#like animation is the closest thing to the medium my brain works in? if that makes sense

[astranauticus]

suddenly overcome with the urge to animate/animatic the 2.10 wish speech.... someone really needs to take the procreate animation tool away from me im actually obsessed

[solar-sunnyside-up]

Hi there... I really love the idea of solarpunk but like. The "punk" part of it makes me so anxious. I think it's a vital part of the movement, but I can never imagine doing something like that myself.

If you have any small (tiny) tips or ideas on things I can do on a more personal level I would appreciate them. Everything seems so overwhelming and completely out of my wheelhouse and skill base

Hey ya 🌱 Sprout!! It can be hard to recognize, particularly in solarpunk, but your already punk and already doing praxis. I'm sure of it.

If you've ever pirated media, DIYed or mended clothes, have a rain barrel, spoke out against poor labor conditions, provided a safe space for anyone in an uncaring world even for a brief interaction- Your already punk!! Anyone who fights and gatekeeps that title from you bc of age, aesthics, or experience is a poser and a FED!!

That being said tho--

If you want to do more outrageous projects there's a few things I can recommend depending on how much you wanna do!!

Battlejacket- TBH the purpose of a battle jacket is to soothe this exact anxiety while also being a fun project and being a single to others!! There's many examples in both my Battlejacket tag and patch idea tag to get you started. You can get iron on patches/print paper that transfers pretty well if your not used to DIYing stuff. If this feels like to big if a step and is too much tho keep in mind you can make a battlejacket and not wear it outside right away. It's a second skin to make you feel and others feel safe, but it's also a big neon target on yourself depending on your environment and where you are. So it's ok to just make one and not wear it out until your ready!! (If you do this-- my only demand is you show me when you do it!! I want to see all of those kinda projects bc I'm obsessed with them)

Getting out there- If starting a guerilla gardening project or joining a community garden, or community association isn't an option for you- be that bc of accessibility/time/energy- I'd recommend starting to archive and getting out there! Inaturalist or falling fruit are awesome programs where you identify plants/animals/stuff outside in general. It gets you outside, your adding to a community which gets the feeling of a ball rolling building confidence and your praxis muscles!!

Root yourself in your community- This is a hard one if your busy/have low spoons/are introverted but I promise its worth doing even if you arent super active in those spaces! Even just researching the history of your town/city/neighborhood and seeing what programs are running can really connect you to the area. A lot of us due to the renting crisis never truly attach to our neighborhoods or are too busy to look into local artists. (Not your fault babes, its built to do that to feed monopolies) Pick even just 1 thing you care about (local artists, teashop, bands, libraries, community fridges, etc..) and find the closest thing to you and get obsessed. Being a regular in any space is an awesome feeling, its where you'll find friends, and you'll directly see any change you provide there.

Media archiving- There's a lot of ways of doing this one but just pirate the fuck out of everything!!!! Burn it to a physical copy, share it with your friends/family! Make mix dvds, burn movies/tv shows! Directly download youtube videos! Print off your fave fanfiction and bind them into books! Particularly with streaming services directly deleting content and getting rid of them entirely this is important work but its also just very fun!! Seeing my wall filled with dvds and books and objects makes my brain happy but also again, the physical exchange of handing the media you love to another person is so unique! Theres lots of guides and methods of doing this depending on the method and medium your using.

Utilizing public spaces- Loitering is a good one as well to push yourself and to interact with things IRL! Use your public libraries and parks excessively! Spend a weird amount of time at the mall not buying stuff! This might seem like a weird one, but its a long term thing. It shows that ppl are supposed to be out and about without spending money, but also many of these places (except the mall obvi) get funding based on usage so the more you use something the more likely they are to make it accessible to more ppl! It also makes it more normal for ppl who need to loiter to be in these spaces which again adds more accessibility. This is also one that might get you unwanted attention so decide your comfort and safety level. Pushing boundaries is good but do it at your own pace.

Vandalize! - Again we're ramping up a bit on risk levels but I recommend it, particularly bus stops or putting up posters. Bus stops is bc at least in my city they only maintenance them once they've been 'ruined' so its actually a cosmic positive to do it in these spaces. Posters are also good! Ive seen quite a few for tenant unions but also a handful of them that are food resources or call outs for police. This is mostly to have passive way to show solidarity or get a message across. But also like your doing art! Great stuff! Again tho this comes with risk if caught or if you dont know what your doing so start with baby steps (like using sharpie on an Ad you fucking hate or putting up a poster in a neutral space to get used to it)

Hopefully these tips get you started!

[lucianadjanic]

Library Assigment: Coraline - 2009

The article I used was "THIS WEEK IN GENRE HISTORY: CORALINE VENTURED INTO THE 'OTHER WORLD' OF ANIMATION & REDUCED CREATORS TO TEARS", written by Tim Grierson.

A secondary article I viewed was "3D in Depth: Coraline, Hugo, and a Sustainable Aesthetic" by Scott Higgins. Which really goes into depth for the technical aspect on how Selick would shoot and frame the scenes, as well as how 3D would blend with 2D.

I decided to delve into some research on my favourite animated movie "Coraline" (2009), which is directed by well renowned Henry Selick. A little bit overshadowed by Tim Burton, Selick still was the one who brought the actual visuals and animation to life in films they had worked together like "The Nightmare before Christmas" and "James and the Giant peach".

Some background information on the company itself, "Laika Studios," was created "in the early 21st century when Phil Knight, the mastermind behind Nike, purchased Will Vinton Studios, a struggling stop-motion company that had been pioneers in claymation." Then, the company was re-branded to what we know it as today, Laika. It was then given responsibility to Phil Knight's son, Travis, who already had a large adoration for animation and its possibilities the medium offered.

The film was adapted from Neil Gaiman's book "Coraline," which is why I'd say the plot is so fleshed out. It's a story about a young tween girl who moves with her family to a quaint small and frankly boring town according to her (Coraline). Or at least it seems like it, until she stumbles across a secret door in her room that leads her into a fantastical copy of her own world, except with..quite a few changes. Including her family having buttons for eyes. The film definitely could be seen as scary for some audiences, as the book definitely had some of those darker themes at play. Besides the fact that stopmotion animation was a big gamble as to how long it took to create and its aesthetic, Hollywood mainly wasn't a big fan of the strange genre which was that it was a film for all ages, mainly directed towards adolescents and children, yet it was scary. I personally though love the mix and I think this type of genre of film has more freedom to explore different topics and messages without being restrained. I think "Coraline" has one of the best storytelling and attention to detail, and that the risk definitely paid off.

Coraline definitely blew people's minds when they had seen it, and still to this day it boggles people's minds. It's so modern in its themes yet traditional in its stop motion methods - its such a surreal blend that works with any audience. Appealing to all ages, children growing up on the film now grown up can look back at it and still love it as if it were the first time they'd seen it. The movie seriously is such a passion project and you can so clearly see that, there's so much love poured in it. And with that, there's a crazy about of attention to detail spruced about in literally every scene/frame. Not only are the visuals incredible and time staking crafted, but the story and plot is thick and the symbolism runs deep. Everytime you rewatch the film you seriously end up catching something new.

I decided upon this article as I really wanted a look inside the brains of Laika and how the process really went. I was so curious on the reception it had received during production and during theatre showings, and of course hearing about the company's humble beginnings. They officially don't actually have a art book so this was the closest thing I had to learning about some of the production on it.

I definitely knew a little bit of background information about the process but definitely not to this detail. This was my first time actually researching articles about the film's technical aspects surpsingly.

Looking into the feedback on their "bold" choice of a female protagonist for a darker toned family film was strange and abit of a wakeup call for me, as I never even thought to think of a conflict with that occurring in the first place. They would receive negative feedback during production from studios "It's got a female protagonist, so clearly boys will not go see a movie like this. But it's really scary, so girls are not gonna be into that. And it's in stop-motion — nobody wants to see stop-motion!", which did stunt Laika in many ways as it certainly took them longer to make it due to all the setbacks of finding collaborators. I'm quite happy the film did prove them wrong in the end as the mix of a female protagonist and scary aspects worked wonderfully.

I applaud Laika for trying to do something different with all of their films and pushing the bounds with the medium and creative expression. I also applaud them for being brave and not being hesitant on a more sinister approach for a animated movie, staying true to the book's origins.

Some of the processes involved animators having to painstakingly create many different itterations of character puppets, for just Coraline herself "she had about 600 mouths, about 300 brows, combine all of those and you had about 200,000 different facial expressions she could make". Which is absolutely insane, considering that's only one character, and they did that process of course for all the others so that they were full of emotion and life (and clearly it paid off, the detail is insane!).

Here are some of the different character expressions down below.

"Aperture framing further emphasizes Selick’s vision of 3D as an inward stretching world", the secondary journal article really explains the Laika crew's cinematography direction as well as the importance of the 3D aspect they wanted to implement. "3D filmmakers ambitiously test the potentials and limits of new technology". Something I really found fascinating as well is that they really made everything purposeful when creating the movie. Henry Selick was opting for 3D depth to separate the Real World from the Other World distinctively, "specifically in sync with what Coraline is feeling. To do that, we kept the Real World at a reduced stereo depth, suggesting Coraline’s flat outlook, and used full 3D in the Other World. At first, full 3D opens up a better world for Coraline, but when things go bad, we carefully exaggerate stereo depth to match her distress." Super neat how meticulous every design choice was.

I definitely approve that people who are interested in animation, especially stop motion and the more expiremental realm of art and film to check not only the movie out but these articles too! I think it's very eye opening on behind the scene processes, and how much time and effort is poured into it. It really just shows how much people care about the craft and the admirable lengths they'll go to achieve that dream. Personally it's inspired me to go towards an Animation career path and sparked a new found creativity so I highly recommend.

I also really reccomend this youtube video down below as it really explains the process more thoroughly about how they shot the film and what techniques they used, including "Stereoscopic Vision".

concept art by Tadahiro Uesugi

[soupbabe]

Hello! Can I request being the Sinclair’s little brother? Like doing chores around the house, causing chaos, annoying Vincent when he’s working, y’know little brother things

Thank you have a nice day!

Being the Youngest Sinclair Brother Headcanons

There's just something about platonic headcanons like this that I love doing <33 literally it's such a cute idea. Also these are very unorganized 😅😅 my bad my brain is rotted w ideas for this /pos

- I definitely feel like there was going was somewhat of a disconnect between you + Lester and the twins as kids

- Not that you all don't get along, it's just because you two were younger and didn't have to go through the bulk of your parent's abuse compared to someone like Bo

- It made it hard to relate to each other and Bo was always the jealous type

- But I think he had to set that aside when Trudy and Victor died to help raise you and Lester with Vincent !

- It was an unfortunate bonding moment for all of you, but I think the majority of the siblings wouldn't want it any other way

- Your role within Ambrose is neutral and all over place: whether that be housekeeping, luring in folks, or committing the murder yourself

- You're just a right hand man for your bros

- That being said, you tend to spend the most time with Bo

- It's literally just bothering him

- Literally he doesn't do much unless a visitor comes to town !! You don't do much unless a visitor comes to town !! What else can you do beside poke the bear?

