, pulling water from Aang's lungs, pushing the water while she's in it to get to shore faster, lifting water from a river to freeze as a block on a guy's head, lifting and maneuvering water in the air) before she ever even gets a hint of training. She just 'naturally' knows how to do all that through her own trial and error - no advice from Aang about the spirituality of bending, no training from the scroll, and no using moves she's seen other benders do just making it water.

The only times we see animated Katara training is in The Waterbending Scroll episode - which is the entire point of the episode - and in the trio of episodes up in the NWT - again, the whole point of her arc in those episodes. Everything else, she's done on her own and there's no moments of her training during the other episodes, she just waterbends.

In the live action, we see Katara constantly practicing, even when she's just in the background of a scene or traveling from place to place - she's ALWAYS practicing her stances or playing with water to get better.

In the live action, Katara is struggling with ALL of waterbending, not just the technical aspect of it - because bending is a highly spiritual practice where you have to be in the right mindset to do successfully. We see every single step of Katara's waterbending practice journey - from not even being able to lift a globe of water to holding her own against a master.

We get to see the process of bending from start to finish which really fleshes out the magic of the world in an organic way while providing one of our leads with more depth that ties them to the themes of the world and of their own culture and how the oppression of the Fire Nation affects her mental state.

In the animated show, we hear Katara talk about how losing her mother hurt her, yet we really only see the fallout of that trauma, not her inner turmoil over it. We see her taking on a 'motherly' role in the community and with Sokka, we see her anger at the firebenders, we see how she's had to grow up too fast and just wants to be a kid, but the actual death of her mother and its affect on her isn't shown.

I like how the live action specifically shows how Katara's mother's death affects HER - she doesn’t just share the story to connect with others, it's not just the 'reason' she acts the way she does, it's not just something that impacts her relationships with others: if no one else in the world existed for Katara to interact with, Katara would still have a journey to go on surrounding Kya's death.

In the LA, the fact that her mother was killed by a firebender looking for HER - and she tries to save her mother using her waterbending and it doesn't work because she isn't strong enough yet, directly affects Katara herself independent of anyone else. That trauma keeps her from being able to waterbend easily like she does in the animated show and it's one of her main arcs: the arc to learn waterbending isn't just a technical journey for her like it is in the animated show, it's emotional too.

Generational trauma due to horrific violence is shown both in external issues to grapple with as well as internal ones our characters have to face alone.

I really like how the live action broke down Katara's waterbending and we got to see the 'less flashy' aspects of it. She's not constantly doing huge and impactful moves, she's steadily growing in power and confidence one small step at a time. She doesn't do it alone - she has so many teachers who help her along the way with both the physical and mental aspect of bending and to me, her progression in power is much more clear in the live action than it is in the animated show.

[elisaintime]

Woah, I must have missed something, why are people jumping down your throat?

From what I can gather at this point, it seems like they feel like anyone who likes Anne Rice herself and the books better than the show=automatically racist. Even if they ALSO enjoy the show and support the race change of the characters and all the racial conversation the show incorporated into its adaptation.

Personally, I think it does a disservice to the fandom to assume that the only reason one could like the books over the show is because of racist reasons. Anne's books speak to so many people in so many ways, especially those who have ever felt like outcasts or apart from mainstream society, and many fans have extremely personal connections to the books for a huge variety of reasons.

Like I said in my videos, I was excited and intrigued to see this AU version of the story (I love AUs!) but my complaints with the writing of the episodes mostly came back to when the show was trying to stick TOO MUCH to the books.... Because the show was really making its own thing with its own versions of the characters and all these new ideas, but then suddenly it would shove in a scene/dialogue straight out of the books which would contradict or make no sense with everything else the show had already worked to set up with the new direction it was taking itself.

Critiquing sloppy/weak writing does not mean I or any other fan who feels the same is doing it for racist reasons. Much of my criticism was about how the scripts changed Lestat's character to make him so much worse than he was in the books (which would be fine, it's their story, whatever--except the show runners told us over and over again that the whole reason Louis was doing a second interview was so that this time we could see the real version of Lestat and how Louis felt about him instead of the mean, insulting version he gave in the first interview). There was a lot promised by the showrunners about what their adaptation would be like that was not delivered ("closer to the books than the 1994 movie," "true to the spirit of Anne Rice" etc). The entire reason I made my videos was to evaluate how well the show measured up to those promises.

