#just a reminder that we are alters and these are not character drawings!

[nyandela-catalogue]

drew some stuff and watched some silly videos. feeling a bit less crummy. i love Jonah❤️

-Adam📹

[naranjapetrificada]

In this weird wonderful AU Georg fandom that is OFMD we have so many beautiful options. I was never, ever an AU type until now, but I truly can't get enough. Just last night I stayed up entirely too late because I finally got into Wave Hello to the Void, which on its face should absolutely positively not be My Thing, but the AUs we're blessed with here seem to always break that rule (especially with mxmollusca involved because holy shit have you read In Favor With Their Stars yet???).

We're so incredibly lucky y'all. I've been in fandom spaces for a long time but I've never felt this lucky.

We get different takes on time travel. We get the multiverse (and in so many beautiful forms). We get thought-provoking fantastical allegories and devastating (but often hopeful?) prequels with fascinating studies of character and fascinating takes on soul mates. We get complete fantasy overhauls that are gem-like in the beauty and precision of their prose and world-building. We get darling modern AUs and heartwrenching (but still ultimately happily-ending) modern AUs and modern AUs in basically every possible permutation, including ghost stories.

We get dystopias and apocalypses and post-apocalypses, meditations on love and existence, metafictional experiments in Not-RPF that draw even the biggest RPF skeptics (*points to self*) in, leaving us to wrestle with fundamentally altered attitudes toward storytelling that we may never be able to reconcile. Hell, even the missing scenes, canon-divergence, and fix-its hit different. Not to mention westerns with outlaws and cowboys, an archetype which conveniently also manages to scratch the proverbial pirate itch.

Even though pretty much every fandom has these things, for me at least they've never felt quite so imaginative and well-executed. We're so lucky to be here, to be writing for each other and reading for each other and for many of us, feeling creative for the first time in years or even decades. The gay pirates did that for us, because good source material can be the key to great fan works. And whether or not we get a third season, as much as they can't take the show from us, they also can't take away the gift that getting to experience all these fanworks has been. That's something I'm going to keep reminding myself while we wait.

and idk maybe tell your cowboy fanart friends that Ed can also ride horses as a steppe warrior or whatever

[snow-at-twilight]

Casual Clothing Refs Boards: Nightcord at 25:00!

With this post, we conclude the casual clothing ref boards series! Kanade's was super fun to put together LOL. Mafuyu actually had a startling lack of art in casual clothes since she's usually in her school uniform, but you know...

And just to reiterate: all of the art in these posts are either from cards or collab/promo art! I created these boards and shared them as a resource for everyone to use! Feel free to reblog/save as reference! I hope they help you in your artistic/writing endeavors!

L/N | MMJ | VBS | WxS | 25-ji

Some notes/personal observations under the cut:

KANADE

What do I even say? LOL

She really does only wear her sweats/tracksuit and shorts.

'Faintly Glowing Elpis' actually has her in a slightly different jacket, but it was from a year ago in PjSk timeline so she's seems to have shifted to a different jacket.

She also has one 'formal' outfit, which she wears in 'Determination Ignited' and 'Opening Ceremony Held in the Classroom' - collared white shirt and grey sweater (oversized?).

She also has a black winter coat she wears when it's snowy/chilly out!

Kanade is peak 'what is comfortable and practical' and doesn't futz around with fashion much.

If you (as a creator/artist/writer) want to put her in something beyond what she usually wears, you can probably chalk it up to Ena or Mizuki taking her clothes shopping.

MAFUYU

again, usually is wearing her school uniform in card art, but from what we get of her casual attire:

Usually is wearing her 2D live outfit.

blue, white, beige, purple colors. Sometimes black top.

Long skirts or pants, plenty of cozy sweaters/cardigans over button-downs/collared shirts.

Something about her attire screams 'nurse' -> Probably the light/muted colors.

Another character who rarely has short sleeves.

ENA

I just want to note she's usually drawing/painting in the long-sleeve print shirt and shorts, but may also wear a hoodie as seen in 'I Want To Capture That Expression'.

Sometimes goes for cardigans.

You can count on her shirts having a collar and some sort of ruffle or soft puff sleeve.

Also has ribbon around her neck or the black choker on her 2D Live.

Skirts enjoyer, you don't really get her in pants.

As for colors, go for white, beige, maybe a black, and also pink!

MIZUKI

They have a lot of different ribbons to tie their hair up in!

Wears their 2D Live outfit a lot, but the outfit you first see in 'A Moment of Jest' with the white shirt and black/pink suspenders + skirt is actually something they seem to wear often as well.

Usually has a ribbon/bow around their collar as well, but it's a lot bigger.

Frilly/ruffled dresses and whatnot, but also wears suspender-style too.

Blue, white, pink, and some black.

I think the only piece of art we actually have of them in some form of pants (aside from their middle school 'What Gave Me Courage' card) is their most recent 'You Gotta Come, Or Else I’ll Be Sad' card.

Reminder that Mizuki will buy and alter clothing if it isn't to their tastes.

You can see their closet in 'A Long-Awaited Notification'. Plaid patterns!!

[a-sociopath-do-your-research]

Hello Everypony :3

finally doing one of these, lol

💙About me!💜

Welcome to my blog for,,, everything! No sideblogs around here we die like men/j

My name is Oliver, but you can also call me oli! (ive got other names too, but that's the main one, check my pronouns page for the whole list!)

Xe/Void/Fox/It/They pronouns but get silly with it, i dont mind!! (except she/her)

We're a system! We dont talk about it a lot but sometimes it comes up yay!!

important post you should read!

I write and draw tho i am better at writing, lmao

@inky-drawings is my lovely girlfriend whom i love very much<333

@azamonvoid is my sib from another crib whom if i dont see soon heads will start rolling<3

@lmanburgseulogy SUPER AMAZING person (cough im copying part of the intro from bug), also my twin o7

@willthemicrowave AMAZING DUDE. Tem you're super cool

❌DNIs❌

cc!Wilbur and/or cc!Dream Team supporters. If i ever post about them its the characters.

-> also, if you see me reblogging from someone who supports them, please warn me!

Anyone who engages in discourse, esp syscourse. I do not care, let people live. Any interaction about it will be ignored and/or deleted. This isnt the place for it.

People in poppytwt/blr. I understand some people write it or engage in it to cope, but it personally just makes us uncomfortable. Thank you.

Just in general hateful people. Transphobes, terfs, homophobes, misogyinists misandrists ect ect. It is not that hard to leave people alone, and if you can't, get out.

✨ (main) Fandoms!! ✨

Hermitcraft/Life series!! My faves are Grian, Etho, Impulse, Zed, Jimmy and Mumbo (not in that order)

-> i engage in shipping the characters, quite a lot,,, if it makes you uncomfortable this ain't the place for you lol

DSMP! my mains are sbi (especially twinsduo you will always be famous to me,,,,), and sometimes feral boys!

-> i dont care most of those people are problematic now, my au just took a general outline of the smp then rewrote everything. There is barely any connection w/actual canon

SCU/Slimecicle cinematic universe!! Blame @alliumsmybeloved for this/j

Hollow Knight! Quirrel, Hornet, Hollow and Ghost are my faves!

-> nothing much other than i hate the traitor lord with a burning passion, lol

and many, many more!! Including percy jackson, portal, ect - these are just the ones im hyperfixating on the most lately!!

⚠ Terms and conditions? ⚠

I'm ok with flirting but ask first just to be sure!

autistic silly little guy. Sometimes i get too much, feel free to tell me if i exagerate and get weird!

-> be nice about it tho, please,,,

send asks send asks!!! They're so silly i love em<333

i do take requests on doodles, headcanons, snippets ect!! It just takes me a bit sometimes to answer!

