#manys opinion posts

[hinamie]

subject, specimen, spectacle;

should i say that you're dead?

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The Charcuterie Board, as designed by your votes! Thank you to everyone who participated; this was a fun challenge!

[shalom-iamcominghome]

I'm in many leftist spaces and I've seen many goyim in these spaces complaining about how often jews talk about leftist antisemitism.

The thing is that this is the consequence of claiming to be advocates or in support of another group of people - when you ostensibly prove you aren't for us, we're going to be harsher than we are to people who never pretended in the first place.

For an analogy, here's a similar situation: I am harsher toward "pro-trans" people who are transphobic than I am to people who are not. This is because the pro-trans person told me they were better than that. I am already aware that the anti-trans person is going to be anti-trans. Their anti-transness is self-evident. What isn't self-evident is a person who claims to be pro-trans and then proves otherwise.

This post is addressed toward leftist spaces because I occupy these spaces the most. It makes me wonder just how safe I am in these spaces when leftist begrudgingly acknowledge that this conversation keeps happening. I feel like a lot of leftists treat those of us who open these conversations like we're an "I left the left" rightist when... Most of us are still in leftist spaces. We have not left the left and through pretending we have, you absolve yourself the feeling of responsibility.

[arsenicflame]

Bonus round! Do you use a queue tag?

[naoa-ao3]

I've always felt that in terms of looks, John Constantine should stay looking like Sting but as Sting is famously into health and taking care of himself he shouldn't look as good as him. I don't mean make him ugly, there are plenty of issues where it's clear John can take care of himself and cleans up nicely but he's probably not going to get as expensive of a hair cut as Sting or have a personal chef/nutrition. He smokes constantly so his teeth are gonna be a bit worse for wear too.

I got frustrated with some of the later Hellblazer comics because in the beginning, John has clear ups and downs. Sometimes he looks great, his suit is neat, his hair is combed and he's going around confidently but then when shit hits the fan or his mental health suffers he can be seen looking unkempt and haggard. Later writers seemed to have him rolling off a perpetual bender which kind of took away from the realism of how John's mental health had been portrayed in the early stuff. Before, you knew he generally liked to be clean and to take care of his appearance. It makes it more painful, more human when you see him fall into depression and stop shaving or washing up. You know he's not supposed to be this way, you know it's not how he likes to be. You see the effects of his mental health suffering clearly. Later, when he's scruffy and scuffed up all of the time it's comes across as gimmicky and doesn't mean anything any more. The ups and downs of the character were one of the humanizing factors that really drew me to him in the first place and I know I'm not the first person to give my opinion on this but I was disappointed by this shift in interpretation and depiction. I didn't like him constantly being some slob who was just happy to roll around in filth and shit, when he get's like that it's because he's going through the bad times again. Otherwise it's just a meaningless gimmick.

So yeah, I maybe biased as a Sting- enjoyer but I like it when he looks like Sting. I just don't think he should be as generally fit and polished as Sting. I think of it as kind of like those pictures of identical twins where one twin smoked for 20 yrs and the other didn't. Also if one twin had vastly more money and didn't experience untold horrors every other week.

[aestophobia]

I will forever stand by the fact that Blitzen and Hearthstone are some of the most interesting characters that Rick Riordan has ever written.

Hearthstone is the first mortal in centuries to practice rune magic, a skill that only Odin possessed before Hearth came along. He faced what I fully believe to be the worst trauma in the riordanverse (people often forget that in addition to being shunned for his deafness, being blamed for his younger brothers death, and having to live with the Wergild, he also had to skin the monster which killed Andiron all by himself at eight years old and he wasn't allowed back inside the house until had finished skinning the entire thing) and despite that, he still managed to return to Alfheim not once but twice to face his father. (and it's implied that it also happened another time prior to the story because Alderman knows who Blitzen is in THoT)

Blitzen is a misfit among dwarves, being the only one of his kind who isn't a builder by nature, but that doesn't mean he doesn't create by nature. He cares so much for fashion that he makes it his own craft despite not being given the recognition for it. He makes his own degree, he turns fashion into something that even the other dwarves can appreciate, and he succeeds in opening his own shop. He shows that he is willing to do anything for his friends on multiple occasions, and he has so much love to give even after losing his father, the only person who ever understood him. Because of this, he is able to recognize being a demigod for what it is, something that many other demigods don't like admitting all the time.