Worse than making Lestat so irredeemable, the way the first season ended in a way that made so many fans believe that Louis might have been lying about everything didn't sit well with me at all--it's a harmful stereotype to make the black man a liar, especially when it comes to abuse. I know the "the DV didn't actually happen and black Louis was lying or mind controlled by his evil non-white boyfriend" became a running fan theory, but I personally don't believe it one bit. But I can see why so many fans do--again, sloppy/weak writing on the show's part.

Like I said in my video, the only thing Louis actually lied about in ep7 (and he was lying to himself, not deliberately lying to Daniel) was the depth of his love for Lestat at the end. And that's entirely canon for Louis to deceive himself about--admitting how much he truly loves Lestat always came hard for him. I personally don't think it's going to turn out that anything Louis told us in season 1 was a lie. I think the show would have revealed that at the end of the season, not waited another season (or two or three) to reveal that. And the theme of season 2's promotional material has all been about memory, not honesty. I don't think Louis could mistakenly remember getting dropped from a mile in the sky and the months/years of recovery afterward, so I personally think all those memories were real.

The first three episodes of season 1 made Louis's struggle with race its primary focus, and the series description began with how Louis was chafing at society as a black man. But then from episode 4 on, the focus of the show shifted entirely. Obviously racism still existed in Louis's world, but the show pushed it all entirely to the background with little things, like segregation on the bus, and we saw the characters quietly taking in stride, not making any plot out of it. Suddenly all of Louis's character-driving moments weren't about that anymore and we were in a whole new story, when his battle against racism had been the entire theme of the first three episodes. This was something I noticed and pointed out in my videos--I didn't say it was a bad thing (after all, seeing people be racist to Louis on screen, while "realistic," isn't exactly fun for anyone, and we'd already seen plenty), but I did think the sudden dramatic shift in story focus weakened the show's themes and throughline.

Again this comes down to writing, and the premise/script was written by white people. I think they could have done much better with much more non-white involvement on the writing level. I think the show could have been stronger with some more care taken to create consistency and smoother transitions between episodes (like when they take Claudia out to feed in episode 4, suddenly all the race riots are gone, when everything was on fire 2 hours ago). It's common for shows to have each episode written by a different person, even though they all collaborate in a writer's room, but to me it felt like the show lacked efficient script supervision to make sure all the scripts flowed into each other without any contradictions or inconsistency.

When I talked about these things in my videos, when I said I would have liked the show to do better with the way it missed the mark sometimes in handling racial aspects (even though other parts I commended as being great), and the way I critiqued the inconsistencies and contradictions, some people took that to mean I hated the show entirely. The point of my videos was to see how well the show measured up to Rolin Jones's promises that it was so faithful and respectful to the spirit of the books and that all he wanted to do was honor Anne's work. I know the books back and forth, enjoy having a ND hyperfixation that gives me near-encyclopedic knowledge of the texts and Anne as an author. So people ask me questions about them all the time, especially in comparison to the adaptations. Who better to make videos evaluating how well the show measured up to RJ's promises and claims of faithfulness? But some people took me comparing the show to the books to mean I thought it was a bad thing that they weren't the same, and I hated the show entirely for not being the same as Anne wrote it, and therefore that meant I (and anyone else who loves the books) was racist 🤷

[ceo-draiochta]

Forgive me if this is a foolish question, but would you happen to know if there’s any sources out there on historical prayer behaviors? IE body position, gestures, etc. I don’t come from a religious background, so I struggle to know to go about praying even when I know what I want to say

Gestures and actions during Irish/Gaelic Pagan prayer.

This is not a foolish question at all! In fact it is a great one. Honestly finding the right words is the hardest part. There is little in the way of documented proof of how pre christian Gaels prayed so reconstruction is necessary. This makes it tricky to find authentic sources, thankfully there is a few practice's we can reconstruct with a lot of certainty. (Sources in bracketed links)

Clockwise/Deiseal movement The act of moving in a circle in a clockwise direction (deiseal) is frequently seen to be auspicious and is used in many Irish Christian rituals. Many of these practices are still done today, especially at holy wells or other pilgrimage sites such at the various stations on Croagh Patrick (link). The opposite of this is anti-clockwise or Tuathal is frequently used in curses. This is a recurring theme throughout Irish and Scottish folklore and has been argued to be partially of a pre Christian origin(Link to book containing a chapter on the topic specifically chapter 10)

This is usually done at Holy Wells while doing the rosary. The well itself or an object near it like a statue, rock or tree is encircled by the worshiper usually 3 or 7 times while reciting the rosary. (link)(link)(link). And is a still living practice.