I have a dsmp/hermitcraft/qsmp/ect au im working on, my magnum opus/j, go check it out it's @the-caladrius-au RAAHHH

I write about the characters, never the ccs.

💬Tag guide!💬

#Oli talks! -> silly tag for everything of mine, rambles,art, writing, reblogs (sometimes,,,)

#shift talks! -> like the above but for shift, one of our other alters :3

#Olis faves -> fav posts and/or posts i want to look back on!

#Oli writes -> pretty self explanitory, for when i write :3

#Oli draws -> for my art n doodles!

#Mutuals my beloveds -> Moot tag!!! For asks or when i talk with/about my mutuals! (if i forget to put it in a post with you, feel free to tell me!)

#nonnies my beloveds -> anon asks

#Beloveds! -> posts about/with @inky-drawings and/or @azamonvoid

#higgs Field au and #HFAU -> posts about my dsmp x Hermitcraft rewrite au

#the multiverse system -> stuff about our system!

#the horrors saga -> the horrors,,,,,, I just wanna write,,,,

-> if i forget to tag things properly feel free to remind me!!!

[plain text under cut]

Hello Everypony :3

finally doing one of these, lol

💙About me!💜

Welcome to my blog for,,, everything! No sideblogs around here we die like men/j

My name is Oliver, but you can also call me oli! (ive got other names too, but that's the main one, check my pronouns page for the whole list!)

They/It/xe pronouns but get silly with it, i dont mind!! (except she/her)

We're a system! We dont talk about it a lot but sometimes it comes up yay!!

important post you should read!

I write and draw tho i am better at writing, lmao

@inky-drawings is my lovely girlfriend whom i love very much<333

@azamonvoid is my sib from another crib whom if i dont see soon heads will start rolling<3

@lmanburgseulogy SUPER AMAZING person (cough im copying part of the intro from bug), also my twin o7

@willthemicrowave AMAZING DUDE. Tem you're super cool

❌DNIs❌

cc!Wilbur and/or cc!Dream Team supporters. If i ever post about them its the characters.

-> also, if you see me reblogging from someone who supports them, please warn me!

Anyone who engages in discourse, esp syscourse. I do not care, let people live. Any interaction about it will be ignored and/or deleted. This isnt the place for it.

People in poppytwt/blr. I understand some people write it or engage in it to cope, but it personally just makes us uncomfortable. Thank you.

Just in general hateful people. Transphobes, terfs, homophobes, misogyinists misandrists ect ect. It is not that hard to leave people alone, and if you can't, get out.

✨ (main) Fandoms!! ✨

Hermitcraft/Life series!! My faves are Grian, Etho, Impulse, Zed, Jimmy and Mumbo (not in that order)

-> i engage in shipping the characters, quite a lot,,, if it makes you uncomfortable this ain't the place for you lol

DSMP! my mains are sbi (especially twinsduo you will always be famous to me,,,,), and sometimes feral boys!

-> i dont care most of those people are problematic now, my au just took a general outline of the smp then rewrote everything. There is barely any connection w/actual canon

SCU/Slimecicle cinematic universe!! Blame @alliumsmybeloved for this/j

Hollow Knight! Quirrel, Hornet, Hollow and Ghost are my faves!

-> nothing much other than i hate the traitor lord with a burning passion, lol

and many, many more!! Including percy jackson, portal, ect - these are just the ones im hyperfixating on the most lately!!

⚠ Terms and conditions? ⚠

I'm ok with flirting but ask first just to be sure!

autistic silly little guy. Sometimes i get too much, feel free to tell me if i exagerate and get weird!

-> be nice about it tho, please,,,

send asks send asks!!! They're so silly i love em<333

i do take requests on doodles, headcanons, snippets ect!! It just takes me a bit sometimes to answer!

I have a dsmp/hermitcraft/qsmp/ect au im working on, my magnum opus/j, go check it out it's @the-caladrius-au RAAHHH

I write about the characters, never the ccs.

💬Tag guide!💬

#Oli talks! -> silly tag for everything of mine, rambles,art, writing, reblogs (sometimes,,,)

#shift talks! -> like the above but for shift, one of our other alters :3

#Olis faves -> fav posts and/or posts i want to look back on!

#Oli writes -> pretty self explanitory, for when i write :3

#Oli draws -> for my art n doodles!

#Mutuals my beloveds -> Moot tag!!! For asks or when i talk with/about my mutuals! (if i forget to put it in a post with you, feel free to tell me!)

#nonnies my beloveds -> anon asks

#Beloveds! -> posts about/with @inky-drawings and/or @azamonvoid

#higgs Field au and #HFAU -> posts about my dsmp x Hermitcraft rewrite au

#the multiverse system -> stuff about our system!

#the horrors saga -> the horrors,,,,,, I just wanna write,,,,

-> if i forget to tag things properly feel free to remind me!!!

[cellarspider]

20/30 Special delivery

(Previous) | (Index) | (Next)

⛬

We return to a movie that has never been to medical school, Prometheus. 

Here it is. The scene that everybody remembers because it gave a fair few people the screaming heebies. This is the movie's take on the chestburster scene–except for the less impactful, more literal version of the chestburster scene we’ll get later, I mean. This one, though, this one, they got it right.

Content warnings for gore, nudity, nude gore, exhaustive discussions of the place of chestbursting in franchise history.

But first! I saw a tag with a desire to see the scene with David and the star map. To spare everyone from watching the rest of the movie to get there, here it is!

[See previous post for lengthy description of the events. I didn’t talk about the music in this before though! It really adds to the sense of wonder in this scene. It reminds me of Daft Punk’s Overture to Tron Legacy (2010), another beautiful and flawed movie. Given the modern use of temporary music in editing that definitely sneaks into what directors demand of scores, there’s a chance this was a direct influence. In terms of the “oh wow, space!” feeling it gives me, I’d also mention the Star Trek TNG opening theme.]

Anyway! On with the horror.

In Alien, the creature’s life cycle was developed by writer Dan O'Bannon, who had two major ideas for its early appearances: sexual, reproductive threat directed at a male character, and Crohn’s disease. O’Bannon had Crohn’s, and he said that inspired the idea of a critter chewing its way out of a man’s guts. 

That personal connection has been lost through subsequent media, in part because the series has continued to use the same creature and the same method of killing, minor deviations like in Covenant and tasteless ones like AvP Requiem notwithstanding. The chestburster is a thing that can only ever really work once in a movie. The first time is relatively drawn out, made a setpiece of the movie, and is a horrifying plot twist for anyone who goes in blind. After that? Drawing it out may risk becoming meaningless gore or boring, so most movies have chosen to just have the little bugger pop out within seconds. It’s the sideshow before you get to the main event, despite being the iconic scene of Alien.

Prometheus’ equivalent scene wins back a fair amount of tension by altering the details of the event, if not the general arc of it. It certainly hammers on the reproductive horror aspect, but loses the original subversion of targeting a male character. Which is a shame, because male-targeted reproductive horror is still boundary-pushing. From the world of horror gaming, Outlast: Whistleblower produced some notably panicked reactions from male players when they encountered the emasculating, specifically reproductive threat of Eddie Gluskin. (Content warning for gore, death, forced feminization, misogynistic language, censored nudity.)

Regardless, we have The Chestburster Scene again, but now it’s in the back half of the movie, and happens to the main human protagonist.

I find it very odd that this movie is so self-consciously iterating over things that were first done in Alien. It’s like watching a devout Catholic pray at the Stations of the Cross.

Speaking of crosses

Before we get to the main event, there’s the first actual attempt at character work between David and Shaw in the movie, as we’re in the final act. David confiscates Shaw’s cross as she wakes up from her post-boyfriend-barbeque faint. “It may be contaminated,” he says.