Neither Blitzen nor Hearthstone fit in among their own kind, but together, they form a bond unlike anything else Rick has ever written. Most of the MCGA fandom can't look past them being "not canon," but that's wrong. They aren't "not canon." They're nuanced and complicated with a relationship that might surpass platonic, but maybe it doesn't. (For my good omens fans, I would say they're thoroughly ineffable) That doesn't matter because they love each other, which they state in the text multiple times. Just because it never explicitly says "Blitz and Hearth are in a relationship" doesn't mean that they aren't in love. Just look at the things they do for each other.

Hearthstone, who doesn't show much emotion and is usually very restrained, but whenever he's been separated from Blitz, immediately rushes to hug him. Blitz, who once yelled at Hearth's abusive father with so much unbridled fury that Magnus thought it was Odin himself.

Blitzen can't survive in light, and Heartstone needs light to survive, so Blitz brought sunlight to a world of eternal darkness for Hearth. They call each other "my dwarf" and "my elf." Blitz learned an entire language for Hearth, and he expresses jealousy whenever Inge is around. Hearth faces abuse to save Blitzen even after Blitz begs him not to.

You can't have one without the other. They need each other more than anything else in the nine worlds. They weren't written just for you to go, "Oh boring, they aren't canon because they never kissed"

[anemonet]

pro tip: you can always put the bugs in little outfits :thumbsup:

[kathonyy]

KATE SHARMA in BRIDGERTON 2x04 VICTORY

[solarpunkani]

You know what, while I'm doing hot takes. And this one may be obvious considering I'm actively contributing to hosting the Solarpunk Aesthetic Week event but like.

Dear everyone who's constantly deriding the aesthetic portions of the solarpunk movement/genre; do you just not understand that being able to visualize the future you want is immensely important to being able to work towards it? Being able to get other people on board with it?

When I first got interested in Solarpunk, it wasn't for the hot leftist takes about the top ways to dismantle the government for the people, or top tips on how to build your own solar panel apparatuses. What brought me in? Visions of a hopeful future. I learned and began to love the rest as I dove deeper into solarpunk circles, but there is no denying that my first intro to it--and likely many people's first intro to it--was via the art and aesthetic spheres. The term 'solarpunk' was literally coined to refer to the aesthetic movement, and we've been building up from there ever since.

'When are people going to realize the aesthetic parts don't matter and what really matters is praxis--' dude, the aesthetic parts do matter. Inspiring people does matter. Showing people visions of a hopeful future is immensely important, it's why so many people join this movement. We see glimpses of what a hopeful future could look like, through beautiful art or riveting stories, we're inspired by things like stained glass and organic designs and statues and fashion concepts--and then we think to ourselves 'how can we help make this future happen?' And we learn the praxis and we work towards the goals and we share it with others because that's just how we work.

Seeing isn't always believing, but sometimes in order to believe in something with your whole heart, it helps to be able to visualize what you want. For yourself and for others.

So yes. The aesthetic parts of solarpunk do matter. Thank you for coming to my TEDTalk.

[cyanityinsanity101]

i haven't really posted about hazshit hotel even critically before- but I wanted to edit a screenshot to try and redesign the whole color of the pride ring.

[ My edit ]

[ Original ]

[hannibal-the-bimbo-cannibal]

The way I would [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacte-

[yeonjune]

Yeonjun about the strain he felt while preparing for his debut solo project ✙ "GGUM" MAKING FILM

[gb-doodles]

The Slightly Higher Quality Kids!

Design notes under the cut :]

Adaine: Pretty straightforward! Overall, just made her look more like an elf. Wanted to keep her nose pretty Slim and Long but without looking,,,, as much like the typical anime style. I think the change of angle also just Looks Better. Also orb enlargement.

Kristen: Oh, dear sweat Kristen Applebees.. They really did you dirty, didn’t they? Made her a little rounder and gave her her tie dye back. Shoutout shutterstock. Also! Her bracelet that Will Be Important Later!

Fig: Much like Adiaine, I changed her ears to look more (wood) elven, along with making her horns thinner so they look a little more natural! (and like her head could actually support them). Also made some changes to her makeup to make her just a little more punk-rock ;].

Gorgug: Didn’t change all that much from his actual design aside from his ears and eyes! The way we’re introduced to him, however, did really bother me so! Used the panel of him holding the flower instead :]!

Riz: Hit that weird green halfling with the goblify beam. Changed his ears, nose, and eyes to be more similar to the art we see on D20. Also added claws, insomnia, and a darker shade of hair. Gave him back his waistcoat. Did keep the notch out of the ear because it adds some very interesting story there!