This clockwise movement was also used in medieval rituals, with supposedly in the Book of Fenagh, an inauguration ritual is described where a bell shrine was walked around a king and his solders clockwise. (in book chapter 10).

The use of the word deiseal and its association with blessing led it in the past to be an equivalent to "bless you" after a sneeze. (link). The sunwise or clockwise direction is synonymous with blessings.

Head down, eyes up The Carmina Gadelica contains a number of prayers from gaelic scotland. Many of which follow a standard christian practice and just as many are situational in nature like to be said while washing ones hands, however certain ones stand out as being representative of a greater traditions of actions due to their unusualness.

References to raising ones eyes (link) and leaving the palms open and outstretched are mentioned (link page 290)

Both women and men were said to curtsey with men doing a bowing motion much like a curtsey in that it involved the bending of the left knee to the side and the right one straight as a show of respect (link)

To summarise with a quote:

"So the lifting of hands, raising of the eyes, and the bowing of the head are all actions that could be done during our prayers. In raising our hands we show a gesture of giving, just as we ‘give’ prayers of thanks, or blessing, or whatever other purpose we might be praying for, especially since there seems to be a since that we’re meant to raise the palms up to the sky (or moon, more to the point) instead of simply holding our hands out, palms up. It’s less a gesture that might suggest we’re asking for a handout than it gives a sense that we’re reaching out." -An Introduction To Gaelic Polytheism by Marissa Hegarty

Curse pose While not involved with worship, poets when preforming a satire, often magical in nature were said to stand on one foot, with one eye closed, holding up one hand, and sometimes speaking with one breath. This seems to specifically used for cursing however.

What to incorporate into your pagan practice I would then recommend that while praying, walking in a circle in a clockwise direction with a bowed head, eyes up, while holding out your hands with the palms skyward would be appropriate. I like to have one hand over the other. After the prayer has concluded a curtsey should be done.

If anyone else has anything to add please do so with what gestures and actions you take during prayers. I hope this answers your question and that it was at all helpful.

[jovenshires]

THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS AU OFFICIAL SOUNDTRACK

THE BEST OF THE CHOSEN

the chosen is an alternative rock band, whose members are spencer agnew (lead singer / secondary guitarist), shayne topp (lead guitarist), damien haas (bassist / vocalist), and courtney miller (drummer / vocalist). known for their iconic guitar riffs and heavy bass lines, the band has been accused of relying heavily on their instrumentals to distract from their lead singer's vocal insecurity, to which they have not disagreed. hit songs include "short kings," "i was there man," and "nuclear rain." the band is inspired by the early 2000's alternative movement, specifically weezer, green day, and simple plan.

THE BEST OF FTC

ftc (short for full-time cast) is an indie trio known for their slow melodies and sad lyrics. their songs, typically written by their lead singer tommy bowe, are often explicitly queer, romantic, and yearning, though they also frequently feature themes of self-doubt and internal struggle. other members of the band are amanda lehan-canto (singer / guitarist) and kimmy jimenez (drummer / occasional background singer). with songs such as "creekside killer," "reading of the will," and "bones," ftc is inspired by artists such as boygenius, hozier, and mitski.

THE BEST OF KOLIVTION

kolivition is a hip-hop duo fronted by keith leak jr. (singer / rapper) and backed by olivia sui (pianist / dj / sound mixer). they incorporate r&b, funk, and rap into their music as well, with their soulful beats and psychedelic sounds. kolivition's songs typically revolve around romance in the modern world. the duo's hit songs include "life's a party," "give me all your money," and "bobby from the block." kolivition is inspired by childish gambino, frank ocean, and kendrick lamar.