Shaw’s christianity is one of the few character traits in the film that ties into one of the themes, and has its own arc. She’s giving up her cross to the person who killed her partner, a metaphor for a crisis of faith which is so blatant as to barely be a metaphor at all. And, given the general arc of how these things go, means she’s going to get it back at some point. The context for it is going to be confusing and disappointing, frankly.

And it’s especially weird given the other metaphor going on simultaneously: David runs some scans on her, and declares she’s three months pregnant. This is a non-virgin virgin pregnancy. She is Alien Mary. This, then, is the narrative reason why Shaw is infertile–so that she could be the Mary figure, and, more practically for the plot, have foreknowledge that something was wrong. 

Except it really didn’t have to be that way to make this work. While christian allegory and the creation of life are themes in this movie, Shaw’s infertility was handled with zero grace. And honestly, the movie could work without it–Shaw and Holloway did not have romantic chemistry, as far as I could tell. Lean into that! Just say they haven’t had sex in ages. This scene would actually flow better, because Shaw explicitly objects that she only had sex with Holloway “ten hours ago. There's no bloody way I'm three months pregnant.”

Which again hammers in how stupid fast this movie has been racing its characters toward their doom, but I’m immediately distracted by David pronouncing “it's not exactly a traditional fetus.”

It certainly isn’t. It’s an alien squid, placed there by the holy spirit of black goo. She’s all set to give birth to Squesus. 

I think that’s the only worse way he possibly could’ve said it.

David, frankly, gets some of his worst dialog of the movie here, because he is infected by The Plot for a bit. “It must feel like your God has abandoned you,” he says, after sedating her, “to loose Dr. Holloway after your father died under such similar circumstances.” Which leaves one momentarily with the wild mental image of Dad Shaw sacrificing himself to a flamethrower-welding corpo, but no, David means ebola. David found this out via that dream-watching tech that exists solely to be a mildly unnecessary plot point. Blessedly, this is the last time we see any mention of it.

It’s very strange, how the movie is stuffed full of plot and edited so tightly around the plot that characters barely have room to breathe, yet what it prioritizes as plot-relevant is so scattershot. This failing is also inflicted upon the part of the otherwise very effective Chestburster: The Prequel scene.

Shaw attacks the people who come to take her away to cryo, running in her underwear to the PAULING MED-POD the movie very loudly announced earlier, so that you wouldn’t forget it exists. She tells the PAULING MED-POD that she needs an emergency caesarian. The PLOTPOINT MED-POD informs her that it’s only formatted for male patients.

I’ve seen many people complain this makes no sense. It’s in Vickers’ quarters,  why would she have an expensive medical device that she can’t fully use? Others counter that no, it makes sense, because the med-pod was actually installed for Peter Weyland, thus justifying its male specificity. He’s a selfish bastard, he got it for himself, plot hole avoided.

…Except that doesn’t address the more fundamental problem: What does this add to this scene, to balance out the fact that the audience is now distracted by this information? It slows Shaw down a bit as she figures out how to cue up a foreign body extraction from the abdominal cavity, adding to the tension. But you don’t need that to be what draws out the scene. Maybe the PAULING MED-POD has a slow boot-up sequence. Maybe someone follows her there, and she has to fight them off, possibly killing them in her panic. A dead body in the room would solve an actual logical problem with a later scene.

It’s frustrating, because the pacing of this scene is actually excellent, as is its premise. Shaw has to forego anesthesia and make do with self-administered local painkillers, because the prosthetics and CG teams have done a bang-up job making her stomach writhe unpleasantly, making it very clear that whatever’s in there is mobile enough to be a danger to her, even if it’s removed. 

The pods instruments are mostly CG, but its combination of unhurried routine and abrupt, industrial roboticism adds to the uncomfortable nature of the scene. Sound design is also important here, with all sound effects well-chosen, and mixed to imply claustrophobic closeness and how trapped Shaw is.

The creature itself? Eh. It’s a slightly phallic squid, and squids were already slightly phallic to begin with. They added on a slightly vaginal mouth, which is also a lateral move--squid mouths already look quite a lot like an unworksafe orifice with a beak tucked away in it. Unless you're looking at Promachoteuthis sulcus, whose inner lip structures fold into patterns that look distressingly like human teeth.

Honestly, this is freakier than the actual prop. Good job, Promachoteuthis sulcus. You're only 25 mm long, and a delightful tiny terror.

...But the fact that Shaw’s stuck in the pod with her flailing squid-child is what actually adds another minute of fear and wince-worthy pain, as the almost comically brutal medical staple gun closes her incision and the pod slowly opens up.

She tries to kill it with what appears to be a soothing mist of decontamination spray. This is the one other stumble of the scene, because it’s just… I mean, look at it.

It’s just been spritzed with Febreze. There’s nothing that leaves you wondering if the thing’s still alive for later, you know it’s still alive.

But overall, a well-done scene. The standout horror scene of the movie, which is light on scares. That sparsity wouldn’t even be worth mentioning if the movie were going for slow tension, but with its strange blend of existential quandaries and unremarkable horror tropes, it takes a very strong, singular scene to feel like the tension has actually paid off. I don’t think it completely balances out the deficits of the rest of the horror, but it very nearly manages it, and does manage to be memorable.

Next time: An entirely underwhelming horror scene, and the movie takes another swing at having themes.

⛬

(Previous) | (Index) | (Next)

⛬

Citations for alt-text rambles:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/30/memory-the-origins-of-alien-review-francis-bacon-greek-myth-dan-o-bannon-sci-fi-classic-film 

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/aliens-chestburster-mechanism-behind-the-scenes 

https://avp.fandom.com/wiki/Seegson 

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3314219/how-do-u-v-coordinates-work 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_staple (medical gore cw)

https://sites.uw.edu/pauling2020/ 

https://www.paulinamarket.com/

Overflow Ramble #1

A shot of the screen on Chekhov’s g–I mean the PAULING MED-POD, showing the text “EMERGENCY PROCEDURE”, and that it is “AWT VERBAL CMD”. The med-pod turns out to be a Weyland product, because all corporations in Alien movies are either Weyland, Yutani, or Seegson, if you’re particularly unlucky (cite 3). 

They made the mistake of putting more actual words on here, and so I’m squinting at the top right corner at “CARDIAC STRESS TEST”, “ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY” AND “MECH ALGN TCH”, which means the pod appears to think she needs to have her heart checked or her wheels aligned.

But what I find funniest is that there’s coordinate sliders in the center bottom: X/Y/Z and U/W. You know where I recognize that from? 3D modeling. U/V/W are used as an alternate coordinate system in that context (cite 4). Somebody was designing this, thinking “well, we need more buttons. Where can I get more buttons?” and then looked at the horrid mass of options and sliders in their modeling software and realized they had the answer.

Overflow Ramble #2

A close-up of David’s hands, holding a sample container and placing Shaw’s necklace inside. Two details, one of them insane, the other just plain funny: First of all, this is a different set of hands than the one when David was messing with the black goo–there was a small but notable blemish on the fingerprint that wasn’t there, proving once again that hand and arm doubles are one of the odder things you don’t think about in film production.

Second: The container is turned so that the label on it is facing away. This allows you to see the necklace, but it also highlights a completely flat Braille label, reading “PN#ZTZouSthe#Z”, which is obviously very informative.

But the real reason why the label is facing away is because it almost hides the fact that the label says “PRODUCT CODE” on it, which means he may have just put Shaw’s necklace in an empty peanut butter jar.

⛬

(Previous) | (Index) | (Next)

⛬

[py-dreamer]

I can't believe this is the first goddamn video I post.