Fabian: Shockingly and unsurprisingly to everyone, I changed his ears! They’re bigger but still slightly different from both Adaine and Fig. Additionally, changed up some of his facial features and haircut, which I did pretty strongly reference Lou himself for. The high top fade is a pretty basic haircut but the wave designs really do add some of that Seacaster flare. To me, it feels like something that very much fits Fabian and the journey that is yet to come.

[arttsuka]

I wanted to talk about Toothless and how his design and personality changed for the worst throughout the 3 animated movies (I won't be tackling any of the shows because I haven't watched them)

In the first movie he's at his best. His design is actually amazing, from the overall model structure to the patterns on his skin (which are visible in every shot, especially the ones taking place during the day, without ruining the 'illusion' of his black skin. It actually feels like it's resembling a panther aka black leopard in which the fur patterns are still visible). His face has a more aerodynamic shape, more sharp, a big curve.

His snarky but intelligent personality was really fitting for him. And we got to see more of it as the movie was progressing and he was getting more comfortable with humans.

In the second movie the patterns on his skin are still mostly there, way less prominent but still visible. His face got squashed down (a problem which only because stronger in the 3rd movie) but as a whole he still looks presentable, kinda. His posture changed too (but I'm too lazy to find evidence, you'll have to take my word for it).

I remember not having a problem with his personality in the second movie which is why I was surprised to see that this was only half true. He acts more domesticated, that's to be expected, but only around humans? When he interacts with other dragons it's like he's a completely different character, closer to what he became in httyd 3 than 1. He's still quite intelligent and more used to human equipment and people in general. In the first part of the film (especially this scene with Hiccup) he acts like how I'd imagine he should be in the 3rd movie, here it should have been a 'middle' ground, not 100% domesticated but not movie 1 feral either.

In the third movie he suffered the worst. Gone are the patterns on his skin, he's solid black now. His face got weirder too.

His personality got reduced to this stupid, slobbering 'dog'. His pupils are always dilated and his tongue almost constantly out. He acts unintelligent and he doesn't have that snarky personality he had in the first and even the second movie. He's basically a different character altogether. (That scene where he tries to 'woo' the light fury is embarrassing at best and shows exactly what's wrong with his character now).

They did it to make him more 'likable' to younger audiences + to make a good visual contrast to the light fury (who has an undercooked personality AND awful design as well), which is weird because they gave the light fury patterns on her wings?

The light fury looks like a beluga whale in the worst way possible. She has almost nothing going on visually to the point it doesn't even make sense. Her skin looks fragile, she's so weirdly smooth for no reason. It would legit be better if they took a night fury model and painted it white.

They gave her a 'cat' personality and took it away from Toothless (why couldn't both be 'cats'?). Also she's the 'girl' character, her only purpose is to be the romantic interest. She adds nothing to the film.

No comment in the live action design. Just ugly. Atrocious even.

Also something else that's been bothering me from the live action remake is this scene.

They've basically recreated every scene exactly as it was in the original so far (which is a bad thing) but the slight hesitation Toothless showed before touching Hiccups hand was the one thing they chose not to include? (I know the scene wasn't meant to have that in the beginning and it was an error in animation which they decided to keep because it gave the scene more personality so, why not include it in the live action?)

[dukeofthomas]

"Jason just needs to see things from his family's perspective and understand how much they love him (despite them never actually communicating or showing him through their actions)" is out. "The batfamily putting a single bit of effort into understanding Jason and reconciling with him on his own terms" is in.

[ed3lsgard]

man i can’t believe some people are really convinced that the only ending possible for helly/helena is for helly to either outweigh or kill helena and fully inhabit their body, or just kill herself somehow because she is unfortunately helena and therefore lumon, responsible for everything.

might as well say you lowkey hate her and want her to die and move on, no need for these shit ass takes omfg. in WHAT world would it make sense for helly and helena’s arc to move in this direction, when their entire s2 arc has culminated into a further acceptance and understanding with each other?? helena used to think helly’s life was worthless, came down there and saw it was everything she lacked and craved in her own life. helly meeting jame, the whole “fire of kier that used to be in helena is now in you thing”, implied that helena used be like helly, but that spark in her was snuffed out and beaten out of her as she grew up, and helly probably realized this too. she finally started to accept the idea that they are not that different from each other in the finale, and yall think they did all of this just for one or both of them to die later?? bye.