THE BEST OF COVENTRY

coventry is a female-led punk band consisting of erin dougal (singer / guitarist), heidi ha (singer / drummer), and selina garcia (singer / bassist). they typically theme their songs around female empowerment and relationships - romantic, platonic, or otherwise. their hit songs include "sluts," "sunflower," and "wish i could (say the same)." they are inspired by paramore, no doubt, and veruca salt.

THE BEST OF LET'S DO THIS

let's do this, though a relatively new band, is an enthusiastic underdog pop trio. its members, chanse mccrary (lead singer / guitarist), angela giarratana (bassist / vocalist), and arasha lalani (drummer / vocalist), are clearly tuned into the pop scene and thus make current, upbeat, snappy music that is practically made for the radio, even if it's yet to take off. their songs rely heavily on romance, and are often either explicitly queer or gender-neutral. their top tracks are "i lied," "lost the room," and "coroner." ldt is based off of artists such as conan gray, maisie peters, and troye sivan.

THE BEST OF SMOSH

smosh is a moden reinvention of an early 2000's pop-punk / alternative duo. back after a 6-year hiatus and preparing to win a competition they've already lost, ian hecox (singer / bassist), anthony padilla (singer), and their rotating backup band are re-entering both battle of the bands and mainstream. their music centers around personal identity and how that identity affects one's relationships. though they are re-inventing their sound, smosh was and is still known for their heavy instrumentals and all-star vocals. hit songs include "shut up," "the sun," and "destiny," and the band was based off of twenty one pilots, fall out boy, and panic! at the disco.

THE BEST OF JACKIE UWEH

jackie uweh - also known as the most talented voice of our generation - is an r&b / soul singer who sells out football stadiums with her powerhouse vocals. her songs often feature themes of feminism, romantic relationships, and a continuous journey of self-discovery. this is her first year judging battle of the bands, and, according to her, hopefully not her last. jackie's hit songs include "buggin'," "over easy," and "been with." she is inspired by beyonce, rhianna, and lizzo.

THE BEST OF MYTHICAL

mythical, which consists of rhett mclaughlin (singer / guitarist) and link neal (singer / guitarist) and their fantastic backing band, is a country band notable for having won battle of the bands ten years ago. since then, they have created their own empire, complete with a record label and several signed artist - previously including ian hecox of smosh fame. though they are a country band, mythical is also known to incorporate alternative genres into their music, especially their most recent album, which has been by far their most controversial in terms of sound. their musical themes vary, sometimes instead focusing on story-telling rather than relatability, but typically they utilize love (romantic, platonic, and familial), religion, and self-expression and exploration. their songs include "will it?," "buddy system," and "let's talk about that." they are inspired by james and the shame, noah kahan, and the lumineers.

THE BEST OF TREVOR

trevor (that's it, just trevor) is a soundcloud-based rapper who's honestly just happy to be here. an up-and-coming (read: thus unsuccessful) artist, trevor is a part-time musician and a part-time sound designer and editor. after working on mythical's latest album, he was invited to emcee the battle of the bands and is ecstatic at the chance to promote himself. trevor focuses on the self-described subgenre "meme rap," which views modern life through a comical gen z lens. his songs include "another banger," "silly guy," and "o7," and he is based on yung gravy, yungblud, and danny gonzalez.

[terramythos]

TOP 5 GPOSES FROM FFXIVTOBER 2024

I had basically zero knowledge of how to use gpose in ffxiv when i started this challenge, so I used a ffxivtober prompt list to force myself to learn. I completed all 31 days and think I improved a LOT!

I super want to do more of these because it was a lot of fun. If you see any similar prompt lists in the wild send them my way ^^

Anyway, here are my Top 5 of the 31 days!

HONORABLE MENTION -- Day 6 - "Crossover"

This is the earliest day I really felt "proud" of the shot, so while it isn't top 5 I want to include it. I'm actually quite familiar with Nier, and since it's an official crossover I had a lot of material to work with. Ultimately I picked Puppet's Bunker since it has a lot of cinematic areas. I got to feel like a real smartass using a spear with a red dragon on it. And the ray of sunlight across the shot adds something extra, imo.

#5 -- Day 27 - "Murky"

I really, really love how the colors turned out here. Amaurot seemed like an ideal setting for this prompt, but I had forgotten about the eerie rays of light shining down on it in the overworld. I love how the helices in the architecture are obscured enough by fog/light so they almost look like tentacles of a sea creature... I liked both of these color filters a lot as well.