But times are funny like that aren't they?

Ok so as the thumbnail says, this is specifically for the first lmk fic I've written:

"When the sun sets forever."

Yes it's shadowpeach, how on earth did you guess. And if you've floated around my dreamscape for a while, you'll know my...

...very enthusiastic opinions of Macaque...

(I promise I do still like him, he's a great character, it's just I get pretty peeved by how the majority of the fandom portrays their relationship a lot of peeps bashing Wukong and saying Mac did nothing wrong-

I have a whole other post about this and the fic, I'm tired man, here're the links:

https://www.tumblr.com/py-dreamer/751398212493000704/oh-its-macaroni-learns-the-consequences-for

https://www.tumblr.com/py-dreamer/751119540805632000/rant-about-shadowpeach-warning-mac-slander)

But regardless, if you enjoy some Macaca slander, hop on board!

If you don't , good for you! Please don't harass anyone who thinks otherwise.

But to sum up:

In this fic we explore a scenario where Macaque finds a time alterating artifact after a huge spat on the mountain (that resulted in the clip above), uses that artifact to make it so he killed Tripitaka during JTTW. Then we see his pov in this universe where things have certainly changed drastically

...and not necessarily for the better.

People change. Friends or foes found dead or alive. Cities fall and some thrive.

But one thing I can assure you?

Neither of our mystic monkeys are having any fun until the end.

But yeah! Formal announcement post for my fic!

Yes this is a big reason why I've been absent for like a month

No I won't stop posting art. I'm taking a short break rn to get into the rhythm of drawing again

No there isn't a formal posting schedule, but I do have it in mind

No this isn't the big BIG project I've been working on for a few weeks

(Forgive me if I missed anything from s5, this was planned and written before that and I haven't watched it yet)

But enough about me!

I want to thank anyone who's already seen the fic and/or left kudos or comments

And I want to give an especially huge shoutout to @furornocturna for beta reading this thing!

Their work is great! And is one of the most enjoyable reads I've read in a long while

And since I haven't seen an official post for it yet...

SHABAM!!! Another great fic! She recently updated it too! It's about amnesiac Wukong who thinks Macaque is still his mate and MK is their child!

Wham bam, pajama sam's christmas ham: hijinks ensue

Very entertaining, good ol Macaque bashing

(she and I like to stand around him in a circle and give him a good whack with the consequences stick sometimes. It builds character.)

And parental Shadowpeach is always appreciated here. 10/10

I have not linked it but also check out:

Fractured pieces make a mosaic

Also written by her! Another great fic that delves into more of the sins of Macaque against EVERYONE not just Wukong

But about the video, yea just heard the audio and thought it'd be funny

I feel like Chang'e would definitely comfort a friend after some harsh words like what happens in the 1st chapter

Or at least she'd hear what Macaque did from Wukong and give massive side eye

(Especially since I figured she'd have a damn well knowledge of bad men *cough* *cough8 the reason Zhu Bajie got kicked out of heaven in the first place *cough* *cough*

I know they've rarely interacted in canon but hey, they've at least met on screen and we know Wukong can build a rocket to visit. Plus both being lonely immortals with cute animal subjects being theri only companions for centuries...

I have a feeling they'd get along somehow

They remind me of friends who exchange pics of their cute pet, only it's more like children for Wukong since they're literally his Sun family

And anyway the fandom pairs Mac and Chang'e just because they have a moon motif so let me have this goddamit.

[katyspersonal]

Hello Katya, do you have any ideas about Simple Gratia?

....

Yes, my girl!! I have some observations AND ideas! I remember that back when I checked, a fan Wiki incorrectly said that she is wearing Yharnam Hunter set. I do not know whether they've fixed that since then or not, but I know it confused a few artists. Gratia, in reality, is wearing an Old Hunter set but slightly altered:

(Close images of her model are from this ( x ) page, datamined by AstralLace!) This is what an Old Hunter set looks like, for a reminder:

Gratia is an Old Hunter: the type that started under Gehrman like Maria, Vitus, Henryk, Djura, Bestial Hunter, all that. I think that she knew all these characters and more, and with Maria she was a lot like an older sister that Maria never had! But I think she would be genuinely annoyed by Djura's complex inventions and at times not be able to hide her disdain, right in the middle of Djura ranting about them! That'd spark stupid, petty arguments about what kind of weapon is "better" which their friends laugh at in the corner like hyenas until Gehrman or Maria separate them XD

In comparison with the generic set, she is missing the long flowing cape, as well as the glove on her left hand. Her weapon, a chunk of metal, also goes in the left hand. I think she is missing the glove to have a stronger grip on the metal, so it would not slip away! I wondered what her right hand weapon would be before, but I think she doesn't need one in the end! I imagine her staggering the beast with her Iron Fist and then TEARING THEIR HEAD OFF WITH HER FREE HAND DFJHFSHSD .....but, you know, a hammer or a mace would also be nice yeah sure

In Bloodborne setting, red hair is also highlighted as a trait of Cainhurst nobles, that isn't really seen in any other NPC. Edgar may be also a ginger but much brighter kind, certainly not a REDhead!

This makes me think: what if Gratia's red hair is not just a random design choice, but a hint? And even if it isn't, it can still be used for a headcanon! Cainhurst nobles descend from Pthumeru Ihyll and have some Pthumerian heritage (just in case here ( x ) is the post with evidences of it) 🤔 At the same time, Pthumerians have gigantic variants, that seem to be more slow and dim than 'regular' ones. And interestingly, Gratia is abnormally big AND stated to have some intellectual drawbacks:

So, she has 1) otherwise Cainhurst-exclusive hair color 2) a size abnormally large for a human and 3) correlation between inability to use guns and being 'dim'! This gave me a headcanon that she was born in the Cainhurst walls, but shown Pthumerian genes that were "undesired" in the eyes of snobbish nobles and thus, abandoned at birth. She never knew of her origins, but was adopted by a kind man! Yeah, in this context, Maria and Gratia feeling family-like bond almost from the start in kind of fateful!

^ I often draw her with the same body pattern that shows on the skin of Snatchers, and that is exactly what kind of descendant she is!

I also always liked the idea that Gratia, Simon and Yamamura were the 'detective friends' up to uncover the Healing Church's secrets! Later, I decided the Yahar'gul Hunter we find in the prison under Grand Cathedral should also be a part of the squad! I did not know that Simon interestingly had Fist of Gratia as a part of his equipment back then and only judged from their location, but that made me feel validated with that headcanon! xD

Gratia is, of course, more of a 'power' of the team! She might be not very smart, but she has her heart in a good place and can understand the concept of shady bad business that should be stopped. She is easy to deceive in terms of pranks and other remotely innocent things, but when someone lying to her or trying to use her is malicious she will sense it. Pair that with her being very brave and blunt, and you really don't want to mess with her! The girl could grab Laurence and slam him against the wall accusing him of being "full of shit" if he attempted to deceive her, ffs! And not even his friends would defend him because it IS his fault for playing with this tigress x)

Needless to mention that she is protective over her friends! Not a kind of a protective friend that will mindlessly jump into fighting the other guy, but someone that will walk in and give them a fair warning to get lost first. She has threatening aura and usually just that is enough to scare away a person that means no good to someone she cares about. But, when she is powerless to do anything against some prick in power or likewise, she will express her frustration by breaking a property on her way out xd

Also she gives me this vibe:

Thank you for an ask! :D She has a very vivid and fleshed out image in my mind! Funny enough, this makes describing her harder because she feels so self-explanatory for me!