- But seriously the only reason why you're not dead at the hands of Bo is because he could never do that to his brother

- You've come up behind him and stole his hat so many times he's developed a sixth sense to it

- Though if you really want to tick him off call him by his full name

- "Hey Beauregard-" "You better watch those next words that's gonna come out of your fuckin' mouth"

- Off days like that are utter misery for Bo because Lester gets involved too

- You two are the closest, so much so that you both should've been twins yourselves

- You don't annoy Lester as much as you annoy people with Lester

- He'd bring in animal skins and rotting meat and drop it off at the gas station while you sit in his truck waiting for him to return like a getaway driver, looking out the window every so often for Bo to come out and see what that awful smell is

- Those days you're kicked out of the house and forced to sleep on Lester's couch </3

- Your relationship with Vincent is surprisingly really chill

- I think Vincent really emphasizes the importance of the family craft and different art mediums, teaching every brother basic wax skills at the very least

- Because of this every brother has a specific art niche

- For Bo it was robotics (he's responsible for bringing some sculptures to life in Ambrose), Lester loved woodworking, while you stayed a long the path of traditional painting

- Even some of your paintings made it to the House of Wax itself!

- !! You spend some free time with Vincent because of this, always wanting a 2nd eye to see if everything looks right and using your basic knowledge to give him a second hand whenever someone is brought down to his workspace

- But don't be fooled, Vincent is just as a target as Bo when it comes to little brother chaos

- Your teenage years was hell for the masked man, imagine his surprise when he found dicks carved out of some poor man's forehead

- Sharpies are also strictly banned from Ambrose because of this reason too, your graffiti was less than ideal for the town's image

[hopeymchope]

What do you think is the reason why Sayaka disliked Homura even back when she was still Moemura? I will admit that sayaka had good reasons to dislike and distrust Homura in the PMMM anime because Homura was acting quite callous and overall pretty shady, but why did she dislike her so much even in the older timeliness?

I want to open by saying: I don't think Sayaka has come off as being too harsh towards "Moemura" in the timelines we've seen. Certainly in the Magia Record game storylines we've seen with both of them, they seem to get on relatively fine? I guess it might be a little snippy at times. Hence: "relatively." But even so, it's not too bad? Maybe you remember some examples better than my brain can pull out right now.

The biggest example of this sort of Anti-Moemura tension that I can remember is from the main PMMM series when Sayaka's just instantly dismissive of Homura when Moemura tries to straight-up just tell the group what Kyubey is hiding. And I could go off on a whole tangent here about why that scene bothers the crap outta me... but I'll save it for the end of this post and put it under a cut. I go off-topic too much as it is in these answers. :P

Okay, so why does Sayaka instantly shut Homura down when Homura is just telling her the truth (and pretty gently at that)? Why is there that undercurrent of snippiness between them at times? My instinct is: Probably jealousy? Moemura quickly gets close to Madoka and seems to "replace" Sayaka as Madoka's closest friend. Sayaka's known Madoka longer, so that's gotta sting. Plus, y'know, the yuri undertones are strong with this show. Could be a little bit of "jilted lover" layered in there.

So I think that's the crux of it. But I confess that, to me, the most awkward relationship among the "Holy Quintet" is actually the one between Regular/Edgy Homura and Mami. Those two... even before I got to see Rebellion, I was reading the manga spinoffs and thinking, "Wow, they don't like each other very much." At their very cores, they are diametrically opposed forces. Mami is largely selfless whereas Homura is largely focused on selfish desires. Mami is always doing her best to look past her regrets and make the most of what she's got even when things are tough, whereas Homura refuses to be satisfied with fate's design and is a pile of regret and angst. And then the two of them going at each other in that amazing Rebellion battle felt like a big payoff to that tension.

Fair warning: I’m now gonna go off on a side rant about why the scene/timeline where Sayaka just instantly shuts down Moemura's truth-telling just bugs the crap out of me. :P lol

The short version is: That scene makes zero sense if you think about it for one minute. It's pretty obviously just a quick-&-dirty patch to wallpaper over the question of "Why doesn't she just tell them?" Urobuchi would've been better off showing us some bad consequences as a result of just telling them up-front... but in fairness, I suspect he knows that. I think he probably went with this hyperfast/full-of-holes way to say "Nah, wouldn't work" due to the time constraints of the medium. So I kinda get why it needed to be this way. I just wish we could've handled it more smoothly.

Anyway: Why do I insist that Sayaka's instantaneous denial of there being any possibility of Homura telling the truth make "zero sense"? Because they can literally just agree to ask Kyubey. That's all it would take to clear this up - a single, short conversation. Low effort, high return. I seriously doubt the entire team would just refuse to even fucking talk to him if Homura were to say "Why don't you just talk to Kyubey?" or something to that effect. That'd be ridiculous.

So yeah, literally just ask him about it! History proves that he won't even deny anything! He may avoid sharing information or imply things that aren't true without ever saying them, but he doesn't outright lie. That's kind of a major character trait for him/them.

In a perfect world, there would've been time for us to see that conversation play out, and then show how directly sharing that knowledge is ultimately still disastrous for the team. But hey, whatevs. I understand that we were working within the confines of a 13-episode series which — at the time — had no reason to assume it'd be expanded upon.

[bedlamsbard]

All right, reactions to Mando 2.05, “The Jedi”, in...semi-coherent form. Spoilers, obvs. I hated this episode, so keep scrolling now if you don’t want to see negativity.  This is not in any kind of order except stream-of-conscious.

again, I reiterate, spoilers.

again, I reiterate, this is REALLY negative.

Rosario Dawson...yikes.

how...did Bo-Katan know that Ahsoka was on Corvus? are they in contact? since when? Ahsoka seems to have been on Corvus for long enough to be a nuisance to the Magistrate (Morgan Elsbeth), but normally Ahsoka is very efficient and she just...really does not seem to be here? I did not get the impression she was planning on sticking around for any period of time.

(the same could be true for Frog Lady and Bo-Katan on Trask several episodes back. that wasn’t a convert, that was three Mandalorians hanging around the port in cloaks. I guess they could be doing that on the regular, but? would the Empire not then be more worried about being attacked by Mandalorians?)

there was only ever a very, very slim chance that I was going to be happy with any translation of Ahsoka from animation to live action.  I am on record as thinking that animation is the medium for Star Wars and that live action is always going to be a weaker medium than animation and that a lot of things that can be done in animation just cannot be translated to live action in any meaningful form.  I knew Ahsoka’s fighting style couldn’t translate to live action convincingly (here’s what I said about the mo-capped duel in TCW); it never occurred to me that they couldn’t pull off TOGRUTA given that Shaak Ti, you know, exists, and also there are so many excellent Ahsoka cosplayers.

(Consider KM Creations’ excellent silicone lekku (S7), which have beautiful movement; the cosplayer behind that is CallMeSnips and her epilogue prototype is from SWCC is in there somewhere.  I think Rei Kennex’s are latex (you can tell they don’t have much movement) but at least they’re the right length.  I think Ahsoka94′s are also latex (again with the movement); this is her Mortis vision grown-up Ahsoka.)

AND YES, THE LEKKU/MONTRALS WERE A DEAL-BREAKER FOR ME.

I feel very “you have made your bed and now you have to die in it” about that -- apparently the reasoning is for stunts and movement, but for me here’s the thing: her lekku length wasn’t optional.  This is not the equivalent of changing a hair style, which some people seem to think (believe me, I have read so many hot takes); this is like...I’m trying to think of a good comparison.  Like putting Peter Mayhew or Joonas Suotamo in a wig because Chewie’s head was too hard for the actor to see out of, or giving them normal human hands because they can’t grip with the Wookiee hands.

Also your main character wears a helmet at all times that (if it’s anything like my Mandalorian helmet) is pretty poor visibility and full body armor and THIS was your breaking point for stunts?

Ahsoka’s lekku and montrals grow as she ages. These are about S7 length; as @reena-jenkins put it, THEY DE-AGED HER HEAD.  Ahsoka fans coming in know this.  PEOPLE SAW THE REBELS EPILOGUE.

I wonder how many of the people being self-righteous about being totally fine about Ahsoka’s lekku are the same people who claim that Katee Sackhoff is too young to play Bo-Katan.

this also puts them in a weird position in regards to the inevitable merchandise: do they go with normal Ahsoka from TCW and Rebels, the one everyone is familiar with, or do they go with these stunted lekku?

(I can’t believe they’re going to make Her Universe sell merch with this Ahsoka on it. it’s not going to happen but I wish HU was going to be petty enough to not sell any nu!Ahsoka merch.)

Here is some nice art of how Ahsoka’s lekku and montral should have looked.

hoo boy were those prosthetics also just Bad.

“but the stunts” buddy I’m sure Pedro Pascal and his various stunt doubles aren’t having a great time in full armor with almost no visibility either

if you’re going to put the character in, do it right

YOU CAN’T CHEAT

look, I am really, really aural -- the best example I can give is that even though intellectually I know that Matt Lanter and Hayden Christensen both play Anakin Skywalker, I literally cannot parse them as both being the same Anakin Skywalker and for that reason TCW and the PT don’t exist for the same continuity for me.  (This also goes for Ewan McGregor and James Arnold Taylor, Natalie Portman and Cat Taber, and Samuel L. Jackson and TC Carson. I can kinda cope with the multiple Palpatine VAs. Yes, the decision to use Hayden and Sam in Ahsoka’s vision in “Shattered,” even blending into Matt’s voice from Hayden’s, threw me so badly I couldn’t take the vision seriously.)  Ashley Eckstein has a very distinctive voice, and moreover has been the only person to ever voice Ahsoka up to this point (even in the Ahsoka novel audiobook). Barring a MIRACLE I was never going to be able to parse another actress’s voice as Ahsoka’s, solely because of how my brain works.

I could probably have parsed someone else’s face because animated Ahsoka is pretty stylized but the voice thing is a huge problem for me because of how aural I am.

(I say this but when Squadrons did a more live action-style Hera -- knowing they mo-capped Vanessa Marshall I think they used Vanessa’s face for Hera’s, which is also what it looks like on the revised art and face sculpt for the Black Series Hera -- I kind of had a meltdown about it (for...weird reasons). And that was the same VA.)

(The timeskip between TCW and Rogue One, then Rebels, probably saved Saw Gerrera for me here, but he was also never a main character.)

can you believe that Sam Witwer’s Maul got more live action respect than Ashley Eckstein’s Ahsoka

I love Sam’s Maul but wow

this is particularly jarring because Dave Filoni and Ashley Eckstein always seemed like they were friends? I realize that this gets skewed by how little of their actual lives we see online, but that is the vibe that I’ve gotten from interviews and social media posts.

can you believe that TROS gave more respect to Ashley Eckstein’s Ahsoka than Dave Filoni’s Mando episode did (here is her statement on TROS.)

back in March, when the Dawson casting rumors first dropped (or leaked, as the case may be), Ashley posted a statement about it saying that she was not involved in The Mandalorian. she has over the years been very vocal about desperately wanting to play live-action Ahsoka, who is a character solely associated with her up until today, and honestly this just breaks my heart.

I am not the massive Ashley Eckstein fan that many Ahsoka fans are, but I have never heard anything bad about her (I saw her at my hotel at SWCC while I was waiting for my roommate to arrive! that’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to her, a distance of about six feet), and I really desperately hope that someone told her about this beforehand and she didn’t find out from watching the episode.