#4 -- Day 18 - "Masquerade"

This one was so fun coming up with a dynamic pose. I decided to do some scouting in The Grand Cosmos, as it's the most "masquerade ball" place in the game. I saw the dragon statue that turns into an enemy when you run by it and had the brainwave to frame it in the picture like they were Kezona's wings. Combined with the skull mask and fire horns I think the effect looks great. WOULD take his hand, 10/10.

#3 -- Day 22 - "Color Palette (Swap)"

I went for a light/sin-eater version of a Reaper for this prompt, since they're usually dark/voidsent aligned. Thanks again to @flame-of-tar-valon for inspiring the idea. I LOVE the outfit I came up with here; even went the extra mile and crafted golden jewelry purely for the glam. Since sin-eaters are basically zombies in canon, I did want to maintain some feral aspects with the appearance, so I also incorporated talons and claws to contrast the angelic imagery a bit.

I'm keeping the glam in rotation, & I might actually revisit this shot with a better background, like the Innocence/Mt. Gulg areas or even the Endwalker Alliance Raids.

#2 -- Day 29 - "Horror/Gore"

This one turned out SO cool looking, and it was the one I struggled with the most conceptually! Thanks again to @ofdarklands and @ferrocyan, whose combined help resulted in this shot. Overall I love how the colors pop out, and ESPECIALY the effect of a dark halo in the background framed by the Diabolos wings. Thrilled to have such a neat shot in the final post of the challenge!

#1 -- Day 11 - "Goth"

This is one that just turned out perfect to me. I was messing with the manual lighting adjustment, which created the second silhouette shot and totally floored me. I love how something as simple as the lighting slider can make such a great visual contrast. Add on the cool factor of the scythe and raven feathers... ough. I liked these shots so much I made them my lock screen and desktop backgrounds.

[boyfridged]

Regarding Jason's pre-crisis characterization, would you say that he really is just a carbon copy of Dick or did he eventually grow into his own character in the span of his run time? Also, would you recommend it to a Jason fan to read about his pre-crisis days?

i don't think pre-crisis jay has ever been a carbon copy of dick actually! i know it's a popular opinion but frankly speaking, i think people who say that either have not read his pre-crisis run at all or have not cared enough to understand the story.

the fact that pre-crisis jason’s origin and background (in major ways, but not 1:1, that’s also a misconception) mirrors that of dick was not “lazy writing” and it’s not some sign of the general silliness and carelessness of the editorial of the times. it was very much a conscious, well-thought-through decision.

let me break this down (so that it doesn't become another essay):

to make it clear before i get into anything else: jay's background being so similar to that of dick is actually a way to set up a story about their differences. despite sharing so much experience, there are some key variables in both their origins and personalities that the writers clearly wanted to bring readers' attention to. i will circle back to it later.

i reckon a lot of dc fans who never actually got to read these issues have this misconception that the death of the pre-crisis todds was an exact parallel to that of the flying graysons. however, jason’s parents do not die in a way that dick’s parents do; in fact, joseph and trina todd die while aiding dick in an investigation after he requested their help (this is also why dick later says that he would take care of jason have bruce not offered; he feels guilty for their demise.) this is a deeply fascinating concept tbh, because the todds are like collateral damage to vigilantism; sacrificial lambs, and dick is responsible for it, leaving another orphan on the scene. it's a full cycle!

it was also a smart way for jason to enter the narrative this way because it gave him a link to his predecessor. unlike post-crisis, jason’s first contact is dick, which makes sense, because it’s a story about robin (as a disclaimer: the way post-crisis alters it is also sensible for the plot it tries to convey; but these are two various storylines, approached from a much different angle!)

and pre-crisis jay is a very much different character from dick since day one. dick projects on him vehemently, giving him the robin mantle (once jay tries out different identities btw), which jason accepts as a gesture of love but also dreads. he struggles with the concept of vigilantism from the start, while everyone around him assumes that this is simply the way things go because his circumstances are so similar to that of both dick and bruce. he has a seriously tough time trying to reconcile with the concept of dual identities. he questions bruce's motives and actions a lot more than both dick in his early days and post-crisis jason. he stares numbly at the wall after his first patrol. he voices his concerns.

