#like i don't really understand why we're taking that angle... at least i don't understand yet?

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Shit like that is why Tangerine should've stayed in Ericson! She must take care of her leg but nooooooo! People in Ericson was mean to me :'(! I'm not surprised she caught a fever considering she's ignoring her wound. Sorry for sounding so bitter.

It's a big issue with the "Clementine left Ericson willingly" plot point in this trilogy. Aside from it just being out of character for her based on what we see in TWDG, it lessens the amount of sympathy we're willing to give as readers.

If she was forced to leave Ericson, whether because they kicked her out or it was under attack, she would have no choice. She'd have to leave, and then these situations wouldn't feel like her fault, y'know? You're more likely to see her suffer, fall down, or get an infection, and feel bad because it's not her fault, she was dealt a shitty hand.

But this angle of her leaving because she was unhappy or because she felt like a burden... she still left the safety of place where she could've properly healed from an amputation. Losing her leg isn't just another injury you can be like, "Oh just keep off it, it'll heal." That's a lot of healing and physical/emotional trauma to get through and she would've had a better chance of it if she stayed with AJ and Ericson.

Since she left, we're kinda just sitting here saying, "Yeah, Clementine... you have to take care of your leg. You have to wash it. You can't be running around on it all the time while it's still healing. You're going to be more prone to infection, and in the zombie apocalypse, that's super not great. What were you thinking? You should have stayed at Ericson. You should not be here at this ski lodge or running through the woods."

A lot of problems with the story and characterization stem from that decision and unfortunately, it's weakening the story.

[wombywoo]

Ok! I've finally decided to put together a (somewhat) comprehensive tutorial on my latest art~

Please enjoy this little step-by-step 💁‍♀️

First things first--references!

Now I'm not saying you have to go overboard, but I always find that this is a crucial starting point in any art piece I intend on making. Especially if you're a detail freak like me and want to make it as realistic as possible 🙃

As such, your web browser should look like this at any given point:

Since this is a historical piece, it means hours upon hours of meaningless research just to see what color the socks are, but...again. that isn't, strictly, necessary 😅

Once I've compiled all my lovely ref pics, I usually dump them into a big-ass collage ⬇️

(I will end up not using half of these, alas :'D)

Another reference search for background material, and getting to showcase our models of choice for this occasion~

When picking a reference for an actor or model, the main thing I keep in mind (besides prettiness 🤭) is lighting and orientation. Because I already kinda know what pose I'm gonna go with for this piece, I can look for specific angles that might fit the criteria. I should mention that I am a reference hound, and my current COD actor ref folder looks like this:

Also keep in mind, if you're using a ref that you need to flip, make sure you adjust accordingly. This especially applies to clothing, as certain things like pants zippers and belt buckles can be quite specific ☝️

Now that we've spent countless hours googling, it's time to start with a rough sketch:

It doesn't have to be pretty, folks, just a basic guideline of where you want the figures to be.

The next step is to define it more, and I know this looks like that 'how to draw an owl' meme, but I promise--getting from the loose sketch above to below is not that difficult.

Things to keep in mind are--don't go too in-depth with the details, because things are still subject to change at this point. In terms of making a suitable anatomically-correct sketch, I would suggest lots of studying. This doesn't even have to be things like figure drawing, I genuinely look at people around me for inspiration all the time. Familiarize yourself with the human form, and things like weight, proportions, posing will seem a little more feasible.

It's also important at this stage to consider your composition. Remember to flip the canvas frequently to make sure you're not leaning to one side too often. I'm sure something can be said for the spiral fibonacci stuff, which I don't really try to do on purpose, but I think keeping things like symmetry and balance in mind is a good start ✌️

Next step is just blocking in the figures. Standard. No fuss 👍

Now onto the background!

It's frankly hilarious how many people thought I was *hand-drawing* these maps and stuff 😂😂 I cannot even begin to comprehend how insanely difficult that would be. So yeah, we're just taking the lazy copy and paste way out 🤙

I almost always prepare my backgrounds first, and this is mostly to get a general color scheme off the bat. For collage work, it's really just a matter of trial and error, sticking this here, slapping this there, etc. I like to futz around with different overlay options until I've found a nice arrangement. Advice for this is just--go nuts 🤷‍♀️

Next, I add a few color adjustments. I tend to make at least 2 colors pop in an art piece, and low and behold, they usually tend to be red and blue ❤️💙There's something about warm/cool vibes, idk man..

Now we move on to coloring the figures. This is just a basic block and fill, not really defining any of the details yet.

Next, we add some cursory values. Sloppy airbrush works fine, it'll look better soon I promise 🙏

And now--rendering!

I know a lot of beginner artists are intimidated by rendering, and I can totally understand why. It's just one of those things you have to commit to 💪

I've decided to show a brief process of rendering our dear Johnny's face here:

Starting off, I usually rely on the trusty airbrush just to get some color values going. Note--I've kept my sketch layer on top, but feel free to turn it on and off as you work, so as to not be too bound to the sketch. For now, it's just a guideline.

This next stage may look like a huge jump, but it's really just adding more to the foundation. I try to think of it like putting on make-up in a way~ Adding contours, accentuating highlights. This is also where I start adding in more saturation, especially around areas such as ears, nose and lips. Still a bit fuzzy at this point, but that's why we keep adding to it 💪

A boy has appeared! See--now I've removed most of the line layer, and it holds up on its own. I'll admit that in order to achieve this realistic style, you'll need lots and lots of practice and skill, which shouldn't be discouraging! Just motivate yourself with the prospect of getting to look at pretty men for countless hours 🙆‍♀️

I'll probably do a more in-depth explanation about rendering at some point, but let's keep this rolling~

Moving forward is just a process of adding to the figures bit by bit. I do lean towards filling in each section from top to bottom, but you can feel free to pop around to certain parts that appeal to you more. I almost always do the faces first though, because if they end up sucking, I feel less guilty about scrapping it 😂 But no--I think he's pretty enough to proceed 😚

They're coming together now 🙆‍♀️ Another helpful tip--make sure you reuse color. By that, I mean--try to incorporate various colors throughout your piece, using the eyedropper tool to keep a consistent palette. I try to put in bits of red and blue where I can

Here they are fully rendered! Notice I've made a few subtle changes from the sketch, like adjusting the belt buckles because I made a mistake 😬 Hence why you shouldn't put too much stock in your initial sketch~

The next step is more of a stylistic choice, but I usually go over everything with an outline, typically in a bright color like green. Occasionally, I can just use my initial line layer, but for this, I've made a brand new, cleaner line 👍

And the final step is adjusting the color and adding some text:

Tada!! It's done!

All in all, this took me the better part of a week, but I have a lot of free time, so yeah ✌️

I hope you appreciated that little walkthrough~ I know people have been asking me how I do my art, but the truth is--I usually have no clue how to explain myself 😅 So have this half-assed tutorial~

As a bonus, here is a cute (cursed) image of Johnny without his mustache:

A baby, a literal infant child !!! who put this wee bairn on the front lines ??! 😭

Anyway! peace out ✌️

[alexanderwales]

The Digital Corpse

I always read about what school shooters or wannabe assassins have to say. I read or at least skim through manifestos, most of which are really poorly written and usually just have badly misunderstood ideas that are copy-pasted from diverse places. I read social media posts and discord logs, where available. Some of this is morbid fascination that I don't endorse, but some of it is the impulse to understand how and why a thing like this happened.

So I've been following the news on Trump's would-be assassin, and to all appearances he was just a kid who was bullied at school and didn't have a lot of hobbies, skills, talents, or friends. He wanted power and control and had no way to get it, and I think there's something to the notion that a lot of white men think that their whiteness or maleness means they're owed something. When Trump came to town, it was opportunity falling into his lap. If you're 20 years old and feeling like the world cares nothing for you, then yeah, I can see why you'd take your shot. It's a way of being famous, of going out with a bang, and young men often feel invincible anyway. The shocking thing is that it almost worked, and that seems to be down to incompetence and complacency.

But if it had worked, and they hadn't immediately shot him to death, he'd have gotten all the worst parts of fame (in addition to what would probably be life in prison). In death he's got intense scrutiny of everything he's ever posted online. There are reports about how sad and lonely he was. If he'd succeeded, maybe there would be some on the left who would idolize him, but as it stands ... I can imagine wanting to be megafamous, but I cannot imagine wanting it to be like this. It was almost certainly different in his imagination though, a grand moment that would give meaning to his life and demonstrate that he did, in fact, have power.

And of course the whole thing will be forgotten in a week or two. A year from now you'll say the name "Thomas Crooks" and people will say "huh, that ... do I know that name?"

On the other side of things, there's Corey Comperatore. He was the other person to die that day, just a random guy who had attended a Trump rally and got hit by a bullet because from one specific angle he was standing behind Trump. If Thomas Crooks left almost nothing behind to make sense of his life, Corey Comperatore left behind what feels like a lot. The fame is more double-edged. He's lauded as a hero by some, even if the only thing he did was catch a stray. Generously, that's a way of making sense of things: just like it's not enough for Crooks to be alienated and dejected, it's not enough for Comperatore to just be someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But Corey Comperatore is also having his life torn open, or at least the parts of it that he put online. Posting online was something he probably did without thinking too much about it. The worst one, for me, was him saying that the Palestinians would "get over it" like the Japanese did. It's something I think about a lot in the social media age, the picture that people would get if they went looking through all our posts, if they were trying to make a picture of you from the things you've left behind. If you died in a very public way, what's the worst post you've ever made? What would people find ironic? But of course you don't need to die, we're in an era where anyone can get flash famous by random happenstance. And of course in the modern day we want the delicious little morsels, the worst thing you've ever said, the most ironic, most iconic, most infuriating sound bite that can represent a whole person. Anything more anodyne is pointless, even if that's the bulk of someone's life.

