#just curl the wig

[all-da-ladies-luv-nico]

it’s not because you can’t pull off blonde hair. it’s because that wig looks like someone at party city thought “annoying karen” would make for a really funny halloween costume

[invinciblerodent]

Omg a fellow Rook enjoyer. It's so nice to see some positivity in this hellscape fandom. I am getting so tired of weeding through posts criticizing Rook as being "incurious" but then they also complain that Rook asks too many questions? And that Rook is too nice and they can't be evil but also Rook is too mean (to Solas specifically)??? Like, Rook is your character??? Your player character? That you're supposed to use your imagination to play? If you don't like the character you made maybe that's a skill issue???

Lol, that's exactly how I feel about it, that it's 100% skill issue- and honestly, that's probably one of the pieces of critique that I find the most frustrating. (Well. You know, not accounting for things that are, idk, blatantly sexist, racist, queerphobic, xenophobic, ignorant, or interpreting the source material in a way that' it's just straight-up incorrect and makes me wonder whether the person even played the same game that I did.)

And, if you don't mind me going off for a bit here... too nice, too mean, too incurious, talks too much, blank slate, predetermined; the simple fact that all these contradictory pieces of criticism can coexist as things people say with their full chests, as if they were objectively true, should, I think, be in itself a sign that what the person is saying it not really about the game... but about predetermined expectations they had, ones which they just can't seem to move past.

I think this utter lack of a consensus indicates that fundamentally, deep down (in my experience, not just in this fandom, but in most, and especially those that have a fairly low barrier for entry, and/or a roleplaying element, like many video games) lies a kind of... unwillingness, maybe, to take a piece of pop culture as the art it is, and engage with it as it is.

This kind of thing, it's... annoying, and disappointing, and it just keeps repeating itself, over and over, with each new popular game, and I'm genuinely beginning to think that the culprit might just in part be that people look at video games, and don't see them as pieces of narrative fiction they were invited to step into, but as something that they expect to be tailor-made for them specifically- and one of the easiest ways to give that critique, that "it's not what I would have written for myself", an air of legitimacy is through the protagonist- the piece of the puzzle that they were invited to draw themselves.

The Inquisitor was called a bad protagonist, because they didn't have every potential background imaginable, and it wasn't verbally acknowledged very often, but also because accessibility for new players and the customizability of the character was prioritized, so they were made to be able to ask many questions, and not to volunteer many opinions and personal insights. (Which, in a game in part about imposed identity and a contrast between perception and self is really interesting, but that's a whole other can of worms.)

Not long later, Ryder in ME:A was called a bad protagonist, because their singular background was written in a way that tied intimately into- and was central to the story, and they had a couple comments and asides that showed that they had a personality folded into who they are, which limited player flexibility to the expected degree, but added more concrete narrative element to their journey as a character.

Tav was called a bad protagonist, because BG3 took that piece of inspiration from DnD too, and left the creation of the protagonist to the player fully, as one would in any regular campaign- but the Dark Urge character was praised, because their background was narrowly defined and central to the story, they got a lot of extra content specific to them, and we got to learn many of the details of their pre-written life prior to the game's events.

And now Rook is called a bad protagonist, because, let me check my notes here... they have a fairly wide range of potential backgrounds that are not super defined for the sake of player flexibility, they have a handful of potential dialogue options that relate to their chosen background (mostly to reiterate information we already had about them from those blurbs), they have different types of relationships with certain characters depending on who you chose they were prior to the game, and they have three whole traits(!) that are defined about every version of them: that they have a respect for life, that they don't have much respect for authority, and that they're the protagonist of a game that's broadly about compassion and teamwork.

It's all contradictory, but it's still all the same, because the only thing these comments all have in common is that they are based not on what these games are, but on what the player saying them wanted them to be. It's determined not by the content and the merits of the art, but by the speaker's judgement on whether what they saw fit into what they wanted to see, and it's summed up neatly by words like boring, and bad, and bland- words that are entirely subjective, not really supported by any specific part of the text, and purposefully impossible to disprove.

That grinds my gears as someone who loves the Dragon Age setting and story, as someone who loves creating characters and making up little arcs for them (wouldn't call myself a writer necessarily, but in this respect I suppose I might be), and as a person who is just broadly a Literature Enjoyer.

Sigh. I need to stop talking because I'll keep going for hours if I'm allowed, but the bottom line is...

Games are art, and roleplaying is improv.

More people need to learn to just say "yes, and".