Also, while I’m here talking about Ashley Eckstein, the characterization here was extremely off, in that specific way that happens when a writer/director is working with their absolute favorite character, DAVE FILONI. I do trust Ashley to course-correct Dave on Ahsoka (in the same way we’ve heard about Sam Witwer pushing back on people about Maul), and that...was not happening here.  (I think Katee Sachoff said something similar to this about Bo-Katan in her interview last week, as well.)

how did you get Bo-Katan so right and Ahsoka so wrong

look, Dave Filoni is truly living up to George Lucas’s legacy in that he can story tell pretty well but he’s not actually that great at nitty-gritty of writing and directing. (none of the really good TCW episodes are his.)

this episode made me think of A Friend in Need (which he directed) which is not, like, a BAD episode but quite notoriously includes the Bo-Katan ass-slap and also Ahsoka beheading four Mandalorians at once.

it also includes a helpless village of oppressed and exploited Asian-coded civilians who are there mostly as background scenery so the bad guys can be bad and the heroes can feel righteous

I’ll come back to that one

the level of violence in this episode was...weird. honestly, too high? in a way that probably would not have registered if it was anyone but Ahsoka. look, I am an animated shows person. I know TCW and Rebels inside and out. I know that neither one is particularly shy about killing off faceless bad guys (though if you watch Rebels S1 compared to Rebels S4 they really dial back the amount of fatal violence the main characters commit in the last season, lol).  But this felt off for Ahsoka in a way I can’t really articulate.

why is Ahsoka attacking a random Mandalorian (her allies are Mandalorians!) who is walking through the woods WITH A BABY? WITHOUT WARNING?

part of that is just her movement -- when they animated her for TCW back in 2008, they made a deliberate decision to give her mannerisms and movement and a fighting style that a human can’t do because she isn’t human and animation can do that. which means that they hobbled themselves when they came to translating her to live action because uh a human can’t do that.

something about her lightsaber blades looked really, really wrong and I can’t put my finger on what. it’s like they just used the illuminated blades of the stunt sabers but didn’t do the extra CGI that the films do? I don’t know.

Ahsoka did a LOT of dramatic posing and what WAS that?

Dave can’t direct live action, that’s what that was

since when can you canonically convey that much information mind to mind

are Ahsoka and Grogu a dyad in the Force (I know the answer is no but also: what? what was happening?)

the only people we’ve seen who can do that sort of thing are Quinlan Vos and Cal Kestis, who both have the rare talent for telemetry, and even that’s not mind to mind communication, that’s touching a thing and going “YIKES”

you are telling me that Ahsoka Tano, whom six months ago we saw take on Darth Maul, a whole barrage of Mandalorian warriors, and her entire clone trooper battalion and walk away without a scratch, had to work up a sweat fighting one woman with a spear

you do know that we all saw TCW and Rebels right

and here’s the problem! this episode makes zero sense if you HAVE seen TCW and Rebels because (1) she doesn’t look right (2) she doesn’t fight right (3) timelines? we’ve never heard of them? (4) is Thrawn back? did you find the Chimaera? (you all do remember that Ezra and Thrawn aren’t out there alone and are in fact with a 40,000 man crewed star destroyer right) (5) did you NOT find them? (6) are you even looking? (7) this is supposed to be AFTER the Rebels epilogue unless you’ve decided to take advantage of that specific ending scene not being super specifically dated and if it’s before IT MAKES IT EVEN WORSE! because I desperately hate that epilogue and its implications EVEN AS IT IS! (8) why would you call this episode “The Jedi” when since 2013 Ahsoka’s whole thing has been not being a Jedi

to be fair I’m pretty sure S7 tried very hard to course correct that but unfortunately, they could not because the rest of canon exists

are you still trying to deny me grown Ahsoka and Rex when we know you got Temuera back for a five second shot of Boba

to be fair I would have the same aural problems with Temuera voicing Rex because that’s Dee Bradley Baker as far as I’m concerned (I reiterate that this is because of how my brain process character and sound, not anythign else)

if you haven’t seen TCW and Rebels this is a random Jedi wandering around for no specific reason namedropping a completely random person who has no prior significance unless it’s going to turn up later

this entire show has consisted of namedropping random people and things with no prior significance within the show itself and it remains entirely unclear whether they’re ever going to have significance within the show itself

look, I can buy Ahsoka not wanting to train the kid both for her stated reasons and for some implied stuff from earlier on in canon (the kids in the Ahsoka novel, the babies from Future of the Force), even what happened with Ezra, and obviously she has Plans and cannot haul a baby around with her when that baby is going to be a baby for an indeterminate amount of time

which honestly is something that ought to come up because even if Ahsoka wanted to train the kid by the time she grew old and died he might, if we were very lucky, have advanced to being essentially a pre-teen and then would be on his own again? this is also true for Din.

lol sure go cast yourself out into the Force, I’m sure there’s absolutely not a single darksider still wandering around the galaxy who might perk up at “ooh, free apprentice!”

I’m literally starting to think that this show takes place in an alternate universe where Luke and Leia either don’t exist or died at some point in the OT

me, baffled, last season: you’re telling me Cara Dune, Alderaanian, had never heard of the Jedi? was she not keeping up with whatever Leia Organa was doing? was the Rebel Alliance actually big enough that PEOPLE IN IT HADN’T HEARD OF LUKE SKYWALKER?

what...is Luke doing right now. isn’t he training Leia?

WHAT HAS AHSOKA BEEN DOING FOR TEN YEARS are we seriously supposed to believe she peaced out of the Rebel Alliance after Malachor and whatever the hell they’re going to make that out to be (honestly at this point I’m betting on “they will never touch it”)

does or does Ahsoka not know that Luke exists

hoo boy can you just see them trying to cast a younger Luke, or do you think they’d CGI de-age Mark Hamill?

oh yeah let’s go through this again in a season with someone else playing young Luke, let’s, I’m not emotionally invested in that so I’m prepared to be entertained

hasn’t Sebastian Stan been floated (even if just on Twitter) for young Luke?

why are these not-imperials on this planet. what are they doing here. what’s the point.

 why is the planet...being burned? I was half-expecting, like, normal deforestation (in terms of logging for lumber) but I’m also a bit ??? about this.

since when is beskar resistant to lightsabers, I thought cortosis was the only thing that was? whatever, it’s new canon, they can do whatever they want. (ETA: apparently that’s been true for a while; I am more a Jedi person than a Mandalorian one as far as the EU goes and my Mandalorian lore is my weakest point.)

dear god were these fight scenes bad

I did spot Morai and I appreciated the tookas

okay, I am taking the next thing out of bullet points because I was really, really upset by it, and as an Asian-American woman it affects me directly.

I was really, really shaken by the use of village of (space) Asian people who were portrayed solely as background victims to be tortured and exploited.  Star Wars has a long history of Orientalism, and some of it I can look away from and some of I can’t.  Mando especially has a very bad track record with its treatment of Asian characters (Fennec Shand), and in recent years the rest of Star Wars live action has also been pretty bad about it; I will never forget how shaken and upset I was by Paige Tico’s death at the beginning of TLJ, and Rose’s sidelining in TROS was a lot to deal with. There has also been some pretty appalling anti-Asian racism from the Mandalorian fandom that I have seen in regards towards casting rumors about Sabine (which brought me to the point of tears as recently as yesterday).

I had been braced for Rosario Dawson Ahsoka because it’s been rumored for so long, if never officially confirmed by Lucasfilm, and after they pulled the original VA for Leia from Resistance a few years ago (without ever making an official statement but it was after she made really dismissive statements during the Kavanaugh hearings) I was still really hoping they’d pull Dawson for the transphobic assault allegations, or that the rumors were false, or...something.  I was not expecting the way that they treated the Asian civilian population here.  I kept hoping that there was going to be something, and it’s like they kept almost going there with Governor Wing (you want to make either his name or his position clear in the actual episode, maybe?) but then kept pulling back, which just made the whole population victims that had to be rescued by outsiders. And exploited, and tortured, and abused in general.

And yes, I’m aware the Magistrate/Morgan Elsbeth is an Asian-American woman.  That doesn’t make it better?  Since Ahsoka presumably kills her offscreen?

(Also Diana Lee Inosanto is a stunt performer and a fight choreographer, why is that fight scene so wooden, damn.)

okay back to bullet points to wrap up

I realize I haven’t said much about Din and the kid and that’s because they didn’t...do...much? I guess if you’re actually invested in them “YAY HE HAS FEELINGS” is a major thing but I’m not

I have flashes of being invested in Din, but the problem is that I never know what the hell this show is doing because it’s all over the place.  We are 5/8 of the way into season 2 and I have no idea what it’s trying to do: they keep setting stuff up and then not doing anything with it. I can make vague predictions based on what’s set up and based on my knowledge of canon, but this show is so weirdly set up and paced that I can never tell if they’re something for A Reason, for the lulz, or for the Aesthetic.

I feel extremely vindicated by the revelation a few weeks ago that Din grew up in a cult but I also straight-up feel like I spent the past year being gaslighted about what Mandalorians were, and that’s...not a great feeling. Do I think that the show is going to do anything with that? Fuck, I don’t know. I hope so. I know what I’d do as a writer. But I can’t predict anything they’re doing and that makes me really uneasy.

jeez, at least when George Lucas was making Star Wars you knew he was doing it to entertain himself and tell a specific story rather than constantly having to go back and wonder what story lines got compromised for a project down the road.

like, is this why they did mo-cap Ahsoka in S7, to brace us for live action Ahsoka here? I know they had already filmed Mando S2 before S1 came out. WHY THEY DIDN’T THEY REUSE LAUREN MARY KIM AS AHSOKA’S STUNT DOUBLE THEN? it’s not like she hasn’t stunted in Mando before?

if this was supposed to be a backdoor pilot to a Rebels sequel...I will flip a table

I enjoyed the Bad Batch eps in TCW S7 but knowing that there’s going to be a Bad Batch show I’m now wondering if they’re only in S7 to backdoor pilot that show

how far back does this go? did they put the Legacy of Mandalore story line in Rebels S4 solely to set up for this? especially considering that that’s the one thing in S4 that actually has saga weight and then they immediately got rid of everything it accomplished to set up for this?

I presume that this is the reason they refused to release the turnaround for Ahsoka’s epilogue look two years ago. apparently it doesn’t matter given they changed her entire epilogue color scheme and also her lekku and personality.

Look -- at the end of the day, there was only about a 2% chance I was ever going to like this episode, but I was holding out for it nevertheless. I do get surprised from time to time! I liked the Bo-Katan episode! This was, however, a hot mess. And yes: a lot of the things that bother me are not going to bother other people. (I haven’t seen anyone comment on the Asian villagers, for example.)

[ink-flavored]

17 & 21

Thank you! <3

17. Do you think readers perceive your work - or you - differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations?

Probably! Most of my readers don't know me in real life, or at all, so it's pretty inevitable that they think of me differently than I do. Same thing with my work, nobody can perceive my writing like I can because everyone has a different brain. Even the people closest to my writing process are gonna have different perceptions from me, even if I tell them what it's "supposed" to mean. We all consume art in a unique way, because we are all unique.

Surprising things about my writing... I get bored very quickly if I work on one idea for too long, which is why I have so goddamn many of them. When AOA was a brand-new WIP, I was still working on HHSH. When I started fleshing out AOA, I invented a prohibition AU. Now that I've been working on AOA, I've got at least 5 new WIP ideas that I'm trying to keep quiet while I work on the one I'm SUPPOSED to work on!!!!

21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)

I think Out Of The Park is perfect material for a coming of age sports movie because it literally is that just with robots. I don't like writing scripts tho 😔

[fun meta asks for writers]

[alolowrites]

A Beautiful Blessing

Summary: Someone leaves a mysterious box outside your apartment in the middle of the storm. Fortunately, no one gets hurt. 