I'm probably a little unusual in terms of digital fingerprints. I'm active on discords, I've written some four million words of fiction, and my reddit comment karma is in the six figure range, which probably means that I've got something like fifty thousand comments. I talk a lot. But I do think about being torn apart like that, what would happen if I were famous for a day before the news cycle moved on, if there were hundreds or thousands of people trying to make sense of me.

When I die, if anyone has reason to go snooping through my history, I hope there's a good-looking corpse.

[omghallucinations]

enhypen heeuseung: wow this is a lot of nurturing benevolent energy especially for someone with a relentless work ethic and need to succeed???

psa: i went into this cold! i have seen clips of this boy off tiktok and i listen to enhypen's music a lot but idk him well, so lmk if this resonates from what u see lmao

wow, i am genuinely impressed! i would trust him with a lot more responsibility than your average man. there is a lot of empathy and compassion and sense of responsibility to others here! capture my heart, why don't you????

ok let's get started.

birth time unknown, my nemesis! well, we've got a range for his moon (21° virgo to 5° libra). no clue about rising, angles, etc etc etc. but! we can dispositor tree.

we've got a mutual reception tree, where venus and mercury rule each other.

someone with a mutual reception tree:

diplomatic

sees other people's perspectives

negotiator

two dimensions of the personality, might lean one way or the other

libra mercury has more influence unless his moon is in libra in which case that branch moves over to venus.

either way we can see his primary actors are gonna be : anxious kind of (self) critical art/relationships vs. diplomatic communication. the work ethic (saturn) also is important (saturn is in charge of mars, his willpower, who is very strong in capricorn), so is the moon (emotions, security needs) and jupiter (beliefs, travel, learning). question--does he have... anxiety? either way probably good to have him on a team bc he can smooth over conflict well.

unsurprisingly his libra sun is way down on the list of influence!! a libra sun is in its fall. a planet in its fall is like stranded somewhere where it does not have any currency, does not speak the language, has no idea what is going on. like it's still around but boy is it confused. libra suns + identity issues 4-ever. libra sun is leaky. the moon and rising are gonna be more influential, and in this case virgo vibes regardless of moon--venus in virgo wields influence over his sun.

ok so just ran into a problem that made me almost rage quit this entire post lmao--at around 8:45 pm virgo venus becomes libra venus. ugHHH this would change a shit ton. he seems like a day chart person though right??? i don't really know much about him idk!! i'm gonna move forward under the assumption that he has virgo venus and if it turns out he was born after 8:45 pm i'm gonna be pissed

cardinal squares and oppositions: rest??? but how could i provide for the family/for the good/for society if i rest??

right away there's a t-square-- jupiter opposite mars, mars square sun/mercury, sun/mercury square jupiter. t-squares are like... hey girl you ever repressed an emotion??? but also they are insanely productive. no one is gonna rest with a square.

cardinal oppositions and squares: activity, drive, FIX the PROBLEM right NOW, only god can stop me, allergic to asking for help capricorn mars: i am in control thus everything that goes wrong is my fault because i could have probably prevented it with willpower clearly i didn't eat enough spirulina or do enough planks cancer jupiter: ♫ we are the world  ♫ we are the children ♫ we are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving  ♫ mars opposite jupiter: i will INSPIRE the BELIEF into everyone!! there is no such thing as overcommitting!! i can take on infinite tasks!! so can you, believe in yourself!! capricorn opposition cancer: spare the rod spoil the inner child no wait we need to focus on nurturing, let's go work no let's go home, safety is through success no wait safety is through the family,

but never fear, squares are here! an opposition may fight forever, but a square comes to some kind of understanding or at least working relationship

capricorn square libra: ah let me rephrase, in a way that is pleasing to you and me, that actually the greatest goal is diplomacy... i mean we're going to do it my way but i will absolutely compromise because i am civil and refined... so... cancer square libra: wait i have no idea what is going on right now or what i'm feeling lol? um could someone... help me.... i'm totally fine giving up completely actually... idk... i really need family/friends to identify myself... ha ha... mars square sun: i know what i want and i will go after it! i must achieve or who am i??? i can never rest i always have to be Doing. my daddy/mommyfamily issues are not the point and have nothing to do with my need to succeed!! mars square mercury: uh what were we talking about haha? jupiter square sun: i will give u the shirt off my back i will give you my last protein bar i believe in growth and freedom and i am definitely as confident as i act like i am ha ha why would you think i wasn't??? jupiter square mercury: i have a great wide angle view of the world and humanity and stuff, also i overheard someone say something one time and completely misinterpreted the situation!! but it's okay i am focused on the future... the possibilities...

lol this is someone who has a really really rEALLY hard time resting. has he ever been injured?? if so, that must have fucking sucked for him. very Achievement Orientated but not in a selfish way, honestly much more focused on the group rather than the self--with the cardinal squares, he has no aries involved. it's all about the society (capricorn) the family (cancer) and the group/relationships (libra).

ahh it reminds me of someone who works 5x harder than other people and someone's like, omg leave some for the rest of us why are you working so hard it makes us look bad, and he's like "..." because it's not about putting himself above someone else! he's not succeeding at you, ok! he is doing so for you, be grateful, god.

mutable opposition: peter pan syndrom

gemini saturn opposes sagittarius pluto, this is generational but also a fun and cute opposition imo. i mean not pluto-saturn, that fully blows, but gemini-sagittarius!

gemini-sagittiarius: talkative, restless, Eternal Youth, down with the kids, subjective v objective, scattered v whole, fox v hedgehog

yay!!!!

however...

saturn-pluto: :(

saturn = anxiety fear and pluto = deep core terror, so together... mm. can be a fear of power, fear of power being put on him, fear of having power himself--heeseung may kind of dodge any leadership roles because he doesn't really trust himself.

saturn-pluto is usually very suspicious of people in authority anyway. can go back and forth between constructing and deconstructing, rules and no rules, i am a good little capitalist v burn all banks. you know what i mean!!

with this and heeseung's capricorn-libra square, he has a lot of stuff around authority and fairness.

let's talk air trines!

you can see an exact trine between heeseung's libra sun and his aquarius uranus--he's not too fussed about fitting in but he is very fussed about equality and equity and humanity and stuff. he has a talent for fairness. also he's lowkey weird with that uranus-mercury trine. idk if he shows this, but he is absolutely very strange.

with the trine from mercury to saturn, his work ethic is natural to him, and he has an ability to be responsible you don't always see with the amount of air energy lol.

also he's super wise and can leave shit in the past when he needs to. i would trust this guy with a lot of responsibilities actually! he has the ability to put his own ego aside and make the decision that's best for the collective even if it's worse for himself, SUPER rare.

damn... i may have to stan??

also uranus mercury and saturn are all retrograde (and neptune) so he's gonna have to unpack a lot of stuff in his life, he's on an Individuation Journey, lots of karmic untangling, go with god my past life baggage buddy

venus-moon conjunction: 🥺

on the left, 12:00 am. on the right, 11:59 pm. either way, we've got a venus-moon conjunction, it's just how close the conjunction goes.

dude i may really have to stan. this is such an adorable conjunction. is he a mama's boy? he might be.

he is so sensy and also is afraid of hurting other people's feelings. he feels rejected easily (maybe less than some people with this placement, bc of his other aspects) and assumes everyone feels rejected easily too, so he is very careful. people pleaser to the max. very sensitive to criticism, probably wants to fix everything immediately if he feels like he made a mistake even if was barely a mistake. girl same, mood.

it's a really good thing he has that capricorn mars and the cardinal opposition/squares because they keep him from being too delicate or yielding, gives him the willpower to move through hurt and things like that. moon-venus conjunction can be too accommodating but capricorn mars hates accommodating so it's a good balance.

hm he might have some gender things, like traditional beliefs around gender. idk if they are actually true to his personality though--it seems more like expectations he was raised with and in some ways they counter his actual personality, but he holds onto them anyway.

and whoever he gets with... you may have to deal with an overly involved mother-in-law.

venus-moon... square chiron: in conflict with his Wound, like it fuels his sensitivity but also there is maybe a feeling of... all is not how it seems, like he may not totally believe someone when they tell him they love him. bright side he is really really caring. (also his chiron is conjunct his south node... hm something is up with his childhood. his mom might be overcompensating for something she feels guilty about that happened to him when he was a kid? idk.) square lunar nodes: essential for his soul's growth--he's gonna have to deal with his own emotional safety needs and relationships in order to Grow. his south node in capricorn is very "workaholic" and his north node in cancer is very "learn to focus on ur own life and family", so that's clear. also at 0°, his lunar nodes are very potent. opposite pisces lilith: virgo v pisces is very martyr vibes, very rescuer or being rescued, he might have a tendency to want to save people that is actually about him wanting himself to be saved? very service-orientated though but he'll need to look that in the face to see what's underneath that need

fixed stars & asteroids & stuff

heeseung's sun is conjunct the fixed star spica. damn he's got some guardian angels. this is the star of protection and benefit. pure dose of helpful energy. you don't always get what you want but you get what u need.

saturn is conjunct the asteroid vesta, who is all about commitment. leadership vibes. he may shun the leadership role but it's after him anyway. when he says he's gonna do something he does it. trustworthy, needs to Believe in something to commit to it.

damn this is good boy disease. what the hell dude. do we have to be so virtuous??? god!!!