here i also want to say, that while i absolutely do think everyone should read these stories, and there are some storylines that can be incorporated into post-crisis jay canon, it doesn't hurt to consider which of them do not fit into it at all.

post-crisis and pre-crisis jay have completely different backgrounds, and since pre-crisis jay has been brought up in a rather safe and stable environment, as i mentioned, he's much more confident in questioning bruce. on the contrary, post-crisis jay seems to be so delighted to be having an adult at all that his faith in batman is almost absolute (for most of his robin run at least.)

as i said, pre-crisis jay is also much more aware of the duality of the vigilante life. as a former performer, he says that it feels disappointing to know that none of the people whom he helps will know his name, and he is used to having an audience (he is aware that it is a selfish sentiment.) this is not a thing that post-crisis jay considers at all.

i also imagine that post-crisis jay would never tell bruce the (famous) words that he would be perfectly happy to be just his son and not his sidekick (which he does pre-crisis); not because the truth is different but because he doesn't fully comprehend that it's an option. post-crisis robin jay's compartmentalisation is barely existent if at all; bruce "gave him" robin even before he took him in, so the roles of a son & sidekick are almost one and the same for him, which is why i'd say the events of a death in the family occur at all (he "failed" as robin -> he runs away to find another parent).

and well. pre-crisis jay actually has friends. his world does not begin and end with his role as gotham's protector and hope. speaking of which, he also does not possess the same passionate relationship with gotham as post-crisis jay does.

there are of course many traits they share – i'd say they both have even more sympathy for criminals and an even stronger of belief in rehabilitation than bruce does. they are also both, in a way, a victim of the cycle in the family and projection – bruce (and pre-crisis, dick) assume that the way of dealing with grief is to go out into combat, which is not necessarily true for them. but ironically, i think, it's post-crisis jay who remains more innocent and is easy-going in the way he initially settles into the role.

ultimately, i think all batfamily fans should read pre-crisis robin jay's run because it's perhaps the only run that takes adoption and the topic of legacies seriously. and it's before the editorial and writers decided that batman having a child was lame, and that robin's role was just CA, so bruce is truly parenting. while pre-crisis bruce is much more of a sweetheart than post-crisis bruce is, so it may not all seem "realistic" for contemporary characterisation, it still gives a good idea of what a plotline about bruce being a parent could and should look like. i'm not going to lie to you, post-crisis jay's run feels seriously loveless compared with pre-crisis. pre-crisis, there's plenty of family tensions, and at times it appears that no one in this damn family understands each other, and yet there's so much fondness and care and desperate declarations of belonging. pre-crisis jay's story is genuinely, from the very beginning, a story about a child whose parents die entangled in a vigilante's investigation and who is thrown into a family of vigilantes, projected onto from all sides, and who tries to fill in shoes he never truly asked for in the first place. but dear god is there tenderness there. is there self-awareness and a serious attempt to conceive what taking over a mantle of a sidekick means. yeah. much more than it is in post-crisis.

[sunboki]

SUMMER SOLACE — Behind The Scenes

hi everybody! in case you were curious about how my recently posted fiction was created, i’m here to deliver some info about the writing/designing process. love ya’ll <3

( 1 ) — Designing the header.

The header wasn’t a huge issue (compared to other things..) but I had a few runner-ups along the way. In the end, I was left deciding between the two below.

As mentioned before, SKZ-FLIX was a HUGE source or inspiration for this fiction (and just overall inspiration). But I love the layout of a Netflix-inspired header considering “SKZ-FLIX” in a whole, so I chose the second option as a result. Also, the small note in the first header reading “Can I crash at your place for the night?” is from a scene in the fic! 🤍

( 2 ) — Deciding on the AU.

Probably the easiest step in creating Summer Solace. Immediately after watching the first upload of SKZ-FLIX the inspiration came to me, but maneuvering around applicable situations was a bit tough. Otherwise, scenes started dropping left and right. The real challenge was how to tie such different realities together in a way that would be satisfactory for everyone. Trust, my notes were a madhouse of bullet points. Some of which are listed below…

Of course, like any of my writing, everything was very much loose-ended. And as I work there was no doubt the plot and certain scenes would mold differently compared to the final piece.

( 3 ) — The Writing Process.