Author’s Note: This is my first story for @bnhabookclub​‘s Hero Camp Bingo event happening right now! It officially runs from June 5th until August 15th and I received my very own bingo card to fill out. Fun fact, I wrote this story prior to the bingo event happening (lol), so I’m glad it worked out! 

I posted my bingo card below. Each time I submit a story for this event, I will cross off the prompt I used as well. The first prompt I crossed off was Adopt a Pet! Please enjoy!

Word Count: 1.5K

A powerful storm rages through your neighborhood.

It is the perfect excuse to stay inside and watch random Netflix movies with your favorite person by your side. You snuggle closer to Shinsou, resting your head on his shoulder; his arm comfortably holds you and acts like a weighted blanket that nearly puts you to sleep. You suppress a yawn as an impromptu lullaby emerges from the raindrops pelting against the glass window.

The movie ends, and you stretch forward, “Pick the next one.”

Shinsou reaches for the remote, moving the bowl of popcorn sitting in the middle. You snatch it before the snack falls, avoiding a great tragedy. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for last week’s popcorn mess; the couch wouldn’t stop crunching up a song that night. Shaking your head, you shove a handful of the buttery goodness into your mouth and check some text messages. Your ears perk when a distinct sound rings outside.

“Did you hear that?” You glance at the window. A ray of lightning scatters across the dark clouds, which looms above the apartment building, “It sounded like a high-pitch mewl.”

Shinsou shrugs, “Probably your thought process at work.”

You whack his stomach. He snickers and continues scrolling through the selection.

“Very funny,” you dryly remark. The wind howls as the storm picks up its strength. A bright, white sheet temporarily blinds the entire sky, followed by a ferocious thunder that shakes the apartment complex. Through your munches, you hear the high-pitch noise return. With narrowed eyes, you stand up from your couch, “I’m gonna go check it out.”

“I’ll start the movie without you if you take too long.”

“Pfft, sure.” You stride toward the door, but regret opening it when the rain rudely greets your face. Groaning, you rapidly scan around until something catches your eye. An odd, medium-sized cardboard box sits near the door, a raggedy shirt flapping on top; you become suspicious.

“Hitoshi!” His eyes immediately peel away from the TV at the sound of your worried voice. You look over your shoulders, “There’s a random box outside.”

Shinsou springs into action, “Don’t touch it and get away from the door!”

He snatches his scarf and rushes to the entrance. Just as you turn around, the same mewl cries from inside the box; it sounds like a baby animal. Your curiosity ultimately wins as you kneel to inspect the package. Shinsou screams out your name, but you ignore him like an idiot. Tossing the torn cloth aside, you gasp at the sight below—it’s a little kitten.

“Oh, you poor thing!”

The frightened animal shivers in the farthest corner from you. It helplessly cries like a broken record, and your hands reach inside to comfort the wet bundle. Shinsou arrives with his scarf ready to protect you from an attack. His defensive stance weakens when he sees a black kitten in your grasp.

You shield the animal from the rain, “Let’s get inside! Find me a towel!”

A trail of water droplets follows you to the kitchen. Shinsou hands you a towel before heading outside again to inspect the box. The kitten meows as they get dried, their head twisting nonstop and body squirming around. You couldn’t blame the innocent feline for being petrified. After a few minutes, you uncover the kitten and scratch behind their ears to calm them down; it works like a charm.

Cradling the fur baby in your arms, you search for a warm blanket and head to the couch. Shinsou finally joins you with a puzzled expression. His eyes land on the kitten comically wrapped up like a burrito. The animal sneezes and owlishly blinks at Shinsou; the hero fights back a snort.

“Was there anything else inside?”

“Nothing. Not even a single note.”

You frown, stroking the kitten’s forehead, “Who the hell left this poor baby outside in that dirty box? Especially in the middle of this horrible storm! What if we weren’t home to save them? I don’t even want to imagine how much this fur ball would have suffered.”

“I’m wondering why they chose our apartment,” Shinsou mutters, his mind trying to remember anyone who might know his address. He tries to keep his personal life under wraps, even if he works more as an underground hero. Only his closest friends know where he lives, but they never would do something like this. Shinsou didn’t find any explosives or deadly chemicals inside the box, ruling out a villain. Maybe a crazed fan? He’s had a few run-ins with them before. Your giggles interrupt his brooding thoughts.

Lilac eyes shift down and watch as the kitten chews on your finger. A small grin curves on Shinsou’s lips at the adorable sight. You loosen the blanket so the kitten can move more freely. Little paws press on your thighs as its button nose sniff your clothes.

Shinsou tilts his head, “Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?”

“Good question,” you hum and inspect the kitten’s behind, “It’s a girl!”

“We need to take her to the vet tomorrow,” Shinsou’s hand immediately gets attacked by the kitten’s paws and he chuckles while playing along. The exuberant fur ball distracts him from his thoughts, nipping the hero’s fingers with their sharp teeth. It does not hurt Shinsou one bit; if anything, the bite feels more like a small prick. He then grins, “Got to get this little rascal properly checked out for any injuries and see if she’s a lost pet.”

“I doubt she’s a missing pet.” An annoyed thumb jerks behind you, “This little angel was left outside our doorstep in a wet cardboard box. If anything, I want to find the person who abandoned her like this and kick their ass.”

A meow squeaks below. You gesture at the kitten and chirp, “See? Even she agrees with the idea!”

“Let’s take this one step at a time,” Shinsou smirks before searching for the nearest veterinary office on his phone. You roll your eyes and continue to play with the energetic kitten. Shinsou does not react when you reach for his scarf to entertain your new guest. Dangling the fabric in the air, you squeak when the kitten jumps and grabs it; the scarf quickly engulfs the fur ball’s tiny frame. After a few shuffles, her head pops out, and you laugh.

“Got the address,” Shinsou takes a screenshot of one location. He glances at the kitten who endearingly tilts her head at him; he shakes his own, but a faint smile creeps on his face, “I guess we’ll create a make-shift bed for her in our room.”

“Ooooh, yes! I got some old clothes we can use.” You scoop the kitten in your hands and jump off the sofa. Heading to the bedroom, you cry out, “C’mon! She needs some rest; poor baby has been through a lot for one night.”

Shinsou doesn’t argue with you as he snatches his scarf off the couch and follows closely behind.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

“Well,” the veterinarian does a quick once-over at her patient. You wait with bated breath for the doctor’s results. Shinsou stands beside you with arms crossed, “Despite missing some vaccinations, she appears to be a healthy three-month-old kitten. I gave her a couple of shots, but she will need to come back in a few weeks for the next doses, though.”

You are relieved, “Thank you, Dr. Sasaki!”

“You’re welcome,” she smiles, bopping the animal’s nose, “The kitten also has no prior owner since I did not detect a microchip. She’s all yours!”

The curious kitten almost falls off the exam table, but you grab her with lightning speed. As soon as the doctor leaves, you face Shinsou and slice the air with your hand, “We have to keep her!”

“Huh?”

“I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer. She has no home, and I don’t want her ending up in a shelter. Besides, look at her!” You raise the kitten to his eye level and pout to strengthen your case. Shinsou arches an amused eyebrow. “How can you say no to that itty-bitty face?”

On instinct, the kitten meows and instantly melts the hero’s heart. He scratches the back of his neck while saying, “Okay, fine. We’ll keep her.”

You squeal, cradling the bundle of joy closer to your chest; she purrs softly in your arms. Shinsou enjoys seeing you this happy. Unbeknownst to you, he already made his decision after yesterday’s events. You and Shinsou played with the kitten all night long, laughing as she eagerly swatted a piece of yarn dangling mid-air. Once the mini tigress tired herself out, Shinsou tucked her into her make-shift bed.

Your smile brings him back to the present, “We still need a name for our little girl.”

“How about Emi?”

“Emi…” You test out the name and your eyes sparkle, “It’s perfect!”

Shinsou wraps an arm around your waist and fondly looks at his new child while grinning, “Welcome to the family, Emi.”

She is indeed a beautiful blessing.

Which prompt will be crossed off next? Who knows, depends on what my brain comes up with lmao. 

As always, thank you for reading! 

Hero Camp Bingo Masterlist

[myfriendsarerealidiots]

Comparing Adaptations

‘Kay so I went on one of my whims again and did something stupid. Couple weeks or so ago, I wasn’t really in the mood to watch anime so I opened up Netflix and watched a Cdrama that I wanted to watch for a while now.

That Cdrama was ‘The Untamed’ which, prior to me watching it and doing said whim, I thought was just your typical historic Cdrama. Oh boy I was wrong. As I was watching it, I was thinking to myself, “This show’s really selling itself off as BL.” Which, I found out after finishing it was because it is BL. Hah...and that was just the start of it.

As I was doing my ‘Post-show research,’ I found out that it was based of a novel, called ‘Mo Dao Zu Shi’or as translated by the people on the internet as ‘Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation.’ Said novel had 2 more adaptations along with ‘The Untamed’ which were a manhua and a donghua. So me being me, I decided to watch the donghua adaptation and read both the og novel and manhua.

So how I went through this was...

The Untamed (2019)

The Donghua aka Anime I guess

The Manhua which I read while having class (such a responsible student aren’t I)

The original novel

All hail this person who has too much free time on her hands.

Anyways, as it says on the tin, I’ll be comparing the 4 adaptations/versions of the story and see what changes between them as well as the pros and cons. (Wow I sound so professional)

Some background of myself just to avoid confusion

I am not a mega hardcore Fujoshi. I don’t really enjoy reading smut, nor am I old enough to do so bear that in mind

I have 7 years worth of Chinese lessons under my belt which means I barely understand a thing and that I can get some of the jokes like how Wei Ying’s sword is called ‘Sui Bien’ and it’s funnier to hear in Chinese. In other words, compared to like actual Chinese people who live in China, I pretty much have the knowledge of a 10 year old.

The versions of the Manhua and Novel that I read were translated in English so somethings might have been lost in translation.

I have a bit of a goldfish brain so forgive me if I wrote something wrong or forgot the name of a certain character, most likely I will look it up to correct it but if I don’t...well sorry.

I am writing my opinions on each version as I finish them, so if they don’t link up to the original that’s the reasoning behind it.

All of these are my opinions and thoughts on the story. You are not entitled to follow them if you disagree. I personally believe that everyone has a voice of their own and they should use it. (Even though I don’t half of the time.)

Slight Spoiler Warning

I will be breaking down some of the scenes and characters for my comparisons so please keep that in mind.

The Untamed (2019)

As this was my first exposure to the story, I didn’t know what to expect. I loved everything about it except for the fact that literally half of the show was spent in the past, building context for what was happening in the present.

The characters were lovable and all had distict personalities, especially Wei Ying and Lan Zhan which I guess makes sense since they’re the main characters (their actors are also cute and have good chemistry.) Speaking of characters, Yanli has a more forward role in the story here compared to the other versions. The way certain characters were introduced was different too. Since it’s live action, it’s also harder to show things like extreme blushing and such so it makes Lan Zhan look very stoic and way more unexpressive here than in the other versions.

The soundtrack is nice to listen to, especially with the 2 mains singing the theme song together it’s so cute and gives it another meaning in itself. Although, I do wonder how that poor bamboo flute Wei Ying made in like 2 mins plays decent sounding music. Chen Qing(is this the name of it?), the flute he uses after his trip to the Burial Grounds has the same sound quality as that bamboo flute which is just, “how???”