---

well!! i am still pausing my enhypen deep dive until i look at all of their charts so we will see, but what do u guys think his he more this one or that one?

actually this is extra hard edition because libra moons and moon conjunction venus are like. super similar lol. PEOPLE PLEASERS.

anyway. is he more overthinker or compulsive smoother-over? what's the vibe?

thank u for joining me on this journey. i've learned a lot and now my heart hurts but i too am air dominant so i don't wanna talk about it :)

[blitz0hno]

are Mikoto and John both new splits??

sorry if someone has had this theory before but anyway I feel like Mikoto may have had some level of awareness of his DID before his crime. Like not much, but just enough to know he can dissociate enough to "forget."

If Midokoto (green Mikoto) is real he's part of the very first one we see in MeMe, particularly the "boku WA boku wo"/"I will save Me" line. Not that he "split" on purpose, absolutely not. But if he already knew he tended to forget things, and put his mind to forgetting his first victim, then John and Mikoto both likely came of that. What remains of him, if he existed, is likely dormant, feeling nothing but the weight of the murders.

Splitting typically happens over time, and isn't a one-and-done thing; it's likely that Host Mikoto is there because he himself was fronting before the amnesia walls went up. This is where things get confusing as we don't know how exactly the splitting process is interpreted by Milgram. We're a system and can barely make heads or tails of it. It doesn't make sense that Mikoto would be the only one before John if John formed in adulthood. It would however make sense that Mikoto is the only alter John *knows,* which is why I'm led to believe that at least one more lays dormant.

I believe the Mikoto we know now is what became of the old host, who split into someone "normal" like he was before the crime, an alter who accepted the "necessity" of violence despite not understanding the crime himself (if John's pitiful but valiant attempts at defending Mikoto in the VD are to be believed), and what's left holds the memory of what really happened, and is now dormant. It's even possible that he or John is a gatekeeper of some sort, meaning it's their job to keep world-shattering memories from the host. Since Mikoto himself is now walled off, but he's the one in Milgram, it's reasonable to assume that John split from him; but since neither can seem to remember what really happened, and memories can't just disappear and are held by other parts in a system, there's got to be someone who has the final piece. And sure, that someone could be Mikoto. He would at least know a motive if he were to kill someone, and whether he admits it out loud or not he himself may think about it, considering it's his job to be Socially Acceptable.

Mikoto CAN be a two-alter system, but I'm not a fan of how Milgram implied that John split in adulthood without really addressing the "lifelong" aspect. While it could be a trick to see who does their research and catches the inconsistencies, there are already far too many misconceptions about DID accepted as fact by the general public. That said, we know what the characters know and from that angle I think it's really cool how it's all so murky and ambiguous, because that's how it feels for systems figuring themselves out in real life. Traumatized people, after all, are more likely to be put into a position of "commiting crime" because they are victims themselves, not because they feel like that behavior is acceptable but because the situations they end up in tend to mimic what they've been exposed to since day one. Obviously this does not count for willful violent crime but for crimes of self-defense, impulsivity or other emotional dysregulation, horrible horrible miscommunication etc.. Milgram seems to understand that much at least so don't take this or any other theory too seriously. I feel like our boys are in good hands because first and foremost the narrative treats both of them like people. This is just one idea of how Mikoto's system could work.

There's also this thing which could mean nothing but I interpreted it as possibly a diagram for how his system works, the circles being literally more rounded parts and the distorted ones being underdeveloped. There is NO textual evidence for this just a cool circle. It would be funny if 009 has 9 parts in total but again nothing else to back this up so far.

[goldenteaset]

Stampede!Legato's Charm Points

...A not-comprehensive list of blatant squee for the @tristampparty.

I enjoy every version of Legato (which feels like saying "water is wet"), but Stampede's version in particular feels dazzling, like looking into the sun for too long. And if you couldn't tell from that description and looking at other people's reactions, especially toward his looks, this is very much me "proselytizing" in his favor. (Or finding like-minded people!)

Under the cut because I couldn't contain myself. XD

Charm Point the First: How He's Framed (...Mostly)

(The big zipper on his coat is also cute by the way)

Studio ORANGE made a fascinating choice with Legato for Stampede s1: his face is either in shadow, or at various angles that highlight how striking he is, usually as seen from below. This forces us to either a) look deeper at what expressions we do see, or b) focus our gaze on everything else about him. So a win either way, really.

On the other hand, though: please let us see more of his face in S2 PLEASE

Charm Point the Second: His Hands

Self-explanatory, I know. But hands are an absolute pain to draw and I'm forever impressed with the sheer, insane detail the animators get across with Legato's. Look at this gif, you can actually see where he laughs when his wrist tilts! There's something so erotic and dangerous about how they're portrayed. Very very good.

Charm Point the Third: His Laugh

This Legato is a downright jolly fellow in some ways compared to the previous ones! His laughter is lovely, often low and soft and wicked. It makes every scene with him more fun for the viewer, because he's having fun.

Charm Point the Fourth: His Plantlike Complexion

One might even call it a "ceramic-like pallor". It has to be because of the Plant genetics Stampede's writer mentioned. It makes him even more Fair Folk-like and otherworldly, almost ethereal; it adds another creepy, "don't make that deal" layer to his scene with Wolfwood.

Charm Point the Fifth: His Legs

I could've picked a different shot, but no. This one illustrates the point rather well, I think. (In general, besides his stomach he's on his way to a male ballet dancer physique, which is a wonderful thing.)

Charm Point 5.9: Safety First!

Something about Legato doing nefarious deeds and still wearing a seatbelt is just...peak moe for some reason. 10/10.

Charm Point the Sixth and Seventh: His Nape/Hair

I love this shot so much uuuuuuu look at the lighting

Sometimes the sheer floppiness of his haircut in some screenshots undersells how neatly managed it actually is. Legato may not want people to talk about his hair, but he does take good care of it. It's sleek, it's out of his way (mostly), and I can't help but wonder if it's cut as short as it is in the back to avoid touching his skin... :(

Charm Point 7.5: His Waist

It's the part everybody critiques! Yes, he looks like a Ken doll with it being that narrow. Yes, I 100% think that's the point and Studio Orange will make us sad about it in S2. Moving on quickly so as not to dwell on it!

Charm Point the Eighth: His Voice

I'll be talking about his dialogue right after this, but really, that dialogue wouldn't land right without the perfect voices to match. Whether subbed or dubbed, Stampede!Legato manages to slide between cold elegance and zealous desperation with ease. (Also, again, That Laugh *happy shivers*)

Charm Point the Ninth: His Dialogue

While we sadly only see Legato in two episodes, I think they're still a great introduction to him. We're given just enough to understand why he conflicts with Vash and co., what his motives are (which he might explain too much, but anyway), and who he is as person. He's a human who fundamentally doesn't understand humans, least of all himself. I think he's drawn to Wolfwood and Livio's relationship specifically because he himself doesn't have a reference point for it. It fascinates him even as he hates it. And speaking of that...

Charm Point the Tenth: His Confusion About Love

I left this one for last because unlike the above, which are mostly fixed states, this one really could go in any direction. At the end of episode 6, Legato explains how he doesn't understand love and thinks it should "give way to devotion". This is interesting, to say the least, because past Legatos don't just lay things out that clearly, and neither do most characters in Stampede. There's practically a big neon sign blaring over this!

From my very biased standpoint, there's nothing more fun than when a character who looks like this *points at the above* disdains love that openly. That means that either a) Legato is being set up to never understand love ever, which is less interesting, or b) discover what love means to him. Will that end well? Poorly? Will Studio Orange give us enough string to make a cats cradle out of for our own entertainment? Who knows! It's all up in the air for now.

I just think that there's nothing more narratively thrilling than limitless possibilities and slowly winnowing them down, is all. :D

[deke-rivers-1957]

Clambake Review

This is often considered to be the worst Elvis film ever made. Even Elvis himself allegedly hated making the film. However, it's most likely because of the fact that Elvis suffered from that infamous concussion just before filming started. A lot of fans who watched this film say that you can see Elvis is ailing. Does his acting suffer because of it or just fan projection? Let's find out.

We immediately start off with the titular song "Clambake". For a movie that takes place in Miami, you wouldn't associate the city with clambake. Or oil rigs. But we don't live in this movie's reality because both of those things exist in Miami apparently. While it is true that Native Americans in Florida developed a technique referred to as a "clambake", a traditional clambake is predominantly held on the Northern East coast. They could've just as easily reused New Orleans if they wanted to include both of those elements.

This is easily one of the worst outfits Elvis ever worn. Scott would never wear this. Based on his character he'd want to be as far away from it as possible. It makes more sense for Tom Wilson to buy this when they switch identities. I know he has to wear something at the beginning to show that he's rich, but I would've used a different outfit.

