#it really really annoys me when i see people use the og image as an original post reaction

[nikrei]

I keep seeing people use this image as a reaction to people's original posts:

Which I think is really incorrect, because with an original post they haven't come up to ur window, u've come up to their window.

So I made this, as a more accurate reaction for original posts:

[asarigg]

Character Design: Part 1

KIMONO

What stands out the most about his design as soon as you see it is his striking red kimono. Most of you are probably familiar with this aspect of Japanese culture, which is also common all around the world, and that is the bright floral patterns are not commonly seen on men’s kimono, but women’s. Young women especially tend to wear more colourful kimonos with longer sleeves, called furisode, and older, mature women wear calmer colours and more subdued prints. You can appreciate this particular distinction when looking at maiko and geiko/geisha.

Kimono sleeves are sewn from top to bottom, leaving room only for the hand to come out, but Koujaku’s are not. Some people believe he could have cut his sleeves to make it easier to fight, but this doesn’t make sense to me, if anything it’s more annoying. Instead of having one fold of clothing flying around, there are two now. If he wanted to pull his sleeves aside to fight, he could use a tasuki to tie them back as this og post points out. The sleeves are also too short even for a men’s kimono. Compare these kimonos and then what Ryuuhou’s kimono looks like compared to his.

This same post theorizes that he probably cut the sleeves to make the kimono look more like a man’s kimono, but due to his inexperience he cut too much or didn’t dare to sew it back on, a theory I agree with. Even though it’s pointed out he likes traditional stuff, and that is specifically invested in kimono wearing he can still be inexperienced, or it could be a design detail to make it more obvious.

However in the original post they also theorize that he’s wearing his mother’s kimono, taking into account honyalala’s comment in the artbook where she says she wanted to include elements that reminded everyone of his mother everywhere.

And although I like this theory and think it’s adorable, I don’t think it should be taken into account. I get the feeling that they wanted to make the design itself have a lot of feminine elements or that remind us of the feminine, of women, and ultimately, of his mother. But he himself says in the Drama CD that the only thing he has left from his mother is the hairpin he gave her when he was a kid.

It could be questioned whether the kimono really belongs to his mother and NC made a mistake writing this, but it seems to me to be too much of an important and obvious mistake for them not to change it when they revised it.

There are symbolic elements that refer to certain themes to represent them visually, but they don’t have to be taken literally, so I think that even if there are many feminine elements in his design to remember his mother, it doesn’t mean they’re all inherited from her, but rather a representation of the relationship between Koujaku and his mother and how he remembers her and the impact she had on him.

So for me this kimono/furisode is a normal woman’s kimono that he chose because he liked it, then customized.

OBI

Let’s take a look at the obi. His obi is a male styled obi, narrow and placed over the hips. The female ones are much wider, decorated and placed higher, covering part of the waist and chest. But the knot he uses is a bunko knot, a typically feminine knot.

The pattern on his obi is a turtle shell pattern, kikko. Turtles are known for how long their lifespan can be, so it symbolizes longevity, a positive desire for a long life. Turtles can also protect themselves with their shell, it is their shield, so it also gives the idea of protection, a prayer for good luck. It could also allude to solidity, stability and strong power, given the nature of their sturdy geometric shapes. Apparently it was a very prestigious pattern when first introduced, even treated as sacred, becoming a pattern only the high classes could use.

The flower you see inside the pattern is a chrysanthemum, extremely simplified, like the family crest symbols, identical even, although the image quality isn't very good. This flower is the symbol of the imperial family of Japan, and I think they made this choice precisely because he is the heir of his family, of their criminal “empire”. The chrysanthemum is related to longevity as well, autumn, nobility and youth, as well as having ties to Buddhism. This flower in ancient times would repel evil spirits and bring prosperity, and it was first introduced as a medicinal flower.

COLLAR

I've always assumed that the flower engraved on his necklace thing’s decoration was a cherry blossom, given how important it is to his identity and his relationship with Aoba. But, although not always, cherry blossoms are usually depicted with this small gap on its leaves, but this one is round. I don’t know how much credit to give to it being a small decoration and not incorporating certain details because of that or if it could actually be a different, similar flower like an apricot blossom or some other small round flower. Apricot blossoms are related to resilience, indomitable spirit and the ability to overcome adversity because of their late winter blooming. Also modesty, timid love and a timid maiden.

[arklayraven]

Figures that when Solo apologists can't defend their claims (seeing as there's no evidence) that they would turn around and victim blame to excuse their choices.

I think it's best to just ignore them. I hate to take a passive approach but they've already made their choice by victim blaming instead of just taking the L.

Shame that they'll never realize that that to really love a character you've got to accept them for all the character is, flaws and all. It's like loving only half the character or even a mirror image of the character and not the character it's self. Solo really makes for an epic villian if people could just be more open minded.

(I still dispise him personally but I blame the devs for for that at this point. Forced romantic interactions really piss me off. That's why I don't like Lucifer or Solo very much. Mammon gets a pass for being a pushover. lol)

Seriously...I honestly would love to see this proof of theirs about Solomon apologizing and admitting he did wrong to Asmo...But every time I ask for it, I get no responses. (Like if I had it, I would ignore NB canon more in a way. Why ruin good character development for shock ya know?...)

I plan to read through og OM story all the way through soon. So if I don't find it there, then gonna just call their claims absolutely bullshit then. Unless someone comes in and shows me proof it was from a devilgram instead. Which would be more messed up to have such important lore behind a card.

Nah you're right, but its annoying to see them get away with dragging Asmo(and others) through the mud constantly. Bringing up all their negative moments. Just to make Solomon seem better. Even making us bring up those negative moments/traits too when comparing them to Solomon. So we don't come off being unfair to their fave sorcerer.

But rarely they bring up Solomon's negative moments too when talking great about him. Because then that will be admitting their sorcerer isn't as innocent as they believe him to be. Which isn't bad? A complex character with conflicting morals is fine to have or be a fan of, hell I am in love with some of those characters lmao. They can be fun little fuckers ya know? (A mutual of mine would greatly agree with me here I feel.)

Solomon has the clear marks to be a good villain or anti-hero, which OM story/cast fails to have now. I would say Nightbringer or Michael could be those characters too but they really seem little to me honestly...But Solomon, if the writers weren't cowards, he could be such a good villain/anti-hero. I mean he already does some shady and messed up stuff to get what he wants, for power/control, for humanity sake like he like to put it, and also...to have MC to himself.

Hell, he'll be perfect as yandere too, but again, writers really seem to be scared to have those things now. (Moment of silence for Belphie who was suppose to be a yandere? lol)

(and yeah, that's what annoyed me more, and pushed me on disliking him most. the forced romance with him...which i fear won't stop in the new upcoming lessons. just make him a yandere at this point, devs. lol)

[fruitsofhell]

It's time for me to unleash the inner crazy Metal Sonic lover within myself and talk so so much about this mother fucking fucker Chaos Sonic!!! (image taken off a post by @/littleaipom)

Ok so what I love so much about Sonic Prime is how much mileage it's getting out of the multiverse concept. It's a good multiverse cause it's surprisingly simple compared to the sort of MCU clusterfuck we associate the term with now. It's just Sonic AUS! And I really love that cause to me if anything screams Sonic media, it's AUs and canon divergence and wacky takes. I think this series is great at that, internally and with inspiring that in fans. What also makes it so great in Sonic Prime is that it has so much confidence in that. In the entire show the only normal characters are Sonic and Shadow, everyone else Sonic makes a connection with is a whole new spin on the old cast and its GREAT. I love Nine to death especially, he's definitely one of the best shatterverse characters.

But I think I have a definitive new favorite character now in Chaos Sonic, because he is that fresh new confident take on an old character but with such an underutilized one in Metal Sonic. I adore Metal Sonic, he's my favorite Sonic character and in my opinion the absolute most slept on. Sonic's robot doppelganger should absolutely have as much love as Shadow - his more serious and hardened antihero rival - and Knuckles - the stubborn immovable object to Sonic's steadfast unstoppable force. But he doesn't!! And it's tragic!! There is so much to do with Metal, with the Sonic created by the man who hates him more than anything, one of his first true rivals who was made to be his perfect antithesis, yet we get so little. But atleast in Chaos Sonic we get an awesome fucking take on him!! It's not Metal, but like I said about Sonic Prime as a whole, I LOVE how this show plays with the characters.