Likely the longest process (duh). I really wanted to incorporate themes of Stray Kids introduction as well, and I utilized the “Film Festival” in SKZ-FLIX as an opportunity to thread 3RACHA’s creation when creating their film’s sound track and establish the developing bonds there. In the case some of the people reading this have been STAY’s for awhile now, I wonder if you’ll catch onto some patterns from the past such as Hyunjin and Han’s rivalry, Han’s regards to his song ‘Alien’ when he describes himself, or how Hyunjin and Han were intended to have ran into each other at the supermarket Leeknow and Felix are seen at in the ‘SKZ-FLIX’ video. Plus, my personal favorite, Changbin’s love for his Snorlax plushie. Not to mention Felix’s brownies making an appearance in a scene too!

Summer Solace was intended to have a “nostalgic summer” feel, so I’m hoping I’m able to convey that between the cheesy lines.

( 4 ) — Aug’s Notes.

Overall, I want to thank everyone that has supported me thus far and helped me to get to this point. I know Summer Solace may not be for everybody whether it’s due to the lack of genuine romance between two characters, the stupidly sentimental nature of it or what, but my main focus was the healing aspect of it. I prioritized the slow and steady building of trust and friendship that occurs between each person, and I hope you can catch wind of that as you read. If you enjoyed this fic, I would love to hear your thoughts!! Thank you again everybody.

As always, this fiction is wholly fictional. No theme, plot, character, struggle, or member of Stray Kids are meant be taken seriously, along with their situations and backgrounds in this fic. If this isn’t for you, click off, you won’t hurt my feelings. P.S ( I also noticed Chan wrote on bubble about the members being his reason to ‘live on’ right after I posted Summer Solace, I thought that was a crazy coincidence (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵) )

— Sincerely, August.

sunboki, may 2022 ©

[beesmygod]

If you want a genuine critique, I think your grasp on anatomy is still wonky and part of the reason may be because you kind of go out of your way to avoid panels with full body shots. Your most recent pages are genuinely creative and have a fun composition, but it’s kinda hard not to notice that a lot of them framed around just seeing the upper torso of a character. Its kinda like how artists would just cover up feet with mysterious smoke or debris to avoid drawing them

this response is so long but only bc i agree with this a lot. human anatomy has always been a huge struggle. don't worry, i have eyes and can see how bad it is most of the time. i have one thing to say in my defense: sometimes i have really scenes in my head i would like to execute, but my artistic skill levels are not there. which means i have to make a decision on how to re-frame or execute the panel before my deadline hits. this sometimes means taking the shortest path from a-b if i've already wasted too much time trying to make this work. i've been trying to record these failed attempts more on patreon just bc. idk they're confessional and might be helpful for people to see how much behind the scenes hemming and hawwing there is before the page finally gets made.

last year this problem was especially bad too; when i was really sick i was drawing soooooooooo many "talking heads" pages (this is what i've always thought of them as lol) because they were easier to do (obviously) and it was so bad and i knew it lol. it was making me miserable to the sole responsible party for churning out really really bad low-energy/effort pages and, at the time, not really having an excuse for it.

i tend to direct my art improvement energy on one specific thing at a time, for a while it was making a point to incorporate more backgrounds or foregrounds into pages, then for a while it was getting WAY less shitty at speech bubbles/paneling (still struggling with panels tbh). maybe now that im feeling better i can try to focus harder on anatomy. ty for giving me a direction to head in!!

[yuurei20]

Following up with this Ask from November, the newest episode of Twisted Radio Station welcomed six people from the development team including D-6th, f4 Samurai and more!

⚠️ Caution: Minor spoilers for events and main story elements that have not been released on EN. ⚠️

Sebek's VA Ishiya Haruki hosted this episode alone, which featured scenario/novelization author Hioki Jun (D-6th), composer/lyricis Ozawa Takumi, designer Osakabe Wataru, background artist Mineda (D-6th), f4 Samurai producer Sato and f4 Samurai animator Shiga.

Composer and lyricist Ozawa Takumi talked about Ferro and Gidel’s theme from the Playfulland event, saying that the whistling was a request from Yana and she had never recorded one or incorporated one into a song before.

She considered hiring a professional, but didn’t want someone who sounded too proper for Ferro. She has created over 200 songs for Twst. She says cannot see the visuals when making music, so she doesn’t know how things are to be assembled until it is released for users.