They took out most of the extreme BL!!! I feel like that is the biggest difference between this version and all the rest. I know they did that to appeal to more people but it does remove some of the context to things. That doesn’t mean the moments that were kept in weren’t cute though. It did make the pair look more plantonic than romantic.

As for the story itself, as a story on its own, it’s nice, as an adaptation that’s where the line gets blurry but it leans more towards the good side. They did indeed change some things, made them work better with the medium than if they didn’t.

An example I can place is the mask. Where the other versions used white make up with oddly placed red circles around the eyes, this one used a mask instead. I agree with the choice they made, seeing as they removed the fact that Mo Xuanyu was homosexual and so the make up wouldn’t make sense. It also looks nicer than what I imagined what could’ve happened with they kept with the make up. They do make a reference to this in the show when Jin Ling and Wei Ying have a conversation in Carp Tower. “You’ve seen my face right?” “How do I know? Your face is always caked in make up or covered by that mask.”

Another issue I had which I’ll touch on later was the first episode—I had no idea what was going on for those 40 minutes of screentime.

Donghua

As of writing this post, season 3 of this has yet to come out.

My first reaction to this was “Man, the animation’s pretty, and they made Wei Ying look scarier.” Watching stuff at 12 in the morning isn’t the best thing but that’s what I do.

Anywho, this version made Wei Ying really attracted to going down the path of ‘evil’ compared to the other versions. I don’t really understand why they made this change...but they did so we have to deal with that. And his eyes glow red!! It makes him look scary and cool at the same time. I love it!!

The transitions between certain events were a bit weird to say the least. For example, at the end of episode 2/3 Wei Ying gets forcibly dragged into the Cloud Recesses and the episode ends there. By the next episode, we’re 16/23/13 however many years in the past. This makes it really confusing for someone who hasn’t watched or read any other version of the story. It definitely made me confused and I already finished one.

While ‘The Untamed’ told us everything in one long flashback, the donghua broke it up into small chunks placed whenever information was needed. I don’t think that was a good idea, but then I also think it was a better decision than what they did for the Cdrama. As I watched this adaptation, I found myself confused from time to time because what happened in the prior episode didn’t always match what happened in the current episode like I mentioned earlier.

As for the artstyle, personally, I think some of the characters look similar minus the hair. However, I do like the little ways they made Lan Zhan express his feelings towards Wei Ying.

Speaking of which, when I first saw them together in this version in the forest near the Goddess Temple, I had to do a bit of a double take because of the height difference which wasn’t so evident in ‘The Untamed’. I soon found out that Lan Zhan was taller than Wei Ying before and after he gets reincarnated(?) Prior, it was just a small gap of 2cm which later turned to 6cm after possessing Mo Xuanyu.

I didn’t notice their height gaps while watching ‘The Untamed’ because Wei Ying’s actor, Xiao Zhan, is taller than Lan Zhan’s actor, Wang Yi Bo by about 2 inches which is like 5 cm? and so they had to do some weird thing with platforms to make Xiao Zhan look shorter in comparison.

Soundtrack wise, I personally think that ‘The Untamed’ was better in that sense. Where it had an amazing souding flute, this one had minor earrape in a nutshell.

This version made itself, in my eyes look more like a historical fighting anime as opposed to the BL vibes I was getting from ‘The Untamed’ and the other versions. They added a lot of action scenes and made the mystery more interesting for me. Along with this, the overall look and feel of this made it seem like it came from a completely different source material.

Manhua

Small FYI, as of writing this post the Manhua is at 147 Chapters.

(I should’ve kept up the trend and got a screenshot from that scene in the Manhua but I didn’t so here we are with gay rabbits.)

As your local internet friend who reads more manga than normal books nowadays, I enjoyed reading the manhua and finished it in a couple days.

Compared to the first 2 versions here, these last 2 are both things that you have to read to get through, albeit one has pictures and one doesn’t.

While normally, one would read silently, I like listening to music while I do. And seeing as the OST of ‘The Untamed’ sounds really nice, I listened to it while reading both the manhua and novel when I could.

This one brought out the BL elements that were missing from the first 2. They gave Wei Ying and Lan Zhan a lot of kissing or just straight up affectionate scenes which I think ties in with the general theming of the original novel more.

As this one is probably the closest of the adaptations to the original, it’s the least confusing to read, although that might’ve been influenced by my experiencing the story for the third time at this point. I say that, however, there were many story elements that weren’t present in either one prior to this.

Examples this can be seen with their collecting of body parts that belonged to the former Nie Sect Leader. In ‘The Untamed’ they find the sword spirit which guides them through the rest of the story. In the Donghua adaptation, they get the arm, but also get the head of the the Jin with the hundred holes curse which was an original addition. Here, they get the arm from Mo Manor, find the other one then find the torso and so on before finding the head in Jin GuangYao’s possession.

The flashbacks in this version were also executed really well, in my opinion, as it doesn’t feel super confusing while reading it and it gives just enough information to help the events unfold. It also gives us a chance to see how much of an ass(sorry) Wei Ying was when he was the Yiling Patriach from his own perspective as well as give us a moment of WangXian in the middle of all that chaos.

Novel

Here’s a picture of gay rabbits for everyone.

At this point, I was switching between the novel and the Manhua to read whichever one I wanted at any given time which might have blurred my sense of what belonged in each one so I’ll try my best to make sure.

Since this one is the original source material, it was clear from the get go that this will be the one with the least confusing version of events and the most amount of detail.

I was surprised on how close the manhua and ‘The Untamed’ was to the novel. Although, the former condensed the mystery to fit within the timeframe while the latter hasn’t finished just yet.

Personally, I like this author, and will probably read more of her works further down the line. Even though the version I read was in english, I still could feel the meaning behind certain aspects which I think shows her skill as an author.

The novel clearly shows the mischief that goes through Wei Ying’s head and their gradual (I say gradual but I think Lan Zhan just snapped) change of attitudes towards each other.

Arc One- Mo Manor

Past here I’ll break down the first arc of each one because I think all of them did it in relatively different ways. Be warned for spoilers if you haven’t watched or read all of them.

The Untamed (2019)

Out of all of these versions, this one definitely had me scratching my head in confusion the most even after watching it a second time once I finished the entire show.

As the only version that had the curse issued at the start as a moving factor of the story as well as the Yin Iron which was specifically made for this version, it didn’t explain enough at the start.

There were many things I could say were wrong about this beginning, from starting at a flashback to not properly introducing us to our characters but the biggest problem in my mind was the lack of explanation at the present.

Like I mentioned, starting at a flashback is a terrible idea as it gives the viewer high expectations only for it to be crushed the second it ends. Here, it shows a small portion of the battle at the Nightless City without much context then it quickly changes to 16 years later with a seemingly random group of people.

Another issue is the amount of useless characters who were introduced. In the other versions, there were only 2 Lan disciples who were given names and were introduced properly while here there were more than I want to count. Add to that the one telling stories about the YiLing Patriarch and the weird guy walking around with a flag, and you got yourself total confusion.

Donghua

This one was slightly less confusing to watch. As it starts with a clip of Wei Ying commanding corpses which matches the overall feel of the donghua. The rumors that he died stretched over the time skip and we meet this version of Mo Xuanyu who is caked with make up, whether or not he was a cut-sleeve (gay) in this version, I forgot.

It fully explains the curse and instead of having a couple of Lan disciples just standing there watching, we get to focus on the 2 important ones, Lan Sizhui and Lan JiYing. It gives us a slightly deeper insight into Wei Ying’s mind, as he states ‘you got the wrong one,’ just after being reincarnated, indicating that he isn’t as vicious as painted by the first few minutes of the show. Like the other versions, they also show how he considers the cons of using his demonic abilities and that Sizhui would probably tell on him to Lan Zhan, meaning that Sizhui was a keen, observant young man.

Manhua and the Novel

As for the introductions, these two were very similar. Both have the rumors of the Yiling Patriarch across the screen as we get further down the story and meet our main character.

It gets the details from the Donghua adaptation and mixes it with more information to create a more detailed account of what was happening, also making this Wei Ying seem smarter compared to his counterparts in other versions. He also hesitates more on showing his abilities, knowing that he’s going to be caught if he does.

Final Thoughts

As of writing this, I’m only halfway through the novel but it covers the portion until where the manhua is currently at. I would finish reading it before posting this but it would take too long and probably make this post even longer than it currently is, which isn’t such a good idea. If I had much more patience and effort I would really like to break down each arc and their differences from one another but I can’t be bothered right now. (Sorry)

I can safely say that in terms of adaptations, ‘The Untamed’ is relatively close to the novel, albeit a very condensed version. As flashback filled as it is, it wasn’t very confusing to watch past the first two episodes.

The Donghua adaptation takes several liberties, going more of an action oriented route instead of the calmer more, I wouldn’t say love but character oriented novel.

The manhua is definitely the closest to the novel, so if you really don’t want to read a lot of words, and I mean a lot of words, then go ahead and read it.

What else do I have to say...if you’re new to the story, welcome, if you’re a veteran who’s been here longer than me, sorry for taking up space on your feed. And congrats for making it to the end.

[fortysevenswrites]

for the meta asks for writers: 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 16, 20, 21? (can you tell i'm Curious)

1. Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahah.

Ha.

Okay, so the WIP at the top of my priority list right now is the second chapter of my kastle secret santa fic,  (my pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand), and I also REALLY want to write something for SethKate. I think it’s probably going to be the post-Amaru fic featuring self-care by way of a mani-pedi (as opposed to the post-Amaru fic with the predominantly platonic shower sharing). It also might be the very cracky sequel to what's best, House Hunters: Culebra Properties Edition.

So basically, other than that Kastle fic, we’ll see what comes next ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

I really love this moment from holding on (and not letting go):

Especially in moments of calm, moments of silence, he’ll find her staring down at her hands, curling them to fists and opening them back up, over and over and over again.

Like she’s proving to herself that she can.

Just like, I’m a really big fan of sneaking in little moments that reference to the big things that my characters may or may not actually be talking about or thinking about in a certain scene. Especially in this fic, like, it’s not long after Matanzas, so Kate has Some Shit (TM) that she’s still working through, and this is just one of those moments that it’s not the priority, even if it’s still A Thing.

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

Answered here.

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

Answered here.

9. Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?

I like to think of myself as a “longshot” writer. I’ve tried many a time to write drabbles, but like, it’s too hard for me to write short fic. I really like to write one-shots, but they tend to be on the longer side. I’m also definitely a pantser, with a little bit of plotter on the side. Once I know what I’m writing for a fic, I’ll know what’s going to happen from beginning to end (more or less), but I don’t sit down and start my writing process (which I talk about here) by outlining or planning things out or anything. The closest I get is in some of my much longer fics, I’ll write like “the scene where this thing happens” or “the plot twist where X figures out the thing” or “X is an idiot and then feels happen”, just to make sure that I’m writing in the order my brain plans.

16. Tried anything new with your writing lately? (style, POV, genre, fandom?)

I think the newest thing with my writing has been writing in SethKate. I also tend to naturally gravitate to writing from the female POV of the ships I write for (Karen and Kate), so when I’m writing, I tend to push myself to write from the male perspective, which can be challenging when you have characters like Seth and Frank. 