I see a lot of people pitting Chaos and Metal Sonic against each other or putting down one when talking about the other, but they're really just amazingly complimentary takes on the same character. The way it would be weird as hell to say either Nine or Tails is the better version of the character or something. Chaos Sonic's personality is of course what stands out the most between him and Metal Sonic, and while for some people it makes him unbearable or insulting to the OG Metal, it's one of the things I love most about him too. It's the complete opposite of what Metal and most robo-doppelgangers in the series, and especially Metal, are known for. Metal Sonic is all of Sonic's deadliness but none of his heart - he is a Sonic stripped of everything that makes him that energetic blue hero and reduced only to his power, speed, and obedience. He's a very cold a serious take on the robo-doppelganger that encapsulates the theme of classic Eggman, which was to do what nature did but better and deadlier. He's a very dehumanizing take on what Sonic is to his enemy, a potential tool like the rest of the animals and natural resources he abuses. Chaos Sonic is less like the (classic) Sonic Eggman wishes he had, but what (modern) Sonic is to him - this annoying, vain chatterbox who still manages to trounce you no matter how little he takes the situation seriously. Metal Sonic feel like a cold and calculated project driven by nothing but Eggman's frustration that something free and alive that he should have control over him still eludes him, and Chaos Sonic like just a project of pure spiteful mockery. Which I think very well represents how the relationship between Sonic and Eggman has changed to pit them more often as equals with their back and forths. And I really love how well both of them use this assignment to bring out these different aspects of Eggman and Sonic's relationship.

I think Chaos Sonic also specifically speaks to the New Yoke universe very well more than just being Sonic but more annoying. He is absolutely annoying and talkative just to mock Sonic, but stuff like his comments about Sonic being "smelly" and how he wants to be a brand star bring to mind really fun ideas about how he's like a commercialized version of Sonic too. I would love if he was integrated into New Yoke and you could see the Egg Council using him as a brand and he just loves it because he's an equally capitalistic jerk. It's a fun twist on Sonic's ego next to the more obvious one, that if Sonic didn't have his convictions he would very easily fall in line with the vanity of Eggman's worldview. Those are the moments that kind of make me wish that normal Metal Sonic had more speaking roles where him being an anti-Sonic in ideology could show. We atleast have the funny projection of him torturing animals from Sonic CD. I do still think that through Metal's sole commitment to beating Sonic and proving himself superior he does an equally good job at being that ideological opponent though, just in a quieter way befitting his era. Chaos Sonic represents Sonic's vanity in a personality sense with his want to be in the spotlight, and Metal Sonic in purely mechanical sense - just wanting to prove nothing but the fact he is better. And that single-mindedness makes him a great foil to Sonic who is a very wild and free-spirited person and never lets his ego and need to be the best define him more than his loyalty to those ideals. Meanwhile Metal Sonic entirely defines himself by his abilities and need to be a specific identity created by others. Something that makes him really damn tragic in a way I wish for the life of me was explore more.

Chaos Sonic doesn't HAVE to be an existential tragic mess... but I mean if they're gonna bring him back, he should have moments of that on top of just being awesome to watch fight and emote. OH MAN I HAVEN'T EVEN GOTTEN INTO HOW EXPRESSIVE HE IS. Once again, something totally different from Metal Sonic that only improves both characters in my eyes. I can't get enough of either of them! Whether it's Metal Sonic's intimidating silence or Chaos Sonic's "teehee giggle ^_^" attitude towards violence, I think both have some great chilling moments to them. Chaos Sonic's voice too is so good, it's probably my favorite voice performance in the show. It just has so much energy, and makes every line sound so genuine no matter how stupid. But at the same time he has good range too! When his voice gets low and serious or angry it's effective (atleast to me)! I mean that guy managed to make "You're too slow!" sound playfully venomous, I love it. With Metal Sonic it's maybe a bit harder to pin down what makes his stoicism work so well. Every character in the classic era was silent to a degree, so it's hard to say his silence stands out. But that's actually I think where I'd say his lack of expressiveness is genius. He manages to mimic the look of Sonic in body and face so much more naturally than any of the other doppelgangers but still in this sleek and blank way that is just amazing. Like I stare in awe at the design of this beast. Classic Sonic is very good at providing character through expressive animation and sprites, and Metal Sonic's lack of any yet ability to still feel like he has the face of a character and not just some robot makes him intimidating.

Which brings me to their overall designs. Metal Sonic is such an enduring Sonic character despite the long list of robo-Sonics because as I was saying before, the design is just too good. It is beyond aesthetically pleasing, straight up gorgeous - which makes him so effective. He truly does feel like Sonic's equal and possibly even superior in mechanics and LOOK, he makes his mechanical and flesh peers look clunky and outdated by comparison. Sonic but polished to an unnaturally perfect finish, with those dead glowing red eyes that house none of his soul. Genius fucking design. I woefully cannot say that I think Chaos Sonic is an equal in that, but it might be physically impossible to make a better Metal Sonic, and he does come damn close! Specifically because he does take the cue of the more natural eyes (every other sonic-robo has some sort of distinctly robotic visor), but still does something new and catching with it in the bike helmet-like screen. It takes everything perfect about that aspect of Metal and builds on it for this version of him, the dark void of blank pixels is replaced with a very beautiful yet icy blue that contrasts the red eyes very well. I've seen many fan designs that use those red eyes for expression, but it is best a choice here than on the original Metal for the reasons I said above. It's so clear how much fun the animators are having with using them to emote without making it feel too natural by giving him a mouth or something. I also really like his chest rocket, it feels a lot more streamlined than Metal's, which helps with how energetic and mobile he is. Metal screams sleekness and speed, but in a very artificial way with how much his rocket takes up his design. Like I said, there's no beating Metal due to the sheer simple brilliance of his design that is totally a product of such a complex concept being perfected in the classic era. In general Sonic Prime tends to make designs a bit more complicated than what would pass as the peak of series design, but they still own in their own right. Chaos Sonic is a great example of this where he is noticeably more busy of a design than Metal but with very clear shapes and colors that make him fit in with the overall series style.

All this praising and blabbering to say. Metal Sonic is the most important thing to me, and Chaos Sonic is also the most important thing to me cause he and Metal just complement each other so fucking good. That's really what a good alternate take on a character should do! Feel fresh but still very flattering to the blueprint, explore different directions the original character could've taken to make you appreciate the execution of those aspects even more. Chaos Sonic is the best example of the show next to Nine. When I think deeper about it some of the other shatterverse versions don't go AS HARD with this, but they all feel like fun takes that do feel like they came from aspects of the original characters. Plus, that's why Nine is the hook, he is a very well developed "what if" for Tails that explores how much of a difference a friendship can make in someone's life. I also just in general really enjoy it when a story says, "Yeah, sometimes people react to issues by being antisocial as easily as they react by being docile when they don't have the space to be sensitive". It's not like... handled explicitly with that much nuance, but the nuance is there in my heart. Also damn, speaking of Nine I didn't even bring up how cool "Eggman (kinda) tricks Tails into making a Metal Sonic using his knowledge of the real Sonic" is. It's epic, and I actually really hope it's more explored, as well as Chaos Sonic in general. I feel like the writers, animators, and VA had way too much fun with him not to bring him back. I would love nothing more as a poor starving Metal Sonic stan-peasant...

[g0blinwitch]

Okay I need to talk about The Princess's Jewels for a hot minute

The Princess's Jewels by JYUN and Hong Cha is a webtoon that has garnered plenty of criticism over the past two years, and while I agree that it should be criticized, I don't agree with most of the current criticisms aimed towards it. Namely, the main character, Ariana. But before we get into the meat of the discussion you may be wondering what the hell the webcomic's even about. The Princess's Jewels follows Princess Ariana as she tries to become the ruler of her kingdom, partly because she doesn't want her aunt to rule it and partly because she wants to marry multiple men who she calls her "Jewels", who she also uses to help her gain more political power(she also thinks they're super hot). It's basically a reverse harem mixed in with a political drama.

The main criticisms I see most often lodged at the comic are as follows:

Ariana's a Mary Sue

Ariana is manipulative/a creep/pervert/slut

Ariana's boobs are too big(yes I'm serious)

The "Jewels" are Ariana's sex slaves

Now I feel as though these critiques are mainly rooted in misogyny(with the exception of 4, but we'll get to that in a minute) Yes, Ariana is horny, but I really don't see a problem with that?

Like yeah, a woman is horny, but these people are acting like she's insufferable for it. This leads us into the next criticism, that Ariana's a Mary Sue. Now yes, I'll admit, Ariana, by most people's definition, falls into the category of "Mary Sue". She strong, she's beautiful, everyone loves her and those who don't are the villains. Again, to that I say "okay, and?" There are much bigger criticisms(which we'll get into later) and this is the one you're talking the most about? Who cares if she has big tits and everyone loves her. Good for her, I hope she happily breasts boobily throughout the story. Moving onto the "Jewels are slaves" thing, that's just straight up a lie. Now assuming that they're using this first definition; "The condition in which one person is owned as property by another and is under the owner's control, especially in involuntary servitude."