[zahri-melitor]

Okay a loose Recent Reads roundup:

Birds of Prey: Sirens of Justice: so I was lured (tricked) into reading this as Gail Simone wrote one of the stories, even though it, sigh, contains far too much Harley Quinn due to movie synergy. The Dinah and Helena banter is decent, but otherwise this felt...aggressively fine. The Helena story is very pat in terms of how people tend to write Huntress shorts, though I guess it wasn't 'Helena worries about a student' this time.

The Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage: very much in conversation with O'Neil's run, of course, and also clearly reacting to contemporaneous US racial discussions. Shifting Myra to be the Mayor's sister not wife definitely alters her position in the narrative, particularly in terms of her obligations and response to situations. It is incredibly bleak in places, but that simply reflects the run it is based on and is a tribute to.

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen: This is definitely for the Silver Age fan. Matt Fraction manages to string together solving a complex assassination plot over 12 issues by telling the story in short, 2-4 page sections that wildly jump around the timeline and are framed by 'the many ridiculous things that have happened to Jimmy Olsen'. I have absolutely no handle on the canonicity of some of this, particularly the extended Olsen family, and not knowing probably makes this read more easily. Looking at it as a whole, I'm impressed how well Fraction stitched what was effectively episodic 2 page fills into a complete narrative. The energy of the story is relentless. Best read in small doses.

Batman: Pennyworth R.I.P: god this comic could have been so much better than it was. It’s fine and accomplishes exactly what it was intended to do - tell a story of how Alfred influenced and looked out for each of Dick, Jason, Tim, Damian and Barbara - and sets everyone up to be mildly pissed at Bruce. But just for one example, it would have been HUGELY more powerful if they’d been able to use Dick, with his memories just restored, facing the fact he wasn’t there when Alfred needed him and his last interactions were so impersonal and spent pushing Alfred away.

Catwoman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular: again, underwhelming. Tom King played shipper and wrote his version of how the Helena Wayne story should work; the Dixon story felt 90s appropriate but the art was dire; Brubaker’s felt like a missing scene to his run; Dini’s honestly wasn’t up to the standard I’d hope for from Dini. The art pieces were great though; a lot of good commissions.

Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular: I cannot work out who chose the covers used in the issue, which swing between 'iconic' and 'reminding everyone ASBAR exists was unnecessary, DC'.

Generally: they did manage to round up fairly iconic lineups for most of the stories, with some chopping and changing for a few.

Wolfman got another run at trying to frame the 'Dick quits v Bruce fires him' debate; Dixon and Grayson both submitted literal fills (Dixon's is a scene immediately after Nightwing #19 1996 and before #20; Grayson's is at least just an extra story that fits into #1-12 of her Titans 1999 run on a day all the second stringers didn't come to work). I don't actually have a problem with any of these - they're nice additional material, but mostly more of the same. Seeley & King's suffers from the usual Seeley problem for me where it would be vastly improved by having a different focus; but it does feel straight out of his Grayson run, with everything that implies (down to the St Hadrian's student I wish was not present). All of the Dick stories are basically "we got the team back together" creative line ups.

Jason, in contrast, makes it really obvious that nobody can define a definitive Jason run, and so gets the tiniest story with Winick and Dustin Nguyen. I checked, and Nguyen did draw part of UTRH, but I wouldn't have associated him as a character-defining artist for Jason. The story's cute. Winick sidestepped having to commit to anything about his opinions on post-Flashpoint Jason direction.

Tim got Adam Beechen (which honestly makes me happy, I don't care about anyone else's opinion) and luxuriates in Tim having to play civilian; Tynion gets a Rebirth story that I can't quite work out his timing on (it's supposed to be a prequel, but Dick is already back in costume as Nightwing and talking to Tim, suggesting that several issues of the Rebirth Nightwing take place significantly before 'Tec #934) that is a classic 'Tim tells everyone how he feels about his brothers' story. I realise everyone boring has complained about Tim calling Damian a 'horrible gremlin' but the thing is you see I can only read nicknames like that as full of affection. The back and forth is an important part of their relationship, as shown by Damian snapping 'you're only listening to the insults'.

Steph gets her 71 days as Robin slightly padded out and Amy Wolfram manages to pick up Willingham's tone pretty well; I suspect she liaised with Damion Scott quite a bit on this piece.

Damian has a Super Sons piece from Tomasi, because it's the most lighthearted option available and it sells very well (it's sickly sweet). Which was probably the right call as the other piece is clearly written by Robbie Thompson to accompany his Teen Titans run and for the downward spiral going on there. Which is honestly a bit of a pity for Damian, given everyone else got feature pieces from favourite runs, and he got the 'this slots into your current story' piece.

[ravenlikesbooks]

Introduction wheee!!!!

Ello ello ello! I'm Raven! Aroace, any pronouns are fine though I do have a preference towards neopronouns and they/them. We're plural but also who knows what's going on up here 😅 most of the time if we're posting it'll be me anyways.

PLEASE DO NOT BE AFRAID TO TALK TO US!!!! If you send an ask we will love you forever.

We have an Ao3 account where we post occasionally: Ravenpuff99

The Empires Epic AU is an au where we took empires characters (primarily season one at the moment but as more characters are needed crossing into season two is very likely) and made them epic the musical! Slowly working on drawings and possibly eventual animatics :D please talk to us about it!!

We have a discord now!!! Mutuals & people we engage with often can dm us for it if you want. Or don't, we're not the boss of you

I've been hyperfixated on Geminitay since about 2020, so pretty much any mcyt series or SMP she has been a part of feel free to talk to me about!

On other notes, we are primarily into Hermitcraft, Skyblock Kingdoms, and Epic the Musical. Other fandoms we engage with are empires, the life series, sanders sides, and occasionally dream smp.

Please don't engage us in discourse!!! No real DNI but we do block liberally!

One final thank you to our best friend and queerplatonic partner @celestialgreen for drawing our pfp, as well as our friend @marsypooxoxo for creating the banner!

(by @/lgbtq-userboxes)

Tagging system below cut (will be updated over time), important ones will be coloured in blue:

#cool arts (: - literally any art. drawing, writing, cosplay, textile, music, you name it

#qpp tag: things about our qpr or that remind us of it!!!! "sunny tag" and "star tag" for specific qpps

#not kid friendly - (pt: not kid friendly) for anyone who age regresses or has a little in their system, this tag is for anything that you would not want to see while little (or don't want a child alter coming across it on my blog). This includes the obvious such as anything explicit or overly suggestive, an excess of gore or violence, large amounts of swearing, etc. A lot of it will be based on my own judgement as an older sibling, cousin, and someone who has spent many years watching young children, but if I don't tag something you think should be tagged please bring it up with me

#empires epic au - my epic the musical x empires smp au!! Please feel free to ask about it!

#art things / writing things - these tags specifically refer to memes or things around the actual process or creating art, not actual art (though some may be informational comics idk depends on the day)

#friends' writing - writing that a friend of mine made, not just somebody I found or admire (same goes with the art version)

#keys' writing - writing specifically done by @darubyprincx (currently @syn4k) because I like it and it's my blog

[multiplicity-positivity]

Do you happen to have any sort of positivity post for fictives who lost their source, or it shut down, etc stuff like that? Or just some advice?

We recently found a figure of a character from an anime and mobile game we used to love back in ~2020/2021/2022 somewhere in there. It reminded us of it... and it alerted me to the presence of her. The character from that figure is actually with us. Upon putting her into simply plural, I went to find something to use as a profile picture. Only to find a reddit post that says "day 3 of drawing [source name] until EN shuts down" from sometime last year. Looking it up, it turns out the game was shut down about a year ago. I can feel she is feeling a lot of grief about it--and especially as she is probably still feeling a bit confused about everything if she is newly formed. I don't know the best way to approach this, as I myself just formed a few days ago.