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

I really, really enjoy infusing those often unwritten “what the fuck is this shit” thoughts in the narration. One of my absolute least favorite tropes EVER is intentional miscommunication, so making sure that perspective never happens, and it’s understood that people aren’t going to let this miscommunication happen is very important to me. (See: what's best, and how Kate doesn’t let Seth get away with trying to avoid talking to her about what he thought he heard when she was on the phone with Scoot and decided to spiral instead)

I also really, really enjoy playing in the sandbox that is Kate and Seth’s relationship post Matanzas. I’ve read and love a LOT of fics that take place post S1 and S2, but I just haven’t connected with that on a writer side. I just love the place Kate and Seth get to after 3x10 (I feel like they’re on a more even dynamic than they are during the Mexican Honeymoon, and I just don’t feel comfortable writing that) and I feel like that’s why all but maybe only 2 or 3 of my FDTD WIPs are Post S3, and those other ones are either serious AUs or the one that I plan to take place in 2x10.

And I also love taking my favorite shows and figuring out how to make them crossover. It’s like a puzzle and sitting them together and having that, “Holy fucking shit this is going to be SO fucking good.” moment is just THE BEST.

21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)

I mean, I’d fucking LOVE to have the Punisher/FDTD crossovers to be Netflix shows. And also the Punisher/Fringe crossover. I think they’d be SO much fun as shows. 

Fun meta asks for writers

[mistermalcolmbaddock]

LAYER  001 :   THE  OUTSIDE.

NAME -   Malcolm Baddock

EYE COLOR -   Blue

HAIR STYLE / COLOR -  Light-brown/dirty blond, neatly trimmed

HEIGHT -   6′4

CLOTHING  STYLE -  work attire, Friday casual

BEST  PHYSICAL  FEATURE -  Dimpled smile

LAYER  002 :   THE  INSIDE.

FEARS -  injury

GUILTY  PLEASURE - any sweet or baked good that tastes like lemon

BIGGEST  PET  PEEVE -  giggly, flighty women

AMBITIONS  FOR  THE  FUTURE -  philanthropic work in magitecture

LAYER  003 :   THOUGHTS.

FIRST  THOUGHTS  WAKING  UP - where’s my calendar?

THINKS  ABOUT  MOST -  his next job

THINKS  ABOUT  BEFORE  BED - the state of his love life. and how his children are doing

WHAT  THEY  THINK  THEIR  BEST  QUALITY  IS -  honesty; steadfastness 

LAYER  004 :   WHAT’S  BETTER ?

SINGLE  OR  GROUP  DATES -  Single

TO  BE  LOVED  OR  RESPECTED -  Loved

BEAUTY  OR  BRAINS -  Brains

DOGS  OR  CATS -  Dogs

LAYER  005 :   DO  THEY…

LIE -  No

BELIEVE  IN  THEMSELVES - depends on verse  youth: no/ adult: yes

BELIEVE  IN  LOVE -  still in question

WANT  SOMEONE -  Yes

LAYER  006 :   HAVE  THEY  EVER…

BEEN  ON  STAGE - Not that he can recall

DONE  DRUGS -  Yes - sleeping potions

GOTTEN  DRUNK -  Yes, often

CHANGED  WHO  THEY  WERE  TO  FIT  IN -  No

LAYER  007 :   FAVORITES.

FAVORITE COLOR -  Royal Blue

FAVORITE  ANIMAL -   Unicorn

FAVORITE  MOVIE - The Princess Bride

FAVORITE  GAME -  Chutes and Ladders

LAYER  008 :   SLEEP.

HEAVY  OR  LIGHT  SLEEPER -  medium sleeper

WHAT  SIDE  OF  THE  BED  DO  THEY  SLEEP  ON -   closest to the door

WHAT  DO  THEY  WEAR  TO  BED - boxers or in the nude

WEIRD  THINGS  THEY  DO  IN  THEIR  SLEEP -  as an adult he takes potions to sleep so he doesn’t generally do anything weird.

LAYER  009 :   LOVE.

BIG  DECLARATIONS  OR  SMALL -  Big

OPEN  OR  CLOSED  OFF -  depends on verse

LOVE  AT  FIRST  SIGHT  OR  SLOW  BURN -  depends on verse

ONE  TRUE  LOVE  OR  A  STRING -  one true love

LAYER  010 :   FINISH  THE  SENTENCE.

I  LOVE -  my children

I  FEEL -   melancholy

I  HIDE -  my feelings

I  MISS -  my ex-wife

I  WISH -  I felt less

TAGGED BY: @gramenviride​

[bbq-hawks-wings]

Hiya! So I have a question/theory not exactly about hawks but the concept of quirks in the mha universe. So I had this thought and I was wondering do you think it would be possible for a character to have a quirk like whenever they played an instrument the people around them would immediately go into a sleepy, sedated state?? Or basically if it's possible for a person's quirk to be like not be biologically a part of their body (ie: anything they paint comes to life)

OOH OOH OOH!!!! I was going to write requests, but I just HAD to jump on this immediately. I like the way you think, anon! Asking some very important lore-based questions!

My short answer to your theory is “Mostly no, but kind of yes? Depends on the specifics and how you explain it.” So let me explain! I go on a bit where I geek out over Shinsou’s quirk, but I’ll keep the whole debacle under the cut. I hope you enjoy it!

Minor spoilers for explanations about how Shinsou’s quirk works from the manga.

HeroAca is at it’s core a science fantasy world - wherein inhuman feats instead of being written away by magic are given a plausible-enough “scientific” explanation to help the audience’s suspension of belief. It doesn’t have to be completely accurate but it has to make just enough sense to feel grounded in the real world and also makes it easy to put limitations on it. Quirks are explicitly described as being genetic. How they got written into the human genome is unknown, but it’s crystal clear that biological lineage is the key to passing down quirks. (All for One and One for All being glaring exceptions to the rule, even in universe.)

This is how we’re able to put “glycerin sweat” with “ sweaty, sparking palms” and get “combustible explosive sweat from the hands” or “ice” plus “fire” equals “fire and ice.”

Therefore, quirks are inherently connected via some biological component. However, how that manifests itself has a lot of potential, and it mainly has to do with the property being manifested to begin with. For example:

Tetsu Tetsu has the ability to harden his body into steel - specifically his skin. This is physical composition of his body that he is able to change at will, but he cannot change the composition of something he touches even though that organ which possesses the shifting ability comes in contact. His quirk is limited to his body, period.

Momo’s ability to create inanimate matter is manifested through her adipose tissue (fat). She requires both the energy and atoms required to produce matter directly from her own body. These things can exist outside her body but she ceases to be able to affect their composition the moment it’s no longer part of her body.

Ochako is able to nullify the effect of gravity on any body she touches - inanimate, living, herself, etc. However, this effect only works after she has physically come into contact with it and only from the pads on her fingertips. Her quirk originates from her body but leaves lingering effects as long as she doesn’t cancel them.

All of the above are easy examples of “my body changes myself/something else and my quirk depends on my body to do so.” However, let’s look at an example that feels more “intangible” which I think is what you’re going for.

Shinsou is a super interesting one and so far the closest to what you’re trying to describe. His quirk, we know, is biologically coded into every cell in his body, but how it manifest, though a bit of a mystery, has a pretty logical explanation depending on how we parse it out.

He has the ability to sedate his human target and force their body to do rudimentary tasks via vocal commands - effectively making them a human puppet adhering to his will. However, the way it both takes effect and manifests is particularly interesting, so I’ll drop the frames and extrapolate in a moment.

To break it down, Hitoshi’s quirk works as thus:

He must intentionally choose and FOCUS on his target in order to activate phase one of his quirk

His voice may be modified via his artificial vocal cords, but he cannot transform his voice digitally (mini theory on this at the end)

He must then get them to respond to him directly (it’s implied this is vocally, but the way it’s worded sounds almost like they need to consciously respond in some way instead of blocking him out)

Once he has control, he can make them do virtually anything with their body but their brain and voice are useless.

To me, it sounds like Hitoshi’s quirk actively hijacks his target’s brain by suppressing the higher functions and taking over some of the lower ones. My best “rational” explanation is some audible property in his voice (it’s presumably outside the spectrum of human hearing) is able to first bait the parts of the brain that control cognition and neutralize them when it “opens itself” up via cognitive reply. From there, cognition is suppressed and he takes over what I presume is the midbrain and sections of the gray matter physically responsible for motor control.  

Sounds crazy, but while the sound aspect is unusual, this kind of thing actually exists in real life! Check out parasitic fungus and worms that turn prey like ants and snails into “zombies” by taking over their brain and doing their bidding in order to complete their life cycle.

If you can explain an OC’s quirk like THAT, you’re gold!

If you wanted one that plays music that makes people in the immediate vicinity sleepy and sluggish, explain it by saying that something about the sound stimulates the brain into producing melatonin or effects the thyroid. It doesn’t have to be clear exactly how (though extra points if you can make it as scientific as you can) but if it’s plausible ENOUGH, it works. It could be like in Hitoshi’s case where it isn’t the so much the noise we hear but some unheard component that does the work and she just chose, say, a flute because it puts people at ease and she’s liked it since she was a kid.

The “paintings to life” is a bit trickier. If you wanted to fit this in the lore of the series I’d say whatever substance she animates has to come from her body. However, an easy workaround is that she could produce her own paint! She adds the pigment separately, but the clear medium is whatever substance she produces from her body that she can control. The medium is basically how acrylic and oil paints are different - The shade of color can be exactly the same, but the medium it floats in will act and perform differently which is a great metaphor if she has difficultly controlling the “living” medium without a visualization to get it to do what she wants!

I hope that was a fun breakdown of how I think you can adapt seemingly random superpowers into the rules of the series. It takes some real-world knowledge to do so, but the cool part is that the physical world is capable of SO much that we’re barely scratching the surface of understanding. Doing even just a couple of hours of research can get you enough information to come up with a power that not only could plausibly work but also has the bonus of building in a weakness for power balance!

This is super fun! I love when you guys send me theories like this!!!!

Bonus mini theory! “Could Shinsou’s quirk work over old analog technology?”

Something interesting to note is the auditory angle he needs to use his quirk, and my theory is that the auditory component may force his target’s brain into doing the actual sedation work for him. In real life, our brains and bodies are very much effected by sonic waves, even those we can’t hear. It’s theorized that infrasound - sound outside our hear-able spectrum) caused by structural unsoundness, some machinery, and more might be reason humans consistently perceive certain locations as haunted. I mentioned this in my theory about Hawk’s sensory sensitivity but it’s worth mentioning again here. 

I specifically mentioned “digitally” above because analog and digital sound waves are structurally different which may be why it’s not some specific noise we physically hear but actually the vibration of the sound wave itself that does the brainwashing. Here’s a picture of analog vs digital waves to demonstrate what I mean.

See how analog is smooth but digital is a series of plateaus? Now I don’t have much formal education to back myself up from here on out, but the way I understand it is digital is basically just a complicated series of “on’s” and “off’s”/”yes” and “no” so it’s literally impossible for it to achieve that smooth curve in analog. Look at what it does to a sample in this graph.

While, to our ears, the digital interpretation of the analog signal is close enough that we wouldn’t hear the difference, the structure has been chewed up all to hell! Though we don’ have a whole lot of information one way or the other, I can’t help but wonder if those splines (the curvy lines between points) are where the magic happens. He even says outright that voice modulating technology (almost all of which is now exclusively digital) distorts his voice too much. Old technology used to work on materials that operated on these analog waves, so I can’t help but wonder if that would do the trick. It obviously wouldn’t work on a gramophone since without the active focusing his quirk requires it’s still a useless sound bite, but if he were to, say, speak over an old telephone would that work?