I genuinely don't know that the fuck these people are talking about. You can maybe argue it for 2/5 Jewels, Huan Baek and Jade Melda(side note why the fuck is the blue character named after a green stone this will never not being annoying to me)

While the other three Jewels agree right away to be Ariana's "Jewel"(essentially her consort) in exchange for political power/protection, these two don't. Huan Baek out of a sense of loyality to the kingdom/its rulers who raised him, and Jade because he just straight up doesn't like Ariana at first. People use this as an example of them being slaves/Ariana seeing them as property but I don't see it. Is it because of the chokers? Is it because she calls them her "Jewels"?

The chokers, to me, feels like her giving her boyfriend a bracelet and telling him to wear it for her, and the Jewels thing is just an affectionate pet name. Again, would we seriously be having this conversation if a male character was calling a female character his Jewel?

As I mentioned before, there are plenty of other(more weighty in my opinion) criticisms to be had about this webcomic that I didn't really see being brought up as much. The darker skinned characters(namely Nell Phantom and Efrit Karsia) can both turn into/shapeshift into animals while the lighter skinned characters can't, which kind of comes across as a bit odd to me, especially when it seems to be a trait that only the darker POC characters have.

(Efrit also has a bird form but I can't find an image of him in it :/ )

There's also really gross fatphobia which I have yet to see a single person talk about

And(most importantly I'd argue) the artist HONGCHA is a pedophile.(Since the original google doc with the evidence from the og reddit post doesn't seem to be working, you can also watch it here, starting at the 15:10 mark.)

I'm not trying to say that the Princess's Jewels is this perfect webtoon, but I'd at least like to bring attention to the rampant misogyny I feel as though is dominating the criticism of this webcomic.

[lowcallyfruity]

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[otakween]

They Were 11: Horizon of the East, Eternity of the West

This is the sequel manga to "They Were 11." Another one shot with even fewer chapters than the first (nice). It honestly felt like highly condensed epic. Moto Hagio packed so much into a tiny volume and I salute her. This seems ultra obscure to me in 2024, but it got its own stage adaptation, which shows it had staying power in Japan. Glad to be introduced onto this hidden classic :) (see, going through all of MAL blindly has its perks!)

Ch. 1

Damn that was one chonky chapter! Really good though. I think a true sci fi aficionado would laugh at me if I called this "high sci fi," but it was very lore heavy for me. And I love lore so I was riveted lol

I think this was a really smart direction to take for a sequel manga. The scope feels somewhat narrower since they're focusing on one of the eleven's planets. If this series was bigger I think I would have enjoyed other such spin-offs on other planets. Learning about space culture is fascinating haha.

This chapter was religion and politics heavy and they're intertwined on King's planet because it's theocratic. It's funny because most of the characters don't actually seem to believe in their own religion? They kept mentioning that the phenomenon that decides their ruler is probably just a natural occurrence rather than a sign from God. It seems like they play along when it benefits them...oh wait, that's just how it works in the real world LOL (jk, I know some people actually believe in their religions wholeheartedly IRL)

Lots of talk of progressives and conservatives which felt too real 😭 This fan translation was really good by the way! I can tell that some lines were localized really smoothly (like injecting slang and English expressions very naturally).

Funny seeing that Tada and Frol haven't changed much (well, not much time has passed). Frol's personality kinda reminds me of Miss Piggy or something. Very hot headed. I found them annoying in the OG manga but at this point, I see their appeal. They started this chapter as she/her and ended as he/him. It was really funny how much more popular they were as a boy. Accurate 😂

Why does Tada and Frol's pilot school just casually have a Goddess in their faculty? This series seems a little confused about how mystical it wants to be.

The thought of two planets wanting to go to war but both of them are too poor to do so is kinda a funny image (yet they found a way to go to war anyways I guess)

We get some Tada x Frol fluff and while Frol is in boy-mode no less :D <3

Frol declaring "we're here to pick up babes!" was really cute.

Ch. 2

The drama, the intrigue!! This chapter was mostly the gang on the run as fugitives but with also a big war-inciting incident. It honestly reminded me a lot of the current season of Arcane which I've also been watching as I read this. They both have this "point of no return" moment where it looks like there will never be peace between the two factions.

Although he's the "masculine one" I noticed that the mangaka puts Tada in some pretty girly looking outfits. It is a classic shoujo after all! Everyone looks ~fabulous~

Frol saying "YOLO" and crashing into the side of the academy building cracked me up.

I feel like the vibes of the Fourth being forced to poison the King feel very Shakespearean tragedy

We get another silly name with a woman named "Chu Chu" (how am I supposed to take her seriously? lol)

They nerfed Tada by making him instantly fall asleep after he uses his powers. I didn't really think they were OP enough to need nerfing, but okay...

Ch. 3

That was so majestic! Honestly, I didn't completely follow the (somewhat convoluted) plot but I don't think it mattered. All I really needed to know is who was bad, who was good, and that some corruption was goin down. Other than that, the vibes and the beautiful art did most of the heavy lifting.

This was kinda like the Fantastic Beasts sequels where the protagonists don't really have a reason to be a part of the plot, but they're there for the audience lol. Honestly, we could have probably just had this story just be all about King and his people, but I understand the desire to bridge the two stories with familiar faces.

Some of this gave me Game of Thrones vibes with the various kingdoms and politics. It takes place in space but felt smack in the middle of fantasy and sci-fi. Maybe because things were more planet-side this time around?

I really liked the design of the Priestess. She had an almost masculine look despite her really long hair. It was refreshing.

King marrying Chu Chu in the end was a little cheesy. Not everything needs to end with marriage -_- (well, it is shoujo...)

[bishie-haven]

Asmo Appreciation Week, Day 3: Best Cards, Part 2!

Welcome again, everyone!

I'll cut a bit more to the chase today, since we're in a continuation from yesterday's post. Yesterday I covered #20-11 of the Asmodeus cards that make my heart beat faster, and today I'll show #10-1! These are a lot more potent and have a lot higher potential to melt my soul.

Let us begin~

#10: Guided By Desire

Starting off the top 10 with more nostalgia! While one of two SSR cards people were VERY likely to get in the beginning, it doesn't annoy me seeing him show up...much (I get sooo many ravens now, UGH). BUT, repetitiveness aside, circumstances REALLY put this card high on the list. Even to this DAY it is one of my most powerful cards, even topping a lot of the URs I have on the OG app, so I HAVE to give credit. And even without it...just look at that face, you can't deny its adorableness! (Plus a rare shot where Asmo has pink and neon green nails before they decided on pink and teal!)

#9: Purgatory Hall Sleepover!

Hey look, it's the card that most likely inspired the 2022-23 pajama set! Being the first birthday UR this boy had (and having to wait a full year from its implementation date), I was was EXCITED to see this card art alone. The theming made it even better; sleepovers are another topic that just send me over the moon, and that LITERALLY being the title of the card set in stone that I needed it like water. Thankfully, no money had to be spent, hooray!

#8: Photogenic Asmo

If you thought #16 was colorful, #8 said hold my demonus. This is CUTE in every sense of the word. An overall cafe theme (mixing retro diners and maid cafes without the maids), Asmo in that uniform, and that look on his face getting pics of the sweets?! This was the card that started my completionist journey of getting every card of his, and thankfully, the catalyst was received in a recent revival Nightmare!

#7: Your Personal Venus

This card, this card... The end of February was a wild time for my OM! account. This event plus the Nightmare that was attached were attacking me from both sides in terms of cards I want, and could NOT catch a break (you might be able to guess a card down lower if you think about it ^^). But thankfully, it meant this card was mine within three days of the event start! The initial image is precious (just look at those eyes!), and this one? This was an attack on my soul, how is he able to rock anything and make me love him even more?!

#6: Time for the Main Event!

I grinded in this event when it came out in 2020. Nearly 4 years later, I'm still trying to get him. There's definitely reasons why, considering it's only barely out of the top 5. The Cinderella/fairytale aesthetic is a major reason, bringing to question what Asmo would be like if HE was the titular heroine instead of the fairy godmother in the actual event. In addition, this was the first event where I truly saw him as a gnc icon and ROCKING this dress (I can't unsee the garter belt either, so neither will you now, hehe), and further made me scream whenever future cards indulged this. Now, please hurry up and come home...