Designer Osakabe Wataru says he has been a part of the team from the beginning (6 years ago), joining after he heard that they were looking for a designer for the logos, user interface, fonts, etc. He also designed the dorm emblems, the Twst Fes logo and more!

f4 Samurai producer Sato said the game took two years to develop (hence why they have all been working together for 6 years), and he'd wanted to do the Stitch event from before the game even launched. He talked about the unique struggles of developing that event with Stitch.

f4 Samurai animator Shiga said that she joined the game after it launched, and she is now in charge of brushing up the designs they receive from Yana for use in animation. She is particularly fond of the unique animations for Rollo and Ferro.

[i-heart-hxh]

I often hear people call Gon selfish, but I highly doubt he is. Personally, I can see this side of him only vaguely, so I have mixed feelings about this.

Do you think that's true? And if so, does he realise it or does he act this way unconsciously?

I do think he is, to a certain degree! But it's also one of the attributes that make him special and unique as a character, and I definitely don't think it makes him a terrible person or anything. It's also situational, as he can also be incredibly kind and helpful as well, even to strangers where he doesn't have much to gain in return from helping them.

Going back to one of the things I bring up frequently, HxH often plays with shounen tropes, and Gon's character is partly a twist on a typical shounen hero, but with some of those typical attributes magnified until they also become flaws. Gon is tremendously single-minded, determined, and stubborn, to the point where at times it becomes self-destructive and/or goes against reason entirely. These attributes go hand-in-hand with his selfishness.

Just a few examples of him being selfish include:

His fight against Hanzo and how he insisted on getting his way no matter what, even when what he wanted was unreasonable

Deviating from the plan when fighting Genthru when it wasn't necessary (and could have screwed up everything potentially), but he did this just for his own pride and satisfaction in the fight, and got his hand blown off in the process

What he said about knowing he can get his way with Killua if he doesn't give in

I feel like the selfishness partly comes from his personality, and it partly comes from his age and maturity level as well. He's right at an age where it makes sense for him to mostly focus on himself and his own desires, and not always be able to consider and incorporate the feelings of others as easily as someone who is more mature. He has a certain naiveté to him that is charming, but his views of the world can be overly simplified and strongly conform to his own priorities, which is partly why he struggles badly when confronted with the complex reality in the situation with Pitou healing Komugi. I personally think he'll mature out of some of the selfish tendencies he has due to immaturity, but a lesser degree of it will probably continue to be an aspect of his personality, because it's part of what makes him who he is.

I think him being somewhat selfish makes sense with his background, too--he was barely around any other children through his childhood, and he spent a lot of time in nature/around animals instead, so his socialization wasn't exactly normal in that regard. He likely didn't have to share and compromise nearly as much as children raised around many of their peers. He was around adults of various sorts as they came and went from Whale Island (hence why he does have good social skills in the first place), but that's different than sustained friendship with and exposure to peers. He also does have Ging's genes, haha--while obviously Gon isn't exactly the same as Ging in multiple ways, think of the kind of life Ging leads.

I think his selfishness is mostly harmless and just a character quirk...under "normal" conditions. The problem is that as the series goes on, he ends up in progressively more and more abnormal situations (i.e. Chimera Ant Arc) that he's not emotionally prepared for or equipped to handle as a young teenager, so he deals with them how he deals with everything--by viewing the world through his own personal, self-centered lens (not meant as a judgment), and prioritizing his own goals and interests even if it means disregarding those around him. And in a morally complex, painful, terrible situation like that, that kind of outlook leads to tragic outcomes.

I think he has some awareness of it, after all it's something Killua and others in his life comment on at times. That said, because it comes from a combination of his personality and maturity level, it's not always under his conscious control. It's just part of his default state of existence.

So, yes, I do think he has aspects of selfishness to his personality, but he can often be a kind/helpful/considerate and even at times selfless boy as well (in too many ways to easily list), and I do think he'll grow out of some of the selfishness at least--but keep just enough for it to still be an aspect of his personality to a certain degree. I think what happened in Chimera Ant Arc is something he's going to learn from deeply, and his selfishness was a part of what stoked that whole situation, though there were certainly plenty of other factors involved so it's not fair to simplify it down to only that.