It’s entirely possible that there’s some other property in his voice that needs proximity to work (such as a frequency analog broadcasting can’t replicate) so he needs to be physically close to his target, or just the fact that analog technology is clunky and potentially more hassle that it’s worth that would make this a moot point; but I couldn’t help myself diving a little deeper.

[sebinvld]

“dark side, i search for your dark side, but what if i’m alright right here? i cut off my nose just to spite my face, then i hate my reflection for years & years.”

tl;dr:  sebin puts his feelings on paper. featuring:  @taevld​, @vldgeonwoo​, @ryunhovld​, @vldhyunjun​. wc:  1,953.

the simple truth: sebin is an inconvenience.

it isn’t something that very many people have outright told him, but it’s a conclusion that he can easily come to on his own. his impulsive actions and persistent enmity always come back around to hurt not only him, but those closest to him, too; he has a hard time controlling himself, and because of it, everyone suffers. 

and someone who makes others suffer definitely isn’t convenient to have around.

but as self-aware as sebin is, the awareness isn’t enough to silence the monster that makes apologizing so hard — pride. to apologize means to admit that you’ve done something wrong, and to admit that you’ve done wrong means that you’ll have to try to be better. sebin doesn’t want to try. maybe he would’ve wanted to try years ago, but not now. he’s grown into his sardonic persona; it’s comfortable for him, safe.

unfortunately, comfort doesn’t erase guilt, and sebin is just as susceptible to guilt as anyone else is. it’s because he tries to mute the guilt that it stings so intensely; especially late at night, when he’s trying to sleep. it becomes an acid that eats away his insides, making him feel rotten and empty.

it’s the reason why he’s still awake right now: the digital clock on his desk tells him that it’s a little after 4am, and he knows that he shouldn’t be awake. his body knows it, too, because his eyes keep closing in somnolence. but he refuses to give in because for the first time in years, he’s attempting to do something that’s never been easy for him: express his feelings.

he’s been trying for hours now, and all he has to show for it is a trashbin full of crumpled pages, ink stains on the side of his left hand, and one lousy phrase.

                    FOR HYUNJUN.

he had thought that this would be easy. starting out small. the members of danger are far from being the only people he’s ever done wrong, and admittedly, he hasn’t been half as cruel to them as he’s been to some others, so he doesn’t have near as many things to apologize for. but maybe it isn’t even the apologies that are making this so hard. he doesn’t want to leave it at just apologies, he wants to show his gratitude for them, too, and that’s something that might be even harder for him than apologizing.

he isn’t sure why.

if you care about someone, you should let them know before it’s too late, and sebin constantly feels like he’s running out of time. not because of any real time constraints, considering how many years of their lives they’ll be spending together and have already spent together, but because he has a tendency to push his luck, and no one has a bottomless well of patience.

the sun doesn’t have patience either, and sebin knows that if he doesn’t get these letters written soon, the daylight will steal his time and he’ll never get them written at all. so, he puts his pen down to crack his knuckles, picks it back up, and then starts writing again.

                    FOR HYUNJUN.

the most dedicated person i know.

i’m sorry for making fun of your anime collection. i know that part of friendship is making fun of each other, but i always go too far, and i don’t really know why i do that. i don’t really want to hurt your feelings, but it seems like that’s what i aim for, huh? i’m going to try to stop doing that.

i think it’s really cool that you’re so dedicated to it. you must be really passionate about it, and i can’t even imagine what it’s like to be so into something. maybe that’s why i feel obligated to make fun of you for it. because i don’t know what it’s like.

anyway, i’d like it if you could send me a list of animes to watch. i can’t promise that i’ll actually watch them, but i’ll give it a shot. maybe then we can have something to talk about.

i know it’s been years now, but i don’t think i’ve ever apologized for the way that i treated you when we first met and the way that i still am sometimes. i’m sorry.

you’re a very warm person, hyunjun. i respect you a lot, even though it doesn’t always seem like it. i’m glad to spend my youth with someone like you.

one letter written. it’s brief, but it says everything that sebin wants to say—everything he can think of in the moment, at least—and besides, it’s better than the blank page that he’d had before. if he thinks of anything else that he wants to say later on, it’s not like he can’t write another letter.

he opens the left drawer of the desk, grabbing a roll of tape and the kakao friends keychains he’d bought. they aren’t anything special, but he hadn’t wanted to spend a lot of money on a plan that he might not even follow through with. plus, even though they had been cheap, they do all remind sebin of his members, in some way or another.

he folds up the letter and attaches it to the keychain of ryan with a piece of tape, then rips another piece of paper from his notebook and begins the next letter.

                    FOR TAEWOO.

the most patient person i know.

your patience used to irritate me, to be honest. but i’m sure you know that already. but i’ve grown to respect it a lot.

i wasn’t always kind to you, and i’m still not. i’m sorry for all of the times that i’ve lashed out. i’m sorry for all of the times that i’ve made you feel annoying. you aren’t annoying!!! read that, and then read it again. lock it into your brain. i know how terrible it is to feel annoying, and i want you to know that you aren’t.

thank you for being kind to me when i don’t deserve it and thank you for believing in me when i find it hard to believe in myself. you’ve made the past few years so much easier than they would’ve otherwise been. i could never thank you enough for that.

oh, and thank you for making me laugh. they say laughter is the best medicine, so i feel pretty lucky to have you around.

i think you might be the nicest person i know. i admire your kindness and i hope that i can learn from it in time. the idea of debuting doesn’t seem so terrible since it’s with someone like you.

the second letter is finished and for a second, sebin lets himself feel happy about it. but then he glances towards the window and sees the sky changing from black into medium blue — the sun is beginning to rise. he guesses that he could skip his morning run to finish the letters, but he doesn’t want to. sighing, he grabs the keychain of tube and quickly attaches the folded up letter to it.

immediately, he has his pen in his hand again and he’s writing—trying to, at least, but he finds that all of a sudden, it doesn’t want to write. he scribbles harshly in the upper corner of the paper, to no avail. he’s just about to search for another pen when he realizes the cap is on it. that’s the only reason it hasn’t been writing. “fucking idiot,” he mutters passively, removing the cap.

                    FOR RYUNHO.

the funniest person i know.

i just want to say thank you for every single night you’ve ever spent with me. i love our convenience store trips, late night adventures and ridiculous conversations more than you could ever know.

before i met you, i didn’t really know much about friendship. it’s not like i didn’t have friends before, but i never had any that i was particularly close to. i guess the situation that we’re in is what made us so close, and as much as i hate training, i’m glad that it made our paths cross.

i’m really proud of you. you’re one of the coolest people i know (even though you’re a fucking nerd), and i can’t wait to brag about you to anyone who will listen. god knows you won’t brag about yourself, you humble little goblin, you.

i think you and i are on the same wavelength. i’ve always felt far away from other people, but not from you. thank!!! you!!! for being you!!!

my attitude’s kinda terrible sometimes, and i’m sorry for any of the times that you’ve had to witness it (or were a victim of it). i’m going to try to be better.

i’m so excited to debut with you!!!! life is a highway and i’m glad we’re in the same car.

he isn’t sure when it started, but he realizes that he’s crying when one of his tears slips from his cheek and onto the paper. he tries to dab it away, but it smears the last word. “are you fucking kidding me?” he huffs under his breath, scratching the word out completely and rewriting it after the horrible blob of mess. he raises one hand to rub his eyelids in hopes of ending the tears at once, then folds the letter and attaches it to a keychain of muzi.

only one more to go. undoubtedly, it’ll be the most difficult to write.

                    FOR GEONWOO.

the hardest-working person i know.

i know we’ve never gotten along, and although all the blame doesn’t belong to me, i know that a lot of it does. i’ve always been harsh towards you. i’m sorry.

i know that you probably won’t believe it. you might even think that i’m joking. but i know that the way i treat you isn’t fair, and i know that it must be difficult to deal with since you’re trying to chase a dream. you shouldn’t have to share a dream with someone who makes things so difficult.

i think it’s really cool that you worked so hard to get to where you are. you have a lot of dedication, geonwoo, and that dedication will get you so far in life. i know it will.

i want you to know that i don’t really think that you’re a nobody. maybe what i think means nothing to you, but you’re just as good as any of us. i’m not embarrassed to share a stage with you.

i’d like to say that the future will be easier for us, but i can’t promise that. i want to be completely honest in this letter, so all i can say with certainty is that i am sorry.

i’m looking forward to seeing who you become in the future.

just as he writes the last letter, he realizes that the sun is almost completely up. luckily, it’s still early enough that he can go for his run and be back by the time that the others are waking up (maybe a little after), but he’s still shocked that he spent the entire night working on these letters. what a joke.

he attaches geonwoo’s letter to a keychain of apeach, then stands up for the first time in hours. he leaves taewoo’s letter on the desk in their room, then takes the others and slips them carefully under the doors of the other members’ rooms.

he tries not to overthink the decision — before he can, he goes to get ready for his run and leaves, only hoping that the letters will be read before he returns so that he doesn’t have to feel the embarrassment firsthand.

[brsboyer]

When you get this you have to answer with 5 things you like about yourself, publicly. then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool!!)

Okaaay @beautifulterriblequeen , here we go👉👉

✨

I am very good at art. But not just at different art styles like realism, semi-realism or cartoon, no no. I have this weird ability to just adapt all my art skills to literally any medium, even if I never encountered that medium before. I just fiddle around withit and somehow I find a way to make something great out of it, even if I technically don‘t know how to use it correctly; New kind of paint that no one knows how to deal with? Check. Weird kind of clay that explodes in the oven unless you handle it correctly the first time? Check. ? Check. Making a portrait of a hijab wearing woman on semi-transparent paper using nothing but clear tape? Check.

I didn‘t know/realize this for a long time, but I‘m actually a really inteligent person. Not just because I managed to get an average IQ score of 139-142, but also because I‘ve learned how to take even the worst moments of my life, look at them objectively and with a clear mind and transform the memory of it into a learning experience. And I learned how to deal with people and social situations way better than before, which is a really big thing for me as a person on the asperger/autism spectrum who also has ADHD, and used to suffer from depression and anxiety.

When my hair isn‘t a mess, it‘s the closest thing to cool girl anime hair you‘ll ever see in your life! Not like the crazy spike hair, but the awesome swoop over your forehead and wave over your ear and covering half of your face in a really nice way, kind of anime hair. And I love it! When it‘s not being insufferably unpredictable.

Over the years I developed a weird and special kind of ego that let‘s me deal with life and helps me stand up for myself and others. It lets me aprciate my own virtues and the virtues of others, while also not shying away from critizing others or questioning the status quo. And when someone tries to spite me or devalue me, my work or my friends, then I know that I have the brains, the wit and the guts to call them out on their crap and make clear that I will not be taking anybodys bullshit. It took a long time to become like this, and though I admit it‘s due to my newly inflated ego, I‘m glad that it manifested in away that I can still be a humble person, while also being a bad bitch.

I am not nearly there where I want to be in life. I still struggle with myself, with others and with life in general. But I‘ll be damned if I didn‘t appreciate how far I‘ve come from where I was before. I‘m not where I want to be yet, but I sure as hell am not where I used to be, and considering that I used to be in a very dark place, I‘m very proud of myself.