#5: Return My Glow

We all know from both the OG and NB that Asmo valued his time as the angel dubbed the "jewel of the heavens", despite slowly forgetting that image of himself. While the event the card was attached to is DEFINITELY controversial amongst the fandom, it still means a lot to me. I grinded my booty off to get it on the last day, and the image (specifically this DF unlock) has the power to make me feel better even on some of my darkest days. It even doubles so when you look at the similar image found in his initial UR in NB (more on that soon!).

#4: The Devildom's Mermaid

Outside of the missed potential to make him an ACTUAL mermaid in one of the arts, this was the first UR+ Asmo ever received, so its iconic status already lends itself to a high placement. Theming is also high here, as WHO can resist the beach episode, tell me, who?! There's also a bit of retroactive mirroring with the anime that happens in my head. I can totally see at one point on that private beach he set up a picture just like this to send to his followers, and that expression sent many (including myself) into an iconic squealing mess.

#3: Demons Catch Colds?!

If you guessed this card at #7, you win a virtual cookie! It is no secret to anyone who knows me well that one of my favorite tropes in fiction is the sick day, one person laying in perceived misery while another tends to their needs. In addition, if you include anything in your work with a medical/dental theme, you will have me eating out of the palm of your hand. This card has both. I was a mess back in April of '21 thanks to this blasted card. Fun fact, this was the first Nightmare card I spent money to get (Solomon decided to block my advances one too many times using the same attribute and I was at my limit 😡)! I only pull out the actual cash when I'm hooked, so you KNOW it was serious. XD Lastly, I said I wasn't taking Devilgrams into account, but I wanted to mention how the one attached to this card is so sweet. If you ever have the chance to read it, DO IT!

#2: Princess Asmo's Escape

They ACTUALLY referenced it!! If you've seen the anime, you know about Episode 5 and the insanity that occurred when Asmo was literally wearing the crown. And the fact that the devs saw it was iconic enough to make a UR+ out of?! I have a lot of gripes with Solmare, but this one of the times they got it RIGHT. He is a Disney princess, you can NOT change my mind, and the composition of this initial image is so pretty I want to make a print of it to hang in my room. It's almost the perfect card! Almost...

Because the top card of all to me is...

#1: A Song From the Heart

This is my absolute dream card, and the closest to the definition of a perfect one you will ever get. So many elements combine to make this both fitting in terms of character and concept. In the initial image we get the cute, goofy side of him (and a shot of him in glasses?!), calmly playing an acoustic. In the DF unlock, that side turns passionate and bombastic, switching to an electric and belting into the mic under the stage lights. It references both the obvious and not-so-obvious of parts of his character. We know that he loves being under the spotlight, but we don't get much in terms of his love for music, specifically rock music as the designs imply. The outfit is also one of my personal favorites, as is many that don't go on the Majolish racks (pleeeeeease let this one be wearable one day!). It even has a bit of a meta connection as well. His VA, Miura Ayme, has PLENTY of musical connections, not just recording OPs for the game but being an active visual kei artist with a HEAVY leaning on rock as a style. So to see a card not only tie back to a character but to the voice actor at the same time? There's nothing I see that's better than that.

And that's my list! What did you think? Any cards I missed in terms of their positives? Let me know if you have any you want to mention, as well!

[relaxxattack]

What are you using that you can’t zoom in on pics? I use the app both on an android phone and on an ipad and have no issues. Same goes for desktop version on both. Is it a pc thing?

I wasn’t a big fan of the new lightbox either (especially how it would bring you to another post if you scrolled down) at first but recently i’ve realized that i could save pics without leaving it, when before when i was zoomed in it would zoom out whenever i long pressed so it makes it a bit more streamlined when you want to save multiple pics in a row so now i’m just like ‘yeah it’s fine’, especially since i have no zoom issue.

But i post art on here so i’m really curious. What if a large amount of people can’t even see what I post in the res I think they are? That would suck. Might need to scale down a bit.

(Also, sorry that you have to endure tumblr live; i don’t got it because i’m european but it sounds real annoying)

it’s kind of hard to explain but sometimes when you open an image to view it (in the tiktok-like “lightbox” feature you described) it can’t be zoomed in, or if it can it looks terribly grainy

however for some reason it only seems to happen on certain instances of posts? so if it does i usually just click on op’s url to go to the og post, which will more often than not let me open it with the old photo viewer and let me zoom in at a high quality. though sometimes that fix doesn’t work, and i’m not sure why

i couldn’t really tell you what the pattern or reasoning is behind how the tumblr app decides which posts to not let you zoom in and which ones to let you… it’s generally just an inconvenience to my scrolling that i try to get around as fast as possible by visiting the og post or other reblogs of it from the notes 😭

it could literally just be a bug from their awful photo viewer system not managing to apply to all kinds of photos in the update? all i know is sometimes you can open photos as normal and sometimes you can’t

i’ve only experienced this on the tumblr app on ios, pc works as normal for me in terms of photo viewing

[marcusrobertobaq]

If you wanna do threads with people, I suggest your local nursing home. And you talk all this crap about the dbh fandom, but you talk about the game just like the rest of us, sir. You can say you don’t do fandom shit all day, but you quite literally do. You just seem like the more canon centric type of fandom, which is cool accept for those of you who make hating Fanon fandom a personality trait. Don’t have anything else going for you? Don’t you wanna have- idk- POSITIVE interactions? You have great opinions/insights on the game, why not talk shop instead of annoying people?

I already make "threads" with people, usually outside social media as it's easier, but i also go in digital spaces with a low % of people with limitations. Although it's becoming worse each day.

"hating fanon fandom a personality trait"

See how it's impossible not making fun of y'all mfs? I usually respond bullshit with bullshit but i'll answer this question this time - for the BIG TEXT we go (if y'all suckas insist).

Good to know it really became some sorta "image", it's a filter itself. But i usually don't even consider some fanon really dbh - cuz it ain't and no one gonna change my mind about it. Get your og shit together and u gonna have my thumbs up.

At the same time I don't actually hate all fanon, see: Markus being 10yrs old, for example, or even the speculation of Kamski giving Markus to Carl as an "Amanda" or sorts - these are fanon (maybe not that popular but it still is). Fuck, even Ben playing in the same team is all fanon. Some other major speculations that are obviously myths but still kicking around, sometimes they're fanon. Me trynna explain, fix some issues in the game or expanding stuff? All headcanons - mostly. Sometimes i dig stuff and find it was intended in a very similar way, my luck day.

I do my biz and talk with who wanna talk to me about it. I see something productive about the game - the game universe, not its shitty fandom that can't even care about the content itself just cuz the writer sucks -, i'll comment on it if i wanna add things. U wanna drag me into this shit u call it whatever u like that's gonna be on ya, not me. I don't consider myself part of it and i bet lotta people agree with me xD

And if u wanna say i'm in the fandom then i got even more rights in calling it crap - the real ones may know what i'm talking about, the ones who doesn't are likely part of the "crap". I don't care bout "positive" or "negative" interactions. Interactions are interactions and i won't play by "fandoms" rule or "what fandoms are supposed to be" - i don't care about this whole thing, i don't care what's valid, i don't care it's to be "fun". I make my own shit and pick what's in the air. It's on my fucking pinned post.

When i'm bored, i'm bored. When i'm serious, i'm serious. When i ain't serious, i ain't serious - and i won't give warnings either. If i feel like just throwing stuff around, i'll just go around throwing stuff. It's just so fucking easy making reed900 or hankcon topic mfs start something for some reason - makes things even more ridiculous to me. Image? Fuck, i'm at a point i really can't give a flying fuck how mfs see me, this is the internet and i ain't a famous mf.

I'll shit on shippers or discussions about it. I've been on this one myself when i got here more than a year ago. Waste of time, repetitive discourses, same bullshit all the fucking time, it'll be what it ever was and i ain't got the patience with what i don't consider worthy of my patience or seriousness. Feel free to be the same, unless u wanna be a good-goddie about community and shit, i don't care. It's your call, not mine. Wanna drop age and maturity card? That's your shit too, i don't fucking care and all i gonna hear is a broken record sound.

Don't ask me to respect mfs, i won't respect what i don't wanna respect but don't worry i won't send the FBI to arrest y'all guys like it's a crime neither gonna go naked on the streets with signs or any shit like this, even tho know y'all mfs would love it just to say "huhauehuaheuahue guess who got all mad and triggered hruashruehruah" but i'll have to disappoint your and your friends ass.