[strwbrryvagabond]

wanted to get on here and yap about American Girl for some reason today

I'm far from a brand loyalist, and honestly, I was shocked I didn't grow up with the off-brand dolls you could get at Walmart or Target since I grew up poor until recently when my mom informed me that I would save money up for months and months at a time so that I could buy the dolls, and my parents only even actually purchased one for my birthday once we started to do a bit better financially, and after they saw how much I loved and took care of the dolls

I bought accessories for them myself as well, both from the actual company and from other brands like Target and Walmart ones, and even paid my mom to order me a bunk bed for them off of Etsy or something because I was so distraught that they didn't all have their own beds.

Anyways, I know brands are bad and stuff, and American Girl is not without faults and controversies, but tbh those dolls really shaped me as a kid, like I intentionally bought Rebecca Rubin as my first doll when I was a kid after seeing her in a catalog that we got sent by mistake because she was Jewish and looked like me. I had never seen a doll or character, or pretty much anything at that age who was Jewish like me and looked like me, and she wanted to be an actress, and at the time, I also wanted to act

I took that doll very literally everywhere, half the pictures of me from that age, she's tucked under my arm in a different outfit, her hair as well taken care of as I could manage for being so little. I accidentally messed up one of her curls while trying to fix her hair, and I cried for like a solid half an hour until my mom helped me fix it. even after I got other dolls, all of which I still loved and took care of religiously, Rebecca was the one who came everywhere with me

I'd already been a big reader before that, which is a whole other post, but I devoured those books, and I totally blame them for my current love of learning history and historical fiction. and the different dolls were all depicted as activists and feminists, and do not get me wrong here (I say on the 'taking things out of context' website) they were far from perfect with their diversity and activism, like oh jeez they did some very questionable things sometimes, but for the early 2000s and 2010s? revolutionary

the store closest to me closed a little before my birthday last year. I didn't know that it was even happening, and honestly probably still wouldn't have known if I hadn't been shopping with my friends at that mall like two weeks before my birthday since that was the only day we could all make work. Despite not having touched my dolls in a while, everything was super on sale, and I had been planning on taking Rebecca to college with me, so I figured I might buy her an outfit or something.

while the store was pretty ransacked, I was shocked and, no joke, teary-eyed over how many things they had for different cultures, different religions, and how many little girls I saw in there with big starry eyes looking at a doll that looked like them

I ended up buying a Channukkah outfit, and one of the friends I was with convinced me to, against my nature, let them buy a Lunar New Year outfit for me as well, which almost made me cry again. What really did it was seeing one of the previous Girls of the Year, Corrine Tan. Oh my gosh if they had had her when I was a little girl, she would've gone right beside Rebecca with how obsessed I was with her. I don't think I've mentioned it here before, but as a kid, I LOVED Mulan, and when I went to Disney World and the dress up boutique they had, I was DEVASTATED that they didn't have a Mulan costume. I latched onto her so hard for a very similar reason that I latched onto Rebecca so hard; because even though she wasn't the same ethnicity as me, Mulan was Asian, and so am I. I wore out I think three burned copies of that movie I watched it so often

I'm just weirdly sadder than I expected that American Girl is closing so many stores and not making as many sales I guess. I'm really fighting being a brand loyalist right now, because there are about a million other brands that make super similar dolls that I'm sure little kids all over loved, it's just always stuck with me that they at least seem to care about representation in the stories they make for these dolls

I mean, it clearly impacted me growing up, and I think it was for the better. I remember reading Addy's book being one of the first times I was exposed to the idea of children being slaves because they obviously didn't talk about that in an elementary school in the 2010s. I really just wanted to get all of my thoughts out, I've been thinking about it a lot recently since I took Rebecca to college, and I've now been hearing stories from girls who see her in my room about what doll or what toy shaped them as a child. Very excited to dress her up for Channukkah when it comes around, and tbh I've been looking for more outfits for her online. I just want her to be something I take with me throughout my life I guess. I mean, I took her everywhere when I was little, so it kinda feels wrong not to take her with me on this super big part of my life.

yeah anyways uh, if you had one of these dolls go... idk kiss em on the forehead or something. remind the toys that shaped you that you love them for what they did for you and all that. yap session over

[maddie-grove]

I’m trying to decide which of my First Ladies inaugural ballgown paper doll dresses are the sluttiest. There are just so many factors to consider, such as:

Showing ankle;

Showing arm;

Showing bosom;

Including BDSM elements;

Looking vaguely lingerie-like;

Including sensual textures (silk, velvet, lace);

Being peach-colored so if you squint there’s a suggestion of nudity (this may be a manufacturing issue);

Being black or red (sexy colors).