Feel free to give advice if you have any, but it's alright if not.

-@cloverstarsys (the tag on our blog isn't giving us notifications right now tho so in just gonna tag a (mostly) blank sideblog so I get the notification lol @zakaithecatboy )

Hi! So first off, we did write a positivity post for introjects who have lost or can no longer access their source. It will be posted on Thursday night at 8:00PM EST!

And as for some specific advice for you and this headmate, the biggest thing that comes to mind is to remind y’all that it’s okay to grieve, to mourn, and to feel negative feelings. Trying to ignore the pain won’t make it go away, and often can make it worse! So if this new headmate is feeling lost, hurt, or sad that her source has shut down, we’d encourage y’all to allow her to grieve however she feels most comfortable (as long as she’s not causing harm to your body or other headmates, of course!).

If you haven’t already, maybe see about getting her a journal or some other sort of space where she can vent and process her emotions privately. Having an outlet is really important for any system member, and especially those headmates who often find they’re dealing with big, heavy, or painful emotions!

She also might just need some time and space in order to come to terms with this. It might be good to check in with her often, see how she’s doing and how she’s adjusting to life/handling the news about her source shutting down, and do your best to honor her requests (within reason). If she wants a bit of space, try to give her that! If she wants someone to listen to her gush about her source and recall fondly different aspects of it, try to be that listening ear! Simply having someone in her corner who is ready and able to provide support could be a wonderful thing for her.

Also maybe see if she would like to have a little photo gallery with pictures of her source that she can look back on whenever she’s feeling wistful or nostalgic. Our own alters each have their own photo album on our phone, and they fill the albums with whatever sorts of pictures they want! Definitely ask her beforehand, but if she’s interested in the idea, putting together an album or gallery with pictures from her source could maybe help remind her of it while encouraging her to make peace with the fact that it’s gone (kind of like a shrine or a grave in a way!).

We hope something here might work for y’all - we’re really sorry if nothing we said here sounds useful! We’re wishing this headmate peace, hope, and acceptance in the future, and hope that y’all will be able to form some positive memories together very soon!

[annadiplosis]

I’VE HAD THIS BLOG FOR 10 YEARS

Here’s to many more years of fish, vampires, aliens and bird people! To everyone who follows me and/or has praised my art, in any way, at any point, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

I’ll be ranting about art progress and style changes under the cut, but before that, just a reminder that I’m going through a complicated time in my life and if you want to support me and my art there’s a few ways to do so.

Now back to my goofy doodles.

Maybe because I've drawn ever since I can remember, I've never felt a ton of pressure to improve my art skills. It's always been something I knew was going to happen as long as I kept drawing, and that's what I've been doing. I try not to stress too much about staying consistent with my practice or achieving any self-imposed goals. I like to discover what I'm able to do, one drawing at a time.

I also believe progress is not linear, and not every single piece is better than the last. While my 2023 art shows a higher skill level than that of 2013, I think some of my older work looks perfect the way it is. I'm drawn to expressiveness, movement, and compelling characters, and that can be achieved at any level. I've gotten better at some technical aspects, of course; my linework is far more decisive than it was before, and my endless battle with color palettes gets easier every day. I'm also capable of unwillingly drawing the crappiest, most horrendous doodle you've ever seen, just as I was in 2013. Just as we all are. I'm not sure why I find that reassuring, but I do.

When I started this blog, what really worried me was developing a distinct style. I studied other artists and stole specific elements of their work, sometimes drawing and redrawing the exact same thing until I was satisfied with the result. At some point, and I can't exactly tell you when or why, I stopped caring about that. It's not that I thought I'd found My Perfect Style, because that doesn't exist. I guess I started focusing on other stuff, and that's when my actual style started coming together. I followed my instincts, tried to strike a balance between what came naturally to me and what I was envisioning every particular piece to look like, and it worked. Any alteration my style has gone through since then has been unplanned and intuitive, and I can't see myself approaching art in any other way. I'm excited to discover what kind of artist I'll be in ten more years.

Thanks for reading this far! Warm regards from me and every notebook I've used since opening this blog (#9 to #37 in my overall archive) ♡

[my-mt-heart]

I am just SO tired of the disappointment. So tired 😔 When will I stop torturing myself? I just can't anymore. What else are they gonna change? It feels like they're moving further and further away from the possibility of Caryl going canon. Like they don't want to be giving false hope and they know that's what the tagline did. So they change it and push the 'friends' narrative. Which is nice of them i guess....letting us know what to excpect. Because it's certainly not drawing me in to watch.

They aren’t doing it to lower our expectations. It’s not about us at all. They want to attract dudebros—for lack of a better term—to watch their content and dudebros apparently won’t tolerate romance and feelings, particularly not for an “unconventional” couple like Caryl. Nevermind that both Daryl’s and Carol’s fans are predominantly women and “unconventional” men who need the romance, emotions, and softness for balance (not to replace other elements like action, adventure, or horror). Many, myself included, have faced trauma along the lines of what Caryl also had to face, and the romance reminds us that there’s hope—a way to rise above the things that hurt us. TWDU characters are not interchangeable. They can’t be sold to fans who don’t connect with them no matter how hard they try to alter their stories. Being Caryl fans doesn’t make us hysterical and irrelevant. It doesn’t make us an unreliable/unprofitable market or incapable of growth. We’re the very opposite as long as we’re encouraged to love what we love about these two characters and treated like we’re intelligent (because so many of us actually are). I don’t know how TBOC will ultimately unfold or what the hell the men did to it in post, but I won’t confuse what I’m seeing in the marketing with Melissa’s vision for the show. They are two different conversations.

[runawaycarouselhorse]

I absolutely adore Inoue Momota's movie manga. She adapted the last DP movie (Zoroark) with a rougher but still rounded style that reminds me of 80's shounen about the face and all three BW! movies with this absolutely adorable, clean and softly rounded style that I find so inspiring.

It isn't just that her style is adorable and the expressions funny and varied, it's that she draws and writes the characters like a fan in the best of ways--she knows their little quirks and she even improved on the already good Victini movie's plotline to make it clearer that Ash is the Hero of Ideals. And as adorable as her style is, she can still make Ash look heroic and cool when it comes down to it!! She's got range.

She adds more emotional impact to scenes, like Ash awakening Zekrom, or Ash seeing the resurrected and altered Genesect fight the modern day Pokemon (I feel like it echoes the clones vs originals battle from the first movie, here)...

And the sweetest thing is, she took an already beautiful scene (Mewtwo in space in the Genesect movie, finally feeling connected and part of the world) and referenced the past and other characters we know (showing Misty, Brock, Delia, Mimey... and characters from every movie she adapted into a manga)--it felt like a farewell, knowing it's the last one she'll adapt. You can just feel the love in her work! ;_; I absolutely wanna own copies someday!!!

I think it's fair to say she was a fan of the Pokemon anime, or at least, the original series, perhaps while growing up, because there's some tells (aside from including the OS trio in this scene...): she draws James' hair in a very 90's way! The ends of his hair didn't have those alternating thick and thin/straighter jagged edges (often with loose strands) except in early Kanto episodes!!! This was streamlined later on into more uniform jagged/triangular chunks early in the seires. : D

Now, closing by spamming panels with Iris because she's my favourite and I love how Momota draws her.

(Even when it's something like this "Iris is too short to properly fit in this frame" gag she does sometimes, because it's cute.)

Anyway, please purchase Inoue Momota's movie manga, please and thank you. You can also borrow copies to read (in English!!!) from the Internet Archive's Open Library, that's how I read a bunch--just note that it's low quality on there!