So i gonna ask again: do i need to fucking draw? Or wanna give me more reasons to joke on u bitches? Cuz really, it's really difficult not being a sarcastic prick on purpose the way y'all sound.

[acourtofthought]

Thanks for answering me!

Follow up question. I have seen many arts depicting both helion and Lucien as proud black men with braids and loc. i have also seen many fans stating that both Lucien and helion are BIPOC, and getting real heated when it’s debated, mostly on tiktok. would that be an accurate depiction and description or not? I am from a small rural town, and perhaps it is small minded og me..but I have not known anyone from an Egyptian or middle eastern background..are they accurate depictions of the people? I read moononastrings reblog, and it was very interesting to note that SJM envisioned helion as Persian. I’m also confused by SJMs use of “golden brown” skin tone. I’ve seen people say vassa depictions are racist..but I don’t know, I think “golden brown” is sort of ambiguous to be honest, which is annoying and that’s on sjm.

I’m so sorry. I just get really confused by some of the arts I see, and the discourse and accusations of racism around them.

You're welcome! Thank you for the asks 😊

First off, I don't love when anyone in the fandom maliciously accuses someone of being racist. I have no problem with anyone of any race, of any sexuality, of any gender (and so on) however, as a straight white individual, I do not doubt that at some point in my life, I have inadvertently said something that someone who is a POC, LGBQT, etc. might have found offensive. Not because I would ever want to insult someone or say something inappropriate regarding those above things but because I am not 100% educated on something that I am not. I will never fully understand what others have experienced or everything that might be considered tactless because I will never completely understand the struggle they have experienced in a world that makes things easier on white straight people. I do my best. I TRY to be aware of what I'm saying. But I know I will unintentionally put my foot in my mouth at times for the rest of my life.

And I hope that someone who can understand what it means to be any of the above will take the time to educate me. I hope they will see enough of who I am and how I say things to kindly point out why whatever I've said might not be the best.

There are people that are very obviously racist or homophobic and of course there should be no tolerance for that. However I do think a majority of readers really are a bit uninformed about certain things or unaware because we really haven't been in a position to fully understand why our thinking might be wrong. And in those scenarios it does bother me when the Go To response is aggression especially because SJM is very unclear and a bit confusing when it comes to descriptions about her characters. I honestly don't think it's that people don't like the idea of Lucien looking a lot like Helion. I think it's that when the author gave us his description as - sharp, elegant features, golden skin a few shades darker than his notably pale brothers, big mystery surrounding who his real father is where only one character has had an "Ah-Ha" moment regarding it, it has truly created a lot of confusion for readers. Because it doesn't make sense to them that Lucien could look so much like Helion that others wouldn't notice. That Lucien himself wouldn't have noticed.

As far as fanart, I do think an attempt should be made to get the golden brown coloring somewhat accurate though I understand that even that has a sliding scale. Would that be somewhere along the lines of Halle Berry? Darker than that? Beyond that though, "sharp, elegant features" and Helion's nose and mouth are very difficult to capture accurately. Maybe I'm an idiot for this but I've searched through pictures of mixed race Egyptian men, Persian men, and Black Men trying to get a better image in my head of what he's supposed to look like but that really doesn't help because I still worry about whether I am doing justice to his fathers side while also paying mind to the fact that it's still a mystery for most of the characters.

I think that might be a problem a lot of artists / commissioners are having. If you lean too far one way, people find it unrealistic that other characters wouldn't have known by now. If you lean too far the other, you're racist. There's a middle somewhere but it's a bit of a struggle to figure out what that looks like. It's a very uncomfortable position to be in and unless we have outright proof that someone is in fact racist, I don't think it hurts to be a little more gentle in how we approach our discussions and to remember that maybe the person is truly confused on exactly what SJM has in her head for Lucien. At the end of the day, it's her character and unless she can show us a picture to show "THIS is Lucien", then we're all just making guesses.

[saintobio]

I've like casted the intro thingy almosy 3 times onto my TV atp so thank god finally my finger hit the ask box- Okay, SO SAINT, IK IM TIPSY RN BUT I MY ALCO FUZZIEX BRAIN CANNOT THINK OF ANYTHING BUT SY AND SY GOJO RN. IK IBEEN SOBBINF OVER HIM FOR THE PAST HOUR BUT SAINT, I WANNA CRY AND TELL U THAT U ARE AMAZING AND ILY, I HOPE YOI KNOW UOI DESERVE THE WORLD PLS 😭😭 IM SORRY IF THIS ASK COMES ACROSS AS SLOPPY AND PLAIN ANNOYING BUT HOLY SHIT IM JUSY CRYING AT HOW TALENTRD YOU ARE FOR GIVINF US QORLDS TO ESCAPE TO LIKE SN/SY, OLAL, WASTELANDS ESCPECIALLY WHEN PEOPLE HAVE BORINGASS LIVES LIKE MINE. ITS SO SEDENTARY AND STALE THAT I HAD TO DRINJ TO NOT BE THE SOBER ME. AND THEN YOURE SO NICE AND WITTY WITH ALL YOUR FOLLOWES TOO!!! YOURW HELLA COOL I HOPE U KNOW THAT!!! I HOPE U KNOW I ADOREE YOU MORE THAN ANY AUTHOR ATP. ILYYY. TAKE CARE OR GOJO NO UNBOX! BYE-BYE!!

ty so much!!! that’s so nice of u and it’s not annoying at all :D rly glad you enjoy some of my works <33

@otivez said

saint i've been DYING to tell you this omg my law professor told us this crazy story last week and istg it's sincerely not

it's very long and wild but in a nutshell this son of a high status family in the 60s needs to marry someone and his parents don't like his girlfriend so they find him a woman. he goes to his gf and tells her that he should marry the other woman and then they should see. fast forward a couple years he gets cancer and dies. after he dies, they see that he has 14 kids with his wife AND 15 with his girlfriend 😭 they ask the wife "why" and she says "well she gave birth so i had to give birth too" 😭 they were RACING 🤧 my mind just instantly went "what if reader was like sera too" shit gets even crazier that they even made a tv show about it

WHATJDJD THATS SO MESSY 😭

Anonymous said

Hello new reader here👀 An auntie lurking around.

I’m not an anime watcher (but a kdrama one) btw so I don’t know who this characters are irl? Is that even the term?🤣 I just happen to open tumblr after 5 years, this is my 12 year old account whom I spent my teenage years (you can guess my age already 😂)and that one person I’m following reblogged your Sincerely yours series. AND GURL WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN IN MY HECTIC BORING CORPORATE LIFE?!!! It’s been too loooong since I got invested like this for real😭 I am so intrigue, this is nothing like The Princess Diaries I used to read😒😂 and now I discover this gem called smut brrrr Guess what chapter I happen to read first, it’s the bora bora damn I was like, this series is fucking interesting I’m hooked and started reading from the very beginning. To that person who reblogged that chapter, thank you! And Saint, I love you! Muah💋

P.S I’m not following you yet, I don’t want to see the juicy spoilers 😁but I will, I PROMISE once I’m done teehee. And I just google this fucker Gojo Satoru (I’m in a chapter where I really despise him and Sera right now hahaha) he’s my wallpaper now btw and now I’m introducing him to my niece as my cheating rich handsome fiance so they’d stop calling me an old maiden😩

P.P.S can I share how I imagine yn’s style and appearance? It’s Kang Sa-Ra in kdrama A beauty Inside❤️ this is before I saw your curated aesthetic images for sn and yn hehe

it’s sooo interesting when people who don’t watch jjk actually read sn/sy 😭 i hope u know that they are very ooc in this series, and gojo isn’t like this at all HAHAJAJ also i haven’t watch that drama but the inspos for her fashion usually come from typical kdrama chaebols 😹

Anonymous said

I really wanted yn and Gojo to end up together because I’m a Gojo simp lmao. But if SN and SY with OG characters? honestly I don’t want the FL to end up with the ML I want them to go on their separate ways but have a healthy or civil coparenting their child. They’re both too broken to be together again but if they happen to have the strength to patch things up, I wish they’re already both healed to be together again.

If Gojo and YN is the endgame… Saint, I wonder how… And if they’re not… waaah

Anonymous said

This is a terrible thing to say but I'm toji x yn because i think it's the less worse option of gojo x yn. Both relationships have major issues but toji by comparison has less issues and can be salvage. Despite the titanic reference gojo made in sn19 their ship sunk and is staying at the bottom.

gojoyn or tojiyn, i think we can all agree that yn x therapy should come first 😫

@bellehalla said

this is not new but i will defend those Utahime haters because...i am one of them. first of all, why would you go after your friend's ex boyfriend. that itself is already questionable. then you go after an ex that your friend has a bad and complicated history with. apparently, that's not enough to set her head straight. then, you as a friend, know that this friend of yours is losing her shit, losing her mind over this dude and you're out here uwu catching feelings. BUT GREAT CHAPTER SAINT! <33

ahahaha i just know utahime wouldn’t give this much damn abt gojo in canon 😭 but sy!hime is a cassie

Anonymous said

Oh boy, your writing is so captivating! sn6 is the first chapter I've read as it's been released and what a chapter it has been... Thank you for doing this!