[crplpunkklavier]

enough holmes adaptations there needs to be a herlock sholmes adaptation where some sexy french guy (honestly? omar sy again) plays lupin but whoever plays sholmes is constantly dressed in really obvious and terrible b cumberbatch cosplay, doing a bad accent and everything. wilson can just be played by martin freeman again since hes gonna break his arm 5 minutes in and then disappear for the remainder of the show

[rorschachdanmaku]

» mentions of otherkin intolerance cw

I got my wig today

I finally look like myself

Soon enough I will take a photo of me wearing my old clothes. Some would call it cosplay, I'd call it my usual normal clothes that i was meant to wear since the beginning or something stupid like that

I missed all my classes last week but today I'm going back to uni. My friends must be mad at me, I left them in the middle of our group assignment. Last time, one of my classmates tried kicking me out of our group because I was nonverbal for a bit, but my dear buddy helped me keep my spot

She doesn't like otherkin unfortunately. Sometimes I feel like expressing this sense of terrible dysphoria to her but she'll never ever understand. I only met one person in real life who ended up coming out as fictionkin of a character she used to be obsessed with. But my parents don't let me hang out with her anymore. So I'm forced to hang out with people who probably would call me a weirdo for all of this fictionkin stuff

I do have online friends who know about it, but they're all not into this stuff either. They just tolerate it coming from me because they were my friends before i came out about it. I have a friend who seems to be touhou fictionkin but every time i try to bring it up to them, they always avoid the question and it makes me all confused

...I think I said too much

I'm not even sure how this turned into a vent post

Anyway

I got my wig today.

I will buy my cosplay soon.

You're probably not going to ever see me in real life since I don't leave in america, but if you do spot me at cons, be gentle. Please. I'm bad at conversation

I'm not sure if anyone would ever be interested in this blog, let alone seeing the dress, but... Ah, I'm doing this for myself, am I not

And no, I'm probably not getting my third eye, I don't have enough money to buy more props

[hauntedpotat]

I bought a 40" wig and I just got it and tried it on and DAMN! THIS SHITS LONG! that's literally the point but STILL!! DAMNN

[lesbianraskolnikov]

I have decided to remake rodya dolls wig but now hes sadly looking at me because hes bald again. It feels like hes so real. hes so sad about it. smack his bald head

[connordevianthunter]

so like

what's the android's hair made of

if it's not real hair but can be cut but the color can be changed at will?? what are these guys even made of

[kaijudyke]

i think if i still went to cons or had anyone to cosplay with i would be very tempted to cosplay serizawa but i haven't been to a con in ten years and i don't have any friends who both are into cosplay and live in the same country as me so i think this will have to remain hypothetical. would be fun though

[bluebellthesponge]

i now really like my midneck length hair but i also loved my sort of longer length hair to my collarbones and shoulder so what do i do 😭😭😭

[the-seelie-court-official]

my aunt used to be a beauty pageant kid. had long, beautiful red hair with a curl pattern that made hairdressers jealous. her mother would pay people lots of money to spend hours styling my aunt's hair

predictably, as a young adult, my aunt cut all of her hair off. buzzed down to the scalp. she still keeps it pretty short- long enough for curls to develop, but only on the top of her head. she says she can't stand the feeling of her hair touching her ears or neck.

recently she's started collecting and styling wigs. she'll even wear them, occasionally, to a fancy event or if she just doesn't want to be bothered by distant family when she goes shopping. and she spends hours styling these wigs, even though she doesn't use them all that often.

i asked her about it. she said that sometimes, growth looks a lot like regression with a twist. that she's reclaiming something she enjoyed as a kid, and could have enjoyed more. she said she's practicing having agency, and that it's a skill that doesn't come very naturally for her. having agency, i mean. she's really good at styling wigs.

[wolfram-but-art]

If you could cosplay as one of the tf2 characters (not just mercs) who would you cosplay as?

tough question. i think i'd have three options:

Scout: i basically already have the whole cosplay in my closet, and i have short hair, so he'd be pretty easy to do

Engineer: this would be harder to do, since getting all the items could be expensive, but he's my favourite character so i'd love to cosplay him someday (plus i could do many variations of him, not just his base in-game outfit! so that'd also be fun)

Saxton: this one would be so fucking funny and fun to make. i'd buy one of those fake muscles costume and stick a fake beard cut out into the shape of australia to it, diy his hat and buy a fake mustache and it would look hilarious and i think i'd have the most fun with it

also literally any of the other characters would be fun to do, it would be really hard to choose irl which one to do because they're all so unique

[lunarfied]

my nat jersey came in yesterday but i’m not blonde so erm what the scallop

[talkfastcal]

.

[azdesertwillow]

@marzipanandminutiae I suspect this isn't a Titus style, but just a more traditional style for the period with the ringlet curls in the front with a half bun-half ponytail thing in the back (I know the style has a name but I'm spacing right now) but this is just what it looks like when your hair will not hold any curls but that's the style that everyone is wearing.

Portrait of a Young Woman

Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755–1828)