[beanghostprincess]

I was wondering what your thoughts, headcanons, or possible aftermath fic scenarios for this "what if?": What if Usopp had been there with Chopper and the other doctors when they witnessed Sanji get his exoskeleton against Queen? What would Usopp have felt? What would he done? Once Kaido was beat, would Usopp have gone and brought it up with Sanji? Sanji sure the fuck didn't bring it up with anyone and probably swore Chopper to secrecy...

I've been saving this post to write a proper answer to these questions because I think it's such a good and interesting topic that it deserves my attention 100%. Or at least that's what I've been saying, but if I'm being honest it's just that the whole topic of Sanji in Wano affects me personally and it's not exactly my favorite subject (It really is, though. I love it. I just have to be in the right mindset). And since I am drunk and sad I am going to try and tell you what I think. I sincerely apologize if there are any typos here, btw.

Your question kind of reminds me of what I always say about Usopp being in WCI. I personally think he should've been at least either in WCI or here with Sanji when his body got altered. I don't think it's fair we got to see Sanji with Usopp back in Water 7 when he was the most vulnerable but we didn't see Usopp with him when all of this happened. I don't know. Perhaps I'm a bit biased because I'm a Sanuso shipper and Usopp fan, but I really would've liked it.

I think Usopp would've been confused, just like all the other characters witnessing this, but he would've known instantly that something more was going on. Like. It's not only that Sanji's body is getting altered, but that it's affecting him emotionally. Usopp would've known it was upsetting him. And tbh since he saw Sanji wearing the raid suit for the first time, it isn't hard to like, draw your own conclusions. He probably would've known it had something to do with it. Perhaps he would've tried to help with the fight but Sanji would've told him to stop (because he's stubborn and a fucking self-sacrificing idiot and also he was in the middle of a breakdown) and Usopp would've started panicking, basically. Reading Sanji's movements to see what's wrong and panics even more when he sees him not getting hurt the way he should. And when he sees his whole body being, uh, out of place, and Sanji not getting hurt by it, he just starts panicking even more. Like, here we have to keep in mind he doesn't know anything about what happened back at WCI. He knows. But he doesn't know. You know? Anyway- The thing is that I don't think Sanji would've given him the chance to express his feelings because he's in the middle of the fight and because he definitely does not want to talk about it.

Personally, I think Usopp would have brought it up and that's sort of why Oda didn't put him there (and because Usopp was doing his Usonami shenanigans with Ulti and Paypay) (I never talk about Ulti and Paypay I fucking love them wtf). It's a journey Sanji has to go on his own. It's his "nothing happened" moment. The only ones who know something's wrong are Chopper and Zoro, and they for sure won't talk about it because Sanji definitely told Chopper to not say anything and Zoro is... Zoro. Anyway. I think Usopp would've tried to talk about it with Sanji and Sanji would've told him that it's not that big of a deal. That it's nothing. He'll get over it on his own. And tbh I am making it Sanuso because I am the Sanuso princess and I can do it:

Usopp asks Sanji what happened back there, and Sanji refuses to answer and tries to ignore the question. Tries to laugh it away or whatever. Usopp knows something is wrong, of course. Of course he knows, because Sanji has been like an open book ever since WCI happened. Long story short, they have some back and forth with Usopp demanding to know more because he cares about him and Sanji trying to ignore his questions. But, yeah, Sanji ends up yelling and telling him the truth and he instantly feels like shit for yelling at Usopp and scaring him and that only makes him hate himself more. And if that ends up with Sanji crying and having a whole breakdown and Usopp hugging him it's up to you, but to me I 100% confirm that this would happen and Usopp would give him a whole speech about him still being himself despite his body because otherwise he wouldn't be crying.

[cellarspider]

11/30: Full steam ahead

(Previous) | (Index) | (Next)

⛬

We return to Body Desecrator 2093, Prometheus. There were no post this weekend because I felt like it. Now I feel like it even less, because it’s this scene.

The horrors do not end here. The movie hasn’t even got to what it considers horrors, but I’d already screamed quietly at the screen by this point several times, so it’s safe to say that me and the movie were not simpatico.

There are times when a movie will do things that fall entirely outside your personal beliefs or understanding of logic, and you just roll with it. Magical realism does this all the time, as do movies reaching for the psychedelic. 2001: A Space Odyssey eventually dissolves reality itself around the protagonist as he travels through another dimension. On the first sit, you have no way of knowing what you’ll be shown next, but if the movie’s got you, then you go with it.

Then there are movies where everyone is acting according to some sort of logic, but it feels twisted, like things are happening for a reason, but the logic doesn’t connect. Horror movies love this, particularly ones with cultic antagonists–Midsommar being the most notable modern example, and the original Wicker Man being another.

I mean, the Nick Cage movie also has that, but sometimes it has that because Nick Cage is in a bear costume, punching a woman in the face and stealing bicycles at gunpoint like he’s in GTA.

Prometheus, unfortunately, unintentionally places itself somewhere between the two Wicker Men. The characters’ decision making is a shambolic mess. The movie intentionally invokes religious fervor in Shaw especially, and might intentionally invoke that plus megalomania in Holloway, but it doesn’t draw a line around those characters and their bad decisions. Everyone is just going with their bullshit. This suggests to the audience that in the movie’s world all scientists behave like this.

I mean, in our world, scientists sometimes try to fit entire oranges in their mouths (source), but I should like to think that The Orange Incident wouldn’t have happened if that guy had been on board the most important scientific expedition in human history.

Things just kept happening in this movie that made me feel like I was dissociating. The cast is back at the Prometheus, with their stolen artifacts and mortal remains. Cool. They need to be decontaminated. Like, inside and out.

Next, we see Shaw and Holloway in a lab, along with Maybe-Chemist-Lady whose name fell right out of my head as I watched, because she’s never given a character to speak of. They are wearing scrubs, hairnets, and blue surgical masks, which tells me the movie thinks this is appropriate personal protective equipment for handling an alien head. Holloway is sitting on a counter in the corner, getting drunk.

So many things have just hit me here. How long is this since they got back? Apparently no more than a couple hours. These people took their helmets off in an active alien biosphere, with worms in the dirt and an alien corpse on the ground and who knows what else. They should be quarantined forever, or at least for a couple weeks. 

When the Apollo 11 crew got back to Earth, they were quarantined for 21 days. NASA didn’t consider it likely that anything lived on the moon, but they were taking no chances. Here’s Nixon getting a chance to see what good people look like!

But no! No quarantine for Prometheus! The guys who breathed moon dust? Into the quarantine trailer. The people who stuck their faces near an alien corpse? Nah! It’s all good!

What about the head they looted from the structure? These people already got a dramatic reminder that altering the conditions around sensitive artifacts can cause them to degrade. I’ve already rambled at length about how NASA still sterilizes their equipment to not contaminate anywhere probes are sent to. Hell, as a geneticist, I can tell you that there is a very strict hierarchy of sample isolation and biosafety deployed when it’s appropriate–either you work fucking hard to protect the samples from you, or you work hard to protect yourself from the sample. 

But the crew of the Prometheus have scanned the head with a little light and declared “Sample is sterile. No contagion present”, which is an odd thing to declare now, after they already breathed all over it. Trusting their all-knowing (and wrong) computer, they take their surgical masks off. Fully sealed suits? A glovebox? Even movies show people using a glovebox sometimes!

NOPE! HAIRNETS AND A LABCOAT, LET’S GO

Do we kick out Shaw’s boyfriend who’s in his casual clothes? NAH, LET THE MAN BE COMFY. Are we going to pry the bottle away from him, because bringing drinks into a lab breaks basic safety standards? Standards that I’ve only ever seen broken by one place that also allowed open-toe sandals in a lab where boiling hot gel and mutagenic chemicals were regularly mixed? NOPE, LET HIM HAVE HIS BOOZE, HE’S SAD HE DIDN’T GET TO MEET GOD.