A question, I've seen in your profile that your type is INFP and as an mbti nerd have been wondering if you take the personality types of the characters when writing the story?

Sorry if the question has been asked before but I've just been very curious :)

tysm <33 i’m not very knowledgeable about mbti but i remember one of my readers who did a long post abt the characters mbti and why they make sense!! sorry i couldn’t find it anymore but it was during sn era, which is several months ago T^T

[buttofgrayson]

Teen Titans Academy #1 Review (Spoilers)

Teen Titans Academy came out of nowhere for me. The Titans have been in a limbo for the past few years since the ongoing Titans book was cancelled and the Teen Titans book wasn't much picking up the slack. With Future State came the idea that The Titans would be turned into a X-Men style school for young heros with the OG Titans as teachers. A pretty great idea. But does it hold up to its great premise? In this issue we see the kids getting their introduction to Titans Academy and the OG Titans settling into their roles as teachers. Red X is a big part of this series and he's name dropped a few times in this issue.

It's even revealed that after Dick there were two others that picked up the mantle. That really sucks as it just complicates things unnecessarily. The idea is that one of these students will pick up the mantle of Red X and they are already teasing it here and there. A Red X mask is gifted to Dick anonymously during his birthday party and Red X appears in the X-Men style danger room unexpectedly. These teases are fine for now but I can definitely see them getting annoying very quickly. Red X even gets main stage on the cover despite him only appearing in a one page stinger. It's heavy handed. Another thing that's heavy handed is the dialogue. This issue is pretty wordy and the best way of describing it would be clumsy. Dialogue runs on and over explains when things could be worded better. There are a few especially cringe worthy moments badly trying to replicate what the writer thinks young people sound like.

It's a book heavy with unnecessary conversation and little subtlety. At its best moments it reminds me of some good X-Men stories. At it's worst it's the spitting image of a Scott Lobdell written Teen Titans book. It's kind of a mixed bag with plenty of good bits to at be interested where this series takes us. One moment that especially worried me was the strong implication that Dick and Kori slept together after this issue.

Usually I'd love this because they are great together but we already know that Dick and Barbara are slowly going to be be built up in the Nightwing books. At the moment Dick and Barbara are just friends but still we know they're going to be together soon. This looks like they're putting Dick and Starfire together just so they can break them up badly and painfully. We know in future state these two are cold towards eachother and that's clearly what's being built towards. It's just not a good idea and reeks of internal anti DickKori from Dc. This wasn't a bad read but it's definitely something to pay attention to. This has the potential to be really good or a total disaster. So far it's a solid 6 out of 10.

[blxckbutterfli]

Norton Campbell: A Thief’s Punishment

Image Credit

Summary: Norton was always a relaxed person at heart, but after the traumatic event, it became harder for him to let loose. Luckily, you’re here.

Warning: Smoking

Wordcount: 932

Note: Look at me writing my og ideas instead of writing suggestions 🤡 I swear im writing them though 😭

Barely Edited 🤡

A puff of smoke faded into the air as Norton released the cigarette from his lips. He leaned against the railings of the big balcony he stood on; the view wasn’t half-bad. The balcony was a comfortable place too: a small table with two chairs on each side and a chair swing set in the middle.

“Didn’t know you smoked,” a person remarked behind him, since it’s been almost a year since he arrived at the mansion, he didn’t even have to turn around to know it was you.

“Didn’t know it was your business.” He exhaled another puff of smoke. You let out a small chuckle and placed the items you were carrying--a radio and book--on the coffee table before joining him at the railings. “What are you doing here?”.

You scoffed, “I should be asking you that, believe it or not, I’ve been reading on this balcony almost every day for six months-”

“With how dumb you are, I didn’t know you could read.” Despite the harsh words, you could tell from his playful smirk that he was joking to which you exhaled in disbelief then lightly smacked the back of his head. A burst of cute laughter left him before he teased you once again with a confident smile, “Is that really the best you can do?”

“Is that an invitation to a fight? If so, I’ll gladly accept.” You cracked your knuckles which shocked not only him, but also you. Since when the hell were you able to crack your knuckles like this? You didn’t know, but hey, seeing Norton holding his palms up in defeat was satisfying.

“Sorry, but uh… a man’s gotta smoke.” He wiggled his cigarette in your direction. You snorted then jokingly called him a coward under your breath before sitting on the chair swing; Norton went back to leaning on the rails--this time, he faced your direction instead of the forest’s scenery.

With the press of a button, the radio turned on and played music. For the rest of the time, you two went back to your own activities, basking in each other’s presence as the harmonious music left the radio’s speaker.

.

When he arrived at the balcony, it was no more than three in the afternoon, yet here you were hunched over on swing chair fast asleep. Norton lit a cigarette then took a seat beside your sleeping figure; you jolted awake from the sudden movement. “Oh-” you rubbed your eyes, “hey Nort.” Said man merely hummed in response.

Ah.

So it was one of his bad days. Your greetings never met silence unless he was in a bad mood. Norton’s bad days weren’t exactly rare, in fact, he seemed to have at least twice a week, but you’d gotten use to it. He still goes to the balcony with you, but instead of talking like usual, he’d just… listen.

Luckily, today, you had something that might cheer him up.

You reached into the pocket of your outfit--to which Norton raised a brow at--and pulled out a gray lump? “So…” Norton could feel the excitement laced in your tired voice, “I went to Golden Cave today.”

“What?”

Norton’s bitterness faded away at the thought of the rare map. Since the map was directly connected to him, Lady Nightingale allowed him to play on it once at a time of his choice. Ever since that first time, his luck never allowed him to play on it again. From his memory though, it was absolutely beautiful and just brimming with ores, minerals and gems.

“But I thought we couldn’t steal from maps-”

You quickly scooted over to his side to shush him with your hand and looked around to make sure Lady Nightingale’s annoying bird wasn’t nearby. Norton blushed at the distance--or lack thereof--but it thankfully went unnoticed by you. “Yeah, but it’s Golden Cave, might as well get a souvenir while I’m there.” You turned back to him, oblivious to the way your body pressed against his. You took his hand (he nearly jumped from the sudden ‘intimate’ touch) and place the gray lump on his palm, “I actually got it as a gift for you. I’m pretty sure it’s a ruby.”

And you were right, when he inspected the hard object, he concluded that it was an unpolished ruby, but a gift to him of all people? Norton turned away from you mumbling an “idiot thief” under his breath, but you swore you could his red ears.

“Wow, I went through the trouble of possibly losing morality points and I don’t even get a thank you?” You teased him. Norton scoffed and turned back to flick your forehead--it was obvious that your mission to cheer him up succeeded.

“Why would I say thank you to a thief?”

“I may be a thief but aren’t I a cute thief--ow!” Another flick from Norton landed on your forehead, despite all the banter, you did hear a small thank you being thrown out. “What? What? I didn’t HEAR you!”

“I said that you’re an idiot.” Another flick was inflicted and you whined.

“Hey!”

Norton simply laughed at your cute reaction. Damn, being near you really relaxed him, huh? Being relaxed never really felt like an option anymore after the cave incident but… your presence just seemed so pure and cheerful. It could practically make even the most pessimistic person let out a chuckle or two.

So as your banter with each other continued, Norton’s grip tighten around the unpolished ruby as a thought crossed his mind:

Maybe he should make a ruby heart necklace for you.

[evakuality]

Mia, episode nine

1.  For once, Mia actually has the right take on Alex.  He really has been a dick and an asshole, and he is and has been acting condescending.  She should be taking this as a warning; he’s totally exactly as she is saying here.  Unfortunately, I’m sure she’s going to change her tune because some sort of truth is going to come out about Bjorn and Mia is going to ‘realise’ that Alex is a good guy all along.�� Except, he isn’t.  He never has been, and the fact that Bjorn had to be the one to tell her means that we can conveniently pretend that none of this is important.  Also, this ridiculous ‘what he did to me’ stuff is annoying.  If you have something to tell her... tell her.  Don’t be coy about it.