Charlie Hodge cameos at the barber and gets a line. Imagine my surprise to see that we have an actual character arc that's setup. We understand who Scott is and why he's here in Miami. He's the son of an oil tycoon and wants to make a name for himself. He had a fiancee but he left her when it was clear she only cared for his money. We now have a clear reason to support his identity swap.

I don't hate this Prince and the Pauper type of plot, I just don't like how it's executed. Heyward Oil is everywhere somehow and yet no one recognizes Scott just by the face alone? Sure he's not the head of the company but they recognize his name so they had to have seen him at least once. Maybe I'm missing something, but I think this would've been better if Tom Wilson was played by an actor that looked more like Elvis. Impossible I know, but if Elvis had body doubles in movies, I think it could've been done.

"Who Needs Money" is a terrible duet. Elvis' vocals of course are fine but Tom Wilson's dubbed in vocals just doesn't work. The film doesn't grind to a halt because of this duet, but it's still not a rememberable song. I get that we needed a duet to show that Scott and Tom are both doing this for their own personal gain, but Tom Wilson needed different vocals for this song to be just average. It's also made abundantly clear that Elvis isn't in Miami to film this with the overuse of rear screen projections.

When we get to the hotel, the scene where Jamison is talking with the women is so bizarre. Some of the women's dialogue sounded either effected (meaning they purposely put on a type of voice that suggests bad acting or bad direction) or were dubbed in. It just didn't sound like they were recorded the same way Jamison's voice was recorded. The water-skiing scene also has so much dead air that we're watching Elvis' and Shelly's doubles ski at a far angle shot with no audio outside of the boat's motor. It lasted too long and could've been redone as it just wasn't engaging.

Given that Elvis wasn't actually in Florida, at least this scene has a real background. The lighting naturally matches the time of day it's supposed to be in and they all look like they belong there. I really like Elvis' outfit though as you can at least justify long sleeve shirts with "it's night time so it's going to be cooler".

"A House That Has Everything" is fine. It allows for Scott to seemingly bond with Dianne over being poor. As much as I love Scott's part of this relationship, I just don't understand why he's in love with Dianne. She basically admits to being a gold digger, which Scott wanted to get away from. I understand the point of the movie is that she falls in love with Scott for who he is, but Scott being interested after she admits to being the one thing he wanted to avoid just doesn't make sense to me.

I do appreciate that the movie wants us to dislike Jamison by making him act like a pig for ignoring Dianne's pleas to go away. I also appreciate that this movie didn't go down the path of most Elvis films and have Scott try to fight him ultimately getting him in trouble. Instead we get shown that Scott disapproves of Jamison's actions, but also acknowledges that Dianne's a grown woman who can take care of herself.

For once we have a mid 60s Elvis film that has him have the emotional maturity to know when to pick his battles. I also admit that as much as I don't like his romantic interests in Dianne, I really enjoy seeing him wanting to respect her choices and help her. He's willing to just be a companion and doesn't let any negative feelings for Jamison interfere. A cliched love triangle would've had Scott try to sabotage Jamison to make him look bad in front of Dianne, or Scott try to convince Dianne that Jamison is no good only for her to ignore him. He doesn't do any of that and instead just let's the chips fall where they lie.

This song was easily the worst scene in the entire film. "Confidence" is embarrassingly over 5 minutes long. The editing is just bizarre with a shot that is completely upside down and a clip of the US Calvary. It's so long that there was a stretch of time that Scott isn't even singing. We're just following him and Tom Wilson play with children. Even Red West, cameoing as the ice cream gets involved in playing with the kids for literally no reason. I kid you not, it was so bad that my besties who saw the film with me all had a mini breakdown at how awful and long it was.

I can see why fans say you can see Elvis is struggling in this film. Watching this scene is like watching a man mentally regress to a child's age right before your eyes. What makes it worse is that this scene has absolutely no impact on the plot. Him singing with the kids doesn't make Dianne see Scott in a new light the way, nor do any of the kids help Scott with his boat in anyway. Outside of a throwaway line about having confidence, nothing from this scene was ever mentioned again. This scene's only purpose is to provide filler to pad out the run time.

A ride up of over 2 inches or so should never happen with clothes. That's a sign of how cheap this film was. They couldn't even bother to give Elvis a turtleneck sweater that properly fits. This whole scene is just cringy mid 60s beach party aesthetics. "Clambake" as a song is bad in that I literally couldn't understand a single word of the beginning.

The dancing in this scene isn't good and the colors in the scene hurt my eyes. The only reason why I say this song is better than "Confidence" is that there's an actual reason for this song to exist. Despite being geographically inaccurate, a clambake event was mentioned earlier in the film. Scott would want to be there because he knows Dianne would be there and just in general wanted to have fun.

I like this montage of Scott developing the goop. The whole concept of Scott wanting to make his own product is brilliant. He wants to prove that his idea can work even if his dad didn't. It adds another dimension to his character without having to include his dad. He's a genuinely intelligent man who isn't depicted as a pathetic dork or an absolute kill joy.

This gives us a rare showing of Elvis playing a character that doesn't just rizz up girls, or fights people. He also isn't a bumbling, misfortunate character that is passive to the events around him. Here, Scott's actively choosing to do this. He's making the best use of his privilege and education to not only help out a struggling boat owner, but also create a product that shows that he's more than just his dad's money.

This dynamic only makes me think that Scott is too good for Dianne. He isn't just being a decent human being and therefore deserves to be with her by default. He's actively helping a woman he barely knows get with another man by giving her advice. The fact that she's still interested in Jamison after he refused to respect her boundaries indicates that she literally only cares about his money. I know that's the point of her character arc, but watching this only makes me think that Scott deserved better.

"You Don't Know Me" only solidifies that opinion. The entire song is literally Scott lamenting that Dianne doesn't know who he is. While part of it is on him for purposely hiding his true identity, Dianne basically uses him as a tool to get Jamison to notice her. She doesn't really take the time to get to know Scott on even a friendly basis. That one night on the beach just isn't enough to say that she knows enough about Scott to even be his friend. You really feel bad for Scott because he's in a one-sided relationship with someone who doesn't seem interested in him outside of what he could do for her.

It's little moments like this that make me appreciate Scott as a character. He's so dedicated to making this product work that he works through the night and falls asleep at his work station. He isn't even doing it to impress Dianne either. He's had this idea before he even met her. He genuinely wants to help Mr. Burton and prove that his product can work.

"Hey, Hey, Hey" is a terrible song. It's similar to "Clambake" in that it has bad dancing and similar to "Confidence" in that it just comes completely out of nowhere. It also just doesn't work with Scott's character. He's only shown interest in Dianne so even though he's not committed to her, it doesn't make sense for him to give every woman a kiss. I get that it's meant to be a montage of Scott getting help to finish the boat, but the song just feels unnecessary. Each woman's reaction to his kiss is obviously dubbed in as the actress' reaction doesn't match the noise she makes. You could just as easily convey that in a way that's similar to when Scott recreated his goop.

I was absolutely shocked at how good this dynamic was. Mr. Heyward had a big beef with Scott for leaving the way he did. He was so upset that Scott took stuff from his company without asking him, that he had to be confronted. At first you think this is the cliche dad that just doesn't get his son wanting to be his own man or even bothered to know what Scott liked. Scott's relationship with Mr. Burton made me think that this was the case. However, Mr. Heyward ultimately isn't that cliche.

Mr. Heyward knows his son more than anyone else. When he found out that Tom Wilson was acting like a party animal who smoke and drank, he immediately knew that this wasn't Scott. For a time period where it was more common for a man to smoke and or drink, Mr. Heyward outright being confused to hear that "Scott" did this shows he knows his son. He really does care about Scott, but is just upset at the way Scott chose to handle his feelings. When given the chance to confront him about it, Mr. Heyward said his part and let Scott have his say too. Even though he still didn't fully believe in Scott's product, he still wanted to let Scott try. Ultimately a very well written tension that didn't give you the idea that these two outright hated each other.

This part of the movie has the most amount of tension. There's a proper build up of the audience and Scott realizing that Jamison wasn't a good person worth Dianne's affection. Watching Jamison put the moves on her when she said no, is the nail in the coffin for the audience. For Scott, since he didn't see the same things we do, he wouldn't get upset at Jamison for that reason. He knew Jamison wasn't the best person when he forced Dianne to go out with him in exchange for her missing bra. He didn't interfere because he knew that he would've gotten in trouble because Jamison was rich and he was working as an employee.

Here he had the emotional maturity to not put up a stink when Dianne was with Jamison. He didn't even fight him after she left the room. It wasn't until Jamison essentially threatened him first, that Scott had enough and punched him. As soon as Jamison went down, he left. He had the emotional maturity to know that he put Jamison in his place. Nothing else needed to be done as there was no reason to keep punching him. Punching an unconscious man is no longer self defense and is just meaningless violence. Scott understanding that in spite of his own feelings is a refreshing thing to see in a character.

"The Girl I Never Loved" is the best song in the movie. Scott's lament that he'll never be able to tell Dianne how he feels is so sad. He's so adamant about not wanting to interfere in her relationship with Jamison, that he's willing to make himself suffer. He accepts that she doesn't have feelings for him, but he also still lets himself feel hurt about it. That being said, Dianne giving up her scheme and wanting to just go home feels a little forced. Like she doesn't even want to stay because Scott was a good friend. She just wants to go because Jamison ended up not working out.