Don’t worry, that one lab doesn’t do the sandal thing anymore. And Holloway will pay for his crimes against laboratory safety.

But I can't stress enough how utterly uncanny this scene felt, unintentionally on the part of the movie. Every decision felt wrong. Everything everyone was doing, saying, and wearing was wrong. They’re not even wearing the right kind of gloves! They should at minimum be wearing nitrile gloves! They’re wearing PVC gloves, which have stupid high leakage rates, even if you double-glove! They’re not even more comfortable than nitrile gloves! This is my nittest of picks, I know! I’m doing it anyway!

The movie had lost me, but part of me was still hoping it would come back around, that something in it would be the movie I’d thought it would be.

Next time: the movie will not do that, and I will, paradoxically, find myself in more of the frame of mind the movie seems to want from the audience: not giving a shit about its characters. 

Stay tuned for some bonus workplace hazards below the citations.

⛬ 

(Previous) | (Index) | (Next)

⛬ 

1. https://youtu.be/P1gn06np-7g  2. https://youtu.be/KhRo2WbWnKU?t=35 3. https://youtu.be/JjCh7lTVNwo  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airstream#Space_program  5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut_transfer_van  6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umarell  7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upgrade_(film)#Production

Alright, let’s behold some images from my institute’s safety training module on compressed gas cylinders. Please note, these were not taken at my institute, these are probably the result of the team finding cursed images they wanted to inflict on their coworkers and us.

This was how they chose to communicate the idea of “don’t let canisters heat up, or they might explode”. How else might they explode? If the canister becomes old and corroded, develops any other sort of fault, or is stored improperly, especially near cylinders of other kinds. Like so!

This is the least bombastic of the images, but it exudes a quiet menace and/or the promise that Video Game Physics are imminent.

What do I mean by Video Game Physics? Glad you asked!

Terrifying yet also compelling! Finally, here’s a video from that most terrifying of places, a Russian highway.

Video description, which I realize I haven’t been doing up to this point and now I want to: A GazpromTech company truck carrying unsecured acetylene tanks passes a motorist on a separated highway at high speed. On the side of it, “ОГНЕОПАСНО” (“FLAMMABLE”) is briefly visible as it rockets by. It makes no to minimal attempt to slow down as a bus enters its lane, rear-ending it. The viewpoint car skids to a stop, and what might be the truck driver can be seen sprinting toward the central barrier of the highway. “Scream & Shout” by will.i.am and Britney Spears can be heard playing on the radio as the viewpoint car tries to back away, complete with an audible “Britney, bitch”. At 0:54 the view cuts to a camera on the other side of the highway, which one commenter estimated as being 200 m away based on the delay between explosions and the sound of the blast reaching the camera. 

There are, in fact, MANY explosions from the fireball that has engulfed the truck. A semi tanker is being guided backward away from the explosion, while a blue box truck does the same. A silver sedan, briefly visible in the first angle, is parked within under 50 feet of the truck. Its apparent owner is dithering on whether to try and reach it, eventually deciding, as they should, that this is not worth it. The cameraperson, on the other hand, apparently thinks this is worth it, as do several others in the other lane. 

One man is filming on a tablet. Multiple times, canisters and truck shrapnel can be seen rocketing off from the wreck to distances that make it clear everybody in shot is well within decapitation range from these things, especially as explosions fling more burning cylinders onto the roadway. At 1:45, Tablet Man gets the fuck out of there, but our self preservation-less cameraperson remains. At 2:14, a flaming canister in blown clear of the wreck and lands with its bottom end pointing directly toward the cameraperson, who still does not take the hint. Starting at 2:37, the body of the truck is blasted apart, a canister goes flying off past the camera, and a piece of the truck flips and lands on a nearby road sign. 

At 3:32 another cut happens and there are more people standing in view of the camera. Are they official emergency crew? Nope! Rubberneckers, although the cop car that’s even closer than them gets a wakeup call when a canister slams into the divider in front of it and tumbles away, still spitting gas. The cop backs up, and the video ends.

End description. Also, end post.

⛬

(Previous) | (Index) | (Next)

[aiura-stan]

Onto the first volume proper: volume 0, of course!!

First of all, Aso sensei’s note is so cute. I love how he says he’s been expressionless the entire time, but he really is happy. Relatable.

Aaaaaand the cover image of Saiki sure is interesting. what’s with the pipe?? I seem to remember it being a reference to another work of his somehow.

Also, volume zero announcement Saiki is very cute. His expression reminds me of a cat.

Even from the first oneshot to volume zero, you can see how much Aso sensei’s artistic abilities have improved.

That said, baby Saiki still looks very strange… I can’t overemphasize how much he improved as an artist over the course of Saiki k in drawing human characters looking natural, in pose and their clothing, expressions, etc.

I like that volume 0 Saiki’s father actually kind of looks like him. Ah… well maybe it would all be a little too real if Saiki’s family resembled him a little more. It would certainly be less whimsical. Imagine Kuniharu having black hair. Imagine Kuusuke *not* being a blonde. That would be more uncomfortable somehow. I’m glad Asou sensei made up the thing about anime hair being a result of Saiki’s powers.

More examples of why Kusuo thinks people are terribly insincere… using the most extreme of unsavory unstated thoughts.

And here we get a slightly more liberal estimate of how much time it would take for a normal person to go insane… three days instead of three hours. I think Asou sensei likes the number three, since later on he mentions that it would take Saiki three days to destroy the world if he really wanted to.

Here we have the first frontal closeup of the Saiki Scowl, after he explains the hassle of telepathy. Really, I think it’s the most taxing power on him, mentally, for obvious reasons. It really is cool that Asou sensei was able to make a “surly” character like Saiki into such an interesting protagonist. (Mostly because he’s well written.) He’s definitely not a typical manga protagonist, but he functions very nicely in his (comedic) straight man role.

Also can I just say this is one of my favorite panels of Saiki in the entire manga, and it’s not even part of the series proper… Yes, why did he, Saiki? I also want to know… I can see why this was left out of volume one. It’s not funny exactly (maybe in a kind of dark way) but god. Baby Saiki saying this tugs at my heart strings.

Head always full of thoughts of the intelligence agency organization that kidnapped him at age four… that he erased, along with the unnamed nation…

good grief.

Kuusuke would have been six at this time; maybe old enough to help with the coverup so something like that didn’t become world news. Or maybe young Saiki just decided to use mind control, since he didn’t have any compunctions about that at the time.

I dislike a Nendou with readable thoughts, or a Nendou called a “violent, foul mouthed delinquent” instead of an idiot.

That said, I really like this Saiki side eye… it’s a thoroughly Saiki expression.

LOL. Nendou would be me in the situation though. If so many people accuse you of something that you didn’t do, it’s hard not to doubt yourself a little, right?

Yeah, we get a pretty good picture of Saiki’s pretty rational moral compass. Someone like Nendou definitely deserves it, but even so, he shouldn’t be punished for a crime he didn’t commit in Saiki’s eyes. Especially when the heinous perpetrator is right there all along.

Also, Takahashi’s (saiki-caused hallucination) angel counterpart looks just like him, but female. Interesting.

That Saiki can manipulate someone like this by altering their moral compass sure is something. Makes me think of this post.

Lastly and certainly not least, Saiki isn’t escaping the gay allegations even in volume zero… lol. That’s a priceless facial expression. “This power is useless except for getting idiots to like you” smh, so unappreciative of the new friend, Saiki. XD

That will do it for vol. 0-1!

I’ll be back tomorrow for 0-2.