2.  This little scene with Amira is nice.  It’s a nice conversation to have with her rather than the others since she’s really the one who can empathise with Mia’s fears and worries.  And it’s interesting to see the varied ways in which the library is used.  In this scene it’s very cold, black and white colours (even in the costuming), not very inviting.  In others it has been a much more cheerful and welcoming place.  I guess we’re looking at the black and white, very rigid approach which Mia is using.  In other library scenes it’s been much more about bonding with the girls, warmth and connection, but here it’s a Mia who’s having something of a crisis.  I may not agree with where this is all going, but I do like what they’re doing with colouring etc here.  

3.  I get that we’re trying for a whole ‘don’t be so black and white in your thinking’ thing here, but it’s so contrived.  Again, I think this is an issue where we as an audience never got to ‘meet’ Alex as he mellowed and became someone Mia would like, and so I just can’t believe that someone like Mia, who is strong in her opinions and principles, would want to give them over for him.  He’s proven over and over again that he’s got a lot of issues being open, honest and decent.  And for me, principles (eg ‘violence because someone waved at a girl is never okay’ which is where Mia is at rn because Alex won’t actually talk to her) are important, and the guy Alex keeps showing himself to be is not one you would drop those principles for.  Nuance is all well and good, but we have to actually see past the shell for the nuance to actually work.  ‘I don’t understand why I got involved with him at all’ - no, neither do I, Mia.  And given that it’s been only a few short weeks and you literally saw how awful he was to Kiki, I don’t see why this ‘desire is stringer than faith’ metaphor thing we have going on would work.  We’re on episode nine and they are talking about how shitty Alex’s behaviour is (which it is - no matter what reason, what he did to Bjorn isn’t okay and lying to Mia isn’t okay), so I’m to believe that within the space of 1.5 episodes none of this matters suddenly?  His behaviour is somehow forgiveable?  If it follows the og, it’s not even like he changes.  All that happens is that we get some ‘perspective’ on the situation.  And in this case, perspective may make something make sense, but it doesn’t change how bad the behaviour is.  I seriously dislike that Amira says that depending on what reason someone hit someone else that it might be okay.  That sort of violence isn’t okay, particularly because regardless of what actually happened between Alex and Bjorn, in the moment the reason he hit him was because he greeted Mia.  There’s NO excuse for that!!  This whole ‘well I’m as bad as Alex because I was in a fight over Hanna’ is bullshit too.  It’s a false equivalence - Alex attacked Bjorn because he waved at Mia and had met her at Alex’s place (exacerbated by their history, but he didn’t attack just from seeing him - that came only after he asked Mia how she knew him).  Amira was involved in a fight in the moment and it was on equal terms - they were giving as good as she did.  I didn’t like that Sana was sometimes used in this way in the og and I dislike it here too.  Making her the voice of reason when she’s saying stuff that pits disparate things as if they’re the same is a problem for me.  It’s particularly bad that Amira is saying ‘well I don’t like Alex either, but you looked at each other...’ which is a terrible message for young people.  These two were together for half a second.  Mia can and will find other, better guys.  Just because they looked at each other in a certain way doesn’t mean that they should be together.  That sort of romantic ‘star crossed lovers’ stuff is seriously annoying when banked up against all that we see of Alex in this show,  Not what we’re told, but what we see.  There’s no reason why someone like Mia a) would have got with Alex and b) would have stayed with him after the behaviours he’s shown her (and which she saw over and over again with Kiki).  He gaslighted her into getting with him to start and everyone appears to be happily gaslighting her to stay with him.  If she has reservations about him, she should listen to them.  This isn’t a one-off strange and seemingly out of character thing for him; this is exactly how he’s been for the last many many weeks.

4.  The thing that really annoys me about this (and the og) is that we can only accept Alex/William as a good guy if we have another guy acting as a really really bad guy.  Like, yes there’s no question that Bjorn is an absolute asshole, manipulative and disgusting.  But that doesn’t mean Alex isn’t also a bad guy, manipulative and disgusting.  He is those things as well.  He has some redeeming qualities?  Well, sure.  But I suspect so does Bjorn if we’re not seeing him through the villain lens, and we were talking to people who care about him.  ‘Look, this is what real gaslighting/manipulation/assholishness etc looks like, so Alex isn’t bad after all’ is again such a bad take.  One person can be a problem even if another is worse.  It’s also so random that Mia literally just trust Bjorn right away about everything, even down to ‘alcohol solves all problems’ ‘yeah okay I’ll take one’ - like why?  She clearly knows it’s a joking lie, and yet she’s all ‘sure I’ll take a beer from some guy I barely know who has some bad history with the guy I’m conflicted about and who clearly wouldn’t want to have him around’ when she doesn’t even want one.  None of it makes any sense.  If she’s really there to try to listen to Alex, why on earth would she think that chatting with this guy is a good idea?  Clearly this ‘has’ to happen for plot reasons, but from a character standpoint it doesn’t make any sense at all.  Neither does ‘I’m at your place and I wanted to talk... oh but I can’t talk later because I have to study’ - again I know for plot reasons this has to be this way, but she could just go home now and study and meet Alex later.  If she has time to talk to him now, she has time to talk to him later.

5.  The fact that she’s spending all this time hanging out with Bjorn is clearly going to come back to bite her, but unfortunately I don’t care because I dislike Alex so much that I’m not even remotely invested in the outcome of this little journey.  You can clearly see the way Bjorn is manipulating the situation and making sure there’s video and photographic evidence of them together.  And it’s obvious that it’s going to really upset Alex - he bashed him with a skateboard just for waving at Mia, after all.  But I have so little interest in this relationship, and I think Mia needs to get miles away from both these guys and so I just... don’t care.  It’s done well, this little series of clips etc, and you can see that a lot of care has gone into making this part.  But for me it falls flat because not enough time or care went into making Alex into someone I like to start with.  As bad as it is, because he’s so obviously going to be such an asshole, Bjorn currently comes across in a much more sympathetic and likeable way than Alex.  That’s partly because we didn’t spend weeks watching him trash Kiki and then be all weird and shitty around Mia, but it’s at least partly because we get to SEE and HEAR him being charming, which we never got to see with Alex.  Alex’s scenes where he was ‘nice’ were always in montage and whenever we hear him speak it’s always a lot more complex and there’s always a layer of discomfort over how he is with Mia.  And for the purposes of this part, when we supposedly don’t know how bad Bjorn is, this works.  But it also highlights a big failing in the way Alex has been presented.  We never got enough nice, charming Alex to balance out all the shitty things he’s done.

6.  The whole bit with Mia getting steadily more blurry is done really well though.  It’s obviously coming up on her in a way she hasn’t really noticed and it does make it all start to get uncomfortable alongside Mia as she slowly starts to feel uncomfortable.  And alongside that we’re back to mirrors, where Mia has always been in two minds and we haven’t seen any for a while, but now we have one again.  This time we can clearly see her in the mirror but she’s feeling blurry and so the image is blurred a little.  Alongside the disturbing sounds/music, the extreme close ups, wavering camera and the harsh glare of the light, it’s again obvious that nothing’s quite right here.  Again, we had the same lighting etc with Bjorn in the hospital and so we’re being shown he is the problem here.  But at this point Mia doesn’t know that, and we are not supposed to know that and so it’s a way of visually showing us that things are wrong without spelling it out.  It’s nicely done, even if I dislike the plot.  Bjorn really is disgusting, btw.  I’m not trying to minimise that at all and what he’s done in this scene is really gross.  But that doesn’t change that Alex is also a problem.  

7.  Exhibit a: Told Mia is sick, he doesn’t leave.  Now, he probably saw the stuff on Bjorn’s social media because it was clearly designed to be seen by him, and so he’s probably not in a good space and wants to confront Mia.  But if she says she doesn’t want to see him, then he should take that and try again later.  Plus, if he hates Bjorn as much as he says he does then first, he should have made his reasons why clear earlier and second, why on earth does HE still want MIA if she’s hanging out with Bjorn?   

8.  Kiki!  I really like this little moment between the two of them.  Kiki being able to say ‘I think I look great in my glasses’ when Carlos thinks they’re ugly is so good for her!  She’s come so far from the person who tried to change herself because she wasn’t good enough for Alex.  It feels a little sad that we never got to see that growth on screen, and it seems very fast from when she was still hung up on Alex, but good for her that she got there anyway.  I’m so glad that she agreed to get therapy and has used that for herself.  It’s particularly nice that we got to see her helping Nora later on, because she knows what can help because she’s been there.  I know I’ve said it before, but I really like Kiki’s development over the series and I’ve become very fond of her.  So much of me would really rather this had been a season of Mia realising that all the guys she’s hung out with have been assholes, and finding out that ‘we’re all there for you’ from the girls is what she needs (plus, a relationship with Hanna in a best case scenario, but I’d take just the friendship thing as a much more satisfying end to this part).  Honestly, learning to not rely only on herself but on her friends would work so much better than shoving an entire relationship-reboot into the final episode.  Particularly when she has literally only just told us how conflicted she is about Alex.