I just feel bad that Scott went through all this work only for Dianne to not seem that enthused. Mr. Heyward only wants the best for his son so if the goop works, he couldn't be any happier and supportive. Tom Wilson and his girlfriend are genuinely excited to be at the race watching him. They really want Scott to win because they know he worked so hard on the boat. Dianne just doesn't look all that emotional for him and I wonder what would've happened if Scott ended up losing. Mr. Heyward and Tom Wilson I feel would've still supported Scott. They know how hard he worked on it even if it didn't pan out as he thought. I just can't say the same for Dianne. I'm not sure if it was an acting issue or a writing issue, but I just don't feel the same passion she has for Scott that he does for her.

This hurts me. When I think about the low production value of this movie, I think of this. First off no license would ever have a picture like that. If it has a picture it was to be front on not at this weird angle. Also his name's spelled wrong! If you look at the signs for his father's company it's spelled Heyward. The worst mistake though is that Elvis has blue eyes! Why do you mark Scott as having brown eyes when he clearly doesn't have them? This whole scene summarizes the lack of effort put into making this look like Miami. Florida doesn't have any mountains and if anything, Miami is actually prone to flooding and sinkholes because of the low altitude.

Regardless, I actually like how this film ended. The whole point of Scott switching identities in theory was to find someone who loved him for his personality and not just his money. Was doing that right at a stop light the best time to do that? No but in general for a mid 60s Elvis film, we didn't get a stereotypical final number to close out the film. It could've been executed better but we actually get the plot point of Dianne not knowing who Scott is wrapped up. I still don't think Dianne and Scott will work out. They don't know anything about each other and Scott kisses her once after he asks her to marry him. I'm happy for Scott that he got what he wanted, but I honestly think he still deserved better regarding his love interest. It really shows just how much of a real person this character was that you would feel something like that.

This movie is so baffling. On one hand yeah, I totally agree with fans that say this is the worst one. The complete lack of attention to geographical detail and the most blatant case of run time padding make this absolutely frustrating to watch. On the other hand Scott surprisingly has one of the most complete character arcs I've seen where every choice he's made has made sense to his character. His ballads and emotional maturity were quite refreshing to see. He actually makes me care enough to say "you deserve to find someone who loves you. Dianne isn't good enough for you king".

That being said, I give this film a 5/10. There's just too many issues to say that this is a good film. However, I truly think if this script was redone and a different creative team made this movie, it might be one of Elvis' best ones. In fact, as long as you skip "Confidence" and are someone who can forgive production errors easily, I would actually recommend watching this Elvis fan or not. Scott's character arc has enough good elements to make it worth watching.

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AN: Thank you @georgefairbrother for requesting this film. Also shout out to @arrolyn1114 and @xanatenshi for watching this film with me. Your input was much appreciated. I currently don't have anything planned on what to review next. If anyone wants to request an Elvis film feel free to send it in.

Tagging: @lynettethemadscientist, @motht-eeth, @ash-omalley, @spooky-hazex, @oh-my-front-door, @father-of-2cats, @stormie-ryan23, @yksuwyksud, @tacozebra051, @alienelvisobsession, @vintageoldsoul, @ohmygiddd, @lovininapinkcadillac, @stephthestallion, @mistyspresley, @bisexualwvtson, @karel-in-wonderland, @moonchild-daniella, @musiclover712, @worldofyns, @sillybookmarks, @g00d2balive, @leighpc, @generoustreemystic, @peskybedtime, @thetaoofzoe, @renegadewarrior, @vintagepresley, @tupelomiss, @myradiaz, @pinkcaddyconfessions, @kiankiwi, @presley72elvis, @delulubutidontcare, @elvispresleywife, @ilivebecauseiamforced, @jaqueline19997, @richardslady121, @if-i-can-dream-of-elvis and @lookingforrainbows.

[animezinglife]

ACOTAR tag game 💕

Thanks for tagging me, @crazy-ache! Honestly, after reading your responses, I'm convinced we might actually be the same person. XD

Several others actually tagged me in this too, and I'm sorry to everyone for the delay. It's been busy and I've had company.

Answer the questions below & tag whoever you want, or make it an open tag!!

Who's your favourite ACOTAR character?

Lucien Vanserra. Back when I had no intention of continuing the series after the first book, I joked a lot about him having to be tired from carrying all of Prythian on his back.

Who's your least favourite character?

Ianthe. I still hope Stryga used her fingers as toothpicks.

Say something nice about your least favourite character.

She's probably objectively pretty.

Who's your favourite High Lord? (If you picked one for your fav character, then who's your second fav!)

I don't really feel like I know many of them enough to make the most sound decision. I think if I were living in Prythian, I would feel very at ease with Helion or Tarquin as my High Lord even if the latter is still a mere child of eighty and has his moments of naivete. He seems very honest and fair.

Helion I think would be similar, but less naive and more adept at seeing all the angles Tarquin might miss.

To be clear, I love Rhysand. I just think how I would feel about him as High Lord would probably differ depending on where I lived in the Night Court.

Favourite MINOR character?

I love Vassa. I think she has a lot of potential and is so cool. The image of her in her firebird form raining hell down on those Hybern ships was epic.

Jurian's fun, too.

Last but not least, Varian cracks me up. He probably has the most questionable taste and survival skills out of the whole lot of them and doesn't get nearly enough credit for just floating around to wherever his funky little heart desires.

Favourite ship? (Crackships included!)

Elucien has the potential to be my favorite and I'm already down bad for them. Of the ones who already are canon, though, Feysand.

Favourite court and why?

Of the ones we've spent time in, I'm not going to lie: I favor Spring for the way it was portrayed in the first book. Warm weather, green, gardens, pools of starlight, Tamlin playing his fiddle while people dance and celebrate, etc. It's very faerie.

That said, Autumn is the one I'm most intrigued by overall for all the usual and popular reasons. Autumn could very easily overtake spring.

Make up a brand new court RIGHT NOW, NO PREP JUST VIBES.

The Celestial Court. It's more otherworldly than Night or Dawn; more heavenly full of crystals and clouds. Its on its own plane of being entirely. The Fae there are known for their close connections to their gods and the High Lord and Lady are historically considered to be demigods. They would have an otherworldly glow/light to them like Tolkien elves; be a bit more unsettling. There's a lot of mystery around them and their power. I think of a lot of white or light clothing, fair skin, and long, fair hair. Unusual eyes that look like you're gazing into the heavens.

What relationship would you have wanted to see more of in the books?

Elain and Lucien, obviously, but it's not time just yet. So, I'd love to see Elain making her own friends.

I'd also really like to see more of the Lucien and Eris dynamic, because we're definitely not being let in on at least a few things.

What's your unpopular opinion?

Every single ACOTAR book could be cut down about 200 pages and not lose any meaningful or relevant content. They're all entirely too bloated.

If you want a spicier take, I'm forever underwhelmed by Nesta as a character. I understand what the goal was and could still for the most part appreciate the story, but I never did get invested in her and what investment I did develop didn't last after I finished ACOSF.

What's your favourite headcanon/fan canon?

The best way to sum up many of my favorites would simply be Elain finding herself and her confidence in a potential relationship with Lucien. How it would be a healing journey, but also very much one of her coming into her element and power (and him into his, too).

I love the idea of them becoming completely uninhibited out in nature and to have this extremely deep connection that goes beyond other bonds.

If you were swept away to Prythian, what's ONE thing you would want to do?

Lucien (<- keeping @crazy-ache's answer here because I absolutely would if he'd have me)

"I want to experience all the magic. Just frolic through a field and really feel this fae magical world, see the creatures, witness the magic and spells, just be absolutely bewitched by it all." (<- keeping this answer, too, but I would add Helion's libraries to the mix).

If you could have ONE faerie ability seen in the books, which would it be?

I'd want to put a lot of effort into healing magic, but I'd love to be able to winnow or create water wolves. Winnowing would be ideal so I could see the world more easily and see my family whenever I wanted.

Thank you so much for the tag! Anyone who wants to do this, please feel free.

[muninnhuginn]

For the character ask meme, Anya from spy x family? :0

hi! thanks for the ask ^^. weirdly, I think anya's probably the spy x family main I've thought about the least? there's plenty to her so idk why I've not thought through her entire deal more, maybe just because the child experimentation angle will be grim and we're lacking so many pieces of her backstory rn. but even with that, there's plenty there. so anyway, good choice is what I'm saying. this gives me an excuse to not get distracted by loid and yo--

anyway anyway, answers below cut because this got long:

My first impression

This is gonna sound bad considering I only got into the series when the anime started coming out which is fairly recent all considered, but I genuinely don't remember? I'd probably seen memes involving her before I actually started the anime or manga, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember what they involved.

My impression now

She's young and that colours pretty much all of her actions. But it also means she has a huge capacity for growth and allows her to create that change in others too (the obvious one being Loid but you see it with others too). And Spy x Family may be a slow-burn but we're starting to get some of that pay off in terms of character development.

Hmm, what else, I guess she's pretty determined. Thinking of that post about how "Anya would be unstoppable if not for the small fact that she's five". So yeah, her logic is questionable at times (most of the time) and she's got abandonment issues and she's hindered by her age. But she's found a family now and it's clear she wants to keep them and wants them to keep her too.