[nekob00]

10 Tips for Improving your art

10 tips for improving your art: I've seen a lot of people asking how to improve their art and the main response I see is "Practice, practice, practice." That's great- art is a skill learned over time, but the problem is that the answer is too broad. The fact is, everyone has trouble in different areas, and they need to practice in the areas that are giving them the hardest time. The answer I find myself giving out more often than not is "references, references, references". Telling someone to practice is fine, but giving a better way to practice is more helpful. The other issue is that sometimes we can't see the mistakes we're making in our art, and if someone is reaching out, they need direct feedback to take their art to the next level. When I see someone asking for help like that, I always take a look in their gallery before I even start to reply. Having said that, here is some generalized advice too, that might help. 1. As I mentioned before, references are your friend. There are tons of sites and groups (that I will list at the bottom) where you can find reference pictures. (I am not getting into copyright laws here, so any sites/groups I list will be vetted but be sure to check when searching on your own.) Reference pictures are helpful in virtually any aspect of drawing or painting- everything from figure drawing, to hands, to animals and backgrounds, and using them gives you a visual guide to follow. When looking at references, be critical of everything- study color variations in the shading and highlights, look at the way the light and shadows fall, the way the character or subject is captured- are they still or is there movement in the picture? Take time to just look at the picture for a minute or two before you even begin your piece. 2. If there are certain areas you have trouble with, a lot of people opt to avoid them. I have seen so many people (myself included!) hiding the hands, for instance. Don't. Don't do it! The only way to draw the hands, noses, mouths, eyes, etc better... is by drawing them. It's a simple fact- avoiding them will only hinder your progress. They look bad? They'll get better- it looks worse without them entirely. It may make you uncomfortable at first, but stepping out of your comfort zone and confronting the parts that give you the most trouble will be rewarding in the end. I promise. 3. Take breaks! I know that you're invested but believe me- working on a picture for hours at a time runs the risk of ruining it. Trust me. Breaks are your friend. You're having trouble getting something perfect? Take a little bit and come back to it. A refreshed perspective might help. The human mind can only fully devote attention to something for so long. I don't want to try and count just how many pieces I've ruined because I just couldn't tear myself away from it and throwing 10 hours of work down the drain to start over hurts a lot more than taking ten minutes to rest. 4. Does something look off with your picture? Invert it if you're using a digital program (flip horizontal, flip vertical, rotate it, move it around) or look at it in a mirror if you're using traditional mediums. The perspective flip resets your brain and you can see the mistakes easier. Sounds weird, but it really does work. It'll help you to spot proportions that are off or areas that just... don't look right. 5. Set time limits for practices and sketches! See how much detail you can get in 5 minutes, or faster. I know it sounds difficult- especially if you're working with figures, but it works! Try dropping the timer too. It's hard at first, but trying to get things done in a really quick time (1 or 2 minutes goes really fast) forces you to break things down into smaller shapes. When you're doing this, though, don't worry if the proportions are a little off. The idea is force your mind to look at things more simply. **6. The blur tool is not your friend! I see a lot of blurred shadows and I used to be so bad about doing it myself- shadows on skin have this gradient too them since faces and bodies don't have hard edges, but blurring the shadows is not the way to do it. It's super hard to not do it- I know... either blurring or blending too much but it makes it look too soft and muddies the picture. The key isn't to blur- it's all about the color blending. If you're having trouble getting the blending right- trust me, harder edged shadows looks better than overly blurry ones. (If you don't believe me, take a look at my two Vol'jin paintings... I used to be waaaaaaaaay too guilty of it. I speak from experience.) 7. Having trouble figuring out a technique for something? There are thousands of free tutorials all over the internet of different ways to do it! Speedpaints are also immensely helpful as well. 8. Study others' work. (Study, not copy). Looking at other peoples' work can help you devlop your own way of doing things, and also help you figure out your own style. Look at artists that have styles you enjoy and study how their works look. A lot of personal styles borrow aspects (subconsciously) from others because we're influenced by artists we look up to. 9. Give critiques. This one is helpful but there is a bit of a caviat here in that... some people don't appreciate unsolicited critiques on their work... so a good rule of thumb is to look for people that are asking for them. There are groups where people submit pieces specifically for critiques and helpful comments. Critiquing others' works helps you think more critically of your own. (I'll put a link at the bottom to a helpful journal about how to critique pieces). 10. Ask for critiques and be willing to accept constructive criticism. We have a tendency to get tunnel vision on pieces and it can be hard for us to see the mistakes we make in our works. It's really, really important to get outside perspectives on pieces. Ask friends to look them over- though be aware that a lot of our closest friends and family sometimes have a fear of hurting our feelings, or discouraging us, so they may sugarcoat things, or they may not feel qualified to critique it if they aren't an artist themselves. (My dad feels like he's not qualified to critique or criticize my work because he "can't draw stick figures" so everything looks great to him even if it isn't right.) **For example of what I meant on 6:

Original

New version

Helpful resources: ProjectComment dAPoses (check the descriptions of pictures and credit appropriately) Pose-Emporium (check the descriptions of pictures and credit appropriately) How to give Constructive Feedback reference.sketchdaily.net/en/ line-of-action.com/

[divinecuriosity]

Character Development Questions: Hard Mode-- BOG!!!! Al

ALL? is that what this is supposed to say. bc im gonna do All 

Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which one are they closest with? He’s an only child! Maybe a few cousins his age, he probably was close with them before he went away!

What is/was your character’s relationship with their mother like? Good, his moms really supported him to the point where he couldn’t do anything wrong in their eyes. Mom #1 was raised in a temple of Ioun, and is a half orc half elf. She works in the temple she and Bog’s other mom founded and tried to teach him to become a cleric like her, but once he voiced his desire to pursure the arcane she was happy to support that

What is/was your character’s relationship with their father  mother #2 like? Mom #2 was less ready to support the arcane, having converted to worshiping Ioun after meeting mom #1 and never really having a knack for magic. Both Bog’s moms see him as the perfect blessing he was intended to be and dont see any faults in him, and though they are hurt by his leaving they trust in their god and in him that it will be ok (not that he’s had contact with them to know that...)

Has your character ever witnessed something that fundamentally changed them? If so, does anyone else know? YEs! He first stumbled upon magic when he started to just be able to Do Things, but there was a wizard to came to his town when he was a child and showed the kids magic tricks, and Bog came up to him one day and basically said “i can do that too! my mom doesnt know this bc im scared to tell her but here let me show you” and this like, seven year old half orc kid does some medium level spell and the Wizard was just like. damn we gotta teach u. 

On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets? Uhh, not much tbh? maybe some jerkey, a rag for sweat/cleaning things off, whatever coin he has on him? But he always has his drum on a sling over his shoulder, his flute on a chain around his neck, and in a trunk on the lower deck he has his spellbooks and Violin!

Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams? haahhhh he gets periodic visions from Ioun being like,,,, hello my Blessing hows the Doing God’s Work going?? oh youre still on a pirate ship in the middle of the ocean? thats chill like ur moms i think you are Perfect and fully believe you will get back to it eventually, go find some new Knowledge and fill up that brain of yours thanks ok bye

Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares? He doesn’t really get them I think? hes a happy guy

Has your character ever fired a gun? If so, what was their first target? Do guns exist anna???

Is your character’s current socioeconomic status different than it was when they were growing up? UHH hes a pirate now so. probably less consistent access to money ? he wasn’t rich at all like, medium middle class at best, but now its probably a lot more sporadic access to like , a lot more money

Does your character feel more comfortable with more clothing, or with less clothing? Uhh he wears the same thing like all the time just loose shirt and flowy pants and drum. if he doesnt have his drum he might as well be naked. But he probably hates having to dress in fancy clothes/layers bc Tactile Bad 

In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been? Uh he’s pretty Freaked Out now tbh, but probably the first storm they had at sea, or the night before he left Bard School

In what situation was your character the most calm they’ve ever been? Hmmm, thats tough idk? Every time he plays music for a group of people and they chime in/dance/just pay attention he feels  p calm and good

Is your character bothered by the sight of blood? If so, in what way? Not really, he doesn’t like seeing people hurt but he isnt grossed out by it

Does your character remember names or faces easier? Names, they get confused when people change their hair or outfit rip

Is your character preoccupied with money or material possession? Why or why not? They arent usually, but since being a pirate he kinda,,, goes along w it and has the mentality of “this is nice!” but its not rlly his end all

Which does your character idealize most: happiness or success? Happiness

What was your character’s favorite toy as a child? Hmmm, probably drums

Is your character more likely to admire wisdom, or ambition in others? Wisdom

What is your character’s biggest relationship flaw? Has this flaw destroyed relationships for them before? They get crushes rlly easily and then get distant if the feelings arent returned bc they dont wanna talk about Hard Emotions bc they never...had too

In what ways does your character compare themselves to others? Do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism? They don’t compare themselves to others past like, oh they have more x than me and i wish i had more of that? More jealousy than him actually putting value to differences

If something tragic or negative happens to your character, do they believe they may have caused or deserved it, or are they quick to blame others? Uhh nothing rlly, tragic happened but his whole thing is he has a destiny he doesnt feel like he earned and is running from it but also feels Immense guilt for doing that so, lots of self blame in this buddy

What does your character like in other people? They like people with passion for something

What does your character dislike in other people? Uhhh being rude to others (like more than a joke, when its obviously upseting them)

How quick is your character to trust someone else? Fairly quick, he needs more friends

How quick is your character to suspect someone else? Does this change if they are close with that person? Uhh idk tbh?

How does your character behave around children? He’s great with them for short periods but once he’s run out of little songs to play/sing and funny jokes he. gets anxious and gets out of there.

How does your character normally deal with confrontation? If its an authority figure? ANXIOUS! if its someone he sees as an equal / he has power over, hes more level headed

How quick or slow is your character to resort to physical violence in a confrontation? Uhh hes weak and slow so, p slow. even spell wise hes more about protecting his friends than damage

What did your character dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true? He’s pretty much always wanted to study magic and be a bard. maybe early early five yr old Bog dreamed of working at the temple

What does your character find repulsive or disgusting? Uhh, standard icky stuff like x-phobias 

Describe a scenario in which your character feels most comfortable. Playing for an Audience

Describe a scenario in which your character feels most uncomfortable. Talking about feelings, especially ~romance~

In the face of criticism, is your character defensive, self-deprecating, or willing to improve? A mix of willing to improve and self-deprecating, depending on whos doing the criticism

Is your character more likely to keep trying a solution/method that didn’t work the first time, or immediately move on to a different solution/method? They move from solution to solution pretty fast, they arent super patient

How does your character behave around people they like? Trying to impress them and also not look dumb

How does your character behave around people they dislike? Glare glare glare

Is your character more concerned with defending their honor, or protecting their status? Honor ig?

Is your character more likely to remove a problem/threat, or remove themselves from a problem/threat? Remove the problem

Has your character ever been bitten by an animal? How were they affected (or unaffected)? Uhh probably not? hes good w animals

How does your character treat people in service jobs? As well as he can!! 

Does your character feel that they deserve to have what they want, whether it be material or abstract, or do they feel they must earn it first? EARN EARN EARN

Has your character ever had a parental figure who was not related to them? Hmm, not really? 

Has your character ever had a dependent figure who was not related to them? nah

How easy or difficult is it for your character to say “I love you?” Can they say it without meaning it? They say it really quickly and usually mean it, they just get close to people fast

What does your character believe will happen to them after they die? Does this belief scare them? He’s pretty sure if he manages not to Fuck it Up he’ll go to Ioun’s realm or whatever, but hes not sure hes gonna,,, not fuck it up,,, or that he even wants that? death scares him so he just doesnt think about it if he can manage