9.  Bjorn is entirely and completely in the wrong here.  Of course.  But in actuality, the bits about Alex aren’t wrong.  Yes, she should have reported Bjorn, but also... yes, Alex should be facing consequences for serious assault.  Like.  Again.  This isn’t a one or the other situation.  Just because Bjorn is being so overt about his gaslighting here doesn’t change the fact that Alex also gaslighted and did many other things as well.  And again it bothers me that this is here to show us ‘see.  See.  Alex isn’t as bad as we think because this guy is worse’ - I know this is a carry over from the og (and I feel like it’s a much more empowering scene for Noora than Mia which is a shame), but I really dislike the way the shows are doing this.  I really really wish this whole ‘crew love’ thing really could be the way we end up this season.  That’s a much better outcome for Mia.  And I know we have her with the girls in a good place, but honestly, we don’t need any of these boys.

Overall, there are some really nice things about this episode.  The acting, for one, is very good.  The way things were shot and shown on screen were very effective, and I am very much in love with the cinematography etc of this show as I always am.  It’s a pity they had such a terrible blueprint for this season and had to stick to it because there are glimmers in here of what could have been.

[echonidae]

let’s talk commission stuff!

hey folks !!  so i’ve been reorganizing myself to get commissions back on track, and i’ve got some things i’d like to get your input on, if it isn't too much trouble !! ;v;

it’s a long one, so under the cut it goes sdfghghj

a slightly too long tl;dr because apparently this is a 10min read (i'm so sorry): commission revamp on the works! no date for it yet. gonna be easing myself back with just icons for a while at first (no date for that either thoug, not yet), then the revamp will be in full swing with all the other commission options, and the pricetable for them will be changed in the future as well. 

some questions: 

1) i’m rethinking commission types, is there anything you’d like to see as a new option?  2) considering i tend to open only a handful slots every batch, i'm thinking about implementing a waitlist (with a bit of a twist: it's split between Current Batch and Next Batch; a little more complicated than a regular ol' waitlist, allows me to get through some of the waitlist queue as work gets done). would that interest you or is it too much of a headache? 100% open to suggestions! 3) i’m organizing a board on trello for commission stuffs !! any suggestions or specific things you’d like to see there?

so! it’s already been over a year since i last opened commissions and i’d very much like to get back to them ;o; it’s been way too long! i miss working with you folks aaa

i don’t have a reopening date yet, but i’m planning on opening only icons for a while to ease back into the process. later on, i'll open the other commission options too. you see, i’m working on a full revamp of the whole thing, including the terms of service and that info image with the examples (because looking back, i think it no longer really represents my current style and how i really do commissions in terms of just... plain old rendering and polishing), so i’ll be working on new drawings and a new layout too, and all that good jazz :D

for full disclosure, along with this overhaul of the terms and such, i will be updating prices too c: i’m still working on the new values though, since i need to figure out what commission types/options the overhaul will have. which brings me to the first question here: what would you like to see as a commission option? for reference, here’s the og options:

(hoo i need to redo those examples *sweats*)

also, one more thing i’d like to note about this revamp situation: there isn’t a whole lot that’s changing really haha it’s just been a long, long time since i last did commissions, so i’m reviewing terms and i might change stuff that’s become outdated, or that needs clarification. if you’ve commissioned me before, the process itself is still the same so no worries! once the revamp is out, i’ll point out anything that has changed too c:

in regards to price changes, those first icon-only batches will be in their original price, and the new prices will only take effect once the revamp with the other options is out. it will be quite a while before until that, but if you have any concerns, feel free to message me any time ! either way, i’ll keep you folks posted !! i guess i also could post the new prices before implementing them, if that helps!

so, moving on! now to the waitlist situation <:3c as in, i’ve never had one, a while back someone asked if i did, and now that i’m reorganizing things, i’m wondering if it would be good to implement one :3c feel free to send any questions !! or suggestions!! i'm all ears!!!

usually i only open a handful of slots for each batch, right, and once they're all claimed, the commissions are closed until all the slots are finished. folks who missed the slots have to wait until the next batch, and sometimes those batches take a while to come back, and i usually just message those who missed the opening once the new batch is announced.

what i'm thinking for the waitlist is, i'll open it along with the batch of commissions, and limit it to a specific number of spots or close it by a specific date, whichever comes first. to apply for it, people would just need to send the form and i can tell them immediately whether or not i can draw their request, and then they'll be placed on the waitlist in the order they’ve been accepted c: pretty standard stuff.

here’s the important bit: that list is basically split in two. the first handful of people on the list, corresponding to the amount of slots for the current batch, will be reached out to as i finish working on the claimed slots, and then anyone else on the waitlist will be contacted shortly before the next batch. if, by the time the list closes, not all the opened slots have been claimed, folks on the list will simply be moved up the queue accordingly c: all of it would be discussed individually, of course, and very well disclosed in the commission info!

there are other points to it as well: anyone would be able to request a spot on the next batch's waitlist instead of the current one, and anyone can leave either list at any point. folks who had already claimed a slot when it first opened would only be able to apply for the next batch's waitlist (to give everyone a chance of getting one), and people on the list, either for the current or the next round of commissions, can be skipped up to a limit if they're unable to continue the order once i get to them.

oh and, before i forget, with the waitlist in place, i think i’d no longer be able to put slots on hold as i used to (as in, before paying the first invoice), as it’d be unfair to folks on the list. in that case, the person would be placed on the list as well if they want to, and contacted as soon as possible : )

also the "up to 2 slots per person" thing would be on thin ice too haha

anyway, this is kind of what i intended to do back then, with reopening slots as work gets finished, but never got around to. i want to make sure i don’t swamp myself with work, but also have it so that folks who want slots have a good chance of getting them, whether for the current batch or the next, as there's only so many slots i can open and work on at once, and time zones and irl things are to be considered too for anyone interested c:

it also makes it easier for me to keep track of messaging folks about new slots and such, and the list would be made public and easily available for consulting too : D more on this later!

so how's this looking? i've never done waitlists before and barely knew how they're supposed to work before starting to reorganize things, so please do feel free to voice your thoughts !! i’m 100% open to suggestions !!! do you think this system would work out for you? any concerns? if anything is unclear feel free to point it out, i'll do my best to explain the process or change stuff that doesn't quite work!!

so!!! now to the very last thing i wanted to talk about ! trello! 

i’m making a little trello board for updates on commission stuff! my commission info page here on tumblr and on deviantart both have this little section for updates on each slot’s progress, but i admittedly didn't do a good job keeping them updated (and constantly updating two things in different places just. kinda sucks.), so i’ve been diving into trello to unify that update section in one place and keep things nice and organized and transparent : ) it would be super useful for keeping track of the waitlist too, if that becomes a thing, or for updates on commission status and such!

so far i’m only testing things out, so it’s looking like this right now (sorry for the tiny image!):

(the board is lying btw, commissions are very much closed haha) (also if it’s basically unreadable, here’s the upload on sta.sh)

with all those little lists, the “available slots” and “sketch” and “lineart” and whatnot, i would be moving the card along the process : D and adding the appropriate labels, of course

this way i can have those halfsteps labelled too (working on/halfway through/finishing), since there’s only so many colors i can use without making it confusing (and tbh i’m already not too thrilled about color labels as it is, but it beats typing each individual status, and i’d imagine it’s more readable for folks consulting the list as well)

i really like how this looks so far in terms of organization but i’m unsure if the horizontal scrolling is anything but annoying, specially to folks on mobile (with the way i divide my screen on desktop, it certainly isn’t ideal either), so if you have any experience with that, feel free to let me know your thoughts!! there are a thousand different ways to organize this, and this is all a work in progress too c:

so! anything specific you folks would like to see on trello? i know this is a fairly common tool for commission queues and info and such but i’m super new to this platform, so please feel free to send suggestions! ♥

anyway yeah! that’s it! ;0; !

i’m sorry for the super long post, i’ve just been thinking about a lotta stuff haha i feel like i don’t interact a whole lot as it is, and since commissions are very much a team effort, i do want to get input from you folks on it c: it’s good to get a fresh perspective as well!

thank you so much for reading this far !! let me know your thoughts !!! :D ♥