Favorite thing about that character

I think the aspects that cause Anya the most trouble are those which she hasn't shared with anyone. Her powers, her background in general, her age. They're all tied together and her fear of abandonment (likely exacerbated by her foster families) prevents her from seeking help when they cause her issues. Loid knows pieces, but he's missing some really key bits of information and he has no idea. So it's neat that this character who arguably holds the most knowledge about other people's secrets cannot share her own.

Least favorite thing

I really don't like to think about some of the stuff that if you follow logic Anya must have been exposed to through her powers. There's some aspect of her not being able to comprehend all thoughts, but I imagine there's a lot that gets through which is just, quite frankly horrific.

There's that scene fairly early on where Loid and Anya come across a rally and there's some pretty yikes stuff being thought by those attending. In that scene, the focus is more on how crowds tend to overwhelm her given her powers, but between that and whatever's going on with Melinda, well, it's pretty clear she can and will hear things that would be uncomfortable for *anyone* to hear, never mind someone not even six years old.

Favorite line/scene

Maybe Ania mini-chapter. What does it all mean?

Favorite interaction that character has with another

Loid-Anya cruise subplot. She's not lost the abandonment issues, but she sure has Loid wrapped around her finger and takes full advantage of it. She's just trying to help Yor, but she's making Loid completely suffer for it and it is hilarious.

A character that I wish that character would interact with more

Handler. They've had a couple of interactions in canon and Anya reminds her of her own daughter which is already such a dynamic to start with. Anya seems to like Handler too. It's a mutually healing relationship, but also funny to consider them both driving Loid up the wall with stress.

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character

Maybe Steven Universe? Something about kids with atypical family setups who are too young to be involved in this stuff getting involved regardless and setting themselves up for trauma down the line. Wanting to save the world, but not yet understanding what that entails. Their powers being tied to something beyond their control; something that will absolutely come back to bite them.

In terms of personality though? I'm kind of blanking.

A song that reminds of that character

(Might have to follow it through to Youtube to get the subtitles to work)

This is one of those where it's more the vibes than the exact story, but I think the whole 'family to family until you find a home' and 'seems cheery but actually quite sad' and some of the stuff around 'helping' all fit in a way.

An unpopular opinion about that character/A headcanon about that character

(Merged this with 'headcanon' because I realised my read of the situation here could fit that and I blanked on *actual* headcanons but they'd probably mostly revolve around sensory overload from her powers so)

Not sure how unpopular this opinion actually is, because I don't tend to lurk in those places, but I genuinely don't think Anya at this stage is "into" Damian in any way. And though I doubt it'll pan out that way, I would very much prefer if she stays uninterested in him in that way? I do think it'd be neat to explore the fallout when Damian realises she was trying to befriend him for his connections given that's already been brought up as something that'd upset him. But I'd rather their dynamic lead to genuine friendship rather than romance. For now, Damian's crush and Anya's awkward overtures as she tries to progress the mission do entertain me, as do the small moments where they interact genuinely. But I just find the idea of a crush when they're that young actually working out to be... well, pretty unbelievable?

Favourite picture

Ahh don't make me pick. She has too many good faces I'm not sure how I could narrow it down. I'll just go for.... her "heh" face, but genuinely way too much choice. (Also, there are some more serious options like when she realises Loid's reason for coming to rescue her in ep/ch1 or her reaction about the whole "Ania" spelling. But again, can't pick)

[justarandomsixfan]

Me least Favorite SIX wig variants (Featuring some slight ranting x)

Same rodeo as the last one luvs x A: Not calling any actress ugly or not right for the role B: This is all My opinion, you're allowed to have different ones, we're all friends here On we go x

Aragon: Jade Marvin (Bliss 4.0) /Khaila Wilcoxon, Multiple cruise casts; Aragon Tour/24-25 Broadway

Both these wigs are mostly fine, there's 1 major thing that's bugging me though. Where's the structure??? Aragon's character is meant to represent regality & decorum, not a hair out of place. Here, the wigs are unkempt, loose, and all over the place. I can get behind Khaila's slightly, but Jade deserved a much better wig, or at least a re-styling.

Boleyn: The Boleyn Bob.

I personally don't mind the Boleyn bob, It's not my favorite style, but It works...To a degree. I can understand why some actresses have gotten it, but on others I'm just thinking..Why? Just as an example, Leah & Hannah have naturally long hair. Why bother using money to make a full wig, when the actress could use a hairpiece, or style their own hair? Design wise, i have a few questions too. Again using Hannah as an example. Why did they choose to trim the edges like that, and not use a full clean cut? Length-wise i have some qualms too, I feel like something a little longer, Like Leah's would've worked better for her. (Sorry, went on a wee tangent x)

Seymour: 2021-2023 Australia swings

I only have 1 issue here, and that's styling. For each swalt It's the exact same procedure. Straight hair, small crown, nothing else. No front styling like Braids, front piece etc, No variations in hair type, no creative freedom. Nothing. Just the exact same look for every swing. (I was gonna use the same argument for cleves with the low pony, but then i found a fuckin godworthy weave.)

Cleves: Janice Rijssel, Breakaway 4.0

Right x The side & back? Absolutely Zero issue with (Other than the weird break, but hey it's the cruises), love the cruises allowing a bit more creative freedom with the wigs. Front? Sweet Jesus, the front. The bit people r gonna see the most-

Who gave this the OK? Seriously, Who? Everything's flying at random angles, nothings bunched or grouped, strands are flying over the side-piece. I've looked at different images and trust me, this was not a 1-time thing. If anything, I feel bad for Janice. The wig does her Zero favors, Doesn't work with her face shape, her face sums it up for me. (THANKFULLY we got a glowup on the bliss, but christ almighty.) Ok ranting moment over x

Howard: All pony's since 2023

There's absolutely no issue with any of these, and this is more of a nostalgia thing. I really don't like the full pink pony's, i miss the days of the ombre, fade up's. We've not really had a "Bad" Howard wig, so i just thought I'd have a bit of a moment x

Parr: The side curl variant. Again. Right ok x We've had some stellar variations of this wig over the years, From London-the cruises!

These work for the actress design-wise & physically, and are an all-round 10/10.

Then, there are times where I'm asking if they could've tried out a few different looks. (No 2 is a particular fave x)

I think this is mainly an issue Standardization-wise, with higher ups wanting people to match either previous casts, or the principal. Take Ellie, When she first covered Parr she had the parr pony, which was still relativley new back then. It worked for her, and she looked stunning! Then, when she returned, she was for some reason given the side curls, and it never truly worked. In contrast, Principal Parr (Elna Breschi) was also wearing the side curls. Notice a pattern?

(All photos were found on the SIX wiki, I claim no ownership over any images used in this post) Please don't Kill me I beg

[mysterionrisez]

i admittedly have not watched most of, or even half of south park (new fan/little free time/poor attention span) so im sure there are MANY more examples to choose from.. but i feel like butters' bottom bitch is pretty representative of butters' autonomous control over his actions without really having full, conscious control. his internal motivations and external behaviors are clearer here than in his other Situations because 1. hes not in any way being puppeteered by cartman, so he does in fact have full control ("dude, we've created a monster.") and 2. he truly does not know what he's doing. we know already that butters is very emotionally immature, and has little understanding of himself or the world around him. throughout this whole episode, he's parroting the exact words and actions of others. it's clear by his permanently innocent tone of voice that his actions are never intentionally malicious. but at the same time, it's not because he was forced to make the decisions but because he can't pick up on intention, so he sees no issue with what he does. he just chooses whatever has the best outcome (money + a positive reputation) and at the same time minimal punishment.

because like.. the thing is that cartman doesn't really fear much. he doesn't fear punishment or anything. he finds ways to work around punishment, and of course much of this has to do with being raised by liane cartman, vs butters who is raised by the stotches. but he considers each factor of every Ruse he carries out, including the aftermath. and as weird as it is to say... cartman does have some form of empathy, he's TERRIFYINGLY good at understanding where people are coming from and working from whatever angle they're at. so everything he does is intentional. he never accidentally goes overboard. he knew what he was doing every step of the way in the scott tenorman episode. he knew what he wanted, and he got exactly that, as fucking deranged as it all was. and in many ways, this makes him worse than butters. because he's just like... an implicitly evil and disgusting person. who does bad things, and thrives off of that. but he never really does much more than he needs.

however, in a lot of ways butters is a lot scarier! because he DOESNT have empathy, he DOESNT make conscious choices, and he DOESNT know when he went overboard. when butters is "intentionally evil" we end up with professor chaos, who is more or less, in the show at least, shown to be harmless. even though thats his "evil persona", he doesnt actually know which actions are EVIL and which aren't. all of his self perceived "evil" actions, like in professor chaos & the ungroundable, are just things that lead to punishment. he doesn't do anything "immoral" in super fun time but he was TOLD to stay with cartman and he KNOWS that being told to do something = being punished if he doesnt. but all that's to say, he doesn't seem to understand what's wrong with pimping girls out on the playground, despite that being like.. an actually way scummier thing to do than ditching a school trip. like, in the scene where hes trying to recruit wendy and bebe into his whole mission, despite the fact that they're both clearly like hey! we're uncomfortable! and with stan telling him off, too, he only takes it as "oh, they don't want to do this. but i can convince them why it'd actually be the most beneficial option." like.. he CANNOT wrap his head around why they wouldn't wanna be whored out yknow, lol.

and i just thought of this now.. but this premise is made especially clear in post covid. cartman grows into a better person... behaviors wise, but from what we can tell all of his motivations are the same. he just knows that starting fresh, being nicer, starting a family, presenting as a jewish convert... will give him more credibility than everything he did as a kid. he just like, actually KNOWS these things. but who ACTUALLY grew up to become a classic supervillain was BUTTERS. and then we meet him, and he still fucking acts like that. literally a manchild!!!!

[paleparearchive]

Bazille Is A Worrier?

Bazille's initial 2★ story (1/1)

Location: garden (morning) ; morning sky ; Renoir, Monet, Sisley & Bazille's room | Characters: Bazille, Monet

Bazille: For God's sake… He's not even here, huh?

Monet said he was going to take care of the garden, but where did he go? Jeez… He didn't even go back for lunch, so I came to see how engrossed he was. I don't think so, but he didn't forget to hydrate himself and collapse somewhere, did he?

Monet's voice: WOAAAAH! What a spectacular view! It's so niceee!!!

Bazille: … This voice, is it Monet? God, where is he?

H-Hey! What the hell are you doing on the roof!?

Monet: Oooh! If it ain't Bazille! The view from here's awesome! Ya should climb up here too! Just put your feet up on the fence there and you'll get a good show!

Bazille: Who would climb that! It can't be that easy. No, I'm not a monkey. Generally speaking, gazebo roofs are not made for people to climb up. Get off before you fall!

Monet: Now now, don't say that. It's breezy and awesome!

Bazille: Listen up. Why are you even there in the first place? It's not safe!

—

Monet: Well, the flowers in the garden have started bloomin' and they look great! I just thought it'd look even more beautiful from up here!

Bazille: That's why you climbed up on the roof. … You really are a simple-minded guy.

Monet: Huuuh, why? When something's beautiful, ya just wanna see it from a better angle, dontcha think!?

Bazille: Well, I can understand that mindset... We're artists who pursue beauty after all. But I guess it's part of human nature to use reason in face of danger…

Monet: Noo way! Sometimes a painter's passion for beautiful things can get out of control!

Bazille: Jesus Christ. Don't be a sophist and get the heck off there! What if you fall and break a bone in your hand! You might never be able to paint the pictures you love again.

Monet: D-Don't scare me like that!

Bazille: It's not just a threat. It's a prediction of the worst possible future that could happen as a result of your shallow actions.

Monet: Uuuuugh… Gotcha, I'll just get off. Jeez, ya worry too much, Bazille.

Woah!?

Bazille: MONET!!!

—

Bazille: Hey, are you okay!? Stay strong!!!

Monet: Owowowow… Aaaah, I feeeeell…

Bazille: You're still alive, right!? Are you injured? Where does it hurt!?

Monet: Aaaaah… I'm okay, I'm okay… aaah, it hurts!!!

Bazille: You're not okay at all! Let me take a look at it. Where is it? You don't think it's your arm, do you!?

Monet: No, my leg…

Bazille: Your leg... It doesn't seem to be broken. Let's go back to our room and patch it up. Can you walk?

Monet: Y-Yeah. Thanks, Bazille.

Bazille: … Whatever.

Aaah, alright! I'll lend you a shoulder, don't try to force yourself to walk! You'll only make it worse!

—

Bazille: I can't believe you fell off the roof and only sprained your ankle. You're very sturdy.

Monet: I am! I'm workin' out like Manet-aniki! It's good muscle trainin', wanna do it too, Bazille?

Bazille: I won't do it. Mostly because I don't even want to climb up there.

Monet: It's good to change your perspective once in a while.

Bazille: Just be glad it wasn't your arm that got injured.

Monet: Uuugh… Okay. I'll be careful.

Bazille: Right. From now on, no more climbing up high places. And of course, no tree climbing as well.

Monet: Huuuh!?

Bazille: Don't go out too much for a while. If you walk around with poor protection, you'll lose your physical balance and it will affect your brush strokes. Oh yeah, muscle training is also prohibited.

Monet: W-Why!?

Bazille: You're the kind of guy who, if he moves his body even a little bit, is definitely going to want to move around more. At least stay put until you get better.

Monet: But I'm fine…! I'm not that dumb…

Bazille: If you don't understand it, I'll make a picture of you in your stupid bandages and hang it all over our room, okay?

Stay put. Got it?

Monet: O-Okaaay…

[animehouse-moe]

Heavenly Delusion Episode 6: 100% Safe Water

This is one of those episodes that you either get, or you don't. It takes a dive into the ridiculous, into foreshadowing that is miles ahead of where we're at, and sprinkles it over an episode that is by and large for comedic effect. That said, the staff doesn't give into the comedy, and still delivers on an incredibly well executed episode across the board.

I'd really love to start at the end, but I can't, so I'll start at the beginning. Yes, Kiruko and Maru waste two shots of the Kiru Beam on a bear. Yeah yeah, I'm sure plenty of people are arguing with the potential logic, but let me present this piece of information: they thought it was a Hiruko. If you knew your weapons weren't strong enough to kill, why would you shoot to kill? It's an easy thing to gloss over, but I feel like they do a good job of establishing that understanding through the whole sequence.

Now, before moving on, the episode overall takes a bit of a twist in terms of direction. I wouldn't go near as far as saying it's bad, but that a lot of time is spent on comedy, so the direction reflects that. Undoubtedly, there's still plenty of cool shots that stick close to the overall vision like this one. We've really been spoiled with the static framing that shows off animation like this.

Now, comedy, comedy. I think the voice acting really sells it this episode. Just top notch work that brings an incredible energy to the moments. So much energy that they're able to change up how they play things off. Undeniably it's more heightened than how the manga approaches it, but I think it's really fun with moments like this one. It's a very bold move to remove any sight or motion from the scene, but the voice actors throw themselves into it so well that it works quite well.

Overall, a lot of the changes made in this episode are for comedic effect, and I think they work really well. They translate the humor of the manga into something that works in motion with sound and color. In addition to that, it tones down the... well, I guess you'd say "sexuality" of some of it to make it more reasonable for television. Not in some lazy way of course, as they give us creative camera angles to hide that sort of thing.

Of course, this episode isn't all comedy, as Ishiguro sneaks in some character progression with Kiruko. It's a very simple piece, but I like how earnest and curt Maru is about giving Kiruko praise for something so important to their character. It's partially to blame for him and his sister's predicament, but they also just want to be able to help people with it, so those few casual words from Maru really give Kiruko the push they need to find their resolve.

Anyways, back to comedy. This piece killed me when I first saw it. Not at all in the manga, instead in the source it's more a casual/deadpan delivery without any sort of visual gag.

Anyways, hurtling towards the end of this post, I just wanted to share this clip. For the uninitiated, this is a different color than the usual setup, and a great example of how the anime is working to improve upon the curiosities and oddities of the work. Such a great detail to add.

Just one little detail here. I love that Ishiguro is accurate and consistent with their world. All of the stuff written by younger people is in Hiragana, like the sign for this Hotel. Such a simple piece but really adds a great deal to understanding the overall state of the world.

And last but not least, I love how well they work with Totori in this episode. It really hammers home that post-apocalyptic feel even more. The sorrow, the dejection, the understanding that's apparent in here character and personality shift is really well expressed.

It's such a painful, and very raw depiction of the world. This little girl, who was full of spunk and energy and hope the day before, finds it all crushed in the face of reality. Not left coming to terms with death, but moving past it, and in such a quick period of time. Her dream is absent from those eyes, and the passion has left her body. It alienates her from what makes her a child/young teen. She stands isolated, alone in the street, to work on her hotel.

It's such an incredible scene that helps refocus viewers on the state of the world. Kiruko and Maru can goof off because they have each other. They have someone beside one another that they can count on, lean on, share burdens with. And it's such an easy thing to forget. That there's other orphans out there, other people that struggle to find ways not to survive, but to live. After all, this is a world after the end of itself.

[orchidbreezefc]

well i have some bad news for the anons who seem to have been nourished by my past scott pilgrim adaptation haterade. turns out, i really liked scott pilgrim takes off! sorry guys!

the whole show was a love letter to all scott pilgrim canon, and i can't carry a jaded attitude through something so brimming with earnest enthusiasm for a comic that i myself love very dearly. the reason i'm salty about the movie is my belief that it betrayed what made the source material so great, so i'm not inclined to take issue with an adaptation that i feel properly honors that foundation.

scott pilgrim takes off played the classics but also did some totally new and super super weird stuff playing in the space we're familiar with and using the characters we love. there was maybe one new character in the whole thing (unless the director guy was in the book?) but they used our old favorites to explore a lot of different angles. spto told a new story and got really... really out there with it. it wasn't afraid to do something new and bizarre and i think that spirit is a lot of why the comic ruled so hard in the first place.

so yeah, to the anon friend who warned me off it: i actually really liked gideon/julie! yeah, it was super out of left field, but in a good way. they innovated with the material they had, they came up with a strange new direction that was a huge departure from canon, and it was a great idea. (i was also delighted and somewhat bewildered that after some zigzagging and bait and switching, it turned out that gideon is julie's lame ass boyfriend that she has totally whipped, though there's more to it than that.)

as for the anon who felt this was another adaptation, quote, acting like envy is an evil cunt, i see where you're coming from, but i don't think i agree! envy was never going to be nice, and the thing is? if she wants to be rude and stuck-up and outright mean, especially to scott and wallace, then she deserves to do that and i support her. in my opinion that's very different from her being demonized by the narrative.

personally i'm all in favor of envy being awful, even in ways that i may not feel are justified, as long as it feels like those are choices envy is making. i'm okay with envy being nasty; i'm not okay with feeling like some writer is trying to convince me she's an authentically evil person and scott was right about her actually. it's a shame things went so poorly for her and it's a shame this adaptation doesn't really get into her internality (bc tbh that's outside the scope of what it's doing) but i don't think it did anything to actually betray her character the way the movie did.

but yeah, i had a lot of fun with spto. it was super super weird, as is only right. it got really meta and brought in the movie and comic while also being a very different thing and honestly being much more civil about the movie than anybody had any right to be. very sporting of them.

i appreciate how faithful it was to even the character stuff that it doesn't really Get Into--it's not as much 'okay let's sit down and unpack your issues and confront them blow by blow' as the comic, probably because we already have a story that did that. but scott and ramona are written in a way that is aware of and incorporates those issues. one of scott's earliest lines is "that's not the way i remember it" and one of ramona's is "the past is my least favorite subject". those issues are there, they're just not the focus this time.

spto Gets It. i appreciate it demonstrating an understanding of principles like the fact that all scott pilgrim stories are first and foremost about knives chau's personal development, or that wallace deserves and should receive anything he could possibly obtain. and of course it's always been true that any good scott pilgrim story knows the big bad is scott ;)

[fourseasonsfigs]

Graceful Prince

The name for this fig is 翩翩太子, piānpiān tàizǐ, which translates (according to machine translation) as graceful / elegant prince.

The name becomes quite beautifully clear when we see the inspiration:

All of Gong Jun's costumes as Prince Han Ye are absolutely gorgeous, and this one is no exception. I can't wait to see this costume (and all the others!) in the show. It's nice to have these figs tiding us over in the interim!

Knock on wood and fingers crossed, I've been getting really lucky with figs coming in perfect condition (at least when I don't forget to have them air wrapped!).

One of the options we had was to purchase an additional standee. It's standard policy here at Figthusiast Central to buy all the extras and add-ons, so here it is! It's not peeled (the translucent protective film over it is still on both sides) so it's not as bright and colorful as it will be. This is not the fig art, but instead art of the wrap up of filming:

He's a very elegant prince indeed!

The fig maker did a lovely job with the faint flush in his cheeks, and of course, my absolute favorite sideways smile.

I wish I had more photos of this costume so we could compare it against all sides, but this will be a good preview of it! It's so airy and ethereal in the still photo.

The modeling on his hand that he's holding in front of him is very detailed and beautiful - you can see every single finger. That's no roughly designed blob!

Hahaha, ok, this hand looks like a roughly designed blob! But that's just the angle. We'll keep going!

Ah this hanfu is so beautiful. I like how the fig maker designed the folds to emphasize the pattern of the misty mountains.

There's a little more detail on the back hand - it's difficult as the light from my window (on the left of the fig) is kind of washing the detail out. It does also have nice molding on it.

Ah you can really see the folds of the hanfu here - I get the sense the fig is walking. Slowly and elegantly, of course. I always have a special place in my heart for what I think of as this Wen Kexing posture.

And here we're coming around again to the front! More of that great sense of gentle walking motion.

No robe or pants/boots detail here! Just a clean solid block of resin.

A nice shot of his guan here. I zoomed in to take a look at the original in the photo, and what I could tell of it (which is not a ton) it looks VERY complex. Almost like some some mother of pearl or some other shimmery type of inlay in a very intricate crown. So as much as I would like to see the fig maker replicate it, I can understand why it's better sometimes to just not get too crazy and in over your head (haha, I didn't mean that pun!).

Alright, I promised a close up of the hand, didn't I!

Here we have the extreme close up of the front...

....and ok, this is a little less detailed on the back! I'm pleased to see my camera did not wash it out with the sunshine as much as I thought. Still, looks good, especially for a hand that won't be seen much, if at all, inside my fig display.

The fig came inside a plain white box, but the box card is quite nice. This seller always has this style of card where there's art on one side and a three-side view of the fig on the other. You can see the name of the fig, 翩翩太子, on the top of the card.

Material: Resin

Fig Count: 234

Scene Count: 18

Rating: Graceful and elegant indeed!

[link back to Master Fig Index for more posts]

[lovemesomesurveys]

Gathered from various sources on the internet autumn_stroll

1. What's your best tip on being a better listener? Do you consider yourself to be a good listener? It's about really listening and hearing what they're saying and engaging with them to show you're listening. To really listen and hear a person, you can't just be waiting for them to be finished or planning how you're going to respond. You need to give the person your full attention.

2. What's something you do less and less as you've gotten older? I've changed so much in the past almost 10 years due to health and life stuff. I'm not the same person I used to be, and not in a good way. I miss a lot of things about my old self and my old life. I feel like there's a ton of things I do less and less as I've gotten older. Like, a lot less effort into my appearance. My hair looks horrible and I want to dye it so badly because for some reason ever since I turned 30 grays just started popping up all over. Life really beat me down, I guess. I just don't enjoy a lot of the things I used to as much and even the things I do still enjoy I just don't have the motivation or energy to do it. During that same span of time I mentioned I also became more withdrawn and closed off; pushing everyone away. Needless to say, I've definitely become less social.

3. Do you believe in your intuition or logic more, and why? You know, I don't know. I always say I'm almost too logical to a fault because I'm able to see things from various angles and I feel it makes me more understanding and empathetic. I can figure out why someone did what they did and then I become understanding and more likely to forgive. That becomes a problem when people take advantage of your kindness and just want to use you. However, intuition plays a huge role as well. If I get a bad feeling about something I'm going to pay attention to it and act accordingly. If I get a bad vibe, I'm going to pay attention to that. It just really depends, I guess. There are things where I'm trusting my intuition over anything else and not being told otherwise. If I don't feel comfortable with something or have a really bad feeling, even if it's not entirely logical, I'm going with my intuition.

4. When was the last time you acted irrationally? What happened? Oh jeez, who knows honestly. One thing about me is that I'm suuuuper stubborn.

5. Are you scared of being lonely? I know loneliness and it's awful, but what I'm really afraid of is being alone.

6. Do you often feel jealous? If so, why? I think survey makers likely mean envy instead of jealous most often. Anyway, I hate to say I feel envy quite a bit and it's an ugly trait of mine in my opinion. At least for me because I get so bitter and ew. I'm happy for others, but I also will feel depressed about myself or sad because I want to do what they're doing or have what they have. Because of that I admittedly like I said get bitter and make sarcastic, snippy comments cause I'm being a hater. Like someone I know just went to Hawaii, somewhere I've always wanted to go, and I was thinking, "oh, how nice for them" or "lucky them, must be nice." lmaoooo ew I'm gross. I really am happy for others, it's just me being miserable and bitter and ugly.

7. How do you react to criticism? Uhhhh, depends. Unwarranted is especially not appreciated.

8. What has made you laugh out loud in the last week? Bridesmaids will always have me dying even if I've seen it a gajillion times.

9. What gift have you gotten in the last year that brings joy to your life? For my birthday I got a new MacBook Air and a new iPhone.

10. What is something you've learned in the past week? I know there's something cause I come across something whenever I'm catching up on trending news or even something on social media, TikTok, or YouTube. Something I've seen on TV or something someone told me as well. We're being bombarded with shit all the time. And we're absorbing it whether we realize it or not. You know, like those annoying TV jingles you catch yourself singing all the words to haha.

11. What are some things you have now that you didn't have five years ago? A lot has changed health wise, so I have some additions there. The little girl in me popped out when the new Barbie movie came around, which happened to be around my birthday, and I may have gone crazy with the Barbie merch lol. Marijuana tablets.

12. What is a quality you have that you consider negative? Now what is something positive that comes out of that quality? It's like I said earlier, I'm very logical and understand, but sometimes it can actually bite me in the ass. I'm very forgiving, which can become a problem if people take advantage of you and feel they can do whatever cause they know I'm not going to do anything. However, being understanding is a good thing, too. I think it makes me easier to talk to and feel comfortable around.

13. What is a small win that you accomplished in the past 24 hours? Yesterday I finally got the blood work done I'd been kinda putting off for awhile. That's that stubbornness I was talking about. Or just pure negligence and stupidity.

14. Describe a small, everyday thing that you enjoy with a special person in your life. I love watching our favorite shows together with my mom and bro. I really look forward to it. It's fun really getting into the show together and sharing our thoughts and predictions.

15. Look around the room you're in and list 10 things you're grateful for. My bed, my MacBook, my phone, my clothes, all the things I've collected of various things from my favorite fandoms, books, this portable AC unit that saved me this summer for real, my wigs, my medicine, and all my giraffe stuffed animals and knickknacks.

16. What is an emotion you try to avoid? Why are you afraid to feel it? I don't want to feel upset, depressed, anxious, etc but unfortunately they like to be felt and heard.

17. Are the people in your life bringing negative or positive energy? Some positive, some negative